COVER: “The Mystery of Epilepsy” (p. 38). Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham writes
that we need more of a cancerlike sensibility around epilepsy. We cannot
usually see our friends’ cancer, but we do not hesitate to invest the search
for a cure for different cancers with the utmost cultural and political
importance. We must now do the same with epilepsy. The toll of epilepsy has
been overlooked — and the research underfunded — for too long. Public and
private funding for research lag far behind other neurological afflictions.
Epilepsy in America is as common as breast cancer, and takes as many lives. A
mysterious and widely misunderstood affliction, epilepsy is a disorder in
which the brain produces sudden bursts of electrical energy that can interfere
with a person’s consciousness, movements or sensations. By some estimates,
the mortality rate for people with epilepsy is two to three times higher –
and the risk of sudden death is 24 times greater — than that of the general
population. Yet epilepsy still receives too little attention, either from the
medical community or the public at large.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193586

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090412/NY97676 )

“In The Grip of the Unknown” (p. 43). SeniorEditor Jerry Adler and
Contributor Eliza Gray profile a doctor on the front lines of the epilepsy
wars, Orrin Devinsky of NYU. Adler and Gray write, “There are, at this time,
only a few ways to treat epilepsy, and applying them is still an art as much
as it is a science. What works for one patient often has no benefit for
another with identical symptoms.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193484

“Agony, Hope and Resolve” (p. 49). Susan Axelrod, who is married to David
Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser, and is a founding board member and
president of CURE, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy; contributes an
essay on her family’s experience with epilepsy — and what it has led her to
believe must be done. The Axelrods’ daughter, Lauren, had her first seizure
when she was just 7 months old. “Epilepsy entered our lives more than 25
years ago and yet, far too often, I have no confidence that outcomes today
will be any better than they were for Lauren,” she writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193587

“Obama Gets Gun Shy” (p. 20). Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff and
National Correspondent Suzanne Smalley write that despite a recent spate of
killings, the president and fellow Democrats choose not to wage war on assault
weapons. Running for president in last year’s Democratic primaries, Barack
Obama promised to restore a federal ban on certain semiautomatic assault guns
– a position that’s still on the White House Web site. The ban was originally
passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress in 1994 and lapsed five years
ago. But Obama and top White House aides have all but abandoned the issue.
Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and other White House strategists have decided
they can’t afford to tangle with the National Rifle Association at a time when
they’re pushing other priorities, like economic renewal and health-care
reform.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193589

“Faith, Fear and the Wages of Columbine (p. 24). Contributor Matthew
Phillipsand Religion Editor Lisa Millerwrite about two pastors from the
opposite ends of the theological spectrum who are still haunted by the
Columbine High School massacre. The Rev. Don Marxhausen presided over the
funeral of 17-year-old Dylan Klebold ten years ago after Klebold and Eric
Harris killed 13 people. This decision has haunted him ever since. Two days
later, another Littleton, Colo., pastor presided over another funeral. Cassie
Bernall, a Columbine junior, had been shot in cold blood as she crouched under
a library table, and word was that in her final seconds she answered her
murderer’s question and affirmed her belief in God. During his sermon, George
Kirsten proclaimed Cassie a martyr. Over the next 10 years, Kirsten’s
persistent evangelicalism would make him the target of accusations that he was
exploiting a tragedy.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193591

“We Are Not in This Together” (p. 30). Zachary Karabell, president of River
Twice Research, writes that young, minority men who didn’t earn much to begin
with are hit the hardest by unemployment. We may feel united by a common
anxiety about losing our jobs, but we are not all in this together. Young,
minority men are suffering more than their white-collar counterparts. The
unemployment rate for those over 25 with a college degree was 4.3 percent –
half the national rate, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor
Statistics report. For those college-educated and white, the number was 2.3
percent at the end of 2008, the most recent available for that demographic. On
the other end of the spectrum, the unemployment rate for African-Americans
over the age of 16 was 13.3 percent, and for Hispanics, 11.4 percent. For
anyone without a high-school diploma, the rate was 13.3 percent. Minorities
and the less educated have always suffered more during downturns, but the
disparity has become more stark.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193585

JONATHAN ALTER: “Let’s Get Ready to Reconcile” (p. 33). Senior Editor
Jonathan Alterwrites that we’re going to have to get used to the idea that
transformational change in health, education and energy policy is more
important than whether Republicans cry foul over being railroaded.
Reconciliation on Capitol Hill is the process by which the House and Senate
“reconcile” their differing versions of the federal budget and deal with the
devilish details. Passing budgets requires only 51 votes in the Senate. But
for the last several years, senators in the minority have somehow convinced
themselves that democracy demands that nothing serious passes their chamber
without 60 votes. Because the Democrats have only 58 (59 when Al Franken shows
up) and might face some Democratic defectors, they’re examining their options.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193590

“A Serious Cup of Joe (Scarborough)” (p. 36). Reporter Seth Colter Walls
writes that for the first time since it launched in 2007, MSNBC’s “Morning
Joe” defeated CNN’s “American Morning” among younger viewers — the
demographic advertisers prize most. That show is hosted by Joe Scarborough, a
former Florida congressman — and a registered Republican. One reason for the
success of “Morning Joe” is that Scarborough and his team generate an
ideologically unpredictable vibe.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193535

“A Racial Divide” (p. 50). Contributor Jesse Ellison writes that blacks
experience heart failure earlier and at a greater rate than whites. A study
last month in The New England Journal of Medicine found that blacks under age
50 experience heart failure at 20 times the rate of whites. “To see this among
people in their 30s and 40s was really quite striking to us,” says Dr. Kirsten
Bibbins-Domingo, codirector of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at
San Francisco General Hospital, and the study’s lead author. Because their
weakened heart muscles can’t pump enough blood, people with heart failure are
often too weak to work. Exactly why these rates are so skewed is unclear, but
high rates of hypertension among young African-Americans is a major culprit.
Genetics, higher sensitivity to salty diets and environmental factors are also
believed to play a role.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193482

/PRNewswire — April 12/