June 2002

"What drugs have not destroyed, the war on them has" By Ian Rothkerch
David Simon, creator of the searing new HBO series "The Wire," on why even the best cop shows are phony and our anti-drug mania amounts to a permanent war against the underclass. (06/29/2002)

A long, slow revolution By Damien Cave
Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on school vouchers, one expert says dramatic change could be decades away. (06/29/2002)

Schoolyard chums By Michelle Goldberg
While civil libertarians are furious over the Supreme Court's voucher decision, many low-income African-Americans are solidly in the conservative camp. (06/30/2002)

"Harvard Man" By Stephanie Zacharek
James Toback's sex, drugs and basketball movie would be better if it stuck to that. (06/28/2002)

"Mr. Deeds" By Andrew O'Hehir
Adam Sandler might be a schlub, but he's not a small-town schlub. In this Frank Capra remake he's not really funny either. (06/28/2002)

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding" By Charles Taylor
With tiny little jokes and nary an original idea, this sappy ethnic sleeper proves that not only blockbusters pollute the summer movie pool. (06/28/2002)

The death of Rolling Stone By Sean Elder
The magazine that invented rock journalism lost its reason to exist years ago. Now, with a British lad-mag editor taking the helm, it's time to pull the plug. (06/28/2002)

"Lovely & Amazing" By Stephanie Zacharek
Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer and Brenda Blethyn shine in a delicate, loose-limbed and tremendously alive indie about women, family, self-image and survival. (06/28/2002)

John Entwistle, 1944-2002 By Stephanie Zacharek
The Who's bassist (and French horn player and all-around wry humorist) was always that histrionic band's least visible member. But his sly musicianship and blithe spirit gave the Who its soul. (06/28/2002)

Literary daybook, June 28
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/28/2002)

"When Right-Wing Fembots Attack"
By Charles Taylor (06/28/2002)

Falling in love with Mr./Ms. Wrong By Brother Void
(06/28/2002)

When the drug war invades the chess club By Janelle Brown
ACLU lawyer Graham Boyd discusses the impact of Thursday's Supreme Court decision to allow drug testing of students who participate in extracurricular school activities. (06/28/2002)

Will Yao pay off? By King Kaufman
Will Golden State ever make a good choice? And other burning questions raised by the NBA draft. (06/28/2002)

The fire this time By Gregory McNamee
A wall of flame burns through Arizona, and with it, a storm of accusations. (06/28/2002)

God stoppers By Scott Rosenberg
The 9th Circuit judges who struck down the Pledge may be the most unpopular people in America right now. There's just one catch: They're right. (06/28/2002)

With hypocrisy and bombast for all By Christopher Orlet
The socialist author of the Pledge rolls in his grave as the lascivious boors in Congress score cheap holiness points. (06/28/2002)

Mom, apple pie and God 1, evil liberal atheists 0 By Michelle Goldberg
The appellate decision on the Pledge of Allegiance has conservatives publicly howling -- but privately rubbing their hands with glee. (06/28/2002)

My First Monumental Reference Book By Kevin Baker
Pestilently fecund children's publishing synergies have spawned a squirming, mewling, instinctively sucking, obliviously pooping litter of new celebrities. Awww. Aren't they sweet! (06/28/2002)

Al Gore's rehabilitation tour By Jake Tapper
The same awkward Gore struggles to excite a crowd of young Manhattanites, under the scrutiny of skeptics in his own party. (06/28/2002)

Savoring pleasure By Charles Taylor
Summer cooking should be as sensual and free-spirited as a Lawrence novel or a song by Brian Wilson. (06/28/2002)

Ask the pilot By Patrick Smith
Do pilots sweat bullets during wind-whipped landings? And why are those darn windows so small? (06/28/2002)

Cruel summer By Carina Chocano
Amateur Whitney Houston covers! "Baywatch" babes turned low-rent spokesmodels! Obscene crank calls! If you found the prime-time season too taxing, summer TV is for you. (06/27/2002)

When right-wing fembots attack By Charles Taylor
Ann Coulter dishes out a fresh bookful of hypocrisy, distortion and half-crazed rants. Can't conservatives find a better champion than this? (06/27/2002)

Literary daybook, June 27
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/27/2002)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
Science Facts for the Immature, Overweight People Falling Down and more in Super-Fun-Pak Comix! (06/27/2002)

Martha Stewart's tips for gracious big-house living By Douglas Cruickshank
Writing from her exciting new institutional home, Martha gives "how to serve" a whole new meaning. (06/27/2002)

Sharon's diplomatic coup By Aluf Benn
How the Israeli prime minister won over George Bush. (06/27/2002)

Crime without punishment By Robert Capps
Investigators knew employees for U.S. military contractors in Bosnia bought women as sex slaves. But because of legal loopholes and bureaucratic confusion, no one was prosecuted. (06/27/2002)

Cooking Martha's numbers By Eric Boehlert
Stewart's critics want her relatively minor controversy to seem dastardly, but there are other examples of Wall Street abuse far more worthy of our scorn. (06/27/2002)

If the U.S. won the World Cup By Allen Barra
An apocalyptic scenario involving Howard Cosell. (06/27/2002)

Leave "The Pledge" alone By Alan Wolfe
The 9th Circuit's official sponsorship of atheism is as repugnant to our tradition of tolerance as official sponsorship of religion. (06/27/2002)

Martha Stewart's Corporate Living Cartoon by Mark Fiore
With a recipe for a tax-reduction sauce that will have dinner guests begging for more! (06/27/2002)

Martha Stewart loving By Karen Croft
Does the perfect one get off using her glue gun or does she have a sex life? I think we all want to know. (06/27/2002)

The gang that couldn't loot straight By Andrew Leonard
The fall of the '90s bubble's icons shows just why Americans would be crazy to trust their retirement money to the stock market. (06/27/2002)

Who's bad? By Bomani Jones
Amid a messy $200 million dispute with Sony, Michael Jackson adopts temporary blackness and summons Al Sharpton to his cause. But racism hasn't torpedoed your career, Michael: Your music sucks. (06/26/2002)

Music preview: DJ Shadow By Dan Kois
After taking the "found sound" genre to another level in 1996 with "Endtroducing ...," Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow is back with a new collage, "The Private Press." Listen in. (06/26/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 26
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/26/2002)

Have you seen Fluffy? By Ken Foster
A collection of lost-pet posters offers a sad, evocative and sometimes very strange glimpse of the bond between humans and animals. (06/26/2002)

Bestsellers
This week's bestselling books courtesy of Powells.com (06/26/2002)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Wait two minutes and repeat ... (06/26/2002)

Lynda Barry
June (06/26/2002)

Outside the law By Robert Capps
Pending lawsuits allege that U.S. military contractors on duty in Bosnia bought and "owned" young women. But the accused men have never been -- and will never be -- brought to justice. (06/26/2002)

Fired for being Israeli By Siva Vaidhyanathan
Two noted Israeli scholars have been sacked from European journals, victims of a boycott against Israel. Why are progressive intellectuals descending to such bankrupt tactics? (06/26/2002)

Bush's terrorism smokescreen By Robert Scheer
The president is using America's new war to distract us from his disastrous economic policies. (06/26/2002)

Lord Buckley rides again! By Douglas Cruickshank
The new biography of the Hip Messiah gives us a quintessentially American character worthy of a Mark Twain novel. (06/26/2002)

I wanna hold your hand By Michelle Richmond
I have gone to bed with men, in part, for the beauty or agility or originality of their hands. (06/26/2002)

Foxes guarding the chicken coop By Damien Cave
President Bush's nominees to the agency that should have regulated Enron instead helped write the rules that let the company do whatever it wanted in the first place. (06/26/2002)

Will Congress tackle pay-for-play? By Eric Boehlert
Radio-station owners are shocked -- shocked!-- as the music industry's payola scandal widens. Record-label execs aren't buying it (and neither should you). (06/25/2002)

Is Clear Channel selling hit singles? By Eric Boehlert
Insiders suggest that the broadcasting giant gave an obscure singer major airplay to promote its pricey new market-research program. (06/25/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 25
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/25/2002)

Random numbers By Christopher Dreher
If you think bestseller lists are based on solid facts, guess again. But a new technology is promising to improve the hot-book scorecard. (06/25/2002)

Story Minute By Carol Lay
Travel tip: Never drive cross-country with a friend who's just discovered she's gay. (06/25/2002)

Flour power By Susan Straight
The authorities have decided that hauling around sacks of flour will teach middle schoolers not to get pregnant. My daughter and I think it's a half-baked idea. (06/25/2002)

"An opportunity and a test"
The full text of President Bush's remarks on the Middle East. (06/25/2002)

Another strike against the death penalty By David Lindorff
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the death sentence on more than 100 cases, but some critics say court conservatives may only be trying to fine-tune the machinery of capital punishment. (06/25/2002)

Fiddling while the Middle East burns By Gary Kamiya
Bush's one-sided speech is just the latest chapter in a long history of U.S. ignorance, ill will and condescension toward the Palestinians -- and it's not going to help Israel, either. (06/25/2002)

"Clear moral vision" or "sugar-coated palliative"? By Michelle Goldberg and Anthony York
Foxman, Ibish, Lerner, Horowitz and others square off over President Bush's peace plan. (06/25/2002)

He wants bigger boobs By Cary Tennis
I am in a committed relationship with a wonderful man, but he wants me to have breast-enlargement surgery. (06/25/2002)

Remember when we had no e-mail? By Katharine Mieszkowski
James Gleick, author of "What Just Happened," explains what he got right, and wrong, over the last 10 years. (06/25/2002)

"More Songs About Buildings and Food" By Paul A. Toth
It's 1978, and a band of Manhattan art-school geeks called Talking Heads teams with Brian Eno to produce the funkiest nervous-breakdown record ever made. (06/24/2002)

Real Life Rock Top 10 By Greil Marcus
(06/24/2002)

"The Emperor of Ocean Park" Read by Peter Francis James
Listen to an excerpt from Stephen L. Carter's debut novel, a twisted murder-mystery thriller that takes place in a "larger slice of financially comfortable African America than most white Americans probably think exists." (06/24/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 24
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/24/2002)

"The Emperor of Ocean Park" by Stephen L. Carter By Suzy Hansen
The million-dollar novel just picked by the "Today" show book club melds a fascinating portrait of the black upper class to a less than thrilling thriller plot. (06/24/2002)

Salon recommends
A deliberately awful vanity press novel and more of our favorite new books. (06/24/2002)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
Insane fundamentalist zealots unite! (06/24/2002)

On bended knee By Heather Havrilesky
Pro-marriage revivalists praise matrimony as the way and the light. But are they bowing to a false god? (06/24/2002)

Diversity drama at the University of California By Pamela Burdman
Black, Latino and Native American student numbers plunged when affirmative action ended. Now U.C. says they're back up -- but a close look at enrollment tells a more complex story. (06/24/2002)

Death and life at the ballpark By King Kaufman
After the stunning loss of Darryl Kile, the Cardinals played again, and lost. That's life. And that's baseball. (06/24/2002)

Spam vs. spam By Andrew Leonard
The only way to stem the flood of unwanted e-mail may be to harness a million eyeballs and an army of open-source hackers. (06/24/2002)

Putting "Today" before tomorrow's security By Joe Conason
Some Democratic senators are sabotaging plans for a 9/11 independent commission so that they can preen on TV. (06/22/2002)

Yes to the Bible, no to the treaty By Michelle Goldberg
Worldwide, 169 countries have signed a treaty to ban forced marriage and mandate equal access to education for women. Now Christian-right allies of President Bush call it a threat to Mother's Day. (06/22/2002)

Welcome to the world By Gary Kamiya
In defeat, the U.S. soccer team won an epic victory: It brought America into the world of sports. (06/23/2002)

"The Emperor's New Clothes" By Charles Taylor
This small movie about a Napoleon impostor may be a trifle, but it's an exceptionally civilized, charming trifle. (06/21/2002)

"The Sunshine State" By Stephanie Zacharek
John Sayles' politically correct dogma crushes all the little people in his decaying Florida beach town. (06/21/2002)

Meet Steven Spielberg, hardboiled cynic By Andrew O'Hehir
Tom Cruise battles an Ashcroftian security state in the director's dazzling sci-fi noir. (06/21/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 21
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/21/2002)

Letters
Gary Null responds to a review of his book "AIDS: A Second Opinion"; readers weigh in on articles about Iraq and why smart people can be so stupid. (06/21/2002)

The nurturing power of dysfunctional families By Brother Void
(06/21/2002)

A radical antiabortionist backs down By Frederick Clarkson
Feeling the heat not just from the courts but from mainstream pro-lifers, Nuremberg Files Web site creator Neal Horsley takes down the crossed-off names of doctors killed by antiabortion zealots. (06/21/2002)

Waiting desperately for a plan By Ferry Biedermann
In the aftermath of new Middle East violence, tensions have risen and hopes have all but collapsed. Now both Israelis and Palestinians are looking to Washington for answers. (06/21/2002)

(Broken) Vows By Jennifer Foote Sweeney
Darcy Sowecki and Barton Winston Biggs II. (06/21/2002)

I'm ready for my close-up, Sen. Daschle By Anthony York
A leading FBI critic with her own theories about post-9/11 anthrax attacks makes a quiet visit to Capitol Hill. (06/21/2002)

Complete sexual anarchy By Douglas Cruickshank
The Cockettes exuded the optimism, playfulness, sexiness and theatricality of a subculture that slipped away almost as soon as it was born. (With a gallery of photographs by Robert Altman.) (06/21/2002)

Airplanes don't get no respect By Patrick Smith
The glamour of the jet age is gone, and that's a shame. It's time to bring back the wonder. (06/21/2002)

The battle for indie radio By Jesse Walker
After seven years of bitter infighting, the dissidents have retaken control of Pacifica, the venerable left-wing radio network. Now comes the hard part. (06/20/2002)

Music preview: Jucifer By Max Garrone
This two-person outfit tries to reinvigorate the stale world of rock with lots of noise on the new album "I Name You Destroyer." (06/20/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 20
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/20/2002)

"The Athenian Murders" by Josi Carlos Somoza By Laura Miller
A seemingly cheesy murder mystery set in ancient Greece turns into an ingenious literary puzzle about philosophical truth. (06/20/2002)

"Big If" by Mark Costello By Laura Miller
A smart new novel about the folly of second-guessing the unexpected probes the minds and lives of Secret Service agents and computer programmers. (06/20/2002)

"The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque" by Jeffrey Ford By Suzy Hansen
An artist in turn-of-the-century New York is commissioned to paint the portrait of a mysterious woman whom no one has ever seen. (06/20/2002)

"You're an Animal, Viskovitz!" by Alessandro Boffa By Stephanie Zacharek
A lovesick fellow takes the form of such animals as a snail, a scorpion, a chameleon and a fish in pursuit of an elusive beauty. (06/20/2002)

"Moral Hazard" by Kate Jennings By Charles Taylor
A liberal young woman is forced to take a job at a Wall Street firm and learns the truth about the masters of the financial world. (06/20/2002)

"Prague" by Arthur Phillips By Laura Miller
A group of young, American would-be bohemians congregates in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, vainly hoping to land in the center of something legendary. (06/20/2002)

What to read in June By Salon's critics
Novels about working on Wall Street and for the Secret Service, tales of wannabe American bohemians in Prague, a mystery set in ancient Greece and more in the month's best fiction. (06/20/2002)

"The Russian Debutante's Handbook" by Gary Shteyngart By Laura Miller
A Russian-born nebbish joins the mafiya and finds success swindling gullible young American tourists in Eastern Europe. (06/20/2002)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
Up: Down -- And Down Is Up, Says Administration. (06/20/2002)

Porn provocateur By Janelle Brown
Lizzy Borden, whose ultraviolent films feature women being beaten, raped and doused in vomit, insists that she is a gender pioneer whose repellent movies are morality tales. (06/20/2002)

Closed doors, closed minds By David Horowitz
If you don't believe American campuses are dominated by the left, try finding a registered Republican teaching in the social sciences. (06/20/2002)

Marvin Miller: Don't trust baseball's drug-testing proposal By Allen Barra
The former head of the Baseball Players Association says that the owners have no reason to crack down on steroid use -- so the commissioner's random-test proposal may just be moral grandstanding. (06/20/2002)

Bushed! By Jake Tapper
George Bush, scholar of ancient Grecian! A White House staffer reveals that his boss has mastered George Eliot, Tocqueville, Aristotle and Wordsworth -- and if you believe that, you can kiss my Posterior Analytics. (06/20/2002)

What did Skilling know? By Jason Leopold
Evidence suggests that the former Enron president knew more than he led Congress to believe when he testified. (06/21/2002)

That's how strong his love is By Charles Taylor
Bryan Ferry has always been a Casanova -- helpless in the face of love, transforming his lust into flights of ardor. (06/20/2002)

"When 300 Baud Was the Bomb"
By N.Z. Bear (06/20/2002)

The strange triumph of electronic music By Andrew John Ignatius Vontz
It may not be on the radio, but it's the most influential -- and unifying -- force in pop music today. (06/19/2002)

"Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid," by Robert J. Sternberg By Gavin McNett
Scholars finally tackle the question that has plagued humanity since time immemorial. (06/19/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 19
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/19/2002)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
A soccer goal is like sex ... (06/19/2002)

Lynda Barry
Bug-out with Marlys! (06/19/2002)

My All-Star teams By King Kaufman
The Midsummer Classic comes along at the perfect time to start arguing about who makes it and who doesn't. (06/19/2002)

The dragnet comes up empty By Eric Boehlert
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, law enforcement agents detained more than 1,000 people, mostly Middle Eastern-born men. Some were held for weeks without an attorney. Some were virtually convicted in the press. But none have been implicated in terrorism. (06/19/2002)

Pity the Catholic Church By Robert Scheer
I never thought I'd say it, but I actually feel sorry for the Catholic Church. (06/19/2002)

Spelunking the empire of death By Christopher Ketcham
In the catacombs beneath Paris, a legendary trespasser enacts the theater of psycho-terror. (06/19/2002)

Is there a doctrine in the house? Cartoon by Mark Fiore
Strike first: The Bush policy that simplifies everyone's little foreign policy problem. (06/19/2002)

Can semen cure the blues? By Martin F. Downs
A researcher says male ejaculate may act as an antidepressant -- but other scientists aren't swallowing his theory. (06/19/2002)

Satellite radio to the rescue By Gary Dretzka
Corporate dreck dominates the FM airwaves like never before, but hope for music lovers may finally have arrived. (06/19/2002)

The party must go on By Katharine Mieszkowski
The glamour is tarnished and the celebrities have gone AWOL, but the Webby Awards soldier forward anyway, in classic San Francisco style. (06/19/2002)

Letters
Don't dis "The Sopranos," cut the homophobic trash and give Clancy a break -- readers respond to recent A&E stories (06/18/2002)

Beware the fires of hell Ranted by Cary Tennis
And other perils of relationships. (06/18/2002)

Before Baghdad burns By Laura Miller
The author of a new book on Iraq cautions that a U.S. invasion to get rid of Saddam Hussein could be even more dangerous than his weapons of mass destruction. (06/18/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 18
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/18/2002)

Story Minute By Carol Lay
She wondered why she'd never met her mother-in-law. (06/18/2002)

Playing God By Scott Anderson
Bush's bioethics czar Leon Kass wants to criminalize lifesaving medical research as violating the natural order of things. Would he have opposed wiping out smallpox? (06/18/2002)

A victory for justice By Joan Walsh
The overturning of Marjorie Knoller's murder conviction in the dog-mauling case has enraged many gays and liberals -- but in the lock-'em-up age of Bush, it was a rare triumph for the rule of law. (06/18/2002)

Keeping the new black candidates down By Jake Tapper
When young African-American challengers face off against their trailblazing predecessors, they often get called pawns of whitey. (06/18/2002)

Too much a company man? By Anthony York
FBI director Mueller's desire to defend his institution has earned him criticism in the past. (06/18/2002)

Losing the "trifecta" By Brendan Nyhan
The president tries to defend his deficit spending through a little campaign revisionism. (06/18/2002)

Advice is like coleslaw By Cary Tennis
My lover turns to his old girlfriend for relationship advice even though it hurts my feelings. (06/18/2002)

Every dial you take By Jeffrey Benner
The FBI is asking for more information about what you do on the phone, and no one is saying no. (06/18/2002)

The reel Watergate By Charles Taylor
"All the President's Men" caught the moment in which America got wise to White House corruption -- but the more recent "Dick" captures the sheer exhilaration of unseating a president. (06/17/2002)

Pac-Man By Chris Green
With its canary-yellow Everyblob hero, its masterfully simple design and its abstract realm where even death was a cheerful event, Pac-Man brought video gaming out of the bars and into the malls. (06/17/2002)

Dylan Thomas: The Caedmon Collection, Part 5
The fifth installment in this collection features Dylan Thomas introducing and reading works by W.H. Auden, Thomas Hardy, W.B. Yeats and other poets. (06/17/2002)

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" by Toby Young By Michelle Goldberg
A would-be member of the media elite describes his hilarious misadventures trying to succeed in the shallow, celebrity-obsessed world of glossy magazines. (06/17/2002)

Salon recommends
A gem-studded collection of short stories from Esquire and more of our favorite new titles. (06/17/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 17
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/17/2002)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
In defense of all that is decent and good. (06/17/2002)

New from Weber ... Girls! By Chris Colin
Barbecuing needs feminism like grilled fish needs a bicycle. (06/17/2002)

Restoring the imperial presidency By Bruce Shapiro
The Bush administration rivals the Nixon White House when it comes to secrecy and unchecked power, with John Ashcroft as our modern-day John Mitchell. (06/17/2002)

"Unmasking Deep Throat" By Scott Rosenberg
John Dean, on a decades-long quest to identify history's most elusive news source, brings new evidence to the fore in his new book. (06/17/2002)

"File Sharing: Innocent Until Proven Guilty"
By Damien Cave (06/17/2002)

Who wants to marry a regular person? By Carina Chocano
In Michael Apted's sad, hopeful and deeply moving new documentary series on marriage in America," "I do" isn't a happy ending -- but rather an uncertain beginning. (06/15/2002)

Were U.S. troops in Afghanistan complicit in a massacre? By Michelle Goldberg
An Irish documentary filmmaker says he has evidence they were -- and he's releasing some of his footage to prevent a coverup. (06/15/2002)

The church's impotent fathers By Eugene Cullen Kennedy
In Dallas, America's Catholic leaders were forced to crack down on abusive priests, but they were too afraid to explore the root cause of the problem: Human sexuality. (06/15/2002)

"The Bourne Identity" By Charles Taylor
Matt Damon and Franka Potente illuminate a gripping, handsome post-Cold War thriller from "Swingers" director Doug Liman. (06/14/2002)

"The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" By Stephanie Zacharek
Jodie Foster makes a mean ol' nun, but the rest of this coming-of-age tale suffers from simply trying too hard. (06/14/2002)

"Scooby-Doo" By Andrew O'Hehir
No serious film fan could stomach the cheap gags and farting contests in this goofball tribute. I laughed myself stupid anyway. (06/14/2002)

"Windtalkers" By Stephanie Zacharek
John Woo's ultraviolent paean to the Navajo "code talkers" who fought with the Marines in World War II takes his Hollywood dream to new heights. (06/14/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 14  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/14/2002)

War stories
Readers respond to an interview about the Six-Day War and Allen Barra's review of "The Fall of Berlin 1945." (06/14/2002)

The suburb within By Brother Void
(06/14/2002)

Lynda Barry
Matching (06/14/2002)

Shaq is too good for the NBA's good By Allen Barra
The most dominant force in basketball history squashed his rivals like bugs. Too bad he also squashed the viewers. (06/14/2002)

Still-life in prison stripes
Why is anyone surprised when the Tyco CEO who moved his company's headquarters to Bermuda to avoid taxes tries to evade taxes on pricey art? (06/14/2002)

Red-letter day By King Kaufman
The Red Wings' championship may have been a foregone conclusion, but unlike the Lakers, they at least had the decency to act happy about it. (06/14/2002)

Gary Hart By Jake Tapper
The former senator and presidential candidate discusses the proposed Department of Homeland Security, why the head of the CIA should've resigned, revamping the FBI and the media's obsession with "the love lives of movie stars and politicians." (06/14/2002)

The bitterest of rivals Cartoon by Mark Fiore
Can the tribal foes of a fractured land come together, putting their historical grievances behind them? (06/14/2002)

Bob Barr's emotional distress By Anthony York
Clinton's most ardent foe sues him for $30 million -- while championing a bill against frivolous lawsuits. (06/14/2002)

My sad gay church By Richard Rodriguez
Whatever decision the Catholic bishops make in Dallas this week, it's sure to lack a widespread or profound understanding of sexuality and the priesthood. (06/14/2002)

The end of the revolution By Andrew Leonard
"Ruling the Root" documents the sorry tale of how the Internet was brought to heel. (06/14/2002)

The birds of Hollywood: An unnatural history By Robert Winkler
Movie producers spend countless millions to make the details convincing. So why can't they figure out that blue jays are asleep at night and thrushes go south for the winter? (06/13/2002)

Music preview: The Breeders By Ross White
Nine years after "Cannonball" propelled them to pop stardom, twin sisters Kim and Kelley Deal release "Title TK." Listen to the song "Huffer," or watch the video. (06/13/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 13  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/13/2002)

"Pot Planet" by Brian Preston By Douglas Cruickshank
A marijuana connoisseur travels around the world seeking out the people who grow, smoke and worship weed -- and the people who try to stop them. (06/13/2002)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
Secret Agent Z in "Our Man in Washington" (06/13/2002)

Celibacy, crossbows and dumpsters
Readers write about the Catholic Church, Ted Nugent's environmentalism and the fine art of waste rescue. (06/13/2002)

The zealots behind President Bush's U.N. family planning sellout By Michelle Goldberg
A small band of antiabortion extremists says the U.N. agency supports Chinese infanticide. The rest of the world says they're wrong, but the White House is listening. (06/13/2002)

By all means look away By Bruce Shapiro
The Daniel Pearl video combines sick political logic with the imagery of a snuff film, and tells us nothing we didn't already know about his twisted assassins. (06/13/2002)

Shooting crap By Shari Waxman
Alleged psychic John Edward actually gambles on hope and basic laws of statistics. (06/13/2002)

Watching the giant mediums By Laura Laughlin
James Van Praagh and John Edward are the Spears and Aguilera of psychic readings. After seeing them, I'm not so skeptical. (06/13/2002)

The real White House vandal scandal By Kerry Lauerman
A GAO report on vandalism during Clinton's exit shows that Bush administration pettiness cost the nation more than its predecessor's pranks. (06/13/2002)

Moussaoui denies Sept. 11 role By Larry Margasak
(06/13/2002)

Those legs, that pout By Charles Taylor
Kate Moss is a girl out of time, the perfect '60s dream girl who has awakened, like Austin Powers, in a changed world. (06/13/2002)

File sharing: Innocent until proven guilty By Damien Cave
An economist says music piracy should be hurting the recording industry, but it isn't -- and he doesn't know why. (06/13/2002)

The ghost of pop By Ken Foster
Sam Phillips on Christian music and classic porn, working with T-Bone and her quietly successful comeback release. (06/12/2002)

"There's an almost universal desire to see Israel eradicated"
Listen to an excerpt from Suzy Hansen's interview with Michael B. Oren, author of "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East." (06/12/2002)

Six days that shook the world By Suzy Hansen
An Israeli historian talks about the 1967 war that shaped the modern Middle East and still fuels the Arab-Israeli conflict. (06/12/2002)

Bestsellers
This week's bestselling books courtesy of Powells.com. (06/12/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 12  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/12/2002)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Life's little victories (06/12/2002)

Refusing to be scandalized By Joseph Shimek
As Catholics, we must recognize the sins of fallen priests -- but not forget the transcendent meaning of their calling and our faith. (06/12/2002)

Antonin Scalia's crisis of conscience By Dave Lindorff
In a case that could free hundreds from death row, the conservative Supreme Court justice finds that his support for the rights of juries clashes with his staunch advocacy of the death penalty. (06/12/2002)

Don't look away By Samuel G. Freedman
The brutal video of Daniel Pearl's murder is worth seeing because it reminds us of just how bigoted and deeply evil our enemies really are. (06/12/2002)

Ashcroft's murky motives By Dave Lindorff
Instead of tailing "dirty bomb" suspect Abdullah al Muhajir and following him to other suspects, the federal government arrested him, but then waited a month to announce the bust. Now critics wonder what the Justice Department is really up to. (06/12/2002)

It's time for him to go By Robert Scheer
After squandering a series of opportunities for peace, it's time for Yasser Arafat to step aside. (06/12/2002)

Sacre bleu! Dios mio! It's the Bizarro World Cup! By Andrew O'Hehir
France fades into Sartrean nothingness, Argentina dances the tango of despair and the United States and Japan, titans of world baseball -- sorry, I mean soccer -- rise up. (06/12/2002)

If you're going down, go down under By Amy Reiter
Mike Tyson wants Crocodile Dundee's house; reality TV to deliver pregnant Brandy. Plus: Cleese pans "Survivor" and Co.; Bowie scoffs at nuclear war! (06/12/2002)

Political security By Anthony York
President Bush appoints his homeland security advisors, and includes those who have bankrolled GOP candidates. (06/12/2002)

In my life By Lillian Ann Slugocki
Mark Covelli had dated the hottest girl in school, but we fell in love and he will always be the one against whom I measure all others. (06/12/2002)

Feeding off rejection By Katharine Mieszkowski
Calling all unpublished writers: For a fee, Penguin Putnam will tell you how bad your manuscript is. (06/12/2002)

Holding out for a hero By Ian Rothkerch
Ben Affleck? Matt Damon? Johnny Depp? Those guys aren't action stars -- they're pussies! Next up: Moby does Dirty Harry and James Bond goes gay. (06/11/2002)

Hang in there! By Cary Tennis
So they're dissing you at your fast-food job? Life sucks sometimes. (06/11/2002)

"The Fall of Berlin 1945" by Antony Beevor By Allen Barra
A historian describes Germany's fall to the Soviets in 1945, when civilians suffered the full fury and horror of war. (06/11/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 11
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/11/2002)

Story Minute By Carol Lay
Story minute: Small is beautiful. (06/11/2002)

"I have the American dream licked" By Amy Benfer
The nation's most heavily armed rocker extols his new book, "Kill It and Grill It," blasts hippie environmentalists, praises Rush and says the success of "The Osbournes" reveals the soullessness of mankind. (06/11/2002)

The Ted Nugent Essence of Life Gonzo Recipe By Amy Benfer
Essential rocket fuel for the Motor City Madman and those who want to eat like him. (06/11/2002)

A military tribunal for al Muhajir? By Dave Lindorff
John Ashcroft may want to try the "dirty bomb" suspect in a secret military court where his rights would be limited -- even though he's a U.S. citizen. (06/11/2002)

New worry over domestic al-Qaida link By Eric Boehlert
Federal officials suggest a jailhouse conversion to Islam turned Brooklyn-born Jose Padilla into Abdullah al Muhajir, ally of international terrorists. But experts are deeply divided over the risk posed by such conversions. (06/12/2002)

Short attention span theater By Arianna Huffington
Congress appears ready to punt on a series of post-Enron corporate reforms. (06/11/2002)

Punches that smart! By Amy Reiter
Lennox Lewis says "Rocky" underestimates boxers' IQ; Mills wants Sir Paul to go gray. Plus: Puffy sends best wishes to J.Lo; and anonymous star goes catty on Winona. (06/11/2002)

When buzzwords go bad By Ben Fritz
Stung by Demo attacks, Republicans suddenly deny they want to "privatize" Social Security. Ah, what a difference a few thousand points on the NASDAQ makes! (06/11/2002)

Should I stay or should I go? By Cary Tennis
I want to divorce my wife, but she just got pregnant. Should I still move on or stay for the baby's sake? (06/11/2002)

Stalker tech By Randy Dotinga
Students at the University of California at San Diego are tracking their friends' locations with PDAs. (06/11/2002)

Real Life Rock Top 10 By Greil Marcus
(06/10/2002)

Kieslowski's "Three Colors" By Jonathan Kiefer
Just when it seemed that European cinema had become fossilized, the great Polish director created the slickest -- and loveliest -- concept album in art-film history. (06/10/2002)

Music preview: Mary Timony By Kevin Johannesen
The former Helium frontwoman invites you into the dark, fantastical landscape of her mind on her second solo album, "The Golden Dove." (06/10/2002)

The case of the girl detective By Emily Jenkins
With the passing of Nancy Drew's first author, the mystery of the teenage sleuth's true identity only deepens. (06/10/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 10
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/10/2002)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
This is no time to start that crazy conservation nonsense -- we've got terrorism to think about! (06/10/2002)

Salon Premium: Join the party
Acclaimed cartoonist Berkeley Breathed explains why you should subscribe. (06/10/2002)

Fine diving By Laurie Essig
Young anarchists with guts of steel raid dumpsters for edible "trash." The idea? Divert waste to end wastefulness. (06/10/2002)

Nader's sorry legacy By Joe Conason
The Green Party's goal: Ensuring that Republicans take over the Senate. (06/10/2002)

We didn't hold our breath anyway By Amy Reiter
J.Lo splitting with new hubby; Woody Harrelson goes bonkers in London, offers stoner's apology; McCartney wedding hinted at; Don Johnson dad again. (06/10/2002)

Not the real Slim Shady By Dan Levine
Are the fake MP3s popping up on file-sharing networks part of the recording industry's war on piracy, or just the latest in music marketing? (06/10/2002)

The end of Mike Tyson By King Kaufman
He'll go on fighting, but after Saturday's loss to Lennox Lewis, the public knows how washed up he is. (06/09/2002)

Dylan Thomas: The Caedmon Collection, Part 4
This fourth installment features Dylan Thomas and Edith Sitwell discussing and reading Sitwell's poems, as well as various authors reading drafts of Thomas' "Over Sir John's Hill." (06/08/2002)

A Philippines quagmire? By Michelle Goldberg
The botched rescue of Abu Sayyaf captives by the Philippine army raises questions about the U.S. role in fighting the violent Muslim separatist group. (06/08/2002)

Sharon's insecurity, Bush's indecision By Aluf Benn
As an anxious Israeli prime minister flies to Washington to make sure he has U.S. support, Bush is still wavering and stalling for time -- and Arafat's ouster seems closer than ever. (06/08/2002)

Will David Frasca be the FBI fall guy for 9/11? By Anthony York
Director Mueller mostly won over Congress this week. But in mapping the missed signals before the terror attacks, most roads lead to counterterror chief Frasca -- and at least one senator is miffed. (06/08/2002)

"Bad Company" By Charles Taylor
This cookie-cutter spy thriller depends on the chemistry between Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. Um, wait, there isn't any. (06/07/2002)

"The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)" By Andrew O'Hehir
A dazzling Arctic surprise: Daring camerawork, magnificent vistas and grimy realism fuel this film version of an ancient Inuit legend. (06/07/2002)

"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" By Stephanie Zacharek
This "message" flick by the writer of "Thelma and Louise" brays that women are strong and have got to stick together -- but it doesn't make you want to join the sisterhood. (06/07/2002)

Living a worthless life By Brother Void
(06/07/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 7
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/07/2002)

Communists and creative capitals
Dave Wagner responds to a review of his book "Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies," and readers weigh in on whether the "creative class" saves cities. (06/07/2002)

Trauma lessons By Ken Lee
Young women working as medics in Jerusalem divide their lives between bloody mayhem and the rituals of adolescence. (06/07/2002)

In India, a maddening calm By Rashmi Sinha
Far from her homeland and tormented by the threat of war, a California woman wonders how her family can remain sanguine in the nuclear shadow. (06/07/2002)

Why Lewis will demolish Tyson By Allen Barra
As boxing slowly fades away, one of its most admirable champions will send one of its least into well-deserved oblivion. (06/07/2002)

Can this economy be saved? By Arianna Huffington
Millions of Americans have been burned by a corrupt financial-corporate complex that rewards fat cats and insiders. Don't look for help from the Bush administration -- they're part of the problem. (06/07/2002)

A mysterious hand blocks FBI reforms By Eric Boehlert
An anonymous Republican senator is using an arcane procedure to block a reform bill. Is the GOP taking revenge for the Dems' rejection of Pickering? (06/07/2002)

Nicogasm! By Douglas Cruickshank
Who needs cigarettes? Let's put nicotine where the sun don't shine! (06/07/2002)

They won't be his neighbor By Amy Reiter
Dartmouth brats complain about Mr. Rogers; Warwick plays dumb after cops find joints; KISS releases toilet water; Wonder Twins coming to theaters! (06/07/2002)

Surf's up! By Mark Fiore
Global warming? Now that sounds hot. (06/07/2002)

What did Bush know? By Jason Leopold
An anonymous ex-Enron official says the White House knew about the company's impending demise as far back as August. (06/07/2002)

Darkroom desire By David Bowman
Photographer P.J. Boman shoots his wife and muse in dark shadows -- undressing, posing as a prostitute and in the throes of ecstasy. (06/07/2002)

Getting a lock on broadband By Jeffrey Benner
How the FCC is paving the way for a few big companies to control everyone's high-speed Internet access. (06/07/2002)

They care a lot By Carina Chocano
The cops, firefighters and paramedics of ABC's reality series "Boston 24/7" are so inspiring, dedicated and hardworking it's ... weirdly depressing. Still, just try to switch it off. (06/06/2002)

"The Ultimate Violation"  
By Charles Taylor (06/06/2002)

Top 10 Cities on Richard Florida's Creative Class Index
(06/06/2002)

Be creative -- or die By Christopher Dreher
A new study says cities must attract the new "creative class" with hip neighborhoods, an arts scene and a gay-friendly atmosphere -- or they'll go the way of Detroit. (06/06/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 6  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/06/2002)

Tom the Dancing Bug By Ruben Bolling
Patriotism for sale! Get your specially commissioned porcelain figure and certify your loyalty to the the Republican Party! (06/06/2002)

All about basketball By Susan Straight
My girls live and breathe hoops with a passion that carries us beyond the season into moments of frightening uncertainty. (06/06/2002)

The 9/11 lawsuits By Kenneth Rapoza
A small but growing group of people who lost loved ones in the terror attacks are giving up federal compensation to sue airlines, airport security firms and the FAA. (06/06/2002)

Dianne Feinstein's bad idea By Robert Scheer
The war on terrorism is no excuse to start racial profiling. (06/06/2002)

The ax By King Kaufman
Five baseball managers have felt the blade since Opening Day. Coincidence, or is something going on? (06/06/2002)

No room for vanity with all that metal By Amy Reiter
Cruise defends his railroad tracks; "Survivor's" Vecepia keeps her day job; Big Pussy reveals his origins. Plus: Axis of Evel returns; and Oprah befriends ice cream industry. (06/06/2002)

"Rabid Watchdog"
By Jennifer Liberto (06/06/2002)

Indecent, improper and dangerous By David Thomson
"Blue Velvet" was and is an outrage. And a masterpiece. (06/06/2002)

The Netflix way By Damien Cave
Will the success of the pioneering DVD-rental company convince a reluctant music industry to embrace its own subscription strategy? (06/06/2002)

Marvel's forgotten heroes By Mark Holcomb
Spidey's the celeb of the year. Blade and the X-Men are huge, with Daredevil, Iron Man and the Hulk waiting in the wings. When will Hollywood show some love for Marvel's venerable Fantastic Four? (06/05/2002)

Sex, death and other family matters By Laura Miller
HBO's "Six Feet Under" ends its second season with a series of soap-opera devices -- but refuses to preach, lie or moralize about its most painful subject: Family life. (06/05/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 5  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/05/2002)

"Shakey: Neil Young's Biography" by Jimmy McDonough By Douglas Cruickshank
The story of the "Godfather of Grunge" is a tale of sickness, health, overweening ego, spectacular talent and reckless abandon. (06/05/2002)

Bestsellers
This week's bestselling books courtesy of Powells.com. (06/05/2002)

The K Chronicles By Keith Knight
Back in the Big Easy ... just in time for "Spazz Fest"! (06/05/2002)

We hung the most dimwitted essays on the wall By Amy Weivoda
The biggest case against standardized testing might be the people who score the tests -- people like me, for instance. (06/05/2002)

The Lakers might choke! By King Kaufman
Yeah, right. They're not the Kings, you know. As long as Shaquille O'Neal's playing, the Nets are in a world of hurt in the NBA Finals. (06/05/2002)

The decline and fall of choking By Eric Boehlert
The Sacramento Kings choked in Game 7, pure and simple. So why didn't print and TV journalists call them on it? (06/05/2002)

The FBI's dangerous drug-war obsession By Arianna Huffington
Before Sept. 11, the FBI was too focused on busting pot smokers to see the warning signs of a looming terrorist attack. (06/05/2002)

An uneasy alliance By Michelle Goldberg
India is one of the world's largest and most powerful democracies, but as Bush administration envoys arrive in South Asia hoping to prevent war, Indian officials wonder why Pakistan seems to be the premier U.S. ally. (06/05/2002)

Al-Qaida monitored U.S. negotiations with Taliban over oil pipeline By Jean-Charles Brisard
A memo by military chief Mohammed Atef raises new questions about whether failed U.S. efforts to reform Afghanistan's radical regime -- and build the pipeline -- set the stage for Sept. 11. (06/05/2002)

Papa don't snitch By Amy Reiter
Madonna denies it, but dad says another baby's coming; Enrique Iglesias talks love, loneliness; Bullock heals the Teamsters. Plus: Royal dis to Clapton, McCartney, Osbourne! (06/05/2002)

The Chandra conspiracy By Amy Keller
To those obsessed with the Levy case, all evidence must lead back to Gary Condit -- even when it doesn't. (06/05/2002)

The dead zone By Anthony York
Reporters wait around in Washington's crypt for something -- anything -- to leak out from closed congressional hearings into 9/11 intelligence failures. (06/05/2002)

Fast forward By Eric Spitznagel
I watched feats of sexuality that could only be described as psychopathic proctology, and not once did I hear them utter even a single line of my carefully crafted dialogue. (06/05/2002)

A new teenage wasteland? By Andrew Leonard
Script kiddies, Web site defacers, chat-room gangsters: Today's digital troublemakers get a bad rap. But in "The Hacker Diaries" we learn that they're really all right. (06/05/2002)

Can Moby save pop? By Michelle Goldberg
Anointed by the desperate music media as pop's new king, Moby brings electronica to the masses with "18." (Now if only he would stop trying to sing.) (06/04/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 4  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/04/2002)

"Radical Hollywood" by Paul Buhle and Dave Wagner By Michelle Goldberg
Two academics are so eager to find socialist themes in classic Hollywood films that they wind up lending credence to McCarthyism. (06/04/2002)

Story Minute By Carol lay
A toast to the women who made us what we were. (06/04/2002)

A letter from the publisher
Introducing Salon Partner Services and The New York Times Job Market. (06/05/2002)

Crippled logic By Gary Presley
Who was she to kill herself? If anyone deserved that bullet, I did -- a bitter fool in a wheelchair. (06/04/2002)

The Red Wings in 5 By King Kaufman
Except for the chance that any team with a good goalie has, the Carolina Hurricanes have no chance in the Stanley Cup Finals. Nice uniforms, though. (06/04/2002)

COINTELPRO's overdue return By David Horowitz
The new FBI will be able to investigate Americans who pose a threat to national security -- and that's a good thing. (06/04/2002)

The dangerous new FBI By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
With nobody willing to speak up as our civil liberties erode, who will protect us from the new agency dedicated to spying on Americans? (06/04/2002)

Judging Louis Freeh By Eric Boehlert
The Clinton-era FBI chief was seen as a straight arrow who prepared the bureau for the demands of a new century. Now critics question whether he left the nation vulnerable to attack. (06/04/2002)

She's super, but ... By Cary Tennis
Is it possible to raise a family without frequent blow jobs? (06/04/2002)

"It was just stupid" By Katharine Mieszkowski
TheStreet.com's co-founder, Jim Cramer, explains why he regrets his dot-com days. (06/04/2002)

"Fight the Power" By Laura K. Warrell
Public Enemy's explosive 1989 hit single brought hip-hop to the mainstream -- and brought revolutionary anger back to pop. (06/03/2002)

Particle visions Read by Simon Prebble
Famed physicist Stephen Hawking tackles the predictability of the future and flaws of astrology in an excerpt from his book "The Universe in a Nutshell." (06/03/2002)

Literary Daybook, June 3  
Real and imaginary events of interest to readers. (06/03/2002)

What really happened at No Gun Ri? By Judith Greer
An Army major says the Associated Press' Pulitzer-winning story of American soldiers massacring Korean civilians is grossly exaggerated and dishonest. (06/03/2002)

Salon recommends
Neil Gaiman's creepy new kids book and more of our favorite new titles. (06/03/2002)

This Modern World By Tom Tomorrow
Scandal containment made E-Z! (06/03/2002)

Welcome to the occupation By Chris Colin
Maple Razsa, an organizer from last year's living wage sit-in at Harvard, talks about his documentary on the event, snooping administrators and Oprah's take on poverty. (06/03/2002)

Therapist on Line 1 By Amy Reiter
Portman shares doll sex habits; Cindy bares soul on mole; Beaver declares itchiness. Plus: Lance gets cocky in Moscow. (06/03/2002)

Rabid watchdog By Jennifer Liberto
While attacking what it sees as a vast, right-wing media conspiracy, an anonymous Web site has led to a growing media mystery: Who is behind Media Whores Online? (06/03/2002)

Nissan vs. Nissan By Andrew Leonard
Is a North Carolina businessman a cybersquatter unfairly pirating the car maker's brand name, or something even worse: A spammer of journalists? (06/03/2002)

Scenes from the class struggle on Long Island By Carina Chocano
Barbara Kopple's "The Hamptons" offers a dishy, surprisingly soft-focus vision of the summer playground for America's elite and those who want to be them. (06/01/2002)

Sue you, E.U. By Ferry Biedermann
As tensions between Israel and Europe rise, Israeli victims of a Palestinian attack are suing the European Union for giving money to the Palestinian Authority. (06/01/2002)