May 2005

Daily Download: "Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It," Belle & Sebastian
A winsome and barbed song from the cutest band alive. (05/31/2005)

WayLay By Carol Lay
The Checked Libido: Breathless with laughter and hot to trot! (05/31/2005)

I am so beautiful I have been maimed by men's attentions By Cary Tennis
All my life, men have slavered over my looks, never seeing me as a capable woman with a genius IQ. (05/31/2005)

Getting religion about health By Katharine Mieszkowski
Mike Huckabee, Arkansas' newly skinny governor, weighs in on the humilation of being fat, why government shouldn't police our grease, and whether he's planning to diet his way to the White House. (05/31/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Larry Brown is reportedly off to Cleveland. Sniff, sniff. It smells true. If so: What a jerk. Plus: Waltonism of the Night. (05/31/2005)

Europe's shattered dream By Nicholas Watt et al.
France's "no" vote may force other nations to cancel their polls, ensuring defeat of the proposed E.U. constitution. (05/31/2005)

Hundreds mourn 8 killed in Cleveland fire By Thomas J. Sheeran
(05/31/2005)

Some Pakistanis see U.S. as symbol of woes By Eric Talmadge
(05/31/2005)

Bush calls human rights report "absurd" By Terence Hunt
(05/31/2005)

Warning on warming By Tim Radford
The huge rise in Siberian forest fires puts the entire world at risk, Russian scientists say. (05/31/2005)

The Rehnquist watch Tim Grieve
With Memorial Day behind us, the chief justice could retire any day now. Where have we heard that one before? (05/31/2005)

Is Frist the phony now? Tim Grieve
Courting the NASCAR vote, the Senate majority leader reveals his inner Kerry. (05/31/2005)

From Downing Street to Minneapolis Tim Grieve
In a Memorial Day editorial, the Star Tribune says that Americans and a lying president failed the fallen troops. (05/31/2005)

Is he Deep Throat? Tim Grieve
A retired FBI agent says he was the secret source who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein unravel the story of Watergate. (05/31/2005)

Amnesty International: Absurd except when it isn't Tim Grieve
George W. Bush says allegations of abuse at Guantanamo Bay are the work of "people who hate America." (05/31/2005)

Dancing over Deep Throat Tim Grieve
Vanity Fair says W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat. The Washington Post has no comment. (05/31/2005)

Deep Throat: Who knew? Tim Grieve
If W. Mark Felt is the man, a few journalists get credit for having been right for a long time now. (05/31/2005)

And the walrus was Paul Tim Grieve
Long before Vanity Fair broke its exclusive, a teenager used anagrams and a tip from Carl Bernstein's son to out "Deep Throat." (05/31/2005)

Yes, but is he really "Deep Throat"? Tim Grieve
W. Mark Felt may well have been Woodward and Bernstein's source, but Vanity Fair's exclusive is short on details from Felt himself. (05/31/2005)

It's really him Tim Grieve
Woodward and Bernstein break their silence: W. Mark Felt is "Deep Throat." (05/31/2005)

Impeachment -- then and now Tim Grieve
Now that we've solved the 30-year-old mystery of Deep Throat, it may be an opportune moment to ponder some more current issues involving the man who now sits in the office that Richard Nixon once held. (05/31/2005)

I Like to Watch By Heather Havrilesky
It's official: Dating virgins makes you insane! Plus: Jessica Simpson stomps all over Willie Nelson, and "Entourage" proves success sucks if you have to bring along your jackass friends. (05/30/2005)

To bee or not to bee By Gavin McNett
Why did three new books just come out about bees? Is the publishing world taking secret orders from the Discovery Channel? And should writers who refer to "my recommended daily allowance of magic and wonder" be stung to death? (05/30/2005)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
If Jeffrey Dahmer had been a right-wing pundit. (05/30/2005)

Tale of the tape By Seth Fletcher
Let us now praise the mix tape, a fuzzy-sounding byproduct of hours of misplaced energy and a pure enthusiasm for music. (05/28/2005)

When toddlers get fired By Neal Pollack
My 2-year-old son was booted out of his preschool for biting -- and now my wife and I are facing a summer of hell. (05/28/2005)

Rush Limbaugh's tortured logic By Valarie Kaur
Rush accused me and other Harvard students of hating America because we put on a play about Abu Ghraib. Not only did he reveal his profound moral ignorance, he lost a man who used to be his biggest fan -- my dad. (05/28/2005)

Climate change takes center stage By Amanda Griscom Little
A series of climate-change proposals will go before the Senate next month, but some are greener than others. (05/28/2005)

Letters
Readers react to Amory Lovins' and James Howard Kunstler's competing visions for what will happen when we run out of oil, and sound off on Kunstler's book "The Long Emergency." (05/28/2005)

Daily Download: "Uninhabited Man," Richard Thompson
An exclusive download of an exceptional live performance by the legendary Richard Thompson. (05/27/2005)

Black banjo songsters
A collection of unpredictable, gloriously incomprehensible music. (05/27/2005)

"The Longest Yard" By Andrew O'Hehir
It's no touchdown, but this prison-football remake -- starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock -- isn't a total fumble, provided you overlook the rampant homophobia. (05/27/2005)

When aliens attack By Andrew O'Hehir
Should we battle invasive species of plants and animals? Maybe. But in his provocative new book, "Out of Eden," Alan Burdick argues that we are only doing so for ourselves. (05/27/2005)

How do I know if I'm an alcoholic? By Cary Tennis
There are certain signs that I have a problem with alcohol, but nothing terrible has happened so far. (05/27/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
"Cinderella Man" author and ESPN anchor Jeremy Schaap talks about boxing's greatest upset story -- and how he just didn't have time for Renee Zellweger. (05/27/2005)

Plastic's harmful side effects By Ian Sample
Chemicals in common household products disrupt the development of reproductive organs in unborn baby boys, scientists report. (05/27/2005)

"Time is our greatest enemy" By Chris McGreal
Bush rebuffs Abbas on his appeal for help in reviving the U.S.-led "road map" to peace with Israel. (05/27/2005)

Still to blame By Joe Conason
Newly declassified files on detainee abuse include sworn statements by a Pentagon employee about a military interrogator who threw the Koran on the floor and "stepped on it" -- provoking detainees to riot. (05/27/2005)

Iraq: The next Democratic battlefront By Arianna Huffington
With the situation in Iraq at its bleakest, it's time for Democrats to do battle with Republicans. (05/27/2005)

America's broken nuclear promises By Robin Cook
Bush has endangered us all by doing his utmost to frustrate the talks on the nonproliferation treaty. (05/27/2005)

Rethinking the holy war Page Rockwell
With allegations of Quran abuse in the headlines, the Pentagon approves, and then retracts, an image of a U.S. tank called the "New Testament." (05/27/2005)

This is what democracy looks like? Julia Scott
President and Mrs. Bush miss an opportunity to promote democratic reform in Egypt. (05/27/2005)

Enviros catch the soul train Katharine Mieszkowski
Activists say that in order to save itself, the movement needs less scolding and more spirit. (05/27/2005)

Overcoming Clinton fatigue syndrome Farhad Manjoo
A new poll shows that public support for the New York senator's possible 2008 presidential run is on the rise. (05/27/2005)

The Terri Schiavo test Farhad Manjoo
In a new essay, Joan Didion argues that politicians on both sides of the aisle missed the point of the Schiavo controversy. (05/27/2005)

Mind games
Depression, the persistence of memory, and the fallout of a political showdown -- TTers share their thoughts this week. (05/27/2005)

Ask the pilot By Patrick Smith
No-fly rule, you bother me. Also: Which airline has the youngest planes, and is it possible to be dangerously new? (05/27/2005)

Same as it ever was By Andrew Leonard
George Lucas can sleep easy tonight. The FBI saved "Star Wars" from the evil rebels of the Internet file-sharing alliance. (05/27/2005)

Daily Download: "Eskimo," Need New Body
Music for jumping up and down like a maniac to. (05/26/2005)

The Fix
Paris Hilton blackmailed? Beatty picking fight with Schwarzenegger? Cruise and Holmes spotted "making out like cats in heat." (05/26/2005)

Still "Lost" By Laura Miller
TV's great head-scratcher offers no big payoffs, but plenty of reason to stay tuned. (05/26/2005)

"American Idol" virgin By Thomas Bartlett
Bland country moxie beat brash Vegas rocker, in the first -- and last -- "Idol" I'll ever watch. (05/26/2005)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
Super-Fun-Pak Comix: The Cutest Thing Ever, Guy in the Airport Who Thinks He's Fabulous, and more! (05/26/2005)

Asexual and proud! By Lynn Harris
A growing number of so-called asexuals insist that their indifference toward sex isn't a pathology, but an "orientation" like being gay. But some experts say that instead of comforting themselves with a label, "amoebas" should seek help. (05/26/2005)

My brother retreated to a basement apartment with his dog By Cary Tennis
He's had some tough blows lately, but I'm concerned he's really losing it. (05/26/2005)

Wives of the Times By Katharine Mieszkowski
Who cares that with Maureen Dowd on book leave, the Op-Ed page of record has no female columnists? As long as male writers channel their spouses, we'll always know what women want! (05/26/2005)

"Fair and balanced" -- the McCarthy way By Eric Boehlert
CPB head Kenneth Tomlinson, who is leading a jihad against "liberal bias" in public broadcasting, and one of his two new ombudsmen both worked for the late Fulton Lewis, a reactionary radio personality associated with Sen. Joe McCarthy. (05/26/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Danica Patrick brings long-lost sizzle to the Indy 500, and not just because of those bikini pix. Plus: Heat win, but they're still in trouble. And: The mystery of "his'n." (05/27/2005)

Bush to boost, pressure Palestinian leader By Jennifer Loven
(05/26/2005)

Gloomy May hinders tourism in New England By Beverley Wang
(05/26/2005)

Soccer comeback By Paul Kelso
England's Liverpool stuns Italy's Milan in one of the most dramatic European Cup finals in history. (05/26/2005)

"The main bioterrorist is nature herself" By Mark Honigsbaum
A Dutch expert on viruses warns that bird flu is a huge threat to humankind and urges scientists to cooperate in tracking it. (05/26/2005)

Striking a hard bargain By Ian Traynor
Iran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment for now, avoiding U.N. sanctions while it tries for a better deal with European negotiators. (05/26/2005)

Bush the despot By Sidney Blumenthal
The Senate's compromise on the filibuster won't stop the president's quest for absolute power. (05/26/2005)

The ugly truth in the mirror Mark Follman
From declassified FBI documents to a new report from Amnesty International, will the U.S. confront mounting evidence of its brutal practices in the war on terror? (05/26/2005)

Bankrolling the holy war -- from Los Angeles Mark Follman
Most Americans would regard Hezbollah as a distant terrorist group -- not one with a sizeable network of criminal operatives now supporting it from inside the United States. (05/26/2005)

Classified documents on Bolton stay secret Katharine Mieszkowski
Looks like the boss from hell will get his promotion. (05/26/2005)

Fallout from the filibuster deal Mark Follman
Another look at Justice Priscilla Owen's profile casts a shadow on Dems' ability to invoke "extraordinary circumstances" in future confirmation fights. (05/26/2005)

Will he be back? Farhad Manjoo
California voters have soured on the Governator in a big way. (05/26/2005)

Nailing the Hammer, Round 1 Mark Follman
A Texas court ruling on Thursday starts to tighten the squeeze on Tom DeLay. (05/26/2005)

G.I. Jane kicks some GOP ass Katharine Mieszkowski
Republican lawmakers retreat on plans to scale down women's duties in military combat. (05/26/2005)

Sparks fly By James Howard Kunstler and Amory Lovins
Alternative energy guru Amory Lovins fires back at James Howard Kunstler for calling his Hypercar a "stupid distraction." (05/26/2005)

The Fix
Paris Hilton commercial incites outcry, crashes Web site. Motley Crue cries foul. Whoopi lashes out at party. (05/25/2005)

Daily Download: "The Shepherd & the Chauffeur," A Northern Chorus
Brooding, dramatic music from Canadian band a Northern Chorus. (05/25/2005)

iTunes free download: M.I.A.'s "Galang"
A chance to check out the strange and joyful sounds of Maya Arulpragasam's music for free. (05/25/2005)

Ripped from my headlines! By Mark Benjamin
"Law and Order: SVU" pulls details from my reporting for its gripping finale. So why is the "reporter" such an ink-stained wretch? (05/25/2005)

Beyond the Multiplex By Andrew O'Hehir
Bowling, genocide and one man's strange blimp dreams: A new wave of documentaries offers great tales and impressive variety. (05/25/2005)

Bestsellers
"Freakonomics" grabs No.1, Isabel Allende's "Zorro" debuts, and Chuck Palahniuk holds two spots, all on this week's list, courtesy of Powell's. (05/25/2005)

Letters
Prozac: Artist's helper, or mortal enemy? Readers debate Laura Miller's review of Peter Kramer's new book, "Against Depression." (05/25/2005)

Disaster envy By Mark Svenvold
After the biggest tornado in history put Hallam, Neb., in the national spotlight, other smashed communities were left ignored -- and a little jealous. (05/25/2005)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Life's little victories. (05/25/2005)

Ribavirin turned my husband into a psychotic monster By Cary Tennis
My husband's treatment for hepatitis C has changed him beyond recognition. Should I leave him? (05/25/2005)

Letters
"Men suffer as deeply at the loss of male friendships." Readers sound off on Rebecca Traister's story about the breakup of female friendships. (05/25/2005)

Devils and dust By Heather Havrilesky
I used to have billowing piles of dog hair drifting around my house like tumbleweeds, until along came the little wussified vacuum cleaner that changed my life forever. (05/25/2005)

My right-wing degree By Jeff Horwitz
How I learned to convert liberal campuses into conservative havens at Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute, alma mater of Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Jeff Gannon and two Miss Americas. (05/25/2005)

McCain vs. Frist By David Paul Kuhn
The Arizona moderate knocked out the Tennessee right-winger in the filibuster showdown. Does his victory foreshadow the 2008 primary? (05/25/2005)

Judging the filibuster deal By Farhad Manjoo
Activists from both the left and right say averting the nuclear option won't end their fight for the judges they want. (05/26/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Lucky Bucks get the No. 1 pick and a chance at a big screwup, like picking Andrew Bogut. Plus: New feature. Waltonism of the night. (05/25/2005)

"The best market in the world" By Jonathan Watts
A small town in China is now the undisputed global capital of zippers and buttons, a microcosm of what's happening throughout the country. (05/25/2005)

Five more years? By Richard Norton-Taylor and Michael Howard
A new report says the strength of the insurgency casts doubt on plans to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. (05/25/2005)

Letters
Did the Democrats win or lose? Readers debate the filibuster compromise. (05/25/2005)

Bolton vote gets green light Eric Boehlert
Bush's pick for U.N. ambassador is likely to be confirmed by the Senate this week. (05/25/2005)

Suddenly GOP intrigued by voter fraud Eric Boehlert
GOP tries to sue its way into Washington state governor's mansion (05/25/2005)

Did Dems get enough from the filibuster deal? Tim Grieve
If all they've done is postpone the debate until a Supreme Court nominee comes before the Senate, that's still pretty important. (05/25/2005)

O'Reilly's jihad against the L.A. Times Mark Follman
Fox News' finest calls for terrorists to behead the paper's editorial page editor. (05/25/2005)

In the polls Julia Scott
New numbers today on Americans' attitudes about abortion, the judicial filibuster, and Bush -- and they don't look great for the right wing or the president. (05/25/2005)

Is Social Security the next "compromise"? Page Rockwell
Will the filibuster deal pay dividends for President Bush's flagging Social Security plan? (05/25/2005)

Daily Download: "Now Look at Me," Sam Champion
Pavement-style indie rock from a young band. (05/24/2005)

The Fix
Cruise loses it on "Oprah." The Donald starts Trump U. Lil' Kim lying low? (05/24/2005)

President evil By Heather Havrilesky
The surprisingly strong fourth season of "24" ends with an anticlimactic "Pfffft!" -- but at least we got the panicked, unethical president we so richly deserve. (05/24/2005)

The sinners next to "7th Heaven" By Hillary Frey
"Everwood" -- the family drama the Christian right hates -- wraps up on a passionate note. (05/24/2005)

Costello in concert
A not quite thrilling -- but still very satisfying -- DVD of Elvis Costello in concert. (05/24/2005)

What kind of Latino am I? By Daniel Alarcsn
I'm a writer who grew up in the suburbs and went to an expensive private college. Why does my upbringing disappoint people? (05/24/2005)

WayLay By Carol Lay
What's that hot chick doing with that known idiot? (05/24/2005)

My parents moved in and they show no sign of leaving By Cary Tennis
I don't want to kick them out, but I'd like to be able to walk naked to the bathroom, and watch my own TV shows. (05/24/2005)

Letters
Readers weigh in on Cary Tennis' responses to the Buddhist with a God problem, the closeted lawyer, and the pathological liar. (05/24/2005)

Done deal -- for now By Tim Grieve
The "Group of 14" moderates defuse the nuclear option, but who really wins and loses in the filibuster compromise? And how close are we to the next showdown? (05/24/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Dwyane Wade has "one of those nights" against the Pistons -- as most teams seem to do. Plus: Show us the backstretch of horse races, please. (05/24/2005)

Mixing science with creationism By Paul Harris
A new museum presents evolution from a biblical perspective, showing Adam and Eve living in harmony with dinosaurs. (05/24/2005)

Letters
Readers say Dems should fight for the filibuster, and debate the Bush administration's justifications for war in Iraq. (05/24/2005)

Right wing bloggers howl over Senate deal Eric Boehlert
Furious over the filibuster compromise, bloggers take aim at GOP (05/24/2005)

Bush's poll woes cont'd Eric Boehlert
His numbers for handling economy, Iraq and Social Security are all at new lows (05/24/2005)

Feingold also disses Senate deal Eric Boehlert
Afraid that will allow for further right-wing nominees, Sen. Russ Feingold gives the filibuster deal the thumbs down (05/24/2005)

How Newsweek's sneak peek failed Eric Boehlert
In what looks like a case of CBS syndrome, the magazine allowed a Pentagon official to read its Quran-abuse story -- all of it -- prior to publication. (05/24/2005)

Democrats' Pyrrhic victory? Mark Follman
The filibuster deal has been praised as a victory for all -- but it's kind of tough to have a big happy bunch of winners without any losers, especially when it comes to the business of Washington. (05/24/2005)

Shunning the science-based community Julia Scott
Contrary to popular wisdom, the Bush White House continues to dispute the promise of embryonic stem-cell research. (05/24/2005)

Battling Iraq's insurgency -- in Syria Mark Follman
Will the U.S. take military action against the Baath-friendly nation across the border? (05/24/2005)

Daily Download: "Money Folder (Four Tet Remix)," Madvillain
A remix of a track from last year's best hip-hop record. (05/23/2005)

I Like to Watch By Heather Havrilesky
Meet the new Worst TV Show Ever! Plus: "The O.C." ends with a bang, and "The Bad Girl's Guide" proves, once again, that sluts' dreams do come true. (05/23/2005)

Land of the gray hats By Heather Havrilesky
Murderous double-dealing and a loveless wedding: What passes in "Deadwood" for a happy ending. (05/23/2005)

The fifth housewife By Choire Sicha
In the "Desperate Housewives" finale, Mary Alice returns -- sort of -- and Wisteria Lane gets more twisted than we'd ever hoped. (05/23/2005)

The doctor is a scrub By Kerry Lauerman
In its first half-season -- and surprise finale -- "Grey's Anatomy" shows "ER" how to maintain a healthy medical drama. (05/23/2005)

The Fix
"Sith" sets records. Tom Cruise disses Brooke Shields. Duritz into call girls? (05/23/2005)

Akon's "Lonely"
'60s crooner Bobby Vinton is back on the radio at double speed. (05/23/2005)

Van Gogh on Prozac By Laura Miller
Treating depression doesn't quell our humanity and creativity but restores them, argues "Listening to Prozac" author Peter Kramer. So, please, let's stop making a virtue out of despair. (05/23/2005)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
Poorly sourced info. Unnecessary loss of life. Let's see, where have I heard that before? (05/23/2005)

Breaking up is hard to do By Cary Tennis
I'm off to grad school, and I told my girlfriend I want to go it alone. (05/23/2005)

Mothers in chains By Ayelet Waldman
Why keeping U.S. women prisoners in shackles during labor and delivery is the real crime against society. (05/23/2005)

Down and out with Iraqi forces By David Axe
On patrol with Iraq's ragtag army, a reporter discovers why American troops will not be coming home anytime soon. (05/23/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Steve Nash for MVP! Of the playoffs. Plus: Inside the mind of a champion with Bill Walton. (05/23/2005)

Inside Saddam's prison By Antony Barnett et al.
The pictures of the ex-dictator in his underwear refocus world attention on America's treatment of other "high-value" detainees. (05/23/2005)

Trading accusations By Jamie Wilson and Declan Walsh
The U.S., Britain and Hamid Karzai argue over who is most to blame for the explosive growth in Afghanistan's opium production. (05/23/2005)

L.A. Times hearts Priscilla Owen Eric Boehlert
Profiling Bush's judicial nominee, the paper does not allow a single critic to be heard in the article. (05/23/2005)

Pat Tillman's parents: Army, Bush used our son Eric Boehlert
The family of the former NFL player who volunteered to hunt bin Ladin, says government purposefully lied about their son's death. (05/23/2005)

Clock ticks for Senate Tim Grieve
Moderates will give one last shot to averting the nuclear option. (05/23/2005)

Dean's "MTP" reviews are in Eric Boehlert
Howard Dean talked tough on Sunday's "Meet the Press" (05/23/2005)

End of the rainbow? Page Rockwell
The U.S. military's color-coded rating system reveals that the majority of Iraqi security forces aren't yet fit for duty. (05/23/2005)

The Senate pulls an all-nighter Page Rockwell
As lawmakers gear up for an all-night Senate session, Sen. Harry Reid says a deal to prevent the nuclear option seems increasingly unlikely. (05/23/2005)

The Supreme Court re-enters the abortion debate Julia Scott
In a surprise move, the Supreme Court agrees to consider a parental notification case with implications for the constitutionality of abortion laws. (05/23/2005)

Let's make a deal Page Rockwell
A bipartisan group of moderate senators forges a deal to head off the nuclear option. (05/24/2005)

Friend fatale By Rebecca Traister
Whether it happens in a blowout battle or years of sniping comments, the ends of our girl friendships make us feel more alone, guilty and bereft than the ends of our greatest romances. (05/22/2005)

Your Sith sense
The question "When did the force leave you?" sparks an epic response from Salon readers, from the passionately loyal ("This is our religion") to the seriously disillusioned ("one of the signal disappointments of my life"). (05/21/2005)

The new face of the Democrats By Matt Welch
Let conservatives co-opt "South Park and "The Incredibles." It's time for liberals to get in touch with the free-range, foul-mouthed, gunslinging antiheroes of "Deadwood." (05/21/2005)

Letters
Readers debate whether we should all learn to stop worrying and love the "nuclear option." (05/21/2005)

The Fix
"Star Wars" breaks midnight records. Tom Cruise declares love for Katie Holmes. Judge boots Larry King. (05/20/2005)

Daily Download: "Episodes (Diphenhydramine)," Pela
Majestic rock with stealth hooks from a young Brooklyn band. (05/20/2005)

She's hired! We're tired By Heather Havrilesky
"The Apprentice" crowns a winner in its most predictable finale yet. (05/20/2005)

Bad boy blues By Hillary Frey
In a fantastical finale, Ryan gets back in touch with his inner thug. Is it enough to save "The O.C."? (05/20/2005)

Tarantino's morbid take on "CSI" By Andrew O'Hehir
A '90s culture icon takes over the big hit show of the Bush era. And the results are as grisly as any crime lab. (05/20/2005)

An unsung genius of song
A brilliant, reclusive New York songwriter, with a tiny but ferociously devoted audience. (05/20/2005)

Riders on the storm By Mark Svenvold
Benjamin Franklin galloped after a tornado in 1755, and tried to tame it with a whip! 250 years later, his descendants continue the chase. (05/20/2005)

Blast from the past By Dan Glaister
A play by Jack Kerouac about a hard-living man much like himself is to be published after 50 years in a warehouse. (05/20/2005)

The war over the media By Joan Walsh
As the White House goes on the attack against Newsweek, PBS and NPR -- stories you read on Salon -- there's never been more reason to support independent reporting. (05/20/2005)

I'm a Buddhist but my therapist is a Christian By Cary Tennis
I like her but the God talk seems to come out of left field. (05/20/2005)

Defusing Frist By Tim Grieve
While Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist took the stage with a preacher who equated liberal judges with the Ku Klux Klan, moderate senators worked around the clock to avert the nuclear option. (05/20/2005)

Here come the judges, again By Dan Noyes and Andy Isaacson
Miss them the first time around? Meet the seven antiabortion, anti-gay, pro-industry Bush nominees who could rise from the ashes of the filibuster. (05/20/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Who was it who said Reggie Miller had nothing left? Bzzzt! Wrong. Plus: One important word about steroids. (05/20/2005)

Resorting to semantics By Tim Grieve
Frist's press secretary tries to explain how the Senate majority leader's vote to filibuster a judge's nomination in 2000 wasn't really a filibuster. (05/20/2005)

"Two-faced" By Jamie Wilson
The arrest of Luis Posada, a former anti-Castro CIA operative, has critics questioning the Bush administration's double standards in the war on terror. (05/20/2005)

Dump the filibuster! By Farhad Manjoo
How I learned to stop worrying and love the nuclear option. (05/20/2005)

Fortas who? By Joe Conason
If the GOP applied the same ethical tests to Priscilla Owen that its predecessors used to disqualify a liberal judge in 1968, she'd have to withdraw her nomination. (05/20/2005)

GOP foot-in-mouth disease Eric Boehlert
First the Senate leader talks about assassinating judges, then the GOP's No. 3 compares Dems to Hitler. (05/20/2005)

Worse than a flushed Quran Eric Boehlert
Forget flushed Qurans -- the New York Times, quoting an Army report, details how Afghan prisoner torture was widespread (05/20/2005)

Frist, the lonely leader Tim Grieve
Sen. Arlen Specter thinks most senators want to back away from the filibuster showdown, but Bill Frist won't let them speak their minds. (05/20/2005)

The nuclear countdown has officially begun Tim Grieve
Republican Sen. John Cornyn has filed a cloture motion on the confirmation of Priscilla Owen. (05/20/2005)

Rethinking the color-coded scheme Page Rockwell
Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.: "What we have now is a system that tells us to be scared. That's it.'' (05/20/2005)

A deficit of historic proportions Julia Scott
Is the U.S. headed for a major economic crisis on the scale of Argentina's in 2001? (05/20/2005)

The crowd they can't control? Page Rockwell
Calvin College may not have such a warm welcome for President Bush at its commencement festivities. (05/20/2005)

Music, the military, and badgers
TTers weigh in on the dumbing down of war and rock, and play with five weird words. (05/20/2005)

Ask the pilot By Patrick Smith
The pilot takes issue with his publisher: Older planes are not "dangerously old." (05/20/2005)

The Fix
"Desperate Housewives" kid nabbed in pot bust. Sticky testimony in Jackson trial. (05/19/2005)

Daily Download: "Oslo Skyline," Jaga
New music from an instrumental band that reached No. 3 on Norway's pop charts. (05/19/2005)

The emperor has no couture By Heather Havrilesky
"America's Next Top Model" crowns a winner, but stumbles on the runway. (05/19/2005)

Sun Records on eMusic
Music from the legendary label is online for the first time. (05/19/2005)

Loving the masked man By Dan Glaister
Chilean novelist Isabel Allende explains the origins of her new novel, "Zorro," and why her bodice-ripping tale has little to do with "magical realism." (05/19/2005)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
John Bolton's Guide to Diplomacy (05/19/2005)

I'm a lawyer in the closet and I can't come out! By Cary Tennis
If my old-world parents knew I was gay it would simply ruin their lives. (05/19/2005)

The lies that led to war By Juan Cole
A leaked British memo, and other documents, make it clear that Bush intended all along to invade Iraq -- and lied about it to the American people. The full gravity of his offense has not yet sunk in. (05/19/2005)

The nuclear option: Game on! By Tim Grieve
Bill Frist fires the first shot as moderates scramble to avert "mutually assured destruction." (05/19/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Another charge of racism in the NBA. This is starting to look like a problem. Plus: The NBA and NHL playoffs aren't overlapping. Let's make this permanent. (05/19/2005)

Triggering a new arms race? By Julian Borger
Bush is expected to give the Air Force the go-ahead to develop advanced space-based weapons. (05/19/2005)

Wrong and right By Sidney Blumenthal
Newsweek clearly erred in its sourcing, but the White House is committing a far greater sin in ignoring the overwhelming evidence of U.S. abuse of Muslim detainees. (05/19/2005)

Letters
Readers sound off on Newsweek's retracted story, Bill Moyers' take on the media, and whether anyone cares if the New York Times charges for its online content. (05/19/2005)

The press rewrites the Jeff Gannon story Eric Boehlert
The Beltway press decides it was right to ignore the Gannon/Guckert controversy because it was a nonstory. (05/19/2005)

WSJ phones in media attack Eric Boehlert
Being a conservative press critic: Nice work if you can get it. (05/19/2005)

Wish the senators luck Tim Grieve
Democrats and Republicans continue to negotiate on judges. (05/19/2005)

Launching Bolton before the nuclear option Mark Follman
That's what the Bush White House wants to see happen -- but it'll have to do battle with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. (05/19/2005)

Getting closer but still stuck Tim Grieve
Senators fail to reach an agreement on judicial nominations but agree to meet again. (05/19/2005)

The U.S. military's personnel woes Julia Scott
From desertions to a range of recruiting problems, the Army finds itself fighting a P.R. campaign on multiple fronts. (05/19/2005)

Rise in soldiers needing medical care Mark Benjamin
Veterans Affairs says 85,000 troops from Afghanistan and Iraq have been treated in military hospitals. (05/19/2005)

Religious abuses at Gitmo Mark Follman
More evidence as to why Newsweek's blunder doesn't debunk the greater mess of allegations about mistreatment of detainees -- religious coercion included -- at the U.S. military prison. (05/19/2005)

The future of reproductive sex By David Adam
Scientists are developing artificial wombs, sperm and eggs, but will this lead to babies created in a dish? Don't hold your breath. (05/19/2005)

Daily Download: "Untrue," Tara Angell
A young alt-country singer with a voice like Marianne Faithfull. (05/18/2005)

The Fix
Bad "Apprentice" behavior. Washingtonienne sued by ex-lover. Foxx gets nude pix back. (05/18/2005)

When did the force leave you?
Salon staffers explain why they left that distant "Star Wars" galaxy far, far behind. (05/18/2005)

Same old Sith By Stephanie Zacharek
What's not to love about light sabers, wookies and a brutal sendup of George W. Bush? Plenty! But that doesn't mean "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" will disappoint legions of Lucas fans. (05/18/2005)

David Cross smacks down Pitchfork -- on Pitchfork
A hilarious sendup of Pitchfork's often-absurd reviews. (05/18/2005)

Bestsellers
Chuck Palahniuk and Malcolm Gladwell claim two spots each, and "The Kite Runner" holds steady at No.1, all on this week's list, courtesy of Powell's. (05/18/2005)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Runners, drunken Elvises, partiers and costumed freaks -- must be Bay to Breakers! (05/18/2005)

Object lust
A new weekly column about the trinkets, devices, conveniences and extravagances we can't live without. (05/18/2005)

Embracing the dark side of the brand By Andrew Leonard
I'm an accessory to mass-marketing crime: I actually encourage my son's obsession with Legos and "Star Wars." (05/18/2005)

I'm a compulsive liar By Cary Tennis
My deceptions are elaborate and crazy but I can't seem to stop. (05/18/2005)

Life of the Party By Tim Grieve
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack won't say whether he's running for president, but he has plenty of ideas for how Democrats can win back the White House and restore the "American promise." (05/18/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Reggie Miller is washed up and the Pacers are misusing him. Plus: Evil American buys Manchester United. Fans swoon. (05/18/2005)

"Crazed, pro-war lickspittles" By Julian Borger
British M.P. George Galloway turns his Senate hearing on oil-for-food allegations into an indictment of the invasion of Iraq. (05/18/2005)

Newsweek isn't the problem By Joan Walsh
The Bush administration and its media allies are trying to use one inadequately sourced story to make the torture and abuse scandal go away. They can't get away with it -- can they? (05/18/2005)

White House wants retraction-plus from Newsweek Eric Boehlert
Despite the magazine's prompt retraction, the White House continues to demand more. (05/18/2005)

GOP's Coleman whopped by Brit Eric Boehlert
"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong." (05/18/2005)

Those are fighting words Tim Grieve
While centrists try to avoid a filibuster showdown, Frist and Reid don't sound ready to compromise. (05/18/2005)

L.A. Times blows kiss to Frist Eric Boehlert
In a surprise move, the paper's usually liberal editorial page says the filibuster's got to go. (05/18/2005)

Bush's toxic EPA Katharine Mieszkowski
Mercury pollution puts more than 600,000 American newborns at risk per year for permanent brain damage. Why is the administration siding with polluters? (05/18/2005)

Dealing with insecurity at Homeland Security Page Rockwell
The House gives the department's budget a makeover: No more money for sexy TV stars! (05/18/2005)

Newsweek tells its own story Mark Follman
The magazine's blunder was a big one, and any argument in its own defense merits some skepticism. But it's spot on about the greater backdrop for the Islamic world's violent reaction. (05/18/2005)

How the GOP filibustered the truth Page Rockwell
A Top Ten guide, courtesy of Media Matters for America. (05/18/2005)

Funding the faith-based community Julia Scott
President Bush's abstinence-only education spending spree is coming under fresh scrutiny this week. (05/18/2005)

Daily Download: "Run Through My Hair," Oneida
An unusual and brilliantly produced song from Oneida. (05/17/2005)

The Fix
Eva Longoria "in full canoodle" with Hayden Christensen? DeGeneres discusses childhood trauma. (05/17/2005)

Lucinda Williams' "Fruits of My Labor"
A new live version of a staggeringly powerful song. (05/17/2005)

China girl By Christine Smallwood
Rachel DeWoskin moved to Beijing to work in a P.R. firm. How did she get a starring role as sex kitten Jiexi in a Chinese soap opera? (05/17/2005)

WayLay By Carol Lay
Who says women have no sense of humor? (05/17/2005)

My parents are Russian scientists, but I want to work in publishing By Cary Tennis
They're spending a fortune sending me to an Ivy League school, and I'm terrified I won't justify the investment. (05/18/2005)

Testing, testing By Lynn Harris
Critics of the new writing section of the SAT say that the only thing the test measures is a student's aptitude for B.S. (05/17/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Sonics fans want respect for their team -- quick, while the Spurs series is still tied. Plus, NCAA justice: Break a rule and by gosh, some middle schooler will pay. (05/17/2005)

Making PBS as "fair and balanced" as Fox By Eric Boehlert
Critics blast the CPB's unprecedented move to hire competing, "Crossfire"-style ombudsmen, saying the move is intended to make public broadcasting toe a right-wing line. (05/17/2005)

"A democracy can die of too many lies" By Bill Moyers
Television journalist Bill Moyers blasts flag-wearing phonies, reporters who parrot the government line, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's "dangerous" campaign to silence dissenting voices. (05/17/2005)

Pundits for money (and news for free) By Farhad Manjoo
Is the New York Times undercutting its influence by charging people who want to read its popular columnists online? (05/18/2005)

Helping Saddam By Julian Borger and Jamie Wilson
A Senate report says the Bush administration was aware of U.S. firms' illegal kickbacks to the Iraqi leader in oil-for-food sales but did nothing to stop them. (05/17/2005)

Grass-roots action on global warming By Paul Brown
Mayors representing almost 30 million Americans rebuff Bush on the Kyoto Protocol, pledging to cut greenhouse gases on their own. (05/17/2005)

"There's just no way I can walk away" By Julia Scott
A professor urges action on Darfur, saying the U.S. should be embarrassed about declaring the violence genocide while doing so little to stop it. (05/17/2005)

Newsweek retracts, but where are the facts? Tim Grieve
Did interrogators really flush the Quran? Did the magazine's article really spark riots? (05/17/2005)

The leaders stop talking Tim Grieve
Frist and Reid are done negotiating over the nuclear option. Can centrists senators avert a showdown over Bush's judicial nominees? (05/17/2005)

Pat Buchanan: The right is losing Tim Grieve
The former presidential candidate says that a majority of the country doesn't buy the Christianists' take on moral issues. (05/17/2005)

The biggest cost of Newsweek's blunder Mark Follman
It turns Gitmo into a circus-of-a-media story, rather than one about the long-term pattern of abuses inside the Bush administration's secretive system of military prisons used in the war against terrorism. (05/17/2005)

Manufacturing consent on the filibuster Page Rockwell
Though most Americans are against the nuclear option, a mysterious crop of letters has popped up in newspapers across the country in support of the GOP. (05/17/2005)

Daily Download: "Your Little Hoodrat Friend," the Hold Steady
More of the Hold Steady's flailing, dangerous bar-band rock. (05/16/2005)

I Like to Watch By Heather Havrilesky
Phallic missiles, flaming Veronicas and fighting models! I love my favorite shows so much, I only have eyes for them -- except when I don't. (05/16/2005)

How real is "24"? By Spencer Ackerman
Could terrorists blow us up with the "nuclear football"? Do jihadi cells party in clubs and recruit infidels? Could Jack Bauer legally kidnap and torture you? What the paranoid hit show gets wrong -- and what it gets right. (05/16/2005)

It's a shame about Raymond By Heather Havrilesky
"Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal talks about Monday's final episode, sitcoms in the age of reality TV, and why you're always more popular when you're dead. (05/16/2005)

Stevie Wonder's new music video
"So What the Fuss," with audio commentary for the blind by Busta Rhymes. (05/16/2005)

Guilt: The ultimate "Survivor" By Heather Havrilesky
The dynamic duo of Fireman and Dolphin Boy play out a tear-jerking saga of friendship, disloyalty and redemption. (05/16/2005)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
Language is a virus: An ongoing look at the myriad ways in which really, really stupid ideas infect the political mainstream. (05/16/2005)

My thoughts of the past are tormented by the present! By Cary Tennis
I'm finally ready to deal with a long-lost love, but a recent breakup seems to be all I can think about. (05/16/2005)

Israel's identity crisis By Aluf Benn
For decades, Israelis have put off facing a simple question: Is Israel a Jewish state, or a state of all its citizens? But with Palestinians soon to become a majority, the issue can no longer be ducked (05/16/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
"We want to burn witches." An interview with Will Carroll, author of "The Juice," who studied baseball's drug problem and found out how much we all don't know. (05/16/2005)

"Double standards" By Nick Paton Walsh and Paul Harris
Human rights groups criticize the U.S. for refusing to condemn Uzbekistan for its brutal response to recent pro-democracy protests. (05/16/2005)

Hurting Hillary's hopes By Paul Harris
The trial of the senator's ex-campaign finance chief for lying to the FEC provides new ammunition for her conservative critics. (05/16/2005)

Holding Newsweek accountable By Julia Day
The Pentagon decries the magazine's use of anonymous sources in an untrue story that sparked violent protests among Muslims. (05/16/2005)

What about Dick? Tim Grieve
Bob Woodward says the vice president is a "serious dark horse candidate" for the White House. (05/16/2005)

A nuclear countdown, but dinner first Tim Grieve
Bill Frist is still talking tough. But as another Republican seems to defect, will the Senate majority leader be the first to blink? (05/16/2005)

GOP now goes after NPR Eric Boehlert
Bad news from the Middle East? Maybe more music programming would be nice. (05/16/2005)

The accountability moment Tim Grieve
The White House says Newsweek hasn't apologized enough. When are Bush and Cheney going to start? (05/16/2005)

Okrent's good, bad -- and liberal -- Times Mark Follman
Did the ombudsman experiment succeed in reviving the paper's reputation after Jayson Blair and Judith Miller? (05/16/2005)

Our good friends, the Saudis Mark Follman
If a wave of democracy is sweeping the Middle East, it sure hasn't washed over Riyadh yet. (05/16/2005)

The bigger story on Quran abuse at Gitmo Mark Follman
Newsweek's blunder aside, numerous past stories revealed that the Quran was abused by interrogators at the U.S. military prison in Cuba. (05/16/2005)

Minnesota goes ice cold on Bush Page Rockwell
And that could be sunny news for Senate hopeful Al Franken. (05/16/2005)

Tornado lover By Mark Svenvold
Each May, weather freaks from all over the world descend on the Midwest with hopes of seeing the perfect twister. I'm one of them. (05/15/2005)

My first twister By Mark Svenvold
In an excerpt from his new book, "Big Weather," Mark Svenvold describes the tornado encounter that turned him into a storm chaser. (05/15/2005)

After the oil is gone By Katharine Mieszkowski
Say goodbye to your suburban house, yoke up that horse, and stand by to repel pirates! Author James Howard Kunstler talks about the dire world of his new book, "The Long Emergency." (05/14/2005)

Bushism of the week Mark Follman
Just when you thought he couldnt sound any more oddly unpresidential... (05/14/2005)

Identity crisis By Farhad Manjoo
Congress just passed an act requiring Americans to carry a national I.D. card. Forget the Big Brother concerns -- security experts say terrorists will figure out how to get them, and warn that your DMV experience will become even more hellish. (05/15/2005)

Daily Download: "Covered for You," Amy Ray
An Indigo Girl unleashes her inner riot grrl. (05/13/2005)

The Fix
Pitt talks about Aniston, refuses to discuss Jolie. Russell Crowe and Prince Harry, good buddies? (05/13/2005)

"Monster-in-Law" By Stephanie Zacharek
J.Lo and Jane Fonda struggle through this dull little comedy from the man who brought you "Legally Blonde." (05/13/2005)

Comedy smackdown By Neal Pollack
Is drug humor like Dave Chappelle's a cry for help? (05/13/2005)

"Unleashed" By Stephanie Zacharek
Jet Li shows he can both kick ass and act in this redemptive tale about a trained murderer with a heart of gold. (05/13/2005)

Bootleg trading ethics: Readers respond
Almost everyone likes free music. (05/13/2005)

The great Dane By Allen Barra
It's time we let beloved children's author Hans Christian Andersen sit at the big kids' table. (05/13/2005)

My French husband betrayed me! By Cary Tennis
I'd leave him but we own a restaurant together. (05/13/2005)

Mothers who still think By Lori Leibovich
Camille Peri and Kate Moses discuss their new essay collection, the perils of parenting manuals and what's funny about cancer. (05/13/2005)

A real monkey trial By Peter Dizikes
At Kansas' mock trial of evolution, the creationist majority flaunted its ignorance of high-school level science. How close is the religious right to bringing God into the classroom? (05/13/2005)

Dinner is served By Mark Benjamin
A new Senate bill requires veterans hospitals to stop charging wounded soldiers for meals. (05/13/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Jason Giambi should stay with the Yankees for the good of the game. Plus: ESPN loves -- LOVES! -- the NBA all-defensive team. (05/13/2005)

Expanding investigation By Ewen MacAskill
The GOP turns up the heat on the oil-for-food scandal, a move that could derail Kofi Annan's efforts to reform the U.N. (05/13/2005)

The good news about Bolton By Ian Williams
Even if he's ultimately confirmed, those who spoke out against him have signaled to the world that he doesn't represent all Americans -- and ensured he won't wield a big stick. (05/13/2005)

Hillary and Newt, fast friends Eric Boehlert
Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich have struck up an unusual alliance. (05/13/2005)

D.C. cops were in the dark about plane threat Eric Boehlert
Washington, D.C., police never got word that a errant plane was moments away from being shot down over city streets. (05/13/2005)

More on Bush's bike ride Eric Boehlert
The press starts to ask questions, kind of sort of, about why Bush wasn't bothered about terror alert. (05/13/2005)

Iraq and the damage done Mark Follman
Where the war on terrorism now meets the war on drugs. (05/13/2005)

The military environmental complex Julia Scott
The Pentagon is pressing for more exemptions from federal environmental regulations. Are soldiers and their families among those paying the price? (05/13/2005)

Right-wing GOP's alien views on immigration Julia Scott
The battle over immigration reform continues on Capitol Hill. (05/13/2005)

Hideous Kinkies Rebecca Traister
A peek into the sex lives of moralistic right-wing blowhards, part 934: Horsley gets horsey, Hager is horrible! (05/13/2005)

Ask the pilot By Patrick Smith
Size isn't everything: Boeing's Dreamliner won't take off for three years and is already outselling the Airbus superjumbo. (05/13/2005)

Daily Download: "Hey Now Now," the Cloud Room
A euphoric song with a singalong chorus. (05/12/2005)

The Fix
Chappelle mentally ill? Abdul's "distinguishing characteristic"? Culkin unmolested? (05/12/2005)

Beyond the Multiplex By Andrew O'Hehir
The most amazing film I've seen in a while -- you must immediately try to find it. Plus: A true tale of bad Hollywood parenting, and an up-close look at kick-ass stuntwomen. (05/12/2005)

"Mimi" generation By Hillary Frey
Those weaned on Mariah Carey should feel emancipated by her return to form -- and her escape from Whitney's sad fate. (05/12/2005)

Yummy
A brilliant debut single featuring Jadakiss. (05/12/2005)

Politics-a-palooza By Jonathan Shainin
Gonzo journalist Matt Taibbi will do anything -- including throwing a pie made of horse sperm into the face of a New York Times bureau chief -- to bring political reporting back to life. (05/12/2005)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
Why should we believe this theory that water freezes at 32 degrees? (05/13/2005)

How do I find a therapist? By Cary Tennis
I have a little problem I'd like to discuss, but don't know how to get started. (05/12/2005)

Letters
Does race matter? Readers share their stories in response to Cecelie Berry's essay "Was He Black or White?" (05/12/2005)

Willie's story By Lou Dubose
Less known but just as telling as Priscilla Owen's abysmal abortion-rights record is her unconscionable handling of a case that may have cost a young man's life. (05/12/2005)

Everything you wanted to know about the "nuclear option" By Tim Grieve
If the Republicans are as good as their word, it's going to be much uglier than you think. (05/12/2005)

It's curtains for Okrent By Steve Kettmann
New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent reflects on the paper's "very bad journalism" on WMD, its liberal slant, and William Safire's wisecracks about readers. (05/12/2005)

Nuclear showdown By Ian Traynor
Iran's move to resume uranium enrichment threatens to derail its talks with the E.U. for the second time in 18 months. (05/12/2005)

Breeding ground for suicide bombers By Michael Howard and Ewen MacAskill
U.S. and Iraqi officials are alarmed by the increasing cooperation between foreign militants and domestic insurgents. (05/12/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Trash talking? Fine. Everyone traveling? Sure. The NBA's real problem is the players' incessant whining about being fouled. Plus: Barkley and Rocker -- wit and half-wit. (05/12/2005)

Just my "ecomagination" By Amanda Griscom Little
G.E. CEO Jeffrey Immelt has pledged to "make coal sexy again" with a new set of enviro-friendly technologies. But what if his green gamble doesn't pay off? (05/12/2005)

A special relationship gone sour By Sidney Blumenthal
Tony Blair wouldn't come clean about his deep problems with the Bush team, making him look furtive and dishonest. And he paid the price at the polls. (05/12/2005)

Letters
Readers debate the Minutemen's motives. Plus: MoveOn and the future of the Democratic Party. (05/12/2005)

What the Founders warned against By Joe Conason
The nuclear option is just the latest maneuver by a party still seeking absolute power. (05/12/2005)

When suicide bombings are newsworthy Mark Follman
The right wing wants the "liberal media" cameras shut off. But if all the journalists in Iraq suddenly packed up and went home, the streets there would be no less bloody. (05/12/2005)

Santorum rains on the weatherman Eric Boehlert
GOP leader Santorum wants the government forecasters to go easy on private companies. (05/12/2005)

Bush was oblivious to D.C. terror scare Eric Boehlert
While D.C. was panicked about a wayward plane yesterday, Bush relaxed on his bike, oblivious to the commotion. (05/12/2005)

Schizo over Bolton? Mark Follman
Republican George Voinovich of Ohio won't back Bolton with a key vote in committee; he wants the full GOP-controlled Senate to decide. (05/12/2005)

Keeping torture in American hands Mark Follman
Why ask unsavory foreign "allies" to take care of interrogating terrorist suspects for us, if we can do a better job of it ourselves? (05/12/2005)

Asking the big questions Katharine Mieszkowski
How will the left get God into its politics? Lakoff and company work on framing the issue. (05/12/2005)

A different kind of filibuster nightmare Julia Scott
Haunted by "American Idol," one conservative offers her vision of the nuclear option. (05/12/2005)

Daily Download: "Easy to Be Around," Diane Cluck
Devendra Banhart's "favorite singer in New York." (05/11/2005)

The Fix
Stones to roll. Culkin to the rescue. Abdul's accuser to air "explicit" and "incriminating" evidence? (05/11/2005)

Whodunit -- and much more By Stephanie Zacharek
Lilly Kane's killer is exposed on "Veronica Mars" -- but our heroine still puzzles over the mysteries of life. (05/11/2005)

Lovely and "Amazing" By Heather Havrilesky
"The Amazing Race" crowns new winners after a glorious season of Springer-like theatrics and Oprah-like enlightenments. (05/11/2005)

Lina's "Come to Mama"
Maybe these iTunes free downloads aren't so bad after all. (05/11/2005)

Letters
Readers debate Richard Kim's review of Larry Kramer's new book, "The Tragedy of Today's Gays." (05/11/2005)

Bestsellers
Anne Lamott and "Freakonomics" stage comebacks, while Chuck Palahniuk's latest debuts in the top 10, all on this week's list, courtesy of Powell's. (05/11/2005)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Patrolling the border -- lookin' out fo' yo' ass! (05/11/2005)

The two-body problem By Cary Tennis
Two careers, two cities, one family: Whose turn is it to sacrifice, mine or my wife's? (05/11/2005)

Letters
"A woman who has a history of abusive relationships is now living in the house of a rapist. And your advice is not to inform her?" Readers question Cary Tennis' response to the rape victim who gave her daughter up for adoption. (05/11/2005)

Walking away By Mark Hertsgaard
For 22 years, John Francis walked everywhere he went to protest environmental destruction. For 17 of those years, he was silent. Today he rides in cars and speaks -- but he's still fighting. (05/11/2005)

The angry patriot By Christopher Ketcham
Enraged by illegal immigration and traumatized by 9/11, Chris Simcox convinced hundreds of volunteers to join his Minuteman Project. Their goal: Seal the border and restore their American dream. (05/11/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Nash vs. Shaq, racism vs. meritocracy, "most valuable" vs. "best": The readers write. (05/11/2005)

"No to the rat of Bab al-Sha'riyya" By Brian Whitaker
Though nobody doubts Egyptian President Mubarak's ability to be reelected, he's creating numerous obstacles for opposition candidates. (05/11/2005)

Israeli guinea pigs By Chris McGreal
An inquiry finds that doctors at 10 hospitals violated ethical standards by conducting experiments on children and geriatric patients without their consent. (05/11/2005)

Frist eager to go all in on judges Eric Boehlert
Gearing up for a vote on the judicial filibuster, the Senate Majority Leader gets some special treatment from the New York Times. (05/11/2005)

Who played politics with terror warnings? Eric Boehlert
Former Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge admits he often thought the evidence behind raising terror threat warnings was flimsy. (05/11/2005)

Closing in on Bolton Page Rockwell
Ahead of tomorrow's expected vote, it's looking more like Bush's controversial nominee will be throwing his weight around next as ambassador to the U.N. (05/11/2005)

Signing up new soldiers, one way or another Mark Follman
More recruitment woes for the Army, after a rash of incidents in which recruiters have harassed prospective soldiers -- including falsely threatening them with arrest. (05/11/2005)

The Frist test Page Rockwell
A coalition of university students take time out from their studies to filibuster in Washington. (05/11/2005)

Case closed on Cheney's energy secrecy Katharine Mieszkowski
Sierra Club's Carl Pope on Tuesday's federal court ruling: "Now the American people will never learn how the [Bush administration's] polluting energy policy was crafted." (05/11/2005)

Mr. Smith writes for Washington Katharine Mieszkowski
The latest chapter in the Bush administration payola scandal is especially enlightening for nature lovers. (05/11/2005)

Daily Download: "Twin Cinema," the New Pornographers
New music from the reigning power-pop aristocracy. (05/10/2005)

When celebrities blog! By Farhad Manjoo
Arianna Huffington's new project combines new-media buzz with Hollywood liberal glitz. But will it be "Star Wars" -- or "Ishtar"? (05/10/2005)

Around the Web
The highlights of Elvis Costello's copious liner notes. Plus: Low's tour canceled for reasons of mental health. (05/10/2005)

The Fix
Zellweger gets hitched. Chappelle melts down. Plus: Prince Harry, royal cheat? (05/10/2005)

Drugstore cowboys By Katharine Mieszkowski
Sleazy doctors and drug dealers seeking a better scam are flooding America with counterfeit prescription meds. (05/10/2005)

WayLay By Carol Lay
Finals week at the laughing academy. (05/10/2005)

American Girl crazy! By Margaret Talbot
A gaggle of earnest dolls in historic costumes are threatening to dethrone Barbie. How'd they do it? (05/10/2005)

The ex files By Cary Tennis
What is cool and not cool in communicating with the ex? (05/10/2005)

Letters
"You know nothing about the author other than what she writes here. How dare you judge not only her, but all other women in her position?" Readers defend Debra Ollivier's essay about her nanny. (05/10/2005)

Death knell for the death penalty? By Alan Berlow
Texas legislators -- yes, Texas -- are on the verge of approving a law that could result in a decline in executions nationwide. (05/10/2005)

Pushing PBS to the right By Eric Boehlert
Republicans have launched a heavy-handed campaign to correct public broadcasting's "liberal slant." There's just one problem: Most Americans don't think it has one. (05/10/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
It's nice to see likable Steve Nash win the NBA's MVP award, but come on. Was race a factor? (05/10/2005)

The Times' new business model By Gary Younge
Concerned with maintaining its credibility amid criticism by both the left and the right, the paper rethinks its coverage. (05/10/2005)

China's shareholder peasants By Jonathan Watts
The chief of a village hailed as a model of industrial growth says, "Whether it's a new kind of ism or an old kind of ism, our aim is to make everyone rich." (05/10/2005)

Nuclear rumblings Tim Grieve
Another Republican acknowledges his party's past sins on judges. Senators from both sides work toward a compromise, but Frist and his allies on the far right aren't giving up yet. (05/10/2005)

Are women turning away from the GOP? Tim Grieve
Female voters ran from the Democrats in 2004, but a pollster sees signs that they're coming back. (05/10/2005)

John Tierney's media credibility plan Tim Grieve
Bill Safire's replacement on the op-ed page suggests that the military should stop providing details about suicide attacks in Iraq. And if the military won't do it, he says that reporters should. (05/10/2005)

Major combat miscalculations Mark Follman
The second anniversary of President Bush's major P.R. stunt comes and goes. (05/10/2005)

Family values, GOP style Tim Grieve
From Pennsylvania to Washington and Colorado in between, Republican hypocrisy is the gift that keeps giving. (05/10/2005)

The gospel of Bush Julia Scott
Has Chan Chandler, the Baptist pastor who banished nine members from his North Carolina church for failing to support President Bush, seen the error of his ways? (05/10/2005)

The Dean big tent Mark Follman
The chairman of the DNC is venturing beyond party lines with a major endorsement in his home state. (05/10/2005)

Jewell in the rough By Matt Haber
How did sweet Cousin Geri from "The Facts of Life" end up cleaning up after the ruffians of "Deadwood"? (05/09/2005)

Daily Download: "Entertain," Sleater-Kinney
New music from the last riot grrrls standing. (05/09/2005)

I Like to Watch By Heather Havrilesky
Who's sexier, a runaway bride or a moody young doctor in training? What's more alluring, a sweaty ham sandwich or Tyra Banks? (05/09/2005)

Concert Review: Prefuse 73 and Battles
A groove-heavy show of instrumental music. (05/09/2005)

The Fix
Kutcher quick in the sack? Garner and Moore pregnant? Larry David, hardcore "American Idol" fan? (05/09/2005)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
The minute she walked in the door I knew she was trouble ... (05/09/2005)

I got drunk and crashed my car, injuring two elderly people By Cary Tennis
What fresh horror awaits me? (05/09/2005)

Letters
Readers respond to Cary Tennis' story about the "Runaway Bride." (05/09/2005)

Was he black or white? By Cecelie S. Berry
As a middle-class black woman, I've had to deal with the intricacies of racial consciousness my entire life. Now my sons are part of an idealistic generation that believes race doesn't matter. Which of us is right? (05/09/2005)

Bad chemistry? By Ayelet Waldman
After a lifetime of dealing with depression, I finally started taking medication -- a few weeks before I got pregnant. The drugs changed my life. But did they change my baby's, too? (05/10/2005)

Life of the Party By Tim Grieve
MoveOn's Eli Pariser is confident that the Democrats can come back -- but first they have to stop cowering. (05/09/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
If Kwame Brown is Exhibit A for an NBA age limit, then what's LeBron James? Plus: Kentucky Derby shocker -- the blimp makes itself useful! (05/09/2005)

"A rallying cry to the Muslim world" By Paul Harris
A U.S. military translator offers a searing account of the abuses at Guantanamo in "Inside the Wire." (05/09/2005)

Learning to love each other again By Peter Beaumont
The U.S. seems to have forgiven France for its stance on Iraq. Will it soon supplant Britain as America's closest European ally? (05/09/2005)

Pull Britain out of Iraq By Jonathan Steele
Has Blair the guts to tell Bush that he cannot stand beside him any longer on a war that is unpopular with Britons? (05/09/2005)

The Bush prescription: Cut food stamps Tim Grieve
More bad news about that prescription drug plan: Seniors who use it may lose their food stamps. (05/09/2005)

Bill Frist's nervous nuclear calculations Tim Grieve
Saying that Republicans' hands "aren't clean" on judicial nominees, GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel leans hard against the nuclear option. (05/09/2005)

A nuclear compromise? Tim Grieve
Roll Call says a group of senators are near a deal to avert a showdown over Bush's judicial nominees. (05/09/2005)

That "chickenhawk nonsense" Tim Grieve
An apologist for the Iraq war explains why he can't be bothered to serve. (05/09/2005)

A kinder, gentler nuke Mark Follman
An eminently qualified former judge weighs in with a "fair" solution to the Senate's standoff (05/09/2005)

The black hole problem deepens Mark Follman
Can a democracy keep legions of terror suspects locked up in secret forever? The Bush administration faces a conundrum of its own making. (05/09/2005)

What she gave By Anne Lamott
It wasn't until the fourth year after her death that I truly understood the gifts my mother -- a mess like all of us -- had left me. (05/08/2005)

Sex panic By Richard Kim
Veteran AIDS activist and playwright Larry Kramer is still denouncing young gay men for spreading HIV through reckless sex and drug use. He needs to drop the angry-prophet pose and start talking to the people on the front lines. (05/07/2005)

Appetite for destruction By Amanda Griscom Little
Republican Reps. Richard Pombo and John Peterson have put a poison pill in this year's energy bill -- an amendment that would eliminate the public review process for projects on public land. (05/07/2005)

Daily Download: "Tulips," Bloc Party
Enjoy Bloc Party once more before the backlash begins. (05/06/2005)

The Fix
New "Star Wars," actually good? Big Pussy to cop plea? Britney's choreographer denies showering with Jackson. (05/06/2005)

"Crash" By Stephanie Zacharek
Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock and Ludacris star in this throwback message movie about racism in L.A. (05/06/2005)

"Kingdom of Heaven" By Stephanie Zacharek
A character boasts: "I once fought two days with an arrow through my testicle." After sitting through this would-be epic on the Crusades, I know just how he felt. (05/06/2005)

"House of Wax" By Stephanie Zacharek
Not even Paris Hilton's acting is very scary in this middling slasher flick. (05/06/2005)

Bright Eyes on Leno
Conor Oberst bashes Bush on Leno -- too bad the song's terrible. (05/06/2005)

"Wasted Beauty" by Eric Bogosian By Hillary Frey
No one makes good decisions in this novel that follows the lives of a restless, but well-meaning, middle-aged doctor and a confused, drug-abusing fashion model. (05/06/2005)

"The Coast of Akron" by Adrienne Miller By Rebecca Traister
The debut novel from Esquire's fiction editor is a stylish, multilayered family drama stuffed to the seams with faceless Barbies, emus, mannequins and blimps. (05/06/2005)

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro By Andrew O'Hehir
This stunning page turner from the author of "Remains of the Day" tells the story of three English boarding school chums as they come to terms with their uncertain, and terrifying, futures. (05/06/2005)

"A Slight Trick of the Mind" by Mitch Cullin By Laura Miller
This portrait of Sherlock Holmes at 93 explores mysteries of the heart about which the great detective doesn't have a clue. (05/06/2005)

What to Read By Salon's critics
Late spring's fiction covers a vast terrain, with novels set in lovely London, the English countryside, corrupt New York and Midwestern Ohio. (05/06/2005)

I was impregnated by a rapist 32 years ago By Cary Tennis
I gave my infant daughter up for adoption. Now she's found me and wants to meet. (05/06/2005)

Letters
"Can you please stop publishing articles about how hard, complex and difficult it is to be a white, upper-middle-class, educated mother?" Salon readers take issue with Debra Ollivier's essay about nannies. (05/06/2005)

Till death do me part By Rebecca Traister
This weekend, Kevin Nadal will marry himself. He wants to make a statement that the choice to be single is as valid as the choice to get hitched. He also wants a new sno-cone maker. (05/06/2005)

Melting pot of blood By Juan Cole
With the insurgency boiling over and sectarian strife spreading, ethnic divisions threaten to derail the new Iraqi government. (05/06/2005)

Slender victory By Michael White
Tony Blair wins reelection, but without the sizable majority he wanted, reflecting Britons' anger over the Iraq war. (05/07/2005)

The power of soft By Simon Tisdall
Bush's handling of Syria may be a sign he's ready to modify his aggressive approach to foreign policy. (05/06/2005)

Not jumping to conclusions By David Teather
New York officials seek clues in the toy-grenade bombing outside the British Consulate Thursday. (05/06/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NBA playoffs: Despite the best efforts of the Celtics and some absurdist officiating, Boston forces a Game 7. Plus: Rockets and Mavs go the distance too. (05/06/2005)

Prophetic words By Robert Schlesinger
Just about everyone -- even Bush -- predicted the perilous situation the U.S. military finds itself in. (05/06/2005)

Afraid to tell the truth By Joe Conason
A secret memo publicized in Britain confirms the lies on which Bush based his Iraq policy. Why has it received so little notice in the U.S. press? (05/06/2005)

GOP congressman: It's about the oil Tim Grieve
Republican Rep. Dan Lungren says that U.S. troops are fighting in Iraq "so that we can continue to purchase oil from the region." (05/06/2005)

FDA to gay men: No thanks Tim Grieve
George W. Bush's Food and Drug Administration says men who have engaged in gay sex in the last five years shouldn't be anonymous sperm donors. (05/06/2005)

John McCain, getting snippy already Tim Grieve
It's a long time until 2008, but that doesn't stop Sen. Straight Talk Express from needling John Kerry. (05/06/2005)

Bridging the red-blue divide Katharine Mieszkowski
If progressives want to lead the country, will they first have to learn to love the places they left behind? (05/06/2005)

Bush's unhealthy agenda Page Rockwell
The president may be missing the issue currently most important to Americans -- he's wrong, it seems, about the nation's biggest fear factor. (05/06/2005)

Booting the anti-Bush heathens Mark Follman
A North Carolina pastor redefines his faith-based community. (05/06/2005)

Runaway house minority leader? Mark Follman
A righty blogger has some visionary advice for Jennifer Wilbanks' groom-to-be. (05/06/2005)

Microsoft comes out in full Farhad Manjoo
After weeks of waffling on gay rights, the software titan finally upgrades its position -- to one that's clear, and admirable. (05/06/2005)

"Not on my watch" Julia Scott
While the world commemorated the millions of victims of the Nazis on Thursday, Congress squandered an opportunity to address the ongoing genocide in Darfur. (05/06/2005)

Bad ideas
From office proms to Boston driving, TTers weigh in this week on what not to do. (05/06/2005)

Ask the pilot By Patrick Smith
The world's largest airliner takes to the sky. Just how impressed should we be? (05/06/2005)

Daily Download: "Starts Off With a Bang," Mobius Band
A band that combines clever sonic experimentation with appealing singability. (05/05/2005)

The Fix
Ann Coulter, anal sex: Don't ask! Britney's pregnancy test: Sold! Paris Hilton: What's a blog? (05/05/2005)

The invariably naked Gregoire Colin By Cintra Wilson
The French stud-boy is usually too hot to keep clothed, and too interesting for Hollywood to ever take notice. (05/05/2005)

Paula: Cold-hearted snake? By Heather Havrilesky
Or was ABC's hyped "Primetime Live" expose just "Idol" gossip? (05/05/2005)

Bruce is too sexy for Starbucks
According to Newsweek, Starbucks won't sell the Boss' new CD because of explicit lyrics. (05/05/2005)

The human monster By Andrew O'Hehir
The best biography yet of Joseph Stalin traces his life from abused child to murderous dictator -- and forces us to ask whether he could have taken a different path. (05/05/2005)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
God-Man battles the filibusterer! (05/05/2005)

Thirteen by Janet Fitch
My husband and I separated the year my daughter turned 13. She was deliciously wise and fun, but I knew I couldn't slip into "us girls." She needed a mother. (05/05/2005)

How long does it take to get what you want? By Cary Tennis
I'm trying to get a job where my boyfriend's living and it's just not working! (05/05/2005)

Auf Wiedersehen, Uncle Sam? By Hans Hoyng
Washington and Berlin are going through a painful breakup -- and this time, it may be permanent. (05/05/2005)

Extending fertility By Ian Sample
New research suggests eggs can be grown in the lab from women's own stem cells, allowing some to delay motherhood by as much as a decade. (05/05/2005)

"A very big catch" By Randeep Ramesh
U.S. and Pakistani officials claim the capture of a top al-Qaida suspect could lead them to bin Laden, but analysts are doubtful. (05/05/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
The Washington Wizard formula for NBA playoff fun: Dominate, choke, survive. Plus: Steroids are so much sexier than speed. (05/05/2005)

The incredible shrinking president By Sidney Blumenthal
Backed into a corner on Social Security but still claiming a mandate, Bush seems ready for a barroom brawl. (05/05/2005)

Right Hook By Mark Follman
Wall Street Journal sees a Waco ending for Dems' filibuster "cult." Victor Hanson sees the upside of anti-Americanism. Plus: Sean Hannity dishes out marriage advice to the Runaway Groom. (05/05/2005)

The week the first ladies went mad By Hadley Freeman
Being the wife of a world leader clearly sucks, but aren't Laura Bush and Cherie Blair revealing a bit too much about their husbands? (05/05/2005)

Entangling alliances Tim Grieve
The man running a "national coalition" pushing the nuclear option is the former aide to Bill Frist who resigned after accessing Democratic strategy memos on Bush's judges. (05/05/2005)

Run, Hillary, run -- for Senate Tim Grieve
New Yorkers love their senator -- no matter what Arthur Finkelstein's meta-tags say -- but they don't want her to run for president. (05/05/2005)

Blair, Bush and that Iraq memo Tim Grieve
As the British go to the polls, a leaked document from Downing Street calls into question White House statements about the plans for war. (05/05/2005)

Dropping the Hammer Julia Scott
Between weeks of bad press and a grass-roots email campaign, Tom DeLay is losing some corporate friends. (05/05/2005)

Taming the anti-filibuster flock? Mark Follman
Times columnist David Brooks invokes Abraham Lincoln to stop the religious right from going nuclear. (05/05/2005)

Your tax dollars at work Mark Follman
Nearly $100 million has gone missing from funds allocated by the U.S. government for Iraq's reconstruction. (05/05/2005)

Terrorizing the judiciary Page Rockwell
How much invective from Pat Robertson & Co. can the Republicans stand up for? MoveOn.org asks TV audiences from Texas to Washington. (05/05/2005)

ABC's selective gospel Page Rockwell
Though it claims to shun religious ads altogether, the network ran one from a right-wing group, while rejecting one from a progressive church. (05/05/2005)

Religious right would kill to stop safe sex Rebecca Traister
The Family Research Council wants to block a vaccine that may prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), the STD thought to cause around 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. (05/06/2005)

Daily Download: "Kim and Kelly," Ticonderoga
An intriguing violin and accordion arrangement turns this song into something more than the usual mopey indie fare. (05/04/2005)

The Fix
Abdul's accuser says she paid for his clothes, haircut. O'Brien tells Dr. Phil he was "out of control." J.Lo for prez? (05/04/2005)

Letters
They love it when she calls them names: Heather Havrilesky's fans lash out against the hoopleheads. (05/04/2005)

The exclusive Dr. Phil-Pat O'Brien transcript! By Heather Havrilesky
The interview that Viacom wants the whole world to watch -- leaked here! (05/04/2005)

Free no more
Yesterday's post was poorly timed (05/04/2005)

Bootleg browser
A new list of links to bootleg downloads -- and a question about the ethics of it. (05/04/2005)

Bestsellers
"The Kite Runner" reclaims No. 1, Sue Monk Kidd reappears and Douglas Adams' classic "Hitchhiker's Guide" moves up, all on this week's list, courtesy of Powell's. (05/04/2005)

Letters
Sony PlayStation: Cognitive learning tool or evil time sucker? Salon readers debate Farhad Manjoo's review of "Everything Bad Is Good for You." (05/04/2005)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Urban tricks of the trade: Try 'em at home! (05/04/2005)

What do you mean I'm defensive? By Cary Tennis
How can I not be defensive if I'm being attacked? (05/04/2005)

Boys! Give me boys! by Jennifer Allen
Before I had children, I said to myself: "Better boys than girls. Boys are easy." But raising three young sons is wilder than I could ever have imagined. (05/04/2005)

Run, bride, run! By Cary Tennis
Oh, Jennifer, with your new haircut and your startled-looking eyes. I was so hoping you had run off to Vegas to become a showgirl. (05/04/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NBA Playoffs: Wow, did the Kings make the Sonics look good. Plus: The Pistons send the great Iverson packing. And: The Yankees rearrange deck chairs. (05/04/2005)

The gushing truth By Robert Bryce
Contrary to Bush, enviros and Thomas Friedman, America will never be energy independent. The sooner we accept this, the sooner we'll be able to change our gas-guzzling ways. (05/04/2005)

Hummertime blues By Katharine Mieszkowski
High gas prices are putting a serious dent in SUV sales. But don't declare our love affair with four-wheel behemoths over yet. (05/04/2005)

The man who put the green in Greenpeace By John Vidal
Environmental activist Bob Hunter, who died Monday, was ready to do almost anything to defend the rights of the planet. (05/04/2005)

Brazil won't be bullied By Sarah Boseley and Suzanne Goldenberg
The nation declines $40 million in AIDS funds from the Bush administration, refusing to condemn prostitution as required. (05/04/2005)

"Tony, can we trust you after Iraq?" By Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicholas Watt
On the eve of Britain's election, some relatives of dead soldiers threaten to take Blair to court for war crimes. (05/04/2005)

Growing weary of the war Tim Grieve
A new poll shows American support for the war in Iraq at its lowest level ever -- and that was before today's suicide bombing. (05/04/2005)

A Hillary hater's unimpressive debut Farhad Manjoo
Arthur Finkelstein's stophernow.com is up and running, but what's with the meta-tags about the deportation of Jews from Gush Katif? (05/04/2005)

John Kerry in 2008? Tim Grieve
U.S. News says that he's running. What about Hillary? (05/04/2005)

What have you done for me lately? Tim Grieve
The right grows impatient with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. (05/04/2005)

When bad times bring good news Mark Follman
Today's announcement of a major arrest in the war on terrorism is welcome news -- and for President Bush, it probably couldn't be more timely. (05/04/2005)

Daily Download: "I Feel Like the Mother of the World," Smog
New music from a cryptic master of song. (05/03/2005)

The Fix
Did Gere dis disabled teens? Cruise does flip for Holmes. Abdul strikes back. (05/03/2005)

Letters
A TV-Turnoff movement leader explains why we should all reach for our clickers, and readers debate the merits of Heather Havrilesky's "Deadwood"-speak. (05/03/2005)

iTunes Free Download: Bobby Valentino
Ludacris sidekick Bobby Valentino is a smooth R&B crooner with a couple of irresistible tunes. (05/03/2005)

Nerve-racking numbers By Andrew Leonard
"Freakonomics" author Steven Levitt makes explosive claims -- most notoriously, that an increased abortion rate led to a drop in crime -- but refuses to say what we should do about them. (05/03/2005)

WayLay By Carol Lay
The Checked Libido emerges from her cave. (05/03/2005)

I was cruel and I lost her -- but I did it on purpose! By Cary Tennis
I'm not ready to get married, so I sabotaged things with the best woman I've ever met. (05/03/2005)

Mother for hire By Debra Ollivier
I wanted Marta to love my children like her own. But to see the growing bond between them was to experience the silent confirmation that my role as mother had potentially been usurped. (05/03/2005)

The woman who could detonate the "nuclear option" By Eric Boehlert
The looming filibuster showdown is likely to be triggered by Priscilla Owen, who was accused of judicial activism by an unlikely foe -- Alberto Gonzales. (05/03/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NBA playoffs: The league blows out Jeff Van Gundy's wallet for complaining about the refs, and then the refs blow two big calls to help sink Van Gundy's Rockets. (05/03/2005)

Gaza dreams By Chris McGreal
Palestinians envision life after the Jewish settlers leave, hoping to build a beach paradise. (05/03/2005)

Reaching for the stars By Dan Glaister
As the prosecution nears the end of its case, a string of celebrities is lined up to speak in Michael Jackson's defense. (05/03/2005)

Letters
Readers share their opinions on Richard Dawkins, Charles Darwin and Salon's radical reenvisioning of the Sistine Chapel. (05/03/2005)

Uncle Sam wants you. Real bad Eric Boehlert
Army recruiting numbers continue to crater, falling 32 percent short during the month of March. (05/03/2005)

GOP ignores Texas right-to-die cases Eric Boehlert
A Houston hospital, acting on a law passed by Gov. Bush, is pulling the life support on a sick newborn. (05/03/2005)

Italy doesn't buy Iraq shooting explanation Eric Boehlert
Italian officials wonder why the U.S. denied them access to the case's most important piece of evidence. (05/03/2005)

The new dirty war Mark Follman
Iraq isn't so much like Vietnam -- it's looking more like El Salvador in the 1980s. (05/03/2005)

More DeLay tactics Page Rockwell
The Republican House Majority Leader's rap sheet grows longer, and even his own constituents are now deserting him. (05/03/2005)

Bush's press conference didn't add up Page Rockwell
No doubt the president hoped to turn the tide of public opinion with his prime-time press conference last Thursday. He'll be disappointed in the numbers. (05/03/2005)

The battle over recruiting on campus Julia Scott
The Supreme Court will now decide whether universities have a right to shut out military recruiters, without risking their federal funding. (05/03/2005)

Daily Download: "Prospect Hummer," Animal Collective with Vashti Bunyan
A collaboration between a cultishly adored '60s folk singer and a cultishly adored Brooklyn experimental band. (05/02/2005)

The White Stripes' "Blue Orchid"
The new single from the White Stripes isn't in the same league as "Seven Nation Army." (05/02/2005)

The Fix
Laura Bush turns blue. Pat O'Brien meets Dr. Phil. Hasselhoff responsible for world peace? (05/02/2005)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
Republicans believe the darndest things! (05/02/2005)

Is it ever OK to secretly give someone drugs? By Cary Tennis
If a psychoactive drug would help family members cope with death, should it be administered to them without their knowledge? (05/02/2005)

Life of the Party By Tim Grieve
Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners, tells Democrats how they can attract moderate religious voters: Be authentic and don't be afraid to use the G-word. (05/02/2005)

Golfing with Tom DeLay By Mark Benjamin
Playing through campaign finance laws, corporations are buying time with the House leader by donating to his foundations for abused kids. Meanwhile, the charities are spending more on the golf fundraisers than on the children. (05/02/2005)

Bargaining over nuclear power By Julian Borger
The haves and the have-nots are sure to clash as nations meet to try to save the 1970 nonproliferation treaty. (05/02/2005)

The final hours By Luke Harding
A nurse in Hitler's bunker speaks out for the first time, recalling her dislike of Eva Braun and her sadness over the death of the Goebbels children. (05/02/2005)

King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NBA playoffs: Another pair of 8 seeds bite the dust, with a pair of 7s to follow, but things are looking up for the Mavs. Plus: Neifi Perez, Sultan of Swat. (05/02/2005)

"Why did you leave me when I was young?" By Jonathan Watts
After 30 years, some aging veterans seek to renew ties with the babies they left behind in Vietnam. (05/02/2005)

Worth waiting for By Eli Sanders
Washington is a rare outpost of optimism in gay America, and that may be because the state is moving slowly on same-sex marriage. (05/02/2005)

Is this the man who made Microsoft quiver? Tim Grieve
Bill Gates has said he's surprised by the "visibility" that his company's flip-flop on gay rights is getting. Shine that flashlight right over here, Dr. Hutcherson. (05/02/2005)

Mandate? What mandate? Tim Grieve
This just in: Maybe Bush's re-election might not have represented a once-in-a-generation shift after all. (05/02/2005)

Bruce Springsteen and Bush's dinosaur Tim Grieve
The Boss disses the president, and Matt Drudge takes note. What if he'd heard what Springsteen really said? (05/02/2005)

The Gannon report Tim Grieve
Did Tom Daschle's campaign try to "out" Jeff Gannon? And what does Gannon himself say about his past? (05/02/2005)

Going ballistic over nukes Mark Follman
How much brinkmanship with Iran and North Korea can there be before the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty implodes? (05/02/2005)

The latest on the filibuster front Page Rockwell
The Senate is in recess this week, but there's no letting up on the battle over the judicial filibuster. (05/02/2005)

I Like to Watch By Heather Havrilesky
Warning: It's "Deadwood"-speak week, whores and whoremongers! Those with fragile sensibilities should follow their fancy elsewhere! (05/01/2005)

Don't kill your television By Farhad Manjoo
Far from making us stupid, violent and lazy, TV and video games are as good for us as spinach, says an engaging new book by Steven Johnson. (05/01/2005)

Will McDonald's revive apple industry? By Shannon Dininny
(05/01/2005)