Tell me if this sounds familiar... The U.S. military plans a technologically advanced missile defense shield, Moscow signals its disapproval and develops new weapons that it promises can overcome any current or future defenses. Diplomats from both countries argue over influence and tactics in eastern Europe. No, it's not 1983, this is all from recent news reports. And, as President Bush prepares to meet Russian President Putin in July, some wonder if all this tough talk won't revive the old rivalries. There are some smart folks who study these things, and we'll ask them about the prospects of a new cold war. Let us know what questions you have.

How much sleep did you get last night? I think I was asleep by midnight, and my alarm went off at 6:30am, so I count six-and-a-half hours. Today I feel pretty good, though I may have yawned a couple of times at our morning editorial meeting... but we all know we're supposed to get about eight hours of sleep. We know it, but do we care? According to the National Sleep Foundation, nope -- whereas almost 40% of adults were getting their nightly eight in 2001, these days only about a quarter do. I know I should get more, but then I think, "Well, if I get a medium coffee in the morning instead of a small, I can stay up for another hour or so..." What do you tell yourself to rationalize the sleep you're not getting?

UPDATE: The email address Dr. Dement gave out to take part in the study on obstructive sleep apnea (it's only near Boston, Tucson, Walla Walla, Stanford, or St. Louis) is: sleep.fmri@yahoo.com

There was a time when a legless man would only qualify for the Paralympics. Oscar Pistorius, who had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, is hoping to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, as "the fastest man on no legs." He runs on curved blades that some argue, give him an unfair advantage. The debate has started a conversation among athletes about the line between correction, and enhancement. What constitutes an unfair advantage? Pistorius' bouncy blades, Tiger Woods lasik eye correction?

Paul Shirley is not, and likely never will be, a household name... Well, not for his basketball skills anyway. Sure, he's played for some of the top teams in the NBA -- the Bulls, the Hawks, the Suns -- but he's not Jordan, he's not Wilkins, and he's not Nash. In a way, though, that makes him more interesting... in addition to the aforementioned NBA teams, he's also played in Greece, Spain, and even Siberia. He writes a column for ESPN.com about his journeys called My So-Called Career and now he's got a book, Can I Keep My Jersey? He's seen it all, so ask him all your questions about the life of a professional athlete.

I think it was Braveheart playing... I'm sitting in the theater, packed house, with a big screen full of all that angst and anger and heroic violence (testosterone pumping stuff). And the guy in front of me gets on his cell phone. And talks. And talks. Loudly. It was my first... and so far only... experience with theater rage. Nobody got hurt (except poor, kilted Mel), but I wish we had access to one of these. Nobody likes a tattletale, but you get special dispensation for shutting someone up in a movie theater. And if Regal theaters let you do it anonymously, I'll be a whistle blower any day (though I'm not a member of their points program, so I'm not technically eligible). It's a small gadget, about the size of a cell phone, with four buttons. One for picture problems, one for audio, another if you spot digital piracy in the theater, and that final, wonderful button that says, "other disturbance." It might as well say "*#&$& person talking." Either way, once you push it a manager is summoned wirelessly (and maybe comes running with a long cane that pulls the yapper out of their seat, stage right?). Regal's senior V.P. was quoted in USA Today, "We have noticed over the years that customer etiquette has become more and more of a problem." Understatement? Sure, but at least they're doing something about it. Any movie going horror stories, or other novel ideas to stomp it out? Comment away...

News that an Atlanta man has been globetrotting with an infectious disease and is now in quarantine sounds like really old news, and had us asking a million questions in our morning meeting... questions best answered by a doctor, a laywer, and an ethicist (sounds like the setup for a walk-into-a-bar joke). What do you want to know about the case?

Congress is home this week for the Memorial Day break (I only get a day off, why do they get a week!) and things are quiet in Washington. Except for the arguments over Iraq. Oh, and immigration. And Fred Thompson's announcement (that he'll announce). Yeah, and that 2008 election. OK, maybe not so quiet. Just because Congress is home, doesn't mean the country stops... and neither does Ken Rudin. Our political junkie takes on everything from Iraq to Iowa, and we find out why liberal anti-war groups are warning some of the Democrats they helped elect. Questions for Ken? Click that comment link...

It's no secret that the American population ain't getting any younger, and the older we get, the more important it becomes to think about the things we'll leave behind. There are the tangible items to consider (I'm leaving my music and cameras to my sister), and of course the monetary (yeah, not much for me to worry about on that front yet), but you might also want to consider the more ephemeral parts of your life. Turns out there's something called an ethical will, a document separate from the traditional will that expresses your beliefs and values, preserving them and passing them on to the family you leave behind. I'm still not entirely clear on what that means, or the value of the document... I guess it's hard for me to imagine anyone being interested in just how much I care about spaying and neutering pets, or being nice to people, but when I turn it around and think about if someone left me an ethical will, it gets a little more interesting. For example, I'd love to have a record of my grandma's beliefs and values to hold onto when I can't talk to her anymore (she's the one who taught me that it's ok to not finish a book -- no matter how wrong it feels to not see it through to the end, she says,"throw it against a wall -- life's too short!"). Are you writing an ethical will? How are you making sure your values are carried from generation to generation? If only one lesson, value, or belief stands that ultimate test of time, which one do you want it to be?

You know the billboards that flip to another side every minute or so? Those make me a little ill; there's one on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and I find it super distracting. Turns out that's kid stuff; huge digital billboards are starting to go up all over the country. A lot of this is due to the fact that it's actually really easy to avoid advertisements these days (thank you, DVR), so companies are trying to find new ways to get your attention. The problem is, the signs are so big and flashy, they might be distracting drivers. What do you think about them? I've never seen any, but honestly, the huge billboards in Times Square make me dizzy.

Today we've got a Q&A about the tuberculosis scare (TBQ&A), which got me thinking... while this is a rather terrifying disease, it's also been tapped by countless authors as the best way to kill off a tragic heroine. It's the most romantic (not to mention the least feminist) of all diseases -- in literature it's more of a social disease. From opera to film, there's nothing like a poor, frail, woman sanctified by tuberculosis. The French are really best at this (I'm open to argument on that, though); think Fantine in Les Miserables. You know the drill; first, the gal must be a courtesan, not at heart, you understand, but by circumstance. Poor sainted Fantine works her tail off in the factory, until she loses her job and is forced into the oldest profession. Poverty and disease strike next, and the next thing you know she's achieved ultimate morality -- by ultimate mortality. It's odd, but TB really seems to occupy a unique place in nineteenth and twentieth century novels. Anyway, here, in no particular order, are my favorite fictional victims. I'm sure I'm missing some, so apologies to any coughing beauties I've missed.

Best Fallen Woman: Fantine, in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (by the way, what a great book. It literally reads like a romance novel.)
Most Terrifying Death: Helen, in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (remember how Jane wakes up next to the deceased Helen? BTW, can you really get TB from a mean schoolmaster?)
Best Introductory Aria: Mimi, most famous in Puccini's La Boheme, but not surprisingly based on a French story (Henry Murgers Scenes de la Vie de Boheme)
Best Pre-Death Aria: Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata
Best Portrayal on Film: Marguerite Gautier (GARBO!!) in Camille (literally, this was like the 11th production of this story which La Traviata was also based on. The story? You guessed it-- French: La Dame Aux Camelias by Dumas.)
Most Shocking TB Death For Children: Beth, in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (Let me tell you, as an impressionable nine year old reading this book, this was a SHOCK, akin to finding Mary suddenly blind in the Little House books.)
Most Sainted (if that's possible): Little Eva in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
Honorable Mention for Consumptive Male: Young Paul Dombey in Dickens' Dombey and Son
Author TB Shout-out: Emily Bronte, who not only created characters whom you really expected to die of TB, but sadly, died of TB herself at a very young age.

After the wrangling, the veto, and the debates, President Bush got (and signed) a spending bill for the war in Iraq last week. But Democrats in congress promise the debate isn't over. And, with critics of the war, including two presidential candidates, lining up to call for troop reductions and pull-outs, many think it's time to come up with an exit plan. Politics aside, though, that won't be easy. There are almost 160,000 US troops in Iraq, tons of vehicles, weapons, and other equipment, and a huge embassy in the Green Zone. So, what would an exit plan for Iraq look like?

Today, we've got this treat for you: Jay Parini, who's an English professor at Middlebury College is going to tell us what makes a model graduation speaker. He should know; he's been to quite a few. I want to use this opportunity to point out two of my favorites: the first is Tony Kushner's at Vassar (this literally changed my life), and the second was given in 1922 at St. Andrews by namesake, J.M. Barrie. Read both. It's easier to pay attention when you're not thinking about tripping in your robes.

Did you write a senior thesis in college? Waaaaay back when I was a college senior, it was an optional project for the folks who wished to graduate with honors. It's kind of a blur in retrospect, but I do remember consuming an inordinate amount of Mountain Dew (my all-nighter stimulant of choice) and Bubble-Yum (write a paragraph and you've earned a new piece of gum! Suffer writers block, suffer stale gum and a sore jaw). For some reason I thought graduate school was a good idea, whereupon my classmates and I undertook the process once again, only with more caffeine, and more booze, too. We formed a collective and had monthly dinner parties... after a drink or two, it's amazing how many problems we were able to work through. The memories, however hazy, are fond... what was your experience like? What did you write about? Does it have anything at all to do with what you're doing now? (For me, not so much, at least not directly -- in case you're wondering, my undergrad was on graffiti, and my master's was on radio, but music radio.)

Every now and then, I'll write something on this blog that causes much eye rolling (unusual because I have perfected the eye roll), and a big fat DELETE from Scott and Sarah. It is amazing, frankly, that anything I write on this thing goes up at all. (I'm sure you all feel the same way. SHHHHHH.) Well, a new book addresses cartoons whose material is deemed too racy, sensitive, or tasteless for your morning newspaper. You can see some of them on our website, and oddly... we had to kill one too (it was sexually explicit in a way that NPR listeners would not appreciate). The book is called Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression and you can post questions for David Wallis, the book's editor, here.

Every couple of weeks I get to trade in my traditional duties and assume the director's chair in 3A. It's a great way to keep my directing skills up to par (it's amazing how much you forget after a month not directing... and then you get called in to direct a last-minute press conference from the Rose Garden and think, "wait a minute, what am I supposed to be doing again?"), but, even better, it's my favorite job at Talk. While it's fun to be the boss*, the best part is that I get to pick out all the music that airs during the program. Not everyone hears our music breaks -- many member stations use that 59 seconds to update listeners on local stories, weather, and traffic -- but picking them out is a time-consuming and creative process (you can see what we play each day on the program page for the day after 6pm, and even listen to clips). Tone is paramount -- you don't want the upbeat Architecture in Helsinki following a story about deaths in Iraq -- but you also want to mix things up, pulling from a variety of genres and artists. As a result, I'm always on the prowl for instrumental music. The best breaks I've run across lately have been from Lost in the Trees and Toumani Diabate. So do you have any suggestions for me? The bare minimum length that's useful for us is 30 seconds, but for some breaks we need as much as 3 minutes... what would you like to hear? And if you're a musician and want to submit music, leave a message in the comments section and I'll be in touch!

*Actually, the incredible engineers at NPR -- these days, our Technical Director Kimberly Jones and engineer Neil Tevault -- don't need me at all. They could drive the show in the dark. But I get to sit in a tall chair and look important, anyway.

If you're a true TOTN listener, you've probably been COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS till our annual summer reading show. Never fear, it's Memorial Day, and time to give you the goods. Laura Miller, Maud Newton, and ZZ Packer will all be here to give you the best of the best. This year, we've got a special edition, and we're asking that you not only give us your must-read list, but you fill in these blanks.

1) Best book to read on the beach (something engrossing that you don't mind getting sand in).

2) Best book to read on an airplane when you really want to avoid talking to the person next to you.

3) Best thing to read when the air conditioning's out.

4) Book you were assigned to read in school, and haven't gotten around to...yet!

5) Book you're dying to re-read.

6) Children's book you want to re-read.

Give us your answers, and any other advice for filling your beach tote!

Soldier Patrick Campbell served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 with the Louisiana National Guard, and to him and his, Memorial Day isn't just about hot dogs and American flags, or even the heroes of past wars. To him, the most crucial thing to remember this Memorial Day is the vets and the fallen of the current war, and he wrote about it for the San Francisco Chronicle. Do you have loved ones in Iraq or Afghanistan? Do their contributions make this Memorial Day different from those gone by? If you have served, or are serving, how are you marking the day?

Keep 'em coming!!!

Source: Kent Wang

When I even hear the word "barbecue," insane Pavlovian drooling begins and I can hardly think straight (hence, that incredibly thoughtful title to this post... I'm serious, I lose actual mental function when I think about it). There are so many variations -- pork or beef? Wet or dry? Eastern North Carolinian or Lexington style? Ribs or pulled pork? With or without slaw? Mustard sauce, vinegar, sweet tomato-based sauce? Baked, smoked, grilled, slow-cooked? I could go on and on! Where's your favorite BBQ joint? What's your favorite style, favorite recipe? I swear I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of this day with visions of ribs dancing in my head...

I'm a former classical musician, and the only time that anyone ever really complained about my sartorial choices was when I was a student at Juilliard. I thought the all black dress code for concerts was a no brainer... particularly since I had some pretty cool black satin overalls with fancy buckles on 'em. (Whaddya want? I was seventeen.) I think the overalls weren't the problem for the administration, so much as those buckles. Anyway, I got a stern talking-to, and went back to black palazzo pants and black blouses pronto.

That said, most of my friends that are still professional musicians dress really sharply... so I was pretty shocked to read that it is emphatically not the case with the L.A. Philharmonic. Joel Stein found that leaving musicians to their own devices is a really bad idea. He gave some of them a makeover...

I am pretty excited for today's show. I've been driving my car around on fumes, waiting to put gas in it because a) every time I drive by a gas station the prices make me want to plotz, and b) I am positive that I can make the tiny bit of gas left in the car last if I just coast a little more. The record prices -- topping three dollars a gallon for regular -- have everybody wondering what works when it comes to conserving what's in your tank. So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to sort through all the snake oil out there (that fuel pill doesn't work, FYI), and tell you what really works. And, in a remarkable coinicidence, we've got another Ask Amy (different Amy) who'll give you the lowdown, as well as a guy that's tried every product out there. So go ahead and tell us what you've tried in the fight against three dollar fuel.

I really, really wanted to post my last prom picture from thirteen years ago... mostly because my date was 6'4", and 230 lbs (middle linebacker), and I am literally invisible in the picture. But I know if someone posted a prom picture of me without my knowledge, I would be furious (the early nineties resembled the eighties in terms of fashion, so, you can understand), so I think I will spare my long lost high school love that embarrassment (since I didn't spare him much else). What I can tell you, is that through the heroic efforts of my parents and many other of my friends' parents, most of us were suitably behaved on Prom Night. I understand that that is not the norm at all, and since it's Ask Amy time (Thursday), we thought we'd address the circus that high school proms have become, and how to prevent your sons and daughters from any number of embarrassments (hard to know where to put that corsage, right?) and dangers (drunk driving, etc.) And as a special bonus, what was your high school prom theme?*

*Mine was "A Night To Remember." The year before it was "Under The Sea." Seems like they might have been trying to drown us, doesn't it?

I like to think I've accomplished things in my life... met people, visited places, challenged myself. But, I've got nothing on Mike May. He set a world speed record in skiing, climbed a 175-foot tower, worked for the CIA, is a respected and successful entrepreneur... oh yeah, and he's blind. When he was 3-years old, a freak chemical explosion damaged his corneas and he was later told he'd never see again. Forty-three years later, that changed. And the man who seemed to have it all was offered a chance to see again. But, where this is story gets interesting is not his struggle about whether to try an experimental surgery, or his accomplishments before his eyesight returns... it's his reaction, physically and emotionally, to suddenly being able to see again. Robert Kurson tells May's story in Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure and the Man Who Dared to See.

Festival de Cannes (do you say khan or can?) wraps up this weekend... and between U2, Michael Moore, Brangelina, and the poisoned Russian spy this year's show made some news. We're brushing up on our French to put in a call to Dana Thomas, who's reporting on the film fest for Newsweek (she speaks English, but we're not sure about her hotel operator). She's seen most of the buzzy flicks, and will fill us in on who struck gold, who struck out, and on Europe's reaction to SiCKO.

It's a beautiful day here in DC... a perfect day for a press conference in the Rose Garden, where the President is speaking about the the Iraq funding bill, and an embattled immigration bill (don't you hate the word embattled in newspeak? I do.) So, stay tuned for the show posts later, but right now, we've actually promised you a Rose Garden... live, right now.

For this hour you are ours!* You will not change the radio station! You will not think about any other radio programs! You will eat, sleep, and breathe Talk of the Nation! You will not laugh. You will not cry. You will listen to our program on how the Army is modifying basic training. You will learn how the all-volunteer fighting force has changed, and how the Army has adapted to meet their needs. Post your questions here!**

*Listen, I know that I am a fairly wimpy girl, so thank you for indulging my inner drill sergeant.

**If you've been through basic training, please post about your experiences... we'd love to know if you think it's changed at all.

The battle over the Iraq funding bill seems to be over... for now. Who won? Yes. (Both sides claim victory.) Who's likely to gain politically, and what will voters have to say about it? Ken Rudin knows. It's PoJu day again, and we'll eavesdrop on now-presidential candidate Bill Richardson's campaign, and find out what happened to the anti-corruption governor stuck in a corruption investigation in Kentucky (if that didn't make sense, ask Ken about it). Any other questions for the Junkie?

When it comes to preventing cancer, you've probably heard a lot of conflicting advice. (And may I just say, that it's a bummer that the only study linking chocolate to cancer prevention is funded by Mars.) As a former smoker, I can tell you I'm very interested in what my chances of getting the dread disease are, and how I can lower my risk factors. Whether you've been healthy all your life, or you're like me, a former sunworshipper or smoker, it's time to truth-squad this stuff. We're devoting a segment entirely to cancer prevention; so if you've got questions (what the heck is an antioxidant?), go ahead and post them here.

Ticket to the Police reunion show at Madison Square Garden: $200
New Police T-shirt to commemorate the evening: $40
Vintage Outlandos d'Amour T-shirt from eBay to actually wear to the show (so everyone knows you liked 'em first): $40
Singing along to quarter-century-year-old hits with 20,000 AARP members: Priceless... Or so they hope.

Ok, maybe I'm being a little callous here, careless with (the fast-dwindling) power of youth on my side. I really do see the value of reunion tours that give fans who didn't get to grow up listening to greats like the Pixies --- because of age or lack of access or an affinity for top 40 radio -- a chance to see them live. And I long ago gave up on notions of "[insert band name here] is selling out, just trying to make a buck," because really, who wouldn't want to be able to make a living doing what they love? What I do have a problem with, however, is the ticket prices, which are so far out of reach for so many. Is that really necessary? Ben Ratliff is struggling with the whole concept, and according to him, not just the Police but Genesis, Crowded House, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Squeeze, Rage Against the Machine, and the Smashing Pumpkins are all doing reunion tours this summer. Do you have tickets? Have you had second thoughts about them? Are you taking your kids to the show... or do your kids have their own tickets?

First, you must read this article. If you don't have the patience to click the link (I always wonder who actually does that), this is the subhead: "Captain expected to play off lone striker Kuyt. Rallying cry calls for repeat of Istanbul." If that sounds like email spam to you, it's probably because you're not a soccer fan. But if you are a soccer fan (or is it football?), you might be hoisting a brew in a pub in Athens, Milan, or Liverpool, today, because a pretty hefty rematch is taking place in the Champions League, the world's greatest club competition. In 2005, Liverpool muscled its way past Milan (it was in Turkey, which explains the cryptic "repeat of Istanbul") and they're back again this year, in Athens. Of course soccer hoodlums fans will be drinking watching with baited breath today, so we're going to talk to a few... let us know who you're rooting for!

Every business develops its own specialized language, (even NPR); linguists say we have an innate need to baffle outsiders, but it can be useful shorthand. For example, the show we did yesterday with Bela Fleck and Chick Corea is known as a "performance chat," a form pioneered at NPR by Weekend Edition Sunday. Or, more usually, a "perf chat," started by WeSun.
Even within the same business, "dialects" change. Those who've toiled at other radio operations will be confused by Nipper's argot. An intro is an intro everywhere, I think, but what is known elsewhere as a "tag" we call a "back announce." Why? Who knows.
The musical interludes played between segments don't really have an industry equivalent -- commercial radio stations play what they call "sounders" -- but we call ours "buttons." In production, a sound bite is known elsewhere as "SOT" -- which stands for "sound on tape" (no, nobody uses tape anymore) and pronounced as if it was a habitual drunk. We call it an "actuality" or an "act" for short. An NPR reporter will go into a studio to record remarks ("voice tracks") to go in between the actualities, and that type of story ("piece") is known as "acts and trax." And nobody at NPR would understand what the rest of the business calls a ROSR (pronounced "roser"), which stands for "radio-on-scene-report," which is a semi-spontaneous description of, oh, say a fire that runs about thirty seconds or so for use in newscasts.
We don't have commercials in public radio, but we do insert "funders" -- those underwriting announcements read by Frank Tavares. Some especially cheeky directors call them "ads."

Gotta run.

In the three years he spent as United Nations under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland's name became synonymous with relief for some of the world's worst disasters... both natural and man made. He was relentless about ending the genocide in Darfur, tireless with helping victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, and peerless when it came to getting countries to live up their humanitarian commitments, or giving even more. Not to mention his efforts after hurricane Katrina and his work in the middle east. But, his job was more than a list of trouble spots... he was dubbed, "The World's Conscience," making us aware of struggles we might otherwise ignore. And while it wasn't a thankless job, it certainly wasn't easy. However you felt about Egeland's efforts, or his methods, he stepped down from the post at the end of 2006. And, today he sits down for a one-on-one to look back on what he accomplished in those three years, and what is still left to do. Post your questions or comments for him here, and we'll get to as many as we can during the show.

I don't smoke. I am however, one of those ardent ex-addicts that still really, really wants one every day. I don't indulge anymore, and I nag friends and strangers to quit, but if you've ever seen me hold a pencil absent-mindedly, you'd see the long dead physical memories of what Oscar Wilde called, "the perfect type of a perfect pleasure." (Why so perfect? "It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can you want?")* Worse, I was not only physically addicted, but I was stylistically addicted: I was hooked from the minute I saw the also exquisite Lauren Bacall saunter over to Bogie and purr, "Anybody got a match?" in To Have And Have Not. (In case you're curious, Bacall had it.) In old movies, the cigarette is the most elegant accessory-- from Paul Heinreid's delicate chivalry in Now, Voyager, to the older, better Bond films in which JB's famous martini recipe was usually accompanied by a cigarette. Why the nostalgia? The Motion Picture Association of America recently announced films that "glamorize smoking or movies that feature pervasive smoking" will pay in cinematic ratings. It will not work retroactively (can you imagine Casablanca rated R?!?), but it did put me in mind of all of my favorite cinematic cigarette masterpieces. Today, we're going to talk to Richard Klein, author of the book Cigarettes Are Sublime, about these films... again, I know it's bad for you**, but what are your favorite smoking movies? Reality Bites does count.

*I know that smoking is terrible for you, and killed many of its most eloquent cinematic envoys, including the inimitable (though I tried), Bogart.

**Again, this post is not an endorsement of smoking at all... it is an endorsement of Bette and Bogie and general smoky nostalgia.

They've got twenty Grammys. They're music wizards with a following that absolutely reveres them. (And perhaps best of all, when you switch their names around, they become Bela Corea and Chick Fleck.) They're releasing an album together for the first time-- and though the combination of jazz piano and, er... banjo, may not seem like a natural, it's getting rave reviews. The Enchantment is released today, and we'll be talking with Chick and Bela, as well as, blessedly, listening to them play music from the album. Post your comments and questions here!

This is the like incredible repeating story, but it seems to have reached a critical mass this year... U.S. News and World Report comes out with its 2007 issue, America's Best Colleges, and some of America's best colleges cry foul. That doesn't stop students from lining up to buy the issue. It's even been called U.S. News' "swimsuit issue." Now, schools know they can't stop the rankings, but they are hoping to convince other colleges to boycott them... not turn over data, no filling out review forms of other schools, no more marketing schools as number XX on the U.S. News rankings, etc, etc, etc. And administrators are making their case in letters to other campuses, on their blogs, and in the media. Their argument is that the rankings are misleading, and that it's not their job to help promote a magazine. But people love their lists, especially top "whatever" lists, and frankly, when I considered grad school, you bet I looked up all sorts of rankings. So, do you use rankings even if they're not necessarily scientific (for anything... schools, cars, radio shows, blogs), or are the numbers just another case of information overload?

An new immigration bill, one with bipartisan support, hits the Senate floor today, but plenty of people are unhappy about it. This is an issue which we've covered frequently, so if you've been listening you know that it has more then two sides: in fact, it's probably got four. So, go ahead and weigh in, particularly if you're from a border town. We've got plenty of reporters on who can answer any questions you have about the bill, too.

The Barry Bonds bashing has begun... one columnist for ESPN.com went so far as to ask God to "smite Barry Bonds before he breaks Major League Baseball's all-time home run record." As Bonds closes in on Hank Aaron's 455 homers, Dave Zirin sees a double standard in all this criticism... and wonders why white players facing the same cloud of allegations over steroids don't have to deal with the same level of outrage. Why do so many people despise Bonds... and do you think there's a racial divide over the issue?

...except, the whole problem is you can't avoid it. What is a Black Swan? I'm glad you asked, because Nassim Nicholas Taleb will be here to tell you all about his new theory, detailed in his book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. This is a tough concept, so in preparation, I'm going to give it a whirl. (Also, here's a glossary.) A Black Swan is a highly unlikely event; something that we cannot predict. What makes a true Black Swan are three characteristics, 1) it is unpredictable, and 2) it has a huge impact, and 3) it is something that we usually say we could have predicted, but not until after the fact. Stock market crashes and spikes are Black Swans, so was the devastating Tsunami of 2004. The reverse is also true: a Black Swan is also when something that is highly likely doesn't happen. So, what is there to be done about these catastrophic events? Taleb-- who, incidentally, used to hold the title of Professor in the Science of Uncertainty-- has got some interesting theories about how to deal with the giant birds, and even how to turn them to your advantage.

Grey's Anatomy is one of the few shows -- nay, the only show -- I cannot miss. It's the show that the Talk crew dissects at the virtual water cooler, the show whose website I actually visit (take the quiz: which Grey's heroine are you most like? Me, I'm a Callie), and the show whose soundtrack makes me exclaim when I hear an obscure song I thought only I knew about (Ok, no one's ever really the only one to know about a song anymore, but it is a remix of a song that's reasonably obscure to begin with). Well, it turns out the folks at Grey's really do work hard to find that special song for each scene, scouring MySpace for unsigned artists with just the right sound. One of those lucky artists is Ingrid Michaelson. She's had four songs on the show this season, including last Thursday night's finale... an honor that has not only heightened her profile, but lined her pockets so that she can be one of the lucky few who makes her living off her music.

As politics and celebrity mingle (and, in some cases, merge), it's no surprise that people look to the mega-famous for cues on everything from how to feel about poverty in Africa, to which presidential candidate to vote for (not to mention which shampoo to buy). Bruce Willis had something to say about this recently, telling Hollywood to "shut-up," though not in so many words. And, there's this piece in LA Times from the weekend. The basic argument: the cult of celebrity now shapes our political and moral views... that "fame confers authority...," and that this is all a little askew, "the cult of celebrity trivializes everything it touches." With presidential primaries getting closer and closer, we're going to hear a lot from actors-turned-activists. The question is, does anyone care enough about what entertainers think to shape their own moral and political views around them?

Yesterday, Lt. General Douglas Lute was chosen to be President Bush's "war czar."* This brings up, obviously, a lot of structural issues in terms of military and civilian policy (for instance, what does the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs do?), and we're going to talk about the new post with all kinds of Big Important Fellas (BIF) and Ladies (BIL). So if you have questions for the likes of David Gergen, Leon Panetta, and some assorted Big Important Generals (BIG), about how the new czar will work within all the separate federal departments, and what he's likely to do in Iraq and Afghanistan, let us know.

*On a side note, what's your favorite czar spelling? I like czar, but it turns out the cz- is a Polish spelling. It seems under the circumstances, if we're going to use an expression that hearkens back to a more brutal time, we should call him the Warlord.

Lauren Terrazzano, columnist for Newsday, died Tuesday at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan at age 39. In her column, Life, With Cancer, she detailed the ups and downs of life with her lung cancer, and didn't pull any punches. She appeared on our show about living with cancer with Leroy Sievers just one month ago. No one tells Lauren's story better than she does, so you can find the archive of her columns here, and listen to portions of her interview with Neal on our show today. And you can leave your remembrances of Lauren in the comments section of this post.

If you've ever watched Clean Sweep (and please tell me you do), you know that there is a lot of **insert your own word** in people's closets. And that tangible **insert synonym for previous word** is nothing compared to the psychological **there it is again** that lurks in the closet of the mind. This hour, clean that @#$! out! Unburden yourselves of your stamps, books, receipts, comics, shoes, soaps, or whatever else is stashed in a storage space that you're paying too much for. What are you collecting? Obsessing over? Organizing chronologically?

I am not a pack rat... I am a pack raccoon. (I'm not sure if that analogy works, but what I'm trying to say is, I have a lot of stuff. I think raccoons must have more stuff then rats, right?) I collect books, handbags, hats, dishes. I have, at different stages in my life, been unable to walk across my living room floor without slipping on a newspaper clipping or magazine. Finding my keys requires an effort something like a mini-bulldozer, and my house appears as though the FBI was there, looking hard for something. We're doing a show today on "pack rats," and it made me think about the two ways in which the ordering of my disorder works. The stuff I collect is meticulously organized -- for instance, my books are in alphabetical order by subject. (A helpful friend once "cleaned" my house and re-organized my books by size -- needless to say, that friendship ended the minute I saw that abomination.) The stuff I save is everywhere -- no rhyme, no reason, but no chance I will throw any of it away. As a result, every place I've ever lived looks like two people live there; one, nerdy and obsessive, clearly the daughter of an archivist, and the other, an anxiety-ridden hoarder, with a high tolerance for odd smells and newspaper stacks. I am literally afraid to throw things away, for fear I might need them as soon as the garbage truck pulls away. (Of course, most people say that it looks like one person lives there -- one totally crazy person.) What I'm hoping is that someday those two people will learn to exist slightly more harmoniously; perhaps the book nerd will allow poetry and fiction to mix, and the crazy cat lady will throw out those old magazines. Anyway -- when you listen to the show today, it's a good opportunity to analyze your idiosyncrasies via your comic books, your handbags, or that stamp collection (does anyone actually have a stamp collection anymore? It seems classy, if so).

(I do want to say one thing in praise of my pathology. I have a really good memory. I have to remember where everything that's not alphabetized is; so ask me where my nail clipper is, and I'll tell you, it's under the couch, along with one half of a pair of snakeskin heels, and the January '06 copy of the Atlantic. So there.)

It's pitch time in New York again... the TV networks need to convince advertisers to spend billions on their new Fall lineups, even as fewer people watch (at least live on their TV). The upfronts are a sort of strange mating ritual, where stars are paraded in front of ad agencies, and network bigwigs plead with marketers to consider the possibilities of their "bold" new dramas or retro game shows (maybe the whole upfronts thing could be a reality show in itself... let viewers vote on what shows they think advertisers should spend money on... metaTV!). ABC (no G-Lo, more Bingo) and NBC (sorry Studio 60, here comes Bionic Buffy) bared their souls on Monday and Tuesday. Today it's CBS' turn (Jimmy's back, Jericho jettisoned), and FOX (American Idol, duh) and the CW (bon voyage Gilmore Girls) bat clean-up on Thursday. What shows are you looking forward to? What cancellations have you swearing-off Tivo?

The fight for POTUS* '08 is still going strong in '07; so aren't y'all glad we have a weekly PoJu** (Political Junkie) to sort it all out for you? On tap for today; a second debate for the Republican contenders, a little chat about Rudy Giuliani's past, present, and future, as well as some compelling testimony from a former No. 2 at the Justice Department.

*Doesn't POTUS '08 sound like a good name for a car?
"Wow, sweet ride; what model is that?"
"It's a Potus 08. It runs like a dream, but the gas mileage ain't great."

**Doesn't PoJu sound like a delicious new movie candy?
"I'll have a diet coke... hmm... and a box of Strawberry Poju's."

Almost a year ago, we saw that Zaki Chehab, a leading Middle East Journalist, was coming out with a book called Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement. We knew right away we had to talk to him; an inside account from Chehab is no joke. He's a guy with really extraordinary access-- he was one of the first journalists to interview members of the Iraqi resistance way back in May '03-- and he's also Palestinian himself; he grew up in refugee camps in Lebanon. The book is fascinating; Chehab talked to Palestinian leaders across the political spectrum, and his descriptions of the personalities that shaped the movement are alive with detail. Often we forget that history is made by human beings-- not just archetypes-- and Chehab's portrait of these human beings is remarkably colorful. What emerges is not just a history of Hamas, but a history of the Israeli-Palestinan struggle. What we could not have predicted, however, was that the week that Chehab came to town to talk about Hamas, would be the week that the frail unity government between Hamas and Fatah came to a near-breaking point. So...any questions you have about the current factional fighting, or the history of the group, are perfectly acceptable.

Recent reports of the military shutting down access to various websites for the troops -- MySpace, YouTube, and others -- makes Colby Buzzell's story all the more relevant. He served as a machine gunner in the current war in Iraq, and blogged about it. The book based on his entries -- My War: Killing Time in Iraq -- has just won the Lulu Blooker Prize, the top prize for a book based on a blog. Click here to see an amazing animation of one of his stories... if you thought the clip we used in the show was riveting, this is the full, four-and-a-half minute version of it... What's the value of a soldier's blog?

Almost finished!

Source: Mr. T in DC

Some lucky window washer in Washington is about to get a tremendous contract.

An enormous amount of glass has been incorporated on the front of a magnificent new building that rises on Pennsylvania Avenue. The view from the Newseum sweeps up to the Capitol to the left and gazes over the great Smithsonian museums and the Mall. You can't quite see the White House, but on a crisp spring morning, the vista from the sixth floor portico is just fabulous. It's destined to become the site of a million TV stand-ups... With the Capitol dome glowing in the background, a windblown correspondent concludes, all we here in Washington can do, is watch, wait, and wonder.

I was lucky enough to get a preview of this exciting project yesterday and walk through a construction site where, come next fall, thousands of visitors will tour galleries devoted to the history of journalism -- somebody made reference to Thoth, the Egyptian god of scribes -- up to the internet. You'll be able to do your own TV standup in front of a blue screen with any backdrop you want, there's a digital newsroom, you can have your choice of photographs critiqued by a virtual picture editor and make some of the ethical decisions that reporters face... if you're wrong, there's a big blank spot on the front page of the newspaper.

But the initial impression is likely to be the fifty tons of Tennessee marble that hangs on the front of the Newseum, where the First Amendment has been carved in stone. That's about a ton a word.

Gotta run.

The Chrysler 300.

Source: theothegrey

It's private equity to the rescue in Detroit... at least that's what Chrysler and Cerberus Capital Management hope. The details of the sale are mostly dollars and cents, but it's what happens after the ink is dry that will keep people up at night. Cerberus (as "capital management" suggests) is known for managing money, not cars. And, Chrysler has a history of tough negotiations with unions, workers, dealers, even customers. Private equity has transformed all sorts of companies, can it do the same for one of the Big Three?

It's a Chrysler kind of news day... and this story is more than just a business piece. This is about cars. If people don't buy Chrysler, it won't matter how much money Cerberus pays, or how many concessions they get from unions. Are you a convertible fan, a van fan, a something else fan? Let us know what your favorite Chrysler car is, or what kind of car you think they need to make to save themselves.

My parents waited a long time to have kids, or, at least, that's how it seemed when my sister and I were growing up. My mom was just about to turn 31 when I was born, and I remember as a kid, when I'd talk with my classmates about my family, it almost always turned out that their parents were five or even ten years younger than mine*. Nowadays, as the magic 3-0 looms for me, I can't imagine anyone feeling 31 is an old age to start a family. Times, they have a-changed, and these days the ages that raise eyebrows are as much as 20 years older than that, or more. The decision to start a family in middle life is about more than simple medical viability -- to you, how old is too old? Should teenagers have to make decisions about elder care for the parents? Or, does the wisdom acquired in a long life lend itself to excellent child-rearing? If this is a decision you've made, or are making, on what factors did your decision hinge?

*For the record, my parents have incredible genes -- no one ever looked at them and thought, "Dang! Sarah's parents are some old farts!"

Reverend Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, and a leader of the American Christian right, has died at the age of 73. Falwell was a much beloved, but controversial figure in public conversation. We're going to talk about his legacy; whatever your opinion, he was a potent character in this country. Give us your thoughts on him...

Another daquiri, please.

Source: Oxygen Destroyer

I can't help it, I'm a little distracted at work this week... next week I'm flying and ferrying to sunny Tortola in the British Virgin Islands for a relaxing, beach-lounging, cocktail-sipping vacation. It's hard to think about the important news of the day when pressing issues like how many pairs of flip-flops I'll need and "what's the lowest level of sunblock I can get away with?" crowd my head. One story that did manage to break through to me is this one, an AP story about vacationing in Second Life.

I have to admit, I'm personally skeptical of all-to-most things Second Life. Professionally, I think it's pretty interesting that folks are trading Linden bucks for real currency, making a living in this alternate reality, and learning things there too. But for me, the idea that a vacation in Second Life could ever approximate a real vacation is dubious at best. Sure, it sounds amazing -- jet from a disco in Brazil to a pub in Dublin to a beach in Hawaii, all in the space of two hours! But can this sort of travel really ever amount to more than eye strain and carpal tunnel?

So here's your chance to convince me: Do you spend a lot of time in Second Life? Are you thinking of buying the Second Life tourists' guide? Does the virtual measure up to the actual? And if you have any advice on Tortola... post that too!

As we've said before, reporting from Iraq is one of the most dangerous jobs. As a result, it's hard to know what life is actually like for ordinary Iraqis in Baghdad, Karbala, Tikrit. One way to follow life over there is to read any one of the many Iraqi blogs that have popped up since the 2003 invasion. Another, is to listen to NPR's Anne Garrels, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, and Jamie Tarabay... all of whom have done some really intrepid, and heart wrenching reporting. But one of the only places you'll get to ask Iraqis what life is really like for them, is Talk of the Nation, today. We'll be talking to a pediatrician, a religious student, and a professor on our show...please post your questions for them here.

Just mention, "Iraq," on this page and the comments start to fly... stay, go, surge, withdraw, etc, etc. After spending most of the first hour today talking about what life is like in Iraq, we'll step back and talk with Francis Fukuyama here in Washington, D.C. He argued in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that, "the surge was the last military card we had to play, and now our bluff will soon be called.... We need to start figuring out how to leave this zombie-like zone." So, is it time to leave Iraq? And, if so, how do you minimize the costs?

Remember that great, tear-jerking movie from the early 90s, Searching for Bobby Fischer, about the chess prodigy? Well, little hero Josh Waitzkin was a real kid, and you can hear him here (audio) at age 11, talking with Robert Siegel about the difference between a nice opponent and a mean one. Now Josh is a real grown-up, and you can hear him on our show. These days it's Tai Chi Chuan, more than chess, that he's passionate about. Did you excel at something as a kid that didn't end up turning into your raison d'etre? (Everyone thought I'd inherit my father's height and be a basketball superstar, but when I stalled out at 5'9" and my skills on the court peaked in high school... on the JV team... well, that was that.) How did you re-channel that drive, focus, and passion?

Last month, in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, an eighteen year old, straight-A high school student was arrested for writing an essay that upset his teacher. It was a week after Seung Hui Cho -- who had written some scary stuff of his own in a creative writing class -- killed 33 students and professors, so there was certainly some extra caution in writing workshops across the country. LA times columnist Meghan Daum posits that there isn't just caution in the arrest, but hypocrisy as well. After all, we're are living in the age of the digital screed; anyone perusing blog comments can see a badly woven tapestry of poorly referenced and sometimes vengeful writing. So... where's the line between creative, improvisational writing... and threat speech? What is your filter for what you'll post, email, hand in to a teacher?

I've had my share of bad ideas over the years... the funny sympathy card, white-out as wall paint, that show on piano playing cats. But I think all is forgiven (at least in my mind) after this story: teachers reportedly faked a gun attack on their sixth-grade students. The lights went out, students were told to lay under tables and stay quiet... that this was not a drill. Many of them started to cry, and a disguised teacher pretended to pry at the door, according to some of the students and their parents. One 11-year-old was quoted as saying, "I thought I was going to die. We flipped out." Apparently it was all meant as a prank, and the assistant principal says it was supposed to be a "learning experience." The school admits this was a case of "poor judgment," but hasn't commented on disciplinary action.

Well, as promised, it's time for our show on paying for past sins... so 'fess up about how you've paid, or not paid. Smoked a little doobage? Spoken too freely about your fondness for orgies? Padded your... er... resume? Gotten pulled over for drunk driving? How do you get out from under your past sins? How long should you have to pay? Amy Dickinson says it's all in the way you handle it... she calls it, "failing up." She's here today to give you all kinds of advice... so comment here. It's good for the soul... and fairly anonymous!

Around here, we're pretty nice to each other... well, after the show. Though we genuinely like each other, the live component of our jobs has definitely caused some frantic screaming and yelling and blaming. (Speaking of blame, this post was nearly late because Sarah distracted me with her inappropriate praise of some wasabi flavoured* mayonnaise, which is apparently, "on fire." Humph.) But it turns out, at other workplaces, there is not only less screaming and yelling, but more praise, and not just for the mayonnaise (It rhymes! Good for ME!). This is, according to Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow, because of a culture of praise stoked by twentysomethings in the workplace who came of age at a time when they were told repeatedly how special they were. I am not, sadly, a twentysomething, but I remember when "self-esteem" was a word that was bandied about as freely as "tubular." Apparently, the generation behind me will wither without a compliment or two... is that your experience in your office? How do you think we're doing on the blog? Do you like us? Do you!!!!???!

*In honor of Blair's resignation, all spelling will be compleated in the style of the Brits.

Barrie's the literary lady around here, but mention Southern writers and you'll definitely get my attention. When I was a senior in college, finishing out my minor in English, I signed up for a class billed as "Topics in Southern Literature." Thanks to an American lit class I took two years before, I had already developed a love of Southern writers, especially Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, and Katherine Anne Porter. Pretty much the only one I'd come across who I didn't immediately take to was the visionary of Yoknapatawpha County, Mr. William Faulkner. In the aforementioned American lit class we'd read As I Lay Dying and I thought it was the most godawful piece of work ever... the fish, the casket, the angst, aaargh! So, imagine my dismay on the first day of Southern lit class when my professor revealed the focus had been narrowed... to all things Faulkner. But thanks to my prof's passion and persistence (we'd spend the entire class dissecting one paragraph of, say, Light in August) I got on the Faulkner bandwagon, and now consider him another of my favorites (though I wouldn't recommend him to a friend looking for a beach read). SO, why the heck do so many great authors come out of the South? Roy Blount Jr.'s got some answers to that question in his new book (beautiful names, like Eudora and Flannery and Zora Neale, or maybe it's just that they're so much better than Northern authors that it seems like there are more), and many others, including yours. And I want to know -- who's your favorite Southern author? Did you hate Faulkner in the beginning too?

Prime Minister Tony Blair made it official today... he'll step down on June 27, and make way for Gordon Brown to take over at 10 Downing St. When he was elected in 1997, he was the youngest prime minister of the last century. He oversaw political highlights like peace in Northern Ireland, and personal low points like the war in Iraq, which hammered him in popularity polls. But, in the end the Prime Minister leaves No. 10 with no regrets, "Hand on heart," he said today, "I did what I thought was right." And, at 54, there's plenty of time left for a second act.

We get some crazy stuff sent to us from PR people. I once opened a box to find a pile of fake, plastic dog poo atop a book on dog training. It made its way from office chair to desktop to office fridge before being disposed of. Anyway, yesterday we received the wonkiest gag gift ever: voodoo dolls... and bipartisan voodoo, at that! Two kits, Hillary Clinton Voodoo Kit and George W. Bush Voodoo Kit, complete with doll (Bush is red, Hillary blue), pins, and a "voodoo handbook" that the pitch says introduces "you to the fine art of political voodoo..." Needless to say, we won't be doing an hour on political voodoo (maybe political junkie), but odd things show up in other people's mailboxes, too. Any weird gifts, mis-directed bounty, or unsolicited stuff?

The firing of CBS radio host Don Imus created a media earthquake that still hasn't been fully absorbed. Imus' appalling comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team led to all sorts of questions about the world of "shock jocks." The question is, has that raunchy, sophomoric, and sometimes patently offensive world changed at all, post-Imusquake? Well, it depends on who you ask. Some are toning down their antics a bit, while others are taking the news in stride, and continuing to offend the usual groups based on religious and ethnic affiliations. This hour, we're going to talk to an industry insider as well as the great Marc Fisher about that world that's oh-so-far from the mellifluous and generally unoffensive voices of NPR...the world of "shock radio."

Another Wednesday, another battle over the spending bill for Iraq. This will come as a surprise, but a democratic-led congress says they have a bill in mind, and the president threatens a veto. Deja vu all over again. Leave it to our Political Junkie to tell us what it all means. And, this week, there's more on the table than another squabble in Washington. Republican presidential hopefuls debated last week, Philly chooses a new mayor, and if the fight for the earliest primary continues, we may have to vote tomorrow. Send us your questions and comments for Ken Rudin.

School-issued laptops have been hailed as the answer to failing students in failing schools-- the bridge across the digital divide-- but now it's the laptops that may be getting held back. Call me a cynic, but I don't exactly find it shocking that kids are more apt to IM their friends and visit non-academic websites during class than take notes, but what is impressive is their ability to hack around their schools' network security to access even more forbidden material. The Liverpool Central School District in northern New York state has supplied laptops to students for seven years now, and found "literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement." Does your kid have a laptop? Did you have a laptop as a grade school student? Was it a distraction or a boon? And the question I really would like you to weigh in on is this: If your child does not have access to a computer at home, has having a laptop helped him/her out with school?

There are few stories as appalling as the crisis in Darfur... and few reporters as compelling as NPR's East Africa correspondent Gwen Thompkins. She's just returned from Darfur and Somalia, among other places, and she's got some gripping stories to tell. Post your questions for her here, or just listen to one of the best voices in the building talk about her experience.

The resignation of the dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology over a 28 year old sin, got all of us thinking about the sins of our past--not that there are many, y'understand, most of us are perfect and kept our noses clean. But it does raise the question of redemption-- how much, and for how long should one have to pay for old mistakes-- honestly or dishonestly made? Ask Amy's Amy Dickinson will join us, but we're all racking our brains for sins and sinners...so give us some help. We're thinking of folks like Kathleen Soliah (formerly of the Symbionese Liberation Army), or Greg Olsen (a first round draft pick for the Chicago Bears with rap lyrics in his past that would make Imus blush). Who should be forgiven for what? Who's been punished too much...who's not paid an adequate price?

Lee Woodruff may have said it best: "Traumatic brain injury is the signature wound of this war." With advancements in body armor and medicine saving more and more limbs and internal organs, the head has become one of a soldier's most vulnerable spots... and now traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is no longer the sole province of athletes and car accident survivors. Thanks to unprecedented quality of care on the front lines, severely wounded soldiers are making it back to the states alive, but with varying prospects for future quality of life. Has your loved one returned from Iraq with TBI? How has life changed for him or her, and how are you dealing with it? Is he/she getting adequate care? And, more generally, if you've suffered from TBI -- however you were injured -- what's it like?

"The Unspoken Bond" represents the bond between Navy corpsmen and Marines.

Source: Scott Cameron, NPR

Believe it or not, we have now been at war in Iraq for four years, and in Afghanistan for nearly five and a half. While there have been plenty of reports about what's going wrong and why over there, one of the things that's going well in the war is the quality of battlefield medical care. More and more people are surviving terrible injuries they receive -- treatment begins right on the front lines, and continues at nearby field hospitals. (One result of this is more traumatic brain injuries... as we talked about in our previous hour with Bob Woodruff.) It brings up all kinds of questions about how the surgeons, medics, and nurses do what they do... the protocol for care, and how on earth they operate under such stressful circumstances. Many say they've seen more maiming than death on the battlefield (have you seen this amazing photograph?). Today we'll hear from a number of these people about what they do and how they do it. We'll be talking to a medic, a nurse, a combat surgeon, and a psychologist... if you have questions for them, post them here.

The first thing patients see as they enter Building 10.

Source: Scott Cameron, NPR

You are all probably familiar with the Bethesda Naval Hospital (formally the National Naval Medical Center, and known as the "NNMC" to those who work here). It's where Presidents go for their annual check-up. As it happens, I've lived either a couple of miles north or a couple of miles south of this facility for the past twenty years, so the handsome tower on Wisconsin Avenue (or is the name of the street already changed to Rockville Pike? I get confused) has been part of my personal landscape for a long time. They used to show movies on a big screen on the lawn outside in the summertime, free to all, and we locals got excited when a movie crew shut down much of the area to shoot the final sequence of Dave. If you saw the picture, the only thing that's changed is the substantial fence erected around the perimeter after 9/11 and the sharply increased security. No way Kevin Klein could just wander off into the night now, and there are no more movies on the lawn.

I can justify calling myself a local after only 20 years because between the Naval Hospital and the even more extensive campus of the National Institutes of Health right across the street (whatever it's called), this is a highly transient area. Within a five year span, a sequence of next door neighbors hailed from the Netherlands, Brazil and Norway, and the conversations in the public schools around here sounds like lunchtime at the UN cafeteria.

After all this time, it's exciting to be inside for the first time; Scott's going to post pictures of the Clark Auditorium to give you an idea of an idea of what it looks like -- on remotes, we're usually up on a stage. Here, we're in the well of a lecture hall with about fifteen rows of kelly green seats marching up the stairs in front of us. Can't wait.

Greensburg, Kansas was virtually obliterated this weekend by a giant tornado almost a mile wide. Tornadoes are terrifying (as a child I was petrified by the twister in the Wizard of Oz; the wind picking up, Dorothy's terror as she looks for Toto. That movie is no joke). Imagine though, when the wind calms, trudging upstairs from your storm shelter to find... nothing. No main street, no house, nothing but the grain elevator left standing. (One of my nearest and dearest is from Kansas, and he said to me when we heard the news about Greensburg, "Grain elevators were our skyscrapers... they made even the smallest and least populated town seem promising from a distance...it's at least hopeful that Greensburg still has that symbol.") However, It's a daunting prospect... today, we're going to talk about other towns that have been devastated by twisters, and find out how they fared, both emotionally and economically after the twister blew through. Please weigh in if you've been in the way of "tornado alley." Did you stay, or move to safer ground?

It's no secret that sex scandals sell... especially here in Washington, DC. There's just something to that intersection of sex and politics that gets people talking. And the case of the "D.C. Madam" seemed to have all the ingredients: sex, politics, power, and, of course, that little black book. But, when it came time for 20/20 to name names, it turns out most of the men who were supposed to be "high-ranking" just weren't newsworthy. But, as Lily Burana put it in the Washington Post yesterday, you just can't top a sex scandal for spectator sport. So, what is it about Washington sex scandals that get us so worked up?

They're everywhere, and their numbers are growing... this weekend saw the premiere of Spider-Man 3 and record box-office numbers, and looming on the horizon are Shrek the Third, Rush Hour 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (or, in layman's terms, Pirates 3). And you know what? I think the only one I'll see is Pirates, and while pulling tape for today's show, I realized I rarely see the third installment of a franchise, even if I've seen one or both of its predecessors... my attention just wanes, or focuses elsewhere. What about you? Do you wait with bated breath for the third return of your heroes and heroines, or are you like me... distracted? Does it bug you when a series drags on and on, or are multiples necessary to really see a story line through? What's your favorite "three-quel," and which ones bombed?

Thomas Keneally is one of Australia's living treasures...no joke. He was nominated for that honor by the National Trust of Australia. He's probably best known for his book, Schindler's Ark, which was adapted into the award winning film, Schindler's List. He's got novel writing down (he's been nominated for the Booker prize four times, and won it once, too), but he's turned to plays now. His play, Either/Or is premiering at Theatre J this week, at the DC JCC. Either/Or is the story of SS officer Kurt Gerstein... a truly conflicted Nazi. Gerstein's account of mass gassings at concentrations camps was one of the first and most important about Hitler's Final Solution. Keneally will be in our studios today to talk about the play, being a living treasure, and what it's like to write for the thea-tah. Post your questions for him here!

You read all the time that passwords need to be "secure," and by that I assumed the experts meant don't use "password" as your password. Though it turns out "password" is the most commonly used online password, followed by "123456," and "qwerty" (if that means nothing to you, just look at the top row of letters on your keyboard). PC Magazine has the list in their May 8th issue. I've never used any of those, but I thought I was some sort of creative genius for years because I used the easy-to-remember "letmein" to login to some of my less than urgent accounts (read: not banks, etc). "letmein" is the #5 most used password... I am humbled, and am probably not the only one, "monkey" is #6, "blink182" is #9, your own first name is #10). You can find the rest of the list here. While I go change my passwords, are there any passwords you've used over the years that, looking back, seem a little dumb?

I'm guessing most of us only pay attention to foreign countries when there's a crisis. Well, today there is. Turkey faces a political standoff over the role of religion in public life... the secularists versus the Islamists. And, while it's not page one news here at home, Turkey's importance to the United States makes this a story worth watching. They're a NATO ally that wants to be part of the European Union, a secular democracy in the Muslim middle east, and border Iraq, Iran, and Syria, among others. There's also that issue of U.S. energy policy, and Turkey's strategic location as a bridge between the middle east and Europe.

Kidnappings in the Gaza strip are sadly not unusual; journalists and aid workers are often taken, but released unharmed a few days later. BBC reporter Alan Johnston was the only foreign journalist from a major media organization based full time in Gaza... and according to his friends and colleagues, he was fully aware of the risks. Johnston has now been missing since March 12th, amid growing clamor from a remarkably diverse press corps. Palestinian journalists organized a three-day strike last month, last week Pakistani journalists held a vigil, and today journalists will rally at the United Nations in New York City to call for Johnston's release. It's also World Press Freedom day, and we're going to talk to Alan's colleague, BBC world news editor Jon Williams today from that rally. It is remarkable how little the Western press has picked up on the story... the loudest voices in support of Johnston have come from press in the Middle East.

Money greases the wheelbarrows of cash on Wall Street, and it will be what eases my retirement (whenever that happens). Lately, the market's been up, up, up. And, thankfully, Neal's fantasy portfolio has gone along for the ride. (Though, he's also been nailed by a few lousy "underperformers," as the suits like to say.) Rupert Murdoch and Amazon give us plenty to talk about with the Motley Fool. And, Neal still has about $1000 left in fake money to put into his faux fund. Any suggestions on where to park it?

I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

-- Prologue, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

It's hard not to get the shivers when you read that opening for the first, second, or twentieth time. And it's our misfortune that the brilliant, complex, and ambitious Ellison wasn't able to complete another one. Arnold Rampersad is a giant figure himself, and he'll be here today (in studio!) to talk about his new biography of Ellison. There's a lot to talk about...why he never produced another novel, his relationship with the likes of Saul Bellow, Langston Hughes, John Cheever, Richard Wright, Robert Penn Warren, and Toni Morrison, and his difficult and brilliant legacy. I hate to keep using a the word complex to describe him...but this is such a fascinating story, and ultimately a sad one. It makes me want to re-read Invisible Man, which is still one of the most challenging books I've ever read, and one of the richest.

How many times have you sat in the upper deck or your La-Z-Boy and muttered... or screamed... in dismay at the officiating that you're absolutely convinced is the reason your team is losing? Ineffective as your invective is, there may actually be something to it, according to a new study yet-to-be-released by a couple of academics. Justin Wolfers and Joseph Price studied NBA foul-calling, and found that white referees are more likely to call fouls on black players, as well as a slight bias in the reverse direction... and that the results could be enough to throw games. Commissioner David Stern is already disputing the paper with a study of his own, and players are going on the record saying they haven't seen the bias. Talk of the Nation's sports buddy (and New York Times staff writer) Alan Schwarz is going to help us try to get to the bottom of it... have you seen these prejudices in action?

Small, so you can't see the sweatiness.

Source: Annie Linskey

 

On Talk of the Nation it's not all fun and games... except when it IS fun and games, like yesterday morning. The first Wednesday in May is race day around here, when Weekend Edition Saturday producer Justine Kenin rallies the speedy and not-so-speedy employees of NPR to take part in a 3-mile race called the Capital Challenge. Neal runs it every year, and this year I too decided to take part (even though I'm loathe to run around people I know... when I say I'm slow, I MEAN it, and what I call "running" is NOT a pretty sight). Turns out, I was really glad I did. It's a pretty cool event, an "invitational race for teams representing the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches of the Federal Government and the Media..." or, basically, a super-nerdy inside-Washington 3 miler on a flat course along the Anacostia River. Among the hot-shot finishers were numerous senators and house members, including Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), who's run every Challenge -- all 26!

Last week the Democratic contenders duked it out, and tomorrow the Republicans step up to the lectern in the first rounds of who-will-be-lucky-number-44 debates. And as soon as the candidates step away from the stage, campaign strategists approach the microphones with spin, spin, spin. What is the value of the formal, televised debate in American politics? Is it more about jockeying for position, or actually taking a stand? How much is rehearsed? Is a comment like "where's the beef" or "there you go again" really as off-the-cuff as it sounds (maybe, and no)? And, nine months from the primaries, are you paying attention? What are you looking for?

That extra hot air you've been feeling? Might be the 2008 presidential debates. Last week, eight Democrats made their case for why you should vote for them. And, tomorrow, ten Republicans take their turn. In Washington, Congress came and voted on the Iraq spending bill, and that prickly little issue of a timetable for withdrawal... and President Bush delivered on his long-promised veto. There's plenty political to talk about, and we've roped Ken Rudin into another round of the Political Junkie. Iraq, '08, vetoes, and all the rest of the political comings and goings... what's your fix of politics?

You know those ads in the back of your newspaper, or alt-weekly... "Hospital X needs healthy volunteers to participate in a research study of vision....Payment is $25 per hour and a session will last up to 2 hours." Fifty bucks isn't much... but some research studies and clinical trials will pay thousands of dollars for human lab rats. The result is a burgeoning subculture of people making a living from these trials. It's lucrative, but risky-- we'll talk to the author of an extensive article in Wired magazine about it, as well as a "drug test cowboy." Have you ever participated in a test study? Would you?

We've talked a lot on this program about violence, specifically torture, in movies and on TV. Now the FCC is getting involved, issuing a report last week on "Violent Television Programming and Its Impact On Children." In a nutshell, it recommends that the government should assume a greater role in regulating content on TV. Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine, disagrees (unsurprisingly: Reason is a Libertarian magazine). He makes a pretty good argument... most convincing to me, is that there are already so many parental controls on TV sets, from the V-chip that all new television sets come with, to that darn setting on the cable box (I accidentally blocked PBS the other day) which allows parents to custom block channels and content. Giving the FCC more power over content is simply redundant, he says. Of course, on the other hand, his argument is less convincing when it comes to a proposal to un-bundle cable packages...even easier then the V-chip would be getting exactly the channels you approve of for your kids. What's your feeling about the FCC report... should we police the TV ourselves, or let the government do it?

Everyone's a critic... as anyone who's ever commented on a blog well knows. At the beginning of last month, Variety's Peter Bart offered a critique of the critics, complaining that movie reviewers and moviegoers are often not in agreement, saying that the nasty reviews of popular films like 300and Norbit "remind us that the literature of disdain is much more fun to turn out." Joe Morgenstern shot back in a strongly worded column (in which he offered to hire Variety's own tough critic, Todd McCarthy. SCHNAP.) His cool response to Bart? "I enjoy turning out enthusiastic appreciation... when there's something to enthuse about." (DOUBLE SCHNAP.)

Why am I bringing up such an old, much blogged about story, you might ask? A fair critique. Because I realized how much I love the "literature of disdain." All the book reviews I linked to yesterday were bad ones, and when I think of my favorite reviewers -- be they book, film, dance, or theatre -- I usually think of reviews in which they drew blood. For instance, Dorothy Parker on an early theatre performance by a very young Katharine Hepburn: "Miss Hepburn runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." Anthony Lane on Star Wars: Episode III: "The general opinion of Revenge of the Sith seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion." And the utterly inimitable Manuela Holterhoff on the Metropolitan's world premiere of Tan Dun's opera The First Emperor: "In my favorite scene, the balky composer reached into his mouth and removed his tongue. It meant no more singing and a curtain coming." Why are rotten reviews so much fun? I would argue that the the ability to deflate sincerely and totally without devolving into insults is harder than enthusing well. And that's certainly true for blog comments, too.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has never been known for holding his tongue. During his brief tenure, he provided journalists with tons of great tape and the promise of more. But his nomination to the position was never approved, and I'm sure U.N. watchers the world over miss his candor, whether they agree with his politics or not. I've pulled just a few of my favorite quotes from Mr. Bolton and you can listen to them by clicking the following links...

On the most surprising part of his job... "Give 'em hell!" (audio)

On his hopes for reforming the U.N. Human Rights Council... Not just putting "lipstick on a caterpillar." (audio)

On Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calling President Bush "the devil" in front of the U.N. General Assembly... A "comic strip approach." (audio)

And last, but certainly not least, on whether President Bush's inclusion of North Korea as part of the "axis of evil" provoked that country to resume nuclear activity... "Get a life!" (audio)

Today he joins us to take your calls... perhaps we'll get some more good tape!

In Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and cities in between today, demonstrators calling for immigration reform are marching in the streets. But, compared to the more than one million protesters that came out last year on this date, even organizers admit this year's turnout can't compare. Why? The reasons run from fear to frustration to disillusionment. But, Gustavo Arellano says that's all wrong. "The real reason Latinos won't come out in full force this time around is because there's no need. La Lucha - the struggle - is almost over." There are plenty who disagree with him... what do you think?

Each election season, candidates raise zillions of dollars and spend a good portion of that largesse on polling: what do voters want to hear? In 2004, Democrats read women way wrong, and as a result lost votes that should've been a cinch. Slate contributer Melinda Henneberger wanted to know why -- what did women voters hear that they weren't looking for, and what issues truly are important to them? And do they really speak with one voice on every issue? So she hit the road, and asked women all over the country these very questions. If you're considering running for office this time around -- or ever -- listen up: you just might be surprised. And women, what are the biggest issues you consider when you select a candidate?

It's no secret that I love the book-ish types. (Read this review of Bret Easton Ellis' Lunar Park. A wicked delight. Or this favorite, by Elle Woods via the estimable and unspellable Michiko Kakutani.) For the past few years, newspapers have been drastically cutting back on book reviews, which is bad for books of course, but doubly bad for... er... human beings. It's a good time to remind ourselves what book criticism and reviews are for. The National Book Critics Circle's blog has a series on the crisis, and we'll be talking to the president of the NBCC today.

What do you think book reviews are for? I think that old grump H.L. Mencken said it best... "The motive of the critic who is really worth reading... is not the motive of the pedagogue, but the motive of the artist." The same is true for reviews... they're certainly useful for pointing out Lunar Park as something best bought on sale and brought to the beach, but on their own, they're some of our most important belle-lettres.

The newspaper is late. For the second day in a row. And I worry that this is a new pattern that I'm going to have to learn to live with. I hate new patterns.

Listeners sometimes ask how I manage to keep up with all the different subjects we cover on the show every week. Part of the answer is that we have a terrific staff; here on the Blog you guys know that, since you read Barrie, Sarah, and Scott all the time. But another part of the reason is sheer, persistent habit. A less generous soul might describe it as obsessive. In short, I am a creature of habit. I read two newspapers very morning before I go to work, I try to read one or two more when I get there, and I read the wires all day long. Even during the show, I have the AP ticker (that's a word that betrays my age) up on one computer screen and CNN on the TV. After 9/11, I don't want to be surprised. I guess I don't read so much as scan from 2-4 ET, but you get the point. The subway rides to and from work are precious half hours of solid reading time. I jigger my schedule to try to ensure I can get a seat, take out whatever book is up next on the show, uncap a pen, and plunge in. Evenings, after dinner, the book and the pen come out again, which is one reason I love baseball season. Games on TV appear to have been designed to allow for multi-tasking as most everything of interest is replayed, and there's plenty of commercial time to keep the pages turning.

But it all breaks down if the newspaper is late. The great A.J. Liebling once wrote, "Like any coward, I read the newspaper from back to front." He referred, of course, to the tabloids that splash sports across the back page, and both of the papers that arrive at my front door every day, The New York Times and The Washington Post, are broadsheets. The Post comes first -- AHH, I just heard it thump! 35 minutes late, but still in time for me to follow Liebling in spirit... I begin with the funnies. How's Spidey going to get out of this one?

Gotta Run.