March 2, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Humanitarian Aid -- NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Baghdad on a U.N. approved plan to double the amount of oil Iraq can sell to receive humanitarian relief in food and medicines. (3:30)

Two Husseins -- NPR's Mike Shuster reports from Jordan that one reason pro-Western King Hussein is so wary of supporting U.S. policy against Iraq's Saddam Hussein is that his country's precarious economy is heavily dependent on trade with Iraq. (5:00)

Head Lice -- Cases of head lice are believed to be at an all-time high. During the last school year nearly 80 percent of school districts in this country had at least one case. (7:30)

Children's Literature -- Today, schools and libraries are celebrating "Read Across America" Day. It's being held today because it is the anniversary of Theodore Geisel's birthday. Geisel was better-known by his psuedonym, "Dr. Seuss," as the author of many well-known children's books. To mark this event, All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer speaks with children's book author Tomie DePaola. His work is often autobiographical and he's aided, he says, by an ability to remember well how he felt during certain incidents of his childhood. (4:30)

Green Eggs and Ham: Reading -- All Things Considered hosts Robert Seigel and Linda Wertheimer read the children's book "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss. (4:30)

Green Eggs and Ham: Recipe -- Linda talks with Paul April, the chef and co-owner of Simply Elegant catering in Haverhill, Massachusetts. April's company prepared a dish of "green eggs and ham" for a group of elementary school students in Haverhill. (3:30)

Gay Scout Leader -- NPR's Melissa Block reports on today's ruling by a panel of the New Jersey Court of Appeals that the Boy Scouts of America's ban against homosexuals -- either as Scoutmasters or as Boy Scouts --violates the state's anti-discrimination law. (3:30)

Garth Brooks -- Country superstar Garth Brooks is riding high these days. From his Grammy award last week, to this week's nationally-televised concert, everything that he touches seems to succeed wildly. Music reviewer Will Hermes says that Brooks's songwriting has captured the public imagination because of his focus on interpersonal relationships, and his savviness about modern life. (4:00)

Clinton and Taxes -- President Clinton says he disapproves of a Republican plan to "sunset" the tax code by a certain date -- thereby forcing the government to come up with a better system. The president said today that would create uncertainty, and uncertainty is bad for the economy. (4:00)

Highway Bill -- NPR's Peter Kenyon talks to Linda about the 180-billion-dollar transportation bill under debate in the Senate. (3:00)

Aggressive Driving -- Robert talks to Trooper first class Mike Almond, a Maryland State Trooper, about Project Advance. It is a pilot project, using powerful computers to identify aggressive drivers on Washington, D.C.'s Capital Beltway. It's part of an effort to reduce the number of people being hurt in incidences of aggressive driving and "road rage." (5:00)

New Dyslexia Research -- Researchers have come up with a images of the brains of dyslexics adults trying to read. NPR's Michelle Trudeau reports. (3:30)

Lesbian Ear Clicking -- NPR's Richard Harris reports on a new study that reveals a very unusual difference between heterosexual and homosexual women -- a phenomenon known as "ear clicking." It occurs in all humans and at least one other species -- the inner ear actually emits sounds of its own in response to loud noises. Now a team of scientists at the University of Texas has found that ear clicking is substantially different according to sexual orientation. The study appears in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (3:30)

Whistleblower -- NPR's Margot Adler reports on allegations by a former scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory that the government-owned lab may have allowed the underground water supply to become contaminated with radioactivity. Lab officials say there's no evidence that that has happened. (4:00)

Marriage Penalty -- NPR's Elaine Korry reports on the Republican-led effort to eliminate the tax code's so-called "marriage penalty," which costs married couples more money than if they were earning money separately. Critics warn that eliminating the penalty will be costly and that any solution will create new problems. (4:00)

The Hunt -- Robert talks to Simon Hoggart, political writer for The Guardian newspaper in London, about the protest march by about 250,000 people in London yesterday. The marchers were protesting what they see as an attempt by the Labour government to undermine their country way of life. Hoggart says that a vote in Parliament on a proposed law that would ban foxhunting was the catalyst for the march, but it grew into a demonstration in support of farming subsidies, keeping open land free from development, and many other issues important to rural-dwellers in England. (4:30)

Rupert Murdoch Under Fire -- Linda talks with NPR's Brooke Gladstone about the latest controversy stirred up by British media mogul Rupert Murdoch. (4:00)

Forgiveness -- On the first night of Lent, in the Orthodox Church, a ritual of forgiveness is enacted where members of the congregation and clergy stand and ask each other for forgiveness. Sometimes this is a perfunctory chore, but when your fellow congregants and clergy are members of your immediate family, forgiveness takes on layers of meaning. Commentator Frederica Matthewes-Green faces this ritual every spring. (4:00)