March 16, 2009 Issue

Cover art by: Cover design by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels

purchase current issue

Feature

The GOP’s Hip-Hop Makeover

Michael Steele’s getting funky, frantically remixing the GOP message, in hopes of reaching new generation of conservative voters. Is anybody listening?
Ari Melber
V.G. Kiernan: Historian of Humankind

Remembering a historian of the left, an ideological warrior against empire, witness to India’s anticolonial struggles and a persuasive critic of torture and government oppression.
John Trumpbour
Economically Fueled Upheaval

As people lose confidence in the ability of markets and governments to solve the global crisis, the likeliness of violence increases.
Michael T. Klare
We Need a Department of Homegrown Security

Drop the scary Bush lingo and start creating resilient communities than can effectively recover from disaster in this age of financial and climate chaos.
Chip Ward
Lessons in Democracy From Bangladesh

An instructive election in Bangladesh demonstrates that in Muslim countries around the world, the United States really needs to let democracy take its own course.
Jalal Alamgir
Opening the Files on Bush’s Secrets

Freedom of Information wish list: What did Treasury do with the TARP money? Who authorized torture? Plus, warrantless wiretap targets, FEMA’s Katrina records and White House e-mail.
Jon Wiener
Tibetan Exiles: ‘We Shall Overcome’

Activists take inspiration from Rosa Parks, Gandhi and the Ruckus Society.
Amy Yee
Surfers vs. the Superferry

How grassroots activists in Hawaii threw a wrench into plans for an environmentally hazardous superferry.
Jerry Mander and Koohan Paik
A Global Green Deal

America must step up and lead an international campaign to curb emissions. Done properly, it will green the planet and our wallets.
Mark Hertsgaard

Editorial

Partial Peace, Looming War

The peace movement claims victory with Obama’s promise to pull US troops from Iraq by 2011. But elsewhere in a volatile world, a long war looms.
Tom Hayden
The Post’s Stimulus Chimp

The uproar over the New York Post‘s racially insensitive cartoon has nothing to do with Al Sharpton and everything to do with the ugly history of stereotypes.
Les Payne
Why We Detain the Innocent

Yet again the courts have ignored the Constitution and legal precedent, leaving seventeen innocent Guantánamo detainees in legal limbo.
Aziz Huq
Crisis of Faith

As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reviews defrocked priest Paul Shanley’s conviction on child rape charges, “repressed memory” will be held up to scientific scrutiny.
JoAnn Wypijewski
Noted.

MOVING ON: Justin Ruben, the new executive director of MoveOn.org, brought a message from his 5 million members when he met with President Barack Obama at a
The Editors
Obama ♥ Carrots

The White House plan to keep homeowners out of foreclosure seems to have the stick-to-carrot ratio about right.
Chris Hayes
Obama’s Call to Action

Let’s make sure Obama’s investment in America’s future isn’t squandered in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The Editors
GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS FOR LESS THAN $3 A MONTH!

Subscribe

Column

Barry Bonds in Context

This is not about steroids, or an arrogant athlete getting his comeuppance–it’s about the mess Bush made of the Justice Department.
Dave Zirin
AIG: Billions Dished Out in the Dark

Taxpayers now own 80 percent of virtually worthless AIG–for us, this bailout is all pain and no gain.
Robert Scheer
The Second Great Depression

People are beginning to say that the Big One has arrived. But how will we know? And what will it take to emerge from it?
Nicholas von Hoffman
Precarious Populism

The global depression is spawning social unrest, which the extreme right might try to hijack–a good reason for the left to be well organized and engaged.
Gary Younge
War Is Over (If You Want It)

This just in: we won the Iraq War. And for the past eight years George W. Bush kept us safe.
Eric Alterman
Pundits Say Washington Must Instill Confidence

It’s something money can’t buy.
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

The GOP’s Hip-Hop Makeover

Michael Steele’s getting funky, frantically remixing the GOP message, in hopes of reaching new generation of conservative voters. Is anybody listening?
Ari Melber
V.G. Kiernan: Historian of Humankind

Remembering a historian of the left, an ideological warrior against empire, witness to India’s anticolonial struggles and a persuasive critic of torture and government oppression.
John Trumpbour
In the Money

An exhibit of New Yorker cartoons at the Morgan Library shows that, for the rich, America itself is enemy territory.
Charles Taylor
Photography’s Ghosts: The Image and Its Artifice

Two new books explore the truths and artifice of photography.
Frances Richard
Back Talk: Alva Noë

Philosopher Alva Noë talks about the brain, consciousness and animal rights.
Christine Smallwood
Lab Test: Who Profits From Scientific Research?

Does the profit motive distort and degrade the unpredictable path of scientific discovery?
William Deresiewicz
That This

Susan Howe
The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Sign up

Letters

The Future of Social Security

New York City
William Greider and Our Readers

Crossword

Puzzle No. 3160

ACROSS

1 Evidently something like the puma pounces–but such are not legitimate occasions of inaction. (7,7)
Frank W. Lewis

Log In

March 16, 2009 Issue

Feature

Michael Steele’s getting funky, frantically remixing the GOP message, in hopes of reaching new generation of conservative voters. Is anybody listening?

Remembering a historian of the left, an ideological warrior against empire, witness to India’s anticolonial struggles and a persuasive critic of torture and government oppression.

As people lose confidence in the ability of markets and governments to solve the global crisis, the likeliness of violence increases.

Drop the scary Bush lingo and start creating resilient communities than can effectively recover from disaster in this age of financial and climate chaos.

An instructive election in Bangladesh demonstrates that in Muslim countries around the world, the United States really needs to let democracy take its own course.

Freedom of Information wish list: What did Treasury do with the TARP money? Who authorized torture? Plus, warrantless wiretap targets, FEMA’s Katrina records and White House e-mail.

Activists take inspiration from Rosa Parks, Gandhi and the Ruckus Society.

How grassroots activists in Hawaii threw a wrench into plans for an environmentally hazardous superferry.

America must step up and lead an international campaign to curb emissions. Done properly, it will green the planet and our wallets.

Editorial

The peace movement claims victory with Obama’s promise to pull US troops from Iraq by 2011. But elsewhere in a volatile world, a long war looms.

The uproar over the New York Post‘s racially insensitive cartoon has nothing to do with Al Sharpton and everything to do with the ugly history of stereotypes.

Yet again the courts have ignored the Constitution and legal precedent, leaving seventeen innocent Guantánamo detainees in legal limbo.

As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reviews defrocked priest Paul Shanley’s conviction on child rape charges, “repressed memory” will be held up to scientific scrutiny.

MOVING ON: Justin Ruben, the new executive director of MoveOn.org, brought a message from his 5 million members when he met with President Barack Obama at a

The White House plan to keep homeowners out of foreclosure seems to have the stick-to-carrot ratio about right.

Let’s make sure Obama’s investment in America’s future isn’t squandered in the mountains of Afghanistan.

GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS FOR LESS THAN $3 A MONTH!

Column

This is not about steroids, or an arrogant athlete getting his comeuppance–it’s about the mess Bush made of the Justice Department.

Taxpayers now own 80 percent of virtually worthless AIG–for us, this bailout is all pain and no gain.

People are beginning to say that the Big One has arrived. But how will we know? And what will it take to emerge from it?

The global depression is spawning social unrest, which the extreme right might try to hijack–a good reason for the left to be well organized and engaged.

This just in: we won the Iraq War. And for the past eight years George W. Bush kept us safe.

It’s something money can’t buy.

Books & the Arts

Michael Steele’s getting funky, frantically remixing the GOP message, in hopes of reaching new generation of conservative voters. Is anybody listening?

Remembering a historian of the left, an ideological warrior against empire, witness to India’s anticolonial struggles and a persuasive critic of torture and government oppression.

An exhibit of New Yorker cartoons at the Morgan Library shows that, for the rich, America itself is enemy territory.

Two new books explore the truths and artifice of photography.

Philosopher Alva Noë talks about the brain, consciousness and animal rights.

Does the profit motive distort and degrade the unpredictable path of scientific discovery?

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Letters

New York City

Crossword

ACROSS 1 Evidently something like the puma pounces–but such are not legitimate occasions of inaction. (7,7)

ACROSS

1 Evidently something like the puma pounces–but such are not legitimate occasions of inaction. (7,7)