The Supreme Court knows how to end a term with a bang. The last opinion of the last day this morning redefined the way public schools can integrate. Basically, the schools can not take students' race into account to ensure diversity when deciding who gets in. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion (it was another close 5-4 vote) and said that the two school districts have, "failed to provide the necessary support for the proposition that there is no other way than individual racial classifications to avoid racial isolation in their school districts." Given the recent changes in the makeup of the court, it wasn't a complete surprise, and cheers and criticism of the decision began even before the final announcement. Any thoughts on the outcome? Does this make public school admissions more fair for everyone, or does it take away a necessary tool to diversify schools after Brown v. Board of Education?

In the '80s, fashionable working women had Liz Claiborne to thank for their power suits, skirts, and shoulder pads. Her eponymous brand was everywhere ... she epitomized the women (like Melanie Griffith in Working Girl! My fave!) who were breaking glass ceilings and navigating the tricky waters of work, family, and femininity. She died Tuesday, at the age of 78, but her label (now a conglomerate that includes one of my other favorites, Juicy Couture), lives on. Robin Givhan will remember this power house today. Got any favorite Claibornes still filling out your wardrobe?

When I lived in New York, a few of the ABC soaps filmed right down the street from my apartment. I had been hooked on them ever since I started waitressing and daytime TV became my only (sober) friend. The first day I ran into one of the actresses from All My Children, I had the weirdest feeling; it was like running into someone I knew; I almost lectured her on her poor choice in men. That's the thing about television; it's in your house, so we have a rather intimate relationship with Luke, Laura, Ross, Rachel, and even Jack Bauer (do not make him mad). No other medium has infiltrated our social consciousness in quite the same way as TV. Lee Siegel, a critic and essayist, has a new book about television, in which he deconstructs our favorite shows, and how television operates (in) our lives. What role does it play in yours?

The second time around wasn't the charm for the immigration bill. The senate picked up debate again this week, after it died three weeks ago. President Bush made a trip to congress to push for the bill, and made last-minute calls to some Republican senators this morning. Several top Democrats made their own case for the compromise bill. But, as the tally on C-SPAN2 told me this morning, it just wasn't enough. Many conservatives want to focus on securing the border before offering citizenship to immigrants who are in the country illegally. And, some see a path to citizenship as amnesty, and don't want it in any final bill. Beyond what it means for immigration and border security in the country, the vote is a poke in the eye to President Bush from senators in his own party. And the animosity that's filtered across the country in the last few months could bleed into next year's congressional and presidential elections. We'll grab Ron Elving and hash this all out with him. Questions? Opinions on the demise of the bill? Let us know...

I was driving out west somewhere the first time I caught a real good look at a bald eagle up close. This was years ago, but I remember we all grabbed for the camera and ohh-ed and ahh-ed. These are big, beautiful birds, and they have a regal presence that I'm sure comes (in part anyway) from the position we give them in this country. The bald eagle is a symbol of America, and we've learned to respect that. But, it wasn't always the case. Eagles were hunted and pushed almost to the point of extinction. There were just 417 (documented) of them in the lower 48 states in 1963. Today, it was dropped from the endangered species list, and there are now nearly 10,000 bald eagles (it's been illegal to kill a bald eagle since 1940, and that's still the case). Now that more of us may be spotting one flying overhead, what meaning does the bald eagle have for you?

We don't talk about stage actors all that much anymore. A conversation about a memorable performance is more likely to be about a film; it's as if we're so involved in the life of Angelina Jolie (and honestly, I've had a subscription to Us Weekly for longer than I care to admit), that we can hardly believe it when she turns into someone else entirely -- let alone Marianne Pearl. There's no shiny veneer on a stage actor -- unless it's a few beads of sweat. When I was a kid, every summer our family would drive up to the Stratford Festival in Canada (which is where, I'm convinced, the best theater in North America is performed), to see an absurd amount of theater in far too few days. The schedule was brutally delightful: two plays a day, with a lot of reading by the river and food and drink sandwiched in between. The problem is, when you see fourteen productions in seven days, you're likely to forget a bunch of them. There are whole performances that have just floated right out of my head. (My mother used to describe the need for a "great big intellectual burp" at the end of each trip.) Sadly, they were most likely wonderful productions, but they didn't move me; and seemed to elicit admiration rather then real empathy. Of the plays that stuck, I would wager that most of them featured actor William Hutt. Hutt died yesterday at the age of 87; he was, I think what you'd call a "grand old man" of the Canadian stage; I had only to see that white-silver head of glinting on stage to become rapt. In a Much Ado About Nothing that eventually traveled to the United States, he wrested humor from a small role, in a scene that owed quite a bit to the screwball comedies of the '30s. (He did a happy drunk better then anyone else.) As James Tyrone in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, his performance (among four other extraordinary performances) gave me the feeling that I had somehow gained entry into the broken Tyrone house. I utterly forgot I was watching a play at all, and almost tiptoed out at the end. The first time I was ever moved to tears in the theater was watching Hutt become King Lear, in a spare, but deep performance. As he wandered the moors, he balanced the terrified, angry, and yet still dear old man -- eminently recognizable to anyone who's confronted the specter of dementia -- with the carriage of a man who had once been a king. It was high drama, real tragedy, and entirely intimate at the same time.

His final curtain call at Stratford was as Prospero in Shakespeare's Tempest. My mother heard a replay of the final speech on the CBC early this morning, where Prospero pledges to give up magic forever. She described it as "straight-forward, astonishing, without histrionics, right to the bone and full of meaning." Hutt was an actor who knew how to perform, he spoke the classics with a baritone that could shake walls, but more often chose to simply become a character -- a complicated and generous spell that enchanted all of us who were lucky enough to watch it happen.

But this rough magic
I here abjure, and when I have required
heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.

Prospero, The Tempest, Act V, scene i

Oh yeah... we know, you've all fallen for yet another blitz of stylish advertising from that prom queen of technology, Apple. My esteemed co-blogger Scott certainly has. Never mind that they've only released about four (hyperbole, but you know) of the suckers. And that they've made a deal with the devil. Well, apparently, we've been sucked in too. This is ostensibly a show about the buzz that Apple has created around this product (see NPR for more details), but what I'm really interested in is how Steve Jobs has been able to position himself as a technology pioneer, when in reality, Apple seems to come late to the table on some things -- taking existing ideas and refining them. (Remember when they made you think that the Ipod was the first Mp3 Player? That's the equivalent of an Appletini hangover -- it wasn't.) Full disclosure: I love my Mac, I love my Ipod, and my Shuffle is engraved. In any case; what can your cell phone do? Do you take pictures, video, text, PDA, etc.? Do you know how to use your phone at all (Neal sometimes claims he doesn't).

Have you seen this flap between Elizabeth Edwards and Ann Coulter on MSNBC? It's worth the click through. And speaking of video, the draft Al Gore camp has taken their message to the airwaves. Their ad is running on an Iowa radio station. The immigration bill gets a second life in the senate. And, speaking of the senate, Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, created quite the stir in Washington the other day, calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. To have a Republican senator of his stature breaking ranks could be a watershed for the war. If it's Wednesday, it must be Political Junkie time. Send us your questions for Ken Rudin.

Remember when social networking used to be... well... social? MySpace, Facebook, even the venerable Friendster, were so successful at getting people in touch, that now they've crossed into the workspace and become an important business tool. Looking for a job? An employee? Check out Linkedin or SelectMinds. I must say, it's a lot easier to navigate these websites then it is to slog through a stack of paper resumes, and it really appeals to Generation Y (they tend to ask the question "where do I get information" before they ask "what am I supposed to do?"). We know that y'all have used social networking to stalk your secret high school crush, or to keep up with friends, but how are you using it in your professional life, and beyond?

We've had some great titles floating around here; remember Nassim Taleb, Professor in the Science of Uncertainty? Well, check this out: Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo and Director of Excavations at Giza (yes, that Giza). You guessed it, it's Dr. Zahi Hawass, and he's got some very exciting news for anyone who's into girl power. Apparently, archaeologists have used DNA testing and identified a mummy that was discovered more than a century ago as Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female pharoah. Now, there's literally no other way to describe Hatshepsut then to call her bad-ass (and believe me, I really didn't want to use that expression but check out this woman's bio). I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth I, and the two ladies, especially in their mastery of politics, have a lot in common. In any case, Dr. Hawass will fill us in -- best part? He's talking to us from a cafe. I'm not kidding. You have to tune in.

I have a slight problem... namely, a sugar problem. And here in the office, we have what I'll playfully call our enabler (sorry, Susan). Though, I'm really not complaining, I've already grabbed four or five (or six or seven, but who's counting) pieces of ginger peach cake that she brought in this morning. Last week, it was some cinnamon concoction, cheese, breads, crackers, even a great chunk of steak that I couldn't help but combine with the cheese and bread. Yes, sometimes it is healthy; yesterday it was blueberries, raspberries, and a strawberry. All of which makes me wonder, does every office have its "enabler"... that person who spoils everyone else with baked goods and fresh fruits?

It's hard to tell what progress means in Iraq -- it's an emotionally and politically charged issue that stretches from Baghdad, to Congress, all the way to your dinner table. Tom Ricks, who's so easy on the ears that getting information from him is actually fun, returned from a May trip to Iraq with fascinating details, and his own report card. He'll talk to us today, and rounding out the military perspective is retired Major General Mike Davidson as well. Let us know what you think about the changing goals in Iraq.

Let's face it. Between Sex and the City's famous gay-straight man vs. straight-gay man episode and the rise of the metrosexual, so-called "Gaydar" doesn't mean much anymore. In fact, it's probably an easy way to reinforce social stereotypes. However, David France, a contributing editor at New York Magazine, was curious about what you could tell about a person's sexuality based on biological traits; and wrote this fascinating article. Check it out here. And post your "gaydar" experiences below.

Selecting a college still counts as one of the biggest, most stressful decisions of my life. I applied at a conservative four schools (ok, I was too lazy to fill out more applications than that), got into three -- my dream school, one I'd ruled out in the interim, and my safety school -- then decided dream school was less than dreamy and resignedly accepted at safety school, the University of Maryland. I liked Maryland, and my dad was an alum, it was just that it was so close to home that it didn't feel like a proper adventure. About two weeks before graduating from high school, my humanities teacher, Mr. Greenfield*, overheard my friend Susan and I talking about her choice, the University of Georgia. I thought it sounded pretty cool -- a similar size to Maryland, but in the exotic South, and thought maybe I'd transfer someday. Mr. Greenfield had another idea, however, and he ran me down to the Social Studies office, got Georgia admissions on the phone, and they faxed me an application that day. I found out I'd been accepted while at beach week, took a quick trip down there, liked what I saw, and accepted without hesitation. DRAMA! But you know what I didn't do? I didn't look it up in the US News & World Report ranking of colleges. Did you, when you chose a school, or are you taking a look with your college-bound kids now?

*A zillion thanks to Mr. Phil Greenfield... without him, I wouldn't be where I am today!

As a kid, I always thought there were little men under the streets changing lights from red to green and turning on the street lights (sadly, I'm not kidding. But, come on, where did you think that quarter under your pillow came from when you lost a tooth?). I also thought if you slap someone on the back while they're making funny faces or crossing their eyes it would stay that way. (I still refuse to stand to close to the microwave while it's running.) Most of us have some quirky thing we just know to be true... yawns are contagious, reading in the dark damages your eyes, chicken soup cures a cold. But, has anyone ever tried to find out if it's true? Yep... And there's a whole book about it, called Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About our Health and the World we Live In. Are oysters aphrodisiacs, does green tea help you lose weight, is bottled water cleaner than tap water, can toothbrushes spread germs, is it dangerous to talk on the phone in a thunderstorm? What were you always told, and still wonder if it's true?

Lucky girl that I am, I'm headed off on another incredible vacation tomorrow -- it's rare that I take even one a summer, so two is truly exceptional. This time I'll be gone for three weeks, visiting a tiny medieval village in France, with nary a public library nor Barnes & Noble in reach. So I've got to import all my reading material, and to that end I've amassed a collection culled from the books publishers send us here at NPR and from the shelves of my local library. So far I have...

You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John
Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye by Jonathan Lethem

So, I've got one non-fiction book, one bodice-ripper, and a pile of reasonably serious contemporary fiction... by men. I'm looking for one or two recommendations to round out my traveling library... I'm thinking books by women, and possibly something a bit more classic, though I must warn you that if it's not immediately gripping, anything remotely canon-worthy will probably just gather dust. Any ideas? Please leave them for me in the comments section, and I'll pick them up after work... in the meantime, I'm going to revisit our annual summer reading show for recs!

It's something I've been wrestling with for almost two years now... buy or rent? I scour databases of homes for sale, read books on finance, and talk it over with each colleague who takes the big step of homeownership... and still I can't find anyone to tell me if it's really in my best interests to buy a place, or if renting truly is more economical. On the one hand, renting feels careless, like throwing your money down a drain, and ownership sounds responsible and adult. But on the other, living beyond your means -- a serious concern when a mortgage enters the picture -- is untenable at best, catastrophic at worst... and is there something so wrong about preferring to own shoes and bags and books and music over walls and floors and light fixtures and doors*? If you've purchased a home recently, I'd love to hear on what criteria you made your decision to own... and if you're like me, still waffling, what's holding you back? Or do you take pride in renting?

*OK, busted... my linking is pretty biased. Am I just trying to justify my choices this far? Maybe.

You know that gentle buzz coming from your computer under the desk? These days, it's possible that it's coming from a co-worker, taking a snooze. It turns out that more and more people are extolling the benefits of cat-naps, even at work. The most famous at work napper -- George Costanza -- was punished for it, but researcher Sara Mednick believes it can change your life. Do you ever doze off -- on purpose -- on the job?

I have some good and bad news for you. The good news is, that's it's really easy to stay healthy and lose weight. Eat less, exercise more. The bad news is, to lose weight and stay healthy, you've got to eat less, and exercise more. There's really no other way to do it, no matter how many times you read Eat Right for Your Blood Type. Today, we're talking to Deirdre Barrett about her book "Waistland," the evolutionary reasons for the current obesity crisis, and she's got some interesting info for you. In her history of human health, she details the idyllic life of a hunter-gatherer... more fresh salads, more time with the kids, and tons of fulfilling leisure activities. In any case, if you're...er...human, you've probably experienced that crisis of brain and belly: brain shouting "spinach" and belly growling "steak sandwich, please."

Call us a bunch of nerds, but here at Talk we've been on pins and needles for almost two weeks now, waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on the school busing case that may or may not redefine 1954's landmark Brown v. The Board of Education decision. Another Monday, another passel of decisions, and no word on busing. We groaned with disappointment, but there are plenty of interesting decisions, anyway, from the so-called Bong Hits 4 Jesus case to campaign finance.

I stink at taking my dry cleaning in. For example, the dress I wore on New Year's Eve is STILL riding around in the trunk of my car, getting filthier by the day as it shares space with a portable grill for tailgating one weekend, dirty laundry headed for my parents' house another weekend, and so on for the last seven months. Turns out one woman's neglected clo* is a man's potential goldmine... well, he tried, anyway. In case you missed it, a DC man took some pants to the dry cleaner's, they lost the pants, then recovered the pants... or a similar pair of pants... and he sued them for $54 million for his "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort." In a shocking decision, the DC court ruled today in favor of the dry cleaner, and the disgruntled customer will even have to pay court costs for the lawsuit. What's the most ridiculous suit you've ever come across?

*A friend of mine, when he was about 8 years old, used the word "clo" as the singular of clothes... I think it works, and can't believe it didn't catch on!

It was inevitable. Smack in the middle of not one, but two books about food (good vs. evil, french fries vs. carrots), I'm stuck in a car with nothing but a Bob Evans and a Cracker Barrel in spitting distance. I've always felt, though, that one is absolved of eating catastrophes on roadtrips -- if ever it's okay to eat a couple of McNuggets, it's in a rest stop on I-95. I'll be honest, I usually start out a road trip with a bag full of virtue: apples, string cheese, seltzer, the Economist. But at the first sign of a service area, my mouth waters, and before I know it, I'm picking sunflower seeds out of the seat , slurping a Red Bull, and reading People. Full disclosure: on the way to Pittsburgh this weekend, I had the pleasure of a diet that included:

3 Peanut Butter Buckeyes
1 Bag Jelly Belly jellybeans
1 order Chicken and Dumplings
2 tumblers of Raspberry Lemonade
1 Biscuit with Butter
1 InStyle Magazine

Feel free to share what you're eating in the car on your summer vacation... and consider yourself absolved. If the trip's more then 100 miles, it doesn't count!

'Tis the season for blushing brides, probably a few blushing grooms, and of course, brand new in-laws galore. I'm talking about wedding season -- and I bet a few of you are talking about it too. Full disclosure: weddings are taking up a lot of my brain space this summer (not to mention some closet space), as I'm navigating showers, bachelorettes, wedding readings, and finding a dress for a dear friend's wedding in August. She has been delightful about the whole thing -- but man, I've heard some rough stories of Bridezillas, and worse, Bridemaidzillas (frozen lasagna can be a weapon). Ask Amy's Amy Dickinson is here to help with the whole mess, so please, confess your wedding woes here, and change names to protect the innocent, the damned, and your mother-in-law. And as a special bonus, we're also going to give you some ideas for your wedding dress... TRASH it. Seriously. (If you have any great ideas for a wedding reading...please let me know.)

*Ahh... the best bride of all.

On Monday, we gave you the lowdown on the ragged split between Gaza/Hamas and the West Bank/Fatah. Every day there are new developments; today several countries in the Middle East are taking sides in the split. So we're giving you the estimable Daoud Kuttab for a few minutes. Any questions? Post 'em here.

On the train heading home last night, the little red-headed kid in front of me looked over and told me that he was done with school for the summer and visiting from Las Vegas (Funny how when you live in Vegas you have to find somewhere else where what happens there stays there). They were visiting Washington and hoping to get to a ball game. Which is really my cue to take a vacation... why should he get to have all the fun? Every year I somehow forget that summer is coming, and rush to squeeze in a trip to someplace where it's not 100 degrees, humid, and stuffy (and I'm talking about the city, not the train). I've done the road trip thing, the "backpacking" thing, the posh hotel thing, the camping thing, and lots of other travel "things." But I still panic every time I go to book a trip... what if I miss something? What if I pick the wrong hotel? What if I pay more than the guy next to me on the plane? What if I spend so much time worrying about the darn trip that I never actually enjoy it? (Yes, I'm a worrier and a perfectionist... bad combo.) Our second hour today is all about your travel tips... camping or Europe? Hotel or apartment? Car or plane? McDonald's or local eats? Help us all out, post your travel pointers here and we'll read some of them during the show. (And for secrets from a million mile traveler, click here)

Educational video games are nothing new... you can learn all about human interaction with the SIMS, engineer giant structures with Roller Coaster Tycoon, and even let games teach your kids how to read and do arithmetic. But what if you could actually learn how to save the world with a video game? Well, guess what? You can! Want to figure out how to feed zillions of starving refugees in Africa? Try the UN's game, Food Force. Want to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in Gaza? There's a game for that too, called Peacemaker. As much as I'm sure Mario wants to rescue the princess (whenever I play, she's always in another castle... dang it!), somehow these games seem a little more worthwhile. Still... do you want to learn from your video game, or do you want to just zone out? Does this make gaming like homework? And isn't it a little depressing if you lose?

The hype over the iPhone is pretty insane at this point. (T-minus a week and a day now.) People are talking about camping out in front of Apple stores and AT&T will close its stores down late in the afternoon, to open them back up at exactly 6pm Friday... just the time the phone is scheduled to be available. (Remember all those holiday stories of fights at Wal Mart over cheap DVD player? So cynical, I know.) And I should confess, I want one, too. I'm just way too cheap to actually buy it at this point. Maybe next year. Anyway, every company and their grand-companies are coming out with new models to compete (whether they can or not is another story). And that's only after the announcements of phones that stream live TV, share videos, track you (your kids, spouses, etc), offer directions, find nearby people to date, play music (duh), surf the web, email, IM, take photos, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure there's a show in here somewhere. I use my phone primarily to talk, occasionally IM, and every now and again to take a picture and shoot it to someone. Of course, it CAN do more, I just tend not to unleash it. So all you cell phone fanatics... what can your phone do? (And do you actually use it?)

It may well be the least-lucrative post-law-school gig around... public defender. To me, though, it also seems like the most romantic, and certainly the most confounding. On the one hand, public defenders defend the folks who can't afford to retain their own, private-practice lawyers... a Mother Teresa-like mission. But I'm sure it's easy to lose sight of that in light of the tremendous downsides... the inescapable reality of being overworked and underpaid... and then there's the likelihood you may have to defend some heinous criminals. If you're a public defender, what's the best part of the job? What was your wildest case (that you can share, of course!)?

As though there weren't enough candidates fighting for the presidential nomination in 2008... Now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg drops the Republican party in favor of declaring himself an independent. And, he insists he is NOT a candidate for president... sometimes a sure-fire sign that the big announcement is coming. Would you vote for Bloomberg (IF he decides to run)? On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton spoofed the Sopranos to announce her new campaign song (is it a good idea to run for president of the United States with a Canadian singing your theme song?). Yes, it's time to check in with the Political Junkie. Questions? Comments? Click below...

A colleague turned me on (no pun... you know) to the New York Review of Books personals today. These are some high-falutin folks, and my absolute favorite is the dark haired beauty who describes herself as: "Sparkling eyes, worldly intellect. Classic 1940s movie star good looks -- think Olivia de Havilland transported to 21st century." There are so many sites geared toward specific types: from the grand-yenta of all, J-Date, all the way to Afro Connections. I wish I could start one that made people describe themselves entirely based on old movies. "Lips of a Garbo, heart of a Crawford..." "Think Clark Gable -- without an undershirt." I know who I'd (wishfully) be. Why did you join a specific dating site over another? Do you think it's acceptable that sites like Eharmony screen so heavily?

I'm sure it's happened to you... you're in a bar, and the familiar talk box riff starts... without even thinking twice, you start to sing along, "Tommy used to work on the docks...Union's been on strike, he's down on his luck...its tough, so tough..." You're really starting to feel the music when your eyes lock with a stranger's across the bar, belting along the words at a volume that nearly matches your own. You throw back your heads in unison, "WHOOAAAA, we're halfway there-ere WHOA-OH! We're livin' on a prayer!" C'mon, it can't be just me! I swear this has happened on multiple occasions, and there's just one artist that unites the bar, whether it's filled with hipsters, preps, bikers, yuppies, or run-of-the-mill drunks... BON JOVI. The band has a new record and the eponymous Jon Bon Jovi joins us today... leave your stories of bonding over "You Give Love A Bad Name" and the rest of the band's oeuvre here and make me feel better about my closing time serenades...

We're doing a show today on online dating; what's out there, where to post, how to post, and the horror and romance (sometimes intertwined...ah, love) of the whole thing. I had thought I would write a goofy personal ad for this post, until I realized that literally everything online is a personal ad -- or personal PR -- nowadays. This blog for instance, has my bio, my picture, my thoughts, a few of my likes and dislikes. Most people my age, and almost everybody younger, has a Facebook or MySpace page, which contains much of the information you'd fill out on Match.com or Salon personals. I realize this is old news; but it really emphasizes the characteristics of the World Wide Web as huge social experiment -- like that bar in Star Wars with all of the different species and characters doing business and interacting with each other. It's why that added layer of Second Life -- everybody, their mother, and their avatar -- is so intriguing. It's like putting a fur coat around your already shaped internet-self (the best photographed, funniest, feistiest version of your First Life self). I was out with my best friend in New York a while ago, and a friend of hers asked me what I did for a living. I told him I worked for NPR, and he said, "National Public Relations?!?" Makes me giggle. If you're on the web in any capacity... you work in PR, too.

Last night, fire consumed a furniture warehouse in Charleston, SC. The fire took a lot more from the community than sofas and coffee tables, however... nine brave firefighters perished as well, rescuing two employees from the burning building. Details are still coming out, but it is clear the fire was both swift and terrifying, "like a 30-foot tornado of flames." As someone with a healthy fear of fire, it's tough for me to imagine the sort of bravery and compassion it must take to walk into a wall of flames... do you fight fires, or does someone you love? What motivates you, or them? Also, if you've been rescued from a fire, feel free to leave your story here, to thank the firefighters, or to remember them.

With all the hubbub, fatwas, and attractive chefs surrounding him, it's easy to forget that Salman Rushdie is a wonderful writer. Before he wrote a little book called The Satanic Verses in 1988, he had already won the Booker Prize (for one of my favorites, Midnight's Children... though I can't recommend his children's book Haroun and the Sea of Stories highly enough). Well, more hubbub, I'm afraid. Saturday's announcement that the Indian-born (but still British) writer is to be knighted in the UK has enraged Iran and Pakistan all over again. To some, it's an honor richly deserved; but the long held belief that The Satanic Verses contains blasphemous references to Islam, makes the politics of the knighthood pretty tricky. However, Rushdie may not care; my favorite quote of his (about poets, but you can read artists in general) is this: "A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep." Here's hoping we (with your help) can do all of that here at NPR as well: start arguments... shape the world.

If you're a foreign government with an image problem in Washington, turns out you can hire a lobbyist to help clean up that image. And many have done just that. In the latest edition of Harper's Magazine, their Washington Editor Ken Silverstein went "under cover" to see how far these companies would go. Claiming to represent the government of Turkmenistan, and happening to be in the market for a little good PR, Ken approached several Washington lobbying firms. What he learned raises all sorts of questions about the foreign lobby in the U.S., and about how far a journalist should go to get the story. Where do you draw the line on both?

Formidable though the task may seem, we're making an effort to talk with every presidential hopeful in the '08 race, and today we've got Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) from Capitol Hill. Now's the time to ask him your questions, well, not exactly face-to-face, but it's almost that good.

I've worked a lot of morning shows over the years, and when you get up before 4am, the snooze bar is not something to be played with. (I am not a morning person, and if given the chance would hit the snooze bar for 14 hours until it was time for bed again). So, I used to set three alarms (two on batteries, just in case) that went off in 5-minute increments and were placed farther and farther from my bed to drag/force my tired self off my pillow and onto my feet. The whole thing is either really embarrassing or kind of pride-inducing, depending on who I'm talking to. Anyway, I spotted this in the latest MacWorld (and honestly, reacted with that same, "I used to walk to school uphill both ways," kind of nostalgia). Set the alarm, and when it goes off it runs away. Literally. Right off the nightstand. And to stop the incessant noise, you have to get up and catch it. Kind of takes the fun out of the snooze bar challenge every morning. If you have any other suggestion on how to drag myself out of my morning coma, comment away...

Well, we're edging closer to a "two-state solution" in the Middle East, but as some have commented, it's not the two states many hoped it would be. Hamas has consolidated power in Gaza, while Fatah holds the West Bank, with a wary Israel sandwiched between. We're going to talk about the Palestinian crisis this hour; particularly what it means for the stalled peace process. What do you think? Is a fully isolated Hamas-led Gaza more or less dangerous?

It's baaack... Yes, the immigration bill gets a second chance this week, or so we're told. The senate is busy with an energy bill, but with a little urging from the president, senators who back the bill promise it will resurface later this week. There are some tweaks that they hope will help it survive Senate Debate: The Sequel, but nobody expects an easy passage, if it even gets that far. To help smooth the path, Charles Krauthammer argues that congress should first pass a bill that would build a fence along the border, and stop illegal immigration (read his column here). Stronger enforcement is the only part of the bill with nearly unanimous support, he says, and fences work. Plus, he adds, they're easy to build and maintain, and will show the world that, "America is closed to... illegal immigrants." Do you agree?

It's one of the best ways to avoid actual work,** download Google Earth, type in an address, and get a satellite view of your parents'/your boyfriend's***/your secret crush's house. A new component of Google Earth now has satellite maps which go down to street level, enabling you to see your secret crush's cat in the window. It's true, Google is beginning to be a bit of a Godzilla... I'm sure that they know more about me then I would guess. (Anyone else had that weird experience of seeing the link above your Gmail that actually mimics the email you wrote? Weirdest ever: An email I wrote extolling the virtues of Ben and Jerry's Cinnamon Buns**** ice cream produced this link about stray rabbits. Not nearly as delish.) Google Desktop is undeniably handy, but it sure opens a window into your computer that can make some people nervous. They're explicit in their privacy policy; but let's face it, no matter how brilliant said crush is; his cat can't make a choice. So? Who are you Googling? Are you nervous about someone Googling you?

*This is not an ideological endorsement of Christopher Hitchens, so much as an admission that I LOVE TO LISTEN TO HIM TALK. He's a one man show of intellectual superiority. Also, I am not actually stalking him. Don't know where he lives, frankly.

**Dear NPR: I've never done this.

***Tubcat is not my boyfriend. But he's very popular.

****Seriously, the BEST ICE CREAM PRODUCT I'VE EVER HAD.

All things Cash continue to fascinate us, even though the famous pair, June and Johnny, have been dead for years. The recent film Walk the Line opened the door into their life a crack, but focused mostly on John (and may have been guilty at times of taking the rose-colored view). Johnny's artistic temperament and drug use are well-documented, but what of June? She was talented, kind, tolerant, and supportive... but we've each got a dark side, and she was no exception. June and Johnny's son John Carter has written a book about her life, a task he seems uniquely qualified to take on... but it makes me wonder about children documenting the lives of their parents. Is it possible to do so without an agenda? And aren't there some things about your parents you'd just rather stay in the dark about?

On the road again...

Source: C.P. Storm

Friday night, Barrie and I attended a screening of Big Rig at the SILVERDOCS Film Festival. Full disclosure -- I could NEVER be a film critic, because I walk into every movie expecting it to have flaws but to love it anyway, and this documentary was no exception. I immediately fell for everything about it, from the truckers and their rigs to the graphics charting highways and introducing the truckers' names. But as we discussed the film on our way back to NPR HQ, I learned a lot from Barrie about what it really means to watch a documentary with a critical eye. Though I'll still say I loved the film, I now realize the film left me with a lot of unanswered questions about trucking, aspects the film touched on like rules regulating time behind the wheel, the pay structure for truckers, and the evolution of the industry from independently owned and operated rigs to corporate drivers. It made me wonder about the goals of documentary filmmaking: must they always inform? Is it ok to just put the stories on the screen, or must the documentarian also provide all the context as well? Obviously, the answer lies somewhere in between... now I've got a bunch of Googling to do, and that doesn't really bother me... but is a film that just sends viewers straight to Google a film that needs more facts to bolster the storytelling?

Somehow it just hit me that Sunday is Father's Day! (Luckily, dad is happily vacationing for a few weeks, so I bought myself a few extra days before the "bad son" label sets in.) Flipping through the papers, morning TV shows, and this internet thing... everyone has a good idea for what to give a father, except me. (Though, somehow I don't think my father would appreciate a Playstation 3.) Everybody says digital cameras, but he has one (three, actually). There's meat by mail, but that seems silly. Beer of the month, a little odd, too. All the talking heads have people telling me what a dad would want, but I'm not buying it. Are there any dads out there who actually know what a father might want for Father's Day? (And if you dare suggest a tie...)

Let's first get this out there: Major studies have been done trying to find a link between childhood vaccines and autism and they have not found any connection. Still, thousands of families argue that their child's autism was caused by a vaccination... or more specifically, a mercury-rich preservative that used to be found in many vaccines called thimerosal. And this week, they get their day in court... a special federal vaccine court, that could give families access to compensation. There are so many questions flying around out there about this, so today we grabbed two experts, and will take your questions about the debate over autism and vaccines. Post them here, and we'll ask the experts in a Q&A...

Forty years ago last week, Aretha Franklin's soul-shaking version of "Respect" exploded at number one on the pop charts. (Stop for a second. Think about that song. "WHAT YOU WANT....BABY, I GOT IT." Bingo. It is now in your head for the rest of the day. You're welcome!) Amazingly, it's not actually Aretha's song, it's the inimitable Otis Redding's, but Aretha's version became an anthem for feminism, civil rights, karaoke, and we'll be marking it today with Kelley Carter, who wrote this fabulous article about the song, as well as Charlie Chalmers, who played sax on the track. What I love about the song is twofold, a) it doesn't matter who you are, how old, the first time you hear it it becomes part of your life soundtrack, and b) Aretha makes singing it sound so darn easy that it's really hard not to sing along (yet horrifying to find that it's actually a really hard song to sing). So...let's TCB here. When did "Respect" appear in your life?

We got so many great comments on our post yesterday, that I have to say, being named "Barrie" hardly seems out of the ordinary (THANK you Chantilly Lovelace!!). Today's the day you can call in, and hear Neal say, "Brooklyn from Detroit, you're on the air," or even "Apple from Charlotte, go ahead." (For more on Neal's personal name drama, go here.) In a kitchen conversation today, both Neda Ulaby and Love Henderson said they had to "grow into" their names; I know that's true for me. And now parents have to worry about names that Google well. I wonder how many of you contemplated changing your name? Did anyone change it from a more common name to something wacky? Anyone go from Jennifer to Sunshine?

People say it all the time, but tomorrow truly does mark the end of an era... Bob Barker's last episode as host of The Price is Right. While there are a few people in the world who've never watched the show (ahem), love it or leave it, it's a major player in American pop culture. I remember at least one long, lazy summer before I learned how to drive and life got complicated when I had a non-negotiable daily appointment with Mr. Barker and his Beauties, and some days standing up and screaming "ONE DOLLAR! ONE DOLLAR!" at the TV screen was the most exercise I got... and I'm not entirely convinced that my sister's decision to work her tush off at an animal shelter has nothing to do with Bob's daily reminder to spay and neuter your pets. I'm not the only one on whom Bob Barker had a big impact -- writer Ken Kurson credits him with much bigger lessons, like how to be a man. What does Bob Barker mean to you?

My problem with my name goes back two generations.
At birth, my grandfather was dubbed Cornelius Conan and, like the famous baseball owner-manager, Connie Mack (nee Cornelius McGillicudddy), he was given the obvious diminutive nickname. Which he hated. So much, that on his twenty-first birthday, he marched into court to have his first name officially changed to Neal, using the minority spelling (as opposed to the more common Neil) to further distance himself from the despised Cornelius.
Hey, I figured he really didn't have anything to complain about. At least it wasn't "Corney".
When the time came, he named his first son Neal, Jr. and, in his turn, he handed the family burden down to me. Yes, my birth certificate records my name as Neal Joseph Conan III. And did I get any of the cool 'third" nicknames like Trey or Trip? Nope. I got "Little Neal."
I rest my case.
The only saving grace is that my Grandfather and Father were both doctors, and both included MD after their names, which allowed me to drop the weight of those three roman numerals. But since I did not take my granddad's example and go to court, every once in a while I get an official looking letter with my full, legal name. And, like those moments when your mother uses all your monikers (Neal Joseph John!) that's when I know I'm in real trouble.

She's one of the most polarizing figures in American politics: you guessed it, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). As organized and powerful as her campaign for the presidency is ... the anti-Hillary campaign is at least as potent. (For every Clinton '08 bumper sticker, there's a "Stop Hillary" one.) Portrayed as everything from the ultimate woman in charge to a man-eating feminist (who doesn't bake cookies), the market for every angle on Hillary is exploding. This month, two major biographies of Mrs. Clinton are stoking the emotional and political fires, one by Carl Bernstein (his first book on American politics in thirty years). The other is Her Way: The Hopes and Ambition of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and it's co-authored by the New York Times investigative team of Jeff Gerth, one of the early Whitewater reporters, and Don Van Natta. What's interesting about candidate profiles, even disputed ones, is that they're really a guide to what their presidency might be like... so if you've got questions, now's the time.

It's funny how the news business works sometimes. The Naples Daily News reported on what is pretty clearly a $10 million case of pork, stretching all the way from Alaska to a highway in Florida. But, until the New York Times put it on their front page last week, most people never heard about it. We'll talk with the reporter who first covered the story two years ago. And, Ken Rudin is back for our weekly chat with the Political Junkie. Got questions about immigration, the attorney general, primaries, or Florida's own road to nowhere? Post 'em here.

I remember when I was a little girl I spent a majority of my free time outside, jumping rope, playing tag, exploring in the woods behind our house, horsing around on playgrounds, and riding my bike all over the neighborhood. I even walked to school. I got black eyes, a minor concussion, and the average splinters and scrapes... nothing too drastic. We had a computer, but it was a far cry from today's machines -- the monitor was an actual television, and the one game we had, a version of Donkey Kong, was on what appeared to be a cassette tape that you inserted into a little special tape deck (I'm sure it has a name... and could it really have been an actual cassette? Dad?). Now kids play a lot more video games, and spend a lot less time outside. It's so easy to lament this change, but it's not all bad -- the new Wii system, for instance, is actually relatively active, and video games can teach kids some things. On the flipside, it sometimes seems like it IS all bad outside, that pedophiles lurk near every playground, that no crosswalk is safe from careening buses, that outdoor sports are just too darn risky. Well, maybe the way to fight back is to return to the dangerous stuff boys (and girls!) love to do, stuff that's just dangerous enough to be even more interesting than getting Zelda through that castle. The Dangerous Book for Boys has all kinds of ideas... what did your dad teach you that felt a little perilous? Have you taught your son to dirt bike, shoot arrows, or build a birdhouse with (horrors!) power tools? And standby... The Daring Book for Girls is on its way!

Vicars: Tony Blair is really, really mad at the press. (This is an admittedly meta moment, particularly press coverage of Blair's interview about the press.)
Tarts: Dan Rather doesn't call Katie Couric one, never fear. He does however, accuse her CBS news program of being tarted up, which Les Moonves thought was the same thing.*
Neither: With a name like Folkenflik? Neither a tart nor a vicar I'm afraid, but our media reporter is here to jabber with us about the whole media circus, or as he likes to call it... the whole media culpa. If you have some culpas to heap on us or anyone else, do it here. But be nice. Blair sorta hurt our feelings.

*For the record, Rather claims he wasn't actually calling Katie a tart. I don't think he was either, and I should know, I used to clerk in a lingerie shop.

"Barrie? What's that short for?" If I had a dime for every time... well, I could have prolly changed my name to Jennifer. Elementary school was rough (you try being a girl with a boy's name who plays violin). In fact, I spent a torturous couple of weeks in fourth grade trying to prove my name was Ashley -- one of the more glamorous names in 1987. It was a pretty awkward teacher's conference, I can tell you. So, the short story is that I was named after J.M. Barrie, who is most famous for creating the boy (and a few girls) that never grew up (and a great commencement speech). This is, of course, emphatically not a cool namesake in grades 3-10 (give or take), but becomes increasingly handy as you grow up (ironically). Despite what Shakespeare says, names are important to how we define ourselves -- no matter how much mail I get for Mr. Barrie Hardymon. So, tomorrow, we'll be doing a show on names: the oddest first, last, and middles you've got, or have heard. Post 'em here... the ones you like, hate, and whatever your secret baby names are. Any Shilohs, Suris or Dweezils out there?

The Genarlow Wilson case is still just a wire story in many major papers, but here at Talk we think it's a pretty big deal. Not only are the facts of the case surprising, to say the least, but it has real ramifications for parents and kids everywhere. In Genarlow's case, the two year difference between his age and his partner's meant his condemnation for aggravated child molestation, in spite of her willing compliance... and oral sex carried* a much heavier penalty than sex-sex. Turns out Georgia's not the only state with confusing laws about this... do you know the age of consent rules where you live? Do you make sure your sons and daughters are clear on what's just not a good idea, and what's actually illegal?

*That loophole was fixed with a 2006 law -- consensual oral sex between teens is now a misdemeanor, and perpetrators do not register as sex offenders. But it couldn't be applied retroactively to Genarlow.

Is it embarrassing to admit I really love role playing video games (weird, huh, that the acronym is RPG)? I'm thirty, but I'll tell you, I am nostalgic for Street Fighter II and Super Mario., and if I had a Playstation I would happily turn into a twelve year old boy (that sounds funny, but you know what I mean). However, I'm also a thirty year old woman, and a bit of a prude, so I was certainly surprised and slightly squeamish about this story: a Playstation 3 game called Resistance: Fall of Man, features a shootout in the interior of Manchester Cathedral (in the U.K.). (You can see the footage here.) It has the Manchester clergy -- who regularly speak out about gun violence -- up in arms (so to speak). It's a tough call; the game is obviously fictional (takes place in a dark dystopia in which WW II never happened, but all kinds of critters are roaming Machester), but it makes use of sacred space in a decidedly profane way. We'll talk to the Sub Dean of Manchester Cathedral about the game... have any of you played it? Or something like it in recognizable places? Does anyone even remember StreetFighter? (I had a mean "wind punch" as Chun Li. That's not a euphemism. And you literally cannot beat the "wind punch.")

Refugee: It's a word loaded with fear, abandonment, and sometimes the most brutal and tragic of stories. From Iraq to Darfur, it's the stories of people fleeing the worst of humanity that are the most moving examples of the ravages of war. Today, we'll talk to a group of refugees from the horrifying eleven year civil war that devestated Sierra Leone -- who are defined equally by their experience as refugees, and their musical group, The Refugee All-Stars. They formed the group in a refugee camp in Guinea as a way of putting their experiences in context artistically. A documentary about them will be on PBS in a few weeks. They're extraordinary people; you can't believe what they've been through. If you have questions for them, or if you've ever been a refugee, please feel free to post comments and questions.

One of the iconic moments of the 80's (you know the ones that make up every montage on VH1 or E! decade-in-review shows) happened twenty years ago today. Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall and almost scolded Mikhail Gorbachev, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." (If that sounds familiar, it's also part of our own little montage that we play every Wednesday leading into the Political Junkie segment). And as tends to happen with history, things get a little simplified. Plenty of people will tell you that Reagan ended the Cold War right there at the Brandenburg Gate. Others argue that the speech was pure showmanship, and didn't really mean or accomplish anything. The truth may lie somewhere in between. If anyone would know, it's Peter Robinson. He wrote the speech Reagan gave that day, and will be on our show today. What memories do you have of Reagan's famous line, and what do you think it accomplished?

Earlier this year I had the distinct pleasure of working with Michel Martin and her staff on the show that has now become Tell Me More. My absolute favorite project up there (they're located upstairs from Talk, so it's an easy shorthand) was a package of interviews they put together for their Rough Cuts page that dealt with teens and sex in light of the Genarlow Wilson case. Now, thanks to yesterday's news, you may now have heard of Genarlow and his plight, but when I went upstairs in early winter, the only place I'd read about him previously was on the blog of a high school teacher (and friend) in Georgia. Michel was all over the story, though, and with good reason -- it's quite a story. If you're not familiar with the case, Genarlow was an accomplished high school athlete with a serious shot at playing football in college, when he got caught on tape at a New Year's Eve party receiving oral sex. He was 17, she was 15... and in Georgia, that was a problem -- a ten-years-in-JAIL kind of problem -- due to the age discrepancy and the type of sex, even though it was completely consensual, and the girl wasn't inoxicated and didn't want to press charges. Genarlow is now 21 and still sitting in his jail cell, even though a judge overturned his sentence yesterday, because the state is filing an appeal. There's so much more to it than I can get to here, but if you're a teenager, or the parent of a teenager, this is a story that should have your full attention... check out ESPN's incredible profile, and the Rough Cuts treatment.

There are few more controversial figures in the so-called War on Terror than General Pervez Musharraf. He's both a military dictator and a critical ally to the U.S. His March suspension of the top judge in Pakistan caused an outcry, and now the Pakistani Supreme Court will consider the case. For some more background, listen to this story by our intelligence correspondent, Mary Louise Kelly, and then call us with your questions: why does Pakistan matter?

I hope it's only mild spoilage to say that the Sopranos series finale didn't feel very final. But truthfully, I love ambiguous endings. In some of my favorite tv series, I've had the delightful pain of an unscratched itch, and the hope that perhaps Buffy will be resurrected yet again. To me, it signifies that the director isn't treating me like an idiot, and is leaving some holes to my very active imagination. But many Sopranos fans have been left pulling their hair out after last night's finale. What did you think?

Torture is an ugly business, and the more episodes of 24 and the like we watch (Jack's going to do what with that lamp?!), the more it becomes a matter of public discussion. Have your views on interrogation techniques changed in light of prime-time programming? In situations like this -- where lawmakers and the public must wrap their heads around a complicated and fraught topic, that is rarely a matter with which we have personal experience -- it helps to hear from experts. Tony Lagouranis is a former U.S. Army interrogator who has spoken out about the techniques he witnessed and utilized in Mosul and Abu Ghraib, and he says coercive techniques hurt more than just the prisoner in question -- they have far-reaching effects on the interrogators, and more broadly, the U.S.'s standing in the world.

Joe Queenan thinks documentaries suck. He really does, look! Now, it's quite possible that you have been one of those people who have said, "Oh you really must see **insert popular documentary** here, it's **inspiring, terrifying, heartbreaking, etc**. I know I am (you really must see Murderball, it's inspiring), but Joe would rather see a Keanu Reeves movie. Seriously. If you're sick of documentaries, or if you recommend them with passion, tell us about it. But don't tell him.

So, last week I got into a headstand during a yoga class. The teacher kept telling me how refreshed I would feel, and not wanting to look gauche, I breathed diligently, and interpreted the subsequent head rush as refreshment. It was two minutes of upside-down refreshment, to be exact. But check this out: during a power outage at an amusement park, about twelve patrons found themselves upside down in the X-coaster for thirty minutes. Decidedly un-refreshing, no? We're checking in with a neurologist about what can happen to you (only one person threw up... can you believe that?), where all the blood goes, and whether or not you see stars. Ever gotten stuck on a roller ride or in an inversion?

For various reasons -- some explainable, and others not (and no, my parents were not communists) -- I never learned to ride a bicycle. In Washington, this can really make you feel like an alien (two things you better know in DC are how to ride a bike, and something about lawyers and lobbyists). But in Montreal, from whence I just returned, it makes you feel like you're missing a vital appendage (two things you better know in Montreal? How to ride a bike and how to eat constantly and well). While enjoying a delicious crepe (stuffed with cream cheese and raspberries -- oh my god, I'm crying again), I saw this article on the front page of the paper. First of all, I had no idea that we really didn't know mathematically why a bike was stable, and second of all, it's now two things I'm terrified of, bikes and math. Anyway, now that bike riding has been explained, I'm ready to learn... Vive le bicycle!

The need... for SPEED! Ah, Top Gun. Anyway, Navy pilots aren't the only ones who feel that urge to push the limits, it's daily commuters and soccer moms and dads and teenagers and septugenarians -- it's all of us. I know I've been a rotten speed demon ever since I first learned to drive... and boy did I get a much-needed wake up call a couple of weeks ago when I got pulled over on the interstate. My speed was so excessive it amounted to reckless driving. Traffic normally flows at about 80 on that road, I was distracted and going a bit faster than the bulk of drivers (bad move!)... I was incredibly lucky to get out of there with a warning, and BOY did I learn my lesson. I now lodge my cruise control at about 7 miles above the speed limit -- still speeding, sure, but if I did the actual limit, I feel like I'd be an obstruction in the roadway, that going the limit may actually be more dangerous than exceeding it by a bit. Do you speed? Did you speed once... and do you miss it now? I know I sure do! And why the heck are so many of us compelled to drive so fast, even when we have no urgent destination?

Summer is usually a lousy time on Wall Street... people go on vacation, stocks are sluggish, and frankly, as it gets warmer people just don't want to think about the financial ramifications of economic bellweathers and market downturns (whatever that means). But, there are some bright spots in the market, and with so many people planning summer vacations it could be good news for the right people in the travel biz. Apple's iPhone is about to launch, and is taking their stock up with it. And with all this shopping, the credit cards are making money, too (go figure). David Gardner stops by today for our visit with the Motley Fool, and we'll find out how Neal's fantasy portfolio is doing these days. Investment questions, or suggestions for the fantasy portfolio? Let us know.

I skipped my college graduation ceremony, but that didn't stop friends, family, professors, even my fellow students from chiming in with advice for the future. Sadly, I don't remember the specifics (that could have more to do with the sheer volume of advice than my lousy memory), but I do know that it had nothing to do with plastics. Another group of grads will toss their caps this summer, and no doubt be met with plenty of advice, from where to work to what to wear to keeping a good attitude. What's the best, or worst, advice to a grad you've ever heard?

For ages now we've been sitting in the morning meeting, and the afternoon meeting, talking around and around in circles about those celebrity stories that everyone's talking about (or trying to avoid) -- mostly, Paris Hilton's jail term, and Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears' rehab stints. It's not the sort of thing we typically cover, but since we are called TALK of the Nation, we like to try to figure ways into stories that people are talking about, even if they're not front-page news. Do you follow these stories? Are you ashamed to admit it if you do? Why? In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a proud subscription-holder of US Weekly, and have a list a mile-long of folks to whom my back issues get passed along. To me, there's no better treat on a long bus ride home than a dose of tabloid gossip, but even I get tired of it sometimes. Do you?

I saw this story the other day... those little manual lawn mowers are making a comeback (you know, the little, usually green, push jobs with rotating blades attached to the wheels). It's one story, so I'm not trying to identify a trend. Buyers say they don't have to worry about gas, or pollution, and they're easy to push, too. I also saw a story out of Los Angeles this morning, where Angelinos hit with a lengthy drought have been asked to take shorter showers. That's in addition to less lawn sprinkling and even less toilet flushing. With gas prices what they are, I've actually been driving less, taking the train more (and reading more newspapers in the process... YES, I recycle them). It seems like every company and all the big cities want to be identified as green, and individuals do, too. I'm curious, is there a bigger story here? Are you doing anything different to be more green... pushing a manual mower, using less water, driving less, that kind of thing? Or, is this a trend that doesn't really exist?

...and trackin' it all over mah houz!

Source: handels

Ok, well you didn't exactly ask for it, but I promised it... here's my first LOLcat! Thanks so much to all the commenters -- here's a compilation of the LOL resources you all have provided:
Slate's photo essay, thanks Jessica!
The LOL glossary, thanks Andy!
The so-called origin of it all, thanks Andy!

Of all the points in the immigration bill that's being debated in the senate right now, one of the most contentious is the question of who should get a green card. For years, the system gave preference to families, and keeping them together. Now, that could change. The new system would be based on merit, and skills, instead. Some call that elitism, others say it's just good economic sense. If it was up to you, if you had to write this one part of the bill, WHO would you let in?

Small talk always seems to involve the weather, and thanks to last night's Republican presidential debate, so does our political junkie segment. Rudy Giuliani was just about to answer a question about his stance on abortion, and criticism he's gotten from a catholic bishop, when... lightning struck. Of course, there was some policy discussion, too: immigration, Iraq, health care. And the Democrats had their chance to fight it out on Sunday, over most of the same issues. With Scooter Libby heading to prison (probably), there's talk in Washington about a presidential pardon, and Wyoming is faced with saying good-bye to a senator, and finding a successor. Got questions for Ken Rudin? Let us know...

Warm Springs, Georgia is home to the Little White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt's home-away-from-home. There, he found the 88 degree water that flows out of the ground eased the pain and stiffness of his polio-stricken legs*, and he shared his source of comfort with fellow polio sufferers, establishing a rehabilitation center there. A couple years ago, thanks to a fascination with the 32nd president, a friend took me to visit the old grounds -- you can't swim in the pool anymore, but you can touch the mineral water, and see where Fala scratched beside the door when she wanted to be let out. 80 years after Roosevelt established the rehab center it is still going strong, which means there are a lot of Warm Springs alums out there. Did you or someone you know seek out the healing waters in Georgia? Have you visited the Little White House? And for those of us for whom polio is just another vaccine, what was it like living through the polio years?

*There is some debate about whether the president actually had polio, or if it was Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Director Michael Winterbottom has made his name in Hollywood with two films that could hardly be more different, but with a consistent style that mixes documentary with fiction. This June he takes on the story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's abduction and subsequent murder as seen through the eyes of his wife, Mariane. A Mighty Heart, based on Mariane's book of the same name, comes out in two weeks, and he joins us to discuss the film. You can ask him questions about the Pearls, and his other films, here. Did you follow the Pearl's story in 2002?

OMG LOL!!!

Source: I Can Has Cheezburger?

Oh man. Don't tell my bosses, but a couple of months ago I found the absolute best time-waster of all time... Seriously, I was so busy looking around the site for the perfect photo to post as an example of the genius that I missed my first deadline of the day by a good 10 minutes (sorry Neal!). I don't fully understand the phenomenon of LOLcats but I check I Can Has Cheezburger? as often as possible while still maintaining employment. I thought it was just my silly distraction, but now a legitimate journalist has written an article about it in the Houston Chronicle, which means I'm not goofing off, I'm doing research on a cultural phenomenon!

So what the heck is it anyway, and what does it mean? Basically, people find or take photos of cats, then caption them in a strange language that is part instant message, part phonetics, and wholly hilarious... well, to me, and the other hundreds of thousands of people who check the site every day. It's more than just cats, though -- check out this puppy and his "pespi," and the entire walrus "mah bucket!" series... get it? You can try your hand at LOLcats -- the website takes hundreds of submissions a day. I'm going to make one a little later, I'll add it to this post... Have you submitted already? Post a link!

OK, so I may a little slow on the uptake... either I forgot about Conan O'Brien's speech at Harvard or just never heard about it the first time around (needless to say, I never got into Harvard and was not there for the speech). When he gave it, people gave it rave reviews. And, every May it comes up again as one of the great commencement addresses (aka not boring). Other nominees included Dr. Seuss, former presidents, even Steve Jobs. Anyway, when one of our listeners emailed and told me to check out the O'Brien speech, I thought I'd share. The text is here, the video here.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is out of jail, and says he'll never assist anyone with suicide again... which made us wonder what people think about assisted suicide these days, eight years after his imprisonment. How do you want things to go for you? No one likes to think about dying, but if you could have some control over it, would you? Or is that a decision best left to others? Has anyone you know chosen to die with the help of a physician?

Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison (plus a hefty fine) for lying to a grand jury. According to Professor Joe Cooper, Mr. Libby has more in common with rapper Lil' Kim than you might think... His students are inmates at the Webster Correctional Institution in Connecticut, and when asked to opine on an appropriate sentence for the former chief, they had a variety of provocative answers. One took a hard line, writing that Mr. Libby's crime was a lot like the Queen Bee's perjury, only worse, and he should be punished accordingly. But most of them saw Libby as a guy who took one for the team, and thought he may even be worthy of pardon. Take heart, Scooter -- you may have more friends in the slammer than you thought!

How rich is rich? Richer than ever, it seems... so rich that according to The Wall Street Journal's Robert Frank, they've essentially formed their own elite country, that he in turn chooses to cover like a reporter on the foreign beat. We can all conjure images of fleets of Bentleys, yachts moored in exotic harbors, and private jets, but it's more than that now. The residents of Richistan (I'd link, but my Google Map search came up empty... huh?) -- the Richistanis -- have their own language, their own healthcare, their own travel system, their own culture. What's the most insane largess you've ever witnessed? If you were a zillionaire, what would your indulgences be?

Looking for just the right words to reconcile with your sweetie after an argument? How about, "I send you three kisses -- one on your heart, one on your mouth and one on your eyes," courtesy of Napoleon Bonaparte after a disagreement with his fair Josephine? Or maybe you're trying to figure out the perfect way to explain why bulls are better than book critics... Ernest Hemingway's got you covered on that: "Bulls don't run reviews. Bulls of 25 don't marry old women of 55 and expect to be invited to dinner. Bulls do not get you cited as co-respondent in Society divorce trials. Bulls don't borrow money. Bulls are edible after they have been killed." (But how does he really feel?) Well, if appropriating the words of others is the way you best express yourself, you're in luck, because Christie's is auctioning off a lot of rare letters from the above luminaries and other equally illustrious folks... place your bid and you'll have quips and apologies and deep thoughts for years to come. Whose secret letter would you most like to read? You can see Napoleon's, as well as one from Winston Churchill, here. And when you dash off an email to your spouse, or, even, comment on a blog like this, are you thinking about how your words will look 500 years from now?

Inventors always seem to give the same advice: come up with a good idea, and a way to sell it, and you'll be filthy rich. I'm not sure this guy actually invented anything, but it's sure an interesting way to make money. About $70 will get you one breakup message, delivered, so you don't have to. And, if you're classy enough to do the dumping in person, Bernd Dressler will coach you on how to do it. He averages about three minutes per break-up, so he must be a pro at the drive-by dumping. (His services also include advice on how to save your relationship, though if that doesn't work he can handle the breakup, too.) Anyway, it seems to me that if Bernd can make money by delivering breakups, you can make money handling all kinds of desperate news for people... from "you're fired!" to "get out of my house!" to "Sorry, I ran over your dog." (Or, more personally, "Neal, I lost the scripts for today's show!") What other bad news would you pay to have delivered?

When a group of radical environmentalists set fire to businesses and government property, causing more than $40 million in damage, nobody was surprised when they were charged with a crime. But, when the judge in the case decided that the ten convicted members could be sentenced as terrorists, their supporters were shocked. They argue that nobody got hurt, and that activism is not the same as terrorism. The government says what they did is clearly terrorism, and compares the fires to the Ku Klux Klan burning down black churches. What do you think: When does a crime cross the line and become terrorism?

Any Beatles fan (and with all the hype, even non-believers) knows that Saturday was the 40th anniversary of the release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. It was the album that changed everything. Along with lyrics that stuck in your head, the music incorporated novel instruments, strange background sounds, and it had a storyline. The opening track introduces Sgt. Pepper's lead singer: Billy Shears. And many fans will still insist that you listen to the full album all the way through, not on shuffle. It's one of those albums that turn into a defining symbol of a generation, and influences the next generation of artists who grew up listening to it. Aimee Mann is just one example. Her op-ed in Sunday's New York Times is a love letter to Sgt. Pepper's, and she explains why she can't bear to listen to it anymore. Beatles fan? Why was Sgt. Pepper's so special, and does it still have the same magic it did in 1967?

Big league baseball is the stuff of legend, and movies and TV for that matter (what would Kevin Costner's career look like without MLB?). But with a handful of exceptions (and a tip of the cap to Bull Durham), the bigs are treated like royalty while the minor leaguers are all but ignored... which is too bad. In the minors, players tend to be in it for the love of the game, not the money and glamour. Life is full of long bus rides, and lousy hotel rooms. And nobody's getting rich. But, minor league teams know how to bring a crowd, and if you haven't spent an afternoon at a minor league ballpark, it's definitely worth the drive. If you're more of the armchair fan, then flip that clicker over to Mojo, the new HD channel, and check out The Show. It follows a bunch of real life minor league players as they try to get their shot at the big leagues.

Novelist and essayist Mark Harris died last week. He's best known for his novel, later adapted into a movie and a play, Bang the Drum Slowly. The field of baseball fiction is crowded with talent, but even among greats Harris was known as an ace, especially for his four-book series narrated by fictional pitcher Henry Wiggen -- The Southpaw, Bang the Drum Slowly, A Ticket for a Seamstitch, and It Looked Like For Ever. Did you read Harris? What is it about his stories that grabbed you?

Our main segment in our second hour today is on The Show, a new TV series that follows the fortunes of six baseball players for the Tuscon Sidewinders, the AAA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. As some might remember, I have some experience in minor league baseball -- in 2000, I took the season off to broadcast play by play for a team in Maryland called the Aberdeen Arsenal. And while there's a huge gap between the Sidewinders and "the Bigs," there's an even wider gap between teams in the independent leagues, like the Arsenal, and AAA. The facilities, the equipment, the transportation (they FLY in AAA!), the trainers, the pay, even the post-game spread in the club house. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a lot of places. And, I have to admit, the food in the press box. After that year, I vowed never to eat another hot dog again -- there were parks where nothing else was available -- and I'm proud to report, so far, so good.

But there is one great similarity -- hope. In a book I wrote about that experience, I described the Atlantic League, the independent circuit in which the Arsenal played, as "the Last Chance League." It was for players who washed out of affiliated, or organized ball for one reason or another. Too old, a step too slow, a fastball that needed to be five miles an hour quicker, too many surgeries, good hit/no field or vice versa, and all the varieties of troublemaker. Some had risen as high as AAA, a few had even made it to the big leagues, but there was a reason they were in independent ball. And, almost to a man, they believed that if they could finally learn to throw that good slider for strikes, or corrected the tendency to chase pitches out of the strike zone, or just got the full range of motion back in the knee or the elbow or whatever it was... and a few, a very few, actually made it all the way back and played in the Majors.

Though the odds are still long, the players profiled in The Show have a much better chance to make it to the ultimate level, and face the next challenge. Staying there.