New Republic, Aug. 19 The cover story is a lighthearted criticism of Delaware’s economic policies, which make it “a rapacious parasite state with a long history of disloyalty and avarice.” Delaware gouges travelers passing through the state on I-95 with exorbitant tolls, and it lures banks and corporations with lax regulations on loans, shareholder rights, and fiduciary responsibility. … A feature on the San Fernando Valley’s push for secession from Los Angeles says that a split would benefit no one, but the secession advocates have called attention to needed city reform. The best interests of both the Valley and Los Angeles at large would have the proposal lose in referendum, but by a small enough margin that city government still has to answer charges made by secession proponents.— D.R.
Economist, Aug. 10 A special report follows up on the Weekly Standard’s cover story about the Muslim minority in France and asks if there is something about Islam that prevents its adherents from fitting into liberal Western societies. It calls attention to Arab governments’ support of fundamentalist imams in Europe and the critical mass of the minority, which makes it easier for Muslims to stay segregated. … The cover story addresses America’s mushrooming inmate population. A piece focuses on the difficulties ex-convicts face upon their release and advocates greater governmental involvement with felons both before and after the transition out of prison. … An article covers the outcry in Japan over a new national database that links every citizen’s name, sex, address, and date of birth to a unique 11-digit identification number. Questions abound about the system’s security and potential abuse by government authorities.— D.R.
New York Times Magazine, Aug. 11
A lackluster cover piece on the science of coincidence describes in detail the recent deaths of several scientists with remote connections to bioterror research, only to prove to us that there’s no there there, in this conspiracy at least. … A piece on the judicial nominations meltdown says the Senate should stop treating every appellate-court nomination as a dress rehearsal for the next Supreme Court battle, grilling nominees on their personal views about Roe v. Wade. They should worry about contributing to the “Clarence Thomas syndrome,” in which judges arrive on the bench embittered and ready for payback. … A profile of Mets catcher Mike Piazza makes professional baseball sound like not much fun. Divided by language, nationality, and class background, the Mets spend their hours in the clubhouse mostly in their own worlds—eating, playing Nintendo, and largely ignoring each other.—K.T. Weekly Standard, Aug. 12
David Brooks’cover story profiles the rise of a new type of suburbanite, Patio Man, in a new type of suburb, the Sprinkler City. As the suburbs of the 1950s have been penetrated by both poor immigrants and wealthy professional class snobs, the original middle-class middle-management suburbanites have fled the former enclaves of white flight for new, rapidly growing communities. They seek a “utopian conservatism” consisting of five tenets: the “together life” (“immaculate lawn,” “effortlessly slender” wife); “technological heroism” (a “visionary project” in the “Knowledge Revolution”); “relaxed camaraderie” (common language, values, Land’s End); an “active-leisure lifestyle” (Scuba Woman, Mountain Bike Man); and the “traditional, but competitive childhood” of the Female Unarmed Drill Team.— D.R.
Time and Newsweek, Aug. 12
Time’s lengthy cover story, on American pre-9/11 plans to fight al-Qaida that were never carried out, says that Clinton counterterrorism guru Dick Clarke was pushing an ambitious agenda to combat Osama Bin Laden, but he was foiled by a lukewarm Bush administration. The piece also chronicles the evolution of the plot under Washington’s radar screen. … Newsweek offers the latest installment in newsweeklies’ fascination with religion with its cover on different visions of heaven. The story provides a history of the evolution of heavenly imagery and contrasts how it is pictured by Americans (a garden and a city were popular choices) and Muslims (who count on being regaled by countless light-skinned virgins if they die fighting for Islam).
Time picks up the debate on how to topple Saddam Hussein with its story outlining divisions among supporters of different strategies. While Colin Powell’s “pragmatists” prefer diplomacy before overwhelming force and Condoleezza Rice’s “middle” wants to wait until there is progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Donald Rumsfeld’s “hard-liners” can’t decide between three war plans: Afghanistan Redux (relying on Iraqi opposition), Gulf War Lite (the three-sided invasion plan first reported in the New York Times), and Inside Out (the Times’ other theory, involving a pre-emptive strike on Baghdad itself). Newsweek’s piece on the topic devotes greater attention to foreign leaders’ responses. … Newsweek keeps track of the latest developments in the anthrax investigation. Bloodhounds familiarized with the scent of the anthrax envelopes are jumping all over former bioweapons researcher Steven Hatfill, but no evidence has linked him to the crime. … Time contrasts Major League Baseball’s woes to a resurgence of the minors. Minor league attendance has grown nearly 30 percent the last nine years.— D.R. U.S. News & World Report, Aug. 12
The cover story predicts a national water crisis due to failing pipes and the threat of terrorism. It says that as contamination increases, the distribution of drinking water will become increasingly privatized. … A story on Christian evangelical support for Zionism says Jews are unsure of their benefactors’ motives. While organizations like Christians for Israel/USA has helped 65,000 Jews move to Israel, some Jewish activists don’t want to be associated with groups who foresee an apocalyptic conflict in the Middle East culminating in the return of Jesus and the conversion of Jews to Christianity. … A politics piece says that the Republican National Committee was impressed with Democrats’ voter turnout strategies in Al Gore’s popular-vote-winning 2000 campaign—door-to-door issue research early in the campaign, target mailings, and phone calls made by local party affiliates rather than national ones—and wants to mimic them in the next election.— D.R.
The New Yorker, Aug. 12 Peter Boyer profiles Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas who is running for Phil Gramm’s Senate seat. Kirk is a black Democrat with a pro-business track record and a reputation as a dealmaker, and he stands an excellent chance of breaking up the Republican monopoly on Texas offices. … An article on Pervez Musharraf says that the Pakistani leader is a pragmatist who justifies his dictatorial-seeming consolidation of power on the ineptitude of the country’s elected officials. Musharraf says he believes Osama Bin Laden was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks but not the mastermind, and he plans on leaving office “on a peak, when I am popular.”… A story on They Might Be Giants paints the group as the original “nerd rock” band and credits the group for navigating the fragile ground between obscurity and stardom for 16 years.— D.R.
The Nation, Aug. 19 The most recent piece in the magazine’s don’t-invade-Iraq crusade reiterates its institutional line that “Saddam Hussein responds to pressure and threat and is not inclined to risk self-destruction,” suggesting that he can be indefinitely deterred from using weapons of mass destruction. The story laments the lack of public criticism of Bush war plans. … A feature on the Catholic Church says that American activism for reform is on the rise. While there is a schism between groups agitating for a Vatican overhaul—ordaining of women, optional celibacy, acceptance of homosexuals, etc.—and those who simply seek more inclusive church governance, the sex scandals have led complacent Catholics to question the church and to push for change.— D.R.
