[Sep 15] From Writ, Akhil Reed Amar on how September 11 mapped onto the Framers' geostrategic theory of liberty. From TNR, Mark Lilla on how September 11 stunted America's political growth; and how can we fight a war if we don't know who we're fighting? Peter Beinart wants to know. From Alternet, an interview with Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, co-author of The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want -- And What to Do About It. Barbara Ehrenreich starts an organization called United Professionals to help white-collar workers, be they unemployed, uninsured, downsized, stressed out or merely anxious. Entrepreneurs can struggle to raise the first million or so, even with a good idea. But a business angel might smile on them. Stop saying "Single Payer": Here's how universal health care can become a winning proposition. An excerpt from Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns is Strangling Progressive Politics in America by Dana Fisher. Marvin Olasky says compassionate conservatism is still kicking. From TAP, a review of Kingdom Coming, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, American Theocracy, and The Baptizing of America. From Open Democracy, Russia's far east is the site of an experiment in government and social development led by Roman Abramovich, billionaire businessman and owner of Chelsea football club. How can a football team foster World Federalism? Unexpectedly, the current Champion’s League winner Futbol Club Barcelona has come up with an idea to link sports, solidarity and support to a supranational institution such as the UN. Viva España: The regional government of Madrid, which cosponsors the city’s upcoming fashion week, has banned models who are too skinny from appearing on the runway. How much should a fashion model weigh? Michelle Cottle investigates. Diamond's aren't a girl's best friend: Is it time to take a longer look at what "softball" is saying to young women? And if the sports-as-religion metaphor is accurate, then who is god in the professional wrestling world? While numerous potential candidates exist among the pantheon of wrestling superstars, one name shines a little brighter: Hulk Hogan

[Sep 14] From the next issue of The New York Times Magazine, a special article on The Battle for Guantanamo. Dahlia Lithwick on why it matters what definition of torture we use. Risk intelligence and the Iraq War: An excerpt from Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Don’t Know. From YaleGlobal, conflict flaring throughout the Middle East is neither a clash of civilizations nor civil war, but instead a geo-civil war. More than a century after its demise, the legacy of the East India Company continues to haunt both Europe and Asia: On the occasion for a reckoning with this pioneering corporate giant. John Derbyshire reviews Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters. Can the state improve a Hobbesian world? A review of Nonviolence: Twenty-Five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea. Bard DeLong on Man’s Fate/Man’s Hope. A look at how environmental damage is being highlighted by Google Earth. Do green markets actually lead to improvements in environmental quality? Is the boss overpaid? Raphaël Hadas-Lebel, author of 101 Words about French Democracy, investigates. An interview with North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan on Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America. From New York Observer, a review of Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting; Does American Democracy Still Work? by Alan Wolfe; and Democracy Possible Here? Principles For a New Political Debate by Ronald Dworkin. An interview with Ryan Sager, author of The Elephant in the Room. A review of The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South and White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism. A review of Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing and the Black Ghetto. From Salon, at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Snoop Dogg figures in sermons, housewives cradle babies in tattooed arms -- and religious fundamentalism rules: Meet the Disciple Generation, the fierce new face of American evangelism. Jose Luis de Jesús is The Man Who Claims to Be Jesus. A review of American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips. An article on how to respond to your Bush-bashing friends. From Nerve, Ana Maria Cox on tabloids bringing back family values. And Phyllis Schlafly says feminists are responsible for the boom in unnecessary temporary restraining orders

[Sep 13] From The Washington Monthly, a series of articles by conservatives on why the GOP should lose in 2006; a review of The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege; and a review of Building Red America and One Party Country. From TCS, the first chapter from The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party by Ryan Sager. The introduction to Sidney Blumenthal's How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime (and more sample chapters from PUP). An interview with Nomi Prins, author of Jacked: How "Conservatives" Are Picking Your Pocket. MSNBC maverick Keith Olbermann gives Salon the countdown on his anti-Bush orations, battling with Bill O'Reilly, and the nauseating truth about cable news. A review of 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy. From TNR, a look at the liberal case for pork. Lobbying has grown massively in just the past few years, becoming a multibillion-dollar industry, and it will continue to expand long after Abramoff is imprisoned and released. From The Middle East Quarterly, how important is the Israel lobby?, and more on the Israel lobby and the real special relationship. A review of Ariel Sharon: A Life. An article on Holocaust cartoons as a weapon of retaliation against the Muslim cartoon riots. From Think Progress, here's a 9/11 Timeline. From Skeptic, an article on the 9/11 Truth Movement in perspective. The Apocalypse will be blogged: A number of jihadi Web sites commemorated the anniversary of Sept. 11--no doubt because they knew Americans would. From Radar, a look at why Al Qaeda may be the Republicans' best friend. Know Your Evildoers: Cathy Young on the search for clarity in a more complex world. Calling Iran's Bluff: Fred Kaplan on a history lesson for the Bush administration. Our unready Army: Thanks to Bush's mismanagement, the military has reached its breaking point. If you're one of America's youth, retired professor Edward Bernard Glick has you in mind for a very special program: a revitalized draft. A Need for Nerds: Now more than ever, as we stumble along the dark, uncertain path of These Troubled Times, we need our brainiacs to help illuminate the way. Despair Not: Stephen Carter on how there is something worse than misery and death. And from HNN, here are some thoughts on the impossibility of being both deeply religious and cosmopolitan

[Sep 12] From Der Spiegel, "Nine-Eleven" broke through Fortress America, turning it into another country. George W. Bush has tried to turn the planet into another world. And failed. From The Atlantic Monthly, Unwinding Bush: How long will it take to fix his mistakes? Jonathan Rauch investigates. Francis Fukuyama on nine things we have learned since September 11, 2001. From Cato Unbound, here are some reflections on what, if anything, "Are We Safer?” might mean. A Run on Terror: An article on the rising cost of fear itself. News flash: The missile defense shield still doesn’t work. From Human Events, in the War on Terror, liberals are more dangerous than Muslims. A look at why The Day That Changed Everything wasn't 9/11, and enough of the 9/11 conspiracies, already. From Counterpunch, Alexander Cockburn on how the 9/11 conspiracy nuts let the guilty parties of 9/11 slip off the hook; and a look at how the 9/11 Truth Movement helps Bush & Cheney. BYU takes on a 9/11 conspiracy professor Steve Jones. From TNR, Peter Bergen on how terrorism is no longer a male-only preserve. Terrorism and Muslim women: Why moderate Muslims do not stand up to radical Muslims. The problem revealed by 9/11, far from resolved five years on, is of an Islamism driven by "transferable grievance", says Roger Scruton. Culture does matter, and there are people who really do "hate our way of life". But a little humility, not aggression, is the sensible response. Rights trump culture and religion: Cultural relativism is a prescription for inaction and passivity in the face of oppression. From New Oxford Review, a review of Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses by Theodore Dalrymple. God does not want you to be poor: An approach to Christianity that emphasizes material prosperity is booming in the US. From Commonweal, an article on young Catholics & their faith: Is being "spiritual" enough? Though eyes are on his trip home, Pope Benedict XVI is (gradually) launching big changes back in the Roman Curia. The way the man once called Son of Sam sees it, Satan and Jesus have long been fighting for his soul. But now David Berkowitz says that Jesus has the upper hand. And a growing flock of Christians believe he’s an apostle of the Lord. And God really is winning: America has fewer non-religious, new survey asserts

[Sep 11] From AEI, Steven Hayward on The Use and Abuse of Churchill in History. A review of Alan Wolfe's Does American Democracy Still Work? and Ronald Dworkin's Is Democracy Possible Here? A review of Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency by Richard A. Posner ( and more and more). For the 14 terror suspects recently transferred to military custody at Guantánamo Bay, what’s a fair trial and how much due process does it require? The Guantánamo Gambit: George Packer goes behind the transfer of terrorist suspects. Is the absence of new terrorist attacks in the United States due to vigilance or an exaggerated threat? The 9/11 horror-fest did Osama bin Laden's work for him: This repetitious publicity glorifies terrorism as a weapon of war, scaring us far more than the original explosions did. Reza Aslan on how bin Laden may go down in history not only as the murderous criminal who declared holy war on the United States, but also as a radical figure in what has come to be called the Islamic Reformation. The Hunt: Does anyone even have the faintest idea where bin Laden is? Lawrence Wright on The Master Plan: For the new theorists of jihad, Al Qaeda is just the beginning. More and more on Wright's The Looming Tower. Here are 10 ways to avoid the next 9/11, and a look at Terrorism's Grand Tour. A review of The Illustrated 9/11 Commission Report. Slavoj Zizek on how Hollywood's attempts to mark the 2001 attacks ignore their political context and the return to history they symbolise. Martin Amis on The Age of Horrorism (and part 2). Theology for an Age of Terror: Augustine's words after the 'barbarian' destruction of Rome have a remarkably contemporary ring. A review of God Won't Save America by George Walden. The zombie nation behind the American pastoral: A review of The Shape of Things to Come by Greil Marcus. A review of Someday We'll All Be Free. Sean Wilentz reviews Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War by Nicholas Lemann (and more). A review of There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975. Stanley Crouch reviews Will You Die With Me? My Life and the Black Panther Party by Flores A. Forbes. And Glenn Loury reviews Juan Williams' Enough

[Weekend 2e] India and China: How meat became murder: A review of The Bloodless Revolution: Radical Vegetarians and the Discovery of India. From The Hindu, a review of Strategic Consequences of India's Economic Performance; a review of Aspects of India's Economic Growth and Reforms; and a review of Reconstruction of Higher Education in India. At one university in the US, a sophisticated network greets new Indian graduate students. Jawaharlal Nehru's vision realized?: Though long-plagued by border disputes and other tensions, India and China now find themselves increasingly working together toward greater development. A look at how a girl shortage could cause a rise in crime around the world. With a rapidly expanding economy, China doesn't have enough of its own natural resources to cover its growing energy needs. Beijng is trying to close the gap by increasing its imports and by betting on nuclear energy and renewables. The Communist Party eyes them suspiciously, but allows them to exist so long as they make no political demands: China's nascent non-governmental organizations are beginning to help those left behind by the country's economic boom. China is big trouble for the US balance of trade, right? Well, not so fast. Robert Schiller on Thrifty China, Spendthrift America. He became a great novelist by writing about his communist homeland. But can Ha Jin find the same success writing about his adopted country? A review of Mao's Last Revolution. Confucian Hermeneutics, or Why commentaries are never definitive: A review of Transmitters and Creators: Chinese Commentators and Commentaries on the Analects; Confucius and the Analects; and Zhu Xis Reading of the Analects. And from The Globalist, a comparison of Western and Eastern education in light of the current educational reform debate in China; and China is endeavoring to become a world leader in these fields, while urging education reforms to ensure the future of the US economy

[Weekend] From The New Yorker, the Baby Lab: Margaret Talbot on how Elizabeth Spelke peers into the infant mind. The Princess Treatment: Sweet Sixteen parties have evolved into ego-feeding extravaganzas. America’s War on Condoms: Is Glamour giving bad advice to young women? Ruth Conniff on why Linda Hirshman’s critique of women who make career sacrifices to take care of their children is the sort of thinking that gives feminism a bad name. A look at how society's toxic view of masculinity isn't just harmful to men. Everyone pays the price. Here's a plea to end the abuse of the past (being a communication from Clio, Muse of History, also known as The Proclaimer (!)). A review of The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice by Greil Marcus. Whither Tomorrowland? Past views of the present day envisioned a futuristic utopia. We have the gadgets but not the utopia. The introduction to From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (and a sample chapter). You can now download Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology by Jack Balkin for free. An interview with Richard Lanham, author of The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information. A review of The Law and Economics of Cybersecurity. As the networked information revolution reaches a threshold for repression: Its future has already been written, and the battle lines are clear. A review of The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall. The world was changed by the events of 11 September 2001, often in unexpected ways. The impact of the attacks can be felt in many areas of global public life. Five years on, Tom Burgis charts eleven aspects of a tremulous new era. The Good War on Terror: How the Greatest Generation helped pave the road to Baghdad. The left was once the principal enemy of radical Islamism. So how did old enemies become new friends? Fred Halliday reports. Theodore Dalrymple on the realities of evil. Humor in war and peace: How Israelis and Jews laugh at themselves. Noam Chomsky has some comments on Alan Dershowitz. And is there an example in American history of the police reacting to a radical threat and not making things worse?

[Sep 8] Political economy, the environment and health: From the latest issue of Dollars and Sense, an article on organizing toward an economy of cooperation and solidarity; and an economic experiment is the hidden story behind Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution. A report finds economic freedom is a key to lifting poor nations out of poverty. Outsiders look enviously at Sweden's economic success. So why are the Swedes thinking of voting out the ruling Social Democrats next weekend? An article on Europe's tentative reformers: It's not Thatcherism or Reaganomics -- but it is a start. Can America's farmers be weaned from their government money? An excerpt from Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America? Great Moments in World Trade: An article on Arch Wilkinson Shaw as the Adam Smith of supply chain management. A review of Joseph Stiglitz's Making Globalization Work. A review of Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology. Dismal science, dismal sentence: The efficient markets hypothesis can land you in jail. An excerpt from Economics for Humans. What's the Big Idea? Here's a podcast with economist Dierdre McCloskey. From The Economist, the uncertainty surrounding climate change argues for action, not inaction. America should lead the way. Gases trapped in the soil are bubbling out of the thawing permafrost in amounts far higher than previously thought and may trigger what researchers warn is a climate time bomb. Currently the world's fastest growing renewable power source, wind energy is the transformation of the wind's kinetic force into mechanical power through a turbine. A review of Blame It on the Rain: How the Weather Has Changed History. The man who fed the world: How Norman Borlaug, a poor Iowa farm boy, came to be one of humanity's greatest benefactors. The scoop on dirt: Why we should all worship the ground we walk on. Meet the developing world’s new health emergency: The rich world’s diseases. Human idiocy, the deadliest plague: A review of Pandemonium: Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, and Other Biological Plagues of the 21st Century. And bioterrorism is no match for natural selection: Germs often take eons to mutate, so what will the feds accomplish with their expensive new bioterror defense lab?

[Sep 7] Fareed Zakaria on why Iran is no Nazi Germany. From Slate, the Five Percent Solution: Fred Kaplan has a solution to the Iran dilemma; checked and imbalanced: The president tries for a do-over in his Gitmo speech; why haven't we been attacked again? Jacob Weisberg investigates; and an article on how to live through a nuclear bomb, global warming, a smallpox epidemic, a poison gas attack, and anything else Mother Nature or Al-Qaeda throws at you. Richard Clarke answers questions on threats to the US and Europe. From Government Executive, is bureaucracy fatigue incurable, treatable with smarter bureaucracy, or susceptible only to fundamental reform? The answer is yes, but five years after 9/11, question is: Could it happen again? Perhaps 9/11 might have been prevented, but not the conspiracy theories about it. Scott McLemee tries on a shiny new tinfoil hat. What would go into a "progressive realist" foreign policy? Joseph Nye finds out. From Newropeans, more on natural philosophy and Bush's world theodicy. A review of The Hijacking of Jesus: How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate. The Problem with Prophets: In their zeal for social change, some evangelical activists stand on shaky biblical ground. From The New York Sun, a review of The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West. A review of Whose Bible Is It? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages. From TAP, is the middle class worse off now than it was thirty years ago? That's the wrong question, and the wrong debate for progressives to be having. The introduction to When Movements Matter: The Townsend Plan and the Rise of Social Security. From New English Review, John Derbyshire on race and conservatism. Niall Ferguson on how Red-state Republicans and blue-faced liberals are starting to agree: Green is the way. A leftward political shift is bringing labor back to the front of America's conscience, and picking up where Roosevelt left off. Hands Off Constitutions: J. Harvie Wilkinson III on how this isn't the way to ban same-sex marriage. The 30-year-old virgins: It was once a badge of honor. But to the surprising number of adult women today who have not had sex, virginity is nothing but a curse. Jonathan Rauch reviews Ramesh Ponnuru's The Party of Death. An interview with Gloria Steinem. And an interview with Andi Zeisler and Lisa Jervis, founders of Bitch magazine

[Sep 6] From The Nation, David Corn on what Valerie Plame really did at the CIA; and a look at how Bush aims to kill the War Crimes Act. For five years, Congress stood idly by as the president amassed power. But on a range of issues, Congress is now finally going to have to act, for better or for worse. Lee Hamilton reviews Robert Remini's The House: The History of the House of Representatives. From Alternet, a look at the 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers. A review on Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq. Labeling your opponent a Nazi is the slur du jour. But is this really necessary? The neocons who are pushing a Clash of Civilizations are mirror-images of the terrorists that inspire their hyperbolic fear, they are just as irrational and just as great a threat to our security. Five years after 9/11, is the world safer? Olivier Roy says yes, but not because of the war on terror. From spiked, writers, thinkers and activists outline what they think has been the most enduring legacy - if any - of the attacks on New York and Washington five years ago; and at first, conspiracy mongering about 9/11 was the preserve of isolated fantasists. Now, five years later, it is positively in vogue. The real conspiracy behind 9/11: Martin Amis reviews The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. A review of What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat. From Unitarian Universalist World, a review of Sam Harris' and Daniel Dennett's work on secularism and tolerance after 9/11. From Newropeans, an essay on Natural Philosophy and Bush World Theodicy: Eliminating "evil" from the world of ideas. Does religion make people better or worse? Well, if it's Islam... From Christianity Today, an article on how to create cynics: Everybody knows when we're covering up our confusion with God-talk. Sex, sadism and speaking to Jesus: A review of Seminary Boy by John Cornwell. A review of Andrew Sullivan's The Conservative Soul. Has Bush destroyed GOP's libertarian religious coalition? Bruce Bartlett investigates. From The Humanist, an essay on America's increasing democracy deficit. Help! Call the White House!: How the 1927 Mississippi Flood created big government. A review of Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City. From In These Times, bigger than hip hop: A look at the state of black political leadership

[Sep 5] From The New Yorker, Lost Love: On September 12, 2001, the world was with us; The Informant: Jane Meyer on the clandestine life of America’s top Al Qaeda source; Surveillance Society: An article on the Mass-Observation movement and the meaning of everyday life; a look at Osama's bank account; an essay on what the state of the World Trade Center site says about us; and a conversation with Sy Hersh, Jon Lee Anderson, and George Packer about Iraq, Afghanistan, the war on terror, and whether America is stronger now. A look at why the 9/11 conspiracy theories won't go away. A 20th century pejorative worked its way into 21st century politics last week. Appeasement as an attack phrase was back in vogue. More on The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End by Peter Galbraith. A review of Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq. A review of Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-Building by David Chandler. From Monthly Review, an article on anti-Arab racism, Islam, and the Left. Don't rely on cold reason and trust your intuition as well: Risk and uncertainty are part of modern life, but why does the possibility of terrorist bombs on aeroplanes, a new generation of nuclear power stations and a flu pandemic trigger public distrust in the powers-that-be? Oh, to be a country of pessimists again: Too much optimism can leave us stranded in our rose-colored illusions. From TAP, all is not well with the middle class, and Democrats should hardly pretend otherwise, but a Democratic message of misery is wrong for middle-income voters. What can a handful of numbers tell us about the state of the American worker? The official poverty index is a broken compass, utterly incapable of tracking material deprivation in the United States with any accuracy. The Supreme Court recently handed workers a 9-0 victory in a pivotal workplace discrimination case. But will the lower courts turn victory into defeat? In The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Forget Inequality, Walter Benn Michaels wants the left to stop obsessing over diversity and start worrying about economic inequality. A study on whiteness and race relations shows that whites in the U.S. are far more conscious of being white--and the privileges it brings--than was believed. And a review of The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again by Michael Barone

[Sep 4] A new issue of Strike is out. From the first issue of Public Resistance, an editorial: The Personal is Really Political or Thank You George Bush; Philip E. Kovacs and Deron R. Boyles (GSU): Institutes, Foundations, & Think Tanks: Conservative Influence on U.S. Public Schools; an essay on Saving Public Education – Saving Democracy; Dave Hill (Northampton): Controlling Our Minds: The Educational Ideological and Repressive State Apparatuses, Global Imperialistic & Militaristic Neo-Liberalism, and Education Policy; Jesse Bull (Slippery Rock): Conflating Disparate Terms: Master-Narratives, Chains of Equivalence and Violence in "The Savage Nation" and Mens News Daily; an article on The Passion of the Pinks; and the 2004 Rotten Apple Awards; and from the latest issue, Nicholas Ruiz III (FSU): The Illusory Nation: Why Pat Buchanan's America Never Has or Will Exist; an essay on Bush's Master Signifiers and Morrison's Poetic Subversion; and a review of Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement. From Democratic Strategist, Anne Kim, Adam Solomon, and Jim Kessler of Third Way argue that Democrats have a problem winning middle-class voters not just due to national security and values gaps, but due to their economic program as well. And Paul Krugman on The Big Disconnect

[Weekend 2e] From Forbes, Virginia Postrel on The American Standard of Whining. An article on the politics of food: " Me? I vote for the Cheez Whiz". Ethnic goes exurban: Tyler Cowen on Washington's sprawl, as told through its migrating restaurants. Raffish cafes, Left Bank bars and iconic hotels have provided inspiration for America’s literati. A visit to the haunts of Hemingway, Capote, Burroughs and others. Angleterre, je t'aime: "Humour and ego fight to occupy the same place in the brain. In England the humour is always more likely to win and in France it will always be ego". The first politician: Politicians today could still learn from the master: Cicero, who perfected the power-seeking game. The very idea of our political leaders embracing serious literature -- despite its dangerous association with all things Eastern and elitist -- is enough to thrill nerdy English majors. Is Ayn Rand ready for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? A review of Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon (and more). And a review of Fertility Goddesses, Groundhog Bellies & the Coca-Cola Company: The Origins of Modern Holidays 

[Weekend] From The Independent, The Good List 2006: Fifty men and women who make our world a better place. From New Statesman, a special issue on the world's top 10 dictators. John Pilger on the return of people power. The Tiger at Bay: Immanuel Wallerstein on the scary times ahead. From Harper's, an article on the Bush administration and Godwin's Law. Bush goes a bridge too far: Fred Kaplan on the president's latest dumb speech. Human Events on the top 10 books Bush should read on his next vacation. Scold War Buildup: The tolerance of other societies for being publicly judged by the United States has reached its limits. Anatol Lieven on how the bulk of the Democrat and Republican establishments speak the same way on foreign policy because they think the same way. And of course the elites do not just react to popular views, they also shape them. A look at what American airport security can learn from Israel's behavioral profiling system. A review of Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism by Bruce Ackerman. Shimon Peres on Israel's lessons from the Lebanon war. Western feminists who speak on behalf of "oppressed" Muslim women assume that individual desire and social convention are inherently at odds. But veiling should not be confused with a lack of agency or even traditionalism. An interview with Linda Hirshman, author of Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World. Robert Reich on how to reduce urban poverty without really trying. A review of The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It from Itself. From The Nation, an essay on challenging the culture of obedience. Just Try Voting Here: Here’s 11 of America's worst places to cast a ballot (or try). Just as homosexuals living in the Bible Belt might face difficulties finding nearby gay friendly vacation spots, New York’s embattled minority -- conservatives -- are similarly in a pickle. Where do they go for summer? A review of John Dean's Conservatives Without Conscience. More on Crunchy Cons. Fred Barnes on how pro-lifers become pro-lifers. A Chance of Faith: Religious conversions are unusual in most of the world. Here's what an atheist ought to stand for. And from Chronicles, an article remembering Sir Alfred Sherman

[Sep 1] From TAP, it may be too tough for Democrats to nationalize the elections through a positive policy agenda. But they can certainly unify around a set of effective campaign gambits. An interview with Senator Edward Kennedy on the Iraq “civil war” and the Democrats. America's longest war: A nation once joined together in shock and vulnerability is now riven by failure and recrimination. Almost five years ago, we were told that our lives had changed forever—but, as it turns out, not so much. Ross Douthat asks, what year is it? 1938? 1972? Or 1914? (scroll down) Peter Galbraith on the true Iraq appeasers. Rumsfeld’s misuse of history: The administration misappropriates pre-World War II "appeasement" to tell its own "big lie", and more from Fred Kaplan: "A ghastly speech". Keith Olbermann on how there is fascism, indeed. From Middle East Quarterly, why do Muslims execute innocent people? What do we actually know about Mohammed? The early years of Islam compose an exciting field of current scholarship that is yielding fresh insights and understanding. From Slate, one mad Rabbi: Conservative Judaism gets a kick in the pants. From Forward, how do Sephardic Jews figure into the genetic equation?; Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer use a Council on American-Islamic Relations forum to slam Israel lobby (and more); and a review of Moses Levy of Florida: Jewish Utopian and Antebellum Reformer. A review of Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America. From The American Spectator, the worst Big Government conservative: Why do so many on the right admire Theodore Roosevelt? William Rusher on Conservatism 101: A checklist. From The Economist, globalisation is generating huge economic gains. That is no reason to ignore its costs. Kenneth Rogoff on the myth of central banks and inflation. From The Mises Institute, an article on the neglect of Bastiat's school by English-speaking economists. James Surowiecki on why GM couldn’t just retire the Buick. From New English Review, an essay on Stephen Breyer, the court’s necromancer. From Writ, this year's new Supreme Court clerks: Why are only twenty percent women? (and more). Susceptible women, invincible Men: An article on reconfiguring gender in rape prevention advice. And I Would Die 4 U: Hazing makes for hot courtship, and how better to love your woman than by hitting her in the face?

http://www.politicaltheory.info/2006/september2.htm