BEST POLITICAL DOCS • KOSHER GETS ETHICAL JANUARY 2011 Chicago's other community organizer How to manufacture a disease TERRORIST BY ASSOCIATION Are you guilty? Ask the FBI. BY JEREMY GANTZ PLUS Chris Lehmann takes down the Babbitt of the Bobos, David Brooks letters syrup does not appear isn’t subsidized because the to push the boundaries and to be a measureable manufacturer itself may not struggle to earn recognition contributor to mercury be directly on the dole. The in a marketplace dominated in foods. large agribusinesses that by four or five major labels Also, it is important to grow corn reap not only worldwide. note that manufacturers grain, but lavish government The article’s dramatic of corn sweeteners do not handouts through what I headline reflects the au- receive government support called “skewed government thor’s out-of-date viewpoint. payments. Our industry buys policies.” That means that tax Nostalgia blinds Lears to corn on the open market at dollars allow HFCS manu- the present. It’s a viewpoint the prevailing market price. facturers to take advantage clearly evident when she Audrae Erickson, President of artificially cheap corn writes: “Those of us avid Corn Refiners Association prices to produce artificially listeners who came of age Washington, D.C. cheap HFCS. in the 1990s and earlier re- member how much effort it The mercurial TERRY J. ALLEN Exorcising ‘90s nostalgia science of syrup took to learn about obscure RESPONDS With all due respect, Rachel bands and track down their The American public can rest You have confirmed in an Lears in “The End of Indie?,” recordings.” assured that high fructose email to ITT that Stopford’s (December 2010) misses the Indie music isn’t dead by a corn syrup is safe (“Let Them study was not independent: point. Yes, there are fewer long-shot. It’s just a bit harder Drink Soda,” December “Duke University Medical independent labels, and yes, to find than in the heady days 2010). No mercury or mercu- Center was compensated by it is harder for “indie” bands of the 1990s. ry-based technology is used the Corn Refiners Associa- to get signed nowadays. But Richard Sweeting in the production of high tion (CRA) for the time Dr. many indie bands continue Colchester, United Kingdom fructose corn syrup (HFCS) Stopford spent evaluating in North America. Safety is the test methodology and the highest priority for our the final results,” you wrote. industry, which is why we CRA also provided selective immediately commissioned test samples, the study was external testing as well as in- not peer reviewed, and it dependent expert review of did it disclose Dr. Stopford’s claims concerning mercury relationship to the CRA. and our corn sweetener. I suggest you read my Woodhall Stopford of current column (p. 12) on the InTheseTimes.com Duke University Medical corrosive effects of conflicts Center, one of the nation’s of interest in research. leading experts in mercury Low-level mercury For a video interview with Stephanie Weiner contamination, reviewed the contamination is really and Joe Iosbaker, the two subpoenaed activ- results of total mercury test- not the most serious issue ists who are featured on this month’s cover, ing of samples of high fruc- with HFCS, but if you need and for updates on the federal grand jury tose corn syrup conducted by evidence of its presence, see investigation into “material support for terror- Eurofins Central Analytical a peer-reviewed article in ism,” visit InTheseTimes.com. Laboratory in February and the journal Environmental The American dream is faltering, but the Hora- March 2009. Dr. Stopford Health which found “signifi- tio Alger myth persists. Chris Rabb, author of concluded: cant amounts” and another Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape En- • No quantifiable mer- study by the Institute for trepreneurial Opportunity explains how and why cury was detected in any Agriculture and Trade Policy. in our “20 Questions” interview feature. of the samples analyzed. Equally disingenuous • High fructose corn is your denial that HFCS 2 JANUARY 2011 IN THESE TIMES contents VOLUME 35 – NUMBER 1 FRONTLINE 7 FIGHtiNG FOR PEACE OF MiND Operation Recovery tries to stem war’s mental wounds. BY ALEXANDRA MARKOWSKI ALSO : –Black farmers still losing ground 9 28 –India’s Green Party maverick –Kosher gets ethical 9 DEAR itt IDEOLOGIST BY PETE KaRmaN VIEWS 12 [SIC] HEALTH + SCIENCE How to manufacture a disease BY TERRY J. ALLEN 21 16 13 BACK TALK WikiLeaks: The TMZ of global politics BY SUSAN J. DOUGLAS FEATURES 14 THE THIRD COAST Chicago’s torture cop awaits his sentence 16 TERRORIST BY ASSOCIATION BY SALIM MUWAKKIL The Justice Department targets 15 PUBLIC DEFENDER nonviolent solidarity activists Good profits from “the good war” BY JEREMY GANTZ BY LENOARD C. GOODmaN 21 YOUR HOLIDAY GUIDE TO DEFICIT REDUCTION CULTURE Pleasing your base while (maybe) saving some cash 28 THE BAbbitt OF THE BOBOS BY DAVID MOBERG Is David Brooks America’s most misguided pundit? 24 A THREE-POINT PLAN TO SAVE DEMOCRATS BY CHRIS LEHmaNN The party must reconnect to its populist roots 31 TAKE TWO BY ROGER BYBEE Get angry: The year’s top ten political documentaries 26 ChICAGO’S OTHER COMMUNITY ORGANIZER BY MICHAEL ATKINSON Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) wants to solve the deficit ALSO : crisis without soaking the lower and middle classes –Autopsy of an auto plant BY DAVID MOBERG 34 EXCERPT Program or Be Programmed COVER 36 DEATH AND CROSSING Subpoenaed activists Stephanie Weiner and Joe Iosbaker stand Too many migrants outside their Chicago home, which was raided by the FBI on meet Santa Muerte September 24, 2010. Photo by Peter Holderness BY NORMA PRICE IN THESE TIMES JANUARY 2011 3 editorial Our Follower in Chief “With liberty and justice for all...” FOUNDING EDITOR & PUBLISHER he planned December ful counterinsurgency was endangered James Weinstein (1926–2005) EDITOR & PUBLISHER Joel Bleifuss review of U.S. war policy in by Afghan government corruption and WEB EDITOR & ASSOCIATE EDITOR Afghanistan was supposed ineffective military training. But propo- Jeremy Gantz to determine “the progress nents of escalation offered vague solu- COPY EDITOR Maysan Haydar T PROOFREADER Alan Kimmel and proof of the [U.S.] operational tions such as “working” on the Hamid SENIOR EDITORS Terry J. Allen, Patricia concept.” But there is no “proof” the Karzai government, though there were Aufderheide, Susan J. Douglas, David Moberg, counterinsurgency has been effective. “no guarantees,” and “blending with Salim Muwakkil, David Sirota, Kurt Vonnegut As for “progress,” some in the mili- local culture.” Rather than drilling down (1922–2007) CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dean Baker, Frida tary are cautiously optimistic. But key into the details and likely consequences Berrigan, Will Boisvert, Roger Bybee, Adam Doster, Phyllis Eckhaus, Barbara Ehrenreich, U.S. intelligence agencies are skepti- of these nostrums, Obama moved on. Mischa Gaus, Paul Hockenos, George Hodak, cal. Meanwhile, polls show that most His only definitive statements con- Doug Ireland, John Ireland, Hans Johnson, Pete Karman, Kari Lydersen, Naomi Klein, Dave Americans—and two thirds of recent cerned U.S. politics. He insisted a time- Mulcahey, John Nichols, James North, Jehangir Democratic voters—oppose the $119 line to draw down the surge was needed Pocha, Jessica Pupovac, Laura S. Washington, Fred Weir, Adam Werbach, Jacob Wheeler, billion/year war. to maintain public support. Thus Slavoj Žižek The review should command Presi- Obama’s one contribution to policy: the IN THESE TIMES BOARD OF EDITORS R.M. dent Barack Obama’s full attention. 18-month timeline to “begin” reducing Arrieta, Bill Ayers, Lindsay Beane, Frida Berrigan, Martha Biondi, Sharon Bloyd- Yet up to now, he has been detached U.S. forces “based on progress on the Peshkin, Michelle Chen, Bernardine Dohrn, from internal administration debate ground.” For the rest, he deferred to the Melvyn Dubofsky, Eve Ewing, James Flammang, John Foley, Sidney Hollander, over the escalating conflict. Accord- hawkish views of the Joint Chiefs of Peter Hoyt, Lynette Jackson, George Kenney, ing to Bob Woodward’s blow-by-blow Staff, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Alice Kim, Alan Kimmel, Selena Kohel, Barry Komisaruk, Andrew Lehman, Juan account of 10 presidentially-chaired and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton— Mora-Torres, Christopher Moraff, Nancy National Security Council sessions overruling dissents by Vice-President Fleck Myers, Achy Obejas, Laura Orlando, Gordon Quinn, Harish Patel, Jenny Tomkins, during the fall of 2009, Obama be- Joseph Biden and U.S. Ambassador to Cassandra West, John Wilson, Eric Wolfe, G. haved more like a debate moderator Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry. Pascal Zachary, Slavoj Žižek than a chief executive with a strategic As the obstacles to American suc- ART DIRECTOR Rachel K. Dooley ART INTERNS Hope Asya Broughton, view of foreign policy. cess in Afghanistan become apparent, Charles Baker Obama asked the right questions: the issues identified in the 2009 review ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dan Dineen Should our mission be to defeat the remain salient. Obama and his advisers CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Peter Hoyt Taliban as well as al Qaeda? Can we need to grapple with and debate them. ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Selena Kohel do that given the Afghan government’s The urgent policy question now is not EDITORIAL INTERNS Leanna Burton, Andrew Donakowski, Alexandra Markowski, Andrew corrupt governance? Would U.S. success how to implement the vague commit- Oxford, Stephen Patterson impact the stability of Pakistan, and ment to “begin” troop withdrawals in WEB INTERN Jane Huh can we persuade that government to July. Rather, as world-class scholars of VOLUNTEER Donald Minich terminate safe havens for the Taliban as Afghan politics and European officials IN THESE TIMES PUBLISHING CONSORTIUm Grant Abert, Theresa Alt, Aris Anagnos, well as al Qaeda? suggest, it is: Should the United States Stuart Anderson, Paula and Hal Baron, Yet not once in the discussions did work to achieve a regionally supported Leonard C.