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Archive: Aug 2007

A Bridge Too Far

In the past two years, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota twice vetoed legislation to raise the state’s gas tax to pay for badly needed bridge repairs–including the interstate bridge that…

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Enheduanna’s Devotional

I am yours! It will always be so! May your heart cool off for me May your understanding… compassion… I have experienced your great punishment … My Lady, I will…

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Weekly Review

“Into the palace parlor they stepped; her hand in his paw the old bruin kept,” 1875 The U.S. military announced that July was the least deadly of the past eight…

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The Pork Barrel World of Judge Mark Fuller

For the last week, we’ve been examining the role played by Judge Mark Everett Fuller in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman. Today, we…

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Equal Justice for FISA Leakers

Earlier today, I noted Mike Isikoff’s report in Newsweek about the dramatic and highly repressive steps taken by the Gonzales Justice Department against Thomas Tamm, a former lawyer they evidently…

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The Darkening

Since I’ve spent so much time lately panning Newhouse newspapers, I should rush to note a positive example of exposé journalism from a publication owned by the S.I. Newhouse family.…

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Radioactive Hysteria: G-men raid home, seize smoke detectors

Some years ago I wrote an article for Harper’s entitled “The Radioactive Boy Scout” (which became a book of the same name) about a Detroit-area teenager who conducted remarkable experiments…

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The Art of Political Prosecution

Today the editors of the nation’s leading newspaper look at the evidence, and dare to state the completely obvious: One part of the Justice Department mess that requires more scrutiny…

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The Boot is Descending

This weekend something of tremendous consequence happened. The attitude of the Bush Administration will likely be mirrored by that of the Democratic leadership: this is nothing, tend to your own…

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Mallarmé on the Poet and His Language

I am creating a language which must necessarily spring from a quite new conception of poetry, and I define it in these words: To paint, not the thing, but the…

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The ‘Bama Press and a Miscarriage of Justice

The Anniston Star has long been the voice of independent, serious journalism in the middle of Alabama. In today’s Star, I offer some comments on the Siegelman case—how justice went…

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Beauty, Death and the Esthetic Movement

Alexander von Zemlinsky, Eine florentinische Tragödie (A Florentine Tragedy), an opera in one act based on the play by Oscar Wilde Alexander von Zemlinsky, Der Zwerg (The Dwarf), an opera…

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Æschylus on Suffering

Wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep, So men against their will Learn to practice moderation. Favors come…

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Gonzales Caught in Another Lie

Last Tuesday Alberto Gonzales appeared and testified under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Of late one of the hot topics of discussion has been a series of political briefings…

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Siegelman Shorts

The Dog Ate My Homework, Week Two As of today, U.S. Attorney Mrs. William Canary begins the second week of explaining to the House Judiciary Committee that “the dog ate…

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The Bush Administration’s Not-So-Secret Secrets

The Bush-Cheney Administration will be remembered for decades for its shamelessly political manipulation of security classifications. A number of general themes have emerged. One is that when documents are stamped…

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Recruiting Contract Soldiers in Latin America

An increasing number of Latin Americans can be found carrying out security tasks in Iraq: Peruvians guard the outer perimeter of a U.S. installation in Basra; Chileans protect the government…

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The Ambiguous Quality of Brecht’s ‘Goodness’

On Tuesday, I was having lunch with two friends and we came suddenly to talk about “The Life of Others,” the amazing film put together by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck…

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Brecht’s ‘To What End Goodness’

1 To what end goodness If the good are immediately struck down, or those  To whom they are good Are struck down? To what end freedom If the free are…

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Kelsen on the Unitary Executive

It is completely absurd to suggest that a despotic government has no concept of the rule of law, but rests rather on the caprice of the ruler . . .…

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Judge Fuller and the Trial of Don Siegelman

In the American criminal justice system, in a case presented to a jury, the trial judge is less a searcher in pursuit of truth than a referee. As long experience…

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Meet the Author!

Not to be missed in the August issue of Harper’s: a 1986 interview between Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard and Werner Wögerbauer, a teacher at the University of Nantes, translated by…

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A Decision in the Triple Canopy Case

One of the great concerns that rises with everyone who studies the world of private security contractors in Iraq is that murders, assaults and other serious crimes are being committed…

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The FISA Bamboozlement

We’ve come to learn that the Bush Administration often suffers reversals in the quiet corners of the government, where public servants trained to respect the Rule of Law actually adhere…

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Nietzsche on the Specific Gravity of Personal Morals

“The Hiker” speaks.— If you would like to see our European morality for once as it appears from a distance, in order to measure it against other moralities, past and…

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Judge Fuller: A Siegelman Grudge Match?

We’re getting to know Judge Mark Everett Fuller, the judge in the Don Siegelman case. In the first two installments [1] [2], we discussed how Fuller came to be selected…

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The Death Throes of Dick Cheney

Freshly recharged with a new battery pack, our bionic vice president had another encounter with CNN’s Larry King a day back and I finally caught up with it last night.…

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