Economist , Feb. 21
(posted
Saturday, Feb. 21)
The cover
editorial warns of imminent violent revolution in Indonesia. The
Economist hopes for President Suharto's ouster and urges the
International Monetary Fund to withhold support if Suharto carries through with
his own self-serving economic plan. ... An article casts doubt on
British tycoon Richard Branson's foray into the railroad business. Branson
hopes to exploit Britain's rail privatization with the strength of his Virgin
brand. So far, his handful of rail routes are losing money, and he hasn't made
the trains run on time (literally). ... A study explains why humans
can't grow back missing body parts: Regeneration (in amphibians) requires
tumorlike growth. We traded in this ability for a complex immune system that
can fight tumors.
New
Republic , March 9
(posted
Friday, Feb. 20)
A
five-story cover package gauges the impact of the Asian crisis. An article
warns Americans not to gloat over Japan's economic woes: We need a strong Japan
to keep the world economy stable. An essay argues that the IMF should save
ailing countries from short-term disaster but not dictate long-term economic
policy, as it has in Asia. And a story rejects the conventional wisdom that
prosperity leads to democratization. In East Asia, democratization will have to
come from the newly poor middle class. ... The editorial says Secret
Service agents should not be forced to testify against the president, as this
would 1) destroy what little privacy the first family has left; 2) reduce
agents' effectiveness as the president seeks to evade their gaze; and 3)
necessitate a tightknit, loyal presidential entourage, like that of a
dictator.
New
York Times Magazine , Feb. 22
(posted
Thursday, Feb. 19)
The cover
piece rates Al Gore as he prepares his 2000 presidential campaign. Gore's
pluses: 1) Post-Lewinsky, his boring personal life is his best asset. 2) He's
made loads of influential friends (Sen. Tom Harkin, Jesse Jackson, Colin
Powell). 3) Clinton's 100-percent behind him. Gore's minuses: 1) He's still
wooden. 2) Except for Bush, no sitting veep has won since 1836. 3) Clinton's
100-percent behind him. ... An article longs for the bygone days of rock
"concept" albums. What happened? CD players: They let fans program the track
sequence, wrecking album continuity.
Harper's , March 1998
(posted
Thursday, Feb. 19)
An
article derides the lack of "authentic" pop-music acts. To succeed, rock bands
now either 1) fake an earnest devotion to kitschy music, or 2) earnestly devote
themselves to inauthentic, radio-friendly music. ... The cover story
repeats the usual criticisms of managed care: HMOs are rewarded for choosing
the cheapest treatment over the best one and denying membership to unhealthy
patients. Solution: Remove the profit motive from medicine. ... From the
"Index": "Percentage of American men under the age of 50 who own a pair of
Dockers Khakis: 72."
Time and Newsweek , Feb. 23
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 17)
Newsweek , which took
a Lewinsky vacation last week, returns with a cover story about Monica and her
mom. According to Newsweek , Marcia Lewis and her daughter shared secrets
and a passion for powerful men. Newsweek excerpts Lewinsky's e-mails to
Linda Tripp: Monica wonders why "the big creep" didn't call on Valentine's Day.
After three consecutive Monica covers, Time cuts its scandal coverage
drastically, limiting itself to a short piece on Lewis; an update on the Paula Jones trial; and a sidebar on Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee.
Time 's cover story on the Hong Kong bird flu warns that a worldwide
epidemic is still possible. Scientists note that the 1918 flu, which killed
more than 20 million people, also came from birds and started slowly before
spreading around the globe. ...
Time publishes a comprehensive
map of how we'd attack Iraq. (The first wave will be
cruise-missile strikes on radar and communications centers. Then we'll send the
heavy bombers.) Like U.S. News (see below), Time thinks air
strikes can't kill Saddam.
Newsweek explains the Titanic phenomenon: Women love Leonardo di
Caprio and the strong, liberated heroine; guys like the action and the idea of
gentlemen going down with the ship.
U.S.
News & World Report , Feb. 23
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 17)
The
cover story points out: 1) Killing Saddam would require a two- to
three-month troop buildup and massive ground invasion. 2) We tried to kill him
in '91 and couldn't. 3) Assassination is illegal under an executive order.
... An article explains where to find privacy in the Oval Office.
Peepholes look in on the office so staffers can know when meetings are ending,
but the peeper can't view the whole room. Clinton's adjacent study has no
peephole, and a secret tunnel underneath the Oval Office could be used for a
rendezvous. ...
U.S. News decides the only real Monica story is
how the scandal affects Wall Street. Answer: It doesn't, since
economic policy won't change even with an impeachment. The millennium bug, on
the other hand, might cause a big crash.
The
New Yorker , Feb. 23 & March 2
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 17)
The
New Yorker honors California with a special issue. The tone: triumphalism.
A piece celebrates the California economy, whose two hot industries, high-tech
and entertainment, show no signs of cooling off. The secret to Hollywood and
Silicon Valley's success? Lots of immigrants and very flexible, "network-based"
economies. ... The magazine examines Interval Research Corp., the secret
high-tech think tank funded by Paul Allen. Its scientists have made computers
that imitate touch and sense emotion in human voices. (For
Slate
's take on Interval, see Michael Lewis' "Millionerds.")
... A writer describes her ridiculous life as a B-movie star in the
'70s. Among her "starring" roles: a victim in a Mexican version of Jaws
and an alien disguised as an Avon Lady. She also had a date with Cary Grant,
stripped for Playboy , and refused cocaine from a Rolling Stone.
... A profile of movie/music/gay-rights titan David Geffen calls him the
"most powerful man in Hollywood," but notes that he's too cool and distant to
be very happy. ... The issue manages to tear itself away from the lives
of the rich and famous only once: An article chronicles the miserable lives of
California's "ghosts," the Mexican illegals who live in shacks outside San
Diego. Backbreaking labor and evading the Border Patrol are their two main
activities. The ravine where they live is named, appropriately, "Los
Olvidados"--"the forgotten ones."
Weekly Standard , Feb. 23
(posted
Tuesday, Feb. 17)
The cover
story slams White House aide Sidney Blumenthal. Once a journalist with
incestuously tight ties to the Clinton administration, Blumenthal is now in the
administration and stoking Hillary's claims of a "right-wing conspiracy."
... An essay contrasts Bill Clinton with Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton
admitted to adultery, proving his essential honesty, and maintained his
political popularity; Clinton, however, is a baldfaced liar. ... An
article says women are the new locker-room braggarts. The Monica scandal has
brought out sexually explicit crassness in female writers (Katie Roiphe, Erica
Jong) that puts even the lewdest men to shame. Women can still get away with
it. Men can't.
--Seth
Stevenson
