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Summaries of what's in Time, Newsweek, etc.

New Republic cover New Republic, Sept. 30
(posted Friday, Sept. 13)

The New Republic's response to the Iraq strike: bewilderment. The opening editorial asks why the United States has extended the no-fly zone in southern Iraq to punish Hussein's attack in northern Iraq. The bombing--a mere "pinprick"--reflects America's "strategic incoherence." Another article argues that the United States should mend fences with Iran: It may be a devil, but at least it's a devil we can negotiate with. In the cover story, Michael Lewis travels from suburban Chicago to Tupac Shakur's hospital room to Don King's house to his own Manhattan street, then reaches a conclusion that may horrify TNR readers: Neither the rich nor the poor care about politics. Also, an article contends that the U.S. government should guarantee an hourly wage of between $7 and $8 to American workers by giving a tax break to employers: The subsidy would pay for itself by reducing crime, unemployment, welfare dependency, etc.
Economist Economist, Sept. 14
(posted Friday, Sept. 13)

The Economist endorses free will. The lead editorial bemoans the renewed popularity of genetic determinism, contending that DNA predisposes, not predestines: "For now, there is no reason to abandon the belief that people control their own actions--and should be held responsible for them." The accompanying cover story on the human genome project declares it a triumph of human knowledge, even though it hasn't yielded the gene-therapy breakthroughs that were expected. Also, British Labor Party leader Tony Blair writes a long essay on why Britain needs constitutional reform. And the magazine's monthly "Review" critiques four books about neoconservatism, five books about baseball, and several French novels, among other works.

New York Times New York Times Magazine, Sept. 15
(posted Thursday, Sept. 12)

The cover story asks why many gay men still practice unsafe sex, then gives an exceedingly long and complicated answer. The nub: Gays resent and ignore the crude safe-sex programs that have tarnished and deromanticized gay sex. Also, the magazine bucks the conventional wisdom on North Korea: It is not a desperate, "paranoid nuclear weasel," but a nation trying--if tentatively--to engage the outside world. And a columnist explains how the U.S. presidential election could move the stock and bond markets. (Big surprise here: A Dole victory would make them anxious.)

Time Time, Sept. 16
(posted Monday, Sept. 9)

Time chronicles Microsoft's battle with Netscape, and suggests that the software giant has the upper hand. The magazine's cover story marvels at Microsoft's transformation from a desktop company to an Internet company ("[Its] warp-speed reinvention may set the standard for information-age corporate agility"). Also, it generally supports the Tomahawking of Iraq. And a profile of virtue czar William Bennett suggests that success is making him lazy.

Newsweek
Newsweek, Sept. 16
(posted Monday, Sept. 9)

The cover story on male hormone therapy--"Can It Keep Men Young"--wouldn't be out of place in Men's Journal or Cosmopolitan. The rejuvenating effects (stronger muscles, better mood, more energy) of testosterone, human growth hormone, and related chemicals are hyped, but Newsweek's real interest is in how drugs improve sex. The magazine charts "angle of erection" and "orgasms per year"; it refers to someone as a "sexual iron man." Also, Newsweek argues with itself about the Iraq assault. A military columnist says the United States must slowly crush Saddam Hussein; a foreign-affairs columnist explains how Hussein serves U.S. interests (fear of Iraq has made U.S. allies of countries like Saudi Arabia and Jordan). And the magazine piles on Dick Morris, revealing that he was arrested in the mid-'70s for banging on the cockpit door during an airline flight.


U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 16
(posted Monday, Sept. 9)

Despite Time's and Newsweek's entry into the college-guides sweepstakes this summer, U.S. News' "Best Colleges" issue is still the benchmark. The 10th annual edition ranks 1,422 schools in 14 different categories, and it is even more Ivy-covered than usual: Yale, Princeton, and Harvard finish one-two-three in the university rankings; Swarthmore tops the list of liberal-arts colleges. Issue editor Mel Elfin warns that American higher education has become dangerously expensive and inefficient. His solution: more technology, more marketing, less tenure. Also, Fouad Ajami writes about how the raid on Iraq reflects America's inability to choose between empire and isolation.

The Nation The Nation, Sept. 23
(posted Monday, Sept. 9)

The Nation's four-article cover package rips the Clinton administration for not postponing the Bosnian elections, alleging that the contests will cement ethnic partitions and won't prevent the war that will follow after the peacekeepers withdraw. The Nation's proposed remedies: 1) Delay the elections; arrest the war criminals; and place sanctions on Serbia and Croatia or 2) impose a Cyprus-like partition, supervised by NATO. Also, Jesse Jackson tells progressives why they should vote for a president who abandoned them: to block the "anti-people, pro-corporate, antigovernment, radical-right Gingrich/Dole agenda." And an article explains the differences between Democratic and Republican drug policies: none.
Weekly Standard The Weekly Standard, Sept. 16
(posted Monday, Sept. 9)

The Standard's cover story lionizes George Pataki: "New York's first truly conservative governor in 75 years." Pataki's tax cuts, anti-regulatory zeal, and tough justice are "hacking away at the suffocating undergrowth, the result of decades of liberal rule." Also, the Standard twice bashes a favorite target, Ross Perot. The opening editorial argues that Perot should be excluded from the presidential debates because his candidacy is a "farce" and he "represents the absolute negation of serious representative government." Another article lists inaccurate quotations by Perot. And John DiIulio Jr. endorses tougher juvenile crime laws.
The New Yorker The New Yorker, Sept. 16
(posted Monday, Sept. 9)

The Iraq airstrike achieved no clear goal, writes Michael Kelly in the opening editorial, because the Clinton administration has no clear goals: "The confusion of the moment reflects a larger confusion. What is America's job in the world?" Instead of foreign policy, says Kelly, Clinton offers "an ad-hocracy" driven largely by spin. Also, three Very Famous Novelists contribute: Richard Ford muses on boxing; Cynthia Ozick recalls her parents' pharmacy in the Bronx; and Paul Theroux writes a story about adoption. And an extremely long article documents how Tailhook has haunted the Navy, and how it contributed to Adm. Mike Boorda's suicide.
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