Red Alert
It was billed as America’s frontline defense against terrorism. But badly underfunded, hamstrung by special interests, and ignored by the White House, the Department of Homeland Security has been sidelined by the administration’s obsession with Iraq.
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FEATURES

The New Ward Heelers
By Samantha M. Shapiro
They don’t work for a political party and can’t canmpaign for any candidate. But the organizers of 527 groups may nonetheless be the key to victory. 

The Way It Was
By Eleanor Cooney
In the 1960s, the author had a dangerous late abortion. If the antiabortion forces have their way, her story could become commonplace again. 

Frontier Justice
Photo Essay By Asim Rafiqui
Text By J. Malcolm Garcia
With a carrot and a stick, Pakistan is forcing remote tribes to search for Osama bin Laden and his followers — or else.

Crossing the Lines
By Michael Scherer
The inside story of how a top Pentagon official and influential Republicans tried to deliver Iraq’s lucrative wireless market to Qualcomm.

For a Week’s Worth of Gas
By Ted Williams
In Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley and across the West, crucial wildlife habitat is being sacrificed in the name of the Bush-Cheney energy plan.
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DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s Note
Masthead
Contributors
Backtalk

OUTFRONT
The GOP invents the “lawsuit crisis” ; The real-life MATRIX: What’s your “terrorist factor”?; How God voted down a morning-after pill; The Diddly Award; Blowing the whistle on Halliburton; plus, our 11th annual roundup of campus activism

EXHIBIT
Faith in the System
The church of state: exploring the politics of piety

PUBLIC DOMAIN
He Loves Us Not
By Molly Ivins
Forget Monica. Bush has his own problem with women. 

NOTEBOOK
The Kean Mutiny
By Gail Sheehy
He was expected to be a compliant replacement for Kissinger. But as chairman of the 9/11 commission, Tom Kean preferred the truth.

DISPATCH
Pete Seeger’s Last War
By David Hajdu
From his Beacon home along the Hudson, Pete Seeger still lights the way for the left.

EXPOSURE
The Deserted
Photo By Sven Torfinn
Bordering on genocide

MEDIA JONES
Shannon Brownlee reviews two insider accounts of the corruption of medical science; Chuck D on hip-hop’s electoral awakening; plus more book, music, and film reviews

RE:ACTION
Resources for getting involved

P.S.
New Paranormal Phenomena Observed in Florida’s Voting Booths
Cartoon by Greg Clarke