Roundup: Media's Take

Walter Dellinger and Christopher Schroeder: The Purse Isn’t Congress’s Only Weapon

[Walter Dellinger is a lawyer. Christopher Schroeder is a professor at Duke Law School. Each served as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel in the Clinton administration.] THE debate that Congress needs to have about the Iraq war is being hijacked by sound-bite arguments. Defenders of President Bush concede that Congress has “the power of the purse” and insist it could use it to completely “cut off the funds to the troops.” But that, most of them say, is the only

Nick Cohen: In the past, conservatives made excuses for fascism. Now, overwhelmingly and everywhere, it is leftists

[Nick Cohen is the author of What’s Left: How Liberals Lost Their Way, published in Britain by Fourth Estate.] ... I come from the left. I grew up in Manchester, England believing that to be good you had to be on the left, though I learned from my parents that modern history showed the fallacy of believing in the left’s superior virtue. But after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, you could at least rely on nearly all of the left — from nice liberals through to the most compro

Andrew Cockburn: Interviewed about his new book on Rumsfeld

Amy Goodman: We turn now to a new book by investigative journalist Andrew Cockburn, which goes behind the scenes to reveal never-before-told stories about Donald Rumsfeld, relying on sources that include high-ranking officials in the Pentagon and White House. It chronicles Rumsfeld's early career as an Illinois Congress member to his rise in the Nixon White House. From his tenure as CEO of pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle to his decisions as Defense Secretary in the wars in Iraq

William Blum: Flash! This Just In! The Cold War Was Not a Struggle Between the United States and the Soviet Union

[William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire, and West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir. Visit his website: www.killinghope.org. He can be reached at: bblum6@aol.com.] It was a struggle between the United States and the Third World. What there

Jonathan Alter: Wrong Time for an Urban Cowboy? (Giuliani)

Presidential elections are said to be about the future, but they also end up as verdicts on the past. Voters often reject the type of leadership they have recently experienced. In 1960, young JFK was the antidote to dowdy Ike. In 1976, Jimmy ("I'll never lie to you") Carter campaigned to wipe away the stain left by Richard Nixon. In 1980, sunny Ronald Reagan tapped into disgust with the malaise of the Carter years. In 2000, George W. Bush took on not just Al Gore, but Bill Clinton and

Blair Kamin: Do We Want a Robert Moses Again?

... Should every city have a strongman? Few would dispute the idealistic notion that all citizens should have their say in how a city grows. But too much debate and too little political muscle can spawn chaos rather than results. Ask anyone who lived through Chicago's "Council Wars" slugfest of the mid-1980s, when white aldermen battled the city's first African-American mayor, Harold Washington, for control. Americans are torn "between the desire to exer

Paul Krugman: How to save the middle class from extinction

...One thing I've been noticing on multiple debates in public policies -- climate change is another one -- is there seems to be an almost seamless transition from denial to fatalism. That for 15 or 20 years the people would say,"No, what you're saying is not happening." And then almost immediately they'll turn around and say,"Well, yeah, sure it's happening, but there's nothing that can be done about it." And that's kind of the way a lot of the discussion now goes on inequality. That

Harold Meyerson: It's not the '60s that encapsulate the breakdown of the traditional

[Harold Meyerson is acting executive editor of The American Prospect.] As conservatives tell the tale, the decline of the American family, the rise in divorce rates, and the number of children born out of wedlock all can be traced to the pernicious influence of one decade in American history: the '60s. The conservatives are right that one decade, at least in its metaphoric significance, can encapsulate the causes for the family's decline. But they've misidentified the decade. It

Nat Hentoff: In Chicago and the Illinois State Legislature, Barack Obama made a difference—he did not just 'hope'

"There are those who don't believe in talking about hope. They say, "Well, we want specifics! . . . We've had a lot of plans, Democrats. What we've had is a shortage of hope. And over the next two years, that will be my call to you. "-- Presidential contender Barack Obama, town hall meeting, University of New Hampshire field house, Durham, February 12, 2007 Before Barack Obama became a correctly spelled household name in this nation, back in his early political years

Sidney Blumenthal: Libby lied, troops died

The conviction of I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on criminal charges of obstruction of justice and perjury brings only a partial conclusion to the sordid political tragedy that is the Bush presidency. Yet the judgment on this matter goes to the heart of the administration. The means and the ends of Bush's White House have received a verdict from the bar of justice. Foreign policy was and is the principal way of consolidating u

Eric Nicholls: Waging Peace In Africa

[Eric Nicholls is a researcher at the Human Security Centre at the University of British Columbia.] News from Sub-Saharan Africa these days is mostly bad. Stories of extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and political instability fill the media and the region’s prognosis seems bleak. But not all the news is bad. For one thing, Africa is no longer the world’s most violent region—indeed it is more peaceful today than at any other point since sub-Saharan nations gained t

Max Boot: Alarm over Iran helps Bush

IS THAT trigger-happy gunslinger in the White House about to take aim at Iran? You would think so if you read the Guardian newspaper in Britain, which has written, "Pentagon plans for possible attack on nuclear sites are well advanced." Not to be outdone, the competing Sunday Times has reported, based on a "source with close ties to British intelligence," that "up to five [U.S.] generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve w

Jonah Goldberg: Reviving the Vietnam War

There's a deep irony to the Democratic Party's dilemma over Iraq. For 30 years, the party's left-wing base has reflexively proclaimed every foreign policy challenge "another Vietnam." These voices rise and fall with America's fortunes. In 1991, again in 2003 and ever since, they've insisted Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam. They also claimed that Afghanistan was Pashtun for Vietnam. There were even some who insisted Kosovo was Serbo-Croatian for Vietnam and, of course, Nicaragua, El

Aniket Alam: Women's Day, Lenin and a Riot in Copenhagen

For the past few days the European press has been carrying reports of riots and firefights between anarchist squatters and police in Copenhagen, Denmark over control of a 19th century building now called the Ungdomshuset or "youth house". It appears that this municipal building was given to young people in the 1970s and since then has been the site for a vibrant "alternative" youth culture in Copenhagen. The Guardian makes a brief mention of the fact that this bu

Patrick Cockburn: The Exodus of Iraq's Ancient Minorities

[Patrick Cockburn is the author of 'The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq', a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award for best non-fiction book of 2006.] Iraq's minorities, some of the oldest communities in the world, are being driven from the country by a wave of violence against them because they are identified with the occupation and easy targets for kidnappers and death squads. A "huge exodus" is now taking place, according to a report by

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Leave the N-Word Alone

The war over the "n" word has been joined. Last week, after a one-sided debate, the New York City Council voted for an toothless ban on the word nigger. While acknowledging that the measure was only symbolic and unenforcable, activists and councilmembers practically fell over each other to rail against the word's toxic effect. The ban, of course, will fail, not because it is an unenforceable waste of time, words and taxpayer's money (it's technically a "resolution," which doe

Scott Ritter: It Doesn't Matter If Hillary Apologizes for Her Iraq War Vote

[Scott Ritter served as a former Marine Corps officer from 1984 until 1991, and as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 until 1998. He is the author of several books, including "Iraq Confidential" (Nation Books, 2005) and "Target Iran" (Nation Books, 2006).] Senator Hillary Clinton wants to become President Hillary Clinton. "I'm in, and I'm in to win," she said, announcing her plans to run for the Democratic nomination for the 2008 Presidential elec

Gerald Posner: Pakistan -- the nightmare scenario

[Gerald Posner is the author of Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11. He is a member of HNN's board of directors.] Counterterrorism officials warn that terror groups like al Qaeda are trying hard to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The possibilities include dirty bombs -- that can be made from readily available devices used at construction sites and hospitals -- to chemical and biological weapons. A nuclear device would cause havoc if detonated in a European or American

John Dean: The Supreme Court Is At the Tipping Point ... Should A Democratic Senate Prevent Bush From Creating A Solidly Conservative Court?

"It has been two decades in the making, but this is the year Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's most outspoken dissenter, could emerge as a leader of a new conservative majority," reports David Savage, legal reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Savage says that the Court will soon issue rulings relating to race, religion, abortion and campaign finance "where Scalia's views may now represent the majority." David Savage's analysis is a reminder that the Hig

Joseph Epstein: Why Mayor Daley Remains Mayor

[Mr. Epstein is the author, most recently, of "Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy's Guide" (HarperCollins, 2006).] ... Mr. Daley has by Chicago standards been a great mayor, possibly the greatest the city has known. With this new term, he shall also be the mayor longest in office. The reason for both -- his greatness and his longevity in the job -- is that he keeps the machine oiled, the joint running, the tax base low, the town prosperous. Is everybody happy? N