As we mentioned on Friday, The New Republic, the nation's leading provider of pro-Israel diatribes and grudging apologies for fiercely supporting the war in Iraq will be switching to a twice-per-month publishing schedule (which will still wind up in your mailbox two weeks late). Okay, we're excited: new frequency, bigger issues, etc.! Woo hoo! Can you tell us what's not changing for subscribers? Well, not the subscription price. ("Because we value your readership, your current subscription price will not change due to the magazine's recent improvements.") Anything else?

Because the magazine will be much fatter (essentially combining two issues into one), the number of issues outstanding on your subscription will be converted to the new frequency (i.e., if you had 22 issues, or 6 months, remaining on your subscription before the change, this will become 12 issues, still 6 months, after the frequency change. Before the frequency change, 6 months represented 22 thinner issues, and it now represents 12 fatter issues.)

Gotcha. So we're losing half the number of issues in our subscription, but we're supposed to be okay with that because Leon Wieseltier will have twice as many pages for his blathering bullshit? Super! TNR has just become the stereotype of the newlywed who's decided, "Hey, I'm married now, time to gain all that weight!"

THE NEW REPUBLIC: FREQUENCY CHANGE FAQ [TNR]