online archive

White supremacy, religion, health care, sex and more

From the Journal of Political and Military Sociology, a series of articles on the White Separation Movement, including an introduction; Betty Dobratz (ISU) and Stephanie Shanks-Melie (IUN): The Strategy of White Separatism; and Sine Anahita (Alaska): Blogging the Borders: Virtual Skinheads, Hypermasculinity and Heteronormativity. In the days since Jerry Falwell died, much has been written about his influence on politics, but relatively little has been written about his hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (and more on Falwell and Savage Christians).

From Truthdig, Chris Hedges on why he doesn't believe in atheists, and Sam Harris strikes back. The polemical journalist Christopher Hitchens is more read in America than in his native UK – but that is about to change. Religion, claims Christopher Hitchens, is bigoted, irrational and evil. But his moral certitude makes him no better than the fundamentalists he opposes (and more on God Is Not Great). Nicolas Sarkozy debates belief, freedom and work with the atheist philosopher Michel Onfray.

From Rolling Stone, he's cashing in on 9/11, working with Karl Rove's henchmen and in cahoots with a Swift Boat-style attack on Hillary. Will Rudy Giuliani be Bush III? Matt Taibbi investigates. The Democratic presidential candidates tout their ideas for health care reform. Obama's cautious health care plan: When it comes to achieving universal health care, Obama wants to wade in, not to jump. And that says a lot about him as a candidate. A lack of audacity: How Obama's health care plan resembles the candidate himself — a proposal filled with "almosts" from a politician who still hasn't quite fulfilled the promise of his appeal. A review of The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care by David Gratzer; Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care by Arnold Kling; and Medicine and the Market: Equity v. Choice by Daniel Callahan and Angela A. Wasunna. A review of Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About Our Health and the World We Live In by Anahad O'Connor. From TLS, a review of Birth: A history by Tina Cassidy; Born in the USA: How a broken maternity system must be fixed to put women and children first by Marsden Wagner; and Bioethics and Women: Across the life span by Mary Briody Mahowald.

From TNR, intellectual celebrity deathmatch: Alan Dershowitz & Noam Chomsky debate. An acerbic look at the Holocaust industry: A review of My Holocaust by Tova Reich. From Jewcy, a look at why Unitarianism is a pre-teen crypto-Jew's best friend. A Nation of Wimps: Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers.

From RCCS, living and loving beyond the heteronorm: A queer analysis of personal relationships in the twenty-first century. Investigating the rise of highbrow porn—from the inside: How a modest lady editor from good New England stock wound up in an erotic film. Welcome to the Age of Un-Innocence: There’s still plenty of sex to be had in Manhattan, but the kind of sex that results in friendship and business deals, not romance.

The poisonous legacy of 9/11: New Yorkers were told their air was safe to breathe after 9/11. It wasn't. A report on the lies and the cover-up. Stony Brook's Malcolm Bowman had a message for the City of New York: Prepare, because the flood is coming. Eric Alterman on how The New York Sun's alleged success is a figment of its conservative owners' imaginations. And from CJR, Before Jon Stewart: Fake news is back, but our tolerance for it isn't what it was before journalism donned the mantle of authority