May 20, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Fifty Years Ago -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that 50 years ago, he was in Jakarta covering U.N. sponsored efforts to slow down the drive for Indonesian independence. The installation of President Sukarno did not bring democracy to the region, though. Schorr says that President Suharto's rule was not an improvement. Capitalism -- or at least, Suharto's interpretation of capitalism -- has proven to be his undoing. (3:00)

Military -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer talks with Adam Schwarz, the Edward R. Murrow Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s. They discuss the military in Indonesia and how protestors there are hoping that the military will side with them, even as it locks down control of the city. (Note: A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s is published by Westview Press.) (4:00)

Rais -- Linda continues her discussion with Adam Schwarz of the Council on Foreign Relations, with a profile of Indonesia's opposition leader, Amien Rais. (3:30)

Bar-Illan -- NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Jerusalem on the small tempest that erupted after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's heretofore loyal spokesman, David Bar-Illan, made some rather eye-raising remarks to an American journalist about his boss and his boss's wife. Bar-Illan was quoted in The New Yorker as making light of Netanyahu's religiousness and claiming his boss was a loner, and that no one knew what he truly stood for. He also said that Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister's wife, was unstable and a problem for the Prime Minister. The comments have pushed the deadlocked peace process off the front pages of Israeli newspapers and become the dominant subject in conversations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. (3:30)

New $20 -- We'll hear comments made today by Robert Rubin, the Secretary of the Treasury, on the new $20 bill. The bill has been given a makeover to help combat counterfeiting. (1:00)

Counterfeiting -- Linda talks with Jim Mackin, a special agent for the Secret Service. He says that the same kind of changes are being applied to $20 bills that were applied in the redesign of $50 and $100 bills. The new system has worked well with those bills. The new twenties will be issued in the fall. He encourages people to check their bills -- especially when the new bills are issued -- because it will be easier to tell if a bill is not genuine with the money's new features. (Note: For more information on the redesigned $20 bill, contact the following website: http://moneyfactory.com/) (4:00)

Roman Art Theft -- NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on the theft of works by Cezanne and Van Gogh from Italy's National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. Italian officials believe the theft of the canvasses, valued at $34 million, was "commissioned." (2:30)

Fire Ants -- Linda talks with Lawrence Gilbert, the chair of the Department of Zoology and director of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. They discuss the importation of the phorid fly from Brazil to control a harmful pest -- the fire ant. The ants were accidentally imported from Brazil, and have now become entrenched throughout the South and Southwest -- particularly in Texas. Though the flies can kill fire ants, the idea behind bringing the fly into the country is to make the ants "better citizens," effectively making them less harmful and reducing their competitive advantage. (Note: To find out more about fire ants and the phorid fly project, contact the following website: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/) (4:00)

Club Culture in Northern Ireland -- Northern Ireland's dance clubs have become one of the few places where young people of different faiths mix freely. The scene is growing, and now there's a group of non-alcoholic coffeehouses- with-dj's in Belfast. The people responsible for running these places see them as chances for the kids to develop a different sensibility than their parents. Matt Cowan reports from Port Rush, Northern Ireland. (7:45)

Tobacco -- NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Capitol Hill that the Senate tobacco debate has turned into a talkathon. Opponents of Senator McCain's $516 billion measure are dominating the floor and forcing delays. The stalling tactics are causing senators to doubt whether the bill can be finished before the Senate leaves Friday for the Memorial Day break. (4:00)

Ireland Part I -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams continues his series of reports from Northern Ireland concerning residents' attitudes toward the upcoming referendum on the government of the region. He speaks with Mary Nellis, a Catholic activist in Derry, about the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s and the continuing struggles of the Catholic neighborhood called the Bogside. (8:00)

Ireland Part II -- Noah Adams speaks with Roy Arbuckle, a social worker and musician in Derry, Northern Ireland. He writes songs about the Scottish- Ulster connection -- his family came to Derry from Scotland three generations ago. He talks about the challenges of being both British and Irish. (8:00)

Deficit -- NPR's Jim Zarroli reports U.S. exports were up in March, but imports increased even more, sending the trade deficit to a six-year high. Exports to Asia declined, as U.S. manufacturers began to feel that region's economic slowdown. Investors saw signs that an overheated economy may be slowing enough to avoid a hike in interest rates and sent stocks and bonds higher. (3:30)

Voter Turnout -- NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that voter participation in this year's primary elections so far has been extremely low. Candidates are also having trouble getting coverage by the news media, which says other news is of more interest. Some analysts think it's the good economy that accounts for low participation in this year's elections; others think it's because voters feel removed from the whole election process. (5:00)

Everglades -- NPR's Cheryl Devall reports that Florida Governor Lawton Chiles must decide whether to sign a bill tied to the joint federal-state project to restore the Everglades. Both bills are supported by sugar companies and other agricultural groups. They are opposed by environmental groups and some Florida members of Congress, who say the bills will dramatically increase the cost of the restoration. (4:30)

Satellite -- NPR's Dan Charles has the latest on the demise of the Galaxy IV satellite. A computer malfunction set the spacecraft into a slow spin yesterday evening, disrupting thousands of communications. The satellite carried many types of audio, video and data signals -- including most of the nation's pager traffic. Paging companies struggled to find alternative means of sending and receiving messages today. For a time, the only pagers that worked were local pagers based on radio waves. NPR's signal was also disrupted for a time, forcing member stations to make alternative arrangements for receiving programs from the network. (4:00)

Mrs. Robinson -- Thirty years ago this week, the number-one album in the country was the soundtrack to the Mike Nichols film "The Graduate." We'll hear the song "Mrs. Robinson," which was dominating the airwaves in the first week of the summer of 1968. This item is unavailable due to copyright issues.