Esquire , June 1997 (posted Friday, May 23) Historian Paul Johnson contends that Clinton is the "most disreputable president ever." The profusion of scandals--from Whitewater to Paula Jones to FBI files to campaign finance--proves that he lacks any moral fiber. A writer stakes out the Cornish, N.H., home of J.D. Salinger ("the last private person in America") and meditates on the writer-hermit's career. Salinger drives by, but doesn't speak. A profile of MCA chief Edgar Bronfman Jr. suggests that he's too nice for Hollywood. His purchase of MCA was financially disastrous: The DuPont Corp. shares that he sold to buy the entertainment conglomerate have since gained $9 billion in value. New Republic , June 9 (posted Friday, May 23) The cover story, "Peddling Poppy," mocks George Bush revivalism. Bush is now the second-most-popular modern president (after Kennedy), thanks in part to relentless PR by him, his wife, and former aides. The article derides Bush's much publicized parachute jump. Eight professional skydivers assisted him: "I'd let a 6-year-old do that [jump]," says one. A profile of Gingrich buddy Grover Norquist Jr. accuses him of selling out his conservative principles: He now lobbies for slimy dictators. New York Times Magazine , May 25 (posted Thursday, May 22) The cover story lauds Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for his effort to "restore honor" to politics. The war hero/campaign-finance reformer is an idealist who has not been corrupted by power. McCain should be absolved for his role in the Keating scandal, the article argues: He did nothing improper to help Keating. An essay bemoans the rise of ghostwritten celebrity books, which dominate best-seller lists. Publishers no longer even pretend that the writing matters--the only imperative is that the books sell. An article follows a Haitian-American cop as he trains Haitian police officers. The bleak prognosis: Haitians don't trust cops, and the new officers have done little so far to remedy this. Time and Newsweek , May 26 (posted Tuesday, May 20) Yet another health cover from Newsweek : "The Scary Spread of Asthma." The incidence of asthma is up 61 percent since the early '80s. The culprit is indoor air, which is filled with dust mites, cigarette smoke, cockroach remains, and pet dander. (Surprisingly, outdoor air pollution is not to blame: It's better for kids to play outside than inside.) The good news: New drugs and treatments make it easy to live with asthma. A happy feature chronicles a Wisconsin welfare mother's search for work: She finds and keeps a $10-an-hour job at a chemical warehouse. A story on Mt. Everest warns that even more climbers will probably die there this year. Summer frivolity in Time . The cover: "What's Cool This Summer." The highlights: wakeboarding, actor Vince Vaughn, the state of New Mexico (Roswell, Georgia O'Keeffe), roller coasters. Garry Kasparov writes an article requesting a 10-game, winner-take-all rematch with Deep Blue. He agrees that the computer played brilliantly, especially in Game 2, but says that he was thrown off by the "hostile atmosphere" created by IBM. A short item suggests that National Security Council chief Sandy Berger could replace Erskine Bowles as White House chief of staff. Both magazines belittle Timothy McVeigh's lawyer, Stephen Jones, saying that his cross-examination of prosecution witnesses has been confused and ineffective. U.S. News & World Report , May 26 (posted Tuesday, May 20) The cover story celebrates the U.S. economy. It makes several familiar arguments: High-tech industry is driving the boom; organized labor's decline and pressure from foreign suppliers are keeping wages and inflation in check; unskilled workers still face tough times. A related article says that the sustained growth has flummoxed economists: Alan Greenspan et al. have discovered that their old models no longer apply, and they don't know what numbers to trust. A piece concludes that immigration both benefits and harms Americans: Low-skilled immigrants drive down wages, but high-skilled immigrants increase productivity. Also, the boom in guilt museums: Slavery, tenements, Japanese internment camps, and radiation experiments are all subjects of new ones. The New Yorker , May 26 (posted Tuesday, May 20) V.S. Naipaul visits Iran and finds it still haunted by the Iran-Iraq war. The men who survived the war are disillusioned, and the Islamic revolution has lost much of its fire. Naipaul warns that the country may succumb to "nihilism." Gore Vidal writes a long appreciation of his old friend Clare Booth Luce, portraying her as a tough broad. The opening comment by Don DeLillo pays tribute to Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng. Also, an article slams Regnery, the right-wing publishing house that's made a fortune with anti-Clinton books: The once-distinguished conservative press now passes off salacious rumor and cruel innuendo as fact. Weekly Standard , May 26 (posted Tuesday, May 20) The Standard 's cover article, "Be Afraid," contends that Deep Blue is the first evidence of a silicon-based life form with free will. The computer demonstrated a subtle complexity of thought that even its human programmers could not comprehend. Why be afraid of the silicon brain? It lacks emotion and, hence, compassion. (For more on the match, see Slate's special edition of "The Week/The Spin.") A piece on cloning argues that 1) parents wouldn't use cloned children for nefarious purposes and 2) in vitro fertilization already violates nature's laws as much as cloning would. It does propose limiting cloning to married couples. Also, a conservative economist makes the case for inheritance taxes. National Review , June 2 (posted Tuesday, May 20) The cover profile paints House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt as a political opportunist. He began his career as a socially and economically conservative Democrat, but transformed himself into a pro-choice, protectionist, mommy-state liberal. Dick Morris writes an article praising the budget deal. A piece by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., complains that religious charities are corrupted by federal-government funds. Atlantic Monthly , June 1997 (posted Tuesday, May 20) Traditional public-health measures such as widespread testing and notification of the infected would slow the spread of AIDS, argues the cover essay. Gay and AIDS activists have resisted such measures as stigmatizing. An article debunks environmentalists' belief that we consume too much: Raw materials, energy, and food are more plentiful than ever. But we should worry that our materialism is making us lose our reverence for nature. A short piece says there is a "child famine" in the Great Plains: North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming are not producing enough children to sustain their small towns.