What's the best way to help the homeless?

Source: SamPac

A couple months ago, my Senior Producer, Carline, sent me a note about an intriguing press release: Pras, of Fugees fame, spent over a week on L.A.'s notorious Skid Row... with a hidden film crew. Interesting. Any time a celebrity or political figure vows to spend a week in someone else's (worn out, downtrodden) shoes, it seems like a stunt. But I loved the Fugees, and we've had Wyclef on the show before, so Pras had a bit more credibility in my eyes. So we decided to give the documentary a look. At first, yeah... I didn't feel terribly sorry for Pras, nor feel like his experience the first day was authentic -- his Adidas were squeaky-clean, and he panhandled for $15, which he spent on a single meal at a reasonably fancy restaurant. However, things got real pretty quickly after that, as he began to get to know some of the locals on Skid Row... and his life became nearly as precarious as theirs. It's a a graphic, stomach-turning, and ultimately fascinating documentary, and it really did drive home for me how unimaginably horrific life on the streets really is. What it didn't do -- and Pras is very clear on this -- is offer solutions. Fortunately, there are some folks who see some, and they join us today. Have you seen the documentary? Have you ever been homeless?

He's certainly energetic.

Source: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty

It's safe to say that if Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez were a perfume ("Diplomacy: by Chavez") he would smell... strong. (Maybe woodsy too). In his latest diplomatic scuffle, Chavez's attempt at hostage mediation between the government of Colombia and FARC rebels has ended in nothing but insults, and "frozen" relations between Colombia and Venezuela. Today, the Ambassador of Venezuela will be here to explain what the spat is about, but you can do a little advanced reading on your own here.

Race you to the top!

Source: dcfox

My days are usually filled to the brim with "have-to's": work, errands, gym (when I'm being "good"), networking (not MySpace, the other kind), eating, and -- my all-time favorite -- sleep. If there's any time left in the day for leisure activities (a foreign concept to a lot of us), I'll either spend it watching new episodes (or reruns, as is now the case) of The Office, combing through celebrity gossip magazines, or uploading more pictures of myself on Facebook. (Hey, we all need silly ways to decompress). But I only occasionally pick up a book for fun. And when I do, I can only read in small doses -- an hour here, forty minutes there -- before I get distracted or lose interest. I am literally in the middle of seven different books right now (and let me tell you, it's a joyride trying to keep all the plot facts straight). Apparently, I'm not alone in these habits. According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts entitled "To Read or Not to Read," Americans are reading less and less, and less well. And, not surprisingly, the declines in reading have negative civic, social, and economic implications. The report raises interesting questions about the role reading has in our increasingly digital world; and what, if anything, can be done to get people to start reading more. So tell us, have you experienced a waning interest in books and reading? What has taken its place? How much leisure time do you spend reading, on average? And do you feel like something's lost?

[Almost]-a-$100 laptop.

Source: Clemens Bilan/AFP/Getty Images

In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte, who founded the groundbreaking MIT Media Lab, announced that he and several colleagues aimed to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that would cost, at most, $100 each. The so-called "$100 Laptop," Negroponte said, would help millions of poor children cross the growing digital divide.

Now, more than two years later, Negroponte's nonprofit, One Laptop per Child, has begun to sell computers to the developing world. But they're not taking off like he'd hoped. According to reporter Steve Stecklow, of The Wall Street Journal, education ministers in several countries have decided that they won't buy the inexpensive laptops after all. (You can read his article here). Some wonder why the computers don't use ubiquitous Windows software.... Others ask why the laptops cost more than $100 (They sell for $188, plus shipping). And several companies, including Microsoft and Intel, have introduced competing products.

What do you think of Negroponte's idea, to put a laptop -- with a long battery, high-resolution screen, and open-source software -- in the hands of every poor child on the planet? And why don't you think the project has taken off? Steve Stecklow and Nicholas Negroponte will be here, to answer your questions, in the second hour.

Neal Conan is on his way to Iowa for next week's Republican debate. NPR's Lynn Neary is our host for the day. And here are the topics we are working on:

For most of our first hour, we will talk about the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness in America. The Census Bureau estimates that there are over half a million homeless people in the United States. A recent study from The National Alliance to End Homelessness said that one in four of homeless people are military veterans Many cities have undertaken ambitious plans to effectively end homelessness where they live. Among our guests will be Mike Rawlings, "Homeless Czar" of Dallas, Texas, about his ambitious goal to end homelessness in the city by the year 2014. At the end of our first hour, we will talk with Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to the U.S.

A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts entitled "To Read or Not to Read?" reveals that Americans are reading less, and less well. Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and award-winning poet, is among the guests who will talk about the significance of the new report. And do you remember the proposed idea for the "100 laptop? It was a vision by Nicholas Negroponte who founded the MIT Media Lab. The goal? To design and build a laptop for no more than $100 to be distributed to the world's poorest children. Turns out making a computer for a hundred bucks ain't so easy. Reporter Steve Stecklow wrote about Negroponte's "One Laptop Per Child" program for The Wall Street Journal and will talk about some of the challenges and unexpected competition he faced.

When it comes to books and films, I cannot shake the feeling that books are somehow better as an art form -- harder to make, more densely layered, a greater commitment of time and energy on the part of the consumer. I know that's probably absurd -- a kind of ingrained snobbery that certainly doesn't account for my strong -- almost obsessive -- desire to see movies that are made from books I've loved. And every once in a while a director with a sure vision will make a movie that's even better then a flawed book. (Peter Jackson really nailed Tolkein -- and Anthony Minghella made something both compassionate and coherent out of Ondaatje's English Patient.) Last night I saw Atonement, Joe Wright's movie based on English novelist Ian McEwan's book. I was secretly hoping it would fail. It seemed disloyal to McEwan -- a writer who is in my desert island pantheon -- to wish that a film could come close to his cleverly crafted book. (Never mind that McEwan is one of the producers.) There were lovely bits, a few strong performances, some really beautiful camera work, and a killer silk dress. And the truth is, even though I felt the movie ultimately failed, I savored every minute of it -- it was a bit like watching a really professional karaoke singer perform one of my favorite songs. A beautifully illustrated CliffsNotes version of the book. Last night I was thinking, though, if I really believe that books are better then movies, why do I anticipate these adaptations so much? After all, you can't just listen to Rostropovich playing Bach all your life, even if he is the best -- sometimes, you've got to root for another vision. A movie is a chance to experience a novel I've loved all over again, and indulge in a little bit of schadenfreude, too (if it fails). Or maybe I actually am hoping for the film to succeed, that another interpretation will make the book even more dynamic, more conscious, then it was on my bookshelf. Whatever it is, I know I still love these movies -- and if anyone out there's got information on the movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl, please tell me. I'm dying to see it.

Rockin' out and rackin' up support.

Source: protectourprimary

For the first time in many months, a lot of attention is on Gov. Mike Huckabee, from Arkansas. Early on, he enjoyed little support. Now he's ahead of Sen. John McCain in Iowa polls. Hendrick Hertzberg, of The New Yorker magazine, charted Huckabee's rise in this fine piece. "His manner and appearance are reassuringly ordinary. When he smiles or laughs, which is often, his dimpled face looks interestingly like that of Wallace, of Wallace & Gromit." Ken Rudin, NPR's political editor -- and our "Political Junkie" -- will join us, as he does every Wednesday, to take your campaign questions. He's eager to talk about Huckabee, Republican members of Congress who aren't seeking reelection, and celebrity political endorsements (Oprah Winfrey announced that she will hit the campaign trail for her friend, Sen. Barack Obama, and Barbra Streisand said she's going to support Sen. Hilary Clinton). But he's open to anything, of course! What questions do you have for Ken?

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, or FARC, is a leftist guerrilla movement that has antagonized the Colombian state for more than four decades. Based in southeastern Colombia, FARC spearheads their operations from profits made by drug trafficking and kidnappings. Most recently, the guerrillas are using high-profile hostages to negotiate the release of some of their members from Colombian prisons. The hostages include Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Tom Howes -- U.S. citizens captured while on a surveillance mission to locate cocaine factories, as well as former presidential candidate and French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt. The American hostages -- bound in chains and surrounded by armed guardsmen around the clock -- have been held captive for the past four years; and diplomatic efforts to secure their release have stalled repeatedly. The official stance of the United States is that it does not negotiate with terrorists, meanwhile family members of the hostages cling to the hope that their loved ones will find a way to survive. For more details on this story, check out Joshua Hammer's piece in the December issue of Men's Vogue.

Yes, this is the man that launched a thousand academics.

Source: dirklie65

There's a reason Alex P. Keaton is a fictional character -- it's virtually impossible not to be swayed at some point by Marxism, or some version of it. Even if you aren't tempted by the intellectual framework itself, there's all of the permutations of it -- Lenin, Trotsky, Mao -- the list marches on. It's almost a cliche -- Marxist loses faith, abandons the revolution, and shelves her copy of Das Kapital. You would be forgiven if you were stifling a yawn at this well-trod tale of de-radicalization. (I remember a time when the phrase "materialist feminism" regularly escaped my lips. Go ahead, roll your eyes.) Even Ayn Rand -- the consummate capitalist philosopher (educated at the University of Leningrad) -- would have had to read Marx on dialectical materialism at some point in her career. Who knows if she fell for Marx briefly -- on her way to Howard Roark?* If you still yearn for revolution, or you curse the revolutions he wrought, there's no denying that Marx changed the world. And whether or not you've read Das Kapital or merely quoted it, today we'll give you the cheat sheet -- with author, satirist, and Marx biographer Francis Wheen. We don't care whether you're bourgeoisie or proletariat: let's get radical.

*If only Marx would have had the sense to have wrapped his theory in a romance novel, it probably would have caught on even quicker. As it is, the most interesting character in Das Kapital is... um... the commodity?

Sean Taylor poses for his final NFL headshot.

Source: Getty Images

I've been struggling quite a bit with how to talk about the death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor on this blog. It's no secret I'm a big fan of the team, and Sean Taylor's been one of my favorites for a couple of years. Though some of his hits made me wince, I just loved to watch him play, and noticed keenly his absence on the field last Sunday (due to an unrelated injury)... little did anyone know he wouldn't be returning at all. I find myself reading everything I can about him now, and random details keep bumping through my head -- his dad is a police chief, he lived on a quiet street, he's faced gun charges in the past, his friends and family urged him to sever ties with Florida and leave bad influences behind -- it's convoluted, to say the least. We've all got skeletons, and his, to me, don't condemn him to a fate like this... but still I worry about what we'll learn next, and mourn an athlete who, whatever else he was or did, truly loved the game of football.

In this week's mega-Political Junkie, Ken Rudin talks about Governor Mike Huckabee's surge in Iowa and what that means for the Republican contenders, the spotlight on tonight's CNN/youtube debate in the Sunshine State, and celebrity endorsement power in politics. Following our junkie segment, we will talk to journalist Joshua Hammer about three American hostages who, for four years, have been held captive in South America by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Diplomatic efforts to gain their release have stalled. Hammer documents this story in report entitled "Bungle in the Jungle." You can find it in the December issue of Men's Vogue. And because we didn't get a chance to read from your emails and blog comments as we planned to yesterday, we promise to do so today at the end of the first hour...AND offer up a direction correction. Last week, a guest on our program claimed that the Nile "... is one of the only rivers, or the only river that runs south to north in the world...." Well, it turns out the Nile is not the only one. In our "letters" segment, we'll talk to Allen Carroll, Chief Cartographer for National Geographic, about why people tend to think that rivers runs south.

Whether you've ever read it from cover-to-cover or only heard about its societal impact, Karl Marx's Das Kapital is considered one of the most important and influential books ever written and a ground-breaking critique of capitalism. Author Francis Wheen will join us in our second hour to talk about his new book, Marx's Das Kapital : A Biography, the latest in a series from the Atlantic Monthly Press called "Books that Changed the World." And since Wheen is also the author of the biography Karl Marx : A Life, he will also discuss Karl Marx's life and influence on the economic social structures of his time. As I type, we are working on a segment to follow that interview. Stay tuned!!!

Freed phone?

Source: s2photo

Verizon got some good PR with their announcement yesterday that they plan to open their wireless network by the end of next year. But, what this really means for people like you and me is still up in the air. In theory, it should work something like this: You buy a CDMA-compatible phone (CDMA is the technical standard used by Verizon, Sprint, and others... as opposed to GSM which is used by AT&T, T-Mobile and most overseas carriers) from anyone or anywhere, and you can use it with Verizon service, or not. In other words, you don't have to buy that BlandPhone X4 and sign up for a dozen years of service anymore, it's more like buying a new PC and then deciding on an internet provider. If you buy a phone direct from the manufacturer, or on eBay, or even if you switch from Sprint to Verizon, your phone should work. And with a little imagination, you can see lots of devices OTHER than cell phones that you'd want to connect to a wireless network down the road...

Continue reading "Phones Free at Last?" >

A couple weeks ago, we did a show on educator sexual misconduct. We focused on the prevalence of sex abuse in the classroom, and what is being done about it -- or not -- by both school administrators and state legislatures. Due to the overwhelming response we received from that segment, both in terms of your calls and emails, we've decided to do a follow-up piece. This time we're talking about the telltale signs of abuse; coping mechanisms and the emotional impact on students; and new digital trends -- like texting, instant messaging, and social networking sites -- that have enabled this problem to persist undetected. Tell us your story. Have you had to deal with this issue in a personal way? As you look back on it now, were there warning signs? How did the community respond? What kind of impact did the abuse have on you, and how did you cope? And did texting or sites like MySpace and Facebook come into play?

When the story of Megan Meier's suicide gained traction in the national press, we couldn't stop talking about it. Neither, apparently, could anyone else. In case you haven't followed the case, Megan Meier was the 13-year-old victim of an internet hoax that turned out to be perpetrated by an adult neighbor -- the mother of a former friend. What really got us was the rage that boiled over on the web -- first, the bad judgment of the hoaxer herself, and then from people angry about the case... cyber-vigilantes. When the newspaper declined to publish the name of the woman who created the false MySpace profile, bloggers from around the country took it upon themselves to find it out and publish it themselves, along with addresses, phone numbers, cell phones, and business information. The name calling on every side has been spectacularly vile, and at worst, included death threats. It begs the question: When gossip (true and untrue) can go viral, what principles should govern who we name -- and don't name -- on the web? Have you ever used the internet as a kind of pillory? Or been trapped in its stocks?

Mmmmm! Gelatin.

Source: lileks.com

For years now, author James Lileks has been collecting old advertisements, photographs, comics, and magazines from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. His website, lileks.com, is an online archive of ephemera. Lileks calls it the "Institute of Official Cheer." A few years ago, he published some of his collection, complemented with his own brand of sardonic commentary, in The Gallery of Regrettable Food. Lileks is back, with a sequel: Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery. It's full of bran, ground meat, aspic, gelatin, and other goodies. What were some of the crazier -- and more memorable -- dishes you ate in the 1950s? Fish pies? What constituted a casserole back then?

In our first hour today, we'll continue our conversation about sexual misconduct within the education system. In our previous broadcast on this topic (that aired on November 6th), we mentioned that from 2001 to 2005, 2,570 cases were reported in which teachers were punished or removed from the classroom for sexual misconduct of students. On today's program, we'll talk more about the effects, the red flags and prevention of educator abuse. At the end of our first hour, we'll read from your emails and blog comments...and offer up a direction correction. Last week, a guest on our program said that the Nile "... is one of the only rivers or the only river that runs south to north in the world...." Well, it turns out the Nile is not the only one. In our "letters" segment, we'll talk to Allen Carroll, Chief Cartographer for National Geographic, about why people tend to think that rivers runs south.

Last month in Missouri, a 13-year old girl named Megan Meier committed suicide after a boy she met on MySpace abruptly ended their online relationship. Several weeks after her death, Megan's parents learned that the boy never existed. He was created by the neighborhood mother of a girl who was friends with Megan. Sarah Wells is a blogger from Virginia who posted the name of the mother who corresponded with Megan Meier under a pseudonym. She is among our guests in our second hour who will talk about cyber-vigilantes and the public shaming of online harassers and cyberbullies. Following that, we'll talk with author James Lileks about foods that are meant to fill your stomach... but slightly turn it instead. His new book that highlights bizarre cookbook recipes and less than "tasteful" photographs is entitled, Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery.

It's in Maryland, not Indiana.

Source: edwardaggie98

Hailing from Annapolis, Maryland is both a blessing and a curse. Before I wax nostalgic about my hometown, though, let me explain that curse bit. Growing up, whenever I met gradeschool-aged kids like myself, I could never quite seem to convince them that Annapolis is, in fact, the capital of the state of Maryland. Everyone knows it's Baltimore, duh. When I went away to college, I thought things would improve, but I couldn't have been more wrong. At the University of Georgia, most of the students are from that fine state or nearby*, and when I'd tell them where I was from, I kid you not, the most frequent response was "Oh, you mean Indianapolis?" I even had to argue with someone once that Annapolis was a completely separate place, not located in Indiana... an argument that left me feeling simultaneously righteously outraged and temporarily depressed. So thank goodness for Condoleezza Rice and the Peace Conference. You'd have thought George Washington, Bill Belichick, and Travis Pastrana would be enough to put Annapolis on the map, but it took a Secretary of State and a handful of heads of state... hopefully sparing future college-bound Annapolitans the countless annoying conversations I suffered. And on to the many blessings... If you ever need tips on great coffee, the best dining with a view of the harbor, where to dig into a reuben and a Guinness or, of course, pick crabs, or how you can sit down with Alex Haley, you know where to find me.

*This is in no way a slam on Southerners. I had fellow Annapolitans, at schools all over the country, relate similar stories.

Is this rich? Or do you need a plane?

Source: StevenM 61

Remember that game, M.A.S.H., which was supposed to determine -- among other things -- your financial future? I always thought that it was funny that somehow the difference between mansions, houses, and apartments were enough to determine wealth. You could live in a dilapidated mansion or a Park Avenue apartment, right? Well, when Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama bickered over whether or not someone making more than $97,000 a year is middle class or... well... just plain wealthy, it got us -- and others -- thinking. What is rich? When do you feel like you've moved beyond middle class? Does it take a private plane, or just a little equity in your M, A, S, or H?

Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, home of the United States Naval Academy, is known for its historic buildings, waterfront, and water taxis. This week, if there is enough good luck and good will -- and it will take a lot of both -- "America's Sailing Capital" could be internationally known for a landmark peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians. Could be.

In the first hour, we'll talk to Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Institute, about a piece he wrote for the Los Angeles Times, "Annapolis is just the first step," in which he argues that "real progress in the Middle East will come through hard work and hard choices after this week's summit." Are you expecting much from the Annapolis Peace Summit? At this juncture, is a peace agreement possible?

Two weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal reported on organ sales. Last year, about 4,400 patients died waiting for a kidney transplant. Demand for kidneys far exceeds supply, and there is currently a federal ban on the selling of organs. It's a heavily debated issue in the medical community, and doctors struggle to balance ethical concerns with practical solutions to a growing problem. On the one hand, organ sales would increase the supply of kidneys and save lives. On the other hand, it runs the risk of encouraging a black market that could exploit poor individuals. Check out this story in The Wall Street Journal. And in the meantime, tell us: are you willing to give up your kidney for compensation? And if you're waiting for a kidney, or if you've had a transplant, do you think the ban on organ sales should be lifted?

Kanye and Donda West, May 2007.

Source: Vince Bucci/Getty Images

I admit it. I went through a pretty serious Nip/Tuck phase, watched I Want A Famous Face, and have even tuned in to the occasional Dr. 90210. For whatever reason, I, like many, am captivated by stories of transformation through plastic surgery (though, for some reason, I absolutely cannot watch nose jobs. There's something about the chiseling that churns my stomach). And though these shows are sensational, graphic, voyeuristic, and possibly exploitative, I actually think they've taught me something: There are all kinds of plastic surgery patients. It's not just about narcissism, so don't be too quick to judge the patients. Washington Post Fashion editor Robin Givhan takes it a step further, defending the most-maligned sector, those for whom it IS about vanity. In a day when celebrities never seem to age much, we suspect they've had work done, but praise their beauty anyway. But oh, if we find out allegations of cosmetic surgery are true? They're damned. It's a double standard... so what makes it ok?

I opened my newspaper this morning, to read Jeff DeBlanc's obituary.

"Most people live their entire lives without knowing exactly what they're worth. I know exactly what I'm worth - a ten pound sack of rice."

That was DeBlanc's favorite story, one he never failed to tell reporters, including me, about the great adventure of his life.

It started January 31, 1943 when a 21-year old Marine aviator took off from Guadalcanal in his F4F Wildcat fighter to escort a flight of dive bombers on a mission to the northern Solomon Islands. In the course of a few desperate minutes, then-Lieutenant DeBlanc shot down five Japanese aircraft, before being shot down himself. For his courage and skill, he would later receive the Medal of Honor. But the part of the story he liked to talk about, came after he parachuted into shark infested waters and swam through the night to a Japanese occupied island called Kolombangara (if you've ever seen the original version of King Kong, you know what Kolombangara looks like. I saw it on an NPR/National Geographic Radio Expedition in 2002, when I accompanied Robert Ballard on a search for John F. Kennedy's PT-109, which sank about ten miles off shore. When I arrived, Ballard pointed to the astonishing volcano that seemed to leap out of the water and said "Skull Island, right?").

Anyway, Jeff DeBlanc found himself in the hands of a group of islanders who were well aware of his value. Rather than turn him into the Japanese, they traded him to another tribe for that ten pound sack of rice. They cared for his wounds and eventually arranged a transfer by outrigger canoe to a Navy flying boat than got him back to a hospital on Guadalcanal just in time for his 22nd birthday.

I spoke with him five years ago, for a story on the battle for Guadalcanal that I did on that trip to the Solomons. Along with the ten pound sack of rice, the part that's stayed with me, was his vivid memory of his diet and its effects. Marines ate beans for just about every meal on Guadalcanal in those days, and he asked me to imagine what that felt like in an unpressurized cockpit at fifteen thousand feet.

DeBlanc eventually retired with the rank of Colonel, and spent most of the rest of his life teaching math and science to high school students in his native Louisiana.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday and a restful weekend. Here's what we are working on for your ears today:

Wall Street Journal columnist Robert Frank will help us answer the question, What is Rich? Where exactly is the dividing line between the middle class and the Richie Rich's of the world? I have an idea I am nowhere near that line, but you never know! Frank will breakdown what defines wealth at the beginning of our first hour. After that, we will be joined by Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and former U.S. Middle East negotiator. We will talk to him about tomorrow's Middle East meeting scheduled in Annapolis, Maryland with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In his op-ed that appears in today's Los Angeles Times, Miller believes tomorrow's meeting "is shaping up to be a case study of what happens when you call a peace conference with high expectations and then reality intrudes." He'll explain why at the end of our first hour.

Currently, the United States has a ban on all organ sales. In our second hour, we'll hear from two surgeons with opposing views on the buying and selling of kidneys. Dr. Arthur Matas says that allowing the sale of kidneys could save lives and money. However, his opponent, Dr. Francis Delmonico, argues that lifting the ban will open a black market to kidney sales and "undermine the fundamental values in our society." What do you think? Should the ban on organ sales be lifted? At the end of the hour, we'll talk to Washington Post fashion editor Robin Givhan about the double standards found in America's obsession with beauty. After the death of Donda West, the mother of rap star Kanye West who died two weeks ago after undergoing cosmetic surgery, the blogosphere was chock full of comments that essentially blamed Ms. West for undergoing the operations in the first place. The negative backlash prompted Washington Post fashion editor Robin Givhan to note in her article that appeared in the November 18th 'Style Section,' "popular culture pushes and pushes and pushes people toward an ideal. And then tut-tuts when they take the bait." Do you agree? And have you undergone a cosmetic procedure that you received criticism for? Please share your stories on our blog.

Enjoy!

I want to preface this by saying that I adore my family -- I'm very close to them, I think they're marvelous in almost all ways, and I would probably wither and expire if I were forced to spend a Thanksgiving away from them. In fact, that's why I'm far from the offices of TOTN as I write this -- I'm away in Massachusetts, setting the table and watching my father haze my boyfriend. Again. However, there are a few things I've learned over the years, that make all the inevitable vicissitudes of family easier to bear when you're spending several days with them.

1) Have a means of escape. Rent that car. It's worth it. And always volunteer when you run out of milk or eggnog to get more. Those little breaks are essential.

2) Don't mention politics until you've finished the first course. It's only polite, and by that time, there's likely been enough wine imbibed that you can be forgiven for any passion in that arena.

3) Bring a friend. The presence of a pal acts like social cartilage -- chances are you'll get less uncomfortable questions about grandchildren (or lack thereof), job prospects, or your choice of hosiery.

4) Be willing to let some things go. If you simply can't explain a "podcast" to your grandfather -- ask him to explain the "wireless."

5) Be thankful. You're lucky to have them, foibles and all.

I have to run -- the table still needs setting. You finish the manual. How do you survive family over the holidays?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Source: David Gura

Families around the country are sitting down to dinner. But at many tables, there are people missing. Maybe a son's train or a daughter's flight is delayed... Or a close friend has to work... Or a relative decided she didn't want to make a long trek home... Or a father or mother is overseas. I won't attempt to top Sarah's post, "A Traditional Turkey Day," about her family and Thanksgiving. It's a good read. In the first hour of today's show, we want to hear who won't be at your Thanksgiving dinner this year. Where will they be instead? What are you doing to remember them?

Dear Santa:
This year, I'd like world peace, an end to hunger and poverty, pollution-free energy... Oh, who am I kidding...

Dear Santa:
This year, I'd like an iPhone, 50" plasma TV, Wii, Blackberry Pearl, 8-Megapixel digital SLR camera with at least 10x optical zoom, GPS...

Yes, tomorrow is Black Friday... the day when we all head to the mall, frothy-at-the-mouth and looking for good deals (and good parking spaces). And for more and more of us, we want gadgets... TVs, video games, digital cameras, computers, the works). And it doesn't matter if you're 5 years old or 95 years old. The problem, though, is digging through the piles of lingo... HD, 3G, wi-fi, LCD, PC, GB, MB, pixel, 1080i (or p), SD, blah, blah, blah. So, before you head to the mall (or online) to shop, we've called in David Pogue from The New York Times, and Victor Godinez, from the Dallas Morning News, to help you out. What's the must-have gizmo on your wish list this year? Got any advice for what to buy, and what to avoid?

Home (not mine), lit for the holidays.

Source: CaptPiper

There's just something about Christmas lights. So pretty, so twinkly. They may be my favorite sign of the holidays. But how early is too early to put them up, and how late is too late to take them down?

I noticed the first ones in my neighborhood last week... which I think is a little early, but certainly not as early as the mall lights went up (I think that started in October). My boss thinks the Friday following Thanksgiving (or even Thanksgiving night itself!) is the perfect time, but I like to wait until the Sunday after. (I like my Thanksgiving to breathe a bit). And we've all got that neighbor -- is it you? -- who never really takes them down after the holidays, or waits so long that it seems silly, since they would just have to put them right back up again. And oh MAN I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet, but who can forget the epitome of Christmas light frustration, then triumph: Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Well, just in case you've got some Clark-like issues with lighting up your home and yard, we've got an expert light hanger ready to offer tips and take your questions. Leave 'em here....

It's Thanksgiving again, folks. A time to gather together with loved ones, give thanks-- and do your best to ignore that one uncle who never ceases to drink too much at each and every family gathering. Or muster up a pleasant smile when you meet your daughter's punked-out boyfriend for the first time. And that long lost cousin just showed up. Remember her? The one who doesn't eat meat or dairy or sweets or non-organic or anything orange. Ah, family. But even in the best case scenarios, SOMEONE is bound to pluck your nerves. Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson will join us to offer the "dos" and "don'ts" of surviving your family. At the end of the first hour, YOU will be the guests of honor. We want to hear from you about the loved ones who are missing from your family gathering. Whether they are overseas on active duty, stuck in highway traffic or in some random airport, or at work writing a blog about an upcoming broadcast, email or call us and make a toast to the loved ones who are missing from your table this year.

So, following the elastic, stretch waist bands of Thanksgiving Day, we don the helmet, shoulder and knee pads of Black Friday. Tomorrow marks one of the busiest shopping days of the year... some stores are actually scheduled to open at 4:00 in the morning!! But before you put on your game face and stand in that impossibly long line, it may help to know exactly which gadgets are worth (literally) fighting for. David Pogue, personal technology columnist for The New York Times and Victor Godinez, technology reporter for The Dallas Morning News will give advice on the latest gizmos and gadgets on your "must-have" list. And if becoming the star decked-out home on your block is on your "must-do" list, Brad Finkle will give us some tips on how to creatively (and safely) hang your Christmas lights and decorations. Finkle is a professional holiday light installer and author of Holiday Hero: A Man's Manual for Holiday Lighting. He will join the program from his shop in Omaha, Nebraska where he is hard at work gearing up for this wonderland of lights holiday season.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!! Don't forget the cranberry sauce!

Flying standby.

Source: ma1974

Holiday travel.... One word usually comes to mind: nightmare. Yesterday I flew home from Washington to Los Angeles, to be with my family for Thanksgiving. It was an alarmingly smooth and painless journey. I had a direct flight. There were no crying, colicky babies. And -- icing on the cake -- there was an open seat next to me, so I didn't have elbow wrestle with anyone for the armrest. You think I'd be trilled by this no-headache, disaster-free travel experience. But I gotta tell ya, folks, it was mind-numbingly dull. I got no funny stories out of it, which, truth be told, I was counting on as an icebreaker for the smalltalk portion of Thanksgiving dinner. Now I've got nothin'. But that hasn't always been the case. Enter the time that guy sitting diagonally across from me snored like a grizzly bear for our entire red-eye flight. I thought he was going to swallow his tongue. Or the time I had to sit in three hours of traffic because a moving van dropped a baby crib in the middle of the 405. Or the every-person-for-himself, Donner family mentality when it comes to fighting for overhead cabin space. Or my personal all-time favorite:
the paranoid fliers, with their rosary beads and looks of extreme horror during pockets of turbulence, who absolutely refuse to pop a Valium.* So what's your worst holiday travel nightmare? Come on, TOTN bloggers, I need some good icebreakers!

* aka, my mom.

Editor's note, from David Gura: Ashley, none of us here, working, have any sympathy for you.... Sorry.

The last time we heard from Hillary Clinton, she was saying that her Democratic rivals were attacking her not because she was a woman but because she was the front runner, and adding that the attacks were "right out of the Republican play book." Yesterday she went after Barack Obama on the issue of experience, saying, "Voters will have to judge if living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next president will face." Maybe her attack on Obama is based on the fact that he is the front runner? At least in Iowa. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll has Obama leading in the crucial first caucus state with 30% of likely Democratic caucus-goers, compared to 26% for Clinton and 22% for John Edwards, who finished a close second in Iowa in 2004. Obama, responding to Clinton's jab about experience, said, "I was wondering which world leader told her that we needed to invade Iraq."

Speaking of Iowa, we're going to hear from Sen. Joe Biden, who is trailing in the polls there, but who seems to be quoted approvingly by his Democratic rivals in many of the debates. Also joining us is Paul Kirk, the co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which released its 2008 general election debate schedule this week.

Also on the super-sized Junkie show (as opposed to the Junkie column): the Virginia Senate race gets a new candidate ... Scott McClellan spills the beans on the Administration's role in the Valerie Plame outing ... and a new political trivia question.

Issue documentaries -- think An Inconvenient Truth, Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains -- are all the rage right now, so it's no surprise that one of the most horrific topics of our time, the crisis in Darfur, is receiving the treatment. Enter Darfur Now. Filmmakers hope their project will highlight some of the folks trying to find a resolution, as well as serve as call to action everyone who sees it. One of the resolution-seekers they feature is Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, who investigates the atrocities in Darfur. He'll talk about seeking justice in the Sudan. Do you go to films like this? Have you ever donated money, changed your lifestyle, or joined an advocacy organization as a result? Or is it simply enough to leave a documentary with heightened awareness?

Wartime is harrowing -- and people survive however they can. Imagine, though, that you're a 5-year-old child, the Nazis have just massacred your village, and you're hiding in the woods. What are your chances of survival -- of even knowing what survival might mean? That's just what happened to Alex Kurzem. But his story took a dramatic twist when he was rescued by the Latvian SS. They fed him and clothed him -- and adopted him as their own. They never knew he was Jewish. He became their "mascot," and for years kept the secret -- even from his own family. When he finally told his son, Mark Kurzem, it took them ten years to piece together his fragmented family history -- and Mark wrote a book about his father's experiences, called The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood. Today we'll talk to both father and son about the long road they took together.

I read the news of a breakthrough in stem cell research yesterday, and couldn't help but wonder if we're one step away from a cure for Alzheimer's, or M.S., or Parkinson's. No, we're not quite there yet.... Scientists did find a way to make ordinary skin cells act just like stem cells, though. And that means no embryos are harmed in the making of those stem cells. With an intense ongoing debate over ethics and harvesting human embryos for stem cells, the more immediate effect of this breakthrough might be political. New embryonic stem cell lines don't get federal funding. If these new skin cell-derived stem cells live up to expectations, scientists who study them would likely qualify for federal money. Still, this is more of a breakthrough for research than practical applications. And my question still stands: How does this find advance stem cell research into diseases and cures? Science correspondent Joe Palca will take time out before the holiday to help us understand what all this means in scientific, political, and practical terms.

On today's mega-sized Political Junkie, NPR's Ken Rudin will count us down to the Iowa Caucuses, talk about a new poll that shows Barack Obama leading the pack, and the upcoming tell-all book authored by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) will also join us later in the hour to talk about his campaign in Iowa. After that, we'll talk about Darfur with Luis Moreno-Ocampo. He is the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court and is featured in a documentary called "Darfur Now." Moreno-Ocampo will explain how he gathers evidence to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In our second hour, we will talk to Alex Kurzem about his incredible story of survival. He was a child when he witnessed the murder of his mother and siblings by Nazi death squads who raided his Russian village. He escaped and hid in the woods for months until he was rescued by a group of Latvian Nazis. The group adopted him as their own and made him their mascot, completely unaware that Kurzem was a Jew. He kept the secret of his childhood from his family for most of his life. His determination to retrace his Jewish history and reclaim his identity led him to reach out to his son, Mark, for help. Mark Kurzem tells his father's extraordinary story in a new book entitled,The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood. Both father and son will join our program today. At the end of the hour, NPR science correspondent Joe Palca will answer your questions about the recent scientific breakthroughs in stem cell research.

A week ago - I was on vacation last Wednesday - I opened my email account, to be inundated with messages from colleagues, family, long lost friends and complete strangers, all of them saying that I REALLY needed to check out the crossword puzzle in that morning's New York Times. It took me awhile to actually locate a copy, but when I opened to the puzzle page, the very first clue - One Across - read "NPR Broadcaster _____ Conan."

Wow.

It's a good thing no one was there to see me blush. I remember many years ago, when Red Holtzman, the great coach of the New York Knicks, found his name as a clue in the Times crossword (if memory serves, the clue was "Holtzman and Trotsky" and the answer of course - "reds") and said, "Now I can die happy." And I have to say, I'm almost there. Everybody knows that yesterday's paper isn't used for anything but fishwrap, but compared to the ephemeral nature of radio, this amounts to immortality. And it suggests that the Times puzzle editor regards my name as general knowledge.

That'll make your head spin.

Some of you know that I know Will Shortz, the Times' Puzzle Editor (and Puzzlemaster on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday with Liane Hansen) as I do play-by-play at the finals of his annual crossword puzzle tournament, captured on film in the documentary Word Play. After I emailed him to say thanks, he replied that he had played no favorites - the clue was provided by the constructor.

A week later, the euphoria has subsided a bit, but it's nice to think that I'm up there with "Cuban refugee boy," "Xavier Cugat singer" and "Cheers regular."

I'd change my name to "One Across," but that would screw up my chances of making the Sunday puzzle.

Dang, it sure is expensive to go to college today. Sure, soaring tuition affects college-bound kids (and their parents!) around the country, and it's such a big deal that lawmakers are trying to do something about it. But do you know who else is affected -- significantly so? Men and women who signed up to join the military, hoping to benefit from the GI Bill at the end of their service. The GI Bill still exists, but these days it doesn't cover more than about 60 or 70 percent of costs at a state school, which leaves veterans with a serious gap to cover. Did you sign on the dotted line and don a military uniform, hoping to end up, eventually, debt free with a bachelor's degree? Is it still possible for you? What are you doing to make up the difference?

Neal talks with the author of a new graphic novel, Cairo, on the show today. It's the first comic written by G. Willow Wilson, and she'll fill us in on the story, and what it was like to write a comic book. She was also nice enough to do a little guest blogging for us...

For the first time in my adult life, I'm living in my own country. I've discovered that adulthood doesn't mean the same thing in the US as it does in Egypt, and the skills I learned in the marketplaces of Cairo don't translate into the skills I need in the supermarkets of Seattle. I can bargain over the price of a live chicken with the best of them, but buying health insurance leaves me totally confused. However, one thing that translates without fail is a healthy sense of the absurd. Flying prayer-mats and genies in hookahs are as funny here as they are in Egypt, and when I tell people I've written a graphic novel about them, the response is almost always a delighted "Really?" (Or in Egypt, "Begad?") Who knew that a book I wrote about a city on the other side of the world could become the bridge I cross to get back home.

- G. Willow Wilson

Few posts on this blog have received as much response as "Adopting Open Records." The show it complemented, "Report Argues for Open Birth Records," garnered a lot of attention, too. Many of you noted how difficult it is for an American-born adoptee to obtain birth information. On today's program, in the second hour, we'll talk to two persons, born abroad, adopted by Americans, who have tried to find their biological parents -- in Korea and Vietnam, respectively. And we'll talk to Jeff Gammage, a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, who adopted his two daughters from China. All three of them blog for The New York Times, at Relative Choices. After we hear their stories, we'd like to hear yours. Are you a foreign-born adoptee? Have you tried to find track down your biological parents? What are some of the challenges you faced?

Over 60 years ago, Franklin D. Rosevelt signed a G.I. Bill that offered soldiers returning from war educational assistance and unemployment benefits. Today, veterans benefits have been cut, and Congress is being urged to improve coverage for reservists. Edward Humes, a journalist and author of the book, "Over Here: How the GI Bill Transformed the American Dream" will talk about the differences between the WWII G.I. bill and the current Montgomery G.I. Bill. And a WWII vet will talk about how the G.I. Bill helped him receive three educational degrees. Following that discussion, we'll talk to journalist G. Willow Wilson about her novel, "Cairo", a thriller set in the Middle Eastern city that brings together five strangers on a quest to find a powerful stolen hookah. At the end of the hour we will read from your emails and blog comments.

Last week, we aired part one of a two part series on adoption. We examined the debate between allowing adoptees access to their original birth records, versus the breach of privacy guaranteed to the birth mother upon deciding to give up her child for adoption.
Today, we will focus on the challenges foreign-born adoptees face. Thousands of orphans from overseas are adopted by families in the United States every year. But gaining access to open records is substantially harder, and sometimes birth records are non-existent. For our entire second hour, we will hear their stories about their personal search for a sense of identity.

Not my table, but the Publix pilgrims are one of my traditions.

Source:Gifted Gourmet

In my family, I'm the member who's known to be absolutely fanatical about tradition. Some might say that just means I'm bad at change, but they're kind, so they see it the other way (mostly). This year, Christmas will be very different from our usual gathering... smaller. Usually my aunt and grandmother fly cross-country to be with us, but this year that's not possible, so it'll be just us Handels. I'm having a hard time adjusting to the new normal, and it's not even that drastic (I'm lucky to have my grandmother and my aunt, even if they won't be physically present). So thank goodness for Thanksgiving, a 30-year tradition that, so far, continues to grow and gain members. Every year, my family of four visits our favorite family of four outside Roanoke, VA (lucky for us, we drive, not fly!). It was a stable gathering for about 25 years, and now one of their four has added a wonderful wife and daughter... and then we added my sister's boyfriend... and this year, mine. Together, we'll participate in all our turkey traditions, from singing along with "Alice's Restaurant," to visiting the Roanoke outdoor market (but, hopefully, not showing each other our mouthfuls of mashed potatoes at the dinner table... fun as it was 20 years ago, that's probably one to let go). How will your holidays be different this year, and what traditions see you through?

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last week.

Source:John Moore/Getty Images

"This is nothing new..." pretty well sums up the political face-off between between Pakistan and the U.S. That's a quote from a spokesman for President General Pervez Musharraf, after Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte pushed Musharraf over the weekend to end the state of emergency. It's been two weeks, and Washington is reportedly growing impatient with their ally in the war on terror. One big question right now: Pakistan's nuclear weapons. A.Q. Khan is one indication that Islamabad's stockpiles might not be the most secure. And with the government in crisis, who's watching the nukes? We'll talk with David Sanger, from the New York Times, today. He's been covering this story, and also told us over the weekend that the U.S. has spent almost $100 million over six years on a secret program to secure Pakistan's nuclear materials. We'll also talk with Zia Mian, a physicist and Director of the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia at Princeton University. Are you worried about the situation in Pakistan... specifically their nuclear weapons? And how does having "the bomb" affect U.S. policy there?

Whatever your personal stance on religion -- faithful in any denomination to agnostic to atheist -- it likely informs your life in some way. This is obvious if you practice a religion and adhere to its teachings (or try to), but it's true even if you're an agnostic or an atheist... not being religious can be every bit as contentious as being religious. Either way, it's going to come up. More and more, it's coming up on the campaign trails, says our op ed author this week, Jonathan Turley. He credits our current President with getting the ball rolling during the 2000 primary, when he named Christ as his favorite political philospher. Since then, candidates on both sides have consistently claimed personal relationships with God. So what about the other, not-so-shiny parts of their private lives? The parts where, perhaps, they've violated the religious tenets they proclaim to follow? Turley says if they're claiming faith, the "flock" -- voters -- has a right to "question the shepherd." What do you think?

Tom Brokaw, in Studio 3A.

Source:Coburn Dukehart, NPR

For more than 20 years, Tom Brokaw anchored the NBC Nightly News, a broadcast that regularly bested its rivals. Viewers liked his warmth and courteousness. And that accent! Is that how everyone from South Dakota talks?! Brokaw, who was born in 1940, became a reporter in the 1960s, covering the Midwest and the South. When NBC News called, asking him to come to California, to report on Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Haight-Ashbury, Brokaw said "yes." The rest, as they say, is history. He went on to The White House, The Today Show, and the evening news.

In a new book, Boom! Voices of the Sixties, the former anchorman chronicles the cultural, social, and political sea changes that defined the 1960s. It is equal parts memoir and oral history, with commentary from Americans who came of age then. Pat Buchanan, Nora Ephron, Judy Collins, Jann Wenner, Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, James Taylor, Warren Beatty, and dozens of others. You can read an excerpt from it here.

Tom Brokaw joins us, in the second hour, to talk about what was a turbulent, important decade. And a big one, too! (As all decades are, really). We'll focus on 1968, in particular. How did that year change you? And the country?

Actually, Beowulf was nude mostly, but this is a seventh century helmet.

Source:Courtesy of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

English students all over owe Seamus Heaney a great debt -- and if you are one, you can thank him on the show today. His 2000 translation of the epic poem Beowulf changed an oblique and sometimes frustrating literary artifact into a living, heaving adventure story. (The emphasis in the new film of the epic is much less on living than on heaving.) The 1995 Nobel Laureate filled his translation with suspense and alliteration and emotion, all while maintaining what Heaney calls "the attractively direct" style of the original poem. It's impossible to read without wanting to murmur the words out loud, partly because there are so many brilliantly quotable moments, and partly because it scans so beautifully. (What's better than one poet? Two.) Heaney and the Beowulf poet really understand power, though sadly, many of the lessons they teach are not as popular as the myriad lessons on the poem itself. The poem begins, "Behavior that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere." One certainly wishes it were so.

In yesterday's New York Times, correspondent David Sanger reported that the Bush administration provided Pakistan with almost one hundred million dollars in aid over six years to help secure the country's nuclear weapons. The program is highly classified and U.S. aid is likely to continue. How worried should we be? David Sanger is the New York Times' chief Washington correspondent and will tell us what we know, what we should know, and how secure the nuclear weapons are in Pakistan. He will be joined by Zia Mian, a physicist and director of the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia at Princeton University. And as I type this, we are working on our weekly opinion page segment that comes at the end of the first hour.

Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw will join us in our second hour. He is the author of a new book entitled Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today. His book has been published near the fortieth anniversary of the year 1968, a particularly significant year in a decade where feminism, anti-war and civil rights movements (to only name a few) defined who we were and what we stood for. According to Brokaw, "It was a profoundly eventful time, and the lasting effects are as vigorously debated as the era that produced them." We'll talk to Tom Brokaw about the 1960s -- a decade that redefined America. Following that, we'll go from events of the 1960s to events of the 6th century. Beowulf has been on a lot of people's minds lately. It's the number one box office movie in America right now. But does anyone actually remember the original classic poem? Okay maybe not, since it was written in Old English prose. But acclaimed Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney published a best-selling translation of the epic poem seven years ago. Heaney will join us today to talk about the story and meaning of Beowulf... and hopefully read a little bit for us!!!

Enjoy today's show!

Out of all your grad school heroes, Beowulf seems to be the most Beo-loved. No one remembers Gilgamesh, Achilles is screwy in the moral compass arena, and Samson is a sort of shaggy Biblical body-builder with poor taste in women. It's no wonder that it would have been brought to the screen -- we're hardwired to react to the darn thing, first to groan when we're assigned a paper on ("500 words on what is heroic by Monday") and then to wax nostalgic about it when we're far from school ("I read that in college, great poem"). I have reached the latter stage, and I'm a huge Ray Winstone fan, so I went and saw it this weekend, 3D 'n all. Never mind that the movie seems to have been turned into a morality tale about adultery (don't make it with a monster, people, no matter how pillowy her... er... lips are). It's also a bit like watching Ye Olde Sims -- with the faces of actors you sort of recognize. The process of motion capture, or mocap (doesn't Mocap sound like Grendel's brother?), is basically a means of capturing live actors and turning them into computer generations. The method by which this is accomplished is actually fascinating (read the New York Times on it here) -- how else would the hunky (yet burly) Ray Winstone become a garden variety glistening six pack -- but is there any one else out there that thinks it's sort of sad? It put me in mind of another, better, morality tale -- Pinocchio, the poor puppet that so badly wanted to be a Real Boy. It leaves me feeling somewhat empty to find that in the twenty first century, all the Real Boys are yearning to be puppets. Sigh. Maybe I'll look more like Angelina Jolie as a puppet.

I first learned about the National Rifle Association from Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine. It was an uncomfortable introduction that involved a salty confrontation with former NRA president Charlton Heston. Now Richard Feldman, a former top lobbyist for the NRA, has written a book called Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist. This expose leaves nothing uncovered, as it delves into the inner workings of one of the nation's most powerful lobby groups. Some facts that surprised me: between 80 and 100 million Americans own guns, NRA membership soared after the shootings at Columbine, and Bill Clinton received an "A" grade from the NRA. Today's segment is not a debate about gun control. It's an exploration of the policies, tactics, and goals of the NRA. So if you're a gun owner that believes in second amendment rights, does the NRA represent your interests?

October is usually a bad month for Wall Street... So why is November so skittish all of a sudden? In the course of four days, the Dow dropped more than 600 points. And these stories are getting a little old: sub-prime mortgages, lousy retail numbers, a tanking housing market. Top it off with high gas prices and the pending holidays and nobody's quite sure what to expect. This time of year, a lot of us have money on our minds, so we've called our friends at the Motley Fool. We'll have to put a hold on Neal's fantasy portfolio, until next time, but let us know what questions you have about the markets, investing trends, and what's hot or not on Wall Street.

Flying out of Chicago? Good luck.

Source: Scott Robbin

Air travel horror stories seem to creep into every conversation these days, particularly with the holiday travel season fast approaching. I've been fortunate this year, but so many haven't been. It's gotten so bad the airlines are taking extra steps to ease travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, and the president announced that the military will open up more airspace for commercial flights. Are you traveling next week? Do you have a contingency plan in place?

Jonathan Demme

Source: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

Few filmmakers are as versatile as Jonathan Demme, who rose to fame in the 1990s, with The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, two award-winning dramas. As I've discovered recently, he is also a fine documentarian. Last week, I watched The Agronomist, his film about Jean Dominique, a Haitian radio host who was shot to death in 2000. It is a stirring, compelling piece. Recently, Demme finished and released another documentary, Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains. He follows the former president as he travels the world, reading from his newest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Demme will join us in the second hour, to talk about the film and his oeuvre. What questions do you have for him?

Here's our last show of the week:

In our first hour, we'll talk to Richard Feldman. He is a former regional political director for the National Rifle Association and former top lobbyist for the organization. Feldman pulls back the curtain on the NRA in his new book entitled, "Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist." He concludes, in part, that the NRA uses scare tactics to raise money for itself and its well paid executives. We'll also speak with John Rosenthal, the founder of a non-profit group 'Stop Handgun Violence,' and co-founder of the American Hunters and Shooters Association. And in our monthly visit with The Motley Fool, co-founder David Gardner will help us make sense of the current market swings and answer your questions about investing and how the markets work. (Remember, we won't be giving any advice on whether to sell or buy a particular stock.)

It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the holiday season officially begins next week. Wow! It seems like we were JUST complaining about the summer heat... and the heck of a travel experience some of us suffered through a few months ago... comparing horror stories about how many hours were spent sitting on the airplane tarmac -- and that's if your plane bothered to show up at all. So now that the holiday season is fast approaching, should we prepare for "Travel Tales from Hell, Part Deux?" What are you doing to prepare for the hustle and bustle in the year's busiest time for travel? Okay, we don't want to hear your horror stories again. But if you are still traumatized from that recent airport experience, what are you doing differently this time around? (Yes, going on a travel strike counts.) David Field, Americas Editor of Airline Business Magazine is among our guests who will tell us what to expect as we head to the airport. At the end of the hour, we're joined by Oscar winning director Jonathan Demme (think: Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia). His latest film, a documentary entitled Jimmy Carter Man from Plains, follows the former President on a recent nationwide book tour.

Enjoy the show and the upcoming weekend!

This year I decided to master the pomegranate. Much as I love the juicy little seeds, I've always been scared to cut into one. I've seen Barrie do it at her desk and juice gets everywhere. Plus the membranes and pith on the inside are kind of creepy looking. But I love those little seeds, so I bought two and opened up The Joy of Cooking for guidance. Joy steered me right, and now whenever I walk into the kitchen here at NPR with a bag full of delicious pomegranate seeds, everyone wants to know my secret. Then Barrie mentioned it on the blog, and commenter Rachel wanted to know too. So, here it is: how to get the seeds out of a pomegranate without ruining your shirt.

In Iowa: A little of this, a little of that.

Source: Crimmings Light Box

All eyes are on tomorrow's Democratic debate in Las Vegas. While Nevada's inclusion on the presidential primary and caucus calendar is an indication that more attention will be placed on the West, the real attention will be on Hillary Clinton and whether she can regain her balance. In the Democratic debate held two weeks ago in Philadelphia, Clinton found herself the subject of a barrage of criticism not only from her fellow Democratic candidates and moderator Tim Russert, but for her somewhat contradictory answers to questions about drivers licenses for illegal immigrants and the fate of her papers while she was First Lady that are still in the hands of the National Archives. Her performance in Philadelphia once again raised the questions of inevitability and electability. Meanwhile, new polls in Iowa show a tightening of that state's caucus, now just 50 days away. While Clinton has a substantial lead nationally, the latest CBS/New York Times poll shows the Democratic contest in the Hawkeye State neck and neck and neck among Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama. On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani continues to lead nationally. The GOP news in Iowa is not so much that Mitt Romney leads there -- that's been the case from the beginning -- but that his closest opponent appears to be Mike Huckabee, the under-financed former governor of Arkansas. Also this week: Hillary gets more bad press ... Obama impresses at Jefferson-Jackson dinner ... a new ad by Tom Tancredo ... and a new Junkie trivia question.

In the daily deluge of news on Iraq and subsequent punditry, it can be hard to sort out exactly how things are going there. Of course, no one has the whole answer, but I find the articles that really get my attention are those told by eyewitnesses. Sure, one person's view is one person's view, but these accounts have a level of detail and humanity that I find easier to grasp than the latest statistics. The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson spent some time in the western Baghdad suburb of Ghazaliya recently, and joins us to share his impressions.

Forty years after the civil rights movement, and we're still a ways off from reaching income parity among blacks and whites. A new study from Pew Charitable Trusts and Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution has revealed that incomes have increased over the last thirty years among black and white families as a whole -- largely due to the fact that more women are (kicking butt) in the workforce (go us!) -- but that the increase was greater for white families. Based on data from some 2,300 families, white children are more likely to make more than their parents and move up the economic ladder, while black children are more likely to make less than their parents and fall down the ladder. Today we'll talk to Julia Isaacs, Clarence Page, and Thomas Shapiro to try and figure out why this disparity still persists, and what can (should) be done to correct it.

Is it possible the pilot's asleep?

Source: Mr.mt

Oopsie. It looks like truckers aren't the only ones working such long hours that they may fall asleep at the wheel... Commercial jet pilots do too. It's not surprising, given their hectic schedules, that they get drowsy. And I imagine that part of the reason we have two pilots at any given time is so that if one needs to visit the facilities, or eat some dinner, or even take a nap, he or she can. But how good is autopilot? And what sort of problem in the cockpit merits an emergency landing? And is it true that pilot and co-pilot can never eat the same meal? I've got a billion questions, and luckily, we've got a pilot joining us today to answer as many as he can. I know we have pilots in the BotN audience, too -- please, let us know what you know about piloting a plane!

In this week's mega-sized Political Junkie segment, NPR's Ken Rudin will focus mainly on Iowa and why that state matters so much in the lead-up to the primaries. We'll also talk about Tom Tancredo's (R-Colorado) controversial television ad -- complete with a warning (we'll play it for you), Republican Fred Thompson's "right to life" endorsement, and of course there'll be another trivia question for you. No 'Google' cheating, folks!!! After that, we'll be joined by journalist Jon Lee Anderson who will talk about his piece entitled "Inside the Surge" that appears in the current New Yorker magazine. In it, Anderson expresses concern about the 'price' of progress in Iraq.

In our second hour, we will discuss the issue of race and the income gap. A new study funded by the Pew Foundation suggests that nearly half of all African-Americans born into middle-income families sink into poverty, and many more whites climb the ladder of upward mobility. Guests on the program discuss the findings in the study and what can possibly be done to narrow the income gap between whites and blacks. Following that discussion, we'll talk to a Continental Airline pilot about the seriousness of pilot fatigue... and how they manage to stay alert on those trans-Atlantic flights where there is absolutely no scenery except sky and sky...and more sky.

Today, the buzziest item at the morning meeting here at Talk was the death of Kanye West's mom, Donda. Now, it's well known around these parts that Kanye and I are secretly married, so my interest in the story is a natural, but quite a few staffers find the uproar following her passing... shocking. I know that my first thoughts after I heard she died shortly after plastic surgery were less than charitable, but bloggers, and even New York magazine, were outright mean. According to Washington Post staff writer Teresa Wiltz,

blog dwellers stepped over an imaginary line of restraint. And stomped on it, again and again, monsters from the id coming out to play: "hahahah too bad," one taunted. "VANITY KILLS!!!" One "fan" posting on Bossip.com took the time to compose a poem in her honor: Supersized menu at Mickey Dee's/No wonder I cant see my knees . . ."

I suppose we shouldn't be shocked that people can be so rotten. Wiltz goes on to muse that thanks to TMZ and their celebrity-stalking ilk, the predicted utopian world of the Internet has turned into something much more sinister, where every mis-step is broadcast for all to ridicule. Honestly, it's not surprising. Trolls are old news, and the celebrity sites have been well entrenched for years. But what I still don't understand is why people feel so free to say ugly things when their identities are hidden. I admit, I'm not always nice, but I feel guilty for those bad thoughts that I don't voice or type... is that unusual? Do you feel ok about stepping over that "imaginary line of restraint," so long as no one knows it's you?

David Gura's cluttered desk.

Source: David Gura

Ah, to be your own boss, to set your own schedule, to work from the comfort of your own home... Could life be better?! This producer, who is writing from his cluttered desk, in a small office he shares with a colleague, under the numbing glow of six fluorescent bulbs, says "No. It couldn't." Unequivocally. More and more Americans are electing to work for themselves, as freelancers, contractors, and consultants. But Matt Bai, who covers politics for The New York Times Magazine, says that this "modern, untethered American work force" doesn't include everyone... Just the worker who can afford to pay for his own insurance and retirement benefits. Do you work for yourself, from home? If so, how is it? Do you wish you could? What's standing in your way?

All right, class. Today we're going to learn about attention-deficit hyperactivity dis... What? No, I said I wanted blue construction paper on the bulletin board, not red! I'm sorry, what was I saying? Oh, right, attention-deficit hyperact... Make sure you align the cutouts in a straight row on the right side of the board. I don't want it to look lopsided. Sorry, I got distracted. What was I saying again? Oh, right, attention-deficit... No, no, no! You're doing it wrong!

And so forth.

A new study from the National Institute of Mental Health and McGill University shows that the brains of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D., develop normally but more slowly in the areas of the cerebral cortex most involved in attention and motor control than the brains of children without the disorder. What does this mean? Well, it helped put to rest the theory that children with A.D.H.D. have a brain deficiency or flaw. Today we'll talk to our own Jon Hamilton, from NPR's Science Desk, about the larger implications of this study.

Another round in the debate over open records and adoption kicked off yesterday. The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute came out with a report that says adult adoptees should be able to get their birth records, and information on their birth mothers. Right now in most states, that's not an easy thing to do. While many adoptees try to contact their birth parents for personal and medical reasons, only a handful of states allow adults who were adopted to see their original birth certificates. And there are plenty of people who say that's with good reason. In an unlikely mix of groups, the ACLU, some Catholic organizations, and the National Council for Adoption have all come out against the idea of open records, often for very different reasons. Some cite privacy concerns, and the promise to birth mothers that they would be protected. Others argue that opening records would scare some women away from adoption, and could increase the number of abortions. Whichever side you're on, we want to hear your stories today. If you're adopted, did you access... or try to access... your birth records? Or if you're an adoptive parent or a mother who gave up a child for adoption, what's your experience with this?

2 sides of the love triangle.

Source: Daniel Daza/New Line Cinema

In the latest iteration of the time-honored tradition of turning beloved book into big screen bonanza, I give you Love in the Time of Cholera. The book has been passed from reader to reader for more than 20 years, and if its climb to the top of the bestseller list just last month after Oprah selected it for her book club is any indication, the printed pages have stood the test of time. Will the movie be so lucky? What's your favorite movie adaptation? And which translation just really didn't work for you?

In today's first hour, we will talk about the shifting workforce where many Americans are working as independent "home-based" contractors and freelancers, and enjoying flexible schedules sans that dreaded daily commute. But many who chose this professional lifestyle must fend for themselves when it comes to health benefits and retirement plans. Author Matt Bai covers national politics for The New York Times Magazine, and recently wrote that most Americans who work exclusively from home represent a "modern, untethered American work force." He will be one of our guests who will talk about workers "unplugged" and whether or not companies and the government will ever provide benefits to their contractors. Following that, NPR's health and science correspondent Jonathan Hamilton will answer your questions about A.D.H.D. (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and explain the details of a new study from the National Institute of Mental Health and McGill University that shows children with A.D.H.D.suffer from a delay in brain development. And we will read your blog and email comments at the end of the hour.

Our second hour will be part one of a two-part series on adoption. Currently, only eight states allow adult adoptees access to their original birth records. However, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute says EVERY state should open its records to adopted adults so that they can learn the identity of their birth parents and their biological and medical history. Critics argue that open birth records breach the right to privacy the birth mother was guaranteed when she decided to give her child up for adoption. We'll examine both sides of the issues today, and hear more stories about adoption in our second part which we expect to have for you next week. At the end of the hour, director Mike Newell will talk about his film, "Love in the Time of Cholera," a movie based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Bruce Springsteen rocks it hard.

Source: tgray1

Last night I experienced my very first Bruce Springsteen concert. Simply put, the man is a god. The things he can do with a harmonica -- mmh! It was all sorts of crazy. I now understand the cult status. I get it. For one, he's a man of the people -- the peoples' musician (or at least that's how he markets himself). And it feels real. In fact, he seems completely and utterly devoid of pretense. At the same time, he also manages to be a man's man, in the best possible sense. He's low maintenance. He doesn't put on airs. No costume changes. No elaborate, distracting accoutrements. Just him on stage, rockin' out for two, three, four hours at a time. A. Ma. Zing. I think that's the biggest difference between Bruce and all the other great rockers out there: men don't want to be Mick, Keith, Bono, InsertOtherRockStarHere. But they absolutely want to be Bruce.* What do you love about The Boss? What's your favorite song? And how many concerts have you been to?

* Even John Cusack, which is why I think he takes his fashion cues from him (see: High Fidelity, in particular).

The subprime division of the mortgage market caters to people with less-than-perfect credit records. Foreclosures have skyrocketed in the past year due to a rise in the interest on adjustable rate mortgages, which left many subprime borrowers unable to make their payments.

Not surprisingly, the shakeout in the subprime loan market has forced many people to look for better ways to borrow. Federal Housing Administration loans, as well as mortgage loans established with community banks and housing advocacy groups, have proven to be savvy alternatives to conventional mortgages. And Islamic loans forbid the charging of interest. Intriguing.

So tell us: Have you used any of these alternative ways to borrow? How did they work?

It was one thing when the late night comedy shows shut down because of the writer's strike... Now we hear that the next season of 24 will be delayed, and the co-creator of Lost warns today that, if the strike goes on for more than three months, we won't see ANY new TV shows until January of 2009. Even if you don't watch TV, if this drags on long enough, eventually the movie studios will run out of scripts, too. And when you get down to it, it's as much about iTunes and YouTube as it is about the networks. Writers want a cut of online video. And in an opinion piece he wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Friday, writer Rob Long says this all sounds very familiar... think back to the music industry's fight against online downloads (a fight, he reminds us, they lost). His answer to the problem? Rewrite the whole industry...

if this thing isn't settled soon, if the old system isn't replaced, the ruthless lean-machine of the Web is going to strip away the gooey inefficiencies of our sweet business and suddenly, tragically, we're all going to get paid in the worst, most crushing way: We're going to get paid what we're worth, and then only in success. And no one wants that.

Over on our news blog, Tom Regan has been writing about the strike, too... and the similarities between the walk-out in Hollywood, and the walk-out on Broadway.

Although Dan Brown's and J. K. Rowlings' books sell well, another volume, many centuries older, has them both beat -- and its lead is formidable. The Bible, in all its editions and translations, is a perennial bestseller. (In the last 200 years, billions of copies have been sold). Karen Armstrong, one of the most eminent and thoughtful scholars of religion alive, will join us in the second hour, to talk about her new "biography" of the Bible. She'll take us through its books and testaments, provide important history and context, and outline past and contemporary debates over its veracity. What questions do you have for her?

Lyle Lovett performs in Delaware.

Source: lobstermassage

The Handels have a small CD rotation at family gatherings. You'll definitely hear some Paul Simon, probably some Traveling Wilburys, and almost definitely... Lyle Lovett. We especially love his second album, Pontiac, which came out in the late 1980s, and we've pretty much stuck with him ever since. So far, no album touches it for us, but after listening to his newest release, It's Not Big, It's Large, Pontiac faces some pretty stiff competition for air time at the dinner table.

Anthony Brooks is our host for the week, and here is what we are working on today:

Our first-hour show is called "A Better Way to Borrow." Millions of people are finding it more and more difficult to borrow money, for houses, cars and other purchases. But there could be new, better ways to borrow. We'll hear from two guests who will outline more affordable alternatives, including reverse mortgages, person to person banking, and even "Islamic financing," a system that doesn't charge interest. At the end of the hour, Rob Long, a Hollywood writer and producer will talk about "Get Me Rewrite," an article that appeared in last Friday's Wall Street Journal, in which he argues that the current writers' strike may indicate that it's simply time to change the television industry.

In our second hour, we'll talk with author Karen Armstrong. She has written a biography of perhaps the most influential text of all time, the Bible. Armstrong will talk about the history of the Bible, its many interpretations, and she'll delve into the true meaning of some of its Scriptures. The Bible: A Biography is part of "The Books That Changed the World" series. At the end of the second hour, singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett will join us, to talk about his latest CD, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band: It's Not Big, It's Large, and to answer your questions.

Tom Cruise's character looks pensive.

Source: David James/United Artists

After a long, restful week off, in Massachusetts and New York, I'm back in Washington, to blog again. Last Saturday, during my vacation, I saw Robert Redford's newest movie, Lions for Lambs. As you might know, critics haven't been kind to it. Roger Ebert analogized the movie to a lecture and a radio play. In her review, Manohla Dargis, of The New York Times, wrote (or waxed?),

Those who remain shocked, shocked that elected officials, certain journalists and cosseted college students sat idly by, huffing Hummer fumes and nodding out on 24/7 infotainment (all Britney, all the time), while the administration led the charge, first into Afghanistan and then into Iraq, may find much to embrace here. Everyone else will continue to nod out or resume banging their heads against the wall in bloody frustration.

And the Financial Times delivered this underwhelming assessment: Lions for Lambs is a "lame exercise in proscenium dialectics."

What happened? How did this cast -- and crew -- go wrong? (For the record, this uncredentialed reviewer thinks they did, too). Have we tired of debating military and political maneuvering? Have we lost hold of the optimism Redford's character, a California professor, desperately wants us to have? Lions for Lambs is but another in a series of films about contemporary military and political issues.... Have you seen any of the others (Rendition, In The Valley of Elah)? Are you ready for more (Redacted)? I'm not sure I am.

Malcolm Gladwell -- of the bestselling books, buzzy articles, and great hair -- is back, and he's taking on a favorite topic: criminal profiling. I say favorite because CSI now comes in three geographical flavors: Regular, Miami, and New York. (CSI: Soy soon to come.) The criminal profiler has become the new crime hero, but Gladwell concludes it's nothing more then a magic trick. John Douglas -- you know him, he's the one that The Silence of the Lambs was based on -- takes some issue with this, obviously. They'll go head to head today. Read Gladwell's article and see what you think.

The collection box, passing the plate... places of worship have always needed to raise funds from the community to keep the good works going. But where do you draw the line about what's a church expense and what isn't? Republican Senator Chuck Grassley (Iowa) got some tips about a handful of televangelists cruising in Rolls Royces and private jets, and now he's got some questions for them... and not just about abusing church funds, which doesn't sound like a congressional issue, but about how this all falls under the churches' tax-exempt status. Most of the TV ministers in question preach that God rewards the faithful with material goods... which intrigued us, so stay tuned for a future show on the "prosperity gospel" and preaching wealth.

Cell phone rants are passe... Now cell phone vigilantes are all the rage (and no, I don't mean people throwing phones at purse snatchers). These are people who stop whining about rude cell phoners on trains, planes, and theaters (among other places) and actually do something about it... Don't get mad, jam their phone signals. It's now as easy to snag a wireless jammer as a bottle of fake V!agra online, and also just as illegal. Still, there's a certain poetic justice to watching a loud cell phone yapper scream, "HELLO!?!" into a useless phone for 30 seconds. Mind you, the technology is not new, but the FCC isn't a fan of people running around jamming wireless signals. So, you can't just head to the local Radio Shack and pick one up. Still, it sounds awfully fun. We'll talk with WIRED's Ryan Singel about the technology.

What is funny? There are two ways to conceive of this question: what is funny, and what is funny? The former is easy to answer: here are some examples. The latter is a little more difficult to parse, as it speaks to the ever-elusive (but always intriguing) why of all that is funny (or not). Today we'll talk to comedy writer Larry Getlen and comedian Ralphie May about the origin and ownership of jokes in the hope of bringing ourselves one step closer to nailing down The Funny. In the meantime, tell us about the funniest person you know: what makes them funny? And what's the funniest (blog-appropriate) joke you've ever heard? And we'll continue to try and put our proverbial finger on just what, exactly, makes something funny.*

*Oh, idioms. How I love you.

While scanning the comments on Talk of YOUR Nation, we found an interesting comment from a listener (yes!! that's YOU!), looking for a place to put the "mementos" of his tour in Iraq. We loved the idea -- and today we'll talk to the curator of a collection of memorabilia from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, about the kinds of items people donate. If you're a veteran, what have you got stored around the house from your tours of duty?

Predicting the behavior of a murderer is extremely difficult, and it is the job of F.B.I. criminal profilers to try to think their way into the head of the offender. Author and New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article about criminal profiling for the magazine this week entitled "Dangerous Minds." He and former F.B.I. agent John Douglas will outline the role of criminal profilers and whether their expertise actually does lead to an arrest. Following that, we'll follow the money into the billion-dollar industry of media ministries. The flashy, flamboyant lifestyles enjoyed by some of the nation's best-known televangelists have led a U.S. Senate committee to inquire about the financial workings of their churches. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) heads the Senate Finance Committee and is heading the investigation. He has been quoted as saying, "Jesus comes into the city on a simple mule, and you got people today expanding his gospel in corporate jets. Somebody ought to raise questions about is it right or wrong." Senator Grassley will talk about the questions that are being asked about the church's compensation, bank accounts and donor proceeds. Then we will talk to Ryan Singel, staff reporter for Wired magazine about those dern cell phone jammers that block cell phones. All those topics will appear in our very full first hour.

So have you ever been in need of a good laugh and tuned into a stand-up comedian who blurted out a punchline you could swear you heard before? You probably weren't imagining things. Larry Getlen, a comedy writer and entertainment journalist, wrote an article about the commonality of "joke-jackers" in the world of stand-up comedy for Radar Magazine. Gelten will join us, along with comedian Ralphie May who will tell us how he comes up with material for his act. And in our lead-up to the Veterans Day holiday, we will talk about museums that are accepting donations of memorabilia and artifacts from veterans of war. That's our second hour.

Enjoy listening. See you here Monday. Anthony Brooks will be in the host's chair all next week.

A sure sign the holidays are close.

Source: GuppyStorm

It was the fireplaces. Walking home last night, my fingers were freezing, my nose was red (it was still 40 degrees, but the D.C. summer thins the blood), and I was generally cranky. But, as soon as I smelled smoke (the good, sweet piney kind, not the sulfuric, call-the-insurance-agent kind) it hit me: the holidays are almost here. That fact irritated me to no end just before Halloween when the corner drug store had Santa in the window with the ghosts; but now I've booked my flight home for Christmas, saved a few bucks for gifts, and it's 30 degrees out instead of 80. Most people have some sort of trigger for these things... falling leaves, a winter wardrobe change. For me it's the smells... dried leaves, sugar cookies, gravy, turkey, pine trees, and of course the fireplaces. How about you? When does it really sink in that the holidays are here?

It's just under a year until the 2008 presidential election, and we figured what better time to juice up our Junkie segment. For the next 52 weeks, you'll get more players, more issues, and of course, more Rudin. Today, we'll also focus on this notion of a gender card. Hillary Clinton's campaign is being criticized for pulling the gender card, and argues that she was ganged up on in the last debate. So today, Libby Copeland came up with a new list of "The Rules" for female candidates, and the men running against them:

Is a woman candidate primarily a woman or a candidate? (Can't separate the two? Right! Advance to the next question.)

Can a guy ask her tough questions without being a jerk? Can she cry without seeming weak? And what happens when a feminist running a post-feminist campaign is described as "one strong woman" but tells voters "I'm your girl"? Are there rules for any of this?

Hillary Clinton is going back on some debate stage with all those men again next week.

Get used to it, people!

We're going to tell you what The Rules are.

We'll talk with Libby today, and take your calls on the gender card issue.

Pack on the mac n' cheese!

Source: -clb-

I could eat cheese in its many forms every night if it weren't for the fact that skinny jeans are still in. I love cheese. Mac and cheese, pizza with extra cheese, Chevre, Stilton, super stinky -- I really don't care, I just adore it. What does this have to do with Talk of the Nation, i.e., the news? Well, apparently, a Body Mass Index of 25 to 30 (the so-called overweight range -- or super cheesehound range) may actually prevent certain diseases. I swear. Check it out in the Times. We're going to truth squad this for y'all, and in the meantime, I'll be eating bread and olive oil and cheese, glorious, cheese.

Terri and Bindi Irwin love crocs!

Source: Gaye Gerard/Getty Images

The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, and his wife Terri got me through my junior year of college. Ok, that's a bit of hyperbole, but after a long day of lectures, note-taking, and big-idea-generating, there was no better way to relax than to turn on Animal Planet and watch the Croc Hunter take such glee in tempting fate with wild animals. Of course, the twist is that this daredevil attitude ultimately ended his life when an encounter with a sting ray went wrong. Still, I learned a lot from the husband-and-wife -- from Steve, to approach animals with care, curiosity, and respect, and from Terri, to love and understand your partner, no matter how outlandish his chosen life and career may be. What did you learn from the Irwins?

Michael C. Hall as Dexter.

Source: Showtime

He can't control his urge to kill. So he channels it toward the common good... by only killing the bad guys. A modern day vigilante, Dexter is a blood splatter expert by day, and a serial killer by night. In the first season of this new Showtime drama, we saw Dexter struggle to maintain a facade of normalcy as he tried to imitate the emotions he can't feel. Now, in the second season, Dexter finds himself having to help the police department track himself down for one of his own murders. Campy and full of twists, Dexter is definitely worth a Sunday night -- or a Wednesday afternoon, as we've got Michael C. Hall here to tell us all about it. Post your questions for the Dexter star (and erstwhile Six Feet Under cast member) here.

On Wednesdays you usually hear our political junkie segment at the END of the first hour. Today and over the next several weeks, we'll supersize our segment. There is so much happening in the political arena, seventeen minutes is just not long enough. Ken Rudin will join us at the top of the hour and cover the week in politics. Among the topics -- the results of yesterday's elections, Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, and Dennis Kucinich's bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. See, we really do need more time! And speaking of supersize, a prayer has been answered in the form of a recent report that says a little bit of body fat could actually be good for you. Dr. Timothy Church will join us to give us the skinny (sorry!) and answer your questions about weight and your health.

In our second hour, we'll talk to Terri Irwin, the widow of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. She is keeping her husband's legacy alive by continuing to operate the Australia Zoo they built up together, and develop television programs based on Steve's unique approach to animals. Terri Irwin will talk about life since her husband's untimely passing and her new book entitled "Steve and Me." After that, we'll talk to actor Michael C. Hall about his starring role in the Showtime series "Dexter" that is now in its second season. Just how does he manage to play a likable serial killer anyway?

Enjoy!

The man behind the Magnetic Fields.

Source: John W. Poole, NPR

Oddly, the first song I ever loved by the Magnetic Fields wasn't their song at all. It was a cover of Superchunk's "100,000 Fireflies," I heard sung by another band. It was Superchunk's cover of the Magnetic Fields' "100,000 Fireflies,"* and it was one of the theme songs for one of my best friends and I, the summer before our senior year of high school. When I later heard the original, the tinkly instrumentation, drum machine, and ethereal vocals sounded as innocent as capturing the little blinky bugs on a summer evening... but the lyrics were much more grown up, a nod to our impending adulthood. My next Magnetic obsession fit my moody freshman year of college, when I'd listen to Get Lost on repeat, especially "All the Umbrellas in London." By then I knew that Stephin Merritt was the man behind the music, an incredibly prolific, creative, and nimble songwriter with the perfect dose of temperamentality needed to attain the moniker of artistic genius. I've seen him live a handful of times, sometimes petulant due to rowdy drunks playing pool, but more often poetic and generous, taking requests from the audience and playing like he's got all night. So this is going to sound like a shameless plug, but I hope by now I've convinced you of my sincerity... the new NPR Music site is an absolute gem, and the Project Song with Stephin Merritt literally took my breath away. They gave him two days and two prompts -- a photo and a date, 1974 -- to write a song. And it's absolutely beautiful.

*Commenter roosevelt, you are SO RIGHT! Of course! I completely got turned around in my head writing this (meant to say I heard the cover first, arrgh, what a dummy!), but of COURSE the original is the MF version. You are so right.

Sexual misconduct by teachers is one of parents' worst nightmares. And when it makes the headlines, it's usually in an embarrassing and tawdry way... like the sixth grade math teacher from Nebraska who allegedly ran away to Mexico with one of her students, or the cloud over Oprah's school in South Africa. But an Associated Press investigation identified the problem as much wider then you might have thought. Today, we're going to delve into this problem, and give you the scoop on what to do if you suspect it's happening in your child's school. Your suggestions are welcome.

Strike images aren't as fun as new material on TV.

Source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

You gotta love a strike that's actually glam. I mean, seriously. Check out these picket lines. It's half nerds, half cheerleaders. Half neurotics, and half... Vanessa Williams. It's so darn awesome I could watch the strike itself all day, if it wasn't the fact that I need a little Colbert and Stewart in my life, because The Onion doesn't update every darn day. So, with the funnymen and women off the air, and the threat of the weepers being re-run not far behind, it's time to give out my top five list of things to watch if your favorite stuff goes into reruns. It isn't much different from the pro's lists, but I have the passion of a fan, not a critic.

1) The Wire. Just watch it, people. It's literally as good as King Lear -- but set in Baltimore so you don't have all that wind and iambic pentameter mucking up your revenge drama.
2) Battlestar Galactica. Don't be ashamed. You, too, will want to make it with a Cylon. It's like Aldous Huxley with hot robots.
3) Arrested Development. You will snort milk out your nose. HILARITY WILL ENSUE.
4)Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Start from the beginning, and call in sick to work. Simply some of the most creative writing on TV. Ever.
5) Big Love. So meaty. It will make you re-imagine what family -- and America -- means. This is not so much about plural marriage as it is about different social constructions of the family unit. (And, a little bit about looking at Margene in cute clothes.)

What is it about gangster movies that we find so irresistible? With American Gangster just the latest in a long line of successful organized crime flicks, the tradition established by forefathers Jimmy Cagney, Mario Puzo, and Al Pacino continues. I, for one, am rarely sucked in... except for once. On the occasion of the release of the special Scarface box set a couple of years ago, the movie played in one of the nicer theatres here in Washington. With the way Scarface gets name-dropped in pop culture, I figured the showing would be packed, but a friend was into it so I went along. I was wrong about the audience AND my interest level. The theatre, oddly, was only about half-full. But the movie held my attention wholly. Pacino and Pfeiffer were so beautiful, so doomed, and I walked out solemnly promising myself to brush up on my gangster flick history, hitting at least The Godfather trilogy, and hoping to get to Goodfellas (there ain't nothing wrong with quality time spent with Ray Liotta). Of course, follow-through isn't my strong suit, and I failed miserably. Today I pulled tape from the greatest hits, and again, I'm left with a promise to watch them in full. And Ray Liotta... man, he's still got it.

I keep thinking back to the whole Bartman ball fiasco at Wrigley Field... if only baseball had instant replay, MAYBE the Cubbies would have a World Series ring (I know that's a big maybe, but run with me on this one). Still, I almost fell out of my chair when I heard the news today... Baseball general managers have recommended that MLB institute a replay to help umps with tough calls. Not balls and strikes, but fair or foul, over the fence or not, and of course, did that fan interfere with the play. Logically, it all makes sense... why not use the technology at hand to make play more fair (not to get too far afield, this is only a recommendation... these things happen slooooowly in baseball). Still, there's a certain purity to the game, even if only in perception. You can't use aluminum bats, the basic principle behind the glove is pretty much the same as it's been for decades, even the uniform is more traditional than twenty-first century. Somehow, instant replay seems out of place on the diamond. Sure, umps will screw up, but this is a human game... That's why it's called sport and not science. Besides, games are already three hours long, don't slow things down with instant replay delays.

A recent investigation found that more than 2,500 educators in the United States were punished for sexual misconduct between 2001 and 2005. In our first hour, we'll talk about why this crime often goes unreported, and examine the steps that are being taken to address sexual misconduct by teachers. Among our guests will be Virginia Commonwealth University Professor Charol Shakeshaft. She has served as an expert witness in many legal proceedings on educator sexual misconduct and is working to develop policies and practices to decrease sexual harassment within the educational community. Following that, we'll talk with Tim Goodman, TV critic for the San Francisco Chronicle about picket lines in Hollywood, what the writer's strike means for our beloved television shows, and this golden opportunity to catch up on -- gulp -- reruns.

In our second hour, we'll talk about our enduring fascination with gangsters and the filmmakers who love them. A great gangster seems to equal success in the box office and memorable "gangster" lines that will be repeated by movie-goers for years to come. ("I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.") But have we ever asked ourselves WHY we love gangsters so much? What is it about them that makes their world seem so glamourous? And is the gangster "allure" simply unavoidable? Call or blog your opinion. Then ESPN The Magazine executive editor Gary Belsky talks about discussions among baseball general managers about whether or not to use instant replay on home run calls. And we'll read from your letters and blogs!

We are constantly reminded that the cost of our modern, multi-media, always-connected world includes those moments where the entire nation tunes in to watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, or the last episode of MASH.

So what were you doing Sunday afternoon?

According to CBS-TV, 32 million of us tuned in to watch the last half-hour of the football game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts - that's the highest TV rating for a regular season NFL broadcast since 1987, and compares to an average of about 16.3 million viewers for less auspicious games. The interest, in case you were gathering mushrooms last Sunday afternoon, stemmed from the fact that both teams were undefeated so far this season, feature two terrific quarterbacks at the top of their games, and New England in particular is regarded as a a juggernaut, maybe one of the best teams ever. ESPN's Chris Berman dubbed the tilt Super Bowl XLI and a half.

Super Bowl XLI, by the way, drew 93 million viewers, though it wasn't half as interesting as Sunday's game.

We had a show planned for today that you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear, because Pakistan imploded over the weekend: President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and locked down the country. The U.S. threatened to cut off aid, but that's a can of worms in itself. Remember, the U.S. needs Pakistan in the war on terror (Iran's just not a viable route to Afghanistan), and there's always that added bit of headache (read: possible HUGE disaster)... Pakistan has nuclear bombs. If you picked up a newspaper or logged onto your computer in the last couple of days, you already what a mess this is. So today, we'll talk about options... what can the United States do to reign in Musharraf? Should Washington cut off aid?

Abortion is a divisive issue. (Duh.) It brings up questions about a woman's right to choose on the one hand, and what makes a human life human on the other. But you already knew that, too. What you may not know, however, is that abortion is not, in fact, a religious issue, according to Garry Wills. In an op-ed in the LA Times, Wills explains why "There is no theological basis for defending or condemning abortion," and that you'd be hard-pressed to find mention of the subject in any scriptural doctrine. Fascinating. Check out his piece, and tell us: what do your religious leaders say about abortion? And on what do they base their claims?

Founding Fathers greatest hits!

Source: jimbowen0306

I know this serves as further evidence that I am decidedly simple, but here it is anyway: I'm not much of a history buff. Sure, I have an intellectual appreciation of the importance of studying the past to understand the present, and I know American history is jam-packed with interesting and important events. I'm just not terribly good at remembering the details. Standard retellings of facts and dates and chronologies just never grab me. I was a lousy American history student in high school*, but I was fortunate in college, when a class called "American History Through Fiction" was an absolute lifesaver -- I never would've earned my degree without it! The problem is, without a good story, I'm not apt to remember what exactly was so important about this day in American history. Enter Joseph Ellis. Sure, his is a literary career touched by scandal, but man can he tell a good story. Reviewing transcripts of his prior appearances on NPR, I found more juicy, pithy bits (like a pomegranate!) than I could cram into the show -- for instance, these George Washington gems: "As a young man, he is a physical specimen. He's a head taller than anybody else in his time. He's a natural athlete, the best rider. I sort of think of him like John Wayne circa 1939 in Stagecoach," and "Washington, when he applies to become a British officer in the 1750s and is rejected, does not take that as a sign that he's unworthy. He takes it as a sign that the British are stupid." Now those are nuggets I'll remember! Today he takes on all the founding fathers -- who's your favorite, and do you have any good stories about them?

*File this under "life's funny that way:" My roommate of more than six years is a high school history teacher. For the record, though, she's a fantastic educator -- I learned more in one day spent observing her classes than I did in all of AP History.

Current's Kaj Larsen is waterboarded.

Source: Current.com

There's been a lot of talk about what constitutes torture lately, mostly thanks to Senate confirmation hearings for the attorney general nominee, Michael Mukasey.
Mukasey calls it "repugnant ." Rudy Giuliani isn't sure what to call it. John McCain -- who has something to compare it to -- thinks it's torture. The Spanish Inquisition and the Khmer Rouge didn't call it anything -- for them it was just day to day operations.

Kaj Larsen, a journalist for Current TV and a former Navy Seal, decided to give people a chance to decide for themselves... by having himself waterboarded on video, and making it available to anyone who wants to see what the debate is about. You can see it below -- be warned, though, it's not much fun to watch. We'll talk to Kaj about his experience (believe it or not -- this is the second time this guy has been waterboarded -- he's a Navy SEAL), and why the technique inspires so much debate. If you want to see the video, you can see it here, at Current.com, but be warned, the images are disturbing.

On this first show of the week, guests provide insight on the crisis in Pakistan, and that country's position in the war on terror and how the United States can influence the region to stay involved. Following that discussion, author Garry Wills is on our opinion page. In his op-ed that appeared in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, he opines that religion has nothing to say on the issue of abortion. His article is entitled, Abortion Isn't a Religious Issue.

Pulitzer Prize winning historian Joseph Ellis will join us at the top of our second hour. In his new book entitled American Creation, Ellis explains how the achievements and failures of our founding fathers ultimately made perfect sense in an otherwise imperfect American republic. At the end of that hour, we'll talk with Kaj Larsen, a journalist for Current TV, and former military officer. He talks about his decision to pay $800 to have himself "waterboarded," a controversial interrogation technique that simulates the feeling of drowning. The technique is up for debate about whether or not it is a form of torture. Kaj Larsen's water-boarding video airs this Wednesday on Current TV....and he asks YOU to be the judge.

So, here's the thing, people. We LOVE you. We really, really do. Every show/segment/guest we book we always ask "What will our callers do?" (WWCD?) We care what you think -- we love when you flip out over a guest or a topic, and when you say really revealing and brave things on the air. We even love when you curse us over the phone, correct our grammar, say things that seem a little morally repugnant and threaten to pull every bit of funding you've ever given to public broadcasting.* Partly, we love you because of all that, because you are so passionate -- and so are we. We are here because of you and we love that about this job.

That said, we are always trying to get you involved in this little thing we call Talk of the Nation. That's why Sarah (my FG -- Food Guru -- she knows how to get pomegranate seeds out really easily) put up that little thing at the top of the page called Talk of YOUR Nation. Because we want you involved. Except that, even though we desperately want to involve you in this, you aren't cooperating in exactly the way we'd hoped. While we do want your ideas, what we really want is your buzz. Don't think like a producer, think like a citizen -- a local citizen, too. "Here in Boston, we are worried that we're becoming the new New York, because our sports teams are KICKING SO MUCH $%#." "I live in Michigan, and I'm talking about trying to sell my house." Even, "I live in Florida, and all we could talk about at my kids' soccer game was how the women on Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are reduced to eating cake and chasing men even though they've got medical degrees for goodness' sakes."

Help us... we can't do this without your input. While we're glad that your grammar is so good, we really need what's going on at your dinner table -- and we don't care if you dangle your participles. What's the Talk of YOUR Nation?

*Also, I want to reveal right here and now that before I worked in public radio, I was a frequent caller to my local talk show, before I ended up producing it. I have been on both ends of the screening telephone, and I have cursed a little at the person on the other end, myself. I AM YOU.

When I was in college, I majored in Sociology. And, if there's just one thing I learned, it's that our prisons are disporportionately filled with black men. I'd always assumed that was true based on the news I saw and personal experiences I'd had, and it made me uncomfortable. I had a lot of questions, but fundamentally I just wanted to know, "Why?" There are some very sticky and amorphous answers -- racial profiling, poverty, a legacy that offers these men fewer opportunities -- but none of those answers sat well with me (not to mention the awful, racist explanations that were all too easy to find with Google), or seemed to tell the whole story. Turns out, a lot of the answer is coded into our state and federal laws that penalize similar acts differently. Getting busted for powdered cocaine and getting busted for crack have two very different consequences, for example*. It's called "sentencing disparity," and Professor Douglas Berman says it's so important he wonders whether "criminal justice reform should be the new civil rights movement."

*Today, new sentencing guidelines for crack go into effect. However, it remains uncertain if the new standards will be applied retroactively, and some people don't think the revisions go far enough.

It's no secret that Americans tend to be slightly chunky. Guess what: so are our cartoons. A process called "transcreation" takes familiar American cartoons -- Snoopy, Spidey, etc. -- and makes them over to be more appealing to their foreign audience. As a result, the transcreated Japanese Powerpuffs are much leggier (and honestly - their clothes are way cuter). It reminds me of some of my favorite transcreations from screen to... er... ME. Check this out. And this. And we'll talk to the power behind the Powerpuff girls about why transcreation was necessary. Read the story here (Thank you, WSJ). And check out the transformation here.

A poppy field in Afghanistan.

Source: deckwalker

In 2003, the American Journalism Review asked, "Whatever Happened to Afghanistan?" The author of the piece, Lori Robertson, concluded that, "Without prominent media coverage, Afghanistan becomes an afterthought." It hasn't become one here, at NPR. Last year, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson joined the network, as a foreign correspondent, based in the country. Still, it has been a while since we devoted a show to Afghanistan. (We spoke to Jon Lee Anderson, of The New Yorker magazine, in July). On today's program, in the second hour, we'll be joined by Khaled Hosseini, prize-winning author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns; Sarah Chayes, formerly of NPR, a fine writer in her own right, and now a resident of Kandahar; and Seth Jones, of the Rand Corporation, an expert on nation-building. What questions do you have about Afghanistan? There are no dumb ones, truly. We're fortunate to have such an estimable panel of guests.

Abortion. Let's just get that out there... this is a tough topic to talk about in any circle, and Lake of Fire is a tough movie to watch by any measure. Not that it's a bad film; in fact, it's a powerful documentary that tries hard to give both sides equal time, if not equal treatment, as some reviewers argue. Tony Kaye (he also did American History X) spent 16 years putting Lake of Fire together, and he calls his 2 1/2 hour film "the definitive work on the subject of abortion." His message: This isn't so much a debate, as a war. And that sense of urgency comes across in the gritty black and white images of protests, counter-protests, stump speeches, and actual abortions. One reviewer described it as,

an insurmountably rude provocation that's also necessary: a sprawling, maddeningly uneven, at times profoundly upsetting 2 1/2-hour documentary essay that forces us to ask what, precisely, abortion means to the women who have one, to the people who oppose it, and to ourselves. If you even think you have an opinion on the subject, the movie's essential viewing.

Today, we'll talk with Tony Kaye and hopefully find out more about the film, the people in it, and the message he is trying to get across.

On our final show this week, here's what happening:

Recent cases involving The Jena Six and Genarlow Wilson have raised questions and quite a bit of criticism about racial inequality and sentencing. In our first hour, guests tackle the issue of racial and ethnic disparities in the American criminal justice system, and a D.C. Superior Court judge explains the programs in place that are geared toward juvenile justice reform. Following that, we'll enter the world of three karate kicking superheros who call themselves "The PowerPuff Girls." Yes, they may only be cartoon characters to us mere mortals... but like humans, someone decided they needed a makeover. Find out how a process called "transcreation" altered the heroines' look for audiences in Japan.

We'll talk about Afghanistan in our second hour. Khaled Hosseini, author of "The Kite Runner" and most recently "A Thousand Splendid Suns," returned to his birthplace of Afghanistan four years ago. His commentary about his homecoming appeared in The Wall Street Journal last week where he outlines the fear among Afghans that they will be forgotten. Hosseini is among our guests who will talk about the critical future of Afghanistan. After that, we will talk with director Tony Kaye about his new film, Lake of Fire, a controversial documentary that examines both sides of the abortion debate.

See you back here next week.

I guess I have no choice but to accept the facts.

Baseball season is over.

And while I'm still upset that my team lost in the first round of the playoffs - AGAIN - I'm more disconcerted by the loss of those wonderful voices. For seven months, they kept me company, just about every day. John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman when the AM signal from WCBS New York boomed across Delaware Bay and into my SuperRadio. Jim Hunter and Fred Manfra, when I would listen to the Orioles games to get the score of the Yankee game. And, best of all, once the post season got underway, the great Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, must-hear listening even when the radio signal is out of whack with the TV pictures.

Then, after the Red Sox completed their sweep of the Rockies on Sunday night, they're all gone. I feel bereft.

Baseball, especially on the radio, may have been designed for people who have to do a lot of reading. The rhythms of the game allow a diligent reader to concentrate on the page, while keeping an ear cocked for the tell tale shift of the crowd response and the excitement in the play by play man's voice. The game swims into consciousness for however long is necessary - the brief triumph of a strikeout, the extended celebration of a homer, or - and I get to use best of all twice in one post - that moment when the play by play shifts down to build tension as the game is suddenly on the line.

There is no dearth of baseball news and the annual spate of awards starts next week, I guess, but it's going to be a long, cold winter.