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August 17, 2009 Issue

Calvin Trillin on late-night comics, Gary Younge on the Henry Louis Gates arrest and Ruth Scurr on the the French Revolution…

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

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Editorial

Statement on Missing US Hikers

Three Americans, including Shane Bauer, a contributor to The Nation, went missing while on a hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan and are presumed to be detained by Iranian author...

Shon Meckfessel

A Rancid Deal with Big Pharma

Did Obama sell out? If House Democrats don't insist on the government's prerogative to bargain for lower prices, reform is impossible.

William Greider

Hiroshima Day

The official secrecy and deceptions about our nuclear weapons posture and policies and their possible consequences have threatened the survival of the human species.

Daniel Ellsberg

How to Talk to Wall Street (If You Must)

Obama shouldn't tone down his rhetoric on contentious subjects like racial profiling and executive bonuses. In fact he should emulate politicians of the past who often went off scr...

Richard Lingeman

Bend It Like Obama?

With healthcare reform, the White House has transformed an intimate issue into a technical argument about long-term actuarial projections.

Chris Hayes

The Story of a Fixer

A haunting documentary shines a light on the foreign "fixers" who work behind the scenes with reporters to determine how the story of war gets told.

The Editors

Noted.

Prison-based gerrymandering; a college journalist's big scoop about Bill Clinton; our day in court

The Editors

Dire States

Banks and financial institutions were never "too big to fail." State and local governments are.

John Nichols

Column

Letting the Banking Rats Out of the Bag

The average American is paying for the banking debacle not only in taxes for the bailout but with lost jobs and homes.

Robert Scheer

Boxing’s Month From Hell

Eight professional boxers died under dubious circumstances during one month this summer. Why hasn't there been a national outcry for industry reform?

Dave Zirin

Banking Bandits Get Their Reward

By now everybody must know that the top banking executives responsible for our economic meltdown have no shame.

Robert Scheer

The Paulsons’ Edifice Complex

For Henry Paulson and his son Merritt, the taxpayers of Portland, Oregon, must look like geese with an infinite supply of golden eggs.

Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff

Beer and Sympathy

Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest most certainly was a "teachable moment" in the racial conversation--but we've learned nothing.

Gary Younge

Class, Not ‘Race’

No racial profiling took place with Henry Louis Gates Jr.; it's not the "teachable moment" for which many are so understandably eager.

Eric Alterman

Late-Night Comics Watch Sarah Palin’s Formal Farewell Speech

Calvin Trillin

Letters

Band-Aid Malfunction
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Our Readers

Feature

Warehousing Soldiers in the Homeland

A single platoon lost in a military limbo is a measurement of the stress under which the US Army now operates.

Dahr Jamail and Sarah Lazare

Corrupt Democracy in India

Despite vast advances in India's economy, human rights in one of the world's largest democracies remain a major issue. From abuses by police to political violence, India has a lon...

Barbara Crossette

US Still Paying Blackwater Millions

Despite the State Department's announcement canceling Blackwater's contracts in Iraq, the Obama administration will pay the company more than $174 million for security services in ...

Jeremy Scahill

Gaza in Conflict

Besieged by Israel and the West, mired in civil conflict and under increasing Islamist pressures, Gazans feel the world has forgotten them.

Antony Loewenstein

We Need More Protest to Make Reform Possible

If progressives are serious about economic and healthcare reform, they must embrace the same approach with Obama they once took with FDR and "make him do it."

Peter Dreier

For the Sixty-Fourth Time: No More Nuclear War

On the 64th anniversary of atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki the threat of a nuclear war remains potent. US nuclear policy hasn't changed enough since the Bush years.

Frida Berrigan

Money for Nothing

Two new studies indicate that Wall Street's profits and bonuses are vastly disproportionate to the value the industry adds to the economy.

Jeff Madrick

Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Implicated in Murder

Sworn statements filed in federal court allege that Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched a “crusade” to eliminate Muslims and Islam.

Jeremy Scahill

Changing Kurdistan

On July 25 Kurdistan held both presidential and parliamentary elections. A new, stronger opposition with more seats in the parliament indicates a change in the political landscape ...

Mohammed A. Salih

Thinking Left in Bolivia

Álvaro García Linera, Bolivia’s Marxist vice president, talks about gender equality, the right wing and how natural gas has paved the way for a rebirth of socialism in his country.

Linda Farthing

Italy’s Pillow Talk

Silvio Berlusconi's latest sexual escapade is the talk of Italy, and now the world. Maybe we should be paying closer attention to evidence of far more sinister hookups.

Frederika Randall

Three Good Reasons to Liquidate Our Empire

The United States no longer has the capability to remain a global hegemon, and to pretend otherwise is to invite disaster.

Chalmers Johnson

Israeli Settlements: Obama Should Know Better

Obama says he wants a freeze on Israeli settlement expansion. If that's the case, he should turn his attention to the US-based nonprofit that encourages American immigration to the...

Mairav Zonszein