by Alison Stewart

Morning Meeting

"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.

Happy Monday all! We have recovered from Friday's pilot and are ready to dive back into the pool. Quite a few things went down over the weekend so we were not at a loss for stories. We did try to mix it up a bit and hopefully in today's rundown you will find something that will inform, entertain, enrage and/or engage you. BTW ... new pilot ... Wednesday.

NEWSCAST: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hits Japan killing at least 6 and injuring hundreds. IHOP buys Applebees for 2.1 billion dollars — blueberry syrup on your nuevo nachos..yummm! Gerber recalls its organic rice and organic oatmeal due to a choking hazard for babies — apparently it forms huge lumps. In Kirkuk, Iraq, at least 80 people have been killed and 136 wounded by car bombs. Last night at about 8:40pm EST, the Philadelphia Phillies became first team in baseball to lose 10,000 games. Harry Potter had a better weekend, The Order of the Phoenix made 77.4 million dollars. Eighty-three year old Shimon Peres sworn in as Israel's ninth president.

 

BREAKOUT STORIES DU JOUR:

30 MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND WOMAN! : Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers move over. Two people with the bionic power to raise money are the new superheroes of campaign cash. Senator Barak Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton, both of whom would like the job of POTUS, ended the first half of '07 with more than 30 million dollars each. The New York Times reports that "eight Democrats running for president raised more than $80 million from April 1 to June 30, while the 10 Republicans raised less than $50 million." Guest: NPR's Peter Overby has been on the money trail and we would debrief him on the disparity in funds, the ability to raise it and how high the numbers can go.

KIJIJI: WEBSITE OF THE DAY: It's just fun to say and a fun to use free online classified service. Kijiji, which means 'village' in Swahili, will provide the first big competition to Craigslist in the United States. This month Kijiji launched in 220 cities in all 50 states, complete with fancy graphics, location maps and photos. It looks a little like eBay. And that makes sense, because when you think about it, what company would have the cajones to take on the super popular Craigslist? That's right eBay is quietly behind Kijiji even though the company has a 25% interest in Craigslist. Guest: Someone to walk us through the Kijiji experience, how it differs from Craigslist, why it might succeed, what it is like to take on any entity which has dominated for so long and how does eBay play both sides of the fence here?

FLYING INTO A WAR ZONE HAS NEVER BEEN SO EASY: This is a possible slogan for Expat Airways. For a mere $450 dollars, the new airline will cart you 500 miles from Amman Jordan to Baghdad aboard a 42 seat Russian Antonov turboprop. You have to load your own baggage and you won't get honey roasted nuts or half cup of Diet Sprite. And you have to be a U-S or Western citizen. That's it. If you are Iraqi, Indian, Pakistani or any other "non-Western" persuasion these are the unfriendly skies. Guest: Someone from Expat Airways to explain the need for this airline, why they won't fly certain folks, how did they assemble the fleet and who's going to use it.

DAY 14 OF CLOVERFIELD WATCH: : We are staying on top of this one...even though our guest went MIA for Friday's show. Anyway, a new photo has been added to sparse 1.18.08 site. Will it provide another clue in this online treasure hunt/viral campaign for the new JJ Abrams produced movie. The mainstream media folks have picked up on this. There's a big story in the New York Post. Hopefully our guest, who has some inside scoop, will be able to join us this week.

WHILE YOU WERE OUT (Possibly Drinking):..this weekend it was Yuengling for Luke, homemade Sangria for Matt and a Michelada for me! Here's the big news from the weekend: North Korea shuts down its main nuclear reactor, China cracks down on imports of American Chicken, Warner/Lugar put forth a plan for Iraq which the White House rejects, Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to payout 660 million dollars to plaintiffs who said they were abused by Roman Catholic priests.

BREAKOUT ARCHDIOCESE: : There were so many interesting interviews and reports about the huge settlement made on behalf of 508 plaintiffs, who will receive over a million dollars each. We would pull the best of the best of NPR's reporting on this story.

10,000 NON-WINS: That would be the positive spin on last night's record making loss for the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies became the first pro-baseball team to lose 10,000 games. They were whomped by the St. Louis Cardinals 10-2. The signs in the stand were hilarious. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel told reporters, "I don't know much about 10,000 losses. I try to concentrate on wins. We really didn't talk about the 10,000 losses." He can leave that to the press. Perhaps the most brutal — London's Guardian with this slap, "Phillies become America's Biggest Losers". Ouch. Guest: A Philadelphia sports reporter and/or fan on the impact of the event.

THE RAMBLE: News stories that get an honorable mention:Japan tries a jury system, BET executives support Hot Ghetto Mess, Microsoft is going to spend one billion dollars to fix problems with Xbox 360's on the market, folks on Digg.com plea not to spoil Harry Potter book 7.