July 21, 2008 | The Nation

Obama's plan to de-escalate the war in Iraq only to ramp up another in Afghanistan just might work. It could also entrap the US in an even wider quagmire.

This Week: Congresswoman Kang is ill at ease as she contemplates the fate of her chief of staff and prepares to go to the source of part of her woes: secretive, manipulative billionaire Mace Gilmore.

In Bush's wars, the singer dies, the bride does not get a chance to run away, and the event might be relabeled my big, fat, collateral damage wedding.

More than 200 bloggers, human rights activists, writers, journalists, hackers and IT experts have joined the fight against censorship on the web.

American military defectors are waging
a campaign to achieve political asylum in Canada. As the threat of
deportation grows, the fate of hundreds of former soldiers and their
families hangs in the balance.

This Week: Chet Kimbrough, Congresswoman's Kang's chief of staff, is bound and gagged, and it isn't because he belongs to an S&M club. There is no safe word for him.

If Obama is lucky, he will continue to benefit from these energized, sophisticated activists who support his candidacy while they press his hand.

Young and ambitious, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal lands on the GOP VP shortlist.

He's no George W. Bush, but will Obama's foreign policy bring us back to the days of the bipartisan, establishment consensus?

It's their most surprising red-state revival--and Barack Obama's happy dilemma.

An online guide to organizations working to build a more perfect union.

Progressives need to drive a bold new agenda to invigorate democracy and capture greater power for the people

Empire's Tower of Babel

Bloomfield Township, Mich.

Getting out of Iraq responsibly isn't the impossible feat war supporters would have you think.

It takes a lot of work, but it's possible to go green. Start with stopping your junk mail.

The Nation has a long history of publishing images even some of our staunchest fans find offensive. Just ask our cartoonists.

The debate over late-term abortion has lasted long enough. It's a phony issue designed to undermine our trust in women.

Don't let Olympic fever obscure the role China plays in the Sudanese government's reign of terror, rape and killing.

The electorates in both countries are threatening to topple the principal warmakers at the ballot box.

Mainstream media should consider these leads
as they change gears from no-comment to hot-pursuit when it comes to the story
of Iraq's most sought after commodity.

In death it's easy to dismiss Jesse Helms as a colorful buffoon or a relic of the bad old days of segregation and sexism, but that doesn't do his bigotry justice.

Barack Obama could put his entire candidacy at risk if his audacity on the war in Iraq continues to shrivel.

At the G-8 Summit, he can help bear the brunt of climate damage caused by the developing world. But don't hold your breath.

The movement she inspired--passionate, pacifist and siding with the scorned--is seventy-five and going strong.

If we don't act now, future generations will see that a weapon intended to defend the rule of law grew rusty and unusable on our watch.

Civil liberties, at home and abroad; saving Jeff Wood from Texas's death row.

The Supreme Court's final rulings remind us that civil rights and a sane vision of the Constitution rest with the next President's judicial appointments.

Obama and other Senate Democrats should not let a lame-duck Administration compromise our liberties in the name of pursuing terrorists.

Slavoj Žižek's newest book may
cause readers to conclude that the superstar philosopher has misplaced
his marbles.

Readers of Fidel Castro's My Life will find explanations of the Cuban Revolution, but no apologies for its suppression of dissent.

We give our names to things.
This creek is Cobweb Creek,
named for our cat, who is named
for one of the fairies
in A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Henry James and his family, biographers find a fascinating story of dynastic melodrama.

Two new anthologies explore the virtues and occasional shortcomings of Bill McKibben's quest for environmental salvation.

A new translation of Sophocles' Ajax derives chilling power from its infidelity to the original text.

Our current financial disaster is the real legacy of the Reagan Revolution. So why don't we let the deregulated banking industry sink or swim?

America is shaken by images of panicked customers lined up to withdraw money from the failed IndyMac Bank.

For the last decade, NASCAR has tried to shed its legacy as a sport
indelibly linked to the confederate flag.

You can't trust the Chinese. I don't care if you're talking about those
communists on the mainland or the other guys on Taiwan; they just won't
follow the wargames script that our weapons hawks had counted on.

Two Oklahoma corporate raiders have stolen one of Seattle's most beloved sports franchises with an unlikely accomplice, the NBA's commissioner, David Stern.

Now that rising gas prices and plummeting sales of gas hog vehicles has gotten everyone's attention, let's talk about a long-term plan.

As the planet is rocked by multiple shocks, here's a look at how disaster capitalists are reaping the benefits--leveraging the Iraq War, the push for arctic drilling and the global food crisis.

Women increasingly are taking leadership roles in Jewish life--and that's a problem?

The US government's shameful auto-da-fé of Sami Al-Arian enters a new phase.

What a way to energize your base.

Thrills and spills in a dogfight over Washington!

Who are the Muslims in our midst?

A new Associated Press policy says you're at risk if you quote their work or diss them. How are young bloggers and writers reacting?

A Tennessee student denied a valid high school diploma fights back.

Should police use force to break up student gatherings?

ACROSS

 1 Give something temporarily, in the spot where you hit the hay--some like their liquor this way. (7)

From the December 6, 1947, issue.

From the November 29, 1947, issue.