New Republic, April 4 An article examines Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s attempts to make the Pentagon operate like a business in the new economy. Employing just-in-time inventory methods and “network-centric warfare,” the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have been marked—at least initially—by their shift away from conventional battlefield tactics. But some doubt this approach, finding it creates new vulnerabilities. “[S]uch networks are great for Wal-Mart, but only because it’s illegal for Target and Kmart to attack those supply lines,” the author writes. … Recently shamed by conservative radio host Hugh Hewittt for being out of touch with white-bread America, Jonathan Chait chastises what he calls the conservatives’ “orgy of reverse snobbery.” “You don’t see liberals taunting NASCAR fans who can’t name the host of ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ or conservatives agonizing over their hemorrhaging support among intellectuals,” he writes.—S.S.
Economist, March 25 Under the auspices of Mao Zedong, attempts to transfer ownership of rural farm land in China from landlords to peasant farmers resulted in incredible bloodshed. The system was later reversed, and ownership became collective. The cover editorial argues that China should re-institute land ownership for rural farmers. “Now is the time to revive Mao’s vision of a new landowning order. This would ease rural strife, fuel growth and help develop the genuine market economy the leadership claims to want,” the author claims. … Singapore wants to borrow an island from Indonesia because the small nation is running out of space, an article reports. “Singapore’s high land and labour costs, caused by shortages of space and people, will in time force most of its manufacturers to flee to cheaper neighbouring countries,” a Singaporean scholar says. “But if it can get there first, and build the factories and infrastructure they will need, it should at least be able to carry on making some money from them,” the author adds.—M.M.
The New Yorker, March 27 A profile of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly calls him “the beat cop for the American neighborhood. … His liberal guests are like suspects he’s pulled over.” The writer claims that O’Reilly has moved from his straightforward liberal-bashing “classical” beginnings into a “baroque” period, in which his popular program is “dense with self-references, obsessions, and elaborations.”… An article delves into the unique history of Liberia and follows the unlikely route to power of newly elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Alternately dubbed “Mother of Liberia” and the “Iron Lady,” Johnson Sirleaf has been charged with pulling her country back from the brink of devastation after a civil war. … A piece traces the ideology-hopping path Francis Fukuyama took in creating his new book America at the Crossroads. Fukuyama’s split from neoconservativism grew out of his “[l]et’s continue to shape the world, but let’s not be so stupid about it” outlook, according to the author.— M.M.
New York Times Magazine, March 26 GOP insiders persuaded Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele to run for the Senate as part of an effort to convince black voters that the party can embrace their needs, an article says. But the endorsement has opened up a can of worms for Steele. A friend advises him not to be an “outreach pawn,” while scared Democrats call him a sell-out. “I have to deal with the fact that my opponents will try to hang George Bush around my neck and make me some kind of right-wing ideologue who’s in the back pocket of Karl Rove,” Steele admits. … Michael Pollan finds himself devolving into “hunter porn” while trying to describe a wild-pig hunt. He writes that he’d always found Hemmingway’s florid, yet manly, descriptions of the hunt over-the-top, but after a couple of outings, he’s beginning to understand the language of the hunter. “Hunting inflects a place powerfully. The ordinary prose of the ground becomes as layered and springy as verse—and as dense with meanings,” he finds.— M.M.
New York, March 27 The magazine profiles New York political scion Andrew Cuomo as he revs up his campaign for attorney general. Despite having political experience (he served as a campaign manager for his father when he was in his 20s), Kennedys for in-laws, and a political brand name, his campaign for governor in 2002 failed spectacularly. This race is a chance for Cuomo to redeem himself, the author observes: “Perhaps Andrew’s really, finally, at long last, a grown-up.”… The cover story dishes on the marriage and divorce of actress Ellen Barkin and mogul Ronald Perelman as part of a package on prenups and celebrity splits. The piece details fights on multimillion-dollar yachts, gossip columns featuring “friends” of the warring couple slinging mud, and a divorce settlement ranging between $20 million and $60 million. Gossip doyenne Cindy Adams sums up the marriage this way: “He got a Hollywood name, and she got a lot of great jewelry and cash in the bank.” Ah, love.—Z.K.
U.S. News and World Report, March 27 The war in Iraq is changing the way America goes into battle, according to an article. “It is a messy war in an urban landscape against multiple insurgencies, a powder keg of ethnic tensions that the United States still does not completely understand,” the author writes. The Army is rethinking strategies that are not working in Iraq and that may be outmoded by the time the United States enters another conflict. “They are emphasizing tone, intelligence, and cultural understanding. They are training designated skeptics to question planned operations.”… An article says that gastric bypass surgery is becoming an option for more and more obese people. “With Medicare now expanding its coverage of the procedure, not to mention full-throttle marketing of the surgery, the number of bypass recipients is certain to grow.” Complications from the surgery can include hernias, bowel obstructions, vitamin deficiencies, and death, but the procedures are only gaining popularity. “[B]bypasses are being marketed like new cars,” the author says.—M.M.
Newsweek, March 27 An article profiles “turnaround artist” Jerry York’s attempt to revitalize the GM brand after gaining a seat on the ailing automaker’s board last month. He is bumping heads with the old regime, including Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. “He’s barnstorming factories, grilling execs, peering down the product pipeline and even getting into the nuts and bolts of GM’s hybrid program,” according to the story. Some hope his suggestions will spark an about-face for the company, which lost $10.6 billion last year. … The cover story uses the occasion of Sigmund Freud’s 150th birthday to explore attitudes toward the father of modern psychoanalysis. A range of analysts and academics argue that most of his theories have been debunked as sexist and ill-gotten. But his contributions to language and culture are undeniable, according to the author. Freud is “the great engine of an ongoing middlebrow bull session that has engaged our culture for a century.”— M.M.
Time, March 27 Educators, politicians, and attorneys appear poised to do something about the growing problem of childhood obesity, an article reports. Arkansas governor and weight-loss poster boy Mike Huckabee has teamed up with Bill Clinton, “a former fat kid who is also a quadruple-bypass patient,” to get the message out: Sedentary lifestyles, bad choices, and scant guidance lead kids down the snack aisle. Activists are trying to curb our national appetite through anti-obesity legislation and lawsuits against the food industry.… The cover article asks whether the digital age is a boon or a burden for today’s youth. The conclusion: It’s a little bit of both. The story offers dos and don’ts for parents looking to connect with their plugged-in kids. “Do set limits, monitor content and teach ‘techno-manners,’ ” the author suggests. “Don’t be a disapproving elder. Every older generation believes the younger generation is on the road to perdition.”—M.M.
Weekly Standard, March 27 An editorial says “good riddance” to former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic, who during his war crimes trial tried to play off his slaughter of Bosnian Muslims as being the West’s bulwark again al-Qaida. The authors find one positive to emerge from Milosevic’s killing fields—Balkan Muslims, who suffered the most and whose plight was repeatedly ignored by “Christian Europe,” “remained stubbornly committed to civilized values” during the Iraq war and the Danish cartoon hullabaloo. … Fred Barnes gives a lukewarm endorsement to the Republican leadership’s strategy of trying not to turn the 2006 midterm elections into a referendum on President Bush. “Still, is there a better strategy for Republicans in what looks like an unfriendly year for them? If there is, I haven’t heard of it,” says Barnes. … Stephen Hayes soldiers on in battling conventional wisdom that Saddam Hussein had ties to al-Qaida. His latest installment focuses on Saddam’s financial support of terrorist cells in the Philippines.—Z.K.
National Review, March 27 An article reports that “repentant sinner” former President Bill Clinton has forsaken his love affair with all things batter-dipped and deep-fried and is now on a mission to change America’s culture of overeating, preaching that America has “a huge cultural problem and unless we change it our children may grow up to be the first generation with shorter life spans than we had.”… Illegal immigrants get a bad rap for the burden they place on American society, but Ramesh Ponnuru points out that legal immigrants cause as many problems as illegals: Both cause an increase in government spending; only half of legal immigrants have any college education; and they are a detriment to low-income workers. His suggestion on how to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative: Decrease both legal and illegal immigration, work on assimilating those that do come, and institute an amnesty program for those who are here illegally.—Z.K.
Economist, March 18 A story explains how rich CEOs get richer by privatizing ailing public companies, whipping them into shape, and then listing them on the stock exchange in their newly pristine incarnations. Private equity in businesses such as SunGard Data Systems has netted execs bundles. “These handsome returns will buy a few country estates, leaving plenty of change for the odd yacht,” claims the writer. … Following the lead of the music and publishing industries, television and film are looking to the Web for revitalization, according to an article. Media companies are partnering with Internet firms or purchasing them outright. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation bought the meet-up site MySpace.com, which Viacom also sought to acquire, according to the story. “[T]raditional media companies have no choice but to experiment. They are in mature businesses, many of which are endangered by the internet and other technologies. … Old media companies badly need to persuade the stockmarket that the digital era brings them opportunities as well as threats,” writes the author.—M.M.
