Time, March 26 The cover piece in the newly redesigned Time assesses the state of the Republican Party, which is now “recognizable more by its campaign tactics than its philosophy.” The Bush White House has expanded the government, much to the dismay of conservatives, and scandal has ensured that “the final years of Bush’s presidency are likely to be punctuated by one controversy after another.” But the party could find hope in Rudy Giuliani’s tough-on-crime past and his promise of “strict constructionist” judicial appointments. The Republicans’ best bet is to court middle-class, “Sam’s Club Republicans” with “market-friendly health-care and tax policies.”… An article observes the legal and legislative crackdown on private security firms operating in Iraq. Four men from Blackwater, one such firm angling for a contract with the U.S. Army, died in an ambush in Iraq after the company allegedly failed to provide them with proper equipment. Meanwhile, lawmakers are seeking more transparency from military contractors. “An owner of a circus … faces more regulation and inspection than a private military company,” says one observer.— P.G.
Economist, March 17 The lead editorial argues that the European Union is suffering a midlife crisis, largely because of slow economic growth and high unemployment. Europeans don’t care about the constitutional bickering that currently dominates the EU’s agenda, the editors claim—they just want economic gains. For this to happen, political leaders will need “to make labour markets more flexible, to trim overly generous welfare states and to inject new competition into product markets.” They’ll also have to persuade voters that globalization and a growing EU are good things, given the economic pick-up generated by recent EU expansion. … A piece details the crimes of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s regime. What used to be Africa’s thriving “bread-basket” has since become a “basket-case,” with 1,730 percent inflation and the world’s fastest-shrinking peacetime economy. After the recent beating of an opposition leader, it’s time for Zimbabweans and their neighbors to call not for a “moderate” successor from within Mugabe’s fold, but for free elections.— C.B.
Monocle, March 2007 The cover piece investigates Japan’s Self-Defense Force, its rich, strictly defensive military. Though the legacy of World War II made an offensive military unconstitutional—and undesirable to many civilians—the SDF has increased in visibility since 9/11, providing fuel and medical care to U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the SDF remains “on a charm offensive, anxious to reassure the world—and, most importantly, the Japanese public—that a more active role in world affairs doesn’t mean a return to militarism.”… An interview with Afghan radio host Massood Sanjer reveals the state of news broadcasting in Afghanistan. With the end of Taliban rule, Sanjer has been able to air news that is critical of the government. This newfound openness also extends to Sanjer’s listeners: “We have 15 million reporters,” Sanjer claims, citing his audience as a major news source. However, as Afghan culture adjusts to the liberalization, the host continues to receive threats from insurgent groups. Sanjer says, “At the moment things are in theory very free. … It’s legal but that doesn’t mean it’s safe.”— S.W.
New Republic, March 19 The newly redesigned magazine features a cover story on Sen. Barack Obama’s years as a community organizer in Chicago. He arrived there craving an authentic African-American experience and quickly became a devotee of University of Chicago social scientist Saul Alinsky. Alinsky’s methods of “agitation” taught that as an organizing principle, self-interest works better than words or ideals. These methods served him through law school and in politics, but Obama recognizes that realism has its limits: ” ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal.’ Those are just words. ‘I have a dream.’ Just words,” he says. “But they help move things.”… A piece fact-checks the collected writings of essayist David Sedaris and turns up more than a few half-truths. In a passage from his book Naked, Sedaris describes an elderly mental patient rising from a gurney to “sink her remaining three teeth into my forearm.” This incident never happened. The author argues that Sedaris might not deserve “the James Frey treatment” but also doesn’t deserve the label “non-fiction.”— C.B.
New York Times Magazine, March 18 The cover story investigates the experiences of female soldiers returning from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder. Rape and exposure to combat are two of the biggest triggers for PTSD, and given that “women in the military bear a higher risk of having been sexually assaulted either before or during their service, it’s conceivable that this war may well generate an unfortunate new group to study—women who have experienced sexual assault and combat.” Few therapy centers treat women exclusively, and many female PTSD victims are hesitant to speak in male-dominated group sessions. … A piece profiles Joe Hill King, son of Stephen King, who recently published his debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box. After obvious family associations prompted the Bangor Daily News of Maine to publish a somewhat-shoddy essay that he wrote at the age of 12, King adopted the pseudonym “Joe Hill.” Having escaped “the pressure of being a famous guy’s kid,” Hill published award-winning stories in “slipstream,” a genre that combines horror, fiction, and fantasy.— P.G.
Weekly Standard, March 19
The cover piece examines the possibility of Newt Gingrich surfacing as a presidential candidate. Once politically exiled, Gingrich has renewed his image through a wave of prolific writing, think-tank activity, and high-profile opinions on Bush policy. Gingrich will announce his decision on Sept. 30, giving him room to campaign before primary season while helping him avoid “becoming a target—until voters are so exhausted by this already wearying campaign that they go searching for a fresh face.”… An article dispels“realist” notions that Iran’s ruling triumvirate—Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani—lacks “the right mix of charisma, white-hot faith, unpredictable power, and history to make us, and Iranians, tremble the way we all did with the Imam.” Iranian clerics, in fact, are just as zealous as they were during the revolution: They consider maintaining the regime of revolutionary clergy as “a sacred mission.”— P.G.
New Yorker, March 19 A piece in the Style Issue profiles Hollywood clothing-shop owner Cameron Silver, who sells dresses to the likes of Chloë Sevigny and Gwen Stefani. Silver’s store, Decades, has helped make vintage obligatory for Oscars-attending celebrities: “It’s about vintage that looks modern, sexy, unstudied, and glamorous,” he says. “It’s the democratization of the red carpet.” The job also gives him an intimate view of the city’s social workings: “He is often among the first to know who is pregnant, feuding, or turning Scientologist. … Silver has learned to keep a poker face.”… Patricia Marx frolics into the colorful world of Texas fashion, where “the prevailing dress code is Cinderella after the fairy godmother has turned her rags into glittery silk chiffon, brocade, and taffeta.” Marx discovers a rivalry between Dallas and Houston: ” ‘Dallas is “Oh, you belong to this country club?” … whereas we are a meritocracy,’ said a woman whom I met at a party held in a twenty-five-thousand-square-foot house that appeared to be carved out of marble.”— C.B.
Newsweek, March 19 The cover article discusses using DNA and neurology in the study of evolution. “Fossils never resolved when the lineages split. DNA might,” the article claims. DNA analysis reveals that the genetic split from chimps to humans occurred 5 to 6 million years ago. Paleoneurology—the study of the brain in evolutionary science—suggests that humans developed cognitive social skills, such as language, as a defense against being hunted. “That, more than aggression and warfare, is our evolutionary legacy,” the article says. … Another piece declares Defense Secretary Bob Gates a “results-oriented pragmatist.” Unlike others in the Bush administration, Gates is willing to hold high-level officials responsible for institutional blunders. Gates’ appointment, coupled with the United States’ new diplomacy toward North Korea and Iran, is indicative of the White House’s new, pragmatic approach to affairs. But Gates can’t reform the White House entirely: “Gates has a chance to help pull the Bush administration out of perpetual crisis mode, but, at least in Iraq, victory may be too much to ask.”— S.W.
Sports Illustrated, March 12 The cover article declares that “an eco-consciousness is leeching ever so slowly into the jockosphere.” Higher temperatures and poor air quality have cancelled ski races, hospitalized marathon runners, and endangered ash trees used to make baseball bats. In response, some venues have gone green. Massachusetts’ Gillette Stadium has a filtration system that recycles both “black” and “gray water … to make the most of all that beer and all those flushes.” Changes are also happening in sports not typically associated with conservation. Formula One is moving toward hybrid cars, and NASCAR is phasing out leaded gasoline. … A piece details last month’s raid on the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, where performance-enhancing drugs were allegedly provided to online customers, including many prominent athletes. It’s “chilling,” says the article, “how easily banned substances, including steroids and HGH, can be obtained by anyone, of any age, who possesses Internet access and a credit card.” One investigator wrote “I want to get high to fly” on a pharmaceutical site’s questionnaire. His drug order arrived with no questions asked.— P.F.
