Newsweek: "'How Could I?': The Confessions of Eliot Spitzer"

The April 27 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands April 20), "'How Could I?': The Confessions of Eliot Spitzer," paints a revealing portrait of the fallen New York Governor, his emergence from exile, and his struggle to understand why he did what he did-and what he should do now. Plus: President Obama's decision to release CIA memos on torture; the return of the family bank; what it's like being black at Princeton today; David McCullough on saving the Brooklyn Bridge, and, in "Health for Life," the latest research on the science of forgetting. (PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 04/18/2009

19 Apr 2009 18:25 Africa/Lagos


NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/April 27, 2009 Issue

(on newsstands Monday, April 20)


COVER: "'How Could I?': The Confessions of Eliot Spitzer." Drawing on weeks of interviews with the fallen New York governor, Senior Writer and Political Correspondent Jonathan Darman paints a revealing portrait of a wounded political animal, his emergence from exile and his ongoing struggle to understand why he did what he did -- and what he should do now. Spitzer tells Darman that, when he hired a prostitute, he knew he was doing something wrong. "No question about that." Did he know what the risk was? "Yes." Spitzer was silent for a moment and then, without further prompting, offered an explanation: "I'm not going to say anything that ... should be thought to be an excuse for anything. But there's got to be some element to its being a result of tension and release. And that builds up." When asked if his reemergence meant he could run again for office, Spitzer responded, "I don't know if I could, but I can tell you that is not what this is about." Darman notes, "For those not skilled in politician-speak, note that he didn't say no."



http://www.newsweek.com/id/194590

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090419/NY01232 )


PERISCOPE: "Piracy: The Danger of Escalation." President Obama's decision to authorize the Pentagon to kill three Somali pirates who took an American sea captain hostage sent shudders through the world's shipping and insurance industries, reports Investigative Correspondent Mark Hosenball. Because the pirates are motivated chiefly by money, maritime experts say, they have -- at least until now -- taken good care of the crews they hold captive. A document retrieved from a ship hijacked last year contained a "list of written rules" of conduct pirates had to follow, according to a maritime security expert. The document included a series of "punishments" to be imposed on any hijacker who struck a hostage. Industry experts say the only solution to piracy is the creation of a viable Somali government back on dry land.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194625


JUSTICE: "The Lawyer and The Caterpillar." Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas report on President Obama's decision to release the Justice Department's documents spelling out the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA and permitted by Department of Justice lawyers. Though administration officials declared that CIA interrogators who followed Justice's legal guidance on torture would not be prosecuted, that does not mean the inquiries are over. Senior Justice Department lawyers and other advisers, who declined to be identified discussing a sensitive subject, say Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has discussed naming a senior prosecutor or outside counsel to investigate whether CIA interrogators exceeded legal boundaries -- and whether Bush administration officials broke the law by giving the CIA permission to torture in the first place.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194595


JUSTICE: "The Long Arm of The Law." Contributing Editor Stuart Taylor Jr. and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas report on Harold Hongju Koh, who will likely be confirmed by the Senate as the top legal adviser to the State Department. But his rather abstruse views on what he calls "transnational jurisprudence" deserve a close look because -- taken to their logical extreme -- they could erode American democracy and sovereignty.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194651


INTERNATIONAL: "'Bring Me My Machine Gun'." Africa Bureau Chief Scott Johnson and Special Correspondent Karen McGregor report on South Africa's likely new president, Jacob Zuma, the head of the ruling African National Congress who is facing only token opposition in this week's election. Zuma, who revels in his tribal roots, will be the first real African president, which can be troubling. The continent is littered with the wreckage of countries that were driven into the ground by similarly charismatic postcolonial leaders. He is extraordinarily intelligent, despite his lack of formal schooling. But he's inheriting some vast challenges: crime-ravaged cities, a reeling economy and the ongoing AIDS crisis.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194586


BUSINESS: "Main Street Money." Senior Editor Michael Hirsh reports on the Welter family in Valparaiso, Indiana, who opened First National Bank, grew the business as a family and then ended up selling it to a bigger bank. Now, 61-year-old Chuck Welter -- who was fired in 2006 by his own brother in part for hewing to traditional banking values during the subprime-mortgage mania -- wants a fresh start in banking. Once seen as a fuddy duddy even by his own family, he finds himself very much in vogue, in a retro kind of way. In recent months Welter and his daughter Katy became one of a handful of investor groups across the country to gain approval for a national charter for a new bank from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. While America's global banking industry is not going to start acting like community banks, the government seems intent on promoting traditional practices.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194579


SOCIETY: "Black in The Age Of Obama." Senior Writer Andrew Romano and Special Correspondent Aku Ammah-Tagoe report on what life is like now at Princeton University, in "post-racial" America, where race isn't supposed to matter anymore. Except when it does. Initially linked to Barack Obama, the term "post-racial" has now expanded to encompass the era his election has ushered in. But in the real world, post-racialism is something of a mirage. For most Americans, it's little more than a convenient cable-news catchphrase. It's only at places like Princeton, a selective, self-sufficient institution, that anything even remotely resembling a post-racial America is supposed to have taken shape. Two of the first multigenerational African-American families to pass through Princeton discuss how life on the front lines of racial progress has changed over the past four decades.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194592


HEALTH FOR LIFE: "To Pluck a Rooted Sorrow." Senior Writer Claudia Kalb examines the latest research on the science of forgetting: how and why we lose memories. Researchers are raising the stakes: can certain memories be intentionally targeted and changed, maybe even eradicated? Scientists who study this are transforming what we know about how our brains process the images and sounds and feelings we encounter. One day, the research might lead to innovative treatments for conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder and addiction. But there is also plenty of debate over the science of forgetting. Is it ethical? Is it real? Dr. Eric Kandel, a Nobel Prize winner in the field, says science must move forward but "removing memory gets into dangerous territory. We have to think about it very carefully."


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194583


IDEAS: "Sexual Masters of the Universe." With the release of an exhaustive new biography on William Masters and Virginia Johnson -- the couple behind Masters and Johnson, the biggest brand in postwar sex research -- Senior Writer Andrew Romano looks back and explores what exactly the beaded, bearded, braless sexual revolution has to do with America's current attitudes toward copulation. He concludes that although "rescuing sex from the ancient mists of myth, mystery and religiosity left America a happier and healthier place," our attempts to liberate sexual pleasure from the grip of old-fashioned love had the opposite effect. Millennials are surprisingly turned off by -- or at least not especially excited about -- the prospect of loveless sex.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194642


BOOKS: "Rat, Toad and Mole Get Footnotes." Senior Writer Jeremy McCarter reviews two new annotated versions of Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows." He writes that although the volumes are laden with buzz-killing trivia, they offer insights that burnish the book. Sometimes because of their efforts and sometimes in spite of them, Grahame's weird masterpiece seems as charming as ever -- but also sadder, more enduring and more necessary.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/194578


/PRNewswire -- April 19/


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Source: Newsweek

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