Political Chunks From The Junkie

NPR political editor and our favorite Political Junkie Ken Rudin joins us for the the latest on the presidential race and other political news. The biggest topic on everyone's lips is Senator Obama's decision to cut ties with his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, for a spate of new remarks he made at the National Press Club in Washington. In other news, Senate candidate Al Franken has to pay about $70,000 in back income taxes; Hillary Clinton will appear on The O'Riley Factor tonight; and in six days, voters in North Carolina and Indiana go to the polls.

Congressman Mel Watt, an Obama supporter, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Clinton supporter, join us to give their input on the ongoing race. And political analyst Ron Walters joins us to talk about the effect of Wright's comments on white, black and Hispanic voters. If you have questions for our Political Junkie, leave them here.

Ashley Grashaw

1:59 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (71) | e-mail post

Is Everyone Really A Critic?

Criticism, it seems, is getting more and more thumbs down.

David Livingston/Getty Images

 

In 2002, film critic Roger Ebert was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. Since then, he has undergone several surgeries. One of them, on his salivary gland, made it almost impossible for him to speak. Earlier this month, he penned a letter to his readers and viewers:

Are you as bored with my health as I am? I underwent a third surgery in January, this one in Houston, and once again there were complications. I am sorry to say that my ability to speak was not restored. That would require another surgery. But I still have all my other abilities, including the love of viewing movies and writing about them.

Ebert will continue to write reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times, but he will no longer co-host At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper.

Two weeks ago, A.O. Scott, a chief film critic for The New York Times, tipped his hat to Ebert in a piece about the state of film criticism today: "For those who labor beside him in the vineyards of criticism [his retirement from At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper] is an incitement to quit grousing and pick up the pace."

That's a tall order. More and more newspapers, eager to cut costs, are cutting critics. In the last three years, 27 newspapers have said "goodbye" to their film reviewers. Yes, there are commercial constraints, but there is also new competition. Websites, like Rotten Tomatoes, aggregate reviews. Hundreds of amateur film critics post their thoughts on blogs. Nowadays, you don't need a master's degree in film criticism -- or a thorough knowledge of La Nouvelle Vague -- to be a movie critic. (You can look it up on Wikipedia, like I did.)

A.O. Scott will join us today, at the Newseum, to give us his thoughts on film criticism. Margo Mealey, alias DCMovieGirl, who blogs at dcmoviegirl.blogspot.com, will be there too. And we'll talk to Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor of The Winston-Salem Journal. In 2006, the newspaper said "goodbye" to its movie critic.

Before you see a movie, do you read reviews? If so, who do you read? If you don't look at newspaper reviews, do you go to websites or blogs? What do they offer that print critics don't?

David Gura

1:57 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

Don't Dis My DNA

There are laws on the books to protect us from discrimination based on race, religion, sex, and age. And soon we may see a law that bans discrimination based on genetic information. So, if you have a family history of breast cancer, for example, your insurance company can't refuse to cover you, or even charge you more. And your employer can't refuse to hire or promote you, and on the flip side can't fire you for it, either. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passed the Senate last week by a vote of 95-0, and is scheduled for a vote in the House tomorrow. President Bush has already said he'd sign it. But, it's been a long 13 years for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D, NY). She's sponsored a similar bill every year since 1995, and joins us on the show today to talk about what it means, and to answer some of the criticisms about the bill. Is this an issue that's affected you? Have you avoided DNA tests for certain illnesses? Or if you run a small business, how will this bill likely affect you?

Scott Cameron

1:56 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

The Gods of Flight Must Be Crazy

What's your pre-flight ritual?

Source: beenit

Without naming any names, we have some nervous fliers here on the TOTN staff. A certain host makes sure he goes through the same ritual every time he boards, just to keep the aviation gods happy. And it seems that he's in good company. Here's part of what Sarah Haskins wrote in the Chicago Tribune over the weekend:

Perhaps you don't know how planes work. Let me inform you. Many years ago, humans made a mystical pact with the lofty God FAA. In this pact we agreed that no matter what FAA asked of us, we would do it, if FAA and his co-deity, the trickster DEREGULATED AIRLINE GOD, would keep us safe.

She was set off by the passenger next to her using his Blackberry in mid-flight, a big no-no according to the FAA gods.

Well, A, who am I to argue with those who would guard our fate in the sky? I am a weak human. And I am not totally sure how planes work. Seems nuts, right?

Just among the small group of us here in the office, we have all kinds of rituals that go on before take off... And so far we've all managed to land safely (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc, etc). Any other pre-flight rituals out there? Liquid courage? Herbal remedies? Prayer? Do you think it really works?

Scott Cameron

10:10 AM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Sean Bell

Protesters and police, after the Sean Bell verdict.

Source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

 

Last Friday, a judge acquitted three New York City police officers of all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell. In 2006, Gescard Isnora, Marc Cooper, and Michael Oliver fired 50 bullets at Bell and his friends, outside a club in Queens.

After the verdict, community leaders and political activists, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, called for protests and acts of civil disobedience. "We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent citizens with no probable cause," Sharpton said. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."

On Sunday, The New York Times published "The Fear Behind the Badge," by Kyle Murphy, a former police officer, now a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. "The police are always second-guessed when they use deadly physical force," he wrote.

We'll talk with several people, including Murphy, about the relationship between citizens and police officers. Who trusts whom? What is your reaction to the Sean Bell verdict? What could cops do to earn more trust in the communities in which they serve? If you live outside of New York City, have you talked about the Sean Bell case with your friends, coworkers, and loved ones?

David Gura

1:59 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (31) | e-mail post

Olympic Torch Complicates Everest Climb

Mount Everest from Base Camp I.

Rupert Taylor-Price

 

I have a well-documented fear of heights. Seriously, a tall flight of stairs or an abnormally-high curb, and my stomach does cartwheels. That's why the idea of climbing Mt. Everest has always given me the heebie jeebies. So I couldn't even imagine being stuck on Camp II -- at 21,300 feet -- to make room for the Olympic torch. But that's precisely what's happened to climbers hoping to make the great ascent: they've been barred from the mountain's higher elevations for 10 days until the torch relay is complete. The extreme weather fluctuations on the mountain give climbers a small window of opportunity to make the journey, so the ban may impede their chances of making it to the top safely. What's more, Nepalese soldiers guarding the slopes were given authority to use deadly force to squelch any protests -- as a last resort, but, still, not the most favorable conditions to climb the world's highest peak.

Mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears joins us to talk about the conditions on the mountain, and how climbers keep up their morale, even in the toughest situations. If you're a climber or if you've climbed Mount Everest, tell us your story.

Ashley Grashaw

1:58 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Anatomy (So To Speak) Of A Tween Star

Miley's boots -- squeaky and sexy.

Source: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Don't worry, this is totally SFW. (BTW, for at least a year I had no idea what NSFW meant. I burned my eyeballs a lot.) In fact, the semi-nude photos of Miley Cyrus that are causing such a ruckus -- a practically tween-shrill ruckus, in fact -- are totally SFW. If you a) have no idea who Miley Cyrus is, b) don't have contact with a twelve year old girl regularly, (creepy) or c) have somehow missed the Hannah Montana phenomenon because you are too busy reading Walter Benjamin -- here's the story in a nutshell. Miley Cyrus is fifteen. She is one of Disney's most profitable young stars -- her hit Hannah Montana franchise has broken the eardrums of more than one adult bystander. Annie Leibovitz took "beautiful," (read: arty, topless) photos of her for Vanity Fair. Disney is chuffed. Miley is miffed (and apologized to her fans). But it has ever been thus: from Annette Funicello to Miss Brit to a soft and non-threatening Leonardo DiCaprio; it's real hard for the t(w)een idol to grow up. What do you think about the photos? Creepy? Sexy? No big deal? Moral panicky?

Barrie Hardymon

1:57 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (62) | e-mail post

Baghdad High

The news headlines we see about Iraq often tend to be big picture. Violence is up or down. There are political comings and goings. There has been an increase or decrease in troop levels. That kind of thing.

It's much harder to get a picture of what life is like on a daily basis for Iraqis. The producers of a new documentary came up with one way to get at that story. They gave a group of high school seniors video cameras and trained them to shoot footage of their everyday lives.

The film, Baghdad High was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival last week, and it is scheduled to run on HBO in August.

One of the filmmakers, Laura Winter, is scheduled to talk with us today, to tell us how she got this project off the ground and what it was like working on a documentary remotely (she was not in Baghdad, and kept the filming secret for the safety of the students involved). We'll also talk with Ali, one of the students featured in the film. He now lives in the United States, but we'll only identify him by his first name for the safety of his family back in Iraq.

Scott Cameron

1:56 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

April 29th Show

Last week, three New York City police officers on trial for killing Sean Bell were acquitted. Bell was African American and unarmed. The verdict sparked protests in the city and deepened long-standing feelings of fear and mistrust within the African American community toward the police. In our first hour, a columnist explains where that "culture of fear" stems from. We'll also hear from a former New York police lieutenant who described what it's like for police when they feel their life is in danger in his New York Times op-ed entitled The Fear Behind the Badge. At the end of the hour, we'll talk about the Olympic torch's scheduled ascent of Mount Everest... and how its route abruptly shuts out eager, would-be climbers from reaching one of their ultimate goals in life.

In our second hour, we'll talk about the recent headline-making Vanity Fair photograph that shows a bare-backed teenaged Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana. Whether you see it as Miley's rite of passage or as completely outrageous, there does seem to be a defining point where teen stars cross the line into more... a-hem... mature territory. (I'm thinking of Britney and Paris here). What is the road into (and out of) teenage stardom really like? And we do want to hear from you. Did you see the photos of Miley? What do you think? And does your opinion differ from your kids? At the end of the hour, the co-director and one of the student filmmakers of the HBO documentary Baghdad High talk about life as a teenager in war-torn Baghdad.

Gwen Outen

12:19 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Presidential Press Conference

As I write, President Bush is holding a press conference on the economy. (If you can't hear it on your NPR station, you can find it here, on the NPR website.) According to John Ward, a reporter for The Washington Times, "A White House release says that he'll begin with an eight-minute statement 'regarding Americans' understandable anxiety about issues affecting their pocketbooks.'"

If you're listening to the press conference, what do you think? He is talking about energy prices, rising food costs, mortgage payments, and student loans. How are these issues playing out in your life?

David Gura

10:40 AM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Child Custody -- Writ Large

One of the largest child custody cases in U.S. history -- 460 children -- drags on in West Texas. The kids were seized in a raid on a polygamist compound belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS.

There are quite a few ways of looking at this -- and today, we're going to try to examine all sides. We'll talk to a spokesperson for the families, the head of a shelter taking care of some of the children, and an expert on family law. Listen, learn, and feel free to ask any questions.

Barrie Hardymon

1:59 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | comments (53) | e-mail post

Dealing with the Devil

"We don't negotiate with evil; we defeat it."

That's what Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly stated during a meeting about North Korea. But every administration has a different style when it come to dealing with "evil..." And evil... lives on a continuum ("one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter...").

On the opinion page today, the estimable Leslie Gelb. He's answering all your questions on how to talk to the really bad guys -- in case you ever become a head of state, or your mother in law is really crazy.

Barrie Hardymon

1:58 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

The Global Food Crisis

Men discuss the price of seafood in Cite Soleil, Haiti.

Source: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

 

Last week, as I did research for this segment, I swallowed a harsh dose of reality. Global prices of basic foods such as rice, wheat and corn have soared by as much as 45% since the end of 2006 -- with much of that increase concentrated over the last few months. Last week, the U.N. World Food Program announced that increases in food prices could leave more than 100 million people hungry. Here I am, shoveling five spoonfuls of rice into my mouth for lunch alone, and that's more food than most kids in Haiti get to eat in two whole days! It's hard to wrap your mind around the realities of what economists are calling "the global food crisis," and what the U.N. has christened a "silent tsunami."

Tyler Hicks, a staff photographer for The New York Times, recently got back from a trip to Port-au-Prince. He saw children and parents sifting through heaps of trash, just to find overlooked morsels of food. But we're also hearing stories about pasta protests in Italy, and Costco stores rationing rice in the U.S. So how are these two seemingly disparate scenes -- Haiti and Costco -- related? And how did the situation get this bad so quickly?

Economist Jeffrey Sachs will break it down for us, and he'll offer some suggestions for how we can mitigate the damage. And we want to hear from you. How has the high cost of food affected your life? Have you had to give up some things you would normally buy, or are you literally having trouble putting food on the table?

Check out more pictures from Tyler's recent trip to Haiti here.

Ashley Grashaw

1:57 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | comments (24) | e-mail post

Spotted In The West Bank: Giraffes

There is a small zoo in Qalqilya, in the West Bank. It was built in 1986, just before the first Palestinian intifada, with space for Shetland ponies, vervet monkeys, an ibex and a hyena, and several dozen other animals. Since then, it has fallen into disrepair. There are few visitors. And the zoo gets a fraction of the funding it needs.

Dr. Sami Khader, "the only zoo veterinarian in the Palestinian territories," is the subject of a new book by Amelia Thomas, The Zoo on the Road to Nablus. He hopes that the last Palestinian zoo will be one of the best in the world. Thomas joins us today, at the end of the second hour, to talk about Khader and the zoo. If you've traveled to the West Bank, have you seen it?

David Gura

1:56 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

April 28th Show

Lynn Neary is our esteemed host today (and tomorrow as well). Here's what we're working on:

In our first hour, Howard Berkes, NPR's rural affairs correspondent, will give us an update on the young children who were recently removed from a polygamist compound in Texas. We will also hear from a spokesman for the families whose children are in state custody, an expert on Texas family law, and the president of "The Children's Shelter," a non-profit company in San Antonio that has taken-in 22 children from the compound. Following that, Les Gelb will explain whether or not we should debate with an enemy, especially if that enemy is a terrorist.

The head of the United Nations World Food Program has called the current global food crisis a "silent tsunami." It has been predicted that increases in food prices could leave more than 100 million people hungry. In our second hour, we will talk to a photographer who recently traveled to Haiti and returned with pictures of Haitians, dealing with the food shortage, and we'll speak with the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs. At the end of the hour, journalist Amelia Thomas talks about the last Palestinian zoo that is located on the very edge of the West Bank. Her latest book is entitled The Zoo on the Road to Nablus.

Gwen Outen

12:14 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Growing Up On Antidepressants

Julie is 31. She has been on antidepressants since she was 14 years old. She told Dr. Richard Friedman that the medication saved her life. And in an op-ed in The New York Times he explains:

But now she was raising an equally fundamental question: how the drugs might have affected her psychological development and core identity.

It was not an issue I had seriously considered before. Most of my patients, who are adults, developed their psychiatric problems after they had a pretty clear idea of who they were as individuals. During treatment, most of them could tell me whether they were back to their normal baseline.

Dr. Friedman describes a dilemma for doctors and young patients... The medication, he says, saves lives, but at the same time he argues that doctors don't know enough about the long term effects. The title of the article sums it up nicely: "Who Are We? Coming of Age on Antidepressants"

We'll talk with Dr. Friedman on the show today, and with Dr. Norman Rosenthal, who has researched antidepressants for the last 25 years. If you've taken drugs like Prozac or Zoloft since adolescence, how has it affected you?

Scott Cameron

1:59 PM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (68) | e-mail post

Talking Politics at Work

We're all familiar with the age-old archetype of the nagging mom who chides, "No politics at the dinner table!" But what about in the workplace? It seems now more than ever people are chatting about the presidential campaigns. It's such an easy topic for disagreement, and I imagine it can lead to some pretty heated arguments around the water cooler. I have a friend who says she doesn't express her political opinion at meetings because she voted differently than everyone else in the office. Another friend was hit up for a donation for a candidate he doesn't support, and when he declined, it created a whole lot of unwanted awkwardness around his coworkers. Ask Amy columnist Amy Dickinson joins us today to give us savvy tips about how to discuss politics in a workplace environment. Do you chat about politics at work? Tell us your horror stories, and success stories.

Ashley Grashaw

1:58 PM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (27) | e-mail post

The Great Comic-Book Scare

Fahrenheit 451.

Source: St. Patrick's Academy Yearbook, Vincent Hawley collection

 

In elementary school, a contingent of classmates began to collect Marvel cards. They were vivid things, glimmering with metallic foil. Spiderman. Doctor Doom. Magneto. There were mutant men with fantastic powers and a propensity for violence. And there were mutant women with fantastic powers, a propensity for violence, and superhuman anatomy. After a while, a group of parents protested. There is no room for this in a classroom, they said. Or on the playground, they continued. It was a Montessori school, so we had a healthy debate about the cards. Are they offensive? Did they have any value? Ultimately, we decided, they would stay in our cubbies 'til recess.

In his new book, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, David Hajdu writes about another comic-related scandal, admittedly of greater importance than the one I lived through. (You can see some images from his book here.)

In the 1950s, there was a nation-wide movement to censor comic books. He'll join us in the second hour, to talk about it. If you've read and collected comic books, did you ever suspect that they were censored? How important is sex and violence in a comic book? Do you think there is more sex and violence in comic books today?

David Gura

1:57 PM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (30) | e-mail post

The Frugalista

When I was growing up, my mom subscribed to The Frugal Gazette, "a monthly newsletter dedicated to provide information and encouragment [sic] for those in pursuit of frugality." Amy Dacyczyn published it from her house in Newtown, Connecticut.

In the preface to her book, The Tightwad Gazette, she includes "A Word of Caution."

Tightwads are by nature unconventional. We push the normal limits to make things las longer. We reuse things in unusual ways. We experiment constantly to find new, cheaper ways to do almost everything.

As the value of the dollar continues to diminish, frugality is en vogue once again. I can't find a website for The Frugal Gazette, unfortunately. Did it go out of business? Natalie P. McNeal, a reporter for the Miami Herald, is pinching pennies. And blogging about it.

McNeal, alias "The Frugalista," has decided to "go a month without shopping, eating out, manicures, eyebrow waxing and/or hair salon visits."

Have you become a frugalista, too? What are some of the challenges you've faced, cutting back, saving money?

David Gura

1:56 PM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (19) | e-mail post

April 24th Show

In our first hour today, we will talk to two doctors about the long-term effects of taking anti-depressants and will explain the physiological and psychological effects of taking them for many years. Tell us your story. Did you grow up on anti-depressants? How has this affected you? At the end of the hour, do musings, debates or all out rants about this presidential election have any place in the workplace? We'll ask syndicated columnist "Ask Amy" how to handle political discussions at work.

In our second hour, author David Hajdu explains how the early censorship of comic books created a movement that contributed to the demise of businesses, economic stability and the behavior of its young readers. Hajdu takes a look at the evolution of comic books and graphic novels in his new book, The 10 Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America. Which side of the comic book generation gap are you on? Following that, blogger and Miami Herald reporter Natalie McNeal talks about the extent of her personal "vow of frugality" as a way to get right with her money.

Gwen Outen

11:49 AM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Suggestions, Please

Suggestion box 2.0?

Source: shawnblog

Jeff Jarvis has an interesting piece in Business Week on the latest iteration of corporate suggestion boxes. Starbucks and Dell, among others, created websites that solicit customers' ideas... One wants ice cubes made of coffee so the iced coffees don't get watered down; another wants shelves in the bathrooms to hold their drinks when they can't hold their water any longer. Suggestion boxes are infamous for being completely ignored, but Jarvis talked with the head tech guy behind the Starbucks site, who promises to make the connection between customer and company a meaningful one:

"To close that loop in an authentic way," he argues, the company must make a commitment to "building those ideas together with customers.... We're truly going to adopt it into our business process, into product development, experience development, and store design."

The full article is online here. And I'll throw open our suggestion box for the day... If you could pick any company to create a suggestion site, which would it be? And what suggestion would you make?

Scott Cameron

10:15 AM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Punxsutawney Primary

The Punxsutawney primary was yesterday and Hillary Clinton saw a big win, and now there will be 6 more weeks of campaigning for the Democrats. Clinton won by a sizeable margin over Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary, and used the win to rally supporters, highlight weaknesses in Obama's campaign, and look ahead to the next primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. The talk of Clinton dropping out is gone, for now. And looking at the exit polls, both candidates still have work to do... Clinton registered low in perceptions of honesty, and Obama got clobbered among working class voters, and older voters. We'll talk with strategists from both campaigns about how they will adapt and continue the fight. Our political junkie is in "news special" mode today, in front of a live audience at the Newseum in Washington, DC. If you're in PA, IN, or NC... How are the campaigns playing out where you live?

Scott Cameron

1:59 PM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (17) | e-mail post

Managing the Message

An article in the New York Times about the relationship between the media and the Pentagon has ruffled some feathers and uniforms. The David Barstow piece (read it here) alleges that many of the military analysts you see regularly on television, and hear on the radio, were given talking points by the Pentagon. One of these former officers was on contract with NPR News, which gives us a perfect opportunity to talk about the relationship -- inside the Newseum, no less, whose mission is exactly to study these kinds of ethical questions that journalists face. Today, you'll hear Ken Silverstein, blogger and Harper's Washington editor, who has written regularly about the issue of the Pentagon and its so-called "surrogates." You'll also hear from Michael Goldfarb, blogger and online Weekly Standard editor, who participated in the Pentagon's "Bloggers Roundtable." Goldfarb argues that there's a sort of Casablanca effect here -- the NYT is shocked, shocked to find that there are "Generals who know people at the Pentagon." Transparency is paramount here -- let us know how you felt about the story. Brian Duffy, NPR's managing editor will be here to help us understand NPR's position in all this.

Barrie Hardymon

1:59 PM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

One Iraqi Blogger's Moment of Truth

I get stressed enough as it is blogging for BOTN in my air conditioned office in DC, so I can't even imagine what it would be like to blog from the streets of Baghdad. Back in February we spoke with American citizen journalist Michael Yon about his dispatches from the war. He has spent most of the last three years reporting from Iraq, but now he's back in the States to talk about his new book, Moment of Truth in Iraq. In it, he gives us a deeper look at his coverage of the battlefield, and what it's like to blog in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. You can read his online magazine here. He'll join us today in the Knight studio at the Newseum, so if you have any questions for him, let us know.

Ashley Grashaw

1:56 PM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Last Night in Studio 3A

Voters cast their ballots in the presidential primary in Butler, PA, yesterday.

Source: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

 

Late last night, Neal hosted a live Election News Special. It was my first time working such a show, and I gotta say, it felt like we were at radio camp and this was the culminating project at the end of the summer. We had to constantly think on our feet in order to deal with last minute guest cancellations and the candidates' unpredictable speaking schedules. Adrenaline was high. At one point, I literally hugged the wall in the screening room out of nervousness as Neal vamped up to the start of Clinton's victory speech. Live radio is all about timing, and I thought he was going to talk over her since he was watching the feed on TV, which is on a delay. But, my worries were quickly put to rest -- Neal's a pro, and his timing was perfect. It was an amazing experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Our post-primary analysis included input from pollsters, strategists, NPR's political editor Ken Rudin, and Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), who talked about why he's still an undecided superdelegate. Best of all, we heard from you, the listeners. One caller, Liz, said she drove all the way from Brooklyn to Philadelphia to help campaign for Clinton. She described the atmosphere there as "electric" and "thrilling." When people from the street honked and yelled out, "Go Obama!" her group of Clinton supporters yelled back, "No, Chelsea's mama!" Another caller, Sky, an Obama supporter, went door to door in Allentown, PA, encouraging people to vote. He said most of the working class people he talked to were very excited about Obama. So tell us, if you were in Pennsylvania yesterday, what was the atmosphere like, and how busy were the polls?

Ashley Grashaw

10:33 AM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Climate Connections

For the last year, NPR and National Geographic have collaborated on Climate Connections, a series about global warming. Reporters traveled around the world, to Antarctica, New Orleans, Amsterdam, and beyond.

Today is Earth Day, and two of NPR's science correspondents, Richard Harris and Christopher Joyce, will join us, to reflect on the year-long series. What have you learned about climate change? What questions do you have about global warming? Did a particular piece stand out to you? Did it change your mind?

David Gura

1:59 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Steven Kurutz on Tribute Bands

Author Steven Kurutz.

Source: Karen Gordon

I've been a big fan of rock music since high school, so I'm familiar with cover bands, and bands that cover the odd Zeppelin or Who song in their sets. But I have to admit, I was blithely unaware of the phenomenon of tribute bands... until now. Author Steven Kurutz has written a new book, Like a Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of a Tribute Band, which chronicles the experiences of two Rolling Stones tribute bands, the Sticky Fingers and the Blushing Brides. He'll join us in our first hour to share the stories; but first, these words from the man himself:

If you spend your teens being obsessed with rock music, as I did, you end up reading a lot of rock and roll books. I'm thinking here of classics of the genre like Stephen Davis' Led Zeppelin bio, Hammer of the Gods, or Dance with the Devil, Stanley Booth's account of the Stones' '69 tour. My book, Like A Rolling Stone, is sort of a quirky addition to the genre. Instead of touring with rock stars, I toured with musicians who pretend to be rock stars. And it wasn't just "Mick" and "Keith" who were in character. In a strange way, I played my own role -- the "rock journalist" who's given open access in exchange for writing it all down and adding a dose of mythology. In short, I was the tribute version of Davis or Booth and that meta quality made for an interesting reporting experience. I remember one day in particular. I was driving to a gig in North Carolina with Kevin Gleeson, who played Keith Richards in Sticky Fingers and rarely broke character. Somewhere over the Carolina border my front tire blew out. There I am pulled off alongside the Interstate, the traffic whizzing by, watching a guy dressed exactly like Keith Richards jack up my car. The surreality of the moment -- and many others like it -- didn't escape me. Sure, Stanley Booth got to hang out with the Stones and witness Altamont. But did Keith Richards ever change a flat tire on his car? - Steven Kurutz

Check out Steven's pictures from his time on the road with the Sticky Fingers, after the jump.

Continue reading "Steven Kurutz on Tribute Bands" »

Ashley Grashaw

1:58 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

"The Most Dangerous Gang in America"?

Earlier this month, a 19-year-old man in Maryland was convicted of fatally shooting a stranger, and prosecutors charge that he did it to make a name for himself in his gang, MS-13. It's been called "the most dangerous gang in America" and reaches throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. Discovery en Espanol aired a documentary focused on the gang called, Maras: A Regional Threat. We'll talk with one of the producers of that documentary on the show today, and with a former member. If you have any personal experience with MS-13, or street gangs in general, tell us how it affected you.

Scott Cameron

1:57 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (15) | e-mail post

Extreme China Makeover

The countdown to the Olympic Games in Beijing continues, along with the stories of protests in Tibet, arms shipments to Zimbabwe, and China's connections to Sudan. Behind the front pages, though, is a country taking its role as host very, very seriously. William Langewiesche, Vanity Fair's international correspondent, spent some time flying around China, reporting on the many fascinating efforts at forced self-improvement, and discovering if any of it will likely pay off for Beijing. Here's just a snippet:

At the forefront stand the 15 million residents of Greater Beijing. In preparation for the Games, a municipal agency called the Capital Ethics Development Office is trying to whip them into shape, with campaigns against spitting on the street, using foul language (even though in Chinese), or getting rowdy while watching, for instance, Ping-Pong matches on TV. A survey conducted by Renmin University in 2007 showed that progress was being made (naturally), and that over the previous year public spitting had been reduced by 2.41 percent. According to the Chinese state news service, the survey was based on observations from 300,000 people at 320 public places and in 200,000 cars. Littering was down 2.44 percent. Meanwhile, the Civic Index was up by 4.32 percent. The Civic Index scores the Beijing population on its compliance with rules regarding public health and public order, attitudes toward strangers, etiquette at sporting events, and demonstrable enthusiasm for the Olympic Games. I myself have conducted a survey, based on 457.5 observations, and have concluded that 98 percent of the Chinese lack any measurable sense of irony. This is a preliminary finding only, and further funding is required, but there is no doubt that the Chinese Earnestness Index is extremely high.

The glimmering new airport terminal, "Queuing Day," and karaoke all make appearances in the piece, and it's well worth the read. We'll talk with Langewiesche on the show today about the trip, and what China's doing to buff it's image ahead of the games. Any of you been to China recently? What kind of preparations have you seen, if any?

Scott Cameron

1:56 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

April 22nd Show

Happy Earth Day! We'll show our awareness and appreciation for the Earth and the environment in our first hour. Richard Harris and Chris Joyce, two of our science correspondents, will join us to talk about their reporting for NPR's year long series, Climate Connections with National Geographic. The series takes you on a journey around the globe with stories about "how the climate changes people and how people change the climate." They will tell us how our planet is doing... and what we are doing to our planet. At the end of the hour, author Steven Kurutz shows us what it really takes to be a rock star that acts like a rock star. Kurutz's new book, Like a Rolling Stone takes us backstage, onstage and on the road with Sticky Fingers, a Rolling Stones tribute band.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted a member of the street gang MS-13 for shooting and killing a stranger in a Maryland suburb. MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, originated in Los Angeles and has spread to include member cells throughout the United States, Mexico, Central and South America. It has become the biggest and fastest-growing of the Latin American street gangs and is gaining the reputation as the world's most dangerous gang. In today's second hour, a former member of MS-13 will talk about how the gang is organized, how it grew and why people feel compelled to become a member. At the end of the hour, Vanity Fair writer William Langewiesche talks about his recent trip to China, and explains why he feels Beijing is the perfect venue for this summer's Olympic Games. Langewiesche's article Beijing's Olympic Makeover appears in this month's issue of Vanity Fair.

Gwen Outen

12:00 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Chris Rock: No Apologies

Comedian Chris Rock performs in Phoenix, Arizona in February.

Source: Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for HollyRod Foundation

Disclaimer: the following is an exercise in unabashed braggadocio. Sorry, no apologies.

I've seen Chris Rock perform twice in the past four days. He made a stop at DC's Constitution Hall as part of his current No Apologies tour, and I eagerly signed up for the fun. On Friday night, our seats were fifth row, center. FIFTH ROW, CENTER!!! Chris made eye contact with me several times. It was un. be. lievable. His set included treatments of inter-racial dating; the PC outcry surrounding Imus and Isaiah Washington's gaffes; and, of course, McCain, Clinton and Obama as presidential hopefuls. He also managed to slip in a few amusing jabs about Bush, OJ, Anna Nicole, and Flava Flav. I could not stop laughing for the entire 110 minutes he was on stage. I had to massage my face afterward, it hurt so much. I'm still laughing. Laughter may be the best medicine, but I never thought I'd need additional medicine to recuperate.

Then last night, my friend called me with an extra ticket, and I selfishly accepted the invitation to see him again. This time the seats weren't quite as glamorous, and the jokes weren't as funny 'cause I knew what was coming, but I did learn something about the mechanics of stand-up comedy. Although the core of his routine was largely the same, there were some noticeable differences between his last and first night performances. The second time around, he was much more laid back, a little loopy even, and he riffed and took risks more freely. At one point, he seemed to forget where he was going with a joke. I almost yelled the punchline from the audience to help him out. One more Long Island, and I would've. I realized that in situations like that, a comedian needs to be able to think on his feet in order to come up with creative, seemingly spontaneous ways to get back to the scripted routine. And think on his feet he did -- he even discovered a few new gems in the process. I also noticed that some of his jokes were predicated on a particular response from the audience -- a nuanced reaction or a hesitant pause -- and if we didn't give it to him at first, he'd wait for it or skillfully drag it out of us before he continued. Final consensus? His routine's not HBO-ready yet, but it's close.

When have you been able to look behind the curtain of a comedy routine? What did you discover, and what surprised you the most? And who's your favorite comedian you've seen perform live?

Ashley Grashaw

10:40 AM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Tough Landings

Tough times for the airline industry.

Source: David McNew/Getty Images

If you've been in an airport recently, you've caught the faint scent of overcooked coffee and desperation (it smells sort of sweaty). The grounding of flights due to safety concerns, airlines struggling to stay afloat (what a weird metaphor), and rising prices have all combined to turn the airport into a sort of anxiety dungeon. So today, we're going to take you on a tour of the 2008 summer airline soap opera -- from company offices to the tarmac -- and what it means for your vacation.

Barrie Hardymon

1:59 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | comments (16) | e-mail post

Raising the Tree on Iwo Jima?

This new Time magazine cover stirred up some controversy. The editors took the iconic photograph of U.S. Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima and put a tree in place of the U.S. flag. The border of the magazine is green, not red, and the headline reads, "How to Win the War On Global Warming." Doctoring the Iwo Jima image is a "disgrace," in the words of one World War II veteran. The comparison between the events in 1945 and global warming, he says, is disrespectful. Time made the decision to run the edited image for a reason, and we'll talk with one of their editors about that decision, and the reaction to it. What do you think... Is the image a call to arms on global warming, or in poor taste?

Scott Cameron

1:58 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | comments (36) | e-mail post

26 Miles, 385 Yards

Earlier today.

maple's mama

 

It's Patriots' Day in Massachusetts. As I understand it, there are three ways to celebrate the holiday.

1. You can participate in, or watch, reenactments of important battles from the Revolutionary War (Concord and Lexington).

2. You can festoon your front door with bright flags and buntings

3. You can stand on a Boston sidewalk, holding orange slices and bottles of water, to cheer for endurance athletes.

My brother, an avid runner, is celebrating his second Patriots' Day today. He drove across Massachusetts, from Williamstown to Newton, to watch Robert Cheruiyot, Dire Tune, and some 25,000 other marathoners amble up Heartbreak Hill.

It wasn't as competitive as usual this year, he told me. (The London Marathon was last week, and America's best female marathoners ran yesterday, hoping to qualify for the Olympics.) But the streets were lined with spectators.

On today's program, we're going to talk about the marathon. Who runs them? Why do they do it? (I've asked myself this question over and over again.) And what's the best way to train for one? Marathoners John Bingham and Gabriel Sherman will join us to answer these questions, and field yours.

The marathon has become a badge of athleticism for hundreds of thousands.... Should it be? If you've run one, we'd love to hear your story.

David Gura

1:57 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

That's Not True!

You've probably run into them at some point... People who claim to be open-minded and say they enjoy a good argument, but who really just like to have their own arguments bolstered. Try to disagree, and they want no part of it. Susan Jacoby calls this "Talking to Ourselves" in an op-ed over the weekend in the Los Angeles Times. She joins us on the Opinion Page today to talk about why it seems more Americans are unwilling to listen to opposing views.

Scott Cameron

1:56 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

April 21st Show

Summer is fast approaching and so is the merger between Northwest and Delta airlines. In our first hour we'll talk about what is happening in the airline industry, and what airline consolidations could mean for travelers still hoping to snag a low fare to their next destination. At the end of the first hour, we'll talk about the latest cover of Time magazine. It boasts a green border and the famous photo of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima -- with a crucial difference -- they're raising a tree instead of an American flag. Romesh Ratnesar, the deputy managing editor of the magazine, talks about the unfavorable reaction the cover has received -- critics say the photo unfairly compares World War Two to global warming.

Today, defending champion Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won his fourth Boston Marathon in six years -- and claimed the largest Boston marathon purse ever. We want to hear from you. Are you a marathon runner? What's the experience really like? And seriously....why do you do it? Speaking of running...our producers are making a mad dash to confirm our final show topic of the day. So stay tuned!

Gwen Outen

11:52 AM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Growing Up, Getting Help

My second year at Juilliard, a girl in my viola studio jumped out her window. It was, of course, horrifying -- but it was also a shock. The usual refrain floated around the cafeteria, "She seemed so happy!" Juilliard is a pressure cooker -- there's no doubt about that -- but what occurs to me now, is that, at the time, I would have had very little idea of where to go for help if I had been severely depressed. And given that students don't do the kind of work at Juilliard that might indicate emotional problems, it's hard to see how an adult could have seen what was going on with that particular student (does playing your Beethoven with particular passion indicate a problem, or a solution...). Since my tenure at Juilliard a thousand years ago, the mental health system has been utterly transformed, much like other colleges reacted after the tragedy at Virginia Tech a year ago. Today we're going to focus on those changes, particularly in Cornell's approach (which was before the VA Tech events). And we're going to talk to a professor from my other alma mater -- the irreplaceable Tristan Davies at Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. He reads hundreds of pieces of creative writing -- and has had to step in from time to time when a red flag appears.

Barrie Hardymon

1:58 PM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

Terror-ize Me

Morgan Spurlock in his new documentary Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Daniel Marracino/The Weinstein Company, 2008

No, he did not find Osama bin Laden. And I don't think that's a spoiler. But Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame) did travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan with a camera in search of the famous terrorist, and some answers. In his new documentary, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden, he wanted to understand America's public enemy No. 1, and what he sees as a culture of fear in the U.S. Reviews so far are decent: well-paced and thoughtful, if too much Morgan. Come Friday you can see for yourself, the film opens this weekend. Morgan Spurlock joins Neal on the show today to talk about the film, how he made it, and how he decided to hunt the world's most wanted man as a follow-up to Super Size Me. Want to ask Morgan Spurlock a question? Post it here.

Scott Cameron

1:58 PM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

McMafia

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, worldwide financial markets grew dramatically. Globalization made the world seem smaller. All of a sudden, there were new opportunities for trade, for investment.

In a new book, McMafia: A Journey Through The Global Criminal Underworld, Misha Glenny explores an unforeseen effect of globalization. The end of communism opened doors for enterprising criminals. Crime families became crime corporations. Globalization paved the way for what Glenny calls, a "New Silk Route." A way for criminals to transport drugs, money, weapons, and people to Europe and the United States.

If you have a question about the international black market, leave it here.

David Gura

1:56 PM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Tall Girl Rebecca Thomas Guest Blogs!

New York Times health columnist Tara Parker-Pope, who published "Life as a Tall Girl" on her Well blog, with Becky outside the Times' Page One meeting room.

Source: Rebecca Thomas

For some people, their short height has always proved a challenge -- it can be difficult to get people to take you seriously when they're staring down at you, not to mention the inconvenience of long inse