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This Week's Articles:

Anatomy: Art, Science, and Politics

Paul Corrigan

What is it about the human body that makes people so uncomfortable? The reasons seem endless. Only a few amongst us have transcended this discomfort. Leonardo da Vinci immediately comes to mind. He graced us with both his knowledge and his appreciation of the human body. On a recent trip to London, I was fortunate to see the works of da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael side by side in the Queen's Museum adjacent to Buckingham Palace. Despite my appreciation of these masters, it was another exhibition, "Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies," that left me totally fascinated, challenging my attitude about life, death and politics. Controversy has surrounded the Body Worlds installation. The displays in the exhibition comprise the remains of real human beings.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Paul Corrigan

Thank you, Yogi Berra. Thank you, George W. Bush. It is "Déjà Vu All Over Again."

You can dress reactionary politics up, wrap it in the flag, and put a guy with MD after his name as the face of the party. Reactionary politics is still reactionary. That is a lesson that the GOP should have learned back in 1996 when the "Contract With America" flamed out after two short years. Back then, Newt Gingrich, an advocate of realpolitik with political savvy equal to his ego, stole control of Washington from an incredulous Democratic Party. Gingrich would soon overplay his hand and leave an impeached but popular Democratic president standing, while Newt and many of his minions checked out of the government they attempted to shut down.

A Stimulus Only Humpty Dumpty Could Love

Tim Francis-Wright

Earlier this month, the Bush administration proposed a truly laughable plan to stimulate the economy. Most of the tax cuts in the plan would go to the wealthiest Americans, not to Americans who are unemployed or struggling to make ends meet. Instead, the proposal is larded with provisions that benefit the natural constituents of today's Republican party.

The official White House biography of George Bush lauds him for "ushering in the responsibility era in America." In 2001, George Bush claimed that his $1.6 trillion tax cut plan would use only a portion of the budget surpluses expected over the next ten years. Current government projections now show deficits for that period, even without the cuts in revenue that the stimulus package would entail. The economic stimulus plan makes clear that it certainly is the beginning of the fiscal irresponsibility era.

[Click on the title to read any particular article.]

Last Week's Articles:

Another Insult to the Developing World

Tim Francis-Wright writes on how Andrew Natsios the Bush administration's head of international development, has decried the distoprting nature of too much foreign aid.

[Click on the title to read the whole article.]

Older Articles:

Articles from previous weeks are in our archives. If you're not careful, you might learn something.

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