Dignity Index: Sean Avery, Plaxico Burress | Newsweek Scope

The End of the Rainbow
Mark Hosenball 7/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
The Obama administration next week is expected to create an official committee to consider modifying or even abolishing the widely ridiculed color-coded terrorism alert system introduced by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks.
The Keystone Cause
Eleanor Clift 4/28/2009 12:00:00 AM
"Good riddance," crowed the National Republican Campaign Committee, but that sentiment doesn't come close to summing up the reaction among most Senate Republicans to losing Arlen Specter, a stalwart in Beltway politics for more than a quarter century. The GOP is putting up a brave front, claiming that Pennsylvania voters will have a clear choice now that "left-leaning" Republican-in-name-only Specter is out of the closet. Still, the reaction from Olympia Snowe, now one of barely a half dozen moderate Republicans left in the Senate, might be more accurate. "For me personally and then for the party, its devastating," Snowe told CNN.
Q&A
The Mexican Problem
Mark Hosenball 3/14/2009 12:00:00 AM
Among the burning issues vying for President Obama's attention, the drug war in Mexico is increasingly near the top. Phoenix is now the kidnapping capital of the United States, thanks largely to the cartels operating on both sides of the border. And government agencies are preparing contingency plans for a dramatic rise in the violence. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told NEWSWEEK that more law-enforcement officials will be sent to the border in the coming weeks. She said their mandate would be not just preventing drugs and cartel members from entering the United States but stemming the flow of cash and weapons from the U.S. to Mexico. Napolitano spoke to NEWSWEEK's Mark Hosenball and Dan Ephron. Excerpts:
POLITICS
Building Back
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 12/17/2008 12:00:00 AM
America has failed to invest in its infrastructure for the past 50 years, and the bill is coming due. The situation is reminiscent of the ancient Roman Empire, which grew strong because of its advanced aqueduct system, but which fell into decline when that feat of engineering tumbled into disrepair. We're in danger of repeating that history, but it's not too late to fix the problem if we take decisive action now.
The Starving States
Howard Fineman 12/2/2008 12:00:00 AM
Ben Franklin invented the fire-fighting cooperative here in Philadelphia in the 18th century. But now his beloved and still gracious city has lost so much tax revenue in the Great Recession that it is shuttering firehouses from Northern Liberties to South Street.
LETTERS
Angry Young Men From One Town

"The Martyr Factory": Readers were fascinated by the tale of a small Libyan town's disproportionate contribution to the pool of Iraqi suicide bombers. One found Kevin Peraino's cover story "historically interesting, insightful and painfully revealing of the festering, fearful issues that exist in the Middle East today." Another pointed to the "lethal combination of indolence, hopeless economic and marital prospects, and a fanatical religion—where vengeance against the United States, a historic enemy from the Tripolitan wars, buttresses a convenient outlet for these frustrations."