Economist , July 12
(posted
Saturday, July 12)
An
18-page survey concludes that Russia is an appalling mess. The economy has
shrunk for eight consecutive years, and the vast majority of Russians are
struggling. The good news (sort of): Russians are too demoralized to start a
violent revolution. The Economist anoints a populist economic reformer
named Boris Nemstov as Russia's great political hope. The cover editorial and story say the rise of multi-party democracy in Mexico will
stabilize the country politically but may slow free-market reforms. A piece
applauds the phaseout of America's agricultural price supports, while warning
that newly liberated American farmers seem to be taking too many risks: If
crops fail, there could be a wave of farm failures.
New
Republic , July 28
(posted
Friday, July 11)
Secretary
of Defense William Cohen may be thoughtful and bright, argues the cover story,
but he's timid about using America's military might (in Bosnia, especially) and
unwilling to make hard decisions about Pentagon budget cuts. TNR 's late
hit on Robert Reich's self-serving memoir points out how powerless cabinet
secretaries are. (For Slate's take, see Jonathan Rauch's "Robert Reich,
Quote Doctor.") An article asks why NASA sends American astronauts to the
rickety Russian space station Mir: It's incredibly dangerous, generates no
worthwhile scientific data, and costs U.S. taxpayers $100 million a year.
New
York Times Magazine , July 13
(posted
Friday, July 11)
A
TV-insider cover story recounts the tribulations of ABC Entertainment President
Jamie Tarses, the first woman to head a network entertainment division. Tarses,
who revitalized NBC with shows like Friends , was supposed to do the same
for struggling ABC. She hasn't, and is on the verge of losing her job. Her
failure is blamed on immaturity. The magazine profiles hot young physicist Lee
Smolin: His "evolutionary" theory posits that black holes give birth to
alternate universes, and that our universe itself was created in the black hole
of another universe. If true, the theory could unify relativity and quantum
mechanics. Also, a photo essay about aging prison inmates.
Vanity Fair , August 1997
(posted
Thursday, July 10)
A long
story on Robert Kennedy's 10 children rehashes their familiar troubles (Joe's
divorce, Michael's babysitter affair, etc.). It concludes that Ethel Kennedy
indulged her brood, and that Michael Kennedy probably did not sleep with the
babysitter until she was 16, a legal age. A piece predicts that the Bancroft
family, which controls Dow Jones, may oust CEO Peter Kann because of the
miserable performance of the company's stock. The article depicts Kann as an
ineffectual pushover and his wife, Karen House, a reporter-turned-Dow Jones
exec., as a monster who terrorizes her Wall Street Journal underlings. A
story says that legal publisher Steve Brill will launch a glossy, hard-hitting
media-criticism magazine called Content . Mel Gibson is on the cover: The
puff inside implies, unpersuasively, that he has a deep, dark soul.
Time and Newsweek , July 14
(posted
Tuesday, July 8)
Nearly identical issues.
Both Mars cover stories dwell on the can-do practicality of NASA's engineers:
Pathfinder was built and launched for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction
of the time required for earlier Mars missions. The stories applaud the
upcoming flurry of Mars expeditions (eight launches in eight years), with
Newsweek concluding that they will undoubtedly determine whether Mars
ever hosted life. Both magazines preview the Senate fund-raising hearings that
start this week, predicting much partisan bickering and few revelations. In
Time , a Republican fund-raiser proposes a 12-step campaign-finance
reform. Most notable step: immediate electronic reporting of all contributions.
The magazines compete to publish the gushiest James Stewart obituary
( Time headline: "A Wonderful Fella"; Newsweek headline: "The All
American Hero").
Also in
Newsweek , a funny story about Spice Girls imitators. The all-girl band
has spawned Spicy Girls, Nice 'n' Spicey, and Spiced Girls, among other
copycats. And an article says that boxing's reputation is so bad that not even
the Mike Tyson debacle could make it much worse.
U.S.
News & World Report , July 14
(posted
Tuesday, July 8)
The
cover story exalts Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the radio
therapist/world-class noodge, for her moral absolutism. Dr. Laura's immense
popularity (20 million listeners) indicates a sea change in America's public
morality: "The me-first era is over," and self-sacrifice and personal
responsibility are in (at least for other people). Dr. Laura herself comes off
as a somewhat cruel, mostly good-hearted, totally overbearing nag. A long
article investigates "attachment disorder," a psychological malady that
affects neglected east European toddlers adopted by Americans. Outwardly
normal, the afflicted children are anti-social monsters: One adoptive mother
has been charged with murdering her uncontrollable son. A piece tinged with Schadenfreude says that Starbucks may be
growing too fast. It's opening a store every other day, but has been accused of
predatory practices and mistreatment of coffee pickers, and may have
oversaturated markets such as New York and Washington, D.C.
The
New Yorker , July 14
(posted
Tuesday, July 8)
A long
story explores the sad, paranoid world of Mike Tyson and recounts the Holyfield
fight in all its ludicrousness. Tyson is depicted as selfish, anxious, and
thoroughly confused by the world around him. Highlights: the description of
Tyson's entourage (ex-cons and sleazeballs) and a visit with Muhammad Ali, who
declares that Tyson "don't have it." An essay argues that immigration is not
the great economic boon its advocates claim, because virtually all economic
benefits go to the immigrants themselves, not to native-born Americans.
Immigration also threatens to divide America into two nations: one
multicultural and young, the other white, older, and resentful. A writer
catalogs the six phyla of screen aliens, which include "the small, gray,
hairless, chinless, big-eyed waif" à la Close Encounters and "the
comic-relief plush toy" such as Alf. Also, a moderately scatological piece
celebrates the idea of disgust.
Weekly Standard , July 14
(posted
Tuesday, July 8)
The cover
story credits the economic boom to Alan Greenspan, America's capitalists, and
Michael Milken (his junk bonds enabled undercapitalized but bold firms to take
over and streamline stodgy companies). Deregulation, globalization, and
productivity increases make it likely that the good times will last, but world
events may not cooperate. An article mocks "cosmic capitalists," the geeky
techno-entrepreneurs who wear shorts, repeat the word "vision" like a mantra,
and prognosticate madly about the world's information-rich Edenic future. The
editorial deplores the Supreme Court's anti-assisted-suicide decision for being
insufficiently anti-assisted suicide.
The
Nation , July 21
(posted
Tuesday, July 8)
The Nation 's
liberalism clashes with its libertarianism: The cover package wonders if the
First Amendment needs to be revised to limit commercial speech (campaign
contributions, cigarette ads, etc.). Ten writers opine, and there's no
consensus. The civil libertarians (Floyd Abrams) warn of a slippery slope: If
Philip Morris' commercial speech is constrained, limitations on the New York
Times ' commercial speech are likely to follow. Others argue that
noncommercial speech must be given special protection by the state. Also,
Gore Vidal condemns the anti-sex moralism of the Wall Street
Journal , concluding that America has degenerated into a theocracy.
