Monkeys Attack in India

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ALISON STEWART, host:

Thanks for listening to THE BRYANT PARK PROJECT from NPR News.

You know, they're not always the top stories, but we know you'd hate to miss them: the news of the weird, the news off the back page - we call it the Ramble.

(Soundbite of music)

STEWART: I don't know why I love the story so much, but I do.

LUKE BURBANK, host:

Yeah, and you do.

STEWART: This is the headline - one of many - monkey terror in the Indian capital. A monkey went on a rampage in the Indian capital of New Delhi. Now, this sounds sort of funny until you realize the monkey injured more than two dozen people - many of them women and children.

Part of the problem is that the forestation around the capital has been cut down and the monkeys are just running in the streets. The police say that they are not experts in dealing with the monkeys. We can deal with mad bulls, but monkeys are more difficult - that's actually a quote from the local police. This story actually has a serious side to it.

BURBANK: I wonder if that's on the application when you're trying to be a policeman there. There's probably going to be mad bulls, and a good chance of monkeys.

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: Well, this issue is really very serious because monkeys actually kills a local city official and one of the other issues is that monkeys are treated as descendants of the Hindu monkey god, so they're often fed by devotees at Hindu temples. So they are a - there's a dual issue here going on.

RACHEL MARTIN, host:

It's a love-hate relationship with the monkeys.

STEWART: Crazy monkeys.

MARTIN: Yeah. Okay, remember a couple of weeks ago, I think it was, when we were talking about Dennis Kucinich…

BURBANK: Yeah.

MARTIN: …who kind of got called out on seeing a UFO during presidential debates and…

STEWART: I'm still sore about that.

MARTIN: …Alison defended him?

(Soundbite of laughter)

MARTIN: Well, there could be some vindication for Kucinich. Apparently yesterday, two dozen former pilots and government officials were at the National Press Club to call on the U.S. government to reopen its UFO investigations, citing some safety and security concerns. And these panelists recounted their own UFO sightings and investigations, and they used 9/11. They said 9/11 was a reason why it's no longer okay to just ignore radar data, which can't be associated with existing aircraft and helicopters. And there's apparently something else to that and they want more information.

BURBANK: Of all the groups that I would not expect - I would not have imagined would sort of use 9/11, you know, how, like, the Des Moines Public Library…

STEWART: Sure.

BURBANK: …when they wanted a new security system - they would say, well, 9/11, you know.

STEWART: Nine-eleven…

BURBANK: I wouldn't think that the UFO enthusiasts would be using that as a way to, you know, get more attention, but…

STEWART: Yeah, well.

BURBANK: Good for them.

STEWART: This is a story that's sort of sad and sort of sweet at the same time. Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court Justice, you know, she retired because her husband had Alzheimer's disease. Sometimes he would actually come to the court with her. But it became more severe and he had to be - he had to start living in a facility.

Well, apparently, according to an Arizona TV station, the O'Connor's son, Scott, told the station that his father has found a new romance in his - where he lives now. And that's quite common with Alzheimer's patients because they only have sort of selected memory.

MARTIN: Yeah.

STEWART: And that his mother is just really happy for him because he's at peace, he's happy for the first time in a long time. They've had some very, very tough years. So I think that's quite a story of love.

BURBANK: You've got to give it up to Sandra Day O'Connor. She talked about having a mastectomy at one point, she - and this is, you know, obviously, wouldn't have gone out if she didn't allow it.

STEWART: Yeah.

BURBANK: I mean, she is a, you know, pretty open book for someone who's a former member of the Supreme Court…

STEWART: Yeah. Starchy and…

BURBANK: …where they're all so private and starchy.

STEWART: Yeah.

BURBANK: So, well, good luck to them that's, obviously, something really tough to go through.

Well, speaking of…

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: Make the turn from…

BURBANK: …things that are tough - tough to watch, anyway. Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo has launched his first television ad in Iowa. And it makes a few tough statements about Tancredo's view. Here, take a listen.

(Soundbite of Tom Tancredo's television advertisement)

Representative TOM TANCREDO (Republican, Colorado): Hi. I'm Tom Tancredo, and I approve this message because someone needs to say it.

Unidentified Man: There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who've come to take our jobs. Islamic terrorists now freely roam U.S. soil. Jihadists who fought with hate - here to do as they have in London, Spain and Russia. The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill.

(Soundbite of explosion)

STEWART: Oh. What?

STEWART: That's real, isn't it?

BURBANK: That is a - yeah it's apparently a real ad.

STEWART: It's a real ad.

BURBANK: And what you did not get, radio friends, were the pictures that were flashing across the screen. If you saw this ad on TV - images of bloody children - I guess the viewer is to believe those are victims of terrorist attacks. That bomb at the end is accompanied by an image of a lonely backpack by a bench in a crowded shopping center.

STEWART: Oh, Iowans, I'm so sorry you have to be - have this happen to you during political season.

BURBANK: I know.

STEWART: Maybe they should not just turn on their TVs. And not just about this ad…

BURBANK: It is…

STEWART: …about all political advertising.

BURBANK: Right. It is like a total - you know, I used to go to Iowa a lot around this time of year…

STEWART: Yup.

BURBANK: …and it is, like, every single second of every local TV channel is filled with all these weird ads.

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