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The Alaskan Surprise
The Economist and Time look north to Sarah Palin's home state.
Kara Hadge
posted Sept. 5, 2008
Blog at Your Own Risk
The Nation on how the military restricts soldiers' Internet activities.
Kara Hadge
posted Sept. 2, 2008
Magicians for Christ
Mother Jones on proselytizing with illusions.
Noreen Malone
posted Aug. 29, 2008
Joe the Turncoat
New York on how Joe Lieberman came to align himself with Republicans.
Noreen Malone
posted Aug. 26, 2008
Obamarama
The press rolls out the red carpet for the DNC.
Kara Hadge
posted Aug. 22, 2008
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other magazines: Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

Buck Up, Brits!The Economist on Britain's national grumpy mood.

By Christopher Beam and Paul Gottschling
Updated Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, at 4:22 PM ET

Economist, Feb. 3
An editorial speculates that India's economy may be overheating: "Across India prices are rising fast, factories are at full capacity, loans are piling up." Its annual inflation of 6 percent to 7 percent and its credit expansion rate of 30 percent suggest that India may be in for a "hard landing." Rather than raising interest rates, the piece argues, the government should be focusing on supply and "dismantling the many barriers that keep its speed limit below China's." … Despite Britain's overall "grumpy" mood, the editors argue that its inhabitants have never had it so good. Unemployment and crime are down, and the country is taking the lead on issues like global warming and world-trade talks. Credit goes chiefly to Britain's "enthusiastic embrace of globalisation," as immigration has bolstered its economy in recent years. But many Britons are wary of the country's growing multiculturalism, and the accompanying threat of homegrown terrorism.—C.B.

Time, Feb. 12
A cover piece surveys Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's options for piecing together a geopolitical legacy. Her view from the helm is daunting, with the United States' military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan hitting walls and the rest of the world glowering. Though Rice may not be able to distance her own goals from those of White House hawks, her brand of diplomacy has taken a marked shift: She now backs a "new alignment of forces in the Middle East, in which a 'stabilizing' group of U.S allies … could unite to contain the 'destabilizing' threat posed by Iran and radical groups." … An article dissects the entrance of the African "lost boys" into the entertainment industry, including Ishmael Beah. Beah transitioned from Sierra Leonean child soldier to Oberlin student to Starbucks-sponsored media darling with his book, A Long Way Gone. Inspirational as Beah's experience is, however, the piece warns that since "the celebrity-entertainment complex has its huge eyeball trained on the issue of child soldiers, the danger is that they will become trivialized."—P.G.

New York Times Magazine, Feb. 4
A piece analyzes the peculiar appeal of "designer dogs" and canine cross-breeding. "Beagles and basset hounds are making Bagels; bassets and Shar-Peis are making Sharp Assets." These dogs' popularity owes something to their "Rorschach-like ability to be whatever we choose to see," the author argues. But some critics fear the implications of customization: ''The dogness of dogs has become problematic," says one cultural historian. "We want an animal that is, in some respects, not really an animal. You'd never have to take it out. It doesn't shed. It doesn't bark." … A profile of Muslim scholar and "Islamic superstar" Tariq Ramadan calls him "a hard man to pin down." Ramadan, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, had his U.S. visa revoked under a Patriot Act provision barring foreigners who "endorse or espouse terrorist activity." In the words of one Middle East expert, Ramadan gives "a strong impression that prevarication is in the DNA."—C.B.

New York, Feb. 5
The cover piece wonders if Bush has "simply lost touch with political reality? Or has he actually lost his mind?" After diagnosing the president with narcissistic personality disorder, the author hands his lab coat to 16 popular media figures (including Slate's Dahlia Lithwick). Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter suggests that Bush suffers from a baby-boomer, Saigon-fell-because-we-quit hawkishness, while Lincoln biographer Joshua Wolf Shenk points to the president's "pathological optimism," and Deepak Chopra analyzes Bush's irking smirk. … Another piece visits the gawking crowd at the shores of the Hamptons' Northwest Creek, where an anomalous, encroaching pod of dolphins drew awe from onlookers. It shifted to concern, however, when several of the dolphins drifted ashore, dead. Some suspect that global climate change ushered the cetaceous incursion, demonstrating that, despite what classical legends such as Aelian's account of dolphin-human love tell us, we don't really "know" dolphins.—P.G.

The New Yorker, Feb. 5
A profile of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani depicts a man "renowned for his political cunning, his prodigious love of food and cigars, his sense of humor, his unflagging optimism, and his inability to keep a secret." One Iraqi politician describes Talabani as something of a chameleon: "If you are an Islamist, he brings you Koranic verses; if you're a Marxist, he'll talk to you about Marxist-Leninist theory, dialectics, and Descartes." Now, the former Kurdish guerrilla leader must decide whether to rescue the "new Iraq" from civil war or to push for an independent Kurdish state. … A piece gives a progress report on Google Book Search, a four-year-old project to digitize every book ever published. Google faces lawsuits alleging copyright infringement, but the company claims to be "transforming" books, not copying them: "[S]urely the ability to find something because a term appears in a book is not the same thing as reading the book," says a senior vice president for Google.—C.B.

Weekly Standard, Feb. 5
The cover story serves as a surrogate memoir for former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, who died before the author could collaborate with her on "the full-dress formal biography Jeane deserves." Kirkpatrick credits her heartland adolescence as formative to her professional ethos, as was made clear when an audience member at an Oklahoma University commencement told her to "keep up that good Oklahoma way of thinking." … A piece advocates privatizing the "analytical" wing of the CIA to combat insufficient analysis caused by the CIA's practice of filtering against well-traveled applicants during recruitment. This produces analysts who "lack both cultural nuance and a feel for personalities." Also at fault is the CIA's archipelagolike structure: The "organizational prioritization of group-think and seniority strangles [good analysts]." Privatizing would increase debate among competing companies and "erode the clearance lag" attendant to clearing new administration employees.—P.G.

Newsweek, Feb. 5
A cover piece discusses what a recent helicopter crash in Iraq says about the current war. Twelve Americans died, 10 of whom were National Guard members—an indication of the growing burden for "ordinary people asked to do the extraordinary." The author also notes "how quickly the deaths of a dozen soldiers can pass into and out of the public's consciousness these days, if they ever register at all." Now, politicians are discussing the war in detached terms: "Democrats (and rebelling Republicans) invest their passions in clinical debates over 'exit strategies' and 'withdrawal timetables.' … But few seem to be grappling with the fate of those soldiers." … A piece examines Florida pastor and Christian broadcaster Jose Luis de Jesús Miranda, who has declared himself Jesus Christ. Growing in Grace Ministry, his international coalition of 300 congregations, brings in $1.4 million annually in tithes and subsidizes his lavish lifestyle. "I hope [de Jesús] doesn't metamorphose into Jim Jones," says one religious studies instructor.—C.B.