Print Magazine

December 21, 2009 Issue

Uganda’s antigay purge ("Noted."), Calvin Trillin on the Dubai credit crisis, Alexandra Schwartz on Ludmilla Petrushevskaya…

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

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Editorial

No Public Option: Worse Than Nothing?

In search of the elusive, filibuster-proof sixtieth vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has eviscerated the Senate's healthcare reform bill.

Lindsay Beyerstein

Stop Usury Now

If ten percent is good enough for God, it should be enough for the bankers.

William Greider

Are Student Loan Companies Playing Politics With People’s Jobs?

Lenders claim that cutting their federal subsidies in order to give grants to students would put tens of thousands out of work--but the numbers just don't add up.

Pedro de la Torre III

Feminism’s Face-Lift

Can a tax on breast enhancements and liposuction be channeled to benefit the public good?

Alexandra Suich

More Easy Money for Wall Street

A permanent security blanket for big boys of finance will further inflame public opinion. Only the public isn't likely to know.

William Greider

The Swiss Minaret Ban: What Are Voters Really Trying to Outlaw?

The Swiss ban on minarets may seem insignificant, but it is hitched to bigger stories about mass immigration, economic depression and the rebirth of fascism in Europe.

Laila Lalami

Copenhagen: History’s Judgment at Stake

Today, fifty-six newspapers from around the world took the unusual step of publishing the very same thing--an editorial below, which calls for a "fair and effective deal" from the...

The Editors

The Road to Re-Election Runs Through Kabul?

The real purpose of sending 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan is to make Obama look tough as he heads toward the next US presidential election.

Christian Parenti

The Physics of Copenhagen

Why all the normal political calculations are likely to prove disastrous in Copenhagen.

Bill McKibben

Victory at Last! Monty Python in Afghanistan

How Obama's Afghan speech turned the Commander-in-Chief into the Commanded-and-Chief.

Tom Engelhardt

Noted.

Rick Warren's homosexuality double standard; UCLA students versus tuition hikes; a preview of upcoming Copenhagen coverage.

The Editors

Confronting the Globalcrat

Globalization advocates must realize that they're dealing with a new world.

Greg Palast

Climate Fog

Congress is finally ready to address climate change--but the American public seems headed in the opposite direction.

Chris Hayes

Obama’s War

In making Afghanistan the key to America's national security strategy against terrorism, Obama has chosen to perpetuate some damaging myths.

The Editors

Column

Tiger Falls from Grace

The teachable moment of the Tiger Woods circus: if you front for the worst of the worst, don't expect anyone to have your back.

Dave Zirin

Dear Barack, Spare Me Your E-Mails

It is one thing to rob us blind by rewarding the power elite that created our problems but quite another to sugarcoat it in the rhetoric of a David taking on those Goliaths.

Robert Scheer

Saving Journalism (It’s Not Academic)

Are universities the last hope for a home for quality journalism?

Eric Alterman

Dow Plunges on News of Credit Crisis in the United Arab Emirates

Calvin Trillin

Letters

Deficit Hawks Come Home to Roost
Arcata, Calif.

William Greider and Our Readers

Feature

Plouffe Counters Obama’s Healthcare Critics

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, David Plouffe, former campaign manager of Obama for America, talks healthcare, messaging, and organizing after election day.

Ari Melber

Can Italy’s Neo-Fascist Change His Stripes?

Gianfranco Fini rose to prominence as a champion of Mussolini. Now he's moved to the center, and in so doing has become the country's most responsible right-wing politician.

Frederika Randall

Bolivia’s Next Steps

Following an overwhelming re-election victory, President Evo Morales intends to "accelerate the process of change."

Benjamin Dangl

Australia Snubs Tamil Refugees

Over the past few months, Australia has shown the world how not to manage asylum seekers.

Antony Loewenstein

The Sham Elections in Honduras

The Honduran elections were far from free, fair or peaceful, and the country now faces a deeper political crisis than before voters went to the polls.

Laura Carlsen

Obama’s Nine Surges

Despite the seeming specificity of the president's West Point speech on the Afghan War--30,000 new troops at a cost of $30 billion--Americans got little sense of just how big and h...

Tom Engelhardt

Contractors Watching Contractors

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan has hired a firm with ties to a powerful ex-Republican congressman to help prepare oversight reports on other corporations.

Jeremy Scahill

Yes, Regulators Can Stop Foreclosures

Government regulators could insist that mortgage lenders take significant steps to stem the foreclosure crisis--but so far they've refused to.

Greg Kaufmann

Pregnant, in Prison and Denied Care

Incarcerated women have achieved a string of victories against inhumane treatment in childbirth. But what about access to healthcare for all pregnant women in prison, not just thos...

Rachel Roth

Federal Judge Removed from Sanchez Case After Protests

After weeks of protests alleging judicial bias, the gang conspiracy case against Alex Sanchez was transferred to the jurisdiction of a new federal judge.

Tom Hayden

Averting a Flop-in-‘Hagen

As Copenhagen kicks off, pressing questions about emissions cuts and financing for poor countries to deal with climate change are already on the table.

Robert S. Eshelman

COP15: What’s at Stake?

The most important international summit in history? Given what latest scientific reports tell us about the quickening pace of global warming, the sense of urgency driving attention...

Robert S. Eshelman

Is Erik Prince ‘Graymailing’ the US Government?

Did Blackwater's owner speak to Vanity Fair to send a message to the Justice Department about the government secrets he could reveal?

Jeremy Scahill

Letter From Kabul

A trip to Afghanistan reveals the extent of Washington's disconnect from the reality on the ground.

Michael Shank

The Secret US War in Pakistan

Inside sources reveal that the firm works with the US military in Karachi to plan targeted assassinations and drone bombings, among other sensitive counterterrorism operations.

Jeremy Scahill

Labor’s Legacy

The "Seattle coalition" for fair trade has suffered some setbacks, but on the whole we have filled the political space we created in the tear gas and drizzle a decade ago.

Mike Dolan