November 14, 2005 Issue

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

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Feature

Abramoff’s Last Stand

Senator John McCain’s latest Senate inquiry into über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff strikes deep in the corrupt heart of the Bush Administration.
Ari Berman
Changing the Electoral Game in Colombia

In a landmark ruling, Colombia’s Constitutional Court has allowed President Alvaro Uribe to seek a second term. That’s good news for the Bush Administration, which considers Uribe a staunch ally. But others in Colombia are not so sure.
Liliana Segura
Senate Democrats Show Some Spine

Senate minority leader Harry Reid forced Republicans into a closed-door session Tuesday to examine the Administration’s use and misuse of intelligence on Iraq. Could Democrats finally be acting like an opposition party?
John Nichols
Rising Prices + Higher Interest Rates = Middle-Class Misery

Interest rates nosed higher today as the Federal Reserve Board sought to control inflation. But the impact of runaway inflation is already being felt by workers whose wages will stagnate and whose earning power is on a steep decline.
Nicholas von Hoffman
Did Cheney Know Plame Was Undercover?

The indictment of I. Lewis Libby indictment casts Vice President Dick Cheney in a key role in the CIA leak investigation: It suggests Cheney had reason to suspect Valerie Wilson was a covert officer.
David Corn
Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh: Iraq Confidential

Iraq is a nation on fire, a conflagration of America’s making that threatens to consume everything the nation stands for. How did we get there? How do we get out? Can we get out?
The Nation
The White House Criminal Conspiracy

The Bush Administration should be prosecuted for conspiracy to defraud the United States by using half-truths and recklessly false statements to lead the country into an illegal war. This article, is a collaboration with TomDispatch.com.
Elizabeth de la Vega
Salvador Memories

An exhibit at the International Center of Photography showcasing the brutal images of the civil war in El Salvador should remind the Pentagon and the public that the “Salvador Option” currently considered by the military leads directly to the charnel house.
Scott Sherman
Say It Ain’t So, Big Leagues

Strip-mining the Dominican Republic for talent, Major League Baseball periodically plucks one lucky boy from his home and family and gives him a dream for a better life. But what happens the other 99 left behind in “baseball factories,” still hoping?
Dave Zirin
Corruption of Hope in Brazil

Luis Inacio Lula da Silva came into power in 2002 on a wave of populist support for an era of socialist politics and participatory democracy. But da Silva has offered the people of Brazil a corrupt leadership instead.
Hilary Wainwright
The Question of Kurdistan

The Kurds have almost no natural resources and suffer from a culture of corruption. But their call for autonomy is a serious threat to the building of a united Iraq.
Christian Parenti

Editorial

New Medicare Benefit Helps Only Drug Companies

Why are so few elderly people signing up for the new Medicare drug benefit? It’s cumbersome, costly and totally confusing.
Dr. Marc Siegel
Serious Questions for Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Questions for Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.: What are the rights of an individual before the law? Are these rights any different from what Alito views as the rights of a corporation?
Morton Mintz
Can Dems Say ‘Finito’ to ‘Scalito’?

If the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court becomes the titanic battle that both sides in the judicial wars have been anticipating for years, Democrats must create a new playbook. If they stick to the same old strategies, they could end up wishing that Harriet Miers had fared better.
David Corn
Lessons From the Miers Debacle

What have Bush and his allies learned from this sorry epidode? Intellectual substance matters. Executive privilege is not absolute. Roe v. Wade is a bear trap for the GOP.
Bruce Shapiro
Minority/Majority

The attempt to fashion a distinct Democratic identity was temporarily halted when Elaine Kamarck and William Galston published a self-serving call for Democrats to move to the “center.” But nearly every Senate Democrat voted for a raise in the minimum wage, a clear move exclusive to the party.
David Sirota
In Fact…

ROSA PARKS, 1913-2005
The Editors
State of the Magazines

On both sides of the Atlantic, liberal news magazines facing declining circulation have started to play into the celebrity culture. But there are gems that have the power to carry our culture through its Las Vegas-ization.
Victor Navasky
A Tale of Two Tragedies

The Pakistan earthquake has left 3.3 million people homeless–far more than the tsunami. But suffering Pakistanis are either being preyed upon by Islamist groups or ignored by the uniformed establishment–with no sign of recovery.
Tariq Ali
Conservative Crackup

Bush’s lavish subsidies and reckless attempts to export democracy through the barrel of a gun violate conservative principles. Republican realists are finally catching on.
Eyal Press
Culture of Collusion

The deceit and misinformation evidenced in the CIA leak scandal is poison to an open society. We need a tough investigation of how the American people were misled on the Iraq war, a more skeptical media and real leadership from Democrats.
The Editors
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Column

How Reporters Helped Lead Us to War

Reporters like Judith Miller who fought to avoid testifying in the CIA leak case were knowing accomplices in the White House’s attempt to punish a whistle-blower. By failing to report the truth, they bear responsibility for leading us into an illegal war.
Robert Scheer
Madam President, Madam President

As the backlash against women gets daily more open and absurd, our real-life female politicians seem paralyzed. It’s up to television now: Run, Geena, run!
Katha Pollitt
Final Days: Only 39 Months to Go

On Capitol Hill there’s open warfare among various factions of the Republican Party. With midterm elections looming and Bush’s approval ratings tumbling, the collapse of discipline will only accelerate amid the general panic.
Alexander Cockburn
Another Miracle From Bill Frist

The doctor who proved himself a master of distant diagosis has one more trick up his sleeve.
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

Madam President, Madam President

As the backlash against women gets daily more open and absurd, our real-life female politicians seem paralyzed. It’s up to television now: Run, Geena, run!
Katha Pollitt
Another Miracle From Bill Frist

The doctor who proved himself a master of distant diagosis has one more trick up his sleeve.
Calvin Trillin
State of the Magazines

On both sides of the Atlantic, liberal news magazines facing declining circulation have started to play into the celebrity culture. But there are gems that have the power to carry our culture through its Las Vegas-ization.
Victor Navasky
Salvador Memories

An exhibit at the International Center of Photography showcasing the brutal images of the civil war in El Salvador should remind the Pentagon and the public that the “Salvador Option” currently considered by the military leads directly to the charnel house.
Scott Sherman
Passion

It isn’t the choir of small boys, casting about, singing shyly or
It isn’t with perfect oval mouths,
David Mason
Writer’s Block

An e-mail from my rabbi, who’s moved to the West Coast,
says they’re “happier than pigs in shit.” Something
forced about that. People with a new grandchild don’t boast
Alan Feldman
The Uncertainty Principle

By writing a novel about a conventional novelist writing about a conventional man, J.M. Coetzee’s latest work illuminates the role of the novel and cuts through typical and tired theories on fiction.
Pankaj Mishra
The War of the Liberals

Power and the Idealists clings to the notion that the Iraq War was waged for humanitarian ideals, while At the Point of a Gun documents the inner torment of humanitarian interventionists who, without forgetting Rwanda and Bosnia, have gazed into the Iraqi abyss.
Stephen Holmes
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Letters

Web Letters

Readers write back on the New York Times, the Delphi bankruptcy and mounting Iraqi opposition to the US-led occupation.
Our Readers
Letters

TENDER MERCENARIES

Falls Church, Va.
Our Readers and Jeremy Scahill

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November 14, 2005 Issue

Feature

Senator John McCain’s latest Senate inquiry into über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff strikes deep in the corrupt heart of the Bush Administration.

In a landmark ruling, Colombia’s Constitutional Court has allowed President Alvaro Uribe to seek a second term. That’s good news for the Bush Administration, which considers Uribe a staunch ally. But others in Colombia are not so sure.

Senate minority leader Harry Reid forced Republicans into a closed-door session Tuesday to examine the Administration’s use and misuse of intelligence on Iraq. Could Democrats finally be acting like an opposition party?

Interest rates nosed higher today as the Federal Reserve Board sought to control inflation. But the impact of runaway inflation is already being felt by workers whose wages will stagnate and whose earning power is on a steep decline.

The indictment of I. Lewis Libby indictment casts Vice President Dick Cheney in a key role in the CIA leak investigation: It suggests Cheney had reason to suspect Valerie Wilson was a covert officer.

Iraq is a nation on fire, a conflagration of America’s making that threatens to consume everything the nation stands for. How did we get there? How do we get out? Can we get out?

The Bush Administration should be prosecuted for conspiracy to defraud the United States by using half-truths and recklessly false statements to lead the country into an illegal war. This article, is a collaboration with TomDispatch.com.

An exhibit at the International Center of Photography showcasing the brutal images of the civil war in El Salvador should remind the Pentagon and the public that the “Salvador Option” currently considered by the military leads directly to the charnel house.

Strip-mining the Dominican Republic for talent, Major League Baseball periodically plucks one lucky boy from his home and family and gives him a dream for a better life. But what happens the other 99 left behind in “baseball factories,” still hoping?

Luis Inacio Lula da Silva came into power in 2002 on a wave of populist support for an era of socialist politics and participatory democracy. But da Silva has offered the people of Brazil a corrupt leadership instead.

The Kurds have almost no natural resources and suffer from a culture of corruption. But their call for autonomy is a serious threat to the building of a united Iraq.

Editorial

Why are so few elderly people signing up for the new Medicare drug benefit? It’s cumbersome, costly and totally confusing.

Questions for Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.: What are the rights of an individual before the law? Are these rights any different from what Alito views as the rights of a corporation?

If the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court becomes the titanic battle that both sides in the judicial wars have been anticipating for years, Democrats must create a new playbook. If they stick to the same old strategies, they could end up wishing that Harriet Miers had fared better.

What have Bush and his allies learned from this sorry epidode? Intellectual substance matters. Executive privilege is not absolute. Roe v. Wade is a bear trap for the GOP.

The attempt to fashion a distinct Democratic identity was temporarily halted when Elaine Kamarck and William Galston published a self-serving call for Democrats to move to the “center.” But nearly every Senate Democrat voted for a raise in the minimum wage, a clear move exclusive to the party.

ROSA PARKS, 1913-2005

On both sides of the Atlantic, liberal news magazines facing declining circulation have started to play into the celebrity culture. But there are gems that have the power to carry our culture through its Las Vegas-ization.

The Pakistan earthquake has left 3.3 million people homeless–far more than the tsunami. But suffering Pakistanis are either being preyed upon by Islamist groups or ignored by the uniformed establishment–with no sign of recovery.

Bush’s lavish subsidies and reckless attempts to export democracy through the barrel of a gun violate conservative principles. Republican realists are finally catching on.

The deceit and misinformation evidenced in the CIA leak scandal is poison to an open society. We need a tough investigation of how the American people were misled on the Iraq war, a more skeptical media and real leadership from Democrats.

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

Column

Reporters like Judith Miller who fought to avoid testifying in the CIA leak case were knowing accomplices in the White House’s attempt to punish a whistle-blower. By failing to report the truth, they bear responsibility for leading us into an illegal war.

As the backlash against women gets daily more open and absurd, our real-life female politicians seem paralyzed. It’s up to television now: Run, Geena, run!

On Capitol Hill there’s open warfare among various factions of the Republican Party. With midterm elections looming and Bush’s approval ratings tumbling, the collapse of discipline will only accelerate amid the general panic.

The doctor who proved himself a master of distant diagosis has one more trick up his sleeve.

Books & the Arts

As the backlash against women gets daily more open and absurd, our real-life female politicians seem paralyzed. It’s up to television now: Run, Geena, run!

The doctor who proved himself a master of distant diagosis has one more trick up his sleeve.

On both sides of the Atlantic, liberal news magazines facing declining circulation have started to play into the celebrity culture. But there are gems that have the power to carry our culture through its Las Vegas-ization.

An exhibit at the International Center of Photography showcasing the brutal images of the civil war in El Salvador should remind the Pentagon and the public that the “Salvador Option” currently considered by the military leads directly to the charnel house.

It isn’t the choir of small boys, casting about, singing shyly or It isn’t with perfect oval mouths,

An e-mail from my rabbi, who’s moved to the West Coast, says they’re “happier than pigs in shit.” Something forced about that. People with a new grandchild don’t boast

By writing a novel about a conventional novelist writing about a conventional man, J.M. Coetzee’s latest work illuminates the role of the novel and cuts through typical and tired theories on fiction.

Power and the Idealists clings to the notion that the Iraq War was waged for humanitarian ideals, while At the Point of a Gun documents the inner torment of humanitarian interventionists who, without forgetting Rwanda and Bosnia, have gazed into the Iraqi abyss.

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

Letters

Readers write back on the New York Times, the Delphi bankruptcy and mounting Iraqi opposition to the US-led occupation.

TENDER MERCENARIES Falls Church, Va.

It isn’t the choir of small boys, casting about, singing shyly or
It isn’t with perfect oval mouths,

An e-mail from my rabbi, who’s moved to the West Coast,
says they’re “happier than pigs in shit.” Something
forced about that. People with a new grandchild don’t boast

TENDER MERCENARIES

Falls Church, Va.