http://harpers.org/rss/index.xml Harper's Magazine: Founded June 1850. en-us Copyright Harper's Magazine Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:48:47 -0400 http://www.harpers.org/media/image/Harpers_305x100.gif http://harpers.org http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006129 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006129 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:48:20 -0400 Verhaßt ist mir das Folgen und das Führen. Gehorchen? Nein! Und aber nein—Regieren! Wer sich nicht schrecklich ist, macht niemand Schrecken: Und nur wer Schrecken macht, kann andre führen. Verhaßt ist mirs schon, selber mich zu führen! Ich liebe es, gleich Wald- und Meerestieren, mich für ein gutes Weilchen zu verlieren, in holder Irrnis grüblerisch zu hocken, von ferne her mich endlich heimzulocken, mich selber zu mir selber—zu verführen. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006124 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006124 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:39:51 -0400 [W]hen we talk about lying, and especially about lying among acting men, let us remember that the lie did not creep into politics by some accident of human sinfulness. Moral outrage, for this reason alone, is not likely to make it disappear. The deliberate falsehood deals with contingent facts; that is, with matters that carry no inherent truth within themselves, no necessity to be as they are. Factual truths are never compellingly true. The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs. From this, it follows that no factual statement can ever be beyond doubt—as secure and shielded against attack as, for instance, the statement that two and two make four. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006122 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006122 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:56:15 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006121 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006121 Scott Horton Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:12:51 -0400 On today’s Frost Over the World, I discuss with Sir David Frost and Glenn Sulmasy the Obama Administration’s plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and a group of related defendants in federal court in Manhattan. Watch it through the Internet video link here. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006115 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006115 Scott Horton Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:15:19 -0400 A little more than six years ago, Lt. Col. Dominic “Rocky” Baragona was on his way home. He had a long journey ahead, but he was looking forward to it. Colonel Baragona was serving in Iraq, and his tour was up. He had just spoken with his father by satellite phone, telling him that he’d be in Kuwait the next day to board his flight back, “unless something stupid happens.” Hours later, something stupid happened. A private truck carrying supplies on a U.S. military contract careened three lanes across a highway and struck the humvee in which Colonel Baragona was traveling. He died in a gruesome traffic accident. After an investigation, the military concluded that the incident involved serious negligence by the contractor but no criminal wrongdoing. Colonel Baragona’s family filed suit against the Kuwaiti contractor in federal court in Georgia. They secured a default judgment, and then the contractor came back to court to reopen the case. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006114 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006114 Mr. Fish Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:03:20 -0400 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006110 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006110 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:53:17 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006108 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006108 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:27:55 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006107 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006107 John R. MacArthur Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:08:24 -0400 If President Obama has ever heard of William L. Shirer, chances are it’s in connection with Nazi Germany. Nowadays, you can’t make assumptions about what people under 50 know and don’t know, but it’s a safe bet Obama recalls Shirer’s most famous book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, even if he hasn’t read it. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006106 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006106 Ken Silverstein Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:04:27 -0400 From Gawker: . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006099 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006099 Ken Silverstein Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:40:35 -0400 Marian Wang works and writes for Mother Jones. She previously was a freelance investigative reporter and blogger for The Chicago Reporter, the Chi-Town Daily News and ChicagoNow. Wang’s recent post, “Where Are All the Lady Bloggers?”, cited a report from Technorati that found that sixty-seven percent of bloggers are men, prompting her to ask: “Is there a glass ceiling in the blogosphere?” I recently spoke to her by phone and via email about the post, and the broader issue of gender and journalism. This interview was edited for length and clarity. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006104 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006104 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:04:25 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006103 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006103 Scott Horton Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:43:20 -0400 Former Bush Administration Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey addressed the Federalist Society only hours after his successor, Eric Holder, announced his plan to bring a group of Guantánamo prisoners up on federal charges in Manhattan. He offered harsh words, claiming that the trials would prove a “circus.” Such attacks on the nation’s criminal justice system have become routine on the political right. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006102 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006102 Ken Silverstein Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:43:53 -0400 It will be interesting to see if the State Department, which by order of a presidential proclamation and act of congress is required to bar corrupt foreign officials from American territory, will finally take action on Teodoro Nguema Obiang. As I reported here yesterday, the Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have compiled a laundry list of gross misconduct on Obiang, the son of the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, a major oil producer and site of billions in investments by U.S. energy firms. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/WeeklyReview2009-11-17 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/WeeklyReview2009-11-17 Christopher R. Beha Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0400 Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused September 11 plotters would be tried in federal court in lower Manhattan. “It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site,” said New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, adding that the city had sufficient resources to safely hold the trials. “I'm concerned,” said former mayor Rudy Giuliani, “that we no longer believe we're at war with Islamic terrorists.” Five other detainees will be tried before military commissions. New York Times New York Times New York Times New York Times President Barack Obama traveled to Shanghai, China, where he addressed a town-hall meeting attended by members of the Chinese Communist Party Youth League, whose questions were pre-screened. The president described himself as “a big supporter of non-censorship.” The meeting, which the White House called the “marquee event” of Obama's trip to China, was not mentioned in official Chinese government news broadcasts. References to Obama's remarks on Chinese websites were removed within hours. Washington Post Officers from Beijing's Industry and Commerce Administration stopped the sale of “ObaMao” merchandise showing Obama dressed as Mao Zedong. Washington Post The Republican National Committee said that its health-insurance plan would no longer pay for abortions. Politico The Cheesecake Factory agreed to pay $345,000 to six male employees who were sexually harassed by other male employees, the number of Americans lacking dependable access to food reached its highest levels on record, and a New York woman who cut off her father's penis and burned it on the stove began taking cooking classes in jail. The Arizona Republic Report: More Americans going hungry New York Daily News . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006100 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006100 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:11 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006022 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006022 Ken Silverstein Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:58:19 -0400 In 2004, George W. Bush issued Presidential Proclamation 7750, which barred corrupt foreign officials from entering the United States and ordered the State Department to compile a list of banned individuals. Three years later Congress approved a complementary measure that said the State Department should take special heed to bar officials when there was “credible evidence” to believe they were involved the theft of natural resources revenues. Last July, the State Department issued a report noting that corruption eroded “confidence in democratic institutions” and that fighting it was a central tenet of American foreign policy. The report also stated that the Obama administration would “vigorously” enforce 7750, better known as the Anti-Kleptocracy Intiative, and give particularly close scrutiny to visa requests from individuals involved in corruption involving natural resources. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006098 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006098 Ken Silverstein Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:55:07 -0400 From the Washington Post: . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006097 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006097 Ken Silverstein Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:53:22 -0400 The New York Times reported over the weekend that dozens of statements from members of congress printed in the Congressional Record during the House debate on health care “were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.” . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90005947 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90005947 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:11:55 -0400 They flee from me that sometime did me seek With naked foot, stalking in my chamber. I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, That now are wild and do not remember That sometime they put themself in danger To take bread at my hand; and now they range, Busily seeking with a continual change. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006053 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006053 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:38:08 -0400 If we were like angels, blameless and freely able to exercise perfect self-control, we would not need rules or regulations. Why, then, do we have so many laws and statutes? Because of man’s wickedness, for he is constantly overflowing with evil; this is why a remedy is required. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006093 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006093 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:11:14 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006092 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006092 Ken Silverstein Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:32:34 -0400 A short while back I noted here that Gulnara Karimova, daughter and henchwoman of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, had recently hosted rock star Sting in Tashkent, the nation’s capital. Sting took in a fashion show and other events with Gulnara, whose father’s regime killed one prisoner by immersion in boiling water, and in 2005 slaughtered hundreds of protesters in the town of Andijan. “The scale of this killing was so extensive, and its nature was so indiscriminate and disproportionate, that it can best be described as a massacre,” Human Rights Watch said in a study of the events at Andijan. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006091 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006091 Mr. Fish Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:15:42 -0400 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006088 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006088 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:54:14 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006087 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006087 Scott Horton Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:39:40 -0400 Tomorrow at Pace University, I’ll be giving the Blaine Sloan Lecture on International Law, in conjunction with the Pace International Law Review Symposium. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006086 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006086 Scott Horton Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:31:21 -0400 Establishing a valuable precedent in a case involving unlawful surveillance and botched state secrets claims, the Justice Department has named its price. Wired reports: . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006085 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006085 Scott Horton Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:52:10 -0400 CBS News reports that on January 23—days after Barack Obama’s inauguration, but before his designated senior team had taken charge at the Justice Department—federal prosecutors in Indiana issued a subpoena to IndyMedia, a Philadelphia-based Internet news service. . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006083 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006083 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:27:48 -0400 . . . http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006081 http://harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006081 Ken Silverstein Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:03:28 -0400 From the St. Petersburg Times: . . .