New
Republic , Jan. 4 and 11
(posted Friday, Dec.
18, 1998)
The triumphal cover
story marshals an army of statistics to prove that "life in the U.S. has never
been better." Crime, accidents, fires, drinking, smoking, drugging, air
pollution, water pollution, racism, and divorce are declining. We live longer,
happier, wealthier lives than ever before. Credit American pragmatism: We
really can fix our problems if we try. ... An article says
impeachment-crazed Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., lied about his association with the
racist Council of Concerned Citizens. Barr, despite his claims to the contrary,
spent a long time at the group's conference, never denounced its views, and
knew about its loathsome ideology when he spoke to it. ... The editorial
says the Iraq bombing proves America's strength, not its weakness: "In the
middle of the greatest political excruciation in its modern history, the United
States is doing the noble and necessary thing."
New York Times
Magazine , Dec. 20
(posted Thursday, Dec.
17, 1998)
An ambivalent cover
story describes New York City's massive welfare-to-work program. Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani's reforms have taken 400,000 people off the rolls, prevented thousands
more from getting on, and placed 30,000 in workfare jobs, but no one knows if
those who've left welfare are in better shape than they were when they received
public assistance. Giuliani's new ambition--to make all welfare
recipients work--seems fraught: There are too many sick and otherwise disabled
recipients who will resist. ... The magazine profiles Craig
Rosebraugh, the spokesman for Earth Liberation Front, the radical animal rights
group that burned down a Vail ski resort in October. Rosebraugh doesn't even
belong to the group or know who its members are, but he preaches their
eco-sabotage gospel. Much excellent detail about the lives of serious animal
activists: They use the word "species-ist" in earnest. ... A piece
gushes over "the anti-Trump," New York real estate developer Jerry Speyer, who
owns the Chrysler Building. His low-key, civic-minded style has made him
perhaps the most powerful developer in the world.
Time and
Newsweek , Dec. 21
(posted Tuesday, Dec. 15,
1998)
Impeachment covers for both. Time rehashes
last week's hearings, votes, and speeches. Newsweek 's "The
Fight of Their Lives" focuses on the Clinton marriage, which is even
rockier than usual: Hillary is pursuing her own activist agenda rather than
helping Bill fight scandal. Newsweek claims that Bob Dole and Howard
Baker have been asked to mediate between the White House and congressional
Republicans but have not accepted. The White House is also hoping for a last
minute intervention by former President George Bush. Both magazines list House
members who are fence-sitting the impeachment vote.
Newsweek interviews Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who's as repellent
as you'd expect. He says Serbians were "doing our best to stop [the Bosnian
war]," that Serbians never massacred Bosnians, and that Serbia's main problem
in the United States is "bad P.R." ... A photo essay depicts disabled Russian children in gruesome
asylums. ... An article claims that racial animus is contributing to the NBA
strike. Black players feel that white owners don't respect them and are
treating them as ghetto thugs who don't deserve their high salaries.
A Time
investigative piece suggests that Osama Bin Laden may seek revenge on the
United States by attacking Washington or New York with bombs or chemical
weapons. ...
Time picks the best entertainment of the
year: Saving Private Ryan , A Man in Full , Mark McGwire, the
final episode of The Larry Sanders Show , and The Miseducation of
Lauryn Hill .
U.S. News
& World Report , Dec. 21
(posted Tuesday, Dec. 15,
1998)
Its impeachment cover
package also chronicles last week's furor and lists the undecideds. Two
Watergate vets opine: Charles W. Colson says impeach him; John Dean says
don't, because Congress has been too partisan and unfair. ...
A story says the Pentagon has concluded that the Chinese government
gained much valuable ballistic missile technology by launching U.S. satellites
on its rockets. American companies have claimed that the launches helped the
United States more than China. These satellite launches are at the heart of the
Loral campaign finance inquiry.
The New
Yorker , Dec. 21
(posted Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998)
A long profile of Bob
Hope depicts him as the first corporate comic. He employed armies of comedians
to write his jokes, made early promotional deals with networks and advertisers,
and worked assiduously to build the Hope brand. His great comic gifts: natural
ease, a breezy all-American persona, and speed. He didn't tell the best jokes,
but he told the most. (His vault has 585,000 jokes in it.) Hope, who's 95 and
fading, was also a vain womanizer. ... A piece mocks
Hollywood's gift culture, where flowers are an insult and $300 shoes are merely
adequate. ... An article tries to rehabilitate ex-Lewinsky
lawyer William Ginsburg, applauding his clumsy efforts to protect Monica. It
was under his successors, after all, that Monica was subjected to degrading
questioning by Kenneth Starr's staff. Even so, Ginsburg is described by a
colleague as "an ego with a digestive system."
Weekly
Standard , Dec. 21 (posted Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998)
A piece explicitly
argues what Republicans have been hinting: Impeachment by the House is censure.
... An article applauds a Minnesota school district for
offering pro-abstinence sex-education classes. Parents can choose between the
traditional sex-ed curriculum and the new abstinence one. The American Civil
Liberties Union may sue to block the new classes.
The
Nation , Dec. 28
(posted Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998)
The cover story urges government
action to harness the talents of retiring baby boomers. The boomers should be
urged to be active volunteers, teachers, caregivers, etc., and the federal
government should correspondingly raise Social Security payments.
Economist
, Dec. 12
(posted Saturday, Dec. 12, 1998)
The cover editorial, pegged to NATO's 50th anniversary, warns that
the military organization is shaky. With the Soviet threat gone, NATO needs to
address broader future challenges, such as ethnic conflict and germ warfare.
This will only happen if European members spend more on defense and rely less
on the United States. ... A piece notes that the West is
subsidizing critical Russian infrastructure, including its nuclear programs,
schools, and libraries. The crippled Russian government has no choice but to
accept this aid, but it's disturbingly reminiscent of 19th century colonialism.
... An essay tries to explain why everyone hates the French.
Americans mock the Frogs because we envy their intellectual arrogance, history,
and glamour. There is also universal scorn for their "fashion-bound
intellocracy," though the Economist concedes that not all French intellectuals
are "jargon-spouting frauds."
Vanity
Fair , January 1999
(posted Saturday, Dec. 12, 1998)
The most alarmist Y2K
story yet. In addition to the usual list of catastrophes (power outages, plane
crashes, etc.), it foresees 10 million to 300 million deaths from food
shortages and accidental nuclear missile launches. It also berates everyone,
from early programmers to IBM to Microsoft to the Clinton administration, for
lackadaisical response. Y2K could destroy Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.
Weirdest detail: Mobsters are bribing Y2K debuggers to rig computers to funnel
money into their accounts. ... A profile of Susan McDougal
says she's manipulative and awful beneath her sweet front. She refuses to
testify to Kenneth Starr not because she wants to protect the president but
because she's afraid of being charged with perjury herself.
