NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/September 15, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, September 8, 2008)

Sept. 7 NY-Nwswk-media-leads


COVER: "Palin*tol*ogy" (p. 24). Washington Bureau Chief Jeffrey Bartholet
and San Francisco Bureau Chief Karen Breslau delve into Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin's record for a better understanding of how she sees the world and where
she stands on issues. Palin is a self-described hockey Mom who hunts moose,
juggles BlackBerrys and kids. But she is also riven with contradictions. Palin
built her reputation largely on standing up to corruption. But she's also
regarded by political opponents as vindictive and petty, and she's been known
to mix personal interests in her own political life. She is a relentlessly
driven politician running against a Washington establishment that, if elected,
she will inevitably join, and even rule over. The cover package also looks at
whether her experience will help her with the questions she's sure to face in
the days and weeks to come.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157696


(Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080907/NYSU002 )



"Beware the Barracuda" (p. 36).  Chief Political Correspondent Howard
Fineman writes that although Palin is a tough opponent, the Democrats will
need to tread carefully when coming after her. Democrats are determined to
attack her credibility, and "the first -- and for Democrats, the most obvious
-- way to do so is on abortion. Palin doesn't believe in abortion even in
cases of rape or incest," he writes. Still, the real task of hunting Palin
belongs to Biden, who "is as deeply informed on the issues as any member of
the Senate, but he has a tendency to want to prove it at length." A friend of
Biden's told Newsweek, "He has to be careful not to come off as heavy-handed."


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157697



"What Happened to Family Values?" (p. 41).  Special Correspondent Jacob
Weisberg writes that "pragmatic Republicans have been trying to figure out how
the party can become a 'big tent,' making room for a pro-choice as well as a
pro-life faction. Until recently, the modernizers included John McCain," he
writes. "But renewed evangelical dominance of the Republican Party in the
George W. Bush years has pushed McCain in just the opposite direction  ...  It
explains how McCain ended up with a wildly underqualified running mate in
Sarah Palin, instead of his preferred pro-choice veep picks, Joe Lieberman and
Tom Ridge."


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157554



HEALTH: "We Fought Cancer  ...  And Cancer Won" (p. 42). Senior Editor
Sharon Begley writes that it's time to rethink the approach to the war on
cancer. "Both presidential candidates have vowed to support cancer research,
which makes this a propitious time to consider the missed opportunities of the
first 37 years of the war on cancer. Surely the greatest is prevention.
[President Richard] Nixon never used the word; he exhorted scientists only to
find a cure. Partly as a result, the huge majority of funding for cancer has
gone into the search for ways to eradicate malignant cells rather than to keep
normal cells from becoming malignant in the first place," Begley writes.
Still, there is hope in the battle against cancer. "Breakthroughs continue to
pour out of labs" and "cutting-edge techniques are allowing scientists to
identify promising experimental drugs more quickly than ever before," she
writes.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157548



JONATHAN ALTER: "What the Next President Can Do" (p. 68). Senior Editor
Jonathan Alter, a four-year cancer survivor, writes that "politicians have
been slow on the cancer front partly because it's a downer, and partly because
most don't seem to understand just how perilous the research situation has
become." "It's not just that fewer than two in 10 applications for NIH grants
are funded -- down sharply under President Bush. It's that the wrong
researchers often get the money," he writes. "Older researchers with
old-boy-network contacts receive a disproportionate amount of the research
funding  ... Younger, less-connected but more creative researchers, the ones
most likely to find cures, are leaving medical research in droves because they
can't get funded."


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157575



INTERNATIONAL: "For the Taliban, A Crime That Pays" (p. 70). South Asia
Bureau Chief Ron Moreau reports that the Taliban have spawned yet another
problem for Afghanistan: an epidemic of ransom kidnappings. Such crimes used
to be rare, and the perpetrators were usually common thugs who stuck close to
Kabul. That's changed in the last couple of years, as the Taliban learned to
abduct foreigners and Afghan business people instead of killing them. Since
then, kidnapping has become one of the guerrillas' main revenue sources,
second only to facilitating and protecting the country's $4 billion-a-year
narcotics trade. The reported ransoms in some of the highest-profile
kidnappings of the past two years, come to more than $10 million a year -- and
that's a deceptively conservative estimate.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157549



ROBERT J. SAMUELSON: "Getting Real About Health Care" (p. 73).
Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson writes that whoever wins the White
House "should put health care at the top of his agenda. But the central
problem is not improving coverage. It's controlling costs." The new president
needs to take on the "massive health-care challenge already sitting in the
government's lap: Medicare  ...  Medicare is so large and influential that by
altering how it operates, government can reshape the entire health-care
system. This would require changes in rules and reimbursements to encourage
more electronic record-keeping, better case management, fewer dubious tests
and procedures, and a fairer sharing of costs between the young and the old,"
he writes.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157573



PROJECT GREEN: "The Bad News About Green Architecture" (p. 77). Senior
Editor Cathleen McGuigan writes that what bugs her the most about the fad for
green architecture "is the notion that virtue makes up for ugly." "When I come
upon a beautiful sustainable building that doesn't scream green, it cheers me
up. The California Academy of Sciences, opening later this month in San
Francisco, is a perfect example  ...  Its design is sensitive to its place and
history: the new building doesn't gobble up more space on its spectacular site
in Golden Gate Park, and its architect, Renzo Piano, was careful to go no
higher -- 36 feet -- than the original structure."


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157576



"A No-Paper Newspaper" (p. 84). National Correspondent Daniel McGinn
reports that after years of hype, e-newspapers are getting closer to reality
thanks to companies such as E Ink, that are working on perfecting electronic
reading devices such as Amazon's Kindle. For consumers, e-newspapers would
offer portability and an uncluttered reading environment. Among publishers,
there's real hope readers will pay subscription fees for those benefits, and
that advertisers will pay considerably more for ads on e-readers than they do
on the Web.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157580



TELEVISION: "They Would Kill For an Emmy" (p. 86). During this year's Emmy
roundtable, Rachel Griffiths ("Brothers and Sisters"), Michael C. Hall
("Dexter"), Rainn Wilson ("The Office"), Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds") and John
Slattery ("Mad Men") spoke candidly with Senior Editor Marc Peyser and
Assistant Editor Joshua Alston about their shows, characters, drinking, drugs
and nudity -- and preparing for the awards they could win later this month.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/157583



TIP SHEET: "Pump Yourself Up in The Privacy of Home" (p. 97). Chicago
Correspondent Karen Springen reports on the things to consider before choosing
to work out at home or join a gym -- or both. Some of the factors to consider
include cost, your goals as well as your personality. "The biggest obstacle
that we all face is motivation," says Walter Thompson, a Georgia State
University regent's professor and a fellow of the American College of Sports
Medicine.


http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/default.aspx



SOURCE  Newsweek