The Reaches of Stringency: On Philip Larkin The Reaches of Stringency: On Philip Larkin
Self-congratulation, deceptions and the art of failure.
Aug 8, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Michael Wood
Chris Hayes Gets Called ‘Media Elite’ by Stephen Colbert Chris Hayes Gets Called ‘Media Elite’ by Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert took Hayes to task on his show, holding up Hayes's book Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy.
Aug 6, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Press Room
‘Secundus Defecated Here’: What Ancient Graffiti Means Today ‘Secundus Defecated Here’: What Ancient Graffiti Means Today
If you’re under the false impression that the world is falling into utter moral disrepair, turn your eyes toward Pompeii.
Jul 26, 2012 / Blog / Cord Jefferson
Alexander Cockburn: He Beat the Devil Alexander Cockburn: He Beat the Devil
The Nation’s longest-running columnist was a witty, brilliant, coruscating presence in our pages for almost thirty years.
Jul 25, 2012 / Editorial / Victor Navasky
Remembering Alex Remembering Alex
For what the ancients called avarice and iniquity, Alex’s hate was pure. No writer had a deadlier sting against the corruptions of empire.
Jul 25, 2012 / Editorial / JoAnn Wypijewski
For Real: Torture America Style For Real: Torture America Style
Institutionalized torture says not look what we can do, but look what we disown, what only the bad apples among us require.
Jul 24, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Peter C. Baker
Subterranean Blues: On ExxonMobil Subterranean Blues: On ExxonMobil
Moral indignation is no longer enough to combat the power of Big Oil.
Jul 24, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Kim Phillips-Fein
George McGovern at 90: Still a Patriot With a Bleeding Heart George McGovern at 90: Still a Patriot With a Bleeding Heart
McGovern has always practiced a politics that runs deeper; a politics rooted in his love of America’s history, its literature and its possibility.
Jul 19, 2012 / Blog / John Nichols
We Hate It ‘Cause It’s His: A Republican Sea Chantey We Hate It ‘Cause It’s His: A Republican Sea Chantey
“[The individual mandate had] been at the heart of Republican health-care reforms for two decades. The mandate made its political début in a 1989 Heritage Foundation brief titled ‘Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans,’ as a counterpoint to the single-payer system and the employer mandate, which were favored in Democratic circles…. The mandate made its first legislative appearance in 1993, in the Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act—the Republicans’ alternative to President Clinton’s health- reform bill.” —Ezra Klein, The New Yorker Oh, why do we so loathe this thing? We used to love it so. We used to say, “For health reform This is the way to go.” We said it was free enterprise (And we explained just how). If this was our idea back then, How could we hate it now? We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. That’s what our hatred is. You needn’t be a whiz, lads, to ace this simple quiz. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his. If Mitt’s plan was the model here, What caused this great upheaval? If Mitt’s makes sense, then why is this Just socialistic evil? If this approach once seemed so good That all of us were for it, How come it is so wicked now That all of us abhor it? We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. That’s what our hatred is. You needn’t be a whiz, lads, to ace this simple quiz. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his.
Jul 11, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
The Great Disparity The Great Disparity
Timothy Noah and Charles Murray offer starkly different explanations of growing economic and social inequality in the United States.
Jul 10, 2012 / Books & the Arts / William Julius Wilson