The American Prospect articles from June 2004

The American Prospect archives from June 2004

The meaning of Abu Ghraib.(Prospects)
June 1, 2004... When other aspects of the Iraq War have long been forgotten, the images of American soldiers torturing Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison will still be remembered. No, the soldiers who committed the abuse are not representative of Americans in Iraq,...

More God talk.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... THANK YOU FOR PRINTING Ayelish McGarvey's nuanced and open minded article about "freestyle evangelicals" ["Reaching to the Choir," April 2004]. I have sometimes felt alienated by the raw secularism that is often, probably un wittingly,...

More Johnson talk.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... HOW UNFORTUNATE THAT you chose a reviewer so dismissive of Chalmers Johnson's latest book. The Sorrows of Empire explores America's toxic love affair with military might, its domestic political effects, and its role in the globalization of...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 1, 2004... Correction: Danny Postel's "Realistpolitik" [May 2004] identified John Hulsman as a signatory to the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy. Hulsman was a signatory, but he recently removed his name.

The faces of honor, the face of shame.(Devil in the Details)
June 1, 2004... "Because we acted, torture rooms are closed, rape rooms no longer exist, mass graves are no longer a possibility in Iraq." --PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH in Michigan, May 3 JOE WEZOREK, A 31-YEAR-old computer programmer who lives in...

From George Wallace to Mitt Romney.(Devil in the Details)
June 1, 2004... EVER VIGILANT MASSACHUSETTS Governor Mitt Romney has lately decided that no Massachusetts law will go unobserved. The GOP governor has been especially concerned about a 1913 statute nullifying any marriage of a nonresident that would be illegal...

Vast right-wing conspiracy.(Devil in the Details)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Those of you concerned that democracy may be getting out of hand will be relieved to know that six Republican House members have done their bit to snuff it nut in Latin America. On April 30, the six sent a letter to a member of the senate of...

Tom Jefferson, Republican.(Devil in the Details)
June 1, 2004... IT'S NO SURPRISE TO FIND misinformation on the White House Web site, but sometimes it pops up in the most unlikely places. Alongside administration propaganda, for instance, one can find biographies of all previous presidents on which one...

Lawn order.(Devil in the Details)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... REPUBLICAN NEW YORK City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to turn his city's fractious Democrats into newly lawn-abiding citizens. As the Republican national convention approaches, group upon group is endeavoring to organize cultural events,...

Waiting to happen: the abuse at Abu Ghraib didn't shock some military people. What a largely neglected part of the Taguba report details, they already knew.(Dispatches)
June 1, 2004... WHEN PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH asserted in his May 5 attempt to mollify the Arab and Muslim worlds that "what took place in [the Abu Ghraib] prison does not represent the America I know," Judy Greene nearly spat out a spoonful of dinner in...

Mission semi-accomplished: the "527" ads were supposed to insulate Democrats from campaign-finance reform and counter Bush's advertising blitz. So have they?(Dispatches)
June 1, 2004... SO FAR THE DEMOCRATS' MAGIC BULlet seems to be falling short. Ever since the McCain Feingold campaign-finance legislation passed, Democrats have looked to so-called 527 groups--named after a part of the tax code that allows groups to raise...

A simple plan: a little-known Democratic legislator has proferred a twofold strategy to prevent future terrorism. Now all he needs is a national leader to back it.(Dispatches)
June 1, 2004... ON APRIL 27, BENEATH THE FLUOREScent lights of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' basement conference room, Representative Jim Turner unveiled "Winning The War on Terror," a large report prepared by the Democratic staff of the...

In praise of the alternative minimum tax.(The Taxonomist)
June 1, 2004... America's tax system, the juice that fuels our nation, isn't doing well lately. Income-tax revenues have fallen to their lowest level as a share of the economy since before World War II, causing enormous deficits and threatening our nation's...

The seduction: AARP's support for last fall's Medicare bill shocked many Democrats--and thousands of the group's members. But if they'd known this history, they wouldn't have been shocked at all.
June 1, 2004... LAST JULY, AS THE DEBATE OVER A MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION--drug bill heated up, AARP, the nation's largest senior-citizen lobbying organization with some 35 million members, sent a letter to Congress detailing issues that "must be fixed" before it...

Come together: right now, over us. The Prospect's co-founder and the president of the democratic leadership council's think tank offer a progressive growth strategy we can all agree on.
June 1, 2004... IF LIBERALS AND NEW DEMOCRATS SOMETIMES SEEM LIKE the Hatfields and McCoys of center-left politics, it's because we each believe passionately that America's progressive soul is worth fighting for. For the most part, these debates within the...

Our unequal democracy: economic and political inequality reinforce each other and compromise democracy.(Political inequality)
June 1, 2004... WHEN THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION was held in 1787, one of the participants' major worries was that a democratic government based on majority rule could pose a threat to minorities. They were especially worried that majority rule could...

The narrowing of civic life: professionally run and donor-funded organizations are trampling America's real grass roots. What's the upshot? Our democracy suffers and elites dominate.(Political inequality: democracy)
June 1, 2004... COMING TOGETHER IN TRADE UNIONS AND FARMers' associations, fraternal chapters and veterans' organizations, women's groups and public-reform crusades, Americans more than a century ago created a raucous democracy in which citizens from all walks...

A tale of two cities: in the past couple of decades, Los Angeles and Houston have both seen huge growth in their Latino populations--and in Latino poverty. But that's where the similarities end.(Political inequality: participation)
June 1, 2004... BY THE MIDDLE OF THE 20TH CENTURY, LOS ANGELES and Houston were the dominant cities in the dominant states of the just emerging Sun Belt. Politically, though, they were both still tight, white little towns. Each city had a remarkably small...

Race and representation: in our new multiracial society, minorities need strategically effective coalitions.(Political inequality: race)
June 1, 2004... ARE THE INTERESTS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN and Latino voters necessarily advanced by maximizing the number of blacks and Hispanics who serve in legislative bodies? Recent experience with districting, and the dynamics of coalition politics, suggest...

Rocky Mountain low: the experience in Colorado shows how elites set agendas when ordinary people don't participate.(Political inequality: elites)
June 1, 2004... DURING HIS 12 YEARS AS A U.S. CONGRESSMAN from Colorado, David Skaggs did his best to listen to all his constituents. He held open office hours during which anyone could just walk in. He hosted town meetings around his district, which covered...

Fighting turnout burnout: why Europeans turn out at higher rates and how to improve American participation.(Political inequality: voters)
June 1, 2004... IN THE LAST TWO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, ABOUT half of Americans did not vote; many of them said they were too busy or not interested enough. In nonpresidential-election years, voter turnout has barely exceeded one-third of voting-age adults....

Unenlightened self-interest: the strange appeal of estate-tax repeal.(Political inequality: voters)
June 1, 2004... THE SHARE OF INCOME GOING TO THE TOP ONE tenth of 1 percent of American families quadrupled between 1970 and 1998, leaving the 13,000 richest families with almost as much income as the 20 million poorest families. Ordinary Americans seem to be...

Health and wealth: our appalling health inequality reflects and reinforces society's other gaps.(Political inequality: health)
June 1, 2004... A LOOK AT AMERICANS' HEALTH REVEALS THE astonishing inequalities in our society. American girls are born with a life expectancy that ranks 19th in the world (in another survey they fall to 28th). Male babies rank 31st--in a dead tie with...

Solve inequality with democracy: the agenda will change only when ordinary people take control of it.(Political inequality: remedies)
June 1, 2004... WE BOTH WORK IN NEW YORK CITY, WHERE the deepening inequality documented in the preceding articles is palpable in everyday life. Housing prices in Manhattan recently reached an average of $1 million, a cost that requires annual earnings of...

Wise after all: the "wise men" fell out of liberal favor a generation ago. But with John Kerry and the Democrats searching for a meta foreign-policy message, maybe it's time they fell back in.
June 1, 2004... IN THE WEEKS PRECEDING THE U.S. ATTACK ON IRAQ TO remove Saddam Hussein from power, George W. Bush asserted that "a new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the world." What Bush...

How Nancy Pelosi took control: she inherited a total mess when she took over as House Democratic leader. But against all expectations, she's brought new discipline to the caucus, raised record amounts of money, and withstood the Republican monopoly. Now all she has to do is win back the House.
June 1, 2004... "IT'S ROUGH AROUND HERE," NANCY PELOSI SAYS SOFTLY, almost in passing, as she scurries down a Capitol hallway from one meeting to another, greeting colleagues and staffers as she goes. The "here" in question is the House of Representatives,...

Hauteur theory: even liberal critics have chastised director Lars von Trier, who vilifes an America he has yet to visit. But what if his real target is Europe?(Film)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... BERTOLT BRECHT AND KURT WEILL had not yet visited the United States when they completed Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny). (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny). Luckily, they didn't let this deter them from pretending they had....

Silence of the flock: the surprising thing is not that Christian conservatives have defended Mel Gibson. It's that many Catholic liberals haven't uttered a word.(Film)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... IF MEL GIBSON'S THE PASSION OF THE Christ is a problem, what is the problem, and whose problem is it, anyway? There are in fact two problems, and their relationship is both oblique and shadowy. The most important is the film's...

All the president's handouts.(Plan Of Attack)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... PLAN OF ATTACK BY BOB WOODWARD * SIMON & SCHUSTER * 480 PAGES * $28.00 FUTURE HISTORIANS WILL POINT TO two interrelated foreign-policy disasters that could make George W. Bush a one-term president, if the voters pay attention. The first is...

Moving the earth.(Red Sky At Morning: America And The Crisis Of The Global Environment)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... RED SKY AT MORNING: AMERICA AND THE CRISIS OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT BY JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH * YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS * 299 PAGES * $24.00 MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO, IN 1972, the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment put the world on...

For America.(Anti-Americanism, On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now(And Always Have) In The future Tense)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... ANTI-AMERICANISM BY JEAN-FRANCOIS REVEL, TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY DIARMID CAMMELL * ENCOUNTER BOOKS * 280 PAGES * $25.95 ON PARADISE DRIVE: HOW WE LIVE NOW (AND ALWAYS HAVE) IN THE FUTURE TENSE BY DAVID BROOKS * SIMON AND SCHUSTER *...

What do mothers want?(Maternal Desire: On children, Love, And The Inner Life)(The Mommy Myth: The Idealization Of Motherhood And How It Has Undermined Women)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... THE MOMMY MYTH: THE IDEALIZATION OF MOTHERHOOD AND HOW IT HAS UNDERMINED WOMEN BY SUSAN J. DOUGLAS AND MEREDITH W. MICHAELS * FREE PRESS * 383 PAGES * $26.00 MATERNAL DESIRE: ON CHILDREN, LOVE, AND THE INNER LIFE BY DAPHNE DE MARNEFFE *...

Freedom's new fight.(Free Culture: How Big media Uses technology And The Law To Lock Down Culture And Control Creativity)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... FREE CULTURE: HOW BIG MEDIA USES TECHNOLOGY AND THE LAW TO LOCK DOWN CULTURE AND CONTROL CREATIVITY BY LAWRENCE LESSIG * THE PENGUIN PRESS * 345 PACES * $24.95 IN THE MID-1990s, ALEX ALBEN PIOneered a new Hollywood genre: a DVD...

Drowned out.(The Last Word)(Editorial)
June 1, 2004... Readers of The American Prospect don't need to hear that Donald Rumsfeld has been an awful defense secretary, that our actions in Iraq are fueling global terrorism, that George W. Bush's tax breaks for the rich are widening the gap between the...