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October 31, 2007

Are Boys Stumbling in School?

This caught me by surprise. An analysis by the Chicago Tribune found that girls outperformed boys on every state achievement exam in Illinois last school year. That includes math and science, two subjects where boys have tended to score higher.

Some blame the imbalance on a "boy crisis" in schools across the country, as research shows girls are more likely to get good grades and graduate on time. But others say the explanation may lie in a revamp of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Illinois "made tests more colorful, gave pupils extra time to finish, added questions with longer reading passages and replaced state-created test items with those pulled from a national bank of questions." Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, a nonprofit group that monitors quality and gender bias in achievement exams, says the results show how even a small change to a test can have a significant effect.

Have you seen examples of boys falling behind girls in school? Is it cause for concern?

Mukasey Vote Scheduled, But His Chances Unclear

It appears that Michael Mukasey will find out Tuesday if the Senate Judiciary Committee thinks he should be the new attorney general of the United States. (Although it's still possible for a committee member to request a delay.) If the committee approves his nomination in the scheduled vote, it will then go to the full Senate.

But, surprisingly, it's now not clear whether it will get that far. When President Bush first announced Mukasey as his replacement for the controversial Alberto Gonzales, conventional wisdom was that, while there might be a few bumps, the confirmation was a sure thing. But Mukasey's dance around the question of whether waterboarding is torture has raised the suspicions of many Democrats and a few Republicans.

After several days of silence, Mukasey wrote a letter to several Democratic senators Tuesday in which he outlined his position in more detail. He said the idea of waterboarding, which simulates drowning, is personally repugnant, but he didn't explicitly rule it out as torture, saying he could not speculate on something classified.

The Associated Press reports that his answer didn't appear to help his case. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who had supported Mukasey, refused to say if he will still vote for the retired judge next week.

Don Gonyea, NPR's White House correspondent, said it's hard to say if the decision by the committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, to schedule the vote means that the White House has been able to convince enough people to support his nomination. Mostly, Don says, the administration is still knocking the Democrats for not accepting Mukasey's explanation.

And Don says so far, there isn't any buzz that the White House is making backup plans.

I Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost

My grandparents' house in Windsor, Nova Scotia, had a reputation for being haunted. An old man dressed in mid-19th century clothing would suddenly appear in a hallway or in a room, and then when you looked again, he was gone. We eventually found out that the original owner hung himself in the attic after his wife ran off, adding to the mystique.

Belief in ghosts is fairly common in the United States. A poll released last week showed that one in three people believe in ghosts, and 23 percent say they've actually seen or felt the presence of one. But Sharon Begley, science writer for Newsweek, writes that seeing those ghostly images might have something to do with the way the brain tends to fill in the blanks when it gets only partial information and to see patterns in random data. So if wind whipping through a house sounds like a voice, and if we believe in the supernatural, it becomes a voice.

So have you ever seen a ghost? Or do you think it's just your brain getting tricked when you hear things that go bump in the night?

October 30, 2007

Should We Just Leave Presidential Spouses Alone?

Free the running mates! That's the call from Anne Applebaum of The Washington Post. She believes it's time for political spouses to emulate Cecilia Sarkozy ("minus the divorce and the love affairs," of course) and do their own thing. Having a spouse who wants to run for office, she argues, shouldn't mean putting your life on hold for years.

But that's not the American model. Here, we subject presidential spouses in particular to incredible scrutiny, meaning that if they make a mistake or say something unusual, it can hurt their spouses' careers. As Applebaum says, "No wonder so many first ladies and potential first ladies have wound up depressed, even addicted to alcohol or painkillers. It's an undoable job, and it's time to admit it."

So what expectations do you have for a first lady or political spouse? And do you think it's OK for them to use their spouses' political careers to launch their own, like Sen. Hillary Clinton or President-elect Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina?

Science Bloggers Aim to Mark 'Serious' Posts

We bloggers seem to have a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later.

But Dave Munger, a science blogger and stay-at-home dad in Davidson, N.C., wanted to find a way to show people that some blog posts are meant to carry more weight than a rant or an off-hand comment. So he and several other academic bloggers created BPR3 — Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting.

The purpose behind the group's site, Munger told me, is to separate useful and thoughtful comments on peer-reviewed science from posts about news releases and those just sounding off. Munger and his wife, a psychologist who teaches at Davidson College, have been doing something similar for years on their own blog, Cognitive Daily, at ScienceBlogs.

A few months ago, Sister Edith Bogue, a blogging sociologist from Minnesota, contacted Munger and asked if she could use their idea — a tab that isolates the research posts — on her site. But they realized that there was a need for something a wider group could use. So, they developed an icon and began the BPR3 blog.

Bloggers can go there to download the icon and use it in their blogs to signal visitors that the post is of a more serious, research-focused nature. The group created guidelines on what kinds of posts would qualify.

It is the Internet, of course, and Munger realizes that anyone can download an icon and stick it on a site. So in a couple of weeks, BPR3 will launch an aggregation site and RSS feed that will be monitored by Munger and his group. Bloggers will need to register to be included in these features.

So, if you came across an icon like this while surfing the Web, would it make you take that post more seriously?

Iraq Proposes Removing Contractors' Immunity

The immunity that private security contractors working in Iraq have enjoyed since 2004 could be on its way out. The Iraqi Cabinet approved a draft law today that would allow foreign security contractors to be arrested and prosecuted if they break Iraqi laws.

The Iraqi government's move followed the news that the U.S. State Department offered employees of one of the contractors, Blackwater USA, immunity from prosecution by the United States in exchange for their statements about a shooting last month that killed 17 Iraqi civilians. NPR national security correspondent Jackie Northam reports that the State Department wasn't authorized to make that offer and that the FBI now has to re-interview the guards without a promise of immunity, making it much harder to prosecute anyone. Several guards have reportedly refused to answer questions again.

But could the Iraqis prosecute the security guards under their own laws if immunity is removed?

Continue reading "Iraq Proposes Removing Contractors' Immunity" »

October 29, 2007

Fake Briefing Not Up to Fake News Standards?

Doing fake news seems to be one of the top jobs in the media world these days. Look at the fame and influence of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And let's not forget the Walter Cronkite of fake news: "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live.

It was those lofty standards that Day to Day humorist Brian Unger was likely thinking of when he declared the Federal Emergency Management Agency's staged news conference on the California wildfires "a slap in the face to fake journalists everywhere." (Especially after his own work making phony news credible, he adds.)

Now, FEMA officials say employees played reporters on TV because they arranged the briefing at the last second and "real" reporters hadn't shown up. (Not that they bothered to tell anyone that before they got caught.)

Unger points out that this really calls into question the, er, integrity of the entire fake news industry.

Furniture Store's Customers Win Along with Red Sox

It seemed crazy. Jordan's Furniture, based just outside Boston, started a promotion earlier this year that promised customers who bought certain items during a month-long period that they would basically get them for free if the Boston Red Sox won the World Series.

Customers took Jordan's up on the offer, placing nearly 30,000 orders. And then, when the Sox beat the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, they hit the jackpot. They are all getting their money back. I've seen estimates that it will cost Jordan's more than $15 million.

But it's not quite as nuts as it might appear: Jordan's took out an insurance policy.

These kinds of promotions are getting more popular each year, says Tiffani Stovall, marketing manager for Odds On Promotions of Reno, Nev. The company underwrites insurance policies like the one Jordan's took out.

Stores use this kind of "conditional rebate" promotion to draw in more shoppers. Many are tied to a sporting event — like, if your team hits a grand slam in the seventh inning, all tires are free — but they don't have be. Stovall's company once insured a promotion that offered rebates if it snowed on Christmas Day.

However, Stovall says few are as big as Jordan's Red Sox giveaway. Odds On Promotions didn't insure that one, but it is handling a similar contest for Shavarsh Jewelers, a Boston-area store that will rebate purchases if the New England Patriots are undefeated this season. The jewelry store is insured for a much smaller amount.

And the rebate ointment is not without its flies for customers. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that Jordan's will send the "winners" a Form 1099 and notify the IRS because federal law requires taxpayers to report prize income of more than $600.

Standard Time Switch Caught in Time Warp

iStockphoto

I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever get this time-change thing down.

When I went to pick my wife up at the airport on Sunday, it took me a second to figure out why the pay-and-go parking machine wouldn't let me pay and leave. I had spent almost an hour in the lot, but the machine was telling me that I was trying to leave 10 minutes earlier than I had actually arrived — it had changed back to standard time a week early. (So I ended up leaving without paying.)

The time warp was a result of an energy bill Congress passed in 2005 that moved daylight-saving time three weeks earlier in the spring and a week later in the fall, starting this year. Instead of falling on this past Sunday, the switch will be next Sunday.

Now, Congress built in a two-year waiting period to give people ample opportunity to make changes to computer software, clocks, etc. But that didn't stop problems from cropping up last spring.

David Prerau, who literally wrote the book on seasonal time changes, Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, told me he expected that. "It's human nature. Look at Y2K. People had 10 years to make that change and still many waited until the last second," he said.

But he figured people would remember to make the change for the fall at the same time. Turns out that not everybody was so forward-thinking.

The Baltimore Sun reports that parking meters in the city fell back an hour, meaning some people got tickets. The New York Daily News notes that many BlackBerry phones, laptop computers and other gadgets switched back as well.

So did you lose an hour? Or like me, end up saving a few bucks because the time worked in your favor?

October 26, 2007

Really Need an Excuse? You Can Buy One

My dad always used to tell me that if you can find a need that people have and fill it, you can have a successful business.

I guess that John Liddell, the businessman who co-founded the Excused Absence Network, is an example of that approach. He will sell you excuses to get out of work or school. (And all excuses are on special right now, only $19.95!) You can get a fake jury summons or a fake doctor's note. But the site says it's just for entertainment purposes. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)

Could this site fill a need for you, or do you already have excuse-making down? (Please share any good stories.) Or, even better, do you have any suggestions for other ethically questionable but potentially profitable businesses to start?

That's all for this week. You can e-mail us at newsblog@npr.org.

Beijing Air Quality Concerns Sports Officials

So will the 2008 Beijing Olympics go down in history as the air pollution games?

The United Nations Environment Program released a report Thursday that praised Chinese authorities for much of the work they've done to clean up the environment in preparation for next year's Summer Games. But it noted that air quality remains a "stubborn" problem as "levels of small particles in the atmosphere [in Beijing] ... which are hazardous to health, often greatly exceed World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines."

Jill Geer, a spokeswoman for USA Track and Field, says the problem can be bad. But she also says the Chinese authorities can make a big difference in a hurry.

Geer was in Beijing for the 2001 World University Games. She told me that the day before the student games were to start, her roommate called her to the window. In previous days, she could only see a half-mile or so because of the poor air quality, but that day, she could see much more of the city.

The rumors were that authorities had shut down the factories around the city. And that's exactly what Dr. David Martin, a member of the track and field organization's sports medicine and science committee, recommends this time around. He says one of the things China should do is close factories and take cars off the road in Beijing at least three weeks before the games.

Martin, who specializes in exercise physiology at Georgia State University, says two key pollutants, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, come from cars and factories.

"The last thing in the world the Chinese want," he adds," is for these games to go down in history as the pollution games. And while shutting cars and factories down will cost a lot, it will be pennies compared to what they've already spent on the venues and preparation, and pennies compared to the cost of losing face."

Weighing the Chances of the Sanctions Against Iran

The White House announced tough new sanctions against key elements of the Iranian regime on Thursday, but what are the chances they'll actually work?

To find out, one thing you can look for is a "black knight" lurking in the background, says Daniel Drezner, associate professor of international politics at Tufts University. He tells me that a "black knight" is a country that provides the sanctioned regime with the very things the sanctioner just tried to take away.

Considering the rhetoric coming from Moscow these days, Russia might fit that description for Iran. China might try on a knight's helmet as well.

Other things to look for that can help predict sanctions' success? Drezner, who wrote The Sanctions Paradox: Economic Statecraft and International Relations, says there's also the expectation of future conflict. If the sanctioned country believes that bowing to the sanctions won't rule out clashes in the future, then the penalties are ineffective. The leaders just shrug and say, "What's the difference?"

And, as Drezner says, Iran is expecting a lot of future conflict with the United States.

Another factor to consider comes from NPR's global finance guru, Adam Davidson. Adam tells me that most economists believe that the more totalitarian the regime, the less likely financial sanctions are to work. And the more entrepreneurial the country, the more effective sanctions can be. (So they didn't work very well against Saddam Hussein, who controlled the Iraqi economy, but they did have an effect in South Africa, where there was a strong independent business class.)

Iran? Well, it does have a small business class, but most of the key sections of the economy are controlled by the regime and its agents, like the Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force. What's likely to happen, Adam says, is that the entrepreneurs will get squeezed, while those targeted by the sanctions will increase their share of a shrinking pie.

October 25, 2007

Twins, Separated as Babies, Become Sisters Again

The story of Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein, identical twins who were put up for adoption and separated as babies, seems like something from a movie.

While I listened to the twins talk about their lives today on Talk of the Nation, I found it hard not to feel angry that their separation was part of (as host Neal Conan put it) an "ethically dubious" 1960s psychological study investigating the effects of nature versus nurture.

But it's amazing that they were able to find each other. After their adoption, the sisters lived separate lives. Then, more than 30 years later, Elyse decided to find out what she could about her birth mother from the adoption agency and discovered she had a twin. The rest of the sisters' story is chronicled in their new book, Identical Strangers.

All Things Considered reports that the sisters are trying to find out more about the "one-of-a-kind experiment" that resulted in their separation. The sisters hope that the documents that detail the research, which are locked up for several more decades, will be released early to the twins who were its subjects.

Facebook Valued at $15 Billion, But Will It Last?

For a long time, Facebook, a social-networking site originally for college students, seemed to be Avis to MySpace's Hertz (you know, Facebook was always trying harder). So its founder, 23-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, had a little trouble convincing people that he wasn't crazy for turning down a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo!

But now, Microsoft has helped prove Zuckerberg's point. After winning a much-publicized battle with Google, Microsoft announced Wednesday that it was buying 1.6 percent of the private company for $240 million.

That, as Andy Carvin, NPR's senior product manager for online communities, told me, "adds credibility to Facebook's argument" about its overall worth. The deal puts Facebook's value at $15 billion — about 500 times the $30 million the company is expected to make in profit this year.

As for how the site's online community will react, Andy says it won't be a big deal. "I'm guessing that the average college student won't care as long as their favorite Facebook apps are untouched," he said.

But will Microsoft's backing make any difference in the long run? As Mik Parekh of the British Internet marketing company Cynergise noted recently on the company's Web site, as popular as Facebook is right now, there is always another, even better social-networking tool just over the hill. Parekh writes that it may be just a matter of time before Facebook is eclipsed.

So, how long can Facebook survive as-is? If it is to make it past the next tide it needs to change what it offers to the users. Add more value so even government agencies and corporations can reap some benefit of having their workers spend time on it.

And Andy says Facebook appears to be moving along those lines. For example, the company also announced Wednesday that it has signed a deal to make Facebook features available on BlackBerries. If there is any modern tool that government agencies and corporations seem to rely on, it's the BlackBerry.

California Fires: What Would You Take with You?

What really hits you about the California fires is the randomness. The images of neighborhoods where some homes have been destroyed, while the neighboring houses still stand.

I kept wondering if there was some way to take action against this randomness. After all, California has been hit by big wildfires before. Much of the same area was burned just four years ago. Haven't we learned something that would help homeowners protect their property from the blaze?

Unfortunately, not really. Scott Horsley, who has done an admirable job reporting on the fires for NPR, tells me that there isn't much that can be done. Scott wrote in an e-mail that fire officials encourage homeowners to maintain "defensible space" around their homes — that is, no dry brush up against the house — but he spoke to one man who followed all the rules and still lost his home. And in a neighborhood Scott visited Wednesday, brush wasn't so much the problem as embers that blew from burning houses onto others.

So, if there's no way to really protect your house from destruction, it comes down to choosing what to save when the evacuation order comes. I was struck by the comment of one man, whose house was lost while his Porsche was saved, who said he would rather the firefighters had rescued his daughter's stuffed animals.

How about you? Assuming that people (and pets) were safe, what things would you choose to take with you — understanding that you might lose everything else to the fire?

October 24, 2007

Nightmare on Your Street

Under the covers may actually be the scariest place of all.

Paul Hebditch/iStockphoto

Did you know that most of your dreams are not sweet — but bad? Really. Studies have found that about three-quarters of the emotions described in dreams are negative. But it also turns out that all those bad dreams could be pretty useful.

The New York Times reports that sleep scientists say dreaming may serve an evolutionarily adaptive purpose. (I can only imagine the kind of dreams our distant ancestors had — getting eaten by a saber-toothed cat?) Two scientists have proposed that when you dream you are cleansing and then trashing scary memories to clear space in your brain for any new threats that are coming down the road.

But just don't wake up — that's when those bad dreams become nightmares, and the only purpose they seem to serve is to scare the blazes out of you.

Iraq War, Terrorism Seem to Dominate the Big Screen

Reese Witherspoon in Rendition, one of several films this season dealing with post-Sept. 11 themes.

Sam Emerson/New Line Cinema

There seems to be as much "coverage" of the war on terror and its various themes in theaters these days as there is on television and radio and in the papers. But as All Things Considered noted Tuesday, none of these films with post-Sept. 11 themes have been doing well at the box office. The Kingdom, an action thriller about terrorists and FBI agents set in Saudi Arabia, has done the best of the bunch so far, but it has brought in only $44 million and cost $70 million to make.

Last week's entry was Rendition (not to be confused with Brian DePalma's Redacted, due out soon). Even though it stars Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, it took in only $4 million its first weekend.

So is it just that America is not ready for a spate of movies about terrorism, torture and the Iraq war? Not necessarily.

NPR film critic Bob Mondello says October is the month when "serious" movies tend to move center stage (can you say Oscar bait?), but these films are not designed to be blockbusters. If you check out box office totals, top-grossing movies tend to make around $15 million in their opening weekend this time of the year, Bob says. (Sure enough, this weekend's top-grossing movie, 30 Days of Night, made just a tad below $16 million.)

Bob also points out that many of the films with post-Sept. 11 themes have not gotten great reviews. For instance, The Kingdom was rated just 52 percent positive at RottenTomatoes.com, and Rendition only 43 percent (that means both are ranked "rotten") at last check. In the Valley of Elah did better at 63 percent (but still barely made the "fresh" category).

So it may be that Americans aren't turned off by these themes so much as that these movies aren't intended to be big moneymakers or just aren't good. But what do you think? Bad movies or bad subject matter?

What's Going on with the Alternative Minimum Tax?

There's nothing like finding out that you might be paying more taxes — a lot more — to focus your attention. So I took notice when I read about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's call to Congress to fix a part of the tax code called the alternative minimum tax, like, right now. If a change isn't made soon, millions of middle-class Americans (about 21 million, in fact) could end up facing an average increase of $2,000 — falling victim to a rule originally designed to get rich people who found a way around paying taxes to pony up.

Well, I don't know about you, but I ain't rich.

I know next to nothing about taxes, especially the AMT. (And I am not alone here, as is evident in this piece by Andrea Seabrook from March.) So I turned to NPR's Adam Davidson, who knows a lot about trade, business and finance. One thing I wanted to know was why the AMT wasn't just tied to inflation, which would seem to solve this problem. (As incomes rise over time, more and more people are bumping over the threshold that qualifies them for the AMT.)

The answer? Well, the AMT makes little economic sense, Adam says, but it makes lots of sense politically. It was created at a time when many in Congress felt "rich people" were not paying enough (or any) taxes. So the AMT was created to ensure everyone paid something. But instead of thoughtful study and research, Congress kind of, well, winged it.

Continue reading "What's Going on with the Alternative Minimum Tax?" »

October 23, 2007

Broccoli Extract May Help Repair Sun Damage to Skin

Sondra Paulson/iStockphoto

In the future, if you get a sunburn, you might be reaching right past the aloe vera gel and rubbing on some broccoli.

That's right. Scientists say early test results show that chemicals in broccoli extracts may significantly reduce the redness and inflammation caused by lingering too long in the sun. Reducing that damage could in turn decrease the risk of skin cancer. But, as usual, more tests are necessary.

I like broccoli, so the idea of rubbing it on my skin is not all that gross. I guess. But my kids don't seem to like it. My oldest daughter made a face when I told her about it. My 11-year-old son wrinkled his brow and said, "Is this just some weird way to get us to eat more vegetables?"

U.S. Role in Turkey-PKK Conflict Scrutinized

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (right) talks to Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan (left) with the help of a translator during a meeting today in Baghdad.

Ali Al-Saadi-Pool/Getty Images

Diplomatic efforts aimed at convincing Turkey not to invade northern Iraq to go after Kurdish rebels continued today with a promise from Iraq to help curb their attacks. As I've been following these unfolding negotiations, one thing I've been wondering about is the United States' role in the conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

"What role is that?" Jenny White responded with a laugh when I asked her to talk about it. White is an associate professor of anthropology at Boston University and an expert on Turkey.

"Really, it's kind of ludicrous," she continued. "I was in Turkey this past summer, and you could sense how mad Turks are at the U.S. And the decline in popular support was due to the fact that the U.S. was doing nothing to stop the PKK attacks against Turkish soldiers and civilians, despite the fact that the PKK was operating in territory supposedly under U.S. control. And the whole Armenian business in Congress made relations between Turkey and the U.S. even worse."

But, of course, the United States already has a lot to deal with in Iraq. On All Things Considered on Monday, Michele Kelemen talked to experts who pointed out that the U.S. military is not likely to transfer much-needed troops in areas like Baghdad to the northern edges of Iraq. And then there is the sense that the United States and Turkey are no longer "on the same wavelength," as they were in the days of the Cold War.

White said that when she was last in Washington, a military official talked about how things have changed, saying the U.S. was displeased with Turkey's relationship with Iran, which has tried to help fight the PKK.

With limited military options, the United States seems to be getting tough with its Kurdish allies in northern Iraq, even saying publicly that it is disappointed with Kurdish inaction against the PKK. So it becomes yet another diplomatic balancing act: putting pressure on one ally to avoid losing another in the largely hostile region.

Mistrials in Muslim Charity Case Spark Questions

Now that the government's largest terrorism-funding case has spiraled into confusion and mistrials, one expert says it's time to look at how the government went after the now-defunct Muslim charity on trial in the first place.

David Cole, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, says what should cause concern about the case is the "secret process" the government used to shut down and freeze the assets of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which has been accused of financing terrorists, almost six years ago.

"Now that the government has put all its evidence on the table, and they were unable to establish that a crime was committed, it really is time to look at how the initial decision was made," said Cole, the co-author of Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror. "It looks like the government is trying to go farther than the law would justify."

However, The Investigative Project on Terrorism notes that a federal judge did find there was sufficient evidence connecting the charity to the Palestinian militant group Hamas to reject Holy Land's request to remove its designation as a terrorist group and unfreeze its funds in 2002.

And conservative Rod Dreher writes in his Crunchy Con blog at Beliefnet that he thinks the government didn't get a verdict in its favor in the criminal case because the jury didn't understand it.

Cole, a frequent critic of the Bush administration's policies in the war on terror, points out that this isn't the first time the government has had trouble getting a conviction in a federal terrorism case. Statistics from the 2006 Terrorist Trial Report Card from New York University's Center on Law and Security show the government has won 29 percent of cases since 2001.

October 22, 2007

Officials Expect Significant Damage from Wildfires

Flames engulf a house during a massive brush fire today in Poway, Calif.

Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

The San Diego-area fires of 2003 were bad. But the fires of 2007 might be worse.

Dozens of buildings have been burned and at least one person has been killed in the wildfires in Southern California. But The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the worst may be yet to come — the damage could hit record totals in the next 48 hours. "This fire will probably be the worst this county has ever seen — worse than the Cedar [2003] fire," Sheriff Bill Kolender said.

Earlier today there were still seven fires burning in San Diego County. Four had been put out overnight. CNN reports that more than 250,000 people in the county have been evacuated so far.

If you want more information about the fires:
-A Google map shows the locations of the fires, along with updates on road closings and evacuation centers in the area.
-The Union Tribune has a breaking news blog and a map.
-The Firefighter Blog offers video and webcam views of the blaze.
-Flickr has a series of photos taken by people in the San Diego area.

4:51 PM ET | 10-22-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Mike Huckabee: Dark Horse Candidate?

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks at the Values Voter Summit on Saturday in Washington.

Stephanie Kuykendal/Getty Images

Confrontations among the GOP "Big Four" — Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Fred Thompson and former Gov. Mitt Romney — set many commentators buzzing after Sunday night's Republican debate in Orlando. But some attention also centered around former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and his decision not to join in.

Huckabee compared the debate to a demolition derby. "I'm kind of glad I wasn't in on the first few minutes because it was all about these guys fighting each other," Huckabee said, adding there were more important things to talk about.

This follows Huckabee's close second-place finish behind Romney in a straw poll at the Values Voter Summit last week in Washington. The Weekly Standard's Dean Barnett notes that in the most recent Rasmussen poll in Iowa, Huckabee was third with 18 percent, within striking distance of Romney at 25 percent and just behind Thompson at 19 percent.

So is Huckabee pulling away from the rest of the pack that follows the Big Four? Could he even be the GOP's version of Jimmy Carter, a once obscure governor from Georgia who defeated all the big names in 1976? I talked with some of NPR's political reporters about this idea, which they found intriguing, but they said Carter's success would be difficult to replicate.

The biggest problem facing any potential dark horse is, of course, that times have changed. Carter could build slowly into the Democratic convention. Now, a candidate can only build slowly until the first primary.

This neck of the race is a marathon of positioning and name-building that will eventually turn into a sprint. Don Gonyea, NPR's White House correspondent, compares it to an Olympic long-distance cycling race in a velodrome. For the first 19 laps of a 20-lap race, the cyclists move very slowly — they can even come to a complete stop on occasion. It's a game of wits and chess-like strategy. Then, the bell sounds the final lap, and they madly sprint for the finish.

So it's not that Huckabee doesn't have a chance to do well. But he would have to get himself into a good position pretty quickly — that bell's going to ring in about two months.

Pressure on Turkish PM to Invade Iraq Grows

Protesters in Istanbul today hold flags and a picture of a soldier who was killed Sunday by Kurdish rebels. About 3,000 flag-waving Turks took to the streets, chanting slogans against the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

AFP/Getty Images

A clash with Kurdish rebels on Sunday that killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers may be the tipping point that sends Turkey into northern Iraq. It could be tough for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to squeeze out of it now, especially with the Kurds also claiming to have captured eight soldiers.

Last week, parliament members gave Erdogan the OK to use military force. Now, the Turkish media reports, the public is demanding it. If Erdogan doesn't invade, it will likely damage his public image severely.

I e-mailed Ivan Watson, our correspondent in Istanbul, this morning, and he told me that Turkish leaders don't think an invasion will solve the problem but have painted themselves into a corner with the vote in parliament. An expert he interviewed for Morning Edition, Hugh Pope, said the Turks "are pushed by domestic public opinion to go in, and by common sense to stay out."

Ivan wrote that if the latest attack really did start with an ambush by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, that it's "basically an invitation by the PKK for the Turks to invade northern Iraq."

Yes, the PKK seems to want a Turkish invasion, according to Pope, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. He said the PKK is launching these attacks for two reasons: to remain relevant and to try and draw Turkey into what he calls "the morass of Iraq."

So Erdogan is in a tight spot. The public is clamoring for a military response that he doesn't think will work and may play right into the PKK's strategy. But if he doesn't act in the way voters want, he could put his own political career in jeopardy.

But a peaceful settlement may still be possible. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said the rebels would declare a unilateral ceasefire today. A PKK Web site says the rebels are ready to lay down their arms if Turkey stops targeting them and drops plans for an invasion, Agence France-Presse reports.

12:11 PM ET | 10-22-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

October 19, 2007

Torre Leaves Yankees

I'm a Boston Red Sox fan. So for me, I must disclose, there are only two things that matter: that the Red Sox win the World Series and that the New York Yankees don't.

Yankees manager Joe Torre has been one big reason why Sox fans could never count the Yankees out for the past 12 seasons. And now he's gone. The pending departure adds a new twist to the teams' rivalry.

On Thursday, the Yankees' brass offered Torre a one-year contract at a reduced salary based around performance incentives. On Morning Edition, Tom Goldman talked about how Torre saw this offer as an insult and turned it down. Many believe that Torre became the fall guy for the Yankees' failed strategy of just buying the biggest names they could find, rather than developing from the bottom up — the strategy of this year's National League champs, the Colorado Rockies.

So now the question becomes who will manage the Yankees? Bench coach and former Yankees' first baseman Don Mattingly is a leading contender, but even he has said that whoever replaces Torre will have a really tough job. As Mark Feinsand wrote on Blogging the Bombers, "You won't realize how good Torre was until you go through a season without him."

Canadian Gets Apology from U.S. Congressmen

Canadian Maher Arar heard two things Thursday he probably didn't expect. First, he got apologies from both Democratic and Republican congressmen for being wrongly sent by U.S. authorities in 2002 to Syria for suspected terrorist links. Arar was repeatedly tortured during the year he was in a Syrian prison.

And he heard Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler say, "There is nothing [in the U.S. government's secret dossier on Arar] to justify the continuation of this campaign of vilification against you or to deny you entry into this country." Nadler made the comments after saying he had read the file. "This was a kidnapping," Nadler said.

But the one thing Arar didn't get was permission to travel to the United States, which was the reason that he was testifying, by video link from Ottawa, to a House Judiciary subcommittee in Washington about his experiences. The Bush administration has refused to take Arar off its no-fly list even though he's been completely cleared by Canadian officials after an extensive judicial inquiry. The U.S. is also trying to squash a lawsuit that Arar has filed in New York.

And while they apologized to Arar for his treatment, Republican members of the committee defended the practice of extraordinary rendition, calling it a vital tool in the war on terror. They also noted that Canadian officials had made the first mistake about Arar. But the committee's chairman, Democrat William Delahunt, praised Canada for being accountable for its culpability in the case and said it "cries out" for a similar independent probe in the U.S.

Canadian Pedophile Suspect Arrested in Thailand

Thai police arrested an alleged Canadian pedophile Friday who had been the target of a worldwide Interpol search. Teacher Christopher Paul Neil was found in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima, 150 miles northeast of Bangkok.

"Bingo! We've got him," police Maj. Gen. Wimol Powintara told The Associated Press. Police tracked down Neil after they put a trace on his Thai boyfriend's cellphone.

Neil is allegedly the suspect who had been sought by Interpol for three years after about 200 pictures of a man sexually abusing young boys in Cambodia and Vietnam appeared on the Internet. But the man's face had been digitally obscured. Then earlier this month German police were able to unscramble the pictures. That's when Interpol made its worldwide appeal for help to find Neil.

Neil has been teaching in Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam since 2000. Before teaching abroad, Neil worked as a chaplain in Canada, counseling teens.

If convicted he could face up to 20 years in prison. Law enforcement officials in Cambodia, Vietnam and Canada have also indicated they want to question Neil about his activities.

October 18, 2007

Board Approves Birth Control at Middle School

This story from Portland, Maine, makes me remember that middle schoolers have a lot more to deal with than finding a way to get tickets for a Miley Cyrus concert.

On Wednesday, school board members approved a plan to make prescription birth control available to students as young as 11 at King Middle School's health center starting either this year or next. The move comes after a number of pregnancies in the city's middle schools.

Under state law, treatment is confidential. Students need their parents' permission to use the center, but they don't have to reveal why.

Portland School Committee member Lori Gramlich, who supported the measure, told Day to Day's Madeleine Brand that while she believes parents need to talk to their children about sex and that abstinence is the only form of birth control that is 100 percent effective, the reality is that not all children will follow that advice. So she says the board needs to "give them what they need to protect themselves."

Parents in Portland are split on the issue, but the debate seems to be raging even hotter on the national level.

'Hannah Montana' Takes America by Storm

Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus performs during the Disney Channel Games 2007 Concert in April in Kissimmee, Fla.

Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Hannah Montana lives in my house.

OK, she doesn't really. But her records do. And her posters. And her magazine covers. And while I don't let my children watch much TV, she always seems to be on whenever they've earned the right to watch the tube. I swear there are a couple of episodes of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana that I've seen a dozen times. My daughters can recite the dialogue by heart.

Blake Farmer reported on Morning Edition today from Nashville about the Hannah Montana phenomenon, which is also the Miley Cyrus phenomenon. Cyrus plays the title character on Hannah Montana, alongside her co-star dad, former country sensation Billy Ray Cyrus. For the next few months, Miley is taking her musical act on the road, and she has sold out shows across America.

One marketing consultant Blake interviewed says the demand for Cyrus tickets shows the power that tweens have over what their parents buy. But what is it about Hannah Montana that has all those 8-to-12-year-olds clamoring for tickets that are selling for hundreds of dollars?

On the show, Cyrus' character lives a dual life. By day, she's a regular middle schooler, constantly bullied and humiliated by the cool girls. But at night, she puts on a wig and becomes Hannah Montana, super pop star. It's that fantasy that I think my girls love: living a regular life and hanging out with friends and family, yet secretly being way cooler than the cool kids. And as someone said to me, the idea that people who are mean to you can't see who you really are (but would like you if they did) is pretty appealing.

After Weeks of Rumors, Sarkozys Confirm Divorce

The other shoe has dropped. The lawyer for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, has confirmed what had been the worst-kept secret in the country: They have gotten a divorce.

Lawyer Michele Cahen spoke on Europe-1 radio. Earlier today, Sarkozy's office put out a 15-word statement that confirmed a separation, and Sarkozy's spokesman later said that separation meant divorce.

The announcement comes along with another crisis for the president: nationwide transportation strikes over proposed pension changes that began Wednesday night and kept many French workers at home today.

Sarkozy is the first French president to get a divorce while in office. But other well-known heads of state, like former South African President Nelson Mandela and Argentine President Carlos Menem have gone through divorces or separations while in power.

11:35 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Bhutto Returns to Pakistan

Supporters of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto try to get a glimpse as she passes by in a procession today in Karachi, Pakistan.

John Moore/Getty Images

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan today after eight years in exile. When she arrived in Karachi, she was greeted by tens of thousands of jubilant supporters.

Bhutto described her return as a "miracle," and members of her Pakistan People's Party who accompanied her on the flight clapped and cheered when her plane touched down.

Security was high in the city following a series of assassination threats against Bhutto from Islamic militants. Authorities tried to stop her from undertaking a long procession through Karachi to the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, but she was undeterred: "I do not believe that any true Muslim will make an attack on me because Islam forbids attacks on women, and Muslims know that if they attack a woman they will burn in hell."

Bhutto is expected to seek the prime minister's office for a third time in upcoming elections, but some political observers in the country have expressed a deep skepticism about the power-sharing negotiations with President Pervez Musharraf that allowed her to return. (She fled the country in 1999 to escape corruption charges.) They say that by agreeing to support the president in return for legislation that wiped out the charges, she compromised her political independence.

In Washington, however, her election would likely be viewed positively because she and Musharraf are seen as pro-Western.

Update: The Associated Press reports that two explosions have gone off near a truck carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. An official said at least 100 people were killed. While Bhutto was not hurt, the second, larger blast went off just feet from the front of the truck carrying her. The blast shattered windows in her vehicle.

October 17, 2007

Native American Activist Fought Sports Mascots

I'm writing this blog in a town that has a football team named the Redskins, and I've been reading about how the Cleveland Indians are threatening to beat my beloved Red Sox for the American League pennant.

The use of Native American names and images as mascots for teams like Washington and Cleveland really bothered Vernon Bellecourt, who died recently at the age of 75. On Tell Me More, Suzan Shown Harjo, a columnist for Indian Country Today, talked about how Bellecourt became involved in fighting sports stereotypes of Native Americans.

Bellecourt was an outspoken member of the movement that started in the 1960s, targeting mascots like the University of Oklahoma's Little Red and the Dartmouth Indians. When it began, there were more than 3,000 sports teams using references considered offensive by Native Americans, Harjo says. Now, there are fewer than 1,000.

But not a single professional team has changed its mascot, Harjo says. In 1992, Bellecourt publicly lambasted the Redskins' owner before the Super Bowl for not changing the team's name. And he was arrested in Cleveland during the 1997 World Series while protesting mascot Chief Wahoo.

Why Is U.S. Going Public with Support for Dalai Lama?

It's been pretty hard to miss the fact that the Dalai Lama has gotten a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow. And if you've heard about the award, then you've probably also heard about how upset the Chinese are about it. (China views Tibet as part of its territory and sees the Dalai Lama as a threat to its sovereignty.)

In the past, U.S. presidents have always kept meetings with the Dalai Lama low-key for fear of offending the Chinese, so it begs the question: Why go public now?

The president was asked at a news conference today why he was going to the ceremony honoring the Dalai Lama, considering China's outrage. Bush cited the struggle for religious freedom around the world — an issue that has been a touchstone for his administration.

I have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their nation's interest. I've also told them that I think it's in their interest to meet with the Dalai Lama, and will say so at the ceremony today in Congress. ... Matter of fact, I don't think it ever damages relations when the American president talks about religious tolerance.

However, the White House has made concessions to China's feelings on the matter. Officials denied the media any access to Bush's private meeting with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday.

And experts say that his visit is not likely to have a long-term effect on Chinese-U.S. relations. "It seems more likely to me that (China is) going through the motions of protest more for their own domestic audience than for any outside audience," said Daniel Sneider, an Asia Pacific specialist at Stanford University.

Helping Iraqi Refugees in America and Abroad

Abood al-Khafajee says he's lucky. Out of the more than 2 million Iraqi refugees around the world, he's one of the 1,600 who have been allowed to settle in the U.S. in the past year.

Deborah Amos, who covers Iraq for NPR, spent time with al-Khafajee's family, now living in Brooklyn, N.Y. It's a new, unfamiliar landscape for the family members, who, for instance, had no idea what asparagus was the first time they saw it in a supermarket.

The family was forced to leave Iraq because al-Khafajee, who had worked as a translator for the U.S. military, was threatened. There are many Iraqis in similar situations, and one of al-Khafajee's daughters, Shaima, says she doesn't think the U.S. is doing enough to help others who were forced to flee.

Many refugees wind up stuck in a kind of legal limbo in places like Syria. They don't want to go home, but no countries will take them. Earlier this week, Deborah examined the problems facing these refugees and, in particular, their children. There are almost half a million Iraqi children in Syria, and their parents often can't afford school there, meaning a generation of Iraqi kids may go uneducated.

For its part, Syria says the international community is not doing enough to help. After leaving its borders open much longer than other neighboring countries, Syria imposed a strict visa requirement on all Iraqis on Oct. 1.

Now, as Deborah said to me, where will they go?

Support for Genocide Resolution Looks Shaky

"If the vote were held today, I would not want to bet my house on the outcome."

That's what Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, told The New York Times about the chances of the House passing a resolution that labels as genocide the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in the World War I era. The resolution passed 27-21 last week in the House Foreign Affairs Committee and appeared to have broad support for a full vote.

But some of that support has disappeared under intense lobbying efforts by the White House and the Turkish government. The Times reports that almost a dozen lawmakers changed their position on the measure in a 24-hour period ending Tuesday night. Even some members who originally signed on as co-sponsors have withdrawn support.

The Los Angeles Times points out that one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest allies, Rep. John Murtha, is working to defeat the measure. Pelosi has said she supports it.

But why is this resolution making Turkey so upset? Belinda Cooper, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, told Melissa Block on All Things Considered that Turkey sees the Armenian deaths in the context of a civil war during the breakup of an empire. Turks also see the word "genocide" as comparing them to the Nazis, Cooper said.

For Armenians, this traumatic event has been passed down through generations, and they see recognition of it as important, especially because it isn't recognized by Turkey, she said.

October 16, 2007

The Return of Captain America

Captain America is on his way back. And this time he'll be armed.

As you may remember, the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, was shot and killed a few months ago during a civil war in the Marvel Comics universe. But there's a new Captain America, although we won't learn his identity until his debut in January. The big differences already: He's carrying a gun and he's wearing a new uniform.

I confess I've never been much of a Cap fan. Spider-Man is my favorite read. But growing up in Canada, I always had a sense of Captain America being, you know, a stand-up guy who fought the evil-doers with his fists and his wits. I don't recall him using a gun in the few times I remember reading his comics.

But as The Washington Post notes, back in the '40s, Captain America carried a gun. And not just any gun ... a machine gun. And his sidekick, Bucky, had a flamethrower. So perhaps it's just a case of everything old being new again.

So what do you think? Is it OK for Cap to be packing heat?

Rumors About French President's Marriage Abound

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gets ready to deliver a speech in July in Paris with his wife, Cecilia, nearby.

Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images

"The president's wife has gone missing," writes a Paris correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

The conspicuous absence of Cecilia Sarkozy from public outings with her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, has the French abuzz with rumors that the couple is getting a divorce. Sarkozy and his wife, a former model, have long had a rocky relationship — she even left him for another man for several months in 2005 — but this time people are wondering if she's gone for good.

Eleanor Beardsley, an NPR contributor in Paris, tells me that the state of the Sarkozys' relationship is an "undercurrent" running through the French public and media this week. There were rumors that the couple had filed divorce papers at a local courthouse and that court officials would officially declare the divorce on Monday, but an announcement never came. "Everybody's waiting for it," she says.

And unlike the media roar that would ensue if rumors started that President Bush was divorcing his wife, the major news outlets in France have been low-key so far. "The French media have always been very strict about not nosing around in people's private lives. So none of this is on the front pages over here. But if they do file for divorce, then it will be everywhere," Eleanor says.

And here's an interesting sidebar: Cecilia Sarkozy cannot file for divorce from her husband because, as president of the country, he has immunity from prosecution in criminal and civil proceedings. She would have to convince him to file jointly.

5:11 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

China Not Happy About Dalai Lama's U.S. Honor

There are many ways to draw the ire of the Chinese government. Accuse it of not enforcing copyright laws. Treat Taiwan (which China considers part of its territory) as an independent nation.

And, of course, talk publicly to the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of another region Beijing considers part of China, Tibet.

China is pretty upset that the Dalai Lama will receive the highest honor U.S. lawmakers can bestow, the Congressional Gold Medal, Morning Edition reports. It's an unusually public acknowledgment of the Dalai Lama, who is also meeting with President Bush today.

Any public honor for the Dalai Lama, who China accuses of seeking independence for Tibet, is seen as interference in internal Chinese politics. China has warned that it will "seriously harm" the relationship between the two countries.

Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing that the trip comes at a bad time for Chinese leaders. They are trying to negotiate a leadership shuffle at the ongoing 17th Party Congress. And they are puzzled by their lack of success in placating the Tibetan people.

"I think it is a big question for China that there seems to be a continuing inability to gauge how Tibetans think, and how to win them over," said Robbie Barnett, who runs the Tibetan studies program at Columbia University in New York. "[They need] to get over the idea that you can buy people's loyalty by improving the economy and improving cities and so on. It just isn't working out for them."

WTO Rules Against U.S. in Cotton Subsidies Fight

The thing about the global marketplace is that policies created to keep voters happy at home don't mean a thing to politicians and business leaders in other countries. The United States found this out again Monday when the World Trade Organization ruled against it in a case involving cotton subsidies. The U.S. could face billions of dollars in trade sanctions for failing to get rid of what WTO says are illegal subsidies.

The ruling is a victory for Brazil and the West African countries that took the case to the WTO, saying the subsidies hurt their own cotton producers. The challenge, which Brazil started in 2002, has been a watershed, "providing ammunition for those who would like to see affluent nations curtail the subsidies they say only impoverish farmers abroad," Reuters reports.

The U.S. is expected to appeal.

Dean Kleckner, a farmer and chairman of the advocacy group Truth About Trade and Technology, writes in a New York Times op-ed that Congress should pay attention to this ruling as it heads into final negotiations over the farm bill. Not only has Brazil won this battle against U.S. cotton, but Mexico is likely to file a complaint against U.S. rice subsidies and Canada against U.S. corn subsidies. Kleckner, the former president of the American Farm Bureau, says the U.S. "must stop subsidizing farmers the way it does" or "risk a series of trade wars."

Indian PM Tells Bush Nuclear Deal in Trouble

When negotiations on a nuclear deal between India and the United States were completed in July, the Bush administration called the agreement historic. But in the months since, opposition has grown in India. Now, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hinting that the deal might not happen.

Singh told President Bush that he is having "certain difficulties" finalizing the deal. Communist parties that are key to keeping Singh's government alive have been telling him that they don't want closer ties to the United States.

The deal, first developed in 2005, would give India access to key technologies that could help solve its growing demand for energy while allowing the country to keep its nuclear weapons. The U.S. sees it as a way to bring India, which has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, into the international mainstream on atomic issues.

In a meeting last week, Singh told the left-wing parties that he would continue talking with them and that he would hold off on negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the deal, which also requires an agreement with the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. But Singh also said it would be "not the end of life" if the deal didn't go through, ending widespread speculation about early elections because of the conflict.

On Morning Edition, Somini Sengupta of The New York Times told Steve Inskeep that there is an enormous amount at stake for both the U.S. and Singh. For the Bush administration, an important foreign policy victory could be undermined, while India could see its desire to be taken seriously as a nuclear power set back. Sengupta said the problems speak to the fragile nature of India's coalition government.

9:41 AM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

October 15, 2007

Study: British Pulling Their Own Teeth

OK, there are lots of jokes about the allegedly sorry condition of British teeth. But this is weird.

A new report from Britain's Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health finds that 6 percent of those surveyed had treated themselves, including pulling out their own teeth or using superglue to put crowns back on. (Not just a stiff upper lip there.)

The self-treatment is being attributed to the declining number of dentists covered by Britain's state-financed medical system.

The Independent reports that "one person questioned in Lancashire spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions with pliers."

Ill, Disabled Account for Many Afghan Suicide Attacks

It's a shake-your-head statistic. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported on Morning Edition that a doctor's work shows most Afghan suicide bombers are sick, physically disabled or mentally ill.

Afghan security officials say that most of the bombers are foreigners. But a recent United Nations report says bombers caught before they could attack were overwhelmingly Afghan. Regardless of their nationalities, 80 percent of bombers are disabled or sick, says Dr. Yusef Yadgari, a pathologist who examines their remains.

"They are probably resentful because in Afghan society they are outcasts," Yadgari says. "They hold a grudge because many of them can't get a job. So, to make money for their families, they agree to become suicide bombers."

Interestingly, Afghan suicide bombers are "not celebrated" in the way that their counterparts elsewhere often are, says Christine Fair, co-author of the U.N. report. "Many parents don't even seem to know that their child or their relative blew themselves up in this act," she said.

Would Mukasey Stand Up to White House?

President Bush (right) announces his nomination of retired U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general during a news conference last month at the White House.

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Washington is preparing for its next political circus: Senate hearings on the nomination of retired U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general are set to begin Wednesday. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that much of the questioning is "expected to focus on whether Mukasey will both ensure the integrity of the Justice Department and stand up to the White House, especially when it comes to terrorism."

One thing that might come up is Mukasey's approval of secret warrants while the chief federal trial judge in Manhattan that allowed the government to round up Muslims following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has said Democrats shouldn't use the hearings to dig for additional information about the firing of U.S. attorneys by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Specter wants the Democrats to stick to Mukasey's qualifications.

But that's not likely. NPR's senior Washington editor, Ron Elving, told Day to Day's Madeleine Brand that Wednesday will be a long day for the judge, with lots of tough questions. Most, he says, will be about the past — not Mukasey's past, but Gonzales' past — and the Bush administration's relationship with Congress over judicial issues.

But overall, Ron says, it's likely to be smooth sailing for Mukasey in terms of confirmation.

4:04 PM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Blackwater Wants to Expand Military Work

U.S. officials are mulling a request from the Iraqi government to expel security firm Blackwater USA from the country within six months. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports, company founder Erik Prince is "laying plans for an expansion that would put his for-hire forces in hot spots around the world doing far more than guard duty."

Already, the 10-year-old company — which went from renting out shooting ranges for thousands of dollars in its early years to revenue of almost a half-billion dollars last year — is bidding on military work against industry giants such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Mr. Prince says he is planning to build Blackwater's expertise in training, transportation and military support while expanding into making everything from remotely piloted blimps to an armored truck called the Grizzly that is tough enough to compete for the Army's latest armored-vehicle contract.

And on Sunday night, Prince defended his employees and himself against the accusations that they are mercenaries that have followed a shooting in Baghdad last month that left 17 Iraqis dead. "You know the definition of a mercenary is a professional soldier that works in the pay of a foreign army. I'm an American working for America," he said on CBS' 60 Minutes.

Pentagon Uses Security Letters to Investigate Its Own

It is, as reporter Dina Temple-Raston called it, "sort of a big deal."

As she reported on All Things Considered Sunday, the American Civil Liberties Union has learned that the Pentagon, apparently working with the FBI, has used "national security letters" to investigate 455 people connected with the Defense Department over the past five years. These letters allow investigators to get people's personal records without a court order.

Dina noted that the most interesting aspect of the revelations is that officials have to show suspicion of a link to terrorism to obtain the letters, which would mean that the Pentagon has suspected hundreds of its own employees of being connected to terrorism in some way.

Bruce Fein, a former associate deputy attorney general and now head of a conservative group that monitors executive power, told Guy Raz on Morning Edition that if this is true, it indicates that there is a serious security breach in the Defense Department.

A senior Pentagon official told NPR that far fewer than 450 Pentagon employees are actually under investigation. Some are contractors and some are people who "made approaches" to Pentagon employees.

The ACLU, which accessed documents about the letters through a public records lawsuit, accuses the Pentagon of using the FBI as a "foil" to get information on its own people.

Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, says it also raises the issue of the Pentagon investigating civilians. Fein says this kind of probe should be left to the FBI.

10:34 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

October 12, 2007

Will Cell Phones Replace Boarding Passes?

For several years now, air travelers have been able to skip paper tickets and use an "e-ticket," which allows them to get boarding passes printed right at the airport.

But what if you could skip this step? Just go straight to security and head to your plane? It could happen sooner than you think. On Thursday, the International Air Transport Association announced plans for travelers to check in using their cell phones or other mobile devices.

Mobile phone check-in enables airlines to send 2D bar codes directly to a passenger's mobile phone, personal digital assistant or smart phone. Passengers simply register their mobile number with their airline at the time of booking to receive a text message with a 2D bar code, or instructions to download it. The bar code becomes the passenger's boarding pass and it is read directly from the screen of the mobile device, eliminating paper completely from the check-in process.

The industry wants to have this in place by 2010 and hopes to save $500 million annually.

Marketplace's Jill Barshay reported on Day to Day that this system is already in place in Japan, and Air Canada has just started to use it. But the Transportation Security Administration will have to approve it in the United States. Continental Airlines has just begun trials with TSA to see how it works.

The airline industry says it will try to give back some of the potential savings to customers, but Barshay says "seeing is believing" on that statement.

That's all for this week. If you see anything interesting over the weekend, drop us a line at newsblog@npr.org.

Mom Accused of Buying Weapons for 14-Year-Old Son

This is the kind of story that makes me scratch my head and wonder, "What was this person thinking?"

The Associated Press reports that the mother of a 14-year-old Pennsylvania boy, who was arrested Wednesday on charges of plotting a school attack, was herself charged, accused of buying weapons for her kid.

Michele Cossey, 46, bought her home-schooled son, Dillon, a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle, authorities said.
The teenager felt bullied and tried to recruit another boy for a possible attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, authorities said. His mother was not accused of helping plot an attack, "but by virtue of her indulgence, she enabled him to get in this position," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said.

The boy's father also tried to buy his son a weapon in 2005, authorities said, but couldn't because he's a felon. (Chalk one up to background checks.)

Dillon Cossey's attorney says the accusation that this was a "Columbine in the making" is "not borne out by the facts."

Maternal Death Rate Changes Little in 15 Years

An analysis of maternal deaths around the world shows that nearly 536,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth each year, with about half of the deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. It's a number little changed from the 576,000 who died in 1990. Maternal deaths fell by less than 1 percent a year between then and 2005.

The analysis was done by Harvard professor Ken Hill and published in the British medical journal the Lancet. Dr. Richard Horton, the Lancet's editor, says women are too often seen as just "containers" for babies, the BBC reports.

In a separate study published in the Lancet, Dr. Iqbal Shah of the World Health Organization found rates of abortion fell globally by 17 percent between 1995 and 2003 — from 46 million per year to 42 million. But the number of abortions carried out in unsafe conditions remained the same at approximately 20 million, just below 50 percent of the total.

The lowest global abortion rate — 12 abortions per 1,000 women — was found in Western Europe, where abortion is legal. (The U.S. had 21 abortions per 1,000 pregnancies in 2003.) In contrast, the estimated rate in 2003 was 54 per 1,000 in Uganda, where abortions are illegal.

The study suggests that outlawing abortion does little to deter women from seeking it, The New York Times reports. And researchers "found that abortion was safe in countries where it was legal, but dangerous in countries where it was outlawed and performed clandestinely."

Groups that oppose abortion criticized the study. Randall O'Bannon, director of education and research at the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund in Washington, said the scientists made judgments from imperfect figures. "These numbers are not definitive and very susceptible to interpretation according to the agenda of the people who are organizing the data," he said.

Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Former Vice President Al Gore attends a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday in San Francisco.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

It seems the rumor mill was right on the money. The Nobel Committee today named former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The committee said Gore was "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted." The judges cited his "political activity, lectures, films and books."

The Nobel Committee also explained why it was awarding a Peace Prize for environmental work:

Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.

Gore said he was "deeply honored" to win the award. A spokeswoman for the U.N. panel said members were surprised. "We would have been happy even if he had received it alone because it is a recognition of the importance of this issue," spokeswoman Carola Traverso Saibante said.

However, NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving said on Morning Edition that he doesn't think this means Gore will run for president — at least not this time around.

October 11, 2007

Will Al Gore Run for President?

The rumor mill has former Vice President Al Gore walking off with tomorrow's Nobel Peace Prize (along with his co-nominee, Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier). But does winning a Nobel mean that Gore might suddenly toss his hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination for president? It might seem hard to resist during such a hot streak (best-selling book, Academy Award, etc.).

The New York Times reports that Gore supporters are trying to raise money and even get him on the ballot in some states — which may be just a tad difficult if they have to get him to sign an affidavit. A group of supporters also took out a full-page ad in the Times imploring Gore to run.

So I went to our political guru Ken Rudin and posed the question to him: Will Gore run?

Nah.

Ken said there is a 5 percent to 10 percent chance that it would happen. But Ken thinks Gore has too much going against him: He has no campaign staff, he hasn't raised any money and he doesn't really have enough time to run in Iowa and New Hampshire. Not to mention that he's repeatedly said he doesn't plan to and that it would be kind of weird to run against the wife of the guy who picked him as running mate the first time around.

However, if Gore wins the Peace Prize, there could be another award in his future, as Ken noted during his appearance this week on Talk of the Nation: "Well, if he wins that and if he also loses weight, it'll be the 'no belly' prize."

Progressives, Evangelicals Launch Plan to Cooperate

At first glance, they seem unlikely bedfellows. But a group of progressives and evangelicals say they want to work together to find common ground on divisive issues like gay rights, abortion and religion's role in public life.

Members of both groups gathered Wednesday to announce a new working paper released by the left-leaning think tank Third Way that they hope will start to bridge their differences. The paper, entitled Come Let Us Reason Together: A Fresh Look at Shared Cultural Values Between Progressives and Evangelicals, states that one-fifth of evangelicals can be described as progressive, a third as moderate and half as social conservatives.

The Christian Post reports that Robert P. Jones, an author of the paper and a religion scholar, said this means half of the evangelicals in the United States may be more open to progressive ideas than many had imagined.

However, a leader of the National Right to Life Committee has dismissed the new initiative, calling the Third Way approach "a political ploy to silence the debate."

3:01 PM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Myanmar Opposition Member Dies in Interrogation

An activist group says that a member of a pro-democracy opposition party in Myanmar was killed during interrogation by the military government.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says the family of Win Shwe was recently told about his death in the central region of Sagaing, The Associated Press reports. Win Shwe and five colleagues had been arrested on the first day of the government's crackdown on protesters.

He belonged to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The activist group said his body was cremated. Although AP could not verify the report, it said in the past the group "has provided detailed, accurate information on political prisoners in Myanmar."

The reports of Win Shwe's death prompted threats of further sanctions from the White House. But some experts and leaders in the region say sanctions could be counterproductive.

Priscilla Clapp, the U.S. chief of mission in Myanmar from 1999 to 2002, writes in a working paper for the U.S. Institute of Peace that the development of multiple layers of sanctions has moved the U.S. "to a backseat position" in the effort to persuade the country's military rulers to move toward democracy. Clapp writes that it could be more constructive for the U.S. to "work in partnership with Burma's neighbors to ease the generals into reform and transition, rather than simply exhorting their governments to copy U.S. policy."

That approach was echoed recently by Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, who said "China and India are critical to any international approach."

11:51 AM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Turkey Denounces Vote on Armenian Genocide

In a "midnight statement," Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, denounced a measure passed by a U.S. House committee that calls the mass killings of Armenians beginning in 1915 genocide.

Gul said the decision "has no validity and respectability for the Turkish people. Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States ignored appeals for common sense and once again moved to sacrifice big issues to petty games of domestic politics," according to the Turkish Daily News.

Ivan Watson reports on Morning Edition that the 27-21 vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee also has provoked a strong reaction among the Turkish people. The headline in a leading paper was "27 Dumb Americans." Watson notes that the vote comes at a time when Turkish opinion of the U.S. is at an all-time low, primarily because of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Concerned about negative reaction to the vote, the State Department had told Americans in Turkey to be alert for possible demonstrations, even those intended to be peaceful, and to avoid large gatherings.

Passage by the House committee, or even the entire House, does not guarantee success for the measure (which does not need to be approved by President Bush). Similar resolutions were passed by the House before, in 1975 and 1984, but never made it through the Senate. There are already signs that the measure will face a tougher fight there.

Sen. Hillary Clinton told The Boston Globe's editorial board Wednesday that she cosponsored a similar measure in the Senate because it seemed "to be a statement of recognition of a horrible period in the history of the Armenian people." But she said she was concerned by Turkey's opposition to the bill, which has been stronger than many expected.

October 10, 2007

GAO: Poor Management Had Role in Boot Camp Deaths

They are the places of last resort for some parents: privately run "boot camps" designed to help troubled teens. But a report from the Government Accountability Office presented to Congress today found that "ineffective management" and problems such as "the hiring of untrained staff" contributed to most of the 10 deaths in residential treatment programs between 1990 and 2004 that it examined.

Federal regulators found thousands of allegations of abuse since 1990. For instance, more than 1,600 staff members were involved in cases of abuse in 2005.

Although reporting on the private facilities is spotty, GAO investigators searched court records and Web sites. They interviewed lawyers, family members and others familiar with the facilities. "This nightmare has remained an open secret for years," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Day to Day interviewed Kansas City Star reporter Steve Rock, who discussed allegations about Thayer Learning Center in Kidder, Mo., where a 15-year-old boy died a few years ago.

Rock says parents, teens and others familiar with Thayer have described the center's rules as especially strict. Children are allegedly allowed few bathroom breaks, resulting in many of the teens soiling themselves regularly. There have also been allegations of teens being dragged around a dirt track. But because the center is private, local officials in Missouri say it is difficult for them to investigate these allegations.

Rock says Miller's committee is trying to "collapse" facilities that operate without oversight, including possibly helping fund states that want to find a way to investigate them.

Fans Take Up Radiohead on Pay-What-You-Like Offer

I'm just going to write it. Radiohead's decision to let fans pay what they want for its newest album, In Rainbows, is just sheer bloody genius.

On Morning Edition, Jacob Ganz talked about sitting by his computer at 3:30 this morning, waiting for the e-mail with the activation code that would enable him to download the album from the band's Web site. The Daily Telegraph reports predictions that too many people would request the album at the same time and crash the system seemed unfounded as "tens of thousands of fans" downloaded it.

While it's impossible to tell what people are paying for their online copies, Billboard reports that "unofficial sources suggest" most customers are paying around $10.17. If that's true, it could make the album a financial as well as a musical success. (Billboard says musically, the album "represents solid progression, rather than radical departure, from previous Radiohead albums.")

The genius of the Radiohead move is letting fans choose what the album is worth rather than giving it away for free (giving it the tinge of being worth less than something paid for). That plays to the core strength of the Internet — choice. You can pay based on the change in your pocket or you can give them a hundred bucks. It's up to you.

Now that the Radiohead experiment appears successful, no doubt other bands will try it. But Jacob told me it probably will only work for some bands, ones with a strong online following in particular. It will likely kill others, he believes, who will find out that there aren't as many people willing to buy as they thought. Jacob adds that it's going to make life even more difficult for music companies, who are already struggling to deal with how the Internet has changed their business.

4:19 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Are Laptops Too Distracting for the Classroom?

When I was the executive director of the Online News Association a few years ago, one of my jobs was arranging wireless Internet access in key areas during the organization's yearly conferences. The areas I left out of that plan included the actual session rooms. More than a few speakers had told me that it was enormously distracting to try to engage an audience while a significant portion was checking e-mail or surfing the Web.

So when I heard Daniel Coyne, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, talk on All Things Considered about asking his students to put their laptops away, it had a familiar ring. He said most students he observed were not using them to do work. He talked about seeing students plan their weddings, watch baseball games and send each other instant messages during class.

And it's not just students. My wife recently gave a seminar to a group of teachers in Boston and noticed two in the back who were paying no attention at all. Turns out they were surfing the 'Net.

No doubt laptops were seen as helpful tools by students and faculty when they first started popping up in class. But that was before wireless Internet became ubiquitous on many campuses, allowing online access from any location. Perhaps blocking the wireless access in classrooms and other settings would allow laptop users to type their notes while cutting down on the distraction. What do you think? Should laptops be allowed in class?

Putin: No Data That Iran Is Trying to Build a Bomb

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and French President Nicolas Sarkozy review an honor guard in Moscow today.

Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that his government has seen no data showing that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb and that Russia will proceed as if Iran has no plans to build one. But Putin, who was speaking at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, did say he shares "the concern of our partners that all programs should be as transparent as possible," according to the BBC.

Sarkozy said that after meeting with Putin, their positions on Iran were closer. Sarkozy described the talks as "frank" and "passionate" and said his relationship with Putin is developing well.

Sarkozy's ebullient appraisal of his first official visit to Russia prompted Ian Traynor to note in The Guardian that Putin seems to have a style that makes other world leaders "go weak at the knees."

But Traynor notes Putin's charm doesn't work on everyone:

Seems to be a male thing, all this touchy-feely bonding at the dacha. Putin's appeal appears to be lost on the powerful female. By strange coincidence, the two most powerful women politicians in the world, Angela Merkel of Germany and Condoleezza Rice of America, are fluent Russian speakers. So maybe they see through the Russian leader's seduction strategies.

Maybe that was behind those shirtless fly-fishing photos.

12:01 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Security Firm Apologizes for Baghdad Shooting

The Australian-run security firm involved in a shooting Tuesday in Baghdad that killed two women has apologized and says "they will do whatever the Interior Ministry asks them to do," the Iraqi ministry's chief spokesman says. The Washington Post reports that Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Unity Resources Group, which is registered with the Iraqi government, has "admitted what they have done."

The women were shot when their car drove up behind the last vehicle in a Unity-led convoy. A spokesman for the company said the occupants of the car were given repeated warnings before shots were fired, but Iraqi witnesses said the car didn't pose a threat.

Unity also was investigated for a shooting last year. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that in March 2006, an Iraqi-born Australian, Kays Juma, who was teaching at a Baghdad university, was killed when his vehicle apparently did not stop at a checkpoint. An internal Unity investigation cleared its staff of wrongdoing, and the Coalition Provincial Authority accepted the findings.

Meanwhile, as All Things Considered reported, the Iraqi prime minister's office says an initial investigation found that the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA "deliberately killed" 17 civilians in a Sept. 16 shooting. The Iraqi government wants Blackwater to pay $8 million in compensation to the families of those killed.

October 9, 2007

Greenpeace: Budweiser Uses Genetically Modified Rice

I'm a big beer guy, so I was interested to read in The Boston Globe that Greenpeace, the environmental group, has accused Anheuser-Busch of using genetically modified rice in its Budweiser beer. (The company brews its beer with rice to give it a "crisp" taste.)

According to an analysis released Monday by Greenpeace, "three of four samples of unprocessed rice from the beer maker's mill in Arkansas showed the presence of the strain, Bayer LL601." In a statement, Doug Muhleman, Anheuser-Busch's vice president of brewing, said the U.S.-grown rice "'may have micro levels' of a genetically engineered protein called Liberty Link, but added that the protein is 'substantially removed or destroyed' during the brewing of beer sold domestically."

Muhleman said the "false and defamatory" statements were made by Greenpeace in retaliation for the company's refusal to side with it in a boycott against U.S. farmers who grow genetically modified crops. But Greenpeace said Americans have a right to know if this type of rice is used in Budweiser's beer. The organization even made a YouTube video called "Wassup With Your Beer?"

But Jason Alstrom of BeerAdvocate.com told the Globe in an e-mail, "As for your typical Bud drinker, I doubt they would care or even know what g-e food actually is."

Teacher Wants to Bring Gun to High School

There's been a lot of discussion about whether guns should be allowed in schools and colleges, particularly after the shooting at Virginia Tech that killed more than 30 people earlier this year. Now, a high school teacher from Oregon wants to bring her pistol with her to work because she's afraid her ex-husband may come to attack her. She's concerned as well about "a Columbine-style attack."

The Associated Press reports that English teacher Shirley Katz has a concealed-weapons permit and believes that should allow her to take her weapon to her school, which bans teachers from carrying guns. "This is primarily about my Second Amendment right and Oregon law and the simple fact that I know it is my right to carry that gun," Katz said.

Oregon allows people with permits to carry concealed weapons into public buildings.

The district's superintendent says everyone is safer at school without guns. Katz's ex-husband, Gerry Katz, argues that her fight to bring a gun to school is a tactic in reopening their divorce to get sole custody of their daughter. "She's just scamming everybody," he said. "As soon as this thing started ... I called the principal at her high school and told her ... I am not coming to your school. I am not a threat to her. I have no desire to hurt her."

The Mail Tribune of Medford reports that as of Friday, a few students had already transferred out of Katz's class.

A judge will hear the case Thursday. The Oregonian notes that if Katz wins, the verdict would apply only in her county.

Is America a Christian Nation?

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain stirred up controversy when he commented in an interview with Beliefnet that he would feel more comfortable with a president who was a Christian rather than a Muslim. But what caught my attention was that he also said the Constitution established a "Christian nation."

The question is fascinating for me because in my home country of Canada, religion and politics are seldom mentioned in the same breath. Over the summer, I read American Gospel, in which Newsweek editor Jon Meacham argues that religion in general, but not Christianity in particular, has played an integral role in American politics.

So I wasn't surprised to see Meacham weigh in on McCain's comments.

In an editorial Sunday in The New York Times, Meacham points to several historical examples in which American leaders have specifically said that America is not a "Christian nation," including a treaty signed in the 1790s with Tripoli. The treaty says "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

"The treaty passed the Senate unanimously," Meacham writes. "Mr. McCain is not the only American who would find it useful reading."

But others agree with McCain. Michael Medved, blogging at Townhall.org, writes that McCain's comments show he "understood that the same leaders who drafted a secular constitution prohibiting a single established religion wanted society at large to remain [religious]." Medved said that McCain's comments deserve "respect, not condemnation."

Israel Orders Land Seized from Arab Villages for Road

Agence-France Presse reports that Israel has ordered the seizure of 272 acres of land from four Palestinian villages between East Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim in the West Bank. The land is slated to be used for a new Palestinian road that would connect East Jerusalem with Jericho.

Ha'aretz reports that this would allow the construction of a Jewish development of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park (known as the E-1 plan) between Jerusalem and the settlement.

The Palestinians and the international community, including the United States, have long objected to the E-1 plan on the grounds that it would cut the West Bank in two and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Israel claims that the new road will solve this latter problem.
Due mainly to American objections, the E-1 plan has been frozen since 2004, other than construction of a thus-far empty police station in the area. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told Haaretz last week that police would move into the station by the end of this year. However, Israel promised the U.S. at the time that the station would not serve as an initial stage of the full housing project.

The news comes the day after Israel's vice prime minister, Haim Ramon, ignited a debate when he proposed that Jerusalem be shared with the Palestinians as part of any peace agreement. Ramon, who is responsible for the region where the road would be built, told Ha'aretz that he didn't know about the land seizure order.

The army said the road is being built "to improve the quality of life for Palestinians," according to AFP. But Akiva Eldar writes in Ha'aretz,"This order is synonymous with putting an end to working on an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of the principle of two states with territorial contiguity."

Turkey's Prime Minister Pressured to Invade Iraq

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under heavy pressure from the country's military to allow an invasion of northern Iraq. Over the weekend, separatist Kurdish guerrillas killed 13 Turkish soldiers in an attack — the most casualties sustained by the Turkish army in nearly a decade. Kurdish separatists frequently cross into southeastern Turkey to conduct attacks and then retreat to bases in Iraq.

The Guardian reports that Erdogan called an emergency meeting of national security chiefs, which some described as a war council. It is widely known, however, that the prime minister doesn't think an invasion will work. Turkey's military conducted several sorties into Iraq in the '90s that had little impact on guerrilla activity. The United States also strongly opposes an invasion because "it would immensely complicate the US campaign in Iraq and destabilize the only part of Iraq that functions, the Kurdish-controlled north."

Despite his own feelings and U.S. pressure, Erdogan still faces a growing call for an invasion. As Time notes, "The top-selling daily Hurriyet ran a banner headline Monday saying, 'This warrants going into [Iraq].'"

On Monday, the U.S., in an effort to help forestall an invasion, urged the Iraqi government to move against the Kurdish separatists. CNN reports that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a longtime Kurdish leader, said Sunday that the idea of a separate Kurdistan is unrealistic. "I don't think that Turkey or Iran or Syria will accept this, so, we must be realistic," Talabani said. "Now the interests of the Kurdish people are in the framework of a united, democratic, federative Iraq."

Update: The New York Times reports that Erdogan has given the go-ahead for a possible cross-border operation to hunt Kurdish separatists. The statement came after today's meeting of senior security officials.

October 5, 2007

Computerized Pillow Aimed at Stopping Snoring

Spouses and significant others of snorers everywhere, rejoice! (Maybe.)

Daryoush Bazargani, a computer science professor in Germany, has invented a computerized inflatable pillow as a way to stop snoring.

"The pillow is attached to a computer, which is the size of a book, rests on a bedside table, and [analyzes] snoring noises," Bazargani told Reuters. "The computer then reduces or enlarges air compartments within the pillow to facilitate nasal airflow to minimize snoring as the user shifts during sleep," he said.

The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery says "forty-five percent of normal adults snore at least occasionally, and 25 percent are habitual snorers. Problem snoring is more frequent in males and overweight persons, and it usually grows worse with age." So, if this works, it could be a big moneymaker for Bazargani.

Hmm. I could mention this to my wife, but she insists she never snores, and I'm not one to contradict her, despite the evidence. I'm sure she would just say that I need it. But I never snore. Nope, never.

Enjoy the long weekend. We'll be back on Tuesday. If you see anything interesting, let us know at newsblog@npr.org.

Some Experts Say Gore Likely to Win Peace Prize

Al Gore ... former senator and vice president, presidential nominee, best-selling author, Academy Award winner ... Nobel Peace Prize winner?

That's the speculation out of Norway, Reuters reports. Gore and other climate campaigners lead experts' choices for the award that will be announced Oct. 12. Two Norwegian parliamentarians nominated Gore and Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who has helped show how global warming affects Arctic peoples, to share the prize. "I think they are likely winners this year," said Stein Toennesson, director of Oslo's International Peace Research Institute and a long-time Nobel Peace Prize watcher.

Toennesson says the committee also could choose to award the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

If the award is given for climate work, it will "accentuate a shift to reward work outside traditional peacekeeping and reinforce the link between peace and the environment," Reuters writes.

But David Kuo at Beliefnet says he doesn't get it.

I'm sorry, I don't see it. I'm very, very pro-environment. I believe we are to be careful stewards of God's creation. I still don't see Al Gore on the list of potential nominees for the Peace Prize let alone being its recipient. What has he done? He made a very good documentary. He is clearly committed to fighting for the Earth. But world peace? I'm sorry, I'm not there.

Others with a chance include former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari for decades of peace mediation work; dissident Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Do for his pro-democracy efforts; Russian human rights lawyer Lida Yusupova, who has fought for victims of war in Chechnya; and Rebiya Kadeer, an advocate for China's Uighur minority.

Rice Orders New Measures for Security in Iraq

It appears that the days of little oversight of private security contractors in Iraq are ending.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced today an overhaul of U.S. security practices, introducing new measures that will allow the State Department to keep a tighter rein on contractors hired to protect government convoys.

The Associated Press reports that Rice accepted preliminary recommendations of an internal review board calling for "Diplomatic Security agents to accompany every convoy, the installation of video cameras in security vehicles, audio recordings of radio traffic between the embassy and such convoys and improved coordination and communication between convoys and the U.S. military."

This announcement comes the day after members of the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation holding U.S. contractors overseas accountable to U.S. law.

Rice ordered a review of security procedures after a Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater security guards that killed several Iraqis. Blackwater has denied its employees did anything wrong, but the Iraqi government has said the security contractors fired first. The Washington Post quotes a senior U.S. military official who says that military reports "indicate that [Blackwater] guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians."

Calls for Stripping Jones' Medals After Steroid Report

Marion Jones competes during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The hue and cry for Marion Jones' Olympic medals has begun.

John Coates, chief of Australia's Olympic organization, told Reuters today that he thinks the track star should be stripped of the three gold and two bronze medals she won at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney if she admits taking steroids. "I would expect that the IOC would re-open ... an investigation which I think they did commence in respect of her at the end of 2004 and I would hope the medals would be taken away," he said.

Citing a letter Jones sent to close family and friends, The Washington Post reports that Jones will plead guilty today in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her use of steroids.

Jones has long denied using performance-enhancing drugs. Even when Victor Conte, the founder of the controversial BALCO lab accused of supplying many athletes with drugs, said he had seen her talking steroids, she found a way around it, as Shaun Assael of ESPN the Magazine writes.

Jones used her money and fame the way the mob uses muscle, and the results were pretty much the same. In 2004, before the Athens Games, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was frothing to make a case against her. It had calendars labeled 'MJ' that showed she used insulin, growth hormone, and BALCO's infamous clear and cream. All they needed was Conte to interpret them, and she'd be cooked. Instead, Jones quietly settled her libel suit against him. Conte's cooperation never materialized.

In an interview with The New York Times, Conte showed compassion for Jones. "Is Marion Jones a bad person? ... No. Marion made mistakes. The pain and suffering she is about to endure in public is going to be devastating to her."

11:55 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Pakistani Court Deals Musharraf a Setback

Pakistan's election can go ahead on Saturday, the country's Supreme Court has ruled, but even if he gets the most votes, whether Gen. Pervez Musharraf can remain president is still up in the air. The BBC reports that no winner can be declared in the election until the court has ruled on the constitutionality of Musharraf standing for re-election while still head of the army. (Musharraf has promised to quit his army post if he wins.)

"The bench has unanimously resolved and directed that the election process should proceed as per the schedule announced by the chief election commissioner," chief judge Javed Iqbal said, the AFP news agency reports.
"But final notification of the returning candidate will not be issued until the decision of this petition for which the process is to begin from 17 October."

The ruling comes just as all the pieces had seemed to be falling into place for the general. He appeared to have reached a deal with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that would see corruption charges against her dropped and allow her to take part in a power-sharing government that would increase Musharraf's credibility.

9:30 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

October 4, 2007

Something Fishy About Mothers and Fish Story

Health editor Joe Neel sent me this note about a story the science desk has been looking into today:

When they picked up The Washington Post this morning, NPR's science editors wondered if there might be something fishy going on in a front-page story about how much fish pregnant women and new mothers should eat. As NPR reported last summer, the Institute of Medicine recommends that these women eat no more than 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week. That's because of concerns about mercury contamination of fish and the effects it can have on fetal and infant brain development.

But the Post was reporting about a new recommendation telling pregnant women and new mothers to eat at least 12 ounces a week. The advice came from a nonprofit group calling itself Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies. It's been around since 1981, according to its Web site, and as of this morning, it listed 150 rather august members, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the March of Dimes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, some big drug companies and a few community groups, among others. So you'd tend to trust them...

But something wasn't right. We get to look at scientific studies early here, before they are released to the public — and there wasn't anything new about fish safety that we were aware of. So the editors assigned NPR's consumer health reporter Allison Aubrey to find out what was going on.

And as it would happen, as she cast about, Aubrey started netting some big ones.

Continue reading "Something Fishy About Mothers and Fish Story" »

It Ain't Cheap to Outfit a Soldier

Modern soldiers, with their night-vision goggles and high-tech vests, are starting to look more and more like they might have dropped out of a popular video game. But it's a pretty expensive one:

It now costs 100 times more to outfit a soldier than it did during World War II. Back then, it cost $170, even adjusted for inflation. These days, The Associated Press reports, it costs $17,000 and could reach $28,000 or even $60,000 by 2015.

In the 1940s, a GI went to war with little more than a uniform, weapon, helmet, bedroll and canteen. He carried some 35 pounds of gear that cost $170 in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars, according to Army figures. That rose to about $1,100 by the 1970s as the military added a flak vest, new weapons and other equipment during the Vietnam War.
Today, troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are outfitted with advanced armor and other protection, including high-tech vests, anti-ballistic eyewear, earplugs and fire-retardant gloves. Night-vision eyewear, thermal weapons sights and other gear makes them more deadly to the adversary.

These days, soldiers are responsible for more than 80 items, weighing a total of 75 pounds. And in the future, their gear could include "a weapon that can shoot around corners so soldiers don't have to expose themselves to their enemy and a helmet-mounted 1.5-inch computer screen showing maps of the battlefield."

All this new technology stands to increase the pressure on the military to retain well-trained personnel because of the cost to train and equip new ones.

Judge: Sen. Craig Can't Take Back Plea

A Minnesota judge has ruled that Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig can't withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in an airport men's restroom.

Craig has said that he might stay in the Senate if he could clear his name, but now that the guilty plea is sticking, he may step down. However, he can still appeal.

Craig's lawyers had argued that he panicked under stress and pleaded guilty to make the charge "go away." He was arrested by an undercover officer in a Minneapolis airport men's room in June as part of a sex sting. Craig contends the officer misconstrued his actions.

(Update: Craig says he will stay in the Senate and finish his term.)

- Erica Ryan

ABC Takes Bold Step into Brave New Digital World

ABC News is taking a bold step into a new kind of reporting. The trend has been for TV news operations to cut back foreign bureaus, relying on freelancers and others to provide coverage from overseas. But technology has changed the game.

On Wednesday, ABC announced it was creating seven one-person foreign bureaus. It's the largest expansion of ABC News' international reporting in two decades. The Hollywood Reporter says these mini-bureaus, "staffed by a reporter-producer with the latest in hand-held digital technology, cost a fraction of what it takes to run a full-time bureau." They will be opened in Seoul; Rio de Janeiro; Dubai; New Delhi and Mumbai, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Nairobi, Kenya.

The reporters will file for both TV and ABCNews.com.

While smaller media operations have been using technology to get by with fewer people for years, ABC is the first big one to try it on a broad scale. The chief of the network's London bureau says it's possible because of the explosion in technology that's affordable and hand-held.

The cheaper setup (the seven mini-bureaus will cost as much as the old fully staffed Paris bureau did) also allows ABC to report from places where it couldn't afford to otherwise.

However, handling reporting, recording and producing is a lot to put on one person's shoulders. Can one reporter turn in stories of the same quality as the ones put together by an entire bureau? As a viewer, do you think this a good move by ABC?

Iraq Goes Shopping for Weapons in China

Saying that the U.S. couldn't provide what it wanted and was too slow to deliver what it did want, the Iraqi government has decided to buy $100 million worth of light weapons from China. The Washington Post reports that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the weapons will be used for the Iraqi police force. Talabani was in Washington for talks with President Bush.

The Post says that the deal worries military analysts because Iraq already has lost track of 190,000 weapons supplied by the United States. Many of those weapons are suspected to be in the hands of "Shiite and Sunni militias, insurgents and other forces seeking to destabilize Iraq and target U.S. troops."

"The problem is that the Iraqi government doesn't have — as yet — a clear plan for making sure that weapons are distributed, that they are properly monitored and repeatedly checked," said Rachel Stohl of the Center for Defense Information, an independent think tank. "The end-use monitoring will be left in the hands of a government and military in Iraq that is not yet ready for it. And there's not a way for the U.S. to mandate them to do it if they're not U.S. weapons."

A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. is working with Iraq on weapons purchases but acknowledged that there is a delivery problem. "We haven't converted toaster factories to produce carbines and we're working hard just to supply our own troops," an administration official told the newspaper.

October 3, 2007

The Funniest Things Happen in Basra...

If you want to read something about Iraq and laugh for a change, then have I got the ticket for you.

Corey Flintoff, a longtime NPR newscaster who recently spent time reporting in Iraq and now writes foreign news for NPR.org, offers a collection of anecdotes from our contract reporter in Basra. As Corey notes, most of the time the stringer is sending reports on the normal happenings in the city ... you know, bombings, sectarian warfare, etc. But "every now and then he gets tired of reporting mayhem and sends us an e-mail about things that strike him as funny, weird or revealing about his home place."

My personal favorites: observations about a fatwa on imported chickens and the oddity of wearing seat belts in Iraq.

Airlines Still Running Late ... But Planes Crashing Less

Got a flight tonight? Be prepared to wait. The latest government data shows that the airlines' dismal performance has continued, with nearly 30 percent of flights in August delayed. The news comes less than a week after President Bush said he would help fix the problem. As The Associated Press reports:

The nation's 20 largest carriers reported an on-time arrival rate of 71.7 percent in August, down from 75.8 percent a year ago, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Wednesday. The on-time rate was 69.8 percent in July and 68.1 percent in June.
Through August, more than 25 percent of flights have arrived late — the industry's worst on-time performance since comparable data began being collected in 1995.

And people are mad as hell about it. The number of complaints almost doubled to 1,634 in August compared with 864 in the same month last year.

But here's the silver lining in air travel: Since 1997, The New York Times reports, the domestic rate of fatal plane crashes has dropped 65 percent. That means about one fatal accident in about 4.5 million departures, down from one in nearly 2 million 10 years ago. (The government's stated goal for the airlines back in 1997 was to cut the rate by 80 percent.)

Do you think the government's influence can spur a similar cut in delays?

4:06 PM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Maliki Again Questions Future of Blackwater in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (right) speaks as Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi looks on during a press conference today in Baghdad.

Hadi Mizban/Getty Images

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki seemed to toughen his stance against the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA today, questioning whether the company has any future in Iraq after being involved in a number of shooting incidents.

"I believe the big numbers of accusations directed against (Blackwater) do not make it valid to stay in Iraq," Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad, according to Reuters.

On Tuesday, Erik Prince, Blackwater's founder, defended his company before a House committee. "I believe we acted appropriately at all times," he said. "We're the targets of the same ruthless enemies that have killed more than 3,800 American military personnel and thousands of innocent Iraqis."

But a report in today's Washington Post quotes former Blackwater guards who said security contractors fired their weapons far more often than has been previously reported. One former Blackwater guard told the Post that "his 20-man team averaged 'four or five' shootings a week, or several times the rate of 1.4 incidents a week reported by the company. The underreporting of shooting incidents was routine in Iraq, according to this former guard."

1:43 PM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

Hill, Thomas Battle in Media over Harassment Charges

For much of this week, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been talking to the media about his new book, My Grandfather's Son. He has spoken extensively about his contentious confirmation hearing 16 years ago and the woman who he says falsely accused him of sexual harassment, Anita Hill.

Now Hill is speaking out, too. The Boston Globe reports that Hill says she stands behind the testimony she gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991.

In his book, Thomas says Hill was a mediocre employee who was used by political opponents. (NPR's Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg described Thomas' book as being "beautifully written" but said his bitterness "permeates every page.") In an appearance on CBS' 60 Minutes, Thomas called Hill a liar, adding, "She was not the demure, religious, conservative person that they portrayed."

Hill, now a law professor at Brandeis University, said she was shocked by Thomas' charges. She says she was reluctant to re-enter the debate but felt she had to defend herself.

Ruth Marcus, who covered the confirmation hearings for The Washington Post, writes that the Hill-Thomas debate is one of those "questions destined to remain disputed." (Although Marcus adds that she still believes the evidence supported Hill's version of events.)

Britain to Withdraw More Troops from Iraq

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced during a surprise trip to Iraq that 1,000 additional British soldiers will be pulled out of southern Iraq by Christmas. However, opponents are criticizing his statement as spin.

USA Today reports that Brown said Britain would "fully turn control of Basra province over to Iraqi army and security forces in the next two months."

The reductions are a continuation of a plan started by former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Brown's office refused to comment on reports such as one in The Guardian that said even more troops would be withdrawn by spring, perhaps another 1,500 or more. Britain would have 4,500 troops in Iraq after the reductions announced Tuesday.

But The Telegraph reports that the announcement seems to have backfired on Brown. It emerged that half of the troop withdrawal had already been announced and some of the soldiers were already back in England. Critics were angry that the announcement wasn't made in parliament and accused Brown of treating the military like a "political football."

9:47 AM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

October 2, 2007

Author: 'Rich White Kids' Get More College Breaks

Peter Schmidt, a deputy editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, says that if you want to find the largest group of kids getting into America's top colleges without making the grades, you shouldn't be looking at students admitted through affirmative action.

Instead, Schmidt writes in The Boston Globe, research shows it's white teens who take advantage of "cash and connections." Schmidt, author of Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action, writes that researchers with access to colleges' admission data have found that "about 15 percent of freshmen enrolled at America's highly selective colleges are white teens who failed to meet their institutions' minimum admissions standards."

While some are athletes, a larger number are "students who gained admission through their ties to people the institution wanted to keep happy, with alumni, donors, faculty members, administrators, and politicians topping the list." (You can find many of the research papers showing how colleges admit students at Schmidt's blog.)

Schmidt writes that many college officials say they have to keep the people who financially support their institutions happy, because it is the "only way to keep the place afloat." And these administrators argue that the money they get allows them to help more financially needy students. But Schmidt writes that the statistics don't support this claim. "Just 40 percent of the financial aid money being distributed by public colleges is going to students with documented financial need," he writes.

Antibiotic May Enlarge Window for Stroke Treatment

Both my grandfather and my father had strokes in the last years of their lives, so I've seen up close how debilitating they can be. Now, new research from Israel indicates that an antibiotic may help decrease the damage.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Israeli researchers have found that "administering the antibiotic minocycline within 24 hours after a stroke significantly reduces brain damage and physical impairment." Minocycline is widely used to combat acne.

Clot-dissolving drugs currently used to treat strokes must be administered within the first three hours to help reduce the effects, and many patients just don't get them in time. If the Israeli team's research can be reproduced, it would greatly enlarge the "golden window" during which strokes can be treated.

The findings have nothing to do with infections, even though the drug is an antibiotic. Rather, the drug's anti-inflammatory properties may block damage to neurons from toxins released when other brain cells die, said Dr. Raymond A. Swanson of UC San Francisco.

The study is in the latest issue of Neurology.

Goldsmith Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee

By all accounts, Jack Goldsmith is a conservative's conservative. The former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel says he strongly believes that in times of crisis, the president has the right to use special wartime powers to protect the country. But Goldsmith ended up on a collision course with the White House over the way the president went about taking on those powers.

In testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Goldsmith told senators that the White House has paid "scrupulous attention" to the legal questions surrounding the war on terror. But in his opening statement, Goldsmith also said that the president's failure to consult Congress and use of a "go-it-alone approach" to governance has been detrimental to this administration and future presidents.

Nina Totenberg reported for Morning Edition that Goldsmith has been openly critical of the White House for using legal opinions that he felt were deeply flawed to support expanded powers for the president. (A key part of Goldsmith's job was basically telling the president what he could and could not do legally.)

Goldsmith, who now teaches at Harvard Law School, details the administration's legal deliberations on terrorism and detainee issues, and why he came to strongly disagree with them, in his book, The Terror Presidency.

Report: Blackwater Involved in Other Civilian Deaths

A report prepared by congressional Democrats shows that Blackwater USA security contractors in Iraq were involved in at least 195 incidents in which weapons were fired since early 2005, including several previously unreported killings of Iraqi citizens, and that 122 employees have been fired for reasons such as misusing weapons, violent behavior and drug abuse problems.

Jackie Northam reported for All Things Considered that the State Department has asked the FBI to go to Iraq and examine the evidence in the Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater that killed at least 11 Iraqis. The FBI also may pursue any possible criminal charges related to the shooting. In a statement released Monday, Blackwater promised full cooperation with the FBI investigation.

Northam noted that the congressional report states that in more than 80 percent of the 195 shooting incidents, Blackwater employees fired first, often from moving vehicles and without stopping to see if anyone had been killed or injured. The data was gathered from hundreds of internal Blackwater and State Department documents.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have tried unsuccessfully to get the chairman, California Democrat Henry Waxman, to delay today's hearing into Blackwater's conduct until the investigations are completed, cautioning against turning the shooting into the State Department's "Abu Ghraib."

October 1, 2007

'Bryant Park Project' Launches

NPR launched its newest show, The Bryant Park Project, today. The show is a departure for NPR, aimed at a younger audience that might consider other programming a little too "old fogy" at times.

I called Luke Burbank, one of the hosts, to see how the launch went. "It went well, all things considered," he reported. (I'm pretty sure that pun was intended.) Luke said at the end he was ready to do another hour — always a good sign. He described it as a little bit scary, a little bit fun.

If you want to learn more about the genesis and direction of The Bryant Park Project, you can read The New York Times' write-up from the weekend. You can also check out the show's blog, which features videos and other content created while the show was getting off the ground.

(If the show isn't airing in your neck of the woods, you can listen online or download the show as a podcast.)

Sputnik Launched Space Age 50 Years Ago

Sputnik I is displayed on a stand shortly before its launch on Oct. 4, 1957.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Last week, my 10-year-old daughter pointed out a large, round ball with spikes hanging from the ceiling of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. I looked up and immediately recognized the unusually shaped object as a model of Sputnik, the first man-made satellite.

It was 50 years ago this week that Sputnik's distinctive beeping noise was first heard as it circled the Earth. I was only a year old, so I had no idea of the impact that odd ball with spikes had on America. As The Wall Street Journal writes today, it was "the loudest alarm clock since Pearl Harbor. For the first time since World War II another nation had beaten the United States to a major scientific achievement."

NPR's Daniel Schorr was in Moscow reporting for CBS when the Soviets launched Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957. While the Soviets said Sputnik was purely scientific, it still sparked plenty of fear among Americans. Schorr also remembers that many average Russians talked with pride about their government, which was rare in those days.

Larry Abramson reported on All Things Considered on Sunday that Sputnik sparked a "much-needed revolution in scientific education in the U.S." It energized the whole country and the new focus on science made it "sexy."

NPR will continue looking at Sputnik's legacy throughout the week.

Many Find Microsoft's Vista Disappointing

Over the weekend, my wife turned to me as yet another program failed to load properly on our new PC outfitted with Microsoft's Vista operating system. "Is there any way we can get rid of this piece of junk?" she asked for the umpteenth time.

My wife, a Mac user, seldom has any kind words for PCs. But I find myself in agreement with her on Vista. Many of our kids' computer games don't work on it, drivers for particular programs don't seem to install, printers won't work properly and the machine freezes in ways that my old XP-running desktops don't.

Microsoft is aware of customer dissatisfaction with Vista. Wendy Kaufman reports for Morning Edition that the company has pushed back the date when Windows users must use Vista on new machines by several months, from January 2008 to the end of June. All versions of XP will continue to be available until then. A Microsoft spokesman said the company wants Windows users to "make the move when they're ready."

Which seems to be corporate-speak for "Just give us a few months to try and fix it."

Technology expert Chris Pirillo writes on his eponymous blog, "Do I recommend Windows Vista? Not a snowball's chance in ... I'm waiting on Apple to release Mac OS X Leopard. As far as I'm concerned at this point, Microsoft is taking a huge hit."

New York Mets Complete Historic Collapse

The New York Mets finished off one of the worst collapses in baseball history Sunday. Never before has a team up by seven games with only 17 games left to play not made it to the postseason.

I spent a lot of time Sunday thinking about my friends who are diehard Mets fans. Few things in sports can leave you as emotionally wasted as watching your team disintegrate a few steps away from the finish line.

Leave it to the New York tabloids to deliver the final blows. "From Champs to Chumps," roared the New York Daily News. The New York Post chimed in with: "Choked to Death."

"It's never been more appropriate for a team to play in a city called Flushing," wrote the Post's Mark Hale. (Yeeeouch!)

As a Red Sox fan, I have walked down this road of thorns. We saw a 14-game lead over the Yankees collapse in 1978. And then, to make it worse, the team struggled back to force a tiebreaker with the Yankees, only to lose it all on Bucky Dent's home run. Or how about the ball Bill Buckner missed in Game Six of the '86 World Series, the one that would have ended decades of frustration. In the end, the Mets won that one, and we had to wait 18 more years to reach the Promised Land.

As Bill Clinton might have said, I feel your pain.

Idea of Dividing Iraq Unites Iraqis in Opposition

In a rare show of political unity, the Iraqi parliament has basically told American politicians to leave the future of Iraq to the Iraqis.

Over the weekend, the divided political leadership of Iraq showed its contempt for a nonbinding resolution passed last week in the U.S. Senate that called on Iraq to be divided into three partitions (Sunni, Shiite and Kurd) with a weak central government. The Los Angeles Times reports that for many Sunni and Shiite parliamentarians in particular, the measure reminded them of how often outside powers have tried to shape the future of their country.

"We refuse the resolutions which decide Iraq's destiny from outside Iraq. This is a dangerous partitioning based on sectarianism and ethnicity," said Hashim Taie, a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the parliament's main Sunni representation.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political supporters joined their rivals in denouncing the U.S. Senate's measure. "This project is the strategic option for the American administration in its failure to igniting a sectarian war inside Iraq," Nasr Rubaie said. "They started to search for a replacement, which is to divide Iraqi."

In another rare occurrence, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad joined in criticizing the Senate resolution. In an unsigned statement, embassy officials said the resolution could seriously hamper Iraq's future stability.

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