Economist , April 11
(posted
Saturday, April 11)
The cover
editorial wonders if the Citicorp-Travelers merger
benefits shareholders. Financiers may be "mistaking size for profitability."
The magazine is indifferent to the merger's impact on consumers. ... An
editorial decides that a Japanese recession, even a drastic one, will affect
American and European economies very little. American exports to Japan count
for only 1 percent of U.S. GDP, and Japanese imports count only for 1 percent
to 2 percent. The real danger to the U.S. economy is Wall Street: The market
seems horribly overvalued, and a crash would be devastating now that so many
Americans invest there. ... The obituary remembers Athelstan Spilhaus,
"inventor of aliens," who died at 86. Spilhaus designed the weather balloon
that crashed in Roswell, N.M., in 1947, sparking UFO conspiracy theories that
still fester.
New
Republic , April 27
(posted
Friday, April 10 )
The cover
story suggests that Steve Forbes' drastic shift towards social conservatism is
insincere and opportunistic. The GOP presidential aspirant has changed his
views in order to win over the Religious Right (a group that hounded him in
1996). It's working. ... A story predicts the next tax revolt: America's
25 million self-employed workers pay twice as much Social Security tax, can't
deduct health insurance costs, file taxes several times a year, and are
routinely audited. They're angry and they're not going to take it anymore.
... An article explains our forgiveness of Bill Clinton's alleged sins.
Clinton has positioned himself as America's "father" (strong, empathic, kind),
so we've rallied around him as we would a family member in crisis.
New
York Times Magazine , April 12
(posted
Thursday, April 9)
A piece
profiles an Internal Revenue Service tax collector whose nightmare of a job
mostly involves shutting down businesses in arrears. He has been attacked with
guns, knives, dogs, and hurled food. Tip--"[I]f you're seizing a restaurant, do
it early in the day: 'You don't want to interrupt someone's lunch, make a big
thing out of it.' " ... The cover story fawns over Japanese architect
Yoshio Taniguchi, winner of the design competition for New York's new Museum of
Modern Art. Taniguchi's quiet, thorough style (steeped in Japanese modernism)
beat out more flamboyant entrants. His design so subtly integrates its
additions that it hardly seems to change the existing site. ... Also,
yet another article exploring Switzerland's growing unease with its actions
during and after World War II. The Swiss still fail to face the moral crimes
they committed (e.g., laundering Nazi gold and shunning terrified Jewish
refugees) to maintain neutrality.
Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report , April 13
(posted
Tuesday, April 7)
The magazines run identical
cover photos ( U.S. News zooms in) for their Kenneth Starr cover stories.
Newsweek says Starr's post-Paula Jones case may be stronger than it
looks, reporting that 1) Betty Currie "spent four days in a hotel room with FBI
agents working for Starr" in the days after the Monica story broke and 2) Frank
Carter (Lewinsky's first lawyer, who helped prepare her denial of a
relationship with Clinton) may have to turn over documents and testify--a
"significant" exception to attorney-client privilege. Also, a George
Stephanopoulos essay urges Clinton to "step forward and tell us everything
about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky." U.S. News lays out
Starr's probable strategy: The independent counsel will indict
Lewinsky and name Clinton as an unindicted co-conspirator, likely forcing the
prez to testify. U.S. News also offers a sidebar on scandal profiteers,
from Gennifer Flowers ($500,000 since 1992 from the Star ,
Penthouse , and her book publisher) to Julie Steele ($7,000 for selling a
photo to the National
Enquirer ).
U.S. News , always
dedicated to useful advice, tells "When to
Spank": A quick slap to a child's wrist or buttocks is effective and not
emotionally damaging, as long as it is accompanied by a clear lesson and
explanation. ... A long article in the same magazine enters the terrifying world of the
yakuza , Japanese organized-crime syndicates. Growing American investment
in Japan may soon lead to a confrontation with the Japanese gangs.
Yakuza members, who are six times more numerous than American Mafiosi,
hand out business cards with gang names printed on them and frequently sport
amputated pinkies ("cut to atone for a misdeed").
Newsweek 's optimistic spin of Titanic 's success: It's not
inspiring Hollywood to make $200 million action blockbusters, it's inspiring
Hollywood to make movies targeted at women.
Time , April 13
(posted
Tuesday, April 7)
Time begins its millennium project with a special issue on
"Leaders & Revolutionaries of the 20 th Century." ( Time 's
project will culminate in an issue ranking the top 100 people of the century.)
Among the 16 men and three women profiled in this issue: Adolf Hitler (by Elie
Wiesel), Gandhi (by Salman Rushdie), Margaret Sanger (by Gloria Steinem), and
Margaret Thatcher (by Paul Johnson). A sidebar ranks the presidents of the
20 th century (FDR first, Hoover last) and excerpts some of the
century's greatest speeches (Churchill, MLK, etc.). ...
Time
snags an exclusive interview with Bill Clinton. Clinton on Kathleen Willey:
"I think the evidence there is also compelling that her story isn't true. I
feel comfortable." Clinton on Ken Starr: "I won't depart from my policy of not
commenting on Mr. Starr."
The
New Yorker , April 13
(posted
Tuesday, April 7)
A "Talk
of the Town" item says ABC may move its nightly news into prime time. David
Westin, the top choice to replace the legendary Roone Arledge as head of ABC
News, thinks 10 p.m. news could draw an audience two or three times larger than
the early-evening news currently draws. ... An article on the California
governor's race notes the emergence of--groan--"socket moms." These affluent,
tech-savvy women are libertarian on social and economic issues but believe
government must do more for education and training. Gubernatorial candidate
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., is their standard-bearer, as well as the most
charismatic of the candidates. (Her chief primary rival, Al Checchi, may spend
$50 million of his own money on the race.) ... A profile calls
Arianna Huffington a "Republican Spice Girl." She has transformed herself from
hardhearted Machiavelli to sassy political comedienne. Reporters love her
because she's a great source for GOP gossip.
The
Nation , April 20
(posted
Tuesday, April 7)
Gore
Vidal (under the halfhearted pseudonym "G.V.") rails against Stephan and
Abigail Thernstrom's anti-affirmative-action America in Black and White
as "the worst history book of the year." The high-dudgeon Vidal offers personal
anecdotes (Abigail Thernstrom, at a dinner party, defended the police in the
Rodney King beating) and rehashes familiar arguments for affirmative action.
(The Thernstroms discussed "Race in America" with Randall Kennedy in a
Slate
"Dialogue.")
--Seth
Stevenson
