Newsweek articles from December 2004

Newsweek archives from December 2004

Wrestling With Angels; 'Housekeeping' author returns with a keeper.(Gilead by Marilynne Robinson)(Book Review)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Malcolm Jones Preachers get cheated in American fiction. Hawthorne wrote about them, and so did Faulkner, Sinclair Lewis and J. F. Powers. But as anyone who grows up in a clergyman's home can attest, most laymen, writers included,...

For Armchair Chefs; And for those who actually find time to get into the kitchen, a pick of the year's most enticing cookbooks.(Book Review)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Dorothy Kalins Here's what I wish my life was like: shopping daily; obsessing over ripeness at the greenmarket; hunting down gutsy cheesemakers, fragrant spice shops; becoming a regular with old-fashioned butchers (that only I know...

A Foodie Unmasks; Restaurant critic Alan Richman breaks Rule One.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Jerry Adler Alan Richman's choice of a career was greatly influenced by his experience serving in Vietnam, where he claims to have been the only soldier who gained weight during his tour of duty. That was because he could eat free...

Shakespeare 101: A+; Do you really need another brick-thick intro to the Bard? Harvard's Marjorie Garber thinks so--and she's sold us.(Book Review)
December 6, 2004... Byline: David Gates After Harold Bloom's brilliant and madly readable bestseller "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human" (1998), which took 700-odd pages to discuss each of the plays, who needs Marjorie Garber's "Shakespeare After...

Suing the Street; A small law firm has become a powerful foe of Wall Street with its hardball tactics for settling claims of discrimination. Even some clients are complaining.(Leeds, Morelli and Brown)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Charles Gasparino The phone call brought troubling news for top executives at Bear Stearns. A few years ago the law firm of Leeds, Morelli & Brown said approximately 50 minority employees at Bear Stearns were ready to sue, possibly...

Conventional Wisdom; Holiday Melee Edition.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... As Americans line up for Easy-Bake ovens and gorge themselves on NBA melee replays, Iran cooks up nuclear materials. Happy holidays. CW Bush = No Baghdad turkey photo-op this year. Too busy giving thanks to unemployed ...

Mail Call: Yasir Arafat's Long and Complicated Legacy.(Letter to the Editor)
December 6, 2004... Readers wrote of renewed hope for Mideast peace with the passing of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, profiled in our Nov. 22 cover story. One lamented his methods. "How could Arafat's policies of teaching hate in schools and preaching a culture...

Shock and Awe In the Senate; The filibuster protects minority rights, enabling government to measure and respect not merely numbers but intensity in political disputes.(Column)
December 6, 2004... Byline: George Will Republican senators, justifiably indignant about Democrats' filibustering to block confirmation votes for judicial nominees, are contemplating a parliamentary version of shock and awe. Evincing what historian Richard...

Welcome to the Stem-Cell States; California and others are investing big in the controversial science. How and why.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Claudia Kalb When California voted yes on a $3 billion fund for stem-cell research last month, patient activists across the country rejoiced. E-mails went flying: "They did it! They did it!" And congratulatory calls went out to...

View From the Lab: Harnessing Stem Cells; Insights From Harvard Medical School.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D., and George Q. Daley, M.D., PH.D. (Komaroff is editor in chief of Harvard Health Publications; DALEY conducts stem-cell research at Harvard Medical School and the Children's Hospital Medical Center. For more...

Using Genes as Medicine; Progress has been slow, but scientists still dream of treating a wide range of diseases with strands of DNA.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Karen Springen At 18, Ashanthi DeSilva of suburban Cleveland is a living symbol of one of the great intellectual achievements of the 20th century. Born with an extremely rare and usually fatal disorder that left her without a...

Medicine's Next Level; With new insight into the mechanisms that help keep your brain sharp, neurological researchers move closer to improving your recall with a 'memory pill.'.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Mary Carmichael To say that Aplysia Californicus is one of nature's least glamorous beasts would be too kind. A hermaphroditic marine snail with mottled purple skin, it keeps to itself, responding to disturbances by emitting a...

Risk Factors: In Search of Bone Health.(research links the protein homocysteine to increased risk of osteoporosis)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Celeste Robb-Nicholson, M.D., and Meryl S. Leboff, M.D. (Robb-Nicholson is editor in chief of the Harvard Women's Health Watch newsletter; Leboff is associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. For more information go to...

Bird-Flu Challenge; An avian-flu outbreak could kill millions. Will we have a vaccine in time to stop it?
December 6, 2004... Byline: Michael Hastings and Fred Guterl (With Sarah Schafer in Beijing, Joe Cochrane in Bangkok and Alexandra A. Seno in Hong Kong) The parade of flushed faces through Dr. Jacqueline Spencer's medical practice in Long Island City, N.Y.,...

Trapping the Superbugs; Antibiotics are losing their punch as microbes learn to resist them. Can we stop the new killers?
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anna Kuchment Nicholas Johnson nearly died from what he thought was a shoulder sprain. Last year the 13-year-old from Stafford, Texas, made an awkward tackle in football practice and a few days later ended up in the emergency room...

Tick, Tick, Tick... Medical 'time bombs' often go undetected until it's too late. What you need to know.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D., and James S. Winshall, M.D. (Dr. Komaroff is editor in chief of the Harvard Health Letter, and DR. Winshall is a senior editor for Harvard Health Publications. For more information, go to...

Battling the Effects of War; Combat can wound the mind. New science helps vets from Iraq to cope.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Peg Tyre It wasn't the gunshot wound in the arm that bothered Jose Hernandez when he returned home to Cincinnati after serving in Iraq. It was the lock on the front door. He couldn't relax until he secured it twice, three times and...

To Heal a Shattered Soul; Treatment for PTSD.(Cover Story)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Arieh Y. Shalev, M.D., and Michael Craig Miller, M.D. (SHALEV is head of psychiatry at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. MILLER is editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter (health.harvard.edu/NEWSWEEK).) We can...

The New Face of AIDS; Why is HIV preying on minority women, and what can America do about it?
December 6, 2004... Byline: Geoffrey Cowley and Andrew Murr (With Anne Underwood and Karen Springen) Eleven years ago, Marcya Owens's life seemed blessed. She was in college, studying psychology, running track and working as a volunteer at her Seventh-day...

Opinion: A Prescription for Controlling Drug Costs; Drug spending is rising at more than four times the rate of inflation.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Arnold S. Relman, M.D., and Marcia Angell, M.D. (RELMAN and ANGELL have both served as editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, and both are Harvard Medical School faculty members. Angell is author of "The Truth About the...

Creating More Paths to Hope.(nonprofit pharmaceutical research organization, Institute for OneWorld Health)(Column)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Victoria Hale (Hale is the founder and chief executive officer of the Institute for OneWorld Health, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company based in San Francisco.) They were good friends of ours, and they were desperate. Their...

When Less Is More; A cardiologist says exercise and diet--not EKGs and angioplasties--are the way to keep hearts healthy.(Cover Story)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Dr. Thomas H. Lee (LEE IS A PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND CEO OF PARTNERS COMMUNITY HEALTH CARE. HE IS ALSO THE EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE HARVARD HEART LETTER. HE CAUTIONS THAT READERS SHOULD CONSULT A MEDICAL...

Drug Wars Ahead; From Medicare to Canadian imports, a guide to the coming policy battles.(Cover Story)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Debra Rosenberg The political campaign may be over, but the battles over prescription drugs are heating up. Last month the Food and Drug Administration drew new scrutiny after an FDA regulator told Congress that the agency was...

Flowers for Freedom; Protesters in Ukraine sang a new anthem: 'Vstavay! Rise up!' But Moscow didn't like it, and some warned of a new cold war.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Michael Meyer (With Frank Brown in Kiev, Stryker Mcguire in London and Eve Conant in Washington) The verdict on Ukraine's presidential election was nearly unanimous. "Fraud" was the word most often used. "We cannot accept this...

Enter 'Le Terminator'; Time to dump freedom fries and swill Dom Perignon?(Nicolas Sarkozy)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Christopher Dickey (With Eric Pape and Tracy McNicoll in Paris) Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nicolas Sarkozy, a slightly built pretender to the French presidency, would not seem to have a whole lot in common. But Sarkozy loves to...

No Guts, No Glory, No Peace; In exclusive interviews, Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas survey the future.(Interview)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Lally Weymouth Yasir Arafat's death has opened an unexplored landscape of hopes and hazards for Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, having just quelled a revolt within his own Likud Party over plans for a...

Tag-Teaming The Mullahs; Military strikes would do limited damage to Iran's nuclear facilities, rally the country round the regime and isolate Washington.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Fareed Zakaria (Write the author at comments@fareedzakaria.com.) Anyone who tells you that he has a clear solution to the problem posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions is not being honest. It's about as tough as foreign-policy problems...

The Editor's Desk.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Mark Whitaker The holiday season is a time to gather together with family and friends and share old memories. But it's also a time when we can become all too aware that our recall isn't as sharp as it once was. In our last Health...

Totally Ludacris; The rapper tries breaking new ground--and asks NEWSWEEK's Lorraine Ali if he's hit paydirt.(Interview)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Lorraine Ali On Ludacris's fourth CD, "Red Light District," the Atlanta rapper leaves the 24/7 party behind for more experimental, emotional terrain. He still tangles with "manicured and pedicured" ladies, and takes a jab at Bill...

Kingdom Kong; Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' was one for the ages. Now he's remaking 'King Kong,' the movie that changed his young life. An exclusive visit to the set.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Jeff Giles Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are indisputably different people, but it is tempting sometimes to think of them as three voices in one person's head. One voice is exuberant (Boyens), one hilariously bleak...

Leapin' Wizards! The supersize 'Rings' finale arrives on DVD.(The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)(Video Recording Review)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Devin Gordon Is there anyone in the world more psyched about "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" extended edition than Christopher Lee? The only sour moment in the trilogy's public run came when Lee, who plays the...

I Can Do Anything, So How Do I Choose? With countless options and all the freedom I'll ever need, comes the pressure to find the perfect life.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Jenny Norenberg (Norenberg lives in Chicago.) For the most part, my women friends and I were kids of upper-middle-class privilege, raised to believe that, with hard work and a little courage, the world was ours. We climbed mountains...

Rove Unleashed; For the past 30 years he's focused like a laser on George W. Bush. What does Karl Rove do for an encore? The plans for a permanent GOP majority.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Howard Fineman It was the day before Thanksgiving, November 1973. Things were quiet enough at the Republican National Committee for the chairman to spend a few minutes on parental logistics. His eldest son was taking the train down...

Slaughter in the Woods; A hunting trip turns deadly, and a community recoils.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Dirk Johnson (With Matthew Gruchow in Wisconsin) It was a crisp Sunday afternoon in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, soaring trees naked in a fading autumn, the fields cleared by harvest and white-tail deer in abundance. For sportsmen,...

A Civil-Rights Engine Implodes; In the past, 'the SCLC was threatened from the outside, which we overcame,' says Shuttlesworth. 'Now it's people on the inside.'.(Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Ellis Cose (With Vern E. Smith in Atlanta) Death is an inevitable part of life, but to watch one of America's most hallowed civil-rights organizations slowly fall apart is to feel shock and deep sadness--not simply at the passing of...

Wishing on a Star; CBS executives would love a big-name anchor to fill Dan Rather's chair next March. A NEWSWEEK exclusive.
December 6, 2004... ***** CORRECTION: Clarification: In "Wishing On A Star" (Dec. 6), we reported that Dan Rather acknowledged that a "60 Minutes II" report about President Bush was based on "forged" documents. That characterization doesn't accurately reflect...

Newsmakers.(Robert Downey, Jr.)(Interview)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Nicki Gostin, Jac Chebatoris Q&A: Robert Downey Jr. For years, Robert Downey Jr. was in the news for his problems with drugs and his stays in jail. Now he's healthy and happy, and has a new CD out called "The Futurist." He talked...

Perspectives.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Quotation sources from top to bottom, left to right: CBS, Associated Press (2), New York Daily News, MSNBC, Billboard Magazine, Associated Press, New York Times (2), New York Daily News, Reuters "I've decided that it's time to move...

Intel Reform: Did Bush Push Hard?(intelligence)(George W. Bush)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Michael Isikoff and Eleanor Clift The White House publicly bemoaned Congress's failure to pass a sweeping measure to overhaul the U.S. intelligence community--a top 9/11 Commission recommendation--and said it would press to revive...

Yusuf Islam: Once a Cat, Never a Ringo.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Mark Hosenball One fan British singer Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) may wish he never had is Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind Egyptian preacher serving life in U.S. prison for plotting to bomb New York City landmarks. The blind sheik's...

Condi: Who Will Be Her No. 2?(Condeleezza Rice)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Mark Hosenball A popular parlor game in Washington is figuring out who Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice's top deputies will be. The diplomatic community is speculating that Rice and her transition team, composed of...

The Inaugural: Financing The Fete.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Holly Bailey More than a dozen of President Bush's top fund-raisers have been tapped to collect millions to pay for festivities tied to his second Inauguration next month. Among those heading up the fund-raising effort is Mercer...

Troops: The Pen-Pal Platoon.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Lisa Helem Army Sgt. Juan Salas, 23, recalls what he missed most while serving in Iraq: hot showers, clean socks, his mom's Venezuelan corncake dish (arepas) and his family. That's why it meant so much to get notes from home...

Zoos: High-Sky Bird's Eye.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Karen Springen Scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society took counting sheep high tech earlier this month when they started tallying animals at New York City's Bronx Zoo--from space. Researchers used high-resolution digital...

COLLEGE Major: Workout.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: KAREN SPRINGEN Talk about sweating your courseload: Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind., will become the first college nationwide to offer a four-year degree with a concentration in personal-fitness training. Next fall...

Books: Pop Goes The Poster.(The Art of Modern Rock)(Book Review)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Devin Gordon Concert posters, as any rockologist will tell you, are the Van Goghs and Matisses of the music scene. And in 1987, author Paul Grushkin cobbled together an encyclopedia of the genre's best in an eight-pound hernia of a...

Britain: Can't Buy Me Lard.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Ginanne Brownell Christmas may not be a very merry holiday in Britain thanks to an impending lard crisis. (Yes, lard crisis. ) The Morrisons grocery chain has warned shoppers, who use the pork fat to bake flaky pie crusts, that it...

Art: Is It Authentic? Follow the Algorithm.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Lisa Helem Dartmouth College computer scientists have formulated a technique that could help authenticate art--with math. Dan Rockmore, Hany Farid and Siwei Lyu examined "Madonna and Child" (left). Though it's credited to the...

Snap Judgement: Books.(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
December 6, 2004... Baking Illustrated Better cooking through chemistry. Let those food scientists in Boston make the mistakes for you. Cook's Illustrated; $35. On Food and Cooking Buy this for your library. Harold McGee is every food expert's secret...

Happy Divorce; Are the days of the nasty split over? For the sake of the kids, some exes spend holidays together and bring along their new partners. Pass the tolerance, please.
December 6, 2004... ***** CORRECTION: Clarification: In "Happy Divorce" (Dec. 6) the full title of the book by Jann Blackstone-Ford and Sharyl Jupe should be "Ex-Etiquette for Parents: Good Behavior After a Divorce or Separation." ***** Byline:...

Four More Years to Finally Get It Right; In the new devices, a voter has no way of proving that his or her choice is reported in the final tally.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Steven Levy Almost a month after the presidential election, I'm still getting missives from people who insist that things don't smell right. They draw on a litany of irregularities that are well-circulated in the blogosphere, the...

Holograms: Phone Calls in 3-D.(See-Linder)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: N'GAI CROAL The S.O.S. from Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" and the holodeck in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" did a lot to popularize the idea of holography. Now researchers at Tokyo University hope to take holograms...

Technology: Beyond The Video Store.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh If you stumbled into a video store over Thanksgiving weekend, you probably witnessed the same frenzy we did. The new-release shelves looked like a scene from "Twister." You couldn't even find "Nemo." And the checkout...

Theater / Hot Seats.(Brief Article)(Directory)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Raina Kelley Off-Broadway is the traditional home of New York's more experimental theater. A winter preview. The Baltimore Waltz: A gorgeous revival about a dying woman who finds the meaning of life. Until Jan. 9;...

Uncorked / California Cabernet.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... No collection of California wines is complete without one of the state's superstars: Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine Spectator reviewed almost 500 wines from the outstanding 2001 vintage, with these five among the standouts. They may be tough to track...

Road Test/ Lotus Elise; Go, Speed Racer, Go.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Tara Weingarten Though I've never driven a go-cart through city streets, I now feel as if I'm an expert at it. With my tush just inches from the pavement, I darted around Los Angeles in the Lotus Elise. Lotus's racing heritage is...

Money: Just Rewards.(asking for a raise)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anna Kuchment Santa's not the only one with a naughty-and-nice list. Your boss, too, decides who gets a gift (a raise or promotion) and who gets a lump of coal (nada). Assuming you've worked hard all year, how else can you boost...

Travel: Vacation Down Under.(Sydney, Australia)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Michelle Jana Chan If you're dying for a chance to explore the Outback, postpone winter and schedule a trip to Sydney, where it's summer in December. Eat fresh lobster, chilled crab and Western Australian marrons at Wildfire's Sea...

Home: New Flame In Town.(artificial logs )(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anne Taulane Firelogs just got eco-friendlier. Clean-air groups have been praising man-made logs for having lower fireplace emissions than cordwood, and now manufacturers are offering ones with more natural ingredients. Duraflame...

Gadgets: The Ringback Rag.(wireless service providers offer programmed songs instead of ringing)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Peter Suciu The next time friends call you, they might get Lil' Kim on the line. Wireless service providers will soon begin offering "ringbacks"--programmed songs that dialers hear instead of the standard ring when they call you....

Pets: Dog Days Of Winter.(buying a puppy)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anne Taulane Puppies rank up there with baby brothers and world peace as popular yet hard-to-deliver gifts on kids' Christmas lists. But if you're buying one, here are tips from Petsmart vet Robyn Jaynes. Study up. Learn about...

Books: Getting Religion.(Bibliography)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Karen Springen The holidays can prompt kids to ask complex questions about religion. To help answer them, parents can turn to these new, thought-provoking books: Kaddish for Grandpa in Jesus' Name, Amen by James Howe ($16.95;...

Ask Tip Sheet.(John Doe)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Byline: Anne Taulane What is the origin of the term "John Doe"? --Jacquelyn Gaddess, Franklyn, Pa. While a frequent character on today's TV crime dramas, John Doe actually got his start in the English court system. Prior to 1852, this...

I'll Never Stop Saying Maria; Swimming underwater at 2, jumping off the diving board at 3, barreling off a cliff into the Caribbean at 5--that's my wild, brave girl.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Anna Quindlen Sixteen years ago something unexpected happened: I became the mother of a daughter. Our assumptions about the unlikelihood of this had a weird logic, my husband the eldest in a family of six boys, our first two...

Woman of Mystery; Were Raphael and 'La Fornarina' a Renaissance item? She's not talking.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Peter Plagens His bio reads like a rock star's. A precocious talent, he never married because, he said, it would have hurt his career. But he moved his girlfriend in with him while he worked his last gig--then died at the age of 37...

Murder in the Making; How John Wilkes Booth staged his tragedy of revenge.(American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the incoln Conspiracies)(Book Review)
December 13, 2004... Byline: David Gates When Abraham Lincoln delivered his second Inaugural Address--"With malice toward none; with charity for all"--the man who would assassinate him six weeks later "was even then standing just a few feet away." Or so...

What Lies Beneath; A dazzling thriller looks at the truth from all angles.(Book Review)
December 13, 2004... Byline: Malcolm Jones Do not judge this book by its dull, arty cover. Do not be put off by the oh-so-literary title (what were they thinking--the author, his editor, his publisher?). Go directly to the first page of Elliot Perlman's debut...

Seeing Green; Being an 'environmental industrialist' wasn't as easy as Bill Ford thought. But now that his car company's back in the black, he wants to get back to the garden.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Keith Naughton Even when he's getting his Saturday-morning espresso at Starbucks, Bill Ford Jr. can't escape the pressures of being Detroit's best-known environmentalist. On his days off lately, the automotive scion and CEO of Ford...

Strings Attached; Isaac Stern's kids say they were cut out of his estate.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Charles Gasparino (With Kathryn Williams) Michael Stern, one of three grown children of the late violinist Isaac Stern, knew something was amiss after a call from a violist he knew in the Philadelphia Orchestra. His friend told him...

New Marketers For Mushy Math; Hooking me on Raisin Bran is one thing. But hooking lenders and politicians on programs that don't really add up is much more difficult.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Allan Sloan (Sloan is NEWSWEEK's Wall Street editor. His e-mail is sloan@panix.com.) It's become a Washington routine: President George W. Bush once again shuffling his economic team, with word emanating from the White House that...

Conventional Wisdom; Great White North Edition.
December 13, 2004... Thousands of Democrats said they'd move to Canada if Bush got re-elected. So guess who went to Ottawa last week? You got it CW Cabinet = Ridge got tangled in duct tape. Thompson snipes about food safety on exit. Will...

Mail Call.(Letter to the Editor)
December 13, 2004... Reacting to the Hottest New Show on TV Readers offered their opinions of "Desperate Housewives," the hit-show phenomenon explored in our Nov. 29 cover story. Most were unimpressed. One man wrote, "These beautiful, affluent women certainly...

Putin's Pratfall; Russia's leader thought Ukraine was in his pocket--until Ukrainians showed how badly he had miscalculated. But the former KGB colonel still isn't about to abandon his dream of bringing back the Kremlin's glory days of worldwide influence.(Vladimir Putin)
December 13, 2004... Byline: Michael Hirsh and Frank Brown (With Eve Conant and John Barry in Washington) To Vladimir Putin, the cheers ringing through Kiev's aptly named Independence Square must have sounded like catcalls from hell. Only three weeks before,...

How Many Boots on the Ground; Pushing the limits of U.S. deployments in Iraq.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Rod Nordland (With Babak Dehghanpisheh in Baghdad and John Barry and Eve Conant in Washington) Many U.S. troops say it's one more broken promise. They landed in Iraq planning to rotate out after six months. Then Washington extended...

When the U.N. Fails, We All Do; 'In a sense things got better after the peacekeepers left,' Rusesabagina told me. 'People realized no one was going to help them.'.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Fareed Zakaria (Write the author at comments@fareedzakaria.com.) You have never heard of Paul Rusesabagina. But if you watch the stunning new movie "Hotel Rwanda," you will never forget him. The movie tells the true story of...

The Editor's Desk.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Mark Whitaker From the early days of his youth, Jon Meacham has been drawn to both faith and history. He began hearing the Nicene Creed as a 4-year-old at the kindergarten of St. Nicholas School in Chattanooga, Tenn., and its...

The Mouths that Roared; Forget about sales, forget about hype, forget about controversy. Check out 2004's true top 10.(Bibliography)
December 13, 2004... Byline: Lorraine Ali There's been a wealth of music to celebrate this year, though we had to scour albums from San Francisco to Senegal to find it. Here's a list of contenders who should find their way to your heart, or at least your CD...

Perfectly Miserable; He's creepy and he's kooky, mysterious and spooky. He's Count Olaf, and he's after the Baudelaire orphans in 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.' An exclusive look at the new movie--and its dark, stormy past.(Movie Review)
December 13, 2004... Byline: Sean Smith What are the chances of me getting into a seduction scene with Meryl Streep?" Jim Carrey asks. Slim. But like most things you'd rather not see, it's happening anyway. Here, on a soundstage south of Los Angeles, where...

Style Over Substance; 'Ocean's Twelve' is a blast, at least for the cool cast.(Movie Review)
December 13, 2004... Byline: David Ansen The boys are back in town. Actually, they're in several European towns this time--Amsterdam, Rome, the shores of Lake Como--all because nasty Vegas entrepreneur Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the man from whom they stole...

Invading His Spacey; Kevin Spacey, the director and star of a new Bobby Darin biopic, spars with NEWSWEEK's David Ansen.
December 13, 2004... Byline: David Ansen Beyond the Sea" tells the life story of singer Bobby Darin (Kevin Spacey), framing it as a musical film he's making about his life. Raised in the Bronx, Darin's not expected to live past 15, a consequence of rheumatic...

The True Confessions Of a Former Snowflake; I performed 'The Nutcracker' 700 times--now one note of 'Arabian Dance' can make me flee the mall.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Viki Bromberg-Psihoyos (Bromberg-Psihoyos lives in Boulder, Colo.) Music triggers memories, some sweeter than others. For most people, the Tchaikovsky score of "The Nutcracker Suite" evokes warm images of holidays and loved ones,...

Enter the 'Mayhem Magnet'; Out with the mild pol. In with the streetwise leg breaker. Can anybody fix Homeland Security?(Bernard Kerik)
December 13, 2004... Byline: Evan Thomas and Mark Hosenball (With Rebecca Sinderbrand and T. Trent Gegax in New York and Tamara Lipper and Michael Isikoff in Washington Graphic by Andrew Romano) The Department of Homeland Security is a bureaucratic nightmare....

Stalking a Serial Killer; A murderer has haunted Wichita for years. The cops--and a worldwide web of Net sleuths--are on the case.
December 13, 2004... Byline: Dirk Johnson and Sarah Childress (With Courtney Cloyd and Glen Sharp in Kansas and Andrew Murr in Los Angeles) He carries no badge. But Tom Voigt burns with the passion of a detective. Armed with just a computer, he is hellbent on...

Newsmakers.(Cate Blancehtt)(Interview)
December 13, 2004... Byline: Nicki Gostin, David J. Jefferson, Devin Gordon Q&A: Cate Blanchett She arrived with "Elizabeth," and now Cate Blanchett is tackling Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator." The Oscar nominee spoke with a fellow...