Other Magazines

Crying Wolfowitz

The Economist urges Paul Wolfowitz to step down from the World Bank presidency.

Economist, April 21 The cover piece advocates increased gun control in the United States, in light of Cho Seung-Hui’s rampage at Virginia Tech. “[T]he failure to deal with such violent devices often means that other freedoms must be curtailed.” Indeed, since 1963, more Americans have died from domestic gunfire than in all battles in the 20th century. “Had powerful guns not been available to him, the deranged Cho would have killed fewer people, and perhaps none at all.” Another piece urges Paul Wolfowitz to resign as president of the World Bank after having given his girlfriend an oversized pay package. Failure to do so will cause other nations to reduce their contributions to the bank. “If he is as passionate about helping the poor as he claims, Mr Wolfowitz ought to conclude that his goals for the bank will be best achieved without him.” The article concludes with a suggestion that the World Bank reform its regulations for selecting a president—currently available only to Americans—by opening the position to international competition.— S.W.

Time, April 30 A piece in the cover package on the Virginia Tech shootings analyzes the opaque psychology of mass murderers. “They seem to have an unfathomable ability to shut off knowledge of the consequences, of the difference between right and wrong,” says forensic psychologist Stanton Samenow. Killers often exhibit signs of narcissism and depression, and the multimedia package Cho sent to NBC suggests he is no exception. Another article gives a blow-by-blow narrative of the massacre. A student recounts Cho Seung-Hui entering his French class and shooting students one by one: “After every shot I though, ‘O.K., the next one is me.’ ” A professor recalls that talking to Cho “was like talking to a hole. He wasn’t there most of the time.” An article examines“locomotor training,” a treatment for paralysis that involves teaching the legs to function by synthesizing a walking gait. Doctors told Renée Ford her 2-year-old son would never walk again, but the procedure has helped him slowly regain his motor skills.—C.B.

Crier, Spring 2007
An article in the third issue of the magazine (which is co-edited by Slate contributor Doree Shafrir) describes how, in Bolivia, crowds swarm to watch cholitas—femalewrestlers—”acrobatically bludgeoning each other.” Three high-profile cholitas have recently broken with their manager and are struggling to create their own wrestling organization. Despite the difficulty of going it alone, one describes being a cholita as empowering: “Now people see us doing more than cleaning clothes, taking care of babies, cleaning houses, selling oranges in the street.” A profile of New York music promoter Todd Patrick, better known as Todd P, declares that his shows “embody urban cool,” thanks to his “unique ability to fill abandoned warehouses, Greenpoint dive bars, and waterfront wharves with sweaty music nerds.” The work hasn’t made him rich—he’s “driven a succession of $300 station wagons”—but it has cemented his reputation as a crusader against “the monopoly that concert venues have on live music.”—P.F.

New York, April 23 The cover story assesses Barack Obama’s first-quarter fund-raising. As states flock to bump up their primaries to Feb. 5, “the ability to raise vast quantities of early cash is seen by many operatives as essential,” and Hillary seemed to have the donation pool cornered. But Obama’s campaign attracts younger financiers, who his chief strategist says “weren’t allowed to sit at the adult table but who all of a sudden were quite formidable.” Obama narrowly surpassed Clinton in funds earmarked for the primaries. A feature details the life of Wesley Autrey, the “Subway Superman” who saved a man’s life by jumping in front of a train. The press showered him with praise, and visits with celebrities, recognition at the State of the Union address, and gifts from cars to fur coats soon followed. But Autrey’s frequent public appearances kept him from his construction job. To capitalize on his image and pay the bills, Autrey partnered with a pair of PR-minded entrepreneurs, but contractual clashes ended with Autrey suing his managers.— P.G.

Portfolio, May In an essay in Portfolio’s premiere issue, best-selling novelist Tom Wolfe probes the minds of hedge-fund managers. Members of this increasingly visible class enjoy elite educations and “are flush with optimism and confidence, as well as money.” Yet rumors abound of their boorish business practices, leading Wolfe to ask “what inna nameagod is their problem?” Wolfe contends that the hedgehogs are fixated on status (“I’m a lone lean wolf and a one-man show”), willing “to engage in outright personal hostility and open aggression,” and bent on “complete, freebooting independence.” An article highlights United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s big-bucks enthusiasm for horse racing. In an effort to “broaden the public perception of Dubai from that of just another oil-soaked Arab nation,” Sheik Mohammed established the Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race. But his underlying goal is to “reclaim … his heritage”: the Arabian Peninsula as the source of the Thoroughbred. But to grab the best horses, he has entered into a fierce auction-ring rivalry with Irish breeding magnate John Magnier.— P.G.

Vanity Fair, May A photo essay in this year’s “Green Issue” celebrates coverboy Leonardo DiCaprio and other conservation-conscious figures, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Robert Redford, hotelier Barry Sternlicht, and “eco-style expert” Summer Rayne Oakes as vanguards of the “green revolution.” “This is their world,” writes the essay’s introduction, “the rest of us can just try to live up to it.” An article details a lawsuit against Chevron by “Los Afectados,” a group of 30,000 Ecuadoreans who claim Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001, allowed crude oil to pollute Amazonian waters. It’s a “David-and-Goliath” tale, with the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Pablo Fajardo, as the underdog. Fajardo, an Ecuadorean native, was “born into extreme poverty and toiled for years as a manual laborer” before earning his law degree through correspondence school. Now, in his first trial, he must take on “high-priced firms of experienced lawyers.” At stake is a settlement of up to $6 billion dollars, “potentially the largest environmental lawsuit ever to be fought.”—P.F.

New York Times Magazine, April 22 The cover piece examines a burgeoning class of migrants “scattered across the globe, supporting a population back home that is as big if not bigger.” The difference between what laborers in impoverished nations can earn at home and abroad has expanded along with communication and transportation capabilities. Overseas breadwinning may also assist struggling economies: “Being private, the money is less susceptible to corruption than foreign aid; it is also better aimed at the needy.” An article contends that the farm bill has encouraged the poor to stock up on unhealthy, processed foods, promoting obesity. Government subsidies sustain processing-friendly staples like corn, soybeans, and wheat. “[I]n the case of the carrot and the Twinkie, the farm bill as currently written offers a lot more support to the cake than to the root.” The author recommends that the bill “needs to be rewritten with the interests of eaters placed first.”— P.G.

New Republic, April 23 A cover packages analyzes the United States’ ever-evolving relationship with Iran. Reading Lolita in Tehran author Azar Nafisi recommends that “human rights groups, activists, and journalists … take up the cause of the Iranian people,” while the New York Times Laura Secor suggests appealing to the “genuine thirst among Iranians for knowledge and experience of Western liberalism.” But conservative commentator Robert Kagan notes that an implicit threat of U.S. military action is responsible for European involvement in negotiations with Iran. Foreign-policy expert Dennis Ross supports diplomacy leveraged on “penalties, more than inducements.” … An article examines the recent downturn of Henry Heimlich’s reputation. The inventor of the Heimlich maneuver’s “genius … was to circumvent the experts and take his case directly to the people.” He managed to canonize the Heimlich maneuver as the solution to the much-feared “Café Coronary.” But Heimlich’s son spearheaded a media campaign pointing out flaws in his father’s research, and now the American Red Cross has de-emphasized the procedure in its first-aid guidelines.— P.G.

Weekly Standard, April 23 The cover article profiles Law & Order actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, the “mild-mannered, slow-talking southern gentleman” who may seek the Republican presidential nomination. Central to Thompson’s appeal is his approachability. He’s known for “the kind of off-the-cuff homespun witticisms that Dan Rather spent a career trying to come up with.” Given Thompson’s “independent streak” and “strong belief in federalism,” he could also be the “politically aggressive conservative that George W. Bush hasn’t been for four years.” An editorial argues that the situation in Iraq has “begun to improve” and that the “possibility of victory has grown significantly.” The article cautions against a knee-jerk withdrawal from the region and chides Americans for the “bad habit of believing that the outcome of every war is predictable—that wars are either short, decisive, and victorious, like Desert Storm, or long, painful, and futile like Vietnam.”—P.F.

The New Yorker, April 23 In a personal essay, Jianying Zha reports on her brother Jianguo Zha. Jianguo was imprisoned in Beijing eight years ago for attempting to register the China Democracy Party, of which he was the chairman. Though his refusal to leave China in exchange for a shorter sentence demonstrates his ideological principles, his obstinacy leaves no room for compromise with China’s single-party government: “Even as he is locked up, he has locked the world out, refusing to listen to anything that disturbs his convictions, closing his eyes to a reality ridden with contradictions, ambiguities, and possibilities.” Another article pits Don Imus’ most defining antics against each other in sports-bracket fashion. Though Imus’ role in running a ranch for children with cancer had trumped all his politically incorrect remarks prior to the Rutgers women’s basketball fiasco, the recent slur has “creamed them all.”—S.W.

Newsweek, April 23 The cover piece discusses the cancellation of Don Imus’ radio show. Imus provided an “influential salon for the politically connected” and used his shock-jock persona to scold the political elite. However, his recent slur against the predominantly black Rutgers women’s basketball team went too far: “The Rutgers players weren’t well-fed journalists or posturing politicians, public figures who could fend for themselves.” Imus’ ousting demonstrates America’s increasing diversity. “[T]he grace and dignity of female scholar-athletes toppled one of the media powerhouses of the age.” Another piece compares the proposed withdrawal from Iraq to historical withdrawals—America from Vietnam, Britain from India, France from Algeria. Pulling out always led to “carnage and chaos,” but “the aftermath in every case was made worse by the fact that governments waited so long to admit that a pullout might be necessary.” With the House and Senate both advocating a 2008 withdrawal, it is especially important to heed the past when considering potential repercussions of withdrawal as refugee crises, proxy wars, and massacre.—S.W.