Woman Finds Python In Washing Machine

Filed under: News

From the Portland, Maine, Press Herald:

A Gorham woman got the shock of her life when she found an 8-foot snake mixed in with clothes in her washing machine. The snake, identified as a reticulated python, somehow got into the water pipes of Mara Ranger's 1800s-era farmhouse and slithered into the machine.

After Ranger took her blue jeans out of the machine Wednesday, she reached back into the load and felt something move. "I jumped back and all of sudden its head starts coming out of the washing machine and it looked huge," Ranger told WMTW-TV.

Laura Conaway

7:27 AM ET | 07-18-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Oh, Right. The New iPhone's On Sale

Filed under: News

The line for an iPhone in Midtown Manhattan.

Ian Chillag, from our Flickr page.

 

Because it's the most important thing you could possibly do today, folks are lining up all over America to get the new iPhone. It goes on sale today. Producer Ian Chillag sends this picture, and this report. He'll be sending more pics through our Flickr page. (Bonus: @acarvin has pics from Chinatown in D.C.)

Ian and Win Rosenfeld went up to the Apple Store yesterday, when the scene was very different.

Meanwhile, Liz Burr of KCET in Los Angeles improbably sends this picture from the Apple Store in at the Tysons Corner Center in McClean, Virg. After the jump. . .

Continue reading "Oh, Right. The New iPhone's On Sale" »

Laura Conaway

8:21 AM ET | 07-11-2008 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

Congress Would Like To Use The Web Now

Filed under: News

UPDATE: Rep. Culberson breaks rule, tweets from the House floor.

---------

If you're like Aaron Brazell, you think members of Congress should darned well be able to talk to their constituents on sites like Twitter. After all, their constituents are talking to each other that way, and plenty of candidates make Twitter feeds a regular part of their campaigns.

But right now, Congress' rules governing outside communication make sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube all but off-limits to representatives.

Continue reading "Congress Would Like To Use The Web Now" »

Laura Conaway

2:23 PM ET | 07-10-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Octopus = Awesome

Filed under: News

Today on the show we learned a lot about octopuses (or octopi -- either is acceptable). Some researchers in England are giving octopuses Rubik's Cubes to see if they favor some arms over others. Other research has revealed just how smart these creatures are. A 2003 experiment showed that octopuses could learn to open jars by watching humans do it. Check out this one at work:

For more interesting octopus info, including footage of an octopus taking out a shark, watch the National Geographic video after the jump...

Continue reading "Octopus = Awesome" »

Dan Pashman

8:45 AM ET | 07-10-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Urinventive

Filed under: News

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Doing some research for our segment about drugs in sport this morning, I stumbled upon a message board of people sharing different ways to beat urine tests. From the effectiveness of swallowing cotton balls to the pitfalls of OPP (other people's pee), I am amazed. Never underestimate the ingenuity of the American Pot Smoker.

Ian Chillag

8:15 AM ET | 07-10-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The Extinction Of Elements

Filed under: News

Doctors use gallium to detect inflammation in the lungs.

National Institutes of Health

 

This one's for BPP editor Tricia McKinney, who right now is editing an interview she did with her aunt for tomorrow's show, and who thus may not know that the world is dangerously close to running out of the element gallium.

Planet Earth is also short on indium. And hafnium. And zinc. And, as Tricia has told us so many times, copper. Here's Robert Silverberg, writing in Asimov's Science Fiction about a looming reality:

I was taught long ago that the ninety-two elements found in nature are the essential building blocks of the universe. Take one away -- or three, or six -- and won't the essential structure of things suffer a potent blow? Somehow I feel that there's a powerful difference between running out of oil, or killing off all the dodos, and having elements go extinct.

We can blame the loss of gallium on our hunger for flat-screen TVs and computer monitors -- the element goes into liquid-crystal displays.

(With thanks to Andrew Sullivan.)

Laura Conaway

2:15 PM ET | 07- 8-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Blogger Finds Flaw in SCOTUS Facts

Filed under: News

A major Supreme Court ruling last week on the death penalty was based, in part, on a factual error.

The New York Times reports this morning that the decision, barring execution for people who rape children, drew on a belief that the convicted would now face capital punishment in only six states and not under the federal government. The Times writes:

This inventory of jurisdictions was a central part of the court's analysis, the foundation for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's conclusion in his majority opinion that capital punishment for child rape was contrary to the "evolving standards of decency" by which the court judges how the death penalty is applied.

But as the folks over at CAAFLOG soon pointed out, Congress added child rape to the list of capital offenses in the Uniform Code of Military Justice back in 2006. So now what? The losing side has 25 days to ask the court to look again at the June 25 ruling.

Laura Conaway

1:00 PM ET | 07- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Giant Squid! Giant Squid!

Filed under: News

Researchers have found the carcass of what they're pretty sure is a giant squid floating in Monterey Bay off the California coast.

The carcass is in rough shape -- researchers were alerted to it by the sight of a flock of gulls feeding on it. They're still excited, because giant squid carcasses are rare, and each one offers a chance to learn more about the biology of the mysterious deep-water invertebrate.

This squid, they estimate, was probably about 25 feet long. There are pictures of it on the San Jose Mercury News website.

They're not 100 percent sure it's an architeuthis, but they think they'll know later today after a necropsy.

So while it's not as cool as that time Japanese scientists photographed a live giant squid for the first time ever, it's good news for the squid watchers.

Tricia McKinney

1:35 PM ET | 06-26-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

FEMA Gave Away Supplies Meant for Katrina Victims

Filed under: News

CNN reports that FEMA gave away $85 million in household goods were intended for people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. I was amazed to see how much it cost to keep the stuff around:

James McIntyre, FEMA's acting press secretary, told CNN that FEMA was spending more than $1 million a year to store the material and that another agency wanted the warehouses torn down, so "we needed to vacate them."

"Upon review of our assets and our need to continue to store them, we determined that they were excess to FEMA's needs; therefore, they are being excessed from FEMA's inventory," McIntyre wrote in an e-mail.

And then, of course, there's the whole idea of something being "excessed." A charity group in New Orleans says it has been pleading with FEMA for the same supplies it turned loose.

Full read: FEMA gives away $85 million of supplies for Katrina victims.

Laura Conaway

2:28 PM ET | 06-11-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Farewell, Bo Diddley

Filed under: Luncheonette, News

The news: JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Spokeswoman: Rock and Roll hall of famer Bo Diddley has died at 79 in Florida.

What it's so much more than: "I'm a Man." Bo Diddley had his own beat, for pete's sake, sort of "clave goes to Mississippi and eats a ton of catfish."

Makes me homesick just thinking about it. Sing it, McComb.

Bonus: 13 songs that use the Bo Diddley beat

Laura Conaway

12:19 PM ET | 06- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Former Bush Aide Says Iraq War 'Not Necessary'

Filed under: News

"Not necessary": Scott McClellan

Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images

 

In a book coming out on Monday, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan says that President Bush misled the nation to war in Iraq and that the president wanted to create for himself a "legacy of greatness." For the record, the White House calls McClellan "disgruntled."

McClellan certainly sounds displeased, at any rate. He writes:

"No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. . . . What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary."

McClellan's argument reminds me of a conversation I had recently with someone from the other end of the political spectrum. Writer Tony Judt describes himself as a Socialist Democrat, the kind of political thinker you might find in Scandinavia. Judt has been a vocal critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, but he's no pacifist. He considers war a valid branch of foreign policy, but only as a last resort.

Judt stopped by a few weeks ago to talk about his new book, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century. Among his central ideas is that American policymakers reach for war too quickly, because we have forgotten what war really means.

Laura Conaway

11:35 AM ET | 05-28-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Like a Ski Slope: Juneau's Energy Use

Filed under: News

Juneau's electrical use, before and after the avalanche.

From Up in Alaska

 

Our old pal Jill Homer has been having a world of fun in Alaska, going on 150-mile bike rides, etc. Jill works at the local paper, the Juneau Empire, where lately the news has been all about the city's precipitous decline in electric use.

An avalanche last month wiped out Juneau's hydroelectric power. The electric company has been powering the city on diesel, at $4 a gallon. After the utility warned people about outsize bills -- something like three or four times the usual -- residents went around unplugging every possible appliance. Jill and her housemates just got their bill; she writes that they came in under $100, when they'd expected to pay more than twice that.

Laura Conaway

3:05 PM ET | 05-27-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Sydney Pollack, Smart Like That

Filed under: Luncheonette, News

The news:
Film director Sydney Pollack died Monday of cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73.

The clip: Pollack gives a lesson in making movies.

Bonus: The agent scene in Tootsie.

Laura Conaway

12:55 PM ET | 05-27-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Students Video the China Quake

Filed under: Luncheonette, News

The YouTube summary for this video clip says it was filmed by a student at Sichuan University, in Chengdu, during China's May 12 earthquake.

The 3,500 comments are peppered with arguments about the Chinese government and the question of outsider aid. One person writes: "why do you blame the innocent victims for wat the government does?i know other countries out there arent getting ALL the help they need but right now people are being buried and need to be found in less than a week."

More:
Surveillance camera footage in Chengdu
China needs a million tents

Laura Conaway

12:42 PM ET | 05-21-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

'A Self-Sealing Wound:' Photog Gets Javelin in the Leg

Filed under: News

Ryan McGeeney, former Marine, current photo intern.

Darrin Harris Frisby

On Saturday, photo intern Ryan McGeeney showed up at the Brigham Young University stadium to cover Utah's high school track championship. McGeeney spent seven years in the Marines, including six months in Afghanistan, and now he's interning for the Ogden Standard. Now he stationed himself in the neutral zone between the discus and javelin throwers.

McGeeney says he watching the discus thrower when he heard officials start shouting at him to look out. He'd wandered into the field of play for the javelin toss and a javelin was coming straight at him. It pierced the skin just below his left knee. McGeeney kept taking pictures. He calls it the rational thing to do.

The veteran and photographer says he takes full responsibility for what happened. When he got out of the hospital later that day, he went back to the meet to say as much to the Provo High thrower who pinned him, Anthony Miles. I'll let McGeeney tell you the rest -- including the amazing result for Miles -- and I'll drop the key image after the jump.

Continue reading "'A Self-Sealing Wound:' Photog Gets Javelin in the Leg" »

Laura Conaway

8:28 AM ET | 05-20-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

MySpace Mom Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

Filed under: News

From the AP:

"A Los Angeles federal grand jury has indicted a Missouri woman for her alleged role in a MySpace online hoax played on a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide.

"Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis was indicted today on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress."

Drew helped create a fake MySpace persona, that of the handsome Josh Evans, to woo a neighbor girl, Megan Meier. After a few weeks, "Josh" turned on Megan, telling her the world would be a better place without her. Megan hanged herself.

Flashback:
Blogger takes on Lori Drew
Lori Drew's lawyer checks in

Laura Conaway

2:58 PM ET | 05-15-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

New York Announces Winning Subway Buskers

Filed under: City Living, News, Video

A big thanks to everyone who voted in our best subway busker contest. Tomorrow on the BPP, winner Balla Tounkara will perform during our broadcast. Tune in to hear his beautiful voice and intricate picking on the kora, a Malian instrument with 21 strings.

And moments ago, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the winners of the Music Under New York auditions. All four of the musicians in our contest were accepted into the Music Under New York Program. Kip Rosser, the theremin player in the audition story, was also accepted.

So next time you're in New York City, you might see these great musicians performing in the most coveted spots in the subway system.

Congratulations to all.

Zena Barakat

2:33 PM ET | 05-15-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

California Supreme Court Opens Way to Gay Marriage

Filed under: News

Full disclosure: I care.

And now the news, from the AP: "California Supreme Court overturns voter-approved gay marriage ban, though more challenges loom."

The court published its 4-3 decision on that 2000 citizen referendum here. A key portion of the majority ruling:

[I]n contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation - like a person's race or gender - does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.

The ruling takes effect in 30 days. Opponents of same-sex marriage say they've collected enough signatures to place a constitutional ban on gay nuptials on the ballot in November. State officials are now reviewing the more than 1.1 million signatures submitted; of those, 694,354 must be deemed to belong to currently registered state voters.

Bonus: L.A. Times report.

Laura Conaway

1:10 PM ET | 05-15-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Food, Clothing, Shelter: Caring for Kids in China

Filed under: News, Slideshow

Children sleep on parents' backs as families head for help.

Getty Images

 

We've seen a lot of painful, horrifying images from China this week, with parents mourning children lost in Monday's earthquake. Reports suggest the death toll from the 7.9 magnitude quake is at least 12,000, perhaps even 15,000. Authorities say thousands more remain buried in the rubble. Mothers and fathers will be grieving in China for a long while yet to come.

For other families, the question now is how to get through the hazy limbo that follows close behind the moment of disaster. This morning, the latest pictures out of China documented the beginnings of that journey.

Full read:
Rescuers reach city at epicenter of Sichuan quake
Art Silverman describes the scene

Laura Conaway

8:13 AM ET | 05-14-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The News from China: Twittering the Earthquake

Filed under: News

From @trusip

 

Before the big earthquake stopped Monday in China, people were getting the news out on Twitter. In posts no longer than 140 characters, they've been finding the news, describing what they see, reckoning with how it all feels.

"Just got a telephone call from my friends telling me that they expecting an other big one in the next half an hour," Trusip wrote on Monday.

Twitter pals @marilynm, @robpatrob and @acarvin have followed the tweeting from China closely.

With thanks to them, three recommendations for people to follow: @trusip, @dedlam and @chengdoo.

Also:
@dedlam on his big day
NPR reports from the scene
The BPP on Twitter

Laura Conaway

8:27 AM ET | 05-13-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

After the Earthquake: Reporting from China

Filed under: News

Rescuers try to free a boy from the collapsed Juyuan middle school. Click for slideshow.

XINHUA/AFP/Getty Images

 

The death toll in China has topped 8,500 today after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in Sichuan province.

NPR correspondent Melissa Block was in the middle of an interview when the shaking started. She continued out into the street, rolling tape of the scene around her. It's scary, and it sounds it.

An early major report is here. The group is continuing to cover the story on its blog.

Laura Conaway

1:18 PM ET | 05-12-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

My War-Cursed Country

Filed under: News, Personal/Private

BPP video producer Zena Barakat as a four-year-old.

 

I was born in Lebanon in 1980, in the midst of the civil war, and my family moved to Nashville when I was six years old.

From time to time, I remember flashes of my childhood in Beirut, and this morning, they came back to me as I read the Washington Post article about the street fighting in Beirut.

"Hezbollah militants, some carrying assault rifles or rocket-propelled grenade launchers, patrolled outside Starbucks and other shops in the mostly deserted commercial strips of neighborhoods normally controlled by Sunnis loyal to the U.S.-backed Lebanese government. Masked armed men in civilian clothes set up checkpoints and asked passersby for their identity cards..."

It's a different time -- but it's a disturbingly familiar scene. That mention of Starbucks tells the story of the brief period in last few years when things seemed hopeful, open, and safe in Lebanon. No more.

Continue reading "My War-Cursed Country" »

Zena Barakat

9:02 AM ET | 05- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Exit the Dragon: New Views of China

Filed under: News

Modern rural youth in San Yuan Li

Courtesy of Karin Chien

 

Don't you love it when you meet a cool person doing cool things at a cocktail party? At a recent fête I met Karin Chien, a New York-based film producer who's launching her own company called dGenerate Films. Her goal is to bring more images of contemporary life in mainland China to the U.S. -- not like the films we usually see out of Hong Kong or Taiwan that feature martial arts or Dynastic-era glorifications. This summer she'll debut 15 independent Chinese films that show a slice of everyday life in the PRC.

We spoke to her and one of the filmmakers she works with on the show today. If you happen to be in New York City tonight, you can catch dGenerate's free screening of contemporary films from China at New York's Center for Architecture.

After the jump, check out a clip from another independent flick coming soon to the States called Raised from Dust, by Gan Xiao-Er.

Continue reading "Exit the Dragon: New Views of China" »

Angela Ellis

8:44 AM ET | 05- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

'Super Girls' in China: Holy Gender Bending!

Filed under: News

2005 Super Girl contestant

Hunan TV

 

On the show today, we spoke to Jian Yi, independent filmmaker and director of Supergirls!, a documentary following 10 of the 80,000 teenage girls trying out for China's most popular TV show ever, a version of American Idol. Contestants in the Super Girl Singing Contest represent an amazing cross section of China's young population -- urban, rural, rich and poor.

But what's most striking about of a lot of these girls is how much they look like boys. Jian Yi told us one reason for the cropped hair, baggy jeans and big shirts is that most of the call-in voters on the show are girls, and looking like a cute boy in this all-female competition can make a performer more appealing. But he also says there could be a deeper cultural motivation behind it. Take a listen to the clip from our interview with him.

Angela Ellis

8:34 AM ET | 05- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Is This Better Than a FEMA Trailer?

Filed under: News

Could be yours: A model MEMA cottage

 

Found this in my hometown paper today. After Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency got a $280 million grant to see if it could design something better to live in than a FEMA trailer.

You're looking at what the state came up with, the so-called MEMA cottage. Now the agency is considering letting at least some of the cottage residents keep the little homes, because they're good housing in an area that sorely needs it. The numbers involved are relatively small. All told, the cottage program will top out at about 3,100. In coastal Jackson County, 139 cottages may be up for keeps.

One blog, Katrina in Mississippi, takes issue with the idea of spending so much on the question whether a MEMA cottage is better than a FEMA trailer:

MEMA just needs to talk with those who suffered or still continue to suffer the confines of a trailer and the mold and toxic formaldehyde issues with those trailers. . . . That $280 million would house a lot of people in cottages! Just get on with solving the problems and stop messing around!

Bonus: "Katrina Cottages" Wait to Become Homes.

Laura Conaway

11:29 AM ET | 05- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Myanmar Update: Death, Flooding, Destruction

Filed under: News

The red areas were flooded as of May 5. Click for (huge) source PDF.

MODIS/UNOSAT image

Yesterday I posted some of the first pictures out of Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis passed through. They came from the city Yangon, where people were clearing roads and drying out their possessions.

Judging from news reports, the scene in Yangon was far from representative. Officials are describing damage on the scale of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with at least 22,000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless after the weekend storm.

Full read: AFP report on ReliefWeb

Laura Conaway

10:18 AM ET | 05- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Gallery: Scenes from Myanmar After Cyclone Nargis

Filed under: News, Slideshow

Click to launch.

Khin Maung Win/AFP/Getty Images

 

Reports coming in from Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis suggest thousands of people -- even as many as 10,000 -- were killed by the storm.

The nation is set for a constitutional referendum next week. Now the storm has some wondering whether the vote will go ahead as planned.

Another blogger says Nargis hit a major farming region in Myanmar, the Irrawaddy Delta. "The northern and central parts of the delta are major rice-growing areas, producing 40 percent of the national total," writes Jotman. He adds that Nargis struck as farmers are getting ready to plant next year's crop.

Bonus: Global Voices compiles citizen reports from the scene.

Laura Conaway

1:02 PM ET | 05- 5-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

High School Friend Calls 'D.C. Madam' Shy, Serious

Filed under: News

"D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey, outside the courthouse after her trial hearings in September, was once a majorette and a member of the Future Nurses Club.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

 

When the news broke Thursday that "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey had been found dead in mother's Florida home, an apparent suicide, Debbie Hudspith Blozik was home in Alabama sorting through papers. Blozik looked up to see that her high school friend was gone.

Blozik and Palfrey grew up together. They attended Charleroi Area High School in Pennsylvania's Mon Valley. "I wouldn't say that we were at the top of the class," she remembers, "but our grades were important to us."

Blozik describes her friend as caring and loyal. Palfrey was convicted last month on federal racketeering charges stemming from what prosecutors described as a high-end prostitution ring. Palfrey told her friend she didn't know the women who worked for her were trading sex for money. Blozik expected her to appeal. "She felt like she didn't do anything wrong," Blozik says. "She truly believed that. I felt that she would be one that would want to prove that, and I felt that this was where this was headed."

Laura Conaway

5:27 PM ET | 05- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Report: D.C. Madam Palfrey Kills Self in Florida

Filed under: News

"D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey waits outside the Prettyman U.S. Courthouse after trial hearings, Sept. 7, 2007 in Washington, DC.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

 

No confirmation from NPR yet, but Fox News in Tampa Bay, Fla., is reporting that the so-called D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, has killed herself.

In a story with a Tarpon Springs dateline, the Fox affiliate reports:

Police were called to the home of DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey's mother on Thursday to investigate her apparent suicide.

Police have confirmed that the dead person is Palfrey who was 52.

Fox is seconded by a bulletin from the Associated Press.

Palfrey was convicted on April 15 of running an escort service in the Washington, D.C., area. Palfrey called it a "high-end erotic fantasy service." She argued that she hadn't known her escorts were trading sex for money. The Washington Post reported:

In a gray suit and black boots, her lips and nails stoplight-red as always and her dark hair swirled into a familiar bouffant, Palfrey stood, hands clasped at her waist, maintaining the poise she showed throughout her week-long trial. Then the clerk spoke, and she swayed a bit, lowering her chin ever so slightly and emitting a barely audible groan.

"Guilty," the clerk said four times -- guilty of racketeering, money laundering and two counts of using the mail for illegal purposes. The U.S. attorney's office said that under sentencing guidelines, Palfrey probably faces a prison term of four to six years.

Her list of clients contained the names of Beltway movers and shakers. In July, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana admitted to using her escort service and issued a public apology.

Laura Conaway

1:24 PM ET | 05- 1-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

The Fukang Meteorite

Filed under: News

Marvin Killgore holds one thin slice of the Fukang Meteorite up to the sun.

Image courtesy of Bonhams

 

Today's a big day for Marvin Killgore. If all goes as planned, the plumber-turned-meteorite hunter will see the most prized piece in his personal meteorite collection auctioned off at Bonham's for nearly $3 million. Six months ago a similar auction failed to find a buyer for two pricey meteorites. But Marvin says his space rock is different. It's special. It's the Fukang Meteorite, named after the town in China near where the meteorite was found. Marvin and his wife Kitty joined us on the BPP today. There's a pic of the whole meteorite after the jump...

Continue reading "The Fukang Meteorite" »

Dan Pashman

8:34 AM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Beetle Bailey on the Mess at Fort Bragg (Sort of)

Filed under: News

 

As we reported in today's Ramble the father of an Army sergeant has documented the dirt, mold and general decrepitude of the army barracks at Fort Bragg. Well, just as LBJ knew he had lost Vietnam when he lost Cronkite, there are signs that a once stalwart supporter of the U.S. military is cracking.

Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey, an estimable document of the life of the U.S. service man, has never wavered in its support of military doctrine. Until now. In what can scarcely be seen as a coincidence, today's strip slyly comments on the deplorable conditions at Fort Bragg. In the first panel, or "set up," Corporal Yo informs Sarge that there is dirt on his door, desk and Jeep. In the second panel, or "pay off," Sarge wonders how this could be? Who could hate Sarge so much?

Now, we all know that Mort Walker is FAR too subtle to draw a tear running down Sarge's cheek, Indian chief in a junkyard style, but that is the implication. Like all Beetle Bailey strips, today's is hilarious, but the undercurrent of ennui and strain is hard to miss. Mort Walker's message is unmistakable -- that in a way, by allowing these conditions to persist, ALL OF US hate Sarge that much. And FYI: a tipster informs us that Boner's Ark will soon be beset by gulls, in a storyline that closely mimics the issue of Somali pirates. You may never look at Cupcake the same way again.

--Mike Pesca

Win Rosenfeld

12:20 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Scalia Talks to NPR

Filed under: News

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at Roger Williams University Law School in Bristol, R.I., on April 7.

Stephan Savoia/AP

 

In the first of a planned three-part interview with NPR's, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia talks about his more than a quarter century on the nation's top bench.

Totenberg reports that Scalia has carried the conservative banner and often been in the minority. "Though he has failed to persuade a majority of his colleagues on many high-profile cases, supporters and critics alike agree that he has changed the terms of the debate," she writes.

She argues that Scalia and fellow conservative Clarence Thomas do not actually march in lockstep -- despite what liberal observers might say. For one thing, Scalia is far more reluctant to undo an old law.

"I'm an originalist and a textualist, not a nut," he tells her.

And no, he's not a likely running mate for John McCain.

Check it out: Justice Scalia, the Great Dissenter, Opens Up

Laura Conaway

1:01 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Your Turn: On the Sean Bell Verdict

Filed under: News, Sound Off

A woman reacts after the Sean Bell verdict.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

 

A New York judge today found three undercover detectives not guilty in the police shooting of Sean Bell. The unarmed man died in a hail of 50 bullets a few hours before he was to be married.

On the show today, Delores Jones-Brown of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice cited a nationwide trend of police either not being indicted or being acquitted when they kill civilians in the line of duty. Police are generally firing fewer bullets -- those aimed at Bell and his friends accounted for nearly 10 percent of the NYPD's total that year -- but Jones-Brown says that doesn't matter to the loved ones left behind.

"When you're the family members of the victims, you could care less what's going on in other parts of the state or in other parts of the country," she says. "And on an individual basis, a case such as this one where you've got at least one officer shooting 31 times, his shooting alone exceeds the average of the department by almost 10 times."

Laura Conaway

11:28 AM ET | 04-25-2008 | permalink | comments (58) | e-mail post

Pie as Protest

Filed under: News

In case you missed it, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman got a pie in the face while he was speaking at Brown on Earth Day. An environmental group called Greenwash Guerillas has taken credit, calling Friedman's idea of green "as fake and toxic to human and planetary health as the cool-whip covering his face."

Friedman got a little messy but wasn't hurt. Here's how it went down:

The LA Times has a great video index of some classic political pie-ings past and present. Check it out.

Is there someone from your life past or present whose face you'd like to introduce to a pie? If so, please explain.

Dan Pashman

9:02 AM ET | 04-25-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

No Soap Operas in Afghanistan!

Filed under: News

April 3, 2008: Waiting for a wheat allotment in Kabul.

Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images

 

On the show today, we told you we'd post an interview with the head of an Afghan national TV network that has refused to abide by a new government ban against airing Indian soap operas.

Saad Mohseni, the head of Tolo TV, says international allies have sat by as religious fundamentalism again takes hold. "They have allowed the re-Talibanization of Afghanistan to happen right under their noses," he says.

Rachel Martin

12:20 PM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Trish McKinney Smells a Segment

Filed under: News

It weighs about one pound.

From Florabama

 

This weekend marks the annual Interstate Mullet Toss, in which contestants compete to throw a mullet from Alabama as far as they can into Florida. Want to know what a mullet is, all y'all who didn't grow up where I did?

A mullet is one of the more popular and plentiful fish indigenous to this area. It is the only fish with a gizzard and is said to possess mystical properties.

Laura Conaway

10:15 AM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Chillag Finishes Boston, Eats Pizza

Filed under: Inside The BPP, News, Sports

Ian Chillag: Marathoner, BPP Staffer, Awesome.

BPP Producer Ian Chillag finished the Boston Marathon in about 3 hours and 50 minutes -- all the while Tweeting and taking pictures. Ian ran with his friend Amby Burfoot who, 40 years ago, won Boston. I caught up with him as he was boarding a train back to New York. (For the record, Robert Cheruiyot won the marathon in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 46 seconds. It's his fourth win and second in a row. Dire Tune of Ethiopia won the women's race in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds.)

Ian will have a full report on tomorrow's show, in the meantime here's a post-race lowdown:

Matt Martinez

4:16 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Al Qaeda's Interoffice Memos

Filed under: News

From today's Los Angeles Times, Penalty for Crossing an Al Qaeda Boss? A Nasty Memo:

"I was very upset by what you did," Atef wrote. "I obtained 75,000 rupees for you and your family's trip to Egypt. I learned that you did not submit the voucher to the accountant, and that you made reservations for 40,000 rupees and kept the remainder claiming you have a right to do so. . . . Also with respect to the air-conditioning unit, . . . furniture used by brothers in Al Qaeda is not considered private property. . . . I would like to remind you and myself of the punishment for any violation."

Laura Conaway

12:44 PM ET | 04-16-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Pope Benedict Trivia Challenge Thinking Funtime XVI

Filed under: News

In honor of Pope Benedict XVI's arrival in the U.S. (and his birthday today), the BPP presents the Great Papal Trivia Challenge. Of course, you could look up most of these answers online, but that's no fun. So no Googling allowed! Answers are after the jump...

1. What is Pope Benedict XVI's birth name?
2. What number pope is he?
3. He was drafted into the German Army in 1943 but never learned to shoot. Why not?
4. What does Pope Benedict's brother do?
5. What percentage of Americans are Catholic: 14 percent, 24 percent, or 34 percent?
6. What does the pope's fisherman's ring symbolize?
7. What happens to the fisherman's ring when the pope dies?
8. What brand of car is the popemobile?
9. According to PopeBenedictXVIFanClub.com, what kind of music does the Pope like?
10. Which of the following contests actually took place and was officially sanctioned by the Catholic church: Design a Skateboard for the Pope, Decorate the Pope's Blackberry, or Name the Pope's Fish?

Continue reading "Pope Benedict Trivia Challenge Thinking Funtime XVI" »

Dan Pashman

8:51 AM ET | 04-16-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Sunglassgate

Filed under: News

What is Vice President Cheney smiling about?

David Bohrer/White House via AP

 

Ian Chillag

7:50 AM ET | 04-14-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Friend Recommends: 'The Things That Carried Him'

Filed under: News

BPP friend Andy Carvin (@acarvin) says that if you read only one article about the war in Iraq, it should be Esquire's "The Things That Carried Him." Chris Jones writes:

First, the soldiers folded the flag twice lengthwise, with a slight offset at the top to ensure that the red and white would disappear within the blue. "Their hands were shaking," [Sergeant Kenneth Dawson] would remember later. "I could see that they were feeling it." "

Laura Conaway

12:37 PM ET | 04- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Six Maasai Warriors Head to London

Filed under: News

Masaai warriors training in Tanzania.

Photo courtesy of Greenforce.

 

Six Maasai Warriors have left their home in Tanzania for the first time in their lives. On Sunday, they'll be running the London Marathon to raise money to get clean water for their village. In anticipation of their trip, the conservation charity Greenforce wrote up a pamphlet to help the Maasai prepare to meet the strange residents of London.

Even though some may look like they have a frown on their face, they are very friendly people--many of them just work in offices in jobs they don't enjoy and so they do not smile as much as they should do!!

Although English people share a lot, they do not do so to the same extent that the Maasai do. If you see something that someone else has (like a bracelet) and you like it, then the person will find it very unusual if you were to take it and wear it!

I'll admit it. I initially wanted to cover the Maasai marathoners just because I thought the pamphlet was hilarious. But after hearing Rachel talk with Marcus Watts of Greenforce about the Maasai trip to England, I'll be rooting for them too.

You can find out more about what they're trying to do here.

Ian Chillag

9:35 AM ET | 04- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

'Improv Everywhere' Pranks Little League Game

Filed under: News

Improv Everywhere strikes again, this time at a Little League baseball game in Hermosa Beach, Calif. Gotta hand it to them for keeping the prank on the good side of good-natured. I think this one could have been close.

(Thanks to Twitter pal Mergecross)

Bonus: Improv Everywhere's "No Pants" subway ride.

Laura Conaway

6:55 AM ET | 04- 8-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Military Blogger Wrestles With Stop-Loss

Filed under: News

At our house, we've been following a military blogger from Missouri from a while. He signed up for duty after 9-11, and now he can't get out. He writes that his situation might as well be an ad for Stop-Loss, the new movie about troops whose combat tours are being repeatedly extended. The Man from Missouri writes about his time in the Army Reserve:

Not saying it isn't an institution I am proud to have served with, or full of people I am proud to have served with BUT... I feel like I have done my part, that this NCO has given enough time and service to his nation. Remember, I never wanted to make a 20+ year career out of the military, I wanted to serve my nation, fight the g*****n Islamic Terrorist movement that had killed my friends and attacked my country, and then get out and live a normal life again.

Laura Conaway

8:21 AM ET | 04- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Goodbye, Chuck

Filed under: News, Personal/Private

I once had a chance to meet Charlton Heston, who died this weekend at age 84.

Mr. Heston was a guest on "The View," where I worked back in 2000 - 2001, and I was seriously excited to meet him because he starred in some of my favorite films: "The Greatest Show on Earth," "The Omega Man," "Airport 75," and of course "Planet of the Apes." So I wanted to get his autograph for my husband, who loved his movies even more.

Part of our enjoyment of Charlton Heston's movies was his over-the-top acting style. We simultaneously made fun of his performances while still enjoying the rides he took us on. I want to emphasize the latter part of that -- we thoroughly enjoyed his movies. I don't know how or when he chose to go for movies like Omega Man or Soylent Green, but he had amazing taste for films that transcend their B-movie status. Or maybe he made them transcendent. I leave it to real critics to explain him. I just enjoyed the hell out of him.

Back to the autograph. I didn't normally have anything to do with celebrity interviews, but I made sure to be up on the dressing-room floor before show time, and I hung around waiting for him to have a free moment. While I was hanging around, somebody asked me to escort him to the restroom. I walked ahead of him and tried to be nonchalant. I remember thinking, "I'm taking Charlton Heston to the men's room! I'm taking Charlton Heston to the men's room!"

He had a lot of trouble getting around, which surprised me. He shuffled slowly and I realized for the first time just how old he was. I was very polite, calling him "sir" and "Mr. Heston," which would be my normal instinct anyway, but triply so for the guy who played Moses and Judah Ben-Hur.

I waited until after the show to ask him for an autograph. He was on the show to promote the DVD of one of his movies -- it might have been Planet of the Apes. I proffered a piece of paper and asked him to sign it. He said I should buy one of the DVDs and have him sign that. I explained that I would love to buy the DVD but I didn't have a DVD player. He said I should buy a DVD player and his DVD. I thought, "Wow, that's a hard sell. No wonder this guy has been so successful." But I prevailed. He signed the piece of paper. Here it is:

Tricia McKinney

1:11 PM ET | 04- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Downing Street Gets a Twitter Account

Filed under: News

BPP Twitter pal @robpatrob send this link to a Twitter account called Downing Street.

It's billed as the "official Twitter channel for the Prime Minister's Office based at 10 Downing Street." One post says the British P.M.'s digital communications team is behind the feed, which started on March 26. Sample tweets:

"Gordon Brown says the delay in publishing the Zimbabwe election results is inexcusable. Democratic rights must be restored in Zimbabwe"

"the PM is away at the NATO Summit in Bucharest but Downing Street staff are busy busy busy"

"Civil servants aren't used to typing at speed!"

I've requested an interview. We'll see.

Bonus: The way less personable White House Twitter account started on Sept. 6, 2007.

Laura Conaway

9:00 AM ET | 04- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Zimbabwe Arrests 'New York Times' Reporter

Filed under: News

Over the wires from Zimbabwe:

HARARE, April 3 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police have arrested a New York Times correspondent who was covering the country's election, the newspaper said on Thursday.

"Barry Bearak, a Times correspondent based in Johannesburg, was taken into custody today by police in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he was covering the elections. We do not know where he is being held, or what, if any, charges have been made against him," the newspaper's executive editor, Bill Keller, said in a statement.

Laura Conaway

4:34 PM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

First Global Warming, Then Cannibalism

Filed under: News

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ted Turner:

"We'll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

File under: Existential suffocation

Laura Conaway

2:57 PM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

India TV's Great Tantra Challenge

Filed under: News

A little over a month ago, a local politician in India claimed her political opponents were trying to harm her using Tantra. You've probably heard of tantric love, but Tantra is a lot more than that. BeliefNet defines it as, quote, "an ancient, esoteric Indian spiritual tradition, common to both Hinduism and Buddhism." But it's also been linked with nefarious acts of so-called black magic.

So after that politician's accusations, a major national television network there, India TV, had a discussion about "Tantric Power Versus Science." They invited a well known tantric named Pandit Surinder Sharma and the president of Rationalist International, Sanal Edamaruku.

At one point the tantric claimed he could use his powers to kill people, to which Sanal basically responded, "OK, prove it. Kill me right here and now." The tantric took up the challenge and began chanting. What followed was something few Indians had ever seen. The event became such a big deal that India TV broke through the next show and splashed a Breaking News banner on the screen. Then they continued the showdown that evening, on another Breaking News special.

In the end Sanal survived, but the tantric's reputation took a major hit. And people in India are still talking about it. We interviewed Sanal on the show today. (Click the listen link at the top of this page to hear the interview. And read Sanal's full story if you want all the details.) Highlights of the encounter have been posted on YouTube:

BONUS: How A Pitch Becomes A Segment. This segment actually began as a bizarre story pitch I made in the daily BPP staff pitch meeting. Initially nobody knew what to do with it, so we essentially recreated a pitch meeting on the air, where I repeated the pitch. Today's interview with Sanal is the result of that on-air meeting. So what do you think? Did the process work?

See more YouTube clips of India TV's Great Tantra Challenge, including the so-called spell for ultimate destruction, after the jump...

Continue reading "India TV's Great Tantra Challenge" »

Dan Pashman

7:44 AM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Newtown Creek: Eerie, Beautiful and Teeming with Oil

Filed under: News, Slideshow

Click to watch

Laura Silver

 

It's been 19 years since the Exxon tanker Valdez coated Alaska's Prince William Sound with 11-million gallons of oil. Today on our show, we revisited a bigger plume of oil closer to home: New York City's Newtown Creek.

Basil Seggos, chief investigator for the environmental advocacy group Riverkeeper, told us how 17-million gallons of oil got there and what's being done to get rid of it.

Recently, I took a bike ride along the creek -- the slideshow above is what I saw.

Laura Silver

1:42 PM ET | 03-24-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

News We Just Could Not Get To

Filed under: News

The first time I attempted the BPP newscast, I was so scared I heard my heart beating in my ears. It occurred to me that I might could die from the sheer stress. And then they turned on the mic.

I've been working the newscast again this week. I'm happy to report that my heartbeat has returned to its normal resting condition beneath my ribs. Still wish I could get to all the news we aim to do. Today, these stories just never quite made their way onto the show:

Continue reading "News We Just Could Not Get To" »

Laura Conaway

10:08 AM ET | 03-20-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Listener Checks In: A Take on Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Filed under: News

From 1988 to 1993, Krista Summitt lived in Chicago and attended Trinity United Church of Christ. This week, when she heard one of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons on endless replay, she thought back to the clergyman she admired then and still admires now.

The marketing pro gave us her take on Barack Obama's former pastor, the man whose sermons about race, America and 9-11 sparked a pivotal speech Tuesday by Barack Obama. Summitt gives a personal take on the outrage over Wright's remarks:

More:
Summitt writes about her former church's public persona
Today's BPP: The challenge for Obama now
Today's BPP: On-air segment with Krista Summitt

Laura Conaway

10:03 AM ET | 03-19-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Open Thread: On Barack Obama's Speech Today

Filed under: News

Barack Obama gave a speech today in Philadelphia in which he addressed the issue of controversial remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently retired from Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Here's NPR's first take on it. The big quote:

"We can play Rev. Wright's sermons on every channel, every day, and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words," he cautioned. "But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change."

Laura Conaway

12:20 PM ET | 03-18-2008 | permalink | comments (32) | e-mail post

After Spitzer: The Women in the Powder-Blue Suits

Filed under: News

Click for an NPR slideshow, "Standing by Their Men"

AP photo of Sen. Edward Kennedy and his wife, 1969

 

When then New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer made his unspecified apology on Monday, his wife, Silda, was at his side. She was there again today, when he resigned after two days of headlines about his alleged use of prostitutes.

Silda Spitzer is hardly the first political wife to don the powder-blue suit and that determined gaze, as you can see from this NPR slideshow, "Standing by Their Men." One of the wives in it, Dina Matos McGreevey, provides another take in the New York Times with an op-ed headlined "Stand by Yourself."

Laura Conaway

3:07 PM ET | 03-12-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Spitzer Resigns After Prostitution Scandal

Filed under: News

Eliot Spitzer leaves his Manhattan apartment with his wife, Silda, on his way to resign.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

 

From his opening throat-clearing to the reporter asking if he ever thought it would come to this, Eliot Spitzer's resignation speech passed in a blink. I could have held my breath for the whole thing if I hadn't been typing it up for Twitter. Before the New York governor stepped down, some had said Spitzer was trying to leverage his exit for a deal with the prosecutors naming him as a customer in a prostitution ring.

With regard to that idea, the U.S. Department of Justice sends this message: "In response to press speculation, Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said: 'There is no agreement between this Office and Governor Eliot Spitzer, relating to his resignation or any other matter.' "

The change of office is slated for March 17, at the request of Lt. Gov. David Paterson. Paterson, who's legally blind, will become the first African-American governor of New York.

Laura Conaway

11:52 AM ET | 03-12-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Announcement Not in the Stars for Spitzer?

Filed under: News

Sure, reputable news sources may be reporting that New York's Democratic governor, Eliot Spitzer, is thinking of resigning. But if he listens to the stars, he'll wait at least a day. Here's his honor's horoscope for Tuesday, courtesy of the New York Post. Hello, Gemini:

March 11, 2008 -- You would be wise not to make any major announcements over the next 24 hours. You may be bursting to tell your nearest and dearest what you have been up to and what you have accomplished but you will get a much better response if you leave it until tomorrow. By then it will be even better news.

The question is, better for whom?

And because I always do this when a big name in the news is facing a big life change, Governor Spitzer's horoscope from yesterday is after the jump:

Continue reading "Announcement Not in the Stars for Spitzer?" »

Tricia McKinney

2:16 PM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Newsday: Spitzer Hired Prostitutes Several Times

Filed under: News

From Long Island Newsday:

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had at least seven or eight liaisons over the last several years with prostitutes supplied by an international call girl ring based in New Jersey, according to sources familiar with the investigation into Spitzer's relationship with the ring.

Meanwhile, the New York Times, joining the Spitzer resignation watch, has Lt. Gov. David Paterson taking steps for a transition.

Laura Conaway

1:03 PM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Read My Lips

Filed under: News

Newspaper editors show Gov. Spitzer grimacing at the podium

Tricia McKinney

It's no surprise that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's bombshell admission of...something...yesterday made the front page of all of the local papers here in NYC today. It made the cover of the Washington Post as well. All of the local papers except one picked a picture of the governor grimacing. Or maybe pursing his lips? It's hard to describe exactly what he's doing, but it's easy to see that he's not smiling.

Which paper decided to go with a more dignified facial expression for the governor? The paper that broke the story, the New York Times.

Tricia McKinney

9:42 AM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Only the Google Knows!

Filed under: News

Google for "New York government"

Thanks to Wonkette

 

So, we just saw this on the Wonkette and it probably means nothing -- but I and others have surmised that Google knows everything. Even stuff in the future. And alternate reality futures!

Matt Martinez

9:11 AM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Spitzer's Brother: The Darwin Defense

Filed under: News

Nomination for most eye-popping quote about the N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer prostitution mess, from the Wall Street Journal:

His brother, Daniel Spitzer, a neurosurgeon, said: "If men never succumbed to the attractions of women, then the human species would have died out a long time ago."

(Thanks to EP Sharon Hoffman, on a train to NPR HQ in D.C.)

Laura Conaway

8:12 AM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Gallery: The Arc of Eliot Spitzer's Career

Filed under: News, Slideshow

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (right) with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in June 2007

Click to view AP slideshow

 

AP sends this photo gallery from N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer's career. Monday, after reports that a federal wiretap had caught him arranging a Feb. 13 meeting with a prostitute in Washington, D.C., Spitzer apologized for an unspecified wrong and said he'd report back shortly.

See for yourself: FBI agent's affidavit. "Client 9" shows up around page 34.

Laura Conaway

6:57 AM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Spitzer Scandal Just Feels Rotten, You Know?

Filed under: News

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer speaks to the media with his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, while delivering an apology following reported links to a prostitution ring

Mario Tama/Getty Images

 

Spitzer speaks, reporters ask, "Are you going to resign?":

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been linked by a federal wiretap to a prostitution ring, reports the New York Times:

An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Promising to report back shortly, Spitzer made a public statement today. "I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong," he said.

What I can't shake is the sickening sense that here, again, is a leader in trouble of his own making. It gets to be predictable after a while, and that's no fun for anybody. As Twitter person Sam Felder put it, "Eliot Spitzer, you idiot, why throw it all away like this."

Laura Conaway

3:34 PM ET | 03-10-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Are the Danes IKEA's Doormats?

Filed under: News

An article on Spiegel Online says that folks in Denmark are starting to notice that IKEA "only names cheap doormats and wall-to-wall carpeting after Danish towns, reserving Swedish names for its more expensive furniture."

This kinda brings to mind a segment we did a while back about the way the IKEA names its products. It turns out there's a method to the madness.

Dan Pashman

2:47 PM ET | 03- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Obama Aide Resigns After Slamming Hillary

Filed under: News

Some breaking political news....Samantha Power stepped down as foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign after reports got out about an apparent off-the-record comment she made to a British paper...referring to Sen. Hillary Clinton as a "monster." Power made the comment during an interview with The Scotsman while on a recent visit to London.

Power is a former journalist who covered the Balkan war in the 1990s. She founded a human-rights think tank and is a professor at Harvard.

When the Clinton campaign caught wind of the comments, they demanded she be fired from Obama's campaign. In a statement, Power said, "It is wrong for anyone to pursue this campaign in such negative and personal terms. I apologize to Senator Clinton and to Senator Obama, who has made very clear that these kinds of expressions should have no place in American politics."

Obama's campaign says Power's comments did not reflect Obama's views and that they have accepted Power's decision to resign.

Rachel Martin

11:54 AM ET | 03- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Got Receipts? Airborne Will Give Your Money Back

Filed under: News

It's the one made by a teacher

People in my family swore by Airborne's fizzy elixir. I found it nauseating, at least at first. And I can't say it ever saved me from a cold or kept a cold from being worse than it might have been.

What I can say is that we haven't got receipts from our purchases, which will make it at least little harder to cash in our share of Airborne's $23.3 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit over false claims. On our show today, David Schardt, a senior nutritionist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, takes a closer look.

UPDATE: Turns out you can get refunded for up to six bottles without receipts. Directions here. I'll play an audio interview with more details Friday on the blog/show.

Laura Conaway

11:03 AM ET | 03- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (69) | e-mail post

Found: A Rare Photo of Helen Keller

Filed under: News

"Doll" is the first word Anne Sullivan (right) spelled to Helen Keller.

Courtesy of the New England Historic Genealogical Society

 

Me, I can't hear Helen Keller's name without tearing up. As a toddler, Keller was left blind and deaf after a bout with what might have been meningitis. She lived in isolation until Anne Sullivan, a teacher, gave her the gift of language. And then she flew through life, sometimes literally.

Now a newly discovered photo from 1888 shows Helen, at age eight, on a family vacation in Cape Cod. She's sitting with Sullivan, holding Sullivan's hand and a doll. Experts say it could be the earliest photo of the two together, and the only one showing the child with a doll. "Doll," as the AP reports, is the first word Sullivan spelled to Keller.

Special thanks to the New England Historic Genealogical Society for sharing the photo.

Laura Conaway

8:39 AM ET | 03- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Not a White-collar Epidemic?

Filed under: News

I just caught this headline when I was surfing msnbc.com for election news: "Why Carpal Tunnel Cases Are Plummeting." Apparently the rash of diagnoses of carpal tunnel syndrome back in the late 90s may have been premature. Somebody tell that to my right wrist.

I'm a full-on ergo-keyboard, little bean bag mouse wrist-rest using, ibuprofen-taking, sometimes-wrist-brace-wearing carpal-tunnel-syndrome sufferer. My right wrist started hurting in the late 90s along with everybody else's. Coincidentally, that's also about the time I started working on a computer full time. It still hurts, but it's totally manageable.

As to the article's assertions that the evidence doesn't bear out that keyboards are to blame? Fine by me. My carpal tunnel flare-ups have more to do with mouse use anyway.

Tricia McKinney

7:26 PM ET | 03- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Mourning Brett Favre

Filed under: News

Green Bay Packers' legendary quarterback Brett Favre announced today that he is retiring after 17 years in the league. How are all those loyal Packer Backers responding? Well if this quote from a January Sports Illustrated piece is any indication, not well. Here's how Robert Ruprecht, a 39-year-old optometrist from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, said he'd handle the news:

When Brett Favre retires, I will cry. In fact, the day he retires I will call in sick. I won't be able to work. You don't understand. I have lived through Randy Wright, David Whitehurst...people used to leave free tickets under your wiper blades with a note saying 'please take these.' This guy Favre has brought us so much joy. He is the greatest Packer ever. To us, he's Michael Jordan. I am totally serious . . . This is going to sound weird, [but] I dream about this guy. I dream that I'm going shopping with him. I'm not kidding. I'm just saying, we worship Favre.

We're trying to book Robert for tomorrow's show. In the mean time, the news offers us an excuse to link back to this video we did in December.

Dan Pashman

11:53 AM ET | 03- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Watch This!

Filed under: News

MSNBC (full disclosure: I used to work there) uses a lower-third banner that screams out "Watch This!" for particularly scintillating video of sometimes dubious news value. Today they used it for some truly awesome amateur video of an aborted plane landing. MSNBC, CNN and other news organizations got the video from liveleak.com. Here it is--watch this!

It reportedly happened over the weekend as blustery winds rocked an Airbus 320 owned by Lufthansa as it came to land in Hamburg, Germany.

You can see the wing scraping the ground at one point.

The pilot aborted the first attempt at landing, but landed safely the second time around.

Tricia McKinney

9:50 AM ET | 03- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Watching Chemical Ali Get the Death Penalty

Filed under: News, Personal/Private

Ali Hassan al Majid, aka Chemical Ali

Darko Vojinovic-Pool/Getty Images

After months of delay, there is news today that the Iraqi government finally gave the go ahead for the execution of the man known as Chemical Ali.

He is Saddam Hussein's cousin and he was one of his most trusted advisers. His real name is Ali Hassan al Majid and he got his nickname because of the role he played in the Kurdish genocide of the 1980s. At Saddam's order, al Majid spearheaded a campaign against Iraqi Kurds, killing 200,000 civilians and militants. Last summer, al Majid and two others were convicted of crimes against humanity.

I was in Baghdad last summer reporting for NPR and I covered that case. I was in the courtroom the day that al Majid was sentenced. Today's news provoked me to go back and dig up what I wrote about that day. I'll post it after the jump.

Continue reading "Watching Chemical Ali Get the Death Penalty" »

Rachel Martin

12:20 PM ET | 02-29-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

News from Kenya: They Finally Did It!

Filed under: News

Mwai Kibaki (left) and Raila Odinga shake hands after signing a deal.

Khalil Senosi/AFP Getty

So I took a risk today...

After we were off the air (on the East Coast at least) a story flashed across the wires, "Power Sharing Peace Deal Reached in Kenya." Now I must tell you that over the course of the past couple months I think I have seen this headline literally three times. I report it and then it turns out to be false -- one of the leaders didn't show up to the signing ceremony or the press jumped the gun or the terms were never agreed on.

When I saw this headline I thought, "OK, is this for real?" I waited for an hour or so and saw a few more sources reporting it and then took a chance and updated our West Coast feed with a newscast topping with the Kenya news. I'm pleased to report that it really does look like this peace accord is going to stick. As for how well this power sharing deal works, that -- as we say in the business -- remains to be seen. But this is indeed a positive step in a country that has seen months of horrific violence.

Rachel Martin

1:35 PM ET | 02-28-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

This Film Is Nonclassified

Filed under: News

From a WWII US Navy training film strip.

via Japan Probe

 

Ian Chillag

2:59 PM ET | 02-27-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Update on Bison Capture at Yellowstone

Filed under: News

The unidentified protester

Via

 

We spoke with Angus Thermer, co-editor of the Jackson Hole News & Guide, about the capture and sometime slaughter of bison at the nations first national park. The animals that are suspected of having something called brucellosis are killed. Others have been forced back into sequestered areas of the park.

Activists from the Bufffalo Field campaign say they want to stop the practice. I got this note from Angus, who writes that someone sympathetic to their cause is staging a protest. Angus sent me this note:

An unidentified man has made it impossible for Montana Department of Livestock agents to capture bison in the recently erected Horse Butte bison trap. The man is perched upon a platform suspended from the top of a pair of poles that are standing on end and anchored to the walls of the trap. A large banner hanging from the platform reads, "I called, I wrote, and no response...This is my response."

Stay tuned.

Alison Stewart

11:44 AM ET | 02-26-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

ABCs and LGBT: Teaching Tolerance to Kids

Filed under: Links From the Show, News, Sound Off

The same week a gay 8th grader was murdered, allegedly by a fellow student because of his sexual orientation, a landmark documentary on gay tolerance celebrated its 10th anniversary.

"It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School" focuses on 8th graders and the effort to prevent anti-gay bias from taking root in young minds. Here's a clip from the film, re-released last week on DVD.

When it came out in '98, there was a firestorm of controversy over talking homosexuality with K-8 graders. Opponents claimed the film was trying to indoctrinate school children in "the gay agenda," as they called it.

So is 6, 7 or 8 too early to talk LGBT? Or is it the right time to open minds and possibly help avoid more hate crimes like the California case? Let us know what you think.

Angela Ellis

4:20 PM ET | 02-25-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Slippery Slope of Independence?

Filed under: News

We've talked about Kosovo on the show the last couple days. Tuesday, we heard from a Kosovar who lives here in New York and supports independence. Today we heard from the head of a Serbian advocacy group in Washington, D.C., who does not.

Part of her argument is that because Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence -- which international law experts say could actually be a violation of international law -- the move could trigger other such declarations in hot spots around the world...think Kurdistan in Iraq and the Palestinian territories. Just saw this piece on the BBC on that very subject. Apparently, there's could be some truth to that theory.

Rachel Martin

9:57 AM ET | 02-20-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Picturing the War in Afghanistan

Filed under: Links From the Show, Media, News

U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, September 2007.

Copyright: Tim Hetherington for Vanity Fair

 

Ian Chillag

7:54 AM ET | 02-20-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Online Dating: Liars with Their Pants on Fire

Filed under: Links From the Show, News

Whatever you do, don't lie to Jeff Hancock. The Cornell University professor makes a living out of separating truth from fabrication. On our show today, Hancock talks about a study his lab did into online dating profiles.

Forty men and 40 women submitted their profiles and then let the Cornell team assess, point by point, how closely they'd stuck to the truth. The results shouldn't surprise anyone who's shown up for a blind coffee date -- 80 percent of the online daters lied about something. But men and women lie differently, as you can see in the charts detailing truthfulness about weight, height and age below. Each respondent is a red dot, with truth-tellers on the diagonal line.

Truthfulness about weight, by gender:

The straight arrows are on the diagonal line.

Courtesy of Cornell University

 

Continue reading "Online Dating: Liars with Their Pants on Fire" »

Laura Conaway

7:20 AM ET | 02-19-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Fidel Castro Steps Down

Filed under: News

Fidel Castro speaks shortly after taking power in 1959.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

After almost 50 years in power, 81-year-old Fidel Castro is formally stepping down as Cuba's president.

Next up, his 76-year-old brother Raul. With Fidel's health failing, Raul has had the reins since July 2006. The AP reports:

The younger Castro has raised expectations among Cubans for modest economic and other reforms, stating last year that the country requires unspecified "structural changes" and acknowledging that government wages that average about $19 a month do not satisfy basic needs.

Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 through an armed revolution. The AP adds this grace note:

Entering Havana triumphantly, Castro declared: "Power does not interest me, and I will not take it."

Bonus: A Castro timeline.

Laura Conaway

6:27 AM ET | 02-19-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

CDC Warns Parents About the Choking Game

Filed under: News

The Centers for Disease Control released the results of the first-ever nationwide study of deaths related to the "Choking Game." By their account, based on media reports from the years 1995 to 2007, 82 kids between the ages of 6 and 19 have died playing the game in which they choke themselves in order to feel a brief, euphoric sensation. The study authors say the number of deaths is probably underestimated.

Nearly 87% of the victims were male; the average age was 13.

The CDC found that most of the deaths occured when kids played the game alone, using ligatures made from items like ropes or belts.

They also found that most parents they studied had no idea the choking game existed before their child died.

Along with the study, the CDC is putting out advice for parents, warning signs of what to look for. You can see the list after the jump:

Continue reading "CDC Warns Parents About the Choking Game" »

Tricia McKinney

2:27 PM ET | 02-15-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

"Nothing to Declare:" Photos from the Mexican Border

Filed under: News

Left by the Rio Grande.

 

Traveling along the Mexico border on a drive from San Diego, photographer Richard Mosse spotted a rucksack lying by the side of the road. Curiosity got the better of him, and he looked inside. He found clothes, jewelry and cards for learning English.

The border.

Images by Richard Mosse

 

Mosse realized he was looking at the belongings of a woman crossing the border, likely dropped when she had to run. It was the beginning of his project in process, "Nothing to Declare," a series of images of artifacts of journeys across the border.

He's in Arizona today working on it, but you can find the photographs captured so far on his website.

Ian Chillag

7:19 AM ET | 02-15-2008 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

Economy Not So Great, Bernanke Says

Filed under: News

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the U.S. economy no haz cheesburger. Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee today that the biggest hurt is in the housing market. Hiring has also fallen off, he says. And things aren't getting better soon:

"Further cuts in homebuilding and in related activities are likely," he said.

Bernanke says the Fed "will act in a timely manner as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks" -- read: may cut the interest rate -- and does expect some improvement later in the year.

Laura Conaway

12:24 PM ET | 02-14-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Joy of Christian Sex Toys

Filed under: News

Getty Images

As part of our Valentine's Day coverage, we had Joy Wilson of Book22 on our show. The evangelical Christian opened up about how her personal troubles rekindling intimacy after her first child burgeoned into an online sex toy business.

Joy's products are for married couples only. You won't find any images of naked people, and anal toys are a no-no. Prayer helped her decide which toys were acceptable for Christians.

Her business has become a ministry of sorts -- Joy gets almost as many requests for sex advice as she does for her toys.

Sorry folks, no multimedia for this story. But Joy's story couldn't be more colorful.

Pauline Bartolone

11:16 AM ET | 02-14-2008 | permalink | comments (122) | e-mail post

YouTube: Baltimore Cop vs. Skater Kid

Filed under: City Living, News

Twitter and NPR guy Jon Foreman sends this video of a Baltimore cop who went to 11 on a 14-year-old skateboarding where he shouldn't have. Officer Salvatore Rivieri was suspended yesterday with pay.

Dude, please, kids are people, too.

Laura Conaway

11:22 AM ET | 02-13-2008 | permalink | comments (13) | e-mail post

Page Not Found: '90 Day Jane'

Filed under: News

Update: a commenter pointed us to the new location of 90 Day Jane's website. If "Jane" is to be believed, the whole thing is an art project. And she's disappointed in us.

The anonymous blogger known as 90 Day Jane has gone 404. She said she intended to kill herself in 90 days, and she was counting down to the zero hour with a post each day.

Who knows whether Jane was operating in earnest or crafting a hoax. She attracted a crowd in a hurry, with many of her readers using the comments section to urge her on. Today would've been day 82. Instead, her usual Web address goes to a Page Not Found message from Blogger.

Jane had written that if Blogger pulled her site, her audience should go to 90dayjane.com. That takes you back to her defunct Blogger page.

Bonus: Radar offers an emerging theory of the site's origin (warning: adult language).

Laura Conaway

7:00 AM ET | 02-13-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

The Word About '90 Day Jane'

Filed under: News

90 Day Jane's profile photo

Via

Someone posting as 90 Day Jane is doing one of those Internet countdowns to suicide. Saying she's going to kill herself at the end of 90 days, Jane's now due to file a post for day 83. Yesterday she reported that a coworker had asked her out for Valentine's Day, and added:

I just hope he's not looking for anything long-term.

Real or hoax, this spectacle strikes me as pitiful. For starters, Jane's photo looks like a Goth glamor shot. Then we get to the hundreds of comments, some of them showing the worst -- really, the worst -- in human beings. Or maybe just in guys. I dunno.

Seriously, I'm a "Yuck" on this. You?

Laura Conaway

7:51 AM ET | 02-12-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Video: Anonymous vs. Scientology

Filed under: News

This weekend, the activists of Anonymous took their campaign against the Church of Scientology from the Internet to the streets of major cities. NPR's Andy Carvin, who was on assignment for the video blog Rocketboom, shot this footage in Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle:

Laura Conaway

11:56 AM ET | 02-11-2008 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

Reuters: Mitt Romney to Suspend Campaign

Filed under: Election 2008, News

News that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is dropping out of the race just crossed the wires at BPP World Headquarters:

BC-USA-POLITICS/ROMNEY (URGENT)
Romney to suspend campaign for US president -CNN
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Mitt Romney will suspend his
campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. president, CNN
said on Thursday, citing three party sources.
(Reporting by Philip Barbara)

CNN's article says Romney will make an announcement today at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. (We'll cable the speech on our Twitter feed.)

After winning in Massachusetts, Alaska, North Dakota, Utah, Minnesota, Colorado and Montana in Feb. 5's Super Tuesday voting, Romney told supporters his campaign was "gonna keep on battling. We're gonna go all the way to the convention." But John McCain's victories in delegate-rich states -- NPR's delegate tally shows him leading with 707 to Romney's 294 and Mike Huckabee's 195 -- established a clear front runner for the Republican nomination.

Here's Romney, addressing his supporters on Super Tuesday:

Laura Conaway

12:20 PM ET | 02- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

They Say the Baby Is Okay

Filed under: News

No OMG. I'm going to take the time to write it out for this one:
Oh My God.

Ian Chillag

12:51 PM ET | 02- 5-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Slideshow: A Cool Dip for a Warming Planet

Filed under: News, Slideshow, Video

St. Mary's College students filled their campus waterfront with splashes and shrill laughter on Thursday afternoon -- not just for fun, but to show concern about global warming. As part of their second annual "polar bear splash," over a hundred stripped down to their swimsuit and plunged into the freezing cold St. Mary's river.

Click the image to view the slideshow.

 

Continue reading "Slideshow: A Cool Dip for a Warming Planet" »

Pauline Bartolone

1:31 PM ET | 02- 1-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Tortured Cows in Your Kids' Lunch?

Filed under: News

OK, the title is a bit extreme, but seriously, that's what this is about.

The Washington Post and a bunch of other outlets have been reporting the story this week. Apparently an activist from the Human Society finagled his way into a slaughterhouse in California and videotaped employees doing everything possible to get sick and lame cows into the killing room so they can become meat.

Now, I am not a big animal-rights kind of gal. I love dogs and had a bird growing up and even worked on a cattle ranch in Wyoming one summer, but I'm not big on cow rights. Having said that, this video is pretty tough to watch. The employees use forklifts and chains to move these sick cows instead of euthanizing them like they are supposed to. To make matters worse, the meat from this particular slaughterhouse is sold to a federal school lunch program. Why is this so bad you ask? According to the article in the Post and the Humane Society, meat from sick cows is not really that good for you.

So the federal government has weighed in on this and launched an investigation, and the parent company of the slaughterhouse has apologized and suspended operations. But the whole thing launched a conversation in our editorial meeting. Not so much about slaughtering sick cows for meat products -- more about the ethics issues surrounding the meat industry.

How do you feel about this? Would it bother you to know that the T-bone you bought at the grocery store had been prodded with electric shocks? Does it matter? Should it? Should it not?

Rachel Martin

12:26 PM ET | 01-31-2008 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

Phraselator Revisted

Filed under: News

Earlier today, Morning Edition ran a piece on the Phraselator, a new handheld device L.A. police officers are using to issue vocal commands in several different languages. This $2,500 crime-fighting tool allows officers to translate phrases such as "Hands behind your back!" or "Show me which way the suspect ran" on the fly.

"The main idea is for police to use the Phraselator for crowd control. A language barrier played a role in the chaos that ensued last year during the May Day immigration rights march in MacArthur Park, when police in riot gear used batons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds," says Capt. Dennis Kato of the LAPD.

The Phraselator has found its way into many hands -- first as a help for the military, then as way for linguists to translate and preserve Native American speech, and now with the LAPD. Kind of cool for one little gizmo.

Will Hoffman

2:39 PM ET | 01-30-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Never Forget: The 75th Anniversary of Hitler's Rise

Filed under: News, Video

Today marks the 75th anniversary of Hitler and the Nazi party coming to power in Germany. That's the news peg for an interesting story in the New York Times about how modern-day Germans continue to confront and process Nazi history. The reporter was surprised to find that young Germans don't attempt to put the past behind them, but rather immerse themselves in it -- building new monuments to honor the dead, using their difficult history as the inspiration to become activists for human rights.

When I was growing up and going to Hebrew School, milestones like today's anniversary -- and there have been many markers like that, in my lifetime -- were always used as teaching opportunities: on the 50th anniversary of this, or the 55th of that, we were somberly told to never forget that human beings have the power (and, sadly, the instinct) to commit extreme evil. These days, of course, we've got more than one model for that disappointing lesson, and American Jewish kids are as likely to rail against genocide in Rwanda, Darfur, or the Congo as they are against the Holocaust.

For the Jews of my generation, though, discussions of the Holocaust have always and instantly turned personal. I was surrounded, growing up, by members of my father's family -- all from Germany -- who lost brothers, sisters and parents in concentration camps. There are great-uncles and great-aunts I didn't get to know because they were killed. The survivors aren't immersed in sadness and pain now, but that era in history has shaped their lives, and their faith, totally.

But it's my grandparents' story that I think of first and last whenever I hear or read about the Holocaust. I've been lucky enough to grow up with them, and know them well; my two sons have lit Chanukah candles with their great-grandparents for many years. I've been sorting through my memories a lot recently, because my grandfather, Pinchas Isaak, died a few weeks ago at the age of 91. I've marveled at his strength, who he is and what he stood for, and how he spent his time on earth. And I've re-learned the fairly breathtaking story of how he and my grandmother, Martha, survived the Holocaust themselves by the skin of their teeth. It's pretty dramatic, especially the part when they finally get out of Germany and into Italy. There, they waited six weeks for the papers that would allow them to fly to meet family in (the relatively safe haven of) London. Finally, the papers arrived -- but with a hitch. On video above, recorded by volunteers for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation in 1996, Pinchas Isaak tells what happened next. You can read the rest of my grandfather's story here.

Sharon Hoffman

11:05 AM ET | 01-30-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

A Teacher from Kibera Checks In

Filed under: News

From the Red Rose Nursery and Children's Centre in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya

Courtesy of Ken Okoth

 

It had been a couple weeks since we heard from Ken Okoth, friend of the BPP who grew up in the Kibera shantytown of Nairobi, Kenya. It's nice when he checks in, but given how things have turned worse in Kenya, I was a little nervous to read his latest note.

Dear Friends --

Greetings to you and your loved ones. The news from Kenya is not encouraging at all, and I am told that anything you can see on BBC, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, etc, is just a shade of how bad things really are, because the journalists can't even get to report as freely as they would like.

Continue reading "A Teacher from Kibera Checks In" »

Ian Chillag

8:40 AM ET | 01-29-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Need a Free Wedding Photographer?

Filed under: News

You may have heard the recent story of Celebration Studios, a New York area photography service that recently went bankrupt, leaving many newlyweds without photos of their events, and many with upcoming weddings missing their deposits. Celebration Studios allegedly continued to take money from new customers even after they knew they were going under.

photographer Jason Groupp thinks it's a black eye on the industry, so he's running a contest on his blog. He's going to pick one couple wronged by Celebration Studios and do their wedding photography for free. He says the contest was inspired by his father. If you know anyone who's eligible, pass along the link.

Full disclosure: Jason Groupp did my wedding photography. There. I said it.

Dan Pashman

4:32 PM ET | 01-24-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Billy Poole, Extreme Skier, Takes Final Ride

Filed under: News

A Billy Poole tribute

If you've ever seen one those crazy Warren Miller ski movies -- you know, the ones where the people become human bullets go ricocheting down ridiculous cliffs at speeds just shy of the sound barrier -- and wondered whether you really could die doing that, the miserable answer is yes.

Extreme skier Billy Poole made a bad jump Tuesday while filming a Miller movie in Utah. Poole became the first person to die on-camera in a Miller production, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

Laura Conaway

8:27 AM ET | 01-24-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

What Killed Heath Ledger? The 'New York Post' Knows

Filed under: Media, News

Stop wondering now.

From newyorkpost.com

 

There's a lot of speculation about what actually killed actor Heath Ledger, who was found dead yesterday. Until the autopsy results are in, nobody knows for sure -- except the New York Post. There it is right on the cover, "Heath Ledger ODs on Pills." They go even further in an online sub-head, adding a motive: "ODs on Rx Pills. Stressed Over Split."

In the actual story they back off a bit, saying Ledger "apparently" overdosed.

Tricia McKinney

9:21 AM ET | 01-23-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Gawker's Finest Hour: Heath Ledger RIP

Filed under: Media, News

The High Church of Celebrity News

From Gawker

 

Gawker guy Nick Denton has been making noise about making news. Seems Denton wants to crank up the news factor on his marquee site.

Before yesterday, we were thinking the Tom Cruise Scientology video was the best thing to happen to the gossip site since Michael Jackson walked.

Then Heath Ledger went and pulled a rock star. Sometimes, you need that exact mix of pathos, adrenaline and videos you know you shouldn't watch. Sometimes, maybe, you just need Gawker.

Laura Conaway

6:41 AM ET | 01-23-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Heath Ledger 1979-2008

Filed under: News

Getty Images

Heath Ledger is dead. NYPD says he was found Tuesday in his Manhattan apartment and that drugs may have been involved.

Ledger was only 28 years old.

Click here for the details as of 6pm EST.

Alison Stewart

5:53 PM ET | 01-22-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Economy Tanks: Brew Beer Right Away

Filed under: News

OK, so maybe the economy's in trouble. If we get to real free-fall you'll want to be ready with bread, beans, bullets and beer. Specifically, beer you brew yourself. Or says the Bear Ridge Project:

People in a depressed society look for an escape. The person furnishing that escape becomes invaluable to that society.

Others are among us are questioning/commenting here.

Laura Conaway

12:50 PM ET | 01-22-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Alaskan Kids Say No to a Gold Mine

Filed under: News

Today on the BPP, we had a story about the "Rebels to the Pebble" a group of seventh-graders in Dillingham, Alaska who are protesting the development of the Pebble gold and copper mine.

If granted the permit, the mine could not only become the world's biggest project of its type, but could also include the world's biggest dam, smack in the middle of the world's largest salmon fishery.

Click the picture to view the slideshow.

Continue reading "Alaskan Kids Say No to a Gold Mine" »

Pauline Bartolone

2:26 PM ET | 01-17-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Listener Checks In: Snowing at Virginia Tech

Filed under: News

The scene at Virginia Tech

From @girlinblack

 

Is New York City some kind of no-snow zone anymore? When I first moved here -- from MAINE, where it snows! -- a New Yorker told me, "We're too big for the weather."

At times like these I thank our Twitter friends. Twitterererer @girlinblack sends this image from her school today. More here.

Bonus: Join our Twitter-lution.

Laura Conaway

10:43 AM ET | 01-17-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Oh, Right. Conflict in Kenya.

Filed under: News

Just when some of us might have forgotten about the violence in the aftermath of the recent presidential elections, conflict erupts again in the East African nation. This time in Kenya's third city, Kisumu.

This Frontline World dispatch by Kenyan-born Edwin Okong'o puts the conflict in context. Okong'o (a friend and colleague of mine) is Editor of Mshale, a newspaper for the African diaspora in the U.S. He says ethnic tensions are fueled by politicians playing the "tribe card."

Most Kenyans are not tribal fundamentalists, as they have been portrayed in foreign media coverage of the ethnic violence that broke out after the December 27th presidential election. Since independence from Britain in 1963, Kenyans from different tribes have lived together in peace. Intercultural marriages and relationships, once taboo in many tribes, have become increasingly common. In Kenyan cities, people do not live in segregated neighborhoods. Most people in Kenya respect each other. There are no groups anywhere in Kenya publicly claiming tribal supremacy.

During election years, politicians work night and day to make sure that Kenyans replace their religious faith and political beliefs with tribal extremism.

What Kenya does suffer from are some politicians who use the poor for political gain, including the two men on top of the current political gridlock....

Keep reading.

Pauline Bartolone

9:52 AM ET | 01-17-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Listener Checks In: Snowing in Charlottesville

Filed under: News

The view outside the office window

@gubilla

 

Twitter friend @gubilla says it's snowing in Charlottesville, Va. (Don't miss our big Twitter-lution, complete with the BPPdiner.)

Laura Conaway

9:25 AM ET | 01-17-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Twice Alive: Lisa Gans on the Kabul Hotel Bombing

Filed under: News

The scene outside the Serena Hotel, two days later

Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images

 

Lisa Gans writes a riveting letter to her friends about somehow, somehow surviving the bombing and shooting Monday at the Serena Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gans is due on our show Thursday. Meanwhile, we'll leave you with this, originally published on the Huffington Post.

Special to the BPP from Lisa Gans:

Hi all,

An hour ago I was rescued from the basement of the Serena Hotel in Kabul by ISAF forces. I'm a member of the gym there and had gone to work out. I'd just gone into the reception area to ask for an internet access card when several blasts shook the building and I and the only other person in the reception, a woman from the Phillipines who worked in the hotel spa, heard gunfire and grenades. A young man who also works for the hotel ran in screaming that there was someone shooting people in the hotel lobby. He ran into a back room and I ducked behind a desk as the sounds got louder, and the shooting more rapid. I peered out from the side of the desk as a man, dressed as a member of the Afghan security forces with a long beard came from the men's locker area, firing an AK-47. He turned his head, saw me crouched behind the desk, looked directly at me and then fired into the chest of the other woman. She fell to the ground and he ran out, stepping over her body. As I sit here now, I still don't know why he didn't shoot me. I heard more gunshots and someone screaming in agony as he ran down the hall.

Continue reading "Twice Alive: Lisa Gans on the Kabul Hotel Bombing" »

Laura Conaway

3:54 PM ET | 01-16-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Fortune Cookie Originated in Japan

Filed under: News

From a restaurant in Beijing that probably does not serve fortune cookies

found at Jim Benson's Evolving Web

 

I got Chinese take-out the day Matt and Sharon interviewed me for the job here at the BPP. My fortune cookie:

YOU WILL SOON MAKE A CAREER CHANGE

No joke. And now I pretty much believe anything the fortune cookie tells me to believe. Including, recently:

YOU ARE PRETTY

YOU LIKE CHINESE FOOD

Not really fortunes but definitely true. Anyway, I bring this up because I just saw an article in the New York Times that says the fortune cookie's country of origin is not China, as some people thought, or an american Chinese food restaurant, as I thought, but Japan.

Pashman noticed it too and he's thinking about tracking down the researcher who figured it out. In the meantime, got any fortunes? Even the kind that aren't really fortunes?

Ian Chillag

10:14 AM ET | 01-16-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Can You ID This Cartoonist?

Filed under: News

Maura sends this link to a Flickr'd up cartoon about the power of the popular vote.

Anyone recognize the artist?

Laura Conaway

1:20 PM ET | 01-15-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Hormuz Rashomon: About that 'Filipino Monkey'

Filed under: News

On today's show, we talked with David Brown of the Navy Times about the Jan. 6 incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when U.S. ships off the coast of Iran were approached by several small Iranian boats. Brown raises the possibility -- just the possibility -- that the threat coming over the radio came not from the Iranian boats, but from a prankster.

Wherever the truth lies, one fact that has come out of the story is that the audio and video above were mixed together by the Pentagon, to give, in their words, a "better sense of what is happening." This must be what Iran was talking about when they claimed the U.S. fabricated the audio of the incident. Not so much fabricated, but remixed. Either way, we didn't know the Pentagon had iMovie, and it freaks us out a bit.

By way of comparison, check out the footage from Iranian state-run TV:

Ian Chillag

6:07 AM ET | 01-15-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Hell Freezes Over

Filed under: News

Matt Martinez just looked up at MSNBC and saw this story: snow fell in Baghdad today for the first time that anybody can remember. He uttered the quip that I stole for the title of this post.

Tricia McKinney

3:05 PM ET | 01-11-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

I Married My Twin! It Is Not a New Fox Reality . . .

Filed under: News

. . . but it a reality in the UK.

Sometimes CNN's most popular list is scary.

Alison Stewart

1:04 PM ET | 01-11-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The Little Hospital That Could

Filed under: News

Craig Preston has had quite a week.

He's the CEO of the tiny 25-bed San Juan Hospital in Utah. On Sunday night, his phone rang. A tour bus had rolled off the road in nearby Mexican Hat, Utah, and 26 patients, many seriously injured, were headed his way. Twenty-five beds, 26 patients.

"It pushed us to the limit. I won't say it was chaos, because that implies people were running around not knowing what to do. It was busy."

Preston implemented the hospital's emergency disaster plan, which meant calling in every available doctor and nurse, including reinforcements: physicians from a nearby hospital in Colorado. Every available bed was used. Patients were put in labor and delivery rooms.

"One thing that stands out...I went out back as the ambulances were coming in," he said. "We had to have had over twenty ambulances, and just to see the ambulances, just the number of them. We took them two at a time, as other ambulances lined up."

Out back, watching the patients come in two by two, he noticed road crews were clearing a path for the emergency vehicles through the snow. "They just heard the call on the radio. They heard what happened, and they just showed up and started helping with nobody asking them to. In a small community, people have a sense of response, and they come and make it easier."

Preston, like all the doctors and nurses, didn't leave until after the sun came up. Patients were transfered to other hospitals as the week wore on. The last one left yesterday.

Ian Chillag

1:22 PM ET | 01-10-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

MySpace Suicide Becomes a Fraud Case

Filed under: News

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has begun issuing subpoenas in the case involving the suicide of Missouri teenager Megan Meier. According to the Los Angeles Times, prosecutors are reportedly looking at charging Lori Drew with fraud. Drew allegedly created a false MySpace account and used it to communicate with Megan. This case created a national uproar about protecting children online and some people say these fraud charges don't go far enough.

Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told the LA Times:

"I doubt it's really going to lead to the type of punishment people really want to see, which is this woman being held responsible for this girl's death."

On the show today, we spoke with P.J. Huffstutter, Midwest bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.

Caitlin Kenney

12:40 PM ET | 01-10-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Video: Tear in Your Beer

Filed under: City Living, News, Video

A hops shortage has beer brewers scrambling worldwide. The cost of this key ingredient went up 400 percent last year. Add to that increasing barley prices and it means bad news for the beer drinkers AND the brewers. You can blame it on the bad weather, growers going to other industries, even ethanol subsidies.

But the bottom line is that some pub-goers in Manhattan are already dishing out 50 cents more for a pint of microbrew. That may not seem like much, but prices might shoot up even more this year -- in some markets by up to three more dollars more per six pack.

Chris Sheehan, the head brewer at New York City's Chelsea Brewery, let us in on how a good beer-maker copes with tough times like these.

Win Rosenfeld

6:35 PM ET | 01- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Gallery: Kibera in Ashes

Filed under: News, Slideshow

As seen in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, last week.

Courtesy of Ken Okoth

 

Ken Okoth sends these images through his relatives in Kenya. They live in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, and have fled to Tanzania. Okoth checked in this morning with news of his family. He writes:

They are glad to be out of immediate danger in Tanzania, but they are also shocked and scared at how fast their lives changed and how vulnerable they felt. My little niece is helping everyone keep a high morale through her playfulness. She saw destroyed buildings, fires, and heard lots of gunshots, but I am told she did not see any dead bodies or other really traumatic things as the troubles unfolded. For her, age 5, all this is now a great adventure because she does not understand what exactly is going on. She has been told it's just a special vacation trip.

Bonus:
Gallery: Kids share a haunting view of Kenya
Okoth's Facebook gallery
Okoth's Red Rose Nursery and Children's Centre
The Children of Kibera Foundation

Laura Conaway

12:50 PM ET | 01- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The News in Kenya: Ken Okoth Checks In

Filed under: News

Just heard from Ken Okoth. If you remember, he's a Washington, D.C., history teacher who grew up in the Kibera shantytown of Nairobi, and we talked to him last week on the BPP about getting his family out of Kenya in the wake of post-election violence. He sends along this update:

They are glad to be out of immediate danger in Tanzania, but they are also shocked and scared at how fast their lives changed and how vulnerable they felt. My little niece is helping everyone keep a high morale through her playfulness. She saw destroyed buildings, fires, and heard lots of gunshots, but I am told she did not see any dead bodies or other really traumatic things as the troubles unfolded. For her, age 5, all this is now a great adventure because she does not understand what exactly is going on. She has been told it's just a special vacation trip.

Ken says it's primarily the poor who are seeing their lives changed by the post election chaos.

One of the toughest things to think about is that the city is divided very clearly between the poor and the middle/upper classes. 40% of the population of Nairobi (more than 1 million people) live in the slums, and they have been affected big time. The other parts of the city have been barely touched, and the folks who live in many parts of Nairobi can almost go on with their regular lives without feeling the chaos and violence felt by the poor.

We'll stay in touch with Ken as the situation in Kenya develops.

Ian Chillag

8:13 AM ET | 01- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Gallery: Kids Share a Haunting View of Kenya

Filed under: News, Slideshow

Kenya, as seen through the eyes of the child. Click to see the full gallery.

Courtesy of Ken Okoth

 

Ken Okoth grew up poor in Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Now a history teacher in Virginia, he still spends summers in Kibera. Okoth runs the Red Rose Nursery and Children's Centre, an orphanage for neighborhood kids.

In the summer of 2007, Okoth gave disposable cameras to kids from three local schools. The result, "Kibera Through My Eyes" is enchanting, ghostly, beautiful.

The gallery above give the barest glimpse of the project. Okoth links to all the images from the Red Rose website. You can learn more about Okoth on our show today, where he talks about helping his family escape the current violence there.

Laura Conaway

2:48 PM ET | 01- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

A Teacher from Kibera

Filed under: News

On Thursday's BPP, we'll hear from Ken Okoth. These days, he's a history teacher at the Potomac School outside D.C., but he grew up in the giant Nairobi slum of Kibera. He spent much of Wednesday trying to get his family out of the country to escape the violence there.

He runs a school in Kibera, the Red Rose Nursery and Children's Centre. I asked him if he wanted to tell us a little bit about it, and he sends this along:

It is not always easy to get a full picture of the communities being covered in media reports about the violence in Kenya. In the Kibera slums of Nairobi for instance, tribal rivalries do not define everyday living. Kibera's urban poor classes, many of them unemployed and economically marginalized, suffering from the greatest incidences of HIV and AIDS, identify more with each others' struggles and share a common identity as the downtrodden class of Kenya's successful economy and many years of political stability.

A sense of coexistence, dignified struggle, and community is more apt to describe the life of people in Kibera. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has left an estimated 20000 school age orphans in Kibera's population of more than 800,000 people. There is no established network of orphanages or schools to provide shelter, feed and educate these children. The government public schools are overcrowded, and turn away orphans who lack adult advocates. However, the majority of the orphans in Kibera are being raised by other equally deprived families in the slums, sometimes relatives, oftentimes just friendly neighbors, who take the Good Samaritan approach and adopt the children.

The Red Rose School is an example of the small community initiatives that these families have put up in Kibera, to provide regular meals and quality education for orphans and vulnerable children left out of the government's free public schools.

Ian Chillag

3:35 PM ET | 01- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Kenya Blogs: What to Read Right Now

Filed under: News

Reports out of Kenya paint a blood-red scene of a nation under a virtual state of emergency. More than 300 people have been killed in ethnic/tribal/class violence after the contested election of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki.

We're booking guests to talk about this for Thursday's show. For now, I'll drop links to people blogging the story from Kenya. Here's a taste of one, Kenyan Pundit:

Drove to a friend's house less than ten minutes away and had to go through a police checkpoint. Very scary.

I have no news to report. It's a total total blackout. Watching TV feels like watching TV under some crazy dictatorship. I mean we all know that the country is on fire, but KBC is airing Just for Laughs.

And this, from Zax Diary:

People are being burnt alive. Homes are being torched in daylight. Shops are closed. TV and Radio have been in a blackout. Kisumu City has been shut down by KPLC, no one can access Electricity. Tomatoes are going for 20/= a single one in my estate. Eggs are 15/= for a single one. Buses are charging 100/= for my usual 20/= journey. My brother and sister have moved away from our upcountry home because they are scared. Mum and dad are staying with policemen in the house. My friends are asking for airtime in kakamega and Kisumu. 9 people were slaughtered near my upcountry home--and their cows taken! Women are being raped. Children have no food. What the hell is going on?

Other Kenyan blogs and Kenyan blog aggregators, after the jump:

Continue reading "Kenya Blogs: What to Read Right Now" »

Laura Conaway

12:02 PM ET | 01- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Listener: Why I Made that NPR Mash-up

Filed under: News

Alexis Hulme, aka Relex109, set an interview we did with an eyewitness to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and posted it on YouTube. The original interview, with Farah Ispahani, a member of Bhutto's media team, is tough stuff. After the jump, Hulme gives his take on the process of remaking it:

Continue reading "Listener: Why I Made that NPR Mash-up" »

Laura Conaway

7:15 AM ET | 01- 1-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Hey, 19! Want to Run a Country? Pakistan, Maybe?

Filed under: News

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

For the record, everyone in the world seems to be saying that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is not going to be the candidate for prime minister from his late mother Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party.

The 19-year-old did just inherit the party chairmanship, even if his dad is going to be making most of the decisions while Bilawal finishes his studies at Oxford. Whatever role he's going to play, the guy just got handed an awfully big title.

Anyone out there 19 and ready to lay out a plan for Pakistan? OK, anyone of any age? Hit the comments, please.

Laura Conaway

12:07 PM ET | 12-31-2007 | permalink | comments (23) | e-mail post

Pakistan Blames al-Qaida, Taliban

Filed under: News

The Jan. 6 edition of Parade

BPP

 

Pakistan's Interior Ministry tells reporters that al-Qaida and the Taliban were responsible for killing opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after a campaign rally on Thursday.

Spokesperson Javed Iqbal Cheema says the ministry intercepted a note of congratulations from an al-Qaida leader after the attack on Bhutto. Cheema goes on to say that Bhutto was killed not by bullets or shrapnel, but by hitting her head on the sunroof of the vehicle she was riding in. As NPR reports:

Chema said she was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle, and the shock waves from the blast smashed her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull.

Meanwhile, an advance copy of Parade magazine featuring Bhutto on the cover has landed in our office. I couldn't help noticing this quote from Bhutto:

"We must be out on the streets, or the terrorists win."

Check it out.

Laura Conaway

12:43 PM ET | 12-28-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Fresh Off the Wires: Bhutto Case Solved

Filed under: News

Our coverage of the Benazir Bhutto assassination continues. This just crossed the wires, as they say, from the Associated Press:

The interior minister says investigators have resolved the "whole mystery" behind the killing, and will give details at a press conference later today.

We'll keep you posted.

Laura Conaway

9:14 AM ET | 12-28-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Wow: NPR Interview Set to Bhutto Video

Filed under: News

Farah Ispahani, a member of Benazir Bhutto's media team, spoke to us Thursday from the hospital where former Pakistani prime minister was declared dead. Now someone has set that interview to the footage above. The result is amazing.

Writes Blogs of War:

One gets the impression that Farah is weeping not only for Benazir but for Pakistan. Who can blame her? It is such a great loss. Is there anyone who can fill this void?

Laura Conaway

8:55 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Murder and Mayhem: Talking with a Pakistani Blogger

Filed under: News

We're still checking in on those blogs coming out of Pakistan and one of the most active ones is the the Pakistani Spectator. They've been updating their site at least every hour or so with breaking news they say is exclusive, hitting the blogs before it goes out on the national TV stations.

They've got 15 bloggers roaming the streets of Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi and other cities, filing their tales of murders, looting and fires from their Blackberries. One of those bloggers is actually the founder of the Pakistani Spectator, and we called him up to find out what he's seen today and how his countrymen are dealing with the murder of Benazir Bhutto. He asked us to keep his name confidential for fear of reprisals.

Here's some of his conversation today with the BPP's Alison Stewart and John Fugelsang.

. . . A mob just came out on the street, a very angry mob, and what they did they first set fire to a factory and then they started close firing. And there was an office of PMLQ there- the Musharraf loyalist party. They just start to attack that office and kill all the people that was in there; there was three of them I think.

Continue reading "Murder and Mayhem: Talking with a Pakistani Blogger" »

Angela Ellis

4:17 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Special Reports: Bhutto's Gone -- Now What?

Filed under: News

News that Benazir Bhutto had been killed in Pakistan broke about 20 minutes before our show today ended. We stayed on, live on Sirius and prepped here for the Web audience.

The complete podcast of today's show, including these blocks, is available now in iTunes. If the one you got today doesn't include a mention of Bhutto in the Description field, delete it and refresh. We got some amazing interviews today -- you wouldn't want to miss them.

Laura Conaway

3:27 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Headlines Updated

Filed under: News

Looking back through this morning's Benazir Bhutto headlines, we get a pretty good history of what we thought, as we thought it. Even though the links below take you to updated stories, it's a little freaky to look at their original headlines now.

Pakistani Opponents in Gunbattle; 4 Dead
4 Killed at Pakistan Political Rally
Explosion Heard at Bhutto Rally
Suicide Bomber Targets Bhutto Rally
Bhutto Survives Rally Attack
Bhutto Critically Wounded in Bomb Attack
Pakistan's Bhutto Killed in Attack

Ian Chillag

2:47 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Bhutto: 'A Tragedy Like No Other'

Filed under: News

With a tip of the hat to Andrew Sullivan, this take on Benazir Bhutto from Adil Najam of Pakistaniat:

At a human level this is a tragedy like no other. Only a few days ago I was mentioning to someone that the single most tragic person in all of Pakistan - maybe all the world - is Nusrat Bhutto. Benazir's mother. Think about it. Her husband, killed. One son poisoned. Another son assasinated. One daughter dead possibly of drug overdose. Another daughter rises to be Prime Minister twice, but jailed, exiled, and finally gunned down.

Laura Conaway

2:30 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Pakistan Keeps on Blogging

Filed under: News

Global Voices Online is collecting the work of bloggers on the situation in Pakistan after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. It's worth a look.

Laura Conaway

2:27 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Bhutto Assassinated During Attack on Rally

Filed under: News

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is dead following a suicide bomb attack on a campaign rally near the capital. We spoke with Kamil Siddiqui of News International about her legacy:

Click the picture to view the slideshow.

Win Rosenfeld

1:20 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Tomorrow: A Punk's Perspective on Pakistan

Filed under: News

Tomorrow on the BPP, we'll hear about the situation on the ground in Lahore, Pakistan, from journalist and blogger Basim Usmani. He writes for The Daily Times and Guardian Unlimited. Basim is also a part-time punk rocker with the band The Kominas, and he sums up the scene in Lahore like this:

You know that song "Riot" by the Dead Kennedys? It's kinda like that.

The lyrics of "Riot," if you're curious.

Ian Chillag

12:43 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Photo: Pakistan Is Burning

Filed under: News

A Pakistani cameraman take images of burning vehicles on a street in Karachi, Dec. 27

Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images

 

Images of protest and rioting are filtering in from Pakistan, after the assassination of opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Thursday. After the jump, a pair of images rewind the action.

Continue reading "Photo: Pakistan Is Burning" »

Laura Conaway

12:36 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

After Bhutto: 'They Murdered Bibi'

Filed under: News

Got this e-mail from Farah Ispahani, a member of Benazir Bhutto's media team who was with Bhutto when the campaign was attacked after a rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Ispahani was running for a parliament seat as part of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

Ispahani gave a tearful report from the hospital where Bhutto died, and later sent us this message:

i am okay but they murdered bibi - people were so cynical about her. i knew her as a mother, as a freind and as a leader. she did not need to come to this country - she knew every minute of every day what she was facing. she really believed that pakistan was in peril.

NPR: Full coverage of the Benazir Bhutto assassination.

Laura Conaway

12:07 PM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Bhutto Before Return to Pakistan: "I Do Not Know What Awaits Me"

Filed under: News

On Sept. 20, four weeks before she returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile, Benazir Bhutto wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post entitled "When I Return to Pakistan." Here's an excerpt:

Extremism looms as a threat, but it will be contained as it has been in the past if the moderate middle can be mobilized to stand up to fanaticism. I return to lead that battle...When my flight lands in Pakistan next month, I know I will be greeted with joy by the people. I do not know what awaits me, personally or politically, once I leave the airport. I pray for the best and prepare for the worst. But in any case, I am going home to fight for the restoration of Pakistan's place in the community of democratic nations.

Read the entire piece here.

Dan Pashman

11:00 AM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Sound Off: Bhutto Killed. Feeling Queasy?

Filed under: News, Sound Off

Benazir Bhutto, at the rally where she was later killed.

Getty Images

First the news said there had been a bomb blast at a Benazir Bhutto campaign rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Then it said the former prime minster had been hurt. And then it said Bhutto had been killed.

Don't know about you, I couldn't help feeling a little queasy in the newsroom -- if I'm not sure yet exactly why. You?

Laura Conaway

10:09 AM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (74) | e-mail post

News From the Ground: Pakistani Blogs

Filed under: News

Bloggers out of Pakistan are posting the latest on the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. We put together some links for the blogs we're following by Pakistani journalists and citizens as this story continues to break. One blogger for the Pakistani Spectator describes grief and protest in the former prime minister's home town and surrounding areas . . .

In Larkana, the birth place of Benazir Bhutto, all the homes are fully covered in gloom and misery. Karachi is fully choked. There are reports from Lyari that armed people doing aerial firing, and tires are burning on the roads. Shahrah-e-Faisal is fully jammed, and same is the case on other roads of Karachi.

Let us know if you have a blog out of Pakistan you think we should add to the list.

The Insider Brief

Metroblogging Karachi

Pakistani Bloggers

Angela Ellis

10:08 AM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Photo: Moments Before Bhutto Attack

Filed under: News

Benazir Bhutto, moments before she was attacked

John Moore/Getty Images

 

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was killed today, and we're cranking away on coverage. The first interview is up, from the brilliant Kamal Siddiqi, editor of the Karachi News.

Laura Conaway

9:43 AM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Confirmed: Benazir Bhutto Is Dead

Filed under: News

This just crossed from Reuters:

Benazir Bhutto is dead.

We'll fill this in as we learn more. Bhutto had been seriously injured in a suicide bombing today in Pakistan. A report from 8:23 this morning said at least 20 people had been killed. Now it appears the former prime minister of Pakistan, who returned from exile this fall and was making another run, was also killed.

Right now, we're crashing together a segment on it for the show.

UPDATE: Kamal Siddiqi, editor of the Karachi News, is on the air right now. He says it's not clear whether Bhutto was killed by the blast or was hit in the neck by a bullet.

NPR's first full report is up.

Laura Conaway

8:26 AM ET | 12-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Bush Signs Bill for Whole Lot of Billions

Filed under: Iraq, News

This just in from the Associated Press:

"President Bush on Wednesday signed a $555 billion bill that funds the Iraq war well into next year and keeps government agencies running through next September."

AP says Bush had big reservations about the more than 900 "earmarks" for special interests, but signed anyway. The bill includes $70 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Laura Conaway

1:14 PM ET | 12-26-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The Gift of Music on Christmas

Filed under: News

He was an amazing musician who left us so many gifts.

Goodbye Mr. Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) and thank you.

Alison Stewart

5:50 AM ET | 12-25-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The History of Goodwill Industries: A Slideshow

Filed under: News

Despite being around for almost a hundred years, Goodwill Industries' mission has been almost universally misunderstood. So check out this slideshow for a glimpse into the past of this famous charity, and then watch Rachel's report on how Goodwill's future is shaping up.

Click the picture to view the slideshow. Photograph Courtesy of Goodwill Industries

Win Rosenfeld

8:50 AM ET | 12-24-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The Fight for the New/Old New Orleans

Filed under: City Living, News

Ten Months Post-Katrina from Editor B on Vimeo.

New Orleans is moving to tear down a bunch of its old public housing. The New York Times says that's an architectural shame. Activists in New Orleans say it's worth fighting over.

And this guy, Bart Everson, a guy determined to stay in the city, has this to say:

Some people want to tear all the public housing developments down to build mixed income developments, and some people think that's a nefarious plan for "ethnic cleansing." Emotions run high around this issue. Shrill rhetoric abounds, and civil discourse is in tragically short supply.

That's a Bart Everson video project up top. Day in, day out, Everson's blog provides one of the best keyholes into the Katrina recovery.

Laura Conaway

12:42 PM ET | 12-20-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

'Boat Arrest' Guy Found Guilty, But May Come Home

Filed under: News

Justin Taylan under "boat arrest."

Courtesy of Justin Taylan

On Friday we had Justin Taylan on the show -- the young American WWII historian held captive on his boat in the Solomon Islands since November 6. We talked to him the day after his trial started for illegal entry into the island nation and the verdict just came in today . . . guilty!

Though the verdict carries a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison, he's not going to be thrown in the tropical clinker he described on the show as one he "could smell before he could see." He and his three shipmates will have to pay a fine of about $108 each before they can get their confiscated passports back. But even then it may not be smooth sailing back to the States.

Continue reading "'Boat Arrest' Guy Found Guilty, But May Come Home" »

Angela Ellis

4:15 PM ET | 12-17-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Nazi Uncle Sam Protests BPP Guests In San Francisco

Filed under: News

This guy calls himself Joe Webb.

Courtesy of Good for the Jews

Rob Tannenbaum and David Fagin, known to BPP faithful as Good For the Jews, stopped by our studios a couple of weeks ago at the outset of their "Putting the Ha! in Hanukkah" tour. Turns out that wasn't the most distressing encounter the pair had this December.

This afternoon, I got an e-mail from Good for the Jews' publicist saying that a concert by the band had drawn a Nazi protest.

I just got off the phone with Rob, who confirmed. He says that Good for the Jews were setting up for their show at the Great American Music Hall in San Fransisco's Tenderloin District on Wednesday night when the club's promoter came up and told them, "Well, boys, you've made the big time. You have a protester outside."

Continue reading "Nazi Uncle Sam Protests BPP Guests In San Francisco" »

Jacob Ganz

2:01 PM ET | 12-14-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

MySpace Mom's Lawyer Checks In

Filed under: News

Lori Drew is off the hook with prosecutors for her part in creating a fake MySpace persona to woo and then turn on Megan Meier -- but the social consequences for Drew (and her family) continue to roll in.

Meier, 13, killed herself in October 2006 after the fictitious "Josh Evans" told her the world would be better off without her. This month, St. Charles County, Missouri, prosecutors announced they'd looked at the case and decided no crime had been committed. Federal prosecutors have likewise decided not to press charges.

Even so, Drew's lawyer says the fallout continues.

Continue reading "MySpace Mom's Lawyer Checks In" »

Laura Conaway

12:08 PM ET | 12-14-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The All-Drug Olympics

Filed under: News

All this talk of steroids in the news reminds me of a classic (and cartoonishly gory) Saturday Night Live moment...

All Drug Olympics - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Dan Pashman

7:33 AM ET | 12-13-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

California Town Splits over Blackwater Camp

Filed under: News

A plan by security contractor Blackwater U.S.A. to build a law enforcement training camp in Potrero, Calif., has split the small border town.

In Iraq, Blackwater has provided extensive services to the U.S. military. Its guards opened fire in September at a Baghdad traffic circle while escorting a diplomatic convoy. Seventeen Iraqis died in the incident. Blackwater says its guards shot in self-defense, but an FBI probe declared the shootings unprovoked.

Opponents of the training facility in Potrero cited practical concerns about noise and traffic, while proponents talked about jobs and a greater police presence. This week, five members of the planning board who backed the proposal were voted off; they were replaced by five new members who are against it. As the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, the local balloting was colored by national concerns:

"It should send a loud and clear message that Potrero does not want Blackwater in the community," said Carl Meyer, a leader in the recall campaign and an anti-Blackwater candidate.

Laura Conaway

11:50 AM ET | 12-12-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Meet Danny Vice, Blogger

Filed under: News

Officials in St. Charles County, Missouri, say they're done with the Megan Meier suicide case. Megan is the 13-year-old kid who had a falling out with a neighbor girl. With a couple of others, the neighbor's mother then used a fake MySpace persona, that of the handsome Josh Evans, to woo Megan. After a few weeks, "Josh" turned on Megan, telling her the world would be a better place without her. Megan hanged herself.

This month, prosecutors announced that no crime had been committed by Lori Drew, the now 48-year-old mother who played some part in the MySpace persona. At least one blogger's not convinced. "Danny Vice," of the Weekly Vice, cruised by this page weeks ago and tried to post a comment that named Lori Drew. At the time, NPR was not naming the mother.

I found myself wondering what, exactly, people like Danny wanted. Some referred to them as cybervigilantes, a virtual counterpart to the vandals who were throwing paintballs through the Drews' windows. While some of the bloggers seemed to make a mission of outing the Drews -- complete with addresses and phone numbers -- I learned that others, like Danny, have a more far-reaching goal.

Continue reading "Meet Danny Vice, Blogger" »

Laura Conaway

10:12 AM ET | 12-11-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Michael Vick Gets 23 Months for Dogfight Ring

Filed under: News

The quarterback could have gotten up to five years.

Laura Conaway

10:58 AM ET | 12-10-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Man Charged in Heist of Krispy Kreme Truck

Filed under: News

In the BPP's continuing food and beverage theft coverage ... Warren G. Whitelighting of Crandon, Wisc., was arrested last week after he led police on the high-speed chase in a Krispy Kreme Donut truck he allegedly stole while drunk early Saturday morning. This from the The Capitol Times:

He is being charged with shoplifting eight giant red hot pickled sausages from the Open Pantry on University Avenue, stealing the doughnut truck, ramming a University of Wisconsin Police car, attempting to elude pursuing officers, operating after revocation, his fourth time drunk driving and a hit and run.

MJ Davis

12:10 PM ET | 12- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Paper Tells of Purported Larry Craig Encounters

Filed under: News

Sen. Larry Craig's hometown paper has gone eight shades of enterprise reporting on the embattled politician. The Idaho Statesman published accounts from four named men who say their either had sex with Craig or were approached by him in some way.

Craig has called the stories absolutely false, and continues to deny having had gay encounters -- just as he has since the story broke in August that he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a Minnesota airport bathroom. The officer in that case says Craig made a sexual advance with his foot; Craig says he was merely using his customary "wide stance."

The Statesman report on Craig is full of adult language and adult situations. It also carries a note from executive editor Vicki Gowler, who explains the genesis of the article and says part of a newspaper's job is to "give voice to the voiceless." They've got voices now, for sure -- the online version comes with audio clips of interviews with the men.

Laura Conaway

8:44 AM ET | 12- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Man Seizes Hostages at Hillary Clinton Office

Filed under: News

NPR reports:

A man claiming to have a bomb was holding at least two hostages at Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, N.H., police and witnesses said, according to The Associated Press.

The man had what appeared to be a bomb strapped to himself, said Bill Shaheen, a top state campaign official. He seized two hostages, both campaign volunteers, and released others, Shaheen said.

The senator was reportedly not in the office at the time.

Laura Conaway

3:01 PM ET | 11-30-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

'Porn Star'?

Filed under: News

Police now say they've found the body of Emily Sander, an 18-year-old Kansas woman who'd been missing for a week. The story has been all over TV and the Internets this week because Sander had (somewhat) secretly been posing nude online under the name Zoey Zane.

It's obviously a very sad story for this girl and her family, made more sad (I think) by the repeated use of the term "porn star" in reference to Sander.

A brief check on the Web:

Philadelphia Inquirer: Friends: Missing Kansas Student Led Double Life as Porn Star

FOX News -- Turns out that Emily Sander of Kansas led a double life as a porn star, now she may have lost her life.

ABC News: Porn Star Revelation Clouds Missing Teen Case

Gay Wired: Family Says Body of Emily Sanders aka Porn Star Zoey Zane

Jawa Report: "Porn Star" Zoey Zane Jawa Report

Yes, Sander did pose naked for some online photos, but does that make her a "porn star"? I would say no. Jenna Jameson is a porn star, Ron Jeremy is (regrettably) a porn Sstar. To me, porn star means someone who has sex with other people on video or film. Video or film that is then sold to people. Not some college kid who took some naked photos for a sleazy site to make some money. What say you, BPP readers?

Oh, and please don't make this smutty -- my bosses are probably already squeamish enough about this post.

Luke Burbank

2:35 PM ET | 11-30-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Roger of "Roger & Me" Dies at 82

Filed under: News

The former chairman of General Motors, Roger Smith, was responsible for steering GM from 1981 to 1990 and for launching the career of an relatively unknown film maker upset by GM cutbacks in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. Take a trip back to yesteryear and click on this trailer.

Alison Stewart

1:25 PM ET | 11-30-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Agree to Keep Talking

Filed under: News

The Associated Press reports progress at the Annapolis conference on Mideast peace:

Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Tuesday to immediately resume long-stalled peace talks toward creating an independent Palestinian state by the end of next year, using the U.S.-arranged Mideast peace conference to launch the first serious and substantive negotiations in seven years.

Laura Conaway

12:36 PM ET | 11-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Editor Freed in Pakistan

Filed under: News

Kamal Siddiqi, an editor and BPP guest, e-mailed on Friday to say he'd been released from police custody in Karachi, Pakistan. Siddiqi volunteered himself for arrest last week after a number of journalist colleagues were detained.

Bonus: "Punish the journalists, gag the press, the party is on" by Kamal Siddiqi, The News, 11/26/2007.

Ilya Marritz

7:08 AM ET | 11-26-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Toy Recalls Hit Charities

Filed under: News

Toy recalls are debilitating some holiday charity organizations as they struggle to sift through donations for toys that might contain lead, cause deadly chemical reactions when digested, or electrocute or burn small hands.

The Salvation Army in Charlotte, N.C., had planned to give away at least 10,000 stockings filled with toys, but it says it faces a severe shortage. "Our auxiliary this summer ordered items to put in those stockings, and more than half of them were recalled," said Shelley Spillios of the Charlotte affiliate. "We are scrambling to find what we can put in the stockings to take the place of the recalled items."

MJ Davis

9:42 AM ET | 11-21-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Audit: Student Loan Bigs Siphon Money Away

Filed under: News

Straight outta the New York Times comes this tale of a Pennsylvania student loan company that federal auditors say managed to drain $34 million from a subsidy program.

Laura Conaway

3:30 PM ET | 11-20-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

New Orleans: Murder in the Old Motel

Filed under: News

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Residents said they had heard a fight about an alleged infidelity and then had seen a man leave an upstairs room carrying a bloody brown knife with a long silver blade.

Police were called to the Cinema Motel, on the fairly miserable Airline Drive, where many of the rooms are still wrecked from Hurricane Katrina floodwater.

Continue reading "New Orleans: Murder in the Old Motel" »

Laura Conaway

2:34 PM ET | 11-20-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Police Arrest a Pakistani Editor, BPP Guest

Filed under: Media, News

News from Pakistan: Kamal Siddiqi, an editor at The News of Karachi, has been arrested and is being held by police.

Siddiqi has been a guest on the BPP three times since Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan and the country plunged into political crisis.

The BBC reports today that "thousands" of protesters have been freed from jail by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but at the same time at least 100 journalists have recently been detained, mostly in Karachi.

In a interview by cell phone from detention earlier today, Siddiqi reported that he and a number of other journalists "courted arrest." They presented themselves to police as a protest against the arrests of fellow journalists.

To be continued...

Ilya Marritz

12:20 PM ET | 11-20-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Open Thread: The Miserable Case of Megan Meier

Filed under: News, Sound Off

Some stories just take the words right of your mouth. The shame of what happened to Megan Meier, the Missouri girl who hanged herself just weeks before her 14th birthday -- and the spectacle of what happened after -- would seem to point to the very worst of human behavior.

Last year, Megan had a falling out with a neighbor girl. The girl's parents created a fake suitor on MySpace, and had him cozy up to Megan for about six weeks before turning on her, calling her fat and a slut and telling her the world would be a better place without her.

Megan killed herself. And the neighbor girl's parents are under siege now that bloggers have outed them as the perpetrators of the fatal hoax. There appears to be precious little in the way of legal repercussions, but wow, the moral weight.

Listeners, this one's yours. Say something, because I'm not sure I can.

Laura Conaway

8:43 AM ET | 11-19-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

The Philadelphia Story

Filed under: City Living, News

From the city that gave us the gay tearjerker "Philadelphia" -- Philadelphia -- comes the story of an outgoing mayor who's embraced the gay and lesbian community after once shunning it.

Years ago, Mayor John Street said of same-sex nups: "Taxpayer dollars should not be used to support relationships such as these that mimic traditional family relationships."

But next weekend he'll officiate at a same-sex commitment ceremony at Philadelphia City Hall.

Ilya Marritz

7:43 AM ET | 11-19-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Boiling Water Hurts Lobsters. Surprised?

Filed under: News

WARNING: A gross video primer on the humane way to cook a lobster. Hint: Kill it first.

Scientists have gone back and forth over whether crustaceans feel pain -- and what it really boils down to (sorry) is whether your conscience should pang you when you throw a live lobster into a pot for dinner. (Me, I leave the room but still eat the lobster: guilty.)

The latest scientific study says that yes, it likely does hurt when a lobster hits that boiling water. They're not just scrabbling around under the lid because it's dark in there.

Surprised?

Bonus: A gadget that kills the lobster for you, our segment on lobsters' feelings, and a piece on the long and happy lives of lobsters.

Laura Conaway

8:55 AM ET | 11-16-2007 | permalink | comments (32) | e-mail post

President Bush Tries to Open Up the Skies

Filed under: News

President Bush just announced measures to reduce air traffic congestion during the holiday season, including opening up some unused military airspace to commercial flights. I guess he doesn't think this is as pretty as we do.

Tricia McKinney

1:45 PM ET | 11-15-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Virtual World Crime Leads to Real World Arrest

Filed under: News

A group of teens in the Netherlands is under investigation for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from a hotel room on Habbo, an online networking site with a monthly audience of 6 million people in 30 countries.

The virtual furniture in question was purchased with $5,853 in real money. The teens are accused of stealing the furniture for their own Habbo rooms.

For me, the take-home from this online whodunnit is this:
1. Don't create a virtual world in which people can steal your fake crap.
2. There are 6 million people out there willing to pay for imaginary furniture. Meanwhile, I'm eating beans and rice to save up for a real couch.

Oh, Habbo, you cruel, cruel virtual world.

MJ Davis

11:26 AM ET | 11-15-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

'Sesame Street' Reissues Not for Kids

Filed under: News

New DVDs of old Sesame Street episodes come with a warning that they're intended for adults and may not suit the needs of today's kids, reports Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times blog The Medium.

Why? Why, why, why?

Laura Conaway

7:11 AM ET | 11-15-2007 | permalink | comments (27) | e-mail post

Yowza! A Shocking New Stat on STDs

Filed under: News

U.S. sets record number of sexual disease cases with 1 million chlamydia infections.

MJ Davis

9:25 AM ET | 11-14-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

But How Does It Sound?

Filed under: News

Behold the zaniness of a piano designed by Daniel Libeskind (of Freedom Tower fame).

Ilya Marritz

11:25 AM ET | 11-13-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

The Other, Other White Meat

Filed under: News

A mighty, mighty pangolin in Malaysia

Jimin Lai/AFP/Getty Images

Three men were caught trying to smuggle more than 100 pangolins into China yesterday. The cute little darlings are on the endangered species list, but are also a rare culinary delicacy, with tender meat and scales believed to be endowed with magical healing powers.

MJ Davis

12:53 PM ET | 11-12-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Slideshow: Flash Protests in Pakistan

Filed under: News, Slideshow

Click the picture to view the slideshow.

Awad Alvi, a dentist in Pakistan, sends these pictures of a flash protest outside a grocery story in Karachi last week. The idea is get a few people together, make your political point (in their case, that President Musharraf should go) and get out of there before the army shows up with tear gas and flailing batons.

Dr. Alvi, who asked that we obscure the faces in the photos in order to protect the protesters, came on our show today and explained how it works. Check out the audio slideshow; and the radio segment.

Win Rosenfeld

8:50 AM ET | 11-12-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Tennessee Town Runs Dry

Filed under: News

With severe drought conditions persisting in the Southeast, the town of Orme, Tenn., is down to three hours of water a day. People there can turn the tap on in the evenings for laundry, cooking, cleaning and showers -- turn it on and hurry it up. The town had relied on a mountain spring that dried up in early August and hasn't bounced back.

Awhile back, we did a pilot segment on the parched region, and noted that even though people talk about how terrible any given drought can seem, you can always turn on the faucet and expect good water to come out. Until you can't. One local had this warning for the neighbors:

"All of these people that are on the river systems better take note, because once your streams and tributaries to the river start drying up, the river isn't far behind."

Laura Conaway

4:08 PM ET | 11- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Gay Couples Suddenly Absolutely Everywhere

Filed under: News

The number of same-sex couples reporting themselves as households on the U.S. Census has quadrupled since 1990, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. The biggest jumps came in the most conservative of states -- my home region, the central Southeast, saw nearly a nine-fold increase.

It turns out that the more a state restricts rights for gay couples, the faster the rate of same-sex couples has grown. Gary Gates, the study's key author, suggests that gay couples are feeling more confident about recording their existence even in uncomfortable places, and lobs this fascinating bit for discussion:

"It may very well be that these changes in the number of same-sex couples offer a 'leading indicator' to assess which historically conservative states are destined to become more 'purple' in upcoming elections. If so, keep an eye on Utah."

Bonus read: An LA Times op-ed, "Gay? Who Cares?"

Laura Conaway

2:19 PM ET | 11- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Runner Dies at Olympic Marathon Trial

Filed under: News, Sports

A runner in today's U.S. Olympic marathon trial has died. Ryan Shay, 28, collapsed in respiratory distress about 5.5 miles into the course, in New York City. Shay fell not far from the Central Park Boathouse.

This week on the BPP, we ran a segment about deaths in marathon races. A cardiac specialist and runner talked to us about the toll a marathon takes on the body and how many people who aren't ready are attempting the 26.2 mile feat. Statistics predict that eight people will die this year in a U.S. marathon, many of them because they weren't fit enough for the race. Two people died in the extreme heat of October's Chicago marathon.

The situation here is altogether different. Ryan Shay was an elite runner, presumably in supreme physical condition, who collapsed not even six miles into the course. For a runner like Ryan Shay, six miles should be a cup of coffee.

The weather in the city today is gray and chilly but not cold, with a swirling wind from the remnants of Tropical Storm Noel. New York is proud, as are so many cities, of its running tradition. The city's marathon is scheduled for tomorrow, and Midtown Manhattan is now filling with runners carrying marathon kits and police officers setting up barricades.

Losing an elite athlete like Ryan Shay, who came here to do his very best, hurts.

Laura Conaway

1:41 PM ET | 11- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

That Chad Adoption Story

Filed under: News

CNN reports:

Most of the 103 children a French charity attempted to take to France from Chad for adoption are neither Sudanese nor orphans, three international aid agencies reported on Thursday.

NPR's own Eleanor Beardsley will fill in the rest for BPP listeners Friday morning.

Meanwhile, we turn to the invaluable Lisa Marie, keeper of a blog on transracial adoption, for the gut check. Brace yourself.

Continue reading "That Chad Adoption Story" »

Laura Conaway

1:20 PM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Torturous: Don't Waterboard Me, Bro

Filed under: News

Back when President Bush nominated Mike Mukasey as the next U.S. attorney general, it looked like the former district judge would sail through the Senate confirmation process. A few weeks and a few dodged questions about what exactly constitutes torture later, things are getting a bit sticky.

At issue is whether the process of waterboarding, which you probably think you've heard more than enough about. But have you seen it happen? I hadn't, until I clicked on this kind of amazing video piece by Kaj Larson of Current TV. (Bonus: Larson talks about why he did it.)

I don't know if waterboarding is officially torture or not, but I can say that I sure as hell wouldn't want it done on me.

Luke Burbank

12:17 PM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

The Hillary Clinton Mixtape

Filed under: News

What do you do when you're a front-running candidate and the rest of the pack turns on you in a big debate?

You YouTube, that's what.

Laura Conaway

11:42 AM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Last-Minute Recall Hits Halloween Hard

Filed under: News

These buggers just got recalled. Beware.

CPSC.gov

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has come under scrutiny this week because its acting director asked members of congress not to give her agency more money. So that makes the timing of the CPSC's announcements today of yet more recalls rather, um, interesting?

Just as I was absorbing the news that Toys R Us is recalling 16,000 Chinese-made toys because of excessive lead levels, I saw another headline cross--this one warning about lead in something that's actually intended to go in your mouth: Halloween "Ugly Teeth." Better late than never, I guess.

So spit out those chompers if you bought 'em.

Tricia McKinney

1:51 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Halloween in Baghdad: Check Your Gun

Filed under: News

Working and living in a war zone makes for a crazy, stressful existence. Journalists, aid workers, diplomats all work at least 18-hour days with a soundtrack of mortars, random gun fire and car bombs roaring ad naseum in the background. So when you have an opportunity to blow off some steam and distract yourself from the reality that is Iraq, you take it....like this year's Embassy Halloween party.

But according to an email I got from a friend over there today, not everyone gets to play dress up -- which I suppose is a good idea. Here's an excerpt.

"All MILITARY Personnel carrying a weapon to the Halloween Party...Wednesday 31 OCT 2007 CANNOT WEAR A COSTUME! You must be in PT's, ACU's, DCU's, or BDU's to carry your weapon. NO EXCEPTIONS! If you have a place to check your weapon prior to your arrival...you may wear a costume. Thank you in advance for your cooperation."

Rachel Martin

10:42 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

In the Mean Time...

Filed under: News

We've got a one-hour show coming later this afternoon, but in the mean time, here's one from the vault to keep you sated. Grab a box of tissues, it's a real tearjerker. As you may have heard, you won't have old Karl Rove to kick around anymore.

Dan Pashman

8:39 AM ET | 08-13-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post