Economist , Feb. 14
(posted
Saturday, Feb. 14)
The
Valentine's Day cover story notes the globalization and professionalization of
the sex industry. The explosion of the sex trade in eastern Europe has driven
down prices for prostitution and pornography worldwide. The real money is still
in upscale strip clubs, high-class call-girl rings, and well-produced X-rated
videos. Good news for porn fans: The Internet makes it possible to learn which
brothels and strip clubs are reliable. ... A piece frets that Boris
Yeltsin's illness is damaging Russia. His government has no coherent economic
policy, the budget is a joke, and Yeltsin is likely to be succeeded by a
hard-line authoritarian like Alexander Lebed. ... China hasn't escaped
Asia's economic crisis, warns the magazine. Bad debts may total 70 percent of
the country's GDP, and government control over private enterprise is
increasing. Unless China manages to dismantle its gigantic, interfering
bureaucracy (which is unlikely), it too will face economic disaster.
New
Republic , March 2
(posted
Friday, Feb. 13)
The
magazine bad-mouths its longtime friend Al Gore in a three-story cover package.
One piece raps the veep's technorationalism: Gore believes that expert analysis
can solve any problem (environmental degradation, nuclear proliferation, etc.)
and doesn't understand emotionalism and power politics. This blind spot could
handicap his presidency. A second piece berates Gore for supporting affirmative
action and accuses him of grossly distorting the views of affirmative-action
opponents. (For more on Gore, see Paul Krugman's "Algorithms.")
New
York Times Magazine , Feb. 15
(posted
Thursday, Feb. 12)
The cover
story predicts that memory-enhancing drugs are only a decade away. Scientists
have already figured out how to give a fruit fly a photographic memory by
manipulating a genetic switch called CREB. They are now seeking a similar
mechanism in humans. Drugs will be marketed initially to Alzheimer's patients,
but expect aging baby boomers to grab them too. ... An article rejects
the notion that the Internet is distorting news. The Web has sped up the news
cycle (just as the telephone did at the turn of the century), but good
reporting is still good reporting. Americans will quickly learn to separate
reliable online journalism from garbage. (Full disclosure:
Slate
Deputy Editor Jack Shafer wrote the piece.) ... A column by Internet
guru Esther Dyson argues that Silicon Valley has too many entrepreneurs and not
enough managers. Startups can't sustain themselves because they lack talented
chief operating officers, chief financial officers, and salespeople. Why does
no one seem to care? Most venture capitalists and company founders are hoping
to make a short-term killing, not long-term profits.
Time and Newsweek , Feb. 16
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 10)
Time runs its third
consecutive Lewinsky cover ("Trial by Leaks"). Newsweek cuts back on the
scandal, putting the Nagano Olympics on its cover. In Time 's cover
package, an essay by Lewinsky attorneys William Ginsburg and Nathaniel
Speights claims that: 1) Ginsburg's media campaign is "designed to demonstrate
that my client is a responsible young woman who speaks the truth." 2) Starr's
office was "very pleased" with the contents of Lewinsky's oral proffer and
wanted to offer immunity but, for unspecified reasons, would not put the deal
in writing. 3) Starr's office said of Lewinsky, "We've blown the opportunity to
wire her. She's radioactive because of the Drudge Report ." The cover package also wonders who's leaking information to the
press. (Why don't they ask their reporters?) An article traces the path of the "semen-stained dress"
story: It bounced from the Drudge Report to countless news outlets
without ever being substantiated. Newsweek 's scoop of the week: Lewinsky
told her story to White House colleague Ashley Raines, who has met with Starr's
investigators. Raines reportedly heard messages from Clinton on Lewinsky's
answering machine. Both Time and Newsweek run profiles of Betty
Currie (here's Time's), more maps of who was where in the White House,
and updated scandal time lines. Newsweek adds profiles of Clinton
adviser Bruce Lindsey and Democratic donor/Lewinsky patron Walter Kaye.
Newsweek says Nagano
wants to stage a humble "Zen" Olympics, avoiding the glitz of Atlanta's 1996
games. The Olympic package profiles Elvis Stojko, the most exciting male figure
skater. Stojko's problem: He lacks artistry because he's afraid of seeming
effeminate. (Tactless comment: "I don't have a feminine side. Maybe if I were
gay, but I'm not.") An essay claims skating's quadruple jump (Stojko's
specialty) is overrated, and shouldn't be a prerequisite for the gold. An
article explicates curling (shuffleboard on ice with brooms), "the one game in
all the world wherein the human participants move faster than the object they
put in play."
Time excerpts a new book on Princess Di's last days. Revelation: Di
might have been saved had the ambulance rushed her to the hospital, rather than
treating her at the site.
U.S.
News & World Report , Feb. 16
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 10)
The
cover story says IBM is back on track thanks to CEO Louis
Gerstner. Gerstner scrapped IBM's dress code, bought Lotus Notes and
popularized it, and is planning big things for Java. Bill Gates feels IBM is
Microsoft's biggest competitor. ... An article claims the Christian Coalition is in trouble. In the wake
of Ralph Reed's departure, donations are down, and other groups (notably the
Family Research Council) have become more influential. The coalition recently
laid off one-fifth of its staff. ... A report from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, says
foreign officials are marveling at America's near-complete economic, military,
and cultural domination of the world. Foreigners remain baffled by the Clinton
scandal, however: One attendee joked, "The French ask why he hasn't had more
women; the Africans ask why he didn't make her pregnant; and the Russians
wonder why the girl is still alive."
The
New Yorker, Feb. 16
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 10)
A piece
enters the peculiar, charming world of Civil War re-enactors (or "living
historians," as they call themselves). The hard-core ones spin their own
clothes, subsist on hardtack and salt pork, speak in 19 th -century
dialect, and starve themselves in order to attain the gaunt look of Confederate
troops. (Gross detail: Soaking uniform buttons in urine gives them a
distressed, Civil War look.) ... An article says President Clinton owes
his high approval ratings to our celebrity-oriented culture. Politics is
diversion, not serious business, and the president is "Entertainer-in-Chief."
Americans had been bored by this season of the Clinton administration: Thanks
to Clinterngate, they're watching it again. ... Jack Palladino,
Clinton's "sex detective," is profiled. His job is to stifle "bimbo eruptions"
by uncovering dirt about the accusing women. A former '60s radical, he's worked
for Black Panthers, Hell's Angels, and Courtney Love. Right now he's evading a
subpoena from Paula Jones' lawyers.
Weekly Standard, Feb. 16
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 10)
A cover
piece upbraids Clinton's generation for its wanton attitudes about sex. Baby
boomers tolerate his lying and deception about Lewinsky because their
reprehensible "central dogma" is that consensual sex "ought never to be subject
to moral scrutiny." ... A former colleague of Linda Tripp's says she is
"friendly, funny, reliable" and "believed in the integrity of public service."
She taped Lewinsky to defend herself from the slurs of Clinton's lackeys.
... Also, yet another editorial declaring that the United States must
remove Saddam Hussein, not just bomb him. Despite bipartisan consensus for
toppling the dictator, Clinton's too "wobbly" to do it.
Vanity Fair , March 1998
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 10)
Lots of
art news. A pair of articles probe the weird, sinister Wildenstein family, the
richest art dealers in the world. Among many creepy details: 1) The family,
which is Jewish, probably bought and sold art for the Nazis. 2) Jocelyne
Wildenstein, who's in the midst of a bloody divorce with family scion Alec, has
had countless plastic surgeries in order to look like a jungle cat. The photos
of her are truly strange. ... An article investigates the $200-million
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery of 1989. The suspected thieves are
dead, and the suspected mastermind, an art thief named Myles Connor, is in
jail. Now a sleazy associate of Connor is trying to return the paintings in
exchange for a $1.5-million reward. The author claims to have seen the stolen
artwork in a Massachusetts warehouse. ... Carl Bernstein profiles Tommy
Boggs, who used his family connections--father Hale was House majority
leader--to become Washington's über lobbyist. Banal conclusion: He's a
fun-loving, good-hearted guy, but he has done as much as anyone to build a
system where money buys political power. ... Madonna's on the cover.
Photos with her baby inside. Accompanying article says she's finally learning
to express her deepest emotions in public. God help us.
--Seth
Stevenson
