Economist, April 4

(posted Saturday, April 4)

The cover editorial warns big telecom companies that their days are numbered. Supposed advantages at home (a trusted brand, political influence) will be useless in the booming international market. Risk-averse, slow-moving dinosaurs (e.g., British Telecom) will be crushed by quicker, hungrier companies with newer technology (e.g., WorldCom, Qwest). ... An editorial urges the United States to take a more commanding role in the Middle East peace process. Israel has tried American patience with its reluctance to accede to the West Bank redeployment agreement. The United States must now use its clout to arbitrate a solution once and for all. ... A story says the moonshine industry is still huge in the southern United States, but it has left behind its rustic past. Modern moonshiners cost Virginia $20 million a year in lost taxes, often carry heavy arms, and are moving into the drug trade.

New Republic, April 20

(posted Friday, April 3)

The cover story defends pork-barrel spending. Pork represents a tiny portion of the federal budget, and it greases the wheels of politics. Conceding tiny bits of pork (job programs for border states) to pass huge legislation (NAFTA) is a wise trade-off. ... An article slams Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's new Social Security proposal. Widely hailed as "courageous," the plan is just a politically motivated concession to privatization hawks. (For more on the plan, see Jodie T. Allen's "Can Newt Gingrich Save Social Security?" in Slate.) ... "TRB" claims that Clinton's scandal woes stem from his triangulating politics. When a president co-opts the opposition's ideas, staunching policy debate, the opposition resorts to personal attacks (e.g., Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon).

New York Times Magazine, April 5

(posted Thursday, April 2)

Another special issue (they win--we've run out of jokes about this). Eleven articles chronicle--exhaustively--"the joy and guilt of modern motherhood." High banality quotient: A piece follows a stay-at-home mom who left a law practice to rear three kids. She wouldn't change a thing about her rewarding life. Another follows a mother who works full time and lets dad and nanny care for the kids. She wouldn't change a thing about her rewarding life, either. Also, photo essays cover the boom in multiple births (triplets, quads, etc.--many cute babies) and the new maternity fashions.

Entertainment Weekly, April 3