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Axis of Twits

by P. M. Carpenter

Contrary to the president's repeated claims that a blow against Saddam Hussein will be a blow against terrorism, the most recent Osama bin Laden audiotape confirms that a blow against Saddam will be a gift to al Qaeda, more valuable in propagandistic weight than U.S. airbases in Saudi Arabia.Bin Laden--the actual criminal of 9/11, quite independent of Iraq, yet about whom Bush has not spoken since the summer of 2002--virtually begs America to attack. He cunningly chums up to the Iraqi

Duct Tape Madness

by Paul S. Boyer

Well, at least we now know who's behind the current terrorism crisis: Polyken Technologies of Westwood, Massachusetts, the manufacturer of duct tape. They must be making millions. As a journalist in the Daily Press of Hampton, Virginia, writes, "Never in American history has simple duct tape assumed such prominence." Citizens are lining up at Home Depot to buy the rolls of it. As one customer commented to a reporter, "In case there isn't an ev

W’s Voodoo Vision

by P. M. Carpenter

Recall reading of those halcyon days before the feds rudely intervened on the poor's behalf? Aside from serial and safety-netless economic depressions, disinterested state g

Al Sharpton, President of the United States?

by Jim Sleeper

How will the Rev. Al Sharpton do as a Democratic presidential primary candidate against all those big-time, well-backed white guys? They won't know what

Is the United States Undermining Nuclear Non-Proliferation?

by John Burroughs

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is much in the news due to North Korea's announced withdrawal, its steps toward the resumption of the production of plutoniu

Why Bringing Back the Draft Won't be Easy--And May Not Be Desirable

by David Greenberg

The draft is back—or at least back on the table. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is fronting a group of anti-war leftists sounding a theme more commonly heard in

Why We Should Consider Bringing Back the Draft

by Mark Safranski

"But men living in times of democracy seldom choose a soldier's life. Democratic peoples are therefore soon led to give up voluntary recruitment

Are We Repeating the Mistakes of the Last War on Terror?

by Eric Rauchway

The last American war on terror failed to catch the perpetrators and its flailing ruthlessness instead eroded trust in government. The present war is heading in the

Gore in Four?

by David Greenberg

Al Gore wants a rematch. Pundits are already discounting his chances at beating George W. Bush in 2004 not without good reason, given his reported 19 percent favorable rat

War Protests: An Echo of the 1960s?

by Norman Markowitz

In response to the Bush administration's preparations for a second gulf war against Iraq major demonstrations were held in Washi

The Nixon Shadow that Hovers Over the Bush White House

by John Dean

Not since Richard Nixon's presidency have the powers of Congress been in greater jeopardy. Not only is the Bush White House seeking to expand presidential powers at the expe

Basketball Bribery: A Familiar Scandal

by George Beres

Those of us who have followed college basketball for half a century or more will remember the stunning impact on the game when se

Why We Need the Draft

by Staci Haldi

Opening the 108th Congress dramatically this month, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduced a bill to bring back the military dr

How Radicals Have Hijacked the Peace Movement

by Ronald Radosh

For a while, self proclaimed "moderates" in the emerging peace movement argued that there had to be a serious, mainstr

Asking Martin Luther King . . .

by Ralph E. Luker

When I'm out on the lecture circuit talking about Martin Luther King, one of the questions most commonly asked is:"What would Dr. King

The Republican Party's Achilles' Heel

by Ruth Rosen

SEXUAL SCANDAL is not what plagues Republicans. It's outbursts of racial insensitivity, casually uttered across the country, even in

American Swagger in a Dangerous Nuclear World

by Peter Kirstein

Why Pickering Is in a Pickle

by John Barnhill

Charles Pickering apparently wants to be a justice of the Fifth U.S. Circuit, and he probably will be when the dust settles. His no

My Students Predicted the Future Better than I Did

by Ruth Rosen

WHO WOULD HAVE imagined how swiftly the American government could threaten our precious civil liberties and basic rights in the name of fighting terrorism? Looking back

Column: Three Heart Beats Away

by William Thompson

'Tis the season for reflection (not again, ugh). Some wish to turn the clock back to 1980, others to the 1948 election, or to 1947. I'd like to start this historical jour