Economist , Oct. 31 (posted Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998) The cover editorial predicts that in next week's election "voters will most likely stick to old habits, returning a legislature much like the previous one." Defying all the summer punditry, Flytrap has been a nonfactor. ... A story scientifically explains Halloween legends. Vampirism may be traced to the disease porphyria, which causes sunlight-averse skin, retracted gums, and red urine--leading to the blood-drinking myth. Several witchcraft panics "occurred in places where rye was widely cultivated, and after weather that was propitious for the growth of Claviceps ." Claviceps is a parasite that, when eaten, causes hallucinations. Mother Jones , November/December 1998 (posted Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998) The Mother Jones 400 lists the top individual political contributors of the past year. No. 1: Richard M. and Helen DeVos, founders of Amway, who gave more than $1 million to the GOP. They were rewarded with a special tax cut that saved Amway $19 million. Donors' favorite special interests were telecommunications and oil. An accompanying story exposes how Outback Steakhouse coerced employees to contribute to Outback's PAC. Outback then used the PAC funds to lobby against national health care and an increase in the minimum wage. New York Times Magazine , Nov. 1 (posted Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998) The cover story says Americans no longer want an ambitious, problem-solving government. Our only consensus is that "government should serve the ordinary, hard-working individual--providing safety, public goods like roads and parks and the tools necessary to seek opportunity, like education. It should protect people from unfair or excessive aspects of the marketplace." We lack pride in or loyalty to our government and have no "willingness to put aside personal concerns to serve a larger cause." ... The magazine interviews young Iranians who long for cultural freedom. Iran's revolution, now 20 years old, leaves young Iranians cold. They want to wear shorts, drink booze, and sing pop songs--all banned by the government. Young people hoped Iran's new president would liberalize the nation, but he hasn't so far. Atlantic Monthly , November 1998 (posted Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998) The cover story excerpts, with commentary, a forthcoming collection of Jack Kerouac's unpublished letters and notebooks. Revealed are Kerouac's growing distaste for the other beats and the beat movement, his surprising religious fervor, and a sweet and earnest nature. A letter to his editor at Grove Press: "I cant possibly go on as a responsible prose artist and also as a believer in the impulses of my own heart and in the beauty of pure spontaneous language if I let editors take my sentences, which are my phrases that I separate by dashes when I 'draw a breath,' each of which pours out to the tune of the whole story its own rhythmic yawp of expostulation, & riddle them with commas, cut them in half, in threes, in fours, ruining the swing ... I know what I'm talking about tho I may get drunk and act childish socially ... I'm an artist, oldfashioned, devoted." Texas Monthly , November 1998 (posted Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998) A 35 th anniversary look at the Kennedy assassination includes interviews with several witnesses and photos galore. One piece carefully debunks all the conspiracy theories: the CIA, the Mob, Fidel Castro, LBJ, and the current vogue theory--that there were two Lee Harvey Oswalds, and the innocent one got caught. Conclusion: There was one Oswald, and he acted alone. Time and Newsweek , Nov. 2 (posted Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1998) Time 's cover story calls Tom Wolfe's new novel, A Man in Full , better than Bonfire of the Vanities . (New York area Time readers will get a Yankees cover.) The germ of the novel came when Wolfe visited a Georgia plantation used by its rich owners for quail hunting. The result: a book about an Atlanta businessman caught in debt. Newsweek 's review agrees with Time 's rave. ... The Newsweek cover package predicts how life will be different for kids born in the next millennium. A child born in 2000 will have twice the life expectancy of one born in 1900. Also, she will be taller and less likely to marry, will live in a far more racially diverse United States, and will eat genetically engineered food. Time concludes that the 1998 Yankees are the best baseball team ever. Why? They were "as strong on the mound and in the field as they were at bat; endowed with a bunch of superb role players; blessed with a rare balance of speed and power; managed by a man of calming temperament." Newsweek explains how rap labels spread the word-of-mouth about a new album. "Street teams"--young people hired by the label--put up posters, give out illegal (but label-sanctioned) advance bootlegs, and request and dance enthusiastically to the album at clubs. (The Wall Street Journal put this story on Page 1 on June 25.) U.S. News & World Report , Nov. 2 (posted Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1998) The cover package says Flytrap is a nonissue so far in this fall's congressional elections: Voters aren't linking their ballots to Clinton's fate. But, says U.S. News , the election outcomes will directly determine whether impeachment proceeding are dropped and whether Clinton can set any agenda in his remaining two years in office. Accompanying pieces emphasize the closeness of races--voter turnout will be the key deciding factor. The Nation , Nov. 9 (posted Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1998) The cover story frets that we're overconcerned with terrorism. Yes, terrorism is serious, but it can be countered with a bit more vigilance from our intelligence groups. Instead, "America is now spending $7 billion a year defending itself against backpack nuclear bombs, canisters of nerve gas and petri dishes of germ weapons planted in crowded cities by an as-yet-unknown adversary." The Nation deems this a dubious money grab by defense agencies. Weekly Standard , Nov. 2 (posted Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1998) The cover story argues that California is no longer the progressive, trend-setting state it once was. Instead, the state is growing more conservative: Even its Democratic candidate for governor is pro-death penalty and anti-gay marriage. California elections this fall feature old issues and old campaign tactics, not the state's previous "genius for charting America's political future." --Seth Stevenson More Flytrap ...