Economist , May 2
(posted
Saturday, May 2, 1998)
The
cover editorial predicts that Europe's single currency
will lead to political confusion. The enormous, powerful monetary union will be
forced to take political stands (on the Asian fiscal crisis, for example), but
it's not clear how member nations will agree what stands to take. ... A
story says microwaves are being used to clear minefields. Portable microwave
units heat the moist earth that surrounds mines but leave the mines themselves
unheated. Infrared cameras then use the temperature difference to find the
buried explosives.
New
Republic , May 18
(posted
Friday, May 1)
The cover
story deplores liberals' embrace of the tobacco tax. The tax 1) is regressive;
2) won't reduce teen smoking; and 3) won't be used to aid those who will
disproportionately pay it. Under Clinton's plan "less than one-quarter of the
cigarette-tax revenues remain for programs that help the less prosperous."
... A story wonders why we don't tax fat instead of cigarettes. While
higher cigarette taxes don't convince the poor to stop smoking, studies have
shown that a fat tax could convince them to buy less junk food. ... A
story uncovers a weird new corporate strategy: Instead of prosecuting kids who
hack their computers, businesses now hire them as security consultants.
New
York Times Magazine , May 3
(posted
Thursday, April 30, 1998)
The cover
story explores a booming new industry: corporate anti-dating police. The "cupid
cops," who work in human resources departments, help companies draft and
enforce rules on office romance. Even consensual sex between workers of
different levels can be considered sexual harassment. Just one lawsuit can
empty a firm's coffers and cripple its reputation. ... A story counters
the only-child myth. They aren't the maladjusted head cases we thought they
were. In fact, only children suffer no self-esteem or socialization problems
and have slightly higher IQs than kids with siblings. ... An Israeli
participant in the 1993 Middle East peace negotiations in Oslo argues that the
current chilliness between Israel and the PLO is temporary. Palestine is
willing to compromise. Peace will come when both sides forge "a genuine
security partnership against common enemies and a political partnership to
encourage regional economic cooperation."
New
York Review of Books , May 14
(posted
Thursday, April 30, 1998)
An essay
claims the left and the right now function solely in reaction to "the Reagan
revolution" and "the Sixties," respectively. The right cannot understand that
ordinary Americans sparked the '60s cultural revolution. The left cannot
understand that ordinary Americans caused the Reagan-era shift toward anti-tax
corporatism. Since these movements occurred within the same generation, they
now coexist, as President Clinton's '60s morals and '80s politics attest. Young
people work in a corporate world by day but play in a "moral and cultural
universe shaped by the Sixties." The author urges both sides to admit defeat
and move on.
Time and Newsweek , May 4
(posted
Tuesday, April 28, 1998)
Time 's Viagra cover story praises the anti-impotence pill's power to
work wonders with very few side effects. The high-minded warning: We should not reduce the marvelous complexity of human
sexuality to the ability to sustain an erection. Time also asks several
celebrities about the pill (Camille Paglia: "The erection is the last gasp of
modern manhood.") ...
Newsweek 's cover story says astronomers
have witnessed the formation of a planetary system much like our own. Planets
are a prerequisite for extraterrestrial life, and one astronomer now guesses
"there are planets around 30 to 50 percent of stars."
Time 's trend story: Krav Maga, a self-defense technique invented
by the Israeli military, has become popular in American gyms. Its basic
premise: Anything goes--including eye gouging and groin kicking.
Newsweek studies the trio of centrist challengers for the 2000
Democratic nomination. Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey has the best organization and a
heroic military background; former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley has new ideas
and name recognition, but may be too airy and intellectual; dark horse
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is little-known, but he may spend heavily in the
campaign (drawing on wife Teresa Heinz's $800 million fortune). ...
Newsweek says African-Americans, who once thought life in Asia would be
marred by brutal racism, are finding Asia less racist than America. Asians are
ignorant about American blacks but not hateful.
U.S.
News & World Report , May 4
(posted
Tuesday, April 28, 1998)
The
cover story says Christian radio host James Dobson may
orchestrate a huge split from the Republican Party. Fed up with Republican
candidates' laxity on moral issues, Dobson threatens to back a new candidate
(possibly Gary Bauer). Dobson's millions of fans may follow his lead.
... A story pegged to Bill Clinton's proposal to raise the
minimum wage to $6.15 an hour says the boost would neither lessen poverty nor
slow the economy. The last minimum wage hike (to $5.15 in 1996) had little
effect: No jobs were lost, and the poverty rate remained unchanged.
Weekly Standard , May 4
(posted
Tuesday, April 28, 1998)
An essay
argues that we must levy sanctions on China to improve its human rights.
Repeating the claims of Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, the essay says China
needs American business and will accede to human rights demands to keep it.
... A story says the Republican Party is in grave danger of losing its
base: Americans of faith. (See U.S. News , above.) Republicans must
appease their religious constituents while sticking to the tax policies
demanded by their other base--Americans of wealth. ... An editorial
claims Bill Clinton made the right decision on clean needle programs, but for
the wrong reasons. Clinton denied federal funding for clean needles because it
was politically advantageous; he should have denied funding because
needle-sharing programs may actually increase AIDS rates rather than reduce
them.
--Seth
Stevenson
