The Nation --

Wrap-up: I've got a new Think Again column called "The end of Local reporting," here .

For the Daily Beast this week, I did a piece on "Cheney's Shadow Government" here and "Sonia's Kabuki Confirmation" here.

And my regular Moment column, is called "Should We Settle for Settlements--or Peace?" and that's here.

Also, my I.F. Stone column of last month also led to the following exchange in The Nation, which was available only to subscribers:

I.F. Stone, Secret Agent? Spy? Mole?Silver Spring, Md.

In an October 3, 2006, piece on The American Prospect's website, Eric Alterman denounced as "almost entirely bogus, controversy over "whether [I. F.] Stone ever willingly...cooperated with the KGB in any way. He did not."

In May 2009, Alexander Vassiliev's notes from KGB archives became public. They show that from 1936 until the end of 1938, Stone secretly carried out specific tasks for the KGB. That is the definition of an intelligence agent, although Stone appears not to have been a particularly important one.

Vassiliev's notes also corroborate that Stone was code-named "BLIN" and thus was the journalist whom the KGB attempted to re-recruit in late 1944, as first revealed by Venona intercepts released in 1996. Moreover, former KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin, whose 1992 allegations instigated the controversy, stated three years ago that Stone began cooperating with Soviet intelligence in 1936. Kalugin has rightly been criticized for changing his story, but that statement has to count for something, unless one thinks it was a lucky guess.

Rather than retract his ill-advised assertion when faced with new evidence, Alterman has aggressively attacked--obfuscating the facts, denouncing the messengers and lumping together everybody who doesn't march in lockstep with his inner convictions ["The Liberal Media," June 22].

Because of the new evidence, I agreed to sift through all the allegations and counterclaims in an essay for the Journal of Cold War Studies, which appears in the Summer 2009 edition. Readers can judge for themselves whether I treated Stone fairly and put his activities in context.

Alterman's behavior is disappointing for a CUNY journalism professor who never fails to present himself as a disciple of I.F. Stone, one of the premier investigative journalists of his generation.

-Max Holland

Alterman RepliesNew York City

Neither space nor sanity allows me to regurgitate, yet again, all the holes in the arguments for I.F. Stone's alleged espionage career made by the likes of Max Holland, or those of Ann Coulter and Messrs. Haynes, Klehr, Radosh, Horowitz, Novak, etc. They reveal far more about Stone's accusers than about the man himself. Holland knows that the notes of Vassiliev--ex-KGB man desperate to sell his wares in the West--have never been verified and are hardly the kind of source upon which any careful historian would build a case for espionage. He also knows that the myriad self-contradictory musings of Kalugin--another ex-KGB man desperate to sell his wares in the West--have not only been successfully challenged but have changed over time, depending on who was buying. (Kalugin denied them to me personally.) He knows, further, that by the standards of Haynes, Klehr and Vassiliev, Walter Lippmann was a "Soviet spy," as were countless other Western journalists of the period.

But more troubling than what Holland knows and does not admit is what he "knows" that ain't so. I referred to Holland in my column exclusively because of his baseless speculation that the KGB funded publication of I.F. Stone's Weekly and Stone's Hidden History of the Cold War. He has produced no evidence for this slanderous flight of fancy and offers none here. Finally (and least consequentially), his crack about my self-presentation is also false. I have never presented myself as a "disciple" of Stone or even as an "investigative journalist." I was Izzy's friend, period.

This Week on Moyers:

In his new book The Evolution of God, bestselling author Robert Wright examines how the idea of God has changed through history. Bill Moyers sits down with Wright to discuss why he thinks the notion of God -- real or not -- is imperative to a moral society. "Religion will be the medium by which people express their values for a long time to come, so it's important to understand what brings out the best and the worst in it," says Wright. Robert Wright is editor in chief of Bloggingheads.tv, a contributing editor for The New Republic and a contributor to Time and Slate.

Alter-reviews, The Shaw Festival and four great new CDs...

The Shaw Festival at Niagara On the Lake:

Last week I traveled to the idyllic Canadian town of Niagara on the Lake--about twenty kilometers from the Falls themselves--to attend its famous Shaw festival, which I first heard about from friends I made on an ancient Nation cruise. (I was making my "Perhaps I'm a philistine, but I prefer Shaw to Shakespeare and Mozart to Beethoven" argument.) This year the festival, which runs from April to October, is presenting two plays by George Bernard Shaw, and ten mini-plays (with three presented at each performance) by Noel Coward. Both Shaw plays, The Devil's Disciple, and In Good King Charles' Golden Days, allow for plenty of musing over principles in politics. The plays are expertly produced and beautifully acted with some of the best sets I've ever seen. Naturally, Shaw's wit shines brightly as ever, even as the characters are pushing you to think about the ways in which fanatical adherence to ideology is tragically destructive. The Coward trios are lighter fare, but share with the Shaw a certain sharpness of wit that justifies their shenanigans.

In Good King, King Charles cautions his brother James (who will succeed him as King) against boldly advertising his Catholicism, reminding him that the constituency that keeps them in power is gentry, not the public. Charles efforts to elevate reason above religious doctrine (by founding the Royal Society) must be wily and strategic, rather than bold and assertive, as his political power and his financial base are precarious. For Shaw, what might be taken for Charles's political cynicism is devotion to deeper desire to avoid bloodshed.

In The Devil's Disciple, Shaw's hatred for Puritanism as well as for the mindless adherence to duty or empty principles is again on display. The heroes of the play find themselves to be moved to act in ways they did not expect of themselves -- and in contrast to the principles they have espoused. Thus, the amoral cad (aka the devil's disciple) finds that he is a man of moral principle, the mild preacher turns out to be revolutionary, the upstanding preacher's wife falls in love (albeit briefly) with a man who is not her husband, and the British general turns out to be a deeply humane pragmatic peacemaker. (It was fun to see the play in a town that was founded by loyalists, alas.)

Brief Encounters contains the Coward plays "Still Life" "We Were Dancing" and "Hands Across the Sea". "Dancing" and "Hands" have the upper crust behaving badly and comically, while "Still Life" is sadder, with two ordinary people deciding not to act on their love for each other since they are married to other people. Star Chamber pokes fun at the narcissism of actors as they engage in a philanthropic cause. As a member of the Advisory Board of the Creative Coalition, I can promise you that nothing like that ever happens in real life.

Music reviews: John Doe and the Sadies, Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women, Chris Gaffney tribute and Mark Karan

I've been listening to three Americana-ish CDs a great deal of late, all of which happen to be released on the small Yep Roc label, and all three are gems. They are, in no particular order: John Doe and the Sadies: Country Club, Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women and A Chris Gaffney Tribute: The Man of Somebody's Dreams.

I was never much for John Doe's punk bank, X, but I heard him spend an hour with Terry Gross--who's become my new imaginary best friend of late--and I thought him terribly intelligent, well-spoken and he did a great job on these songs. So I got the album, and hey, it's great. The songs by Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller, Mel Tillis, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Hank Snow, Hank Williams, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash, are treated respectfully but reverentially and Sadies, whoever they might be, provide excellent backing.The album also features four originals - three from The Sadies and one by Doe and Exene Cervenka. It's a hard album for anyone to dislike, methinks.

The Blasters are one band I really miss but Dave Alvin, on the of the Blaster brothers, is more than making up for it with his wonderful solo work with The Guilty Men and now The Guilty Women, made up of Cindy Cashdollar, Nina Gerber, Laurie Lewis, Sarah Brown, Amy Farris, Christy McWilson and Lisa Pankrantz, with guest appearances from Marcia Ball and Susie Thompson. It's smart, heartfelt bluegrassy Americana--with a new reworking of "Marie, Marie," and lots of stuff to put a smile on your face and an occasional gulp in your throat.

Speaking of which, Alvin was close friends with Guilty Men accordionist Chris Gaffney, who did nothing but good-to-great stuff, though nothing as great as the great Hacienda Brothers album, What's Wrong with Right?--a band he led together with Dave Gonzalez and was brilliantly produced by Dan Penn--before his sad, early cancer death in 2008. So Alvin put down what he was doing and put together this absolutely terrific collection of Gaffney originals by Los Lobos, John Doe, Dave Gonzalez, Joe Ely, Peter Case, Jim Lauderdale, Tom Russell, James McMurtry, Robbie Fulks, Boz Scaggs and Freddy Fender, among others.

If your taste is anything like mine, all three of these albums will send you deep into the back catalogues of all three artists, particularly Gaffney and Alvin. But after getting the Doe/Sadies record, I ordered an earlier, similar effort by another throwoff country punk band he founded The Knitters, and already, I'm having a better summer.

Another album I'm spending some time with this summer is Mark Karan's Walk Through The Fire, which is out on a label called Dig. Karan's played as a sideman with everyone from Dave Mason to Delaney Bramlett and where I heard him--Radog and the Dead/Other Ones. This album is a friendly survey of rootsy Americana-ish rock with some great guitar. Though I'm told the title track was written as he began chemotherapy (and profits from the track go to the Oral Cancer Foundation). We get nice, clean versions of great song after grat song: Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain" (with Delaney Bramlett) the Dead's "Easy Wind" and Randy Newman's "Think It's Gonna Rain Today" I also love this song, "Memphis Radio" by Susan Sheller, but there all pretty damn good and the musicianship, as you'd expect, is first rate throughout.

The mail:

Name: Guillermo A. PartidaHometown: Duarte, CA

Mr. Allerman,

Please don't use the term "splainin" any more. The correct English word is "explaining". By using "splainin" you are ridiculing every one of my Latino brothers and sisters who took the time and effort to learn to speak English properly. You owe an apology for offending millions of people south of the border.

Eric replies: I don' thin so... I thin I am paying tribute to the great Desi Arnez, ....

Name: Timothy BarrettHometown: Louisville, Ky

I regret having missed several weeks of Altercation during my move to a new house. I have also had some trouble getting the Nation website to behave. It goes out of whack occasionally and mistreats me, sometimes being jumbled and other times dismissing me out of hand.

I'm here to report that the sham called the financial bailout has blossomed, borne fruit and now withers on the vine, all for Goldman Sachs and its executives, past and present. The average worker has been left holding the bag, and its empty. All along, Paulson and his cronies have deluded the hopeful and painfully ignorant Congress and two separate Executives that what's good for banks is good for the nation. Goldman now posts record profits, pays enormous bonuses, and looks to a cheery jobless recovery for all; for all bank stocks, that is.

Obama said in March that a forecast of national double digit unemployment was a little pessimistic but now admits that it will likely still get worse before it gets better. He says it was always a two year recovery plan and not a four month recovery plan. Still, just two months ago he was the equity cheerleader-in-chief.

I still love Obama. He is still smarter than all the past presidents since Nixon. He is also not afraid to lose his high approval rating regardless of how closely each falling point is scrutinized by the chattering class. But he is failing economics 101: he let the fox guard the henhouse.

Now while the 24 hours news cycle shifts temporarily from flogging the Jackson family to slandering as racist perhaps the most honest jurist to seek appointment to the high court since Thurgood Marshall (yes, I was first to make the comparison and I don't take Mr. Marshall lightly-let's talk in 20 years) no one is watching the real scandal.

Roger Daltrey said we won't be fooled again. But he was wrong. We will be fooled continuously. It's not conspiracy on the level of Mulder's FBI's pact with a conquering virus, it's more like Gordon Gekko's personal goal to be "fifty, a hundred million, liquid, a player", in other words it's greed, dummy. We all have it, but we're limited in our appreciation of scale. Ponzi duped hundreds into about 7 million in losses, but for Madoff it was 65 billion in losses. For all of Obama's commitment to turn this economy around, he's still the dupe who came to a gun fight with a knife.

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