MotherJones.com | Home - Daily News, Political Commentary and Analysis

Why Prisons Banned This Magazine What did—and didn't—get past Texas prison mail room censors last year. MORE FROM MOTHER JONES: The MoJo Prison Guide Slammed: Welcome to the Age of Incarceration The Kansas Redemption Probation Profiteers Immigration Detention Boomtowns MoJo Prison Issue Banned From Prisons Will John McCain Make Exorcism a Campaign Issue? If McCain taps Bobby Jindal as his running-mate, the Louisiana governor will have to disclose more details on the exorcism he once participated in. Is America ready for a debate about the supernatural? —By David Corn MORE FROM MOTHER JONES: Jindal Knows How to Play by the Rules Is the McCain Campaign Screening Questioners? McCain's No-Tech Policy Meet The Wonder Twins Of Rikers Island For identical prison guards Sukari Barnes and Tajiri Swindell, corrections is a family affair. —By Emily Voigt MORE FROM MOTHER JONES: The MoJo Prison Guide Probation Profiteers Convicting California The Kansas Redemption Top Stories 1 2 3
Slammed: Welcome to the Age of Incarceration What happens when you lock up 1 in every 100 American adults? —By Jennifer Gonnerman Iraq Contract Fraud A GAO report estimates that the Army Material Command loses about $43 million each year providing free meals to contractors—the same ones that receive per diem food allowances. —By Bruce Falconer Blackwater Retreats? Blaming negative press coverage, the controversial security firm has signaled that it's pulling out of the security field. But there's more to the story. —By Dan Schulman San Quentin's Field of Dreams Squaring off against the San Quentin Giants, a baseball team that only plays home games. —By Andre Sternberg Bump of the Day (Click for more...) archive... Ha, Wilderness! Yellowstone Circa 2011 An editorial cartoon by Jack Unruh shows why it's important to camp while you can. —By Jack Unruh Got Water? An update on our national water policy. Oh wait, other than sandbags and firehoses, we don't have one. —By Elizabeth de la Vega MoJo Video: The Coca Stompers of Bolivia Along the Bolivian front of the war on drugs, men work for hours stomping coca leaves with water, gasoline, and chemicals to create a cocaine paste. —By Marco Vernaschi and Sebastiano Vitale White House Threatens Veto Over Expanded Intel Oversight Congress is tired of being kept in the dark on covert actions, but the Bush administration says a measure to increase congressional scrutiny is a no-go. —By Bruce Falconer Mad Men's Retro Trip The Emmy-nominated drama reminds us what things were like in 1960 and what they could be like again. —By Dave Wagner Book Review: This Land Is Their Land Barbara Ehrenreich's no garden-variety pessimist on health care, Wal-Mart, and the superrich. She's a full-fledged member of the glass-has-only-one-drop-left cohort. —By Mike Mosedale Generation Warfighter When did American troops become members of "Generation Kill" instead of citizen-soldiers? And when did we become so proud of declaring our military to be "the world's best"? —By William J. Astore MoJo Photo Essay: Bolivia's Cocaine Trade In Bolivia, Evo Morales has tried to deliver on a populist revolution. But as impoverished peasants increasingly turn to the cocaine trade, will any hope of a better life be blown away? —By Marco Vernaschi and Patrick Symmes Is McCain Refighting Bush's War on Social Security? When the GOP candidate called Social Security a "disgrace," he mobilized the labor and seniors groups that successfully fought off the president's failed privatization gambit. —By Jonathan Stein Semiautomatic for the People In which a MoJo reporter goes to a gun show in search of some serious firepower. With audio. —By Bruce Falconer Politishop 8.0 Learn the benefits of digital alteration, threat magnification, deletion, and cover-up masking. A political cartoon. —By Mark Fiore March Of The Tourists Polar Earth is thawing. Does it matter if the visiting hordes don't understand? —By Julia Whitty Lieberman: Trading Facts for Fear Blasting Obama's Iraq stance, the top McCain surrogate mangles the historical record on Al Qaeda. —By David Corn The Hunt for Black Gold The oil deal nobody, especially the Pentagon, wants to talk about. —By Nick Turse, TomDispatch This Is Your Brain on Cell Phones Is it just the crazies who think cell phone radiation causes cancer? —By Kiera Butler Why Iraq War Movies Suck Can David Simon's Generation Kill do for Iraq what The Wire did for Baltimore? —By Ethan Brown The Current Oil Shock Why there's no relief in sight from the energy reality we're facing. —By Dilip Hiro, TomDispatch Iran Red Lines Mother Jones has learned that a parade of high level Israeli officials are on their way to the White House over the next two weeks to discuss Iran policy. The two countries differ on what to do next. —By Laura Rozen Congress Atwitter Over MySpace Inside the arcane rules governing Capitol Hill's use of social networking sites —By Bruce Falconer John McCain's Bad Week Can't keep track of all of McCain's recent slip-ups? Here's a cheat sheet. —By David Corn The Wedding Crashers Collateral ceremonial damage: a short, till-death-do-us-part history of Bush's wars. —By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch After the FISA Fight: An Interview with Sen. Russ Feingold Why did some Democrats cave to the administration's wiretapping demands? —By Brian Beutler Gramm Bubble Bursts? As McCain disavows Phil Gramm's remarks on the economy, a top McCain aide suggests deregulation once pushed by Gramm led in part to the current economic mess. —By David Corn Rove to Congress: You Can't Touch Me Flouting a congressional subpoena, the former White House political director claims he's "immune" from providing testimony on Justice Department politicization. —By Stephanie Mencimer The Persian Paradox Why is so much sensitive US military technology winding up in Iran? —By Laura Rozen MoJo Interview: The Angola 3 Meet the Black Panther Party members who spent 36 years of solitude in a Louisiana state pen—and who a federal magistrate now says should be freed. —By Brooke Shelby Biggs Insta-Scandal! Hooker Goat Gate and other breaking "news" stories are available at your fingertips. A political cartoon. —By Mark Fiore What The Daycare Crisis and the Housing Meltdown Have in Common Two editors, two mothers, and one major magazine award. What the economic gurus could learn from our small shop. —By Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery McCain Campaign Screening Questioners? Political reporters are wondering if McCain aides are vetting the journalists who ask questions during campaign conference calls for the media. The evidence suggests they are; the campaign won't say. —By David Corn Shalom, Hamas Tweedy, unapologetically hawkish ex-spymaster Efraim Halevy may just be the only Israeli capable of legitimizing talks with Hamas. —By Laura Rozen What's John McCain's Technology Policy? Surprise—he doesn't have one. And how does that compare to Barack Obama? —By Jonathan Stein What You (Still) Need to Know about Jesse Helms On July 4th the rogue elephant died, leaving a trail of questions in his wake. Here's one we answered in 1995: How did someone so mean-spirited end up in a position to act on his politics? —By Eric Bates Why the Economy Went South A reformed Wall Streeter explains where Congress went wrong on lending. Plus, a timeline of the mortgage crisis. —By Nomi Prins The MoJo Interview: David Sedaris The humorist and author of When You Are Engulfed in Flames talks about obese spiders, his boyfriend Hugh, and why he isn't about to apologize to Oprah for exaggerating his autobiographical stories. —By Tony DuShane Extreme Summer Camps Goodbye, crafts and color wars. Hello, explosives and Dianetics. Some summer camps for kids with very specialized interests. —By Kiera Butler Book Review: A Nuclear Family Vacation Authors Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger provide a guided tour to atomic weaponry tourism, from nuclear labs to blast-proof bunkers (including Dick Cheney's rumored "undisclosed location"). —By Bruce Falconer Where Credit Is Due: A Timeline of the Mortgage Crisis A field guide to the loan sharks and politicos who got us into the predatory lending mess. —By Nomi Prins Subprime 1-2-3 Don't understand credit default swaps? Don't worry—neither does Congress. Herewith, a step-by-step outline of the subprime risk betting game. —By Casey Miner Consumer Retorts: Apple Computer Why is it easier to watch Netflix movies on a PC than a Mac? —By Leigh Ferrara The GOP's December Surprise Is the GOP cooking the books to avoid recession till after Election Day? —By James K. Galbraith Journey To East George Bushistan This Independence Day let's honor a growing national tradition: Constitutional compromise. A political cartoon. —By Mark Fiore Obama on Patriotism: Getting Past the '60s? In a speech on patriotism, Obama defends his own love of country and says dissent—the right kind of dissent—is patriotic. —By David Corn MoJo Convo: Iran Panic We asked an Israeli intel correspondent, an Iranian American activist, an arms expert, and a former peace negotiator: How likely is a scenario in which the US or Israel bombs Iran? Talk to them all week about their responses. Where's My Economic Stimulus Check? How the IRS "economic stimulus hotline" works, or doesn't. —By Nicole McClelland more...				Compare and Contrast: McCain Has His Own Awesome Poster Russian Lawmakers Draft Bill to Ban Emo, Immediately Turning Everyone Emo The Dust Off: The House That Crack Built Little Britain to Set Its Sights on America Obama in Berlin: Another Great Communicator? Former Iraqi P.M. Says Surge Not So Great Carbon Offsets: Laughing off Climate Change? Joe and Valerie Wilson: Take Away the Keys to Novak's Corvette Cayman Island Office Building Home to 9,000 U.S. Tax Cheats Why Former Addicts Dread Addiction Memoirs more... The San Quentin Giants by Emiliano Granado Members of the San Quentin Giants toe the line. Read Andre Sternberg's account of playing against the Giants. Submit a photo RE: John McCain's Looming Seniors Problem Social security is a 'social' contract between generations. I have worked form age 15 paying into the 'fund' so my grandfather, father would be assured of a basic quality of life when they retired. Yes, that money should be put into a lock box and used only to pay benefits. Go back and study Gramm and Rudman and actions congress took after that. They began to move social security funds into the general fund to make the debt look better. Does this program need some work? Yes. But there are more than a number of ways to keep it balanced. Remember interest and rent income are not taxed for social security nor Medicare. Nor is the upper income wages taxed. Posted by: Randy T on 07/16/08 at 7:44 PM Meet The Wonder Twins Of Rikers Island More From Mother Jones 8 Tips for an Easier Prison Stay Why Prisons Banned This Magazine Timeline: A Crackdown Chronology How to Get a Conjugal Visit Probation Profiteers What Is Nutraloaf, Anyway? What Do Prisoners Make for Victoria's Secret? Hard Time Out Which Works Better Behind Bars, Scuba or Buddha? Convicting California The Shawnee Redemption Slammed: The Coming Prison Meltdown Where Does $49,000 for Each Inmate Go? Why Texas Still Holds 'Em Help Free the Press Democracies or no, not all countries love a free press. For journalists working under hostile governments, speaking truth to power could mean being silenced. What can you do to help targeted journalists? Fight for their rights by supporting organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House to take action and support programs for media freedom.