The Atlantic | January 2001 I ARRIVED on Pompano, an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, on a hot day last July, hoping to be on hand when the drillers hit pay. Pompano, which belongs to BP (the former British Petroleum, now merged with Amoco and ARCO), stands in 1,295 feet of water about eighty…
The New Republic | May 22, 2000 IN early 1998, if you had rummaged through the questions that pollsters tuck in, almost as afterthoughts, at the end of their surveys, you might have noticed something peculiar. Gallup asked people whether they approved or disapproved of the job performance of five past presidents:…
National Journal | September 4, 1999 NOT long after the end of the Second World War, a young man named Shiu-kee gathered up a few things and set out to walk from a small village in the Guangdong province of southeastern China. The young man possessed almost nothing in the world, and he hoped to…
The Economist | December 17, 1998[Like most Economist articles, this was published anonymously] HOW, if at all, will the 1990s be remembered? The Internet rose and the Soviet Union fell. Mammals were cloned, Bosnia broke up, and peace came to Ireland, maybe. Something happened in Canada, though no one was sure precisely what. On the whole it…
National Journal | September 19, 1998 ON FEB. 12, Americans awoke to read in their newspapers that the U.S. government–settler of the West, vanquisher of totalitarianism, conqueror of the moon–now writes the rules of golf. Casey Martin is a professional golfer who suffers from Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome, a congenital circulatory disorder that gives him pain and…
Slate.com | Aug. 14, 1998 FIRST, to prevent any misunderstanding, the warning: Alcohol, when abused, is vicious, dangerous stuff. Each year about 100,000 Americans die alcohol-related deaths. No one should drink and drive or drink to excess. Some people–teen-agers, people on contraindicated medications, pregnant women, and those who have trouble controlling their consumption–should avoid alcohol,…
National Journal | May 30, 1998 JACKSONVILLE, FLA.—The corner of Sixth and Davis Streets is a kind of cemetery without graves. Nothing remains here but vacant lots and wild grass that ripples in Florida’s gray spring wind. You have to use your imagination to see this place as it was in 1981, when there were…
National Journal | March 14, 1998 ON FEB. 11, Attorney General Janet Reno called for an independent prosecutor to find out whether Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt lied to Congress last year when he testified about a controversial Indian casino deal. For Babbitt and some other Administration insiders, the most important aspect of the case is…
The New Republic | June 23, 1997 SONYA McIntyre-Handy, a Unitarian, felt hounded by Christians at work. Her colleagues at a Virginia state social-service agency conducted a prayer session around her desk, complete with raised hands and speaking in tongues; they left a “letter from Jesus” on her desk. Her supervisors, she claimed, asked her…
Slate.com | May 30, 1997 LOCKED in the Cabinet, Robert Reich’s new memoir of his years as labor secretary in the Clinton administration, is an engaging policy memoir: insightful, often witty and, what’s most unusual for wonk kiss and tells, easy to read, partly because it’s told in long stretches of well-written dialogue that add…