Marcia Pereira (Miami): The “War on Terror” Slippery Slope Policy: Guantanamo Bay and the Abuse of Executive Power. From The New Yorker, The Black Sites: A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program (and more). Benjamin Wittes on the FISA bill and the real reason Gonzales needs to go. From Policy Review, an article on Making Intelligence Smart: Some necessary reforms; an article on "Declinism" and three centuries of gloomy forecasts about America; and Peter Berkowitz reviews The Matador’s Cape: America’s Reckless Response to Terror by Stephen Holmes. How to Fight the Next War: Before its next military intervention, the U.S. needs to ensure that its decision has the support of the world's democracies. Getting Iraq Wrong: Michael Ignatieff on what the war has taught him about political judgment.
Do Americans have reason to be gloomy about the economic outlook? Four writers from around the country provide a snapshot of their local economies. In Silicon Valley, millionaires who don’t feel rich: Many members of the digital elite do not see themselves as particularly fortunate, in part because others have more. Phoney fears grip America: A spectre is apparently haunting America – the spectre of “populism”. Daniel Gross reviews Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class and The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert H. Frank. Vacation, All I Never Wanted: Why don’t Americans take time off anymore? Maybe it’s because we just don’t need to. Ode to Annoying Co-Workers: Working at home, you see, ain't always a picnic. Do we really need a law to protect fat workers? They earn less, get less respect, and score fewer promotions. A discrimination ban might make sense.
The Coming of Kidults: A review of Consumed by Benjamin Barber. Were Peter Pan living today, he wouldn't have to fly away anywhere. He could be as boyish as he liked, for as long as he liked. His playfulness would moreover be seen as good — even essential — for the economy. Corporate owners sow fresh new killing fields: It's time to stop corporations from undermining public health policy. Kevin Drum on how to explain the health care crisis: A review of Sick: The Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis — and the People Who Pay the Price by Jonathan Cohn and The Health Care Mess: How We Got Into It and What It Will Take To Get Out by Julius Richmond and Rashi Fein. When Medical Studies Collide: Contradictory reports? Meta-analysis may make things more confusing. He's not young, he's my doctor: Nowhere is the tension between generations more acute than in the fraught medical field.
