BARBARA EHRENREICH CALLS FOR PUBLIC DANCING MARCH 2007 Is Wikipedia the new town hall? Return of the health care monster Evangelicals you need to know BY ZACK EXLEY PLUS: Senator Bernie Sanders bashes Bush’s budget Kristian Williams parses the Pentagon’s new counterinsurgency manual MARCH 0 0 7 IN THESE T I MES GFCH07inthesetimes100hip.indd 1 2/4/07 1:38:17 PM contents VOLUME 31 - NUMBER 03 FROntLINE 8 M AKING B LAC K VOI C ES H EARD A new study examines minority youth opinion BY CHELSEA ROSS ALSO : –The Occupation Project begins 28 43 –Return of the Cold War –Envrionmental regulations get rolled back 12 A ppALL-O-ME T ER BY DAVE MULCAHEY VIEWS 14 BAC K TALK Molly and the mainstream BY SUSAN J. DOUGLAS 20 11 15 T HE t HIRD cOAS T For Israel’s sake BY SALIM MUWAKKIL 17 D R O pp IN’ A DIME Obama’s base: broader than black FEATURES BY LAURA S. WASHINGTON 18 COLOMBIA’S THIRD WAY CULTURE With the FARC no longer credible, a new leftist party has emerged 38 I S WIKI P EDIA t HE BY JAMES NORTH N E w TOW N H ALL? Digital media and the potential of 20 PREACHING REVOLUTION an empowered public The evangelicals the left should get to know BY PAT AUFDERHEIDE BY ZACK EXLEY ALSO : –Chalmers Johnson has a new 26 COUNTERINSURGENCY 101 Nemesis General Petraeus says he thinks the war in Iraq is winnable. His –Bisexual healing recent manual suggests otherwise BY KRIStiAN WILLIAMS 45 H EALT H & S C IEN C E Merck’s murky record 28 RECLAIMING WHAt MAKES US HUMAN BY TErrY J. ALLEN Reviving joy, ecstasy and solidarity in a time of killjoys 48 E LDERS OF t HE BY BARBARA EHRENREICH N E w L EF T Talking ’bout my 33 THE HEALTH CARE MONSTER RETURNS Generation on Fire Even Republicans recognize its ravages, but what’s the best BY NEIL DEMAUSE way to slay the beast? BY DAVid MOBERG 36 IN DEFENSE OF A FREE PRESS Sarah Olson talks about journalists’ lack of legal protections BY LiSA SOUSA IN THESE T I MES MARCH 0 0 7 editorial “With liberty and justice for all...” Which Side Are We On? FOUNdiNG Editor AND PUBLisher James Weinstein (1926-2005) n early February, President Bush budget that reflects the needs of working Editor Joel Bleifuss told a group of Wall Street executives people instead of the wealthy. actiNG MANAGING Editor Phoebe Connelly that “income inequality is real; it’s And it is time for citizens across the Associate Editor Brian Cook been rising for more than 25 years. nation to stand up and demand that their AssistaNT Editor Jacob Wheeler Editor-at-Large Jessica Clark I… And the question is whether we re- representatives and senators, Democrats SENior Editors Craig Aaron, Terry J. Allen, Patricia spond to the income inequality we see and Republicans, do so and thereby rep- Aufderheide, Lakshmi Chaudhry, Susan J. Douglas, with policies that help lift people up, or resent the interests of all Americans, not Christopher Hayes, David Moberg, Dave Mulcahey, Salim Muwakkil, David Sirota, Silja J.A. Talvi, Kurt tear others down.” a select few. Vonnegut, Laura S. Washington It’s ironic that this president raised We must ask: Which side are we on? CONtribUtiNG Editors Dean Baker, Frida Berrigan, the issue of income inequality because Are we for the rich and the powerful or Will Boisvert, Phyllis Eckhaus, Barbara Ehrenreich, Annette Fuentes, Mischa Gaus, Juan Gonzalez, his own trickle-down economic policies the middle class and working families? Miles Harvey, Paul Hockenos, George Hodak, Doug have contributed to the growing gap be- As a member of the Senate Budget Ireland, John Ireland, Hans Johnson, Kari Lydersen, tween the very rich and everyone else, a Committee, I see a pretty clear answer. I Naomi Klein, John Nichols, James North, James Parker, Kim Phillips-Fein, Jehangir Pocha, Aaron situation worse today than at any time will not be voting for more tax breaks for Sarver, Fred Weir, Adam Werbach, Slavoj Žižek since the ’20s. the outgoing CEO of Home Depot, who Proofreaders Alan Kimmel, Brian O’Grady, Despite Bush’s professed concern, the recently received a $210 million golden Norman Wishner budget he recently submitted to Con- parachute. Rather, I will be voting to sub- INterNs Michael Burgner, Nick Burt, Brandon Forbes, gress will exacerbate the enormous gap stantially increase financial aid for low Stephanie Gray, Chelsea Ross, Wanda Victores between the rich and the poor, squeeze and middle class families so that every Art Director Rachel Jefferson the middle class, reward war profiteers American, regardless of income, can re- ILLUstrator Terry LaBan and hurt those most in need. ceive a college education. web Director Seamus Holman art INterN Greta Schluderberg The president’s budget cuts the number I will not support a tax cut for the for- of children receiving childcare assistance mer CEO of Pfizer, who received a $200 PUBLisher Tracy Van Slyke by 300,000 and terminates food stamps million compensation package. Instead, Associate PUBLisher Aaron Sarver AssistaNT PUBLisher Anna Grace Schneider for 280,000 families. At a time when vet- I will vote to substantially increase CircULatioN Director Peter Hoyt erans urgently need access to healthcare, funding for childcare so that families AdvertisiNG AND MarketiNG CoordiNator the president’s budget imposes a new en- can find affordable and quality care for Erin Polgreen rollment fee for Veterans Administration their children. PUbLishiNG INterNs Bradley Gardner, Katharine healthcare as high as $750. And the list The former CEO of ExxonMobil, who Goktuna, Gabrielle Sinclair goes on and on. managed to get a $400 million retirement IN These Times PUBLishiNG CONsortiUM Grant Abert, Theresa Alt, Aris Anagnos, Stuart Over the next decade, the Bush budget package, does not need more tax relief. It Anderson, Collier Hands, Polly Howells and Eric would cut Medicare by $252 billion and is far more important that we keep our Werthman, Nancy Kricorian and James Schamus, Medicaid by $28 billion. In 2008 alone, promises to the veterans of this country Betsy Krieger and David Kandel, Lisa Lee, Chris Lloyd, Edith Helen Monsees, Dave Rathke, Abby education will be cut by $1.5 billion and who now find themselves on waiting lists Rockefeller and Lee Halprin, Perry Rosenstein, Lewis the Environmental Protection Agency to get the health care they need. Steel, Ellen Stone-Belic, Dan Terkel, Studs Terkel will lose $509 million. If we as a nation are serious about Board of Directors Joel Bleifuss, Janet Geovanis, The administration claims we just don’t creating a more egalitarian society, we Robert McChesney, David Moberg, Dave Rathke, have the money to reduce childhood need to invest more federal resources in Beth Schulman, Tracy Van Slyke poverty or provide universal healthcare. education, health care, housing, infra- In These Times (ISSN 0160-5992) is published monthly by the Institute for Public Affairs, 2040N . Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60647. Periodicals Meanwhile, millionaires would receive structure, environmental protection and postage paid at Chicago, IL and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to In These Times, 308 E. Hitt St., Mt. Morris, IL 61054. an average tax break of $160,000 per sustainable energy. We also have to re- This issue (Vol. 31, No. 03) went to press on February 22, for newsstand sales from March 9, 2007 to March 30, 2007. The entire contents of In These Times year at a cost of $739 billion over the duce our national debt. Given that reality, are copyright © 2007 by the Institute for Public Affairs, and may not be reproduced in any manner, either in whole or in part, without permission next decade. And, the president’s 2008 Congress must develop the courage to of the publisher. Copies of In These Times’ contract with the National Writers defense budget—$608 billion—is more stand up to the big money interests and Union are available upon request. Contact the union at (212) 254-0279 or www.nwu.org. than at the height of the Vietnam and roll back the tax breaks for the wealthi- Subscriptions are $36.95 a year ($59 for institutions; $61.95 Canada; $75.95 overseas). For subscription questions, address changes and back issues Korean Wars. est one percent, stop corporate welfare, call (800) 827-0270. Class warfare is being waged in Amer- eliminate unneeded defense weaponry, Complete issues and volumes of In These Times are available from Bell and Howell, Ann Arbor, MI. In These Times is indexed in the Alternative Press ica and the wrong side is winning. It is and demand that the wealthy and power- Index and the Left Index. Newsstand circulation through Big Top Newsstand Services, a division of the IPA, at (415) 445-0230, or [email protected]. time for the new Democratic majority in ful rejoin American society. Printed in the United States. Congress to stand with the working fam- We should do nothing less. MMUNIC PHIC CO ATIO GRA NS ilies of our country. It is time we offer a —Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) UNION LABEL ® IN GCIU TER ION 759-C NATIONAL UN MARCH 0 0 7 IN THESE T I MES mixed reaction After all this effort, I am left with two simple sentences for policymakers. You have no military solution for the issues of Iran. And you have to make diplomacy work. —Ret. Air Force Lt. COL. Sam GardiNer, SUmmiNG UP his coNCLUsioNS from A war game coNDUcted by the ATLantiC MOntHLY IN FALL 2004 LABANARAMA by terry L abaN Number of times President Bush invoked 39 references to God and Christianity in his State of the Union and Inaugural addresses.