July 2002

Movie Trailer
Commentator Adam Pertman has two adopted children. He took them to a movie and they saw a preview for a film called The Country Bears, in which a bear is adopted as a child by a human family. Pertman says it's not funny to use adoption as a vehicle for comedy. (3:15)

The Westward
The sailing ship Westward has been crewed by college students in the Sea Education Association program for 31 years. It's home port is Woods Hole, Mass. This month, the Westward and her crew returned from her last voyage as a teaching ship. Commentator Kate Schrepfer says the Westward is being retired and will be sold this summer. (3:00)

Barneyfife.com
Commentator Chris Norris examines his -- and America's -- fascination with Don Knotts. A church has structured its teachings around Andy Griffith Show plots involving Knotts' character, Barney. And Norris thinks there may be something to the Fife aura. (3:40)

A Leaky Cabinet
Various newspapers have been reporting on the development of plans for an invasion of Iraq. Based upon leaks from the Pentagon and the White House, we have heard some reports suggesting a massive land, air, and sea invasion, others suggesting covert aid to foster an internal uprising. Still other reports suggest a bold attempt to go directly to Baghdad. In a rare moment in his life as a journalist, NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr asks those officials leaking all the various and sundry invasion plans to just keep it to themselves. (2:45)
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Punk Essay
Commentator Crispin Sartwell reflects on his eleven-year-old son's new interest in punk music and its message. (3:00)

Country Music
Commentator Marion Winik says she has come to grips with the country music that's providing the soundtrack to her life. (4:30)

Longplayer
Commentator Janna Levin reflects on the concept of time, and a song written by a man named Jim Feiner called "Longplayer." It's actually an algorithm that generates a song intended to last a thousand years. (3:45)

Janna Levin is author of How The Universe Got Its Spots, published by Princeton University Press.

Soul for Sale On eBay
Reflecting on the story that a man had put his soul for sale on eBay, Andrei Codrescu ponders the value of the soul through religious and literary history. (3:00)

Power of the Purse
President Bush has been pushing Congress to approve his plan for a Department of Homeland Security that would cede to the White House a great deal of authority on budgetary and personnel matters. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the push to pass the legislation before Sept. 11 may force Congress to hand over powers that it has historically been unwilling to surrender. (2:30)

Galveston Plan
County workers in Galveston, Texas, opted out of Social Security 20 years ago, in favor of personal retirement accounts. These accounts are conservatively managed, but workers in Galveston are retiring with approximately twice the money they would have received under Social Security. Commentator Merrill Matthews explains how it works, and suggests it offers a model for Social Security reform. (3:15)

The Mad Aunt
Commentator Elissa Ely, a psychiatrist in Massachusetts, tells the story of her aunt who, as she grows older, grows meaner and meanders into the sad world of dementia. (2:00)

Mr. Lee
For nine months, Commentator Joe Wright worked on a research study that looked at the ways patients use the emergency room. It was his job to interview the patients and, though it's not good form for scientists and doctors to speak of miracles, he hoped for their improbable recoveries. (3:30)

The Anti-Terrorism President
Recent polling data show President Bush to be as popular as ever but also indicate that the American public simply doesn't have faith in his administration to do the right thing when it comes to the economy. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that, under such circumstances, it is natural that the president should feel more comfortable in his role as war leader than as the leader of the domestic economy. (3:00)

Jukebox
Commentator George O'Brien remembers the first jukebox installed in his home town of Lismore, Ireland. (3:30)

Surfing
Commentator Louise Rafkin has tried to catch a few waves this summer -- but she isn't sure it's worth it. (3:30)

Bush - Middle East
On June 24, President Bush unequivocally declared a need for new Palestinian leadership. U.S. allies have voiced opposition to the Bush statement, arguing that it is only for the Palestinians to decide who they want as a leader. According to NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr, in the face of this opposition, the Bush administration may be starting to equivocate. (3:00)
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Stock-O-Meter
Commentator James Poniewozik says he noticed that stock prices seemed to respond immediately, and usually negatively, to President Bush's recent televised speeches. Poniewozik is the TV critic for Time magazine. (2:45)

Identity Crisis
Mikel Jolet, 27, has come to the realization that his carefully planned nonconformist look is not original and that he belongs to a crowd that tries not to be part of the crowd, but is an identifiable type, nonetheless. (3:00)

Business Connections
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr reminisces about the old game show What's My Line? and comes up with a new twist for the business-friendly Bush administration. Play along at home as Dan quizzes listeners on the links between various cabinet members and their respective corporations. (2:30)

Urban Neighborhood
Commentator Desiree Cooper tells the story of one house in a Detroit neighborhood that goes from a fashionable white enclave -- to victim of white flight -- to integrated professional community. (3:45)

Burt Bacharach
Mr. Mack is a patient at the hospital where commentator Elissa Ely works. For years he regularly makes requests of the staff. One of those requests was to bring Burt Bacharach in to perform for the patients. Elissa imagines the concert. (3:30)

Ted Williams Satire
Satirists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin concoct a commercial that could be used to market DNA from the late baseball star, Ted Williams. There are reports week that the reason Williams' son wanted to freeze his dad was to someday sell the slugger's DNA. Kluger & Slavin take it a step further and include Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth DNA. (2:00)

AIDS Work
The world AIDS conference is underway in Barcelona this week. These big AIDS conferences are held every two years, and commentator Joe Wright was at the one in Geneva in 1998. But this year, he's in Washington D.C., getting ready to start medical school. He says that, in his AIDS work, he's had two different kinds of jobs. In some, he's worked with populations -- in others, he's been focused on people. (4:00)

Bush's Balancing Act
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that President Bush is working a delicate balance as he tries to castigate unscrupulous business executives while keeping his own business-friendly image. (3:00)

Finish This Battle
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr warns that insensitivity in Afghanistan could thwart efforts to establish a strong relationship for the future. (2:30)

First Nationally Televised Political Convention
Commentator and former CBS Anchorman Walter Cronkite tells the story behind his initial experience as a TV network anchorman. It happened in 1952 in Chicago at the first-ever nationally televised convention. That was the Republican convention. Later that summer, Cronkite handled the same chore at the Democratic session. Although he'd never attended a political convention, or done national TV, he was a hit. (12:30)

You've Been Warned
Commentator Tom Bodett offers a humorous take on domestic security issues such as barking dogs and paper cuts. (2:45)

Summer Camp
Commentator Katie Davis spent part of her summer last year running a camp for inner city children. She plans to return this summer armed with a year of experience. (8:00)

Surviving a Threat
People in Las Vegas were on alert during the July 4 holiday because the FBI warned that a cell phone conversation in Arabic had been overheard, discussing the city as a target. Commentator David Figler says if you give into fears from threats like this, the terrorists win. And in Las Vegas, nobody wins but the casino owners. (2:30)

Sheep Run
Commentator Nancy Coons lives in France, where every summer in the country's southeast, shepherds lead their flocks 100 miles into the Alps, to higher and greener pastures. (3:45)

Independence Day Firesign Theater
The radio comics known as the "Firesign Theater" bring us some surreal humor for the Fourth of July, 2002. (7:30)

Pledge of Allegiance
Following the recent Federal Appeals Court decision that the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance, when recited in public schools, violates the Constitution, commentator and sixth grade teacher Daniel Ferri reflects on the reciting of the pledge in his own classroom. (4:00)

Saudi Princess
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says despite U.S. law and broad moralizing about the mistreatment of women in Arab countries, the U.S. government has been almost complicit in allowing Princess Buniah al-Saud, niece to Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, to escape serious punishment for pushing her former servant down a flight of stairs. (2:30)

Islam Needs a Roger Williams
For all the talk about the "root causes" of Islamic fundamentalism, commentator Joseph Loconte thinks the most important one is the failure to separate religion from national government. Islam, he says, could use a Roger Williams -- the 17th century Puritan reformer who argued that the best way to protect faith is to separate church and state. (3:00)

People of Color
Commentator Leon Wynter reflects on the term "people of color." He says the phrase should be retired. (4:00)

The Wall
Writer Peter Freundlich reflects on the despair beyond the notion of Israel building a wall along the West Bank. Freundlich points to the history of walls, and the sad irony of a people once terribly walled in who now must resort to a wall. (3:00)

Smart Aleck Nation
According to commentator Daniel Ferri, businesses need to be watched the way 7th grade students are. You need to monitor them, or things such as the Enron scandal happen. (2:30)

Pulling the Plug On Peacekeeping
In a U.N. Security Council meeting on Sunday, the United States vetoed a resolution that would have extended the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. The United States had concerns that U.S. peacekeepers would be subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which commences operations today. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr finds this new example of U.S. unilateralism to be at odds with the Bush administration's push for international unity in fighting the war against terrorism. (2:30)

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