Economist , April 4 (posted Saturday, April 4) The cover editorial warns big telecom companies that their days are numbered. Supposed advantages at home (a trusted brand, political influence) will be useless in the booming international market. Risk-averse, slow-moving dinosaurs (e.g., British Telecom) will be crushed by quicker, hungrier companies with newer technology (e.g., WorldCom, Qwest). ... An editorial urges the United States to take a more commanding role in the Middle East peace process. Israel has tried American patience with its reluctance to accede to the West Bank redeployment agreement. The United States must now use its clout to arbitrate a solution once and for all. ... A story says the moonshine industry is still huge in the southern United States, but it has left behind its rustic past. Modern moonshiners cost Virginia $20 million a year in lost taxes, often carry heavy arms, and are moving into the drug trade. New Republic , April 20 (posted Friday, April 3) The cover story defends pork-barrel spending. Pork represents a tiny portion of the federal budget, and it greases the wheels of politics. Conceding tiny bits of pork (job programs for border states) to pass huge legislation (NAFTA) is a wise trade-off. ... An article slams Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's new Social Security proposal. Widely hailed as "courageous," the plan is just a politically motivated concession to privatization hawks. (For more on the plan, see Jodie T. Allen's "Can Newt Gingrich Save Social Security?" in Slate .) ... "TRB" claims that Clinton's scandal woes stem from his triangulating politics. When a president co-opts the opposition's ideas, staunching policy debate, the opposition resorts to personal attacks (e.g., Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon). New York Times Magazine , April 5 (posted Thursday, April 2) Another special issue (they win--we've run out of jokes about this). Eleven articles chronicle--exhaustively--"the joy and guilt of modern motherhood." High banality quotient: A piece follows a stay-at-home mom who left a law practice to rear three kids. She wouldn't change a thing about her rewarding life. Another follows a mother who works full time and lets dad and nanny care for the kids. She wouldn't change a thing about her rewarding life, either. Also, photo essays cover the boom in multiple births (triplets, quads, etc.--many cute babies) and the new maternity fashions. Entertainment Weekly , April 3 (posted Thursday, April 2) The celebrity-obsessed magazine surpasses itself in the post-Oscar issue. Glam-filled recapping of the ceremony and the parties, plus grades for celebrities' outfits, all with a delightfully high level of bitchiness. EW 's fashion panel loves Helen Hunt's Oscar dress but thinks she's too waify: Joan Rivers squawks, "She weighs less than Kate Winslet's arm." Throughout, much dish (e.g., jilted Minnie Driver glared at ex-beau Matt Damon when he won his screenwriting Oscar and steered clear of the it-boy at the parties). Time and Newsweek , April 6 (posted Tuesday, March 31) The newsweeklies disagree on the causes on the Jonesboro killings. Time 's cover story blames the murders on everything from Mortal Kombat to South Park to absentee parenting. Newsweek 's cover focuses more on America's gun culture but prefers to pronounce this a "senseless tragedy." Both magazines print schematics of the crime scene-- Time 's is more realistic and chilling. On the 30 th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Newsweek excerpts a new book that claims to prove James Earl Ray was indeed King's killer and that he acted alone. The piece systematically rejects all the popular conspiracy theories (FBI, white supremacists, "Raul," etc.). ... Newsweek discovers the latest trend among Silicon Valley millionerds: etiquette training. For $150 a lesson, geeks learn how to use the right fork and make small talk. ("But enough about me. How much are you worth?") Time investigates American exports of electric shock devices. Manufacturers of stun weapons, sold domestically to police departments, have shipped shock batons and Tasers to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and South Africa, where they are allegedly used to torture prisoners. ... A Time article says Viagra, the soon to be released male anti-impotence pill, may also be used for women. The pill would increase blood flow to women's genitals, improving sensation and lubrication. The Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved its use for women. U.S. News & World Report , April 6 (posted Tuesday, March 31) Apropos of nothing (again), U.S. News goes with a military cover: "Submarine!" (Three weeks ago, it published an equally untimely cover on 20 th century military strategists.) Inside: a description of life aboard a nuclear sub and an examination of subs' changing roles (less defense, more espionage). The pullout cross section of a sub is fascinating. ... A story reports on the focus-grouping of classical music. Classical stations now use market research to determine playlists. (Sorry, solo violinists--listeners find you "intrusive.") The New Yorker , April 6 (posted Tuesday, March 31) A piece likens the recent surge in multiple personality disorder to 19 th century hysteria. Real MPD is incredibly rare, but therapists in the 1980s and early '90s "diagnosed" it in thousands of women: They hypnotized patients by the thousand, persuaded them that they had been sexually abused by family members, and then induced them to discover other personalities. Lawsuits by damaged patients and HMO limits on therapist payments have ended the MPD craze. ... Hickman Ewing, Ken Starr's chief deputy, is profiled: A born-again Christian and a moralist, Ewing is engaged in a vendetta against the Clintons. Of one Hillary Clinton deposition, he says, "She was a liar--on all topics." Ewing, not Starr, seems to be the zealot in the independent counsel's office. ... Film critic David Denby writes a long harangue against the modern movie industry. Chief complaints: Studios prefer cheap irony to real emotion, and young moviegoers don't care about seeing good movies--they prefer mass-market schlock to complex films such as L.A. Confidential . Weekly Standard , April 6 (posted Tuesday, March 31) In the cover story, Unabomber victim David Gelernter argues that Ted Kaczynski should have been executed. Instead, Kaczynski will be able to use his prison cell as a bully pulpit, writing more screeds and receiving press attention. Kaczynski "traded up; he used to live in an unimproved shack in the wilderness." ... An essay calls for Congress to address Social Security immediately. The new plan from Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., is a good starting point because it incorporates some Republican ideas on privatization. ... An article claims Boris Yeltsin was right to sack his Cabinet, since Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was anti-market and anti-reform. With a relatively calm and stable Russia, Yeltsin picked the right time to shake things up. --Seth Stevenson