February 19, 1997

    All Things Considered
    (entire program)


    • Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping died today of complications from Parkinson's disease and a lung infection, according to the Xinhua news agency. Robert talks with Mary Kay Magistad about how the news was disseminated and received in China. (3:30)

    • Ted Clark talks about the ups and downs in the political career and life of Chinese Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping. He shepherded the country from the disastrous consequences of Mao Zedong 's collectivist policies to the developing market-oriented economy of today's China. (8:45)

    • Robert talks to David Welna about the arrest of Mexico's top anti-drug official on charges that he was working with the country's top drug cartel. Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo is the highest-ranking Mexican official accused of drug-related wrongdoing. (4:00)

    • Richard Harris reports on new research suggesting that plants communicate with one another using chemicals that float through the air. A report in the journal Nature suggests that plants infected with a virus produce a chemical that can waft to uninfected plants and help them guard against infection. Scientists don't know to what extent this happens in gardens, fields and meadows. (3:45)

    • Noah talks to the executive at Orion Pictures in charge of international marketing of movies... and several foreign buyers. International sales account for a tremendous chunk of the Hollywood money chest - with foreign buyers contributing early on in the movie making process. It appears that people all over the world are as obsessed with the American dream as we are. (10:00)

    • Noah talks about the history of Hollywood, and how it became the center of American movie-making. The unique climate of California...and the quality and duration of the light there...had a lot to do with the establishment of the industry in that region. (2:30)

    • Mandalit Del Barco reports that there is a move afoot to restore Hollywood to the grandeur of its gracious past - and eliminate the somewhat seedy enterprises that have taken over the area in recent years. (7:45)

    • Nina Totenberg reports that the Supreme Court today struck down as unconstitutional an order by a federal judge that established a movable buffer zone around clients and employees of two New York state abortion clinics. This zone was established to protect them from protestors. The justices said the so-called "floating buffer zones" violated the protestors' freedom of speech, but they also reiterated their support of stationary buffer zones around abortion clinics. Nina also talks with Robert about arguments the Court heard today in a case dealing with the constitutionality of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Act says the government cannot limit a person's religious freedom without a compelling government interest. (8:30)

    • Noah talks with Don Gonyea about the end of the 19-month-long strike at Detroit's two daily newspapers. The papers accepted an unconditional back-to-work offer made by union locals last week. (3:30)

    • Silicon Graphics, one of the nation's premier computer makers, is admitting that it may have been duped into selling supercomputers to a Russian laboratory that designs nuclear weapons. Edward McCracken, the chairman of Silicon Graphics, says his company "made some serious judgemental errors" when it shipped two small supercomputer systems to Russia. The U.S. Attorney's office in San Jose, CA. has opened an investigation. John McChesney reports. (2:40)

    • Robert talks with Pete Early, author of Confessions Of A Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames. Early is a former Washington Post reporter who interviewed CIA and KGB officials about Ames. Ames also granted Early secret interviews from prison. Early says he believes Ames "gave up" 25 American agents to the Soviets. Ten of them were killed and several are still missing. (5:00)

    • Noah talks to two of Hollywood's best pitchmen. They're the people who go to the men who control the studios' money and try to sell ideas to be made into motion pictures and television shows. They say that the idea is to convince these executives that their ideas are sure to become the next blockbuster. (12:30)

    • Noah talks to the sound men designing the way the lava in two new movies will sound. They created the sound for the movies "Dante's Peak," which is already in theatres, and the forthcoming "Volcano." It turns out the lava you may hear at a theatre near you could contain everything from slithering snakes to spaghetti sauce. (8:00)