Newsweek back issues from August 2008:
Illuminating an Atypical Spiritual Quest.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 04, 2008 ... 'What He Believes': While readers were glad we shed some light on Barack Obama's religious convictions, many weren't particularly concerned. One said, "A candidate's beliefs have no bearing on his or her ability to perform the functions of the presidency." Another added, "In the current ...
A $16 Billion Problem.(International; Lobbying)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Michael Isikoff; With Stephan Kuffner In "Quito ***** Clarification: NEWSWEEK's Aug. 4 story "A $16 Billion Problem" contained an imprecise statement about Chevron's disclosures to shareholders regarding a lawsuit against the company in Ecuador. The story ...
Say Cheese! But Watch For The Applesauce.(Politics)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Holly Bailey And Suzanne Smalley McCain is losing the war of the photo ops. Even his aides say the campaign has to improve. John McCain figured he would have a tough time getting attention last week. The superstar images of Barack Obama's overseas tour were ...
'The American People Know Me'.(Politics; INTERVIEW)(John McCain)(Interview)
Aug 04, 2008 ... McCain talks about offshore drilling, how he plans to win women's votes and his recent foreign-policy gaffes. While riding in a black SUV through a crowd of protesters on his way to deliver a speech at the 2008 American GI Forum in Denver, Sen. John McCain spoke with NEWSWEEK's ...
A Viewer's Guide to Beijing.(Olympics: Inside the Games)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr THE HOT RIVALRY The U.S.-China Gold Rush: Get Out Your Abacus From its inception, Beijing 2008 was ballyhooed as a nation's coming-out party, one that would presage the Chinese Century. But you don't get your very own century without ...
Swimming: Michael Phelps Vs. The History Books, Round Two.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr By the time Mark Spitz was Michael Phelps's age, 23, he had retired from competitive swimming and was cavorting on TV with folks like Sonny and Cher, pursuing a career that, unlike his tenure in the pool, sank like a stone. Spitz made history at his second ...
Boxing: When We Were Kings.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr ***** Correction: In the Aug. 4 item "When We Were Kings" in "A Viewer's Guide to Beijing," we reported that the last American Olympian to win a gold medal in boxing was Oscar De La Hoya in 1992. Two Americans--David Reid in Atlanta in 1996 and ...
Track And Field: Hurdles For China's Icon.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr There are only two things in Beijing bigger than 7-foot-6 hoops star Yao Ming: the Great Wall--and hurdler Liu Xiang. Liu's victory in the 110-meter hurdles in Athens was arguably the most surprising of China's 32 gold medals there, and unquestionably the most ...
Doping: Nobody Likes A Cheater.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr The games are still more than a week away and would-be Olympians--from the United States to Bulgaria to China--have already tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. And no doubt more Olympic athletes will flunk drug tests in Beijing. Doping has been ...
Gymnastics: Two Archrivals Go To The Mats.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr China's girls on bars and beams are adorable. Ours are, too. More important, though, the Chinese and U.S. women's gymnastics teams are the best in the world, making this the one sport in which the two Olympic powers can really go to the mats. The American ...
Long-Distance Running: Can't Beat 'Em? Import 'Em.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr THOSE who view the Olympics through a red-white-and-blue prism tend to regard track's distance events as bathroom breaks. Too bad, because that means they've missed some classic duels, usually between African runners. No American has won the Olympic 5,000 ...
Dara Torres: The Tale Of 'Supermom'.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr The Summer of 1984, Los Angeles: A year before Michael Phelps was even born, hometown girl Dara Torres, just 17, won an Olympic gold medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay. Three golds, one silver and four bronzes later, Torres, now 41, will become the first ...
Bicycle Motocross: Come On, Let's Go For A Ride.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr New Olympic sports can usually be summed up with one of three words: "fast," "sexy" or "splat." Anything that showcases speed, skin or danger makes the sport TV-friendly. Snowboard cross, with its downhill velocity and spectacular wipeouts, was a hit in its ...
Basketball: What Dream Teams Are Made Of.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr The "dream team" label hasn't fit for a long time. Lately, it's been more like a nightmare. Our NBA hoopsters bottomed out at the 2002 worlds, finishing in a pathetic sixth place--on our home court in Indianapolis, no less. Since then, despite a pledge to ...
Sprinting: Gay's Day: Dashed By Lightning Bolt?(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Tyson Gay)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr No Olympic sport has had more star reputations ruined by doping than track and field. Sure, cycling, swimming and weightlifting have all taken big lumps. But so many heroic runners have turned into goats--Ben Johnson, Tim Montgomery, Justin Gatlin, Marion ...
Martial Arts: Fighting Family Taes.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Steven Lopez)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr Steven Lopez is among the most accomplished U.S. Olympians you've probably never heard of. The 29-year-old Houston native will be bidding for his third consecutive taekwondo gold in Beijing. That makes him the biggest name on the American squad--even though ...
Softball And Soccer: Goodbye, Golden Girls.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mark Starr Two of America's most successful women's teams are hoping that Beijing will get them headed back in the right direction. The soccer team is trying to rebound from a disappointing and dispiriting performance in last year's World Cup. The bronze-medal finish was ...
Moscow on the Hudson.(Periscope; REAL ESTATE)(Russian oligarchs invest on Amercan real estate properties)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Daniel Gross In this summer of high-end real-estate purgatory, New York real-estate circles are abuzz over some good news. In early July, a town house on a gilded block of East 64th Street changed hands for $42.5 million. The buyer hasn't been publicly identified. But ...
World Stage Edition.(Periscope; CONVENTIONAL WISDOM WATCH)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East and Europe was so boffo, he had to remind a reporter that he was a senator, not the president. Obama UP-Hits three-pointers in Kuwait, received in Europe like a head of state. Mon dieu! McCain DOWN-Old: Straight talker is ...
Page Turning Edition.(Periscope; A CW LOOK AT BEACH READING)(Brief article)(Recommended readings)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Satisfying summer reading doesn't always come from the top of the best-seller lists. Some new titles and some you might have missed. 'Mr. S' UP-Frank Sinatra's former valet dishes about the Kennedys, the mob, Mia Farrow et al. 'Nothing To Lose' SIDEWAYS-Lee Child's ...
Needed: A Real Bat Man.(Periscope; Sports)(baseball)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Adam De Jong Major league baseball fans, take note: you might consider swapping your glove for a helmet next time you head to a game. A recent surge in exploding bats has sent bystanders ducking for cover. In April, a woman was rushed to the hospital after being hit in ...
Why Are You A Democrat?(Periscope; Books)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Katie Baker To compile "Why I'm A Democrat," editor Susan Mulcahy recruited more than 50 fellow party faithful, including celebs like Tony Bennett, Isaac Mizrahi and Nora Ephron, along with farmers, waitresses and one billionaire (insurance mogul Bernard Rapoport). Some ...
Cristina Garcia.(Periscope; A LIFE IN BOOKS)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... The Cuban-born novelist has written four books, including "Dreaming in Cuban," a National Book Award finalist, and her latest, "A Handbook to Luck." Her picks: My Five Most Important Books 1. "Labyrinths" by Jorge Luis Borges. Intelligence and imagination have never ...
The Techie in Chief.(Anna Quindlen; THE LAST WORD)(John McCain)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Anna Quindlen The terrorists have laptops in their hideouts. Can America afford to have a leader who is just learning how to use one? Honest Abe was a techie. Yep, it's true. President Lincoln pushed hard for the spread of telegraph lines across the country ...
Required Reading.(Entertainment; BOOKS)(How Fiction Works)(Book review)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: David Gates Critic James Wood wrote the book on how to write a book--and how not to. James Wood's new book, "How Fiction Works," is as knowing as you'd expect from one of the best critics alive--more knowing than that, in fact--but that may not always please ...
Here's to the Health of the CEO.(The Technologist)(Steve Jobs)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Daniel McGinn Rumors that Jobs is ill may be overblown, but he's seen as so central to Apple's success that investors are jittery. His trademark black turtleneck hung a little too loose. His blue jeans sagged; his face seemed hollow. When Apple founder Steve ...
Love to Hate the Hummer.(Business)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Keith Naughton; With Tara Weingarten, Patrick Crowley and Mary Chapman It's gone from Hollywood status symbol to the butt of jokes faster than you can say $4 a gallon. Has the Hummer lost its street cred? To find out, NEWSWEEK tooled around the fashionable ...
The Editor's Desk.(The Editor's Desk)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Daniel Klaidman Years ago, when I was a freshly minted foreign correspondent in Jerusalem, a colleague offered me a valuable insight into Israel's national psychology. The key word to know, he told me, was freier, which, loosely translated from the Yiddish, means sucker ....
Survive Cancer, Have Baby.(Medicine)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Anna Kuchment The emerging field of oncofertility offers hope to patients who worried that they couldn't conceive. When Annie Dauer's oncologist told her she'd need a stem-cell transplant to cure her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Dauer's first thought wasn't about ...
The Taliban's Baghdad Strategy.(Afghanistan)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Sami Yousafzai And Ron Moreau The insurgents are closing in on Kabul, not in order to overrun the capital but to terrorize its residents and drive away investors. It's working. Faridoon stares in alarm at the two NEWSWEEK reporters who just walked into his ...
'Yes, There Have Been Differences Between America And Europe. But The Burdens Of Global Citizenship Continue To Bind Us Together.'.(Politics; Campaign 2008)(Barack Obama interview)(Interview)
Aug 04, 2008 ... --Sen. Barack obama in Berlin, July 24, 2008 Even if he wins the election this fall, Barack Obama will have a hard time matching the rock-star reception he received in Europe last week. More than 200,000 fans came to hear him speak in Berlin, while heads of state who are more ...
Obama's Reagan Moment.(Politics: Campaign 2008; Dispatch)(Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Louisa Thomas He passed a test in Berlin, but harder ones await. Berlin has long been a testing ground for American statesmen. In 1963 John F. Kennedy faced the challenge of how to address the recently erected Berlin wall, and the people whom it encircled ....
It's Not About The Flatware.(My Turn)(marriage)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Ed Goldman; Goldman Lives In Sacramento, Calif. After two marriages each, my new wife and I are learning what it means to combine households. My wife and I met on Aug. 2, 2007, became engaged on Nov. 10 and were married on Jan. 26, 2008. We began merging ...
Rozita Swinton's Bad Call.(National Affairs)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Arian Campo-Flores And Catharine Skipp; With Anne Underwood Police say her deception set off the FLDS raid. Prank or personality disorder? When Flora Jessop answered her phone on the morning of March 30, a female caller spoke in a meek and frightened whisper ....
The Secret Life of Vampires.(Newsmakers; Q&A)(Stephenie Meyer's 'Breaking Dawn')(Interview)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Susan Elgin Susan Elgin "Breaking Dawn," the final book in the mega-successful "Twilight" series, about a sexy vampire named Edward and the girl who loves him, goes on sale Aug. 2. Author Stephenie Meyer talked to Susan Elgin about books, boys and blood: ...
Batty and Very Catty.(Newsmakers)(Christian Bale and Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... It was a big week for Hollywood fights--and we're not talking about Batman vs. the Joker. Actually, Batman himself, Christian Bale, turned himself in to police, reportedly after arguing with his mother and sister in a London hotel. The details are still hazy (and batty), but no charges ...
Winehouse's Night at the Museum.(Newsmakers; POP QUIZ)(Amy Winehouse)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Amy Winehouse might look waxy from time to time--OK, most of the time--but now she's got her own wax figure at ...
Taco Beef.(Newsmakers)(Taco Bell)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... And you thought that Taco Bell gave you heartburn? Rapper 50 Cent is suing the fast-food chain for using his name without his permission in ads. The company said it would donate $10,000 to charity if for one day 50 Cent became 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent--the ...
China's Agony Of Defeat.(Cover Story: Olympics)(Cover story)
Aug 04, 2008; ... It's impossible to understand what the Games mean to the Chinese without understanding their history of humiliation. The Olympics are an irresistible stage for athletes--but also for those who wish to act out their grievances before the world. The Beijing Games, which kick off ...
The Road From Rome.(Olympics: Inside the Games)(Cover story)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Politics, commercialism, doping, nonstop TV coverage--it all started in 1960. Avery Brundage, the Crusty Chicago businessman who ran the International Olympic Committee as his vast personal fiefdom during the middle decades of the 20th century, clung obsessively, if at times ...
Who'll Stop The Rain?(Sharon Begley; On Science)(Beijing Olympics)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Sharon Begley Weather modification is marked by 'failure to provide demonstrable successes.' Close pollution-belching factories around Beijing? Check. Restrict cars and trucks? Oh, yes. Send hookers, beggars, vagrants and street hawkers packing? Done. Wring ...
Perspectives.(Perspectives)(Quotation)
Aug 04, 2008 ... "The whole Mississippi has a sheen on it." Plaquemines, La., parish president Billy Nungesser, on the aftermath of a 416,000-gallon oil spill that spread across 98 miles of river just north of New Orleans "He is convinced that with the help of God, he will win." ...
Where Karadzic Drank 'Blood'.(Periscope; INTERNATIONAL)(Radovan Karadzic)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Rod Nordland Tomas (Misko) Kovijanic has been drinking all day, which may help explain why he sounds a touch maudlin as he recalls the fugitive who had become a regular at the Mad House, the tiny cafe Misko runs in New Belgrade. Nearby, in one of the neighborhood's ...
Bob Novak Has Had Better Weeks.(Periscope; THE DIGNITY INDEX)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... A weekly mathematical survey of dubious behavior that measures, on a scale of 1 to 100, just how low a person can go. First, he whines that John McCain may have used him to peddle veepselection rumors to distract from Obama's trip. Really? You think? Score: 12 ...
Thanks for the Offer, But --.(Periscope; CHINA)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Mary Hennock Officials in China's devastated Sichuan province are getting a crash course in a novel concept: accepting philanthropy. Since the May 12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people and destroyed homes across the region, millions may have been lost because ...
Inside the Grieving Brain.(Periscope; HEALTH MATTERS)(complicated grief)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Jerry Adler Memories of the person they missed prolonged their grief, giving them pleasure as well as pain. Mourning the death of a loved one is about as universal a human emotion as exists, and it's not even confined to humans; there's evidence of it in ...
Hope Amid A Downturn.(Periscope; Poverty)(housing for the homeless)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Matthew Philips The real-estate bust is creating an unexpected benefit: housing for the homeless. Even as the foreclosure crisis pushes some low income families into shelters, chronic homeless rates are shrinking thanks in part to the foreclosed and vacant buildings ...
The Homeownership Obsession.(Robert J. Samuelson; JUDGMENT CALLS)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Robert J. Samuelson As a society, we overinvest in real estate. We build (and buy) too many extra-big homes and strive to make almost everyone into a buyer. The real lessons of the housing crisis have gotten lost. It's portrayed as the financial system run ...
The Fiction Behind Torture Policy.(The Verdict)
Aug 04, 2008; ... The lawyers designing interrogation techniques cited Jack Bauer more frequently than the Constitution. The most influential legal thinker in the development of modern American interrogation policy is not a behavioral psychologist, international lawyer or counterinsurgency ...
Preparing for Splitsville.(Tip Sheet: Money; DIVORCE)(how to deal with divorce settlement during economic crisis)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Linda Stern It's been more than a year since Janette Chamberlin and her husband decided to divorce. To save money on lawyers, they've been negotiating their own settlement and are ready to draw up the papers and finalize the deal. She even has a new boyfriend. The catch? ...
Bring Back The Birds And Bees.(Tip Sheet; Outdoors)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Christina Gillham Years of suburban development and unsustainable gardening practices have led to vanishing wildlife populations. The National Wildlife Federation has stepped up its efforts to promote its Backyard Wildlife Habitat program, which certifies homeowners who ...
And You Call This a Vacation?(Tip Sheet; MODERN FAMILY / Kathy Deveny)(Personal account)
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Kathleen Deveny; With Joan Raymond My stack of novels is ready. I have sunblock ranging in SPF level from 15 to 50. I have located my bathing suit. By the time you read this I will be away on vacation. I can imagine my BlackBerry vibrating back on the kitchen counter, ...
Checklist: Our Top Picks For The Week.(Tip Sheet)(Brief article)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Rent "The Band's Visit." An Egyptian police band en route to a concert gets stranded in a remote Israeli desert town. This droll and poignant crowd-pleaser, set several decades ago, wrings fresh and unsentimental variations on themes of cross-cultural misunderstanding and reconciliation ....
A Word From Our Sponsor.(Culture; Television)('Mad Men')
Aug 04, 2008; ... Byline: Jennie Yabroff; With Susan Elgin 'Mad Men' may be set in the 1960s, but the show's period-piece ads tell us plenty about ourselves. This week on "Mad Men": an American Airlines flight has crashed into Jamaica Bay just after takeoff. All 95 passengers are dead, ...
China Shouldn't be Inscrutable.(Fareed Zakaria; WORLD VIEW)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Fareed Zakaria To say that this new China is the same as the old is to be utterly ignorant or ideological--perhaps both. China Shouldn't Be Inscrutable With the Beijing Olympics starting at the end of this week, you might think this would be an ...
Boston's Soul Savior.(Entertainment; MUSIC)('I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s')(Video recording review)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Brian Braiker A new DVD set captures James Brown at his peak--including his historic MLK memorial concert. The rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, and on the weekend that followed riots and civil unrest ripped throughamore than ...
Lessons From Locke.(Education)(Teach for America, Lock high school)
Aug 11, 2008; ... The author spent a year embedded with Teach For America. Can its recruits really remake education? Earlier this summer, Wendy Kopp flew round trip from New York to L.A. in one day. Kopp, the founder of Teach For America--the national teaching corps that recruits high-performing ...
Being Mr. Big.(Business)(Steve Rattner)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Johnnie L. Roberts Financier and Democratic moneyman Steve Rattner seems to have it all. Looks can be deceiving. People to the manner born once deemed Manhattan apartment-living declasse. A century ago, only ostentatious mansions--of Astors and other ...
This Bug Man Is a Pest.(Technology)(George Ledin)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Adam B. Kushner George Ledin teaches students how to write viruses, and it makes computer-security software firms sick. In a windowless underground computer lab in California, young men are busy cooking up viruses, spam and other plagues of the computer age. ...
It's a Wonderful Life (In Jersey).(Daniel Gross; THE MONEY CULTURE)(Hudson City Bancorporation)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Daniel Gross Because of its geographic and cultural distance from Manhattan, the bridge-and-tunnel bank has thrived. "If you look to the right, you can see New York City," says Ronald Hermance Jr., CEO of Hudson City Bancorp, AS he points out the fourth-floor ...
Anything But Crocs.(Business)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Steve Tuttle A rant against America's faddish footwear. Is the boom over? I like to play a game with my 10-year-old son, Joseph. We sit on a bench in touristy Old Town, Alexandria, Va., and we're not allowed to get up until we see a dozen pairs of Crocs. It ...
Tragic Tale of Two Troubled Teens.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Aug 11, 2008 ... 'Murder in the 8th Grade': Readers in turn were angered and deeply perturbed by the systemic failure to prevent such a tragedy. One asked, "Did Larry King get a pass on his repeated sexual harassment of Brandon McInerney because he was gay, and why were the boys who were bullying and ...
The Editor's Desk.(Editorial)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Daniel Klaidman In May, after Barack Obama got trounced in the West Virginia primary, our foreign editor, Nisid Hajari, had an idea for a story. Why not send one of our veteran foreign correspondents through the American South to take its pulse during this historic ...
Homogenizers in Retreat.(George F. Will; THE LAST WORD)(European Union)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: George F. Will At their worst--their best is bad enough--EU enthusiasts clumsily invoke the pale specter of a synthetic terror. When Alexander the Great's weary soldiers trudged into northern Pakistan around 327 B.C., they were not too tuckered out to ...
Southern Discomfort.(Cover Story: Politics; Campaign 2008)(southern states)(Cover story)
Aug 11, 2008; ... Byline: Christopher Dickey For as long as I've been alive the old Confederacy has been a land without closure, where history keeps coming at you day after day, year after year, decade after decade, as if the past were the present, too, and the future forever. Cities grew and ...