AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Well, if you're dusting off some of your well-worn New Year's resolutions, one of them might be to get a little bit more reading done this year. And if you're feeling ambitious, perhaps you're eyeing a book club, there are, of course, as many kinds of book clubs as there are books. And choosing books that will please enough people to have a rousing debate is a tricky business.
So, as you begin to cull the lists for your own book club, we've invited NPR's Lynn Neary to help out. She covers all things books for NPR. Welcome, Lynn.
LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Good to be here.
CORNISH: So, first let's set the ground rules. What makes a good book club book?
NEARY: I don't think there's any one rule for that, and I think it depends completely on the group of people who get together and decide to call themselves a book club, because it will be their tastes coming together. For instance, I love fiction, so I'm in a book club that mostly reads fiction - literary fiction as opposed to genre fiction. I guess the one rule might be you want a book that will provoke some discussion.
Usually when everybody totally agrees on the book, sometimes those may be are the least interesting sessions that you have, even though the book is great. Doesn't mean the book is not great. Just means perhaps they're not great books for provoking discussion.
CORNISH: Now, let's get down to business for 2012. What are some of your suggestions for books that'll be good for debate or will be good for wine drinking...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: ...or whatever you do in your book club?
NEARY: Well, of course, Ann Patchett's newest book, her latest novel "State of Wonder," it's almost a perfect book club book because it's beautifully written. It takes the reader on a journey into the Amazon. But at the same time, it raises some really interesting ethical issues about how far does one go with the medical research. Because at the heart of this book, and at the heart of the mystery of this book, is a medical research project that's going on in the Amazon.
And it only given away, but the two central figures are very interesting women. And I'll just leave it at that.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: You don't want to say more. But yet women, a drug company, the Amazon, you have me...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: ...basically with that. Another book that you've got is a work of historical fiction. And this one is by Geraldine Brooks. It's called "Caleb's Crossing."
NEARY: This is a book that's about the early years of Harvard. And I thought, do I really care about the early years of Harvard.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: It's about the first Native American scholar at Harvard. Correct?
NEARY: Right, that's what it's about and how that person got there. And also, Geraldine Brooks is Australian. She, as a young girl in Australia, had a pen-pal in Martha's Vineyard. So she has this really strong connection to Martha's Vineyard, and I think it really comes out in the writing of this book; how much he loves the island and is fascinated by the history. And there's this great relationship between this young Colonial girl - this wild Colonial girl and this young Native American who she calls Caleb.
They had this great friendship and they grow up together. And eventually they both end up in Cambridge doing very different things. She is an indentured servant and he is a student at Harvard. And it's very sad.
CORNISH: Lastly, you have a book about a young sniper in World War I called "The Sojourn." Tell me about it.
NEARY: Yeah. This is this young sniper goes through terrible experiences, starting with being pretty cold about point-blank killing people. And then eventually ends up in the infantry and really gets caught up in the muck of the war. This is, again, another great historical novel. It gives your a really great sense of what Europe and particularly the Balkans were like before World War I, and how everything changed after that. This young man's life changes completely. And it's really wonderfully written. It was nominated for a National Book Award.
CORNISH: Oh, OK. Well, you've given us a lot of good stuff to work with the start then.
NEARY: Well, happy reading.
CORNISH: Lynn Neary is NPR's book correspondent. Thanks so much Lynn.
NEARY: Oh, you're welcome.
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In Peru, people have been lining up to see something many thought they'd never see - a collection of antiquities from the Inca site of Machu Picchu. The objects spent the last 100 years from the Andes Mountains at Yale University in Connecticut. And they've been at the center of a long-running international custody battle. Diane Orson of member station WNPR reports.
RICHARD BURGER: We're actually on top of an Inca palace.
DIANE ORSON, BYLINE: Yale anthropology Professor Richard Burger is standing in the courtyard of a museum in Cuzco, Peru. It's an historic building that sits on a foundation of ancient Inca stone walls.
BURGER: The Inca who built this palace was the son of Pachacutec or Pachacuti, as he's sometimes called. And Pachacuti was responsible for building Machu Picchu. So in some way, the materials are returning to the son of the builder of Machu Picchu. It's like bringing back the family goods.
ORSON: For nearly 30 years, Burger was in charge of those goods. Yale is returning thousands of ceramics, jewelry and human bones from the Peabody Museum in New Haven back here to the International Center for the Study of Machu Picchu and Inca Culture. The objects were excavated between 1912 and 1915 by Yale explorer Hiram Bingham III. They left Peru under a special governmental decree.
SHARON FLESCHER: The Machu Picchu situation and dispute was really fundamentally different from other repatriation issues.
ORSON: Sharon Flescher is the executive director of the International Foundation for Art Research, which helps track looted antiquities. She says unlike many art and artifact disputes, this one was not about stolen goods.
FLESCHER: They were never allegedly taken in violation of patrimony laws, or clandestinely dug up. This was really much more of a contractual dispute.
ORSON: Peruvian officials contended that the materials were loaned to Yale for research. After World War I, the university returned some of the artifacts, but argued that under the laws of the day the school could keep the rest. Over time, Peru's demands grew louder. Machu Picchu is an iconic place for the Peruvian people, and the idea of bones and artifacts from Peru being held in the U.S. took on a powerful symbolism. Finally, in 2008, Peru's government filed a lawsuit against Yale. Negotiations intensified, and among the things that helped move the process out of the courts was a letter written by Yale alumni urging their alma mater to return the artifacts. Peruvian historian Mariana Mould de Pease.
MARIANA MOULD DE PEASE: I have always put aside going through the legal way because it's so expensive. We have to make thanks to the alumni of Yale in getting this matter where it has to be, in the academic world.
ORSON: The dispute was resolved through two separate agreements. The first, between Yale and the Peruvian government, established that the university would return all of the objects by the end of 2012. The second established a partnership between Yale and the San Antonio Abad University in Cuzco to share stewardship of the collection. The schools will also collaborate on academic research. Keeping the antiquities in a scholarly setting was key, says David Bingham, grandson of the explorer who found them.
DAVID BINGHAM: To leave it just to the political system in Peru would be worrisome because it is so uncertain. Whereas the universities in Peru are as old as the universities in the United States.
ORSON: Sharon Flescher of the International Foundation for Art Research says the focus is back where it should be - on the collection.
FLESCHER: The settlement itself shifts the emphasis from the ownership of the objects - whether it's Peru or Yale - to stewardship and preservation and research and exhibition.
ORSON: She says this story that's unfolded over 100 years, during a time of tremendous shifts in attitudes toward cultural patrimony.
FLESCHER: Whether they're the Mediterranean countries with Greek and Roman classical objects, whether they're the Latin countries with Aztec, Mayan and Inca ruins, the current trend seems to be leaning towards the source countries and helping them reclaim objects that were taken when they had less power.
ORSON: Back in Cuzco, professors from both schools met to inaugurate the new museum. Among them was Oscar Paredes, who teaches social sciences at the university in Cuzco.
OSCAR PAREDES: (Spanish spoken)
ORSON: He says Peruvian professors are finally on equal footing with their Yale counterparts. And now, everyday Peruvians will able to see historic relics many have never seen before. And so will the hundreds of thousands of tourists who pass through Cuzco each year to visit the terraced stone ruins of Machu Picchu. For NPR News, I'm Diane Orson.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
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In eastern Oregon, Native American tribes are holding their traditional New Year's ceremonies, which begin at the time of the winter solstice. Anna King of the Northwest News Network visited the Umatilla Tribe and has this report on the ceremony, which welcomes to the year's new foods.
ANNA KING, BYLINE: Armand Minthorn is a spiritual leader of the tribes that live on the Umatilla reservation on the dry side of Oregon. The celebration is called kimtee inmewit.
ARMAND MINTHORN: This goes back to when the world was new. And the first food that was created was a salmon we call nusux.
KING: Minthorn explains that the Indian New Year is the time to celebrate the return of the sacred foods.
MINTHORN: The second food was a deer, and we call a deer nukt.
KING: These foods will come back to the Indian people as the sunlight hours begin to stretch again.
MINTHORN: The third is the bitter root we call sliiton.
KING: To honor these sacred foods, the tribe sings, drums, dances, prays and shares a meal together at the longhouse.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
KING: In the community kitchen, some elder women prepare meat stew and Indian fry bread. Lynn Sue Jones is tiny with a soft, round face. She kneads a mass of tacky bread dough to a loose rhythm.
LYNN SUE JONES: We can be able to face our demons and take care of our health a little bit better. And I'm glad I'll be able to see another year, to begin with.
KING: Lynn Sue Jones is 62. She is taking on new responsibilities this year - raising two granddaughters, three and five.
JONES: I just want to ask the creator to give me the strength to do right by them. You know, I want to teach them the longhouse way.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN SINGING)
KING: The tribe's children sing to the elders during the community meal. Lynn Sue Jones's sister, Linda Jones, listens nearby as she stretches small balls of dough. She flattens each one, then floats them in sizzling oil.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIZZLING)
KING: Tribal elder Linda Jones teaches younger women and girls how to gather the traditional foods for the tribes. Every year, she goes out to the mountains and bluffs to harvest the wild celery, bitter roots and huckleberries. Jones says the foods are sacred because they nourish the people but also:
LINDA JONES: When our elders pass on and go back to the ground, this is how they come back to take care of us in these foods.
KING: Some of Linda's long, long hair is silver. She worries not enough young people are living the tribe's traditions. Sometimes, she has to gather the sacred food alone.
JONES: Everything is passed by word of mouth and that's how we were brought up and that's how we do things. Whoever will listen. It ends up coming down to that, who's going to listen.
KING: Jones hopes to kindle enough interests in the ancestor's teachings so the Umatilla tribes have enough hands to bring in the sacred foods this year and in the years to come. For NPR News, I'm Anna King in Mission, Oregon.
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The food trends of 2011 included high-end food trucks and gourmet versions of everything from hot dogs to Twinkies. So, what lies ahead for 2012? WEEKEND EDITION food commentator Bonny Wolf has a few ideas.
BONNY WOLF, BYLINE: There's a new vocabulary: authentic, craft, small-batch, artisanal, rustic and, of course, local. It's the opposite of processed, mass produced and factory farmed. What might be called urban neo-ruralism has apartment dwellers canning tomatoes, keeping bees, churning butter. The small farmer is the new gastronomic super hero, sourced on restaurant menus. Independent butcher shops are opening across the country with unfamiliar cuts like Denver steak, petite tender, flat iron. Expect more specialty meats, too - bison, elk, goat, rabbit. Whole pigs and whole fish are prepared in restaurants, and there's more interest in nose-to-tail dining where no piece of the animal goes to waste. Think internal organs - and bone marrow. It's being smoked, tossed with pasta, served with tamarind sauce. Bars, too, are speaking the language of authenticity. Local craft distilleries are making small batches of bourbon, rye, vodka, gin and bitters. There are absinthe and mezcal bars. Modern moonshine is also on the ascendency. If it's made legally, it's called white dog or white whiskey. Like the hooch made in unlicensed stills, it's raw, un-aged corn whiskey. Can you get more authentic? Look forward to even more attention to detail in food and drink. There are micro-roasters of organic coffee where each cup is individually brewed. There's even craft ice. One New York bar freezes 300-pound blocks of ice - free of impurities and bubbles - and it's someone's job to harvest the ice. The international flavor of the moment is Nordic. A few years ago, a group of Scandinavian chefs signed a culinary manifesto promoting purity, simplicity, freshness and ethics. The most famous practitioner is Rene Redzepi who runs Noma in Copenhagen, just named the best restaurant in the world. His staff forages in the woods, and the menu includes such things as sorrel granita, muskox, pork skin and chicken skin, accents of hay, pine, moss and juniper. For dessert? Jerusalem artichoke ice cream. Savory ice creams should be popular this year, too. When New York Magazine asked Redzepi what he thought of the so-called new Nordic cuisine, he said he thought it should be called regional authentic cuisine, like I said.
CORNISH: Bonny Wolf is working on a book about the foods of Maryland's Eastern Shore. This is NPR News.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
The meaning of all kinds of cultural traditions can get lost in translation. Reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro unearthed the story behind one in this report on holiday foods in the Haitian community.
ARI DANIEL SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Nine years ago on New Year's Day, David Gunther faced a mini-epidemic. He's a family doctor, and at his old job in Somerville, just north of Boston, many of his patients were from Haiti.
DR. DAVID GUNTHER: Ten or 12 patients all complained of pretty similar symptoms - belly pains. They weren't terribly ill, but it was clear that there was some kind of a pattern.
SHAPIRO: Gunther almost alerted the Department of Public Health to this mild GI outbreak. But then, one of those patients with the stomach trouble figured out what was going on.
GUNTHER: And she explained that most likely they were all suffering from the same problem: stomach upset related to eating too much of a holiday soup.
SHAPIRO: So, nothing infectious - just a squash soup overdose.
MARIE ROMELUS: Yeah, we eat a lot of it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: That's Marie Romelus.
ROMELUS: I'm from Haiti.
SHAPIRO: In her cozy kitchen in Somerville, she pulls out a hefty stainless steel pot. In two days, it'll be brimming with her squash soup.
ROMELUS: In Creole, they call it soup joumou.
SHAPIRO: During France's rule of Haiti, this soup was off limits to the slaves.
ROMELUS: Because we were in slavery, so the commander never let the slave have the soup. The soup was considered superior. The slave were considered as a little lower class. So, when we get our independence, we were free to have soup.
SHAPIRO: Haiti gained its independence on January 1, 1804, and so Haitians now eat soup joumou every New Year's Day. It's orange and it's a mix of squash, potatoes and meat. Romelus likes to add some spaghetti to hers.
ROMELUS: It's really energetic. Like, it's a combination of everything. If you taste it, you will like it also.
SHAPIRO: Romelus eats the soup four times on New Year's Day, and that's not as often as some. She thinks that overeating may have caused the GI outbreak at the clinic nine years ago.
ROMELUS: You have to space yourself, not to eat everything at once, you know?
SHAPIRO: So, when you eat it, what does it make you think about?
ROMELUS: Whenever I eat it, I always think about my great-grandfather. They used to be in slavery. So, I feel like I am free. And when you have the soup, you really feel full.
SHAPIRO: Full of freedom. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel Shapiro.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: This is NPR News.
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Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams has been just as prolific, churning out some 20 albums in the last 10 years, taking off in new creative directions each time. But as much as he was admired for his music, his hard partying, battles with labels and band mates and journalists got attention as well. Now, sober, recovered from health problems and fresh off a two-year break from music, Adams is back on tour with tunes from his latest album, "Ashes & Fire."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASHES & FIRE")
RYAN ADAMS: (Singing) Where he stared past...
CORNISH: I asked him about the sound of the title track - we're hearing it now - which I think has a bluesy, country feel. But I figured I'm just biased from having lived in Nashville. He agreed - about the bias anyway.
ADAMS: Everybody that spent time in Nashville has a story. (Unintelligible) gets that out of you. I wanted it to sort of musically and sonically feel like the feeling you get when you're sort of overheated in the car and you're driving someplace in the summer and the windows are down but it's still very warm. I think somehow that idea ended up permeating into the themes in some of the other songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASHES & FIRE")
ADAMS: (Singing) And the wind was suddenly sweeter than Roosevelt pine. The windows broke out and the cigarette smoke drifted by...
CORNISH: I'm curious about your writing style. I read that you work on a typewriter. Is that true...
ADAMS: Yeah.
CORNISH: ...for some of your lyrics? And is it usually lyrics first, then instrumentation or the opposite? Sort of how do the songs come to you?
ADAMS: They're definitely isn't a structure anymore about how I get ideas. A lot of times I'll just write down a phrase or I'll have an idea that's attached to just a few chords. Other times, it's work. I go to my office in L.A. and there's this thing I do. And it's this game that I play with myself. It's really bizarre to explain this but it's called stacks. And there's a bunch of books on the left and there's a bunch of books on the right and there are very different kinds of books. And then there's me in the middle with my feelings. And I do this weird research where I sort of read lines from books on the left and then I read lines from books in the right until something strikes an emotional chord in me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASHES & FIRE")
CORNISH: The thing that you do so well in your writing is make it sound intimate and almost journal-like. I feel like I'm learning something about you, the songwriter. When I think of a song like "Save Me," that feels very personal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAVE ME")
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAVE ME")
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAVE ME")
CORNISH: I had read that you had taken a break from doing music, I think around 2009, due to health problems. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what made you hit the pause button.
ADAMS: I have been struggling with a hearing issue for a long time and I didn't know what it was. Part of it was due to too much volume and because I had already had this genetic thing of basically of the inner ear canal in my left ear, it sort of blew up, I guess. And the stress of what was happening was all caused by this thing called Meniere's Disease, where you feel, the symptoms are you feel nauseous and dizzy. But also there's extreme tinnitus, which is like a car alarm that's just outside of, like, your bedroom on the street but 24 hours a day. And then it's at different volumes and frequencies.
CORNISH: What did this mean for a songwriter as prolific as you are? I mean, did you just stop music?
ADAMS: There were nights I just couldn't hear. It's middle tones too. So, what's interesting is I could hear the bass, lower frequencies, and I could hear the very high stuff but I couldn't hear the middle and I couldn't hear my own voice. It got to the place where I just thought I have to stop and just basically for six months slept.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: What was it like getting back to your music after that period? How does this affect the kind of music that you make or the sound of it, I guess is really the question?
ADAMS: Well, I think one of the things that I realized was that the ear stuff and the struggles that I was having, they were all meant to be because I think I just ended up in this place where by the time I could play again all I wanted to do was play acoustic guitar. And then I wanted to write songs that were basically, they were beautiful on their own. They didn't need any accompaniment.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCKS")
CORNISH: When I was reading interviews from the last couple of years, I have to admit, I got kind of nervous.
ADAMS: Yeah, I'm really sorry. Yeah.
CORNISH: And I wasn't sure, you know, like, how it would be. And I think that the thing that's most fascinating is you just seem so comfortable on who you are.
ADAMS: That makes me really happy. I think I had some weird times. I was very earnest and very lost guy for a long time. I've hopefully come out the other end of the spectrum.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCKS")
CORNISH: Is there a song on the album that is very meaningful for you, either it was a challenge in creating it or that brings you a lot of joy to perform?
ADAMS: Hmm. I'm still blown away playing "Dirty Rain." I go to a different place in my mind when I play it. It's unbelievable. And the way that it all kind of flows together, it just kind of carries me along with it. And even if it's not a good song, 'cause I can't know because I made it, just being in it physically is so awesome. It's one of those tunes, like, you wait five or ten years and you find one of two or those and you're like, oh, that's what I was waiting for.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIRTY RAIN")
CORNISH: Ryan Adams joined me in the studio. His new album, "Ashes & Fire," is out now and he's currently on tour. Ryan Adams, thanks so much for taking the time to come in.
ADAMS: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIRTY RAIN")
CORNISH: Ryan Adams performed two songs from the album, plus a cover of his favorite metal tune, here in our studios. To hear them, go to our website, NPRMusic.org. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish saying so long for now. For the next year, national security correspondent Rachel Martin will be sitting in this chair while I move to our daily program, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, for the 2012 election season. It's been an honor and a pleasure sharing Sunday mornings with you. All the best in the New Year from all of us at NPR.
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The economic problems in Europe and the United States have young, highly-trained workers from those places looking for opportunities elsewhere. One country that's been luring them is Brazil. Foreign fortune-hunters say there's plenty of opportunity in Brazil, even if the country is finally feeling the ill affects of the global economic downturn.
NPR's Juan Forero has the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATION AS MUSICIANS PREPARE A SONG)
JUAN FORERO, BYLINE: David Bailey has a talent for music.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATION AND MUSIC)
FORERO: Playing piano as he and his roommates prepare for a party in Rio de Janeiro.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FORERO: They're all foreigners: from France, Switzerland, Spain, and all of them are here for work. Bailey is 28 and from the U.K. And aside from the piano, he has a talent for business. But he decided to leave London, where many of his friends are jobless, and come here to Brazil. Bailey says Brazil's fun, sunny and has a strong culture of music.
DAVID BAILEY: On then on the other hand, it's a place, one of the few places actually, where the economy is growing and there are significant opportunities.
FORERO: He's raised the capital and is now starting up a website to take advantage of Brazilians' growing fondness for ordering out. Diners to peruse menus online and place their order - common in the U.S., but not here in Rio.
BAILEY: Well, you know what? The market is actually really big. Instead of people using the telephone to make their orders, they're going to use the Internet increasingly more.
FORERO: As Brazil's economy grew in recent years, work authorizations for foreigners rose fast. And the unemployment rate is 6 percent with companies finding it hard filling top-end jobs, from engineers to financial experts to executives. Manolo Ferreres from economically troubled Spain says people from his country know this trend all too well.
MANOLO FERRERES: There's a lack, a clear lack of qualified people between 30 years old and 40 years old. And you can see that because there's no unemployment for that profile of professionals, there's no unemployment. And the complete opposite situation is what's happening in Spain. The complete opposite.
FORERO: John Murray is an American who's been here nearly 50 years. The manager of the executive head-hunting firm Boyden, Murray knows better than most what expatriate workers dream of.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
FORERO: In 1963, he came here to export coffee for A&P. He remembers arriving on a cargo ship. He recalls hand-cranked phones and an economy that was coffee-based. It was an uncertain land of opportunity then and he says there are still problems, like Brazil's notorious red tape. But Murray also says Brazil has been transformed.
JOHN MURRAY: Things are still happening here. There is a feeling especially for a young executive that he can come down here, either starting with a job and eventually becoming an entrepreneur. Many times they don't see the negatives, which are also here, but right now Brazil just looks very, very rosy.
FORERO: Jon Rosenthal, formerly an up-and-comer on Wall Street, acknowledges that the economy is suddenly flat because of the global downturn. But the 31-year-old New Yorker also knows that the 4 percent growth the government is forecasting for 2012 is still good by European standards.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FORERO: On a recent day, he relaxed with a coffee just off Faria Lima - the Wall Street of Sao Paulo, the country's economic engine. Rosenthal explains that he had to be here, a city where he could learn about the fast-growing companies on Brazil's stock exchange. It was vital for his start-up, a hedge fund called Newfoundland Capital Management.
JON ROSENTHAL: These developed-world cities are static relative to what we're seeing around here in Brazil. The investment opportunities here, the overall morale of the investment community here definitely inspires a lot of excitement and confidence.
FORERO: He says it's like living at a time when Rome is being built. Juan Forero, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
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You might have noticed that this year we brought you a whole lot more Latin music. That's because throughout the year, we've been hanging out with our friends Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd. They host the online music show called Alt.Latino on NPR Music. Today, they're going to look us up with the artists they're most excited about for 2012.
Jasmine and Felix, welcome back to the program.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: Thank you very much.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Thank you for having us.
CORNISH: So what are the trend predictions for 2012?
GARSD: I'm going to give you three predictions. My first is that it's going to be a really interesting year for Latin rappers. My second prediction is that it's also going to be a great year, as you'll see from the artists we brought for you today, for songstresses. And I also bet that it's going to be a very politically-charged musical year. A lot of the records I'm getting in the mail to review already, which are records that are going to come out in 2012, very politically-strong records.
CORNISH: And I understand you brought actually an album to premiere.
GARSD: Yes, we have Carla Morrison, which is one of our favorites songstresses that really powerful ballads.
CONTRERAS: You know, a few years ago I was at South by Southwest and Carla Morrison's manager gave me this CD. And I didn't know her at all. And I remember going back to my hotel room and putting it in my laptop. And the sound just floated out like a mist.
GARSD: She generally had a very kind of a mix of doo-wop and kind of wall of sound girl groups. This is a song called "Dejenme Llorar" or "Let Me Cry."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEJENME LLORAR")
CORNISH: All right. Well, next it looks like it's going to be a very good year for women based on the next group you're bringing us.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: Right? We've got a band.
CONTRERAS: It's the band called Y La Bamba. They're from Portland, Oregon. And they're interesting. They put an Indie rock background but a strong - another strong vocalist in Luz Elena Mendoza.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MICHOACAN")
CONTRERAS: She knocked me out again. Maybe it's these voices. If voice stands out to me, I'm just a sucker for it, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CONTRERAS: You know? Luz Elena is from - really from San Francisco, from a traditional Mexican-American family in the Bay Area. And she lives up in Portland, Oregon. And she's part of the Indie rock seen there. But what she's doing with this stuff is kind of going back to her Mexican root. This is a new album - we're sort of cheating - it doesn't come out till the end of February. But I think its very strongest work yet.
CORNISH: All right. And, Jasmine, you promised me some rap. Right?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: You said that was going to be another trend. So, what have you brought in that genre?
GARSD: We've talked about the Panamanian, by way of Oakland, rap duo Los Rakas. And one of their members, Raka Dun, is going to be releasing his first solo album called "Afro Latino." This is the song "Sueno Americano" or "American Dream."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUENO AMERICANO")
CORNISH: This is a little bit harder than what we heard from them before?
GARSD: Yes. Traditionally, in that duo, Raka Dun kind of brings the harder voice. And the other half, Raka Rich, kind of softens it. Raka Dun has this very - I always call it like a machine gun style of rapping. He just goes fast, fast, fast, fast. What I've heard so far sounds wonderful. And I think - I don't know if it'll be a big year for Latin rap, but it'll be an interesting year for Latin rap.
You have (unintelligible) Treces from Puerto Rico. They're starting to work on some of their first English language rap songs, which I'm interested. I'm holding my breath for that.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GARSD: And then you're going to have this release. Los Rakas has been poised to really re-invent Latin rap for some time now. Hopefully, 2012 will be their year.
CORNISH: All right. So, how do you two want to wrap it up? What's the last recommendation going into 2012?
CONTRERAS: More rap up with Ana Tijoux from Chile.
CORNISH: Ah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESCLASIFICADO")
CORNISH: So, it's not so easy for women rappers in the States. So talk a little bit about this artist and sort of what the prospects are for her breaking through.
GARSD: As far as Ana Tijoux goes, she's been incredibly successful in the Latin alternative market. She's been very well received here in the United States. I mentioned that it's going to be a very political year for Latin music. This is, I think, even more political than her last album, "1977." She's talking a lot about social inequalities, about the education protests that have really been ripping her native Chile apart.
And I think this is an album, again, that's poised to re-establish what Latin rap is.
CONTRERAS: And this new album that she has coming out, from what I've heard so far, there's a lot more to it than just hip-hop beats and sampled music. There's orchestration. There's all these different elements. And I think that that's really going to push this album to the next level for her.
CORNISH: All right. Well, we're looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing if these predictions are going to come true.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CONTRERAS: Oh-oh.
GARSD: Oh, no. Uh-oh.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd host the online music show Alt. Latino at NPR.org/altlatino. Thank you both.
CONTRERAS: Thank you.
GARSD: Thanks for having us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESCLASIFICADO")
CORNISH: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. Happy New Year, I'm Audie Cornish.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish. And it's time now for the puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: Let's start with last week's challenge from the puzzle editor of the New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master Will Shortz.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Name an occupation in nine letters. It's an entertainer, but an unusual one, but a kind that everyone knows. Drop the third letter of the name and read the result backward. You'll get two four-letter words that are exact opposites of each other. What are they?
CORNISH: More than 300 of you figured out the answer. And our randomly selected winner this week is Mitch Handelsman from Denver, Colorado, who joins us by smartphone app, actually, so we have a nice clear line. Congratulations, Mitch.
MITCH HANDELSMAN: Thank you, Audie.
CORNISH: And Happy New Year.
HANDELSMAN: Thank you. And Happy New Year to you.
CORNISH: So, Mitch, what was the answer to last week's challenge.
HANDELSMAN: The occupation was daredevil. And if you drop out that R and then read backwards you get live and dead.
CORNISH: And what do you do there in Denver, Mitch?
HANDELSMAN: I teach psychology. I'm a professor at the University of Colorado at Denver.
CORNISH: Which could be helpful in puzzle solving, I'm hoping, somehow.
HANDELSMAN: I'm hoping. I can use all the help I can get.
CORNISH: Well, we're going to welcome next puzzle master Will Shortz. Happy New Year, Will.
SHORTZ: Happy New Year, Audie.
CORNISH: So, I hear you have a special puzzle for us on New Year's.
SHORTZ: Well, you know, at the start of every year for many years now I've done a names in the news quiz. And today I'm going to name some people that you probably never heard of before 2011 but who became famous during the past 12 months. And I'd just like you to tell me why they're famous. And as in the past, I'd like to credit Cathy Baker and Tim Goodman who helped me with this. They were past contestants on year-end quizzes.
CORNISH: All right, Will. Take it away.
SHORTZ: All right. Here's your first one: Kim Jong Un.
HANDELSMAN: He's the new North Korean leader.
SHORTZ: That's correct. Taking over from the late Kim Jong Il. Gilad Shalit. That's G-I-L-A-D S-H-A-L-I-T, Gilad Shalit.
HANDELSMAN: I'm stuck.
CORNISH: This is fairly recent news, Mitch. And it's from overseas.
HANDELSMAN: OK. And I'm thinking it might have something to do with the Arab Spring?
CORNISH: You are at least within the region now.
HANDELSMAN: OK.
SHORTZ: Hold that thought for later.
HANDELSMAN: OK. OK.
SHORTZ: Go ahead, Audie.
CORNISH: Gilad Shalit is the Israeli soldier who was released from captivity, right, in exchange for...
SHORTZ: That's correct.
CORNISH: ...many, many Palestinians.
SHORTZ: For 1,027 Palestinians. Good. Here's your next one. Mohammed Bouazizi, and the last name is spelled B-O-U-A-Z-I-Z-I. Mohammed Bouazizi.
HANDELSMAN: Now, is this the Arab Spring?
SHORTZ: Yes. And specifically.
HANDELSMAN: Was he the person who started it with...
SHORTZ: That is correct. He was a Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation martyrdom triggered the Arab Spring and led to the overthrow of the Tunisian government. OK. Your next one comes with a hint. This person did something twice this year that proved to be very embarrassing. And the name is Harold Camping.
CORNISH: There are so many people who could have fit that description.
SHORTZ: Oh. It sounds like I'm going to have to tell both of you.
HANDELSMAN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: OK. You don't know, Audie?
CORNISH: Wait. Can we get any hints first?
SHORTZ: Ah, well, let's see. What can I tell you? OK. He is a Christian radio broadcaster. All right. I'm just going to tell you. He predicted the end of the world twice. First in May, and when the date passed without the world ending, the recalculated and figured out it was going to be in October.
CORNISH: How can I forget that guy?
SHORTZ: All right. How about this: Kris Humphries, Kris Humphries - and the first name is K-R-I-S.
HANDELSMAN: I'm going to need at least a hint on that one.
CORNISH: No, Mitch, no. You've got this one. The spelling is with a K.
HANDELSMAN: So, is...
SHORTZ: It is a male Kris and he married somebody.
CORNISH: Who also, their name begins with a K.
HANDELSMAN: Did he marry a Kardashian?
SHORTZ: Kim Kardashian. Good job. They were married for 72 days. OK. Your last two have just single names, and the first one is Watson.
HANDELSMAN: Oh, that was the computer that played "Jeopardy!"
SHORTZ: That's right. And won on "Jeopardy!" Beat the human champions. And your last one is Siri S-I-R-I. And you of all people should get this, considering what you're playing on today.
HANDELSMAN: Oh, it's the new iPhone.
SHORTZ: It's the new intelligence software system for the iPhone that answers questions for you. Nice job.
CORNISH: Well, Mitch, for playing our puzzle today, you're going to get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel in as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at NPR.org/Puzzle. And, Mitch, which public radio station do you listen to?
HANDELSMAN: I'm a member of KCFR in Denver.
CORNISH: Mitch Handelsman, thanks so much for playing the puzzle this week.
HANDELSMAN: Thank you, Audie. Happy New Year.
CORNISH: So, Will, what's our first puzzle challenge for 2012?
SHORTZ: Yes. Name certain scores in a certain sport. And this is a two-word phrase with a total of 10 letters - five letters in each word. If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all the letters to name a different sport, also in two words - six letters in the first word, four in the second. What are the scores and what is the sport?
SHORTZ: So again, certain scores in a certain sport, two-word phrase - 5/5. If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all 10 letters to name a different sport in 6/4. What are the scores and what is the sport?
CORNISH: Well, when you have the answer, go to our website, NPR.org/puzzle and click on the Submit Your Answer link - just one entry per person, please. And our deadline for entries is Thursday, January 5th at 3 P.M. Eastern Time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. If you're the winner we'll give you a call, and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle-master, Will Shortz.
And, Will, this is my last on-air puzzle with you for awhile.
SHORTZ: I understand. It's so sad. You've been great. I'm looking forward to your return.
CORNISH: Well, I will tell the next host, Rachel Martin, to keep her Number 2 pencil sharpened.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: That's good advice.
CORNISH: Thanks, Will.
SHORTZ: Thanks a lot, Audie.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Mitt Romney's staffers might have had another reason to get down. The latest poll from Iowa's Des Moines Register has Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the lead with 24 percent. But Congressman Ron Paul is a very close second at 22 percent. Followed by Senator Rick Santorum, whose late surge has put him at 15 percent.
NPR's national political correspondent Don Gonyea spent yesterday with Romney on the road.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: You put a lot of miles on your rental car when you're covering the Iowa caucuses. And right now, we're a little over three hours outside of Des Moines in the northwestern corner of the state. This is the city of Le Mars, Iowa. A sign just told us this is the Ice Cream Capital of the World. I don't know what that has to do with this story, but it's just one of those things you learn when you're on the road. We're here looking for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
And right here's the Family Table Restaurant. That's where we should find our candidate.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: They're packed in. I
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You all, I'm so sorry, this is all full. If you go behind that rope right there...
MITT ROMNEY: Oh, look at this. You think we can fit in a few more people? What do you think?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROMNEY: Hi, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Fine, thank you.
ROMNEY: Hi, how are you?
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: Romney then takes the mic, and...
ROMNEY: It's nice to be here again, I got to tell you. It's not just because this is such a lovely corner of Iowa. It's also because it's the Ice Cream Capital of the World. And I...
GONYEA: Local color aside, this speech, like all Romney campaign speeches, is about President Obama.
ROMNEY: This is an election to decide whether we're going to go further and further down the path of becoming more and more similar to a European welfare state, or whether instead we're going to remain an exceptional nation.
GONYEA: And there's a nod to Ronald Reagan style eloquence.
ROMNEY: Well, I don't want to do what the president said: Fundamentally transform America. I don't want to turn us into something we're not. I want to bring back the principles that made us the hope of the Earth. We are still a shining city on a hill.
GONYEA: Romney did make some news at the restaurant, regarding the DREAM Act, A bill that would create a path to citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, An audience member asked him about it.
ROMNEY: The question is: If I were elected and if were Congress were to pass the DREAM Act, would I veto it? And the answer is yes.
GONYEA: Romney then went on to detail his plan to reduce illegal immigration.
ROMNEY: And secure the border with a fence, make sure we have enough border patrol agents to secure that fence, and I will also crack down on employers who hire people who are here illegally.
GONYEA: Many Iowa Republicans still have misgivings about Romney, He gets just one-in-four likely caucus goers in the latest poll. They don't like the health care law he signed as governor and its mandate. There are suspicions about his social conservative credentials and about his Mormon faith. None of these came up yesterday. The audience, which included still undecided voters, was friendly.
Le Mars Mayor Dick Kirchoff was at the restaurant. He has not endorsed a candidate but says this of Romney:
MAYOR DICK KIRCHOFF: To me, he's a very honest individual. To me, he's got a plan on how to turn things around and that's important in my world.
GONYEA: Seventy-six-year-old retired engineer Bud Withrow says he's only a reluctant Romney supporter; it's more a product of his dissatisfaction with the rest of the field,
BUD WITHROW: I will go ahead and sign up, take my paper to vote, and I will vote for Mitt Romney. But I feel uneasy about it.
GONYEA: By now, the candidate is back outside.
ROMNEY: Thanks you, guys. thank you. Bye-bye. Take care. Bye-bye.
GONYEA: He boards his bus and rolls off to the next stop, Sioux City.
Don Gonyea, NPR News.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Four hundred and 30 years ago, Pope Gregory XIII gave the West a calendar, which divided 365 days into what was to be called a year. With 12 months and seven days bundled into so-called weeks, the Gregorian calendar was hailed as a marvel of medieval accuracy. We use it today, despite its occasional messiness - drifting days, leap years and 28-day months. But now some researchers at Johns Hopkins University have devised a different way to count our days with a leap week every few years to keep the calendar on track. Holidays, like Christmas and New Year's Day, would always fall on a Sunday. It seems neat and streamlined for our modern age, except maybe to those of us who work on Sundays.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: You're listening to NPR News.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish. It's been only three days since the funeral for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and in that time his son, Kim Jong Un has been bestowed with the title supreme leader and elevated to the rank of supreme commander of the North Korean army. But with North Korean pledging to defend its new leader unto death, at the same time it's issuing a series of scathing attacks on the government of South Korea, it looks like the new leadership is ringing in the year with the same old politics. NPR's Mike Shuster has more from Seoul.
MIKE SHUSTER, BYLINE: Sea of fire is one of the favorite phrases of North Korean propagandists. Sure enough, it popped up over the weekend in the comments of a television anchor in Pyongyang rejecting any change in policy towards South Korea and its conservative president, Lee Myung-bak.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Through Translator) We will never be associated with leaning back government. It's a disgrace for the innocent and good people of DPRK to be associated with leaning back government. Our military and our people's bloody tears will follow the puppeted traitor until the end. And it will form a sea of fire which will burn them up, leaving nothing.
SHUSTER: DPRK stands for the formal name of the North Korean state, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. For its part, the South Korean government has acted calmly since Kim Jong Il died on December 17th, dismissing any talk of a crisis. The comments of Choi Bo-sun, the spokesman for South Korea's unification ministry, were typical.
CHOI BO-SUN: (Through Translator) With the DPRK leader's death, uncertainty on the Korean peninsula increased a lot. So, we will watch the changed situation cautiously and we will respond promptly with flexibility and initiative to any changes on the peninsula.
SHUSTER: South Korean President Lee released a New Year's statement late Saturday night. It did not even mention North Korea. North Korea also released a New Year's statement asserting that the whole nation stands ready to defend its new leader. But that statement also emphasized the need to focus on North Korea's economic problems, including the burning issue, in its words, of food shortages. Throughout this mourning period, North Korea has not mentioned its relations with the United States at all. But in the weeks before Kim's death, the United States and North Korea held four sets of meetings to discuss restarting nuclear negotiations, the human rights situation in North Korea and the possibility of food aid. That was progress, says Evans Revere, a former State Department expert on Korea.
EVANS REVERE: The United States, I don't think, has changed its policy at all in terms of dealing with the North. But I think it would be fair to say that the North has changed its approach in dealing with the United States and that the shift that we've seen in North Korea in terms of being willing to sit down with the United States and to talk about the possibility of accepting a range of American preconditions in order for talks to start, those things reflect a shift in North Korea, a willingness to engage that is primarily driven, in my view, by economic necessity.
SHUSTER: The new leadership in Pyongyang has not disavowed these contacts nor has it publicly signaled its embrace of them. Evans Revere says the best approach is to wait and see.
REVERE: And not jump to any conclusions that the change that we saw in the aftermath of the death of Kim Jong Il is going to result in provocations or a breakdown in dialogue or a great turnabout in policy. Those things might happen but there's certainly no indication at this point.
SHUSTER: For now, North Korea has turned more inward. The first priority appears to be: cement the nation's loyalty to the callow young man who will continue the rule of the Kims. His grandfather, Kim Il Sung, led North Korea for 46 years. His father, Kim Jong Il, for 17. At 28 or 29, he could conceivably lead North Korea for 40 or 50 years. That may be what some in Pyongyang are most focused on with all the sea of fire talk and defending the new leader to the death, laying the groundwork for a possible century-long Kim dynasty. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Seoul.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
2011 was a year of protests across the Middle East and North Africa. Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt ousted long-ruling dictatorships and each of those countries is now in the process of rebuilding their government. During the protests and in the weeks and months after each uprising, women were visible, fighting not just for the rights of their country but in many cases for rights of their own. But amid the recent images of an Egyptian woman stripped down to her bra and beaten by military police in Tahrir Square, there is some anxiety that the overthrow of these governments may not be all good news for women. Isabel Coleman is the director of the women and foreign policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations. She joins us from New York. Welcome, Isabel.
ISABEL COLEMAN: Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: Now, you recently wrote an article for Foreign Policy magazine entitled "Is Arab Spring Bad for Women?" That raises questions about whether women were better off before the ouster of some of these dictators. Do you believe they were?
COLEMAN: Well, it - look, it's a provocative headline, which I'm all for provocative headlines. Personally, I think that men and women are better off under freer societies. But it does raise some interesting issues about women's rights because democracy in that part of the world, as we've already seen, is bringing to the forefront Islamic parties. And many of these Islamic parties do have very conservative notions about women and their role in society. And it will create complications for women and could, in some case, roll back rights that women already enjoy.
CORNISH: Of course, each country's situation is unique. And are there instances where women are faring better than their Arab counterparts elsewhere; and why is that?
COLEMAN: Well, Tunisia has always been at the forefront of women and women's rights in the Arab world. Ennahda, which is the leading Islamist party, won a plurality of votes and has earned the right to form a government. But they've been very careful to acknowledge that women's rights are a fact of life in Tunisia. It's been part of the fabric of society for decades in that country. Tunisia was the first country in 1956 to grant women many rights that women in the West didn't even have at that time. You saw women have access to even abortion in Tunisia years before they had legal access to that in other countries in the West. And although there are conservative elements within Ennahda and, of course, within other Islamist parties in Tunisia that would like to see, I think, some of the existing laws that are to the benefit of women rolled back in that country, Ennahda itself has say we're not going to do that. We're not going to change the laws as they relate to women.
CORNISH: So, how is that different from, say, an Egypt where in the first round of elections you do see strong performance from Islamist parties who are eyeing a rollback in some ways for women's rights?
COLEMAN: In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has got the majority of the votes among Islamist parties that got the most votes. But the next in line is Al Nour, which is a Salafi party, which is very, very conservative. They were required to have women on their party lists, but they spoke out against that and said it's against Islam for women to run for office. They did field female candidates because they were required to do so, but the women who ran on their party lists didn't even show their face. They replaced their photographs with a picture of a flower in most cases.
CORNISH: One thing that interests me about your article is you pointed out this idea that there has been a complex relationship between sort of pro-women's movements in countries like Egypt and the previous regimes.
COLEMAN: Well, that's another complicated factor. These previous, you know, deeply-discredited illegitimate regimes from before - Ben Ali in Tunisia; Mubarak in Egypt - that the women's rights agenda was co-opted by those regimes and was closely associated with the first ladies in both of these countries. And today, you know, you see a bit of a backlash against that. In Egypt, you have groups claiming that the laws that are in place that are to the benefit of women today that deal with personal status laws - things like marriage, divorce, custody, things that touch people's everyday lives - you've heard people saying that they need to be rolled back, need to be changed because they are, quote, "Suzanne Mubarak's laws" and therefore illegitimate.
CORNISH: Isabel, many may think that this is the first time in history that women are so publicly standing up for their rights in the region. But, of course, there's a long history of women fighting for political freedoms, and can you talk about how this revolution and the role for women in this revolution differs from the Arab feminists of the past?
COLEMAN: Women marched in Tahrir Square back in 1919, 1920 against the British. They were very instrumental in bringing out, you know, the crowds against the British. And what is different today though, I think, is you see much more of a mass mobilization of women. You have much higher levels of education and engagement of women. Across the region now, women make up a majority of college graduates. And in some countries, it's not by a small amount, it's by a large amount. In Libya, for example, women almost double the number of men at the university level. It's a very different situation than 100 years ago where you had just a small elite group of women who were out protesting and being activists. You know, today, you see it up and down throughout society. And women are engaged both physically - marching in the streets, they're engaged as bloggers, they're engaged in all different ways in the unrest that's going on. And it's a genie that I don't think can be put back in that bottle.
CORNISH: Isabel Coleman. She's with the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of "Paradise beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East." Isabel, thanks so much for being with us.
COLEMAN: Thank you for having me.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish. One of the biggest political question marks going into 2012 is the fate of the Affordable Health Care for America Act. This upcoming spring, in the midst of the campaign season, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments about whether or not the heart of the new law, the regulation mandating that all citizens have health insurance, is constitutional. In the meantime, some states are working on implementing some of the law's other provisions while other states who oppose it are adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Plus, there are some new laws that people are already getting used to. Here to help us sort out what 2012 has in store for the health laws is Noam Levey. He's a health reporter for the L.A. Times and he joins us in our studios here in Washington. Welcome.
NOAM LEVEY: Thank you.
CORNISH: So, this was supposed to be the year that Republicans were going to repeal health care or delay the health care. What ended up happening with the health care regulations in 2011?
LEVEY: Well, there was a lot of sound of fury at the beginning of the year. When the Republican Congress came in, there were votes actually to repeal the whole thing, throw it out and then a promise to develop a replacement. None of that really happened. There was a vote - and it passed the House; it didn't pass the Senate; never got to the president's desk. And there's been a real slowdown actually on the Hill in coming up with potential replacements. So, we're sort of kind of in a wait-and-see mode, I think, right now on that. And a lot's going to depend in that case on the 2012 presidential election. I think a lot of people believe if there's a Republican president and Republicans control both the House and Senate, that the guts of the law will be thrown to the curb.
CORNISH: And in the meantime, some of the provisions of the law did start to take effect in 2011, correct?
LEVEY: There are two big ones so far, I think, that probably have had the most impact, one of which is quite surprising. When the law was signed, one of the early benefits that President Obama and Democrats were looking forward to offering Americans was the ability for adult dependent children, up to age 26, to stay on their parent's health plans - the so-called slacker benefit. And it turns out that more than two and a half million young people have remained on their parent's health plan, surprising a lot of people that it would be that big. The other benefit which has come in early is some additional help for senior citizens on Medicare to help them buy their prescription drugs by closing the so-called doughnut hole. About two and a half, three million people a year are benefiting from that as well. The really big benefits, though, are still a couple of years away.
CORNISH: For 2012, it seems like the biggest to-do for health care is the Supreme Court, right? What's going on there?
LEVEY: That's right. The Supreme Court in November decided that they would consider this law. They're going to hear arguments in March over the course of several days, and we expect a decision from them some time later in the spring. The big issue before the court is the one that's been roiling courts around the country is the mandate, and whether or not Congress has the authority to require Americans to buy a product - in this case health insurance - is sort of at the top of the issues that the court will decide. And then two smaller issues which the court has taken up as well which have not gotten as much attention; one of which is a requirement in the law that states expand their Medicaid program for low-income Americans to help guarantee universal coverage in 2014. And then a potentially very consequential issue called severability. And what that is, essentially, if you throw the mandate out can the rest of the law survive?
CORNISH: If the Supreme Court were to toss out the mandate, can you give us any scenarios? What are the other aspects of the law that might kind of come apart as a result?
LEVEY: Well, you know, one of the primary promised benefits of the law was that everybody would be able to get insurance; that if you were sick, if you had cancer, if you had heart disease, you could go to an insurance company and say I want to buy a health insurance policy.
CORNISH: And they couldn't turn you down.
LEVEY: And they couldn't turn you down, nor could they cut you off if you got sick.
CORNISH: And that this would help pay for the whole thing in a way, the fact that everybody being in it would sort of help with the costs, correct?
LEVEY: Exactly. I mean, the principle of insurance is that if everybody's in the pool then it becomes more affordable because risk is spread. So, if you don't require people to get insurance, there's a concern that you have no incentive to sign up when you're healthy so only the sick people sign up. If only the sick people sign up and you can sign up basically on the way to the hospital, you're not going to buy insurance. That's going to make insurance a lot more expensive for everybody.
CORNISH: Given the health care changes that did kind of come online in 2011, did any of them save taxpayers money and is there any indication or signs that any of this legislation or any of these regulations will do so in 2012?
LEVEY: Well, that's the $64,000 question, or maybe it's the two and a half trillion dollar question for...
CORNISH: Right. Hopefully, a little bit more than that.
LEVEY: ...for our health care system. I think it's possibly too early to tell. There's some indication that some of the benefits that are promised by the law are having the opposite effect of in fact pushing up costs. But I think there's also some indications that some of the more underlying reforms in the way that health care's delivered by getting doctors and hospitals to work together more closely, to use information technology more efficiently, that some of those may, may have the seeds of cost saving in the future. But I think everybody realizes that no matter what the Supreme Court does next year that's a long-term project in order to make sure that costs don't continue to spiral up and out of control.
CORNISH: Noam Levey. He's a health reporter for the L.A. Times and he spoke to us in our studios here in Washington. Thank you so much.
LEVEY: Thank you.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish.
Even though seven Republican presidential candidates ushered in the New Year, a new poll by the Des Moines Register in Iowa makes it look like a three-person race. We'll fill you in on the latest shuffle of front-runners in a moment. But first, how did the Republicans candidates spend New Year's Eve?
So we sent NPR's Sonari Glinton to find out.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Before we begin, let's check off the candidate who weren't in Iowa. Ron Paul's campaign says he was spending the holiday in Texas. Jon Huntsman was in New Hampshire campaigning. There was Mitt Romney.
MITT ROMNEY: I look at the website to see what's going on in Des Moines on New Year's Eve. And there's a celebration of the music of the Doors at a place called - is it the Brickyard, I think? So we'll see whether we go there or whether we just hang out in the lobby of the hotel. Not sure yet.
GLINTON: And while the former Massachusetts governor wrapped his day on a bus, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum traveled by pick-up truck, which he took on the trail to Ottumwa, Iowa.
RICK SANTORUM: I know of candidates come through and say, well, we - that they need your help. They're lying. I need you help.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GLINTON: And recent polls show he's been getting that help. But what were his plans for the New Year?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SANTORUM: Just going to be with my kids.
GLINTON: The candidates kept a pretty low profile once the clock struck 12. Michele Bachmann staff said the congresswoman was spending the holiday with her family. We heard rumors of a private Rick Perry party, though we couldn't confirm.
The closest we came to a candidate celebrating was this:
(SOUNDBITE OF A PARTY)
GLINTON: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney staffers used the same downtown Des Moines hotel lobby to ring in the New Year. Neither candidate showed up, but Newt Gingrich's wife did make a cameo.
It turns out the real party wasn't with the candidates. Several Iowa Republican power brokers got their groove on at what was called the Raucous Before the Caucus.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "BRICKHOUSE")
GLINTON: And yes there was some electric (unintelligible).
GOVERNOR TERRY BRANSTAD: The benefit of the caucus, I'll be very open and honest with you, is we're first.
GLINTON: That's the governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad.
BRANSTAD: It's pretty hard to get a reservation anywhere in the capitol city tonight, and I think a lot of places in Iowa have certainly benefitted by all the attention.
GLINTON: In addition to the governor there was another Republican power broker, ringing in the New Year.
REPRESENTATIVE STEVE KING: Sure, I'm Congressman Steve King. I represent Iowa's Fifth District which is the western third of Iowa.
GLINTON: King has been called the king maker because of the pull he has with conservatives in Iowa, but so far the candidates have not impressed him.
KING: None of them in my mind, yes, have emerged with the vision to take America to the next level of our destiny. And that troubles me.
GLINTON: According to recent polls, King isn't the only one unconvinced. More than a third of likely caucus goers say they could still change their minds.
Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Des Moines.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
While all focus on has been on the future of the White House, the fate of the Senate hangs in the balance of 2012, as well. In the last election, Republicans ate into enough of the Democrats' majority to put the kibosh on much of the Obama administration's agenda in the Senate. This time around, the GOP only needs a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate.
Here to talk about which states are in play is Jennifer Duffy. She's the senior editor for The Cook Political Report.
Jennifer, welcome to the program.
JENNIFER DUFFY: Thanks, Audie. Happy to be here.
CORNISH: So Jennifer, there are more than two dozen Senate races in 2012, but realistically what number of those are actually competitive?
DUFFY: Right, there are 33 Senate races on the ballot in 2012. Today, I'd say 10 are truly competitive. But that's a list I expect to grow between now and November.
CORNISH: And I want to start with Republicans because they seem to have a shorter list to defend than the Democrats. Which state - or which seats are they worried about?
DUFFY: Well, I think there are two that they're most concerned about. One is Scott Brown in Massachusetts. And, as you know, he was elected in a special election in 2010...
CORNISH: Right, the original Tea Party victory.
DUFFY: Exactly, is quite an upset surprise. But because Massachusetts is such a democratic state and it is a presidential year, Republicans are very concerned about that. Democrats also got a very good opponent in Elizabeth Warren, who was sort of the overseer of Wall Street reform for the Obama administration, and a Harvard law professor.
The other seat they're very worried about is in Nevada. Nevada has to be one of three or four ultimate swing states.
CORNISH: Now on to Democrats. Of course, they have a much larger number of seats to protect, and it seems like they're in danger of losing several off the bat. I know a lot of people are looking at Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska; his seat, since he decided not to seek a third term. That, right away, that's a soft target for Republicans.
DUFFY: Oh, absolutely. And right now, it's a seat that they are poised to win. The next one I think would be North Dakota. North Dakota in 2010 became one of the most Republican states in the country. Republicans gained significant ground there at every level. And in a presidential year, in a state that has grown that Republican, I think Democrats again are going to be hard-pressed to keep that seat.
CORNISH: And there's a couple things like that in states - I'd say Missouri, Virginia - states where there's been changes demographically or they've been considered swing states, and now Republicans are eyeing them again, right, for 2012?
DUFFY: Well, absolutely. I mean I think that there are a couple of Senate races that are probably going to be, you know, decided almost as the presidential race is decided.
CORNISH: Jennifer, this list is so long for Democrats - seats for them to defend and protect or hold on to. I mean what exactly do Republicans need to do then?
DUFFY: Well, Republicans are going to try and expand the Democratic list to make it a little bit longer than the eight seats it is. But what Democrats are going to have to do is take that small Republican field and try and put more seats on the board. We talked about Massachusetts and Nevada, but they are now pinning their hopes on making the open seat in Arizona, for example, a race; hoping that, you know, Hispanic voters turn out in force and help their candidate.
They'd also like to make Indiana a pivotal race and put that into the toss-up column. Senator Richard Lugar, who has held that seat, you know, since the 1980, has a Tea Party primary. And Democrats are hoping that this Tea Party candidate is successful and ousts him. If that happens you might be looking at another target for Democrats.
CORNISH: Jennifer, right now, which side is feeling more confident about actually getting or maintaining the majority, and should they be?
DUFFY: Well, it's interesting. You know, Democrats, over the past few weeks have become more confident. They feel like they have good recruits, especially in their open seats, which are their most vulnerable. Republicans have from day one been cautiously optimistic. They know that they have to do well in a lot of these states. They also know that even if they win the majority it's going to be a slim one - 51, 52 seats. And, you know, in the Senate you may have the majority but you don't have control until you're at or near 60 seats.
CORNISH: Jennifer Duffy is a senior editor at The Cook Political Report. Jennifer, thanks so much for coming in to talk to us.
DUFFY: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: You're listening to NPR News.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
The debt crisis in Europe meant a rough year as countries tried to come to grips with high unemployment and austerity plans. France is facing the threat of a ratings downgrade. But still, many people there are looking ahead to the New Year with optimism, and a certain historical confidence that they'll find their way through the crisis.
Eleanor Beardsley has this report from a village in the heart of Burgundy.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH BELLS)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: The Medieval town of Semur en Auxois has always been lucky. Eight hundred years ago, the Dukes of Burgundy lavished money and attention on what was then an important center of their kingdom. Today, while many surrounding factory towns are depressed, Semur en Auxois is alive with tourists drawn by cultural festivities and the town's splendid cathedral, fortified towers and well-preserved ramparts. At this time of year the village is dressed in its holiday finery.
But the lights and pealing church bells still aren't enough to cheer up retired notary Marc Francois.
MARC FRANCOIS: (Through Translator) France is finished. We've been declining for 30 years and I'm not optimistic. I used to regret not having children, but now with the future we have in sight, I'm glad I did not.
BEARDSLEY: But others don't share Francois' pessimism.
(SOUNDBITE OF NAYING HORSE)
BEARDSLEY: Stephanie Saparito's children are enjoying free pony rides through Semur's cobbled streets. Saparito says her life has been wonderful since she left the Paris suburbs for Semur 10 years ago.
STEPHANIE SAPARITO: (Through Translator) Life is beautiful with kids. I'm optimistic. I love Semur and there's not the stress of Paris out here in the lovely countryside.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BEARDSLEY: Two thousand eleven might not have been the best of years. But this time of year is always magical in Semur, say the people swaying to the beat of this street band. Residents of Semur say they also take comfort in the town's long and rich past.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH ORGAN MUSIC)
BEARDSLEY: Semur is layered with history. Inside Medieval Notre Dame de Semur, the organ plays majestically above a stained glass window paying tribute to the American Doughboys who fought in French trenches during World War I. And not far from Semur lies the battlefield where Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, was defeated by the army of Julius Caesar in 52 BC.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATION AND A CREAKING DOOR)
BEARDSLEY: Just across from the church, Francoise Blanc owns the lighting store her parents opened in 1940. She says Semur has seen a lot worse than an economic crisis.
FRANCOISE BLANC: (Through Translator) The Germans occupied the village during the Second World War. They lived right there in the center of town. But we were in the country, so we never went hungry. My grandfather would get food at farms nearby.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATION AND SIZZLING)
BEARDSLEY: Today in the center of town, candy makers stir up a sizzling pot of butter and caramel to pour over almonds and peanuts. Semur residents, known as Semurois, gather around to sample and buy.
Nurse Christelle Bailly says everything's going to be all right.
CHRISTELLE BAILLY: (Foreign language spoken)
BEARDSLEY: People are a little worried about making ends meet but I'm optimistic, she says. Bailly says the Semurois will cut back a little and tighten their belts, but we'll survive, she says, we always have.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Semur en Auxois, France.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Cautious optimism is about all eurozone countries could muster for the 10 year anniversary of their shared currency, after months of worry over whether the euro would truly survive. When the euro launched its first banknotes and coins 10 years ago, it was amid fireworks and celebration. This year, a more modest approach. The European Central Bank is issuing a new, two-euro coin, a sort of brass and nickel birthday card for the euro.
According to the bank's website, the coin, quote, "symbolizes the way in which the euro has become a true global player over the past 10 years." Etched on its face is a family of four representing ordinary people; a ship representing commerce, a factory representing industry; and a wind power station representing energy.
Euro coins have provided a steady outlet for the artistically inclined since their launch, especially since individual eurozone members can issue them. The Greeks minted a coin celebrating the Athens Olympic Games. Slovenia issued a two-euro coin to mark the 200th anniversary of the Botanical Garden in Ljubljana. The Vatican City's coins have featured the pope - first John Paul, and now Benedict. In 2005, Spain paid tribute to a national icon of fiction, Don Quixote, on the 4th centenary of Cervantes' famous novel.
And a special design in 2007 marked half a century since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which created the original European Economic Community and laid the groundwork for today's struggling eurozone.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish. And in this part of the program, we're going to talk to writers at the top of their game. In the world of music, Ryan Adams has been one of the most prolific balladeers on the road. We'll hear from him in a moment. But first, screenwriter John Logan. You'll be forgiven for not knowing his face, but you're bound to recognize the names he's helped bring to the silver screen.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE MONTAGE)
CORNISH: "Gladiator," "The Aviator," and last year's "Rango," "Hugo," "Coriolanus." And soon Bond - that's James Bond. Logan helped write the next Bond installment. For "Coriolanus," based on the Shakespearian drama, he kept one fact in mind while writing.
JOHN LOGAN: "Coriolanus" has been around for 400 years and it's going to be around for another 400 years and nothing I can do is going to mess it up. So, going into it, I felt sort of very free to look at it as a filmmaker does. And "Coriolanus" is Shakespeare's second-longest play, only...
CORNISH: And we should say it's sort of a political drama about a general in Rome who sort of falls from grace.
LOGAN: Yes, and has a very intense relationship with his mother. So, you know, there's a psychosexual, neurotic, domestic core to it. That is really what the heart of the play is, I think. And, you know, any adaptation - and I've done three in my career. I did "Sweeney Todd" and "Hugo" and "Coriolanus." It's important to find what makes it a movie as opposed to just a film presentation of a stage play.
CORNISH: And we have a great example of that. There's this scene where there are essentially talking head, TV pundits, talking about the main character.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "CORIOLANUS")
CORNISH: Easily recognizable language in an election year, I would think - the language that you took from the roles of sort of citizens of the play.
LOGAN: Right. Yeah, I mean, all through he was trying to find modern parallels. And it just seemed evident that if Shakespeare were writing today, I think he would take advantage of cell phones and talking heads on TV and radio in every possible way to show the political media interface.
CORNISH: John, you started as a playwright in Chicago, right? And what's the difference between writing for the stage and writing for the screen to you?
LOGAN: Cinema is a visual language and you're always looking for visual metaphors for things. You know, if I was writing a play about Howard Hughes, I could have him give a monologue about how he's terrified to touch a doorknob. But on screen, you know, working with Marty Scorsese in "The Aviator," that became the series of images that told a story. So, for me, although I wake up, you know, whether I'm writing a play or a movie with the same job, which is to write lines for actors and to write scenes that inspire directors and producers and designers, mostly I think what I'm thinking and sort of cinematically I'm thinking visually in terms of sweep and spectacle and trying to find a little nuanced observational objective details you can show an audience.
CORNISH: The biggest criticism that you hear about the movies these days, I feel like, is that a script will be written by a committee. What exactly does that mean in a realistic term, and what does that look like on a practical level?
LOGAN: Realistically, it's the great truism that screenwriters are fungible, that at the end of the day a studio is not going to want to fire a movie star. And they're really not going to want to fire a star director because the director has the hand on the tiller of a ship. So, in a nervous-making situation, big movies are very nervous-making because there's so much money at stake that frequently a fallback position is, well, let's bring in a new writer, let's bring in a fresh voice. And someone else comes in, you know.
CORNISH: And they call him a script doctor, right?
LOGAN: And sometimes they're script doctors and sometimes they are just other writers. You just learn to take pride in your work to realize you're part of a team. And if you want to be something that's not part of a team then write a novel, you know, or paint a picture. Being a dramatist means collaborating with other people. The job definition is you hand your work over to actors and directors and producers and then you all bring it to life.
CORNISH: Is there a line from a movie that you consider the greatest ever written, that you wish you had written?
LOGAN: Yes. There's a few. Certainly, I think my favorite movie line is in "Laurence of Arabia" when Anthony Quayle asks Peter O'Toole why do you like the desert, and he says: It's clean. Two words like that. Just, it's clean. 'Cause that says everything about who Laurence is as a character. It's a simple, beautiful, straightforward line. My favorite line from all of drama is - and I think it's imperative to what we do as creative artists in the theater and movies - is Paulina from the end of the "Winter's Tale" before this incredible act of enchantment where she brings a statue back to life. She says: It is required you do awaken your faith. And I think that's a beautiful sentence. In fact, I have that over my computer; that what we do in writing movies is an act of enchantment. And in a way that's why I'm so very proud this year of "Hugo" because I think "Hugo" is a movie about the enchantment of cinema and creating art. Because...
CORNISH: Was there any particular scene that you remember writing that you enjoyed seeing once you were sitting in the theater?
LOGAN: Well, you know what, with a movie like that, you know, everything's enjoyable. But I know my favorite scene with the two kids. Hugo and Isabelle go up in one of the clock towers and they talk about the purpose of life.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "HUGO")
LOGAN: Two 12-year-olds talking about what are we going to grow up to be, you know. And one of them feeling I don't have a purpose and the other feeling that they do was a challenging and sort of moving scene to write.
CORNISH: "Hugo" is a sort of family film. And I think about huge blockbusters like "Gladiator" and "The Aviator." And you've really danced around a lot of different genres. Are there any left to tackle? Are there any that you totally have no interest in?
LOGAN: Yeah, there are absolutely ones I have no interest in - no interest in comedy and no interest in romantic comedy.
CORNISH: What are you doing to me, man?
LOGAN: I know.
CORNISH: What am I going to go to the theater for?
LOGAN: It's not my swing serve, you know...
CORNISH: We need you.
LOGAN: I know. I'm just drawn toward - I'm a tragedian at heart - I'm drawn to the big series themes. But, you know, to me, it's what makes my job exciting is the dynamism of going between those things. Not doing the same thing over and over and over again. It's like if you were to interview the same person every day of your life, it wouldn't be much of a life. But to get to explore ancient Rome and Sweeney Todd's Victoriana and Hugo in the 1930s and now James Bond in London, you know, it makes it a very exciting life.
CORNISH: John Logan. He's a screenwriter for lots of movies, including "Rango," now on DVD, "Hugo" and "Coriolanus," both now in the theaters, as well as the next James Bond movie. He's joined us from NPR West in Culver City, California. John, thanks for chatting with us.
LOGAN: My pleasure.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
A lot of companies want to use genetic engineering to make the world a better place - at least, that's their claim. But several of them have hit a hurdle they say can kill their technology before it gets a chance.
NPR's Joe Palca has this story about two companies that have run into regulatory roadblocks.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: Dengue is a potentially fatal disease. There's no cure, and no vaccine. Dengue isn't common in the United States, but it could be. That's because we have plenty of the species of mosquito that transmits dengue, and there have been sporadic cases in Texas and Florida. So controlling this mosquito is crucial for keeping dengue out of the United States. The British company Oxitec thinks it knows how to do that.
LUKE ALPHEY: So the basic idea is very simple.
PALCA: Luke Alphey is chief scientific officer of Oxitec. The company has made a genetically modified mosquito, where the males are all sterile. When the genetically modified males mate with normal females, there are no offspring.
ALPHEY: Over time, with periodic releases or successive releases of these sterile males, the target population will collapse.
PALCA: No mosquitoes, no dengue. Florida officials agreed to let Oxitec test its mosquitoes in Key West. So in 2009, Oxitec started asking which federal agency it needed to get approval from. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said, we're it. So in March 2010, Oxitec submitted an application to import their mosquitoes from the U.K.
And they waited. And they waited.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE WAITING")
PALCA: Finally, 18 months later, Oxitec heard back from the USDA. Bad news. They said, we're not the right agency; try the Food and Drug Administration.
What's that about? I asked USDA to explain its decision, butâ¦
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE WAITING")
PALCA: Haven't heard back from them yet. How is it possible that it takes a federal agency 18 months to decide it's not the right one to regulate something?
ERIC HALLERMAN: Well, the basic issue goes back to the problem of how the government first established oversight over genetically modified organisms.
PALCA: Eric Hallerman is a professor of fisheries and wildlife at Virginia Tech.
HALLERMAN: There is no particular act that establishes government authority to do it.
PALCA: Instead, in 1986, the Reagan White House decided to use existing laws - like the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act; and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act - as the basis for regulating genetically modified organisms, something that has led to some strange circumstances. For example, for the purposes of regulation, the FDA considers a genetically modified mosquito a new animal drug.
But if Oxitec is frustrated, consider the plight of a Massachusetts company called AquaBounty. It has created a genetically modified salmon - a fish that is also a drug, as far as the FDA is concerned. The salmon grows faster than wild salmon, something that could appeal to fish farmers.
AquaBounty has been trying to get FDA approval to market its salmon for more than a decade. Hallerman was on a panel of scientists the FDA asked to evaluate whether the AquaBounty salmon were safe. In September 2010, the panel met and told the FDA yes, it would be OK to approve the salmon for sale.
HALLERMAN: I was thinking at that time that they were going to come out with some sort of a decision sometime that winter. Well, here we are at the next winter.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "THE WAITING")
PALCA: The point here isn't whether the AquaBounty salmon, or Oxitec's mosquito, really are safe. There are some legitimate scientific questions about that. The point is, the companies are in a regulatory never-never land. Ron Stotish is president of AquaBounty.
RON STOTISH: It's sending a very strong message to the investment community, and to people trying to develop innovative new products, that there really is not a functional regulatory paradigm.
PALCA: Stotish says any answer would be better than none at all. But even if the FDA does approve the salmon, there's yet another hurdle. Mark Begich is the Democratic senator from Alaska. He's not convinced the salmon is safe, and approving it would threaten his state's wild salmon fisheries.
SENATOR MARK BEGICH: We don't need to go down this path, and I believe that that's a position we need to take.
PALCA: He's introduced legislation that would make it unlawful to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell or purchase genetically altered salmon or other marine fish. The White House has plans to overhaul its regulatory processes, but so farâ¦
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "THE WAITING")
PALCA: Joe Palca, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG âTHE WAITING")
: ..you take it on faith, you take it to the heart. The waiting is the hardest part.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. Today in "Your Health," the science of New Year's resolutions.
WERTHEIMER: So many of us resolve to eat less, exercise more, quit smoking - you fill in the blank - which leaves only the question of how to follow through.
INSKEEP: NPR's Alix Spiegel finds that science offers some answers.
ALIX SPIEGEL, BYLINE: This story of New Year's resolutions and behavior change begins on June 17th, 1971, at a press conference held by President Richard Nixon.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED PRESS CONFERENCE)
SPIEGEL: Now, the subject of this press conference was a particularly ugly behavior; Nixon was there to talk about drug addiction. You see, several months earlier, two U.S. congressmen had gone to Vietnam for a visit and come back with some extremely disturbing news: 15 percent of the servicemen in Vietnam, they said, were actively addicted to heroin.
This idea horrified the public, which is why on that June day, Nixon was standing in front of a lectern declaring drugs public enemy...
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
SPIEGEL: Narcotics, Nixon explained, were a formidable enemy - dangerous, intractable.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
SPIEGEL: And so to coordinate his fight against this enemy, Nixon created a whole new office, headed by a man named Jerome Jaffe.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
SPIEGEL: I recently went to visit Dr. Jaffe, and he explained that part of the reason the public was so wigged out about the idea of thousands of servicemen addicted to heroin was because of heroin's reputation at the time.
DR. JEROME JAFFE: There was a general belief that it was the most addictive substance that had been yet produced. And the common belief was that once you get addicted, you know, you almost inevitably relapse.
SPIEGEL: In other words, the soldiers were condemned to a life of heroin addiction. Still, Nixon laid out a program of rehabilitation and prevention. And there was something else he wanted. He wanted Jaffe to research what happened to the addicted servicemen once they came home.
JAFFE: The president wanted it studied - I would get it studied.
SPIEGEL: So Jaffe gave this psychiatric researcher named Lee Robins unprecedented access to the regular enlisted men in the Army. Every enlisted man was tested for heroin before he was allowed to return to the U.S. And this is what she found. Here's Dr. Jaffe again.
JAFFE: Forty percent had tried heroin. Of that group, somewhere around half had become addicted.
SPIEGEL: Now, those who were addicted were actually kept in Vietnam until they dried out. Then Robins tracked them when they returned to the States.
JAFFE: Well, that was the surprising thing. She looked at the number of people who returned to heroin use when she interviewed them one year after returning.
SPIEGEL: And that number? Shockingly low.
JAFFE: Ninety-five percent of the people who were addicted in Vietnam did not become re-addicted when they returned to the United States.
SPIEGEL: Now, this flew in the face of everything everyone knew about both heroin and drug addiction, generally. When addicts were treated in the U.S. and returned to their homes, relapse rates hovered around 90 percent. It didn't make sense.
JAFFE: Everybody thought there was - somehow, she was lying; she was politically influenced. She spent months, if not years, trying to defend the integrity of the study.
SPIEGEL: But 40 years later, the findings of this study are widely accepted. And to explain this, I need to turn back to the subject of behavior change - and not just drug addiction, mind you; all kinds of resolution-worthy behaviors like diet and exercise and smoking. And to help me explain, let me introduce to you two people.
WENDY WOOD: My name is Wendy Wood.
DAVID NEAL: My name is David Neal.
SPIEGEL: Wendy Wood and David Neal are psychologists who research how to change behavior. Wood is at the University of Southern California. Neal works for companies like Procter & Gamble. And when I called them, they explained that for many years, including during the Vietnam War, scientists believed that if you wanted to change behavior, you really had to change people's goals and intentions. Here's Wood.
WOOD: The research was very much focused on trying to understand how to change people's attitudes, with the assumption that behavior change would just follow.
SPIEGEL: And so researchers studied stuff like how to organize public health campaigns, or how to use social pressure to change attitudes. And Neal says they found that those interventions did work - mostly.
NEAL: They do work for a certain subset of behaviors. They work for behaviors that people don't perform too frequently.
SPIEGEL: Wood and Neal say that if you want, for example, to increase the number of people who donate blood, a public campaign can work well. But if you want them to quit smoking, campaigns intended to change attitudes are less effective.
NEAL: Once a behavior's been repeated a lot, especially if a person does it in the same setting, you can successfully - kind of change what people want to do. But if they've done it enough, their behavior doesn't follow their intentions.
SPIEGEL: OK, so why would this be? Neal says it has to do with the way that over time, our physical environments come to shape our behavior.
NEAL: People might, when they perform a behavior a lot - especially in the same environment, same kind of physical setting - outsource the control of the behavior to the environment.
SPIEGEL: So outsourcing control over your behavior to the environment might sound a little funny. To help you understand, let's look really closely at a very basic, everyday behavior: getting into a car.
NEAL: Of course, on one level, that seems like the simplest task possible. But if you break it down, there's really a myriad set of complex actions, performed in sequence, that are required to do that.
WOOD: You use a certain motion to stick your key in the lock.
SPIEGEL: All right, there we go.
NEAL: You need to know how to physically manipulate your body to get into the seat.
SPIEGEL: I'm getting in.
WOOD: You stick the key in the ignition.
SPIEGEL: I'll put the key in.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEEPING)
NEAL: All of this is actually very complicated, and someone who had never driven a car before would have no capacity, obviously, to do that. But it becomes second nature to us, and so automatic, that we can do it while we're conducting complex other tasks, like having conversations.
WOOD: You're just responding to the different parts of the car. And very much of our day goes off in that way. About 45 percent of what people do every day is in the same environment, and is repeated.
SPIEGEL: In this way, David Neal says, our environments come to unconsciously direct our behavior - even the behaviors that we don't want, like smoking.
NEAL: For a smoker, the view of the entrance to their office building - which is a place that they smoke all the time - becomes a powerful mental cue to go and perform that behavior.
SPIEGEL: And, Wood says, over time those cues become so deeply ingrained that they are very, very hard to resist. And so we smoke at the entrance of work when we don't want to; sit on the couch with a tub of ice cream when we don't need to.
WOOD: We don't feel sort of pushed by the environment. But in fact, we are very integrated with it.
SPIEGEL: To battle a bad behavior, then, one answer is to disrupt the environment in some way. Even a small change can help, like eating the ice cream with your non-dominant hand.
NEAL: Doing things like altering the action sequence in some way to disrupt the kind of learned body sequence that is driving the behavior.
SPIEGEL: Essentially, what you do when you do that, Wood says, is you allow your conscious mind to come back online and kind of reassert control.
WOOD: Think about, hmm, is this really what I want to do?
SPIEGEL: Of course, larger disruption can also be helpful, which brings us back to heroin use in Vietnam. Now, I don't want to overstate this because a variety of factors are probably at play. But one, big theory about why the rates of heroin relapse were so low on return to the U.S. had to do with the fact that the soldiers, after being treated for their physical addiction in Vietnam, returned to a radically different place.
Here's Nixon appointee Jerome Jaffe again.
JAFFE: You know, I think most people accept that the change in the environment, you know, makes it plausible that the addiction rate would be that much lower.
SPIEGEL: We think of ourselves as controlling our own behaviors, as directing the actions we take. But it's not that simple. It's like over time, we deposit parts of ourselves in the world all around us and in turn, those parts come to shape who we are.
Alix Spiegel, NPR News, Washington.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
To the world's third largest economy now, where the tobacco industry still holds a lot of power. Low pricing on cigarettes and little regulation means Japan still lags behind other industrial nations when it comes to clamping down on cigarettes. Lucy Craft reports from Tokyo.
LUCY CRAFT, BYLINE: For generations of Japanese, smoking has been all but synonymous with manhood, and hard work. No wonder that in Japan's high-growth period, the 1960s, the smoking rate for males topped an astonishing 80 percent â twice as high as during America's smoking heyday. Anti-smoking activist Bungaku Watanabe says Japan has dragged its feet on regulation that has become common in other advanced countries.
BUNGAKU WATANABE: (Through Translator) It's not that Japanese love smoking so much. It's that tobacco has been a pillar of Japanese national policy.
CRAFT: It's no accident that the headquarters of Japan Tobacco are right here, near to the seat of national government. Now the world's third-largest tobacco company, Japan Tobacco remains majority government-owned, even though cigarette-related health costs and damage are estimated at $90 billion - three times the revenue reaped by cigarette sales - the tobacco lobby has successfully fended off many anti-smoking initiatives.
So, while only about a quarter of American men smoke, the rate for Japanese males remains stuck at about one-third. Activists say most Japanese smokers want to quit, and would, if prices were in line with other first world countries. Even so, with lung cancer rates spiking, changes are afoot, even in this stubbornly tobacco-friendly nation.
Smokers now have been banished to segregated areas at train stations and in most large companies. And nonsmokers are trying to promote a new kind of puffing chic.
KOTA OSABE: (Foreign language spoken)
CRAFT: Mina Abe, an executive assistant in her 20s, and Kota Osabe, a 30-something IT engineer, are standing in what was once the smoking area of a Tokyo restaurant â they have launched their own quirky solution for the erstwhile smoker's paradise.
So this used to be an ashtray?
MINA ABE: This used to be an ashtray and we've filled with soap that we can blow bubbles with.
CRAFT: Wielding green plastic pipes like Marlboro Lights, the pair contentedly fill the air, not with smoke, but with soap bubbles.
OSABE: (Through Translator) Everyone thinks we're crazy. When I demonstrated this for a TV show, people stared and one guy tried to drop ashes in my bubbles.
CRAFT: The two were spurred to action, not because they wanted to wean smokers off their addiction, but because they were pining for an alternative to a social ritual so deeply ingrained in Japanese work culture, it's hard to imagine society functioning well without it.
ABE: It's really a tool to get to the people you want to talk to. You don't really want to smoke, but you feel like you have to be smoking in order to be a member of that kind of community.
CRAFT: Restaurant owner Hima Furuta agrees that without their nicotine props, shy Japanese often have a hard time breaking the ice.
HIMA FURUTA: A smoking area is a kind of a communication space for the Japanese people, because usually they can't communicate with different type of people, especially the higher class of them company.
CRAFT: It's not exactly a movement, but the soap bubble promoters are taking their quiet crusade to shopping centers and festivals, as well as eateries.
For NPR News, this is Lucy Craft in Tokyo.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WERTHEIMER: This is NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Usually when you go to see a play, you're anonymous, part of a crowd. The actors can't see you in the dark. You could even nap for a while, they'd never know. But none of that is true in the type of theatre we're going to hear about next.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It takes place in small spaces for small audiences, sometimes as small as one. Intimate theatre is taking hold at fringe festivals and independent venues around the world, including Australia where Neva Grant starts her report.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLES)
NEVA GRANT, BYLINE: It's a dark night in Melbourne and we've just gotten into a taxi. It's also a tiny theatre. In the back seat is the audience - all two of us. In the front are the actors, a driver and his passenger, who is directing us into a deserted park.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: There's nothing through here.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Just a bit further.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: But you can't take the car through that, man.
GRANT: The two actors are so close you can hear them breathe.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Acting) Please, shut down the engine.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Acting) No. You want me to just sit here and wait?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Acting) It's the serenity. Please, that's all I need. Two, three minutes, maybe.
GRANT: This is a play about the demanding and difficult people that a single cab driver has to deal with in a single night.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Acting) Lady, sorry. I'm on break now. I can't go anywhere.
ANNA MARAIS: (as Passenger) You - oh no, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Your light was on which means you're taking passengers. So get in the car and let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Acting) No.
MARAIS: (as Passenger) Chop, chop - in a hurry.
GRANT: That passenger is played by actress Anna Marais, who says because this play unfolds in a tiny space, there is no escape. None for the audience, none for the actor.
MARAIS: It's almost that you can't really - you can't be bad.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARAIS: You have to be good, because the audience is right there. I mean I know that's the case I guess. But I think when there's a distance from the audience, you can separate yourself more. And you feel a bit more cocooned, in a way, on a stage. But I think there's an intensity to it, of really feeling someone so close behind you. It actually - it heightens the stakes for the actor.
GRANT: These intimate plays are flourishing on the fringes of theatre and beyond - in Melbourne and Sydney, Edinburgh and London, New York and Montréal - small dramas play out in cars, offices, elevators, hotel rooms, and theatres built just for two.
DALLAS ROBERTS: (Acting) Hey, you want to see something? Or not really like see it. More like hear it, feel it...
GRANT: This is a scene from a short play staged recently in New York's Times Square. One actor faces one audience member in a red, plush booth about the size of an office cubicle. The project is called Theatre for One and its creator is Christine Jones.
CHRISTINE JONES: As an audience member, you are seen by the actor and your actions and the choices that you're making are part of the equation. It's almost like a first date. Your gestures, your response will have an effect on how the performance goes. And I think the actors feel that keenly.
GRANT: In one play, actor Dallas Roberts sits knee-to-knee with the audience member. But even that isn't close enough.
ROBERTS: (Acting) Actually I'd like to hold your hands, if that's all right. It's not anything weird. I just want to tell you a story and we need to holding hands for it to work, like a psychic or palm reader or a séance...
GRANT: Theatre for One's creator Christine Jones is a Tony Award-wining set designer. When she built the booth for these plays, she considered other small spaces: Peep shows, confessionals, even Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence. The intimacy creates a mood, she says, that can get addictive for the actors.
JONES: Because, you know, often they'll be performing for a large group and they see somebody fall asleep in the front row, or a cell phone will go off, and they find that this opportunity to be so engaged with the audience member that most seem to find it quite intoxicating.
GRANT: And what about the audience? What's it like for them?
RICK KAYE: Believe it or not, it didn't bother me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KAYE: If anything, it sort of made it an even more intense sort of experience.
GRANT: New Yorker Rick Kaye says normally he's the type of person who hates audience participation. But in Theater for One, when actor Dallas Roberts reached out to take his hands, he says he went with it.
KAYE: Somehow this felt a lot safer to me because there was no one else around. We weren't performing for anyone else and it was just, you know, a one-on-one experience.
GRANT: And Kaye says yes, this was a play but it didn't feel like a performance.
KAYE: It felt very, very real. I sort of forgot that this was an actor doing a monologue. It felt more like someone was just telling me something, like being in the therapist, sort of, position. I would even think about asking him a question.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KAYE: But I pretty much steered away from that.
GRANT: Kaye says he communicated with the actor only through body language and eye contact. But sometimes in these intimate spaces, audience members feel compelled to speak up.
Performance artist Sarah Jane Norman describes how one woman responded to her one-one-one show.
SARAH JANE NORMAN: And I remember in the first performance, a woman came in and lay down next to me. And she just - she was just like, Ah, you are so smart to come up with this.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
NORMAN: So she said, I haven't done this for such a long time.
GRANT: Norman has performed her piece, "Rest Area," in Australia and Germany. As an audience member you're led into a dark space, lit with fairy lights. She motions you onto a comfy bed, then takes your arms and puts them around her. She doesn't say a word. For several minutes, you just lie there and spoon.
NORMAN: They spoon me first, usually. And then it's evolved over time to include me rolling over and spooning them. And then maybe rolling back. And so, these two bodies are gradually becoming comfortable with each other, and alternating receiving and giving, receiving, giving.
GRANT: This may sound more like foreplay than theatre. But Norman says nobody has ever tried to make the encounter sexual. What does happen, she says, is that people thank her profusely. And corny as it sounds, some laugh, some cry.
NORMAN: I think there's a very pronounced sense of melancholy in a work like "Rest Area." It's really about a deeper sense of loneliness that many of us experience - I think all of us experience probably in some way or another, whether or not we have a designated hugger in our lives or not.
GRANT: Sarah Jane Norman says some people say her work is too touchy-feely to be theatre - it's more like therapy. But to that, she has a time-honored response: Theatre is therapy, she says, whether it's for a huge crowd or an intimate audience of one.
For NPR News, I'm Neva Grant in Sydney.
INSKEEP: You don't quite have to travel all the way to Australia to be an audience of one. Theatre for One, which you heard about in Neva's report, starts up again in New York City in June. You can look during the summer for the portable theatre-booth in New York City's Times Square.
WERTHEIMER: Or to see photos of the booth and other intimate theatres, go to NPR.org.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It took less than three weeks for protestors to force out Hosni Mubarak, the long-time president of Egypt. But almost a year later, that story is not over.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
If 2001 was the year of the so-called Arab Spring, then 2012 is likely to be a year of dealing with the consequences. In both Egypt and Tunisia, voters recently took part in what for many were the freest elections in their lifetimes, but people are finding that even free elections will not necessarily lead to democracy.
WERTHEIMER: All this week, we'll explore the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
INSKEEP: And we begin this morning with this report looking at Tunisia and Egypt. Here's NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Few Egyptians looked forward to what passed for elections when Hosni Mubarak was in power. Government-enlisted thugs bought or coerced votes from intimidated citizens in impoverished neighborhoods like Mina al-Basal in the northern port city of Alexandria. They made sure that just about no one other than candidates from Mubarak's ruling party won seats there.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
NELSON: It's a far different scene these days in Mina al-Basal, where people who took part in the first election since Mubarak's ouster say they finally felt their votes mattered.
Cheerful campaign volunteers working for candidates from across the political spectrum wooed the throngs of voters with speeches and pamphlets before and even during the recent parliamentary polls there.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
NELSON: Among those offering voting advice were men with long beards, volunteers for the ultra-conservative Salafist movement.
SAYED AHMED YOUSSEF: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Manning their booth on one street corner was Sayed Ahmed Youssef. He says he's never felt this free to express himself politically. Youssef adds that transparent and fair elections are the only way to make sure Egypt becomes a democracy.
ALI KASSEM: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: But at a polling station across town in the upper-class neighborhood of Semouha, Ali Kassem expresses reservations about the polls after casting his vote. His nephew was 28-year-old businessman and sometime political activist Khaled Said, whose death in June 2010 helped provoke the uprising that ousted Mubarak. Said was killed by police officers, who dragged him away from an Internet cafe and slammed his head into nearby stone steps. The police claimed he was a drug peddler, charges his family and supporters rejected.
KASSEM: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Said's uncle, who ran for parliament on a secular centrist ticket, says the kind of impunity Mubarak and his security forces enjoyed will end if there's a duly elected government.
KASSEM: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: But Kassem complains that voters are being manipulated by some candidates, including those of the Salafist party. He and others accuse the fundamentalist movement of illegal campaign tactics, coercion and backroom deals to garner votes.
Independent monitors acknowledge some irregularities at the polls. But overall, they've declared the staged elections that are still underway to be free and fair. What's making secular Egyptians like Kassim even more uncomfortable is that Islamists are emerging as the victors. The once-banned Muslim Brotherhood has collected well over 40 percent of the ballots so far, and the hardcore Salafists more than 20 percent.
Many Egyptian liberals fear an Islamist-dominated parliament will try and replace Egypt's nascent democracy with a religious state like Saudi Arabia. Some analysts add that the Islamists are winning because secular parties are viewed by many Egyptians as a holdover from the Mubarak era. Khaled Fahmy, who chairs the history department at the American University in Cairo, explains what those voters are thinking.
KHALED FAHMY: It's mostly about our national identity, mostly religious identity has been robbed of us, and it's time to return back to our roots. And the message is not much more complex than that.
NELSON: The Brotherhood and Salafists have long been known for their charitable and social work. Fahmey adds that the Islamist movements are viewed as an honest broker that will bring badly needed relief to the country's mostly impoverished population.
FAHMY: It touches, however, very resonant chords with millions of Egyptians who feel disenfranchised, who feel oppressed, who feel that the country has been usurped by a Westernized, liberal, intellectual, artistic elite, and it's time to go back to the basics.
NELSON: Other analysts say the Islamists benefitted from the rush to elections by the military rulers who took over when Mubarak resigned. They say youth groups that were the backbone of the revolution didn't have enough time to form political parties. Plus, most of the candidates taking part in the multi-phased elections lacked political experience. Nabil Fahmy is a former Egyptian ambassador to the United States and now dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo.
NABIL FAHMY: You have to have feet on the ground. You have to have a presence in communities. You have to have a mechanics of a party. While the Brotherhood and the Salafis didn't exist in the legal sense, they had a social network. So they had a presence out there, and they could mobilize.
NELSON: But whether that mobilization will translate into political power isn't guaranteed, even for the Islamists. For one thing, the ruling military council insists it will retain ultimate authority, even after the new parliament is seated. And the role of the legislature is still undefined. Its chief task will be to draft a new constitution. How to replace the old version that placed most power in the hands of the president is a matter of considerable debate. Former ambassador Fahmy argues it would have made more sense if Egyptians had put off electing a parliament until after a new constitution was in place to define the role of government.
FAHMY: Well, you could have elected a committee to do it, the same way the Tunisians did.
NELSON: NPR's Eleanor Beardsley was in Tunisia during the October elections for its constitutional assembly.
(SOUNDBITE OF GET OUT THE VOTE VIDEO)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: This Get Out the Vote video addressed how Tunisians, once cowed and miserable, are now filled with hope and pride. Turnout reached 90 percent in some areas, and just as in Egypt, the Islamists emerged the victors.
: (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: Many voters, like high school teacher Lemjad Jemli, cast their ballots for the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. He was voting for the first time. But not every Tunisian is happy about the Islamist victory. Liberals there fear the newly elected Islamists will try to draft a constitution that ends the secular traditions of this former French colony. There have already been protests and clashes over how big a role Islam should play in their society.
Fares Mabrouk is the founder of the Tunis-based Arab Policy Institute, a think tank that supports democratic change in the Middle East.
FARES MABROUK: I don't think we can say that Tunisia is, today, a democracy. Democracy is not only about free election, fair election. To have a democracy, it's also about having the right institutions, the right counter-powers, the right civil society. It's a learning process for all the actors inside our society, and it will take us few years before saying that, yes, we succeeded our transformation.
NELSON: That's a conclusion that many activists in Egypt have reached, as well, but they face another obstacle: the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Activists and politicians here worry that the council will not honor its pledge to cede power to a civilian government once the cycle of elections is over. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Cairo.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
If it seems like there's been a college bowl game every night for two weeks, it's because there has been. And couch potatoes get ready: There are six football games today. NPR's Mike Pesca is here with a preview of some of them. Even Mike can't talk fast enough to get them all.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: Mike, welcome.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.
WERTHEIMER: Now, there are some big name college teams playing today: Penn State, Nebraska, Florida, Ohio State. Those are just some of the games, of course. Which match-ups interest you most?
PESCA: I'm looking at Houston and Penn State. Now, let's be clear. Even though I'm talking about Houston, this is not the Houston Bowl, which was later renamed the Texas Bowl, which is now the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. It's not that bowl game.
But this is why I like the Houston-versus-Penn State matchup: Houston has an amazing offense. They average over 600 yards a game, and they're scoring about 50 points a game. It is a juggernaut. Of course, these numbers were put up against such teams as the North Texas Mean Green.
The Penn State team is a much more conventional, solidly constructed Big 10 team, and they allow only 15 points a game, one of the best defenses in the country. And that's the kind of matchup - for all the flaws of the bowl system, when you get two teams of such differing types playing against each other, it can be interesting. I'm going to check out Houston versus Penn State.
And another good early game, just because I think the teams are good and a little underrated: Michigan State versus Georgia. That'll be one I'm watching, too.
WERTHEIMER: OK. So, on to the Rose Bowl. Big 10 champion Wisconsin meets Oregon's high-powered offense. How does that one look?
PESCA: Yes. And Wisconsin has a high-power offense, too. Oregon does it a lot of ways. They're competent through the air. They have an excellent ground game. And Wisconsin, as Wisconsin usually does, really compound the ball - and by ball, I mean their running back Montee Ball. He's a monster on the ground.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PESCA: Wisconsin won the Big 10, thus landing them in the Rose Bowl. Oregon, historically, in the last few years, they've been great. But I would like to point out they haven't won a Rose Bowl since 1917, when they beat the Penn Quakers. Perhaps history gives the edge to Wisconsin, although I think that of all the units - in other words, both teams' offenses and both teams' defenses - perhaps the Oregon offense will have a little easier time with the Wisconsin defense than vice versa.
WERTHEIMER: And the nightcap features a team that some say should be playing in the BCS championship game next week, Oklahoma State. The Cowboys take on Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal in the Fiesta Bowl. What should we watch for?
PESCA: Yeah. And it is Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal, right? Like Martha Ray and the Vandellas. No one remembers who the Vandellas are. And it's a little unfair, because Stanford has a pretty good defense. Oklahoma State doesn't have a good defense, but I was just talking about how great Houston's offense is. Right beneath them is Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma State has done it against much better competition. Oklahoma State is the number three team in the country. Stanford is the number four team in the country. So other than the national championship game, just in terms of rankings, this is the best possible matchup you could get. And fans of the NFL who want to watch perhaps this next future great quarterback, do tune in to see what Andrew Luck does. He's not quite Peyton Manning. I mean, he's only 22 years old. But he's a master and he's a craftsman out there on the field. I will definitely be tuning in.
WERTHEIMER: Mike, we've got to go. But first, the BCS championship game, it takes place next Monday.
PESCA: Yes. And thankfully, they fit it in in 2012, given this expanded, seemingly never-ending bowl season. They will actually play a championship within a week.
WERTHEIMER: Thank you, Mike.
PESCA: You're welcome.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's Mike Pesca.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Few people around the world were sorry that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died last month. The exceptions include North Korea's neighbor, China. The state-run Chinese press ran a smiling photo of Kim and mourned the loss of a friend. NPR's Frank Langfitt explains why China backed one of the world's most loathed dictators and is now supporting his youngest son.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken)
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Chinese leaders made a rare condolence visit to North Korea's embassy in Beijing last month. Broadcast on China Central Television, the leaders â dressed in black suits - bowed in unison towards the portrait of Kim Jong Il. Why show so much respect to a man who had caused so much misery? One reason: fear of something worse. Shi Yuanhua runs the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
SHI YUANHUA: (Through Translator) China's objective is there must be stability in Korean peninsula. We will do whatever it takes, or maintain stability at all cost. I think China cannot allow an Arab spring and an eastern European-style color revolution to take place in this area.
LANGFITT: China supports the Kim family regime â now lead by Kim Jong Un â because it fears the country would collapse without it. In the case of civil war, China worries who would control North Korea's nuclear weapons. And what might happen along the 880 mile border China shares with the Stalinist state. Again, Shi Yuanhua.
YUANHUA: (Through Translator) If chaos occurs in this region, there may be refugee problems. Large numbers of refugees may swarm into China, which will affect the economic development of China's northeast.
LANGFITT: Chung Jaeho says China also sees its fellow communist neighbor as a useful barrier with democratic South Korea and the approximately 28,000 American troops stationed there. Chung is an international relations professor at Seoul National University.
CHUNG JAEHO: North Korea provides a perfect place as a buffer state. That sort of thinking has been there for a long time in China. You can actually go back to see the books in the Ming Dynasty. They already talk about the Korean Peninsula as a fence.
LANGFITT: While China officially backs North Korea's regime, some of its citizens don't. In recent weeks, thousands of Chinese have ripped into their government on China's version of twitter. Quote, "It is a shame that a big country like China sides with the biggest villain on earth," one online critic wrote. A Ph.D. student surnamed Ling at Fudan University had nothing but contempt for North Korea's leaders.
LING: (Through Translator) I don't support the regime. It's a dictatorship, a personality cult, an isolated country which doesn't care enough about people's lives.
LANGFITT: China's tried to get North Korea to adopt some of the market reforms that have transformed the Chinese economy. But Evans Revere, a retired top U.S. diplomat who has served in Seoul and Beijing, says North Korea has been extremely slow to change.
EVANS REVERE: Kim Jong Il, back in the day, would visit factories and visit farms and visit industrial plants â all of which were being shown to him as examples of economic transformation. And he and his entourage would take copious notes and say the right things to the Chinese and then they would go home and nothing much would happen.
LANGFITT: With North Korea unable to support itself, China has become the country's benefactor. Last year, North Korea â formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRKâ did about $5 billion in trade.
LEE CHUNG-MIN: The lion's share of that was with the Chinese. Seventy percent was consumed by importing Chinese oil and food.
LANGFITT: Lee Chung-min is the dean of the graduate school of international studies at South Korea's Yonsei University.
CHUNG-MIN: Without Chinese largesse or support, the DPRK, as we know it, simply would not exist.
LANGFITT: Lee says continued support of North Korea will cost China â not just in aid, but also in prestige. As a rising power and now the world's second-largest economy, China craves international respect - but not enough to press change on an old ally and risk instability on its own border.
Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
A new year means new predictions for the stock market. Carl Richards says, don't get wrapped up in them. Some people may know Carl Richards as the financial adviser who gave himself bad financial advice. During the housing boom, he fell for a place in Las Vegas and bought it with no downpayment. When the economy tanked, he was forced to sell that house for less than the original loan.
Richards wrote about this humiliating experience for the New York Times. He also blogs about personal finance for the Times. And now he has a new book, called "The Behavior Gap." He spoke to us from member station KPCW in Park City, Utah. I asked him if losing his home has changed the advice he gives.
CARL RICHARDS: No question. I mean, going through what I went through certainly informed the advice that I give, and the stuff I write about - for sure.
WERTHEIMER: Among other things, you write that financial decisions should be based on principles and not on feelings, but that feelings often get in the way of good decisions. What feelings are you talking about?
RICHARDS: You know, the two primary culprits - it often seems - that are always sort of lurking around bad financial decisions, are fear and greed.
WERTHEIMER: Like if the price of houses is rising fast, greed takes over and cancels your sort of common-sense feeling that this is crazy.
RICHARDS: Yeah. It applies to a lot more than just housing. But in that specific example, of course, it was really - I mean, if you take yourself back to that time - and specifically, if you take yourself to some place like Phoenix or Las Vegas - and everything around you is reinforcing the idea that housing prices are going to continue to go up, that your income is going to continue to grow, it's very easy to start believing that.
And then you start making decisions that in hindsight are very obvious, and even at the time might have been obvious to an outside observer. But we just get so close to those decision ourselves, it's hard to be objective.
WERTHEIMER: And you write that what we ought to be doing is thinking of principles. Now, what sorts of principles should we think about when we're making financial decisions?
RICHARDS: Well, things don't continue to go up forever - that's a principle. Diversification - you don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Leverage is a double-edged sword and can be incredibly painful when you're on the other side of it.
WERTHEIMER: Maybe you should explain leverage.
RICHARDS: Leverage is just borrowing money. When you put 20 percent down on your house, you're certainly leveraged. When you put 5 percent down, you are more leveraged.
WERTHEIMER: Now, you also write that the people we love, and our most important relationships, should be a baseline for making all kinds of financial decisions. Now, what do you mean by that?
RICHARDS: You know the old saying that the calendar and the checkbook never lie? It just means if I really want to understand what you really value, it doesn't matter so much what you say you value. We can look real quick and see how you're spending your time, and how you're spending your money.
WERTHEIMER: So then you sit down with that person; you say now, wait a minute. Let me explain to you that you're telling me one thing, but I'm looking at another thing.
RICHARDS: That's the essence - to me, at least - of good financial advice. And we hired a financial planner, and what he does for us is really reminds me of the things we told him were important.
WERTHEIMER: Now, you do say that you think financial plans are pretty much worthless.
RICHARDS: Right.
WERTHEIMER: What do you mean? Why? I mean, that's the business you're in.
RICHARDS: A financial plan has almost become a product, right. You go in, you meet with somebody; you leave with a 2-inch thick binder. Those plans are full of guesses. We have no idea what interest rates are going to be next week, let alone 20 years from now. We have no idea what return you're going to get. We have no idea how long you're going live.
Understanding that we have two choices, right. We can say well, the whole thing is a guess; forget it. Or, we can start to incorporate in our lives sort of a process of saying, all right, let's make the best guess we can. Let's let go of the need for precision. And then the very important part, Linda, is to revisit those guesses.
WERTHEIMER: How do you feel about what happened to you, looking back?
RICHARDS: I still have mixed emotions about it, obviously. I mean, we made some mistakes, and it's been painful to continue to talk about it. My goal was to try to be as honest as I could, despite knowing that we all self-deceive ourselves. I mean, you know.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RICHARDS: And hope that those lessons would be sort of burned in my psyche to prevent making the same mistakes again.
WERTHEIMER: Mr. Richards, thank you very much.
RICHARDS: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
WERTHEIMER: Carl Richards is a certified financial planner working in Park City, Utah. He's the author of "The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money."
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
The winner of the Iowa caucuses does not always win his party's nomination. But a win, or even a strong showing, does bring attention, momentum and campaign money. And that's exactly what Rick Santorum is counting on for tomorrow.
The former Pennsylvania senator has spent many, many days in Iowa. Polls show him gaining on front-runners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Until recently, Santorum looked like a long-shot candidate, but he is relying on Christian conservatives, some of the same people who propelled Mike Huckabee to a win in 2008.
Here's NPR's Ted Robbins.
JEANNE ZYZDA: Thank you. Thanks for your help.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Keep applying. Thank you. God bless.
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Jeanne Zyzda did not expect more than a hundred people in her Sioux City coffee shop, the Daily Grind - not all at once, and not on a holiday.
ZYZDA: Normally, we're not open on New Year's Day. Normally, we're not open on Sundays at all, but they...
ROBBINS: But Zyzda and her husband are Rick Santorum supporters. So when they got a call from the campaign asking them to hold a rally in the restaurant, they obliged. The big turnout was a change for the former Pennsylvania senator, too. He was the first to visit all 99 counties in Iowa. But sometimes, he'd stop at places like this and get more suggestions than support.
RICK SANTORUM: I do remember several people coming up to me, and giving me pointers on how I can improve my presentation.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SANTORUM: And - no, I'm being - absolutely true. And I got to tell you, I appreciated that.
ROBBINS: Rick Santorum is fond of saying he's a much better candidate, thanks to the people of Iowa. Now, he's the candidate with momentum. But his core message? It's the same.
SANTORUM: Having that strong foundation of the faith and family allows America to be in a position where we can be more free. We can be free because we are good, decent, moral people.
ROBBINS: For Santorum, that means cutting government regulation, making Americans less dependent on government aid, fewer people getting food stamps, Medicaid and other forms of aid - especially one group.
SANTORUM: I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Right.
SANTORUM: And provide for themselves and their families.
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SANTORUM: And the best way to do that...
ROBBINS: Santorum did not elaborate on why he singled out blacks who rely on federal assistance. The voters here didn't seem to care.
Shelle Baldwin and her husband own a cattle-feed lot near Sioux City. She's a longtime Santorum supporter, and she is just thrilled that he's finally getting the attention she thinks he deserves.
SHELLE BALDWIN: We always were really hopeful that the country would see that we needed somebody like him and that really, there were people in this country that share the same beliefs and the values that he did.
ROBBINS: Others - like Elizabeth Lee and Lee Ehrhardt - still haven't decided which Christian conservative candidate to vote for.
ELIZABETH LEE: I'm leaning towards Santorum going into the caucus Tuesday but...
ROBBINS: Well, who else would it be for you?
LEE: We're still kind of leaning towards Bachmann, and then there's also - is it Perry?
LEE EHRHARDT: I like him, too.
LEE: There's three, yeah.
EHRHARDT: Those three are about tied.
ROBBINS: For Rick Santorum to win the Iowan caucuses, or come close, he needs those potential Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry votes. He left Sioux City yesterday hopeful he'll get them.
SANTORUM: Please help us out. You will send a shockwave across this country.
ROBBINS: Even a third-place finish for Santorum tomorrow would prove his long commitment to Iowa paid off.
Ted Robbins, NPR News, Sioux City, Iowa.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with the cost of airline tickets.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WERTHEIMER: A new transportation rule strikes at the way airlines price the tickets you buy. Starting later this month, the Transportation Department is requiring airlines to advertise prices which include all of the non-optional fees. That way, passengers know the full amount they'll have to pay for a ticket. Airlines have done everything possible to reduce what they call the base fare so that you'll choose them when looking for the cheapest fare online. But now they'll have to add back some of the fees they charge. The price does not have to include baggage fees.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news: Exxon Mobil received the judgment from an international panel arbitrating a dispute between the U.S. company and Venezuela. A few years ago, Venezuela's government took over oil projects in the country. It decreed that its state-run company would control joint ventures with foreign partners. So Exxon left Venezuela and sued for $7 billion.
Over the weekend, the panel awarded Exxon only about $900 million, a ruling seen as a victory for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Maybe you shouldn't drink and then deal with your money. The top-selling vodka brand in the United States has made another entry in the competition for flavored vodkas. And that's our last word in business today: A shot of fluff.
Smirnoff is selling what's called Fluffed Marshmallow Vodka. And also, if that's not to your taste, whipped cream-flavored vodka. While trying to come up with the right formula, the company said it studied vanilla-scented laundry soap and candles that smell like cookies. It ended up coming up with these new flavors for alcohol.
The Russian-born brand is trying to attract drinkers in their 20s and 30s - at least that's what they say, although some groups complain that fluffed marshmallow flavors are targeted at underage drinkers.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And Steve Inskeep, on this official New Year's holiday. Good morning.
Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, has publicly complained, in recent weeks, about the narrative told about his campaign. He's referring to countless political stories suggesting that he can't quite break through. Republican voters seemed to have searched almost everywhere for an alternative.
WERTHEIMER: What Romney says, in his defense, is that he's stayed consistently near the top of the polls, as his rival rise and fall. A new Des Moines Register poll gives Romney a narrow, but hardly safe, lead in Iowa, which holds its presidential caucuses tomorrow. He's contending, with Congressman Ron Paul in second, and former Senator Rick Santorum who's climbed into third.
INSKEEP: NPR's Don Gonyea spent the past two days following Romney in western Iowa.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: For many months, the Romney campaign was downplaying expectations in Iowa, keeping them as low as possible. It was a strategy borne out of the unexpected loss the former governor was handed in the Iowa caucuses four years ago.
But now, buoyed by steady and solid poll numbers, Romney is campaigning like a guy who thinks he can win tomorrow.
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MITT ROMNEY: Oh, you're just so generous. To be here on New Year's Day, all the football going on, thank you for welcoming us and saying hi.
GONYEA: That was Romney yesterday in Council Bluffs, way over on the Nebraska border. He spoke to a packed house in a high-ceilinged ballroom. Romney's presence in the conservative western side of the state is a sign that he's looking for votes everywhere.
On the stump he ignores his GOP rivals and targets President Obama.
ROMNEY: You know I've been looking some video clips on YouTube of President Obama â then-candidate Obama â going through Iowa making promises. And I think the gap between his promises and his performance is the largest I've seen, well, since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of till death do we part.
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GONYEA: He said the president's economic policies have failed. He rattled off statistics; 25 million Americans unemployed or underemployed or no longer looking for work, median income dropping 10 percent in the past four years.
ROMNEY: Gasoline, health care - those things have continued to go up. The American middle-class is really struggling under this president
GONYEA: But while Romney wants to portray this as a race between him and President Obama, the contest for the nomination is only just beginning. In Iowa, he and Ron Paul are so close it's within the margin of error. And now the biggest story in the state is the sudden rise of Rick Santorum, who's now in a position to seriously think about winning in Iowa.
At a news conference yesterday, Romney was asked about Santorum's rise. He answered by reminding people that Santorum endorsed him for president four years ago.
ROMNEY: And we've been friends. I can tell you that our backgrounds are quite different. Like Speaker Gingrich, Senator Santorum has spent his career in the government in Washington. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a very different background than I have.
GONYEA: Romney has traveled Iowa from east to west in the past week. The issue that has most dogged his campaign, the health care bill he signed while governor of Massachusetts, has barely come up. No voters asked about it at town hall events he's held, though this young man did raise it as he shook the candidates hand after an event in the city of Le Mars. Romney had a ready answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Did you say, you would let the states decide for themselves if they would adopt kind of a Romneycare type system?
ROMNEY: No, the states have the right to determine their own system for caring for their own poor, under the Tenth Amendment, just like we have now. So I would return to the states, the authority they have currently, because I don't want to see Obamacare imposed on the entire nation.
GONYEA: Plenty of other topics come up, some tried and true. In Sioux City, there was a question about gun ownership and the Second Amendment.
ROMNEY: Thank you. You know, I like all the amendments, including the Second Amendment. And I believe in the right of Americans to bear arms.
GONYEA: But for really off-the-wall, there was this one from the same event. Romney was asked if he wins: Will he bring back the candy Pop Rocks that fizzle and crackle in your mouth. His answer, surprisingly nuanced.
ROMNEY: There are a lot of things I can blame on the president. You know?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROMNEY: But I'm not going to blame him for getting rid of Pop Rocks. And I got to tell you, I'm afraid the market just wasn't there. But...
GONYEA: OK, don't look for that to come up a whole lot. But these are the Iowa caucuses - candidates never know what kind of pop quiz they'll face. The final test, in the form of voting, takes place tomorrow night.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines
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Newt Gingrich says, when it comes to his campaigning, he has been conducting an experiment. The former House speaker says he's been running a positive campaign as he competes for the Republican nomination. And if voters who say they hate negative campaigning practice what they preach, Gingrich says he'll do better than expected in Iowa.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
But Gingrich also says he needs to set the record straight, and that means firing back at Mitt Romney.
NPR's David Schaper is traveling with the Gingrich campaign.
DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: A barrage of harsh television commercials attacking Newt Gingrich have taken their toll. A month ago, polls had Gingrich on top of the field of presidential candidates among Iowa's Republican voters. Then the attack ads started.
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SCHAPER: This one, like many of the anti-Gingrich ads, is funded by Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, which has spent more than $3 million attacking Gingrich.
: For a state this size, to spend that number of dollars in negative ads aimed at one candidate, is pretty amazing.
SCHAPER: But Gingrich admits they're working. Since the negative ads have been airing, Gingrich's poll numbers have plummeted. This weekend's Des Moines Register poll shows Gingrich getting the support of just 12 percent of Iowa Republicans. Gingrich was asked if he feels swift-boated. That's a reference to the 2004 ad campaign by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth targeting Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Gingrich said...
: No. I feel Romney-boated.
SCHAPER: And Gingrich has finally had enough.
: I think if you have somebody spend three and a half million dollars lying about you, you have some obligation to come back and set the record straight.
SCHAPER: First, Gingrich points out that the negative attacks on him haven't helped Romney. He says they've probably helped out former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum the most, whose numbers are raising heading into Tuesday night's caucuses, while Romney's have remained steady.
: Governor Romney remains, basically, a Massachusetts moderate. And he has not broken out, despite spending millions of dollars.
SCHAPER: And, Gingrich says, he'll begin airing commercials to draw a contrast between himself and Romney. But with the caucuses taking place tomorrow night, his campaign did not say when those ads might air.
Candidates Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann say they'll skip campaigning for the next contest in New Hampshire where Romney is heavily favored. Instead, they'll head straight to South Carolina, the third presidential voting state. But not Gingrich.
: No. I think New Hampshire is the first - perfect state to have a debate over Romneycare, and to have a debate about tax paid abortions, which he signed, and to have a debate about putting Planned Parenthood on a government board, which he signed, and to have a debate about appointing liberal judges, which he did. And so I think New Hampshire is a good place to start the debate for South Carolina.
SCHAPER: At LJ's Neighborhood Bar and Grill in Waterloo last night, Gingrich told the overflowing crowd he's probably been too passive in countering the ads that he calls false. But Bill Herkelman of Cedar Falls, who works for the Blackhawk County Sheriff's Office, says the negative ads haven't changed how he feels about Gingrich.
BILL HERKELMAN: I am going to caucus for Newt Gingrich. I believe in his thoughts, I believe in his ability to lead. He is probably one of the most intelligent persons on the campaign trail, in my opinion.
SCHAPER: And Kathleen Frank, of nearby Waverly, came away impressed with Gingrich too. But she says she and her husband are not sure yet if they'll caucus for him.
KATHLEEN FRANK: We've met all of the candidates now so the next couple of days, we'll just be sorting them out and, kind of, making our decision probably at the last minute.
SCHAPER: Gingrich is actually counting on undecided voters like the Franks. Many Iowans say they still haven't made up their minds, or could change them at the caucuses. And if they end up supporting Gingrich, his decision to start hitting back might pay off.
David Schaper, NPR News in Waterloo, Iowa.
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WERTHEIMER: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Several reality shows are starting new seasons on network TV, including "American Idol," "The Biggest Loser," and "The Bachelor." ABC is trying to revive one of its faltering hits by making "Wife Swap" into "Celebrity Wife Swap." The makeover caught the attention of TV critic Eric Deggans.
ERIC DEGGANS: When it came time to reboot "Wife Swap," ABC had one obvious option.
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DEGGANS: Like so many so-called reality TV shows in America, "Wife Swap" is actually an overseas import. We can thank the Brits for the wonderful idea of exchanging mothers from different families for fun and drama.
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DEGGANS: They also pioneered the idea of creating a celebrity version when the concept got a little stale. Here's a sample of that British show with rocker Pete Burns from '80s one hit wonder, Dead or Alive.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP")
DEGGANS: ABC will try the same setup on its U.S. version. Rocker Dee Snider switches wives with rapper Flavor Flav. Pastor Ted Haggard trades spouses with showbiz calamity Gary Busey. And actress Tracey Gold exchanges households with singer Carnie Wilson. It's train wreck television. With Busey and Flavor Flav on hand, it's a virtual guarantee.
But celebrities are also a prime way to juice an established reality TV premise. Just ask NBC, which saved Donald Trump's "Apprentice" franchise by dumping the unknown business school graduates who once filled the cast. Instead, they created a celebrity edition with the likes of Piers Morgan, Joan Rivers and, of course, Gary Busey.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CELEBRITY APPRENTICE")
DEGGANS: Busey has appeared in at least five other unscripted series, including "Celebrity Rehab," where a doctor suggested a brain injury might cause some of his problems.
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DEGGANS: He got in a motorcycle accident which split his head open. Now, some of the odd behavior which once seemed funny may be cast in a different light.
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DEGGANS: These unscripted shows work best when the celebrities melt down. In moments, they become characters in a bruising soap opera, playing themselves.
It seems our fascination with fame-tinged drama has created a special class of celebrity, one willing to endure all kinds of televised trials to feed our hunger for humiliating big shots. The only question left is whether we lose a little piece of our humanity while watching celebrities forced to expose their own.
INSKEEP: Eric Deggans is TV and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
The fact we all use Google so much has led some social scientists to think of Google searches as a window into our culture. NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam joins me now to talk about some unusual social science research.
Welcome to the program.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: So what do these Google searches tell us about ourselves?
VEDANTAM: Millions of people are searching for things everyday on Google. And the people at Google realized that if they track those searches these patterns can tell us about what's happening in people's lives.
So a year or so ago, the folks at Google realized that as the flu was spreading from state to state, people's search terms were changing. So people would search for things like what do I do if I have a sore throat or what do I do if my child is running a high temperature. And by tracking these searches, Google discovered, long before public health authorities discovered, how the flu was spreading from state to state.
WERTHEIMER: Now, Google has a new tool. I mean, I don't know how new it is - new to me.
VEDANTAM: Yeah, it's called the Google Correlate tool. And basically what they've done is they've made these kinds of searches available for free on the Internet to anyone who wants. So, in fact, I'm going to bring Google Correlate up here. And I'm going to type in the search term, guns, into Google Correlate.
WERTHEIMER: That's a nice hot topic.
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VEDANTAM: And if you look closely at guns, you can see that the search terms that are correlated with guns are very gun like. There's handguns. There's rifles.
WERTHEIMER: Mauser.
VEDANTAM: Right. So the Google Correlate tool tells you where in the country people tend to be searching for this term and what other terms are correlated with the search term. And many of the findings are intuitively obvious. You would expect that people searching for guns would also be searching for rifles. But where the tool gets interesting is when some of these searches produce correlations that are unexpected.
So give me a search term, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: OK. Most of my searches have to do with recipes and food. And today I was looking at how much beef costs. Try filet mignon.
VEDANTAM: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF TYPING)
VEDANTAM: So here's the interesting thing.
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WERTHEIMER: Roman Catholic churches, Italian men and terror squad.
VEDANTAM: You know, so this is what's so fascinating about this Google Correlate too. I mean, why would Roman Catholic churches be correlated with filet mignon?
WERTHEIMER: Beyond the fact that it's interesting, what does it tell us, these correlations?
VEDANTAM: There's a sociologist that I spoke with at the University of North Carolina. His name is Phil Cohen. And what he did is he said can we apply this tool to politics. And so he said let me search for prominent, liberal and conservative commentators - people like Rachel Maddow and Stephen Colbert, or Rush Limbaugh.
And what he found, unsurprisingly actually, was that the places where people were doing a lot of searches for the liberal commentators tended to be liberal places. They were places that tended to vote for President Obama in the 2008 election.
WERTHEIMER: California.
VEDANTAM: Exactly. But he also found that the places which searched for the liberal commentators also tended to search for very particular kinds of foods.
WERTHEIMER: Now, that is very strange.
VEDANTAM: So let me play you a little bit of what Phil Cohen told me in terms of what the liberals who are searching for Rachel Maddow are also searching for, in terms of their food.
PHIL COHEN: On the liberal list are arugula pasta, beets nutrition, beets urine, fake meat, fennel salad, firm tofu, a variety of vegetarian cooking, vegetarian recipes. Something like a Republican stereotype of what a liberal food diet might be.
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VEDANTAM: I have to say, that's a pretty funny list.
WERTHEIMER: It is a very funny list. So what does the other side eat?
VEDANTAM: So on the other side - what he found on the other side was not so much that people were searching for particular kinds of foods...
COHEN: But things about dieting, acai berry diet, prescription weight loss and weight loss pills.
VEDANTAM: And so what it suggests is that when we think about our political orientations, we tend to think that our ideologies determine whether we're Democrats or Republicans. But I think what this research is at least hinting at, is the possibility that our political orientations are really a matter of our identities, are a matter of our cultures. And so if you're somebody who's a vegetarian, who like beet salad, it's very unlikely that you're going to be a Republican.
WERTHEIMER: Data mining has always been helpful to political people. That's the thing I know the most about. They look for who is subscribing to what publication. They look to who drives what kind of car. Does this do something different?
VEDANTAM: I don't think it's doing something qualitatively different. I think it's just allowing political consultants - and I'm sure they must be using this tool - to get at this information much more quickly.
So if you're a political consultant who isn't using Google Correlate, I actually think you're probably being irresponsible. Because what this is showing us is that if you're a Democrat who's trying to reach Democratic voters, one very effective way to do it is to organize something to do with vegetarian cooking. And you can be pretty sure that almost everyone who shows up is going to be somebody who you want to talk to.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's science correspondent Shankar Vedantam.
Shankar, thank you.
VEDANTAM: Thanks, Linda.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And this next story is for those who may be searching for a drink. You've heard of the local food movement where people try to buy food from close to home. You've heard of the micro brewing movement where people turn away from Bud Light, say, in favor of beer brands made in small batches. The local booze movement may marry the two. At least one restaurant in Los Angeles boasts a bar stocked with liquor produced entirely in California.
Rachel Myrow of member station KQED dropped by the bar - purely for reporting purposes.
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RACHEL MYROW, BYLINE: Nearly all the food at Mohawk Bend, a gastro-pub in L.A., comes from California; all the 72 beers on tap do and the wines, and the spirits. Bartender Erika England spends a lot of time answering the same questions over and over again.
ERIKA ENGLAND: People come in. They want, you know, Stoli, they want Kettle One or Jack Daniels. So we have to kind of explain to them that here's our program, here's why we do it. And also, here's something that you might like from California instead.
MYROW: There are close to 90 different local spirits to choose from. But classic cocktails often require non-local ingredients. Keith Taylor developed the bar program for Mohawk Bend. I asked him how he would approximate a Negroni, an aperitif made with gin, sweet vermouth and bitters â specifically Campari.
KEITH TAYLOR: Obviously, we can't have Campari. It's from Italy. But what we do have is a Hibiscus Liqueur made by Modern Spirits. So we'll tell them that we're going to do - we call it a California Negroni. You know, it's the same-same but different.
MYROW: Out on the patio, Holly Vesecky sips a Thai Town Mule. It's a Mohawk Bend take on the Moscow Mule, made with Hangar One Vodka from Alameda, homemade ginger beer, lemongrass and fresh kaffir lime juice.
HOLLY VESECKY: I'm really suspicious because often these things don't taste that great, and this is divine.
MYROW: Just a decade ago, it would not have been possible for a bar to boast that all its spirits came from California. Now there are 40 distilleries in the state, a number that leads the nation, according to the American Distilling Institute. And yet, the bar program at Mohawk Bend appears to be one of a kind.
DAVE DRISCOLL: I've been to other bars where they'll have nights like that. Maybe like - or like a weekend or a happy hour.
MYROW: Dave Driscoll is a spirits buyer for K&L, an alcohol retailer based in Northern California. Driscoll says it's increasingly feasible to sell only California spirits, but he doubts there's much demand for it.
DRISCOLL: Why would I pay $60 for a one-year-old California whiskey when I can pay $20 for a 10-year old Kentucky Bourbon? And, you know, I don't always have the answer to that question.
MYROW: One San Francisco bartender famous for locally sourced ingredients is Thad Vogler. He established the cocktail programs at a number of nationally regarded bars in the Bay Area. But Vogler says you would give up a lot of good booze by religiously insisting on local only.
THAD VOGLER: A lot of the great spirits are limited to certain producing areas. So true Piscos, true tequilas, true Armagnacs, true cognacs, true Scotches - a lot, yeah.
MYROW: At his own Bar Agricole, Vogler prefers to celebrate individual products he considers world class.
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MYROW: To demonstrate, he makes a drink with a brandy from Marian Farms in Fresno and a rum made by St. George in Alameda.
VOGLER: It's a brandy milk punch, which is a great holiday drink. It's a lot like a very, very, very fresh eggnog.
MYROW: The way Vogler sees it, whatever your cocktail philosophy, the proof of its utility is in the glass.
(SOUNDBITE OF POURING)
VOGLER: There you go.
MYROW: For NPR News, I'm Rachael Myrow in San Francisco.
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Sixteen years ago, a Swedish woman lost her wedding ring. Recently, she found it. The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports, while picking carrots in her garden, the woman found one with a gold band around it. The couple thinks it fell into some vegetable peelings meant for garden compost. The orange veggie was wearing a band of seven diamonds - carats for carrots. Composting works. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A hunter in Norton, Massachusetts may try harder next time to identify his target. The hunter thought he saw a saw white-tailed deer in the woods. In reality, he was looking at two dogs being taken for a walk. The good news is that the hunter was not a good shot. When he fired, he missed both dogs. The bad news is he wounded the woman walking them. At least the hunter didn't have to go far to get police. He was an off-duty state trooper. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In the last presidential election, the significant issue was Iraq. Last month, the last American troops withdrew from that country. But the U.S. military faces some unfinished business from one of the war's most troubling incidents. In November 2005, in a village called Haditha, a Marine squad killed 24 Iraqis, some of them women and children.
Now, as NPR's Tom Bowman explains, one of those Marines is about to go to trial.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich led the squad of Marines that day in Haditha, and tomorrow he'll face voluntary manslaughter charges.
Here's Sergeant Wuterich's lawyer, Neal Puckett.
NEAL PUCKETT: He's going to be glad to have it over because he knows that he'll be exonerated, the world will know the truth about what happened at Haditha - can't be attributed to his criminal behavior, and he just needs to move on with his life.
BOWMAN: There's still a lot of confusion about what happened that day in Haditha. What is beyond dispute is that Marines came under attack. A roadside bomb exploded, killing a Marine and wounding two others. Then a car pulled up. Five Iraqis were inside, and were ordered out. They were unarmed. Wuterich described what happened on CBS' "60 Minutes" back in 2007.
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STAFF SERGEANT FRANK WUTERICH: They started to take off, so I shot at them.
BOWMAN: All five were killed by Wuterich and another Marine. Wuterich's lawyer, Neal Puckett, says the Marines were within their rights.
PUCKETT: The rules of engagement at the time said that after an IED explosion, if you see a military-age male running, he can be engaged.
BOWMAN: Engaged - meaning the Marines could shoot. But that wasn't the end of it. The Marines said they began taking rifle fire. Wuterich thought it was coming from a nearby house. The Marines tossed grenades, then burst into the house, firing their assault weapons. Wuterich told "60 Minutes" what he saw next.
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WUTERICH: There may have been women in there. There may have been children in there.
BOWMAN: No weapons were found. Wuterich was asked why the Marines didn't stop shooting.
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WUTERICH: My responsibility as a squad leader is to make sure that none of the rest of my guys died or got killed, and at that point, we were still on the assault.
BOWMAN: The Marines charged into another house next door. Again, no weapons were found, and more women and children were killed inside. All told, twenty-four killed. Eleven were women and children. At the heart of the trial is whether the Marines responded appropriately to the threat that day, whether they were following the rules of engagement which govern when a Marine can open fire.
Prosecutors say Wuterich overreacted, that he disregarded the requirement to have a hostile target and positive identification before opening fire. Eight Marines were initially charged in the killings. All but Wuterich either had their charges dismissed or were acquitted. Gary Solis is a law professor and former Marine officer. He says prosecutors are going after Wuterich because he was the leader.
GARY SOLIS: The accusation is that he not only did not control the troops, but more significantly, he actively participated in the offenses that are alleged to have been committed in Haditha.
PUCKETT: How could they have done it? Why would they have done it?
BOWMAN: Again, Wuterich's lawyer, Neal Puckett.
PUCKETT: Those are the kinds of questions that I believe are going to be answered by the witnesses over the course of the month-long trial at Camp Pendleton.
BOWMAN: Puckett won't say how Haditha could have happened, but he says that his client is being singled out, and points to others who were there that day.
PUCKETT: Three enlisted Marines had their charges dismissed, we believe, in an effort to try to improve the very weak case against Staff Sergeant Wuterich.
BOWMAN: So that will be one line of defense. Whether Wuterich will move on with his life or face years in prison will be determined during the military trial. It's expected to last a month. Some 50 witnesses will testify. Gary Solis, the law professor and former Marine, faults military prosecutors for not pressing ahead for a speedier trial.
SOLIS: After six years, memories fade, and the relevance of evidence may even fade. Certainly, evidence may be lost.
BOWMAN: That means, Solis says, that the case may be hard to prove. Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And let's talk about to grow the infrastructure and the economy of India – one of the world's rising economies. One of India's biggest plans is for a $12 billion steel plant in the eastern state of Orissa. It involves money coming from a South Korean company, which would make the biggest foreign investment in modern India.
But as NPR's Corey Flintoff discovered, farmers and fishermen living in that area don't want the plant.
COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: The project is being promoted by the South Korea-based firm, POSCO, the fourth-largest steel producer in the world. In 2005, POSCO signed an agreement with the Indian state of Orissa. The deal called for the company to build a steel mill, electrical generating plant and port on India's east coast.
POSCO Vice president Vikash Sharan says the mill will eventually provide 18,000 jobs in what is now a rural area that depends on farming and fishing. He says the company believes another 30,000 jobs will be created indirectly.
VIKASH SHARAN: We had also planned that at least one person from each displaced family will get a job in the company. We had also conducted many training programs so that they become employable.
: The plant was set to begin producing steel in 2010, but so far, the company hasn't even broken ground on a site. That's because local people and environmental activists have blocked the project in the courts and on the ground.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
: This is an anti-POSCO demonstration on land that would be lost to the steel mill. About a hundred people from three area villages are gathered under some fir trees on a sandy rise. They say they come here each day so they can be ready to block a proposed road to the site.
MANORAMA KHATUA: (Foreign language spoken)
: This is Manorama Khatua, a young woman with piercing eyes who has become one of the leaders of the anti-POSCO group. POSCO says it needs around 4,000 acres. Much of that is government land that has already been committed to the deal, but Khatua says the farmers control around 400 acres at a crucial part of the site.
KHATUA: (Foreign language spoken)
: She gestures out from the sandy knoll where the demonstrators sit. The land below is idyllically beautiful. Khatua says the local farmers aren't interested in the proposed mill jobs. They already make a good living from their livestock, fish, cashew nuts, bananas and arbors where they grow betel leaves for the ubiquitous Indian chew called pan.
Prashant Paikray, an anti-POSCO activist, also charges that the company bribed politicians to win approval for the deal.
PRASHANT PAIKRA: The state political leaders, ruling class people, they are involved in this great corruption of POSCO.
: Paikray sits on a cot in his small house in Bhubaneswar, the state capital, under fading photographs of Lenin and Marx. He's a member of Orissa's active Communist Party.
POSCO's Vikash Sharan emphatically denies the bribery allegations.
SHARAN: This is absolutely wrong. POSCO is globally known as a very ethical company. We believe in following the correct processes and following all the laws of the land to the hilt.
: Sharan says the very fact that POSCO has waited for six years to develop the project shows its commitment to comply with the law, including measures to protect the environment. But Manorama Khatua says the company and the state haven't waited patiently during the legal challenges. She charges that they have tried to break the resistance movement by sending thugs to attack the demonstrators. She says the police have filed dozens of trumped-up charges against the main organizers in an effort to wear them down.
The anti-POSCO movement's leader, Abhay Sahu, was arrested last month on what the police say were outstanding warrants for alleged crimes that had nothing to do with the protest.
R. Venkatesan is a lead consultant at India's National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi. He says India needs the foreign exchange money that exports such as steel can provide. More importantly, states like Orissa need to create jobs for the enormous numbers of young people who will be entering the job market in the coming years.
R. VENKATESAN: Orissa is a mineral-rich state, and its development would be only when these minerals are processed. So obviously from the state viewpoint, it has a tremendous development potential.
: But Venkatesan says that's not much incentive for the people who stand to lose beautiful farmland that provides them with steady income. Vikash Sharan, the POSCO vice president, says the company is talking directly with local people who have questions about the plant, and he says most people are coming to support the project. He says the company plans to begin serious construction soon.
Corey Flintoff, NPR News, New Delhi.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Today, we have the second installment in our series on the Arab Spring, and we turn to Libya. After months of bloody fighting that ended with the overthrow and death of the former leader Moammar Gadhafi, that North African nation is now looking forward to elections. In Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, we've seen Islamist groups do well at the polls, mostly because of their deep roots in local communities. But in Libya, for most of his 42 years in power, Gadhafi suppressed and persecuting Islamists of all sorts.
Now these groups are, for the first time, able to operate freely. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro has our story from Tripoli.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Kolo Street in Tripoli is unpaved and potholed, lined with crumbling concrete and mud brick homes. The residents here complain of decades of neglect under Moammar Gadhafi. But now, after Libya's revolution, there's a sudden interest in their plight, and it's not coming from the transitional government.
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: A 66-year-old man opens the door and answers questions about his family's situation from members of an Islamic charity that's just started operating in the neighborhood. It's promising to help him and the six members of his family with food and financial support.
SHUKRY JUALY: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: One of the men, Shukry Jualy, who started the Helping Hands charity, says he's a Salafi Muslim, part of an ultra-conservative movement. Jualy says his group has no political affiliation, Salafist parties have done well in neighboring Egypt's elections. Much of their support was garnered through grassroots community work that eventually translated into political power. Unlike Egypt, though, Islamists in Libya are almost starting almost from scratch. Gadhafi was much more aggressive in stamping out Islamist influence here, arresting anyone with a long beard, for example. Attending the early morning prayers at mosques was actually forbidden. But now that the dictator is gone, Islamist groups are wasting no time as they try to spread their influence.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Singing in foreign language)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's prayer time at this makeshift prison in the city of Misrata. The men being held here are from all over Libya, captured in various battles, all purported to be Gadhafi fighters. They line up in a covered courtyard, kneeling and pressing their heads to the floor. One of the things that's striking: All the men here have uncut beards.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: A prison guard takes us on a tour of the facility. He calls the prison a rehabilitation center. He tells us the men here are required to pray five times a day, and they are taught Islam.
HAITHAM MOHAMMED: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Guard Haitham Mohammed says when the prisoners get here, they have no idea how to read the Koran or be properly observant Muslims. We teach them the precepts of Islam, he says. But what they're being taught is the arch-conservative Salafist strain, which the men who run this prison follow.
MOHAMMED: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: While the guard is distracted, the prisoners crowd around us. We are not using their names because they fear reprisals. They tell us they are obligated to pray, leave their beards uncut and are forbidden to smoke. Anyone caught breaking the strict Islamist code is whipped.
FATTAH ABDULSALAM DARES: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The man who runs this facility is Fattah Abdulsalam Dares. Like many things in Libya these days, his appointment here was haphazard. He has no prison guarding experience. He's a businessman who became a rebel fighter and then took over. Charming and voluble, Dares' story is similar to that of many Islamists in Libya.
DARES: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He recounts how he was arrested and tortured under Gadhafi in the very same building he oversees as a prison now. His crime, he says, was simply sporting a long beard. Now, he encourages all the prisoners to wear one. He says we Islamists want to show people our real face, not the evil one painted on us by the former regime. We believe in charity and honesty, he says. It's a message that has resonated across the region in the wake of the Arab Spring. Islamist groups have been the big winners.
SAMER SHEHATA: There's no doubt that this is the moment for Islamist politics and Islamist movements.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Samer Shehata is assistant professor of Arab Politics at Georgetown University. Michael Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation, adds that the decades of repression have actually helped push Islamist groups towards their position of dominance.
MICHAEL HANNA: This is a reckoning that was a long time in coming. The postponement of the integration of political Islam into the political process and the opening up of democratic potential probably exacerbated the current situation and opened the door for more radical Islamist forces. It was something that had to happen.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Still, it's something that makes many in the West uneasy. In the case of Libya, the fear is that NATO's intervention here will eventually usher hard-line Islamists into power, like what happened in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion. Already, many of the most powerful Islamists in Libya have a complicated relationship with Western nations. Britain and America often colluded with the Gadhafi regime in the wake of 9-11 against Islamist militants.
Among the most infamous cases is that of Abdul Hakim Belhaj. He headed the now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. It was deemed a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, though he has denied belonging to Osama bin Laden's global terror group. Belhaj is now the powerful head of the Tripoli Military Council.
ABDUL HAKIM BELHAJ: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: In an interview with NPR, he told of his rendition back to Libya from Malaysia in 2004. He's now suing the British government for what he says is its complicity in his kidnap and torture at Gadhafi's hands. Documents recently discovered seem to support his claim that British MI6 organized his transfer back to Tripoli. Behlhaj now has political aspirations. He's been in talks with other prominent Islamists since last April after a secret meeting in Istanbul to form a political party. Infighting, though, has delayed its announcement.
There are many different kinds of Islamists, and there are deep divisions among them. The Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, for example, was initially slated to join the group, but has now backed out. Libya's Islamists are worried about their reception in a country with no history of political parties for 42 years and relentless propaganda by the Gadhafi regime against them. So they've been trying to attract other groups to what they're branding a nationalist party. Its manifesto, though, was written by one of the leading Islamist figures in Libya, Sheik Ali Sallabi.
SHEIK ALI SALLABI: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: In an extensive interview with NPR, Sallabi said the new party, named the National Assembly, will be inclusive and independent in nature. While Islam and Sharia law will be the basis for any Libyan constitution, he says he looks to models like Malaysia and Turkey instead of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He talks of a moderate Islam that is open to the outside and democratically minded.
It's a speech that is not only intended to comfort any critics in the West, but also those at home. A recent poll showed that while Libyans are pious and believe in Islam's role in society, they are extremely leery of Islamist parties.
NOURI GHARIYANI: I think they are going to limit our freedom. Of course, we are Muslim, but not Islamic. It is different. Personally, I don't like them, honestly.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's pharmacist Nouri Ghariyani. In many street interviews, people from all walks of life reiterated that fear, and so Libya's Islamists are treading gingerly for now, waiting to see if after 40 years under the shadow of a dictator, they can finally seize what seems to be their day. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This is an unusual campaign season. Up till now, it's been volatile with one front-runner after another. And the campaign in Iowa looks and feels different than previous years. The state prides itself on providing a forum for on the ground campaigning. Voters expect to meet the candidates, sometimes several times. This time though, the candidates have spent less time in the state. They've relied more on social media and their supporters have spent a lot of money in the state.
NPR's national political correspondent Don Gonyea has more.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Iowa's Republican Governor, Terry Branstad, is a fierce advocate for the Iowa caucuses. At times over the past four months, he's seemed frustrated that candidates were not in the state as much as in past years. His message, over and over, was this.
GOVERNOR TERRY BRANSTAD: Don't ignore the voters of Iowa, because they take it personally. They want to see the candidates and they take their responsibility very seriously.
GONYEA: And while Rick Santorum has spent a great deal of time in the state, bragging that he'd visited all 99 counties months ago, candidates like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul were pretty hard to find here state until recent weeks. Still, the GOP field hardly ignored the state in other ways.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADS)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Who has the best chance to beat Obama? Rick Santorum...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Ron Paul has been so consistent from the very beginning...
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: Hi, I'm Rick Perry...
MITT ROMNEY: I'm Mitt Romney.
GONYEA: And there's been something new to the advertising mix this year. Here's Iowa Republican strategist John Stineman.
JOHN STINEMAN: The first that I'd have to say is the advent of the SuperPAC, where you have an outside entity that's independent of a campaign that can pour huge amounts of dollars into television ads, radio ads, and mail.
GONYEA: Like this ad that popped up on TV's in Iowa households shortly after Newt Gingrich rose to the top of the polls.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Newt Gingrich's Baggage. Newt has more baggage than the airlines. Freddie Mac helped cause the economic collapse but Gingrich cashed in. Freddie Mac paid Newt $30,000 an hour.
GONYEA: That ad was part of a barrage that helped drive Gingrich's poll numbers down as fast as they'd risen. It was paid for by a group called Restore Our Future which is supportive of, but legally and officially not affiliated with, Mitt Romney. Again, Jon Stineman.
STINEMAN: Attack ads are not new. Negative mail is not new. But having them done by a third party and at the volume that they're being done is a new concept for the caucuses.
GONYEA: Add in social media campaigns and the time candidates spent prepping for and appearing in a lengthy series of debates, and it felt a lot less like traditional Iowa retail campaigning. Though as caucus day drew nearer, the in person appearances by candidates did increase to the point that it did start to feel more like caucus campaigns of years past.
ROMNEY: We should've rented a bigger room. My goodness.
RICK SANTORUM: It's good to be in Polk City, thank you so much.
REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL: This is almost like a real rally! This is great, wonderful.
GONYEA: Drake University political scientist Dennis Goldford says Iowa's place as the first official contest of the nominating season has always been about candidates spending time in a small state, making their pitch up close and in person.
DENNIS GOLDFORD: We always, in our nomination system, have to have some state start first but Iowa's role that it's taken on to justify its starting position has been to say that Iowa allows candidates and forces candidates to meet individuals on a one to one and small group basis, rather than treating them simply as a mass of campaign props.
GONYEA: But Goldford adds....
GOLDFORD: If we have this overlay of social media and more on air debates, nationally televised or otherwise, yeah, that distinctive element of Iowa does tend to diminish.
GONYEA: But also remember that Rick Santorum has put in more time here than anyone else this cycle, and he suddenly is in the top tier of candidates. If he finishes well today, then Goldford says, it would a victory for an old-style Iowa campaign.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer. The Republican presidential candidates have logged thousands of miles in Iowa, shaking hands, making speeches, seeking support. Tonight, they'll hear how it worked. Mitt Romney's campaign invested in Iowa, when it began to look like he might have a chance of winning. Millions of dollars later, he holds a slim lead over Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
NPR's Ari Shapiro was along for Romney's last full day of campaigning.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Iowans take pride in their Midwestern pragmatism, and that pragmatism came across in several interviews with Romney supporters on the last full day of the campaign in Iowa. At a rally in Davenport, there was no celebrity star-worship or screams of adoration. Ask people here why they're voting for Romney, and they all tend to give the same answer.
MARY KAY SIMMS: I think he can beat Barack Obama. I think that's the biggest issue.
BOB SARTOR: I think he's electable. I think that's probably it.
NANCY RUDNICK: He has the ability to turn this country around and to beat Obama.
SHAPIRO: Which of those two is more important to you right now?
RUDNICK: Beating Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: That was Mary Kay Simms, Bob Sartor and Nancy Rudnick.
The event here at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds was only about half-full, though it was 8 AM on a holiday, and the gusting winter blasts did not exactly encourage people to venture out.
Forget winning Iowa. Romney spoke as though he had already won the Republican presidential nomination and was going toe-to-toe with President Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
MITT ROMNEY: I look at this president, realize that he just doesn't know it's - what has to be done to get this country on track again. You know, when he was just a new elected president, he went on the "Today Show," and he said if I can't get this economy turned around in three years, I'll be looking at a one-term proposition. I'm here to collect, all right?
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: The former Massachusetts governor did not mention his rivals once. After the rally, campaign strategist Eric Fehrnstrom told me that's because President Obama's economic record is what prompted Romney to enter this race.
ERIC FEHRNDTROM: Look, it's not Newt Gingrich's fault that there are 25 million Americans looking for work. That's not the fault of Ron Paul or Michele Bachmann. That's the fault of the incumbent president.
SHAPIRO: And is there a sense that even if Ron Paul or Rick Santorum takes first place in Iowa, in the long term, that's not necessarily a terrible thing for the Romney campaign?
FEHRNDTROM: I think we're surprised to find ourselves in hunt here in Iowa. Back in the spring, you know, we didn't think that we'd do that well in Iowa, but based on what we've been seeing and hearing over the past several weeks, we've decided to invest more time by the candidate here. But I think whether we win or achieve something less in Iowa, we've built an organization that can go the long distance to Tampa.
SHAPIRO: Tampa is where the Republican nominating convention will take place this summer. The road there leads through towns like Dubuque, where Romney introduced some of his sons and his wife Ann to a lunchtime crowd.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
ROMNEY: Four years ago, I standing here, she standing there, and suddenly her half of the stage collapsed in Dubuque at the Best Western Hotel. And she went down on the ground, landed on her backside. And I said: How are you, honey? A little later she said well, I fell on da butt in Dubuque. So...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: That's not a bad metaphor for what happened to Romney himself four years ago. Iowa helped derail his path to the nomination in 2008. Now, in a state that has always favored evangelicals and social conservatives, this former governor of Massachusetts seems to have more than a fighting chance. He focused his last day before the caucuses on counties where he did well four years ago, in hopes of deepening his core of support rather than expanding the size of the map here.
At an asphalt company in Marion, he stood under a banner saying: Believe in America.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
ROMNEY: I want to see America united. I watch a president who's become the great divider, the great complainer, the great excuse-giver, the great blamer. I want to have an America that comes together. I'm an optimist. I believe in the future of America. I'm not a pessimist.
SHAPIRO: The room was packed, and cheers frequently interrupted this speech. In fact, his rallies grew in size and enthusiasm over the course of the day. Mitt Romney hopes that momentum will culminate tonight in the first win of the 2012 presidential race.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Des Moines.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
The multi-billion dollar ethanol subsidy expired on Saturday. Most of the ethanol added to gasoline in this country is produced from corn. And, of course, Iowa produces huge amounts of corn. But even in this political season, even as Iowa prepares to caucus today, Congress let the formerly sacred subsidies expire after more than 30 years and about $20 billion. To talk more about why the era ends now, we called Bruce Babcock. He's the Cargill chair of energy economics at Iowa State University.
Thank you for joining us.
BRUCE BABCOCK: It's a pleasure.
WERTHEIMER: How do farmers feel, do you think, about losing this subsidy? In a single year, it's amounted to, like, last year, for example, about $6 billion.
BABCOCK: Well, most farmers haven't even realized it's gone, because the price of corn has been so high, and it continues to be high with or without the subsidy. So at the farm level, it hasn't really had much of an impact on them.
WERTHEIMER: Do you think it's going to have much of an impact on consumers? Will we see higher prices at the gasoline pump, or lower prices when we pick up a bag of chips?
BABCOCK: I don't think consumers are going to notice much impact at all. My calculations suggest that, on average, you should see corn prices go down maybe by 40 cents a bushel, which is about 8, 10 percent, something like that. So a very modest impact on corn prices.
WERTHEIMER: And, as I understand it, it's not as if the farmer used to get a check for X amount for participating in the ethanol program. That subsidy went to the producers of energy.
BABCOCK: That's right. It's an indirect affect on corn prices. The subsidy was paid to the oil companies to entice them to buy ethanol, which then increased the price of corn. And then that helped the corn farmers.
WERTHEIMER: How do you see this affecting the corn-ethanol industry?
BABCOCK: I don't see anything on the horizon that suggests that gasoline or crude oil prices are going to go down. And so when you have a hundred dollar crude oil prices, that increases the price of gasoline. And then that increases the search for lower-cost substitutes for gasoline. And corn ethanol really is the only lower-cost substitute we have right now in the short-to-intermediate run.
WERTHEIMER: Now, not only are subsidies ending, but also tariffs on corn ethanol imports. Is that going to change things for U.S. producers of corn?
BABCOCK: No, it won't. Ironically, most people think that import tariffs have kept out the lower-cost Brazilian sugar cane ethanol. But Brazil's demand for ethanol has skyrocketed over the last few years, and their domestic supplies haven't been able to keep up. So, somewhat surprisingly, the U.S. has been supplying Brazil with ethanol. So eliminating the tariff won't do anything, because the U.S. is more likely to be supplying Brazil with ethanol over the next few years than the other way around.
WERTHEIMER: I understand there is one kind of ethanol that will continue to be subsidized, and I guess it's similar to what Brazil makes: cellulosic ethanol. Isn't that switchgrass?
BABCOCK: Cellulosic ethanol can be made from anything with cellulose. So it can be switchgrass. But the first cellulosic ethanol plants are actually going to be made with corn stalks and corn cobs. And so some subsidies for cellulosic ethanol are going to continue.
WERTHEIMER: Dr. Babcock, what do you think happened here? Do you think it was the maturing of the industry or the enthusiasm of the people who want to cut spending in Congress?
BABCOCK: I think it was both. I think that the industry matured. They saw that they could compete with sugar cane ethanol from Brazil and with gasoline. And Congress wanted to cut spending. So those two things together is the reason why we don't have that subsidy anymore.
WERTHEIMER: Bruce Babcock, thank you very much.
BABCOCK: It's been a pleasure talking to you.
WERTHEIMER: Bruce Babcock is an agriculture economist at Iowa State University.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
As of today, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has a new leader. His name is Charles Samuels, and he is the first African American to run the bureau which supervises more than 200,000 inmates across the country. Samuels faces multiple challenges, right from the start - from overcrowding in the prisons to budget pressure from Congress. Here's NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: The Federal Bureau of Prisons has long had a reputation for operating in the dark. Its culture has been as locked up as the criminals confined in more than 100 facilities all over the country. That's one reason prisoners' rights advocates have implored the Justice Department to choose a new prison leader from outside the system. Advocates like Philip Fornaci, a lawyer who has sued the prisons over mistreatment and bad conditions.
PHILIP FORNACI: We certainly advocated for an outside candidate because we believe there's a lot of housecleaning that needs to be done at the Bureau of Prisons, which is simply not achievable with someone from the inside.
JOHNSON: But the Justice Department, which oversees the prison bureau, turned instead, to Charles Samuels, a 23 year veteran of the system.
FORNACI: I'm encouraged that he's an African American man given the disproportionate number of African Americans in that system.
JOHNSON: But Fornaci says Samuels's professional background worries him.
FORNACI: His background, from what I understand, it has to do with security issues and the use of private prisons contracting. Those are two of the major weak points in the bureau right now, so that concerns me quite a bit.
JOHNSON: Activists and experts who work on criminal justice issues say they don't know Samuels well, if at all. Like the system he'll run, he mostly operates under the radar. Dale DesHotel who leads a union for 20,000 corrections officers, says Samuels has agreed to meet with his group next week. A good start, DesHotel says, but no help in reducing the severe overcrowding in the federal prisons where his members work.
DALE DESHOTEL: It's a trap. It's a trap. It's a death trap for somebody.
JOHNSON: DesHotel counted 130 incidents of inmate violence in the federal prison system last year, and nearly 100 more episodes where inmates assaulted prison staff. He says it's gotten so bad that authorities use almost every square foot in prisons to squeeze in a few more inmates.
The administration has tried to buy more prison space. But Congress tossed a wrench in the effort to buy an empty state prison in Thomson, Illinois. Lawmakers did so noting that the administration had once considered using that facility for detainees moved from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The irony is that the Bureau of Prisons already holds far more people convicted of terrorism charges than U.S. military prisons do. Martin Horn, a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says these inmates can be dangerous, whether in prison or not.
MARTIN HORN: God forbid they let down their guard and one of these guys was able to, you know, engineer another terrorist act from, you know, within the prison.
JOHNSON: Attorney General Eric Holder, who picked Samuels to lead the bureau, says he has no fears about public safety. And in a statement, the Attorney General says Samuels will spend a lot of his time figuring out how to prepare inmates for life on the outside. In this economy, that won't be easy. Brenda Smith teaches law at American University. She's followed the prisons for years as an expert on women behind bars.
BRENDA SMITH: They have really good programs for inmate inside. And so inmates are gainfully employed, they gain skills, but what I've certainly heard is that they can't get jobs once they get out.
JOHNSON: Martin Horn, who ran the corrections system for New York City and the State of Pennsylvania, says investing more in those efforts will pay off by shrinking the number of prisoners who return after release. But he says those savings will come over a 10 year horizon - not within a single congressional budget year.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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Authorities in Los Angeles are celebrating the arrest of a suspect in dozens of fires. L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told reporters that residents can finally get some rest.
ZEV YAROSLAVSKY: Our long, four-day nightmare is over. This has been, literally, a nightmare. I haven't had a good night's sleep since last week, and I'm looking forward to one tonight.
INSKEEP: A man is suspected of torching cars and carports, among other targets around Los Angeles. NPR's Carrie Kahn has been covering the story; she's in L.A. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Who is the suspect?
KAHN: His name is Harry Burkhart. He's 24 years old. He's from Germany. And it's unclear how long he's been in the country, but police say he's been living in the Hollywood area. And he told police that he's from Frankfurt.
He was arrested yesterday morning at about 3 a.m., and he's currently being held without bail and booked for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling. And police say search warrants are issued for his residence, and the investigation's ongoing.
INSKEEP: This must've captured the attention of all of metropolitan L.A. These fires went on throughout the New Year weekend.
KAHN: It did. This has been going on since last Thursday. You know, Friday and Saturday night alone, nearly 40 fires were started. Most of these fires were car fires. The arsonist targeted the Hollywood area - North and West Hollywood - but these fires were set throughout a wide swath of L.A. County. They were in the dense cities, in the canyon areas and the hills - and those are scary areas, where fires can spread incredibly fast.
The favorite target was a car in a carport; many were attached to apartments. So the fire, which was mostly started in the early morning, the cars would be lit on fires and engulf the entire carport, and sometimes parts of apartment buildings, too. Luckily, most were not damaged that much.
The arsonist did hit a major parking structure, too, in Hollywood. It's under the Kodak Theater, and that's where the Academy Awards are held.
INSKEEP: And didn't that particular crime, at that structure, have something to do with the way they finally found this man?
KAHN: Yes, it did. It was at that parking structure in Hollywood that a surveillance video caught a man who was leaving the structure rather quickly, just minutes after a fire started. And the picture of the man - he was white, with a ponytail and a receding hairline - was widely distributed all over Los Angeles County and Southern California.
And early yesterday morning, a sheriff reserve deputy spotted that man in a minivan. That was about 3 in the morning yesterday, and they pulled him over. Officials say they found materials in the van that could be used to start fires.
INSKEEP: OK. So they saw this guy in the video and a while later, he was spotted and brought in. If they have the right man here, Carrie Kahn, if he is the proper suspect, why did he do this?
KAHN: Well, police aren't saying much about a possible motive. But at this press conference last night, L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck did say that the foreign national from Germany was recognized on the video by a federal official. And then that federal official contacted the arson task force and said they knew who the man was.
And the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Burkhart's mother has been involved in an immigration dispute, and is either being or has been deported. And it's unclear now whether that had something to do with the motive of the fires.
INSKEEP: Wait a minute - so Burkhart himself had done something related to this immigration case that made him of interest to authorities. Somebody had seen him before.
KAHN: Right. There was some sort of hearing that happened in Los Angeles, and he had created a disturbance. And the federal official who was familiar with him, who was at the hearing, recognized him from that widely distributed image on the video, and contacted the arson task force. And that was the big break in the case.
INSKEEP: Carrie, are authorities sure that they have the only arsonist there is?
KAHN: They say they believe he did act alone, but they stressed that the investigation is just beginning. One important fact, though, is that since Burkhart's arrest yesterday morning at 3 o'clock, there haven't been any more fires.
INSKEEP: NPR's Carrie Kahn is in Los Angeles. Carrie, thanks very much.
KAHN: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with a hybrid headache for Honda.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: OK. Today a Los Angeles woman is taking Honda to court. She's one of many Civic Hybrid owners who claim their vehicle does not get as many miles to the gallon as promised. But Heather Peters is not joining an existing class action suit - fearing she'd only get a few hundred dollars - far less than she wants. Peters is suing Honda in small claims court for up to $10,000. If other Civic owners follow her lead Honda could end up paying a lot more.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Drivers in Nigeria are furious. And angry protesters have taken to the streets in several cities, after the government took away a critical gas subsidy. Gas prices shot up to about $3.50 gallon. That's double what it was before the subsidy disappeared over the weekend.
Nigeria's government says it wants to spend billions of dollars once used on the subsidies on infrastructure projects.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And today's last word in business is: @ Rupert Murdoch. That's the name of the Twitter account of News Corp.'s CEO Rupert Murdoch. He's not known as big Internet user, but at the age 80 he's had an epiphany of some kind.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And a few days ago he began posting comments on the microblogging service. Twitter and News Corp. have both confirmed the comments are Mr. Murdoch's. In 140 characters or less, Murdoch is praising movies made by his film studio Fox.
WERTHEIMER: He criticized President Obama. He praised Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
INSKEEP: And Murdoch has already attracted more than 80,000 followers on Twitter. As you'd expect for the head of a company involved in a phone hacking scandal, he has also faced some criticism.
WERTHEIMER: A blogger in Beirut tweets: Rupert Murdoch has joined Twitter and is now legally following people.
That's the business news at MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
INSKEEP: You can follow us this program @MORNINGEDITION and @NPRinskeep on Twitter. I'm Steve Inskeep.
WERTHEIMER: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
More than a hundred thousand Iowans will gather in small groups this evening in the first contest of the presidential election. Six Republican candidates campaigned across the state yesterday with the same goal: motivating supporters to leave home on a cold night, go to their precinct meeting places and vote.
NPR's Ted Robbins tracked the candidates and has this report from Iowa.
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Davenport, Dubuque, Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines. It's not a train schedule, it's five of more than 20 scheduled campaign stops the candidates made yesterday. So where to start? Might as well go top to bottom according to the latest poll, though everyone agrees the race is still so fluid that even last week's order is no predictor of caucus results.
As the front-runner, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney hasn't been directly attacking his opponents. He's been attacking President Barack Obama. Here's Romney at the Weber Paper Company in Dubuque.
MITT ROMNEY: The president seems to want to turn us into a European-style welfare state. An entitlement society where government comes and takes from some people to give to others. What will that do? That will replace ambition with envy. That would poison the very spirit of American enterprise.
ROBBINS: Romney may be leading, but Ron Paul is close - 22 percent to Romney's 24 in the last Des Moines Register poll. Paul supporters are organized and they tend to passionately believe in the Texas Congressman's libertarian message: a lot of personal liberty with very few government functions. He spoke at a downtown Des Moines hotel.
REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL: What is the proper role? Stay out of running the economy. Stay out of our personal lives. And stay out of the internal affairs of other nations. We don't need to be doing that.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ROBBINS: Rick Santorum has spent more time in Iowa than any other candidate. The former Pennsylvania Senator has been driving around in a pick-up truck. But yesterday, he got a bus - a bus which belongs to reality television's Duggar family, who star in the show "19 and Counting." They support Santorum's Christian conservative faith and family message.
Santorum is within striking distance of the lead, and is now expected to at least finish in the top three.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: At a Pizza Ranch Restaurant in Boone, Santorum was hoarse from all his speaking, but cheerful.
RICK SANTORUM: I didn't have the money to compete here. But we were able to do it. Why? Because money doesn't buy Iowa. Hard work, good ideas, strong principles.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ROBBINS: As Santorum has risen, Newt Gingrich has fallen. The former House speaker led in Iowa just last month. He predicted he'd be the Republican nominee. Yesterday, Gingrich said he no longer expected to even win the Iowa caucuses.
Standing in front of what's said to be the world's largest tractor in Independence, Iowa, Gingrich insisted his intellect and his experience should be enough for him to win.
NEWT GINGRICH: I am the only candidate who could successfully debate Obama in the fall. And I'm the only candidate who has an actual track record, twice with Reagan and then as Speaker, of actually changing Washington.
ROBBINS: The last two candidates could suffer if Rick Santorum manages to consolidate the Christian conservative vote, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Perry was in Sioux City, predicting that the weather Tuesday will be cold and breezy - good enough for his supporters to turn out.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: And you'll be able to go in mass to go caucus for me. And I'll make this pact with you: If you will have my back tomorrow at the caucuses, I will have your back for the next four years in Washington, D.C. God bless you and thank you all for coming out and being with us
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ROBBINS: Which brings us to Michele Bachmann, she's been working hard but fading fast. Bachman did air a last minute TV ad, playing up her Iowa roots.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: One of our own. Michele Bachmann for president.
REPRESENTATIVE MICHELE BACHMANN REPUBLICAN, MINNESOTA: I'm Michele Bachmann and...
ROBBINS: Bachman also once led in Iowa. But at an appearance in front of her bus in West Des Moines, she almost sounded as though she were conceding.
MINNESOTA: To be able to campaign for the presidency of the United States, to have been the first woman ever in the history of the Iowa straw poll to win that straw poll, it's been a thrill for me to do this.
ROBBINS: At some point, every candidate who's campaigned in Iowa has led here, except Rick Santorum. It'll soon be clear who has peaked at the right time.
Ted Robbins, NPR News, Des Moines.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
The New Year started on a strange and tragic note in one of America's national parks. On Sunday, a gunman shot and killed a ranger in Mount Rainier National Park. That set off an evacuation of the park, and then a huge manhunt. The manhunt ended yesterday with the suspected shooter found dead in a snowy canyon. Tom Banse of the Northwest News Network reports from the edge of the park in Washington State.
TOM BANSE, BYLINE: Popular Mount Rainier National Park has been closed since Sunday as authorities hunted for a heavily armed Iraq War veteran. The man fled on foot into the snowy wilderness. This after he allegedly shot up two patrol cars, killing the ranger in one of them. The ensuing manhunt involved more than 200 personal, including SWAT teams on snowshoes and aircraft with heat seeking cameras.
Pierce County, Washington Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer says the suspect was found face-down in a snowbound stream about 24 hours after the search began. He was down to a t-shirt, jeans and one shoe. Two guns nearby. Cause of death: presumed to be hypothermia. Ironically, the location is named Paradise Creek.
ED TROYER: The condition he was in, and the clothing he had on him, he was not equipped to make it a night or two in the winter conditions that were up there.
BANSE: Troyer confirmed the suspected shooter is 24-year-old Benjamin Barnes. The Seattle resident was kicked out of the Army a couple years ago for misconduct involving DUI and a weapon. Barnes was already on the run when he encountered the park rangers, though they didn't know that.
He was wanted for questioning about an earlier shootout. The gunfire there injured four guests at a suburban New Year's house party. Troyer says why the gunman then hightailed it for a famous national park is anybody's guess.
TROYER: Unfortunate how it turned out, but it's a good thing he was stopped because I don't know what you do on top of a mountain full of people with a car full of weapons and no winter gear. Who knows, but it wasn't going to be anything good.
BANSE: The slain park ranger leaves behind a husband and two young children. Her name was Margaret Anderson. She'd met her husband at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah where both worked as rangers. They moved together to Mount Rainier about four years ago. Park superintendent Randy King says his staff is struggling to cope with the loss of what he calls a tremendous person.
RANDY KING: Extremely passionate about working for the National Park Service, like most employees are. Very dedicated to her job. Highly trained, highly skilled, highly motivated, excellent law enforcement officer. And it's just a horrible, horrible loss.
BANSE: And it's the first time a ranger has ever been killed in this park.
In the small towns outside Mount Rainier, relief that the manhunt is over mixes with grief for the loss of a neighbor. Restaurant owner Elisa Fruzzetti came outside to change her reader board. It now says, In Loving Memory Ranger Anderson - Our hearts are with your family.
ELISA FRUZZETTI: Everybody's just pretty much in shock. So it's a tough thing up here, because everybody is so close.
BANSE: FBI special agent Steven Dean offered reassurances to the wider public when he addressed a battery of cameras and reporters at the park entrance.
STEVEN DEAN: I think you'll see if you look at the statistics, national parks are safe places to go. National parks are safe places to take your families. This is an anomaly. This is something that doesn't happen.
BANSE: Dean says law enforcement at all levels will be asking questions in the coming days about what - if anything - could have been done differently.
For NPR News, I'm Tom Banse near Mount Rainier National Park.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
The big bowls are underway. The five games in the Bowl Championship Series stand out in the crowded college football postseason. They command the largest national television audience and pay out the most money. They also generate the most controversy, although yesterday, the first two BCS bowl games generally created nothing but thrills.
Oregon beat Wisconsin 45 to 38 in the Rose Bowl and Oklahoma State won a 41-38 nail-biter over Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. NPR's Tom Goldman joins us with more.
Good morning, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: Let's start with the nightcap. The Fiesta Bowl in Arizona was supposed to be Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck's last chance to shine before he headed off to become the number one draft pick in the NFL. So did he shine?
GOLDMAN: Pretty much. He only misfired on four passes. He completed 27 of 31 for two touchdowns. So, yeah, he was good. But, you know, he was upstaged pretty much by Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden. That's 28-year-old Brandon Weeden. Old man Weeden led his team to a big win last night. He threw for 399 yards, three touchdowns and the big pass at the end that set up the Cowboys short winning field goal in overtime.
Still, Linda, Luck would've gone out a winner if Stanford kicker Jordan Williamson didn't blow two make-able field goals. One a 35-yarder as regulation time ended. And then a 43-yarder in overtime. And he reportedly was sobbing in front of his locker after the game and didn't speak with reporters.
WERTHEIMER: Poor guy.
GOLDMAN: Yeah.
WERTHEIMER: So, Tom, Oregon has been one of the country's most exciting teams in recent years - not to mention college football's fashion trend-setter with its uniforms and mirrored helmets yesterday. But no bowl game victories and that has finally changed, of course. So how did the Ducks break through against Wisconsin?
GOLDMAN: Well, you know, of course there were the Oregon pyrotechnics we're all used to. My favorite stat of the day, Oregon's De'Anthony Thomas scored on runs of 91 and 64 yards. Those were his only two runs of the game for 155 yards. That means he had a 77 1/2 yard per carry average.
Now, that kind of explosive run-oriented offense has defined Oregon. But their defense came through at key moments. The passing game was key. Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas and wide receiver Lavasier Tuinei hooked up for two touchdowns, but also some key first downs to keep the Ducks moving down the field. So it was a big breakthrough win for Oregon, which narrowly lost in the national championship game last season.
WERTHEIMER: Now, the recent scandals at Penn State, and before that Miami and Ohio State, seemed to sort of silence the annual criticism of the Bowl Championship Series. But are you seeing any reason for BCS haters still to hate?
GOLDMAN: Oh sure. The biggest criticism, the BCS uses polls and computers to match up teams in these five games, instead of having a playoff. That criticism still applies. You look at yesterday's games, all four very good teams played well. Could've been part of an entertaining playoff.
The other criticism was the selection of teams for this year's BCS games. Tonight's Sugar Bowl, in particular - number 11 Virginia Tech versus number 13 Michigan. When Top 10 ranked teams like Boise State and Kansas State didn't get into a lucrative BCS bowl, you know, it juts leaves critics confused about how teams are selected for these big games.
Although there is consensus, as there usually is, that the teams chosen for the national championship game - that would be, this year, LSU and Alabama next week - is fairly commendable.
WERTHEIMER: OK. NPR Sports Correspondent Tom Goldman.
Thank you, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WERTHEIMER: This is NPR News.
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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
For this new year, Congress gave President Obama the power to impose new sanctions on Iran.
WERTHEIMER: The sanctions would target Iran's central bank. Though the president has some flexibility on the timing, the mere threat escalated tensions. Iranians have spoken of stopping oil tankers passing through the vital straits of Hormuz.
INSKEEP: And when a U.S. aircraft carrier steamed out of the Persian Gulf through those straits, Iran warned the carrier not to come back. Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says the sanctions would be a lot of pressure on Iran.
KARIM SADJADPOUR: The sanctions against Iran's central bank will be the most draconian sanctions passed against Iran since the 1979 revolution. It's essentially going to make it a lot more difficult to do business with Iran, whether that's to import Iranian oil and gas, which is the main source of Iran's income, or continue to export products to Iran.
INSKEEP: How much flexibility does President Obama have under the law to impose or withhold the sanctions?
SADJADPOUR: There's a good deal of flexibility. I think it's probably unlikely that we're going to penalize every single company and country which continues to do business with Iran. But again, the calculations are that if Iran loses its European market and it loses its Japanese and South Korean market, we're talking about 40-45 percent of Iran's petroleum export market. And it's unclear whether China, India, African countries, will be able to pick up the slack.
INSKEEP: If the United States were to impose the sanctions, if enough other countries and companies around the world were to go along if the sanctions would really take effect, would the United States do more damage to itself than it would to Iran? You'd be cutting off oil that's a big part of the world oil supply.
SADJADPOUR: And especially at a time when the state of the global economy, the state of the American and European economies, are so precarious. The hope is that Libyan oil will be back on the market come spring time or be back to status quo activity.
Saudi Arabia has already committed to increasing their output of oil. And Iraq also has a role, if an unwitting role, and that is to increase their oil output as well.
So Iran currently exports about 2.5 million barrels per day. The hope is that between Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Iraq, a decrease of Iranian oil from the global market isn't going to have a major ramification for the global economy.
INSKEEP: Now, we certainly get the impression that Iran is taking this seriously, given some of the noises that they've made in the last several days.
SADJADPOUR: The big question is whether this type of pressure that's being exacted now is the type of existential angst-inducing pressure on the Iranian regime to force it to make meaningful compromises on its nuclear program. The regime is probably more isolated than it's been since the 1979 revolution, facing incredibly disgruntled population at home. Their currency, right now, is in a downward spiral.
So a lot of things are going wrong for the Iranian regime. The question is whether they will see it in their interests to compromise in order to alleviate the pressure or they will see it in their interests to go for the nuclear finish line and obtain a bomb, thinking that if they actually get a bomb that's going to be a shield against outside pressure.
INSKEEP: Do you think that the issues are so great, the interests are so great for each country, that their governments really are willing to go to war if it comes to that?
SADJADPOUR: My concern is that for the hardliners in Tehran, a war, U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran, could actually be expedient for them in the domestic political context. An outside attack on Iran could prolong the shelf life of the Iranian regime.
So, I don't see it in the interests of the Obama administration to attack Iran, because this is an election year and an attack on Iran is going to skyrocket oil prices, which will be bad for the U.S. economy.
But I do see it in the interests of some of the hardliners who are currently ruling Iran to invite some type of attack in order to quell popular agitations and repair internal fractures.
INSKEEP: Karim Sadjadpour, thanks very much.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: He's an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Iran is just one of the nations that make it hard to forecast what will happen overseas in 2012. We've completed a year in which several dictators fell, but the global landscape may be as dangerous as ever. Transitions are unpredictable. Turning points can be treacherous. NPR's Tom Gjelten has a risk assessment for the year ahead.
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: The prospect of regime change can be scary, even when the regimes to be replaced are unpopular or repressive, because there's never a guarantee the new regime will be better. In fact, just going through a transition - the process itself - can damage a country, regardless of who's driving it.
Take Egypt. We don't yet know which group will eventually wield power in that country - the military, the Islamists, or the secular parties. But that's a secondary issue, says Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group. The immediate concern is what Egypt will experience in the meantime.
DR. IAN BREMMER: That's not a matter of what the new government would do if it's in power. That's a matter of if they can actually affect a meaningful transition at all. Or is this place going to start fragmenting?
GJELTEN: So the danger in Egypt may be the process of moving toward a new government, more even than who ends up in the government.
Bremmer's firm does risk analysis and Egypt is one of the places it'll be watching most closely in 2012. Indeed, the whole Middle East, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings, has become more unstable. It's going through dramatic political change just as the United States is disengaging from the region.
The U.S. government was not a guiding force in Egypt or Tunisia. In Libya, the U.S. did support the movement against Gadhafi, but it has since backed off. Nor, Bremmer says, is the U.S. directing developments in Syria.
BREMMER: At the same time that the U.S. isn't playing that role, other countries from outside the region won't either. The Chinese won't. The Russians won't. The Europeans won't. They're all distracted. They're all plenty busy.
That means that the Middle Eastern countries have to resolve their own problems. And yet, the countries that are prepared to do so - the Saudis, the Turks, the Iranians - they don't always play ball nicely. And their ability to affect useful transitions or even maintain the status quo is very limited.
GJELTEN: Another big transition is under way in North Korea and, as in the other cases, it's unpredictable. For the moment, the army and the Communist Party there are ostentatiously showing support for the new leader, 20-something Kim Jong-un. But this is only the second leadership change in that country's 60-year history.
And with the new Supreme Leader so untested, Bremmer's group includes North Korea in its list of the top ten risks facing the world this year.
BREMMER: Either he's going to have a whole bunch of strong folks coalesce around him, and put him forward as a symbolic leader, or it's going to get ugly at the top. So this is a very dangerous environment, indeed.
GJELTEN: Also among the top 10 risks: Pakistan, with its weakened government; China, in trouble with its neighbors; political infighting in South Africa; Venezuela, facing a variety of bad outcomes. And then there's the whole global economy, back on the edge of recession.
In Europe, the 17 governments that use the same currency haven't been able to figure out how to manage their finances harmoniously. Result: Europe's cohesion is more at question than at any point since the Second World War. And for those countries like the U.S. that have depended on Europe, that's worrisome.
Ian Bremmer and his colleagues don't see the 17-member euro currency zone breaking up in the next 12 months, but 2012 could be just as risky as this last year has been.
BREMMER: We also don't believe that a resolution is coming anytime soon. They're going to continue to muddle through. This is a long process. And at the absence of those effective solutions is going to drive a massive amount of volatility and investor sentiment, as we work our way through 2012.
GJELTEN: And the United States, with its own debt problems, is hardly any better off. In both cases, Europe and the U.S., politics stand in the way of progress on the economic front. Leaders apparently lack the political will to do what needs to be done. That may even be true for the world as a whole in 2012. Three years ago, a global financial meltdown had shaken up governments everywhere. This year, it may be just the opposite: around the world, political crises endangering the global economy.
Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
WERTHEIMER: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The filmmaker Mike Mills is accustomed to sharing personal details with a large audience. Mills directed the movie "Beginners." It's based on Mills' real-life experience of having a father who came out of the closet at the age of 75. "Beginners" stars Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "BEGINNERS")
EWAN MCGREGOR: (as Oliver Fields) My parents got married in 1955. They had a child and they stayed married for 44 years, until my mother died. Six months later, my father told me he was gay.
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER: (as Hal Fields) I'm gay.
MCGREGOR: (as Oliver Fields) I remember him wearing a purple sweater when he told me this. But actually he wore a robe.
PLUMMER: (as Hal Fields) I'm gay.
MCGREGOR: He was gay the whole time they were married.
INSKEEP: Mike Mills joined us for the latest installment of our series Watch This. We get movie picks from people in the industry. First on Mills' list is "The Thin Blue Line," an Errol Morris documentary from 1988.
MIKE MILLS: This is the film that actually got me into filmmaking. It's an amazing documentary about a man who was put in prison for supposedly murdering another man. And the film actually got this man out of jail eventually. And Errol Morris, you know, he started off as a private detective. Did you know that?
INSKEEP: No.
MILLS: And his films are very much at the mind of a detective. What's amazing about this film is it's going to sound a little bit like cheesy re-enactments. But he goes through interviewing all the witnesses, interviewing everybody involved in the case. And then often you'll see their description of the car that the man was driving in, or what the police did when they arrived on the scene.
So, there's this amazing scene where supposedly one of the cops got out of the police car and a shot was fired. And the woman was drinking a milkshake and she threw the milkshake. And throughout the film, you see this milkshake being thrown in all different versions; everybody's different version of the story of how the milkshake was thrown, where it landed, what it meant that she had a milkshake.
So, while it's a documentary, while it's about real things, it's a really beautiful meditation or study of how subjective reality is; how sort of magical and slippery reality is.
INSKEEP: And you can seen how you could use, as a filmmaker, a technique like that to try to get somebody out of prison because the audience ends up asking: If people can't even agree on how a milkshake was thrown, how can they agree on the guilt or innocence of somebody.
MILLS: Oh, in his - that film had a real aha-moment. We actually got a confession out of the man who actually did murder the other man.
INSKEEP: Now, let's go from that crime to another one with a rather dramatic title. Here's "Shoot the Piano Player."
MILLS: Truffaut's gorgeous second film...
INSKEEP: Explain who Truffaut is.
MILLS: Francois Truffaut is one of the - you know - him in Godard are sort of the two most famous French New Wave guys. And they, you know, started working in the late '50s, early '60s.
This film, it's really in the guise of being sort of a noir film. But then he constantly derails it and there's always this irreverent humor in it; very just sort of wacky, funny moments, very tender moments.
INSKEEP: So it's kind of - its deconstructing film noir.
MILLS: Yeah. That back in, I think it's made in like '60. You know, that's way before we were ever using this word deconstructed. He's taking this format, noir, and making it suit his needs; what he needs with that sort of emotional story that he needed to tell. The humor that he needed to have to be more free, to sort of break open from all this kind of serious macho men in Bogartean hats and jackets.
INSKEEP: Bogartean hats...
MILLS: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: I hope you've copyrighted that.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MILLS: You know what I mean.
INSKEEP: I know exactly what you mean. I'd love to have a hat like that.
MILLS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: It's great. It's great.
MILLS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: Let's go right on to a Bogart movie that's on your list here. This is a great one. Well, I mean it's a great one to watch. I think we could argue about whether it's a great movie. But it's "To Have and Have Not," a Howard Hawks film with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
MILLS: If I was inviting you all to dinner and a movie tonight, I would do maybe a double feature with - starting off with "To Have and Have Not" and then going to "Shoot the Piano Player," 'cause they do relate to each other. And I guess, you know, my mother adored Humphrey Bogart. I grew up with my mother saying: In my next life, and I'm going to marry Humphrey Bogart - just about every day. And I, you know, love him myself.
And that film really is like "Casablanca, Part Two." It's all the same characters. It's really riding off the coattails of "Casablanca."
INSKEEP: It's a rewrite of "Casablanca."
MILLS: Yeah. Yes.
INSKEEP: Yeah, this is the same situation but on a Caribbean island.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MILLS: Yes, exactly. Its Warner going: how could we just make more money with all the same elements, and just...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MILLS: ...flip them around just a little bit.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MILLS: But "Casablanca" has more of a dramatic tone. "To Have and Have Not" has amazing, really snappy dialogue between Bacall and Bogart. And, of course, this is the film where they met and in real life fell in love. And the dialogue, which is written a lot by Howard Hawks, is a lot of the banter between him and his real wife who was also nicknamed Slim, as Lauren Bacall is in the film.
So, to me, I think there's a lot of juji(ph) excitement that I think comes from these real things.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT")
HUMPHREY BOGART: (as Harry Steve Morgan) I'm sorry, Slim. But I still say you're awful good and I wouldn't...
LAUREN BACALL: (as Marie Slim Browning) Oh, I forgot. You wouldn't take anything from anybody, would you?
BOGART: (as Harry Steve Morgan) That's right.
BACALL: (as Marie Slim Browning) You know, Steve, you're not very hard to figure, only at times. Sometimes I know exactly what you're going to say, most of the time. The other times, the other times you're just a stinker.
INSKEEP: So this is something you'd be happy to show it home. I mean it's just a - it's a...
MILLS: Oh, I adore watching a movie. I watch it all the time. There's some movies I watch, they're kind of like my anti-anxiety pill, my anti-depressant pill. I watch them at least once or twice a month probably. And I never stop learning from them as a filmmaker.
INSKEEP: Now, what about "A Woman Is a Woman" from 1961, another movie on your list here of recommended viewing?
MILLS: So clearly, my very pretentious French New Wave buff.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Second time, your second choice from that.
MILLS: I love that French early '60s stuff. All those films are trying so hard to re-invent film, to not follow the rules. And I love that energy.
"A Woman Is a Woman" is sort of like a musical but not. The sound is constantly going on and off in the film. If you haven't seen it before and you watch it, you're going to think something is wrong with your DVD player. And to me that's wildly exciting. That's Godard making us more conscious of how music affects storytelling, music affects the film.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE SONG, "CHANSON D'ANGELA")
ANNA KARINA: (Singing in foreign language)
MILLS: I guess I watch movies to make myself happier a lot. And this film has such - it's not an easy film. It's not a happy-go-lucky film. But there's such a reaching out for happiness, for fun; for making the world as you wanted to be, not as the boring, bad, un-life affirming rules tell you it should be.
INSKEEP: Well, Mike Mills, thanks very much for joining us.
MILLS: Thanks so much for having me.
INSKEEP: Watch This from director Mike Mills, speaking to us from our studios at NPR West.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO MUSIC)
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Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer, with an appreciation for the man wielding Darth Vader's light saber. Bob Anderson was an Olympic fencer, one of Hollywood's most sought after sword masters. Anderson was a major fight choreographer for saber-rattling movies, including "The Princess Bride" and "The Lord of the Rings." He was nearly 60 when he did Darth Vader's light saber fighting. Anderson died Sunday at the age of 89. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep, with a news story makes you check twice to be sure it's not April 1st. A maker of Scotch whiskey plans to start selling whiskey in a can - like a beer can. You can buy a 12 ounce can - eight shots of 80 proof whiskey in a container you cannot reseal. The company says it hopes, eventually, to develop a can you can close. Until then, they hope you will share it with your friends, or presumably, have a designated driver. It's MORNING EDITION.
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The auto industry has improved in recent years, but apparently business is not quite good enough to make room for Fiat. It was out of the U.S. market for almost 30 years until the launch of the Fiat 500 last March. Sales have fallen far short of expectations, while Fiat partner Chrysler is rapidly improving its U.S. sales. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports.
TRACY SAMILTON, BYLINE: Fiat of Lakeside in Macomb, Michigan used to be a Saturn dealership. Now it's transformed with chic Italian design, from modern lighting to black leather sofas. But so far, the cars are pretty much getting an American cold shoulder.
Sales manager Rick Foley is happy to offer customers an Italian espresso from his top-of-the-line machine. But perhaps like the cars, espresso's an acquired taste.
RICK FOLEY: You've got to like it, because it's very bold, rich, but regular coffees, you know, or the cappuccinos are big, we do a lot of cappuccinos.
SAMILTON: Dealers across the country managed for months with no national advertising for the car. When it did roll out, well - in this T.V. commercial, actress Jennifer Lopez appears to be driving a Fiat 500 through her old Bronx neighborhood. It's kind of gritty and genuine - like Eminem and Chrysler.
(SOUNDBITE OF TELEVISION COMMERCIAL)
JENNIFER LOPEZ: This is my world. This place inspires me.
SAMILTON: Turns out, the commercial was mostly shot in L.A. and a body double was used for those Bronx scenes. Even so, Rick Foley thinks J.Lo is a fine spokeswoman to build awareness of the car. But what he needs is foot traffic.
FOLEY: We need stuff that's local, stuff that's here in town, that's in Detroit.
SAMILTON: Those regional ads haven't rolled out yet. Dealers also have only one model of car to sell. Fiat has promised them more models in about a year, maybe a four-door Fiat, maybe an Alfa Romeo. But there's no question, it's been a tough, tough year.
FOLEY: You know, we had to make a lot of employee cuts, and run off a pretty much skeleton crew, because, you know, the money, it's the money thing, and we have to watch every dollar and cent.
SAMILTON: While there's plenty of disappointment in the launch, Thad Kirk says Fiat's return is a vindication. He's Vice President of Fiat Lancia Unlimited, a thousand-member club for people who love Italian cars. Kirk says Fiat owners were resigned to being a cast-off group when Fiat left in 1984.
THAD KIRK: And we were going to muddle along with old cars, and enjoy them to the best extent we could, with no support from a company or from parts suppliers.
SAMILTON: So Kirk was among the first in line to buy a new Fiat 500, to add to his stable of three classic Fiats. He hasn't been disappointed by the car, which he thinks follows the Fiat tradition: fun to drive, economical and stylish.
KIRK: It's not a car for the masses, it's not going to be the next Toyota Camry or the next Honda Accord. It's not intended to be that, either. There are certain people who will get it, and the people who get it will really like it and really have a good time with it.
SAMILTON: It doesn't appear sales are being hurt by the old timers' stereotype that Fiat cars broke down a lot. But the decision to sell the cars in totally separate Fiat dealerships, or studios as they're called, did slow things down. Aaron Bragman is with IHS Automotive. He says maybe Fiat should have let existing Chrysler and Dodge dealerships sell the car. But he thinks all the problems can be fixed.
AARON BRAGMAN: It's not yet, I think, fair to say, you know, based on this past year, are they going to be successful or not, because frankly the rollout had some bumps.
SAMILTON: Bragman says he'd give the Fiat 500 through next year to prove itself. For Fiat, it's clearly about getting back into a hugely important car market in North America - another step in the plan to turn Fiat and Chrysler into one global player.
For NPR News, I'm Tracy Samilton in Ann Arbor.
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Last night, Michigan defeated Virginia Tech, 23-20 in the Sugar Bowl, one of the five bowl games that make up college football's Bowl Series. It was a thrilling overtime finish for the Wolverines.
But commentator Frank Deford was likely not watching.
FRANK DEFORD: The Bowl Championship Series climaxes Monday with a game in New Orleans between Louisiana State and Alabama, for the national bragging rights to Dixie. As there is a joke about the Holy Roman Empire, that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, so can the same be said about the Bowl Championship Series.
It's not a bowl. It's a game played in the Superdome. It's not a championship - just an exhibition because the teams have been appointed to show up without earning the right to challenge for the title. And it's not a series because no team plays more than once. No wonder the BCS is so despised.
Remember Diogenes? The guy who browsed around with a lantern looking for just one honest man. Well, I am the Diogenes of the BCS. For armed with a bullhorn and a searchlight, I've traveled this great land of ours, desperately hoping to find just a single fan of the BCS. But, alas, I've found nary a one.
Still, we Americans continue, lobotomized, to accept the BCS as legitimate when it's the goofiest competition this side of the Iowa caucuses or the People's Choice Awards. But - but if we should just think about it for a moment and apply its arranged manipulations to other sports, we could realize how unfair and imbecilic the Bowl Championship Series really is.
Consider: If the BCS ran the Olympics, the 100-meter final would be held in September, six or seven weeks after the scheduled heats. That, you see, is consistent with the cuckoo BCS scheduling. LSU's last game was on December 3rd, Alabama's way back in November - 45 days ago. Nowhere else in sport is there such a pointless, bizarre interval.
If the BCS ran the NFL, there would be no playoffs. Instead, a bunch of mysterious computers and some dubious experts - many of whom have conflicts of interest - who would just declare which teams qualified for the Super Bowl, then schedule the match-up 45 days from now, of course.
If the BCS ran the World Series, tens of millions of dollars would still be made. And the leagues, and the owners, and the managers, and everyone connected with the series would be paid - well, everyone except for the players. But you see, this is in keeping with the BCS rationale that players are actually much happier playing when they aren't burdened by making money.
If the BCS ran the World Cup, there would be no World Cup. Instead, there would just be a mind-numbing plethora of meaningless little soccer matches, international bowl games played between disparate countries like Peru versus Slovenia, scheduled at random neutral sites like Sri Lanka.
I hope you enjoy watching the arranged marriage that the BCS is putting on Monday.
INSKEEP: Commentator Frank Deford joins us each Wednesday from WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
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In the year that just ended, hospitals stepped up their spending on advertising.
Blake Farmer of member station WPLN reports that academic medical centers are some of the latest airing commercials coast to coast.
BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE: The biggest spenders on advertising are also, not surprisingly, the household names. Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai and New York Presbyterian led the way for the first half of 2011. Overall, hospitals shelled out 20 percent more during that period than in the prior year, according to the research firm Kantar Media.
One of the newcomers trying its luck on the national stage is Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
ANNOUNCER: And the most amazing part is that the most amazing part is yet to come. That's the promise of discovery.
FARMER: In the last year, the Nashville-based teaching hospital bought ad time on CNN, Fox News, and NPR. Jill Austin is Vanderbilt's chief marketing officer.
JILL AUSTIN: We think of it almost as a service to the public, to get the word out.
FARMER: The Vanderbilt ads primarily focus on treatments for cancer and heart disease that are based on an individual's DNA, but Austin says luring patients hasn't been the primary goal.
AUSTIN: Ultimately it helps us attract students to Vanderbilt, faculty and staff. You know, we ourselves are proud of the work that we do, so it's really focused in that direction.
FARMER: Despite what some institutions say, Joel English of the Milwaukee-based marketing firm BVK says the thrust of national marketing isn't recruiting or even fundraising.
JOEL ENGLISH: There are ancillary benefits to an effective regional or national campaign. That said, during a time in health care where dollars are precious, I don't believe those would be the key reasons for a national campaign. I think the key reason is to attract more patients.
FARMER: Several teaching hospitals have tried raising their national profiles in recent years. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center launched a multi-million dollar campaign in 2005. The University of Michigan Health System has been on NPR and bought ads in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. English says a lot of the impetus is shrinking Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, which put a particular squeeze on teaching hospitals.
ENGLISH: To sustain their research and education and patient care, they have to extend beyond their traditional geographic boundaries.
FARMER: The concept is relatively new. Twenty years ago, you wouldn't catch an academic medical center using its name and the term marketing in the same sentence, says Betsy Gelb, a University of Houston marketing professor.
BETSY GELB: We have gotten to the point where it isn't a dirty word.
FARMER: Gelb points to nearby MD Anderson Cancer Center, part of the University of Texas. It launched its first national campaign in 2009.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
ANNOUNCER: There's only one you, and only one MD Anderson.
FARMER: The TV spots and print ads are meant for the eyes of patients who've gotten a tough diagnosis. But Gelb says as much as anything, the institution wants its name in front of physicians who ultimately make the referrals. The goals vary, Gelb says, and most are hard to measure.
GELB: You can't necessarily quantify it - hey, 56 patients came in last year. But you can say the difference from before to after is significantly positive, or it isn't.
FARMER: For the latest to broaden its horizons, Vanderbilt reports a statistically significant change. However, the University of Michigan Health System wasn't exactly thrilled with the results of its national ads. A spokesman says it recently moved its national marketing away from pricey traditional media and to the web instead.
For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.
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The Arab uprisings that have already overturned three governments and shaken several more continue in Syria. The government's response there has been brutal. Syrian officials have blamed the revolt on foreign agents and Islamist militants, and they have also cast the uprising as a danger to Syria's minorities. The state media play up sectarian tensions in a region that's already in the grip of a dangerous sectarian divide between different kinds of Muslims. As we continue our series on the aftermath of the Arab Spring, NPR's Deborah Amos looks at the danger of sectarianism.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: One way to see how sectarianism works is to spend some time in this community, listen to the politics and the fears and just look around. Everyone here is an Alawite - that's a sect of Islam, the same faith as Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. And Assad is smiling down on this community, from posters at the barber shop on apartment buildings and in every restaurant.
(SOUNDBITE OF MEN TALKING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Foreign language spoken)
AMOS: At this coffeehouse, over a heated card game, the players worry that a revolt that calls for an end to the Assad regime is directed against them.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Bashar Assad, he's the best, believe me.
AMOS: Do you believe it's best for Alawites if Bashar goes?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yeah, of course. It's so bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: For Alawites and for Christians. He's a good man.
AMOS: Syrian television plays in the background, a big plasma screen next to a picture of Assad with his father, Hafez al-Assad, who began the Alawite dynasty in 1970. And that put an end to the domination of the Sunni Muslim majority in Syria. Stop in at Rifaat Eid's office, a political leader here. Ask if Alawites are endangered, and he says yes, definitely.
RIFAAT EID: I'm Alawite. But I feel like it's because I'm Alawite, someone want to kill me, OK. We are afraid from this idea.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN PLAYING)
AMOS: Just outside his office, another generation sings the praises of the Syrian president, except this is not Syria. Syria is 15 miles away. This is Lebanon. But sectarian identity trumps borders for Rifaat Eid. Alawites are a minority in both countries, and he feels a shared destiny. You always need a protector, he says. And as long as Assad is the strongman in Syria, Eid feels safe here.
EID: You know now why we are with Bashar al-Assad? Because we are in the Middle East, and in the Middle East, the big fish always eats the small fish, OK.
AMOS: The fate of minorities - the small fish of the Middle East - is a crucial question in the Arab uprisings. In Egypt, minority Christians are wary of Islamists coming to power. Syria's minorities have largely sided with the Assad regime against a mostly Sunni Muslim revolt, says Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics.
FAWAZ GERGES: The Syrian government has branded itself as the protector of minorities - not just the Alawite, but even the Christians and the Druze and other minorities in Syria. So they have used sectarianism as a political tool.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS RINGING)
AMOS: In the heart of Damascus, churches built alongside mosques show a long history of tolerance. But Syria's diverse social fabric is fraying over the aims of the 10-month revolt.
GABRIEL DAOUD: I'm Father Gabriel Daoud, parish priest.
AMOS: Father Daoud's church has been a refuge for Iraqi Christians. They were targeted in a sectarian war and forced to cross the border for safety. Father Daoud is against any uprising he believes could turn Syria into Iraq.
Is this an anti-Christian movement? Do you feel that it is?
DAOUD: Oh, I feel some of it, yes. They do this chaos in this country.
AMOS: Syria's state media insists the chaos comes from militant Islamists, terrorists who will end the protection for Syria's Christians to freely practice their faith. It's a survival strategy, says Vali Nasr, a Middle East analyst at the Fletcher School of Government. He describes what might be called Sectarianism 101. The Syrian regime incites sectarian tensions, then presents itself as the only force that can hold the country together.
VALI NASR: It needs to make sure that its Alawite base, and also the Christians in the country remain in its corner, and then it can go to battle against the Sunnis trying to divide them, co-opt them and/or intimidate them. But it needs to make sure that the 20 percent of the country that has been with it remains supportive of the regimes. Without that, it doesn't have a chance.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD NOISE)
AMOS: Syria's protest movement is trying to break through the sectarian divide, says human rights activist Wissam Tarif.
WISSAM TARIF: In Syria, in particular, it is a revolution of young people, and the young people are not sectarian. We don't know the language. We don't understand the concept.
AMOS: He points to the young Christians and young Alawites who've joined the protest movement, standing with Sunni Muslims, risking everything for change.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD NOISE)
TARIF: Regimes have incited and played on differences for the last 50 years. What do you expect? It's not magic. We need the space to mature, to become citizens. The concept of becoming citizen is not known for us. That's what we need to learn. That's what we need to know.
AMOS: Democracy is the answer, he says, a system that guarantees minority rights. But it's an untested model in the region. And after 10 months of revolt, with more than 5,000 dead, Syria's divide is starker than ever, says Tarif, between pro and anti-government.
TARIF: And now people are gathered around a concept of fear. When a family are sitting at night before they go to bed, they are not sectarian. They are afraid. They are afraid from the neighbor who is different, who is loyal to the regime, or vice versa. It's fear.
AMOS: Assad has played his survival card well, says Fawaz Gerges.
GERGES: I don't believe that the Syrian crisis is about sectarianism. This is not about Sunnis versus Alawites and Christians. This is about national security and regional security. And President Assad has been basically relentlessly hammering this particular point: Do you want to be another Iraq?
AMOS: In a region already in a dangerous sectarian divide, what happens in Syria is watched closely by everyone in the region. The Sunni powers, led by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have lined up to support the protests. Syria's allies - Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah, the Shiite power in Lebanon - stand against. A collapse in Syria, a sectarian war could inflame the region. It's the nightmare scenario that has paralyzed policy choices, stalled international intervention and prolonged the Assad regime. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Beirut.
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Government bureaucracy, everyone's dealt with it at some point. You can complain. Most people do. But the occasional person sees that red tape and finds an opportunity to make money. Zoe Chace reports for NPR's Planet Money.
ZOE CHACE, BYLINE: You've probably been to the DMV or to city hall to get a copy of your birth certificate. And all this is annoying. But if you need a visa to go to China, it's a whole new level. Take the case of Adam Humphries. He lives in New York City. He wanted travel to China for a vacation. So he goes online. He fills out a long form, prints it all out - all these papers - shows up at the consulate, only to find out he's filled out the wrong form.
ADAM HUMPHRIES: Can you help me? No. Can I print one off inside? No. Where's the nearest Internet café? Well, it's basically where you got off the train, inside a Burger King.
CHACE: The closest place to the consulate with Internet access is a Burger King half a mile away at the nearest subway stop. And you have to understand, the consulate is way out by something called the West Side Highway. It's on a windy, deserted corner. And if you're in New York City, this is the middle of nowhere.
HUMPHRIES: And I saw, inside the Burger King when I walked up there, that every single one of their computers was dedicated to this particular Chinese PDF.
CHACE: This is the moment when the young Adam Humphries had his big idea. He called his buddy Steve.
HUMPHRIES: And I was like, dude, I've got this amazing - this...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STEVEN NELSON: Very enthusiastic.
HUMPHRIES: Very enthusiastic. This is so...
CHACE: Adam and Steven Nelson rented a cargo van and drove it all the way out to the West Side Highway. They parked it right on the corner, right in the line of vision of the people turned away from the consulate. So when the rejects filed out of the building, searching for a place to retype the form and print it out, they'd be greeted by...
NELSON: Lucky Dragon Mobile Visa Consultants head office.
CHACE: Currently based inside a Penske rental van.
This door right here? OK.
Inside the van, it's as cozy as a college dorm room. There's an old couch in the back, a couple folding chairs, Christmas lights, bamboo mats. There are a couple Mac laptops and one ink printer. And it's full to bursting with customers - people who had the same problem Adam did.
Jimmy Tong needs a passport for his wife.
JIMMY TONG: At the embassy, they changed the form. I didn't know. Luckily, this guy was here to help.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CHACE: Tong was sent over to the van by the security guards at the embassy door. That's how the guys get most of their customers.
TONG: I say, are you sure? Oh sure, they have computers. They have printers. You know?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CHACE: And what do you think of this van?
TONG: I don't know. I mean as long as it's not a robbery.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CHACE: It's not a robbery.
NELSON: I am stapling a passport photo to the front of an application for this gentleman's wife. And now I'm going to ask him for money.
CHACE: Right, the money. Until they rented the van, Adam and Steven were freelance artists. They never thought about being entrepreneurs. So, what do you charge for a service that you just made up? Well, they did have one competitor - remember the Burger King.
HUMPHRIES: I figured they were charging between 10 and 20. Up there? We started at 10.
CHACE: Start with an undercut. But they were overrun with customers, so they jacked the price up to 40. But then lost too many people. So they dropped the price some and gave themselves a promotion.
HUMPHRIES: Instead of letting people use our computers and print forms for themselves, it was we would help people put the forms together and print them and send them back inside.
CHACE: And that's when you guys decided that you were, in fact, consultants.
HUMPHRIES: Yes.
NELSON: Yeah.
HUMPHRIES: 'Cause you can consult anywhere, right? You can consult in a coffee shop. You can consult on the side of the highway.
CHACE: Flat rate, 20 bucks a person. For Buddhist monks, 15 - karma. They now take credit cards. They have a small business license. They hired two fluent Mandarin speakers. Expenses? Printer ink and occasional parking ticket.
But they're still doing business on the side of a highway from a cargo van. They have to look especially legit. So they got matching bright blue fleeces, red beanies and clipboards.
HUMPHRIES: I think trying to go for a Mac store kind a thing right, you know. Everybody is comfortable in the Mac store, right? Everything is happening so efficiently in the Mac store.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CHACE: They didn't want to broadcast exactly how much they make in a day because they were afraid other people might drive up with their printers in cargo vans.
Before that happens Adam and Steven want to expand, like into a retail space. Or just a bigger vehicle, like an RV.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLES)
CHACE: Zoe Chace, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WERTHEIMER: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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Charitable giving is not yet back to pre-recession levels, though there are signs that things are starting to look up, if only a little. Charities would like 2012 to be the year of the turnaround. NPR's Pam Fessler reports on the challenges that stand in the way.
PAM FESSLER, BYLINE: Ever since the recession, the talk among charities has pretty much been doom and gloom. But recently there's been a teeny bit less doom.
NANCY LEOPOLD: We're doing well.
FESSLER: Nancy Leopold is executive director of CollegeTracks, a small charity in Montgomery County, Maryland.
LEOPOLD: By that, I mean we're doing as well as we were at this time last year, or a little better. And that's despite having to make up for some foundation money.
FESSLER: Which isn't as plentiful as it used to be in the bad economy. So Leopold's group, which helps hundreds of low-income teens get into and stay in college, has turned its attention to wealthy individuals who still have money to give. With striking results. Their individual gifts have doubled over the past year.
LEOPOLD: I think the people who do give, in an economy like this, recognize that their dollars are needed even more.
Across the country, nonprofits are looking for new ways to get through tough times, whether it's refocusing their fundraising or changing the way they get their message across. One of the most promising results has been a greater use of the Internet and a surge in online giving.
KATYA ANDRESEN: Just as we're doing more shopping online, and we did this past holiday, we're doing more of our giving online.
FESSLER: Katya Andresen is with Network for Good, a site that allows donors to give to any charity. The group saw a 20 percent increase in online donations last year. And Andresen is optimistic about 2012. She says technology has opened up new ways for people to act on their natural inclination to give, such as the ability to text donations to charities via cell phones.
ANDRESEN: If you have a device in your hand next time you walk past a homeless person or you hear a news story and it makes you want to do something and you're on a website and there's an immediate way to act, I think that really opens the door to unlock that generosity and increase that charitable giving pie.
ROGER CONNOR: We think 2012 could be a slightly stronger year for giving at Catholic Charities.
FESSLER: Roger Connor, spokesman for Catholic Charities USA, says his group is encouraged in part by online giving, including an individual $9,500 gift they received in the final weeks of 2011. He says a major poverty summit later this year should also focus more attention on the charity's efforts to help the poor. Still, he says, any growth will likely be modest.
CONNOR: I don't think we're predicting more than, you know, anything from 1 to 3 percent.
FESSLER: And that's pretty much what many charities say. In a survey last month, the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that a slight majority of nonprofits were seeing an increase in end-of-year giving, some as high as 20 percent. But editor Stacy Palmer says most groups are not raising nearly as much as they did before the recession.
STACY PALMER: So it's going to be a tough year and some people think it's going to be a tough year for fundraising until 2016.
FESSLER: She says, even as the economy rebounds, it could take a couple of more years for charities to catch up. That increased donations often are not enough to cover other losses.
PALMER: Most groups get a lot of their money from state and federal governments and that's where they're seeing, very big cuts.
FESSLER: Which are expected to continue and even grow in 2012.
Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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Two foreign companies - one from France and one from China - yesterday announced major investments in the U.S. energy industry. The deals are a sign of how hydraulic fracturing technology - also known as fracking - is attracting interest in U.S. oil and gas production.
NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: The Chinese company Sinopec will invest $2.2 billion into a joint venture with Devon Energy Corporation of Oklahoma City. The deal will give Sinopec a partial interest in five oil and gas fields, although Devon will remain the operator of the fields. At the same time, the French company Total will invest $2.3 billion with Chesapeake Energy, the second such deal between the two companies. Energy producers have been rushing to buy up oil and gas fields in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. This is partly because of the growth of fracking - a controversial practice that enables producers to extract more oil and gas by cracking open underground shale rock formations.
But the technology is very expensive. To raise the capital they need, U.S. companies have been searching for investors. Chesapeake Energy said recently that it was looking for a partner to help it develop a major field in Ohio. Meanwhile, Sinopec has been investing in energy projects all over the world; in places such as Australia, Brazil and Indonesia. But the company's announcement that it is investing in U.S. energy projects yesterday came as something of a surprise in the energy sector.
Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
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In Ohio today, a trial gets under way in the biggest public corruption case the state's ever seen. Jimmy Dimora rose from sanitation worker to commissioner of Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and its suburbs. He's accused of being at the center of a number of bribery schemes that federal investigators uncovered in recent years. Kevin Niedermier, of member station WKSU, tells us how it started.
KEVIN NIEDERMIER, BYLINE: It's May 2008, and the FBI in Cleveland is investigating a routine bribery case. The contractor they're interviewing casually mentions the name Jimmy Dimora. At the time, Dimora was one of the three exceedingly powerful commissioners who enjoyed expansive authority over the budget of Ohio's largest county.
The contractor's comment sparked a wide-ranging federal investigation that only became public on July 28th, 2008 when hundreds of federal agents raided the offices of county officials and private contractors. Dimora's home and office were among the first targets, but there were many more. In the last three years, more than 50 government officials, employees, private contractors, and even two judges have either been convicted or pleaded guilty in the case.
Jimmy Dimora is charged with being a kingpin, running a Boss Tweed-style criminal enterprise out of the county's administration building. Prosecutors say he accepted home improvements, trips, appliances, meals and even prostitutes in exchange for millions of dollars in county contracts. Before he was indicted last year, Dimora was mentioned in numerous court documents, but strongly denied any guilt.
JIMMY DIMORA: I'm innocent and I will refute that 51-page information of packs of lies, innuendos, mistruths by three people that are in trouble, trying to get themselves less time.
NIEDERMIER: One of those three people is former county auditor Frank Russo, Dimora's long-time friend and political ally. Russo pleaded guilty to bribery in September 2010, and has been testifying against other defendants, hoping to get his 21-year prison sentence reduced.
Former federal prosecutor Geoffrey Mearns says the long sentences being given out to other defendants may have convinced Dimora to go before a jury.
GEOFFREY MEARNS: It's not totally a surprise to me that Jimmy Dimora will not plead guilty, because apparently the number that the government is insisting on is just one that is unacceptable. It would, in effect, be a lifetime sentence.
NIEDERMIER: The government will try to prove that Dimora was involved in a staggering number of conspiracies, more than 60 in all. And, that getting almost anything done in Cuyahoga County required a little something for Dimora.
His lawyers are expected to paint the gifts as normal activity among friends, or, as the way business is normally done. Case Western Reserve University law professor Lewis Katz says, as far as the money that changed hands, this corruption case isn't a big deal, especially compared to those in Chicago, New Jersey or New York. But he says the level of influence Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo exerted over the courts, contractors, and county government departments was breathtaking.
LEWIS KATZ: The depth of the corruption in this case, not necessarily the money, is startling, shocking, and outrageous.
NIEDERMIER: Dimora's trial is expected to last three months, and whatever its outcome, the corruption scandal that he's accused of leading has already made a lasting impact on Cuyahoga County. Last year, disgusted voters here scrapped their three-commissioner system, replacing it with a county executive and 11-member county council.
For NPR News, I'm Kevin Niedermier.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
At this time of year, midseason network television shows are coming to a small screen near you. Returning hits like "American Idol" premiere along with a batch of new shows, launched to replace canceled titles from the fall, things like "Charlie's Angel," "The Playboy Club" and "Free Agents."
James Hibberd who covers television for Entertainment Weekly. And he joins us from NPR West to talk about some of these midseason shows.
Good morning.
JAMES HIBBERD: Hi.
WERTHEIMER: Let's start with NBC. I gather that they are going to be trying quite a few new shows. Maybe I should say what they're trying for is a comeback.
HIBBERD: They've been trying for a combat for a while now. I mean you have to wonder how many years can NBC have the same story in the fall of these shows that don't pan out.
WERTHEIMER: Well, now they're launching "Smash." This is about folks who are working in the theater, trying to put together a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. I saw the pilot which seemed to be very classy; part music, part drama, kind of "Glee" grows up.
HIBBERD: It is. It's very much "Glee" for grown-ups. You know, I hear very wildly conflicting opinions in the industry about whether it will work. Everyone agrees it's a very well-done show.
WERTHEIMER: There are some beautiful production numbers like this one, which is from the play they're theoretically doing about Marilyn Monroe. This is about baseball.
(SOUNDBITE OF "SMASH" MUSICAL NUMBER)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) Fellas.
CHORUS: Yeah?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) Fellas.
CHORUS: Yeah?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) Hey, team.
CHORUS: Off the benches, it's Marilyn.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) I just got a date...
CHORUS: (Singing) She's just got a date.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) ...with baseball's Jolting Joe.
CHORUS: (Singing) The lucky so-and-so...
WERTHEIMER: So what do you think? Give it 50 percent, better?
HIBBERD: It's one of the toughest ones to predict. I would say it's got about a 50/50 shot.
WERTHEIMER: Now, ABC had a surprisingly strong fall. It had a fairy story, the very creepy fairy story, "Once Upon A Time;" "Suburgatory." What's coming up for the midterm?
HIBBERD: Well, ABC has a really intriguing one called "The River," which is from "Paranormal Activity" director Orin Peli. And it's about a search in the Amazon to find a missing documentarian, played by Bruce Greenwood. And the pilot sort of plays like a mash up of "Lost Paranormal Anaconda Activity."
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HIBBERD: It's all very familiar, but it's a very fast-moving mash up that definitely hooks your interest. And that will be on Tuesday nights in February.
WERTHEIMER: Now, on the other hand, "Work It" which is a cross-dressing sitcom. Two guys dressing up like women to get jobs. Now, there's a very peculiar concept.
HIBBERD: Yes. Yes. Yes. Two men dressing up as women to get jobs in pharmaceutical sales. And it's drawing these protests from GLAAD and the transgender community. And you have to wonder what ABC was thinking there. Because you're going to get people riled up, you want to at least do it for a show that you're proud of. And this was a show, that from the moment it was announced last May, that critics have been sharpening their knives to sort of tear into.
WERTHEIMER: Fox does very well with its "Idol," of course, and that starts over now. Doesn't it?
HIBBERD: "American Idol: Season 11," it's amazing. It just keeps going.
WERTHEIMER: There is another program coming from Fox. It's a see into the future plot. It's called "Touch." It sounds to me kind of like something I've seen before, except it does have Kiefer Sutherland in it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TOUCH")
KIEFER SUTHERLAND: (as Martin Bohm) Jake, I did what you wanted. I followed the numbers. They were saved because of you. I don't know if you understand a single word that I'm saying. I don't even know if you hear me. But I can hear you, Jake. Do you understand that? I can hear you now.
HIBBERD: Kiefer Sutherland was such a huge star for Fox for so many years with "24." And this is a moody, well-done drama about a man whose silent, special-needs son can predict the future. And it also marks the return of "Heroes" creator Tim Kring to prime time, so we're all looking forward to that one.
WERTHEIMER: I expect I will be tuning in.
James Hibberd is a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly. Thank you very much.
HIBBERD: Thank you.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
By any measure, British Prime Minister David Cameron had a bad year last year. His director of communications quit and was arrested - part of the News of the World scandal. Cameron's defense minister resigned in an influence-peddling scandal. And the prime minister has been forced into a series of tight u-turns in his deficit-cutting campaigns, while the U.K. faces the very real possibility of slipping into a full-blown recession. Yet somehow, David Cameron remains personally popular - the Teflon Mr. Cameron, in fact. But what will this year bring?
Mehdi Hasan is senior editor at the New Statesman magazine in London. He writes about politics. Thank you for joining us.
MEHDI HASAN: Hello.
WERTHEIMER: What's your assessment of David Cameron right now as he heads into the new year?
HASAN: I think he's had a very good of the year. He's ended on a high. He is leading in the polls - not just personally, as you mentioned in your introduction, but a couple of polls show the Conservatives ahead of the opposition Labour Party.
He went to the European Union and exercised the infamous British veto, preventing the Europeans from creating a whole new treaty to deal with the debt crisis, which made him very popular with his backbenches.
WERTHEIMER: Looking ahead in this new year, what do you think will be the big issues for Prime Minister Cameron?
HASAN: The economy is not going away. It's going pretty badly here in Britain. His austerity measures aren't working. And Europe's not going away. He's got a big summit on the 13th of January, where his party will again expect him to stand up to whatever Chancellor Merkel Or President Sarkozy propose.
WERTHEIMER: We in the United States, of course, are watching with interest what happens to David Cameron, because we have some conservative candidates that the American people are looking over in the next few months. Do you think that the idea of conservativism is what attracted the British people, or was it they didn't like the other guy?
HASAN: I think in 2010, when the electorate here threw out the Labour government of Gordon Brown, it was more to do with a time for a change, 13 years of Labour, we were off the back of a financial crisis. And the Conservatives looked like they had moderated a little bit.
What's so interesting, of course, is that David Cameron has presented himself always as a compassionate conservative, as a moderate, as a modernizer. And yet, here he is, the defining issue of his premiership is cuts to spending, is rolling back the state, you know, the archetypal Thatcher-Reagan symbol of conservativism.
And what you'll see in America, interestingly, is you've got a series of candidates who are much to the right of our own conservative leader on social issues, climate change, etc. But one issue they all share a belief in is austerity.
And here in the U.K., austerity isn't working so well. Our growth has ground to a halt. Unemployment's at a 17-year high. If that's the path the Americans choose, well, good luck to them with conservative economics.
WERTHEIMER: The one bright spot, though, that I see in the immediate future of Great Britain are the Summer Olympics. Is that going to be a good thing for the U.K.?
HASAN: I think cynics amongst us will look at 2012, will look at the calendar and see a series of troublesome European summits for the government, will see a recession on the way and think, well, good for Prime Minister Cameron to have the Olympics in the summer and the Golden Jubilee - you know, the British people still love the royal family - coming up in 2012 as - almost as distractions from the gloom, the squeezed living standards, the rise in unemployment.
I suspect it won't work. I think there's already a lot of irritation in this country about the Olympics, the fact that they've gone over budget, the fact that they only kind of will help London, and the rest of the country will really see no benefit from the games. And I think living standards will be squeezed so much next year that it'll take a lot more than some sport to distract people's attention from historically high levels of unemployment.
WERTHEIMER: Mehdi Hasan is senior editor at the New Statesman magazine. We reached him in London.
Mehdi Hasan, thank you very much.
HASAN: Thank you.
WERTHEIMER: This is NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. Plenty of pundits said the Iowa caucuses were too close to call, but nobody quite expected this. In the first voting of the 2012 campaign season, the counting continued well after midnight, until Republicans finally declared Mitt Romney the winner in Iowa. You could count his margin of victory on your fingers: eight votes.
NPR's Don Gonyea spent the evening watching and waiting with supporters of Rick Santorum, the second-place finisher, in suburban Des Moines.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: As caucusing got underway last night, Rick Santorum made the rounds of several precincts.
RICK SANTORUM: How are you? Rick Santorum. Nice to see you. Thank you.
GONYEA: This is precinct number three in the city of Johnston, one of the biggest caucus sites in the state. Santorum stood in the front of the middle school cafeteria and made one last pitch.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANTORUM: And I hope tonight, as you make this tough decision - and I know it will be - that you'd give us an opportunity in Iowa to speak. Be bold. Lead.
GONYEA: The Santorum campaign set up shop for a victory party at a hotel just over a mile away. By 9 PM, early results were trickling in, and it already looked like it would be a good night for Santorum, who had languished at or near last place in Iowa for many months.
Forty-nine-year-old investment analyst Barb Cappaert was there with her husband and son.
BARB CAPPAERT: A month ago, we thought if he can get over 10 percent, he's on the radar. And then the last week, if he can get over 15. Now, if we really are pulling and getting in over 20 percent, that's big. And that's great to see the momentum and people finally focusing on the candidates and seeing what they've wanted to see.
GONYEA: Over the next couple of hours, TVs in the ballroom flashed updated tallies on what started out as a three-way race - Romney, Santorum and Ron Paul each with 24 percent. Slowly, Paul's numbers dropped. For the rest of the night, it was Romney up, then Santorum, then Romney, then Santorum.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We're up by 113.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GONYEA: As 11 PM approached, Santorum was ahead by just a tiny amount. Joel Jollymore was glued to the Fox News broadcast.
JOEL JOLLYMORE: Three percent left to report, man. This is awesome. And it's a squeaker.
GONYEA: The evangelical and conservative Christian vote had long been fragmented among several candidates in Iowa. But polls show that vote has recently begun to coalesce behind Santorum. The votes continued to come in last night. The crowd hung in there. The result became almost an afterthought for many. Finally, a campaign aide explained where the candidate was. It was a game of chicken of sorts.
UNDENTIFIED MAN #2: I don't know what's going on over at Mitt's headquarters. They're sitting there going: Rick needs to call me. Rick's upstairs going: Mitt needs to call me. Can somebody just buzz Mitt and say, come on out, get some love so that we can bring the winner down here and get the job done?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GONYEA: Finally, at 11:15, very late by Iowa caucus standards, Santorum entered the room with his family. He did everything but declare victory.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANTORUM: Game on.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: He delivered a speech that was heavy in biographical details, likely a recognition that for many in the country, this might be their first introduction to him. He thanked those who voted for him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANTORUM: They share our values about faith and family. They understand that when the family breaks down, the economy struggles.
GONYEA: The next stop in the process is New Hampshire, which votes next Tuesday. It's a Romney stronghold and a place with far fewer evangelical voters. Last night, Santorum dismissed the premise that Mitt Romney is the Republican most able to beat President Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANTORUM: Because the message I shared with you tonight is not an Iowa message, or an Iowa and South Carolina message. It is a message that will resonate across this land. It's a resonate - it will resonate, I know, in New Hampshire.
GONYEA: Santorum closed with this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANTORUM: And with your help and God's grace, we'll have another fun night a week from now. God bless you.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: The coming week will be unlike any Santorum had in Iowa, where he was struggling just to get noticed. He'll get plenty of attention and much more scrutiny than he's seen so far.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been considered a front-runner in this race since before the campaign began. Yet, at the end of voting yesterday, he did no better than he had four years earlier.
NPR's Ari Shapiro was at Romney campaign headquarters in Des Moines, and walks us through that tense and dramatic evening.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: The State of Iowa Historical Building sits at the foot of the shimmering, grandiose Iowa Capitol Dome. And this one of hundreds of sites across the state where Iowans are gathering tonight to cast the first votes in the 2012 presidential race.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR MOTOR)
SHAPIRO: All right, first person to arrive in the caucus room, the precinct head here. Would you introduce yourself?
GRANT YOUNG: Grant Young.
SHAPIRO: So who you voting for tonight?
YOUNG: Still undecided.
SHAPIRO: It's two hours before the caucus.
YOUNG: I still got time.
SHAPIRO: Is this how you typically vote, undecided until the last minute?
YOUNG: No, not typically.
SHAPIRO: So what makes this year so different?
YOUNG: You know, I think that me, along with many other of the - what do they say - 41 percent of the undecideds out there tonight going to their precincts, they want to get this right. We can't afford the policies and the direction in this country that Barack Obama's taken this country, because, you know, as the old saying, if you don't win, you don't govern.
SHAPIRO: And just down the block from that caucus site, Occupy the Caucuses has taken over a storefront in the East Village neighborhood of Des Moines. All right. Will you introduce yourself? Tell me your name and what you do for a living?
REVEREND DANIEL BRAG: Reverend Daniel Brag, a farmer.
SHAPIRO: What are you guys doing here?
BRAG: We wanted people to come in and occupy the candidates. We wanted the candidates to hear our voices, which they have not. Every time we go to one of the candidates' offices, we get met with the police.
SHAPIRO: And now we are at one of the candidates' headquarters. This is Mitt Romney's election night party. It is still early in the evening, and Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are running neck and neck and neck.
COLLEEN BOYLE: My name's Colleen Boyle. I'm a student at Vanderbilt University.
SHAPIRO: So, how are you feeling?
BOYLE: I think we all kind of knew it was going to be a three-way race. But either way, I think he's going to come out strong in New Hampshire. So...
SHAPIRO: So, you're just pinning your bets on what comes after Iowa, whether or not he wins here tonight.
BOYLE: Yeah, I think so.
SHAPIRO: At this point, the Romney supporters are flooding into the room, and more information about voters is coming in, too. We're learning that the people who voted for Romney tended to be older, they tended to be more moderate. And the thing that was most important to them as they cast their votes was finding somebody who could defeat President Barack Obama in the general election. Now, South Dakota Senator John Thune, a Republican who has been on the campaign trail with Mitt Romney, is about to sit down and talk with the NPR special. Let's listen in.
SENATOR JOHN THUNE: Obviously, his campaign is prepared for the long fight. They are prepared to go the distance and have the resources and organization to do that. And I think that's how they're proceeding. But coming out, I think, tonight in the top three would certainly be a very strong finish for him, one that I think would position him well as the next states come up.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SHAPIRO: And you can hear from that cheer that with almost 80 percent of the vote counted, Mitt Romney is up. Well, in the last hour or two, things have progressed and changed, and still we have no clear winner in Iowa. But what is clear is that this a virtual tie between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, and that Romney is not going to emerge with the decisive Iowa victory that he had hoped.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
SHAPIRO: Looks like the Occupy protestors have arrived. And it's now 11 p.m. The crowd is at capacity, and just a few dozen votes separate Rick Santorum from Mitt Romney. And now, at last, here's Mitt Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
MITT ROMNEY: Thank you, Iowa, for the great sendoff you're giving to us and to the others in this campaign. Look, this is a campaign night where America wins. We're going to change the White House and get America back on track.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: Well, after this long night, Mitt Romney barely eked out a win ahead of Rick Santorum. Now, the fight moves to New Hampshire, in Romney's own backyard. Primary voters there cast their ballots next week. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Des Moines.
WERTHEIMER: We're waiting for the start of a news conference from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in Iowa. The Associated Press and other entities are quoting campaign sources, saying Ms. Bachmann will suspend her bid for president after finishing a poor sixth in the contest in Iowa. Stay tuned to NPR for more details.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news with Yahoo's CEO search.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Yahoo has been looking for a new CEO ever since the board fired Carol Bartz last September. Today, the Internet search and advertising company announced it's found one - Scott Thompson. He was most recently president of the online payment giant PayPal, which is now part of eBay. He's going to take over a company that's been floundering. Revenues need a boost and more importantly maybe, Thompson has to come up with a way for Yahoo to stay relevant and competitive with the online rivals like Google and Facebook out there.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Our last word in business today is yogurt. Actually, yogurt and beer. Maybe not a combination you want to consider first thing in the morning - or maybe ever - but those two products will be together in this year's Super Bowl.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
That's because Dannon Yogurt is making its advertising debut at the big game this year. Apparently, it's the first time a commercial for yogurt will be featured during the big game. It may also be the healthiest food ever marketed at the Super Bowl. You can dip your Doritos in the yogurt.
Dannon will air its spots alongside the ever-present ads for Bud Light beer, as well as Doritos and Pepsi Cola - a couple of other Super Bowl regulars..
WERTHEIMER: Companies are paying a record $3.5 million for 30-second spots this year. That's half a million more than last year. And NBC, which airs the big game, is all sold out of ad time.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
The Iowa caucuses that gave a narrow win to Mitt Romney, gave a boost to Rick Santorum, knocked Michele Bachmann out of the race and sent Rick Perry home to think came in a series of meetings across the state, and that includes a meeting at the Van Meter Secondary School, where we'll go next. NPR's Sonari Glinton was there.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Politics wasn't the only contact sport being played at Van Meter's Secondary School.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All right. A pin for Van Meter.
GLINTON: The Van Meter Bulldogs wrestling team was taking on two other schools. That was while Republicans were gathering down the hall in this sweltering lunch room. It was standing room only for the 217 voters packed in together. Like many, Laura Wonder(ph) brought her family. Also, like many, she said the main reason she came out was because of President Obama.
LAURA WONDER: This is the most important election I believe that I've participated in my life. And I have been a participant in the election process since I was 18. And I think that if we can't turn the country around now, or with this next election in 2012, we may never recover.
GLINTON: And it was with that sense of urgency that the caucus began.
TOM HARBISON: Can I get everybody's attention, please? I'm Tom Harbison. I'm the Van Meter caucus chair - temporary chair. And I want to welcome you to this caucus.
GLINTON: A representative for each candidate got up to speak. Chris McLinden(ph) , a corporate recruiter, did the talking for Mitt Romney.
CHRIS MCLINDEN: I want to go into the trenches with Governor Romney against Barack Obama. Barack Obama just raised $75 million the last quarter to go against us on November 6th, 2012.
GLINTON: The chairman ran the caucus with military efficiency. The votes were being counted within about 25 minutes of getting started.
HARBISON: Winning tonight is Romney with 71.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
HARBISON: In second, Santorum with 53.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
GLINTON: There was a tie for third place between Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.
The divided Van Meter seems to reflect the overall divide among Iowa Republicans: those who are purely fiscal conservatives and those who put social issues first. Laura Wonder says she voted for Rick Santorum, even though she felt a lot of pressure to go for Romney.
WONDER: Romney is not my man. And I feel that a lot of people are pushing for him, but not people that I'm close with, people I know, people I trust. I'm not going that way. I love Rick Santorum and Newt and Michele Bachmann because of their passion. I love them.
GLINTON: Most of the caucus-goers left pretty quickly. But in the parking lot, Steve Tice(ph) stopped to talk to me about Iowa.
STEVE TICE: And I don't whether you're aware, but Iowa is - especially the Des Moines area - is a test market area. And if it flies in Iowa, it might fly someplace else. If it doesn't fly in Iowa, it won't fly anywhere else.
GLINTON: Tice voted for Mitt Romney, who won narrowly. But he says the media pay too much attention to those who end up on top.
TICE: You know, Iowa's not about picking the winner. It's about eliminating some of the guys that just shouldn't have run.
GLINTON: We're likely to see the field thin a bit, even in the next few days. As for Van Meter's wresting team, they wrestled in two meets last night and won both.
Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Des Moines.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
About 200 miles from Des Moines, the Republican chair of Clinton County was fast asleep as state officials waited for the final votes in the caucuses. As it turns out, the final votes were needed from the second ward, second precinct, the 2-2 in Clinton County.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
With Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney in a dead heat, the votes were crucial from that precinct. So before midnight, the Romney campaign picked up the phone and called Edith Pfeffer to get those numbers. Republican leaders in Des Moines did not have those results, apparently because of some computer trouble.
WERTHEIMER: We reached the chairwoman of the Clinton County Republican Party to hear her tell the story, and her friend Carolyn Tallet was with her. Tallet is president of the Clinton County Republican Women's Club. She starts us off by explaining they knew it would be a tight race, but had no idea they'd end up at the center of the story.
CAROLYN TALLET: I knew it was close, because I was sitting, watching CNN, waiting to find out the results. I kept wishing, gosh, I wish we would get those last precincts in. But they didn't announce, you know, who was holding up the count. It was just that they weren't all in yet.
EDITH PFEFFER: I had received a phone call - this is Edith. I had received a phone call about 11:20 from the Romney worker who had been working in our county. And he said he needed the count. And I said, well, why do you need the count for 2-2? And he said, well, they don't have it in Des Moines. And I said, but I know they were called in. And he said, well, I think that there was a computer glitch, that the computers went down. And I said, oh, OK. And so I gave him the requested numbers.
And - but he had woke me up. And then I went back and crawled into bed in another bedroom and I don't happen to have a phone by that particular...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: So you missed - then you missed the rest of the calls?
PFEFFER: I missed the rest of the phone calls. And I woke up and the phone was ringing and I thought well, what is going on here? And the next thing I knew the doorbell started ringing.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PFEFFER: And, you know, you cringe a little bit. And then the next thing I knew someone was pounding on the windows and I thought, what is going on? And I got up to see Carolyn running in my front yard.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: So you - the two of you had to sort this thing out for the Central folks in Des Moines?
TALLET: Yeah. It seems like it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PFEFFER: At that point Carolyn said we needed to call state party headquarters. So I got out of bed and came into the other room where the phone was and the figure sheet - the sheet with all the data for the evening, and made the phone call. Didn't have my glasses on. I had to go get my glasses because then he wanted me...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PFEFFER: ...to pick out a particular form. So I had to go and that particular Precinct 2-2 is the precinct that was missing, and we both met at Washington Middle School.
WERTHEIMER: Oh, my gosh. And then, so...
PFEFFER: I had the paperwork home with me because I had sat down there and after my caucus was done and I continued to take the phone calls from the various precincts in the county as they called in their numbers.
WERTHEIMER: Well, now, this missing Precinct 2-2, where is it?
PFEFFER: It's in the city of Clinton.
WERTHEIMER: So you were just right there. You could've run over and found the chairman if you'd had to.
PFEFFER: Oh, yeah. And they had given me the figures as they went out the door.
WERTHEIMER: Sure.
PFEFFER: The lady who called them in had called me and then she came up and went out the door where I was sitting and said, thank you. I've got it all called in. Everything is taken care of. Good night.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: Well, now did you expect it to come out this way, as a duel between Santorum and Romney?
PFEFFER: The last 24 hours I was aware, actually probably the last 48 hours as I saw Rick Santorum rising in the polls.
WERTHEIMER: So does everybody stick around to see how it came out, or do they just vote and leave?
PFEFFER: Oh no. A few - there were probably two people that got up as soon as they had handed it in. But usually they wait until the votes are counted.
WERTHEIMER: And so did your own precinct - did Clinton County come out the way thought it would?
PFEFFER: I really thought that Ron Paul was going to a do a little better than he did tonight.
WERTHEIMER: So who won in Clinton County?
TALLET: Romney.
WERTHEIMER: Mm-hmm.
TALLET: And Santorum was second. And Ron Paul was third.
WERTHEIMER: So as Clinton goes, so goes Iowa?
PFEFFER: It looks like it. Looks like it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: Well, it sounds like you had an exciting - if sleepless - evening.
PFEFFER: It was. It was kind of interesting.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PFEFFER: Especially to be watching for the results on CNN and then be a part of helping get the results.
WERTHEIMER: That's great. Well, thank you both so much.
PFEFFER: You're welcome. Thank you.
TALLET: You're welcome. Thank you.
WERTHEIMER: Carolyn Tallet is president of the Clinton County Republican Women's Club. Edith Pfeffer is chair of the Clinton County Republican Central Committee.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WERTHEIMER: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
A virtual tie in Iowa. There was no decisive winner in yesterday's Republican caucuses. Instead, Mitt Romney finished ahead of Rick Santorum by just eight votes.
INSKEEP: It is the closest nominating contest in Republican history. Now for the record, Ron Paul came in third, Newt Gingrich fourth; and they were followed by Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman.
NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports on what it all means.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Mitt Romney won Iowa by the narrowest of margins, but the star of the night was Rick Santorum. He had little money or organization and was forced to run a shoe leather campaign. He visited all 99 counties in Iowa. And in the last week, he vaulted from the bottom of the polls to the top - peaking at just the right moment.
At his victory party last night, he thanked his wife, God, and the voters of Iowa in that order.
RICK SANTORUM: By standing up and being bold and leading, leading with that burden and responsibility you have to be first, you have taken the first step of taking back this country.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Almost 60 percent of caucusgoers identify themselves as born-again or evangelical. And this formidable bloc of Iowa voters provided the bulk of Santorum's support. Voters like Greg Holbert from Cedar Rapids.
GREG HOLBERT: My wife and I had a chance to listen to Senator Santorum here in late December. He brought to the table what I feel reflect the values that my wife and I both have of faith, family and freedom.
LIASSON: Mitt Romney ended up with about 25 percent of the vote, right about where he's been in the polls all along and exactly what he got in Iowa four years ago. But last night, he declared the results a great victory.
MITT ROMNEY: Thank you Iowa, for the great send-off you're giving us and to others in this campaign. Look, this is a campaign night where America wins. We're going to change the White House and get America back on track.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Sixty-three percent of caucusgoers said Romney was the candidate best able to beat Barack Obama. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: We incorrectly said that 63 percent of caucusgoers said Mitt Romney was the candidate best able to beat Barack Obama. In fact, that 63 percent refers to the proportion of Romney supporters who said electability was most important to them.]
Electability was the argument that won over Chris Hastead, of Ames, Iowa.
CHRIS HASTEAD: I'm for Mitt Romney. I like everything that he says. I think he's got the best chance of beating President Obama next year.
LIASSON: Romney emerges from Iowa the same way he came in, as a vulnerable frontrunner. He has money and organization, and does well in hypothetical matchups against President Obama. But he still hasn't been able to win over the conservative base of his party.
Ron Paul placed third. He had the support of young voters, independents, and people going to the polls for the first time. Paul was the only candidate who expanded the Republican electorate by bringing in new voters. Many of them were attracted to his isolationist approach to foreign policy; out of the mainstream of Republican thought, but appealing to young people like Sarah Phillips.
SARAH PHILLIPS: I am really interested in his look at the wars and our current nation-building that we're doing.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHANTING)
LIASSON: Paul said he'd take his campaign to New Hampshire, where he hopes independent voters join his libertarian, grassroots movement.
REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL: And some people say, well, you guys just do that because you believe in something, want to promote a cause.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
PAUL: Certainly. But how is the best way to promote a cause? That is win elections. That's the way you promote it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
LIASSON: Newt Gingrich came in fourth. He had been in first place briefly, but his support collapsed under a barrage of negative ads - most of them bought by a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney. Gingrich is furious about this. And last night, he promised to fight back against Romney.
NEWT GINGRICH: We are not going to go out and run nasty ads. We're not going to go out and run 30-second gotchas. We're not...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GINGRICH: But I do reserve the right to tell the truth.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Gingrich says the debate with Romney begins this morning in New Hampshire, where he's taken out an ad in the Union Leader - the conservative New Hampshire newspaper that endorsed him.
But it's not clear whether Gingrich or Santorum can raise the kind of money needed to engage in a television ad war with Romney
Fifth place in Iowa went to Rick Perry, who has canceled plans to campaign in South Carolina today, and is flying home to Texas to reassess his candidacy. But Michele Bachmann, who finished a disappointing sixth, showed no signs of folding.
The turnout for the caucuses did not reflect the enthusiasm advantage that Republicans have enjoyed over Democrats for the last two years. Despite Republicans' determination to defeat Barack Obama, 122,000 Republicans turned out to vote yesterday. Not much more than the 119,000 that went to the caucuses four years ago.
Mara Liasson, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Democrats have been trying to generate some enthusiasm. And last night in Iowa, Democrats also turned out, though Barack Obama faced no opposition.
Here's Iowa Public Radio's Sarah McCammon.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: With all the attention focused on the twists and turns in the GOP race, you could almost forget that Democrats were holding caucuses, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF A CROWD)
MCCAMMON: Lincoln High School, in a working-class neighborhood near downtown Des Moines, was just one of many sites across the state where Democrats gathered last night. President Obama, appearing by teleconference remote from Washington, told these early supporters he hasn't forgotten them.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I want you to know that because of you - because of all the memories I have of being in, you know, your living rooms, or meeting you in a diner, or seeing you over at a campaign office - I have never lost that same source of inspiration that drove me to embark on this journey in the first place. You guys inspire me every single day.
MCCAMMON: The president urged supporters to maintain the same energy and optimism he witnessed in the state four years ago, when the state raised him from underdog to eventual nominee in the January caucuses and gave him an eight-point win in November. Megan Jacobs of the Iowa Democratic Party says even without a fight for the nomination, organizing now is important for the president's success in fall. And it all begins with the caucuses.
MEGAN JACOBS: That's huge, I mean that's how President Obama got his start last time around here in Iowa, with grassroots support, and that's how he's going to do it this time around.
MCCAMMON: But this time around, even the president and his backers acknowledge the state will be tough. In his message last night, Mr. Obama said it will be a big battle, but added that he's excited. During a brief question and answer session plagued by several technical problems, Carol White spoke from a caucus site in Cedar Rapids. She praised the president for pushing through healthcare reform.
CAROL WHITE: I am a breast cancer survivor and was a social worker for 33 years before retiring and know firsthand what a great accomplishment the Affordable Care Act is, among your other achievements. How do you respond to people who say you have not done enough?
OBAMA: You know, I think the main message that we're going to have in 2012 is that we've done a lot, but we've got a lot more to do. And that's why we need another four years to get it all done.
MCCAMMON: Heath care remains an important issue for 38-year-old Des Moines resident William Sheets, who came to the caucus with his elderly mother, whom he cares for full-time.
WILLIAM SHEETS: I'm a big supporter of the health care, and - because my daughters are in the health care system and they need some help in there - and we don't make that much money. And I'm here to show my support for the president. Even though I didn't support him the first time around, I wanted to show that this time around that I'm liking all the things he did and I'm here to support him.
MCCAMMON: Democratic leaders hope to engage voters like Sheets - persuading them to be with the president not only on caucus night and Election Day, but in the months in between - as volunteer campaign workers.
Betty Brim-Hunter is an official with the party's local county organization, as well as a state union leader. Speaking before the crowd of about 250, she asked supporters to sign up to knock on doors and make phone calls.
BETTY BRIM-HUNTER: Polk County Democrats will be calling you, the Obama campaign will be calling. You know, if we'd all just do a little bit, we can get it taken care of. So, thank you so much and let's go caucus.
MCCAMMON: The supporters got a good start last night, if numbers released by the Iowa Democratic Party are any indication. Officials say more than 25,000 Iowans attended Democratic caucuses, and more than 7500 promised to volunteer.
For NPR News, I'm Sarah McCammon in Des Moines.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
Throughout this morning, we're tracking the results of Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses, where Mitt Romney edged Rick Santorum by just eight votes. We're also following other news, including developments from a country that changed its leader with no election at all.
INSKEEP: Kim Jong Un took over North Korea when his father died. It is hard to know what ordinary North Koreans think of this, but some are allowed to work with South Koreans in an industrial zone along the fortified dividing line between those two countries. Doualy Xaykaothao visited there.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE)
DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO, BYLINE: Only South Koreans approved by the government can get past this lone checkpoint inside the DMZ and cross into North Korea. At this hour, it's mostly truckers going into Kaesong, a border city where South Korean companies employ North Korean workers. The day after Kim Jong Il died, this South Korean driver, in his 50's, was working alongside North Koreans.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Through translator) People in Kaesong are not into politics. Most of them are just normal citizens. I think they aren't bad people.
XAYKAOTHAO: They were grieving, he recalls, some people's hands couldn't operate machines as normal. Asked if he talked to his co-workers about Kim Jong Il's death, he says...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Through translator) Well, I don't need to ask questions or have any interest in asking questions. We are just working for the company. I am devoted to my work and I don't need to provoke anyone.
XAYKAOTHAO: He adds, working with North Koreans means being careful not to offend.
Some 48,000 North Koreans work with about a thousand South Koreans in Kaesong. Kim Yong-joo, who didn't want to give us his company's name, also drives into North Korea to work there everyday.
KIM YONG-JOO: (Through translator) The first day, there were a lot of people crying uncontrollably. But now North Koreans are starting to talk a little bit and even laugh.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOVELING)
XAYKAOTHAO: Surrounded by rolling hills and guard posts, Cho Sung-taek, who's in his 60's, shovels snow from a walkway at Dorasan Station. This is the last train stop in South Korea. The next is the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, two hours north.
CHO SUNG-TAEK: (Through translator) I'm not scared to work here, because South Korean soldiers are stationed right at the border. Even though this area is the frontline, workers like me don't feel nervous.
XAYKAOTHAO: Cho says the area is mostly for sightseeing, locals and foreigners from nearby Japan and China are especially drawn to the four underground tunnels dug by North Korean soldiers to try and infiltrate South Korea years ago.
CHO: (Through translator) This place used to be busier, with a lot more trains coming in, but now I see fewer trains in a day.
XAYKAOTHAO: He speaks as if he misses the company of strangers. Working at the border can be isolating.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)
XAYKAOTHAO: Chang Sung-taek and his wife Joo Ae-ja are both farmers in this restricted area within South Korea's demilitarized zone. Chang wears an old Russian winter hat and is beaming with four gold teeth.
CHANG SUNG-TAEK: (Foreign language spoken)
XAYKAOTHAO: Yes, I don't have to think about Kim Jong Il. He's dead. What is there to it?
He doesn't want to talk about North Korea's dead leader or talk of war, but she insists...
JOO AE-JA: (Through translator) No. I'm not scared. There will be no war. What are you talking about? War won't start.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
XAYKAOTHAO: She then turns up her radio and starts to sing, something she often does here. Even though she lives and works at the border, North Korea is the last thing on her mind.
For NPR News, I'm Doualy Xaykaothao at the DMZ in South Korea.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. A British woman had a break-in in September. Thieves stole a life-size statue of E.T., the extraterrestrial from the famous film. She thought it was gone for good until last week, when a passerby saw it floating in a river and called the police. They reunited the statue with its owner. So, a little late for the holidays, a little soggy, E.T. finally did phone home. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. 15-year-old Erik McBee faced a test of his survival skills. He was traveling on Southwest Airlines and fell asleep. He slept through the landing at his destination, Tulsa. KPHO TV says he woke up in St. Louis with no contacts, no money and no phone. Airport security didn't help, so he wandered the city. He called 911, but they said they weren't a taxi service. Almost 24 hours later, a resident finally helped him phone home. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A comment by an Iowa caucus-goer last night reminds us that the presidential race has just begun. Steve Tice(ph) spoke with our colleague Sonari Glinton on the way out of one of last night's meetings.
STEVE TICE: You know, Iowa's not about picking the winner, it's about eliminating some of the guys that just shouldn't have run.
INSKEEP: And Iowa may well eliminate some candidates. Michele Bachmann, who finished sixth, reportedly has cancelled a trip, today, to South Carolina. And her campaign says she'll hold a press conference later this morning. We'll keep you up to date on that. Rick Perry says he's returning to his home state of Texas to consider his next moves after finishing fifth. But the others go on. Newt Gingrich stays in after a fourth place finish, declaring on to New Hampshire – which is where we go next. NPR's Brian Naylor is in the city of Manchester. Hi Brian, where are you?
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Hi Steve. I'm at the Red Arrow Diner. Kind of a famous political haunt in downtown Manchester, where the coffee mugs have a C-SPAN emblem on them. So you know that politics is always on the menu here. And I suppose people must be talking politics this morning.
You know, I mean, I think it's a little bit of the calm before the storm, before the candidates start arriving in this state on a big time basis. But one thing I did hear from some folks I spoke with, is where did this Rick Santorum come from? People are very surprised, he sort of appeared – came out of nowhere in Iowa, certainly. He's not spent a lot of time in New Hampshire and they're kind of scratching their heads, that this is something that nobody really saw coming.
INSKEEP: Now this is meaningful, because it's been assumed that Rick Santorum is not the kind of candidate who would necessarily do well in New Hampshire. But you're saying that people don't necessarily have a negative impression of him. He's a blank slate, they have an opportunity to learn about him here for the first time.
NAYLOR: That's exactly right. I don't think anybody really knows very much about him. Remember, he launched his bid for re-election four years ago, I believe, and so he's been out of the public eye for awhile. And people don't really have much of an idea of where he stands on issues. And I think they're kind of curious at this moment, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
INSKEEP: Brian Naylor, I want to ask about another candidate who did not compete in Iowa and has staked everything on New Hampshire. Based on your interviews there at the Red Arrow, or anywhere else that you'd been in recent days, how widely known is John Huntsman and how much interest is there in his candidacy?
NAYLOR: Well I think he has gotten some attention. You know, he had a town meeting last night while they were counting the votes in Iowa. He was here in New Hampshire, as if to say, you know, this is where I've placed all my chips. There's been some TV ads and some, you know, lawn signs, and so I think people do know him. And I think his brand of more moderate conservatism is a good fit for this state. But, saying that, I think this is really all about a race for second place in New Hampshire. I think Mitt Romney has it pretty well wrapped up. He's more or less the native son here, having been governor of Massachusetts. He has a summer home here. And so, he had a commanding lead in the polls and I'd be surprised if that changes much. It's really a question of who else might emerge from the pack to possibly challenge him down the road when we get to the more socially conservative states in the South.
INSKEEP: In just a couple of seconds: is this correct, that although Mitt Romney's coming to New Hampshire, he's also going to spend of couple days in South Carolina – which votes next – before coming back for the New Hampshire vote?
NAYLOR: That's right. That's what we've been hearing. And all of the candidates will be here this week and there's debate – or I believe all of the candidates will be here this weekend – this debate, Saturday night. But, you know, I think Romney is probably more concerned, right now, about showing up and doing well in South Carolina, and is, more of less, figuring he's got worries in New Hampshire.
INSKEEP: OK. NPR's Brian Naylor in Manchester, New Hampshire this morning. This is MORNING EDITION for NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It was a virtual tie in Iowa between Romney and Santorum, but the Iowa caucuses were decisive in another way: thinning the crop of candidates. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, after finishing a poor sixth in Iowa, announced just minutes ago that she is suspending her campaign.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
REPRESENTATIVE MICHELE BACHMANN: And so last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice. And so I have decided to stand aside.
WERTHEIMER: Rick Perry has returned to his home state of Texas to consider his next moves after finishing fifth. His followers say he has tweeted his intention to continue. For more on GOP race and the next contest, next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, we turn to NPR's Brian Naylor, who's in the city of Manchester. Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Good morning, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: So what do you think Bachmann's departure might mean for the race? Will it have any kind of effect in New Hampshire?
NAYLOR: Well, I'm hard-pressed to see how it does. She finished so poorly in Iowa, which would have been her, you know, her strongest state, because there are so many evangelical voters in Iowa. There's not this...
WERTHEIMER: And it is the state where she was born, of course.
NAYLOR: And that's where she was born. That's right. And she toured all 99 counties. But the electorate, the Republican electorate in New Hampshire is much different. You don't have that evangelical base. It's not as socially conservative. And so it's not as though there were a lot of her supporters who are now suddenly released to back other candidates. So I really think the impact in the state will be rather minimal.
WERTHEIMER: Now, what about Mr. Romney? He's the front-runner, but what does Santorum's second-place finish do for his prospects, you think?
NAYLOR: I think that Mitt Romney really doesn't have to worry very much about New Hampshire and about Rick Santorum in New Hampshire. I think this is really a race to see who finishes second behind Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, and perhaps Santorum can do that. He's now got a little bit of momentum behind him. But again, like Bachmann, he appeals to part of the Republican base, the evangelical voters, voters who are concerned about gay rights and about, you know, same-sex marriage and about abortion. And those voters are not a big part of the Republican base in New Hampshire.
So, again, it's going to be tough for him to pick up much support. And people I talk to kind of wonder: Who is this guy? You know, there's not - Rick Santorum has been out of the public eye for a while. He's not had the money to run any ads in New Hampshire. So he's got a lot of ground to make up if he hopes to finish strong here.
WERTHEIMER: But I would imagine that Ron Paul's prospects in New Hampshire would be rather better. Does his campaign have a significant presence there?
NAYLOR: It does, from what I've been able to see in the short time I've been up here. There are a lot of signs, and we know that he's got money. He's got ads on the air. And he's got, you know, kind of his base. He's got the young voters supporting him. And also, you know, this is a state where the license plate reads: Live free or die. And that's the kind of sentiment, I think, that Ron Paul has been able to tap into across the country. And I think that this is probably where he's going to make his strongest stand, I'm just guessing. He certainly probably will finish at the top of the second tier in New Hampshire.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's Brian Naylor, reporting from Manchester, New Hampshire. Brian, thank you. Michele Bachmann has withdrawn from the race, put her campaign on hold.
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Renewable energy is growing rapidly in this country. The wind and solar industries are enjoying double-digit growth each year. Part of that is thanks to homeowners who install solar panels. With tax credits and subsidies, it's been possible to make a financial argument for installing them. but in recent years, the price of one fossil fuel - natural gas - has declined so much that even with extra help, solar panels are having difficulty competing. NPR's Jeff Brady reports.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: You've probably heard about hydraulic fracturing. Fracking is a controversial drilling technology that some worry is harming the environment. But since 2005, it's also led to a nearly 30 percent increase in the amount of natural gas produced in the U.S.
KATHRYN KLABER: We've got a classic situation of supply and demand.
BRADY: Kathryn Klaber heads an industry group near Pittsburgh called the Marcellus Shale Coalition. Natural gas demand has not gone up as quickly as supply, and Klaber says the price has dropped.
KLABER: A handful of years ago, natural gas could've been in the order of 12, 13, 14 dollars. We're now down to three to four. And that has had a direct impact on consumers.
BRADY: For utilities that burn natural gas to produce electricity, this allowed them to hold the line on rates. For most of us, that's a good thing. But for Barbara Scott of Media, Pennsylvania, it's made her solar system less of a bargain.
BARBARA SCOTT: We've got seven panels on the roof â on the porch roof - and 14 on the main part of the house.
BRADY: Scott says her family was the first in the community to install solar panels last march and she was prepared to be an evangelist.
SCOTT: We said, oh, look, we've got our website where you can see our panels at work. And we can have open houses and write newsletter articles and promote the idea of solar.
BRADY: After rebates and tax incentives, Scott says her family spent $21,000 to install the system. She figured it would take eight years to recoup the investment. A lot of other people had the same idea at the same time, which sent the price of solar energy credits down. That added seven years to the payback period.
On top of that, Scott says electricity rates aren't going up as quickly as she thought they would, thanks, in part, to low natural gas prices.
SCOTT: So that, again, adds another two years to our payback period.
BRADY: So you're up to 17 years now.
SCOTT: We're up to 17 years, which is, essentially, the life of the system. And we haven't even considered what happens if the system breaks or what it's going to cost to take the system off the roof and dispose of it.
BRADY: Despite this, Scott says she's still happy to have the panels on her house.
SCOTT: But now, knowing that it's maybe, at best, a break-even proposition, we're not so comfortable telling other people to do it.
BRADY: Scott's experience raises questions about the viability of much larger, utility-scale solar projects built in recent years. Richard Caperton is director of clean energy investment at the Center for American Progress. He says that's not a concern. Many were built with contracts that have set prices.
RICHARD CAPERTON: What's more interesting, though, the plants that aren't getting built right now, because of cheap natural gas.
BRADY: Caperton says solar, wind and even nuclear seem less attractive for investors right now, but that can change quickly. In the past, natural gas prices, like the stock market, have shot up quickly. If that happens, solar panels will seem like a good investment once again.
Jeff Brady, NPR News, Philadelphia.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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Of all the Arab uprisings in the past year, three have overthrown governments. Two more have thrown nations into turmoil. Only one of the major uprisings has definitely failed. And that's where we'll go next, as we follow up on what's known as the Arab Spring.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
When demonstrations erupted in Bahrain, troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia rolled into the country. The Bahraini regime imposed martial law; a brutal government crackdown followed; and the United States did not intervene. NPR's Kelly McEvers made several trips to Bahrain in this past year.
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: If you think back to when the Arab uprisings began, Bahrain really wasn't on the radar. First, Tunisia dominated the news, then Egypt. Each uprising had its start date, that became a search term on Twitter. Bahrain's was February 14th. This man - who's been in and out of jail since then, and could only talk to me while hunkered down in his car - was there.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR ENGINE RUNNING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I remember the 14 February night. I cannot forget this night. Really, I cannot forget. And even my wife, she was telling me; You will be crazy. At the end, you will get crazy. There's nothing good, happen. A few people will protest, and they will crush them, and that's all.
MCEVERS: No, he told his wife. This time, it's different.
Bahrainis had protested before, mainly about the fact that the country's majority Shiites remain poor and disenfranchised by the Sunni monarchy. But they'd never protested like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMONSTRATION)
MCEVERS: At first, they asked for things like an elected Parliament, a new constitution.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)
MCEVERS: But then when protesters started getting killed, tens of thousands of Bahrainis converged on a place called the Pearl Roundabout, to call for the fall of the ruling family.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMONSTRATION)
MCEVERS: Bahrain state TV called protesters traitors, and agents of Iran. Pro-government thugs attacked protesters. Protesters fought back. Just one month into the uprising, Bahrain's ruling family authorized some 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to enter the country.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER)
MCEVERS: Apache helicopters circled overhead as authorities cleared the Pearl Roundabout of all protesters. They never made it back.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER)
MCEVERS: And so Bahrain became the one Arab country whose uprising was definitively put down. One reason, argues Toby Jones - a professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University - is the United States, and its allies, wanted it that way. For all America's talk during the so-called Arab Spring, about supporting those who seek freedom, Jones says Bahrain was different.
TOBY JONES: If there is a place globally where there is not just distance, but a huge gap between American interests and American values, it's in the Persian Gulf. And its epicenter is in Bahrain. Bahrain is ground zero for the Arab Spring, in the Persian Gulf. And the United States has chosen sides. It has decided that it wants to see the Bahraini regime survive and endure. And that's important not only for the American relationship with Bahrain, but for Saudi Arabia.
MCEVERS: Saudi Arabia didn't want protests in its own backyard, Jones says. And it didn't want a Shiite-led uprising to encourage its archrival, Shiite-dominated Iran. Whatever the reasons, the end of Bahrain's uprising meant the beginning of a brutal crackdown. Thousands of people were rounded up, detained, and sometimes tortured. Two of these were elected members of Parliament. Others were doctors who treated protesters, journalists who wrote about them, and lawyers who defended them. Several people died while in custody.
It was as if the government of Bahrain hoped it could silence its people, and pretend the uprising had never happened. But that didn't work. So after months of condemnation from human rights groups, the king of Bahrain commissioned a group of international jurists to investigate. The commission recently issued its findings, at one of the king's palaces.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken)
MCEVERS: Nigel Rodley is a human rights lawyer who served on the commission. He says the group didn't have enough time to discover who ordered the crackdown. But it was clear the army, police and intelligence services were all using the same sinister tactics.
NIGEL RODLEY: They were all using the same methods of apprehension, detention, ill treatment and so on; which suggested a policy across different branches of government.
MCEVERS: For a moment, activists in Bahrain thought these findings might help revive their revolution. But while committees, and commissions, have been formed to implement some of the report's recommendations, no single high-ranking official has been held accountable for the deaths and the torture. Back during the protests, Dr. Sadiq Abdullah was interviewed by Al-Jazeera about protesters who'd been shot by security forces. He eventually was called in for questioning by the intelligence service. His wife waited in the parking lot. He didn't come back. Three months later, and 40 pounds lighter, Sadiq was released but still faces charges. He and his wife, Nidhal, recently took me to their private clinic, in a building that houses a dozen or so other clinics.
NIDHAL ABDULLAH: Almost everyone in this building, actually, was in jail.
MCEVERS: Uh-huh. Everyone in this building, at one point, was in jail.
Sadiq used to be the only doctor in Bahrain who could do kidney transplants. Now, he's been fired from his position at the government hospital. One of his students does the transplants.
DR. SADIQ ABDULLAH: They've done two cases in the last eight months.
MCEVERS: And there are 98 people on the waiting list. Sadiq is furious at a government that would deprive its people of such care. Still, he has a lot to lose here in Bahrain. At the clinic, he can earn in one day what he made in a month at the government hospital. In fact, Sadiq and Nidhal are thinking about expanding.
ABDULLAH: We have to think of other options.
MCEVERS: Like doing private kidney transplants.
ABDULLAH: Yeah.
MCEVERS: This is another way Bahrain differs from all the other Arab uprisings. In Bahrain, the wall of fear hasn't been broken. People realize they have a lot to lose. Now, the only form of public gathering that's allowed in Bahrain, is a funeral - like this recent procession for a man witnesses say was killed when riot police smashed into his car. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Funerals are not the only public gatherings permitted in Bahrain. Some demonstrations have been allowed in recent months, but applications for such gatherings are often denied.]
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: (Foreign language spoken)
MCEVERS: As the man is buried, people start chanting slogans against the regime. The riot police approach. A few young protesters throw rocks, and the police responded with rubber bullets, sound grenades and tear gas.
Oh, there goes another one, right there!
(SOUNDBITE OF TEAR GAS GUN)
MCEVERS: This is all that's left of Bahrain's revolution.
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MCEVERS: The monument at the Pearl Roundabout has been demolished. All roads to it are blocked by armored vehicles. Protests are stopped before they make it out of the villages. This is happening in villages all across Bahrain, but each one is sort of contained and individual. There's no large movement, like you saw back in February and March. And from what a lot of people say, there's not going to be one anytime soon.
The riot police eventually fall back. Protesters go back into their houses, and the village starts to put itself back together.
So yeah, now it's over, right? The sun's going down. It's evening prayer. There's garbage on the streets. Somebody will come and clean it up, and then life will get back to normal. Just like nothing ever happened.
Kelly McEvers, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Next, we have the story of a Midwestern kid who grew up differently than many people around him. In the 1980s, Ayad Akhtar was living in Wisconsin, an American kid born of Pakistani-American parents who were Muslim.
AYAD AKHTAR: People, at least in the Midwest, where I was growing up, didn't really even know what Muslims were. So, I mean my friends knew that I was from somewhere and my parents were from somewhere different, but they weren't really sure what that place was. And, you know, after all, I did like the Green Bay Packers so it didn't really matter. You know they mean?
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INSKEEP: As long as you've got that you're allowed, you're allowed into Wisconsin.
AKHTAR: (unintelligible) I'm from Wisconsin.
INSKEEP: Ayad Akhtar grew up to be a writer. He is the author of the novel called "American Dervish." It explores the difficult subject of Islam in America. It's about a kid named Hayat, growing up in Wisconsin. He is American born, but his ancestral country and religion catch up with him, when his mother's best friend, Mina, arrives from Pakistan.. It's about a kid named Hyat growing up in Wisconsin. He's American-born but his ancestral country and religion catch up with him when his mother's best friend, Mina, arrives from Pakistan.
AKHTAR: She's a charismatic and brilliant and beautiful woman. And so, she influences Hayat in a number of ways. He experiences his first sort of awakenings of the heart and of the body in her presence. And he also is introduced to Islam, which is something that his parents don't have much interested in. And he really takes to that.
INSKEEP: And this is really fascinating to me, that you have this woman, who the boy meets, who is religious but in a very progressive and open way; and talks about reinterpreting the faith for modern times - something that more conservative Muslims would reject.
The boy is under her influence in and yet he becomes, for time anyway, a very conservative young Muslim.
AKHTAR: Well, he does because he begins to feel that there is some certainty that he can latch onto by reading the book, the Quran, in a literal way. And the sort of central emotional through-line of the book has to do with his burgeoning jealousy when Mina falls in love with a Jewish man, and he feels that he's losing his love object.
INSKEEP: This could have been a much simpler story, because you have this boy whose Muslim, who's in the United States, who is inspired by Islam. And at least for a time, becomes a very conservative, purest kind of Muslim. I mean he could've been inspired by a radical, blind cleric to that approach and become some kind of wild-eyed radical.
You chose to make things far more nuanced all the way through.
AKHTAR: Well, I think that that's truer to life. I've seen a lot of things, you know, growing up in this country as a young Muslim. And I haven't seen that particular, you know, embodiment what you are describing, because even the sorts of things that I may have seen which coincide with what you're talking about, your example, even those are more nuanced. I think it's always a more complicated picture.
INSKEEP: Is it fair to say that Islam doesn't come off terribly well in this book?
AKHTAR: You know, it's a question that I've gotten from time to time. But I also get the other side, which is that people say, wow, you know, I read your book and I can't believe how beautiful Islam is. So I think, you know, as with all of the characters in the book, I try to embody them with all of the complexity and the strengths and the flaws that they have. And I think that I'm trying to do the same thing when it comes to representing the practice of the faith.
INSKEEP: Well, let me mention just a couple of things that I think a lot of Americans would find alarming. One of the characters, this older woman, Mina, when she's in Pakistan, is divorced by her husband just after giving birth to a baby, simply by having the husband send a note that says three times: I divorce you, which is all you're supposed to have to do under Islam.
You have that. You have prejudice against Jews, open prejudice against Jews; jokes being told about Jews and so forth all the way through the book.
AKHTAR: Well, I think the jokes are often told by a Jewish character. So, I mean it's - you can dig deeper, Steve. I think there's darker stuff than that in the book.
INSKEEP: Go on.
AKHTAR: There is a - at the centerpiece of the book, there is a sermon in the mosque that begins with a sort of cryptic allusions to verses in the Quran that talk about Jews. And then it becomes an outright anti-Semitic sermon. So, you know, I think that the book has a very - how do I put it. It would be impossible to read, for example, the Old Testament, and not to remark or to have some awareness of the fact that the characters in the stories in the Old Testament are profoundly flawed.
And I think that I'm bringing the same perspective to the Quran, which is to say that there are extraordinary things, these of extraordinary beauty and wisdom in the Quran. And there is also â there's also stuff that is darker. And that's true, again, to the human psyche. These are books which - the Quran, the Old Testament, the Gospels - they're books that embody the fullness of the human experience. And for anyone to suggest that they don't have that darker side, which we ourselves have, I think is, again, only part of the picture.
INSKEEP: Ayad Akhtar is the author of "American Dervish." Thanks very much.
AKHTAR: Thank you, Steve.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
The idea that pumping water into wells could be causing small earthquakes has taken many people by surprise. Gas industry executives say there is no hard evidence that their activities are causing these quakes. But some scientists say it's certainly possible. In fact, people have causing earthquakes for years. We're joined by NPR science correspondent Christopher Joyce.
Chris, welcome.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: Glad to be here, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: So what is the evidence that human activity can cause earthquakes? What sort of thing could do it?
JOYCE: Mining, for one thing. This is one of the first places they got this notion. It was in South Africa, actually, in the '60s, and it was gold mines. And what happened, you know, you create a void underground, and then sometimes it collapses and you create an earthquake.
But there's another way that mines alter what goes on underground. You pump water out of mines, because you can't work in a mine when it floods. And when you move water around underground, you know, you're messing with a very complicated array of stresses along fault lines underground.
WERTHEIMER: Now, hydro-fracking operators do pump a lot of water underground.
JOYCE: They do. Well, when they frack, as it's called, and they break the rock with the water, they use a lot of water. But that's not really what these earthquakes are all about. These quakes in Ohio and Arkansas are associated with wastewater wells. What happens is you use the water to frack for a day or two and then you retrieve it, and then you haul it off and you pump it into these wastewater wells. And this is a lot of water. And 'it's quite deep.
And so, the deeper you go with the more water, the more pressure you create underground and that builds up. And if you get it near a fault line, it can trigger a quake. And actually, this happened in the 1960s. In the Rocky Flats Arsenal, in Colorado, there was a wastewater well and they pumped a lot of water down there and they got a 4.8 magnitude quake.
WERTHEIMER: So, what exactly does the water do to the fault?
JOYCE: Well, if you want try to visualize a fault, and let's say you put your hands together like praying, OK? You open up with your fingers extended, and then that line between your hands is the fault. So press your hands together hard and that's called clamping pressure. It's keeping that fault stable. You add water, like a lubricant, inside that fault line, and boom, it slips and slides and you got a quake.
WERTHEIMER: So, people have been moving water around underground. They've been doing it for a long time, from mining to get rid of wastewater. Why haven't people associated that activity with quakes before?
JOYCE: Well, geologists have, a few geologists. It's not an area that people paid that much attention to. The geological conditions had to be just right, the quakes generally are very small, and it's hard to tell what's causing them. It could be natural or it could be other human activities.
WERTHEIMER: But, Chris, now these fracking wells are proliferating in places that are densely populated - places like Pennsylvania and Ohio, places where we haven't seen this thing before. So, are we going to see more earthquakes?
JOYCE: That's definitely a possibility. What's happened is that you're doing this in places that are geologically different. It's not very active, but there are faults there. They are near heavily populated areas, so people are going to be paying attention.
WERTHEIMER: So, is it possible to avoid creating quakes?
JOYCE: Well, that's one of the things that the U.S. Geological Survey is working on right now. And they're saying, look, if you do a seismic survey before you create a wastewater well, you can avoid possibly the worst area. You can look for faults and stay away from them. You can look for the kind of rock that's more permeable, that's not so brittle. Sandstone, for example, it absorbs the water like a sponge instead of letting the pressure build up.
WERTHEIMER: Presumably, it's not cheap. Can you do these preventative things in a sensible way that will still make the fracking a reasonable thing to do?
JOYCE: I'm not in the gas business and I don't know their bottom line, but it's certainly not out of the question to do seismic surveys. People do them all the time for other underground and for mining obviously, and for doing oil exploration. It just is something that's not required at the moment and probably might well be required in the future. But either that or recycle the water and clean it up, but that's also an expensive process.
WERTHEIMER: Chris, thanks very much.
JOYCE: You're welcome.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's science correspondent Christopher Joyce.
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WERTHEIMER: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Next time you buy potato chips, take a look at the list of ingredients. There's a good chance that, right after potatoes, you'll see: sunflower oil. But before the state flower of Kansas became the favorite oil of the potato chip industry, it had to take a long detour through the Soviet Union. NPR's Dan Charles is here to tell the tale.
DAN CHARLES, BYLINE: It's a curious fact. Very few of the crops that we grow for food actually came, originally, from North America.
GERALD SEILER: We have cranberries, pecans, some blueberries and then sunflower.
CHARLES: Gerald Seiler works at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sunflower Research Unit in Fargo, North Dakota.
SEILER: I always call the sunflower one of our native sons, because, you know, we are the center of origin of this crop.
CHARLES: Before Columbus ever arrived here, Native Americans selected from among the dozens of wild sunflowers that grew here and created tall plants with a single large head and seeds you can eat.
After that, though, the sunflower found itself neglected. This native son had to go abroad to find love and respect. Early Spanish explorers took it home with them. It spread across Europe. Van Gogh painted its portrait. And finally, it was the Russians who adopted it. They turned this native American plant into one of the world's great sources of cooking oil.
Why Russia? Gerry Miller, who was a sunflower breeder at the Fargo research center until he retired a few years ago, says it was partly religion. The Russian Orthodox Church had a list of foods that you weren't supposed to eat during lent. That included butter and lard.
DR. JERRY MILLER: But it just happened that sunflower was such a new crop that it was not on the prohibited list. And so, when whey discovered that they could use sunflower, it just â it blossomed.
CHARLES: In the 1800s, sunflowers covered huge fields in Russia and Ukraine. And then, under Stalin, Soviet plant breeders made these little oil factories even more productive. They created varieties with more oil in their seeds, almost 50 percent more. Sunflower oil filled grocery shelves across Europe.
Brent Hulke, who's now the USDA's sunflower breeder in Fargo, says this oil tastes great.
DR. BRENT HULKE: In Europe, if you run across an oil snob, they'll tell you which are the best olive oils. And then, secondly, they'll tell you which are the best sunflower oils.
CHARLES: But in the U.S., sunflower oil couldn't compete with corn and soybean oil, which are cheaper. Then came the 1990s and sunflowers got a boost from somewhere they never expected: Potato chip makers.
MILLER: This all started with what was called the Mediterranean Diet.
CHARLES: Jerry Miller says olive oil was in, trans fats were on their way out. And companies like Frito-Lay were asking if people don't want to eat trans fat-filled partially hydrogenated soybean oil, how are we going to fry our potato chips?
Jerry Miller had an answer. The Russians, he told them, had created a mutant sunflower; one that produced oil that was still good for you and didn't go bad while frying potato chips. So, no trans fats.
Frito-Lay had a chemist named Monoj Gupta, who recognized - immediately - what it could do for his company. And he said, let's go; let's do this.
Today, farmers in the U.S. produce only this new kind of sunflower oil and the potato chip industry can't get enough of it.
For an encore, the sunflower may be going where no oil seed has gone before. Right now, in the greenhouses of the USDA's Sunflower Research Center in Fargo, Brent Hulke is growing sunflowers with yet another genetic trait. These plants may eventually produce oil that's lower in saturated fat than any other vegetable oil.
The genes for low levels of saturated fat, they came from sunflowers that were collected in Hungary and Egypt
SEILER: It's just so fascinating that something like that could exist on the landscape and you just don't even know it.
CHARLES: Which brings us back to the USDA's Gerald Seiler, the man who calls the sunflower, America's Native Son. He's pretty sure there are more genetic treasures like this still out there, in cultivated sunflowers all over the world and in the whole extended family of sunflowers growing wild - from Texas to Canada.
For the past 40 years, he's been driving country roads, stopping to gather sunflower seeds. And he deposits the seeds in storage vaults like this one at his research center in Fargo.
SEILER: Basically it's a big refrigerator - a big cold room.
CHARLES: He shows me row after row of metal and plastic boxes. Each one holds hundreds of seed samples. And I notice a lot of these boxes have the name Seiler on them.
SEILER: This is my life here. This is 30-some years of work in here.
CHARLES: Each seed is a package of genes the Seiler wants to preserve, because those genes, Seiler says, they're like nuggets of gold. Their true value is still waiting to be discovered.
Dan Charles, NPR News.
WERTHEIMER: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
This time of year is big for companies that specialize in weight loss. Companies actually add staff to accommodate all the people who sign up for their services as part of New Year's resolutions.
And as NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, there's plenty of room for their customer bases to expand.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: If there's a downtime for dieters, Weight Watchers North America president David Burwick says it's typically when the eggnog, turkey, and ham come out.
DAVID BURWICK: People really don't want to start a weight-loss program right during the holidays when there are so many temptations and there are parties and things that they want to enjoy.
NOGUCHI: But when the party ends, there's plenty of pent-up demand for weight-loss programs. This week is the biggest week in what is typically Weight Watchers' biggest quarter.
BURWICK: This is our Super Bowl. The first week of January is our Super Bowl for Weight Watchers.
NOGUCHI: The opportunities in this business keep growing. About a third of Americans are medically obese. But the recession has delivered mixed results to weight-loss companies. Nutrisystem's revenue has been on a steady decline in recent years. Herbalife and Medifast have both grown. Weight Watchers' sales have yo-yo'd in recent years, but were up last year.
Gary Albanese is a research analyst with Auriga USA. He says the recession hit food-delivery services like Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig harder because they cost more. Then again, hope springs eternal in January.
GARY ALBANESE: It's an interesting sector because at the beginning of the year there's so much promotion surrounding the brands, surrounding the products, that it's almost like a reset every year.
NOGUCHI: Albanese says the average client sticks to the program for seven to eight months or right about when holiday season kicks in.
ALBANESE: If you get somebody to join up for the first quarter, then you can sort of predict or get a good feeling for how the rest of the year sort of shapes up.
NOGUCHI: One way these companies attract customers is through celebrity endorsements.
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NOGUCHI: Jenny Craig, for example, features its latest endorser - singer Mariah Carey -scantily clothed, minus 30 pounds.
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NOGUCHI: Women make up the lion's share of the client base for weight-loss programs. About 85 percent of customers at Weight Watchers are women. But its president, Burwick, says this year, the company is targeting men. They've signed former basketball star Charles Barkley to appear in commercials.
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NOGUCHI: Nutrisystem has also been targeting men. It announced last month it signed up football commentator Terry Bradshaw. According to the company, Bradshaw has lost 32 pounds on its program.
Companies are also trying to increase sales is by partnering with big employers. Obesity is a major factor in driving up insurance costs, and corporations are interested in trimming those costs by trimming workers' waistlines. Weight Watchers this week announced partnerships with American Express and the New York Stock Exchange.
Gary Albanese, the research analyst, says all the companies are also trying to get doctors to refer their overweight patients to their programs.
ALBANESE: That's really the big goal, integrating yourself more with the health care providers.
NOGUCHI: Patients might benefit if their insurance will pay for the program. And weight-loss companies can, once again, expand their customer base while possibly even lowering their marketing costs.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's look at how money is affecting the presidential election. One major factor in the Iowa results was likely a barrage of attack ads against one-time front-runner Newt Gingrich. The ads came from a SuperPAC supporting Mitt Romney.
SuperPACs are supposedly independent organizations, made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 and some other election-law changes.
Here's NPR's Peter Overby.
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: The superPAC behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney blanketed the Iowa airways with attack ads like this one.
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OVERBY: Restore Our Future spent $4 million on the ads. That meant the average Iowa TV viewer would have seen them three-dozen times per week. They were a major reason that Gingrich, the former House speaker, plummeted from first place in the polls to fourth place Tuesday night.
Restore Our Future is run by former campaign aides to Romney. But officially, it's not part of his presidential operation. There are superPACs backing all of the major candidates. They raise whatever money they can get - no limits required - from corporations and wealthy individuals.
But there hasn't been any disclosure of donors since last July, and there won't be any till the end of January. Bill Allison is editorial director for the Sunlight Foundation, a group that promotes transparency in politics.
BILL ALLISON: We have the Iowa caucuses; we have the New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries; and we won't know who is donating to the organizations that were trying to knock those other candidates out.
OVERBY: The superPACs stay below the radar by cherry-picking disclosure requirements from the federal election laws. It's absolutely legal. But not everyone in the superPAC world agrees that secrecy is a good thing. Washington lawyer Robert Kelner advises superPACs and big donors. He says that for people giving the money, the timing of disclosure is immaterial.
ROBERT KELNER: They have already decided, when they chose to make the contribution to a superPAC, that they were comfortable with their name being in the public records.
OVERBY: As for the superPACs, he says they don't benefit from temporarily hiding a controversial donor.
KELNER: If it's that big an issue, then maybe the superPAC doesn't want that particular contribution in the first place.
OVERBY: And while candidates are usually desperate for every regulated contribution they can get, Kelner says the superPACs tend to be well-funded.
KELNER: And they can make, you know, nuanced choices as to which contributions they want to accept, and which ones they don't.
OVERBY: No one at Restore Our Future was willing to speak on the record yesterday. But C. Edmund Wright was. He's the spokesman for Winning Our Future, a superPAC run by former aides to Gingrich. Wright says transparency would have made Restore Our Future tone down its attacks.
C. EDMUND WRIGHT: Just common sense tells me that they would've given a lot less money, and maybe not been quite as negative.
OVERBY: Then again, Gingrich has now shed his nice-guy persona. And yesterday, the Winning Our Future website featured an old ad from John McCain's 2008 campaign - A Tale Of Two Mitts.
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OVERBY: It's a message that Winning Our Future would like to repeat with its own ads, financed by its own secret donors. Professor Anthony Corrado has spent years studying the flow of political money. He says Iowa gives just a hint of what's to come.
ANTHONY CORRADO: We're really turning the clock back. We will have more undisclosed money used in the presidential election than we have seen since the elections prior to Watergate.
OVERBY: And, as in Iowa, the undisclosed money stands ready to deliver the harshest attacks.
Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today President Obama visits the Pentagon to unveil a new strategy for the U.S. military. This overall plan for the military comes at a time of great change, cuts in defense spending, the end of the war in Iraq, the winding down of the war in Afghanistan. We'll find out today, if the new Pentagon strategy will abandon a long-held commitment to be ready to fight two major conflicts at once. NPR's Tom Bowman reports.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: For two decades, the Pentagon has maintained that it could fight two wars at the same time. An early draft of the Pentagon's new strategy, the New York Times reported, said the military would only be able to win one war, and spoil an adversary's efforts in a second war.
ELLIOT COHEN: I'd be worried about an administration using that kind of term, which really is pretty ridiculous.
BOWMAN: That's Elliot Cohen, a professor of strategic studies at John Hopkins University.
COHEN: I'm a military historian and I've never seen that word used as a strategic objective of a major power.
BOWMAN: That word - spoil - may not end up as in the final version of the Pentagon strategy. Officials tell NPR that the Pentagon is not likely to scrap the two-war scenario. Part of it is politics, officials say. The White House doesn't want to make the president look weak on defense in an election year. Another reason: it sends the wrong message to adversaries like Iran and North Korea.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL DAVE DEPTULA: Abandoning a two major regional conflict strategy is a recipe for disaster.
BOWMAN: That's retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dave Deptula. He designed the air campaign for the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
DEPTULA: All it does is encourage adventurism on the part of potential adversaries out there that want to take advantage of any sign of weakness in the U.S.'s commitment.
BOWMAN: The notion that the U.S. could fight two wars at once always had more to do with politics and budgets than with strategy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the idea of putting a ceiling on the number of wars the nation could fight. Here he is in 2009.
SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: I think that is not a realistic view of the world. We are already in two major conflicts. So what if we have a third one - or a fourth one or a fifth one.
BOWMAN: Reality intrudes on the best laid plans. Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, says the military never had enough troops to handle the two conflicts of this past decade.
TODD HARRISON: Because going in to a surge in Iraq, we realized that we did not have sufficient numbers of ground forces to carry out, both the surge in Iraq and the ongoing operations in Afghanistan.
BOWMAN: So the Pentagon had to increase the size of the Army and Marines Corps by tens of thousands to fight the two wars that its strategy said it could fight.
COHEN: We've been through these two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BOWMAN: Again, Elliot Cohen.
COHEN: You can argue that while we've been doing that, we haven't paid nearly as much attention as we probably should to bolstering our forces in Asia, particularly our naval forces.
BOWMAN: The military strategy that will be unveiled today is expected to focus on Asia, and that means more money for the Air Force and Navy to build aircraft and ships. The question is how to afford any new hardware.
The White House has called for a half trillion dollars in Pentagon spending cuts over the next decade. Retired General Deptula complains that the Pentagon's strategy is being driven by number-crunchers at the Office of Management and Budget.
DEPTULA: Some mid-level career bureaucrat in OMB figured out a dollar number to reduce the defense department by and so we jump to that number.
BOWMAN: He says the right way to come up with a strategy is to ask this question.
DEPTULA: What does the nation want to do in the context of security, and then making the determinations of the adjustment of budget?
BOWMAN: That Pentagon budget for that new strategy will be released next month. The Army is expected to be the big loser. Those tens of thousands of troops that were needed for Iraq and Afghanistan will be cut to pay for the ships and planes needed for Asia.
Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Four months after firing its CEO, Yahoo has a new leader. Scott Thompson comes from eBay, where he ran PayPal - the system people use for purchases online. Now, he faces a turnaround job, as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.
WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: The Internet giant that pioneered a lot of what's cool on the Web has been struggling for a long time. And while Yahoo still has more than 700 million users, its ad revenues are falling, while Facebook's and Google's are rising.
SHAR VANBOSKIRK: I think Yahoo just needs some clear focus to go after whatever it is.
KAUFMAN: Shar VanBoskirk is an analyst at Forrester Research. She says leadership and direction have been in short supply at the company.
VANBOSKIRK: Yahoo's problem is it can't decide if it's a media company, a market research company, a technology company or a data company.
KAUFMAN: And there are personnel problems too, says analyst Rob Enderle.
ROB ENDERLE: Morale is very low. There are mismatches of employees leftover from different initiatives. It's kind of a mess. Though it does have a very strong brand, it has one of the strongest brands on the Internet.
KAUFMAN: Incoming CEO Thompson says, the company's core assets are stronger than people believe. In addition to the well-known brand, he cites sophisticated technology and access to reams of data.
The choice of the New England native surprised many observers. Thompson has no media background, no experience in online advertising, and no experience reviving struggling companies.
Again, analyst Shar VanBoskirk.
VANBOSKIRK: I always think that people take jobs like this because to turn a company around is a pretty great accomplishment. I don't think it's an impossible situation. What I expect we'll see is some sales. I expect we'll see Yahoo selling off parts of their business.
KAUFMAN: One of those sales may well be the company's 40 percent interest in Alibaba. The Chinese search engine giant has been trying to get out from under Yahoo for some time. And many analysts had been advocating a sale long before now. Scott Thompson starts his new job as Yahoo CEO next week.
Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Now, let's say goodbye to a different kind American character. The Kentucky politician Gatewood Galbraith has died at the age of 64.
Gabe Bullard, of our member station WFPL, explains why he became a familiar name in Kentucky and beyond.
GABE BULLARD, BYLINE: Gatewood Galbraith ran for governor five times. Most recently, last year as an Independent. And the most famous plank in his platform was pot. Galbraith claimed marijuana cured the asthma that kept him out of the Marines and he frequently pushed for its legalization. He earned an endorsement from Willie Nelson and he readily discussed his habits with reporters.
GATEWOOD GALBRAITH: I smoke whenever it's appropriate. You know, I might smoke again tomorrow. I don't know. Just the opportunity presents itself and it's not going to interfere with anything I do.
BULLARD: Galbraith's most recent running mate, Dea Riley, says his emphasis on certain liberties made him a forefather of modern political movements in Kentucky.
DEA RILEY: Gatewood was invited to a Tea Party meeting. And Gatewood was never a big Tea Partier himself, but he appreciated the dialogue. And he arrived and everyone said, oh, Gatewood, you know, thank you so much for coming. It's wonderful to have you here. And Gatewood responded, what are you talking about? I've been here for 30 years. Where have you people been?
BULLARD: But Galbraith had liberal followers too. He wanted to freeze college tuition and he was the only gubernatorial candidate who opposed mountaintop removal coal mining. And he was funny, always ready to make a joke during a debate or stump speech. Here he is in a video talking to a barber about lobbyists.
GALBRAITH: I call them the petro-chemical-pharmaceutical-military-industrial-transational-corporate-fascist-elite SOBs.
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BULLARD: But, ultimately, it was the party system the former Democrat scorned that kept him from winning. And people close to him said he had decided to make last year's campaign his final run for office.
For NPR News, I'm Gabe Bullard in Louisville.
WERTHEIMER: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
President Obama did some campaigning of his own yesterday in Ohio. That's a big state in the November election. At Shaker Heights High School, just outside Cleveland, Mr. Obama announced the appointment of a new consumer watchdog to keep an eye on the financial industry.
The move puts the president on a collision course with Senate Republicans, and it's a battle he seems ready to fight, as NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: President Obama's pick to head the new financial watchdog agency is no stranger to Ohio. Richard Cordray is a former attorney general in that state, where he earned a reputation for aggressively protecting homeowners and investors in battles with big financial companies. Mr. Obama wants Cordray to play a similar role as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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HORSLEY: Senate Republicans have been stonewalling Cordray's nomination for months to protest the structure of the new agency. So Mr. Obama used a recess appointment to stall him in the post. That would have been routine, except the Senate is not officially in recess. All through the Christmas and New Year's holidays, senators have been holding pro forma sessions, where no actual business is conducted, for the express purpose of preventing a recess appointment. Democrats did the same thing late in the George W. Bush administration. White House spokesman Jay Carney says by yesterday the president and his lawyers had had enough of these parliamentary tricks.
JAY CARNEY: The president's council has determined that the Senate has been in recess for weeks and will be in recess for weeks. The Constitution guarantees the president the right to make appointments during Senate recesses, and the president will use that authority to make this appointment.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama also made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board yesterday, though without the fanfare of the Cordray appointment. Whatever the legal merits, the administration seems perfectly willing to make its case in the court of public opinion. After all, it puts the president on the side of consumers, while aligning Republicans with widely despised financial institutions. And it fits with Mr. Obama's larger reelection narrative, in which he's a champion for the middle-class pitted against a do-nothing Congress.
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HORSLEY: The president's move was promptly attacked by Republicans in the Senate and on the White House campaign trail. Mitch McConnell called it a threat to checks and balances, while Mitt Romney described it as Chicago-style politics at its worst. Mr. Obama's appointment of Cordray got a warmer reception from Elona White, who was in the audience outside Cleveland.
ELONA WHITE: We need somebody to watch over the consumers' dollars. You have to look out for everybody. You just can't look out for the rich. It's a lot of everyday, working people that need the president to look out for them, and that's what he's trying to do.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama underscored that point by dropping by the Cleveland home of William and Endia Eason. The elderly couple was approached 10 years ago by a mortgage broker offering to help finance needed home repairs. The repairs were never done, the broker disappeared and the Easons wound up with $80,000 in debt that almost cost them their home.
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HORSLEY: Mortgage brokers that aren't connected to banks have been largely unregulated until now. Mr. Obama hopes protecting consumers like the Easons will also safeguard the broader economy and just maybe boost his own chances for reelection. Scott Horsley, NPR News.
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President Obama's aides have said he will bypass his Republican critics in Congress this year. And yesterday, he did. He named Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The president made that appointment without the consent of the Senate. He did that through what's called a recess appointment, though unlike in similar occasions in the past, the Senate has not technically recessed. NPR's Tamara Keith explains.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Last month, Senate Republicans blocked a vote on Cordray's nomination. But for more than six months before that congressional Republicans have refused to allow the Senate to recess, because they didn't want to give the president the opportunity to make recess appointments. So, even though Congress has been home for a winter break since before Christmas, every few days, the House and Senate gavel in for a pro-forma session.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The Senate will come to order.
KEITH: Yesterday's Senate session lasted a grand total of 40 seconds, plus or minus. The White House decided that just shouldn't count. John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, supports the president's move.
JOHN TAYLOR: He's saying, look, since I can't have the Senate take this very worthy, very experienced and very proven candidate to be director of the agency, I'll make the recess appointment.
KEITH: Consumer advocates like Taylor have long called on the president to push the issue, because without a director, the bureau has not been regulating non-bank institutions, including certain mortgage lenders and payday lenders.
TAYLOR: It's really sad that the American public has had to wait this long to have someone head an agency that was created because of all the malfeasant, terrible banking practices that destroyed the economy.
KEITH: The new director, Cordray, says he'll make supervising non-banks a top priority. But he'll do it in the face of outrage from Senate Republicans and their allies. The American Bankers Association says the president's move puts the bureau's future actions in Constitutional jeopardy. David Hirschman is with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
DAVID HIRSCHMAN: It does put a cloud over anything the new consumer bureau does.
KEITH: Hirschman agrees with Senate Republicans, that the bureau needs to be changed, made more accountable with a board instead of a single director and with Congress controlling its budget. Consumer advocates say this would take away the bureau's teeth. Hirschman says the president should've negotiated with Congressional Republicans rather than acting unilaterally.
HIRSCHMAN: This is bad news for both the bureau, which now has to worry about any decision it makes being challenged in the courts, and for other financial regulators who also have pending nominations that are less likely to get confirmed.
KEITH: Yesterday, the president also recess appointed three members of the National Labor Relations Board, generating more outrage. Norm Ornstein is with the American Enterprise Institute, and a seasoned Congressional watcher. He says the president is risking retaliation from Senate Republicans who could block all of his nominations, but perhaps that isn't such a big risk.
NORM ORNSTEIN: The fact is that there have been, not only dozens, but hundreds of nominees for court positions, executive branch positions, that have been blocked by filibusters or holds in the Senate.
KEITH: Ornstein says for two and a half years the president tried the conciliatory post partisan approach he promised in his campaign. That, he says, wasn't working, hence the new more combative relationship with Congress.
Tamara Keith, NPR News.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. People have been making campaign stops in New Hampshire for months. But now the campaign intensifies for the nation's first primary. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is favored, but other Republican candidates are looking for a strong showing in next Tuesday's voting, and most are crossing the state this week.
NPR's Greg Allen has been following along.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: After campaigning non-stop in Iowa for the past week, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum could be excused if he was a bit slow to get started here. Yesterday, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were on the ground in New Hampshire, while people in Iowa were still reading their morning papers. Santorum didn't arrive until Wednesday evening. But when he got here, he found a big crowd waiting.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Next president of the United States.
RICK SANTORUM: Well, you've got to help usâ¦
ALLEN: Over the past several months, Santorum has campaigned doggedly: 381 town meetings in Iowa, over a hundred, by his count, in New Hampshire. At some meetings, only a handful of voters showed up. At this town meeting last night in Brentwood, the person introducing him recalled having to buttonhole friends last summer to get them to a Santorum gathering. How things have changed. Last night, some 300 people crammed into the auditorium of a nursing home. More than half of them stood while Santorum talked about his conservative principles and his determination to get to the White House.
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ALLEN: Santorum talked about his plans for tax reform, reduced regulations and revival in the manufacturing sector. He also talked about his concerns about the Obama administration, particularly the president's recess appointment yesterday of Richard Cordray to head the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And although he didn't mention him by name, Santorum had some pointed comments about his chief Republican rival, New Hampshire frontrunner Mitt Romney.
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ALLEN: Santorum says since his photo-finish with Romney in Iowa, fundraising has picked up dramatically. Yesterday, in one day, he said his campaign had raised half as much money as it had in the previous several months.
Santorum isn't the only candidate taking aim at Mitt Romney. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is nursing a grudge from the bruising he took in Iowa. Once the leader in the state, he fell to fourth place after an onslaught of negative attack ads placed by a group with connections to Romney. When asked yesterday why he didn't congratulate the former Massachusetts governor for winning in Iowa, Gingrich just raised his eyebrows.
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ALLEN: In New Hampshire, Romney has a sizeable lead in the polls, and yesterday, he sought to build on it with a big endorsement from former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a two-time winner of the primary here.
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ALLEN: McCain's nod got the headlines, but another Republican candidate, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, said he found it meaningless. Huntsman said it was like Romney's earlier endorsement from Bob Dole, another example of the GOP establishment at work.
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ALLEN: The third-place finisher in Iowa, Ron Paul, doesn't campaign here till tomorrow, but he has a fan base here. That's another hurdle for Santorum as he tries to emerge as the conservative champion.
Even for some supporters, like Ann Kimball, Santorum still has to close the deal.
ANN KIMBALL: My hesitancy to throw any support behind him was - was he the one that could beat Barack Obama? And that's always kind of the question that keeps coming back.
ALLEN: Kimball says she'll be watching closely when Santorum and the other candidates mix it up in the next debate scheduled for Saturday night.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Manchester, New Hampshire.
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What do Michel Martelly, Joseph Estrada and, closer to home, Ronald Reagan have in common? All three were performers who became presidents of their respective countries - Haiti, Philippines and, of course, the U.S. Now, Senegal's singing sensation Youssou N'Dour wants to follow suit. He's announced his intention to throw his hat in the ring. N'Dour is challenging Senegal's veteran leader and other candidates in the presidential election next month. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton filed this report.
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OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: Youssou N'Dour shot to international stardom in 1994 with this hit, "7 Seconds," sung with Neneh Cherry. The Senegalese mbalax musician has gone on to win a Grammy and become one of Africa's most influential and popular singers.
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QUIST-ARCTON: The 52-year-old, known simply as Youssou, grew up poor in Senegal's capital, Dakar. Today, he has his own radio station and television channel in Senegal, owns a national newspaper and runs a business empire. He also served as a U.N. goodwill ambassador, espousing noble causes like fighting malaria. And now, Youssou N'Dour says he's ready to become Senegal's new president, and he anticipates victory in the election due February 26th.
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QUIST-ARCTON: Youssou N'Dour told the BBC he's confident of both local and international support.
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QUIST-ARCTON: But will his undeniable popularity and street cred as a singer in Senegal necessarily translate into votes for Youssou as president? He's never held elective office, and questions are being raised over whether, without much formal education - he dropped out of school at age 13 - he has the political smarts to lead Senegal.
The West African nation proudly flaunted its democratic credentials when other countries in the region were battling coups, rebellions and civil wars. Senegalese opposition politician Abdoulaye Bathily.
ABDOULAYE BATHILY: You know, the question is whether an artist can be considered as somebody fit for leadership. This is the first time this kind of thing happened in Senegal.
QUIST-ARCTON: There's bad blood between Senegal's opposition and the octogenarian president, Abdoulaye Wade, who's seeking a third term in office. His critics accuse Wade of political nepotism and trying to cling to power. Youssou N'Dour used to be close to the president, but has become one of his most outspoken critics. He, and many others, says it's time for Wade to go.
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QUIST-ARCTON: Youssou N'Dour is already chanting the mantra of the politician, making campaign promises to provide food, electricity, health and education for all in Senegal.
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News.
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This next report raises the question of how people can cause earthquakes. Youngstown, Ohio shook on New Year's Eve.
WERTHEIMER: It was the latest of many small quakes, and officials are asking if there's a connection between them and the process of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. It involves pumping fluid deep underground to crack shale and drive natural gas to the surface.
INSKEEP: Ohio has been taking the waste water that is left over from that process and disposing of it in wells. That makes money for Youngstown, but leaves people asking about the side effects. In a moment, we'll ask what the science says. We start in Ohio with Tim Rudell of member station WKSU.
TIM RUDELL, BYLINE: Natural gas deposits that set off the drilling frenzy in Pennsylvania and other Eastern states extend under Ohio. The drillers moving west are bringing billions of dollars with them, buying up leases, equipment and pipe. Youngstown is looking at a double benefit: from new wells and from supplying pipe.
Steel manufacturer V&M Star recently committed nearly a billion dollars to build new mills here to make that pipe. But then the earthquakes started, 11 over just the last nine months, all near what's called a deep-injection, brine disposal well on Youngstown's east side.
Bob Liller's house was near the epicenter of the biggest quake on New Years Eve - a 4.2 quake on the Richter scale. He's a plumber picking up supplies at Girard Hardware, a squeaky-floor, old-fashioned hardware store also near the temblor's center.
BOB LILLER: Well, I was in bed sick. My wife was laying next to me, and the house started hopping, headboard started hopping. So we kind of jumped to the front of the bed. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. It was serious.
RUDELL: Girard Hardware owner George Thomas and plumber Liller agree that the quakes raise real concerns.
GEORGE THOMAS: It's money. It's just - but, you know, you can't kill the earth. But...
LILLER: I'd like to see the drilling and all the money and everything, but I don't want the house to come down around my ears. OK.
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RUDELL: Tina Kratsas owns Simone's Salon. She and daughter Nicole say they felt the New Year's Eve quake, too. It was at least 40 times stronger than the earlier quakes.
TINA KRATSAS: I was doing someone's hair, and I heard like a big ba-boom, and the building just shook.
NICOLE KRATSAS: It was a huge, loud sound. It was like a train.
RUDELL: Tina Kratsas wonders about the environmental risks from the drilling boom, and says that boom has yet to do much for her business. But George Thomas says his business has picked up, and plumber Bob Liller says his has, too.
LILLER: So, hopefully, this will put everything back on track to where we start piping some new housing again. Or they'll add on to the house. So that's my hope. The other thing is I don't want to be thrown out of bed, either.
RUDELL: After the last and relatively strong earthquake, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources shut down the suspect brine disposal well, pending further study. But there are 176 other such wells throughout the state, and Ohio does seem to be a favorite dumping ground for the tens of millions of gallons of waste fluid from the drilling boom all over the East.
That may be because, until the Youngstown incidents, no Ohio injection disposal wells were every associated with seismic disturbances, even though some of them have been operating since the 1970s. But Youngstown lawyer Alan Wenger, a specialist in gas and oil leases, thinks the wells are in Ohio in part because of lax regulatory policy.
ALAN WENGER: It's hard to explain. It's hard for me to understand. And, you know, folks that don't work with this stuff I'm sure are pretty outraged at, you know, why are we taking everyone's crap here in Ohio? It may become a major political issue that someone's going to have to answer for.
RUDELL: Whether it will potentially move Ohio's regulatory approach toward greater environ protection or specifically restrict brine disposal wells, Youngstown's recent spate of earthquakes has residents and regulators alike pondering just what kind of trade-offs are warranted for the sake of jobs and the promise of economic recovery.
For NPR news, I'm Tim Rudell.
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NPR's business news starts with Kodak fading.
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WERTHEIMER: The legendary American photo company is reportedly preparing for bankruptcy. The Wall Street Journal says the company could avoid bankruptcy by selling off a trove of patents. But it's apparently still laying the groundwork for a Chapter 11 filing that would allow Kodak to continue operating but would release it from debt, including it's obligations to retirees.
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Next, let's reach for some comfort food - like the banana bread that Martha Stewart made on her TV show with the help of Hugh Jackman.
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INSKEEP: Martha Stewart may need some comforting because the Hallmark Channel is canceling "The Martha Stewart Show." This does not qualify as the lowest moment in Stewart's career. But the industry she's built up around herself is going through some tough times. The New York Post reports that Home Depot plans to end its current deal to sell Martha Stewart-branded paint due to poor sales. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: According to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the line of paint will continue to be offered. The company also said Stewart and the Hallmark Channel are quote, exploring a new format for her cable program.]
So she is our last word in business today - though it's hard to believe we've heard the last of Martha Stewart. That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer in for Renee Montagne.
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Here's how you know the Republican presidential campaign is in high gear. Mitt Romney was in Iowa yesterday morning, in New Hampshire this morning. And later, he'll be spending the night in South Carolina.
WERTHEIMER: Romney is working to consolidate his position as the Republican frontrunner. He won Iowa by the narrowest of margins and hopes for more decisive results in New Hampshire.
NPR's Ari Shapiro is along for the ride.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
At Central High School in Manchester, Mitt Romney's introductory music suggested the entrance of a man who had just slain a lion.
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SHAPIRO: To help him along, Romney brought the man who beat him in New Hampshire's last Republican presidential primary four years ago. Arizona Senator John McCain said he felt some nostalgia.
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SHAPIRO: Romney has always been more comfortable in New Hampshire than Iowa. He owns a house here, he was governor of the state next door, and he has been an almost constant presence in New Hampshire for the last six years.
But if he was expecting a neighborly welcome, what he got was something quite different. About half the audience questions at this town hall meeting were challenging, some openly hostile.
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SHAPIRO: Mark asked why record corporate profits have not led to more job creation.
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SHAPIRO: Romney stood by his assertion.
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SHAPIRO: If Romney was hoping for an easier question next, he didn't get it. A woman asked why Romney opposes President Obama's program requiring health insurance for everyone in the country, when Romney created just such a plan in Massachusetts. Romney said one size does not fit all.
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SHAPIRO: Then came a woman who scolded Romney for his aggressive talk about China.
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SHAPIRO: And then she turned to economics.
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SHAPIRO: That string of tough questions may have just been bad luck. Many people in the audience told me they are strong Romney supporters, and they expect him to do well here in New Hampshire next week.
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KEITH JEFFREY: I think we need someone who has the business acumen to get in and take a scalpel - do like a Bain Capital thing with the government. You know, I mean if it's not working, cut it out and move on.
SHAPIRO: Keith Jeffrey said he's not too concerned that Rick Santorum nearly beat Romney in Iowa.
JEFFREY: To do a famous quote, "Iowa picks corn, New Hampshire picks presidents."
SHAPIRO: The Romney campaign feels far more confident about New Hampshire than it did about Iowa. So confident, in fact, that Romney is leaving the state today for campaign events in South Carolina.
But he'll be back in the Granite State tomorrow, in time for two debates this weekend and more campaigning before the Tuesday primary.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Manchester.
WERTHEIMER: The candidate who came in second to Romney in Iowa is also in New Hampshire this morning.
INSKEEP: Rick Santorum's strong finish in Iowa won lots of attention and guaranteed sharper scrutiny from the media. Now, Santorum has told his story as a frugal guy from a modest background, who played outside coal mines where his grandfather once worked. Today, Bloomberg reports Santorum has come a long way from that beginning, becoming a millionaire in the last five years.
WERTHEIMER: Since losing his Senate seat in 2006, he's been paid for media appearances and served as a consultant for an energy company and a faith-based advocacy group. Bloomberg says, just in the period from January 2010 to this past August, he earned $1.3 million.
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In Wichita, Kansas, residents are reeling over yesterday's announcement that Boeing will close its massive defense plant there. Twenty-one hundred highly skilled jobs will be gone by the end of next year. The news sparked considerable frustration among elected officials who had been led to believe that more Boeing jobs were on the way to Wichita. Carla Eckels, of member station KMUW, has more.
CARLA ECKELS, BYLINE: Words like frustration, outrage, and betrayal about Boeing closing its doors for good here, are common. With half a dozen airplane manufacturers here, Wichita is known as the air capitol of the world. Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer says it's hard to grasp that Boeing is leaving.
MAYOR CARL BREWER: This is something that's historic in the state of Kansas. Boeing has been here for 80 years. This is something like losing a family member, a family member walking away from the family, or if your wife walking away from you or your husband.
ECKELS: But Boeing's Vice President Mark Bass says it was a decision made only after a company review that began in August.
MARK BASS: Despite the best efforts of our Wichita employees, ongoing cost reduction initiatives are simply not yielding enough savings to make our Wichita facility competitive to maintain and win new business.
ECKELS: One major area of contention is the support Boeing got in helping it win one of the largest military contracts in history. An Air Force tanker deal, that promised 7500 jobs for Wichita. The Kansas delegation even celebrated that win with Boeing officials earlier this year.
But it was all for naught, and the jobs here will move to Texas, Oklahoma, and Washington. Kansas Representative Jim Ward says Boeing has benefited from numerous corporate tax incentives at every level of government, but, he says, Boeing did not return the courtesy.
REPRESENTATIVE JIM WARD: They didn't come to us and say here's the piece that's holding us up. Here's the thing that's going to make us back track on our promises to you. The only thing they didn't do was load the vans up at the middle of the night. There was not a situation where we said we said we weren't willing to talk to you about what it would take. They just weren't willing to talk to us.
ECKELS: Still, Boeing's Mark Bass says the aircraft company spends more than $3.2 billion with approximately 475 suppliers in Kansas, sustaining thousands of manufacturing jobs in the state.
BASS: It's important to note that even though the finishing center for the U.S. Air Force's KC 46 tanker will be moved to Puget Sound, Kansans will still have a vital role in production of that airplane.
ECKELS: Forty-three-year-old Kathy Watters-Allen has been an engineer at Boeing for 20 years. The company paid for her education. The mother of two says she doesn't know what she'll do next.
KATHY WATTERS-ALLEN: I don't know, it's very sad, very, very sad. You know, we have a long history with the Boeing Company, so I don't know. This announcement comes as kind of a surprise, but not really.
ECKELS: Other residents are also stunned by the reality of seeing one of the oldest airplane companies in the city preparing to take flight out of Kansas.
For NPR News, I'm Carla Eckels in Wichita.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Las Vegas gamblers have given their view of the pro-football playoffs. The Green Bay Packers are favored to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The Denver Broncos are not favorites. Quarterback Tim Tebow's team managed one close victory after another this season, but the odds are 120-1 against Denver winning it all. An oddsmaker says the Broncos have absolutely no chance, a statement that may not keep Tebow fans from betting. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. For 35 years, Willis Welch received a pie every Christmas. From whom? He has no idea. Now the Columbus Dispatch reports the sweet streak is over. This Christmas, the last pie came with a note explaining, I am a little too fat to fly anymore. Signed, Pie Fairy. The 87-year-old says whoever it was knew him well enough to always bring his favorite - pecan pie. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Some economic news, next. New unemployment numbers are out this morning, and the Labor Department says the unemployment rate fell again, slightly, to 8.5 percent. That is the lowest level in almost three years. Another survey finds employers added about 200,000 jobs. We'll have analysis through the day on NPR stations. In addition to hiring, many businesses are spending billions of dollars on lobbying this year – as in every year. Businesses could spend their money on many other things, so that raises a question: what's the payoff? Here's Alex Blumberg of NPR's Planet Money team.
ALEX BLUMBERG, BYLINE: What you get in return for the money you spend on lobbying is a difficult question to answer with precision.
RAQUEL ALEXANDER: We know that people lobby for a reason. We know that they're successful many times. But we haven't really been able to quantify what's the return on their lobbying investment.
BLUMBERG: Raquel Alexander is a tax professor at the University of Kansas. Couple of years ago, she and her colleagues set out to answer this question. It's a tricky one because there are a lot of reasons people lobby, and you can't always put a dollar figure on what they get out of it. The NRA lobbies for gun rights. The Sierra Club lobbies for environmental issues. If they get some regulation strengthened or loosened, there's no easy way to tally up what it's worth.
But in 2004, Alexander and her colleagues finally got something that could help them add up lobbying costs and benefits - the American Jobs Creation Act. This was the piece of legislation that lots of multi-national corporations spent a lot of money lobbying for, because it got them a huge one-time tax break. It allowed them to bring profits held abroad back into the country, and instead of paying the normal rate of 35 percent, they paid just over five percent.
ALEXANDER: So we found 450 firms, that reported in their financial statement, that they were taking advantage of this tax holiday to bring money back home. And of those, 93 we identified as being involved in lobbying.
BLUMBERG: Alexander and her colleagues compared the amounts these firms spent lobbying with the amount they saved on their taxes, and came up with a figure - a figure they called The Return on Investment to Lobbying. Now, return on investment is a term you may have heard: how much do I get back in return when I put my money somewhere. Money in a regular old savings account, you'd be lucky to get a one percent return on investment.
On the other end of the spectrum, Bernard Madoff advertised annual returns of just over 10 percent. So, if you want to come up with a big, impressive-sounding lie, a 10 percent return on investment is what you say.
The Return on Investment to Lobbying, in the case of Alexander's study...
ALEXANDER: Twenty-two thousand percent; so for every dollar, on average, that these firms spend on tax lobbying, they received $220 in tax benefits from this repatriation provision.
BLUMBERG: Were you expecting it to be that big?
ALEXANDER: I was not. I was not expecting it to be that big at all. I thought I needed to go back and check my math again.
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BLUMBERG: So, after the fifth or sixth time checking you were like, oh, this is the number.
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ALEXANDER: After the 20th time of checking.
BLUMBERG: There were $3.5 billion spent on lobbying in 2010, and it's hard to imagine that every one of those dollars got a 22,000 percent return. There are certainly companies out there that spent a lot of money and didn't get what they wanted, they just lost the money.
But Raquel Alexander says that since that tax holiday passed in 2004, the amount of corporate profits held in offshore tax havens has tripled.
ALEXANDER: Because people that weren't doing this before, are doing it now; and the ones that were doing it, are doing even more.
BLUMBERG: What do you make of that?
ALEXANDER: I make of that, that everyone agreed, basically, that it wasn't going to be a one-time provision. They knew it was coming again and that they would be able to bring some of this money back home.
BLUMBERG: And, in fact, in May of last year the Freedom to Invest Act of 2011 was introduced in the House, setting up a one-time tax rate of five percent for offshore earnings. In October, a bill doing the same thing was introduced in the Senate.
Now, when it comes to the corporate income tax, there is a healthy academic debate about how high it should be. Many experts say we'd be better off if corporations paid a lower income tax - the money they saved on taxes they could put into investment, which would ultimately lead to more jobs.
And as it happens, Raquel Alexander and her co-author on the study, Susan Scholz, come down on separate sides of this debate. Alexander thinks the 35 percent corporate tax rate is about where it should be. Scholz would like to see it lowered, considerably. But Scholz has a lot of problems with the way it got lowered in this case, through lobbying.
SUSAN SCHOLZ: We have a situation where we, in essence, invite corporations to buy their own tax rate through lobbying; making their own deals with Congress, which I think ultimately corrupts both the companies and the politicians.
BLUMBERG: The coalition of companies lobbying for the new tax holiday has spent around $50 million so far. Companies in the coalition are estimated to have over $200 billion in profits parked offshore.
For NPR News, I'm Alex Blumberg.
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And we have a story about employment today, from StoryCorps, which we hear every Friday morning. Family and friends are recording conversations for this project, and today we hear of a chance encounter that changed the lives of two men.
In 2005, Marine Richard Bennett returned home from his second deployment in Iraq. He'd been injured. A few years later, Craig Williams was running a successful business and was looking to expand.
CRAIG WILLIAMS: I had developed a pretty solid construction company, and I wanted a partner. As an African-American businessman, I wanted a young African-American soldier coming home. It seemed like a great opportunity to provide an opportunity. And I was in a restaurant that I don't normally frequent, and picked up a newspaper that I don't normally read, opened it up - and staring up at me from the page, was you.
I read the article, and the thing that struck me the most was that here was a young man who had been injured serving our country - and the main thing he was interested in was a risky surgery that would allow him to go back and join his unit. So it was very clear that I had found the man that I was looking for.
RICHARD BENNETT: I was at home one afternoon, got a call on my cell. Calling on behalf of Mr. Williams, he saw your article in the paper, and he would like to meet you. My first question was, do you have the right guy?
WILLIAMS: I was just very impressed with you. Tremendous courage, tremendous loyalty. Those are all critical characteristics for a partner of any kind. Those are the things you hope for.
BENNETT: I'm humbled that you put that amount of faith in me. You took the ultimate leap of faith there.
WILLIAMS: I didn't think I was taking too big of a risk, honestly. This is not a charity situation.
BENNETT: Thank you. I'm not sure how much I've ever expressed this, but you inspired a change in my life I had never foresaw. I always aspired to be leading people. But you were key in helping me get there.
WILLIAMS: I just appreciate your friendship, and the trust that you've given me.
BENNETT: Thank you.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
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INSKEEP: Craig Williams with his business partner Richard Bennett at StoryCorps in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Their conversation will be archived with all the others at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress. And you can get the project's Podcast at npr.org.
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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
"The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen" is a new novel by Thomas Caplan, his third work of fiction. As the title suggests, Mr. Caplan attempts to flip conventions. His hero is a movie star who is called Ty Hunter. You have to be a certain age to get that joke.
But movies are Ty Hunter's second career. His first in real life was top secret, Delta Force, Navy SEAL sorts of adventures. In this book, he's called back to that kind of action again by no less a person than the commander-in-chief.
Thomas Caplan joins us now. Welcome, Mister Caplan.
THOMAS CAPLAN: Thank you very much, nice to be here.
WERTHEIMER: Now, I understand that you are also personally acquainted with a commander-in-chief.
CAPLAN: That is true because of the luck of the alphabet. I was a student at Georgetown University when we arrived as heady freshmen in 1964. Because of the alphabet, I was assigned room next to Bill Clinton and we've remained friends ever since. And we later became roommates.
WERTHEIMER: The former president wrote an introduction for your book.
CAPLAN: I was going to say he actually helped to edit an earlier draft, 'cause I knew he's a great fan of thrillers and sort of reads them, one after another, and knows an awful lot about them. And when I had done this, which was my first thriller, I asked him to read it and he made some wonderful comments.
WERTHEIMER: Well, one of the scenes is where the movie star, who used to lead a thrilling life, is reactivated by the president. Maybe you could read just a tiny portion of that scene for us.
CAPLAN: Right. This is a conversation with the president, Garland White, Ty Hunter - we've talked about - and a man called George Kenneth, who is the president's national security adviser.
WERTHEIMER: And this takes place in one of the...
CAPLAN: At Camp David.
WERTHEIMER: ...lodges at Camp David?
CAPLAN: In Aspen Lodge, to which Ty has been summoned. Aspen Lodge is the cabin which is the president's house, where he and his family live.
(Reading) You're the man on the ground, Ty, the person we all agree we've been lacking. You're not what we call an invisible, exactly. Rather you're invisible precisely because you're so damned visible. You have a reason to be anywhere, everywhere. Ty could no longer contain his laughter. What's so funny, George Kenneth asked? Ty inhaled a deep breath. In my line of work, you get used to being pitched, he said, but not by the president of the United States.
WERTHEIMER: Now to ridiculously simplify your plot, you've written about loose nukes and people who are trying to negotiate a sale of supposedly decommissioned nuclear weapons to the highest bidder.
CAPLAN: That's correct.
WERTHEIMER: So, did you get any assistance on what might be real or not about such a plot, from your very high-level editor?
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CAPLAN: it's funny because when I showed President Clinton the early draft, the first thing he said to me was: Who told you all this about nuclear weapons.
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CAPLAN: I said now, no one really. I just, you know, read all of the available books on and chatted to people. But obviously I have no access to such things. And he said, well, it's completely right. And including, interestingly, which satisfied me in a way, the motivations of the people who might be trying to do this, and the rationalizations they have for their own behavior.
WERTHEIMER: You're talking about the villains, especially the arch bad guy whose name is Philip Frost.
CAPLAN: Yeah.
WERTHEIMER: You spend a lot of time with him in the book. Did he interest you more than the good guy?
CAPLAN: No, I think it was much more about the good guy. But each stands in relief to the other. I mean they're both roughly the same age. They both have promising careers. And one has chosen to sort of do the right thing. And another person has chosen, really, to be only interested in gain or perhaps power.
WERTHEIMER: To make a huge amount of money doing one awful thing and then vanish, isn't that his plan?
CAPLAN: Well, I think that's one of his plans. I think the interesting thing is in the psychology of somebody like this. He is looking for ways to tell himself that it's not a bad thing that he's doing. Very few people act, in my experience, out of the evil motives. At least they may do evil things, but they try to tell themselves that what they're doing is the right thing. And that's what I've tried to give that character, a sense of being very acute at fooling themselves.
WERTHEIMER: So, are you getting any interest from the movies? I mean any chance that the spy might jump back on the screen?
CAPLAN: A lot of people have expressed some interest and my agent...
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CAPLAN: ...is in charge of this, not me. Yeah, I'd love to see it happen. But I'd like to see it happen in the right way.
WERTHEIMER: One problem that I see, of course, is that you'd have an actor playing an actor who's playing a spy. I mean that's a complicated thing to be doing.
CAPLAN: You think so? I – an actor can play anything. I mean there have been other actors who, at various times in their careers, were engaged in espionage of one sort. Well-known Leslie Howard - "Gone with the Wind," everyone remembers - and Sterling Hayden. There've been a lot who at, one time or another, who have done this.
So I think I have a certain vision of Ty in my mind. I suspect readers will have slightly varied impression. But I think, I can think of a lot of people who could do it.
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WERTHEIMER: You're casting it already, huh?
CAPLAN: Yeah.
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WERTHEIMER: So, do you see a potential series here? Do you think you'll return to this character?
CAPLAN: I'm sure I will, yeah. In fact, I'm almost through the sequel...
WERTHEIMER: Hey.
CAPLAN: ...of books. So, I've very much liked the character. I mean there may be a bit of fantasy involved, because I'm not either a movie star nor or a covert operative. But it's fun to sit down every day and write about, not yourself, but write about your characters as though you were putting yourself in the mind of the world's number one film star who, you know, has to fight off every beautiful woman and is staggeringly lucky in his work.
I had an editor who I was working with at Viking, who is just terrific. And I was discussing one section of the book, and she suggested that I change one line of dialogue. And I said, well, I think he'd say that. She said, I don't think he would. We went back and forth. And I said, well, I'd say it. And she said, But you're not Ty Hunter.
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CAPLAN: And I said, Allison, don't ever say that to me again.
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CAPLAN: But it is fun. I have to say I'm enjoying it enormously.
WERTHEIMER: Tom Caplan, thank you very much for coming in to talk to us.
CAPLAN: Thank you very much for having me, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: Thomas Caplan's new book is called "The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen."
You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
What songs make you move? MORNING EDITION is asking that question because this is a new year, and many of us are making resolutions about leading more active, healthier lives. So if you're thinking about working out, about running, about strength training or even moving more quickly through your daily chores - your housework, for instance - could music help with that? Robert Zatorre is a neuroscientist who studied the link between music and the motor systems of the brain which control movement.
Professor Zatorre, thank you very much for joining us.
DR. ROBERT ZATORRE: It's my pleasure.
WERTHEIMER: So tell me: Do you think that music makes a difference when we're moving?
ZATORRE: Yes, indeed. Music has some kind of privileged access to the motor system. When you are perceiving very rhythmic sounds, particularly those that are used in music, these sounds engage the areas and networks of the brain that allow us to move, and in particular, synchronize different muscle groups.
WERTHEIMER: At gyms, they seem to play music at deafening levels. Apart from possible damage to the ears, do people react to music if it's louder?
ZATORRE: The fact that it's loud makes it, of course, very salient, so you can't ignore it. And if it's very, very loud, you would also feel the vibrations. But over all, I would say that you don't really need it to be that loud, because what's critical in the experiments we've done is the rhythmic organization.
WERTHEIMER: So the question can you dance to it is a relevant question.
ZATORRE: Yes, indeed. The link between music and dance is a very powerful one. And, in fact, in evolution, dance and music were inseparable from the beginning. So whether it's dancing or doing calisthenics or doing aerobics, it's all the same mechanism. It's this privileged link between the auditory system and the motor system.
WERTHEIMER: One of the things that we have learned when asking people about music they like to use to work out is that often it's music that they don't especially like, but they like the rhythm of the music. I can imagine walking to John Philip Sousa. I mean, I like it all right, but not my favorite.
ZATORRE: Right. That's a good example, because another use of music is for marching. And armies discovered this many centuries ago when they decided to institute marching bands, not because necessarily they're so into the music, per se, but they recognized the very valuable effect of music in coordinating the music of a group of marching soldiers and on synchronizing those movements so that they're marching faster than they might otherwise walk.
WERTHEIMER: I wonder if you listen to music when you workout?
ZATORRE: Well, that would presuppose that I actually workout, which is...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ZATORRE: The sports that I like to do are bicycling in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. Now, when I'm bicycling, I really don't listen to music, even though I've seen people do that a lot.
I have tried cross-country skiing with my iPod, and that's sort of fun. But the problem with it is that if you're going on a flat surface, you can get into a real rhythm and then the music can be great. But then you'll encounter a hill with a lot of trees, and the music might make you want to move at exactly the wrong time so that you'll plow into the trees. So I'm not sure I would recommend it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: Robert Zatorre is a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal.
Thank you.
ZATORRE: Thank you very much, Linda.
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WERTHEIMER: Over the next few weeks, we'll be creating the ultimate NPR workout mix. We'll be asking athletes, actors, many others what songs get them moving in the new year. You can share your suggestions, get some of our picks for great workout songs at nprmusic.org.
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WERTHEIMER: This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Protestors in the Arab world in the past year have been clear about the dictators they oppose. The protestors have been less clear about what kind of governments they want to replace those dictators. For better or worse, though, many have pointed to the example of the country we'll visit next. Turkey is a country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, but also a secular state. It's been run for the past decade by a party with roots in political Islam. Some Arabs see Turkey as a model for them, even if Turks themselves wince, knowing, as they do, that their government is still a work in progress. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Istanbul.
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PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Last fall, as Tunisians went to the polls to elect their own leaders, merchant Mohammed Bengerbal paused in front of his shop in the capital to ponder a question: Now that Tunisia's dictator is gone, what kind of government does he really want?
MOHAMMED BENGERBAL: (Through translator) We want Tunisia to become a modern country, not extremist - a place like Turkey. People work hard there and also practice Islam. They are modest and modern at the same time.
KENYON: As secular, despotic regimes tumbled in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the iron fist that had been throttling opposition parties relaxed. Suddenly, North Africans are looking to political Islam - not to fight off a dictatorial regime, but to guide them toward a better future. And when they look around to see where that has actually been achieved, they find Turkey, with its ruling Justice and Development Party and its deeply religious Sunni Muslim Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Chanting in foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Chanting in foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in foreign language)
KENYON: During a visit to Egypt last year, Erdogan was mobbed by adoring crowds, packed with supporters of Egypt's rising political power, the Muslim Brotherhood. The adulation was interrupted, however, when the Turkish leader went on television to tell Egyptians they shouldn't be afraid of secular government, a notion that didn't sit well in a culture where, for many people, secular translates as atheist or anti-faith. Turkey analyst Soner Cagaptay with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says it must have been a surprise for Erdogan, who's accustomed to being seen as the conservative in the room at home.
SONER CAGAPTAY: He was given a hero's welcome. And the next day, he goes out to them and he says, oh, by the way, you've got to be secular, too. And I think this shows to you that the Turkish model, in some ways, is perhaps not so directly transferable.
KENYON: But on one crucial level, Turkey has a far more powerful and fundamental appeal, says Cagaptay: It's a Muslim country that works, with a large and growing middle class.
CAGAPTAY: If there was one way for me to define what makes Turkey unique compared to all of its Muslim neighbors to the south and east, it is what I call the Turkish miracle. And that is not a political miracle. That's an economic miracle.
KENYON: Except for a brief downturn during the recession of 2008, Turkey, under Erdogan, has grown at a robust clip for most of the past decade. And crucially, large numbers of ordinary Turks in the broad Anatolian heartland have moved up into the middle class. Erdogan's top foreign policy adviser, Ersat Hurmuzlu, says people around the Middle East are demanding not just the right to choose their own leaders, but the right to a better future.
ERSAT HURMUZLU: People are seeing the success on the economic side in Turkey. And they are questioning themselves: If Turkey has conducted this, why we cannot do that? So, this is a normal question, and we urge the people to ask this question to themselves.
KENYON: Turkish writer and analyst Mustafa Akyol says the Arab Spring had many causes, but it's useful to focus on a question that has dogged the region for centuries: Why has the Muslim world lagged so far behind the West? Akyol says the answer often heard in recent decades, pushed by hard-line Islamists, was that Muslims weren't being pious enough. They had to grow even more conservative.
MUSTAFA AKYOL: Well, the AKP in Turkey, the Justice and Development Party, gave a different answer to this question. They said, well, we lagged behind because we did not work enough. And they remained pious, but they also did what everybody does in the world when you want to build a better economy. So I think this is something now realized by the more reasonable actors in the Islamic Middle East, as well.
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KENYON: If you want to see Turkey's economic miracle in action - and get a taste of how it could be threatened by regional changes - the southeastern city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, is a good place to start. The production lines are clanking away at this factory owned by the Naksan Holding Group. These aren't high-end luxury goods. Company officials say Naksan is one of the top three producers of plastic packaging in Europe, and in the top 10 worldwide. Business is booming: From a few hundred workers at its start, Naksan now employs some 4,000 people. As the taxi drivers here like to boast, with only slight exaggeration: In Gaziantep, everybody works.
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KENYON: In recent years, the city enjoyed thriving relations with northern Syria, especially in the city of Aleppo. Those relations took years to build, but crashed very rapidly last year as Erdogan became one of the most vocal critics of Syria's bloody crackdown on dissent. Taner Nakiboglu, a Naksan board member, is bullish on Turkey's prospects, but he doesn't like to see good business go bad because of politics.
TANER NAKIBOGLU: Aleppo is very close, only 80 miles. So, they were coming here. We were going there. This is now stopped. Normally, technically, you can go, they can come without visa. But because of security reasons, nobody wants to go.
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KENYON: In another corner of the city sits a stark reminder of how Arab Spring politics have changed Turkey's foreign policy. The Syrian Consulate - the only foreign consulate outside Istanbul or Ankara - is dark and empty. The sign next to the padlocked door reads: Closed until further notice.
Among activists seeking to overthrow Arab dictators, this is a tangible sign that Turkey has finally come down on the side of the people, despite its longstanding economic ties to despotic regimes. At a recent forum here on the Arab Spring, Turks were the first to admit that their model is still a work in progress. As one speaker put it: If you copy us, please don't copy our record on minority rights - a reference to longstanding suffering by Kurds, Alawites and others. Another noted the scores of journalists in Turkish jails and chimed in: And don't follow our lead on freedom of the press, either. Professor Ibrahim Ghanem, an Egyptian who teaches in Dubai, says many Arabs are now taking a closer, more skeptical look at the Turkish model.
IBRAHIM GHANEM: What is the meaning of Turkish model? Do you mean in dealing with minorities like Alawites and Kurds? Do you mean the Turkish model in the vital role of the army in the political life? So, it is a vague argument when you talk about Turkish model.
KENYON: But for all its flaws, Turkey today presents the clearest example of a modern and moderate Muslim country. And as it sets about trying to rewrite its constitution, analyst Sabiha Gundogar at Sabanci University says Arab Spring countries can see Turkey, for all its economic success, still struggling to improve its democracy.
SABIHA GUNDOGAR: Why Turkey is so relevant to the region is that democracy is still in the making also in Turkey, as well. So, I mean, that's also another aspect that makes Turkey very relevant to other countries that are also remaking themselves.
KENYON: As new governments are created across North Africa in the coming months, analysts wonder if Turkey will remain a rather lonely example of the moderate wing of political Islam, or if its economic and political achievements will give moderates in the region something to latch onto and adapt to their own situations. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Romney's principle challenger right now is a candidate who generates strong opinions among voters. Just yesterday, Rick Santorum's campaign said he'd collected $2 million in donations. The money flowed in after Santorum soared within a few votes of winning Iowa.
Also yesterday, Santorum spoke with college students in New Hampshire and was booed by students who disagreed with his opposition to gay marriage.
NPR's Jeff Brady profiles the former senator's political life.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: It can seem like there are two Rick Santorums: the pleasant guy who stands ready to help, and the aggressive culture warrior. The former was on display when he interrupted his presidential campaign announcement last June after a woman in the audience fainted.
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RICK SANTORUM: Sorry, we have someone who's - I think the heat has got to them. So make sure if there's any emergency personnel that can get here.
BRADY: Santorum stepped down from the stage and offered cold water as several men carried the woman off.
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SANTORUM: Appreciate it if everybody would just say a little prayer for that young lady.
BRADY: Santorum is a Roman Catholic, and his faith also inspires the culture warrior in him. Even when he talks about economic policies, his arguments take on a broader moral tone. Just yesterday, he was at a town hall in Northfield, New Hampshire. He used the language of drug addiction to describe his belief that Democrats want to hook voters on entitlement programs.
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SANTORUM: That's how they see you. That's how they see you, as people to hook, as people to become dependent on them.
BRADY: Over the years, Santorum has inspired near-hatred among some of his opponents. His strong views against abortion rights led Julia Ramsey to campaign for his opponent in the 2006 Senate race. Now, Ramsey heads the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women. When it comes to Santorum, she doesn't even try to be diplomatic.
JULIA RAMSEY: I don't even think that he's probably a nice guy who does not share the same political ideology as me. I don't like him.
BRADY: Santorum has managed to offend entire groups of people, not just with his views, but comments expressing those views. In a 2003 interview with the Associated Press, he compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia. In that same interview, he blamed the priest sex abuse scandal on moral relativism. Santorum has even taken to task the country's only Catholic president. At a New Hampshire college in October, Santorum commented on John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 speech on the separation of church and state.
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SANTORUM: I had an opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up. In my opinion, it was the beginning of the secular movement of politicians to separate their faith from the public square. And he threw faith under the bus in that speech.
BRADY: Santorum's reputation as a culture warrior developed over time. Back in the 1970s, as a college Republican, he was more interested in the game of politics. Then in the early '80s, he was known as a capable legislative aide to a Pennsylvania state senator. In 1990, at 32 years old, Santorum successfully campaigned to unseat a veteran Democratic congressman. But even then, gay rights and abortion were not big issues in the campaign. Four years later, Santorum shocked the political establishment again by winning a U.S. Senate seat.
CHRIS BORICK: You know, one of Rick Santorum's secrets to success is simply a dogged work ethic.
BRADY: Muhlenberg College political scientist Chris Borick says when it comes to campaigning, Santorum is a master at the style of one-on-one politics required in places like Iowa and New Hampshire. As a U.S. senator, Borick says Santorum rose to leadership over two terms, becoming the third-ranking Republican.
BORICK: As he emerged as a national figure, it was the cultural matters that came to define him and really create a world where you either loved or hated Rick Santorum.
BRADY: By 2006, a majority of Pennsylvania voters decided they'd had enough. In a bad year for Republicans, Santorum's defeat was still notable. He lost by more than 17 points. Borick says for most politicians, that would have been the end of their political career. But five years later, Santorum is back and still surprising people with his success. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Philadelphia.
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WERTHEIMER: You're listening to MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Barnes and Noble stock took a tumble yesterday. That happened after the bookseller announced it's exploring separating its NOOK e-readers from the rest of its business.
NPR's Lynn Neary reports.
LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: On the heels of a holiday season that saw a 70 percent increase in sales of most Nook devices, Barnes and Noble says it wants to unlock the value it has built into its tablet business. The company said it would not comment further on its intentions, and Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forester Research, says no one is quite sure what a separation might mean for Barnes and Noble.
SARAH ROTMAN EPPS: Shareholders look for growth, and the Nook business has driven growth for Barnes and Noble. If Barnes and Noble spins off that business, what is there for shareholders to be optimistic about?
NEARY: Epps says there is also some concern that the company's interest in separating the Nook from the bookstore is an indication that its core business is not doing well. But Epps says separation could be a good thing if it is just means that the tablet business will be independently managed.
EPPS: If that's the arrangement that Barnes and Noble is envisioning for Nook, this could be a great thing. It would give the Nook business more independence to attract new investment and new partnerships, to expand internationally, to innovate more quickly.
NEARY: Whatever Barnes and Noble has in mind, says Epps, it's important that it builds on the support the store has provided for the Nook, as well as its good relations with the publishers who provide content for the devices.
Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
The unemployment rate fell to eight and a half percent in December. The monthly jobs report was released this morning. It showed employers adding 200,000 jobs to payrolls. So, the year closes out with stronger than expected job growth.
NPR business correspondent, Yuki Noguchi, joins me now. And Yuki, could you just walk us through some of the most important numbers?
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Well, the most important one is that payroll number, which was much bigger than economists expected to see. And also, the jobless rate fell, right, from a revised 8.7 percent to eight and a half percent. And there were also just other things, sort of, across the board that were good. A lot of industry showed gains. Average hours worked and hourly earnings also increased.
WERTHEIMER: So this is the last report for 2011. So, can you, kind of – is there some big sum up figure for the whole year?
NOGUCHI: Well yes, for all of last year the number of jobs added is 1.6 million.
WERTHEIMER: Now, that sounds like a lot.
NOGUCHI: But it's not, compared to the size of the whole.
WERTHEIMER: Now, one of the features that this job market has been, of course, how long it takes people to get back to work. How long it takes to get jobs. What does the report tell us about the long term unemployed?
NOGUCHI: Well, that was another significant feature – the number of long term unemployed people continues to go down. In December, it declined to just under 5.6 million. Also, the broader measure of underemployment – this is people who are looking for more work – is also declining. There is one thing that you can't really tell from this report, the labor force is still shrinking – meaning the number of people working, or looking for work, is down. And it's not clear if that's the case because people are giving up looking for work – that would not be a good sign for the economy. But, you had a lot of discouraged workers in recent years, and if the job market keeps improving, you'd expect to actually see that labor force expand as more people decide it's OK to start looking for work again.
WERTHEIMER: What do you think a good jobs report in December means, in the context of the economy?
NOGUCHI: It means big things, Linda. I mean a stronger jobs recovery is a stronger economy. When people have jobs, they can buy houses, they can spend money, they can move, they can sell their homes. It just makes more money flow. And the hope is that this report will see that kind of virtuous cycle. So, for example, in housing, a better employment picture means fewer foreclosures. It means people might even sell their home or move for a job, or even be willing to take the plunge and build a new house. Which, in turn, of course, generates jobs in the housing industry.
WERTHEIMER: Now, I don't want to say too many discouraging words, here, but at the beginning of the year, last year, there were similar signs of hope in the job market. Is anything different this time around?
NOGUCHI: Well, you know, to be sure, no one is predicting that the economy is going to just skyrocket from very slow growth to very high growth. Last year, this time, people were optimistic, as you say, but there were things like the Japanese earthquake and debt crisis, and other shocks that held the economy back. So it's difficult to know, of course, what's looking out there this year. But this time, we're another year further along in terms of working through the housing crisis and reducing high levels of consumer debt. And so, in that sense, economists say that we're that much closer to working our way back to a healthier economic place.
WERTHEIMER: Now, this is obviously going to be very good news for the White House. President Obama is going to be able to say there is a trend here.
NOGUCHI: Well, the White House is going to be able to say that things are going in the right direction, but they also have to be very careful, you know, about being too confident, 'cause things can change, obviously, and there are still 13 million people out of work.
WERTHEIMER: Thank you very much.
NOGUCHI: Thank you.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's Yuki Noguchi.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
In the coming months, we'll learn how the Obama administration will apply new sanctions against Iran. We'll also see how Iran responds. The mere threat of American sanctions prompted an Iranian official to talk of sealing off the nearby Straits of Hormuz through which tankers carry much of the world's oil.
Before that, British sanctions had already prompted Iranians to ransack the British embassy in Tehran. During all the recent months of tension, the writer Hooman Majd was living in Tehran to research an upcoming book.
HOOMAN MAJD: If you're just living your daily life, what your concerned with most is the economy and you're concerned most with domestic politics, not with international relations as much. Although, in the last four months, there was a serious affect on people's psyche when it came to the sanctions.
I mean, I saw it myself. You walk by these foreign exchange bureaus, and people are standing outside looking at the, you know, flat screen television showing the rial - which is the Iranian currency - slide against the dollar, you know, almost hourly.
So you know that there is a certain anxiety and tension based on what people were hearing in terms of threats from the U.S., threats from the E.U., various things like that. I was there, for example, during the attack on the British embassy.
INSKEEP: Let's remind people: The British tightened their sanctions on Iran, and a crowd of men attacked the embassy after the British ambassador had been expelled, and they ransacked the place, basically.
MAJD: Correct. Most people assume that it was a reaction by elements within the government or within the regime, if you will, as a reaction to what the British had done, which was to sanction the Iran central bank.
INSKEEP: Nevertheless, you're saying that people are feeling these sanctions in their daily lives?
MAJD: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you feel them because, you know, the price of goods goes up. The thing that you bought yesterday at a store - for example, an Oral B toothbrush, you know, something as simple as that, or toothpaste - is suddenly not available in Tehran, because the sanctions have prevented the importers from bringing them in.
But also, the price of goods in general, including even domestically-made goods and domestic products such as fruit, vegetables and stuff like that, have been rising almost on a daily basis. And people are feeling that.
INSKEEP: Who do they blame for it?
MAJD: Well, you know, this is difficult. To some extent, they blame the government of President Ahmadinejad for mismanagement of the economy. They blame him - or his government, at least - for the corruption. But in terms of the actual sanctions, they kind of blame America, and it kind of baffles them a little bit, the policy.
The U.S. policy towards Iran is not really well understood by Iranians. If the goal is to make Iran stop its nuclear program, well, nobody in Iran believes that's going to happen. If the goal is to change the regime in Iran, well, nobody believes that's going to happen through sanctions, either.
So there really isn't - it's not really clear what America and the West are trying to do to Iran. And when you get squeezed because of the actions of a foreign power, you tend to blame that foreign power more than you do your own government.
INSKEEP: It's been said in the past that Iranians overwhelmingly have supported their country's nuclear program and nuclear ambitions, whatever those ambitions precisely might be. Based on the conversations that you had over your nine months there in the past year, is that still true?
MAJD: I think it's still true, yes. I mean, one thing is - we have to remember is that for Iranians inside Iran, they're not thinking about an ayatollah's bomb or a Shiite bomb. Or they're not thinking about nuclear energy for the regime. They're thinking about for the nation. They think about progress. They're proud of their universities. They're proud of their technology.
So they don't really equate it all the time with, oh, my God. We don't want the ayatollahs to have a nuclear weapon. And I think a lot of people know the regime itself is not going to survive just because it has nuclear weapons.
INSKEEP: You know, the journalist Fareed Zakaria not long ago wrote a column in which he said: The real story is that Iran is weak and getting weaker. Sanctions have pushed its economy into a nose-dive. The political system is fractured and fragmenting. Is that a fair statement?
MAJD: I don't think it's so weak that it's going to collapse anytime soon. First of all, the ayatollahs are the ultimate survivors, and they're very pragmatic. They're not crazy. They've managed to survive under various systems of government for the last 200 or 300 years. And I think that now that they have power, I don't think they're going to do anything that would make them potentially lose their legitimacy.
That said, yes. I mean, there are some serious internal fissures in the Iranian system. And those are going to be played out over the next, I would say, year and a half between the parliamentary elections which are coming up in a month and a half, two months, and then following that in the presidential election of 2013.
INSKEEP: Hooman Majd is a journalist and a regular guest on this program. He's just returned from nine months of reporting inside Iran.
Hooman, thanks very much.
MAJD: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: His books include "The Ayatollahs' Democracy."
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
Presidential candidates had months to meet voters for this week's Iowa caucuses. Now they no longer have the luxury of time.
INSKEEP: Primaries come in rapid succession now. New Hampshire is Tuesday, and South Carolina comes just 11 days after that. And presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is skipping ahead.
NPR's Ari Shapiro followed along.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Clue number one that we're not in New Hampshire anymore: This rally in early January is being held outside in a historic state park surrounded by Palmetto trees and live oaks with Spanish moss hanging off their branches.
Clue number two: Instead hot coffee on the table for the guests, the drink of choice is sweet ice tea.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: If it's a great day in South Carolina, let them hear it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SHAPIRO: That's Governor Nikki Haley. Mitt Romney brought a couple of reinforcements to this rally, and she was one of them. One of her jobs was to reinforce Romney's Tea Party bona fides.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
HALEY: You know I'm a strong conservative.
SHAPIRO: That reassurance is not enough for local roofing contractor and Tea Party activist Casey Lombard.
CASEY LOMBARD: If he's nominated, I'll support him. I'm not supportive in the primary. He's too moderate for my taste.
SHAPIRO: Lombard doesn't understand the people who say they will settle for Mitt Romney over someone more conservative just because they believe Romney is more electable.
LOMBARD: I like the idea of having a very conservative candidate up against Obama, and then let America decide who we want to be.
SHAPIRO: One way Romney hopes to jump some of these hurdles is by appealing to South Carolina's deep military ties. When a military transport plane flew overhead interrupting his speech, Romney said...
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
MITT ROMNEY: And by the way, that's - oh, isn't that? That's the sound of freedom right there. All right.
SHAPIRO: Romney's military experience is no deeper than his Tea Party experience. So he brought along someone else to help him on that front: war hero and former Republican presidential nominee, John McCain.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: After I lost, I slept like a baby.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
MCCAIN: Sleep two hours, wake up and cry. Sleep two hours, wake up and cry.
SHAPIRO: And McCain played another role at this rally: attack dog. He went after Romney's new rival, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
MCCAIN: Senator Santorum and I have a strong disagreement, a strong disagreement that he believed that earmark and pork barrel projects were good for America. I think it's wrong for America.
SHAPIRO: That amounted to return fire after a day full of attacks on Romney from most of the other candidates.
Santorum, for his part, urged New Hampshire voters not to settle for Romney. By taking on the attack dog role, McCain freed up Romney to aim all of his ammunition at President Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
ROMNEY: You just saw, yesterday, the president appoint people to the National Labor Relations Board without the confirmation of the Senate as a political payback to his friends.
SHAPIRO: Romney called the president a crony capitalist.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
ROMNEY: The president said that he wants to favor green jobs. I think we misunderstood. What he wants to do is give jobs to people who give him the green.
SHAPIRO: This is the same approach Romney has taken from the beginning: rarely utter the names of his opponents. Let his campaign and his super PAC focus on those people. Instead, act as though he has already won the nomination and talk about President Obama nonstop.
The audience was just as polite as their Southern reputation would suggest. But even Romney's supporters were not so sure that the big endorsements will win people over.
MARY HELEN DANTSLER: I don't think so. John McCain, I'm not sure he's as popular here as he once was. Haley, whom I personally like, has very low polling numbers right now. So she might not help him, either.
SHAPIRO: But retired attorney Mary Helen Dantsler believes Romney may yet win South Carolina on his own merits.
DANTSLER: South Carolinians tend to be very socially conservative, but I think this time around, people are going to be more practical and realize the economy is the biggest issue, and Romney is a better candidate for the economy.
SHAPIRO: For all their social conservatism, South Carolinians do have a history of making pragmatic choices. Republicans have picked the eventual winner of the nomination in every primary here since Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news: The Food and Drug Administration is publishing an order this morning that limits the way that farmers can use certain antibiotics to treat animals and treat eggs. Cephalosporins are handy drugs for animals and people, but meat producers have been using them in ways that are not approved by the FDA. Today's order signals a change that concerns some farmers who grow animals for food.
Frank Morris of member station KCUR has more.
FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: There are something like 10 times as many drugs for humans as there are for farm animals, and a whole lot more species of farm animals. So people who depend on raising lots of animals as quickly as possible sometimes have to get creative.
Larry Hollis, a beef veterinarian at Kansas State University, says Cephalosporin antibiotics are useful in ways not spelled out on the label.
LARRY HOLLIS: Some of them are approved, say, for - used to treat pneumonia in cattle, and yet we found, let's say, in dairy cows that they are highly effective in treating uterine infection. That could potentially go away.
MORRIS: Because the FDA is clamping down on the use of Cephalosporins in food-producing animals - prescribed uses only. The FDA says these drugs are critically important for people, especially children, but they risk becoming less effective. The agency has tracked a sharp rise in salmonella-resistant to Cephalosporins in farm animals. It hopes curbing their use will help. But Cephalosporins are just a tiny portion of the antibiotics used in American agriculture - a fraction of 1 percent. Growers do not add them to animal feed, as they do some other antibiotics.
Brett Lorenzen with the Environmental Working Group says that kind of drug maintenance is necessary to keep animals alive in what he says are inherently unhealthy living environments.
BRETT LORENZEN: The analogy that most people understand is when you fly on the holidays, you often come home with a cold. You know, you're in a tube with a bunch of other people for four hours with a closed air supply, and everybody shares whatever virus they're carrying that week. That's how most of the animals grown in America are raised. You know, they're in a closed building with 800 to 1,000 other animals for their entire life.
MORRIS: So routine antibiotic use is built into a system that keeps meat, milk and eggs coming all the time, at lower costs than would otherwise be possible. That's big business, not something that's easy to mess with politically.
REPRESENTATIVE LOUISE SLAUGHTER: Too little, too late.
MORRIS: Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from New York who has training in microbiology, says the FDA has been lax on antibiotic use in farming for a long time.
SLAUGHTER: They knew in 1976 that they should not be allowing the agricultural use of penicillin and tetracycline. Even though they've known that, all this time, they have not had the courage to eliminate that from farming.
MORRIS: Meantime, she says superbugs have arisen. Slaughter is promoting a bill that would clamp tougher restrictions on giving antibiotics to animals used for food. Larry Hollis sees a different agenda.
HOLLIS: There are people who want to run animal agriculture out of business, and this is one of their ploys. You know, if they can take away the tools that we use to produce with, than they can take us out of production.
MORRIS: The FDA has telegraphed that it wants to wean the meat, dairy and poultry industries off of antibiotics for animals that aren't sick eventually. Many in big ag see that coming, too, but caution that it needs to happen slowly, both for health of farm animals, and for the industry that produces them.
For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris, in Kansas City.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with predictions for 2012.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Director of the International Monetary Fund says this year will not be the end of the euro currency, despite the debt crisis in Europe. Christine Lagarde said during a visit to South Africa today that sovereign debt is a concern for many European countries, obviously. But the euro currency, she said, is solid.
The billionaire investor George Soros is not so sure. He's been quoted as saying today that what's happening in Europe is more serious and more threatening than the crash of 2008.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Our last word in business is: roar of disapproval. According to the traditional Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rabbit gives way to the Year of the Dragon later this month. This week, the Chinese government started selling new stamps to commemorate the Year of the Dragon. After a year of mailing off posters with cute bunny pictures, some Chinese got a shock when they saw the new stamps. I was almost sacred to death, one blogger wrote, after seeing a stamp with a dragon starring at her. Another called it too ferocious.
The stamp's designer said he based his graphic on a motif from the 19th century when the Qing Dynasty ruled. He said it's a symbol of China's confidence. Postal officials have no plans to change it.
And that's the business news.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep, good morning.
We brought in our political brain trust this morning. We're going to talk over the rapidly-shifting Republican presidential race. Mara Liasson is NPR's national political correspondent. She's on the line.
Mara, good morning.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
WERTHEIMER: And Ken Rudin is NPR's political editor. Good morning to you.
KEN RUDIN, BYLINE: Good morning.
WERTHEIMER: Now, let's just remind people that during all these months of going up and down in the polls, from all of the people who were down the ballot, insiders have said that Mitt Romney is still going to be the nominee.
Now that the actual voting has started, does it still look that way to you, Ken?
RUDIN: Well, it does. I mean, first of all, he did win this landslide in Iowa. Was it like eight votes, and...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RUDIN: ...pretty exciting. But also, he was not expected to win Iowa. The big story, of course, is Rick Santorum.
But Mitt Romney, whether he be won or lost Iowa, was always looking at New Hampshire as a firewall. In that, you know, he's - strong ties there. He was the governor of neighboring Massachusetts. He has the endorsement of everybody in the state, all the establishment folks - Congressman Charlie Bass, Senator Kelly Ayotte, John Sununu. Even had John McCain, who won New Hampshire twice, coming in on his behalf.
But his problem has always been with the conservative wing of the party. We saw in Iowa that he only got 25 percent. In national polls he's only getting 25 percent. The White House is calling him the 25 Percent Man, mocking the fact that he can't break that barrier. So, he is still the odds-on favorite to win it. But he's got to unite the Republican - the conservatives around him.
INSKEEP: Well, let me ask Mara Liasson about something there. Newt Gingrich actually was talking about that same 25 percent this week. He laid out this theory; he said Romney is not going to get past 25 percent in many states. His many rivals will be narrowed down and eventually somebody will be left who has more support than Mitt Romney.
Is that possible, Mara Liasson?
LIASSON: Well, I suppose it's possible, but it doesn't look very likely, because it's taking an awfully long time for his rivals to be whittled down. We thought that's what Iowa did it, but then Rick Perry decided to stay in, in South Carolina. And that presents a huge barrier for someone like Rick Santorum, who thought for a minute there that he had emerged as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, out of Iowa. But he didn't.
In South Carolina, you're still going to have a fractured field. It's still hard for conservatives to decide who they're going to rally around, as the alternative to Romney. And in that case, 25 percent or thereabouts becomes just enough to win these primaries.
You know, one thing about this race - for all its weirdness and twists and turns - it still is following the traditional form for a Republican primary. There is an establishment candidate. There are some conservative alternatives. Usually the establishment guy wins; that seems what's like what's happening this time.
And the guy who came in second last time - because the Republicans are still a hierarchical party, despite the Tea Party - is first this time. It happened with McCain. It looks like it's happening with Romney. And the other thing, it looks like Republicans, as Bill Clinton used to say, fall in line instead of falling in love. Yes, Romney has weaknesses but they haven't - conservatives have not been able to find an alternative.
WERTHEIMER: Now, I'm fascinated by the idea though that Rick Santorum did jump out of Iowa with so much strength. I mean he was in there with almost no money with a bus, and he got through Iowa and started into New Hampshire. He's talking about having raised a lot of money, just in the last few days, much of it on the Internet.
Ken, do you think it's possible that the not-Romney-vote could coalesce around him; that it could be numerous enough to, you know, to at least send him on?
RUDIN: Well, the reason I don't think so is, well, one: because you still have Ron Paul who had a very strong showing in Iowa, and who is very well-organized in New Hampshire. You still have Newt Gingrich who's ready to savage Romney in the two debates this weekend, Saturday night and Sunday morning.
And also, we've seen social conservatives come out of Iowa in the past. Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa four years ago, finished a weak third with 11 percent in New Hampshire a week later. The kind of social conservatives they do so well in Iowa, don't necessarily do so well in New Hampshire.
INSKEEP: I'm glad you mentioned social conservatives. I want to ask you both. Rick Santorum is a guy who's known more for the social issues than economic issues. And economic issues, of course, are what this campaign has been expected to be all about.
Just yesterday, Rick Santorum was in New Hampshire and got into an exchange - a rather fierce exchange - with students over gay marriage. Is this something that Republicans want to emphasize?
RUDIN: Well, they certainly do in Iowa. They certainly did in Iowa. And we've seen in the past - and then Mara will talk about this too - but when he comes to New Hampshire, it is more of an economic argument, and that's been the basis of Romney's candidacy from the outset.
INSKEEP: And what about on the national stage, Mara Liasson?
LIASSON: No, I don't think this is going to be a social issue campaign. I actually think Rick Santorum is trying not to be just a social issue candidate. He said all along, he has, you know, expertise all across the board. He's stressed his foreign policy credentials, which he says Mitt Romney doesn't have, because he served in the Senate - because Santorum served in the Senate. So I think that social issues are not what Republicans would like to have at the top of the list for them. I think the White House would very much like to paint whoever is the Republican nominee as too far to the right on social issues. But I think the economy is going to be the number one issue, and will be.
WERTHEIMER: What about the idea that Mitt Romney turned the big guns - his PAC, turned big guns onto Newt Gingrich in Iowa and basically just knocked him right off his perch? Who does the Romney PAC go after in the next few days?
LIASSON: Well, they probably go after Santorum. He's bought – Romney himself has bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising in South Carolina and Florida. But I think what's really interesting, you mentioned Gingrich. What happened to Newt Gingrich? Gingrich came out of Iowa saying he was going to attack Romney. He'd, kind of, no more Mr. Nice Guy. He was furious about the poll.
WERTHEIMER: No more nice Newt.
LIASSON: No more nice Newt.
INSKEEP: We've always known how nice Newt...
LIASSON: Yes, how nice he was. But he said that he was going to fight back. He also said that he would team up with Santorum, kind of riding shotgun with Santorum in an attack on Romney. It almost sounded like he didn't care so much about being the nominee anymore. He just wanted to damage Romney.
But what happens when they got to New Hampshire? Gingrich and Santorum start sniping at each other. Yesterday they were arguing over their Congressional records. Gingrich said Santorum was just a junior partner. Santorum said Newt sat on the sidelines during the Congressional scandals - House scandals in the early '90s. All that is good – more good news for Mitt Romney.
INSKEEP: Can I just mention that we are seven minutes and something into this discussion of the Republican presidential campaign? The New Hampshire primary is next, and we have yet to mention Jon Huntsman.
RUDIN: Well, Jon Huntsman...
LIASSON: There's a reason for that.
INSKEEP: Go on.
RUDIN: Jon Huntsman did the old John McCain strategy of missing – bypassing Iowa completely, and hoping to make a big deal in New Hampshire. Now, of course, it worked for John McCain who did it both in 2000 and 2008, won New Hampshire both, but also – he's also possibly emulating Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman, other kind of moderate guys – not that Jon Huntsman is a moderate, but compared to the rest of the field he is – who missed – bypassed Iowa, went to New Hampshire, and were never heard from again.
INSKEEP: Mara Liasson?
LIASSON: I pretty much agree with that. Jon Huntsman has tried everything he could. He pretty much moved to New Hampshire, camped out there. Maybe the kiss of death was that he got the endorsement of the Boston Globe, not a paper that's beloved by conservatives in New Hampshire.
INSKEEP: Or anywhere.
LIASSON: But he might – well, let's not, you know, completely write him off. I mean, he might be a factor in these debates. He's part of this concerted multi-front attack on Mitt Romney, even if the anti-Romney vote never coalesces around one candidate, you are going to see a lot of attacks on Romney for the first time.
He's been very lucky. He hasn't had the kind of pummeling that he delivered to Newt Gingrich. He's been relatively unscathed. I think that Saturday night and Sunday morning in those debates you will see all the candidates - Huntsman, Gingrich, and Santorum - all ganging up on Mitt Romney.
INSKEEP: And Santorum's got money for ads, which Romney's opponents have not had up to now.
RUDIN: He does, but he also has a – now there's a reason to examine his record and for all this time in the debates he's been the unnamed person. Now he will be a focus.
INSKEEP: Ken, thanks very much.
RUDIN: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Ken Rudin is NPR's political editor, and Mara Liasson is NPR's national political correspondent. Mara, thanks to you.
LIASSON: Thank you.
INSKEEP: We're looking forward to seeing you in New Hampshire. We'll be taking the program to New Hampshire for the primary early next week.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
The death of Kim Jong Il in North Korea and the rise of his son Kim Jong Un have threatened to undermine the delicate balance of political forces in northeast Asia. It's a complicated part of the world, involving the interests of a still-divided Korean peninsula along with China, the U.S., as well as Japan and Russia. NPR's Mike Shuster has more from Seoul.
MIKE SHUSTER, BYLINE: The public message is the same, whether it's from South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak, here in his New Year's televised speech, or from any other leader in northeast Asia.
PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK: (Through translator) The situation on the Korean peninsula is now at a new turning point. But there should be new opportunities amid changes and uncertainty. Our most critical goal is the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula.
SHUSTER: Stability. Stability has been the watchword since Kim Jong Il died on December 17th. The problem is stability means different things for different nations. China is probably the regional player that most wants things to stay exactly the same under his son, Kim Jong Un. Chinese leaders talk about economic reform for North Korea, but any sweeping changes in North Korean economic policy would mean uncertainty. That could spark disturbances inside North Korea: refugees streaming across the border into China, unpredictable events.
The Chinese don't want unpredictable, says Young-ho Park, analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
YOUNG-HO PARK: For China and for the Chinese political leadership, it is their interest to keep the current North Korean system intact and to keep the current status of the Korean peninsula.
SHUSTER: China's leaders see their role as a kind of guardian for the weak and isolated North Korean state. But at the same time, they have their eyes fixed on farther horizons, especially the presence in northeast Asia of the United States. Park says Beijing uses North Korea as a buffer to keep the influence and power of the U.S. away from its border, even as it seeks to extend its influence to counter the U.S.
PARK: I personally think the Chinese policy toward the Korean peninsula is fundamentally based on their strategic posture, vis-a-vis the United States.
SHUSTER: As for the strategic posture of the United States, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell visited Seoul yesterday and repeated the U.S. commitment to stability, through its alliance with South Korea, formally known as the Republic of Korea, or ROK.
KIRK CAMPBELL: The United States and the ROK remain strongly committed to the preservation of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, to denuclearization and to broader regional security and to the well-being and welfare of the people of North Korea.
SHUSTER: When the focus turns to nuclear weapons, stability faces enormous challenges. And here's where the United States has a huge stake. For the U.S., getting rid of North Korea's nuclear weapons is a fundamental strategic goal. Since 2003, there have been sporadic nuclear negotiations, but the process known as the Six Party Talks has been moribund for several years.
Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Seoul, urges the parties to restart the talks for a very simple reason.
DANIEL PINKSTON: It might be worthwhile to return to the talks, first of all to test the intentions of the new leadership and to see whether or not there is any change in their intentions and motivations.
SHUSTER: But like many analysts, Pinkston is not optimistic that North Korea can be persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons, because, he says, the change in leadership in Pyongyang is well aware of what happened to other like-minded governments in 2011.
PINKSTON: Many North Korean officials privately and publicly have mentioned the Libyan case. And when Muammar Gadhafi was killed, many of them said that was very foolish of him to abandon his WMD programs, and that Gadhafi probably wished that he still had his nuclear weapons program.
SHUSTER: Stability does mean different things to different nations. Paradoxically, it's probably fair to say these different views of stability make northeast Asia so volatile and unpredictable.
Mike Shuster, NPR News, Seoul.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will be in Tucson this weekend, marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting which left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Giffords herself. NPR's Ted Robbins looks back on last January and the year since.
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Before the rest of the world knew what had happened January 8th, a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Tucson got this phone call.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Was somebody shot then, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes. This guy - it looked like the guy had a semi automatic pistol and he went in and he just started firing. And...
ROBBINS: Witnesses said 22-year-old Jared Loughner opened fire in front of a Safeway supermarket, where Gabby Giffords was holding a Congress on Your Corner event. Among those killed, federal judge John Roll, Giffords staff member Gabe Zimmerman and nine-year-old Christina Taylor-Green, who came to meet her congresswoman. Giffords herself spent the next few days clinging to life. Dr. Peter Rhee was the trauma surgeon in charge.
DR. PETER RHEE: You know, when you get shot in the head and the bullet goes through your brain the chances of you living is very small, the chances of you waking up and actually following commands is even much smaller than that.
ROBBINS: Gabby Giffords did wake up. And four days later, opened her eyes. President Barack Obama announced it in a televised speech before a crowd at the University of Arizona's basketball arena. He then summoned the country to live up to the ideals of Christina Taylor-Green.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us, we should do everything we can do to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.
ROBBINS: For that moment and the next several weeks, Tucson, at least, came together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE")
GROUP: (Singing) This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
ROBBINS: Songs, flowers, candles, and hugs seemed to be everywhere. Tucson began to heal, along with Gabby Giffords, who went to Houston for rehabilitation. In May, she was able to watch her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, go up in the next-to-last space shuttle flight from Florida. Last month, Kelly told NPR that his wife continues to improve, even as she struggles with weakness on her right side and difficulty with her speech.
MARK KELLY: You know, getting frustrated is, from what I understand, is one of those things that's helped rebuild those connections in her brain.
REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE GIFFORDS: There is a lot to say. I will speak better.
ROBBINS: Giffords recorded this message in November.
GIFFORDS: I want to get back to work. Representing Arizona is my honor. My staff is there to help you.
MARK KIMBLE: We talk with her on a regular basis, and quite often there's someone from our staff with her.
ROBBINS: That's Giffords spokesman Mark Kimble. He says what many victims, friends and family members say - that they're coping.
KIMBLE: It's not the same raw wound it was last year in early January, but it hasn't gone away.
ROBBINS: Gabby Giffords herself probably put it best.
GIFFORDS: It's been a hard year for all of us.
ROBBINS: Anniversary events begin today and run through Sunday. They end with an outdoor candlelight vigil at the University of Arizona at which Gabby Giffords is scheduled to appear.
Ted Robbins, NPR News, Tucson.
INSKEEP: You may recall the man accused of the shooting, Jared Loughner, was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Loughner is being given medication and therapy, which, according to those treating him, are helping his schizophrenia. Still, it's likely to be 2013 before he's tried – if he's ever put on trial.
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INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
We're staying in Norristown, Pennsylvania for a workplace story about Oscar Vance. In two weeks he's retiring from the area district attorney's office where he's worked for nearly half a century. He is leaving as chief detective for Montgomery County, overseeing all investigations that come through the D.A.'s office.
But in 1963, he too was a young Marine getting out of the military. He too is African American. And even as some older men guided him through his interviews, he credits his parents, Bernice and Oscar, Sr., for getting him ready for his shot at a career.
OSCAR VANCE: My father taught me at an early age. My first job that I had, I was 13 years old, from 6:00 in the evening until 12:00 at night - I worked at a bank in maintenance and also as their door man on Friday nights. And I would have to get dressed in a suit, direct the people, and so forth. And my father taught me how to handle myself there, which was a big help preparing me for life, those things that I would encounter in terms of a job.
WERTHEIMER: Oscar Vance will not be leaving law enforcement once he retires. He plans to continue working as a private investigator in Norristown, Pennsylvania. And to start mentoring programs in the area to help kids stay away from crime.
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer in for Renee Montagne.
The mild winter, with its lack of snow and ice, has delayed some of the Northeast region's lucrative cold-weather pastimes. Alpine ski resorts have ramped up their snowmaking, so they're doing OK. But the cross country skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing seasons are off to a slow start. Maine Public Radio's Jay Field has more.
JAY FIELD, BYLINE: So I'm standing on the edge of Lake St. George. This lake is a prime spot for ice fishing. They're Brook Trout, Landlocked Salmon. And usually at this time of year, the lake is completely frozen over and dotted with ice fishing shacks. This morning, though, it's tiny slivers of ice, but mostly open water, as far as the eye can see.
HANK HOLDEN: There's whitecaps out there, which is unusual - very unusual.
FIELD: Hank Holden sells bait and tackle at Liberty Sports, just up the hill from the lake near Maine's mid coast. Holden, who's a fisherman himself, says this is the longest it's taken for ice to form in the thirteen years since he opened his store.
HOLDEN: Typically, in a normal year, by mid-December some of the smaller ponds are available for ice fishing and they have plenty of ice on them.
FIELD: This year, smaller ponds have only recently started to freeze over into sheets of ice that are thick enough to fish on. It's the same story across much of the Northeast, where people were anticipating a bruising winter filled with bitterly cold days and heavy snowfall, after a couple of late autumn storms. Steve Capriola is a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
STEVE CAPRIOLA: For the most part, the cold air has been staying way up in Canada and it just hasn't had the opportunity to surge southward.
FIELD: The lack of snowfall, at a time when ice is thin, has been a blessing for at least one group of people. Colonel John MacDonald is with the Maine Warden Service, which oversees outdoor recreation in the state's vast northern woods.
COLONEL JOHN MACDONALD: So we don't have the snowmobiles out on the trails and intersecting with the trails that cross lakes and things. So we don't have that traffic to worry about.
FIELD: But one man's peace and quiet is another man's angst.
BOB MEYERS: Well, we're doing our snow dance everyday and we're encouraging everybody else to do the same.
FIELD: Bob Meyers, with the Maine Snowmobile Association, says with little to none of the white stuff, the sport is at a virtual standstill. The industry brings in an estimated $350 million a year statewide. It's an especially big part of the economy in Aroostook County in Northern Maine.
MEYERS: A lot of these small towns that are relying on this activity in the winter time, it's very disappointing for them.
FIELD: Nationwide, the lack of snow is responsible for millions of dollars in lost winter recreation, lodging, restaurant and sporting goods revenue.
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FIELD: Hank Holden's cash register hasn't been ringing enough lately. Sales are down around 50 percent. He shows me a popular item during a good year.
HOLDEN: This is made for drilling holes in ice.
FIELD: It's a gas-powered ice auger - a machine with a large spiral blade the size of a jackhammer. Fishermen use them to bore holes through the ice when it gets to be two or three feet thick or more.
HOLDEN: Most people that are ice fishing can get through the three or four inches of ice we've got with hand chisels, hand augers.
FIELD: The last few days in Maine have been colder. But there's little to no snow in the forecast and in some places the mercury tomorrow could top out in the high 40s.
For NPR News, I'm Jay Field.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. It's hard to believe a driver could deliberately do what a man in Fresno, California did by mistake. Police say the man stole a car. Soon after, a woman in a nearby house felt what seemed like an earthquake. She had to go outside to see the truth. The car thief drove too fast, lost control on a curve, shot up a slope, launched over landscaping rocks and landed the car on the sloping roof of the house, just as perfectly as if he had parked there. It's MORNING EDITION.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. A new church has been recognized by Sweden - the Church of Kopimisms. Its sacred symbols are control C and control V - cut and paste. Here's the deal. It's an article of faith in this new church that all information should be shared. So is this the church of Internet piracy? Members say no. People working on a piracy crackdown say a church won't serve as a shield for pirates. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with an upbeat report on jobs.
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INSKEEP: Here are the numbers the Labor Department released this morning: 200,000 jobs were created in December, according to a U.S. government survey. And the unemployment rate fell to eight-and-a-half percent. That's a better-than-expected result, and it's boosting financial markets this morning.
The new hiring came largely in transportation and warehousing, we're told. That includes people working as curriers, or messengers. Tens of thousands of other people found jobs in retail and manufacturing. Now, to be clear, the unemployment rate is falling so slowly that it would take years to get back to full employment, but this is the sixth straight month the economy has added more than 100,000 jobs.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Los Angeles County is home to the largest urban American Indian population - more than 160,000 people. In 1952, the federal government created the Urban Relocation Program, which encouraged Native Americans to move off reservations and into cities, including Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. They were lured by the hope of a better life.
But as Gloria Hillard reports, for many that promise has not realized.
GLORIA HILLARD, BYLINE: On the edge of downtown Los Angeles, Rae Marie Martinez is looking for familiar landmarks. The sixty-something grandmother turns in a slow circle and shakes her head. The year was 1957.
RAE MARIE MARTINEZ: And I still had the long braids and the long dresses.
HILLARD: She looks down at the sidewalk.
MARTINEZ: I remember they use to kick my heels all the way to school and making noise and stuff like an Indian how they put their hand to their mouth and just making fun of me. I guess...
HILLARD: She was just eight years old when her family traveled here by car from the Colville Reservation in Washington state.
MARTINEZ: Mom and Dad felt that they were making the right choice and decision in being part of the relocation program because so much was promised to them.
HILLARD: The program, run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, promised the newly arrived families temporary housing and job counseling. She and her five siblings moved into the projects. Her parents received $80 a week - but just for one month.
MARTINEZ: I think just being homesick being away from everything that was familiar to me, away from - still makes me emotional.
HILLARD: She missed the tall trees and apple orchards of her reservation. Her mother cut her hair. To fit in she tried to become invisible. In time, she became silent and later succumbed to alcohol and an abusive relationship.
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DR. CARRIE JOHNSON: The boarding schools, relocation, I mean everything that historically happened to American Indians continues to impact them today.
HILLARD: Dr. Carrie Johnson is Dakota Sioux. She runs Seven Generations - a program for children and families at United American Indian Involvement. It's one of the largest service providers for L.A County's widely scattered American Indians and Alaska Natives. Here, they deal with what she says is the legacy of the relocation program, from assistance for needy families, to a number of mental and physical health services.
JOHNSON: We see these, you know, unfortunately all these high rates of problems within our community. And, but I think on the positive side, you know, like what we're seeing is the healing.
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HILLARD: In a large florescent-lit room, boys in multi-colored high-tops, and girls with blankets that serve as shawls attend a drum and dance workshop.
RAMON ENRIQUEZ: We hold a workshop and they can look around and they see other Indian youth who look just like them growing up here in Los Angeles.
HILLARD: Ramon Enriquez grew up in L.A.'s Inglewood neighborhood not knowing any other Native Americans. Today, he's the director of youth services at the center.
ENRIQUEZ: This is the face of American Indians today, we're living in the cities. We're living where the jobs are. We're living where the opportunities are.
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HILLARD: For many, the weekend pow-wows bridge the chasm between the city and the reservation. It's where I met eight-year-old Serenity Wyatt in a brightly-colored and beaded dress.
SERENITY WYATT: Well, is it on?
HILLARD: Yeah.
WYATT: OK. I come from the Apaches called Dine. And my favorite thing to do is dance. I use to watch the dancers and before I was even up on my feet, my mom used to take me out there.
HILLARD: Hers is a happier story than that of the eight-year-old Rae Marie Martinez, who arrived here back in 1957.
MARTINEZ: By the grace of God, I've been able to celebrate this year, 30 years of recovery from alcoholism, of abuse. So much trauma. The healing that I've been able to experience and stuff and just being proud of who I am.
HILLARD: Today, Martinez coordinates the Domestic Violence program for United American Indian Involvement and her life is about to come full circle. Her reservation in Washington state is developing a domestic violence program, and has asked for her help.
For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Elizabeth McGovern is back. Well, she was never really gone. She just moved across the pond. She was 19 when a star was born - hers. She played the love interest in Robert Redford's film "Ordinary People," and went on to co-star with some of Hollywood's leading men, including Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. She starred in Milos Foreman's big-budget film "Ragtime." But in the early 1990s, Elizabeth McGovern married some British guy. She gave up Hollywood for London. She raised a family, and developed a British acting career. And now, after two decades, Elizabeth McGovern is back on American screens. She plays Lady Cora in the wildly popular, Emmy Award-winning British series "Downton Abbey."
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ELIZABETH MCGOVERN: (as Cora) She's a wonderful nurse, and she's worked very hard.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: (as Robert) But in the process, she's forgotten who she is.
MCGOVERN: Has she, Robert, or have we overlooked who she really is?
SIMON: Elizabeth McGovern joins us from our studios in New York. Thanks so much for being with us.
MCGOVERN: I'm very happy to be here, too.
SIMON: "Downton Abbey" is a period drama - although the whole point of it is, it has contemporary overtones. It follows - it's the Edwardian era - it follows the lives and loves of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants; often compared to that signature 1970s series "Upstairs, Downstairs." Do you think the fact that you're kind of coming to that from the outside gives you some added insight?
MCGOVERN: Are you asking - the fact that I live in England, does that give me added insight to the character - is that what your question is?
SIMON: The fact that you're an American living in England.
MCGOVERN: Yes, of course it does. I've spent 20 years rehearsing the part. I mean, that might have something to do with why I got it. But I don't think that my experience inculcating myself into English life is that wildly different from Cora, the character I play in "Downton Abbey." But I do find myself bumping up against a culture that is, in many subtle ways, quite different to my own - and is a very interesting juxtaposition for me personally and, in this case, professionally.
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MCGOVERN: (as Cora) I'd like you to look after Sir Anthony Strallan tonight. He's a nice, decent man whose position may not be quite like papa's, but it would still make you a force for good in the county.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) Mama, not again. How many times am I to be ordered to marry the man sitting next to me at dinner?
MCGOVERN: (as Cora) As many times as it takes.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) I turned down Matthew Crawley. Is it likely I'd marry Strallan when I wouldn't marry him?
MCGOVERN: (as Cora) I'm glad you've come to think more highly of cousin Matthew.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (as character) That's not the point.
MCGOVERN: (as Cora) No.
SIMON: How do you analyze the fascination audiences have with dramas from this period - and particularly, the dramas that depict the aristocratic family and the folks providing for them in all ways, who live downstairs?
MCGOVERN: It's a perfect recipe for a television show because most of the time, what makes a television show are different versions of families trapped, more or less, in one space and then they knock against one another, and that creates stories. The fact that we have a complicated class system in which all these people are completely interdependent on one another and yet there are these very firm walls that separate them - it's an absolute spark plug for untold number of stories and fascinating historical situations as well.
SIMON: Let me ask about your cast of players 'cause it's terrific - I mean, Hugh Bonneville as the Earl of Grantham; Dame Maggie Smith, who you mentioned, as the Dowager Countess, your mother-in-law, if you please. Is she as intimidating in person as she seems on screen?
MCGOVERN: Yeah, she's scary, but she's a lot of fun.
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MAGGIE SMITH: (as Violet) You may not know it, but I believe the committee feel obliged to give you the cup for the best bloom as a kind of local tradition.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: No, no, I do not know that. I thought I usually won the prize for best bloom in the village because my gardener had grown best bloom in the village.
SMITH: Yes. But you don't usually win, do you? You always win.
SIMON: What's it like to play a scene with her?
MCGOVERN: One is always kept on one's toes with Maggie.
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SMITH: (as Violet) I was right about my maid. She's leaving to get married. Now, how could she be so selfish?
MCGOVERN: (as Cora) I do sympathize. Robert's always wanting me to get rid of O'Brien but I can't face it. Anyway, she's so fond of me.
SMITH: (as Violet) Well, I thought Simmons was fond of me. What am I to do?
MCGOVERN: She has a very facile, quick brain and is always searching for the chink that has been overlooked. And you have to really keep your wits about you - but I wouldn't have it any other way.
SIMON: There's a quote - maybe you didn't expect it to get to this side of the pond from - the days of the Internet - where you say that you think that maybe the British make better films than Americans.
MCGOVERN: Well, just putting it in context, I was at the British Independent Film Awards, and a microphone was thrust into my face. And I felt I should say the politic thing. Of course, I don't feel that way completely, 100 percent; of course not.
SIMON: Your husband's career - the director - is flourishing. Your husband is Simon Curtis.
MCGOVERN: Simon Curtis is his name, yeah. I'm proud of him. He's directed a movie called "My Week with Marilyn," which is the best movie about show business that I've ever seen. And I'm actually not saying that because he's my husband - because I am often critical of his work.
SIMON: "Downton Abbey" is continuing in production, right?
MCGOVERN: Yeah, we're starting season three in February.
SIMON: And I know you can't talk about what happens but...
MCGOVERN: But?
SIMON: Well, without talking specifically about what happens, can you tell us how Lady Cora will react to the world changing around her?
MCGOVERN: World War I puts a lot of pressure on the Grantham marriage. The world as they knew it - that consistent, solid place that for generations had existed - is threatened deeply. And both of them have very different reactions to this. I think that it's hard for Lady Cora to adjust to this new reality, but it's easier for her than it is for her husband, Robert. And it's sort of - exposes fissures in their marriage that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. So it does have an effect on their marriage.
SIMON: The new season of "Downton Abbey" starts on PBS tomorrow. Elizabeth McGovern joins us from New York. Thanks so much.
MCGOVERN: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
For the past several years, a group of friends has gathered every week in the living room of a home in Logan, Utah, to sing some long-forgotten songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M A LONG TIME TRAVELING")
SIMON: A fun way to spend the evening, sure, but it's also therapy - therapy for a good friend who spent much of his life preserving folk songs - only to lose them one day several years ago, as we learn in this "What's in a Song?"
BARRE TOELKEN: My name's Barre Toelken, and I used to be a folklorist at Utah State. And then I had a stroke, and I retired.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WADING THROUGH DEEP WATERS")
TOELKEN: I used to know 800 songs. I was once counting them and I got to 800, and I decided to give up at 800. And I had the stroke, and I had none of these songs left in my head. None of them are left.
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TOELKEN: I was still in the hospital and the phone rang one day. It was a friend of mine in Germany. She started this conversation, and we went on for about 20 minutes in German. And I didn't know anything in English at that time, but I knew all these German words - 'cause I had it in high school, I guess.
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TOELKEN: And a little bit at a time, I realized I still had the songs in my head. They weren't out of my head, they were in my head. That sounds strange to say, but that was a big surprise to me at first. And so now, I meet with this group of friends once a week a week, and we sing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WADING THROUGH DEEP WATERS")
TOELKEN: This group doesn't use any musical instruments because I can't - use any music. I can't play the guitar since the stroke hit me. And they did that as a sign of respect, I think. But they've all said how much they've learned about the songs since they quit using the guitar. Because they - you know, instead of concentrating on their hand moving, they have to concentrate on the words.
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(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WADING THROUGH DEEP WATERS")
SIMON: "What's in a Song?" is produced by Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis, of the Western Folklife Center. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WADING THROUGH DEEP WATERS")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that's significant to critics of the Environmental Protection Agency. It looks a bit like David and Goliath, pitting the middle-class American couple against the EPA. But that couple, Michael and Chantell Sackett, is backed by a veritable who's who in American mining, oil, utilities, manufacturing and real estate development, and by many groups opposed to government regulation. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: On one side of the kaleidoscope, this is a case of bureaucratic power run amok; on the other side, it's a trumped up case aimed at eviscerating the EPA's regulatory powers. The story begins in 2005 when Chantell and Mike Sackett bought two-thirds of an acre of land for $23,000 located about 500 feet from scenic Priest Lake. The Idaho lake is a 19-mile stretch of clear water fed by mountain streams and bordered by state and national parkland, with a shoreline dotted with houses, resorts and marinas. The Sacketts, who own a small excavation company, broke ground on their planned three-bedroom house in 2007. Three days after they began clearing the property and adding fill, the EPA acted on a complaint.
CHANTELL SACKETT: Three agents showed up and told the worker there to stop work and that they wanted to see his permit for filling in wetlands.
TOTENBERG: Chantell Sackett says the couple had done its due diligence to get building permits and since other houses are nearby, the couple had no idea they needed a permit from the EPA. That is about where any agreement on the facts in this case ends. The Sacketts contend their property is not wetlands, and thus that no permit is required under the clean water act.
SACKETT: The EPA hasn't even come to the property and done tests to prove that it's not a wetlands. We have. We've had a hydrologist, a soil scientist and a wetlands expert come. And they know it's not a wetlands. But it doesn't matter to the EPA. They just want to be able to say, no, you can't do anything with it, and if you do, we're going to throw you in jail.
TOTENBERG: A coalition of environmental groups, after obtaining records under the Freedom of Information Act, has a different version of the facts. Here's Larry Levine, of the Natural Resources Defense Council:
LARRY LEVINE: What they got back from their own expert was, yes, in fact, you have wetlands on your property. You have wetlands surrounding your property; and as an expert, I advise you to hold off on doing anything further until you get things settled with the government.
TOTENBERG: The Sacketts say that obtaining a permit would have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. But environmental lawyer Levine says there are several ways that individuals like the Sacketts, who have a small project, can easily and cheaply obtain a permit.
Seven months after the EPA notified the Sacketts that they were illegally filling wetlands, the agency sent the couple something called an administrative compliance order. It ordered the couple to remove the fill and restore the wetlands, and it noted that failure to comply could result in fines levied by a federal court.
Six months later, the Sacketts filed suit to challenge the compliance order. Two federal courts threw the case out, saying that the order did not itself seek penalties and was not a final judgment against the couple. And that is the heart of this case.
Every appeals court in the nation that has ruled on this issue has reached the same conclusion. They have all said that at this stage of a permit dispute, there is nothing to review since the government has not yet even sought enforcement of its order, much less proved a violation of the law in court. Nor has any fine been imposed.
Indeed, the government says it views a compliance order as a warning, noting that this one invited the Sacketts to come in to discuss the dispute and seek resolution.
DAMIEN SCHIFF, ATTORNEY, PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION: This compliance order is not just a: Please don't fill in the wetlands letter.
TOTENBERG: Damien Schiff, of the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, is representing the Sacketts for free.
FOUNDATION: It's much more than that. It is an order backed by the power of the federal government that says: If you do not comply immediately with this, you will be on the hook for significant civil liability.
TOTENBERG: Schiff notes that the potential fines here could amount to as much as $37,000 a day.
FOUNDATION: When the government says you cannot build on your property, that's clearly an infringement of their property rights, of their liberties. And that requires that they have their day in court before the government can force them to do that.
TOTENBERG: The government agrees that citizens are entitled to a hearing; the question is when. And at this point, says the government, there's nothing to have a hearing about since no punitive action has been taken.
Environmental groups fear that a Sackett win would allow major polluters to tie up the EPA in litigation, preventing meaningful enforcement of anti-pollution laws. And they point to similar regimes in other health and safety statutes. Congress, they argue, intended compliance orders and the threat of big fines to force violators to fix the problem. And they say that both the EPA and the courts have not treated small violators severely.
That's no solace to Mike Sackett.
MIKE SACKETT: It makes you really question how the system works. You pay taxes to be punished by the same government that you're paying your taxes to. And when they punish people - and we're not the only ones - they do it without any accountability.
TOTENBERG: A decision in the case is expected later this year.
Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
SIMON: And you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Until this week, most news organizations described Mitt Romney as the presumed front-runner in the Republican presidential race. Now there are actual votes in by exactly eight of them, Mitt Romney has become the front-runner. NPR's Ari Shapiro has been with the Romney campaign all week and has this look back.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: When Mitt Romney kicked off this past week with a blitzkrieg tour of Iowa, he had no way of knowing just how true this statement would be.
MITT ROMNEY: You guys in Dubuque, you're the best. Get out there and vote tomorrow. I need every vote.
SHAPIRO: Literally, he needed on every one. On election night, by the time he came out to talk to his supporters in the early hours of the morning, even Romney couldn't say whether this was a victory or concession speech.
ROMNEY: We don't know what the final vote tallies going to be, but congratulations to Rick Santorum. This has been a great victory for him and for his effort. He's worked very hard in Iowa.
SHAPIRO: A few hours later the final tally was in. By the smallest margin in history, the Iowa Republican Party declared Romney the winner. Political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, says for Romney, the best thing about this win may have been the people who came in second and third. Sabato says Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are far easier rivals for Romney to defeat than Rick Perry or Newt Gingrich might have been.
LARRY SABATO: Gingrich may not have the money and organization, but he has the mouth power. And Rick Perry, of course, does have the money and can buy the organization; the combination potentially could have been lethal to Romney going forward. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are a completely different equation.
SHAPIRO: Later, there would be some reports of counting errors in Iowa but it seems they would not have changed the outcome. No matter how slim the margin, to Romney supporters...
FRANK BESSEY: A win's a win.
SHAPIRO: At a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Romney supporter Frank Bessey expressed confidence that this is a state where the former Massachusetts governor will win more solidly in Tuesday's primary.
BESSEY: He's been in New Hampshire a lot. He's expected to win here. Hopefully, we'll win here, and that gives him momentum going forward down South.
SHAPIRO: Romney would head down South before too long. But first he picked up an endorsement from the man who defeated him in New Hampshire four years ago.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: Now, my friends, our message, our message to President Barack Obama is, you can run, but you can't hide from your record.
SHAPIRO: Arizona Senator John McCain stood by Romney's side at rallies through the rest of the week.
Romney is so confident of winning the New Hampshire primary that on Thursday, he flew down to a state where his victory is less certain.
ROMNEY: Thank you for this welcome. What is this? The Peanut Warehouse, huh?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: Boy, this is beautiful. It's great.
SHAPIRO: The Peanut Warehouse is a century-old building by the Waccamaw River in Conway, South Carolina. This group was more skeptical than the hometown crowd that Romney courted in New England.
MIKE PATTON: Central Casting Mitt, I call him.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: Why do you call him Central Casting Mitt?
PATTON: Well, if you were going to have a TV show about a president, he'd be the guy you'd pick out of the lineup.
SHAPIRO: Real estate agent Mike Patton says Romney just isn't conservative enough for a lot of folks down here.
PATTON: I think Santorum's going to do better than everybody thinks.
SHAPIRO: Still, a CNN poll out yesterday shows Romney with a strong lead in South Carolina. Over the last month, he's up from 20 to 37 percent, while Rick Santorum has moved into second place with 19 percent. That will be enough to keep Romney in the lead as long as the anti-Romney vote continues to be split among several candidates.
Through all of these stops in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Romney let others in his group attack his Republican rivals while the candidate kept his sights on President Obama.
ROMNEY: I think he subscribes to something I call crony capitalism, which is a belief not in free markets and free people pursuing their dreams, but instead of a government that pays back favors to the people that took care of them.
SHAPIRO: Conservative voters have spent the last year flirting with alternatives to Romney. Even today, a group is meeting in Texas to explore possibilities. To be sure, Romney's week in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina was not exactly a love fest. But sometimes in politics they don't have to love you - they just have to vote for you.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News.
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SIMON: And you're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. President Obama took a controversial step this week in appointing Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during a congressional recess, bypassing any objections from some lawmakers. Republicans in the Senate object and sent a letter to the White House yesterday asking why the president - in their mind - had ignored 90 years of legal precedent. White House officials contend that it's the Republicans in Congress who ignore history. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: A lot of people think Washington resembles a high school and politics can be a food fight. Well, here's a high-minded legal dispute that may prove them right. Turns out, the debate over Mr. Obama's new appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board comes down to the meaning of a single word: recess. White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler.
KATHY RUEMMLER: Our view is that a pro forma session at which the Senate, by its own definition, is not conducting any business and is unavailable to provide advice and consent on the president's nominees is for all practical and functional purposes in recess.
JOHNSON: Ruemmler says those so called pro forma holiday sessions, where a lone senator appears in the empty chamber to bang the gavel and take off are just a gimmick - a gimmick that robs the president of his power to keep the government moving. She says Mr. Obama used his constitutional authority sparingly, and with great care.
RUEMMLER: There are a lot of appointees who have been languishing. These were folks who were necessary in order to make the agencies be able to function.
TODD GAZIANO: The president's defense really has no legal credibility.
JOHNSON: That's Todd Gaziano. He directs the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. And he says the Senate is not in recess.
GAZIANO: There have been over 90 years of interpretation in which both branches of government have agreed that at least nine or 10 days recess is necessary, with the Senate generally taking the view that something even longer is required.
JOHNSON: Gaziano says the history of the recess appointment power dates back a long way, to a time when Senators took weeks to get back to Washington during breaks in the action. Not the case anymore with email and airplanes, he says. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has signaled it might bring a lawsuit after Richard Cordray's Consumer Protection Bureau moves ahead with new regulations on business. Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe says he thinks there will certainly be a wave of litigation. But Tribe says he believes Mr. Obama, his former student, acted well within his power to keep things moving during an extended break in Congress.
LAURENCE TRIBE: I think he certainly anticipated legal actions and is on very solid ground. I mean, 12 presidents have made 285 appointments of this kind during a session since 1867.
JOHNSON: Ultimately, Tribe says, there's not much law on the issue, so the courts will need to develop:
TRIBE: Criteria for what counts as a real recess, which this, I think, clearly was and what is simply a weekend break or a routine break that has nothing to do with frustrating the operations of the executive branch.
JOHNSON: It's an issue Tribe says could make its way up to the Supreme Court. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
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President Obama acknowledged yesterday that economic recovery still has a long way to go.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Obviously, you know, we have a lot more work to do, but it is important for the American people to recognize that we've now added 3.2 million new private sector jobs over the last 22 months.
SIMON: But those numbers might help Mr. Obama hold onto his own job, as NPR Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: December's unemployment rate was the lowest it's been in nearly three years. And while the White House is always careful not to make too much out of any one month's reading, the jobless rate has also been falling steadily now for the last four months. Of course, troubles in Europe or a spike in gas prices could still derail the fragile recovery. But, chief economist Nariman Behravesh of IHS Global Insight says barring that kind of shock, employers will probably keep hiring in the months to come, though not as quickly as we might like.
NARIMAN BEHRAVESH: I think we can expect slow but steady downward movements in the unemployment rate, down to say, around 8 percent by the time of the election. While it's better than the alternative, it's quite slow.
HORSLEY: Maybe too slow. With 13 million Americans still unemployed, Behravesh says many people have grown impatient with the president's policies, and that could cost Mr. Obama in November.
BEHRAVESH: I would say right now the president has something of an uphill battle on the economy, even if we see further progress on the unemployment rate.
HORSLEY: Still, the jobs picture and the president look a lot better now than they did last summer, when some forecasters were predicting a double-dip recession for the United States. Political analyst Nathan Gonzales of The Rothenberg Political Report says while yesterday's jobs numbers represent good news for Mr. Obama, it's too soon for campaign staffers to start breathing easy.
NATHAN GONZALES: I don't think there's a magic unemployment number where the president will or won't get reelected. What matters more is how do people feel about where we're headed. And until that gets down to the kitchen-table level, and people start to feel things getting better, then it's still going to be tough, I think, for the president to get reelected.
HORSLEY: There are some signs that kitchen-table accounting is getting a little rosier. In addition to the job gains, people worked slightly longer hours for slightly higher wages in December, and holiday spending was up. Lydia Saad is with the Gallup Organization, which regularly polls people about their economic confidence.
LYDIA SAAD: We have definitely seen that improving since November because really since October unemployment has been coming down from 9.1 percent, and we have seen economic confidence rebounding.
HORSLEY: Saad cautions confidence has only climbed back to where it was in June, before the debt ceiling debacle sent Americans running for cover. She says what happens to the economy - and people's feelings about it - in the next six months will be critical.
SAAD: Voters really lock in around June. You know, whatever the economic numbers are by the end of the second quarter, those are the numbers they're voting on. So what happens to the economy between June and November is far less important than what happens between now and June.
HORSLEY: For now, Mr. Obama's approval ratings remain below 50 percent, though they have been improving. The president continues to press Congress to pass portions of his jobs plan. He says last year's payroll tax cut contributed to the stronger job gains in December. He's urging Congress to extend that tax cut throughout 2012.
OBAMA: There's still a lot of struggles that people are going through out there. A lot of families are still having a tough time. A lot of small businesses are still having a tough time, but we're starting to rebound. We're moving in the right direction. We have made real progress. Now is not the time to stop.
HORSLEY: The president's reelection may hinge on whether voters agree. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Italy's new prime minister wants to stimulate growth by boosting productivity and competiveness. A new law that went into effect January 1st allows Italy's shops, cafe's and restaurants to stay open 24/7 all year long, holidays included. This deregulation puts Italy ahead of many European countries, but as NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports, many Italians are resisting.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: Friday, the day of the Epiphany, was the first holiday of the year. But in Rome, hardly anyone took advantage of the liberalized shop hours.
Restaurants are open, so are a few cafes. But if people are looking for groceries, they're out of luck. Bakeries are shut, so are butchers and green grocers. Even the trendy organic food shop is shuttered tight. Italian customs are hard to change.
Carlo Cicchitto owns a mom and pop household goods shop, but has no intention to open on a holiday.
CARLO CICCHITTO: (Through translator) We can't be slaves to the store. If we keep it open, utility costs would rise. This new law may be good for customers, but for us shopkeepers it's too big a sacrifice.
POGGIOLI: The governors of two regions are planning to challenge the new law in court. Despite being on opposite sides of the political spectrum, they claim de-regulated shop hours will create problems for small businesses and that consumerism is not a good answer to the economic crisis.
On the competiveness scale, Italy is at the bottom of the list of industrialized countries. The economy is dominated by powerful business lobbies, representing, for example, pharmacists, notaries, lawyers and taxi drivers. Professional guilds determine not only membership and pay scales but also work hours, and in the case of shops, the dates sales can take place.
Political scientist James Walston says Italian guilds are so deep-seated and part of the social fabric they'll be a challenge for the prime minister.
JAMES WALSTON: The chances of Monti actually defeating all of them and the chances of him introducing some sort of Thatcher or Reagan free-market Italy are very, very slim.
POGGIOLI: But deregulation is opening up new paths for some.
AHMED: Very nice. Very easy. Look at this, very, very, clever.
POGGIOLI: On the holiday of the Epiphany, one enterprising young man is drawing crowds of customers. At his outdoor stand, he demonstrates a simple kitchen gadget that peels, cores and slices vegetables. This master salesman is Ahmed, an Egyptian. A sign that immigrants, not chained to old traditions, are perhaps best equipped to take advantage of new opportunities.
Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.
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Iowa and New Hampshire are not demographic snapshots of America. They're smaller, less diverse and more rural than California, New York or Illinois - which have a lot more votes. But Iowa and New Hampshire win a lot of attention early in an election year. As an old political columnist, now departed, once told me over the din of clinking cups in an Iowa diner: If the first presidential caucuses were in Hawaii, Congress would give federal subsidies to make gasoline out of pineapples.
But does all the effort to please a few thousand voters in Iowa and New Hampshire make sense? Both major parties have fiddled with the primary lineup in recent years. Iowa and New Hampshire vow to remain first, even if they have to reschedule their voting for Halloween. The parties moved South Carolina and Florida to earlier primary dates at the end of this month, to give more weight to the growing South.
South Carolina has an African-American population of almost 30 percent. The demographic data for Florida - numbers of blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, even average daily commuting time - are within just a few percentage points of the national census numbers. Florida is also now the fourth most populous state in the nation, which often astonishes New Yorkers.
But I'm always inspired to see the road to the White House begin in two small, snowy states in which anyone who wants to look a candidate in the eye probably can - up close. Presidential contenders in Iowa and New Hampshire aren't just images on a screen. They're as eager to shake your hand as a friendly dog is to lick your shoes. People in town halls tend to ask informed questions about trade, jobs, debt and security, not just about opinion polls - or who's the minister for construction and spatial planning of Croatia? Iowa and New Hampshire let candidates with less money for ads at least try to compete with hard work, hearty handshakes and ideas.
There's a long list of people who won caucuses or primaries in those states who were not elected president: Mike Huckabee, Dick Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, Henry Cabot Lodge and Paul Tsongas. But some years, you can see the hand of history. Jimmy Carter won Iowa, then New Hampshire in 1976, and was no longer just a grinning, long-shot Southern governor. Barack Obama's victory in Iowa's 2008 caucuses seemed to answer if an African-American junior senator from a big city could win the votes and hopes of whites in small-town America with yes, we can. Iowa and New Hampshire might look small and vanilla in a nation of multiplying hues and creeds. But they pay attention to their leadoff role.
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This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Voters in New Hampshire are getting a last close-up glimpse of the candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination. But the number of candidates is dwindling in this last weekend before Tuesday's primary vote. Now, in a moment, we'll hear how Congressman Ron Paul's New Hampshire bid is shaping up. First, we're joined by NPR's national political correspondent Don Gonyea in Manchester. Don, thanks very much for being with us.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: My pleasure. Good morning.
SIMON: And we're just days away from New Hampshire's primary. Give us a sense of what's going on, please.
GONYEA: Candidates are busy. I don't know if this is an indicator of anything. But not a single event that has the word pancake in it this morning, Scott. Soâ¦.
SIMON: We're living in the age of the vegan omelet.
GONYEA: I think that's it. But there are unseasonably warm temperatures here today. The forecast is 48 degrees. So, expect big crowds, expect a lot of activity. Again, everybody is here with the exception of Texas governor Rick Perry, who's putting it all on South Carolina. He's down there. But it's important to remember how different New Hampshire is from Iowa - aside from the obvious. Voters here are far more likely to be independent. Thirty-eight percent of them self-identify as independent. They're far less likely than Iowa to be evangelical Christian or conservative Christian. Twenty-two percent here, compared to 57 percent in Iowa. So, it's a different kind of race and a different dynamic up here.
SIMON: Now, I understand you traveled a bit with Rick Santorum's campaign this week. Has he adjusted his message for New Hampshire after the success he enjoyed in Iowa?
GONYEA: He's shifted his focus a bit more, away from some of those social conservative topics - abortion, gay marriage - more toward a populist economic message. But again, he's drawing huge crowds, but he's not sneaking up on anybody here in New Hampshire the way he did in Iowa. He comes here after that very strong finish, losing by just eight votes to Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. So, everywhere I went with him yesterday, we also saw the fire marshals.
SIMON: That's a good sign for a candidate.
GONYEA: It's a very sign because it means they have filled the room they booked, and then some. Now, the Santorum campaign has booked relatively small rooms. But yesterday afternoon in Manchester, we were at the Belmont Hall, a kind of a place where you have wedding receptions and the like in town and it was just packed. So, ultimately they moved the whole thing out to the parking lot; no sound system, just the candidate standing there, shouting to the crowd, taking questions. His message there was: don't assume Mitt Romney is the only guy who can beat President Obama. Give a listen:
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GONYEA: So you can hear him kind of shouting to this crowd, but there was something else there that we've seen at a lot of these Santorum events - hecklers. They had easy access to the candidate this time because he was standing outside. But you heard a guy yell: Why do you want to take our freedoms away? He has been encountered by people at every stop, either heckling or asking questions about his staunch opposition to gay marriage, to same-sex marriage, and he has been very happy to step away from his economic message and engage. So there's been a lot of that for him.
SIMON: Now, of course, Don, there're just a small number of delegates that are actually at stake in New Hampshire. Help us understand why we cover this event so much.
GONYEA: At this stage of the game, it's not about the delegates. It's about these candidates demonstrating early strength. New Hampshire is so important because it is Mitt Romney's backyard. He was governor of Massachusetts. He owes a vacation home here in New Hampshire. He is expected to do very well. He needs to do very well. But already people are looking to South Carolina, the next contest and candidates are already bouncing back and forth between these two states.
SIMON: NPR's national political correspondent, Don Gonyea in Manchester, New Hampshire. Don, thanks so much.
GONYEA: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And Texas Congressman Ron Paul took a break from the campaign trail following his third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, but today he is back in New Hampshire. He'll take part in tonight's debate with the other Republican candidates for president. Yesterday, Dr. Paul addressed an enthusiastic crowd of supporters in an airplane hangar in Nashua and took particular aim at one of his competitors, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: It was a lively gathering and the 76-year-old Paul seemed to feed off the energy of his sign- and balloon-carrying backers. He mockingly said that some of his opponents want to, as he put it, label us.
REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL: They call us dangerous.
CROWD: Oooh.
PAUL: And you know in a way we are, to their empire. That's what we're dangerous to. We're dangerous to the special interests and the big spenders, the people who want to run our lives, they want to police the world and spend us into bankruptcy, and they think they know how to manage the economy. We're going to change that. They're in danger of getting routed from the system.
NAYLOR: Paul recited his by now familiar challenges to Washington and sometimes to Republican Party orthodoxy, including a return to the gold standard, fighting only wars that have been declared by Congress and making friends overseas by - in his words - minding our own business and not dropping bombs on people.
PAUL: You know, inevitably, you know, the pundits, those people that tend to interview us and try to embarrass, always come, up all right, Congressman Paul. You're so out of step with the Republicans and you have this foreign policy that seems so strange. Oh yeah, very strange - strong national defense, mind our own business and take care of ourselves.
NAYLOR: Paul's Libertarian message is expected to play well in this state, where the motto after all is live free or die. A new NBC Marist poll has Paul in second place in advance of next Tuesday's primary, but far behind Mitt Romney, who is the next thing to a favorite son here. Paul supporter Andy Bridge of Amherst says he's a former Republican who can't bring himself to vote for the candidate he dubs Mitt McCain.
ANDY BRIDGE: And that's the way I view Mitt Romney, as nothing more than John McCain light, you know. I find it so interesting that here's the apparent leader in the Republican Party being endorsed by a guy that Romney lost to, who then lost. I mean, it's madness.
NAYLOR: That same NBC poll shows Rick Santorum rising to challenge Paul for second place in New Hampshire. Speaking to reporters after the rally, Paul had plenty to say about Santorum's voting record in the Senate.
PAUL: He brags about being for the balanced budget amendment - never did anything about it, but four or five times he voted to raise the national debt. So, that tells you how conservative - he doubled the...in order to double the size of the Department of Education.
NAYLOR: And the Paul campaign released a new anti-Santorum ad that it plans to air in South Carolina, site of the next GOP primary after New Hampshire.
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NAYLOR: Paul says he plans to emphasize what his opponents believe in between now and Tuesday. And if people vote for somebody who supported big government, Paul says, that means they just didn't get enough information. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Manchester.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Obama may have riled Republicans with his recess appointment of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but there's bipartisan agreement on Mr. Cordray's qualifications. He served as Ohio's attorney general. Before that, he was Ohio state treasurer. For more, we're joined by our friend from the business world, New York Times op-ed columnist Joe Nocera. Joe, thanks for being with us.
JOE NOCERA: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: Joe, when we spoke in December, the Senate had blocked any confirmation vote for Richard Cordray. You talked about all the things you thought the bureau couldn't do because they didn't have a director. Well, now they do. What do you expect to see?
NOCERA: Well, I definitely expect them to try and get their arms around this whole sphere of unregulated financial institutions. We're talking about payday lending. We're talking about debt collecting. We're talking about the companies that rate your credit - the credit scoring companies, which have enormous importance. They affect 200 million people. And you can't buy a house or a car without a decent credit score. This has potential, by the way, to be enormously popular politically as well.
SIMON: Mr. Cordray's spoke with NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED earlier this week and said this:
RICHARD CORDRAY: Well, the key for us is that part of our job is to make prices and risk clear for consumers so that they can make good, better informed judgments for themselves. That doesn't mean that we're prejudging any particular product. We will be regulating payday lenders, mortgage brokers, private student lenders - and that's a very important step forward for us.
SIMON: Joe, how do you expect the bureau to enforce this?
NOCERA: Well, I mean, they have staff, they have enforcement staff. What he said at the beginning of that clip is very much what they have been doing so far - trying to simplify forms, trying to allow people, for instance, who are going to get an adjustable rate mortgage, to see what the ultimate cost would be versus a 30-year fixed mortgage, trying to have credit card statements that people can actually understand. Very simple consumer-friendly things. As they move forward, they almost certainly will bring an early action against, for instant, a payday lender that is deceiving consumers or a debt collector that is using underhanded tactics. I mean, those are very politically popular things to do and these are areas that have been unregulated for a very long time.
SIMON: Now, let me ask you about the political dimensions of this appointment, 'cause Mr. Cordray, everyone notes, was a five-time undefeated "Jeopardy!" champion. He's also been elected to statewide office in Ohio a couple of times. Ohio's a significant state politically.
NOCERA: Well, I mean, that is true. But I'm not convinced that that's why he got the job.
SIMON: It was also ground zero for the mortgage crisis.
NOCERA: That's right. And he has a very aggressive track record as attorney general in Ohio of trying to prosecute mortgage fraud. He got a $725 million settlement out of AIG. You know, he sued GMAC, General Motors' mortgage arm. You know, he's done a lot in this area. And the person who hired him originally was not President Obama; it was Elizabeth Warren, to make him her first enforcement chief, well, as he was setting up the bureau. Now, of course, it became impossible politically to get Elizabeth Warren named, so the president decided to appoint Cordray instead. I think the politics have less to do with Ohio than with the whole idea that we're going to stand up for consumers, we're going to do some aggressive things on behalf of consumers and we're going to contrast that behavior with what the Republicans are doing, which - as Obama would phrase it - is protecting the banks.
SIMON: Nevertheless, there are going to be some legal challenges questioning the constitutionality of the recess appointment, even the powers of the agency. Will that practically limit what the bureau can do with these present circumstances?
NOCERA: They say no. I say probably. It seems very likely that they will spend a lot of their first year in court defending themselves on five or six or seven different grounds, and that has to be inevitably time consuming.
SIMON: So, even if Mr. Cordray's is eventually legally upheld, over the next year there's just going to be so much on his plate, the effectiveness of the agency might be diminished.
NOCERA: I think that's possible. I mean, the senators and the chamber of commerce and all the opponents of this are going to do their best to muck up the works as much as possible between now and this November.
SIMON: Joe Nocera, op-ed columnist for the New York Times, speaking with us from Southampton, New York. Joe, thanks so much.
NOCERA: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The honey bee population of North America is in decline. That fact has even acquired an acronym, CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder. A number of theories have been advanced as to why honey bees are dwindling, including viruses, mites and various fungi.
This week, researchers at San Francisco State University published a paper with a finding that bees on their own campus have been invaded by parasitic flies, who lay their eggs in the bees abdomen which causes the bees to become disoriented - falling down drunk disoriented.
Andrew Core is the author of the study. We reached him by phone in Oregon. Thanks for being with us.
ANDREW CORE: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: So you're a graduate student at San Francisco State when you started noticing this?
CORE: That is correct. It was actually discovered in I believe 2008. My advisor, Dr. Hafernik, was actually collecting these bees off of a landing under a light, to feed praying mantis that he collected on a field trip. Well, he left a vial of these bees on his desk, forgetting to feed the praying mantis with them. And when he got back to the vial, he found that the parasites were also inside the vial - the larvae of the fly were inside the files.
SIMON: Help us understand how the bees behave. I guess you refer to it as zombie-like behavior.
CORE: Normally when insects are attracted to lights at nighttime, when it becomes light again they usually disperse. Well, we found that many of these bees would stay on the ground under the lights and crawl around disoriented, unable to stand up on their legs. And most of them would eventually die in place.
That led us to actually look at when the bees were coming out. And so, to do that, we clicked enclosures over the hive and found that the bees were actually leaving the hive at night. And that's one of the most important findings of the study, is that it's very unusual for honey bees to leave the hive at night. And we found an association between this odd nighttime abandonment and this parasite.
SIMON: Mr. Core, what can be done?
CORE: Well, coming up with an actual solution or a remedy to ridding the hives of the parasite will be one of the last steps, after really understanding how the parasites behave. One of the things that we want to look at is if the bees that are actually in inside the hive, if they are becoming parasitized. If a large number of bees within a hive became parasitized that could likely cause the collapse of a colony.
So, we have a lot of investigation to do as far as what bees within a hive are being parasitized, and what the overall effect is on the hive. So that's one of the many questions we have left to answer on this new parasite.
SIMON: Andrew Core, one of the authors of a study from researchers at San Francisco State University on one of the factors that might be driving bees from their hives.
Mr. Core, thanks so much.
CORE: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: This is NPR News.
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This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
Eleven-year-old Gloriana Hamphill, known as Glory, feels like she's about to have the worst summer of her life. It's 1964 in Hanging Moss, Mississippi, and she hears rumors that her neighborhood pool is closing. Her Fourth of July birthday is just days away. But the closing of the pool will be a window into history for Glory Hamphill, who will learn about bigotry, loyalty and bravery in that summer.
"Glory Be" is a book for young readers by Augusta Scattergood. It's her first novel. And Augusta Scattergood joins us from member station WUSF in Tampa, Florida.
Thanks so much for being with us.
AUGUSTA SCATTERGOOD: Thanks for inviting me. I'm so happy to be here.
SIMON: (unintelligible) You're a former librarian, I guess.
SCATTERGOOD: Oh yes, and once the librarian always a librarian.
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SCATTERGOOD: But I don't work as a library right now. I'm a writer.
SIMON: What brought you to want to write a story set among young people in this period of history, the 1960s?
SCATTERGOOD: Well, it all started because I actually lived there in Mississippi during the '60s. My home is Mississippi. And when I stopped working as a librarian, I decided I wanted to write. And I knew a lot about kids' books because I was a school librarian. And I started thinking about stories that would interest young readers, but would also be pertinent to what they were studying or what they needed to learn.
But really, the story sort of started off as a little bit of a memoir. Because a lot of it is things that actually happened between my sister and me, and it evolved into a young peoples' novel - historical fiction.
SIMON: Help us understand the play of the story a bit, because Glory learns that the school is going to be closed. And that's just absolutely devastating news and then she learned the reason why.
SCATTERGOOD: Originally, the town fathers say they're closing the pool because there are things that need fixing. And what she learns is that the things that need fixing aren't just concrete and broken drains.
SIMON: We need to be plain. Their pool is about to be closed because people don't want to integrate it.
SCATTERGOOD: Absolutely. And not only the swimming pool, but she also knows of a threat she hears through her librarian that the library might close, instead of allowing, quote, "just anybody to use the books." So there are a lot of things happening in that town in Hanging Moss, Mississippi in 1964.
SIMON: Let me get you to read a section of your novel. It's from the first chapter. And Glory and her best pal are running along on a hot summer day to meet her older sister, Jesslyn.
SCATTERGOOD: (Reading) Let's go, I said. It's so hot I can't hardly spit. Jesslyn is already at the pool. She might up and decide she's bored and leave before I put my big toe in the water. I scratched at a mosquito bite and tugged at the bathing suit under my shorts. The backs of my legs were burning up from sitting on the concrete bench outside the library. I couldn't wait to feel the water's coolness, to dive in and flutter kick all the way to the shallow end.
(Reading) Frankie yanked his towel. I hope the pool is even open, he mumbled. Wait a minute, I said, it'll be open. I'm going swimming. Why would they close the community pool now when every body needs a place to swim? I heard something. He stared up at a noisy mockingbird perched in the shade tree in front of the library. Anybody watching Frankie would've sworn that mockingbird was the most interesting critter in the universe.
(Reading) About cracks needing fixing, nobody's closing our pool. Where'd you hear that? My Daddy, but it's a secret, Frankie answered and headed off like he hadn't said a thing. Your Daddy, what does he know? I raced after him all the time, thinking why in tarnation would our pool be closing on the hottest day of the summer, just 12 days before the Fourth of July - my 12th birthday? And what was the big secret, anyhow?
SIMON: A lot of the story is about growing up in a time when you're told you're too young to understand things. But at the same time, you know that something is going on around you - something that you will be a part of one way or another.
SCATTERGOOD: At the time it was happening, whether or not we knew we were a part of anything, I think it all sort of evolved. And that's how I hoped to make Glory, you know, that she wouldn't know much at the beginning of the story but she learned a lot. She learned from the civil rights worker's daughter she befriended. She learned a lot from her maid, Emma, and certainly from her father - and even from her big, bossy sister, Jesslyn.
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SIMON: Yeah, that's - well, and the principal characters in the book are all white. Did you...
SCATTERGOOD: Well, except for Emma, of course.
SIMON: Emma, Emma. But did you think about making any attempt to put in the story on the other side of town, too?
SCATTERGOOD: I really didn't because I did not see that as my story to tell. I tried very hard to flesh out the African-American characters. Certainly, I had a tremendous love for Emma. And I felt like I really wanted her to not be a stereotype.
SIMON: And did you have an Emma in your life, or more than one Emma?
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SCATTERGOOD: I had an Emma. I absolutely had an Emma, her name was Alice. And although I had both my parents taking care of me too, I had a brother and a sister who were twins, and Alice and I read Nancy Drew books together as Emma and Glory do.
SIMON: Mm-hmm.
SCATTERGOOD: And she was a wonderful cook. She taught me how to cook. And I tried to make Emma a really great cook. She was also based a little bit on another friend of mine. I was taken care of by a woman who actually was named Emma, so she's probably and combination of people that I knew.
SIMON: Do you know where Alice is now?
SCATTERGOOD: Alice, I was at Alice's funeral, you know, 10-15 years ago. And she's not with us anymore. Unfortunately, a lot of people I would've loved to have read this book didn't live. The librarian that I'm just so fond of who was an activist in our town...
SIMON: Mm-hmm.
SCATTERGOOD: ...she recently died.
SIMON: Was that all the more important a reason to write the book, so that young people will be able to pick up the threads of that story?
SCATTERGOOD: Oh yes. I think that the people who were there when the actual events happened, for them to be able to tell the story and to share it with young readers, I think that's very important.
SIMON: Augusta Scattergood, a former school librarian and now has written her first novel for young adults, "Glory Be." She joined us from Tampa. Ms. Scattergood, thanks so much.
SCATTERGOOD: You're very welcome. I loved talking to you. Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now the story about one woman's effort to bring attention to the invisible wounds of war. The playwright Kate Wenner says she was stunned by investigations that showed thousands of U.S. troops were coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries and didn't receive the help they need. So Ms. Wenner decided to raise awareness through art. She's written a play about troops with traumatic brain injuries.
NPR's Daniel Zwerdling went to a production and has this report.
DANIEL ZWERDLING, BYLINE: We are sitting in a tiny theater in Chicago, barely 100 seats. It's pitch black. First, you hear the wind.
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND BLOWING)
ZWERDLING: Then soldiers' footsteps, then a glimmer of light over the stage. It's dawn and five soldiers spread out, in the desert.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
ZWERDLING: And the stage goes black for another moment. This is the home of a theater company called Stage Left. They decided to showcase Wenner's play in their new drama festival. Now the lights come back up.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEEPING)
ZWERDLING: And the soldiers aren't in Iraq anymore. They're in a brain rehab unit. They're in a hospital back in the United States.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
ZWERDLING: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have inspired dozens of plays. Most of them are about power, and politics and the brutality of war. Kate Wenner's play zeroes in on traumatic brain injuries. And she says she remembers the exact moment she decided to write it. She was filling her dishwasher at home in Massachusetts. The kitchen TV was on.
KATE WENNER: As I watched, there was this particular woman coming back from Iraq. I just remember she had a beautiful face, and her children were brought into the room, and she could not remember their names. And there was the metaphor for me. I mean here was in fact a woman who has lost her memory, but it made me think about how all of us lose our memories when it comes to the consequences of the wars we fight.
ZWERDLING: Wenner is short, intense. She used to be a journalist. She was a producer on "20/20," the TV news magazine. Every expose she worked on reached a national audience.
WENNER: Fifteen-21 million people, huge.
ZWERDLING: Then she left TV in the 1990s to write novels and now a play. And this time, her audience is tiny.
I think 99 people were in the theater.
WENNER: Mm. That's right: 99 people. I think people have become so inured to what they see on TV. You know, you see something on TV that has a great emotional impact on you. The next morning - I'm not by myself â literally, can't remember what it was. Now obviously, with a play, you don't get anywhere near the exposure, you know. But I've already discovered that when you're in a theater those people are more emotionally committed, you get to them much more profoundly than I ever saw with a television piece.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
ZWERDLING: This scene is part of one of the main conflicts that runs through the play. It's January 2005 and doctors have started to warn the Pentagon, we've got a terrible problem here. We're seeing lots of troops with mysterious brain injuries. But back in 2005, a lot of officials don't believe it. An actress named Lisa Herceg plays the doctor who runs the rehab clinic. William Watt plays a Pentagon big-wig, who got her the money to run the clinic.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
: (as Pentagon official) No, but I am in charge of your grant. They consider you my responsibility, especially when something seems out of line, like your claim that we could be looking at tens of thousands of undiagnosed brain injuries. Where the hell did you come up with a number like that?
: (as Dr. Fitch) From what you told me, Tom.
ZWERDLING: Kate Wenner says she didn't know anything about troops and brain injuries when she decided to write this play. So she did what she knows best.
WENNER: I called people up and, of course, I said I'm working on a play, you know. Hmm, that doesn't have, give you the same entree as saying, hello, I'm from ABC "20/20." So that was a little bit of a hurdle, but I did. I just called all over the country trying to find people who would speak with me.
ZWERDLING: And it turned out a lot of people would speak with her. She went to California, Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee, all with her own money. She met with Army doctors and soldiers, and their families, officials at the VA and Wenner blended them into the characters in her play. Like the angry doctor who speaks out, Dr. Fitch.
Is Dr. Fitch, the character in your play, Sandy Schneider?
WENNER: Well, you know, I interviewed about three doctors, but I would say mostly it was Sandy.
ZWERDLING: Sandy Schneider used to run the brain rehab program at Vanderbilt University's Medical Center, in Nashville Tennessee. They were treating soldiers from an Army base nearby, who had to struggle to get help. Wenner read an article about Schneider's work and she hopped on a plane to meet her. And now Schneider's come to the play, to see how Wenner portrayed her. I met with the real-life Sandy Schneider.
Dr. Fitch, the character in the play, is filled with indignation. She's furious with the Army. And you?
DR. SANDY SCHNEIDER: Was I? Oh, sure.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
SCHNEIDER: Oh, I gave interviews to the press. Sure I did, and the military base said, you know, or the public affairs person said, we don't want you to do anymore interviews. And they really did try to shut it down.
ZWERDLING: And Sandy, and what were you telling the press?
SCHNEIDER: That the soldiers weren't getting what they needed.
ZWERDLING: But didn't you think it was a teeny bit weird that a playwright is coming to you?
SCHNEIDER: Actually I've thought about that several times, and my mother asked me this morning. She says, why a playwright? And I said, as many different ways as we can get that message out, get it out.
ZWERDLING: When the audience breaks at intermission, there's buzz. Ann Cadigan is heading toward the snack counter.
ANN CADIGAN: I mean it's very interesting. I actually I hadn't heard about the problem of traumatic brain injuries before this.
ZWERDLING: Irwin Brown is leaning against the lobby wall, he's reading the program notes.
Anything in the play that you feel like you're learning that you didn't know before?
IRWIN BROWN: Yes. I come from the era of Vietnam, and so I saw all the cover-ups and I heard all the lies. And the truth of the matter is, I thought we learned some things since then.
SARE CLEMENCIA: My name is Mrs. Sare, Clemencia.
ZWERDLING: Does the play grip you in a way a movie would?
CLEMENCIA: No doubt about it. It gripped me, totally, and I even told my daughter while we were watching it, I'm always amazed at how they bring their characters and make them so life-like that you believe every little thing that they say. I do.
ZWERDLING: But Wenner says please remember: this is a play. Yes, she based it on research, but she's taken literary license with the characters and their conflicts. And no, she did not call officials at the Pentagon like a journalist would, to get their side of the story.
NPR and ProPublica have been investigating these issues over the past two years and we've found evidence that tens of thousands of troops with traumatic brain injuries have fallen through the cracks. Military officials say they've launched programs recently to do a much better job, diagnosing and treating soldiers.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
ZWERDLING: Wenner's play ran for three performances in Chicago, then it moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. And next the drama's scheduled to move to Colorado.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "MAKE SURE IT'S ME")
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ZWERDLING: Wenner says she hopes that somebody in every audience will get a shock of recognition. Wait a minute. Maybe that's what's wrong with my brother, or sister, or neighbor, or a colleague who's come home from the wars. Maybe they have TBI. And her play will prod them to get help. The play is called "Make Sure It's Me."
Daniel Zwerdling, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: Tomorrow, we welcome a new colleague to the weekends. Rachel Martin takes the chair as host of WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY. She'll have the news of the day and an interview with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and tough choices ahead as the Pentagon weighs half a trillion dollars in budget cuts.
SECRETARY LEON PANETTA: What's going to happen to those people that come back to this country from the battle zones? How are we going to deal with them? What kind of jobs are we going to be able to provide them? How are we going to care for them? So it's both the weaponization, modernization side of it. But it's also the human side of it that make these decisions tough.
SIMON: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaking with WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY host Rachel Martin. You can hear her exclusive interview tomorrow.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits has been dropping around the country as the new year begins. Companies are laying off fewer workers, and hiring may be picking up. The U.S. Labor Department reported yesterday that the unemployment rate is now 8.5 percent, the lowest level in almost three years.
But 8.5 is just an average. Prospects for losing or finding a job depend on where you live.The unemployment rate in Stockton, California, is about 15.5 percent; in Lincoln, Nebraska, it's 3.2; and Jacksonville, Florida, about 9.5. Around the country, people without jobs struggle to get by and look for a future, sharing their frustrations with candor, poignance and even a little humor.
MILES HOFFMAN: My name is Miles Hoffman, and I'm a designer-drafter. I've been looking for work for almost two years now. I was laid off from ENVY Energy. I went from a house to an apartment, to now I live in a weekly hotel. The next level is the street.
DAVE BRINKERHOFF: My name is Dave Brinkerhoff(ph). I'm in landscaping. Lost my job on Monday, and it's the first time in my life that I've been laid off - in 25 years - and I'm scared to death.
MOLLY JOHNSON: My name is Molly Johnson. I have been looking for work since March of 2010. We read headlines about, Massachusetts has added so many thousand jobs. That doesn't really help if I don't know where those jobs are. What do I need to do to get a job? I'm young; I'm healthy; I'm creative; I'm smart. I'm willing to learn, so help me out here.
JILL R. GONZALEZ: My name is Jill R. Gonzalez. I've been working for Wal-Mart for 15 years. I got laid off December 2nd, so we didn't have Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We've taken on a housemate for the first time - my wife and I - in our tiny apartment; cutting down on everything - food, after-work beer. I don't have a job, so there's no after-work anymore.
CHRISTINE MORGAN: My name is Christine Morgan. There's no movies, there's no going out to dinner or anything like this. I mean, it's really penny pinching.
STEVEN A. GIFFIN: Steven A. Giffin. Most of my life has been logging and construction. Construction in the summertime, logging in the wintertime. I live with my sister at this point - well, between brother and sister. Other than that, I have absolutely nothing. If not for the grace of my family, I wouldn't have anything at all.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: I'm going to use my whole 401(k) retirement check to pay all my bills for a year.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I've had to give up my car, give up how I live.
LEONARD FRANCES: My name is Leonard Frances. I've been employed in the human-service sector and mental-health field for 20 years, and I've been unemployed for about a year. I don't know if I'm optimistic but I'm hopeful, yeah. I'm not even sure what the difference is; I'll have to check Websters.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, which killed six people and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Memorial events are taking place all weekend.
NPR's Ted Robbins has been there and tells us how people are commemorating an event they cannot forget.
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Whether it's news of Gabby Giffords recovery, the accused gunman in court, or just a visit to the Safeway on the corner of Ina and Oracle Roads, in Tucson, reminders of last January's shooting have been everywhere. So this anniversary is a city-wide event. At Tucson's International School for Peace, teachers wanted to commemorate the shooting without focusing on fear and negativity. They found a way for their students to do that.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN SINGING)
ROBBINS: The International School for Peace is a preschool. About two-dozen children sang songs, then released balloons into the sky with slips of paper tied to them containing peaceful wishes.
CHILDREN AND TEACHERS: OK, ready? Uno, dos, tres, whooh.
ROBBINS: A.J. Hoxie is a teacher at the school. For her students, the shooting was a lifetime ago.
A.J. HOXIE: With kids this age they're not going to remember that so all we can do is hope that in the future they'll be peaceful people and that's what we try to do here. There's nothing more uplifting than seeing little children singing songs of peace - gives you a lot of hope for the future.
ROBBINS: Pam Simon remembers. She is one of three Giffords' staff members who were shot last January 8th. Simon's physical wounds have healed. Her emotional wounds - well, she says she's getting there.
PAM SIMON: Emotionally it's been a journey.
ROBBINS: Even a helicopter brings back memories.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER)
SIMON: See, in February that would have bothered me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: The helicopter flying overhead.
SIMON: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause when I was being loaded into an ambulance I could hear the helicopters landing. And so, and then all of a sudden one day you realize that you are, you know, time has moved on and it's just a helicopter.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: For months after the shooting, Pam Simon suffered the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Even in church, she says she'd imagine the worst and looked for escape routes.
SIMON: What if a gunman came in the back of the church, which direction would I go? Could I get under the pew fast enough? And what you do is just bring yourself back to present.
ROBBINS: Pam Simon says she's looking forward to seeing some colleagues from Giffords' Washington office. She's not necessarily looking forward to some of the anniversary events.
SIMON: I wouldn't use the word dread, but I'm going into this knowing full well that it will be emotional. And there's nothing wrong with that but it is exhausting.
ROBBINS: Today, the day before the actual anniversary, nearly 30 events are scheduled city-wide. Mostly outdoors. Hiking, bike riding, arts projects; all under the umbrella of Beyond Tucson, an organization started by Ross Zimmerman.
ROSS ZIMMERMAN: To teach people to use their brains and bodies and engage with others in ways that will make their brains, bodies and spirit healthier.
ROBBINS: Ross Zimmerman lost his son, Gabe, in the shooting. Gabe was Gabby Giffords' outreach director, a people person, like his father.
ZIMMERMAN: You know, my pattern seems to be that I seem to take comfort from being around other people. Other folks are wanting to keep to themselves is what I'm hearing.
ROBBINS: Some victim's families left town, not wanting to deal with the anniversary in public. On Sunday morning, at 11 minutes past 10, the time of the shooting, people all over Tucson will ring bells in honor of the victims. A number of services follow, culminating in a candlelight vigil at the University of Arizona.
Still recovering from her wounds, Gabby Giffords will be at that event, alongside her husband Mark Kelly.
Ross Zimmerman will be there, as well. But he would gladly give up the tributes, the remembrances, and the kind words.
ZIMMERMAN: Why couldn't we just get rid of all this and have Gabe back? And that's true for all of us, you know? There's no way to make that trade but, you know, if he could be here and me not, that'd be fine with me.
ROBBINS: A year later, the wounds may not be as raw, but the anniversary is a reminder that the loss will never go away.
Ted Robbins, NPR News, Tucson.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And it's time now for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: It's the opening day of the NFL wild card playoffs. But really, any of those teams going to make a run at Green Bay or New England, and their marquee quarterbacks?
NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman joins us to talk about wild card weekend. Morning, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Happy New Year, Scott.
SIMON: And Happy New Year to you. The Pack have lost like, one game since the Cro-Magnon era...
GOLDMAN: Yeah...
SIMON: ...or something like that. But the New England Patriots can tell you, that's no lock on the Super Bowl. So are these wild card games this weekend - I'll say maybe with the exception of New Orleans, Detroit - are they just to sell beer, or any real potential Super Bowl teams in the lineup?
GOLDMAN: You know, the playoffs are a lot more wide open than people thought a few weeks ago, when the Packers were steaming toward an undefeated season. So yes, that Detroit-New Orleans game; the Saints with their marquee quarterback, Drew Brees, are a trendy pick to win the Super Bowl if, first, they can beat the Lions and their soon-to-be-marquee quarterback, Matthew Stafford. It's expected to be a shootout tonight in the Superdome.
Also, tomorrow, Scott, keep an eye on those New York Giants. They play Atlanta. When the Giants won the Super Bowl four years ago, they got hot at the end of the season and rode that momentum to an upset win over New England. The Giants, the last two weeks, beat the Jets and the Cowboys in must-win games. They're on a roll.
SIMON: I want to ask you about the Pittsburgh Steelers - a premiere but limping team. They're playing the Denver Broncos, who've had a rough three weeks, because rookie quarterback Tim Tebow hasn't been able to put his, you know, hands on another bolt of lightning from on high for another last-second win. Who do you see in that game?
GOLDMAN: Pittsburgh. I mean, Tebow's been pretty horrid during this stretch. He's only completed 41 percent of his passes; several interceptions. He's looked lost and frantic. And now, he goes against that aging but still great Steelers defense. I like them.
SIMON: I'm - just to be puckish, I'm going to say Denver by 6, OK? And he's getting advice from John Elway, right?
GOLDMAN: He is. John Elway says pull the trigger, Tim - which is prompting some people to say, duck.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GOLDMAN: You know, statistics say...
SIMON: If you can pull the trigger like John Elway, of course, that's what you do.
GOLDMAN: Yeah. Exactly. But statistics say Pittsburgh's defense is particular good in the fourth quarter and overtime, when Tebow time happens. The oddsmakers have Pittsburgh by 9. I think that sounds about right.
SIMON: I have to ask you about Penn State this week, who hired - really, their first new football coach since 1966. And he's the offensive coordinator of the Patriots, Bill O'Brien. He will replace the legendary Joe Paterno, of course, who was fired in the wake of the alleged child sexual abuse scandal involving one of his longtime coaches. Lot of folks at Penn State seem miffed they didn't take someone from the program, but was that ever really in the cards?
GOLDMAN: Well, you know, they had hoped someone with some ties to the university would've been considered, but O'Brien is a total outsider. His only link to Paterno is, they both went to Brown. The Penn State faithful are also worried that O'Brien has never been a head coach, and he's stepping into a tough job.
But Scott, recently - remember - we saw O'Brien in a screaming match with New England quarterback Tom Brady on the sidelines, during a televised game. O'Brien didn't back down to a superstar player. Maybe that's an indication of the toughness he'll need in State College.
SIMON: Tom, we've got to end with a sad story this week out of New York that you noticed - where a beloved coach of a girl's basketball team died. What can you tell us about this man?
GOLDMAN: Yeah. Apache Paschall was only 38 when he died on Tuesday. In the late '90s, he started putting together club and high school teams in the city that became nationally ranked. He turned out players who played for top teams in Division I women's college basketball. Some went on to the WNBA.
You know, New York City has a reputation for turning out top male basketball players - some from tough, inner-city neighborhoods. But the girls' game has lagged behind. Not as many people have been willing to dedicate themselves to at-risk girls when there's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in women's hoops. But Paschall was one of those passionately committed to his girls - some of whom say that without Apache, they'd still be on the streets.
This week, the day before he died from an apparent heart attack, he was at the high school practice in Brooklyn, too weak to coach. He apparently just sat and watched. A lot of people are going to miss him.
SIMON: Well, Tom, thank you very much for helping us appreciate him this week. NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thanks so much.
GOLDMAN: You bet.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: And you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
Shakespeare's Iago is one of the great defining villains of literature. He masquerades as a friend, and that disguises his schemes to manipulate, betray and destroy. He fools Othello into believing that his wife is betraying him - she's not - then manipulates his old friend and commander into having her killed in a fit of engineered jealousy.
But when Iago's deceits are discovered and he's imprisoned, he clams up, invoking his right to remain silent centuries before the Miranda ruling. Demand me nothing, he says at the end of "Othello." What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word. So he doesn't - until now.
David Snodin, who worked as a script editor on a famous BBC production of Shakespeare's plays, has now written a novel in which he imagines what happens after Iago is put behind a stout iron prison door in Crete. His new book is called "Iago." David Snodin joins us from London.
Thanks so much for being with us.
DAVID SNODIN: It's good to be with you.
SIMON: What prompted you to pick up Iago and run with him into a new story?
SNODIN: Well, I've been obsessed with him ever since as a mere boy. I went to the old Vic Theater here in London and queued all night and all day to see the great Laurence Olivier do his Othello. But despite his being extraordinary and quite the most remarkable theatrical experience I've ever had, the person who I was drawn most to was Frank Finlay's Iago.
And then, I won't admit how many years later, I was working here at the BBC on the BBC's Shakespeares and there was a production that Jonathan Miller, Dr. Jonathan Miller directed with Anthony Hopkins as Othello and Bob Hoskins as Iago. And I have to say, Bob Hoskins's performance as Iago is probably the best performance I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of them.
And it was from that point on that I began to think, well, it would be nice to try and portray this iconic Shakespearian villain as if he was just a man and to try and find out why he does what he does.
SIMON: At the heart of your story is a character named Annibale Malipiero, who is the chief inquisitor of the Serene Republic of Venice.
SNODIN: Yeah.
SIMON: Is this a, as they might put it in Venice, waterway-weary cop.
SNODIN: How do you mean? I'm sorry.
SIMON: We would say street-weary cop, but I changed it for Venice.
SNODIN: Oh, well, canal-weary cop.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Canal-weary, better, better.
SNODIN: Well, actually, I've made him not only a canal-weary cop, but I've made him a cop who doesn't like water, which I think is, you know, just one of the little jokes I've got in the book.
SIMON: And the chief inquisitor hatches his own scheme, if you please. There's a 15-year-old kid, Gentile Stornello, a dreamy boy who's been framed for murder. And he arranges for the two of them to escape from prison together. And they go off on a jaunt, fleeing to the countryside. Now, what is the inquisitor hopeful will happen on their romp?
SNODIN: Well, he - I mean, the most important thing to remember about Iago at the end of the play is that he says from now on I will speak no more. I will say nothing. And he hasn't spoken. And it is only when he arrives in the prison he starts to speak to the boy, because the boy is, in fact, a cousin of another character in the play, Desdemona, who Iago has manipulated Othello to kill.
So somehow that association makes Iago speak. And Annibale, our wily inquisitor, Annibale, thinks, well, if he's speaking to this boy and he's not speaking to me and he's not speaking to anybody else, maybe I should use this boy as a means of getting him to talk more and to reveal not that he did it or he didn't do it, but why he did what he did.
You know, Iago's no psychopath. He's not a mass murderer. He only kills one person. That's his wife. And he kills her because she's about to spill the beans. He gets other people to hate each other. He's I suppose what you call a sociopath. He's somebody who believes in making people destroy each other. I think that's what fascinates him and that's what fascinates me about this kind of person.
SIMON: And when you work Shakespeare's words in the kind of proximity that you did, when you take some of his characters and storylines and try and run them through your own imagination, how does it change your appreciation for Shakespeare's genius?
SNODIN: Well, one thing I somewhat contentiously say sometimes about Shakespeare is that he wasn't very good at plots. He's fantastic at creating characters. And, of course, his verse is matchless and his prose is matchless. But his plots - most notably the plot of "Othello" - are not totally watertight. That aside, his characters are devastatingly profound, and one treads very warily on those characters and some might say that I've been a bit cheeky to have done so. But I certainly want to emphasize that my take on Iago is just my take on Iago. And, more importantly than anything, I want people to read it who don't know who Iago was and don't know who Othello was and who don't know - dare I say it - who Shakespeare was. Now, it's unlikely that many of those will, but in some sense it's a story that I want to stand on its own. I just hope it's a jolly good story.
SIMON: So, what's next? As it turns out, Juliet lives?
SNODIN: Well, you see, this is...
SIMON: Wakes up and marries a rug salesman?
SNODIN: Yeah. Well, anything's possible. Look, a friend of mine - a very, very good friend of mine - once told me I've got a franchise here. I've got Cressida, I've got Juliet. But actually in truth, believe it or not, I am doing another villain but it's a woman and it's very different from Iago. It's in fact Goneril in "King Lear," who is the nasty older sister, Cordelia's older sister. Goneril and Regan, they're often called the ugly sisters of Shakespeare. I just think she's an absolutely fascinating character.
SIMON: David Snodin, joining us from London. His new novel - and clearly not his last - "Iago." Thanks so much.
SNODIN: Thank you very much indeed.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Austin-based musician Carolyn Wonderland kicks off her new CD with an old Janis Joplin tune, and you would be excused if you thought you were listening to Janis herself.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT GOOD CAN DRINKIN DO")
CAROLYN WONDERLAND: (Singing) What good can drinking do. What good can drinking do. I drink all night, but the next day I still feel blue...
MARTIN: That's "What Good Can Drinkin Do" off of Carolyn Wonderland's latest CD. It's titled "Peace Meal" - that's P-E-A-C-E. And she joins us now from member station KUT in Austin. Carolyn, welcome to the program.
WONDERLAND: Howdy. Thanks so much for having me.
MARTIN: Now, this is a fairly obscure Janis Joplin song you've chosen to open up your album. Why this tune?
WONDERLAND: Well, it's a funny thing. Growing up in Texas, you know, if you're a girl, you pretty much learn that you sing Janis songs to yourself in private. You don't do it in public.
MARTIN: How come?
WONDERLAND: Well, 'cause nobody can do it any better, and that's, you know, I mean, that's just true. That's where it is. If you want to find your own voice, it's difficult to do, you know, in such large footsteps. But after a while, I finally just decided, well, I really want to say thank you. I mean, I know I can't do it any better but I sure would like to say thanks to where it came from for me.
MARTIN: And was there any part of you that was hesitant, intimidated about taking on such a legend?
WONDERLAND: Every part of me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHING)
MARTIN: I want to hear a little bit more from you and that voice that's channeling Janis Joplin. Let's listen to the classic, "Dust My Broom."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DUST MY BROOM")
MARTIN: Carolyn, this is such a well-worn blues tune. I mean, it's like a pair of old blue jeans for a lot of people. How do you...
WONDERLAND: Oh, yeah.
MARTIN: ...how do you approach that song? How do you say I'm going take that and I'm going to make it a little something different?
WONDERLAND: Well, the funny thing about that song is we originally we were recording it for Michael Nesmith. He has this...
MARTIN: And we should point out, he was part of the Monkees back in the day.
WONDERLAND: Oh, yeah. As a matter of fact. He's a really groovy guy. And so he has this book he decided he wanted an audio companionship to it, so we cut it for him and there was so much joy on that track. It just sounded so fun. We thought, well, we got to keep it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DUST MY BROOM")
MARTIN: And that's you on guitar, which in this case is lap steel. And that brings up another legendary Texan, whose name often comes up in articles written about you, Stevie Ray Vaughn. Again, big name, big blues shoes to fill.
WONDERLAND: Good Lord. I don't even come close to filling the toe of either of them.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHING)
MARTIN: When you think about how you approach the guitar, are there people that you go to that you listen that you study?
WONDERLAND: Well, a lot of it's just by virtue of getting thrown out of school when I did and hanging out in the right bars, I suppose. But...
MARTIN: When did you get thrown out of school?
WONDERLAND: Well, the one that stuck I was about 17, so that was when it was legally OK to not go back.
MARTIN: Not to plumb this too deeply, but when you left, did you know that you wanted to pursue music? At what point...
WONDERLAND: Oh yeah.
MARTIN: ...did you realize that that was what you wanted your life to be about?
WONDERLAND: When I was about 8 years old, I started playing guitar and piano and just whatever was laying around the house. And pretty much then I decided, say OK, well, that's going to be it. I'm going to play music, so whatever it takes to do that.
MARTIN: Do you remember what you played when you were little?
WONDERLAND: Oh, yeah. Mostly I played on my mom's Martin. The reason I don't play with picks is because I scratched up her Martin pretty good when I was about 10. No picks after that. And it's odd to think that that's a derivative. It's how my tone comes out the way it does, I think, is 'cause was never allowed to play with picks.
MARTIN: What do you mean by that?
WONDERLAND: When you're playing with a pick, you have basically one surface. It's, you know, it's a plectrum of whatever, you know, material you have that made of. When you use your flesh, you've got your finger, you've got your nail, you've got calluses that you're eventually wearing. You've got three different surfaces, and plus you got all five of them playing what it wants.
MARTIN: What do your hands look like? Pretty beat up?
WONDERLAND: They're a mess.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
MARTIN: I want to talk a little bit about your voice. It's been called part-whiskey, part-wolf mother, which I like particularly. I'm not quite sure what a wolf mother sounds like. But wondering, you know, which has been the tougher instrument for you to master? The guitar or your voice?
WONDERLAND: I think they're both equally as interesting. Some nights, you know, after being on the road for, like, a few months on, you know, on and off, you find that your voice may or may not reach all those notes that you could a few weeks ago.
MARTIN: What do you do on those bad days when the notes, you're just not hitting them?
WONDERLAND: Well, you know, I think about a lot of singers who had a different range or a limited range, like Billie Holliday. I mean, she rarely went outside of one octave but what she did with that one octave was amazing. So, I try to be more effective with the notes you have, you know?
MARTIN: Now, Mike Nesmith, who you mentioned, who was of Monkees fame and he's one of the producers on this CD, I understand he's also the man who last March married you and your now-husband comedian Whitney Brown. Have I got that right?
WONDERLAND: As a matter of fact.
MARTIN: And from reading the account of that wedding in the Vows section in the New York Times, which I troll from time to time, I learned that the song called "St. Marks" on this CD is actually a tribute to your first night together with Mr. Brown. Is that correct?
WONDERLAND: It is. It's my first love song I ever wrote. I mean, I have attempted love songs, don't get me wrong, but this is the first one that is an actual capital L love song.
MARTIN: Capital L, OK. Well, let's take a listen to a little bit of it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ST. MARKS")
MARTIN: What's intimidating about writing a love song?
WONDERLAND: You feel a bit naked when you do something like that. When you're angry, you have to write just, you know, indignation and you can enter about, you know, how I feel this way and aren't I right? When you're talking about things like love, I mean, you're leaving yourself a little naked there.
MARTIN: I want to ask you about your name, if I may.
WONDERLAND: Sure.
MARTIN: Is it really Carolyn Wonderland?
WONDERLAND: No. That was dubbed on me in high school. I ended up with a gig and no name for a band. What was I going to do? And my friend, under the influence of copious amounts of let's not say, decided that Carolyn Wonderland would be a pretty funny name. And I thought, well, hot dog, you're right.
MARTIN: What's your real name, if I can ask?
WONDERLAND: Bradford.
MARTIN: Carolyn Bradford.
WONDERLAND: Although Brown now.
MARTIN: Yeah, Carolyn Brown. But Carolyn Bradford just didn't do it for you, huh?
WONDERLAND: Oh, well, I always figured too, it's like if I should go out and take a bunch of chances and make a mistake, why should I bring my family name into it?
(SOUNDBITE OF "TWO TRAINS")
MARTIN: I'd like to finish our conversation with another classic, if that's OK. This is Muddy Waters. This is called "Two Trains." Let's take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TWO TRAINS")
MARTIN: Well, Carolyn, it's been a pleasure. Thanks so much for speaking with us.
WONDERLAND: Are you kidding? Thanks so much for having me.
MARTIN: From member station KUT in Austin, Carolyn Wonderland. Her new CD is called "Peace Meal." Thanks again, Carolyn.
WONDERLAND: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TWO TRAINS")
MARTIN: And to hear more songs from Carolyn Wonderland, go to NPRMusic.org. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. When North Korean President Kim Jong Il died last month, media outlets around the world tried to cover the story with very few facts, because there are no clear facts about North Korea. It is arguably the most closed society in the world, run as a hereditary fiefdom by a family of dictators. We're now on the third generation, the newly installed Kim Jong Un. Journalists and writers are rarely granted access to North Korea, and when they are they are escorted by official minders and they see mostly what the regime wants them to see, leaving a whole lot to the imagination. That's where Adam Johnson comes in. His new novel is called "The Orphan Master's Son," and in it, Johnson uses his own imagination to reveal a more nuanced picture of what life for North Koreans may be like. Adam Johnson joins me now from member station KQED in San Francisco. Adam, thanks so much for being with us.
ADAM JOHNSON: My pleasure.
MARTIN: So, I understand that as part of your research for this book, you actually got a visa. You actually traveled to North Korea. First off, how did you manage to get in and what was it like?
JOHNSON: It used to be impossible to get in and then it became very difficult and now it's actually possible to do it as an average citizen. But I applied to go as a visiting scholar and then as a professor exchange and finally I went in with a friend who has an NGO there in North Korea. Though we were covered by five minders, the two of us, and there wasn't a moment that went unregarded by them.
MARTIN: So, what did you see?
JOHNSON: Exactly what they wanted to show us. When I showed an interest in a certain place in Pyongyang, they took us to Myohyang. When I became fascinated with Myohyang, they took us to Pemanjang. When I wanted to stay longer in Pemanjang, they took us to Kaesong City. I had probably done a couple of years of research on my novel and was deeply into it at that point, so I knew the exact things that I wanted to see that I was hoping to depict in the book. But still there were surprises that I never could have imagined, like seeing a family scrambling in a public park to steal chestnuts and to run away with them in a plastic bucket - at great peril, I would assume.
MARTIN: I want to hear more about how your trip informed your writing. But first, can you just give us a sense of the story that you've written here. Tell us a little bit about it.
JOHNSON: Well, in this novel we begin with a model citizen of North Korea, Pak Jun Do. He does as he's told, when he's told, often dark and sinister things. He's an orphan. He's at the lowest run of society, out on the farthest fringe in the city of Chongjin. Unfortunately, orphans there are really young laborers, and when they are turned into the military at a young age, they're often given the most dangerous tasks. And it is through coincidence that our orphan, Pak Jun Do, comes to encounter the American Navy out on the Sea of Japan. And here he gets the first look at an alternative way of being a human being. And the doors opened to a new possibility for the second half of the book.
MARTIN: Did you have any experience with North Korean orphanages? Is that something you saw on your trip?
JOHNSON: Well, the person I went to North Korea with managed orphanages in South Korea and was connected to orphanages in North Korea. Unfortunately, because of the famines and the floods, there are many orphans in North Korea and they honestly just become of the lowest caste of the workforce because there's no one in the world to advocate for them.
MARTIN: Can you talk a little more about what happened on that trip? You say you were looking for specific things to help you fill in the blanks in this story.
JOHNSON: Well, the book features the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, there were a couple of government offices that I wanted to see. And they were very reassured that I wanted to see some of the things that they showed me. But I also asked questions that were deeply troubling to them. I said where are all the handicapped people? I wanted to know where the fire station was. I said where were the mailboxes? It was deeply surreal to walk among thousands of people in the streets of Pyongyang and see that the men all have the same exact haircut. They wear the same blue shoes. And the women, perhaps one of the more surreal things I've ever seen is seeing thousands of women wear the exact same shade of lipstick.
MARTIN: The book itself is an epic adventure. You tell the story of this orphan, Jung Do, but there's another perspective in the book, that of a government interrogator. His family calls him a torturer.
JOHNSON: The book starts far out in the hinterland of North Korea in Chongjin. And it's slowly moves towards the center of Pyongyang and the center of power and toward Kim Jong Il, who's the black hole that warps all the reality around him. And so I wanted to get a character who lived normal Pyongyang life so we could look at the clangbak(ph) buses racing by and see the Moranbong Theater and walk along the Taedong River with him. And so he was the main communicator of Pyongyang to my reader.
MARTIN: And you keep this man anonymous. We never learn his name. But we do learn about him and the peculiar nature of family life in North Korea as you've characterized it. And I wonder if you wouldn't mind reading a passage for us from the book. It's page 275.
JOHNSON: Certainly. (Reading) There's a talk that every father has with his son in which he brings the child to understand that there are ways we must act, things we must say. But inside, we are still us. We are still family. I was 8 when my father had this talk with me. We were under a tree on Moranbong Hill. He told me that there was a path set out for us. On it, we had to do everything the signs commanded and heed all the announcements along the way. Even if we walked this path side by side, he said, we must act alone on the outside, while on the inside we would still be holding hands.
MARTIN: It's a lovely paragraph and it's really one of the moments in the book that illustrates life in North Korea. But there's also this disconnect. Can you talk a little bit about what he's trying to communicate with his son.
JOHNSON: Well, he's preparing his son for the realities of the world that they live in. He's letting him know that the innocence is going to end and preparing him for the fact that dark things may happen, that saying something at the wrong time could result in the worst peril, the gulags.
MARTIN: People who speak out or refuse to out their neighbors as somehow betraying the regime often end up in prison camps, in these work camps. And you spend a good portion of the story painting that picture, describing these camps and some of these passages are hard to read.
JOHNSON: The State Department has an incredible list of Google maps of all the gulags on its website. Seeing the satellite images of the huge barracks and the prison mines and the graveyards and the execution yards, it's just terrifying. Reading about the amputations and forced abortions, it filled my mind with darkness for a year. And honestly, I tried to prevent too much of that dark reality from seeping into the book because I didn't want to outweigh the humanness of my characters.
MARTIN: I mean, Adam, a lot of us - the reason we pick up a book, a novel in particular, is to escape ourselves in some way. And I have to admit that when I was first handed this book, I thought, I don't know if I want to live in this world. I don't know if I want to devote my imagination to North Korea for the time it would take to read this book.
JOHNSON: Well, in terms of the fact that the book is maybe not a beach read, escapist enterprise, I would say that North Korea is the most fascinating, mysterious place in the world and it utterly captivated my imagination. And I believe that the look behind the curtain is something almost no one has seen in the world.
MARTIN: What if you got it wrong? Is there a part of you that wonders, you know, I don't know, I'm using my imagination here to fill in the blanks.
JOHNSON: Well, the way we would know if we got it wrong is that freedom comes to the DPRK; is that artists there are allowed to tell their own stories. And that would be the greatest thing in the world, is to find out from them, from their artists about their own experiences. And I hope that happens.
MARTIN: Author Adam Johnson. His new novel is called "The Orphan Master's Son." He joined us from member station KQED in San Francisco. Adam, thanks so much for talking with us.
JOHNSON: My pleasure.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Academy Awards are next month and one contender has already won over fans in Hawaii, where the movie was filmed. "The Descendants," starring George Clooney, is a story of a family grappling with death and infidelity. Its soundtrack is composed entirely of Hawaiian music.
Heidi Chang reports.
HEIDI CHANG, BYLINE: When Alexander Payne set out to make, "The Descendants," he decided to do something no other director had done before - score a Hollywood movie entirely with Hawaiian music. In the beginning, Payne didn't know much about the music. Then, he discovered the legendary Gabby Pahinui.
ALEXANDER PAYNE: And when I started listening to Gabby, I just fell in love.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
PAYNE: And in fact, so much so, that I considered for awhile trying to score the whole film with his music. I wound up not doing that because there are so many other Hawaiian artists to show and to discover. But his remains the anchoring voice in the film.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SONG)
CHANG: Pahinui is known as the Father of Modern Slack-key Guitar. In Hawaii, that style is called Ki ho alu, which means Loosen the Key, referring to its open tunings.
Since Pahinui's death in 1980, his music continues to resonate with listeners like Payne.
PAYNE: He had somehow in his way of playing the guitar, in his arrangements, certainly in his voice, a way of hooking you in - really of seducing you, of seducing the listener with his unique, seemingly carefree soulfulness.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KAUAI BEAUTY")
CHANG: In the 1970's, Pahinui was at the forefront of the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance. Thousands turned out to watch him perform backed by his four sons. Both Martin and Cyril Pahinui were overwhelmed to hear their father's music open "The Descendants."
MARTIN PAHINUI: I was blown away.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PAHINUI: I say, yeah. I was so proud of him. Just to hear the music track, I tell you, I cried. That was amazing to hear the music, you know, that I helped my dad record this music. The first song was "Ka Makani Ka ili Aloha." It goes like...
(Singing in foreign language)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, âKA MAKANI KA`ILI ALOHAâ)
CHANG: Among the six Gabby Pahinui songs featured in "The Descendants," four were produced by Steve Siegfried of Panini Records. Siegfried says back in the 1970s, Pahinui was the most influential artist in Hawaii. And he's glad his music will now reach a wider audience, thanks to the movie.
STEVE SIEGFRIED: He represented a true Hawaiian lifestyle and a Hawaiian that pursued a musical career. Gabby never made a lot of money in his life. And, you know, he never did it for the money. He did it for the love of the music.
CHANG: And, Siegfried says it's music you don't hear in Hollywood's version of Hawaii.
SIEGFRIED: I think this is a great thing for the artists that are on the soundtrack, to be able to get out to this bigger audience of people that are looking for something authentic. This is real authentic. It doesn't get more real than this.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: Slack-key guitarist Keola Beamer is also featured prominently in the soundtrack. But at first, Beamer says he was hesitant to contribute to the project.
KEOLA BEAMER: You know, Hawaii has really been poorly portrayed in the past. It's been portrayed very stereotypically, just a lot of surface stuff, you know, sunlight and pretty girls in bikinis. And kind of comedy light kind of stuff. I think that this is one of best movies to come out of Hawaii, if not the best.
I felt proud as a Hawaiian human being and that's a nice feeling. That doesn't happen often with Hawaiians in Hollywood.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CHANG: Beamer and another slack-key guitarist, Jeff Peterson, were the only artists director Alexander Payne asked to record specifically for the soundtrack.
JEFF PETERSON: At first I was a little nervous. I was thinking, wow, I have to go to the studio and write two pieces on the spot. How's this going to go? As soon as I got there, he had the warmest, most positive outlook. And his support was incredible. But what really moved me was how much he cared about the music. He knew the music. He had really spent time getting it deep into his soul. And so when he explained to me what he wanted, I knew exactly how to express it. I found a tuning that would work and just played from the heart.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: The soundtrack of "The Descendants" showcases a wide variety of Hawaii artists, from the 1930s to today. But because it's not a full, new score composed for the film, it's not eligible for an Oscar.
The film's music supervisor, Dondi Bastone, says he and Payne plan to submit the CD next year for a Grammy for best soundtrack compilation.
DONDI BASTONE: You know, we had fantasized early on that this film would perhaps do for Hawaiian music, what "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" did for bluegrass. And it's really gratifying that it's - the music is resonating in that way now. I mean it's wonderful.
CHANG: That's good news, especially considering that this year, the Grammys eliminated the stand-alone Hawaiian music category.
For NPR News, I'm Heidi Chang in Honolulu.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Republican presidential candidates are debating again this morning in New Hampshire, barely 12 hours after meeting for their last debate. The candidates squabbled over spending, national security and military service. But on the question of religious liberties, they were in agreement. Newt Gingrich railed against what he called anti-Christian bigotry; Mitt Romney agreed. And Rick Perry promised to end what he called the Obama administration's war on religion. We'll have more on the debates later in the program. First, NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty examines the argument that religious freedoms are under attack in America.
BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY, BYLINE: If you're looking for evidence that the Obama administration is hostile to faith, conservatives say, the new health care law is Exhibit A. The law requires employers to offer health care plans that cover contraceptives. Churches don't have to, but religiously affiliated charities, hospitals, and colleges do. According to attorney Hannah Smith at the Becket Fund, that didn't sit well with the Catholic monks at Belmont Abbey College.
HANNAH SMITH: When the government said to them, you're going to have to fund contraception, sterilization, in violation of your deeply held religious convictions, the monks at Belmont Abbey College knew that they just couldn't do that.
HAGERTY: They sued in federal court in November.
SMITH: This is really about government coercion of religious individuals and institutions.
HAGERTY: Religious conservatives see an escalating war with the Obama White House. One Catholic cardinal called it, quote, "the most secularist administration in history." Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who heads the Bishops Committee on Religious Liberty, believes the First Amendment is clear: The government cannot make people choose between obeying the law and following their faith.
BISHOP WILLIAM LORI: If the government can force a church's hand, and force it to violate its cherished beliefs, then what's next?
HAGERTY: That happened, Lori notes, when Catholic Charities in Illinois shut down its adoption services because it was unwilling to place children with same-sex couples, as the state required. The Church also lost a federal contract to aid victims of human trafficking because the administration favored groups that provide contraceptive and abortion services. Lori says the government should accommodate their beliefs.
LORI: We don't have a constitutional right to a contract, but we do have a constitutional right not to be discriminated against because we're following our own convictions.
ROB BOSTON: I am tired of hearing religious right organizations or the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church play the victim.
HAGERTY: That's Rob Boston at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
BOSTON: All we're really seeing here right now is a very modest attempt from the Obama administration to put some controls on how some government money is spent when it flows to religious organizations. It's a very reasonable thing that quite frankly should have happened a long time ago.
MARTIN: Is the Obama administration hostile to religion?
DOUGLAS LAYCOCK: No.
HAGERTY: Douglas Laycock is a constitutional lawyer who argues cases on behalf of religious groups.
LAYCOCK: I think they've aggressively protected religious liberty in some issues, and failed to protect it in other issues. But they're not hostile. The hostility is in parts of the political culture, particularly in the gay rights movement and the pro-choice movement.
HAGERTY: It's a larger culture war, he says, a fight that religious conservatives are worried about losing, particularly over gay rights. More and more people favor civil unions and marriage for gay couples and more states are recognizing them, prompting this assessment by Mathew Staver at conservative law group Liberty Counsel.
MATHEW STAVER: I believe the greatest threat to religious liberty is the clash between religious liberty and LGBT rights.
HAGERTY: Staver says as rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people make gains, religious conservatives are having to set aside their convictions. A court clerk was told to issue same-sex marriage licenses, despite religious reservations. A Christian wedding photographer was sued for refusing to shoot a same-sex wedding. Staver says these people aren't trying to impose their religious views on others.
STAVER: What people of faith don't want to do, however, is be forced to participate in something that literally cuts to the very core of their religious belief.
HAGERTY: Rob Boston says religious people cannot discriminate any more than a restaurant owner can cite the Bible in refusing to serve African-Americans. He says the solution is simple.
BOSTON: If you don't want to serve the public, don't open a business saying you will serve the public.
HAGERTY: Douglas Laycock says the culture wars have become a zero-sum game. When one side wins, the other loses.
LAYCOCK: The conservative religious groups want to take away all the liberty of the pro-choice and gay-rights people, and the pro-choice and gay-rights people want to take away all the liberty of the conservative religious groups and neither side seems interested in the American tradition of live and let live and protect the liberty of both sides.
HAGERTY: And Laycock sees little chance of a detente, particularly in an election year. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now, a closer look at one of the challenges Secretary Panetta must manage. Tensions with Iran these days are as high as they have been in years. With Iran threatening to block U.S. ships from entering the Persian Gulf and the United States vowing not to back down, the stage appears set for a fight. And yet, what's happening with Iran right now may be more of an economic confrontation than a military standoff. NPR's Tom Gjelten explains.
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: The West wants to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The plan, for now at least, is to use sanctions as pressure. The resulting economic pain might induce the Iranian regime to give up any thought of a weapons program. But international inspectors say Iran is getting closer to that nuclear capability. The Israelis are worried and impatient and may at some point act on their own to take out Iran's nuclear facilities militarily. If war is to be avoided, the Obama administration may need to persuade the Israelis that current policies will get the Iranians to back down. Danielle Pletka is head of foreign policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
DANIELLE PLETKA: How do we reassure the Israelis? It's by being more forward leaning, by being more aggressive with sanctions and having a stronger military presence. Well, the problem with that is, that in and of itself agitates the Iranians; they come out with counter actions and we see an escalation as we've seen over the last week.
GJELTEN: It appears the Iranians don't like being squeezed. The latest sanctions idea is to make it hard for Iran to sell its oil. In theory, that should hurt. The country depends heavily on oil revenue. Suzanne Maloney, an Iran specialist at the Brookings Institution, says the Iranians therefore see themselves already as under attack, if only in economic terms.
SUZANNE MALONEY: And so they're going to fight back in every way that they have at their disposal.
GJELTEN: Even Iran's military threats serve a purpose in this economic struggle. When the Iranians talk about closing the Strait of Hormuz, for example, oil prices jump. That's because 20 percent of the world's oil passes through that strait. And forcing up the oil price means two things for Iran: First, it brings more money. A four-dollar-per-barrel increase equals about $10 million a day extra for Iran. Second, spiking the oil price is a way to hurt the U.S. and European economies. It's as if the Iranians are saying you go after our economy, we'll go after yours. Again, Suzanne Maloney:
MALONEY: They have this belief that somehow there's vulnerability that they might be able to exploit by exacerbating the global financial recession and by insuring that we don't see the kind of recovery that is obviously particularly important to the Obama administration in an election year.
GJELTEN: Here's the fight: The Iranians want to hurt the West's economy, but protect their own. The U.S. and its allies want the opposite: for Iran to suffer, but for us to prosper. And one thing the Iran story shows is that economic warfare can be trickier than military conflict. A country can bomb another without itself being affected, but the global economy is so interconnected that it's hard to hurt your enemy without being hurt yourself. For every move the West makes to manipulate the oil trade, the Iranians can make a counter move, says Suzanne Maloney.
MALONEY: Ultimately, there are so many different factors at play here, and the oil markets have a tendency to respond in unpredictable fashion. The Iranians have multiple means of playing into that through their rhetoric and their actions in the Gulf.
GJELTEN: And remember, the ultimate goal for the U.S. and its allies is to convince Iran to give up a nuclear weapons program. Even if this economic war works to the West's advantage, that doesn't necessarily mean it will make the Iranians give up having a bomb. Danielle Pletka says sanctions would be more effective if the Iranians were still a long ways from getting a nuclear weapon.
PLETKA: But right now they can see a light at the end of the tunnel on their nuclear program. They're only going to have to withstand a little more pain in their calculation. So, can we inflict enough economic pain on them that they're willing to say, OK, maybe we're 12 to 18 months away, but we'll give up on that because we really need to stop this bleeding?
GJELTEN: Not likely, she says. All in all, a risky game for both sides and getting more challenging by the day. Iran's leaders say they intend to carry out more military exercises in the Persian Gulf next month. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. And it's time for the puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Let's start with last week's challenge from the puzzle editor of the New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Name certain scores in a certain sport - and this is a two-word phrase with a total of 10 letters; five letters in each word. If you have the right phrase, you can rearrange all the letters to name a different sport, also in two words - six letters in the first word, four in the second. What are the scores and what is the sport?
MARTIN: OK. So, almost 240 of you figured out the answer. And our randomly selected winner this week is David Meacham. He's from Parkville, Missouri. Congratulations, David.
DAVID MEACHAM: Thank you.
MARTIN: So, David, tell us what's the answer to last week's challenge?
MEACHAM: Well, the answer I came up with was field goals and ladies golf.
MARTIN: OK. So, how did you come to the answer? How did you figure it out?
MEACHAM: Well, field goals came to me pretty quickly, and then I had to think about it for a while. And when I was in church actually, I just did the pyramid of words, as I learned from Will, and then I came up with ladies golf.
MARTIN: Church? David, I hope the minister didn't take it personally that you were doing the puzzle.
MEACHAM: Oh, they both know about it, so I hope they'll be listening.
MARTIN: And, David, what do you do in Parkville, Missouri?
MEACHAM: Well, I actually work in Kansas City, Missouri. Parkville is just outside. I work at a hotel downtown and I am the general cashier.
MARTIN: OK. So, just between you and me, do you ever do a puzzle on the job?
MEACHAM: Occasionally, yes.
MARTIN: Ooh, I knew it. Before we continue, though, let's welcome puzzle master Will Shortz to the program. Good morning, Will.
SHORTZ: Hi, Rachel. First of all, welcome to the show.
MARTIN: Thank you so much.
SHORTZ: And, David, congratulations.
MEACHAM: Thank you.
MARTIN: So, David, now's your big chance. Is there a question brewing that you've always wanted to ask Will?
MEACHAM: Well, I did see the movie "Wordplay" and I remember the part Will was getting the rather angry letters from people regarding the puzzle. And I was just wondering what possibly is the strangest thing you've received in the mail?
SHORTZ: Strangest thing - there's a lady on Long Island whose mother had just died, and her mother was a big doer of the New York Times crossword. The funeral was going to be in two days, and the lady asked me to send her a copy of next Sunday's New York Times magazine, which could be put in the casket with her mother.
MARTIN: Wow.
SHORTZ: So, we FedExed a copy of the next Sunday's magazine, and now her mother is happy in eternity.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: She's - yeah, talk about being a part of someone's life. That's kind of a profound piece of mail. OK. David, so now is the time. Are you ready to play the puzzle?
MEACHAM: I'm as ready as I'm going to be.
MARTIN: All right. Will, let's go for it.
SHORTZ: All right, David and Rachel. Today's puzzle is called Arrangement of Notes. Each answer is a five-letter word of phrase containing the letters N-O-T and E, plus one other letter, and you answer the clues to get the words. For example, if I said N-O-T-E plus A to make a word meaning to make amends, you would say atone.
MEACHAM: Got it.
MARTIN: OK.
SHORTZ: OK. And the added letter can go in any position in the answer. Here's your first one: note N-O-T-E plus B, as in boy. And your clue is a kind of steak S-T-E-A-K.
MEACHAM: T-Bone.
SHORTZ: T-Bone. That was a fast one.
MARTIN: Oh fun.
SHORTZ: Number two is note plus C, and it's the French word for story.
MEACHAM: French word for story.
MARTIN: French. I'm trying to channel my high school French.
MEACHAM: I took Spanish in school but never French.
SHORTZ: Oh, it's probably a related word. I don't know Spanish for story. Do you know this one, Rachel?
MARTIN: You know, I was thinking I did, but it doesn't include the letters N-O-T-E-C, so I guess I don't.
SHORTZ: OK. Well, the answer is conte C-O-N-T-E. That's the French word for a story or a tale. All right.
MARTIN: OK. Now we know, now we know.
MEACHAM: I'll always remember that.
SHORTZ: Now you know. This show is so educational. Your next one is note plus D, and your clue is in good physical shape.
MEACHAM: Toned.
SHORTZ: Toned. That's fast. Note plus G, to make mount, and it's a two-word phrase.
MEACHAM: Get on.
SHORTZ: That's fast.
MARTIN: Ooh nice.
SHORTZ: Plus I, to mean attach to, and, again, it's a two-word phrase.
MEACHAM: Tie on.
SHORTZ: Tie on is it. Plus L, to mean add a slow tempo in music.
MEACHAM: Lento.
SHORTZ: Um-hum. Plus M, as in Mary, to make a French impressionist.
MEACHAM: Monet.
SHORTZ: Um-hum. Plus P, as in Peter, to make bridge. You want the Italian word for bridge.
MEACHAM: Is it ponte?
SHORTZ: That's it. Plus R, to get contents of a certain cartridge.
MARTIN: Contents of a certain cartridge.
MEACHAM: Toner.
SHORTZ: Toner is it. Plus S to make beginning.
MEACHAM: Plus S - onset.
SHORTZ: That's fast. And you're last one, plus T - and this is a fill in the blank clue - Grand blank National Park
MEACHAM: Teton.
MARTIN: Yay.
SHORTZ: That was so good, David.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: David...
MEACHAM: I brought my new French.
MARTIN: Oh, I know. You and me, both.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: But you made it easy for me. I could kind of sit back and have a cup of coffee while you took that one.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MEACHAM: That was a lot of fun.
MARTIN: Great job. So for playing our puzzle today, David, you will get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin, as well as puzzle books and games. And you can read all about it at NPR.org/puzzle.
And, David, for the record. Which Public Radio station do you listen to?
MEACHAM: KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri.
MARTIN: Great. David Meacham, thank you so much for playing the puzzle this week. We appreciate it.
MEACHAM: Thank you. It was a lot of fun.
MARTIN: OK. So, Will, next week. What's the challenge we're looking at?
SHORTZ: A challenge. Well, name four parts of a car that are also terms used in a particular game. One of the parts is spelled in three letters, two of them in five letters each, and one has six letters. Also, two places a car might go are also terms used in this same game. What game is it and what are the terms?
MARTIN: OK. So when you have the answer, go to our Web site, NPR.org/puzzle and click on the Submit Your Answer link - just one entry per person, please. And our deadline for entries is Thursday, January 12th at 3 P.M. Eastern Time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner we'll give you a call, and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle-master, Will Shortz.
Will, thanks so much.
SHORTZ: Thanks a lot, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is no stranger to budget battles. He was head of the Office of Management and Budget and White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, but now the former congressman faces what could be some of the toughest budget decisions of his career: how to cut more than $480 billion from the Pentagon's bottom line. Last week, he and President Barack Obama unveiled the country's new national defense strategy. The Pentagon's new slimmer budget is due next month. We sat down with Secretary Panetta to talk about what stays, what goes and where troops may feel it most - salaries, health care.
SECRETARY LEON PANETTA: Pensions, retirement. What's going to happen to those people that come back to this country from the battle zones? How are we going to deal with them? What kind of jobs are we going to be able to provide them? How are we going to care for them? So, it's both the weaponization-modernization side of it but it's also the human side of it that make these decisions tough.
MARTIN: And these are not the only cuts. I mean, there are potentially another $600 billion in cuts in the so-called sequester cuts Congress has mandated that are still kind of looming out there. Do you have a plan to make those cuts?
PANETTA: No, not at all. Because if we had to face another five or six hundred billion dollars and have to do over a trillion dollars in cuts in this department, I have to tell you the strategy that we developed, which we thought was very responsible and actually puts in place the kind of defense system we need for the future, we'd probably have to throw that out the window and start over.
MARTIN: You have said even with the strategy that you've just unveiled that there are risks associated with this strategy. What are the risks?
PANETTA: The risks you have are when you have a smaller and leaner military, you're not going to have the large presence that we have today. So...
MARTIN: There are going to be fewer troops.
PANETTA: There are going to be fewer troops and a lot of this is dependent on the ability to mobilize forces and bring them to bear quickly. How fast can we do that?
MARTIN: Even now in the last 10 years, the Guard and reserves have been stretched rather thin. In this new strategy, where you're reducing the force structure, there are going to be fewer troops. Are you going to have to call on the Guard and reserve more?
PANETTA: I think, you know, part of our approach here is to make sure that we maintain a strong National Guard and a strong reserve. They have been fully operational. We have brought them into battle zones. They have gained as much experience as the active force. But answer to your question is if we are dealing with a leaner and meaner force, if we have to mobilize, there's only one place to go, and that's to the National Guard and to our reserve units.
MARTIN: For more than the past couple of decades the U.S. has maintained the ability to fight two conflicts at the same time. That's changing. Can you articulate what's different now?
PANETTA: Well, you know, I guess my approach to this issue is to say the fundamental question for our national defense is: do we have the capability of confronting an enemy on several fronts? And the answer to that is yes. For example, if we have to confront a land war in Korea, we can do that. If we have to at the same time confront a threat where Iran decides to close the Strait of Hormuz, we can confront that. That's the most important message the American people have to know is that this force is going to be able to fight any enemy, any aggressor that tries to take us on.
MARTIN: Then what's different when you unveil the strategy and you say, you know, we're about to make these hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts, we still have the ability to address multiple threats at the same time?
PANETTA: I think what's different is that what we are dealing with is a force that is going to be smaller but that at the same time has to be more agile, more adaptable, able to move quickly and has a technological edge to it.
MARTIN: A more agile, a more technologically advanced military - this is something that one of your predecessors, Donald Rumsfeld, was pushing for. And September 11th happens; that strategy goes out the window. Is there a risk that the same could be true now?
PANETTA: Well, you know, any defense force worth its salt has to be able to deal with events that we may not have planned for. You know, if we faced another 9/11, clearly what we would have to do is to mobilize the force in order to be able to confront that kind of event, if it took place.
MARTIN: You're talking about more advanced technology - drone strikes come to mind. An air campaign like we've seen in Pakistan, which hasn't necessarily been all that successful. Pakistan's not too pleased with the United States right now.
PANETTA: No. But the fact is that whether it's Pakistan, whether it's Yemen, whether it's any other country that we're engaged in right now, any defense system that is going to be important to deal with the threats in the future is going to have to have those kinds of unmanned systems, predators, etc., drones, as an important part of our military asset.
MARTIN: I'd like to address China. The administration has been talking for a while, you've been talking for a while about this new pivot, this new focus on the Asia-Pacific region for the U.S. military, building U.S. troop presence in Australia, perhaps moving more troops to the Korean Peninsula. How does China not see this as a threat?
PANETTA: China's a major power in the Pacific. And I think they're sophisticated to understand that the United States is also a major power in the Pacific and that we are dealing with some common threats in that region. The whole issue of Korea and the stability of Korea, the whole issue of nuclear proliferation, the whole issue of providing free access to our ships that are operating in that area. There are some common issues here that concern us. And my view of this is we have to work together with China and with other countries in the Pacific to make sure that we secure that area for the future.
MARTIN: And so building up a U.S. military presence isn't meant to say...
PANETTA: No.
MARTIN: ...the U.S. is building up its military (unintelligible)...
PANETTA: Any more, you know, any more frankly than China building up their military assets. It has to be viewed as a direct threat to the United States. The fact is they're going to do that, and what we have to ensure is that it's used for the right reasons.
MARTIN: We'll leave it there. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, thanks so much for speaking with us.
PANETTA: Thanks very much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This past holiday season, millions of people bought video games, iPads and other high-tech gadgets. But many are still playing with a toy that's been around for more than 30 years: The Rubik's Cube. The puzzle that challenges players to align a single color on each side, first went on the market in 1980.
As Brenna Angel of member station WUKY reports, a new generation of players is pushing the limits of the Rubik's Cube using modern technology.
BRENNA ANGEL, BYLINE: When Lucas Etter's grandparents bought him a Rubik's Cube while he was visiting their retirement home, it was mainly to pass the time. The puzzle can take a long time to figure out. Fast forward two years, and that past time is now an obsession.
LUCAN ETTER: This is my one-handed Cube. This is the 2x2 Cube.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CLACKING OF A RUBIK'S CUBE)
ANGEL: Ten-year-old Lucas is a speed Cuber. He uses memorized sequences or algorithms to solve the 3D puzzle in a matter of seconds. Shortly after getting his first Cube, Lucas turned to Internet videos like this one to find the best method.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO TUTORIAL)
ETTER: YouTube has a lot of random stuff but it does have good stuff too.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CLACKING OF A RUBIK'S CUBE)
ANGEL: Lucas is getting pretty fast. At a competition in November, he reached a new personal best for solving the Cube: 12 seconds.
ETTER: I want to get the world record.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ANGEL: So do you know who holds the world record?
ETTER: Yes, it's a teenager in Australia named Feliks Zemdegs.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ANGEL: At last year's Melbourne Winter Open, Feliks Zemdegs solved the Cube in just 5.66 seconds. Video of his triumph was posted to YouTube.
TYSON MAO: I looked at these kids and it's quite incredible what they do.
ANGEL: That's Tyson Mao, co-founder of the World Cube Association, which organizes speed cubing competitions. Mao believes anyone, regardless of age or intelligence, can learn how to solve the Cube. And with the growth of competitions and Web videos, the Rubik's Cube is still a cool, inexpensive toy to play with.
MAO: I think YouTube is probably one of the biggest pieces in terms of the spread of the Rubik's Cube. It's really allowed the globalization of the Rubik's Cube and it's really made it accessible to everyone.
ANGEL: The resurgence of Cubing has led to the development of an educational program for teachers and knock-offs from China that actually move faster in competition than the original Rubik's Cube.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CLACKING OF A RUBIK'S CUBE)
ANGEL: Lucas is pushing himself to get as fast as he can, practicing two hours a day. And he's using another piece of technology to shave seconds off his time: an app on his iPod that generates scrambles for his Cube.
For NPR News, I'm Brenna Angel in Lexington, Kentucky.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
With election season in full swing now, the sheer amount of media coverage can be daunting to anyone who's trying to follow the races. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik joins us on many Sundays for what we call The News Tip, a look at how the press handles the news. Welcome, David.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Hey, Rachel.
MARTIN: Hey. So, tell us, what is the tip this week?
FOLKENFLIK: This week, it's really a tip for journalists. And it's - keep one thing in mind - that most people are visitors to the land of political obsession, not full-time residents.
MARTIN: OK. Visitors to the land of political obsession, not full-time residents - what does that really mean?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, you know, the journalistic pack has covered this pre-presidential race for about a year now. And if you watch on TV, if you read in print or online, a lot of the time, coverage assumes that everybody is up to date on real minutiae, really picayune elements. I want to play one clip. It's from John King on CNN talking to a local party official in Iowa on caucus night. It gives you a little flavor and feel for how this works.
(SOUNDBITE OF CNN NEWS BROADCAST)
FOLKENFLIK: OK. So, at a certain point...
MARTIN: OK, yeah, you lost me, like, right from the beginning on that.
FOLKENFLIK: Right. Well, it's almost like listening to dolphins talk to each other, right? I mean, John King is a terrific political journalist but people have lives. They've got kids, they've got jobs and it's hard for them to track every little development. Sometimes it's hard for them to track even a lot of the big ones. If you want to go abroad, you know, you want a good tour guide who tells you where the locals go for a beer or where to watch the sunset. But you don't want somebody who's going to tell you what the fights are about local parking ordinances. In this case, the press loses sight at the comparative magnitude of events. For example, if you think about the Iowa caucuses, you forget the fact that no delegates were at stake in that very first political contest.
MARTIN: Not to harp on John King, but he is a political journalist. This is what he knows, and a lot of people turn to him to get that inside baseball look. And we live in a world where there are so many options for media that we can consume. Isn't there an audience for this kind of political minutiae?
FOLKENFLIK: To me, it's more a question of emphasis and focus. People are going to dip in. People don't just look at the New York Times or the Washington Post. They'll look at the 538 blog or The Fix at the Post. 538, a New York Times blog that's named, of course, for the number of votes in the Electoral College. And not only will they turn to those blogs, they'll turn to the Twitter feeds of the people behind them, so they can get things in real-time as they're playing out almost as if the journalists themselves experience it. And all of that is fine. But to me there's a question of emphasis and focus, you know. If you're going to talk about how much money a candidate raises, it's really important to say, well, what do you do with that money? Who was it raised from and what is going to be used for?
MARTIN: Is this new at all? Have you noticed a difference this election season in kind of the depths of this coverage or the details that people are drilling down into?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think there is a lot of information. I think also that means there's been an acceleration of reporting, there's an intensity of reporting, there's sort of a losing of calibrating the decimals on what new development is most important. Does it matter if the wife of a councilman in Dublin, New Hampshire endorsed one candidate over another? We're not always given a sense of how important each development really is.
MARTIN: OK. So we're clear, give us that tip one more time, David.
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I'm asking the political press pack - treat the audience like an intelligent visitor to a foreign land, not full-time residents of this special place of political obsession.
MARTIN: And it is a special place. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik with our news tip. Thanks so much, David.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: If you want to drop us a news tip, visit NPR.org/TheNewsTip - all one word. You can also follow David on Twitter @DavidFolkenflik.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Bell ring out across Tucson, Arizona today, marking the exact moment one year ago when a gunman opened fire outside a Safeway grocery store. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a Congress on Your Corner event. She was shot in the head; 18 others were hit too - six died. NPR's southwest correspondent Ted Robbins is in Tucson. Ted, besides the bell ringing, tell us what other types of memorial observances are happening today.
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: The day's two major events after that are a memorial at Centennial Hall on the University of Arizona campus. People are going to speak about the victims. In one case, one of the wounded, Giffords' District Office Director Ron Barber is going to speak about Dorwin Stoddard, a gentleman who was killed at the Safeway when he went to meet Giffords. A couple of school friends of nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green who was also killed are going to speak about her - that should be emotional. Then the day's coming to an end with a candlelight vigil outside on the mall at the University of Arizona. And Gabby Giffords will be there.
MARTIN: And Giffords' survival and recovery have really been a huge part of this story. Will she have a role in today's events?
ROBBINS: She is not scheduled to speak. Her husband Mark Kelly will. This is the first time Giffords will be at an open public event in Tucson since the shooting. On other trips back home from her rehab in Houston, she has spent time with friends and family and staff, and that's what she's done this weekend we've been told. On Friday, she was at her office in Tucson for a ceremony unveiling a memorial to Gabe Zimmerman, her young outreach director who was killed. So, now visitors to her office will see a plaque and a life-size photograph of Zimmerman.
MARTIN: We did mention memorial services today, but this has been a weekend full of events marking this anniversary. What else has been going on and what's the mood been like at these events?
ROBBINS: Well, yesterday there was a day-long event called Beyond Tucson. And it was sort of an inoculation before today's more solemn events. It was outdoors with runs and bike rides and arts and crafts projects. The idea was actually Ross Zimmerman's, Gabe Zimmerman's dad. And it centered on being outdoors and being healthy through physical activity. It was a bright sunny day in Tucson. And we caught up with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, and here he is.
MAYOR JONATHAN ROTHSCHILD: The fact that we came together so quickly around the ideas of respect, civility, tolerance, to set this shooter aside is an anomaly as to what our community is. It's been great. So, it's not like the events of last January have ever left the community. We've been working through it for the whole year. I mean, I haven't seen Gabby for a whole year. I'm really looking forward just giving her a hug. And I think the whole community's, in its own way, looking forward to that.
MARTIN: Ted, you have lived in Tucson for many years, and the shooting took place not far from you. You've covered the aftermath, the legal proceedings from the accused gunman Jared Loughner, the recovery of Congresswoman Giffords. I'm wondering if you could share some reflections that you've had on how all this has affected your community.
ROBBINS: Sure, Rachel. I covered Gabby Giffords before the shooting - of course, she was in Congress and she represents a district which borders Mexico. But one thing I noticed after she got shot was that almost everyone I talked with knew her or met her. It was like two degrees of separation at most. She's a gregarious person, and like she has said, she is not called Gabby for nothing. The day of the shooting she was out meeting people. So that, and the fact that so many others were shot out in public really made it a tragedy the whole community has suffered. Everyone has followed the events of the last year closely, and now the anniversary, I think, is bringing it all back again, which is emotional. It also seems as though, as the mayor said, people are using the anniversary to talk again about civility and respect, which is the same response the community had last year.
MARTIN: NPR's Ted Robbins in Tucson, Arizona. Ted, thanks so much.
ROBBINS: It's good to be with you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The NFL postseason is underway. Last night's games included a record-setting performance by the New Orleans Saints. Today's feature two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, plus a third who still manages to grab headlines, Tim Tebow. NPR's Mike Pesca joins us for more now. OK, Mike. In yesterday's AFC wildcard matchup, both the Cincinnati Bengals and the Houston Texans started a rookie quarterback, right? That's never happened before. How did the young'uns do?
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Well, actually, the younger of the young'uns, or actually the less-experienced young'un - T.J. Yates, the quarterback for the Houston Texans - he outperformed his rival, Andy Dalton. But Houston really trounced Cincinnati. The Cincinnati defense didn't look up to the task. And this is a theme that happened yesterday and it's kind of happening all over the NFL. Even good teams have defenses that are quite porous. So, in the second game yesterday, you had the New Orleans Saints, literally every single drive except the very end of the game they scored a touchdown and they killed the Detroit Lions, who are great on offense but the defense wasn't there.
MARTIN: And we should mention that score, of course, the New Orleans Saints besting the Detroit Lions 45-28. And Drew Brees, quarterback for the Saints, I mean, he had an amazing game, right? He set a record.
PESCA: Yeah. And the Saints had 626 total yards of offense. That's the most in NFL history. And Drew Brees, I mean, the word extraordinary means you don't expect it, but the Saints offense - and Brees has become routinely extraordinary. I don't know if it's extraordinary if he does it all the time. You know, Drew Brees just showed why he's so good.
MARTIN: OK. So, today's games start off with the Giants hosting the Falcons. Home field advantage - is that going to make a difference?
PESCA: I think it should because the Giants have something that not too many teams have, which is on defense, a front four; their down linemen, could really put pressure on the quarterback. And they're all healthy, or at least all playing. The edge is towards the Giants just because of that defense, their ability to sack the quarterback.
MARTIN: OK. And the Steelers today are going to Mile High Stadium to play the Denver Broncos - a team, we should note, that finished the season 8-8, but they have Tim Tebow, right?
PESCA: Yeah, which could be the problem these days. It used to be that he was the difference, winning games in the middle of the season. But in the last three games he really has been awful. He's not a good thrower - we all knew that - but his running antics haven't been proven fruitful at all. This is one of the reasons why the Steelers are heavily favored. And the Steelers are favored even though Ben Roethlisberger is a little hurt, Ryan Clark, their starting safety, lost a couple of internal organs, literally, due to complications from playing in the altitude at Denver in years past. He won't be playing. Despite all that, Pittsburgh still the favorite, as I say. And the Broncos at 8-8, you know, will be lucky if they even put up a close game.
MARTIN: All right. We'll see. That's NPR's Mike Pesca talking football. Thanks, Mike.
PESCA: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
The Republican candidates for president faced off in their second debate of the weekend this morning in New Hampshire. Last night, front-runner Mitt Romney was able to stay above the fray, as his opponents attacked each other in the fight for second place. But this morning, they turned their fire on Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL DEBATE)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: With the debate now over, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry will skip ahead to campaign in South Carolina later today. But NPR's intrepid national political correspondent Mara Liasson is still in Concord, New Hampshire, and she joins us now. OK, Mara, how did the former Massachusetts governor handle all these attacks?
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Well, I think he handles them fine. I mean, there was no deer-in-the-headlights moments, no brain freezes or angry outbursts. I think that Mitt Romney, like he is prepared for everything, he was prepared for these attacks. And as a matter of fact, his campaign thought that they would be coming sooner. But they finally did come this morning and I think it is significant that they finally did. You heard Newt Gingrich needling him. He went on to say that Romney was full of pious baloney for suggesting that he selflessly didn't run for reelection in Massachusetts, as opposed to being on the verge of losing. And Ron Paul and Rick Santorum also attacked Romney for not being sufficiently conservative or consistent.
MARTIN: But Santorum kind of seemed torn between going after Romney and his closer rival, Ron Paul. How did he work this out?
LIASSON: Well, he did both. He went after Romney for not being a Ronald Reagan conservative. He also went after Ron Paul. He said that all the things that Republicans like about Ron Paul; he can't possibly get accomplished because he can't work with other lawmakers in Washington. Ron Paul has introduced over 400 bills and I think maybe one of them has become law. And he said the things that you don't like about Ron Paul - the foreign policy positions, he can accomplish on his first day as commander in chief.
MARTIN: But Ron Paul was on the offensive, too. Who was his target today?
LIASSON: Well, he's targeting everybody. Ron Paul went after Rick Santorum for being a big government conservative. Ron Paul went after Mitt Romney for being in favor of a lot of things Republicans and conservatives don't like. So, Ron Paul exists in a universe almost unto himself. He has a Libertarian base that wouldn't even necessarily vote Republican if he wasn't the nominee.
MARTIN: So the attacks are now coming fast and furious against the front-runner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. But really, Mara, has anything changed? Did anything happen this morning that has fundamentally changed the dynamic of this race?
LIASSON: I don't think that there was a game-changing moment this morning. I think Republicans were reminded for the first time in a concerted way of all of the doubts they have about Romney, why they haven't warmed up to him. Now, of course, in New Hampshire that's not as big a problem for him because he's running so far ahead. The latest Suffolk University poll has Romney at about 35 percent. That's a little bit less than the 40 or 43 percent he's been polling previously. So, he's coming down a bit. Ron Paul is a solid second place with 20 percent, and you have Huntsman, Gingrich and Santorum all battling for third place. Huntsman is at 11 in this poll, Gingrich is at 9, Santorum is at 8.
So, now they have to battle each other if they're going to have a third place finish. Right now, Ron Paul is Mitt Romney's friend. Anything that keeps the more legitimate, viable candidates suppressed in New Hampshire, denies them the boost they need to go into South Carolina and Florida is a good thing for Mitt Romney. I think Romney would have to end up probably under 30 percent to have a super disappointing finish here in New Hampshire. But right now he seems very well set up to come out of New Hampshire with a boost, go on to South Carolina and Florida, where he has a lot of money for ads and where he is polling ahead in both those states.
MARTIN: OK, we'll see how things play out on Tuesday in the primary. Thanks, Mara.
LIASSON: Thank you, Rachel.
MARTIN: NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
New Hampshire Republican Congressman Frank Guinta joins us. He's a veteran of new Hampshire politics as a former state representative and former mayor of Manchester. He joins us from his district office in Manchester.
Congressman Guinta, welcome to the program.
REPRESENTATIVE FRANK GUINTA: It's a pleasure to be with you.
MARTIN: I'd love for you to give us a sense of the state of play in New Hampshire. What are the issues that are really animating people in you state this year? And what are they looking for in a Republican candidate?
GUINTA: Well, I think most people in New Hampshire are looking for a candidate of on the Republican side who can, first of all, the beat President Obama. Secondly, who is capable of focusing like a laser on the economy, you know, job growth.
I find that people in New Hampshire respect President Obama but very much disagree with a lot of his policies. And I think you're going to see a number of republicans, as well as independence, play a role in this primary on Tuesday.
MARTIN: Can you give us a sense of what the job situation is like in New Hampshire? What are the economic issues? What's unemployment at?
GUINTA: We are in a fortunate position - that about 5.2 percent unemployment in New Hampshire. So, comparatively speaking to other states in the country, we are doing well. The challenge though we still have is that our revenues to communities and to the state of New Hampshire is still down. And the underemployment issue is a problem. We have a lot of people who are still looking for a second or third job to try to make ends meet.
So, while we are faring better than most states - and we feel very fortunate for that - I think we still have a long way to go in ensuring that this economy is strong and vibrant.
MARTIN: Obviously, the results from Iowa were very close among three very different candidates. Mitt Romney won by just eight votes over Rick Santorum. Ron Paul was a close third. This seems to suggest an ideological split within the Republican Party. How do you see this?
GUINTA: Well, I think there are ideological differences amongst the candidates. And you're going to have that whether it's a Democratic primary or Republican primary. Iowa voters look at some of the issues a little bit differently than New Hampshire voters. So I think you are seeing, at least with polling that's been released in the last day or so, that Mitt Romney does have a more significant lead in New Hampshire.
Anything can happen in the last 48 hours of a campaign. Some candidates tend to have a little more of a surge than others. But I think in New Hampshire, the unique difference is that you don't see the level of evangelical voter in New Hampshire that you do in Iowa. And the economy is really the focus of the attention here in New Hampshire.
So, I think the candidate that makes the final closing days about jobs, economy, and makes the case for who can best get us out of this situation we're in economically, is the individual who is most likely to succeed in New Hampshire.
MARTIN: If this ends up being a long the primary process, it can be exciting if you're into the horserace of following these things. But what do you think it does to the GOP's chances against President Obama in the general election?
GUINTA: Well, look, I am tend to believe in primaries and I think that they're good for the party. You know, we had this dialogue in the country four years ago in the Democratic side when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duking it out essentially into the summer months. And I don't think it hurt either one of them. As a matter of fact, I think it made President Obama a stronger candidate. So, I would argue that the same thing could happen on the Republican side.
Now, if you see a fracture or a splinter within the party, as a result of ideological differences, that can be a bit of a challenge. So we've got to be careful as Republicans that we focus the decisions that we all make in early primary states; focusing on issues and who is best equipped to be the strongest challenger and the strongest nominee for our party.
MARTIN: New Hampshire Republican Congressman Frank Guinta. Thanks so much for talking with us.
GUINTA: My pleasure.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In the days leading up to Tuesday's primary, with so much political activity compressed into such a small state, New Hampshire is pretty much nirvana for anyone fascinated by politics. Yes, all the candidates are there. But so are reporters, pundits, researchers, and as NPR's Greg Allen discovered, political tourists.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: I was interviewing attendees at a town meeting held by Jon Huntsman in Newport, out in western New Hampshire. When I started talking to Bob Feldman, I quickly found out he's not a typical New Hampshire voter. In fact, he's not from New Hampshire at all.
BOB FELDMAN: I'm here with my two friends from Baltimore because every four years - we're political junkies - and this is one of the rare times you can get up close and personal at a small rec center or a high school gym, and actually see professional politicians who could be the president of the United States someday.
ALLEN: For Dave Bathe(ph) it's his third New Hampshire primary. This year, he and Feldman recruited Jack Skurnick(ph), a friend from the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, where they all work. Feldman says they arrived Wednesday night and the fun began.
FELDMAN: We saw Newt Gingrich this morning. Where was that, Dave?
DAVE BATHE: Plymouth. Plymouth, New Hampshire.
FELDMAN: Yeah, we saw Newt Gingrich in Plymouth. And then at the Tilton Diner, Rick Santorum came through around one o'clock. And he got to us...
BATHE: Boy, you saw the Ravens sack and he reacted immediately to that. He says, of course, I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BATHE: ...and we want to beat you. Jack called him a Pittsburgh Squealer's fan, didn't he?
JACK SKURNICK: I did. I have to admit I'm a major Baltimore Ravens' fanatic. And it's hard to pass by a Steelers fan, since we are big rivals.
ALLEN: As vacations go, it's not for everyone; temperatures in the teens, hours on lonely roads, meals where you can find them. The Baltimore crew has run into other out-of-state visitors here for the same thing - hot and cold running campaign speeches, and a chance to press the flesh of people who most folks only see on TV.
For those who follow the election like the NFL season, it's a tailgating party and the big game all wrapped up in one. Feldman says he can't get this back home.
FELDMAN: Well, you know, in Maryland it's a pretty reliably blue state. So we don't get all of this stuff that you would get in a battleground state or an early primary state.
ALLEN: And as for their wives, well, they're just as happy to watch it all on TV.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Manchester, New Hampshire.
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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has demanded that the United States hand over control of a prison facility that houses about 3,000 inmates. An Afghan commission has alleged abuse of prisoners there and that conditions violate the Afghan constitution. The demand has taken U.S. officials by surprise, since they'd been negotiating a gradual handover of the prison, also because earlier this year the United Nations detailed consistent abuse in Afghan prisons.
The demands may have more to do with a growing animosity between President Karzai and Washington, D.C.
Here to tell us more is NPR's Kabul bureau chief, Quil Lawrence. Good morning, Quil.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: Morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: So, what can you tell us about this prison and these allegations that President Karzai is making?
LAWRENCE: Well, as you mentioned, quite suddenly last week, President Karzai's office announced that this largest U.S. prison in the country must be handed over within a month. And this detention facility, it's newly built. U.S. officials have been holding it up as a model for Afghan prisons and courts to aspire to.
And there are some problems in the prison. There's some problems with due process that human rights advocates have pointed out, that inmates up there or not allowed proper lawyers at their hearings. But most foreign and Afghan observers agree that the Afghan justice system is completely unprepared to take over this prison, and is having trouble handling its own prisons. As you mentioned, the United Nations put out a damning report about systematic torture in some Afghan prisons.
So, this weekend, President Karzai's commission reported that the prisoners at this jail, they said they have been denied would at times; that the guards have used teargas to control them. American embassy officials say they're taking these allegations seriously but that something of a pro forma response. It's more likely that American officials there are sort of gritting their teeth after being blindsided by President Karzai again in public, in a way that they probably see as quite hypocritical.
MARTIN: And this isn't the first flare-up between President Karzai and the U.S. Just in recent weeks there've been other points of tension, right?
LAWRENCE: Yes, but it's not so much the topics as the way the Afghans and the Americans seem to be sending each other these rather poorly-coordinated, let's say, messages in public. Instead of what you would expect would be for them to sit down behind closed doors and make a decision and present a unified front.
Even the seeds of dialogue that were started with the Taliban, the government of Qatar - the Gulf island state of Qatar - offered to host a Taliban office and perhaps the beginning of peace talks there. And when Qatar did that, President Karzai briefly pulled his ambassador in protest.
MARTIN: Why would he do that though? I mean President Karzai has advocated peace talks with the Taliban for years now.
LAWRENCE: Well, the official statement was that the Afghan government hadn't have been sufficiently consulted. They since have given this Qatar office the green light. But longtime observers of Karzai are speculating that this might be Karzai worried that he's being cut out of the process. And they say this is supposed to be Karzai's legacy. He sees it as his mission to make peace here and perhaps that would be his lasting historical contribution here in Afghanistan.
Now it's not even certain that he would be involved if these peace talks are going on without him. And the Taliban have consistently refused to talk to Karzai, who they call an unpopular and corrupt puppet regime.
MARTIN: We've been speaking with NPR's Quil Lawrence in Kabul. Quil, thanks so much.
LAWRENCE: Thank you, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
More than a million U.S. soldiers have come home from Iraq or Afghanistan over the last decade. Many bring back with them the trauma of war. So a couple of years ago, the Army launched a program to strengthen soldiers' mental and psychological fitness. The Army recently released a review of that program.
Here to talk about it is Brigadier General James Pasquarette, he's the director of the program, and Sergeant First Class Michael Ballard who went through the program himself and now works training other soldiers. They both join me in the studio in Washington, D.C.
Gentlemen, thanks so much for coming in.
SERGEANT 1ST CLASS MICHAEL BALLARD: Thank you.
BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES PASQUARETTE: Thanks, Rachel.
MARTIN: I want to start with you General Pasquarette. You recently took over as director of the program just a month ago. But can you walk us back? How did the program come to be? Was there some kind of wake-up call where the Army realized that there was a problem?
PASQUARETTE: We've never fought a war this long in the nation's history. And I think what we found in about 2006 or '07, the psychological toll it was taking on our soldiers and their families was starting to weigh us down.
MARTIN: So you were seeing higher rates of PTSD...
PASQUARETTE: Definitely, sure.
MARTIN: ...suicide.
PASQUARETTE: Yes. You know, I think that everybody has seen in the papers and probably these shows where our suicide statistics increased over the last decade. They have roughly leveled off, I believe. But there's still nowhere where we are happy with them. And although this is not a suicide prevention program, we think in the long-term this will help on these adverse outcomes of PTSD, suicide, and other high-risk adverse behaviors.
MARTIN: Sergeant Michael Ballard, I want to bring you into the conversation.
BALLARD: Yes.
MARTIN: The program is called a Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program. And the term that the Army uses a lot is making soldiers more resilient. Sergeant Ballard, can you give us a sense of how literally you can teach resilience here? Are there exercises that you go through?
BALLARD: Right. One of the things is what we call Hunt the Good Stuff. And it's something that we can do everyday and it helps to build our optimism. Research shows that if you're an optimistic person you're going to live longer, you're going to be happier. I mean isn't that what grandma always said? You know, grandma used always said count your blessings and look at those things.
So now, we're teaching soldiers to look for those things. Something as simple as I was going out, I have my hands full and this person saw that and they ran over to the door and opened it up for me.
PASQUARETTE: Yeah. It works, too. I mean I did it I did the Hunt the Good Stuff for 10 days there and it was - it was supposed to...
MARTIN: When they said that to you - when they said - were you a general at the time? What was your rank?
PASQUARETTE: I was, yeah.
MARTIN: You are general?
PASQUARETTE: Right, yeah.
MARTIN: Well, so they turn to you, the trainers and say, OK, General, Hunt the Good Stuff. Find a good thing in your life today.
PASQUARETTE: I did it...
MARTIN: Did you roll your eyes?
PASQUARETTE: Listen, if you don't reflect on it you don't realize there's good things that happen to you every day. And if you're not careful with the stress we put soldiers under, they can really gravitate to the negative things in their world.
I would say General Corelli had a great quote...
MARTIN: The vice chief of staff...
PASQUARETTE: Yeah, General Corelli, the vice chief, he had a great quote about what the average 24-year-old soldier - what he's doing these days is, first of all, he's been in the Army about six years. He's bought a car and wrecked it. He's married and has challenges there. He's deployed two or three times. He's responsible for a dozen soldiers - overseeing their training and lives. And, by the way, he makes less than $40,000 a year.
So, there's just a lot of stress in that person's life, whether he's in combat and getting shot at or not.
MARTIN: But, General, it sounds like these folks are learning how to be more introspective, to ask more questions about what's happening to them. If you're in combat in a war zone, do you want people to be asking those kinds of questions?
PASQUARETTE: Well, we've critics of the program. Some of the concerns that have been stated is that we're just trying to just make soldiers will feel happy all the time, and that's not something that combat is about. And the second one is we're trying to make soldiers that have no feelings; that when they see someone killed or they kill somebody in combat in a situation, that they will not have any feelings about that.
That is not what Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is about. What we are trying to do here is to allow soldiers to make sense of what is happening, focus on what they can control, and not catastrophize(ph) and go into a downward spiral.
MARTIN: What do you say privately to someone who thinks there's a stigma associated with going through this training?
PASQUARETTE: Well, I would not say there is a stigma. There's just - it's hard for soldiers to sign up for something that deals with what's between your ears. We're really into physical fitness. And however you're wired in your brain, that's - I'm going to deal with it and there's treatment on the far end. And as I said in the beginning, we can't do that anymore.
MARTIN: How can you know that someone has been made more resilient?
PASQUARETTE: We have a - it's a test our soldiers take. We've had over 1.8 million soldiers or people take it; most all of them soldiers, although it's open to family members and the Department of Army civilians. And we believe for well over 90 percent of those responses are the soldiers being honest. The key is that it's anonymous. Nobody else can see it but the soldier. But we can see the data.
And we're starting to see an upward tick in the units and soldiers - in the aggregate sense - that had the benefit of this training. So, it's preliminary. There's more to be done on this, but we're encouraged on where it's going. And we're going to continue to work hard on this.
MARTIN: Have you looked at any correlating data on rates of PTSD or suicides or domestic violence?
PASQUARETTE: That's our next report. It's going to be out this summer.
MARTIN: How much has the - what's the budget for the program? How much does it cost?
PASQUARETTE: Well, we have spent about 90 million dollars on it since its inception a few years ago. And I think we have about 40 million that's committed to it this year.
MARTIN: Any indication as to whether or not the funding will be there in the future?
PASQUARETTE: Like every program - and the military's reviewed every year - this is not, Rachel, something tied to Iraq and Afghanistan. There are those who believe this is just a combat program. This is a program that is long-term. And it's my intention and belief that it will continue to be funded and be a part of the Army for years to come.
MARTIN: Brigadier General James Pasquarette. He's the director of the program of the U.S. Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, and Sergeant First Class Michael Ballard is a trainer in that program.
Thanks so much for coming in.
BALLARD: Thank you for having us.
PASQUARETTE: Thanks, Rachel, for having us over.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Pull back U.S. military aid to Egypt. That is the call from some on Capitol Hill these days. Congress is furious about raids last month by Egyptian security forces on pro-democracy groups in Cairo. The nonprofit groups include the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House and the International Republican Institute. All these groups get U.S. funding and they're in the country helping monitor Egypt's parliamentary elections.
Some U.S. lawmakers say the Obama administration isn't coming down hard enough on Egypt in response to the raids. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Egypt is one of the biggest recipients of U.S. aid. Congressman Frank Wolf says it's time that Egypt understands there are strings attached.
REPRESENTATIVE FRANK WOLF: They have relied on this aid for years. We have given them over 50 billion dollars since the Camp David Accords.
KELEMEN: Congress now insists that aid can flow only if Egypt abides by its peace treaty with Israel and stays on a path to democracy. Wolf, a Republican from Virginia, says the crackdown on democracy promotion groups violates those conditions. He told the Obama administration there should be consequences and a much tougher response.
WOLF: This is weakest administration that I can remember in the last 30 years with human rights and religious freedoms, period.
KELEMEN: In his letters to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Virginia congressman calls for U.S. aid to be used as leverage to promote democracy in Egypt.
WOLF: Our embassy ought to be an island of freedom over there. The president ought to be speaking out.
KELEMEN: Up to now, it has been State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland speaking on behalf of the administration. In her toughest words to date, she blamed holdovers from the Hosni Mubarak era for raiding 17 non-governmental groups, taking computers, documents and even cell phones.
VICTORIA NULAND: Some of the most strident statements made by Egyptian authorities seem to be made by old Mubarak holdover types who clearly are not on the new page with the Egyptian people.
KELEMEN: The administration sent Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman to Cairo to try to resolve the dispute. The U.S. and the NGOs thought they would have had their property returned by now, according to Scott Mastic, the Middle East director for the International Republican Institute.
SCOTT MASTIC: None of that has happened. The office remains closed at this time. Things taken from us are being held at the ministry of justice. And, in fact, in the last week we've had staff that have been called in for interviews there.
KELEMEN: And those interrogations are expected to continue in the coming week. Mastic says the irony is he was in Cairo at the invitation of the Egyptian government to monitor parliamentary elections, even as authorities began investigating IRI's funding and legal status in the country.
MASTIC: We frankly were concerned about the reception that we might get given the sensational attacks and misinformation being spread about the organization. But by and large Egyptians that we interacted with were both positive about the election and very welcoming to the people that we had around the country.
KELEMEN: The National Democratic Institute, which also had its office in Cairo raided, said its election monitors were able to work, though some ran into hostile security and election officials. The other U.S.-funded organization under investigation in Egypt is Freedom House. Its president, David Kramer, came away from his trip to Cairo worried about the overall trends.
DAVID KRAMER: This is not just about Freedom House's ability to maintain an office there. This is about civil society in Egypt and its future.
KELEMEN: Kramer says he's getting support from the U.S. Embassy but could use more and tougher public statements from Washington.
KRAMER: Whatever gets the investigations closed down, whatever allows us to work in an unfettered manner, we should explore all possibilities.
KELEMEN: Kramer says he can understand why some lawmakers want the U.S. to reconsider the $1.3 billion a year it gives to the Egyptian military, which is overseeing Egypt's transition. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
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MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE OF PEOPLE SAYING "DEAR TUCSON")
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's been a year since a gunman opened fire at a Tucson grocery store. Six people were killed and 13 injured, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. NPR's State of the Re:Union asked people who were present that day at the shooting to write letters to Tucson, reflecting on their city and the year since the tragedy.
RON BARBER: Unlike most places, Tucson is green in the dead of winter.
SUZI HILEMAN: The bright, beautiful crisp Saturday morning that was January 8, 2011.
ROSS ZIMMERMAN: Shots broke the morning calm.
PATRICIA MAISCH: I was shot while holding my 9-year-old friend's hand. She's dead and I am here. Christina Taylor and I were waiting to shake our congresswoman's hand. We went from thrilled to damaged in an instant.
ZIMMERMAN: We lost dear friends, a talented child, a caring judge and my beloved colleague.
BARBER: Tucson has become a much lonelier place for me.
PAMELA SIMON: When I pull into my garage, I faced a large cardboard sign. It says Tucson, then a red heart and then the scrolled word Pam. Tucson loves Pam.
MAISCH: I had thought that I would be anonymous. I was not. I was noticed, marveled at. I was hugged and prayed over and smiled at and my hand was shaken, my shoulder touched, my knee patted. And it's still going on today.
SIMON: In the year that followed, I, like you, have lived under a cloud of grief.
ZIMMERMAN: I love and will always remember Gabe but he'll never return. I love this place but that's not sufficient. A shadow lies across my home.
HILEMAN: Remember them. Keep them close.
SIMON: In the most difficult moments, you sent me a sunset, the smell of the desert after a rainstorm, mariachi music and the peace of a Sabino Canyon walk. Tucson, you wrap me in your arms during an inconceivable time.
MAISCH: I love you, Tucson, just as much as you love me.
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MARTIN: These letters were written and read by Ron Barber, Suzi Hileman, Patricia Maisch, Pamela Simon and Ross Zimmerman. This story was produced by Tina Antolini and Laura Starecheski of NPR's State of the Re:Union.
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MARTIN: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm David Greene. Steve Inskeep is up in New Hampshire, ahead of tomorrow's primary.
Here in Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court today will hear arguments in a tangle of Texas redistricting cases with repercussions well beyond the Lone Star State.
NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports on what's being dubbed the three-court puzzle.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: The constitution mandates that every 10 years the states must redraw their legislative and congressional district lines to reflect population shifts documented in the decennial census. Texas is one of the big beneficiaries this year, gaining four additional congressional seats. The reason is the state's booming population, fueled largely by Latinos. Of the four million new state residents, an astounding two-thirds-plus are Hispanic.
Now, legislative redistricting is almost always an ugly process, stoked by partisanship and self-interest. But one thing that redistricting cannot do under the Voting Rights Act is to dilute minority voting power. That requirement extends to every state. But those states, like Texas, with a demonstrated history of racial and ethnic discrimination, must submit their redistricting plans in advance for pre-clearance to the Justice Department, or to a three-judge federal district court in Washington, D.C.
This, however, is the first redistricting year since the voting rights law was enacted in 1965 when the White House and Justice Department are in the hands of Democrats. And Republican-controlled Texas for the first time has entirely bypassed the quick, 60-day pre-clearance mechanism provided for at Justice.
Instead, the state opted to seek pre-clearance from the federal court in Washington, a more open-ended procedure that was made longer when Texas rejected an early trial date and sought to win outright without a trial.
That didn't work out well for the state. In November, the three-judge court ruled unanimously that the state had failed to show its plan was not discriminatory, and it ordered a trial to determine the facts.
With the Texas primary elections then just three months away and no redistricting map in place, the D.C. court also took an unusual step. It gave the green light to a different three-judge federal court in Texas to come up with an interim map.
The Texas court rejected the state plan, which would likely have resulted in three out of four new congressional seats going to the GOP, and it redrew the lines to more reflect Latino voting power, the result being that three of the four seats would now likely go to the Democrats.
The state then went to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to block the interim plan. The legal dilemma facing the Supreme Court is this: It can't default to the old legislative map. Because of the huge population growth, that map violates the one person, one vote principle.
But the new map drawn by the Texas legislature hasn't been pre-cleared yet under the Voting Rights Act and there are strong hints from the Washington, D.C. pre-clearance court that the state plan illegally minimizes minority voting power.
That leaves the interim plan, but the state contends that's no good either, because the court in Texas, quote, "substituted its judgment" for the legislature's without any finding of legal violations. Former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement represents the state.
PAUL CLEMENT: Do you just have the courts start drawing from scratch or - we would suggest, you start with the legislative map and you only start redrawing it if you have a finding of a likely constitutional or statutory violation.
TOTENBERG: The state is asking the Supreme Court to void the interim plan and put in place the state's proposed redistricting plan for now, while pre-clearance is pending. The state notes that with primaries now scheduled for early April that the state and candidates are in dire need of a map for the 2012 election.
But minority groups, backed by the Obama administration, reply that whatever pickle the state finds itself in is of its own making, since it has long known the timetable. They note that the state chose to bypass the quick Justice Department pre-clearance mechanism. And they maintain that the state has deliberately dragged out the court pre-clearance process. Stanford law professor Pam Karlan is one of the lawyers challenging the state plan.
PAM KARLAN: Texas' claim that this process has bogged down and therefore it should somehow be excused is a little bit reminiscent of the claim of somebody who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan.
TOTENBERG: Indeed, Karlan observes that the state has redrawn a district that the Supreme Court threw out just five years ago for minimizing Latino voting power. While Texas claims that the state legislature's map is entitled to the presumption of good faith, those challenging the map contend that to allow Texas to use a plan that has not been pre-cleared would be an end run that effectively nullifies the minority voter protections in the voting rights law.
Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene. Steve Inskeep is up in New Hampshire ahead of tomorrow's primary there. In Your Health today, we'll talk about how to properly take care of contact lenses. But first we turn to Attention Deficit Disorder and diet. Families struggling with ADD often pin their hopes on changes in diet, whether it's adding fish oil supplements or eliminating sugar and food coloring. NPR's Allison Aubrey looks at whether these strategies really work.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: If you cross the hungry with the word angry what do you get? Hangry. A hangry kid is one who steps off the bus ravenous, irritable, and fidgety. This can happen to anyone, but for kids with Attention Deficit Disorder the effect is even more dramatic. Mother Linda Brauer says with her son, she realized it had little to do with what he was eating. It was that he hadn't eaten enough.
LINDA BRAUER: He's always gotten hangry. You know, when he is wanting something to eat and he can't even articulate it, it was really hard to stave him off until we had something to eat.
AUBREY: Kids with ADD burn lots of calories. They're moving their bodies all the time and often won't sit still long enough to eat. So Brauer says she realized that managing her son's diet was very important, but not in the way she'd been led to believe. She says back in the 1980s when her son was diagnosed, lots of parents were experimenting with elimination diets - removing sugar, food colorings, preservatives, certain kinds of fruits and meats. And she did try this.
BRAUER: I really tried hard to control his diet when he was little, just because that was what good mothers were supposed to do.
AUBREY: But she says it finally dawned on her that the diet made no difference. She recalls reports from her son's preschool.
BRAUER: He was grabbing toys from other children. He wouldn't wait his turn. He was interrupting.
AUBREY: And home wasn't any easier. Brauer says her son's behavior was so impulsive she couldn't leave him alone for a moment. Feeling very worn down, she took the advice of doctor and put her son on the stimulant medication Ritalin.
BRAUER: It was so amazing to me. I could really see night and day. So, yes, it was very helpful.
AUBREY: Unlike diet, the medicine clearly worked. Brauer's story turns out to be pretty typical. For most kids diagnosed with ADD, stimulant medication is very effective, whereas diet changes alone are usually not enough. This is the conclusion of a paper published in the journal Pediatrics. It evaluates lots of studies over three decades. And psychiatrist Jefferson Prince of the Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved in the study, says the author's findings certainly fit with his own experience in treating children.
JEFFERSON PRINCE: There may be a small percentage of people for whom changing diet will have enough of an effect to be used alone.
AUBREY: Probably fewer than 10 percent of kids, he says. The rest will need medication. But Prince says this is not to say that diet is irrelevant.
PRINCE: Its main role in my practice, is as a complimentary treatment.
AUBREY: Lots of research suggests that diets rich in refined sugars and processed carbohydrates - think sodas and chips - are bad for all of us, not just kids with ADD. So Prince's nutrition advice is simple. Eat as much fresh whole food and healthy fats as possible.
PRINCE: I think if we have more processed stuff we don't feel as good as if we have less processed stuff.
AUBREY: And in terms of specific advice for ADD kids, Prince says there's been a fair amount of research on the value of omega 3s from fish oil - also known as long-chain, polyunsaturated fatty acids.
PRINCE: We think that there's some link between having low amounts of long-chain, polyunsaturated fatty acids and ADD.
AUBREY: So go ahead and get some fish in your diet or even take fish oil supplements. Prince says, even though the evidence isn't conclusive that this will help kids with ADD, given the heart benefits, he says it can't hurt. And his other bit of specific advice, eat lots of protein.
PRINCE: Having protein is really, really important.
AUBREY: Why? Well, he says lots of kids with ADHD aren't good eaters to begin with, and the medicine can suppress their appetites, so they still go long stretches without eating.
PRINCE: And they get hangry.
AUBREY: And need food quick. Prince says one way to keep this in check is to start the day with a high protein breakfast that sticks.
PRINCE: So if you can have a glass of milk and peanut butter sandwich, that's going to help carry you through the day.
AUBREY: Linda Brauer says she swears by the breakfast tip. She opted for egg sandwiches for her son. And she says it's made a big difference.
Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's return now to our series on the uprisings that are changing the political landscape of the Middle East. The first free elections in Tunisia and Egypt have shown the strength of Islamist political parties, and they've proven a rule of revolts. that those who make revolutions are rarely the ones who emerge holding political power. Among the difficult questions foreign policy experts are asking now is whether the uprisings are positive for the United States and its relationships. NPR's Deborah Amos examines that debate, starting with a reminder of the quick-moving events of the so-called Arab Spring.
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DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: It was misnamed from the start. The Arab Spring was more like a political earthquake than a season of revolt and the ground is still shaking. Out of 22 Arab countries, only three autocrats have been ousted. This so-called spring has hardly run its course. Ask if the change taking place are good or bad for the U.S. and you often get a different question.
GREG GAUSE: Well, I think it's almost like saying, is a natural disaster good or bad for America? It just happened. I mean there's not that much that we can - there's nothing that we can do about it.
AMOS: That's Greg Gause at the University of Vermont. He specializes in the politics of the Middle East.
GAUSE: And so the question is not so much is it good for us or is it bad for us. I think the question is: How do we react to it?
AMOS: The initial reaction was optimistic. President Obama said the uprising in Tahrir Square presented a historic opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: The square is a symbol of everything. This is our square. Tahrir means liberty. It also comes from the word (foreign language spoken), which means freedom. We just want our freedom back.
AMOS: But darker times on this same square and in Libya, Yemen and in Syria have tempered the response. A November poll showed most U.S. voters don't see the political change in countries like Egypt as good for the U.S. And even fewer expect the new leaders to become allies now that some long-term American allies are gone.
KHALED FAHMY: The revolution in general from the beginning has caught the U.S. off guard, and they were revolutions against U.S. strongmen.
AMOS: Khaled Fahmy, chairman of the history department at the American University in Cairo, says this is a historic shift. He compares it to the Arab revolts of the last century - the Lawrence of Arabia moment, he calls it. Then it was a revolt against the Ottoman Empire. This time the target is an American system of alliances that depended on cooperative dictators. This time it's also about a younger generation that wants a voice.
FAHMY: So all of a sudden now we have a new player. It's not Islamists as such; it's the people. And I think that is the biggest challenge as far as the U.S. is concerned - a new player on the block that they haven't really heard or even accounted for before.
AMOS: For the first time, what the people have to say is expressed at the ballot box.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: The voting station is right next to a mosque in a poor neighborhood of Tunis. Boys tend a flock of rambunctious sheep under a minaret as it calls out the afternoon prayer. Many of the voters here say they have cast their ballot for the Muslim party, Inadha(ph), because they say it will do the most to help the poor.
AMOS: In Tunisia, voter turnout was near 90 percent in some areas. But even in this most secular and Western-leaning country, Islamists emerged as the most organized political force. Which has raised this question: How much democracy in the Middle East is good for the United States?
THOMAS HENDRICKSON: Overall, I think it's good. People really want to be free. In the long term I think democracy and a greater freedom in the Middle East will come about. In the interim, there may be some really difficult days.
AMOS: Thomas Hendrickson writes about American power. In his office at Stanford University, a large bust of Ronald Reagan sits among his books. For Hendrickson, freedom is the highest American value. American interests will have to adapt.
HENDRICKSON: It was always a bit strained to deal with only a dictator. It was always too narrow a base to put our policy on.
AMOS: But a good deal for decades, because dictators delivered a relatively stable and predictable Middle East. American foreign policy goals on oil, Israel and Iran were met, more or less. We got what we needed, says Stephen Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations.
STEPHEN COOK: Yes, we can all feel warm and fuzzy about democracy in the region, but we also have to recognize that it's all not going to work out very well for us. There is going to be new and different challenges ahead for the United States with a more open and democratic Middle East.
AMOS: The biggest challenge by far is in Egypt, where the U.S. still sends $1.3 billion in military aid each year. In parliamentary elections, Egyptians delivered a stunning victory to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that pledges to build a modern democracy. But its foreign policy outlook is less to America's liking than that of the Mubarak's regime.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: Excited male voters throng to the doorway of this polling station at a Qena school, eager to cast their ballots. Many, like Loofti Azid Gargez, were first-time voters.
AMOS: In a major shift, the Obama administration has opened the first high-level dialogue with Egypt's Islamists. It's a reflection of the new political realities in the region, says Shadid Hamid of the Brookings Center in Doha.
SHADID HAMID: And I think there is a growing perception in the Arab world that the U.S. is a power in decline and that it doesn't have as much influence or leverage as it used to. And for that reason, they don't have to listen to the U.S. as much. They can defy the U.S.
AMOS: That's because the Arab world is writing its own history again. The first chapter is about domestic politics, propelled by a popular demand for more accountable governments. Public opinion is going to count, says Greg Gause, at a time when anti-American sentiments are high.
GAUSE: Now, if you ask me, is the Arab Spring good for America or bad for America, I'd have to say in the short-term it's bad for America.
AMOS: His policy advice comes from "Alice in Wonderland," a saying by the White Rabbit: Don't just do something, stand there. That's the title of his most recent piece on foreign policy.
GAUSE: My policy advice is to not overreact, to not try to direct this in a certain way. Because I don't think we have the power, I don't think we have the local allies, and until the dust settles, and until they have stable governments that then are going to engage in their own foreign policies, perhaps the best thing we can do is just let that happen.
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AMOS: It was the power of American technology - Google, Facebook and Twitter - that helped the revolt; shared American values that shaped the demands. Now, the question of American interests will be determined in part by a new Middle East - more democratic, more Islamist, more volatile than ever. Deborah Amos, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And now to Italy, where more than 70 percent of the country's economic output comes from small enterprises. A big problem is that businesses aren't growing. Economists worry that could derail Italy's efforts to dig out from under its $2.5 trillion debt load. And that brings us to our last word in business, which is how the economy's contractions could be impacted by the contraction of some bellows.
From central Italy, Christopher Livesay explains what I mean.
CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY, BYLINE: In a global economy, even something as small as Italy's accordion industry can have an impact.
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LIVESAY: The work of its craftsmen has reached millions of ears.
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LIVESAY: The accordion you hear in that Decemberists song was handmade in the central Italian town of Castelfidardo. Seaside workshops here helped pioneer the modern squeezebox 150 years ago. Today, the likes of Bjork, Calexico and Gogol Bordello come here for what's considered the Ferrari of accordions.
GENUINO BAFFETTI: (Foreign language spoken) (Through translator) It's a very special job. It takes passion to want to make the best accordions.
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LIVESAY: Genuino Baffetti runs the Baffetti accordion company. The air inside his workshop is thick with sawdust and glue. At one end of the shop, a worker is adjusting some out-of-tune reeds.
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LIVESAY: Baffetti says the instruments are made pretty much the same as when his father began making accordions 60 years ago. Back then, they were not novelties in popular music. In the U.S., Lawrence Welk had a primetime TV show.
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LIVESAY: Business was booming in Castelfidardo. The town was home to some 3,000 accordion makers and dominated the global market. But then, something happened.
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GREENE: Rock n' roll reshaped the accordion market in the 1950s and 60s. Before the electric guitar, the town sold around 200,000 accordions a year. Today, it's just 20,000 - a 90-percent plunge.
LIVESAY: Beniamino Bugiolacchi directs Castelfidardo's accordion museum.
BENIAMINO BUGIOLACCHI: (Foreign language spoken) (Through translator) The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Elvis Presley - perhaps for the better - changed musical tastes.
LIVESAY: You can't blame it all on rock and roll, says Michel Martone, Italy's newly appointed deputy labor minister.
MICHEL MARTONE: We need to globalize more, we need to open up our country, we need to face the globalization time.
LIVESAY: Martone points out that the accordion didn't disappear after the 1950s. Many people still play it. But there's been a huge market shift. China now manufactures most of the world's low-cost accordions. The businesses in Castelfidardo that used to make them, they're long gone. What's left are mostly tiny companies who focus on high-end instruments. Some accordions made here go for as much as $50,000.
Small business owners like Genuino Baffetti can make a pretty decent living.
BAFFETTI: (Foreign language spoken) (Through translator) It's been our goal to grow, but slowly, in order to keep quality high. If quality drops, then we've missed the point. Our company makes 180, 200 accordions in one month. If for some reason we got 250 orders, that would be difficult if not impossible to do. So sometimes we turn down requests when business is too good.
LIVESAY: That's great for Baffetti, says Michel Martone, but it's a big problem for the economy as a whole. If small businesses don't do more to grow, then it will be hard for the entire country to compete globally.
MARTONE: We have a problem in Italy. It's the country of many many little things very well done. That's the great of Italy. But that's also our problem. We don't have the big stuff, the big thing you need in a global time. That's the big problem of Castelfidardo. It's not knowing how to do, well, something, it's, the problem is if you're the excellent in something, you have to sell it all over the world.
LIVESAY: That doesn't mean that quality has to suffer, he says. Martone wants niche manufacturers to band together the way Italy's giant fashion industry did decades ago. Once-boutique companies like Prada and Ferragamo, today bring in billions of euros to the Italian economy. But until more small companies do the same, economists worry that things in Castelfidardo - and the rest of Italy - will stay out of tune with the global economy.
For NPR News, I'm Christopher Livesay.
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DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The biggest prom in the country occurs every four years right here in the nation's capital. Inaugural balls bring out the happy winners, the political bigwigs and also a gown on the first lady that will become a part of history. A new exhibition at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History displays some of those gowns.
And NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg took her dance card to the show.
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: For one evening, The Washington Post observed, the inaugural ball gown is the most important dress in the country. What did she wear? How did she look?
LISA KATHLEEN GRADDY: She became a fashion icon, insanely popular.
STAMBERG: Lisa Kathleen Graddy curated the first ladies show.
GRADDY: People could not get enough of her clothes and her activities, and her likes and dislikes. They copied her hair. They copied her clothes.
STAMBERG: Surprise. It's not Michelle Obama, not Jacqueline Kennedy. In the late 1800s, Grover Cleveland's wife, Frances, was the Jackie of her day. Mrs. Cleveland's inaugural gown was really a blouse and skirt; fancy peach velvet top, creamy embroidered bottom.
Some fashion-forward young friends I took to the show had quick reactions.
ERIN STEVENS: The shape of it is really simple and it's elegant. I like the beadwork going on the bottom.
STAMBERG: Erin Stevens is studying textile design at Philadelphia University. Erin closely inspected the gown Mrs. Kennedy wore to her first White House State Dinner in 1961. Long yellow silk, one-shoulder...
STEVENS: I don't know. It doesn't match my aesthetic but it's simple and classic and...
STAMBERG: In other words, you wouldn't buy it.
STEVENS: No.
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STEVENS: No.
STAMBERG: Young'uns can be tough.
DANIELLE BRESLOW: They're so poofy.
STAMBERG: Eleven-year old Danielle Breslow, on Mamie Eisenhower's sleeves - little cap sleeves on her 1957 red evening gown.
EDEN BRESLOW: They should be longer.
STAMBERG: Danielle's twin sister, Eden, again with the sleeves.
STEVENS: I like the wide-set sleeves and how they kind of come mid-shoulder.
STAMBERG: Design student Erin Stevens.
STEVENS: Don't know about the rest of the dress though.
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STAMBERG: Everybody's got an opinion. And that's the thing about first lady clothes. I mean we care, but why?
Curator Lisa Graddy:
GRADDY: We care because we want to feel that we have a connection with the first lady. Especially, first lady is person whose job it is to go out and make a connection with the public. Be the caring face of the White House.
STAMBERG: Yeah. Also, because clothes are always more than just clothes. They're windows onto personality, an era, a value system, an attitude. In a video at the Smithsonian, Michelle Obama says an inaugural gown, in particular, puts us right in the moment; gets us wondering about intimate details of one evening, one woman.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Like, how does she feel in the dress? Did her feet hurt in the shoes?
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OBAMA: How many times did her husband step on that train?
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STAMBERG: Mrs. Obama says she felt luscious in her gown.
D. BRESLOW: It's white with little like fuzzy circles on it.
STAMBERG: The ever-stylish 11-year-old Breslow twins.
Little puffy things...
D. BRESLOW: And they'reâ¦
STAMBERG: They look like little cotton balls.
D. BRESLOW: Yeah. And they're almost sequins, like they kind of look like spiders on it.
STAMBERG: Little pieces of glitter-strewn.
D. BRESLOW: Yeah, it's very pretty.
E. BRESLOW: Yeah.
STAMBERG: Danielle gives it a grade of nine. Eden says nine and a half. Danielle is more demanding.
Again, the idea that everyone has an opinion. And curator Lisa Graddy says the dress a first lady picks will be judged through the ages.
GRADDY: Choosing an inaugural gown, I can't imagine the pressure. This is the photo that will follow you for the rest of your life.
STAMBERG: Walking past mannequins in their dimly lit display cases, it's easy to spot the, ooh, I wish.
E. BRESLOW: That's like a perfect one for me.
STAMBERG: Nancy Reagan's 1981 inaugural dress is a knockout; Hollywood glamorous, one-shouldered sheath, beaded, white lace over silk satin. The twins would wear it. And they'd wear Barbara Bush's dark blue velvet and satin 1989 inaugural gown. Odd, because it's appropriately matronly for the white-haired Mrs. B, and it has those dreaded poofy sleeves.
Curator Graddy thinks the dress reminds the girls of Snow White. Erin Stevens and, yes, this reporter, too - I confess - have a different favorite: A simple spill of slate blue silk crepe, sewn-in waistline, no sleeves, gracefully pleated column.
STEVENS: Yeah, I think that is the one I could most likely see myself wearing.
STAMBERG: The real wearer in 1933, the middle of the Depression was almost six feet tall, and rarely considered stylish - Eleanor Roosevelt.
GRADDY: Isn't that a beautiful dress? I love this dress. I was so excited to put it on view. Some days, it's good to be curator.
STAMBERG: There's always more to a gown than the gown itself. 1933 was Franklin Roosevelt's first inauguration. There was a charity ball. Eleanor went alone. The president pleaded pressing work. In 1937, there was a concert, not a ball. And during World War II, all inaugural activities were scaled back. The Roosevelts just gave simple post-parade receptions.
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STAMBERG: Videos throughout the first ladies' exhibition show them dancing at the balls, reflecting on the event. There's also White House china on display, Dolly Madison's painted fan, a White House front door lock and key removed during a renovation.
But it's the gowns that grab attention, for their style as well as their stories. From the mid-19th century, a purple velvet that belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln.
GRADDY: This was actually made by Elizabeth Keckley, the former slave who had bought her own freedom, set up a dressmaking business in Washington and became Mrs. Lincoln's closest confidante.
STAMBERG: Again, it's not a dress. It's a skirt with two bodices. The one for daytime has long sleeves and a high neck. The evening top is different.
GRADDY: Much lower neckline, much less bodice...
STAMBERG: Lace on the sleeves.
GRADDY: Lace on the sleeves. So, to get ready for evening you can just take off the bodice, freshen up, redo your hair and put on the new bodice.
STAMBERG: The outfit is from the 1861 social season, purple velvet. After her husband was killed in 1865, Mary Lincoln never wore color again. She gave those clothes away, mostly to relatives. So you can see where the purple at the Smithsonian American History Museum was altered by its next owner. The waist was taken in some, fabric removed from the skirt.
Pieces of history, revealing some tragic and exuberant moments in first family lives. What they wore when, and why they wore it.
I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News, Washington.
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GREENE: And you can see some of those first ladies' gowns at our website, NPR.org.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now to New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to help that state's economy by building the nation's largest convention center in the New York City borough of Queens. He's turning to an Asia-based conglomerate that specializes in casino gambling.
From member station WNYC, Ilya Marritz reports.
IIYA MARRITZ, BYLINE: For Governor Cuomo, the logic of this convention center is simple.
GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO: It'll be all about jobs, jobs, jobs. Tens of thousands of jobs, building the number one convention center in the country.
MARRITZ: And the cherry on the sundae: there's already has a private investor ready to spend $4 billion building it. Genting Group. Jon Oh is a research analyst for CLSA Securities.
JON OH: Genting is one of the biggest gaming conglomerates in the world.
MARRITZ: The company translates its name as Top of the Mountain.
OH: Back in the 60s, they originated from the flagship casino in Malaysia called the Genting Highlands, which still today, serves as the single and monopoly casino in the country.
MARRITZ: Over the years, Genting has expanded in all directions. There are casinos in Singapore and Britain, oil wells in China and Morocco. Now Genting is turning its attention to the U.S.
Jon Oh says, in addition to the project in Queens, Genting is campaigning to build a futuristic, casino-entertainment complex In downtown Miami.
OH: They sniffed an opportunity which is right now washing across, largely in the East Coast of America, where incremental states are legalizing gaming.
MARRITZ: Hard times mean a lot states are looking to casino gambling for new revenue.
OH: For NPR News, I'm Ilya Marritz in New York.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK. If you wear contact lenses, you're in a club with 40 million other Americans. Most people probably think they're taking care of the contact lenses properly. But a recent study finds that's not the case. In fact, as NPR's Patti Neighmond reports, research has found practically nobody is taking proper hygienic care of their contacts.
PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE: Cleaning and storing contact lenses isn't complicated, but it does require adherence to certain simple but important steps. And it turns out most people are taking some risky shortcuts.
DANIELLE ROBERTSON: For the most part, patients know what they should be doing, but yet they fail to do it.
NEIGHMOND: Danielle Robertson is a vision scientist at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, who recently surveyed 433 people who wore contacts. It turned out less than one percent were doing everything right. That means 99 percent were doing something wrong. Most commonly, it had to do with storage. When contacts aren't being worn, they're supposed to be kept in a small plastic container full of sterile solution. Robertson says too many people didn't bother changing it; they just topped it off.
ROBERTSON: Topping off means at the end of the day you go, you take the lid off your case. You still have some solution left from the night before. So rather than dump it out, you just squirt a little extra in.
NEIGHMOND: Big mistake, she says, leftover solution in the lens case is often already contaminated with bacteria.
ROBERTSON: So if you get bacteria in that lens case and it's sitting in old solution that's no longer effective all day, in that wet environment, the bacteria will continue to grow and they'll form little communities called biofilms.
NEIGHMOND: Biofilm, a sort of bacterial slime.
ROBERTSON: So once you get a big thick heavy biofilm in that case, it's going to be really hard to get it out of there. And studies in our lab and other laboratories have shown that, you know, after about nine months, I'd say 80 to 90 percent of lens cases have bacterial contamination.
NEIGHMOND: Which can cause eye irritations, allergic reactions, and even infections. Ophthalmologist Jim Salz, with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, says hygiene is important at every step.
DR. JIM SALZ: You wash your hands for sure and you remove each contact and put it in the reservoir, and then you leave them overnight. And then in the morning you take them out, with clean hands again. And you wash your hands, take the contact and put it in your eye.
NEIGHMOND: And ideally, empty out the case completely.
ROBERTSON: Clean it, let it air dry and then refill it with some more solution. And every month or so, get a new case.
NEIGHMOND: And always use a sterile cleaning solution. A recent study in Great Britain found that some people were actually using fruit juice, butter and even beer to store and clean their contact lenses. That's an obvious don't. Another, says Salz, sleeping in your contacts.
SALZ: The risk of sleeping in contact lenses, the risk of getting a serious corneal ulcer is one in 1,000 patients. Whereas, if you take them out every day, it's one in 10,000 patients. So it's 10 times riskier to sleep in contacts then to take them out every day.
NEIGHMOND: And one of the biggest and often overlooked risks is water - the ocean, lakes, swimming pools, hot tubs, even tap water - places where potentially dangerous organism like amoebas can lurk.
Researcher Danielle Robertson.
ROBERTSON: These amoebas can actually bind to your lenses and then you go back, you store your lenses in the lens case, you have an old lens case, there's lots of bacteria in it, these guys are going to feed on that, like sitting down at the table at Thanksgiving and they're just going to grow and flourish.
NEIGHMOND: Putting you at risk for an infection so severe it can cause permanent visual damage and even blindness. So don't cavalierly clean and store your contacts, make sure you adhere to all those simple, little, but critically important, steps.
Patti Neighmond, NPR News.
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GREENE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep in Manchester, New Hampshire. Drivers rolled past a vivid site on the road leading into one of last weekend's presidential debates. Ron Paul's campaign had put up yard signs. Not just a few; a whole row of them. Nearby stood a cluster of Jon Huntsman signs and more for Newt Gingrich. Beyond that, Mitt Romney's campaign planted what seemed like a hundred blue and white signs in a row. And then, just when the blast of color seemed over, came one more sign for Rick Santorum.
Romney's leading here. But over the weekend his rivals attacked him from all sides. And let's start our coverage with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Give a hoot for Newt.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Jon Huntsman.
Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Outside St. Anselm's College in Manchester Saturday night, there were dueling clumps of screaming, sign-waving supporters. Inside the debate hall, Mitt Romney was bracing for an all-out assault from his rivals. But it never happened, as his opponents chose to fight mostly among themselves. Here's an exchange between Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, who are competing to be the conservative alternative to Romney.
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LIASSON: By Sunday morning, the strategy had shifted, as if the candidates finally realized that they only had one day left to try and stop Romney, who appears poised to roll from one early state victory to another.
Newt Gingrich pounced after Romney gave this explanation for why he decided not to run for re-election as governor of Massachusetts.
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LIASSON: As Romney went on and on, Newt saw an opening.
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LIASSON: The personal animosity between the two men was palpable. Gingrich has been seething ever since a super-PAC supporting Romney aired $3.5 million of attack ads against him in Iowa. When the moderator invited Gingrich to restate to Romney's face his charge that Romney was a liar, Gingrich looked straight at his opponent.
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LIASSON: Romney was as usual prepared, and he had a ready answer, repeating all the charges made about Gingrich in the super-PAC ads.
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LIASSON: Although the other candidates managed to remind voters about all the things they may not like about Mitt Romney, none of the attacks rattled him or made him loose his cool.
Rick Perry, who entered the race in first place and then stumbled out of the gate, found a graceful way to poke fun at the moment his campaign ran aground: his famous brain freeze at a debate in Michigan when he couldn't remember the three federal agencies he wanted to eliminate.
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LIASSON: Perry, who's never been able to climb back out of single digits since that oops moment, left New Hampshire right after the debate to make a last stand in South Carolina. The rest of the candidates are spending one last day here hunting for votes.
Mara Liasson, NPR News, Manchester, New Hampshire.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, as those candidates hunt for votes, many voters are hunting for answers. They're asking how the Republican candidates propose to fix the economy.
Robert Smith from NPR's Planet Money team has been listening.
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: The basic Republican answer to any economic question is so easy it could fit on a Mitt Romney campaign button.
MITT ROMNEY: The answer for America is not to grow government; it is to shrink government.
SMITH: In fact, the guy selling the merchandise outside a Mitt Romney event in Rochester was bummed that he didn't think of it first.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Vote for smaller government.
SMITH: You could sell that button at a Republican primary.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I think I could. I think I could sell it at a Democratic primary.
SMITH: It's true. Cutting government is the new mom and apple pie. And in fact if you compare the Republicans' economic plans, much of it looks Xeroxed. They all want to balance the budget. They all want to cut taxes. Personal taxes, corporate, capital gains. You name it.
At the Romney event, a political science professor from New Jersey, Bruce Caswell, has come to see democracy at work. He says don't pay too much attention to those plans.
BRUCE CASWELL: They believe in the neo-classical free market. There are nuances, but they - no, they're not that different.
SMITH: Ah, but the whole fun of the Republican primary is teasing out the nuances, and each candidate has a twist on how to shrink government. For Jon Huntsman, it's getting rid of all tax deductions. For Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, it's a form of flat tax. Some want to slash the budget fast and deep; some like their cuts slow and selective. But to see the biggest contrast, it helps to spend some time on the trail with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. First Santorum, who always drops in this little fact about where he's from.
RICK SANTORUM: I represented the steel valley of Pittsburgh.
SMITH: And this explains the motivation behind his economic plan. Santorum takes a very targeted approach to cutting taxes. He gives a tax break to the thing he most wants to bring back to his hometown: manufacturing.
SANTORUM: They pay no tax at all. If you make things here in America, you're not going to pay tax, if you're in America.
SMITH: If you provide financial services, say, or export movies, you will still have to pay taxes, although less than you do now. Santorum may believe in smaller government but he's a strong believer in using what remains of government to shape the economy. In fact, he was asked why he didn't give a tax break to factory workers instead of factory owners.
SANTORUM: Putting money directly in someone's pocket is not going to create manufacturing jobs. You got to create an atmosphere for manufacturers to be profitable.
SMITH: Santorum doesn't spend much time talking about the budget cuts necessary to pay for such a tax cut, but the plan does have a hopeful ring that John Knoor loved. He manufactures soups here in New Hampshire under the name What a Crock.
JOHN KNOOR: One of the problems is that manufacturing leaves our country, and if we can bring that back, that's a great start.
SMITH: Some voters really like the specificity of a targeted plan, but for a lot of Republicans, that is the wimpy way out. To see the other end of the Republican economic spectrum, I went north to Lake Winnipesauke. That's where Ron Paul was not very subtle about how much he wants to cut from the budget the very first year.
RON PAUL: We need to cut a trillion dollars if we're serious.
SMITH: Now, I need to pause here for just a second because Paul talks very fast. One trillion dollars. That's around a quarter of the entire U.S. federal budget - 25 percent gone in one year. And Paul is equally serious when he talks about cutting taxes. Remember how Santorum wants to target the tax cuts through manufacturing. Paul rejects that kind of favoritism and wants to just eliminate the whole IRS.
PAUL: We have to let the people spend the money; then we have a much better chance of regaining prosperity.
SMITH: Of all the plans, Paul's is the most dramatic but it's also the hardest to pull off. This does not come as a surprise to anyone who comes to see Ron Paul. His fans understand exactly what it's going to take. Seth Cohn is a computer programmer and a state senator in New Hampshire who has endorsed Ron Paul.
SETH COHN: If you're dependent on government money to make your life comfortable, you're going to feel pain. If you are an American who believes that you can stand on your own two feet, this is going to be a renaissance.
SMITH: And perhaps that should be the fine print on the back of those cut government campaign buttons. This is not going to be quick. This is not going to be easy. The goal now for each of the candidates is to convince New Hampshire voters that it is worth it. Robert Smith, NPR News, Manchester.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Plenty of big name Republicans are backing Mitt Romney as he tries for victory in the primary here in New Hampshire. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was here, and so was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu was also supporting Romney.
We dropped by Sununu's house, where the Christmas decorations were still up and the NFL playoffs were on TV yesterday. A Mitt Romney ad flashed by on the screen as we talked. Sununu's favorite candidate is well ahead in the polls, though Sununu knows this state sometimes delivers a surprise.
What makes it unpredictable, if that's the word?
JOHN SUNUNU: I don't think unpredictable's the right word. I think what happens is it makes up its mind late. And in 1988, for example, when Senator Dole came from Iowa with a victory and Vice President Bush, I think, actually had come in third, it was waiting to see if there was anything that was going to truly differentiate between them.
The early polls, when Senator Dole came in, had him up. Dick Wirthlin, his pollster, was calling him Mr. President. And Vice President Bush went around and reaffirmed the relationship he had established by meeting people over the previous year. And there was the tide of change in the last day or two. So it wasn't unpredictability. It was late.
INSKEEP: Do you sense people making those decisions now, locking down their decisions now in New Hampshire?
SUNUNU: I think people have moved to lock down their decisions in New Hampshire, pretty much now. They waited as a courtesy, so much, through the last two debates. And I don't think they saw anything there to move them from wherever they might have been.
INSKEEP: Although, Mitt Romney has been in a commanding lead in this state for months, but just in the last few days, a Suffolk University tracking poll has shown an erosion in that support.
SUNUNU: Well, look, it's always going to close. You can't hold that size of a lead in New Hampshire. It's going to close. But Mitt Romney is going to win in New Hampshire and it's going to be a pretty good win.
INSKEEP: How has this state changed over the years - the past 10 or 20 years?
SUNUNU: Not much.
INSKEEP: Really?
SUNUNU: Yep. Most people don't understand New Hampshire. Look, the Democrats have had some electoral success. In 2008, they took control of the legislature.
INSKEEP: And this has become a presidential swing state, the last couple of elections.
SUNUNU: And it has. And it's because we as Republicans in the state didn't do things right. And I got a little bit ticked off at that. Went back to be state chairman in 2009 and '10. And we won back the two congressional seats. We held the Senate seat. So this state has gone back to its important results of having Republicans controlling the House, the Senate, the council.
It is a state that historically has been center right - conservative. It has, in the past, had Democratic governors. It had a Democratic governor that was very popular. And I think their success, and even their success in the presidential races, were because he was a pretty good leader of their party. But we've got a party now that's united. And New Hampshire will go - if Mitt Romney's the nominee - New Hampshire will go strong Republican in the general election.
INSKEEP: When you say Republicans weren't doing things right, what?
SUNUNU: Not nominating candidates well, a divided party, internal fighting, personality disagreements amongst the party leadership. All those trivial things that make huge impacts in American politics.
INSKEEP: Well, if it's a close national election, this could be a significant fact. Are you saying this is not going to be a swing state?
SUNUNU: This is not going to be a swing state if Mitt Romney's the nominee. The Democrats will abandon their effort in New Hampshire if Mitt Romney is the nominee and leave it to Republicans.
INSKEEP: Governor Sununu, thanks very much.
SUNUNU: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with a ban on mining.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: A 20-year ban on new mining near the Grand Canyon is expected to be finalized today by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The ban would protect a million acres close to that American icon. Conservation groups are hailing the decision, but the mining industry and some Republicans say a permanent ban will hurt the nation's energy independence and also Arizona's economy.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep in Manchester, New Hampshire.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene in Washington.
It's not easy for a presidential candidate to win both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Barack Obama didn't do it four years ago, nor did John McCain. But this year, Mitt Romney is getting closer to pulling it off.
INSKEEP: After barely winning Iowa, the Republican candidate is maintaining a double-digit lead here in New Hampshire. Over the weekend, in debates and new campaign events, Romney's opponents have sharpened their attacks, questioning his conservative credentials and his honesty. Romney though kept campaigning as if he's already looking to the general election.
Here's NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: The final weekend before Tuesday's first in the nation primary saw Romney hosting big events. There was a rally at opera house in Rochester. He took the stage with his wife, Ann, three of his five sons, and a collection of grandkids. New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte spoke, as did former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out of the race this summer.
Romney leveled his usual charge that President Obama is out of touch with American values and beliefs.
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MITT ROMNEY: I look at these last three years and I just shake my head. I don't think the president gets it.
GONYEA: That, by the way, is something other presidential candidates have said about Romney, who always answers by highlighting his business experience. But yesterday, he added a line about the anxiety and fears he has known.
ROMNEY: And I've learned what its like to sign the front of a paycheck, not just the back of a paycheck; and to know how frightening it is to see whether you can make payroll at the end of the week. I mean these are experiences that many of you know. I know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. There were a couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink slip. And I care very deeply about the American people.
GONYEA: Romney's rivals have also raised the question about the front-runner's authenticity. Newt Gingrich yesterday called Romney's message, quote, "pious baloney." Romney in turn campaigned in Exeter last night with a man whom Republicans consider authentic to his core, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE: When America is watching on Tuesday night, you tell them we've seen presidential candidates come and go in this state and we know a president when we see one. And he is right here.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: Romney supporter Chris Trojan, a middle school teacher, was at the event in Rochester. She says it's OK if the attacks on Romney have increased in recent days.
CHRIS TROJAN: That's OK. It's good for him.
GONYEA: How so? What do you mean?
TROJAN: Well, because it's, you know, when he wins the primaries then he's going to have to go up against Obama, which will be tough but I think he's ready.
GONYEA: And Obama is certainly going to beat up on him.
TROJAN: Yeah. I think we're going to beat up on Obama, too. It's the nature of the beast.
GONYEA: Her comments show that Romney supporters are also looking ahead to the general election. The other candidates say not so fast, predicting a closer than expected finish in New Hampshire and troubles for Romney down the road, as the contest moves to South Carolina.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Manchester.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Behind Mitt Romney in the New Hampshire polls comes Ron Paul, and then several men battling for third. Including Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and ambassador to China.
Robert Siegel of NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED has been following him around here in New Hampshire. Hi, Robert.
ROBERT SIEGEL, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: What have you seen?
SIEGEL: Well, I've seen him attracting somewhat larger crowds than they say he's been attracting until very recently. It used to be in the single digits. Now his house parties and town meetings seem to draw voters by the dozens. Of course, people in New Hampshire, many of them are just now beginning to narrow their decisions and make up their minds.
INSKEEP: Still well behind. He's got some different views that he's laid out on foreign policy, though.
SIEGEL: Yes. Yes, he is no isolationist but he does support our getting out of Iraq and wants the U.S. out of Afghanistan, too. Here's how he contrasts his approach - as former ambassador to China - to Chinese currency manipulation, with that of Mitt Romney, who's threatened retaliation against the Chinese.
JON HUNTSMAN: You can either politicize it and get cheap points out of it, or you can be a realist. You sit down with the Chinese and you've got a matrix of issues. You can't just one-off the relationship and expect it not to negatively impact everything else you're trying to do.
SIEGEL: On Afghanistan, you differ from your Republican rivals in that you say we should be getting out pretty soon. Would you be prepared, as president, to see civil war and for the U.S. to say we're out, we did our best, so be it?
HUNTSMAN: That may be inevitable, Robert. I'd like to tell the American people that over the last 10 years we have something to show for our involvement: no more Taliban, Osama bin Laden is no longer around, we've strengthened civil society. I say it's time to get out.
SIEGEL: That position distinguishes you in the Republican primaries. Let's say you get nominated and you and Barack Obama stand at some debate and say, well, we've basically - we agree. We have the same view of Afghanistan. We have the same view of Iraq.
HUNTSMAN: He's listening to the generals on the ground apparently and he's taking a go-slow approach. I don't want to take a go-slow approach.
SIEGEL: Get out fast.
HUNTSMAN: I want to get out fast.
SIEGEL: And setting aside the policies of Ron Paul, it's a pretty unusual position for a Republican candidate for president.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Robert Siegel and you can hear the rest of Robert's talk with Jon Huntsman later today on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, whoever wins the Republican nomination has to face President Obama, who got some meaningful news on Friday, when unemployment figures improved again. For that part of the story, let's turn to NPR's Cokie Roberts, as we do most Monday mornings. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: How important are those job figures?
ROBERTS: Everything, those job figures are everything when it comes to re-election of an incumbent president. Now, President Obama's also got to be happy that finally the Republicans on Sunday morning started to beat up on Mitt Romney, the front-runner. Up until now they seemed like they were, you know, trying out for cabinet positions.
But that unemployment number is really the most important number to watch going forward because it affects everything. It affects how people feel about the president. It affects consumer confidence. It affects that number we always talk about - is the country going in the right direction or is it off on the wrong track?
Those are all the measures that tell us about an incumbent being re-elected, and they are all dependent on that unemployment number.
INSKEEP: And can an improvement in that number change the election even though unemployment is still very high?
ROBERTS: Yes, because if perceptions are that it's getting better, and particularly those perceptions starting right now at the beginning of an election year, we've seen in election after election that that makes all the difference in the world.
INSKEEP: Now there's a new book out about the Obama family and the inner workings of the White House, Cokie Roberts, which is getting a lot of attention for its focus on Michelle Obama. This is a subject you've written about.
ROBERTS: Well, yes. This book, "The Obamas," talks about Mrs. Obama being at odds with White House staff, particularly when Rahm Emanuel was the chief of staff. And it's somewhat sort of wide-eyed, I must say, Steve, because the truth is that is hardly unusual. The first lady has only one interest, which is the president's success, and no other agenda. And often the staff does have other agendas going on, and they think the first lady shouldn't be in there involved and mixing them.
There's a certain amount of sexism there as well; who's that woman there involved in this men's work? But the truth is the first lady is always the most powerful woman in the land. That has been true from the beginning. It will be true probably until there's a female president.
And they've always been involved in policy - from Martha Washington on. Martha Washington was very involved in trying to get veteran's benefits for those Revolutionary War soldiers she had been at camp with for all those winters of the Revolution.
And so I think to say, oh my goodness, isn't this unusual and surprising that Michelle Obama is involved in policy and wants to have some impact on her husband's administration is something that I find somewhat naive.
INSKEEP: In a couple of seconds, is she though in many ways an unusually - is there something unique about her role as first lady?
ROBERTS: No, I don't think so. I think that she is playing the traditional role of being there to protect her husband's interests.
INSKEEP: OK. Cokie, thanks very much. That's NPR's Cokie Roberts. She's in Washington now. We'll see her in New Hampshire before too long.
Now, it's going to be a busy news year, and let's take this chance to note a change in personnel at MORNING EDITION. David Greene, who's covered everything from campaigns like this to the White House to most recently Russia, now joins MORNING EDITION as a backup host and correspondent. David, welcome to the program. Good to have you aboard.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Thank you, Steve. I appreciate that. You know, you and Renee often talk about the great team of people who put this show together every single day and it's really going to be an honor to work with them and also with you and Renee. So I really appreciate it.
INSKEEP: We look forward to hearing your great work. David, why don't you take it out?
GREENE: I will take it out. It's an honor. And, Steve, later on this week we're going to be talking a lot about my trans-Siberian trip, the last voyage I took across Russia before leaving that beat. And it's an honor to say now: you're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Presidential candidates are making their appeals in events all over New Hampshire. But if you want to know what voters are thinking, it's better to drop by somebody's house, for a cup of coffee. Or, something stronger.
Hey, how are you?
SAMANTHA BOUDREAU: Hi, I'm Samantha Boudreau.
INSKEEP: Hi Samantha. I'm Steve.
BOUDREAU: Nice to meet you.
INSKEEP: Hi.
JEAN BELL: Jean Bell.
INSKEEP: Hi, Jean. Thanks for joining us. I really appreciate it.
ELAINE SWEENEY: Oh, 'cause I've got donuts and everything. We've got cheese and crackers and wine. You guys are good.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SWEENEY: See, I've got donuts and coffee. So we have a choice. What would you like? We have some wine. Would you like some wine?
INSKEEP: That's Elaine Sweeney, our host on an overcast day.
SWEENEY: I think I'm going to have donuts with mine. I'm having donuts with my wine.
INSKEEP: Her house in Derry, New Hampshire overlooks Beaver Lake, covered this time of year with a thin film of ice. We sit by a bank of windows with six New Hampshire women, all planning to vote in Tuesday's primary. We set the coffee, wine and donuts on a white lace tablecloth and talk politics.
SWEENEY: I want to know what everybody felt about that debate last night. See, I got very upsetâ¦
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: All the dumb questions, you mean?
SWEENEY: Well, beyond the dumb questions...
INSKEEP: Several of the women have been attending debate parties and candidate events. Linda Dupere has repeatedly attended protest rallies.
LINDA DUPERE: I'm a Tea Partier. I have been since 2009. I've been to Washington four times. My husband and I, we want to see elected officials who are going to get in there and change big government.
INSKEEP: All the women feel some connection to the issues dominating this election. Samantha Boudreau is 21 years old and studying to be a pharmacist.
BOUDREAU: Job creation I think is a big issue. And in New Hampshire I think we've been doing pretty well in the past few months creating jobs. But being a student, I will be graduating next May and I'm going to have significant student loans to pay off, so getting a job is very important.
INSKEEP: I don't mean to jump right off with a personal question, when you say significant student loans, about how much?
BOUDREAU: It's going to be over $140,000.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, my god.
INSKEEP: So she's thinking about whether a job will be waiting when she graduates. These women range from students to retirees, and it's easy to hear the high expectations they will have for whoever wins this election. They want to cut back on federal spending, but at the same time, several collect Social Security and Medicare, and they don't want future generations to live worse than they did.
Then there's Traci Homol, the mother of a five and a seven year old. She's worried about federal deficits and debt.
TRACI HOMOL: We cannot afford Obamacare. This country absolutely cannot afford Obamacare, and what this election comes down to is are you going to vote for an entitlement society that's going to end up like Europe, broke with everybody going, oh, I'm not getting my stuff, or are you going to be a self-reliant society where everybody goes, OK, we've got to buckle down, we've got to tighten the belt and we've got to move forward. That's what I'm looking for. That's why I want Perry. And if it's not going to be Perry, then I'll go with whoever is the Republican nominee.
INSKEEP: Well, let me just...
BOUDREAU: Can we afford not to do anything about health care?
HOMOL: Yes.
BOUDREAU: I mean health care costs in the United States are twice as expensive as they are anywhere else in the world.
INSKEEP: The woman jumping in there is Samantha Boudreau, the pharmacy student, who even at this fairly conservative table is not afraid to say she voted for President Obama in 2008. Boudreau still likes Obama, but New Hampshire residents can vote in either primary, and she's backing Jon Huntsman in the Republican primary on Tuesday.
Independent voters like her can be a factor here. Many independents are backing Ron Paul, though when we name each candidate and ask our voters what words come to mind, Paul doesn't do well with this particular group.
HOMOL: Ineffective.
BOUDREAU: Scary.
DUPERE: Mmm, frightening.
SWEENEY: Fanatical.
INSKEEP: Other strong responses come for Newt Gingrich - people in our group come up with words ranging from brilliant to over the top. Mitt Romney gets everything from smart and organized to leadership to not trustworthy. Gail Gorham is dismayed that Romney is starting to seem like the inevitable nominee.
GAIL GORHAM: Yeah, I think he's going to make it, and I think he's going to beat Obama too. But it's not my choice, but I'm sure - it's a machine. There's nothing we can do about it. He's got such a lot of money, a lot more money than anybody else there, and he's - I mean I get three or four or five things I got in the mail yesterday from, you know, postcards and he's going to be here and he's going to - but we've gone to a lot of them, you know, but...
INSKEEP: A disagreement develops in our talk. On one side is Linda Dupere, who's a Gingrich fan. She thinks of Romney as a flip-flopper. On the other is Elaine Sweeney, our host, who dismisses Gingrich and comes to Romney's defense.
SWEENEY: With Romney, I see somebody that looks like a leader, acts like a leader, talks like a leader, and it's like the duck, you know?
DUPERE: We are in desperate need of a leader.
SWEENEY: Right. You're going to get people that are going to rally behind that man.
INSKEEP: Does it bother you that you can watch videotape of Romney talking 10 years ago, or 12 years ago and he seems to have the opposite position?
SWEENEY: No, it doesn't bother me at all because I changed - I've changed over this time. If you don't change with the times, then what good are you? You have to change with the times.
DUPERE: But there are solid values that you should not change on. I believe that.
SWEENEY: That's true.
DUPERE: And when he implemented Romneycare in Massachusetts with a Planned Parenthood in that, Mitt Romney was for abortions and that is one thing that really bothers me.
SWEENEY: But he's not now, is he? Well, he's flip-flopping.
DUPERE: But yeah, he's flip-flopped.
SWEENEY: What's wrong with changing your mind?
DUPERE: But that's a value you don't change on, and you should not change onâ¦
SWEENEY: What you're sayingâ¦
DUPERE: Once you did it, you can never get it back.
SWEENEY: Are you saying - you keep saying that. How about Newt? You don't think he's changed his values about marriage, infidelity and trustworthy?
DUPERE: Yeah, but not about - not about abortion. He's always been anti...
SWEENEY: Oh my God.
DUPERE: ...against abortion.
SWEENEY: So, OK, so he's against abortion, but he's not against cheating and stealing...
DUPERE: But so what makes you think Romney wouldn't do that again when he gets in? What makes you - see he wanted his health care plan passed...
INSKEEP: As our conversation continues, one more voter has been sitting at the end of the table, mostly quiet.
I think I know who everybody is supporting almost. Jean, I think I didn't hear from you who you're supporting. Who did...
DUPERE: Pretty quiet over here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BELL: I've been taking it all in, right?
INSKEEP: Do you know who you're voting for?
BELL: Undecided.
INSKEEP: You're undecided?
As the voting nears, Jean Bell has been leaning more towards Mitt Romney, the man she expects to win, though other women at the table are urging her to come by at least one more campaign event before Tuesday.
DUPERE: None of the other candidates run - do a town hall like Newt does.
INSKEEP: Six women in Derry, New Hampshire, among the voters who expect to take part in the nation's first presidential primary tomorrow.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's now have a look at the story some of the latest polls in New Hampshire are telling. A poll by the University of New Hampshire and WMUR shows Mitt Romney leading with 41 percent, with Ron Paul in second place with 17 percent and Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum tied for third, each with 11 percent.
A Suffolk University poll puts Romney on top with a commanding lead, with Paul again behind him, Huntsman in third and Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum rounding out the top five. Rick Perry is at the bottom in both of those polls.
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GREENE: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This morning, a lot of NFL football fans are still talking about the first weekend of the playoffs. And what a weekend it was. It looks like Tebow time is back in business. After several weeks of downright awful performances, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow delivered what his fans are calling the latest miracle in his young NFL career. Tebow's 80-yard pass play with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime clinched a stunning playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 29 to 23, last night.
NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman would like to say he called it, but in fact he's one of the many doubters who were darn certain the Steelers and their overpowering defense would write a sad ending to the Tim Tebow story. And, Tom, full disclosure. I'm a Steelers fan. So I'm just going to give the mic to you and not talk about this at all.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Well, first of all, you're very mean for bringing that up. But, David, in my defense, Tebow had been horrible. I mean, his deficiencies as a passer were exposed over the last three weeks. The Broncos limped into the playoffs with an 8 and 8 record. The Steelers came into the game with several key players injured. But still, as you say, with the number one defense in the league. The AFC defending champions, they're the Steelers, no hope for Denver.
GREENE: Number one defense and number one pass defense. So, how does Tebow connect on that 80-yard touchdown play?
GOLDMAN: OK. Well, we start - we back up. First, former Broncos great quarterback and now team official John Elway challenged Tebow earlier in the week to just pull the trigger, play football, let it fly. Then Tebow's intensity started picking up during practices. The Denver Post reports Tebow was sprinting from station to station during workouts. Most guys walk or jog.
And then, once the game started yesterday, in the second quarter with Pittsburgh leading 6 to nothing, Tebow started pulling that trigger in a big way. He threw a beautiful 51-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas. He followed that up with a pinpoint 30-yard TD pass to Eddie Royal. That changed the whole tone of the game. Tebow was fired up, Denver's defense picked up the intensity, and they went up by a big margin.
GREENE: Well, I was getting pretty excited, because the Steelers came back and tied the score late in the game. And then it goes to overtime. What exactly happened on that first play?
GOLDMAN: Well, all day Pittsburgh's defense had challenged Tebow to throw. They put most of their defenders on the line to guard against the run. And on that first play of overtime, Pittsburgh loaded up on the line again, even though Tebow had shown he could throw the deep pass against them. So, what did he do? He zapped them. He threw a laser about 20 yards that hit Thomas in stride. Thomas outran the Pittsburgh secondary, as you well know, David, the final 60 yards. That was it.
GREENE: Well, I hope I will get over this at some point. In the other NFL playoff games this weekend, it was all home teams winning - the Giants, Saints, Texans and then the Broncos are moving on.
But if you're craving more football, we have college football to talk about. Tonight, the BCS National Championship game - number one, LSU, number two, Alabama, two powerhouses from the Southeastern Conference. It should be quite a game. But this game has its critics. Why?
GOLDMAN: Well, you know, there's always anger about the BCS and no playoff. But the great thing in this one is about this being a rematch of a game that, if you like scoring, like most people do, it was a downer. LSU beat Alabama 9-6 in overtime in early November. It was a field goal fest, no touchdowns.
People worry this'll be a big brawling defensive match like the first. And they're probably right. These are the two top defenses in the country. Alabama allows under nine points a game. LSU is right behind, allowing only 10 and a half points a game. LSU's head coach Les Miles promises the game will be big boy football. Fans of that will rejoice. The rest of us will watch reruns of Tebow to Thomas.
GREENE: Thanks. Well, fans of defense get ready for that college game tonight. It's NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thank you, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You're welcome.
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GREENE: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Last night in Tucson, Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords made a rare public appearance at a vigil marking the anniversary of the shooting there last year. Giffords was shot in the head, a dozen others were wounded and six people were killed.
NPR's Ted Robbins attended a weekend of memorial events.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS)
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: People all over Tucson rang bells Sunday morning, at 11 minutes past 10, the time of the shooting one year ago. Kim Nutbrown and her daughter, Heather, rang their bells at the Safeway supermarket where the gunman opened fire. They remember the chaos of that day.
KIM NUTBROWN: It was horrific. You didn't know how many people. You didn't know if they had caught him. And...
HEATHER NUTBROWN: You didn't know if it was a family member or some friend. We came here after it happened and we felt like we needed to come here again.
ROBBINS: All day Sunday, as they did after the shooting, people left candles and flowers on the pavement still pockmarked by the gunshots. Across town, about 500 people gathered at the University of Arizona's Centennial Hall to remember those who died and were wounded.
Serenity Hammrich spoke about her best friend, nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green.
SERENITY HAMMRICH: I was really sad when we lost Christina. I know she is in heaven watching me right now saying, Serenity, don't cry. I'm doing fine, really. I want you to stay strong and continue with your life. I want you to have a great future.
ROBBINS: An hour later, just after sunset on a cold Tucson night, thousands of people gathered on the University of Arizona Mall. Some sat, some stood...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ROBBINS: ...all of them cheered when Gabby Giffords stepped on stage. She walked slowly but steadily, tightly holding her husband Mark Kelly's hand.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ROBBINS: Giffords and Kelly then led the crowd in the "Pledge of Allegiance."
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD RECITING "THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE")
CROWD: I pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ROBBINS: Nineteen tall votive candles sat on a table on stage. One by one, starting with Giffords, the wounded and the families of the dead lit the candles. The audience had been given glow sticks. Once the candles were lit, everyone activated their glow stick and slowly waved it.
Mark Kelly spoke about the past year, the pain of letting go of dreams for the future and of the unpredictability of life.
CAPTAIN MARK KELLY: The closest dearest people we know can be taken from us in an instant. And yet, the sun still rises over the Rincon Mountains each and every morning. Tucson remains a great city.
ROBBINS: The Tucson Symphony and the band Calexico then played one of Gabby Giffords favorite songs "Crystal Frontier."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRYSTAL FRONTIER")
ROBBINS: And as Gabby Giffords smiled, swayed, sang and tapped her feet, it felt as though there'd been enough sadness for one weekend. The crowd stood and clapped and rocked with her.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "CRYSTAL FRONTIER")
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ROBBINS: Ted Robbins, NPR News, Tucson.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "CRYSTAL FRONTIER")
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND CLAPPING)
GREENE: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene. GOP presidential candidates have been swarming the state of New Hampshire ahead of tomorrow's primary election. You know the routine. The candidates have been at local establishments shaking hands and sipping their coffee. Well, one Portsmouth restaurant had enough. Enough unannounced visits, enough getting in the way of servers. The staff of Colby's Breakfast and Lunch posted a sign on their door: No Politicians, No Exceptions. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene.
A pub in Newcastle, England is taking its pet-friendly policy to new levels. They're serving dogs beer. You know, to make sure pets aren't left out when their owners are enjoying a pint. The bottles are labeled dog beer, and the Daily Mail shows a photo of a dog lapping up the beer from a glass. The special brew is made of malt, hops and meat extract and it is non-alcoholic. The bar manager's dog, Franco the beagle, is not a fan.
It's MORNING EDITION.
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Ever wish you could say sing karaoke at work? Well, one telecom company's experimenting with an idea like that. Cover songs as a way of team building. M5 Networks is the company. It offers business phone service through the Internet, also known as the cloud. But when Zack Seward of the Innovation Trail reporting project in upstate New York went to M5's Rochester office, he found rehearsal for a battle of the bands.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: So let's do this. There's the second half of the chorus...
ZACK SEWARD, BYLINE: It's 4 o'clock on a Thursday and instead of sitting in front of office computer screens, a group of software engineers and customer service reps from M5 Networks is in the middle of band practice.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: One, two, ready, go.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MYRIAH MARSH: The great thing about this program is that you're required to learn something new.
SEWARD: That's Myriah Marsh, Rochester's office manager filling in on vocals. But for the school of rock program, she's learning how to play the bass.
MARSH: I have small hands so they don't really want to cooperate with me. So it's just a matter of getting I think my fingers used to it and developing that muscle memory.
SEWARD: Marsh is one of about two dozen Rochester employees participating in the music program, known as M5 Rocks. Bands of about four or five co-workers get together every week to work through covers of rock songs. The only rule is you can't play an instrument you already know how to play.
IVAN TREVINO: They just came to watch the thing, but maybe you can play that.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SEWARD: The guy in charge of band practice is Ivan Trevino, an educator from Rochester's Hochstein School of Music, who says the folks from M5 are model students.
TREVINO: They're at work all day, so for them to take a break and do something different, they're usually pretty happy to be there, which is a good thing.
SEWARD: Trevino says the school of rock for grown-ups is a first for Hochstein. It all stems from a meeting with the founder of M5's Rochester office.
TREVINO: The way he put it was really intriguing. He said we want our employees to continue to learn new things.
PHELIM WHITE: Most people don't want to learn something that they're really insecure about.
SEWARD: That's Phelim White, the founder of M5's Rochester office and the driving force behind the music program. White is a musician himself. He was a drummer in a few bands that toured his native Ireland and then later the U.S. He says the founders of M5 met while playing music, and CEO Dan Hoffman says he's long wanted to find a way to incorporate the ethos of a rock band into his growing telecom business.
But M5 execs say the program is about more than just finding time to jam. White says there's no better way to build a team than to start a band.
WHITE: That's the accounting person getting together with an engineer and a sales guy. All these different departments coming together as a band, as a unit, and learning how to be great together.
SEWARD: And White says that's not just lip service. He says M5 is all about providing businesses with telecom services they will, quote, "love." M5 has about 2,000 client companies nationwide and is a leader in cloud-based phone services. Ultimately, White says, M5 Rocks is about enhancing the bottom line.
WHITE: Happy colleagues, happy customers, right? If you're going to have that commitment to your customers loving your service, the first commitment has to be to the staff.
SEWARD: That companywide commitment leads to one big event this coming May: M5's 12th birthday bash in New York City. The centerpiece is a battle of the bands that pits M5 offices in Rochester, Chicago and Manhattan against each other in friendly competition.
Bands will take the stage in front of an audience of about 2,000 that will include colleagues, customers and even prospective clients.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROLLING IN THE DEEP")
SEWARD: For NPR News, I'm Zack Seward in Rochester, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROLLING IN THE DEEP")
GREENE: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Starting this year, health insurance plans may have to cough up millions of dollars in rebates to customers. The provision is part of the national healthcare law known as the Affordable Care Act. the provision says if insurance companies are spending too much on administrative costs and not enough on medical care, they have to give back some of the money. As Carrie Feibel of member station KUHF explains, insurance officials in many states have asked for permission to push back the requirement for a few years.
CARRIE FEIBEL, BYLINE: Bob Vesey is that guy that politicians keep talking about. He's a small business owner, an entrepreneur and a job creator. Vesey started his company Packtech in 2003. It's a foam fabrication company in Grand Prairie, near Dallas.
BOB VESEY: We do custom packaging for anything that needs to have protection inside of a carton.
FEIBEL: Packtech is small, only three employees. So, like many Texans, Vesey and his wife have to buy their own health insurance. Right now, the couple pays $784 a month to Blue Cross Blue Shield. Vesey says the premium keeps going up every year, sometimes twice a year.
VESEY: Right now, I get these letters and, you know, I just, I cringe every time I get an envelope from BCBS. I say, oh, here's another one. You just don't even want to get that mail. You just don't want to receive it.
FEIBEL: But this year he might be receiving some cash back from his insurance company, thanks to a provision of the Affordable Care Act. It requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of what they take in, on actual medical care, or quality improvement. Everything else - overhead, profit, marketing - is limited to the other 20 percent.
Blake Hutson is with Consumers Union in Austin.
BLAKE HUTSON: That 20 percent, you can go keep spending 20 percent on your administrative overhead, which is things like lobbying or paying CEO salaries. They can still spend money on those things. They just got to give us a baseline. They got to give us 80 percent of our premiums on actual healthcare.
FEIBEL: But insurance companies don't like this. Those companies that now exceed the 20 percent will have to refund the difference to their policyholders, and get those checks in the mail by August of this year. In Texas, for example, 23 companies will have to refund an estimated $160 million dollars to people who buy their own insurance policies.
Bob Vesey says he'd welcome that.
VESEY: That'd be wonderful. I mean at least you'd know.
FEIBEL: Without the rebates, Vesey says he and his wife will only get relief after they get on Medicare.
VESEY: You know we're saying, God, got to get to 65. Got to get to 65. Can't handle this anymore, you know?
FEIBEL: But the Texas Department of Insurance has asked the federal government to delay the new 80 percent rule for three years. The state argued this is necessary to prevent smaller insurance companies from pulling out of Texas.
Robert Zirkelbach is with America's Health Insurance Plans, a national lobbying group. He says the new cap misses the point.
ROBERT ZIRKELBACH: All the data show that rising healthcare costs are being driven by rising prices for physician services, hospital costs, prescription drugs and new medical technologies. And this new requirement does nothing to address the soaring costs of medical care.
FEIBEL: In Texas, a third of the insurance companies don't even come close to limiting profit and overhead to 20 percent. Consumer advocates say those companies offer poor value, and if they do leave the market it'll be good riddance.
But Zirkelbach says that's unfair, especially for smaller companies. Those insurers often have higher overhead costs because they need to rely on brokers or advertising to find each individual customer.
ZIRKELBACH: What we're talking about here is an arbitrary cap on health plan administrative costs. And it's often those smaller insurance companies that would be hardest hit by this.
FEIBEL: Seventeen states asked the federal government for relief from the 80 percent cap. They're allowing six states to phase it in gradually. But eight have been turned down. A decision on the Texas request is expected any day now.
For NPR News, I'm Carrie Feibel in Houston.
GREENE: And Carrie's report is part of a project of NPR, KUHF and Kaiser Health News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, of course, besides new television seasons, the New Year brings resolutions, and many of us are - or at least were planning to - rev up our exercise. Here at MORNING EDITION, we're spending the next few weeks asking athletes, actors and also you - our listeners - about the music that gets your workouts going. And who better to start off with than the artist behind that classic workout track?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PHYSICAL")
GREENE: Your body's surely talking. Olivia Newton-John, musician, says the song that would become an exercise anthem didn't really start out that way.
: When the song actually came out, I recorded it, thought it was a great song but then had a panic attack and called my manager and said, you can't put this out. It's too over the top, and it's too risque. And he says, too late, it's gone to radio. So then I said, well, you know what? I think we need to make it more about exercise.
GREENE: So they made a music video. In 1981, that took place in a gym with sweatbands and leotards - remember those? - and they tried to cast the lyrics in a less risque light.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PHYSICAL")
GREENE: Now, Olivia Newton-John herself doesn't work out to this song. She told us that listening to her own music while exercising would be weird. Turns out she doesn't listen to any music when she does her cardio. She doesn't have an iPod or anything, and so she says she puts on CNN or the History Channel.
: I have a home gym, so I get on my treadmill and I put on the television. That's when I usually catch up on the news, or I catch up on a documentary or something.
GREENE: But being a good sport, she did pick out three songs for us that get her moving.
: There'd be a couple of songs I could think of that I would love to work out to. One is the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" - always loved that. Every time that comes on in a club, I have to get up.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROWN SUGAR")
GREENE: Olivia Newton-John is a true Stones fan; she also mentioned the song "Honky Tonk Woman." And she chose something a little more contemporary, too.
: "I Gotta Feeling," by the Black Eyed Peas.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOTTA FEELING")
: Yeah, that's it. I love that song.
GREENE: So there you have it - three songs that get actress and singer Olivia Newton-John up and moving. And in the coming weeks, we'll be talking to all sorts of people to find out what music inspires a run or a gym visit or a swim. Let's call it the Ultimate NPR Workout Mix - we'll make the CD later. You can weigh in with all of your picks at NPR.org/Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOTTA FEELING")
GREENE: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene. Steve Inskeep is up in New Hampshire, covering the primary.
Here in Washington, dirty words return to the Supreme Court today. For a second time in three years, the justices are hearing arguments about a regulation adopted during the Bush administration. The Federal Communications Commission rule allows the agency to punish broadcasters with stiff fines, for the fleeting use of vulgar language. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: In 1975, the Supreme Court ruled that broadcasters could be punished for airing sexual and excretory expletives during prime time, when children are more likely to be watching. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The Supreme Court ruling was in 1978.] But that was when a handful of TV networks were the sole purveyors of TV fare.
Even then, though, the FCC regulated with a relatively light hand. Then in 2003, singer Bono used the F-word at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in expressing how delighted he was to win. That, apparently, was the straw that broke the Bush administration's back, and the FCC adopted a new, more punitive approach. It started fining broadcasters for even fleeting and isolated use of vulgar language. The test case was a Billboard Awards ceremony, broadcast live by Fox, when Cher accepted her prize this way.
(SOUNDBITE OF BILLBOARD AWARDS BROADCAST)
TOTENBERG: The FCC cited Fox for indecency, and the network went to court - claiming unconstitutional punishment of speech, and a violation of the laws governing how agency rules are made.
When the Supreme Court ruled on the case in 2009, the justices, by a 5-to-4 vote, upheld the penalty, based on administrative law. But the court ducked the censorship issue, specifically reserving it for another day.
That day has now come. The case is back before the court after a federal appeals court in New York said the lines drawn by the FCC cannot be justified in today's multichannel world, and that the rule amounts to discrimination based on the content of speech.
The Obama administration appealed that ruling - leading to today's arguments, which very likely will mirror parts of the arguments in 2008. Last time, for instance, Justice Ginsburg noted that the FCC had not fined the networks for airing "Saving Private Ryan," even though the movie is filled with expletives. But a PBS documentary about jazz was punished because some of the musicians interviewed used expletives.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUPREME COURT HEARING)
JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG: One of the problems is that seeing it in operation, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for some of the decisions that the commission has made.
TOTENBERG: Chief Justice Roberts observed that under the commission's rule, it could punish the network for airing Cher's comment during the live broadcast, but it would not punish the network for reporting her comment on the morning news. He also questioned the efficacy of the FCC rule in a multimedia era.
But the Bush administration's solicitor general, Greg Garre, replied that broadcasting is subject to a different standard under the court's past precedents. Justice Stevens, who wrote the 1975 precedent, interjected at that point.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUPREME COURT HEARING)
JUSTICE PAUL STEVENS: Wasn't the rationale for the lesser standard largely the scarcity of the frequencies?
GREG GARRE: Broadcast TV is, as Congress designed that to be, the one place where Americans can turn on the TV at 8 o'clock and watch their dinner, and not be expected to be bombarded with indecent language.
TOTENBERG: It would be a remarkable thing, said Garre, to adopt the world that the networks are asking for.
GARRE: Going from the extreme example of Big Bird dropping the F bomb on "Sesame Street," to the example of using that word during "Jeopardy" or opening the episode of "American Idol."
TOTENBERG: Representing the broadcasters, lawyer Carter Phillips got significant blowback from some of the court's conservatives. Chief Justice Roberts strongly suggested the context matters, especially when the viewers are children.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUPREME COURT HEARING)
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS: I mean, it's one thing to use the word in "Save It" - "Saving Private Ryan," when your arm gets blown off. It's another thing to use it when you are standing up accepting - at an awards ceremony.
CARTER PHILLIPS: You can't seriously believe that the average 9-year-old, first of all - who is probably more horrified by the arm being blown off, to begin with. But putting that aside, it cannot possibly be that the child has more of a reaction to that word in that context than if a young high school football player is running down the field, screaming a particular expletive.
TOTENBERG: The chief justice replied that in the Cher case, the swear word is completely gratuitous. And in "Saving Private Ryan," it is not.
Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And we also have some news this morning involving cars and this network. Ford Motor Company and NPR have announced a deal that will allow drivers to get NPR programming directly in their car - not through the radio but from a voice-activated smartphone app. And NPR's Sonari Glinton has more.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Increasingly with the car companies it's the battle of the apps. Your Toyota Camry can get you a table at your favorite restaurant. And now you can order up Robert Siegel from the comfort of your car. Ford and NPR have joined together to essentially make the NPR app that's available on smartphones available in your car.
GARY KNELL: This will have a set of choices for the consumer, so they will be able to listen to programs that they love, topics that they love.
GLINTON: Gary Knell is NPR's CEO. So if listeners are interested in, say, business or cars...
KNELL: They can break those down and listen to the last several reports coming from National Public Radio. And most importantly, they will be able to hear stations. And they will be able to hear local programs.
GLINTON: This is the first time a major news organization and car company have collaborated on a car app. The app will work exclusively through Ford's SYNC AppLink system using voice controls.
David Champion is with Consumer Reports. He's been a critic of car infotainment systems. Champion says even with voice controls, it's hard for drivers not to become distracted.
DAVID CHAMPION: The problem with voice recognition is if you've got kids in the car and you start talking to the car, they start talking to the car as well, and then trying to get your commands understood is somewhat difficult.
GLINTON: Executives for both Ford and NPR say safety is their first concern. They also say it's better to have the new technology than not, because it is a step forward. Or you could just use your radio.
Sonari Glinton, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The central argument of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is that he understands how the economy works thanks to his business background. He says he understands the economy in a way that President Obama does not.
Democrats have been challenging Romney's claim. They've been questioning the private equity firm that he founded. He says it helped to create more than 100,000 jobs.
Now some of Romney's Republican rivals are raising questions of their own. We'll hear more about one of those GOP attacks in a moment. First, here's NPR's Scott Horsley with some background on the Romney track record.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Mitt Romney has been touting his record as a successful businessman who knows how to create jobs. But that's only part of the story. Randy Johnson worked at a paper company in Indiana that was bought and later shut down by Romney's investment firm, Bain Capital. This winter, Johnson's been traipsing around Iowa and New Hampshire telling anyone who will listen that Bain is not the unblemished job-generating engine that Romney makes it out to be.
RANDY JOHNSON: They bought my plant in '94. And then in 2000 they let Ampad go bankrupt and they made $100 million. Now tell me what's right. There's something wrong with that.
HORSLEY: Johnson and other paper workers began shadowing Romney when he ran for Senate in 1994. Their complaints about Bain Capital's treatment contributed to Romney's loss that year.
Now that Romney's on a roll, some of his fellow Republicans are taking up the workers' charge. Yesterday, Rick Perry accused Romney of looting two South Carolina companies that Bain invested in. And a super-PAC supporting Newt Gingrich is promoting a new video alleging Romney grew wealthy in part by sacrificing U.S. workers.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN VIDEO)
HORSLEY: Romney continues to share in Bain's profits, even though he left the firm more than a decade ago. Asked about these charges during an ABC debate this weekend, Romney defended his work with Bain Capital.
MITT ROMNEY: This is a free enterprise system. We don't need government to come in and tell us how to make businesses work. We need people with passion, willing to take risk and help turn things around. And where that works, you create jobs.
HORSLEY: Romney insists Bain's investments helped create more than 100,000 jobs, even if you subtract the workers who were laid off to cut costs or because businesses failed. He routinely cites successful companies that were backed by Bain, such as Staples, the Sports Authority and Dominos pizza. Together those companies employ more than 100,000 people.
But Romney's been less forthcoming about jobs that were cut on Bain's watch. This weekend, for example, Romney pointed to the Steel Dynamics Company of Indiana as one that grew thanks to Bain's investment. He did not mention a century-old steel plant in Kansas City, where 750 workers lost their jobs. Donny Box was one of those. He'd spent 32 years at the plant as a maintenance millwright.
DONNY BOX: You've got a piece of equipment out in the mill that broke down, that was my expertise. I'd go out there and keep the mill running. And the guys that worked out there on the production plant, these guys' jobs were to put steel out the end of the door. And that's what we did. And we did it as good or better than anybody else in the United States, right up until the day they shuttered the plant.
HORSLEY: The plant closed in 2001. It was a tough time for the steel industry, and a lot of plants shut down. But Box says Romney's company didn't help by taking on so much debt.
BOX: You know, these people have never produced one thing in their lives, other than shuffle one pile of money into the next pile of money, you know. What do they know about reality?
HORSLEY: Workers lost severance pay, health insurance, and saw their pensions cut. But Bain still walked away with millions of dollars in profit. According to the L.A. Times, four of the top 10 companies Bain invested in on Romney's watch ultimately filed for bankruptcy. Bain still made a profit on three of them.
HOWARD ANDERSON: It's a wonderful business in good times and it's a pretty good business in bad times.
HORSLEY: That's MIT Professor Howard Anderson, who's followed Bain's business for years.
ANDERSON: What Bain Capital was in the business of doing was increasing the wealth of their investors. In some cases it meant expanding companies and growing. In some cases they may have eliminated jobs. Job growth was never the goal. Job growth was the byproduct.
HORSLEY: Bain's success gave Romney a personal fortune and a campaign storyline. Some of the workers who were left behind are now giving his opponents ammunition.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
A few of Romney's rivals are using that ammunition against him, none more aggressively than Newt Gingrich. Starting as early as tomorrow, South Carolina residents can hear about Bain Capital from another source as well, a super-PAC that supports Gingrich but officially isn't part of his presidential campaign. NPR's Peter Overby has more.
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: The South Carolina primary is a week from Saturday. And before then, voters there can expect to be inundated with ads attacking Romney and Bain Capital.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Well, we made a $3.4 million ad buy in South Carolina, which is fairly significant.
OVERBY: That's Rick Tyler, senior advisor to the pro-Gingrich super-PAC Winning Our Future, and fairly significant hardly does justice to the super-PAC's plan. If you spent all that money on 30-second spots, the average TV viewer in the Palmetto State would sit through 70 messages like this one - slashing at the legacy of Bain Capital.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
OVERBY: Tyler is a long-time aide to Gingrich. So are others at the helm of Winning Our Future. As a super-PAC, it's supposed to be independent of Gingrich's campaign. But they consciously try to deliver the message he wants voters to hear. In this case, as Tyler puts it...
RICK TYLER: People who think they know Mitt Romney should think again.
OVERBY: From all indications, Gingrich's campaign cannot afford this kind of advertising blitz. And it definitely couldn't take a single contribution of $5 million to pay for one. But that's what Winning Our Future did. The money came from Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. He had already given the legal limit to the campaign. But under the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, and other recent changes in the law, he can give as much as he wants to a super-PAC like Winning Our Future.
Adelson made most of his money in casinos. He bought the Sands in Las Vegas, imploded it to rebuild bigger, and now he has huge resorts in Singapore and Macao. In 2010 he told the CNBC show "Managing Asia" that he intends to keep going.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MANAGING ASIA")
OVERBY: The growth is not without controversy. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are both investigating allegations of corruption at those developments. Adelson is solidly Republican and generous with his checkbook. He's on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a hardliner on protecting Israel. He's a fan, and a friend, of Newt Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
OVERBY: This is a 2009 video for Gingrich's old political organization, American Solutions for Winning the Future.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
OVERBY: Adelson and his wife Miriam were American Solutions' biggest backers, to the tune of nearly $8 million. But with this contribution to the super-PAC, Adelson single-handedly has given Gingrich's presidential bid new life beyond today's New Hampshire primary.
Big donors have always been able to shovel money into presidential elections. But super-PAC's, run by professionals, make it much easier.
BOB BIERSACK: Now all you have to do, as a person with lots of money, is simply write the check.
OVERBY: Bob Biersack is a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money. He says the unofficial ties between a super-PAC and a candidate make it a straightforward proposition for the donor.
BIERSACK: There isn't much ambiguity about how this money will be used. And while that may or may not have been true in the past, it's certainly true today.
OVERBY: So now Gingrich can hope that his super-PAC will cripple Romney - just the way Romney's super-PAC crippled Gingrich last month.
Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Today, author Walter Dean Myers is being sworn-in at the Library of Congress as the nation's third ambassador for young people's literature. The two-year post is something like a youth version of the poet laureate. Myers wrote the bestseller "Monster." He's won numerous book awards in a career that's spanned more than 30 years and a hundred titles. He mostly writes about African-American teenagers grappling with tough issues like drug addiction, gangs and war, topics influenced by his own childhood as a high-school dropout growing up in Harlem.
I asked Walter Dean Myers about the theme of his upcoming ambassadorship, which he said is going to be: Reading Is Not Optional.
That's a pretty tough slogan to adopt as an ambassador trying to convince young people to read. Why did you choose it?
WALTER DEAN MYERS: The problem is very often books are looked upon as a wonderful adjunct to our lives. It's so nice. Books can take you to faraway places and this sort of thing. But then it all sounds as if it's something nice but not really necessary. And during my lifetime things have changed so drastically. You can't do well in life if you don't read well.
GREENE: You're saying that it's become even more important to read than when you were growing up. Well, why is that? What's changed in society?
MYERS: Well, what's changed in society, you had more industrial jobs than when I was coming up. My dad was a janitor for U.S. Radium Corporation, and he stayed there for 37 years. So he didn't read. The average working person could work in a factory but now you don't have those anymore. And not only that, but the jobs that you do have may not be around in five years.
GREENE: You know, I'm struck by this image of you as a young man walking through the streets of Harlem, hiding your books because you didn't want anyone to know that you enjoyed reading so much. And I wonder if your story was exceptional. What - is there a secret to having a young man or a young woman growing up on the tough streets, you know, getting interested in reading?
MYERS: I think it's difficult for young people to acknowledge being smart, to knowledge being a reader. I see kids who are embarrassed to read books. They're embarrassed to have people see them doing it.
One of the problems is that kids who don't read - who are not doing well in school - they know they're not doing well. And they want everyone to be in that same category.
GREENE: And so, what is your message to a kid who sort of thinks that reading might be something good, who knows that it could make their life better but they're just not feeling it?
MYERS: Well, one of the things that I want to do is to get very, very young kids being read to; kids 3 months, 4 months. If I can get every kid over the next two years, who's born, have their parents read to them or a grandparent or an uncle, or whoever read with them, it'll make a difference in the country. And what needs to happen is that the parent interacts with the child. And it doesn't have to be a long drawn-out process.
Now, my mom did not read well and she read True Romance magazines, but she read with me. And she would spend 30 minutes a day, her finger going along the page, and I learned to read. Eventually, by the time I was four and a half, she could iron and I could sit there and read the True Romance. And that was wonderful.
GREENE: Your own writing has been described as having a hard-core, hard-edged realism. And I'd like you to read an excerpt from one of your well-known books from 2001, "Monster." It was about a 16-year-old African-American who was jailed for the alleged involvement in the murder of a convenience store owner. Read a bit of that for me, if you can.
MYERS: (Reading) The best time to cry is at night when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help. That way, even if you sniffle a little, they won't hear you. If anybody knows that you are crying they'll start talking about it, and soon it'll be your turn to get beat up when the lights go out.
GREENE: And is that excerpt a teenager talking about being in prison?
MYERS: Yes. Yes. I visit prisons a lot. And I visit juvenile prisons a lot. And I'm appalled at the reading levels. You know, in New York State only 40 percent of kids in the eighth grade are reading proficient. And that's 40 percent of white kids. Black kids, it's down to about 15 percent.
GREENE: Your literature is not exactly the escapism of "Harry Potter," I think we can safely say. Why the stark reality? I guess some people would say if you're writing for teenagers, maybe you want to, you know, kind of get into their sense of imagination and not drive home the struggles of life.
MYERS: Right. What happens to these teenagers is that they reach a point in which reading becomes a challenge and only an opportunity to fail. Reading is not a pleasure for these kids. And Dr. Alfred Tatum from the University of Chicago points out that what the text has to contain is some clue about those kids' humanity; some clue about that this book is OK for him to look at.
So he wants to see characters in the book that might look like him or like his family. He wants to see a neighborhood that is like his neighborhood. Because what happens, when he gets up in the morning and he goes out from his house, and he looks around and he sees everyone who looks like - as he looks - who is unemployed, who don't have jobs - that's part of his education, too.
GREENE: Two years from now, you will finish your term as ambassador. What achievements do you hope to accomplish and look back on?
MYERS: Well, what I hope to do is to get mentoring groups involved with the community. I hope to find ways of reaching children that are not being reached today.
GREENE: Author Walter Dean Myers is being sworn in today as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.
Mr. Ambassador, if I can call you that now, thank you so much for joining us on the program.
MYERS: Thank you for having me.
GREENE: And congratulations to you.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In the Obama White House, as with almost any White House, the important players include the first lady, and right now a number of people are affectively trying out for that position. They are unofficial running mates you could say, the presidential candidates' wives, who can sometimes help a candidate in ways that no one else can. NPR's Tovia Smith reports the would-be first ladies are increasingly in the campaign spotlight.
TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: They are high school sweethearts and soul mates turned campaign surrogates and sales women.
ANITA PERRY: Nobody will fight harder and work harder for your country.
KAREN SANTORUM: What I love about Rick is he's so courageous.
ANN ROMNEY: That's been what our marriage has been like. He will have the kind of character to do the right thing.
SMITH: Anita Perry, Karen Santorum, and Ann Romney, may not be household names yet, but they're trying.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Now you're going to meet his most prized secret weapon, Mrs. Huntsman, good to see you Mary Kay.
SMITH: Especially in primaries, when candidates have relatively few differences on issues, spouses can help define a candidate and fix their faults.
ROMNEY: I say there's another lens you can see the man through, and that's from his family.
SMITH: Ann Romney has been humanizing her husband, Mitt, who's seen as stiff or inauthentic. She told an interviewer that at home, Romney's hair is usually messed up. She talks about his silly moments and his tender ones, like after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
ROMNEY: What he did was say, look, were going to be OK. I don't care that you can't make dinner every night, I can eat peanut butter sandwiches and cold cereal for rest of my life. As long as we're together, we can handle anything.
SMITH: It not only makes her husband look good, but it also draws the contrast with others, like Newt Gingrich, who divorced his first two wives. Gingrich's current wife, Callista, is almost always seen with Gingrich, though rarely heard.
CALLISTA GINGRICH: Let's give a warm welcome to my husband and best friend, Newt Gingrich.
SMITH: Devoted wife - yes, but warm and fuzzy Mrs. Gingrich is not. With her stiffly coiffed platinum hair and practiced smile, American University professor Jennifer Lawless says the former mistress-turned-wife is a doubled-edged sword.
JENNIFER LAWLESS: It could backfire, and it might prime voters to think about previous wives and previous marital problems he's had.
SMITH: Mrs. Gingrich has also caused tension within the campaign - staffers complaining she had too much influence and control. Decades after Hillary Clinton promised voters a two-fer, voters still prefer more traditional political spouses.
SANTORUM: I come before you today to introduce the man I love and admire.
SMITH: Rick Santorum's wife, Karen, granted interviews early on to a Christian station, reinforcing her husband's religious convictions. Then she was mostly quiet, until last week when she lashed out at a radio host who mocked how her family handled the death of their prematurely born baby.
SANTORUM: And I think that it was very inappropriate of him to do that. I'm sad that he did that. I feel for him that he did that. I pray he will never lose a child.
SMITH: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry's wife Anita has also lashed out at the media. And she's known to jab at rivals, like when she said Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan made her want to call 9-1-1, or when she used Perry's now infamous mid-debate brain freeze to lob a shot at the president.
PERRY: Some people may be more polished. You know what? I think we have a debater in chief right now. I'm not looking for debater in chief; I'm looking for a leader.
SMITH: Having wives lob attacks can be useful, as it's harder to fire back at them. Jon Huntsman's wife, Mary Kay, is also playing that role in solo campaign events and on TV jabbing at other contenders as she praises her husband.
MARY KAY HUNTSMAN: He is courageous. He's a bold leader, and you know what? He will not sell his soul for a vote.
SMITH: Ron Paul's wife Carol has shunned the spotlight. And so far, it hasn't seemed to hurt, but voters ultimately do want to know who might be engaging in pillow talk with the president of the United States.
MARY DWYER: Of course. I think that I want to see a little bit of what makes them tick.
SMITH: In New Hampshire this week, voters like Mary Dwyer say it's a vibe she's looking for. The wives' words of praise don't mean much, as Carol Burbee and Brenda Hanlin put it.
CAROL BURBEE: What else are they going to say, you know?
BRENDA HANLIN: I wouldn't listen to that...
BURBEE: They're not going to say, you know, he's cheating on me, but vote for him.
SMITH: Indeed, with voters who know better, it's easy to overdo it in the happy marriage department. Years ago the Romneys were roundly ridiculed after Ann Romney told a reporter they had just one single argument in their whole lives, and it was back when she was 17.
Tovia Smith, NPR News, Manchester, New Hampshire.
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INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This morning we're following some shuffling that's underway in the West Wing. The president's chief of staff, Bill Daley, who's only been on the job about a year is out. Daley told President Obama last week that he intended to resign. The president made the announcement yesterday, and introduced his replacement, Jacob Jack Lew, currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I have every confidence that Jack will make sure that we don't miss a beat and continue to do everything we can to strengthen our economy and the middle class and keep the American people safe.
GREENE: Now NPR's Tamara Keith has more on Jack Lew and what he brings to the job.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: The Office of Management and Budget, where Jack Lew has been director for a little more than a year, is a powerful arm of the executive branch that many outside of the Beltway have never heard of. OMB, as the office is known, writes the president's budget and much more. Alice Rivlin, now at the Brookings Institution was OMB director under President Clinton. And Lew was her deputy.
ALICE RIVLIN: OMB director has a broad purview over the whole government because everything is either in the budget or regulations or something. And so it's a very natural transition.
KEITH: This is Lew's second stint as OMB director. He came to the administration after about two and a half years at Citigroup, though he's spent most of his professional life working in government. During his first term under President Clinton, Lew oversaw three years in a row of budget surpluses. The situation now is very different. Over the summer he was deeply involved in negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. And in September, he appeared at a press briefing to discuss the president's deficit reduction plan.
JACOB JACK LEW: I think if you look at the details that are in here, there's very real structural change and there's very meaningful savings in many areas.
KEITH: As President Obama described it, Lew will be going from one of the most difficult jobs in Washington to one of the most difficult jobs in Washington. Matt Bennett worked in the Clinton White House when Lew was OMB director for the first time. Now Bennett is a senior vice president at Third Way, a think tank.
MATT BENNETT: The job of OMB director is to get spears thrown at you all day long by people who want more money, less regulation. He did a very good job of gently deflecting the criticism and making people feel like they've been heard, so I think that's a pretty good training ground for being chief of staff.
KEITH: He says Lew is about as battle tested as you can be. Bennett says this appointment is all about continuity. Lew has already been a senior member of the Obama team, involved in a wide array of administration decisions related to the economy and foreign policy.
BENNETT: I doubt that with the exception of people that attend senior staff meetings and are really in the direct orbit of the president that it will be easy to see a big difference.
KEITH: And at this point in the administration, at the start of an election year, an easy transition without a lot of waves may be exactly what President Obama needs.
Tamara Keith, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep in Manchester, New Hampshire.
We don't know exactly how today's New Hampshire primary will turn out. We do know that more contests come quickly. So this morning, we'll take a longer view of the Republican presidential race with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. She's with us here in Manchester.
Mara, welcome.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: And let's go through what I guess you could call a leader board here. Mitt Romney has been on top. How has he been doing?
LIASSON: Well, his only rival here is expectations. He has a very big lead, anywhere from 33 to 41 percent. But in the latest tracking polls, he has dropped 10 points over the last week. But for him, a big victory would dispel the narrative that he's a 25 percent candidate. I think anything short of 30 percent would be disappointing.
INSKEEP: When you say 25 percent candidate, you mean this feeling among Republicans that he can only get so much support.
LIASSON: Right. And I think that's changing. Romney has also been facing something new: actual attacks from everyone. And they're not attacks that he's insufficiently conservative. But they're about his tenure at Bain Capital. His opponents say he looted companies, he laid off workers. Romney calls as an attack on free enterprise and says this is the kind of criticism he'd expect from the last, but not from Republicans.
But he has also been trying to answer these charges. He's saying I was afraid of getting pink slips, too. And his opponents have been having a field day with those comments. Rick Perry said Romney was worried about pink slips, about not having enough of them to hand out to workers he was laying off.
INSKEEP: So, in this time when people are concerned about jobs and angry at Wall Street, his opponents are trying to tag him with this label of being a greedy capitalist and so forth.
LIASSON: Very unusual attack coming from Republicans, but it is exactly the kind of thing that we do expect the Democrats to use against him in the general election.
INSKEEP: If he gets there. Now, Ron Paul is in second place as we go down this leader board. Where does he go from New Hampshire?
LIASSON: Well, he goes on to South Carolina but he has decided not to compete in Florida. Florida is very expensive state. It also is a winner-take-all state, so you can't get delegates for just coming in second. He has ruled out an Independent bid, which is something that's always asked about Ron Paul 'cause he has his own Libertarian base that might not vote Republican, if he's not on the ticket in November. But he is talking may be about wanting to exact some kind of platform changes at the convention.
INSKEEP: Several other candidates here are trying for a least a decent showing in New Hampshire and trying to extend this process. They don't want Romney to win right away. They're hoping eventually to be challenging Romney. What's going on with Jon Huntsman, with Newt Gingrich and with Rick Santorum?
LIASSON: Well, they're competing in what they call the conservative primary. One of them, they hope, will emerge as a conservative alternative to Romney. Conservatives have yet to coalesce around a single candidate. They might not ever do that.
For Rick Santorum, his Iowa surge appears to have tapered off here in New Hampshire. He's already looking to South Carolina. He took a detour there on Sunday to pick up the endorsement of Gary Bauer, a prominent social conservative.
Jon Huntsman is the only candidate who has been going up in the polls in New Hampshire, but there's not a state coming up where he has a natural constituency.
INSKEEP: And we haven't mentioned Rick Perry. Of course, he stopped competing in New Hampshire. He was very low in the polls here. He'll try again elsewhere. But let me ask another question about Newt Gingrich. He has been especially fierce in his attacks on Mitt Romney and has the prominence to get attention for those attacks.
LIASSON: Yes, I think Newt is a bit of a free radical in this race. He wields an outsized influence. He is a national figure and, as you said, he commands attention. He's staying in this race because he thinks he is the best conservative alternative to Romney. And he started the attacks about Bain Capital.
He has a Super PAC that has made a 27-minute video, and they have bought $3.4 million of airtime in South Carolina. That's the biggest anti-Romney media buy, just about equal to what Romney Super PAC got dumped on Gingrich in Iowa.
INSKEEP: But given all these attacks on Mitt Romney, Mara Liasson, is it still possible that Romney could essentially sweep this thing?
LIASSON: Yes, it is. I think he's poised to do what no other non-incumbent Republican candidate has ever done, which is make a clean sweep of all four early contests - Iowa, New Hampshire - he's ahead of the polls in South Carolina and Florida.
INSKEEP: Mara, thanks very much.
LIASSON: Thank you.
INSKEEP: And will be listening to you on NPR special coverage tonight, as we wait for New Hampshire results.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's show time in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Show opens today - 35 football fields full of gadgets and gizmos. All kinds of companies show off their newest and coolest technologies at the show. If you were to walk across all the booths, you'd travel more than 15 miles.
And NPR's Steve Henn has been making that trek.
STEVE HENN, BYLINE: Getting a show this big up and running isn't easy. All day yesterday and late into the night, thousands of contractors put the finishing touches on more than 3,100 exhibits booths. For big exhibitors at the Consumer Electronics Show, building the biggest, flashiest booth is one way to get attention.
Over the years, Adente Brown has become a connoisseur of convention booths.
ADENTE BROWN: I just walked by LG's. It looks pretty cool.
HENN: Adente Brown has been a security guard at the show for years, and gets an early a peek inside.
BROWN: The big wow factor, you know. The bigger wow, they're going to get more people in that booth, they're going to, you know, make more money.
HENN: But building these booths is expensive. Companies like LG, Panasonic and Microsoft will spend more than a half a million dollars renting floor space at the show. They'll spend hundreds of thousands more building their booths. So I snuck inside and took a look.
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HENN: LG's booth features a 20-foot-high wall of high-def TVs - stretching something like 50 feet across.
BROWN: It's an eye-popper. It brings you over there.
HENN: But if displays like that are not enough, they're also the celebrities.
So you're not going to go check out Justin Bieber on that?
BROWN: No, I'm not a big Bieber fan. If my kids were here, maybe, you know. That's about it, though.
HENN: Bieber will be making an appearance tomorrow at a booth for a small robotics company. But despite all this hoopla, most of the thousands of attendees here are actually here for the technology.
BRAD FELD: My partners and I go to CES for a couple of reasons. One is we're all nerds and we just love to be, you know, sort of hang out in nerd land a couple of times a year.
HENN: Brad Feld is a venture capitalists at the Foundry Group. He comes to see start-ups and also keep an eye on the products big companies will be bringing out.
FELD: It's also a very powerful way to understand where the consumer electronic industry is going.
HENN: The product buyers and investors and the press are all on the look-out for the next great gadget, whether it is a tablet, a television, or an Internet-connected washing machine. The big themes this year are connected TVs and Microsoft's late and somewhat desperate-seeming push into mobile.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer joined Nokia's top executives yesterday pitching, even fondling, Nokia's latest Windows phone - the Lumia 900.
STEVE BALLMER: When you pick up and kind of touch and â mmmmm - love and feel your Lumia, you will find just, you know, brilliant screen - I mean it really is â it really is quite a fantastic, fantastic system.
HENN: To be fair, Steve Ballmer's not the only one at CES who has trouble controlling his enthusiasm for the latest gadget. This year, show officials hope that close to 150,000 other gadget geeks will visit the show floor.
Steve Henn, NPR News, Las Vegas.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep in Manchester, New Hampshire. Let's take one last listen to the candidates contending in the New Hampshire presidential primary. Just before today's voting, five candidates crossed this state. It's a predictable ritual, politicians chasing voters and chased by reporters. The results are not entirely predictable, though Mitt Romney is a heavy favorite to win. We're going to hear from our correspondents with all the campaigns, starting with NPR's Ari Shapiro, who's following Mitt Romney.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Mitt Romney probably did not expect to spend part of his last day on the New Hampshire campaign trail answering reporters' questions. And he certainly didn't expect to be saying...
MITT ROMNEY: Things always be taken out of context.
SHAPIRO: The quote that people took out of context was this...
ROMNEY: I like being able to fire people.
SHAPIRO: It sounds like an affirmation of all the negative stereotypes about Mitt Romney as a heartless capitalist who made a fortune laying people off. Pretty damning, until you hear all of what he said. He was answering a question about health insurance.
ROMNEY: I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means that if you don't like what they do, you could fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.
SHAPIRO: Romney gathered reporters to explain that the other Republicans hammering him for his comments were distorting what he said. Then he went to an evening rally for one final call to action at a packed middle school gymnasium. He reminded voters that his family has been coming to this state for the last 40 years.
ROMNEY: What a way to go into the primary tomorrow night. I hope that you're going to be able to give me a bigger margin of victory than the eight votes that I got in Iowa. You think we can do that? Yeah.
SHAPIRO: Even Romney's opponents don't believe his gaffe will knock him out of first place here in New Hampshire. But they hope they can at least hobble his march into South Carolina, which votes next.
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: I'm Robert Smith following Ron Paul. Everyone's got to eat breakfast, right? So Paul invited the media along yesterday to watch him chow down at the Moe Joe Diner.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
SMITH: Bad move.
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SMITH: TV cameras mobbed Ron Paul as he was heading for his table.
RON PAUL: Right now I'm annoyed by lights that are blinding me.
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SMITH: Paul tried to banter with diners as the crowd pushed him along.
PAUL: Hello. How you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Good.
PAUL: Good to meet you, everybody.
SMITH: But then noticed something.
PAUL: A lot of young people out here today.
SMITH: Yeah. There were a lot of young people. The tables were filled with high school students. It turns out they were all bussed in from the same place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Franklin, Franklin High School. Franklin, Massachusetts.
SMITH: Every kid here was from Massachusetts. There wasn't an actual primary voter in the room. Their political science teacher, John Layden, had called ahead.
JOHN LAYDEN: We have - I think it's 94 with us.
SMITH: So you called up, asked somebody for a reservation...
LAYDEN: Yeah.
SMITH: ...for 7:30 in the morning for 94 people.
LAYDEN: Yes. Yeah.
SMITH: Ron Paul needs actual New Hampshire voters in order to win this primary.
LAYDEN: Right.
SMITH: Do you feel bad taking up his entire event with students from Massachusetts?
LAYDEN: I don't feel bad. Anyone else can do the same thing.
SMITH: Ron Paul would have loved that free market answer. Except he gave up trying to make it through the crowd of reporters and he headed straight for the door. How's that for a good high school lesson in modern media and politics?
TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: I'm Tovia Smith following Jon Huntsman's campaign. Mitt Romney might have thought he'd be helping himself by knocking Huntsman for serving as ambassador to China for the Obama administration, but it turns out the attack may be one of the best things that ever happened to Huntsman.
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JON HUNTSMAN: Can you feel the energy out there, ladies and gentlemen?
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SMITH: It's not only brought Huntsman the attention he desperately needs, it's also allowed him to show a more animated and less diplomatic side that apparently voters wanted.
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HUNTSMAN: I think we're reminded of a certain other candidate in the race.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yeah.
HUNTSMAN: That our team and our movement is here to put our country first. We're tired of people putting politics first.
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SMITH: It's become Huntsman biggest applause line at every stop, and is helping him win converts, like 74-year-old independent Don Robie.
DON ROBIE: Oh yeah. That was - I loved that.
SMITH: Undecided two days ago, last night Robie carried home a Huntsman yard sign.
ROBIE: I've gone through the whole gamut listening every night to all the rest of them, and I just decided, hey, I think he's got it.
SMITH: And Robie voted for President Obama four years ago. Huntsman says his crossover appeal to more moderate voters makes him exactly what the GOP needs.
JOHN HUNTSMAN: Let's face it. You know, in order for someone to beat Barack Obama this year, that's just the plain math.
SMITH: An outright win in today's primary may be out of reach, but Huntsman is hoping for enough of a showing here to stay in the race.
ANDREA SEABROOK, BYLINE: I'm Andrea Seabrook following Newt Gingrich. In Iowa, the former speaker promised to run a completely positive campaign. In New Hampshire, not so much.
NEWT GINGRICH: If somebody's going to crumble, they better crumble before the nomination. You don't want to end up in September with a nominee who's been untested and can't stand it.
SEABROOK: He's talking about Mitt Romney. Gingrich talked a lot about Mitt Romney in the last day before the New Hampshire primary.
GINGRICH: The fact is there are legitimate questions. There are going to be more of those questions and at some point Governor Romney is going to have answer them.
SEABROOK: Who is raising these questions? Well, among others, it's the pro-Gingrich super-PAC called Winning Our Future. It's airing a negative ad - really a negative movie - about Romney's time running the investment firm Bain Capital.
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SEABROOK: At a rally in downtown Manchester, Gingrich said very soon Romney's going to have to have a long press conference to answer these questions.
GINGRICH: He's the one who went around here and said, look, I've had these 20 years experience. Fine. Now, let's talk about the 20 years experience.
SEABROOK: Whatever happens in New Hampshire today, the former speaker hopes to knock Romney off balance as the candidates heads south toward more Gingrich-friendly territory.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: This is Don Gonyea following former Senator Rick Santorum, who spent the day bouncing from football field to Elks lodge to diner to American Legion hall. Santorum's show is suddenly playing in primetime after nearly winning Iowa, but bright lights can bring out campaign bugs, like bad sound systems making the candidate hard to hear.
RICK SANTORUM: Is this bothering people more than helping? No? It's okay? Okay. Because if it is, I'll stop, 'cause it's bothering me.
GONYEA: Or last night's big final rally at a Manchester restaurant where a large group of reporters was told no recording gear would be allowed. We eventually got in carrying a smart phone that we held up to a speaker as Santorum spoke.
SANTORUM: Thank you. Thank you.
GONYEA: All this week, Santorum has tried to downplay the social issues that worked so well for him in Iowa. New Hampshire Republicans care more about fiscal issues. It hasn't always worked, but yesterday he was getting some of that momentum back, hitting his stride again.
SANTORUM: I'm asking you for 24 hours of effort to pull off a huge surprise here in New Hampshire to give us that boost, to show that the momentum is continuing so we can go down to South Carolina, kick a little butt down in South Carolina, and move on to Florida and keep kicking.
GONYEA: Candidate Santorum was the guy getting the big media bump last week. Tonight the bright lights might be shining elsewhere, highlighting a new hero. I'm Don Gonyea, Manchester.
GREENE: So there we are, five candidates making strong showings, and the voting is underway this morning in New Hampshire. Some results have already been tallied. The first votes in the state were counted just after midnight, about three and a half hours north of Manchester in little Dixville Notch. And it didn't take long because there were only nine registered voters. Since 1960, the tiny town has cast its primary votes at midnight. In fact, that year also had nine ballots. Needless to say, there were many more reporters in Dixville Notch last night than actual voters. Three of the nine votes cast went to President Obama. And here is a town official announcing the Republican breakdown on CNN.
: There was one vote cast for Newt Gingrich. There was two votes cast for Jon Huntsman. There was one vote cast for Ron Paul. And there were two votes cast for Mitt Romney.
GREENE: Okay, so that's a tie between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman with a vote apiece for Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Dixville Notch, we should say, has correctly predicted the Republican nominee in every election since 1960.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
One of the most popular shows on cable television returns tonight to the network BET. "The Game" is about the people who really run pro football - the players, wives and girlfriends. NPR's Neda Ulaby says the creator of "The Game" is a Hollywood rarity.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Mara Brock Akil is black, Muslim and a mother of two. She's been one of television's most powerful women since 2000, when she created a show that ran on UPN then the CW Network for eight years.
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ULABY: "Girlfriends" was about a group of smart, funny women who talked about everything from Zora Neal Hurston to men - well, mostly men. Mara Brock Akil started working in television soon after graduating from Northwestern University and realized her fellow writers were missing something.
MARA BROCK AKIL: I started by, like, well, I don't think a woman would say. You know, I don't think that's really our experience or it's not every woman's experience. It really started with that. Then I was like, well, I don't think that - hey, wait a minute. Where is a black woman in this story?
ULABY: Black women are the heart of "The Game."
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ULABY: The main character is a medical student. Her boyfriend is a rookie wide receiver on an NFL team. He coaches her through exams.
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ULABY: But here's the catch: his success depends on how well she fits in with a smug sorority of football wives.
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ULABY: Glamour and wealth are part of "The Game"'s lure. But it's also about families, the sport's intense physical danger, and pro football's stew of race and class.
AKIL: Oftentimes you'll see that I hit the stereotype dead-on.
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AKIL: The stereotypes of a lot of athletes are they come from the ghetto, they buy their mama a house, they're loud and audacious.
ULABY: But Mara Brock Akil wants to create relatable characters, not cartoons. And she mixes in topical issues, like a player on the down low. When he comes out as gay, one teammate is horrified and needs to get talked down by the light-skinned captain.
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ULABY: "The Game" aired on the CW for three seasons, then it got cancelled.
AKIL: It was very humbling for me. I'm a winner, so to speak, meaning even if it doesn't look like I'm winning, I believe I'm winning. But that time, it was kind of rough.
ULABY: But then something happened that almost never happens: BET took on "The Game." TV critic James Poniewozik says the show drew almost eight million people when it started its fourth season.
JAMES PONIEWOZIK: That outdraws most of the regular run programming on NBC on any night, you know, excepting maybe football. Maybe it helps that "The Game" has football involved in it, although, you know, that also didn't help "Friday Night Lights."
ULABY: "The Game" is not a critical darling like "Friday Night Lights," but Poniewozik appreciates the perspective it brings. "The Game"'s mainly directed by Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil's husband. Last year they surprised many in Hollywood with a hit movie.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "JUMPING THE BROOM")
ULABY: "Jumping the Broom," like so much of the Akils' work, explores race and class. Mara Brock Akil says she and her husband brainstorm while they're driving around.
AKIL: You just go for a ride and we just start talking. You know, I was thinking - and the next thing you know you have this incredible character or a series or a movie idea or whatever. It really happens a lot just driving around, grab a coffee, grab a tea.
ULABY: Mixing the serious with the silly is Mara Brock Akil's stock and trade. But she has yet to write a character who shares her deeply felt Muslim faith.
AKIL: It has to be the right moment, the right character at the right time. And I do think it's coming close.
ULABY: First, though, the Akils are remaking the movie "Sparkle" from 1976; that's loosely based on the story of the Supremes. Then a new TV show about black women and marriage. Mara Brock Akil says there's a powerful conversation to have about that topic, and she says TV is a powerful way for her to lead it. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with a blast from the automotive past.
Chrysler is bringing back the Dodge Dart. The company unveiled the new version of its 1960s-era compact car yesterday. Chrysler's hoping the Dart will keep the reinvented car company on a roll. The company has started regaining some traction after a near collapse and a government bailout. It's now part of the Italian car company Fiat.
The Dart is the first model jointly designed by the two automakers. It's based on the frame and suspension of an Alfa Romeo model. But the new Dart is roomier. It'll settle for about $16,000. Chrysler is hoping the Dart will give it a foothold in the small car market where it hasn't been a player in years, going up against top sellers like the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Our last word in business also comes to us from the Consumer Electronics Show. And the word is "Electric City." That's the name of a new animated science-fiction series created by - and starring - Tom Hanks. It's being promoted at the Vegas show in part because it will be airing - or rather it will be shown - on the Internet site Yahoo this spring.
Entertainment trade publication Variety reports that the project's actually been in the works for eight years. It's Yahoo's first effort at original scripted programming. Yahoo's already had a reality show, an advice show, as well as news bulletins.
With "Electric City," Yahoo is banking on some positive attention and extra ad revenues. The series is made up of 20 interactive cartoon episodes, each three or four minutes long. It's set in a post-apocalyptic world that is utopian on the surface but under the surface something else. According to one Yahoo executive, it is secrets and heavy-handed state control.
All right. That's the business news here on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, this past Sunday, Mitt Romney's campaign reserve a school gym in Exeter, New Hampshire. The details of that event tell you the style in which the Republican candidate is presenting himself. The campaign selected a small gym, far too is small for the crowd had arrived.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: The next president of the United States, Mitt Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
INSKEEP: Romney stepped up on stage, with a gigantic American flag on the wall behind him. He wore jeans and an open-collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
MITT ROMNEY: I never imagined I'd get a chance to run for president of the United States, and to see the people across the country. But this welcome tonight, this excitement, this tops it all. Thank you so very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
INSKEEP: Every moment in this event seemed designed to project both patriotism and sincerity. Romney, whose father ran for president before him, has developed a polished stump speech over the years. He argues that President Obama has a negative view of the nation.
ROMNEY: Because, as we look at the country - you know I've written a book called "No Apology" - I've watched the president not just apologize to the world as he visited foreign places, but I thought I saw in him someone who didn't have the same level of passion about the founding principles of the country that I imagined that many of us have. And Iâ¦
INSKEEP: His book, "No Apology," rests at the heart of Romney's rationale for running. Romney repeatedly accuses President Obama of apologizing for America in speeches abroad. Independent fact-checkers, like Politifact.com, have found that Obama did not apologize, and rate Romney's claims false. On Sunday, after suggesting the president doesn't stick up for America, Romney proclaimed his own love of country.
ROMNEY: And we have today extraordinary challenges around the world, but I'm convinced that you, like me love this country. The Democrats, independents, Republicans love this country and are only waiting for leaders to step forward who are willing to live with integrity and speak the truth, who know how to lead and who will call on the American people and their patriotism.
I will do that with your help. I want to be one of those leaders. We're going to win this thing, I hope coming down the road I count on you. Thank you.
INSKEEP: It's the style of a campaign front-runner that he can bring along political stars to vouch for him. On this night, Romney had New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at his side. Romney also had his wife along.
Though it's common to say that Mitt Romney has been seeking the presidency for years, Ann Romney contends there was a moment, one year ago, when he almost decided not to run.
ANN ROMNEY: And we knew there would be challengers and there would be issues and there would be problems. And then if you even got the nomination, we knew how difficult it is, but I asked him one question, and this is why we decided to run. I said, Mitt, can you save America? And his answer was yes.
INSKEEP: Protesters slipped inside the Romney event and briefly disrupted it. More protesters stood outside the event, accompanied by a trio of trombone players and supporters of one of Romney's rivals, Ron Paul. Romney's well-organized campaign has been working, in a more symbolic sense, to keep all of his opponents on the outside of this race. Those candidates are trying to fight their way back in.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: So with that, please give a warm New Hampshire welcome to Speaker Gingrich. Speaker...
INSKEEP: Newt Gingrich spoke at a town hall meeting yesterday in Manchester, New Hampshire. His wife Callista stood beside him, smiling at his jokes. Gingrich is the candidate who ripped Romney's style on Sunday, accusing Romney of serving up, quote, "pious baloney." Yesterday, Gingrich displayed his own style, which relies more on superlatives. Rather than call President Obama wrong, or in over his head, Gingrich calls himâ¦
NEWT GINGRICH: â¦probably the most radical president in American history.
INSKEEP: And a follower of a radical leftist.
GINGRICH: I think that makes this in some ways the most important election in modern times because eight years of Barack Obama will fundamentally change the nature of America.
INSKEEP: Gingrich pledges to eliminate taxes he considers profoundly wrong, and says a rising American economy will help, quote, "literally everybody on the planet." For all the vivid language, the candidate's most enthusiastic moment was not during his town hall meeting but afterward when he met with reporters. He's been attacking Mitt Romney, questioning Romney's role years ago running an investment firm. Romney's rivals have increasingly attacked the front-runner because his corporate buyouts eliminated jobs as well as created them.
GINGRICH: It's pretty clear to me that at some point in the next week or so, Governor Romney is going to have to have a fairly long press conference, and he's going to have to answer a lot of questions.
INSKEEP: Gingrich's frustration is that as the nation's first primary arrives, Mitt Romney has not yet had to do any such thing. Mitt Romney has maintained the style of a presidential front-runner, forcing his opponents to try anything they can to knock him out of it.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
When it comes to football there are two types of compelling games. One, the most people like, when teams battle back and forth to a dramatic finish. The other, when one team totally dominates to such an extent that all you can do is watch in awe.
And last night, the University of Alabama treated football fans to the latter. The Crimson Tide won the BCS championship game by completely shutting down the previously number one team in the country - Louisiana State. By virtue of its 21-0 win in New Orleans, Alabama earned a rare title in this contentious world of rankings and polls - undisputed champion of college football.
And to talk about the game, we've brought in NPR's Tom Goldman.
Good morning, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi, David.
GREENE: First shutout in the history of the Bowl Championship Series. I know you told me yesterday we were going to get a lot of good defense in this game since Alabama and LSU were nationally ranked 1 and 2 in that category. But, I mean, did you expect such a mauling like this?
GOLDMAN: No. It was a very hard game to predict beforehand. The teams played in November. LSU won 9-6 in overtime. The only scoring was field goals. It was a real battle. But last night, Alabama's defense played like it was in different class. They held LSU to 92 total yards, only five first downs. And, David, I want to play you piece of tape. It's a seemingly unimportant moment during the game, but symbolic of what happened last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME)
GOLDMAN: OK. That's the call on ESPN of LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson running for a first down with a little under 8 minutes left in game. The significance - that was the first and only time LSU's offense crossed midfield. It's a testament to Alabama defense's stunning dominance.
GREENE: That's defense. Were there any bright spots at all for LSU? I mean, this is a team that had such a great season. They had eight wins over opponents ranked in the top 25.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, well, the Tiger's defense did well to limit Alabama to five field goals, until Alabama scored a late game touchdown. The LSU defense didn't break for most of the game, but it did bend. And it gave up some big yards on pass plays. And a lot of the credit goes to Alabama's offensive game plan, which called for quarterback A.J. McCarron to throw a lot on first down.
LSU was looking to stop Alabama's Heisman trophy finalist running back Trent Richardson on first down. Traditionally, that's a running down. And loading up to stop the run left LSU vulnerable to the pass. McCarron and his receivers took really good advantage of that.
GREENE: We think about Alabama and coaches and Bear Bryant is the name that always comes to mind. But Nick Saban is really forging his own legacy right now, it seems.
GOLDMAN: That's right. He's the first head coach to win three BCS titles. A pretty serious, some say dour, guy. You'll remember when he and the Crimson Tide won the BCS championship a couple of years ago and he got doused with the Gatorade, he looked really mad.
GREENE: Miserable.
GOLDMAN: But an indication of how happy he was last night, they got him again but he reveled in it. He hugged one of the guys who dumped the bucket on him.
GREENE: Well, Tom, going into last night's game, there was some talk that if number 2 Alabama did win - and they won - there could be a case for a split championship. Maybe Oklahoma State, which narrowly lost a chance to play in this title game, could slip in and share the top spot. Is there any talk of that this morning?
GOLDMAN: You know, not really. Alabama was just so dominant. Of course, maybe an Oklahoma State or a Stanford or an Oregon might've fared better than LSU. But without a playoff, we just won't know.
Today, interestingly, BCS officials are meeting to talk about possible changes to college football's postseason format. Apparently, everything will be on the table. And that's welcome news for playoff advocates, which is just about everyone. Who knows how motivated the BCS guys will be. The annual criticism of the system is somewhat muted by this championship game producing a clear champion.
GREENE: That's NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman.
Thanks, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You bet.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. The Transportation Security Administration is defending its decision to confiscate a frosted cupcake. Last month, a passenger was traveling with the baked treat packed into a jar filled with icing - too much icing, the TSA said. Yesterday in its blog, the agency explained that icing counts as a gel and some gels can be used to make explosives. Now, as a rule, it says passengers may fly with cupcakes, but they should expect additional screening. This is MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Blue Ivy Carter has made her musical debut. If the name doesn't ring a bell, don't worry. She's only 3 days old. Blue is the daughter of hip-hop power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce. The proud father released a song called "Glory" yesterday, with feature credits given to little B.I.C. In the song, Jay-Z raps that his daughter is the most beautiful thing in the world. Newborn Blue Ivy chimes in with a few cries at the end of the song. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
In Damascus, Syria today, defiant President Bashar al-Assad promised to use an iron fist against protestors. He called them terrorists inspired by foreigners. Assad's under intense international pressure for his use of violence and repression against those seeking change in Syria. The president lashed out at his many critics in the Arab world, saying they've abandoned, quote, "Arab interests."
NPR's Peter Kenyon is following the developments, and he joins us now from Istanbul. Peter, good morning.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Good morning, David.
GREENE: And correct me if I'm wrong. We haven't heard much from Assad himself in the nearly 10 months that this uprising has been going on.
KENYON: No. He's been - very rarely granted interviews and this is one of only a few speeches.
GREENE: Well, in this rare speech today that he gave, he shows no sign of caving to international pressure. Despite signing an Arab League peace proposal that made news last month, he was clear today in saying the security response to unrest would continue. And I want to play a little bit of the speech and what we're about to hear is coming through an interpreter.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
GREENE: I mean, iron fist. It doesn't sound like this is a leader who's ready to make any concessions to the opposition.
KENYON: No, not at all, David. He gave no corner. He reiterated the government's view that the problem, as he sees it, in Syrian cities and towns are the result of machinations of foreign powers and what he called misled protestors. The president said, yes, he knows he promised reforms. But, no, he can't begin to enact them until security is restored.
He called on the population to turn against the demonstrators and support the army and the security forces, the people called heroes who gave their lives for their country. He said victory is near, but he never really came close to defining how near or what that victory might look like.
GREENE: And President Assad reserved some of the harshest criticism, comments in his speech for the Arab League, saying they had failed for decades to protect Arab interests, and they were doing so again. And what do you make of that part of his speech, his message to the Arab League?
KENYON: Well, you have to remember that Arab nationalism is embedded in Syria's modern history. And when the Arab League suspended Syria, that was a real slap to the country's self-image. Since then, the league has voted for sanctions against Syria, although more than one member state has pleaded for an exemption and hoping not to implement those.
Actually, in some ways, Assad, who has often said he's no Moammar Gadhafi, did sound like the late Libyan leader did in that section of the speech. Because Gadhafi used to regularly ridicule the Arab League in his speeches.
GREENE: And did he give any evidence of this foreign influence that he was suggesting or was it mostly words?
KENYON: It was vague references. He didn't identify countries. Clearly on the street, among pro-Assad forces, you will hear references to the U.S., to Europe, to Israel and in a kind of a Western conspiracy designed to strip Syria of its dignity and its sovereignty. But, no, he didn't get any more specific than that.
GREENE: And very briefly, Peter, what can you tell us about some reports from a Kuwait News Agency that two Arab League observers were attacked and injured in Syria?
KENYON: Well, the Kuwait News Agency today is reporting that two Kuwaiti members of the mission were attacked and slightly injured, quote, "by unknown protestors" yesterday in the coastal city of Latakia. The report says they were briefly hospitalized and returned to their duties. There's no sign that they're leaving the mission, which now continues until January 19th.
GREENE: All right, that's the latest from NPR's Peter Kenyon in Istanbul. Thank you very much, Peter.
KENYON: You're welcome, David.
GREENE: And again, we're reporting on a speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: And you're listening to NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This is prime time for sports fans who like to watch TV. There's been a full slate of college bowl games; the NFL playoffs are still going on, there's hockey's Winter Classic the other day; the NBA - you get the idea. These days, cable TV is giving subscribers more sports choices than ever.
And as commentator Frank Deford points out, even if you are not watching, you're still paying.
FRANK DEFORD: For the many reasons that the Republican presidential debates have been so popular, the main one is simply that they're live - happening right before our eyes. When Rick Perry says, oops, he's saying it just as we're hearing it. Live; wow. Oops.
This is why, whether you like sports or not, why perhaps you'd desperately prefer NPR to have somebody else right now talking about something really important - not sports; why nonetheless, each month, you're charged about eight bucks on your cable bill for the privilege of not watching sports. Pay up for sports, or you don't get anything else you might want to watch on cable, un-live.
You see, games are about the last thing scheduled live on television - not edited for time, not taped news packages, not delayed by time zones. And there are more than enough fans who do want to watch games so that sports pretty much hold all cable subscribers hostage. It's where the money is.
It's why professional leagues and teams and college conferences all now want to have their own cable networks. And it's why, last week, Comcast renamed one of its properties NBC Sports Network - all sports, all day, all year - the better to try to get a larger share of what ESPN does.
ESPN now collects an average of $4.69 for every cable home, four times more than any other network. Throw in the various other ESPN channels, plus other sports networks - like that new NBC Sports - that your cable provider makes you pay for, and there's that $8 for sports on your monthly bill. Or, as the CEO of Liberty Media describes it, a tax on every American household.
Understand: ESPN is an entirely different programming animal than, say, is CBS, which dominates prime time; or A&E or HBO or Showtime, on cable. Those networks must create programming. But ESPN and the other sports networks are essentially just brokers.
They take your subscription money, buy games and then quote, bring them, unquote, to you, pocketing a nice brokers' fee. And because games are live, advertisers love it because you can't fast-forward their commercials. It's a great business model, taxing American households.
The new NBC Sports Network says it doesn't want to be like ESPN. I watched some NBCSN last week. In fact, it was just like ESPN, only not nearly so good. Who are they kidding? Why wouldn't they want to be exactly like ESPN, so they can buy more live games with your money to bring to you?
Sure, you can watch everything on tape now, on DVD, on YouTube, on your iPad, on your Nook. But games are about the only thing left, scheduled live, for real.
INSKEEP: Commentator Frank Deford is for real. He joins us each Wednesday from member station WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's David Greene is joining us here at MORNING EDITION this week after a reporting assignment in Russia. He's going to be a backup host and correspondent going all over the place. And, David, you brought back some stories for us from Russia.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Yeah, I did, Steve. It's been an extraordinary time to be in Russia. We've seen these recent anti-government protests in Moscow that caught the world's attention and made news, thousands of people on the streets demanding fair elections and an end to the era of Vladimir Putin as the country's powerful prime minister.
INSKEEP: Which immediately makes people ask if there's going to be a true uprising in Russia.
GREENE: Yeah, and I asked that question, Steve, before I left, and in trying to get a sense of what the whole country is thinking I decided to take this trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and I'd always wanted to try it before ever moving to Russia. And the timing seemed just so, so right because it feels like a defining moment in Russia's history. So let me take you to Moscow, right to the train platform where our journey began.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN STATION)
GREENE: This is the spot where most trans-Siberian journeys begin. I'm standing in Yaroslavsky rail station. It's actually one of nine train stations in the city of Moscow. Off to my right there's a statue of Lenin staring out onto the street. And to my left, all the trains are lined up and people waiting to board. And this spot, this place, has meant so many different things over time. Years ago it was the beginning of a trip to Russia's eastern frontier, a chance to begin a new life. But for other people during Soviet times, it was the start of exile or the beginning of a trip to a forced labor camp. Today, people just gathered for what is going to be a long, long journey.
My journey was taking me from Moscow to Russia's Asian port Vladivostok, almost 9,300 kilometers. To give you an idea, that would be the distance if you took a train from New York to L.A. and then from L.A. to New York. You're still not done. You'd have to then go from New York to Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
GREENE: Most passengers share these four-bedroom compartments and they pass the long hours listening to music like this, maybe reading or watching the countryside pass by. Friends are made over shared food. The Trans-Siberian is an epic, colorful, fascinating ordeal, perhaps just like Russia itself.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Russian spoken)
GREENE: Russia sure knows about ordeals. People were enslaved as serfs under the czars. They were repressed during Soviet times. Over the last two decades, Russians have felt more of a sense of personal freedom, but there's too much poverty in the country and political upheaval. Tragedy, hardship, always seem to shape Russia's character, and I was reminded of that by Sergei Yovlev, a passenger in a pin-striped suit who works for the railroad.
SERGEI YOVLEV: (Russian spoken)
GREENE: He was traveling home to Yaroslavl, which was to be our first stop, the industrial city just a few hours northeast of Moscow. It's a hockey-loving place that suffered an unimaginable tragedy this past summer - nearly every member of the city's professional hockey team, Lokomotiv, was killed when the team plane crashed on takeoff. I asked Sergei Yovlev about that accident. He just stared at me blankly, and then he started to recite the names of the players.
YOVLEV: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: I can name all of them, he told me. What happened was a true tragedy, he said, but we'll survive. Living through tragedy, he said, is a quality that is built into a Russian person's soul.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOCKEY GAME)
GREENE: And I have to say from the moment I walked into a hockey arena on the outskirts of this city, I could tell that Yaroslavl survived this tragedy. Hockey is alive and well.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOCKEY GAME)
GREENE: I'm looking at probably about 24, 25 11-year-olds at a youth training program. Their coach is watching proudly as these kids are just all over the ice.
IVAN DOBRYAKOV: (Russian spoken)
GREENE: That coach, Ivan Dobryakov, reminded me of the legendary Soviet Olympic coaches, businesslike and laser-focused on his job developing young talent.
DOBRYAKOV: (Russia spoken)
GREENE: We lost something that is impossible to get back, he told me about the plane accident. He mentioned having a feeling of emptiness, yet he said as long as this hockey school works, there will be a future.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOCKEY GAME)
GREENE: The future is young players like 12-year-old Nikita Shchepochkin. He sounded mature for his age. He was honest about the sadness he felt watching so many role models die, but he was eager to help rebuild. And Nikita and his teammates are already finding new role models.
NIKITA SHCHEPOCHKIN: My favorite sports player is (unintelligible)...
GREENE: I am a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Can you give me five? That's what I'm talking about. There is something especially stoic about the way Russians accept tragedy and move on. I remember a year ago covering a suicide bombing at Moscow's main airport - 35 people were killed. In the United States, that airport probably would have been shut down for days, but in Moscow, planes were taking off and landing again right away. The cab driver who drove me home that night had been soaked in blood from the bombing, but he got right back to work. Russians do not hide their tragedy.
ELLA STROGANOVA: We invite you to our city. We'll accept you here and we will show you everything you like to come to know what a Russian person, a Russian soul and Russian nationality is.
GREENE: That's the voice of Ella Stroganova. She's the curator of Yaroslavl's city museum. And there you can find hanging on the walls photos of local residents who died in Joseph Stalin's gulags. Stroganova told me that she proudly puts Russia's pain on display. It's what's defined the country's older generation.
STROGANOVA: They always ready to meet difficulties. Maybe because the practice of their life showed revolution, civil war, the Second World War - always difficulties, tragedies, and everything like that.
GREENE: And she told me that she's actually worried that a modern way of life will mean the younger generation here loses what it means to be Russian.
STROGANOVA: My personal opinion is that progress makes person absolutely weak. He loses his strength, because he doesn't need to think how to survive.
GREENE: And so, Steve, her point to me was that hardship is just a part of Russian life and that Russians are stronger for that.
INSKEEP: I suppose they'd be awfully strong given some of the stories that you just heard. Well, given the very personal stories you're hearing along the Trans-Siberian Railway, how do those stories fit into the news in Russia that we hear every day?
GREENE: Well, I think for so long one of the hardships the Russians have suffered through is tough leaders. And Vladimir Putin, you know, claims to have done a lot for the Russian people. But some of them, as much as they've lived through, as much as they have endured, they're reaching a point where they're questioning that. They're questioning their bargain with Vladimir Putin, they're questioning whether they have to continue to live under his style of rule and we're starting to see some push for change.
INSKEEP: OK. And we're going to hear more of that questioning as David continues his journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway tomorrow. In the meantime, you can go to NPR.org and find amazing photos by David Gilkin - incredible colors, incredible faces along the railway. This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Maybe you were once the proud owner of a Dodge Dart. Between 1960 and 1976, the Dart was one of the best-selling cars in America. With its affordable price and rugged feel, more than three and a half million Darts were sold. But the car was never known for being especially stylish or pretty. Now Chrysler is reviving the name as the company continues its own revitalization.
NPR's Sonari Glinton reports from Detroit.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: I'm standing on the floor of the Detroit Auto Show. One of the cool things about auto shows is when they unveil a car. Let's take a listen:
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome president and CEO Dodge Brand Reed Bigland.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK MUSIC)
GLINTON: Every CEO gets their own theme music. Reid Bigland looks like a car exec, built like a quarterback but because he's Canadian he played hockey in school.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROCK MUSIC AND APPLAUSE)
GLINTON: First there's a preamble. They usually talk about history - car execs love history. Then they talk about turbochargers and torque and horsepower.
REID BIGLAND: First, horsepower and greater fuel economy. Look, the days of sacrificing horsepower for fuel economy and vice versa are long gone. Today, you have to have both, and we do.
GLINTON: Now we're getting to the nitty-gritty. Chryslers sells lots of big SUVs and big sedans and it hasn't been competitive in the small car market. Because of the bailout, Chrysler agreed to sell a fuel efficient small car that's made in America.
Now, this is the part executives really love - the introduction:
BIGLAND: I introduce to you, the 2013 groundbreaking Dodge Dart.
(SOUNDBITE OF A GUITAR RIFF)
GLINTON: And that's when they drive the car from behind a screen right up to the audience. Always scares me. I never sit in front.
Once the car is revealed, all the reporters rush the stage to ask the car execs questions, like why choose the name Dodge Dart. Reid Bigland says they looked at lot of things.
BIGLAND: Looked at the car, looked at the styling, looked at the aggressive arrow, looked at the notion of a Dart; the very arrow and the name just fit. And it's living large right now in drag strips throughout North America.
GLINTON: Plus, Bigland says most people under 35 don't even remember the Dodge Dart. And those over 35 remember it fondly.
AARON BRAGMAN: This is definitely not your father's Dodge Dart.
GLINTON: Aaron Bragman is over 35, and he's a senior analyst with IHS Automotive.
BRAGMAN: The old Dodge Dart is really one of the vehicles you think of when you think of a '60s American car. It was big, rear-wheel drive, it had room inside for six. It had bench seats. It had very upright styling. It is nothing like the car we see in front of us.
GLINTON: The new Dart is built on the platform as one of Fiat's Alpha Romeos, though they stretched the body a bit to fit us larger Americans. While the old Dart sat six, this one is a compact car that would fit five uncomfortably.
Bragman says the new Dart is a sign of a real change in the culture of the U.S. car industry.
BRAGMAN: They were happy to cede the passenger-car market - mid-size cars, compact cars - to Japanese competitors, and Japanese brands basically took over the American market. They sold far more than the Americans do. Well, apparently the Americans are no longer content with that. And they're introducing passenger cars of their own that are easily as good, if not better than, many of their competitors.
GLINTON: Bragman and other analysts say if the Americans don't continue to stay competitive in the small car market, they won't be selling cars globally - or in the U.S., for that matter.
Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In this country, a ruling by the Supreme Court affects many people with credit cards. The high court upheld some fine print in the agreement you may sign to get a credit card. In many cases, people have signed away their right to sue.
NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: In order to get a credit card, a consumer generally must sign a detailed agreement. In the fine print, almost always, is an arbitration clause that says if consumers want to dispute fees, they must do so in arbitration, not court. A 1996 federal law states consumers can take their disputes to court. But in its ruling, the Supreme Court said arbitration clauses in those agreements trump that law.
Michael Calhoun is president of the Center for Responsible Lending. He says the ruling gives credit card companies, and car and student-loan companies, the ability to exact any fee, since consumers have no legal recourse.
MICHAEL CALHOUN: These arbitration clauses have become a get-out-of-jail-free card.
NOGUCHI: Which is why nearly every loan agreement includes an arbitration clause. The main exception is mortgages, where they are prohibited.
Lauren Saunders is the managing attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. She says the arbitration process itself is unfair because arbitrators have a financial incentive to rule against consumers.
LAUREN SAUNDERS: Who are you going to favor: the company that might send you more business, or the consumer who you'll never see again?
NOGUCHI: The company involved in this case, Synovus, declined comment. The American Bankers Association said it was not available for an interview. This may not be the last word on this issue. Consumer advocates say the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may study arbitration clauses, and could ban them from credit card agreements.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We have a story now on the latest crackdown in China. It's a crackdown on excessive entertainment. Beijing's propaganda czars have taken aim at dating shows and game shows. They've cut almost 70 percent of the entertainment shows from prime-time TV. As NPR's Louisa Lim reports from Beijing, this is part of a larger ideological campaign.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TAKE ME OUT")
LOUSIA LIM, BYLINE: Tens of millions of people tune in every week to the Chinese dating show "Take Me Out." It's pure entertainment: girls in skimpy dresses hoping for a date; sweaty, geeky guys stammering questions; and two effete hosts with matching bouffant hairstyles. But as of last week, "Take Me Out' was bumped from prime time.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ORDINARY HERO")
LIM: Instead, its millions of fans got "Ordinary Hero," uplifting tales of ordinary people doing heroic things - like a firefighter saving a 10-year-old kid stuck in an elevator. This is a move to promote traditional virtues and socialist core values. The fans, including Michael Zhong, a dating-show aficionado, are not happy.
MICHAEL ZHONG: This rule is - most people don't like it. We definitely show our disagreement on it. I believe the shows should be draft(ph) by market.
LIM: This is, in effect, a government U-turn, according to Hu Xingdou, a political analyst at Beijing Institute of Technology.
HU XINGDOU: (Through translator) The government led this move towards consumerism and entertainment mania. They urged people not to get involved with politics - suggesting politics is too dangerous; go and earn money, and have fun. But now in China, it's gone too far. We've amused ourselves to death, and morality has almost collapsed.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)
LIM: That moral collapse has showed itself in rampant money worship, transfixing television audiences. This dating show contestant told a potential suitor that a boyfriend would have to earn $30,000 a month to even hold her hand. But limitations on TV content are nothing new. Interviewed even before the latest clampdown, author Murong Xuecun described the situation as almost farcical.
MURONG XUECUN: (Through translator) At one time, all you could see on TV were court dramas from the Qing Dynasty, but then those were restricted. It's the same with almost every genre. Then family dramas were banned if they included love triangles or affairs. Spy dramas were restricted. Now, you can't shoot anything with ghosts in it, although you can have monsters. I hosted a TV show, and we weren't even allowed to use the words "time travel."
LIM: Culture has been top of the political agenda for months. President Hu Jintao recently wrote of international hostile forces strengthening their efforts to westernize and divide China, using ideology and culture. But analyst Hu Xingdou doesn't believe the official line.
XINGDOU: (Through translator) I don't think this has much to do with division and westernization. The young people have already been westernized. The battlefield of public opinion that they're really fighting over is how to control the intellectuals. But mostly, the intellectuals aren't buying it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WHEN HEAVEN BURNS")
LIM: For the first time in two decades, a Hong Kong TV drama, "When Heaven Burns," has been forbidden on the mainland. The cultural purge could yet go further still. A new, draft law governing the film industry would ban movies featuring religious fanaticism, gambling, drug abuse and even horror. Hao Jian, a professor at Beijing Film Academy, believes that in yielding to their tendency to control, China's leaders are highlighting their own insecurities.
HAO JIAN: (Through translator) We feel tighter and tighter controls on politics, on Twitter, on entertainment, and on TV news. Our political system is wary of the outside world - even hostile to it. Sometimes we say it has a persecution complex. It always feels people are infiltrating us, attacking us, westernizing us. It's a very fearful psychological state.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SUPER GIRL")
LIM: That fear is such that this year, even "Super Girl," a singing contest, is banned. That stormed the ratings six years ago. Eight million votes were cast in the final alone - making it, arguably, the most open election in China. The danger is that by tightening their grip on entertainment, China's leaders are neutering their own artists, and alienating many millions of non-political youth, who only want to relax and be entertained.
Louisa Lim, NPR News, Beijing.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And we're marking an anniversary today. Ten years ago, the first 20 detainees arrived at the prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Over the years, more than 700 people were held at the prison. Some are still there; others were sent home or to other countries. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has this report on Guantanamo a decade after that first flight landed, and on some of the men who were on the plane that day.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: The 20 detainees who stumbled down the gangway had been put on a nonstop flight from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to Cuba. The men came from many countries: Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia and Afghanistan. They all wore the same blackened goggles, earmuffs and orange socks. Some of the original 20 are still at Guantanamo today. But the prison has changed a lot since then.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Welcome, we're getting your luggage all situated, and we'll get you out here and get you badged in and moving forward, so...
TEMPLE-RASTON: That's what happens these days when journalists arrive on the tarmac at Guantanamo.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: How many first time to Guantanamo? It'll be interesting. I think we've got a great program set up for you.
TEMPLE-RASTON: The program includes tours of camps, and watching military commission proceedings from behind soundproof glass. There's a certain permanence to Guantanamo that's unexpected, given that President Obama unequivocally promised to close the place. This is the president saying as much on "60 Minutes."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "60 MINUTES")
TEMPLE-RASTON: The president is not much closer to closing Guantanamo today than he was then. His administration's best hope for shuttering the place rests with this man.
BRIG. GEN. MARK MARTINS: I am Brigadier General Mark Martins. I'm the chief prosecutor of military commissions.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Martins is like a U.S. attorney for Gitmo. He decides who gets a military commissions trial, and what the charges will be. Over the past 10 years, the military commissions system at Guantanamo has been criticized as second-rate justice. Martins says this year, he'll be able to convince the doubters otherwise. He says reforms to the military commission system have made it much more like a criminal trial in the U.S., and that will become clear as trials get under way this year. There are stronger rules of evidence, and more robust protections for attorney-client privilege.
MARTINS: I would not be part of this system if I didn't think that a full and fair trial will be held, and that justice will be served.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Even if Martins is right, there's a complication. Not everyone held at Guantanamo will get a hearing, which means some people may be detained without trial.
KAREN GREENBERG: But unless they try everybody...
TEMPLE-RASTON: Karen Greenberg runs the National Center on Security at Fordham University.
GREENBERG: Unless they try everybody, they haven't tackled the hardest problem about Guantanamo and its legality.
TEMPLE-RASTON: There are still 171 detainees at Gitmo. About 80 of them have been identified for release. Another three dozen will likely be tried in the commissions. And then there's this other group - the group Greenberg is talking about, the 48 detainees who are likely to be held indefinitely because there's not enough evidence to try them, but the U.S. says they're too dangerous to release. However, there may be one other option - transferring detainees as part of a broader negotiation strategy. It would involve those three Afghans that arrived on that first flight to Guantanamo. U.S. officials are weighing whether to allow them to leave as part of a goodwill gesture to kick-start peace talks with the Taliban.
GREENBERG: It's a philosophical game changer.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Again, Karen Greenberg.
GREENBERG: It's a wise course to at least to consider it. And if it does happen, I think it can change a lot of things in its wake, in terms of how we're going to progress in the region.
TEMPLE-RASTON: The three original detainees include the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, Abdul Wasiq; a governor from northern Afghanistan, Norullah Noori; and finally, the Taliban's deputy minister of defense, Mohammed Fazl.
A source close to the prisoner-transfer discussions said the men could be moved to a third country - possibly Qatar. The transfer would be part of a broader plan that would include setting up cease-fire zones in Afghanistan, to test whether the Taliban is really serious about peace. It would mark the first time that detainees at Guantanamo would be transferred as part of an effort to wind down the war.
Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Mitt Romney will head into the rest of the Republican presidential contest with powerful momentum. After barely winning Iowa, he won New Hampshire convincingly last night.
GREENE: Romney took 39 percent of the vote. That put him far ahead of Ron Paul. Jon Huntsman finished third in the state, where he had campaigned almost exclusively.
INSKEEP: Let's start our coverage this morning with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson, in Manchester.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY VICTORY SPEECH)
MITT ROMNEY: Tonight, we made history.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: No other non-incumbent Republican presidential candidate has ever won both Iowa and New Hampshire. Last night, a very confident Mitt Romney was sounding like the nominee. He devoted his entire victory speech to an attack on President Obama. He said that when Barack Obama came to New Hampshire four years ago, he pledged to bring people together, and to change the broken system in Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY VICTORY SPEECH)
ROMNEY: Those were the days of lofty promises made by a hopeful candidate. Today, we're faced with the disappointing record of a failed president.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ROMNEY: The last three years have held a lot of change, but they haven't offered much hope.
LIASSON: Romney's victory in New Hampshire was decisive - and he's in a strong position to win both South Carolina and Florida. But New Hampshire revealed some of Romney's vulnerabilities. Last night, he complained about the attacks on his record at Bain Capital - where, according to his critics, he made lots of money even when the companies he invested in went bankrupt and laid off workers.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY VICTORY SPEECH)
ROMNEY: President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial. And in the last few days, we've seen some desperate Republicans join forces with him.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD BOOING)
ROMNEY: This is such a mistake for our party, and for our nation. The country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. We have to offer an alternative vision. I stand ready to lead us down a different path, where we're lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
UNIDENTIFIED SUPPORTERS: (Chanting) President Paul, President Paul...
RON PAUL: Thank you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED SUPPORTERS: (Chanting) President Paul, President Paul...
LIASSON: Ron Paul finished in second place with a strong grassroots campaign.
PAUL: I called Governor Romney a short while ago, before he gave his talk, and congratulated him because he certainly had a clear-cut victory. But we're nibbling at his heels.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
LIASSON: Paul's positions on ending the Fed, bringing all U.S. troops home from everywhere, and legalizing marijuana appealed to about a quarter of New Hampshire's primary voters.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
PAUL: The intellectual revolution that's going on now to restore liberty in this country is well on its way, and there's no way they're going to stop the momentum that we have started.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
LIASSON: But it's unclear just how the Republican Party keeps Ron Paul's army of young people and libertarians under its tent. Then there was Jon Huntsman, who staked everything on a good showing in the state but came up short. Still, he sounded thrilled when he thanked his supporters last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
JON HUNTSMAN: Handshake by handshake, conversation by conversation, vote by vote, we got it done, ladies and gentlemen.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
LIASSON: Huntsman said the New Hampshire results gave him a ticket to ride - but to where? He doesn't have much of a presence in South Carolina or Florida, and it's hard to see any other state where he could find a purchase at this point.
Rick Santorum, who had tied Mitt Romney in Iowa, saw his momentum from the caucuses fizzle in New Hampshire, where he got only about 10 percent of the vote.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
RICK SANTORUM: We knew it would be tough, but you know what? The message we had of going out and believing - believing in the American people - we took that message here to New Hampshire. We took it talking about our manufacturing plan, talking about what we're going to do to grow this economy; and we took it to talk about faith and family as the bedrock of our society.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: South Carolina's large bloc of evangelical voters should be receptive to Santorum's culturally conservative message, but there are still a handful of other candidates vying for the same voters - including Newt Gingrich, who led the attack on Mitt Romney's business record. While those attacks may have revealed potential weaknesses in Romney's candidacy, they don't seem to have helped Gingrich - although the former speaker didn't sound too discouraged after finishing in the back of the pack twice in a row.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
NEWT GINGRICH: With your help, as your spokesperson, representing your values, on behalf of our children, our grandchildren and our country, I will do everything I can to win the opportunity to represent you this fall in debating, and then defeating, Barack Obama. Thank you and good luck, and God bless you.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: All the candidates will be campaigning in South Carolina today. That state holds its primary a week from Saturday.
Mara Liasson, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, for some perspective, New Hampshire accounts for a tiny portion of the delegates Republicans are competing for â just 5 percent. Bigger states later on in the election season will award many more delegates. But voters in the Granite State feel their votes serve as an important vetting process, a springboard for candidates. And NPR's Andrea Seabrook spent election day talking to those voters.
ANDREA SEABROOK, BYLINE: The tiny town of Pembroke is lovely and rustic, nestled among wooded hills; old, clabbered barns; and fixed-up Victorians, steeples and brick against the sky. An icy river flows through town. On this crackling winter day, Lauren Dwyer stops by the local elementary school and pulls her 2-year-old out of the back seat.
ELIZA DWYER: Vote.
LAUREN DWYER: This is Eliza. Vote.
ELIZA DWYER: You're done.
LAUREN DWYER: You're all done?
ELIZA DWYER: You're done?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
LAUREN DWYER: Who you going to vote for? Ron Paul?
ELIZA DWYER: Ron.
SEABROOK: Ron.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
LAUREN DWYER: Say: 'Cause he's the best candidate.
SEABROOK: It's the little girl's first trip to the voting booth, her mom says - the first of many. In New Hampshire, primary voting matters; it sets the stage.
BARBARA DUMONT: I am Barbara Dumont. I'm from Pembroke. I voted for John Huntsman.
SEABROOK: Walking out of the school, Dumont says she's frustrated. She wishes she could vote not just for a new candidate, but a whole new slate.
DUMONT: I'm sick of Washington. I'm sick of - I'd like to clean house; start with a fresh Congress, and put some people in there that have some common sense and some desire to do something for the country rather than the political system.
SEABROOK: I heard this a lot in New Hampshire.
JOHN SPEZESKI: Both parties need to stop fighting. It's like, you know, one's fighting for this and that. Like, nothing is getting accomplished.
SEABROOK: Joshua Spezeski(ph) is out work. He drives a truck in the warmer months, delivering concrete; and in the winter, sand to cut the ice.
SPEZESKI: It's just, we need more weather. We need more ice and snow right now. So unfortunately...
SEABROOK: Spezeski voted for Mitt Romney.
SPEZESKI: I like what he has to say. He seems to be right to the point. And I know against as far as our president right now, I think Mitt probably has the best chance of going against him, and stuff.
SEABROOK: For Spezeski, the economy is huge. A school bus drops a load of kids off at the corner, and they rush to the playground.
(SOUNDBITE OF KIDS' CHATTER)
SEABROOK: A man in a Korean War baseball cap and a walker makes his way across the parking lot, toward his car.
THEODORE VAN PATTEN: I voted for Ron Paul.
SEABROOK: Theodore Van Patten(ph) is a retired minister from Pembroke's United Methodist Church. He's in his 80s now, and his thoughts reflect the votes cast all over New Hampshire.
PATTEN: Well, I like Ron Paul, old veteran. He's a straight-shooter. I would like to see Romney get to be president; Ron Paul be his vice president, if that could happen.
SEABROOK: Van Patten loves Paul's grit, his independence, and he wanted to make sure Paul came in second. He was pretty sure, he said, that Romney would take the top spot. On cue, Lucille and Bill Edmonds(ph) walk out their polling place, arm-in-arm.
SEABROOK: Do you have a second to talk? I'm with NPR.
LUCILLE EDMONDS: Oh, and I just voted for my guy.
SEABROOK: Yeah? Who's your guy?
LUCILLE EDMONDS: Romney, of course. Who else?
BILL EDMONDS: Romney for me, also.
SEABROOK: Why?
LUCILLE EDMONDS: Who else? He looks like a president, and he's smart, and he'll do great. Give him a chance.
SEABROOK: They head off to their car, saying they think the rest of the country will come around to Romney, too, after New Hampshire shows the way.
SEABROOK: Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, New Hampshire.
GREENE: And Steve, you were hearing many of these same voices up in New Hampshire the last few days, covering the build-up to the primary. As you flew home yesterday, any impressions that stuck with you?
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Well, so much of this process is forced, is cynical, and you hear some of the frustration in some of the voices that Andrea brought you there. But when you're in New Hampshire, you also realize that this is a moment when the process is also very open. And you know from covering this in the past, David.
GREENE: Sure.
INSKEEP: People can still go - almost anybody can go see a candidate, almost anybody can get in, almost anybody might ask a question or even shout at the candidate. There is an openness that is exciting and heartening, although it becomes less and less as the process goes on. It becomes more and more controlled, more and more closed, as you get close to the nomination and close to the White House.
GREENE: And of course, as we go on to all of these other states, you, me and a lot of our colleagues will be out there covering the process as it goes on.
You're listening to MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. The United States appears to have resumed drone attacks in Pakistan, specifically in Pakistan's tribal areas, where they've been used to target militants operating along the border with Afghanistan. This strike comes after at least a six-week break in drone strikes.
NPR's Julie McCarthy has just finished three years as NPR's Islamabad bureau chief. She's on the line to talk about this. Hi, Julie.
JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: So what do you know about this attack?
MCCARTHY: Well, government officials in Pakistan say that this particular drone strike happened in North Waziristan - where a lot of them take place - shortly after midnight, in the area around the main city of Miranshah. At least three suspected militants were reported killed.
The attack targeted the home of a local tribal elder, who government sources say rented out a portion of his house to quote-unquote, foreigners. That usually means militants. And in this case, the strike is reported to have killed Uzbeks.
But the significance of this attack is not that foreigners were taken out in it, Steve, but more to the point that it does mark the resumption of drone strikes here, in this area.
INSKEEP: Well, yeah. Let's remind people about that, Julie McCarthy. There was a time - maybe a year ago - when there were so many drone strikes that this wouldn't even be news. But there had been no strikes for weeks as relations got very, very bad between the U.S. government and the Pakistani government.
MCCARTHY: That's right. The U.S. appeared to have backed off of drone strikes, after a NATO attack along the border ended up killing some two dozen Pakistani soldiers. A very incendiary event to Pakistan and it caused a plunge, really, in U.S.-Pakistan relations.
The U.S. investigated, called it a tragic mistake. The Pakistanis rejected the finding. And after their soldiers were slain in that incident, Pakistan shut down all routes for NATO supplies transiting from Pakistan into Afghanistan. And those routes still remain closed.
There were anti-U.S. demonstrations that erupted across the country. The military called for a total review of military-to-military relations. The government did the same thing. Talking on the street was all about, our sovereignty being violated. And in an apparent attempt to draw down all that tension, the U.S. quietly and unofficially appeared to have suspended the drone attacks.
And of course, all of this tension in the relations comes after a great deterioration since the U.S. secret raid on Osama bin Laden. Deep suspicions there were opened out into the public. And then this November attack was just seen as another serious blow to these already teetering relations.
INSKEEP: Well, given all that background, now we have to wonder what the response is going to be to this resumption of drone strikes.
MCCARTHY: That's right. It's unclear so far. It's early hours; very little has been said about it up until this point. It did happen late last night. We may be seeing an effort to downplay this, Steve. The military had nothing to offer on this today.
The government in Pakistan, for its part, has many things hanging fire. And a re-igniting of anti-American protests on the street is really, not what they need now.
In fact, all of this - you know, the NATO supplies, the drones, the Pakistani backlash on the street - has everything to do with the endgame next door in Afghanistan. And the militants, and the government, are each trying to figure out their role in that.
INSKEEP: Did you say the militants are trying to figure out their role?
MCCARTHY: Well, something very interesting has happened in the past couple of weeks. Al-Qaida has called for unity with the Pakistani Taliban in their fight, in their struggle. They're saying, look, let's have a united front against one thing: American troops next door in Afghanistan.
Now, in recent weeks we've had a lot of militant activities directed against the Pakistani security forces. They've been executed; dead bodies have been turned up. We've had a terrible bombing in Pakistan just in the past 48 hours. So there you see a split within the militancy - those who want to join common cause with al-Qaida and say yes, we will fight the Americans; and those who say no, simply not, we will continue to fight the Pakistani state.
INSKEEP: NPR's Julie McCarthy - we find her today in New Delhi. Julie, thanks very much.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Victims of a eugenics program may finally receive some compensation. Eugenics is the widely discredited notion of somehow improving the gene pool by encouraging some people to breed, and stopping others. And for many years, the state of North Carolina sponsored a drive to have some people sterilized - in many cases, without their consent.
Now, North Carolina is the first state to move toward compensating the people who were involved. Yesterday, a task force said people should receive $50,000 each. And here's Jessica Jones of North Carolina Public Radio.
JESSICA JONES, BYLINE: Sixty-three-year-old Lela Dunston says she didn't know she'd been sterilized until long after it happened.
LELA DUNSTON: I was 13 years old when they did me like that. And I think that was wrong. They didn't ask me to sign no papers about sterilization. They had my mama to sign them papers. I ain't never signed no papers.
JONES: Dunston had just given birth to a baby boy. She's one of more than 7,600 men and women who were sterilized under North Carolina's eugenics program between 1929 and 1974. Dunston says she still can't understand how state officials allowed so many people to be harmed.
DUNSTON: And I don't know why they done that to us; that's ridiculous. Chopped us up like we was animals, like we were hogs and pigs. You know, I think that's ridiculous. Something needs to be done better than this.
JONES: Dunston says $50,000 doesn't even begin to be enough for what she's been through. She was one of about 40 victims, family members and friends who crowded into a Raleigh boardroom yesterday to hear the final recommendations of the North Carolina Eugenics Task Force. Laura Gerald heads the panel, established last year to determine how to compensate survivors.
LAURA GERALD: We have heard gut-wrenching stories told at our public meetings, by victims who were deprived by the state of an opportunity to bear children. We've heard stories of people who, in most cases, needed help but instead, they were irrevocably wronged and betrayed.
JONES: Thirty-one states had eugenics programs decades ago. North Carolina's targeted people it considered undesirable, for everything from criminal records to simple poverty. Gerald agrees with many survivors that nothing can make up for what they've suffered, but the panel needed to come up with a number state lawmakers would be willing to pay for. The compensation will not include children of deceased victims.
GERALD: We are not attempting, through our work, to place a value on anyone's life. However, we are attempting to achieve a level of financial compensation and other services, that can provide meaningful assistance to survivors.
JONES: A report commissioned by the task force found at least an estimated 2,000 victims are still alive. So far, the state has verified 72 of them. Fifty-seven-year-old Elaine Riddick was sterilized when she was a teenager. She says she's satisfied with the panel's recommendation.
ELAINE RIDDICK: In order for me to get closure, I have to accept this and go on with my life. And that's what I'm going to start doing. I'm going to go on with my life. I know I will never forget it. But you know, at least I'm a little more satisfied today than I was yesterday.
JONES: Riddick says for her, it's not about the money. It's about making sure the world knows how wrong North Carolina's eugenics program was. State lawmakers are expected to consider the panel's recommendations this spring. They have the support of the governor and leaders of the state legislature.
For NPR News, I'm Jessica Jones in Durham, North Carolina.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: In NPR's business news, we're tracking Europe's efforts to avoid recession.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: If Europe's economy should slide further, the European debt crisis would only get worse, and it could be hard to contain the effects on the United States. So it's a somewhat hopeful sign that the strongest economy in Europe grew in 2011. A new report says Germany's economy grew by 3 percent. Not bad, given all the European turmoil.
The downside is, the same report shows the German economy shrinking a bit at the very end of last year. And the wider European debt crisis is still far from being resolved.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: Usually when we report of the Federal Reserve, we're talking about interest rates or inflation. But lately Fed officials have been focusing on housing. They've been out in public pushing measures they think will help the housing market.
And to find out why and what they're up to, we turn - as we often do - to David Wessel. He's The Wall Street Journal's economics editor. David, good morning.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
GREENE: So the Fed, have they ever really been involved this much in housing policy before? And what exactly are they trying to do?
WESSEL: Well, housing has always been a big part of the Fed's portfolio because it's so important to the economy. But usually we haven't been in circumstances like this. Fed officials basically have been saying in their speeches and in a 26-page white paper - an usual white paper that Fed sent to Congress - that one reason the economy isn't doing better is that housing isn't healing very fast. The president of the New York Fed, for instance, said it was difficult to achieve a vigorous economic recovery unless the ongoing weakness in housing was addressed. The president of the San Francisco Fed, a new one, John Williams, talked about a housing depression. Basically they're saying we've done what we can to get the economy working better. It would do much better if the rest of the rest of the government paid some attention to getting the housing market going again, the mortgage machinery making - going again.
GREENE: OK. So they're giving speeches. They're sending this big white paper to Congress. But are they actually discussing any firm proposals that they think Congress should take up?
WESSEL: Absolutely. And that's what made this interesting. They're saying that the alphabet soup of programs that the government has tried to help housing, to help homeowners, isn't doing enough and they've come up with a list of things they think the government ought to do. They think the government ought to find a way to reduce the glut of houses for sale, because banks have taken over so many houses, so many foreclosed houses, there's just a glut of supply. They'd like to make it easier for banks and others who own these houses to rent them out, to reduce the number for sale.
They think that more should be done to make sure that the regulators, the lenders, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, haven't overreacted to the crisis and are being - they think they're being too stingy, too picking about lenders. The Fed actually said that if mortgages had been this hard to get for the past few decades we might be a nation of renters. And they're looking for alternatives to foreclosure. If someone is not going to be able to pay their loan and the lender is going to take it over, they'd like to speed the process so it's not so cumbersome.
GREENE: Well, Congress is not exactly a place where members enjoy being told how to do their job, typically. I mean how are they reacting to this?
WESSEL: Well, that's a good question, David. Really, the reaction is mixed. There a number of economists - Republican and Democrat - who've been talking about these things. But when the Fed puts out a list to get some attention and Senator Oren Hatch, a senior Republican from Utah in the Senate Finance Committee, he sent a blistering letter to Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, saying that the Fed is treading on the turf of Congress and the regulators and ought to back off. And he said I'm sure that the Fed wouldn't appreciate a white paper from Congress outlining how to think about monetary policy, which was kind of ironic, since members of Congress and Ron Paul running for president don't see any hesitancy to give...
GREENE: They tell people how to do their jobs all the time.
WESSEL: Right. Some people think this is putting pressure on the regulator of Fannie and Freddie to do something more to help the housing market during an election season. The Fed says that's not so. Other people say that maybe what the Fed is doing is giving the regulator some cover here by saying, look, the Fed thinks this is a good idea, it's in the long-term interest of the taxpayers, so we ought to do something here.
GREENE: All right. David Wessel is the economics editor at The Wall Street Journal, and he joins often to talk about the economy. David, thank you.
WESSEL: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And today's last word in business is Twinkies in trouble.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMMERCIAL)
INSKEEP: The maker of those yellow cakes with the white filling that somehow gets inside has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, we're sorry to say. Hostess Brands also makes Wonder Bread and Ding Dongs - among other products - but sales have declined. And despite a previous bankruptcy process only a few years ago, Hostess was unable to agree with unions on reducing pension and other labor costs.
So they can get the filling inside, somehow. They're just still trying to figure how to stuff back in the profits.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: And I'm David Greene.
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
Mitt Romney's double-digit win in New Hampshire plants his feet happily on the path to the Republican nomination heading, now, into South Carolina.
INSKEEP: The results last night were very different from Romney's victory in Iowa, the kind of win that leaves lingering concerns, since he won by just eight votes. Last night, in his home territory of New England, he won by thousands. Nobody came within 15 percentage points of Mitt Romney.
GREENE: NPR's Ari Shapiro was at Romney headquarters in Manchester last night. He reports on a campaign that spent years laying the groundwork for this win.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Until the actual voting started, this nominating race was one of the most chaotic in recent memory. As Dan Yarrington put it, just after casting his vote for Ron Paulâ¦
DAN YARRINGTON: All these other candidates are like angry birds, as I describe them. They just go up and then down, and up and down.
SHAPIRO: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum each had a moment in the sun. Yet the strange thing is, after all those angry birds flying and crashing, the actual voting results were more definitive and consistent than they have ever been.
As Romney put it in his victory speech...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
MITT ROMNEY: Tonight we made history.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SHAPIRO: Mitt Romney is the first non-incumbent Republican ever to have won both Iowa and New Hampshire. He was helped to victory by people like Deb Sklar, who cast her vote yesterday in Bedford.
DEB SKLAR: I'm an independent, but I voted for him because I think he's moderate. Because I think his positions are thought out.
SHAPIRO: Half of the votes in New Hampshire's primary yesterday came from people describing themselves as independent. That means only half came from Republicans. Mitt Romney has always done well with moderate voters.
He was also helped along by voters' familiarity with him here. Jerry Belmosto, of Hookset, came to Romney's election night victory party at Southern New Hampshire University.
JERRY BELMOSTO: He almost does seem like a neighbor. And it'd be nice to have a neighbor in the White House.
SHAPIRO: As Romney reminded people last night, his family has been coming to New Hampshire for decades.
ROMNEY: Ann and I made a home here. We've filled it with great memories of our children, our grandchildren. The Granite State moment we've just enjoyed is one we will always remember. And I have...
SHAPIRO: The Romney campaign worked hard to cultivate an air of inevitability that their candidate will be the presidential nominee. These results in New Hampshire go a long way toward securing that outcome, particularly since Romney had been stuck at around 25 percent in polls for the last year. And last night he broke through that ceiling by double digits.
In the last few days, other Republicans tried hard to tear Romney down. They accused him of making a fortune by laying off American workers during his years running the investment firm Bain Capital. Those efforts to undermine him were ultimately unsuccessful here, and Romney scolded his rivals for trying, calling them desperate Republicans who joined forces with President Obama.
ROMNEY: This is such a mistake for our party and for our nation. The country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. We have to offer an alternative vision. I stand ready to lead us down a different path, where we're lifted up by a desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success.
SHAPIRO: Romney's speeches have always focused primarily on President Obama, but last night the attacks were even more pointed.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPALUSE)
ROMNEY: This president takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe. We look to the cities and towns across America for our inspiration.
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ROMNEY: This president puts his faith in government. We put our faith in the American people.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: The list went on and on, interrupted several times by jubilant chants of Mitt.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt...
SHAPIRO: The contest now moves to South Carolina. Romney's message to voters there last night was: It's time to fall in line behind the man who will oust President Obama.
ROMNEY: Tonight we're asking the good people of South Carolina to join the citizens of New Hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: The campaign has built the infrastructure and raised the money to go the distance through one primary state after another, if that's what it takes. In an email to supporters last night, Romney said: I've long said this election will be a marathon, not a sprint.
But Mitt Romney was leading in South Carolina polls even before he won New Hampshire. And the campaign would just as soon save its resources for the general election fight that's just a few months off.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Manchester.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
While Mitt Romney celebrates, his rivals face a harsh reality. For all the Republican anxiety about Romney - conservatives saying he's not really conservative, columnists worrying that he doesn't seem authentic; fear that the whole GOP field just isn't very strong - Romney has won both Iowa and New Hampshire.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Still, each of the other candidates did take a different meaning from last night's results. For one thing, Ron Paul can say he's attracting new voters and younger people, and the others are all still fighting.
NPR's Don Gonyea reports on the also-rans, and their primary night parties.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: This race was not close. But even while finishing in second place, 16 points back, congressman Ron Paul made his concession speech sound like a victory party.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
RON PAUL: There was one other acknowledgment I wanted to make. I wanted to thank the Union Leader for not endorsing me.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS)
GONYEA: The Union Leader is the conservative Manchester newspaper that was once a kingmaker. This time around, it endorsed Newt Gingrich - who got 9 percent of the vote.
But Ron Paul did well here, largely on the strength of voters who do not consider themselves Republican. In fact, yesterday's contest can barely be called a Republican primary. Nearly half of those voting describe themselves as independents, and Paul was their favorite candidate.
Ron Paul has yet to demonstrate that his libertarian message will sell to equally large numbers of Republicans. Still, he could be in the race to the end, as a spokesman for a cause.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
GONYEA: In third place was former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. Considered the most moderate candidate in the field, he skipped Iowa and put all of his chips on New Hampshire. He got 17 percent of the vote for a respectable - but not really close - third place. It's hard to see where Huntsman does that well again - especially in the South, where the candidates head next. Still, Huntsman says third place is a ticket to stay in the game.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
GONYEA: After Huntsman, two other candidates fought hard for what turned out to be fourth place. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich won that fight, barely edging out former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. Last month, Gingrich looked like a front-runner, before T.V. ads funded by a PAC that supports Mitt Romney took him down a few pegs. Last night, Gingrich was subdued in his remarks, still claiming to be the only candidate who could stand up to President Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
GONYEA: As for the guy who was the big story last week, Rick Santorum barely made it into the story this week. A week ago, Santorum began his caucus night speech by stating boldly: Game on - and saying his message was not just for Iowa and its large number of conservative Christian voters. He said it would play in New Hampshire as well. Last nightâ¦
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY CONCESSION SPEECH)
GONYEA: Santorum and the other Romney rivals now continue on to South Carolina, a conservative Southern state where each of these survivors says he'll be the one who overtakes the man who's done all the winning so far.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Manchester.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK, so we're tracking TV votes in China, the presidential primary in New Hampshire - won by Mitt Romney - and the presidential election in France, where a new star has emerged: Joan of Arc. This year is the 600th anniversary of her birth, and as the country celebrates, politicians are hoping some of St. Joan's divine powers will rub off. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley sends this report.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Four months ahead of the presidential election, and with his poll numbers severely lagging, President Nicolas Sarkozy went to the French heartland.
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BEARDSLEY: Television networks showed him walking through the streets of the village of Domremy La Pucelle and visiting the house where Joan of Arc was born in 1412. An uneducated peasant girl, as legend has it, she followed the voices of angels and commanded an army to defeat the English in a major battle during the 100 Years War.
With the euro in crisis and the French economy in the dumps, commentator Andre Bercoff says Sarkozy is looking for inspiration in history.
ANDRE BERCOFF: You know, Joan of Arc, she is a young patriot, young virgin who drove the English out of France, symbol of courage, fighting, valiant, and all this.
BEARDSLEY: Joan was eventually captured by the English, tried for witchcraft and heresy, and burned at the stake. Centuries later, she was canonized. French soldiers prayed to her in the trenches of World War I, and during the Second World War, both the Resistance and the Vichy regime held her up as a symbol.
By visiting her birthplace last weekend, Sarkozy was trying to wrest her from the clutches of today's far right, which has claimed Joan as their icon for years.
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BEARDSLEY: Joan doesn't belong to any party, faction or clan. Joan belongs to France, said Sarkozy. She is the universal, eternal France.
Sarkozy wanted to preempt the extreme right's celebration of Joan the next day. Every year, members of the National Front gather in central Paris to rally around a golden statue of Joan of Arc in full-body armor, mounted on her horse.
MARINE LE PEN: (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: Marine Le Pen, head of the National Front, said Sarkozy's policies had let to a loss of sovereignty and the Islamization of France. Le Pen has a good chance of hacking into Sarkozy's conservative base this year.
: (Chanting in French)
BEARDSLEY: The crowd here loves her, and they think that only she, like Joan of Arc, can protect them from modern day invaders: immigrants.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
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INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The residents of Cordova, Alaska, are wondering how much more snow they can possibly handle. A state of emergency has been declared for the small fishing town on the edge of Prince William Sound.
Since the beginning of November, Cordova has seen about 15 feet of snow. And after 24 straight days of snowfall, the U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska National Guard arrived over the weekend to help dig the town out. The snow has collapsed roofs, and trapped some people inside their homes.
To hear more about the situation there, we've called Jennifer Gibbins, who's editor of the Cordova Times newspaper. We reached her at her home this morning.
Jennifer, good morning to you.
JENNIFER GIBBINS: Good morning.
GREENE: Jennifer, I've certainly lived through blizzards and digging out from a couple feet of snow. But what you're dealing with, I don't think any of us can really imagine. I mean, can you tell us what Cordova looks like right now?
GIBBINS: Well, it just means everywhere you look, there's snow. And we've got snow piles that are 10 to 30 to 50 feet high. It's filling streets. It's filling alleys. It's covering houses. The snow pile that's in between my house and my neighbor's house, I walked over the top of it today. And as I was walking across it, the bottom of my feet were parallel with the peak of my roof.
GREENE: Were there times when you couldn't even get out your front door?
GIBBINS: Yeah. I, you know - like a lot of residents in town, I've had times when I couldn't get out. One day, I couldn't get down my steps, and I had to tunnel out underneath a tree to get out. And then a neighbor came down and helped me shovel my neighbor out.
GREENE: Wow. Well, I mean, if you're digging out one time after another, I mean, you're a newspaper editor, can you focus on anything else? Can you get any work done, or is it just shovel and think about snow?
GIBBINS: No. And that's really what the situation is here right now. It's just that every day, we are getting up to more snow. You know, one day I shoveled at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 o'clock, 5:30. And each time for at least an hour. And then I shoveled from 8:30 to 10 o'clock at night - only to wake up the next day and be snowed in again. We're just exhausted.
GREENE: And when you talk about digging out, one of the cruel facts I read about was that there was a shortage of snow shovels?
GIBBINS: Oh, good luck finding a snow shovel. In fact, I was in the hardware store yesterday, asking them how they were doing with that. Not only are they out of shovels, they couldn't find a supplier who could send them any shovels.
GREENE: And what do you do with all of this snow? I mean, is there a spot where they're moving the snow to try and clear out the town?
GIBBINS: That's one of the biggest problems we've had. There's no place to put it. I mean, if you're shoveling out in front of your house, the piles are so high that you can't fling the snow up high enough to get on the pile.
GREENE: Oh, wow.
GIBBINS: That was one of the reasons that we needed more help - more manpower and heavy dutier(ph) equipment that could really help us move this. But when you see an entire street filled two stories high with snow, you've got a problem.
GREENE: How much more snow do you think you can take?
GIBBINS: Oh, God. I don't really think I could take anymore snow. I mean, we're all just - we've had it. And I think that if we didn't have this assistance with the National Guard and with the Coast Guard, I don't really know what people would do. I mean, we're just, you know, we're done.
GREENE: Jennifer Gibbins is the editor of the Cordova Times in Cordova, Alaska.
Jennifer, best of luck to you and the entire community. Thanks so much for talking to us.
GIBBINS: OK. Thank you very much.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
On the morning after the New Hampshire primary, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
Mitt Romney may have gotten the most votes in that New Hampshire primary yesterday. But the award for best party of the night went to the second place finisher, Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
INSKEEP: His fervent supporters chanted and sang into the early hours of the morning, showing the kind of passion that propelled Ron Paul to the best night in his career to date.
GREENE: NPR's Robert Smith was there.
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: Every candidate has his own soundtrack. When Jon Huntsman walks to the stage he plays "Beautiful Day" by U2. Mitt Romney favors the song, "Born Free." Last night, before Ron Paul's supporters introduced him to the crowd, his campaign played this:
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE IMPERIAL MARCH")
SMITH: The Imperial theme from "Star Wars." The music that heralds the arrival of Darth Vader.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE IMPERIAL MARCH")
SMITH: A few minutes later, when Ron Paul took the stage he was clearly reveling in his new role of nemesis to Mitt Romney.
RON PAUL: But I sort of have to chuckle when they describe you and me as being dangerous.
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SMITH: The crowd surges forward, American flags in hand.
PAUL: That's one thing they are telling the truth because we are dangerous to the status quo of this country.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SMITH: Ron Paul is sometimes referred to as a fringe candidate. But not here, not last night. He got 23 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, easily beating candidates like Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich. As Ron Paul told the crowd, he was now nibbling at the heels of the front-runner. The crowd liked those odds.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) President Paul. President Paul. President Paul...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SMITH: It's hard to describe the crowd at a Ron Paul event. If I was keeping up the "Star Wars" theme, I might describe it as a certain cantina on Tatooine. But instead, I'm just going to list off some of the people I met. A Navy meteorologist, a Serbian baker, some raw milk activists who run a computer firm, pharmacological engineer, a machinist, a lesbian postal worker. And then there was Ray Verville, who just describes himself as Independent.
RAY VERVILLE: You know, the Independents don't want to vote for anybody if they're not Independent. It's Ron Paul or no one.
SMITH: New Hampshire is the one of those states that lets Independents vote in its Republican primary. And boy did they. There was a flood of them this time. And Ron Paul won among those who declare themselves Independent. He also captured the most votes among people under the age of 30. They all share his philosophy of radically smaller government and personal liberty. And Verville said that already the popularity of Paul is forcing those ideas into the Republican discussion.
VERVILLE: Yeah, you don't see anybody talking about the Constitution the way he does. He's the one who's brought up all of the things that are going on in the debates - the Fed, the bubbles, all that stuff. He's the one.
SMITH: New Hampshire is kind of a sweet spot for Ron Paul. It has a heavy Libertarian tradition. And Ron Paul's been campaigning here for a long time. Four years ago, he got 8 percent of the vote. But yesterday, he tripled that support.
One of his fans, Monica Dean, says the challenge now for Ron Paul is that it's hard to describe his whole philosophy in a simple political ad. It takes a while to understand what he's all about.
MONICA DEAN: It is kind of like a rabbit hole. You start to look into different things. You kind of become obsessed for a good six months in the whole political sphere.
SMITH: You're saying that kind of paradigm shift doesn't happen after a week's campaigning in New Hampshire?
DEAN: Right. Yeah. You have to actually seek it out.
SMITH: But right now Ron Paul doesn't have that kind of time. He'll have to now face primaries that don't give such a prominent role to Independents. And he'll have to convince actual Republicans that his unorthodox ideas can beat Barack Obama. Getting the nomination for Ron Paul is like, I don't know, hitting a two- meter target from an X-wing fighter.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "STAR WARS")
SMITH: Robert Smith, NPR News, Manchester.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Whatever their disagreements, the presidential candidates agree on their next destination.
MITT ROMNEY: Tonight, we're asking the good people of South Carolina to join the citizens of New Hampshire...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Hello, South Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
NEWT GINGRICH: This campaign is going to go on to South Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: On to South Carolina. Thank you and god bless you.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
INSKEEP: South Carolina's primary is set for a week from Saturday - January 21st. NPR's Debbie Elliott is in the state's capital, Columbia. She joins us once again.
Debbie, good morning.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, you've been reporting this at a coffee shop there. What's been happening this morning?
ELLIOTT: Yeah, I'm here at the Lizard's Thicket, just a few blocks from the state capitol, talking to voters over grits and redeye gravy this morning.
INSKEEP: How's the redeye gravy?
ELLIOTT: It's delicious.
INSKEEP: What is redeye gravy? I don't mean to get completely sidetracked here, but...
ELLIOTT: It's like what - you take it from the ham drippings and you add a little coffee in and, oh, it's delicious.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: OK. What are voters saying, once they get their gravy and their coffee?
ELLIOTT: You know, I think you've got a couple of camps here. You've got people who are behind Mitt Romney, who think Mitt Romney is going to carry his strength from New Hampshire and Iowa here in South Carolina. And then you have the other camp, the more conservative voters here who just say he's too moderate and he's not for them.
INSKEEP: You're hearing specific votes this morning say that very thing, that they don't think they can embrace Mitt Romney?
ELLIOTT: Exactly. But the thing about that is, they are not all unified behind one of the other candidates. So that's the challenge here, I think, in South Carolina for candidates like Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum. They've been here, they've been talking to people but yet the conservative votes here have not coalesced behind one of those candidates.
INSKEEP: Maybe this is a time to follow up on something that Robert Smith said a moment ago. He was describing how New Hampshire is Ron Paul's sweet spot. You could say that New Hampshire was Mitt Romney's sweet spot; certain kind of voters that they could appeal to - very different electorate in South Carolina.
ELLIOTT: Exactly. I actually had someone tell me, an operative in Columbia or a party activist here in Columbia, that, you know, New Hampshire and South Carolina are completely different places. We have different voters here. They might be able to wean the field but we pick the president. She was referring to the fact that South Carolina has picked the Republican nominee every race since Ronald Reagan in 1980. But the thing here is that there are 60 percent of the Republican voters here are evangelicals, and now there's a huge Tea Party contingent. So the question mark is: who is going to be able to get those folks excited? And so far, there's no answer to that question.
INSKEEP: Well, there are candidates who would like to think that they appeal to exactly that kind of voter. Rick Santorum, Rick Perry; we could go through several.
ELLIOTT: Exactly. And Perry has been here. He skipped New Hampshire, and he's been here. But he doesn't seem to be - even in the polls - to be getting any traction. Newt Gingrich is on the air with some very serious ads, and all of them attacking Mitt Romney. I think Rick Perry called him at one point this week a vulture capitalist. A super PAC that's behind Gingrich is out with an ad that's portraying Romney as a corporate raider. So the gloves are certainly off in South Carolina. Everybody is taking aim at Romney and trying to get important first in the South voters.
INSKEEP: Now, you said super PAC. Of course, we're talking about theoretically independent groups that are supporting specific candidates. And this particular super PAC that is backing Newt Gingrich is said to have had an infusion of several million dollars and reported to have put most of that money into TV ads in South Carolina. Is that a lot in a state like South Carolina?
ELLIOTT: It is a lot, but I think that's fairly typical here. I had a consultant that I ran into this morning, someone who used to work for the Bachmann campaign but is now unaligned, saying that he had just heard this morning that the Fox Television News outlet here is completely sold out from now until the primary. So voters here are not going to be seeing any car dealership ads. They're going to be seeing hard-hitting ads, trying to get their attention in this race.
INSKEEP: In just a couple of seconds, are people excited about the choice they face?
ELLIOTT: You know, some are and some aren't. I did pick up on a little vein of frustration this morning; folks saying that their not that enthused. A couple people saying they really like Ron Paul, in fact, but are fearful that somehow if they vote for him, it's, you know, he's not able to win the nomination and they feel like their vote might be wasted.
INSKEEP: OK, Debbie. I'm going to let you go back and get another cup of coffee. Thanks very much.
ELLIOTT: Um-huh. Thanks, Steve. Bye-bye.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Debbie Elliott. She is at a restaurant called the Lizard's Thicket in Columbia, South Carolina, which is the next state to hold a presidential primary.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Ever wondered if home field advantage is real? Well, a college professor ran the numbers. Ben Motz of Indiana University looked at NFL games over a 15-year span and found the home team won 57 percent of the time. Was it crowd noise or maybe favorable officiating? Professor Motz did find the home team's winning percentage dropped with the advent of instant replay. For what's it worth, so far in this year's NFL playoffs, home teams: 4-0. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with praise of criticism. There's a new award for brutal book reviews in Britain: a Hatchet Job of the Year Award. A Julian Barnes book is dismissed as just so average. A biography of Martin Amis is called spectacularly bad writing about spectacularly good writing. Reviewer Camilla Long called a book a pointlessly explicit, infuriatingly naive and at times plain off-putting slither through a series of unedited slurpings. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The 2012 North American International Auto Show opens to the public on Saturday. And there's one new model on the floor that's bound to turn some heads. Fast, powerful and loaded with amenities, the CTX is the only vehicle of its kind at this year's show. And as Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports, it's not likely you'll see this one on the road.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE STARTING)
TRACY SAMILTON, BYLINE: OK, the CTX is not a car. It's a new line of Craftsman lawn tractors, a.k.a. riding lawn mowers. Onney Crawley is director of brand management for lawn and garden. She says everyone was sitting in a meeting one day, talking about how similar the lawn tractors are to cars, and someone came up with a brilliant idea.
ONNEY CRAWLEY: Everybody knows that Detroit's the national stage for cars. I mean, Motor City is where autos come from. So this show made perfect sense - to come here and launch the tractor.
SAMILTON: Crawley says like cars, the CTX has automatic traction control. It also has tilted steering, cruise control, a digital dashboard and a cup holder. The next iteration will have an iPod port.
There's another reason it makes sense to show a riding mower at an auto show, and that's the shared customer base. Kris Malkoski, of Craftsman, says thousands of people who attend the show have big yards, a do-it-yourself attitude, and enough disposable income to afford upscale vehicles.
KRIS MALKOSKI: They care about the way their yard looks, just like car fanatics care about the way their car looks.
SAMILTON: But lawn tractor customers don't necessarily want to spend all day mowing the lawn. So for a lawn tractor, speed is of the essence - and this puppy is fast.
MALKOSKI: It allows you to go eight miles per hour forward; three miles per hour backwards.
SAMILTON: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Them's fighting words in the lawn tractor industry. Eight miles an hour - are you kidding me? Kim Ridel works for John Deere. She's tactical brand manager for riding equipment.
KIM RIDEL: We have tractors that go up to eight and a half miles per hour.
SAMILTON: Not only that, Ridel says John Deere has been introducing automotive features on riding lawn mowers since 1982. So Craftsman can't take credit for the trend. What the company can take credit for is a good marketing gimmick.
Now, in every story about cars, there has to be an analyst critiquing the claims about the product. Here's the problem: There really aren't that many independent riding lawn mower analysts out there. Actually, there are no independent riding lawn mower analysts out there. There are, however, plenty of car analysts.
MICHELLE KREBS: So I grew up on a farm in upstate New York. My dad was a dairy farmer. And I learned to drive on a 1939 Allis Chalmers tractor.
SAMILTON: Michelle Krebs, you're hired. Krebs is an auto industry analyst with Edmunds.com. She says even though she drove a real tractor as a kid, this one is still impressive.
KREBS: This is a suburban tractor. Thirty horsepower - I guess that's pretty fast for a lawn tractor.
SAMILTON: What about styling?
KREBS: Very sleek lines, aerodynamic; headlights that look like - I don't know if they're LED or - but very jewel-like.
SAMILTON: And it has creature comforts she never had back on the farm.
KREBS: This is way more comfortable than the metal seats on the Allis Chalmers I grew up on.
SAMILTON: Of course, there's a big downside. The CTX can't get you to work in the morning - unless you commute through your neighbors' backyards. But at 2,500 to $6,500, depending on model and trim level, the CTX is by far the most economical vehicle on display at the show. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The least expensive tractor model is $3,000, not $2,500.]
For NPR News, I'm Tracy Samilton.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
All right. We're continuing our travels today with NPR's David Greene on the Trans-Siberian Railway. To remind listeners, we heard the first of David's stories yesterday - an amazing journey that you were on here, David, but a lot of tragedy you encountered when you talked to people along the way.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Yeah, Russians have endured a lot over time. And that includes, I think, enduring tough leaders. I mean, Russians over history have survived czars, dictators, leaders who don't always seem to have a lot of compassion. And, you know, as you know, Steve, we saw people beginning to turn on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow with these street protests recently that erupted.
INSKEEP: In Moscow, but what about when you went further east on the railway?
GREENE: And that was the question that I really wanted to answer. I mean, in the capital, you had these protests. Many of those people were younger, middle-class Russians. The country as a whole is older and less well-off, I think you could say. And as I got out into the vast country, I didn't get the sense that people are ready for revolution, their own Arab spring. It doesn't mean that they don't want change.
And I want to take you now today to a village northwest of Yaroslavl, a couple hours from Moscow. A dog greeted me out in the snow as I was walking up to this little ramshackle yellow wooden house.
This house is the home of a man named Nikolai Novotelnov, and he's an elderly man with quite a story that he told me. When Novotelnov was a teenager, his father was sent to die in one of Josef Stalin's gulags. And his father's crime, Steve, was telling a joke about Soviet leaders. And so this man, Nikolai Novotelnov, was left alone with his mother and then Stalin struck again. He ordered this reservoir to be built, damming the Volga River. It meant flooding entire villages. And thousands of people were ordered to move their homes, including Nikolai Novotelnov and his mom. Alone, they piled the wood onto rafts and then they rebuilt the house where this man Nikolai still lives today.
NIKOLAI NOVOTELNOV: (Through translator) I still have memories of the churches, the tombstones, that it was just a simple command. We were all going to start living in the new place.
GREENE: Given all this, of course Nikolai Novotelnov was angry, and yet he went on to serve his country in World War II proudly. The Red Army and Communist Party posters still hang on the walls of his living room. It's just he's not very proud of his country today. As he puts it, Russia is now a place with no friendship, where people are divided between rich and poor, and he thinks Vladimir Putin could be trying a lot harder.
Putin is Russia's most powerful politician. He was president then prime minster, and Putin expects to return to president in an election this coming March. Novotelnov wishes there was a way to stop that.
NOVOTELNOV: (Through translator) During Putin's time, nothing good has happened in Russia. I'm his strong opponent. If we look at his policies and the state our country is in, I don't think we need such a leader.
GREENE: This 86-year-old man who was sitting in front of me on his couch might not seem like a poster child for revolution, but I heard voices like this every day as I traveled deeper into Siberia.
As I swung through the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg, I stopped for tea and some perspective. I sat down with Yekaterina Stepanova, a professor of philosophy and law, spent years as a visiting scholar in the United States. She told me that Russians are slowly realizing that Putin's style of centralized power and control is not improving their lives.
YEKATERINA STEPANOVA: Because certainly Putin and his team are people from the past, because they just see the country from the lenses of '70s, I mean, the '80s.
GREENE: Putin, she predicted, will slowly lose popularity and relevance and eventually - eventually, she said - the system he has in place will collapse.
STEPANOVA: Collapse is not a tragedy. Collapse is what has to come. Because what we have now in not the history of this new Russia. It's still the history of Soviet Union.
GREENE: You seem to suggest that the end of the Putin is not going to be some big loud revolution. What is it going to be?
STEPANOVA: I think it's going to be just a slow collapse.
GREENE: Slow, because Russians aren't in a hurry to embrace change. It's a learning process.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN MOVING)
GREENE: In the Russian towns and villages I visited, I had to forget all assumptions about democracy. For years, people have lived under this set of unspoken rule - life will be hard, the government will provide few services, people in power might be corrupt but there's nothing you can do about it. Today, people do seem to be realizing in small ways that maybe they can have a voice.
One such place is a village called Sagra. It's near Russia's Ural Mountains, the natural border between Europe and Asia. And it takes you back in time. Geese are wandering around snow-covered dirt streets, honking at the passing trains.
The dilapidated wooden houses in the village are heated by wood stoves, the people tough and gritty. And last summer, they faced something resembling an inner-city turf battle. This criminal gang was heading to Sagra one night, and residents called the police. They never showed up. The gang did. And residents, including 56-year-old Viktor Gorodilov fought them off, swinging pitch forks and firing hunting rifles.
VIKTOR GORODILOV: (Through translator) You asked me the question who I protected, who I defended? So, I defended my family. I defended my children and my grandchildren and my family.
GREENE: But then came a twist of justice that's not uncommon in Russia. The government filed charges against Gorodilov and Sagra's other residents. They charged them with hooliganism. But Gorodilov wouldn't stand for it. He and others in town found a lawyer at a nonprofit and they got their message out on the Internet, insisting that the people of Sagra had been neglected by the police and were left to defend themselves against criminals.
I sat down with Viktor Gorodilov and his family and I listened as they spoke about taking truth to power. It was something I had rarely, if ever, heard while recording in rural Russia.
GORODILOV: (Russian spoken)
GREENE: In Russia, Viktor told me, people in power live their own separate life far removed from most citizens. He thinks that might be beginning to change. Sitting across from him was his 39-year-old son, Andrei. He's a third-year graduate student in economics. And at first, you might expect he'd be jumping to join those protests back in Moscow, but the idea of revolution scares him. He watched Russia fall into this economic abyss after the Soviet collapsed.
ANDREI GORODILOV: (Through translator) Look at what's happening in Libya. That was our past in 1991. The Libyan people will live much worse than they used to live. They have social programs, they got apartments for free - now, this will stop. I already lived through those kinds of changes.
GREENE: And so, Steve, the point that really came through with Andrei, this man I met, is that it's not that he doesn't want more from this government, it's not that he doesn't want change, he's just very patient. He was happy to have played a role in standing up for the citizens of his village. As he put it, I've become an annoyance to our local government.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Which is sometimes what citizenship is. Thanks very much, David. And David Greene's journey across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway is going to continue tomorrow. We'll try to get a sense as David heads east of Russia's future and what really holds this giant country together.
In the meantime, listeners can go to NPR.org to see photos of the people and places that David's been talking about here on NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene, sitting in for Renee Montagne.
Curing tuberculosis was one of the first big victories gained from the use of antibiotics. But now doctors are reporting strains of TB that can't be killed by any available drug. NPR's Richard Knox has more on this latest development.
RICHARD KNOX, BYLINE: Doctors in Mumbai have found a dozen TB patients who can't be cured by any of the first and second choice drugs available to treat the disease. They have what specialists call totally drug resistant TB.
DR. RICHARD CHAISSON: Totally drug resistant TB is a term that has been coined to describe TB that has become resistant to just about everything we have in our armamentarium.
KNOX: That's Dr. Richard Chaisson, a TB expert at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. India's not the first place doctors have seen this worst-of-all-possible TB bugs. Back in 2003, two women in Italy had it. Two years ago, 15 cases were reported in Iran.
But Chaisson says India is the perfect incubator for this invincible new type of TB. He and other experts say India's notorious for having private practitioners who are unschooled in treating TB, especially resistant forms. One recent study found only one private doctor in 20 knew the right drugs to prescribe in the right doses. And improper treatment allows the most dangerous strains to thrive.
CHAISSON: Whatever doesn't kill the bugs can make them stronger and make them resistant to our treatment.
KNOX: The appearance of totally resistant TB in India is a bellwether. That country already has the world's largest number of people with less-than-totally-resistant TB. And all of them are at risk of becoming untreatable. So far, nobody has shown that the dangerous new bug is spreading from person to person. But it would be surprising if it didn't.
CHAISSON: What we've learned over the years is that drug resistant TB is every bit as transmittable as drug susceptible TB.
KNOX: Yet Chaisson says it's unlikely a tourist to India would get totally resistant TB. The numbers are still small, and it requires intimate contact. But the problem will certainly grow. India's public TB control program has just begun to cover the expensive drugs needed to treat any resistant TB. So there are lots of people who have TB that's just on the brink of becoming totally resistant.
Richard Knox, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Since the collapse of the domestic steel industry, blue collar workers in the mountain towns near the border of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio have been struggling to find jobs. Last June, Shell Oil company announced it would build a huge petrochemical refinery somewhere in that Appalachian region. The plant, known in the industry as a cracker, could bring billions of investment dollars and thousands of jobs.
Mhari Saito of member station WCPN reports.
MHARI SAITO, BYLINE: In Wheeling, West Virginia, the Spartan headquarters for the Upper Ohio River Valley Trade Council, was built in 1966 when the steel industry reigned supreme. But unemployment soared when the mills started shedding workers. Things are about to change, though, for Tom Gray who sits in the council hall as the head of the 6,000 member affiliation of unions representing local construction workers. All anyone wants to know is where Shell might build an ethane cracker.
TOM GRAY: There's a tremendous work ethic in this valley. People like that, you know, they're struggling. There's a lot of displaced workers that could work right here, if we can get this cracker.
SAITO: A cracker is industry lingo for a plant that takes oil and gas and breaks them up into smaller molecules. An ethane cracker creates ethylene, a compound used in plastic. There's a lot more ethane in Appalachia these days, thanks to controversial drilling techniques known as fracking.
Beverly Saylor is a geologist at Case Western Reserve University. She says it's been a while since companies looked to build new crackers in the U.S.
BEVERLY SAYLOR: Plastic was made overseas and that's because there wasn't enough natural gas. But now with all the shale gas development, the price has come down on that and so it's now worth it.
SAITO: Construction of a cracker facility could cost several billion dollars and employ as many as 10,000 construction workers at its peak. Once up and running, a world-class refinery could spread over several hundred acres and possibly employ up to a thousand people. And that doesn't even count the jobs for likely spin off businesses. It's enough to have state officials seeing stars
C. Alan Walker is Pennsylvania's Secretary of Community and Economic Development.
C. ALAN WALKER: Potentially, it would be the biggest investment made in the Pittsburgh region in economic and industrial development since Andrew Carnegie built U.S. Steel, and we all know how long ago that was. I mean, it's a game changer.
SAITO: Walker says a cracker would have a huge multiplier effect on jobs in the manufacturing and chemical industries. Ethylene is used in 90 percent of manufactured goods.
Jack Pounds heads the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council and has worked to help bring the cracker to the Buckeye State.
JACK POUNDS: This is a state that will have probably the most competitive global position in terms of raw materials for its chemical industry, and that should help reverse a couple of decades of decline in the industry in the state.
SAITO: All three states have sent delegations to Shell to pitch locations for the ethane cracker. Details on tax incentive packages are still not being discussed publicly. Scoring the cracker would be a coup for any governor, especially when jobs are such a hot political issue.
Keith Burdette is Commerce Secretary for the state of West Virginia. He says, in the end, the ethane cracker will provide jobs all throughout Appalachia.
KEITH BURDETTE: There will be a lot of hooping and hollering, regardless of where it's picked whether it's in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. We want it built here. The truth of the matter is, is the sites - they're just so closely grouped together that the impact across state lines will be significant.
SAITO: Shell is expected to announce its location for the ethane cracker any day now. State officials hope the cracker will take the Marcellus Shale's natural gas industry to the next level - one where gas and oil extracted from the ground can be processed and used by a new generation of businesses in Appalachia.
For NPR News, I'm Mhari Saito.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
There's a new memoir out, highlighting major changes in the Los Angeles Police Department. The first thing we should tell you about this book is it was not written by a cop. It's called "Power Concedes Nothing," and it's written by civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who spent the last 20 years suing the L.A.PD.
You want to know what the police thought of her book. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates will tell you.
KAREN GRISBY BATES, BYLINE: For two decades, civil rights lawyer Connie Rice was a thorn in the side of the Los Angeles Police Department. Actually, make that backside.
CONNIE RICE: I woke up every day, trying to figure out a new way to sue the L.A.PD and the L.A. County Sheriff's, because they were such a negative, and humiliating, and emasculating force in the black and brown communities.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATIONS)
BATES: So it's a little psychedelic to see her here, in the belly of the LAPD's gleaming new police building, where the police chief is hosting a book party for her. And cops - active, retired, uniformed and plainclothes - are lining up for her to sign copies of her new book, "Power Concedes Nothing."
The book is Rice's account of how she and the department came to terms with each other in an effort to make L.A. safer and saner for all of its citizens.
CHIEF CHARLIE BECK: Richard, how are you?
RICHARD: How are you? And Happy New Year.
BECK: Happy New Year.
BATES: As he welcomed everyone to Rice's party, Chief Charlie Beck admitted Rice and the LAPD had not always been friends. But he said their relationship has evolved into a solid partnership. The new police headquarters, with its open courtyards and big glass walls, is far friendlier than the old one. Beck told the crowd it's reflective of Rice's urging that the LAPD make itself more approachable to the community.
BECK: This is, in part, a house that Connie built.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
BATES: There was a lot of chuckling over the irony: This prim, steely woman, with her perpetually raised eyebrow, has spent so much time suing her hosts in the past. But somewhere along the way, Connie Rice and the LAPD became friends.
RICE: I'm so biased at this point, that I've completely lost all my impartiality. And Chief Bratton has achieved his goal. I can no longer sue the Los Angeles Police Department.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RICE: But to tell you the truth, I don't want to. I don't need to.
BATES: When she began working at the Los Angeles office of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1991, Rice ran into the old LAPD; the lean, mean policing machine Chief William Parker made famous in the '50s, and his hand-picked protégé Daryl Gates made infamous in the '80s and '90s.
RICE: It was a very good paramilitary, intimidation, policing culture - but it was also racist.
BATES: Case in point: The 1992 riots, sparked when four LAPD officers were acquitted of viciously beating black driver Rodney King. Rice believes the riots were a reaction to this kind of suppressive policing.
Here, KNBC reports the chaos.
(SOUNDBITE OF A NEWS CLIP)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BATES: Phillip and Anna Rice raised Connie and her brothers Norman and Phillip Jr. throughout the U.S. and abroad. Colonel Phillip Rice was one of the few black career officers in the United States Air Force. Anna supervised hours of homework and instilled proper behavior. The Rice parents, like a lot of their black middle-class peers, were rigorously preparing their children to excel in a world that often believed black excellence was an oxymoron.
RICE: It's not the Tiger Mom to Tiger Parent kind of thing. You're swathed in love, you're cherished, the love is unconditional but the expectations are also unconditional.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BATES: Those values run in the family. Connie's cousin, Condoleezza Rice, remembers being raised the same way.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE: We were just expected to succeed and we were expected to work hard. And I remember my parents and their friends all had a saying: You have to be twice as good. And it was just said as a matter of fact, not debate.
BATES: The cousins are about the same age, with the same quick minds and brisk speech. But the former Secretary of State says there is one major difference between them.
RICE: I'm not really, actually, quite as driven as Connie.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BATES: That's debatable, but Connie Rice is driven. Work seems to be her recreation. And she is relentless about bringing the LAPD and the communities it polices closer together for the entire city's benefit.
RICE: Part of the story of this book is that incredible journey of how we worked with the sued LAPD, and then worked with them, to get them to understand their interests were at a change. Their future in L.A. meant that they had to have the backing of these minority communities.
BATES: Both Rice and Police Chief Charlie Beck believed how the city was policed had to be changed. Beck and his predecessor, William Bratton, gradually replaced the old paramilitary hard-liners with new commanders who had a more expansive view of what policing entailed. He says Rice worked hard to get key gang leaders to consider that the new method might save the youngest people in their communities, and keep their mothers, wives and girlfriends safe.
BECK: They want a police department that's fair. And they want a police department that's effective. And just being one or the other is not enough, you have to be both. And Connie has helped us to be seen as a police department that is fair.
BATES: Most of the time. It's not perfect. There are still police community confrontations, but there seems to be more willingness to listen, on both sides.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATIONS)
BATES: Back down at the book party, Rice is working on other things that need fixing, even as she continues to sign books.
RICE: The MTA case, the 209 race, all that stuff...
BATES: And it's clear that while tonight was a celebration of Connie Rice and her book, it was also a celebration of the LAPD. It's a coming-out party, of sorts, for the department's rebirth as a 21st century institution. And it's an acknowledgement that Rice, who Beck often calls the city's moral compass, has been critical to that effort.
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.
GREENE: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Manufacturing employment in this country is expanding. In fact, the Labor Department says that in 2011, more manufacturing jobs were added than in any year since the '90s. Still, manufacturing employment is not what it was - as will be apparent when we look more closely, in the coming days, at South Carolina, a manufacturing state which is holding its presidential primary later this month. South Carolina's unemployment rate is 9.9 percent â considerably higher than the national average.
You can see a transformation in South Carolina in old factory towns. New plants have sprung up, but workers there will tell you they are a world apart from the old ones. As part of a story co-reported with The Atlantic magazine, Adam Davidson, of NPR's Planet Money team, visited Greenville, South Carolina, to see the transformation of manufacturing up close.
ADAM DAVIDSON, BYLINE: Greenville County, South Carolina, is where manufacturing's past and future live side-by-side. I don't mean that in some metaphorical way. I mean, it is a visible fact. There are abandoned textile mills everywhere you look.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO DISPATCHER)
DAVIDSON: I'm riding around in a squad car with Deputy Sheriff Mike East and his boss, Sheriff Scott Wilson, who took me on a tour of Greenville's past.
There are so many mills. They're hiding behind other mills.
SHERIFF SCOTT WILSON: There's a mill behind every blade of grass.
DAVIDSON: Ten to 15 years ago, life in Greenville was organized around these mills. Each mill had its own village, its own church, its own bar. These places were abandoned over the last decade or so, as mill after mill went out of business. What's left are deeply depressed, near-ghost towns. But sometimes, amid the stretches of shuttered buildings, you can find a living relic.
WILSON: Now, here's a lively redneck bar, Christine's Place.
DAVIDSON: Christine's sign reads, Come to the Holler for a Cold Swaller. You could also come to Christine's for a fistfight - or if you wanted to be shot at. Sherriff Wilson had an unsettling number of fight stories from Christine's. When the cops left, I decided I had to go inside - but I was really scared.
But instantly, when I walked in, I felt like a fool for being scared. Those fight stories are all very old. The room now is empty, except there are a few white-haired regulars nursing drinks at the bar. They told me about the old Greenville, when the economy was booming. Christine's was packed morning, noon and night, before and after every one of the three shifts at the nearby mill. Trucks would speed in and out of the factory gates nearby.
TERRY LEE SUTTLES: You'd - made more money. You could just make money. I mean, you know - and it was good money.
DAVIDSON: That's Terry Lee Suttles, the bar's owner.
SUTTLES: Everybody knowed somebody that worked in the mill, and usually they was hiring. And if you had a friend, you could always get in, you know. I wasn't really old enough to work, but I went to work.
DAVIDSON: Like, 16 or younger?
SUTTLES: Oh, I was about 16.
DAVIDSON: Did you drop out of high school?
SUTTLES: Yes.
DAVIDSON: Which everyone did around here, right?
SUTTLES: Yeah.
DAVIDSON: And this is the key fact. This is what made life in the old Greenville so rewarding. People with minimal education could work in a factory, and support a lifestyle that their grandparents could only dream of. And the people here - they knew it.
WAYNE STATEN: We've had a good life.
LARRY HALE: We've had a fantasy life.
STATEN: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DAVIDSON: A fantasy life?
Wayne Staten and Larry Hale worked in the old Greenville. They drove trucks that took the mill products all over the continent.
HALE: Yeah we've done things that a lot of people dream of doing - that never, ever have a chance of doing.
DAVIDSON: Like what?
HALE: Like when I went to Canada, and I started dating this hairstylist up in Canada, wanted to marry me; and down in Mexico - the things I done; and when I lived in Houston, Texas. We lived a fantasy life. We lived our lives to the fullest. You got to cherish everything that's out in front of you. You got to grasp it and love it and if you don't, you're losing out. Love everything.
STATEN: Well, I wouldn't say everything, Larry.
HALE: Yeah, I agree with you there.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DAVIDSON: Compare this fantasy life to the present. There are still factories in Greenville. They're open and working, and they employ people - although now, you have to have a high-school degree, usually, to get a job. And as I found out, the workers now feel a lot less certain about their job prospects. For example, I visited the factory floor of Standard Motor Products.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY)
DAVIDSON: They make replacement parts for car engines. I thought this would involve big, noisy machines stamping out parts and spewing oil. Instead, I saw very nice, high-tech machines and not that many workers, who were hunched over microscopes or working on computer-programmed machinery. It looked more like a science lab than an assembly line.
Madeline "Maddie" Parlier operates one of the machines on the floor. She doesn't have a college degree, and she doesn't need one to operate this machine. It runs with a push of a button. But she remembers a time when factory work wasn't quite so automated. In her old job at a kayak-building factory, she used to work up a sweat.
MADELINE PARLIER: You know, I'm here all day and I'm used to sweatin' - I mean, really sweatin'. You know, I come here and I'm putting pieces and I'm like, what am I doing?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DAVIDSON: 'Cause it's so many machines doing what people...
PARLIER: Right, it's so different. To see how far factories have come from the old time that I'm used to - it's an eye-opener.
DAVIDSON: Machines do so much more of the work in today's factory. And the machines have bred a new kind of factory worker - workers like Ralph Young, who doesn't just have to push a button.
RALPH YOUNG: Here, we have a microscope, a hot stand, snap gauges, ID gauges; we use bore mics, go-no-go plugs...
DAVIDSON: Ralph is the future of manufacturing. He's acquired the knowledge and skills to adapt to the new technology on the factory floor. But for Maddie and many millions of others, the pace of change has been bewildering. She is still adjusting, and she will have to keep adjusting as the machines grow more sophisticated and the work, less physical. The question is: Can Maddie, and the 11 million or so other manufacturing workers in the U.S., keep up?
Tomorrow, when our series continues, we'll look at the changing skills of the modern-day factory worker, and how they affect the job prospects of workers like Maddie.
Adam Davidson, NPR News.
INSKEEP: You can find the magazine version of Adam's story on newsstands, or at theAtlantic.com/magazine.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Vast, new tracts of the Internet are up for sale as of today. Forget dot com or dot org. For a registration fee of $185,000, you, too, can apply to register a new suffix, like dot travel, or dot music or maybe a brand name - dot NPR.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, plans to sell new domain categories, despite opposition from regulators and advertisers. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: If you think of the Internet as virtual land, new continents are now on the block. Currently, there are 22 generic domains, like dot net or dot gov. Under this new program, as many as a thousand new ones could come to market every year. Applicants must qualify, and pass ICANN's various criminal and other background checks. Rod Beckstrom is CEO of ICANN.
ROD BECKSTROM: We're not sure what percentage of the applications will be successful because that will depend on the qualifications of the applications. And we haven't seen them yet. But I would suspect a pretty high ratio of successful applications.
NOGUCHI: Beckstrom says this move will make the Web more global - allowing, for example, other cultures and countries to use non-Roman character systems in the suffix.
BECKSTROM: They should have that right. And who are we to tell them no, you don't have the right to have Chinese characters in top-level domains?
NOGUCHI: In May, ICANN will publish a list of all the proposed domains. One can imagine dot food or dot hotels making that list - although, for example, dot Nabisco or dot Marriott could also appear. Opponents will get 60 days to file objections.
As for finding your way around the new and expanded Internet, Beckstrom says he doesn't expect this to add to the complexity.
BECKSTROM: If you're able to go directly to the company name, at dot company name or dot brand, then you will know that you're at that site. So there's actually an argument that in some ways, this new program could add more clarity, more quality and security to certain aspects of the Internet.
NOGUCHI: Beckstrom says ICANN deliberated this move for six years, and will take steps to protect brand names. Besides, he says, there is demand for these new domains.
JON LEIBOWITZ: My sense is that a lot of this demand is just absolutely artificial and, you know, largely imagined by the ICANN board.
NOGUCHI: That is the dissenting voice of Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
LEIBOWITZ: We're an agency that's required to protect consumers. And from our perspective, this is a potential disaster. And we have an obligation, we feel, to speak out.
NOGUCHI: Last month, the FTC sent ICANN a long letter detailing its concerns, including the potential for an exponential increase in phishing and other fraudulent, Web-based scams. But as a non-governmental, global nonprofit, ICANN does not fall under the legal jurisdiction of the FTC - or any other government agency.
Leibowitz says he is not assured by ICANN's pledge to self-police, or its promises to protect companies from brand-infringement. The group's existing database of website owners, Leibowitz says, already poses problems to law enforcement.
LEIBOWITZ: Web sites registered to God, to Mickey Mouse, to Bill Clinton. And of course, if you're a scammer - if you're in the business of ripping off consumers - why would you give accurate information?
NOGUCHI: Douglas Wood is general counsel of the Association of National Advertisers. He says if the launch of the dot triple-X domain last year is any guide, companies will be forced to spend more money buying sites defensively, just so no one else uses them.
DOUGLAS WOOD: All that money is just wasted money because it's money thrown away to property rights that will never be used, never add to competition, never add to innovation - never do any of the things that ICANN is touting will be the great benefits of all these new, top-level domains.
NOGUCHI: Wood says companies will have little recourse but to sue. But ICANN won't be able to undo the damage.
WOOD: How are they going to compensate all the brands and the consumers who have been harmed because they went, pell-mell, into a new system that had control that didn't, in fact, work?
NOGUCHI: For now, ICANN is just taking applications. The first of these new domain names are expected to pop up in browsers early next year.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's report, next, on the debate over abortion in the Republican presidential campaign. Both former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are questioning each other's records on abortion as they campaign in conservative South Carolina. Each has ads up accusing the other of being less anti-abortion than he seems. We asked NPR's Julie Rovner to have a look at the facts.
JULIE ROVNER, BYLINE: The ad attacking Gingrich covers a lot of subjects. It's actually sponsored by a super PAC run by former Romney aides, not by the Romney campaign itself. Here's the part dealing with abortion.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
ROVNER: And here's part of the ad the Gingrich campaign is now running against Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
ROVNER: Listening to the ads, you might think these two candidates support abortion rights. But that's hardly the case, says Donna Crane. She's policy director of the group NARAL Pro-Choice America.
DONNA CRANE: The idea that either of these candidates is in any way remotely pro-choice would be laughable, if it weren't actually so dangerous for women.
ROVNER: We asked three different anti-abortion groups for their view of the Republican ad wars, but they all declined to get involved in the intraparty dispute. University of Pittsburgh law professor David Garrow says the main charge in the ad attacking Gingrich...
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
ROVNER: ...may technically be true, but it's still inaccurate.
DAVID GARROW: When that advertisement says, quote, some abortions, unquote, it's knowingly avoiding the fact that the measure that Gingrich supported, sponsored by a well-known, right-to-life, anti-abortion congressman, Henry Hyde, would have had the effect of removing financial support from 97, 8, 9 percent of abortions.
ROVNER: Meanwhile, Gingrich's ad blasting Romney is more complicated because Romney, when he was running for governor, claimed to support abortion rights. It was during his term that he said he'd changed his mind on the subject. But even so, Romney can't be blamed, or take credit, for some of the things in the ad, says NARAL's Donna Crane. For example, this charge:
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
ROVNER: Yes, the Massachusetts health law pays for abortion, but so did the program it replaced. And that's largely because the state's supreme court said the state's constitution required it, Crane says.
CRANE: If the charge is, does Massachusetts care for its low-income women? Then yes, guilty as charged. Massachusetts has a good policy in that regard. But it's not attributable, one way or the other, to Mitt Romney.
ROVNER: And this reference?
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ROVNER: That's really a reference to the morning-after birth control pill. And while Romney did sign one bill to make those pills more available, he also vetoed one that would have required their availability for rape victims. Still, in the end, Pittsburgh law professor and abortion scholar Garrow thinks the ad might actually help Romney should he, as expected, become the GOP nominee.
GARROW: So to the extent that the Gingrich campaign, or Gingrich-supportive superPACs, are attacking Romney as a dangerous moderate, they may well be serving him in very good stead for the long run.
ROVNER: Which is, of course, exactly the opposite of what Romney's conservative opponents are trying to do.
Julie Rovner, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's a big week for conventions. Detroit has its big auto show this week. Las Vegas hosts the Consumer Electronics Extravaganza. And in New Orleans, it's the annual winter meeting of the Republican National Committee. That meeting of top GOP officials got underway yesterday, just hours after Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary. NPR's David Welna has this report from New Orleans on what the party faithful are saying.
DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: At a welcome reception last night in a hotel next to the Superdome, state Republican chairs and national committee members gathered from across the country.
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WELNA: As the Dixieland jazz band livened the party, party officials let the good times roll. At least some had reason to celebrate: The man they consider most capable of taking away President Obama's job has now won the first two contests in the presidential sweepstakes, and he's leading the polls for the next one nine days from now in South Carolina.
BOB BENNETT: The primary is, I think, Mr. Romney's to lose right now.
PRISCILLA RAKESTRAW: I think the momentum has started. The Romney-mentum has started.
MIKE STUART: Mitt Romney looks very, very strong right now. I guess my presumption would be he'll be our nominee.
WELNA: Those were Republican National Committee members Bob Bennett of Ohio and Priscilla Rakestraw of Delaware, along with West Virginia State GOP Chairman Mike Stuart. Their optimism about Mitt Romney's prospects is shared by Saul Anuzis, a national committeeman from Michigan who's endorsed Romney. For Anuzis, Romney is on track for his party's nomination.
SAUL ANUZIS: I think South Carolina is going to be critical. It's probably the most conservative state that will vote out of the early primary states. So if Romney wins South Carolina, I think he probably wins Florida. And then he goes into Michigan, Arizona, where he's very strong, which would put him in almost an inevitable position of being the presumptive nominee going into Super Tuesday.
WELNA: But for other Republicans at this winter meeting, Romney's nomination does not appear inevitable.
JOAN REYNOLDS: There could be a lot of people that rally around one other person, other than Romney.
WELNA: That's Joan Reynolds, married to a national committeeman from Alabama. Unlike most party officials, Reynolds was willing to be openly critical of the GOP front-runner.
REYNOLDS: I have real concerns about Romney. I really do. And I think we need somebody much more conservative. As I've heard so many people say, when you put a moderate against a Democrat, you're not going to win.
WELNA: If there was some angst among some here about Romney, there was also considerable anger about ads Newt Gingrich is running in South Carolina that portray Romney as pro-abortion. Again, Romney supporter Saul Anuzis.
ANUZIS: Newt's a bigger guy than that. He should be. I think that he's the kind of guy that can run a race on who Newt Gingrich is and what he stands for, and I think any of this kind of scorched-earth policy against any of our candidates is bad.
WELNA: Other Republicans accused Gingrich of effectively making ads for President Obama's re-election. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said he respects Ronald Reagan's so-called 11th commandment of not speaking ill of another Republican. Still, Priebus refused to condemn the negative ads now flooding South Carolina's airwaves.
REINCE PRIEBUS: The idea that this is some sort of cakewalk, and that's the way it should proceed, is something I just reject. I think that this is how primaries are run, and, I think ultimately, our candidate will be stronger.
WELNA: And if that candidate turns out to be Romney, he's already picking up new support from some who were earlier skeptics. Delaware's Priscilla Rakestraw just endorsed Romney after considering some alternatives.
RAKESTRAW: I took a while to look over them very carefully, flirted with Governor Perry for a while, flirted with Newt, and then I think like most Republicans, we'll come down on the side of the man who can best beat President Obama.
WELNA: Rakestraw says the key for Romney at this point is to get people to fall in love with him - or, as she put it, at least in like with him.
David Welna, NPR News, New Orleans.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
The Supreme Court, for the first time, has declared that the Constitution exempts ministers from the nation's anti-discrimination laws. The decision was unanimous and groundbreaking. But it left unresolved some of the thorniest questions in determining who is a minister, and who's not.
NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports that the court's ruling came in the case of a parochial school teacher fired over a disability dispute.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: The Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Evangelical Church in Redford, Michigan, classified almost all of its teachers as ministers because they had completed a set of university theology courses in order to qualify for tenure, and become what's known as called teachers.
One of those teachers, Cheryl Perich, was fired after she threatened to sue the school under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school did not dispute that she was fired for threatening to sue, nor did it dispute that Perich taught mainly non-religious subjects like math and English. But it contended that as a called teacher, she was a minister, and under church doctrine, all ministers must resolve employment disputes within the church - and not the courts.
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the church, agreeing that the church's actions were protected by the Constitution's freedom of religion guarantee. The ruling echoed nearly 40 years of similar rulings by the lower courts.
But the high court decision did not set specific standards for determining who qualifies as a minister. It said that Perich did, and that other cases must be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts weighed the totality of the facts. He acknowledged that Perich devoted only 45 minutes per day, on average, to religious duties - like leading her class in prayer, or teaching a religion course. But he said the issue cannot be resolved by a stopwatch. Nor can it be resolved by the fact that contract teachers had the same duties.
Perich, he noted, after completing her course of study, had been designated a commissioned minister. She taught a religion class four times a week; and twice a year, led the students at chapel.
Experts were divided yesterday on how far-reaching the decision would be in practice. Douglas Laycock, who represented the Lutheran Church school, said in his view, anyone who teaches a religion course at a parochial school would now be exempt from the nation's civil rights laws. But others, like Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton, disagreed.
MARCI HAMILTON: It's quite narrow. And the only issue they're deciding is whether a member of the clergy can sue their own religious employer for discrimination. And they say religious employers should be able to choose who their clergy are going to be.
TOTENBERG: Daniel Mack, director of the ACLU Freedom of Religion Program, echoed that sentiment.
DANIEL MACK: I don't think they gave religious organizations a blank check. They left those decisions for another day.
TOTENBERG: But George Washington law professor Ira Lupu said the decision gives religious organizations wide latitude.
IRA LUPU: The most important thing that makes it broad is the court's repudiation of any idea that the church has to show a religious reason - a sincere, authentic, religious reason. When the court says there should - you can have no inquiry into whether this religious reason is pretextual and just a cover for some kind of discrimination, that is a big deal.
TOTENBERG: Still to be determined is how all this will play out. Will yesterday's ruling allow religious organizations to fire a ministerial employee for reporting sexual abuse to the police, or for reporting health and safety violations to civil authorities? It would appear the answer to that question is yes, though Chief Justice Roberts pointed out that churches can still be held criminally liable. Still unresolved is whether the fired employee can sue for a breach of contract, or some other wrong.
Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
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Mitt Romney is hoping the people of South Carolina fall in like with him. That state has the next primary, and we'll go there next to check in on another candidate. Texas Governor Rick Perry set the stage for his presidential campaign in South Carolina last August. It's where he announced he was running for the nomination.
But his campaign could come to an end in the same place where it started. Perry is polling in single digits these days. From Columbia, South Carolina, Ben Philpott of member station KUT has more.
BEN PHILPOTT, BYLINE: There's no sugar-coating Perry's chances right now. He has just over a week to convince South Carolina voters to forget his many stumbles. Perry finished 5th in the Iowa Caucuses and 6th in the New Hampshire primary. And everyone attending Perry's campaign stops, like Lexington resident Glenn Gainey, knows the deal.
GLENN GAINEY: I guess, today, I guess with being down in the polls he's got an uphill battle to fight, you know.
PHILPOTT: You actually wouldn't know by watching candidate Perry on the campaign trail. Wearing a blue Perry for President jacket, his smile wide and his hair firmly in place, you see no trace of the concern the candidate or his campaign must be feeling. And he still packs rooms and gets plenty of applause and laughs.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: I grew up in a house that didn't have indoor facilities. And I shared with people that said we were the real original conservationists. We didn't use a lot of water.
PHILPOTT: Where the desperation does come out is in his latest attacks on frontrunner Mitt Romney. Perry has previously gone after the former Massachusetts governor. But now he's focusing on Romney's time running the venture capital firm he co-founded in the 1980s.
PERRY: And I happen to think that companies like Bain Capital could have come in and helped these companies, if they truly were venture capitalists, but they're not. They're vulture capitalists.
PHILPOTT: Vultures, Perry said, for choosing to close down two businesses in South Carolina, instead of restructuring them so they could stay open. It's a message that resonates with Estelle Morgan of Lexington.
ESTELLE MORGAN: He did fire a lot of people, you know. They just got released from their jobs, and he got the money.
PHILPOTT: But the governor has also taken plenty of criticism for the attack from some in the conservative media. Sean Hannity of Fox News said Perry's remarks sounded like something from Occupy Wall Street. And Rush Limbaugh said it was the way Fidel Castro thinks.
By his second campaign stop yesterday, Perry had stopped using the line. That was just fine for Columbia resident Colleen Morrow. An undecided voter, she came to hear Perry at Doc's BBQ.
COLLEEN MORROW: In capitalism, there are some winners and some losers. And it's unfortunate, but that's how our system works. And I'm not going to condemn Romney for that. I frankly don't know enough about it.
PHILPOTT: But when Perry stopped by her table after his speech, she leaned forward, gave him a hug and let him know she had decided to vote for him. That's one more vote, but just 10 days to go.
For NPR News, I'm Ben Philpott, in Columbia.
GREENE: Some political news from Massachusetts now in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races. It pits Republican Senator Scott Brown against President Obama's former consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren.
Warren is a leading voice for more regulation on Wall Street, and as it turns out, she's a prolific fundraiser. Her campaign raised an eye-popping $5.7 million last quarter.
Incumbent Scott Brown raised $3.2 million in the same period. Senator Brown still has more money overall in his war chest, but he clearly has a fight on his hands.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Workers at private-equity firms are not happy that their business is becoming a dirty word in the presidential campaign. Of course, private-equity firms buy companies, try to improve their value, then sell them again. That has led to rebukes from people like Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, in South Carolina.
GOV. RICK PERRY: I understand the difference between venture capital and vulture capitalism.
INSKEEP: The unhappiness at those attacks runs especially deep at Bain Capital in Boston, the private-equity firm started by Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, which has come in for most of the attacks.
Curt Nickisch reports from member station WBUR.
CURT NICKISCH, BYLINE: Romney's former colleagues at Bain have been notoriously quiet - until now. The firm's managing director, Steve Pagliuca, says those charges of looting companies and destroying jobs are hyperbolic. He says he's extremely proud of Bain's record of building and growing great companies.
Geoff Rehnert worked with Mitt Romney at Bain from the very start.
GEOFF REHNERT: It is not, and was not, private equity's fault that there were sectors of the U.S. economy that were poorly managed, poorly run, and unable to compete in a global economy. Private equity actually saved a lot of those companies from going bankrupt.
NICKISCH: The industry's trade group is launching a campaign of online ads and video testimonials. Venture capitalists feel like they're being dragged into the mudslinging, too. Jamie Goldstein is a partner at the Boston firm North Bridge.
JAMIE GOLDSTEIN: To suggest that venture capital is somehow bad for our economy, is ludicrous.
NICKISCH: Many in these industries expected Mitt Romney's private-equity pedigree to come up. They're just surprised that it's pro-business Republicans who are making those ties an issue.
For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And now, let's mark a milestone in the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Two years ago today, a powerful earthquake struck, destroying the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and killing as many as 300,000 people.
NPR's Jason Beaubien covered the aftermath and has returned now to Haiti. He's on the line from Port-au-Prince. Hi, Jason.
JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: So how are people marking the anniversary there?
BEAUBIEN: There's going to be celebrations, commemorations at churches all across Port-au-Prince today. And then later in the day, there's going to be a ceremony out at the mass grave, out on the outskirts of the city where, in the days after this quake, they were basically taking dump-truck loads of bodies and dumping them out there. And that's going to be the place where the main ceremony is going to be held later today.
INSKEEP: Two years have passed. Have you seen much improvement in Port-au-Prince? There was so much to do.
BEAUBIEN: There definitely is improvement here. Some of the camps where so many of the people have been living have been getting cleared out. Certainly, there are cracked buildings. There are damaged buildings. There are totally destroyed buildings that you see sort of all over the city as you drive around. But they're no longer leaning into the streets like they were before.
Government officials say it's about half of the rubble has actually been removed. But definitely, there have been improvements, and this place is not dealing with the immediate disaster the way that it was through much of the first year of cleaning up from this.
INSKEEP: There must also be people who are just living in the rubble, or who have moved back into their damaged homes at this point.
BEAUBIEN: Absolutely. As people are getting moved out of the camps, people are going back to some of the buildings that were damaged. Many people are going back to where they were before the earthquake.
INSKEEP: And how do Haiti's leaders see the challenges they face?
BEAUBIEN: You know, it's interesting. I had an interview with President Michel Martelly, and he's talking about jobs. He's talking about economic development. He's talking about education. He's talking about a lot of the - exactly the same things that Haiti has needed for a very long time, and I guess to some degree, that's a good thing.
I mean, he's back on track to try to deal with all of the problems that the poorest nation in this hemisphere has had to deal with. So that's how he's approaching it. He's still also trying to channel all of the billions of dollars that have been pledged to Haiti, and he says trying to coordinate that better.
He is pitching very much that he's a success story as a pop star, and now as a president, he's going to do that again. So he's sort of like the cheerleader for Haiti, and I think people appreciate that. They appreciate having a leader who's very out there, very outspoken, and saying that Haiti's going to succeed at this.
INSKEEP: Well, now, wait a minute. When you say that he's talking about jobs, this is a situation where there is so much to do, so much infrastructure to rebuild. Are there signs that large numbers of Haitians are, in fact, finding work solving the problems that need to be solved?
BEAUBIEN: Many are, but the unemployment rate remains incredibly high. And there's a lot of frustration among Haitians that all of these billions of dollars have been pledged, and yet they still can't find a job. They still are just selling things by the side of the road to try to make a living. And that is something that people here are very frustrated with.
INSKEEP: Jason, a lot of people are going to remember your reporting immediately after this earthquake a couple of years ago, and this is a country to which you have returned again and again. What sights strike you, what feelings come over you as you return to Port-au-Prince?
BEAUBIEN: I'm very much just struck by how life is going on, you know. There's people in the streets. There's often music playing. The kids are getting back to school. This was an absolutely horrific disaster, but people are getting back on with their lives, trying to push forward, and trying to make things better here in this country.
INSKEEP: Jason, thanks very much.
BEAUBIEN: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: NPR's Jason Beaubien is in Port-au-Prince Haiti.
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DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. It's safe to say that plenty of Republicans would like to see a presidential candidate besides Mitt Romney.
GREENE: It's equally safe to say that at the moment they don't have one. Five of Romney's rivals are struggling to break through after he won both Iowa and New Hampshire.
INSKEEP: For some, the best or maybe even the last chance is South Carolina, where we'll hear the campaigning next. We begin with the front-runner and with NPR's Ari Shapiro.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Mitt Romney was still glowing from his 39 percent finish in New Hampshire when he boarded the plane to fly south.
MITT ROMNEY: It was like Christmas Day - that just each new report of votes coming in was like opening another present.
SHAPIRO: New England is friendly territory that Romney calls home. South Carolina is more conservative, more religious, and less of a natural fit. So other Republicans are doing their best to undermine him here. Most of them are focusing on Romney's years running the investment firm Bain Capital.
NEWT GINGRICH: I find powerful rich people rigging games very distasteful.
SHAPIRO: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking there on MSNBC, came in near the bottom of the pack in New Hampshire. Texas Governor Rick Perry did even worse. He's staking his entire campaign on South Carolina. Yesterday Perry called Romney not a venture capitalist, but a vulture capitalist.
GOV. RICK PERRY: They sit there and they wait until they see a distressed company and then they swoop in and they'll pick the carcass clean and then fly away.
SHAPIRO: On the airplane, Romney scolded his fellow Republicans for the attacks.
We've understood for a long time that the Obama people would come after fee enterprise. A little surprised to see Newt Gingrich as the first witness for the prosecution.
Romney touched down in warm, wet, Columbia, South Carolina, just in time for an evening rally. In front of cheering voters, he didn't mention the fights within his party. That task went to Governor Nikki Haley.
GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: We have a real problem when we have Republicans talking like Democrats against the free market. We believe in the free market.
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SHAPIRO: As always, Romney focused his comments on President Obama.
ROMNEY: I have to tell you, I know we're going through tough times, and we're going through tough times in part because of the failure of one man. That's why he's got to go.
SHAPIRO: The audience ate it up. As Romney described President Obama's promises, one man in the audience shouted - he lied, to cheers - recalling the South Carolina Congressman who heckled President Obama.
Romney came to this venue on a big blue bus. Kevin Krebs, a local doctor, says after the results in New Hampshire, Romney's vehicle might as well be a steamroller.
KEVIN KREBS: The more he wins the more obvious it looks like he'll be our nominee.
SHAPIRO: Thirty-one-year-old Tim Edmonds owns a gym and a shop in town. He doesn't know who he'll vote for, but he likes Romney's message about lowering taxes for small business owners.
TIM EDMONDS: That really kills me. On a day to day basis I work extremely hard and I'm a young guy and I'd like to open more businesses. So if I had a little extra capital at the end of every year I'd be able to do that.
SHAPIRO: Of course, Edmonds is not exactly the typical South Carolina Republican.
EDMONDS: Born and raised in Ohio.
SHAPIRO: Still, he thinks the conservative profile here is changing.
EDMONDS: I'm starting to see a little bit of a culture change through the younger generations also.
SHAPIRO: Today Romney leaves South Carolina for less than 24 hours. He'll hold a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. That state votes at the end of the month. Showing that he's ready to fight a long primary if that's what it takes, Romney released a Spanish language ad yesterday featuring some of Florida's Hispanic politicians who've endorsed him and some family.
CRAIG ROMNEY: (Foreign language spoken) Craig Romney.
SHAPIRO: That was Mitt Romney's son Craig, who learned Spanish doing missionary work in Chile. Romney will also raise money while he's in Florida today. Yesterday his campaign released new fundraising numbers. Romney took in more than $56 million in 2011. He had $19 million cash on hand at the New Year. That's impressive compared to the other candidates still in the race. But it's only about three percent more than he had raised at this point the last time he ran for office, four years ago.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Columbia South, Carolina.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
All right. Columbia, where Ari was reporting, has already become a destination for other GOP candidates. Mitt Romney's rivals have moved to South Carolina as well. Maybe there, they hope, they can stop the Romney campaign before it becomes unstoppable.
Here's NPR's Brian Naylor.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Ron Paul, who finished a rather distant second behind Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, arrived in Columbia at noon yesterday. He spoke to a few hundred supporters in a hangar at the Columbia airport, saying his finishes in New Hampshire and Iowa were sending a message that will be continued in South Carolina.
RON PAUL: About four years ago, we were much smaller in numbers and I always talk about, you know, the tireless irate minority that leads the charge. But we're not so small, we're not so much a minority, we're marching on. The numbers are growing. They grew exponentially in New Hampshire and they're going to grow continuously here in South Carolina as well.
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NAYLOR: Paul was a good fit in New Hampshire, where the motto is live free or die. And while the small government/Libertarian part of his message should play well in South Carolina, it's an open question whether the rest of it will.
One potential problem: Paul has called for bringing home all U.S. troops based overseas and ending the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. South Carolina is home to military installations, such as Fort Jackson, just outside Columbia, and the military plays an important role in the state's economy.
Andy Luder, wearing a Veterans for Paul t-shirt, served in the Army and National Guard, and he's optimistic Paul's views may not be such a tough sell here.
ANDY LUDER: I don't think it is, to be honest with you. A lot of us - I mean, I've seen combat in Iraq and I don't want - there's no sense in doing that kind of stuff if there's no good reason in the defense of the country to do it.
NAYLOR: For Jon Huntsman, who put all his chips on New Hampshire and finished third, the path forward in South Carolina isn't clear. The former Utah governor has little money for TV ads nor any apparent organization in the state. Speaking to students at the University of South Carolina, he suggested voters here don't want to be told whom to support, an apparent reference to Governor Nikki Haley, who's endorsed Romney.
JON HUNTSMAN: They will not allow the establishment to tee up their favorite candidate. That's just not how the people of this state work. These people are going to evaluate the candidates - all of us - and you are going to look at what it is we stand for, where we've been, how consistent we are on our record, and I think whether or not in the end we're the kind of person who would put country first.
NAYLOR: Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum came within eight votes of Romney in Iowa but finished much further behind in New Hampshire, where it's thought the lack of evangelical and socially conservative voters limited his appeal. That shouldn't be a problem in South Carolina, where faith and politics are often intertwined. Appearing at a town hall meeting last night outside of Columbia, Santorum was asked about his faith.
RICK SANTORUM: We've been called on a mission here, we feel - and we could be wrong. I don't have perfect knowledge, let me assure you. That's what we feel we've been called to do and we continue to pray for the grace to do it as well as we can and I'm not ashamed to - in fact, I'm very proud of the fact to thank God publicly for the grace that he's given me today and hope that He continues to do so.
NAYLOR: For businessman Ray Basham(ph), who was undecided, Santorum made the sale.
RAY BASHAM: First of all, you know, a man of faith, especially in this day and age, is rare. I believe he is that and we certainly need, you know, all the faith in these trying times that we can get. And he came across that way tonight. Well, he's a family man.
NAYLOR: And while Santorum can't match Romney's campaign bankroll, he does have enough cash on hand to air some TV spots. He told his supporters, though, that he needs to do more than merely vote for him, but to spread the word to their friends and neighbors as well or, he says, he'll lose. It's advice all those candidates who are not Mitt Romney would do well to follow.
Brian Naylor, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, while South Carolina's primary is next, people in Florida are already voting. That's the first really big state to vote. Hundreds of thousands of Republican absentee ballots have already been mailed to military personnel and other Floridians out of state. Many have already returned the absentee ballots. And the formal primary day is coming up soon - the last day of January. Mitt Romney is holding a rally today in Florida's Palm Beach County.
At the same time, President Obama and his aides are carefully positioning him for the contest coming this fall. The Associated Press says there are daily conference calls now between top aides in the White House and Obama campaign staff at the Chicago reelection headquarters.
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INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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DAVID GREENE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with more bank layoffs.
RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, announced today, it's cutting 3,500 jobs over the next three years. That's in addition to more than 30,000 layoffs at RBS that happened over the last two years. In this country, you might know Citizens Bank, RBS runs it. Citizens has branches in about a dozen states. Several branches were closed last year. It is not yet clear how these latest cuts at RBS will affect jobs here in the U.S.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And today's last word in business is plastics.
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INSKEEP: That's a character in the movie "The Graduate," offering career advice to a young Dustin Hoffman.
Some people in L.A. allegedly took that advice. Four men were arrested there this week with a quarter-of-a- million dollars worth of stolen plastic pallets - milk crates and bread baskets piled high in a warehouse. That same warehouse held a big, industrial plastic grinder.
Now I'm thinking of the movie "Fargo." Never mind.
The L.A. County Sheriff's Office says there's big money in stolen plastic. It sells for up to a dollar a pound. And most of that stolen plastic is sold back to the manufacturers it was stolen from in the first place.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene, in for Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
I'm Steve Inskeep. This next report underlines the complexity of keeping the food supply safe. The story affects orange juice - like the juice that may be on your table this morning.
The Food and Drug Administration says it is stepping up testing of orange juice after finding traces of a chemical fungicide that is not approved for use in the U.S. Regulators are holding 13 shipments of imported O.J. at the border until tests are completed, yet officials say this fungicide residue does not present a public health risk.
Here's NPR's Allison Aubrey.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Earlier this week, the FDA sent a letter to the Juice Product Association, the trade group that represents orange juice manufacturers - including importers - informing them that a fungicide called carbendazim had been found in several samples of orange juice imported from Brazil.
The tipoff came from Coca-Cola, maker of Minute Maid juices. Erik Olson, who is director of food programs for the Pew Health Group, an independent think tank, explains this fungicide is used in many countries, but it has never been approved for use on citrus in the U.S.
ERIK OLSON: This pesticide is not supposed to be showing up in juices, or in fruits, in the United States. And that is why it was clear, when it started to be found, that this was coming in from imports.
AUBREY: Brazil produces about 11 percent of all the O.J. consumed here in the U.S. And Coca-Cola confirmed that the country does spray the fungicide on its orange trees. FDA officials say what they've detected so far in the imported juice are trace levels of the fungicide - well below the safe limits set in Europe. Officials stressed these low levels do not pose a health risk, and people shouldn't worry about drinking orange juice.
OLSON: They've been very clear in their letter to the companies - and also in their public statements - that they don't believe that there is a safety concern, based on the information they have now.
AUBREY: As well as continuing to check imports, the FDA says it will also do spot checks on juice in grocery stores. Erik Olson says this should reveal how widespread the problem is and, most importantly, he says, could help confirm whether the FDA's initial assessment - that the fungicide is only present at trace levels - is accurate.
Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You may wonder what all this means for that morning staple, Florida orange juice. Steve Newborn of member station WUSF in Tampa went to find out.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLES)
STEVE NEWBORN, BYLINE: It's the afternoon rush hour at Bearss Groves, a green patch that has survived for more than a century in the spreading concrete sprawl just north of Tampa.
ELIZABETH LEGGETT: Have you ever had an edible orchid?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Uh-uh.
NEWBORN: Brian Arnette and Elizabeth Leggett are filling their canvas tote bags with locally grown produce and citrus.
LEGGETT: I love my orange juice just the same. As long as it's pulp-free, I'm happy about it. That's all I need.
BRIAN ARNETTE: I get the from-Florida, anyway.
LEGGETT: Yeah. If it's from Florida, that's what we drink.
NEWBORN: Just behind the roadside fruit stand is a citrus packing and juicing house, where fruit is sorted and fresh-squeezed.
Manager Ben Doster says this FDA testing will be a temporary blip in the public consciousness. He says the industry has faced health scares before, but they've always been short-lived.
BEN DOSTER: I'm not too worried yet. I think it'll come and go. It'll ebb in and out.
BILL RAFFETY: This has caused a tremendous amount of volatility.
NEWBORN: Bill Raffety, an analyst at Penson Futures in New York, says this week's news has caused orange juice futures prices to soar and then crash, because the Brazilian fruit in question is often mixed with domestic oranges.
RAFFETY: Market moved 20 cents yesterday, which is a huge move. A freeze would cause a move like this.
NEWBORN: Citrus is big business in Florida. The state produces almost three-quarters of all citrus consumed in the U.S., and it's worth an estimated $9 billion to the Florida economy. So it's not surprising that growers are scared to talk about what's happening. Several declined to comment for this story, saying they didn't want to create unnecessary panic.
Andrew Meadows, with the growers association Florida Citrus Mutual, says he's not surprised.
ANDREW MEADOWS: You know, it is frustrating for us. Our regulators, the FDA, has determined that this juice is 100 percent safe. You know, it's business as usual in our industry, and we're still producing a wholesome, healthy product.
NEWBORN: The image of Florida's citrus industry has always been about health, sunshine and green groves. But Meadows says it's an industry that's gotten smaller in recent years because of development gobbling up land, freezes and other issues. And dealing with scares like this are just one of those challenges.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Newborn, in Tampa.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. If you're late for work right now, you better figure out what to tell your boss. And make it good. The job search site Careerbuilder.com just released its most outrageous excuses for coming in late survey. Employers across the country submitted gems like, I thought I won the lottery; or my roommate cut my phone charger cord, so my alarm didn't go off. Here's an idea. Say there was this compelling story on the radio that you just couldn't turn off. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. You may have heard all the urban legends about alligators in New York City supposedly coming in through the plumbing. A family in Australia discovered a crocodile that apparently just strolled into the house. The family in a suburb outside Darwin woke to the sound of their barking dog. The dog was complaining about the five-and-a-half-foot croc that wandered into the living room, maybe stalking the dog. Wildlife officials have now relocated it to a crocodile farm. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's take a final few stops on the Trans-Siberian Railway. David Greene has been taking us on that railway across Russia, and he's going to take us to the region that gives the railway its name, Siberia - David - which of course, we associate with icy wastelands and also, with exiles and prisons.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Yeah, I think that's a pretty accurate image. I mean, Siberia alone is bigger than the United States; it's vast. And it symbolized, as you said, the cruelty - I mean, leaders exiling Russians to get rid of them, and send them off. Today, I think Siberia is beginning to represent something else. It's beginning to represent how difficult it is for Russian leaders to hold this country together, to make sure Russia has one identity. And so we took the train - you cross all of Siberia. I mean, it's just this endless snow and finally things open up, and you see Lake Baikal.
(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES LAPPING)
GREENE: It's the deepest freshwater lake in the entire world. There are snowcapped mountains I'm looking at - across, on the opposite shore. This has been an important landmark throughout Siberia's whole history. Some people on their way to exile would have to stop here along the shore, and wait for the dead of winter for the water to freeze, so they could cross the lake on horseback. It's this beautiful but also really unforgiving landscape - especially like now, in wintertime. The water you hear behind me - it isn't frozen yet, but it's getting close. It'll be frozen for several months. You can only stand outside for just so long, and then you start to feel your toes and your fingers getting numb. I mean, you can just imagine how shocking it was for people who because of their politics, or because of their religion, were forced to move out here and begin this new life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
GREENE: One of the groups who began a new life was the Old Believers. They're a religious community in Russia who grew angry back in the 1600s, when the Orthodox Church instituted reforms. That religious disagreement was their ticket to this part of Siberia. And the people who descended from those original exiles are still here, trying to keep the Old Believers tradition alive through music and dance.
LYUDMILA NAZAROVA: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: A group of women from the community invited me into their home, cooked a dinner of Russian pancakes and Baikal fish, and performed some of their music for me. One of them was Lyudmila Nazarova. Having grown up in the harsh climate of Eastern Siberia, Nazarova said she hasn't lost her cultural connection to Russia. But ask her about politics or the future of her country, or who's leading in Moscow, she's ambivalent.
NAZAROVA: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: Moscow, it's just a city - she told me - it's just a capital; that's about it. And that made me wonder about Siberia. There are so many ethnic groups scattered across this region, also the descendants of political activists, dissidents and religious adherents who were moved here. Does anything bind all of these people together? I threw that question to Alisa Sukneva, a bubbly woman with red hair and bright-red lipstick, who's a tour guide around Lake Baikal. Her grandparents were exiled here in the 1930s.
ALISA SUKNEVA: Of course, something holds these communities together. They have to stay alive, all of them. And here is very cold, and they have to help each other.
GREENE: What is the connection to Moscow, would you say, out here?
SUKNEVA: Oh, connection to Moscow - for people, I'm not really sure the connection with Moscow is very close, is very popular here.
GREENE: It wasn't always this way. During Soviet times, there was a deep sense of connection to what Moscow represented. Hard as life was, Russians were proud of Soviet dominance in science, space travel. They felt their country was the envy of the world, in some ways.
INNA KHARIV: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: Sixty-two-year-old Inna Khariv recalls a better life. I met her on a brief stop on the train platform, in the city of Amazar. Bundled up in the cold and between puffs of her cigarette, she told me how she worked on a mink farm in the Soviet era. Now, she lives on a $300-a-month pension, and she's one of many Russians who have nostalgia for communist times.
KHARIV: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: We had one faith, one goal in the Soviet era, she said, adding that today, nothing holds us together. Inna Khariv is no fan of Russia's most powerful politician, Vladimir Putin, but she's also disappointed, feeling that no one else has emerged with anything inspiring to say about the future. As she put it: I lost my faith in this government, and I lost my faith in our youth. We don't have a replacement, no worthy replacement for us.
Inna Khariv and I both boarded the train again and we headed eastward. I was on to my final destination, the port city of Vladivostok.
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
GREENE: And when I got there, I was truly in Asia - Japan, China, North Korea are all neighbors. What you're hearing here is karaoke at the Pyongyang Cafe.
(SOUNDBITE OF STREET TRAFFIC)
GREENE: People on the roads in Vladivostok are driving Japanese cars with the steering wheels on the right. Russian- made cars - they're scarce. Out here, as trust in Russia's government has faltered, people seem not so much in the mood to protest, but more to look elsewhere for opportunity. Dmitry Granovsky and his wife, Olga, are both 37, and they're raising four children here.
OLGA GRANOVSKY: Our young people - some of our young people have never been to Moscow, or to St. Petersburg or other cities in central Russia.
DMITRY GRANOVSKY: We've got generations of kids, like teens, who - never been to European part of Russia, but been throughout Asia.
GREENE: And so China, Japan...
DMITRY GRANOVSKY: China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan.
OLGA GRANOVSKY: Taiwan.
GREENE: This city, Vladivostok, has a university and younger, educated citizens. I thought people would feel invested in what was taking place 6,000 miles to the west, in Moscow - these anti-government protests.
People on the streets calling for change, calling for a different president...
DMITRY GRANOVSKY: It's done for people like you. It's just a political show.
GREENE: This couple, as you can hear, doesn't fear speaking out. And they don't fear their government, as some Russian citizens have in the past. But they see leaders in Moscow clinging to a carcass of Soviet times, still committed to a centralized system of government that can't provide for the citizens of this vast country.
DMITRY GRANOVSKY: Nowadays, Russia doesn't have any sort of society - I mean social society, public society.
OLGA GRANOVSKY: Our society is sick.
GREENE: But like so many of the Russians I met along the way, Olga and Dmitry are mostly waiting, and hoping, for change to come. Their patience seems as long as a train trip from Moscow to Vladivostok.
INSKEEP: Totally different perspective on Russia from our colleague David Greene. David, we hear so much about Vladimir Putin, about the Kremlin. We'll hear more, but it's not often you get out into Siberia. And people can hear your earlier reports, I should mention, at npr.org.
GREENE: They can also see a lot of David Gilkey's photos. NPR's photographer was along for the ride, took a lot of the shots of the people and scenes of Russia. I do want to mention one other name, Steve, NPR's Moscow producer, Sergei Sotnikov(ph). I've worked with him the last two years, including on this journey. Puts a lot of effort into this network, and a shoutout to him.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. We'll be hearing throughout this hour about the shifting American economy. We've always known the economy would be a big factor in the presidential race. In the last week, the focus has sharpened as Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, came under attack for his past work directing a private equity firm. Bain Capital took over other companies and restructured them, creating wealth but also eliminating jobs, in some cases.
GREENE: But first, what happens when a company is slow to adapt to the new global economy? It's something Rochester, New York, knows all too well. Eastman Kodak once provided tens of thousands of Rochester residents with secure, good-paying jobs. Now, Kodak is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Julie Philipp, of member station WXXI, reports people there have been weathering its decline for a long time.
JULIE PHILIPP, BYLINE: Kodak's long, cold winter has lasted about 25 years. That's about how long the company has been shedding local employees - from a high of more than 60,000 in 1982, to about 6,000 today. But it's still tough to find anyone in this town who doesn't have some connection to Kodak.
JOHN LAWSON: Many people met their spouses in the darkroom, or someplace, at Kodak Park.
PHILIPP: About half of Kodak's 38,000 retirees still live here. And John Lawson, of Tompkins Financial Advisors, says more and more of them are showing up at his office with their financial records - and their memories - in hand. He says this is not just a money matter, for most. There are a lot of emotions involved.
LAWSON: I know of people that go down to where some of the buildings were imploded, and stand on the grassy knolls in the parks and recall their Kodak days.
PHILIPP: Lawson says for the most part, retirees will probably get whatever pension earnings they're entitled to today, even if Kodak declares Chapter 11 tomorrow. For some, he says, that might not be much. But that's due to lackluster investments, or poor decision-making in the past.
In the 1990s, Kodak offered early retirement incentive programs with big, lump-sum payouts, and some people took that money and invested in their lifetime dreams.
LAWSON: Bought a bowling alley or a restaurant, or something like that, because they were in their late 40s, early 50s.
PHILIPP: The nation's economy soured, and so did many of those endeavors. Those people have already had to adjust. That's not to say there still won't be pain for some retirees. Kent Gardner is chief economist for the Center for Governmental Research. He points to the group of about 6,000 local retirees who are a little too young for Medicare if Kodak drops retiree health-care coverage. They might have to pay for private insurance for a few years, and that could impact the entire community.
KENT GARDNER: Kodak retirees are going to spend less on other things. It also may - and I think this is maybe a more serious concern - it may persuade them that they really need to think about a different place to live.
PHILIPP: A place where health-insurance costs and taxes are lower. But, Lawson points out, most people who never worked for Kodak, never had retiree health-care coverage or many of the other shiny perks once offered by Kodak. And they still manage to make a go of it in Rochester.
LAWSON: Now, in many ways, people are much better off than if they had never been Kodak people. But your level of expectations is built up.
PHILIPP: And Rochester Mayor Tom Richards says the same thing about this city - it's better off having been a Kodak town. Nearly all of its major educational, cultural and philanthropic institutions were either started by, or benefitted from, Kodak founder George Eastman, his company, or his employees.
MAYOR TOM RICHARDS: Those institutions are still here. They are the strength of this town. They're one of the reasons we've gotten through this as well as we have, and will continue to get through it.
PHILIPP: Richards says local Kodak suppliers have had time to adapt. And it's been years since car dealers and appliance sales reps got excited about big spending sprees on Kodak Employee Bonus Day. He says if Kodak goes bankrupt, it will be a symbolic moment, but not much more.
RICHARDS: If Kodak goes bankrupt here in the next couple of weeks or whenever they do, you know, I'm going to get up the next morning, and I'm pretty much going to have to do what I did the day before.
PHILIPP: Richards says bankruptcy and a restructuring could be what Kodak needs to end its long winter, and start looking for signs of spring.
For NPR News, I'm Julie Philipp.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
With the Republican presidential candidates campaigning in South Carolina, we've been reporting on one town in that state, Greenville, where America's industrial past and future are side by side. What's going on at one company, Standard Motor Products, is emblematic of what's going on in manufacturing as a whole.
As part of a story co-reported with The Atlantic magazine, Adam Davidson, of NPR's Planet Money team, reports on the future of manufacturing as seen through the eyes of workers.
ADAM DAVIDSON, BYLINE: Larry Sills runs Standard Motor Products, like his dad did - and so did his grandfather. They make replacement parts for car engines. He grew up with the company, and he has seen the workforce change over the years. A few decades ago, a lot of his workers had no high school diploma. Some of them were even illiterate.
LARRY SILLS: We had a plant in Connecticut. We didn't realize it, but they were illiterate. And then when we switched to the next level, the next generation, we had to be able to read the instructions. To our astonishment, they couldn't do it.
DAVIDSON: But in today's factory, they don't just have to know how to read.
RALPH YOUNG: Here we have a microscope, a hot stand, snap gauges, ID gauges. We use bore mics, go-no-go plugs.
DAVIDSON: That's Ralph Young, the perfect model of the new factory worker. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of metals and microscopes, gauges and plugs. He works on the team that makes fuel injectors, which require precision engineering, performed by an automated machine run by a computer process known as CNC.
YOUNG: When I came here 20 years ago, we didn't have CNC equipment. It was more of the hammer and screwdriver fix, to where now it's all finesse.
DAVIDSON: Now, it's all finesse - that could be the motto of American manufacturing today. And not everyone has the finesse to run a CNC machine. Now, I can read; I've had some computer classes; I have a B.A. But when I asked Ralph's boss, Tony Scalzitti, if he would hire me and train me on the job, if I had enough education and skill, his answer surprised me.
TONY SCALZITTI: No, of course not. The risk of having you being able to come up to speed with training would be a risk I wouldn't be willing to take.
DAVIDSON: What's the risk?
SCALZITTI: Well, like Ralph said, we could train you for six months - and you don't get it.
DAVIDSON: To become like Ralph, I'd have to learn the machine's computer language. I'd have to learn the strengths of various metals, and their resistance to various blades. But then there's something I don't think I'll ever be able to achieve. It's the ability that Ralph and other expert machine operators have, the ability to picture dozens of moving parts in their head. Half the people Tony has trained over the years just never were able to get that skill.
And if you don't get that skill, a mistake on this machine can be catastrophic. All the work that's done here happens on a scale of microns. One micron is four hundred-thousandths of an inch. A human hair, for example, is 70 microns thick. Here, you cannot be off by one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.
YOUNG: A seven or eight micron wrong adjustment in this machine cost us a $25,000 workhead spindle. Two seconds, we could lose $25,000.
DAVIDSON: In two seconds?
YOUNG: In two seconds.
SCALZITTI: That's why I wouldn't hire you.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DAVIDSON: Because you think I'd probably do that, on accident.
SCALZITTI: Yeah.
DAVIDSON: It's not all Ralphs who work here. There are still remnants of the old, low-skilled assembly line. Madelyn "Maddie Parlier" is more like the old style of worker. She does have a high school diploma, but no further education. And she works on a simple machine that seals the cap of a fuel injector onto the body. All she does is insert two parts, and push a button. It requires no discretion, no judgment, no special knowledge. There's only one way to run it: the right way.
How long does it take to learn this?
MADELYN PARKER: Yeah, it takes like, not even five minutes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PARKER: Because it does it for you. All you do is just put the piece in, push the clamps down, and push your finger.
DAVIDSON: There are a lot of things Ralph knows that Maddie wishes she knew. She wants to know how many microns thick the different parts are. She wants to know the computer language used on the machine she runs. She wants to know all the things that make Ralph's job prospects so much brighter than her own. And until she knows those things, her future is just not going to be certain at all.
Maddie has a job, I learned, because of some simple math. A machine could easily replace her - a robotic arm could put the parts in and take them out - but it would cost around $100,000. Maddie makes a lot less than that and for now, the math is in her favor.
Now, let's say the price of a robotic arm goes down, or a factory in China learns how to make these parts for a lot less. Then, Maddie's job would be at risk. Simple calculations like that have cost around 5 million factory workers their jobs over the past decade.
Just because the calculation is simple, doesn't mean the decision to lay off workers is easy. Larry Sills, CEO of Standard Motor Products.
SILLS: It's gut-wrenching. And we try â because we are a family company; we're not a big Wall Street type. We are a family company. We have a very strong loyalty to our people, and we think they feel the same back. So this is brutal.
DAVIDSON: So if the decision is so brutal, why does he do it in the first place? Why not just keep those workers on?
SILLS: The decision is not made by us. The decision is made when the consumer walks into Wal-Mart, and there's two products on the shelf. And one is made in this country, and one of them is made in China. And the one in China is 50 percent cheaper than the one that's made here, and they choose the one that's made in China. That's when the decision is made.
DAVIDSON: This is why Standard Motor Products has outsourced parts, like electric relays or air-conditioning compressors, to factories in low-wage countries. Maddie knows all this. She knows she's not living in the old days. She worries about the technology, or the low-wage worker abroad that could replace her. She knows that unless she learns some of the things that Ralph knows, she probably won't have a job this good for long. But she's a single mom with two kids.
PARKER: I want to go back to school, but it's the time. If I want to go back, I have to go back on my time, and I don't have time. You know, when I get off work, I go pick my kids up - and that's it. My life revolves around my children.
DAVIDSON: What do you think education â like if you don't get education, let's just say for whatever reason, you just never go back to school â what do you think that means for your future?
PARKER: I'm always going to be where I am - I mean, to be honest.
DAVIDSON: The sad thing is, she'll only be where she is now if she's lucky. This is the true challenge of American manufacturing â of the American economy, overall. How do we get the Maddies to become like the Ralphs?
In the old days, Maddie would learn on the job. That's what Ralph did. He didn't have to pick between paying his bills and having a future.
But now, the gap between the skilled and the unskilled is so vast that often, the only way to make the leap is by leaving work and getting some education. And that's just not financially feasible for a lot of Americans.
Adam Davidson, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's report next on the war in Afghanistan. It's the kind of place where even the good news can sometimes be bad. NATO has been pushing to reclaim territory from the Taliban. And in the last year, NATO established firmer control of the northern part of the country.
The trouble for some is that the U.S. and its allies made progress by employing local militias. American officials say they intend to triple the number of what they call local police teams in the coming years. Some residents complain these militias are not much different from the insurgents they're supposed to fight.
Here's NPR's Quil Lawrence.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: This hilltop police station in the northern province of Sari Pul would command a view of the town of Sayat, if the whole valley weren't cloaked in a dense cloud that threatens snow at any moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
LAWRENCE: The approach road to the outpost is steep and thick with mud that clings to the flimsy boots and sneakers that the cops wear. A few Afghan Local Police, or ALP, stand shivering at the gate. They're not fully trained policemen or soldiers, but graduates of a cram-course in counteracting the Taliban. And there they have an advantage, because some of them were Taliban fighters until last year.
COLONEL GHAFUR: (Foreign language spoken)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)
LAWRENCE: Inside the station, Colonel Ghafur, head of police in Sayat, is feeding logs into what appears to be the only woodstove on the hill. Ghafur, who uses only one name, is with the national police. But he says it's the ALP that have turned security around in Sari Pul.
GHAFUR: (Foreign language spoken)
LAWRENCE: One year ago, it was bad here, says Ghafur. But then we created the ALP and they defeated the Taliban. Ghafur says the men are from the communities, and so they can tell much better than an outsider when a Taliban infiltrator arrives, especially those who were previously with the Taliban, says Ghafur. He invites half a dozen of the former Talibs into his office, where they eagerly crowd around the oil-drum woodstove.
MIR AHMAD: (Foreign language spoken)
LAWRENCE: Mir Ahmad has gray stubble covering his face. He says he's 46. Ahmad says a few years ago he was falsely accused of being with the insurgents. He fled his village and felt he had no where to turn but the Taliban. At the time, it was easy to join, since the insurgents controlled the district. But Ahmad says he saw the Taliban abusing civilians and he stopped believing in their claims of holy war.
As might be expected, all of the men swear that they were never really committed to the Taliban cause. That may be true, but it leaves some locals wondering how committed they are to any cause.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE ENGINE)
LAWRENCE: That's the question residents of another northern community are asking. At the twice weekly market in Char Bolak, Balkh province, villagers come from miles around to sell everything from winter coats to livestock. Residents say the Taliban also controlled this town one year ago. Now it's guarded by another auxiliary police program called the Critical Infrastructure Police, or CIP.
In fact, there have been at least half a dozen different programs like this set up in the past six years, mostly run directly by the American military. Shop owners at the market say there are no more Taliban in town, but the CIP are almost as bad.
MIR ALAM: (Foreign language spoken)
LAWRENCE: They know no one will arrest them, so they rob whomever they want, says Mir Alam, who is selling wheat in one stall. He says ethnic Pashtuns, who make up the majority of the Taliban, are often singled out by these police and they have sometimes squeezed protection money out of entire villages.
Last month, complaints reached President Hamid Karzai's office and he called for the CIP to disband. U.S. military commanders say they are in the process of vetting all of the different police militias and folding them into the ALP, which will be under direct Afghan control. They also plan to triple the number of ALP.
That plan is worrying to monitors like Rachel Reid who researched the ALP for Human Rights Watch.
RACHEL REID: You've got now a series of effectively rival militias lined up against each another. They may be calm now, but when the American have left, the money is running out. What do those groups do then? Who are they loyal to? Do they stay calm then? Do they fight for the nation? Do they fight for their community? Do they fight for their commander? That's what Afghans are most concerned about.
LAWRENCE: That seems a fair question to ask Lal Muhammad Ornega, the commander of 300 CIP in Char Bolak.
LAL MUHAMMAD ORNEGA: (Foreign language spoken)
LAWRENCE: Ornega lists off all the different, rival, Afghan factions he's carried a gun for over the years.
ORNEGA: (Foreign language spoken)
LAWRENCE: And when the Taliban were here, he says, I fought for the Taliban.
Quil Lawrence, NPR news.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And here's another example of Afghan news that starts out sounding good. A new report by the United Nations tracks a sharp rise in economic activity. The trouble is, the activity is opium production.
GREENE: In deed, opium revenue more than doubled to $1.4 billion last year. Now, a plant disease had destroyed a lot of the opium poppy crop in 2010. But thanks to the law of supply and demand, that just raised the price of the opium that remained. Prices have stayed high even as production increased again.
INSKEEP: Efforts to get Afghan farmers to grow alternatives don't work very well, as long as opium remains so lucrative.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It is Friday morning, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. People sit down with friends or loved ones to talk about their lives, for this project. Nathan Hoskins did so. He came to StoryCorps with his friend Sally Evans. And Hoskins spoke of growing up in rural Kentucky, and of knowing from early on that he was gay. Listeners should know that there is strong language in this conversation.
NATHAN HOSKINS: When I was in sixth grade, I had met a good friend, and he wasn't interested in girls. One day, he said, I have a Valentine's Day card for you. I asked him for it, and he said it was so special that he mailed it. And he didn't know he'd done a very terrible thing because at my house, only one person got the mail, and that was my mother.
On the way home, I was trying to plan how I would get that letter. But when I got off the bus, Mom had already checked the mail. And my mom came out and met me on the front steps. She had that envelope. And I could tell what it was because it had little hearts on it and, you know, it was all cute and everything. And she'd asked me if I had read it. And I said no.
And she made me read it, and I did everything I could to lie and convince my mother I did not solicit that. And she took me into the house, and pulled her shotgun out of the closet. She loaded it in front of me and put it in my hands, and told me to hold onto that.
She led me outside, and she put me in the back of the car, and she drove out into the country. Now, when I say country, it's no-man's land. She stopped on the side of the road, and I'd been holding the shotgun in my hands the entire time.
And she led me out into the woods; stood me up against a tree. She took the shotgun out of my hands, and she put it to my head. And she said, this is the tree that I'd take my son to, and blow his head off, if he ever decided to be a faggot.
And at that moment, I knew I had to do whatever it took to not be gay. And I tried very hard. And I was a great liar for many years.
Probably two years ago, when I first came out, I asked her about that. I said Mom, remember this? Mom, I just want to hear one time that what you did was wrong. And she couldn't say it.
SALLY EVANS: So she did - she acknowledged that it happened?
HOSKINS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. You know, I guess she really did think that she was doing the right thing then. I was always trying very hard to please others, as a child. But as an adult, I look back and I say, I am who I'm supposed to be. There was never another alternative.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Nathan Hoskins with Sally Evans at StoryCorps in Lexington, Kentucky. Their conversation will be archived with all the others, at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress. And you can get the StoryCorps podcast at npr.org.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, some companies in need of restructuring become targets for private equity firms. And one private equity firm, Bain Capital, has gotten plenty of attention because Mitt Romney once ran it.
NPR's John Ydstie evaluates the economic performance of private equity.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Here's what private equity firms like Bain Capital do. First, they go out and find a few large investors, usually pension funds, university endowments and possibly wealthy individuals. Then, says Ohio State professor Steven Davidoff, they take that money, borrow a lot more, and buy companies - usually companies that are troubled or undervalued.
STEVEN DAVIDOFF: And they buy them in the hopes that they can increase the value of the companies, and sell them at a fantastic profit.
YDSTIE: And Mitt Romney made a fortune doing just that. He also provided big returns for his investors. The problem is that in an effort to make companies more valuable, Romney also shut down factories and cost people jobs. That led one of his opponents, Texas Governor Rick Perry, to suggest Romney was a vulture capitalist.
RICK PERRY: There's a real difference between venture capitalism and vulture capitalism. Venture capitalism, we like; vulture capitalism, no.
YDSTIE: Another candidate, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, characterized what Romney did at Bain Capital this way...
NEWT GINGRICH: And those of us who believe that in fact, the whole goal of investment is entrepreneurship and job creation would find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.
STEVEN N. KAPLAN: That's ridiculous. Looting a company, and destroying a company, does not create value.
YDSTIE: That's Steven N. Kaplan. He's a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and he's an expert on the private equity industry.
KAPLAN: At the end of the day, in order to make money, you have to sell the company to somebody. And if the company has been looted and is unproductive, nobody is going to buy it.
YDSTIE: The public relations problem for private equity capitalists at firms like Bain Capital, KKR and Blackstone is that they are the agents of the creative destruction part of capitalism. They aim to take over underperforming firms, and operate them more efficiently. Steven Davidoff, who worked on merger and acquisition deals as a lawyer before becoming a professor at Ohio State, says there's no doubt that in that process, people can get hurt.
DAVIDOFF: Sometimes, operating them efficiently means that employees lose their jobs, plants are closed down, and companies are restructured.
YDSTIE: But there's no doubt that private equity firms create value. Professor Kaplan says research shows that from 1993 through 2008, money invested in private equity firms produced much higher returns than money invested in the stock market. And remember, that benefited many typical Americans through the public and private pension funds that are big investors in the industry. As for job gains and losses, professor Kaplan says the direct effects in companies taken over by private equity firms is pretty much a wash.
KAPLAN: Employment grows, maybe grows overall a tad less than other companies. And what you conclude from that is that the companies have become more productive.
YDSTIE: More productive firms need fewer workers for the same output. Of course, if the underperforming firms had not been taken over, they might have lost lots of jobs because they went out of business. Professor Davidoff says a more valid criticism of private equity firms is that their managers make use of a lucrative loophole to cut their tax bill.
DAVIDOFF: The barons of private equity are probably paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries, in terms of percentage.
YDSTIE: That's because they structure their compensation in a legal - but controversial - way so that they pay the capital gains rate of 15 percent, instead of the top rate on ordinary income of 35 percent. That's saved private equity managers billions in tax payments.
John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
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Here in the U.S., stock prices are down. Investors are disappointed with news from one of the country's biggest banks. JP Morgan said earnings last quarter fell 23 percent, largely on lower investment banking and trading. Other big banks are also having a rough time. In recent weeks, almost all the country's major banks have announced tens of thousands of layoffs. From New York, Charlie Herman of member station WNYC has more.
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CHARLIE HERMAN, BYLINE: It's not like the massive layoffs following the 2008 meltdown, but last year was painful for Wall Street. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman, Morgan Stanley - almost all the big banks announced layoffs, totaling more than 60,000 jobs. It's not surprising, considering that in one quarter last year, the securities industry lost $3 billion. For the full year, the industry is expected to have made money, but only half what it did compared to the previous year.
Nancy Bush, with NAB Research, says with businesses and consumers still focused on reducing debt...
NANCY BUSH: There just is not the same need for financial services, as a whole, as there was before. And that's why you're seeing the banks respond to the present environment with layoffs, branch closures, etc., etc. We just don't need them anymore; it's that simple.
HERMAN: Also, there are fewer big corporate deals - doing those deals brings in a lot of money for banks. And there's been a drop in company stock and bond offerings that generate big fees. Bank analyst Dick Bove works for Rochdale Securities.
RICK BOVE: If you've got a business which is built around trading and investment banking, you've got a problem - because you're not generating the type of earnings that you would like.
HERMAN: Then there are all the new rules limiting, for example, the fees banks can charge retailers for debit card transactions. They've been cut in half. Banks used to make profits trading with their own money. Now, that's being curtailed by regulators who say it's too risky. Regulators are also requiring banks to put more money aside in case of future financial downturns. That might make them safer, but it means Wall Street has less money to invest or lend. And then, there's the general climate of caution.
PAUL MILER: People don't want to take risks because they are uncertain about the future.
HERMAN: Paul Miller is a bank analyst at FBR Capital Markets. He cites the fears about Europe's debt crisis as a top reason for Wall Street's falling profits.
MILER: Until people get more bullish on the future, it's going to be very difficult for Wall Street to make money. And they will continue to shed employees, and they will continue to cut people's pay.
HERMAN: Bonuses for 2011, which are being handed out now, are expected to be as much as 30 percent lower compared to a year ago. Bank analyst Nancy Bush says people are happy to have a job.
BUSH: Last year, there was this generalized groaning about, you know, payouts being down, about their bonuses being down. This year, not a peep. You know, they're down again, but it's - I think people left on Wall Street are very much thinking, you know what? It's good that I have a job.
HERMAN: Smaller bonuses may please critics of Wall Street, but to put things into perspective, average salaries for these workers last year - that doesn't include bonuses - was over $360,000. And top executives, and the biggest deal makers, will continue to earn millions.
BUSH: Wall Street tends to go through these paroxysms of, you know, growth and contraction. This is different. This is the financial services industry looking at its prospects, I think, over a long period of years.
HERMAN: And the outlook in the years ahead is for a smaller, more stable and less profitable industry.
For NPR News, I'm Charlie Herman in New York.
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On a ranch in Texas today, more than 150 religious conservatives plan to gather. Their mission: to unite behind a Republican candidate who is not Mitt Romney. As NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, this meeting might be too little, too late.
BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY, BYLINE: At a recent town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Rick Santorum told about a man who challenged the Republican candidate on his overt religiosity.
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HAGERTY: Santorum, a Catholic, wants to claim that mantle. So does Newt Gingrich, also a Catholic; and Rick Perry, an evangelical. And yet none of them has won the hearts of conservative leaders, says Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis at the American Family Association.
BRYAN FISCHER: Well, there is no perfect candidate. Jesus Christ is not on the ballot in any of the primary elections. So that means social conservatives have to do triage.
HAGERTY: To perform the triage, dozens of conservative leaders are attending a so-called emergency meeting at a ranch in Texas. Among the bigger names: Tony Perkins, of Family Research Council; Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate; and James Dobson, who used to head Focus on the Family.
The idea is to try to unite behind one, true-blue religious conservative. Bryan Fischer says evangelicals are desperate to defeat Barack Obama. But he does not believe that Romney - whom they distrust on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage - can generate the passion to do that.
FISCHER: If Romney gets the nomination, his support is going to be tepid, lukewarm - maybe even nonexistent.
HAGERTY: It probably won't be that bad, says Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. Polls suggest that given the choice between Governor Romney and President Obama, nine out of 10 evangelicals would vote for Romney. Still, Land says...
RICHARD LAND: Before we marry the guy next door, don't you think we ought to have a fling with a tall, dark stranger and see if he can be - if he can support us in the manner to which we'd like to be accustomed? And if he can't, we can always marry the steady beau who lives next door.
HAGERTY: If evangelical leaders fail to unite behind what they see as a staunch religious conservative, Bryan Fischer says, they'll make the same, quote, mistake they made four years ago.
FISCHER: I do think some social conservatives are doing some 20-20 hindsight analysis of what happened in 2008, realizing that they had a social conservative candidate to back in Mike Huckabee. They didn't coalesce around him, and that provided a path for John McCain - who was not a fighter on our issues - to win the nomination.
HAGERTY: So tonight, surrogates for each candidate will come before the crowd and make a case for their guy. Tomorrow morning, the group will discuss whom to coronate. Richard Land notes that each of the serious contenders has flaws. Gingrich has his multiple marriages and ethical violations. Perry has his gaffes and his oops moment. Santorum has little money to run a national campaign. Complicating the matter, Land says, is that many of the leaders are already backing a candidate.
LAND: And what they're saying is, I think it's great; we need to be united behind a social conservative. But I can't really do that until my guy's out of the race.
HAGERTY: Others say the Texas gathering may be less-than-meets-the-eye in another way. These so-called elites just don't wield the power they used to.
ROBERT JONES: Gone are the days of the king-makers that can sit in a room and decide who the evangelical candidate is.
HAGERTY: Robert Jones heads Public Religion Research Institute. He says organizations that so influenced Republican politics during the 1980s and '90s, now sit on the sidelines.
JONES: Focus on the Family has laid off hundreds and hundreds of people. The Moral Majority is no more. The Christian Coalition is no more. So these kind of groups that really were able to translate these decisions made in kind of closed rooms by a group of men deciding who was going to be the next candidate, really just don't exist in the way that they did.
HAGERTY: Bryan Fischer may not buy that analysis, but he does think the Texas meeting will end in a draw.
FISCHER: They're going to come away and say well, look. We're not going to be able to come together and unite behind one candidate. So this is really going to be an issue that voters in South Carolina and Florida are going to have to decide for us.
HAGERTY: And by then, it may be too late for anyone but Romney.
Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.
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With South Carolina's Republican presidential primary a week from tomorrow, TV viewers in that state are getting an eye-full of political ads. Seems almost everyone who's running has bought time, and so have the so-called super PACs, which are forbidden from coordinating with the campaigns, but each campaign seems to have one on their side.
NPR's Brian Naylor, who's in Columbia, South Carolina, has his TV on.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: The airwaves in South Carolina are a lot like anyplace else. You've got car dealers dressed in silly clothes talking about their deals, and of course commercials for carpet and furniture showrooms. But South Carolina TV viewers are also seeing a lot of spots like these.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
NAYLOR: Ken Goldstein tracks campaign media spending for Kantar Media Campaign Media Analysis Group. He says there is a noticeable difference in the ad war in South Carolina, compared to the earlier nominating states.
KEN GOLDSTEIN: What's going on in South Carolina is everyone's having their say. So, Iowa was heavy, but Rick Santorum or the Rick Santorum super PAC was not up on the air very much in Iowa. The Newt Gingrich super PAC was not up on the air in Iowa. In South Carolina, everybody's up.
NAYLOR: One of the reasons for the heavy ad buys in South Carolina: TV time in the nation's 24th most populous state is a relative bargain.
Charles Bierbauer is Dean of the University of South Carolina's College of Mass Communications. A former CNN correspondent, Bierbauer says you can get a lot of bang for your advertising buck here.
CHARLES BIERBAUER: Three million dollars, or any number of dollars goes a long way in South Carolina. The television markets are modest in size, so you can do pretty well here. You can blanket the state by hitting Charleston, Columbia and the upstate market, maybe a little bit down in Myrtle Beach, and you're done with it.
NAYLOR: That compares to the next state in the primary season, Florida, with major markets like Miami and Orlando, where ad buys will be far more expensive.
Perhaps the biggest reason for all the ads and spending in South Carolina, says Kantar Media's Goldstein: This may be the last best chance for the other candidates to stop the frontrunner, Mitt Romney.
GOLDSTEIN: Everybody realizes that if Mitt Romney wins South Carolina, this race is going to be over. And so it makes no sense to save any money for anything down the line, because there's not going to be anything down the line if Mitt Romney wins South Carolina.
NAYLOR: One ad that's starting to show up on the air that's gotten a lot of buzz attacks Romney for his involvement with the venture capital firm Bain Capital. A super PAC called Winning Our Future - that backs former House Speaker Newt Gingrich - is running the ad.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
NAYLOR: Not to be outdone, a super PAC backing Romney called Restore our Future is running this spot, an ad attacking Gingrich's attack ad.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
NAYLOR: Romney himself is also on the air, already looking forward to the general election and President Obama. His ad attacks the president over a big local issue: the National Labor Relations Board's complaint - since dropped - to stop Boeing from locating an aircraft assembly plant in this right-to-work state.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
NAYLOR: Goldstein, of Kantar Media, says there have already been more than 5,000 TV spots aired in South Carolina - a rate, he says, is more akin to the final week of a general election than a small-state primary season.
Brian Naylor, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
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For almost 70 years, New York City has - had been home to two opera companies: the well-heeled Metropolitan Opera and its scrappy younger sibling, the New York City Opera.
But as Jeff Lunden reports, City Opera has fallen upon hard times. And a bitter labor dispute could mean curtains for this beloved institution.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: New York City Opera developed a reputation over the years, as a place where people could hear young American singers, like Beverly Sills, perform an adventurous repertoire. But like one of the heroines of "La Traviata" or "La Boheme," the company seems to be in desperate, possibly fatal, straits. Over the past decade, it's seen its endowment and audiences dwindle through a series of managerial and financial missteps.
According to Risa Heller, a spokesperson for City Opera, the company racked up crippling deficits.
RISA HELLER: And these deficits required dramatic changes to our company. So first, in May, we announced that we were leaving Lincoln Center to perform elsewhere around the city - which significantly decreases our operating costs. Second, we've eliminated more than 42 percent of our administrative staff; laying off many longtime employees. In restructuring, the company's collective-bargaining agreements reflect the financial reality of the opera going forward, as a major component of that plan.
LUNDEN: When George Steel was hired as artistic director two years ago, he put on two, truncated seasons at Lincoln Center, and City Opera's unions agreed to major concessions. But the unions are at loggerheads with management over plans to pay only for the times they rehearse and perform, rather than the currently guaranteed number of weeks of employment.
Alan S. Gordon is executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union which represents the company's singers, dancers and stage management.
ALAN S. GORDON: What we're really talking about is 26 weeks of employment under the old contract, or 22 weeks under the concession contract, versus what will now be 60 hours of employment.
LUNDEN: And that represents a de facto, 90 percent pay cut for the City Opera chorus.
GORDON: Someone who last year was making $40,000, this year would make about $4,500.
LUNDEN: But Risa Heller, of City Opera, says...
HELLER: For City Opera to survive, we have to transition to the more common model of paying competitive wages and benefits to our artists for only the work they rehearse and perform. We cannot afford to pay for work they don't do. This is the same model that's used at the Los Angeles Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Seattle Opera, and many others across the country.
LUNDEN: A federal mediator was brought in to help both sides negotiate a new contract. But talks broke down last Sunday evening, and City Opera imposed a lockout on the musicians who were scheduled to start rehearsals for "La Traviata" this week.
Anthony Tommasini, chief music critic for the New York Times, has been watching the dispute from the sidelines.
ANTHONY TOMMASINI: There are a lot of musicians and choristers for whom this was the bulk of their income. This was really the bedrock that they counted on. So I completely understand that this is a terrible outcome. But if the company is going to go on, it seems to me like what Steel and the board have sort of worked out for this season is the only way to go on - for now, anyway.
LUNDEN: With no further talks scheduled, Heller says City Opera is taking things one day at a time. But with the first performance scheduled for February 12th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, time is running out.
For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC "LA TRAVIATA, LIBIAMO, LIBIAMO"))
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David, thanks for sitting in this week. Renee Montagne comes back with us next week. I'm Steve Inskeep.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC "LA TRAVIATA, LIBIAMO, LIBIAMO"))
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Now in Europe, two governments are breathing a little easier. Spain and Italy held government bond sales this week. And despite investor skittishness about high public debt in those two countries, both governments raised the money they needed.
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And they sold their bonds at lower interest rates, so their borrowing costs are lower. From Madrid, reporter Lauren Frayer has more.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Spain raised double its target amount, at interest rates a full point or more lower than last month. Stocks and the euro soared on the news. Gayle Allard, an economist at Madrid's IE Business School, says it's a sign of investor confidence in Spain's new government, run by the conservative Popular Party, or PP.
GAYLE ALLARD: Spain has turned a corner, as has Italy. You know, the victory of the PP and a really serious, painful austerity program is bearing fruit.
FRAYER: That austerity is a $20 billion package of spending cuts and tax hikes, passed by Spanish parliament this week. It includes pay and hiring freezes for public workers, and tax hikes on property and income.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy reneged on a campaign promise not to raise taxes. But then the deficit turned out to be two points higher than expected. He blames the outgoing socialists and also Spain's regions, which don't collect most taxes but have a habit of spending quite freely. It's something the government is cracking down on now, says Allard.
ALLARD: The government can really pressure them hard, to cut. And there's so much room to cut, in the different levels of Spanish government. There is so much inefficiency and waste.
FRAYER: Spain isn't out of the woods yet, though. It still has to tackle labor reform. The jobless rate here tops 23 percent - the highest in Europe.
For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Madrid.
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On a Friday, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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An Army investigator has recommended that Private Bradley Manning face court-martial on charges of theft and aiding the enemy. Manning is accused of downloading nearly a million field reports and diplomatic cables while on duty in Iraq, and passing them to the website WikiLeaks. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: The military investigator says there's enough evidence to believe Bradley Manning is responsible for one of the biggest leaks in recent history. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Almanza says the 24-year-old intelligence analyst should face court-martial on charges that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. Higher-ups in the military will have a chance to review and change that recommendation, but experts say changes at this stage are unlikely.
Eugene Fidell teaches military justice at Yale Law School.
EUGENE FIDELL: I think it'll move quite quickly. At this point, I'd be surprised if we didn't have a referral to a general court-martial in the next several weeks.
JOHNSON: Manning supporters say he's being railroaded. And Manning's civilian defense lawyer, David Coombs, signaled he's not giving up. He's still trying to interview people who evaluated the materials Manning allegedly leaked, to find out whether they were really government secrets. Coombs says most of the information should not have been classified, and the leak didn't cause any harm to national security.
Donald Vieira worked at the Justice Department. He says prosecutors often take a long view in leak cases.
DONALD VIEIRA: If there aren't consequences for leaking that information, I think there's a sense - at least - that it can become a green light for others.
JOHNSON: And in Manning's case, the whole world is watching.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
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From Colorado to California, the snowpack is the lowest it's been in decades. It's been a mild winter, which is bad for powder skiers and snow-dependent businesses. But that's not the big deal. Kirk Siegler, of member station KUNC, reports the weather is also a concern for millions of people who depend on melting snow for drinking water and farms.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Mage Skordahl shields her eyes from the unforgiving, high-altitude sun as she snowshoes into a SNOTEL monitoring station. It's on Berthoud Pass at 11,000 feet, along the Continental Divide.
MAGE SKORDAHL: This site gets used for basin averages for the upper Colorado...
SIEGLER: Hydrologists have been visiting this site, taking snow-depth samples, for 60 years. Skordahl, who works for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, uses a hollow, metal tube and drops it into the snow at precise locations.
SKORDAHL: Yeah, eight inches of water.
SIEGLER: Gauging the depth and water content here is important because much of this snow will melt and flow into the Colorado River, eventually winding its way to taps from Denver to Los Angeles. Think of it like a virtual storage reservoir.
SKORDAHL: In the Western states, about 75 percent of our water supply comes from the snowpack. That's a lot.
SIEGLER: So when the snowpack here at the headwaters of an arid region comes in at just over half of normal, time to take notice.
SKORDAHL: Can we recover from this? Yeah, you know, we still have a lot of season left. But, you know, it's not a good start.
DANA STRONGIN: Well the big thing that I've heard our engineers say is if we have to have a dry year, which we're never excited about, this is a great year to have it.
SIEGLER: Seventy miles east, up and over the Continental Divide, is Dana Strongin's office at Northern Water. Her agency pumps melted snow through a maze of pipes and reservoirs that feed thirsty cities and farms in northeastern Colorado. Strongin says she's not worried yet because last winter was so snowy.
STRONGIN: But if this year lags and next year lags, yeah, we can lose levels in our reservoirs and get a little concerned. A good portion of the 2000s was pretty rough on our storage.
SIEGLER: So it's not a crisis yet if you're in the water business. But recreation?
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE SKIING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Whee!
SIEGLER: I'm standing here at the base of the Winter Park Ski Resort, watching a few snowboarders and skiers slide into the lift. And like many Western ski resorts, Winter Park has been left pretty high and dry so far this year. And resort spokeswoman Mistalynn Lee says they haven't actually been making snow here since December.
MISTALYNN LEE: We're in the industry of Mother Nature.
SIEGLER: Barely a third of the mountain here is open. Nearby Vail has attributed a 15 percent drop in skier visits to the dismal snow. The situation is worse in Lake Tahoe. Just about the only resorts doing well are Taos, New Mexico, and Whistler, British Columbia. The jet stream has sent the big storms to the far north and south. But here in Winter Park, Mistalynn Lee hasn't given up on winter.
LEE: This is very early, still, in the season. But we have four months left of our season and our busiest month is â snowiest month is in March.
SIEGLER: The ski industry is good at sounding optimistic in dry winters like this since in Colorado alone, skiing generates about $3 billion a year.
HELAYN STORCH: Yeah, we do OK. So we have avalanche beacons with us, shovels...
SIEGLER: Back on Berthoud Pass, a popular jumping off point for backcountry skiers, Helayn Storch and Rob Thorsheim are unloading their gear from the back of their Subaru.
ROB THORSHEIM: Normally you'd have 3-, 4-foot snow banks all around here. And we've got 2-foot snow banks.
STORCH: Yeah, last year in January, you couldn't even read that sign. It was covered.
SIEGLER: The two are a little more candid than the officials when it comes to the snowfall so far this year. They say it's been depressing.
For NPR News, I'm Kirk Siegler.
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And today's last word in business is an announcement made in the middle of the night. It came from Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corps.
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The owner of many newspapers and Fox News recently started sending out messages on Twitter, and overnight he commented on one of News Corps' failures: its expensive purchase of MySpace, a social networking site that swiftly passed out of fashion.
INSKEEP: Early this morning on Twitter, Murdoch confessed, quote, "many questions and jokes about MySpace. Simple answer: We screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable, expensive lessons."
GREENE: Now we don't know what time zone Murdoch was in when he made that confession, but the tweet came across at 2:05 AM Eastern Time.
INSKEEP: And Murdoch's message prompted a variety of responses, some critical and others sympathetic. Maria-Helena Miranda tweeted back: Sir, don't feel bad. It's all about life's learning journey.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
GREENE: I'm David Greene.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
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Officially, at least, Newt Gingrich has no control over the super PAC buying ads in his name. You heard the ad a moment ago there, with the suspense-thriller music and attacks on Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital. But within his own campaign, Gingrich seems to be softening his attacks on Mitt Romney.
NPR's Debbie Elliott is also in Columbia, South Carolina. She joins us now with more from the campaign trail. Hi, Debbie.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: How and why is Gingrich changing his tone?
ELLIOTT: Well, you could sort of watch it happen over the last couple of days, based on a few appearances that he's made on television. First, let's go back to Tuesday. It was Election Day in New Hampshire. He was hitting very hard, portraying Romney as a corporate raider and job-killer. Here he is on Bloomberg Television.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLOOMBERG TV BROADCAST)
ELLIOTT: And then, by yesterday, he was on the defensive a bit, making the case now: I'm not questioning the free market system, he said. I'm questioning the career of one man: Mitt Romney. Still, he tried to sort of get the conversation back to his agenda. Let's listen to his appearance yesterday morning on "Fox and Friends."
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INSKEEP: He said it's a legitimate, important question, but nevertheless, he's not hammering it quite as hard?
ELLIOTT: No, he's not. I went to an event yesterday at the state House here in Columbia. It was a home builders rally, and he was the big speaker at the end. And never once did he mention Bain Capital or Mitt Romney as he was talking to voters there. Instead, he was trying to push his ideas, you know, about smaller government, less taxes and expanding oil and gas development in the United States.
INSKEEP: You know, Gingrich has already learned that there are limits to positive campaigning in such a harsh environment. He tried to keep it positive in Iowa and got nowhere. So how is he going to stay in the race?
ELLIOTT: Well, that's a very good question, and I think that's probably what his advisors are talking in today. But I think they started to realize that playing hard about Bain Capital could backfire.
And we've already seen that happen with Texas Governor Rick Perry, we should note, here in South Carolina. He had called Romney a vulture capitalist. And I talked to one of his South Carolina fundraisers, Barry Wynn, last night. Wynn, yesterday, defected to the Romney Camp. He was frustrated. He says these attacks sounded more like President Obama talking points than they did a Republican candidate.
He says either you support the free market capitalist system or you don't. And that's what several prominent conservatives have been out there saying in the past few days, that it's just not good for a GOP candidate to be condemning a key part of the capitalist system, that risks investors take.
INSKEEP: I heard something like that from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Fox.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV BROADCAST)
INSKEEP: So, with that said, Debbie Elliott, is it the last we're going to hear of Bain Capital?
ELLIOTT: Oh, no. As we just heard in Brian Naylor's piece, South Carolina is being inundated with television ads, and a big part of them are coming from that pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future taking a really, you know, hard shot at Romney and his record at Bain.
INSKEEP: Debbie, thanks very much.
ELLIOTT: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Debbie Elliott in Columbia, South Carolina.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Well, we got wildcard weekend out of the way, and now it's time to get serious in the NFL playoffs. The four top dogs had last week off. And now we're going to see if the break was a good thing, or if it makes them vulnerable to these battle-tested winners who are coming to town.
One man who never gets any rest is NPR's Mike Pesca. Hello, Mike.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.
GREENE: So let's try to get through this without mentioning the name Tim Tebow, if that's OK with you.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PESCA: I cannot. I'm contractually obligated to plug him a few times.
GREENE: Well, let's start somewhere else, with the New Orleans Saints. I mean, their offense looked unstoppable against the Lions last week. Drew Brees threw for something like 2 million yards. But now, they're coming up against the 49ers defense.
PESCA: Yeah, the 49ers defense - and importantly, the 49ers defense at home, on grass. And the Saints have struggled under those conditions. And when I say struggled - I mean, they're still pretty good. But you have to remember, the Saints are one of three all-time great NFL offenses that are still alive in these playoffs; the Patriots and Packers being the other two.
The last two games the Saints played on grass, they scored 22 against Tennessee and 20 against Tampa Bay. That's not so great. And those teams aren't as good at defense as the 49ers are.
You know, we say all this just to hype the drama, because it really does seem that the Saints are unstoppable. Throw into the mix that they've never won a playoff game on the road. But, you know, we're not talking about the Saints of Archie Manning. We're talking about this Drew Brees juggernaut.
GREENE: We'll see if the grass makes him human. Well, OK, let's get to Tim Tebow. There's so much hype - as you used that word - for this Broncos-New England Patriots matchup. I mean, we could see ratings as high as the finale of "M*A*S*H." I don't know. I mean, does Tebow keep the magic, or do you think the Patriots have been studying the mistakes that the Steelers defense made against him?
PESCA: You know, I read a poll this week that said of the 70 percent of Americans who are aware of Tim Tebow, 43 percent believe that divine intervention is somehow at play in his success.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: That's amazing. I'm one of them; I'm one of them.
PESCA: Two things here: One, only 70 percent? That seems low. And I wasn't aware that putting single coverage on every receiver was divine intervention, you know. I know burning bushes and walking on water, but no safety help over the top?
What I'm saying is, the Steelers did not really have a great game plan against Tim Tebow. They were overly aggressive, and he's a quarterback of limited throwing skills. But one of the things he can do is throw the ball long. And the Steelers were vulnerable.
The Patriots won't make that mistake. These two teams played before, and the Broncos were doing well until they fumbled three times. I don't think the Patriots are shaking in their boots. But like you said, how could there not be drama when that guy is involved?
GREENE: Thanks for trashing my Steelers. I'm not going to ask where your New York Jets are right now.
PESCA: You know, same golf course as the Steelers. But the Jets are guaranteeing they're going to win that golf game.
Yeah, that's great. They're good at golf. I don't know about football this year. Let's talk about the Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens matchup. Would it be a miracle for the Texans to win, then?
I would say of the eight teams that play, the Texans are the ones who are least likely to win. It's just that they have a rookie quarterback because their starter and their backup got hurt. And they have already played, and that's when they had their starting quarterback, Matt Schaub. And the Ravens have a really good defense. Anything can happen. It's a one-game series. But it's unlikely that the Texans will win.
GREENE: All right. And Lambeau Field, set up the Giants-Packers game for us.
PESCA: You know, probably won't snow. A lot of Giants fans are saying hey, this season and this matchup reminds us of our Super Bowl-winning season, when we narrowly lost to the Patriots, then beat them in the Super Bowl. This year, the Giants narrowly lost to the Packers. Perhaps they could beat them again.
The Packers offense is like the Death Star in that you can't beat them if you're going to try to shoot down TIE fighters or that huge laser gun that is Aaron Rodgers' arm. But if you can get to them before they can launch, you know, with that little photon torpedo in the hole, maybe you have a chance of stopping them. Maybe the Giants defensive line can sack Aaron Rodgers, and that would be the Giants' hope.
GREENE: Really does seem like one of those years when we're going to see the old adage that defense wins championships. That's going to be tested.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PESCA: Yeah.
GREENE: Well, Mike, enjoy the games this weekend.
PESCA: I will.
GREENE: That's NPR's Mike Pesca, talking about the playoffs moving along in the NFL. And you're listening to NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has completed a four-country tour of left-leaning Latin American nations. His travels come as the West increases pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.
NPR's Juan Forero is in Bogota, Colombia. He's been monitoring Ahmadinejad's travels in this hemisphere. Hi, Juan.
JUAN FORERO, BYLINE: Hi. Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: So where exactly did Ahmadinejad go?
FORERO: Well, Ahmadinejad opened up in Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez is the president there. And he's been a close ally. So, the Iranian president also went to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. All of them are allies of Venezuela. And all of them, like Iran, oppose American policy in the region.
So, this was seen as sort of a way for Iran, whose country, you know, the country, of course, is isolated at the moment, to show that they still have friends, that Iran still has allies and that not everyone agrees with Washington sanctions.
INSKEEP: OK. So, I know that Iran has been reaching out to countries like this for a while, but what exactly do they get out of this?
FORERO: Well, he signed some cooperation agreements, which Ahmadinejad and the Latin American president said will lead to more trade. That's something that they've done in the past. And, of course, trade has increased between Iran and the region in recent years.
But I think most of the gains, as far as how Iran saw it, are ideological. Ahmadinejad could stand next to other presidents. There were a lot of photo ops. And these are presidents who also criticize American actions in the Middle East. And they did plenty of that on this trip.
INSKEEP: Weren't there American officials who were trying to discourage countries from being too cooperative with Iran at this time?
FORERO: Yeah, the United States came out and clearly said this is not something that we want to see. This is not the time for this to happen. And they didn't really name Venezuela, but it was clearly directed mostly at Venezuela. Venezuela is the entry point for Iran into Latin America. And it's been that way for a long time.
INSKEEP: So give me your sense, Juan Forero, as somebody who covers the region. When people talk about Iran on the streets in Caracas, Venezuela or a city like that, are they sympathetic?
FORERO: Steve, I think that this has been troubling to some people in Latin America. Of course, they look at Iran and they see some of Iran's activities, even in this region, and they criticize that Iran was involved in a pair of bombings in Argentina back in the 1990s.
And, of course, more recently there were problems in Iran with the 2009 elections. And there were protests and crackdowns there. And now, of course, the whole nuclear program. So they say: How can we be aligning ourselves with a country that's involved in these kinds of activities?
INSKEEP: Well, was there any point in this visit that Ahmadinejad addressed a large crowd somewhere?
FORERO: No. Most of this was very much in presidential palaces and so forth. In Venezuela, of course, there was a meeting at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. And there was a press conference afterwards. And Ahmadinejad made comments there. He also made comments in Nicaragua and Cuba and in Ecuador. But they were very tightly controlled press events. And, no, there was no kind of mingling with regular folks.
INSKEEP: Juan, thanks very much.
FORERO: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Juan Forero reporting today from Bogota, Colombia on the visit to Latin America of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's stay on politics and another superPAC making news. Comedian Stephen Colbert made a very important announcement on his Comedy Central show last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE COLBERT REPORT")
GREENE: Colbert says he'd been looking for an alternate to Mitt Romney, and apparently it dawned on him that he was the answer.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President of the United States of South Carolina, he says, but remember, the candidate cannot control the superPAC doing the independent spending. So he handed over control of his own superPAC - he's got one - to "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, which means Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow no longer exists.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE COLBERT REPORT")
GREENE: Now, technically, technically Colbert can't win in South Carolina. He missed the filing deadline, and the Palmetto State doesn't allow write-ins for presidential candidates. If he was eligible, the comedian would have some support in his home state. No joke, a recent survey by Public Policy Polling had Stephen Colbert with 5 percent support. That is one percentage point ahead of candidate Jon Huntsman.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This year, more than 3,100 companies flocked to the Consumer Electronic Show to hawk their wares. Thousands of products are launched at the show and many fail, possibly most. Lots of small companies established just for this show will not be back next year.
But as NPR's Steve Henn reports, their hustle is infectious and some of them become tech stars.
(SOUNDBITE OF A CROWD)
STEVE HENN, BYLINE: Before I came out to Vegas for this year's show, a friend of mine told me about this tiny, little company who had a new way of waterproofing gadgets. It was this great little story no one else would have. But then my friend, (unintelligible), took ages to get back with me with the company's name. By the time I made my way into HzO's booth, this little company had become a media sensation.
(SOUNDBITE OF "GOOD MORNING AMERICA")
HENN: "Good Morning America" recorded that spot at 2:45 in the morning on Monday. It ran the day before the show even started.
PAUL CLAYTON: It's fantastic for us. We've had such an outpouring of interest.
HENN: Those 22 seconds of TV time were like rocket fuel for Paul Clayton's little company. By Tuesday morning, every major electronic manufacturer was talking to him. By Thursday, a Google search for HzO and the Consumer Electronics Show turned up 199,000 hits.
JASON OXMAN: CES is really a launching pad.
HENN: Jason Oxman's with the show's host: the Consumer Electronics Association. He says each year, something like 20,000 new products debut at the show - 20,000. But with so many new products, not everything can be a hit.
What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Pleo RB.
HENN: Pleo RB. And how much do they cost?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Four hundred and sixty-nine dollars.
HENN: Four hundred and sixty-nine dollars for a plastic dinosaur robot?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Well, actually it's like a real pet, without poo-poo and wee-wee.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLEO RB SOUND EFFECT)
HENN: That's right, a real pet. Poo-poo and wee-wee not included.
OXMAN: Among those 20,000 products, there are a lot of them that aren't going to make it. There's No question about that.
HENN: Jason Oxman, at the Consumer Electronics Association, wouldn't answer my next question. But it's one of my favorites, so I asked Bill Bain, out on the show floor, instead.
So, what's the worst thing you've seen?
BILL BAIN: Probably eight million versions of iPhone 4 cases.
HENN: But there is this one guy who is undaunted. He's completely convinced that what the world really needs is just one more special iPhone case.
DAVID BARNETT: I launched the Kickstarter video yesterday. I'm David Barnett. I'm a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado. And I invented a new cell phone case right here.
HENN: Barnett's business plan is to raise cash on the online site Kickstarter, and then start manufacturing his special case. He spells it all out in his video.
(SOUNDBITE OF A KICKSTARTER.COM VIDEO)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HENN: Barnett didn't even have a booth. But there he was cruising up and down the aisles, with a prototype in one hand and a pile of business cards in the other. And yes, he really is a philosophy professor. You know, it informs this work.
BARNETT: Prototype rejections start again, so it's a Hegelian cycle.
HENN: And if Barnett's little business doesn't pan out, he'll survive. He's got tenure. But actually, his case is pretty cool.
Steve Henn, NPR News, Las Vegas.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep, with a milestone for immigration. Warina Zaya Bahou becomes a U.S. citizen today in Sterling Heights, Michigan. She's an immigrant from Iran. What makes the ceremony remarkable is the birth date of the new citizen. She was born in 1900. Back then, Iran still had kings and William McKinley was president of the United States. Now at age 111 she becomes the second oldest person to be naturalized as an American. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene.
We've all heard the rule: Turn off your cell phone. Well, someone broke it this week at a performance of the New York Philharmonic.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELL PHONE RINGING)
GREENE: The iPhone Marimba ring tone had not been written into Mahler's Ninth Symphony. But there it was, chirping from the front row of the audience. The conductor was so incensed, he cut off the performance and waited for the iPhone to stop. The audience member was apparently not offered an audition.
You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with efforts to streamline the federal government.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: President Obama is asking Congress today to give him the power to consolidate certain U.S. agencies. Doing that, he says, will reduce the number of federal jobs and make government more efficient.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The government we have is not the government that we need. We live in a 21st century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The president's plan initially involves merging several trade- and commerce-related agencies, including the Department of Commerce - cutting, the president says, about a thousand jobs and saving, he says, $3 billion over the next decade. He says he could do this if Congress approves, perhaps setting up another challenge to Congress. Senate Republicans have initially indicated they might be open to his idea
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Obesity is - forgive the expression - a huge problem in America. Not just obesity that leads to clogged arteries, straining hearts, split pants and fat-inflicted diseases, but an obesity of information that clogs our eyes and our inboxes; a lot of unhealthy information that's deep-fried in our own pre-conceptions. Clay Johnson, an open-source, Internet activist, and founder of Blue State Digital, which provided the online strategy for the 2008 Obama campaign, has a new, non-partisan book which recommends some ways to slim and stretch our minds: "The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption." Clay Johnson joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.
CLAY JOHNSON: It's great to be here.
SIMON: And begin with the analogy, please, that you make between how Americans produce and eat food and how we consume information.
JOHNSON: Well, you know, our bodies are wired to love salt, fat and sugar. We love it because it tastes good. But you know our minds are really wired to be affirmed and be told that we're right. And that's the central premise of the information diet. It's really who wants to hear the truth when they can hear that they're right. Who wants to be informed when they can be affirmed?
SIMON: You say some of this thinking began to develop when you worked for Howard Dean's presidential campaign.
JOHNSON: Sure. I noticed there that because of our media diets, we were consuming everything that was great about Howard Dean. Even after that scream incident in Iowa, we still thought we could win and that we would make it. And, you know, we went on to New Hampshire and South Carolina thinking that, you know, victory was just around the corner. And that's what made me started thinking, eh, there's something going on here with our media diets, where even the most highly informed of us can be ignorant.
SIMON: You say, which is a wonderful phrase, cliques have consequences.
JOHNSON: That's right. Just because your boss doesn't see you looking at that Kim Kardashian post doesn't mean that it's not without consequence. When you click on it you're making it so that it's more visible to other people. That means an information diet is something that's of ethical consequence to you and others.
SIMON: And explain to us, with your expertise in this world, how people in a sense tip their hand as to what they're searching and how it just winds up amplifying.
JOHNSON: Well, when you go to the Huffington Post or many major media outlets right now, what they do is they'll come up with maybe 20 or 30, or maybe just two, with different headlines for a particular story. And when you click on that, that's a vote for one of those headlines - the headline that you clicked on. Over time, the headline with the most clicks wins and goes on the front page.
The other interesting thing is a lot of AOL properties and other content farms are what they're called, who are trying to sort of commoditize the production of content - wake up in the morning and look on Google's search trends. Google makes it publicly available; what are the top things that people are searching every moment, so editorial decisions get made based on this information. It's really this idea of voting for - and very small almost nontransparent subconscious ways for content that isn't very good for people.
SIMON: Well, that's - and to return to the food analogy, you say that you don't want to necessarily blame the online communities or services any more than you want to blame Kentucky Fried Chicken for every instance of obesity because nobody is forced to go in there and buy a bucket of chicken.
JOHNSON: Right. Obesity is a complicated problem, right? And obviously, you know, obesity has to do with access. And obesity has to do with economic conditions. But it sometimes also has to do with overeating. And the same thing happens with information. I think a lot of people don't have great access to information and good information, that's for sure. But also in the world of the Internet, we have almost universal access to everything that we need. And that means that we have to make empowered decisions and informed decisions about what it is that we're consuming.
SIMON: You actually recommended information diet that is kind of the equivalent to Michael Pollan's famous food diet, which is: eat food not too much, mostly plants.
JOHNSON: That's right. It's, you know, seek not too much, mostly facts. Right? Eat low on these sorts of information food chain and stick close to sources. If it's an article on a bill in Congress or even, you know, a statehouse somewhere, going deep and actually trying to read the bill itself is really, I think, advantageous.
And it takes a little bit of time to pick up. Bills are not, you know, House resolutions are not the most entertaining things to read for most people. But getting to know what our legislative language is helps us, I think, become better citizens.
SIMON: But what if people like the junk and food diet?
JOHNSON: Well, what if people like Cheetos, right? The question is can we make enough people go, hey, you know what? And I'm done. I'm done with this sort of sensationalism of media. I'm done being taken advantage of by media companies so that I can have ads sold to me, and do sort of what Wal-Mart is doing with whole foods. Right?
So, Wal-Mart started realizing that it was losing high-end customers and going, gosh, you know, we've got to start carrying fresh fruits and vegetables in Wal-Mart stores, too. And now, now Wal-Mart is cutting its salt, fat and sugar content. And I think that that same thing can happen with information. If we want to make media better then we've got to start consuming better media.
SIMON: Clay Johnson, his new book, "The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption." Thanks so much.
JOHNSON: It was great to be here.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This week marks the second anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people died there and the capital city of Port-au-Prince was destroyed in that catastrophic event.
NPR correspondent Carrie Kahn and producer Marisa Penaloza have travelled to Haiti several times since 2010 to report on the rebuilding efforts. And on their most recent visit last month, they saw far less progress than they expected. Here's a page from their reporter's notebook.
MARISA PENALOZA, BYLINE: You can see some progress. It's just the pace is so slow and taking its toll. You see that in people's eyes; the emptiness looks back at you.
ELICIA ANDRE: (Foreign language spoken)
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Marisa, that exactly describes Elicia Andre. We met her back in December at that homeless encampment run by Catholic Relief Services in Port-au-Prince. The charity had just given her $500 to rent an apartment for a year.
BYLINE: Right. There were hardly any tents left at the camp when we talked to her. It was pretty much a huge empty lot with a lot of garbage. We walked to where her tent used to be, where she had been living for the past two years.
ANDRE: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Elicia Andre told us about how her husband had been crushed to death in the earthquake, how she was in a state of shock for so long after, and how she still doesn't know what to do without him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOBBING)
KAHN: She also kept telling us how much larger of a person she used to be - a sign of affluence in Haiti. Now she's skin and bones.
BYLINE: Since the quake, lots of help has come to Haiti, but it just never seems to be enough. Andre got out of a camp, but so many are stuck...
(SOUNDBITE OF MOTOR)
BYLINE: ...like those still living at Champs de Mars, the sprawling camp right across the street from the National Palace.
KAHN: I've been here many times before, but this time it felt much different walking around. People weren't as willing to talk to us.
(SOUNDBITE OF VOICES, WHISTLE BLOWING)
BYLINE: They told us to get out or demanded money for interviews. They seemed much angrier and out of patience.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROLLING DICE)
KAHN: Even when you find someone with a more open spirit, that hope quickly faded. Like the boys playing a board game they had made, but complained about how the police always came by and kicked it out from under them. Or the woman eking out a living giving pedicures, yet she lost her foot in the earthquake.
(SOUNDBITE OF BONGOS)
BYLINE: Or those two men who tried to make some music with a rusted bongo drum and a guitar with very a few strings, running right under their feet is open sewage.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRUM MUSIC)
KAHN: That huge camp has no running water. But Michelin Tibeaux had a little water to wash her dishes. She's 69 years old. She said she just wants out of there.
BYLINE: She wants what Elicia Andre got - money to rent an apartment. Andre took us to see her new place.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR UNLOCKING)
BYLINE: She unlocked the door and showed us in. The walls were white. She had a lace curtain up across the room to separate the room.
ANDRE: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: We actually saw a brief smile as she showed off her new home. She even said I'm happy. But then her eyes seemed to go blank again.
BYLINE: Her children aren't staying with her. She can't sleep. She doesn't have a bed.
KAHN: We went to her house really hoping for some sort of happy ending, anything. But that's what it's like in Haiti for now. There just isn't enough help to go around.
I'm Carrie Kahn.
BYLINE: And I'm Marisa Penaloza, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The new film "Pina" almost didn't get made, yet it's now Germany's official Oscar entry and a collaboration between two giants of that country's postwar generation of artists - the late choreographer Pina Bausch and the filmmaker Wim Wenders. The documentary captures Bausch's groundbreaking modern dance works in 3-D. The film was just opened in New York and Los Angeles. Pat Dowell reports.
PAT DOWELL, BYLINE: Wim Wenders is best known in the U.S. for such 1980s dramas as "Paris, Texas" and "Wings of Desire." Several books of his art photographs have been published. And Wenders' interest in music led him to make the much-loved 1999 documentary "The Buena Vista Social Club." But modern dance was not one of his interests.
WIM WENDERS: Dance, include me out. The first time I ever saw the Pina Bausch Company perform, my girlfriend really, literally dragged me.
DOWELL: It was a 1985 performance by Bausch's company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal.
WENDERS: I found myself on the edge of my seat crying like a baby after five minutes and crying through the entire thing. Helplessly crying. It was like lightning struck me. It changed my life that night. This unknown woman, Pina Bausch, showed me in 40 minutes more about men and women than the entire history of cinema.
DOWELL: Wenders met Bausch the next day, and immediately they began to plan a film together. She set two ground rules: no biography of her, no interview with her - just the dances that had won her nearly every major global prize.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DOWELL: The performance Wenders saw was Bausch's signature piece "Cafe Muller." Wenders ultimately filmed it for his documentary. The stage is set as a cafe, with tables and chairs. A woman blindly plods across the room. A startled man pushes chairs out of her way to clear a path across a space usually thought of as a gathering spot.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHAIRS BANGING)
DOWELL: People do not connect easily in Cafe Muller, however, and their jerky, hesitant attempts become a social metaphor. A woman repeatedly throws herself against a wall and sticks to it in awkward poses.
PINA BAUSCH: What kind of feeling must this woman have to do something like this? I mean, it's not so difficult to think this, no?
DOWELL: Pina Bausch defended her work to NPR in 1988 when some critics and audiences were saying that it was too ugly to be called dance.
BAUSCH: If people are very sad or something, it doesn't look so pretty. In ballet, usually you speak about certain kind of people. You have a different story. It's almost like a fairy tale, it's a fable, it's like princess. In this, we speak about us; we are the heroes on the street.
MARK SWED: She had changed the whole notion of what dance was.
DOWELL: Mark Swed is classical music critic of The Los Angeles Times. He says that Bausch opened the door for modern choreographers in terms of subject matter and staging, with her feminist portrayal of sexual aggression and her use of nudity.
SWED: She dealt with themes of destruction, and it could feel very nihilistic, except that she always put the pieces back together. You didn't come out depressed - ever - from the work. You could come out a little confused, a little bewildered, but also inspired.
DOWELL: Bewildered, perhaps, Swed says, because you never knew what Bausch might do to a stage. Dancers could be pounding through several tons of peat covering the floor or sand or 4,000 pink carnations. Or they might swim on a river created on an opera-house stage, or in rain - real water and lots of it. Wim Wenders wanted to capture it all in his documentary, but first he had to find the right way to film dance.
WENDERS: Between dance and film, there was a difficulty. And there was always like an invisible wall. And I couldn't break that wall.
DOWELL: It took him nearly 20 years to find the answer, at a U2 concert film: 3-D.
WENDERS: For the first time, we had a tool as filmmakers that allowed us to actually be in space, be in the same element as the dancers.
DOWELL: The bulky camera and heavy rigs required lots of planning. Wenders says he needed a dinosaur of a crane to film stage performances. By June 2009 he was ready to shoot rehearsals and show Bausch the results. And then, just a few days before the cameras were to roll, the choreographer died. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer less than a week earlier.
WENDERS: And I immediately canceled the film because we had wanted to make this together for 20 years. And the fact there is a film after all, I strictly owe to the dancers. We could no longer make a film with Pina but we realized there was a film to be made for Pina.
DOWELL: He followed her wishes and concentrated on the dances, but he did weave into these the dancers' thoughts about Pina Bausch. We see what he calls silent portraits of the troupe. We hear the performers' interior monologues.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "PINA")
DOWELL: Following most of these monologues are short solo or duet performances, set all around Wuppertal: at its famous monorail, in traffic, on slag heaps outside the industrial the city. These sequences were filmed with the lightweight 3-D cameras that became available after 2009. But exactly how to make the technology work for the story he wanted to tell was always Wenders biggest challenge. After all, this was not a sci-fi epic or an action blockbuster.
WENDERS: I figured from the beginning we had to invent a different kind of 3-D, and the film could not be effect-driven, because the attraction of our film was the dance itself and Pina's work, and not the technology with which we shot it. So, I wanted to invent a 3-D that was all natural and was gentle to the eyes, and that you would almost forget after a few minutes. And you'd really forget that you ever saw dance differently.
DOWELL: And just as seeing Pina Bausch perform for the first time changed his life, Wim Wenders says so has 3-D. Filming in 2-D now would seem like returning to something ancient. So, his next film will be a fictional 3-D journey into a family. For NPR News, this is Pat Dowell.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
If there's one piece of classical music that everybody's kind of heard, it might be this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
SIMON: "Also Sprach Zarathustra," the tone poem composed in 1896 by Richard Strauss. We're listening to a recording by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The music scored Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and lots of cartoons and dreams. But of course, a whole piece of music follows that iconic opening. And later this week, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform the piece in its entirety.
It's part of their Off the Cuff series, where great works are illuminated by BSO music director Marin Alsop, who joins us now from the studios of WYPR in Baltimore. Welcome, Maestra.
MARIN ALSOP: Hi, Scott. Great to be with you again.
SIMON: Good to be back with you. Now "Thus Spake Zarathustra" is the translation of the title from the German. This was a piece that was inspired by writings of a great philosopher.
ALSOP: It was. The composer Richard Strauss was taken. He was intrigued and also inspired by the new philosophical thinking of his day. He read everything by Goethe and Schopenhauer, and in particular, Friedrich Nietzsche, who is the inspiration for "Also Sprach Zarathustra." He wrote a large-scale work, almost like a biblical text, it's a Gospel-like set of about 80 different parables that chronicle the life and the - adventures might be a little strong - of this character Zarathustra, who harkens back to old Persian days, you know, ancient BC philosophical thinking in that part of the world.
And so what happens is Zarathustra, when he's 30 years old, he decides to go up into the mountains and contemplate life and all those good things. And he stays there for 10 years. But then he realizes that well, what good is all this knowledge and all this insight that I have if I don't go down from my mountaintop and share it with everyone?
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
ALSOP: This opening is about the power of nature for Strauss in conveying the Nietzsche. And, you know, when you hear this opening, which as you said, is so iconic - it' part of our everyday vernacular now, they're certain elements in this opening that resonate with us as human beings. The use of these intervals, they're called perfect intervals. They give us a sense of vastness and possibility and power.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
SIMON: Interesting to me too that this piece of music, of course, is so widely indentified with a Stanley Kubrick film, that's an epical work of science fiction. There's a section of the piece called "Of Science and Learning."
ALSOP: Well, Nietzsche, you have to understand that for Nietzsche we're at the advent of scientific revolution and discovery, and he's very suspicious of science. He's feeling that perhaps science is the new organized religion. So his suspicion of science is conveyed in this section, where he takes the nature theme and he creates this very cerebral fugue. It's almost without emotion.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
SIMON: You're clearly waiting for something to happen.
ALSOP: Right. Exactly. It's almost, is it ever going to go anywhere, is the feeling you have during this fugue.
SIMON: Yeah. What's the climax of the piece?
ALSOP: Well, the main big moment is when Zarathustra has his complete breakdown in the book. What happens is that there's a section in the book called "The Convalescent" and Zarathustra has been recovering from all of his journeys and he sort of leaps up from his couch and he's like, you know, possessed. He's a mad man, and he falls like a dead person and he's just out for seven days. He doesn't eat, he doesn't drink. And when he comes to, he's transformed. You know, he's reached the state of enlightenment and he understands his mission on Earth. And the way Strauss conveys this, he has the - that fugue now is gaining in momentum. The whole orchestra is madly playing. And then suddenly that revelationary(ph) C major chord comes and the whole orchestra plays in the C major and then you hear the nature theme ringing forth as though, you know, Zarathustra is - you just - that is the moment of understanding for him.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
SIMON: That clearly, a breakdown. But a waltz gets in here too.
ALSOP: Yes. So the waltz is such an interesting form of music because, of course, waltz is a populist, very primal dance and it's of the people, by the people kind of approach, and so it's so unexpected that the waltz ends up representing Zarathustra, the humor of Zarathustra, who has achieved this enlightenment and the lightness of being.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
ALSOP: Isn't it great the way he takes that nature theme, you know, from the very opening and now turns it into this incredible lilting waltz?
SIMON: Yeah. Is it - Marin, is there a struggle in this piece going on between different musical keys?
ALSOP: Oh, definitely. So there is a conflict between the establishment and the individual. And he conveys that very simply by a conflict of keys. So we have nature in C major in all its glory resonating, and then we have mankind a half step away down in B minor or B major. And this contrast and this conflict goes throughout the piece, and it's something that you don't have to be consciously aware of but you just feel, so this is how Strauss set up sort of a very primal conflict. And, of course, in the end you're not really sure which wins out.
SIMON: Well, let's move ahead, judge for ourselves.
ALSOP: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
ALSOP: It feels - doesn't it feel as though you just, you know, it's a big question mark to me at the end.
SIMON: Yeah.
ALSOP: Its there a resolution at the end of this experience or are we still battling with the natural world? And, of course, that's the interesting I think parallel with Kubrick's film, "2001: A Space Odyssey."
SIMON: Yeah.
ALSOP: Because these are the exact same questions that he's addressing in this epic film.
SIMON: Look, of course, every piece is difficult to conduct, given your high standards. But is this one any more taxing than some of the others?
ALSOP: I think this piece poses a very different set of challenges because it's as though I'm trying to look at a creator's work and also reference another creator's work. It's like having a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
SIMON: Oh, my gosh.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ALSOP: And I think ultimately, my responsibility is to try to get these big ideas across, these ideas of the potential greatness of humankind if we are responsible for our own actions. And I think that's a message that crosses every era and every border and one that is very apropos for today.
SIMON: Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. This coming weekend they'll perform "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss. Thanks so much, Marin.
ALSOP: My pleasure, Scott. Great to talk to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA, OP.30")
SIMON: And you can hear more of "Also Sprach Zarathustra," and read Marin Alsop's essay of the music on our website, NPRMusic.org.
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Family heirlooms can take all shapes: a pocket watch, a painting. For Robin MacArthur and her husband, Tyler Gibbons, who form the indie-folk duo Red Heart the Ticker, the family inheritance consists of an old farmhouse in the woods - and lots and lots of songs. Angela Evancie has this story from Vermont.
ANGELA EVANCIE, BYLINE: If it weren't for Robin MacArthur's grandmother, Margaret, many of the songs on Red Heart the Ticker's new album would have been lost or forgotten.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOCKS AND BOLTS")
EVANCIE: This is a man named Lester Fairbanks, singing for Margaret MacArthur in 1961. She drove her old Jeep around the back roads of Vermont, collecting folk songs. She visited nursing homes and hospitals, and made her recordings on a Wollensak reel-to-reel. She was also a musician herself.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOCKS AND BOLTS")
EVANCIE: Margaret MacArthur released nine albums. Her first came out on Folkways in 1962, recorded at her kitchen table with that same Wollensak. Red Heart the Ticker recorded its new album just a few feet away, in her study.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOCKS AND BOLTS")
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
ROBIN MACARTHUR: So, my grandparents bought this house in the late '40s, and it was completely abandoned. The floors were all eaten by porcupines, and the doors and windows were all broken - and they moved in here anyway, with their four children.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
EVANCIE: How old is the house?
ROBIN MACARTHUR: Uh - 1803.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR OPENING)
EVANCIE: Robin MacArthur grew up just down the road. Today, her grandmother's house is more or less the way she left it: folk art on the walls; creaky, wooden chairs; and, of course, her instruments.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENT)
EVANCIE: Robin and her husband, Tyler Gibbons, use some of them on the new album.
TYLER GIBBONS: We ended up using - quite a lot - her old Martin guitar; also, a number of her dulcimers. This is one of Margaret's bass dulcimers.
(SOUNDBITE OF DULCIMER)
GIBBONS: It's a very cool sound. What else? There are a few - kind of harps and zithers that we experimented with - oh, of course, Margaret's fretless banjo.
(SOUNDBITE OF BANJO)
EVANCIE: This is also where Margaret died. At the end, she couldn't remember anything but her songs.
ROBIN MACARTHUR: I was in the room with her when she died, as were many of her family members. And we were all holding her hands or her arms or part of her, you know, her shoulders.
EVANCIE: After her grandmother's death, Robin MacArthur brought Margaret's recordings into this room and played them.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ROBIN MACARTHUR: And suddenly, here I was, sitting in this room, and her singing voice was loud and reverberant in the room around me. And it was this incredible, spiritual moment where, you know, I realized she wasn't really gone. Here voice was so present.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRAES OF YARROW")
ANDY KLOVOS: This is really great because we love seeing our collections used.
EVANCIE: Andy Klovos is the archivist at the Vermont Folklife Center, which houses many of Margaret's recordings.
KLOVOS: And we love seeing them used in ways that inject life into them, as opposed to having them just sit on a shelf. Tyler and Robin take this traditional material and with a deep respect for it, infuse it with the atmosphere of the period in time they're living in.
EVANCIE: But Tyler Gibbons says it's delicate work making old songs new again.
GIBBONS: You know, the field recordings are largely just a cappella. And then Margaret's recordings are often just her voice and her dulcimer, or her guitar - so very sparse. And we tried to bring in textures and sounds that could open up the song emotionally, a little bit. And again, that's a tricky line to walk.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SINGLE AGAIN")
EVANCIE: Robin MacArthur says recording the album became a different kind of session than they were used to.
ROBIN MACARTHUR: Instead of finding dialogue with other contemporary artists, it's finding dialogue with the past, which is an incredible way of kind of erasing time, at least momentarily; to bring the ghosts into the room with us, and bring the dead into the room with us - both my grandmother, but the people who sang these songs before her and the people who lived in this old house before her, and the people who built the stone walls around us.
EVANCIE: Call it singing with ghosts, or bringing back the dead. However you think about it, it's a rare thing to find company with those who have gone before. For NPR News, I'm Angela Evancie in Marlboro, Vermont.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'VE COURTED THEE BEFORE")
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
Six thousand miles, seven time zones and endless cups of hot tea. That's a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
NPR's David Greene just took that journey across Russia, from Moscow to the Sea of Japan, and he has this reporter's notebook.
(SOUNDBITE OF DANCE MUSIC)
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: I want to bring you into the dining car of our Trans-Siberian train. That's the dance music that blares from a radio on the bar. There are comfortable booths; it's a nice atmosphere. It seemed a perfect spot to sit down and write some of my stories from the trip.
But I was told no laptops in the dining car. And before you ask why, let me stop you. When traveling in Russia, you never ask why. This country thrives on chaos, uncertainty - inexplicable rules. Russians have learned to live that way. It's actually why, I think, many Russians find the U.S. pretty boring when they visit. Suffice to say, Russia is not the place to travel if you prefer printed-out itineraries, tour buses and Hiltons. You must expect the unexpected.
OK, so back to the dining car.
(SOUNDBITE OF DANCE MUSIC)
GREENE: Another of their rules: no food. Like in so many Russian restaurants, the menu here is merely suggestions for things that might sound tasty, in theory, if they were actually in stock. Once you read over the menu, a server will typically break the news that the kitchen tonight is only serving one thing - borscht. You come to understand why so many veteran passengers avoid the dining car. And that's not a bad thing because relationships are actually built by sharing food in the passenger compartments.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATION AND LAUGHTER)
GREENE: In the friendlier atmosphere outside the dining car, the menu included cabbage rolls, smoked cheese, Belarusian sausage and horseradish mixed with sour cream. And so, the train speeds along, 24 hours a day, making whistle-stops at towns large and small.
(SOUNDBITE OF A TRAIN AND SCRAPPING)
GREENE: We just pulled over in the city of Omsk. And the train attendants are cleaning snow off the bottoms of train cars. People are selling cigarettes and beer along the train platforms. It is freezing. But it's a nice breath of fresh air for 15 minutes or so. Sad, we can't go in and see the city of Omsk, but it's time to get back on the train and head to our next stop, which is Ulan Ude, near Lake Baikal.
Lake Baikal, it's the world's largest freshwater lake - this massive and majestic landmark in eastern Siberia. And it's one of the places I decided to get off the train for more than a few hours and get some reporting done. This is where I met Yuri Bronnikov, a retired engineer.
YURI BRONNIKOV: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: We were looking for a driver. And Bronnikov, he was looking for a few extra rubles and so we got to know one another. He ended up teaching me how to dissect Omul. That's the famous fish of Lake Baikal.
Where shall we go? On the snow?
BRONNIKOV: (Foreign language spoken)
GREENE: His classroom was a patch of snow along the shore.
BRONNIKOV: (Through Translator) You cut out whatever it has inside.
GREENE: Like the bad stuff?
BRONNIKOV: (Through Translator) Yes, you cut out something which is not tasty.
GREENE: This journey marked the end of my two-year assignment in Russia. And I'm always going to remember people like Yuri, whose warmth could somehow melt away the Siberian cold. I've left a country that's going through a difficult transition.
There've been anti-government protests recently, and a sense that Russia under Vladimir Putin is still struggling to find its identity, two decades after the Soviet collapse. Maybe the fact that I was leaving Russia is the reason I kept playing this song on the long train rides. It's called "Eta V'sor," and in Russian means "That's All."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ETA V'SOR")
GREENE: The singer is a Russian rocker named Yuri Shevchuk. And the interview I did with him last year really sticks in my mind. Shevchuk performs at anti-government rallies and he's pleaded with Russia's government to do more for its citizens. But he points out that Russia's citizens aren't sold yet on the idea of democracy.
A lot of Shevchuk's fans interpret this song you're hearing as the musician saying: That's all, I've done everything I can for my country, big changes may come well after my time.
David Greene, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ETA V'SOR")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Even though the S&P downgrade was widely anticipated, it's still a blow, especially in France, which is the second-largest economy in Europe. For French President Sarkozy, the country's AAA credit rating was a source of pride. With the presidential election just three months away, yesterday's downgrade will have far-reaching political implications. As NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris, French officials try to downplay the news.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Though rumors swirled all day that France was headed for the downgrade, Finance Minister Francois Baroin officially announced it on the nightly news. He tried to soften the blow.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS BROADCAST)
BEARDSLEY: The United States, the world's largest economy, was downgraded over the summer, Baroin said. You have to be relative, you have to keep your cool. It's necessary not to frighten the French people about it.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)
BEARDSLEY: Out on the streets of Paris, people seemed to take the news in stride. Ratings agencies are often viewed with skepticism here because of their complete failure to foresee the 2009 financial crisis. Vincent Vigouroux says France will survive.
VINCENT VIGOUROUX: It's just a rating and I'm not so worried about France's situation. It's not very perfect but other countries are maybe worse. I think Standard & Poor's Moody's, Fitch have not any credibility in all the judgment they made in the past.
BEARDSLEY: Even though the downgrade was only one notch, to AA-plus, it is a blow in many respects. France was a Eurozone leader, coupled with Germany. Now, borrowing rates between the two countries are separated by several percentage points. Many pundits commented that France had now left the northern European club of good students to join the shirkers at the south of the class. The opposition socialists are already calling the downgrade a failure of Sarkozy's policies. The president will most certainly blame it on the socialists' objection to his reforms. Ironically, until a couple months ago, most French people didn't even know what a AAA rating was, but Sarkozy turned it into a badge of honor. He bragged about the notation in speeches and interviews like this one.
PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY: (Through Translator) The AAA, we've got it. Of Europe's 27 countries only five have it, and France is one of them.
BEARDSLEY: In the last two months, Sarkozy's government has been preparing for the downgrade by playing down the importance of the AAA. In a recent interview, the president said it wouldn't be good news if France lost it, but it wouldn't be cataclysmic either. Claude Weill is editor of left-leaning magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. He says now Sarkozy is trying to turn France's loss of its AAA to his advantage.
CLAUDE WEILL: From the moment it became very clear that we are going to lose this AAA, Sarkozy changed his argument. He said the situation is so hard, so complicated that you must trust me. I am one, I am the only one, who can run the country in this tempest.
BEARDSLEY: This tempest has already swept away governments in Spain, Greece and Italy. But Weill says in France, the opposition is weak and has proposed no alternative solutions to solving the debt crisis.
WEILL: As you know, French people are fed up with Sarkozy. In normal situation, he would be beaten certainly.
BEARDSLEY: Weill says that's the French paradox: that Sarkozy may be one of the only European leaders saved by losing the AAA. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. If you live in the state of Wisconsin, there's a better than decent chance you've already been asked several times to sign a petition to recall Governor Scott Walker. Wisconsin Democrats have now wrapped up their signature drive and on Tuesday plan to turn in petitions by the truckload to try to force a recall election. Their effort follows the governor's move last year to strip public workers of union bargaining rights. Wisconsin Public Radio's Shawn Johnson reports.
SHAWN JOHNSON, BYLINE: There's a downside to starting a two-month recall petition drive in mid-November. This is Wisconsin. And sometimes it snows - a lot.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOVELING)
JOHNSON: A heavy snowstorm late this week had most Wisconsin residents more occupied with shoveling than with knocking on doors. Recall petition circulators in the heavily Democratic city of Madison, for the most part, disappeared. But that's partly because Democrats say the effort is all but over. They have no doubt they'll turn in more than enough signatures to force a recall election of Governor Scott Walker.
MIKE TATE: I feel very confident we'll be able to hit or come near our goal of 720,000 signatures that we've stated publicly.
JOHNSON: That's state Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate. And if he's right, it means Democrats would blow past the required 540,000 signatures needed to force a recall. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Political Science Professor Mordecai Lee says it's an impressive number given the high threshold needed to force a recall in Wisconsin. You have to get signatures from 25 percent of everyone who cast a vote in the last race for Governor. Lee says it shows this has become more than just a fight over the Governor's collective bargaining law.
MORDECAI LEE: This is not just the signatures of people who were directly affected by it and are unhappy. But this is also the signatures of people who are in support of the recall for ideological reasons, for political reasons, for party reasons, for reasons of their values.
JOHNSON: Indeed, Governor Walker provokes strong opinions in Wisconsin residents. His supporters would all but go to war for him. But his hard-line stands have galvanized his opponents. Walker is more conservative than any other Governor in Wisconsin's modern history - a fact Democrats say he hid during his feel-good campaign in 2010. Just because the signatures are being turned in doesn't mean Wisconsin is about to have an election - far from it. These petitions will now be scrutinized for months, particularly by lawyers for Governor Walker's campaign. Lee says they can decide when to bring challenges in court and when to drop them.
LEE: I think we have to realize that in a sense, Governor Walker gets to decide when the election will take place.
JOHNSON: Walker's lawyers already won their first court battle, forcing Wisconsin's elections agency to change the way it reviews recall signatures. The agency says the new process will require more money and take more time. A second challenge could be on its way from Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. He argues that because of where holidays and weekends fall, recall organizers are getting an extra day to circulate petitions.
STATE SENATOR SCOTT FITZGERALD: If I were to fight this in court, what I would say is, your honor, either the first day I'm contesting needs to go or the last day.
JOHNSON: Fitzgerald and three other Republican senators could face recalls along with the Governor. So could Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. As long as the recall remains in court, Wisconsin's usual limits on campaign donations don't apply to the governor. That's allowed Walker to capitalize on his newfound celebrity, headlining recent events in Washington, D.C., California and Texas. One Texas donor gave Walker a quarter-million dollars. And the Governor is a bit coy about how much he'll raise.
GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER: We'll spend our money getting the message out. But we wouldn't have to spend a penny of that if there weren't recalls.
JOHNSON: As of right now, there are no Democratic gubernatorial candidates. Though several Democrats have expressed an interest in running, nobody has formally announced. The very earliest any recall election could be held is in the spring. For NPR News, I'm Shawn Johnson in Madison.
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The widening gulf between those who are rich and those who are not is a growing source of tension in America. A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds the income gap is now seen as a bigger source conflict in the United States than race, age or national origin. That's why some believe the issue could matter in the presidential campaign, and others worry it would warp the national debate. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Two out of three Americans now perceive strong social conflicts over the income gap. That's up sharply from two years ago. And Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Center has an idea what's behind the increase.
PAUL TAYLOR: The Occupy Wall Street movement kind of crystallized the issue: one versus 99. Arguably the most successful slogan since hell no, we won't go, going back to the Vietnam era. Certainly triggered a lot of coverage about economic inequality.
HORSLEY: Over the last three decades, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans more than doubled their share of national income, while the bottom 80 percent saw their share shrink. Taylor says majorities of Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans now see the income gap as a cause of friction.
TAYLOR: There's no question that there's rising inequality in this country. And I think those perceptions are part of the national agenda in a way that they weren't. And certainly they are in times like this where we've had this very, very difficult economy and a lot of people are struggling.
HORSLEY: The rise of the issue has not been welcomed by Mitt Romney, the front-running Republican presidential hopeful. Romney, who made millions as a private equity investor, has accused President Obama and others of engaging in what he calls the bitter politics of envy.
MITT ROMNEY: I think it's fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like, but the president has made this part of his campaign rally. We hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It's a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach. And I think it'll fail.
HORSLEY: Romney was challenged this week by "Today Show" host Matt Lauer, who asked if envy is the only reason someone might question the increasingly skewed distribution of wealth.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TODAY SHOW")
HORSLEY: Even as the Pew survey found more conflict over the income gap, it did not find evidence that Americans are growing more resentful of the rich. And a separate Gallup poll found Americas far more concerned with growing the economic pie than changing the way it's divided. Conservatives have long argued that growth trumps inequality, that a rising tide lifts all boats, even if some are yachts and others dinghies. But President Obama's top economist, Alan Krueger, gave a speech this week arguing that severe inequality can actually threaten growth, as well as hobble the opportunity society Romney says he wants to promote.
ALAN KRUEGER: There's a cost to the economy and society if children from low-income families do not have anything close to the opportunities to develop and use their talents as the more fortunate kin from better-off families, who can attend better schools and draw on a network of family connections.
HORSLEY: Krueger argues the economy as a whole would be in better shape if income and buying power not so concentrated among the very rich. President Obama made the same case last month in Osawatomie, Kansas.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When middle class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, when people are slipping out of the middle class, it drags down the entire economy, from top to bottom.
HORSLEY: White House economist Krueger notes since World War II, income growth has tended to be strongest when its most widespread; when rich, poor, and middle class Americans are growing together, instead of growing apart. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Given Lubinda jumped off a bridge this week and popped up smiling. Mr. Lubinda is the minister of information, broadcasting and tourism of Zambia; nearly 50 years old, and just a tad podgy, judging from photographs. On New Year's Eve, an Australian traveler named Erin Langworthy made a bungee cord jump off of a bridge at Victoria Falls along the Zambezi River, and the cord snapped, for the first and only time in 17 years and over 150,000 jumps, officials say. Ms. Langworthy fell almost 400 feet into the river rapids - which, by the way, abound with crocodiles - and managed to swim safely to a rocky shore, despite breaking her collarbone and being bound at the ankles by the busted bungee. She is now recovering and giving interviews at a hospital in South Africa. The video of her jump, splash, and dauntless swim has been seen all over the world. The company that runs the jumps says they have removed all bungee cords produced from the same batch of rubber as the cord that snapped, run tests, and it's perfectly safe to resume jumping off that high bridge over a crocodile-infested river.
A lot of people might say, oh really? Thanks, but I think I'll just watch the butterflies. Maybe we'll go to the Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis. A ten-pounder might fall on your toe there, but you won't wind up as snack cakes for a crocodile. Tourism attracts about 800,000 people to the Zambian side of Victoria Falls each year. They spend money on food, lodging, snow-globes, whitewater rafting, hippo-watching, and bungee jumping. The government doesn't want that number falling off - perhaps that's a poor choice of words. So, Minister Lubinda came to the bridge this week and took a bungee nosedive over the Zambezi. Let everyone come and do it, he said. I am hoping that all those who watched a middle-aged person jumping down the bridge and coming back up smiling will be encouraged not just to jump but also to come and visit Zambia.
Now, there's something truly winning about a politician who is willing to jump off a bridge to demonstrate his sincerity. Imagine how it might winnow the field to include a bridge jump in U.S. presidential candidate debates; it certainly would leave more time for follow-up questions. Imagine, for that matter, how our own most devout convictions about work, family, love, caring for others or fixing the economy might plunge off a cliff if first we had to live by the advice we so freely give others. It's refreshing to see anyone not just talk the talk or walk the walk - but jump.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: You're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Many Europeans woke up again this morning with a debt-induced hangover. Late yesterday, the U.S. credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, downgraded nine European countries - large ones: France Italy and Spain - smaller ones, too: Slovakia and Slovenia. But Germany retained its AAA rating. S&P suggested that Europe's single-minded focus on austerity to solve its sovereign debt problem is just not working. The ratings agency also said policy initiatives taken by European leaders, quote, "maybe insufficient to fully address ongoing systemic stresses in the Eurozone." Here's S&P managing director of sovereign ratings, John Chambers, speaking to Bloomberg Television.
JOHN CHAMBERS: We see mounting systemic stress throughout the Eurozone. We see it not as much a fiscal crisis as a problem of growing disparities in competiveness. We see it more of an external issue than a fiscal issue.
SIMON: Coming up, we'll hear how French officials are reacting to the downgrade and the challenge presents for President Nicholas Sarkozy, who's expected to run for reelection this spring. First, NPR's John Ydstie joins us. John, thanks for being with us.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: John, this downgrade was kind of signaled in December. How big is this decision now that it's actually been made?
YDSTIE: Well, you'll get some differing opinions on how big a deal this is. I don't think you're going to have a big effect in the financial markets the way you did when the U.S. lost its AAA credit rating back in August. Yesterday, it was quite clear all day that this was going to happen and stock markets fell less than a percentage point in both Europe and the United States. And interest rates for sovereign debt didn't change significantly either. After all, France, which lost its cherished AAA rating, was already paying borrowing costs more in line its new rating AA-plus status - it just doesn't have that ring of AAA, does it? And that was the case with Italy, too, which had its rating downgraded two notches. It was already paying costs, borrowing costs, in line with that as well.
SIMON: So, does that mean the rating agencies just aren't pertinent anymore?
YDSTIE: Well, I think a lot of people think that S&P was sort of confirming what the market has already said, that it's a bit behind the curve rather than really moving the markets. And what is interesting is that S&P provided some sort of political commentary on Europe's strategy of austerity to try to solve its sovereign debt problem, though it will be, I think, surprising if that moves the Europeans to change their strategy at all.
SIMON: You suggest there might be little effect from this decision?
YDSTIE: Well, because of the special role the regulators, governments and investors have conferred on the credit rating agencies, there will be some real effects. For instance, it could raise borrowing costs for the Europe's crisis rescue fund, because one of the big economies guaranteeing the fund, France, now no longer has AAA status. And on a more micro-level, let's say you're a business that borrowed money and your contract with your lender says that it has to be backed by bonds that are AAA. Well, if you're using French bonds as collateral, you'll have to find something else. Mohamed El-Erian, who heads the big bond fund PIMCO, takes an even broader view of this. He points out this is one more AAA-rated country falling by the wayside, along with the U.S. and Japan.
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN: How does the global system operate now that Europe at its core and the U.S., also at the core of the global system, no longer enjoy unquestionable AAA status? That is a fundamental question. It's consequential and I think it's going to play out over a number of years. But it speaks to transformations and re-alignments.
SIMON: In what directions?
YDSTIE: Now, El-Erian says he doesn't know for sure, but certainly it suggests more economic clout moving toward China and to some of the other strong emerging-market countries.
SIMON: What about realignment within Europe itself, now that France and Italy have being downgraded but Germany has retained that AAA rating?
YDSTIE: That's certainly a possibility. First of all, it could complicate Nicolas Sarkozy's bid for a second term as France's president. But there could also be broader effects in Europe too. As you said, Germany retains its AAA rating and France is diminished. Now remember, throughout the development of the European Union and the euro currency, France and Germany have been pretty much equal partners. But as one European analyst told me yesterday, this action makes France less like Germany and more like Italy. So it could cement Germany's position in the driver's seat in Europe. France's finance minister tried to put the best face on it yesterday. He said this is not a catastrophe. It's an excellent rating - that is the new AA-plus rating - but he acknowledged it's not good news.
SIMON: John Ydstie, thanks so much.
YDSTIE: You're welcome, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Maybe some of us can use a music diet, too. Make room in your life for a varied diet: jazz, classical, country, hip-hop and Tuva throat singing. Engage only moderately in karaoke.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "MY BEST FRIENDS WEDDING")
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, ''I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF'')
ERIQ GARDNER: Karaoke seems like a pretty simple thing, people singing over a backtrack. But in terms of the legal sphere it's anything but simple.
SIMON: That's Eriq Gardner.
GARDNER: I write about legal issues for the Hollywood Reporter.
SIMON: He's not keen about karaoke...
GARDNER: I usually go to karaoke only when dragged by friends.
SIMON: ...and has a low-risk strategy when the mic comes to him.
GARDNER: I try to stay away from the big Bon Jovi ballads. Anything that can avoid embarrassment is usually my goal.
SIMON: But Eriq Gardner is intensely interested in the legal implications of the form. Music companies and publishers don't like karaoke bars making money with music they own. And that's hard to ignore because karaoke has become an immensely popular pop entertainment.
GARDNER: Particularly after the movie "Lost in Translation," there's a big scene where Bill Murray goes to a karaoke joint in Japan.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "LOST IN TRANSLATION)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MORE THAN THIS")
GARDNER: It's estimated to be about a 10 billion dollar industry.
SIMON: Companies are beginning to cry copyright infringement and for their cut. How serious are they?
GARDNER: If you go into a restaurant and a bar and you see someone with a tape measurer, it's usually someone from ASCAP or BMI.
SIMON: Measuring to see if the place in which karaoke is being committed is so small it's just a bar, where you sing with friends, or so large it's has to be considered a stage, where you perform for strangers.
Penalties for violating copyrights may have to be paid. They can add up quicker than you can belt, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT")
SIMON: For instance, if you sing over the original music by Pat Benetar's band, somebody owns that. There's an audience that's paid to be there, music companies expect to be paid, too. And if the music is matched to video, there's a synchronization license.
There are layers and layers of potential legal exposure and litigants.
GARDNER: There's at least five or six levels that you can hit.
SIMON: And now, one of the companies who manufacture karaoke CDs is trying to hit Sony Music with their best shot. Sony wants KTS Karaoke to pay over a billion dollars for thousands of alleged copyright infringements. KTS says that Sony is trying to...
GARDNER: Get multiple bites at the apple, going after the distributors, going after the restaurants.
SIMON: Charging a fee for each link in the karaoke chain, from Pat Benatar down to your local bar. A judge will decide this case; there may be appeals, there may be other cases. But until then, sing out, drive carefully and remember: tip your server.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT")
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now time for your letters.
(SOUNDBITE OF TYPING AND MUSIC)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG âLONG TIME TRAVELINGâ)
SIMON: Our What's In a Song segment, about a group sing-along at the home of a Utah folklorist who survived a stroke, brought recollections from many listeners, including Dayle Stratton, who writes: It took me back home to the Western mountains I love so much. I haven't suffered a stroke, but have an illness that affects my memory at times, and limits my life in other ways sporadically. I find singing restores me to a full sense of myself. Thank you for a beautiful story about some good people and the best kind of music - that which we sing ourselves.
Your comments, music to our ears. Please write to us. Go to NPR.org; click on the link that says Contact Us. We're on Facebook and Twitter, at NPRWeekend. And I'm NPRScottSimon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The South Carolina Republican presidential primary is just a week away. Polls show former Massachusetts Mitt Romney narrowly in the lead, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is close behind. And they're followed by Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Last night, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum both hit an upstate BBQ, trying to emerge as the candidate the state's conservative Republicans can best rally behind. NPR's Debbie Elliott was there.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Upstate South Carolina, the area around Greenville and Spartanburg is known for its conservative politics, a region rich in evangelical voters. It's also got its own style of BBQ sauce.
PAUL CUZ AYERS: Tangy sweet.
ELLIOTT: And most definitely red. Only a moderate or a yellow-dog Democrat might ask for a mustard-based sauce.
AYERS: Oh, that's that Southern stuff. From Newbury County down is all that old yellow stuff.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ELLIOTT: That's Paul "Cuz" Ayers. He's catering the dinner at this Bronze Elephant fundraiser for the local GOP. It's a standing room only crowd in the cafeteria at Burns High School, and first up in Newt Gingrich, hitting several issues that resonate with these voters. His support for a law declaring that personhood begins at conception, and for South Carolina's strict new voter I.D. law that's being challenged by the Obama administration.
NEWT GINGRICH: And I think we have to understand their fear. If the only people who vote in American elections are law abiding hard-working citizens who are deeply committed to America, the left wing of the Democratic Party will cease to exist.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ELLIOTT: Gingrich warns the power of conservatives is at stake in the upcoming primary.
GINGRICH: If we end up splitting the conservative vote, we're gonna stumble into nominating somebody that 95 percent of the people in this room are gonna be very uncomfortable with.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ELLIOTT: Gingrich and Santorum both try to connect with voters here, emphasizing traditional values. Santorum says his views are most in line with South Carolina.
RICK SANTORUM: It's a state that believes in less government, low taxation. It believes in state's rights. It believes in limiting the federal government, and deeply believes in family and faith as the foundational principles of our country.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ELLIOTT: Santorum seems to acknowledge that his candidacy might be considered a long shot by some, but urges voters here not to listen.
SANTORUM: As Republicans, you're constantly told, well, you can't really have what you really want because, well, if you put a real strong conservative up there across the board on national security and on moral cultural issues and on economic and spending issues, then they'll have a hard time winning, and we need to win. And who's saying that to you? People who don't share your values.
ELLIOTT: The message works with Christine Gladin a medical biller from Greenville.
CHRISTINE GLADIN: We have to vote in our convictions, and I'm going to say it, we have to leave that in the Lord's hands. God's able to put the person in that we need now if we do what's right.
ELLIOTT: Outside after the barbecue, Pat Wavle and her son-in-law, David Gibble, a Greenville blueberry farmer, say they're torn.
PAT WAVLE: I like Newt's experience. I think he's a person that seems to do what he says he's going to do and gets it done. He seems to have the know-how to get it done, and the courage to do it. And I like Santorum's views on a lot of things too; family values and...
DAVID GIBBLE: We have a tough choice between these two. We have experience and we have authenticity, you know. So what do I do?
ELLIOTT: That's the problem says retiree Dean Anderson. There are too many choices for conservatives.
DEAN ANDERSON: We need to get someone to drop out. You're splitting the conservative vote at least four ways. You can't do that. All you're doing is abdicating the throne to Romney.
ELLIOTT: Those choices may be narrowed after next week's vote here. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And Mitt Romney spent the last week celebrating a major victory and then fending off some major attacks. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports from Aiken, South Carolina.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Mitt Romney had a contradictory week. On the one hand, his landslide win in New Hampshire put him solidly on a course to focus on the general election and President Obama.
MITT ROMNEY: This president puts his faith in government. We put our faith in the American people.
SHAPIRO: On the other hand, a new series of attacks on his years at the investment firm Bain Capital forced him to engage more directly than before with his primary rivals. Texas Governor Rick Perry tried to turn vulture capitalist into a household phrase.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: They used their company to come in and close down a photo album manufacture in Gaffney, South Carolina and 150 people lost their jobs there.
SHAPIRO: Ultimately the attacks reached such a level of intensity that Romney had to address the charges directly, wading back into the primary morass to defend himself.
ROMNEY: Every time that we invested in the business it was to try and encourage that business to have ongoing life.
SHAPIRO: He seemed incredulous that Republicans were attacking what he regards as free-market capitalism. Even Republicans who had been cool to him before came to his defense, from Rush Limbaugh to the Wall Street Journal editorial page. The Romney campaign released new ads, testimonials from surrogates and pushed back hard in a way that almost seems at odds with a man who is now seen as the prohibitive favorite to win the nomination.
This week, even South Carolina voters who seemed predisposed to dislike Romney sounded like they were begrudgingly climbing on board. Tom Fisher is a retiree from Greenville.
TOM FISHER: I mean, it's a stretch, you know, a guy coming out of Massachusetts state that produced the Kennedy boys and Barney Frank, I mean, this is a stretch for us. But the guy's coming from a business background like myself. I think this guy's the one that can probably turn it around.
SHAPIRO: Today, the candidates meet in Charleston for a forum where the Bain attacks will likely continue. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Aiken, South Carolina.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And as we've heard, there's a diversity of views in the Republican field for president that's wide, even wild. They range from Libertarians who want to legalize drugs and let Iran develop nuclear weapons to evangelical Christians supporting Roman Catholics because of their social agenda, to mainline pro-business Republicans being compared to vultures by fellow Republicans. What's at the heart of this struggle for the party? Ross Douthat, conservative writer and columnist for the New York Times joins us in our studios. Welcome.
ROSS DOUTHAT: Thanks so much for having me.
SIMON: What do you make of this wide split in views in a party that used to be known for falling in line?
DOUTHAT: Well, what's interesting is that two things are going on simultaneously. On the one hand, you have exactly the kind of split you've described, where you have a, you know, a candidate, Ron Paul, who is sort of the embodiment of the Libertarian faction within the Republican Party. You have a candidate, Rick Santorum, who's done everything in his power to make himself the embodiment of social conservatism, both evangelical and Catholic. And you have other candidates, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, before she quit the race, who were making a play for that same demographic.
And then you have Mitt Romney, who is the embodiment, you know, sort of the kind of classic northeastern moderate Republican figure. So you have this kind of diversity. Then at the same though, one of the interesting things about this year is that on substance, with the exception of Ron Paul, in certain ways there's less diversity then there's been in years past because Romney, while, you know, he has this moderate record going back to Massachusetts and so on, has basically taken the sort of party line position on just about every issue.
The striking thing about the field in a way is the divisions you see are almost more identity politics than they are policy. You could call it demographic cleavages. I think that's the best way to look at it.
SIMON: Brooks Brothers versus Wal-Mart?
DOUTHAT: Brooks Brothers versus -- right, Sam's Club or something.
SIMON: What do you make of the moment, maybe in American history, that you have two candidates winning the votes of many social conservatives who happen to be Roman Catholic?
DOUTHAT: What you see there with Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich is the culmination of basically a trend that's been 30 years in the making, ever since - well, especially ever since Roe v. Wade in the early 1970s, but since sort of the idea of cultural wars in general first came on the American scene. And what's happened over that period is that evangelicals and Roman Catholics have spent so much time working together on particularly political issues, but also, you know, the sort of political alliance has led to sort of personal alliances and so it's become very natural for religious conservatives of either communion to feel comfortable supporting a member of the other communion. And also the presence of a Mormon in the presidential field I think also tends to sort of highlight what evangelicals and Catholics have in common theologically, because whatever the differences that divide evangelicals from Rome, they're much smaller than the theological differences that divide both groups from Salt Lake City, you might say.
SIMON: If Governor Romney is nominated and whether he's elected president or not, do some of these identity battles for the soul of the party you've been talking about go away?
DOUTHAT: Well, I think they go away in the six months in which Romney and Barack Obama share the national stage. But my...
SIMON: But what about next year? What about when the dust settles?
DOUTHAT: Well, when the dust settles, I think this is Romney's big weakness as president, is that even if he wins the nomination, as I think he will, even he beats Barack Obama, he will enter the White House with a level of sort of personal mistrust among people who are his core supporters. So for the first six months to a year of his administration, I think a lot of grassroots conservatives will sort of be looking for an opportunity to say we told you so, this guy is a sellout, he's cutting deals with Democrats, you know, we need to find a primary challenger and so on. So Romney, once in office, will have to walk I think a very fine tightrope. So, yeah, I think that these battles are very likely to recur after November.
SIMON: Ross Douthat, columnist for The New York Times. Thanks so much.
DOUTHAT: Thank you for having me.
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SIMON: And you're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The Muslim Brotherhood has emerged as the major winner in Egypt's parliamentary elections. The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party is set to control at least 40 percent of the seats in the lower house of the legislature. The Islamist Party, which was long oppressed under the regime of Hosni Mubarak, is now the most important powerbroker in the country.
As Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Cairo, the question now is: what does the Brotherhood really represent? How will it govern?
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Muslim Brotherhood leaders can wax poetic when talking about what it means to be on the cusp of power. After years of lurking in the shadows, persecuted and imprisoned, the Brotherhood's top spokesman and a member of its executive office, Mahmoud Ghozlan describes the new sensation of freedom.
MAHMOUD GHOZLAN: (Through Translator) It is undoubtedly the feeling of a bird that has been released from a cage.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But the brotherhood has survived these many years not on poetry but on hardnosed pragmatism. Egypt is at a delicate phase. Elections have delivered the Brotherhood a resounding victory but its still not clear what authority the new parliament will have.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, which rules Egypt, has been trying to preserve its political and economic privileges, refusing to devolve key powers to the new body. It's also been accused of abuses, including torture and the killing of at least 80 protesters since Hosni Mubarak's ouster.
In an interview with NPR, Ghozlan says some concessions have to be made for the greater good of the country, including possibly, offering immunity from prosecution for members of the ruling junta.
GHOZLAN: (Through Translator) If they are told they will be tried like Mubarak once they hand over power, logically, can we expect them to handover power easily? For the greater good of the country, they should be reassured in order to avoid more bloodshed.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The Brotherhood's critics see the potential offer as another sign that the Islamist party has been co-opted by the military. Egypt's liberal groups who fared badly in the elections are especially concerned. But there is more that divides the Brotherhood and the generals than unites them, say the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood wants to have presidential elections before a constitution is drafted, so that it happens under the authority of an elected civilian power. The military council, on the other hand, wants a role in crafting the vital document, so it's pushing for it to happen before a presidential vote.
Ghozlan says that's a red line for the Brotherhood.
GHOZLAN: (Through Translator) When the military interferes in matters of politics, dictatorship takes deeper root. For Egypt, we want military rule that started in 1952 to end and for power to be transferred to an elected civilian authority so we can enjoy freedom, democracy and human rights.
SHADI HAMID: The Muslim Brotherhood historically doesn't like full-on confrontation, so I think they are going to do whatever they can to reach understandings in the meantime.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Shadi Hamid is with the Brookings Institution. He says compromise will only go so far.
HAMID: The Brotherhood wants something very different than what the SCAF wants going forward. The Brotherhood wants a strong, powerful parliament, the SCAF wants a relatively weak parliament. And I think it's moving towards a full on confrontation.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Those tensions will define what happens next in Egypt. Mohamed Beltagy, is a leading member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and was just elected to the new parliament. He says the Muslim Brotherhood will fight for what it believes in, if it has to.
MOHAMED BELTAGY: (Through Translator) Definitely, we've succeeded at being the opposition. And now we are going through an important test in shouldering responsibility. If the largest political force on the Egyptian street backs away from that responsibility it will harm the country's interests greatly.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is a country on the verge of economic implosion, plagued by cycles of violence and struggling to move forward. The Muslim Brotherhood now has to shoulder the expectations of a population that is impatient for both change and stability. A strategy of alternately appeasing and challenging the military junta might backfire, alienating its supporters.
Beltagy says the Brotherhood is trying to navigate the complexities of its new role.
BELTAGY: (Through Translator) We are entering an important test. And we have inherited a huge burden to bear, and an exhausted legacy. This leaves us with problems that are greater than our resources.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He says maybe people's faith in us will buy us time. But in any case, he says, it is a new and different mission.
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Cairo.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Haiti has long been regarded as a special challenge for international aid organizations. Haiti has a noble, unique and often bloody history. It was the only nation of slaves to successfully revolt against their colonial overseers, became the first black-led republic in the world. It has also been afflicted with its own demons and tyrants.
Laurent Dubois knows Haiti's history well. His story of the Haitian revolution, "Avengers of the New World," was a bestseller in 2004. He is the Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke, and co-director of the Haiti Lab at the Franklin Humanities Institute. His new book is. "Haiti: The Aftershocks of History." Professor Dubois joins us from the Duke campus in Durham, North Carolina. Thanks so much for being with us.
LAURENT DUBOIS: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: You begin with the fact that the story of a nation of slaves rising up to win their own freedom wasn't necessarily inspiring to the United States in the early 19th century.
DUBOIS: No, not at all. I mean, in fact, the United States was the last nation in the world to recognize Haiti's independence; took it until the Civil War in 1862. And there was a great deal of concern about the example Haiti for the slaves in the United States. And that didn't stop the U.S. merchants from trading with country, which they did avidly during the 19th century. But Haiti did begin at that time and I think has continued to have maybe a particularly harsh and negative set of stereotypes that surround it.
SIMON: Such as?
DUBOIS: There's a lot of visions of Haiti that depict it as a land of strong tyrants, the obsession with a certain image of voodoo that often doesn't have a much broader view of what voodoo actually is. And there's also a sense that its kind of poverty has been eternal in some way, something that I strongly try to debunk in the book.
SIMON: I want to get you to tell us something of the history of the U.S. occupation; 1915 to 1935, this was 20 years, and I'll bet a lot of Americans just aren't aware of it.
DUBOIS: Yeah. It's a very long period. It's one of the longest periods of occupation of the U.S. in another country. And so it also has a lot to tell us I think about our own history.
SIMON: Help us understand this, if you can. The U.S. maintained that it had the right to go into Haiti to, I guess, to guarantee free access to ports.
DUBOIS: Actually, a lot of it was about to help Haiti. There had been a series of violent political events in the years before that were used as a kind of immediate excuse for intervention. But the U.S. had become increasingly economically intertwined with Haiti. So taking control of the nation's main bank and beginning with investments in railroads and larger plantations.
SIMON: Now, the U.S. Marines decided at one point that better roads would be a very good thing for Haiti, would let farmers transport goods into the city, increase foreign investment. Also let the Marines get to more places over the island. But the way they were built might continue to be one of what you call the aftershocks of history.
DUBOIS: Yes. In one of these cases where really a misunderstanding of the kind of reaction this would cause in Haiti, the Marines turned to forced labor and began kind of literally rounding up people and forcing them to go work on the road construction. And in a country founded by slave revolutionaries, this incited really rapid reaction and insurrection against the U.S. occupation.
SIMON: When it comes to signature drawbacks of international aid programs, you kind of offer a case study from Haiti, 1983. USAID decided they had to come up with a program to prevent the spread of swine flu. What happened?
DUBOIS: Well, so they decided that they were concerned about swine flu in this population of pigs in Haiti that were these black pigs that were really indigenous to the island, had been there for hundreds of years. And they were a kind of a mainstay of rural life in Haiti, a kind of bank. These pigs would eat anything. They knew what plants were poisonous and not. They cleaned up garbage. And then, of course, they offered meat for the population.
And USAID, working with the Haitian government, essentially demanded a massacre of these pigs, that they be rounded up and killed to prevent swine flu. That was devastating enough.
They were supposed to be replaced with white pigs that were to be imported from the United States who were really not sort of set for the climate and many of them died. So what was, you know, offered in return in no way replaced what was taken away. And it was a really quite devastating thing for a small rural agriculture.
I'll add a slightly sort of happier note in the sense that Haiti often kind of manages to respond to these changes. When I was just there a few days ago, I noticed a number of brown pigs and asked my friend who I was with about them.
And he said, oh, yeah, those are the pigs that when they - the farmers hid some of the black pigs and kept some alive and we saved some. And then they started mating with the new white pigs. And now we have a new breed that's pretty well adapted and they're taking over. And so, you know, there's an ability to bounce back.
And they actually use an old colonial term to describe mixed race, mixed, you know, African and European individuals, the term cremel(ph), to describe these pigs as a kind of new species.
SIMON: How does the legacy of they slaughter the wrong kind of pig program and other aid efforts affect the way Haitians view international relief programs today?
DUBOIS: I mean, first of all, it's important to say international relief is very varied. And there's so many organizations working in Haiti with different types of projects. So it's hard to paint with a broad brush.
But there is a sense that again and again there's been a kind of misunderstanding or a modernizing impulse, let's say, from outside where people have thought, well, what Haiti needs is a, you know, a whole new kind of agriculture with larger plantations. And not often enough have people stopped to listen.
Haitian agriculture's actually been and is very sophisticated. Sort of has at times anyway been very suited to particular ecologies. It's based on the idea of trying to sustain agriculture in small spaces and in difficult circumstances.
So there's enormous knowledge in Haitian rural communities. And, you know, a more collaborative effort and listening to that knowledge, I think, obviously will bear a lot more fruit than kind of trying to impose something that might sound great in the abstract but can't take root in the context.
SIMON: Laurent Dubois. His new book is "Haiti: The Aftershocks of History."
Thanks so much.
DUBOIS: Thank you.
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SIMON: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Winter's finally arrived in much of the Northeast, bringing subzero temperatures to New York's Adirondack Mountains. This week, the region experienced its first major snowfall of the season. It stormed up nearly a foot of snow. But before the storm, North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann head out for a hike to a back country waterfall. He sent this audio postcard.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS IN SNOW)
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: So it's a weekday afternoon and I've snuck away from work to do a quick hike into Roaring Brook Falls.
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MANN: This is one of the most iconic cascades in the Adirondack Park in northern New York. It's a place that people see from the highway as they drive in to places like Lake Placid. And for years I've seen it from the car going by, just this beautiful plummet of water. But this is the first time I've had the chance to hike in and check it out.
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MANN: One of the things I love about being in the woods this time of year is that there is incredible color. In town, everything's grey and sort of washed out, but here the red pines are just glowing in this light and the birch trees have just enough of their kind of dry orange leaves, sort of banner-like. And then there are birds, these amazing little clouds of chickadees that come vibrating through the branches.
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MANN: So I circled around now to the base of the waterfall. There's this big face of rock leading up and there's a kind of a beam of sunshine that's broken through. And right now along the vein of water, the cold has turned it into just this sculpture of ice, moving water and ice everywhere. I'm going to get as close as I can to the falls.
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MANN: So just imagine the biggest sugar confection you've ever seen and just this kind of champagne of water pouring through it - Roaring Brook Falls in all its glory.
For NPR News, I'm Brian Mann in New York's Adirondack Mountains.
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SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Time for sports.
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SIMON: The NFL playoffs are well underway. Eight teams still standing. Two of them will be sent home today. Well, I'll bet most of them have pretty nice homes anyway. From the studios of New England Public Radio, we're joined now by Howard Bryant of ESPN.com, ESPN the magazine and ESPN the scented candle.
Howard, thanks very much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Hi, Scott. Good morning.
SIMON: Listen, Howard, a lot of people were flabbergasted to see the Denver Broncos last week upset...
BRYANT: Oh, boy.
SIMON: ...upset the Pittsburgh Steelers. I gather you know of at least one sage analyst who called it that way, right?
BRYANT: Oh, I think it might be you. Might it be you?
SIMON: Yes, come to think of it. I'm glad you remembered that. Pure dumb luck on my part. But what did we see at work that might give Denver some chance today?
BRYANT: I think you saw a couple of things at work. The first thing you saw, which I don't think is going to help Denver tonight, is a great deal of overconfidence on the part of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't think their defensive backs had any respect for Tim Tebow. I don't think they thought he could beat them. I don't think you're going to see such under-preparation from the Patriots.
But on the part of the Broncos, you've got a very tough team. And they win through a lot of counterprogramming. Nobody runs the football anymore in the NFL, and the Denver Broncos do. So what they do is they line you up expecting the run, and they're hoping that Tim Tebow can break for big plays, which he did constantly against Pittsburgh.
SIMON: I'm going to pick the Broncos by six again. OK?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BRYANT: I think your luck's going to run out this time.
SIMON: All right, well, my luck, not theirs. Another big game, though, tonight; San Francisco 49ers against the New Orleans Saints. Now, the 49ers this year have been one of the greatest recovery stories since Ozzy Osbourne. The, you know, defense is supposed to win championships.
BRYANT: Yeah, and they're terrific. And what you've got here is this wonderful, wonderful offensive team in Drew Brees going up against San Francisco, which is the best defensive team in the league this year. And I'd say it's that great classic matchup of defense versus offense.
And I'm not going to fall for the trap and think that the Saints are going to win this game by 30 points because I think that good defenses can make a great offense look normal. But I do think that the Saints are going to win simply because I just don't see anybody stopping the Saints enough, or San Francisco scoring enough points to win that game.
SIMON: Professional tennis season kicks off in earnest this week with the Australian Open. Let's talk about the women's side.
BRYANT: Yeah, first slam of the year. And it's going to be a terrific, terrific tournament because I think on the women's side you've got two major issues. One is we're waiting for the crowning of a new queen. You had four different women winning the majors last year. So you don't have that dominant woman. And everyone's waiting to see who it's going to be.
I think it's going to come down to Petra Kvitova, who's number two in the world, or Victoria Azarenka, who's number three in the world. Or maybe it's going to be one of the old ones coming back. Obviously, when Serena is at her best, she's the best player in the world still. But you just wonder if her health can keep up enough to get her over the top.
SIMON: And on the men's side, are we living in the tennis age of Novak Djokovic?
BRYANT: Well, the big question is whether or not anybody can take down Novak Djokovic after the year that he had. He won three out of the four majors. He destroyed Rafael Nadal, who was then the number one player in the world. And can he duplicate that is the big question.
And also, the big question for me is whether or not Roger Federer has one more major in him. I think he's going to win a major. And I think it might be the Australian Open because of how well he finished the year after the U.S. Open.
But once again, the star of the year of 2011 and obviously going in the star of this year is Novak Djokovic.
SIMON: Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the magazine.
Thanks so much.
BRYANT: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News, I'm Scott Simon. An enormous cruise ship is lying on its side in the Mediterranean today. The Italian ship, Costa Concordia, ran aground off Italy's Tuscan coast, killing at least three people. Passengers described scenes reminiscent of the Titanic. Fabio Costa was working in a shop on the cruise liner when he felt a jolt.
FABIO COSTA: Everything just started to fall. All the glasses broke. We could only see that the boat had hit something. We had no idea how serious it was until we got out and we looked through the window and we saw the water coming closer and closer. Everything happened really, really fast.
SIMON: He said people began to panic, pushing and shoving.
COSTA: A lot of people was falling down the stairs and they were hurt because things fell on them, and people, when they had to get on the ship, on the boat, the lifeboats, everybody was pushing each other...
SIMON: People grew frustrated waiting for lifeboats, he said, and some took their chances and jumped into the sea. Search and rescue operations continue with almost 70 people unaccounted for. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli is with us from Porto Santo Stefano. Sylvia, how would you describe the scene there?
SYLVIA POGGIOLI BYLINE: Well, here I'm in a school, an elementary school, that has been set as a sort of emergency center. Many of the passengers and crew were brought here; not all, some were taken - there's a lot of confusion, a lot of chaotic - lack of organization here. Some passengers have been evacuated to other towns. But most are here in Porto Santo Stefano. They are huddling in corners and then some of them are being taken to other hotels further away from this town.
I've spoken to several people. I've heard similar accounts of what you've just played. A French woman told me that it was so - the ship started listing so fast that it was too difficult to lower all the lifeboats. So many fishermen from the island very nearby, a few hundred yards from where the ship ran aground, came out with their own boats and they lowered themselves down with a rope ladder down the side of the boat.
The women - as you said, it was dinnertime. They were dressing in evening clothes and many of them, of course, had to take off their high-heel shoes. And they arrived here freezing cold. The local townsfolk here in Porto Santo Stefano came out in full force, bringing food, blankets and everything. But what is very surprising is the total lack of organization. There's nobody really seriously here in control to give us a sense of exactly what's happened. There are people who don't know where their husbands, their wives, their fathers have ended up, and there's a great deal of tension, and it's very sad.
SIMON: Sylvia, is it known what happened to the ship? How did it run aground?
BYLINE: This is a very mysterious thing. I know this part of the sea myself. I've been here many times. The stretch of sea between the island of Giulio and the mainland is almost like a highway of the sea. Everyday three, four - these big cruise ships go up and down. This is not a dangerous stretch of water. I talked to a fisherman who knows these waters very well. He says it's mysterious; must have been human error because what happened is, the ship must have gone too close to the shore of the island of Giulio and it hit rocks under the surface of the water, and left a gash, 150-foot gash in the ship. The sea was calm, there was no current. It will be up to investigators to determine exactly what happened.
SIMON: And what happens to the evacuees who are beginning to accumulate there?
BYLINE: Well, buses have been taking some of them to other towns where there are more hotels, there are better facilities. So many people unfortunately, you know, there was panic, and they left everything on the boat, the ship. They left their wallets, their credit cards, their clothes. They are without papers. And so we are unable to speak to anybody from the ship and the Costa Shipping Company is not talking to the reporters. So we don't know exactly what they're doing, but they're taking them to other cities in Italy.
SIMON: Sylvia, is the ship in danger of sinking?
BYLINE: Well, it certainly looks - if you've seen the pictures, it is lying flat on its side, very, very close to the shore of the island. Giulio and - I think that is another - because it's a huge boat. It was carrying some 4,200 people; 3,200 passengers, 1,000 crew. It's a big, big boat.
SIMON: NPR's Sylvia Poggioli. Thanks so much.
BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when being middle-aged was linked with being over the hill. Not so much anymore. Sixty is the new 40 after all. In her latest book, "In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age," New York Times culture reporter Patricia Cohen explores the history of middle age and how our thinking of this time of life has changed since this whole middle age thing seeped into our collective consciousness. Patricia, welcome to the show.
PATRICIA COHEN: Thanks very much.
MARTIN: So first, I'm sure this is the obvious question everyone asks, but we all want to know what age is considered middle age?
COHEN: Well, I like to say that middle age is something of a never-never land. Younger people never want to enter it and older people never want to leave it once they get there. It's really one of those things that depends on what kind of job you have, whether you're male or female. Forty has always been a traditional entering point or start point of middle age. Lately, researchers have found that men think middle age begins earlier than women. Blue collar workers also think it begins earlier. The older you are, the later you think it starts. So, it really kind of depends where you sit.
MARTIN: I have to ask, how old are you, Patricia?
COHEN: I'm 51.
MARTIN: You knew you were going to get these questions when you wrote this book.
COHEN: I know, I know. I'm right in the center of it.
MARTIN: Is that in part what provoked you to delve into this subject, where you are in your own life?
COHEN: Yes. I have to say that the timetable that I and so many of our friends are on seem so different than the one my parents were on. When I hit 40, I was pregnant with my first child. I had just gotten married the year before. And I kind of hit the top job in my career that I had always wanted. Now, my mother's generation was completely different. I think she was in her mid-20s when she was pregnant with me.
MARTIN: In this book, you set out to dig into the historical origins of middle age. When was the first time that someone thought middle age was some kind of distinct period in a person's life?
COHEN: Well, I really date it to the 1920s when suddenly people are starting to write about it. It's a subject for magazine articles. Advice writers are beginning to talk about clothing that's appropriate for middle-age women as opposed to younger women.
MARTIN: I want to fast forward a little bit - in the 1980s, middle age really becomes something to be fixed, to be altered or reversed, at least the physical results of aging. Why was that happening?
COHEN: I think it was really the baby boomers. I mean, you suddenly had the largest generation really ever in history - 78 million people - who were reaching the middle years of their lives, who had grown up in the '60s warning not to trust anybody over the age of 30, and here they were over the age of 30. And so...
MARTIN: What do you do?
COHEN: Yeah, exactly. So, I think they were recognizing, hey, you know, I'm not really as boring and over the hill as I thought I would be or as I thought people in their 40s and 50s would be now that I'm here and, you know, now that we're at the top of our professions. We're not quite ready to move aside and give up those spots. So, I think that was part of it.
MARTIN: You mentioned earlier that men and women have different perceptions about when middle age starts. But I'm curious what else you learned about how men and women perceive middle age in general.
COHEN: Well, a lot of the things that I discovered about women in middle age I thought was really interesting. From a historical point of view, middle age - or the discovery of middle age - really turned out to be an incredible boon to women, much more than men at first. Because middle-age men, as the country turned to industrialization, found that they were not as valuable in the workplace as younger men. But women were, at that point, having fewer children, and it was this whole new freedom that suddenly presented itself to them. And this combined also with the strengthening of the feminist movement. So, it turned out to be this real flowering for middle-age women at that time. And I think something similar happened after the women's movement in the '70s.
MARTIN: So, where are we now? What is middle age to us as a culture?
COHEN: I thought it was very interesting. When researchers asked people over 65 what age they would most like to return to, most of them bypassed their teens, their 20s and their 30s and they said their 40s. So, I think what we forget is that every age has its pluses and minuses and we have tended to look only at the negatives on middle age, not the positives.
MARTIN: Patricia Cohen is a culture reporter for the New York Times. Her new book is called "In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age." Patricia joined us from our New York bureau. Patricia, thanks so much for talking with us.
COHEN: Thank you so much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In Brazil, there's been a demographic shift that has astonished social scientists. In 50 years, the fertility rate tumbled to fewer than two children per woman on average, lower than in the United States. Demographers say it's because the country is richer and more urban. But they also point to Brazil's hugely popular soap operas and their portrayal of small, glamorous families.
NPR's Juan Forero has the story from Rio de Janeiro.
JUAN FORERO, BYLINE: Veronica Marques has a husband, a nice apartment in a trendy district and a career she loves. Talking in a restaurant near her office in Rio, Marques explains that she's 31 and doesn't have children.
VERONICA MARQUES: I'm planning to have kids when I have a bigger career, when I raise more money and maybe when I have my life in another step.
FORERO: And when she does have kids, she says, it'll be two tops. Smart, educated, ambitious, Marques is typical of a growing number of Brazilian women who are focused more on their careers. If she does have two children, it'll be right in line with the average these days for a Brazilian woman. Barely two generations ago, it was six children per woman. Then the fertility rate in Latin America began to plunge - though it was most pronounced here in Brazil. The latest figures, in fact, show that the fertility rate stands at just under 1.9 children per woman, says Suzana Cavenaghi, a demographer in Brazil's census bureau.
SUZANA CAVENAGHI: There are a lot of reasons for that drop in Brazil and most of them has to do with the modernization, this new way of thinking. Women are modern and they take care of their own lives.
FORERO: Brazil's fast urbanization means millions of rural poor migrated to cities where big families are a financial drain. And in a country where abortion is illegal and the Catholic Church frowns on birth control, women have embraced family planning any way they could, says Cavenaghi.
CAVENAGHI: They have more to say about their reproductive lives than the men. Men interferes less in their lives than would in other countries.
FORERO: And there's another factor; one documented in studies by the Inter-American Development Bank and the University of Texas - the role of the telenovela or soap opera.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FORERO: In "Fina Estampa," the most popular of Brazil's telenovelas these days, the characters are often rich and cosmopolitan and have few children, if any at all.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FINA ESTAMPA")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Portuguese spoken)
FORERO: It's been a recurring theme in soaps for decades, says Maria Lopes of the Center for the Study of the Telenovela.
MARIA LOPES: (Portuguese spoken)
FORERO: She says there's no doubt that the appealing lives presented in the soaps play a role in the falling fertility rate. Other factors also are at play, including the expanding role in the workforce for Brazilian women, whose educational level has also soared. Still, it's not just the educated and affluent who've seen the fertility rate plunge. Demographers say they see it among the poor too, and in rural as well as urban areas.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIZZLING)
FORERO: At a new restaurant in a working class district on Rio's outskirts, the five women owners all came from big families.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHOPPING)
FORERO: Priscila da Silva chops tomatoes in preparation for the lunchtime crowd. She says times have changed.
PRISCILA DA SILVA: (Portuguese spoken)
FORERO: Before, I wanted four children, she says, and had even picked out names. But now I just want one, she says.
SILVA: (Portuguese spoken)
FORERO: It's too hard these days, Silva adds. You have to pay for schooling, for health care. There are all kinds of costs. And besides, she says, she's got a growing business to run. Juan Forero, NPR News.
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MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Chris Burden's early career was all about the intersection of art and danger. The 1970s saw him lying crucified with nails on the roof of a Volkswagen Bug. In another piece, he was shot through the arm by an assistant - literally. Later, Burden made the transition from performance art to sculpture. Now, his work is filled with movement and children's toys. A new piece called "Metropolis II" is a scale model of Los Angeles with 1,200 colorful little cars zooming around it at lightning speed. Reporter Alex Schmidt went to the L.A. County Museum of Art to check it out.
CHRIS BURDEN: Should we go ahead and turn it on?
ALEX SCHMIDT, BYLINE: The piece is a 10-foot-tall model of a city - basically, it fills up a room. There are colored buildings here and there, and dozens of aluminum tracks sloping over, under it, around them at different levels. An operator steps under some tracks into the middle of the sculpture and flips a few switches. Then, the action: 1,200 toy cars slowly speed up and then start zooming around on the tracks.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARS MOVING ON TRACKS)
SCHMIDT: There is a balcony, so you can look down on it from above. The colorful cars whish past so fast that they make a kind of repetitive pattern. I don't know, I kind of find it sort of soothing.
BURDEN: Yeah, hypnotic like a white noise, like a river, like a brook or a stream or something, right? White water noise.
SCHMIDT: The cars aren't tethered to anything - they move by a central engine and magnetic pulls. So, there's a possibility of a real accident. The operator in the middle of the piece has to keep a close eye out for problems, and can press emergency stops if she has to.
BURDEN: It's like the real world. So, it's like, you know, one accident causes more and more and then, you know, it's a pile-up.
SCHMIDT: I guess, like, if you happen to catch one of those while you were here, it might be kind of cool.
BURDEN: Yeah.
SCHMIDT: Like I saw an accident.
BURDEN: Yeah.
SCHMIDT: This is the artist's second major installation for LACMA, and arguably just as cool as the first. That one is the now-iconic sculpture "Urban Lights," rows of antique streetlamps that look out on Wilshire Blvd in front of the museum. Burden feels his more recent works give the museum a little more mass appeal.
BURDEN: I think all these things help bring maybe a lay public that would not necessarily be interested in art necessarily. I don't think you need to have an art history background to understand this sculpture.
SCHMIDT: Yup. There's something just neat about hundreds of little cars zooming around superfast on metal tracks. No art history classes necessary. For NPR News, I'm Alex Schmidt.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
One of America's least densely-populated states has hit a major milestone. Around the first of the year, Montana's population crossed over the million person mark. The governor says it's a good sign for the future. But Montana Public Radio's Dan Boyce Reports some residents say the state's already too crowded.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRYING)
DAN BOYCE, BYLINE: It must be Sunday in Townsend, Montana. Penny's Breakfast Station is frying up hash browns into the early afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It's a pretty average Sunday. We get pretty busy after the church crowd.
BOYCE: Fewer than 2,000 people live in this small farming community surrounded by national forests and just south of the gigantic Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Penny's serves as a regular gathering place for residents, like 86-year-old Dorothy Hahn, who's lived in Townsend most of her life.
DOROTHY HAHN: Since 1943.
BOYCE: She says one million Montanans is too many.
HAHN: Oh, that's a lot of people for Montana, 'cause we got a lot of wide-open spaces.
BOYCE: And she says she wants it to stay that way.
HAHN: I don't like big cities at all. I like small towns.
BOYCE: Nearby, youth group leader Carrie Driver doesn't mince words on her view of newcomers.
CARRIE DRIVER: Go back where you came from, pretty much, especially if you're coming from California or these other states and they buy up secondary houses that they don't even use and then expect they can come in and tell us how to run ours because they live here two months out of the year.
BOYCE: The state's entire population has grown about 10 percent over the last decade to reach the million mark. But those million Montanans are stretched over an area bigger than New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island combined. It's fewer than seven people per square mile.
GOVERNOR BRIAN SCHWEITZER: So, we're not crowded by any stretch of the imagination.
BOYCE: Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.
SCHWEITZER: Now, I did see a bumper sticker in Great Falls last week. It said Montana is full; we hear there's still room in North Dakota.
BOYCE: As for himself, Governor Schweitzer likes the million person figure.
SCHWEITZER: This gives us an opportunity for more jobs, more opportunities for our children and grand-children, so I guess it's progress.
BOYCE: Back at Penny's Breakfast Station, Randy Brown is finishing up his coffee. He runs a concrete company in Townsend, and says population equals construction.
RANDY BROWN: In my business, it makes me feel good because there's people moving in and that means they want houses or they'll buy something that needs to be repaired or add a garage to it, so I haul the concrete or redi-mix to them to make me money as they come in.
BOYCE: More Montanans might mean more business for him and for Penny's Breakfast Station. Just don't be surprised if you have to wait in line on Sundays. For NPR News, I'm Dan Boyce in Townsend, Montana.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Charlie Haden is a legend in jazz music. He started as a singer on his family's country radio show when he was just 2 years old. After losing his voice to polio as a teenager, he found a new voice by picking up the bass.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: His new album of hymns and spirituals, "Come Sunday," was his last collaboration with the late pianist Hank Jones, who passed away in 2010. Charlie Haden was recently inducted as a jazz master by the National Endowment for the Arts, but polio has compromised his voice again, so he couldn't attend the awards ceremony.
PETRA: I'm very honored to accept this award for my dad, Charlie Haden.
MARTIN: So, Haden's daughter Petra went and read his acceptance speech on his behalf.
PETRA: (Reading) I learned at a very young age that music teaches you about life because you are in the midst of improvisation, there is no yesterday and no tomorrow.
CHARLIE HADEN: (Reading) It was just a moment that you were in.
MARTIN: And now, here's Charlie Haden reading to us from that same speech.
HADEN: (Reading) In that beautiful moment, you experience your true insignificance to the rest of the universe. And it is then and only then that you can experience your true significance.
MARTIN: That was lovely. Thank you.
HADEN: Thanks.
MARTIN: Why did "Come Sunday" capture your imagination, this the title track and the title to the album?
HADEN: It's written by Duke Ellington for this church piece called "Black, Brown and Beige," and the lead song in that was "Come Sunday." And it's so beautiful, I thought that would be an appropriate song.
MARTIN: It was made famous by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in 1943. Let's take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME SUNDAY")
MAHALIA JACKSON: (Singing) Lord, dear Lord, I've learned. God Almighty, God above...
MARTIN: And now we hear your version with Hank Jones coming in.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME SUNDAY")
MARTIN: I'd love to hear from you what you think is complimentary about gospel music, about these hymns and the jazz music that you're so famous for. I mean, you can imagine, they're both, to a certain degree, driven by the individual performer's inspiration in that moment. Do you see other connections between those two musical genres?
HADEN: When you think about the art form jazz coming from this country and you think about the Underground Railroad and all the music that came from that struggle, and then you think about all the music coming over from Scotland and Ireland and England into the Appalachian Mountains and the Ozark Mountains where I was born and raised, you know, it's all one really. We can only have been born here in this country.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME SUNDAY")
MARTIN: Did you go into this understanding that some people out there were going to think these songs were meant to be sung this way, with the organ in the church, and not kind of deconstructed by jazz musicians?
HADEN: Well, Hank told me before we started a lot of these songs were not written to be improvised. They were written, you know, for the church and to be strictly adhered to. And he said if we do anything, we'll just do, like, interpretations of our own feelings about the songs instead, jazz improvisations.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HADEN: You know, a couple of times, Hank looked up at the sky while we were in the studio and he looked up and he said, forgive me, Lord for that flat 13 and the, you know, just the harmonies that go into jazz. And, you know, it was a lot of fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: There are moments in this album - I could be hearing things - but it sounds like one of you is kind of humming. Am I right?
HADEN: I think both of us hum a little bit when we play. Most improvising musicians do that, you know, especially ones that used to sing. I came from being a singer going into jazz. And that's one of the things that polio did for me is took away my ability to sing with a range because it paralyzed my vocal chords. So, that's when I started playing. But I hear the music as if I were singing even when I'm playing.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You and Hank Jones recorded all 14 of these tracks included on the album in just two days, which is really incredible. It's a very quick pace. Can you give us a sense of what it was like in the studio?
HADEN: Well, you have to understand, Rachel, I've been doing this a long time. So, it's not frenetic and it's not a mad rush. It's loving the music and playing and enjoying it. In this life that we're in right now, there's a lot of turmoil and strife and we want to bring beauty to the world as much as we can because I think that's one of the responsibilities that the jazz musician feels because he's one of the only art forms that has improvisation and can reach the listener in a way where they can feel the depth of the songs.
MARTIN: You wrote in your liner notes that when you hear Hank Jones play that you can hear the universe, the heavens. What did you learn from him as a musician?
HADEN: I learned about beauty and about death and yet he was 91 when he passed away. I loved asking him questions about the times where I wasn't there. And he'd tell me the stories about Charlie Parker and stories about the jazz life.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Is there any other message that you hope this album reaches people with?
HADEN: I think that everybody should listen to this music because you don't ordinarily hear it in the context of jazz. You know, one of the things my mom used to do - I don't know why she chose me - but she chose me out of her six children to take the African-American church that was in the town that we lived in Springfield, Missouri. And we would go to the church and we would sit in the back row and we would listen to all of the spirituals and the hymns. Then that went into my music. It really inspired me to be a human being that cares about life and that has some passion for living and helping people and giving to people. That's what I tell my students at California Institute of the Arts where I teach for 27 years. I tell them if you strive to be a good person, maybe you might become a great jazz musician.
MARTIN: Charlie Haden's new album with Hank Jones is called "Come Sunday." He joined us from NPR West in Culver City, California. Mr. Haden, it's been a pleasure. Thanks so much for speaking with us.
HADEN: OK. Same to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: And you can hear more from Charlie Haden's new album "Come Sunday" at NPRMusic.org. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
Just six months ago, South Sudan became the world's newest nation, born out of decades of conflict with its former rulers in the North. The U.S. played a key role in South Sudan's independence. Now, U.S. officials are worried about ethnic violence South Sudan State of Jonglei now, as well as ongoing tensions between the two Sudans.
NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: U.S. officials still don't really have a handle on the violence that exploded this year in a remote part of South Sudan. But U.S. envoy Princeton Lyman says one thing is clear; from the deadly cattle raiding and ethnic clashes that have forced tens of thousands to flee, the government's reach still weak.
AMBASSADOR PRINCETON LYMAN: There are real fragile points in this society and years of neglect of their basic needs. And the government is going to have to move very, very fast to get a handle on it and not let ethnic politics get in the way, because some of that also contributed to the problem in Jonglei.
KELEMEN: Humanitarian groups are desperately trying to reach people in South Sudan's Jonglei State. Noah Gottschalk, of Oxfam America, says the violence threatens the new nation's plans to develop its agricultural sector.
NOAH GOTTSCHALK: And when you see this type of displacement happening in this short period of time, where you see the challenges cattle keepers are facing, it's really worrying. If this is what the government of South Sudan pins its hopes on, this will need to be addressed.
KELEMEN: The White House announced recently that it's sending five military advisors to help United Nations peacekeepers, who warned of the latest violence but mainly stayed on the sidelines. The Obama administration also cleared a legal hurdle to provide military assistance to South Sudan.
Envoy Princeton Lyman says the goal is to help a former liberation movement that fought for independence, become a real army with civilian oversight.
LYMAN: Right now, we are looking at help to establishing a stronger Ministry of Defense, command and control capability, human rights monitoring and better overall organization. We have no plans underway for lethal assistance to South Sudan.
KELEMEN: One of Lyman's former aides, Cameron Hudson, says the U.S. needs to show more tough love with South Sudan. Hudson is now with the Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. And he's worried about what former rebels now in government might do during this volatile time.
CAMERON HUDSON: The United states and other allied countries, I think, have a real opportunity and a responsibility to keep South Sudan on the right track.
KELEMEN: The U.S. is also worried about the relationship between the two Sudans. The North accuses the South of arming rebels. U.S. envoy Princeton Lyman can't rule that out, though the South denies it's meddling.
LYMAN: There is frustration but the frustration that both countries have failed to establish the kind of relationships, or even any of the basic institutions, for dealing with their bilateral problems. There's almost no communication between the two.
KELEMEN: And now, there are fears of famine in those areas where Sudan has been cracking down on rebel movements.
LYMAN: We have gone to the government. We have gone to countries around the world to say, look, this is a catastrophe but a preventable one, and urged everybody to say to the government of Khartoum you must allow in the United Nations.
KELEMEN: The U.N. Security Council though has been deadlocked on the issue, says Cameron Hudson, the former State Department official.
HUDSON: What China and Russia see is a proxy war that the South is fueling. And so, I think that they're reticent to take really strong action like the U.S. government would like to see, because they think that there isn't just one side involved here. Both sides are at fault.
KELEMEN: And there is another brewing conflict between the two Sudans that the U.S. is trying to manage. They're fighting over their shared oil wealth, and U.S. officials warn if this isn't resolved soon both countries could face a serious financial crisis.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. And it's time for the puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Let's start with last week's challenge from the puzzle editor of the New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master Will Shortz.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Name four parts of a car that are also terms used in a particular game. One of the parts is spelled in three letters; two of them in five letters each; and one has six letters. Also, two places a car might go are also terms used in this same game. What game is it, and what are the terms?
MARTIN: OK. So, almost 140 out of 230 of you figured out this answer. And our randomly-selected winner this week is Tom Fleenor from Quincy, Massachusetts. Congratulations, Tom.
THOMAS FLEENOR: Thank you very much.
MARTIN: OK. So, give it to us. What was the answer to last week's challenge?
FLEENOR: Well, the game was bowling and the words for the terms were pin, frame, spare and bumper, and the destinations were alley and lanes.
MARTIN: Now, I understand, even from Will Shortz himself, that this was a pretty hard puzzle. So, you must be a regular bowler or something to figure this out. How'd you know?
FLEENOR: Yeah, that's exactly it actually. It's sort of a serendipitous puzzle for me because it's the first one I'd ever actually figured out.
MARTIN: Using your bowling skills...
FLEENOR: Right, right. I...
MARTIN: ...to apply to the puzzle.
FLEENOR: ...sort of came to bowler in a roundabout way from poker to golf to bowling was where the thought process went. But once I got there, I sort of started with pin and then got frame and spare and spent a long time trying to figure out bumper but we got there eventually.
MARTIN: Well, that's great. And, Thomas, what do you in Quincy, Massachusetts?
FLEENOR: Well, actually I work in the city. I work in Brookline at Harvard Medical School. I'm a project manager for some survey research we do over here.
MARTIN: Great. Well, before we continue, let's welcome puzzle master Will Shortz to the program. Good morning, Will.
SHORTZ: Hey, Rachel.
MARTIN: So, before we play the puzzle, Will, we have some unfinished business. You made some headlines this past week with one of your New York Times crossword puzzle clues. Remind us what was the clue that was so controversial in that particular puzzle.
SHORTZ: Yeah, a week ago in a Saturday puzzle, I had the clue wack in hip-hop, and the answer is illin', I-L-L-I-N. And according to the slang dictionaries, that's what illin' means. It means kind of stupid or bad. But interestingly, the connotation of the word has changed over the last 20 years. And nowadays, people who listen to hip-hop know illin' has a more positive connotation, sort of cool, maybe a little menacing. So...
MARTIN: So, it didn't surprise you when you got kind of feedback from people saying, Will Shortz, you're wrong.
SHORTZ: Oh, I get feedback like that all the time. I was surprised on this one 'cause the clue's been used twice before and no one ever complained. But, you know, the meaning of the word has changed. And I don't know if you saw but "The Colbert Report" picked it up on Thursday night. It was hilarious.
MARTIN: So, you've heard it here, folks. Will Shortz has delivered the final word in this debate. One more time, Will. Wack is a legitimate clue for illin'?
SHORTZ: Yes, but that's older slang. You know, when illin' comes up again, I'm going to use the more modern meaning.
MARTIN: All right. So, we're all learning through this process. Back to the task at hand, folks. Thomas, are you ready to play the puzzle?
FLEENOR: I am ready.
MARTIN: OK, Will. Let's do it.
SHORTZ: All right, Tom and Rachel. I'm going to give you a word. You think of a word that can follow mine to complete a familiar two-word phrase or name. And the first two letters of your word must be the second and last letters, respectively, of mine. For example, if I said fallen, you would say angel, because angel starts with A-N, and A and N are the second and last letters of fallen.
FLEENOR: OK.
MARTIN: OK.
SHORTZ: OK. Number one is European.
MARTIN: European.
FLEENOR: Union. European Union.
SHORTZ: European Union is it. Soap.
FLEENOR: Opera. Soap opera.
SHORTZ: Um-hum. That's right. Second.
FLEENOR: Edition.
SHORTZ: Second edition is it. Casting.
FLEENOR: Agency.
SHORTZ: Um-hum. Free F-R-E-E.
FLEENOR: Rein?
SHORTZ: It's a four letter...free rein is it. Beady B-E-A-D-Y.
FLEENOR: Eyes.
SHORTZ: Beady eyes. Gramophone.
FLEENOR: Record?
SHORTZ: Um-hum. Auburn. Think of an institution.
FLEENOR: University.
SHORTZ: That's it. Chicago. It's a TV show.
FLEENOR: TV show.
MARTIN: Ooh.
FLEENOR: Go ahead, Rachel. I'm lost.
MARTIN: Chicago Hope?
SHORTZ: Chicago Hope is it. And your last one is another TV show: Star.
FLEENOR: TV show - Star Wars. Geez, it would be terrible if I got that wrong...
SHORTZ: Not. Star Wars.
FLEENOR: That's not what it is either. Star Trek, Star Trek.
SHORTZ: Star Trek is it.
FLEENOR: I'm a Star Wars fan, that's why I did that.
SHORTZ: Good job.
MARTIN: Good job, Thomas.
FLEENOR: Thank you.
MARTIN: Congratulations. For playing our puzzle today, you will get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at NPR.org/Puzzle. And, Tom, for the record, which public record station do you listen to?
FLEENOR: WBUR.
MARTIN: WBUR in Boston. OK. Tom Fleenor, thank you so much for playing the puzzle this week.
FLEENOR: Thanks a lot, folks. Appreciate it.
MARTIN: OK, Will. Next week, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Sunday Puzzle and WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY with a special puzzle segment. And I understand you have a two-week challenge for us to work on in the meantime.
SHORTZ: Yes, it's a creative challenge called TV Lineup. Combine the titles of some TV shows, past or present, into an amusing sentence or statement. For example: "Today," "Sisters" "Name That Tune," "Father Knows Best." Or: "Desperate Housewives" "Bewitched" "My Three Sons," "One Day at a Time." And here's one more: "I've Got a Secret" "Murder She Wrote," "The F.B.I."
So, the shows can be network or cable, primetime or not - doesn't matter. Well-known shows are best. Entries will be judged on their sense, naturalness of syntax, humor, originality and overall effect. No more than three sentences per person, please. The best entry in my judgment will be announced in two weeks.
MARTIN: OK, so a two-week challenge. When you have the answer, go to our website, NPR.org/puzzle and click on the Submit Your Answer link. Remember, just one entry per person, please. But, as Will said, each entry can have up to three sentences. Our deadline for entries is Thursday, January 26th at 3 P.M. Eastern Time.
Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. If you're the winner we'll give you a call, and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle-master, Will Shortz.
And now, before we close the puzzle segment, it's not often we get the chance to play some classic Run DMC on WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY, so now a musical tribute to Will Shortz's puzzle genius.
Hit it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU BE ILLIN'")
RUN DMC: (Rapping) You be illin'. Illin'. Illin'. Illin'. You be illin'. Illin'. Illin'. Illin'
MARTIN: That was for you, Will.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: Thank you, Rachel. That was wack.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In this election year, we've been hearing a lot from voters around the country expressing frustration with the tone of politics today.
NPR's Debbie Elliott set out to revisit Brownstown, Indiana, where she first spoke with voters during the 1998 congressional elections - another acrimonious time.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Fourteen years ago, Ann Clodfelter was directing the Jackson County Homemakers Extension Chorus, as they prepared for an upcoming concert.
ANN CLODFELTER: Altos, you need to scoop more.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yeah, I know.
CLODFELTER: OK.
ELLIOTT: The Republican-controlled Congress, under then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, was preparing to impeach Democratic President Clinton Bill Clinton. Much of the campaign rhetoric that year focused on the subject, a sore spot at the time for Ann Clodfelter.
CLODFELTER: It's probably harder to vote the issues than any year because you don't hear about the issues.
ELLIOTT: In 1998, Clodfelter and other chorus members said they wanted to hear less about Monica Lewinsky, and more about subjects like education and the rising cost of health care. Today, Clodfelter still sits at a piano, now directing the choir at Brownstown Presbyterian Church
CLODFELTER: OK, let's do it on lu...
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO)
CLODFELTER: ...parts. Ready?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH CHOIR)
ELLIOTT: And just like 14 years ago, she's finding it hard to engage in this year's election because she doesn't think the candidates are articulating substantive agendas.
CLODFELTER: If you can't do a 30-second soundbite, you're not going to do any good. And that's not what I need to know.
ELLIOTT: Ann Clodfelter is 73 years old, a retired schoolteacher. Her husband, Don Clodfelter, is 78, also retired after running the local electric co-op for more than a quarter of a century.
This part of south Indiana is known as a Democratic enclave in a mostly Republican state, but the Clodfelters don't identify with either party.
DON CLODFELTER: I'm a registered independent. I have never, ever voted a straight ticket and I've never, ever missed an election.
ELLIOTT: The couple voted for John McCain in 2008 because they say he was more experienced than then-candidate Barack Obama. Another sore spot for Ann Clodfelter is the divisive political climate today. She complains criticism of the president is too often chalked up to racism.
CLODFELTER: I get frustrated with the color card - and people who voted for Obama because he was black, people who voted against him because he was black. I did not vote against him. I voted for McCain.
ELLIOTT: They're not going to vote for President Obama. But they haven't galvanized behind any of the Republican candidates, either. Don Clodfelter says he's looking for someone who can tackle the economy
DON CLODFELTER: We need a CEO - a really good manager.
(SOUNDBITE OF STREET NOICSES)
ELLIOTT: Brownstown is the Jackson County seat but only has about 3,000 residents. It's a scenic region, where the flat White River Valley meets rolling hills and knobs near the Kentucky border.
DON CLODFELTER: This is Main Street. This used to be the stoplight.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DON CLODFELTER: And I guess we've got progress 'cause we've got another one there...
ELLIOTT: On a driving tour of town, Clodfelter points out a new steel company, but says a lot of the older industries are now gone.
DON CLODFELTER: We had a paper mill here for many years, and it is no longer functioning. And we had a cannery here, and it's no longer functioning.
ELLIOTT: There's talk of a new company restarting the paper mill. But, he says, for the most part, workers in Brownstown have to travel to bigger cities for jobs. It's happening in small towns throughout the region.
JACK MONTGOMERY: The Heartland is left behind.
ELLIOTT: That's Jack Montgomery, a friend of the Clodfelters. He says no one is looking out for rural America anymore.
JACK MONTGOMERY: Our legislators - once they leave here and are in D.C. for two years, they've lost all touch with reality. They've gotten to be a part of that machine and the lobby group and the income level that you see in D.C.
ELLIOTT: Montgomery, who is 66, retired last year after 33 years at the local bank.
JACK MONTGOMERY: Something needs to be done. They've got to curtail spending and quit bailing out the big guys. Had we failed, a $150 million bank, they'd have said oops, your stockholders are going to take a loss. But when a big bank starts to fail they say oh, we've got to bail them out; they're too big to fail. Why? Their stockholders should take the loss, too.
ELLIOTT: His wife, Maryanne Montgomery, says it seems as though big corporations and political leaders don't play by the same rules that apply to the rest of the country. She says in real life, people have to work together and find compromise for the greater good.
MARYANNE MONTGOMERY: I think it's a crime that the two parties have to constantly fight one another - that there is no compromise going on; therefore, nothing gets accomplished. Everything is stymied.
ELLIOTT: The Montgomerys say they've yet to see a presidential candidate, from either party, who appears ready to put partisan differences aside for the good of the Heartland.
Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Tony Perkins is one of those leaders. He's president of the Family Research Council, and he attended the meeting where religious conservatives voted to endorse Santorum. Welcome to the program.
TONY PERKINS: Thank you. It's good to be with you.
MARTIN: Mr. Perkins, even just this past week, members of your organization were really divided over the candidates and unsure if social conservatives could rally around one candidate. What changed?
PERKINS: Well, I think there was a growing concern that we not repeat what took place in 2008. And so that was kind of the backdrop with the understanding that America is in a really precarious situation, and there is a unanimous desire and thought that we can and we most see America put back on the right path. And that includes replacing the current president of the United States with a true conservative candidate.
MARTIN: We should remind people that in 2008 what you're referring to there is the fact that social conservatives really didn't rally around Mike Huckabee. He ended up losing. Were there a lot of regrets over that decision?
PERKINS: Well, I think yes. I mean, when you look back it, Fred Thompson were still in the race and there were some others. There were people holding back, thinking, well, I'm sure that Mike Huckabee can make it or we're not sure if Fred Thompson's going to do it. And this was a desire not to repeat that course but to rather change the present course of events and hopefully combine some of that conservative vote behind a truly conservative candidate that you could then advance him onto the nomination and have a much stronger candidate be in the general election.
MARTIN: So, why Rick Santorum? What does he bring that sets him apart from other candidates, like Newt Gingrich, like Rick Perry?
PERKINS: There was a group of about 150 social conservative leaders, activists, political financiers, people who give a lot of money into the political process that met. I think what was interesting in this meeting, it was portrayed kind of going in, talking about, well, this is just going to be a bash Mitt Romney meeting. There was very little discussion about Mitt Romney. Each of the candidates, with the exception of Jon Huntsman, had a surrogate there. Now, it's not an official surrogate but someone in the evangelical community associated with those campaigns had an opportunity to speak on Friday night, and then on Saturday morning, what took place was a free-flow discussion among people who were there. And at the end of that, a balloting process took place. And that kind of three-step process to narrow down to where the majority, a super majority, decided on Rick Santorum.
MARTIN: But, again, what is it about Santorum that was able to kind of bring all these disparate parties together?
PERKINS: Well, I think, again, it was the uniqueness of the situation of which we are in. There was the group spent a considerable amount of time praying for the nation, and there was a sobering realization of where we stand as a country. Whether you look at it economically or whether it's the social and moral issues. And they're looking for someone who has a consistent record of standing and advancing these issues that would be best positioned to win the nomination and go into the general election and challenge Barack Obama. And in the end, again, a super majority agreed that that was Rick Santorum.
MARTIN: You say there was very little talk about Mitt Romney at all, but he is the frontrunner. He is pro-life, he embodies the kind of values that social conservatives hold up as important. Why not Romney?
PERKINS: Well, I think there's just a - as you see in the general voting populous - an uncomfortability(ph), an uncomfortability with him and his record and state of positions. Many do give him, or want to give him, the benefit of the doubt, but he's not spent the amount of time and energy in this election cycle that he did four years ago. We think those issues into his campaign message nor communicating with the social conservative community. So...
MARTIN: You're talking about his pro-life message and what you would perceive to be inconsistency in that?
PERKINS: Well, I mean, when you look at his record as governor is where the inconsistencies are. Now, certainly, we invite people to change their positions. But we also want to know that that is the position. And when you have a choice before you, of someone who has a very solid track record of advancing the culture of life and working to strengthen marriage and the family, as opposed to someone who has new stated policy positions as such but no record to really back it up, that's what conservative leaders were looking at. They believe that Rick Santorum has an opportunity with the possibility of succeeding in capturing the nomination, and they wanted to take a principled stand supporting a candidate who reflects everything who they talk about and work for as opposed to a simply politically pragmatic stand.
MARTIN: We should point out though that Mitt Romney won in Iowa, even by a slim margin, won decidedly in New Hampshire - two critical contests. Is this endorsement of Rick Santorum too little too late?
PERKINS: I don't think so. When you look at the fact that Mitt Romney only has 10 delegates at present. He's got a long way to go to secure the nomination. So, I think South Carolina is going to be very telling as to what the future holds. And I think that's why the timing of this is such coming out before South Carolina's vote that it could be right at the right time.
MARTIN: Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins, thanks so much for talking with us.
PERKINS: Thank you. Glad to be with you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has a boost going into the last week of campaigning in South Carolina. He won the endorsement of a group of conservative Christian leaders yesterday. We'll speak with one of those leaders in a moment. But first, all of the candidates except for Ron Paul met in Charleston yesterday. Fox News host and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee moderated a forum. As NPR's Ari Shapiro reports, it wasn't exactly a debate.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: In fact, this was sort of the opposite of a debate. The candidates never actually shared the stage. They were explicitly prohibited from attacking or even mentioning each other. Still, most found ways to get in a jab without naming their rivals. The vast majority of the jabs were aimed at front-runner Mitt Romney. One member of the audience asked Jon Huntsman about his position on abortion.
JON HUNTSMAN: I am very clear on my pro-life philosophy. I have always been pro-life, and I always will be.
SHAPIRO: Romney supported abortion rights before he changed his position. Rick Santorum also tried to contrast himself with the stereotype of Romney as a political opportunist who blows in the wind.
RICK SANTORUM: Not everybody agrees with everything you believe in, but what they want to know is that you believe what you believe. And folks trusted me that I would stand up and in fact do what I said and that I was doing it for the right reason.
SHAPIRO: Newt Gingrich did not even bother with the oblique attacks. He went after the former Massachusetts governor by name, continuing the argument he has pursued for the past week, that Romney made a fortune at the investment company Bain Capital by closing companies and laying people off.
NEWT GINGRICH: Governor Romney ran saying he created 100,000 jobs in the private sector, and let me just say...
JOHN HUCKABEE: Mr. Speaker, we've said we will not allow any comment of the other candidates.
GINGRICH: Well, I'm just trying to answer his question.
SHAPIRO: Having been scolded by the host and booed by the audience, Gingrich joined the other candidates in going after Romney without naming him.
GINGRICH: To ask questions about a particular company is not the same as attacking capitalism, and I don't see how you can expect us to have a presidential campaign in which an entire sector is avoided. And I guarantee you if we Republicans avoid it, our nominee in the fall is not going to find that Obama avoids it at all.
SHAPIRO: All week long, Rick Perry joined in the Romney attacks on the campaign trail. But last night, he was the only one who did not go down that path, talking instead about his record as Texas governor. Mitt Romney is the target because he is the man to beat in this race. He won Iowa and New Hampshire. Now, South Carolina could be his rivals' last best chance to unseat him. Polls show him ahead of the pack one week before the primary. But South Carolina voters still have concerns about his conservative authenticity. One man asked Romney, how will you convince us that you and Obama aren't just two sides of the same coin? Another woman said:
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Can you convince me, as a true conservative, why we should vote for you, a moderate Republican, against any of the other candidates? Will you flip-flop if you are elected?
SHAPIRO: Romney tried once more to prove his conservative mettle. He said he governed Massachusetts as a conservative. And in answer to another question, he said he'll fight for religious expression.
MITT ROMNEY: I will not proceed down the path that I think you're seeing across this country, which is to try to secularize America. I think we ought to have manger scenes at Christmastime, and menorahs representing other faiths. Look, we are a believing people.
SHAPIRO: So far, Romney has benefited from the failure of his opponents to coalesce behind any one alternative. As the forum was taping yesterday, conservative Christian leaders decided to throw their weight behind Rick Santorum. Now, it remains to be seen whether the anti-Romney voters will fall in line behind those leaders. Ari Shapiro, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now to some words set in stone: I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. That sentence is inscribed on a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. at a memorial to the civil rights leader here in Washington, D.C. The problem? Dr. King never said those words - not exactly. Here's what Dr. King actually said in a 1968 sermon:
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.
MARTIN: Now, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has given the National Park Service 30 days to come up with a plan to fix the inscription. That won't be in time for tomorrow's Martin Luther King holiday, so why 30 days? According to the Washington Post, Salazar said, "Things only happen when you put a deadline on it." And unlike the inscription, that is a direct quote.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. This week, the alleged mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen will be back in a military courtroom at Guantanamo. Guantanamo just marked a controversial milestone - the 10-year anniversary of its use as a detention center for suspected terrorists. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston is here with us now to talk about this week's hearing, 10 years at Guantanamo and what lies ahead for the prison. Dina, let's start out - tell us a little bit about the hearing that's happening this week.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: Well, the man at the center of it all is a Saudi named Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Prosecutors say that he was in charge of an al-Qaida cell in Yemen and helped plan the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. You remember that the Cole was a USS destroyer that had stopped in Yemen to refuel, and there were some suicide bombers in a rubber boat that was filled with explosives. And they floated up alongside and blew this huge hole in the ship. And 17 service men and women died in that attack. Well, his military trial started back in November, and this week there's going to be another hearing scheduled and he's expected to attend.
MARTIN: So, is this the first actual trial at Guantanamo since President Obama took office?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Yes, exactly. Al-Nashiri is the first trial that's going to use the Obama administration's so-called reformed military commission. I mean, the early commission system was seen as unfair to defendants. There was hearsay evidence allowed, for example, and evidence gathered from torture was allowed in court as well, and that was a huge issue. So, what the Obama administration did is it rewrote the rules of the commission a couple of years ago, and the al-Nashiri trial is the first one to test the commission under these new rules, these new reforms. So, everybody's watching it pretty carefully.
MARTIN: OK. So, let's talk about these reforms. Have they actually fixed these problems that you just mentioned?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, some of the rules of evidence conform much more now with the rules that we're used to seeing in federal courts. And the chief prosecutor there at Guantanamo - he's a man named General Mark Martins - he said that his team isn't going to offer any evidence in court that has even the slightest whiff of having been obtained through torture. Now, we'll see if that turns out to be the case, but that's the line that they've taken. I think the other thing that's really important to note here is that the Department of Justice is really involved in these military tribunals. A lot of the lawyers on the prosecution team, for example, they're from the Department of Justice. A lot of the way the evidence has been gathered and the casework that's already been done on some of these detainee cases, that's also coming out of the Department of Justice. And I think there's been the sense, as these military commissions have sort of evolved, that all these terrorisms cases are going to be just passed off to the military and tried in these cobbled-together commission systems. And what military prosecutors seem to be trying to do is to sort of build something that looks a lot like the federal court system.
MARTIN: And that's important right now because there is this big debate in Congress about where suspected terrorists should be tried - military commissions or civilian courts?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Exactly. I mean, members of Congress have made it difficult for the Obama administration to try suspected terrorists in criminal courts in the U.S. I mean, there are lawmakers like Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who said that terrorism isn't a crime, it's an act of war, so military trials are the appropriate way to deal with them. So, one reason the trial of the alleged Cole bomber is so important is because it's going to be a test for this new system.
MARTIN: NPR's Dina Temple-Raston. Thanks, Dina.
TEMPLE-RASTON: You're very welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For one debut novelist, the famous prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba became a source of unlikely inspiration. Alex Gilvarry's dark first novel occupies a wacky continuum that begins at the center of haute couture, and ends in solitary confinement. The book is called "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant," and it looks at one man's trip into military detention and, did we mention, it is a comedy? Author Alex Gilvarry joins me today from our New York bureau. Welcome to the program, Alex.
ALEX GILVARRY: Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: OK. So, let's start with your main character. He's this young man, an aspiring fashion designer from the Philippines - he's named Boy - and he comes to New York City to make his name and fortune in fashion. Tell us more about his guy.
GILVARRY: He moves here from Manila, where he grew up, went to fashion school and he idolizes America. And he moves here to New York. He becomes mixed up with the wrong crowd, as happens sometimes. The people who fund his label - one character in particular - winds up implicating him in a terrorist plot, and he becomes the first man arrested on U.S. soil to be captured and sent to Guantanamo Bay.
MARTIN: OK. Before we get any further, let's have you read a little bit from the book - just that very first chapter.
GILVARRY: Sure. (Reading) My story is one of unrequited love - love for a country so great that it has me welling up inside knowing it could never love me back. And even after the torment they've put me through, tossing me into this little cell in no-man's land, would you believe that I still hold America close to my heart? Stupid me, Boy Hernandez, Filipino by birth, fashion designer by trade and terrorist by association.
MARTIN: So, there are two narrative threads here - one is Boy's journey through this kind of crazy mayhem that is New York's fashion scene, and the other is his experience in captivity, in this place that you describe as something that's meant to be the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You write about this episode, it's the turning point that changes everything for Boy.
GILVARRY: Boy describes it as the overwhelming event, and that's the night of his capture. And men break through the door and he's hooded, his apartment is ransacked and he's drugged, taken for a car ride and soon put on a plane. You know, the one book Boy has when he's in his cell is the Quran. So, writing this book, I read the Quran, and the overwhelming event is a chapter from the Quran, and that's where I took the name.
MARTIN: We should point out that Boy, the character, is a kind of a disenfranchised Catholic himself.
GILVARRY: Yes, yes.
MARTIN: Not a Muslim.
GILVARRY: He's not. And he keeps claiming that he's not a Muslim to his captors in prison, yet they just sort of ignore that and give him all the religious paraphernalia.
MARTIN: You make a lot of claims about how this went down. He's spirited away in the middle of the night, he's hooded and drugged, and your details about what incarceration in Guantanamo Bay is like. What kind of research did you do on this?
GILVARRY: Well, you know, I couldn't go there. They don't let novelists into Guantanamo Bay to visit to write a novel. So, I read everything I could, really. I started the book in 2006, and Guantanamo was something that was on the radio and the news every day. I read books by Gitmo lawyers as well, and I just used what I could, details that I found from them.
MARTIN: Wondering what provoked these questions for you in the first place, to sit down and say I'm going to write my first novel and I'm going to devote a lot of it to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the U.S. detention facility there.
GILVARRY: Well, I wanted to write about the state of America over the last decade with two wars and post-9/11 paranoia. This was my world, you know, when I was living in New York City. It was all of our worlds. And I wanted my novel to address that in some way. Guantanamo is something that just grew as an obsession of mine. Every day, I would hear on the radio stories of men imprisoned without trial. And any sort of injustice, especially when it happens in this country, really gets me fired up.
MARTIN: Did you think that you were perhaps feeding this paranoia? I mean, to date, there have been no detainees who were apprehended on American soil, but that's what happens to your character.
GILVARRY: Right. I wanted this sort of to be a worst-case scenario novel; what could happen if we continue down this slippery slope of locking prisoners away without due process.
MARTIN: Because your character is this kind of unassuming guy. He's an aspiring fashion designer. Yes, he may have come into contact with some kind of dodgy folks, but we're led to believe that he's a pretty innocent guy. But Guantanamo Bay is filled with people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and people who have conspired to do significant acts of terrorism.
GILVARRY: For me, I was really interested in the men who slipped through the cracks, who hadn't done anything wrong. I start to think, how could this happen?
MARTIN: Is this a satire?
GILVARRY: It is. It's supposed to be funny.
MARTIN: I mean, there are parts that are very funny. But it does switch, the tone does change.
GILVARRY: Yeah, it does, especially the last third of the book becomes darker as Boy approaches his tribunal. He's in his cell writing out his confession, preparing his case. And he begins to lose hope in the American justice system.
MARTIN: What does Boy learn through this journey? Who is he at the end of this?
GILVARRY: You know, he's a very damaged individual by the end, yet he is still sort of in love with America, and in particular New York City. It was a dream for him being here, so he has very complex feelings about this country. And he prevails. I hope there's a note of hope when a reader finishes this book.
MARTIN: Alex Gilvarry. His debut novel is called "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant," and it's available now. To read an excerpt from the novel, go to our website, NPR.org. Alex Gilvarry, thanks so much for talking with us.
GILVARRY: Thank you for having me.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A lot of us have memories of our first car. Maybe it was the Gremlin your grandmother gave you or that 1982 Toyota Corolla you bought in the '90s. Christine Park's first car is the Cadillac XTS, and it's on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. NPR's Sonari Glinton has her story.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: For a car designer, there's probably no scarier time than auto show time. There's probably no scarier auto show than the Detroit Auto Show. It's kind of like report card day for car designers.
CHRISTINE PARK: How about...would you like to sit in it? No, you can't...OK, sit in the driver's seat.
GLINTON: Christine Park is senior creative designer with Cadillac. There doesn't appear to be much that scares her. She's very eager to show off the Cadillac XTS.
PARK: Take a look at the main line here; that horizontal line. That sets the tone of the interior. Above it, see how clean the surface is. And you know, that cleanliness creates this calming, you know, serenity effect for the entire interior.
GLINTON: Park led the design of the interior of the Cadillac XTS, which is pretty impressive since she's only 28 and she graduated from design school six years ago.
PARK: There aren't many woman designers in car designer industry. I don't know if you know that. But it's a very male-dominated field. So, it's something that people don't expect.
GLINTON: Parks, who's from the San Francisco Bay Area, says she didn't expect this life for herself. She always knew she wanted to do something creative but she didn't know what.
PARK: I kind of tampered with fashion for a while, a little bit, when I was in high school. I remember taking summer classes, like high school fashion classes -loved it until...
GLINTON: Until she bought a sewing machine and realized that she couldn't sew. That's when she met a professor at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. It's kind of like the Harvard of car design school.
PARK: He told me about what a car designer does. He took me out to a parking lot and he started describing to me the character lines, the proportion, the wheel base. I did not know what he was talking about, but it was really inspiring.
GLINTON: From that moment on she was hooked.
PARK: You know, up until that point I had no idea that there was a designer behind a car; that there was an artist, that car is an art. Wow, are you telling me that I can utilize my artistic talent to create this; this, like, machinery; this moving art?
GLINTON: Park ended up going to the Art Center College of Design. She interned for General Motors while she was in school and essentially she never left. Park says she considers herself an artist; an artist that can influence a part of a customer's life. She thinks about every little thing.
PARK: You know, the placement of the cup holders. Is this too far? Is this too close? Is the steering wheel in the right place? Is the shifter and the steering wheel, that connection, you know, the distance, is that right?
GLINTON: If she gets it right or the car designer gets it right, it's something that will live with the customer for a long time, the way you remember your first car.
PARK: That's the power of design. People are just emotionally drawn to it. You make a connection through the shapes. And you can't pinpoint exactly what it is about the car, but you just fall in love with the car.
GLINTON: The auto show is Christine Park's first chance to get to create an emotional connection with customers. This is her first car.
PARK: When I first saw the prototype, I almost cried. I really did. Because it's such an emotional experience, and for me to have this type of an opportunity, it's a true blessing.
GLINTON: To be able to sit in a car that you've made.
PARK: Right, right, and to tell somebody I did that, and I designed that.
GLINTON: Park says you should think of your car as a work of art. The person who designed it certainly does. Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's time to go to our inbox now. Last week, we aired a segment about the U.S. Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, which aims to teach soldiers how to be emotionally and psychologically strong. I spoke with one of the program's trainers and with Brigadier General James Pasquarette, the director of the program.
BRIGADIER GENERAL: It's hard for soldiers to sign up for something that deals with what's between your ears. We're really into physical fitness. And however you're wired in your brain, that's - I'm going to deal with it and there's treatment on the far end.
MARTIN: Jarrod Davis in Tucson, Arizona, writes: I served in the Army, in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. When I listened to your report, I was not surprised to hear that stigma towards anything to do with mental health was still present in the military. He continues: I know that when I got back from Desert Shield, it would have ruined my career if I sought out mental health care.
In our News Tip segment, I spoke with NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik about coverage of the 2012 presidential election, which started a year ago. Folkenflik reminded journalists that...
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Most people are visitors to the land of political obsession, not full-time residents.
MARTIN: Vaun Angert posted this at NPR.org: David Folkenflik says that people don't have time to devote to the minutiae of politics. I hope he realizes that a huge part of that busy life includes the minutiae of sports or the latest celebrity gossip. Most people only pay attention in the final week before an election, when they perk up to the negative political ads for guidance.
He goes on to say: It's a shame we can't generate the same minute interest in something that has real bearing on our lives that we devote to, the lives of people in a realm we'll never be a part of.
Leslie Davis from Portland, Oregon, echoes that feeling, adding: An obsession with every nuance of primaries and caucuses is not the same thing as an obsession with politics because politics is much more than elections. Americans elect all kinds of people; neighborhood representatives, members of school boards, state senators. Reporters - Folkenflik, too, apparently - could use a reminder that political race is a metaphor and that we're not actually watching a dog fight or a horse race.
And listeners thanked us for Heidi Chang's story last week about the Hawaiian music, used to score one of the most critically acclaimed films of last year, "The Descendants."
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MARTIN: Maureen Davis writes: The music seems like another character in the story; a grandmother watching over, the wife apologizing and comforting, the great-grandfather teaching what is right. Even instrumentally it speaks as if words would be too much. The music supervisor Dondi Bastone and director Alexander Payne did an amazing job.
Judith Anderson adds: When my husband introduced me to Hawaiian music, I fell in love. As a genre that represents original music from the U.S., it deserves to be listened to and loved like jazz or the blues.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR MUSIC)
MARTIN: We want to hear from you. Visit NPR.org and click on the link that says Contact Us. Find us on Facebook and Twitter at @nprweekend and @rachelnpr.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The family of famed cellist Bernard Greenhouse is getting ready for another emotional goodbye. Last year, Greenhouse passed away at the age of 95. He had a long career as a master cellist and founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio. Now, his family is getting ready to part with the instrument that Greenhouse called his voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO AND PIANO)
MARTIN: The 300-year-old instrument is known as The Countess of Stanlein and it's one of only 60 Stradivarius cellos in existence today. Now, this celebrated instrument is up for sale and it's expected to match or exceed the previous record sale for a cello, six million dollars.
We're joined now by Elena and Nicolas Delbanco. Elena is Bernard Greenhouse's daughter. Her husband, Nicholas, wrote a book about his father-in-law.
Welcome, both of you to the program.
ELENA DELBANCO: Thank you.
NICHOLAS DELBANCO: Thank you. Good to be here.
MARTIN: I just imagine this was a difficult decision for you to sell your father's cello, Elena.
DELBANCO: It was a decision that was long in coming, so I've had time to prepare for it. The instrument, as you know, has a certain value. And, of course, the government will be interested in the taxes for it; and that in itself would probably be more than we could muster, if we decided to keep it.
DELBANCO: Anyway, the prospect of playing it, the way I strum a ukulele, is rather horrifying.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DELBANCO: It belongs in expert hands.
DELBANCO: It's such a gorgeous instrument and it really needs to be in the hands of a musician.
MARTIN: In 2008, producer Joe Richmond actually recorded your dad, Elena, Bernard Greenhouse, at his home practice room. And your father talked about is own personal bond with his cello. Take a listen to that clip.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BERNARD GREENHOUSE: The sandy quality to the sound which turns to velvet in the auditorium, to the listener it's a smooth, very beautiful quality which is peculiar to a Stradivarius work. No other instrument has quite that sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
GREENHOUSE: This cello, it's my voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
DELBANCO: Beautiful.
MARTIN: Yeah. Elena, I'd like to go back to the day that your father brought home this instrument in the first place.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: Do you remember that day? Do remember him playing his Stradivari cello for the first time?
DELBANCO: I do. And I remember the tremendous excitement because he just felt that he had found such a treasure. And, you know, the cello sort of became our third sibling. It was a figure in our life. It traveled with us and it sat between us in the backseat of the car. And we have to watch it and take care of it, and make sure nothing happened to it when he stepped away. And it was a family member.
MARTIN: Do you remember ever feeling like you were competing with the cello for your dad's affection...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: ...or attention at any point?
DELBANCO: I think I didn't feel so much about the cello as about music in general, that it was a competition. When I was a child I would erase the names of students who were coming to work with him, and put my own name in so that I might have an hour of his time...
MARTIN: Wow.
DELBANCO: ...which, of course, never worked.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DELBANCO: But what I do really remember feeling was that the cello got to go to Europe. And it went everywhere he went and I yearned to travel with him. And that I think was what made me feel competitive. Why not take me?
MARTIN: Yeah.
DELBANCO: Can I...
MARTIN: Please.
DELBANCO: ...add a little something about the travels of the cello?
MARTIN: Yes.
DELBANCO: Because of the size of airplane seats, it required a first-class seat. And for while, he would sit back in steerage and insist that the caviar and champagne be sent to him, while the cello traveled regally up in first-class, strapped in.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DELBANCO: And I think that's another version of the way Elena felt.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: The cello getting the first-class treatment.
DELBANCO: Exactly.
MARTIN: They went on adventures together, this instrument and Bernard Greenhouse. I understand though sometimes he ended up leaving his instrument in places maybe he shouldn't have.
DELBANCO: I don't think that happened often. But it did happen once and unforgettably. I think, again, it should be my wife who tells this tale 'cause she was there.
DELBANCO: Well, I'll try to...
MARTIN: Please, Elena.
DELBANCO: ...tell it as quickly as possible. This is my first trip to Europe and our first stop was Dubrovnik, that Summer Festival, August 1968. And after the concert, as we were coming back to the hotel, my father was helping Lois Marshall, a contralto, out of the car and into the hotel. She had some difficulty walking. And when he turned back, the cab was gone and the cello was in the trunk.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
DELBANCO: And he just collapsed with anxiety.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
DELBANCO: And we ran to the concierge and, slowly but surely, they tracked down the taxi driver, woke him up at his house 'cause it was of course late at night. And he said I simply refuse to come back to the hotel till morning.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DELBANCO: So, my father paced the lobby...
MARTIN: He didn't sleep, I imagine.
DELBANCO: Oh, my God. No. And we stayed up with him. And at about four o'clock in the morning, the Soviets invaded Prague.
MARTIN: Oh, my.
DELBANCO: And we had to leave the country immediately. It was, of course, it was Yugoslavia. But we didn't have the cello. So there was a great drama until the taxi driver showed up. He couldn't understand what the big deal was. He said he was coming.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DELBANCO: And I think it really took 15 years off my father's life.
MARTIN: Oh, man. I can't...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DELBANCO: Now we - everybody was waiting in the bus. And we got on the bus and we went to the airport and we left.
MARTIN: I'd like to ask you, Elena, you know, have you given any thought about who you would like to own this instrument?
DELBANCO: What would matter to me most would be that it would be somebody who made magnificent music on it, and who revered it as my father did, and kept it in this impeccable shape that it's in now.
DELBANCO: It's beyond us to control.
DELBANCO: But let's just say that we hope not to be sad.
MARTIN: We've been talking with Elena and Nicholas Delbanco, daughter and son-in-law of the late cellist Bernard Greenhouse. Greenhouse's Stradivari cello goes up for sale on Monday.
Elena and Nicholas, thank you so much for talking with us.
DELBANCO: Thank you so much, Rachel, for having us.
DELBANCO: And thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO AND PIANO MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now east, to the region known as the Horn of Africa. Somalia has been struggling with the effects of a drought that began two years ago, causing a famine that's affected millions of people. Aid groups from around the world have been pushing hard to get food and resources to the people who need them. But those efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war between Somalia's weak central government and the rebel group known as al-Shabaab.
Here to talk about the situation is Mark Bowden. He's the United Nations' Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.
Mr. Bowden, welcome to the program.
MARK BOWDEN: Thank you.
MARTIN: You have been having a hard time getting aid into famine-stricken areas for a while. But just this past week, things seem to have gotten even worse. The head of a local food distribution charity was killed. It's suspected that al-Shabaab rebels were behind that killing. And also, this past week, the Red Cross suspended food distribution in parts of the country because al-Shabaab was blocking its convoys.
Help us understand why al-Shabaab rebels seem to be intentionally keeping aid away in the middle of a humanitarian crisis. How does this help them?
BOWDEN: Well, I think the Shabaab, they do have a sort of ideological feeling that food aid actually creates dependence in their areas. But also, I think their affairs from the Shabaab side that any association with Western organizations is actually part of an intelligence-gathering operation.
MARTIN: Can you give us a sense of how serious the famine is at this point?
BOWDEN: Well, the crisis in Somalia affects four million people, that's over 60 percent of the population need assistance. Amongst that there are a number of regions, they'll face famine conditions. Though the problem is that famine is is tech - we're using it as a technical term, where we're talking about very high levels of mortality; death rate of two adults per 10,000 per day, and very high levels of malnutrition.
By reducing that rate, we're bringing people out of famine but we're still dealing with a critical situation, where hundreds of thousands of people literally are still very much at risk of death.
MARTIN: You said that al-Shabaab maintains that accepting international aid somehow makes the population more dependent. Is the organization itself providing aid and humanitarian assistance to people who need it?
BOWDEN: Well, Shabaab had provided some assistance internally, yes. They have a zakat system, which is a tax on the better off to assist poorer groups. They set up their own drought committees. So there is some assistance taking place internally, but not enough to make the difference as needed to people's lives.
MARTIN: You are in the United States now. You recently met with leaders here to talk about American aid to Somalia. That has dried up in recent years. The U.S. has withdrawn some aid to the region for fears that al-Shabaab was taking a cut.
How do you reassure, not only lawmakers here in the United States, but in other Western partners - the United Kingdom - that if they give aid, it won't fall into the hands of al-Shabaab?
BOWDEN: Well, the U.S. has actually resumed its existence because they understand that we are facing a peculiar, extraordinary crisis in Somalia which requires extraordinary measures, and flexibility for everybody in responding to this.
MARTIN: Did you walk away from these meetings with a commitment from the U.S. government?
BOWDEN: Not exactly a commitment but I think an understanding. Certainly, I was reassured by the tone of our discussion and the level of interest and engagement. The U.S. is in the process of planning next year's priorities...
MARTIN: There's a budget conversation happening in Washington.
BOWDEN: Yeah. And I certainly felt reassured that they understood the criticality of need in Somalia and where the priorities lay.
MARTIN: How much are you asking for from the international community?
BOWDEN: We are asking for $1.5 billion this year, which sounds like an awful lot of money. And it is an awful lot of money. But last year, the humanitarian operations raised $1.3 billion and that's being mainly spent. It is expensive to address the needs of famine. But this year, what we're also trying to do is to help people who've been displaced get back to their lives, get back to the land and be able to farm and return to a normal life.
And that involves at least half a billion dollars in terms of restocking, providing cattle, sheep, goats and camels. Unless we do that we'll be in a difficult cycle of hardship year after year.
MARTIN: Mark Bowden is the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.
Mr. Bowden, thanks so much for joining us.
BOWDEN: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Nearly half a million Somalis live across the border in a giant refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. They fled the anarchy, drought, and famine back home. Thousands are recent arrivals. But many have been at the Dadaab Camp for 20 years, including a number of musicians who put their hopes and fears into their songs.
NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton has the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SONG)
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: Sitting crossed legged in a semi-circle on a large, faded mat is Ahmed Mohamed Hassan. He came to Dadaab refugee complex the year after it opened in 1992. Now a poet and a guitarist, Hassan is 24.
AHMED MOHAMED HASSAN: I see my people are dying, killing each other, doing something wrong. But I become musician because of my country. You must tell them the poem or a song, they will understand. Why are you doing, Somalis, why are you killing each other?
QUIST-ARCTON: Hassan says his group of about a dozen musicians uses its voices, accompanied by guitars and traditional calabash instruments to entertain and educate fellow Somalis.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SONG)
HASSAN: This first song is talking about the flag of Somalia. Our flag is a beautiful flag; blue light and a star. We are telling the people that let us build peace in Somalia. We are in a refugee but in refugee there is no life.
QUIST-ARCTON: Then he fills with melancholy.
HASSAN: I am Somali. I need my country, I like my country. Take the guitar and to tell my people through to song. This is a message I'm carrying up to now: How can we build peace?
QUIST-ARCTON: Hassan is joined by singer, Saida Hussein Mohamed. She was just two years old when her family fled to Kenya from Somalia in 1992. Saida Hussein Mohamed says music helps her educate her three daughters about the homeland they've never seen.
SAIDA HUSSEIN MOHAMED: (Through Translator) I usually sing for my daughters so at least they can keep up and continue knowing their country. I usually sing them the Somali national anthem.
(Singing in foreign language)
QUIST-ARCTON: Saida Hussein Mohamed says that's the song she shares with her daughters and they all feel happy.
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SONG)
MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
This week brought a change of scenery for Republican presidential candidates from New Hampshire to South Carolina, where voters will cast ballots on Saturday. But the front-runner is still the same, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. And this week, Romney is trying to make the hard sell to South Carolina's more socially conservative electorate. Here's a radio ad his campaign is running in the state:
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL RADIO AD)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Today, Christian conservatives are supporting Mitt Romney because he shares their values: The sanctity of life, the sacredness of marriage and the importance of the family.
MARTIN: But a group of Christian conservatives that met in Texas this weekend said they would throw their collective support behind one of Romney's rivals, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. And some of the former governor's Republican competitors are trying to slam his record in the private sector.
For more on the Republican nomination race, we are joined now by NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: I want to start with the news out of Texas that a Christian conservative group has decided to endorse Rick Santorum. Was this a surprise?
LIASSON: Well, we know that conservatives - especially evangelicals - have been trying to unite around one candidate. They've had a hard time doing that. They learned their lesson from 2008 where they failed to unite around Mike Huckabee in time. And he wasn't able to do well in South Carolina because the conservative vote was split. So this time, they finally came together at this late date to get behind Santorum.
I think it's significant because now they have coalesced behind one candidate. But I also think it might be too late. There's only a week left before South Carolina votes. Rick Santorum has very little time to put together the kind of national organization and raise the kind of money he would need to really become the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.
So, I think it might have limited utility but it is important. And we'll now see what kind of clout these evangelicals leaders have, as they try to send a message to evangelical voters in South Carolina. And there are plenty of them to unite behind Santorum.
MARTIN: But, as we mentioned, Mitt Romney has been under some pressure. He was criticized this week for his work as CEO of Bain Capital. And the super PAC that supports Newt Gingrich even bought a half-an-hour movie that attacks Romney for his work at Bain.
Do you have any sense, Mara, as to how Republican voters are responding to these kinds of attacks?
LIASSON: Well, it's very unclear. Romney's polling in South Carolina has been dropping in the last couple of days. It's hard to know if it's because of the Bain attacks, although that's a pretty good guess.
We also know there's been a backlash. A lot of conservative leaders have rallied to Romney's side, even people like Rush Limbaugh, who don't think Romney is conservative enough, to say that this kind of an attack is out of bounds. The Club for Growth called it disgusting. They've criticized Newt Gingrich in particular for going after the free enterprise system.
Gingrich himself has been a little bit haphazard in his attacks, saying at one point he wanted the 30-minute ad to be taken down - or the 30-minute movie. But that super PAC says it's going not going to take it down.
And the big question is when we have these two debates in South Carolina this coming week, how will Romney defend himself? Some of Romney's supporters say it's good these attacks are coming now; it can inoculate him because President Obama certainly will use similar attacks in the fall. He can get his response out now.
But the interesting thing about all of this - you mentioned Perry, you mentioned Gingrich - Rick Santorum, who got that big nod this weekend from the evangelicals, has not participated in these attacks. He has steered clear of them and even criticized them.
MARTIN: But quickly then, Mara, Romney has won over the voters in Iowa and now, New Hampshire. Can Rick Santorum or another, really, beat him in South Carolina?
LIASSON: We don't know yet. Even if Rick Santorum beat him in South Carolina, Romney is still the favorite. He still has the money and the organization to go on in states like Florida, where it takes a tremendous amount of money to win.
MARTIN: That's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks as always.
LIASSON: Thank you, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. What a day for NFL fans yesterday. It started with a close game and ended with a decidedly unclose game. Here to talk about those contests and the games coming up today is NPR's Mike Pesca. Hi, Mike.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.
MARTIN: OK. I want to start with the San Francisco 49ers - their amazing victory over the New Orleans Saints. And, Mike, you know me, I do not watch a whole lot of football, but I watched this game last night and I was literally jumping up and down in my living room, for both teams I might add, because it was totally thrilling.
PESCA: Now, did you watch the whole game or the last five minutes or so? Be honest.
MARTIN: OK. It was the last seven minutes. You totally caught me. But they were a gripping seven minutes.
PESCA: And that's how a lot of people watch football. This was a tale of a couple of different games. At first, it seemed like the Saints were going to be the Saints we know with this amazing precision offense driven by Drew Brees. And then when running back Pierre Thomas of the Saints had the ball at the two yard line, Donte Whitner delivered a hit that was so jarring I do think it knocked Pierre Thomas out. He fumbled the ball and San Francisco rolled to a 17-nothing lead. For a while, it was almost a defensive game. It was 23-17 with 17 minutes left. And as soon as it got to about seven minutes and as soon as Rachel Martin began tuning in, the offense...
MARTIN: Hey.
PESCA: ...obliged with a series of touchdown after touchdown after touchdown after touchdown. When it looked like the Saints had gone ahead with barely any time left, there was just enough time left for the 49ers to come down. They won the game with nine seconds left. Alex Smith connected with his great tight end, record-setting tight end, in fact, Vernon Davis, and that was the game.
MARTIN: It was totally amazing. Somewhat less thrilling, especially for Broncos fans, was the Denver-New England game, with the Patriots and Tom Brady just totally dominating.
PESCA: Right. Not quite as many as twists and turns, unless you're talking about Tim Tebow's body. The Denver quarterback was sacked quite often by the Patriots, although in that case, you have to give the credit to the Patriots' offense. Tom Brady sets this record with five touchdown passes in the first quarter. That probably means you're doing well.
MARTIN: Now, you pretty much called this a week ago when we talked. You said that Tim Tebow had lost his Tebow magic. But we have to say, then he made that unbelievable 80-yard pass at the 11th hour against the Steelers and he won the right to play the Pats. You have to give him credit for that.
PESCA: Right. I called it, but like my predictions are a week off. So, I don't know. I will say this - at the end of the game, Phil Simms, the CBS announcer said, you know, there are still going to be those who say even though Tim Tebow had that 300-yard game against the Steelers two weeks ago, he's not up to snuff as an NFL quarterback. And I was waiting for Phil Simms to say and they're right or they're wrong, but he didn't say anything. I mean, there will be those who say it, even though he's a compelling story. I do think they go into next season really questioning if they have a quarterback who's going to be their quarterback, you know, throughout the year and for the future.
MARTIN: OK. So, looking ahead, what are today's matchups going to deliver?
PESCA: Well, yeah, the matchup that's sort of being overlooked is the Texans versus the Ravens. The Texans were good all year. They lost their quarterback, Matt Schaub. They go into Baltimore with a banged-up team, and the Ravens are a really good team and have a really good defense. Hard to imagine how the Texans win.
MARTIN: And the final game - Green Bay Packers against the New York Giants. Your prediction?
PESCA: The Giants have a great pass rush and that is a great equalizer. I don't know if it'll be enough to equal this Packers offense that's an all-time fantastic offense. The Giants don't have one of the best defenses in the NFL. It will be a long haul for the Giants to win. But who knows? Maybe they can get to Aaron Rodgers and maybe they could do it.
MARTIN: OK. There you have it. NPR's Mike Pesca on all of the NFL drama. Mike, thanks so much.
PESCA: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
On a Monday, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
Today in Your Health, we'll report on one of the effects of post-traumatic stress. One of the biggest problems people face is a simple one - getting a good night's sleep.
INSKEEP: They may be plagued by insomnia or by nightmares. From our member station KQED, Amy Standen reports on new treatments that are emerging.
AMY STANDEN, BYLINE: Sam Brace doesn't want to talk about what he saw when he was a soldier in Iraq eight years ago. In fact, it's something he's actively trying not to dwell on. But what he can't control are his dreams.
SAM BRACE: I just had one last week.
STANDEN: They're almost always about the same explosion.
BRACE: When I was overseas we had hit an IED. And when I have a nightmare, normally it's something related to that.
STANDEN: Everyone has nightmares sometimes. But in people with PTSD, it's different. Steve Woodward is a psychiatrist with the National Center for PTSD at the VA Medical Center in Menlo Park, California. He says healthy dreams seem kind of random.
DR. STEVE WOODWARD: They're wacky. They associate lots of things that are not normally associated.
STANDEN: PTSD dreams are the same real-life event played over and over again. A broken record.
WOODWARD: Replicative nightmares of traumatic events that repeat for years sometimes, 20 years.
STANDEN: So the question scientists had was why. Why can't people with PTSD sleep, and dream, normally? One theory comes from a psychology researcher at the University of California, Berkeley named Matt Walker.
What interests Walker is rapid eye movement, or REM. It's the part of sleep where a lot of dreaming occurs. But it's also a time when the chemistry of the brain actually changes. Levels of a kind of adrenaline called norepinephrine drop out completely. REM is the only time of day that this happens. And that struck Walker as a mystery.
MATT WALKER: Why would rapid eye movement sleep suppress this neurochemical? Is there any function to that?
STANDEN: Walker found that in healthy people, REM sleep is kind of like therapy - an adrenaline-free environment where the brain can process its memories while sort of stripping off their sharp, emotional edges.
WALKER: So that you come back the next day, and yes, you can better recollect it, but also it doesn't trigger that same visceral reaction that you had at the time of learning.
STANDEN: And this is a healthy thing to do, he says, because emotions are useful. They show us what really matters to us.
WALKER: But I don't think it's adaptive to hold onto that emotional blanket around those memories forever. They've done their job at the time of learning. They've told you they're important. And, then it's time to hold on to the information of that memory, but let go of the emotion. The emotion's done its job.
STANDEN: Walker's theory is that in people who have PTSD, REM sleep is broken. The adrenaline doesn't go away like it's supposed to. Their brain can't process tough memories, so it just cycles through them, again and again. So what if you could make the adrenaline go away? This brings us to a VA psychiatrist in Seattle named Murray Raskind and a drug called prazosin.
DR. MURRAY RASKIND: Prazosin was introduced in 1973 by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals to treat high blood pressure.
STANDEN: Prazosin has one main side effect, which is dizziness. It's also cheap.
RASKIND: Costs anywhere from 5 to 15 cents.
STANDEN: And actually, it's not terribly effective as a blood pressure medication. But what prazosin does do is make people less sensitive to adrenaline. About a decade ago, Raskind starting giving prazosin to some of his PTSD patients, including one Vietnam vet.
RASKIND: He had this recurrent nightmare of being trapped by the Vietcong forces in a landing zone and having his best friend killed in front of his eyes by a mortar round.
STANDEN: After a few weeks of prazosin, the man came in for a follow-up appointment.
RASKIND: And he said, I don't know, Doc. I'm not sure this stuff's working.
STANDEN: I'm still having the same dream over and over, he said, just about something else.
RASKIND: Now I'm in my fifth-grade classroom. And there's a test. And if I don't pass this test, I'm not going to be promoted to the next grade. And I never even got the assignment.
STANDEN: It was the stress dream, says Raskind, of a healthy brain, trying to work things out.
RASKIND: And I said, That's my nightmare.
STANDEN: This year, the VA is expected to finish up its trial for prazosin. It's already prescribing the drug to about 15 percent of its PTSD patients. Raskind, of course, would like to see that number rise.
RASKIND: To us it's a simple thing that works.
STANDEN: Works, that is, at giving at least some people who have experienced something terrible a shot at a normal night's sleep.
For NPR News, I'm Amy Standen in San Francisco.
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Two years ago, you may have been among the many Americans who listened to the radio or watched the news from Haiti and wanted to help. When an earthquake struck Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands and leaving more than a million people homeless, Americans were generous in their response. Through American charities, more than $1.8 billion were donated. NPR's Carrie Kahn has been following that money and has the first of two reports on where it went.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Charles Giiagliard hasn't seen much of that $1.8 billion yet. Three of his children sit on a dirt floor watching TV in their tiny, one-room shack in downtown Port-au-Prince.
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KAHN: His oldest daughter lies on the small bed, sick with a fever.
CHARLES GIIAGLIARD: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Giiagliard calls his youngest daughter Jessica over and pushes back the hair from her head. You see a long, dark scar. Jessica was trapped under the rubble of their collapsed apartment back when the quake hit. Giiagliard says Jessica's wounds healed, but the family has not recovered.
GIIAGLIARD: (Through translator) Look at the way we live. We are living like animals. Nobody looks out for us. At night, when you sleep, you get visitors. Big rats come in.
KAHN: The Giiagliards are among half a million people who, two years after the quake, still live in the squalid tent camps seen all over Port-au-Prince. It's the most visible sign that Haiti has a long way to go before recovering from the devastating disaster.
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KAHN: Few large-scale reconstruction projects have begun. You can count them on one hand. Most are small, like this project tucked off the main road in Cite Soleil, several miles from where the Giiagliards live. Seventy-three temporary wooden shelters were built last month by the American Red Cross, together with other non-governmental organizations, or NGOs. Charles Samuel got one of the wooden homes. They look like a big tool shed with a concrete foundation, plywood walls and a corrugated metal roof.
CHARLES SAMUEL: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Samuel says everyone here is grateful for the homes. But he points beyond the last row of shelters to where dozens of families still live in tents in a swampy field.
SAMUEL: (Through translator) We know there are a lot of needs here, but those in tents need help, too. It's hard, and we know not everyone is going to be helped.
KAHN: That's the picture you get of progress in Haiti: gratitude of what has been done, but hope for much more. After all, expectations were set pretty high after the quake. Former President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, repeatedly proclaimed that reconstruction would build back a better Haiti. At the Cite Soleil camp, residents wish that had been true. Out of earshot of the NGO officials, they ask why the small structures cost so much - about $5,000 apiece, including communal latrines and water collection systems.
They said if given the chance, they would have built them out of more permanent, local materials - cheaper, with enough for everyone. You hear complaints like these a lot around Port-au-Prince, many against the NGOs, whose workers stick out in their shiny white SUVs. Julie Sell of the American Red Cross says it's been a challenging two years.
JULIE SELL: We all wish that we were further along than we are, but Haiti is a complicated place, and there aren't a lot of quick, easy solutions.
KAHN: For many NGOs, it took more than a year to figure out how to work around those complications, like Haiti's chaotic land registry system and its lack of building codes or housing policies. Sam Worthington, the head of InterAction, a coalition of U.S. based charities, says NGOs unfairly get the brunt of the blame.
SAM WORTHINGTON: We cannot meet all needs. We have a niche. That niche is important, it saves lives, but we cannot be the face and the only face of recovery.
KAHN: He says the majority of money pledged to Haiti is managed by USAID and groups like the World Bank, not NGOs. But $1.8 billion given to U.S. charities is a lot of money. In the first year, much of those funds went unspent. This year, NPR surveyed 12 large charities and found that while many still have a lot of money in the bank, the rate of spending has picked up. You can see an accounting at npr.org. The American Red Cross, which raised more than half a billion dollars for Haiti, has really loosened its purse strings lately.
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KAHN: In the Delmas 9 neighborhood of the capital, the group is funding the repair of about a hundred houses. Workers in Oguis Joileque's three-room house fix several walls and are almost ready to put on a new roof. He says, through an interpreter, he could never have done that alone.
OGUIS JOILEQUE: (Through translator) I see it as better, because me myself, I was not in a position to do it.
KAHN: Many smaller groups, with decades of experience in Haiti, say they wish the money would have come sooner. But they don't have the fundraising machinery or name recognition that the big charities have. Dan O'Neil of the Pan American Development Foundation got a grant from the Red Cross to do the house repair work. He says NGOs in general need to do a better job.
DAN O'NEIL: We do need to have greater transparency. We need to have a more standard reporting as to how money's been spent.
KAHN: And tomorrow, we look at the way U.S. charities report how they spend their money. Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
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This next report brings to mind the old book, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," bunch of lab rats featured prominently in a classic children's story. It turns out they're pretty smart, civilized. In real life, of course, scientists use millions of rats and mice each year as they seek to understand and treat everything from cancer to diabetes, and the government has rules to care for them.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
To get government funding for their work, researchers have to follow animal welfare guidelines. Those guidelines have just been updated for the first time in 15 years, and new recommendations for female rodents and their babies have caused an uproar. Here's NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: Mice and rats are the most common lab animals. They can be genetically altered, they reproduce quickly, they're ideal. But managing all these rodents is no small matter. I recently visited the biggest recipient of research funds from the National Institutes of Health. That's Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Its main facility for housing rodents is nearly the size of a football field.
BOB ADAMS: This is a fairly typical animal room in this facility. It holds between 900 and 1,000 cages.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Bob Adams is the veterinarian in charge here. His staff looks after some 40 rooms just like this, full of cages the size of shoeboxes.
ADAMS: With, say, anywhere from one to five mice per cage, so close to 200 and some-odd thousand mice.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The cages are made of clear plastic. They sit into tall racks that line the walls. Each cage has its own ventilation and water supply. All of this has been set up to meet recommendations laid out in something called The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Everyone funded by the National Institutes of Health must comply.
Recently, the guide was revised for the first time since 1996, and the research world is now in a tizzy over page 57. It lays out new recommendations for the minimum number of square inches that should be used to house a female mouse or rat and her babies. To explain his concerns, Adams pulls out a cage.
ADAMS: So here's a litter. Well, there's multiple females in here.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Hairless pink babies squirm in one corner. There's a tangle of adults with dark fur over by the water valve. Adams says there's probably a male in here with a harem. One male plus two or more females can produce lots of mice quickly.
But as Adams interprets the new guidelines, this would no longer be possible in this shoe box-sized cage. The guide seems to say it's only big enough for one mother and her babies, plus one other adult.
Adams is worried that Johns Hopkins may have to make major changes to keep its government funding.
ADAMS: The effect would be, we would have to buy more of this caging, and our estimate was somewhere around $300,000 worth of caging, at least, and then find a place to put it.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Then he'd have to hire more staff to manage those cages and wash them.
ADAMS: Bottom line is there's more work, there's more cost for everybody, for our whole operation.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Across the country, other research institutions looked at the new guide and came to the same conclusion. The National Association for Biomedical Research estimated that nationwide, implementing the new space guidelines for breeding rodents would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars - money that then couldn't be used on research. Government regulators have been deluged with letters of protest.
One of them came from the Medical College of Wisconsin, which has one of the largest colonies of academic research rats in the world. Joseph Thulin directs the college's animal resource center. He says animal welfare is important.
JOSEPH THULIN: I would not want anyone to think that the research community doesn't want to implement new guidelines because they don't care about their animals. That is not the case at all.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: But there's been very little research on rodent housing. Thulin says it's just not clear that the new guidelines will result in any benefits.
THULIN: There is no evidence to support that increasing the amount of cage space by the amount that's recommended now, that that would have any measurable positive impact on the animals.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Meanwhile, the people who actually wrote the new recommendations say all this concern is the result of a big misunderstanding.
JANET GARBER: Certainly I personally was very surprised at the reaction or at the way some people were interpreting what was written.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Janet Garber chaired the committee of independent experts convened by the National Research Council to revise the animal care guidebook. The old version had no specific guidance on how to prevent overcrowding when breeding rodents. The panel simply thought it would be helpful to set some benchmarks.
GARBER: There are very, very few requirements in the guide. There are very few musts in the guide. And certainly, within the context of these housing recommendations, they are in fact recommendations. Yes, they're minimum recommendations, but they're a starting point.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: That's the position taken by the National Institutes of Health. The director of its lab animal welfare office told me in an email that she also was surprised by the controversy. She said the experience of her office was that labs currently house their rodents appropriately.
A statement on the agency's website indicates it still will be possible to put more breeding rodents in a cage than the guide recommends, and researchers say, that is somewhat reassuring.
But it won't be business as usual. Because the government's statement goes on to say that if scientists want to do that, they'll have to justify it, and show that things like the animals' health or behavior won't suffer.
Plus, the government warns that, quote, "blanket, program-wide departures from the Guide for reasons of convenience, cost, or other non-animal welfare considerations are not acceptable." It's left Bob Adams at Johns Hopkins scratching his head.
ADAMS: I guess the importance of what we're talking about is the uncertainty of what this is going to do to us.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says all this is not trivial. Researchers have to meet the government's standards to safeguard their funding. So, how to move forward, shell out the money for more cages when science budgets are already tight, or try justifying their current practices to see if they're accepted?
ADAMS: We're going to have to thrash this out and see - how do we interpret this now?
GREENFIELDBOYCE: All of this ambiguity has also displeased some animal welfare activists - for a different reason. They feel that researchers shouldn't have been given an out. Kathleen Conlee is with the Humane Society of the United States. She says overcrowding can be a real problem, and that officials should carefully scrutinize any efforts to breed rodents in less space.
KATHELEEN CONLEE: If we are going to be using millions, or tens of millions of rodents in this country, we do have an obligation to the welfare of these animals and hope that the National Institutes of Health will strictly enforce their recommendations in the guide.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The National Institutes of Health is taking comments on the rodent housing issue until the end of the month. And research institutions have about a year to evaluate their programs and decide whether they need to make changes to comply with the new guide.
Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
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And let's stay on the subject of good night's rest. Somebody in your home may snore. Maybe it's even you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Not me, Steve. I don't think it's me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MONTAGNE: But whoever, it may seem harmless, but in some cases snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea, and that's a condition linked to numerous serious illnesses. Over the past decade, the number of accredited sleep labs that test for apnea has quadrupled. But testing isn't cheap and some critics argue it's gone too far. Here's Jenny Gold of our partner, Kaiser Health News.
JENNY GOLD, BYLINE: It's a Monday night and Lauretta Martin is here at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C. She's wearing a pair of soft gray pajamas and fuzzy pink slipper socks.
LAURETTA MARTIN: I can't hear myself snore, but I guess I am a snorer 'cause my husband tells me I snore. So I am a snorer.
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GOLD: As it turns out, Martin's husband was onto something. She was diagnosed as having sleep apnea, a condition where someone repeatedly stops breathing for several seconds or even minutes throughout the night. She's being fitted for a breathing machine called a CPAP that helps keep a snorer's airway open. She's also being covered in 27 electrodes in a rainbow of colors to monitor her every move.
MARTIN: It feels kind of funny. Can you loosen these up a little bit?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yes, a little bit.
GOLD: The testing room feels a lot like a Holiday Inn, with striped wallpaper and a floral bedspread. It even comes equipped with WiFi, a flat-screen TV, and of course plenty of generic prints.
DR. DAVID GROSS: Usually somewhere in a sleep lab there's Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night." I mean it's against the law not to have that picture somewhere.
GOLD: Dr. David Gross is the medical director of the sleep lab, which is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He says more than three-quarters of the patients who come here are diagnosed with apnea. But he worries that overall most people with apnea are never diagnosed, despite the fact that it's known to be linked to heart disease and even dementia.
GROSS: I think the medical community is sort of dropping the ball to some degree. It's just sad when you walk through the hospital and you see these patients with heart failure - person might be 35 years old, he's 350 pounds, but no one's thinking that he has sleep apnea, which he statistically does.
GOLD: But the medical community has become more aware, especially as the population ages and grows more obese. And as the number of sleep labs has grown, so has spending by Medicare and insurance companies.
Dr. Fred Holt says some patients aren't getting basic exams first, so they're having expensive tests done that they don't really need. Or the labs prescribe CPAP right away without first suggesting strategies like sleeping on your side. Holt, the medical director of Blue Cross Blue Shield in North Carolina, is an expert on fraud and waste.
DR. FRED HOLT: We are spending more and more money on sleep testing and treatment, and like anything else in health care, there are unscrupulous people out there who are more than happy to do testing and treatment that might be of questionable value. This might be because of naivete on the part of the physician, or unfortunately it could be done for the sake of improving the cash flow of the business.
GOLD: In other words, just because you snore doesn't mean you have a chronic illness. And because there's little downside to spending a night in a comfy sleep lab, many patients are willing to give it a shot. But the tests can cost $1,900 a night, mostly covered by insurance.
Helen Darling is the president of the National Business Group on Health. She says doctors ought to focus on common-sense approaches to sleep apnea, like losing weight, before turning to expensive testing.
HELEN DARLING: This is a good example of something like where we have technology, we have financial incentives to use more of it than we've historically done, you have enough problems, including a growing obesity epidemic, you sort of put together the so-called perfect storm for driving up overuse and health care cost.
GOLD: Some insurers are starting to change the way they pay for sleep testing to curb those costs. Many now require a special pre-authorization and are asking doctors to consider using cheaper home sleep tests instead, which can cost about a fifth as much as a sleep lab.
For NPR News, I'm Jenny Gold.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And international envoys are in Athens today, trying to determine whether Greece deserves to receive the next installment of its bailout. If Greece can't climb out from under its mountain of debt and can't be saved as a member of the countries which use the euro, it will have to revert to the drachma. As Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens, this is an outcome most Greeks fear.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Souvlaki Bar is that rare business in Athens that's surviving despite the economic crisis. It's a mix of old and new. It's got those famous kebabs, souvlaki and the sleek decor of a bistro. The food is cheap and good.
Souvlaki Bar is in a neighborhood near the ancient agora. Many of the other restaurants here close early because they don't have customers. Austerity measures imposed by international lenders, in exchange for billions in bailout loans, have cut deeply into Greek pockets. A quarter of businesses have closed in central Athens.
Dimitris Dimonopoulos owns Souvlaki Bar. He's holding on now but says his business is doomed if Greece reverts to the drachma.
DIMITRIS DIMONOPOULOS: (Foreign language spoken)
KAKISSIS: I import my meat from Denmark because Greece doesn't produce enough, he says.
And Greece imports far more than it exports. The cost of those imports would skyrocket under the drachma, says economist Panos Tsakloglou.
PROFESSOR PANOS TSAKLOGLOU: For firms that are importing, the situation will be kind of dramatic, in the sense that nobody would accept initially drachmas.
KAKISSIS: That's because if Greece left the eurozone, the immediate transition would be difficult, he says.
TSAKLOGLOU: Technically, in the sense that if you want to use drachmas tomorrow, drachmas do not exist. You need to mint coins. You need to print banknotes and so on. And all these things are not available right now.
KAKISSIS: The drachma would have no price during this chaotic period, he says. People would flock to banks to withdraw their money. They would clean out supermarkets, where most goods are imported, and would run to gas stations. And once the drachma is established, he says, Greece would be left with a devalued currency compared to the euro.
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KAKISSIS: A devalued currency would help people like Yiannis Yiagos. He makes wooden donkey puppets and sells them at a stand near the Ancient Agora. He points to one puppet, which he makes for one euro and sells for five.
YIANNIS YIAGOS: He cost one euro and sell five, because it's euro. If I had drachmas, I take it one drachma and then sell two drachmas.
KAKISSIS: Yiagos explains that tourists say five euros, which is more than six dollars, is too expensive. So he wants the drachma so his donkey puppets will sell.
CHRISTOS TSOUTSAS: (Foreign language spoken)
KAKISSIS: Christos Tsoutsas, who runs a metalworking shop nearby, also isn't selling these days.
TSOUTSAS: (Foreign language spoken)
KAKISSIS: I have a big mortgage and I can't pay it, he says. Look around here, I don't have any customers. And I don't know what's going to happen.
Economist Tsakloglou says proponents of the drachma claim people like Tsoutsas would benefit if Greece left the euro.
TSAKLOGLOU: They hope that once we return to the drachma, they will repay the loans in drachmas rather than euros. This is a big if for a different reason. I mean several of our banks, for instance, have taken loans from abroad. In order to repay these loans, they need euros.
KAKISSIS: And the Greek state would have to pay much of its own debt back in euros. That means a much bigger debt in drachmas.
Tsoutsas, the metal shop owner, says he doesn't want to take that risk. Like 80 percent of Greeks, he wants the euro. So does Dimitris Dimonopoulos, owner of Souvlaki Bar. The euro's not just about money, he says.
DIMONOPOULOS: (Foreign language spoken)
KAKISSIS: It's very important for Greeks to feel like they're part of the European economy, he says. How terrible would it be for so many people to have worked this hard for so many years, to have dreams in a country that won membership into the European Union and then to lose it all.
For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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When it comes to weather-related catastrophes in the U.S., 2011 was a record year. A dozen disasters each caused damage costing at least a billion dollars. And one result, reports NPR's David Schaper: those tornados, blizzards, floods, fires and hurricanes are driving up homeowner insurance rates.
DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: Some of the nation's largest insurance companies, including Allstate, State Farm and Travelers, are indicating they will be increasing homeowners' and other property insurance rates as much as 10 percent this year, and it's largely because of what happened last year.
ROBERT HARTWIG: 2011 was really one of the most dramatic and most expensive years in global history, as well as here in the United States.
SCHAPER: Robert Hartwig is president of the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based insurance industry trade association. He says weather-related catastrophes caused close to $35 billion in insured damages last year in the U.S., and more than $70 billion in total economic losses.
HARTWIG: And the year was extraordinary, because it wasn't characterized here in the United States by a single large event. It was actually a large number of more modest events, modest being one or two billion.
SCHAPER: The list includes Hurricane Irene, a blizzard, heat waves, drought and wildfires in Texas and the Southwest. There was flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and hundreds of tornados, including those that killed more than 300 people in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and the one that obliterated Joplin, Missouri, killing 161 people. Robert Hartwig says it wasn't just the unusually high number of catastrophic weather events, but in 2011, he says, location was everything.
HARTWIG: We take an event like the Joplin tornado. Had that very same storm occurred three or four miles north, three or four miles south, there would have been very little damage. Same thing with the tornados that impacted Tuscaloosa.
SCHAPER: And some of the places hit hard by big storms last year are not areas of the country that insurance companies have expected to have a great deal of risk.
HARTWIG: We have, the last four years in a row, really seen extreme weather away from the coasts, away from seismically active areas, areas that historically haven't got that much attention, from a modeling perspective. And that's likely to change.
SCHAPER: So as insurance companies revise and recalculate their risk models, most of us will be paying more for property insurance coverage this year. David Schaper, NPR News.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Renee Montagne is back after some time off. Renee, welcome back.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Oh, well, thanks. Glad to be back, Steve.
INSKEEP: And you're back just in time for the South Carolina primary. Welcome.
MONTAGNE: And just in time for some changes in that race. Conservative voters remain split, as many know, between several candidates. But one of those contenders got quite a boost over the weekend. Evangelical leaders met and endorsed former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
INSKEEP: And we'll hear more about that in a moment. First, Mitt Romney scores an endorsement today from one of his former rivals: Jon Huntsman, who's dropping out of the race.
He's making that announcement today, we're expecting. The former Utah governor put much of his campaign resources into New Hampshire - in fact, virtually all, but he finished third. NPR's Tamara Keith reports on the man who tried not to run as a typical candidate.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Of all leading GOP hopefuls, Huntsman is the only one who never even briefly surged to second place. He peaked in New Hampshire, where he had spent almost all of his time, for months. He even appeared on "Saturday Night Live" to joke about his apparent obsession with the Granite State.
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KEITH: But all that campaigning didn't exactly pay off on primary night.
: I'd say third place is a ticket to ride, ladies and gentlemen.
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: Hello, South Carolina.
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KEITH: As we now know, South Carolina is where Huntsman's ride ends.
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KEITH: It all started back in June, with a series of Web videos showing the candidate riding a dirt bike through the Utah desert, with this slightly twangy music in the background. In white lettering on the screen of the last video, it said: Tomorrow, the candidate for president who rides motocross to relax. From there, Republican political consultant Rob Stutzman says Huntsman's messaging didn't really improve.
ROB STUTZMAN: I think he'll be remembered as that nice, interesting, smart guy that never had anything to say, other than elect me because I can be more civil, which is not exactly the winning message in a Republican presidential primary.
KEITH: Stutzman says GOP primary voters are angry at the president, and Huntsman didn't give them any red meat. In fact, Huntsman had just come off a stint as ambassador to China. He had been a part of the Obama administration. And then there were the ever-important debates.
STUTZMAN: His debate performances were uneven. At times, he gave very interesting, insightful answers, and then at times, he seemed to be telling inside jokes.
KEITH: Here are just a couple of examples. First, from the Bloomberg debate in October.
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KEITH: And this CNN debate in September.
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KEITH: Yes, that was a reference to the grunge band Nirvana and its song "All Apologies." Barely anyone got it that night, either. At other moments in the debates, Huntsman made comments that seemed targeted more at moderates and Democrats than the primary voters he would need to win the nomination.
This is him at a Politico NBC News debate in September.
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KEITH: Unfortunately for Huntsman, arguments like that never helped him gain traction with the people who were actually voting.
Tamara Keith, NPR News.
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The television version of the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" premiered last night as a cartoon. Another new TV show based on a movie is "The Firm." Critic Eric Deggans says the two new offerings are part of an enduring and not necessarily proud TV tradition.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Remember when Jennifer Aniston wound up playing Ferris Bueller's sister in a sitcom? Or when Cornelius from the "Planet of the Apes" met Carol Burnett? Television has a long history of trying to make classic films work as a series.
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DEGGANS: Including what might be the most successful film-to-TV transplant of all time: CBS's "M*A*S*H."
So, with that success in the rear view, it's easy to see why NBC wanted to turn another movie into a TV series, "The Firm." In this version, earnest lawyer Mitch McDeere, played by Tom Cruise on the big screen, and Josh Lucas here, sent a major mobster to prison, and now wants to leave witness protection.
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DEGGANS: "The Firm" commits what I consider a cardinal sin of ripping off - sorry, I mean, adapting - movies to the small screen. It makes carbon copies of the film's characters, from Lucas's perpetually in-motion lawyer to Juliette Lewis recreating Holly Hunter's sex kitten of a receptionist. My preferred movie adaptations treat the movie like a guideline - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Nikita," "Friday Night Lights" and my current favorite, NBC's "Parenthood."
Peter Krause's Adam Braverman is a version of the high-strung husband and father Steve Martin played in the 1989 film. But Krause's Braverman is less brittle, less funny and a bit deeper. When a drunk employee kisses him after a party, he tells his wife about it, causing the biggest crisis their marriage has seen yet.
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DEGGANS: TV loves movie adaptations for one reason; successful films offer established brands audiences already know. But it also seems the best adaptations get away from their film roots as soon as possible. That makes it tough to judge the latest movie to make the transition, 2004's oddball film about Idaho's most awkward teenager, Napoleon Dynamite.
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DEGGANS: The movie is a tribute to teen tedium so quirky it already played like a cartoon, so Fox made it into an animated comedy.
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DEGGANS: That's right. Cable giant AMC is recreating the mob classic "Goodfellas." And I only hope they learn from recent history. Because sitting through a series filled with bad Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci impressions is an offer I plan on refusing.
MONTAGNE: Eric Deggans is TV and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times.
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Some Americans took time out from football yesterday to drop by the new memorial in Washington, D.C., to Martin Luther King. It was King's birthday, which we formally observe on this Monday. On his actual birthday, his family and admirers turned out to talk about his legacy.
NPR's Allison Keyes was there.
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ALLISON KEYES, BYLINE: Under a bright blue sky, the Porter family stood at the base of the image of King, smiling; their purple Baltimore Ravens paraphernalia resplendent in the sun.
VALENCIA HERNANDEZ PORTER: It means so much to us because it's us.
KEYES: Valencia Hernandez Porter brought her whole family, partly for the birthday her daughter shares with King. Partly, she says, because her mother marched with him in 1962.
V. PORTER: I just want my children to know what it means...to be free in a country that's for everybody, regardless of your race and your creed.
KEYES: Porter's mother, Grace Hernandez, was proud and excited when she heard they were going to build the memorial here. She'd been wanting to come see it because she remembers having the chance to speak with King when she marched with him in Durham, North Carolina.
GRACE HERNANDEZ: I thought he was very learned and very patient. And he just set such an excellent example for people.
KEYES: Her granddaughter, Meagan Porter, was celebrating her 9th birthday, and said she didn't think her future would have been as bright without King's work.
MEAGAN PORTER: He was trying to make a difference in our country, for everyone to have rights.
KEYES: Her mom added...
V. PORTER: It's the measure of the man that made it all possible for what our country stands for today; for all people to be treated equal and treated fairly, and be loved and accepted for their beliefs and their thoughts.
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KEYES: The grinning crowd burst into an impromptu rendition of Stevie Wonder's version of "Happy Birthday," which he wrote to honor the human rights activist. People snapped pictures as two wreaths were placed in front of the monument. King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, was there with his wife and his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Yolanda Renee.
YOLANDA RENEE KING: Happy Birthday, Papa King.
KEYES: King told the crowd he remembered that on his father's last birthday in 1968, he was planning a poor people's campaign to bring together people of all races, to demand decent jobs with decent pay.
MARTIN LUTHER KING III: It only takes a few good women and men to bring about change - and children and families, I should say as well.
MIRIAM TRAVERS: It takes us citizens to make a change.
KEYES: Miriam Travers and Charles Boyd came from Delaware for the ceremony, and Travers is determined to help keep King's memory alive.
TRAVERS: If we sit back and do nothing then nothing will happen.
KEYES: Boyd notes that King's legacy is for everyone. And even though his dream of equality hasn't been entirely fulfilled...
CHARLES BOYD: We've got a long way to go. But I feel honored and blessed to be here.
KEYES: The couple says people should honor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday by performing some type of service, and helping to perpetuate change.
Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.
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INSKEEP: On the Martin Luther King Holiday, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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Rick Santorum is hoping to get some traction from his endorsement by evangelical leaders this past weekend.
NPR's Kathy Lohr visited some churches in South Carolina to talk to those who make up more than half of the likely primary voters in this state.
KATHY LOHR, BYLINE: Rick Santorum earned national headlines when he won the support of a group of more than 150 national evangelical leaders this weekend. But here in South Carolina, where voters go to the polls in just five days, Santorum still remains relatively unknown. The establishment, including Governor Nikki Haley, backs former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
JACKIE HANSON: Good morning. I'm Jackie Hanson.
TAYLOR SCOFIELD: Nice to meet you. I'm Taylor Scofield.
LOHR: On a crisp morning, Jackie Hanson greets members of the Overbrook Baptist Church in Greenville. She works in customer service for an insurance company and says this year's election is unique.
HANSON: No one has popped out as the strongest candidate, and I think that's what most people are worried about.
LOHR: Troubling to you?
HANSON: Very, very, extremely troubling. And, of course, praying about it more and, you know, hoping God will guide me to the right decision.
LOHR: Hanson says faith is important, but she says she wants to elect someone who will work with Congress. Glenn Robinson is a computer technician, and he says he's not likely to pay much attention to the recent evangelical support for Santorum becauseâ¦
GLENN ROBINSON: I don't know how many others are in the same boat I am. I don't even know who he is.
LOHR: Robinson works for Lockheed Martin, and he's worried about the economy. South Carolina's unemployment rate is close to 10 percent. He says there are just too many candidates, that the GOP should get behind one who can win.
ROBINSON: We don't have that unity saying we need to back this person. This is the person that can lead us into the next four years and bring us a little more positive outcome.
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LOHR: A couple miles away at St. Matthew United Methodist Church, the late service begins with a hymn.
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LOHR: Some here say Romney is likely to get their vote - among them, Betty Davis, a retired nursing professor. She describes herself as a moderate Republican, and says she realizes Romney doesn't appeal to all in her party, but she thinks he can win.
BETTY DAVIS: I'm still leaning towards Romney, because I think he's overall the strongest candidate in terms of acceptance - maybe not to the more conservative Republicans, but overall, I'm leaning that way.
LOHR: Davis says she's tired of the negative campaign ads which hit the air here in the past couple of weeks. She says they're just causing more confusion.
DAVIS: Again, you hear something and you have to decide and go back and try to figure out from what you've read or what you see or hear, whether it's really true or not, what has been said about that candidate. But all of the ads are turning me off, for the most part.
LOHR: And Mark Barnett, a salesman for a packaging company, says he's still undecided.
MARK BARNETT: Honestly, I have a lot more research to do before I make my decision. So I'm kind of procrastinating here, so.
LOHR: What do you have to hear?
BARNETT: I honestly don't know. It's just, you know...
LOHR: What would sway you?
BARNETT: Yeah, I'm not sure.
LOHR: With the primary coming up Saturday, voters here say they hope two GOP debates this week will help them make up their minds. Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Greenville, South Carolina.
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And as we await those debates, we are also awaiting today's announcement from presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. He's expected any moment to announce that he's ending his campaign and throwing his support to Mitt Romney. So we have some consolidation, here, in the race with Huntsman throwing his support behind Romney. Evangelicals, as we've heard today, putting their support - trying to put their support - behind Rick Santorum, who is continuing to campaign in the South Carolina primary coming up on Saturday.
Santorum, by the way, is now accusing Mitt Romney - a political action committee backing Romney - of lying about his record. He's accusing him of a smear campaign. This relates to ads having to do with voting rights for felons in Pennsylvania. And there's going to continue to be some fierce campaigning in the days before this South Carolina vote. Of course, the Florida primary comes afterward. We'll continue to bring more as we learn it.
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We find out soon if evangelical leaders can still deliver votes in South Carolina. After struggling for months to unite behind a candidate, they met over the weekend and endorsed former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
INSKEEP: Let's recall: Santorum nearly won Iowa, fell far behind in New Hampshire, and is now making his case to conservative voters in South Carolina. Evangelicals hope Santorum will emerge as a strong alternative to Mitt Romney. Some conservatives do not trust Romney, though he is moving rapidly toward the GOP nomination.
NPR's Don Gonyea has been following Santorum's campaign.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Santorum's Sunday would include a prayer breakfast in Myrtle Beach and a town hall in the town of Florence. But first, thanks to the stamp of approval he got from prominent evangelicals, it was an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," where he spoke of the endorsement with a mix of pride, gratitude and validation.
RICK SANTORUM: So we feel very, very good that, with their support, we're going to get a network of grassroots leaders here, lining up behind us and giving us that surge that we need coming down to this last week.
GONYEA: Santorum got just such a surge in Iowa. That one was a product of both hard work and a collapse in the polls by former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich. In South Carolina, polls show Santorum well behind both Romney and Gingrich, and essentially tied with Congressman Ron Paul. But evangelicals make up 60 percent of the likely GOP primary voters in the state, so he sees an opening.
Yesterday afternoon at a restaurant in Florence, Santorum gave it the hard sell. He argued that this election is not all about the economy and the government's fiscal health, as it often portrayed.
SANTORUM: If all you think we need to do to get this economy going and to get this country on the right track, is to cut government and reduce taxes, you don't understand America. America is a moral enterprise, not an economic enterprise.
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GONYEA: Those words were aimed directly at Mitt Romney, who's running as a businessman with firsthand knowledge of how the economy works.
The audience at the Santorum event included hardcore supporters and some new converts. There were also undecided voters, many looking for someone to vote for other than Mitt Romney.
In the back of the room were husband and wife Jay and Susan Merrifield. He's leaning toward Santorum, over Romney. She just yesterday decided to vote for Santorum - over her second choice, Texas Governor Rick Perry. I asked them both if they think the endorsement from evangelical leaders will have much impact in South Carolina.
JAY MERRIFIELD: No, not really. I'm surprised they didn't pick Perry, really.
SUSAN MERRIFIELD: It makes me happy though, 'cause now I'm thinking maybe Focus on the Family and some those other shows will talk about him on the radio. And more people will hear while they driving and hear Santorum's message.
GONYEA: The potential for Santorum to do well in South Carolina has made him a target of attacks ads, this one paid for by a Super PAC that supports Romney.
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GONYEA: In Florence, Santorum called that ad lie, and the kind of tactic used by a candidate who can't run on his own credentials as a conservative.
But Susan Merrifield, the new Santorum supporter, said she's seen a lot worse in a state known for its hardball politics.
S. MERRIFIELD: I didn't consider it, you know, real bad. I just consider it, well, that's politics and they're going to do it.
GONYEA: Santorum's opponents have plenty of incentive to derail his drive to consolidate the sizeable and critical South Carolina evangelical vote. So he'd better be prepared for even more such attacks.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Myrtle Beach.
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You may have seen the dramatic images over the weekend: a luxury liner that ran aground off the coast of Italy and then turned on its side. At least six people died. And of the 4,200 people on board, more than a dozen are still unaccounted for. Rough weather today has forced officials to suspend rescue operations, and the focus now is on the captain, who is under arrest. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: Investigators are already analyzing the ship's black box to determine how and why the Costa Concordia veered off course and collided with a rocky reef close to the shore of Giglio Island. But they'll be further assisted by a wealth of documentation provided by passengers themselves - the many videos they shot on mobile phones. This clip comes from Ronald Patricio Gonzales of Chile.
The video shows hundreds of passengers wearing life vests crowded on the deck. The atmosphere is confused, people shouting, terrified; nobody has told them what to do.
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POGGIOLI: The scene shifts outdoors, chaos and relief as island residents come out on their boats to rescue passengers. Claudio Masia later told us the ship had tilted so much, it was no longer possible to lower the lifeboats.
CLAUDIO MASIA: (Through translator) We were left to our own devices. We huddled on the keel, waiting, then we lowered a rope ladder. People came in their boats and rescued us - my mother, two children, my wife, and my nephew. But I can't find my father. I don't know where he is.
POGGIOLI: The body of 86-year-old Giovanni Masia, wearing a life vest, was found by divers Sunday afternoon in a submerged part of the ship.
The Costa Concordia shipwreck is a tale of the courage of many and the cowardice of one - the man in charge. Captain Francesco Schettino was already on shore hours before the last passengers were rescued from the tilting ship. Coast guard officials repeatedly ordered him back on board but he refused. He's now under arrest on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, shipwreck, tampering with evidence, and abandoning ship.
The shipping company issued a statement saying it appears the captain made errors in judgment. Francesco Verusio is the prosecutor heading the investigation.
FRANCESCO VERUSIO: (Through translator) It was a hazardous maneuver. He got too close to the island, some 150 yards from the coast. The captain gave the alarm around 10:42 p.m., one hour after the collision.
POGGIOLI: Verusio adds bringing the ship so close to Giglio was part of a maritime practice - a fly-by with the sounding of sirens, a salute to show off the brightly-lit luxury liner to the islanders.
The shipwreck took place in a stretch of the Mediterranean said to be the biggest designated marine park in Europe. The rocky reefs are a scuba diver's paradise, a natural habitat of dolphins, and a protected area for many fish species. Now there is fear of an environmental disaster. Officials say so far none of the shipâs fuel has leaked.
A Dutch firm has been called in to help extract the fuel from the ship's tanks before anything leaks into the pristine waters. Environment Minister Corrado Clini says the passage of massive luxury liners in this stretch of sea has gone on too long.
CORRADO CLINI: (Through translator) These floating condominiums, which offer thrills for tourists, are a serious danger for the environment. We have to move quickly to prevent these huge ships, which are not equipped with a double hull, from entering these delicate areas.
POGGIOLI: The minister today will attend an emergency on-site meeting with experts to assess how to remove the shipwreck as quickly and safely as possible.
Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.
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NPR's business news begins with a letter to Iran.
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Iran has reportedly acknowledged receiving a letter from the U.S. about the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to close off that waterway, a main route for oil tankers, if sanctions are imposed against the country's oil sales. An Iranian news agency says the letter is being studied and the government is determining whether to respond.
MONTAGNE: Along with possible U.S. sanctions, European leaders are meeting later this month to consider blocking purchase of oil from Iran.
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European financial markets started this week with a new reality. They had the weekend to absorb news that Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine European countries - including France, which lost its triple-A status. These countries face exposure to financial trouble in Greece, among other places.
We're going to talk about this with Zanny Minton-Beddoes, the economics editor of The Economist and regular guest on our program. Zanny, welcome once again.
ZANNY MINTON-BEDDOES: Hi. Good to be there.
INSKEEP: I was wondering if European markets would plunge the way that markets plunged when U.S. credit was downgraded. But things don't seem to be that frantic.
MINTON-BEDDOES: They don't because, you know, this wasn't a great surprise. It was a question of when it was going to happen, not if. It had been pretty well telegraphed that France was likely to be downgraded. So I think, yeah, in the short term economically it's not such a huge deal. The euro is a bit weaker this morning, but French bond yields are only up slightly. I think it's very important deal politically in France.
INSKEEP: What do you mean by that?
MINTON-BEDDOES: Well, you know, this is very bad news for Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, coming less than 100 days from the elections. Because he had, he'd long put a very high priority on keeping France's Triple-A. He said once, I think in last September, that it was his one objective and one obligation to maintain the Triple-A. And though he's been playing it down in recent weeks as it's become clearer that a downgrade is likely, it's still a very, very tough thing for him to deal with domestically in France because obviously all his political opponents have jumped on this, and it's also harder for him to stand next to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who Germany's still now the only big European country with a Triple-A status, and claim that he is somehow her equal in this European crisis. So I think it's a sort of psychological and political blow for France more than a big short-term economic issue.
INSKEEP: Oh well, let's talk about that though, because you mentioned Sarkozy and Merkel trying to work together, Sarkozy trying to stand as Merkel's equal, and they've been trying to lead the way out of this European debt crisis, which is of great concern to the continent and great concern to the world. Is the downgrade going to make it harder for Europe to get to safe ground?
MINTON-BEDDOES: Well, it is in two ways. Firstly, because I think it does affect the political dynamic between those two powers. But secondly and more importantly immediately, it's actually quite bad news for Europe's rescue funds, because the way Europe has structured its own rescue funds, they are based on issuing bonds which are backed by effectively the Triple-A countries' guarantees.
INSKEEP: Hmm.
MINTON-BEDDOES: Now, if you have fewer Triple-A countries in Europe, then you have weaker guarantees, which means that the European rescue fund bonds, they may have to pay more for those bonds. So it actually makes the kind of process of raising money to rescue weaker countries - Portugal, Ireland - more expensive and harder. But I...
INSKEEP: The strong guys who are supposed to be guaranteeing debt here are looking weaker. That's what you are saying.
MINTON-BEDDOES: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think if you sort of stand back a bit, it's also symptomatic of a longer term and quite negative spiral in Europe, which is this nasty spiral between austerity leading to weaker growth, leading to recession, leading to the debt and deficit numbers looking worse, which in turn leads to more austerity, and it's a rather nasty downward spiral, and that's part of the reason that France is downgraded and I think that's something that we're going to see even more of across-the-board in Europe because the eurozone is now almost certainly in recession, and it's not clear to me how it gets out of it very quickly.
INSKEEP: And of course the country that has been leading the way in that spiral is Greece, and talks on restructuring privately held Greek debt just broke down. What happened?
MINTON-BEDDOES: Absolutely. This may actually turn out to be rather most significant than the French downgrade, I think. The talks broke down on Friday. These were talks between Greece's private sector creditors - the banks, basically - about the terms of a quote-unquote "voluntary agreement" to restructure Greece's private debt. And these bankers had agreed in principle a few months ago that they would agree to a 50 percent cut in the value of their debt. And what they've been haggling over in recent weeks is the terms of that deal. Now, what kind of a loss a 50 percent cut translates into depends on what kind - what the new bonds are like, what their maturity is, what their interest rate is...
INSKEEP: Mm-hmm.
MINTON-BEDDOES: ...and that's what they've been haggling over. And they've been haggling over that against an increasingly dark backdrop for Greece.
First of all, the numbers from Greece keep getting ever worse, the situation there keeps getting ever more dire, and most people think they need much more than a 50 percent debt reduction. And so the question is how big a real debt reduction do they need, and will the private sector creditors agree to that?
And there's also some pressure on timing because on March the 20th, Greece is due to pay a 14.4 billion euro bond repayment, which means that if they don't have an agreement before then, or Greece doesn't get money from somewhere before then, it's going to default on its debt. And so increasingly there's this fear that there will actually be a chaotic default of Greek debt.
INSKEEP: In just a couple of seconds, is it possible this 50 percent write-down on Greek debt, that even that basic deal could fall apart?
MINTON-BEDDOES: I think it's certainly possible. I think that they're quite far apart and Greece's numbers look so dire at the moment, it's just not clear that even, even a bigger write-down might not be enough.
Greece is in a really, really big mess.
INSKEEP: Zanny, thanks very much.
MINTON-BEDDOES: My pleasure.
INSKEEP: Zanny Minton-Beddoes of The Economist.
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And our last word in business today is the doctor is out. Over the summer we told you about a soft drink called Dublin Dr. Pepper. It's a slightly different version of the popular Dr. Pepper soda, made with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It was produced by Dr. Pepper Bottling Company in Dublin, Texas, which had been a family-owned business for more than 110 years.
Dr. Pepper-Snapple Group, the big corporation that makes the standard formula, had sued the Dublin-based company. And last week the two companies reached an agreement. Dr. Pepper-Snapple bought the rights to sell and distribute the sugar-cane version. It will still be sold in Texas, but will no longer carry the name Dublin. That means the city of Dublin is losing its biggest claim to fame. It will no longer be able to sell T-shirts and products that say Dublin Dr. Pepper. These have now become collector's items, along with the bottles that remain of the soda. One 24-bottle case of Dublin Dr. Pepper apparently reached $9,999 on eBay.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
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To talk more about those opponents and what's happening on the campaign trail, we turn now to NPR's Cokie Roberts, who joins us most Mondays. Good morning, Cokie.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So let's - it looks like there's one less rival in the Republican contest, now that former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is expected to drop out today and throw his support to Mitt Romney. Let's talk about the likely effect on the rest of the contenders.
ROBERTS: Well, I'm not sure he's going to have much of an effect on the rest of the contenders. Look, Jon Huntsman was just simply not getting anywhere. He didn't do well enough in New Hampshire, where he had put all of his energy, to really carry on. And he's getting out before yet another debate tonight, which seems wise. And it allows his backers and, to some extent, his staff, to get on the side of the frontrunner - which will help them in the long run.
I think that his own endorsement of Romney is not likely to mean very much. The Democratic National Committee is already touting all of Huntsman's criticisms of Romney as not trustworthy, not electable. Huntsman's campaign took all of that off of their website last night.
But to show how little endorsements really matter these days, Huntsman gets out the same day that he was endorsed by South Carolina's biggest newspaper. I just don't think that they signify very much in modern politics.
Now, Romney has had the advantage of the governor, Nikki Haley, sort of validating him and going around the state with him, but she's not terribly popular. Ron Paul is coming into South Carolina today to receive the endorsement of Tea Partier Congressman Tom Davis. But again, it's not likely to really matter for him.
MONTAGNE: Well, as we just heard from Don, there was another endorsement this weekend that in the past certainly would have been important, and that was the one for Rick Santorum by religious conservative leaders who were meeting in Texas. How much then, in fact, might this really mean?
ROBERTS: Well, I think that, again, in past years it would have been huge. If there were still the force behind a Jerry Falwell-type preacher, then that would have really been an enormous endorsement for Santorum. And obviously it's helpful to him, as we just heard in Gonyea's piece, but it's not big enough.
And I mean there's just nobody who is swaying these voters. And the other conservatives, the other people who are positioning themselves as the not-Romney candidate, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich, are not going anywhere. They're not getting out.
MONTAGNE: So what are we learning, Cokie, about the Republican Party in the primaries so far? I mean, there's so much talk about the polarized politics in this country. Can a candidate win the Republican primary vote and still bring in Independent voters in the general election?
ROBERTS: Well, of course that's always the danger, that the things a candidate says to win over the true believers turn off everyone else. But this has been such a strange campaign. In Iowa, the independents went overwhelmingly for Ron Paul. In New Hampshire where Independents are a plurality of the voters, they split their votes among Paul, Huntsman, and Romney.
So they haven't been turned off by Romney, but his opponents' attacks against him have been these attacks about his tenure at Bain Capital that are meant to appeal to lower-income, out-of-work whites in South Carolina, but it could also appeal to those same folk in the general election, and they could decide to go Democratic as a result of it. So that could be a true problem for him, not because of what he's done to appeal to the base, but how his opponents have characterized him.
Now those opponents, mainly Gingrich and Perry, have gotten a lot of heat from inside the party, but they counter that it's better to launch these attacks now rather than later. We'll see, Renee, you know, Democrats can use them - use those Republicans saying these things later in the campaign.
Santorum's chosen to go after Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts and health care there, and used it to paint him as unelectable. If voters believe him, that's smart, because Romney's biggest strength so far has been that he is the guy who can beat Barack Obama.
But I think the really - only significant damage that Romney has done by appealing to his base is to drive away Hispanic voters by taking a harder and harder line on immigration, and it is instructive that he has up now, in Florida - which is the next primary up after this one - a Spanish language ad. So he's already beginning to try to cover that ground.
MONTAGNE: Cokie, thanks very much. NPR's Cokie Roberts.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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The civilian government of Pakistan has been under absurd amounts of pressure ever since it won election about four years ago. It's squeezed by the army - which reluctantly surrendered power - by the United States, by a host of insurgents and also by Pakistan's Supreme Court.
That court has now initiated contempt of court proceedings against the prime minister. The government is accused of defying orders to start corruption cases against high-ranking officials including the president, Asif Ali Zardari. NPR's Julie McCarthy was in the courtroom in Islamabad. She's on the line.
Hi, Julie.
JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Hi there, Steve.
INSKEEP: So what happened in the Supreme Court in Islamabad today?
MCCARTHY: Well, I think what we're witnessing today in this court was a very legalistic and restrained way of tightening the screws on the government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Zardari.
Why? The court is furious about how the government has not responded to court orders. Chiefly, they'd like to see the government reopen these corruption cases that, of course, include President Zardari. These cases had been closed under a deal that then-President Musharraf had cut with Zardari and his late wife Benazir Bhutto.
The court came along in 2009 and overturned those. And in a contemptuous court order last week, said that this government absolutely showed no interest in carrying out the court orders, which would have reopened cases. So today, the justices demonstrated that they've had it. And they have called the prime minister to the court to tell them why he shouldn't be held in contempt on Thursday.
INSKEEP: So we're talking about old corruption cases that were sealed. There was an effort to put them behind everybody at the end of the old military government some years ago. The court says no, we want to go back. We want you to go back. What are they telling the government to do exactly? Prosecute itself?
MCCARTHY: Well, really the options that they gave the government in an order that was issued last week are so draconian that they amount to that. They amount to non-options for the government. They included disqualifying the prime minister from office because he had violated his oath to uphold the constitution. The constitution requires office holders to be - I'm quoting here, Steve - "sagacious, honest, non-profligate and righteous."
The same option of disqualifying himself was given to the president. To stand disqualified from office for violating his oath and holding the Supreme Court, the supreme law of the land, in contempt. One other option, quite an interesting one that the court put out, was to turn this whole showdown over to the people of Pakistan, maybe in a referendum, maybe in an early election. But so far, the government here hasn't shown any appetite for early voting before its term is up in 2013.
INSKEEP: I'm just taking notes of those requirements - sagacious, non-profligate, honest. Tough requirements.
MCCARTHY: Honest.
INSKEEP: But in any case here, a challenge for this government, and I think a question on a lot of people's minds is whether this civilian government or any civilian government can actually survive a full term in Pakistan. There's more than a year to go in the official five-year term of this government.
MCCARTHY: That's right. What you have are all kinds of forces now arrayed against the government. You've got the judiciary arrayed against them. There is a showdown now with the military and this government. And, of course, you've got an opposition that is smelling blood and baying for early elections. And the question really is at this point, as you say, how long can they hold on. How long they can stay has become a parlor game right now.
INSKEEP: Do they have any time or energy to do things like run the country or fight the insurgency?
MCCARTHY: Well, you know, this is the whole problem with an embattled government. It spends most of its time trying to fend off the battlers and those who are warring with it.
And meanwhile, there's no gas in this country. The energy situation is deplorable. People don't have heating. They can't cook. And that's the real day-to-day governance that people want to see and they haven't seen from this government. And so the people themselves, I'm told by a lot of people, wouldn't be sad if they saw the back of this government.
INSKEEP: NPR's Julie McCarthy is in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Julie, thanks very much.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Football fans were again glued to their TVs over the weekend, and the latest round of the NFL playoffs did not disappoint. The team with the best record in the regular season, the Green Bay Packers, lost to the New York Giants. And the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, tamping down Tebow mania.
Here to discuss it all is NPR's Mike Pesca. Good morning.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.
MONTAGNE: So Mike, technically, in these playoffs there was only one what you might call an upset. So why did the games feel so thrilling and even unexpected?
PESCA: Right. That Giants game, that was the only time that a road team went and beat the higher seeded team. It was just because of the nature of the games. The very first game of the weekend was that Saints-49ers game, which was a pretty low scoring affair until about seven minutes left. And then there was a touchdown after a touchdown after a touchdown after a touchdown.
And everybody was talking, oh my God, can you believe that result? Can you believe that the 49ers found some offense, and that the Saints just wilted as much as they did?
Take it through the weekend where you had another exciting game on Saturday, Sunday a little bit of a sorbet game in the Texans and Ravens. And it ended with a shocking result in the Packers losing to the Giants.
MONTAGNE: Well, let's get back to the Giants. Talk to us a little more in depth about that game.
PESCA: Well, four sacks. The Giants sacked the quarterback Aaron Rodgers four times. And most importantly, they forced three fumbles. And the Packers weren't a team that turned it over - and turnovers have been a huge part of the playoffs. They're very big in football. The Packers also uncharacteristically had a lot of drops and they were all really quite deadly.
I think that the thing going in was that people thought that the Giants would be able to have this very good defense that put pressure on Aaron Rodgers; that would give them a chance. And while that was true, they won in a little bit of an unusual way, in that their quarterback, Eli Manning, was the best quarterback on the field. And that's kind of shocking, when you consider that Aaron Rodgers probably had the best season a quarterback in NFL history had ever had.
So it was really an exciting game and it shows that great offenses are great but, you know, they could be stymied by a good defense.
MONTAGNE: And, Mike, seems like the Ravens versus Texans was kind of buried in the mix. Are the Ravens being overlooked, do you think?
PESCA: Well, it was kind of good that it was buried in the mix because we needed a pause to take our breath. But this was the one game which played out like a football game from 30 years ago, where a team established a lead and held on defensively. And I do think that there is a danger. When the Ravens go into New England, people are just going to discount the Ravens because New England looks so offensively impressive. But the Ravens have a very good team.
I would just say, as far as looking at that matchup, on the road, though, the Ravens are only four-and-four. They do play in New England. That'll give the Patriots a big advantage.
MONTAGNE: And out in San Francisco it will also be a bit of a matchup between a very good offense, the Giants, and the conference's best defense.
PESCA: Right. So we have great defenses left. But this year the lesson seems to have been that offense is what trumps all. Three of the NFL's best five offenses in NFL history were on the field this year. But the Saints lost and the Packers lost. And now, the Patriots are the only great offense left standing. The Giants have a very good offense and statistically they had a bad defense throughout the year; their defense has come on.
The San Francisco 49ers are a traditionally excellent defense. And while people discount the play of their quarterback, Alex Smith, he showed that he could put the ball on the numbers - especially if those numbers belong to tight end Vernon Davis.
This should be a good one. Look, this is a game where the - Las Vegas tells us that the Patriots are favored by slightly more than a touchdown, and the 49ers by slightly less than a field goal. That spells out excitement.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Mike Pesca on the NFL playoffs. And, Mike, thanks.
PESCA: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Americans honor Martin Luther King, Jr. today. And those visiting his new 30-foot tall memorial in Washington, D.C. will find a quote that reads: I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. Well, it may be carved in granite, but it's not actually what the civil rights leader said. Fixing a quote embedded in three feet of stone presents quite a challenge, but it will be changed to more accurately honor Dr. King's memory. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich made news on Saturday, taking tough questions from voters at a black church. His other engagements in the South Carolina primary have not turned out so well. He's been so late to events he's forced other speakers to stall. At a Friday barbecue, the event moderator was left asking awkwardly: Can we check and see where the speaker is? Rick Santorum was at the same event and used the time to work the crowd. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In the weeks and months immediately after Haiti's catastrophic earthquake, charities and aid groups helped save many lives. But two years after that disaster, it's become clear that helping Haitians rebuild their devastated country has been much less successful. As we heard yesterday, Americans donated billions to U.S. charities to aid to Haiti. This morning, NPR's Carrie Kahn reports it's difficult to get detailed information about just how organizations spend that money.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: NPR surveyed 12 of the largest and best known U.S. charities about their work in Haiti. The groups say they raised nearly $1.8 billion - they've spent more than two-thirds. Details can be seen at NPR.org. With all that money comes a lot of questions about how wisely and well those dollars were put to work.
GUY SERGE POMPILOUS: Satisfactory. Just plainly satisfactory.
KAHN: Guy Serge Pompilous is not impressed with the job non-governmental organizations or NGOs are doing. Serge heads a small community group called Haiti Aid Watchdog.
POMPILOUS: People have been helped, there have been some beneficiaries. But there is still work to do. You know, that would be, what - a D-plus, C-minus. I would rate them C-minus.
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KAHN: He says it's been difficult to get NGOs to account for the money. Julie Sell of the American Red Cross disagrees. She says her organization has done a good job.
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KAHN: She's standing in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood where 100 homes are being repaired with 150,000 Red Cross dollars. Sell says it's difficult to show someone exactly where their $10 contribution has gone.
JULIE SELL: One way we can show that impact is by telling the stories of Haitians and the people that we've helped and saying, you know, here is a life that, you know, you helped to change.
KAHN: But as the pace of recovery in Haiti drags on, those whose lives have not changed are getting angry. Much of that anger is directed at the NGOs.
PIERRE JEAN NELSON: (Speaking foreign language) What are they going to do with us? 'Cause we can't suffer anymore, we can't take it anymore. It's too much.
KAHN: Pierre Jean Nelson has been living in a tent for two years and is out of patience.
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KAHN: He can't find a job and spends most of his days playing his rusted bongo. A small stream of foul smelling water runs beside him. He wants to know where all the money has gone. Nigel Fisher, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, says NGOs must do a better job accounting for their funds. He says other kinds of aid, like money given by foreign governments and international banks, is very closely tracked and monitored.
NIGEL FISHER: It's not so easy to track the NGO resources that were raised and we guess that there were may be up to two billion that were raised by NGOs around the world. That has been difficult to track.
KAHN: The only legal accountability U.S. charities must complete is an annual form with the IRS. Many, however, go beyond that requirement and post audited financial statements and other information on their websites. But those are complex documents with few details, especially about overhead costs in Haiti like housing, rental cars, security, and local staff salaries. A spokeswoman for the American Red Cross declined to provide a local overhead breakdown. World Vision did give NPR a local figure - on average nearly $1 million a month. That's 8 percent of the total amount the religious charity spent in Haiti. One of the other big issues facing aid groups is making sure enough resources go to long-term reconstruction as well as immediate relief. The U.N.'s Nigel Fisher says everyone must invest in the future of Haiti and make sure national institutions are strengthened or...
FISHER: We'll be here in 20 years' time and our successors will be having the same discussion, unless we change the approach.
KAHN: Without that greater accountability, many fear there will be more waste and duplication. Peter Bell of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a former CEO of CARE agrees. He says U.S. charities should adopt a model used in the United Kingdom where groups jointly ask for money when a major disaster hits.
PETER BELL: It would take out some of the competition among the NGOs for resources and allow them more to band together.
KAHN: And, he says, in the U.K. an independent third party evaluates the groups' finances and its effectiveness. Guy Serge Pompilous of the Haiti Aid Watchdog group would have welcomed such an approach. His group tried to do its own survey of NGOs but none responded to his inquiries. His organization is no longer trying to monitor their work. Serge doesn't want NGOs to leave Haiti, he just wants them to include more locals in their decision-making.
POMPILOUS: There's that proverb you know - they're giving a lot of fish but they never teach them how to fish.
KAHN: So he's going to teach Haitians to demand more answers about how money is being spent in their country. Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: Southwest Airlines prides itself on being different from other carriers. Next month, it's going to have to highlight those differences when it starts flying out of Atlanta. That's Delta's hometown. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is also the country's busiest. Southwest gained a foothold there, after buying a discount carrier, Air Tran.
NPR's Kathy Lohr has more.
KATHY LOHR, BYLINE: Southwest does offer low fares, but the airline also stresses it's fun to fly.
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LOHR: In the video, which was a hit on You Tube a couple of years ago, passengers clap and tap their feet as Southwest flight attendant David Holmes raps all the way through the usually boring flight instructions.
: (Rapping) It's almost time to go so; I'm done with the rhyme. Thank you for the fact that I wasn't ignored this is Southwest Airlines. Welcome aboard.
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LOHR: This is just the kind of unique experience Southwest likes to brag about.
BRAD HAWKINS: What's different about Southwest, our legendary customer service: our low fares. All of that showcased by the people who make a real connection with our customers.
LOHR: Brad Hawkins is a spokesman for Southwest. The low fare carrier doesn't have baggage fees or change fees and that's a plus, but it also doesn't have first class or business class seats - that something that most regular Delta business travelers expect. Hawkins says that shouldn't be a deal breaker.
HAWKINS: We have all leather seating, we have open seating, we have orderly boarding. And in droves, people are coming to Southwest Airlines for those reasons.
KEN BERNHARDT: I think there's a couple of things they have to do when they enter the Atlanta market.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Ken Bernhardt is a marketing professor at Georgia State University. He says the airline's first goal is retaining Air Tran customers, then he saysâ¦
BERNHARDT: They've got to get people to try it for the first time. Most people in Atlanta have never flown Southwest because they don't come into this market.
LOHR: Southwest has remained profitable because it turns planes around quickly and efficiently. But Atlanta's mega airport presents a big challenge because it's often bogged down with long delays. Still, Ray Neidl, an airline industry analyst with Maxim Group, says that shouldn't be problem.
RAY NEIDL: They will have a little heartburn as they digest the Air Tran model, which was different, a little different than the Southwest model. But eventually, I think, it will be beneficial to Southwest.
LOHR: Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is almost always bustling.
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LOHR: The rotunda underneath an enormous sky light is full of people waiting for flights. Catherine Locker recently moved away from Atlanta for a new job, but she says she flies here often and is happy Delta will have the competition.
CATHERINE LOCKER: I think it's awesome, because I live in Austin, right now, and I'm always looking for cheap flights and I can never find them. So I'm grateful they that they're coming to Atlanta.
LOHR: But it's a tougher sell for Eric Goldschmidt, a Delta frequent flyer and Gold Medallion member.
ERIC GOLDSCHMIDT: I've never flown Southwest, so I couldn't tell you. Hopefully the rates go down.
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LOHR: Would you be willing to try it?
GOLDSCHMIDT: Oh sure. I mean I'd be willing to try it, but I'm a Delta loyalist, so, you know, switching over from one airline to another it's going to have to be like a big difference in fares.
LOHR: A Delta spokesman says competition is nothing new, the airline is confident its vast operation, which offers 1,000 flights a day to almost anywhere, will keep its customers. Southwest begins service with just 15 flights a day.
Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Atlanta.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Back in 1947, Vogue magazine sent Rosamond Bernier to Paris, to cover European cultural life as the continent recovered after the Second World War. She met everybody who was anybody. And she writes about them in her memoir "Some of My Lives."
NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg met the book's 95-year-old author.
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: Its clear Rosamond Bernier never met a person she didn't charm to pieces. Some examples, in 1936, on summer vacation from college, she met the young almost-penniless Aaron Copeland rehearsing a concert in Mexico City. The composer was staying in a small village four hours away. Bernier asked how Copeland liked it.
ROSAMOND BERNIER: And he said it's very nice. The electricity goes off and on, but you get used to candlelight. And he said the only thing is, I miss marmalade. I like marmalade for my breakfast.
STAMBERG: Rosamond Bernier commandeered a boyfriend. Got him to drive her to Copland, and presented him with cartons of marmalade.
BERNIER: And Aaron said the girl is crazy.
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STAMBERG: Thus began a lifelong friendship, a cloudless friendship, as she describes it. At her third wedding, Copland gave her away after Leonard Bernstein walked her down the aisle at architect Philip Johnson's house.
When she tells all this in her smart Eastside Manhattan apartment, it doesn't feel like name-dropping, but rather, a life well-lived.
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STAMBERG: Music and food have fueled many Bernier friendships. In Paris, in the '50s, as creator-editor of "L'Oeil," an art magazine, Bernier often went to Alice B. Toklas for tea.
BERNIER: And she always made very what, very wonderful cakes. There was no question of just an old dried biscuit.
STAMBERG: This was after Toklas his life partner, writer Gertrude Stein, had died. Bernier met the women through another American composer.
BERNIER: I had an introduction to Gertrude Stein by Virgil Thompson who, of course, knew her very well.
STAMBERG: Bernier told Stein she wanted to photograph her for "Vogue." Stein, never shy about publicity, picked the place: the salon of high fashion designer Pierre Balmain. Stein brought along her poodle, Basket, who also posed alongside with one of Balmain's gorgeous models.
BERNIER: There was Gertrude Stein looking like Man Mountain Dean. You know, this enormous creature, confronted by this willowy ravishing model.
STAMBERG: The picture, by fashion photographer Horst, became famous. But when it's reproduced, it's always cropped. You don't get to see, way back in a right-hand corner, Bernier herself, watching the proceedings.
Rosamond Bernier has designer clothes in her closet. She wore them, the gowns, whenever she lectured at the Metropolitan Museum. For decades, she spoke at the Met about art and culture - no notes, couture gowns. But decades earlier, in Mexico - that Aaron Copland time - she wore her schoolgirl best to do a concert with painter Frida Kahlo.
BERNIER: She took one look at me and said, oh, come on, kid. I'll fix you up - because she spoke English. So she took me in and she dressed me completely like her; with the blouse, with ruffled skirt, with endless pre-Colombian necklaces. And she worked on my hair making all kinds of blows and flowers. And she made me a replica of the way she dresses.
STAMBERG: Many of these famous doors first open for Rosamond Bernier through her father, a prominent lawyer who loved art and music, and sat on the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra. So: Sarah Lawrence for College, Mexico City for vacation, Paris for Vogue, all those brilliant creative people who agreed to let her write profiles.
Tell what you were like then. In the late '40s, who were you? And how did you present yourself in the world?
BERNIER: The main thing is that I was interested in them. I was receptive. I knew something about them, obviously. I knew about their work. I knew about their music. I think it was just showing an intelligent interest in them and their work.
STAMBERG: But you were young. You were lovely. You were charming.
BERNIER: Well, I have no idea if I was charming. I was earnest.
STAMBERG: And still, at 95, modest and unpretentious - perfect manners, too.
And what was Paris like in 1947?
BERNIER: Heating was very uncertain. The telephone had a sort of freakish life of its own. And getting around, of course, The Metro was working, but there was very little street traffic. And it was still terribly cold, terribly cold.
STAMBERG: So cold that the Vogue staff put up at the Hotel Crayon, not just because it was a grand hotel, but also because it was the only place in town that had reliable heat - which means it was chilly when she went to meet Picasso, with an introduction from a prominent Swiss publisher who also offered this advice.
BERNIER: He said don't ask any questions and don't wear a hat.
STAMBERG: So, hatless - and as inconspicuous as possible - Bernier nevertheless caught Picasso's attention because she spoke Spanish. He ended up inviting her to Provence to see what he was painting.
She met Matisse through her good friend and his son, Pierre. She gets a bit racy describing the great painter.
BERNIER: One of the few times I saw Matisse not in bed, was the first time I saw him.
STAMBERG: Most of the time, Matisse was not well and eventually became bedridden. But always, the artist was well groomed.
BERNIER: He was a great, distinguished old gentleman, always carefully arranged. The beard neatly trimmed, scanty hair neatly combed, very formal. And I was young at time, but he addressed me always as Madame.
STAMBERG: Once on a visit, Matisse asked: What have you done for color today. Then the legendary colorist suggested she wear a yellow scarf with her orange coat. They met several times over the years. Bernier told him she had seen a documentary film about him, the camera coming in close as he drew.
BERNIER: He looks very troubled. And he said, when I saw it, I saw that my hand did a little movement before I started to draw. He said, you mustn't think I was hesitating. He said (French language spoken), I have not yet begun to see.
STAMBERG: With her eye for greatness, her nose for the new, and her lively interest Rosamond Bernier is a woman full of charms. She's led a charmed life and a charming life, and is herself a charm, replete with twinkling stories and eyes that shine as she tells them.
Her memoir is called "Some of My Lives."
I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.
INSKEEP: Photos of the author and some of her friends and acquaintances are at NPR.org.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
The city of Florence, Italy takes pride in welcoming foreign migrants. Then came an incident last month. Two Africans were killed in the city. Italy's economic crisis has grown worse, leaving some Italians believing they have to compete with immigrants for a slice of a shrinking economic pie. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: On December 13th, a known rightwing extremist opened fire in two separate marketplaces, leaving two Senegalese dead and seriously injuring three others. The killer then shot himself.
That day the San Lorenzo market was packed with people shopping for Florence's renowned leather goods. Vendor Roberto Ciacci is still stunned by what happened.
ROBERTO CIACCI: (Through translator) I'm anguished. This city has a strong progressive, anti-fascist legacy. I can't believe this could happen here.
POGGIOLI: The killings were carried out by a member of Casa Pound, a rightwing grouping named after the American poet Ezra Pound, known for his fascist sympathies and anti-Semitism. Casa Pound leaders distanced themselves from the killer. But Saverio di Giulio says his group rejects the concept of immigrants' assimilation.
SAVERIO DI GIULIO: (Through translator) We uphold the notion of Italian-ness, that spiritual and mystical union of our people that existed during fascism. We are opposed to domination by the international financial system that wants to erase national identities.
POGGIOLI: Nigerian Udo Enwereuzor files reports to the EU Monitoring Center for Racism and Xenophobia. The ideas of Ezra Pound, he says, are gaining ground across the political spectrum.
UDO ENWEREUZOR: That part that criticizes big business, banks, has more chances of making headway attracting people on the left today because of the hardship.
POGGIOLI: Hardships that are beginning to affect Italians as well as foreign workers.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken)
POGGIOLI: It's lunchtime at a soup kitchen run by the Catholic charity Caritas. Most here are foreigners, but the number of Italians has grown 30 percent in the last year or so.
As more Italians become jobless and even homeless, Caritas officials say, tensions are growing. Many Italians are seeking jobs in three areas long disdainfully relegated only to foreigners - domestic help and care of the elderly, agriculture and construction.
Sociologist Emilio Santoro, who teaches at the University of Florence, says they find that the majority of immigrants are paid one-third of what they should be getting by law and work very long hours.
EMILIO SANTORO: This is the problem because, I mean, they find a market which is based on dumping, social dumping, and then they have to accept the same salary as the foreign people.
POGGIOLI: The new job competition risks turning into a war pitting poor against poor. It comes after a decade of escalating anti-immigrant statements by officials, especially members of the xenophobic Northern League. One minister even suggested immigrants should be shot in the boats bringing them to Italian shores.
Assane Kebe, a representative of Florence's Senegalese community, says the crisis has made the climate even worse.
ASSANE KEBE: (Through translator) People are now blaming immigrants for the crisis. They say we take away jobs, housing, and even slots in nurseries because we have too many children.
POGGIOLI: Immigrants now face an even worse prospect: Italian legislation, severely criticized by the EU, stipulates that foreigners without a job for six months must be expelled together with their entire family, even those who settled here decades ago. Several hundred thousand legal immigrants now risk losing their papers.
But the new government of Prime Minister Mario Monti wants to give them a reprieve and give them a year to find a new job. However, the government faces strong opposition in parliament from the Northern League and its conservative allies.
Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Florence.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Republican candidates debated last night in Myrtle Beach, and talked over taxes, foreign policy, as well as the economy. And at one point, the discussion turned to race.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
That issue brought some pointed questions aimed at Newt Gingrich. The former House speaker once again called President Obama the, quote, "food-stamp president." That prompted a question about whether Gingrich was really using a coded way to talk about race.
NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: It's a line Newt Gingrich has used since before the Iowa caucuses, and he came back to it during the debate, striking a chord with the audience in Myrtle Beach.
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ELLIOTT: Gingrich has also said African-Americans should demand paychecks instead of food stamps, and that poor kids should take jobs as school janitors to learn the value of work.
Fox News analyst Juan Williams asked Gingrich whether those comments might be considered insulting, particularly to black Americans.
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ELLIOTT: Only elites despise earning money, Gingrich said.
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ELLIOTT: Gingrich's rhetoric reminds some of an earlier era.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES CLYBURN: It's not the welfare queen, now. It's the king of the food stamps.
ELLIOTT: That's South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress. He's referring to a line used by Ronald Reagan.
CLYBURN: He kept talking about the welfare queen. I guess a lot of people see if Ronald Reagan can do it and be so lionized by conservatives, then I ought to be able to do it.
ELLIOTT: Clyburn says it's an old strategy: candidates using race as a wedge to get votes.
CLYBURN: That is something they have been told will work to connect the president as being a black-oriented president: taking away from somebody else to give to black people.
ELLIOTT: That depends on voters linking the food stamp program to African-Americans, even though blacks are not the majority of food stamp recipients. Former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts, a black Republican who is campaigning for Gingrich in South Carolina, says that's not what the debate is about.
J.C. WATTS: I think you have sensitivities, things that happens on both sides that, you know, I personally might not like, but I think it is a fact that more people on food stamps today because we don't have jobs. And that shouldn't be the economic policy of our country.
ELLIOTT: While Gingrich has received the most attention for linking the nation's first African-American president to food stamps, some of the other Republican candidates have also had to defend perceived racial insensitivities. But nothing in this year's contest has reached the level of a notorious race-based whisper campaign in the 2000 South Carolina primary. University of South Carolina political science Professor Mark Thompkins.
MARK THOMPKINS: I think the marker everybody remembers is the story in the McCain campaign - McCain's got a black child, blah, blah, blah - which is all very quiet, but very aggressively done.
ELLIOTT: Thompkins says race is one of several tools employed in the rough-and-tumble of South Carolina politics. Gingrich's food stamp line is more subtle, he says, but sends a message.
THOMPKINS: That Newt is going to take care of us and not take care of them, right. And there's an us-and-them quality to this kind of language, which is pretty rough stuff, right? But that's the code.
ELLIOTT: Black voters were picking up on it Saturday, when Gingrich held a town hall at Jones Memorial AME Zion Church in Columbia.
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ELLIOTT: Raushane Thompson questioned the characterization. Gingrich said it's not about the president, but his policies.
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HOWARD FURCH: Food-stamp president? I'm glad we got one, if that's what they want to call him, because people need help out here.
ELLIOTT: Howard Furch turned out to hear Gingrich at a statehouse rally in Columbia. He thinks the food stamp line is less about race and more about whether the candidates get what it's like to struggle to put food on the table.
FURCH: He can ring up a $500,000 Tiffany bill, but he can relate to us? Oh, no. Romney can sit up there and bet Governor Perry $10,000 bucks, he can relate to us? Mm-mm.
ELLIOTT: Furch raises a question sure to be heard again in the fall: Are middle-class voters feeling more resentment toward the rich or toward taxes that pay for programs like food stamps, intended to help the poor?
Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
For many Americans, the economic future belongs to China. We hear it all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: According to that IMF forecast, China's economy could overtake that of the U.S. to become the biggest by 2016.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Education survey, China scores top marks, U.S. and France lag.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything.
MONTAGNE: The view in China is more guarded. Recent surveys by two of China's biggest banks found most of the nation's richest people are thinking about establishing residency in another country or switching their citizenship altogether. Turns out America is high on that list, as NPR's Frank Langfitt discovered.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Last fall, wealthy Chinese gathered at a Beijing hotel to hear a pitch by Patrick Quinn, the governor of Illinois. He wanted them to invest in a convention center project at O'Hare airport.
GOVERNOR PATRICK QUINN: You can't have capitalism without capital. So we really are interested in encouraging people from everywhere, but particularly here in China, our good friends, the people of China, to consider Illinois as a place to make investments.
LANGFITT: The required minimum investment: half a million dollars. In exchange, Chinese investors could get a green card or permanent U.S. residency in less than three years. The program run by the U.S. government is called investor immigration.
Oliver Hua, who does market research for Western companies here, attended an O'Hare investor event in Shanghai this month. Hua says rich Chinese want green cards so they can protect their wealth as China's economy inevitably slows.
OLIVER HUA: Everybody worries. If you have money, you worry, because there's so much assets. Tomorrow, these assets are going down. So much worries.
LANGFITT: Hua attended the Shanghai event on behalf his brother, a wealthy real estate developer. Hua said his brother's interested in emigrating so he can transfer assets outside of China more easily.
In China's one-party system, businessmen rely on relationships with the government to prosper. Hua says if things turn sour, there's no protection.
HUA: You get rich working with the government. If you don't work with them, then you may get nothing and you may lose everything. That probably is the most dangerous situation.
LANGFITT: Many wealthy Chinese are anxious, because despite China's tremendous progress, the country still faces a lot of challenges. Income inequality is staggering, corruption systemic and public protests a daily occurrence.
Leo Yang manages a company that helps wealthy Chinese get green cards.
LEO YANG: (Through translator) Many people have questions about the uncertainty surrounding China's economy, so they start looking for a second or third option.
LANGFITT: Last fiscal year, nearly 3,000 well-to-do Chinese applied for investor green cards in the U.S. That's up from just 270, four years ago. A recent survey by Bank of China and Hurun, a company that tracks China's rich, found that 60 percent of Chinese millionaires have either emigrated, are in the process of doing so, or thinking about it. A China Merchant's Bank Report found the top reason was a better education for their children. The second: protecting assets.
Again, Leo Yang, who switches to English.
YANG: I think, last year, all the clients buy may be a hundred house in the United States. Yeah, a hundred houses.
LANGFITT: Yang says Chinese like U.S. real estate because they can own it in total. And they can pass the homes onto their children. In China, the government controls the land. People can own houses, but they can only lease the land underneath.
YANG: We buy the house, we can only use it for 70 years. But in America or some country, we can get the land forever. So definitely, my client always want to buy something forever. Right?
LANGFITT: Yang says most Chinese who apply for investment immigration are legitimate. But he says five to 10 percent want to hide money they got through corruption.
YANG: So these people want to put money outside China. And, you know, washing - we call it washing money. So I have some client come to my company say, I have money. I don't have any document. I say no, no, no, no. This is illegal.
LANGFITT: Andy Zhang is a far more typical candidate for residency. He studies automotive engineering in a technical school in Houston.
Home in Shanghai on break, Zhang, 23, attended the investor event to learn more about a green card. He says a green card could help him advance in the U.S.
ANDY ZHANG: It can bring me some benefits such as education or employment. It get easier to get employed.
LANGFITT: How do u like living in the States?
ZHANG: Love it. I used to live in Arkansas for two years, so the lifestyle over there is quite different. It's quiet and cozy and... But Shanghai, the life pace is too fast.
LANGFITT: Zhang isn't giving up on his homeland. He hopes to work in the U.S. for BMW for several years and then probably return to China.
Another person looking for residency in another country is Leo Li. He works in the solar panel business. In the next several years, Li hopes to save enough money to qualify for investment immigration in Singapore or Canada. One reason: more freedom. Li explains by way of a joke: A boss is questioning a Chinese employee on why he wants to move overseas.
LEO LI: You're not satisfied with China, with the work? He says, Ah, I'm pretty satisfied with the work. Ah, with the pay? He says, the pay is good. How about the politicians? Oh, it's nice in China. Then why are you still moving out? So the guy said, because in other country, I can say I'm not satisfied.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
LI: Now you understand?
LANGFITT: Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In Wisconsin today, opponents of the state's Republican governor will deliver petitions to the state's election agency. The move is part of an effort to recall Governor Scott Walker. Thousands of volunteers have spent the past two months canvassing every corner of the state, collecting signatures, as Marti Mikkelson of member station WUWM in Milwaukee reports.
MARTI MIKKELSON, BYLINE: Talk of recalling the governor began nearly a year ago, after he signed a bill into law that strips most public unions of collective bargaining rights. Tens of thousands voiced their anger during massive protests at the state capitol, along with 14 Democratic senators fleeing the state for three weeks to delay a vote. But last Friday night the mood was festive.
A band tunes up while dozens of people arrive for a celebration at a tiny recall office on Milwaukee's north side. Party planners are moving furniture and setting up a table for last minute signers as the final hours of the petition drive tick away. Alex McMurtry just signed his name. He recently turned 18 and says he can't wait to vote in a recall election.
ALEX MCMURTRY: It was very unilateral and I think that it was kind of underhanded. You got to send the message that that's not acceptable. You have to listen to the voters of Wisconsin.
MIKKELSON: McMurtry is still in high school and says besides the collective bargaining changes, he's upset about the governor's cuts to education made to help erase a budget deficit.
Later today, a caravan will deliver a huge truckload of petitions to the state elections board. Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate says he was able to recruit 25,000 volunteers to circulate recall petitions and he's all but certain he'll surpass the threshold of 500,000 valid signatures needed for a recall.
MIKE TATE: We've seen an absolute departure from Wisconsin values and I think that there are hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites that took the time to sign this petition because this is how they're exercising their voice.
MIKKELSON: But it remains to be seen if the massive effort will parlay into votes against Walker if there's a recall election. And Republicans say they're ready for a fight. Keith Best works at the GOP's Get Out the Vote office in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb that Walker carried in 2010. He says Scott Walker has lived up to his campaign promises.
KEITH BEST: Governor Walker has campaigned and done what he said he was going to do. He saved the state fiscally. I mean, you look at where some of the other states are. Illinois, for example, has - they had to raise their taxes. Their budget deficit has grown to $13 billion dollars. Wisconsin's is gone.
MIKKELSON: Best and thousands of volunteers across the state will spend the next few months staffing phone banks and putting up yard signs in support of the governor.
State officials estimate it could be June before they verify all signatures and survive court challenges. Don Kettl is dean of the School of Public Policy at the University Of Maryland. He says the outcome could just indicate the political direction the country could face in the fall.
DON KETTL: If Scott Walker wins, then it's a reassurance to the Republican right that they have strong legs that they can stand on in November. On the other hand, if Scott Walker is beaten, it will be a real warning to the Republicans about the dangers of drifting too far to the right.
MIKKELSON: Meanwhile, the governor continues to take advantage of a state law that allows recall targets to raise unlimited amounts of money during a recall period. And he's flooding the airwaves with television ads touting his accomplishments.
For NPR News, I'm Marti Mikkelson in Milwaukee.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: And I'm Renee Montagne. The scene of last night's Republican presidential debate was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It's a resort city known for golf courses, and the Republican field is almost small enough now to form a gulfing foursome.
INSKEEP: Almost, though not quite. Five candidates remain after Jon Huntsman withdrew. You could think of it as a foursome of challengers chasing Mitt Romney at the top of the leader board.
Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.
(SOUNDBITE OF FIREWORKS)
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Fireworks erupted outside the Myrtle Beach Convention Center last night, a hint at what was happening inside. Just before the debate, Rick Santorum announced a new ad campaign criticizing Mitt Romney for being too much like President Obama. During the debate, the former Pennsylvania senator complained about an ad from a pro-Romney group, targeting him. The ad suggests Santorum would allow felons to vote.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
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HORSLEY: Pressed by Santorum for an answer, Romney said he does not believe violent felons should be allowed to vote. Santorum then asked why Romney hadn't tried to change the law when he was governor of Massachusetts.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
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HORSLEY: Santorum, who finished just eight votes behind Romney in Iowa two weeks ago, is hoping to capitalize on a weekend endorsement from leading social conservatives to mount a convincing challenge to the frontrunner.
Texas Governor Rick Perry also took on Romney, over his financial background as a private equity investor, suddenly reminding voters of Romney's awkward comment â that he likes being able to fire people.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: Up until now, Romney's been reluctant to release his tax records. He did not exactly promise to do so last night, but says he probably will on or about tax day, April 15.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
HORSLEY: Texas Congressman Ron Paul continues to stand out from the Republican pack for his isolationist views on foreign policy, and for his eagerness to cut military spending. Paul argued last night such cuts would not necessarily hurt the economy here in South Carolina, which is home to more than half a dozen major military bases.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
HORSLEY: Paul drew boos for questioning the U.S. raid inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was asked if he'd authorize a similar unilateral strike in order to kill Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Gingrich, as he often does, cited history as his guide.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: The format for last night's debate allowed more time for answers, and with fewer candidates that made for some lively discussion of topics like Social Security. Gingrich outlined his plan to let young people open private retirement accounts, while Romney suggested raising the eligibility age for future retirees.
Santorum warned Gingrich's plan would add too much to the deficit and said the Romney plan is too timid, since it would leave Social Security unchanged for everyone over 55.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
HORSLEY: Republicans have one more debate before Saturday, and the primary many expect will determine how much longer the GOP nominating contest will go on.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
As they air their disagreements, the Republican presidential candidates agree on one thing: They want to repeal President Obama's health care law.
RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: The biggest part of that law - a requirement that almost everybody must have insurance - does not take effect until well after the election. But any repeal effort would be complicated, because some of the law is already in effect.
INSKEEP: NPR's Julie Rovner is here to talk about how the law is changing the health care landscape. Hi, Julie.
JULIE ROVNER: Hey, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, what's something that's in effect now?
ROVNER: Well, actually, a surprisingly large number of things are already in effect. For example, more than two-and-a-half million young people under the age of 26 are still on their parents' health insurance. Many, if not most of them, would probably be uninsured if not for the law.
INSKEEP: And under the old law you had to drop off your parent's health insurance at a younger age.
ROVNER: That's right, unless you were still in college. Millions of senior citizens are paying less for their prescription drugs. They are no longer falling into that notorious doughnut hole. And health insurers are now subject a lot of new consumer protection rules. For example, they have to spend 80 cents of each premium dollar on medical care itself rather than overhead, and if they don't, they have to give back rebates.
INSKEEP: So are several more million people actually insured today because of this law that passed in 2010?
ROVNER: Not that many more - that's the big part. It doesn't take effect until 2014.
INSKEEP: Is even more going to change before the election in November?
ROVNER: Not that much. This is actually a pretty quiet year. In 2012, really there's just a bunch of new rules for how Medicare is going to pay hospitals and other people who deliver health care. The real action comes next year in 2013, in preparation for 2014, which is when states have to be ready with these new insurance marketplaces called exchanges. That's where individuals and small businesses will be able to go to shop for health insurance. That's when more people will actually get insurance.
INSKEEP: OK. So how much progress are they making in setting up these exchanges?
ROVNER: Well, it's not going as fast as I think a lot of people had been hoping. You know, one of the reasons this law came with such a long lead time was to build essentially a whole new way of shopping for health insurance. And the way it's supposed to work is that states will either create their own exchanges or if they choose not to, the federal government will step in and do it for them. Right now there's two separate problems. First, you've got governors who do want to make this law work along with the Obama administration. They're finding this is just a really big, complicated job. Then you've got a lot of Republican governors who'd like to see the law go away, and they're dragging their feet on doing any of that real preparation in hopes that either the Supreme Court or a new president and Congress will actually make the law go away.
INSKEEP: And, of course, the Supreme Court is hearing challenges to the health care law. But I want to make sure that I understand what you say when you say health care exchanges. Because this is â is this basically a free enterprise idea? This is a new way to shop for different kinds of health insurance, is it fair to say?
ROVNER: That's exactly what it'll be. Now, if you already have health insurance through your job, you probably won't be involved in this. But for small businesses and for individuals who don't have health insurance or buy their own, they'll be able to get a choice of many different health insurance plans.
INSKEEP: Just to sum up here: You've said that several million people have been affected in one way or another by this. Behind the scenes, a lot of work is going on for bigger changes in the future. Is the law still at a point where you could simply reverse course, go back to the way things were before 2010?
ROVNER: Well, yes and no. Now, remember, the Supreme Court is looking at whether this individual mandate for most people to have insurance is constitutional or not. Now, they could rule that unconstitutional, but everyone seems to think it's unlikely that even if they did that, that the entire law would then be ruled unconstitutional. And if a Republican president were to be elected and a new Republican Congress, there's talk of repealing the law. But this law is, for better or worse, estimated to save money. So they would probably have to come up with money to make that up. Plus, you've got a lot of businesses and health providers who've done a lot of preparation work to make this law go into effect. They are not going to be so happy if this entire law is then reversed.
INSKEEP: Mitt Romney, the leading Republican presidential candidate, has been saying on the stump that this law is costing $95 billion per year. You're saying that simply repealing it would actually cost money. You'd have to go find money somewhere...
ROVNER: According to the Congressional Budget Office, which is the official arbiter that Congress has to obey, it would save money. So repealing it, they would have to find money.
INSKEEP: Julie, thanks for the update.
ROVNER: You're very welcome.
INSKEEP: NPR's Julie Rovner.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's report next on the food supply in this country. With so many Americans out of work, people feel the change in prices at the grocery store. So it's at least a potential relief to learn what the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported about the nation's crop supply the other day. The supply of corn, used in many kinds of food and fuel, is not as tight as expected, so the price of corn quickly fell 50 cents a bushel. But Harvest Public Media's Eric Durban reports it may take time to see a difference.
ERIC DURBAN, BYLINE: Spend some time driving around Southwest Kansas and you're bound to run into both fields of corn and livestock feed yards. On the surface, those are two different industries, but as far as consumers and concerned, they go hand in hand. Corn can make up anywhere from a third to two-thirds of total feed cost for cattle producers. Kansas State University ag economist Glynn Tonsor says a big drop in corn prices eventually makes it way to the grocery aisle.
GLYNN TONSOR: Even a 50-cent change in corn price will result in a change in meat price simply because most meat industries are what we consider rather competitive.
DURBAN: After the USDA reports came out last week, Steve Freed with the investor services branch of Archer Daniels Midland offered his analysis in a teleconference with investors.
STEVE FREED: In general as we look ahead in 2012 the corn situation is still snug. And we're going to have to rely on good plantings and good weather or prices will snap right back, not only to where we are today but maybe even higher.
DURBAN: With corn supplies still tight, it's likely that lots and lots of corn will be planted in the spring. Farm Futures magazine released its most recent planting attention survey a week before the USDA report. It projected a whopping 93.6 million acres of corn - the largest in more than half a century. High prices last year helped ethanol barely eclipse livestock feed for the first time as the top consumer of corn. More than 40 percent of the crop went to fuel. After reaching an all-time high of almost $8 a bushel, corn prices have retreated since the summer to around $6. Tonsor says the dip in prices makes corn a more viable option for feed.
TONSOR: In many ways the corn price change or the expectations of change that came out with the USDA report influences beef prices, pork prices, poultry prices, you know, for a few months than now more than it does what you see on the retail shelf today.
DURBAN: He says that even then it's difficult to predict if and when consumers will see lower food prices tied to corn. For NPR News, I'm Eric Durban in Garden City, Kansas.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
There is no law against walking out the door during intermission, but it can be a dilemma. You're at a concert or a play and for whatever reason decide you don't really want to go back for the second half of the performance. If enough people think the same thing, it can mean a lot of empty seats after the break. It's something audience members do think about. And as NPR's Elizabeth Blair tells us, so do theaters and orchestras, some of which are tightening up their act.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Our debate about this here at NPR started when Susan Stamberg and I went to see "Legally Blonde: The Musical." Don't ask why.
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BLAIR: We both thought it was pretty awful, so I said, Let's leave at intermission. And Susan said...
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: I'm the mother of an actor, so I find it so rude. It's just not right. You think we're sitting in the dark. We are not. They'll see empty seats. They'll feel terrible. We're staying.
BLAIR: And we did. But her response nagged at me, so I went looking for other opinions, at Lincoln Center in New York.
ANNA TONNA: You left "Pelleas"? How could you do that? With Sir Simon Rattle?
JOSEPH SCHMITT, BYLINE: I was really tired that night and I didn't see a point. I wasn't able to focus.
BLAIR: Anna Tonna and Joseph Schmitt broke into a little debate of their own, but only about leaving a particular opera, not about leaving in general. They say they've left at intermission before.
SCHMITT: At the end of the day, my time is my own. And if I'm not enjoying it I'm going to leave and do something else.
BLAIR: So how do the people putting on the show feel about those empty seats during the second act? Not good, says theater director Simon Curtis. But if you're miserable, he says, best to leave.
SIMON CURTIS: I've left at the intermission of shows I've directed. You know, sometimes it just isn't happening.
BLAIR: Curtis says in London, there's a trend away from long, two-and-half-hour plays, towards shorter productions with no intervals as they're called in the UK.
CURTIS: The 90 minute, one-act play, like a movie, you sit through it. People are enjoying that, so I think that could be part of that too.
BLAIR: How did that come about?
CURTIS: I don't know. I think people just didn't want to do the whole interval thing and spend the money on the drinks, queue up, queue back. You know, they just want to sit there and enjoy the experience.
PETER GELB: I have, over the past couple of years, actually, stripped intermissions out of about six or seven operas.
BLAIR: Peter Gelb is general manager of The Metropolitan Opera.
GELB: So an opera that might have three intermissions, like "Aida" now has two intermissions. An opera like "Traviata," that typically had two intermissions, now there's one, because I think people are not interested in wasting a lot of time during intermissions.
BLAIR: But, there are some people who hope people will leave - at least in New York, where there's a long tradition of second acting. At Broadway theaters, that's when people will hang outside during intermission - usually with the smokers - and then walk back in with the pack, unnoticed, since ushers don't always ask to see ticket stubs. It happens at The Met too.
ANNE MIDGETTE: I used to do it all the time.
BLAIR: Anne Midgette writes about classical music for the Washington Post. When she was a student in New York, she'd approach people on their way out the door.
MIDGETTE: I would just say, you know, are you leaving? Could you give me your ticket stubs? And they were usually happy to do it, or would pat their pockets searching for the elusive ticket stubs and hand them over.
BLAIR: As a critic, Anne Midgette says she's seen the empty seats in the second half of some classical concerts. She says orchestras still struggle with the 21st century reality that a lot of people don't want to go to a concert that is two to three hours long.
MIDGETTE: The New World Symphony, which is a group that's experimenting a lot with different concert formats, had an idea of doing evenings that were like gallery shows where pieces were playing in different rooms, and you would get a ticket and that would give you admission to roam around the entire place and go in and hear what you wanted and what you didn't want.
BLAIR: So there's no need to wait for intermission to leave.
Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
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MONTAGNE: And you too can weigh in on this burning question. We've opened a discussion on MORNING EDITION's Facebook page on whether it is OK to walk out during intermission. Let us know what you think.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO")
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with the Boeing - Airbus rivalry.
This is the business news equivalent of one of those big pro-football rivalries, and the European company Airbus reports, today, that it's ahead. It took a record number of orders in 2011 - more than 1,400 airplane orders. That surge was driven by demand for Airbus' revamped A-320 aircraft, which is supposed to be more fuel efficient.
In contrast to 1,400 orders for Airbus, Boeing sold only about 800 aircraft last year. Boeing though, does have a revamped of its workhorse, the 737, and Boeing is aiming for a boost in orders in 2012.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Small business owners say they're getting more optimistic about the economy, and about their own prospects. That's according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, an influential business group. And this is among several recent reports suggesting the economy is continuing to improve.
NPR's Chris Arnold has more.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Small businesses are getting more confident. And that's a good sign, says John Silvia, the chief economist at Wells Fargo.
JOHN SILVIA: The survey that's risen the last four months in a row, and it also does suggest that firms planning to hire has picked up, compensation has picked up, as well. This is very encouraging because it is focused primarily on small firms and it gives a nice positive signal to the overall economy.
ARNOLD: Just a few months ago, economists were more nervous about problems in Europe dragging the entire U.S. economy back into another recession. And that is still a possibility. But lately, all kinds of data - consumer confidence, factory orders, job creation - all that has been suggesting that actually, things are a little bit better than most experts thought, and a double-dip recession is looking less and less likely.
SILVIA: We're in for a long slog in getting back to, you know, something that most people would recognize as good solid economic strength. But it's positive.
ARNOLD: Now, about that long slog, experts do not think that the economy is off to the races. For one thing the housing market is still a pretty giant mess. And while some jobs are being created, unemployment remains very high - it's up around eight and a half percent. And John Silvia doesn't expect that to change much over the next six months.
Chris Arnold, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: And today's last word in business is Yuengling. The brewer of that beer, based in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, is now the largest American beer maker. And if you're thinking how could Yuengling beat out all-American brews like Bud or Miller Lite? Well, the maker of Budweiser, Anheuser Busch, is now owned by a Belgian Brazilian company, and Miller Lite is part of the London-based multinational SAB Miller. New figures first sighted in the Allentown, Pennsylvania Morning Call newspaper show that Yuengling shipments grew last year to about 2.5 million barrels, edging out Boston beer, which makes Samuel Adams.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
I'm surprised we don't have Renee, a reporter who's named Yuengling. That sounds like a good NPR name me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: I'm George Yuengling in Boston. Actually, I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
The Tea Party movement that has powerfully affected American politics no longer seems certain who to support.
MONTAGNE: Tea Party activists drove Republicans to control the House in 2010. Even before that, they reshaped the Republican Party, defeating candidates they considered too moderate in Republican primaries.
INSKEEP: In the presidential primaries, though, some candidates who appealed for Tea Party votes have imploded. The frontrunner is Mitt Romney, even though many activists are skeptical of him, and even though Romney has passed up on some chances to appeal to them.
MONTAGNE: But when Tea Party activists held a convention yesterday in South Carolina, the next state to hold a primary, they did not unite behind anybody else.
NPR's Don Gonyea was there.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: There is one thing that the Tea Party has no doubt and no disagreement about this year. Here's how South Carolina's Republican Governor Nikki Haley put it yesterday.
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GONYEA: But during her speech to this Tea Party convention, a group that helped her come from obscurity to the governorship in 2010, Haley did not mention the man she's endorsed for president: former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
Speaking later to reporters, she said Romney is a true conservative who knows the economy and who can beat President Obama. She was asked why Romney was not coming to the Tea Party Convention while he was in town.
: I would certainly welcome him making a speech, and I think he should. These are good people. They know their issues and they, you know, would love the opportunity. And, you know, I'm certainly going to see if he's got the time. I'd love for him to be here.
GONYEA: Romney did not stop by. But two others did: former Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Santorum played to a common Tea Party theme, that politicians go to Washington and compromise. He turned it into a question about the election.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
GONYEA: Next up was Gingrich. He, too, warned that unless true conservatives - including the Tea Party - stick together, Romney will be the nominee.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
GONYEA: By that, he means to vote for him.
In this audience, there were plenty of people ready to do just that, but also plenty willing to go with Santorum. And there were some Romney backers - a minority, to be sure.
But retired Dr. Ira Williams, of the Spartanburg Tea Party, said this.
DR. IRA WILLIAMS: It is an easy call.
GONYEA: Tell me why.
WILLIAMS: I believe that, number one, he has made far more big, big decisions than all the rest of them combined that has had a positive effect on thousands and thousands of people.
GONYEA: Williams says he respects Romney's time as a corporate executive.
But not happy with Romney is 54-year-old Tea Party member Judy Adams, who was also unhappy with Governor Haley for endorsing Romney.
JUDY ADAMS: To be honest with you, it upset me. She has every right to endorse who she wants to. I think as our leader of our state - and she has a lot of Tea Party backing - I think it frustrated a lot of us. That's my - again, that's my personal belief.
GONYEA: But however deep the divisions go, they are about the primary, not November. You hear it over and over among the Tea Party, that they'll all be motivated to vote for any Republican against President Obama.
Don Gonyea, NPR News in Myrtle Beach.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in foreign language)
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
About one year ago, a crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square chanted the people want to bring down the regime. Egyptian protestors forced President Hosni Mubarak out of his job. Many factors sparked that revolution, not least an uprising in nearby Tunisia. But activists had been working against Mubarak's regime for years. And some of the work came online, coordinated by the Google executive Wael Ghonim, who spoke from Cairo on CNN the day Mubarak resigned.
WAEL GHONIM: I want to meet Mark Zuckerberg one day and thank him, actually. This revolution started - well, a lot of this revolution started on Facebook. If you want to liberate a society, just give them the Internet. If you want to have a free society, just give them Internet.
INSKEEP: I want to meet Mark Zuckerberg one day, he said. One year later, Wael Ghonim has written a memoir of his experiences called "Revolution 2.0." It's a dramatic story, though when he came to NPR's Cairo bureau, the revolution's legacy was uncertain. The military is reluctant to surrender full power, while Islamist parties dominated recent parliamentary elections.
What do you think has gone wrong?
GHONIM: So, actually I think that there are a lot of achievements. Among them - and I think the most important one - is that for the first time in Egypt modern history after 1952, Egyptians went, you know, 30 million took to the streets to vote. And the result was a reflection of the people's choice. So we have a parliament that is democratically elected.
And there are lots of good things that we have achieved in the past few months. There are also many challenges, which is expected, because revolutions, they are processes, not events, and it will take time. And we have to have a vision of where we want to go, to me and to many other revolutionaries.
We will say we're happy with the democratic development. When there is a complete power transfer through democratic transition by electing a president and having all authorities with elected parliament and president.
INSKEEP: Although, haven't more secular or liberal forces in Egypt lost ground in the last several months compared to where they seemed to be at the beginning of this revolution?
GHONIM: I really think that this doesn't matter. What matters is that there is democracy, and that people are empowered to make their own choices. You know, for the Egyptian people, most of them have selected their candidates based on the history and, you know, their reputation, I would say. In five years, people will vote based on their performance.
INSKEEP: Now that's a very interesting point, because not long ago on this program we had the Egyptian writer Alaa Al-Aswany, who is very well known around the world and I'm sure familiar to you. And he argued that it would be just fine to have Islamists in power in Egypt because they would be compelled to wrestle with real-world problems and deliver, or they would lose credibility. Is that what you're saying?
GHONIM: I can't agree more, with the exception of losing credibility. To me, I don't want anybody to lose credibility. I want all the Egyptians to unite and fix their own issues, because the issues are much bigger than a party or an ideology to solve. And this revolution has no leader, has no face to it. And the collective effort of all the Egyptians is what mattered at the end of the day.
INSKEEP: Now, it's interesting you say that this revolution has no leader. Many people, of course, have said that. But reading your memoir here, "Revolution 2.0," I wonder if you're not giving yourself enough credit, because you describe yourself putting up Facebook pages, sending out statements, writing quite dramatically on behalf of causes, doing things that leaders do, and organizing protests, getting this revolution going.
GHONIM: I think this is not leadership. When I say a leader, it means that directs the revolution, where it should be going. Before the revolution came, what we were doing is increasing the awareness and calling people to action. What we did was calling for, you know, massive process that turns into the revolution on the 25th.
That doesn't, you know, give me the title of leadership, because at the end of the day I don't - you know, I did not - and I would have not been able to take charge and tell people what to do and negotiate on behalf of them.
The fact that there is no leader is evident on the floor. There are so many people that have done extraordinary efforts and that have sacrificed. There are so many people that have died, but there was no clear leadership that made decisions on behalf of the people.
INSKEEP: I wonder if I could get you to read from page 24 of your book, where you describe your views, your feelings about cyberspace.
GHONIM: Sure. (Reading) I'm not a people person in the typical sense, meaning that I would rather communicate with people online than spend a lot of time visiting them or going out to places in a group. I much prefer using email to the telephone. In short, I'm a real-life introvert, yet an Internet extravert. And thanks for making me look like a nerd.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Well, you wrote it. You told the truth.
GHONIM: Well, I wrote about 500 pages.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Are you a different person online than in person?
GHONIM: I think so, yeah. I'm more calm - a lot on - in real life. And I think probably that's the very common thing you experience with everyone, because life behind a keyboard makes you more free, versus when you have to communicate and talk to the people. And this is exactly how things work online, and the beauty of it is that it's instantaneous.
INSKEEP: In one of the most dramatic moments leading up to the Egyptian revolution, you started a Facebook page on behalf of a guy named Khaled Said, who had been tortured and killed by the security forces. And you quote a number of really quite eloquent and very strong posts that you put up there. I'm wondering if you were put in person in front of an audience of a thousand people, or 100,000 people, or a million people and given an opportunity just to say those things, would you not have been able to say them the way you were able to write them?
GHONIM: I think so, yeah. I think I'm more convincing writing than speaking. And I think that the best thing was the anonymity, which gives you the ultimate freedom and gives the people a belief in the idea rather than the person, because if the idea is personalized, the person can be attacked and his intentions can be questioned. So I think writing would be more and stronger - had a more and stronger impact than speaking.
INSKEEP: Well, let me ask you, though, about something people commonly say about Facebook activists or Twitter activists, whatever you want to call them. They will say, well, the liberals or secular forces are just talking to each other on Facebook, and meanwhile the Islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood and so forth have been out on the streets meeting with people face to face, getting engaged with people directly, and look how much better they've done in the elections.
GHONIM: OK. Perfect. Then the rest of the forces should learn from them and go to the streets. No one has said that the Internet is everything. I mean, there is about 50 million Egyptians online and - according to the, you know, statistics by the Ministry of Communications. So there are about 35 million other people who can vote who are not online. And I think online is just a tool to communicate. It's not the end.
INSKEEP: Wael Ghonim is the author of "Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power." Thanks very much.
GHONIM: Thanks.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The St. Louis Rams had a tough football season, tying for the worst record in the NFL. This months' hiring of a new head coach, Jeff Fisher, created a sense of hope. But there are lingering concerns among fans about whether the team will stay in St. Louis.
Many there remember watching their original NFL team leave town in the 1980s. Now the Rams have the right to break their stadium lease if the city does not make major upgrades. And as St. Louis Public Radio's Maria Altman reports, it may be tough to compete with the Rams' old hometown of Los Angeles.
MARIA ALTMAN, BYLINE: In 1988, St. Louis fans lost the NFL Cardinals to Arizona. It didn't take long for the city to rally and lure the Rams away from L.A. with a new, $280 million stadium. Today, the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis pales in comparison with a new generation of football palaces like Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, or the more than billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Even diehard Rams fans aren't loyal to the Dome.
CRAIG AUER: It's blah. I used to go to Busch Stadium when the football Cardinals were here. That was awesome.
ALTMAN: Craig Auer is watching an NFL playoff game with his dad at a sports bar in south St. Louis.
AUER: I can't describe it any better. It's indoors. It's dark.
ALTMAN: But despite disliking the Dome, Auer remembers losing the football Cardinals and says it'd be tough to go through it again.
AUER: Devastating for us as fans, as well as the St. Louis economy.
ALTMAN: The Rams' lease says the Dome must be in the top tier of NFL stadiums, or the team can leave by 2015. Sports economist Patrick Rishe says it would take major money for St. Louis to meet that requirement.
PATRICK RISHE: I don't think even spending two, $300 million in upgrades would even get them into the top half.
ALTMAN: The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which manages the Dome, has until February 1st to send its plans for upgrades to the team. But the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and the state of Missouri are still spending a combined $24 million annually for the Dome. And today, budgets are tight. State Senator Joe Keaveny of St. Louis says he doesn't see public funding increasing for the stadium.
STATE SENATOR JOE KEAVENY: I think there was a heyday where people, they wanted to have the biggest and the best, and I think those days are almost over. So when it comes to priorities, professional sports franchises aren't very high on the list.
ALTMAN: Which brings us to Los Angeles, where billionaire Philip Anschutz is proposing spending $1.2 billion of his own money for a stadium and convention center. The plan already has preliminary approval from the Los Angeles City Council.
T.J. SIMERS: It'd be funny for them coming back to L.A., but I wouldn't be shocked if that's one of the scenarios.
ALTMAN: That's T.J. Simers, a sports columnist for the L.A. Times, who covered the Rams when they were a Los Angeles team. He says a privately financed stadium would be enticing for any NFL owner, but the timing would likely work for the Rams.
SIMERS: A team like St. Louis fits perfectly for them, because that new stadium will open in 2016. The NFL can say, go ahead and build your stadium and we'll announce who's moving there after the 2015 season.
ALTMAN: As for L.A.'s history with the Rams, Simers says many of the city's residents are indifferent to bringing the team back. But in St. Louis, the mood is very different. Rams' fans here say despite the team's poor play and lousy record, they just don't want to lose another football team.
For NPR News, I'm Maria Altman, in St. Louis.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
The past six months of news around the world has underlined one basic fact: political chaos is not so good for a country's economy. In particular, it's not good for a country's credit rating.
MONTAGNE: Last summer, Standard and Poor's specifically cited political gridlock as it downgraded American bonds.
INSKEEP: Last week, S&P downgraded nine nations in Europe after Europeans repeatedly fell short of ending a debt crisis.
MONTAGNE: Yesterday, Europe's financial rescue fund was also downgraded.
INSKEEP: And now Russia, for all its oil wealth, faces questions about its debt. From Moscow, NPR's Jackie Northam explains why.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Compared to Europe, the U.S. and many other areas, Russia seems to be doing pretty well. Analysts here in Moscow say over the past few years, the country has had one of the best performing stock markets in the world. And the International Monetary Fund predicted Russia's growth this year would be about 4 percent.
But yesterday, Fitch rating agency downgraded its outlook on Russia's debt rating from positive to stable. Andrew Risk, an equity strategist with Aton, says that's because there's a lot of uncertainty now in Russia.
ANDREW RISK: The key - really, the key issue is potential vulnerability, and that's really what the outlook which Fitch refers to, that's really why they're changing their outlook.
NORTHAM: Fitch rating agency said it based its decision on weakening global economic growth. The uncertainty in Europe and China could have an enormous impact on Russia.
But the rating agency also hinged its decision on the current political upheaval here. There have been massive protests in Moscow and other parts of the country over alleged ballot-rigging during recent parliamentary elections. And there's increasing anger against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's bid for another term as president.
Fitch said it was unclear how Russia's leadership would respond to the demonstrations. The next one is scheduled for February 4th. The agency said political uncertainty increases the risk of capital leaving the country. Aton's Andrew Risk says Russia is already experiencing that.
RISK: They saw something like $80 billion leave Russia in capital flight last year. And people attributed that to the run-up to the elections.
NORTHAM: But Risk says that's not just Russians stashing their money elsewhere. It's also international companies and European banks moving money out of the country. Fitch's announcement about the downgrade came the same day that Putin laid out his vision for Russia's future in the pro-government Izvestia newspaper. The article seemed to target the burgeoning middle class, and Putin said he would prevent economic stagnation in Russia.
Jackie Northam, NPR News, Moscow.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Health care costs are rising too fast for Alexis Rodriguez. The New York man was treated for pneumonia and received a bill for almost $45 million. Grateful as he was for the care, the unemployed doorman complained. The Daily News says the billing firm printed the invoice number instead of the price - $300. Mr. Rodriguez says the firm should've checked the bill, adding that somebody could've had a heart attack. You are listening to MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Remember life before Wikipedia? Well, I don't, but tomorrow, we'll all get to revisit those days. The English-language version of the online encyclopedia will shut down for 24 hours, protesting an anti-piracy bill in Congress. Visitors to Wikipedia will be encouraged to call Congress. The site's co-founder, Jimmy Wales, tweeted he hopes visitors will melt the phone systems in Washington. He also warned students: Do your homework early. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Years ago, my wife and I bought a rundown house. And the neighbors told us a story about a mattress that somebody had left in the backyard. It had become a home for rodents before the neighbors finally dragged it away. Turns out, it's not easy to dispose of an old mattress. Most recyclers won't touch them, and landfills would rather not. But a business born as a class project in Nashville provides a solution and creates jobs for former convicts. Here's Blake Farmer of our member station WPLN.
BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE: Even the best machines can only chew up mattresses. Recycling requires manual labor.
(SOUNDBITE OF RIPPING)
FARMER: Ron Harness runs his box cutter around a queen size bed to filet the fabric.
RON HARNESS: As you can see, this can become labor intensive.
FARMER: Harness rips off a cotton sheet, peels away the layer of foam and shoves the steel springs into a bailer. Harness literally has deconstructing a mattress and box springs down to a science. He keeps one eye on a stopwatch.
HARNESS: It's actually 7.62 minutes on a mattress is my average, and 5.03 minutes on a box.
FARMER: Efficiency is the key to this enterprise called Spring Back. Otherwise, there's not a ton of competition for used mattresses. Even though they contain an average of 25 pounds of steel and foam that can be chopped up for carpet padding, recycling companies usually just say no. Bobby Bandy is the founder of Earth Savers.
BOBBY BANDY: They've always been viewed as something you can't tackle. It needs to go in the landfill, and the landfill guys don't want it.
FARMER: Unlike other trash, mattresses don't easily pack down. More than a dozen states do have at least one recycler, but they're usually small in scale, so most mattresses find their way to landfills, according to an industry trade group. A few beds are diverted from the dump by being reused, says Andrew Bloomfield with Mattresses Unlimited.
ANDREW BLOOMFIELD: We partner with several people who remove mattresses and reconstitute them into new product.
FARMER: Those would be old springs that get a new cover and are sold in discount showrooms. But instead of feeding into the used mattress market, Bloomfield's company, which operates in five states, is now trying out Spring Back. Salesmen are playing up the partnership, telling customers their old bed will be recycled. If the environmental benefits aren't enough, an ex-convict will be doing the work.
HARNESS: That's not going to cooperate.
FARMER: With a pair of pliers, Ron Harness begins yanking a thousand coils out of a king-sized bed. He's helped refine the recycling process, but just a few months ago, he was behind bars for a serious misdemeanor charge.
HARNESS: Didn't know where I was going to go. The street was an option.
FARMER: Providing meaningful employment for hard-to-hire workers is where this venture doubles-down on its social mission. The business plan from students at Nashville's Belmont University took first place in a national competition. Part of the $10,000 prize became seed money.
JOHN GONAS: This is, in my opinion, very rare and very unique.
FARMER: Belmont finance Professor John Gonas has taken the reins of the start-up. Like most new for-profit businesses, he says very few social enterprises succeed.
GONAS: We've actually tried lots of different things. We had a sewing project one year that didn't work with refugees.
FARMER: The women from Burundi made beautiful pillows, just not fast enough. This charitable business, on the other hand, is approaching an all-important break-even point when revenues cover the operating costs. Gonas says he hopes to license the model in other cities and get Spring Backs popping up all over the country.
For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer, in Nashville.
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Here in Southern California, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the busiest in the nation. They also have some of the dirtiest air. Thousands of cargo trucks pass through each day. But Krissy Clark from member station KQED reports that this month marks a new era of cleaner air.
KRISSY CLARK, BYLINE: A common trope in environmental stories is to put things in terms of jobs versus the environment. But that's not what happened in this case. Pretty much everyone I spoke to wanted to make that very clear, including a trucker named Pedro Melendez.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRUCK ENGINE)
CLARK: He's starting the engine of his shiny new big rig, which he drives for a living. Score one for jobs. He uses it to haul containers of stuff made in China from the ports, out to warehouses, where they're sent to stores and sold to us. As his truck warms up, Melendez points to the exhaust pipe. Instead of black diesel smoke, there's nothing.
PEDRO MELENDEZ: Nothing, nothing, nothing. It's 100 percent clean energy.
CLARK: Score one for the environment. The truck runs on liquid natural gas. Melendez bought it with help from a grant, thanks to the Clean Truck Program, sponsored by the ports of L.A. and Long Beach.
Over the last few years, the ports have offered incentives to purchase new, clean trucks, while phasing out older, dirty ones. And since the first of this year, trucks that don't meet 2007 EPA emission standards are altogether banned.
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA: The trucks here at the port now meet the strictest clean air and safety standards of any major port in the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
CLARK: L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was key in developing the program, and recently threw a little celebration for it at the Port of L.A.
VILLARAIGOSA: We figured out a way to do both, to clean our environment, to grow good jobs.
CLARK: The Clean Trucks Program has replaced more than 10,000 old trucks, and emissions at the ports have dropped nearly in half.
David Pettit of the Natural Resources Defense Council says without so much diesel soot and ash clogging the air, communities will be healthier.
DAVID PETTIT: The challenge here was to clean up what's often called the diesel death zone - a bulls-eye of increase in cancer risk right here at the ports, and then it kind of creeps out along the truck routes. And it was a serious public health problem.
CLARK: And a personal health problem for Kimberly Melendez, the 15-year-old daughter of trucker Pedro Melendez. They live just a couple miles from the ports, and the diesel exhaust aggravated her childhood asthma. But since the clean truck program got underway...
KIMBERLY MELENDEZ: The air is way more cleaner than how it used to be. The smog isn't as dark.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
SHANNON BELL: I wanted clean air. I wanted clean air for myself. I wanted clean air for my family.
CLARK: Shannon Bell is another truck driver. I met him at a taco stand right outside the port. He lives nearby, his son has asthma, and he's happy about the cleaner air, too.
BELL: At the same time, you know, I didn't suspect that the truckers would end up paying the costs.
CLARK: Because, Bell says, all those new, cleaner trucks?
BELL: They cost anywhere from $100 to $180,000, you know.
CLARK: And how much did your last truck cost?
BELL: Seventeen thousand.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BELL: Seventeen thousand dollars.
CLARK: Like a lot of truck drivers, Bell had paid off his old truck years ago. To replace it with a new one, he took out a big loan and took on payments of $1,300 a month. And then there's the maintenance of these high-tech trucks. It costs a lot more.
Because the trucking company Bell worked for considered him an independent truck driver, he's had to cover all this.
BELL: I mean, I've been working my butt off all this time, and I have basically nothing to show for it.
CLARK: After a complicated legal battle, a plan that would have shifted the costs of the new rigs from individual truckers to trucking companies failed in court. And while Bell isn't ready to blame his money troubles on the move to clean up port air, he says the effort has come at a cost. The question is: Who should shoulder it?
For NPR News, I'm Krissy Clark in Los Angeles.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We hear now and again, gifted athletes claiming they don't really care about the very sport they excel in. It's the kind of pronouncement that can really get under the skin of fans.
And commentator Frank Deford thinks he might know why.
FRANK DEFORD: Now that Tim Tebow is out of hearts and minds, and we can actually turn our attention to other things, let us go clear to the other side of the world. There, a short while ago, while preparing for the Australian Open, Serena Williams said: I don't love tennis today, but I've actually never liked sports.
While her confession might have surprised some, I suspect that even more were irritated, actually angered that an athlete - a great champion - could utter such blasphemy.
We sometimes also hear the sentiment expressed that we'd like to see an athlete quit near the peak of his career. But when Tiki Barber, the running back, did that just a few years ago, he was utterly astonished at the reaction of so many fans. They all but berated him: How dare you leave the game.
It's not just that so many of us love sports so and can't comprehend someone who's in the game not caring for it all that much. Rather, I think, there's a lot of envy involved. So many people - girls, as well as boys now - grow up playing sports and loving them and ultimately failing at them. And so, when we see someone who achieved what we couldn't, we're all the more put out if they can blithely turn their back on it.
Why, fans have even been shocked at the recent revelations that several ice hockey goons really didn't enjoy being goons. Now when somebody from another glamorous profession - a model, say, or an actor - walks away from success, there isn't the same intensity of either jealousy or bafflement, because not so many of us tried to act or model when we were growing up. Ah, but how many of us kids played sports and dreamed of being a star?
The irony is, in my experience, that for those athletes who do make it to the top, a passion for the game does not necessarily best light that path to glory. In fact, at the age of 30, Serena is old for a tennis player and she may still be a contender because she has not loved tennis so much.
Through the years, it's aggravated a lot of people in her sport when she's appeared cavalier about the very thing that has brought her fame and fortune, and thus the ability to pursue other interests. But simply because she has been able to distance herself and find other outlets, may explain why she's not yet burned out, physically or emotionally.
On the other hand, it's also my experience that a lot of the more restrained athletes who do quit before they're done, only find out afterwards how much the game really meant to them. When Tiki Barber tried to come back after five seasons, nobody wanted him. Youth may be wasted on the young, but in sports, the most telling truth is that youth is not to be wasted.
MONTAGNE: Commentator Frank Deford joins us each Wednesday from WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Video games are a multi-billion dollar industry. And today, many of the bestselling games have blockbuster budgets, which you can see on the screen and often hear in the music.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "HALO" THEME)
INSKEEP: There's the grand orchestral theme from the bestselling game "Halo." But for many gamers, the best soundtracks recall a low-tech era. And every year they celebrate those soundtracks at a video game music festival.
NPR's Lindsay Totty has more.
LINDSAY TOTTY, BYLINE: Earlier this month, thousands of gamers congregated at a hotel outside Washington, D.C., to spend a weekend playing and listening to classic video games like this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "CORRIDOR OF TIME" THEME)
TOTTY: This is music from a 1995 video game called "Chrono Trigger," an epic time-travel adventure. The technology used to make this digital sound is pretty old-school, but the music has a whole new life when you hear it live.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "CORRIDOR OF TIME" THEME)
TOTTY: Welcome to MAGFest. It stands for Music and Gaming Festival. Notice that music first.
Daniel Behrens plays guitar for the band Armcannon. They perform rock tributes to music from old video games like what we just heard. He says it takes real skill to perform video game music because a game system can make sounds that human fingers can't.
DANIEL BEHRENS: There are virtuoso people everywhere you look. And that is one of the things that really made me fall in love with MAGFest and the video game music scene.
(SOUNDBITE OF A CROWD)
TOTTY: Behrens adds that classic game music is about melodies rather than atmosphere. In the past, you couldn't fit a whole orchestra on those small game cartridges.
Amanda LePre is a guitarist with the band Descendants of Erdrick. She says it's those unique melodies that make old 8-bit tunes memorable years later.
AMANDA LEPRE: Even "Super Mario Brothers..."
(SOUNDBITE OF LEPRE'S SOUND EFFECT)
LEPRE: You know, it's got this beat to it. It's catchy.
(SOUNDBITE OF "SUPER MARIO BROS.")
LEPRE: Just because it was in one of the most popular games of all time, that's not the only reason people remember the song. 'Cause it's a catchy song, it's got a good melody.
TOTTY: And to show that good melodies can come from anywhere, her band performed a medley from a lesser known game called "Journey to Silius."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "JOURNEY TO SILIUS")
TOTTY: But the most anticipated performance came from a rock band made up of actual video game music composers. Earthbound Papas came all the way from Japan. The band's leader and keyboardist is Nobuo Uematsu. He's the primary composer for the "Final Fantasy" series, which is one of the bestselling game franchises of all time.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "CLASH ON THE BIG BRIDGE")
TOTTY: Uematsu echoes the thought that it's melody that makes for great game music.
NOBUO UEMATSU: (Through Translator) It's pretty easy for me to come up with melodies. Twenty-four hours a day, it's in my head all the time. And I struggle to choose which ones to use.
TOTTY: The music from "Final Fantasy" has been performed by orchestras around the world. But Uematsu says the fans at MAGFest are special.
UEMATSU: (Through Translator) Perhaps games are kind of minor things still, so because of that there's a strong bond within the community.
TOTTY: But that community is growing. Over 6,000 people came to this year's festival, almost double the attendance from last year.
Lindsay Totty, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "THOSE WHO FIGHT FURTHER")
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Obama is feeling election-year pressure over the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans say this project to spread a pipeline across the United States from Canada would provide the U.S. with oil and new jobs, but environmentalists want the president to block the project. They say Alberta, Canada's oil sands generate more greenhouse gases than other kinds of oil, and they say Americans must not become dependent on such a dirty source of energy. Frankly, it may already be too late to prevent that. Here's NPR's Martin Kaste.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: This is Burnaby, British Columbia, a quiet suburb just east of Vancouver. Tucked in among the ranch houses is the terminal for the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which brings in oil from Alberta. For decades, that oil was mainly consumed here in the Vancouver region. But that is now changing.
BEN WEST: We've seen this huge increase of tanker traffic.
KASTE: Ben West is an anti-oil tanker activist with a group called the Wilderness Committee. He says when the pipeline company Kinder Morgan bought this facility in 2005 it started to shift the focus to exports, primarily to the American West Coast.
WEST: We went from 22 tankers in 2005, up to 79. I mean, at least 700,000-barrel tankers that are now coming through the Burrard Inlet, which, you know, passes through the, you know, most populated areas of British Columbia.
KASTE: The pipeline also has a branch that crosses the border, feeding crude oil to refineries in Washington state. Kinder Morgan is now exploring the possibility of doubling the pipeline's capacity. Ben West calls this the quiet repurposing of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. And because of it, oil sands gasoline is now fueling cars from Seattle to San Francisco.
PHILIP VERLEGER: With prices around a hundred dollars a barrel globally, that oil's going to make it to the market somehow.
KASTE: Philip Verleger is an economist specializing in oil markets. He says even if environmentalists can convince President Obama to block the Keystone XL pipeline, it won't stop the growth of production in the Canadian oil sands.
VERLEGER: Development may be slowed for a year or two. But one can move the oil west on the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline. They could expand pipelines east. Those pipelines already exist, and they can be expanded.
KASTE: In fact, the Enbridge company recently asked Canadian regulators for permission to reverse the direction of one of its pipelines in Ontario, which many see as the first step to move more Canadian oil to the American East Coast and relieve some of the Canadian oil glut in the upper Midwest.
Back in Burnaby, activist Ben West is well aware of the spider's web of pipelines that export oil from Alberta. But that doesn't make him any less opposed to the Keystone XL.
WEST: So, I mean, I think it's true that the Keystone pipeline is not the only way that the oil is making its way to market, you know, and there's definitely enough demand that if one of these gets built, people are still going to want to build the other ones. But, you know, we really need to turn that around.
KASTE: But demand is the key, say most economists. If you can get American drivers to buy less gas - for example, by raising fuel efficiency standards, as the Obama administration recently did - then, they say, you stand a much better chance of slowing down production in the oil sands.
Martin Kaste, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Who wins an election is the big news, of course, but the people who conduct elections also grab headlines, and activist secretaries of state are now shaking up that once-obscure office. Colorado Public Radio's Megan Verlee reports that the man holding the job there relishes the spotlight.
MEGAN VERLEE, BYLINE: In his first year in office, Republican Scott Gessler has been sued eight times. He's outraged Democrats by rewriting the state's campaign finance rules. He's tangled with counties over which voters they can send mail-in ballots to. And he attracted national attention for participating in a fundraiser to pay off a campaign finance fine his office levied. In all, Gessler says it's been a pretty great first year.
SCOTT GESSLER: Colorado, we've definitely shaken up the status quo, and I think that's happened a bit in some other states too.
VERLEE: Gessler came to the office from a career as one of Colorado's top Republican campaign lawyers and he doesn't shy away from that partisan affiliation or from pursuing conservative policies, like pushing for a voter identification law.
GESSLER: I'm very open about what my office does. I was very open about it on the campaign trail. And I welcome the debate, because I think as Coloradans, as Americans, we ought to discuss these issues, we ought to talk about them, we ought to think about them.
VERLEE: Across the country, secretaries of state handle a mishmash of duties. Most of them administer elections and business filings and in some places run the DMV. Not exactly Laura Dern made-for-TV movie material - that was, until the 2000 Florida recount.
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DOUG CHAPIN: The decade following the 2000 presidential election made secretaries of state the rock stars of the election world.
VERLEE: Doug Chapin is with the Program in Excellence in Elections Administration at the University of Minnesota. He says over the past decade, partisan groups have started funneling lots of money into secretary of state races, and the people they help get elected come to the role with a new mindset.
CHAPIN: Their job is not merely to make sure that the process works smoothly, but that it works in a way which is consistent with their view of how elections policy ought to be.
VERLEE: Chapin says the parties see two advantages in controlling the secretary of state's office. On the one hand, the secretary can advocate for the party's long-term election policies. And in an era of close votes, each party wants its person managing the proceedings. Minnesota's a perfect example of both those factors. Chapin says Republican lawmakers there have long complained about its Democratic secretary of state, Mark Ritchie.
CHAPIN: His belief in same-day registration is something that makes them uncomfortable.
VERLEE: And Ritchie's interesting because, of course, he also presided one of those really high profile contested elections.
CHAPIN: Not just one but two.
VERLEE: A Senate race in '08 and the governor's office in 2010 - both eventually went to the Democrats. But Trey Grayson, Kentucky's former secretary of state, thinks people are overestimating the office's importance.
TREY GRAYSON: It's probably more bark than bite.
VERLEE: Grayson now heads Harvard's Institute of Politics. He says there's a silver lining to this higher profile: Voters are starting to care.
GRAYSON: I believe our elections today are better administered than they were 15 years ago because of the attention and the demand for improved voting processes and voting equipment. The partisanship is a byproduct of that. It's also a sign of our times.
VERLEE: Elections experts say secretaries of state are still feeling out where the boundaries are. In Colorado, Scott Gessler's willingness to jump from one controversial issue to another has earned him the nickname Honey Badger, after a satirical nature video that's a big hit on YouTube.
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VERLEE: Gessler's heard the nickname - and likes it.
GESSLER: And if you look at honey badgers, they're very independent animals. They're very fierce. People don't mess with them and they usually win their fights.
VERLEE: And Gessler likely has plenty of fights ahead of him. In an era of razor-thin results, with both parties struggling for any possible election edge, the secretary of state's office isn't leaving the spotlight anytime soon. For NPR News, I'm Megan Verlee in Denver.
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And Renee, let's go next to France, where some people are taking a second look at one of the most famous features of the French economy. It's the 35-hour work week, enacted a little more than a decade ago.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Most people don't want to give it up, even in a time of economic trouble. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has this report.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: For the critics who say the 35-hour work week has sapped French competitiveness and is tying companies in knots, there is no better example than the current state of overtime at French hospitals.
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BEARDSLEY: In public hospitals, like this one, employees have accumulated more than two million days of comp time in the past decade by working more than 35 hours a week. By law, they must take those days off by the end of this year. But that could mean closing hospitals for months at a time. The French government is currently in negotiations with unions to find a solution.
Josiane Desmettre is a nurse's aide at Paris' Hopital Vaugirard.
JOSIANE DESMETTRE: (Through translator) We haven't been able to take all our days off because there's too much work and we are short of personnel. Some people literally have hundreds of days saved up now.
BEARDSLEY: For President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose 2007 campaign slogan was work more to earn more, the 35-hour work week is the root of just about every economic ill facing France. And he uses every opportunity to assail it.
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BEARDSLEY: While Sarkozy did manage to raise the retirement age, his ratings have been far too low to take on the popular 35-hour work week. Still, he is trying to open a debate about it. Today, in a meeting with union leaders, he's proposing negotiating work time company-by-company, as in Germany. It's well-known here that Volkswagen employees work just 32 hours a week.
Olivier Ferrand, who heads a progressive, left-leaning think tank, says the shortened week has nothing to do with the current state of the French economy.
OLIVIER FERRAND: Of course, in some sectors, it has been implemented wrongly. It has disorganized hospitals because it's been poorly implemented. But the fact of working 35 hours is not in itself a problem. You have to understand that all European countries, and now the U.S., are facing the same problem, which is very slow growth and the destruction of jobs. So you have to share what's left.
BEARDSLEY: Ferrand says Germany, the UK and the Netherlands have responded to their downturns by creating a large part-time workforce, whereas France has few part-time jobs. The country's real problem, says Ferrand, is a lack of innovation and job creation, not the 35-hour week.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: But a study released last week being debated on French airwaves has everyone talking. Salaried, full-time workers in France toil 224 hours, or six weeks less than their German counterparts, and even work fewer hours than their Italian colleagues.
While few French people believe the 35-hour week has actually allowed more people to be hired by dividing up jobs, a recent poll showed that 57 percent of the French still don't want to give it up.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: Back at Hopital Vaugirard, Josiane Desmettre and the nurses are reading to a group of geriatric day patients. Desmettre says as a single mother, the 35-hour week has allowed her to spend more time with her children.
DESMETTRE: (Through translator) It's nice to have the extra days to spend with them, because I want to raise them right. I didn't have them so I could give them to someone else to take care of.
BEARDSLEY: To put it simply, says Desmettre, the 35 hours hasn't made her any richer, but it has made her life a little better.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. The tragedy of an Italian cruise ship follows the lines of a story that's deep in our bones. Stories of shipwrecks are as old as sea travel itself.
MONTAGNE: More than a century ago, Joseph Conrad's novel "Lord Jim" told of a craven sea captain who abandoned ship, leaving his many passengers to fend for themselves. Now in real life, in 2012, the captain of the Costa Concordia is under house arrest for fleeing his vessel as it capsized off the coast of Italy.
INSKEEP: The dangers of sea travel are very different from the image promoted by cruise lines, which invite passengers on to floating hotels and amusement parks. And the incident is calling attention to the safety regulations of the cruise line industry.
NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Some of the survivors of Friday's disaster described the rescue effort as chaotic and disorganized. The ship had not yet conducted a required emergency drill.
Dan Brehm is a lieutenant commander at the U.S. Coast Guard's Cruise Ship National Center of Expertise. He says whatever might have happened on the Costa Concordia, safety regulations are very clear.
DAN BREHM: Wherever that ship operates, it has to be in compliance with international regulations and any domestic laws that apply, depending on where it's operating.
NOGUCHI: He says the Coast Guard enforces the rules on any ship that enters a U.S. port or carries U.S. citizens.
BREHM: Not only do the crews themselves have to inspect their own equipment weekly or monthly, as it may be; they have to undergo a weekly emergency drill, and the crew has to participate in these drills at least once a month. Additionally, the companies have to do an audit of the ship once a year.
NOGUCHI: An arm of the United Nations called the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, makes these rules. They detail everything from where and how many life vests ought to be stowed, and that passengers must receive instruction on evacuation procedures within 24 hours of boarding. But there are those who say the industry and its regulators fall short.
Nautilus International, a maritime workers union, called last week's shipwreck a wakeup call, highlighting long-standing safety concerns and what it sees as lax regulation - including, for example, that ships have been allowed to get too large to evacuate quickly.
Kendall Carver founded another group called the International Cruise Victims Association and is a vocal critic of the industry.
KENDALL CARVER: What I'm saying is they're not policed.
NOGUCHI: Carver's adult daughter, Merriam, disappeared off of a cruise ship in 2004. Neither the crew nor the cruise company notified law enforcement of her disappearance. Her unsolved case inspired Congress to pass a law requiring reporting of crimes on cruise lines. Carver says as he investigated his daughter's case, he uncovered a shadowy underground where cruise lines escape regulatory scrutiny. Which is why, he says, allegations that the Costa Concordia did not follow protocol do not come as a shock.
CARVER: I'm not terribly surprised. I mean I am sure this is not the first time that ship has deviated off course.
NOGUCHI: Carver says a simple GPS system should have set off alarms. He says the accident raises another issue - that cruise lines are hiring from countries where labor is cheap, and they don't do enough safety training.
CARVER: That crew, they weren't even speaking the same language as the passengers.
NOGUCHI: Carver says cruise lines also hire high-ranking officials from the FBI or the Coast Guard and the result is a too-cozy relationship between the regulators and industry.
These are not charges Peter Wild agrees with. Wild is the managing director of a London consultancy to the cruise line industry. He says safety precautions are followed - if nothing else - because they are good business policy.
PETER WILD: The last thing the industry wants is a disaster like this. I mean that's the last thing they want. So they make tremendous efforts to avoid any such events.
NOGUCHI: He notes cruise lines have a better record, in terms of deaths per million passengers, than airlines.
WILD: The fact of the matter is that almost all of the 4,000 people on board the ship got away safely. Sadly, some didn't. But in the scale of the event, the evacuation was achieved.
NOGUCHI: The industry will work hard, he says, to learn from its mistakes.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news: The European Union has been struggling to make sure its members stay solvent. Now, the EU is working to make sure one of its members, Hungary, stays democratic. The prime minister of the former Soviet bloc country was a dissident during the communist era. Now he is amassing new powers, and the EU has put him on notice to stop. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports from Budapest.
ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE: Veteran broadcaster Gyorgy Bolgar hosts one of the most popular shows in Hungary. It's a daily news call-in show on Klubradio, a left-leaning station with more than 200,000 listeners.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken)
WESTERVELT: Bolgar gets a daily earful from ordinary Hungarians upset with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose conservative Fidesz Party has a commanding two-thirds majority in parliament. Bolgar and many of his listeners fear Orban is pushing the country backward.
GYORGY BOLGAR: Limiting the media, limiting the judiciary, limiting the scope of the constitutional court. It's limiting democracy. We are not yet Putin's Russia. We are not a dictatorship. But we are on a road which is clearly leading us toward some kind of a dictatorship or autocracy.
WESTERVELT: Bolgar and the rest of the privately-owned Klubradio may soon go silent. One of only remaining independent broadcast news outlets in Hungary recently lost out to an all-music station, when the license came up for renewal. Members of the newly-established media authority, which made the decision, are all Orban loyalists.
More worrying than the media crackdown for the European Union is Hungary's new constitution, which took effect January 1. Yesterday, the European Union's executive arm said aspects of Hungary's new constitution violate EU law and treaties. The EU has serious questions about the new central bank law, which gives the Hungarian government control over naming top bank officials.
The EU also has concerns about the independence of a new data protection authority, and about the forced early retirement of hundreds of judges who are set to be replaced by ruling party loyalists. That raises serious questions about the independence of the judiciary.
ZOLTAN KOVACS: We are not selling any kind of secret, you know, or doing tricks. We are just using the mandate we were given.
WESTERVELT: Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs says he's confident the new constitution will stand up to EU scrutiny. He says the government will fully cooperate. Kovacs says Fidesz is simply fulfilling an election pledge to reform Hungary, after decades of failed communist rule and, more recently, eight years of what he calls corrupt socialist rule.
KOVACS: We are going to have a completely new set up. We are rebooting the system, so this is a major system update. And we are completely confident that this new constitutional system is really coming up or standing up to all European and world standards.
WESTERVELT: But Benedek Javor, a member of parliament from the Politics Can Be Different Party, says voters were never told during the campaign that a reboot would mean draconian restrictions and changes to basic structures of democracy.
DR. BENEDEK JAVOR: They didn't know that Fidesz was going to give a new constitution, to introduce a flat tax, to cut social care system, or limiting the rights of the constitutional court. All these things was not even mentioned before the elections.
WESTERVELT: Former U.S. ambassador to Hungary Mark Palmer, worries Hungary is back-sliding toward one-party rule. Alarmed by the erosion of an independent media, Palmer has asked the U.S. to consider restarting Radio Free Europe's Hungarian service. He says it is no longer unthinkable that Hungary could be kicked out of the EU.
MARK PALMER: I believe that is a real prospect. I mean the single greatest achievement of the European Union in the field of democracy was, of course, was to bring these countries that had been dictatorships into the democratic world. But that process isn't unidirectional; if a country abandons its democratic principles and practices, it will be expelled.
WESTERVELT: Budapest now has one month to respond to the EU's concerns. If Hungary ignores the requests to change the constitution, the European Commission can send the case to the European Court of Justice. But the EU has another way to pressure Hungary: The EU and the IMF are currently withholding a $25 billion loan Hungary desperately needs to remain solvent.
Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Budapest.
INSKEEP: And just in the last little while, we've had indications the prime minister may be responding to that pressure. He sent a letter, according to the AP, saying he will, quote, "modify the relevant legislation." We'll bring you more as we learn it. It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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Let's turn to the presidential contest now in the U.S. In South Carolina, the race to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney is hitting a fever pitch. Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Rick Perry are all going after Romney. But some of the most forceful attacks are coming from Newt Gingrich.
NPR's Tamara Keith reports on the pitch from the former speaker of the House.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: At a large meeting of business leaders in Columbia, South Carolina yesterday afternoon, Newt Gingrich looked out at the audience and made what amounts to a closing argument.
NEWT GINGRICH: Your support in the next four days can change history. If I win the primary Saturday, I will be the nominee.
KEITH: Gingrich isn't one to shy away from bold predictions. But since 1980, every winner of the GOP primary in South Carolina has gone on to win the nomination. So for Gingrich and the other so-called non-Romneys in the race, South Carolina is essentially the last stand. And Gingrich, not surprisingly, argues he is the only candidate who can defeat President Obama come November.
GINGRICH: And if I don't win the primary Saturday, we will probably nominate a moderate and the odds are fairly high he will lose to Obama. You need somebody who is tough, somebody's who's articulate...
KEITH: And he goes on - somebody you'd want to bet on in a debate against Barack Obama. Imagining a series of debates with President Obama has long been a staple of the Gingrich stump speech. But after Monday night's debate where he got a standing ovation, the idea of Gingrich the debater is again a key part of his pitch. By yesterday evening, the campaign had already cut a new ad, featuring that moment.
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KEITH: Judging from the introductions at Gingrich events yesterday, you'd think everyone was talking about it.
MIKE HUCKABEE: Last night in the debate, I don't know that I've ever, ever heard a more masterful presentation of the power of work...
JIMMY METTS: But after last night, there is absolutely no doubt who can turn this country around, that can lead us back to the great country that we are.
RICH BOLEN: How about that debate last night? That was amazing.
KEITH: Those were, in order of appearance, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Lexington County Sheriff Jimmy Metts, and the county's Republican Party chairman, Rich Bolen. Bolen has endorsed Gingrich and says he thinks that debate may well have been a game changer.
BOLEN: This is the first time I've ever seen a standing ovation at a debate. And he just had that effect on the audience. I mean, it was spontaneous, it was all the people that were supporting the different candidates and they all stood up in unison for him. So that dynamic is what's changing people's minds.
KEITH: Well, maybe not everyone. John Mitchell was at the debate and saw Gingrich speak again yesterday afternoon at the business event. He says the former speaker's debate performance was strong, but it didn't do anything to overcome his lingering concerns about Gingrich.
JOHN MITCHELL: I don't know that I trust him. Maybe he's gotten older and he's changed over time, you know. But for somebody who has skeletons in his closet and yet accuses others of things at the same time, I've got a problem with that.
KEITH: Mitchell remains undecided, but he's leaning towards Romney. Allan Creighton has narrowed his choice down to two.
ALLAN CREIGHTON: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.
KEITH: And Creighton says Gingrich's closing argument did strike a chord with him.
CREIGHTON: I think it's a good point he makes. Whichever one wins in South Carolina will probably become the Republican nominee.
KEITH: But it didn't make you hands-down decide to vote for him.
CREIGHTON: No, not completely.
KEITH: A colleague who plans to vote for Gingrich says she'll keep twisting Creighton's arm until he sees it her way. And Gingrich will keep pitching himself as the only Republican with the hefty credentials to take on President Obama.
GINGRICH: If I am the Republican nominee, we will run a campaign of paychecks versus food stamps and we will beat Obama virtually everywhere in this county.
KEITH: That, however, is a big if, since Romney, Santorum, Perry and Paul are not backing down from this fight. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
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The economy may be improving but state governments are still working to repair the damage to their books. We're keeping track with a series of reports, and we go this morning to the nation's most populous state, which has some of the nation's largest problems.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Here in California today, Governor Jerry Brown gives the State of the State address. He'll outline more cuts to government programs while asking voters to approve a measure to raise taxes. Here's NPR's Richard Gonzales.
RICHARD GONZALES, BYLINE: The good news, says Jerry Brown, is that California's economy is recovering. The bad news, delivered when he recently unveiled his proposed 2012 budget, includes very deep cuts for the poor, elderly and disabled, including $1 billion in cuts to welfare programs.
GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN: We're making some very painful reductions. A mother and kids are getting the same welfare check in real dollars that they got in the '80s. This is not nice stuff, but that's what it takes to balance the budget.
GONZALES: Brown and the legislature are shrinking the state's deficit by grabbing every dollar they can. Last month, they sealed the deal to eliminate municipal redevelopment agencies, freeing up money that can be redirected by the state. But it also blows a big hole in municipal budgets for cities like Oakland that depend on redevelopment funds. Mayor Jean Quan.
MAYOR JEAN QUAN: You're talking about almost every department in the city will be impacted. And so that's $35 million. That's at least 200 jobs, maybe more.
GONZALES: This week, pink slips are going out to 1,500 Oakland city employees, alerting them that their jobs could be on the chopping block - everyone from librarians and police lab technicians to road crews. And that leaves Dwight McElroy seething. He's the president of the union that represents city workers.
DWIGHT MCELROY: The potential impacts are to reduce us from where we are now, which is do I get the car fixed, do I pay my mortgage, do I know what I'll be eating next week this time? And these are working people. These are not indigent. These are good solid civil service employees.
GONZALES: And Governor Brown is not just cutting budgets. He says his plan assumes that voters will approve a November ballot initiative raising taxes. Corey Cook teaches politics at the University of San Francisco.
COREY COOK: What he's doing is trying to make this very tangible by saying, you know, if the budget is passed without these revenue increases, there are specific triggers that will go into effect and there will be immediate consequences.
GONZALES: Brown is proposing a temporary half-set sales tax hike and a new levy on the wealthy. Without the taxes, Brown says public schools would get cut by nearly $5 billion. That approach is tantamount to holding K through 12 schools hostage, says political scientist Dan Schnur of USC.
DAN SCHNUR: Make no mistake about it - this ballot initiative may be the largest ransom note in California political history. Governor Brown is telling the voters of his state that if they don't pass the initiative, untold horrors are going to befall California schools and California schoolchildren.
GONZALES: Schnur says Brown's is a smart political strategy, but the ever-crafty governor denies he's playing politics when asked why he's threatening to cut spending on schools.
BROWN: Like Willy Sutton said - when asked why rob banks, he said that's where the money is. Education is a lot where the money is, and if you don't have money, it comes out of schools.
GONZALES: But Brown is banking on convincing Californians not to go down that path. So today's State of the State address, usually an occasion for lofty rhetoric, is likely to be the official kickoff of his campaign to raise taxes. Richard Gonzales, NPR News, San Francisco.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
When President Obama met yesterday with the king of Jordan, much of their talk focused on Jordan's neighbor, Syria. Both governments are trying to figure out how to pressure Syria's president to step down. So far, 10 months of protest by Syria's own people hasn't convinced Bashar al-Assad to do that. Instead, he's cracked down.
The U.N. puts the number of Syrian protestors who've died at more than 5,000. To better understand the situation there, we called NPR's Deborah Amos. She's just returned from the region where she's been covering the conflict.
Good morning.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So let's talk about what is going on at this moment in time in Syria. And it's really not good. What makes that country more complicated than other Arab nations that have experienced these pro-democracy movements?
AMOS: It is Syria's strategic importance in the region. That is part of the answer to that question. Then, look at the headlines. This has become a game of nations. Russia has said no to sending foreign troops into Syria, which means nothing is going to happen at the U.N. There's not going to be a Libya scenario. The Syrian government rejects sending Arab League troops into the country.
What we have is a stalemate. The protests are larger than they've been over the last 10 months. The resolve of the pro-government forces are hardening.
MONTAGNE: Well, it is not just because Russia refuses to support international military intervention. It's also the international community has no stomach for mounting the same sort of military intervention in Syria that it did in Libya. Why is that?
AMOS: Washington appears to believe that Bashar al-Assad will fall on his own. Senior policymakers call him dead man walking, that it's just a matter of weeks, that the sanctions will be so draconian in Syria that the people will turn against Bashar al-Assad and throw him out. That is simply not happening.
Bashar has a very firm hold on who his allies are - Iran, Hezbollah, the Shiite power in Lebanon, the Russians, the Chinese - and he knows that they, in some ways, are protecting his regime. The region would change fundamentally if the Assad regime fell, and everybody in the region knows this. And so everybody in the region is being cautious about what happens in Syria. Nobody wants to see a civil war, although I think we are certainly edging in that direction.
MONTAGNE: Well, for the many who haven't been following Syria over these past years, you know, explain why a civil war would be particularly a terrible thing to happen in that region.
AMOS: Let's call it by another name for a minute, and I think it will help us understand this. It could be a sectarian war. When you look at the composition of the protest movement, it is primarily Sunni Muslims. They are the majority in the country.
Syria is run by a minority sect, the Alawites, which is an offshoot of Shia Islam. And the minorities in Syria - Christians, Druze, Kurds - support the government. That composition, that sectarian tension is repeated these days across the region.
And I think the fear is that if there a sectarian war, it could spread to Iraq, that has its own sectarian tensions. It could spread to Lebanon, that also has that same combustible mix of sects who are vying for power. Even it could spread across the border into Turkey, because on the southern border of Turkey, you have Alawites there.
MONTAGNE: And this is a region that no one wants to see, in a sense, go up in flames?
AMOS: That is certainly true. And that is why you see almost paralysis in the international community about what to do about Syria. You have Arab monitors who are there monitoring a peace plan. At the end of this week, they are to prepare a report about whether Syria did comply with the Arab League or did not.
And whatever the answer to that question is, then what? And there is no answer to then what. The international community is no shape at this moment to talk about international intervention. And so what we are watching is a government that is willing to continue to kill its people to put down a democracy movement because no one will stop it.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Deborah Amos has been reporting on the conflict in Syria.
Thanks very much, Deb.
AMOS: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with Apple and Samsung still fighting.
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MONTAGNE: Apple has filed a patent suit against Samsung in Germany. Bloomberg reports it's the latest salvo in the two companies' global patent war. This time, Apple is trying to ban sales of 10 Samsung smartphone models, claiming the Korean company copied Apple's design. It's also suing the company claiming it copied the iPad.
The two companies are embroiled in patent battles in Australia and the U.S., as well.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's stay with Internet news for a moment. Yahoo is undergoing another big management shakeup. Yesterday, Jerry Yang, the co-founder and former CEO, said he is stepping down from the company's board of directors.
NPR's Steve Henn has more from Silicon Valley.
STEVE HENN, BYLINE: For months late last year, Yahoo's board of directors was mulling a deal that could have sold the Internet company or broken it apart.
CHARLENE LI: But the question always in the back of people's mind is would Jerry Yang, the founder of the company, be interested I going along with that.
HENN: Charlene Li follows the Yahoo at the Altimeter Group. Yang blocked Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo back in 2008. That decision ultimately cost Yahoo's share holders billions. And in recent years, Yahoo has struggled to hold its grounds in the increasingly competitive Internet advertising market.
DAVID HALLERMAN: 2011, it didn't grow. It was down about 3 percent in the United States, which is the bulk of their market.
HENN: David Hallerman tracks Yahoo's ad sales at eMarketer. He says for many investors, Yahoo has lost its luster.
HALLERMAN: Because they're not going to be as strong as they were before.
HENN: But the board's decision earlier this month to hire former eBay executive Scott Thompson to run Yahoo signaled the company would remain intact. Still, Yahoo's under intense pressure from its largest shareholders to boost results.
Charlene Li says a shakeup on the board was overdue.
LI: Yahoo's board has been seen as being very much entrenched in the old way of thinking of what Yahoo was.
HENN: Yahoo still has 700 million users, but Li believes that what it needs is a clear vision for the future. With Yang now gone, more board resignations are expected.
Steve Henn, NPR News, Silicon Valley.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today's last word in business comes from China, and the word is: Red Pad.
It's a device that looks a lot like an iPad, except it's red in color and in ideological purity.
The Wall Street Journal picked up on the device, which was advertised briefly in China's state media. It offered Web content for the party faithful, like quick access to the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily. The device however, was apparently priced at more than $1,500 - good deal more than an iPad.
China's online community launched scathing attacks about the Red Pad, saying only corrupt bureaucrats using public funds could afford such a thing. And the ads for the device have since disappeared - capitalism with Chinese characteristics.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
We should fully explain this next report, because if we miss something, you won't be able to find more information on Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia is blacked-out today, at least on personal computers. It's only available if you take extra steps or use a mobile device.
MONTAGNE: It's one of the many online protests against proposed legislation in Congress against Internet piracy. This battle reflects a conflict of economic interests.
INSKEEP: On one side are enterprises like Google and Wikipedia that traffic in masses of free information and video programming. Hollywood companies want to be sure they're paid for programming.
NPR's Joel Rose reports.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: If you were planning to use Wikipedia today, to check if you check facts for your term paper or to settle a bet, you'll have to look elsewhere. All you will find on Wikipedia is a note about the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is currently being debated in the House of Representatives, and its sister bill PIPA, the Protect IP Act in the Senate. Same goes for the popular Web sites Reddit and Boing Boing. These sites and many more have gone dark to protest what they consider to be two very bad bills.
Eric Martin is general manager of Reddit.
ERIC MARTIN: The definitions of the language in the provisions are extremely vague and extremely broad. And it would seem to be written without anybody who knew the technology. So, there's a lot of technologically, sort of, ignorant language in there.
ROSE: At a press conference yesterday, Martin and others in the tech world said SOPA and PIPA would go way beyond their stated intentions of reining in online piracy. Critics say the bills could put sites that depend on user-generated content out of business, and could end up curtailing freedom of speech.
But the entertainment industry says tough new rules are needed to protect American movies and music from so-called rogue Web sites, foreign-based sites that specialize in copyright infringement. Here's a TV ad produced by the trade group Creative America.
(SOUNDBITE OF A CREATIVE AMERICA AD)
ROSE: While Hollywood has thrown money and lobbying clout at the problem, Silicon Valley has taken its message online. Josh Levy is campaign director at the nonprofit Free Press, which helped organize today's protest.
JOSH LEVY: This is, I would say, the biggest revolt that we've seen online against big corporations when they try to close the open Internet.
ROSE: To be fair, there are big companies on Levy's the side of the debate, too. Google, eBay, and Facebook have all come out against the bills, which they say could lead to a loss of investment and innovation. And there are some signs that message is getting through to lawmakers.
Over the weekend, the White House said it would not support SOPA or PIPA, as currently written. And the bills momentum, with which seemed unstoppable just last month, slowed a bit during the congressional recess.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: This law would be a threat to me and to my users.
ROSE: During a call-in show on Vermont Public Radio last week, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrat Patrick Leahy, took tough questions about PIPA from his constituents.
SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY: A number of the concerns I've heard expressed are being taken care of. It's the draconian bill that some describe, it's not going to get five votes in the United States. If it is the kind of bill that writers and publishers and Chamber of Commerce say it is, then it will pass.
ROSE: Leahy now says he's willing to drop one of the most controversial provisions from the bill, language that would essentially allow law enforcement to block Web sites from the Internet over alleged copyright infringement. So has his counterpart in the House, but Republican Lamar Smith of Texas says his committee will resume hearings on SOPA next month. And back on the Senate side, majority leader Harry Reid said over the weekend, on "Meet the Press," that he still wants a vote on PIPA when the Senate returns from recess.
SENATOR HARRY REID: There's some issues that have come up. But I think we need to have this a winner for everyone, not just for the content people. It's important that we try to do this on a fair basis, and I'm going to do everything I can to get that done.
ROSE: But whatever gets done, it now seems that SOPA and PIPA will look very different than they did just a few months ago.
Joel Rose, NPR News.
INSKEEP: Now, if you're having trouble accessing information without Wikipedia and other sites, we can help today. Send a tweet with your question. Add the hashtag altwiki. That's A-L-T-Wiki. NPR is teaming up with The Washington Post and the Guardian to provide reference material today.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Even if Wikipedia was working, you couldn't use it to locate information about Mitt Romney's most recent tax filings. He has yet to make that tax information public.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Under pressure from his opponents, Romney says he will release information in April.
MONTAGNE: But yesterday, Romney did let slip a provocative tax detail. He acknowledged he's probably paying an effective tax rate of around 15 percent. And that's well below the rate that many middle-class families pay.
NPR's Scott Horsley has more.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Mitt Romney came around to the idea of releasing his tax returns, very slowly. Initially, he had no plans to make his taxes public. Then on Monday, when pressed during a debate, he said he probably would. And yesterday, Romney went further, saying he will release his tax records, but not until tax season when his 2011 form is complete.
MITT ROMNEY: I know that if I'm the nominee, people will want to see the most recent year, and see what happened in the most recent year and what things are up to date. And so they'll want to see the tax returns that come out in April. So rather than sort of have multiple releases of tax returns, why, we'll wait until the tax returns for the recent year are completed and then release them.
HORSLEY: That schedule doesn't satisfy Republican rival Newt Gingrich. He argues South Carolina voters are entitled to see Romney's tax records now, before they cast their primary ballots on Saturday.
NEWT GINGRICH: I believe we have the right to know, and therefore he owes us the knowledge. I'm not accusing him of anything. I'm just saying if there's nothing there, why not release it this week?
HORSLEY: In addition to showing how much money Romney makes, the records would show how much he gives away, to whom, and how much he pays the government in taxes. Romney offered a hint about that last question yesterday when he was asked about his tax rate.
ROMNEY: What's the effective rate that I've been paying? It's probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything, because my last ten years, I've - my income comes overwhelmingly from investments.
HORSLEY: And investment income gets special treatment under the federal tax code. Here's how it works: Middle-class workers collecting wages or salaries pay a top tax rate of 25 to 28 percent. Upper-income workers might pay as much as 35 percent.
But people like Romney who make their money off investments, never pay more than 15 percent in taxes, no matter how much money they earn. The idea behind this favorable tax treatment is to encourage more investment, in hopes of making society richer. But it can also raise questions of fairness, questions President Obama has been highlighting for months.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million.
HORSLEY: The issue was famously raised by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who complains he pays taxes at a lower rate than his own secretary. Mr. Obama suggested last fall, the tax code be modified so wealthy investors would pay rates at least as high as ordinary workers.
OBAMA: Middle class families shouldn't pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires. That's pretty straightforward.
HORSLEY: Straightforward or not, Mr. Obama's proposed Buffett principle has so far gone nowhere. But it's likely to get another airing from the White House, now that Romney has disclosed he's in the same low tax bracket as the billionaire Buffett.
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich wants to go in the opposite direction, and make investment income completely tax free. That would be a huge windfall for wealthy investors.
But Romney says it's going too far. Romney has also proposed giving a larger tax break to investment income, but only for families making less than $200,000 a year. By the way, Romney said yesterday, not all of his money comes from investments, and not all of it is taxed at the special 15 percent rate.
ROMNEY: I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. And then I get speakers fees from time to time, but not very much.
HORSLEY: The Democratic National Committee points out in 2010, Romney's speaking fees topped $374,000.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: And you're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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You can't pay attention to the presidential campaign without hearing references to China. Republican candidates have complained about Chinese trade practices. Criticizing China in campaign season is getting to be a political tradition â followed by presidential candidates from both parties.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
At the same time, President Obama's administration has been quietly reorienting U.S. foreign policy, seeking to focus more on Asia's Pacific Rim nations. The point man for the administration is U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke. He's a former governor of Washington State and his ancestors came from a village in southern China. Now Ambassador Locke is based in a rising nation that many Americans see as a threat.
Ambassador Locke stopped by our studios on a brief visit to Washington. What does China want?
GARY LOCKE: It is fundamentally, I think, focused on trying to raise the standard of living and the quality of life for its people. In many ways, its progress has been held back over the last couple of centuries, compared to its civilization, spanning thousands of years, in which it really views itself as a leader of world civilization, having invented and contributed so much to civilization - from the compass, the clock, the printing press, paper, the seismograph.
And they feel, in many ways, that the actions of the West, and even their own rulers, have really set the country backward, and so they're really trying to make up for lost time.
INSKEEP: Wounded pride...
LOCKE: In some ways.
INSKEEP: ...from the colonial period and other periods of history.
LOCKE: In some ways. And so, you see an incredible transformation in China. Before I became an ambassador, going to China several times a year as a private citizen and as a government official, I'm just stunned at the incredible transformation. Villages that were just 25, 50,000 people 20 years ago are now cities of five million people with some of the tallest skyscrapers anywhere in the world.
There's an energy, a dynamism, in China. And yet China is a country, still, of great contrast. While hundreds of millions of people are part of the middle class and yearn for things made in America - American brands, movies, music - there are other hundreds of millions of people throughout China who are living on the equivalent of one U.S. dollar a day.
And who don't really have refrigeration. And you go back to our own family village, which is about a mile from a city of millions of people in southern China, and they don't have toilets. They have an outhouse. They still cook using coal briquettes and kindling that they find from the countryside.
INSKEEP: So you're starting assumption is that China is more concerned with internal development than with dominating East Asia, with dominating the world, with supplanting the United States or any of the things that Americans sometimes worry about.
LOCKE: Well obviously, it is a huge competitor to the United States, and much of their trade and their economy is focused on the Pacific region and indeed all around the world. You see them extracting natural resources in Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia. And so I think that there is a concern, a question mark, by people all around the world and governments all around the world, as to what China's intentions are.
INSKEEP: Even after having been there, having met with Chinese officials, having studied this as you have, do you still have questions about what their intentions are?
LOCKE: Well, we know what they're focused on in the immediate term. The way in which they operate does pose concerns, whether it's conflict and disputes over a territory in the south China Seas to their economy policies. As President Obama clearly said just a few months ago, China must play by the international rules, the international trading system from which they've benefited so much.
We have a lot of concerns about their record on human rights, and their openness as a society. We need more exchanges between our military leaders so that we can avoid miscalculations. Again, we welcome a growing prosperous China, but one that assumes greater responsibility in the international order.
INSKEEP: What do you think has prompted Chinese officials, in the last year or so, to in more and more public ways, crack down on people they perceive as dissidents? Just this week, there's been a poet who has been arrested for a poem that talked about encouraging people to put their feet in the square. It was nothing too specific, but it does seem to be a reference to something like Tiananmen Square.
LOCKE: The human rights record within China seems to rise and fall over time, but it's very clear that in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and since then, there's been a greater intolerance of dissent and the human rights record of China has been going in the wrong direction.
And we deal with the human rights issue, as an embassy, on a daily basis in terms of diplomacy with the Chinese officials, public diplomacy, public statements, supporting human rights activists and dissenters; as well as meeting with individual groups and churches and lawyers, and people who in fact have felt the brunt of the crackdown and the intolerance of dissent. We're very concerned about this, because we, as a country, feel very strongly about human rights which are universal human rights.
But let me just say that there's a growing ability within the people of China to still talk about these things using social media, the Internet. And while the Chinese may try to censor and limit and block a lot of these activities and discussions, the people themselves are generally one step ahead. And they may come up with different code words to talk about - whether it's Tibet, they're talking about basic freedoms, their concerns about the Chinese policy, the political system, the economics, what have you.
But that discussion is still going on.
INSKEEP: When you say, Ambassador, that the Chinese human rights record is getting worse, does that imply that Chinese officials are more and more concerned about the stability of the country or about their perch at the top of it?
LOCKE: I think both. They're very concerned about domestic tranquility and stability, especially as it might influence and impact their ability to maintain control over the country and to - and the strength and the viability of the communist party.
INSKEEP: Is the party getting weaker?
LOCKE: Well, they are certainly much more attentive to the concerns of the people, as expressed through blogging and microblogging and the Internet.
And, you know, you see on a daily basis â learn of demonstrations, some small, but some large, including the â almost the blockading or the sit down of a city in southern China over a confiscation of land without reasonable compensation. And they basically prevented anybody from the outside from coming in and brought the city to a halt and forced the Chinese government communist leaders to send people into air - and to address their grievances.
So I do believe that there is a power of the people, and there is a growing frustration among the people over the operations of government, corruption, lack of transparency, and issues that affect the Chinese people on a daily basis that they feel are being neglected.
INSKEEP: Do you think that the situation is fundamentally stable in China right now?
LOCKE: It's very - it's, I think, very delicate - very, very delicate. And â but there were calls earlier this year for a Jasmine revolution and nothing came of it. I think it would take something very significant, internal to China, to cause any type of major upheaval.
INSKEEP: Gary Locke is the United States Ambassador to China. Thanks for coming by.
LOCKE: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
The news that the Taliban are prepared to open an office in the neutral Gulf state of Qatar offers a new hope for a negotiated end to the Afghan war. So far, all the major players - the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S. - are onboard, having a place to actually talk face-to-face with the Taliban. Michael Semple has long written about Afghan politics and most recently sized up the Taliban offer in Foreign Affairs magazine. We reached him at Harvard, where he's been a fellow.
Good morning.
MICHAEL SEMPLE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now, you follow the region closely. And in this article you call the announcement of this new office a game changer. That's pretty strong language. Why?
SEMPLE: I believe that the announcement of the office takes us into a whole new situation that we haven't seen before, where the Taliban movement, its leadership, have officially committed themselves to engaging in a political process. For the past ten years, we just have not been there.
MONTAGNE: That is very true. I mean, up until now the official pronouncements from the Taliban, their public pronouncements, have all been in the direction of they are not going to be talking. What changed?
SEMPLE: Ultimately, I think the leadership has finally twigged, that they're doing themselves and their country no favor by, you know, agreeing to host a battlefield for the world's jihadis and also the United States. And now they have to use all tools at their disposal to try and end the war.
MONTAGNE: Well, what happened to this concern that by putting an end date to this war the Taliban were smart enough, in a way, to just wait it out?
SEMPLE: I think that what they expect will happen is that NATO forces will draw down, but there will be some kind of residual U.S. or NATO presence, enough to prop up the government. And there is an acute risk of a shift to civil war. There are plenty of, you know, anti-Taliban Afghans who will be prepared to fight to keep the Taliban out.
And the responsible elements in the Taliban leadership have decided that the prospect of another round of civil war that could easily, you know, drag on another decade, it's so horrendous that they're prepared to take some risks to avoid it.
We sort of like worked on the assumption that the Taliban are necessarily warmongers. What if they're not warmongers? What if they're responsible Afghans who are rather concerned for the future of their country?
MONTAGNE: And what if they're people who want to effectively come home?
SEMPLE: What if they are middle-aged men who have spent the whole of their adult lives engaged in conflict and who are now at the time that they ought to be settling down with their grandchildren rather than facing the prospect of another ten years of civil war? They're middle-aged men who want to go home.
MONTAGNE: Looking ahead, if you had to set out the chief obstacles to get from here to there, even for someone who might be optimistic about the possibility of progress, what would those obstacles be?
SEMPLE: The first thing that worries me at the moment is will the United States be able to keep pace with a rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan? And I say this - it's almost tantalizing. I think that few people appreciate how rapidly the debate inside the Taliban has changed over even the past few weeks and the extent to which there is now a part inside the Taliban leadership and the broader movement that wants to move towards peace.
Then, I think that there are real obstacles, problems around the current government in Kabul. They, you know, they're involved in domestic political power plays. They basically want to retain power. And they're prepared to sabotage just about anything that they ultimately see as a threat towards their power.
So will the various friends of Afghanistan be able to keep the Kabul authorities in line and make sure that they play some kind of positive role in moving this towards closure?
Then, of course, there's the issue of Pakistan. They have tremendous positive potential. Will they deliver on some of this or will they choose to sacrifice it for some other objectives?
And then, of course, you know, who wins out in the Taliban? Although, I'm convinced that there are now senior figures in the leadership who are working to try and wind down this conflict. Nothing's yet settled.
MONTAGNE: Michael Semple has worked in Afghanistan for more than two decades and most recently wrote for Foreign Affairs magazine the article, "How to Talk to the Taliban."
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. A city here in Southern California is fighting crime with tweets - not social networking, real tweets by birds playing on speakers along the city's main drag. The Wall Street Journal posted online the soundscape - chirping robins, splashing water and faint musical notes. The mayor of Lancaster tells the Journal the birds put residents in, quote, "a better place." And though police say the causes are many, crime in the city is down. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. William Frances Blankenship got in trouble but knew who to call. The Indiana man was allegedly handcuffed when he stole a police car. So he radioed police. He asked for help in finding the handcuff keys, complaining the cuffs made it hard to steer. Then he said police should at least help him find the cigarette lighter. He said he could think better if he had a smoke. He will now have time to think, since Mr. Blankenship has been recaptured and jailed. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
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Commentator Siobhan Fallon learned about Iraq when her husband was deployed there during the war. He also served in Afghanistan. He's back now. They're together. But she learned over the years to never take communication for granted.
SIOBHAN FALLON: The spouses of deployed soldiers have a desperate relationship with the phone. You never know when it will ring. Even when you get an email that says your husband will call you at a certain time on a certain day, there are always last-minute patrols, sudden communication black-outs when all the Internet and phone lines on the base are cut, or claims that the satellite dish can't find the satellite.
The randomness can drive a girl crazy, because I had to answer that phone, especially since there was always an ugly whisper in my brain saying this just might be the last call my soldier would make.
My husband has deployed three times: Afghanistan in 2004, Iraq in 2006 and again in 2009. Technology changed a great deal from his first deployment to his last. From 2004, with its long stretches of nothing broken up by airmail letters closed with electrical tape and covered in a fine, grey sand, to the sporadic Skype and fairly regular email contact we had in 2009.
But somehow, during each deployment, it seemed like I missed his calls more often than I managed to pick them up, my cell phone inbox full of his faraway sigh: Damn, baby. Where are you? But I was there, all the time, running for the phone left on the diaper changing table, digging for it at the bottom of my purse while driving 70 miles an hour on a Texas interstate, leaving a trail of water from the shower to grab a phone just out of reach, clamping it to my ear one second too late.
During the three years of our marriage that we spent apart, those phone calls, even with the time delay and static, were the closest we could get to each other, when we could hear each other breathe and know we were both okay.
You learn to cram into that allotted 15 minutes every scrap of a shared life you can manage: that the mortgage payment is on time, that your child is learning to crawl, that you still love each other with all the distance thrown in-between. That tenuous phone call is the highlight of your week.
There are still 100,000 servicemen and women in Afghanistan. And their families are still waiting, holding onto their phones, wishing them to ring, praying they will be there to answer, and that they will hear their soldier's voice on the other side.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: Commentator Siobhan Fallon wrote the collection of short stories "You Know When the Men are Gone." You can comment on her essay on the Opinion Page at npr.org.
This is NPR News.
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By this time in the month, many people are back in the gym trying to take off the pounds they put on over the holidays, and we're doing our part to help with the ultimate NPR workout mix. We're asking people what songs make them move. And it turns out music is just as important for motivating professional athletes as it is for anybody else.
(SOUNDBITE OF BASKETBALL COURT)
INSKEEP: We caught up with L.A. Lakers forward Matt Barnes after a recent practice. He said before games it's all about one rapper.
MATT BARNES: I listen to Tupac the whole time. So on the car ride in, you know, take my same iPod, put my headphones in, walk to the locker room, while I'm getting treatment, while I'm stretching I'm listening to the music. You know, with Tupac you can't go wrong.
INSKEEP: And Barnes tries to go right with Tupac's "Secretz of War."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SECRETZ OF WAR")
TUPAC: (Singing) With my mask on. Do it for profit, plus I'm looking for (unintelligible) if you ain't screaming west side, you can get the - I'm seeing demons, got me hearing screaming, scared to go sleep, watch the scene like a dope fiend.
INSKEEP: Barnes has played for eight different NBA teams in his nine years in the league. Last year, injuries kept him out of much of his first season with the Lakers, but now his team has finally named him a starter. It's not surprising that many of his music picks are about overcoming adversity.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SECRETZ OF WAR")
TUPAC: (Singing) You ride with us or collide with us. Look, it's as simple as that for and my...
BARNES: "Secretz of War," it's about, you know, you either ride with our team or you collide with our team. So, basically, he's talking about either you're with us or against us. And that's the kind of music I listen to before games really to get me going. You know, it's us against the world when you step out on that court.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOLD YA HEAD")
TUPAC: (Singing) If I die, do the same for me, shed no tear. An outlaw thug living in this game for years. Why worry, hope to God, get me high when I'm buried, knowing deep inside only a few love me, come rush me to the gates of heaven...
INSKEEP: Matt Barnes gave us another pick for working out - it's another Tupac classic, "Hold Ya Head."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOLD YA HEAD")
TUPAC: (Singing) How do we outlast, always get cash, stay strong if we all mash, hold ya head...
INSKEEP: And you can find the ultimate NPR workout mix at NPRMusic.org. We remind you that it's a work in progress, so we still invite you to weigh in with your picks. And before we let Matt Barnes go, we asked if he could choose one workout song for all of his Laker teammates. He hesitated a bit before answering.
BARNES: Maybe "Against All Odds" this year by Tupac because, you know, everyone's really counted our team out.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGAINST ALL ODDS")
TUPAC: (Singing) Against all odds, hoping my thugs - know. This be the realest - I ever wrote. Against all odds, up in the studio, getting blowed, to the truest - I ever smoked. Against all odds, hoping my true - know, this be the realest – I ever wrote. I heard he was light skinned, stocky with a Haitian accent, jewelry, fast cars and he's known for flashing. What's his name? Listen while I take you back - and lace this rap, a real live tale about a snitch named Haitian Jack. Knew he was working for the Feds, same crime...
INSKEEP: Work it. This is NPR News.
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As American troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq last month, one Iraqi woman was heading in the other direction. She was visiting her homeland for the first time in two decades. Many years ago, she left Iraq to finish her college degree in the United States, ended up settling in Washington, D.C. Now, think about everything that has happened to Iraq since she was last there. She left a country where Saddam Hussein was in charge. She returns to a country where Saddam is dead, and Iraq has gone through years of war. NPR's Sean Carberry accompanied her on a tour of Baghdad. Let's listen.
ASEEL ALBANNA: I can't believe I'm here. I just have sheer joy inside me.
SEAN CARBERRY, BYLINE: In September 1991, Aseel Albanna was about to finish her last year of architecture school in Baghdad. Wanting a break from the years of war and hardship, she took a trip to the U.S. But a planned four-week visit turned into a 20-year stay. She doesn't recognize much as the car pulls away from Baghdad airport, but when it enters a residential district, the memories come flooding back.
ALBANNA: Oh, looking at Baghdad-style houses, these are the - this is what I remember. These are the old houses, the flat roofs. Now I'm in Baghdad. Now I see it.
CARBERRY: But it's not long before her initial euphoria starts to fade into disappointment.
ALBANNA: What? Jadriya used to be a beautiful neighborhood. Oh, my God. This is really shocking.
CARBERRY: Like most neighborhoods in the city today, in Jadriya, there are checkpoints, blocked off streets, compounds surrounded by concrete blast walls, electrical wires running haphazardly everywhere, and everything is covered with thick dust.
ALBANNA: This neighborhood used to be, like, all brand new, beautiful houses, beautiful yards, beautiful streets, beautiful greenery. And now it's, like, I don't know how to describe it. It's a mess.
CARBERRY: Later that day, she heads off to visit her old house in what was once a largely Christian neighborhood. Most of the Christian families, like hers, have long since fled. Her street looks deserted and dilapidated.
ALBANNA: I'm speechless.
CARBERRY: After an emotional pause to soak in the scene, she approaches the house where her family and friends gathered for a small party the day she left Iraq.
ALBANNA: I can't believe I'm actually standing in front of my door 20 years later.
CARBERRY: The yard is overrun with tall, wild grass - gone are all the fruit and olive trees of her memory. The concrete outer wall is cracked and crooked, the iron gate reinforced by scraps of metal. An ugly old generator sits in front of the house.
ALBANNA: It just looks deserted, just a deserted, old house. There's no more life left in it. What I have is only memories left of this, because right now, I barely recognize it, to be honest. The only thing that's still here is the breeze, that Baghdad breeze. That's the only thing that I recognize.
CARBERRY: For the next few days, Aseel swings between moments of joy and excitement to shock and sadness as she visits her old high school, her favorite markets, and one of her favorite streets in the city.
ALBANNA: It's very empty. Sharia Rashid used to be so crowded, you couldn't - wow. Everything's closed down. This feels like a ghost town right here. This used to be the busiest, absolutely busiest street of Baghdad. It was just alive.
CARBERRY: This afternoon, Sharia Rashid is shuttered and bleak. Nearby, Abu Nawas Street, overlooking the Tigris River, doesn't seem much better.
ALBANNA: This used to be the river walk of Baghdad, wide sidewalks looking over the river, full of people day and night, families, children. This is more like the pure - Baghdad pure, before all the added layers of security and trash and antennas and wires. And right now, it seems deserted to me.
CARBERRY: And it is deserted. The once-popular fish restaurants have been torn down.
ALBANNA: But Tigris is still there, and the winds still - it feels like Baghdad. I think the spirit of Baghdad will never change, no matter what. Baghdad and Iraqi people will endure, but visually, I think the city is just completely destroyed. It used to be a beautiful city, and I'm searching really hard to find its beauty.
CARBERRY: Despite her sadness over the condition of the city, Aseel says that she doesn't want to board the plane to leave the country again. This time, she hopes it won't be another 20 years before she returns
Sean Carberry, NPR News.
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Companies that make solar panels in this country want the government to slap a tariff on imported panels. You might call it a solar trade war, sparked by an invasion of inexpensive imports from China. Still, the American solar industry is divided over this. While panel-makers complain that their business is suffering, other parts of the industry say that cheap panels are driving a solar boom in the U.S.
NPR's Christopher Joyce has our story.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: Gordon Brinser is a native Oregonian who says the company he runs there, SolarWorld, is not only green, it's red, white and blue.
GORDON BRINSER: The mission that we have is to, you know, build products here in America for America's community, for America's, you know, energy independence, and really leave the world a better place.
JOYCE: And Brinser says China is threatening that vision by flooding the U.S. with cheap solar panels. He claims China subsidizes its solar panel industry to the tune of $30 billion a year, yet uses only a small percentage of the panels it makes.
BRINSER: Obviously, these subsidies have gone into the industry, and their full intention is to export and control markets in other countries.
JOYCE: Brinser claims the imports contributed to the collapse of some U.S. manufacturers. He's petitioned the U.S. government to slap tariffs on imported Chinese panels. So far, the feds say, yes, American panel-makers have been harmed by Chinese imports. Yet to be determined is whether China is doing anything illegal: for instance, subsidizing panel-makers so they can sell below cost, a practice called dumping.
Brinser acknowledges that if he wins and tariffs are added, Americans will have to pay more for panels.
BRINSER: The prices will have to increase, you know, a little. They will find their new, natural balance in a competitive and legal environment.
JOYCE: But CASE, the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, says higher prices are bad for companies that install solar power. These companies far outnumber panel manufacturers. Kevin Lapidus works for CASE and is vice president of SunEdison, which builds and operates solar power systems.
KEVIN LAPIDUS: Fully 52 percent of the U.S. jobs are in the installation business. These are U.S. workers who wake up in the morning, put on a tool belt, and they go and build something.
JOYCE: Lapidus says solar power is just now shaking off its reputation as too pricey for regular people.
LAPIDUS: We're finally reducing the price of solar. We're driving down the costs to grow the solar base - installations, jobs, et cetera. And the SolarWorld trade case will increase the cost of electricity. It will set the industry back by years.
JOYCE: He says it could also start an international trade war with China.
At Solar Energy Services in Millersville, Maryland, a single stack of solar panels sits on the floor of a warehouse. Engineer Rick Peters says he got them cheap because the manufacturer folded. They just couldn't compete. He says mostly he buys Chinese panels.
RICK PETERS: Probably about 70 percent of what we install is Chinese panels.
JOYCE: Peters says some homeowners do like to buy American, but most want the best price. And Chinese panels are about 10 percent cheaper. A tariff could double their price, and Peters says that could push everyone's prices up.
PETERS: I'm very concerned about that. I think that it could significantly increase the price, because of the limited number of manufacturers in the U.S. And potentially, they could take advantage of the marketplace.
JOYCE: Raise their prices, as well?
PETERS: Absolutely.
JOYCE: Peters says that could have ripple effects for other U.S. manufacturers. He illustrates by cutting open a big box on the floor of the warehouse. Inside is an inverter, a device that every solar installation needs to convert direct current to the alternating current in your home. It costs about $4,500.
PETERS: This one is made by PV Powered, which is a U.S. manufacturer. A lot of the inverters are manufactured in the U.S.
JOYCE: Less installation means fewer inverters sold. Over the next several months, the federal government will decide whether China is playing fair or not.
Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
New numbers out today from the Commerce Department show that 2011 was the worst year on record for single-family home construction. And it was the third-straight year of dismal news on the housing front. But home sales are rising in some places. Consider California's Silicon Valley. NPR's Richard Gonzales visited a homebuilder there who is thriving - not just because of location, location, location, but also because of luck and knowledge of the local market.
RICHARD GONZALES, BYLINE: James Witt is a tall, lanky man whose graying, long hair suggests an actor in a Western movie. He's standing on his three-acre property in Palo Alto, which includes an updated old farm house and a yard with a pair of donkeys, one with an interesting pedigree.
JAMES WITT: Oh, there they are. This is Perry. Perry's a miniature. He was actually modeled for the donkey in the movie "Shrek."
GONZALES: On the weekend, kids and their parents flock to this yard, Witt says, to see something more than a novelty.
WITT: Because I think people want to touch something and see something that makes sense. You know, the world has become so off of its hinge, they want to get back to something that wasn't crazy, that wasn't all about technology. It wasn't all about some little screen.
GONZALES: Yet that little screen helped create the prosperity here in Palo Alto, where good schools, good weather and great location next to Stanford University create a built-in demand for a limited supply of homes. And a lot of those houses, mass-produced after World War Two, are showing their age.
WITT: So those homes are now reached past their life expectancy, and they need to be replaced. Older homes are energy inefficient, so that's the niche that I fill.
GONZALES: So with his local savvy and a willingness to risk and fail - an attitude that's prevalent in Silicon Valley - James Witt has torn down and re-built more than 50 homes in one of the strongest real estate markets in the country.
WITT: The houses that we're buying to tear down are over a million dollars now.
GONZALES: But there are limitations on teardowns. Besides, some of the houses in Palo Alto are considered almost sacred.
DENISE SIMONS: Yeah, she said do the trim in bone and keep that wall white.
GONZALES: Denise Simons is a Palo Alto realtor.
SIMONS: So this is an Eichler, built in 1973. It's one of the later models that was built by Joe Eichler.
GONZALES: Simons is standing in the middle of a modest home of distinctively modern, but simple design.
SIMONS: This is a four-bedroom, three-bath home, pool in the back. Great architecture - high ceilings, open floor plan. We've got an atrium that lets in a lot of the sunlight.
GONZALES: Simons says a house like this - just under 2,100 square feet - could sell in the neighborhood of $2 million. To many people, that might sound like crazy money: a million bucks for a tear-down, two million for a house the buyer might want to remodel again. This is in a region where the median home price is only $351,000. But that's Silicon Valley, where there's no shortage of buyers, says Simons.
SIMONS: A lot of the buyers are, you know, social networking, the high-tech, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Cisco. There's a lot of all-cash buyers here. So we're seeing a lot of that.
LARRY ROSENTHAL: Just because there are hard times doesn't mean that all places share in the struggle equally.
GONZALES: Larry Rosenthal is a housing expert from U.C. Berkeley. He says even without the current tech boom, some communities - like Palo Alto, or say Cambridge, Massachusetts - aren't as susceptible to shocks in the economy because of their proximity to nearby universities.
ROSENTHAL: These localities, because of their own assets - assets that are well-insulated from the ups and downs of the economy - are likely to maintain their property value and maintain their positive outlook on life.
GONZALES: Just ask James Witt.
WITT: This is a house I used to walk by when I was a boy.
GONZALES: We're standing next to an empty lot, except for the frame of a foundation for a new five-bedroom home like the one next door Witt built and sold last year. We're not talking about McMansions. Witt's homes are built to fit it into the neighborhood with a design and scale he calls stripped-down modern. He doesn't take his success for granted, either. After all, he's weathered four recessions, long enough to worry about another one.
WITT: When I say it's a bubble, I say that because it could change tomorrow.
GONZALES: But Witt knows this new house will sell. The average sales price of a home here jumped 10 percent last year. Companies are hiring, and there's the anticipation of Facebook going public.
WITT: People are already speculating on what stuff's going to be worth when these IPOs take place. And they're setting their sale prices based on things that haven't happened yet. And again, it's a unique part of the bubble that we're living in here in Silicon Valley.
GONZALES: Bubble or no bubble, this market is making homebuilder James Witt a very busy man.
Richard Gonzales, NPR News.
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Here's another story about a common medical test that may not need to be so common. To diagnose osteoporosis, doctors often do bone scans every two years on older women. Osteoporosis causes painful spine fractures and broken hips that are often fatal. And it's a big problem for women past menopause. Now a new study shows many women can wait as long as 15 years between bone scans. NPR's Richard Knox has the story.
RICHARD KNOX, BYLINE: Around 15 years ago, many doctors started doing bone scans to see if older women should start taking a drug to prevent bone loss. The test was heavily promoted by a drug manufacturer.
DR. CLIFF ROSEN: That notion, though, really didn't come from anything scientific.
KNOX: That's Dr. Cliff Rosen, a bone specialist at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
ROSEN: It came from this concept that, well, after two years we should see if there's change in bone density and if that is going to predict fractures. So that became the norm.
KNOX: In 1997, Congress passed a law requiring Medicare to pay for bone scans every two years. Now research at the University of North Carolina shows for a substantial fraction of older women, perhaps as many as half, such frequent bone scans are not necessary. The study shows that women who get a bone scan at 67 that's normal, or shows just a little bone-thinning, can safely wait 15 years before they get another one.
DR. MARGARET GOURLAY: Ten percent of those women developed osteoporosis over about 15 years.
KNOX: That's Dr. Margaret Gourlay. She led the study, which is in the New England Journal of Medicine. By contrast, some women whose first bone scan showed moderate bone loss went on to develop osteoporosis much sooner, within five years. And some with more pronounced bone loss were only a year away from osteoporosis and high risk of fracture. Gourlay says the difference between the two low-risk groups and the two high-risk groups was surprising.
GOURLAY: What we didn't expect was that the upper two groups would take such a long time to develop osteoporosis. We knew that there would be a difference. We didn't expect that much of a difference.
KNOX: The implications could be big. Rosen says the study should be very reassuring to many post-menopausal women worried about osteoporosis, because half of the 5,000 women in the study were at low risk of developing the disease.
ROSEN: And I think that's the take-home message. Not everybody as they age is going to develop osteoporosis. So we need to find out who are those individuals that are at high risk because they're older but may not be at that much greater risk.
KNOX: He also thinks the study could result in many fewer bone scans and maybe fewer women on osteoporosis drugs.
ROSEN: I think it's going to go way down. And maybe it should, because we tend to over-treat, I think.
KNOX: But Gourlay is more cautious.
GOURLAY: I think the main thing that it will do is not drastically cut down the number of bone density tests. We're hoping the first step is that people will just think about the bone density test, and that the patients will ask for the first test more often.
KNOX: She points out that only 13 percent of women on Medicare get a bone density test. That suggests millions aren't getting an initial baseline scan that would tell them whether they're at risk of osteoporosis or not, even as millions of others are getting more scans than they need.
By the way, the new study doesn't provide any guidance for women under 67. Many of them are getting regular bone scans too. But they'll have to wait for another study.
Richard Knox, NPR News.
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The actress Angelina Jolie was 16 when the war in Bosnia began. She paid little attention at the time. Now that war is a subject of "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Jolie's debut film as a writer and director. To make that film is authentic as possible, she needed to educate herself about and especially complex conflict, one by her own admission she didn't really understand at first.
So she called in a number of people as consultants, including our own Tom Gjelten. He has the story of how the Hollywood star dealt with the Bosnia challenge.
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: Angelina Jolie made her first trip to Bosnia before she started filming and with only a vague idea of what she was after.
ANGELINA JOLIE: I wanted to understand. And I was very moved by the people from this part of the world. And I was so young and I felt that this was my generation, how do I not know more? So...
GJELTEN: So she met with Bosnians and heard their stories firsthand. She read books and consulted with some of the key characters from that conflict, like U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke. She talked to journalists who covered the war, myself included. And, perhaps most important, she cast her film entirely with actors from the former Yugoslavia, all of whom brought their own war experience to the project.
Among them, Alma Terzic, five years old when the war began.
ALMA TERZIC: I was a little child, and for me, was - everything was so huge, the bombs and the guns. And I remember the smell. Some details that just stuck in your head and you want to move it, but they just stay with you.
GJELTEN: Alma plays a Bosnian Muslim woman in the movie. The film depicts the brutality Bosnian Muslims, especially women, suffered at the hands of Bosnian Serb forces. Alma herself is a Muslim, though in her own case, the most traumatic experience in the war came when soldiers from the Muslim-led Bosnian government broke into her house and forced her father to go with them to fight the Serbs. Alma, her mother, and her sister were left on their own.
TERZIC: When three women is alone, and we don't have food, and I remember how hungry we were, and my mother just - her hair going white, after they took my father.
GJELTEN: Vanesa Glodjo, a Sarajevo native, plays a Muslim woman stranded in Sarajevo during the war, as she, in fact, was. Seventeen at the time, Vanesa endured days of shelling. Her building had a basement where people took shelter, though Vanesa strangely wanted to be outside when the mortars began to fall.
VANESA GLODJO: I was so afraid of basements, because I didn't know like what is happening. So as soon as the shelling starts, I go out - which is completely, of course, not rational.
GJELTEN: Or maybe it was rational, considering what happened one time Vanesa did not go outside when shelling began.
GLODJO: I got wounded in the house. Half of my house was gone, destroyed, behind my back. And just one shrapnel went through my leg, through the muscle.
GJELTEN: At the premiere of Jolie's Bosnia film last month in New York, the main actors spoke with me about how their own war experiences informed their performances. Goran Kostic plays a Bosnian Serb soldier, torn between his affection for a Muslim woman and his loyalty to his father who, in the film, led the Serb forces into combat against the Bosnian Muslims - not too far from Goran's own circumstance.
GORAN KOSTIC: My dad was, at the time, a Serbian officer in the Serbian army, in the rank of general.
GJELTEN: In fact, you came from a military family.
KOSTIC: Yeah, of course, that was my destiny, really, to become a soldier myself.
GJELTEN: The character Goran plays in the film heeds his father's wishes and fights along with him on the Serb side. Goran, the actor, did not follow his father's military lead. He moved to London instead and escaped the war. But Goran had no trouble identifying with the Serb soldier and the dilemma he faced.
KOSTIC: Because it was easy to look at it and think about myself and say, there are so many similarities here that I can easily play that, really. Or I can easily get into that emotional landscape that was happening between my father in real life, and the father in the film itself.
GJELTEN: Ermin Sijamija had precisely the opposite acting challenge. He plays an especially brutal Serb soldier. But in real life, he fought with his fellow Muslims on the Bosnian government side.
ERMIN SIJAMIJA: (Foreign language spoken)
GJELTEN: A fellow actor interprets for him.
SIJAMIJA: (Through Translator) I was in the war. I was in the fight I was in combat. I saw my friends dying in my hands from the bombs.
GJELTEN: Because she had not herself been in Bosnia during the war, Jolie had to rely on the accounts of others. And, as every outsider learns when visiting the Balkans, this is a region of conflicting ethnic identities and rival histories. The people are proud, and they can be stubborn. All this became clear to Jolie at the start of filming, when she was approached by a group of Serb actors.
JOLIE: And of course they were all six foot four, and my first day and I'm nervous and trying to direct them. And they're saying, miss, we need to talk to you. And they said, first of all, we never say sir. You have us saying sir through the whole script. Serbs don't say sir. And we don't drink tea. We never drink tea.
And, you know, I had this whole thing about Turkish coffee; and of course that's politically incorrect in the region, which I didn't realize. So I said it's Turkish coffee. And they said, no, it's Serbian coffee.
GJELTEN: Jolie says her actors helped make her film more authentic. Still, there was much she had to figure out on her own. Jolie did not know the details of Alma's father being dragooned to fight on the Muslim side, nor, she says, did she know exactly what Ermin had gone through as a Bosnian soldier.
JOLIE: He's the silent guy through the entire film. The entire production, he never spoke. I heard he'd been in the military, but I never wanted to ask him 'cause I knew it was painful. So I didn't sit him down and drill him about it. I just - I had a feeling, and I could tell by the way he, of course, did the military scenes that he was familiar with weapons. But I never wanted to ask.
GJELTEN: The war in Bosnia ended with a peace agreement more than 16 years ago, but the argument over its origins persists. No one - no journalist, no writer, no filmmaker, ventures into this territory without controversy. Emerging with a story that offends no one is virtually impossible.
JOLIE: Any time I could get them all to agree, I knew it was the middle ground. So we would go back and forth until everybody agreed. And that was the complexity of it, was just a constantly, you know, somebody whispering into your ear, we don't do this; and then somebody else saying, they absolutely do that. And you think, ugh...
GJELTEN: Jolie says she's been more concerned over how her movie would be received in Bosnia and Serbia than in New York or LA. Those local audiences are the ones who will tell her if her portrayal of the conflict was, in their view, fair and accurate.
Her multi-ethnic cast, in the end, was happy with it. The film has already been shown in Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo, and was well received there. A screening in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, is scheduled next month.
Tom Gjelten, NPR News.
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And now we can tell you what could be the final chapter in a long saga for the Japanese automaker Toyota. Yet another report shows electronics in Toyota and Lexus cars were not to blame for reports of unintended acceleration.
NPR's Sonari Glinton has more.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: In 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled more than eight million vehicles world-wide. That's after reports of sudden unintended acceleration. Those reports and subsequent news coverage caused one of biggest public relations nightmares in the company's history. Since 2009, Toyota has lost its position as the world's largest automaker. It faced lawsuits and its executives were called to testify before Congress.
The Department of Transportation and NASA investigated. They looked at what's called the electronic throttle control. That's what sends information from the accelerator to the engine. Neither could find evidence that the electronics were to blame for the problem. What was likely to blame were sticky gas pedals or floor mats that might jam. And finally, the possibility that drivers could have been mistaking the gas pedal for the brakes.
An independent panel found this week that no fatalities occurred because of the car's electronics. The panel did recommend that regulators require data recorders be put into vehicles. They also recommended that the government look into the placement and design of foot pedals. That's to find ways to make it harder to mistake the gas for the brake, not just for Toyota, but for all car companies.
Sonari Glinton, NPR News.
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Sales of organic milk were up 15 percent last year over 2010. Apparently people like the taste and perceived health benefits from milk that comes from cows free of artificial hormones and that are not fed grains exposed to pesticides. Still, your next carton may be more expensive - and in some areas harder to find.
Grace Hood from member station KUNC explains.
GRACE HOOD, BYLINE: Lately, more grocery shoppers like Lisa Viviani have been reaching for organic dairy.
LISA VIVIANI: You got it?
LILY: Yeah.
VIVIANI: Good job.
HOOD: Viviani is standing in a Fort Collins, Colorado, Natural Grocers. She hands over organic half-and-half to her small daughter, Lily, who puts it into their shopping cart.
VIVIANI: I just don't want any of the other chemicals and hormones that go into the other milk.
HOOD: At the Natural Grocers chain, sales are even higher than the national rate. And store manager Emily Krawczuk says that's translated into issues with one supplier.
EMILY KRAWCZUK: They are still able to provide us with a product, but not nearly the volume that we were seeing in previous times.
HOOD: So far the shortage has been most pronounced on the East Coast and in the southeastern grocery chain Publix, which started posting signs in dairy cases explaining: Where's My Organic Milk? Processors are having a hard time ramping up supply to meet demand.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY)
HOOD: And it's all because organic dairymen like Arden Nelson are getting pinched by the high cost of organic grain and hay.
ARDEN NELSON: What happens when you can't pay your bills, is you look at the most expensive thing and you say we're going to have to do with less of that. And when dairymen feed less grain, cows give less milk.
HOOD: Nelson is standing in a narrow florescent-lit milking parlor - a small building on the edge of his Northern Colorado farm. Gray metal machines and clear tubes obscure the six cows on either side. In December, feed costs were so high that the Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance wrote a letter to a dozen major milk processors asking for a 20 percent raise - that's five dollars more per hundred pounds of milk.
NELSON: But that's only to get to break even. That's not to have enough of a living to have health insurance, and there's not enough money to even fix broken equipment.
HOOD: So far the response from processors to the Alliance's letter has been lukewarm. Just one cooperative, Organic Valley, has offered a two dollar per hundred weight increase for its farmers, starting in March – three dollars less than what was requested.
GEORGE SIEMON: The conversation about a fair price can become very difficult.
HOOD: Organic Valley CEO George Siemon cites limits in the amount and speed at which his co-op can offer farmers raises.
SIEMON: There are so many farm models out there and so many different debt levels, and droughts, non-droughts.
HOOD: Siemon says that some of the increase Organic Valley pays farmers will get passed along to consumers. He estimates, in the next month, shoppers could see as much as a 50 cent increase for a half gallon of organic milk. Ultimately, he says the goal is to adjust what farmers are paid so that new organic dairymen will want to enter the business. But that takes time - one year to transition a herd to organic feed, and up to three to transition land.
BILL WAILES: Everybody has to work together.
HOOD: Bill Wailes is a professor of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University. He says that while many organic dairy farmers are losing money, retailers and processors are profiting. The issue is that organic dairymen have little control over what they're paid.
WAILES: That's where the dairy farmers are caught because they actually know what their costs are but they can't control their costs and they take the price that the processor's given them.
HOOD: Despite the challenging business model, Organic Valley estimates it has 180 new farmers that will start producing milk next year.
For NPR News, I'm Grace Hood in Fort Collins, Colorado.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep.
This next story involves energy, jobs and politics. Think through the political maneuvers over the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is meant to carry oil made from Canadian tar sands across the United States.
MONTAGNE: Last year, President Obama put off approving that controversial pipeline until after the election. He said it needed more study.
INSKEEP: Congress than passed a provision forcing the president to decide before the election.
MONTAGNE: So the president rejected the pipeline yesterday and welcomed the builders to reapply. The White House says they might get a yes next time, after more study.
INSKEEP: Many people gained political benefits from all of this. Environmentalists get to celebrate.
MONTAGNE: Republicans get to say the president rejected an important project.
INSKEEP: And the president gets to be the decider, while defying an unpopular Congress.
Here's NPR's Jeff Brady.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Just minutes after President Obama issued a statement denying a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, Republican members of Congress lined up before cameras.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
REPRESENTATIVE LEE TERRY: And I'm deeply, deeply disappointed that our president decided to put his politics above the nation in job creation...
BRADY: That's Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry. The Canadian pipeline would travel through his state. He repeated the two selling points advocates often mention: thousands of new construction jobs and oil flowing into the U.S. from a friendly neighbor. With eight-and-a-half-percent unemployment, Terry said there's no good reason for the president to reject the pipeline now.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
TERRY: To me, it's pretty obvious it's all about election-year politics.
BRADY: As if to ensure the pipeline will become an election year issue, the American Petroleum Institute has been running television ads.
(SOUNDBITE OF AN AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He promised...
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I will do whatever it takes to put this economy back on track.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Now is his chance. The Keystone XL Pipeline is ready to be built, bringing energy...
BRADY: The oil industry and its allies are furious over the president's decision to block the pipeline. But those who oppose the project are celebrating.
JANE KLEEB: We actually are going to have a party. And we're trying to decide if we do it in the Sandhills or Lincoln, or both cities.
BRADY: Jane Kleeb heads the liberal group Bold Nebraska. She echoes the praise environmental groups are lavishing on President Obama for rejecting the Keystone XL. Many environmentalists see the pipeline as an important test of the president's commitment to their issues.
Environmentalists don't like tar sands oil, which starts out as a gunky substance that requires a lot of energy to turn into usable oil. That creates more pollution than traditional oil production. Thanks in large part to the tar sands, Canada is the number one supplier of foreign oil to the U.S.
Here's Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver, responding to the pipeline decision.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
JOE OLIVER: We're very disappointed, and the prime minister made that very clear to the president in his conversation with him on the phone, when the president called to tell him.
BRADY: Back in the U.S., the president's decision also upset organized labor, like environmentalists - a traditional Democratic ally.
JIM SPELLANE: Well, our members would be doing the electrical work in the pumping stations.
BRADY: Jim Spellane, with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, says his union needs the kind of work that comes with a big pipeline construction project. Already, his members have been waiting three years for the approval process to finish.
SPELLANE: It would help a number of our locals in the industrial Midwest especially, but in other places, too, that have been hit particularly hard during the recession.
BRADY: Spellane says the IBEW considers this a temporary setback, one that he blames on political gamesmanship in Washington.
Meanwhile, TransCanada says it's still committed to finishing its pipeline. The company says it will once again apply for a permit from the U.S. government, and hopes to complete construction by 2014.
Over at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Susan Casey-Lefkowitz says she and other opponents are ready.
SUSAN CASEY-LEFKOWITZ: We'll tackle those as they come and fight, frankly, every tar sands pipeline proposal that gets raised.
BRADY: The next round over the Keystone XL Pipeline begins in a week on Capitol Hill. House Republicans plan to hold a hearing. They've invited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify.
Jeff Brady, NPR News.
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Yeah, Perry is still speaking but of course he is speaking of his campaign in the past tense, saying I ran for president because I love America. Now, he drops out at a fluid time in South Carolina. There is a poll out this morning that shows Mitt Romney with just a two point lead over Newt Gingrich, 31-29. Now, if you look a little more closely at that same survey, you see that the people who are leaning one way or the other give Romney a bit more of an edge. But it's still relatively close, and some undetermined number of Perry supporters – a few percentage points – are now deciding which way they want to go.
The high stakes may explain why Newt Gingrich predicted the Romney campaign would be, quote, "dirty and dishonest" at the end. Romney's campaign put out a press release yesterday headlined: Newt Gingrich, leadership by chaos. Voters are struggling to make a choice, as NPR's Mara Liasson reports from South Carolina.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Every bit of available ad time on South Carolina television has been purchased, and when you turn on your set, there seems to be nothing on but this...
(SOUNDBITE OF TV ADS)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Obama supported the Wall Street bailouts. So did Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Don't be fooled. Rick Santorum, a record of betrayal. Another...
LIASSON: In Mount Pleasant, just outside of Charleston, at Page's Okra Grill, voters like Julie Dunn are just disgusted with the record number of negative ads.
JULIE DUNN: I'm really upset with all of them, that they're being so ugly to each other.
LIASSON: Dunn is a paralegal and she's undecided. She's thinking about voting for Romney, but she's not sure.
DUNN: Well, I don't know. You know, you think well, maybe Romney's got a handle on capitalism and how to make things grow. But then, you know, am I voting for him just because he's the frontrunner? That's kind of where I am.
LIASSON: Her friend Nelson Little doesn't share her ambivalence. Little is strong for Romney.
NELSON LITTLE: I think he can help America get back to the capitalist values that we've had in the past.
LIASSON: You know, he just came out and said that he pays 15 percent tax rate. I don't know if you pay 15 percent tax rate...
LITTLE: Actually, I do, but I don't have the kind of money he has, or the tax shelters. But that's fine.
LIASSON: But Romney hasn't won everyone here. Over at the community table, Bill Bailey is having breakfast with a group of old friends - all working-class conservative Republicans.
BILL BAILEY: I've made up my mind, I think. I'm going with Newt. I'll be honest with you. I don't trust Romney. I'm just having a bad feeling about him.
LIASSON: Bailey has a problem with Romney's background.
BAILEY: We need someone to look out for the small people.
LIASSON: Why don't you think Romney would look out for the small people?
BAILEY: I just don't.
AL MOESSNER: He's not one of them.
BAILEY: He is not one of the small people.
LIASSON: When you heard that he only pays 15 percent on his taxes, what did you think of that?
BAILEY: I didn't like it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
LIASSON: Why?
BAILEY: Because I have to pay - what little bit I make - I have to pay probably up to 28 to 30 percent.
MOESSNER: He's had 15 debates to convince me he's going to take care of me, and he hasn't done it yet.
BAILEY: Yeah.
LIASSON: That's Al Moessner. He doesn't like what he's heard about Romney's wealth, business practices and tax rate either. But because none of the remaining conservative candidates was able to consolidate the anti-Romney vote, the dynamic of the race never changed. Romney's still the frontrunner here. Polls show Gingrich in second place, Rick Santorum stuck in third. Santorum recently got a boost when a group of evangelical leaders endorsed him. But although there is a large pool of born again Christian voters here, there seems to be a cultural barrier for Santorum.
Here's how Richard Kirkland answered when I asked, what about Santorum?
RICHARD KIRKLAND: I'm still in the South. That ought to answer that. He can handle the Northern states. I don't think he knows how to mess with the Southern states. We are a different world down here.
LIASSON: And in the different world of South Carolina Republican politics, winning appears to be trumping everything else this year. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint says Republican voters in South Carolina are not looking for a perfect fit.
SENATOR JIM DEMINT: I think the Republican who's going to win this year is the one who I think looks the most electable in the general election, one who can deal most effectively with the economy, and convinces people that they are satisfactory in the social conservative area.
LIASSON: Sounds like he's describing Mitt Romney. DeMint is a potential kingmaker in South Carolina, but he doesn't plan to endorse before the primary. He did endorse Romney in 2008, and many of his supporters and donors are backing Romney this year. Like other conservatives, they think Romney is the likely nominee and their best chance to beat President Obama.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Mara Liasson in South Carolina, where Rick Perry has now formerly said he is dropping out of the presidential race and endorsement Newt Gingrich, as the other candidates prepare for a debate tonight. You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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And four of the candidates appeared last night at a Greenville, South Carolina forum sponsored by an anti-abortion group. Personhood USA wants to set new legal definitions for when life begins, and the group held its forum in a state with many evangelical Christians who have strong views on abortion. NPR's Don Gonyea was there.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Abortion has not been a dominant topic in this year's contest in South Carolina largely because the state has a jobless rate of nearly 10 percent. Still, all of the GOP hopefuls call themselves pro-life, and all but Mitt Romney joined in last night's Personhood forum. Romney's credibility on the issue is often questioned because he was pro-choice earlier in his career. His absence last night was noted several times, including right at the top by Personhood USA President Keith Mason.
KEITH MASON: We didn't know until last night, but I did get a phone call from one of his state representatives saying that there was a conflict and, you know, he was not able to make it.
GONYEA: Mason then noted that Romney also had a conflict and didn't attend a similar forum in Iowa. He said another will be held in advance of the upcoming Florida primary and that he hopes Romney can make that one. Personhood USA was behind an unsuccessful ballot initiative in Mississippi last year. That effort, to define life at the fertilization of an egg and not the implantation of that fertilized egg in the uterus, failed. Even some in the right to life movement worried that it was unwise politically that it would be struck down by courts while stirring up the opposition in the process. Last night's participants were Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, who joined from D.C. via satellite. Governor Perry went first, and here was the first question.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: When are we a person with rights, under the law?
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: I would suggest to you it starts at conception.
GONYEA: The moderator pressed him, asking what he meant by conception.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Conception being defined as...
PERRY: When the sperm and the egg come together and pretty much - you got a different idea?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GONYEA: Next, Newt Gingrich - same question, though his answer was less playful than Perry's.
NEWT GINGRICH: We are fully human upon conception because all of the genetic patterns needed are in existence at that moment, and therefore the right should attach at that moment.
GONYEA: Gingrich also singled out an organization that is public enemy number one for many anti-abortion activists.
GINGRICH: We will defund Planned Parenthood sometime early in 2013.
GONYEA: Next up, Rick Santorum.
RICK SANTORUM: I think we give up too much, and others have in this campaign, by saying they believe life begins at conception. I don't think believe life begins at conception; I know life begins at conception and...
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: The final speaker was Ron Paul, who was in line with the other candidates on when life begins. But he also suggested that the real solution is not necessarily a legal one.
REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL: And the laws so often reflect the people's culture, but we cannot change the people's morality by writing more laws. We can write more and more laws, but eventually we have to change the hearts and the minds of the people. We need stronger families and we need more respect for life than the laws will respect.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Thank you, Representative Paul, thank you. Thank you for talking to us.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: When it was over, the audience filed out, having seen an entire evening devoted to a topic that is, for many of them, still the issue in this and every election. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Greenville, South Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
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State and local governments have finally slowed their mass elimination of jobs in recent years. They have repeatedly cut back on services as tax revenues fell.
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Many still have cuts to make, but as the economy slowly improves, city governments are looking again to grow their economies. Many of the nation's mayors have been meeting this week in Washington, D.C., and economic growth is on their minds.
INSKEEP: This morning, we'll check in again with Mick Cornett, head of the Republican Mayors Association and mayor of Oklahoma City. His city has done relatively well economically, thanks to the energy business and, he says, government spending on infrastructure. Is there an economic need for cities, urban areas specifically, that is a little different than the country at large right now?
MAYOR MICK CORNETT: Yeah, I think there is. You know, a lot of cities are not only struggling, you know, they're suffocating under long-term labor issues and operational issues that rely on state governments for a lot of their funding. And if state governments are cutting back, state governments are probably not cutting back first on state government spending. They're probably cutting back on the money they give to cities. But a lot of cities are hurting because state governments are hurting.
INSKEEP: Why is it that you think that Oklahoma City is doing so much better than many other places?
CORNETT: Well, we've invested conservatively. We, for the last 20 years, have additional penny sales tax that we've invested in a lot of capital projects and we've improved the quality of life. And so with that increase of quality of life comes this incredible human capital. Highly educated 20-somethings are moving to Oklahoma City in large numbers. The Kauffman Foundation recently disclosed that we were the most entrepreneurial city in the country, most start-ups per capita. And so if you have the bright and the young and the talented moving to your city, that's a great labor pool that your entrepreneurs and job creators are going to be able to tap into.
INSKEEP: You're talking about attracting the so-called creative class, as the writer Richard Florida would call them, right?
CORNETT: Yeah. That's a good part of it, absolutely.
INSKEEP: And you say that you did that in part by raising taxes to make sure that services were adequate.
CORNETT: Well, it's not just services. It's amenities. You know, it's sports arenas, it's performing arts centers. You know, we put a canal through our entertainment district. We've built dams and built waterfronts, you know, for our river. There's a lot to the quality of life that a person is looking for. And we've been able to convince the people that live in the suburbs that the vibrancy of the core is directly proportionate to the quality of life in the suburbs. And so the people in the suburbs are willing to invest in downtown. And it's all paid for. You know, there's no debt on any of these items. So it's just a different culture. It's hard to necessarily explain unless you're in Oklahoma City and can see it. But you can feel it when you're here.
INSKEEP: OK. What does it take then for Republicans in this conservative state, part of which you represent, to sign on to raising taxes in order to make those kinds of investments and amenities?
CORNETT: Well, we've built up political capital in that we have done what we said we were going to do. And so by, you know, a series of limited taxation - a penny on the dollar sales tax, for instance - for a certain number of years, we have explained to voters what that money would be used for, we have built those projects debt-free, and then the taxation ended. And generally, as the capacity ends for that penny on the dollar, we have gone back to them and they have allowed us to continue to have new ideas and to bring new ideas to the table that they support.
INSKEEP: Oh, now, that's interesting. This penny on the dollar keeps expiring and you keep having another vote, which requires you to build public support for it again, and you get that public support.
CORNETT: That's right. You know, it's very fragile but, you know, we have the confidence of the majority of the voters today - and we're very careful not to do anything that might jeopardize it - because, you know, these types of government spending, you know, especially in a conservative city like Oklahoma City, come under great scrutiny. And you know, we do a lot to try and make sure that we spend it wisely.
INSKEEP: Do you feel as you watch the presidential campaign that so far the candidates have been addressing your issues as a mayor?
CORNETT: No. I don't see them looking at the idea that cities need to be able to control their own destiny. I don't see Washington in general or these candidates in generate talking about city issues. They talk a lot about health care, which affect people that live in cities, they talk a lot about the jobs, you know, in America, but you know, city governments can do much, much better if they just had a little bit more discretion on their own. You've got a lot of big cities dealing with unfunded mandates and at the same time trying to deal with long-term capital issues that there's just no escape. If you're in a big city on the East Coast, chances are you've got deferred maintenance that leaves you upside down for as long as you can see. And I don't see Washington even beginning to address those types of things.
INSKEEP: Mayor Cornett, thanks very much.
CORNETT: You bet. Thanks, Steve.
INSKEEP: Mick Cornett is the mayor of Oklahoma City and the national president of the Republican Mayors Association.
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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
Pakistan's civilian government is in the midst of one of the many dramas that seem to occupy all its time. The prime minister appeared before the country's Supreme Court. He was ordered to explain why he should not be held in contempt. The prime minister has been refusing to prosecute a corruption case against his own boss, President Asif Ali Zardari.
On top of an insurgency, terrorism, an economic crisis, a rupture in relations with the U.S., and a civilian confrontation with the military, the civilians are contending among themselves over the rule of law. NPR's Julie McCarthy was at the court today.
Hi, Julie.
JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: How did the appearance of the prime minister go?
MCCARTHY: Well, I think what you really saw happening was the executive here - the prime minister and his lawyer - getting a full blast of the judiciary. Really a lesson in the separation of powers. And that's really the larger frame of this story, Steve. And that's why the nation was glued to the court today. It's a momentous occasion for the Pakistanis to see the chief executive of the country in the dock answering to an independent newly restored Judiciary.
One of the justices called is a great day. But you do have critics here accusing this government of being utterly cynical about carrying out the court's orders, using lame excuses and endless delays, in the words of one of the senior lawyers who was there today.
And to the surprise of a lot of people, the court granted more time to the prime minister and his lawyer. They adjourned the contempt case against him until February 1. The prime minister was told he didn't have to come to that one.
INSKEEP: OK. This case has already dragged on for a few years. What did the prime minister say to explain all those delays?
MCCARTHY: Well, you know, he's a soft-spoken man. He was very differential. He sounded very humbled. Basically he said he felt he had a handicap in carrying out the orders to revive a graft case against President Asif Ali Zardari. The Swiss authorities originally brought suit - a money laundering suit against Zardari and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto.
And Gilani told the court he didn't attempt to re-open the case with the Swiss authorities because he was advised that the president has complete immunity from prosecution. Therefore he couldn't comply with the court. How could I send the president to the wolves, he asked.
INSKEEP: OK. So how did the court respond to Yousaf Raza Gilani's argument then that they could not comply with the court order because it didn't match the constitution?
MCCARTHY: Well, they gave his lawyer quite a rough going over, which is interesting because his lawyer is a hallowed figure in the judiciary movement that helped restore the Supreme Court to its new independence. But those credentials didn't really help him too much today.
The patience clearly is running out of the Supreme Court, of the justices. One said, look, we have great respect for the prime minister and he says he's only obeying the constitution, but somebody should've come to us in two years - that's how old the court order is - and kindly explained what the impediment was. And one justice subtly urged the lawyer to go ahead and contact the Swiss authorities and get on with it.
INSKEEP: And yet they gave the government more time to comply here.
MCCARTHY: That's right. Listen, they did adjourn until February 1. And I think the reason behind that, Steve, is that the court is full of cautious, serious men who, yes, they want to exercise this new independence and act aggressively as one branch of government, but they also see the political landscape in front of them. And they don't want to be blamed for inviting more instability in Pakistan - as you pointed out, it's got plenty to deal with - and invite martial law. The court actually said that there's no need for that now. They are wary. They're watching. And they're careful. And they have been accused of colluding with the army to get Zardari. But you know, those allegations are undercut by the fact the court has really signaled loudly and clearly to the military that any precipitous move by it would be considered unconstitutional. So they are moving slowly, and have, until now.
INSKEEP: Julie, thanks very much.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Julie McCarthy in Islamabad today.
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A year has passed since the revolution in Egypt began. Suddenly young people there, like this protestor in Cairo's Tahrir Square, could envision a different future for Egypt.
SAKHI SAHER: So now we're going to witness a new country with new order, with new politeness amongst the people, and no one throwing garbage in the streets. It's going to be a new start, a new beginning.
MONTAGNE: That was Sakhi Saher talking to NPR on the day that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is back in Cairo with the story of what happened to the young revolutionaries who toppled a dictator.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: It's cold and windy on this winter evening in Cairo. About 100 activists huddle together on a main road in a central neighborhood as the infamously heavy traffic here crawls by. These are the vestiges of the young revolutionaries who took over Tahrir Square last January.
It hasn't been an easy year. Instead of protesting Mubarak, they are now denouncing the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military junta that runs Egypt. They say the generals are simply an extension of the Mubarak regime, not interested in real democracy.
SALLY TOUMA: We're going to use some video just to show their lies.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Activist Sally Touma says their new project is called Kazeboon, or Liars. They set up impromptu screenings in neighborhoods across the city of mini-films showing the violent crackdown on protestors in recent months. At least 80 people have been killed since Mubarak's ouster, and many more arrested. Touma says the generals have tried to demonize the protestors and so they are moving out of the iconic Tahrir Square, taking their case to the people.
SALLY TOUMA: You need to come out of Tahrir because they have isolated you, and they have created a sort of division, just by spreading rumors maybe against the protestors, so it is important for us to come to the neighborhoods and say no, we are the same people; we are the same, nothing has changed. It's not that we are thugs this time, we are still the same people believing in the revolution and continuing it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING AND HAND CLAPPING)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The group starts to move and winds its way through the narrow alleyways of the neighborhood, chanting freedom, freedom. As they pass, a group of men rail at them furiously.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: One man says the country is in a very bad place. Another nods and says I don't want there to constantly be a fuss in the square. I want the country to be stable. They should go home, he says.
It's no small irony that one year after the Egyptian revolution began, the very people who started it, are now viewed with suspicion. And one of the main reasons, activists allege, are comments like these...
GENERAL HASSAN AL-ROWENY: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Hassan al-Roweny, one of the generals in the ruling junta, speaking with Al-Jazeera. he's alleging that the April 6th Movement - one of the main youth groups that helped kick-start the uprising last year - is destabilizing the country and its members are trained by foreign agents.
Moshirah Ahmed is one of the founders of April 6th.
MOSHIRAH AHMED: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: She says the government needs to give a face to the opposition so it can use it as a scarecrow to frighten people, she says. The government says it's either us or them, stability or instability. They did this to the Muslim Brotherhood before the revolution, she says. And now we are the face of the so-called evil opposition.
But the generals aren't the only problem. The revolutionaries have also squabbled among themselves and struggled to come up with a clear message. Liberal groups allied with them were decimated in the recent parliamentary elections.
WAEL GHONIM: I think this has been one of our biggest problems in the past. We cannot focus on what matters. What matters is the complete transfer of power in a democratic way.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's former Google executive and revolutionary Wael Ghonim in an interview with NPR.
GHONIM: People, they are scared, they want stability. They don't want to see the country in chaos. And I think this is the message we have to work on. This is the messaging part that revolutionaries have to work on, because we do not want to see our country in chaos. We want to see our country stable, but at the same time, not at the price of democracy.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: But at the demonstration, Sally Touma says the fight for Egypt is far from over.
TOUMA: It will take years, the revolution has taken years. I don't know why we give up so quickly. It depends when you feel things are changing and it's over, you know? It is a war, it's a battle, and we will continue. They will kill us, they will imprison us, they'll do whatever, but the end, you are a freedom fighter and you'll continue to fight 'til freedom.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Cairo.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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NPR's business news starts with Kodak filing for bankruptcy.
It's something that's been expected for a while. The company whose film captured memories for generations of Americans, filed for Chapter 11 protection this morning. In recent years, Kodak failed to keep up with the digital revolution. Ironically, Kodak invented the digital camera. Now this bankruptcy filing could give Kodak the time it needs to sell some of its valuable digital patents, that's considered key for the company to survive. Kodak will continue to pay wages and benefits to its employees, but it's not clear what the filing means for those who have retired.
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And today's last word is a monumental donation. You'll recall that the Washington Monument was damaged in August after an earthquake here in Washington. Congress committed seven and a half million dollars to fix it, but expected the public to commit seven and a half million more. It turns out the public will be exactly one person. Billionaire David Rubenstein co-founded and directs the private equity firm The Carlyle Group.
The Washington Post reports he called up the National Park Service and said: you got a cracked monument. How can I help? The official announcement of his seven and a half million dollar donation will be made later today. He explains that donation by saying he's a history buff.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
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Next, we'll explore the laws and customs that are supposed to govern the captain of a ship in distress. A cruise ship remains on its side in Italy. Captain Francesco Schettino is under house arrest. He was in charge when the ship ran aground. When it capsized, he made it to a life raft well before many passengers and did not follow demands to return to the ship.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Italian spoken)
INSKEEP: A Coast Guard official barked there, you go aboard. It is an order.
The people who've heard that tape include Rod Sullivan, who is a former merchant seaman and now a maritime law professor.
I begin this discussion with things that I've heard my whole life, phrases like the captain goes down with the ship, or whatever. What actually is the captain's responsibility under maritime law?
ROD SULLIVAN: That old saying stems from salvage. If a captain left the ship, anybody could come onboard and salvage it. But in the modern Merchant Marine and in connection with passenger ships, he is legally required to render assistance to every single person trying to get off that ship, and also identify those people who may have been killed in the incident.
INSKEEP: Granted, with anything like this, there'll be an investigation. But we have some evidence. We've heard these radio calls. How'd this captain do?
SULLIVAN: This captain did terribly. You can tell from the radio calls, first of all, he's not in a position to assist in rescuing passengers. And he's not even moving into a position to rescue passengers. And more than that, listen to his demeanor. This is not a man who has got his passengers' safety in the front of his mind. He's just not in control. And I think that speaks very poorly for this particular captain.
INSKEEP: Now, when you say that the captain of any given ship has a legal responsibility to remain in position to help the passengers in a situation like this, whose law is that?
SULLIVAN: Well, in the United States, it's a matter of statute. A captain can be criminally prosecuted if he doesn't do that. It is also a matter of the law of the sea, for which there is no criminal prosecution, you know, in an international arena. But I would assume that the laws of Italy are the same and that he's going to be subject to the same type of prosecution.
INSKEEP: What's the law of the sea?
SULLIVAN: Well, the law of the sea, with regard to commercial operations, are those things that we have international treaties on. For example, there's a law of the sea with regards to liability for passenger injuries called the Athens Convention, and the United States isn't a signatory to it, but Italy is. And so consequently, those people who died on this ship are going to be limited to $71,400 in compensation, because that's what the Athens Convention provides.
INSKEEP: Let's get back to the captain. If it's found that the captain was, you know, extraordinarily negligent in his duties in any number of ways in a disaster like this one, do you still have that limit on damages of $71,000 or so?
SULLIVAN: You do. The Athens Convention doesn't address the question of gross negligence and recklessness. The thing that really gripes me here is the rescue operation, or the abandon-ship operation. The captain knows or should know that you can't launch the lifeboats after you reach a 15-degree list. And once you get to 15 degrees, the lifeboats on the inboard side are hanging too far away from the hull for passengers to get onboard. The lifeboats on the outboard side are sliding down the hull. So you've just cut off the escape route for most of your passengers.
INSKEEP: So should the captain face criminal charges entirely aside from any civil damages that might be levied?
SULLIVAN: In my opinion, this captain was grossly negligent and reckless, both in causing the collision and in the inappropriate abandon-ship procedures, and then leaving the ship. So, yes, I think he should be subject to criminal charges.
INSKEEP: Professor Rod Sullivan of the Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida.
Thanks very much.
SULLIVAN: Thank you, Steve.
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Let's look now at another side of the economy: manufacturing. The Federal Reserve yesterday said American manufacturing had a very strong finish last year. To find out if that's likely to last and what it means for the big issue of jobs, we turn, as we so often do, to David Wessel. He's economics editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Good morning.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So after all the handwringing about the death of U.S. manufacturing, are American factories B-A-C-K?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WESSEL: Well, the arrow is certainly pointing up. As you noted, the Fed which had told us that manufacturing output fell in November, said it came back roaring back in December. A few big manufacturers have brought - have made a big splash bringing work back to the United States, talking about how the cheap wages overseas are not quite as cheap as they once were; natural gas prices being low in the United States makes energy costs more attractive for manufacturers. BMW is expanding its plant in South Carolina to make SUVs.
We're just beginning to get the profit reports from the end of the year from manufacturers. One of the early ones, a company called Fastenal in Minnesota, said this week that it's - it distributes parts to factories. It said its fourth-quarter sales were up a lot and its profits were out more than 33 percent in the end of the year.
But, and this is important, the output of American factories is still 10 percent below what it was before the recession, and there's still a huge amount of unused factory capacity. So things are definitely better, but they're not yet great.
MONTAGNE: Not yet back the way they were before. But what is your thinking, will this last?
WESSEL: I think the current thinking is there's a lot of momentum in manufacturing and it'll probably spill over into 2012. But there is one big, dark cloud on the horizon. The rest of the world is slowing down and that could hurt our exports. Here's just one fact that's worrisome: U.S. manufacturers generate, on average, about 22 percent of their sales from Europe, which is having a hard time. For the overall S&P 500 stocks on the stock exchange, it's only 14 percent. So they're very vulnerable to Europe.
MONTAGNE: Well, taken together, what does all this mean for hiring and jobs?
WESSEL: Well, that's a good question. So basically, factories have added more than 300,000 jobs in the past two years, and that's pretty good news - certainly better than losing jobs. But it would take two million more jobs to get manufacturing back to where it was in 2007 before the recession.
Factories are managing to produce more without hiring a lot more workers, because they're getting more productive; technology, reorganization, making people work harder, making them work smarter. It's all made for a remarkable surge of productivity. Factories get 40 percent more output out of every out of work today, compared to what they got 10 years ago.
MONTAGNE: Still though, if sales keep growing, would factories not hire more? Maybe not as many workers as they had before, but more, and couldn't that be one part of the answer, at least, to the jobs problem?
WESSEL: Well, it would definitely be one part, but it's a small part. For all the romance about manufacturing, we are no longer a manufacturing economy when it comes to jobs. Only nine percent of the jobs in America today are in manufacturing. It just isn't big enough to put Americans back to work. Even if factory employment doubled, which isn't going to happen, that wouldn't be enough new jobs to put all the 13 million unemployed people back to work.
So yes, it's a plus. But no, it's not enough to solve our unemployment problem.
MONTAGNE: Well, gosh, David, I mean does that mean, basically, manufacturing is irrelevant to the American economy?
WESSEL: No, it doesn't. One, the jobs they are often very good: paying well, steady jobs. Two, there are a lot side effect to a local economy when you get a new plant. The Wal-Mart comes when you get a new auto assembly plant, not the other way around. And finally, we need to be an innovative R&D oriented society. And if the jobs go overseas, the manufacturing jobs, R&D might follow. And that would really be a big problem for us.
MONTAGNE: David Wessel is economics editor of The Wall Street Journal. Thanks very much.
WESSEL: You're welcome.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with congratulations to Katie Thacker. The Tacoma, Washington woman went into labor. She stepped into an elevator at St. Joseph Medical Center on the way to the maternity ward and the elevator got stuck. Ms. Thacker says she doesn't remember much about what happened next, but she came out of that elevator with a baby named Blake. A fully accurate birth certificate would give the place of birth as somewhere just below the 14th floor. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne, hoping you made it through a day without Wikipedia. The site was shut down yesterday to protest anti-piracy bills in Congress. Good thing Twitter was there to fill the encyclopedic void. Facts without Wikipedia became a trending topic, informing readers that "Star Wars" was based on the work of Shakespeare, Sweden changed the colors of its flag to yellow and blue after the success of IKEA, and bacon is good for you. It's MORNING EDITION.
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And I'm Renee Montagne. Lots of news this morning on the Republican presidential race. Texas Governor Ricky Perry is ending his bid for the nomination. His announcement is expected moments from now. And two weeks after the Iowa caucuses, there are new results. The Republican Party is officially calling the race a tie between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, rather than a narrow victory for Romney.
First, let's get to the news of Rick Perry and the word that he is dropping out of the race. He's in South Carolina, where Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum continue to campaign ahead of the state's primary election on Saturday. And NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea is also in South Carolina. He's in Greenville. Good morning.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Just another sleepy day on the campaign trail.
MONTAGNE: On the campaign trail. Well, the announcement was scheduled for this hour, so it should be coming up any time. But tell us what you know about Rick Perry dropping out.
GONYEA: Well, this announcement comes amid much chaos and much confusion within the campaign itself. Last night, some of his top aides didn't know it was coming. But we have been hearing rumblings for about the past 24 hours or so, that it made no sense for Rick Perry to continue on, be embarrassed by the vote on Saturday in South Carolina, which would very likely have happened, given the polls. He just was not getting any traction.
So the news broke early this morning that he decided to pull the plug. We're waiting for him to come out as we speak. But I think the feeling is that by getting out now he can make an endorsement that might mean something, and he gets a little attention, he gets a little juice. He's got a packed house, something he hasn't had at all during this campaign down here.
MONTAGNE: And that endorsement might go to who?
GONYEA: Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich. Again, Perry wasn't polling much, so it's not like he's got a lot of supporters to give to Gingrich. Still, it shows that he's determined to help someone stop Mitt Romney, and Gingrich does have momentum here. He's been gaining in the polls, gaining on Romney, still behind. And this just kind of adds to that sense that things are going well for the former U.S. House speaker.
MONTAGNE: Let's turn to those Iowa caucuses. What exactly happened to bring about this change in the results?
GONYEA: Yes. Recall that early in the morning on January 4 – that was, you know, many hours after the January 3 caucuses – Mitt Romney won by eight votes. He was declared the winner, but under the caucus process it takes two weeks to officially certify the votes. Because it was so close – they didn't do a recount but they did what they call kind of a re-canvassing of all the precincts. The problem is, these are paper ballots put into shoe boxes and, you know, little containers like that in these 1,774 different caucus sites.
So they didn't have all of the votes from all of the precincts, but as best they could tell, Rick Santorum, who finished second, is up by 34 votes. The Iowa Republican Party is essentially declaring it a tie. Rick Santorum is of course declaring it a victory - a landslide victory, I might say.
MONTAGNE: Although given – they can all say what they want – but effectively does this really make a difference?
GONYEA: It just feels like it's lost in the shuffle of all the other breaking news here in South Carolina, with Mitt Romney's taxes and Perry dropping out, and Gingrich's rise. Santorum would have loved to have had this announcement a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't really feel like it's going to give him a lot of juice a couple of weeks later now.
MONTAGNE: Don, thank you very much, and Rick Perry has now stepped out before cameras down there in South Carolina, and of course NPR News will be covering the events of the morning and his actual announcement and his endorsement when that final, final moment comes, which is just - we're sort of in the middle of it but not quite to the end of it. Thanks very much. Don Gonyea in Greenville, South Carolina. This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Chinese New Year starts Monday. And during the holiday season, more than 200 million Chinese will travel to their hometowns and villages in the world's largest annual migration.
Every year, Chinese people tell horror stories about trying to get train tickets. This year was supposed to be different, because China's Rail Ministry created a website to reserve seats. But as NPR's Frank Langfitt reports, it hasn't quite worked out as planned.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: This is Shanghai rail station, and there are thousands of people right now, actually a river of folks going past me trying to make their way inside. Most of them are dragging things in roll bags. A lot of people have presents and fruit in plastic shopping bags. There's a guy who just walked past me with stuff in a paint bucket, all trying to make their way home for Chinese New Year.
A migrant worker surnamed Li is warming himself in a pedestrian underpass. He's waiting for a train home to see his family in far Western China.
LI: (Through Translator) The Internet ticket site was comparatively crowded. I found several co-workers and we used three computers - three computers continuously for five to six hours. Then we finally got into the site and ordered two tickets.
LANGFITT: Many people weren't so lucky. Volume on the new train ticket Web site was so heavy - one day it got 1.4 billion hits - that it often crashed. Other times, the Web site charged people money without actually giving them tickets. Public criticism has been withering.
Perhaps none more so, than from Huang Qinghong. Huang lives in East China's Zhejiang Province, where he works as a driver for a hardware company. Like most Chinese, his quest for a ticket home began at a train station.
HUANG QINGHONG: (Through Translator) I went to the station four times. When I got to the window, there were no tickets left. Later we learned we could buy tickets online, but we couldn't get on the site. And even when we did, there were no tickets.
LANGFITT: Huang became so frustrated he wrote a scathing letter to China's rail minister and a provincial newspaper. Huang not only said the ticket Website was a mess, he also noted that the people who travel the most during Chinese New Year - migrant workers - have little education and don't know how to use computers anyway.
Quote, "You guys, sitting on couches in air-conditioned offices, sipping tea, smoking cigarettes, and coming up with buying tickets online, have you ever considered our lives," Huang wrote? "Have you experienced the agony of buying tickets?"
The letter went viral. Huang became something of a folk hero.
QINGHONG: (Through Translator) When I was interviewed by Chinese media, I said its best if more tickets could be available at booking offices. Because if tickets are sold online before they are available at the train station, people with no Internet skills won't be able to buy them.
LANGFITT: China's Rail Ministry spent more than $8 million on the ticketing Web site. Rail officials say they underestimated demand and have increased bandwidth. Earlier this week at Shanghai Railway Station, ticket lines were only 10 to 12 deep. Most tickets were sold out several days in advance, but not all.
Li Xiusheng, who paints building interiors, bought a seat back to Central China's Anhui Province on the same day.
LI XIUSHENG: (Through Translator) The ticket seller told me there was only one seat left to my hometown. I said thank you. Thank you, Lord. I gave the ticket seller an orange. I'm really happy.
LANGFITT: Li, a Christian, thinks getting the last seat involved divine intervention.
As for Huang Qinghong - the migrant worker who wrote that scathing letter - he finally made it home. The newspaper he wrote to bought him a plane ticket. Speaking by cell phone from his village in Western China's Sichuan Province, Huang said it was only the second time he'd ever flown.
QINGHONG: (Through Translator) My fellow villagers all said flying must be very comfortable. They felt happy for me and they were envious.
LANGFITT: With good reason. Usually, Huang's New Year's journey is a 30-plus-hour ordeal in packed railway car. The plane flight: a mere two and a half hours.
Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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Many Arab countries had popular uprisings last year. Morocco seems to be an exception. Last winter, a pro-democracy movement there did demand limits to the power of King Mohammed the Sixth, and within weeks, the king proposed a new constitution and elections. Morocco was hailed as a model. But now, a year later, protesters are still on the streets. NPR's Deborah Amos reports.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Abdullah Abaakil is a full-time democracy activist in Casablanca, Morocco's biggest city. Over coffee, the 41-year-old business executive explains that he quit his job because the February 20th movement changed his life.
ABDULLAH ABAAKIL: So when the movement started, I just felt that there is hope in this country.
AMOS: And since that first protest a year ago, there's been some change: a new constitution approved in a referendum, open parliamentary elections in November, an Islamist Party now heads the government. But the king remains the most powerful political and economic force in the country, says Abaakil, so he organizes weekly protests to keep up the pressure.
ABAAKIL: Because what you get in staying silent is worse than what you get shouting in the street.
AMOS: And that is so new for Moroccans to do?
ABAAKIL: It is new, it is new, because the fear is an important pillar of the system.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in foreign language)
AMOS: This demonstration is in Sidi Mo'men, a slum on the outskirts of Casablanca. Morocco has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor in the Arab world. About 500 activists gather on the main street. Young and middle class, they chant wake up, become aware to some of the country's poorest. Some watch from apartment windows. Others edge closer. The police are out in force, but don't interfere. Abaakil arrives with his mother, who's also an activist.
Is this what it always looks like?
ABAAKIL: Yeah, at the beginning, yes, because there is just the activists. And when we start marching, the march is growing when the people from the neighborhood join the march.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in foreign language)
AMOS: The rally ends in a noisy parade. More than a thousand residents join in. These weekly protests have thinned considerably compared to a year ago, says Karim Tazi, a Casablanca businessman who supports the movement. But there's a better way to measure success, he says.
KARIM TAZI: There is an awaking of Moroccan political conscience.
AMOS: And Moroccans are no longer afraid to speak out.
TAZI: When you see Moroccan people speak to their kings and record their speech on YouTube - believe me, they don't say only nice things. On Facebook, every day, people criticize the regime, the king himself.
AMOS: This is new. Three years ago, a magazine editor was jailed, his publication closed over an opinion poll. The question, do you approve of the king, got a favorable answer of more than 90 percent, but the prosecutor argued that the monarchy cannot be judged. It was a criminal offense.
A grassroots democracy movement has won for Moroccans a way to demand a better functioning political and economic system. And the king broke the pattern of Arab rulers. Instead of hunkering down, he moved quickly, appointing a royal commission that wrote the new constitution. But Journalist Ahmed Benchamsi says the king still determines the pace of change.
AHMED BENCHAMSI: The monarchy outfoxed them with this new constitution that basically takes nothing of the king's absolute power, but just is presented in a better way. He played for time - skillfully, actually.
AMOS: But how much time, asks Benchamsi, when the number of Moroccans living in poverty has risen sharply in the past decade and youth unemployment is at 30 percent.
BENCHAMSI: The reasons why the protests started in this country are still here. Injustice is still here, impoverishment is still here, economic difficulties are still here. So sooner or later, people will take to the street again.
AMOS: That's the calculation of activist Abdullah Abaakil. We can rebuild the February 20th movement, he says, learn new ways to protest.
ABAAKIL: I mean, what we are doing is like teaching each other how to work in democracy. It's a long process, but it's OK. We adapt. We are a movement that adapts.
AMOS: And Moroccans have adapted to a new political power that doesn't come from the palace or the ballot box, but from streets in cities across the country.
Deborah Amos, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And it's time again for StoryCorps. We're hearing from people across the country who are participating in this project. They're sharing stories about their lives. Rene Foreman came to StoryCorps to talk about her voice. In 1999, she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Surgery eventually saved her life, but it also took her voice.
Today, she uses an electrolarynx to speak. It's a small device Rene holds against her throat so people can hear what she's saying. She answered questions about the experience from her daughter Michelle.
MICHELLE FOREMAN: How do you feel when people turn around and look at you?
RENE FOREMAN: It aggravates me. I was in the gym the other day, and I was talking to somebody. And there was a woman, and she turned around and she said, at the top of her voice: What's that funny sound? And I turned around, with my hands on my hips. I said, that's me. And she wanted to shrink into the ground. I felt so good.
MICHELLE FOREMAN: That's one thing that I love about you. You do still stick up for yourself.
RENEE FOREMAN: I'm not a shrinking violet. But, you know, there's some good sides. When people phone me to solicit and I say hello, they think I'm playing a joke on them, and there's this long silence.
MICHELLE FOREMAN: You told me that when you answered, they said: Is this a computer that I'm speaking to? And you said, yes.
RENEE FOREMAN: People are really very kind once they realize what the situation is. I may go into a restaurant once, and if I go back there a year later, and it's the same woman at the front desk, she'll say, where have you been? We haven't seen you for a while. So I feel like a movie star.
I remember the night before my operation. I was scared. I asked you to stay, and you slept in the bed with me, in the hospital. And then you left New York to come and be with me for a year. How did you feel about leaving your job and your friends and your life?
MICHELLE FOREMAN: I didn't even think twice about it.
RENEE FOREMAN: I'm really very blessed in my life. I am happier now, without my voice, than I've ever been with my voice. It's a small price to pay for being alive and enjoying life. So I am very happy where I am now.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: Rene Foreman, with her daughter Michelle at StoryCorps in Los Angeles. Their conversation will be archived at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress. And you can get the project's podcast at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's turn for a few minutes to one person we know has won big - Katy Perry. In 2011, the pop singer was the most played artist on the radio. She went number one five times. And her album "Teenage Dream" was massively popular.
Strangely, in the record industry it's hard to know if this kind of success translates into huge amounts of money. Zoe Chace of NPR's Planet Money team tries to answer that question, how much a label can make by sending an artist to the top of the charts.
ZOE CHACE, BYLINE: This would seem like a simple question. So I walked over to Katy Perry's record label in Manhattan. She's on Capital, which is under EMI. I met Greg Thompson, a record exec. And I asked.
I know it was an expensive record and pushing out the singles was expensive. Did you guys end up in the black? Did you recoup?
GREG THOMPSON: As far as I know, yes.
CHACE: Let's just pause for a second here. Katy Perry, number one artist by all of these measures, and the exec at her label isn't sure?
How do you not know?
THOMPSON: No, I believe we did, absolutely.
CHACE: It's actually complicated. And it's also something the record labels don't like to talk about. EMI wouldn't show me the numbers. So I decided to do some back of the envelope calculations and figure out for myself. There's two things we need to know. How much did they bring in and how much did it cost?
THOMPSON: You know, we invested substantially to make a great record.
CHACE: What does substantially mean? I called up Andy Tavel, he's an entertainment lawyer. He's had clients like Mary J. Blige and the Cure. First expense? The album itself. How much did it cost to record "Teenage Dream?"
ANDY TAVEL, ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER: One point five million to up, perhaps, even up to $2 million.
CHACE: Why so expensive? Look at this track.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALIFORNIA GURLS")
SNOOP DOGG: Greeting, loved ones. Let's take a journey.
CHACE: That's Snoop Dogg. He's pricy. And the production underneath.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALIFORNIA GURLS")
CHACE: That's the sound of the top producers in the business - Dr. Luke and Max Martin. They charge about $100,000 each track, according to Tavel. Twelve songs on the album, it starts to add up. On top of this, there's Katy Perry's advance.
LAWYER: That advance could have been perhaps a million dollars net, perhaps two million dollars. I can't say for certain.
CHACE: That's $1.5 million in recording costs plus a one million dollar advance, $2.5 million shelled out by the record company before anyone's heard the album. Remember, a song is not a hit song unless you hear it everywhere.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHACE: This is our next expense. Andy Tavel says it could cost up to $250,000 just to get the first single played on radio. Special promotions, free merchandise, and presents.
I walked into Rob Wagman's office. He's a program director at a Top 40 station; there was a painting of Katy Perry on the wall. She's naked, wrapped in a cloud of cotton candy.
ROB WAGMAN: They usually send that out before the next single.
CHACE: The Katy Perry songs also tested well - and Top 40 played them. So, a boatload of money goes to Katy, thousands of dollars to people like Snoop, the producers, the radio, around $4 million in cost is our estimate. Now, how would they make it back? What we do know is what Katy Perry sold in the United States - two million albums, 25 million digital tracks. And EMI, the record label, only makes pennies on the dollar.
Here's EMI exec Greg Thompson again.
THOMPSON: Being in the business of pennies...
CHACE: Mm-hmm.
THOMPSON: ...at the large scale can actually be good business.
CHACE: Let's say you buy the "One That Got Away," that's the sixth single, off iTunes for 99 cents, 30 percent off the top goes to Apple, 15 cents goes to the songwriters who wrote lines like this...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY")
KATY PERRY: (Singing) In another life I would be your girl.
CHACE: And Katy Perry gets a cut of the songwriting credit for adding lines like this...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY")
PERRY: (Singing) The one, one, one, one.
CHACE: The label gets the rest. By our estimate, the record-shattering, top-charting Katy Perry made her label around $8 million in music sales, in the U.S. That's not even counting revenue from movie trailers or commercials or overseas sales. But the record industry's in trouble, right?
LAWYER: The problem is that their batting average isn't high enough - that those success stories like Katy Perry are, unfortunately, too few and far between.
CHACE: EMI needs a whole roster of Katy Perrys to make money hand over fist the way they used to. But they hit it out of the park with this one.
Zoe Chace, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY")
PERRY: (Singing) Summer after high school when we first met, we make out in you Mustang to Radiohead. Talk about our future like we had a clue. Never planned that one day I'd be losing you. In another...
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This month we're asking people what songs help them move in this New Year. We're working towards creating the ultimate NPR workout mix. We've already heard from singer Olivia Newton John and also L.A. Laker Matt Barnes. Well, now one of our listeners wanted to weigh in.
MARK SINNEN: This is Mailman Mark in Bradenton, Florida.
GREENE: Mailman Mark. I actually met Mark Sinnen while I was traveling a couple years ago asking people about their expectations for President Obama. Mark from Florida wrote us to explain how music has kept him going for 37 years in the postal service. He walks - get ready for this - eight to ten miles every day on his route, and he's shouldering some 40 pounds of mail.
SINNEN: I've never been a member of a health club or gym 'cause my job is so physical in nature, I haven't needed to. On those occasions when I have needed motivation, nothing gets me moving like the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THUNDER ROAD")
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Oh, oh, come take my hand. We're riding out tonight to case the promised land. Oh thunder road, oh thunder road, oh thunder road...
GREENE: Oh, can't you see Mark Sinnen out there on the street? He says he likes to start out with "Thunder Road" on his route, the opening track of the Boss's breakout record, "Born to Run."
SINNEN: I finish up the relay with "Jungleland" and Clarence Clemons's saxophone solo.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUNGLELAND")
SINNEN: The Boss's music has been the soundtrack of my postal service career and one of the reasons my customers think I'm the happiest mailman they've ever seen.
GREENE: Well, Mark, keep at it. It was good to hear from you. We also found another Springsteen fan in Peter Sagal.
PETER SAGAL, BYLINE: I run a lot, as anybody who knows me knows.
GREENE: That voice might be familiar to you. Peter Sagal's the host of NPR's news quiz show WAIT WAIT...DON'T TELL ME. And when he says he runs a lot, he means it. He's out there most days of the week and he's done nine marathons in the last five years. His pick for starting off a race?
SAGAL: "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, which I know is a cliche, and I apologize for being unoriginal. And in my defense, I'm from New Jersey, so I have special dispensation when it comes to Springsteen. And come on. You know, it's "Born to Run." And not only is it about running or fleeing, but it's also kind of a sonic embodiment of forward motion.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BORN TO RUN")
SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Baby, we were born to run...
GREENE: And Peter Sagal gave us a few other tracks to keep his pace up. And you can find those and also contribute your own favorite workout tracks if you go to NPRMusic.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BORN TO RUN")
SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Wendy, let me in, I wanna be your friend. I wanna guard your dreams and visions. Just wrap your legs around these velvet rims and strap your hands cross my engines. Together, we could break this trap. We'll run...
GREENE: "Born to Run." This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene, in for Steve Inskeep.
In the war against piracy, there were some major attacks yesterday. The federal government shut down one of the Internet's largest file-sharing websites, Megaupload, on charges of copyright infringement. And that spurred a group of hackers to claim their largest attack ever. The group that calls itself Anonymous says it shut down the websites of the FBI and the Justice Department for a while yesterday. Joining us to explain what's happening on the Internet is NPR's Laura Sydell.
Laura, good morning.
LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So what exactly are these charges against this website Megaupload?
SYDELL: Well, first, let me explain what it does. Megaupload is this site where people can upload large files, files that are too large to send via an email. And, you know, you can use this legitimately, like say I wanted to send you a big audio file, because I work at NPR. I could use it for that.
GREENE: I could send you my wedding video, and you could upload it.
SYDELL: Exactly. That is right. But what the Justice Department said is that, for the most part, this site is not used legally, that people are trading all kinds of copyrighted material - movies, music, all that kind of stuff. And so they have gone and they have charged them with all kinds of pretty serious things, including, you know, criminal conspiracy. And they can face up to 20 years in prison.
And the Justice Department actually coordinated with authorities in New Zealand and picked up four of the executives from the company in New Zealand.
GREENE: Hmm, right. I saw the indictment is claiming that they were the 13th most popular site on the entire World Wide Web, which is a pretty big deal. And weren't they the site that Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas and Alicia Keys, I mean, they put out a video last month supporting them?
SYDELL: Yeah. Here's where it gets really colorful. Yes, that's right. And the guy that they say is the CEO of this company, Swizz Beatz, he's a rapper. And it's unclear if he's really CEO. But he's one of Jay-Z's producers. He's also married to Alicia Keys, and he's friendly with these people. And he said: Hey, will you be in my video? And all these artists were in a video promoting Megaupload.
And then Universal actually sent a take down notice and said take down the video. And Megaupload and Swizz Beatz, you know, fired back and said: We're not taking it down. We have the legal right. So there was that spat going on.
The founder of this company is a big guy who lived in a huge mansion in New Zealand. Apparently, they confiscated like $6 million worth of really expensive cars. He had a black Rolls Royce with a license plate that said God on it. It's quite a colorful story.
GREENE: That's a lot of money tied up in this business, it sounds like.
SYDELL: Yes, there is. Apparently, he had made something like $42 million off of Megaupload.
GREENE: Well, soon after this indictment was revealed, we have these hackers who call themselves Anonymous. And they said they started attacking the DOJ and the FBI. I mean, government websites? What exactly did they do?
SYDELL: Well, what they did is - and just to make it clear, they didn't, like, go in and steal anything from the FBI, no secret documents. They essentially kind of shutdown the site. So if you tried to go to the website, it would be slow, or you couldn't get to the FBI website or the Justice Department website.
This group has a history of doing this. It's a protest group that essentially is a group of hackers. And they were, for example, supporters of WikiLeaks. And when WikiLeaks released all those documents and - from the State Department, Anonymous attacked people who attacked WikiLeaks, like, PayPal shut down WikiLeaks' account. And they attacked PayPal. So they have a history of doing this. And they essentially did this to the Justice Department, because obviously, they think Megaupload is OK.
GREENE: Well, on Wednesday, a lot of people know about Wikipedia, the website, going dark as part of the protest against this anti-piracy legislation. Is this all related?
SYDELL: No. It isn't, really. There is, right now, legislation pending in Congress that would, some people say, force websites to censor certain sites. And so they've been protesting this legislation. But it was not connected, other than both are about the government doing something about what Hollywood and the entertainment business says is a huge problem, which is theft of copyrighted material online.
GREENE: All right, Laura. Thank you very much.
SYDELL: You're welcome.
GREENE: That's NPR's Laura Sydell, speaking to us from San Francisco.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert is running for president of South Carolina. He's not actually on the ballot for tomorrow's primary. It's all part of Colbert's parody of the process, the same way he's parodying cable news. Recently, superPACS have fallen under his satirical scrutiny. NPR arts reporter Neda Ulaby looked into this political practical joke.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: For this I needed to go upstairs and find Peter Overby, NPR's man on campaign finance.
What is a superPAC?
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Welcome to my world. It's nuts. It's the craziest situation in political money that I've seen in something like the 20 years I've been covering this.
ULABY: Peter said for the first time this past year, super political action committees can raise unlimited money to run ads - often attack ads.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: A group of corporate raiders, led by Mitt Romney, more ruthless than Wall Street.
ULABY: That ad was produced by a superPAC run partly by old friends and staff of Newt Gingrich. It twisted facts and embarrassed him. But because of rules forbidding coordination between candidates and superPACS, he couldn't make a phone call to get it off the air. He had to call a press conference.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
NEWT GINGRICH: I'm calling on the superPAC. I cannot coordinate with them. I cannot communicate directly.
ULABY: It's the SuperPAC rules about coordinating that Stephen Colbert's mocking right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE COLBERT REPORT")
STEPHEN COLBERT: We're not coordinating.
JON STEWART: Coordinating.
ULABY: That's Stephen Colbert and the guy who runs his superPAC, Jon Stewart, on the phone together with a lawyer they share. Apparently, that's legal. They hired a super lawyer, Trevor Potter, who used to work for John McCain. Now he seems to relish illuminating the absurdly broad loopholes in coordination.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE COLBERT REPORT")
COLBERT: Trevor, is being business partners a problem?
TREVOR POTTER: Being business partners does not count as coordination, legally.
COLBERT: Great!
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ULABY: And when Stewart took over Colbert's superPAC, so it would be totally independent, he wondered...
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE COLBERT REPORT")
STEWART: Can I legally hire Stephen's current superPAC staff, to produce these ads that will be in no way coordinated with Stephen?
POTTER: Yes.
ULABY: The superPAC, called Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, ran ads also attacking Mitt Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE COLBERT REPORT")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: As head of Bain Capital, he bought companies, carved them up and got rid of what he couldn't use. If Mitt Romney really believes...
MITT ROMNEY: Corporations are people, my friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Then Mitt Romney is a serial killer.
COLBERT: I had nothing to do with that ad.
ULABY: Stephen Colbert with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ABC NEWS INTERVIEW)
COLBERT: I can't tell Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow what to do. It's not my superPAC, George. It's the superPAC of - I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly - Jon Stewart.
ULABY: The ads aired in Charleston, South Carolina, on a TV station run by Rita Littles Scott.
RITA LITTLES SCOTT: We did not know it was Stephen Colbert for a while.
ULABY: She says the ads fit right in. And she says no one has called to complain about them.
SCOTT: In fact, we've not received any phone calls, except from the media.
ULABY: Scott says she appreciates how Colbert and Stewart are exposing the flaws and absurdities in the superPAC system. That's not what another humorist was trying to do, when he ran for governor of Texas a few years ago. Kinky Friedman was trying to win. He lost to Rick Perry.
KINKY FRIEDMAN: My definition of politics - poly means more than one, and ticks are blood-sucking parasites.
ULABY: Friedman said he doesn't really like Stephen Colbert's humor. But he says, at least Colbert's taking risks. So Stephen Colbert has Kinky Freidman's endorsement for president of the United States.
FRIEDMAN: Of course he does. That's why we need Stephen Colbert in there - to stir things up, be a troublemaker. I very much approve of that. That's what Jesus was.
ULABY: An analogy that would doubtless please candidate Stephen Colbert.
Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked scientists and other experts to study flavored melt-in-your-mouth tobacco products, known as dissolvables. The panel is weighing two points of view, those who worry that dissolvables are a gateway to smoking, and those who claim they help people kick the habit. Taunya English of member station WHYY reports.
TAUNYA ENGLISH, BYLINE: Twenty-four-year-old Rutgers University law student Gregory Conley pops a dissolvable during class or while he's studying.
GREGORY CONLEY: They are a toothpick that is covered in finely milled dissolvable tobacco. Two different mints and two different tobacco-like flavors. And you just put it in your mouth and hold it as if you were holding a piece of straw between your teeth.
ENGLISH: They deliver a slight nicotine tingle that Conley says helps curb cravings.
CONLEY: I was never really going to stop. I had tried with the traditional methods and found them completely unhelpful - the patch and the gum and the lozenge.
ENGLISH: Conley finally gave up smoking using electronic cigarettes, which are smokeless. And he says dissolvables keep him on track. The government regulates dissolvables like other smokeless products such as chew and snuff, and the warning labels are similar.
CONLEY: This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes. This product can cause gum disease and tooth loss. And smokeless tobacco is addictive.
ENGLISH: Companies can't market dissolvables as a stop smoking aid. Some health officials and a group of U.S. senators have called them nicotine candy and want the FDA to tighten the rules. Conley hopes it won't.
CONLEY: The public health people are saying, oh, we need to wait. We need to still get more data. Every day and every year that they wait to tell the truth about the relative risks of different tobacco products, more people are dying.
ENGLISH: Conley is so convinced, he volunteers with the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association and testified during the FDA's meetings this week.
University of Michigan health economist Kenneth Warner says the FDA is hearing from both sides of a long-running debate.
KENNETH WARNER: The one extreme are the folks who believe that no product containing nicotine or tobacco should be permitted on the market unless it has undergone review. The other extreme is to say that any product that superficially appears to be significantly less risky than cigarette smoking should be permitted on the market to allow consumers to have a less hazardous option.
ENGLISH: Warner says it's the FDA's job to consider the health consequences for the entire population, not just individual smokers. He hasn't seen solid evidence supporting the benefits or harms from dissolvables. He says the panel has to look at all the science.
WARNER: It is under enormous political pressure from both sides.
ENGLISH: Some health officials worry young people will try dissolvables, develop a taste for nicotine, then graduate to smoking. They also wonder if dissolvables keep people hooked.
Bill Godshall leads the group SmokeFree Pennsylvania. He's afraid the questions before the tobacco advisory committee will inevitably lead to a ban on dissolvables.
BILL GODSHALL: You know, asking might children choke or die if they swallow accidentally some of these - well, yeah, that's always a possibility, but the FDA doesn't ban every medicine in your medicine chest.
ENGLISH: Lots of doctors and coaches who help people quit say they welcome anything that will help their patients break free of cigarettes, and some are quietly recommending dissolvables as a first step. Others say they'll wait for a ruling from the Food and Drug Administration.
For NPR News, I'm Taunya English.
MONTAGNE: And that report is part of a project on health in the states, a partnership of NPR, Kaiser Health News, and WHYY.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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This tough economy has not been good for home values in a lot of areas - at least the thinking goes, that means saving money on your property taxes. Not so. Millions of homeowners are actually seeing their property taxes either holding steady or climb, even as their house may be worth much less.
As Brian Bull of member station WCPN in Cleveland explains, there may not be much homeowners can do about it.
BRIAN BULL, BYLINE: I won't say how much my home value has fallen in recent years, but at least I'm not alone in asking, what's up with my property taxes? Turns out that the economic downturn, state laws, and appraisals have created some nasty surprises.
Cuyahoga County's Fiscal Officer, Wade Steen, has been taking lots of calls from unhappy homeowners lately. He says they most often live in a community where voters passed a recent levy. That's a property tax measure that boosts funding for things like schools and libraries.
WADE STEEN: Shaker Heights comes to mind, where the voters have voted for those school levies which is going to naturally raise the taxes that they pay.
BULL: With about $3,700 paid per $100,000 of home value, the Cleveland-area community of Shaker Heights has the highest property tax rates in Ohio. Voters here approved major school levies in 2006 and 2010. Maybe some residents grumble, but most enjoy what levies provide - like Myra White, who's lived in Shaker since 1964.
MYRA WHITE: We have garbage pickup in our backyard. If they miss my house and I call, they'll make a special run, on another day. On Halloween, there are fire trucks and police cars driving around, I guess that's just kind of for fun, but it's also like a patrolling thing. It's almost, oh gosh, I hate to say this, but it's a little bit of a concierge environment.
BULL: Levies are often the only recourse school districts and other agencies have for increased funding.
Kevin O'Brien of the Great Lakes Environmental Finance Center, says that's because the recession has forced states to slash budgets, sending less money to counties and municipalities.
KEVIN O'BRIEN: And this hurts communities. Not having the revenue that they anticipated from the prior years, and having to carry the same number of staff and the same body of services, so they have to find creative ways to cover the gap.
BULL: Another reason for your property taxes not see-sawing with your home value, could be state law. Back in the 1970s and 80s, many legislatures passed bills designed to keep property tax collections from automatically going up with inflation.
Again, Wade Steen.
STEEN: Voters fail to remember that through the 80s, when property values were going up astronomically, their tax bills were holding fairly steady, maybe increasing modestly. But yet we never heard anyone say, geez, my property value has doubled in five years, this is great, but my taxes aren't doubling.
BULL: But the flip side to these laws - found in nearly 40 states - is that when home values plummet, the assessment rate can increase, to keep revenues at that fixed rate. And that's what's happening today. You might also take your government to task if they don't do annual assessments.
Jacqueline Byers heads research for the National Association of Counties.
JACQUELINE BYER: I live in Virginia, and they re-assess property every year. But right across the river in Maryland, they're on a three-year assessment cycle. So what can really happen to them is that their property taxes will be high, even in a down economy, because they're using data for the value of their property that's two to three years old.
BULL: In other words, the assessment's based on years when home values were higher, and not reflecting current value. So what can you do? In most cases, you can challenge your assessment, if you feel it's not accurate and can back up that claim. Ohio's Cuyahoga County projects 26,000 property valuation complaints this year, almost twice the number from 2011.
For NPR News, I'm Brian Bull in Cleveland.
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The new head of the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking on a multi-billion dollar industry. As one of his first acts, Richard Cordray is going after the payday lending industry.
From member station WBHM, Tanya Ott reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)
TANYA OTT, BYLINE: I'm standing near the main commercial road through a middle-class Birmingham suburb, and in a mile-and-a-half stretch there are 11 payday loan operations.
The number of payday lenders has skyrocketed in the last two decades. Twenty million American households use them, sometimes paying what amounts to 500 percent interest.
At the bureau's first hearings yesterday in Birmingham, resident Quinn Callins says a loan ruined his sister's life.
QUINN CALLINS: A payday loan of $500 ended up costing my sister a $15,000 car plus $5,000 that she paid on the loans.
OTT: Callins says his sister was so ashamed; she cut all ties with the family.
Richard Cordray says consumer want and need short-term loans, but his agency knows some operators are breaking the law.
RICHARD CORDRAY: Harassing families, friends, co-workers in ways that are prohibited by federal law.
OTT: One payday lending CEO who testified said his customers are intelligent and the fees he charges are in line with the risk he takes.
For NPR News, I'm Tanya Ott in Birmingham, Alabama.
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And I'm Renee Montagne. The four Republicans still running for president met last night for their last debate before the South Carolina primary. They sparred over health care, abortion and tax returns. The race in South Carolina is now a dead heat, with Mitt Romney's earlier lead wiped out by a late surge by Newt Gingrich.
And as NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports, the debate in Charleston showed why the race has become so close.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Newt Gingrich's swift rise has been fueled by one thing above all: his forceful performances in the debates. And last night, Gingrich was dominant right from the start. When he got the first question, it was about an explosive television interview with his ex-wife, Marianne.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
JOHN KING: In it she says that you came to her in 1999, at a time when you were having an affair. She says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?
NEWT GINGRICH: No, but I will.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
LIASSON: Gingrich was ready with the same response he's used before in debates to great effect - an attack on the liberal media.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
GINGRICH: I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
LIASSON: The audience went wild and gave Gingrich a standing ovation.
Mitt Romney was also ready with an aggressive defense of his work as a private investment banker. He's been criticized by his opponents for practicing vulture capitalism.
MITT ROMNEY: I'm someone who believes in free enterprise. I think Adam Smith was right. And I'm going to stand and defend capitalism across this country, throughout this campaign. I know we're going to hit it hard from President Obama, but we're going to stuff it down his throat and point out it is capitalism and freedom that makes America strong.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Rick Santorum came into the debate with a victory of sorts. Yesterday, Iowa's GOP officials gave Santorum a 34-vote lead over Mitt Romney in the caucuses - a race they said nobody won. But it may have come too late for Santorum, who's been stuck in third place here, fighting with Newt Gingrich for conservative votes. Last night, Santorum attacked Gingrich's character, accusing him of grandiosity.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
RICK SANTORUM: Newt's a friend. I love him. But at times you've just got, you know, sort of that, you know, worrisome moment that something's going to pop. And we can't afford that in a nominee. We need someone - I'm not the most flamboyant, and I don't get the biggest applause lines here. But I'm steady. I'm solid. I'm not going to go out and do things that you're going to worry about. I'm going to...
GINGRICH: You're right. I think grandiose thoughts. This is a grandiose country of big people doing big things. And we need leadership prepared to take on big projects.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Romney's campaign is worried about Gingrich's rise. It's airing new attack ads against him and it's held daily press conference calls to bash the former speaker for unreliable leadership. Romney's frustration with Gingrich showed last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
ROMNEY: Mr. Speaker, it was - you talk about all the things you did with Ronald Reagan and the Reagan revolution and the jobs created during the Reagan years and so forth. I mean, I looked at the Reagan diary. You're mentioned once in Ronald Reagan's diary.
LIASSON: Romney's had a difficult week. There have been news reports about his bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and the fact he pays 15 percent on his taxes. And his ambivalence about releasing his own tax returns. He got some support on that front from Ron Paul, who's also refused to release his returns.
RON PAUL: I don't have an intention of doing it, but for a different reason. I'd probably be embarrassed to put my financial statement up against their income.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PAUL: And I don't want to be embarrassed because I don't have a greater income.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Romney's known for a long time he'd be asked about his taxes, yet he still hasn't come up with a definitive answer. Asked if he would do what his father did when he ran for office and released many years of returns, Romney answered with a tight smile and got a round of boos.
KING: When you release yours, will you follow your father's example?
ROMNEY: Maybe.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROMNEY: You know, I don't know how many years I'll release. I'll take a look at what the - what our documents are...
(SOUNDBITE OF BOOS)
ROMNEY: ...and I'll release multiple years. I don't know how many years, and - but I'll be happy to do that. Let me tell you, I know there are some who are very anxious to see if they can't make it more difficult for a campaign to be successful. I know the Democrats want to go after the fact that I've been successful. I'm not going to apologize for being successful. And...
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: Romney says his taxes are, quote, "carefully managed," but his demeanor was defensive, suggesting he considers this issue to be a potential liability. Newt Gingrich thinks so too.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
GINGRICH: If there's anything in there that is going to help us lose the election, we should know it before the nomination. And if there's nothing in there...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GINGRICH: If there's nothing in there, why not release it?
LIASSON: Gingrich released his own returns last night. They show he paid a rate of about 30 percent - double the 15 percent Romney pays. An average of South Carolina polls show the race is a dead heat, with Romney holding on to a slim 1.2 percent lead. If Gingrich's surge continues, he could upset Romney in South Carolina - a state that's always chosen the candidate who's gone on to become the nominee. The Republican nominating battle appears to have finally become a two-man race. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Charleston.
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As Mara just mentioned, the debate last night opened with a question about a claim made by Gingrich's ex-wife. Well, Marianne Gingrich gave her exclusive interview to ABC's "Nightline," putting the candidate's personal life in the spotlight once again. NPR's Tamara Keith has more.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: The interview was incredibly hyped, in part because Marianne Gingrich has been silent so far on her ex-husband's presidential candidacy. This was her first television interview since their 1999 divorce.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "NIGHTLINE")
MARIANNE GINGRICH: He said I want a divorce. I said is there somebody else, and it was quiet. And I knew.
KEITH: That someone else was Callista Bisek, a congressional staffer two decades younger than Gingrich. They had an affair for six years. Callista Gingrich is now his third wife, and stands by his side at campaign events nodding adoringly. Their affair in the 1990s spans the period when Gingrich led the impeachment of President Clinton, giving speeches about morality along the way. Marianne Gingrich told ABC's Brian Ross she later learned the affair was happening in their Washington apartment.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "NIGHTLINE")
GINGRICH: He always called me at night. He always ended with I love you. Well, she was there listening.
KEITH: At one point, she said in the "Nightline" interview, Gingrich even suggested they could reach an understanding.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "NIGHTLINE")
GINGRICH: You want me all to yourself. Callista doesn't care what I do.
BRIAN ROSS: What was he saying to you, you think?
GINGRICH: Oh, he was asking to have an open marriage and I refused.
ROSS: He wanted an open marriage?
GINGRICH: Yeah, that I accept the fact that he has somebody else in his life.
KEITH: At last night's debate, though, Gingrich ferociously disputed this claim.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
NEWT GINGRICH: This story is false. Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story was false. We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false. They weren't interested because they would like to attack any Republican. They're attacking the governor. They're attacking me. I'm sure they'll presently get around to Senator Santorum and Congressman Paul. I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans.
KEITH: With the help of a widely supportive audience, Gingrich did his best to make this a story about the media, not him. And this may well have worked, says Todd Harris, a Republican strategist.
TODD HARRIS: He put the media on trial, and any time the media is on trial in a Republican primary, the media is going to lose.
KEITH: Although some of the details were not known, many voters have long been aware of Gingrich's messy marriage history, with affairs and abrupt divorces. Harris says these new revelations may turn off some South Carolina primary voters, but for every one of them, he says there will be another two who blame the media or simply don't trust a last-minute attack.
HARRIS: These are voters who are very suspicious of anything that the mainstream media reports to begin with. And it's very easy for them to come to the conclusion that they're just going to dismiss all of this because they don't like who delivered it.
KEITH: Harris says if this had come out sooner, it might have had an impact. But with only a day left to go before the primary, he thinks Gingrich will be able to maintain his surging numbers in the polls. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
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Tomorrow's primary in South Carolina happens to fall on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. That's the case that allows corporations to explicitly support or attack specific candidates. NPR's Peter Overby says the day will bring both attack ads and protests.
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: The Republican presidential race has covered just three states so far, and super PACs linked to candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have spent a total of $20 million. They're feeding voters a heavy diet of negativity.
(SOUNDBITE OF ADS)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Rick Santorum, Washington insider, big spender.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Mitt Romney, not a conservative, not...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Newt Gingrich's attacks are called foolish, out of bounds and disgusting.
OVERBY: Ads one and three there came from the super PAC supporting Romney, the middle one from the super PAC supporting Gingrich. Super PACs are a product of Citizens United and some other legal decisions. They collect unlimited contributions, and when they're aligned with specific candidates, they operate as shadow campaigns. A candidate can raise money for a super PAC but he cannot tell it what to do. It doesn't seem to matter because almost always the super PAC is run by people who've spent years working for the candidate. All of the candidates get tongue-tied trying to explain that weird relationship. Here's Romney during the debate Monday night trying to distance himself from what he called my super PAC.
MITT ROMNEY: I haven't spoken with any of the people that are involved with my super PAC in months.
OVERBY: This wouldn't be such a big deal if the super PACs were only a sideshow. But they seem to be outspending the candidates, who are trundling along raising money in chunks of $2,500 or less. As to where the super PACs get those big contributions, we don't know. They haven't disclosed their donors since last July. Lawyer Ken Gross has been in campaign finance law since the 1970s. His clients have included Republicans and Democrats, corporations and trade associations. He says he didn't start out two years ago thinking Citizens United was that big a deal.
KEN GROSS: I have become a convert.
OVERBY: And he says super PACs are what did it. He says they're blowing the lid off the financing of elections.
GROSS: These super PACs are metastasizing. I think it's very disturbing that the groups are bigger than the candidates and almost bigger than the party committees themselves.
OVERBY: The State Supreme Court in Montana recently rejected Citizens United, upholding a state law that bans corporate money in partisan politics. But as super PACs have grown over the past two years, there's been relatively little pushback against the decision from the organized groups that criticize unfettered political money. Those groups hope to change that today.
MARGE BAKER: There are hundreds of events going on at locations around the country.
OVERBY: Marge Baker is with People for the American Way, one of the organizing groups.
BAKER: It's just that we're in a movement moment that, you know, you can't look at Iowa, you can't look at South Carolina and not understand how much influence Citizens United has had on our elections and on our democracy.
OVERBY: Today, the main event will be demonstrations outside federal courthouses. More than 100 are planned.
DAVID COBB: Why the courts? Because frankly, folks, that the scene of the crime.
OVERBY: That's David Cobb in a video from the group Move to Amend. A smaller wave of demonstrations is planned tomorrow - Occupy the Corporation actions at various corporate headquarters and rallies at several state capitals. The coalitions include good government groups and liberals; also environmentalists, including in his own video the leader of the effort to blow up the Keystone XL pipeline.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
BILL MCKIBBEN: Hello. I'm Bill McKibben. I'm an environmentalist and I wanted to tell you why environmentalists are getting onboard in a big way with this fight against Citizens United.
OVERBY: A fight that, if successful, would amend the Constitution. The amendment would undo Citizens United along with an older Supreme Court decision that prevents regulation of political spending. Robert Rice is chairman of Common Cause, one of the groups organizing the campaign.
ROBERT RICE: We're under no illusion here - the fight is going to take a very long time to win but voters are fed up. They need a way to make their voices heard and we need to start right now.
OVERBY: The deregulatory side of the debate is keeping a lower profile today. At the Institute for Justice, attorney Steve Simpson says the demonstrations are fine. He describes them this way...
STEVE SIMPSON: People banding together in groups and exercising their right to free speech to protest a court decision that held that people should be able to band together in groups and exercise their right to free speech. That's a little bit ironic.
OVERBY: That's the heart of Citizens United right there - that corporate-financed partisan ads are quite the same as activists pushing for a Constitutional amendment. And given that an amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, plus approval from 38 states, Citizens United could be around for many more anniversaries. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
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You may have thought Iowa was done counting its votes a few weeks ago. Well, then came the news this week that based on further review, Rick Santorum actually won more certified votes than the declared winner, Mitt Romney. The problem is the tallies from some precincts remain lost. And yesterday, Iowa's GOP chairman called the overall results inconclusive.
We'll wait to see if this news changes the game for Romney or Santorum. But all this could hurt the reputation for the first voting state. Iowa Public Radio's Kate Wells has more.
KATE WELLS, BYLINE: Say what you will about whether Iowa deserves to have the first-in-the-nation caucuses. No one is arguing these things are an exact science.
MATT STRAWN: The Iowa caucuses are almost an exclusively voluntary-run operation. So these precinct chairs in the 1,774 precincts are all volunteers.
WELLS: That's Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn. He says this was an unbelievably close vote, but there was human error. And over the past two weeks, as the party certified the vote, stuff turned up. Precinct captains had made typing errors, some finalized counts got lost in the mail, as Strawn detailed yesterday.
STRAWN: So what we announced was the certified final results that show Rick Santorum leading, had led, won, the certified vote total by 34 votes.
WELLS: But before Santorum could get out that belated confetti, Iowa's GOP added: Eh, we're still not totally sure what really happened on caucus night because eight precincts' final tallies are just lost.
STRAWN: We just weren't able to announce a hundred percent of certified precincts.
WELLS: That vagueness is a big part of why both Santorum and Romney still disagree about who won Iowa.
DAVID KOCHEL: We've said from the beginning that, you know, the Iowa result was a virtual tie.
WELLS: David Kochel is an Iowa advisor for the Romney campaign.
KOCHEL: So this doesn't change anything in the trajectory of the race.
WELLS: Needless to say, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's campaign disagrees. Hogan Gidley is their national communications director.
HOGAN GIDLEY: The narrative that Mitt Romney was 2-0 heading into South Carolina is no longer the narrative. We've won one. He's won one.
WELLS: Now, all this is a bit ironic, actually, because the caucuses are more accurate than ever. There's more training and better precinct counts. But the actual vote-casting is still low-tech. Think of a vote for class president, then picture that happening all across the state all at the same time. So for Craig Robinson, former political director of the Iowa GOP, the problem isn't that there are revised results.
CRAIG ROBINSON: The problem is, is I think Chairman Strawn's spinning of the results. He's saying it's inconclusive and he can't declare a winner. I think that's a crime. The vote is either certified, which it is, or it isn't. Strawn is out there saying, well, it isn't. We don't really know who won because of these eight precincts. I think it's horrible for the caucuses and I think it's very damaging for the future of the Iowa caucuses.
WELLS: But maybe in the future a little less hype about the caucuses wouldn't be such a bad thing, says Dennis Goldford of Iowa's Drake University.
DENNIS GOLDFORD: Given the fact that the caucuses have become such a media event and bear more political weight than they really should, it's probably about time that this happened to the caucuses.
WELLS: So while Iowa may have an asterisk this year, come 2016, candidates will likely troop back out to the state's pizza joints and pancake breakfasts, armed with the knowledge that in Iowa anything can happen. Even after all the votes are in.
For NPR News, I'm Kate Wells in Iowa City.
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NPR's business news starts with IKEA's success building.
The largest furniture maker in the world is ending the week with a bang. Sweden's IKEA posted, today, a record profit for its 2010, 2011 fiscal year. Net profit was up more than 10 percent to $3.8 billion. The company saw its biggest gains in China, in Russia and in Poland.
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And our last word in business today, comes from John James Audubon.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD)
MONTAGNE: That is the call of an American Goldfinch, one of hundreds of birds illustrated for Audubon's great work, "The Birds of America." That four-volume set was sold today for $7.9 million at Christie's Auction House in New York City. Christie's wouldn't name the buyer, saying only that it was a private American collector who bid by phone. The giant pages are filled with life-size images of Carolina parakeets, Great Blue Herons and other bird species. Only 120 complete sets are believed to exist. The last one sold for more than $11 million.
And that's the business news from NPR News. This is MORNING EDITION.
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MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne.
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We're waking up on a morning before a key Republican primary in South Carolina, and after a day when the field of Republican candidates went up, down, and up again. Rick Perry went down and bowed out of the race. Newt Gingrich rode a surge in the polls. And Rick Santorum went up, when it was revealed that he got the most votes in the Iowa caucuses, not Mitt Romney.
Iowa's Republican Party calls the contest a tie now, though Santorum trumpeted the news and hopes to repeat his Iowa performance in South Carolina tomorrow. Still, he's been struggling to keep pace in the polls.
NPR's Don Gonyea looks at why.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: On caucus night in Iowa, Santorum thanked those who supported his socially conservative campaign, and he said he was ready for battles ahead.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
RICK SANTORUM: Game on.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: But the game since then has been tough for Santorum. His poor finish in New Hampshire was a disappointment, but he pledged to turn it around in South Carolina, where he'd find friendly faces in a place that's often called the buckle of the Bible Belt.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: We pick Rick. We pick Rick. We pick Rick.
GONYEA: The Santorum message in South Carolina is the same as in Iowa. This event was sponsored by the Family Research Council, which promotes Christian conservative values in politics. The group's leader is Tony Perkins.
(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY)
TONY PERKINS: So I am honored to stand here today with my friend, Rick Santorum. Senator.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: Then came the pitch from the candidate.
(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY)
SANTORUM: You know, a lot folks will say, well, you know, all the candidates can check the boxes on all of the issues. But it's one thing to get in front of a podium and say I'm for marriage, and another thing to say, I'm for life, I'm for marriage, and go out and fight those fights. We're looking for someone who's willing to lead.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GONYEA: But latest polls put Santorum well behind the leaders, with no sign of the kind of upward surge that propelled him to the top in Iowa in the final 10 days. One big reason: in Iowa, Santorum wasn't taken as seriously by his opponents. They ignored him. No more.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Rick Santorum, a corporate lobbyist and Washington politician, a record...
GONYEA: That's an ad being run by the Ron Paul campaign, this one by a super PAC supporting Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times, increasing spending and debt by $3 trillion. And he even voted to let convicted felons vote. So how...
GONYEA: The campaign in South Carolina is also shorter than in Iowa, and Santorum hasn't been able to spend month after month on the ground meeting voters here. And there's another obstacle for him in this Southern state: Newt Gingrich is from neighboring Georgia.
KENDRA STEWART: Oh, yes. Newt plays very well in South Carolina. He is a Southerner. He knows Southern rhetoric. He knows how to speak to South Carolina Republicans.
GONYEA: That's Kendra Stewart, a political scientist at the College of Charleston.
STEWART: He clearly understands the significance of Southern Pride, of the moral issues, and of South Carolina's appreciation for its role in history and the history of this country.
GONYEA: In that regard, Santorum, a Northerner from Pennsylvania, can't talk the talk the way Gingrich does.
Two nights ago, both Santorum and Gingrich appeared at an anti-abortion forum in Greenville. Conversations in the audience afterward underscore what Santorum is up against.
Nineteen-year-old Denise Shirley was there. She's a Gingrich supporter. I ask her about Santorum.
DENISE SHIRLEY: I think he's very pro-life, and I think he's awesome, too. He's my second choice. It's between those two right now.
GONYEA: So how do you choose between a Newt and a Santorum?
SHIRLEY: I'm just a Newt fan because of his leadership.
GONYEA: Her mom Kathy Shirley says so far she's undecided between Santorum and Gingrich. I ask if she's thought about the possibility that her two favorites could end up hurting one another.
KATHY SHIRLEY: It is a concern. It is a concern. I just still have to vote the way that I feel led to vote, the way that I feel that God has led me to vote.
GONYEA: No matter how Saturday's vote goes, Santorum is gearing up for Florida and states beyond. But South Carolina does show this: An underdog with little money can win in a small state like Iowa. But replicating that success gets harder and harder down the road as the states get bigger, as the contests come in quick succession, and as the stakes get ever higher.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Charleston.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
With those stakes high in South Carolina, the political ads are getting more pointed.
As NPR's Brian Naylor reports, the candidates themselves are taking aim less at each other and more at the White House.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: The day before the South Carolina primary, the remaining Republican candidates are making their final TV pitches to voters. Here's part of what the Mitt Romney campaign bills as its closing argument.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
MITT ROMNEY: President Obama wants to fundamentally transform America. I stand ready to lead us down a different path. This president has enacted job-killing regulations. I'll eliminate them. He lost our triple-A credit rating. I'll restore it. He passed ObamaCare. I'll repeal it.
NAYLOR: Newt Gingrich is also appealing to South Carolina Republicans by attacking President Obama, with a spot cut directly from his remarks at last Monday's debate.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Only Newt Gingrich can beat Obama.
NEWT GINGRICH: More people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history.
NAYLOR: These broadcast ads by the Gingrich and Romney campaigns are certainly tough on the president, but neither mentions the other Republicans in the race. But ads by the superPACs backing the candidates, which are not affiliated with the campaigns, are a different story.
For instance, here's a Web ad from the superPAC Winning Our Future, which supports Gingrich. It shows computer-animated characters staging a mock debate between Romney and the president.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (As President Obama) Now, I agreed with Governor Romney on many things, but this presidential candidate Romney, I don't even know the guy. Then again, he doesn't seem to know himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Oh, come on. Governor Romney?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Winning Our Future is responsible for the content of this message.
NAYLOR: David Procter is director of the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy at Kansas State University. Procter says it's no accident that the Republican candidates themselves are hesitant to go directly after their GOP rivals.
DAVID PROCTER: What they're trying to do is to have themselves associated with positive messages. And then because of the rules of the superPAC, they are able to claim at least some level of deniability that they know anything about this.
NAYLOR: Another way of providing some distance, if not deniability if you're a candidate, is to use a surrogate to do the attacking. Here's a Web ad the Romney campaign unveiled this week, in which former Republican Congresswoman Susan Molinari talks about serving with then-Speaker Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
SUSAN MOLINARI: Newt Gingrich had a leadership style that can only be described as leadership by chaos. The decisions that he would make today would be different decisions tomorrow, and a lot of the problems came from sort of the discipline that he lacked in order to get the job done.
NAYLOR: Whether it's surrogates or superPACs, University of Virginia Political Science Professor Paul Freedman says...
PAUL FREEDMAN: All else being equal, I would rather somebody else did my heavy lifting or did my dirty work when it comes to campaign advertising.
NAYLOR: Of course, Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert, with a mock superPAC supporting his mock candidacy, spoofs Gingrich and Romney in this Web video.
(SOUNDBITE OF WEB VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: Donate today, and we'll destroy both these guys and their superPACs with a merciless ad torrent so fierce, they'll wish they'd never been incorporated - an orgy of pure distortion leaving nothing behind but the clean campaign we all deserve.
NAYLOR: Now, some candidates do directly take on their opponents. Here's an ad from Rick Santorum.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #6: Obama's a liberal on social issues. Romney once bragged he's even more liberal than Ted Kennedy on social issues. Why would we ever vote for someone who's just like Obama?
NAYLOR: The University of Virginia's Freedman says just as most campaigns make a decision to distance themselves from direct attacks, it's also no accident that in the closing days of a race, the ads take on a sharper edge.
FREEDMAN: Campaign ads need to do two things. You need to solidify your base as you reach out to potential supporters of an opponent and give them reasons to vote against your opponent. And so as a race gets tighter, as it gets closer, as Election Day approaches, candidates at this point, you know, it's all in.
NAYLOR: And his advice for the beleaguered TV viewers in South Carolina who want to avoid these ads: Pick up a book.
Brian Naylor, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It took George Lucas more than two decades to bring to the screen the new movie "Red Tails." Back in the late '80s, the man behind "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones," fell under the spell of another story of adventure, this one with real-life heroes, the black fighter pilots of World War II.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "RED TAILS")
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (As character) Congratulations, Captain. You are the first Negro to shoot down a Gerry. Woo.
MONTAGNE: The black flyers known as the Tuskegee Airmen were as dashing, inventive and brave as Indiana Jones. But they also carried the burden of the unrelenting racism of their day. In an act of defiance and pride, the flyers painted the tails of their planes red, and thus became known as the Red Tail Angels.
John Ridley wrote the screenplay for "Red Tails," and he joined us here at NPR West to talk about it.
Good morning, John.
JOHN RIDLEY: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: John, when we first meet these black flyers on their base in Italy - a segregated base, I might add, an all-black base - one of the guys says of their planes that they were plucked from Uncle Sam's junkyard.
RIDLEY: Yeah, when the flyers, the Tuskegee Airmen were finally assigned overseas duties in Italy, they were given P-40s which were - you know that old saying: you go to war, not with the weapons that you wish you had, you go to the war with the weapons that you have? And that was the situation with the Tuskegee Airmen, they weren't given very good assignments, they weren't given very good material. They weren't expected to do anything at all. And, of course, their history proved that they exceeded all expectations.
MONTAGNE: Well, before we get onto what was really an experiment in whether black men in uniform, in bomber jackets, you know, could actually fly planes and fight in a war, let's talk about the characters. They were all black but they could've come out of a John Wayne movie, your characters: the pipe-smoking major, a hotheaded troublemaker. ...
RIDLEY: Yeah, you know, when I had an opportunity to sit down and talk with these Tuskegee Airmen - and this was obviously, you know, this was 60 years on from the war - you know, these guys were all, despite the fact that they were in their 70's and their 80's, they were real characters. I mean there's something about a young man in airplanes that what it takes to get up in the air, and particularly in those days. I mean, this was before electronics.
Back in the day you basically had a propeller and a stick and you were getting in the air. And whatever it took besides trying to prove that you could do it as a black man in America, whatever it took to get in an airplane, these guys still had it. And when you sit with them, they're the same characters. You know, if a guy was chewing tobacco back in the day, he was chewing tobacco now. If he was full of braggadocio back in the day, he had it now.
And that's what we wanted to do with these characters, is not just make them these quiet, stoic black men who were trying to fight for the right to fight. These guys were exciting.
MONTAGNE: And in the movie as in real life, they started out with, as they put it, you know, junk.
RIDLEY: Right.
MONTAGNE: And they ended up with state-of-the-art, these beautiful planes. In all of these planes, these guys could do anything.
RIDLEY: Well, the interesting thing about the Tuskegee Airmen, once they started fighting, they were given the finest planes at the time, which were the P-51 Mustangs. I mean these were the Corvettes of the air. A lot of officers, once the Red Tails got into the air, they were astounded at how much better - and I put that word in quotes - "better" they were then the white pilots.
The thing is, is that they weren't innately better, but they had trained so much longer because no one wanted to assign them. So when they have the opportunity, they were among the most trained pilots in the air, and they prove themselves immediately.
MONTAGNE: Super disciplined, and I think it's worth talking about a key combat mission that they were given, something that really happened, historically: to escort bomber planes to their targets. And they called them The Heavies. They were these big, fat bomber planes. Let's just play a clip where.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "RED TAILS")
TERRENCE HOWARD: (As Colonel A. J. Bullard) We count our victories by the bombers we get to their target, by the husbands we returned to their wives, by the fathers we get back to their children. From the last plane to the last bullet, to the last minute, to the last man, we fight. We fight.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (As Tuskegee Airmen) Yes, sir.
MONTAGNE: Now, this could be a pep talk from an officer to his men in just about any war film. But in this case, we're talking a black officer challenging his men to protect white pilots, many of whom were disdainful of their protectors.
RIDLEY: Yeah, the interesting thing about what happened was you have to understand the format of the war at that time. These B-17s, the large planes, The Heavies, as you called them, they would have about 10 or 11 men on board. They would have these bomber trains of maybe one hundred B17s; you're talking about a thousand men in the air. And at the time they were losing 20, 30, 40 of these bombers per mission. So you're talking about thousands of men on a mission.
You can imagine what that was doing to the psyche, at the time, on the home front, losing this many men. And part of the reason was because originally the pilots were trained - the white pilots were trained, go after the German jet fighters, chase them down - leaving the bombers exposed, other German planes would come in behind and shoot down these bombers.
The Tuskegee Airmen, the Red Tails, were specifically told do not chase the plane. Don't chase glory, going after the German fighters. Stay with the bombers. It was a big deal. It was huge. Different way of fighting - changed the course of the war. It really did.
MONTAGNE: What was it like though, for you writing a script for a movie that George Lucas had a Lucas-vision for? I mean, how do you balance portraying the tale of triumph over racism - pretty serious stuff - and, at the same time, telling an old-fashioned story of patriotism and adventure that a 12-year-old boy would love?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RIDLEY: Well, I have to say honestly, it was great on a lot of levels. One, because George was - this is a passion project for him, so he really took the reins off. A lot of times when you work with the studios, for all kinds of reasons, you have constraints. You have budgetary constraints or what's in their pipeline, what they need. George was: Go do this.
And for me, one of the really great things, Renee, you talk about what it's like writing a film that a 12-year-old boy would like. When I started writing this, my son was seven. And when I got the material for "Red Tails," some of it was on DVD and old war films and things like that. And my son, you know, he would see me playing these on the DVD and you get interested, what this was about and all this. And I said to him, if you want to watch these old war films, do it.
So he would run off and watch them and he came back to me and he said, oh daddy, I have this really great idea for how the movie should end. And so - I don't want to spoil anything - but my son actually came up with what should be the end of the film. So it wasn't just the concept, it really was an opportunity for me.
And personally one of the things I really enjoy about this film was to be able to, even in the slightest way, do something with my son. It was the greatest moment of my life, going to premiere with my son, being able to point to the screen and go, you know, that's something you helped your dad do. That was fantastic.
MONTAGNE: John Ridley wrote the screenplay for the new George Lucas movie about the black airmen of World War II, "Red Tails." He is, of course, also a commentator - longtime commentator - here on MORNING EDITION.
Thanks very much, John, for talking with us.
RIDLEY: As always, Renee, thanks for having me.
MONTAGNE: And this is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renée Montagne.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
(POST-BROADCAST CLARIFICATION: This story takes place in London, Ontario.] Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Londoners hoping to avoid jury duty ought not to walk too close to the courthouse. A frustrated judge there recently exercised a little-known power: sending police into the street to rustle up jurors.
The London Free Press reports lawyers in the case had questioned 130 potential jurors and were still short of 12. So 20 unsuspecting pedestrians were hauled into court. One was selected, and the case was resolved that day. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. It's not your average police investigation. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement faced accusations that a breathalyzer machine was giving some inaccurate readings. And so the department commissioned a study. Fifteen employees consumed more than $300 worth of whiskey, mixers and Doritos. Then they used the breathalyzer. Judges are considering whether this study was legitimate. There's no word on whether the employees can be reimbursed for their hangover medication. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The late 19th century saw scores of celebrated, valorous attempts for men to reach the North Pole. Groups of explorers from the U.S., Europe and Scandinavia invented clever new equipment, they raised bales of money, stirred national pride and enthralled the world by attempting to march, sail or sled to the most cold, remote and unseen place on Earth.
A Swedish man named S.A. Andree decided to try to fly above all that. In 1897, Andree and his crew of two, Nils Strindberg and Knut Fraenkel, set out for the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon.
The story of their journey, S.A. Andree and that age of Arctic exploration is told in Alec Wilkinson's new book, "The Ice Balloon."
Mr. Wilkinson, a longtime writer for The New Yorker, joins us from New York. Thanks for being with us.
ALEC WILKINSON: Thank you so much for having me.
SIMON: You come up with an astonishing statistic in the book. At least a thousand people tried to reach the North Pole before 1930. How many of them died?
WILKINSON: Seven hundred and fifty-one.
SIMON: So, undertaking a mission was statistically, at any rate, a foolish thing to do.
WILKINSON: It was certainly to have to summon all the courage one possessed, and a great deal of both visionary and pioneer thinking.
SIMON: S.A. Andree worked in the Swedish patent office. He was desk-bound.
WILKINSON: Mm-hmm.
SIMON: So what made him an explorer?
WILKINSON: He had this obsessive idea to reach this place by this unconventional means, which would be extraordinarily efficient. I mean his study of the weather and the winds and so forth persuaded him that he'd be there in fewer than 60 hours. I think he must have been semi-facetious, but he sort of joked that he would, you know, having flown over the Pole, he would descend in San Francisco.
And he had a tuxedo with him so that he could, at the end, meet the dignitaries that he imagined would be waiting for him - although he really believed that he was going to end up somewhere in the Yukon or the Siberian wilderness and would have to walk back to civilization.
SIMON: What happened when the balloon was launched?
WILKINSON: The reason that he thought - the reason Andree thought that he could make it to the Pole was that he had believed he had designed a balloon that could be steered. Hot air balloons and hydrogen balloons, of course, can only go where the wind blows them. But Andree had constructed a special system of heavy ropes that lay on the ground and were dragged, that would sort of impede the balloon and cause it to travel slower than the air. And as soon as you're traveling slower than the air - as in a sailboat, for example - you can steer yourself because you can put up a sail.
So as he took off, the ropes tangled, became untangled, and he lost them. And so he sailed off over the horizon in a balloon he wasn't able to steer.
SIMON: Can you tell from this distance of time, should he have turned back as soon as those lines were cut? Should he have said no, this isn't the way to do it?
WILKINSON: One would think so. But it's important to remember, the context was this, which is that he had the support of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. He had the support of the king of Sweden. He had tried to leave in 1896 but hadn't got favorable winds. He gets back to Spitsbergen in 1897, knowing pretty much that this will more or less be his last chance. Faced with the thought, if I don't go now, I may never go again, and I will never know the mystery. I think it overtook him. His rationality, his engineering mind succumbed to a certain degree, like a temptation one finally submits to, to the idea of: I must.
SIMON: Mr. Wilkinson, how much do we know about what happened after the balloon left the sight of reporters from around the world who'd gathered there on this island off of Spitsbergen?
WILKINSON: Well, the strange circumstance is that Andree sailed over the horizon and was lost. He became, he and his companions became the first men ever to be lost in the air. Astonishingly, 33 years later, he was discovered. His last camp was discovered by sealers. With Andree were found diaries that they had kept of what had become a death march across the ice and furthermore, and even more astonishingly, were found films that had been unexposed, taken along the way on the expedition. So 33 years later, suddenly, as if they had almost come back from the afterlife, these men were vivid again in the world's imaginations.
SIMON: They didn't reach the Pole?
WILKINSON: They did not reach the Pole, no.
SIMON: What happened? Do we know?
WILKINSON: Well, they flew for three days. They began, though; they ran into trouble with fog that is always a perilous circumstance for a balloon because any shadow causes the gas to cool. And once the gas cools, the balloon descends. And they were eventually, after three days of flight and several hundred miles, brought to the ice. And they were suddenly no longer explorers - they were adventurers. And no explorer wants to be an adventurer.
SIMON: I mean this turned what had been conceived of as a mission to fly above all that and to soar over the Pole into a conventional slog...
WILKINSON: Yes.
SIMON: ...with three people who were ill-equipped.
WILKINSON: Pretty much. You had three guys with desk jobs from Stockholm who hadn't done a whole lot of preparation. They really did not expect to come down. It was a thuggish and punishing journey that was ahead of them, made much more horrible by the fact that as they advanced, the ice moved in the other direction beneath them - because, of course, the ice is drifting. The polar ice pack moves.
SIMON: In the end, where do you weigh the balance between bravery and foolishness of Andree's mission?
WILKINSON: It's a fascinating question, isn't it? If the Wright Brothers had crashed and died, would they be madmen? But that's sort of the problem with being a pioneer, is that when you're the very first person to step off into space and off the edge of the earth there are perils awaiting you that you can't quite imagine.
And the thing about pursuits such as Andree's is that they are the results of obsession. And once any of us steps into the realm of obsession we have constantly to wonder: are we being right? It's usually determined by the failure or success of the thing that happened to these people, but some people fail very honorably and certainly, Andree's failure was honorable.
SIMON: Mr. Wilkinson, thanks so much.
WILKINSON: Well, thank you.
SIMON: Alec Wilkinson, his new book, "The Ice Balloon." You can read an excerpt at NPR.org.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Christian Bale plays a drifter in his new film. John Miller is no Batman. He's an Oklahoma mortician by trade and a soldier of fortune in temperament who comes to do a bit of business in Nanjing formerly known as Nanking, China in 1937, just as the Japanese army invades and brutalizes the city.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE FLOWERS OF WAR")
CHRISTIAN BALE: (as John Miller) American from the refuge.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (Foreign language spoken)
BALE: (as John Miller) American.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (Foreign language spoken)
BALE: (as John Miller) Not soldier.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)
SIMON: The Nanjing Massacre is one of the defining historical events of modern China. Women were particular victims of war crimes there. And in Christian Bale's new film, "The Flowers of War," an unlikely group of women are also heroes. And his character discovers a sense of purpose. The film is China's Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language film. It was made for a reported $100 million by the director Zhang Yimou.
Christian Bale, who is perhaps best-known for playing Batman and, of course, won an Academy Award last year for "The Fighter," joins us from Beverly Hills, California.
Thanks so much for being with us.
BALE: Thank you.
SIMON: In a sense, is this role a return to China for you?
BALE: I didn't feel like that. You know, I mean, you're talking about when I was 13 I made "Empire of the Sun" in Shanghai.
SIMON: Right. With Steven Spielberg.
BALE: Back in 1987, but that feels like such another lifetime to me. And I was very interested to work with Zhang Yimou, who's a phenomenally accomplished director. And it's not very often that you get an opportunity to work on a movie that's, you know, 60 percent in Mandarin, made within China, and get to experience that entirely different culture of filmmaking.
SIMON: I have to ask, Mr. Bale, how do you react to the charge some reviewers and people in the film industry have made that this whole huge expensive film was kind of a part of a Chinese government effort to soften its image?
BALE: I think that, for me, I mean, obviously, I had no interest in making a movie with that in mind whatsoever. You know, I always do say that, you know, once you're within a movie it's a little hard. Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, but I really assessed this one, and I can't bring myself to come to agree with it in any way whatsoever. And knowing Yimou, I do not think that he would ever have any interest in entertaining that at all.
SIMON: What was it like to work on such a huge set with so many people who were probably making their first film?
BALE: I liked that. I always like working with people making their first film. You know, there's that enthusiasm, there's that naivete about it. Yeah, you know that nobody's got a bag of tricks that they're falling back on. And I found that with Yimou, he never told anybody what we were going to be shooting until very late the night before. And it just keeps that extra spontaneity, and I like that kind of filmmaking. It's far more human.
SIMON: How does your character, John Miller, this Dust Bowl drifter, wind up at the center of this story?
BALE: I kind of viewed him as an escapee from the Dust Bowl, as kind of a jack of all trades, you know, was mechanically inclined as well. And he does have a past history, which we come to learn about later in the movie. He finds himself, you know, kind of exhausting all possibilities within America and then ends up working on cargo ships. And he's kind of a character who is accustomed to raucous and chaotic people around him. That's what he likes. That's where he finds his comfort. He's definitely pursuing excess with a vengeance as a means, we find out later, to deal with pain. And then finds himself stuck within the confines of a Catholic church with some other unlikely guests in the midst of the massacre in Nanjing.
SIMON: Yeah. We'll explain: half the people, aside from John Miller, half the people being sheltered there are convent schoolgirls and half are - what term of art should I use - streetwalkers.
BALE: Streetwalkers, prostitutes, courtesans. They are an unlikely mix and it definitely creates a storm within this, you know, church whilst this far more horrific storm is raging outside.
SIMON: Let's play a clip, if we could. John Miller and his, I think we could safely say, favorite among the women, Mo, played by Ni Ni, unveils her plans to make John Miller their ticket out of Nanjing.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE FLOWERS OF WAR")
NI NI: (as Yu Mo) I want you to take us out of Nanking.
BALE: (as John Miller) Huh? Yeah, right. Let me do this first.
NI: I'm serious. Why else do you think we're flirting with you?
BALE: Out of Nanking, how?
NI: I don't know how, but I know your face is the way out of here. The Japanese won't touch Westerners.
BALE: And what you're hearing there, he's looking for a different kind of business transaction all together with Ni Ni's character, and then she's using that as leverage for him as a Westerner that he could help her. There was this international zone set up by Westerners, by John Rabe primarily and incredibly people - Minnie Vautrin - and there was a missionary called John McGee, as well. And these people, it's estimated, were responsible for saving up to 200, 250,000 lives. And so the locals very much saw that a Western face was the key to escape from the city.
SIMON: We're talking about this drifter John Miller, who is unexpectedly cast into this role of a priest. What do you think got to your character that made him rise to the occasion?
BALE: So, he appears to be an absolute, you know, reckless, drunken, good-time guy who cares nothing about anybody but just making a quick buck for himself and moving on. And that's indeed how he would be thinking of this war to start with, that it would just be a tale he could tell over some beers with some buddies back in the States, or wherever the hell he's going to wind up around the world. And it means nothing to him. But eventually it comes to be his own war.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE FLOWERS OF WAR")
BALE: (as John Miller) I'm looking for two women. They got shiny dresses. I need to find them. They're in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (as character) Why are you dressed like this? What is this?
BALE: I got drunk. I woke up. I was just dressed as a priest. I...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: Who is this?
BALE: This is George. This is George. Have you seen them?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: Seen who?
BALE: The women.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: There's women piled up all over the street.
BALE: Have you seen them? You haven't seen them.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: No.
BALE: You haven't seen them?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: I haven't seen any women, no. You think it's safe to be looking at, looking for women right now?
BALE: Can you help me with tools?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: Tools for what?
BALE: I got to fix a truck.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: Fix a truck for what?
BALE: I got to help George. I got to help some girls. I got to help some women, prostitutes and I got to help them.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: What? Are you kidding me? You're talking about prostitutes and trucks and tools. I'm talking about not dying in China. I'm leaving right now.
BALE: You're leaving Nanking right now?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: Do you want to go? There's a boat. It's waiting for us. I'm leaving right now. If you want to go, then let's go. It's your last chance.
BALE: I got to find them. I can't leave.
There was one young boy called George in the movie - such a wonderful actor - and then the convent girls. Really, the main character of the piece is a young character called Shu, and the whole movie is told through her eyes. And I write and I met these girls and they all had tears coming down their cheeks. And I thought, oh, OK, OK, they're in the middle of a scene. I won't disturb them too much. And I saw they did a scene, and then a couple of days later I saw them again and they were crying again. And then every time I saw them they were crying, and I was thinking, this is appalling. Like, I know how much it takes out of somebody, how exhausting it is when you're in that state, and I was trying to work out how on earth are they maintaining this all the time? And I was starting to think these girls are going to get sick. And then what was fantastic - it was a real ray of light - was one of them at one point, she sees me looking at them and just looking concerned, but I'm not quite sure what the hell to do. And she looks up and she winks and smiles. And they're just fantastic actresses. And they can cry their eyes out and keep you fooled. And all the time they're telling jokes with each other and then as soon as Yimou would walk by, (makes sound) they'd start crying again. And then as soon as he would go on, they'd make little jokes. But they were better actors that I will ever be able to be.
SIMON: What is fun about acting?
BALE: I think that there's something that seems to be in every single child where there is an enjoyment of role-playing. And I love the psychology of recognizing how different you can make yourself. And I just find the whole notion that as adults we get to be storytellers, just hilarious but something that I would never want to miss out on.
SIMON: Christian Bale. His new film, "The Flowers of War." Speaking from Beverly Hills. Mr. Bale, thanks so much.
BALE: Thank you very much.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Mexico's federal attorney general announced a chilly number this month. In the past five years, drug-related violence in that country has claimed the lives of almost 48,000 people.
Brutality has touched the lives of people across society, and Betto Arcos tells us how artists on both sides of the border are responding.
BETTO ARCOS, BYLINE: Javier Sicilia is a novelist and a poet. In 2009, he was awarded Mexico's prestigious Aguascalientes National Poetry Prize. This September, he read a poem dedicated to his 23-year-old son Juan Francisco at a rally.
(SOUNDBITE OF VOICES)
JAVIER SICILIA: (Through Translator) (Reading) There is nothing else to say. The world is not worthy of the word. They drowned it, deep inside of us, as they asphyxiated you, as they ripped your lungs apart. And the pain does not leave me. All we have is a world for the silence of the just, only for your silence and my silence, Juanelo.
ARCOS: This was the last poem Sicilia wrote. Juan Francisco was murdered in the central state of Morelos in March, along with six other people by members of a drug cartel. Javier Sicilia renounced poetry and became the leader of a national protest against the drug war. Yet, he says poetry has been an integral part of the Peace with Justice and Dignity movement.
SICILIA: (Through Translator) Poetry has been present, the poets have been part of it. The problem is that the mass media does not like to cover it and do not understand that this movement was born out of poetry. And the reason why it's important is because it's filled with a poetic content that has transformed the language. And behind all of this is a profound ethics, as with all poetry.
ARCOS: Sicilia says the poet has a moral responsibility to tell these stories.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA REINA DEL INFRAMUNDO")
LILA DOWNS: (Foreign language spoken)
ARCOS: Singer Lila Downs addresses the violence in a song that deals directly with the consequences. The song is called "La Reina del Inframundo" - Queen of the Underworld.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA REINA DEL INFRAMUNDO")
DOWNS: (Singing) (Foreign language spoken)
ARCOS: The lyrics read: Six feet underground, it's for a certain kind of weed, for which the bosses up north are making us kill each other off, and now I'm the queen of the underworld and my crown is a tombstone.
DOWNS: This is a song that is more explicitly about what we're going through. It's something that I am very afraid of. You're always seeing these things on the news, the papers, a lot of women involved in the business and a lot of women die.
ARCOS: The whole album was inspired by her feelings about what's happening in Mexico today.
DOWNS: We're going through a very violent period. And you wish that you could do something about it.
RUBEN MARTINEZ: My instinct is to run in the other direction, of course, from something so horrific.
ARCOS: Writer and performer Ruben Martinez didn't. He's a professor of literature and writing at Loyola Marymount University and producer of a performance in Los Angeles about the drug war.
MARTINEZ: As a writer, the only tools I have are language and representation to render a portrait of what is happening today. And Javier Sicilia was the first voice, artistically I think, to approach this, and in such a horrible way to have the artistic voice brought to light. His son's death brought the artist's voice to bear upon this. And it was his final poem, he says, but that poem moved a whole nation. And now it's moved us on this side of the border too, because ultimately the war is on both sides.
ARCOS: Martinez says, we may not see mutilated bodies hanging from bridges in this country, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, there are more than 22,000 people dying every year in the U.S. as a result of drug overdoses.
MARTINEZ: That number of deaths should be added to the number of deaths every year in Mexico. It's all part of the same conflict.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TIERRA MISTERIOSA")
ASTRID HADAD: (Singing in foreign language)
ARCOS: Singer and performance artist Astrid Hadad has addressed the current situation in Mexico from a different perspective. Hadad sees the roots of the current violence in a number of problems facing Mexico. She names a few of them in the song "Tierra Misteriosa" - Mysterious Land.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TIERRA MISTERIOSA")
HADAD: (Singing in foreign language)
ARCOS: Poor motherland. Over you fly vultures, army men, transnational corporations, presidents, hit men, businessmen. Yesterday they were called viceroys, today they're dignitaries. Five hundred years have passed, only the names have changed. Now the pillagers are called politicians.
HADAD: (Through Translator) And if that's not saying something against what's happening today, I don't know what is. All of us who are fighting say that only a good education and the redistribution of wealth, called justice, will solve this. Otherwise the current violence will never end.
ARCOS: But singer Lila Downs offers some hope.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PALOMO DEL COMALITO")
DOWNS: (Singing in foreign language)
ARCOS: In this song, she cites a popular Mexican expression. No hay mal que dure cien anos - No evil can last a hundred years. Her hope is that it won't take that long.
For NPR News, I'm Betto Arcos in Los Angeles.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PALOMO DEL COMALITO")
DOWNS: (Singing in foreign language)
SIMON: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Sounds like a news lead from the 1970s: Henry Kissinger flies to Moscow for talks with the Kremlin leader. But it happened just yesterday. The former secretary of state met with Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister. Of course, we don't know what they discussed. We do know their meeting took place amid new tensions in the U.S.-Russia relationship. The man charged with managing that relationship is the new U.S. ambassador to Moscow. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on who he is and the challenges he faces.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Just about every Washington-based expert on Russia was on hand at the State Department and cheering when Secretary Clinton swore in Michael McFaul as U.S. ambassador earlier this month.
SECRETARY HILLARY CLINTON: Congratulations, Ambassador.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND LAUGHTER)
KELEMEN: Clinton says he's just the right person for the job - a former Stanford professor, a think tank analyst and an architect of the Obama administration's so-called reset of relations with Russia. She also says he's someone who has written books and articles about democracy, relevant now as Russians protest electoral fraud and corruption in Vladimir Putin's Russia.
CLINTON: And the coming months and years will be crucial for Russian democracy. Russians from all walks of life and every corner of this great country are making their voices heard, both face to face and in cyberspace, expressing their hopes for the future. Few Americans know Russia or know democracy better than Mike McFaul.
AMBASSADOR MICHAEL MCFAUL: (Russian spoken) Michael McFaul. The next U.S. ambassador to Russia.
KELEMEN: The ambassador quickly reached out to Russia's Facebook generation with this video introducing himself, but was skewered just as quickly in the official Russian media.
MIKHAEL LEONTIEV: (Russian spoken)
KELEMEN: This channel one commentator, Mikhael Leontiev, says McFaul is not a specialist on Russia but in promoting democracy. For some that's a plus. Here's one of McFaul's former colleagues at the Moscow Carnegie Center, Lilia Shevtsova, speaking in a video conference about the turbulent political times in Russia.
LILIA SHEVTSOVA: He has a lot of friends in Russia among different political forces. He knows also the algebra, the textbook of democratic transition, which, by the way, creates a lot of consternation among some political forces in Russia. You know, there's a suspicion on the part of the political establishment that Mike has come to Russia in order to teach Russians how do to the orange revolutions.
KELEMEN: Shevtsova was referring to the street protests after a disputed election in Ukraine in 2004. McFaul has already met with opposition figures in Moscow, feeding into this stereotype. One of his predecessors, former U.S. ambassador James Collins, says the Russian state-run media reaction was predictable and shouldn't deter the U.S. envoy at all.
JAMES COLLINS: This was a shot across the bow - don't interfere in our electoral politics. Be aware that we have a limited tolerance for this. But the fact of the matter is he has a responsibility to remain in touch with all dimensions of the political spectrum.
KELEMEN: Collins has low expectations for this coming year, with both countries focused on their own internal politics. The reset of relations had some accomplishments, he said, on arms control and cooperation on Afghanistan and Iran. But with the uprisings in the Arab world came new disputes, including a sharp one over Syria. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, recently raised concerns about reports of continued Russian arms shipments to Syria.
AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE: Unfortunately, there is not an arms embargo against Syria, which we certainly think is overdue, in part because, as you well know, some members of the council, including Russia, have indicated opposition to any form of sanction, even those that mirror that the Arab League has already implemented.
KELEMEN: Russia's foreign minister has been complaining that U.S. support for uprisings in the Arab world could lead to a, quote, "very big war." Analyst Lilia Shevtsova says perhaps it's time for U.S. ambassador Michael McFaul to work on that reset of relations again.
SHEVTSOVA: And it will be a great challenge for Mike as one of the architects of the reset to prepare the platform to reset the reset.
KELEMEN: McFaul seems up to the challenge, writing on his Twitter feed: this is going to be fun. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. And people are voting in South Carolina today in the critical Republican presidential primary. What a week - Rick Perry bowed out, Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucus that was held almost three weeks ago and there's been a late surge in the polls by Newt Gingrich. The winner of today's primary could solidify the race or raise new questions about who might win the nomination. South Carolina voters may have a pivotal role in narrowing the field of Republican candidates today. But when it's over, the solidly Republican state won't get much attention - it's simply not worth the time or money of Democratic presidential hopefuls. North Carolina, on the other hand, could fall either way and the Obama campaign is already digging in, which brings us to the Charlotte region, which straddles both states and now leads a kind of double life in politics. From member station WFAE, Julie Rose explains.
JULIE ROSE, BYLINE: At the moment, Mimi Barrios is like a kid stuck outside a candy store, her nose pressed longingly against the glass.
MIMI BARRIOS: I live here on the state line. I was actually thinking of crossing over and maybe seeing one of the speeches that one of the candidates might do.
ROSE: Not that it would get her any closer to South Carolina's tantalizing Republican primary. She'd like Rick Santorum to win, but her home is a few yards too far north to help him out. As a North Carolina voter, Barrios' crack at the Republican field won't come until May. By then, the party's pick will pretty much be made - just like it was in 2008.
BARRIOS: Because I was really strong on Huckabee. And by the time it was for us to vote, Huckabee had dropped out.
ROSE: Now, plenty of voters in states with late primary elections feel the same irrelevance, but very few live close enough to toss a rock into an early voting state. If Barrios did, she'd hit Gwen Doster's house.
GWEN DOSTER: I mean that line - our driveway is a state line. On the left side going out is North Carolina.
ROSE: The gravel driveway parallels a private pond and pasture for Doster's horses. She may live in South Carolina, but she's a North Carolinian at heart. That's where she was raised. That's where she shops and worked until retiring last year.
DOSTER: My husband jokes with me that it's, whenever my car goes out of the driveway it always goes north. But we're just so close.
ROSE: When people ask, Doster says she lives in the Charlotte area. Rarely does she think about the invisible line that officially puts her in South Carolina, but she's glad of it this year. She likes Newt Gingrich, but thinks Mitt Romney has a better chance at beating President Obama - and that's her priority in the Republican primary. She'll sure be glad when the robocalls stop, though. So will her South Carolina neighbor Anne Lisk.
ANNE LISK: Last night we had nine - nine calls. And I'm like, you know, and it's not even a real person. I have an important message for you from Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. And I'm thinking, yeah, you have a real important message - you just interrupted my cross-stitch. Would you leave me alone for a few minutes?
ROSE: Lisk says she's a Republican with liberal leanings. Ron Paul is her choice, but if he doesn't win the Republican nomination, Lisk will vote for Barack Obama in November. And that puts her in a frustrating spot too, because no matter how she votes, South Carolina is virtually guaranteed to go Republican for president. But if Lisk lived just a block further north, she'd be smack in the middle of the action. President Obama barely won North Carolina in 2008 and has staked it out for 2012. The Democrats even picked Charlotte for their national convention.
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: By choosing Charlotte, we sent a strong message that President Obama and Democrats will not cede any ground in 2012.
ROSE: That's Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Charlotte this week. Anne Lisk would love to help the Obama campaign hang on to North Carolina, but her hands are tied by that invisible state line. What can you do?
LISK: Other than run my mouth, not a whole lot. Not a whole lot.
ROSE: She'll have plenty of opportunities for that, at least. The campaign speeches and TV ads will have barely ended in South Carolina before they kick into high gear just across the border. For NPR News, I'm Julie Rose in South - I mean North - Carolina.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Wen Jiabao, China's premier, was in the Persian Gulf this week, talking about oil. China has become increasingly concerned about all the threats of conflict with Iran in the Persian Gulf. The Gulf supplies China with a great deal of its oil and China is Iran's biggest customer. But Iran was not on Wen Jiabao's itinerary.
NPR's Mike Shuster has more.
MIKE SHUSTER, BYLINE: Saudi Arabia was the first stop - the first time a senior Chinese leader has visited the Kingdom in 20 years. An important signal, says Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an Iran expert at the Brookings Institution.
DJAVAD SALEHI-ISFAHANI: I think the Chinese are trying to figure out as they plan their future how much to depend on Iran and how much to depend on Saudi Arabia.
SHUSTER: China is Iran's biggest customer when it comes to buying oil. But Iran is far from China's biggest supplier of oil, notes Hossein Askari, an expert on Iran's economy at George Washington University.
HOSSEIN ASKARI: Saudi Arabia is much more important to China than is Iran.
SHUSTER: Just how much more important? You might be surprised, says Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
JON ALTERMAN: China gets almost twice as much oil from Saudi Arabia as it does from Iran.
SHUSTER: And Beijing does not want the flow of that oil to stop. But there is increasing concern that could happen. With all the talk of economic sanctions, possible military strikes against Iran, threats to close the Strait of Hormuz - the chokepoint and entryway to the Gulf - anxiety is growing about Persian Gulf oil and China is not the only worried party, says Alterman.
ALTERMAN: An increasing number of countries are concerned about relying on Iran's oil because of a sense that in the event of a conflict maybe you need to get oil from another supplier.
SHUSTER: If Premier Wen declined to visit Iran, he certainly wasn't ignoring it. In a press conference in Qatar, he sharpened China's opposition to Iran's possible acquisition of nuclear weapons but he said China's purchases of Iran's oil were normal trade. Perhaps a hint that China does not intend to curtail its oil trade with Iran, as the United States wishes.
A new law signed by President Obama in December could result in U.S. penalties against nations that buy Iran's oil or cooperate with Iran's central bank in financing oil purchases.
Many see Iran as a hedge in the oil market for China because notes Hossein Askari, China's other suppliers in the Gulf are allies of the United States. And China has its eye on the U.S. as well.
ASKARI: The last thing that China wants is the United States controlling or having influence over all of the countries that produce oil in that part of the world. And so it is in that sense that I believe Iran is important for China.
SHUSTER: But Jon Alterman argues that Iran has become a liability for the Chinese as they map out their future energy strategy.
ALTERMAN: Iran isn't for China a hedge against the U.S. and its allies cutting off oil to China. Rather, Iran is this added element of unpredictability about the Chinese getting oil from anybody in the Gulf. Because who knows what the Iranians will do to try to fight their own battle with the West and with others over the nuclear program.
SHUSTER: The increased tension with Iran over its nuclear program has produced threats and counter-threats, but may also have sobered some in Tehran. Just a few days ago, Iran's government said it would like to resume talks over its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi suggested talks were on the way.
ALI AKBAR SALEHI: Most probably, I'm not sure yet, but most probably the venue will be Istanbul, and the date is not yet settled, but it will be soon.
SHUSTER: Iranian leaders have offered but then withdrawn their offers of talks before. For the Chinese, the more reliable suppliers of oil right now are all on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf.
Mike Shuster, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
U.S. Justice Department closed the file-sharing website Megaupload this week. It was the result of a vast criminal investigation that spanned eight countries and caused an almost immediately hostile response from the digital hacker collective Anonymous. Now many lawyers are talking not only about the scope of the case, but the tactics the U.S. government employed.
NPR's justice correspondent Carrie Johnson reports.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Prosecutors and FBI agents who built the case against Megaupload call it an international crime ring; a racketeering enterprise, like the mob or a drug gang, that made 175 million dollars from pirated movies and music.
Starting last August, the U.S. worked behind the scenes with law enforcement counterparts in New Zealand, who finally arrested the company's flamboyant founder, Kim Dotcom, at his mansion near Auckland Friday.
That was a little much for electronic privacy advocate Corrine McSherry.
CORRINE MCSHERRY: What we're talking about here is, you know, copyright infringement and that may be a serious problem. But it's a little bit chilling, if it's the kind of problem that can get you dragged from your house in the middle of the night.
JOHNSON: It's not just rousting people out of bed or executing search warrants in eight different countries. From the indictment, its clear the Justice Department pulled out all the stops, getting a judge's permission to try to put the Hong Kong-based company out of business, and getting search warrants for private e-mails that Megaupload officials were sending to each other - e-mails that could prove critical to the case.
Jonathan Zittrain teaches law and computer science at Harvard University.
JONATHAN ZITTRAIN: The employees of this company themselves, says the indictment, are talking about, you know, gee, aren't we pirating? Isn't this going well? And, hey, I'm looking for a copy of a movie myself; does anyone know where it is?
JOHNSON: But Megaupload says it's a legitimate business, with lots of users who didn't have anything to do with stealing the latest "Twilight" movie or episodes of the HBO mob drama "The Sopranos."
Megaupload has hired mega lawyer Bob Bennett, who once represented President Bill Clinton, to make its case in American courts. Bennett told NPR he intends to vigorously dispute the charges, which carry huge financial penalties and a 20-year prison term.
Orin Kerr is an expert in computer law at George Washington University. He says the legal fight is only just beginning.
ORIN KERR: There are very complicated jurisdictional questions. Did the individuals know they were violating United States law? Did that matter? Does it matter that you know you're violating the law in the U.S. even if you're outside the U.S.?
JOHNSON: American officials say they're in the clear because the company used computer servers in Virginia and Washington to store some of its material.
Michael Vatis ran the computer crime program for the FBI.
MICHAEL VATIS: I think the main limitation is resources. These are complicated cases to investigate in large part because they involve international criminals and therefore require international cooperation, with lots of law enforcement agencies around the world.
JOHNSON: He says the already close ties mean the Justice Department isn't worried about getting Kim Dotcom, the alleged kingpin of the conspiracy, onto American soil for trial.
And you know what else involves cooperation? A counter-attack, which is just what happened to the Justice Department website, taken out for hours by supporters of Megaupload after the criminal charges.
A spokeswoman says Justice is looking into the so-called malicious activity. Kerr, of George Washington University, is on the lookout too.
KERR: One of the interesting things to watch is whether the Justice Department is able to identify who launched these attacks, and may of course try to investigate those individuals and see if they can be then prosecuted.
JOHNSON: It's a cat-and-mouse game, Kerr says, that goes both ways, and he expects to see more revenge attacks against U.S. prosecutors, as more computer crime cases emerge.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: And you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now to Florida, where the state's new governor, Republican Rick Scott, is evaluating his first year. When Mr. Scott took office, Florida faced a three-and-a-half-billion dollar budget shortfall. A year later, he's working with the legislature to close a still daunting $2 billion budget gap. NPR's Greg Allen reports from Miami that Governor Scott has another challenge, overcoming his image as one of the nation's most unpopular governors.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: The job of governor in Florida comes with a certain amount of pomp and ceremony.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Mr. President, the governor of Florida.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ALLEN: It was Rick Scott's second address to a joint session of Florida's House and Senate - the annual State of the State address. Scott is a smart, but low-key former hospital CEO, a person comfortable with big decisions, but not necessarily big crowds.
GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT: It's great to be here. The - I just want to tell you before I start, I've really enjoyed all of you, just meeting everybody.
ALLEN: After a year in office, Floridians are still getting to know Rick Scott. He was a virtual unknown when he jumped into the governor's race. The former head of the nation's largest hospital chain, he spent more than $70 million of his own money to get elected. Now, the former outsider is Tallahassee's most powerful insider. Republican lobbyist and fundraiser Brian Ballard worked to oppose Scott in the primary but now has become one of his biggest fans.
BRIAN BALLARD: He doesn't care about politics, he cares about governing.
ALLEN: It's not just that Rick Scott doesn't care about politics; it's almost a foreign language. A conservative who was elected with strong Tea Party support, he convened a Tea Party rally to announce his first state budget. It was a budget that cut billions of dollars from education, the environment and benefits for public employees in a state that was already reeling from the recession and housing collapse. State Senator Paula Dockery, a Republican, says while the budget pleased the Tea Party, it alienated many others.
STATE SENATOR PAULA DOCKERY: He went after police, firefighters, corrections officers, teachers. And those are large numbers of people. And they felt that he was more interested in an ideology than in caring about the people who have been protecting us on the streets and teaching our kids.
ALLEN: Scott has some of the lowest approval ratings of any governor, although in recent months, those numbers have edged up slightly. If Rick Scott is winning over some Floridians, one reason may be his new style. Gone is the suit and tie - instead Scott now wears open-collar shirts. And he's begun engaging with the media, even sitting down with editorial boards around the state, something he rejected as a candidate. Daniel Smith is a political science professor at the University of Florida.
DANIEL SMITH: I think he's really tried to convey that he is more of a man of the people as opposed to a multi-million-dollar executive.
ALLEN: Scott's also adjusted his ambitious agenda. In his State of the State address, he said he learned from his travels around the state that education is very important to Floridians. And so, a year after announcing more than a billion dollars in cuts to education spending, Scott told legislators he wants to put much of it back.
SCOTT: I ask you again to send me a budget that significantly increases state funding for education. This is the single most important decision we can make today for Florida's future.
ALLEN: Scott has rejected any tax increases. To find the money, he's looking for big cuts in Medicaid payments to hospitals - cuts he's already being forced to defend.
SCOTT: We have a budget deficit. We have a $1.7 billion budget deficit. I wish we didn't. I wish we had a surplus. I hope sometime when I'm in office we have a surplus. We need to fund education. It's the right thing to do. And Medicaid has been growing. So, you've got to change how you do things.
ALLEN: In his first year, Rick Scott signed many controversial bills. One requires drug testing for all welfare recipients. Another bans pediatricians and other doctors from talking to their patients about guns. Yet another changes voting rules in a way that the League of Women Voters and other groups say will suppress voting by minorities, young people and the elderly. All those laws -and several more - are currently held up in the courts. To some, that might be a sign of overreaching, but political science professor Daniel Smith says not to Rick Scott.
SMITH: I really think Governor Scott doesn't care all that much about what the courts are going to say. He's coming from a CEO mentality and CEOs don't really listen to many people except occasionally the stockholders.
ALLEN: In this case, the stockholders are Florida voters. Scott's just completed his first year in office. That leaves him three years to win over skeptics and make good on his pledge to rebuild the state's economy. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The final results for Egypt's parliamentary elections are in. And while there are no surprises, the Muslim Brotherhood exceeded expectations by winning 47 percent of the vote. Another hard-line Islamist party, Nour, came in second, with moderate groups trailing far behind. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: The final election results were read out today with little ceremony, but the tally cemented what most people here already know - Islamists groups are the new political powerhouse in post-revolutionary Egypt. Out of the almost 28 million people who voted in these elections, almost half cast their ballots for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. That's a staggering victory for a group that was oppressed and marginalized under former leader Hosni Mubarak.
Coming in second with a quarter of the seats is Nour, the new party representing Salafis, hard-line Islamists who believe in the segregation of the sexes in public life. That means Islamists will control a whopping 70 percent of Egypt's lower house of parliament.
Coming in third is WAFD, a nationalist party founded in the aftermath of World War I. Many people discounted its electoral clout, but it did relatively well, considering.
New parties formed after Egypt's revolution fared badly. The Egyptian Bloc representing a union of secular liberal groups came in fourth. Because no quota system was put in place, women will also have little representation in the lower house of parliament, something that has outraged women's activists here because less than 2 percent of parliamentarians will be female.
Whether Islamist groups will band together to push through a conservative agenda is still unclear. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis are rivals and not natural bedfellows. But they did already reach an initial power-sharing agreement over who will become the new speaker of parliament.
The Muslim Brotherhood's FJP, as the new kings of the political scene, have promised, though, to reach out to all the different parties. But the biggest confrontation may not be between the parties at all but rather between the ruling military junta and the newly empowered groups here. It's not yet clear what authority the parliament will have, and there are indications that the generals running this country won't cede control easily.
The new parliament is expected to convene on Monday. Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the revolution that ultimately toppled Mubarak, and countrywide protests are expected.
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Cairo.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
For the past few weeks, South Carolina's airwaves have been flooded by political ads, both laudatory and accusatory.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADS)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Champion, leader, reformer.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Helped create thousands of jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Including the Bridge to Nowhere and a teapot museum.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: More ruthless and more strict.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: More baggage than the airlines.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: He is the principled conservative.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: The proven conservative leader.
SIMON: Many of these ads aren't made and paid for by a candidate's campaign but groups known as superPACs. NPR's Peter Overby joins us now to talk about superPACs. Peter, thanks very much for being with us.
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Glad to be here.
SIMON: Let's understand: we're not talking about the Green Bay Packer offense.
OVERBY: This is true.
SIMON: We've heard this said so many times in recent months. What is a superPAC, and how much money are we talking about?
OVERBY: Let's do the money first - more than $20 million so far spent by the superPACs backing the four Republican candidates. SuperPACs can support one candidate, can raise money from corporations, unions and rich people in any amount, unlike the candidates. They cannot coordinate with the candidates but the candidates can raise money for the superPACs.
SIMON: Now, theoretically, it's an independent relationship, right, in that candidates are not supposed to control superPACs. But conveniently, aren't they often headed by someone with close ties to the candidate?
OVERBY: Yeah. The independence is kind of hedged. And one of the critical ways that it's hedged is that the superPACs are all headed by folks who come out the candidate's organization. The Gingrich superPAC is called Winning Our Future. The two people heading it - one of them was the head of fundraising for Gingrich's old political organization. The Romney's superPAC is called Restore Our Future. It's led by top people from his 2008 presidential bid. There is a superPAC for President Obama. It's called Priorities USA Action. It's headed by Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, who came out of the Obama White House, and by Paul Begala, who, of course, is a and very prominent Democratic consultant.
SIMON: There was reporting this week that President Obama's superPAC, although it exists, has not been pugnacious.
OVERBY: This is true. So far, Priorities USA Action has spent $321,000 on messaging. That is about one-tenth what the Romney superPAC spent last week in South Carolina and Florida. It's true that President Obama is not in a primary battle but it's also true that there is a conservative organization called Crossroads GPS that's very well funded that has been running ads attacking President Obama and the administration at least since March. So, it seems like Priorities USA Action is going to gear up at some point, but it also seems that they're having trouble raising money.
SIMON: Would not having an aggressive superPAC limit the president financially when it gets to the election season?
OVERBY: Well, he's going to have plenty of money in his campaign account. He's on course right now to raise about as much as he did in 2008. But in 2008, a lot of Republican donors were sitting on their wallets. This time, once the Republican nominee is chosen, it seems likely that the cork is going to pop on the Republican money. There is going to be a lot of money flowing to the apparent nominee, to the party committee and to the superPACs to make sure that they have as much as possible to make Mr. Obama a one-term president. And the Democrats, they're antsy about this kind of outside money. They've never especially liked it, President Obama's never especially liked it, but it seems like the reality is dawning that they really need it.
SIMON: They've campaigned against it.
OVERBY: Yes, yes, absolutely. He stood up in the State of the Union speech two years ago and looked at the Supreme Court justices sitting before him and criticized the Citizens United decision. But those are the rules of the game right now.
SIMON: NPR's Power, Money and Influence correspondent Peter Overby, a very busy man. Thanks so much.
OVERBY: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This week, Iranian police took Barbie dolls from shelves across the country and closed dozens of toy shops for selling the iconic American glamour doll. Iran's government news agency quoted an unnamed police official as saying that they were confiscating Barbies as "manifestations of Western culture." Well, Barbie manifests a lot in her full figure, clingy gowns, and revealing bathing suits. In 1996, an Iranian government agency called Barbie the wooden horse of Troy with many cultural invading soldiers inside it. Wait until they see her glitter-boots and little red sports car. Barbie, of course, can lead to Ken and Midge, spangly doll shoes, shimmering dresses; all kinds of other Barbie regalia that many little girls just got to have. When Iranian police have apprehended their last Barbie, can they come to our place?
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Time now for your letters.
(SOUNDBITE OF TYPING AND MUSIC)
SIMON: Last week, we spoke with Clay Johnson, an open-source advocate and digital strategist, about his new book, "The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption."
CLAY JOHNSON: You know, our minds are really wired to be affirmed and to be told that we're right. And that's the central premise of "The Information Diet." It's really, who wants to hear the truth when they can hear that they're right?
SIMON: Dennis Stephens sends along a suggestion: When you see an article on your homepage, such as Yahoo!, the title may make it appear to be informative, he says. However, it is not until you've already made that click do you see that the article is really a junk article. What I would like to see would be a system in which the readers are able to rate the article, i.e., one to five stars, and the contributor gets paid by the rating. This would send articles with low ratings to the Internet black hole, even if it receives a high number of clicks.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT")
SIMON: We heard about another media conundrum last week: the copyrights on karaoke music. Music companies want to be paid more for the orchestrations of songs to which so many sing along.
Sherry Kling writes: It's not just music companies that are due monies from profits gained from public enjoyment of the music they own. The composers of the songs are due their fair share as well. I agree that if an establishment is centering its offerings around music and collecting revenue as a result of that, the people who wrote the music they're using are due fair compensation.
But Colin Clark writes at NPR.org: Copyright in the USA is incompatible with the way the public uses data/music/thoughts/ideas. The laws were designed before computers took hold. And the only people interested in strengthening copyrights are media company stakeholders who were born before 1950 and want to maintain their old-fashioned business models.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA")
SIMON: We got many thanks for our conversation with Maestra Marin Alsop about Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra."
Steve Curl of Plainwell, Michigan, writes: I love the piece and stop to drink it in every time it reoccurs although this beautiful, powerful piece of art is lately consigned to serve as background music in commercials. The worst part of this indignity is that the crescendo is almost always clipped short, and I thank you for allowing "ASZ" to roll all the way through to the organ-rumbling end.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA")
SIMON: We may cause you some organ-rumbling - we always want to know. Visit NPR.org. Click on the link that says Contact Us. And you can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at nprweekend. I'm nprscottsimon.
This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
Wreckage from the tsunami that struck Japan last March is slowly making its way across the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese government estimated that up to 25 million tons of debris from the wave washed into the ocean. Now it's beginning to make landfall along U.S. coasts.
From the public media collaboration EarthFix, Ashley Ahearn reports.
ASHLEY AHEARN, BYLINE: John Anderson is standing in his front yard in Forks, Washington. Behind him is a 40-foot tall tower made entirely of buoys from crab pots. The yard around him is filled with bits of flotsam and jetsam that he's scoured from northwest beaches over the past 35 years.
JOHN ANDERSON: I have a museum here that has just about everything that ever came in on the beach in there, and most people call it garbage, trash. And I call it treasure.
AHEARN: In his sandy wanderings, Anderson has found a two-and-a-half-million-year-old mammoth tooth, bits of space shuttles and shipwrecks - even rubber chickens.
But after a storm at the end of November, he noticed something different.
(SOUNDBITE OF A ROLLING FLOAT)
AHEARN: Anderson's dragging a round black float across his driveway. It's about three and a half feet long. He's seen floats like this before and believes this one is from a Japanese oyster farm in the area where the tsunami hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF A ROLLING FLOAT)
ANDERSON: This end has the - still has the oyster from the oyster farm on it.
AHEARN: So how many have you found total?
ANDERSON: Two of these and five of the big white ones; they're all from the tsunami, probably that one operation.
AHEARN: These floats sit high in the water, which made them travel faster across the surface of the Pacific, pushed by wind as well as currents. People have reported seeing them from Oregon to British Columbia and Alaska. The slower-moving Japanese debris should start to hit the northwest Hawaiian Islands soon and the West Coast of the U.S. later this year.
It raises both economic and safety concerns, but radioactivity is not among them. Peter Murphy is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris program.
PETER MURPHY: The consensus is that the debris being radioactive is highly unlikely. This is based on several factors.
AHEARN: Factor one: The nuclear meltdown occurred after the tsunami washed the debris away from the coast.
Factor two: The tsunami hit a massive amount of coastline, most of which was not close to the reactor.
And factor three: Cargo ships coming in from the area show no elevated radioactivity.
But Murphy says there's still cause for concern. Debris can smother habitat and tangle up marine life.
MURPHY: We're looking towards understanding better how much debris and how much of a problem it's going to add, and whether it's going to be different impacts.
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND AND OCEAN WAVES)
DANA SARFF: Looks like the tide is in.
AHEARN: It's a gray windy day on the Olympic Peninsula, as Dana Sarff and Billy Noel walk through the woods and down to a beach on the Makah Indian Reservation. The Makah lands are located at the far northwestern tip.
SARFF: This is the beginning of the world. The blacktop starts here and it moves east.
AHEARN: Billy Noel is a member of the Makah Tribe and works for the tribal fisheries department. Dana Sarff is the Sustainable Resources Coordinator for the tribe.
SARFF: Where did you find the debris, Billy? Was it down that way?
BILLY NOEL: Yeah.
AHEARN: Late last year, Noel found the same black floats John Anderson has in his yard.
NOEL: Don't look right. Lo and behold, it's stuff we're not familiar with.
AHEARN: The Makah are an ocean people. For hundreds of years they have made seaworthy canoes for whaling and fishing in these coastal waters. Today, they have the largest tribal fishing fleet in the U.S.
Dana Sarff says the tsunami debris could hurt the tribe's livelihood.
SARFF: Debris on the water and the water columns could definitely affect the commercial fishery here, radioactive or not. And we don't really know what to expect.
AHEARN: For instance, it could damage fishing nets and clog ship engines. The Makah are working with government agencies to create a response plan.
For NPR News, I'm Ashley Ahearn in Seattle.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This week marks the 100th anniversary of another polar adventure that ended in tragedy - this time at the South Pole. January 17, 1912, British Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached that Pole with a small team of men, but they perished during their trek back to base camp.
Four years ago on WEEKEND EDITION, NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reported from Antarctica on that expedition. And today, to mark the anniversary of Capt. Scott's reaching the Pole, we're going to play an excerpt.
Our story begins in the hut at base camp when all seemed to be going well for the expedition and where to day, supplies remain preserved, even seal meat hanging on a hook. Danny's guide is marine biologist and Antarctic historian Donal Manahan.
DONAL MANAHAN: That is seal meat from the heroic age of Antarctic explorations.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
DANIEL ZWERDLING, BYLINE: Yeah. That's what the smell is.
MANAHAN: The blubber, it looks a little oily and mucky.
ZWERDLING: Scott's diary describes amazing meals with mutton and cheese and steak and kidney pie, made from seal meat like the stuff oozing next to us.
One of the scientists built a weather station and launched weather balloons. Scott sounded like he was in heaven.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRUDGING THROUGH COLD WEATHER)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Such weather in such a place comes nearer to satisfying my ideal of perfection than any condition I have ever experienced. The warm glow of the sun with the keen, invigorating cold of the air is inexpressively health giving and satisfying.
ZWERDLING: But then everything started to go wrong. Scott and four men began trudging 800 miles from this cabin toward the South Pole. Their first problem was crippling weather. One of the crew members was a scientist, and he measured temperatures at 77 below zero. Winds were 100 miles an hour. His records show it was some of the worst weather in Antarctica in the last 100 years.
Now, think about this: Donal Manahan and I are each wearing five layers of clothing made out of miracle fibers. We're wearing polar boots that would probably work on the moon, and we're cold.
MANAHAN: Here beside me are some pants, which are grimy, dirty-looking pants.
ZWERDLING: These are the actual cotton trousers that an explorer left behind. And here are some boots made of reindeer fur.
MANAHAN: They would keep you warm but the problem was when you sweated in your socks, that sweat would freeze. And there's some, oh, heart-wrenching stories of it would take them sometimes two hours to put on a shoe. They would put their toes in a little bit, have to wait for the toes to heat up the shoe and then to move it a little bit. Unbelievable.
ZWERDLING: It was so cold that Scott's ponies began to die. Scott had brought almost 20 special ponies to drag the huge sleds, which carried their supplies. The animals were bred to work in freezing weather but eventually they all collapsed from cold and exhaustion. So now Scott and his crew had to drag the sleds themselves.
Manahan points at a dirty canvas harness, which hangs from one of the beams.
MANAHAN: You just strap it around your waist; put a rope on it, and tie it to the sledge and then you just start walking. And the trauma of pulling these thousand-pound sledges with this weight is I think beautifully illustrated in this writing from Scott's diary, as they were almost getting to the South Pole.
I had never had such pulling? All the time the sledge...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: All the time the sledge rapts and creaks.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOWLING WINDS)
ZWERDLING: We have covered six miles but at fearful cost to ourselves. None of us ever had such hard work before. Miserable, utterly miserable.
MANAHAN: And the challenge was they couldn't drag enough food with them to supply all the calories they need. They were basically on a starvation diet as soon as they left. They always were hungry.
ZWERDLING: Finally, on January 17, 1912, Robert Scott and his crewmates made it to the bottom of the world. But as they dragged themselves to the exact spot they saw the Norwegian flag flapping in the wind. It turned out that an explorer named Roald Amundsen had beat them to the pole. Amundsen even left a letter for Scott in his tent. It was dated five weeks earlier.
Scott and his crew took some more scientific measurements and then they set up their camera.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOWLING WINDS)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It is a terrible disappointment and I am very sorry for my loyal companions. All the daydreams must go. The pole, yes, but under very different circumstances from those expected. We have had a horrible day. Now for the run home and a desperate struggle.
ZWERDLING: Scott knew it would take at least three months to slog back to this cabin. But even though they were desperate they collected 35 pounds of rocks to study Antarctica's geology. Their scientist was especially excited about a fossil of a leaf that hinted that Antarctica used to be warm and lush millions of years ago.
Then, exactly one month after they left the pole, one of the men went insane. He ripped off his clothes and died. Then a second man got terrible frostbite - he could hardly walk anymore. He got up in the tent one morning during a raging blizzard. He told his comrades I am just going outside and I may be some time. And they never saw him again.
Scott wrote a final letter to his wife:
(SOUNDBITE OF HOWLING WINDS)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Dearest darling, we are in a very tight corner and I have doubts of pulling through. If anything happens to me I shall like you to know how much you have meant to me and that pleasant recollections are with me as I depart. We have decided not to kill ourselves but to fight it to the last.
ZWERDLING: Eight months later, a search team found their bodies. They died 150 miles short of this cabin. Scott and two colleagues were lying in their sleeping bags, frozen like Antarctica's ice.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his men have never been retrieved. They remain out on the ice.
Daniel Zwerdling's story, produced by Peter Breslow, was originally broadcast in 2008.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon, and the polls are open in South Carolina; first southern state to hold a primary in the race for the Republican presidential nomination of 2012, the stakes are critical. The state has picked the eventual nominee in every year since 1980, and it's sure been a turbulent week with Rick Perry dropping out, Iowa declaring Rick Santorum the winner of its caucuses and Newt Gingrich closing in on Mitt Romney.
Our reporters have been following the candidates around the state. We'll hear from all of them this morning: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul. We start with Newt Gingrich, and NPR's Tamara Keith.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: In recent days, the former House speaker has surged in the polls with some showing him ahead of the longtime front-runner, Mitt Romney.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
KEITH: And when he arrived at the packed hall in Orangeburg greeted by an overflow crowd of hundreds, Gingrich almost seemed surprised by the reception.
NEWT GINGRICH: I'm just now beginning to realize that's an entire additional room. I thought at first it was one of those mirrors that was reflecting this room, and then I realized, no, there are that many additional people. Hello, people. That's pretty astounding. I am very impressed with this turnout, and I'm very, very grateful.
KEITH: Now, it's worth noting not everyone there actually supported Gingrich. There were undecided voters too like Wayne and Cheryl Walling, window shopping, but ready to buy.
WAYNE WALLING: If we had a combination of all of them, I think we'd be good, but we won't get that, of course; not this go-around.
CHERYL WALLING: We don't like any one particular person yet. I'm very disappointed we don't have somebody to grab a hold of and go.
KEITH: Gingrich's pitch to the Wallings and everyone else in the room was simple.
GINGRICH: The only effective conservative vote to stop a Massachusetts moderate is to vote for me. That's what all the polls are saying now.
KEITH: Though at a press briefing after the event, Gingrich nodded to the potential cracks in his campaign. He doesn't have a big operation or a lot of money. He claims he doesn't necessarily need that, but...
GINGRICH: Let me take this opportunity with all of these cameras to say we would love to have anybody who'd like to go to newt.org and donate. It would very helpful, and it will make Florida work much better.
KEITH: Win or not, Gingrich is going to take this fight to Florida. Tamara Keith, NPR News, following the Gingrich campaign.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: And I'm Scott Horsley traveling with the Mitt Romney campaign. As if persistent questions about his tax returns and the loss of his first-place finish in Iowa weren't enough, Romney had an election eve rally dampened by a steady rain. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley thanked the crowd who braved the storm outside a scenic barn.
GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: There is nothing more American than standing in the rain fighting for your country. I absolutely love that.
HORSLEY: Romney continues to play both offense and defense, touting new endorsements from the likes of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, while faulting his primary opponents as creatures of a dysfunctional Washington.
MITT ROMNEY: I've run businesses, I've helped run the Olympics, I've helped run a state. If you think running something is helpful to becoming President of the United States, then I've to be your choice.
HORSLEY: Polls suggest Romney's lead in South Carolina has evaporated in recent days, but he's still working hard to turn out supporters, and says he's cautiously optimistic about his chances here.
ROMNEY: I said from the very beginning South Carolina is an uphill battle for a guy from Massachusetts. I knew that. We're battling hard. The fact is that right now it looks like it's neck and neck. That's a pretty good spot to be in.
HORSLEY: But not the spot he hoped to be in a week ago. However he finishes here, Romney will come out of South Carolina with a large share of delegates, but his air of inevitability has been washed away in the southern rain. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Gilbert, South Carolina.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: This is Don Gonyea with Rick Santorum, who last night attended the annual dinner of the Republican Club at the Citadel, South Carolina's legendary military college. Here's Cadet Robert Sidel(ph).
ROBERT SIDEL: We are honored to have with us a true American patriot, Senator Rick Santorum.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
SIDEL: The newly minted winner of the Iowa caucuses.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
GONYEA: That last point is important because a number of these cadets went to Iowa as Santorum volunteers this past summer. Many more have been helping in South Carolina. Santorum bounded onto the stage wearing his trademark sweater vest.
RICK SANTORUM: I am in my fatigues, not in my dress outfit tonight. We've just come off the campaign trail, and this the - you, know, my flack jacket, if you will, my sweater vest.
GONYEA: In his remarks, Santorum barely touched on the issues, instead analyzing the race. He's behind in the polls, but there's been trouble in recent days for his rivals. For Newt Gingrich, new revelations from an ex-wife on a messy divorce, and for Mitt Romney, the questions about his taxes. Santorum likened it to the story of the three bears.
SANTORUM: We've got one candidate who's just a little cool, just a little timid.
GONYEA: That's Romney.
SANTORUM: And then you've got someone who's a little too hot.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GONYEA: That would be Gingrich.
SANTORUM: And then you have someone who's just right.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: The evening ended with a standing ovation and the cadets singing "Dixie," as Santorum exited. Don Gonyea, NPR News at the Citadel.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: This is Debbie Elliott in Columbia, where a pumped up crowd greeted Ron Paul in a downtown bar last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHANTING)
ELLIOTT: This is the last stop on the Texas congressman's whirlwind tour of South Carolina after a few days off the trail.
RON PAUL: If I go, you know, around the state and have - there's a great deal of enthusiasm, but I do know one thing. This whole ideological battle that we're in, this whole effort that we're having, it ain't going away.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ELLIOTT: Coming off strong finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, polls here show him vying for third place with Rick Santorum.
PAUL: It's a tough road to hoe here in this state but believe me, the message will be there, and we will continue this struggle.
ELLIOTT: Supporter David Holton came up from Aiken, customized sign in hand.
DAVID HOLTON: It says Ron Paul Y'all.
ELLIOTT: Holton says it's time to stop policing the world and slow down what he describes as a runaway entitlement system.
HOLTON: I'm not an economist. I am a plumber though, but I do know I can't write a check for $2,000 to go out and by a new TV when I've got $100 in the bank. Now can I? The federal government can.
ELLIOTT: Holton says he hopes his vote gets the attention of what he calls the old Republican guard, and that Paul can pull enough delegates to move the GOP platform. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Columbia.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now, turning to Clemson University and political scientist Dave Woodard. He spent the past week polling South Carolina voters, and joins us from the campus of Clemson. Thanks very much for being with us, professor.
DAVE WOODARD: Great to be here with you.
SIMON: A lot going on there this week. Have there been a lot of apparent changes of mind and heart that you can chart?
WOODARD: There certainly have been. As we put our poll in the field on Friday the 13th. I think that was the beginning of the problems, but by about this past week on Tuesday or Wednesday, we could tell things were just completely different from the picture we were getting earlier, so we had to scrap everything and go for a two-night poll on Wednesday and Thursday.
SIMON: And?
WOODARD: And we're showing Newt Gingrich up by about four to six points with 32. Next, is going to be Romney at 26. And we're showing for the first time, Ron Paul at 11 and Rick Santorum at 9. We're predicting that Santorum will finish fourth.
SIMON: What issues have seemed to cut well for Mr. Gingrich?
WOODARD: We did a survey of issues, and the issue that was number one was federal spending.
SIMON: Mm-hmm.
WOODARD: Not unemployment and jobs, despite all the talk about the high unemployment in South Carolina, and the third thing was bickering in Washington. Gingrich's kind of anger is seen well in the debates, but also seen sort of in the way he can address a crowd when he walks out and talks about something Barack Obama did, and he just lights the place up. That seemed to really be something that was capturing people.
SIMON: Is this movement to Mr. Gingrich despite the interviews given by his second wife...
WOODARD: Yeah.
SIMON: ...or in a way because of the way he's played that issue?
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Scott, I think you're right. I think he was able to play that in the debate earlier this week. He kind of turned it on the media and made them look like they were intrusive. But you got to realize, there's about a two to three-day lag period when something really big like that breaks. And so this may be something that just kind of would not work a week from now, or I mean would work to his disadvantage, but today it doesn't seem to be hurting.
SIMON: In the polling data that you have, as we speak, Mitt Romney is not that far behind and...
WOODARD: No.
SIMON: ...obviously would still stand a chance to win today. What issues, what have drawn voters in South Carolina to Mitt Romney, those who support him?
WOODARD: The number one thing that seemed to be popping up all the time on Romney was business experience or private sector, the thing he keeps stressing as his plus, and a lot of people seem to identify with that. But, see, notice how this past week it's been kind of been turned into a minus because he hasn't revealed his tax returns and we find that he has money offshore in the Cayman Islands. And that plus might be sort of tainted.
SIMON: Professor Woodard, recognizing that we won't know the results for hours, where do you think South Carolina is going to position the campaign as it goes into Florida?
WOODARD: I don't see how it could be any lower than it is here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WOODARD: This is probably the nastiest, hardest-hitting campaign I've ever seen in 25 years in South Carolina. The thing that was new this time were the superPACs. They had so much money and they were always attacking each other. And most of the press focused on the attacks that are on television. But really, what people were missing, there was tons of mail in there and phone calls by the dozens every night. I got two or three phone calls.
Now these aren't robocalls, where John McCain is endorsing Mitt Romney and asking you to vote for him. This is a negative robocall where somebody calls up and says don't vote for Rick Santorum because he had earmarks. He doesn't support right to work and just go down the list just bashing him. And then we have on top of that all this personal indiscretions and all this stuff that seems to surface here in South Carolina. And so it has just reached a really boiling point. Now, you know, I've had people emailing me all day saying, I'll just be glad when it's is over. I feel like I need to go take a shower.
SIMON: Dave Woodard, Clemson University. Thanks so much for joining us.
WOODARD: Thanks. Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: And you're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Nigeria has been hit again by deadly violence. Just last night, a coordinated series of bomb and gun attacks ripped through the largest city in the nation's Muslim north. A militant sect that seeks to impose Islamic law in Nigeria claimed responsibility for the violence, which comes shortly after New Year protests over rising fuel prices and widespread corruption.
NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton is in Lagos. Ofeibea, thanks for being with us.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: Greetings from Lagos.
SIMON: What can you tell us about yesterday's attacks in the northern city of Kano?
QUIST-ARCTON: We're being told that more than a hundred people were killed in a series of attacks that targeted mainly security targets; police stations, an immigration office, a passport office, we're told. But that people fled as dark clouds of smoke billowed into the sky. Now, this is just the latest attack that Boko Haram, which in the lingua franca of Northern Nigeria means Western education is forbidden. The latest round started on Christmas Day, with an attack on a church, and since then, these Islamist militants, who say they want to see Islamic Sharia law imposed in Nigeria, have been able to hit at will targets ranging from churches to government buildings, and civilians are being killed in the crossfire.
SIMON: Ofebia, who are the Boko Haram?
QUIST-ARCTON: Boko Haram started as a homegrown pro-Islamic group, but increasingly since it started a couple of years, its attacks, which have included bombings and assaults on all sorts of targets have become much more sophisticated, which has led people to believe that Boko Haram has links with perhaps al-Qaida; al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, as it's called in this region - or even al-Shabaab militants; anti-government militants as far as Somalia. President Goodluck Jonathan, the leader of Nigeria, says he feels that this group has allies within his administration, within the police and the army, the security forces, and the judiciary. So it is a huge problem that Nigeria is having to deal with.
SIMON: And as we noted, this violence comes after growing popular unrest over gas prices. Help us understand those protests.
QUIST-ARCTON: Indeed. Nigeria is Africa's top crude oil exporting nation, but imports refined gas because it refines very little of the crude oil. Now, there has been subsidies, cheap fuel for many years that many governments have tried to get rid of. The government says $9 billion. It's costing too much; it's needed for development. But when they try to cut the subsidies, President Goodluck Jonathan found that the trade unions and tens of thousands of Nigerians said, no, why should the government live fat with good salaries, fat salaries, big cars, luxury lifestyle, whilst the people are poor. The government had to back down and the unions finally suspended the strike, but Nigerians say, uh-uh, we can't afford the huge prices now for fuel, for food, for transportation whilst this is a country that is not doing enough about corruption and fat cats getting away with corruption.
SIMON: NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton in Lagos. Thanks so much.
QUIST-ARCTON: Always a pleasure.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Hard hits, cheap shots, huge stakes. Well, enough about the primaries, time now for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: Tomorrow - conference championship Sunday, almost as big as the Super Bowl, just not without all those distracting halftime wardrobe malfunctions. NPR's Tom Goldman joins us.
Morning, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hello, Scott.
SIMON: And AFC plays first tomorrow. The Baltimore Ravens hope to say nevermore to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Pats didn't seem to have a weakness last Saturday against the Broncos, though.
GOLDMAN: No, they didn't. Brady and his super-duper tight ends, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, they were unstoppable. But, Scott, it will not be target practice like that for Brady against Baltimore. At least it shouldn't. The Ravens guard opponents very well.
SIMON: They've got a great defense. Yeah. Yeah.
GOLDMAN: They do. A little long in the tooth, but great. They guard opponents well. They allowed the third fewest yards to tight ends in the NFL this season. And if Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs can bring the heat on Brady like he's done in the past, it can make things very uncomfortable for New England's golden boy quarterback.
SIMON: Second game, of course, is the NFC. And it's the New York Giants versus the San Francisco 49ers. Now, I, I must say, underestimated the Giants all year. Seen them only a couple of times, but the 49ers have made the best comeback since Seabiscuit against Man O' War. And they've got a relentless defense. How do you see this falling?
GOLDMAN: This is a really tough call. I would say the Giants probably are the more complete team. They've got a very strong defense, especially their pass rushers. They've got the better quarterback in Eli Manning. But San Francisco's defense is really good, a great tackling team. And a very hard-hitting team. The Niners lead the league in knocking out opposing running backs. Meaning, they hit them and they don't come back into the game.
Now, a couple of factors in the 49ers' favor. They have the best field goal kicker in the league this year, left-footed David Akers. He's a very good guy to have in a close game. And also, Scott, the game time forecast is for rain in San Francisco, and that might diminish Eli Manning's passing advantage. Also, a slick football might also play into San Francisco's strength of forcing turnovers. Niners are one of the best in the league at that.
SIMON: What matchup would you like to see in the Super Bowl, Tom?
GOLDMAN: I have decided late last night after pondering this, I want to see the 49ers in the Super Bowl. They've had a really special season under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Pats versus the 49ers. It's East Coast versus West Coast. Best offense versus best defense. Bring it on.
SIMON: Yeah. I agree. A quick baseball question. Tonight, the National League Most Valuable Player banquet. Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers is expected to be there to pick up his award and maybe say a few words. But that could be awkward, right?
GOLDMAN: Could be. You know, he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone back in November, and he faces a 50-game suspension if his appeal fails.
SIMON: And what do you think he might do? Any indication?
GOLDMAN: Oh, you know, I think people are thinking maybe he'll say something. I don't think so. He's going to pick up his award and not say much and probably nothing about the drug situation, which is too bad. It would be great if Braun got up on the dais and started a dialogue about performance enhancing drugs, all about it. If he's innocent, say that. If he's guilty, admit it. You know, we can dream about something like this, but it probably just isn't going to happen.
SIMON: Ah, you dreamer. Tom Goldman, NPR's sports correspondent.
Thanks so much.
GOLDMAN: You bet.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Etta James died yesterday. She started singing gospel in church as a little girl, made her first pop record as a teenager, became Chess Records' first female R and B star, and released her last album just a few months ago. Writer Gwendolyn Thompkins has this remembrance.
GWENDOLYN THOMPKINS, BYLINE: Etta James and I never met, but we go way back - back to all those 45 records I played until the grooves wore out, back to cassette tapes that melted in the car in the summertime. When I was 10 years old and my sister told me how babies are made...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I JUST WANNA MAKE LOVE TO YOU")
ETTA JAMES: (Singing) I just wanna make love to you, love to you...
THOMPKINS: Etta filled in the rest - about the longing and the lust, about knowing a man all the way up and all the way down, and loving him so hard that this time the bed might break.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I JUST WANNA MAKE LOVE TO YOU")
JAMES: (Singing) All I wanna do, all I wanna do is cook your bread, just to make sure you're well fed. I don't want you sad and blue, and I just wanna make love to you...
THOMPKINS: But for all of the hot-buttered thumping and screaming that Etta sang about, the preying-mantis-wombat-nature-channel kind of love, she was right there with you when it all turned rotten, like a carton of milk past the due date. She serenaded you when you were weeping under the bed, when you were nothing more than love's debris.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'D RATHER GO BLIND")
JAMES: (Singing) I would rather, I would rather go blind, boy, than to see you walk away from me, child. So, you see I love you so much that I don't want to watch you leave me, baby. Most of all, I just don't, I just don't want to be free, no.
THOMPKINS: Yep, Etta James knew about blues that were so heavy you had to lift them with your legs. You think your situation is bad? What about watching the love of your life marry somebody else? Some other woman is carrying your bouquet, smiling up at your man, wearing your ring?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL I COULD DO WAS CRY")
JAMES: (Singing) All, all I could do, all I could do all was cry. All I could do was cry. I was losing the man that I loved and all I could do was cry.
THOMPKINS: And yet only a natural-born fool would think that Etta James wasn't making her own kind of trouble.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RUNNING OUT OF LIES")
JAMES: (Singing) Seems like to me I can hear my conscience say, Etta, you ought be ashamed of yourself. You know you got a good man and you ought to treat him right. I made a deal with my conscience, if my conscience didn't bother me, then I sure wouldn't bother my conscience.
THOMPKINS: Etta James had many of her own hits, but she could also make someone else's song sound like she sang it first. Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Howlin' Wolf, Randy Newman, Joe Tex. And I doubt that any of those guys on their best day would have made a fuss. Etta rolled like that. But it was the tender Etta James that most men and women invited to be with them when times were good. The "At Last," "Trust in Me" "My Dearest Darling" Etta.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LOVE YOU SAVE")
JAMES: (Singing) I'm talking to all the lovers in the house tonight...
THOMPKINS: The best sweet dishes need a little salt and the best savory dishes need a little sugar, and that may be why there should always be a two-fisted helping of Etta James in everyone's love life. After all, that's how babies are born. Etta James keeps our species alive.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LOVE YOU SAVE")
JAMES: (Singing) But I ain't never in my life before seen so many love affairs go wrong as I do today. I want you to stop, find out what's wrong. Get it right, or leave love alone....
SIMON: Etta James died yesterday at the age of 73. Gwendolyn Thompkins is a writer in New Orleans. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Let me take a second here. Not very long, was it? But a second tied up delegates to the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union, who postponed a decision this week on whether to abolish the extra second that's added to clocks every few years to compensate for the earth's natural doddering. The earth slows down slightly as we spin through space. No one falls off, but earthquakes and tides routinely slow the earth by a fraction of a fraction of a second, which makes clocks minutely wrong. If not corrected, it could make a minute of difference a century.
So, every few years, official clocks around the world repeat a second. The last leap second, as it's called, was added at the end of 2008. Ah, I remember it well. The U.N. agency has been talking about abolishing the leap second for eight years. If you ever wonder why the U.N. can seem so slow to act in a crisis, consider the time they've had just deciding what to do about a second.
But the implications are astronomical. For centuries, time was figured by the rotation of the earth. But atomic clocks keep time by the movement of electrons in atoms. U.S., France, and Japan consider the leap second to be a nuisance, like having to reset the clocks on the alarm and microwave twice a year, especially when power grids and global positioning systems rely on millisecond timing. Physicist Włodzimierz Lewandowski asked the panel: does it make sense to use an imperfect clock based on a wobbly planet? Don't be offended, earthlings. But China, Canada, Britain and some astronomers think that if we move solely to atomic time we may lose sight of the ways our days are linked to the sun and stars. We might lose sight of our place in the universe. The United Kingdom is strongly opposed to coming up with a new conception of time without good reason, said British physicist Peter Whibberley.
The U.N. won't take up the issue for another three years, so another leap second is scheduled for this June 30th. How will you use your extra second? It's not enough time to learn Latin, climb Kilimanjaro, or read Ulysses. But maybe just enough to remind us that our time goes by in the blink of an eye. We should cherish every fleeting second.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FLY LIKE AN EAGLE")
STEVE MILLER BAND: (Singing) Time keeps on slipping, slippin', slippin' into the future. Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future. I wanna fly like an eagle to the sea. Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me. I want to fly like an eagle...
SIMON: And you're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But the big question is: Can you teach an old guitarist new licks? How about an old non-guitarist, not even a musician?
Well, Gary Marcus isn't that old. He's actually in his early 40s, and he's a professor of psychology at NYU and an expert on cognitive development. Marcus decided to pick up the guitar to study the musical learning process, using himself as a guinea pig. His new book is called "Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning."
Gary Marcus joins us from our New York bureau. Welcome to the program, Gary.
GARY MARCUS: Thanks very much for having me.
MARTIN: OK. So before we begin our conversation, I want to play a little something for you. Take a listen to this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SLOW RIDE")
MARTIN: Sound familiar?
MARCUS: Painfully so.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: OK. Explain why. Tell us about this song.
MARCUS: Well, this whole book, in a way, got started with me playing a videogame called "Guitar Hero" - which I had purchased in a vague hope of becoming musical, and then discovered I couldn't play it, 'cause I had to play this song. All you have to do is press little, colored buttons...
MARTIN: Oh sure, yeah.
MARCUS: ...and match the colored dots on the screen. And eventually, I got it, and I actually made it through the song. So when I had that positive experience of playing the videogame and feeling like maybe this is not completely out of my reach - plus, I had a little bit of free time 'cause I was actually on sabbatical - I was like, this is the moment. I'm really going to try now. I'm really going to commit myself.
And I'd also read the literature on critical periods. That's the idea that if you don't learn something early in life, you'll never be able to master it. And I'd studied language acquisition in graduate school. And we used to believe that that was the case; that if you didn't learn by the time you were 16, you'd never become fluent.
MARTIN: Yeah, we all kind of live with that pressure: You have to learn it when you're a little kid; otherwise, you can't learn French when you're an adult.
MARCUS: So, what we know now is that some adults actually do become fluent, and that although it's definitely easier to learn some things when you're a kid, it's not the case that you just absolutely lose the ability later in life. There's more of a gradual decline; it is still possible.
MARTIN: So how important is some kind of innate musicality to learning later in life?
MARCUS: I think that innate musicality is important, but it's not absolutely necessary. I guess my own case proves that. So I wouldn't say I had any innate musicality. But because I'm an intelligent adult, I was able to learn a lot of things about how music works that maybe wouldn't be as accessible to a child; to read about music theory, for example, and to apply the analytic skills that I have and sort of take a different route than a child might take.
MARTIN: So we want to trace your particular musical root a little bit. You very graciously - and, I should add, courageously - sent us one of your very early practice sessions, when you had just picked up the guitar.
MARCUS: I feel a painful trip down Memory Lane coming.
MARTIN: It sounds on this track like you're kind of improvising a little bit with a back-up track. If you don't mind, let's hear a little bit of it now. Take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR MUSIC)
MARCUS: The backing track sounds nice.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: It's all about putting it out there, giving it a try. I mean, tell us what was going through your mind. What was the most difficult thing about playing the guitar, improvising at that stage of your learning process?
MARCUS: I think everything was hard. I would say that the first challenging thing for anybody learning the guitar is just learning the fret board - where the notes are. So, if you look at a piano, the notes are laid out in a very systematic way. You can always, very easily, find the C in whichever octave you're in. You can find the D, you know, the next note over, skipping a black note. It's very systematic.
On a guitar, there's nothing that kind of highlights, first of all, what the natural notes are - the Cs, the Ds - as opposed to the C sharps and the D sharps. And then every string sets things up differently. And we have a kind of memory that makes similar things hard to remember. So like, if you park in the same lot every day, your memories of that blur together. And at the end of the day, you can't remember exactly where you parked because you're confused with where you parked on other days.
So, when I was doing that improvisation - or trying to do that improvisation - part of what I was trying to do was just find the notes on the scale. But even knowing where those are takes work.
MARTIN: There's something else we'd like to play for you, Gary. Let's take a listen to this.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUITAR MUSIC)
MARTIN: Wow, that bass line. Listen to that.
MARCUS: That was me.
MARTIN: That is you, playing bass guitar in a group called Rush Hour. This is a band that came together at a band camp full of 11-year-olds, right?
MARCUS: That's right. The camp is called Day Jams. It's a national organization. And I went to my hometown in Baltimore. I spent a week there and what you do with that camp is, you make your own song. You arrive on Monday and by Friday, you're playing on stage in front of a live audience, which includes all the kids' parents. And in my case, it included mine.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARCUS: So we put together that song.
MARTIN: What did you discover when you were there, about the differences in the way that you were learning and the way that these kids were learning?
MARCUS: Well, I think that kids have a lot more patience to do the same thing over and over again until they get it right. And I think adults often push themselves to get the whole song on the first day. Adults, you know, they've heard the recordings many times, and they don't cut themselves the slack to take things incrementally. And so I think there's a difference in strategy.
I think that kids probably have little bit better ear. So if you want to learn perfect pitch, you have to learn that early in life. On the other hand, adults understand things like composition. So I actually played a big role in actually putting the song together.
MARTIN: I have to tell you that I have a guitar that I've owned since I was about 20 years old - 19, maybe. And I was so intent on learning the guitar for like, six months. And then the guitar went into the closet, and I've been schlepping that thing around with me wherever I move. And it just sits in the corner and taunts me. And I've been intimidated to pick it up.
In all of your learning about how to learn a musical instrument later in life, what advice can you give to someone like me - or others out there who have other musical instruments sitting in their corners, taunting them?
MARCUS: I think the first thing is to give yourself slack, and don't expect to learn it overnight. So learning an instrument, for most people, is probably a project of several years. The only way to do the brain rewiring that you need is to practice. There are ways of being a bit more efficient about your practice.
So another tip I would say is, target your weaknesses. A lot of people just do what they're good at. They don't focus on what they're bad at. In my case, I really had to focus on the rhythm. If I had just done what I was good at, I would still sound terrible. Now, I don't quite sound terrible, and that's 'cause I focused so much on that. So don't expect overnight success; try to enjoy each incremental bit of progress that you make.
MARTIN: Gary Marcus is the author of "Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning." We're going to play out with a little bit of your soloing on something called "Bah-Humbug."
Gary, thanks so much. I expect to talk with you in a few years to check in on how your jam skills have developed.
MARCUS: Thank you very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAH-HUMBUG")
MARTIN: This is WEEKEND EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE EAST IS RED")
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
That song is called "The East is Red." And it was China's de facto national anthem during the Cultural Revolution. From about 1966 to 1975, China's leader, Mao Zedong enforced a brutal agenda. Everything was rationed. Millions of people were forced out of the cities and into the countryside, where food was even more scarce. The government controlled people's movements, their livelihood, even their thoughts. And everything was propaganda - posters, clothing, songs...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE EAST IS RED")
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE EAST IS RED")
SASHA GONG: The original song is actually about love and food.
MARTIN: That's Sasha Gong, a former Chinese political dissident and Scott's friend.
: It was about cabbage hearts, as a matter of fact. And then a very patriotic, somewhat obsequious Chinese man wrote new lyrics to it that sang the praises of Chairman Mao.
MARTIN: Sasha and Scott connected several years ago and collaborated on writing projects. When they would get together, they ended up in Scott's kitchen cooking and talking about Sasha's experience growing up during the Cultural Revolution. At one point, Scott suggested the two of them turn her memories and culinary skills into a book, "The Cultural Revolution Cookbook."
: She thought I was crazy.
GONG: I said those were painful memories to me, but as long as I can add some stories in it, yeah.
MARTIN: Sasha's lived in the U.S. since 1987, and she got a Ph.D. from Harvard. But her childhood in China was a hard one.
GONG: I was 10 when the Cultural Revolution was launched. My grandfather was accused of being a counterrevolutionary. So, I was sent to countryside living in the village.
MARTIN: Sasha and her family worked on farms but the food all went to the government. Her family, like so many others, was left to fend for itself, and Sasha learned to cook with whatever she could find. In the cookbook, she shares the peasant recipes of that time, and how food kept families together, despite a revolution that was pulling them apart.
: We're making no apologies for the Cultural Revolution in this book. It was a horrible time. A lot of people suffered. This is a celebration of the people who triumphed through this horrible time when there wasn't enough food and there wasn't freedom and all those awful things were happening, but somehow they managed to make do with what they had. They made remarkably tasty dishes with very, very basic and rudimentary materials and ingredients.
MARTIN: Ingredients anyone can get - no need to find a specialty Chinese market. These culinary delights are as close as your local supermarket. Sasha and Scott take me shopping for ingredients to cook up three classic Chinese dishes. All right. Let's grab a cart.
: OK. We need scallions and cilantro.
MARTIN: Tofu?
: I think we're going for pork shoulder now.
GONG: Just get the soy sauce, any soy sauce.
MARTIN: Ginger.
: Sesame oil.
MARTIN: Eggs.
: You don't need to buy sugar. You don't need to buy salt. And we don't need to buy a stick of cinnamon but we need some wine.
MARTIN: Coca-Cola. That's it. How much was it?
: Forty ninety-seven.
MARTIN: Forty ninety-seven. So, for 40 bucks. Not bad. And the meal will feed about six people. And with that, we're off to Scott's apartment to put their simple recipes to the test. All right. So, what tools do we need to cook these dishes?
: Well, actually, there's a cookbook out there that has something like 40 pages devoted to how to select season and choose a wok. We have about a paragraph on that because in the countryside, you cooked with whatever the hell you have. We actually are going to use a flat-bottom pan today as well as a wok. It's really not that big a deal.
MARTIN: Remind us what we're cooking today, Sasha.
GONG: Actually, we are cooking braised pork.
: With soy sauce.
MARTIN: With soy sauce.
GONG: And now I'm going to cut up the meat.
MARTIN: OK.
GONG: This is pork shoulder, very much marbled. So, cut it through, cut it through. See? Very easy to cut it through.
MARTIN: Kind of big chunks.
GONG: Big chunks.
MARTIN: Next, Sasha takes a large ginger root, skin on, and places it on the counter. She smashes it with the side of her meat cleaver.
GONG: Now, you turn on the stove. The pork is fatty so you don't need much oil but you do need oil to well, smooth the pan.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRACKLING)
MARTIN: Sasha then drops the ginger in the pan and a sweet aroma fills the kitchen. And then...
(SOUNDBITE OF SIZZLING)
MARTIN: In goes the pork to sear. Then she adds sugar, soy sauce, rice wine and a stick of cinnamon.
GONG: And then we turn the fire into low medium and let it cook.
MARTIN: How long does it cook for?
GONG: About 45 minutes. It's important not to spend too much time.
MARTIN: That was important in selecting these dishes. You wanted them to be things that were easy?
: Chinese restaurant food, a lot of what you see here in the United States, even at better Chinese restaurants, is a much prissier operation than this. This was country cooking. This was get it in the pot and heat it up and get it in everybody so that they've got enough strength to go work in the fields.
GONG: And still tasty.
: Right.
MARTIN: And this, we should say, you write in the book, was Chairman Mao's favorite dish?
GONG: Oh yes. And Mao developed the habit when he was commanding the army in the civil war, he believed meat was good for your brain so, each time it was before big battles, he said, OK, cook me the braised meat with soy sauce, and I need my brain food.
MARTIN: Chairman Mao's brain food is now nice and tender and Sasha takes it off the stove. She piles a heaping mound of the braised pork into a big blue and white bowl.
GONG: All right.
MARTIN: Finished.
GONG: That's it. Done.
MARTIN: We get to eat now, right?
GONG: We get to eat.
: Yes. Who would like something to drink?
MARTIN: Tofu and egg custard are also served, then we take our seats at the table and dig in. Let's do it. Oh, we each have chopsticks.
: Yeah. Let me have your rice bowl.
MARTIN: We start with an egg custard that Sasha remembers from her childhood. It's great. It's really savory. It's really light.
GONG: Thank you.
MARTIN: Mmm. The texture's perfect.
GONG: It's just egg and the water and the salt. It's a little bit sesame oil. Nothing else.
MARTIN: OK. I'm going for the pork.
: Now, which is which?
MARTIN: Sasha prepared two versions. The first was the traditional pork braised with soy sauce and rice wine topped with cilantro. Oh, that is so nice.
GONG: Thank you.
MARTIN: The second version was made with Coca-Cola, which Sasha says is a fine substitute if you can't find rice wine. Different.
GONG: Different.
MARTIN: It tastes different than the other one. I got to say I like the traditional one better. Am I allowed to have more?
: Yes.
MARTIN: OK, good. It's a meal Sasha Gong has made hundreds of times before. When you sit down and eat this food now in 2012, what do you think of? What images come to mind?
GONG: Well, family time. When you have that much food, you have family and friends coming in, there's something about humanity. It's hard to suppress. You want friendship, love...
: And you want pork.
MARTIN: And you want pork.
GONG: Oh yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GONG: Oh yes. Oh gosh, we were hungry. We were hungry. In that time, you know, how government tried to prevent people from gathering and if you have three or four people gathering, might be anti-government activity. You know, when people gather over food.
MARTIN: This is such a painful time. I don't imagine there are a lot of fond memories that you associate with this period of time. Focusing on it, writing a book about it, must have been strange.
GONG: Well, I went through a lot of bad time, but it wasn't about human beings. They always survive and celebrate life. And food is one of the major ways to do that.
MARTIN: There's a complicated sense of nostalgia in her recollections of that chapter. Scott says that's not unusual for her generation - now far enough away from the Cultural Revolution to look back on the small moments worth remembering.
: In the last 20 years or so, China has seen resurgence in some ways of interest in the Cultural Revolution. There are Cultural Revolution-themed restaurants in just about any large city in China. And these are places where people who sent down to the countrywide go, in some cases to have reunions with others who were sent to the same places. And they relive their past - it's not a happy past entirely, but that's really not the point. It's their past.
MARTIN: Well, thank you very much for cooking with me and sharing this part of your history with me. Thank you.
GONG: Thank you.
: My pleasure.
MARTIN: Letting us into your home.
GONG: Oh, it's my great pleasure.
MARTIN: Before we leave, we ask Sasha if she remembers any of the music from that era. She says yes. That song, "The East is Red," is seared into her memory. But she refuses to sing the communist lyrics. She wants to sing us the original version about love and food. Again, Sasha Gong, choosing to remember her past her way.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE EAST IS RED")
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE EAST IS RED")
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: To try your hand at some of Sasha and Scott's recipes from "The Cultural Revolution Cookbook," go to our website NPR.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is NPR's WEEKEND EDITION.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHEL MARTIN READING SHOW CREDITS)
MARTIN: I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There has been a wave of Islamist election victories in North Africa following popular uprisings across the Arab world. In Egypt, the party associated with the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood is down the most powerful voice in Parliament. And in Morocco, King Mohammed VI sanctioned elections in response to last year's pro-democracy protest; that happened last November. The Justice and Development Party won most of the votes. Now Moroccans are wondering how this popular Islamist party will govern.
NPR's Deborah Amos reports.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Islamists in the Justice and Development Party, the PJD as it's known, say they are different.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTESTERS)
AMOS: For one thing, they stayed away from street protests last year when pro-democracy activists called for an end to corruption and a curb on the absolute power of the monarchy.
Here's another difference: The PJD's victory came from reform, a consequence of measures proposed by the king rather than a revolution, as in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
They won the most votes, but not enough to govern alone. The PJD must share power with the king's closest allies and that is how they will govern.
MUSTAPHA KHALIFI: Our way of government is to work and to cooperate with the king.
AMOS: That's Mustapha Khalifi. At 35, he's the youngest cabinet minister and a key member of the party.
So, it is right then to describe you as Islamic, democratic and royalist?
KHALIFI: Yes, the three elements that describe our identity in the political arena.
AMOS: A former newspaper editor, Khalifi helped shape the party identity. He says he learned how democracy works in Washington, while interning in a congressional office. The PJD's platform is to create jobs and fight corruption in a country where cash for favors has long been a way of doing business.
Do you think your popularity comes from, that when you want to fight corruption, you vote for Islamists because they are clean?
KHALIFI: In some way, yes. People are asking to have real answers to their demand.
AMOS: And so, do you feel that pressure?
KHALIFI: Yes, I feel it.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTESTERS)
AMOS: That pressure is right on the streets of the capital, Rabat. Three times a week, thousands of unemployed college graduates march to demand jobs that Morocco's economy has been unable to create. Youth unemployment tops 30 percent. This week, the protests took a dangerous turn, a reminder of protests in other Arab countries. Five of the jobless set themselves on fire, three went to the hospital.
ABO BAKR JAMIA , FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: The demand now is really on improving the standards of living of Moroccans. And in all fairness, they have no way to achieve that. Even in a purely democratic system, they can't.
AMOS: Abo Bakr Jamai, an exiled financial journalist and prominent dissident, says the PJD enters government just as the country is facing an economic blow tied to Europe. Tens of thousands of Moroccans went to work there, they send money home. But Jamai says Europe's financial crisis is shutting down that option.
JOURNALIST: People would probably at some point be coming back to Morocco because the situation in so dire.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTESTERS SINGING)
AMOS: February 20, 2011 was the start date for Morocco's Arab Spring, a movement that reflects widespread discontent. It's quieter now, but still a force, a nationwide opposition movement.
Mustapha Khalifi says his Justice and Development Party shares many of the same goals. If the PJD fails, he says, the party will lose the next election.
KHALIFI: We are under the pressure that we should deliver answers to the people. In the era of the Arab Spring, there is no choice.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
AMOS: This is how the streets of Morocco sound today. But in the era of the Arab Spring, the price of failure will come quickly, says Mohammed El Boukili with the Association of Human Rights.
MOHAMMED EL BOUKILI: The masses, millions of people are watching and waiting. Moroccans are patient, but it can explode.
AMOS: And this is the biggest pressure on the Justice and Development Party, the same hurdles faced by all the Islamist parties new to power since the Arab uprisings: How to govern at a time of rising expectations; how to deliver both change and stability; and in Morocco, how to remain a democrat and a royalist.
Deborah Amos, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Mitt Romney now looks ahead to the Florida primary at the end of this month, and he's started to reach out to the Hispanic voters, with appeals like this:
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MARTIN: What he doesn't mention in this ad is that he, himself, is the son of a Mexican immigrant. His father, George, was born in a colony of polygamist Mormons in the state of Chihuahua. Mitt Romney rarely speaks about the Mexican branch of his family tree, and he's never visited his numerous cousins south of the border. NPR's John Burnett reports.
JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints banned polygamy in 1890, but Mormon leaders quietly sent selected members to Canada and Mexico to continue practicing plural marriage. One of them was Miles Park Romney, the great-grandfather of Willard "Mitt" Romney - who wants to be president of the United States. Miles Park, a Utah builder with a massive head and a square jaw, had four wives and 30 children. Today, some of their descendants still live in the Mormon colonies in Northern Chihuahua, about a four-hour drive from El Paso. Mainstream Mormons no longer practice polygamy.
KENT ROMNEY: We have Meredith and Karen Romney. Meredith has a brother, named Kelly Romney.
BURNETT: Kent Romney is a talkative, 67-year-old peach grower and fishing lure manufacturer. He proudly gives us a tour of colonial Juarez. It's an orderly, prosperous town located at the foot of the ruggedly beautiful Western Sierra Madres. About a thousand people live here - most of them are Mormons, and about 40 are Romneys.
KENT ROMNEY: And then Kelly has a son, Caid Romney. So I don't know how many Romneys that is, but I think I covered them.
BURNETT: In 1912, the Mormons fled their colonies in Mexico to escape the violence of the Mexican Revolution. Miles Park Romney begat Gaskell Romney, who begat George Romney. George, who was never a Mexican citizen, was 5 years old when they left Mexico. He went on to become an auto executive, governor of Michigan, and a presidential candidate. George begat Mitt, who was born in Detroit. Most of the Mormons never went back to Mexico, but one of Miles Parks' sons, Miles Archibald, did return, and it is his progeny who remain here today, making them all Mitt's second cousins.
KENT ROMNEY: This is our chapel. This is where we hold our Sunday meetings.
BURNETT: Today, Mitt's Mexican relatives live in large, suburban, American-style homes. They speak perfect English and hold dual citizenship. They shop in El Paso, and their children attend college in the States.
KENT ROMNEY: So some people ask the question, you know, why hasn't Mitt come down and met his family in Mexico? Well, we're kind of distant cousins. We're not part of the Gaskell Romney family line.
BURNETT: Your sign on the wall there says: Romney: Families are Forever. So you still feel a blood kinship to Mitt?
KENT ROMNEY: Oh definitely. I mean, I've never met a Romney I'm not related to.
BURNETT: Kent sits on a plaid sofa under a picture of Jesus, in his house down the hill from the white Mormon temple, with the trumpeting angel on its spire. He opens a book - "The Life and Story of Miles Park Romney," written by Thomas C. Romney - and reads a passage about the family DNA.
KENT ROMNEY: He says mental and emotional characteristics peculiarly noticeable in the family are an indomitable will and a bulldog determination, which is reinforced by a courage and an honesty of purpose.
BURNETT: The Romneys of Mexico have avidly followed Mitt's pursuit of the Republican nomination. Kent's wife, Virginia, checks her email several times a day for campaign news.
VIRGINIA ROMNEY: This is today's news. It says Rasmussen reports Mitt Romney is leading Florida 41, Gingrich 19.
BURNETT: She's careful around a reporter's microphone not to say anything that might harm Mitt's chances.
VIRGINIA ROMNEY: We don't want him to be portrayed as coming from a weird or strange background - with roots in Mexico, you know, polygamy and - we're just as normal as anybody else.
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BURNETT: Rather than dwell on their origins as a haven for polygamists, Kent Romney would rather talk about the reported miracle that made their valley fertile.
KENT ROMNEY: When the pioneers first came to this valley to settle, they soon discovered there wasn't enough water running in the river - particularly in the summer - that would sustain agriculture. And so they gathered together and through fasting and prayer, prayed that the water in the river would increase.
BURNETT: An earthquake in 1887 cracked open a fissure, and uncorked an aquifer that has been irrigating their peach and apple orchards ever since. They consider it an act of God. As devout Mormons, the Romneys avoid coffee and tobacco, fast once a month,and wear the sacred undergarments. They believe in family, probity and hard word.
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MILES ROMNEY: If you don't prune, your peach is going to be too small and overloaded for the tree. You don't get a good-quality peach.
BURNETT: Kent's brother, Miles, oversees workers who are thinning his dormant fruit trees. He believes his cousin's candidacy is nothing less than prophetic.
MILES ROMNEY: I think that if Mitt wins this - president of the United States - because God wants him there. I think the United States is going to fall to pieces. I don't think the Lord's work is done yet, here on this earth. And if he makes it in there, it's because God wants him in there.
BURNETT: Mormons believe, as millennialists, that in the last days before the second coming of Christ, the world will degenerate into turmoil. Given that focus, Mexico appears to be well on its way, plagued as it is by rampant crime and drug-related murders. Two years ago, thugs kidnapped Meredith Romney, the former temple president, at his ranch and held him for three days in a cave before his family was able to win his release. His brother, Kelly, is a rancher and a chili pepper farmer.
KELLY ROMNEY: We were pretty shook up about it. My younger brother was doing the negotiations, and I was there with him.
BURNETT: The spiraling lawlessness has prompted a few Mormons to abandon Mexico, as their forbearers did a century ago during the revolution. But the majority have stayed here. They've installed a guardhouse at the high school, and gotten advice from a counterkidnapping expert.
KELLY ROMNEY: We're a little more cautious. My ranch is in a pretty dangerous area. Try to take someone with me more often; I go into the ranch, different roads - just simple, little things like that.
BURNETT: Kelly Romney is conservative, like most Mormons. A copy of Ann Coulter's "How to Talk to A Liberal" sits on the table. He thinks Mitt, the tested businessman and trusted church leader, would make a fine president. But he differs sharply with his cousin's hard line on illegal immigration.
KELLY ROMNEY: You can't just split families up, round them up, and ship them all back to Mexico. We need to work out a solution that benefits both countries.
BURNETT: Kelly Romney, in fact, would love it if Mitt would visit colonial Juarez and learn about the complexities of immigration from a Mexican perspective. So far, the candidate has not sought out his cousins in Mexico for advice.
John Burnett, NPR News.
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MARTIN: And you are listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. And it is time, now ,for the puzzle.
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MARTIN: And this week, we brought out the old version of our puzzle theme music for just a few moments because we are celebrating WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY's 25th anniversary.
It took to the airwaves on January 18, 1987. Susan Stamberg was the host, and the idea was that the show would be the radio version of the Sunday paper. You'd have a good helping of news, but also cultural and arts features.
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SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: Let's see, I - oh, here it is; here's what I was looking for. It's not the comics. It's the games.
Will Shortz has promised to puzzle us on WEEKEND EDITION.
MARTIN: And puzzle us, he has - from that very first show. We've done the math and by our count, that's been about 1,300 mind-bending appearances on this program. Will Shortz joins us now, as usual, from New York. Good morning, Will.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: And congratulations. Twenty-five years ...
SHORTZ: I know...
MARTIN: ...as our resident puzzle master, it's amazing.
SHORTZ: I know. How many people do anything for 25 years?
MARTIN: Believe me, I'm in awe of you. So I'm happy to be a part of this special anniversary.
SHORTZ: Thanks a lot.
MARTIN: You gave us a two-week creative challenge last week, and we'll repeat that for our listeners in a few minutes. But for today's puzzle, we've lined up three special mystery guests for you. Are you ready?
SHORTZ: I am ready.
MARTIN: OK. We're going to see if you can recognize them. First off, guest number one, joining us from the studios of NPR West. Please say hello, guest.
STAMBERG: Morning, Will. Happy anniversary.
SHORTZ: Hey there, Susan.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: And joining us from the studios of WSCL in Salisbury, Maryland, mystery guest number two. Say hello.
LIANE HANSEN, BYLINE: Hi, Will. Happy anniversary.
SHORTZ: Oh man, Liane. It's great to hear you.
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MARTIN: And finally, there's one more special guest with us. Here in the studio - greetings, guest number three.
AUDIE CORNISH, BYLINE: Hey there, Will. Happy anniversary.
SHORTZ: Hi, Audie. Good to hear from you. Oh, this is great.
MARTIN: OK, so that is Susan Stamberg, Liane Hansen and Audie Cornish - all your favorite ladies, gathered together to play the puzzle on the 25th anniversary.
STAMBERG: Feels like Charlie's Angels, huh?
HANSEN: I feel like Bachelorette Number Two.
CORNISH: Right. The other option was the Pips. We are your backup singers. We're your backup.
MARTIN: So, I have to ask you ladies; any special puzzle memories, moments you all had with Will that you want to share?
STAMBERG: When we went on the air at the very beginning, 1987, it was just Will and me. We hadn't had the bright idea to involve listeners in answering these things. So most of our games and puzzles were this: Will posed the question and me - uh, uh, uh, uh. After I left the program, of course, I became maybe the most devoted listener. And do you know, it took me years to realize that Liane was writing it down.
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MARTIN: That - this whole time, she had paper and pen, and she was working them out.
STAMBERG: Amazing, amazing, why that had not occurred to me.
HANSEN: My memory is, Will is constantly on the road - either for his tournaments, like the crossword puzzle tournament that's coming up in March - and he's never let us down for a puzzle but once. We called him in his hotel room, and he had - forgot to bring it with him. He made one up in five minutes.
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MARTIN: Do you remember that, Will?
SHORTZ: I do. I panicked when I went through my bag and could not find a puzzle. But I came up with, I thought, a pretty good puzzle for that week.
HANSEN: It was. It was great.
MARTIN: Somehow, that does not surprise me.
CORNISH: And, of course, mine is table tennis-related. Very easy. I actually got to play - remember, Will, when I came up to York and we played table tennis?
SHORTZ: That was great.
MARTIN: And who won?
CORNISH: Do you really need to ask?
MARTIN: Yeah.
CORNISH: I got housed(ph) by Will. But I have a signed ping-pong ball, and that's awesome.
MARTIN: Now, Will, you know that I'm a novice - having only done this for the past couple of weeks. And I am in the company of seasoned puzzle veterans.
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MARTIN: So I imagine that you, Will Shortz, have cooked up something particularly diabolical this week.
SHORTZ: Well, what I've brought, actually, is a new edition of my all-time favorite puzzle on NPR.
MARTIN: Really? Wow.
SHORTZ: Here's how it goes. I'm going to name two things in the same category. You name the only other thing in the same category that fits between mine alphabetically. For example, if I said Mars and Saturn, you would say Mercury, because Mars and Saturn are planets, and the only other planet fitting between those alphabetically is Mercury. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Neptune also fits alphabetically between Mars and Saturn.]
HANSEN: Oh boy.
STAMBERG: I would say bar, Mars bars.
SHORTZ: OK, here's number one. How are we going to do this? Just everyone jumping in?
MARTIN: Oh yeah. This is just puzzle chaos today.
SHORTZ: OK, that sounds good. Number one is June, May. What's the only month that fits between June and May alphabetically?
HANSEN: July?
SHORTZ: Had to precede June.
HANSEN: It fits.
CORNISH: Is it March? It goes by letters, right?
SHORTZ: It is March, yes.
MARTIN: Yay, Audie!
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: Number two: Alberta, Manitoba.
HANSEN: Oh, jeez.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CORNISH: Oh, boy.
MARTIN: Calgary.
SHORTZ: Nope, we're looking for the province itself.
MARTIN: British Columbia.
SHORTZ: British Columbia, good job.
MARTIN: Yessss!
STAMBERG: Woo. Mark one for Rachel.
SHORTZ: Your next one.
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SHORTZ: Liane is going to know this. Left fielder, right fielder.
HANSEN: Left fielder, right fielder.
CORNISH: Out.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Well, outfielder would apply to all of them. This is a specific position in baseball.
MARTIN: Pitcher?
SHORTZ: Pitcher is it. Who said pitcher?
STAMBERG: Oh.
HANSEN: Pitcher.
MARTIN: All right, it's the new girl.
SHORTZ: OK, good.
HANSEN: Good going.
STAMBERG: She's doing - she's batting a thousand.
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SHORTZ: Happy, Sneezy.
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HANSEN: Grumpy, Dopey - nope. Happy, nope. Sneezy.
MARTIN: Sleepy?
SHORTZ: There you go. Who said that?
CORNISH: Ooh, Sleepy.
SHORTZ: Sleepy is it. Good.
CORNISH: Who was that?
HANSEN: Who did that? The new girl again, right?
CORNISH: Rachel.
HANSEN: You know, she's only done a few.
STAMBERG: She'll get tired.
HANSEN: Yeah, exactly.
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HANSEN: After 20 years, call me. All right?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: How about Education, Health and Human Services.
HANSEN: Oh, dear. Energy.
SHORTZ: Yeah. Oh, man. That was fast.
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MARTIN: Liane. She has caught her groove.
HANSEN: No, I was watching the Rick Perry debates and I...
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HANSEN: I mean, I knew there were three.
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SHORTZ: That's true. That's one of the three. High jump, long jump. And we're looking for events in the decathlon or heptathlon.
STAMBERG: Oh, sure.
MARTIN: You know, the heptathlon.
SHORTZ: Something you throw.
CORNISH: Oh, javelin?
SHORTZ: There you go, the javelin.
MARTIN: Audie Cornish.
STAMBERG: Yay.
CORNISH: All right.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STAMBERG: (unintelligible)
SHORTZ: Polk and Roosevelt.
HANSEN: Oh, sure. Come on, all you Washington ladies.
STAMBERG: Mm-hmm.
HANSEN: I don't have my placemat in front of me.
STAMBERG: Can't. No, that's too late.
MARTIN: Either two or...
SHORTZ: It's one of the more...
STAMBERG: Harrison.
SHORTZ: It's a B, Q or R. It's one of the more recent ones.
MARTIN: Reagan.
HANSEN: Reagan.
SHORTZ: Reagan is it. Good job. And your last oneâ¦
HANSEN: Ugh, thank goodness.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: ...costume design - that's your favorite word.
HANSEN: Yes, it's mine.
SHORTZ: Costume design documentary, feature.
MARTIN: Wait.
SHORTZ: So you're - costume design and documentary feature.
STAMBERG: Oh.
MARTIN: OK.
STAMBERG: So it's Oscars, huh?
SHORTZ: Yes.
HANSEN: Director.
SHORTZ: Director is it.
MARTIN: Whoa.
CORNISH: Wow.
STAMBERG: Bravo. Oh my, goodness.
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MARTIN: Yay, everyone.
CORNISH: Very nice.
STAMBERG: Really good.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
MARTIN: You know, on the air, as the official scorekeeper, I declare it a tie.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STAMBERG: Oh, sure. Right. What a fine person you are.
CORNISH: Yes, exactly.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: That was great fun. Thank so much.
HANSEN: Thanks for the invitation. It's so much fun.
STAMBERG: It was fun.
MARTIN: A pleasure to hear all of your voices.
STAMBERG: And happy anniversary to you all. And, Will, thanks for saying yes when I called 25 years ago.
SHORTZ: Oh, absolutely. You guys are all great.
MARTIN: OK. So, Will, we are in the midst of a two-week creative challenge. And we should note, there's still time for listeners to get in on this fun. But first, Will, could you please repeat that challenge?
SHORTZ: Yes, it's called TV Lineup. The object is to combine the titles of some TV shows, past or present, into an amusing sentence or statement. For example: "Today/"Sisters"/"Name That Tune"/"Father Knows Best." Or "Desperate Housewives/"Bewitched"/"My Three Sons"/"One Day at a Time." Or "Webster/"Lost"/"Lassie"/"Six Feet Under."
So the shows can be network or cable, primetime or not. Well-known shows are best. Entries will be judged on their sense, naturalness of syntax, humor, originality and overall effect. And the best entry in my judgment will be announced next week.
MARTIN: OK. So give it your best shot, everyone. Send in just one entry per person, although each entry can have up to three sentences. Our deadline for entries is Thursday, January 26th at 3 P.M. Eastern Time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner we'll give you a call, and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle-master for 25 years and counting, Will Shortz.
Thanks so much, Will.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Secrets - they're the currency of spies around the world. But the rise of social media, hashtags, forums, blogs, online news sites, has revealed a new kind of secret - those hiding in plain sight. The CIA calls all this information open-source material, and it's changing the way America's top spy agency does business.
We got a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the CIA's Open Source Center. It operates on the down-low, even though they deal with public material. We aren't allowed to tell you where the Open Source Center is. All we can say is that it's housed in an unmarked and unremarkable office building, just off a nondescript, busy street.
My producer and I are asked to leave our phones in the car. We're ushered inside to a small room, where half a dozen analysts are working at cubicles, their eyes fixed to computer screens. There's a bank of television monitors on the wall, projecting news from around the world - which gives is kind of a newsroom feel.
GLEN: Right now, we're in the content-management center.
MARTIN: The managing editor is Glen(ph) - he gives no last name. Glen points out a poster on the back wall made to look like a 1950s comic book. And in one corner, it reads:
GLEN: There's no escaping the information highway.
MARTIN: Social media have forced the CIA into the fast lane, and transformed the Open Source Center. Its predecessor organization was basically a U.S. government translation service. Analysts translated foreign radio broadcasts or newspapers that sometimes took weeks to come by ship. Today, CIA analysts are still translating, but they're also responsible for figuring out what it all mean. And they're under more pressure now to identify potential crises when all they have to go on is a tweet or a status update. Doug Naquin is the director of the Open Source Center.
Give us a sense of volume. How much information is coming in that these folks are trying to analyze?
DOUG NAQUIN: You know, I could say it in terabytes, but I think the best way to describe it without being flip would be, just massive.
MARTIN: He won't define massive. But other intelligence officials say since 9/11, it's been like trying to drink from a fire hose. And the political revolutions erupting around the Middle East have turned that fire hose into a flood.
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MARTIN: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill blame the CIA for missing the Arab Spring - specifically, the democratic uprising in Egypt. Doug Naquin says his analysts knew something was brewing in the country.
NAQUIN: I want to clarify: We didn't predict. What we said - it was going to be a game-changer, and did pose a threat to the regime.
MARTIN: When was this?
NAQUIN: This was in April 2009.
MARTIN: Naquin's team wrote up reports on some kind of social unrest fueled by social media, but those reports were overlooked. That was in part, he says, because the CIA - and the intelligence community as a whole - weren't taking social media seriously.
NAQUIN: I remember, there was a lot of resistance - or skepticism is the best word to say. Well, it's just chatter, it's no value, etc. And we said - there was enough people here said - no, there's something there.
MARTIN: But figuring out what that something is, that is the hard part. Naquin says his office isn't trying to uncover secrets so much as they're trying to put together what he calls a country's narrative.
NAQUIN: You know, what are the underlying beliefs? So in the United States, for example, one of our master narratives is the American dream. It's the same in other countries.
MARTIN: And building those narratives for foreign countries means tracking almost anything.
NAQUIN: What's trending - is it the Justin Bieber concert?
MARTIN: Yep, the CIA uses Justin Bieber as a kind of social barometer.
NAQUIN: Well, it says to me that their attention is not terribly focused on other issues that, you know, we may consider more serious. But I kind of raise it as a frivolous point, but if Justin is number one and the water situation is number four or five, it'll give you a sense of the mindset of a certain part of the population.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Very good. Good morning, everyone.
MARTIN: We were given access to a regular morning meeting, where the CIA analysts talk about what they're monitoring - although we were told in advance that the meeting would be sanitized. In other words, no sensitive stuff in front of the reporters.
NAQUIN: Bring it over to Middle East.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Let me start with Iran. The story that's dominating the media in Iran across the...
MARTIN: These analysts take what they learn through open-source material, and put it into classified reports used by the CIA and other government agencies. I'm allowed to take a look at one of these reports - this one, on how the Arab world responded to the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden. But it's hard to see how this is more specialized than what a graduate student could research and write as a senior thesis. Doug Naquin has heard this critique before.
NAQUIN: It's very easy to say oh, well, this is what I found in Google, and this is what they're saying, so this must be true. And that's, I think, one of the biggest changes of the past five years - people realize this is much more than just doing a Google search.
MARTIN: Analysts are responsible for monitoring everything that comes out of a specific country, but they're also tracking political movements and terrorist groups. Beth - that's what the CIA wants us to call her - spends her day looking at terrorist-related websites and monitoring Twitter feeds, Facebook pages that raise red flags.
BETH: In order for these really reclusive groups to communicate with their supporters, they have to do it in an open forum - oftentimes, using the Internet where, you know, they can reach supporters around the world. And, you know, the more open they have to be, the easier it is for people like us to find it.
MARTIN: So social media can kind of out terrorist sympathizers. The challenge for the CIA is figuring out exactly who and where they are. That's complicated because the Internet makes it easy for users to hide themselves; to literally, create digital identities using shadow IP addresses. So someone could be tweeting in Arabic under a Yemen email address, but it could be a U.S. citizen sitting in his house in Ohio. Problem with that: It's illegal for the CIA to monitor Americans on American soil. Again, Doug Naquin:
NAQUIN: You can't tell where individual posts come from.
MARTIN: So, if you are pursuing someone and at some point in that analysis you realize that person is sitting in the United States, how does that change what you're doing?
NAQUIN: Yeah. Well, first of all, I can't get into those types of questions in too much detail. But if there's any - let me put it broadly - if there's any situation where we came across anything that involved U.S. persons, we would either stop, or we would turn it over to one of our partners on the domestic side.
MARTIN: But the line between what kind of monitoring is legal, and what's not, could get more complicated as the technology evolves. Naquin says he's anticipating a future when our household appliances are all wired up to our iPhones and email accounts.
NAQUIN: The Internet is going from connecting people to connecting two things. People's thoughts that would never make it outside their homes, now are available to everybody on the Internet.
MARTIN: If you're an open-source analyst for the CIA, that just means more information and hopefully, more valuable intelligence. But if you're living in a country ruled by a government with a penchant for domestic spying, it's potentially a big brother nightmare.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In Haiti, one of the fastest-growing churches in the country grew out of the devastating 2010 earthquake. The Shalom Tabernacle of Glory Church started in a storefront in Port-au-Prince just days before the quake destroyed much of the capital. The evangelical mission now claims to have more than 50,000 members, and one of the most popular radio stations in Haiti.
NPR's Jason Beaubien has the story.
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JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: On January 12th, for the 2nd anniversary of the earthquake, thousands of people flocked to the Shalom Church in Port-au-Prince. The church is just a plywood stage under a patchwork of tattered tarps. The crowd was so large that it spilled down a muddy hill towards a tent-camp for earthquake victims. Most of the singing, swaying people in the congregation were so far away they couldn't even see the podium.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SINGING CONGREGATION)
BEAUBIEN: This church is a product of the earthquake. Father Andre Muscadin formed it because he says God had told him there was going to be a disaster. And a few days later, the quake hit. In the aftermath of the quake, Shalom grew rapidly, Father Muscadin, says as many Haitians turned to religion for strength and assistance.
But why, I asked him, did they turn to his church in particular?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
FATHER ANDRE MUSCADIN: (Foreign language spoken) Error! Not a valid link.Because we have God here, he says with a laugh. He also has an extremely powerful radio transmitter that broadcasts his evangelical message and music across the country. Muscadin says miracles occur at the services held under the tarps outside his office.
MUSCADIN: (Creole spoken)
BEAUBIEN: For example, people here who were blind are now able to see, he says. The mute are all of a sudden able to speak. People injured in the earthquake can walk again. Parishioners also say they've seen miracles occur in front of them at Shalom. The services last for hours and involve a succession of preachers. On this Sunday, Pastor Joseph Josier in a black suit with a purple shirt is delivering a passionate sermon.
JOSEPH JOSIER: (Creole spoken)
BEAUBIEN: With determination, courage and conviction, he tells the congregation you can have everything you want. A central message at Shalom is that if you give to God, God will give back to you. He'll give you money, a baby, a husband, a new car. Shalom is a powerful fundraising machine, asking for donations during the services, online and over the radio. Father Muscadin won't say how much revenue he brings in but he proudly declares everything he's built has been built by Haitians. Amidst the millions of dollars in international aid that's poured into Haiti after the quake, Muscadin says his rapidly growing ministry is funded by lots of small donations from church members. There are no formal tools to measure radio audiences in Haiti. Muscadin claims that Radio Shalom is now the most popular station in the country. Richard Widmaier, who runs a rival commercial broadcaster Radio Metropole, says a survey last year found Shalom indeed to be the most listened to station in Haiti.
RICHARD WIDMAIER: Well, to tell you the truth, I was shocked myself because I'd never heard of Radio Shalom.
BEAUBIEN: Widmaier say the religious broadcaster has become a powerful force in the country and he concedes that his rival is attracting a lot of listeners. Jeff Berard has his radio tuned to Shalom, in his words, 24/7.
JEFF BERARD: They're bring a lot of people using the radio to bring people back to Christ. You know, people who didn't have hope any more, you know, they give them hope.
BEAUBIEN: Berard has just stepped off the stage where he was playing keyboards during a marathon Sunday service at Shalom. After the earthquake, he says, a lot of people felt lost and abandoned. Berard says the appeal of Shalom is that Father Muscadin understands the plight of ordinary Haitians and his church has become a refuge for them.
BERARD: You know, a lot of people, you know, lost their homes and living under tents. And as you can see, the church is under a tent right now. So, trying to serve God even though you don't have anything, you know, it's really a tough thing to do. But as you can see here, people are just giving themselves to God even though they don't know what they're going to eat after.
BEAUBIEN: As the Sunday mass at Shalom builds to a crescendo, some people in the congregation are swept up completely by the service. The pastor calls for sinners to come forward and give themselves to Christ, to be born again.
(SOUNDBITE OF SCREAMING)
BEAUBIEN: Screams punctuate the singing. A large woman in a white dress holding a baby starts to shake violently. Ushers grab the baby out of her arms before she collapses in the dirt. Other people start fainting throughout the crowd. They're battling evil spirits, the pastor says, and the evil spirits fly out of their bodies when they collapse. When they come to a few minutes later, they're cleansed. And then the members of the Shalom congregation slowly file out from under the tarps back into the quake-ravaged streets of Port-au-Prince. Jason Beaubien, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONGREGATION AND SINGING)
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. After a turbulent week of dropouts, reversals and impassioned pleas, in the end, it wasn't even close. Newt Gingrich beat Mitt Romney in the South Carolina GOP primary by 12 percentage points - a decisive win for the former speaker of the House, and a surprise for his rivals. The win scrambles the Republican race for the presidency. Voters have chosen three winners in the first three contests of the primary season.
In South Carolina, conservative Republicans rallied behind Gingrich at the last minute, undeterred by a week of tawdry revelations and negative campaign ads. NPR's Debbie Elliott spoke with voters about what swayed them.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: South Carolina Republicans were out in full force yesterday morning at Tommy's Country Ham House, in Greenville.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yeah, I'm going one table at a time, OK, y'all? Thank you for your patience.
ELLIOTT: You could hardly get in the door when word spread that both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were stopping by for breakfast. Terri Wood is standing on her chair, trying to catch a glimpse of Gingrich as works the room.
TERRI WOOD: I think they're turning the other way, mama.
ELLIOTT: Wood and her mother, Pat Hook, drove over from Greer. They weren't always behind Gingrich, first supporting Herman Cain and then Rick Santorum. But after last week's debates, Hook says, they've settled on the former speaker.
PAT HOOK: I believe Newt is the one that can win this election and change our country. I think he's up for the fight.
ELLIOTT: Daughter Terri Wood agrees.
WOOD: Think he's the one that's going to be able to take it to the liberals, chop them off at the knees. Because even in your own family, nobody can continue to borrow 40 cents on every dollar and not go over a cliff.
ELLIOTT: Exit polls show Gingrich did better with women voters than Romney did, and this mother and daughter were no exception. His second wife's claim that he had asked her for an open marriage doesn't hurt the candidate in Wood's eyes.
WOOD: He's admitted his failures, and I do believe he's been forgiven. He's asked for forgiveness. And, you know, if you look in the Bible, King David - he was forgiven. Anyone can be forgiven, and turn a new leaf.
ELLIOTT: Two tables over, Helen Shockley of Greenville says she was undecided until now.
HELEN SHOCKLEY: It was down to Romney and Newt, but I decided on Romney this morning.
ELLIOTT: Curtailing government spending is what matters most to her, and she doesn't think Gingrich is up to the task.
SHOCKLEY: He's a career politician, and I've decided I don't want that. I want somebody that has not been in Washington, D.C., for the last 30 years.
ELLIOTT: Exit polls show Gingrich led among several key groups in the South Carolina GOP - Christians, conservatives and Tea Party supporters - while Romney did better among voters who identified themselves as moderate or liberal. Gingrich has spent much of the campaign here trying to paint Romney as out of touch with South Carolina's conservative values. And it seems to have worked. Ben Smith is a retiree from Mount Pleasant.
BEN SMITH: I think he's a liberal in GOP clothing. You'd have to be, to survive in Massachusetts.
ELLIOTT: Even so, most voters say no matter who they voted for yesterday, they'll be able to rally behind the eventual Republican nominee come fall. Brett Pyle, of Greenville, liked both Romney and Gingrich but decided on the former speaker.
BRETT PYLE: Actually, this week was pretty foundational for me. As I saw Newt getting more and more popular, I thought this is good; we're going to have - even if it extends this whole primary process a little bit longer, I think that there's value in the conversation.
ELLIOTT: The main goal, he says, is to hammer out a candidate who can defeat President Obama.
Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
That brings us to our next story: the potential for governments - from dictatorships to democracies - to exploit technology to spy on their own citizens. John Villasenor is a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and he's written a paper on how governments may soon be able to record much of what is said or done within their borders - every phone conversation, electronic message, Facebook post, tweet and video from every street corner - and then store that information indefinitely.
John joins us now from member station KQED in San Francisco, to talk more about this phenomenon. Hi, John. Welcome to the program.
JOHN VILLASENOR: Thank you very much for having me.
MARTIN: So this is a disturbing idea - that a government, particularly an authoritarian government, could access so much information about a person. And you say this has to do with the cost of storing this kind of information; it's getting cheaper?
VILLASENOR: Yes. So storage costs, as many people know, have been dropping for quite some time. But what is perhaps less widely appreciated is how fast they've been dropping, and how much they've dropped. It is now - for example - possible to store everything that someone says on a telephone for a year, for about 17 cents. So as these storage costs plummet, it all of a sudden becomes possible to actually archive it all. And that's what's changing. We're crossing these thresholds now and in the coming couple of years.
MARTIN: Give us some real-world examples. How could this play out in a country like Syria?
VILLASENOR: Well, in countries like Syria, there's no reason to expect that governments won't take advantage of every possible technological tool at their disposal to monitor their citizenry. Smartphones, and the apps that run on smartphones, very often track location in an authoritarian country. Governments could presumably get access to that information. About $50 worth of storage could store the information identifying the location of each of 1 million people to within 15 feet at five-minute intervals, 24 hours a day for a full year. And so if you took a country like 15 million people, then that means it would cost about only $750 to store all of their movements for a year.
MARTIN: Wow.
VILLASENOR: License plate cameras - these are basically roadside cameras - or in some cases, they are mounted inside police cars - that automatically take a picture, or take an image of the license plate, of every vehicle that passes in the field of view of the camera. And they store those. They raise very significant privacy concerns, but it should also be said that they have been responsible for solving some very serious crimes as well. And they are proliferating it - all over the world.
The United Kingdom has a very large network; they're being used in Toronto; New York has a network. And they build these enormous databases. And so you can expect, in fact, that when you go out in your car to run an errand that, you know, you are tracked - or will be soon, in the next couple of years - tracked by any number of license plate cameras. And that will go into some big database someday and, you know, somebody can look at it if they want.
MARTIN: John Villasenor is a fellow at the Brookings Institution. We caught up with him from member station KQED in San Francisco. John, thanks so much for talking with us.
VILLASENOR: Thank you very much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now to Hungary, where the only independent radio news station in the country may soon go silent. Klubradio lost its license in what its owners charge was a government move to muzzle critics. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports from Budapest.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO TALK SHOW)
GEORGE BOLGAR: (Foreign language spoken)
ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE: George Bolgar has been on the air in Hungary for more than 40 years. For the last decade, he's hosted an afternoon-drive-time, news talk show on Klubradio. It's a privately owned, liberal-leaning radio station based in Budapest. Bolgar's show is one of the most popular in Hungary.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO TALK SHOW)
BOLGAR: (Foreign language spoken)
WESTERVELT: The 65-year-old says even back in the communist era, media freedoms slowly improved over time. The climate today, he says, is the worst since then.
BOLGAR: That is the really most shocking difference between the communist times and today's times. We are marching backward.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO TALK SHOW)
WESTERVELT: These days, listeners mostly call in to talk about politics and the wretched economy. All the ratings agencies have cut Hungary's credit rating to junk status. And the currency, the forint, has hit all-time lows. Bolgar says he also hears lots of complaints about Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his ruling Fidesz Party. Bolgar charges that Orban wants to silence opposition voices.
BOLGAR: They didn't want to hear the voices of ordinary people call in my talk show and say something very critical of the government.
WESTERVELT: When Klubradio's license came up for renewal recently, the newly established Hungarian Media Authority awarded the frequency to a previously unknown media group. The new owners want to broadcast pop music. Klubradio is appealing the decision but unless a judge overturns it, the news station will go silent in early February. The media authority says it has no political agenda, that Klubradio simply lost out to a higher bidder in a fair process. But Bolgar and his network supporters see politics trying to silence the only opposition radio station in Hungary.
BOLGAR: Can it be otherwise? I don't think it can. That was the definite wish of the media authority, which have only delegates appointed by the ruling party.
WESTERVELT: Hungarian state TV did not cover a mass protest on New Year's Day against the controversial new constitution Prime Minister Orban pushed through Parliament. Klubradio covered it - more than 100,000 Hungarians had taken to the streets. This past week, the European Union took Hungary to task, and instructed the government to change provisions of the constitution that undermine the independence of the judiciary, the central bank and state data agency. Journalists for state-funded TV and radio have also protested what they say is direct political interference by the government. Zoltan Kovacs, Hungary's minister of communication, dismisses those allegations.
ZOLTAN KOVACS: Well, it's easy to come up with these kind of opinion concerning the media. You know, it's a field where these kind of emotional approaches can be easily made. The freedom of press is a sacrosanct issue in this country.
WESTERVELT: But the EU isn't so sure. This week, EU watchdogs noted that the Hungarian government has taken away the licenses of several stations, including Klubradio affiliates. They again voiced concern about basic media freedom here. Klubradio's George Bolgar, meantime, vows to fight to stay on the air - and to keep speaking out.
BOLGAR: What I feel and sense now is a looming darkness descending upon us. And one wants to shout lights, lights, please. And the lights don't come.
WESTERVELT: Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Budapest.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Reporter Joanna Kakissis traveled to the province of Thrace, in northern Greece, to look into a religious controversy. What she found, like so much in Greece these days, was a story about the sad state of the economy.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING)
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Recep Pacaman greets friends at his family home in the village of Komotini. The male visitor is wearing a prayer cap; the woman, a dark headscarf.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING)
KAKISSIS: They're speaking Turkish. For 400 years, Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. When the Ottoman Empire finally collapsed after World War I, many Greeks were left in Turkey, and many Turks found themselves in a now-independent Greece. A brutal war followed, and Greeks were expelled from Turkey - and Turks from Greece. But the peace treaty ending the war allowed about 100,000 Turks to stay in Thrace. Recep Pacaman's family was among them.
RECEP PACAMAN: This house is more than 150 years. You can see, you can feel this. It's from Ottoman Empire.
(SOUNDBITE OF CALL TO PRAYER)
KAKISSIS: The Muslim call to prayer rings out, and minarets dot the skyline in Komotini. Cemali Metzo is the mufti here.
CEMALI METZO: (Foreign language spoken)
KAKISSIS: Metzo explains that he studied Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, and now heads the sharia - or Islamic law - court here. He doesn't order beheadings or public stonings. Sharia applies only to Muslims here, and only in family law matters - like a case that lawyer Ahmet Iksan is arguing before the mufti sharia court. He represents a family in an inheritance dispute.
AHMET IKSAN: (Foreign language spoken)
KAKISSIS: He explains why his clients want to make sure one daughter of a local ethnic Turk does not inherit his money. The Greek supreme court has ruled that disputes like these can be decided here according to the Quran. An outrageous ruling, says Yiannis Ktistakis. He represents the daughter in this dispute, and has taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg. He wants sharia repealed in Greece.
YIANNIS KTISTAKIS: It's a religious law. Like we don't apply, also, Byzantine law for the same reason, because it's religious anachronistic law.
KAKISSIS: People here, though, seem less perturbed. In this insular society, it's hard to get anyone, particularly women, to comment. Those who do, point out that marriage by sharia law is optional. Lawyer Halil Mustafa opted out of a religious ceremony for his wedding. He's secular, but says the Muslim minority of Thrace have much bigger problems than sharia - like a bleak job market and bad schools.
HALIL MUSTAFA: In the past years, we didn't have the opportunities, or the education, to go to a Greek university because we learned nothing.
KAKISSIS: Mustafa went to university in Turkey. Thrace has record-high unemployment, and Turkey's economy is red hot. Even the ethnic Greeks are asking him about jobs there.
For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis.
MARTIN: And this NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
The Republican presidential nominating contest is now in full swing - emphasis on swing. Three states have voted, each anointing a different winner. Yesterday, South Carolinians had their say, and they picked Newt Gingrich. Mitt Romney was a distant second, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul third and fourth.
We have reports from all four campaigns, starting with NPR's Tamara Keith at Gingrich headquarters last night.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: This was quite possibly Newt Gingrich's biggest night since 1994, when he oversaw the Republican revolution. He has proudly run a campaign that breaks all the rules - or at least, most of them, skipping the high-priced political consultants and doing things his own way. And so, on his night in the spotlight, Gingrich didn't follow the script.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHATTER AT CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you the next president of the United States and the most wonderful first lady, Newt and Callista Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING, MUSIC )
KEITH: The audience cheered. The music blared. Gingrich wasn't in the room. Nineteen and a half minutes later, he finally stepped up to the mic.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)
NEWT GINGRICH: It is very humbling, and very sobering, to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
KEITH: Ten days ago, few would've predicted this victory. But that was before a pair of debate performances where Gingrich shined - putting then-front-runner Mitt Romney on the defensive, and lashing out at what Gingrich calls the elite media. It worked. But last night, Gingrich insisted his success was about something more.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)
GINGRICH: It's not that I am a good debater. It is that I articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
KEITH: For Gingrich supporters, this was the moment they had been waiting for. Susan Smith lives in Newberry, South Carolina.
SUSAN SMITH: We believed from the very beginning that he could do this. This whole evening is wonderful to us.
KEITH: The question for Gingrich is whether he can keep the momentum going through what now appears will be a drawn-out primary process. Before he even took the stage, Gingrich's campaign sent out an e-mail blast asking for donations. More than once in his victory speech, Gingrich asked those in the room to call everyone they know in Florida, the site of the next primary - a week from Tuesday.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRIMARY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)
GINGRICH: We don't have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER, BOOS)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: We'll get it.
GINGRICH: But we do have ideas, and we do have people. And we proved here in South Carolina that people power, with the right ideas, beats big money. And with your help...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GINGRICH: â¦we're going to prove it again in Florida. Thank you...
KEITH: But Bill Connelly, a professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, says there are real questions about Newt Gingrich's staying power.
BILL CONNELLY: If he wants to be in it for the long haul, he cannot run his campaign out of his back pocket.
KEITH: And that means...
CONNELLY: He's going to need staff. He's going to need consultants for that purpose.
KEITH: All the trappings of a traditional campaign - something Gingrich has resisted; something he says he doesn't need. Connelly says Gingrich can't win the nomination without them.
CONNELLY: He's going to have to learn to work with staff, and be part of a larger team. And that's going to require some self-government on Newt's part. Does he have the self-discipline?
KEITH: Does this campaign have legs? A lot of political watchers and consultants aren't convinced. Tony Shipley says they're wrong. He's a state representative in Tennessee, and director of the Gingrich campaign there. Tennessee votes on March 6th, Super Tuesday.
STATE REP. TONY SHIPLEY: Newt Gingrich is delivering a message that's important for Americans to hear. And I don't care what anybody says, he's got legs. And if they don't believe it, you just wait till Super Tuesday comes round, and you're going to see legs.
KEITH: But first comes Florida. And as we learned in South Carolina, a lot can change in a matter of days.
Tamara Keith, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It wasn't too long ago Mitt Romney looked like he was on a winning streak; that maybe if things kept going his way, he could sweep all the early primary and caucus states. Now, his record is one for three.
NPR's Ari Shapiro reports from Romney's South Carolina election-night headquarters on how things turn so dramatically, so quickly.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: If you believe in signs and omens, this can't be a very auspicious one. Outside of the famously detail-oriented Romney campaign election-night headquarters, the ceiling is leaking. And that crack in the firmament was not the only hint that something was amiss for Romney yesterday. There was also this:
MITT ROMNEY: Yeah, we'd like to win here, of course, but we've got a long way to go.
SHAPIRO: Those are not the words of a candidate who believes he's heading for victory. Romney urged a breakfast crowd of supporters to take the long view.
ROMNEY: So come join us in Florida, then in Nevada, Michigan, Colorado; we've got a long way to go. We need to get 1,150 delegates. We're off to a good start. We're going to get more and more and more. With your help, I can become the nominee, and we can take America back.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: That tone is a huge turnaround from just a week ago. Coming out of his triumph in New Hampshire, it looked like South Carolina could be the scene of Romney's coronation, making him a triple-crown winner - three contests for three. Back then, people thought he had won Iowa by a hair, and that South Carolina was his to lose.
But late Friday night, the Republican Party in Iowa declared that Rick Santorum actually won those caucuses. And Saturday night, Romney lost South Carolina, too.
ROMNEY: This race is getting to be even more interesting. I'll, I'll...
SHAPIRO: His concession speech never named Gingrich. But Romney attacked the former House speaker unrelentingly, painting him as a doppelganger for President Obama.
ROMNEY: President Obama has no experience running a business, and no experience running a state. Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business, and never run a state.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SHAPIRO: Gingrich defeated Romney among a huge range of demographic groups - women; men; people of every education level but the highest; people of every income level but the highest. Even people who said their first priority is defeating President Obama in the fall favored Gingrich over Romney.
Romney told those voters last night, in effect, you're wrong.
ROMNEY: Our president has divided the nation, engaged in class warfare, and attacked the free-enterprise system that has made America the economic envy of the world. We cannot defeat that president with a candidate who has joined in that very assault on free enterprise.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SHAPIRO: The crowd chanted "We need Romney" and "Florida, here we come."
But Romney supporter Brandon Katz fears that the South Carolina results may not bode well.
BRANDON KATZ: Who they usually pick is the one who usually ends up being the nominee, mostly because South Carolina is the first primary in the Southeast, which is predominately the Republican stronghold.
SHAPIRO: In fact, South Carolina has a perfect track record of picking the eventual Republican nominee. The question now is whether last night broke South Carolina's streak of picking winners, or unseated Romney as the winning pick.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who supports Romney, urged people to take a deep breath.
GOV. TIM PAWLENTY: I think most observers, if they weren't looking at just the sentiment of this moment but stepped back a month - or three months or six months - would say, you know, Mitt was going to perhaps have a challenge on his hands in Iowa and South Carolina, but would do well in New Hampshire and then Florida and beyond. And so that plan is still very much intact.
SHAPIRO: It's true that Romney has always said that this nominating contest will be a marathon, and not a sprint. But until last night, he never sounded like he meant it. His campaign has raised the money and built the infrastructure to go the distance, if that's what it takes. Now, for the first time, it seems like they may be put to use.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Columbia South Carolina.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Two candidates who never really caught fire in South Carolina were former Senator Rick Santorum, and congressman Ron Paul. Neither will acknowledge that it's now a two-man race between Gingrich and Romney. And each says the campaign goes on.
NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
Other than Mitt Romney, the candidate dealt the biggest blow in South Carolina was Rick Santorum. He came in third, with 17 percent. But last night, at an election party at The Citadel military college, he found comfort in one fact in this unpredictable year.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
RICK SANTORUM: Well, three states, three winners - what a great country.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: He is referring to an Iowa win for Santorum - though that wasn't sorted out until two days ago, depriving him of some potential momentum. New Hampshire went for Romney and now, Gingrich gets one.
Santorum had counted on South Carolina's large evangelical population being in his camp, but Gingrich won that group.
For Ron Paul, this was never a state where he expected his libertarian view of government to play well. He spoke to supporters in Columbia last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RON PAUL: Thank you. Thank you. Sounds like a lot of enthusiasm. I love it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GONYEA: Paul then made it clear that he sees the race as far, far from over.
PAUL: Also, there's been now three elections, and a total of 37 delegates have been chosen so far - less than 2 percent; like, 1.5 percent. This is the beginning of a long, hard slog.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: Paul did find something to cheer in getting 13 percent. He pointed out that his vote total is more than four times the number he got in the South Carolina primary during his 2008 run for the presidency.
And for Ron Paul supporter Jeff Mattox, it's a victory that Paul's message is reaching more people.
JEFF MATTOX: So the message is growing. And the more - once you get the message that Dr. Paul is talking about, you won't go back again.
GONYEA: The Florida primary is next. But Paul is already looking beyond that - to a series of caucuses in Nevada and elsewhere, where he likes his chances. Santorum will be in Florida.
At last night's rally, I asked supporter Gresham Barrett, a former South Carolina congressman, how an underfunded underdog can compete in the Sunshine State.
GRESHAM BARRETT: Well, that's it - I mean, you just think. It's a bigger state; a lot more organization, a lot more money. I mean, who knows? I mean, I don't know who's ahead. But I know one thing: Nobody will outwork Rick Santorum.
GONYEA: But breaking through will get even harder for Santorum, especially if the Gingrich-Romney rematch in Florida becomes a dominant storyline.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Charleston.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We go now to Egypt, where a group of foreign ministers from the Arab League is meeting today. There are news reports that the group has decided to extend a month-long observer mission in Syria.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro has been tracking events there, and she joins us now from Cairo. Welcome to the program, Lulu.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Thank you.
MARTIN: First off, can you give us a little more about the decision to extend? What do you know?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, they've opted - as we've pretty much knew they would, Rachel - to extend the mission for one more month. They'll be expanding, apparently, how many observers will be in there, for a start, which will allow it a much more robust presence.
You know, this mission has been fraught with difficulty. The observers were pretty much thrown in there. They didn't have a lot of logistical support; a few had training. They're only about 165 of them. And they found themselves in a tough spot in Syria. On the one hand, the pro-Assad people dislike them. They've had their vehicles stoned as they drive by, on their way to towns or cities where there's been fighting.
On the other hand, the opposition inside Syria, I think, fundamentally has misunderstood their role. This is an observer mission. It has no mandate to intervene, even if they witness violence. Their role is to witness and report.
MARTIN: The observer mission chief, I understand, wanted this mission extended. What does he think he can accomplish by staying longer on the ground in Syria?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, the idea is that the one month was simply not enough time. With more monitors and more support, he feels they can fulfill the objectives of the mission. And also, there's a general feeling - if not this, than what? The path forward for the international community, and for the Arab League, isn't clear regarding Syria. The head of the mission feels that they've been able to make a difference on the ground; that they can make more of a difference if the mission is allowed to continue.
But, you know, it's been very controversial. People allege this mission is toothless. Monitors, as you know, have quit, alleging they haven't been allowed to witness the truth inside Syria. They also say the mandate is generally weak; it has no power to stop the violence. Also, you know, the head of this mission is a Sudanese general whose president is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. So people wonder what he's doing heading this kind of operation, and if he can be trusted.
You know, basically, everyone is grappling with what to do about Syria. And unlike Libya, there's a real reluctance on the part of the international community for intervention.
MARTIN: The Syrian opposition didn't want this mission extended, but why?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, the Syrian National Council met with the head of the Arab League before this meeting today. And they asked him to scrap the mission, and refer the Syria file to the United Nations Security Council. They're hoping that the U.N. will give a mandate for intervention, similar to what happened in Libya. They want actual intervention. They say look, this mission isn't working. It's been giving the Assad regime cover to commit more atrocities. Five hundred people have been killed since the mission began - other groups say it's close to a thousand people.
And so the Syrian National Council has prepared its own counter-report, to show what it says are the inadequacies of the observers' report. But frankly, they're in a tough spot as well. You know, it's not really clear that even if this was given to the United Nations Security Council, what would happen. Russia is a staunch supporter of the Assad regime. And so Russia is likely to use its veto for any resolution authorizing intervention.
MARTIN: And quickly, Lulu, has there been any response from the leader of Syria to this decision - Bashar al-Assad?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, the decision actually hasn't come out fully yet. And Syria does have to actually agreed to have the mission extended. And also, if there are going to be more monitors put in place, it also has to agree to those terms. So we're still waiting to find out exactly what the terms of this new mission will be and what, exactly, is going to change on the ground.
MARTIN: NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Cairo. Thanks very much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Time now for your comments. Last week, I spoke with Patricia Cohen about her new book, "In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age."
PATRICIA COHEN: Well, I like to say that middle age is something of a never-never land. Younger people never want to enter it, and older people never want to leave it once they get there.
MARTIN: Our conversation prompted dozens of listener responses. Mark Kropf posted at NPR.org: It is fine and good to talk of these vague periods of our life, but what do they mean? In an era where one can see AARP stories of marathoning seniors, or see Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger still trooping about, how valid is it to talk of middle age? Senior citizens strut about both on and off stage as never before. So then, what of middle age? Is it even a construct of utility? Is it something we've outgrown?
Deb Dedon adds: Biological time is partly physical and partly emotional. Maybe the question is more social than biological. Women begin to disappear during menopause, a biological marker for middle age. We can no longer reproduce, so is our glass half-empty or half-full?
We also aired a profile of artist Chris Burden, who has a new sculpture at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Metropolis II" is a scale model of L.A., with 1,200 toy cars zooming around on curvy tracks.
CHRIS BURDEN: It's like the real world. So it's like, you know, one accident causes more and more and then, you know, it's a pile-up.
MARTIN: Joe Wojciechowski posted this response: I love the reality of the automobile this piece portrays. Cars are not freedom; there is no large, open road anymore. People sit in little boxes in a line and wait - and wait. People don't drive around on salt flats, like car commercials would have you believe.
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MARTIN: And we received notes of thanks for our interview with Charlie Haden about his collaboration with pianist Hank Jones. Jones died three months after the men recorded the spirituals and folk songs on Haden's new album, called "Come Sunday."
Rebecca Hansbrough writes: What an exceptional piece that revealed a unique introduction, and source of inspiration, to Charlie Haden's world of jazz. Jazz, like blues, country and gospel, are musical art forms that quite often tell personal stories - painful ones but joyous ones as well. It also reveals growth and enlightenment.
Enlighten us, inform us - we want to hear from you. We're on Facebook and Twitter @NPRWeekend. I'm @RachelNPR. You can also go to NPR.org, and click on the link that says Contact Us.
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MARTIN: This is NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. It is that time of year again when the divas and darlings of the indie film scene descend on the snow-covered mountain town of Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. The established industry types are all there to sample the latest indie film offerings, and up and coming directors are there hoping for the distribution deal of a lifetime. There are always new faces at Sundance, but this year there is a familiar director making the rounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "DO THE RIGHT THING")
MARTIN: That's Mookie, the main character of Spike Lee's much-loved film "Do the Right Thing." Mookie's back in a new Spike Lee film. And to tell us more about it, we've got Stacey Wilson with us. She writes for the Hollywood Reporter and she joins us now from member station KPCW in Park City. Thanks for being with us, Stacey.
STACEY WILSON: Hi, Rachel. Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: OK. So, Mookie - he's coming back, being reprised in another Spike Lee movie. It's called "Red Hook Summer," another film about summertime in Brooklyn. What can you tell us about this?
WILSON: Well, I sat down with Spike a couple weeks ago when he made a rare trip to L.A. - as you know, he prefers to stay in his native New York habitat. The film is definitely a return to his kind of grit filmmaking style, very low-budget. I estimated it to be between about $600,000 and $900,000. So, very low budget, you know, compared to some of his more recent films.
MARTIN: Is there any buzz around this film besides the fact that Mookie is showing up again?
WILSON: The film kind of harkens back to "Do the Right Thing." It takes place during a summer in Brooklyn. A young boy from Atlanta spends a summer with a grandfather he's never met who's a preacher. And it was actually co-written by James McBride, who's an author who's written a number of novels, including "The Color of Water." And he and Spike wrote "Miracle at St. Anna" a few years ago together, which was about soldiers in World War II.
MARTIN: OK. So, a veteran filmmaker reinventing himself yet again. Another big name at the festival, director Peter Jackson. But he's at Sundance not as a director of a big budget, special effects kind of movie. He's there as a producer. He's showing this documentary called "West of Memphis." It's about this case that became very controversial, the West Memphis Three. Remind us what that case was about.
WILSON: In the early '90s, there were three little boys, three eight-year-old boys who were found murdered. And West Memphis is actually in Arkansas. And then they quickly arrested three teenage boys who were imprisoned and then put through a trial and were sentenced to life in prison. And a lot of people felt that very early on that the case was not handled properly, that there was not sufficient evidence to actually have them in prison. So, the film, like the HBO series that also featured this case - "Paradise Lost" - the film really gets into the nuts and bolts of how fraught with problems this case was and how DNA evidence actually exonerates the men - or a lot of people feel it exonerates the men from having killed these young boys because they had no motive. A lot of people said - it just never added up for a lot of folks.
MARTIN: So, what does Peter Jackson's film bring to this case that's different?
WILSON: Most importantly, what the film features is new evidence. As recently as this month, one of the men, Damien Echols, who has been released - all three men are now released, but they have not been exonerated. That's sort of the confusing part of it. But they were all there at the screening with Peter Jackson, with Fran Walsh, with the director, and it was very emotional for everyone.
MARTIN: And there's an interesting connection here - Joe Berlinger, who was actually the director on that "Paradise Lost" series, he's in the festival with something completely different. He's got his own documentary out on Paul Simon and the 25th anniversary of the making of "Graceland."
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WILSON: Yes, exactly, "Under African Skies." And I have not had a chance to see the film as yet, but it's very special. I think "Graceland" is a very sort of benchmark record for a lot of people I know; very meaningful to me when I was younger. And interestingly enough, Neil Young is also the subject of a documentary this year directed by Jonathan Demme. So, it'll be fascinating to see what those films shed light on.
MARTIN: And women filmmakers are making a good showing this year.
WILSON: They are. You know, it's sort of disheartening whenever we bring up that, you know, bring up that topic as it's sort of, you know, still kind of a novelty, which obviously, there are so many women making films. But what's fun is that a lot of the films are getting a little bit more lighthearted. John Cooper, the director of the festival, stated the other day, he said, you know, it's so amazing. There's so many comedies this year, which, you know, a lot of people who have Sundance you feel things are very serious a lot of the times. Independent filmmakers tend to be serious folks telling serious stories. But there are a couple of very fun lighthearted films. Two wedding-themed films, interestingly. Both were not sort of on the heels about "Bridesmaids" but they were sort of in production when "Bridesmaids" became a hit. And they're called "Bachelorette" and "Save the Date." So, I think those will be fun. They have kind of marquee stars - Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher.
And then we also have another comedy actually directed by two men, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie," a sort of cult TV favorite; they always do very absurd fun stuff. That premiered at the festival as well. I've seen the film. It's really fun. Will Forte is in the film and Will Ferrell produced it with "Funny or Die." So, I think we're seeing comedies becoming more and more of a priority because there's no reason these movies can't be fun.
MARTIN: Stacey Wilson of the Hollywood Reporter. The Sundance Film Festival runs until January 29. Stacey, thanks so much.
WILSON: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
Legendary coach Joe Paterno has died. The man synonymous with Penn State football developed complications from lung cancer. He was 85. Paterno was an iconic figure. He coached at Penn State for 61 years. His long tenure ended amidst a child sexual abuse scandal late last year. NPR's Tom Goldman has this remembrance.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: The man Penn Staters fondly called JoePa seemed to cement his golden legacy last October 29th.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
JOE PATERNO: Something like this really means a lot to me, an awful lot.
GOLDMAN: Joe Paterno had just won a Division I record 409th game, the capper on a Hall of Fame career that included two national championships and five undefeated seasons. But days later, the golden legacy turned a distinct shade of gray when the Jerry Sandusky bomb went off. Paterno's longtime assistant coach was arrested and charged with multiple counts of child sexual abuse. And then, this announcement, by Penn State Board of Trustees Vice Chairman John Surma:
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JOHN SURMA: Joe Paterno is no longer the head football coach, effective immediately.
GOLDMAN: It was a stunning, abrupt end to 46 years as head coach. One of the reasons why Paterno was fired - he didn't do enough when alerted to Sandusky's alleged crimes. That was the biggest irony: Joe Paterno, not doing enough? This was the guy who did so much for the school he loved.
Longtime Penn State football broadcaster Fran Fisher remembers Paterno winning his first national championship in 1983, and then speaking before the Penn State Board of Trustees.
FRAN FISHER: Challenging them to make this university, in all aspects, a champion, if you will - a national champion.
GOLDMAN: What followed, says Fisher, were wildly successful fundraising campaigns, one after the other.
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(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GOLDMAN: To be fair, there were those - mostly outside Happy Valley - who felt like telling Paterno the same thing. His prickly nature rubbed some the wrong way, as did the way he was deified in State College - to which the deifiers said, fine, show us a famous head coach who will interrupt his morning jog - in khakis, no less - to stop and take pictures with a local and her family, the way he did once with State College resident Andrea Blumstein.
ANDREA BLUMSTEIN: That was it for me, you know. That was the top thing that you could ever do in this town - is meet Joe Paterno. So I will cherish that day that I met him.
GOLDMAN: Or, the argument continues: Show us a head coach at a huge football school for whom student-athlete is more than an empty phrase. Paterno, the literate guy who translated classic readings from Latin to English in high school, embarked on a grand experiment at Penn State to prove that top-notch football players still could excel in school.
For the most part, it worked. Final confirmation came just last month: Penn State football was ranked first academically among the top 25 teams in the country, by the New America Foundation.
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UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: (Chanting) One more game! One more game!
GOLDMAN: The night Joe Paterno was fired, Penn State students took to the streets, demanding that Paterno coach the final home game of the season - which, of course, he didn't. An unfortunate end, says Andrea Blumstein, to Paterno's professional story.
BLUMSTEIN: You know, everybody in this town - and in the Penn State community - would always say ah, he'll die on that field; he'll die on that field. And he'll never have that exit, that grace of leaving that field on his terms.
GOLDMAN: Of course, even Paterno acknowledged that was partly his fault. On reporting Sandusky's alleged behavior, Paterno said: I wish I had done more. It's now part of his legacy. But those who knew him, and revered him, stress only part.
1987 Penn State graduate Chris Raymond wrote this in Esquire magazine: If the Paterno way is discarded along with Paterno, then this tragedy will have been miserably, terribly compounded.
Tom Goldman, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And now we bring you a fantasy newscast.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: A giant beast of a man bursts into a presidential press conference, is shot by secret police. And now, two days later, the White House is telling us that this befuddled intruder in a carnival mustache really is the missing former President William Howard Taft. Almost a hundred years...
GREENE: This report comes straight out of a new novel called "Taft 2012." It's a satirical look at presidential politics through the eyes of a president who served a century ago. Author Jason Heller conjured up news accounts and classified reports, all pointing to something unimaginable: that William Howard Taft was back.
Here's the author, Heller, reading the account of a Secret Service agent who spotted an intruder.
JASON HELLER: (Reading) He was a very large man, over 6 feet tall, probably 300 pounds, wearing a formal tweed suit. He had white hair and a handlebar mustache. My first thought was that he looked like some sort of deranged presidential history buff dressed up as William Howard Taft.
GREENE: But in fact this was, in your book, William Howard Taft.
HELLER: The one and only.
GREENE: Now, the one and only Taft was larger than life. And there's this myth that has always tainted his reputation.
HELLER: Unfortunately he's mostly known as the president who got stuck in the bathtub.
GREENE: We should say historians have not confirmed the bathtub incident. But...
HELLER: I think that, that sort of sort of caricature of him has lasted longer than his actual political legacy. So he's kind of this president who is seen as, in many cases, a buffoon. And his presidency sort of falls between the cracks of two more pivotal presidents, Teddy Roosevelt before him and Woodrow Wilson after.
GREENE: We should say a lot of the book is just absolutely nuts.
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GREENE: You have Taft traveling across the country, sitting in bars on New Year's Eve, tweeting along the way, learning about Twitter. I mean is there a place in the book where you look back and you say - even you say, this is just way too absurd - I can't believe I wrote this?
HELLER: I really like having him be sort of implausible. You know, I can set that tone right off the bat by having this mud-covered were-walrus of a man wandering around the White House lawn.
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HELLER: Then maybe I'm telegraphing to the reader, OK, this is the kind of ride that we're going to be going on.
GREENE: I want to ask you about one of the characters, sort of a touching character in the book, Irene Kay, who develops a relationship with the reborn President Taft. Tell us about Irene.
HELLER: So, Taft comes back to life but he has no living link to the past until he hears from Irene Kay, who is a 106-year-old woman living in a nursing home in Cincinnati, which is Taft's hometown. And they become friends because, well, for a lot of different reasons, but the main one being here's a woman who actually remembers his time. And that becomes something that he really clings to, to orient himself.
GREENE: And there's a touching moment in a nursing home where Irene tells Taft: Don't let these times taint you. If there's one thing this generation loves, it's to make things more difficult than they have to be.
And I wonder if you could pick up the conversation there on page 203, with Irene telling Taft: don't forget who you are.
HELLER: (Reading) "Remember what made this a great nation, what made you a great man in the first place." "And what might that be?" asked Taft, a sad smile touching his face. "Being you, being yourself - all of us, from 1776 on. Reach into your heart. Do what you have to do but don't let them turn you into someone else." She lightly rattled the tubes and wires that connected her body to the devices that kept her alive. "Don't let this century eat you up, President William Howard Taft. You eat it."
GREENE: You paint this picture, Jason, of, you know, if candidates today would just be who they are, ignore the interest group, the lobbyists, the media pressures that we see today. But is it really that easy, do you think?
HELLER: The book isn't so much about him being an actual alternative. It's about people seeing him as a symbol, as something to strive toward. To have to navigate the political landscape as it is, you have to sort of out-bastard the bastards, I think.
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HELLER: You know, as cynical as I can be about politics, I do think that it never hurts to have someone out there who at least presents that alternative. You know, having that kind of hope is something that I hope people never lose. You know, the moment that's completely gone, then we're in even more trouble than we might already be.
GREENE: That's Jason Heller. He is author of the new book "Taft 2012."
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Publishers and booksellers are worried that Amazon is going to devour their industry. The online retailer seems to have its hands in all aspects of the business now, from selling books to publishing them, and that has people wondering if there is any end to Amazon's influence, as NPR's Lynn Neary reports.
LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Publishers have a problem when it comes to discussing Amazon. They may fear its power, but they're also dependent on it, because like it or not, Amazon sells a lot of books. But lately, the grumbling about Amazon has been growing louder, with some in the book industry openly describing Amazon's tactics as predatory.
JOE WIKERT: Well, certainly the word predator is pretty strong, and I don't use it loosely, but I should also mention that up until probably a few months ago, I've been one of Amazon's biggest fanatics.
NEARY: Joe Wikert is general manager and publisher at O'Reilly Media. For a long time, publishers have been complaining about Amazon's pricing policies; they sold e-books at cut rate prices in order to win customers for the Kindle. And now, says Wikert, they're undercutting their competitors by selling e-readers, like the new Kindle Fire, at a loss.
WIKERT: And I could have sworn at one point we had laws against predatory pricing. And I just don't understand why that's not an issue because that's got to be hurting other device makers out there in trying to capture part of this market.
NEARY: But Wikert's also well aware that Amazon has made life very convenient for consumers.
WIKERT: Amazon has built a one-click model - and I do it all the time - where it's so simple and easy for me to get a sample or just to buy the book outright. I know that there are other options out there, but it requires several extra steps that you have to go through, and that's what's really kind of challenging.
NEARY: Just before Christmas, Amazon infuriated booksellers with its price check app, which allowed customers to check out prices in brick and mortar stores, then get a discount if they bought from Amazon. Dennis Johnson of Melville House Publishing has long been a vocal critic of Amazon.
DENNIS JOHNSON: I feel that in the book industry, which is a very timid industry, that was the thing that really got people saying, you know, it's time for us to stand up to this and try to do something.
NEARY: Melville House Publishing is trying to develop a number of things to help booksellers. One of them is the shelf talker, a digital display which helps customers browse through print books in a brick and mortar store but buy e-books from that store's website instead of from Amazon.
JOHNSON: They can just whip out their smart phone, scan the code on whatever the display item is. They're magically, immediately at the store's website and they can buy the book within moments.
NEARY: But such devices bear no small resemblance to the slingshot David used against Goliath. Johnson would prefer to see Amazon investigated for antitrust violations, but he's not expecting that will happen anytime soon. And recently he got more evidence of just how many tentacles Amazon has in the book world when none other than beloved librarian Nancy Pearl, MORNING EDITION commentator and darling of independent bookstores, struck a deal with Amazon.
JOHNSON: You know, I work in an open office and one of my staffers saw that online and I heard him say, wow, and then he read it out to us in the office. And we all just kind of sat there quietly trying to take it in, because it was such a surprise.
NEARY: Amazon has agreed to publish at least a dozen of Nancy Pearl's favorite novels, which had been out of print. Pearl will provide an introduction, book discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading. Pearl says much of the reaction to the news has been positive, but not all of it.
NANCY PEARL: There's been pushback that I've gone over to the dark side and allied myself with these people who are destroying the book business as we know it.
NEARY: The venture, called Book Lust Rediscoveries, is something Pearl has wanted to do for years. She had reservations about going with Amazon, but says she shopped it to other publishers who didn't pick it up.
PEARL: Amazon just blew me, my agent - both of us - away with their enthusiasm for doing something so wonderful as resurrecting books that never should have gone out of print in the first place.
NEARY: So add a curatorial role to Amazon's hydra-like book business. It makes it just that much harder, says Dennis Johnson, to cut the behemoth down to size.
JOHNSON: I mean, it's on so many fronts. As I say, librarians feel like they're under assault by them, booksellers feel like they're under assault by them, publishers feel like they're under assault by them - and in each instance, they are.
NEARY: Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
Today in Your Health, we begin a series about depression. And we start with NPR's Alix Spiegel, who looks at an idea about what causes depression. This is a notion introduced years ago, one that remains popular, that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.
ALIX SPIEGEL, BYLINE: When I was 17 years old, I got so depressed that what felt like an enormous black hole appeared in my chest. Everywhere I went, the black hole went too. So to address this black hole problem, my parents eventually took me to a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She did an evaluation and then told me this story.
The problem with you, she explained, is that you have a chemical imbalance. It's biological, just like diabetes, but it's in your brain. This chemical in your brain called serotonin is too, too low. There's not enough of it, and that's what's causing the chemical imbalance. We need to give you medication to correct that. Then she handed my mother a prescription for Prozac.
Now, that was the late '80s, but this story about a chemical imbalance brought on by low serotonin has remained popular. For the last 20 years it's been told all kinds of places.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You know when you feel the weight of sadness.
SPIEGEL: In this 2004 commercial for Zoloft, a drug similar to Prozac, an unhappy looking cartoon circle bumps along, frowning and sighing frequently. Apparently life as a cartoon circle is not what it used to be. Why?
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Depression may be related to an imbalance of natural chemicals between nerve cells in the brain. Prescription Zoloft works to correct this imbalance.
SPIEGEL: In 2012, you can find that basic message repeated on the popular website Ways and How, a how-to website filled with colorful videos which includes this explanation in one of its tutorials on how to combat mental disorders.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Studies have shown that low levels of serotonin can cause many problems, such as depression and anxiety. If not addressed properly, these effects can be dangerous.
SPIEGEL: And it's not just websites or drug commercials. This idea that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain brought on by a deficit of serotonin is repeated in news accounts and in doctors' offices. It is a very sturdy little narrative. But for many scientists who research depression, this explanation no longer satisfies. Here's Dr. Joseph Coyle, a professor of neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, who's also the editor of psychiatry's most prestigious journal, the General Archives of Psychiatry.
DR. JOSEPH COYLE: Chemical imbalance is sort of last-century thinking. It's much more complicated than that. And it's not the way we talk about it. It's really an outmoded way of thinking.
SPIEGEL: While serotonin clearly plays a role in depression, Coyle says, low serotonin is probably not the cause of depression. Scientific thinking, he says, has shifted. Still, the story remains.
ALAN FRAZER: I'm not sure I know of any sort of story that has supplanted it.
SPIEGEL: This is Dr. Alan Frazer, chair of the department of pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Frazer researches how antidepressant medications work. And I asked him to give me a history of the serotonin story, because I wanted to understand its staying power.
Frazer says the first time anyone used a pill to treat depression was in the '50s, when a psychiatrist in Switzerland gave a newly developed drug to 10 patients who had been paralyzed by depression for years and over three weeks observed a distinct change in their behavior.
FRAZER: There was this lightening of their mood. They became more energized. They became more interested in things around them. They weren't as tearful, etcetera.
SPIEGEL: That was the birth of the very first antidepressants. And with that birth came a question.
FRAZER: How are they working to make people better?
SPIEGEL: Now, researchers had some ideas, but it wasn't until the '60s that a real narrative began to take shape. That was when researchers discovered the cause of Parkinson's disease. Turned out that Parkinson's, a brain disorder, was caused by a deficiency in this chemical in the brain called dopamine. So it became easy to think, well, maybe the same thing is happening with depression.
FRAZER: It became easy to speculate that perhaps depression was due to a deficiency.
SPIEGEL: The question, of course, was what chemical was too low. Which was it? For decades, researchers argued this question. Then, Frazer says, something happened.
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SPIEGEL: You know where we're going with this inspirational music, right? Prozac.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Talk to your doctor today or visit Prozac.com. Welcome back.
FRAZER: Prozac just blew everything else out of the water.
SPIEGEL: Almost as soon as it was introduced in 1987, the antidepressant Prozac was a blockbuster. It's a drug that targets serotonin. And according to Frazer, Prozac changed the public's relationship to antidepressants. Every antidepressant before Prozac had serious side effects. But Prozac was easy to take.
FRAZER: It doesn't cause people to get dry mouth, to be incontinent, to possibly fall down because of hypotension.
SPIEGEL: And because it had so few side effects, Prozac became wildly popular. And remember, it worked on just one chemical in the brain...
FRAZER: It worked on serotonin.
SPIEGEL: And according to Frazer, it is because of the popularity of Prozac that the low-serotonin story really came to dominate our thinking about depression, even though, Frazer argues, the scientific evidence doesn't back that up.
FRAZER: I don't think there's any convincing body of data that anybody has ever found that depression is associated, to a significant extent, with a loss of serotonin.
SPIEGEL: Pedro Delgado from the University of Texas is another researcher who makes this argument. In the '80s, he did a study that showed that if you take a normal person and deplete them of serotonin, they will not become depressed.
PEDRO DELGADO: That was the first really strong evidence which suggested that in human beings low serotonin wasn't causing depression.
SPIEGEL: Joseph Coyle, the editor of the General Archives of Psychiatry, who you heard from earlier, is less dismissive of the evidence on serotonin. His take is that while low serotonin probably doesn't cause depression, some abnormality in the serotonin system clearly plays a role. But he says most researchers have moved on. They're looking at more fundamental issues, like indentifying the genes which might put people at risk for developing depression.
COYLE: What's being looked at is processes that are much more fundamental than simply thinking about serotonin levels. We need to move beyond serotonin, and I think the field is.
SPIEGEL: So why do many people still talk about low serotonin causing depression? Why does this story stick?
Alan Frazer says that that way of framing the problem has allowed patients to feel better about taking a drug.
FRAZER: Feel better about themselves, if there was this biological reason for them being depressed, some deficiency, and the drug was correcting it. They had a chemical imbalance and the drug was correcting that imbalance.
SPIEGEL: In fact, he feels the story enabled many people to come out of the closet about being depressed and still does.
FRAZER: It's like yeah, I have depression, but I have a chemical imbalance and you have hyperthyroidism and you have a chemical imbalance and my chemical imbalance just happens to affect my brain.
SPIEGEL: Still, there's no question that the story also has downsides. Though everyone agrees that depression is caused by biology, at least in part, describing the problem exclusively in biological terms convinced many people that antidepressants were the only answer when other therapies - like talk therapy - can work just as well.
But Pedro Delgado agrees with Frazer that the story has benefits. Delgado points out that years of research have demonstrated that uncertainty itself can be harmful to people. Which is why, he says, clear, simple explanations are so very important.
DELGADO: When you feel that you understand it, a lot of the stress levels dramatically are reduced. So stress hormones and a lot of biological factors change.
SPIEGEL: And the real story is complicated, and in a way, not all that reassuring. Researchers don't know what causes depression. They're making progress, but they really don't know. That's the real story. It's not a blockbuster.
Alix Spiegel, NPR News.
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INSKEEP: And that's Your Health on this Monday morning. We'll hear more about depression next week. Problems with the current antidepressants and an experimental drug that has changed the lives of some people with depression.
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INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman joined with other state attorneys general last year who were suing five large mortgage servicers. But he was disturbed by the shape of the agreement, and says banks wanted broad protection from lawsuits over other mortgage practices. So he started his own investigation.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Some of the nation's biggest banks are reportedly getting close to a settlement with authorities over practices related to the so-called robo-signing scandal, which involved foreclosure paperwork. But the much-delayed settlement still faces a lot of challenges. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is raising objections to highlight the role of big banks in the financial crisis.
From member station WNYC, Ilya Marritz reports.
ILYA MARRITZ, BYLINE: The attorney general of New York is one of the most high-profile law enforcement jobs in the country. There's Wall Street and the media glare. And Eric Schneiderman gets to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of the state and the son of former governor Mario Cuomo. Can't be easy.
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN: Good afternoon, I'm Eric Schneiderman, I'm very happy to be here.
MARRITZ: Despite his low-key style, Schneiderman has drawn national attention in his first year in the job.
On a ride with the AG in his state-issued SUV, we pass the site of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Schneiderman didn't take part, but he agrees with some of the message.
SCHNEIDERMAN: People aren't sure what happened but they know that this was a manmade catastrophe, that there are people who caused the bubble and the crash.
MARRITZ: And Schneiderman is out for justice - his idea of justice. When he became attorney general a little over a year ago, Schneiderman joined with other state AG's who were suing five large mortgage servicers, including Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. The idea was to get a settlement with these banks that could bring in aid for hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners who'd been served faulty foreclosure documents. But the shape of this agreement disturbed Schneiderman. He says banks wanted broad protection from lawsuits over other mortgage practices - like how huge volumes of bad loans were made in the first place, and the creation of toxic mortgage-backed securities.
SCHNEIDERMAN: So I wasn't willing to provide a release that released conduct that hadn't been investigated, essentially. So we started our own investigation.
MARRITZ: Using New York's powerful Martin Act, which allows the state's top law enforcer wide powers of subpoena.
SCHNEIDERMAN: So this started to catch on and I guess the AG who was leading this effort decided he didn't particularly like my critique, so he - they removed me from the executive committee.
MARRITZ: This was in August. Tom Miller, the Iowa attorney general, and a fellow Democrat, strongly disputes this version of events. He says Schneiderman wasn't ejected, he quit. And Miller says, he wasn't about to give the banks some kind of blanket immunity. Either way, an ugly rift was now out in the open. Schneiderman is pushing ahead with his probe. He has more than a dozen lawyers on the case, and says they are finding, quote, "really interesting evidence of misconduct." But he isn't offering any specifics.
Jeffrey Naimon, an attorney who frequently represents banks in court, isn't ready to call Schneiderman's probe posturing. But he believes Schneiderman will find evidence only of bad judgment, not fraud.
JEFFREY NAIMON: Yeah, there were loans that were made that right now we'd look back and them and say, you know what? It was a mistake to make those loans.
MARRITZ: But...
NAIMON: Was it wrongdoing to make those loans? No.
MARRITZ: Naimon sounds confident, but people in the banking industry are watching the attorney general closely.
Eric Schneiderman was born and raised in Manhattan, the son of a successful corporate lawyer. He went to private schools, and got an early taste of the law while working as a deputy sheriff in a Massachusetts prison. Later, as a state senator, Schneiderman championed the rollback of a 1970s law that harshly punished possession of even small quantities of drugs. Criminal justice reform is far from high finance, but Schneiderman draws a common thread: the need for equal justice.
Eliot Spitzer, the former attorney general, says on the mortgage settlement issue, Schneiderman has already forced a change in thinking on the national level.
ELIOT SPITZER: We don't know where it will end up, but I think he has been a very good voice, saying that the position that had been taken by most state AGs and Washington was not sufficiently rigorous.
MARRITZ: However, if the other state AGs reach a settlement with banks over robo-signing, troubled homeowners could start to get checks in the mail. And if New York is not a part of it, Schneiderman will have to explain why homeowners in his state aren't getting help, and why it's worth it to continue investigating.
For NPR News, I'm Ilya Marritz.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And now, let's move onto one of NPR Music's most anticipated albums of 2012. "The Lions Roar" by the band First Aid Kit is out tomorrow.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EMMYLOU")
FIRST AID KIT: (Singing) Oh, the bitter winds are coming in and I'm already missing the summer...
INSKEEP: First Aid Kit is two sisters, ages 18 and 21, from Sweden, making music that sounds like a slice of Americana.
KLARA SODERBERG: I am Klara. I am the younger sister. I play guitar and I sing in our band, First Aid Kit.
JOHANNA SODERBERG: And I'm Joanna. And I play keyboard and autoharp, and sing, too.
INSKEEP: Klara and Johanna Soderberg wrote the songs for this album while on their last tour. Many, like what you're hearing now, started with ideas, short riffs recorded on a cell phone.
J. SODERBERG: Klara had done some different parts like for different songs. And I just like listened to it. And I realized, well, we can just put all these ones together and it's a finished song.
INSKEEP: And the result was the song "Emmylou."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EMMYLOU")
FIRST AID KIT: (Singing) I'll be your Emmylou and I'll be your June. And you'll be my Gram and my Johnny, too. No, I'm not asking much of you. Just sing, little darling, sing with me.
INSKEEP: First Aid Kit is known for harmonies like what you were just hearing, and sweet melodies paired with lyrics that are often dark.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLUE")
FIRST AID KIT: (Singing) And the only man you ever loved, that you thought was going to marry you, died in a car accident when he was only 22.
INSKEEP: Klara says she's been writing songs like this since she was 14.
K. SODERBERG: Writing the song is sort of like a way of us dealing with our fear of sort of like becoming these women ourselves.
INSKEEP: Women who have lost their voices.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KING OF THE WORLD")
FIRST AID KIT: (Singing) And once you asked me, what was my biggest fear, that things would always remain so unclear. That one day I'd wake up all alone with a big family and emptiness deep in my bones.
INSKEEP: That song is called "King of the World," one of the new ones from Klara and Johanna Soderberg of First Aid Kit. Their latest album, "The Lion's Roar," is out tomorrow but you can hear it right now at our website, nprmusic.org.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm David Greene.
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Of course, the winner of the Republican nomination will face President Obama in November. Democrats have expected to face Mitt Romney and, in fact, have already attacked him. Some have shown glee in recent days at the prospect of facing Newt Gingrich, who scores relatively poorly in national approval ratings right now. But the president's most preferred opponent may actually be Congress.
Republicans in Congress just finished a year of frustration and widespread public disapproval of their policies. So this past weekend, the House GOP gathered in Baltimore to regroup and set out their priorities for 2012.
NPR's Andrea Seabrook joined them and filed this report.
ANDREA SEABROOK, BYLINE: The last battle scar of 2011 came in December. House Republicans painted themselves into a corner on extending unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cut, exposing their internal rifts and the loose control of their leaders. A PR fiasco, one GOP lawmaker called it. They could compromise with the Democrats or allow taxes to go up - neither option palatable to large portions of the majority.
Then, two days before Christmas, their speaker, John Boehner, agreed to a short-term deal with the Democrats, pushing it through by a voice vote on an empty House floor. Republicans closed out the year in discord. So when Speaker Boehner gathered the House GOP in Baltimore this past weekend, there was really only one task at hand - reunify the party.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Well, good afternoon, everyone.
SEABROOK: And what better way to do that than with a common enemy.
BOEHNER: President Obama's policies have not helped our economy. As a matter of fact, his policies have made our economy worse.
SEABROOK: The Republicans' thesis statement for 2012. Boehner made clear he will use every tool he has to drive that point home, including the congressional powers of oversight of the executive branch.
BOEHNER: I've asked every member and every committee to look at the president's policies and to help the American people understand and to help, frankly, other members of Congress understand, the devastating impact of these policies on our economy.
SEABROOK: Another Republican leader, Jeb Hensarling, said the party's singular focus this election year will be on President Obama.
REPRESENTATIVE JEB HENSARLING: He promised the American people hope and change, and now we see a nation that has lost hope. But they have seen the change. Almost two million more Americans have lost their jobs under his economic policies.
SEABROOK: And the GOP's number two guy, Eric Cantor, took every opportunity to dispute the idea that Republicans are facing serious divisions within their ranks.
REPRESENTATIVE ERIC CANTOR: We are united. We are united in the cause that we've come here. We are united as a conference. There's no question we are united going forward into this year.
SEABROOK: It's only when you leave the safe space of the Republican retreat's pressroom and venture out into the hotel lobby that you start to hear a different version of the facts.
REPRESENTATIVE MIKE SIMPSON: Yeah, there were some challenges in December, for sure. Those challenges still remain.
SEABROOK: Idaho Republican Mike Simpson points out that there are only a few weeks left before unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cut expire again. He would like to see his party dodge the divisions they exposed in December.
SIMPSON: And try to get together as a team. That's always something that has to be re-emphasized time and time again - that teamwork is how we get something done.
SEABROOK: Sounds like that's a big issue this year.
SIMPSON: Yeah, it is. It is.
SEABROOK: California's David Dreier says he believes Republicans can pull it together.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVID DREIER: We're going to get there. I mean in the next few weeks, we're going to do the one-year extension of unemployment insurance and the one-year extension of the payroll tax. Those are the priorities and that has to be done in the next few weeks.
SEABROOK: Problem is, off-microphone some GOP lawmakers say they still don't believe unemployment benefits should be extended again, and they worry the payroll tax cut adds to the deficit without stimulating the economy. These members of Congress, many of them freshman and Tea Party affiliated, could decide to take up the fight again within their own party. That would undermine any unified message out of the House Republican leadership. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: By the way, the website Real Clear Politics compiles polls showing the approval ratings for Congress, and in the past year it's been unusually interesting reading. The latest figure shows an approval rating for Congress of 13.3 percent. That is actually up a tiny bit from their all-time lows late last year. This, of course, is a rating for Congress as an institution. It's worth remembering that most individual incumbents do much better in their districts. Democrats have a narrow lead in the so-called generic ballot right now, in which voters are asked which party they plan to vote for in November.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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Let's go to Russia now. There's a presidential election coming in March. And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to win, though there are questions now about whether Putin can reach the 50 percent needed to win in a first round.
Many Russians are angry over alleged ballot-rigging during recent parliamentary elections. That anger has sparked mass demonstrations and created room for Putin's opponents to make some headway. NPR's Jackie Northam reports from Moscow on the diverse and even unusual collection of players in the opposition.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: On a recent cold, gray day here in Moscow, several dozen reporters and photographers milled about restlessly on the main floor of the Central Election Commission. The person they were waiting to see was supposed to be there at 10 a.m. Nearly six hours later, Mikhail Prokhorov appeared at the front door and smiled for the cameras.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMERAS SHUTTERS CLICKING)
NORTHAM: Prokhorov is six foot, eight inches and slim, and sporting a very expensive, well-cut, suit. He is one of the richest men in Russia, making most of his fortune in nickel mining. The 46-year-old Prokhorov is also the owner of the New Jersey Nets, and now he's running for president of Russia. He's got the money to organize, plenty of connections and, so far, no problems with the Kremlin.
Prokhorov was at the election commission to hand in more than two million signed forms necessary to endorse his candidacy. Quite a feat, considering he had only one month to collect the names. He looked stiff and uncomfortable, not what you would call a natural candidate. There's ongoing criticism that Prime Minister Putin brought Prokhorov into the presidential race to help split the opposition. Prokhorov denies it.
MIKHAIL PROKHOROV: (Through translator) Anything I say now will not be very convincing. So it is necessary to prove this not by words but by deeds. That's what I've always done in business.
NORTHAM: Prokhorov hopes to appeal to middle-class voters who are fed up with endemic corruption and the political elite, especially Putin. And they've taken to the streets to demand change.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING PROTESTERS)
NORTHAM: The mass protests that erupted in December seemed to have breathed new life into the opposition here; everything from the political old guard, to artists and writers, to a new breed of activists using the Internet to keep the protests alive.
One of the galvanizing forces behind the opposition is a 35-year-old lawyer named Alexei Navalny.
ALEXEI NAVALNY: (Foreign language spoken)
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD RESPONSE)
NORTHAM: Navalny is young, brash and capable of invigorating the crowds. He calls United Russia, the ruling party, the party of crooks and thieves. But Navalny isn't running for president. He says he won't until he's sure the elections will be free and fair. In fact, there's no one person leading the many activists and new movements sharing the stage with Navalny.
Commentator Konstantin von Eggert says at some point they'll have to decide whether to stay together and pursue political aims, or split up. Otherwise, he says, the protests could peter out.
KONSTANTIN VON EGGERT: People cannot live on emotions forever and this is the problem with this movement. It will eventually have to take some organized forms to which people could relate without being called to the street every third week.
NORTHAM: But organizing isn't always easy. The Kremlin can throw up obstacles that are impossible to clear.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
NORTHAM: A narrow flight of stairs takes you down to a cramped, dingy basement and the office of Vladimir Ryzhkov, the co-chair of the liberal People's Freedom Party. Ryzhkov was in the Duma, the parliament, for more than a decade, until the Kremlin refused to allow his party to register. Ryzhkov says it's part of Putin's systematic tightening of political freedom.
VLADIMIR RYZHKOV: We can't participate in elections, in any elections, on any level. Putin closed more than 40 political parties for the last four years. Now, we have only seven registered political parties, and only registered political parties could participate in elections.
NORTHAM: Those registered parties include the Communists, who are expected to place a distant second in the presidential election, a hard-right party, and every ideology in between - none of which is expected to garner many votes.
Jackie Northam, NPR News, Moscow.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: And you're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
Each of the first states to vote in the presidential race raises the stakes.
INSKEEP: Iowa holds the first caucus, New Hampshire, the first primary. South Carolina is the first Southern state to vote.
GREENE: And now Florida is the first really big state to choose. It will test the very different ways the leading contenders have campaigned.
INSKEEP: Rick Santorum has relied on personal appearances, Newt Gingrich on strong debate performances. Only Mitt Romney arrives in Florida with lots of money and organization.
GREENE: But Romney also faces a lot of questions after a crushing defeat in South Carolina.
NPR's Greg Allen reports from the next battleground.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: For the three Republican candidates actively competing here - Gingrich, Romney and Santorum - the stakes have been raised. Florida's primary, eight days from now, is winner-take-all. The top finisher gets 50 delegates, more than Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina combined.
Florida Republican Chairman Lenny Curry notes Florida is not just larger, it's also more diverse ethnically and politically.
LENNY CURRY: Because we are that diverse, winning a primary in Florida, you've basically won in a state that represents what America represents, which I think speaks to the electability and competitiveness in a general election.
ALLEN: For Mitt Romney, Florida represents a chance to hit the reset button on his campaign. A day after his drubbing in South Carolina, he held a campaign rally in Ormond Beach.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN RALLY)
MITT ROMNEY: Are you ready to send Barack Obama home to Chicago?
(CHEERING)
You know, last time, some people in Florida gave him a pass to the White House. We're taking it back, right?
(CHEERING)
ALLEN: In Florida, Romney has a lot going for him. Polls taken here - before the South Carolina primary - show him with a strong lead. He has a well-funded statewide organization that's been working for months. And he's already spent millions on campaign ads, far outdistancing any other candidate.
One thing his campaign has done is organize absentee voters. More than a week before the primary, about 200,000 Floridians have already cast ballots, either through the mail or at early-voting locations.
Yesterday, in a South Florida suburb, Coral Springs, I caught up with voter Jack Frost, who'd just cast his early ballot for Romney. I asked him whether he thought Floridians would be influenced by the South Carolina results.
JACK FROST: No, because I don't view the demographics of South Carolina to be similar to the demographics in Florida. I don't think that the values that they embrace up there are embraced by a majority of the people who live in Florida.
ALLEN: Among Florida Republicans, polls show the number one issue is jobs and the economy. Social issues are less important here.
Romney has signaled that he is taking the gloves off, attacking Gingrich for his work as a lobbyist. His campaign has also called for Gingrich to release records of the congressional ethics investigation conducted while he was House speaker.
Yesterday, at a campaign rally in Coral Springs, Rick Santorum also directed some of his fire at Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN RALLY)
RICK SANTORUM: When Newt was speaker of the House, well, within three years, the conservatives in the House of Representatives tried to throw him out. And in the fourth year, they did. Why? Because he wasn't governing as a conservative.
ALLEN: While two of his rivals were taking potshots, Gingrich wasn't in Florida yesterday. He took his campaign to the Sunday talk shows. On CNN, he outlined his pitch to Florida Republicans.
(SOUNDBITE OF CNN BROADCAST)
NEWT GINGRICH: I think my job in Florida is to convince people that I am the one candidate who can clearly defeat Obama in a series of debates, and the one candidate who has big enough solutions that they would really get America back on track.
ALLEN: With less money and organization, Gingrich begins the battle for Florida less well-armed than Romney. But coming off his victory in South Carolina, he has something that might be even better: momentum.
Yesterday, voter Jean Hicks cast her early ballot for Gingrich. She liked him before the South Carolina debates, she said. But his performance - especially his sharp rejoinders with members of the media asking the questions - showed her he's just what the country needs.
JEAN HICKS: We need somebody that can truly be bold and say it as it is, without any fear and without any precaution, just say it. Just say what the people are feeling. We are hurting out here.
ALLEN: Unlike Iowa, New Hampshire and even South Carolina, Florida is too big to win through grassroots campaigning alone. The only way to effectively reach the state's four million registered Republicans is through TV. But in a state with 10 major media markets, that's costly. A statewide TV ad campaign costs more than a million dollars a week.
Romney's ads have been up for weeks, and more are coming. Gingrich and Santorum will get what may be their best chance to talk to voters statewide when the candidates meet in two televised debates. The first one is tonight in Tampa.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm David Greene. President Theodore Roosevelt compared politics to a kaleidoscope. With every turn of the wheel, the picture would completely change. Well, the Republican presidential race so far amounts to one long demonstration of that idea.
INSKEEP: In the last few days, Mitt Romney has gone from the inevitable Republican nominee to something less. Rick Santorum was declared the belated winner of Iowa. And then Newt Gingrich won a thunderous victory in South Carolina.
GREENE: And now Mitt Romney has about a week to pull out a victory in Florida.
NPR's Ari Shapiro reports from Tampa.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: The Mitt Romney that showed up in Florida last night was not the one that left South Carolina yesterday morning. The old Mitt Romney rarely criticized his Republican rivals on the stump - certainly never by name. The old Mitt Romney exclusively contrasted himself with President Obama - never with other Republican candidates. And the new Mitt Romney?
Well, take a listen.
MITT ROMNEY: So I've had the experience of leadership. Now, Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader. He was a leader for four years as speaker of the – speaker of the House.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOOS)
ROMNEY: And at the end of four years it was proven that he was a failed leader. And he had to resign in disgrace. I don't know whether you knew that.
SHAPIRO: That may sound like typical primary battle sniping. But it's not at all typical for Romney on the stump. And he was just warming up.
ROMNEY: He actually resigned after four years in disgrace. He was investigated under an ethics panel and had to make a payment associated with that, and then his fellow Republicans, 88 percent of his Republicans, voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich.
SHAPIRO: Then Romney turned his attention to how Gingrich has spent his time since leaving office.
ROMNEY: He talks about great bold movements and ideas. Well, what's he been doing for 15 years?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Lobbying.
ROMNEY: He's been working as a lobbyist, yeah. He's been working as a lobbyist and selling influence around Washington.
SHAPIRO: Gingrich disputes that characterization. He says he was a consultant and a historian, but never a lobbyist. One of the most controversial companies Gingrich worked for was the housing giant Freddie Mac, and Romney issued a challenge.
ROMNEY: I would like him to release his records. What was his work product there? What was he doing at Freddie Mac? Because Freddie Mac figures in very prominently to the fact that people in Florida have seen home values go down.
SHAPIRO: In a way this is tit for tat. Gingrich spent the last few weeks attacking Romney for failing to release his tax records. First, Romney would not say whether he would release them. Then he promised to release them in April. And after his South Carolina shellacking, he finally told "Fox News Sunday" that on Tuesday he will release his 2010 tax returns and an estimate for 2011.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY")
ROMNEY: I think we just made a mistake in holding off as long as we did. It just was a distraction. We want to get back to the real issues in the campaign.
SHAPIRO: Romney is one of the wealthiest men ever to run for president, so there will be some big numbers coming. At yesterday's rally in Ormond Beach, his wife Ann was the only one to mention the tax returns.
ANN ROMNEY: I understand Mitt's going to release his tax forms this week and...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
A. ROMNEY: ...I want to remind you where we know our riches are. Our riches are with our families.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: The audience cheered as the sun set behind the Romneys. The crowd did not seem demoralized by the fact that their man has now lost two of the three primary contests.
CHRISTINE RAUSCH: I think it's unexpected if you expected too much.
SHAPIRO: Christine Rausch is a letter carrier for the postal service. She's confident that Romney will win Florida and ultimately the nomination. She likes his Mormon faith. But she acknowledges that his religion may have hurt him with some South Carolina voters.
RAUSCH: It's going to hurt him all kinds of places. That exact part of his life is going to hurt him in many places.
SHAPIRO: Retired pilot and veteran Edward Davis says Romney's cloudy weekend may even have a silver lining.
EDWARD DAVIS: I was kind of disappointed in what happened in South Carolina, but I think it's a good wake-up call for him.
SHAPIRO: Why do you say that?
DAVIS: Because I think that, hmm, he got too, how do you say it?
SHAPIRO: A little comfortable?
DAVIS: A little comfortable. And now he's going to have to go to work. And I think he's the man to do it.
SHAPIRO: If work means attacking the other Republicans in the race, then Mitt Romney had a vigorous first day on the job.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Tampa, Florida.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The Jaipur Literature Festival in India is dubbed the largest literary event in the Asia Pacific Region. The event started over the weekend and wraps up tomorrow. It draws well-known authors and new writers from around the world, but this year the event is marred by controversy. Salman Rushdie, the British-Indian novelist, was scheduled to appear at the festival but he canceled his travel after a warning that hit men would be targeting him. Rushdie wrote "The Satanic Verses," which is viewed by some as blasphemous to Islam and which has banned in India for more than 20 years. MORNING EDITION commentator Sandip Roy is at the festival with tens of thousands of other people. And Sandip, thank you for joining us.
SANDIP ROY, BYLINE: You're welcome, David.
GREENE: Salman Rushdie was expected there on the schedule and then changes his plans. Tell us more about what happened.
ROY: Well, a prominent Muslim seminary here basically said that because of the old fatwa against "Satanic Verses," and because the book is banned, that Rushdie could not come, even though he was not coming to talk about "The Satanic Verses." And they threatened protests. The organizers said they tried really hard till the very last moment to ensure there was enough security for Rushdie to be able to come. But then on the first day of the festival, they said they had been given information by intelligence bureau that three hired assassins were on their way from Mumbai to Jaipur and Rushdie decided that he couldn't risk it and he decided not to come.
GREENE: Is it possible that these threats were just a hoax?
ROY: Well, Rushdie certainly thinks so. He's tweeted now that he had been lied to because the government basically did not want him to come to the festival and cooked up this story of these assassins. The Mumbai police said that they didn't really have any record of it, but the festival says that they did get the names of three assassins. So the net result is, hoax or not, Rushdie did not come.
GREENE: Even though he was not there, "The Satanic Verses" did play a role. I understand there were some authors at the festival reading from the banned book, which is illegal in India. What happened?
ROY: Well, they were asked to desist by the organizers because the festival says it was threatened with closure, and policemen showed up. And they weren't sure at one point whether the festival would open the next day or not. And as part of that, the authors were advised to leave town.
GREENE: Sandip, one person who did come to the festival is Oprah Winfrey. I'm curious about how the Indian media treated her visit.
ROY: Indian media treated her like real royalty. There was a real queen at the festival - the Queen Mother of Bhutan was here. But nobody paid much attention to her. Oprah Winfrey was very much the queen of the festival. And there was huge security. Streets were lined with policemen. People lined up at 6 a.m. in the morning for her to show up four or five hours later. And people were just deliriously excited about seeing - you know, it was like they were really witnessing royalty.
GREENE: Queen Oprah. OK. That's MORNING EDITION commentator Sandip Roy, who's at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Sandip, thank you.
ROY: Thank you.
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If you feel like the tradition of farming in the U.S. is disappearing, listen to this number. Over the past half century, more than 20 million acres of farmland in the United States have been transformed. Often it's developers in fast-growing areas buying up land to build new housing. But then came the recent housing bust. In some places at least, farmers are taking the land back. Here's NPR's Ted Robbins.
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: When Stacy Brimhall was growing up in Gilbert, Arizona, south of Phoenix, the landscape was pretty much all like the 500-acre parcel we see from his pickup truck.
STACY BRIMHALL: This is alfalfa here. And then we have some winter wheat up here. Doesn't look like they're harvesting today.
ROBBINS: But over the decades, Brimhall sold some of his farmland at a good profit. Developers turned fields of cotton into a sea of tiled roofs. At one point, Gilbert was one of the fastest-growing residential communities in America.
Back at his office, Brimhall shows me a map of the area. The parcel we visited is on it, slated for development itself until the housing bust hit land owner Fulton Homes.
BRIMHALL: You know, like all the home builders in Phoenix, or in Arizona, Fulton went through some hard times. They had to file bankruptcy.
ROBBINS: To cover its debts, the company had to sell the land. Stacy Brimhall saw another opportunity.
BRIMHALL: Everyone was grasping for cash. They had bought this at $80,000 an acre. We bought it from them at 17,500 an acre.
ROBBINS: Brimhall picked up the land for about a fifth of what it last sold for. Now it's a farm again. I spoke with three farmers who've expanded their operations recently in similar ways. Rick Gibson is with the University of Arizona Agricultural Extension Service. He says the trend is real, though there are no hard numbers yet. Gibson says it's not just established farmers like Stacy Brimhall.
RICK GIBSON: We're also seeing new farmers, young farmers, coming into the business. And they don't have the resources to pay big bucks for land, so they are leasing and living on the profit that they make.
ROBBINS: The profits are there because commodity prices have been high, especially for cotton and hay.
GIBSON: I think that the farmers are really good business people, have very sharp pencils. And where you see a return to agriculture, you will know that there has been some really good thinking that has gone into it.
ROBBINS: No one I spoke with thinks the return to agriculture is permanent. Jennifer Dempsey is director of the Farmland Information Center in Massachusetts. She says the trend will only last until there's more pressure for development.
JENNIFER DEMPSEY: I feel like it will start up again and then we'll have productive agricultural land being converted to houses.
ROBBINS: That's why farmer Stacy Brimhall says he keeps himself from becoming attached to any particular piece of land. That 500 acres we visited? It's already surrounded on all sides by development.
BRIMHALL: When building starts up again, this is the first to go.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: Which is fine, he says. Then he'll make a profit from selling the land. That could be three, five, 10 years away. Meantime, at least something's growing on it.
Ted Robbins, NPR News.
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NPR's business news starts with some goodbyes at BlackBerry.
The two men who helped turn the smartphone into a device that many people can't live without have stepped aside. Research in Motion is the company behind the BlackBerry and yesterday its co-CEOs resigned. They were under a lot of pressure as investors wonder whether the Canadian firm can turn itself around and compete better with flashier products like the iPhone.
Research in Motion named one of its chief operating officers as the new CEO.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a name back in the news: R. Allen Stanford. In the midst of the financial crisis he was charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme against thousands of investors in the United States and Latin America. Now his trial is set to begin today in Houston.
From member station KUHF, Andrew Schneider has more.
ANDREW SCHNEIDER, BYLINE: Stanford's trial has been delayed repeatedly, in part because he's fired his legal teams multiple times. The judge ultimately froze Stanford's assets and ordered him to stick with the attorneys he has now.
Adam Gershowitz of the University of Houston Law Center says those delays could now work against Stanford.
ADAM GERSHOWITZ: In these kinds of white collar cases, where you've got very wealthy defendants, oftentimes you've got a defense team that's in a position to outmatch the government and make it really tough for them. Here, you're in a different boat.
SCHNEIDER: But the amount of money involved and the complexity of Stanford's offshore dealings raise the bar for the government.
Geoffrey Corn is a professor at South Texas College of Law.
GEOFFREY CORN: The challenge of the prosecutors in a case like this is to demystify it and to boil it down to its bare elements, which is, you lied to get people to give you money, and then you used that money to lie to the people who had already given you money that that was their profit; the classic pyramid scheme.
SCHNEIDER: And, Corn says, not to mention siphoning huge amounts off for personal gain.
For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston.
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And today's last word in business is: celebrity bucks. We're not talking about money here.
For decades, Iowa's Department of Natural Resources reserves 75 deer-hunting permits for celebrities. The idea is that celebrity hunts will be publicized, inspiring others to want to visit Iowa and do the same. Now the Des Moines Register reports that some non-celebrities are protesting. They say everybody already knows that Iowa's a prime place for deer hunting and that these celebrity passes heighten the already steep odds for others who are on a waiting list for a permit.
A department spokesman says despite lots of complaints there are no official plans to get rid of the program. Jeff Foxworthy and Bo Jackson are among the celebrities who've hunted in the state so far.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm David Greene.
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And now, let's bring in NPR's Cokie Roberts, as we do most Mondays. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: Well, yesterday, Newt Gingrich was all over the airwaves saying this is now a two-man race, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney - no Rick Santorum in there, as far as he's concerned, or Ron Paul, for that matter.
ROBERTS: Well, that is basically the case in terms of who is really at the top of this race. But look, the Republican establishment, such as it is, Republican officeholders and former officeholders are likely to weigh in against Newt Gingrich. Many have already, and they are very worried about his prospects of being elected. And the Republican electorate, though, continues to be unhappy about Mitt Romney.
So that means that Rick Santorum is convinced that folks will eventually come to him as the only alternative, though we're beginning to see Republican editorial writers fantasizing about another candidate getting in at this very late date. Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, will give the reply to the president's State of the Union Tuesday night. People are talking about him, but I think that's very unlikely.
It's much more likely to be a long process, state by state. And Florida, as you just heard, is big because it's winner-take-all in the delegates, and it's big in the general election. But this could be a delegate-by-delegate process. Ron Paul is hoping to pick up some and have some clout in the - at the convention. And right now, it's Newt Gingrich who has the most delegates.
INSKEEP: Well, let's recall that Newt Gingrich who was high in the polls back in December. Mitt Romney's superPAC and his campaign ran a lot of negative ads, which brought him down very quickly. Gingrich then, of course, attacked Romney, brought down Romney somewhat, but Romney still has lots of money. Why would it not work again for Romney to pull Gingrich back to earth?
ROBERTS: And it might. That might be exactly what happens, but he no longer seems to be the inevitable candidate, the frontrunner. And Gingrich has found his voice, and his voice is that of the aggrieved voter who doesn't like Wall Street, doesn't like the media, doesn't like the government from Washington.
He's essentially channeling Ronald Reagan, but less sunny, and much more analytical. But he's also hoping that Reagan is the example of the only divorced president who didn't seem to worry religious voters. Gingrich is hoping that works for him, as well.
And the South Carolina exit polls seem to support him. We'll see how this plays out. I mean, his attack on the media worked very well for him in South Carolina, but Democrats are just salivating at running against Newt Gingrich with all of his baggage. But they should take a look at how they salivated against - running against Ronald Reagan, too, and maybe be careful what they wish for.
INSKEEP: Well, Obama's campaign had hoped to follow Reagan's pattern of a first-term president who had a tough economy, but then the economy improved just in time and he sailed away with the election. Is there any sign that Obama could be following that pattern?
ROBERTS: Well, he could be, absolutely, and he's trying to do that by appealing to the little guy, the middle-class voters, which he's likely to do again in the State of the Union. But, you know, Republicans are not buying anything he's saying these days. John Boehner, the speaker said that it would be, quote, "pathetic" if he offers the same old ideas, which Boehner says have made the economy worse.
And the president does seem to be playing to his own base in several decisions lately, of not doing the Keystone Pipeline, refusing to give religious institutions exemptions on contraception coverage under health care. So, you know, he's also playing to the people who can elect him.
INSKEEP: One member of Congress who will be there for the State of the Union, but not much longer in Congress, is Gabrielle Giffords, who said over the weekend she's stepping down.
ROBERTS: Well, of course it's been such a hard road for her, and apparently, she discovered when she went to the year anniversary of the shooting in Arizona how difficult it was for her to do a public event. So a special election will be held in Arizona to fill her seat, and she says that she has to concentrate on her recovery.
INSKEEP: Cokie, thanks very much. That's NPR's Cokie Roberts, who joins us most Monday mornings.
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Pennsylvania State University begins this week without the man many consider the face of the school. Legendary former football coach Joe Paterno died Sunday of lung cancer. Paterno was 85 years old. He spent 61 of those years coaching at Penn State. The last few months, of course, a child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach overshadowed his legacy. Last night, students organized a vigil on campus in memory of the man they called Joe-Pa. NPR's Jeff Brady was there.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Just before the vigil started outside on a huge lawn, the sky took on a beautiful quality. It was dark all around, except for a patch of white in the distance. It was just the lights from the stadium reflecting on the clouds, but for junior Taylor Waligorski, this was a sign.
TAYLOR WALIGORSKI: He's up there, and he's making that sky white for us and letting us know that he's there. So, we're glad he's here with us and just showing him that we will miss him, that he was such a great impact on our school.
BRADY: The language people in this community use to talk about Joe Paterno can sound almost religious. Freshman McKenzie Wilson grew up in State College and says you have to be a part of the culture here to get the depth of what people are feeling now.
MCKENZIE WILSON: It's hard to understand if you don't live here, because it is, it's one of the saddest days we've had to experience, I think, because we lost not only the best football coach, but he basically built this college. So it's tough.
BRADY: Paterno's family has donated millions of dollars to Penn State. The library even has his name on it. For most of the vigil, students and football players clearly wanted to honor the good things Paterno has done.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMAZING GRACE")
BRADY: But even here, the events since November couldn't be ignored. Prosecutors charged retired assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky with molesting boys, sometimes on campus. It appears Paterno met his legal obligation to report the allegations against Sandusky. But Penn State's board of trustees fired him, anyway.
They later explained Paterno had a moral obligation to also contact police. Former Penn State and now Oakland Raiders football player Stefan Wisniewski told the crowd that it's clear that Paterno was only a human after all.
STEFAN WISNIEWSKI: He's done things in his life that require forgiveness, and he's done things in his life that require redemption. But when I think back on Joe Paterno's legacy, the events that have happened over the last three months won't even cross my mind.
BRADY: Here's what Paterno said about the scandal, in an interview earlier this month with the Washington Post.
(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)
JOE PATERNO: I'm not interested in getting in the negative part of it. I want to make sure this university understands we still have a future, and I want everybody to understand this is not a football scandal.
BRADY: In November, Paterno also issued a written statement saying, quote, "This is a tragedy. It's one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." Back at the vigil, football alum Stefan Wisniewski said Paterno always led a post-game prayer.
WISNIEWSKI: We love you, Joe. And it's my prayer that that father God that you prayed to after each and every game would grant you rest and will let his eternal light shine upon you.
BRADY: Late Sunday, Paterno's son Jay posted a note on Twitter thanking mourners for their support.
Jeff Brady, NPR News, State College, Pennsylvania.
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Announcers also remembered Joe Paterno during yesterday's pro football games. Those two conference championships on Sunday determined the lineup for the Super Bowl. The New York Giants will play the New England Patriots in a rematch of a Super Bowl from four years ago. Neither team made it to the big game easily. Both have great quarterbacks, but on Sunday, both had to rely on defense. Here's NPR's Mike Pesca.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: If an AFC team was to take down the Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens were as plausible a candidate as any. By many measures, the Ravens have the AFC's best defense. They'd need it to have a fighting chance against the Patriots scintillating offense.
But one area where all sides acknowledged a mismatch was at the quarterback position. The Patriots are led by Tom Brady, two-time league MVP, three-time Super Bowl champion. The Ravens are helmed by Joe Flacco, who owns no Super Bowl rings, but does have a Fu Manchu mustache.
In the week leading up to the game, Flacco's own teammate, safety Ed Reed, made some fairly obvious observations about areas where Flacco could improve. In the tight-lipped NFL, that counted as fodder, especially for Wally and Bob, two Patriot fans who spotted a Baltimore backer wearing the wrong jersey in the stadium yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Flacco!
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Flacco!
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Hey!
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: His own team's talking trash about him. You know...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Flacco!
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: ...when your own team's talking trash about you, it's going to be tough to come on the road...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Where's Ed Reed?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: ...and beat the best quarterback of all time.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Where is he?
PESCA: But a funny thing happened on the way to the finals. Joe Flacco outplayed Tom Brady. The Baltimore signal caller aired it out for over 300 yards and two TDs. Brady, on the other hand, missed some open receivers, was picked off twice, and only got into the end zone via leg, not arm. WBZ radio's Gil Santos had that call.
(SOUNDBITE OF WBZ RADIO BROADCAST)
GIL SANTOS: Fourth and goal, Pats trail 20 to 16. Brady calling signals. Brady leaps into the end zone, touchdown. He went right over the top and into the end zone.
PESCA: That touchdown was the only score of the 4th quarter, but the Ravens came close to winning the game on a would-be touchdown that was broken up at the last second. Kicker Billy Cundiff then missed a 32-yard field goal that would have sent the contest into overtime.
Afterward, Ravens defensive leader Ray Lewis was adamant that no one person was to blame for the loss.
RAY LEWIS: Not one player won or lost this game. And there's no one man that's ever lost a game.
PESCA: And he's right, but so is Tom Brady, who made almost the exact opposite point.
TOM BRADY: You know, these games come down to one or two plays. And our defense really made some huge plays there, some very critical plays, and it went down to the end.
PESCA: What makes Brady more right than Lewis? Maybe it's just that his argument has the virtue of a victory behind it.
As those two combatants were picking over the details of their game, the 49ers and Giants were busy treating each other's quarterbacks like a moody four-year-old handles fresh Play-Doh. The game went into overtime, with San Francisco QB Alex Smith completing only 11 passes in regulation.
Smith failed to move his team the first time the 9ers gained possession in overtime, and he never got the chance to touch it again. The Giants forced a fumble on San Francisco's 24 yard line during a punt return. A few Ahmad Bradshaw runs later, and Fox's Joe Buck had the call.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOX SPORTS BROADCAST)
JOE BUCK: Long snap. The kick is good.
PESCA: The kick - no gimme, we learned a few hours earlier - set up a rematch of one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history. This time around, the Patriots come in far from perfect. Their defense ranked second to last in yards allowed, and the Giants weren't much better.
In fact, all season, there was a general notion that the NFL had gotten away from the days when we could say offense wins games, but defense wins championships. Maybe that will prove true, but yesterday, defenses certainly won conference championships.
Mike Pesca, NPR News, Foxborough, Massachusetts.
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Let's return now to the story we've been following in Cordova, Alaska. Talk about extreme weather, that small town was hit with more than 15 feet of snow since November. The bulk of that came earlier this month. It's twice the amount the town usually sees in an entire winter season. Just over a week ago, the newspaper editor in town told us that snow was everywhere you look.
JENNIFER GIBBONS: I mean, if you're shoveling out in front of your house, the piles are so high that you can't fling the snow up high enough to get on the pile. When you see an entire street filled two stories high with snow, you've got a problem.
GREENE: That's the voice of Jennifer Gibbons. She and her neighbors were shoveling multiple times a day. It was so overwhelming, the National Guard was called in to help them. We have Jennifer on the line again from her home near Prince William Sound.
And Jennifer, welcome back to the program. And has it stopped snowing yet?
GIBBONS: Well, last week, Monday morning, it was very exciting. It was sunny here. We had blue skies. It was very cold. The temperatures were down, minus 8, which is cold for us. And so we had a new problem at the beginning of last week, which was frozen pipes. The good news is by the end of the week, it warmed up. And then, of course, it started snowing again.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: And that's good news?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GIBBONS: Well, I'm trying to be philosophical about it at this point. I mean, we were so lucky over the past couple of weeks to get a lot of help. And we were able to avert some serious problems. I mean, we saved buildings. And the town really got out and worked hard. We're at the beginning of the month where we get the most snow, so I just think it's going to be a long winter.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: This is the beginning of your snow season. That's pretty incredible.
GIBBONS: Yes. Yes.
GREENE: Well, are schools open or libraries open? I mean, are things getting back to normal in any sense?
GIBBONS: I think this past weekend, it felt like we were getting back to normal. We had a couple teams in town for basketball games. The kids are back in school. So we do have that sense of normality, which is really nice.
GREENE: You're a newspaper editor. Have you been getting the newspaper out? I mean, can cars be on the roads delivering it to people?
GIBBONS: It's been an interesting experience to both report the news and struggle with the news. We had one week where the paper didn't come in. And so last week we had two papers we delivered at once. And then we sort of got back into a normal routine. But we're getting ready - the town's getting ready for our Ice Worm Festival. And we...
GREENE: Ice worm?
GIBBONS: Ice worm.
GREENE: What is an Ice Worm Festival?
GIBBONS: An ice worm is a unique little worm that lives in the ice. And, you know, a small town on the edge of the wilderness, we're always looking for ways to have fun. And so every February, we have an ice worm festival. We have parades. We have survival suit races in the harbor, where people put on these special suits and they jump in the freezing cold harbor and swim around. And we have a Miss Ice Worm competition. And it's a lot of fun.
GREENE: Sounds like you're a town that deserves a little fun and some smiles. All the shoveling, all the time out there doing this work, I mean, how have you gotten through it?
GIBBONS: Well, I actually now have a new secret weapon. I have discovered Justin Bieber, and I officially have Bieber fever. And I'm totally OK with it. And, boy, that guy was really helping me out there shovel all that snow. And if he wants to come to our Ice Worm Festival, he is cordially invited.
GREENE: Well, that invitation is officially out there. So that's what you're listening to while you're doing the shoveling.
GIBBONS: You got it.
GREENE: All right. Well, keep the Bieber fever going.
Jennifer Gibbons is the editor of the Cordova Times in Cordova, Alaska.
Thanks for joining us.
GIBBONS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MISTLETOE")
JUSTIN BIEBER: (Singing) It's the most beautiful time of the year. Lights fill the streets, spreading so much cheer. I should be playing in the winter snow, but I'mma be under the mistletoe. I don't want to miss out on the holiday, but I can't stop staring at your face...
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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
Having sent observers to examine protests in Syria, Arab leaders have offered a plan to end the violence there. The proposal comes from the Arab League, a group of Arab nations. And NPR's Kelly McEvers has been following this story. She's in Beirut.
Hi, Kelly.
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: Hello.
INSKEEP: OK. So what do the Arab leaders want to do?
MCEVERS: The Arab League is suggesting that the Syrian regime do a bold thing, that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad abdicate power immediately to his deputy, to his vice president. After that, what the regime should do, says the Arab League, is put together a kind of unity government, a transitional government, and then eventually pave the way for parliamentary elections in the country.
I mean, it's a plan that's similar to the one that sort of ended the stalemate in Yemen. You saw the Yemen president step down, abdicate power to a deputy, and now there's a political process of a sort in Yemen.
INSKEEP: Sounds like a nice idea, but is there any chance that Syria's president Bashar al-Assad is going to step down?
MCEVERS: Well, look, this is a real opportunity, analysts here in the region are saying. I mean, the violence has reached a level that people are worried will not stop at this point. Hundreds of people have died just in the past month alone.
Will the regime actually take this opportunity to stop the violence? Well, it's not looking very likely. On state TV, Syrian officials are saying the plan is basically just a conspiracy by the nations that want to bring down the regime. Officials basically called, you know, certain members of the Arab League, namely those who are leading this process, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as those who fund terrorism.
So, no. I mean, it's what we've seen in all these other Arab uprisings. Is a leader going to, you know, immediately say, yeah, sure, no problem? I'm going to step down. Doubtful.
INSKEEP: So let's just review here, Kelly McEvers. Syria has gotten more and more attention as the so-called Arab Spring has gone on. It has been the scene of some of the more violent protests and violent crackdowns, actually, we should say, in recent months. Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, is determined to stay on, has said he's determined to stay on. What if he does not comply with this Arab League proposal? What happens?
MCEVERS: The threat with the Arab League is that they would take it to the U.N. Security Council, that they would sort of ratchet it up a notch and go to the full, sort of, international body.
The problem with that threat is that Russia continues to threaten to veto any measure on Syria, especially any measure that includes any kind of intervention at the international level. So the Assad regime at this point knows that it's got Russia on its side, and basically knows that it doesn't necessarily have to comply with any of these plans.
INSKEEP: Well, Kelly McEvers, as someone who has slipped into Syria in various ways in recent months, I wonder what your sense is of the situation on the ground. Are there large numbers of people who are worried about total chaos in Syria, about losing all of their interests in Syria if the protest and the crackdowns continue the way that they have?
MCEVERS: Yes. Definitely, yes. I think, in recent weeks, you had these Arab League observers in Syria. And there was some hope that because there were sort of eyes watching what was happening, that perhaps the situation would calm down. It has done the opposite.
The situation has gotten much worse on the ground. It's looking more and more every day like a civil war. There are checkpoints. People are shuttering themselves inside their homes at night while the shooting goes on outside. The killing, the next morning, nobody knows who's done what. I mean, it cannot be overstated how bad the situation is getting.
So I feel like most analysts and diplomats are saying, look, anything that could stem this violence at this point is worth trying.
INSKEEP: Does Assad still have his supporters in Syria?
MCEVERS: Definitely. I mean, especially in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo, the two main cities of Syria, where you've got an upper middle class and a middle class, for that matter, that's thrived under Assad.
That said, the Syrian currency is starting to drop. The price of heating oil is going up. The availability of heating oil is sort of disappearing. So people are starting to suffer, are starting to feel the effects of this. And if that really takes hold, we'll see if that support remains.
INSKEEP: Kelly, thanks.
MCEVERS: Sure.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kelly McEvers reporting on a proposal by the Arab League to end the protests and crackdowns in Syria.
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Good morning. I'm David Greene. Court opinions are usually not that exciting. But a judge in Chicago is trying to liven up his rulings with illustrations. In one, he used an iconic photo of Bob Marley. The case was about a prisoner's right to keep his dreadlocks on religious grounds. In another ruling, one lawyer was not so entertained when the judge reprimanded him using a picture of an ostrich with its head in the sand. The judge issued an un-illustrated apology. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. The New York Giants made the Super Bowl with a three-point win over San Francisco. The New England Patriots made the Super Bowl with a three-point win over Baltimore. Now, Las Vegas oddsmakers are taking bets on the big game itself, and the Patriots are favored to win that one by three. People in the Patriots' national fan base want to bet on them. The Patriots were also favored the last time they met the Giants in the Super Bowl, though, and we should bear in mind that the Giants won that game by three. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Today, we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of a book that launched the career of Theodor Geisel. You may know him better as Dr. Seuss. Before he rocked the culinary world with "Green Eggs and Ham" and put a red-and-white striped top hat on a talking cat, Dr. Seuss was stuck on a boat, returning from a trip to Europe.
For eight days, he listened to the ship's engine chug away. It probably sounded something like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SHIP ENGINE)
GREENE: The sound got stuck in his head, and he started writing to the rhythm. Eventually, he had his first children's book. It was called "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street."
(SOUNDBITE OF A SHIP ENGINE)
GREENE: The book is about a boy named Marco who wants to tell his dad an interesting story about what he saw that day. But the only thing Marco's seen is a boring old horse and wagon.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "IN SEARCH OF DR. SEUSS")
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: That reading is from the movie "In Search of Dr. Seuss." In the end, Marco knows his father won't tolerate a made-up story. And so the dejected little boy just tells his dad the boring truth.
Dr. Seuss didn't have an easy time selling this bittersweet story to publishers.
GUY MCLAIN: It was rejected 27 times.
GREENE: That's Guy McLain. He works in Massachusetts at the Springfield Museum. That's in Dr. Seuss's hometown. McLain's become a local expert on Dr. Seuss, and he says Mulberry Street may have never been published were it not for a chance encounter Dr. Seuss had one day.
MCLAIN: He bumped into a friend, as he was walking home in New York City, who had just become an editor at a publishing house in the children's section. He said that he had given up. He was going to destroy the book. And this editor said, well, let me take a look at it, and that led to the publication of the book.
GREENE: It was a moment that changed Dr. Seuss's life.
MCLAIN: He said if he had been walking down the other side of the street, he probably would never have become a children's author.
GREENE: The book was published. It got great reviews, and the rest is history.
But why Mulberry Street, you might ask? Turns out, it's a real-life street in Dr. Seuss's hometown. Guy McLain's been there.
MCLAIN: It was a street very close to his grandparents' bakery. And I think also, too, it was the rhythm, the sound of the word that was very important with Dr. Seuss, because there's nothing special about the street, really.
GREENE: But really, that ordinary street launched one extraordinary career.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE TOY TRUMPET")
GREENE: And this is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Joel Sartore has made a name for himself in the world of portrait photography. Though to get a feel for his subjects, you might try looking at National Geographic magazine.
NPR's Claire O'Neill spent a morning with the photographer to see how he works.
JOEL SARTORE: I'm the only studio portrait photographer I know whose subjects routinely poop and pee on the background right in front of me.
CLAIRE O'NEILL, BYLINE: And they can get away with it, because in case you haven't figured it out, Joel Sartore's subjects are animals.
(SOUNDBITE OF A RAZORBILL BIRD)
O'NEILL: Bugs, tigers, birds, frogs - you name it, he'll shoot it.
Today, at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, it's a razorbill bird - that's the oinking you hear - and a puffin, little black-and-white guys with bright, orange beaks.
SARTORE: He's just standing there with his back of his head to me. I got to have an eye or something to show how pretty he is, even in winter plumage.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMERA SHUTTER)
O'NEILL: We're cramped in this backroom refrigerator. There are two animal handlers, two birds, Sartore, his four-piece light kit, two cameras, power generators, backdrops. It's a total production.
When he's not on assignment for Geographic, Sartore is doing this: traveling to the country's zoos and aquariums.
SARTORE: The goal of this project is to get people to look these things in the eye before they go extinct. Not everything I shoot is rare, but a lot is.
O'NEILL: He estimates about 6,000 species are represented in zoos. And he's already shot about a third of them.
SARTORE: I supplement this by going out on these Geographic shoots around the world, and photograph the lions in the trees at sunset and the koala bears in Australia. But what I want to do is go to the world's zoos and aquariums and photograph all these species, while I can. I just figure, for a lot of these species, these pictures are all that's going to remain.
O'NEILL: And Sartore is serious about this. He once drove clear across the country to photograph a fly. Also on today's agenda is a turtle. He's really into turtles.
SARTORE: This is our spot. It's a...
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)
SARTORE: ...stainless steel countertop. We're going to get some clamps out. We're going to get ready for a big turtle shoot, big turtle rodeo.
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)
SARTORE: A couple of clamps to go right there.
O'NEILL: Sartore is talkative, friendly, Midwestern. His red T-shirt says Nebraska in big white letters. That's where he lives with his wife and three kids when he's not on the road, where he just bought 1,200 acres just to save a rare bird.
He's known among photographers for his book "Rare," studio portraits of endangered species. He photographs on plain backgrounds. But as far as he's concerned, everything is in some kind of danger, and he wants to capture it all.
SARTORE: We have a very non-nature-based life. That why zoos and aquariums are so important. It's the only place now where the public can go and actually see something without it being on a screen. It's real. These things are real.
O'NEILL: And the end of the day, we're sitting in his Prius. It's his studiomobile, packed to the gills with equipment. Today, he got the two birds, the turtle, an iguana, an Australian prickly stick that hopped on his lens. Four hours, five animals - not bad. But that's only half the battle. Sartore wants people to see them.
SARTORE: Look these animals in the eye and tell me you don't care about them. They're amazing and they're funny and they're sad and they're lazy and they're energetic and they're mean and they're aggressive. And they're everything we are.
O'NEILL: Except not quite potty-trained.
Sartore has been blogging his zoo project on Geographic's website and selling prints to raise money. Only 4,000 left to go. Leave it to this guy to get it done.
Claire O'Neill, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: And you can see Joel Sartore at work and some of his images on our Web site, npr.org.
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And among the animals he's been photographing over the years are these small monkeys called cotton-top tamarins. There are only about a hundred left in captivity, including a female who was stolen and then returned to a zoo in Australia about a year ago. The animal, named Conchetta, was pregnant at the time, but miscarried during that whole ordeal.
MONTAGNE: Now, happily, Conchetta has given birth for the first time, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Only three cotton-top tamarins were born all of last year. Zoo officials said they won't know the gender of Conchetta's baby for months, and they'll ask the public for help in choosing its name.
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Powerball, Pick 4, Little Lotto - just a few of the lottery games run by states across the country. Every day scores of lottery ticketholders wait to hear if it's their lucky day.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Here we go. First winning lotto number for tonight: 11. The second: 30...
MONTAGNE: Several states, among them Illinois and New York, are now moving forward with plans to offer lotteries on the Internet. That comes after an opinion by the Department of Justice reversing longstanding federal policy by saying that states are free to conduct online gambling within their borders. NPR's Cheryl Corley has more.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: It's snowy and late but people are still coming into this gas station in Chicago to buy a lottery ticket.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey, buddy, how are you?
CORLEY: Rihanna Smith(ph) is one of the customers who plays the lottery.
RIHANNA SMITH: Every day.
CORLEY: And she relishes the possibility of being able to play online.
SMITH: Yeah. Look at all this - yeah, I would.
CORLEY: Store clerk Wes Ali(ph) stands near the lottery machine as it spits out a strip of tickets. This is both a gas station and convenience store with shelves fully stocked with potato chips, milk and soda pop in the cooler. So he's a little worried about Internet gambling.
WES ALI: It's not a good idea. Everybody coming here, you know, play lottery, they buy other stuff too, especially when the jackpot is up.
CORLEY: The lottery issue came to the forefront when Illinois and New York, both moving forward with Internet lottery plans, asked the Justice Department for clarification. The answer came two days before Christmas, when the federal authorities said the 1961 Wire Act, long considered a provision prohibiting all Internet gambling, only prohibits betting on sports.
I. NELSON ROSE: What that means is states are now free to do just about anything they want.
CORLEY: Gambling analyst and Whittier Law Professor I. Nelson Rose says the Justice Department opinion was a Christmas present from the Obama administration, which will allow cash-strapped states to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
ROSE: There's more than 44 lotteries in this country. They're all looking at let's go online immediately if we can. They're all looking at their state statutes.
CORLEY: Illinois lottery director Michael Jones says people in Illinois should be able to buy tickets for lotto and the MegaMillion games by early spring and Powerball in the near future.
MICHAEL JONES: The issue here is very simple. All the state legislature wanted to do was to have the lottery mirror people's buying habits with the kind of retail channel everybody uses to buy plane tickets and books and concert tickets.
CORLEY: With the need for revenue so great, states are also questioning whether the ruling means they can offer other games, like online poker. It's already been legalized in Washington, D.C., along with Internet bingo and blackjack. University of Illinois Professor John Kindt is against such expansion. He calls the Justice Department opinion outrageous and says the possibility of having all sorts of gambling on the Internet, taking away money from the consumer economy, is like pouring gasoline on the recession. Kindt says it's a problem that will create new bankruptcies, crime and new addicted gamblers.
JOHN KINDT: This will put gambling in every living room, at every work desk and at every school desk. People will literally be able to click their mouse, lose their house.
CORLEY: But Frank Fahrenkopf, the CEO of the American Gaming Association, says protections can be put in place - and already have been in countries like Great Britain and France that allow Internet gambling.
FRANK FAHRENKOPF: And we've been able to see with the regulatory reforms that they have put in that it can be provided in a very, very safe way to protect underage kids from getting online and gambling, and you can provide, by tracking, great assistance for those who can't gamble responsibly.
CORLEY: Fahrenkopf says it's no longer a question of if there will be Internet gaming in the U.S., but how. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
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And how lotteries take shape online is something that casino operators are going to be following very closely to see what impact this will all have on their industry. The state of Connecticut has two casinos that generate millions of dollars a year. And Lucy Nalpathanchil from member station WNPR has more on the reaction there.
LUCY NALPATHANCHIL, BYLINE: It's a weekday but plenty of people are sitting at slot machines or playing table games at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Mohegan tribe chairman Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum looks with pride at the main gaming floor. He's sitting a level above the action, inside a trendy bar called Womby Rock.
BRUCE BOZSUM: We're packed all the time. Thirty to thirty-five thousand people come through here a day.
NALPATHANCHIL: The entire casino resort covers 185 acres. It has an upscale 1,200 room hotel that reaches 34 stories, nightclubs, celebrity chef restaurants by Bobby Flay and Todd English, and an arena that hosts big name entertainers from Neil Diamond to Toby Keith. Bozsum says all of those attractions help keep casino patrons at Mohegan Sun.
BOZSUM: It's a different market now. People come in, they gamble for a little while. If they win, they leave immediately. In older times people would spend more time a table, more time at a slot machine.
NALPATHANCHIL: At the height of the recession, revenue dipped more than 20 percent. Now it's slowly climbing again. Under an agreement with Connecticut, both casinos give 25 percent of their slot revenue to the state. When the U.S. Department of Justice cleared the way for states to operate online poker and lotteries, Bozsum says he immediately made a call to Governor Dannel Malloy. Since then, Malloy has spoken out in favor of Internet gambling.
GOVERNOR DANNEL MALLOY: We're talking about the employment of tens of thousands of individuals.
NALPATHANCHIL: Malloy is negotiating a deal that might put the tribes in charge of Connecticut's new online gaming enterprise. Malloy says he's no fan of gambling but he feels the state will lose big if it doesn't explore this potential new revenue stream. This is more important now as other states, including Massachusetts, enter the gaming market.
MALLOY: They've announced they're going to have five casinos. New Jersey governor has announced that he wants New Jersey to be the online gaming capital of the world, tied to the presence of the casino industry, which is competitive with our industry in the state of Connecticut. We've got to watch those things.
NALPATHANCHIL: Whether Connecticut residents are watching depends on whether they're regular casino patrons.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUSES AND HONKING)
NALPATHANCHIL: Buses heading for the casinos pick up several times a day at parking lots across the state. Some people waiting to board say they just play slots and have no interest in online poker. But Marquis Jackson says he's interested.
MARQUIS JACKSON: I'm intrigued by it but nothing like doing the real thing. It's nothing like the real thing. Being on the computer is all right but at the end of the day, everybody go to the casino. I like to breathe the air, you know, sip the drinks, watch the people.
NALPATHANCHIL: Mohegan Tribe Chairman Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum says there are a lot of people like Jackson who love the casino atmosphere.
BOZSUM: They may play at home too on their downtime, they may play at work - who knows? There's no way to tell who's going to play. But it will introduce a lot of new players to the game of poker.
NALPATHANCHIL: And to Mohegan Sun, new players may mean new customers who want more excitement than playing online poker at home. For NPR News, I'm Lucy Nalpathanchil in Hartford.
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And now another in our series "Setting Out," where we profile recent college graduates looking for work. Melanie Singer graduated 18 months ago from the University of Dayton - into one of the worst job markets in recent history. She did have reason to be optimistic. She had majored in accounting, she'd gone to career counseling, and completed several internships.
As Emily McCord, from member station WYSO, reports, it took Melanie Singer longer than she thought it would to find a job.
EMILY MCCORD, BYLINE: You can smell chicken cooking in the oven. It's warm and clean in Melanie Singer's first apartment. And what's more important, it's not where she was right after graduation in the spring of 2010 - living back home with her parents.
MELANIE SINGER: I mean, I felt like I shouldn't be living with them. I have a college degree and I, you know, should be on my own. And it's time for me to grow up and move on.
MCCORD: There's a knock at the door.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR OPENING)
MCCORD: Hey.
ERIC KRISSEK: Hello.
SINGER: How are you?
KRISSEK: I'm good; how are you?
MCCORD: Eric Krissek is Melanie's boyfriend. In 2010, Melanie was looking for a job in Dayton - in part, to be close to him. Now, he's come over so they can make dinner together.
SINGER: Do you want to cut up the peppers? They're sitting out there; you can just cut them up.
KRISSEK: Sure.
SINGER: Thanks.
KRISSEK: Into those little pieces?
MCCORD: They're both busy with work, so dinner on a weeknight is special. It took Melanie a whole year after graduation to find work as an accountant, a field that was supposed to be a sure-fire path to employment.
SINGER: I even remember - I looked over my books, my accounting books, before I started, just because I was nervous that I wasn't going to remember something important.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MCCORD: Now, she balances the spreadsheets every month and reconciles the accounts - all of the things that her college degree prepared her to do.
SINGER: For once like, it felt like OK; like this - all this work is finally paying off.
MCCORD: And now with her job, she's paying off her $15,000 in student loans. Let's go back for a moment to that time when Melanie was unemployed. She'd gone to interview after interview, and sent out more resumes than she can remember. After a while, she said, it took a toll on her.
SINGER: When you see something exciting, you get really excited - OK, you know. But you don't want to get your hopes up, either. I don't know, you always want to put the blame on yourself. What did I do wrong today? Say something in the interview that was wrong? Am I, you know, not qualified? I don't know. You know, but what can I do better? Like what - I obviously did something wrong, you know.
MCCORD: And even now, when she hears herself 18 months later, her eyes well up thinking about that time.
SINGER: I feel like I've grown up now, and I've become that independent individual. It's a much better feeling than feeling like you're hopeless - and living off someone else.
KRISSEK: Shoot. The chicken was not done.
SINGER: OK.
KRISSEK: The big, the biggest one.
SINGER: Look at you. Good job.
KRISSEK: Thanks.
MCCORD: In the kitchen, Melanie's boyfriend, Eric, is frying up some peppers to go with that chicken.
KRISSEK: There's a big difference in her - probably - personality, as far as how confident she is.
MCCORD: Eric, who's a middle-school math teacher, says now they can talk about their days at work when they sit down to dinner. Before, it was nerve-wracking to talk about job stuff because Melanie's news usually wasn't good.
KRISSEK: She was working her tail off to try and find anything, and to just keep coming up empty - so it was really difficult.
MCCORD: During that time, Melanie says she learned patience and perseverance, and what it means to take responsibility for her own life.
SINGER: That was definitely the next stage that I was looking for.
MCCORD: Melanie likes making facts and figures balance, so being an accountant suits her. And this year is extra exciting; this will be the first time she's doing her own federal and state tax returns. Still, when it comes to the future, she's not taking any chances. Melanie Singer is going back to school at night to get her MBA, just in case.
For NPR News, I'm Emily McCord.
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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
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A former CIA official has become the latest target in the Obama administration's campaign against leaks. The Justice Department accuses the agent of violating the Espionage Act by telling reporters about some of the agency's most sensitive counterterrorism operations. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has more.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: John Kiriakou, a 14-year CIA employee, first attracted worldwide attention with his account of the capture of Abu Zubaydah. Kiriakou told ABC News that the U.S. government used every method it could to extract information from the al-Qaida operative.
(SOUNDBITE OF ABC NEWS BROADCAST)
JOHNSON: Kiriakou went on to say he thought there were moral problems with waterboarding. But it later turned out that he wasn't in the room when it was used.
Now Kiriakou is in the news all over again for his dealings with the press. The Justice Department says Kiriakou leaked defense secrets to the New York Times and other outlets, secrets that got into the hands of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Patrick Fitzgerald - the same man who prosecuted a leak by Bush White House official Scooter Libby - is in charge of this case, too. Former national security prosecutor Pat Rowan says Kiriakou may have just one argument within his reach: gray mail.
PAT ROWAN: It essentially becomes too painful to prosecute, because the defendant insists upon the disclosure of additional classified information in order to put together his defense.
JOHNSON: Kiriakou's out on bond, and he's agreed to surrender his passport.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is stepping - albeit gingerly - into the question of privacy in the information age. The court has ruled that police have to obtain a court-authorized warrant before they place a GPS device on a suspect's car. While the outcome was unanimous, the justices split three ways as to whether that decision went far enough. We'll have two reports, beginning with NPR's legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: The court's unanimous ruling reversed the conviction of a Washington, D.C. nightclub owner sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking. The justices agreed that his conviction could not stand because the FBI had placed a GPS tracking device on his jeep, and without a warrant, had tracked his every move for 28 days, using the resulting evidence to convict him.
But there the agreement stopped, with the justices divided on the legal rationale, and liberals and conservatives split in unusual ways. The lead opinion, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, said that because the tracking device was physically placed on the car, at a minimum, it was a search within the original meaning of the Constitution's ban on searches of property without a warrant.
Left unresolved were major issues involving cell phones, e-mails, tracking by remote device, even long-term tracking by aerial surveillance. Does the government need a warrant to get access to that sort of information, where there's been no physical intrusion on property? George Washington University professor Orrin Kerr says such questions remain unresolved.
ORRIN KERR: How the court is going to apply the Fourth Amendment going forward to new technology cases is going to be fascinating and unpredictable. This is not the usual 5-4 ideological split. This is nine justices trying to figure out how does the Fourth Amendment apply a new technological world, and the answers are really uncertain. It's going to be a wild ride.
TOTENBERG: Indeed, even yesterday's decision was a wild ride, with the liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor providing the fifth vote for the conservative Scalia's opinion, and the conservative Justice Samuel Alito, joined by three of the court's liberals, arguing for a broader rationale.
Bottom line? When you add up the views of all the justices, the clear suggestion is that this may be just the beginning of a broader warrant requirement in the digital age.
Sotomayor seemed to be the most willing to consider a new and more generous approach. She said that in an era when people have to provide extensive private information to e-mail and cell phone service providers just to perform mundane tasks, it may be time to reconsider past decisions that allow police access to such information without a warrant.
Justice Alito, while appearing to agree at least partially, said that in an era where dramatic technological change is the norm, it would be better for Congress to enact legislation. Congress, he said, is in a better position to gauge public attitudes, draw detailed lines and balance privacy and public safety interests.
Experts say that this is one area where Congress might, in fact, be able to overcome the usual partisan divide. Lawyer Andrew Pincus represents technology and privacy groups.
ANDREW PINCUS: You can look at this as an issue that unites some people on both ends of the spectrum, you know, some Tea Party people who worry about government intrusion into their lives, and some, you know, sort of more traditional progressives.
TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: And this is NPR's Martin Kaste. That broad hint, by Justice Alito, that it's time for Congress to tackle this issue did not go unnoticed on Capitol Hill.
SEN. RON WYDEN: They really laid out a red carpet.
KASTE: Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, had already introduced the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act - yes, the GPS Act - which would require warrants for geolocation data produced by phones or other personal gizmos. He says even though the ruling was a narrow one, it helps make the case that Americans need new privacy laws for new technologies.
WYDEN: You shouldn't have to come back to the United States Supreme Court every time there is one of these kinds of issues. And certainly, law enforcement deserves some clear guidance.
KASTE: Police and prosecutors generally aren't eager to see new warrant requirements. But when it comes to geolocation data, many have already anticipated the tighter rules.
Scott Rowland is assistant district attorney in Oklahoma County, and he says the tracking devices at the center of the case have become very common.
SCOTT ROWLAND: It used to be that these were just used on drug cases, murder cases. But they've become so cheap, so easy to use, and so reliable that I'm aware of a lot of burglary cases - serial burglary cases - where tracking devices are used.
KASTE: Rowland says he could tell this was coming. And he says forward-looking police departments have already started getting warrants for tracking devices, as a matter of course. To him, the bigger issue is what the ruling may mean for that device in your pocket.
ROWLAND: A cellphone is very much a tracking device.
KASTE: Even if a suspect turns off his phone's GPS function, investigators can get its location relative to cell towers. Lower courts differ on whether that requires a warrant. And that question was not answered, Rowland says, by yesterday's narrow ruling.
ROWLAND: But - but it seems to me that the four justices who concurred in this would go farther, to hold that a probable-cause warrant is required to do real-time tracking of a cellphone.
KASTE: And with that kind of shadow hanging over cellphone tracking, Rowland says he agrees it's now time for Congress to clarify matters. That promises to be a messy job. For one thing, Congress would have to decide whether to extend the warrant requirement to phone-location records. Stored data have generally enjoyed less protection than real-time tracking.
It would also have to grapple with the different kinds of location data. Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, says law enforcement often sees technological distinctions that the average person isn't even aware of.
GREG NOJEIM: The Justice Department manual tells personnel that they should get a warrant for GPS tracking of a cellphone. It doesn't say they should get a warrant for cell tower tracking location information.
KASTE: Distinctions like that don't make sense to privacy activists. And they hope the minority opinions in yesterday's ruling will pave the way to broad privacy protection for location data in general, regardless of whether it's generated by GPS, cell towers, Wi-Fi, or some other - as yet un-invented - form of personal triangulation.
Martin Kaste, NPR News.
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A Brazilian is taking over the U.S. operations of Anheuser-Busch. Anheuser-Busch is now owned by a Brazilian-Belgian beer conglomerate, InBev. The new president of the North America region, Luiz Edmond, is taking over from a second generation Anheuser-Busch employee, and St. Louis Public Radio's Rachel Lippmann has more.
RACHEL LIPPMAN, BYLINE: Dave Peacock has led InBev's U.S. operations since the 2008 takeover. Since then, American sales have slipped. Earlier this month, a trade publication projected that in 2011 Coors Light had passed Budweiser as the second most popular beer brand in the United States. Beer Marketer's Insights says in three years, Budweiser's sales have dropped by more than four million barrels.
A memo about Peacock's retirement made no mention of those sales figures. Peacock, it said, resigned to spend more time with his family and pursue other business interests. He will remain an adviser to the company.
InBev's North American president, Luiz Edmond, the memo's author, will take over for Peacock. Edmond praised the former executive for helping the beer company weather the recession.
Industry analysts say there are some bright spots. The 2011 sales decline was the smallest since the takeover. And they say that InBev CEO Carlos Brito remains committed to growing the Budweiser brand in the United States, an effort supported by a new ad campaign. Peacock, who had been with the company since 1992, was once its vice president of marketing.
For NPR News, I'm Rachel Lippmann in St. Louis.
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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
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GREENE: The latest Republican debate - last night in Florida - was more subdued than when the candidates last took the stage, in South Carolina. But still, it contained plenty of sharp jabs. After it was over, another dramatic turn in the race, with new revelations about Mitt Romney's taxes. We'll explore those numbers in depth, in a few minutes.
MONTAGNE: We begin our coverage with the debate's attacks, most of them launched by Romney against Newt Gingrich, who is ahead in the polls - at least for the moment.
NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: After a stunning loss to Gingrich in South Carolina, Romney came to Tampa determined to fight his way back.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
LIASSON: And Romney kept going - unloading a file cabinet full of opposition research on Gingrich. He ridiculed the former speaker's claim that he was hired as a historian by Freddy Mac - the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Romney noted that the Freddie Mac contract described lobbying activities without using the word, and had Gingrich reporting to Freddie's chief lobbyist. The barrage prompted the moderator, Brian Williams, to ask Romney what had changed his mind about attack politics.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
LIASSON: Newt Gingrich also took a new approach last night. He didn't lash out at the moderator, or channel the resentment of conservatives toward the establishment elites. But he did push back against Romney's attacks.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
LIASSON: Gingrich also defended his tenure as speaker, saying he resigned after the 1998 elections because he took responsibility for the Republican losses that year. But his account was disputed by Ron Paul, who served in the House with Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
LIASSON: As Gingrich and Romney pounded each other in the debate and on the campaign trial yesterday, both were also making what might be called defensive disclosures. Gingrich released his contract with Freddie Mac just hours before the debate. It showed that he made $25,000 a month for, quote, consulting services.
Meanwhile, Romney said he would release, for the first time in his public career, his tax returns. Around midnight, he released 2010 and 2011 tax data - but no other years. They show he made 42 million in the last two years, and paid 6.2 million in federal taxes, an effective rate of less than 15 percent.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
LIASSON: Romney was also asked about immigration. In a state with a big bloc of Hispanic voters, he tried to soften his earlier statement that illegal immigrants should all go home before applying for citizenship or for legal residency. That led to still more questions.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
LIASSON: The audience laughed at that. But for the most part, they followed the moderator's instructions and were silent. That helped give this debate a subdued tone, in contrast to the two raucous debates in South Carolina that had given Gingrich such a big boost. Gingrich's combative but commanding performance in those debates had helped him pull even, despite Romney's superior resources and organization.
But last night, whether by design or not, Gingrich let Romney dominate. It was just the latest role reversal in a campaign that's had so many twists and turns. Now, Gingrich is acting like the front- runner, which he is - at least for the moment, and Romney is punching up, like an underdog.
Mara Liasson, NPR News, Tampa.
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All right, so Romney has gone on the attack in Florida, and he'll also be answering a lot of questions today about those taxes that he is releasing. As we heard from Mara, it turns out over the last few years, the effective tax rate Romney has paid is just under 15 percent.
Now, Newt Gingrich has been pressing Romney to publicly disclose the documents. And the former House speaker released his own tax returns, to dramatic effect, during a debate last Thursday.
NPR's Tamara Keith has the calculator out, and she's been working it all night. And she joins us to break down the numbers.
Tamara, good morning.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: All right. Let's start with these basic numbers for Mitt Romney that will make news today. How much did he pay in taxes?
KEITH: I should start by saying that the campaign has not yet posted his taxes online. They gave a sneak peak to a handful of publications, and so we're working with their numbers. And a warning - there are a lot of numbers here.
GREENE: Consider us warned; we'll bear with you.
KEITH: OK. So in 2010, Romney had just about $22 million in income, and he paid about 3 million in taxes. And then in his estimates for 2011, his income would be 21 million, and is expected to pay 3.2 million in taxes. Average all those things out, and you get an effective tax rate of about 14 and a half percent, which is quite low. The average tax rate paid by people earning more than a million dollars a year is 25 percent. That's according to the Tax Foundation.
So Romney is paying much lower taxes than the average very wealthy person. Also a note: He gave $7 million to charity over those two years. And much of that went to the Mormon Church, where he tithes 10 percent of his income.
GREENE: OK. So Romney paying less in taxes than even most other people who are rich. But what about Newt Gingrich?
KEITH: He released his 2010 returns, and he said that he paid nearly a million dollars on an adjusted gross income of 3.1 million. That works out to just over 30 percent.
GREENE: Well, let's make sure we understand this, because it is a lot of numbers. So Romney's paying an effective tax rate that's like, about half of what Gingrich is paying, I think. How does that happen?
KEITH: Well, it all comes down to earned income versus unearned income. And much of Gingrich's income came either through wages - or he has some S-corporations that pass income through to him. And much of that was taxed at the top individual tax rate, which is 35 percent. Almost all of Romney's money came through capital gain - so returns on investment, dividends, interest. He amassed huge personal wealth when he worked at Bain Capital. And now, that money is basically generating more money. And when that happens, it's taxed at the capital gains rate, which is 15 percent. Here's a little bit more from the debate last night, with Romney talking about his taxes.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
GREENE: Proud of paying a lot of taxes.
KEITH: Yeah. So what we've learned so far is that Romney pays a lot of taxes because he is extremely wealthy - which is something that we knew already.
GREENE: Well, help us better understand these numbers compared to what most Americans pay in taxes.
KEITH: The average effective tax rate in America is 11 percent - that's according to the Tax Foundation. But then the average American also pays payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and that pushes most people above 15 percent.
GREENE: You know, Tamara, Romney had been so reluctant to release these returns. How is this likely to affect things on the campaign trail?
KEITH: Well, last week in South Carolina, Romney said that he thought he paid about a 15 percent effective tax rate. And immediately, Newt Gingrich started going after him, in sort of a backhanded way. Gingrich has a tax plan, and it has a 15 percent flat tax option. Here he is, talking about that at last night's debate.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
GREENE: Gingrich is going to try to use Romney's taxes for his own purposes.
KEITH: Yeah, he gets to remind everyone that Romney is paying a fairly low tax rate, which could really annoy voters who either pay a lot more or at least, think they do. One note: Under the Gingrich tax plan, Romney would actually pay an effective tax rate of near-zero, because Gingrich proposes eliminating all taxes on capital gains. President Obama and his Democratic allies are not going to want to let this issue go, either. The president has been calling for a surtax on millionaires. He's also been talking about the so-called Buffett rule. And in a race that is likely to include discussions of income inequality, Romney's tax rate plays right into the president's hands.
GREENE: All right. Well, Tamara, don't put the calculator away quite yet.
KEITH: Oh, no.
GREENE: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thank you.
KEITH: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
As we've been reporting on the program this morning, Mitt Romney went on the attack at the GOP presidential debate in Florida last night. His target was rival Newt Gingrich, who was forced to defend his record as House speaker and later as a consultant to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Gingrich denied charges of influence peddling that were leveled by Romney. And Gingrich said he was the type of bold, tough leader Washington needs.
NEWT GINGRICH: They're not sending somebody to Washington to manage the decay. They're sending somebody to Washington to change it. And that requires somebody who's prepared to be controversial when necessary.
GREENE: And that's the part of his record that appeals to many of his supporters, especially, as NPR's Greg Allen reports, those in the Tea Party.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Karen Hoffman is both a Tea Party activist and a big Gingrich supporter. She founded a group in South Florida - D.C. Works for Us - and has signed on as Gingrich's campaign co-chair in Broward County. She says Gingrich has shown he cares about the Tea Party and its issues.
KAREN HOFFMAN: Newt has consistently reached out to the Tea Party leaders through conference calls. He came down to South Florida about 10 months ago and actually wanted to have an open discussion with the Tea Party leaders regarding issues and flying ideas past him.
ALLEN: Hoffman watched last night's debate and the pounding Gingrich took from former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. For much of the first 10 minutes, Romney forced Gingrich to talk about the ethics investigation conducted while he was House speaker and whether he was a lobbyist or just a consultant for Freddie Mac. Hoffman says it wasn't pretty, but thinks it was a distraction that most Republicans will dismiss.
Ray Sanchez, president of the Volusia 912 group in Ormond Beach, is no Romney fan. But there's a lot about Gingrich, he says, that Tea Party supporters should be wary of. His support of the bank bailout, for example, and other big government programs.
RAY SANCHEZ: He talked about being like an FDR, of just getting things done. When you hear him saying those things out of his own mouth, that he is professed to be a progressive, is one of the things that the Tea Party really should run away from.
ALLEN: But polls and interviews with Tea Party leaders suggest Gingrich is picking up support within the conservative movement. And Fred Scheibl thinks he knows why.
FRED SCHEIBL: He's a rebel.
ALLEN: Scheibl is active with the Palm Beach County Tea Party and another Santorum supporter.
One activist I spoke to called Gingrich a bulldog. Another said he liked the way Gingrich attacks the media. Scheibl says what appeals to activists is Gingrich's aggressive approach, the kind that he believes will be needed if Republicans win the White House.
SCHEIBL: We need someone who's a bomb thrower and go in there and really make some changes. And although it gives you pause what sort of a president Newt Gingrich would make, you probably would argue that he would throw a few bombs and shake up the tree.
ALLEN: Scheibl says of all the candidates, Texas Congressman Ron Paul probably comes closest to the Tea Party in his belief in a smaller, more limited government. The problem is Paul's views on foreign policy, which Scheibl says for some in the Tea Party appear isolationist, even unpatriotic.
In Sarasota last week, the Manatee County Tea Party held a straw poll of its members. More than half supported Santorum, and Gingrich came in third. The group's vice president, Steve Vernon, suspects if the straw poll were taken today, the result would be dramatically different. He still supports Santorum, but Vernon says if the former Pennsylvania senator wants to hold on to his Tea Party support, he needs to sharpen his strategy.
STEVE VERNON: He should be focusing on the differences, contrasting himself with Newt. That's what he should be. Because a lot of the conservatives are thinking Newt and that's what he's got to change.
ALLEN: Both Santorum and Gingrich are working hard to reach Tea Party activists and other conservatives who'll be voting in next week's Florida primary. Vernon's group is one of those sponsoring a rally the Gingrich campaign is holding later today in Sarasota.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
President Obama reclaims the spotlight tonight from his Republican rivals when he delivers his State of the Union address. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, the president will try to frame the choice voters face in November.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: The Obama re-election campaign is trying to make the most of tonight's address. It's organizing house parties where supporters can get together to watch the speech. And over the weekend, Mr. Obama sent a video preview to followers, saying he wants an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: On Tuesday night, I'm going to talk about how we'll get there. I'm going to lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last.
HORSLEY: That blueprint will include several key pillars, including manufacturing, domestic energy, and worker training. Mr. Obama will urge Congress to work with him on those issues. But he also promised, in his weekly radio address, to act on his own when necessary.
OBAMA: I will continue to work with Congress, states, and leaders in the private sector to find ways to move this country forward. But where they can't act or won't act, I will. Because we want the world to know that America is open for business.
HORSLEY: Political analyst Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College says tonight's nationally televised speech is a good platform for Mr. Obama. But it's one he has to use carefully.
JACK PITNEY: The president needs to draw a contrast between himself and the Republicans and at the same time come across as presidential, as someone who is president of all the people. That's a difficult rhetorical feat. But President Obama is very rhetorically skilled.
Mr. Obama is likely to tout some notable foreign policy accomplishments, such as ending the war in Iraq, beginning the troop draw-down in Afghanistan, and most importantly, killing Osama bin Laden.
HORSLEY: But it's the economy that's likely to dominate tonight's speech, as well as the November election. White House spokesman Jay Carney says middle-class families are still feeling an economic squeeze, even as the country slowly recovers from the deep downturn of the last few years.
JAY CARNEY: This theme about economic insecurity for the middle class is what got this president into politics. And he thinks that overwhelmingly the American people share his view that we need to have everyone play by the same rules, whether it's Wall Street or Main Street. And we need to have a tax system that ensures that everyone pays their fair share.
HORSLEY: That populist tax message may get some extra attention today, with Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's release of his 2010 tax return. Mr. Obama has argued it's not fair that wealthy investors sometimes pay a lower tax rate than many middle class families.
OBAMA: It's wrong that in the United States of America a teacher or a nurse or construction worker, maybe earns $50,000 a year, should pay a higher tax rate than somebody raking in $50 million.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: That's the president last month in Osawatomie, Kansas, a speech that telegraphed many of the themes we're likely to hear tonight and throughout the presidential campaign. Mr. Obama is defending an activist Teddy Roosevelt-style of government while rejecting the unfettered market model championed by many of today's Republicans.
OBAMA: Our success has never just been about survival of the fittest. It's about building a nation where we're all better off. We pull together. We pitch in. We do our part.
HORSLEY: Fifty-two million Americans tuned in for Mr. Obama's first speech to a joint session of Congress three years ago. Since then, the audience has dropped off some, but it's still a big prime-time opportunity. Even with all those eyeballs, though, political analyst Pitney says this kind of speech rarely alters the political landscape.
PITNEY: The State of the Union isn't a battle. It's merely the opening shot in a long war. And we're going to see a lot of other skirmishes in the months ahead.
HORSLEY: Indeed, Mr. Obama sets off tomorrow on a three-day trip in which he'll be amplify the themes of tonight's speech in five different battleground states.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
So this is a presidential election year here in the United States, and also in Russia. Their prime minister, Vladimir Putin, is the front-runner. But he's faced the largest anti-government demonstrations seen in that country since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Against that backdrop, longtime Russia expert Michael McFaul took up his post as the U.S. ambassador to Russia. But the architect of President Obama's reset policy with Russia has been greeted by accusations that he's supporting anti-Putin forces. These are accusations that he denied when we reached him at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
MICHAEL MCFAUL: We're not supporting any particular political force or opposition leader. There's been a lot of speculation about that here in the Russian press. And that's just absolute nonsense. We support a process. How they change, when they change, who gets elected president, who doesn't get elected - that's none of our business. That's for Russians to decide.
GREENE: You wrote a book about a decade ago, called "Russia's Unfinished Revolution." You took a look at the country from the Gorbachev era in the '80s up to the Putin era, and the failure of democracy to firmly take root. And I wonder if you could step back, and tell us where we are today. I mean, are these protests in Moscow a sign that Russia is moving toward the finish line?
Well, it was great to be an academic, when I could write books and pontificate about the future. I'm very loathe to talk about predictions of the future. What I would say is that you have seen a period of economic growth, modernization here, in this country, after a very difficult time. Let's remember, you know, when I wrote that book, I talked about the triple transition -of the end of empire, the end of Communism as a political system, and the end of the command economy as an economic system. Doing all three of those things simultaneously was a tremendous challenge, and a great many people suffered as a result of that. But they've come out of it now. This is a prosperous society; this is a very educated society; this is a very sophisticated society. And nobody should be surprised that they are demanding a sophisticated system of government and in turn, a very sophisticated government that's responding to that.
I look at a country like Ukraine. And we saw in 2004 - similar to what we're seeing now, in Russia - protests sparked by what was viewed as a rigged election. The crowds in the square in Kiev - much, much bigger. People got behind, you know, opposition figures who really mobilized, you know, those large crowds. Now, they have a system of government, a leader that is - does not seem as democratic as those who led the Orange Revolution.
Let's say Vladimir Putin wins the election in March, and remains in power in Russia. Where are we in these countries - I mean, in this evolution towards democracy you describe?
MCFAUL: We're, you know, two decades in. I'm not going to give grades about, oh, how democratic or not it is. But most certainly, this system is not the totalitarian dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Let's be very clear about that. Individual rights have progressed far. Choice is greater than it was before - and maybe not as great as it was a decade ago. That's for others to decide, and that's the real point. There is no single path to democracy. And every society, and every government, and every country, will find their own path. And we - as President Obama has said many, many times - we're not going to get into the business of dictating that path. We're just going to support what we like to call universal values - not American values, not Western values; universal values.
GREENE: You made very clear that the U.S. government does not choose the leaders of other countries. I wonder, though, if the United States is perceived in Russia as supporting these anti-Putin protests. If Vladimir Putin wins the presidential election in March, does it makes things complicated when he sits down with President Obama next time?
MCFAUL: Well, "if" is a big word. Let's the Russian people decide who will be their leader. And we look forward to working with whoever is the leader - including the prime minister, should he win the election. We've worked closely with him for the last three years; let's remember that. He's been the prime minister here. We fully expect that there's - in Russia's own national interest to continue to work with us in this cooperative way, and that's the way we intend to proceed.
GREENE: Michael McFaul is a longtime expert on Russia and now, the U.S. ambassador to Russia. And he spoke to us from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for spending the time with us.
MCFAUL: Thanks for having me.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with another powerful woman in Brazil.
The Brazilian state oil company has a new chief executive. Her name is Maria das Gracas Foster. Petrobras is the world's fifth-largest oil producer, and Foster becomes the first woman to run a top-five oil company. This comes as the firm looks to double its production by 2020.
The company's stocks surged on news of the appointment. Foster will be the second-most powerful woman in Brazil, after the president.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And our last word in business today is a pat-down throwdown. The Transportation Safety Administration says it did not detain Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. But officials at the agency did stop one of their most outspoken critics while he was going through the airport security line in Nashville yesterday.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The Republican senator was going through a body scanner when the alarm went off. Apparently, it was an anomaly. Then, he refused to submit to a pat-down, so he was escorted out of the screening area.
The TSA says it is a routine procedure when passengers refuse to complete the screening.
GREENE: The senator missed his flight, and his father was also upset. House Representative - and presidential candidate - Ron Paul repeated his promise to get rid of the TSA if he is elected.
And that is the business news here on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
A string of debates and primaries has kept the Republican presidential candidates in the spotlight this election season. Tonight, it's the president's turn to take center stage. President Obama will deliver the annual State of the Union Address, and in many ways kick off his own campaign for re-election. It's a reminder that Mr. Obama is running for president.
For a preview, we're joined by White House senior advisor David Plouffe.
Good morning.
DAVID PLOUFFE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, the president will has already hinted he'll focus on themes that he's raised before, one in particular that the middle-class can't afford, in his words: You're-on-your-own economics. Is tonight's speech really going to be economics, economics, economics?
PLOUFFE: Well, obviously, the central challenge we face as a country is: How do we strengthen this economy? And at this make or break moment for the middle-class, how we really design a blueprint that ensures that we create America built to last - that's based on, you know, American manufacturing, energy, skills - so that we have to continue to make progress. We've had 22 straight months of private-sector job growth, with over three million jobs.
But given the scale of the recession, we have so much more work to do. But, at the same time, we just see economic improvement. We've got to focus on: How do we strengthen the middle-class? How do we have more people in the middle-class? And that's the central challenge, not just of this president's tenure here, but that's facing the country.
MONTAGNE: I mean, can you give an example of a specific he might - a new program that he might announce?
PLOUFFE: Well, that would be a mistake for me to get ahead of the president. But there's going to be very, very specific ideas throughout the speech tonight on how can we improve our manufacturing sector, how can we make our tax code more fair, how can we have a revitalization in American energy, how do we make sure we have the skills and education required to fill the jobs of today and tomorrow.
So there are going to be specific ideas throughout the - you know, you mentioned in your introduction, this is a political season. It's election year. But I think the American people are going to insist that, yes, there'll be an election in November, but there's plenty of time in the interim here for folks here in Washington, you know, working with businesses across the country to make real progress that helps the economy broadly, and specifically lifts the middle-class.
MONTAGNE: Well, when you say that - the president will be going before Congress tonight, but on one side of the aisle, there are a group of politicians that managed to hold up his agenda this past year. He's expected to campaign against the Republican Congress. Will he, in a sense, accuse them tonight, call them out tonight?
PLOUFFE: Well, listen. I think no one who watched Washington last year could be satisfied with the performance here. And we were able to get some things done in a bipartisan way, trade deals that'll make sure we're selling, you know, GMs and Fords in South Korea. We were able to reach an agreement on cutting taxes for the middle-class. So we've made some progress. But there's no doubt that there was too much gridlock and partisanship last year.
Now, as you've seen over time here, the president has an initiative we called We Can't Wait, where he is scouring the landscape to find everything he can do on his own: to protect consumers, to cut college costs, to help with housing. So, there are some things we're going to be able to on our own, and we're going to continue that.
There is no doubt that there are some things Congress needs to do to help this economy and help you the middle-class. So, even though its election year, I think the point the president's going to make tonight is there'll be plenty of time for politics. But let's try and do the people's business.
MONTAGNE: Well, we're hearing - speaking of politics, we're hearing this morning the details about Mitt Romney's 2010 taxes and an estimate of his 2011. We now know he paid an effective tax rate of less than 15 percent on more than $42 million of income over those two years. His Republican rival, Newt Gingrich, has attacked him on this note - other rivals, as well.
Is the Obama campaign rubbing its hands in anticipation of doing the same?
PLOUFFE: Well, listen. This Republican primary is going to go on for a long time. It'll have a lot of twists and turns, and those voters will have to make their own judgment about Mitt Romney's tax returns. It does underscore, I think, a very important point, which we have a tax code here that's not fair enough, not simple enough.
The president talked throughout the fall about something called the Buffett Rule. Warren Buffett's aim was he said he should not pay less effective taxes than his secretary does. And we'll be talking about that in some detail tonight. So we have to have a tax system that, you know, is simpler. That's important. That means we can lower rates for a lot of people.
But if we're going to invest in manufacturing, if we're going to invest in energy, if we're going to invest in education, if we're going to cut the deficit, these are choices. And there's no easy choice. But as we cut a lot of spending - and this president has signed into law a guarantee of over $2 trillion in deficit cuts - we're going to have to get some of the rest of the job done with having the wealthiest in this country - the wealthiest 1 or 2 percent - pay a little bit more.
So, any kind of tax system where, you know, the wealthiest in our society are paying much less than the average middle-class worker is a problem, and we've got to fix it.
MONTAGNE: David Plouffe, President Obama's senior adviser, let me just ask you this. And this sort of suggests what might happen in tonight's speech, and that's that there are many challenges facing the United States overseas, foreign issues. How much will be devoted in tonight's speech? And I just - I'm asking you briefly to tell us about both his foreign policy successes, but also challenges in places like Pakistan.
PLOUFFE: Well, we do have plenty of both, and the president will obviously talk about that. We've, you know, ended the Iraq war. We're on case to end the Afghanistan war. We've degraded al-Qaida. So we've made huge strides, here. But, obviously, we still have challenges in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region in the Middle East. So the president will obviously be talking about those issues tonight.
MONTAGNE: But is the thinking that this is something that Americans really aren't so interested in, given the economy?
PLOUFFE: Well, no. I think that Americans are interested. I just think the central challenge that we're facing right now is we came out of a steep recession, the worst since the Great Depression, and the American people want to know: How are we going to continue to climb out of it? And that's what the president's going to lay out tonight: a very specific blueprint for how we build an America that's durable and that works for as many people in this country as possible.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
PLOUFFE: Thanks, Renee.
MONTAGNE: David Plouffe is President Obama's senior advisor.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's turn now to the Senate race in Massachusetts, where something rare in politics is happening: Rivals have joined forces. Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren have signed a pledge to try to block third-party political advertising.
The two sides negotiated for about a week to reach the deal, which has financial penalties if it's broken. It appears to be the first time opposing candidates have come together to stop the aggressive ad campaigns encouraged by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. From member station WBUR in Boston, Monica Brady-Myerov has our story.
MONICA BRADY-MYEROV, BYLINE: Brown and Warren wanted to make this more than a political pinky swear. So the deal requires each candidate donate to charity half the cost of any outside ad that either supports a candidate or attacks his or her opponent. Here's Harvard Professor Warren.
ELIZABETH WARREN: We're saying that we want to be able to run our own campaigns. You know, for me, this is a matter of personal responsibility. I will be responsible for what I say, and I assume that Scott Brown is willing to be responsible for what he says.
BRADY-MYEROV: The agreement covers broadcast and cable television, radio and Internet ads. Senator Brown, who first proposed the idea, says the pledge is a bold statement to superPACs that their influence in the race could hurt the candidates they're trying to help - hurt them with ads like this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
BRADY-MYEROV: That ad campaign by the League of Conservation Voters cost $1.8 million. Now, under Brown and Warren's People's Pledge, if the League makes a similar ad buy, Warren's campaign would be required to donate $900,000 to a charity of Brown's choice. The League's Navin Nayak says his organization will respect the agreement, howeverâ¦
NAVIN NAYAK: Our biggest concern is we hope that Senator Brown will actually hold up his end of the bargain when we inevitably see Crossroads and the Koch brothers break it.
BRADY-MYEROV: Crossroads GPS is an outside money group co-founded by Karl Rove that has run ads in Massachusetts attacking Warren.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT)
BRADY-MYEROV: The head of Crossroads says the agreement has loopholes the Teamsters could drive a truck through. It still allows outside groups to pay for union phone banks, direct mail and get-out-the-vote drives. How the pledge plays out will be closely watched, says Tufts University Political Science Professor Jeff Berry.
JEFF BERRY: If it does, in fact, work, then pressure will grow in the next election cycle for candidates to agree to this kind of truce.
BRADY-MYEROV: The candidates have also asked broadcast stations to refuse to run political ads produced by third parties. So far, no Boston station has agreed to comply with the pledge.
For NPR News, I'm Monica Brady-Myerov in Boston.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
One of the biggest issues in the Florida GOP primary race is housing. Mitt Romney is using Newt Gingrich's past work for the housing giant Freddy Mac as a bludgeon to attack his rival. But the issue is certainly not just a political talking point. Three years after the economic collapse, foreclosures continue to affect real people every day in an extremely personal way. NPR's Ari Shapiro met some of them in Sarasota.
ARI SHAPRIO, BYLINE: Phil DeFreese has been a real estate broker since he was about 25.
PHIL DEFREESE: And basically, I'm a senior citizen. So that's a lot of years.
SHAPRIO: He's seen it all. He lost more than a million dollars in the real estate bubble here. But what happened to his colleague was truly awful.
DEFREESE: He had bought six properties just before the end of the boom, and he couldn't recover. Instead of just going back to the bank, he committed suicide, left a wife and two young kids - crazy.
SHAPRIO: These kids of stories are disturbingly easy to find in Sarasota. Florida has more foreclosures than almost any other state, one of the highest rates in the country. At nearly 10 percent, unemployment here is worse than the rest of the country. And Sarasota is worse than other parts of the state.
DON HEDSELL: We took names for our rental assistance program, and we had 1,400 people apply in one week. And we'll have about 50 vouchers available each year.
SHAPRIO: Don Hedsell is the director of the Sarasota Office of Housing and Community Development. He says the city was flooded with housing during the boom years. Everyone built everything they could and sold to anyone who would buy. Now he fears the situation might still get worse before it improves. He says some people have lost their faith in the American dream.
HEDSELL: I think people felt that they were worked real hard, they were able to get where they wanted to be and buy a house, and then to have seen that home taken away from them and they wonder whether or not they're ever going to be able to do it again.
SHAPRIO: Herlinka Jackson didn't even get that far. She was living in a rental unit she learned that the apartment's owner had not been making the mortgage payments.
HERLINKA JACKSON: They went to court one day, and the next day, we had to get out.
SHAPRIO: So you had less than 24 hours notice?
JACKSON: Yeah. One day.
SHAPRIO: How long ago did that happen?
JACKSON: Like, three days before Christmas.
SHAPRIO: Shereena Brown sits nearby, on a chair outside of the Trinity Multicultural Life Church. She had a similar experience: The man who owned her mother's apartment skipped town when he couldn't pay the mortgage on his properties, and after 15 years in the same home, Brown's mother had to leave.
SHEENA BROWN: When you dealing with a mother that's in her 70s and they're comfortable, they get in their comfort zone, and they have their issues with their illnesses, it's hard for them to tell them that, hey, I'm sorry, old lady. You got to go.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Her pastor at the church is Teresa Perkins. She owns her house, but just barely.
PASTOR THERESA PERKINS: They loaned me out money, and then they upped my mortgage payment. So I that's how we lost - I didn't lose my house, but I had to get a modification. And a lot of people can't get modifications because they got the loan for their house, and then the job went down, they lost their job, and then the housing is no more.
SHAPIRO: So the housing crisis, the unemployment crisis, and the larger economic crisis are all entangled here in Florida and across the country. At a round-table discussion in Tampa yesterday, Mitt Romney said it's impossible to solve one problem without solving all of them.
MITT ROMNEY: This market will not recover. You won't have home values start rising and ending the challenges that we're talking about until people are back at work.
SHAPIRO: That may be true, but to people like Pastor Theresa Perkins, it doesn't sound like a solution to the immediate problem. She believes there's not much any politician can do to fix this mess.
PERKINS: Promises, that's all they know. They're making a lot of promises that they're not probably able to keep.
SHAPIRO: As Romney sat around that table in Tampa yesterday, the only promise he made was a very general one: he reassured the people who were underwater, out of their homes, or out of work that it gets better.
Ari Shaprio, NPR News, Sarasota, Florida.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Roll out the red carpet. We'll soon know the movies with a shot at Oscar gold. Nominations for the Academy Awards will be announced this morning in Beverly Hills. Kim Masters has been watching the Oscar race as editor-at-large for the Hollywood Reporter, and she joined us from NPR West. Good morning.
KIM MASTERS, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And Kim, let's start with the big one. Anywhere from five to 10 movies could be nominated for best picture, based on the new Academy voting rules, this year's rules. What are the favorites?
MASTERS: Well, the formidable frontrunner at this point looks like "The Artist," the mostly silent, black-and-white movie that has won a bunch of awards already. But you also have to factor in "The Descendants," which is about George Clooney as a dad trying to deal with a family tragedy in Hawaii, "The Help," of course, about the '60s in Jackson, Mississippi and the black help versus the white wives for whom they work.
"Hugo" could sneak in there, "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen's movie. "Bridesmaids" might even get a nod. It's been picking up a lot of momentum in the early going. And who knows, maybe "Moneyball" or "War Horse" sneaks in there, too. It's a pretty broad range of films this year.
MONTAGNE: So let's move to the acting categories. You just mentioned "The Descendants" and George Clooney. Is this his year for Best Actor?
MASTERS: I think it may be. I think Brad Pitt is hoping that it isn't. But I thinkâ¦
MONTAGNE: Brad Pitt, of course, who stars in "Moneyball."
MASTERS: For "Moneyball."
MONTAGNE: Yeah.
MASTERS: But I think at this point, it's George versus Brad, the handsome men against each other.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE DESCENDANTS")
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "MONEYBALL")
MONTAGNE: OK. And best actress - in fact, let's take a moment here to hear two of the contenders.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE IRON LADY")
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN")
MONTAGNE: You've just heard Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn," and before that Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." What do you think? What about the two of them, and who else?
MASTERS: Well, I actually think Viola Davis from "The Help" would be really a kind of shoe-in this year, except for - you heard the accent, she's back - Meryl Streep, not that she ever went anywhere. She has not won an Oscar for nearly 30 years, and she does feel like the wind is behind her. But if not, I still think there's a shot that Viola Davis' performance, this very dignified performance, might win Academy backing this year.
MONTAGNE: There are so many categories. Leave us with what might turn out to be this year's sentimental moment at the Academy Awards.
MASTERS: Well, I think Christopher Plummer is likely to be honored in best supporting actor for his performance in "Beginners," as a man who lived his entire life in the closet and finally comes out in his sunset years. You know, I think - and one thing you can count on, Renee, in best original screenplay, if Woody Allen wins for "Midnight in Paris," he won't show up.
MONTAGNE: Kim, thanks very much.
MASTERS: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Kim Masters is host of THE BUSINESS on member station KCRW.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You might remember, last summer, the U.S. women's soccer team caught the attention of the nation with its dramatic run to the final of the women's world cup in Germany. Well, this week, the team is playing in an all-important, Olympic-qualifying tournament in Vancouver. And Christine Brennan is there covering the event for USA Today.
Christine, good morning.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Good morning, David.
GREENE: So I think a lot of people who remember that run to the World Cup final would be surprised to find out that the U.S. women's team has not already qualified for the Olympics in London, but that they still have some work to do, it sounds like.
BRENNAN: You're absolutely right. Yeah. It is surprising, I think, to a lot of people who remember that great run in the summer by the U.S., and think: How could they not be in? But they aren't yet.
In the North and Central American and Caribbean region, the World Cup performance is put aside. And there's regional qualifying for the Olympics. And so here we are. Two teams come from this region for the 12-team Olympic tournament. So the two nations that win the semi-finals here Friday qualify for London. The U.S. and Canada are the top-ranked teams, and they're likely to be the ones who make it, but you never know.
GREENE: Likely, but Mexico is standing in the way. The U.S. plays Mexico tonight. What are you expecting in that game?
BRENNAN: You know, 14 months ago, David, in World Cup qualifying - for the World Cup, not the Olympics - Mexico beat the United States, shocked them, 2-1. They played 26 matches. It was the first time Mexico had ever beaten the United States, forced the U.S. to get into the World Cup through a last-gasp qualifying round against Italy - which, of course, the U.S. did.
So the U.S. is using that upset as a rallying cry of sorts here. It has overwhelmed the Dominican Republic, 14 to nothing.
GREENE: Fourteen to nothing? Wow, that...
BRENNAN: That's right. And Guatemala, 13 to nothing - unheard of scores in soccer. It sounds awful, but the U.S. wasn't necessarily running up the score or piling on. You know, sadly, those teams are so lacking in the skills you have to have at this level, because, frankly, their national federations just don't care about women's soccer.
And the U.S. players, David, have talked a lot about that, that - hoping that after those games, that this might be the wake-up call those rather chauvinistic leaders of those sports in the island nations in Central - and the Caribbean - Central American and Caribbean might need that wake-up call to have their women's teams get better.
GREENE: Well, I think it's worth going back to last summer. So many people followed the American women's team last year. I mean, did the players do - does the league feel like there was a rise in interest and endorsements and other things for women's soccer in the U.S.?
BRENNAN: There was some, certainly. Certainly, a couple of the players, especially, cashed in and had a great run, as they deserved, led by the goalkeeper with the perfect name for such a solitary position of goalie: Hope Solo. Hope Solo was on "Dancing with the Stars" all fall. That certainly introduced her to a different audience than the soccer crowd.
And there's Abby Wambach, of course, with the great goals, especially against Brazil, to tie that game at the very end. She's a big draw and did a lot of appearances, especially with girl soccer players. And, as you know, there are tens of thousands of them in the United States.
But the league is an interesting story, because they did see their attendance rise - the WPS - when all the players came back after the tournament, after the World Cup, but it's still having trouble gaining a foothold in the very crowded sports landscape in the United States. There's only five teams who'll be playing this year in the WPS, all on the East Coast. So definitely some mixed results.
GREENE: Well, Christine, in the few seconds we have left, I mean, if the U.S. does qualify as expected, what are their chances for a gold medal in London this summer?
BRENNAN: David, they're quite good. Women's soccer has been in the last four summer Olympic Games. The U.S. has won three of those four gold medals. The one time that they did not win in 2000, they won the silver. So they're very happy that it's an Olympic year.
GREENE: All right. USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan, speaking to us from Vancouver.
Christine, thanks so much.
BRENNAN: Thank you, David.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is better known for eating hot dogs. He once ate 69 of them in 10 minutes. Well, now he's on to a different food - Twinkies. TV host Wendy Williams invited Kobayashi on her show to set the Guinness world record for most Twinkies consumed in a minute. Believe it or not, there was no previous record for Twinkie eating, and so Guinness said they'd crown him if he could eat four. He ended up eating 14 Twinkies in a minute. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. At Disneyland and Disney World, everyone working there has a clean-cut image. It goes back to the 1950s, when Disneyland first opened and facial hair was banned. Even though Uncle Walt Disney had one, moustaches weren't even allowed until 2000. But starting next month, employees will finally be allowed to have beards, as long as they're kept short and trim, unless maybe you're one of the seven dwarves. It's MORNING EDITION.
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The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and leading the pack with 11 nominations is the 3D movie "Hugo." It's about a Paris street urchin who befriends one of the inventors of cinema. "Hugo" was nominated for best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay, among others. NPR's Neda Ulaby joins us to talk about the Oscar nominations, and good morning.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: What else was nominated for best picture?
ULABY: Besides "Hugo," best picture nominees were "Moneyball," "The Descendants," "War Horse," "Tree of Life" - that was the surprise - "Midnight in Paris," "The Help," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" - another surprise - and "The Artist." And we've got a clip from "The Artist" to play for you right now.
That was a joke. "The Artist" is a silent movie, and it's all about the decline of silent film. But, for real, here's a little of the soundtrack from the film.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: Which, by the way, functions as narration in this movie.
ULABY: Absolutely. It's bouncy. It's fun, and it really sort of brings you into this era that Hollywood adores - at least it adores this year, between both "Hugo" and "The Artist."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: And Neda, you mentioned a few surprises just now. Does that have anything to do with the Academy's new rules about picking the best picture this year? This year's new rules, not last year's new rules.
ULABY: Right. Right. It's been a little crazy recently. It used to be that only five movies got nominated for best picture. Then the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences changed it to 10. This year, they've changed the rules a little bit so that people's first choice got a lot more weight. And what means is that a lot of Academy members picked "Tree of Life" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" as their number-one movie - favorite movie of the year. It also means that we've ended up with nine best picture nominees this year.
MONTAGNE: OK. So this year's most competitive category, I must say, has got to be for best actress.
ULABY: Best actress. Here's who we have. We've got Michelle Williams from "My Week with Marilyn," Viola Davis, "The Help," Rooney Mara - dark horse - "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs" - that's the movie where she plays a woman passing as a man in Ireland - and, inevitably, Meryl Streep. And we've got a clip of her from "The Iron Lady."
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE IRON LADY")
ULABY: This is Meryl Streep's 17th Oscar nomination. She does get nominated with the regularity of a metronome. But it should be noted she has not actually won an Oscar since 1983, "Sophie's Choice." So even though there's a lot of speculation that Viola Davis has this category wrapped up with "The Help," Streep's a contender. You can't cut out Streep.
And, you know, they changed the rules - what we were talking about earlier - to attract more audience members to the Oscar telecast, but I've got to say, if they really wanted to attract a bigger audience, they should include an animal category - at least this year. We had those wonderful dogs in "Beginners" and in "The Artist," the horses of "War Horse," and the orangutan in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."
MONTAGNE: Last question: Any surprises?
ULABY: I was surprised "The Help" didn't get nominated for its screenplay, adapted from the best-selling novel. And even though I was not the biggest fan of "The Help," I thought Tate Taylor would get a best director nomination. The other directors were Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist," Alexander Payne for "The Descendents," Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris," Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" and Terrence Malik for "The Tree of Life." The other big surprise for me was best actor. Mexican actor Demian Bichir was nominated for his wonderful performance in the movie "A Better Life," along with - for their movies, George Clooney in "The Descendents," Jean Dujardin in "The Artist," Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Brad Pitt, "Moneyball."
MONTAGNE: Neda, thanks much.
ULABY: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Neda Ulaby. This is NPR News.
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It was five months ago that a town in Vermont was walloped by the remnants of Hurricane Irene. Waterbury sustained millions of dollars in damage and lost revenue for businesses there. The floods brought by Irene receded long ago, but Waterbury's' future is still uncertain. Vermont Public Radio's Lynne McCrea reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS RINGING)
LYNNE MCCREA, BYLINE: Out on Main Street, a church bell still chimes daily, but daily life in Waterbury hasn't been the same since Tropical Storm Irene.
BILL SHEPELUK: It's palpable. You can sense that it's not as vibrant as it was.
MCCREA: Bill Shepeluk is Waterbury's Municipal Manager. He says about 200 properties in the village were hit by flooding, nearly a third of all its homes and businesses. But for residents, that's not the worst of it. For decades, 1,500 employees worked at the sprawling state office complex along one end of Main Street.
But Irene's floodwaters inundated all 49 of the century-old red brick buildings. All but one of them was rendered uninhabitable. That meant almost all those workers had to go to temporary offices elsewhere. They still haven't returned. Bill Shepeluk says the town felt the loss immediately. Fifteen hundred people who were once in and out of restaurants, grocery stores and dry cleaners are now gone.
SHEPELUK: You know, every job has a multiplier, so every dollar of payroll maybe translates into seven or eight or $12, and that dollar just gets circulated through a community.
(SOUNDBITE OF HAMMERING)
MCCREA: More than half of Albert Caron's customers were state workers. His auto repair shop is just a block from the state office complex, and work has dropped off dramatically.
ALBERT CARON: I have nothing scheduled for next week, week after. Near lunchtime, usually, I can probably figure out anywhere between eight and 10 walk-ins. Now I get one if I'm lucky.
MCCREA: The irony of Waterbury's situation is that the town was in tough straights 30 years ago, when the state mental hospital occupied the buildings that have since been converted to the state office complex. It was that transformation from state hospital to state offices that triggered the town's renaissance.
MARK HALL: Hey, how you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: How's it going?
HALL: Pretty good. How are you guys doing...
MCCREA: At Waterbury's winter farmers market, Mark Hall says residents in this close-knit community have been trying to support village businesses.
HALL: The community's great. I mean, we do everything we can, but there's not enough of us to keep it going the way it was going before the flood.
MCCREA: The state has been studying whether it's financially feasible to renovate some of the aging buildings at the Waterbury complex so workers can return. The question now is: How long can the village wait? While many businesses struggle to hang on, people in town are fighting back. They've created ReBuild Waterbury, a nonprofit to help push along the recovery process.
AMY HOSKINS: People are really, I think, committed to the community.
MCCREA: Amy Hoskins volunteers at the farmers market. She says before Irene, the town was just hitting its stride, with the addition of things like a wine bar and a performing arts studio.
HOSKINS: So it definitely - it had become sort of a more thriving, lively place in the last few years. And to have Irene hit us when it did has really set us back.
MCCREA: Like many others in town, Hoskins is hopeful that Waterbury's resilience will carry it through this new challenge. Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk sees it as a challenge the town will rise to.
SHEPELUK: You know, the old adage is you have to adapt or you die. And we're in a position where we have to accept there's going to be change.
MCCREA: Meanwhile, the town looks ahead to March. That's when state government expects to make decisions about whether any state workers can return to Waterbury and when.
For NPR news, I'm Lynne McCrea.
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Americans who travel abroad are all often stunned by the size of their mobile phone bills. Even if they aren't actively using the phone, they can rack up hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in charges. NPR's Wendy Kaufman explains why that happens and what you can do about it if you travel.
WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: Los Angeles resident Lisa French thought she was being very careful when she took her smartphone on a trip to Japan.
LISA FRENCH: I was advised not to make any phone calls, as phone calls oversees are very, very expensive.
KAUFMAN: So is text messaging, so she wasn't planning to do that either. She took note of an alert that popped up on her phone shortly after arriving in Japan warning about possible data charges. But she wasn't planning to spend a lot of time online, and she says...
FRENCH: Since I had traveled to Germany and Barcelona in the past and I really only got maybe $30 or $40 more on my phone bill, I thought, oh, OK, it's only going to be about that much.
KAUFMAN: French was in for a big surprise. A few days into her trip she checked her account online.
FRENCH: I found at the very bottom, very hard to read, that I had $462 in roaming charges. It was like a slap in the face.
KAUFMAN: Smartphones try to connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi; it's often free so you don't incur connection charges. But if the device doesn't pick up Wi-Fi, it will use a cellular network. And what runs up the bill is usually data.
Mike Gikas, a senior editor at Consumer Reports, explains that even when you don't think you're using the phone, the device is running in the background, doing things like retrieving email, updating apps and tracking your location.
MIKE GIKAS: And all of these things that happen nonchalantly on your phone, suddenly you'll be paying five, 10, 15 dollars a megabyte, which you can burn through in no time.
KAUFMAN: For example, location-based restaurant reviews - even ones you don't specifically ask for, could cost $2 or $3 each - and you might get half a dozen or more of them in a single day.
WILLIAM FREEDMAN: The trick for consumers is to be informed.
KAUFMAN: That's William Freedman, an official at the Federal Communications Commission. In 2010, the FCC proposed rules to get wireless carriers to provide timely and effective notice to consumers about these charges. The cell phone companies countered with a voluntary standard, and the federal government said OK.
FREEDMAN: Significantly, they agreed that these alerts would be provided free of charge and there was no opt in.
KAUFMAN: While some wireless carriers are already providing consumers with some notifications, carriers don't have to fully comply with the industry standard until next spring.
But travelers don't have to wait. There are a number of steps you can take right now. One solution is to simply buy a prepaid local phone once you reach your destination. But if you can't part with your smartphone, John Walls of CTIA, the industry trade group, says you can turn off your phone's roaming function.
JOHN WALLS: So that the only time that phone will work in a data capacity is in a Wi-Fi area that won't cost you.
KAUFMAN: You can also turn the device off completely and turn it on only if you know you are inside a Wi-Fi hotspot. You can also purchase a prepaid data plan. In short, says Walls, consumers have choices.
WALLS: But you do have to be proactive and in this case go get it.
KAUFMAN: He urges travelers to call their wireless carrier's customer service line and check the provider's website before they leave home.
Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
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In the wake of the death of Joe Paterno, there's been a lot of talk about the legacy of this legendary Penn State football coach.
Commentator Frank Deford suggests that Paterno did help usher in a golden era of college coaches, and then helped usher it out as well.
FRANK DEFORD, BYLINE: Now that Joe Paterno has passed on from Happy Valley, we must ponder whether we will ever see his like again. But please, I am now, you understand, talking about Coach Paterno. Let us, for the moment, put aside how the old citizen whose credo was Success With Honor, acted with regard to pedophilia: so without sensitivity, so irresponsibly, so ultimately cold-bloodedly. That will sully Paterno's memory forever.
But simply for now: Joe Paterno, the coach, which is what he still was. It's hard to recall this now barely 11 weeks ago. Will, in fact, any college coach ever again possess the power that he did over his university? Well, almost surely not.
Paterno's long tenure at an insulated campus, combined with how venerable he became and how upright he was supposed to be in conducting his program, are circumstances unlikely to be duplicated.
On the other hand, to suggest that someone like Nick Saban at Alabama, or Urban Meyer - who just took over at Ohio State - do not possess authority far beyond their contractual niceties is naive. Big-time football coaches are the Cardinal Richelieu among state university royalty. Or the Rasputin, if you are of a more cynical bent.
But in a matter of time in grade, Paterno's career will probably never be replicated. Unlike, say, basketball coaches who are operating in a smaller, more personal universe, football is so much more hierarchal. You have to work your way up: assistant, coordinator, head coach mid-major, head coach big time. It takes awhile. Paterno was almost 40 before he got his chance.
His closest basketball peers - like Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, or Dean Smith and Bobby Knight, retired, all made Division I head coach at an age when football coaches are still plying the ladder. Moreover, because basketball is more intimate, a coach can better create his own comfortable nest.
Besides, because so much more money is involved, there's more pressure on football coaches - and less forgiveness for the losers - while the best coaches today are constantly being lured to other colleges by big-money boosters.
So no, when Paterno was fired in November, it concluded a career which we can surely never even imagine again. In the time he reigned, though, more and more celebrity, veneration and prerogative accrued to college football coaches. And notwithstanding what he did not do in the matter of Coach Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno had much to do with giving other coaches a sovereignty they never previously possessed.
MONTAGNE: Commentator Frank Deford joins us every Wednesday from member station WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.
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In his State of the Union speech, President Obama promised to increase development of natural gas. One technique to get that gas from underground rock has drawn plenty of criticism. Hydraulic fracturing uses fluid to push up the gas, something that concerns environmentalists. Whatever its drawbacks, it's becoming clear that fracking, as it's called, is producing a lot of natural gas. As NPR's Christopher Joyce reports, maybe too much.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: Fracking was once a small part of the natural gas industry, a technique to get hard-to-reach deposits in underground shale. Then the technology improved, and the dinner bell rang. Everybody wanted in. Now there's so much gas on the market that the price is at a 10-year low. Michael Kehs is vice president of Chesapeake Energy, one of the biggest shale gas producers.
MICHAEL KEHS: A boom has only occurred over the last few years, and the market at first wasn't sure that it was real. But it is so real that's it's actually depressing prices, and the view is that the price is going to remain low for a number of years going forward.
JOYCE: In fact, companies are storing a lot of gas instead of selling it. And now Chesapeake is pulling back from some wells. The company is moving half its drilling rigs from wells that produce dry gas - the stuff you use in your stove or water heater. Instead, they'll drill in places where there's also wet gas, stuff like ethylene, propylene and butadiene. These are mostly used to make plastic or textiles and they bring a higher price. Some of these wells also produce oil, also pricey right now. Economist Sara Banaszak of the trade group America's Natural Gas Alliance says other energy companies are doing the same, but they aren't likely to abandon shale gas.
SARA BANASZAK: Companies that are here to produce natural gas are here for the long term. You know, there are, you know, micro-adjustments in the path along the way, but I think they've made their investments and they're going to pursue that path.
JOYCE: Banaszak says fracking operations are pretty flexible.
BANASZAK: One thing that is good about a lot of the unconventional production is the ability to sort of scale it up and down with changes in demand and supply.
JOYCE: For Chesapeake's Michael Kehs, it's a matter of waiting for more people - electric utilities or factories - to move to gas power.
KEHS: You know, it's almost like the shale "Field of Dreams." You know, we've built it, and now the demand will come.
JOYCE: A warm winter has also kept prices down, but analysts at the federal Energy Information Agency say low prices could last for years, which could boost demand eventually. If it doesn't, there's already talk in the industry about liquefying America's surplus gas and exporting it overseas. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
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Islamist militants in Nigeria claim responsibility for recent attacks that killed almost 200 people. The radical sect Boko Haram operates in northern Nigeria in the city of Kano. The latest bombing there yesterday destroyed a police station.
NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton is there.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: Kano is an ancient, sprawling city of more than nine million whose Muslim day of prayers last Friday was shattered by a series of coordinated blasts.
We're in one of the main market areas here in Kano. And just down the street, the street has been blocked off, because that's where one of the police stations was hit last Friday in the series of bombings that Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for.
Sagir Ali is a security guard at a parking lot here at the market. He says he watched as nearby government offices were attacked.
SAGIR ALI: (Through translator) I was here when I saw a group of people and they started bombing the immigration office. And then we saw smoke rising. The attackers told us, don't run away - we're fighting the police, not the civilians.
QUIST-ARCTON: Ali reports the assailants were a group of young, heavily armed men shouting Allawu Akbar - God is great. The police say the attacks were well-planned, and deadly, and targeted mainly police stations and government buildings.
The casualty count from the multiple bombings in Kano is between 150 and 200 and rising. Nigeria's security forces have been sharply criticized for failing to contain Boko Haram. Under pressure to stop the violence, President Goodluck Jonathan travelled to Kano over the weekend. He says the militants have changed tactics.
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN: These suicide attacks have not been a part of us, they are quite new to us. Unfortunately, the whole world is passing through terror attacks. It's a very ugly phase of our history.
QUIST-ARCTON: From a homegrown Islamist sect which initially picked on government and security institutions, Boko Haram has evolved into a serious security threat for Nigeria - killing, shooting and bombing at will, in what some describe as a declaration of war against President Jonathan's government.
Of late, churches too have been hit, adding an overtly religious hue to the violence, with the insurgents warning Christians to leave Nigeria's mainly Muslim north. Some see the influence of al-Qaida and radical Somali al-Shabaab militants.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN)
QUIST-ARCTON: With soldiers patrolling Kano's streets, and a curfew enforced, many in Nigeria's multi-ethnic communities are living in fear and apprehension. The Kano state governor invited local and religious leaders and traditional rulers, including the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, for a talk all about peace, reconciliation, and solidarity.
ADO BAYERO: (Foreign language spoken)
QUIST-ARCTON: The Emir, and many others present at the gathering, stressed the need for calm, and for Nigerians to live in harmony.
At the outdoor parking lot, Sagir Ali, the security guard, says the government must do more so that no Nigerian feel so alienated, marginalized, and neglected that they're ready to take up arms against the state and the people.
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Kano.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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Now, as Americans talk of exporting natural gas, they're also looking to block energy exports from Iran. The U.S. and Europe are intensifying sanctions, pressing Iran over its nuclear program. The latest sanctions would raise many barriers to Iranian oil exports. But the global economy is interconnected, so the challenge is cutting off Iran's oil without harming the rest of the world. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that some advocates of sanctions have actually devised complex models to show how to do that.
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: A problem with sanctions is they don't always work as intended. If, for example, the U.S. and Europe don't buy Iran's oil, but other countries pick up the slack, nothing is accomplished. Or if some Iranian oil is taken off the market but the price goes up, Iran could earn just as much from its oil, even though it's selling less. Mark Dubowitz runs the Iran Energy Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. His organization supports the Iran sanctions and has an international team of researchers, mathematicians, and economists working to show how the sanctions can do exactly what they're meant to do.
MARK DUBOWITZ: We've identified Iran's major oil purchases, how much they're buying, thousands of barrels a day. We look at how much oil revenue each country is contributing to Iran and then we run scenarios, you know, based on a certain change in output.
GJELTEN: Dubowitz and his team are assuming that over the next six months, as the sanctions take effect, the European Union countries will cut their purchase of Iranian oil by 80 percent. Not 100 percent - some will still leak through. They also assume India, Japan and Korea will cut back their oil purchases from Iran. Is that realistic? Those three countries are big consumers of Iranian oil. India's foreign minister says his country will not abide by the U.S. and EU sanctions. But Dubowitz and his team say it's more important to look at what Indian refinery operators do on their own. Especially since U.S. sanctions would punish foreign companies that buy Iran's oil.
DUBOWITZ: A number of the refiners have significant U.S. interests and assets, and we believe that a number of Indian refineries are going to make an independent decision to comply with U.S. sanctions because they don't want to risk getting sanctioned and cut off from the U.S. market.
GJELTEN: So that's India. As for Japan and South Korea, Dubowitz thinks those governments will want to protect their companies from U.S. sanctions.
DUBOWITZ: They do not want to get in a fight with Congress during election season on this issue. They are absolutely paranoid about the prospects of Japanese and South Korean companies ending up on somebody's name and shame list.
GJELTEN: To be spared that embarrassment, Japan and South Korea are likely to reduce their Iranian oil imports by 15 percent, according to this model - enough to show they're at least making an effort. So from Europe to Asia, those are where the cuts occur. China, on the other hand, is projected to increase its purchase of Iranian oil. In all, by this team's calculation, Iran will see a net loss of about 500,000 barrels each day due to sanctions. And that alone would cost Iran money, but in addition, Iran might be hurt another way. With other countries cutting back on their imports, the countries that buy more oil - notably China - could insist that Iran sell to them below market price. In this case, Dubowitz and his team predict China will be able to negotiate about a 15 percent discount.
DUBOWITZ: We actually assess that if there were no other buyers of Iranian oil, China could actually negotiate a 40 percent discount. Now, of course, there are going to be other buyers of Iranian oil so the Chinese are not going to have absolute negotiating leverage. Fifteen percent puts it at actually a pretty reasonable end of the range.
GJELTEN: Between the loss of some exports and the need to accept a lower price, Iran under this model could lose $20 billion a year - quite a blow for an already weak economy. We ran these projections by some global energy consultants. In general, they agreed Iranian oil exports are likely to decrease, though perhaps not as much as Mark Dubowitz's Iran Energy Project is predicting. The other consultants also foresaw limited damage to the global economy. Whether the Iranians will be forced to offer steep discounts on their oil, however, is not so clear. Jamie Webster is a Middle East oil analyst at PFC Energy.
JAMIE WEBSTER: We don't see a huge discounting occur. Now, that - the amount that we've seen in the past of a dollar or so, a couple dollars, that may rise, but I still don't see it as being, you know, a huge amount that it's going to impact their revenues significantly enough to really put them in a bad spot.
GJELTEN: Of course, even if Iran is put in a bad spot, whether that would be enough to drive its leaders to the nuclear negotiating table is another question entirely. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
President Obama wants to see more tax breaks for manufacturers and fewer tax breaks for millionaires. Those were among the ideas floated in the president's third State of the Union speech last night. Throughout the morning, we're getting reaction to that address.
We begin our coverage with NPR's Scott Horsley, who reports the speech was one part blueprint for economic cooperation and one part political warning shot.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: For weeks now, Republican presidential hopefuls have been describing the upcoming election as a dramatic choice between two very different futures. Last night it was President Obama's turn in the spotlight. And he too painted a picture of a country at a crossroads.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: The vision for a sustainable economy described by the president includes a strong manufacturing sector. Factories tend to pay good wages and boost the surrounding community.
Mr. Obama noted that since his controversial 2009 decision to rescue General Motors and Chrysler, the American auto industry has regain its footing and added nearly 160,000 jobs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: Other American manufacturers have also grown more competitive. Mr. Obama wants to encourage this trend by offering new tax breaks for companies that invest in factories here and eliminating tax breaks for companies that shift jobs overseas.
The president's economic platform also calls for enhanced worker training and further development of U.S. energy sources. He called for steps to boost natural gas production. And he vowed to continue to invest in alternative sources of energy, despite some costly setbacks, like the bankrupt Solyndra solar company.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: Some technologies don't pan out. Some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: With unemployment at eight-and-a-half percent, many Americans remain skeptical of Mr. Obama's economic stewardship. But the president insists the economy is slowly recovering from its deep downturn, with the private sector adding more than three million jobs over the last 22 months.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: And we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action. And I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: Republican presidential hopefuls have been calling for repeal of the new financial regulations that the president pushed through. Mr. Obama says those regulations help to protect consumers from risky loans. He also announced the formation of a new Justice Department unit to investigate abusive practices that may have contributed to the housing crisis.
One of the biggest obstacles to compromise in Washington has been a deep partisan disagreement over taxes. Last night, Mr. Obama renewed his call for wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes, saying people making a million dollars a year should pay at least 30 percent.
Mitt Romney, whose tax rate is less than half that, has accused Mr. Obama of practicing the bitter politics of envy. Mr. Obama argued that if the wealthy don't pay more, somebody else will have to.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: You can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama also disputed Republican claims that he's weakened America's standing abroad.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: Anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned doesn't know what they're talking about.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: The president celebrated the end of the war in Iraq and the killing of Osama bin Laden - giving credit for those successes to the courage and the teamwork of the men and women in uniform.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: They don't obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama says he still wants to find areas where he can work together with Congress. But the president also showed he's also increasingly willing to spell out differences and let the American people decide which path they want to follow. It is, after all, an election year.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Though millions of Americans watched the televised speech, the president's ostensible audience was right in front of him - Congress. His relations with many Republican lawmakers are icy at best. And even his alliances with Democrats had been put under stress at times in the past year.
The lawmakers' responses to the speech ranged from predictable to somewhat surprised. NPR's Andrea Seabrook listened to lawmakers after the speech.
ANDREA SEABROOK, BYLINE: After last year's State of the Union, some in the brand new freshman class looked stunned as they walked into the swarm of reporters waiting for them outside the chamber. This year? Their reactions to the speech were ready.
REPRESENTATIVE ALLEN WEST: You know, its fairy dust. I mean we continue to talk about fairy dust.
SEABROOK: Allen West, a Republican freshman from Florida.
WEST: I heard a lot of good rhetoric, a lot of the things that were said in the last Sate of the Union address. I heard a lot of programs that the president brought up, but how are we going to pay for these things?
SEABROOK: At least some Republicans seemed disarmed by the president's ideas. Michael Burgess of Texas was glad to hear the accolades for the military and Mr. Obama's support of new natural gas drilling.
REPRESENTATIVE MICHAEL BURGESS: There were parts of it where I was pretty enthusiastic about what the president was saying. In fact, someone just told me that they wondered if the president had become a Republican.
SEABROOK: California Republican Dana Rohrabacher said the president tried to take both sides on a lot of issues.
REPRESENTATIVE DANA ROHRBACHER: I mean, I just wonder, for example, if the military is going to be able to do all these wonderful things he was bragging about once he gets done cutting their budget like he's been proposing.
SEABROOK: For their part, Democrats said they felt re-charged by the speech. Like Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.
SENATOR SHERROD BROWN: The president laid out a manufacturing strategy that this country desperately needs. Thirty years ago, almost 30 percent of our GDP was manufacturing; today only 10 percent is. It's a ticket to the middle class, it creates other kinds of spin-off jobs, and we know how to do it.
SEABROOK: Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she was glad to hear President Obama acknowledge the intense partisanship in Congress right now but refuse to be stopped by it.
REPRESENTATIVE DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: And so acknowledging that and then saying, so if you can't do the big things, then at least try to do some of the smaller things, and let's address reform in smaller bites.
SEABROOK: Some lawmakers were even glad to hear the president push them to do more. Georgia Democrat John Lewis.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LEWIS: He said it doesn't matter whether we're black or white or Asian-America or Latino or Native American, whether we're straight or gay. We've got to pull together and work together. And I think the American people are going to be saying to their elected representatives, listen to the president, do something.
SEABROOK: There was a corner of the House chamber where bipartisanship held sway. Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who was shot a year ago this month, sat between two colleagues from her home state of Arizona. On her right, Republican Jeff Flake.
REPRESENTATIVE JEFF FLAKE: To watch the president come over and the vice president, and Supreme Court justices and generals, and the secretary of state and everyone, just to greet her, and it was just a very special experience.
SEABROOK: On Giffords' left, Democrat Raul Grijalva. He choked up a bit, talking about the bittersweet moment.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUL GRIJALVA: How well she looks, how engaged she is, that was wonderful. There's a little bit of sadness too because this is the last time that we'll be sitting as colleagues on that floor.
SEABROOK: Giffords resigns her seat in the House today to continue working on her recovery. She used her last State of the Union night to send a message of unity and common purpose at a time when the political divisions are all too obvious. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, the Capitol.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
After the State of the Union speech, President Obama is now going west, to five states key to his re-election campaign. One of his first stops is Arizona and what is seen by his campaign as an opportunity. Peter O'Dowd of member station KJZZ reports on Arizona's shifting political landscape.
PETER O'DOWD, BYLINE: Call it volatility, or call it turmoil. Whatever it is, Mike Stauffer sees an opportunity.
MIKE STAUFFER: I definitely think I can win. The time is right now.
O'DOWD: Stauffer is an independent running to unseat the most recognizable name in Arizona politics: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, recently accused of widespread racial profiling by the Justice Department. It's still early, but this year, pollsters say Stauffer may have a shot.
If you beat Arpaio, people will say this is an earthquake.
STAUFFER: Yes. And it's not if, it's when I beat Arpaio. This will be an earthquake in Arizona.
O'DOWD: It wouldn't be the only event registering on the state's political Richter scale lately. A few months ago, voters recalled Russell Pearce, the architect of the state's now-famous immigration law known as SB-10-70. There's been a handful of smaller tremors, including the election of a young Latino firefighter, the first Hispanic in his district to win a seat on the Phoenix City Council. I asked Pollster Michael O'Neil if there's a thread that ties the turbulence together.
MICHAEL O'NEIL: You bet there is. We're in economic turmoil.
O'DOWD: Arizona's unemployment rate is still near 9 percent. Half of all home mortgages are underwater. O'Neil says the immigration debate, which has a way of flaring in a down economy, still isn't resolved. Add it up, and Arizona's 2012 electorate is just agitated. Both sides are vulnerable.
O'NEIL: The lay of the land this time is not entirely clear. There is massive disaffection with government.
O'DOWD: And that's where the Obama campaign sees an opening.
NORMA MUNOZ: Good morning. I know everybody's out today. Hi, is this Cassandra?
O'DOWD: Local volunteer Norma Munoz is canvassing a minority neighborhood in south Phoenix. The Obama campaign wants to mobilize areas like this and the 800,000 or so Latinos of voting age across the state. Munoz says people are impatient for a better economy.
MUNOZ: They don't want to stay home and collect food stamps. They want a job. So I think this is a motivator, because, I tell you, the Latino vote in this state can upset almost anything, if we get it out.
O'DOWD: That's a big if. National polls show Latinos are disappointed with the president and apathetic about the 2012 election. But Munoz believes the political instability in Arizona favors Obama. In fact, it's worth savoring.
MUNOZ: Mmm, it's wonderful. It's like eating a steak sandwich.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
O'DOWD: Then again, the feast might be over before the main course arrives. At state GOP headquarters, a clock on the wall counts down the days to November's election.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yeah, that's here at party headquarters, and it goes from 3 to 5:30.
O'DOWD: In this state, Republicans and right-leaning independents still outnumber Democrats. Party Chairman Tom Morrissey says the GOP feels a sense of urgency.
TOM MORRISSEY: And we've awakened to that.
O'DOWD: So the local party is mounting a statewide offensive of its own. Morrissey says it's unlike anything the GOP has done before, a more organized and more coordinated voter-registration campaign ahead of next month's presidential primary.
MORRISSEY: We have people coming back to the party that haven't been around, haven't been active for years. They're back. They're back. I have people walking in here in numbers, in droves, coming in here, saying: What can I do to help?
O'DOWD: If the president hopes to trigger an upset in Arizona, overcoming the momentum of an energized Republican vote could be the hardest task of all.
For NPR News, I'm Peter O'Dowd, in Phoenix.
INSKEEP: You'll hear campaign news throughout this year on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
The Republican presidential candidates continue their barnstorming in Florida ahead of that state's Tuesday primary. Newt Gingrich is leading the Florida polls. Mitt Romney is in second place right now. Both offered their own prebuttals to the president's State of the Union message.
And late last night, Newt Gingrich released a second contract for the work he did with mortgage giant Freddie Mac. It's from 1999. And that contract stipulated that he was to be paid $25,000 a month not to lobby but to supply advice and services to Freddie Mac's chief lobbyist. We have two reports, starting with NPR's Brian Naylor, who is with the Gingrich campaign.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Newt Gingrich drew large and enthusiastic crowds yesterday in a series of stops along Florida's Gulf Coast, several thousand attending events at an airport hanger in Sarasota and the town square in Naples. Gingrich said the president's view of the state of the union varies greatly from his.
NEWT GINGRICH: You always have to wonder when Obama speaks which country he thinks he's talking about.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
NAYLOR: Gingrich attacked the president for high gas prices. And in a pitch aimed at Florida's Cuban Americans, he accused the president of supporting the Arab Spring but not a change in regimes closer to home.
GINGRICH: If he would just look south, Cuba is vastly closer than Tunisia and Libya and Egypt. And if we're going to have a spring, I say let's have a Cuban spring and let's have freedom in Cuba.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
NAYLOR: And feeding off the crowd's energy, the former speaker showed a sense of timing worthy of a stand-up comic.
GINGRICH: One of the Reagan slogans in 1984 was leadership that's working. Doesn't strike me that Obama can use that one.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GINGRICH: A friend of mine said he has shifted from yes we can to why we couldn't.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
NAYLOR: While focusing most of his attacks on the man he hopes to face in November, Gingrich aimed a few jabs at GOP rival Romney yesterday. He said Romney will probably have $13 million in TV ads, while he, Gingrich, will have people power.
But Gingrich isn't doing too bad in the money chase either. The campaign says it raised more than $2 million since Gingrich's win in South Carolina last Saturday. That's on top of the $5 million donation a superPAC backing Gingrich received earlier this week.
Brian Naylor, NPR News with the Gingrich campaign in Florida.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I'm Ari Shapiro traveling with the Romney campaign. Mitt Romney has spent a lot of his time in Florida talking about home foreclosures.
MITT ROMNEY: Do you realize? One quarter of all the foreclosed homes in America are in Florida.
SHAPIRO: Yesterday afternoon, he stood in front of a foreclosed house in Lehigh Acres in southwest Florida, while voters sweating in the sun listened to Romney's assessment of the situation.
ROMNEY: We've got a troubled economy. People lose homes as they lose their jobs.
SHAPIRO: This is a useful subject for Romney to focus on. Not only because the statistics here are so dire, but also because the housing crisis is one of the few problems that Romney can use to attack both of his two favorite targets - Newt Gingrich and President Obama. Romney says Mr. Obama may not have caused the disaster, but in three years he hasn't fixed it either.
ROMNEY: If you're thinking about jobs and you're wondering how to get this economy going, look at what the president did and do the opposite.
SHAPIRO: He said Mr. Obama's banking regulations have made it harder for banks to get rid of the bad loans on their books. And as for Newt Gingrich, the housing allows Romney to renew one of his favorite lines of attack – ripping the mortgage giants that Romney says helped cause the disaster.
ROMNEY: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are a large reason why our housing crisis has occurred. And I'm running against a guy, as you know, in this primary who was out working for one of these guys, for Freddie Mac.
Romney stayed on the attack yesterday, not saying a word about the tax returns that were all over the news. They show that he made about $20 million from his investments in each of the last two years, while paying just about 15 percent in taxes. Romney supporters here like Janice Balance say they're okay with that.
JANICE BALANCE: I don't see nothing wrong with it. He worked all his life and built his self up. He deserves whatever he gets.
SHAPIRO: Today, Romney heads south to court a different demographic. In Miami, he'll participate in a televised meet the candidates forum on the Spanish language network Univision. Then he meets with Cuban voters before flying back to northern Florida again to prepare for his next meeting with Gingrich at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Orlando.
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NPR's business news starts with a turning point for Japan.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: Tokyo today reported Japan's first trade deficit since 1980. For the last three decades, Japan has exported so many goods to the world, it's run trade surpluses. But last year, Japan imported more than it exported - $32 billion more. The shift in fortunes comes after last year's earthquake and tsunami and nuclear power plant shutdowns.
From Tokyo, Lucy Craft has more.
LUCY CRAFT, BYLINE: Last year's quake and tsunami slashed Japanese exports, after severed supply lines temporarily paralyzed production at automakers and electronics companies. Meanwhile, most of the country's nuclear plants are offline, with residents worried about safety. So Japan has been forced to switch to natural gas, which has hiked its import bill.
The March disasters were compounded by a record strong yen, which makes Japanese exports more expensive and less competitive overseas. Japan's central bank said the trade deficit was a temporary setback. But the first trade red ink since 1980 marks a sea change for Japan, a resource-poor country that has viewed exports as its only means of survival. That single-minded focus on trade pushed the surplus to a peak of over $80 billion by 1986. Japan's overwhelming dependence on exports for growth and its perceived unfair trade practices became a flashpoint for U.S. ire in the 1980s. The end of trade surpluses is widely viewed as ominous for the world's third largest economy, as it copes with the disaster aftermath, along with energy shortages and an aging society.
For NPR News, this is Lucy Craft in Tokyo.
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There's been no change in fortunes lately for Apple. The consumer electronics company keeps churning out record profits. And yesterday, Apple said its profit for the last three months of 2011 more than doubled, to about 13 billion dollars - profits driven by strong sales of iPhones and iPads during the holidays.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And today, the Federal Reserve is taking another step in its stated intention to become more transparent. The committee that sets interest rates ends a two-day meeting, and its usual post-meeting announcement will have some unusual information.
For a hint of what we're to learn, we called David Wessel; he's economics editor of the Wall Street Journal. Good morning.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So what is the Fed going to announce today that's so remarkable?
WESSEL: Well, for the past few years, the Fed each quarter has been telling us what each of its 17 current policymakers think will happen to the growth of the economy to unemployment and to inflation. But there's one thing they've kept very close to their vest, and that is the one thing that the Fed actually controls directly: what the Fed officials expect to do with the short-term interest rate, the target rate that sets the rate that cascades through the economy over the next year. Today for the first time, each of them will say where they expect rates will be.
MONTAGNE: And would you know exactly where they're going to tell us rates will be?
WESSEL: Well, the Fed has been keeping this short-term interest rate at zero since December 2008, which is extraordinary. And its told us that it expect rates to remain there at least through the middle of 2013. The betting is that when we see the new information today, that will tell us it's more likely that rates will be at zero through 2014, and more interesting maybe, they're going to tell us in what year do they expect to raise interest rates.
The Fed's hope is that by giving this additional information they'll reassure investors and borrowers and consumers that rates are going to be low for a very long time. The Fed doesn't have an itchy trigger finger, and they hope that'll encourage people to borrow and to investments in bonds and stocks and other things knowing that short-term rates aren't going up.
MONTAGNE: Does that mean this will happen?
WESSEL: No, it's not a commitment. It's not a promise. It's saying, our best estimate of what the economy's going to do leaves us to think this is what we're going to do with interest rates. We are seeing what's going on inside the minds of the Fed officials. But they're going to go out of their way to say that it's not a promise and it's not a commitment.
MONTAGNE: Now, is there a downside to the Fed broadcasting where it plans to keep rates for the next few years?
WESSEL: Well, some Fed officials think so and some analysts on Wall Street think so - for a couple of reasons. One, the public and investors may not understand that the Fed is not making a commitment, and if the Fed changes its mind later because the economy's different, that could cause a backlash. Secondly, they may be limiting their flexibility. Will they be more reluctant to raise interest rates sooner because they've made this statement? And a third risk is that we won't be getting a consensus of the committee, but we will be learning what 17 different officials expect to happen in interest rates. And there's a risk that creates a cacophony; that it confuses people, rather than clarifies things.
MONTAGNE: So how big of a shift is really? Back to whole question of them having in previous years kept this very close to their vests. How much of a change is this for the Fed?
WESSEL: Well, it's part of a continuum of changes. When I started covering the Fed, the Fed didn't even announce when it was moving interest rates. You had to discern that from what it did in the markets. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan prized flexibility, and in order to be flexible he was secretive, he never wanted to say exactly what he's going to do. That allowed him to do whatever he wanted when the time came. Ben Bernanke, the current Fed chairman, is very different. He believes that monetary policy works better when people understand what the Fed is thinking and what it expects. And this is another step in that direction.
MONTAGNE: David Wessel is economics editor of The Wall Street Journal. Thanks, David.
WESSEL: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And today's last word in business explores the trend in extremely high-end versions of low-end cuisine. Sometimes you can walk into an upscale restaurant and they will bring you potato chips still in the bag.
And then there's Vancouver, Canada, which is laying claim to the most expensive hot dog in the world. Today, Chef Dougie Luv of the DougieDog Hot Dog shop, starts serving his $100 Dragon Dog. He says it starts with a foot-long bratwurst and a sourdough bun.
DOUGIE LUV: It has Kobe beef on it. It is infused by cognac that's over 100 years old, and it has (unintelligible) on it, it has a little bit of truffle or truffle butter. Yummy, yummy, yum.
INSKEEP: Just a hot dog infused with 100-year-old cognac. About 20 pre-orders have come in already, we're told. The shop needs 12 hours notice so it can get the ingredients fresh. Chef Dougie Luv says he came up with the hundred dollar hot dog to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon, and he says it carries a message of hope.
LUV: Go out and spend some money. Enjoy your life. It's OK.
INSKEEP: Certainly OK for him if you buy the hot dog.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
In the mind of his supporters, President Obama's State of the Union speech last night was the last of his first term. His opponents hope it's the last State of the Union speech he will ever give. The president delivered a series of challenges to Congress assembled before him. And also detailed steps he'll take even if Congress does not agree.
We're reporting on that speech and reaction to it throughout today's program. And this is where we've gathered our correspondents to check some of the president's facts.
The president, for example, highlighted the killing of Osama bin Laden and then said this about the war in Afghanistan.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The Taliban's momentum has been broken and some troops in Afghanistan had begun to come home.
INSKEEP: NPR's Tom Gjelten covers national security issues. Tom, has the Taliban's momentum been broken in Afghanistan?
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: In some parts of Afghanistan, Steve, that is true. The Taliban's momentum has been broken. But those gains are tenuous. And what's not clear is what will happen when U.S. troops leave Afghanistan. The president in that speech said the transition to Afghan lead will continue and we will build an enduring partnership with Afghanistan.
But, you know, Steve, it's hard to say that transition to Afghan leadership or the partnership with Afghanistan is going well. We've had some episode recently when Afghan soldiers, our allies, have actually turned their weapons on U.S. and coalition troops. And commanders in the field are concerned about the extent of animosity between U.S. troops and the Afghans they're supposedly training to take over that mission.
INSKEEP: OK, that's NPR's Steve Tom Gjelten.
Now, much of the president's speech focused on economic issues, which we're going to talk about next. For example, he offered this summary of job creation in recent years.
OBAMA: In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect. Those are the facts. But so are these: In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
INSKEEP: NPR's John Ydstie covers economics and was listening to that claim. And, John, the Republicans will say employment has fallen during the president's administration. The president dare suggested that jobs have been created during his administration. Is he correct?
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Well, more jobs have been lost than were created. But he's actually correct in the way he stated it. He acknowledged that four million jobs have been lost during his administration and...
INSKEEP: In the early months after the...
YDSTIE: Right. And then later on, three million jobs created. But one footnote is that government has lost jobs while the private sector has created three million. And so, the net jobs created since the bottom of the recession is 2,750,000.
INSKEEP: So it's a mixed picture. It depends on when you start counting here and exactly what you count.
YDSTIE: But there's no argument that jobs have been created since the bottom of this recession.
INSKEEP: In the last couple of years. Now, the president also made a statement on bailouts. Quote, "If you're a big bank or financial institution, the rest of us aren't bailing you out ever again." He said that's because of new rules for big institutions. Is a bailout guaranteed never to happen again?
YDSTIE: Well, no, it's not. The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill does give the government new authority to help liquidate banks to avoid taxpayer bailouts. But it's unclear whether federal officials would be quick enough or have the courage to go in and liquidate a bank. So, it's still possible that taxpayers could be on the hook.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks. That's NPR's John Ydstie.
Now, the president also seemed to answer Republicans who say he is loading down businesses with regulations.
OBAMA: In fact, I've approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
INSKEEP: NPR's congressional correspondent David Welna has been listening. And, David, a specific claim there. Has the president actually approved fewer regulations so far than President Bush did in a comparable time?
DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: That's true. If you look at the overall number of regulations that have been approved in the first three years of the Obama administration, it is smaller than during the Bush administration. But if you look at the major regulations, those that have more than $100 million worth of impact on the economy, in fact, the Obama administration has approved about 50 percent more than the Bush administration did during the same period of time.
And conservative groups have tallied up the overall economic impact of those regulations. And they say that it's more than twice the economic impact of the Bush administration during the same period.
INSKEEP: David, thanks.
Of course, there was also a Republican response to the president's speech, as there always is. It was given by Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana. And he made a number of specific economic claims, including this claim about employment in this country.
GOVERNOR MITCH DANIELS: The percentage of Americans with a job is that the lowest in decades. One in five men of prime working age, and nearly half of all persons under 30 did not go to work today.
INSKEEP: David Wessel, of The Wall Street Journal, was listening to those claims. And, David, is that correct to say that the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades?
DAVID WESSEL: In December, the government tells us 18 percent of men between 25 and 54 were not working. They were either retired, sick, unemployed, looking for work or given up. A year ago that was even worse, 19.3 percent were in that category.
INSKEEP: So, actually that number has improved somewhat. Daniels is not strictly correct, but it's still a very, very high percentage of Americans who are not work.
WESSEL: That's correct.
INSKEEP: OK. One other claim in the speech by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, he made this statement that referred to President Obama's stimulus plan. He spoke about it this way.
DANIELS: The late Steve Jobs, what a fitting name he had, created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the president borrowed and blew.
INSKEEP: David Wessel, this is a common claim that the stimulus was a complete waste. Was it?
WESSEL: Apple Computer employs about 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 people abroad. The Congressional Budget Office says that the stimulus, $800 billion, created between 1 million and 2.9 million jobs that wouldn't have existed otherwise. So, I think Governor Daniels simply got it wrong.
INSKEEP: So you can argue how effective the stimulus was, but most economists agree that it did create a substantial number of jobs?
WESSEL: That's right. Most economists believe it created at least many jobs as Steve Jobs did.
INSKEEP: That's David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal. Now let's go to a couple of other issues that were mentioned in President Obama's speech last night. Energy came up. He made a number of specific claims about American use of foreign oil during his administration.
OBAMA: American oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. That's right, eight years. Not only that, last year we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past 16 years.
INSKEEP: NPR's Elizabeth Shogren was listening to that claim. And, Elizabeth, given how much the president has been criticized for being resistant to drilling in the United States, could that actually be true, we're relying less on foreign oil?
ELIZABETH SHOGREN, BYLINE: Yes, in fact it is true. In 2006, when there was another State of the Union address, President Bush then said that we were addicted to foreign oil. And at that point, 60 percent of our oil was coming from foreign sources. Now it's just less than half. And the Energy Information Agency says that in fact the trend is going to continue in that positive direction and that within a couple of decades it's going to be even less, say something like 36 percent.
And it's also true that domestic production of oil is on the rise. And this is a major breakthrough, something we haven't seen for a long time. In fact, the oil companies say that there are more rigs drilling for oil in the United States now than there have been for 25 years.
INSKEEP: Hum. Thanks. That's NPR's Elizabeth Shogren. And now let's go to one more claim in the State of the Union speech, this one having to do with education.
OBAMA: For less than 1 percent of what our nation spends on education each year, we've convinced nearly every state in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning, the first time that's happened in a generation.
INSKEEP: NPR's Claudio Sanchez covers education. Claudio, sounds good, is it true?
CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE: It is true, Steve. Forty-six states submitted proposals for $4 billion worth of competitive grants to again spur reform. Only 11 states and the District of Columbia were the winners. The problem today is that some of these winners are now in trouble. They have been unable to fulfill the promises they've made in their proposals. And the Department of Education is very worried that some of these proposals are unraveling in large part because the money hasn't been enough to make the reforms.
INSKEEP: So, the same challenge that you always have with education. You can set high goal, but how do you measure the standards and hold people to them.
SANCHEZ: Exactly. And because the Federal Department of Education is so far removed from the actual reforms themselves, it leaves it up to the locals and the states to do it. And that's where people have dropped the ball.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks. That's NPR's Claudio Sanchez. Part of the NPR team helping us check some of the statements made on the night of the State of the Union address. This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In Cairo today, Tahrir Square and surrounding streets are overflowing with demonstrators marking the first anniversary of an uprising that drove from power then-President Hosni Mubarak. Of course a lot has changed for Egyptians since that revolution. They elected their first free parliament in six decades. Islamists, long banned by Mubarak, are now the country's main political force.
We reached NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, who was amid the massive crowds there in the square. Good morning.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Tell us what you're seeing.
NELSON: Oh, it's a throng of humanity, blocking every square inch of the square, with people coming out not necessarily to celebrate the anniversary but to protest that things aren't moving in the direction of democracy as quickly and as broadly as they'd like to see.
MONTAGNE: What about the government and its role in this big anniversary?
NELSON: Well, they weren't – I should say the ruling military council and the government had planned some activities, or at least announced them a little bit earlier in the week. There was supposed to be a rally at a local stadium. There were supposed to be military jets flying overhead. And none of that has materialized today thus far. It seems that a speech last night by Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi in which he said he was partially lifting the state of emergency law which is very much hated here and gives the security forces wide-reaching powers, that was the only announcement, although Tantawi also talked about the military's contribution to the revolution and how dear they hold it in their heart.
So it's been kind of strange. It seems that the commemorations today, which again, are more protest than celebration, are being done on a popular, spontaneous level.
MONTAGNE: Soraya, you mentioned the government has stayed away so far from today's march and protest. Remind us of Egypt's ruling structure now. It's something of a hybrid.
NELSON: That's correct. There is a ruling military council, basically a group of generals who were around during former President Mubarak's time that are now overseeing the transition to democracy. They appointed a cabinet of various officials, some of them from the Mubarak regime, former Mubarak regime. And then you have the elected parliament, which has convened - which just convened a couple days ago. And so it's sort of a jostling going on. The parliament would like to see power ceded to them, since they are popularly elected. But the military rulers are determined to stay around at least through July, after the presidential elections take place.
MONTAGNE: And Soraya, you are speaking to us from a big demonstration in Tahrir Square. But I gather that a recent Gallop poll there found that 93 percent of Egyptians, a really high number, feel more protests are bad for the country.
NELSON: Yes, because the economy is weakening. Tourists are staying away. And every time you do have prolonged protests, there ends up being violence with the military. And so people are sort of feeling it's time to get back to work, it's time to let the elected parliament do its work. And so a lot of people who are not necessarily here today are saying it's time for the protests to end.
But there are still many more who would like to see them continue, certainly evidenced in the number of people we're seeing at Tahrir Square today.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, speaking to us from Cairo on the first anniversary of Egypt's revolution. Thanks very much.
NELSON: You're welcome, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In Somalia, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued in a daring raid two relief workers who had been held hostage there. One is an American. They were working for a Danish relief organization when they were kidnapped by Somali pirates last October. In a statement this morning, President Obama said Jessica Buchanan, the American, is on her way home.
For more on this story, we turn to NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, who joins us now live. Good morning.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: It was an overnight raid, though it was yesterday Somali time. Tell us more.
BOWMAN: Well, Renee, what we know at this point is about two dozen Navy SEALs came from a neighboring country. We're not being told which one. They arrived by C-130 cargo aircraft at an encampment in northern Somalia. They killed nine pirates during the operation and rescued American Jessica Buchanan and also a colleague of hers, a Danish colleague. They had been held since last October.
Neither the hostages nor the SEALs suffered any injuries. The SEALs then left with the hostages by helicopter. And it was all over, I'm told, in about an hour. And they were watching it all live at the Pentagon, at the National Military Command Center. And it was all over by around seven o'clock Eastern Time last night. Plenty of time to notify the president before his State of the Union address.
MONTAGNE: Now, these pirates, do you know anymore about them?
BOWMAN: Well, you know, it's funny. They're calling them criminals, some are calling them pirates. But the term you're hearing most now is criminals. And the other thing is there's no indication at this point that they were a part of any terrorist organization, the most prominent one there is al-Shabaab organization which operates in that area. But again, at this point, they're just calling them plain criminals.
MONTAGNE: And what exactly were these two aid workers doing in Somalia?
BOWMAN: Well, Jessica Buchanan and her colleague were working for a Danish demining company. And of course...
MONTAGNE: Demining meaning land mines.
BOWMAN: Exactly, right. And, of course, in Somalia there's been a lot of fighting over the past decades, huge number of land mines there to clear. They have plenty of work to do of course. They were also told that they worked with refugees along the Somalia-Kenyan border as well. And we're told also that President Obama called Jessica Buchanan's father last night to give him the good news.
MONTAGNE: And the timing, you're talking about last night, this explains a somewhat mysterious comment that the president made, tossed out to the secretary of defense who was in the audience for the State of the Union address.
BOWMAN: That's right. The president, as he entered the House chamber last night before his speech, was heard saying to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, good job tonight. So, there were speculations something had happened. And the other thing was Admiral William McRaven who heads the Special Operations Command was in the audience last night well.
And one other thing we want to mention too, we're told that SEAL Team 6 took part in this operation. And that's the same organization that took down Osama bin Laden, but not necessarily the same team members. And we're also told that Jessica Buchanan, her health was deteriorating, we're told. She had some type of a health condition, so they felt they had to move quickly. And they actual intelligence to help them pinpoint exactly where she was being held.
MONTAGNE: Tom, thanks very much.
BOWMAN: You're welcome, Renee.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Tom Bowman on news that two hostages, one an American, had been rescued by a U.S. Navy SEAL team.
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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
Those watching President Obama's State of the Union speech last night included Ryan Lizza. This week, the New Yorker magazine published his article, called "The Obama Memos." White House memos to the President and his responses to them were at the heart of that story. Lizza describes a president who spoke of a post-partisan world, but also made calculated political moves, a president who approved a gigantic stimulus plan, but also frustrated some in his administration with penny-pinching. Ryan Lizza joins us in studio on this morning after the speech.
Welcome. Good morning.
RYAN LIZZA: Thanks for having me.
INSKEEP: So what did the State of the Union speech last night show to you about the evolution of that post-partisan president?
LIZZA: There was some mixed evidence in this speech. He did have this one line where he talked about congressional obstruction. So he's moved from we-all-need-to-work-together to pointing out to the American people that there is this other party out here that is obstructing my agenda. So, you know, that's obviously a significant shift.
INSKEEP: He went very quickly to that. I noticed there was about a one-sentence olive branch: I will work with anybody in this chamber to advance the cause, but, you know, if you're obstructing me, I'm going to move on.
LIZZA: And he talked about some kind of reform of the Senate. It was a little unclear, but it looks like some kind of filibuster reform.
However, the two set-piece stories in the beginning and the end were this analogy to the military, Obama basically saying, look at what our wonderful military does, as a unit, as a team. Look what they can accomplish. Why can't we in politics, as well? So he hasn't abandoned his message of post-partisanship completely. It was an important theme of the speech.
But if you look closely, he's showing some of the lessons he's learned. He believes that the Republican Party was not willing to be his partner the last three years. I think the evidence for that is pretty strong. And he's starting to run against that a little bit.
INSKEEP: Notice that he also hammered at Republican presidential candidate themes, or Republican congressional themes. He said, for example, that he is going after China for trade practices that Americans find objectionable, which is something that Republicans talk about constantly. He even said he admired financial success, which is something that Mitt Romney could've said.
LIZZA: That's right. And he had a line in there when he was talking about his mortgage reform program. He riffed on a line that Mitt Romney uses about letting the market hit rock bottom, or something to that effect.
So I think this speech was very political. You could sort of see the hand of the political advisors in almost every section of this speech as they look out at the political landscape and they identify Obama's vulnerabilities in this campaign and try and address each one, as well as look for points where they can sort of press their case against the Republicans.
INSKEEP: Do you think it was more political than other State of the Unions that he's given, or that other president's have given?
LIZZA: Yeah. I think so. In 2009, he didn't give a State of the Union speech, but he's given an address to Congress. And in 2010, he had a very viable legislative agenda. And those speeches were about pressing that agenda. 2012, he's running for re-election, and he doesn't have much of a chance of passing much through this Congress, let's be honest.
So it's a lot more about jujitsu and setting up campaign themes and figuring out where he can mess with the Republicans. I thought there was a lot more of that last night than in previous ones.
INSKEEP: Jujitsu: That's what we're talking about when we say grabbing Republican language and turning it to his own purposes.
LIZZA: Absolutely. Yeah. You know, there was a lot of talk in the run-up to this speech that it was going to be more like the speech he gave in Osawatomie, Kansas that got a lot of attention, especially on the left. He compared himself to Teddy Roosevelt, and it was a real sort of partisan speech where he dealt with economic inequality in a very upfront way, which he hasn't in the past, and more of a populist Obama.
That's not what we saw last night. This was a much more strategic, tactical Obama thinking about how he's going to win this presidential campaign.
INSKEEP: And someone who insisted over and over again he was going to fight and be effective, whether Congress helped him or not.
LIZZA: That's right. And that's part of the sort of evolution of this president, going from someone who truly came to Washington believing that he could forge some kind of bipartisan consensus on some of the biggest issues, and after three years has realized that that's a bit of a mirage, and has a little bit more of a fighting spirit.
INSKEEP: Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker magazine. Thanks very much.
LIZZA: Thanks for having me.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We now know that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made over $42 million over the past two years, most of it from an array of stocks and investment funds. We also know that he paid around 15 percent in taxes on that income. Romney gave in to his political rivals yesterday when he released some 500 pages of tax returns. And those pages gave a much fuller picture of his income and what he's done with it. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Romney had planned to wait until April to release his taxes, when he hoped to have the nomination sewn up. But after his second-place finish in South Carolina this weekend, he decided to try to get the issue behind him. Yesterday, he released his 2011 estimated return, his 2010 return, as well as the returns for his charitable foundation and three family trusts.
Tax attorney Jeff Kolodny, of Cozen O'Connor, says the fact that the returns are so voluminous underscores how complex his finances are.
JEFF KOLODNY: He's got a lot of different kind of investments that are somewhat sophisticated, and there's a lot to report about them. So it's not a function so much of his wealth, as much as the number of different investments that generate income.
ZARROLI: Romney, who's worth as much as a quarter billion dollars, made a fortune from his involvement with the private equity firm Bain Capital. Even though he was long gone by 2010, he continued to take a part of the profits. He also made money from numerous foreign and domestic stocks, hedge funds and investment funds - much of them owned through a pair of blind trusts.
Alan Weiner, of Holtz Rubenstein Reminick, says these are commonly used by politicians who want to put a firewall between themselves and their assets.
ALAN WEINER: The idea is if somebody's invested in the XYZ Company and knows they have an investment in the XYZ Company, and if they're in government perhaps they would do something that might benefit the XYZ Company.
ZARROLI: There was nothing especially surprising in the returns. And several tax professionals said at first glance they saw no red flags. Romney had already acknowledged that he paid only around 15 percent of his income in taxes.
Jeff Kolodny says that's because much of the money he took in came from investments.
KOLODNY: It's the nature of the income that he's earning. Long-term capital gains are taxed at a much more favorable rate than ordinary income.
ZARROLI: Romney has taken a lot of criticism for paying such a low tax rate and his rival, Newt Gingrich, has pointedly noted that he paid a much higher rate. But over time, Congress has slowly lowered the capital gains tax rate to where it is now.
And Alan Weiner says fair or not, Romney was operating within the law.
WEINER: If Congress changed the law then this would be ordinary income. I mean you speak to the future. I mean the past is the past.
ZARROLI: The returns also show that Romney and his wife, Ann, made some $7 million in charitable contributions. Most of it went into their family foundation, which in turn gave money to numerous causes. They included the Mormon Church, Harvard Business School, Boys and Girls Clubs, City Year and the George W. Bush Library.
Until last year, the Romneys also had nearly a million and a half dollars in a Swiss bank account. Asked why they had closed the account, their trustee said it was no longer serving any particular purpose. But the move came at a time when the U.S. government was cracking down on Americans with Swiss accounts. And that was generating some negative headlines.
Again, Alan Weiner:
WEINER: Over the last several years, Swiss bank accounts had this connotation, and anybody that has a Swiss bank account is a bad person because a lot of people hid income in Swiss bank accounts.
ZARROLI: Romney's campaign says he reported the account to the government and was doing nothing wrong. But with the Romneys' wealth likely to be a an issue in the campaign he may well have decided that having a Swiss bank account was politically risky. And given the way this race has gone that would have been a smart calculation.
Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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Now this week, we got a message through to Antarctica. We got on the phone once again with Felicity Aston. She recently became the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica from one coast to another. It took her 59 days to cover more than 1,000 miles, dragging her supplies behind her on sleds. Yesterday, she was at the Union Glacier base camp on the Antarctic coast, waiting to catch a flight toward home.
Well, congratulations on the journey.
FELICITY ASTON: Thank you very much. Very kind.
INSKEEP: We last spoke with you in December, we should remind people, when you were on your way; you were very, very close to the South Pole. How did things go after that?
ASTON: Well, I arrived at the South Pole on the worst weather day of probably the entire trip.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ASTON: It's a big station at the South Pole, and yet I couldn't see it until I was maybe 100 yards away. But luckily, there were people there waiting for me and it was just wonderful to see some friendly faces. And I spent a day at the Pole and it was a day off from skiing. But I think more than that, it was a off from the stress of being totally responsible for yourself. You know, at the Pole, I knew I was safe.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ASTON: But then, of course, I had to leave the Pole and I had a deadline at the end of the Antarctic season when everyone goes home because the winter approaches. So I started doing some really big days. And when I got to my second to my last resupply, which is 500 kilometers further on, I realized I did have enough time to make it to the coast.
It was, you know, really quite something to change my mindset from being thinking, oh, I'm just going to get out there and do my time every day and see how far I can get, to thinking, well, I did know if I've actually got a shot at this and I'm going to make it to the coast. And obviously seeing the coastal mountains, ah, that was a real moment. And...
INSKEEP: Oh, I bet.
ASTON: ...it was a horrible day, couldn't see anything and then just suddenly it was like a biblical moment. Slowly, the clouds parted. The sun came out and seemed to shine right on me, these little fat triangles on the horizon. And then I just stopped on my tracks right where it was and burst into tears.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ASTON: 'Cause it was like seeing the finish line. It still took me another four days to actually reach the coast. But, you know, the first sight of those mountain really was the beginning of the end, and that was fantastic.
INSKEEP: Oh, now that sounds beautiful. But when you talk about the storms and being in the situation where you couldn't even see the South Pole station until you were a hundred yards away, I'm thinking about airplanes that sometimes do instrument navigation. They can't see anything so they're relying entirely on instruments.
Were you having to do instrument navigation as you walked?
ASTON: Yeah, I mean I regularly referred to it 'cause I was flying on instruments today. There were days when I couldn't see the surface beneath my skis. You know, it was just all white so it was no surface texture at all. And I was following my compass, literally head down following that needle.
INSKEEP: Do you feel like a strong desire to be around people, having been around nobody for so long?
ASTON: It actually doesn't. The only thing I've noticed is I did have to remind myself last night, when I flew back into camp, you know, about the polite rules of society. Things like I can't just have a pee wherever I want anymore.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ASTON: I have to go into the appropriate place. And chatting to the sun isn't acceptable either.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ASTON: So I got to used to getting out of a tent in the morning and: Morning, sun, how are you? And: Nice to see you today. And things like that. And I've got to stop doing that, otherwise I'm going to sound like a mad woman.
INSKEEP: Better to find a human being to direct those remarks to, I suppose.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ASTON: Yeah. Well, you know, I'm looking forward to getting home and sharing the experience with people. And I'm still finding it quite unbelievable that I skied across Antarctica. I was looking at a map this morning of Antarctica and where I started and where I finished and it just seems unbelievable that I skied all that way.
INSKEEP: Felicity Aston became the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica.
Congratulations, and thanks for taking the time.
ASTON: Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.
INSKEEP: The image of a single human being amid all that snow.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. This report brings to mind a sign I saw once at a car rental place. The sign said rant a car, R-A-N-T. In New York City, the street in front of a high school was painted with big white letters that were supposed to read school, but the word was misspelled, S-H-C-O-O-L. The city says a contractor made the mistake after some street repairs. We don't know if the painter just made a typo or if he needs to go back to school. You are listening to MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The earth is being hit right now by a storm full of fury and beauty. The biggest solar storm in years has lit up the skies with a show known as the Northern Lights. This big storm is treating stargazers as far south as Upstate New York to a spectacle of green and blue, which may well make up for the disruptions it could bring to the electrical grid and GPS signals. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Astronomers are planning to build a giant new telescope on a peak in the Andes Mountains in Chile. At the heart of the telescope are seven giant mirrors, each of them 27-feet across. The 21-ton block of glass that will become one of those mirrors is slowly cooling down after being cast at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Earlier this month, NPR's Joe Palca visited Tucson, and has this report on what it takes to make an astoundingly large, astoundingly precise piece of optical equipment.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: There's something delightfully incongruous about the location of the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab. It's under the stands at the University of Arizona football stadium.
Why there? Why not?
DR. ROGER ANGEL: When we wanted some space, and it was just used for parking some cars so this seemed like a good use.
(SOUNDBITE OF A FURNACE)
PALCA: Roger Angel is the master of making big mirrors for telescopes. For 30 years, he's been using a method called spin casting to make the largest solid telescope mirrors in the world.
As we talk, we're standing next to what looks like a dusky red enclosed merry-go-round. This is the furnace in which the mirror is being cast. In the old days, you made mirrors by ladling molten glass into a mold.
ANGEL: And in this case, we just put these chunks of solid glass. Lay them over the mold while they're cold.
PALCA: When they're ready to cast the mirror, the lid is put on the furnace with the mold and glass chunks inside. Then they slowly raise the temperature to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, the glass chunks melt turning into a clear, syrupy liquid that oozes into the mold. At this stage, the whole furnace is spinning at about six revolutions per minute.
This encourages the glass to flow into the shallow parabolic shape it will eventually become. The glass now in the oven won't come out for two more months. They cool it down slowly so there won't be any flaws.
Roger Angel has made several these 27-foot mirrors.
ANGEL: But the shape of this mirror is more challenging by about a factor of 10 than the previous ones that we've made.
PALCA: You see, casting the mirror isn't even the hard part. It's the grinding and polishing that's needed to obtain the final shape. And what makes things so hard is the final shape will be aspherical. Instead of being a shallow symmetrical bowl, one side of the mirror is higher than the other. It's a shape dictated by where the mirror will focus starlight once it's set in the telescope.
Not only is devilishly hard to grind and then polish a 27-foot aspherical mirror, without breaking it, it's hard to know when you've done it right. The differences in height across the surface are smaller than a millionth of an inch.
To make sure they've got the optics just right, they've built a special test rig with lasers and special test patterns.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATIONS)
ANGEL: Then there are more optics with aspheres and holograms, and a lot of stuff to compensate for the enormous asphericity of the thing that we're trying to test.
PALCA: I just want to say that I will personally try to ensure that asphericity enters the common usage of the English language.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PALCA: It's such a great word.
The giant mirrors will give astronomers two things they really want in a telescope: high sensitivity, so they can see really, really dim objects; and high resolution so they can see fine details. That's what Roger Angels mirrors will provide for the new telescope called the Giant Magellan Telescope, or GMT.
Wendy Freedman is an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science and chair of the GMT board of directors. She says to get a sense of GMT's resolving power, imagine you're looking at the face of a dime.
WENDY FREEDMAN: And you were to take that dime and put it 200 miles away. Then with GMT, you could resolve the face of that dime. It's quite spectacular.
PALCA: Freedman says the resolution of the new telescope should let astronomers see planets around other stars. And its sensitivity should let them see some of the earliest objects to form in the universe. Freedman says astronomers can only imagine what they'll learn when GMT starts operating.
FREEDMAN: The opportunity for new discovery in astronomy generally follows when we make a big leap in resolution or sensitivity like this
PALCA: But those discoveries are a ways off. It will be a while before the giant mirrors are shipped to Chile and assembled into a telescope. Under the rosiest scenario, the telescope won't achieve first light, as it is known, until 2020. Still, Freedman and Roger Angel are convinced it'll be worth the wait.
Joe Palca, NPR News.
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In the wake of the Arab Spring, many of the emerging democracies in North Africa are looking across the Mediterranean to Turkey, in search of a model. Still, that model may be flawed. Some analysts in the region question Turkey's human rights record, and its dealings with the media.
Critics say the government is using Turkey's slow-moving and sometimes opaque justice system to stifle dissent. Media advocates in Turkey are frustrated both with the government and international media groups, which in their view, understate the number of imprisoned journalists. NPR's Peter Kenyon filed this report from Istanbul.
YONCA SIK: OK, now you will have original Istanbul breakfast.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Yonca Sik welcomes a visitor to her Istanbul apartment on a recent morning, setting the breakfast table with cheese, homemade jam, tomatoes and the ubiquitous Turkish simit - a sesame-crusted cross between a bagel and a pretzel.
Also bustling around are Yonca's young daughter; an attention-seeking Golden Retriever; and John, a lawyer trying to get her husband, journalist Ahmet Sik, out of prison.
The arrest of Sik and longtime investigative journalist Nedim Sener nearly a year ago provoked a large, public outcry. But since then, detentions of journalists have continued apace.
Yonca Sik says her husband's spirits seemed to lift when he was finally able to have his say in open court. That hearing also featured the first public reading of the indictment against the journalists.
SIK: (Through translator) When you read the indictment, you can't decide whether you should laugh or cry. It's just really, really embarrassing. And when it was read aloud in court, it was revelatory - it was a sort of epiphany because the whole world could see what the allegations were, and how they were just sort of silly and ridiculous.
KENYON: Prosecutors are taking the indictment quite seriously. The state charges the journalist with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization - an alleged behind-the-scenes power structure known as Ergenekon.
Hundreds of people - military officers, academics and journalists - have been arrested in various cases involving alleged conspiracies to overthrow the government. In the case of these journalists, however, most of the actual evidence of their collaboration consists of news stories or books they worked on.
Many Turks believe the government was not prepared for the strong public reaction to what critics call its campaign against unfriendly journalists. Last week, there was another reminder of just how unpopular this self-described reformist government's treatment of the media has become.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHANTING AT PROTEST)
KENYON: Five years after the murder of the last journalist to be killed for doing his job, tens of thousands of Turks took to the streets to remember the Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink, gunned down by an ultranationalist teenager.
Many in the crowd condemned a recent court ruling that found no official involvement in the murder. In the wake of that ruling, virtually everyone - including one of the judges - expressed discontent with the verdict.
Protester Yasemine Akbas scornfully dismissed the government's assertion that the appeals court may yet get to the truth in the case.
YASEMINE AKBAS: I don't give a damn to what they say, actually. Their purpose is not democracy, their purpose is not equilibrium; it's not brotherhood, it's not freedom, it's not this or that. All their concern is how to save their own (bleep) that's all.
KENYON: The chorus of criticism includes the European Court of Human Rights, which last year said Turkey has violated the Convention on Human Rights.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also weighed in though here, there's a twist in the tale. CPJ itself came under fire from local groups after listing eight jailed Turkish journalists in its latest global survey. The count by Turkish groups reaches almost to three figures.
CPJ executive director Joel Simon says he was very disturbed to hear that the government was using the CPJ tally to rebut criticism at home. He says the sometimes-murky Turkish justice system makes it hard to meet the clear evidence standards they use for their global surveys but in any case, the government has nothing to be proud of.
JOEL SIMON: The reality is, eight journalists in jail puts you in the company of countries like Syria, Ethiopia and Burma, before this most recent round of releases. Now, Burma has far fewer journalists in jail than Turkey. So Turkey is one of the world's worst jailers of journalists. It's not, according to our research, on par with China or Iran, but it's still one of the world's worst.
KENYON: The government says it's encouraging reforms in the drafting of a new constitution that will improve both the media climate and the judicial system. But as one Turkish columnist wrote recently, Turkey's bid to be recognized as a modern emocratic power inevitably will be tainted as long as it arrests journalists for doing their job, and then tries to portray them as terrorists.
Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.
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The sandwich chain Quiznos has narrowly avoided bankruptcy. A private equity firm gained control of the company. Avenue Capital brought new funds and erased some of Quiznos' debt. The Denver-based chain once had more than 5,000 restaurants. Now it's closer to 3,000. Ben Markus of Colorado Public Radio reports on what went wrong.
BEN MARKUS, BYLINE: When you think Quiznos, toasted should come to mind. Andre Bonyadian owns nine Quiznos franchises in and around L.A. He stands proudly next to the toasting machine in his Pasadena store.
ANDRE BONYADIAN: It toasted the sandwich very nicely, melts the cheese, warms up the meats, and blackens the tips of the sandwich, and it's delicious.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAPER BEING WRAPPED)
MARKUS: As one of his employees wraps up a large roast beef to go, Bonyadian identifies a chief problem: He's not going to make much profit on this sandwich. That's because Quiznos' corporate in Denver is offering a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
BONYADIAN: So they get a most expensive sandwich, obviously. Who wouldn't? If you're getting it free, something free, you pick up the most expensive one.
MARKUS: Quiznos, unlike some other fast-food retailers, owns the supply chain for its franchise restaurants. If he wants to buy chicken or straws or bread, Bonyadian has to buy from corporate. So he says the chain has an incentive to push higher volumes through deep coupon discounts - discounts that hit Bonyadian's bottom line.
BONYADIAN: If the franchiser works with the franchisees, they both make money. And once this is one-sided and the franchiser is only making money, then things go drastically wrong.
MARKUS: That inability to work together and higher supply-chain costs came at just the wrong time. As the recession started eating into the profits of most chains, Quiznos found itself locked in a price war with sandwich chain Subway and its formidable advertising machine.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing) Five, five dollar, five dollar foot long.
MARKUS: Quiznos couldn't keep up. Sales fell nearly a quarter from their peak in 2008, according to restaurant tracker Technomic. And Bonyadian, who's a director of the newly formed Quiznos Franchise Association, says it was franchise owners who were hit the hardest - people who in some cases invested up to $500,000 to open a store.
BONYADIAN: There has been a lot of disappointment, and lot of heartbreakings, a lot of people who have gone bust. Personally I know a couple of people who have become homeless.
JOHN GORDON: It's definitely one for the record books.
MARKUS: That's John Gordon, a restaurant analyst who runs Pacific Management Consulting Group. In 2010 alone, 600 stores closed. And he says the sudden loss of restaurants has left Quiznos without enough money to rebound with its own national advertising blitz.
GORDON: So unfortunately you've gotten smaller, you can't or you don't advertise, you get smaller again. It becomes a vicious circle, unfortunately.
MARKUS: And the smaller Quiznos got, the harder it became to pay off its massive debt. And yesterday it gave up control of the company to one of its largest creditors, Avenue Capital. The deal eliminates $300 million in debt and adds 150 million in new funding. Franchise owner Andre Bonyadian says to turn Quiznos around, new owners will first need to open a meaningful dialogue with the franchisees.
BONYADIAN: That's where the success comes from. And we are hoping that the new ownership will just do that, will work with us and listen to us, and it will be happily ever after.
MARKUS: And Bonyadian says that may be the chain's last hope. For NPR News, I'm Ben Markus in Denver.
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Starbucks is getting ready to announce its latest earnings report today. The coffee chain is well past its corporate crisis and is back in growth mode.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on what the company is doing to keep the java and its mojo flowing.
WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: It was just four years ago that Starbucks seemed to be losing its mojo and Howard Schultz, the man who made Starbucks a household name, returned to the company as CEO. He closed hundreds of stores, streamlined operations and set the company on a path to record revenues and strong profits.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLANGING)
KAUFMAN: Every morning, the coffee tasters here at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle sample about 800 cups of java for quality and consistency. It's a bit like tasting wine and it's pretty intense, as I learned from Dub Hay, the company's senior vice president of coffee.
DUB HAY: Because we taste so many cups we do spit it out, so we're going to do everything your mother told you not to do - sip, slurp, spit.
KAUFMAN: Swish it around?
HAY: Swish it around in your mouth. We take a little bit into a spoon.
(SOUNDBITE OF SLURPING)
KAUFMAN: And with that giant slurp, Hay lets the coffee coat his palate.
HAY: Little cedar notes, some spicy notes.
KAUFMAN: The coffee is a dark roast - the kind Starbucks is known for. But some people think it's too dark; describing it as burnt or over-roasted. Starbucks disputes those characterizations, but after 40 years of producing only dark coffee, Starbucks has just introduced a lighter roast - a coffee it calls Blonde.
Starbucks says more than 50 million coffee drinkers were looking for something that until now the company didn't offer.
HAY: That's who we are after, and I think once they taste this, versus other light-roasted coffees, we're going to convert quite of bit of those to Starbucks.
KAUFMAN: And the company hopes they will drink the coffee not just in a Starbucks store, but also at home.
The company's stores have impressive profit margins, but Bob Goldin of Technomic, a food industry research and consulting firm, says the profit margin on consumer products is substantially higher.
BOB GOLDIN: They are having a lot of success in the retail channel, with supermarkets and mass merchandisers with products like Via, Tazo Tea and now K-cups, the little Pods.
KAUFMAN: And Starbucks sees a huge new market for its grocery store offerings with the addition of Blonde.
Financially, Starbucks has never been stronger. In the Past year alone, the stock has climbed 40 percent. Portfolio manager Bob Bacarella of Monetta Mutual Fund holds a miniscule number of the company's shares.
BOB BACARELLA: You would think in this slowing economic environment that we've experienced that people would cut back on their coffee? Nah, doesn't happen. It's addictive, and Starbucks has played it up right.
KAUFMAN: But Starbucks continues to look for growth, and it's looking beyond coffee.
DAVID REIBSTEIN: One of the favorite things I like talking about is why it is that they feel this compulsion to grow.
KAUFMAN: David Reibstein is a marketing professor at the Wharton School.
REIBSTEIN: You got shareholder pressure and if you're not growing, then investors are going to go and invest somewhere else where there is growth.
KAUFMAN: But Reibstein says for Starbucks, expanding beyond coffee carries the risk of diluting the company's coveted brand. He's often thought what the company should do is find a new venture where it could leverage its ability to source products, find real estate and manage complexity. And that's just what Starbucks is trying to do now. Late last year it bought a premium juice company called Evolution Fresh and plans to use it as a springboard to create a new health and wellness brand. The first store will open later this year.
Wendy Kaufman, NPR News, Seattle.
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All this month, in the spirit of New Years resolutions, we're creating The Ultimate NPR Workout Mix. As many of us head back to the gym, MORNING EDITION is asking people what music makes them move.
Today: the figure skating legend Michelle Kwan. For exercise, she runs, does Bikram yoga and Pilates. But there's one thing Kwan still enjoys more than anything else.
MICHELLE KWAN: What I love the most is getting on the ice and just popping in a fabulous CD and skating all by myself - the rink completely empty and just me and the music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEONE LIKE YOU")
ADELE: (Singing) Never mind, I'll find someone like you. I wish nothing but the best for you, too...
MONTAGNE: This is Michelle Kwan's first pick, "Someone Like You," from British soul singer Adele.
KWAN: I think Adele is very, very inspiring. Her lyrics are always from the heart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEONE LIKE YOU")
ADELE: (Singing) But sometimes it hurts instead. Sometimes it lasts in love. And sometimes it hurts instead. Hey...
MONTAGNE: When Kwan leaves the ice for the gym, she keeps her playlist soft.
KWAN: Because my body, I'm pushing it so hard already, the last thing I want to do is have music that's really too strong like rock in my head. I actually prefer soothing music and maybe that's the skater in me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRAVITY")
SARA BAREILLES: (Singing) Set me free. Leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity...
MONTAGNE: Sara Bareilles' "Gravity" is another one of Kwan's favorites.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRAVITY")
BAREILLES: (Singing) So tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
MONTAGNE: But it's not all mellow for Michelle Kwan. She's a big fan of Beyonce and says she loves that singer's Anthem to fitness, "Move Your Body."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRAVITY")
BEYONCE: (Singing) I ain't worried doing me tonight. A little sweat ain't never hurt nobody. Don't just stand there on the wall. Everybody just move your body. Move your body. Move your body. Move your body. Move your body...
MONTAGNE: You can hear Michelle Kwan's picks for The Ultimate NPR Workout Mix. Plus, add your own at NPRMusic.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRAVITY")
BEYONCE: (Singing) Move your body. Hey, Everybody, I want to be myself tonight. Can you get me...
MONTAGNE: And this is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
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The currency of Iran, the rial, took another plunge this week. The value of the rial against the dollar had been sliding steadily for months.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And now with the threat of new economic sanctions from the United States and Europe, the rial seems to be in freefall. But as NPR's Mike Shuster reports, at least part of that dive could be linked to currency manipulation by the government itself.
MIKE SHUSTER, BYLINE: On Monday, hundreds of Iranians gathered outside the headquarters of the Bank Melli in Tehran. They wanted to buy dollars, but there were no dollars to be had.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHATTER)
SHUSTER: Someone took video pictures of the scene and posted them on the Internet. It's a classic panic, says Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
JON ALTERNMAN: It's hard to find Iranians who have a lot of trust in the future of the rial and a strong belief that they should keep their life savings in rials. That's a pretty big bet, and it's not a very good one.
SHUSTER: The slide started slowly last fall. For years, you could buy about 9,000 rials with a dollar. Many economists believe this period of stability was maintained artificially by Iran's central bank.
Over the past decade, inflation in Iran has been running at more than 20 percent, but banks were paying only 12 percent interest on deposits. That meant that depositors were losing some 10 percent if they kept their rials in bank accounts. By all rights, that should have forced a devaluation of the rial, but it didn't because Iran's central bank, where billions and billions of dollars from oil sales are deposited, kept injecting plenty of dollars into the foreign currency market to maintain a steady rial.
Then a number of factors combined to put irresistible pressure on the rial: Iran's progress in its nuclear program led to talk of war, growing pressure from economic sanctions, closing the Strait of Hormuz. The slide had begun, and says Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an expert on Iran's economy at Virginia Tech, dollars quickly became scarce.
DJAVAD SALEHI-ISFAHANI: When they thought the dollar is going to become more scarce, people rushed to buy these, and they basically disappeared from Tehran. Today, if you go to a private exchange, these money changers in Tehran, they'll say they don't have foreign exchange. They don't have dollars.
SHUSTER: Iranians who want to travel outside the country can't buy enough dollars to make the trip. Iranians whose children are studying abroad can't buy dollars to pay for their courses or cover their rent. Businessmen who import goods from China or Europe can't get the foreign exchange to finance their purchases.
By New Year's, the rial had lost half its value, and Hossein Askari was predicting it could get much worse. Askari is a specialist on the Iranian economy at George Washington University.
HOSSEIN ASKARI: This could be an avalanche. What you've seen over the last month or two is about a 50 percent depreciation. But I think if, really, panic sets in, it could be a, you know, several hundred percent.
SHUSTER: Panic did hit the currency market in Tehran this week, with the threat of new banking sanctions imposed by the United States and a decision by the European Union to stop buying Iran's oil by July 1st.
On Tuesday, the exchange rate plummeted to 23,000. Now suspicions have emerged about more hidden causes of the rial's collapse. According to Muhammad Sahimi, a professor at the University of Southern California, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cronies, have been accumulating a slush fund to use in the upcoming parliamentary, or Majles, elections in March.
MUHAMMAD SAHIMI: The Ahmadinejad camp needs cash in order to prop up its candidates for the Majles election. So what they do is because they control the central bank, they withdraw a lot of foreign currency from the market.
SHUSTER: They can then sell the dollars back into the market for twice as many rials, creating, Sahimi says, an enormous slush fund to buy votes in the election. Many analysts believe Ahmadinejad is seeking a parliament that supports him, not Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In Iran, almost nothing, not even a currency crisis, is separate from domestic politics.
Mike Shuster, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to a different story of two sides pitted against each other. We know Greece is broke. It's been surviving on bailouts since last May. But Greece still owes money, lots of it. And those who lent Greece that money haven't forgotten. For weeks now, both sides have been seated across the table from each other, trying to figure out how a country that is broke can pay people back. But with so many different voices at the table, making a deal is nearly impossible. Here's Joanna Kakissis in Athens and Zoe Chace with NPR's Planet Money in New York.
ZOE CHACE, BYLINE: First: the lenders. Who in the world would loan Greece money, a country with a known proclivity to spend more than they have? I went to find that person, a person who knows he's not getting paid back in full.
HANS HUMES: Well, I mean, you're taking some sort of loss. But it's, like, how much of a loss do you take.
CHACE: This is Hans Humes. He runs a hedge fund in New York City. He won't tell me how much the Greeks owe him. But he says everything about this deal, it's like the lenders are making it up as they go along.
HUMES: It's like anything else. If someone defaults on a mortgage and the bank takes a loss, should they get zero?
CHACE: They get the house.
HUMES: There's this thing called sovereign immunity. You can't go and take the Acropolis, right? You know, what do you get back?
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: They won't get the Acropolis, and they won't get Mikonos, either.
CHACE: Hey, Joanna. What's the scene on the Greek side of the table?
KAKISSIS: In Athens, ordinary people are worried, of course. But the Greek government won't tell us anything about the talks, knowing full well how sensitive they are.
CHACE: Well, the stakes are huge, right? If they resolve this amicably, then business might be able to continue as usual in Europe; countries borrowing money, people showing up to lend it to them.
KAKISSIS: But if they don't, Greece will default. It only has enough money to make until March 20th. They really need another loan.
CHACE: Then they better work this out. Here's the problem in New York: this side of the table is just not on point.
KAKISSIS: Well who's over there? All of you guys are pretty much the same, right?
CHACE: Not, at all. You have hedge funds; they like risky investments, but they need some kind of payment in order to want to lend money to other European countries again. You also have European banks. They want their money back too, but they also want the euro to stay strong, so they don't want to take too hard a line.
KAKISSIS: Same goes for Greek banks. They loaned the most money to the government but they're the most forgiving because they want the Greek government to be OK more than they want to make their money back.
CHACE: So who's on the Greek side of the table - a bunch of Greeks?
KAKISSIS: I talked to economist Michael Masourakis in downtown Athens. He says it's more than just the Greeks.
MICHAEL MASOURAKIS, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ALPHA BANK: Well, obviously it's the Greek government and anybody who finances the Greek government - the IMF, Germany, the European Commission. So it goes all the way to the top.
CHACE: Hey, Athens. All these different voices on the Greek side are making it hard on investors in New York.
HUMES: I've had a feeling a couple times where you're making progress, really tangible progress, and something will come out from somewhere and they say, up, OK, we need have to check with so-and-so. All right, let's hold on, we may need a few days to get this together. And it's like, ugh.
KAKISSIS: I thought Athens would be frustrated about this New York attitude. Like, why can't the lenders just take the hit for the sake of the global economy? Here's my Greek economist, Masourakis again.
BANK: The Greek side cannot say to the bondholders you made a bad decision. When you issue debt obviously you intend to repay the debt.
CHACE: Greece is willing to pay something. The lenders are willing to give a bit, too. And if they don't get a deal and there's a messy Greece default, then it opens the door for more countries to possibly default.
KAKISSIS: Lending in Europe could freeze up entirely.
CHACE: So the New York side did come to a consensus, offering to take something like a 50 percent loss. They would get paid back 50 percent of the money that they are owed over a period of time.
HUMES: This is OK enough. We don't love it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HUMES: But it's OK enough and it's worse than the alternative.
CHACE: Better.
HUMES: Huh? Oh, sorry. It's better than the alternative. Sorry, Freudian.
KAKISSIS: Bad news: The Greek side, or whoever's in charge here, sent that proposal back. Both sides are back at the drawing board.
CHACE: The risks of failure at the negotiating table are enormous. And everyone at the table knows that. But that doesn't mean they can agree.
KAKISSIS: For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.
CHACE: And I'm Zoe Chace, in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Three times in this campaign, Newt Gingrich has soared in polls. Twice so far, he's come back to Earth. Yesterday, near Florida's Cape Canaveral, Gingrich aimed even higher - toward the moon.
Here's NPR's Brian Naylor.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Gingrich outlined his vision to a crowded hotel ballroom in Cocoa, not far from the Kennedy Space Center. He talked of coming of age at the time of Sputnik, the first satellite launched by the former Soviet Union, in 1957. He recalled reading science fiction, Isaac Asimov, and "Missiles and Rockets" magazine.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN SPEECH)
NEWT GINGRICH: So I come at space from a standpoint of a romantic belief that it really is part of our destiny. And it has been tragic to see what has happened to our space program over the last 30 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
NAYLOR: What's happened to the space program includes the final space shuttle mission last year and with it, the end of any imminent manned space flight. It's meant the loss of jobs on the Space Coast, and a lack of a well-defined mission for NASA. But a President Gingrich promises to change all that.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN SPEECH)
GINGRICH: By the end of my second term...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
GINGRICH: ...we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
NAYLOR: Gingrich said he would encourage commercial activities in space, including science, tourism and manufacturing. And in just over eight years, he promises a rocket capable of reaching Mars. Gingrich gave no details on how much a re-energized space program might cost or how he proposes to pay for it, except to say commercial interests might be promised prizes in the billions of dollars for developing the hardware. He said his plan for what he called constant energetic and excited activities would draw people back to the Space Coast.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN SPEECH)
GINGRICH: Because it's exciting and it's dynamic, and who knows what next week is going to be like? And does that mean I'm a visionary? You betcha.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
NAYLOR: At a later roundtable with business leaders and educators, former shuttle pilot Mike McCulley spoke. McCulley recalled that President George W. Bush outlined an ambitious space agenda, which went nowhere. President Obama has also proposed a program much like Gingrich's, that would use commercial rockets to carry cargo and crew to the International Space Station. McCulley says he might quibble with a few of Gingrich's details, but at least it's a vision.
MIKE MCCULLEY: It's been three or four major programs that have consumed enormous amounts of energy and money and time. And here we sit, eight years later, without a hell of a lot to show for it. I can say that now that I'm retired, of course.
NAYLOR: The former speaker's space plan is a classic Gingrich big idea. Whether he would be able to sell it to debt-weary taxpayers and Congress, to say nothing of whether it would succeed, can only be guessed. In unveiling it, Gingrich compared his plan to Lincoln proposing the Transcontinental Railroad, the Wright brothers, and President John Kennedy's challenge to land on the moon. In so doing, Gingrich revealed a bit about himself.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN SPEECH)
GINGRICH: You know, I was attacked the other night for being grandiose. I just want you to know, Lincoln standing at Council Bluffs was grandiose. The Wright brothers going down to Kitty Hawk was grandiose. John F. Kennedy standing there saying, we'll get to the moon in eight years, was grandiose. I accept the charge that I am an American, and Americans are instinctively grandiose because we believe in a bigger future.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
NAYLOR: Gingrich conceded that his rival Mitt Romney has made fun of his space ideas. But Gingrich says he is a romantic, while Romney only practical.
Brian Naylor, NPR News with the Gingrich campaign in Florida.
MONTAGNE: And there is a different kind of romance in the candidacy of Ron Paul. Polls put him in last place, though he has a devoted following with his opposition to wars abroad and the Federal Reserve at home.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Talking last night with NPR's Robert Siegel, Paul did not sound like a man about to drop out.
RON PAUL: I just think that this thing is so up and down. Romney was up for a long time; now, he's down. Gingrich was down at the bottom and now, he's up. How many have come and gone? One thing you can't say about my campaign - I don't come and go. All I do is add.
INSKEEP: On ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, Robert asked if Ron Paul might run as a third-party candidate in the fall. Ron Paul did not rule this out, saying, quote: We have a few months to go before I need an answer to that.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne. A brutal Republican presidential race hinges, for now, on the Florida primary. And the results in that primary depend, in part, on Cuban-American voters.
INSKEEP: Their story gives them a special place in American political life, and this week it's brought them the fervent attention of both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. NPR's Greg Allen reports from Miami.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: For politicians running for statewide or national office, there are many Floridas. There's the socially conservative Panhandle; the large and important I-4 Corridor;the senior citizen vote; and, of course, South Florida's Cuban-Americans.
(SOUNDBITE OF RESTAURANT CHATTER)
ALLEN: At La Carada(ph) restaurant in Miami's Westchester community, there's usually a group talking politics at its outdoor coffee bar. Where I asked Manny Nobrigas(ph) whom he was supporting in the primary, he said he was still deciding.
MANNY NOBRIGAS: I don't know. You know, depending, you know - my vote is for Romney, but depending, you know, what's going to happen now in Florida.
ALLEN: So you're leaning toward Romney - but you're looking at Gingrich, it sounds like.
NOBRIGAS: Yeah. He - look like he got the answers.
(SOUNDBITE OF BANGING)
ALLEN: Behind the counter, waitresses are serving up tiny cups of strong, sweet, Cuban coffee. Customer Julio Garcia says he already cast his early vote for former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum because he likes his conservative values. But in the Cuban-American community, he suspects he's in the minority.
JULIO GARCIA: Now, unfortunately, in the Cuban community, many times they put the issue of Cuba before national issues. And so I don't go by what they say, so much as to what I know the candidates stand for and what they actually believe in, and live.
ALLEN: All of the three candidates campaigning in Florida this week - Romney, Gingrich and Santorum - take a hard line on Cuba. But Romney's the one with the inside track on the Cuban-American vote. A poll commissioned by ABC and the Spanish-language Univision Network shows Romney 26 points ahead of Gingrich in Florida's Latino community. Romney's had ads up here, both in English and Spanish, for weeks. He's also locked up endorsements from many respected Cuban-American leaders.
Yesterday, Gingrich worked hard to cut into that support. Interviewed in Miami on Univision, he criticized the Obama administration for not doing more to encourage a Cuba equivalent of the Arab Spring.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIVISION BROADCAST)
NEWT GINGRICH: I don't see why Cuba should be sacrosanct, and we should say oh, don't do anything to hurt the - you know, we're very prepared to back people in Libya; we may end up backing people in Syria. But now, Cuba - hands off Cuba. That's baloney. The people of Cuba deserve freedom.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ALLEN: Gingrich has taken the battle for the Cuban-American vote directly to Mitt Romney, in the form of a Spanish-language radio ad.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: (Foreign language spoken)
ALLEN: It's an ad that begins with a clip of Fidel Castro, and it accuses Romney of being anti-immigrant.
Yesterday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a respected Cuban-American who so far has stayed neutral in the race, joined in the criticism of the ad, calling it inaccurate, inflammatory and something that doesn't belong in the campaign. Gingrich agreed to take it down, but not before being asked to defend it by Univision anchor Jorge Ramos.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIVISION BROADCAST)
JORGE RAMOS: You call him anti-immigrant in one ad.
GINGRICH: Well, he certainly shows no concern for the humanity of people who are already here. And I just think the idea we're going to deport grandmothers and grandfathers is a sufficient level of inhumanity. First of all, it's never going to happen.
ALLEN: Romney was asked how he felt about being called anti-immigrant later in the day, when he appeared on Univision.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIVISION BROADCAST)
MITT ROMNEY: Yeah, very sad for a candidate to resort to that kind of epithet; it's just inappropriate. There are differences between candidates on important issues, but we don't attack each other with those kind of terrible terms.
ALLEN: That regret didn't stop Romney from launching his own negative Spanish-language radio ad, targeting Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: (Spanish spoken)
ALLEN: It attacks Gingrich for, as the ad claims, calling Spanish a language of the ghetto. Gingrich says he was just making a point about immigrants needing to learn English, to succeed in America. But Romney's not backing down from his ad.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
ROMNEY: (Spanish spoken) Soy Mitt Romney. Estoy postulado para presidente ...
ALLEN: Both men will be back in Miami Friday, joined by Santorum at a Hispanic leadership forum organized by Rubio, with another guest popular among Cuban-American Republicans - former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The federal government has come out with its new standards for school meals - less fat, less salt, less sugar and more fruits, grains and vegetables. Devin Katayama from member station WFPL reports on how the Louisville, Kentucky school district is trying to comply with the guidelines and satisfy student tastes.
DEVIN KATAYAMA, BYLINE: Meet fourth grade food critic Jackson Schleff.
JACKSON SCHLEFF: With the spaghetti sauce and the spaghetti, I'd say it does need a little more chunks of vegetable, ones that you can see fairly well.
KATAYAMA: He's reviewing that school cafeteria standby - spaghetti - but it's spaghetti with healthier ingredients and less salt. Jackson is one of eight students on the nutrition advisory council for Jefferson County public schools. The student group meets four times a year to taste new breakfast and lunch meals, and a bad review from this group is enough to block a new recipe from being served to their schoolmates throughout Louisville, Kentucky. Julia Boucher is the district's nutrition director. She says having students evaluate changes to the menu has already improved school nutrition. But the problem with the way kids eat, she says, extends beyond the school cafeteria.
JULIA BOUCHER: It's not just schools that have to change what they're doing, it's our entire community, everyone. Because I can serve them healthy food and I can only offer healthy choices - whoever defines what that is - because healthy choices are different for different people. But if the kids don't eat it, what have I accomplished?
KATAYAMA: The federal guidelines announced yesterday call for a gradual reduction in sodium in school meals. Boucher says even that gradual reduction will be hard to achieve.
BOUCHER: American palates are so accustomed to high sodium content that when you lower sodium, students don't like it as much.
KATAYAMA: And what students don't like they won't eat. To help introduce students to a variety of foods that are healthy and tasty, Jefferson County brought in a new chef, Jim Whaley.
JIM WHALEY: These are some locally sourced apples and I'm dehydrating these, and we're going to take these to some of the fresh fruit and vegetable schools and let the students sample another way to eat fresh fruits.
KATAYAMA: Of course this isn't the only school district promoting healthy eating and trying to win student approval. The Los Angeles Unified School District recently revamped its menu and made it dramatically healthier. Schools offer meals like vegetable curry and lentil and brown rice cutlets. But thousands of students stopped eating school lunches and gave a thumbs down to many of the new dishes. It's Jim Whaley's job to figure out the best balance between flavor, nutritional value and the operational demands of serving 90,000 meals daily. It's not easy. For now, there are still some less-healthful options on the school menu. And according to our 10-year-old critic, Jackson Schleff, there's no shortage of demand.
JACKSON SCHLEFF: The more popular items that I see are in the morning, would be the cinnamon rolls, and during the lunchtime it would be the pizza or the chicken nuggets.
KATAYAMA: Whaley insists that changing the culinary culture of the cafeteria is possible. He's confident the new spaghetti sauce he's working on, locally sourced, low in sodium and rich in vegetables, will eventually win over his grade school diners. It just may take a while. For NPR News, I'm Devin Katayama in Louisville.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Nutrition experts seem to agree, the new lunch regulations are great as far as they're concerned but certainly not perfect.
MONTAGNE: For one thing, Congress blocked an effort to limit how often kids are served starchy foods like French fries.
INSKEEP: Maybe the healthiest option is simply to bring a lunch. So we asked listeners on Facebook what kids are carrying in their lunchboxes, and we heard everything from lentil soup to leftovers of mustard-crusted lamb.
MONTAGNE: Although after hearing all that variety, it was almost reassuring to learn that many kids still carry in a sandwich, like peanut butter and jelly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
FRED PENNER: (Singing) Sandwiches are beautiful, sandwiches are fine. I like sandwiches, I eat them all the time. I eat them for my supper and I eat them for my lunch. If I had 100 sandwiches, I'd eat them all at once. I'm roaming and...
MONTAGNE: It's NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The Sundance Film Festival wraps up this weekend in Park City, Utah. Movies and more movies have been on offer at the gathering, famously backed by Robert Redford. Our own Kenneth Turan is taking it all in and joined us from member station KPCW in Park City.
Good morning.
KENNETH TURAN, BYLINE: Morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Well, let us begin with the dramatic films. What stands out for you this year?
TURAN: Well, you know, there are a couple of films I've really enjoyed that actually are united by having a kind of mild science fiction element. One of them is called "Robot and Frank." It stars Frank Langella. It's set in the near future, and he's an elderly man whose children are worried about him. And they hire a robot, a home care robot, that cooks for him and takes care of all his needs. Initially he's resistant, and then he comes to really appreciate the robot for unusual reasons, which I won't get into.
And the other one with a science fiction element is called "Safety Not Guaranteed," which involves an ad placed in a weekly newspaper that wants a companion for going back in time, safety not guaranteed. So someone from the paper tries to find this person. And it's what happens when they find this guy, this time traveler and what does on with him. Really a charming little film.
MONTAGNE: And I gather there is another feature film, a drama, that is the talk of the festival.
TURAN: Yes, there always is one film that's the talk of the festival, and if there's not one, you know, people create one. But this time there is genuinely one. It's called "Beasts of the Southern Wild." It's really - it's a hard film to describe. It's kind of hypnotic filmmaking. It's set in a remote community in a Louisiana bayou. It's about kind of a six-year-old girl who has to face the end of her world and possibly the end of the world as we know it.
It's really kind of phantasmagorical filmmaking, kind of part mythological, part, you know, "Mad Max." It's really an unusual story and really vibrantly done. And it's just - I mean, that's the one everyone's talking about. If you stop people on the street who have seen a lot of stuff, that's the one they point to.
MONTAGNE: "Beasts of the Southern Wild," that's the big talk. But always at Sundance there are great documentaries. It's a strong category at this festival. Tell us about what's there this year.
TURAN: I think the documentaries are the things I look forward to personally the most. I think this has got to be as good a documentary festival as there is in the world, really. Spectacular stuff. The range this year has been exceptional.
There's a film, called "Room 237,"about the obsessive interests people take in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," the strange messages they see there. And running all the way to something called "The Law in These Parts," which is an Israeli film that's a really fascinating, meticulous kind of dissection of how the law in the occupied territories came to be.
But the two films that really, I think, struck me most here, that are probably the two films people are talking about most, one is called "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry." And it's a look at - really a very close look at the remarkable life and personality of the Chinese artist dissident Ai Weiwei, who had just been kind of a name to me, I hadn't really known that much about him. And the filmmaker, Alison Klayman, spent three years with him. And you really get a really detailed portrait of what he's like as a person and what he's trying to do in China.
The other film is much different, much more disturbing. It's a documentary about a European man who managed to pass himself off as a teenage boy from San Antonio, Texas who had run away a few years earlier. It's about how he convinced the family of this boy that he is that person returned. And it's really a film about belief, about the things we do when we want to believe something. It's just an astonishing look at human nature and it really just kept me, you know, riveted.
MONTAGNE: Kenneth Turan speaking to us from Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival.
Thanks very much.
TURAN: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And of course, Ken reviews movies for MORNING EDITION and the Los Angeles Times.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. This week, Tibetans protested against Chinese rule. They held some of the largest protests in four years. According to Tibetan right groups, Chinese security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least four people and wounding more than 30. The demonstrations were inspired, in part, by a disturbing new trend in Tibetan dissent: Tibetan people lighting themselves on fire. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: By most accounts, this week's demonstrations began with leaflets. They were distributed in the Tibetan region of China's far-western Sichuan province. At least one urged people to protest Chinese rule by not celebrating Chinese New Year, which began Monday. The leaflet also contained something certain to stir strong feelings. Kate Saunders, who works with the International Campaign for Tibet, explains.
KATE SAUNDERS: An unidentified Tibetan author was saying that he or she was preparing to set fire to themselves.
LANGFITT: Since last March, 16 Tibetans have doused themselves with fuel and set themselves aflame, to protest China's restrictive political and religious policies.
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LANGFITT: This video shows a Tibetan teenager lying on a street, his blackened body still smoking. Women scream, and one repeats the name of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. In part to mourn the loss of these people, hundreds staged public protests earlier this week. Kate Saunders describes what happened when Tibetans gathered in a public square in Seda county on Tuesday.
SAUNDERS: Troops attempted to lock down the area. Troops fired at the Tibetans. It was a scene of terrible panic and fear. At least one Tibetan was shot dead. Others were shot. And we heard from Tibetan sources that after this occurred, the square was covered in blood, and there were tear gas canisters left on the scene.
LANGFITT: China's government insists Tibetans started the violence. Xinhua, the government's official news agency, says a Tibetan mob attacked a police station with, quote, gasoline bottles, knives and stones. Xinhua says 14 police were injured.
Confirming the facts is extraordinarily difficult. Chinese security forces have blocked roads, and prevented reporters from entering the region for months. NPR made 30 calls to hotels, restaurants and other businesses in the area with no answer - suggesting the government is blocking outside calls as well.
Lobsang Sangay is the prime minister of Tibet's government in exile, in India. He says the self-immolations over the past year mark a distressing turn for the Tibetan freedom movement in China.
LOBSANG SANGAY: It's really sad, you know. It's really tragic that Tibetans are resorting to such extreme measures. Given the choice, anyone would like to live. No one wants to die.
ROBERT BARNETT: People are desperate. And that seems to be particularly true inside monasteries and some nunneries.
LANGFITT: Robert Barnett runs the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University. He says since 2000, China has imposed particularly harsh conditions on some Tibetan areas in Sichuan province.
BARNETT: Attacks on the Dalai Lama personally, demanding that monks denounce the Dalai Lama. So they've lost the support and patience of people in those areas.
LANGFITT: China's government blames the unrest and self-immolations on the Dalai Lama. The Communist Party claims he encourages the suicides to foment rebellion – something the Dalia Lama has denied. Earlier this week, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland criticized China's latest crackdown.
VICTORIA NULAND: We have repeatedly urged the Chinese government to address its counterproductive policies in the Tibetan areas, which have created tensions and threatened the unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity of the Tibetan people.
LANGFITT: China shows no sign of changing its approach. Tibetan activists say the areas where the protests occurred remain under lockdown. They also say they expect more demonstrations in the coming days.
Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.
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NPR's business news starts with Amazon and taxes.
They say two things are certain: death and taxes. But Amazon is still hoping to avoid at least one of those things. The online retailer is reportedly promising Florida lawmakers it will create up to 3,000 jobs in the state and build new distribution centers in Florida, if lawmakers give Amazon a two-year break from collecting state sales tax.
As in other states, Florida is considering bills to force online retailers - the big one being Amazon itself - to collect that tax from customers. States want the revenue, and local brick-and-mortar merchants are sick of losing customers who go online and avoid sales tax. Amazon's offer in Florida is similar to a deal it cut with South Carolina last year.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And let's go next to my home state of Indiana, where state lawmakers now look certain to pass controversial right-to-work legislation.
Democrats have been trying to block that bill. But yesterday it passed the state's Republican-controlled House. And so Indiana is poised to become the first state to approve this kind of legislation in a decade.
We have more from Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting.
BRANDON SMITH, BYLINE: Under right-to-work, employees in union shops would no longer be required to pay union fees. And the arguments made on each side Wednesday were the arguments that have been made for the last year.
Republican Representative Jerry Torr has authored right-to-work legislation in the House since 2004. Speaking on the House floor over the shouts of protesters, he says passing right-to-work is about helping unemployed Hoosiers.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
REPRESENTATIVE JERRY TORR: And I'm convinced that if we become right-to-work state, we'll have more opportunities to bring employers to Indiana, which will provide more opportunity for those folks to go to work.
SMITH: But opponents, primarily Democrats, say right-to-work will lower wages, reduce health benefits and worsen safety conditions.
Representative Kreg Battles says it's too great a risk.
REPRESENTATIVE KREG BATTLES: We are gambling with the lives of every single person sitting out that hallway.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BATTLES: We're gambling with the lives of my three grandsons.
SMITH: The bill now moves to the Indiana Senate. And that chamber has a Republican super majority, which means virtually nothing stands in the way of the bill's passage.
For NPR News, I'm Brandon Smith from Indianapolis.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And our last word in business today comes from Alaska Airlines. The carrier has been putting prayer cards on the meal trays it serves passengers since the 1980s. Flying can be nerve-wracking and the airline figured people might find comfort in a psalm from the Old Testament, along with the soothing image of a beach or the mountains.
It was also a marketing strategy so the airline could differentiate itself from competitors. Many passengers didn't mind.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
But some did mind, and recently the complaints outweighed the compliments. Yesterday, Alaska Airlines announced it will not place prayer cards on meal trays anymore. Only first class passengers will notice this difference.
MONTAGNE: That's because the airline has not served meals in the main cabin for six years.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
Take a map of the United States and stick pins in every state President Obama visits this week, and you would have a partial picture of how he hopes to win re-election. The president is visiting states he hopes to win this fall.
MONTAGNE: He's also expanding on themes from his State of the Union address. Those themes include promoting manufacturing and boosting domestic energy supplies. Today, the Obama administration is announcing plans to lease out nearly 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for off-shore oil and gas drilling.
NPR's Scott Horsley is traveling with the president, and has this report.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: President Obama highlights his energy agenda today by visiting a natural gas trucking hub in Nevada, as well as an Air Force Base in Colorado that's the site of a large-scale solar installation.
Yesterday, Mr. Obama was stressing homegrown manufacturing. He toured a factory in Iowa that makes industrial augers, and a future factory in Arizona, where Intel is planning to make computer chips.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: First of all, who wants to miss out a chance to see the crane?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: That thing is huge.
HORSLEY: Everything about the Intel plant is big, from the cranes putting it together, to the American flag hanging from its steel skeleton.
CEO Paul Otellini, who sits on the president's jobs council, says Intel is investing more than $5 billion in the factory, which is scheduled to open next year.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PAUL OTELLLINI: When completed, Fab 42 will be the most advanced, high-volume semiconductor factory in the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
HORSLEY: It's the kind of investment Mr. Obama wants to see more of in the U.S. He's asking Congress to reward domestic manufacturers with new tax breaks. Intel already employs more than 10,000 people in Arizona. When systems analyst Cheryl Maggianetti looks at the new factory taking shape, she sees job security.
CHERYL MAGGIANETTI: As long as they keep growing and making more faster and better chips, then we have a job.
HORSLEY: But one reason U.S. factories are becoming more competitive is they're squeezing more productivity out of every employee. So, even though U.S. factories have added more than 300,000 workers in the last two years, factory employment is still far below the level of the late 1990s.
Intel software designer Tamal Biswas says plants like the one in Arizona just don't need that many people.
TAMAL BISWAS: If you see, go inside and you'll be surprised. You will not see a lot of people. It's all robots. So, there are still people, but they're not actually, like, doing the laborious work. All those are done by the robots.
HORSLEY: And the thousand or so people who will work at the plant will need special training. When I asked Intel workers to describe their jobs, more than one said you wouldn't understand.
Rafael Portela says, often, the company has to look outside the country to find the workers it needs.
RAFAEL PORTELA: That's an issue that we have to cope as Arizona residents: How we can improve our education system so that these jobs can stay here in Arizona.
HORSLEY: One of the president's biggest applause lines yesterday made just that point.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: We want tomorrow's workers, we want Arizona's workers to have the skills they need for the jobs like the ones that will be opening up here. And I have to tell you, I've been to these plants at Intel. You know, young people, you better have done some math before you get in here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama says encouraging better training, greener energy and American manufacturing will require tough choices and, in some cases, higher taxes. He quoted from Intel's former CEO Andy Grove, who said he felt an obligation not just to his shareholders, but also to his country.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: I think Andy Grove was right. This nation is great, because we built it together, because we overcame challenges together. I believe we can do it again.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HORSLEY: That spirit of togetherness was missing at the Phoenix airport yesterday, where Mr. Obama had a testy encounter with Arizona's Republican governor. Jan Brewer later complained the president is on the wrong path.
A new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, however, shows a modest improvement in Americans' assessment of the economy. And more people approve of the president's performance than disapprove for the first time in seven months.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, with the president in Las Vegas.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This hasn't been a good week to be a Mitt Romney supporter. After losing in South Carolina to Newt Gingrich, Romney is in brutal fight over Florida, which conservative writer David Frum has watched with dismay.
Frum has written favorably of Romney, but says Gingrich is connecting right now with primary voters.
DAVID FRUM: Gingrich has very powerfully expressed a lot of emotions and resentments and frustrations that a lot of Republican voters feel. But he doesn't have the organization to turn those feelings into an actual capture of the nomination and a capture of the presidency.
INSKEEP: So you seem to think that Gingrich is tapping into very real concerns, very real resentments, and yet you have written in recent days that you think his actual arguments are intellectually dishonest.
FRUM: Look, the job of politicians is to find something that is real in the way that people feel, and then offer them something that is real by way of solution. But if you don't offer something real by way of solution, if you simply channel those feelings, then the politician is not doing the politician's job, which is to turn authentic feelings into workable answers.
INSKEEP: You've been very critical of Newt Gingrich, and yet you've written in recent days that you think he understands this party very well. What is it that Newt Gingrich understands very well about the Republican Party?
FRUM: Well, Mitt Romney - who's a candidate I like a lot more - has a kind of technocratic cast of mind. There's a linguist named Deborah Tannen who says that one of the ways that men and women go wrong is that a woman will tell a man about a problem she's got, and the man will immediately begin to offer a solution. And she doesn't really want the solution. She can think of the solution for herself. What she wants to hear is some kind of understanding and validation of how she feels. Don't be so quick...
INSKEEP: I've been in this conversation.
FRUM: OK, don't be so quick to offer the answer Mr. Smart Guy. Just listen for a few minutes first. Well, I think that in many ways what we're having here is a Deborah Tannen moment between the Republican base and Mitt Romney.
The Republican base says: We're angry. We're frustrated. We're embarrassed. And Mitt Romney says, OK, I've got my, literally, 59-point plan. And by the way, it's a very smart plan, but that's not what those primary voters are really expressing right now.
INSKEEP: And so Gingrich understands that and is able to tap into their unease, if that's the right word.
FRUM: Exactly.
INSKEEP: Bret Stephens, who writes for the Wall Street Journal, wrote an incendiary article, an angry article saying that the GOP deserves to lose this election. He was not complimentary of any of the remaining candidates, and he referred to Mitt Romney - the one you say you like a lot better - as a hollow man.
FRUM: Yeah.
INSKEEP: Is that fair?
FRUM: That's not fair. Look, Mitt Romney has the kind of qualities that I think a lot of us would like to see in a president. He's judicious. He's very smart. He's cautious, and he makes decisions based on a wide range of information.
The reason people will describe him in this way is because he's not able to channel the rage that is felt by many of Republicans, because he doesn't feel that kind of rage. But I tend to think that that's one of the things that I like about him. I mean, the passions that you're hearing from the Republican base are not good descriptions of reality and they are not good guides...
INSKEEP: What's an example of what you are talking about?
FRUM: Well, I did a radio show the other day with a very Republican radio station, and the host was telling me, this country is on the edge of an apocalypse. You know, look, actually, the country's sort of climbing back from an apocalypse. An apocalypse is kind of strong and that kind of overwrought feeling that yeah, there's nothing ahead but decline and extinction for America. That's no way for a candidate to think, because it's not true.
INSKEEP: You were arguing that in order to express the anxiety that a lot of Americans feel, you can most easily do that by saying things that are just not factually true.
FRUM: Well, the great politicians, the great leaders are people who, at moments where the country has real reasons for fear and unease and resentment and anger, take those feelings and they re-channel them, redirect them in ways that can lead to solutions.
And at the end of that process, the people can look back and say that the leader - and the reason we admire these leaders is, yeah, we had a lot of feelings in 1933 or in 1981 that could have taken this country in an ugly direction. And you responded to the way we felt, and then you led us to a positive place, not to a negative place.
INSKEEP: When you said 1933 and 1981, you're talking about President Franklin Roosevelt, Present Ronald Reagan.
FRUM: That's right.
INSKEEP: And you're acknowledging that Mitt Romney just isn't there?
FRUM: Well, Mitt Romney has the answers. I mean, the challenge for Romney is he's not good at connecting with the feelings, but he would be very good at leading the country to a more positive space. But the reason that a lot of the Republican base is having trouble with him is he's not connecting with them.
David Frum is a columnist for "The Daily Beast" and "Newsweek." Thanks very much.
Thanks.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
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The sanctions against Iran are among the topics of discussion in Davos, Switzerland. That's the ski resort where world leaders, powerful executives and other influential people meet each year for the World Economic Forum. Many economists are there, too, including Nariman Behravesh. He's chief economist at IHS Global Insight, and we reached him at Davos. Thanks for joining us.
NARIMAN BEHRAVESH: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Well, so this year, you know, many issues, as always - in this case, Greece still on the brink. Europe is staring at a recession. How would you describe the mood there?
BEHRAVESH: Well, it's certainly a lot less upbeat than last year. I think there's a lot of anxiety here, a lot of it focused, as you say, on Europe. But there's also anxiety about China, anxiety about Iran and the potential for a conflict in the Persian Gulf and, of course, the impact that that would have on oil prices. So, in a word, I think the delegates are quite anxious.
MONTAGNE: You know, there has been criticism about governments not taking enough of a long view. Now Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is asking business leaders at Davos to give Europe the time it needs to work out its debt crisis. But is that realistic? I mean, is there patience for that?
BEHRAVESH: Well, the fact that this crisis has been going on now over two years, I think it's a little disingenuous for Merkel to be asking for even more patience. And the problem is that they really haven't done enough to deal with the current crisis. And so I find that sort of statement just a little hard to swallow.
MONTAGNE: Well, what are the key things, then, you are hearing? You say it's not just Greece. It's not just Europe. It's other regions of the world. What are you hearing that maybe even surprises you?
BEHRAVESH: There's an interesting dichotomy, here. What you've got is a lot of business leaders feel reasonably good about their own businesses, but they're very, very worried about what's going on around them in terms of the macro economy, in terms of other industries. So the kinds of questions you're hearing are: Are you OK? You know, what are your plans for 2012?
For example, oil and gas, I mean, they're obviously doing well. Oil price is quite high, but they're very worried about China. China hard-landing, for example, would push oil prices down to $50, $60 a barrel. So that's the kind of anxiety that they would have in that industry.
Another one is the chemicals industry. They're doing extremely well, especially in the United States, but again, worried about a recession in the U.S. - not that it's likely, but that, you know, it might happen. So that's the way I would sort of view this sort of balancing act, you know, feeling good about the industry, but worried about sort of the bigger picture.
MONTAGNE: Now, every year there are protests at Davos. I understand this year, just a mile or two away from the posh lodgings there, protesters from the Occupy movement have built igloos. You know, Davos is the gathering of many successful, wealthy people. Are there concerns about income inequality at Davos?
BEHRAVESH: The answer is yes. There are lots of panels here in Davos about income inequality, wealth inequality, what to do about it. Obviously, there's a lot of debate and discussion about President Obama's State of the Union speech and the fact that it focused quite a bit on this very issue.
The Occupy Davos movement itself isn't resonating that much here, but they're discussing more investment in education, for example, changes in U.S. tax law. So there are substantive discussions. It's not just sort of hand-ringing. It's more than that.
MONTAGNE: Nariman Behravesh is chief economist at IHS Global Insight, speaking to us from Davos, Switzerland. Thanks very much.
BEHRAVESH: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
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In his State of the Union address, President Obama said the U.S. should enlist its veterans to help rebuild the country. For thousands of out-of-work former military personnel, that would be welcome.
Even as the nation's unemployment rate fell last month, jobless rates for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan remained much higher: 13 percent. Today, job fairs will open in Louisiana and Colorado to try to connect veterans and their families with employers. Brandon Hollingsworth of member station WUOT went to such a job fair earlier this week in Tennessee.
BRANDON HOLLINGSWORTH, BYLINE: The main ballroom of the Knoxville Convention Center is crowded with men and women, some in uniform or wearing military-themed shirts and jackets, while others sport suits and ties. They peruse booths for area businesses, colleges and universities. Miles Shope is 31 and spent four years in the Army. In the year-and-a-half since he's been back from Iraq, he's held down a few construction jobs. But it's not steady work.
MILES SHOPE: I get frustrated, because I don't have time in the private sector to really back up, you know, what I can do. Sometimes that hurts.
HOLLINGSWORTH: Shope is thinking about going back to college to work in telecommunications, his specialty in the Army.
Last month, about a quarter-million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were actively looking for work, and they were going up against millions of civilians who lost jobs during the recession. It's a simple equation: Too many people for not nearly enough jobs. And for those returning veterans, there are even taller barriers to cross.
ERIC DAUGHERTY: I get turned down a lot. And they'll even be honest and tell me: The reason we can't hire you is because we fear the attitude that you'll have in the job.
HOLLINGSWORTH: This is Eric Daugherty, a 27-year-old Iraq war Army vet.
DAUGHERTY: They're scared of being angry. And if something happens or a situation comes up that I get mad that I'm going to lose control and start killing everybody, as if I was in a scene in Iraq.
HOLLINGSWORTH: Daugherty's girlfriend, Amanda Bunch, came to the job fair, too. She hasn't served overseas, but she is in the military.
AMANDA BUNCH: I have also been looking for jobs, as well, but I haven't had the same problems that he's had with the whole combat zone thing, you know. They actually look at my experience, and it's a good thing for me.
HOLLINGSWORTH: Manning one of the job booths is Ken Slaven. He's an Army vet who now runs an auto glass repair business. He says he's here to give fellow service members a chance other companies won't.
KEN SLAVEN: They may not have that experience that you're looking for. But if you've got someone capable of teaching them, they'll learn it. They'll expound on it, and they'll take it to the next level. And they'll do what they've got to do to get the job done.
HOLLINGSWORTH: That's a good description of Eric Daugherty. He says he isn't looking just for a paycheck, but stability.
DAUGHERTY: I'm not worried where I'm going to be at in the next two weeks. I'm worried where I'm going to be at when I'm 60 years old. I know I can get a job and live week-to-week, but I want to have a career out of it.
HOLLINGSWORTH: Worrying about establishing a career can also hurt military spouses. Tracy Carnette was here, pushing a stroller with her two young children. She went to nursing school, but can't promise hospitals a long-term commitment, because the family moves around as her husband gets re-assigned.
TRACY CARNETTE: I worked hard for my degree. And I really, you know, I love staying home with my girls. But I really want to use it, you know?
HOLLINGSWORTH: These job fairs, called Hire Our Heroes, are sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The group has held almost 100 around the country since last March. Jonathan Williams is with the Tennessee Veterans Business Association, an event co-sponsor.
JONATHAN WILLIAMS: Maybe they get into college. Maybe they find a job, or maybe they get the opportunity to start a business. Maybe they're walking through here and an idea sparks them and says: You know what? I can do this. So we're here to help.
HOLLINGSWORTH: Organizers say they have no solid numbers on how these jobs fairs help unemployed veterans and spouses. But there are success stories, enough to keep the fairs going.
For NPR News, I'm Brandon Hollingsworth in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep.
Let's look at the politics of one of the five states where President Obama is campaigning this week: Nevada. That's where he is today. In 2008, the president won Nevada with a 12-point advantage. With unemployment now at nearly 13 percent, though, the state will be much more of a challenge this November. But as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports, the state Republican Party is having its own trouble in mounting a strong campaign against the president.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Steven Lambert heads to his computer science class at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He says four years ago he was impressed with President Obama, especially with all the outreach to students here via social networks. This year, not so much.
STEVEN LAMBERT: I do think he could have made a good president, it just seems like he got in and got overwhelmed, because, I mean, we did want a change. And it was unfortunate that we didn't get it.
KAHN: Saddled with high tuition and crippling loan debt, many students here say they aren't so sure they'll pick Mr. Obama again. And away from campus, unemployment in Nevada is nearly double what it was four years ago. Gaming and tourism, the mainstay of the economy, are struggling. The foreclosure rate is the highest in the country.
But economics aside, Zach Hudson, the state Democratic Party's spokesman, says Democrats are energized. He points to last weekend's Democratic caucuses, which drew more than 12,000 voters, even though President Obama was the only one on the ballot.
ZACH HUDSON: These weren't just 12,000 voters. These were 12,000 volunteers who are going to be at the forefront of our grassroots campaign, the people who are going to be knocking on doors, making phone calls to re-elect the president.
KAHN: And there are still more Democrats registered to vote in the state than Republicans. UNLV political scientist Doug Damore says Republicans aren't doing enough to keep up with Nevada's changing demographics. Latinos made up 11 percent of the electorate in 2008.
DOUG DAMORE: They haven't done the outreach into these - into the minorities communities. They haven't really gone after young voters the way the Democrats have done. They've just sort of gone to the tried-and-true. And, you know, as I like to say, they're not making old, white voters the way they used to.
KAHN: And the state GOP is struggling to get organized. They've had five party chairs in the past two years. Damore says even setting a date for the party's caucus was chaotic. It's finally scheduled for February 4th.
DAMORE: They brought in some talent to help them organize the caucuses here, but it's not at the level that the Democrats do.
KAHN: Adding to the picture is the recent influence of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. He gave a $5 million shot to a pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC to help in South Carolina. This week, his wife gave another five million to help Gingrich in Florida. Adelson even convinced the Republican Party here in Nevada to extend the hours of its Saturday caucus past sundown, so observant Jews like himself can participate.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Please, quiet. Ladies, woo-hoo.
KAHN: Gingrich's recent good fortune was the talk at this week's luncheon meeting of the Southern Hills Republican Women's group. More than a hundred people enjoyed breaded chicken and pasta at the Revere Golf Club, with its stunning view of the Vegas Strip. Jason Neal Williams came with his wife of 46 years. He says Gingrich sure is shaking up the race.
JASON NEAL WILLIAMS: I think he's probably the smartest one on the stage, knows more about the government than any of them up there. I'd love to see him debate Obama. I'd love it.
KAHN: Williams says he hasn't quite made up his mind yet who he's going to vote for, but he's excited that Nevada is relevant again, even though they are fifth-in-the-nation in the Republican nominating process.
Betty Mauer, a retired accountant, is excited, too. She's all signed up to lead a caucus site. Mauer supported Romney four years ago and says she's sticking with him again.
BETTY MAUER: Because he's about the only Republican that's going to make it to beat Obama.
KAHN: She says making sure Obama isn't in the White House for four more years is plenty to motivate Nevada Republicans.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Las Vegas.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. You may wonder how filmmakers got viewers to sit through a silent movie. People who've seen "The Artist" know one answer: the dog. Uggie plays a role like Lassie, a loyal friend who races to find a cop when there's trouble. Fans were outraged that Uggie did not get an Oscar nomination. Now Uggie's owner tells Life & Style magazine that movie was the Jack Russell terrier's last. He's retiring the 10-year-old dog. Uggie wants to relax. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne, with news of a military makeover. Standard-issue military eyeglasses are considered so unflattering, service members have an acronym for them: BCGs - or birth-control glasses. Now, for the first time in over 20 years, the military's updating its look. Instead of those thick, brown plastic frames, recruits can get sleeker, black plastic specs.
As the San Diego Union Tribune raved: more hot college professor, less mad scientist.
It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are a team, a comedy team. Both of are biracial: half-black, half-white.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SKETCH)
KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: And so we actually think that we're particularly adept at lying, because on a daily basis, we constantly have to adjust our blackness.
JORDAN PEELE: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PEELE: Like, I mean, to terrify white people.
KEY: Yup, to terrify white people...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KEY: That's one of the main reasons. And then...
PEELE: 'Cause I mean with our voices now, we sound very white. We are not intimidating anybody by the way we talk.
KEY: Oh, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KEY: We sound whiter than the black dude in the college a capella group. That's how white we sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports on their new sketch comedy series, which premiers on Comedy Central next week.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: You can learn about Key and Peele in a sketch they do in which Jordan Peele impersonates President Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SKETCH)
PEELE: (as President Obama) I just want to say that I know a lot of people out there seem to think that I don't get angry. That's just not true.
BLAIR: And Keegan-Michael Key plays Luther, Mr. Obama's anger translator.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SKETCH)
PEELE: (as President Obama) Luther?
KEY: (as Luther) Hi.
PEELE: (as President Obama) First off, concerning the recent developments in the Middle Eastern region, I just want to reiterate our unflinching support for all people and their right to a democratic process.
KEY: (as Luther) Hey, all y'all dictators out there, keep messing around and see what happens. Just see what happens. Watch.
BLAIR: Keegan-Michael Key paces back and forth, flails his arms. Sometimes he puts his face right into the camera like he's about to punch it. As President Obama, Jordan Peele is unflappable.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SKETCH)
PEELE: (as President Obama) I just want to say to my critics, I hear your voices and I'm aware of your concerns.
KEY: (as Luther) So maybe you could chill the (bleep) out for like a second, then maybe I can focus on some (bleep), you know.
BLAIR: Key and Peele say the idea came from a few different sources. First, they're fans of early "Saturday Night Live," and one of their favorite sketches was the fake TV news.
PEELE: If you remember Garrett Morris, and they say and now for the Association of the Deaf, Garrett Morris will be doing the announcements. And then Garrett Morris would scream at the top of his lungs.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
CHEVY CHASE: Our top story tonight...
GARRETT MORRIS: Our top story tonight...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
PEELE: And so, that was something we had talked about that we thought wouldn't it be nice, you know, if we could find a way to finagle Obama's nature and use that as a nugget? You know what I mean? How would we get someone to interpret what we know he really wants to say?
BLAIR: They were even more inspired to write the sketch when a congressman shouted: You lie, during one of President Obama's speeches.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegal.
REPRESENTATIVE JOE WILSON: You lie.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIENCE REACTION)
BLAIR: Key and Peele say it bothered them that Mr. Obama barely reacted.
PEELE: For him to have that much composure...
KEY: Right.
PEELE: ...it's like you don't have no - not after that.
KEY: It was really a burr in Jordan's saddle.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KEY: He's like come on, brother. If there's ever a time to get down to business, do it. How are you going to just put up a finger up and keep talking regular?
PEELE: Right.
KEY: Come on, man.
PEELE: But, you know, that's kind of course what we love about him too. It's that he's so, you know, he's so even-measured. He's so together. He's almost Spock-like...
KEY: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PEELE: ...in his logic and wisdom, you know.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BLAIR: And that Spock-like nature is something else about the president Key and Peele admire. Peele thinks Mr. Obama was the best thing to happen to black nerds everywhere.
PEELE: Up until Obama, it was basically Urkel and the black guy from "Revenge of the Nerds," Lamar, we had no role models. So he made us cool.
BLAIR: And they say he made it easier to be biracial. Jordan Peele grew up in New York. He was raised by a single white mother. Keegan-Michael Key was raised in Detroit. His mom is also white.
KEY: You go to school as a kid and when your mom comes, and the kids go: That's not your mom...
PEELE: That's ain't your mama. Why you lying?
KEY: ...which, as a kid is like that is a deep insult. You know, that's our lifeline is our mom when we're little. So somehow I think that's that expectation at a very young age that we were supposed to live up to something because of what we looked like, I mean I think that probably invaded our souls, and gave us the need to do this kind of comedy on some level.
PEELE: Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that...
BLAIR: Did anyone make fun of you growing up because you didn't talk black enough?
KEY: Every single day of grade school.
PEELE: I still make fun of him.
BLAIR: In one of their sketches, Key and Peele change the way they speak depending on who's listening. It begins with Key by himself on a city sidewalk talking on his cell-phone.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SKETCH)
KEY: Because you're my wife and you love the theater and it's your birthday.
BLAIR: A stranger walks up, played by Jordan Peele, who can hear what he's saying. So Key changes his voice to sound more black.
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SKETCH)
KEY: ...already filled up, but they do you have seats that are still left in the dress circle. So if you want me to get them theater tickets right now, well do it right now.
PEELE: What's up, dog? We're about five minutes away.
KEY: Yeah.
BLAIR: As they part, you realize that the second guy had been changing his voice too.
PEELE: Oh my, God. Christian, I almost totally just got mugged right now.
MAKEISHA MADDEN-TOBY: I love the posturing of it. I just - I love that it taps into like stuff that no one is talking about.
BLAIR: Mekeisha Madden-Toby is a TV critic for The Detroit News.
MADDEN-TOBY: How do people perceive you versus who you really are, how you let people perceive you - I mean all of those things, I think they just brilliantly tap into those things.
BLAIR: Madden-Toby says "Key & Peele" will fill the void that was left on Comedy Central when comedian Dave Chappelle quit his show in 2005.
MADDEN-TOBY: Comedy Central needed that voice ever since they losing Chappelle. And I think that they are pretty close to it.
BLAIR: Key and Peele are huge Chappelle fans. But, for now, they're not sure their new show will reach as many African-Americans as Chappelle's did. A tough crowd, they say.
KEY: It really concerns us to be terribly frank. Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PEELE: That's just one of those things, I guess.
KEY: It concerns us that African-Americans enjoy this show.
BLAIR: Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, their new show debuts next week on Comedy Central. Sketches include parodies of a reality cooking show, being related to Thomas Jefferson, and the little lies husbands tell each other about their wives.
Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
INSKEEP: From NPR News, it's MORNING EDITION. You can follow us on Twitter, by the way. We're @morningedition and @nprinskeep, that's I-N-S-K-E-E-P.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Renee is back with us on Monday. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's remember for a moment an act that triggered uprisings across the Arab world. A young Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire. His act was followed by protests that drove Tunisia's leader out of the country, which in turn inspired more protest elsewhere. We mention all this because last week in Morocco, five people set themselves on fire. They were jobless college graduates. Joblessness remains a huge problem across the Arab world.
And NPR's Deborah Amos tells us that for some Moroccans, unemployment has become a full-time job.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: It's rush hour in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, and time for the march of the unemployed college graduates - part of a movement that's become a rite of passage. It's a path to a government career for a lucky few, even though it can take years. When an English-speaking reporter arrives, the crowd parts for Abdul Rahim Momneh to speak.
ABDUL RAHIM MOMNEH: I have a degree, a master's degree in English, and I'm here, OK, idle without job, without dignity, without anything.
AMOS: Youth unemployment is a crisis for every Arab government. In Morocco, the jobless rate is more than 30 percent for the young.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING)
AMOS: But government employment is hardly a solution, say the movement's critics. Morocco's bureaucracy is already bloated and unproductive; the huge government payroll is a financial drain.
Yet, under pressure from these protests, officials often give in, adding a few more positions, and every year, even more graduates swell the movement - shunning the rigors of private sector work, holding out for the slim chance of the lifetime security and perks that come with a government job.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD)
AMOS: They gather in a park, dumping their backpacks. Each group has a slogan displayed on colored vests they wear to every march.
Mokhliss Tsouli is with the yellow group. He moved to the capital after earning a master's degree to join the protest full time.
How often do you come out to protest?
MOKHLISS TSOULI: Probably, you know, four days a week, five days a week. It depends, you know, on the leaders of all the groups.
AMOS: And you're the yellow guys. How come you're the yellow ones?
TSOULI: It's Shalia. It means spark, if I am going, you know, to translate it, you know, correctly, I think it's a spark.
AMOS: Certainly the spark for a permanent protest, part of the landscape of the capital. It's a movement with strict rules and rewards. Organizers keep a tally. There are points for attendance, extra points for scuffles with the police - points that determine who gets to the top of the list - and gets a job, says Tsouli.
TSOULI: Sometime, you know, there are students who just come once a week - and they're not really activists. So we're updating the list that we will give to the government, to the decision makers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
AMOS: The country's new government has vowed to tackle unemployment. It was elected after Morocco's Arab Spring moment last year, when widespread discontent brought tens of thousands to the streets.
But don't compare that political movement with these jobless college grads, says Nasreen el Hannch.
NASREEN EL HANNCH: Oh, it's not the same. We are totally different because we are just looking for jobs. They are looking for change Morocco; we are not looking for change, only to find a job.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANNCH: So we hope.
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)
AMOS: There's no hope that the job crisis will go away without substantial political and economic change. But until then, a little social blackmail means at least some of these students will get work.
The government has already pledged to open 20,000 new jobs, but tens of thousands more have a reason to keep up the pressure.
Deborah Amos, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It is Friday morning, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. People talk with loved ones, interview each other, and hear each other's stories. Dennis Apple and his wife Buelah came to StoryCorps to talk about their son Denny. Almost 21 years ago, Denny came down with mononucleosis, and before going to bed one night, he took some medicine and talked about where he wanted to sleep.
DENNIS APPLE: Denny that night wanted to sleep on the couch. He had mono, but he was a strong, fit kid. So I really didn't think anything was seriously wrong. The next morning, I didn't hear him breathing.
BUELAH APPLE: You yelled for me to call 911.
APPLE: Yeah. My younger brother, who is an EMT, he came running out, put his head to his chest and he said Dennis, he's gone. It was like somebody threw a bucket of ice cold water into my face while I was at a dead sleep. I was on my knees. And I screamed out, oh, God. This is not supposed to happen to me.
When we came back home for the first time by ourselves, I remember we pulled into the garage, and neither one of us wanted to go in the house. I looked at you and I said, you know, all I have to do is reach up and hit the garage door opener on the visor, let the door come down, let the car stay running, and we can just hold hands and just die right here, together. Do you remember what you said to me?
APPLE: I said, yes, but what about our son Andy? He needs us.
APPLE: Yeah.
APPLE: I know after the funeral, we both went back to work. But you had to go and be a pastor and do funerals and weddings.
APPLE: Oh, yeah. You know, it really got me when people would come by and would tell me stories about narrowly missing being killed in an accident. And they said, but my guardian angel protected me. And I just wanted to slam the door in their face and walk out, because I thought, where was Denny's guardian angel the night of February the 6th?
APPLE: The grief lasts a lot longer, I think, than most people think.
APPLE: I remember you went down all the way to a size four. And I thought, my God, I'm going to lose her, too. I thought, man, we'll never make it. But somehow, we trudged along.
APPLE: I'm glad we did.
APPLE: Yeah.
APPLE: It was five years before I came to myself, and I said: Am I going to go on in this heavy grief, or am I going to try to live and be as happy as I can?
APPLE: When I said, honey, if you'd have known when we had Denny that we would have him just short of 19 years, would you go back and do it all over again? You remember what you said, don't you?
APPLE: Yeah. I said, of course I would, all over again.
APPLE: Yeah, a million times.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: That's Dennis Apple and his wife Buelah at StoryCorps in Kansas City, Missouri. Their interview will be archived with all the others at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress. You can sign up for the podcast at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, as Congress debates big issues like that, lobbyists for corporations also play a big role, and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff is offering explanations for how it's done. He's out of prison. He has a new book, and he told Planet Money's Alex Blumberg about things he did that were legal.
ALEX BLUMBERG, BYLINE: The firm Abramoff worked for was called Greenberg Traurig. I chose a year at random when Abramoff was working there, and picked a client who I hoped would be fairly typical - not one of the Indian tribes that were at the center of the scandal, but a multinational corporation: Tyco International. In 2003, they gave Abramoff's firm $1.3 million. What were they hoping to get for that money?
JACK ABRAMOFF: They were fighting to stay out of the tax bill that year, which would have retroactively taxed them to the tune of about $4 billion.
BLUMBERG: Tyco, you may remember, at this time, was just coming out of a big scandal involving their CEO, Dennis Kozlowski. And Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, had introduced a bill with a provision that targeted companies, like Tyco, who maintained an off-shore tax status. The provision would have imposed new taxes on Tyco going back to 1997.
So Abramoff and his team targeted the bill's sponsor, Charles Grassley.
ABRAMOFF: What we did was we plied him with contributions.
BLUMBERG: Abramoff got everyone he could to make donations to Grassley's reelection campaign. Abramoff himself donated, as did other people at his firm, executives and employees at Tyco did. But there are limits to how much each individual can give. Abramoff had to expand the circle of people willing to donate. Fortunately, Tyco was just one of many clients that Abramoff's firm represented.
ABRAMOFF: I went to every client I could and rounded up every check we could for him. Look, access is vital in lobbying. If you can't get in the door, you can't make your case. Here we had a hostile senator, whose staff was hostile, and we had to get in. So that's the sort of lobbyist safecracker method, is raise money and become a big donor.
BLUMBERG: Perhaps you're wondering: How much can I trust a convicted felon like Jack Abramoff? Well, he's a convicted felon with a lot of old emails in his inbox, some of which he forwarded to me from around this time. And they suggest the safecracking worked.
One email to Abramoff from one of his head lobbyist starts, quote: "I ran this morning with Senator Grassley and had breakfast with two staffers and his wife at his house." He goes on, quote: "Looks like I'll be doing it every Wednesday morning."
In another email, the woman in charge of raising money for Grassley's reelection campaign, who's on Grassley's campaign staff, writes to Abramoff's lobbyist to ask about an event Abramoff's firm is holding to raise money for Senator Grassley. She asks, quote: "What do you think would be a realistic number?" Meaning, how much can you raise? The answer: 30 grand.
Overall, it's hard to figure out exactly how much Abramoff, his firm and his clients raised for Charles Grassley, somewhere between 50 and $100,000 seems like a safe range. And, in fact, the provision that Tyco was concerned about was removed. But here's the question: Was it removed by Charles Grassley?
KOLAN DAVIS: I'm Kolan Davis. During the 2003-4 period, I was the Republican staff director/chief counsel of the Senate Finance Committee.
BLUMBERG: A committee Grassley chaired. Grassley's office, understandably, was not eager to be mentioned in a story with the man who has come to symbolize corruption in Washington - especially since, they say, Grassley wasn't the one who removed the Tyco provision. The House did it. Their version of the bill kept that provision out.
DAVIS: Both sides have to support it, and the House voted it down.
BLUMBERG: So the lobbying efforts, all those lobbying efforts that Jack Abramoff went through, what you're telling me is essentially that was just wasted time and money?
DAVIS: I think the facts bear that out.
BLUMBERG: The facts Davis refers to are these: After the House removed the Tyco provision the first time, Grassley tried to put it back in. The House voted to take it out again. Grassley, in other words, did not behave like a man whose mind was changed by lobbying. But Abramoff says he didn't need to change Grassley's mind. He just needed to take the fight out of him.
Honestly, it's impossible to know who to believe: the convicted felon, or the senator trying to distance himself from the convicted felon. But this is what I can say: what Abramoff and his emails describe is absolutely legal and absolutely routine.
Every day in Washington, lobbyists who want something from lawmakers are rounding up checks for them. At every meal of every day, lawmakers who desperately need those checks to get reelected are meeting with the lobbyists to accept the checks. What Abramoff describes is not an aberration, not even unusual. It's simply the way the system works.
Alex Blumberg, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
We're going to report next on a sign of progress amid the rubble in Haiti. Two years after an earthquake, half a million people are still living in camps. But people who want to help can now point to one project that is working well enough that supporters call it a possible model for international aid in the developing world. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports on a new national teaching hospital being built outside Port-au-Prince.
JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Even before the earthquake, Haiti's public health care system was one of the worst in the hemisphere. Then the quake knocked down clinics, killed medical workers and severely damaged the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. Now the Boston-based group Partners in Health has set out to build a world-class hospital in what used to be a rice field in the Haitian countryside.
DR. DAVID WALTON: This is a little waiting area for the main laboratory and radiology.
BEAUBIEN: Dr. David Walton is overseeing the construction of the National Teaching Hospital, 35 miles outside the capital in the small city of Mirebalais. Walton is a physician with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, but on this day he looks more like a construction foreman.
He says this hospital, which will be part of the public health care system, will provide services and a level of care that's light-years ahead of what's currently available in Haiti. For instance, the hospital will be wired with a fiber-optic data connection.
WALTON: We'll have cameras in the operating room in the lights so that you can see surgery from anywhere. That will allow surgeons in whatever country to be able to comment on and assist in the technical details of the surgery that's being done right here in Haiti. So again, leveraging technology to improve care here.
BEAUBIEN: When it opens this summer, it will be the largest hospital in the country. There'll be six operating theaters, an emergency room and a neo-natal intensive care unit. It will be the only public facility in Haiti with a CAT scan machine.
WALTON: Now, back in Boston where I work, there's about maybe 12 CAT scanners in one single hospital. Here there are only four in the country. Three of them are in the private sector, so this will be the fourth and it'll be for the people of Haiti.
BEAUBIEN: The roof will be covered in solar panels, allowing the facility on sunny days to run entirely on solar power. Partners in Health's budget for this massive 320 bed, 180,000-square-foot facility is just $16 million. Walton notes that they've gotten another four million worth of in-kind donations, mainly medical equipment and construction supplies.
But the final price tag for this new national teaching hospital will be less than one percent of the billions of dollars in international aid that were pledged to Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake.
WALTON: One of the lessons that I think this hospital can provide is how to provide really outstanding infrastructure and construction practices at a fraction of what it may cost in other settings, and I would argue a fraction of what it may cost versus other projects that are being done here.
BEAUBIEN: The Canadian government this month just pledged $20 million to move squatters out of a huge tent encampment in front of the National Palace.
Looking around Haiti, this hospital is one of the few solid examples of post-quake reconstruction. There are private projects to build new hotels. An industrial park is under construction. The cell phone company Digicel rebuilt the historic Iron Market in Port-au-Prince. But the National Palace is still awaiting demolition. Many of the cholera clinics that have sprung up are in tents or temporary shelters.
At a dedication for the hospital just before the second anniversary of the earthquake, the Haitian Minister of Health, Dr. Florence Guillaume, said this project for her is a dream come true.
DR. FLORENCE GUILLAUME: I can tell you, I'm really proud. I'm almost crying this morning, you know? It's really that type of assistance that we need.
BEAUBIEN: She says this hospital will help bolster the entire public health care system in Haiti. First, other clinics and hospitals will be able to refer patients here for more complicated procedures and tests. Second, as a teaching hospital it will help train more Haitian doctors and nurses. And by providing a better work environment, she hopes it will help stem the exodus of Haitian medical professionals who so often decamp for the U.S. or Canada.
Paul Farmer, the co-founder of Partners in Health, says that he views this hospital project as a model for effective international aid.
PAUL FARMER: The amount of money either pledged or flying out there around somewhere is substantial. If it were marshaled into a coherent system of hospitals, health centers, health posts, then you could see some big, big advancements in public health indices in Haiti. And in fact, that's what we expect to happen.
BEAUBIEN: The National Teaching Hospital still faces large challenges. Construction is on track but still not complete. At first, the Ministry of Health and Partners in Health will manage the facility together. But eventually the Haitian government needs to come up with an operating budget to keep the hospital running for the long term.
Jason Beaubien, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's follow up now on last week's mega-indictment, a case that shutdown the website Megaupload.com for copyright infringement. The Department of Justice is calling this one of the largest copyright cases ever brought by the United States. NPR's Sami Yenigun went to see how Megaupload's shutdown is affecting piracy on the Web.
SAMI YENIGUN, BYLINE: It seems like it's still pretty easy for college student Bobby Azerbaijani to find whatever music he wants.
BOBBY AZERBAIJANI: So all I've got to do is go to Google.com, and it's called Smoke Ring for My Halo.
YENIGUN: That's an album by guitarist Kurt Vile.
AZERBAIJANI: And let's just stick in MediaFire.
YENIGUN: He's used Megaupload before, but that site's gone. Now he's using MediaFire, one of the many sites on the Internet where people share all types of files.
AZERBAIJANI: And you go to MediaFire.com, click download, and it's counting down eight minutes.
YENIGUN: Sorry, Kurt. It took Bobby Azerbaijani less than 30 seconds to find your record and download it for free. In the 15 minutes that I spent at his apartment in College Park, Maryland, we found links to another album and two HBO TV shows. Now, Bobby Azerbaijani doesn't know who put those files there. But Ethan Kaplan pays attention to this stuff as VP of product for Live Nation, and he has a hunch.
ETHAN KAPLAN: I think it's most often a fan. The person that uploads the HD digital satellite rip of the latest "Office" episode, it's not somebody trying to make money. And it's not some, like, pirate in a back alley of the Internet trying to diminish the importance of the television show. It's a huge fan of "The Office" that wants everybody to see why they're a huge fan, because of this amazing show.
YENIGUN: But that's not to say there isn't any money to be made off of illegal content. The Mega indictment points to two primary sources of income for Megaupload: user subscriptions and advertising.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Congratulations. You won.
YENIGUN: People, trust me, you haven't won anything, and don't click on the pop-ups swarming the download sites. They're like a black hole of advertising. Now, a file-sharing company wants content that's going to pull eyeballs towards these ads.
KAPLAN: Any editorial or content-based website always wants to be the first and the only place to get something, because that's how you become a destination.
YENIGUN: Megaupload's uploader rewards program paid the people who put up the most downloaded content, says Live Nation's Ethan Kaplan.
KAPLAN: And so certainly incentivizing people to do that, it can be seen as inducing piracy. But there also could be seen as, oh, no. We're just inducing people to use us first for whatever it is they want to use.
YENIGUN: After Megaupload was taken down, other file-sharing sites like MediaFire and RapidShare tried to distance themselves from Megaupload's legal problems. RapidShare spokesperson Daniel Raimer says they're different because they don't have a rewards program right now.
DANIEL RAIMER: We believe that this was quite an incentive to upload popular content, which pretty often could be copyright protected.
YENIGUN: Raimer says he wasn't surprised that Megaupload was shut down. He claims RapidShare's been fighting copyright infringement from day one, and that pirated content only takes up a small portion of hosted files. Other file sharing sites like FileSonic and FileServe scrapped their rewards programs and stopped users from sharing files with each other.
But even with the shutdown of Megaupload, Live Nation's Ethan Kaplan doesn't see this one prosecution wiping out online piracy anytime soon.
KAPLAN: Has it disrupted it before? When Napster was sued and when YouTube was sued and when Veoh was sued and when all these other people were sued? I always like to say water finds its own level.
YENIGUN: And, Kaplan says, at the end of the day, if it's there and it's free, people will take it.
Sami Yenigun, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The wave of protests we call the Arab Spring is just one of many factors American foreign policy experts have to keep in mind as they review a changing world. Just this week, the Pentagon has been detailing plans to shift U.S. strategic priorities, moving more attention to the Pacific and saving money by reducing the size of the military. Senator John McCain has been watching those changes with some skepticism. The Republican presidential nominee from 2008 is unsure of plans to shrink the military, and he's also thinking of risks, like confrontation with Iran.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: It is a situation that is nearing crisis proportions. I'm not saying it's at a crisis, but it certainly is a lot closer than it was a year ago.
INSKEEP: McCain does not say war is imminent but argues it is possible. Iran has denied it's seeking nuclear weapons but has come to no agreement with doubters in the West who want Iran to stop enriching uranium. We sat down with the Senator McCain yesterday at his office on Capitol Hill.
MCCAIN: It is a fact that with all the sanctions and all the other efforts we've made, both diplomatic and with our alliance and with the European Union, that the Iranians have not been deterred from their path towards the acquisition of nuclear weapons. It's just a fact. So that does raise the threat or the possibility of Israeli slash perhaps even U.S. military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The president said we will not allow Iran to do that. When the president of the United States says that, it means that all options are on the table.
INSKEEP: I would like to get you to expand on that phrase, if I might. President Obama must say all options are on the table, as president probably cannot say anything much more detailed than that. You're in a position to help us think this through. We know where we are now. These sanctions are in place. They may be increased in the next few months. What options are there?
MCCAIN: It's complicated by it's not just the United States' decision. It's also an Israeli decision. Israelis have stated unequivocally that a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat to the state of Israel. It's also complicated by the fact that the Iranians have made use of this time to both disperse and to heavily imbed their nuclear facilities, in one case deep in a mountain, which makes the military equation extremely complicated. So there have been some interesting mishaps that the Iranians have suffered and the untimely deaths of some of their scientists and a virus that we all know about.
INSKEEP: You're talking about the Stuxnet virus, the computer worm that hit the computers, the assassinations of a number of scientists.
MCCAIN: Yeah. But I do think it has probably had some effect in slowing down their effort. Now, there's no doubt that the sanctions are squeezing the Iranians now. But the most likelihood that the Iranians will be dissuaded from the path they're on is the more certainty they have that they will pay a very heavy price for it.
INSKEEP: Some of the Republican presidential candidates, as you know, Senator, has criticized President Obama's approach to Iran. In your judgment, has this administration been tough enough?
MCCAIN: I think that history will judge this president incredibly harshly, with disdain and scorn for his failure to come to the moral assistance of the 1.5 million Iranians that were demonstrating in the streets of Tehran, crying out, literally crying out Obama, Obama, are you with us, or with you - are you with them?
INSKEEP: After the disputed election in 2009.
MCCAIN: If we had given them some moral support, it might have made a difference. Disgraceful, a violation of everything that we've ever stood for. And at the time I complained bitterly about it. And I must say that the liberal media all criticized me. But that's neither here nor there. But the point is, we had an opportunity there. That window was shut.
INSKEEP: What about the argument that the president has been carefully aligning other nations against Iran, building up coalitions, and now there are sanctions that are really closing in on Iran?
MCCAIN: I think that the president and the administration has done a pretty good job on sanctions, but the fact is, who's blocking the sanctions? Russia and China. We should make it very clear to the Russians and the Chinese, if this is the threat that generally has been agreed upon, then we should be telling the Russians and the Chinese that their failure to support strong action in the U.N. Security Council will have a direct bearing on our relations with these two countries. The president's been very weak on that.
INSKEEP: We've been hearing that the Chinese have been cutting back their imports of Iranian oil. Are they not being helpful in this situation?
MCCAIN: The Chinese are cutting back on their purchases of Iranian oil because they are concerned about the fact that Iranian oil may be cut off, and nothing to do with their desire to assist us in preventing what could possibly be a conflict.
INSKEEP: We're talking with you, Senator, during this week when you're doing some campaigning for Mitt Romney in Florida. Your name has come up in the presidential campaign in this way in the last couple of days. Mitt Romney has released a couple of years of tax returns. It's been pointed out by Democrats that when you were vetting him as a possible presidential candidate, that you got 23 years of his tax returns. Has Governor Romney disclosed enough tax information, having given up two years?
MCCAIN: I think he's disclosed enough. You know, we vet people when we're considering people for vice president, but very frankly, I never looked at his tax returns. That wasn't my job or my priority at the time nor should it be.
INSKEEP: What should people make of his wealth? There's been so much discussion of it.
MCCAIN: Well, first of all, I think it's a great success story in many respects. It certainly is a way of business creating jobs as opposed to government creating jobs. That's going to be, I think, one of the central parts of the debate when he wins the nomination, and I think he will.
INSKEEP: Senator McCain, thanks very much.
MCCAIN: Thanks for having me on.
INSKEEP: That's Arizona Senator John McCain, the leading Republican on the Armed Services Committee, on NPR News.
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Let's hear next from Cuba, where Raul Castro provides(ph) this weekend over a meeting of the island's all-powerful Communist Party. The Cuban leader and younger brother of former President Fidel Castro has lowered expectations for any new announcements of economic reform. He said he wants to focus instead on internal party affairs. Many Cubans will be watching for any clue as to who could take over after the Castros are gone. Nick Miroff reports from Havana.
NICK MIROFF, BYLINE: During the 47 years that Fidel Castro ruled this island, he often surrounded himself with younger hand-picked proteges like economic planner Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. They were always on TV, seemingly groomed as the next generation of Cuban leaders. But in 2009 they were sacked, caught on secret recordings disparaging the Castros and their trusted circle of aging guerilla comrades.
Raul Castro has made clear the island's next leaders will have to rise through the party ranks in Cuba's provinces, says Rafael Hernandez, editor of the Havana journal Temas.
RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: Most of the Communist Party leaders in every province are very young. And taking into account the importance of the Communist Party secretary general in every province, we will find that 40 percent of them are women. Many of them are blacks. If you ask me what is the political succession, the political succession is right there. You have to look at that.
MIROFF: Many will be looking at this weekend's party conference for insight into who may be ascendant on Cuba's Politburo, not unlike the Kremlinology that once tried to decipher Soviet power relations. Raul Castro is 80 years old. His vice president is 81. Again, Rafael Hernandez.
HERNANDEZ: When you are over 80 years old, you have to stop thinking of the next 10 years or the next six or seven years. You have to do what you are going to do right now. And I think that the most important responsibility, the heaviest responsibility of this generation, is to move forward and to move forward as fast as possible into the Cuban transition towards a new Cuba and a new leadership.
MIROFF: Cuba's old leadership was a debate topic this week for Republican primary candidates in Florida facing questions about what would happen if Fidel Castro dies. The retired commandante fired back in one of his opinion columns Wednesday, calling their contest the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance ever heard.
But that's about all Castro does these days. He's 85 and hasn't appeared in public in months. His brother Raul is firmly in charge and whoever succeeds him is likely to follow the example he's set, gradually opening the economy to ease Cubans' frustrations. But major political reforms are not in the offing, says Miriam Leiva, a former diplomat who became a dissident writer in Havana.
MIRIAM LEIVA: The main thing is that they don't let the population decide anything. And they want to keep on in power and deciding everything. Because the Cuban population is accustomed to just accepting what comes from power and they know - Cubans know they cannot change anything.
MIROFF: At the last Communist Party meeting in April, the first of its kind in 14 years, Raul Castro surprised many with a proposal limiting public office to two five-year terms. Castro officially took over Cuba's leadership in 2008, so if he holds himself to that standard, his second term would be up in 2018, when he's 86 years old.
For NPR News, I'm Nick Miroff, Havana.
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You may have heard the old politician's advice to vote early and often. People in Florida have a chance at least to vote early. And many did cast their votes long before last night's debate. That may be a problem for Newt Gingrich, whose support in Florida was not very strong until recent days.
NPR's Greg Allen reports from Miami.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are blanketing the state with rallies and personal appearances. The airwaves are full of campaign ads. But Jeanne Casserta has heard enough. With several days left to go in the campaign, she stopped by the library in Coral Springs this week, to cast her vote for Mitt Romney.
JEANNE CASSERTA: I think basically, I don't need to listen to any more speeches. So I just had to follow who I think would be the strongest person to win the primary.
ALLEN: It's easy to cast your vote early in Florida elections, and an increasing number of voters are doing so. In most counties, polls opened last Saturday and close tomorrow. Well over 100,000 people have already voted early that way. Another popular way to vote early is through an absentee ballot.
BRIAN HUGHES: These days, calling it absentee is almost a misnomer. It's almost better to call them vote-by-mail.
ALLEN: Brian Hughes is a spokesman for Florida's Republican Party. Because of Florida's liberal absentee ballot rules, anyone who chooses can mail in their vote. Three hundred thousand Republicans cast absentee ballots in the 2008 primary and this year, Republican voters are expected to surpass that. Hughes says it's a sign Florida Republicans are energized - in part, because of the state's early primary.
HUGHES: We're a much bigger prize in the early landscape - as we always wanted to be. So you know, like they say: Florida, Florida, Florida.
ALLEN: In Florida, working the early and absentee vote has become an important tactic, even for campaigns at the county commission level. Brett Doster, a Florida Republican strategist working with the Romney campaign, says in primary campaigns, absentee and early voters are critical.
BRETT DOSTER: Primary elections are lower turnout, so that the more votes that you can track - or the more likely votes for your candidate that you can track, and get in the bank through the absentee ballot program or the early voting program, ensures you a greater possibility for success on Election Day.
ALLEN: And this is an area in which Mitt Romney has an advantage. Lists of all those who request absentee ballots are available to the campaigns. The Romney campaign began working in December, to follow up with mailers and phone calls. By the time the Gingrich campaign turned its attention to Florida, more than 100,000 ballots had already been returned. When primary day rolls around next Tuesday, more than a half-million Floridians - maybe a quarter of the estimated turnout - are likely to have already voted. That's enough to sway an election.
Doster says the case study for this was in the 2008 Republican gubernatorial primary in Florida. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: NPR incorrectly referred to the year of the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary. It was 2010, not 2008.] That's when Florida Gov. Rick Scott was a political newcomer. In the primary, he edged out the establishment candidate, Bill McCollum.
DOSTER: Bill McCollum actually won a plurality of votes on election day. But Rick Scott had beaten Bill McCollum in the absentees and the early vote. And he ultimately was the winner of that primary. So that gives you a good empirical example of how important that early vote is.
ALLEN: In that race, as in this one, people who vote early are not influenced by last-minute revelations, or momentum shifts, that sometimes change the course of campaigns. At an outdoor coffee stand in Miami this week, I ran into Mario Lazo(ph). He's a Republican who says he likes the convenience of voting early, and used to do it. But given the volatility of recent elections, no longer.
MARIO LAZO: No, no, no, no. I learned that from my wife. It makes sense to me. I say well, let's go vote early. And she says no, no, no. And she was the one who enlightened me on that.
ALLEN: But among Florida voters as a whole, the popularity of early and absentee voting still appears to be growing. A survey conducted by the American Research Group found that at the beginning of the week, 17 percent of likely Republican primary voters had already cast ballots. Within that group, Romney has a 7-point lead over Gingrich.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
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Now, when it comes to the process of buying a car, you may or may not find the following fact surprising: Women get better deals than men. A new study shows women do a lot more background work when car shopping.
NPR's Sonari Glinton reports on one of the hidden powers of the Internet.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Buying a car is all about information - knowing about the car, the price, the financing terms.
John Sternal is with LeaseTrader.com and he's been studying how men and women shop for cars.
JOHN STERNAL: Our data specifically says that women not only have a larger interest in cars overall, but women today are taking a more active role in the negotiating process of a vehicle and in the car-shopping process in general.
GLINTON: Sternal says women do more research, especially on the Internet than men, and because of that they get better deals. And according to Kelley Blue Book, women are more likely to decide on a price before they go shopping for their next car, which also translates into savings.
REBECCA LINDLAND: The assumption still remains today that women aren't car people.
GLINTON: Rebecca Lindland is certainly car person. She's a senior analyst with IHS Automotive. She says even when she goes car shopping she's often ignored or talked down to.
LINDLAND: We know that people expect us to fail, to some extent. That people think that we're not going to know what we're talking about. So we over-prepare, we overcompensate.
GLINTON: Lindland says part of the reason women do more research is a defense mechanism - they want to avoid the hassle of the dealership.
LINDLAND: We don't go into a dealership to browse. We go in, and we know exactly what we want. The shoe department is for browsing for women. You know, so when a women goes into a dealership, you got to pay attention to her because we know what we want, we're in there for a very specific reason and it's that kind of decisiveness that really manufacturers need to understand and take advantage of when people come into a dealership.
GLINTON: Both Sternal and Lindland say that's a lesson the car industry needs to learn quick because the influence of women on car buying is only growing.
Sonari Glinton, NPR News.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. The Republican presidential candidates met one more time last night before Florida's primary.
Mitt Romney sharply questioned Newt Gingrich, the candidate who's put his own debating skills at the center of his candidacy. Romney lost South Carolina to Gingrich, then lost a lot of ground in Florida. But as the frontrunner applies vast amounts of money and organization, a Quinnipiac survey out this morning shows Romney back ahead.
That's the backdrop for last night's debate. And as NPR's Ari Shapiro reports, the televised tension suggests we may be close to the moment when more contestants are voted off the island.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: These debates have been described as reality television. If so, last night had the intensity of a season finale. You could hear it in the fracas over a hypothetical illegal grandmother seeking sanctuary in a church.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
NEWT GINGRICH: We're not going to walk in there and grab a grandmother out and then kick them out.
SHAPIRO: Newt Gingrich was the aggressor on this one, insisting that Mitt Romney is the most anti-immigrant candidate in the race. In a state with a big Spanish-speaking population, that charge can hurt. And Romney wouldn't have it. He called Gingrich's language inexcusable and he didn't stop there.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
MITT ROMNEY: Don't use a term like that. You can say we disagree on certain policies, but to say that enforcing the U.S. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration, as I approve, that that's somehow anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long.
SHAPIRO: Romney turned and stared daggers into Gingrich, while Gingrich gazed out at the audience before he finally replied.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
GINGRICH: I'll give you an opportunity to self-describe. You tell me what language you would use to describe somebody who thinks that deporting a grandmother or a grandfather from their family - just tell me the language. I'm perfectly happy for you to explain what language you'd use.
SHAPIRO: Romney said he wants to follow immigration law.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
ROMNEY: Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers.
SHAPIRO: That line even got a laugh, as few Romney lines have in these debates. It was one of many moments suggesting that Romney had a new lease on his debate persona. He did bring on a new debate coach, former Liberty University coach Brett O'Donnell, in recent days.
Romney did stumble when CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked about an ad where he accused Gingrich of calling Spanish the language of the ghetto. Romney said he was not aware of the ad and it was probably made by an outside group. But a few minutes later, Blitzer circled back.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
WOLF BLITZER: It was one of your ads. It's running here in Florida in - on the radio. And at the end you say, I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this ad. So it is - it is here.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD NOISE)
ROMNEY: Let me ask a question. Let me ask the speaker a question. Did you say what the ad says or not? I don't know.
GINGRICH: It's taken totally out of context.
ROMNEY: Oh, OK, he said it.
GINGRICH: And I did not, I did not - no. I did not say it about Spanish. I said, in general, about all languages.
SHAPIRO: It is true, though, that after Gingrich made that statement in 2007, he apologized, in Spanish. Much of the evening was about who had made money from more dubious sources. Romney criticized Gingrich's work for housing giant Freddie Mac.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
ROMNEY: We should have had a whistle-blower and not a horn-tooter. He should have stood up and said, look, these things are a disaster, this is a crisis.
SHAPIRO: For his part, Gingrich focused on the tax returns that Romney released this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
GINGRICH: We discovered to our shock, Governor Romney owns shares of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Governor Romney made a million dollars off of selling some of that. Governor Romney owns share – and has an investment in Goldman Sachs, which is today foreclosing on Floridians.
SHAPIRO: But when Romney got the mic back, he noted that Gingrich too had invested in Fannie and Freddie.
When Blitzer asked Ron Paul whether they should both return the money, Paul replied...
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
RON PAUL: That subject really doesn't interest me a whole lot.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: Paul had lots of one-liners last night. But perhaps the biggest applause line came from a visibly frustrated Rick Santorum.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
RICK SANTORUM: Can we set aside that Newt was a member of Congress and used the skills that he developed as a member of Congress to go out and advise companies - and that's not the worst thing in the world - and that Mitt Romney is a wealthy guy because he worked hard and he's going out and working hard? And you guys should that alone and focus on the issues.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SHAPIRO: At another point, Gingrich said he wants to put a base on the moon, which goes over well in a state that has lost thousands of NASA jobs. But Romney scoffed at the notion.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
ROMNEY: I spent 25 years in business. If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say you're fired. The idea that corporate America wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea, but it's not a good idea.
SHAPIRO: He said this is a pattern for Gingrich.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBATE)
ROMNEY: We've seen politicians - and Newt, you've been part of this - going from state to state and promise exactly what that state wants to hear.
SHAPIRO: Romney said that was what got the country into the trouble it's in today. The crowd loved it, and it was one more moment confirming the turnaround in the campaign dynamic since last week.
Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Jacksonville, Florida.
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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
The U.S. military is preparing to do its job with fewer people, better technology and less money than it was once projected to spend. The Pentagon is adjusting its strategy and forces, preparing for what comes after the wars of the past decade. In some ways, the military is returning to its roots, as NPR's Tom Bowman reports.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had two messages yesterday at the Pentagon - first, the size and sophistication of the military.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
SECRETARY LEON PANETTA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: The military will be smaller and leaner. But it will be agile, flexible, rapidly deployable and technologically advanced.
BOWMAN: Smaller means cutting some 100,000 soldiers and Marines over the next five years. And the technology? More drone aircraft, better radars and missiles.
Panetta's second message: Where that force will be deployed.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
DEFENSE: We will rebalance our global posture and presence to emphasize where we think the potential problems will be in the world, and that means emphasizing Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
BOWMAN: The reason: Pentagon officials say China's growing military power could cause friction in the region. So the U.S. will establish more bases there, and conduct military exercises with countries like the Philippines and Australia.
Todd Harrison with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says covering those long distances in the Pacific is a natural job for the Air Force and Navy.
TODD HARRISON: They're explicitly putting a greater emphasis on air and sea forces at the expense of ground forces.
BOWMAN: The Navy will keep 11 aircraft carriers in its fleet and upgrade submarines. The Air Force will build a new long-range bomber. So not everything's being cut. But the Army is.
General Martin Dempsey, the nation's top military officer, says it makes perfect sense to cut back the size of the Army now that the Iraq War is over and the Afghan War is winding down.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
GENERAL MARK DEMPSEY: We grew the Army to confront a particular kind of conflict to conduct the stability operation's counterinsurgency strategies that we were asked to execute. Those demands are going down. I think it's perfectly reasonable that the force structure of the active Army would go down, as well.
BOWMAN: That smaller Army will go back to basics, though. Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, says the ground forces will even have to train differently to regain core skills neglected during 10 years of insurgent warfare.
LOREN THOMPSON: They spent a lot of time in Iraq and Afghanistan dealing with irregular warfare and not very much time doing their traditional missions, like armored warfare, like amphibious operations.
BOWMAN: Traditional training means relearning armored warfare: tank fights.
The Marines have their own version of the same problem. Retired Marine General Bob Magnus says ground warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan meant it was hard to get any Marine training close to the sea.
GENERAL BOB MAGNUS: There were a whole bunch of second lieutenants, that by the time they became captain, they had never stood on an amphibious ship, much less planned how they were going to get their company into berthing, or how they were going to embark their equipment and supplies.
BOWMAN: The new budget calls for the Marines to return to their traditional role, deployed aboard ships and ready to respond to a crisis anywhere in the world.
Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.
INSKEEP: Of course, the military's plans must win support in Congress, and few people know that better than John McCain. Long before he became a leading Republican senator on defense issues, he was actually a military liaison with Congress. Senator McCain told us yesterday he is skeptical of shaving the force and relying too much on drones.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED AUDIO)
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: You don't provide for a secure environment with drones. You kill bad guys, but you don't provide an environment that people can live without fear of reprisal or violence.
INSKEEP: Given the success with drones killing any number of al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it's going to be hard to argue against them.
MCCAIN: History shows there is more misjudgments of the nature of the threat of the future than there was accurate judgments.
INSKEEP: That's Arizona Senator John McCain.
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Let's talk next about a man who has been elbowed to the side of the presidential debates. The Republican candidates leading the polls stand near the center of the stage in those debates. Rick Santorum very briefly won a place in the middle after a strong showing in Iowa. Now he's back on the wing, as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney battle in the center.
Santorum has not gained much momentum in Florida, the state that is voting next, and he is likely to cut short his time there. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: In the first Florida debate, Rick Santorum seemed little more than an afterthought, as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich went head to head. But last night in Jacksonville, he was back in the conversation, decrying what he called petty personal politics.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
RICK SANTORUM: Can we set aside that Newt was a member of Congress and used the skills that he developed as a member of Congress to go out and advise companies, and that's not the worst thing in the world, and that Mitt Romney is a wealthy guy because he worked hard, and he's going out and working hard. And can you guys leave that alone and focus on the issues?
ELLIOTT: Earlier in the day, Santorum campaigned in the Florida Panhandle, a region where the GOP politics are more akin to neighboring Alabama and Georgia than Miami or Tampa. At a Christian Coalition prayer breakfast in Tallahassee, he defended his campaign's focus on social issues, emphasizing faith and family.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANTORUM: Everybody says, well, this is the election and this country's just focused on one thing right now: the economy is so bad. And I know it's really bad here in the state of Florida. We've just got to focus on the economy. The word economy comes from the Greek word for home. The first economy is in the home.
ELLIOTT: He hit on similar themes in the recent South Carolina primary, trying to appeal to religious conservative voters, yet still finished a distant third behind Gingrich and Romney. Now, in the much bigger state of Florida, his campaign is lagging. He has not bought any television time in the pricey media markets here. And just getting from one end of the state to the other can be a challenge. The weather didn't help him much yesterday
(SOUNDBITE OF THUNDERSTORM)
ELLIOTT: Because of severe storms in the Panhandle, his plane couldn't land in Pensacola for a planned rally. Local GOP leaders spread the word to voters as they arrived at a downtown hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Is this where Santorum's speaking?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Cancelled.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, it's cancelled?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yes, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Oh, that's sad.
ELLIOTT: The candidate wasn't the only one missing. The campaign had no local workers on hand to answer questions or hand out literature.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Do you know where you can get any of his signs?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: I do not.
ELLIOTT: Not a single sign or leaflet to be had. Scott Miller, a Republican campaign consultant in Pensacola, says that shows how the Santorum campaign is swamped in Florida.
SCOTT MILLER: It's just expensive, and if you don't already have the mechanism, the ground game here to compete, then you're going to have trouble even showing up.
ELLIOTT: No matter what happens in Florida, Santorum says he's in the race for the long haul. He says the campaign has no debt, but has cash on hand and is thinking strategically. He plans to be out of Florida by Election Day on Tuesday to campaign in Nevada and Colorado.
SANTORUM: We can't let grass grow. I mean, we even debated in South Carolina whether to stick around, because South Carolina Election Day was sort of a wasted day for us. I mean, it's really not a day you can campaign because everybody's - you want your staff all deployed and getting people out to vote. So we were just thinking, what's the best use of my time? It's limited. We've got four more primaries coming up in a week.
ELLIOTT: That strategy is appealing to Kelly Walton in Pensacola.
KELLY WALTON: Rick Santorum is only one statement away, by Newt Gingrich, to being the viable option to Romney.
ELLIOTT: Walton is a self-described member of the anti-Romney coalition.
WALTON: I think Santorum is actually in a very interesting place right now, because he could be the option to Romney before this is over.
ELLIOTT: Given the wild swings of the Republican contest so far, it's hard to count anyone out just yet.
Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
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Egyptian authorities are preventing six Americans from leaving the country. They're involved with international rights groups, the sort of groups that Egyptian security forces raided last month, blaming them for causing trouble. One of the people being kept in Egypt is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. NPR Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson has the story from Cairo.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Sam LaHood, who heads the Egypt office of the International Republican Institute, was among the Americans kept from boarding flights out of Egypt in recent days. Four Europeans were also prevented from leaving. No reason was given for the travel ban, although Egyptian authorities are investigating whether the institute and other foreign-based groups are operating illegally here. Last month, security forces ransacked their offices around Egypt, carting away computers and documents. Egypt's ruling generals blamed, quote, "foreign elements" for lingering protests and unrest which led to the crackdown. LaHood's organization was among those monitoring recent parliamentary elections here. The targeted groups and Western officials denounced the raids and travel ban as harassment. U.S. Senator John McCain warned that continued attacks on civil society groups could damage the longstanding partnership between the United States and Egypt. And the State Department's top human rights official, Michael Posner, said the actions could affect the more $1 billion in U.S. aid Egypt receives each year. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Cairo.
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NPR's business news starts with a sign of confidence at Ford.
The Ford Motor Company is out with its latest earnings report, and the automaker says it made almost $13.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. That is thanks mostly to an accounting change. Ford moved some tax assets back onto its books. It has created a reserve fund; set some money aside in effect back in 2006 when the company was falling on hard times. Getting rid of the reserve now is considered a signal that Ford believes that it expects to continue to be profitable in years to come.
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In Europe, there's a movement to provide better protections for Web users. The European Union has outlined tough new data privacy recommendations that it wants to become law. Among its targets, the American companies Facebook and Google. Google just announced a new privacy policy that would track all the Web movements of its registered users.
Teri Schultz is in Brussels and reports on EU efforts to strengthen online protections of personal information.
TERI SCHULTZ, BYLINE: It may sound basic but it's a right the EU feels the need to reinforce.
VIVIANE REDING: Personal data belongs to the person.
SCHULTZ: EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding wants citizens to have more control over their online identities. She's spent years working on EU law related to digital rights and if her plan passes the European Parliament, it would overhaul existing 1995 laws and harmonize 27 national systems under one set of rules.
REDING: Citizens will have to know how their data is processed. To use the data, it will be necessary to have been given the explicit consent by the citizens.
SCHULTZ: The laws would apply to all companies that gather private data. If they don't get permission before using it or they break any of the other new regulations, they can be fined a million dollars or up to 2 percent of their annual income.
Privacy advocate Andrew Keen says he's pleased the EU is siding with consumers who may want to reclaim their personal lives from the Internet. Keen says he killed his own Facebook account but he reminds everyone else:
ANDREW KEEN: The technology doesn't know how to forget. When we post something - that drunken photo, that inappropriate tweet - it's going to last forever unless Viviane Reding has her way.
SCHULTZ: Keen is referring to another part of the new proposal, the right to be forgotten. That would mean if you asked, social networking sites would be legally required to erase your history, the same would go for any other company. You'd have the right to request that an online search for general information about you would come up empty. Transparency policies would have to be transparent under Reding's requirements.
REDING: Clear and understandably written in plain language.
SCHULTZ: That may sound like oversimplification, until you find out, as ZDNet editor Zack Whittaker explains...
ZACK WHITTAKER: At one point Facebook's terms and conditions was longer than the U.S. Constitution. Most people will not read the fine print; the legal jargon companies and businesses often use to protect themselves.
SCHULTZ: U.S. companies, among them the Internet's most active aggregators and users of online private data, will be subject to the regulations if they have a European-based subsidiary, as most do.
At a conference this week in Munich, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg made what was widely seen as an effort to remind zealous European regulators that Facebook's financial friendship is worth having.
SHERYL SANDBERG: Facebook added $15.3 billion in value to the European economy just in the past year, mostly by driving about $32 billion in revenue.
SCHULTZ: That also helped create 232,000 European jobs, Sandberg noted. She didn't directly reference the privacy revamp. But with Europe dogged by debt and Facebook expected to soon file an initial public offering likely to earn billions, Sandberg could afford to be subtle.
For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Brussels.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And today's last word in business is say it ain't so - or actually, say it ain't Joe.
A Los Angeles restaurant famous for its nine cent cup of coffee is raising the price to 45 cents - 50 cents with the tax. Management at Philippe the Original told the L.A. Times they can no longer keep up with the cost of coffee. The family-run restaurant has been serving French dip sandwiches since 1908, along with eight-ounce mugs for less than a dime.
Loyal patrons told the Times they do not mind this 400 percent hike for coffee. In fact, they wondered what took so long. And, of course, it is still cheaper than a vanilla mocha frappe latte with whip.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
The crippled cruise ship Costa Concordia runs the length of three football fields, and it's on its side, perched on a reef off a Tuscan island on the edge of deep water after a much-publicized catastrophe. The ship is also in the middle of the Mediterranean's largest marine sanctuary.
So what do you do with a pile of junk that large? Well, salvage operators are preparing to remove a half-million gallons of fuel to keep an environmental disaster from happening, and then they address the ship itself.
Our colleague Renee Montagne reached one man who knows well the challenge ahead. Joe Farrell runs the salvage company Resolve Marine.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And he's been salvaging vessels for over 30 years. We reached him to learn more about how you take apart a floating city.
Good morning.
JOE FARRELL: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Where do you begin?
FARRELL: Well, you aptly identified it. It is a floating city. This particular instance, because you've got loss of life and people whose remains have not been recovered, you need to start there. It's a major concern, if you can just envision one of your own loved ones missing.
So you've got two competing concerns. You've got an environmental threat, a significant one, given the amount of oil onboard. And you want to recover the remains. So you've got a two-pronged approach. The ship's bottom is half out of the water. And what they'll be doing is drilling holes to extract the oil out. And the opposite side of the ship will - they won't interfere with one another - will be the search for the remains of the people.
MONTAGNE: Once the recovery effort is complete and the fuel removed, what then? What happens to the ship?
FARRELL: Well, right now, while the fuel's being removed - of course, all the engineers are designing and deciding what's the best way to remove it. You know, the preferred way, the least amount of impact would be to try and take the entire vessel out of there in one go. That would be preferred. There's less debris in the water. There's less possibility of some residual oils that haven't been removed to become in the environment.
Then basically, many of these jobs, you can roll a ship up by just physically grabbing her side - in other words, her port main deck where the houses meet the hull. It's the strongest point, and you put a lot of attachments. And you physically kind of roll it upright. Obviously, there's a lot of debris in the ship with all these, you know, compartments full of structure of beds and pillows and everything.
So that's probably the preferred way. Is it capable of doing that? Well, we're not sure, because you still also need to determine, when she went down, is the other side of the ship compromised in terms of is that hull totally destroyed as well?
When she went down, you know, if you've got huge gashes on there, then you're going to spend a lot more time repairing that.
MONTAGNE: Meaning, really, at the moment, that's a question mark.
FARRELL: Oh, yeah. It's definitely not known. You'll need brute strength to roll it upright, you know. It may be something six to 10,000 tons of pull, which is not a huge amount, but given the water depths onboard, you've got to have some heavy barges for a lot of hydraulic pulling.
You might put some levers on the side to move the pivot point a little higher up. If, in fact, the bottom is still at an angle going to where she could slide down, you'd have to first stop that by putting some deadmen - or some anchoring devices on the backside of the ship towards the island, so that if you wanted to pull it to try to roll it up, you've got to certainly make sure you don't pull the whole thing down in deeper water.
So you've got to look at the amount of time it's going to take to do that. You've got to look at the amount of cost it's going to take to do that against, OK, what is it going to cost to take the - and sectionalize the ship up? In other words, cutting it up in sections.
MONTAGNE: So, I guess, simply put, though, one thing that's not in doubt is that the Concordia is not going to be sailing the seas?
FARRELL: I wouldn't suspect you'll see here sailing the seas again.
MONTAGNE: Joe Farrell is the president and founder of the salvage company Resolve Marine. He joined us from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Thanks very much.
FARRELL: All right, Renee. Thank you very much.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And an organization famous for helping people struggling to work their way up in society has now hit bottom. Chicago's Hull House became a model for settlement houses in the United States and around the world. They helped immigrants. It was founded a century ago by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Jane Addams. And its name sake, the Jane Addams Hull House Association, has struggled financially in more recent years. Now it plans to file for bankruptcy. NPR's Cheryl Corley has more.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: It's been a last-minute, hectic flurry of activity for Hull House employees.
MARK TISDAHL: This is an office that's being packed up, and the employees that are packing up have paid for their own boxes, because we don't have money to pay for boxes.
CORLEY: Mark Tisdahl is one of about 300 workers losing their jobs. They and their clients got just one week's notice that the 122-year-old Chicago institution would shut down.
STEVE SAUNDERS: We hate it. It's been since September 18th, 1889, and we hoped for a much more dignified closing.
CORLEY: But the Jane Addams Hull House Association closes today.
SAUNDERS: At 5 o'clock.
CORLEY: That's Chairman of the Board, Steve Saunders. He says the closure is unavoidable because fundraising efforts haven't matched expenditures for several years.
SAUNDERS: We went through some very good strategic planning for the last 18 to 24 months to try to figure out ways to either reduce programs, reduce operating costs, increase income. And unfortunately with the economy turning in 2008, the math just wasn't able to work.
CORLEY: Some of the staff have asked the Illinois Attorney General to investigate to see if there was any mismanagement of Hull House funds. Saunders says although there's been an immediate response including offers of financial help, at this stage of the game it's too late.
(SOUNDBITE OF A ROADWAY)
CORLEY: Hull House was considered the most influential settlement house in the country, providing all sorts of services to immigrant families. And the House where it all started is still located here on the Near South Side of Chicago.
LISA LEE: When Jane Addams came, you know, it was one of the busiest, most poor neighborhoods in Chicago filled with 18 different ethnic groups. All the tenements houses were here. All the sweatshops were here.
CORLEY: And it was here, says museum director Lisa Lee, where Addams and Hull House co-founder, Ellen Gates Starr, decided to settle and work for immigrants rights, women's suffrage, public health and other issues.
LEE: You know, it became looked upon as the engine for social change.
CORLEY: Hull House expanded and the association grew in several locations around Chicago, providing foster care, job training, domestic violence counseling and pre-school to about 60,000 people a year.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN SINGING)
CORLEY: At the pre-school in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood, about a dozen three and four year olds, tongues sticking out, sang along with their teacher earlier this week.
Jessica Carillo isn't happy that the daycare is closing. Her 3-year-old son is her second child to attend.
JESSICA CARILLO: I think it's a very big disappointment. The teachers are great. The activities are awesome. It's a really good place, and especially in this community, as we need it.
CORLEY: Richard Hayes says the center has been a blessing for him since he drops his kid off early. He wasn't entirely surprised by the news because of the economy but...
RICHARD HAYES: I just thought there was more help out there.
CORLEY: Jessica Valencia says it's been a see-saw type of week. Parents were told not to come in Monday because there was no food, and later learned the center would close. Now it's a scramble to find a new place even though she's been told she'll get help.
JESSICA VALENCIA: In my case it will be very difficult because my son has autism.
CORLEY: Ian Bautista is the head of the United Neighborhood Centers of America, an organization of community groups that Jane Addams also helped found. He calls the closure of Hull House a tough loss. He says the economy puts community building organizations in a tough position when it comes to being fiscally sound.
IAN BAUTISTA: There are demands on our services that go up when the economic times are hard. But, at the same time, when the economy falters, the revenue that's available to meet those demands tends to be more stressed.
CORLEY: And one of the lessons organizations will learn from Hull House, he says, is to diversify and to not be overly dependent on government funds. It's a message that comes too late for Hull House.
Cheryl Corley, NPR's News, Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. An Australian politician has Aaron Sorkin for a speechwriter. The transport minister denounced a political opponent. He said the opponent wasn't interested in fixing a problem, only in making people afraid of it and telling them who is to blame for it. Critics note Michael Douglas used that line in Sorkin's movie "The American President." The Australian blames his staff for copying the line, although in fairness it is a good description of what many politicians actually do. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep, with the story of a FedEx driver who told a joke. Authorities say the man was delivering a package in Utah. Somebody asked what the FedEx package was. The driver said, probably a bomb. Maybe he thought it was strange that nobody laughed. The driver was delivering that package to an Army base. Military police evacuated more than 200 people after his remark, and prosecutors have now charged the driver with making a threat of terrorism. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The situation in Syria growing even more violent. Activists inside the country say at least 60 people died yesterday, some in what appeared to be a sectarian attack. The United Nations Security Council is set to meet again today to discuss its response to Syria.
And we have more this morning from NPR's Kelly McEvers in Beirut.
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: One of the most shocking attacks was in the central Syrian city of Homs, where fierce anti-government protests have given way to clashes between pro- and anti-government forces. A family of 14, including eight children, was found dead in their home. A video provided by activists shows the children were shot in the head.
Activists say the killers were pro-government thugs. These are usually from the minority Alawite sect. The United Nations estimates some 6,000 people have died since the anti-government uprising began in March. The UN Security Council will meet to consider a new draft resolution on Syria later today.
Russia has so far has threatened to veto a resolution on Syria. But Arab and Western officials say they've written the new draft in a way that might be acceptable to Russia. That resolution would blame the Syrian regime for the current crisis and call for a negotiated process for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to abdicate power.
Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Beirut.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
John Levy anchored the George Shearing Quintet in the 1950's from behind his double bass.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: But John Levy's best remembered for his business acumen as a manager of many of the 20th century's most famous jazz musicians. John Levy died last week, January 20th, just months before his 100th birthday. We want to take some time to remember the man who was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2006 - not for his playing - but his work behind the scenes.
NPR's Sami Yenigun has this remembrance.
SAMI YENIGUN, BYLINE: John Levy got into the business side of jazz while he was on the road with Shearing's Quintet. And as the group's profile rose, so did its need for a manager, says Levy's widow Devra Hall Levy.
DEVRA HALL LEVY: And George, to his credit, trusted John. So here you have an English, white, blind man trusting an African-American young man with his very life and career. And that was the key transition.
YENIGUN: At the time, it was unusual to have an African-American involved in the business side of the music industry at that level. Shearing was a jazz star. And Devra Hall Levy says that on more than one occasion, her late husband's skin tone posed a problem.
LEVY: There are always the funny stories about getting to the gig and John saying, well, the piano's going to have to be turned such and such a way. And the guy looks at John and says, well, I don't know who you are, but we'll wait for Mr. Levy. John says, I am Mr. Levy. They were waiting for a nice little white Jewish guy.
YENIGUN: But John Levy's levelheaded approach won him a roster of jazz musicians.
LEVY: For instance, he worked for the Stuff Smith Trio.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LEVY: Well, Stuff drank like a fish and the other musicians drank a lot and John was sober and able to take care of business.
YENIGUN: He took care of business for Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Ramsey Lewis, Ahmad Jamal and Roberta Flack, to name just a few.
JOHN LEVY: You know, I had more than I could handle. So many people it would take 10 minutes to name all the different people during that era that I was handling.
YENIGUN: That's John Levy speaking to NPR in 1999, when he described his duties as manager for another artist, Wes Montgomery.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LEVY: I just took care of arranging his bookings and arranging his travel and just before he died, set up his business arrangement for him, set up his music publishing, which has made more money for him since he's dead than it did while he was living.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LEVY: That publishing thing has paid off for him. A lot of different people have recorded his material that he wrote during that era. And I did the same thing with Cannonball and Ramsey Lewis, Ahmad Jamal, all of them. I set up that. That was one of the best things I did for them as a manager, for all of them.
YENIGUN: For Levy, the relationship with an artist was personal first, then business. So he made sure their personal business was taken care of. In the case of Wes Montgomery, he saw that the guitarist had homeowners insurance. Something that turned out to be important when Montgomery died just a decade after Levy took him on.
And the way Levy did business was personal. There were contracts, but Levy preferred handshakes. And his widow Devra Hall Levy says his artists trusted him to do everything.
LEVY: What happened in John Levy Enterprises is business would be done, deals would be made, schedules would be set, artists received an itinerary, tickets and off they went, no questions asked. That was the level of trust between John and his clients.
YENIGUN: The success of that approach built Levy's reputation.
LEVY: Over his career, we never got a final count but we came really close to 100 artists having been represented by him at some point in their lives. And of that list, I want to say only one or two are people that he sought. They all came to him because of the success of the people he represented.
YENIGUN: That was the case with Nancy Wilson, who said she wanted to work with Levy since she first heard about him at the beginning of her career.
NANCY WILSON: Aside from being very smart about the music, he was a true gentleman in the true sense of the word, you know, like the old sense of the word. He was really special. He was like my dad.
YENIGUN: And like any good dad, Levy took care of his family in jazz.
Sami Yenigun, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEBODY TO WATCH OVER ME")
SIMON: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Penelope Lively was in her late 30s before she began her career writing children's books. And now a thrice nominated and one time winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize, Ms. Lively's 20th work of fiction has just been released. It's called, "How it all Began." And she explores the capricious role that chance can play in people's lives. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.
LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Penelope Lively's lifetime habit of storytelling began when she was growing up in Egypt during World War II. She spent a lot of time alone and amused herself by making up stories, which often involved embellishing the classics with her own personal touch.
PENELOPE LIVELY: The Libyan campaign in the desert was raging about 70 or 80 miles away, so I sort of re-jigged "The Iliad" and put Achilles in a tank instead of all that nonsense about chariots and spears and those kind of things.
NEARY: As the war got closer, Lively's family fled Egypt. They landed safely in what was then Palestine. But in a story from one of her earlier books, "Making it Up," Lively re-imagines that event, tragically. In making it up, Lively uses real moments from her own life and fictionalizes them, an impulse that grew out of her own late-in-life musings.
LIVELY: You find yourself looking back over your own life and wondering about where it could have gone completely different. And so this was what I was doing. I was looking at the kind of climactic points in my own life and seeing where they might have gone. So, I was writing in a sense a set of what didn't happen. I was writing the alternative lives that I didn't have.
NEARY: Lively returns to this idea of the randomness of life in her new book "How It All Began." But this time, one event sets many lives spinning in unexpected directions.
LIVELY: It's a game. It's to do with happenstance. It's to do with the circumstantial nature of life, the way in which we get blown off course by unexpected events; that you think you direct your life, but in fact, of course, it's also being directed by all sorts of external factors that you have absolutely no control over. And I was intrigued by the relation of this to chaos theory - the idea that if a butterfly flaps its wing in an Amazon forest, there will be a tornado in Texas.
NEARY: The event that starts the chain reaction is a mugging; as the book begins, Charlotte Rainsford, an elderly woman, has been knocked flat to the ground.
LIVELY: (Reading) The pavement rises up and hits her, slams into her face, drives the lower rim of her glasses into her cheek. She is laid out there prone. What is this? Voices are chattering above her. People are concerned, of course. Bag, she says, my bag. A face is alongside hers. Woman, nice woman. There's an ambulance on the way, my dear. You'll be fine. Just keep still till they come.
NEARY: The fallout from this mugging is plentiful: One love affair ends, another begins. Divorce, bankruptcy and the indignities of old age all threaten to ruin lives. But Lively brings a light touch to the proceedings, and at the calm center of her story is Charlotte. A former teacher who is fiercely independent, Charlotte has to move in with her daughter while she recovers from the injuries inflicted by the mugger. And as she often does, Charlotte turns to books for solace.
LIVELY: She is, in a sense, acting as an observer. And she's someone for whom reading has always been absolutely crucial. She's been a teacher of English. And this remains central to her. And so she's thinking a lot about that and about the way in which she is a product of everything she has read, quite as much as a product of the way in which she has lived.
NEARY: One suspects that Charlotte Rainsford has more than a little of Penelope Lively in her. And Lively depicts the vagaries of old age with the wit and wisdom of someone who has seen a lot in life.
LIVELY: There is one single enormous advantage of being an older writer, which is that you've been there, as it were. I mean, when I started writing, I remember then thinking I want to write about older people but I don't know what it's like to be 60 or 70 or whatever. By the time you're a 70s writer, you have been there, you've been through all the decades. And so that actually is a great help because you can look back and you know what it was like to have been 50 or 40 or whatever.
NEARY: Lively says she writes more slowly now and doesn't work as much as she used to each day. But so far, she says, the writing still comes easily. She may have trouble remembering names sometimes, but language has not failed her. And, she says, as one of the few who is reporting from the front lines of old age, she's happy to say that, aches and pains aside, there is still a great deal that is hugely enjoyable. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Even if you think musicals are silly, improbable, sentimental, and fading, it's hard not to be carried away by a real Broadway moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby...
SIMON: Sound of an actress belting her heart out. But the moments that led there can be almost as dramatic. For instance: there's the audition.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SMASH")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (as character) (Singing) Somewhere...
(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (as character) Hey. Yeah, thanks. That's all we need.
SIMON: NBC's new drama plumbs the drama behind the curtain. It's called "Smash." The new series is the story of a Broadway musical from the first idea to auditions, to the casting couch, to rehearsals and of course, the big premiere. Theresa Rebeck is the creator and executive producer of "Smash." She's also a screenwriter, playwright and a Broadway veteran with a hit play "Seminar" that's now on Broadway. Ms. Rebeck, thanks for being with us.
THERESA REBECK: Well, thank you for having me.
SIMON: How do we explain the premise of the show? Backstage drama, "West Wing" for theater folks?
REBECK: Yeah, I think those are both accurate. It's a workplace drama. It's just that the workplace is a musical.
SIMON: The heart of the premise is all these different lives get thrown together in the interest in producing a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. Realistically, a musical on Marilyn Monroe sound like a good idea to you?
REBECK: I'm a big fan of Victorian novels and I was thinking that it might be fun to try something like "The Three Musketeers," you know, something that could have great songs and action and feathers and sword fights and that it might be funny to watch contemporary people having contemporary arguments.
SIMON: That sounds great.
REBECK: Yeah, that does sound like fun. Maybe we'll get to do that in season three, if we last that long. But then the more we talked about it, the more I came to understand what a powerful figure she is. And at the time I decided I didn't know if I could write a great musical about Marilyn Monroe but I knew I would write a great television show about people trying to write a great musical about Marilyn Monroe, and that that truly is my task. And now I would say I could write a great musical about Marilyn Monroe, 'cause I've spent a year thinking about how to do it.
SIMON: Well, you do get a couple of songs in the first episode.
REBECK: Yeah, there is a lot more coming too.
SIMON: And this rivalry - forgive a couple of inosteo(ph) cliches - but between a real Broadway baby and a corn-fed wide-eyed girl from Iowa, who are both competing for the lead role. The blonde and the brunette. Let's listen to a duet they sing as they head into the callback auditions.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SMASH")
MEGAN HILTY AND KATHARINE MCPHEE: (Singing) I'll just have to forget the hurt and pain before, forget what used to be. The past is on the cutting room floor. The future is here with me. Choose me...
SIMON: Oh, my gosh. My heart is racing.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
REBECK: Good song.
SIMON: Do you have any concern that - and I say this as a fan of Broadway - to some people, as I don't have to tell you, they would do anything to avoid a Broadway musical.
REBECK: What? What are you saying?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Well, it's a little bit...you know, it's like how many times have they tried to make a television series out of baseball, and the fact is millions of people like watching baseball. They just don't necessarily watching TV series about baseball.
REBECK: Well, probably the right series hasn't been made yet. You know, there's a lot of truisms that get told in televisionland. And, you know, everybody said you couldn't do a musical on television until "Glee" did it. You know, I've lived and worked in the theater my whole life and I know a lot of theater people and we're actually pretty interesting tribe. We're like curious and funny and passionate people. And I think that theater really is universal in a lot of ways and that certainly the yearning of the human spirit to go after a specific dream is something that we all feel. You know, whether it's your dream to be a star on Broadway or your dream to be a baseball player or your dream to write a novel and, you know, everybody's got something they dream about. And this is a show about people who have tossed caution to the wind and threaten to ruin their lives in pursuit of their specific dream, which is rather beautiful. You know, I think theater, especially musical theater, it opens your heart with joy at its best.
SIMON: I used the word sentimental in the introduction. Do you think of this show as sentimental?
REBECK: Not at all. I was going to take exception to that, Scott. I think that, you know what, TV can be sentimental; movies can be sentimental; novels can be sentimental. And, yes, can musicals be sentimental? Yes, they can. But I wouldn't brand the form as such. I think that it's really one of the great American art forms, you know. And, you know, there's extraordinary grace and joy to be found in the American musical, in the good ones.
SIMON: One of my favorite scenes is when the actor playing a lead songwriter, Christian Borle, is talking to his partner about why he doesn't want to work with the director, who's not the nice man.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SMASH")
CHRISTIAN BORLE: (as Tom) He would have had to have a complete personality change as well as a sex change for me to even consider him.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (as character) Well...
BORLE: But don't well. Oh, don't even well. Well, well, what?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Well, he's really talented, Tom.
BORLE: You know what, a lot of people are talented. We are in an industry which is lousy with talent. Is it too much to ask for kindness too? Am I a crazy person because I still expect people to be if not lovely at least civil in this terrible business?
SIMON: And what is there that is so distinctive? Because, you know, you've written for television shows I gather - "NYPD Blue," which certainly was a big success and one of the incarnations of "Law and Order." What is there that is so distinctive and irreplaceable about writing for the stage, and especially Broadway?
REBECK: Well, I find it unimaginably beautiful to see language and humanity and lights and sound and all come together in this moment of storytelling, which is so potently, in relationship to the audience, the presence of the audience. And I do think that if the task of artists who create community - which I believe it is - then theater does it in such an immediate and electrifying way for me. And I like listening to lots of people laugh at once, at one of my jokes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
REBECK: I do. I know. I like communal joy. I think that, in many ways, theater is a lesson in empathy, that when theater works at its best your heart is moved by the trials or joy of somebody acting a story out for you on the other side of the stage lights. And then sometimes I think, well, that's just, it's in my DNA. It's where I was born, you know.
SIMON: Actually, I was given to understand you were born in Cincinnati.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
REBECK: Yeah, I was. They don't know how I got there, seriously. When I said I wanted to be a playwright, I thought my mother was going to have a heart attack. I mean, it was a pretty unusual think to want in Cincinnati.
SIMON: Ms. Rebeck, thanks so much. Good luck to you.
REBECK: Thank you.
SIMON: Theresa Rebeck, creator and executive producer of "Smash" speaking from New York. And you can find a streaming link to the first episode of "Smash" on NPR.org. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Hazel and Augustus have what they call a cute meet in the movies, but improbable, ludicrous, and fateful, too. Hazel is 16, and has thyroid cancer, with what they call a satellite in the lungs that keeps filling her with sour stuff that makes her feel like she's drowning. Augustus, or Gus, is a little older, lithe and handsome. He's lost a quarter of a leg to cancer but tells people, I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up. They meet in a support group for young cancer patients that's held in a church basement; two smart, funny, doomed young people in Indianapolis who find support groups a pompous bore, but they're sure are glad to find each other.
"The Fault in Our Stars" is the title of John Green's new book for young adults. Mr. Green joins us from Albuquerque, member station KANW. Thanks so much for being with us.
JOHN GREEN: Oh, it's really a pleasure to be here.
SIMON: What first came to mind: the story, of what cancer patients, young cancer patients in particular go through, or the characters - these two kids?
GREEN: The characters came to me first. I worked as a student chaplain at a children's hospital about 12 years ago for five months. And during that time I wanted to, I started wanting to write about these kinds of young people and it just took a while.
SIMON: Let's get right to the reading and the way the book opens, which is in the support group.
GREEN: (Reading) Late in the winter of my 17th year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.
(Reading) Whenever you read a cancer booklet or a website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. Cancer is also a side effect of dying, almost everything is really. But my mom believed I required treatment, so she took me to see my regular doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimming in a paralyzing and totally clinical depression, and that therefore my meds should be adjusted and also that I should attend a weekly support group.
(Reading) This support group featured a rotating cast of characters in various states of tumor-driven un-wellness. Why did the cast rotate? A side effect of dying.
SIMON: Boy, you put your finger on it. Doctors say you're depressed, we ought to do something about that. But the one thing cancer patients probably are not encouraged to say is yes, I'm depressed. Unlike you, I have cancer.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREEN: Right. Exactly. I mean it's, you know, it's one of those things that's easy for those of us who are well to say. I mean later in the book someone notes that Shakespeare quote that the title comes from, that Cassius saying to Brutus: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves - which is easy to say, you know, when you're Shakespeare.
SIMON: You introduced the reader to what the kids in the book called cancer perks.
GREEN: Yeah. You know, when you're a young person with cancer, you get things sometimes, you know, signed balls by your favorite basketball team, or in Gus' case, a driver's license, even though he's not a very good driver. And they're conscious of all the side effects of their disease and the weirdness of their lives. Because they're very conscious of the fact that other people look at them differently. Both Hazel and Gus are unusually empathetic for teenagers, and that was important to me. I wanted them to be aware of the world around them in a way that, you know, some teenagers aren't.
SIMON: Help us understand their sense of humor.
GREEN: Well, all of the people I've known who were sick - young or old - were still funny. It's important to note or remember that, you know, people who are sick and people who are dying aren't dead. They're still alive. And sometimes we forget that, and we treat the sick and the dying so gingerly and so carefully, when often what they most want is to be alive while they are alive. And so I've known a lot of young people who were very sick but also very, very funny, and often in dark, dark ways.
SIMON: You've got a wonderful phrase for it, when your character says you take your humor where you can get it.
GREEN: Yeah.
SIMON: When the love story between Hazel and Gus begins, Hazel is worse off. And I don't want to violate any plot points, but at some point they switch places. Was it important for you for people to understand the kind of capriciousness of health?
GREEN: Yeah. I think cancer in many ways to those of us alive today is similar to what tuberculosis was like in the 19th century. It's so unfair. It takes the young, it takes the old. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die. And it's very difficult to make sense of the reasons why it may go one way or another. It's very, very difficult to imagine it as anything other than just cruel and cold and capricious. And that makes it difficult to imagine the universe as anything other than cold and capricious. And I wanted to be honest about that, because I wanted them to have to face, you know, in the most desperate way, that overwhelming question, as T.S. Eliot called it, of how we're going to organize our lives and what they're going to mean.
SIMON: Do your young readers, did they lack a depth of knowledge of what makes this story resonant that, you know, that actual parents might have?
GREEN: I do think that parents read the novel differently, inevitably, because they know that the secret to all relationships with your children is that as long as either of you is alive you will be that person's parent and that person will be your child.
SIMON: You've got a line in there that's a real, a real bolt to the heart, where you said there's only one thing worse than being a kid with cancer.
GREEN: Yeah. And that's having a kid with cancer. And that's something that a kid said to me when I worked at the hospital all those years ago that really stuck with me. It stuck with me partly because it's unusual that children are able to imagine their parents complexly enough to understand how difficult it is, and also because I knew how much neither the parent nor the child wanted that to be true, even though it was true.
SIMON: And I have to ask, you're in the middle of you publicity tour, right?
GREEN: Yeah.
SIMON: Are there youngsters that are challenged the way your characters are that come up to you?
GREEN: There have been. Yeah. I mean I've been really lucky to meet and talk with young people who are dealing with cancer and living with cancer.
SIMON: Anything you can share?
GREEN: I'm worried I'll cry if I share anything.
SIMON: Yeah.
GREEN: But I just talked yesterday to a young women who I've known for a long time who has muscular dystrophy and she told me that she'd highlighted passages that she identified with so that she could show her friends the book as a way of expressing to them things that she feels like she can't say out loud. And that was very important to me. That was very kind of her to say.
SIMON: Mr. Green, you're not distant from your readers at all, are you?
GREEN: No. I'm very fortunate, you know, I know them. And I like hearing from them. I feel fortunate to interact with them. I like reading their YouTube comments. I like reading their reviews on book review websites. And I like the engagement that we have with each other, because the truth is, the world extends outside the world of books. And, you know, I feel fortunate to be able to have a relationship with them outside of the book as well as inside of it.
SIMON: John Green. His new bestseller for young readers is, "The Fault in Our Stars." Thanks so much.
GREEN: Oh, thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It may be surprising that Mexico, where criminals are armed with high-powered weapons smuggled from the United States has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world. Law-abiding Mexicans who want a gun for home protection either have to fight government red tape to get a legal permit or buy a gun on the black market. So, is it time for Mexico to reform its gun laws? As NPR's John Burnett reports, this is the question that one embattled community in northern Mexico has begun to ask.
JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: Colonia LeBaron is a farming town about 130 miles southwest of El Paso in the border state of Chihuahua. It was founded by breakaway Mormons from the States who wanted to practice polygamy. Today, most residents hold dual citizenship, speak English, retain close ties to the U.S. and a few still practice plural marriage.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE LAUGHING)
BURNETT: Under a cold, starry sky, a group of the blue-eyed, broad-shouldered farmers gathered at a barbecue to josh one another and tell the story of their community.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey Mack, get back over here. Hurry
BURNETT: The militancy of the LeBaron community began on May 5, 2009, when kidnappers seized a 16-year-old boy and demanded a million dollars ransom. Though he was released unharmed, the town folk came together and formed an anti-crime group to take a stand against the kidnapping and extortions that were rampant. The leader was Benjamin LeBaron.
JULIAN LEBARON: So, we started an organization and it represented a threat to the criminals. And on July 7, 2009, close to 20 men showed up to Benjamin's house and they terrorized the family. They wanted to terrorize people into never opposing them. And they dragged Benjamin out of his house, and Luis came to help him, they took them a couple miles down the road and shot them.
BURNETT: Julian LeBaron says the cold-blooded murders of his younger brother, Benjamin, and his brother-in-law, Luis Widmar, galvanized this community. It prompted them to take a stance that is familiar to Second Amendment advocates in the U.S. - but one that is taboo in Mexico. Jose Widmar is the brother of slain Luis.
JOSE WIDMAR: I said I think there would be less violence if there were more guns. In the sense that I could barge in here and do whatever I want knowing that this guy doesn't have a gun.
BURNETT: Today, if the gangsters returned, the LeBaron colony is locked and loaded. They have an advocate in their cousin Alex LeBaron, a 31-year-old Chihuahua state deputy with national aspirations. He's a burly, baby-faced politician who attended college in New Mexico and served in the U.S. Navy. His own father was killed in a carjacking. If Alex LeBaron makes it into the federal congress, his most passionate issue will be reforming Mexico's convoluted gun laws.
ALEX LEBARON: We're Mexican citizens 100 percent and we have the right to bear...
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)
LEBARON: We have the right to bear arms and we're going to keep fighting for that right as long as it takes.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)
BURNETT: He and some friends have gathered at a nearby gun club to plink away at steel duck silhouettes. Joining a sport shooting club is one way to avoid the aggravation of attaining an individual permit. Though the Mexican constitution permits gun ownership, the government strictly limits that privilege as a response to the violence of the Mexican Revolution and to uprisings in the 1960s, when students looted gun stores in Mexico City.
LEBARON: In the black market it's very easy to acquire mostly American-made weapons here in our country, but through the legal process it's a very complex and expensive process.
BURNETT: A citizen who wants a permit for a weapon must apply to the Mexican military, a process that can cost upwards of $10,000. Then pay to have that permit renewed annually. The military further regulates the caliber of weapon, how many guns a person can own, how much ammunition they can buy each month, and where in the country they can take the weapon. The government abolished the last private gun store in 1995. Today, the only legal gun store in the country is in Mexico City, guarded and operated by the armed forces. Dr. Oscar Urrutia Beall is a longtime member of the Paquime Shooting Club.
DR. OSCAR URRUTIA BEALL: (Through Translator) In Mexico, the laws effectively don't allow you to purchase weapons. There are some weapons they sell in Mexico City, but the paperwork is very difficult. Here, they won't let us buy a gun, but they let us own a gun. It's an incongruity, a failed law.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)
BURNETT: On the LeBaron family farm outside of town, workers pack red chiles for shipment to New Mexico. The family also grows alfalfa, pecans and cotton on irrigated fields bordered by the windswept foothills of the Sierra Madres. The LeBarons have a reputation of being well-armed and not afraid to use those weapons. One night in October of 2009, a gunfight erupted between the LeBaron brothers and a squad from the Mexican army. The LeBarons claim the soldiers came to the front gate and did not identify themselves. Fearing they were kidnappers, Alex says, they opened fire.
LEBARON: In the middle dark sometimes it's better to shoot and ask questions later.
BURNETT: One soldier was killed. One LeBaron brother and another farmer were charged with murder. But the judge ultimately dropped the charges because the evidence had been tampered with. These days, things have quieted down in Colonia LeBaron. Some folks say it's because of the soldiers garrisoned in town. The LeBarons maintain it's because the criminals know the community will fight back. And if more communities were allowed to defend themselves, says Alex LeBaron, Mexican organized crime would be on the run.
LEBARON: I think Mexico's way past that revolutionary uprising point in our history. I think we're ready to come into the 21st century and be part of this whole global process of modernization, and this is one of them - gun laws.
BURNETT: But do Mexicans want gun laws similar to those in the U.S., where buying an assault rifle can be as easy as buying a beer? To answer this question, I went first to the office of Basilio Sabata Salaices, the mayor of the municipality where Colonia LeBaron is located.
BASILIO SABATA SALAICES: (Spanish spoken)
BURNETT: Here, guns are very restricted, the mayor said. But I see in the U.S. many things happen because youth don't know how to use guns. I don't think we should make it easier to possess a weapon as in the U.S. Then I visited Beto Renteria, a prominent businessman in Nuevo Casas Grandes whose wife was kidnapped three years ago and returned after he paid a ransom.
BETO RENTERIA: (Spanish spoken) There are lots of Mexicans who've never shot a gun, he said. It could be dangerous putting a gun in the hands of an inexperienced person. We could hurt someone.
(SOUNDBITE OF A ROADWAY)
BURNETT: Finally, alongside a rural highway southwest of Juarez, I met Fernando Saenz, the leader of a citizens' militia in Ascension. This is the town that made headlines last September when a mob beat to death two suspected kidnappers. Like many Mexicans in regions plagued by crime violence, Saenz owns an illegal, unregistered weapon - in his case, a 9 millimeter handgun.
FERNANDO SAENZ: (Foreign language spoken)
BURNETT: Look, Don Fernando said pensively, I think guns are not advisable. I think what the government should do is put honest, well-trained people in jobs to impart justice.
(SOUNDBITE OF A ROADWAY)
BURNETT: If these three responses are any guide, the LeBaron's crusade to reform gun laws is at odds with a certain cultural ambivalence toward firearms, at least among law-abiding Mexican citizens.
Alex LeBaron is undeterred.
ALEX LEBARON: I have to stress very strongly that if the federal government, the state government or the local government cannot protect you from the cartels or any criminal groups, we should be able to protect ourselves. That's the bottom-line.
BURNETT: So, the community is openly flouting federal gun laws.
LEBARON: Yes, we have to.
BURNETT: The Mexican secretary of national defense, charged with enforcing gun laws, declined to comment for this story.
The director of a popular pro-gun website, called Mexico Armado, said there is no popular movement at the moment to liberalize the nation's gun laws. Perhaps, he added, that's because anybody who wants a weapon in Mexico - be they a good guy or a bad guy - has no problem getting one.
John Burnett, NPR News
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It seems to have been a good week for Mitt Romney. After a second-place finish in the South Carolina primary, he arrived in Florida armed with money and organization, and he has used both to try to stop the rise of Newt Gingrich. NPR's Greg Allen spent the day following Mitt Romney as he campaigned around the state.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Florida is a big state, but Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich's paths have crossed often this week. There were the two debates of course, and in Miami, like Gingrich, Romney spoke to the Hispanic Leadership Network. In his talk, Romney made a pitch to Florida's Puerto Rican voters, a group that will be especially important in the general election.
MITT ROMNEY: By the way, I'm looking forward to the time when the people of Puerto Rico make their decision about becoming a state.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ROMNEY: Wow, we've got some friends here.
ALLEN: A few hours later, Puerto Rico's Governor, Luis Fortuno, a statehood proponent, endorsed Romney. Later in the day, a couple of hundred miles north, Romney was at Cape Canaveral. Gingrich had been in the area a day earlier laying out his vision for the space program - one that includes a colony on the moon by the year 2020. Romney spoke at Astrotech, a company that helped build components for the space shuttle. He was there to talk about the space program, but first had other things on his mind.
ROMNEY: How about that debate last night? Wasn't that fun?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ROMNEY: I've had the fun of having two debates where I've had to stand up and battle. Battling was fun and battling was won, I'll tell you. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ALLEN: Yesterday, Romney announced his space policy advisory group, one that includes two former astronauts and the former head of NASA. Though he didn't mention Gingrich by name, he appeared to be trying to draw a contrast between the different approaches the candidates are taking to the space program.
ROMNEY: In the politics of the past, to get your votes on the Space Coast, I'd come here and promise hundreds of billions of dollars, or I'd lay out - you want to hear that, yeah. Or I'd lay out what my mission is, here's what we're going to accomplish. I'm not going to do that.
ALLEN: Romney said he could only determine the best course for the space program after first setting objectives, looking at the data and subjecting it to expert analysis. That's the way, he said, big decisions are made in the private sector. Ruth Howard, who was there with five of her six kids, liked what she heard.
RUTH HOWARD: Some of Gingrich's ideas sound good, but they don't sound realistic. They're really kind of out there, and I think that Romney just seems like someone that you can really count on.
ALLEN: Romney closed his day with a large rally in Orlando. This is a Puerto Rican stronghold, and he was joined on stage by Puerto Rico Governor Fortuno. Once again, Romney brought up Thursday's debate, taking jabs at Gingrich for complaining the crowd was packed with Romney supporters.
ROMNEY: I'm looking forward to debating Barack Obama. I'm not going to worry about the crowd. I'm going to be sure that we tell the truth to Barack Obama and get him out of the White House.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
ALLEN: Romney was also joined on stage in Orlando by Senator John McCain. McCain told the crowd he thought there had been enough primary debates, but Romney's two performances this week have helped turn around his campaign. Greg Allen, NPR News, Orlando.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. President Obama is back in Washington, D.C. today after visiting five different states, all of which are likely to be hotly contested in the November presidential election. The trip was a chance for Mr. Obama to expand on some of the ideas that he outlined in Tuesday's State of the Union address. The president also offered a kind of preview of his campaign themes in the general election once Republicans choose their nominee. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: President Obama had a lot to smile about this week. A prime-time TV audience for his State of the Union speech, a successful rescue mission by U.S. special forces in Somalia and yesterday a report from the Commerce Department showing the economy grew by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter. That's not exactly robust, but it is the fastest pace of growth in a year and a half.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: So our economy is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
HORSLEY: Throughout the week, Mr. Obama said he doesn't want to return to a boom and bust economy built on excess credit and financial gambling. Instead, in Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan, he stressed the importance of advanced factories.
OBAMA: When manufacturing does well, then the entire economy does well.
HORSLEY: And homegrown energy.
OBAMA: We, it turns out, are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.
HORSLEY: And a well-trained workforce.
OBAMA: Think about how you can gain the skills and training you need to succeed in this 21st century economy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND")
HORSLEY: As he roamed and rambled through pivotal swing states this week, Mr. Obama also stressed what he called a renewal of American values.
OBAMA: I want this to be a big, bold, generous country where everybody gets a fair shot; everybody's doing their fair share; everybody's playing by the same set of rules. That's the America I know. That's the America I want to keep. That's the future within our reach.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama ended his road trip with a raucous, campaign-style rally at the University of Michigan. Sahana Prasad was one of about 4,000 students who showed up. Some of them had stood in line at midnight just to get tickets.
SAHANA PRASAD: I am a huge supporter of President Obama so, like, I was very excited about this opportunity, I was especially after the State of the Union because I was very moved by that.
HORSLEY: One of the arguments in that speech, and the tour that followed, is that all Americans benefit when the government invests - in subsidizing college tuition or funding research or building roads and bridges. These things didn't just happen on their own, Mr. Obama said. And somebody has to pay for them. That's a starkly different view of the government's role than the one advanced by Republican candidates. Mitt Romney, who's been forced to defend his relatively low tax rate this week, argued during a CNN debate that his considerable investment fortune is entirely self-made.
MITT ROMNEY: I have earned the money that I have. I didn't inherit it. I take risk. I make investments. Those investments lead to jobs being created in America. I'm proud of being successful. I'm proud of being in the free enterprise system that creates jobs for other people. I'm not going to run from that.
HORSLEY: The president didn't single Romney or any of the Republican candidates out by name. But speaking in the state where Romney was born, and where his father once served as governor, Mr. Obama suggested that all those who are successful in America have an obligation to see that success is widely shared.
OBAMA: Everybody here is only here because somebody somewhere down the road decided we're going to think not just about ourselves but about the future. We've got responsibilities, yes, to ourselves but also to each other.
HORSLEY: Romney has argued that when he was in business, he mostly wanted the government to stay out of his way. Whichever party wins that argument will have a lot to say about the future state of the union. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The future of the state of the U.S. housing market was a primary focus for the White House this week. On Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Obama unveiled a new plan to try to correct the housing downturn. It would allow qualifying homeowners the chance to refinance their mortgages at historically low rates.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: No more red tape, not more runaround from the banks. A small fee on the largest institutions will ensure that it won't add to the deficit. And we'll give those banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SIMON: Mr. Obama said his new plan would save homeowners about $3,000 a year on their mortgages. For more, we're joined by our friend from the business world, Joe Nocera, also a columnist for the New York Times. He joins us from New York. Joe, thanks for being with us.
JOE NOCERA: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: And what exactly is the president proposing? Who would benefit?
NOCERA: Well, anybody who has a mortgage at a higher rate than the current rate - which is pretty much everybody. I mean, we are at historically low rates. And the idea of being able to easily refinance at a lower rate, a get a fixed 30 year at these historic - you know, 4 percent or so, would be pretty wonderful. You know, there are - the devil is in the details, as it has always been with the administration's housing policies. And it's really hard to know exactly who will qualify and how exactly it will work. But in theory, this is what we need to do to get housing back.
SIMON: Yeah, and that would free up capital that could be spent elsewhere in the economy.
NOCERA: Well, exactly. I mean, you lower your mortgage, you have more money every month and you don't feel as constrained. And you don't feel this overhang of mortgage debt, which the country desperately needs to get down anyway. And people will start spending again, yes. Housing leads the country out of a recovery. That is a historic pattern. It has not happened this time because frankly the federal government's been too busy bickering how to fix housing, and so nothing's happened.
SIMON: The other part of the president's housing proposal is this new investigative unit would focus on abusive lending practices. It would be part of the existing Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which the administration set up in 2009. How do you peg the chances for success of this new agency?
NOCERA: Slim, to be honest, Scott. The Justice Department and the various states have done a very, very poor job of prosecuting mortgage fraud. They've only gone after small fries; there's not a single person from Countrywide who's been prosecuted for the millions of fraudulent mortgages that that company made. It's really quite astonishing. So, I'm very skeptical with this new effort will make much of a difference.
SIMON: The White House, though, says - the new unit is going to be chaired, by the way, by Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York. And the White House says this new task force will have more jurisdiction and resources than what they've had, and the Attorney General Eric Holder says subpoenas have already been served.
NOCERA: Well, let's see. Let's see. Eric Schneiderman is an interesting person to run this. He's been very skeptical of the efforts of the various states to do this big settlement with the banks, which is not yet happened. And he - one of the reasons he's skeptical is he says it's not tough enough, it lets the banks off the hook, and so on and so forth. So, there is a possibility that that could make a difference.
And secondly, New York has something called the Martin Act, which other states don't have, which is a very powerful tool for prosecuting financial crimes. So, you know, that is the ray of hope. However, given the Department of Justice's track record in failing to prosecute financial fraud and financial crimes since the crisis, you know, I say, you know, as we say, it remains to be seen.
SIMON: This proposal would require congressional approval. How do you see the chances of that?
NOCERA: Well, I think the president put it pretty well in the State of the Union address when he said, you know, there are a lot of people who don't think anything's going to happen, and none of these proposals will pass this Congress. I think that's exactly right. So, don't lay your hopes on this one.
SIMON: New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, joining us from the studios of the Radio Foundation in New York. Joe, thanks so much.
NOCERA: Thank you, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Cuba's President Raul Castro is presiding over this weekend's first national conference of the Cuban Communist Party. The Communists are the only legal political party in Cuba, and they don't have any party primary debates. Raul Castro isn't expected to announce any new social reforms at the gathering, though he has introduced a few economic initiatives after taking over from his brother, Fidel, in 2006. The conference comes a little more than a week after Wilmar Villar Mendoza, a political dissident, died 56 days into a hunger strike. He is the second political prisoner to die on hunger strike in the last two years there. We're joined by reporter Nick Miroff in Havana. Nick, thanks very much for being with us.
NICK MIROFF: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: Nick, amid all the talk of some of the tinkering Raul Castro has been doing, certain economic initiatives in the Cuban economy, has there been any perceptible change in the policy or practices on the human rights issue?
MIROFF: Well, I wouldn't say that the situation has gotten worse or better under Raul Castro. It's different in some ways. Opposition activists here say that the government's relying more on short-term detentions rather than, you know, longer imprisonments. In December, they tallied more than 700 short-term detentions and incidents of harassment. On the other hand, Cuba has released a large number of political prisoners. Raul Castro just pardoned nearly 3,000 prisoners in advance of Pope Benedict XVI's visit in March. And thanks to the interventions of, really of the Catholic Church in 2010, all of the Cuban inmates who were considered prisoners of conscious by Amnesty International were released. So, there are some new prisoners now, but again, the main tactic and shift seems to be toward short-term detentions.
SIMON: How would you recognize some of the economic changes, changes in the economic system in everyday life?
MIROFF: Well, you can see them in the streets. There are small businesses opening up all over Havana, people putting out signs for little cafeterias, restaurants, repair shops. You know, the government is moving forward very cautiously and in a very incremental way, but it's certainly moving forward. And you do see a new kind of entrepreneurial energy on the streets among Cubans who finally feel like they have a chance to, you know, maybe keep the fruits of their labor a little more. And that's also in some ways stimulated investment from Cubans abroad, in Miami and elsewhere, who are sending money back to help their family members start businesses, or try to invest here, whether it's in a business or in real estate now that Cubans can finally buy and sell their homes.
SIMON: And how do you assess the strength of the political opposition in Cuba?
MIROFF: You know, the political opposition here is virtually unknown to most Cubans. It's small, it's fragmented but, you know, that's also because the government and the state control the media. And so the opposition here has always struggled, both to get their message out to be credible among the Cuban population and, you know, in the face of the obstacles and the harassment they have to confront. So, in some ways, I guess I'd say it's kind of as weak as ever and not a serious threat to the civility of the government or a credible force in, you know, in Cuban political change.
SIMON: Reporter Nick Miroff speaking with us from Havana.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Time now for your letters. Last week we spoke with Christian Bale who stars in the new film, "The Flowers of War." The movie takes place in China during Japan's violent occupation of Nanjing in 1937. "The Flowers of War" has been criticized as being part of an effort by the Chinese government to improve China's image in the world.
Roy Merritt posted at NPR.org: I think we should take Mr. Bale's word on whether the movie is a propaganda piece. The story revolves around a true incident and that can not be disputed. Most people are astute enough to know when they're being preached at and or manipulated, and will think accordingly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I JUST WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO YOU")
SIMON: Gwen Thompkins' personal appreciation of Etta James moved many listeners to tears, laughter and reflection.
LuAnn Jones of Richmond, Virginia, writes: The songs you chose to illustrate Etta's unique talent tapped into exactly what made her so wonderful. Something positively primal about her strong and sultry voice spoke to us in that deep dark place that only a well-placed moan can reach.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I JUST WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO YOU")
SIMON: Share your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, @NPRWeekend. I'm @NPRScottSimon. Or go to NPR.org and click on the link that says Contact Us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I JUST WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO YOU")
SIMON: Good morning. You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
You've heard of bird watching and whale watching. But wolf watching? Well, it turns out an entire industry of tour companies has cropped up outside of Yellowstone National Park.
Montana Public Radio's Dan Boyce got the chance to see and hear a wild wolf pack.
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DAN BOYCE, BYLINE: The first hints of light are just starting to brighten the morning sky, as Nathan Varley and I head into Yellowstone in his black Suburban. We drive winding snowy roads through the Blacktail Plateau.
DR. NATHAN VARLEY: It's a great area to find wolves because it's the habitat for their primary prey in the winter, which is elk and bison.
BOYCE: Varley grew up just outside the park. And it's here where wolves killing livestock and big game have created the passionate controversy around these animals. Varley earned his Ph.D. studying wolves. But academia wasn't a good fit. So about six years ago, he started a wildlife tour company called The Wild Side.
VARLEY: We've been adding programs, doing higher volume each year than the year before.
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VARLEY: I think this could make a good sighting for us.
BOYCE: We're walking out to a bluff overlooking Slough Creek. Varley directs me to a spotting scope pointing across the valley.
VARLEY: Look through here. You say, I can...
BOYCE: Oh yeah, there's some wolves.
About a dozen, more than a half mile away.
DARREN SANDAY: It seems like they've already had their breakfast.
BOYCE: That's Englishman Darren Sanday. He and his wife, Beverly, are here on their first winter tour of the park.
BEVERLY SANDAY: All of the wolves have their heads raised, some are still laid down. Big gray at the top of the hill - fully extended head back, thrown back.
BOYCE: And then, we hear it.
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SANDAY: It's something that you will not hear not hear as a normal, day-to-day person.
SANDAY: It's unearthly. It's magical. It's mystical sort of sound.
SANDAY: And it goes through you.
SANDAY: And it seems to bounce off everywhere. So while they are howling it's like nothing else goes on.
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BOYCE: They howl for about two minutes. Afterward, we head back to the Suburban.
Varley says his typical clients have idealized, romantic notions of wolves. They expect noble creatures that mate for life and only kill what they need.
VARLEY: Well, the reality is they're top carnivores and predators and they're effective at being that way, because they're these very honed, skilled killing machines.
BOYCE: Nathan Varley is not romantic about wolves. He's respectful, both as a scientist and as a businessman.
For NPR News, I'm Dan Boyce in Yellowstone National Park.
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
Martin Mull and Fred Willard are comic partners in many minds. They helped create "Fernwood Tonight" in the late 1970s. And while they went on to solo careers in films and stage, they were reunited to play one of TVs first gay couples on the series "Roseanne."
We sat down with Martin Mull and Fred Willard for the Public Television show "Backstage With," produced by WVIZ and WCPN and Playhouse Square in Cleveland. Both of the actors had been doing improv comedy when they met in the makeup room. Fred Willard remembers that years before Stephen Colbert and truthiness, "Fernwood Tonight" was a faux talk show.
FRED WILLARD: It was much hipper and sharper than I thought it would be. And it was really just wonderful.
MARTIN MULL: Yeah, we went into Norman Lear's office and he threw some pages at us and said: Read these. And we sat there and just did it in character and it just clicked instantly. And I think we were also off-book and going in different directions and improvising, and it was absolutely amazing, chemically.
SIMON: âCause years before Comedy Central did these shows - where of course now the term now is truthiness - that's kind of what you're doing on "Fernwood Tonight" and "America Tonight."
WILLARD: What's the term?
SIMON: Truthiness, Stephen Colbert...
MULL: What is truthiness?
SIMON: Well, I believe he refers to it as something that is not really true but kind of has the appearance of it.
MULL: Oh.
SIMON: Yeah.
MULL: Seeming verite.
SIMON: That's very - that's the even better one.
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MULL: Thank you.
SIMON: That's great, as a matter of fact. Good, yeah. Boy, I like that. But that's what you were doing with this talk show, "Fernwood Tonight," which became...
WILLARD: We tried to make it is real as we couldâ¦
MULL: Exactly.
WILLARD: ...because it really, cable show from the small town in Ohio. And I think we tried not to give it away like, oh, we're just making having fun. We try to make a very serious and let the humor come out of that.
SIMON: Fred, here's a short list of words used to describe characters that you played over the years: dense, obnoxious, grinning, genial, clueless, boob.
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WILLARD: Obnoxious? Now, where did come in?
SIMON: So...
WILLARD: All right, I - well, seriously. If I have to play an obnoxious character, try to find a redeeming feature of him. The most obnoxious people in the world were people and they had had a reason for doing what they did. So you try to find that and let the obnoxiousness come out.
But boob, dense, I think I worry too much about things. So I love to play the character who has no cares, oblivious to everything. It's a kind of a release. It's the kind of character I would love to be.
SIMON: What's the best advice you ever got about acting?
MULL: I used to have a little traveling show, a music show that I did on the road, et cetera. And I'll never forget the first time I worked with Steve Martin. We were down in a place called The Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta. And he was known to me from his work on the Smothers Brothers, as quite a funny man - intimidatingly so.
So, he was tooting his banjo in this narrow hallway to the dressing rooms. And when I walked by him, I didn't know what to say so I said nothing. But I got about four steps past him and I heard him say: Oh, pretty good. How are you?
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MULL: At which point we became fast friends, and we've been great friends for 40 years. But he gave me the best advice ever for anyone in the performing arts. And that is this: Always take your wallet on stage.
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MULL: Don't leave it in the dressing room.
SIMON: Fred.
WILLARD: I never got any advice in acting. And...
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MULL: Yeah.
WILLARD: And it shows. But the advice I give is get up and do it anywhere you can. And someone once asked me, said, Fred, I'm asked to do these things - they're freebies, freebies. I said do them all.
First show ever did, the only one who came is the leading lady's husband who sat out in the audience. It was pouring rain, the first show I ever did. So never say, oh, there's not enough money or what kind of an audience? You know, just if you get an offer, go and do it.
SIMON: Yeah. Did you ever get any really bad advice?
MULL: Yes, I once opened for The Pointer Sisters in Washington, D.C.
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MULL: A midnight show and the crowd was there definitely to see The Pointer Sisters...
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MULL: ...not to see the little fat white boy.
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MULL: And it came out that I realized this in about four seconds, got through my number really quickly and said thank you. Got up and walked off. The promoters said, listen to them clapping out there. They loved you. You go back. You go back.
SIMON: Oh.
MULL: And I went back and I actually heard the lady in the front row say, I told you not to clap so loud.
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MULL: So the worst advice I ever got was go back out there. So when I did go back out, I heard say that, I just looked down in the cushions, found a quarter, put it in my pocket and walked back off the stage.
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MULL: And that was it. That was the worst advice.
SIMON: You had a love scene recently.
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MULL: OK, I will tell this. I'll cop to it. I'm old enough. I've earned the age. Why not? I'm on "Two and a Half Men," the scene is I'm supposed to be fixed up with Charlie Sheen's mother, who is roughly my age â my age is 68, hers is slightly less. They invite me to the house for a party and I show up with my own date. My own date is an ex-Miss Sweden, she's like 26, 27 years old, drop-dead gorgeous. I'm feeling pretty good about myself.
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MULL: The door is supposed to open, and when it opens they said we want you in a deep, deep embrace and kiss.
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MULL: OK. So I do it. The minute - they holler action; we're at the minute our lips touched. I wear hearing aids.
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MULL: They have little pre-recorded messages in them to let you know about the battery situation and so forth and so on.
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MULL: Right when our lips touch, I hear this pre-recorded female voice saying, battery low.
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MULL: That was I think the last love scene of my career and it was well-narrated.
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SIMON: How did you wind up - you wound up playing a couple, a married couple.
MULL: On "Roseanne.""
SIMON: On "Roseanne."
WILLARD: I'll tell you how that came about.
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WILLARD: Martin was a regular on the "Roseanne" show and Tom Arnold, Roseanne's - one of her husbands, and she were big fans of "Fernwood," and we were talking to them. And I said, wouldn't it be funny, since Martin was kind of like my boss on "Fernwood," what if I came on as his boss? Oh, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. Then I got a call, they said, why don't you and Martin come on and you're gay lovers? And I said well, I...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WILLARD: No, I don't want to do that, just me. So a year later Martin called me. He said Fred, the writers asked me to call you. We want you to come on, we're two gay lovers, we get married and adopt a kid.
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WILLARD: And I said that's too good to turn down.
MULL: Yeah.
WILLARD: Yes. I said let's do it. But I vowed, I said I'm going to go on and I'm not going to be the cliche, you know, flaming. We played it very real.
MULL: Yeah.
WILLARD: We were the first gay marriage on television. And but we played it very straight.
MULL: Very. Yeah.
WILLARD: And I said we're - and some, a few gay people would come up to me on the street and say, Mr. Willard, we appreciate how you, you know, didn't caricature it.
MULL: Yeah. Well, when Tom Arnold first approached me, he said, would you like to be on the "Roseanne" show, they were like number one in the market. So it was kind of a stupid question. I said, of course.
SIMON: Mm-hmm.
MULL: And he said you'll be playing her gay boss. And I thought to myself for a while, you know, the pros and cons. And then I realized, no one really believed that Eddie Murphy was Gumby.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MULL: Right?
SIMON: I hope that doesn't shatter anyone here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SIMON: All right. I saved this for last.
MULL: OK.
SIMON: What do you mean to each other? What does this personal, professional relationship you've had for 35 years mean?
WILLARD: Well, let me say this, I have said any time, if it's Martin Mull, I will say yes. If it's Christopher Guest, I will say yes. Other people, no, I won't, you know, anything - if Martin called me for anything I'm there. I don't have to read the script; I don't have to hear what - if Martin Mull ask you to do it, yeah, of course.
MULL: There's something that I definitely feel with Fred and I feel with very few other people on the planet. There are certain friends that you haven't seen for a while and you have to do the old: remember when we used to, remember that time when we? There are certain people you can see after six months or a year and pick up right at the next second and just continue your journey. And to me that's the definition of a true friend.
SIMON: Gentlemen, thanks so much. This has been a wonderful evening.
MULL: My pleasure. Thank you for having us.
WILLARD: Thanks to all of you.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SIMON: Fred Willard, Martin Mull, speaking in Cleveland at a taping of the public television show "Backstage With."
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. We begin with the latest in the Republican race for president. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney campaigned in Florida yesterday. Mr. Gingrich made appearances before two communities whose votes he hopes to win in Tuesday's primary. He spoke to Latino home builders and businesspeople in the morning, and had a rally with a group of Republican Jewish voters in the afternoon. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Gingrich has reached out to Tea Party groups and Chamber of Commerce Republicans, but he's courted no group as assiduously as Florida's Latino voters. He made two stops in Miami yesterday, the first before the Latin Builders Association. He gave his standard pitch which includes a call for reforming Social Security. He says young people should be given an option for personal savings accounts for Social Security, based on a program now in place in Chile.
NEWT GINGRICH: I think these kind of models can both create a bigger, better economy, give people a bigger reason to work because it's their money, and can help you dramatically approve the housing market and dramatically improve construction.
NAYLOR: Gingrich was hoping that his outreach to the Latin builders might win him their endorsement, especially after Mitt Romney declined to appear before the group. But instead, the builders gave their nod to Rick Santorum, whose campaign, lacking the resources to buy TV ads in the state, is struggling to gain traction. Gingrich then addressed another Latino group, the Hispanic Leadership Network. To them he said this nation has for too long neglected Latin America, which he said was dangerous and foolish. He singled out Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, and said the U.S. should act to remove him from power.
GINGRICH: And I think we should take an aggressive strategy, a non-military strategy, but an aggressive strategy of replacing Chavez and giving the people of Venezuela the opportunity to live in freedom.
NAYLOR: Gingrich also repeated his call for a Cuban spring to help the people of Cuba; in his words, liberate themselves. He also had an idea about one way to go about it.
GINGRICH: So one of my goals would be to nonviolently flood the island with enough cells phones that are video cameras that any active repression gets filmed by thirty people, and we start posting it. This person will be on the list after the revolution.
NAYLOR: Gingrich also reached out to South Florida's Jewish voters, most of whom, but not all are Democrats. In a brief appearance before reporters, he warned a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to another Holocaust.
GINGRICH: That is a fact which people should confront. Two or three nuclear weapons, placed properly in Israel is the equivalent of a second Holocaust, and people need to confront it now before it happens.
NAYLOR: Gingrich has a hectic weekend of campaigning in Florida. He's hoping to recapture the momentum that peaked when he won South Carolina's primary a week ago. That momentum appears to have stalled in Florida, where a barrage of negative ads, lackluster debate performances, and a united GOP establishment has him playing catch up to Romney in the polls. Brian Naylor, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
We've been hearing about Republican candidates' efforts to win over Hispanic voters. Those efforts have intensified in recent days with ads in Spanish and contention over immigration, like at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville.
NEWT GINGRICH: We as a nation are not going to walk into some family - and by the way, they're going to end up in a church which will declare them a sanctuary - we're not going to walk in there and grandmother out and then kick them out.
MITT ROMNEY: Mr. Speaker, I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive.
SIMON: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. After Tuesday's primary in Florida, the campaigns will head west to Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, states with a lot of Hispanic voters. To try and get a sense of what issues might interest Latino voters over the next few months, we're joined now by Maria Elena Salinas. She's a co-anchor of the news at Univision, and joins us from their studios in Miami. Thanks so much for being with us.
MARIA ELENA SALINAS: It's my pleasure, Scott.
SIMON: Let me ask first up, is Florida by virtue of its size and demographics just different from other states with a lot of Latino voters?
SALINAS: It definitely is. I would say that it is the - particularly the only state where you have a very large group of Republicans that are Hispanic here, although that has changed. At least six years ago in 2006 there were more Hispanic registered Republicans in Florida than now. Now you have at least 100,000 more Hispanics registered as Democrats, but it definitely is important. There's 13 percent of the electorate is Hispanic in this state, and it's very important to the candidates.
That's why you see them now changing their tone a little while ago. I just heard what you aired, and it's funny because just a few weeks ago it seemed like the Republican candidates were trying to outdo each other to see which one was more anti-immigrant. Now they're going the other way and saying which one is less anti-immigrant.
SIMON: Well, help us understand where immigration figures in the concerns of a lot of Hispanic voters, immigration weighed along with unemployment and other issues.
SALINAS: Exactly. Well, you know, there was a Univision ABC Latino Decisions poll that just came out last week, and it seems like that number one issue for Latinos right now is pretty much the same one as it is for the rest of the country, which is the economy and jobs. And second, is immigration. Immigration is an issue that moves the Latino voters. It's important to them. Of course, Hispanic voters do not have an immigration problem; they're citizens. However, either they've had it in the past or they know someone that has had an immigration problem. And also, the very negative debate on immigration spills over and affects all Latinos, not only undocumented immigrants.
SIMON: Well, that'll bring in the interview you had this week with President Obama. It was about a number of issues. But you asked the president about the record number of deportations of illegal immigrants.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAPED INTERVIEW)
SIMON: Do you have any indication, Maria Elena, how the president's answer went over with a lot of your viewers and the people polled?
SALINAS: Well, unfortunately, it didn't go over very well. I think that people are tired of hearing the president say, you know, blame it on the Republicans. Even if it's true, I think people want to hear something else. They want to see the president roll up his sleeves and fight for immigration reform the same way he fought for health reform. So I think there's a little bit of disappointment.
SIMON: How do you foresee maybe some of the campaign issues or even positions changing a bit as the campaign moves on, moves west into Nevada, Colorado, Arizona?
SALINAS: Well, from here in Florida, of course, you have a little bit of a conservative vote, as far as Hispanics are concerned. But in the rest of the country, I think that's different. You have a very high percentage of Latinos that are Democrats. So the Republican Hispanic vote in these states is very small. I don't think it's going to make that much of a difference in the primaries. It will definitely make a big difference when it comes to the general election. So in states like Nevada like, you know, Colorado, like Arizona, those states I think in the general election will have a much higher impact than they will in the Republican primaries.
SIMON: Maria Elena Salinas is a co-host at Univision, joined us from there studios there in Miami. Thanks so much for being with us.
SALINAS: It was pleasure, Scott. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: And you're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
An illegal Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank is at the center of a battle over settlements. The collection of trailers and makeshift buildings is called Migron, and the Israeli Supreme Court has said it must be dismantled by the end of March. The Israeli government has tried to come up with a compromise which the settlers have rejected. And the issue even threatens to bring down the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro visited Migron, and she filed this report.
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LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Migron might be categorized as an illegal outpost slated for evacuation by the Israeli government, but there is a unpaved road that leads right to it, with helpful signs in English and Hebrew to show you the way.
So we're coming up to Migron now and the large yellow gate is opening. It's topped by barbed wire and it's being protected by Israeli soldiers.
(Foreign language spoken)
UNIDENTIFIED ISRAELI SOLDIER: (Foreign language spoken)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's an indication of the complicated - and some would argue hypocritical relationship - successive Israeli governments have had with outposts like Migron. On the one hand, Israel is tasked with getting rid of them under international agreements and Israeli court decrees, but practically speaking outposts - and there are dozens of them - are often given the infrastructure and support to, if not thrive, then at least survive.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN PLAYING)
AVIELA DEITCH: And here there are two kindergartens. They have 60 kids between them - three years old, five years old. In a community of 49 families, I think it's pretty decent.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Aviela Deitch just moved here with her six children and her husband last august. Since it was founded a decade ago, Migron has been expanding. Many recognized settlements in the West Bank actually started this way, and in fact several similar outposts in other parts of the occupied territories were legalized this past year by the Israeli government. Deitch says Migron should be next.
DEITCH: I hope it's legalized and we can build homes. There are families living here with six children in tiny mobile homes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The international community sees all Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal, Israel though rejects that. But the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that Migron is built on private Palestinian land, rendering it illegal even by Israeli standards.
YARIV OPPENHEIMER: Just imagine if Migron will stay there, the message to the settlers will be very clear: you can grab land, no matter what, and no matter who the land belongs to. I think Migron is a huge test case for Israeli democracy.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Yariv Oppenheimer from Peace Now, the anti-settlement group. They brought the case against Migron to the Israeli courts. He says the settlers cannot be allowed to flout Israeli law. But that's exactly what's happening he says. The current administration of Benjamin Netanyahu is negotiating with the residents of Migron. They have offered to build them a new settlement a mile away on what they say is state land.
OPPENHEIMER: This is outrageous, of course. It's a game of words. And this is, of course, the symbol that the government is pushing forward the Israeli people to get inside the West Bank and not to think about moving out of the West Bank.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But so far the settlers have refused even that compromise, and that is tipping Netanyahu's government into a crisis. His coalition is made up of many pro-settlement groups which have threatened to quit over the issue. And even members of his own right-wing Likud Party say they won't accept Migron's evacuation.
TZIPI HOTOVELY: I think that it's about time for the state of Israeli settle it down, and to make sure that all this land will be called the state of Israel's land and this government thinks that no Jewish settlement should be removed. And it's about time for us to recognize those areas as part of the real settlements.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Likud's Tzipi Hotovely. She agrees Migron is a test case. She says it's time to settle the settlement issue once and for all. She says she doesn't recognize any Palestinian claim to land ownership in the West Bank, which she calls the Biblical land of Judea and Sumaria, which she says was given to the Jews.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRAYER)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Back in the West Bank, it's Friday prayer time in the Palestinian villages that abut Migron. Last month, in a so called price tag attack, the mosque in the village of Burqa was burned. Settlers often vandalize Palestinian property in retaliation for Israeli attempts to restrict settlement building. And because Migron actually sits on land deemed to belong to the village of Burqa, it's frequently targeted, say residents.
Diab Yassin is a village elder. He says Palestinians in the area hold out little hope that that land will be returned to them.
DIAB YASSIN: Most of that land belongs to Burqa's people. They have deeds and abstracts and everything. But from the experience we had before, I don't think they're going to remove anything.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He says the Israeli government is not even trying to get the land back to its rightful owners.
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This was an eventful week in Egypt. The country's first freely elected parliament in six decades opened for business, while hundreds of thousands of Egyptians used protests to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. But deepening political divisions between pro-Islamist and secular protesters erupted into violent scuffles, marring the commemoration of last year's revolution.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is in Cairo. Soraya, thanks for being with us.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: You're welcome. Good morning.
SIMON: Good morning. Help s understand what the new protests are all about?
NELSON: Well, if you talk to the secular and the liberal types who turned out, they are very much determined to make the ruling generals - they've, of course, formed a council that is basically the group that's in charge until transition to democracy is completed. And what they want is that these generals need to step aside now. They want them to hand over power to the newly elected parliament and to perhaps even another civilian authority that might be selected from the people just to get them out of the way because they feel that they're taking a lot of steps to try and stay in power, basically. So, and these protesters are very determined to keep the momentum going that they created last year with the uprising that, of course, ousted Mubarak.
SIMON: And the Islamists have a different agenda?
NELSON: Yes. They, on the other hand, would like to give the ruling generals a chance to fulfill their pledge to step aside after presidential elections next summer. They're also very focused on the parliament. They would like the parliament to be able to begin business and they think the time for protests have passed.
SIMON: The ruling military generals have also drawn some fire from U.S. officials with their attacks on non-governmental organizations and pro-democracy groups. And, of course, we're following the story - in this country especially - of authorities there preventing 10 Americans and Europeans, who were involved in such groups from leaving - including the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. What's the latest status?
NELSON: Well, Sam LaHood, the son of the U.S. transportation secretary, he spoke with me last night and he is very concerned that he and others may face trial here. What the government here is saying is that these foreign groups are operating here illegally. And, in fact, the ruling generals have also said that there are foreign elements behind these protests that are continuing, that this is somehow being instigated from outside which, of course, is something that these groups deny vehemently having anything to do with. They're here to, you know, promote democracy but not in an active way. I mean, in fact, LaHood's group was one of the groups that was doing monitoring of the elections that just went on.
SIMON: Mm-hmm. But no indication yet of when they might be released, or for that matter, charged.
NELSON: No. There wasn't any word yesterday. And continued talks between U.S. officials and the Egyptians have not resulted in an end to this stalemate or this travel ban.
SIMON: Soraya, what comes next in Egypt's transformation?
NELSON: Well, tomorrow is the first phase of the upper house elections. Now, unlike the lower house of parliament, this is a weaker body but nevertheless, these are the first real elections for that body in many, many decades. And so it'll be interesting to see whether people turn out in the great numbers they did for parliament. There already seems to be some voter fatigue, if you will, during the last round because there were so many elections and runoffs and it just went on and on for a couple of months. So that begins tomorrow. And then presidential elections will be held later this summer. That's what people are really paying attention to.
The concern is that you don't want someone back in power who is going to try to gather all that power around them the way Mubarak did. I mean this is a big fear that people have, is that if you end up with a super-strong president then you may end up with yet another dictatorship that lasts for three decades.
SIMON: Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Cairo. Thanks so much.
NELSON: You're welcome.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
What do you do when the conversation lags? Our friend Richard Glover of the ABC in Sydney, Australia might know. This week he and sports author and journalist Peter FitzSimons set a new Guinness World Record for Longest Radio or TV interview: 24 hours, with only an occasional loo break. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The record-setting interview did not take place "this week." It was actually in December 2011.]
RICHARD GLOVER: Good morning. We've had fantastic tweets and e-mails from people who started listening, for instance, in one man's case, to the broadcast in Australia yesterday morning, flew to New Zealand and I'm listening to the same interview in a different country nearly 24 hours later.
PETER FITZSIMMONS: And I took a plane, Richard, but you've barely let me get a word in edgewise.
SIMON: Our friend Richard Glover joins us from his studios in Sydney.
Richard, do you have any laryngitis?
GLOVER: Oh, to hear us talk we sound so tired, don't we?
SIMON: Little bit. Strange question under the circumstances. Do you two know each other better after this marathon interview?
GLOVER: I think we do actually. We had a good to-do about religion at about 3 a.m., a nice discussion about whether Australia should be a republic and sever its links with Britain around 4 a.m. That was pretty good. Should the Australian flag have the British flag in the corner, well, that created 20 minutes of disputation at around 5 a.m. And every interview ends with that sort of glib phrase, I'm terribly sorry. We're right out of time. So I wondered what would happen if that was impossible, you know, that you could never say that.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SIMON: You're brilliant. Did you make a point of not preparing questions, if you catch my drift?
GLOVER: Well, I think a proper interview involves listening as well as talking. And questions should grow from answers. So I think you can over-prepare. I think the other question is: who's the American that can take us on? And I've been running through the people who I've had on my Sydney radio show - the Americans I've had over the years on my Australian shows.
SIMON: I've been on your radio show.
GLOVER: Well, that's right. Look, and I think, you know, you're an OK talker, but Alan Dershowitz, now Alan man, who - he came into the studio, good morning, sir, I said, half an hour later we were still there. Now, I think, you know, he could be your man. That Garrison Keillor, now, he's a good talker.
SIMON: A wonderful talker.
GLOVER: Yeah. Noam Chomsky we had on a few months ago. Now, he's not a flashy talker, but he is steady. He'd be like a pony - a stayer, you know, in the Melbourne Cup. Not necessarily a sprint, but a good even pace for the first 13, 14 hours. You know, if you just said to him, Noam, what's wrong with American foreign policy, you could then go out, have a hamburger break and come back and he'd still be going.
SIMON: Yeah. Exactly. Richard?
GLOVER: Yes?
SIMON: I'm afraid we're out of time.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GLOVER: Somehow when this interview started I knew that's the way it would end.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Our friend Richard Glover of the ABC in Sydney.
Richard, get some rest. OK?
GLOVER: Thank you.
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: In tennis: Finals Down Under. Baseball: a new homering Tiger in Detroit. And just ahead of an Indy Super Bowl, a spat about the future of the Colts' quarterback. From the studios of New England Public Radio, we're joined now by Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the magazine and ESPN the room deodorizer.
Howard, thanks for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT, BYLINE: Hiya, Scott.
SIMON: The finals today, in the Australian Open. Maria Sharapova against Victoria Azarenka. I could hear them from here.
BRYANT: Put your earplugs in. It was not much of a match, though. Azarenka destroyed, destroyed Maria Sharapova, 6-3, 6-0. But we finally have a new number one. Caroline Wozniacki now has been replaced by Azarenka, which is good for the women's game; that you finally have somebody who's a number one, who's also won a major. And I think that really bodes well coming out of having this year-and-a-half's worth of Wozniacki not really being a number one because she hadn't won the big one. Now, you've got a couple of power players at the top of the rankings in Kvitova and Azarenka, and they've both won majors.
SIMON: And the men's finals are tomorrow.
BRYANT: If you're going to awake at 3 a.m. it's going to be a classic. You've got Djokovic - Novak Djokovic - and Rafael Nadal playing in the championship once again. Last year, of course, was Novak's greatest year - one of the great years in tennis history. He played Nadal six times in finals, beat him all six times. Beat him at the U.S. Open, beat him at Wimbledon, and now they're playing again for the championship. And Djokovic is just a better player. But once again, Nadal has incredible heart. He's got 10 majors. So, this is going to be a real treat for anyone who really loves the game.
SIMON: Prince Fielder's signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers, the team for which his father played, that he grew up with. A few weeks ago, pundits said that he wouldn't get one of those amazing deals. Sounds to me like he did.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BRYANT: Well, no, he didn't get the $252 million that Alex Rodriguez got back in 2000. He didn't get the $250 million that Albert Pujols got last month. He only got $214 million from the Detroit Tigers. So the two big free agents combined for $464 million in salaries. It's huge for the American League, and once again, salaries are just exploding in baseball. They always do. But if you are the Texas Rangers, the team that's won the pennant the last couple of years, things just got really difficult for you. You're biggest rival, the Angels, in your division, now has Pujols, and the team that you beat to go to the World Series, the Tigers, now have Prince Fielder. And you've got the Red Sox and Yankees waiting for you, as well. So, it's going to be a big year in the American League.
SIMON: Do you expect to see the great Peyton Manning in an Indianapolis Colts uniform again?
BRYANT: I'd like to say yes, but I think the answer is no. He missed the whole season with a neck injury. He's had three surgeries on the neck. And the Colts have a money decision to make. Do they pay him the $28 million that he's due on March 3rd without knowing whether or not he can play? They've got the first pick in the draft, they're going to take a quarterback. I think this is the end of the Colts and Manning, which was a terrific, terrific (unintelligible); went to the Super Bowl twice. They won it once, and I think it always ends poorly when it comes to injuries and when a great player comes to the end of the line. But I don't think we're going to see Payton Manning again.
SIMON: Not at all? He's not going to sign with someone - I guess it depends on...
BRYANT: I think he'll sign with someone else, certainly. But I think as a Colt, I think it's done.
SIMON: Of course, his little brother's got a big day coming up next weekend, doesn't he? I'm on a reporting trip next week. Who do you see in the Super Bowl, Giants-Patriots?
BRYANT: Well, I hate to say it, 'cause it betrays my New England roots, but I think that the Giants are going to win. I think the Giants are a bad matchup for the Patriots, and especially if the Patriots still are going to have Julian Edelman, a wide receiver - covering the slot receiver, covering Victor Cruz. I think it's going to be a tough matchup. But the one thing I will say. The Patriots have a lot of heart, and during - the pride games that they've had to play, they've won them all. And this is as big a pride game as they can have, trying to avenge losing the undefeated season four years ago.
SIMON: I'll say Patriots by 9.
BRYANT: I can't go there. I think it's going to be a close game, but I think the Giants could take them out.
SIMON: Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the magazine the magazine. Thanks so much.
My pleasure.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Whether it's creationism versus evolution, miracles versus magic tricks, or faith versus fact, religion and science have long been pitted against one another. But in his latest book, called "Where the Conflict Really Lies," philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the real incompatibility is between religion and naturalism, a philosophical view that denies the existence of any spiritual or supernatural reality.
Religion and science, he says, share more common ground than you might think. For example, scientists may argue that miracles can't exist because they defy scientific laws. But Plantinga says actually that's not true.
DR. ALVIN PLANTINGA: These laws are all stated for closed systems. A closed system is one such that there isn't any causal input into from the outside. Nothing outside the system is causing something to happen.
MARTIN: OK. So that's a closed system. Now, the miracle.
PLANTINGA: Supposed God created a horse in Times Square in New York City. Any system in which that horse came to be would not be a closed system.
MARTIN: So no scientific law is applicable.
PLANTINGA: And therefore there wouldn't be any conflict between God's doing that miracle, let's say, and the scientific laws.
MARTIN: So Plantinga says science and religion don't conflict, as long as they respect each other's boundaries.
PLANTINGA: I think science is wonderful, important, maybe the most impressive intellectual episode of the past half a millennium has been the development of science. I also am a Christian. If there is an alleged incompatibility between them, well, that disturbs me. It's something I want to look into and see whether or not that is, in fact, so. And my argument is for the conclusion that it isn't so.
MARTIN: That sounds like what you're saying is that there has been a reticence to recognize common ground between science and religion. Why has there been such a reticence? If these intersections are so obvious, why do people emphasize the differences?
PLANTINGA: Well, of course, science started off in the bosom of Christian belief in the West. The early scientists - Newton, Boyle, and so on - were all believers in God and they saw science as a way of exploring the world that God has created. I think that the present emphasis on conflict arises, at least in part, because a number of thinkers tried to co-opt science into the service of atheism. And they want to use science as a kind of weapon in the battle between atheism and theistic religion.
MARTIN: You yourself are a Christian. Is there not a big part of your own personal religious doctrine that depends on faith, taking a leap of faith philosophically, and believing in certain things that simply can't be scientifically proven?
PLANTINGA: Well, I think there are lot of things they can't be scientifically proven that everybody accepts. That there's been a past, for example. Bertrand Russell once said that as far as our evidence goes the old world of popped into existence five minutes ago, complete with all the crumbling mountains and rusting automobiles, and apparent memories and the like. Do we have a scientific proof that that's not so? Well, of course not.
I mean science presupposes that there has been a past. It doesn't prove that there has been. So I mean it's not as if whatever is true or sensible to believe has to be provable by virtue of science. Science is absolutely wonderful but it's a limited endeavor. It doesn't cover the whole of the knowledge enterprise, you might say.
MARTIN: Can you talk a little bit about what it is like to be a religious person, a Christian in the world of philosophical academia?
PLANTINGA: Well, when I began as a philosopher many years ago - 50 years ago or so - there were very few Christians in philosophy. And the few there were, were for the most part inclined to keep their heads down, so to speak. The subjects philosophy, was heavily secular. That's not true anymore. Now, maybe - I don't know - perhaps as many as a sixth of philosophers are believers in God of one kind or another. And maybe a higher proportion of graduate students in philosophy are.
And I'm sort of delighted to see that Christianity is doing much better in the philosophical world now, than it was when I began in philosophy.
MARTIN: You have atheists in your circle of friends?
PLANTINGA: Yes, I do. Yeah, sure.
MARTIN: Do you talk about this stuff all the time or you just kind of agree to just relax and talk about football or the weather, not address the big issues?
PLANTINGA: In college and in graduate school, you do that kind of thing. But after you've been at it quite a long time, then you're more inclined to set those things aside, because you know how the conversation will go anyway.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PLANTINGA: It really won't go anywhere, and you talk about other things. But it doesn't just have to be about football. Even when you're at Notre Dame, there are topics besides God and...
MARTIN: And football.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PLANTINGA: ...and football. Maybe not very many but some.
MARTIN: Alvin Plantinga is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. His latest book is called "Where the Conflict Really Lies." And he joined us from member station WGVU in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Dr. Plantinga, thank you so much for speaking with us.
PLANTINGA: It was my pleasure.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Whether it's the funerals of soldiers killed in Afghanistan or the victims of street violence here at home, media images of the dead and the dying always cause discomfort. One man made his career pushing the boundaries of what's too real, too uncomfortable to capture on film. Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, shot crime photos for New York tabloids in the 1930s and '40s.
Fellig's work is being showcased at a new exhibit at the International Center of Photography in New York. It's called "Murder Is My Business." NPR's Margot Adler reports.
MARGOT ADLER, BYLINE: When you enter the center near Times Square, one of the first rooms in the Weegee exhibit re-creates his one-room studio right across from the police station. Paint is peeling on the metal bedposts; thin, ratty blankets; newspaper pages on the wall, of his photographs and articles; his camera, his typewriter, his police radio; and an entire wall of self-portraits, including a series of shots where he takes the roll of criminal: Weegee in handcuffs, Weegee's mug shot.
BRIAN WALLIS: One of the things that is extraordinary in the Weegee archive is the fact that there are over 1,500 self-portraits of Weegee
ADLER: That's David Wallis, chief curator of the International Center of Photography and of this exhibition. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The curator was misidentified. His name is Brian Wallis.]
WALLIS: In this room, you see a lot of pictures of him posing with evidence and posing with other criminals, and styling himself as kind of a hard-boiled detective who's on the case.
ADLER: The ICP has the entire Weegee archive - 16,000 photographs, 7,000 negatives from many periods of his life, including his groundbreaking book of New York life, "Naked City."
But he started with murder, following police reports, freelancing for the tabloids; taking pictures of dead bodies, of the wounded, of car crash victims. Sometimes blood is dripping, although Wallis says the photographs steer away from the gory. In fact, the exhibit contrasts several of Weegee's photographs with much more graphic police forensic photos of the same scene.
WALLIS: Often, he photographed the corpse in a very stylized way.
ADLER: A gun lying just so near the body - a sense of distance, of the abstract. Here, Weegee is talking about murder, in a 1958 recording called "Famous Photographers Tell How."
ARTHUR FELLIG: Now, the easiest kind of a job to cover was a murder because the stiff would be laying on the ground; he couldn't get up and walk away, or get temperamental. And he was - we would be good for at least two hours.
ADLER: But the most impressive photographs don't dwell on the bodies, but on those who are watching. As Wallis puts it...
WALLIS: One thing that really sets Weegee's photographs apart from other news photographers was his interest in what he called human drama.
ADLER: In one of his most famous photographs, there is a body, and people watching from the fire escape of a five-story tenement building. Again, Weegee from 1958.
FELLIG: They're looking. They're having a good time. Some of the kids are even reading the funny papers. There was another photographer there, and he made what they call a 10-foot shot, of just the guy lying in the doorway - that was it. To me, this was drama. This was like a backdrop.
I stepped all the way back, about 100 feet. I used flash powder, and I got this whole scene: the people on the fire escapes, the body - everything. Of course, the title for it was "Balcony Seats at a Murder."
ADLER: Weegee's unusual voice and accent so captivated actor Peter Sellers, who met him on the set of "Dr. Strangelove," that apparently he put a bit of that accent into the title character.
Weegee often had trouble getting his pictures in the papers. Wallis says his photos did not get into the New York Times. He appealed primarily to a tabloid audience, used to more lurid photographs. But according to Wallis...
WALLIS: They may have dramatic headlines, but the pictures themselves are rather tame.
ADLER: Wallis doesn't think there's that much difference between attitudes in the '30s and '40s and now, about how we portray the dead. Despite the gore on television dramas and in film, he says, in some ways attitudes toward privacy are stronger now. Would Weegee's photos get into the New York Times today? Wallis says of these issues...
WALLIS: It really represents a larger question about how we draw the lines between what is acceptable and unacceptable forms of representation, which are really about establishing social mores - how we want to represent ourselves to ourselves.
ADLER: It's something we're, clearly, still wrestling with. "Murder is my Business" is at the International Center of Photography until September.
Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.
MARTIN: And you can see some of Weegee's photographs at NPR.org.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Facebook is getting a new look. The social networking site has begun to roll out a new feature - it's called Timeline. And it allows anyone to scroll through years of posts and photos in just minutes. Facebook's executives say Timeline will let people, quote, "tell the stories of their lives in graphically beautiful ways." It could also reveal some embarrassing moments from the past, and soon Facebook is going to require all 800 million members to adopt it. NPR's Steve Henn reports.
STEVE HENN, BYLINE: This week I went down to Nolan's. It's a bar in Palo Alto that's popular with Stanford students and techies. And there, Facebook's Timeline is kind of old news.
NORRELL ELANA: We both have it.
DARWIN SPRUCE BEYER: It's been great, must say.
HENN: Norrell Elana and Darwin Spruce Beyer were standing outside, both draped in the Australian flag, holding drinks and snapping pictures.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING)
HENN: They say Timeline's nothing to be afraid of, and the truth is anyone who's wanted to change their Facebook profile and set up their own Timeline has been able to do it for months.
BEYER: I'm a developer so it's went straight-on, eh?
HENN: When Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Timeline last summer, Facebook opened it up to software developers. Those developers shared the keys and soon anyone could get in. Millions did - from my kid's baby sitter to Britney Spears. And this feature, Timeline, looks kind of like what you'd expect. It's a Timeline, but instead of scrolling horizontally across the page, it scrolls down, and it makes old embarrassing posts easy to find. In the early days of social media, lots of us posted things online we wouldn't have wanted our grandmother or clients to see. But lucky for me, by the time I was allowed into Facebook, I was old enough to know better. Sam Sanders wasn't so lucky.
SAM SANDERS: I was a sophomore in college, I remember.
HENN: Sam has something like 2,000 Facebook friends. He grew up online. And once upon a time, Sam wasn't so careful about his posts.
SANDERS: There were just lots of photos of me in big group hugs holding alcohol. You know, like, lots of those.
HENN: Now, he's a producer at NPR. So, I decided it might kind of fun to turn on his Facebook Timeline together. Sam was feeling confident.
SANDERS: Because the day before I started my first job after grad school, I went on, like, a Facebook-photo-purging spree.
HENN: He was sure he had cleaned up his act since college, grown up, purged the inappropriate from his digital record.
SANDERS: And I joined in 2005. So, I went and I clicked it, oh my God. Oh, it just pulled up some ridiculously old photos of me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HENN: There are pictures of Sam playing air guitar.
SANDERS: Oh, God.
HENN: With a friend's leg. Shots of him drinking, a dance montage that would make any grown man blush.
SANDERS: This is so bad.
HENN: And this video of Sam playing the sax.
SANDERS: Oh, no.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SANDERS: The scariest thing that I'm seeing right now it says: Click publish now or wait until your Timeline goes live on February 2. So, like, whether or not I want this, it's going to happen.
HENN: Facebook gives everyone seven days from when you first sign on to Timeline before all those old photos and videos are republished. So, forget your work deadlines. You have more important things to do. Facebook is calling. It wants you to put in a couple of hours right now, creating beautiful new content for its site - or at least content that's not hideously embarrassing. So, I asked Sam: how many hours do you think it would take you to clean this up?
SANDERS: I can't even begin to fathom. I cannot even begin to say.
HENN: And while Sam may be spending this weekend sanitizing his Facebook page, back at Nolan's in Palo Alto, Joe Mouseheart says there is another option.
JOE MOUSEHEART: Yeah, I'm probably considering cancelling my entire account.
HENN: Really?
MOUSEHEART: Really. 'Cause at the job I'm working now, if there's some things from my past that come up, I mean, there would be completely different opinions about me.
HENN: He says sometimes it's better if the past remains in the past. Steve Henn, NPR News, Silicon Valley.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now for another conversation from StoryCorps' National Teacher Initiative.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This school year, we'll be sharing stories from and about teachers and their students. Today's story started at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, which has an official graduation rate of just 48 percent. Roger Alvarez was one of the students who didn't make it through his senior year. He dropped out in 2007. At StoryCorps, Roger sat down with his former English teacher, Antero Garcia. It was the first time they had seen each other since Roger quit school.
ANTERO GARCIA: When did you know you weren't going to graduate, like, for sure?
ROGER ALVAREZ: For sure?
GARCIA: Yeah.
ALVAREZ: Ever since I started in 9th grade.
GARCIA: Oh, really?
ALVAREZ: There's a certain amount of knowledge you have to have when you enter in a specific grade, and I didn't have it. Every class I took, I'd be, like, do I know this? I don't know this. I'm not going to pass the class. And it was kind of shameful, you know. I don't know, I thought...
GARCIA: What was shameful?
ALVAREZ: You know, like you were determined to help me but what I was willing to give? I could have actually tried.
GARCIA: I guess I'm curious how could I have reached out to you better?
ALVAREZ: Well, you always helped me, but, I mean, you could pump me up and then I see others doing way better. So, then I get nervous. I get stuck. And then my motivation goes to the floor.
GARCIA: Did it feel hopeless?
ALVAREZ: Yeah. You talked to me like if I could do it. But inside me, I know I couldn't. And, you know, I just don't want you to think that I'm, like, stupid.
GARCIA: Well, why did you agree to come and talk to me today?
ALVAREZ: I don't know. It's, I mean, I see school as a tool in life and all this time I've been missing that tool. It's not part of my belt. But I wanted, like, to explain myself to you now that I'm older. You know, always I just want you to know, I always want to let you know that you were a good teacher and I always respected you. Some teachers I kind of felt like they only wanted to teach a certain group of people. But you looked at me and you paid attention. Maybe it didn't get me to graduate but there's a lot of teachers, they don't take the time to take a look. And it was never your fault.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Roger now works the night shift at a loading dock. He says he still hopes to one day get his GED. Learn more about StoryCorps' National Teachers Initiative at NPR.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: And you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A nice glass of wine may seem like a luxury during tough economic times, but it is possible to indulge without breaking the bank. As WEEKEND EDITION food commentator Bonny Wolf discovered, a sweet Italian wine is gaining new popularity with a little help from some big named bands.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
BONNY WOLF, BYLINE: That was hip-hop singer Drake with a shout out to an Italian dessert wine? The same wine a handful of other hip-hop artists sing about. The wine Kanye West orders for special parties. The wine Real Housewife of Atlanta NeNe Leakes has just started selling under the label Miss Moscato. Until a few years ago, the ancient Italian wine moscato could have been described as obscure; what one wine expert called a little backwater grape. Now the words used about the rise of moscato are breathtaking, phenomenal, insane. Industry watchers say they've never seen anything like it. Danny Brager, VP of the alcoholic beverages division at Nielsen, says moscato madness is not just on the coasts. It's not only in cities. It's everywhere. According to Brager, a Nielsen analysis found moscato sales up 73 percent in the 12 months ending January 7. That's on top of the 100 percent growth from 2010. It is the fastest growing varietal wine in the country. Brager says every wine supplier is racing to get on this trend. They're combing the world for more grapes and growing their own. It's no longer only small Italian wineries. Jugs of Barefoot moscato are sold at BJs Wholesale Club. It's on the menu at Olive Garden. What's up with that? Well, it's inexpensive - generally $8 to $20 a bottle, good price point in a recession. It's low in alcohol and has a lightly sweet, fresh flavor with hints of peaches, apricots, pears, orange blossoms, rose petals - all nice. And sweet wines are selling big, especially to the under-40 crowd who grew up imbibing sugary drinks. Then there's the whole hip-hop, edgy thing. Drink moscato and you'll be cool like rapper Waka Flocka, which marketers pick up on - or start - and the whole thing goes round and round. It happened with Cristal champagne, Hennessy cognac and Patron tequila. But why moscato, once a niche after-dinner wine nice with fruit desserts? It may remain one of life's mysteries, but as hip-hop artist Ab-Soul sings:
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
MARTIN: Bonny Wolf is the author of "Talking with My Mouth Full" and contributing editor of NPR's Kitchen Window. This is NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S STAY TOGETHER")
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is, of course, Al Green's classic, "Let's Stay Together," first released in the 1970s. Now, some 40 years later it's been re-invented by the singer Seal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S STAY TOGETHER")
SEAL: (Singing) Times are good or bad, happy and sad. Let's, let's stay together...
MARTIN: Seal has re-imagined that song, along with 10 other well-known '70s hits on his newest album. It's called "Soul 2," and it's a follow-up to the singer's previous "Soul" album released in 2008. For this new CD, Seal teamed up with producer Trevor Horn, who helped create some of Seal's best known original songs, such as "Kiss from a Rose," "Don't Cry" and this song you couldn't escape if you had a radio on in the early '90s.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRAZY")
MARTIN: Seal joins us from NPR West. Thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to the program, Seal.
SEAL: I thank you very much (unintelligible). It's good to be here. You know, listening to the original version of "Let's Stay Together," I suddenly felt to myself, my God, what have I done. It just sounds so good, doesn't it? I mean, admittedly, of course, it's his song.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: OK. So, talk to me about that process of saying, well, yeah, this is this behemoth in music and this song in particular. And why that song? Why did you think yeah?
SEAL: Well, well, well, well, of course, you know, we all know that song. It's impossible for anyone not to know that song. But one of the things I do, which kind of explains a little bit about what I just said, is I try not to listen to the original. Whenever I'm covering a song, I don't want to listen to the original because my first loyalty is to the song. So, I try not to listen to what has been done already and try and, you know, bring my own interpretation to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S STAY TOGETHER")
SEAL: I'm sure by now you would have seen that President Obama's...
MARTIN: I did.
SEAL: ...version of that. And honestly, I sat there thinking to myself how lucky I am that he has a day job. Because his version was so good. I mean, his tone was incredible.
MARTIN: It was pretty on, wasn't it, yeah? I want to get back into the album. Let's take a listen to "Backstabbers." This is first performed by the Philadelphia soul group The O'Jays.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BACKSTABBERS")
MARTIN: Are you singing along, Seal?
SEAL: I was, 'cause I really like singing this.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: What do you love about that song?
SEAL: I love the irony in it. It's satirical, isn't it? It's a part of life, something that everyone goes through. They smile in your face but all the time they want to take your place, the backstabbers. But it's not angry. It's funky, it's dramatic, but it's got a lot of bite to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BACKSTABBERS")
MARTIN: (Singing) I can see clearly...
SEAL: Yeah. (Singing) I can see clearly the rain is gone...
MARTIN: You did that much better than I did.
SEAL: Well, it is my day job.
MARTIN: That's true.
SEAL: I think. But thank you.
MARTIN: You were 10.
SEAL: I was 10 and it's quite interesting because when I look back on my childhood and all this sort of well-documented difficulties that I had in my childhood, it actually seems quite appropriate that that would be the song that would change my life.
MARTIN: I know it's mostly documented for people, but we should remind who don't know. You were in foster care for a short time as a child, you went back to your biological parents and had a difficult childhood.
SEAL: Yeah. It was difficult but, you know, we've all had our difficulties in one shape or one form or another in our childhood. But that was a song that I used to escape to. That was a song that would lift me out of those difficult times. And that was a song that gave me hope. And that was my first realization that a song can actually do that. It can transport you into this world of ideals and hope and optimism.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WISHING ON A STAR")
MARTIN: You have had some changes in your personal life, if you don't mind me asking about this. We learned last week that you and your wife, Heidi Klum, model and TV host, are separating, which is obviously a painful thing for anyone to go through. And you've already spoken publicly some about this. But I was wondering how music fits into your life during points like the one that you're in? Is it a refuge for you? Is it a distraction? Is it a burden?
SEAL: Well, it's certainly not a distraction. You know, and the interesting thing about being a musician or being a songwriter is that music actually does reflect pretty much everything that's going on in your life. You don't necessarily have to be singing specifically about things that are going on in your life. But because of the nature of music, because it is this incredibly emotional phenomenon, everything that you are feeling or experiencing in your life is relayed in the music that you point out, and not necessarily in the lyrical content. It shows in the tone of your voice. For the last eight years, ever since I met this incredible woman, this woman that has and still does continue to change my life and bring me so much joy, every note I have sung, every performance that I have given, every record that I have made has had her and the four little miracles that we have in...
MARTIN: Your children.
SEAL: ...in that music. And so - yeah, our children - and so to answer your question how does it affect it - obviously, these are difficult times but it is what it is. And that doesn't change. Now, funnily enough, you know, if there is a kind of a lighthearted way to look at it, you know, I have an album full of songs that I didn't write but nonetheless they're called "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," "Let's Stay Together," "Wishing on a Star," "Love TKO." They are, in many ways, topical and lyrical but then I guess those are the mark of any great song.
MARTIN: And universal.
SEAL: They're universal. And that doesn't change. You know, I still have an incredible degree of love, admiration and respect, and perhaps even more so for this woman who has changed my life and given me so much.
MARTIN: I want to get back into the album, and I want to play my favorite track in this collection. Let's listen to a little bit of your version of "Lean on Me," first released by Bill Withers in 1972.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAN ON ME")
MARTIN: So, I have to ask you, you've been doing this a long time - more than 20 years. Where is your heart? What stirs you? What do you sing when no one's around, no one's listening to you?
SEAL: This song.
MARTIN: This song?
SEAL: The song, the song.
MARTIN: The song.
SEAL: It is the song. That is what I care about. I don't care if it's a Katy Perry song. I don't care if it's classical, if it's soul or R&B, if it's rock, if it's pop, if it's rap. I'm a huge fan of Lil' Wayne. As far as I'm concerned, he's as relevant as Dylan is. He's real. And that's what I admire most about songs. When they are real, when they are heartfelt, when they are well-crafted and they are crafted most importantly with integrity, that, to me, is soul.
MARTIN: Seal, his new album "Soul 2" is in stores now. He spoke with us from NPR West. Seal, thanks so much for talking with us. I really appreciate it.
SEAL: You're welcome. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAN ON ME")
MARTIN: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The debt crisis in Europe is taking a toll on Spain's wine market. Many Spaniards can no longer afford their own beloved Rioja, so the country's winemakers are looking abroad for a much-needed bump in sales. Lauren Frayer reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING)
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Judging from the crowds in Spain's tapas bars, you might wonder where the economic crisis is. But there's been a subtle change. Many are drinking less wine, or switching to beer.
MARTA JUAN SEVA: It's more expensive to have a good wine. And you can get two beers for the price as you can get one wine.
FRAYER: Marta Juan Seva sips a cerveza at a sidewalk cafe in Madrid. Her friend Carlos Zavala chimes in. He's unemployed, but he says staying home is not an option.
CARLOS ZAVALA: In Spain, everyone socializes in bars and restaurants. Every, every single block at least, there's a bar.
FRAYER: And the bars measure the economic tides in Spain. Wine used to be just for the dinner table, but after the euro and Spain's construction boom, fancy wine bars started popping up. Spain's foremost wine expert, Jose Penin, says those bars became cool.
JOSE PENIN: (Spanish spoken)
FRAYER: But unfortunately that's also coincided with the economic crisis, he says. So we've seen no growth in domestic consumption. That's hurt even the oldest wineries in Rioja, the Spanish region famous for shipping grapes to France in the 19th century when a plague wiped out Bordeaux's harvest. Legend has it aristocrats couldn't tell the difference between French and Spanish grapes. And Rioja has flourished since then. Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia runs Rioja's Vina Tondonia winery, which her great-grandfather founded. On a tour of its cavernous cellar, she explains her business model.
MARIA JOSE LOPEZ DE HEREDIA: The problem is that the restaurants was demanding for dropping the prices. And I told them no way because my costs are the same. I started to sell more abroad.
FRAYER: She's hoping to sell half her wines overseas this year, up from 30 percent a few years ago. Spanish wines go mostly to Germany, the U.K. and America. But now a neighboring vintner, Simon Arina, is learning Chinese.
SIMON ARINA: China drinks wines because it's prestigious. Buy the most expensive wine in China.
FRAYER: China ranks fifth for Spanish wine exports, but it's the biggest growth market. And there's volume here to export. Spain has the most wine acreage in the world. But economist Pankaj Ghemawat says Spanish winemakers face stiff competition.
PANKAJ GHEMAWAT: If you think of the number of new wine growers around the world - Australia, Chile, South Africa - and how low costs are in some of these locations, especially the ones who've gone in for an industrial approach to winemaking, competing head-to-head with them, doesn't sound like a great idea.
FRAYER: Back at the Vina Tondonia winery, owner Maria Jose strolls past oak barrels, reassuring herself that the family business is strong enough can take on new challenges.
HEREDIA: My grandfather died when I was 17. He was 96 years old. And he told us a lot of stories about the war, and my father started from zero after the war. So, I'm aware in my family of what it is, suffering and going through very difficult times.
(SOUNDBITE OF WORKERS PRUNING VINES)
FRAYER: Outside in the fields, workers are pruning the same grape vines Maria Jose's great-grandfather planted. Inside, she pops open a bottle of red...
(SOUNDBITE OF CORK POPPING)
FRAYER: ...and wonders where next year's harvest will end up. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Rioja, Spain.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: You are listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. This summer at the Olympic Games in London, women will compete in the boxing ring for the very first time. And next month, some of the top female American boxers will gather in Spokane, Washington to vie for a spot on the U.S. team. WNYC's Marianne McCune spoke with some of the hopefuls are about why they love this traditionally male sport.
MARIANNE MCCUNE, BYLINE: Women who box love it for the same reasons guys do. Boxing requires intense physical and psychological discipline, the ability to overcome fear and anger.
BERTHA ARACIL: I think boxing is therapeutic. It keeps you under control. You know? It controls your body.
MCCUNE: This is Bertha Aracil, 29 years old.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPOON BANGING AGAINST SURFACE)
MCCUNE: She loves to cook.
ARACIL: And I'm an amateur boxer.
MCCUNE: When I met her she was living in a basement apartment in the Bronx with a man and a woman she called her husband...
ARACIL: So strong, poppy.
MCCUNE: ...and her wife.
ARACIL: Hello?
MCCUNE: They were cooking for a band of nieces, nephews, and sisters - part of a big family of Cuban immigrants.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN PLAYING)
MCCUNE: Aracil is 5 foot 9 with jeans, boots. She says her many tattoos tell the story of who she is. She points to a pit bull and a strawberry.
ARACIL: I love strawberries.
MCCUNE: As a teenager, Aracil was the pit bull. Like a lot of guys who box, she was a street fighter first until she got locked up for five years.
ARACIL: Before I started boxing, I thought you have to be in the ring and be angry to actually win, you know. But you can actually win a fight and don't have, like, nothing malicious in your mind, nothing, you know. You can actually be calm and happy and win. That's what I like about boxing, because I can't believe I can actually fight in the ring and think. When you beat somebody, you're better than them. That's what's satisfying me. I want to be better than you.
MCCUNE: So, any good boxer derives that kind of satisfaction. Here's what's different for a woman: she's taking on a challenge no one expects her to.
GLORIA PEEK: OK, here we go. On the bell.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL RINGING)
PEEK: I think women are one of the fiercest competitors there are. But they've been taught to suppress a lot of things.
MCCUNE: Coach Gloria Peek is with USA Boxing.
PEEK: It's not ladylike. It's not ladylike to do this, this and that.
(SOUNDBITE OF WOMEN TRAINING)
MCCUNE: Peek is in a California boxing gym, helping train a diverse group of fighters that Bertha Aracil will have to beat in order to make the U.S. Olympic team.
PEEK: Change the speed on her a little bit.
MCCUNE: Peek started boxing in the 1970s, against many odds.
PEEK: My mother dressed me up so pretty in these little dresses and everything like that. And I'd come home with my dress torn, bleeding and all that 'cause I'd been in a fight. My mother's like, Gloria, what were you doing? Fighting. This guy got all in my face, threw a punch. I let him know that I wasn't afraid of him. No, no, it's ladylike to be afraid. Why? Nobody has an intelligent answer.
MCCUNE: Now, she calls boxing the last great domain of men.
PEEK: I think of it as like the gladiators and, you know, the immortals and the gods - that was always men. And now all of a sudden women have stepped into it.
(SOUNDBITE OF PERSON HITTING HEAVY BAG)
MCCUNE: Women like Mikaela Mayer, who's here wailing on a heavy bag. Mayer will compete against Aracil to represent the U.S. at 132 pounds. She's tall, with cover-girl looks, and says she wears heels as often as possible.
MIKAELA MAYER: I like the fact that I'm feminine outside the ring and on the streets and, you know, I may not seem like a boxer but really, you know, I am a boxer and I have that side to me. And I can be a woman and I can be an aggressive athlete.
(SOUNDBITE OF PERSON HITTING SPEED BAG)
MCCUNE: Tiara Brown is on the speed bag - another opponent for Aracil.
TIARA BROWN: I'm a boxer. I want to be treated like the guys are treated, like a boxer. I don't want special treatment because I'm a girl. No.
MCCUNE: On the other hand...
BROWN: For one, I have a big old juicy booty and it's shaped like a cherry. I have abs of steel. And then I have these sexy luscious lips. And I've got these guns on my arms. I'm a boxer, and I'm a girl boxer. (Singing) My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and, dang right, it's better than yours, dang right...
ARACIL: I love looking at women go in the ring and box. I think that's real sexy.
MCCUNE: We're back in Bertha Aracil's basement bedroom.
ARACIL: To go in the ring and switch up and be strong and can take punches and receiving them, it's showing me my strong side, like, my fearless side. Nothing soft when I'm in the ring. I can be in there and be aggressive and fight, and get out of there and be sweet.
MCCUNE: The three tough and sweet fighters you just met will compete against each other and five other women in the lightweight division for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. For NPR News, I'm Marianne McCune in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF PERSON HITTING SPEED BAG)
MARTIN: Our story is part of a series produced with WNYC in New York and the New York Times. Sue Jaye Johnson co-produced the series and her photo essay on the women boxers appears in today's New York Times Magazine. For more, go to NPR.org.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Time now for the puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: And joining us now is the puzzle editor of the New York Times, and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Good morning, Will.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: OK. So today, we are finally unveiling the results of our special, two-week, creative challenge. This was a big one. But before we get to that, I know we have a couple of corrections to make to last week's puzzle.
SHORTZ: Yes. In last week's puzzle, I asked what is the only planet that comes alphabetically between Mars and Saturn? I gave the answer Mercury. But as several listeners pointed out, Neptune also fits between them.
MARTIN: OK. And also, our East Coast listeners may have heard us mistakenly call Calgary, Canada, a capital city - I think I did that. The Canadian government did recently name Calgary a cultural capital but technically, Calgary is not a capital city. So apologies to all my Canadian friends, and thank you to all of our very attentive listeners who helped us catch those mistakes.
Now, back to the business at hand: this week's puzzle. Will, you challenged us to come up with amusing sentences using just TV show titles. And we received more than 580 entries. And I understand that you read all of them. What were some of your favorites?
SHORTZ: The first one is from Bill Trotter of Ellsworth, Maine: Desperate housewives in search of good times kidnapped the bachelor.
One of the longest, that was also nice, came from Tim Erskine of Columbus, Ohio: I've got a secret, wise guy. Once upon a time, all my children - Ed, Ellen, Felicity, Maude, Gidget, Tom and Jerry, the magnificent seven - chopped family ties. This is your life. Work out family matters, step by step, one day at a time.
MARTIN: Wow.
SHORTZ: And one more - came from Patrick Berry of Jasper, Alabama. He wrote: Father knows best who's the boss. That's my mama.
MARTIN: And I know, Will, you've saved the best for last. Tell us who's the winner this week.
SHORTZ: The winner is - again, Patrick Berry, who sent one of the runners-up. His winning entry is: The nanny lost all my children.
And I chose that for its simplicity and naturalness; it made me laugh. And when I read the top entries to friends, everyone selected this as their favorite.
MARTIN: Well, Patrick is joining us on the line right now. Congratulations, Patrick.
PATRICK BERRY: Thank you very much, Rachel.
MARTIN: And say hello to Will Shortz.
BERRY: Hello, Will. It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you.
SHORTZ: Hey, Patrick. And you know, you share a name with one of the best and most prolific crossword constructors in the country: Patrick Berry from Athens, Georgia.
MARTIN: And Patrick, you - yourself - you don't just do crossword puzzles; you actually write them?
BERRY: I'm into cryptic crosswords, the British style.
MARTIN: Cryptic crosswords - I don't even know what that is. Will, do you know what that is?
SHORTZ: Yeah, those are my favorite crosswords, too.
MARTIN: Really?
SHORTZ: We'll go into detail on that someday.
MARTIN: Oh, good. OK. You two have a special bond there. OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: Well, this should be an interesting puzzle, with two expert puzzlers. Let's go for it, Will. What is this week's puzzle?
SHORTZ: All right. Patrick and Rachel, today's puzzle is: the pits. Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name, in which the first word starts with P-I and the second word starts with T. For example, if I said an old route taken by covered wagons, you would say pioneer trail.
MARTIN: OK.
SHORTZ: Number one: an eating surface at a park.
BERRY: An eating surface - picnic table.
SHORTZ: Picnic table is it. Number two: Cones grow on it.
BERRY: Pine tree.
MARTIN: Nice.
SHORTZ: That's it.
MARTIN: Nice.
SHORTZ: Pepperoni, sausage or mushrooms.
BERRY: Pizza topping.
SHORTZ: That's it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: A classic English poem of circa 1536, written in the style of Chaucer. And the title starts with "the."
BERRY: Take a risk tale - or something.
SHORTZ: Tale is correct. And for the first word, it's a possessive, and it would name the early settlers in Massachusetts.
BERRY: Oh, "A Pilgrim's Tale."
SHORTZ: "The Pilgrim's Tale" is it.
MARTIN: There.
SHORTZ: A mouth feature of many a punk rocker.
BERRY: Pierced tongue.
SHORTZ: Pierced tongue is good.
MARTIN: Wow. Well done, Patrick.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: How about a former Canadian prime minister.
BERRY: Pierre Trudeau.
SHORTZ: That's it. And your last one...
MARTIN: Thank goodness you got that. Otherwise, we were going to insult our Canadian friends again.
SHORTZ: And your last one: a chest of stolen gold, silver, precious gems, etc.
BERRY: Pirate treasure.
SHORTZ: That's it.
MARTIN: Oh, well done, Patrick. You had virtually no hesitations. You nailed all those. Congratulations.
BERRY: Yeah. Thank you very much.
MARTIN: And for playing our puzzle today, you'll get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin as well as puzzle books and games. You can read all about it at NPR.org/Puzzle. And Patrick, which public radio station do you listen to?
BERRY: That would be 90.3, WBHM, in Birmingham.
MARTIN: Nice. Shoutout to Birmingham. Patrick Berry, thanks so much for playing the Puzzle this week.
BERRY: Thank you very much.
MARTIN: OK, Will. What do you have to stump us with for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes, this week's challenge comes from listener Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website MathPuzzle.com. And it is a math puzzle. Write the digits from 1 to 9 in a line. If you put a plus sign after the 2, a times sign after the 4, and plus signs after the 6 and 8, the line shows 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9, which equals 2003. And that's nine years off from our current year, 2012. Now, this example uses four arithmetic symbols. [POST-BROADCAST CLARIFICATION: The sum does not equal 2003 when arithmetic operations are performed in order from left to right. However, the challenge that follows â to use arithmetic signs in three places in a line from 1 to 9, to equal 2012 when operations are performed in order â can be solved.]
SHORTZ: The object is to use just three arithmetic signs - plus, minus, times and division; using just any of those signs - in a line from 1 to 9 to get 2012 exactly. The operation should be performed in order from left to right. There's no trick to this puzzle. Can you do it?
MARTIN: Will, you're killing me. It's a math problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: When you have the answer go to our website, NPR.org/puzzle, click on the Submit Your Answer link. Just one entry per person, please, and our deadline for entries is Thursday, February 2nd at 3 PM Eastern Time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner, we'll give you a call and you'll get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's Puzzlemaster, Will Shortz.
Will, thanks so much.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now, an example of why targeting Iran can be so challenging. Last week, the European Union decided to place an embargo on Iranian oil, but Iran is itself an economic power thanks to its oil. It came back with a countermove. Iran now says it may cut off oil shipments to Europe immediately, rather than wait for the embargo to take effect. And Iran's threat is well timed. The European economy is in an especially vulnerable state right now. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: The background here is that the Europeans are in the midst of their most serious economic crisis in 60 years, and now they're hearing it's not just their own fate they have to consider, the whole global economy hangs in the balance. The International Monetary Fund last week warned that if Europe's problems get any worse, it could push the entire world back into recession. European Union leaders, meeting in Brussels tomorrow, are said to be close to resolving some of their most difficult issues - and they'd better be. The IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has been busy reminding the Europeans what's at stake, as she did in an interview with the BBC.
(SOUNDBITE OF BBC BROADCAST)
GJELTEN: Some economists question the IMF's mostly pessimistic outlook on Europe. In fact, there are some positive signs: borrowing costs for the most indebted countries have actually gone down, and the European leaders are close to agreement on a big bailout mechanism. But Jacob Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics says some governments have had to do so many budget cuts that they've endangered their own growth prospects.
JACOB KIRKEGAARD: That is the main reason, in my opinion, that we're seeing a slowdown in the euro area as a whole, and that both Italy and Spain are likely to fall back into recession in 2012.
GJELTEN: And then there's the Iran problem. The EU planned to institute its embargo on Iranian oil gradually over the next six months. Countries that buy Iranian oil - Greece, Italy and Spain particularly - need that time to find alternative oil suppliers. But Iran has upset that plan with its threat to cut off the oil before those countries have a chance to prepare. Cliff Kupchan of the Eurasia Group says they shouldn't be surprised.
CLIFF KUPCHAN: Iran has a long history of saying, OK, I'll see you and raise you 10. And this would be consistent with that pattern.
GJELTEN: Iran currently exports about 600,000 barrels of oil each day to Europe, so it would lose revenue by shutting that business down. But Kupchan, a Middle East analyst, says Iran could fairly quickly find other markets for its oil; more quickly perhaps than the Europeans could find other sellers.
KUPCHAN: I think it would be a lot more painful for the Europeans, in that they're going to have to get the Saudis, primarily, to provide them with more supply. That's more time consuming and it's not under European control, it's under Saudi control. The Iranians, on the other hand, can do whatever they want with their own crude. So, I think Iran could cause distress to European markets if it chose to go this route.
GJELTEN: Kupchan and other analysts say other governments would probably come to the rescue if Iran tries to punish Greece, Italy and Spain. But in the short term at least, those three countries could face higher oil prices. And Jacob Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute says if they have difficulty replacing the lost Iranian oil, these fragile economies could quickly find themselves in much deeper trouble.
KIRKEGAARD: This could easily be what pushes them, from my projection of a relatively mild and shallow recession, into something much deeper and longer lasting.
GJELTEN: With the potential for destabilizing all of Europe, he says. And as goes Europe, so may go the global economy. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
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MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Some call it utopia, some call it chaos, but every summer the Burning Man Festival brings tens of thousands of thrill-seeking pilgrims to the Nevada desert. They create a temporary city built around artistic expression. But say you live in the Midwest and you want to bring a little Burning Man to the 'burbs of, say, Minneapolis in the middle of winter. Well, it can be done, my friends. And Deena Prichep from Plymouth, Minnesota will tell us how.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING)
DEENA PRICHEP, BYLINE: Minnesota is known for its 10,000 lakes. And when they freeze for the winter its known for its ice fishing, and its ice shanties. They're little homemade fishing shacks full of heaters, radios, bottles of schnapps. But here on Medicine Lake, 20 shanties are part of a festival called Art Shanty. They're filled with art and dance parties.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE DANCING)
PRICHEP: Even though it's a bitter 15 degrees, hundreds of people are out, bundled in winter coats and long underwear - and the occasional neon jumpsuit. Peter Haakon Thompson co-founded Art Shanty in 2004.
PETER HAAKON THOMPSON: This whole project kind of expands people's ideas of what art can be. I think a lot of people are intimidated by museums and galleries and think that they're going to do something wrong when they're there. And there's definitely not that feeling out here.
PRICHEP: All sorts of people are skidding around the frozen lake. Sixteen-year-old Lu Xiao Ge is with a group of 54 Chinese exchange students, who are almost speechless at the sight.
LU XIAO GE: It's surprise. It's not normal. I like it very much.
PRICHEP: There are some great installations out on the ice. A giant robot waves its arms, and a daily newspaper is printed by hand on an old letterpress. And then a weirdly silent mob of people start dancing. They all sport fuzzy pink headphones from the Audio Adventure Shanty, which give them the beat. One guy lifts his headphones for a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Can you hear it?
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Do you want a pair?
PRICHEP: Artist Nathaniel Freeman says this sort of interplay - a kind of conversation between audience and artist - has really become the focus.
NATHANIEL FREEMAN: I think before it was kind of about creating fantastic things to come witness, and now it really seems to be about creating fantastic things to come interact with.
PRICHEP: And also, Freeman says, people come out because it's Minnesota.
FREEMAN: Winter's so legit here, you know. People really do fish out of ice shanties. So, that feels more like there's a good entry point.
PRICHEP: Although, most shanties wouldn't have a local folk music trio playing up in the loft.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE SINGING)
PRICHEP: Art Shanty closes next weekend. Organizers expect about 10,000 visitors to Medicine Lake before it's done. For NPR News, I'm Deena Prichep in Plymouth, Minnesota.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
In France, an elderly man is fighting to leave the Catholic Church. But he doesn't just want stop going to church. He wants to make a formal break by nullifying his baptism. And has sued the Catholic Church to make that happen.
NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports the case could have far-reaching effects.
(SOUNDBITE OF A METAL GATE)
RENE LEBOUVIER: (Foreign language spoken)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Seventy-one-year-old Rene LeBouvier opens the gate of the churchyard in the tiny village of Fleury, the Manche region. His parents and brother are buried here. He himself was baptized in the Romanesque stone church and attended Mass here as a boy. LeBouvier says this rural area of northwest France is still conservative and very Catholic, but nothing like it used to be.
LEBOUVIER: (Foreign language spoken)
BEARDSLEY: Back then you couldn't even get credit at the bakery if you didn't go to Mass every Sunday, he says.
LeBouvier grew up in that world, and says his mother once hoped he'd become a priest. But he says his views began to change in the 1970s when he was introduced to free thinkers. As he didn't believe in God anymore, he thought it would be more honest to leave the church. So he wrote to his diocese and asked to be un-baptized.
LEBOUVIER: (Through Translator) And they sent me a copy of records, and in the margins next, to my name, they wrote that I had chosen to leave the church.
BEARDSLEY: That was in the year 2000. A decade later, LeBouvier wanted to go further. In between were the pedophile scandals and the Pope preaching against condoms in AIDS-racked Africa, which LeBouvier calls criminal. Again, he asked the church to strike him from baptismal records. When the priest told him it wasn't possible, he took the church to court.
Last October a judge in Normandy ruled in his favor. The diocese has since appealed, and the case is pending.
REVEREND ROBERT KASLYN: One can't be de-baptized.
BEARDSLEY: That's Reverend Robert Kaslyn, dean of the School of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America. Kaslyn says baptism changes one permanently before the church and God.
KASLYN: One could refuse the grace offered by God, the grace offered by the sacrament, refuse to participate. But we would believe the individual has still been marked for God through the sacrament, and that individual at any point could return to the church.
BEARDSLEY: French law states that citizens have the right to leave organizations, if they wish. Loup Desmond has been following the case for French Catholic newspaper, La Croix. He thinks it could set a legal precedent, and open the way for more demands for de-baptism.
LOUP DESMOND: If the justice confirms that the name Rene LeBouvier has to disappear from the books. If it is confirmed it can be a kind of jurisprudence in France.
BEARDSLEY: Up to now, observers say the de-baptism trend has been marginal, but it's growing. In neighboring Belgium, the Brussels Federation of Friends of Secular Morality reports that 2,000 Catholics asked to be de-baptized in 2010. And French newspaper Le Monde reports that about a thousand French people a year ask to have their baptisms annulled.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken)
BEARDSLEY: There is much anger across the continent over the recent pedophile scandals. In September, Germans marched to protest the pope's visit.
Christian Weisner is with the German branch of the grassroots reform movement We Are Church. He says Europeans still want religion and they want to believe, but it has become very difficult within the Catholic Church.
CHRISTIAN WEISNER: It's the way that the Roman Catholic Church has not followed the new approach of democracy, the new approach of the women's issue, and there is really a big gap between the Roman Catholic Church and modern times.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH BELLS)
BEARDSLEY: Back at the church in Fleury, LeBouvier stands by his parents' grave. I ask him if the case has ruined his chances of being buried in the family plot here. I don't have to worry about it, he says, I've donated my body to science.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Ten years ago today, President George W. Bush stood before both houses of Congress. It was his first State of the Union address, and just four months after September 11th. The president addressed what he saw as key threats to America's national security - and he named three countries specifically: Iraq, North Korea and Iran. And then he uttered a phrase now firmly part of the national lexicon.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world.
MARTIN: Since that speech, the United States has invaded and now pulled out of Iraq. North Korea has detonated a nuclear weapon, and the country remains as isolated and confrontational as ever. And Iran has continued to grow its nuclear program, despite a decade of warnings from the international community and waves of sanctions that never seem to break the stalemate between Iran and the West. This morning, we're going to focus in on the relationship between the U.S. and Iran and how it's changed since that famous speech. With me now, NPR foreign correspondent Mike Shuster, who has covered Iran extensively over the years. He joins us from NPR West. Also, Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joins me here in our studio in Washington, D.C. Gentlemen, thanks for joining me.
KARIM SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Rachel.
MIKE SHUSTER, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel.
MARTIN: I'd like to start by asking you both what the U.S. relationship was like with Iran right before the president gave that speech. Karim?
SADJADPOUR: The relationship between the United States and Iran had long been adversarial, since the 1979 Iranian revolution. But immediately after September 11, there was a hope in the air that suddenly there was a convergence of interest because Tehran had been a sworn enemy of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and a sworn enemy of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. So, there was a hope in the air for about three months, which could potentially lead to some type of a rapprochement. But the axis of evil speech, I think, really sabotaged any hope that remained of them.
MARTIN: Mike, is that how you see things, the relationship between the U.S. and Iran before the speech?
SHUSTER: Yes, and I think it's worth pointing out that one of the first great candlelight vigils around the world that occurred right after the 9/11 attacks happened in Tehran. There was an outpouring of emotion, and it could have been something that the United States could have built upon if it had wanted to.
MARTIN: Fast forward. Over the next few years, the U.S. would deploy a large number of American troops on Iran's doorstep, in both Iraq and Afghanistan. How does this change the dynamic? Karim?
SADJADPOUR: In some ways, it was a very paradoxical period in the U.S.-Iran relationship. And the reason why I say that is that in 2003, shortly after the U.S. had captured Baghdad in just a very short period, the Iranian government was very nervous and they actually sent out some trial balloons towards the United States making it clear that they were interested in some type of a confidence-building process. But at that time, what I was told was that Vice President Cheney shot down any overtures from Tehran. And the Bush administration's philosophy at that time was the Iranian regime was on its way out and why should we throw a life raft to a drowning man?
MARTIN: Karim, what role has the Iranian president Ahmadinejad played in all of this? How much of the tension has been a direct result of his personality or his particular political agenda?
SADJADPOUR: Certainly Ahmadinejad has exacerbated the tension and the animosity and mistrust between Washington and Tehran. Going back to the person who authored at least part of the axis of evil speech, David Frum; David Frum once told me something about U.S. domestic politics toward Iran, which I think is absolutely right. He said that a country could enrich uranium and it can call for Israel's demise but it can't do both at the same time. And that's, under Ahmadinejad, you know, Iran's hostility towards Israel has really complicated the relationship between the United States and Iran.
MARTIN: President Obama focused some time on Iran when he gave his State of the Union address last week. Let's listen to one section of that speech.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Look at Iran. Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran's nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before.
MARTIN: I want to ask you, Mike, is that true? Is the regime more isolated than ever before?
SHUSTER: Yeah, I think that that's fair to say. Iran doesn't have many friends in the world and is isolated and continues to be more isolated. And I think when you look at the U.N.-imposed sanctions - there have been four rounds of them over the last four or five years - everybody supported those sanctions, including Russia and China. The tougher sanctions that the United States has wanted to put into practice and now has gotten the European Union on board are still being resisted by Russia and China. So, in that sense, the really tough sanctions that President Obama would like to see are still a topic of conversation and resistance in Moscow and in Beijing.
MARTIN: Karim, where are we today when you think about the where the U.S.-Iranian relationship was before this speech, immediately following, now a decade later? Is it status quo? Has it really changed?
SADJADPOUR: It's gotten more hostile, and I think we're much closer to moving from a cold conflict to a hot conflict because Iran has moved forward with their nuclear program. But I would say that Iran truly is more isolated than it's ever been, and I think people around the world, including even in places like China and Russia, recognize that the Obama administration made unprecedented but unreciprocated overtures to Tehran. And I think there's a general recognition now that the challenge lies more in Tehran than in Washington.
MARTIN: Mike, how much of this is about Iranian domestic politics? There is an opposition to Ahmadinejad in Iran, is there not?
SHUSTER: Oh, there is an opposition to Ahmadinejad. It's on the right and the left of Ahmadinejad. The reformists oppose Ahmadinejad and the more hard-line conservatives. This is a very interesting political conflict that's emerged in the past year. A bit of irony here. It is Ahmadinejad who in recent weeks has been calling for renewed discussions with the United States and the Europeans to talk about the nuclear program, and he's made it clear he'd like to see the relationship with the United States improve. But the more hard-line conservative forces around the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, are resisting that. I think they're resisting it primarily because they don't want to see Ahmadinejad get credit for what would be a very popular move in Iran, which would be improvement of relations with the United States.
MARTIN: NPR foreign correspondent Mike Shuster joining us from NPR West and Karim Sadjadpour with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace here in Washington. Thanks to you both.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you.
SHUSTER: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. With two days left before the pivotal Florida GOP primary, the front-runners have taken over the airwaves. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and some outside groups have unleashed a steady stream of political ads, filled with insinuations and accusations. To sort through the mudslinging, we are joined now by Angie Drobnic Holan. She is the Florida editor for PolitiFact.com, which is a nonpartisan fact-checking website. Angie, welcome to the program.
ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN: Thanks so much for having me.
MARTIN: OK. Let's jump right in from an ad from AFSCME, which is a public workers union. Let's take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
MARTIN: What do you think about this on, Angie?
HOLAN: We rated this one mostly true. Damon Corporation was a company that Bain Capital took over as part of its turnaround business. And the company became publicly traded. Romney was a director. And then later, after the company was sold, federal prosecutors announced the company had been defrauding Medicare by overcharging physicians for blood tests. Now, it was never shown that Romney was personally involved in this. Romney said he wasn't aware of it, so we rated it mostly true.
MARTIN: We're going to bounce now to an anti-Gingrich attack ad paid for by Mitt Romney's superPAC, which is called Restore Our Future. Let's take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
MARTIN: OK, Angie. Break it down for us.
HOLAN: Well, what caught our attention was the attention that he cosponsored a bill with Nancy Pelosi to support China's one-child policy. We gave this our worst rating, Pants on Fire.
MARTIN: Which means this is absolutely not true.
HOLAN: Absolutely not true. The bill was not to support China's one-child policy. It funded a U.N. population fund. Now, the bill specifically said that no money should go to a sort of coercive family planning. And as far as the cosponsors go, there were more than 100 cosponsors. It got almost a third of the House. So, just not much here to base this charge on.
MARTIN: OK. So, back again now to an anti-Romney ad. It was funded by Newt Gingrich's superPAC called Winning our Future, and it's taking aim at Mitt Romney's health care law that he signed as governor of Massachusetts.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
MARTIN: What's wrong with this ad?
HOLAN: Structurally speaking, the Massachusetts plan and the national plan are very similar. But the problem with this ad is it says that Romney's plan sent costs spiraling out of control. Well, the plan extended insurance to people who didn't have it before. So, in that sense it did spend more money. But we could find no evidence that the plan was responsible for increased health premiums for consumers, increased out-of-pocket costs. Massachusetts did see some of that but it saw it just the way the whole nation has seen it since 2006. So, we rated the statement false.
MARTIN: OK. So, finally, this one is a Spanish language ad from Mitt Romney. Obviously, Florida, this is a very important demographic in it. Romney is questioning Gingrich's constant comparisons of himself to conservative icon Ronald Reagan.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
MARTIN: So, a little background here. Years ago, Newt Gingrich associated bilingual education with, quote, "the language of living in a ghetto," end quote. And in ad we just heard that narrator is saying, quote, "Reagan would have never offended Hispanics as Gingrich did this way." So, what's the verdict on this one?
HOLAN: We gave this one a mostly true. We went back to the speech. It's from 2007. Gingrich was saying that English only is a way to unify people. But it was pretty clear from the context of his remarks, he was saying people who only speak Spanish are putting themselves into a ghetto, isolating themselves. A few days later, Gingrich came back and said in Spanish that he made poor word choices. But he didn't formally apologize for the remarks. So, given all that history, we rated it mostly true.
MARTIN: Angie Drobnic Holan is the Florida editor of PolitiFact. She joined us from St. Petersburg, Florida. Angie, thanks so much.
HOLAN: Thanks for having me.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
As Facebook moves towards more openness, Twitter is restricting some of its access. The social media site announced last week that it will censor any tweet deemed, quote, objectionable by certain governments. Twitter bills itself as a champion of free expression, and the move caused outrage among many. We reached out to Twitter for comment.
ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY: My name is Alexander Macgillivray, and I'm the general counsel of Twitter.
MARTIN: Macgillivray says there were a lot of factors to consider, like protecting Twitter employees from retaliation - especially those who live in countries that might raise objections, like China or Saudi Arabia. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Though Macgillivray said that protecting Twitter employees from retaliation was a factor, Twitter does not have a staff or business practice in either China or Saudi Arabia.]
MACGILLIVRAY: Freedom of expression is really important to us, so we wanted to keep more tweets up in more places, and we wanted to make sure that our users in the world would be able to see whether we're living up to our freedom of expression ideals.
MARTIN: Twitter says it will let users know when a tweet has been withheld by posting a notice, and a link, to ChillingEffects.org/Twitter, a website that tracks online censorship. But the tweet doesn't disappear. It can still be seen in countries where it hasn't been censored.
Critics say Twitter's move could have a far-reaching effect. Think of an Arab Spring without the galvanizing effect of thousands of tweets from protesters. Twitter's Alexander Macgillivray says that's not a fair criticism.
MACGILLIVRAY: Well, first of all, it overstates Twitter's role in those types of things. The revolutions would have happened with or without Twitter.
MARTIN: Some Twitter users around the world are protesting the company's action with a self-imposed tweeting blackout.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
You know what they say: The book is always better than the movie. You can probably come up with exceptions but that old adage is a motivator for the people charged with turning books, plays, or television shows into movies in the first place, the screenwriters. What does it take to turn a story told in one medium into a hit film?
In the weeks ahead, we're going to explore that question with some of the nominees in this year's Best Adapted Screenplay category of the Academy Awards. The Oscars take place February 26th. And the five films nominated for this award take their inspiration from novels, a political drama that played on Broadway, and a true-life David and Goliath business story from the world of sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "MONEYBALL")
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: That's a scene from the film "Moneyball," based on Michael Lewis's book of the same name. The other nominees are: "Hugo," "The Ides of March," "The Descendents," and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."
To give us an overview of the category itself, we've called Sasha Stone. She's the founder and editor of the Awards Daily blog, and she joins us from NPR West.
Sasha, thanks for talking with us.
SASHA STONE: Oh, it's so nice to be here. Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: OK. So, looking back at the group of nominees for best adapted screenplay, they're really different movies. I mean the "Ides of March," this is a kind of political drama; "The Descendents," this family story; "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy;" and "Hugo," which is a kids' movie. Is that typical of the category to have such a broad range of movies?
STONE: It is typical in a way. But when you kind of drill down into it you'll see similarities, which is that they're all five male-driven storylines. And thematically, they're all about a central character who's kind of lost and searching, you know, to redefine himself in the world that he's living in. And they'll kind of follow that pattern.
With "Ides of March," it's a moral decision that Ryan Gosling has to make. And in "Moneyball," Brad Pitt is reinventing, you know, he's an outcast reinventing the rules of how they play the game of baseball. "Tinker, Tailor" is Smiley, you know, not sure of who's around him and who he can trust.
And in "The Descendents," George Clooney is discovering that his wife has been having an affair and now she's in a coma, and he has to sort of, you know, reinvent his parenting and who he is as a man and as a citizen of Hawaii, and what he wants for the future. And then, of course, in "Hugo," Hugo is living, you know, on his own in a train station and he doesn't know where his next meal is coming from, let alone where he's going.
And, so, in a way, they're all lost. They're all looking for something. And by the end, they're all sort of found.
MARTIN: At its most basic, what makes an effective film adaptation?
STONE: Well, the first thing you need is to be a strong Best Picture contender, because the adapted screenplay race is very closely married to Best Picture. It has less to do with a great adaptation, which is sort of what we hope it would be.
MARTIN: You would think.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STONE: And more to do with how successful is this contender in the race.
MARTIN: OK.
STONE: Sorry to have to tell you.
MARTIN: So, for the sake of argument, put aside the fact that all of these have to be really good films. Is there any criteria for judging an adaptation that requires some kind of analysis of how closely the ultimate screenplay mirrors the original source? Do people even think about that?
STONE: No, you'd so. They really don't. I think that the exception is here would be "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" which really is a very, very tight, very kind of admirable faithful adaptation to the John le Carre novel.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER AND, SPY")
MARTIN: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" it was also a mini series, a television series. Right?
STONE: It was. It was a beloved miniseries and when people heard that they were making a movie out of it they thought, oh, it will never live up to the miniseries -why would they bother doing that? But Bridget O'Connor and Peter Strawn actually really wrote a great adaptation of the novel, and managed to condense it into movie length very, very well, I thought.
And the other really faithful adaptation is "The Descendents."
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE DESCENDENTS")
STONE: The author, Kaui Hart Hemmings, was allowed on the set every day and...
MARTIN: Is that normal?
STONE: No, they don't want the writer on set because they don't want to have every decision questioned. But in this case, Jim Burke, the producer had seen the unpublished manuscript of Kaui Hart Hemmings' "The Descendents" and fell in love with it. And therefore, he was motivated and Alexander Payne, the director, to really make sure that they were faithful to her original source material. And whether that means that will carry it to a win is a different question.
MARTIN: Sasha Stone is the founder and editor of the blog Awards Daily.
Sasha, thanks so much for talking with us.
STONE: Oh. Thank you, Rachel. I enjoyed it so much. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Next week, we continue our look at this year's contenders for best adapted screenplay with John Logan. He wrote the screenplay for "Hugo." That lovely music we're hearing right now is from that very film.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
Florida holds its primary the day after tomorrow. If Mitt Romney wins, it could be a decisive victory for the former Massachusetts governor's bid for the nomination. But if Newt Gingrich comes out on top there will likely be a long battle ahead. Both men have a lot at stake in Tuesday's vote, which explains all the strong attacks they hurled at one another on the campaign trail and in TV spots across Florida yesterday.
NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea reports from Orlando.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Month after month, Mitt Romney has campaigned with his eye fixed on one target: President Obama. But then came last weekend's loss to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina; it brought with it a new approach by Romney. He's going directly after Gingrich. This is from yesterday in Panama City.
MITT ROMNEY: Some of us remember, oh yeah, the Contract with America. That was a good thing. We took over the House - that was great news. What happened four years latter? Well, he was fined for ethics violations. He ultimately had to resign in disgrace.
GONYEA: At that same event, Romney had help from 2008 GOP nominee Senator John McCain. He went after Gingrich for attacking Romney's record at Bain Capital.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: I do not understand. Do you? Why anyone would attack a person who is successful in business, in the free enterprise system.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: That is a sign of desperation.
GONYEA: But such attacks where matched line for line by Gingrich. This is how he started his day in Port St. Lucie on Saturday
NEWT GINGRICH: All I'll say about Governor Romney is while he was governor he raised taxes, he imposed RomneyCare, the state of Massachusetts was third from the bottom in job creation; not a particularly strong based to debate jobs with Obama.
GONYEA: Actually, that was far from the only thing Gingrich had to say about his opponent. Take this from a session with reporters right after that speech.
GINGRICH: Now, there's no practical way in a civil debate to deal with somebody who is that willing to say something that's just totally dishonest.
GONYEA: Florida is the biggest state so far to hold a 2012 presidential vote. It has many big cities and media markets, so the campaigns can't do it all with stump speeches and town halls. TV ads are mandatory to reach all the voters. And this weekend, sharply-worded messages airing on local Florida TV stations contained even sharper versions of what was heard on the stump.
First from Gingrich, this ad opens with a clip from the unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Romney was one of those Huckabee was running against fours years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL ADS)
GONYEA: Then there's this Romney campaign ad airing this weekend. It features the image and voice of former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw, reading a story about Gingrich on the "Nightly News" in 1997.
(SOUNDBITE OF A POLITICAL AD)
GONYEA: For the record, NBC News asked the Romney campaign to take down the ad featuring Brokaw, while Huckabee asked the Gingrich campaign to pull the ad with archival footage of him.
Other than debates, Gingrich and Romney have not had face-to-face encounters on the trail. But yesterday in Florida, two of their surrogates did clash in person. This was in the back of the crowd after a Gingrich event. A Romney supporter, Florida Congressman Connie Mack, showed up to talk to reporters. He was confronted by Gingrich campaign spokesperson RC Hammond.
REPRESENTATIVE CONNIE MACK: I'm just asking you, you came over here but I don't...
RC HAMMOND: No, peddling would be what...
MACK: No, peddling is what Newt did when he was paid $1.6 million. He hasn't answered the question. Why was he hired by the lobbyist? Why was he hired by the lead lobbyist? Why was he hired as a lead lobbyist?
HAMMOND: Your side registered as a lobbyist.
MACK: You should answer that question, it might help the campaign.
HAMMOND: I am answered that question...
(SOUNDBITE OF CONVERSATIONS)
GONYEA: In that moment, the race for the republican Presidential nomination resembled a food fight more than anything else.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Orlando.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For more on the fireworks between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, we're joined now by NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: OK, so as we just heard in Don Gonyea's piece, the rhetoric really has gotten very heated. It's just a couple days from the Florida primary. Mara, from where you sit, how is the race looking right now?
LIASSON: Well, the Gingrich surge has ended although he's still leading in the national polls. In Florida, which matters, where Republicans vote, as you said, on Tuesday, Romney is now solidly ahead and that's due to a number of factors which you just heard. Romney and his affiliated superPAC have launched a withering multi-million dollar assault of attack ads on Gingrich. And this has happened before. When Gingrich had his first surge in Iowa, they were able to squelch that.
This time, it doesn't look like there's enough time or an opportunity for Gingrich to bounce back like he did in South Carolina. I think if Romney wins Florida he'll be back to looking like the presumptive nominee.
MARTIN: But, Mara, it's not just Romney levying these attacks. The GOP establishment has really come out hitting Gingrich very hard. The latest was former presidential candidate Bob Dole, right? Can Gingrich use all these attacks to his advantage?
LIASSON: Well, he's certainly trying. Sarah Palin has endorsed him. Herman Cain has endorsed him. They're very popular with the Tea Party. Palin said that he's being crucified by Romney and his establishment allies. Gingrich is now running a full-throated insurgent campaign against the elites, which includes the Republican establishment, which he says is no different from any other elite - whether it's Barack Obama or Wall Street.
This is a role in which Gingrich is very comfortable. He did come to power as an insurgent bomb thrower, even though Romney has been attacking him as a lobbyist and a Washington insider. But even in this era of the Tea Party, the establishment wing of the Republican Party is still very powerful.
MARTIN: And Gingrich's last couple debate performances have really suffered while Mitt Romney has really been able to land some pretty solid punches. Let's take a listen.
MITT ROMNEY: Speaker Gingrich was hired by Freddie Mac to promote them, to influence other people throughout Washington, encouraging them to not to dismantle these two entities. I think was an enormous mistake. I think instead, we should have had a whistleblower and not a horn tooter.
LIASSON: You know, what happened in these two debates in Florida was extraordinary. We had a complete role reversal. Gingrich had been the alpha dog in South Carolina debates; that's a large part of how he won there. He was commanding and combative. He attacked the media. Romney was stumbling, couldn't get his answer straight on his tax returns.
But then Romney hired a new debate coach, Brett O'Donnell. He used to run the famous Liberty University debate team. He's worked for a lot of Republican candidates. And Romney's performance improved. He was relentlessly aggressive in the Florida debates. But also there was a bigger change and it was inexplicable. Gingrich didn't stand his ground. There is a case to be made against Romney. But for some reason, in Tampa and Jacksonville debates, Gingrich did make it.
MARTIN: So, what's the upshot of all of this? When you see a bruising primary battle like this, does this hurt or help the candidates when they go up against President Obama in the fall?
LIASSON: Well, right now you'd have to say it's hurting. Romney's negatives have gone up. Latest Wall Street Journal poll showed that his favorable ratings went from 30 to 24 percent - not very high to begin with. Another Washington Post/ABC poll showed that Romney's favorability with independent voters had gone down 17 points just in the last couple of weeks.
The Obama team thinks that all the information that's come out in the primaries - the Swiss bank accounts, the Cayman Island accounts, Romney's comments about his income - are liabilities for him in the general. They would've come out anyway, of course, but now the Obama team has the words of Romney's rivals, Republican rivals, to use against him.
The Romney campaign thinks its good that came out now. He is time to develop a response and by the fall he'll be inoculated against these charges, that he's an out-of-touch plutocrat.
MARTIN: Mara Liasson is NPR's national political correspondent. Mara, thanks so much as always.
LIASSON: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Republican primary campaign has brought fame to a few eateries, where candidates have dropped in for a glad-handing and good grub. There's Lindy's Diner in New Hampshire, Tommy's Country Ham House in South Carolina, and just about any Pizza Ranch in Iowa.
It's not quite in that league yet, but in Florida, NPR's Greg Allen reports the GOP candidates' place to be is the Fish House in Pensacola.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: The Fish House has been open since 1998, but in the last few years it's become a local political institution. Mitt Romney was there yesterday for a morning rally, joined by Senator John McCain and actor Jon Voight. They brought out a large crowd, one that filled the outside deck and the upper gallery. Some people even spilled onto the dock in the marina that the restaurant overlooks. Owner Collier Merrill says Mitt Romney is not the first candidate to grace the outdoor deck.
COLLIER MERRILL: Four years ago, we had a lot of them come through. We had Mike Huckabee here and Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson - had them all. So, Senator McCain being here was special. He was here actually one year ago today.
ALLEN: McCain was there for a party after his son, Jack, received his wings as a Navy pilot.
Warming up the crowd before introducing Romney, McCain said Pensacola holds many memories for him. He trained as a cadet and received his wings here.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: It's wonderful to be back in Pensacola. When I was a young Navy pilot I did my best to help the economy here, Mayor.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: Every - my entire paycheck was always donated to cultural institutions here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: Along with politics, what The Fish House is best known for grits a Ya-Ya, homemade cheese grits made with bacon, mushroom, cream, garlic, topped with shrimp. Politics came along because of Merrill. He's an old friend of former Republican Congressman and MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough.
MERRILL: When we opened in 1998 - actually about '99 - he became our house band, and was the house band here for, you know, when he was home on the weekends, he would come in and played here. It was called the Mojo Band, and we had a good time with him.
ALLEN: Later, Scarborough brought his "Morning Joe" show to The Fish House and broadcast live during the region's recovery from the Gulf oil spill. Politics have helped this restaurant's recovery and Pensacola's Fish House hopes to sell the lot more grits a Ya-Ya before 2012 is over.
Greg Allen, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: And you're listening to NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now time for your letters.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Last Sunday, I spoke with author Gary Marcus about his book "Guitar Zero" and his own journey late in life to learn guitar.
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GARY MARCUS: Well, this whole book in a way got started with me playing a video game called Guitar Hero, which I had purchased in a vague hope in becoming musical.
MARTIN: Turns out a lot of listeners have taken up an instrument as adults. Ann Mitchell posted this comment at NPR.org: After 11 years of piano lessons as a kid, I realized I was not a piano player. More than 20 years after that last lesson, my husband surprised me with a bass guitar, and I've never looked back. For anyone contemplating taking up an instrument, I urge you to give it a try. It is more fun than you can imagine. And this note from Rama Gehris of Mechanicsville, Maryland: The interview really resonated with me - pun intended. I first picked up a cello at nearly age 40, and by sheer persistence have gone from rasping out "Ode to Joy" to solidly mediocre in seven years of daily practice." Finally, last Sunday was this show's 25th anniversary, and to celebrate we had a special puzzle that featured hosts of this program through the years: Audie Cornish, Liane Hansen and Susan Stamberg. Many of you wrote in to say you were delighted, like Cobie Langerak from Atlanta, Georgia who wrote: I found myself misty-eyed during this morning's puzzle. Susan's voice is like that of an old friend, and Liane's infectious laugh still warms my heart. Thank you for allowing me to celebrate along with you in such a meaningful way. And we'd like to thank you for your letters over the last 25 years. Keep them coming. You can write to us on Facebook and Twitter @NPRWeekend, or I'm at @RachelNPR. You can also always go to NPR.org and click on the link that says Contact Us.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York State, wants to stop fingerprinting food stamp recipients. Aside from Arizona, New York is the only place where the policy still exists. Cuomo says fingerprinting stigmatizes needy people and stops them from asking for help. And that pits the popular governor against New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who says fingerprinting prevents fraud. Cindy Rodriguez of our member station WNYC reports on a policy that stretches back many years.
CINDY RODRIGUEZ, BYLINE: Governor Andrew Cuomo's pledge to stop fingerprinting food stamp recipients was one of the biggest applause lines in his recent State Of the State speech.
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RODRIGUEZ: New York was one of the first states in the country to use digital imaging to take people's fingerprints back in 1998. Three other states eventually adopted the practice. But two of them - California and Texas â ended fingerprinting last year. New York City remains the only place in the state that fingerprints food stamp recipients. Many non-profits serving low income New Yorkers agree with Cuomo and say more people will seek badly needed assistance if fingerprinting ends.
ERASMA BERAS-MONTICCIOLO: There's no doubt that there will be a rise.
RODRIGUEZ: Erasma Beras-Monticciolo is from the East River Development Alliance, a non-profit that administers food stamp applications. She says her group works with several populations that shun fingerprinting, including women recently released from prison.
BERAS-MONTICCIOLO: It's a continuous dialogue with them about, you know, why you should access these benefits, you know, what it's going to mean for yourself, you know, just to create some stability in your life.
RODRIGUEZ: But outside a food stamp office in Manhattan, food stamp recipient Oliver Briscoe said if people need food bad enough they will go through the process.
OLIVER BRISCOE: A person who is in need of food will embrace the fact of getting fingerprinted to keep themselves fed, to keep their families, well, unstarved.
RODRIGUEZ: Briscoe says he's disabled and he receives $200 a month in food stamps. He believes fingerprinting is the best way to make sure only the truly needy receive the benefit.
It's the same argument Mayor Michael Bloomberg makes. According to the city, in 2010 fingerprinting detected 1,900 duplicate food stamp cases. About 1.8 million people received food stamps that year. The catch saved taxpayers just over $5 million. The city is not able to say how many of those cases were fraud.
Russell Sykes, senior fellow at the Empire Center for New York State Policy, believes any amount of savings is important.
RUSSELL SYKES: Program integrity is equally important as program access. I mean, you're already seeing now the food stamp program being brought up in the context of national politics. And the more one can say that the program gets benefits to the right people with integrity, the better that program is.
RODRIGUEZ: Sykes also questions whether fingerprinting is stifling participation, given the recent rise in food stamp users. According to city statistics, since 2007 the number of food stamp recipients rose by more than 700,000 people. Nicole Cuffee was laid off a year ago and became one of those food stamp users. She says she felt stigmatized by being fingerprinted but went through with it anyway.
NICOLE CUFFEE: It's basically like when you go through central booking or something. You're getting booked and you feel like you're getting fingerprinted with one finger here and one finger thee, you know.
RODRIGUEZ: By the city's own estimates, there are more than 600,000 New Yorkers that are eligible for food stamps but who don't apply. That's a participation rate of 71 percent, just below the national average.
For NPR News, I'm Cindy Rodriguez in New York.
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This time last year, no one was getting Facebook in Egypt. The government of Hosni Mubarak had shut down the Internet to quell growing protests. A year later, Mubarak is gone. But the new government still seems to be using high-tech controls to monitor its citizens.
To talk more about Egypt and other places, we're joined by Rebecca MacKinnon. She's a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of the book "Consent of the Networked."
Welcome to the program.
REBECCA MACKINNON: Thank you. It's great to be here.
MONTAGNE: How much control does the government have over Egyptians these days?
MACKINNON: Well, as far as the Internet is concerned, the Egyptian government did stop censoring the Internet after Mubarak stepped down, but activists assume that their electronic communications are all being monitored. After Mubarak stepped down, activists were actually able to see some of the files that had been kept on them and found that there were copious records of all their emails, cell phone text messages, their Skype conversations, and that the government was using very sophisticated technology to monitor everything that they were doing and saying online. And it's assumed that that technology is still in use. The military transitional government has been arresting bloggers, raiding the offices of non-profit organizations. People feel that they have to be very careful about what they're saying online and assume the military government might do something with it.
MONTAGNE: Let's turn to Tunisia. It was first noticed that the Internet was playing a rather huge role in bringing people out into the street. There's a democratically-elected government there now, but it has, maybe surprisingly to many, re-imposed Internet controls.
MACKINNON: That's right. As of the middle of last year, the government decided to re-impose censorship, not as broadly as before, but on sites that are considered pornographic and inflammatory. And there are a lot of citizens who are protesting this, particularly the activists who were so involved with bringing down the last government, but there are a lot of conservatives in parliament who feel that the Internet can't be completely free, that public morals need be enforced and so on. So there's a huge debate going on about how - in a democratic society, what is the appropriate role of censorship and also surveillance.
MONTAGNE: You write in your book that people do, though, sometimes think that the Internet just brings freedom and revolution, just like that. And in your words, it does not offer magic freedom juice.
MACKINNON: Yeah, that's right. I mean the Internet is an empowering force for people who are protesting against the abuse of power. It's less clear how useful the Internet is going to be building a stable new democracy or in improving existing democracies.
I think the critical question is: How do we ensure that the Internet develops in a way that is compatible with democracy, that continues to enable dissent and organizing against the abuse of power?
MONTAGNE: I do think a lot of people think of Internet companies as being the champions of Internet freedom. But you write the reverse, that many of these companies are tending to wield a lot of power over what goes on.
MACKINNON: That's right. I talk about Internet companies as the sovereigns of cyberspace. The problem with a lot of these companies is that they're making decisions based primarily on commercial factors. And sometimes these decisions are not made with sufficient attention to how they're going to affect the most vulnerable users.
So you take the way that Facebook has handled its identity policies. Facebook requires that people use their real name. That's fine if you're a teenager in Palo Alto or if you're the majority of users - but for people who are political activists in an oppressive regime, that's much more problematic.
MONTAGNE: Although that particular example shows how complicated this is, because to have a policy where people have to identify themselves online may be very helpful, because anonymity, as we know, has bred all kinds of issues - from abuse of other individuals online to potentially something far more even nefarious than that.
MACKINNON: Well, that's absolutely true. And this is why these issues are so difficult. These companies need to figure out how they're going to govern their services themselves, kind of in negotiation in a way, with their users.
MONTAGNE: But I think the ones that are going to be the most successful in the long run and really gain their users' trust are going to be the ones who are listening not only to the majority of users but also the most vulnerable people. Because you know, as we know just from our own democracy, the founding fathers, when they set up our institutions, were very concerned about something called the tyranny of the majority. And if you set up the system so it's just fine for the majority but it's not protecting the deviants, so-called, or the people who are more outlying, how you protect those people's right to exist.
Rebecca MacKinnon is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Her new book is "Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom."
Thanks very much for joining us.
MACKINNON: Thank you. Great to be here.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
Today in "Your Health," treating depression. There is no quick fix for severe depression. Antidepressants usually take weeks to work - if they work at all. We continue our series on depression drugs, as NPR's Jon Hamilton visits a hospital in Houston where doctors and nurses confront the limits of current medications every day.
JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: If you live anywhere near Houston, and you get really bad depression - the suicidal kind - you'll probably end up here, at Ben Taub Hospital.
CHARLZETTA MCMURRAY-HORTON: If police bring them in, they're going to come through this door. If the ambulance brings them in, they're going to come through this door and be triaged.
HAMILTON: Charlzetta McMurray-Horton is in charge of mental-health nursing. She's showing me what happens to people who show up in the ER with suicidal depression. We're standing in the emergency center's cavernous waiting room. The center sees more than 100,000 patients a year. About 5,000 of them need psychiatric evaluation.
McMurray-Horton says the people who cut themselves, or overdose, are likely to make a stop in one of the medical treatment areas. Otherwise, they'll go straight to a quiet, walled-off area designed specifically for mental health emergencies.
MCMURRAY-HORTON: This is the psych emergency center One South - locked area.
HAMILTON: I've come to Ben Taub Hospital because it's a place where you get a really clear view of what the current drugs for depression can't do. And one of the things they can't do is offer quick relief to the people who come to this locked unit.
Dr. Anu Matorin is the unit's medical director. She tells me about one of her recent patients. The woman had suffered bouts of depression since college. But after she had a baby, the problem became severe. She stopped eating and sleeping. She began to think about suicide. Dr. Matorin says finally, the woman made a desperate call to her mother.
DR. ANU MATORIN: She was very emotional, very tearful, not making sense. She said, I just can't take it anymore. I don't know how to feed the child - the mother could hear the infant crying in the background.
HAMILTON: The family called 911. The woman arrived at the hospital with a police escort. Dr. Matorin evaluated her in the psychiatric emergency room, and put her on antidepressants. Then came the hard part.
The drugs might help the woman eventually, but they weren't going to do anything about her suicidal thoughts during the next few, critical days. So Matorin did the only thing she could for her patient. She admitted her to the hospital's locked inpatient unit, where most of the patients are considered a threat to themselves or someone else. McMurray-Horton takes me there.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOSPITAL CHATTER)
HAMILTON: The unit's main room is warmer and softer and more colorful than you might expect. Think Holiday Inn without any sharp objects or hard edges.
MCMURRAY-HORTON: We have one TV over to this side, which has seating. We have dining tables and chairs that patients can sit in.
HAMILTON: But McMurray-Horton says there's no avoiding the fact that this is a place where safety is paramount, and privacy isn't. Shatterproof, plastic windows around the nurses' station provide an unobstructed sight line to pretty much everywhere.
MCMURRAY-HORTON: Patients who come here - and you're talking about emergency detention order - they don't want to be here.
HAMILTON: And at first, they may be out of control and angry.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Sucks! Ben Taub sucks! They treat these people like stuckies - screwballs.
HAMILTON: Drugs for depression don't work fast enough to help someone in the early days of a crisis. So McMurray-Horton says staff members have a simple goal for these patients.
MCMURRAY-HORTON: Keep them safe, keep them alive, until they're in a different space.
HAMILTON: Counseling can help. So can family. And she says most people just start to feel better after a few days in a place that makes sure they stay in, and the world stays out.
MCMURRAY-HORTON: Sometimes, time is what it takes.
HAMILTON: That was certainly true of the depressed young mother that Dr. Matorin admitted. She got better, and went home several days later. But Matorin says that woman probably could have skipped the hospital stay altogether if the drugs used to treat depression were as quick and effective as, say, painkillers.
MATORIN: I think it would transform psychiatric care, and really eliminate some of the stigma and fear and concern about treatment.
HAMILTON: A growing number of scientists think it won't be long before psychiatric care is transformed. And they are particularly excited about an experimental drug that's being tried over in the Neuropsychiatric Center at Ben Taub Hospital. McMurray-Horton once again shows the way.
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HAMILTON: That's a metal detector just inside the entrance.
MCMURRAY-HORTON: So this is the outpatient clinic we're walking into.
HAMILTON: The drug researchers are trying here is unlike anything used to treat depression now. And they're giving it to patients who haven't done well on existing drugs. Heather Merrill is one of these patients.
HEATHER MERRILL: I've suffered from depression for most of my adult life, and it kind of got to the point where I kind of felt like there wasn't anything that was going to be able to help me.
HAMILTON: Merrill is 41. She's married, with three kids and a nice house in the suburbs. She says at times her depression gets so bad, she can't take care of her family or even herself.
MERRILL: No ambition, no drive. Just kind of - you know, I'm here, but it's really just my body.
HAMILTON: Merrill says that's exactly how she felt yesterday. Then, doctors placed an IV in her arm and began to administer a drug. She knew there were two possibilities. The drug could have been just a sedative, or it might have been something called ketamine.
Ketamine has been used for decades as an anesthetic. It's also become a wildly popular but illegal club drug, known as Special K. Mental health researchers got interested in ketamine because of reports that it could make depression vanish almost instantly.
Dr. Sanjay Mathew, from Baylor College of Medicine, is in charge of the ketamine study Heather Merrill is in. He says depression medications really haven't changed much since Prozac arrived in the 1970s.
DR. SANJAY MATHEW: Everything since then, essentially, has been incremental. There have been tweaks of existing molecules.
HAMILTON: Mathew says ketamine represents much more than a tweak.
MATHEW: It's a completely different mechanism. It's a different route of administration, so it's an IV infusion. And the model is very different. It's not a daily dosed medication, but the focus is on really rapidly, helping someone get out of a depressive episode.
HAMILTON: Heather Merrill says she's pretty sure it was ketamine that flowed into her veins 24 hours ago.
MERRILL: It was almost immediate - the sense of calmness and relaxation.
HAMILTON: And Dr. Asim Shah, who directs the mood-disorder program at Ben Taub, says there's a good chance Merrill is right.
DR. ASIM SHAH: Her demeanor has changed tremendously. She looks like a happy person who is genuinely happy whereas before the study, she looked very down, very withdrawn - sort of almost tearful.
HAMILTON: But of course, nobody knows whether Merrill actually got ketamine. That information will be kept secret until the study is done, months from now. So I decided to see how Merrill's experience compares with those of people who definitely took ketamine for depression.
Carlos Zarate, who does ketamine research at the National Institutes of Health, has never met Merrill. But he describes for me the typical comments he gets from patients who get the drug. Here's what they say.
DR. CARLOS ZARATE: I feel that something's lifted - or I feel that I've never been depressed in my life. I feel I can work; I feel I can contribute to society. And it was a different experience than feeling high. This was feeling that something was removed.
HAMILTON: Then I listened to Heather Merrill talking about her own experience.
MERRILL: No more fogginess. No more heaviness. I feel like I'm a clean slate right now. I want to go home and see friends or, you know, go to the grocery store and cook the family dinner.
HAMILTON: It's pretty convincing. And researchers say it shows one of the challenges to doing studies of ketamine. The effects are so powerful and distinctive, it's hard to design experiments that prevent doctors and patients from figuring out who got the drug, and who didn't.
Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
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MONTAGNE: Tomorrow morning, we'll hear Jon talk to a man who definitely took ketamine, and to scientists who think it could lead to a whole new class of depression drugs.
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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.Good morning. We've discovered something surprising in the financial transactions of Freddie Mac. That's one of two giant companies the government created decades ago, to help Americans finance their homes.
Freddie Mac was bailed out by taxpayers during the financial crisis in 2008. Today, many struggling homeowners need help. They are trying to refinance at lower rates. And an investigation by NPR and ProPublica reveals that Freddie Mac is betting that homeowners fail to refinance.
The company has put billions of dollars into investments that do better when homeowners are denied the chance to refinance. Freddie Mac has also made it harder for people to get new loans on their homes. So its investments, while legal, raise concerns about a conflict of interest.
Our coverage starts with NPR's Chris Arnold.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Mortgage rates are at record lows, but millions of homeowners can't qualify to get those low rates. If they could, they'd be saving thousands of dollars a year on their mortgages. And Freddie Mac is one of the gatekeepers. It decides who can qualify, and who can't. Lately, it's been saying no more often to homeowners. And it turns out that at the same time, Freddie has been placing big bets against those homeowners.
ALAN BOYCE: So to state it simply, Freddie Mac prevented households from being able to take advantage of today's mortgage rates, and then bet on it.
ARNOLD: Alan Boyce is a former bond trader who's been involved in efforts to push for more refinancing of home loans. And he's not alone in being upset after finding out about these trades.
SCOTT SIMON: We were actually shocked that they'd done this.
ARNOLD: That's Scott Simon. He's the head of mortgage securities for the giant bond investment firm PIMCO - which makes him one of the biggest mortgage bond traders in the world. He says he was very taken aback when he saw what Freddie Mac was doing.
SIMON: Because it seemed so out of line with their mission - out of line with what Congress wanted them to do, out of line with what we perceived to be in the best interest of the stakeholders of Fannie and Freddie as well as the homeowner.
ARNOLD: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were taken over by the government in 2008. It's taken about $169 billion in taxpayer bailout money to keep them afloat. For a long time, the firms have had a policy mission to make lending more available for homeowners. But they also have giant investment portfolios. They have hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of loans and other kinds of investments that can get hurt if too many homeowners refinance.
In Freddie's case, this apparent conflict is more extreme. Freddie isn't just holding loans in its portfolio. Instead, Freddie Mac has used Wall Street alchemy to take tens of thousands of loans, and slice and dice them up into complicated securities. So mortgages that people want to refinance are now tied up in these securities. And the slice that Freddie invested in hinges completely on whether those homeowners stay stuck in higher interest rate loans. That's their bet. Scott Simon...
SIMON: They actually put themselves squarely on the opposite side of the homeowner. So if the homeowner lost and was unable to refinance, they win; and if the homeowner could refinance, they lose.
ARNOLD: Freddie Mac is now controlled by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA and Freddie both declined to talk about the company's trading portfolio. Freddie, in a statement, though, said that the company, quote, is actively supporting efforts for borrowers to realize the benefits of refinancing their mortgages to lower rates. And Freddie says it refinanced loans for hundreds of thousands of borrowers just last year.
Still, many homeowners feel trapped. And we actually tracked down one of these homeowners that Freddie Mac is effectively betting against. It was a couple, it turns out - Jay and Bonnie Silverstein.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: Well, we're truly stuck. I mean, obviously, financial jail is no fun.
BOYCE: The Silversteins live in an unfinished development of yellow stucco houses north of Philadelphia.
BONNIE SILVERSTEIN: Chris, let me have your jacket.
ARNOLD: OK. Thanks.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: Sure...
ARNOLD: The developer went bankrupt, leaving some of the home lots here surrounded by orange, plastic construction fencing. The Silversteins bought this home back before the market crashed, and then they couldn't sell their old house. They now know that buying before selling was a mistake, and the price that they've paid for it was painful.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: You know, it wound up taking us years to sell that house. So we had two homes and two mortgages for two and a half years.
ARNOLD: Wow.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: It just drained us. It just burned up my 401(k), and drained us.
ARNOLD: Jay was a manager at Johnson and Johnson, and he has a modest pension. The couple havn't missed any mortgage payments on this house but eventually, they did on their old one. Their current interest rate is near 7 percent, and so if they could refinance at today's rates - below 4 percent - that would save them about $500 a month.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: You know, we're living paycheck to paycheck. Most of the stress has been on you. I know you feel it, and I've seen it. And I feel...
BONNIE SILVERSTEIN: My hair didn't get white for nothing.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: I feel badly about that. Mine just fell out. So there's...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
JAY SILVERSTEIN: But 5, 6, $7,000 might go a long way toward helping us.
ARNOLD: Economists say it could help millions of other Americans, too. Jay says it would feel like getting a raise.
JAY SILVERSTEIN: Remember that? Remember when everybody used to get a raise? It's like a raise.
ARNOLD: But the Silversteins' old house was finally sold at a loss through what's called a short sale. And Freddie Mac, over the past two years, has tightened restrictions about that, which even prevent the couple from refinancing their new house.
Meanwhile, Freddie Mac has been benefiting because the Silversteins are stuck paying this higher-rate mortgage of nearly 7 percent.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Chris Arnold. He's in our studios. We're also joined by Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, who also reported on this story. Jesse, welcome to you.
JESSE EISINGER: Hi. Thanks for having me.
INSKEEP: And let me just make sure I understand the kind of homeowner who you say is being harmed here. We're talking about people who are in a house with a mortgage, and currently making the payments?
EISINGER: Right. These people are current on their mortgages. These aren't the subprime borrowers who bought houses they couldn't afford with crazy mortgages.
INSKEEP: OK. And so Freddie Mac is making it harder for them to refinance. Freddie Mac is also, you say, betting to make money that they will fail to refinance. What, Chris Arnold, is the investment exactly? How does it work?
ARNOLD: Well, the investment's complicated and that's why it's - probably - been below the radar. But one, simple way to look at this: Let's say Jesse and I were going to loan you, Steve, $100,000 to buy a house.
INSKEEP: OK.
ARNOLD: And you would pay us principal, and you would pay us interest. And we'd collect that. And we'd be happy, and you'd be happy.
Let's say a little ways down the road, you decide to refinance.
INSKEEP: OK, lower interest rate...
ARNOLD: Lower interest rate, OK - you know, that happens. We would get the principal back, right? We would get our whole $100,000 that we loaned you, back.
INSKEEP: Normally.
ARNOLD: That's how it normally works. Now, what Freddie did is very different in that they sold off their right to collect that $100,000 back. They sold that to somebody else, and all they kept was the revenue from that 7 percent interest that you're paying.
INSKEEP: And so now, they're desperate to make sure I keep paying that 7 percent. Otherwise, they lose their bet.
ARNOLD: That's all they've got.
INSKEEP: Jesse Eisinger, is this undermining government efforts by the Obama administration, by people in Congress, to actually help people get into cheaper loans so they can make their mortgage payments?
EISINGER: This certainly gives Freddie a financial incentive to not support those programs, because they've made these bets, and these bets are highly concentrated. And in fact, Freddie has made it harder, through a lot of added rules and fees, for people to refinance - simultaneously.
INSKEEP: Is there some argument, though, that this is good for taxpayers? Because Chris Arnold mentioned, this is a company that has been bailed out to the tune of many billions of dollars. They're desperate to make money, and they're making these investments that may harm some homeowners - or, many homeowners - but at least, they're hoping to make a profit.
EISINGER: There is an argument for that. And the Obama administration, and the regulator that controls them, have to weigh helping out taxpayers generally and more specific, homeowners. But as Chris said, it's very possible that a lot of refinancings could help the economy, and taxpayers, in the long run.
INSKEEP: So this could be counterproductive for the public as a whole, Chris Arnold?
ARNOLD: Sure. I think there's one other thing that's important to understand - is that buying a house is very different than refinancing a house, and that the government is already on the hook for these mortgages. So to keep millions and millions of people stuck paying higher rates - some of them are going to be more likely to default. So in the long term, the argument is, look - short term, yes, it might cost a little money; long term, you're probably going to save the government money by allowing more people to refinance.
INSKEEP: NPR's Chris Arnold, thanks very much.
ARNOLD: Thank you.
INSKEEP: And Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, thank you.
EISINGER: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News.
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A slice of New Jersey's economy depends on gambling. And in Atlantic City, a new casino plans term limits for some of its staff. When certain employees' contracts run out, they have to go through the hiring process again. That's the plan.
The casino says this is going to keep service fresh. Critics say the company is taking advantage of a tough job market. Emma Jacobs has the story, from member station WHYY.
EMMA JACOBS, BYLINE: Monopoly is set here in Atlantic City. And in the board game, as in real life, Connecticut Avenue isn't a glamorous spot. But a new casino going up here - Revel - is expected to make Connecticut Avenue a more exciting destination.
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND)
JACOBS: On a windy day, Patty Daley and other workers are putting the finishing touches on Revel's bright, new parking garage.
PATTY DALEY: The white - that just means that it's new. We've been doing it for a couple years.
JACOBS: Daley's work at Revel will only last until the end of construction. That's a given. But Revel recently said that positions inside the building, working closely with customers, will also have fixed terms. Employees from bellhops to dealers, will be hired for four to six years. And after that, they'll have to reapply for their jobs and compete against other candidates.
Revel declined an interview. In a written statement, the company asserts the policy will help, quote, attract the most highly professional people who are inspired by a highly competitive work environment, unquote. But it's an unusual way to go. Call up people who work in employment law or advocacy, and they've never heard of anything like this before.
ALICE BALLARD: What they've done here is set up a system that puts their good performers through a gauntlet of having to compete with people who have no record of performance.
JACOBS: Alice Ballard is a prominent employment attorney who works out of Philadelphia. She says anyone can be fired from their job. But she thinks this policy is more problematic.
BALLARD: Why would you take your good performers and put them through that competitive process, if you aren't trying to get rid of a good performer for some other reason?
JACOBS: Ballard thinks that other reason is probably age. To Ballard, this reapplication process looks like a low-profile way for the casino to regularly weed out older employees.
On the other hand, Brian Tyrrell thinks there's a logic to Revel's thinking. He's a professor of hospitality management at the Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. He quotes a famous hotel executive.
BRIAN TYRRELL: I think it was Hilton that talks about a thousand points of contact with the guest and how that's, you know, that is what the guest remembers, in terms of the service delivery experience. And they want to have a high degree of control over that.
JACOBS: Tyrell thinks the policy will motivate people to get promoted because managers won't be required to reapply for their posts. He also says Atlantic City desperately needs new jobs, making the employment insecurity imposed by Revel a price worth paying.
Casino employee Jeff Payne sits in the living room of the comfortable house he bought with his casino earnings. He's been with Caesars for 23 years. Right now, he serves drinks in the high- roller lounge.
JEFF PAYNE: How can you buy a car if you don't know you're going to have a job? You know, you want to refinance your home. You want to buy a home. I mean, these have always been decent jobs - good-paying jobs, sustaining jobs. But my concern is, you know - again, you get this job, and then you have no job security.
JACOBS: Payne, a union member, says the new jobs aren't what were promised when gaming came to Atlantic City. But lots of people laid off from casinos in Atlantic City in the last few years, still haven't found work. He says that even with the Revel's tough hiring policy, they will probably still apply.
For NPR News, I'm Emma Jacobs
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In the mostly Muslim country of Malaysia, controversy has swirled around a local women's group preaching polygamy and the obedience of wives to their husbands. The group claims these practices have helped create harmonious families and prevented social problems. Critics say they're not sure whether to treat the group as a joke or a threat.
NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Kuala Lumpur. And just a note to parents: This story contains some references to sex.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: A handful of customers eat and drink at the Global Ikhwan Cafe in the Malaysian capital. Ikhwan is Arabic for brotherhood. Global Ikhwan owns businesses in several countries. Last June, its employees established the Obedient Wives Club. Since then, it's been castigated for what Muslim and non-Muslim critics call a medieval and oppressive interpretation of Islam.
The controversy surprised club organizer Dr. Azlina Jamaluddin. She says that her group is merely suggesting a way to deal with social problems in Malaysia, such as the rising divorce rate.
DR. AZLINA JAMALUDDIN: The idea was actually just to invite the Muslim community to go back and follow the Quran and the Sunnah. Because through the years, I think people have actually gone astray a little bit, you know. We have all these social ills because of that.
KUHN: Dr. Azlina quotes a part of the Quran as the basis for her belief.
JAMALUDDIN: Chapter An-Nisa, Verse 34: "Men are the leaders of women, because God has made one of them to excel over the other, and because they spend to support the women from their means."
KUHN: The group appears to have toned down its rhetoric since last year, when media quoted members as saying that wives should satisfy the sexual desires of their husbands like prostitutes.
Club member Hajiera Hartley explains that the group is simply giving its members the basic information they request about sex and marriage.
HAJIERA HARTLEY: Simple things like, how do people kiss. Honestly, the Malays do not know how to kiss. They're flattening their noses more and more by kissing with the nose.
KUHN: Last October, the group published a book instructing its members about what it called Islamic Sex. The volume was promptly banned by the government.
Ivy Josiah is executive director of Malaysia's Women's Aid Group, which advocates for women's rights. She says that banning the book was unnecessary, as critics like herself have already thoroughly refuted its ideas.
IVY JOSIAH: The Obedient Wives Club went rather extreme, you know, by saying that you need to behave like a prostitute. So that kind of triggered a very negative reaction, but it was a great debate while it lasted. It's hard to ignore them, you know. They're good for a laugh, actually, I think.
KUHN: Josiah adds that the Obedient Wives Club is basically using religion to reinforce messages that already exist in every culture about why women should obey men.
JOSIAH: What they're saying here is that your religion - in this case, Islam - is also saying this is what you should do, that God is saying if you're going to enter the gates of Heaven, you also have to obey your husband.
KUHN: Other critics point out that the club was founded by members of the Al-Arqam sect, which Malaysian religious authorities banned for its unorthodox teachings. The club says that's ancient history. It has expanded overseas and now boasts some 3,000 members worldwide. The club's branches in places like Britain and Indonesia have drawn fire from local critics.
The former first lady of Indonesia, Sinta Nuriyah Wahid, rejects the group's interpretation of the Quran that places men above women.
SINTA NURIYAH WAHID: (Through translator) We believe that Islam bestows blessings on all of humankind. Any interpretation that does not fit in with this or is unjust must not be allowed. In my opinion, as a feminist, I would say the Obedient Wives Club should be banned.
KUHN: The Quran itself never changes, Sinta notes. It's just people's interpretations that change. And while people are free to interpret the Quran as they please, she adds, not all interpretations hold water.
Anthony Kuhn, NPR News.
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This month, we've been taking a look at state budgets. They remain in crisis for populous states like California and Illinois. But in Tennessee, the governor will deliver his State of the State address tonight with some extra money in his pocket - enough money that he's talking about tax cuts.
From member station WPLN, Blake Farmer reports.
BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE: Twelve months ago, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam paraded into the Capitol behind a marching band blasting "Rocky Top."
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FARMER: Spirits were high, but rocky was a fair way to describe the new governor's budget, which had a lingering $200 million hole. Federal stimulus money was running dry. And while down from its peak, unemployment was creeping back toward double digits. Haslam said the state needed a diet of efficiency.
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FARMER: Haslam has not had to wield the ax as much as once thought. There have been layoffs. Building projects have been limited, and social service departments have generally made do with less. But now, unemployment is down closer to the national rate. A state consumer confidence survey from December shows notable gains. Sixty-two-year-old Ray Age is one of 270,000 in the state still without work, but even he's optimistic.
RAY AGE: The employment market is going to turn around. It has to.
FARMER: With no income tax, Tennessee lives and dies by the sales tax. And revenues have increased each of the last 21 months. Now the kind of cuts Governor Haslam is proposing draw applause.
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FARMER: Earlier this month, the governor introduced a pair of modest tax cuts - lowering the tax on food and trimming back the estate tax. The governor says that drives wealth to other states.
: There's a whole lot of people who used to live in Tennessee who don't anymore because it's cheaper to die in Florida.
FARMER: But talk of tax cuts has some reminding the governor how long they've gone without.
ROBERT O'CONNELL: The best way to put it is that the budget has been balanced upon the backs of state workers.
FARMER: Robert O'Connell directs the state's employees association. With no collective bargaining power, the state's 46,000 workers haven't had much say as they had to forgo raises for several years. O'Connell says it's becoming increasingly difficult, though, to say the state doesn't have the money to increase pay.
O'CONNELL: And it does make folks that work as state employees, it's making them restless.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR RON RAMSEY: People need to understand, though, that when we say that revenues are up, that's all relative.
FARMER: Republican Ron Ramsey is speaker of the State Senate, and points out the budget still hasn't climbed back to where it was five years ago. So he's trying to limit expectations from groups like college presidents, who want to borrow $2 billion for a backlog of projects.
RAMSEY: I can understand their line of reasoning in the fact that we do have some pent-up demands here.
FARMER: But Ramsey says he'd like to keep Tennessee's coveted spot as one of the least-indebted states in the country. The administration's conservative approach isn't getting much pushback from Democrats. Craig Fitzhugh is the minority leader in the State House.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE CRAIG FITZHUGH: I think you'll find that we have some agreements with the governor. We think that he's moving in the right direction on some matters.
FARMER: While Democrats don't have much choice but to go along with the solid Republican majority, Fitzhugh does credit cooperation - at least on economics - with landing Tennessee in its somewhat enviable position.
For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer, in Nashville.
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With Florida's primary just a day away, the candidates are focusing on what's known as the highway to presidential political heaven. That would be Interstate 4. By some estimates almost half of Florida's Republican voters live along that corridor. Bobbie O'Brien of member station WUSF drove down the highway to talk to some Florida voters.
BOBBIE O'BRIEN, BYLINE: Interstate 4 is a 132-mile ribbon of concrete that links Florida's Atlantic Coast to the Gulf Coast. It also connects two of Florida's largest media markets â the Tampa Bay region and Orlando.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey, folks. How are you? Just have your picture ID out, there's no line.
O'BRIEN: Two blocks off I-4 in Orlando, early voters stream in to the Orange County Elections Office. Hilda Kolb is there, dressed in a peach-colored outfit. She's dropping off her early ballot, timing it with her volunteer day at the hospital to save gas. The retiree is not happy with either party.
HILDA KOLB: But I changed to Republican, temporarily, last election, because I am not an Obama person.
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O'BRIEN: Kolb wouldn't say who she voted for, but her frustration isn't surprising to Susan MacManus. She's a longtime political science professor at the University of South Florida.
SUSAN MACMANUS: The dominate thing Floridians are looking for is someone who can win Florida. Republican pride was greatly damaged when they lost the state and it turned blue in 2008. They don't want a repeat.
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O'BRIEN: I'm about ready to get on to I-4 again. We're about halfway down the I-4 corridor.
The highway here in Orlando is lined with hotels and theme parks, like Universal Studios and Disney World. Florida's tourism industry was hit hard by the recession.
A short drive away, we stop next at a private airstrip near Polk City. Donald Coleman just got his first ride in a biplane. He and his wife Paula moved here from Ohio. Both have already voted for Newt Gingrich.
PAULA COLEMAN: He's just more forceful. We can't have a wimpy president again. We've got to get somebody in there that says no, yes. You know, none of these I'll let you know in three months type of president.
DONALD COLEMAN: Yeah, that's not right. If you're going to make a decision, let's make a decision and don't wait six, seven, eight months.
O'BRIEN: But not all Florida Republicans have made up their minds.
CHERYL MEEKS: Five thirteen?
O'BRIEN: The fragrance of fresh strawberries mixes with the scent of oranges as customers line up at Parkesdale Farm Market in Plant City. Owner Cheryl Meeks has seen her share of politicians â Barack Obama and John McCain visited in 2008. She hasn't decided, yet, who will get her vote this time.
MEEKS: Every time I read something I say, OK, I'm going to go that way and then I read something else and then I'm going to go that way. So I'm going to really have to study.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Spanish language spoken)
O'BRIEN: Exit 1 on I-4 is Ybor City, Tampa's historic Hispanic neighborhood. Hispanics make up 11 percent of Republican voters, but the majority are Cuban-American and live in Miami. Tampa had one of the state's biggest increases in registered Republicans. That includes Derek Enderlot, who skipped high school last week to attend a Newt Gingrich rally with his parents.
DEREK ENDERLOT, BYLINE: It makes sense - just the way the Republicans and the conservatives think.
O'BRIEN: Define conservative for me.
ENDERLOT: It's cutting back on spending, saving money and doing what you can to keep your finances under control.
O'BRIEN: With almost half of Florida's GOP voters living along Interstate-4, people like Derek Enderlot may ultimately decide which Republican candidate will win Florida's primary tomorrow.
For NPR News, I'm Bobbie O'Brien in Tampa.
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Active duty and retired military personnel make up about a quarter of Florida's Republican voters. In past elections, that might've been an advantage for a candidate like John McCain. This time around, several Republican candidates talked tough on foreign policy, but none has emerged as the national security candidate. NPR's Debbie Elliott has more.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: The Romney camp brought some military might to a Pensacola rally over the weekend - Senator John McCain.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: Thank you very much. Thank you, Thank you all. Can I say thanks for coming out...
ELLIOTT: The former POW practically enjoys favorite son status here, having trained at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
MCCAIN: My grandfather got his Navy wings here. I got my wings here. My son Jack, who was a Navy pilot, got his wings here.
ELLIOTT: According to exit polls from the 2008 Florida primary, McCain won the military vote over Romney by a 42 to 35 percent margin. Now, McCain is trying to help Romney pull in that vote on Tuesday.
MCCAIN: I have every confidence, with Mitt Romney as the president, just as Ronald Reagan after Jimmy Carter, that Mitt Romney will restore this nation's strength and prestige around the world.
ELLIOTT: Romney regularly pays tribute to veterans at campaign events and promises that they would be cared for in his administration. In Pensacola, Romney decried President Obama for what he called a pretty please foreign policy.
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ELLIOTT: Newt Gingrich also reaches out to military voters, even giving them this shout-out during the last debate.
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ELLIOTT: He talks of growing up in a military family and campaigns on a hard-line approach to foreign policy.
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ELLIOTT: He ties national security to economic security.
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ELLIOTT: As for the other two candidates, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum vows not to cut military spending. And the only candidate who ever wore a uniform, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, wants to shrink the U.S. military footprint around the world.
At the veterans rally for Romney in Pensacola, voters had a hard time singling out which of the candidates has the strongest voice for the military.
DAVID SNYDER: I sort of hold them on equal footing on national security and international relations.
ELLIOTT: Retiree David Snyder of Navarre, Florida worked for a defense contractor when he left the Air Force. Electability is the issue for him. He's a Gingrich fan, but says he's considering voting for Romney.
SNYDER: I guess primarily the candidate with the best chance of winning. But he's not my first pick.
ELLIOTT: And that's a sentiment you hear often from Florida Republicans, aware that their state is an important test of how the GOP race will shape up.
Army veteran Dan Wood of Pensacola thinks Gingrich is the strongest candidate, but believes Romney is best-suited to beat President Obama. Wood says none of the candidates is really talking about national security the way he'd like.
DAN WOOD: They think that a strong military is national security, and there's a lot more involved than that.
ELLIOTT: Other vets here were concerned that Gingrich might not have the right temperament for the Oval Office. Reginal Knutti of Pensacola is a 77-year-old Army vet who had a second career as a civilian with the Navy here.
REGINAL KNUTTI: You need a strong leader, commander-in-chief, has to be strong, and one that is willing to stand up to our adversaries, terrorists - whatever. However, there still has to be a diplomatic way before you start firing the weapons. I was afraid Newt would be a little too aggressive.
ELLIOTT: If Gingrich has to overcome questions about his temperament with older vets, his economic message resonates with the younger generation here. Former Navy pilot Sean Kramer, who is 29, says foreign policy is not his top concern. The economy is.
SEAN KRAMER: Being a recent veteran out into the civilian world, and it's hard finding jobs out there right now.
ELLIOTT: Kramer says he's tired of all the talk during this campaign about Ronald Reagan. He says Republicans need a leader who looks to the future.
Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
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Every day now, people at an Italian port look out on the water and see the wreck of an ocean liner. Every day, tourists come to see it, too. While divers are still pulling bodies from the wreck, including the 17th over the weekend. Residents are eager for the ship to be safely removed. Here's NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: The Costa Concordia lies on its side, soaring like a giant carcass out of the sea just outside the small port of the island of Giglio. This fishing village usually hibernates in winter. Not now. It's bustling with tugs, barges, coast guard vessels, cranes and oil booms. The ferry from the mainland disgorges hundreds of day-trippers. Taxi driver, Adriano Pini, fears life here has changed forever.
ADRIANO PINI: (Through translator) Take that ship away. Seal it up and remove it as fast as possible, they lost two weeks of calm seas. Now we're flooded with day-trippers who come to look at the relic. This is disaster tourism.
POGGIOLI: The great fear is a marine environmental disaster. Giglio is part of Europe's largest marine sanctuary. It's a delicate eco-system. Underwater coral reefs are home to rare species of fish and mollusks. The area is also a nesting place for migratory birds.
The first task is removal of 500,000 gallons of fuel. The Dutch salvage company, SMIT, says weather permitting, removing some 50 percent of the fuel will take at least three weeks. Salvage master Bart Huizing says this vessel poses specific challenges
BART HUIZING: Basically, what we have here is a vessel listed 66 degrees. During the drilling operations, the (unintelligible) operations, we also need to work under an angle and we need to drill, actually, avert. In case, to do this, the divers need to really work hard, and it costs a lot of energy for the divers.
POGGIOLI: The 1,000-foot long ship was a floating village for more than 4,000 people. It also contains large quantities of chlorine for swimming pools, machine oils, lubricants, and even 5,000 liters of olive oil.
SCOTT SMITH: Olive oil dumped in the water is just as damaging as bunker fuel oil, because it disrupts the natural process of getting oxygen in the water.
POGGIOLI: Scott Smith has invented Opflex, what he calls a snare mop to absorb leaking oil. Smith has come to Giglio to offer his product that he says was used in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP spill.
So far, authorities here insist all toxic substances are well-sealed and nothing has leaked into the sea. But the shipwreck has already disgorged floating debris, rotting food, and human waste. Local health authorities declared parts of the submerged vessel off-limits to rescue divers as a precautionary measure.
The entire salvage operation is daunting. Franco Gabrielli, the emergency commissioner, announced a tentative timetable. The ship owners will take about two months to choose a company to remove the wreck, either by floating it away or breaking it up into pieces.
FRANCO GABRIELLI: (Through translator) Once everything is decided for the full removal of the vessel - with all the necessary caveats about weather conditions, etcetera - we're talking about a period from seven to ten months.
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POGGIOLI: The Gigliesi wonder, can full-scale salvage operations co-exist with their summer season? They re afraid this pristine reserve for nature lovers will be transformed into a gawkers' Mecca.
Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, on the island of Giglio.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep.
When reading news reports about the Republican presidential campaign, it's revealing to stumble on a dispatch that's a week old. You may discover a report that is utterly out of date, almost as if it's about some other campaign; different poll numbers, different frontrunner, different tone.
MONTAGNE: Just over a week ago, news report showed Newt Gingrich ascendant after winning South Carolina. Now in Florida, the weight of Mitt Romney's money and organization is beginning to show. Romney holds a commanding lead.
INSKEEP: The candidates though keep fighting on before tomorrow's primary, racing from Naples to Tampa to Jacksonville to Hialeah.
Here's NPR's Don Gonyea.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Mitt Romney has a plenty to feel good about these days. After losing big to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina, he's built a large and growing lead in polls in Florida. And his campaign organization is firing on all cylinders.
This is from Sunday afternoon at a Cuban restaurant in Hialeah, near Miami, where Romney was courting the city's large contingent of Cuban American voters.
MITT ROMNEY: Thank you. It's so nice. Nice to see you. Hi...
GONYEA: And perhaps most significant, the candidate even seemed to be enjoying himself. At the restaurant he helped carve a roasted pig Though he stopped short of singing along with the trio playing an old standard a few feet away.
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GONYEA: Earlier in the day, at a rally in Naples, Romney kept up his attack on Gingrich. He taunted him for complaining about the rules for a debate last week which limited audience response and cheering. He then turned his attention to President Obama.
When I debate the president, I'm not going to worry about the audience. I'm going to make sure that we take down Barack Obama and take back the White House.
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GONYEA: In the crowd, Romney supporter Linda Dabica said she's confident Romney will win in Florida and beyond. But says it's been tough watching at times.
LINDA DABICA: It's awful. I mean it's up and down and up and down, and your stomach in knots. But Mitt will persevere. And he is so steady and reliable that he's going to make it all the way.
GONYEA: Newt Gingrich meanwhile is trailing in polls but has also been drawing big crowds in Florida. Yesterday, he was at the planned retirement community known as The Villages - more than 80,000 residents and they vote. Thousands of them turned out for a Sunday rally outdoors.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, it really is a great day in The Villages.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GONYEA: And right off the bat, Gingrich countered Romney's attack line with one of his own.
GINGRICH: I have an opponent who has money power. And we need people power to offset money power.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: In the crowd hanging on Gingrich's every word were husband and wife Bernie and Ginnie Gross. They're retirees who've moved here from Washington D.C. She worked in government. He was in food supply sales. They both like Mitt Romney, but say Gingrich is the guy to beat President Obama.
GINNIE GROSS: Newt is tough and rough and he'll take him down.
GONYEA: That's Mrs. Gross. Mr. Gross, meanwhile, dismisses those who say Gingrich is too conservative, that he won't appeal to independent voters in a contest with President Obama.
BERNIE GROSS: They said the same thing about Reagan. He was a movie star. And he kicked You-Know-Who's butt.
GONYEA: The You-Know-Who is President Jimmy Carter.
But some at this rally aren't ready to get behind Gingrich. Retiree Gordy Hubbard, from Huntsville Alabama, is among them. Romney comes to the Villages today. Hubbard says he'll be there.
GORDY HUBBARD: I'll listen to Mitt. And I'll just have to think about it. I really don't know. It's a toss up right now.
GONYEA: The other two candidates still in the GOP race were not in Florida over the weekend. Both Congressman Ron Paul and former Senator Rick Santorum are way behind in statewide polls. Paul has been focusing on caucus states coming up on the calendar. Santorum had planned on being in Florida yesterday, but the youngest of his seven children, three-year-old Bella, was hospitalized with pneumonia. She is the disabled daughter he often talks about in speeches.
Santorum's oldest daughter, Elizabeth, filled in for him Sarasota yesterday.
ELIZABETH SANTORUM: My dad wishes he could be here with all of you today. I know he's missing on talking to you. But thank you all for coming out. It's just so encouraging to see all of you here.
GONYEA: In a conference call last night with supporters, Santorum said Bella had made, quote, "a miraculous turnaround." He won't campaign today in Florida but he will travel to Missouri and Minnesota for events. Romney and Gingrich meanwhile will be all over the Sunshine State on the final day before the primary.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Jacksonville.
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NPR's business news starts with Facebook getting ready.
This could be the week that Facebook moves towards an initial public offering. The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times say the company will file paperwork on Wednesday for what is widely expected to be one of the biggest public debuts ever. Facebook could raise, we're told, as much as $10 billion - a kind of social network of cash. A Facebook IPO was rumored for much of last year, but the company's been tight-lipped about what it's really doing.
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And let's stay on the network for our last word in business, which is reply all. Things are back to normal at Germany's parliament, the Bundestag. But people are probably still talking about Babette. She's the employee who sent an email at the end of last week with a simple request: Please bring me a copy of the new directory. She accidentally copied every member of the legislature with that note. Every member of the legislature and all their staff. The email went to some 4,000 people, which would have been fine, except that recipients started to reply all with many messages.
Some sent 4,000 people a request to please take me off this list. One reported to 4,000 people, quote: "In Hannover-Linden it is three degrees, dry and partly cloudy." The system was overwhelmed. Emails were delayed. One lawmaker notes that Babette's one wrong click created a social network. And as on so many networks, they didn't have much to say.
That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
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Joining us now for some analysis of this ever-changing primary season is NPR's Cokie Roberts. Good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So after his big South Carolina victory, Newt Gingrich, as we've just heard, is trailing in the polls in Florida. And I'm wondering if you've ever seen Republican politicians and pundits pile on, like they have, Newt Gingrich?
ROBERTS: No, it is really remarkable to see how politicians and former politicians in the Republican Party are really going after him. But he is a unique candidate, and has been since he showed up in Washington after winning for Congress in 1978. He's a bomb thrower and they all know that, and they're very nervous about having such a person be the nominee.
And, you know, it looked for a few minutes, after his big win in South Carolina, like people were - in the party - were beginning to make peace with him, but then he, you know, started making speeches in Florida, then they started realizing, though, this is the Newt we've all been worried about.
And so Bob Dole, who was majority leader of the Senate when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, has issued a really remarkable letter in opposing him. And I was at an event with Alan Simpson, who was assistant Republican leader in the Senate, who make similar kinds of comments about how unreliable Newt Gingrich is. It is just a full court press of politicians who are very nervous about the prospect of a Gingrich candidacy.
MONTAGNE: And if â but if the Republican establishment is as opposed to Gingrich as you've just described, what about Mitt Romney? Why does he continue to have such a tough time?
ROBERTS: Because he still hasn't made the deal. You know, people in the party are not that fond of him, and Newt Gingrich makes the case that conservatives just won't get behind him. And he says that look, even though he's, at the moment, trailing in the polls, that if you put his vote together with Rick Santorum's that they win, that conservatives just aren't rallying behind Mitt Romney.
And of course, he's making it hard for them to do so by saying, you know, that he's a Massachusetts moderate and that Obamacare and Romneycare are â don't have any difference between them, those kinds of things. And Gingrich, who is a fighter, is vowing to fight on all the way to the convention. So, you know, it's going to be a long haul here, even if Romney wins big in Florida tomorrow.
MONTAGNE: Well, Cokie, given all this division among Republicans, what about the Democrats? Should they feel as confident as some seem to be about next November's elections?
ROBERTS: Well, the president is certainly out on the campaign trail himself and he knows that he has big problems ahead. The economy is still very shaky. You could have, at any moment, an enormous foreign policy crisis.
But also the administration is creating problems of their own. The health care law is, as you know, already unpopular in the polls, and the administration has issued regulations that now - that say that Catholic or religious institutions that hire and serve people outside of their own religion have to cover contraceptive services and sterilizations in the health care bill.
It's got the Catholic bishops furious. There was a letter in church yesterday, calling this an attack on religious liberty, and that's a problem for the president's allies - the social justice Catholics - and it could be a problem with Catholic voters. And that becomes a huge issue if the president really starts to lose Catholic voters, because he can't win without them.
MONTAGNE: All right. NPR's Cokie Roberts. And you are listening to Cokie on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
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Fighting in Syria has intensified within a few miles of the capital city. Damascus has remained under firm government control, but in the suburbs, the army has sent in tanks to retake areas that had been under the affective control of rebels. Activists inside Syria say more than 60 people have been killed in the past day. NPR's Kelly McEvers is monitoring the situation from Beirut. She's on the line. Hi Kelly.
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: Hello.
INSKEEP: How did this fighting develop in the suburbs?
MCEVERS: Well, it's important to understand, I mean, what we're talking about when we say rebels and when we say control of these suburbs. These rebels, I mean, these are basically kind of a rag tag bunch of defected soldiers who've like walked off the army base with their rifle in their hands. And they've set up kind of checkpoints at some of these suburbs, you know, saying, look, we're here with our AK47s. We're going to protect protesters who are against the government, and you, you can't come in.
It's not like they've fought with the army and taken control of this territory. These aren't like the Libyan rebels, you know, who have access to larger munitions, bigger guns, artillery. These are smaller guys. So, I mean, in some sense, the army is still in control.
INSKEEP: Although what you're saying, the army and opposition now had not opposed their taking the streets here, but why would the army have allowed them to set up checkpoints and claim control of areas to begin with?
MCEVERS: There's a couple of ideas out there why the army is doing this. Most analysts here in the region agree, that what the Syrian army has done all along throughout this whole 10 month uprising against the government, is calibrate its response to the opposition - is to come in and crack down just enough to instill fear in the population, but not enough to garner the attention and condemnation from the international community.
I mean, still, you've got Russia and Iran standing very firm with Syria, and that's because you don't have widespread killing. You don't have the army unleashing its full force on its own people. And then the other theory is that if the army did this, the army itself might fall apart, because you would have commanders basically ordering soldiers to shoot at their own, to shoot at their cousins, their neighbors, their friends.
That's a reason why they've held back. The problem is that, over time as they do this, they end up playing basically a game of Whac-A-Mole. I mean, there's towns and cities around the country that are trying to rise up, and there's only so many they can control at any given time. So getting this close to the capital is definitely a worrying sign for the regime.
INSKEEP: Well, it sounds like, over the weekend, the regime had decided the time had come to go after this particular suburban area, if we have dozens of people killed and tanks in the streets.
MCEVERS: Right. To reassert its control, to say, look, we are still the army, we still have most of the guns and we are still in control.
INSKEEP: And how did the fighting go, exactly?
MCEVERS: Well, um, so far, I mean there's still fighting ongoing. Activists I talked to inside Syria today, say that both soldiers with the government and soldiers who are against the government are dying, and civilians are being caught in the crossfire. I mean, the problem with this whole strategy on the part of regime, is that as it drags on and as the international community drags its feet, as well, more and more blood is being shed.
INSKEEP: So Kelly, when you talk about these army deserters and civilians who are trying to rise up against the government in different places at different times, is there any central leadership of the rebels emerging here?
MCEVERS: The leadership is reportedly based in Turkey. There were a lot of these defectors who crossed over the border into Turkey months back. But really, I mean, on the ground I think the leadership is very localized. I think it takes place town to town, city to city.
This group is loosely called, you know, the Free Syrian Army, but on any given day, I'm not sure they're really taking orders from a central leadership. It's more, you know, sort of block by block, moment by moment fighting that's going on.
INSKEEP: And are people waiting for that moment when some of the blocks where there is fighting would be in Damascus itself?
MCEVERS: Yeah, I mean, I think that's what's worrying the regime right now, right? I mean, this is why they're cracking down in these suburbs, that it's getting this close, that you can hear the shooting in central Damascus has got to be worrying the officials.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kelly McEvers in Beirut monitoring the situation in Syria. Kelly, thanks very much.
MCEVERS: You're welcome.
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In Brussels, European Union heads of state are gathered for yet another summit on the crisis in their region: debt. For a look at what tops their agenda we called Zanny Minton Beddoes. She's economics editor at The Economist magazine. Good morning.
ZANNY MINTON BEDDOES: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now apparently top European officials are hoping to agree on some measures to control deficits, also to set up a rescue fund. How significant are these, and how likely are they to get agreed upon?
BEDDOES: Well, as you say, it's yet another meeting in a long list of European summits, but I think top of the agenda at this meeting, is to get agreement on a formal treaty to impose stricter budget rules on countries in the eurozone. Now that's not going to do anything to solve the current mess, but it's something that Germany, in particular, thinks is essential to prevent future disasters.
And since Germany is the paymaster of the eurozone, if you will, it's the price necessary to get German support for a bigger rescue fund today. And I think if the German's get a tough fiscal treaty today, they'll be more inclined to go along with the second item on the agenda, which is to boost the rescue funds.
The Germans say if we're going to have bigger rescue funds, which we're not very keen on, we want stricter rules before we agree to more money. And I think that's what the really big debate is going to be about today.
MONTAGNE: I understand, though, there's also a bit of a flap between Germany and Greece, the Greeks being furious about a German suggestion that the EU install a budget overseer in Athens to keep an eye on things there. Why though, are the Greeks so furious about that?
BEDDOES: Well, that's absolutely right. Greece is very, very close to a deal with its large group of private creditors, mainly banks. There's been negotiations going on for months about crossing the debt burden owed to the private creditors. And it looks like in the next couple of days there will be an agreement that the Greeks also need to agree the terms of more rescue money with the International Monetary Fund and with their European rescuers.
And even with the reduction in private debt that this debt deal might bring, the Greeks are going to need more money. And the Germans are very reluctant to provide more money without much, much tougher reforms on Greece. They basically think the Greeks have done very little reform and that the Greeks are just assuming there will be a drip feed of help coming from northern Europe and the Germans are fed up with it.
So over the weekend, a paper was leaked from the German Finance Ministry, which suggested that the Germans wanted to install a kind of European commissioner to oversee Greece's budget, basically taking away its sovereignty over budget decisions.
Not surprisingly, the reaction, I think, was furious, you know. This is our sovereignty. What on Earth are you doing in it? It really raised an exacerbated tension between Athens and Germany. And I think that we're going to see that becoming a really big part of the drama over the next few weeks. But if Greece doesn't get a new rescue package, then it's going to default on March the 20th, when it needs to pay a 14 billion euro bond payment.
MONTAGNE: Just briefly, what about the rest of region? What strikes you as being a key thing that will be talked about here?
BEDDOES: Well, I think that the, sort of, modest stability that we seem to have got in the Euro crisis right now, the biggest risk to that is Greece. I think beyond that the concern is, you know, countries like Italy are really showing that they want to do some reforms.
Can they get enough relief on their bond spread, on the bills that they have to pay to borrow money, to show their people that those reforms are yielding results? And that is the tension between the Germans demand, again, for more reforms and not so much rescue money, and the need in the Italian and Spanish eyes, to have more relief from the rescuers to enable the politics of their reforms to work.
MONTAGNE: Zanny Minton Beddoes of The Economist magazine, thanks very much for joining us.
BEDDOES: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
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Let's come closer to home now for the story of a man who's a model of consistency. UPS, the shipping company, has honored one of its drivers. The company says Ron Sowder has driven delivery trucks and tractor trailers at UPS for 50 years without being blamed for an accident. He has managed to stay safe while climbing into the cab more than 12,000 times and traveling more than four million miles.
Lately, he's been driving across Ohio, to Cincinnati and then to Louisville, Kentucky.
How'd you get into this line of work?
RON SOWDER: Well, when I got out of the Navy, they had an ad in the paper about UPS. Well, I got the job. I was one of them. One guy, he had bad feet. He couldn't take this walking around. The other one, he kept forgetting to come to work. So he didn't last. I was the only one out of three that lasted.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Well, I'm curious. Were you just looking for a job? Or was this something you knew you wanted to do?
SOWDER: No, I was looking for a job. And I went to work for Hewitt Soap Company then. But I didn't like the factory work. I like being on the outside.
INSKEEP: Well, you've given me one idea of why you would like it: You don't like being inside. You don't like being in a factory, for example, but you like being outside. What else is enjoyable about driving a truck?
SOWDER: Well, it's - no two days are the same. I go through Cincinnati rush hour traffic in the morning, come back rush hour at night. It's always worse coming back. It's like an adventure every day going through Cincinnati.
INSKEEP: UPS says that you have never had an accident in the...
SOWDER: True. Well, that's - I've did some stuff, but it wasn't my fault.
INSKEEP: Somebody had hit you, rather than you hitting them.
SOWDER: Yeah, right. Guy just - he bumped into me.
INSKEEP: How has people's driving changed in the last half century?
SOWDER: Well, the old saying used to be courtesy is contagious - not so much any more. You let people in, and that's that. Only about one out of 50 can bring themselves to throw their hand up, thanks. And they don't use turn signals. You know, if you hit them, you knock them into next week. But I think some of these people need some additional training or something.
INSKEEP: Well, maybe you'd be in a position to give that to them, having had the driving experience you've had.
SOWDER: I wouldn't trade jobs with any driving instructor, believe me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: How do you pass those hours driving across Ohio and Kentucky?
SOWDER: Well, we have an AM/FM radio in here and a CB, stuff like that. I don't talk very much on CB. But, you know, I've heard everything they've got to say, anyway. So I just listen to the radio.
INSKEEP: What's your CB handle?
SOWDER: The Big Dog, they call me. I'm not sure who gave me that, but you're going to get a handle one way or the other. Somebody will hang something on you.
INSKEEP: You ever get sick of driving?
SOWDER: Well, not so far, believe it or not. I like to drive, you know, and I'm pretty good at it. And I've got a lot of friends. You been around as long as me, you have a - you know a lot of people.
INSKEEP: Well, Mr. Sowder, congratulations on the honor and on the safe driving. And thanks for spending some time with us.
SOWDER: OK, my pleasure.
INSKEEP: UPS driver Ron Sowder, 50 years without causing an accident.
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Martin Scorsese got 11 Oscar nods for his film "Hugo." Still, he's calling in the L.A. Times a write-in campaign for an actor he feels has been snubbed. Blackie, the Doberman in "Hugo," failed to get a nomination for a Golden Collar, awarded by Dog News Daily. The cute Jack Russell who starred in "The Artist" was nominated, but Blackie is an anti-hero. And just a few hundred Facebook votes will earn him a chance at top dog. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Carol Sikler has spent years repaying a debt. Her husband needed blood during treatment before he died in 2003. Since then, Ms. Sikler has donated blood again and again - more than 140 units. And now she gets a reward. The Indiana Blood Center gave her tickets to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. She will attend, though this is not a perfect ending. She's an Indianapolis Colts fan and they won't make the game, having finished the season 2-14. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Lamb is more popular than ever, and prices for the meat are at an all-time high, but American sheep farmers are worried. They're afraid too much demand will hurt them in the long run. They say they need more farmers to raise sheep, and that existing sheep farmers need to increase the size of their flocks.
Fred Kight of member station WOUB in Athens, Ohio, has this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHEEP BLEATING)
FRED KIGHT, BYLINE: This young sheep is in a holding pen in Don Van Ostran's barn in Southeast Ohio. It soon will be butchered and sold as lamb in a local Kroger store. This sheep is about 6 months old, not 6 weeks old. When city folks think of lamb, they tend to think of very young lamb, but 6 months is the average age of spring lamb going to market. But don't confuse this with the meat of older sheep that can be tough and less tasty. It's spring lamb that's very much in demand these days as an alternative to beef, chicken and pork.
While the cost is generally higher, consumers still demand high-quality American lamb. Large numbers of immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, especially Muslims, often favor lamb or goat over beef.
DON VAN OSTRAN: Lamb is a popular meat among other cultures.
KIGHT: Don Van Ostran and other sheep farmers are happy that consumers are putting more lamb on their dinner tables, and farmers are making good money with lamb prices at an all-time high. Chops can go for about $15 a pound. Compare that to some chicken cuts in the $2 range, and comparable beef at about $5 a pound. Still, there's concern about the future.
Curt Cline is another Southeast Ohio sheep farmer, who worries about producing enough.
CURT CLINE: There needs to be a certain level of numbers of head of sheep to support infrastructure.
KIGHT: Infrastructure like processing plants and veterinary support. Cline says the long-term sustainability of the industry is at stake.
CLINE: So if the infrastructure falls apart, you're kind of left hanging. I don't view somebody else getting a flock of sheep as competition. I view them as partners.
KIGHT: The American Sheep Industry Association is calling on existing sheep producers to expand, and on new farmers to start production. This national initiative, launched last year, has a goal of producing 315,000 additional lambs by 2014. Both Cline and Van Ostran have signed on to be part of that effort. Van Ostran says there's a lot of room for growth in this region but not so much out West, where ranchers don't have access to additional grazing land.
VAN OSTRAN: It's new farmers that are interested but I think that also, the expansion's coming primarily through the Midwest and the East.
KIGHT: Agriculture officials think young farmers should be attracted to raising sheep because it's relatively low-cost compared to other herds. Sheep need fewer acres for grazing than cattle, for example, and sheep are significantly cheaper to feed. But sheep do come with a host of disease issues and unlike cattle, have a number of predators. Sheep farming also can be labor-intensive, especially when ewes are giving birth. But for today's sheep farmers, this intense labor seems to be paying off.
For NPR News, I'm Fred Kight in Athens, Ohio.
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If you traced the history of banking, the centuries of financial developments that proceeded this awkward moment, your journey would surely require a stop in Florence. Long ago, the city's merchants got around the Catholic Church's ban on money lending and ended up bankrolling the Renaissance. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli takes us to an exhibit there.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: With the Bible explicitly condemning usury, throughout medieval Christendom, the lending of money had been relegated to Jews, one of the few professions they were allowed to practice. But in Florence, ingenious merchants turned the city into a laboratory and invented the financial instruments of international trade. The exhibit "Money and Beauty" starts with a small coin - the florin, named after the city. It was first minted in 1252 and by the end of the century it was in use all over Europe. In the audio guide to the show, one of the curators of the exhibit, British writer Tim Parks, says the imagery on the gold coin is important.
TIM PARKS: On one side the lily of Florence, on the other St. John the Baptist - civic identity and religious belief fused in cash.
POGGIOLI: As illustrated in the exhibit, Florentines also invented the letter of exchange, whereby a banker would give a client, say 1,000 florins in one country with a pledge that the loan would be paid back in another within three months in the local currency. The banker made a profit on the exchange rate. Many of today's financial terms derive from 14th century Florence. Rischio, or risk, was the Tuscan word used to denote the costs incurred, or contingencies, of a loan. It was simply a euphemism for interest, a taboo for the Catholic Church. The word bank comes from banco, the bench on which itinerant merchants traded. An insolvent merchant would have his banco broken, hence bankruptcy. One of the many objects exhibited is an account book that illustrates the dangers of sovereign default, as when the English King Edward III reneged on big loans he'd gotten from Florentine bankers. Exhibit curator Tim Parks describes the impact of the new flow of wealth from this new standardized money as it pervaded every sphere of life.
PARKS: Suddenly, everything has a unit value and everything can be compared in numbers. A priest has a fee for a wedding and a funeral. Is that more or less than the cost of a flask of wine, or a prostitute?
POGGIOLI: The Catholic Church didn't like what was happening, considering usury a sin. But art historian Ludovica Sebregondi, who also curated the exhibit, says in the audio guide that some theologians began to make exceptions to the condemnation of money lending.
LUDOVICA SEBREGONDI: (Through translator) Amid this tension between opposing views, many bankers made donations for the salvation of their souls, devoting money to good works or art. It was said great sinners great cathedrals.
POGGIOLI: And in another hedge against burning in hell in eternal damnation, bankers filled those great cathedrals with great paintings and great sculptures. Through penitential patronage - the fear of God - Florence became the foundry of great art works and set the stage for the Renaissance. This exhibit was set up in Florence's majestic 15th century Palazzo Strozzi. James Bradburne, director of the exhibition space, says "Money and Beauty" has a particular resonance in today's financially troubled world.
JAMES BRADBURNE: It asks people to think about bankers' bonuses. It asks people to think about how bankers do make their money. How mysterious was a letter of credit? It was just like short-selling. It was like derivatives.
POGGIOLI: Many of the same questions, Bradburne says, that are being asked today.
BRADBURNE: Are the bankers the devils? Are they making illegitimate profits, or are they just good chaps, or we need the banking system? I mean, the dilemma is the same, and it devolves into a social and a moral dilemma, then as now.
POGGIOLI: What's less clear is whether today's bankers, perhaps less guilt-ridden than their Florentine forerunners, are willing to finance a new renaissance. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.
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For a very long time, L.A. has been a Lakers town, but thanks to some of the NBA's brightest young stars, it's now the long-ridiculed Clippers that have the better record and the city's attention. Last night, the Clippers beat the league's best team, the Thunder, 112-100. And it's all very gratifying for one diehard fan. And NPR's Ben Bergman went along with him to a game.
BEN BERGMAN, BYLINE: Darrell Bailey has missed exactly one Clipper game in 11 seasons.
DARRELL BAILEY: I was in a hospital. That's the only reason. That's the only reason that kept me out.
BERGMAN: Bailey - known around here as Clipper Darrell - drives a car painted in Clippers colors, red and blue, the hood signed by everyone on the team. His favorite player?
BAILEY: Don't have one. As long as you wear this red, white and blue uniform, I got love for you.
BERGMAN: His house has a mini-Clippers court in the backyard. Inside there's a red and blue living room turned shrine for displaying Clipper memorabilia and watching away games.
BAILEY: You know there's two places in life that I can go that will give me peace of mind. It's a Clipper game and church.
BERGMAN: Tonight, as always, Bailey is dressed in his plus size half red, half blue three-piece suit, complete with a half red, half blue tie and one red shoe, one blue.
BAILEY: It's going down tonight, baby, watch. Lakers-Clippers, baby.
BERGMAN: He's walking into the Staples Center for the Battle of L.A. with a loud message for any Laker fan unfortunate enough to be in earshot.
BAILEY: The Lakers era is over. It's Clipper time.
BERGMAN: It's been a heady few weeks for the Clippers and Bailey after the team signed superstar Chris Paul to join last year's rookie of the year, Blake Griffin.
BAILEY: I don't drink nor smoke. But I'm so high right now, I'm not coming down till June, baby. That's how I'm feeling about this team right now.
BERGMAN: To be an L.A. basketball fan and choose to root for the Clippers had been an exercise in losing, futility and frustration. They've only made it to the playoffs four times in the 28 years they've been here. The year Bailey became a fan, the Clippers won 17 games and lost 65.
BAILEY: I got fired from a job and the guy told me I'd never amount to anything in life. So I went home, plopped on the couch, turned the TV on. Clipper game comes on. They said the same thing about them. How horrible they was. How ownership was horrible. And I said this is going to be my team. We're going to ride and die together.
BERGMAN: Bailey's fortunes have improved with the team. He now has a business customizing cars. And he rents himself out to be fan-in-chief at parties, events, and college games. Here at the Lakers game - ever the celebrity haven - it is he that attracts attention wherever he goes.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
BERGMAN: And keeps getting asked for pictures.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: You mind if I take a picture of you?
BAILEY: Yeah, come on.
BERGMAN: Bailey has prime seats for the game - five rows up from famous Laker fan Jack Nicholson, sitting courtside. Not that Bailey needs to be so close. You can easily hear him yelling from the nosebleed section.
BAILEY: Let's go Clippers. Let's go. Let's go Clippers. Let's go.
BERGMAN: Bailey attends games by himself. He says his wife has no interest in sports. He has an aisle seat, all the better for standing, jumping up and down, and cheering.
BAILEY: Ching a ling, ling, ling, ling. Let's go, baby. Let's go.
BERGMAN: Some fans boo Bailey. Others cheer him on.
BAILEY: Yeah, baby.
BERGMAN: A couple years ago, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was so impressed by Bailey that he offered to move him to Dallas and pay him to cheer on The Mavericks. Bailey considered it, but showing an allegiance that would be unheard of for most NBA players, he decided he couldn't leave his team.
BAILEY: Come on now. Beat L.A., baby, beat L.A.
BERGMAN: Bailey's loyalty finally seems to have been rewarded this season, though not tonight.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: End of the ballgame. Final score, Lakers 96, Clippers 91.
BERGMAN: Bailey's voice is hoarse from a night of yelling at the top of his lungs.
BAILEY: Can't win games like that, but you know, it's all to the good.
BERGMAN: But he says he'll be fine after his normal postgame regimen of Halls Cough Drops, chased down with lemon and honey water. He'll take some time to rest, but not much. Clipper Darrell has less than 24 hours until he has to be back in his seat for another game.
BAILEY: Oh, yeah. I'll be ready, baby. It's easy. It's easy.
BERGMAN: Ben Bergman, NPR News, Los Angeles.
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Winners of this fall's elections may have a chance in time to weigh in on one of the biggest questions in the criminal justice system. It's the question of who has the power to determine the sentence of a convict.
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Every year, federal judges sentence more than 80,000 people. Those punishments are supposed to be fair and predictable.
INSKEEP: Many years ago, Congress passed sentencing guidelines for judges. Then the U.S. Supreme Court gave more freedom back to judges, saying the guidelines are only suggestions.
MONTAGNE: Now, Republicans in Congress are criticizing the results. They want tough, new, mandatory prison terms. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: More than 25 years ago, during the height of the war on drugs, Congress passed a major sentencing overhaul, creating a panel of judges and lawyers to develop mandatory guidelines for how to punish criminals. But a Supreme Court decision in 2005 made those guidelines only advisory. And to some Republicans on Capitol Hill, that means criminals are now punished more based on the luck of the draw. James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin, put it this way at a recent hearing.
REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER: A criminal committing a federal crime should receive similar punishment regardless of whether the crime was committed in Richmond, Virginia, or Richmond, California. And that's why I am deeply concerned about what's happening to federal sentencing.
JOHNSON: Since the Supreme Court acted, Sensenbrenner says, judges in places like New York City have imposed sentences below the guideline ranges almost half the time. But judges only a few hours north of New York are still following the guidelines. Former prosecutor and GOP congressional aide Matt Miner says that's not justice.
MATT MINER: We have a federal system. There should be consistency not just in the same courthouse and on the same floor, or district by district; but across the country. And we're failing in that.
DOUGLAS BERMAN: The way you make sure the guidelines get due respect is to make them respectable.
JOHNSON: That's Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University. A lot of people argue ever since the Supreme Court weighed in, black men have it a lot worse. Judge Patti Saris, of Massachusetts, leads the congressionally created U.S. Sentencing Commission. Here she is, speaking at a panel sponsored by the American Constitution Society in Washington earlier this month.
PATTI SARIS: The average sentence for a black male was 20 percent longer than that for a white male. What's important to add there is no one here is accusing judges of being racist.
JOHNSON: So then what's going on?
SARIS: It's not that the black male sentences are going up; it's that white male sentences are going down.
JOHNSON: Berman, the law professor, says judges think many of the suggested punishments are too tough, especially in the areas of corporate fraud and child pornography, where the guidelines call for people who download images of children to sometimes get upwards of 20 years behind bars.
BERMAN: There's 2,000 child porn cases, and about 1,200 of them have below-guideline sentences - and they're all white defendants. I think the easiest explanation for that entire 20 percent - or if not the entire 20 percent, at least a big part of that is, in fact, white, child-porn downloaders are getting significant leniency.
JOHNSON: The sentencing commission studies that feedback, Judge Saris says, and it really tries to make things better. For example, next month the panel will hold a hearing on whether child porn sentences are fair.
SARIS: Congress, it thinks about the world's worst offender when they're setting up mandatory minimums. They're thinking about the big, bad guy that we'd all agree, gee, just send that person away. But there are often - for every horrible, horrible you can tell me about, I can think of a situation which is far less severe.
JOHNSON: Despite all the criticism, the great majority of judges still give out punishments within the range of the old guidelines, even though they're no longer mandatory. Amy Baron-Evans works for the Federal Public Defenders.
AMY BARON-EVANS: I would urge the commission to maybe sell Congress on the idea that this system is working pretty well.
JOHNSON: But that message can politically unpopular, with some Republicans suggesting they might propose new mandatory sentences, and cut the budget of the sentencing commission. Former prosecutor Bill Otis is in that camp.
BILL OTIS: The commission should either return to its main job - creating mandatory guidelines - or give the taxpayers a refund.
JOHNSON: The House Judiciary Committee is planning more hearings on the issue this spring.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
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Today is a milestone for a man who helped to change American music. It's the 75th birthday of Philip Glass. He's one of the founders of a musical style called Minimalism. Glass's birthday is being celebrated way with performances and festivals around the globe, including the American premiere of his latest symphony, tonight at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Tom Vitale visited Glass at home and has this profile.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)
TOM VITALE, BYLINE: Even on a frigid Saturday in January, the street outside Philip Glass's East Village home crackles with traffic and pedestrians. Inside his brick townhouse where he composes, he says he's managed to create what he calls an oasis of tranquility.
PHILIP GLASS: If you notice how quiet it is here, those are very expensive windows. And I have them all over the house. And at one point, I realized, look, it's like a silent movie if you look outside. Keeping looking, you can't hear the cars.
VITALE: And he can't hear the people passing by his windows on the street. But Glass says he's always been interested in what they were listening to.
GLASS: The Fillmore East was only a block away from where we're sitting right now. And the East Village was the hub for that. And I go there. I could see a wall of speakers when I went to see the Jefferson Airplane - a wall of speakers. I could hear amplified sound. And everybody could listen to it and they did listen to it.
And I'm thinking, wait a second. How come when I go up to the Columbia Princeton concerts of music, there's just composers or their friends? And these were very accomplished composers.
VITALE: Glass was one of another group of accomplished composers in the 1960s, including Steve Reich and Terry Riley, who made a conscious effort to reach the popular audience.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VITALE: Up to that point, much of 20th century music had been focused on increasing harmonic and rhythmic complexity, says New York Times music critic, Allan Kozinn.
ALLAN KOZINN: And what Glass did was go back to the most basic tonality you could have - major keys, minor keys - and to take small segments of music and repeat them over and over; changing them slowly along the way in his early music. He called it Additive Process.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KOZINN: So you might have a four-note theme that would become a five-note theme, and a six note theme, and then maybe one of the original notes would disappear. And these things would keep unfolding in a very, sort of, organic way. And that was a style that he created. And it was, even by comparison with the other so-called Minimalists, at the time, you could listen to a piece by Philip Glass, and know it was Philip Glass.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VITALE: Glass worked out his ideas over a decade, playing keyboards with his own ensemble, which included strings, reeds, voice, electric pianos and organs. He says that period ended in 1976 with an opera.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH")
VITALE: Einstein on the Beach is an abstract contemplation of the life of Albert Einstein. Allan Kozinn agrees that it marked a turning point in Philip Glass's career.
KOZINN: It really was kind of a shot across the bow. I mean it was done at the Metropolitan Opera. It was getting a lot of attention. And I think that piece is so big because it woke so many people up, and told them that something new is happening in new music. And it's not just more angular melodies and atonality. It's something completely else and a lot of people are going to hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH")
VITALE: A new production of "Einstein on the Beach" begins a world tour this spring, as part of the composer's 75th birthday celebration. Glass says he hasn't changed a note but it's going to sound better.
GLASS: When we were playing "Einstein" in 1976, we were just beginning to learn how to play it. Now young players can come and play with us now, and they know how to play it because they've been playing the music in schools. They've heard it for years. This, as a style of music, is current.
VITALE: After Einstein, Glass expanded his palette. His second opera, "Satyagraha," told the story of Gandhi, but this time with a full orchestra, a conventional libretto in Sanskrit, and a more expressive, even Romantic approach.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "SATYAGRAHA")
VITALE: Conductor Dennis Russell Davies has been collaborating with Philip Glass on operas and symphonies for 30 years.
DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES: Philip has an unerring sense for the drama in music. There are parts in the pieces where people's breath is taken away. And it's this experience in music that so many listeners want to have, where you listen with your heart and not with your intellect.
VITALE: Tonight, Davies will lead the American Composer's Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in the North American premiere of Philip Glass's Ninth Symphony.
(SOUNDBITE OF "NINTH SYMPHONY")
DAVIES: You know, we've heard this from Philip for the last 40 years. But what he does with this material, what he does with the instrumentation, what he does with the framework of the piece, with the dramaturgy of the piece - Philip is a master at building expectations and delivering them.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "NINTH SYMPHONY")
VITALE: Over the last 40 years, Philip Glass has composed more than 20 operas, along with symphonies, film scores, chamber music, and works for solo piano. He says he doesn't know how many of his compositions will survive the test of time, and he doesn't care, now that he finally knows what he's doing.
GLASS: What this amount of music has done for me is taught me how to write music. Oh, I had great teachers. Boulanger was one and so was Ravi Shankar. And I went through the Julliard process and that was good too. But I really learned from writing. Which is how painters learn to paint, and how writers learn to write, and how even dancers learn to dance, in a way. It's how I learned my trade.
VITALE: A trade Philip Glass is still plying at the age of 75. He's already finished his "Tenth Symphony," and now he's working on two new operas. His advice to a middle-aged reporter, don't ever slow down.
For NPR News, I'm Tom Vitale in New York.
INSKEEP: Philip Glass is 75. And the American premier of his "Symphony Number Nine" will be performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City tonight. You can hear the first movement for yourself, just by going to NPRMusic.org.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "NINTH SYMPHONY")
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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
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And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
For half a century now, most drugs for depression have targeted the same short list of chemicals in the brain, especially serotonin. But antidepressants like Prozac can take more than a month to kick in, and they don't work at all for up to 40 percent of people with major depression.
So researchers are looking for antidepressants that work in totally new ways. We reported yesterday on one possible drug, and we have more this morning. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on this drug best known by its street name: Special K.
JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: The buzz about Special K has been building for several years now. Of course, researchers use the drug's proper name: ketamine. It's an FDA-approved anesthetic that's been around for decades.
Back in the 1970s, recreational drug users realized that if you take enough ketamine, you can have a mind-bending experience. But the drug's ability to relieve depression wasn't clear until just a few years ago.
I wanted to talk to someone who'd actually taken ketamine for depression. So I contacted researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health, who put me in touch with a man named Christopher Stephens. He's 28, and lives near San Francisco. Stephens told me he was diagnosed with depression when he was just 15.
CHRISTOPHER STEPHENS: My first prescription was for Paxil. Then I started on Prozac. And then, you know, at 19 when - that's when I decided that I had to go and try new medications.
HAMILTON: And what did you try?
STEPHENS: Klonopin, Ativan, Valium, Xanax, Remeron, Gabapentin, Buspar. Depakote, they had me on for a while.
HAMILTON: Stevens says some of these drugs just didn't work. Others caused nausea, headaches, insomnia - not to mention some really unpleasant sexual side effects. And despite all the drugs, Stephens' depression kept getting worse. What had been a dull ache was now a stabbing pain. Ultimately, he just couldn't function. He lost his job as a special-education assistant. Even his greatest joy, teaching martial arts, wasn't enough to keep him going.
STEPHENS: I went on the Internet, and I started researching ways to end your life. You know, a lot of people think oh, I can down a bottle of Tylenol, and that'll do it. What that'll actually do is kill your liver, and you slowly die - which is not a good way to go. I wanted to research the most efficient and painless way to do it.
HAMILTON: But Stephens wanted to do something good before he died, something that might help other people avoid the hopelessness that he was feeling. So he called up the University of California-San Francisco, and offered himself up as a sort of human lab animal. He thought maybe scientists could learn something about depression by studying his brain.
That call got Stephens referred to Carlos Zarate, a brain scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Zarate thinks current depression drugs are misguided. I ask him why, and he offers an analogy. He says depression is a bit like a leaky faucet in the brain. And there are different ways to stop the leak.
CARLOS ZARATE: You can go straight to the faucet and you can fix it, or you can go to the water plant and shut down the water plant. The end result will be the same. Now, the current antidepressants are probably more like going to that water plant. You shut down the water, and then there's all the pipes that go through the city; eventually, it gets to your town and eventually, to your house and to the faucet.
HAMILTON: Antidepressants like Prozac act primarily on serotonin, a brain chemical once thought to be the key to depression. Other drugs affect the chemicals norepinephrine and dopamine.
But Zarate thinks all of these are a long way from the leaky faucet in the brain. He's thinks there's another chemical that gets much closer to the problem. It's called glutamate. And that's where ketamine comes in. The anesthetic-turned club drug seems to act directly on the glutamate system.
Zarate tells me he was intrigued when he began hearing anecdotal reports that ketamine could relieve depression almost instantly. But as a scientist, he says, he was thinking the reports sounded too good to be true.
ZARATE: In the field, there was really a question whether people really did believe these initial observations because it was so dramatic. And so we decided to test this in a controlled study.
HAMILTON: The study involved 17 patients with depression. They were people like Christopher Stephens, who had tried lots medications without success. After a single dose of ketamine, 12 of the 17 got better within hours. And they stayed better for a week or more.
The result got international attention. And since then, Zarate has given ketamine to many more patients, including Stephens. Stephens himself has vivid memories of the day he got ketamine. It was a Monday morning, and he woke up feeling really bad. His mood was still dark when doctors put in an IV and delivered the drug.
STEPHENS: Monday afternoon, I felt like a completely different person. It was, you know, same day â same-day effects and, you know, I woke up Tuesday morning and I said wow, there's stuff I want to do today. And I woke up Wednesday morning and Thursday morning. And for the first time in - I don't even remember, I actually wanted to do things. I wanted to live life.
HAMILTON: About 18 months ago, researchers at Yale found a possible explanation for ketamine's effectiveness. It seems to affect the glutamate system in a way that causes brain cells to form new connections. Researchers have long suspected that stress and depression weaken some connections among brain cells. Ketamine appears to reverse the process.
But Zarate says the drug has some serious drawbacks. For one thing, patients often report alarming side effects during the infusion.
ZARATE: Feel an out-of-body experience, seeing trails of light. Their memory might be a bit foggy.
HAMILTON: Also, people can get hooked on ketamine, and habitual use has been linked to serious health problems. So scientists have been checking out other drugs that also tweak the glutamate system. One is a pill called riluzole, which is less potent than ketamine. Christopher Stephens has been taking it ever since his ketamine treatment. It has been more than a year now, and he says his depression hasn't returned.
Another possibility is a drug called scopolamine, which is used to prevent seasickness. Maura Furey, at NIH, began studying scopolamine seven or eight years ago, about the same time Zarate began looking into ketamine. [POST-BROADCAST CLARIFICATION: The National Institute of Mental Health is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).] Furey says when the public heard about her work, she started getting phone calls, including one from a depressed woman who had tried scopolamine by accident.
MAURA FUREY: She had gone out on a boat with her sister and used a scopolamine patch, and noticed that her symptoms had lifted. She felt better and had been treating herself with the scopolamine patch for quite some time, and was just contacting me to say: It worked for me.
HAMILTON: Furey's research found that scopolamine often does work, though not as quickly as ketamine.
Helene Najar is one of the people who has been helped by the seasickness drug. She's in her late 40s and lives in Bethesda with her family, a dog, a cat...
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HAMILTON: ...and a parrot named Wilbur. Najar says mainstream drugs helped her control her depression, but always came with side effects. So about five years ago, she signed up for an NIH trial. The study would give her scopolamine once a week for three weeks. Najar says the first dose didn't seem to make a difference. But after the second one, she began to feel a change.
HELENE NAJAR: By the third, I was like a new person. And then I had that - oh, my gosh, how am I going to get the scopolamine; how am I going to continue this treatment? This is like, the best thing that's ever happened to me. I haven't felt this normal in years.
HAMILTON: Najar ended up getting a prescription for the drug, which she continues to use when she feels her symptoms getting worse. Scientists are still trying to figure out precisely how scopolamine works against depression. But there's evidence that glutamate is involved. And Najar says the effect is unlike any other drug she's taken.
NAJAR: There's no doubt in my mind: However it works, or whatever receptors in the brain it works on, absolutely, it has nailed exactly where my imbalance is.
HAMILTON: Maura Furey, from NIH, says the experiments with ketamine and riluzole and scopolamine aren't intended to turn some existing drug into the next big thing for depression. She says the goal is to identify compounds that pharmaceutical companies can use as molecular models for an entirely new class of antidepressants.
FUREY: For people who actually design drugs, it would tell them chemically, what they need to focus on and develop.
HAMILTON: Drug companies have taken notice. Several are now working on glutamate drugs for depression.
Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are holding last minute campaign events in Florida, encouraging supporters to come out and vote in today's primary. Both Republican candidates have reached out in particular to older voters - and for good reason. Nearly one in five Floridians is retired. And a high percentage of them turn out to vote.
From Miami, NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: How important is the senior vote in Florida? A survey conducted by AARP predicts that as many as 60 percent of those who cast ballots in today's Republican primary - six out of 10 voters - will be retirees. If that number is surprising, AARP Florida director Jeff Johnson says, remember primaries typically have a low turnout.
JEFF JOHNSON: When you think about who votes in primaries, they tend to be the most dedicated, loyal voters - the people who vote in every election. And for years, politicians and political operatives have known that the older you are, the more likely you are to be one of those regular voters.
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ALLEN: In Pensacola this weekend, retiree Catherine Murphy came out to a rally for her candidate, Mitt Romney. I asked her what issue for her is most important.
CATHERINE MURPHY: I think the economy, yes. There's too many people that don't have the income from their work - my own son, for one.
ALLEN: Florida is struggling with unemployment higher than the national average and a still dismal housing market, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure.
University of South Florida political scientist Susan McManus says retirees in the Sunshine State tend to be a little wealthier than retirees elsewhere. But this economic downturn, she says, has had a big impact on Florida's senior citizens.
SUSAN MCMANUS: They're terribly worried about the economic future of their children and grandchildren because many retirees in Florida have had to step up to the plate and help their adult children make their house notes or, you know, help them send their kids to college.
ALLEN: In surveys and interviews she conducted with groups of senior voters in Florida, McManus says she finds many are also worried about the nation's debt.
MCMANUS: They're also very likely to say, let's reduce the deficit. But, by the way, let's not really mess too much with Medicare and Social Security.
ALLEN: Retiree Catherine Murphy says changes may be needed to strengthen Medicare and Social Security, but she's leery about the possibility of cuts.
MURPHY: People are depending on that. They don't want it reduced any. They could reduce in other areas that are wasteful expenditures. But this is a necessary expenditure.
JOHNSON: Both Romney and Gingrich support making reforms to Medicare. Both propose giving the elderly the option to stay in traditional Medicare or move into private insurance plans. Gingrich has also talked about giving younger workers the choice of opting out of Social Security and setting up 401(k) type retirement accounts. Romney would try to strengthen Social Security by raising the retirement age and slowing the growth in benefits for wealthier retirees.
ALLEN: But you haven't heard much about those proposals as the candidates campaigned over the past week in Florida. Moderators didn't bring them up in the two debates. And Jeff Johnson of AARP says the candidates didn't raise them because they're worried that whatever they say may be used against them in the primary or general election.
JOHNSON: It is a perilous course for them to raise these issues. But the reality is that whoever the next president is, is going to have to deal with the issues of Social Security and Medicare and their long-term future.
ALLEN: The two Republican frontrunners have campaigned in The Villages, the central Florida community that's home to nearly 80,000 retirees. At the government center there a few days ago, Dana Carter cast his ballot in early voting for former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. He said afterwards that he is concerned about the future of both Medicare and Social Security.
DANA CARTER: I don't think that it worries me so much about what we get, because we're already to that age that we know where we are. I worry about the people that are coming up behind us. Because, unless they change something, unless they stop stealing from the Social Security trust fund, there won't be anything for those younger people.
ALLEN: The message from Florida retirees: fix Social Security and Medicare, but do it without making cuts to programs many here depend on. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
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Egypt has sent a group of its top generals to Washington, D.C. They're here for meetings at the Pentagon, the State Department and with Congress. Egypt doesn't like new conditions lawmakers have placed on U.S. aid. The U.S. is furious with the way Egypt has been treating American groups promoting democracy there. At least three Americans have taken shelter in the U.S. embassy in Cairo, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: State department spokesperson Victoria Nuland calls it a unique situation. Several Americans haven't been able to leave Egypt so now the U.S. embassy is offering them refuge.
VICTORIA NULAND: We do not feel that they are in physical danger at the moment. That is a different matter than whether they are being persecuted in the Egyptian judicial system.
KELEMEN: Egyptian authorities raided 17 non-governmental groups or NGOs last December, including three U.S. funded organizations. And despite offering assurances to the U.S. at the time that the crackdown would end, the legal troubles have only intensified in recent weeks. Nuland says this will be a major topic for the visiting delegation from Egypt.
NULAND: This particular visit was planned before we ended up in this particular situation with the NGOs in Cairo. However, you can be assured that in every meeting they have with the administration, and I would venture to guess in every meeting that they're going to have with Congress, that this situation will come up.
KELEMEN: Lawmakers have placed conditions on the $1.3 billion a year that the U.S. gives to Egypt's military. In order for that money to continue to flow, the Obama administration has to certify that the country is staying on the path to democracy. And that's unlikely, says Michele Dunne, an expert on Egypt at the Atlantic Council.
MICHELE DUNNE: Right now under current conditions it would be extremely difficult for the administration either to certify that the Egyptian government is meeting the conditions or to use the national security waiver because members of Congress are very angry about what has happened. And they really see this closing down of the NGO's and particularly the American NGO's as being a direct threat and an insult to the United States.
KELEMEN: Some lawmakers complained last week about several former members of Congress who had been lobbying on behalf of the Egyptian government and over the weekend Egypt and its high paid lobbyists parted ways. Dunne says that was yet another sign of a downturn in relations. She says it was unwise for the Egyptian military to pick this fight with the U.S. and put at risk U.S. aid.
DUNNE: We're seeing, you know, an Egyptian government headed by military officials who are much less sophisticated politically. And I think they have sort of gotten themselves into a situation here, a conflict with the United States, and they are maybe not quite sure how to get out of it.
KELEMEN: Dunne doesn't see any quick solutions, especially with Egypt's minister of international cooperation continuing her campaign to control the democracy aid dollars that flow into Egypt. The State Department says Egypt can resolve this by closing investigations into non-governmental groups, lifting a travel ban that has stranded some Americans and letting these groups register and operate as they do in many other countries around the world.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
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Let's investigate another story about power in the nation's capital - the power to call a cab. A service that's spread to several cities lets you summon a car using a smartphone. Uber was welcomed in a place where people complain of waiting forever when they call a cab. But Washington, D.C., is also the latest city where Uber has run into trouble. Its business model does not quite fit into local taxi regulations. Our colleague David Greene explains.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: I'm sitting outside this cafe in Washington. I need to get to work, and I pulled up the Uber app on my iPhone. It found me on the map. I hit "set pickup location here." And I see this black car that's getting closer and closer to my location on the map.
And it says: Your driver is en route; his name is Eyob, and he's going to arrive in about four minutes.
How are you doing?
EYOB TULU: Pretty good. How are you?
GREENE: Good, thank you very much.
GREENE: It all seems so easy - except that drivers like Eyob Tulu are jittery these days. It's because of what happened a few weeks ago. A driver who contracts with Uber fell into a trap that was set by city officials. They stopped him, impounded his car, and fined him for operating an illegal taxi.
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GREENE: It was all over local news.
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GREENE: The head of the taxi commission is a man named Ron Linton, and I went to see him in his office.
RON LINTON: The term "sting " is the media term, not our term.
GREENE: You didn't call it a sting.
LINTON: We don't call it a sting. We call it a test ride.
GREENE: Whatever you call it, it made Linton pretty unpopular. Uber users have trashed him online, accused him of stifling progress. And they've called his personal cellphone to rant. Linton says he's just defending a law that requires cars that charge by time and distance to be licensed as metered taxis.
He says he's moving as quickly as he can to put credit card machines in D.C. cabs and make them - well, more Uber-like. Linton says Uber just came out of nowhere, and didn't talk to the city about local regulations.
LINTON: That sort of made our antenna go up, as to what are we dealing with here?
GREENE: And that's the deeper question. How does a city deal with a hot-shot, start-up company that lands in town and starts providing a basic service really well?
LINTON: I find it a bit odd that they would have a big party - that I understand they're holding tonight - to celebrate, in their words, their victory over the rule of law in the District of Columbia. It seems a little arrogant to me.
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GREENE: This Uber event was the other night at a flashy nightclub. Hundreds of Uber customers who RSVP'd were sipping on free cocktails. I found Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick in the crowd.
How old are you?
TRAVIS KALANICK: I'm 35.
GREENE: And when did you start the company?
KALANICK: Uh, let's see - it was 2009.
GREENE: He was in San Francisco at the time, frustrated when he couldn't find a taxi. Now Uber, his company, is in a handful of cities. And Kalanick says he's showing how quickly technology can transform the way of life in a city.
KALANICK: I'm pretty damn sure that in five years, we're going to be an integral part of the fabric and transportation system that is in D.C.
GREENE: When he got up to speak to his crowd of Uber fans, he showed a photo of the man standing in his way - the taxi commissioner.
KALANICK: So there's the guy on the top left; his name is Ron Linton. You guys ever heard about him?
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GREENE: No love lost. Then again, Kalanick, the CEO, and Linton, the commissioner, have a face-to-face meeting planned - for Valentine's Day.
David Greene, NPR News, Washington.
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
A story on this program yesterday got a lot of people talking across the country. NPR and ProPublica reported on the giant financial firm Freddie Mac. The government-owned firm is a huge player in the mortgage market. And as we heard yesterday, Freddie Mac invested billions of dollars in securities, betting against homeowners' ability to refinance their mortgages.
Some of Freddie Mac's investments do better when American homeowners cannot refinance at lower rates and it happens that Freddie Mac is making it tougher for them to refinance. NPR's Chris Arnold and ProPublica's Jesse Eisinger are with us now to answer some more questions about their story.
Gentlemen, good morning.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Morning, Steve.
JESSE EISINGER: Good morning.
INSKEEP: And let's just talk about some basics here first. How big exactly were these investments by Freddie Mac?
EISINGER: Well, Steve, Freddie did dozens of deals. And Chris and I reported that they were worth $3.4 billion. And those are tied to many more billions of dollars in mortgages. Actually, the regulator, the FHFA, came out yesterday and said it's more. It's $5 billion.
INSKEEP: Five billion dollars was put on the line by Freddie Mac in these bets against homeowners. But there is the question, I mean, Freddie Mac's trying to make money here. Were these profitable investments, as far as you know?
EISINGER: We just don't know actually. They could've been hedged off in some way, protected in some way. We just don't know. And Freddie's not disclosing that kind of information.
INSKEEP: And we should mention that Freddie Mac has been invited to talk on the record about these investments. They've so far declined, although they have given some information to you.
Now, gentlemen, one of the reasons that people seem concerned about this is because of what appears to be a conflict of interest. Freddie Mac is setting rules that have made it harder for people to refinance. At the same time, they're making these investments that do better if people fail to refinance. But as people have heard your story they've asked isn't there some firewall, some wall in this giant company between the people who are setting the mortgage rules and the people doing the investments?
ARNOLD: Yes, there is a firewall. And we've talked with this in the print version of the story, too. And Freddie itself says absolutely there is this firewall. It is impenetrable. And there's nothing that we've turned up in our reporting where we can specifically prove that there's anything nefarious going on across that firewall.
INSKEEP: You said nothing you can specifically prove. Is there any evidence, Jesse Eisinger, that raises questions for you?
EISINGER: Well, some of the timing is unusual and coincident. They tightened some of the rules at the end of 2010. And at the same time that's when the bets started ramping up. But there's no evidence that these were coordinated.
INSKEEP: OK. Let me ask another question that came in. People have asked is this just what's known as a hedge - hedging your bets, making sure that no matter which way the market goes that Freddie Mac does OK?
ARNOLD: Well, that's something that we thought about. And that was brought up to us as we were reporting this. But, you know, we went to some very senior, unassailable experts in the bond world. They said these particular kind of bets - these they're called inverse floaters - that Freddie was using, you wouldn't use those to hedge. That the way this was set up it was not a hedge. It was a bet against homeowners being able to refinance. It's the only way to look at it.
INSKEEP: OK. Couple of other quick questions here. Freddie Mac in its statement responding to your story said, hey, we have helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners refinance at lower rates. How many people actually are out there who need to refinance or could be helped by refinancing right now?
EISINGER: Well, economists' estimates varied anywhere from 10 to 20 million Americans who could benefit because they have mortgages that are too high.
ARNOLD: Yeah, and we should say that Freddie Mac wouldn't be responsible for being involved in the refinancing of all of those people, as Fannie Mae is out there, too. But you can see hundreds of thousands versus 10 or 20 million. There's a lot more people who could be helped.
INSKEEP: And one other question, gentlemen. Since your story came out yesterday what kind of response have you received?
EISINGER: There's been a lot of congressional response. Four senators - a Republican and three Democrats - came out and responded. Barbara Boxer of California wrote to the head of the FHFA. And Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania wrote to President Obama. And the White House was asked about this. And they said, look, it's an independent institution.
ARNOLD: And at the same time, though, the White House aid the Treasury Department is looking into this. And a lot of these senators used the word outrage in their various letters that they were sending off. So certainly you could say they are independent, but pressure it sounds like is being brought to bear.
INSKEEP: NPR's Chris Arnold, thanks very much.
ARNOLD: Thank you.
INSKEEP: And Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, thank you.
EISINGER: Thanks for having me.
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Florida has a snake problem. The Everglades is infested with Burmese pythons. To keep them from spreading, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is making it illegal to import the pythons into the U.S., or transport the snakes across state lines. Now scientists have discovered that the pythons are doing more damage than they ever imagined. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports on pythons gone wild.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: Go to YouTube and type in Florida pythons and you can spend hours watching these giants slithering, hatching, and most especially, eating. For these imports from Asia, Florida is the big easy. Biologist Michael Dorcas explains:
MICHAEL DORCAS: There really hasn't been snakes large enough to eat things like possums and raccoons in Florida for, you know, literally millions of years. And so the prey species, such as a raccoon or a rabbit or a possum, may not perceive a python as a predator.
JOYCE: They call them naive because they just don't know enough to run away. Just how naive became clear after Dorcas drove thousands of miles through the Everglades, counting mammals. Compared to the 1990s, well over 90 percent of the raccoons, possums, white-tailed deer, and bobcats in the Everglades are now gone.
Dorcas, a snake expert from Davidson College in North Carolina, says there's no evidence that disease did them in. He blames the pythons. Other biologists agree. Susan Jewell of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says some invasive species take over when they find a new place.
SUSAN JEWELL: Certain ones have all the right characteristics that make them the perfect invasive species. They have all the right stuff. Super species.
JOYCE: Burmese pythons fit that category. They eat everything, they like water, and they can live a year without eating. And Jewell says their potential range is huge.
JEWELL: It's basically the southern third of the United States and our island territories. And that's pretty enlightening.
JOYCE: That's one reason the Fish and Wildlife Service, this month, made it illegal to import Burmese pythons and three other species of constrictors. Starting next March, you can't transport them across state lines either. You can still own them, however, or buy and sell them within a state.
Pet owners take a lot of blame here, for letting pythons loose when they get too big. Marshall Meyers, with the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, says that may or may not be true. But, he says, the ban is overkill.
MARSHALL MEYERS: I think for those people that are dealing in the Burmese python, it's going to have some significant financial impact.
JOYCE: Meyers says the government should, instead, set up a permit system to allow inter-state trade. And also to make sure people who buy the snakes know what they're in for. Meyers says, increasingly, people do not.
MEYERS: A significant number of the reptiles today are traded over the Internet or at reptile shows. These are not going through traditional bricks and mortar type pet stores, where they have care sheets they give out, they explain the information about the animals.
JOYCE: In any case, it's too late for the Everglades. Dorcas and Jewell say there's no clear way to get rid of the pythons. And they're likely to get hardier over time. As for the damage, Dorcas says it's never good to lose a big chunk of the animals in any habitat.
DORCAS: Any time you have, you know, a large percentage of your mammals that suffer severe declines like this, it's pretty safe to assume there's going to be some major ecosystem impacts.
JOYCE: Dorcas published his research in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
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Now, when you settle in on your back porch in the evening to watch the snakes go by, you may pour yourself a drink. It may even involve tequila. More than 100 million liters of tequila was consumed in 2010. Now, the makers of another Mexican spirit want to capture some of that market. Sotol â it's a smoky, smooth liquor distilled in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. NPR's John Burnett reports.
JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE: Sotol comes from the plant of the same name. It grows on the rocky slopes of the Chihuahua desert grassland. You see them throughout far west Texas, New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua. They look a bit like an agave or a yucca with slim, sawtoothed leaves; and a tall, flowering stalk every few years. Sotol, the liquor, is made in a complicated process from the heart of the plant.
CELSO JAQUEZ: We make sotol in this area here. I'll show you the process.
BURNETT: Celso Jaquez is the distiller at Don Cuco Sotol. The tiny factory sits beside the highway 135 miles south of El Paso, near the Mexican town of Janos. The brand is named for his grandfather, Don Cuco, who started this distillery 20 years ago.
Sotol is a regional drink, produced in Chihuahua for centuries. Unlike blue agave, which is grown in plantations to make tequila, sotol is wild-harvested. The serrated leaves are cut off, and the hearts - which look like pineapples - are carried here to the distillery.
CELSO JAQUEZ: We cook the plant; we take the plant out and we mash it. We put it in wood boxes; we let it ferment for five to seven days. And when we see that the foam starts declining, then we know it's ready to put into the distilling process.
BURNETT: Don Cuco makes four types: sotol traditional, smooth, cream and aged. The reposado took a gold medal at a recent tasting competition. At $30 to $45 a bottle, Jaquez says they're trying to win over connoisseurs of high-end tequila.
CELSO JAQUEZ: If you like tequila, you'll love sotol - that's what we're trying to tell âem.
BURNETT: For most of the past two decades, the family was content to sell sotol to the regional Mexican market. In the past two years, Don Cuco has been trying to break into the highly competitive U.S. spirits market.
CELSO JAQUEZ: We want to be the cognac of sotol. We want to be able to sell 20,000 to 30,000 liters of good-quality sotol.
BURNETT: How do you introduce a completely unknown liquor to the drinking public? That challenge falls to Jacob Jaquez, Celso's 28-year-old son. He's a business marketing student at New Mexico State University. They've already succeeded in getting Don Cuco into a handful of bars and liquor stores in Southern New Mexico and Southern California. The next conquest is Texas.
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BURNETT: A couple of weeks ago, the bartender at Carlos & Mickey's in El Paso paused between making margaritas to hear a sales pitch from Jacob.
JACOB JAQUEZ: We are a family-owned business. We own the distillery; we own the brand, Don Cuco Sotol. And what we're trying to do is, we're trying to penetrate key accounts in the United States that are willing to share and explain what sotol is all about.
BURNETT: A customer at the cantina, a businesswoman named Lupe Jimenez, takes a sip from a shot glass.
LUPE JIMENEZ: You hear sotol, and you think back to your old Hispanic generation - that it was moonshine, and it used to have a really hard bite. Right now, when we're looking at it - and I was telling him, that's sotol; and I said, I haven't had sotol in quite a while, quite a few years. But this is really quite smooth, it's really good.
BURNETT: Sotol - like Mexican mescal, with a worm in the bottle - suffers from an image problem. As the taster pointed out, a lot of people remember it as rotgut. Victor Cruz is with Mission Valley Distribution in El Paso, which represents Don Cuco Sotol.
VICTOR CRUZ: It's a tough sell. It's the first time - it's very challenging. Sotol doesn't have a really positive reputation. I think it's just misunderstood.
BURNETT: American tastes in exotic liquor seem to know no bounds, evidenced by the success of bacon-infused vodka. Perhaps a sotol sunrise is just around the corner.
John Burnett, NPR News.
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Now yesterday, Newt Gingrich held rallies in five big Florida media markets, and urged conservatives to mount a grassroots effort to prove the pollsters, and what he called the establishment, wrong.
NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Newt Gingrich's public schedule yesterday began with what was billed as a grassroots rally in Jacksonville, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. But at the scheduled start time, only a handful of people had shown up.
Sixty-eight-year-old Martha Stephens was wearing her straw gardening hat, with a wide brim and a big, Newt 2012 sticker. A lanyard around her neck reads: Elvis lives.
We're here early. I'm with the press. Can I get a few words with you?
MARTHA STEPHENS: I'm here for Newt. I support him. He's the best man for the job.
GONYEA: It was a low-key start to a full day, and a crucial one for Newt Gingrich. Before long, the crowd in the hotel ballroom would number about 100, plus reporters. Shortly before 9, the candidate arrived.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: â¦Calista and Newt Gingrich.
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GONYEA: Joining them was a special guest who would campaign with Gingrich all day yesterday - Michael Reagan, the conservative talk show host who is a son of President Reagan.
MICHAEL REAGAN: I get asked, you know, quite a bit, why are you, you know, on Newt's team? And very simply, I think I owe it to him because of what he's done for the Republican Party over the years.
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GONYEA: In campaign speeches, Gingrich often portrays himself as one who was right there, working closely with the Reagan White House in the fight against big government. The Romney campaign says that's a huge exaggeration - which brings us back to yesterday's event.
NEWT GINGRICH: Has there been - this question raised by the establishment, of whether or not I was really, in any way, active with Ronald Reagan. And I figured if his son was prepared to campaign with me, for any person with an open mind, that should settle that issue - totally - once and for all.
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GONYEA: After Jacksonville came a stop in the Florida panhandle and Pensacola. Gingrich kept hitting Mitt Romney hard. At one point, someone in the crowd yelled out, No-bama.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: No-bama!
GINGRICH: Well...
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GINGRICH: Let me, uh - actually, no - No-bama and No-Romney is about the same.
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GONYEA: Next up: Tampa, another grassroots rally, and another special guest.
HERMAN CAIN: Ah, shucky ducky!
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GONYEA: Former candidate Herman Cain was there to promote his endorsement of Gingrich - in classic Herman Cain style.
CAIN: You know, if I didn't know better, one could get the impression that you all like me.
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CAIN: But even better, I like Newt Gingrich for president of the United States.
GONYEA: Gingrich flew on to Fort Myers, and then to Orlando. None of the crowds all day was huge; each numbered in the low hundreds. But they were devoted to their candidate, and unphased by polls showing him far behind. Here's 73-year-old Warren Wubker(ph), who was awaiting Gingrich's arrival at the Orlando rally last night.
WARREN WUBKER: It might be a tough day and on the other hand, it might be a surprise. It isn't over until it's over - Newt has proved that several times.
GONYEA: Gingrich arrived, delivered his remarks, and ended with a pledge to continue his campaign no matter today's outcome.
GINGRICH: We are going to go all the way to the convention, and we are going to win in Tampa, and we are going to be the nominee, with your help, of the Republican Party.
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GONYEA: Newt Gingrich, wrapping up his final day on the stump, on the eve of today's Florida primary, much as he has done throughout his campaign - defying the pundits and polls, and predicting victory.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Orlando.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In a few minutes, we're going to hear about how wealth and debt in Europe flowed from the invention of banks. In Florence, Italy, merchants came up with the banking system that encouraged international trade at the dawn of the Renaissance.
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These days, of course, a debt crisis has wiped out many European banks, forced countries to seek bailouts, and toppled governments.
MONTAGNE: So let's go first to NPR's Philip Reeves in Brussels for an update on the latest gathering of European leaders hoping to solve or at least stem the debt crisis. Good morning, Phil.
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So what, if anything, did they achieve in this gathering yesterday?
REEVES: Well, they took a step along the difficult and politically perilous path to European fiscal union. There are 27 countries in the EU and all but two have now agreed to a treaty that's designed to shore up the euro by making the countries that use that currency obey much stricter rules. For example, there will penalties for nations that break deficit limits. Those countries will lose a degree of sovereignty, but they seem to think it's worthwhile if it means Europe will avoid another catastrophe. The only two nations that didn't support the pact were Britain and the Czech Republic.
MONTAGNE: And I mean I hate to say it like this, but why does this matter?
REEVES: Well, it matters in the immediate sense because it's a victory for Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. She's been pressing really hard for this. In fact, she originally wanted to make it an EU treaty so that it would have more teeth, but the British vetoed last month, causing quite a row. German domestic politics are in play here. The German taxpayers are getting fed up with bailing out eurozone countries that have gone bust. And this treaty allows Merkel to say that nations won't be allowed to run up massive debts again. But there are obstacles in all this. You know, the treaty's not ratified and then an election's coming up in France. The president, Nicolas Sarkozy, might lose. His opponent's already talking about renegotiating the treaty.
MONTAGNE: So you're talking about sort of future fixes there. Was there any progress in fixing Europe's current debt crisis?
REEVES: Well, there was certainly a change in tone. You know, until now the focus has all been on austerity, really, but the summit shifted the emphasis towards creating growth. Europe's leadership's been under a lot of international pressure to do more to stimulate growth, and they seem to be taking that onboard. The Europeans are really, really worried about their rising unemployment levels, especially among young people. In Spain, nearly half those aged between 16 and 24 are without work, and the summit especially emphasized the need to create jobs.
MONTAGNE: There was an uproar in Greece this past weekend over a highly controversial German proposal to have an EU commissioner supervise the Greek budget - that is, look over Greece's shoulder. Did that idea get much support there in Brussels?
REEVES: No one seemed to want to have anything to do with it. Sarkozy, who's become a very closer partner of Merkel's throughout this crisis, was openly critical. He called it unreasonable and undemocratic. So it generally looks like that idea is not going to fly.
MONTAGNE: Phil, thanks very much.
REEVES: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Philip Reeves speaking to us from Brussels.
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NPR's business news starts with Honda hurting.
Honda is still having problems recovering from the disruptions to its supply chain after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It was also the only automaker to have a car factory hit by last year's historic floods in Thailand.
Today, Honda is forecasting a worse-than-expected 65 percent drop in profit for its 2012 fiscal year. On top of that, analysts are worried about other challenges facing the company. Last year, Honda's top-selling Civic model was panned in the U.S. after it was remodeled.
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Starbucks, the coffee chain, is trying to break into one of the biggest markets in the world. Starbucks is planning to open its first stores in India, a country better known for drinking tea.
Elliot Hannon reports on what the caffeinated superpower will find when it gets to India.
ELLIOT HANNON, BYLINE: Grande no-whip, low-fat lattes may not have been a household term in India, but that might be about to change. Starbucks announced its official entry into the country yesterday, with plans to open 50 stores before the end of the year. It's teaming up with Indian corporate giant Tata. Its first stores are set to open in Mumbai and New Delhi this summer.
In India, Starbucks enters a market that is already thriving. India's youth have developed a taste for coffee, and consumption has almost doubled over the last decade. This shift, however, has been one of culture as much as taste, says Arvind Singhal, the head of Technopak consulting firm in India.
ARVIND SINGHAL: Actually, India's - it's not so much about the growth of coffee as it is about the growth of cafe culture. I think they're willing to pay for the experience. They're not necessarily paying extra for the coffee.
HANNON: Starbucks may have been the catalyst for this cultural shift, even from afar through pop culture. But competition for coffee drinkers is already stiff. Home-grown companies have exploded over the last decade, offering a Starbucks-like experience. Indian coffee company Cafe Coffee Day now has over 1,200 stores in almost 200 cities. Foreign competitors, like Italy's Lavazza, already have opened stores.
However, in a country of over 1 billion people, there's enough room for everyone, says Singhal.
SINGHAL: Even if you were to address the top 20 percent only of this population, you're looking at a population which is potentially the same size as the entire United States. And I see no reason why India, like China, would not be able to support two, three, four, 5,000 Starbucks stores.
HANNON: For NPR News, I'm Elliot Hannon in New Delhi.
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And today's last word in business is: The spell is broken.
The town of Salem, Massachusetts, is known for its violent history of the Salem witch trials of the 17th century. But more than 40 years ago, an advocate and teacher of witchcraft helped to make it a tourist destination.
Laurie Cabot opened the town's first witch shop in 1970. A few years later, she was named the official witch of Salem by then Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Cabot's store was reborn under several names and locations over the years, but she has announced on her website that today will be the last day of business for the final incarnation of her brick-and-mortar witch store. Her online store will still be around, offering broomsticks, cauldrons, chalices and more.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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And I'm Renee Montagne.
The Florida race between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich has been brutal and ugly at times, but it has left Romney a happy man. As Florida voters head to the polls today, Romney is confident he'll get a decisive win and reclaim his front-runner status.
We're about to hear from both campaigns, but let's start with NPR's Ari Shapiro, who's been traveling with Romney's campaign across Florida. He reports that on the last full day of campaigning, the former Massachusetts governor seemed downright jovial.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Mitt Romney was in a celebratory mood as his charter plane flew from Jacksonville to Tampa. With Florida election results still a day away, a reporter's 34th birthday seemed as good a reason to celebrate as any.
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MITT ROMNEY: This is the fifth anniversary of her 29th birthday.
SHAPIRO: He seemed downright impish as he retreated to the front of the plane, only to return throwing snack bags of potato chips at the press corps.
ROMNEY: Oh, Cheetos. I like Cheetos.
SHAPIRO: Romney has reasons to be happy. When he came to Florida last week after a solid thumping in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich seemed to be a serious threat to his candidacy. Now, Romney's lead in polls has been growing and growing. He said to reporters on the plane: It feels good today.
ROMNEY: In South Carolina, the crowds were good, but you could sense that it wasn't going our way. Here, the crowds are good, and you can sense it's coming our way. It's getting better and better every day.
SHAPIRO: Some of that has to do with Romney's strategy of relentless attacks on Gingrich. He has pummeled the former House speaker in debates, rallies and TV ads. This ad has been in heavy rotation, using an excerpt of an old Tom Brokaw newscast to recount the time House Republicans turned on Gingrich.
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SHAPIRO: NBC asked the campaign to stop using it, but the Romney folks refused.
A state like Florida is just too big to shake hands with everyone. Retail politics doesn't work here the way it does in Iowa and New Hampshire, so Romney's financial edge has given him a big advantage in the advertising race.
On the plane, Romney strategist Eric Fehrnstrom said all's fair. Gingrich won South Carolina in part by using attack ads against Romney.
ERIC FEHRNSTROM: Our reaction to that is not to complain or to cry about it. But we're not going to sit still, either. We're going to fight back, and that's what we did here in Florida.
SHAPIRO: Throughout all of this, the criticism of President Obama has never stopped. Fehrnstrom called that the elevator music in this campaign. But the Republican circular firing squad is the theme that has dominated Florida. Many of Romney's attacks on Gingrich have focused on the theme of housing. As Romney pointed out at a Jacksonville rally, one quarter of the foreclosed homes in America are here in Florida.
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SHAPIRO: Someone in the crowd shouted: Send him to the moon - referring to Gingrich's proposal to establish a moon colony.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Where else would it start but San Francisco? Yoga has joined the food courts and massage stations as a pre-flight experience. San Francisco International Airport is now offering a yoga room. Travelers can stretch and de-stress before squeezing into those painfully crowded planes. It's equipped with mats, warm lights kept low and walls painted a serene blue. But if that's not what relaxes you, there is always the bar. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. The Constitution guarantees free speech. Now, a federal court may decide if it protects free dressing. Last July, people protested the Tennessee Valley Authority's plan to finish a nuclear plant. They came to a board meeting dressed as zombies. The TVA then banned costumes and barred a later wave of protestors in various costumes. The Knoxville News Sentinel says this explains how the TVA is now being sued by Santa Claus and a pirate. It's MORNING EDITION.