Economist , March 29
(posted
Saturday, March 29)
A 20-page
survey hails Silicon Valley as the model for 21 st century
capitalism. Its high-tech companies display admirable flexibility, reward
merit, welcome new ideas, and abhor government regulation. Interesting detail:
Silicon Valley's GDP is $65 billion, equal to that of Chile. The cover
story compares various international education test scores and concludes
that teaching methods--not funding, class size, or culture--determine student
performance. The story also favors national and international education
standards: They give countries targets to shoot for. An editorial and article
advise Netanyahu and Peres to form a coalition government. Only a unified
Israel can make real peace with the Palestinians.
New
Republic , April 14
(posted
Saturday, March 29)
The
cover, given over to a long review of two books about divorce, deplores the
growing popularity of the anti-divorce movement. Among the review's claims:
Divorce harms kids less than "divorcephobes" claim; divorce rates rose in the
'60s because of women's economic independence, not because of selfish '60s
values; and the United States, where marriage has always been for love, is
naturally more divorce-prone than Europe and Asia are. (See also Slate's
"Dialogue" on divorce.) An article ridicules the Recovery Channel ridicules the Recovery
Channel, a start-up cable venture that will feature drug addicts, alcoholics,
and overeaters 24 hours a day. It is "the logical terminus for a culture in
love with its own dysfunction." Also, a story criticizes Bush counsel C. Boyden Gray. Gray, who has
berated Clinton's fund-raising techniques, is himself a massive soft-money
donor and a lobbyist who exploits his insider ties.
New
York Times Magazine , March 30
(posted
Thursday, March 27)
Free-speech attorney Floyd Abrams denounces the Clinton administration's
indifference to the First Amendment. Clinton has pushed the Communications
Decency Act and the V-chip because he cares more about being "family friendly"
than about protecting free speech. (For Slate's take, see "Clinton
Turns Yellow.") The cover story chronicles the making of a documentary film
about teen-age domestic violence: It takes the filmmakers to task for
exploiting their naive, vulnerable subjects. Also, an article about the
collapse of the go-go Japanese art purchases of the '80s: Many buyers have gone
bankrupt, and their paintings have vanished into Japanese bank vaults.
Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report , March 31
(posted
Tuesday, March 25)
The Easter spirit is
contagious: A week after Time 's heaven cover story, Newsweek and
U.S. News counter with their own religious covers. Newsweek 's
"The Mystery of Prayer" reports that 87 percent of Americans believe God
answers their entreaties. Theologians agree that prayer reinforces faith even
when God doesn't intercede. U.S. News offers a credulous cover story on near-death experiences (NDEs). A third of
people who almost die report experiencing a spiritual vision. Skeptical doctors
assert that such NDEs are purely physiological (naval pilots exposed to extreme
gravity also have visions of bright lights and a God figure). A sidebar argues that black holes and quarks are evidence of God's
"grand design" for the universe.
Also in Newsweek , a
column on the Helsinki summit concludes that it was successful but barely
newsworthy, since Russia is so weak.
Also in
U.S. News , the defense
strategy in the Oklahoma City trial: McVeigh's lawyer will raise questions
about crime-lab incompetence, coerced government witnesses, and the mysterious
John Doe No. 2.
The
New Yorker , March 31
(posted
Tuesday, March 25)
The
New Yorker wonders if U.S. News ' new editor, James Fallows, can
rescue the magazine from its current irrelevance. The answer: probably not.
Fallows is depicted as too righteous for his own good, lacking the
"stop-the-presses adrenaline" needed for a successful newsmagazine. A long
profile of Ted Kennedy credits him with Clinton's 1996 victory: Kennedy
persuaded Clinton to emphasize liberal causes (Medicare, minimum wage) that
reassured his Democratic base. The article finds Kennedy revitalized. And
The New Yorker argues that Hollywood is struggling because it makes too
many super-expensive movies.
Time , March 31
(posted
Tuesday, March 25)
Airline
safety is on the cover. Time excerpts a new book by Mary Schiavo, the
former inspector general of the Department of Transportation who had warned
that ValuJet was unsafe before last year's crash. Schiavo tells horror stories:
FAA safety inspections are perfunctory, counterfeit parts are epidemic,
air-traffic-control computers are outdated, and airport security is lax. She
advises passengers to avoid old planes and start-up airlines, and to sit near
emergency exits. The week's fund-raising scandal angle: To avoid oversight, the
Democratic National Committee instructed donors to funnel contributions through
state parties. Also, kids and AIDS: Doctors don't know what medicines (and
dosages) to prescribe.
Weekly
Standard , March 31
(posted
Tuesday, March 25)
Echoing a
recent New Republic cover story, "Newt Melts" argues that Gingrich is on
his way out. His recent retreat from a tax cut and his embrace of Jesse Jackson
infuriate conservatives: A back-bench challenge might be imminent. Republican
Rep. Peter King writes a sidebar slamming Gingrich as the "most powerful
liberal in American politics" for his opposition to tax cuts and his support of
the National Endowment for the Arts. Also, the Standard editorializes
against needle exchange, saying there isn't sufficient evidence that it stops
AIDS transmission. "Government should not make itself a technician of cocaine
and heroin addiction."
The
Nation , April 7
(posted
Tuesday, March 25)
The
Nation chronicles "A
Year in Corporate Crime." The list includes ADM's price fixing, a
billion-dollar rip-off by Prudential, defense-contractor fraud, stock fraud,
and discrimination (Mitsubishi, Texaco). The point: Corporations are not good
citizens. An article denounces the conservative claim that death-penalty
defendants are adequately represented. Most vivid detail: The attorney for one
Texas murder defendant slept through most of the trial. Also, the actor (and
Nation stockholder) Paul
Newman writes an editorial mocking Jesse Helms.
Harper's , April 1997
(posted
Thursday, March 20)
An
immensely long article condemns the Drug Enforcement Administration's war on
poppy growers. Though poppies have legitimate commercial use (poppy-seed
bagels, for instance), the feds are paranoid that gardeners will harvest them
for opium. The author grows his own opium poppies, and wonders if he's going to
be prosecuted. Also, a creepy explanation for the Rwanda genocide: "Judgment
Day" asserts that Rwandans are incredibly law-abiding, so when the government
ordered them to kill Tutsis, they obeyed without a second thought. The writer
visits Rwanda's awful prisons, where 92,000 people await trial.
--Compiled by David Plotz and the editors of Slate .
