The Dignity Index: Home of the Whiners | Newsweek Scope

A Bunch of Hypocrites?
Holly Bailey 10/3/2009 12:00:00 AM
Nancy Pelosi likes to brag that she's "drained the swamp" when it comes to corruption in the House, but ethics problems could come back to haunt Democrats in 2010. Democrats are currently the subject of 12 of the 16 complaints pending before the House ethics committee. Two of the lawmakers under scrutiny—Reps. Jack Murtha and Charlie Rangel—have close ties to Pelosi, who has come under criticism for not asking them to resign their committee posts. Murtha, chairman of a key defense-appropriations subcommittee, is is not formally under investigation but the ethics committee is reviewing political contributions he and other House lawmakers received from lobbying firm whose clients received millions of dollars in Defense earmarks. Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, is facing scrutiny for not fully disclosing assets. The ethics committee is also looking into ties between Rangel and a developer who leased rent-controlled apartments to the congressman, and whether Rangel improperly used his House office to raise funds for a public policy institute in his name. Rangel and Murtha deny any wrongdoing. (Another lawmaker under investigation: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who, according to the committee, "may have offered to raise funds" for then–Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for the president's Senate seat—a charge Jackson denies. The panel deferred its probe at the request of the Justice Department, which is conducting its own inquiry.)
Our 10 Favorite Crime Novels
Malcolm Jones 8/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
1. The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler: Philip Marlowe has no serious competition as the quintessential hardboiled private eye. Here he travels through a Los Angeles where nothing—or at least anything good—is what it seems.
Q&A
He’s the Angel of Harlem
Richard M. Smith 2/14/2009 12:00:00 AM
The New York Times has called it one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time. The Harlem Children's Zone grew out of a small truancy-prevention program that started in the 1970s, and today it provides educational, social and medical services to more than 10,000 young people and 5,000 adults across 100 city blocks. In the latest in his series of interviews as part of NEWSWEEK's partnership with the Kaplan University M.B.A. program, NEWSWEEK Chairman Richard M. Smith spoke with the group's founder and CEO, Geoffrey Canada, about leading a nonprofit. Excerpts:
CAMPAIGN 2008
Election Confessions
Jessica Bennett 11/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
WASHINGTON
A Worried World

The Democrats' victory in last week's U.S. midterm elections thrilled many Europeans eager for George W. Bush to get his comeuppance. But not every nation is celebrating. Led by incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Dems are notoriously tough on human rights, trade and environmental issues. "Every one of our trading partners should be concerned," says Daniel Griswold, director of the Washington-based Cato Institute Center for Trade Policy Studies.
Perspectives