November 2, 2009 Issue

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

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Feature

Pelosi Champions the Public Option

A Congressional Budget Office report suggesting that a robust public option would actually cut the deficit seems to have lit a fire under Speaker Pelosi.
Lindsay Beyerstein
More OutrAIGe

Nightmare on Wall Street continues–come March 2010, AIG plans on upping the bonuses for its Financial Products division to nearly $200 million, bringing the total to $426 million since December 2008.
Greg Kaufmann
A Witness to Total War

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the only neutral filmmaker in the country was Julien Bryan. His round-the-clock footage of Warsaw’s destruction, assembled in Siege, is now again on view.
Daniel Eagan
Lessons From the Long War and a Blowback World

Will today’s US-armed ally be tomorrow’s enemy?
Tom Engelhardt
‘War on Terror’ II

Obama makes reassuring noises about constraining executive power and protecting civil liberties, but then adopts whatever appalling policy Bush put in place.
Julian Sanchez
Happy Days?

Happy days are here again–if you’re Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
A Female Economics Laureate: Why Only Now?

The first female winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics serves as both a landmark and an alarming reflection of the limited role of women in the physical sciences.
Sarah Stodola
Nice Work If You Can Get It

Some public servants collect their reward after leaving government. Gene Sperling, adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, earned his before.
William Greider
Children of the Occupation

Hundreds of Palestinian children are imprisoned in Israeli jails every year. Their story, overlooked in recent media reports, tells the true cost of the occupation.
Andrea D’Cruz
Kilcullen’s Long War

An influential Pentagon strategist advocates a fifty-year counterinsurgency campaign.
Tom Hayden
Confessions of an AIPAC Veteran

Tom Dine, for thirteen years head of AIPAC, now works for a two-state solution and on improving US-Syrian relations.
Helena Cobban
American Jews Rethink Israel

The Jewish push for peace is surging through the grassroots, but leaders and policy-makers are still turning a deaf ear.
Adam Horowitz and Philip Weiss

Editorial

Why the Health Insurance Excise Tax Is a Bad Idea

Max Baucus’s scheme to tax the benefits of workers slightly better off–so revenue can be raised for private insurance subsidies–is a lose-lose proposition.
Steve Early and Rand Wilson
New Rules for Schools

The most effective way to fight violence in schools is not the widespread “zero tolerance” model. Thankfully, Clayton County, Georgia, may have the perfect solution.
Amy Bach
Left Turn in Jersey

By embracing the left instead of running to the center, New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Jon Corzine has revitalized his once-troubled re-election campaign.
John Nichols
Noted.

GOP obstruction of Obama appointees continues to succeed; an immigration-policing program draws substantial heat; The Nation‘s Gary Younge receives Britain’s prestigious James Cameron Memorial Award.
The Editors
The ACORN Standard

A growing number of lawmakers are starting to ask: if ACORN’s federal funding should be under intense scrutiny, why aren’t the billions of dollars going to out-of-control contractors being regulated?
Jeremy Scahill
Obama’s Nobel

Did the president deserve to win the Nobel Peace Prize? No, of course not. But he still has a chance to earn it.
The Editors
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Column

Zooming In on the Year’s Biggest Hoax

If we could get one of the banking lobbyists to float a duct-taped flying saucer balloon, Wolf Blitzer might cover the real hoax.
Robert Scheer
Obama’s Bad Influence

Just because the United States is trying to be a global team player again doesn’t mean the game gets better rules.
Naomi Klein
German Party Politics: Color Them Blurry

Leftist parties in Germany offer a range of choices but no cohesive challenge to the right.
Katha Pollitt
A Gift From the Ramparts of Capital…

People shouldn’t take Peace Prizes too seriously except under those rare circumstances when a prize committee somewhere gets it right.
Alexander Cockburn
Three Possible Explanations From the Nobel Committee

They have some justifying to do.
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

A Witness to Total War

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the only neutral filmmaker in the country was Julien Bryan. His round-the-clock footage of Warsaw’s destruction, assembled in Siege, is now again on view.
Daniel Eagan
Changing the Metaphor

For Jackson Lears, the United States remains in thrall to a bogus spiritual quest born of a refusal to face the tragedy of the Civil War.
Richard White
Honey and Salt

Technology has made us capable of exterminating ourselves. In The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood wonders what might save us.
William Deresiewicz
A Gift From the Ramparts of Capital…

People shouldn’t take Peace Prizes too seriously except under those rare circumstances when a prize committee somewhere gets it right.
Alexander Cockburn
Aubade

Andrew Zawacki
The Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue (Excerpt)

Claudia Rankine
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Letters

Right On, ‘Right On’!

Guatemala City
Kim Phillips-Fein and Our Readers

Crossword

Puzzle No. 3189

ACROSS

1 and 11 Fools around with noises that the watch makes. Piffle! (12)
Frank W. Lewis

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November 2, 2009 Issue

Feature

A Congressional Budget Office report suggesting that a robust public option would actually cut the deficit seems to have lit a fire under Speaker Pelosi.

Nightmare on Wall Street continues–come March 2010, AIG plans on upping the bonuses for its Financial Products division to nearly $200 million, bringing the total to $426 million since December 2008.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the only neutral filmmaker in the country was Julien Bryan. His round-the-clock footage of Warsaw’s destruction, assembled in Siege, is now again on view.

Will today’s US-armed ally be tomorrow’s enemy?

Obama makes reassuring noises about constraining executive power and protecting civil liberties, but then adopts whatever appalling policy Bush put in place.

Happy days are here again–if you’re Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.

The first female winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics serves as both a landmark and an alarming reflection of the limited role of women in the physical sciences.

Some public servants collect their reward after leaving government. Gene Sperling, adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, earned his before.

Hundreds of Palestinian children are imprisoned in Israeli jails every year. Their story, overlooked in recent media reports, tells the true cost of the occupation.

An influential Pentagon strategist advocates a fifty-year counterinsurgency campaign.

Tom Dine, for thirteen years head of AIPAC, now works for a two-state solution and on improving US-Syrian relations.

The Jewish push for peace is surging through the grassroots, but leaders and policy-makers are still turning a deaf ear.

Editorial

Max Baucus’s scheme to tax the benefits of workers slightly better off–so revenue can be raised for private insurance subsidies–is a lose-lose proposition.

The most effective way to fight violence in schools is not the widespread “zero tolerance” model. Thankfully, Clayton County, Georgia, may have the perfect solution.

By embracing the left instead of running to the center, New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Jon Corzine has revitalized his once-troubled re-election campaign.

GOP obstruction of Obama appointees continues to succeed; an immigration-policing program draws substantial heat; The Nation‘s Gary Younge receives Britain’s prestigious James Cameron Memorial Award.

A growing number of lawmakers are starting to ask: if ACORN’s federal funding should be under intense scrutiny, why aren’t the billions of dollars going to out-of-control contractors being regulated?

Did the president deserve to win the Nobel Peace Prize? No, of course not. But he still has a chance to earn it.

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

Column

If we could get one of the banking lobbyists to float a duct-taped flying saucer balloon, Wolf Blitzer might cover the real hoax.

Just because the United States is trying to be a global team player again doesn’t mean the game gets better rules.

Leftist parties in Germany offer a range of choices but no cohesive challenge to the right.

People shouldn’t take Peace Prizes too seriously except under those rare circumstances when a prize committee somewhere gets it right.

They have some justifying to do.

Books & the Arts

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the only neutral filmmaker in the country was Julien Bryan. His round-the-clock footage of Warsaw’s destruction, assembled in Siege, is now again on view.

For Jackson Lears, the United States remains in thrall to a bogus spiritual quest born of a refusal to face the tragedy of the Civil War.

Technology has made us capable of exterminating ourselves. In The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood wonders what might save us.

People shouldn’t take Peace Prizes too seriously except under those rare circumstances when a prize committee somewhere gets it right.

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

Letters

Guatemala City

Crossword

ACROSS 1 and 11 Fools around with noises that the watch makes. Piffle! (12)

ACROSS

1 and 11 Fools around with noises that the watch makes. Piffle! (12)