With the Party of Dobson

At the unofficial GOP midterm convention, Focus on the Family delivered election-day marching orders to the faithful, praising GOP hopefuls and hurling jeremiads against liberals, "faggots" and Fallujans.

Max Blumenthal

War Signals?

As a strike group of six US Naval vessels prepares to deploy to the Persian Gulf, wary critics of the Bush Administration and some members of the military are raising flags that an "October surprise" attack on Iran may be imminent. Others are skeptical.

Dave Lindorff

Fidel Lives

Few Americans, especially those in government, know much about Cuba. And nowhere is that more evident than in the coverage of Fidel Castro's illness and the transition of power.

Ned Sublette

Hell of a Times

A nasty succession battle is brewing at the conservative Washington Times, its newsroom abuzz with allegations of racism, sexism and unprofessional conduct.

Max Blumenthal

Get Me Rewrite

Bill Clinton maintains that the mainstream media has misrepresented his record on fighting terror. But it will take a generation to meaningfully assess his effectiveness.

Mark Updegrove

Torture is a Moral Issue

Will we be a nation that abides by our own Constitution and upholds international law? Or will we become a nation that punishes those who follow the orders while exonerating those who give them?

The Nation

The Pope’s Monopoly on Reason

Pope Benedict XVI's controversial speech is indeed a call for dialogue among all religions. But what kind of dialogue is possible if the Pope believes his ideas are "rational" and everyone else's are not?

Tarif Khalidi and Muhammad Ali Khalidi

Rewriting the Sixties

Decency is a subjective perception. And so arbitrary.

Paul Krassner

Spanish Justice

The courts of Spain have already tried human rights violators from Chile and Argentina. Those responsible for torturing, imprisoning and killing 200,000 Mayans during Guatemala's thirty-six-year civil war may be next.

Geoff Pingree and Lisa Abend

Driving While Muslim

As the hunt for homegrown terrorists sympathetic to Hezbollah intensifies, the Muslims of Dearborn, Michigan are losing their trust in American justice.

Spencer Ackerman

The Growing Wage Gap

A winning economic strategy for Democrats: Push for realistic policies to relieve workers' frustrations, rebuild their damaged confidence and improve lifetime security.

Jeff Madrick

Déjà Vu on Iran?

The Bush Administration is trying to use flawed intelligence to whip up public support for military action against Iran. Can they get away with this again?

the Editors

Snapshot of a Plutocracy

Every person on this year's Forbes 400 list of America's richest people is a billionaire, who collectively possess about $1.25 trillion. Imagine how many Congressmen that will buy.

Nicholas von Hoffman

Screamin’ at the Machine

We should be cheering at sports events and screaming at politicians. But these days, it's vice versa. Now that ESPN's Screamin' Stephen A. Smith is acting like a pundit, things could change.

Dave Zirin

A Distinct Lack of Intelligence

If George W. Bush took the latest National Intelligence Estimate seriously, he would end the ineffectual "war on terror" model and treat terrorism as a pathology to be clinically and relentlessly excised.

Robert Scheer

Single-Issue Solipsism

NARAL ProChoice America wants its sisters in Connecticut to support Joe Lieberman. Are they out of their minds?

Katha Pollitt

From Flying Saucers to 9/11

The world is in tumult, but in the heart of Empire, the level of creative political energy runs flat along the bottom of the graph.

Alexander Cockburn

George W. Bush and Some Republican Senators Discuss the Geneva Conventions

The Decider takes on that bothersome Constitution and that meddling Congress.

Calvin Trillin

Screamin’ at the Machine

We should be cheering at sports events and screaming at politicians. But these days, it's vice versa. Now that ESPN's Screamin' Stephen A. Smith is acting like a pundit, things could change.

Dave Zirin

Dead Flowers

Reviews of Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia and Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy.

Stuart Klawans

Father Knows Best

Have you attacked the Founding Fathers lately? Know anyone who has? Gordon Wood knows you're out there, on a campaign to dehumanize Washington, Jefferson and their peers.

Nicholas Guyatt

Laundry

Our cat, who's over nineteen, likes to sleep
on the massed softness of a pile of shirts,
two, three, four, flung on the floor
but soon to be gathered up

Rachel Hadas

Science Fiction

Richard Powers's The Echo Maker speaks volumes about neuroscience, nature and environmental degradation. But it says little about what it means to be alive.

William Deresiewicz

Letters

Jonathan Schell's "Too Late for Empire" drew much praise from readers [Aug. 14/21].