COVER: "ENOUGH! A Conservative's Case Against Limbaugh" (p. 26). David Frum, editor of NewMajority.com, examines radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's impact on the GOP. Rush is a seriously unpopular figure among the voters that conservatives and Republicans need to reach. He's not popular among independents, according to the latest Newsweek Poll. Limbaugh is especially off-putting to women: his audience is 72 percent male, according to Pew Research. And the host quipped on his broadcast that he should convene a summit because of gender gap in his personal approval numbers. "Limbaugh was kidding about the summit. But his quip acknowledged something that eludes many of those who would make him the arbiter of Republican authenticity: from a political point of view, Limbaugh is kryptonite, weakening the GOP nationally."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188279
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090308/NYSU002 )
NATION: "You Can't Go Home Again" (p. 30). Senior Writer and Political Correspondent Jonathan Darman reports from Orange County, California, the birthplace of the modern conservative movement. But Orange County is starting to change. One day last summer, Barack Obama picked up $1.2 million. In November, he got nearly 48 percent of the vote there. County Republican chairman Scott Baugh is unconcerned and says last fall was an anomaly. "Every 16 years, the Democrats come to power and instantly overreach. In less than 100 days ... that's what we've seen from President Obama." This is the best hope for the Republican Party now -- that the old magic still works.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188153
IRAQ: "Curse of Al Khansaa" (p. 34). Reporter Jessica Ramirez reports on a group of women in Duluiyah, Iraq who were once poised to be suicide bombers but have publicly renounced Al Qaeda and everything it stands for. But their neighbors still want nothing to do with them. The women have been forbidden by police to veil their faces, so they can always be recognized on the street. While in many places -- including in Duluiyah -- former insurgents have switched sides and returned to normal life, the wounds of Iraq's civil war are not easily healed. In all too many cases, as the women of Khansaa have discovered, fear still trumps forgiveness.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188148
JACOB WEISBERG: "The Staying Power of the S Word" (p. 39). Contributing Editor Jacob Weisburg writes that conservatives have "finally figured out their critique of President Obama's agenda: he wants to make us French." The indictment that Obama wants to foist foreign ways upon us "echoes the claim by Roosevelt's critics that he wanted to usher in socialism under cover of the New Deal. It similarly misreads the president's substantive views ... and what is within the realm of the possible in our country. Obama gets that we want government to fix the free market, not take its place."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188154
BUSINESS: "Cash in a Mattress? No, Gold in the Closet" (p. 40). Senior Editor Lisa Miller reports on the rising number of people who are buying gold coins and bars, an investment while the economy tanks. The price of gold is near an all-time high -- it topped $1,000 an ounce on March 13 -- yet the number of Americans who are taking delivery of gold coins and bars is rising. According to the World Gold Council, Americans bought 600 tons of gold bars and coins in 2008, a 42 percent increase over 2007.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188138
BUSINESS: "Where Death Comes Cheap" (p. 45). Associate Editor Matthew Philips reports that the $15 billion funeral industry has always been seen as recession-proof. But this recession is proving different. Families are beginning to seek ways to cut bills that were once seen as sacrosanct. Long-term trends (like the growing acceptance of cremation) are coalescing with the down economy to lead some industry veterans to sense a shift. "There's a major movement toward low-cost options right now," says R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in Wheaton, Ill., who writes an industry blog called Your Funeral Guy. "Those businesses that adjust will do fine -- and those that don't will be gone."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188139
SHARON BEGLEY: "The Recession's Green Lining" (p. 48). Senior Editor and Columnist Sharon Begley writes that where environmentalists have failed in their quests to shut down polluters like factories, the global recession has succeeded. "It is no coincidence that some of the world's dirtiest industrial operations are falling victim to the global recession," Begley writes. Since small, corner-cutting, "inefficient facilities tend to both flout pollution laws and be most vulnerable to a sudden drop in demand, the global recession has hit such operations especially hard." She writes that recession is not exactly a long-term environmental strategy, however. "The challenge is to use the downturn to de-emphasize manufacturing in favor of cleaner economic activity, and to reengineer what survives so that when the economy revs up it's not at the environment's expense."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188200
JUSTICE: "A Very Hellish Journey" (p. 50). Washington Correspondent Eve Conant reports on the case of Jay Dobyns, an ATF agent who went undercover with the Hell's Angels, an operation that ended with the arrest of 52 people, leading to the indictment of 16 Hell's Angels. The ATF awarded Dobyns the Distinguished Service Medal, he has a book out about it and sold the movie rights to his story. But in the years since the sting ended, he has had a hard time returning to the life of an ordinary citizen. He says the Hell's Angels are after him and his family, but worst of all, the ATF treats him like a pariah. He says the agency has done little to protect him or to go after the people who want him dead.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188155
ENTERTAINMENT: "A Show 2 Lame 2 Miss" (p. 52). Associate Editor Joshua Alston reviews a concert in Orem, Utah of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. The pairing raises a lot of questions, but really only one: Why? Fans drove from all over the state for the one-night-only event. Even though their music has come to represent all that was cheesy about the '90s, instead of hiding from it these two old friends perform it. It's a feat requiring either a complete lack of self-awareness or an overabundance of it. Most would settle for the former, but don't hate on Hammer and Ice for choosing the latter.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188027
MOVIES: "Why Is This Woman Smiling?" (p. 55). General Editor Ramin Setoodeh reports that Julia Roberts is poised to make her triumphant return to movies with the romantic spy thriller "Duplicity" costarring Clive Owen. She's back with her red hair, the wicked tongue from "Erin Brockovich" and that infectious, giddy laugh. But, as Setoodeh reports, the multiplex is a different beast now, dominated by 3,000 screens of dude movies. The romantic-comedy genre where Julia thrives ("Notting Hill," "Runaway Bride," etc.) is practically on life support. Movie stars themselves -- the kind of people who can open a film big on their names alone -- have become a dying breed.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/187934
/PRNewswire -- March 8/
