Harper's Magazine: December 2009

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December 2009

CONTENTS
THUMBNAILS
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	Art/illustration [Cover art] By Ray Bartkus SEE ALSO: Environmental aspects; Environmental conditions; Factory and trade waste; General Electric Company; Hazardous waste site remediation; Hudson River (New York and N.J.); Pollution; Water PDF IMAGES
4-5	Letters/Department Letters On Golden State fever, from September 2009: Letter By Cristel de Rouvray On Too big to burn, from October 2009: Letter By Steve Pyne On Tokeville, from October 2009: Letter By Jean Amos On The dreaming jaw, the salivating ear, from October 2009: Letter By Matthew Specktor PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
7-10	Notebook/Article Understanding Obamacare By Luke Mitchell SEE ALSO: Obama, Barack; Government policy; Health care reform; Lobbying; Medical care, Cost of; Medical economics; Medical policy; 2009-; Views on health care reform PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
13	Harper's index/Department Harper's index PDF IMAGES
15-16	Readings/Article The necessity of agriculture By Wendell Berry SEE ALSO: Agricultural industries; Agriculture; Agriculture and state; Farmers in literature; Faust (Book); Hunger; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von; Young adults PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
16-18	Readings/Article Spin the bottle SEE ALSO: Chemicals; Health aspects; Industrial publicity; Marketing; Public relations PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
17	Readings/Art/illustration Pharaonic camp By Bradley Castellanos SEE ALSO: Camping; Tents PDF IMAGES
18	Readings/Article The splendid splintered SEE ALSO: Arizona; Cryonics; Death and burial; Johnson, Larry; My journey into the world of cryonics, deception, and death (Book); Scottsdale; Williams, Ted PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES Readings/Article Mutations of immortality By Jonathan Ball SEE ALSO: Canadian poetry; Career as experimental poet; Bök, Christian; Genetic engineering; Interviews PDF IMAGES
20	Readings/Photography Long exposure with insects: Correr es mi destino from Arizona/Mexico By Simon Norfolk (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Flight; Insects; Mexican-American Border Region PDF IMAGES
21-22	Readings/Article Sitting in darkness By Mark Twain SEE ALSO: Human beings; Twain, Mark; Political and social views; What is man? (Book) PDF IMAGES
22-24	Readings/Article You're a mean one, Mr. Klig SEE ALSO: Correspondence; Extortion; Harassment; Long Island; Klig, Steven; Trials (Extortion); Trials, litigation, etc. PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
23	Readings/Photography Overgrowth By Lisa Elmaleh (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Growth; Trees PDF IMAGES
24	Readings/Article Guest in the machine By Tamara Denning, Yoky Matsuoka, and Tadayoshi Kohno SEE ALSO: Artificial intelligence; Brain stimulation; Computer hackers; Security measures; Therapeutic use PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
26	Readings/Article Midnight cowpoke SEE ALSO: Animal welfare; Bestiality; Police misconduct; Melia, Robert; Trials, litigation, etc. PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES Readings/Article Unshrinkable SEE ALSO: Gopnik, Alison; Buss, David M.; Kagan, Jerome; Knowledge and learning; Schwarz, Norbert; Broks, Paul; Plymouth; Psychologists; Self-knowledge, Theory of PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
27-28	Readings/Article Masquerades By Fernando Pessoa and Richard Zenith (Trans.) SEE ALSO: Biography; Pessoa, Fernando PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
30	Readings/Photography Ahern Rentals, Westminster, California By Brad Moore (Photog.) SEE ALSO: Westminster PDF IMAGES Readings/Fiction Praise to the highways By Roberto Bolaño and Natasha Wimmer (Trans.) PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
32	Readings/Art/illustration Deep time/Malta By Olive Madora Ayhens SEE ALSO: Civilization, Modern; Malta PDF IMAGES
41-51	Article The General Electric superfraud: Why the Hudson River will never run clean By David Gargill SEE ALSO: Citizen participation; Contamination; Decision-making; Environmental aspects; Environmental conditions; Environmental protection; Factory and trade waste; Fish as food; General Electric Company; Hazardous waste site remediation; Housatonic River Valley (Mass. and Conn.); Hudson River (New York and N.J.); Knowledge—Contaminated sediments; Pittsfield (Mass.); Pollution; Polychlorinated biphenyls; United States. Environmental Protection Agency; Hang, Walter L.T. (Walter Liong-Ting); Water PDF TEXT IMAGES
52-62	Article The master of Spin Boldak: Undercover with Afghanistan's drug-trafficking border police By Matthieu Aikins SEE ALSO: Razik, Abdul; Afghan War, 2001-; Afghanistan; Border patrols; Career as Afghan tribal militia leader; Drug traffic; Insurgency; Internal security; Journeys—Afghanistan—Spin Boldak; Aikins, Matthieu; 2001-; Opium trade; Personal narratives, Canadian; Smuggling; Taliban PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
63-73	Article Ghosts of Wounded Knee By Matthew Power SEE ALSO: South Dakota; Wounded Knee (S.D.) PDF IMAGES
74-75	Article Locking in your profits: Private prisons as a gold-plated investment opportunity By Bryant Urstadt SEE ALSO: Abuse of; Career as CEO of Geo Group; Contracting out; Corrections; Zoley, George; Investments; Prison industries; Prison riots; Prisoners PDF IMAGES
76-84	Article Shalom on the range: In search of the American Crypto-Jew By Theodore Ross SEE ALSO: Identity; Influence; Inquisition; Jews; New Mexico; Religious life and customs PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
85-90	Fiction Mermaid fever By Steven Millhauser PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
91-92	New books/Review New Books By Benjamin Moser SEE ALSO: City boy: my life in New York during the 1960s and 70s (Book); White, Edmund; Hoffman, Eva; Everything flows (Book); Revolution 1989: the fall of the Soviet empire (Book); Time (Book); Grossman, Vasilii Semenovich; Sebestyen, Victor PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
93-97	Review ¡Una Lesbiana Enamorada!: The reverse bowdlerization of Susan Sontag By Dave Hickey SEE ALSO: Against interpretation: and other essays (Book); Rieff, David; Diaries; Pictorial works; Reborn: journals and notebooks 1947-1963 (Book); Reborn: journals and notebooks 1947-1963/Susan Sontag (Book); Sontag, Susan PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
97-102	Review One notion: Individual By Kim Phillips-Fein SEE ALSO: Heller, Anne Conover; Rand, Ayn; Ayn Rand and the world she made (Book); Biography; Goddess of the market: Any Rand and the American Right (Book); Burns, Jennifer; Pictorial works PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES
103	Puzzle/Department Purloined letters By Richard Maltby PDF IMAGES
104	Findings/Article Findings By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi PDF FREE TEXT IMAGES

WEEKLY REVIEW
WASHINGTON BABYLON
NO COMMENT
MR. FISH
LINKS
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
COMMENTARY

Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	Dec 1
Weekly Review By Rafe Bartholomew	Dec 8
Weekly Review By Theodore Ross	Dec 15
Weekly Review By Claire Gutierrez	Dec 22
Weekly Review By Margaret Cordi	Dec 29

By Ken Silverstein

Afghanistan: The quagmire deepens	10:59 AM Dec 2
Obama’s Afghan Speech: The (TV) review is in	9:48 AM Dec 2
The Washington Post on Desiree Rogers: “No detail escapes her eye”	11:49 AM Dec 3
Sally Quinn: The life of the party	1:43 PM Dec 3
Liberal’s lament: Afghanistan and Obama	9:33 AM Dec 4
Bennie Thompson’s Congressional Hearings? Priceless	10:33 AM Dec 7
From “The More Things Change” File: Congressional junkets	10:35 AM Dec 7
The Bankers’ Financial Protection Agency	10:02 AM Dec 9
The Daily Dumb: Gretchen Carlson edition	2:38 PM Dec 9
Grade A: Defense contractors paid to review their own performance	11:37 AM Dec 10
This Can’t Be Good: Robert Kagan loved the Nobel speech	12:07 PM Dec 10
Health Care Reform: It works after smoking a bong	10:21 AM Dec 14
Really Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call: New Orleans	10:29 AM Dec 14
Calling It In: The banks and Obama	9:45 AM Dec 15
Will Tony Blair Eat Gonads One Day?	9:47 AM Dec 15
Taibbi vs. Obama (and the Liberal Blogosphere)	12:56 PM Dec 15
Obama’s Strategy for Victory: Defeat	12:06 PM Dec 16
Yes, We Have No Tomatoes: Costco’s missile defense shield for Palin	12:10 PM Dec 16
Taibbi v. Liberal Blogosphere, Continued	12:13 PM Dec 16
The Sweat of His Labor: Kristof and the global apparel industry	12:14 PM Dec 17
Obama Doing For Climate Change What He Did For Health Care	11:07 AM Dec 18
Health Care, Obama, and Leadership	10:48 AM Dec 21
Toxic Green Cloud Over Copenhagen	11:17 AM Dec 21
Subprime lending problem? What problem?	11:21 AM Dec 21
It Could Happen Here	9:38 AM Dec 23
Six Questions for John Scott-Railton on Cambodia	9:44 AM Dec 23
AIG to U.S. Gov’t: Drop Dead	9:48 AM Dec 23

By Scott Horton

The Stupidity of Evil	12:17 PM Dec 1
The Family’s Ugandan Project	10:59 AM Dec 1
The Black Hole of Bagram	3:35 PM Dec 1
Praise George W. Bush, Damn Richard B. Cheney	4:30 PM Dec 1
DOJ to the Rescue… of John Yoo	12:11 PM Dec 4
Thinking in Dark Times—Six Questions for Roger Berkowitz	5:40 PM Dec 4
Dante—Peace and the Human Condition	9:06 AM Dec 5
Wordsworth—The World Is Too Much With Us	7:47 AM Dec 6
Three Deaths at Gitmo Raise Chilling Questions	11:15 AM Dec 7
Lord of the Flies at Gitmo	10:45 AM Dec 8
Eight Million Reasons for Surveillance Oversight	1:54 PM Dec 8
Supreme Court Expresses Unease Over Honest Services Prosecutions	5:25 PM Dec 9
When Did the CIA Become a Blackwater Subsidiary?	11:56 AM Dec 11
Freedom on the Horizon for Paul Minor	4:51 PM Dec 11
Calvino—The Modern Inferno	12:48 AM Dec 12
Dante—Entrance to the Inferno	1:29 AM Dec 13
Sakharov—Society and the Rule of Reason	7:06 AM Dec 14
Meeting the Demands of Reason—Six Questions for Jay Bergman	11:27 AM Dec 14
Private Security Contractors and the Responsibility to Protect	4:35 PM Dec 14
A Noble Speech	1:01 PM Dec 15
The State Secrets Charade Enters a New Round	1:38 PM Dec 16
More Justice Department Chicanery in a State Secrets Case	11:53 AM Dec 17
A Very Cheney Christmas	3:54 PM Dec 17
A Medical Murder in Pinochet’s Chile	10:48 AM Dec 18
Broadcom Prosecution Collapses as Judge Finds Sweeping Misconduct by Federal Prosecutors	4:25 PM Dec 18
Pascal’s Principle of Convergence	7:46 AM Dec 19
Opitz—Ach liebste laß vns eilen	8:35 AM Dec 20
The Music Master Meets the Age of YouTube	11:06 AM Dec 21
Andrei Sakharov Misremembered	6:33 PM Dec 21
Lithuania Fesses Up To Its Black Sites	10:53 AM Dec 22
Code Orange: How the Bushies Got Punk’d by a National Security Fraudster	12:03 PM Dec 22
Doctors and Torture, Iran Edition	12:52 PM Dec 22
Does the Constitution Follow the Flag?—Six Questions for Kal Raustiala	12:37 PM Dec 23
Happy Christmas!	6:57 AM Dec 24
Meister Eckehart—The Trinity of Love	1:00 AM Dec 26
Novalis—Hymnen an die Nacht	9:17 AM Dec 27
The Afghanistan Detention Dilemma	4:38 PM Dec 29

By Mr. Fish

A Cartoon	11:37 AM Dec 4
A Cartoon	5:49 PM Dec 11
A Cartoon	3:28 PM Dec 18
A Cartoon	5:04 PM Dec 25
A Cartoon	10:37 AM Dec 31

Links	8:25 PM Dec 1
Links	5:11 PM Dec 2
Links	5:26 PM Dec 3
Links	4:33 PM Dec 4
Links	5:48 PM Dec 7
Links	5:03 PM Dec 8
Links	6:32 PM Dec 9
Links	5:59 PM Dec 10
Links	6:07 PM Dec 11
Links	5:28 PM Dec 14
Links	5:28 PM Dec 15
Links	8:55 PM Dec 16
Links	5:07 PM Dec 17
Links	9:16 PM Dec 18
Links	9:28 AM Dec 21
Links	2:06 PM Dec 22
Links	5:37 PM Dec 28
Links	3:52 PM Dec 29

More and More, Obama Seems a Faux Liberal By John R. MacArthur	9:43 AM Dec 16
On Afghanistan: George McGovern Replies to Joe Klein By John R. MacArthur	12:35 PM Dec 18

Yearly Review

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Dec 31

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February 2010

CONNING THE CLIMATE
Inside the Carbon-Trading Shell Game
By Mark Schapiro

LONELY HEARTS CLUB
A Star-Crossed Obsession with As The World Turns
By Darryl Pinckney

ONCE AN EMPIRE A story by Rivka Galchen

THE MENDACITY OF HOPE
By Roger D. Hodge

Also: Wyatt Mason and John Berger

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