STEVE INSKEEP, host:
OK. A reading guru, librarian Nancy Pearl is back with us this morning, and she has another stack of what she describes as under the radar books. Nancy, I should mention it's not really a stack here. It's more of a pile. I've just thrown them all over the place. Welcome back to the program.
NANCY PEARL (Author, "Book Lust", TV Show Host, "Book Lust with Nancy Pearl"): Thank you. More of a slump.
(Soundbite of laughter)
PEARL: A slump of books in front of you.
INSKEEP: A slump of books. Let me take the one that's largest in square - square footage here. It's called, "Previously," and it looks like the kind of book that I get to read to my three-and-a-half year old.
PEARL: And that's an absolutely perfect book for that, because it's Allan Ahlberg's book called "Previously." And in this book we learn what happened before the obvious event of each nursery rhyme or fairy tale. So, this is…
INSKEEP: You mean like "The Three Bears" and things like that.
PEARL: So, what happened before Goldie Locks got to the three bears house. How she ran into Jack and Jill and what happened before they fell down the hill. And what happened with the frog prince. And the wonderful thing about this picture book is, as in the best picture books, I think, the text and the pictures really have to be of the same spirit, and here they are. And there's just a wonderful picture of the frog - remember before he becomes the prince and he has to be kissed by a princess.
INSKEEP: He looks a little grumpy, this frog.
(Soundbite of laughter)
PEARL: Well, I thought he looked bebused(ph).Sort of like, what am I doing in this frog costume when I am really a person?
INSKEEP: OK. Children's book there. Let's go in a different direction. You know what, let's pick the pick that appears to have a bite out of it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
PEARL: It makes a lot sense when you know that the hero of "Firmin" by Sam Savage...
INSKEEP: F-I-R-M-I-N
PEARL: Yes, the eponymous hero of that book is really a rat. But Steve I mean, it's really, a rat.
INSKEEP: Ah ha.
PEARL: One of those with four feet and a tail. And Firmin grows up in the basement of a bookstore in Boston. And he ingests along with very little of his mother's milk a lot of books. He reads and digests literature...
(Soundbite of laughter)
PEARL: Literally.
INSKEEP: So, what happens to Firmin?
PEAR: Well, Firmin really wants a destiny that he can be something and be meaningful. And this is what he says: Could it be that I, despite my unlikely appearance have a destiny? And by that I meant the sort of thing people have in stories where the events of a life, no matter how they churn and swirl, are swirled and churned in the end into a kind of pattern. Lives and stories have direction and meaning, even stupid and meaningless lives like Lennie's in "Of Mice and Men" acquire through their place in a story at least the dignity and meaning of being stupid, meaningless lives. The consolation of being exemplars of something. In real life you do not even get that. I think anyone who loves to read would really like to get to know Firmin.
INSKEEP: The next book in our stack here is "The Broken Shore: A Novel" by Peter Temple.
PEARL: This is the shore of Australia, and the way I would best describe "The Broken Shore" is that it's a great mystery with a social conscious. And when I read this actually, Steve, I thought if you would read a mystery this might be one you would very much enjoy.
INSKEEP: Mm hmm.
PEARL: The main character is…
INSKEEP: I got a weakness for mysteries I have to tell you.
PEARL: Oh you do?
INSKEEP: Of course I do. Raymond Chandler. I grew up reading Raymond Chandler stuff.
PEARL: This has a little bit of that noirishness of Raymond Chandler. But the main character is policeman named Joe Cashin who lives in suburb outside Melbourne, and he's on a leave of absence because of a terrible accident that's occurred in the course of duty. But a very wealthy man in his district is attacked and left for dead, and the two suspects appear to be two aboriginal young men. So, Joe Cashin takes on the case.
INSKEEP: And if you think about Australia's really grim history of coming to terms with aborigines and what Australia did to them, this must be…
PEARL: Yes.
INSKEEP: Where the social conscious part comes.
PEARL: Absolutely. The interesting thing is that when I was in Brisbane a few years ago I kept asking people well what Australian mystery writers should I read? Who's really great? And the consensus was - the grand consensus was Peter Temple.
INSKEEP: OK. Couple more books here. "The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin's Secret Service" by Andrew Meier.
PEARL: This is non-fiction, and it's a fascinating story of a man named Cy Oggins who really fell in love with Soviet communism at a young age and was betrayed by those ideals.
INSKEEP: We should mention the guy compiling this information, writing this book, Andrew Meier is somebody who is a well respected journalist on Russia. He's been on our air before. And just very briefly who was Cy Oggins?
PEARL: Yes. Cy Oggins was a spy for the common turn(ph) and was evidently killed directly on Stalin's orders after spending 7 or 8 years in Siberia.
INSKEEP: Was he an American who then fled to the Soviet Union?
PEARL: Yes. He was an American who - he and his wife Nerma had such strong ideals about what communism could do for the world. They were sent as members of the common turn - sent to China, did spying in China, some in Europe. Then Norma came back to the United States, and Cy was taken to the prison camps in Siberia.
INSKEEP: We're getting to the end of this slump here - the book slump, the pile, the slag heap of books that we have here - "The Ghost in Love" by Jonathan Carroll.
PEARL: Jonathan Carroll has written many books before this. But this is actually the first one that I picked up and read. And the beginning of chapter nine - I'm going to read the first couple of sentences of chapter nine, and then depending on how you respond that will give you a signal as to whether you should read the book or not.
INSKEEP: OK.
PEARL: A man, a dog, and two understandably disgruntled women were walking down a side walk. One woman was a ghost. The man should have been dead. The dog was a reincarnation of the should-have-been-dead's girlfriend. And the last, the tall woman, was an innocent bystander who had the bad fortune of loving two of the others. If that's a sentence that you can embrace with joy, I think you oughta read the book.
INSKEEP: Paradise.
PEARL: So, in this book the main character named Ben Gould(ph) falls and hits his head, and by all reasonable things that happen should have died. But he doesn't die, and the ghost who has been sent to take him back, wherever, is flummoxed, doesn't know what to do. I would call this really a loopy heartwarming novel with a philosophical bent.
INSKEEP: How do you think a lot of these books drop below the radar? Are there just too many of them out there or what?
PEARL: I think there are probably too many of them out there. I think that all of these books need somebody to love them and to put them in people hands.
INSKEEP: Nancy, thanks very much. Thanks for at least putting them into my hands, and we'll see if they get into somebody else's as well.
PEARL: (Laughing) Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Nancy Pearl is author of "Book Lust," "More Book Lust," and "Book Crush." You can find a list of the best books of 2008 at our website npr.org. It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Happy New Year, I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And let's report now on some art that's already been created. We've spent this week of the new year listening to some of the best releases of 2008, and now NPR's Robin Hilton gives us his pick for the best unknown music of the past year.
ROBIN HILTON: I think that 2008 was a particularly strong year for great unknown artists. Of course, the larger, more established bands continued to get the most attention for their music, but it was really the smaller, lesser-known bands that made the most memorable music of the year.
(Soundbite of music)
HILTON: And out of all of the great unknown artists that I listened to this year there was one that clearly stood out against all the others. It's a band called Son Lux, that's S-O-N L-U-X.
Mr. RYAN LOTT: (Singing) Will you love me, like he loves me?
HILTON: It's essentially just one guy. His name is Ryan Lott, and he's from New York. And by day he writes music for dance companies and actually radio and television ads. And this year he put out an absolutely astonishing record called "At War with Walls & Mazes".
Mr. LOTT: (Singing) I will do all I can - you say you are.
HILTON: Ryan Lott says that he considers himself a hip-hop producer, and he pieced together this album, over the course of four years from 2004 to 2008, using little bits and pieces of recordings that he's gathered over the years. And he ended up with this record that just has this extraordinary range of energy and emotion. Each song seems to tell a story. There's this very definite narrative art, and they really take you on this journey. At one moment they may be very solitary and very quiet.
Mr. LOTT: (Singing) Put down all your weapons.
HILTON: And then without any warning at all, they'll just erupt into this grand epic and sweeping majestic music that just - it's really like getting kicked in the stomach, but I mean that in absolutely the best way possible. The thing that's really interesting about Son Lux is that it's an album that the artist made by himself in a home studio, but on the other hand it has this huge sound at times. And it's this sort of push and pull in the music of Son Lux that makes it stand out against all the other great unknown artists of 2008.
Mr. LOTT: (Singing) Where have all the wicked gone. Is there no one to condemn you? Where have all the holy gone? Is there no one left to break you down?
INSKEEP: To hear Robin Hilton's full list of the best unknown albums of the year and our critics choices for the best music of 2008 go to nprmusic.org. This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
On New Year's Day, it's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Today in "Your Health," helping older people give up their cars. Mile for mile they have the highest driving fatality rate of any group other than new teenage drivers. But getting older people to stop driving takes more than just telling them to give up the car keys. Many people need their cars because of where they live. NPR's Joseph Shapiro has the story of one woman who's come up with an alternative.
JOSEPH SHAPIRO: Through the work she does, Katherine Freund has watched what happens when older people can no longer drive safely. Often they do something surprising when it's time to give up their car.
Ms. KATHERINE FREUND (Founder, Independent Transportation Network): People generally leave their vehicles in their driveway, I would say - this is an estimate - six months after they can't drive anymore. Sometimes they get in the seat behind the wheel and visit it.
SHAPIRO: Not drive it. Just...
Ms. FREUND: Visit it. You know, people do that. That's common.
SHAPIRO: That's because, especially for older people, cars are not just useful, they're pretty powerful symbols.
Ms. FREUND: Cars are just machines, but they represent mobility and independence and freedom. And long after people can safely drive them anywhere at all, they still have that symbolic meaning of independence and freedom.
SHAPIRO: So the car sits in the driveway unused. But after a while the car insurance comes due or it's time for the car inspection.
Ms. FREUND: That's when they get given to the grandchildren or sold to the neighbors for a song. And that was one of the reasons that I began thinking there must be a better thing to do with this car.
SHAPIRO: The better thing, Katherine Freund figured out, was how to let people give that car away and then use its value to pay for a car service. The money, it might be hundreds or even thousands of dollars, goes into an account that pays for someone to come pick them up and drive them where they need to go. Freund started that not-for-profit car service over 13 years ago. It's called the Independent Transportation Network. ITN now exists or is starting up in 12 communities around the country after Freund made it work in her hometown of Portland, Maine.
(Soundbite of knocking)
Ms. BETH PAULSEN-OLMSTEAD (Driver, Independent Transportation Network): Good morning.
Ms. RUTH BOWMAN: I am ready for you.
Ms. PAULSEN-OLMSTEAD: Hey, Ruth. How are you doing?
Ms. BOWMAN: Fine, thanks.
SHAPIRO: Today Ruth Bowman needs a ride from her home in South Portland. One of the ITN drivers, Beth Paulsen-Olmstead, helps Bowman into the front seat of a red, four-door sedan.
Ms. PAULSEN-OLMSTEAD: Watch that roof. Here comes your door.
(Soundbite of car door)
SHAPIRO: There's no blaring sign on the side of the car. It doesn't look like the handicap van has come to pick up the old lady. The idea is to make it look like your daughter or a friend has come by to give you a lift, which is why the drivers and their passengers become friends.
Ms. BOWMAN: Well, I remember how much sugar you put in your rhubarb.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. BOWMAN: You don't have to do that.
Ms. PAULSEN-OLMSTEAD: No?
BOWMAN: No.
Ms. PAULSEN-OLMSTEAD: You're going to turn me healthy, Ruth.
Ms. BOWMAN: (Laughing) Yeah.
SHAPIRO: The ride service is a bit cheaper than a taxi because ITN is a nonprofit and some of its drivers are volunteers. Here in Portland, ITN charges a $4 pickup fee and then it's a dollar and a half for each mile.
Ms. BOWMAN: Monday morning I go to yoga. It's easy-does-it yoga. It's just wonderful. We pick up Margaret Raymond(ph). She's 95 years old. So we get a small discount when there are two sharing.
SHAPIRO: Ruth Bowman also uses the ride service to visit her husband, Dick, who lives in an elegant assisted living facility downtown. He moved here after he fell down several times at home and Ruth had to call an ambulance for paramedics to get him up. It's been tough for Ruth and Dick Bowman to keep getting around as they get older, but they say they do the best they can.
Ms. BOWMAN: I am 92 plus. I'm so proud of it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Professor DICK BOWMAN (Retired Professor of English Literature): Well, she robbed the cradle. I'm only 91.
SHAPIRO: Dick Bowman is a character. Today he's wearing a red plaid sport coat over a green plaid shirt. He's got a plaid bowtie and argyle socks. Usually his pants are plaid too, but today just a drab khaki. Around his neck he proudly wears the medallion he got from alcoholics anonymous to represent his 25 years of sobriety. He's a retired professor of English literature.
Professor BOWMAN: They all call me the professor because when I got out of Mercy Hospital - a month's treatment - Dr. Stanley Evans who ran the hospital said, Professor, you're not here to correct our English. You're here to cure your disease.
SHAPIRO: Twenty-five years ago, it was his family that came together and demanded that he stop drinking. Two years ago, his children showed up again, this time to tell him it was time to stop driving. He'd had a couple of fender benders, the last one when driving his Volvo he scraped another car in the parking lot at his tennis club.
Professor BOWMAN: But it's much harder to get along without an automobile than it is without alcohol for civilization. It's a very automotive civilization.
SHAPIRO: Now he uses ITN to do errands and go to the theater. He gets rides to AA meetings, including the one he leads at the county jail. When Ruth saw her husband still able to get around even without his car, she started to think about giving up driving too.
Ms. BOWMAN: Suddenly, I woke up one morning and I thought, I don't want to be in an accident, I don't want to kill anybody. I've lost my self confidence on backing up and goodbye car.
SHAPIRO: Katherine Freund is listening to this conversation. She's smiling because this is why she created ITN.
Ms. FREUND: Did it make a difference to you to know that it was here when you were ready?
Ms. BOWMAN: Yes. Oh, it did. I wouldn't have had the courage to give up my car.
Ms. FREUND: You make me very happy. That's what we work for.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. FREUND: That's wonderful.
SHAPIRO: Freund started ITN after her own son was struck and seriously injured by an older driver. The driver had dementia. Her son was just three years old. Ryan recovered. He's 24 now, a recent college graduate, and working to help nonprofit groups. But for years Freund wouldn't talk publicly about how it was the accident that led her to start her own nonprofit alternative to driving for older people.
Ms. FREUND: Because I wanted the issue to stand on its merit. I didn't want people to say, oh, she's just crusading because her little boy got hurt or she has a guilty conscience or any of that kind of stuff.
SHAPIRO: What she realized was that it does little good to ask people to give up their cars if they don't have an affordable reliable way to go door to door.
Ms. FREUND: I think that older people in their heart of hearts, if they're struggling with driving, somewhere they know it. There's this simultaneous denial and somehow they know it at the same time.
SHAPIRO: And that gets to the advice Freund gives for dealing with one of the toughest issues facing families with aging parents, how to have the conversation about when it's time to stop driving.
Ms. FREUND: To me the most important thing about this conversation is to have it in a loving and supportive way. A lot of people think that this needs to be some sort of an intervention where you get all the adult children together and you put your parents there and you confront them with this driving problem. Well, sometimes that needs to happen, but I think that that is extremely rare. I think really if adult children will say to their parents, I want you to be as independent as you want to be and I want to help you do that.
SHAPIRO: Freund says the key is to talk to parents before they have difficulty driving and to talk about what alternatives exist for when they do. Few communities have an independent transportation network or anything like it, but public buses might work or a door-to-door paratransit service for people with disabilities. Many people rely on rides from family and friends.
Freund and her siblings had this conversation with her own aging parents not long ago. It wasn't easy. But a few months later when her father's back problem stopped him from driving, Freund's mother surprised her. She had already figured out that one of their neighbors was a taxi driver who could help. Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Retailers suffered through a dismal holiday season, as you know if you saw those ads offering three-for-one products that you ignored. And for many the trouble is far from over. But that is actually good for one kind of business, those that specialize in getting rid of excess inventory. NPR's Tamara Keith reports.
TAMARA KEITH: You might say that Enable Holdings is in the after retail business. They take on the items stores don't sell, and they market the stuff themselves, often at a major discount. At Enable's leased warehouse in Naperville, Illinois, forklifts move around merchandise stacked almost all the way to the ceiling.
Mr. PETER GAYTON (Project Coordinator, Enable Holdings): Anything that you see on the market, it's going to be here.
KEITH: Peter Gayton is a project coordinator with Enable Holdings. He says more than $2 million worth of electronics comes into this warehouse pretty much every week.
Mr. GAYTON: Mitsubishi, Nokia, LG. Let's see, there's Yamaha and pretty much a lot of brand names.
KEITH: Right now there are a lot of flat-screen TVs. Enable Holdings gets the products either directly from retailers or from the manufacturers that supply them. Jeff Hoffman is the company's CEO.
Mr. JEFF HOFFMAN (CEO, Enable Holdings): Let's say the new model comes out, and they've got a whole bunch of boxes full of last year's model still in a warehouse. They need to sell those, get that asset off the books. And they need to clear out space in the warehouse to take shipment of new product. So there's a lot of reasons that they can't afford to have this stuff just pile up in a warehouse somewhere.
KEITH: Enable Holdings turns around and sells the products direct to consumers through its Web sites, ubid and redtag.com. It also holds warehouse sales and sells to discount retailers. Hoffman says that once the post-holiday sales wind down, his company will be very busy. And if predictions about retail bankruptcies become a reality, he expects to get calls from suppliers left in the lurch by stores that are shutting down.
Mr. HOFFMAN: And then suddenly you have all these creditors that suddenly own warehouses filled with inventory. So we're getting flooded with inventory from all sides in the retail world right now.
Mr. HOWARD DAVIDOWITZ (Retail analyst, Davidowitz & Associates): This is liquidation time.
KEITH: Howard Davidowitz is a retail analyst, and he's been one of the loudest voices predicting store closings and bankruptcies in 2009.
Mr. DAVIDOWITZ: In January and February, we'll see lots of announcements, and it'll be very ugly.
KEITH: And that's where liquidators like Hilco come in. It's a different business model from Enable. The way Hilco works is the company comes in and takes over a store that's set to close. They keep the employees on and rapidly try to sell everything in the store, right down to the fixtures. Hilco is currently closing down 150 stores for Circuit City and wrapping up the liquidation of Linens 'n Things. Cory Lipoff is co-owner of Hilco Merchant Resources.
Mr. CORY LIPOFF (Co-Owner, Hilco Merchant Resources): It is great to be in the liquidation business in the sense that we're going to have a lot of business.
KEITH: But he's nervous about how the lousy economy is going to affect the liquidation industry. Hilco hires people to hold signs out on street corners advertising liquidation discounts. The discounts start out small and work their way up as the merchandise thins out. But these days Lipoff says consumers are ultra price-conscious, and they aren't responding to sales the way they have in the past.
Mr. LIPOFF: If you see a sign that says 30 to 60, historically that's a tremendous discount on wonderful items, and in many instances it still is.
KEITH: But almost every store in the mall is offering discounts like that, or better. So liquidation sales aren't as much of a draw. Lipoff says even the market for fixtures, shelving, and cash registers and the like is weak because there are just so many store closings now. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It was on New Year's Day 50 years ago that Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba. The dictator Fulgencio Batista was reviled as corrupt, a tyrant, and he fled the island in the early morning hours of January 1, 1959. People poured into the streets to celebrate. The American reaction to Castro's victory was mixed. And given everything that's happened since, it may be surprising to some to learn that Fidel Castro had supporters inside the United States government. Many were in the CIA, the same agency that would soon try to overthrow Castro. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
TOM GJELTEN: For Americans, the story of Fidel Castro and his ragtag guerrillas triumphing over Batista's army sure sounded dramatic.
(Soundbite of vintage U.S. newsreel)
Unidentified Commentator: The forces of Castro's 26th of July Movement, named for the anniversary of his first attack on the regime in 1953, have grown vastly. Nearly two years of hit-and-run warfare culminated in victory as 1958 ended.
GJELTEN: U.S. newsreels featured scenes of Castro's men arriving in Havana to a wild reception.
(Soundbite of vintage U.S. newsreel)
Unidentified Commentator: Now Batista has fled. A new leader is on the scene, Fidel Castro, in many ways an unknown quantity in his politics and policies, but certain to be dominant in Cuba's new era just begun.
GJELTEN: The uncertainty surrounding Fidel Castro stemmed in part from the scenes that accompanied his triumph. On New Year's Day his supporters stormed the casinos in Havana hotels tearing them apart as symbols of the Mafia-controlled gambling world that Batista had nurtured on the island. Wayne Smith was then a young U.S. diplomat based at the embassy in Havana.
Mr. WAYNE SMITH (Former Vice Consul, U.S. Embassy, Cuba): I slept the next two nights in the lobby of the Hotel Nacional because we started evacuating American citizens. Not that there was really any danger, but a lot of people - a lot of American citizens who were there as tourists - wanted to go. They wanted to get out of there. So we organized an evacuation from the lobby of the Hotel Nacional.
GJELTEN: In Washington, U.S. officials were shocked. The U.S. government had stopped sending arms and ammunition to Batista a few months earlier, but the speed with which his regime collapsed caught President Eisenhower and his administration by surprise. Historian Thomas Paterson, the author of "Contesting Castro," points to a meeting of Eisenhower's national security team on December 18, 1958, just two weeks before Castro's triumph.
Mr. THOMAS PATERSON (Historian; Author, "Contesting Castro"): Eisenhower was told by Allen Dulles, the CIA director, and others that the rebels are moving very fast from the eastern part of the island to the central part. And Eisenhower said, well, why wasn't I told this before?
GJELTEN: We now know that there were many U.S. reports about Fidel Castro's popularity in Cuba and about Batista's loss of support, but apparently they weren't all passed on to higher levels. The U.S. Ambassador in Cuba, Earl E.T. Smith, was a strong Batista supporter. And those who knew him say he was in denial about the strength of Fidel Castro's movement right to the end. Jay Mallin was the Havana correspondent for Time magazine in 1958 and had many meetings with Earl Smith.
Mr. JAY MALLIN (Former Correspondent, Time Magazine): Earl Smith did not trust Castro at all. He thought he was a Communist even back then, and he did everything he could to prevent him coming in.
GJELTEN: Smith was a political appointee, not a professional diplomat, and he didn't always pay close attention to his political officers or to the CIA agents assigned to Cuba at the time. Wayne Smith, no relation, was a vice consul at the embassy, and he remembers the CIA officers he knew as predicting Batista's overthrow.
Mr. WAYNE SMITH: I mean, from talking to them in the snack bar and at parties, I had the impression that most of the guys in the station didn't think Batista could win. They probably would have preferred to see some negotiated solution so that someone other than Castro would come in. But if that was not possible, then Castro was going to win. They were realistic enough to understand that.
GJELTEN: It's the job of intelligence officers to know what's happening in their countries. And in Havana in 1958, CIA agents were keeping close track of the rapidly growing revolutionary movement. But Jay Mallin, the Time magazine correspondent, remembers that CIA agents who got too close to Fidel Castro's followers could find themselves in trouble with Earl Smith, the pro-Batista ambassador.
Mr. MALLIN: Put it this way, they were certainly in touch with the underground, but they'd have to be careful because the ambassador was against it. So I can see there would be friction.
GJELTEN: The best CIA reporting on Fidel Castro and his movement came from Santiago, the city at the eastern end of Cuba where the movement was strongest. Robert Chapman was the chief CIA officer in Santiago, under the cover of being the U.S. vice consul. It was Chapman's first field assignment. And when he arrived there in 1957, he found himself in the center of a revolution.
Mr. ROBERT CHAPMAN (Former Chief CIA officer, Santiago, Cuba): I knew everybody in town, more or less. The press was coming through. I would brief them on security. And I later found out that my name was posted in the New York Press Club. If you're going to see Castro, see Bob, you know?
GJELTEN: Fidel Castro was originally from eastern Cuba, and Santiago in 1958 was a hotbed of revolutionary activity. Chapman couldn't have asked for a better assignment.
Mr. CHAPMAN: I had most contact with what was the civil resistance movement. They formed a group to support the revolutionaries. And I had very good contact with them. And I occasionally had contact with the underground itself, the 26th of July Movement. It was just great because there was action taking place at all times.
GJELTEN: Some writers have alleged that Chapman covertly aided Fidel Castro and his movement, even that he personally directed $50,000 in CIA funds to Castro and his followers. Chapman vigorously denies that charge, saying he was actually suspicious of Castro and dutifully reported that he had Communist connections. But Chapman says the CIA officer who immediately preceded him in Santiago, Bill Patterson, was indeed sympathetic to the revolutionary movement. And he doesn't rule out the possibility that Patterson may have given Castro and his followers some material support.
Mr. CHAPMAN: When he introduced me to these people that he knew in the civic resistance movement, I mean, he was wildly embraced. I mean, he was actually almost loved. And I thought that very unusual at the time, that an intelligence officer would have such relationships with the people in the civic resistance.
GJELTEN: Patterson, who died a few years ago, soon turned against Fidel Castro, as did many of Castro's U.S. supporters. But Earl Smith, the ambassador, never got over what he saw as the excessive sympathy for the Cuban revolution among CIA officers. In his 1962 memoir, he wrote, quote, "There's no advantage to the United States in sending an ambassador to a country if the CIA representatives there act on their own and take an opposite position," unquote.
Smith may have been exaggerating the extent of CIA support for Fidel Castro. In any case, it did not last long. Within 15 months of his triumph, CIA officers in Cuba were seeking out Castro's opponents and attempting to organize a new counter-revolution. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. The new year in Gaza began the way the old one ended, with Israeli jets in the air and bombs hitting the ground. Israeli jets struck multiple targets, including the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City. Israeli naval forces also fired at targets inside the territory. And we're going to talk about how, if at all, the situation is changing with NPR's Mike Shuster. He's covering the story from Jerusalem. And Mike, what's the pattern of the Israeli strikes?
MIKE SHUSTER: Well, the pattern is pretty much the way it's been over the last six days, Steve. During the night Israeli warplanes hit a Hamas government complex in Gaza City that included the Ministry of Justice and the legislative assembly building, according to information furnished by the Israeli Defense Force. Hamas says the Israelis also hit buildings that housed the Transportation and Education Ministry. There were also Israeli air strikes on tunnels at the southern border of Gaza with Egypt where Israel says Hamas has been smuggling in weapons.
The Israelis targeted what they called a weapons manufacturing and storage facility in central Gaza. And the Israeli navy has gotten into the operation with ships off the coast hitting Hamas coastal outposts and rocket-launching spots, according to the Israeli Defense Force. The death toll continues to rise among Palestinians. It's pushing 400 now. That's according to Palestinian and U.N. sources. Over the past six days, there's been a total of about 500 sorties by warplanes against targets in Gaza. Hundreds more carried out by helicopters. It actually - Steve, it actually looks like the - that Israel is beginning to run out of new targets to hit.
INSKEEP: Well, as they begin to run out of new targets to hit, Mike Shuster, let me ask about something you said there. You said that they'd struck weapons manufacturing sites - at least according to the Israelis - and that they had attacked rocket-launching sites. But are the Israelis any closer to their goal, which is to stop rocket fire from coming out of Gaza into Israel?
SHUSTER: No, they're not. Rockets were fired from Gaza yesterday, and they reached all the way to the city of Beersheba to the east, which is about 24 miles away. They also hit the coastal city of Ashdod, about the same distance north of Gaza. And this is, in fact, a longer range rocket that's typical for the rocket attacks from Gaza. Since this current round of intense rocket attacks began before Christmas, three Israeli civilians and one soldier have been killed. Yesterday, actually, the civilian causalities in Israel could have been much worse because one of the rockets hit a school in Beersheba. It had been closed, and there was no one there, no children at the time. But if there were, it could have been far worse.
INSKEEP: So could the Israelis send in ground troops next?
SHUSTER: They could. The Israeli Defense Force has deployed ground troops and tanks along the border with Gaza. They continue to beef up those forces. They've called up thousands of reservists. Whether Israel should launch a ground offensive against Gaza is a subject of intense debate here in Israel. One Israeli newspaper this morning is reporting that the military has been given a green light by Israel's civilian political leaders for a short but intense ground campaign. Right now the weather is bad. It's cold and rainy. And that would put off any ground offensive likely. And there are opinion polls here, interestingly enough, that are showing that only a small minority of the Israeli public wants to see an attack from the ground.
INSKEEP: Well, if only a small minority wants to see an attack, is there any motion toward peace or a truce?
SHUSTER: No, unfortunately there isn't. Yesterday, a French diplomatic initiative for a 48-hour truce to allow for humanitarian aid and food deliveries was rejected by Israel. And Hamas showed no interest in it either. There's, in fact, a lot of diplomatic activity going on involving the U.S., Europe, Egypt, and Turkey, but nothing is emerging yet that looks like it can have any real effect on this conflict.
INSKEEP: Mike, thanks very much. That's NPR's Mike Shuster in Jerusalem.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The latest fighting in the Middle East comes just a few weeks before a new American administration takes office. And to talk about what they might or might not be able to do, we're joined by Leslie Gelb. He's on the line from New York. He's a former U.S. diplomat, now with the Council on Foreign Relations. Welcome to the program.
Dr. LESLIE GELB (President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations): Good to be here.
INSKEEP: Is it clear to you what the Obama administration's at least starting policy toward the Middle East is?
Dr. GELB: I think it's a mystery to me and I suspect it's a mystery to them. I think we can bet that he's not going to be as pro-Israeli as the Bush administration has been. George Bush has been the most pro-Israeli president I think we've ever had. The Obama administration will be less so and try to steer more of a middle course between Israel and the Arab states. You know, we know a good deal about the Obama people going into this new administration, and they are more tilted toward Israel, but basically middle-of-the-roaders, with the exception of Hillary Clinton who is quite pro-Israel. And as for Obama himself, he's made the requisite pro-Israeli statements during the campaign, but we don't know what this guy's going to do. And I suspect he's going to surprise us in areas like Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
INSKEEP: Does President-elect Obama have a reservoir of goodwill that he can draw on in the Arab world?
Dr. GELB: I think that President Obama will start off his tenure with very positive feelings throughout the world. People want the United States to be the leader. They understand if we don't lead, nobody is going to be able to lead.
INSKEEP: Although I wonder is there a limited window for the president-elect? People are very hopeful on January 20th around the world, or in the Arab world, but if something that happens that they don't like on January 25th, it's all over.
Dr. GELB: That's the way the press will put it. But it's up to President Obama to define his own priorities. And he is sitting on top of so many major problems, he cannot deal with them all simultaneously: Arab-Israeli, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan-India. You're going to have to do a kind of diplomatic triage and figure out the key one to start with and move from there.
INSKEEP: And persuade other people to be patient and wait?
Dr. GELB: And persuade them to be patient and wait, even though they're going to start criticizing you the minute anything flares up in one of the areas that you're not treating as the topmost priority.
INSKEEP: Let me remember, because you're talking about interconnected problems. The Bush administration approached this thinking that if they solved one big problem, it might have an effect on others. And I may be oversimplifying here, but, for example, toppling Saddam Hussein, some people in the administration thought might make it easier to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, might make it easier to deal with Iran, might make it easier to deal with Syria and get a lot of problems off the table over time. That's what they thought. Didn't precisely work out that way. But I wonder if you have any sense that people in the incoming administration think if we attacked this particular problem first, it's going to help us with the others?
Dr. GELB: Yeah, I doubt that they'll choose Arab-Israeli to go first - that is the first place to really invest American power. They'll do something to start a diplomatic process because you can't let the Israelis and the Palestinians feel that we're neglecting them. So you've got to get a diplomatic and political process under way in that region. And in the case of the Palestinians and the Israelis, they've got to feel we have a way of changing the politics among the Palestinians and the Israelis so that there will be support for a deal.
INSKEEP: Although if you're saying as the Obama administration, you can't go first with the Arab-Israeli conflict, you have to solve these other problems first, isn't that conflict this constant irritant that makes it harder to deal with Pakistan, harder to deal with Muslims all over the world?
Dr. GELB: There's no question that this infests everything else. And on the other hand, we're fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And as I said, when you have so many first-order problems, you have to do a kind of national interest diplomatic triage. And in this case, it is not to ignore the Palestinian-Israeli situation, not in the least, but to set a process in motion that they will find a plausible way of solving it two, three, four years hence.
INSKEEP: Leslie Gelb of the Council on Foreign Relations, thanks for your insight.
Dr. GELB: It's a pleasure.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The ball came down at midnight in New York City, but of course the New Year really begins in Pasadena, California. There'll be a parade and later today the Rose Bowl. It's a college football tradition that brings together the champions of two of the major football conferences, and this year it's Penn State against the University of Southern California. The many people in the crowd will include USA Today columnist Christine Brennan who's a regular guest on this program. Christine, good morning.
Ms. CHRISTINE BRENNAN (Sports Columnist, USA Today): Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: And happy New Year to you.
Ms. BRENNAN: You too.
INSKEEP: Well, this is always true to some degree, but there's as much attention to the coaches as the players in this game.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. BRENNAN: That's right, our cult of personality. In sports these days there's none bigger in college football than Joe Paterno, 82 years old. He's been coaching - the head coach at Penn State since 1966, and he's had hip replacement surgery about six weeks ago. But nothing's stopping him, the winningest coach in college football. And he's got Penn State back ranked number six in the country, 11 and 1. His counterpart is Pete Carroll. Now, Joe Paterno calls him a kid.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. BRENNAN: Pete Carroll is 57 years old, but he's terrific. USC has been the dominant program really in this century under Pete Carroll who came in 2001. And USC's been ranked in the top five at the end of the season six years in a row. So Pete Carroll against Joe Paterno, that is as much a story of this Rose Bowl as anything else.
INSKEEP: You know, I flipped on Penn State during the regular season, and they showed the shot of Joe Paterno who was not on the sideline. He was up in a press box, barely visible. I mean, is he really able to run the team in that circumstance?
Ms. BRENNAN: Yes. I think, you know, he's got great assistants. A lot of these head coaches, they don't call all the plays. Any head coach, you know, there's someone - a defensive specialist, an offensive specialist. So it's not always about the head coach. But I think it's just that aura of JoePa, as they call him, that brings kids to Penn State still, even though he's old enough to be their grandfather or maybe their great-grandfather. I mean, this is one of the legends. And if you're going to tune into this game, watch great defenses, whatever, that's fine. But you're really tuning in to see one of the greats of all time, Paterno, and one of the future greats of all time in Pete Carroll.
INSKEEP: So who's favored and why?
Ms. BRENNAN: Well, USC is favored and - because they're a better team. They've got the best defense in the country, ranked number one - maybe the best defense we've seen in college football in 10 years. But Penn State also has a great defense. The reason that these two teams are not in the national championship is they each have one loss. They're both 11 and 1. Penn State lost to Iowa, and USC lost at Oregon State. So if it were not for those two games, Penn State and USC could very easily be playing in the national championship game.
INSKEEP: Christine Brennan, while I've got you on the line, I want to ask about these zillion bowls that we have once again this year. And of course, we're told that college football's strange bowl system is the way it is partly because of tradition, but partly because there's a lot of money to be made. But is there still as much money to be made for all these bowls in this economy?
Ms. BRENNAN: It's a great question. The Motor City Bowl, for example, the GMAC Bowl...
INSKEEP: Troubled companies, Detroit automakers, GMAC.
Ms. BRENNAN: Yes. On and on it goes. And there are 34 bowl games this year, Steve, which is probably too many for any of us in a good economy or a bad economy. And I've got to believe next year we'll see fewer because companies that are laying people off, how in the world can they look at their shareholders or their employees and say, oh, by the way, it's still important to host a bowl game? I just don't see it.
INSKEEP: Can you have a bowl without a big corporate sponsor?
Ms. BRENNAN: Not these days, really. I mean, the Rose Bowl, as you may notice, is still called the Rose Bowl.
INSKEEP: Yes.
Ms. BRENNAN: There's no corporate name attached as there are with, say, the Allstate Sugar or the FedEx Orange or the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. BRENNAN: That's my personal favorite, but I think...
INSKEEP: Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Ms. BRENNAN: No.
INSKEEP: Go Credit Union.
Ms. BRENNAN: But I think that - no. The $18 million payoff from the Rose Bowl, for the Big Ten and the Pac-10, you've got to generate that money. Americans also are not going to stop watching football. I think, therefore, you'll see these great, big bowl games - the ones that are traditional - they'll stick around for sure.
INSKEEP: Christine Brennan of USA Today, enjoy the game.
Ms. BRENNAN: Thank you very much, Steve.
INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
NPR's business news starts with good news for Time Warner cable customers.
(Soundbite of music)
INSKEEP: Millions of Time Warner cable subscribers get to keep their favorite channels. Time Warner says it has resolved a dispute with the media conglomerate Viacom. The two companies had been fighting over fee hikes for some of the most popular networks, including Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon.
Viacom was threatening to pull the networks by New Year's Eve if its demands were not met. No more Jon Stewart, no more "Real World: Brooklyn." No more "Dora the Explorer." But at a last minute deal just after midnight that probably saved the lives of some parents, the two companies reached an agreement.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Oil prices finished the year about a hundred dollars lower than they had been. Last summer oil was approaching $150 per barrel and some analysts predicted prices would keep going up. Instead oil prices crashed and closed yesterday around 45. NPR's Yuki Noguchi has more.
YUKI NOGUCHI: With oil-producing countries pledging a cut in production and unrest growing in the Middle East, it would seem oil prices should be heading up, except they aren't. The reason?
Mr. TIM HANSON (Senior Analyst, The Motley Fool): It would be the economy and the perceived lack of demand in 2009.
NOGUCHI: That's Tim Hanson, a senior analyst with research company The Motley Fool. He says what happened this year was a total flip of the supply and demand curve.
Mr. HANSON: Six months ago when oil prices were so high, what everybody saw was that we are finding and drilling for fewer and fewer barrels of oil every year as we exhaust proven reserves and that the demand for fuel product is going up very quickly, particularly in places like China and the other emerging economies.
NOGUCHI: But then came the financial crisis, and that had an impact on places like China, Hanson says, where dozens of factories shut down.
Mr. HANSON: These things are all interconnected. And when factories slow down and start making less, you know, we're going to use less energy, and oil prices are going to drop, which on the other end of things causes drilling to slow down a little bit, which maybe in a few years causes oil prices to go back up a little bit.
NOGUCHI: And with OPEC, or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pledging to cut production as of today, Hanson says oil prices could be back on the rise. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And today's last word in business is trash, or the lack of it. Allied Waste Management, the garbage collectors in St. George, Utah, say their clients are throwing out less stuff. The company measures trash in tons, and right now the tonnage is down about 10 to 15 percent.
St. George is a couple of hours away from Las Vegas, an area hit hard by the collapse of the housing market. St. George has seen an increase in new homes, but many of them are empty. No trash. Allied Waste also says people are consuming less, which means they don't produce as much waste.
The garbage truck drivers are paid per house and by tonnage, so less trash is bad for their business. Drivers are taking home 25 to 50 dollars less each week. One man's trash is another man's paycheck. And 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. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. New Years Day marks a milestone in Iraq. The United States is formally turned over control of the Green Zone, that fortified area, that headquarters area at the center of Baghdad is now officially under the control of Iraqis, and that is suggestive of a wider reality that also takes effects today. The countdown has begun for U.S. troops to leave Iraq. They now have three years, and all these occasions were marked by a ceremony in the Green Zone. And NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro was there. What did you see?
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARO: Well, it started with a parade and Iraqi officials, American officials, coming to a checkpoint here in the heavily fortified Green Zone. And there were a number of different speeches, both sides pledging their undying loyalty to one another.
There wasn't an actual paper signing, or the keys to the Green Zone, if you will, weren't handed over. It was very brief, and then it ended rather suddenly. I think the more important ceremony actually happened last night when, at the Republican Palace, which has been the place where the U.S. embassy has been located these many years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the American flag was brought down from its pole, it was folded up, and raised over the new embassy, which is a purpose-built building still inside the Green Zone. And that old building, which was a palace of Saddam Hussein, was given back to the Iraqis.
INSKEEP: Once all this symbolism is over, will the U.S. military's role actually change in any way in Iraq?
GARCIA-NAVARO: Absolutely. Fundamentally. What we are seeing is the Americans will now have to take, basically, their orders from the Iraqis. They are here at the pleasure of the Iraqi government, and it is not just a symbolic thing.
The Iraqis can effectively tell them how to do things, when to do them. They have to - in order to conduct raids, they have to get the authority of the Iraqi government to do that. In order to arrest people they have to get a warrant from an Iraqi judge. We'll be unable to detain people without a warrant. They can only hold them for 24 hours before handing them over to Iraqi authorities.
There are a number of different things that are happening, that will be happening, over the next few weeks and months as the United States really changes the way, fundamentally, it does business in Iraq.
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Baghdad. And Lourdes, I'd like to know as you've spoken with U.S. military officials, do they seem entirely comfortable that their Iraqi partners will be able to handle this extra responsibility?
GARCIA-NAVARO: That's a very important question. And I have to say, of course, when they speak publicly, they say that they have every confidence that the Iraqis will be able to maintain security and do a good job.
Privately, of course, they say that many Iraqi units, Army, police, are still in training phases, and the Americans are still greatly needed here. There is a concern, especially in a place like the Green Zone, that certain elements might try and test the security here. Perhaps try and breach it, because the Iraqis are now in control and perhaps the perception may be that they won't be doing such a good job.
So people here are actually in a high state of alert. There's a lot more security on the streets. And the Americans haven't gone away, I mean, they're still here. It's just that they are now sort of supporting the Iraqis, if you will. The Iraqis are the ones that are checking the badges at the checkpoints. The Iraqis are the ones that answer your questions. The Iraqis are the ones doing the patrols, but the Americans are still with them. Perhaps, not in great - as great numbers as before, but they're still here.
INSKEEP: You know, I can remember American troops being a little bit dubious a couple of years ago about whether they could share any details of their operations with certain Iraqi officials because they weren't sure the Iraqis were really on their side.
Now, you're talking about warrants being granted before people can be arrested, permission being sought from Iraqi officials before military operations take place. Are Americans sure that they have partners that really do have, as you put it earlier, undying love for each other?
GARCIA-NAVARO: Well, I think that a lot of that mistrust is still there. Ten days ago, in the Green Zone there was a high alert because there was a fear that car bombs had entered the Green Zone that perhaps had been smuggled in by Iraqi Army members.
So that, I think, speaks to the fact that, perhaps, that level of trust isn't quite where it should be yet. That said, the Americans are legally obliged now to, basically, follow the lead of the Iraqis. This ceremony today marks a wider reality in which Iraq has become a sovereign nation in a way that it really wasn't just 24 hours ago.
INSKEEP: NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is NPR's Baghdad correspondent. Lourdes, always good to talk to you.
GARCIA-NAVARO: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
So that's the transition in Baghdad. And there will also be a transition in the United States Senate next Tuesday, could get awkward when this new class of U.S. Senators is sworn in. That's because Roland Burris plans to be on hand. He was appointed this week to fill the senate seat left open when Barack Obama was elected president. The man who selected Burris, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, faces charges that he tried to sell that seat to highest bidder. As NPR's David Welna reports, the appointment of an African-American with unblemished record presents this Senate with a tangle of legal and political questions.
DAVID WELNA: Governor Blagojevich dropped a Chicago-sized political bombshell in appointing Roland Burris to Mr. Obama's senate seat, even if he tried to make it all about the man he'd chosen.
(Soundbite of announcement)
Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH (Democrat, Illinois): This is about Roland Burris as a United States senator, not about the governor who makes the appointment.
WELNA: Senate Democratic leaders weren't buying it. This is not about Mr. Burris, they said in a statement, it is about the integrity of the governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. Any Blagojevich appointee, they vowed, will not be seated by the Democratic caucus. But, as University of Richmond legal expert Carl Tobias points out, Blagojevich did have the power to appoint Burris to the vacant seat.
Professor CARL TOBIAS (Law, University of Richmond): That doesn't necessarily mean that the Senate will feel compelled to seat him. But, it does seem that, presently, he has the authority. He hasn't resigned. He has not been convicted of a crime, and he hasn't been impeached and convicted by the Illinois legislature.
Mr. KEN JONES (Chief Legal Counsel, Senate Rules Committee): The Senate is the determiner of who sits as a member of their body.
WELNA: That's Ken Jones, he was chief legal counsel to the Senate Rules Committee when it was last controlled by Republicans. Jones says the Senate is a body that can easily block the seating of a would-be senator.
Mr. JONES: It might not explicitly state that they have the ability to block a gubernatorial appointment on a vacant Senate seat. The ultimate rule in the Senate that really matters is something called the unanimous consent. And absent unanimous consent, one person, one Senator, can hold up just about anything in the Senate.
WELNA: Which is why associate senate historian Donald Richie says that Burris, instead of being sworn in, may well see his appointment being referred to the Senate Rules Committee.
Mr. DONALD RICHIE (Senate Historian): The Senate has tended to try to adjudicate matters. The Rules Committee spends months sometimes trying to figure out what really happened and who should be seated.
WELNA: And that could buy time allowing the Illinois legislature a chance to impeach Blagojevich and hand the appointment power to the state's lieutenant governor. Beyond the legal questions lies another more delicate issue. It's the fact that by refusing to seat Burris, the Senate would leave itself without a single African-American member. Burris, himself, suggested on CNN yesterday, that this would not look good.
(Soundbite of interview)
Mr. ROLAND BURRIS (Former Comptroller and Attorney General, Illinois): I'm saying that a person of Roland Burris's qualifications, because of the governor's problems, wouldn't be seated? Is it racism that's taking place?
WELNA: But American University congressional expert James Thurber says such questions may be neutralized by President-elect Obama's statement Tuesday, rejecting Burris's appointment.
Dr. JAMES THURBER (Congressional Expert, American University): This is the first African-American president of the United States that held the seat, and he is saying do not seat him. I think that means a lot. He's using some political capital to do that, and I think that trumps the question of race.
WELNA: Still, Thurber expects the Burris issue to be a major distraction when the Senate convenes next week and possibly for weeks to come. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
INSKEEP: Roland Burris made his case last night when talking to Robert Siegel on NPR's All Things Considered. Let's listen.
(Soundbite of interview)
Mr. BURRIS: I have the qualifications and the abilities to serve in that great, august body. I will be seated.
ROBERT SIEGEL: But, in fact, Senators Reid and Durbin, the two most senior Democrats, have said the contrary, that they don't want to see you seated. It may be that...
Mr. BURRIS: Did anybody asked them why? They actually have nothing against Roland Burris. They also said that, isn't that correct? ..TEXT: SIEGEL: I think they did say that they were against seating you in the body, and I'm wondering whether you will litigate that, and if that happens, would you take them to court on it?
Mr. BURRIS: Well, if well, if - we'll take these one step at a time. We're pretty sure that we're going to negotiate this and work this out as (unintelligible) into understand what the legal rights are.
INSKEEP: That's Roland Burris, who says he is a U.S. Senator from Illinois. You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
This week we've been asking about the state of the world as we begin a new year, conversations we call The View From Abroad. And today we'll focus on a country with which the United States has had very little conversation. The next American president says that under the right circumstances, he is willing to talk with Iran.
So this morning, we'll ask an Iranian-American what it's like to talk with Iranians. His name is Hooman Majd, and he has close ties to some of Iran's leading politicians. He's in New York City, where he once served as an interpreter during a visit by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is also the author of a cheerful book on his native land called "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ."
You write about this concept called "ta'arof."
Mr. HOOMAN MAJD (Author, "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ"): Ta'arof, yes.
INSKEEP: What is it?
Mr. MAJD: Well, it's a form of social interaction which means that every Iranian, whenever they talk to another Iranian, or even to a foreigner, indulge in certain niceties that indicate certain things that if you're not aware of you will miss.
INSKEEP: Like what?
Mr. MAJD: Well, for example, when you go to buy something in a store and you want to pay, and the clerk will say, well, no, no, it's not worthy, what you're buying is not worthy of payment.
INSKEEP: You mean the clerk is self-deprecating about his own product?
Mr. MAJD: Exactly, exactly.
INSKEEP: You write about a taxi driver who actually got more money out of you by self-deprecation.
Mr. MAJD: Oh yeah, that's one of the ways you do it, you know, you end up at the destination, you say please - you know, how much is it? Oh no, it's not worthy. You say, oh, please - oh, no no, no, you're my guest. Please, don't even talk about money.
And then you say well, I really do want to pay you, you got cash in your hand at this point. And he says, I say well please tell me exactly how much it is. And he says 3,500 tomans, which is the equivalent of $4. Then my friend in the cab says, well, yesterday we took the same ride and it was 2,500 tomans.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. MAJD: But at that point, having told you it's unworthy, he kind of shrugs his shoulders, like well...
INSKEEP: And then you're stuck because you've been insisting on paying, and...
Mr. MAJD: You're stuck. Exactly, and with his shrug, you know, he's like, you're the one who insisted.
INSKEEP: You even find, forgive me for interrupting, go on.
Mr. MAJD: No, no, please, no.
(Soundbite of laughter)
INSKEEP: I'm not worthy of interrupting you.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. MAJD: Oh please, I'm not worthy of being on your show.
(Soundbite of laughter)
INSKEEP: But you are, but you are.
Mr. MAJD: Oh, not at all. In fact, I'm going to leave right now.
INSKEEP: No-no-no, wait-wait-wait, stay, stay. You even write that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, has used this technique of ta'arof when talking about the Holocaust on the international stage.
Mr. MAJD: Well, that's an interpretation that interestingly enough an Iranian-Jewish friend of mine gave, saying that basically when Ahmadinejad says no, there cannot have been a Holocaust, what he's really saying in terms of ta'arof is I can't believe that you Europeans, who claim to be this great civilization, could have possibly killed six million people. That can't possibly be true, is it?
And of course, that forces the Europeans, particularly the Germans, to say no, no, no, we did, we absolutely did kill six million people. And furthermore, we could do it again. So that was kind of an interesting take on how that ta'arof could be a little sinister as well.
INSKEEP: Taking enjoyment in fact out of making people confess again and again that there is this terrible, terrible occurrence.
Mr. MAJD: Yes, and particularly at a time when Iran is being accused of being a country that is, you know, violates human rights, supports terrorism, you know, murders people, stuff like that. At that time, to have Europeans say whoa, whoa we did something far, far worse.
INSKEEP: So I suppose on a small level, and perhaps on a large level, this is something that Americans would have to think about as they prepare, if they prepare, to talk directly with Iran?
Mr. MAJD: Well, I believe so, yes. I believe that if Americans are talking to Iran, if you don't understand the culture, we won't get very far. I mean, a prime example is what President-elect Obama said about his policy towards Iran will be diplomacy, but carrots and sticks, you know, sweeter carrots, bigger sticks. You know, the reaction in Tehran was virulent.
It is incredibly insulting to an Iranian to talk about carrots and sticks. It doesn't mean that there can't be carrots and sticks, it means to talk about it puts them in a position of having to, if you're thinking about ta'arof, of having to respond that, you know, we're not children, we're not donkeys. It puts them in a very defensive position.
INSKEEP: Well, now, wait a minute. Because when you talk about Iranians feeling insulted, that leads to another concept that you write about a lot, and I believe the Persian word is "haq."
Mr. MAJD: Haq, yes.
INSKEEP: What is that?
Mr. MAJD: Haq is the concept of rights. Haq actually just means the right. And there's this very strong sense amongst all Iranians on any side of the political spectrum that their rights have to be respected as a nation, as a people, and of course individual rights. And there's a sense that what the West is demanding of Iran at this point in time, vis-a-vis the nuclear issue, is a denial of the rights of the nation.
INSKEEP: You're saying that when you start talking about haq - am I pronouncing it correctly?
Mr. MAJD: Yeah...
INSKEEP: That you can get a lot of political support in Iran, and it doesn't even matter whether the average Iranian thinks that Iran should be enriching uranium or have a nuclear weapon someday or anything.
Mr. MAJD: Yeah, it's gone beyond that now. Now it's gone to the very concept of the West, once again, trying to deny Iran its rights. And Iranians, they don't want to be treated in any manner that is different than, say, from the way that we would view French people, or view the nation of Great Britain.
It's like, why should there be a difference? Iran is a nation that's 2,500 years old. It's the only country in the region that's been a country for more than a hundred years. They demand respect for the rights of those people to be world citizens.
INSKEEP: Well, let me ask if that Iranian concept of rights - and it does sound like pride is part of it, too...
Mr. MAJD: Pride is definitely a part of it, certainly, yes.
INSKEEP: And the American concept, Americans' pride, looking at the American history and things like the hostage crisis in 1979. Do you think that that concept in both countries is going to be too large a barrier to get over if these two nations do try to approach each other and reach some kind of accommodation?
Mr. MAJD: I don't think it is. I mean, there's a problem, obviously, for Americans with President Ahmadinejad because of the kind of rhetoric that he's employed, particularly with respect to both the Holocaust and Israel itself, and that's a problem. But I think one would find that if we are serious about talking to the Iranians, that rhetoric will be toned down dramatically.
Iran views relations with America as something that's inevitable, and necessary for it to become a truly developed nation. I think America realizes at this point that without some kind of discussion with Iran, some kind of negotiations to understand where our common interests are, that nothing has worked otherwise. And short of going to war with them, which is not something anybody seems to want anymore, that we need to talk. So if there's this desire, I think it can happen.
INSKEEP: Mr. Majd, would you explain one more bit of Persian that may provide an insight into Iran? And it's the phrase that you say people use almost universally in Iran if they're beginning to tell a story or a fable.
Mr. MAJD: Mmm hmm. Yeki bood, yeki nabood(ph), which means there was one, there wasn't one, which is - sounds like an oxymoron...
INSKEEP: Once upon a time, actually, never at all.
Mr. MAJD: Exactly. But it's sort of saying is this real, or is it not real? It becomes this kind of question about whether what you're about to say could be real or couldn't be real. And it goes very much into the Persian form of communication, which includes ta'arof. To me, it's always been a very interesting phrase to use, and it's employed all the time, and it kind of has that paradoxical nature that all of Iranian society and culture has.
INSKEEP: Hooman Majd is author of "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ." Thanks very much.
Mr. MAJD: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: We're getting a view from abroad this week as we prepare for a new year and a new administration. Our series concludes tomorrow with a conversation from the war-torn country of Columbia. You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Russia has shut off supplies of natural gas to Ukraine. It's part of a price dispute, and it is bad news for the rest of Europe. Many Europeans get close to a quarter of their gas from Russia, and much of that flows through Ukraine on its way to countries further west. NPR's Gregory Feifer's in Moscow and is covering this story. Greg what's the nature of the dispute here?
GREGORY FEIFER: Well, first of all, $2 billion of debt that Gazprom says it didn't get from Ukraine, but mainly the dispute is about the price of gas. Moscow is increasing its rate for gas this year, but it's offering what it says is a discount price of $250 per thousand cubic meters of gas. Now Ukraine says it wants to pay $201. Both countries have been hard hit by the global financial crisis, but Ukraine has already faced power cuts, and it's not clear if it really can pay any more. But I have to say that many also believe this dispute is about politics as well. Russia's often accused of using its control over energy as a political weapon to punish former Soviet states. Relations between Moscow and Kiev have been incredibly low, especially following Ukraine's support for Georgia after Russia's attack last summer. And some believe Russia wants to make life difficult for Ukraine.
INSKEEP: So we have a reminder here of why some people are calling Russia an energy superpower, and maybe they still are even with oil prices dropping again, but that leads to the next question here Greg. If they're cutting off gas to Ukraine, what then happens to the rest of Europe?
FEIFER: It's not clear, as you said Europe depends on Russia for its gas. 80 percent of Russian supplies cross Ukraine to Europe. Both Kiev and Moscow say they guarantee those supplies will continue unaffected, but during the last shut-off of Russian gas to Ukraine, which took place in 2006, deliveries to Europe dropped very quickly. Some European countries in the former Soviet block depend on Russia for up to 90 percent of their gas, so for them it's a very big worry. Gazprom now says it's increased its supplies to Europe to make up for any possible disruptions. But it's also accusing Ukraine of threatening to confiscate European gas supplies, and it says Kiev is blackmailing Europe.
INSKEEP: Any chance this could be over quickly?
FEIFER: Both sides have called for negotiations to resume. In 2006, the shut-off lasted for several days, but I have to say that what's certain is that the longer this crisis lasts, the more attention will again be drawn to Russia's role as a major energy exporter as you said. Relations with the west are low and with pro-western countries like Ukraine, and this will make matters surely worse. And of course on top of that there's the global financial crisis. As I said Russia has been hit hard and Ukraine even harder, and it's really upped the stakes for both sides to negotiate harder.
INSKEEP: Are they really negotiating, Gregory?
FEIFER: They're not negotiating right now. They've - both sides have urged talks to restart. We've heard a lot from Moscow, and what's been really noticeable has been the tough rhetoric against Ukraine. President Medvedev was on television last night attacking Ukrainian leaders. Accusing them of ineptitude and really personalizing the stand-off. And I have to say it certainly looks like Moscow is using the crisis, at least publicly, to hammer the government in Kiev.
INSKEEP: Greg, thanks very much.
FEIFER: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: Gregory Feifer's NPR's Moscow correspondent. This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. One of the many books about John F. Kennedy's administration notes a day that the first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy met a writer named Ian Fleming. Mrs. Kennedy asked if he was "the" Ian Fleming? And as soon as it became know that the Kennedy's were reading Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond took another step towards being a cultural icon. Every president has opportunities large and small to shape the culture. President Bush made his efforts to increase funding for the arts. And now we prepare for a new president who is said to like Stevie Wonder, Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemingway, among others. NPR's Elizabeth Blair is to tell us how the first couple may influence arts and entertainment. Welcome to the program.
ELIZABETH BLAIR: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Barack Obama's someone who has written a best-selling book. He is said to have written poetry when he was young.
BLAIR: Yes, and he has apparently quoted poetry in some of his speeches. That slipped by a lot of us. But yes he talked about the arts many times throughout the campaign.
INSKEEP: And actually had an arts committee of some kind?
BLAIR: He had a 30-plus national arts policy committee. It was unprecedented. I don't think any other candidate has ever had that level of involvement from artists.
INSKEEP: They normally have foreign police advisers and so forth...
BLAIR: Yeah.
INSKEEP: But an arts adviser is a little different.
BLAIR: Or they come out with a paragraph statement about the arts and then forget it.
INSKEEP: So has he also talked about this publicly? His commitment to the arts whether it's funding or any other way he can influence them?
BLAIR: Yes, he has. He's a strong believer in arts education. We have an excerpt from a speech he gave at a high school in Pennsylvania, where he talked about how things are so different now than when he was a kid.
(Soundbite of speech)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: You always had an art teacher and a music teacher. You could be in the poorest school district in the world. Now I'm not saying music was always exciting.
(Soundbite of audience laughter)
Right? I mean, sometimes, you know the teacher would be making you sing songs that, you know, - from my gold show tunes, you know. I had one year as a music teacher, make you Oklahoma, where the - yeah, I was more into Stevie Wonder, so there was a - but the point is that everybody had access to music. Everybody had access to art.
INSKEEP: Wow. There you have an idea of how someone's personal experience might actually influence federal policy toward the arts.
BLAIR: I think it definitely will. The arts he has mentioned it in interviews. He obviously mentioned it on the campaign. No, he's an arts supporter. No question.
INSKEEP: So does that make him any different than President Bush?
BLAIR: Well Bush we didn't hear a lot about his support of the arts, but he has a record of asking for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. I think many arts people would say that one of the best decisions he ever made was appointing Dana Gioia as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He was very popular, but he really left arts and culture to his very capable wife, Laura Bush. She was a librarian and a public school teacher. So literature, reading, supporting American writers - that's where her focus was.
INSKEEP: And Laura Bush was this program in 2001 talking about her interest in reading, and talking about her personal experiences, and how it shaped her interests.
(Soundbite of interview)
Ms. LAURA BUSH (First Lady, United States): And my mother loved to read and read to me, and that's why I learned to love to read. And I get letters now from people across the country who say the same thing. My mother loved the read, or my father read to me, or my grandparent loved to read. And if we show children we love to read and that we like to have books, and we have books around our house. Then they'll get that from us just by osmosis.
INSKEEP: That's Laura Bush in 2001. We're talking with NPR's Elizabeth Blair about presidents and arts policy. And the president who is coming in, as we said, is said to be a poetry lover and will have a poet reading at the inauguration.
BLAIR: That's right and her name is Elizabeth Alexander. She's a friend of the Obamas from Chicago. She's a Yale professor and in fact, she will be only the fourth poet to read at a swearing in ceremony, in American history.
INSKEEP: It's got to be rare for a living poet to have an audience of millions like this.
BLAIR: Exactly.
INSKEEP: So, did that big committee of arts advisers actually get Barack Obama to make any campaign promises about arts funding that he might have to keep now?
BLAIR: No promises, but his transition team does have a group working on arts policy recommendations. And just recently on "Meet the Press", he talked about the role of the arts in hard times.
(Soundbite of interview)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Historically, what has always brought us through hard times is that national character, that sense of optimism, that willingness to look forward, that sense that better days are ahead. I think that our art and our culture, our science, you know, that's the essence of what makes America special, and we want to project that as much as possible in the White House.
BLAIR: You know Steve, one of the most interesting things that have come up with these different committees working with Obama is the suggestion that they should create an artist corps, a kind of Peace Corps for artists. So at relatively little cost you would have artists going into communities around the country helping with schools, helping with senior centers, and that idea has generated quite a bit of buzz in the arts world.
INSKEEP: NPR's Elizabeth Blair. Thanks very much.
BLAIR: Thank you Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. A truck driver fell asleep near Detroit overnight and woke up to scrambled eggs. The tractor-trailer crashed into a guardrail, and the truckload of egg cartons spilled onto the highway. In fact the eggs covered three lanes of highway along a distance of 300 feet, and of course the broken eggs froze in place. Cleanup crews used the closest thing they had to a giant spatula, a front-end loader. You're listening to Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Of all the New Year's celebrations, the tastiest might have come in McDonough, Georgia. The town along Interstate 75 attracted thousands of people last night. Instead of watching a giant crystal ball like Times Square, they watched a giant chicken nugget drop into a vat of dipping sauce. The nugget weighs 800 pounds. It's only made of plaster, though a manager at the restaurant that hosts the event says, it looks real. You're listening to Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
As longtime listeners know, this program works to help you find books that slip under the radar. Librarian Nancy Pearl gave us a pile of them yesterday, and this morning, we have one more. It's a book from this past year by Elizabeth McCracken, called "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination." NPR's Lynn Neary describes it as a beautifully written book about McCracken's first child, who was stillborn. Lynn visited McCracken and her family and has the story.
LYNN NEARY: A fiction writer, Elizabeth McCracken thought she would never write a memoir.
M: And I probably, especially had some scorn for memoirs that were about the worst thing that ever happened to you. Then something really, really bad happened to me, and I realized that I needed to write about it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SNEEZING)
NEARY: As McCracken talks, her 2-week-old daughter, Matilda, sleeps in her arms and - as newborns are wont to do - wakes up every now and then.
(SOUNDBITE OF BABY COOING)
M: Oh, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF COUGHING)
(SOUNDBITE OF CRYING)
M: Oh, Matilda. Hard to be a baby; it's very difficult work sometimes.
NEARY: Matilda is McCracken's third child with her husband, Edward Carey. Their first died inside McCracken's womb in April 2006. McCracken and Carey are very clear on the number of children they've had. If a stranger asks on the street or in a store, they might say, we have two, but to them, it is unquestionably three. In large part, it was the need to hold onto the reality of their firstborn that led McCracken to write the book. It poured out of her in several weeks after the birth of their son, Gus, a time of conflicting and complex emotions.
M: I was worried about my grief for the first child somehow interfering with my love for Gus, but I was also very worried about the other, that somehow it was disloyal to my first child to pretend that now, everything was all right, that this new and fantastic baby somehow meant that that first death was not as deep a sorrow as it was.
NEARY: McCracken and Carey, who is also a writer, were living in France during her first pregnancy. They had settled in an old farmhouse near Bordeaux, working on their writing and getting ready for the next stage of their life to begin. But just before the baby was due, it became clear that something had gone wrong. When a sonogram confirmed that the baby was dead, McCracken learned that she would still have to deliver her child, a delivery that was delayed for 36 hours so that doctors could do tests to find out what had caused the death.
M: The day delay was kind of amazing to me. But the worst thing had already happened; the fact that my child had died was the worst thing. And so, I sort of thought, well, you know, if he has to be delivered, he has to be delivered, and you know, it did seem sort of like the last thing that I could do for him.
NEARY: At one point, McCracken and Carey left the hospital and went to a cafe, McCracken still looking heavily pregnant. Here, McCracken reads from that section of the book.
M: (Reading) There was no oxygen in that little plaza in Bordeaux; Edward and I both felt it. I could not look anyone in the eye, lest they smile and ask me about my baby. This was a mistake, said Edward; we don't belong here - meaning out in the world. We'd escaped, but where could we go with me in my condition? Time had bent again. Time had developed a serious kink. Our old life, the one where we planned our existence around the son we were expecting, had ended, but our new life, the one where we tried to figure out how to live without him, couldn't start yet.
NEARY: The baby who died had a name. During the pregnancy, McCracken and Carey had been calling him Pudding. And in the end, Carey says, they made that official.
M: You know, we had a couple of names that we were possibly going to call him, but he'd only ever really been Pudding. And he would have stopped being Pudding, and he would have become something else, had he lived. But he didn't, and so, it seemed absolutely sensible that that was his name.
NEARY: Pudding is what you put on the death certificate?
M: It was on the death certificate. It's what was on his little coffin, and that's who he'll always be.
NEARY: After a summer spent in England staying as busy as possible, McCracken and Carey returned to the U.S., but first, they scattered Pudding's ashes on one of Carey's favorite beaches on the Norfolk coast.
M: And that part of the world is sort of stamped now in our heads as a sort of sacred, sacred place. And we took Gus there this summer, and seeing him running around the...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: On the beach was just fantastic.
(SOUNDBITE OF BABY CRYING)
M: Oh, oh, Mister Gus.
NEARY: And there he is, on cue.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
NEARY: And as Gus bursts into the room with the furious energy of a toddler, his father scoops him up into his arms and comforts him.
(SOUNDBITE OF FATHER AND SON LAUGHING, TALKING)
NEARY: Once settled down, the two sit on the floor, reading books.
GUS: Doh(ph).
M: That's a dog. And what's that one?
GUS: Cat.
M: That's right. It's a cat.
NEARY: And looking at this beautiful boy so full of life, one wonders, is he the exact replica of the figment of her imagination? Is he their happy ending? No, says McCracken; Gus is not an ending.
M: He's the start of his own story. He is unconnected from this thing that happened before him. That's part of my story, but not part of his story. So, it's not that I think that Gus is the exact replica, but maybe the book itself is - that I wrote the book, trying, as I say, to get every single detail about this person whose face I never looked at while he was alive, and that I couldn't manage to give him a life, but I could write his biography.
M: But McCracken knows the biography will always be incomplete. The details of her firstborn's personality will always be, as she puts it, entirely imaginary.
(SOUNDBITE OF BABY COOING)
M: I'm holding a 2-and-a-half-week-old in my lap who's snuffling and snorting, and I already have a much clearer idea of who she is from knowing her for two and a half weeks. I think she looks like when she wakes up, she looks like an old lady who's woken up for no reason at a discotheque.
(SOUNDBITE OF BABY COOING)
M: What? What's going on? Why are the lights so bright?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: What's that infernal racket?
(SOUNDBITE OF BABY COOING)
NEARY: Next summer, McCracken and Carey will go back to the beach in Norfolk with Gus and his new sister. It seems, says Carey, like the place where all three of their children are together. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: NPR's Morning Edition is produced by Tracy Wahl and Barry Gordemer. Our senior producers include Cindy Carpien and Tom Bullock, Neva Grant and Jim Wildman. Our deputy executive producer is Madhulika Sikka. The director of morning programming is Ellen McDonnell. Morning Edition's theme music was written B.J. Liederman and arranged by Jim Pew. I'm Steve Inskeep.
L: Not to worry, people will always get sick. The health-care industry was strong until recently, adding jobs as other industries cut back. Now, there's growing evidence that the hospital industry is not immune. Curt Nickisch reports from member station WBUR in Boston.
CURT NICKISCH: Steve Tringale runs a national health-care consulting firm in Boston. In his 30 years in the business, he's never seen anything like this.
M: The recession is clearly hitting hospitals harder this time than it has in the past. The factors which are driving the overall economic downturn have conspired in some ways to almost set up a perfect storm for hospitals.
NICKISCH: He says there are four main factors contributing to this storm. First, state budgets are tightening, so critical reimbursements to hospitals are shrinking. Second, as the economy weakens, people are losing their jobs and employer health insurance. Third, people are putting off medical care when they can.
M: It's been tough on the kids. I can't, you know, throw a ball to them anymore. I can't bend down and pick it up.
NICKISCH: Wally Glendye has a bad knee, and he's up for replacement surgery, but he says he can't afford the co-pays and deductible.
M: It's just the wrong time to spend money. I mean, it is. If it was better, absolutely, but it's not the time to play around, not at all, no, no.
NICKISCH: Karen Nelson with the Massachusetts Hospital Association says there's another reason people like Glendye are putting off medical care.
M: Because the economy is so lousy, patients are deferring elective procedures. They're afraid to leave their job to be out for two or three weeks and then to come back and find a pink slip.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELEVATOR BELL)
NICKISCH: It's not only elective procedures that are down. A recent survey from the American Hospital Association says two-thirds of hospitals are seeing lower patient admissions overall, and this is at a time when they were counting on an older population needing more care. At Tufts Medical Center in Boston, this is all made worse by the fourth and final factor in the storm: the credit crunch. It's harder to get money to build a new wing or buy better equipment. Tufts Medical Center's CEO, Ellen Zane, says the sliding stock market has also hit the hospital's endowment, which funds medical research.
D: When there are no gains, it's hard to support it, and it means that the clinical part of our enterprise has to, what I always say, is speed up the treadmill.
NICKISCH: That means asking employees to do more, even while Tufts cuts back on hiring. Zane has put expansion plans on hold. She's also urging doctors to cut back on travel for their medical research. Changes like these are becoming common at hospitals across the country. Some are even laying off workers, including the venerable Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Health care consultant Steve Tringale says medical campuses are going to come out of this recession in worse financial and physical shape.
M: Hospitals need, you know, new heating systems, new chillers; ORs need to be rehabbed; buildings need to be maintained - things like that.
NICKISCH: Tringale says he thinks most hospitals will find ways to save money without cutting quality of care.
M: You know, the longer this recession goes, the higher the risk that that starts to become an issue. I don't think it's there right now.
NICKISCH: Hospitals could get a helping hand from the incoming Obama administration. The president-elect's transition team says an economic stimulus package might include a boost to federal Medicaid dollars. That's giving hospitals some hope in what otherwise appears to be a weak, bleak 2009. For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It is Friday morning, which means, among other things, that it's time again for StoryCorps, the national project capturing the stories of everyday Americans, including this one. In 1951, a massive blizzard hit the southern United States, blanketing the region with ice and snow. At the time, Jim Fleming was a high-school student in Greenwood, Mississippi, and he recalls how he occupied his time during the snow days.
D: But now here's the corollary to that story. When I got to Vanderbilt in my freshman year, we studied biology. When it came time for the final exam, I sat down; there was a question said, write the animal kingdom. And I sat down and wrote that blue book, wrote it full. A couple of days later, Dr. Farrell called me in. He said, no one can write the animal kingdom like that; you copied out of a book. I said, no, Dr. Farrell, I did not. So, he says, sit down right here and show me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
D: So, I wrote the animal kingdom. By that time, you know, I knew it very well.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
D: And when I got into practice, I got a call one night from the Vanderbilt Emergency Room. So, I got over there and assessed this girl and said, you know, I need to take her to surgery. Nurse said, well, you need to talk to her father. So, I went out there to talk to the father, and there was Dr. Farrell. And he looked at me and he said, animal kingdom, aren't you, boy?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
D: He said, well, you're OK; you go ahead and operate on my daughter.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Dr. Jim Fleming's story will be archived, along with all the other StoryCorps interviews, at the Library of Congress. You can read more stories in the StoryCorps book, which is called "Listening Is an Act of Love." And you can subscribe to the StoryCorps podcast at npr.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
OK, with a drink in hand, and that music as inspiration, let's move on to some of the best music of 2008. Our commentators in the last few days have picked their favorite jazz, kids' music, an unknown rock record, their favorite world music, and now we turn to classical music. John Schaefer of member station WNYC says his favorite classical moment of 2008 was not on CD; it was documented on a DVD.
JOHN SCHAEFER: The funny thing about 2008 is that it really was a year not so much for releases, but for bigger news in the classical music world. And for me the big story, which leads to the big recording of the year...
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SCHAEFER: Was the New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang, North Korea, back in February.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC EVENING CONCERT, PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA,)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "AMERICAN IN PARIS")
SCHAEFER: The orchestra rose to the occasion and played with a lot of spirit. The orchestra was clearly into it. Lorin Maazel was having a great time, even as he was clearly aware of the significance of the event. And in terms of the actual music on the program, it was an unusual choice. The Gershwin "American in Paris" gave Lorin Maazel a chance to crack a joke about maybe someday in the future, "Americans in Pyongyang" will be written.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "AMERICAN IN PARIS")
SCHAEFER: What most people don't realize is that there were actually two performances that day. There was the evening concert, which was the one that had all the dignitaries and the one that got all of the coverage. There was also an afternoon concert, which was meant to be a dress rehearsal. But in the city of Pyongyang, there was so much interest they opened the doors and basically did their dress rehearsal as a full-on concert in front of a packed house. So, I think what we have on this DVD is a slightly edited version of the evening concert with some of - I'm guessing - some of the afternoon performance edited in to cover up some of the inevitable glitches that happen.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC EVENING CONCERT, PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA,)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "AMERICAN IN PARIS")
SCHAEFER: The real moment where it all came together was at the very end of the concert, a final encore, when Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic did an arrangement of the beloved Korean folk song "Arirang."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "ARIRANG")
SCHAEFER: I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when they finished playing this piece, the audience waving to the New York Philharmonic musicians as they began to leave the stage, and then the musicians, caught by surprise, waving back with tears in their eyes. It was a remarkable moment and a true kind of meeting of cultures through this piece of music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "ARIRANG")
SCHAEFER: The immediate impact of this was to put the New York Philharmonic, to put classical music, on the mass media stage around the world in a way that is unparalleled in recent years. And so, for me, the significance of this recording is not just great music beautifully played; it's great music beautifully played, and the world was watching.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "ARIRANG")
INSKEEP: To hear John Schaefer's full list of the best classical releases of the year and the other best-of-2008 lists, just go to nprmusic.org. And let's listen to some more right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "ARIRANG")
INSKEEP: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The U.S. Army is investigating a cluster of suicides in the Houston Recruiting Battalion. Five soldiers there have taken their own lives since 2001. Across the country, in fact, 17 Army recruiters have committed suicide during the same period. Recruiting is considered one of the most stressful jobs in the military, and NPR's John McChesney explains why.
JOHN MCCHESNEY: Back in March of 2007, Aron Andersson locked himself in the cab of his Ford 150 pickup, called home to say he was going to kill himself. He shot up the dashboard radio, and then put a bullet in his head. He'd threatened suicide five months earlier and his father, Bob Andersson, reported him to the military.
MCCHESNEY: I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but I called a major and told him that, you know, his girlfriend had said he threatened to commit suicide, and she told me that, you know, he was going through night terrors and a bunch of other things. And you know, he'd get up to go to work in the morning and he'd his girlfriend that he was exhausted, and she'd say, well, yeah, you know, you've been jumping over the couch and hiding behind the chairs and stuff half the night like you're in battle, and then he wouldn't even realize it in the morning
MCCHESNEY: Aron had served two tours in Iraq. He was furious with his father for reporting him, saying his Army career would be ended.
MCCHESNEY: And I just simply told him that, well, Aron, if you don't talk to me ever again, I can live with that. But if I didn't turn you in and something happened, I don't think I could live with that.
MCCHESNEY: Robert Andersson says his son had trouble delivering the required two recruits a month, especially after his experience in Iraq.
MCCHESNEY: How could you be over there and see some of the things that he saw and dealt with and try to hire people to go over there and do that?
MCCHESNEY: Chris Rodriguez, a friend who worked with Aron as a recruiter, says no one wanted to lie, but the pressure on recruiters is intense during wartime.
INSKEEP: A soldier doesn't want to get down and really beg a person to join the Army, but I think often, at times, these recruiters and myself, we felt like we were begging them and trying to do anything just to convince them to give it a try like we had. We often sat in the recruiting station - sometimes really late - and talked about how we'd rather be in Iraq than recruiting.
MCCHESNEY: Aron Andersson was diagnosed with PTSD and depression and returned to recruiting duty. His unit was advised to keep an eye on him and five months later, he took his life. On August 9th of this year, Staff Sergeant Larry Flores, also an Iraq veteran, hanged himself in his garage with an extension cord. Fellow recruiters told the Houston Chronicle that a week earlier, Flores had been yelled at and threatened with firing for failing to meet the goal of two recruits each month. He was also having trouble with his wife. Two weeks later, Sergeant First Class Patrick Henderson, also an Iraq veteran in the same recruiting company with Flores, hanged himself in the garage behind his home. Like Aron Andersson, Patrick had earlier called his wife, Amanda, from his pickup, saying he was going to kill himself.
MCCHESNEY: Crazed, hysterical, couldn't - you know, he was crying and screaming, and I kept asking him, what's wrong, and he goes, I just can't deal with it anymore. I just can't deal with it anymore. He said, I've got the shotgun.
MCCHESNEY: Amanda and a friend talked Patrick down that time. She says the next morning, he was delusional and imagined he was back in Iraq. He was sent off to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio for evaluation, then returned to his outfit but relieved from recruiting duty. Amanda, herself a recruiter in the same battalion, says she remained terrified.
MCCHESNEY: (Crying) And he tried to convince me, but I knew in the back of my head deep down that if you were going to try it once, you were definitely going to do it again. So, I knew something was wrong.
MCCHESNEY: There's been a fourth suicide in the Houston battalion during this same time period involving another combat veteran. No other details are available. The Army says a fifth reported suicide in Houston was not a recruiter. I stopped by the Houston battalion's headquarters and was escorted inside, where I was told there was an investigation under way and no one could talk to me. As I walked outside, the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky called my cell phone to tell me a general had been appointed to look into the matter. Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn called for that investigation.
INSKEEP: I asked for an independent investigation. This is not what I call an independent investigation, but it's a step in the right direction. And my hope is after this command investigation, that we can see what that produces and then we'll, I hope, hold hearings.
MCCHESNEY: One of the questions the senator wants answered is whether it's wise to order combat veterans to take recruiting jobs. Most of them don't volunteer. James Larsen is a retired senior policy analyst for the Army Recruiting Command.
MCCHESNEY: I believe, short of being shot at and, you know, risking your life, that recruiting is probably the toughest job in the Army.
MCCHESNEY: Larsen says a few years ago, a study commissioned by the Army looked at the level of stress hormones in recruiters.
MCCHESNEY: Recruiters have the highest stress levels of any occupation in the United States. Policemen, firemen, special operations, you know, spies, you name it, head and shoulders, recruiters have the highest stress levels of anybody.
MCCHESNEY: Whether or not recruiters have the highest stress level, there's little doubt that they are under extraordinary pressure to sell the Army to a small number of reluctant consumers. Add to that the marital stress brought on by 12- to 14-hour workdays, the isolation of being stationed in small towns far from a base, and in the Houston battalion's case, alleged abusive treatment of those who didn't produce their quota, and you have a potentially toxic cocktail. Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn.
INSKEEP: The other part of this that was troubling was the idea that there was pressure - suggestion there was pressure being put down the chain of command to keep this quiet.
MCCHESNEY: Senator Cornyn wants to know if the Houston battalion's problems are an isolated case or whether recruiter stress patterns are similar in other places. Sergeant Henderson's wife, Amanda, believes the problems are widespread, and that the Houston battalion in particular ignored all the danger signals.
MCCHESNEY: It needed to be looked at heavily whenever the first one had taken his life, not wait until the fifth one had taken his life. The fifth one was my husband.
MCCHESNEY: John McChesney, NPR News.
INSKEEP: Whatever the cost may have been, we can tell you that all the military services - the Army, Navy, the Air Force and the Marines - met their recruiting targets in 2008. The U.S. Army signed up over just over 80,000 recruits. Last April, NPR reported that the Army was accepting more recruits without high-school diplomas in order to meet its goals. Early in the decade, over 90 percent of new recruits had diplomas, but by 2007, the figure had dipped to 79 percent. We can tell you the figure improved slightly in the past year.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: You're listening to NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP: It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Experts disagree on how to fix the economy, so this morning, we're going to let them fight it out. And if you think the phrase "fight it out" is just some figure of speech, wait until you hear what's about to happen. Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama are assembling a huge plan to stimulate the economy. Some experts doubt this is a good idea. So, our Planet Money team, which covers the economy, organized a bare-knuckle fight to see who's right. In the center of the ring as referee, NPR's David Kestenbaum.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
DAVID KESTENBAUM: Since these are economists, this will be, of course, a fight with words. But the metaphor is helpful. In one corner wearing - he wants it to be blood-red shorts - Russell Roberts.
KESTENBAUM: I'm an economist at George Mason University.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
KESTENBAUM: Russell Roberts is a particular kind of economist. He describes himself as Austrian-school, Chicago supply-sider. Basically he's a free-market guy, believes the economy works best when the government doesn't go messing around with it.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
KESTENBAUM: In the other corner in, say, blue shorts, is Steve Fazzari.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
KESTENBAUM: I'm professor of economics at Washington University, and I'm happy to describe myself as a Keynesian macro-economist.
KESTENBAUM: After the economist John Maynard Keynes. We've set up this boxing match because each side scores some good hits. Let's start with Steve Fazzari. He thinks we need a big stimulus package now. Millions of very talented people are out of work, just sitting idle, not helping the economy; it's a total waste. In order to get people working again and get the economy going again, someone somewhere has to step in and spend.
KESTENBAUM: So, where's the spending going to come from? For a long time, it came from consumers. When the economy got in trouble over the last 20 or 30 years, we seemed to rely on the consumer to start spending again. But now, that source of spending has run out of gas.
KESTENBAUM: Companies aren't really spending, either, and other countries? They aren't buying our stuff because the crisis is global.
KESTENBAUM: And about the only source that's left is the government.
KESTENBAUM: Now, that may seem pretty convincing, but it is not to the guy in the blood-red shorts, Russell Roberts.
KESTENBAUM: I find it horrifying, personally. The idea that the government is going to decide where a trillion dollars of our economy is spent rather than the rest of us deciding it is not, to me, a good sign.
KESTENBAUM: Now, the folks on President-elect Obama's team are working on a big stimulus plan, big enough, they say, to create 3 million new jobs - people repairing bridges, improving the educational system, developing green technology - 3 million new jobs. But Russell Roberts doesn't buy that number because the government has to get all that money from somewhere, and every dollar the government spends is a dollar not available for the rest of us to spend on new cars or starting up new businesses, which would also create jobs.
KESTENBAUM: We're a $14 trillion economy, roughly, and the government spends about 3 trillion of that right now and climbing. So, as the share of the government gets larger and larger, the real productive stuff that we do gets decided by people in Washington rather than the rest of us. I hope they do a good job. They tend to be under political pressure to do things that are politically wise, not always the stuff that's economically wise.
KESTENBAUM: Like ethanol subsidies. The stimulus package, he says, it's unnecessary. There are people with plenty of money out there. They will have to invest it. It might take awhile, but it's inevitable: The economy will recover. So, who is right? Unfortunately, these two schools of thought have only had one proper fight, one contest, and that was the Great Depression. And both sides claim it as a victory. The Keynesians say government spending got us out of the Great Depression; all that World War II money spent making bombs, all those military salaries, got the economy on its feet again. But the free market folks argue the exact opposite: that the war spending held the economy back, and the country only really recovered after when the government left the economy alone. Russell Roberts says, to be fair, if this were a boxing match, it would be hard to pick a winner.
KESTENBAUM: In general, we're flying by the seat of our pants, and anybody who says otherwise is just whistling in the dark.
KESTENBAUM: Will we know in the end who's right, years from now?
KESTENBAUM: I don't think so.
KESTENBAUM: Oh, come on. That's a terrible answer.
KESTENBAUM: Yeah, I know. I think it's the truth, though. But I don't think we have a very good idea of what ended the Great Depression. We still have a bunch of people on different sides of that debate yelling and screaming about it today.
KESTENBAUM: Steve Fazzari, on the other hand, is pretty sure he and his Keynesian friends are right, that a massive stimulus plan is needed. But he agrees it's hard to know for sure.
KESTENBAUM: So, unlike physicists and chemists who do controlled experiments, economists have to infer based on a mix of logic and sometimes anecdotal historical evidence, sometimes tighter statistical evidence, and try to muddle their way to an answer.
KESTENBAUM: Does it ever unnerve you?
KESTENBAUM: Yes, I am concerned about how we're going to recover from this problem. The problem looks bigger than anything I've seen during my professional career. So yes, I do find it scary.
KESTENBAUM: The sparring over how and whether the government should spend what could be a trillion extra dollars will be moving to a venue famous for sparring: Congress. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.
INSKEEP: If you just can't get enough of 2008, you can check out a year-end slide show of the recession. Just go the Planet Money blog, which is npr.org/money.
A: Cuba. Cuban President Raul Castro declared last night that the Communist system on the island is stronger than ever.
(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY)
: (Shouting in Spanish) Viva Fidel!
U: (Shouting in Spanish) Viva!
: (Shouting in Spanish) Viva la revolucion!
U: (Shouting in Spanish) Viva!
: They're celebrating Fidel Castro, the founder of the revolution 50 years ago. Now, here's part of the story they did not celebrate yesterday. Cuba has a soaring trade deficit, crumbling infrastructure and a faltering agricultural system. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Santiago.
JASON BEAUBIEN: Cuba is billing this commemoration as a celebration of 50 years of victorious revolution, and in his speech to hundreds of people gathered in the main square in Santiago, President Raul Castro cast the past five decades as a battle between Cuba and its belligerent, imperialist neighbor 90 miles to the north. And in this battle, Raul said, Cuba has triumphed.
: (Spanish spoken) Todas las administraciones Norteamericanas...
BEAUBIEN: Every U.S. administration, Raul said, has tried to force regime change on Cuba. From the disastrous CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961to the ongoing embargo, the Cuban president said the U.S. has always failed. The Marxist/Leninist government has outlasted 10 presidential administrations in Washington.
: (Spanish spoken) Es una victoria doble rica...
BEAUBIEN: It's a victory twice as sweet, he said, because it's been achieved over a hateful, sick, vindictive and powerful neighbor. Raul Castro formally took over as president earlier this year from his ailing older brother Fidel. Raul's speech and this 50th anniversary come at a tough time for Cuba. Earlier this week, the country's economic minister said Cuba is facing its most difficult period since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. As Cuba's farms languish, the island now imports roughly 60 percent of its food. Its trade deficit skyrocketed last year as the cost of food and other imports soared, yet key exports declined. Sticking to the combative tone of his address in Santiago, Raul said the Communist country is on a war footing, not just against the United States but against social injustice.
: (Spanish spoken) Nunca mas sera la miseria...
BEAUBIEN: Never again, he said, will misery, shame, abuse and injustice return to our land. Some on the island, however, say these things have already returned. The average salary here is about U.S. $20 a month, education and health care are free, and everyone gets monthly rations of subsidized food. But in the capital, relatively healthy, well-educated Cubans sidle up to tourists to quietly beg for money. Even people who vigorously support the Communist system say putting food on the table each month is a constant challenge. After Raul Castro's speech, Marali Senida Martinez Riega said the Communist society established by Fidel is a miracle.
M: BEAUBIEN, In the first place, now everyone can think and is literate, she says. She was 22 when Fidel came to power in 1959. Back then, most people in rural Cuba only got a fourth-grade education, she says; now, they can go to the university and for free. Echoing Raul, she says the triumphant Cuban revolution continues, and she predicts will last at least another 50 years. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Santiago.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
A legendary opponent of apartheid in South Africa has died. For many years, Helen Suzman was the only member of parliament to speak out forcefully against racial segregation. Nelson Mandela said she was the only woman to visit him and other black prisoners. Helen Suzman was white. Back in 1993, she spoke with NPR a few months before the country's first multiracial elections.
(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)
M: Trying to maintain segregation in an integrated economy was absolutely hopeless, and it meant terrible disaster to the lives of millions of people. Naturally, bitterness built up over the years and black resistance escalated. And that's why the government, over and over again, had to introduce states of emergency.
INSKEEP: Helen Suzman was 91. She died on New Year's Day. And to learn more about Suzman's life, we've called Charlayne Hunter-Gault in Capetown, South Africa. Welcome back to the program.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER: Thank you, Steve. It's great to be here. Happy New Year.
INSKEEP: Happy New Year to you. Helen Suzman sounds like a courageous woman, particularly since she was fighting this cause many, many, many years ago.
HUNTER: Yes. She was an amazing woman, and I'm so happy that I got to know her over the years. She was the lone voice in parliament fighting against the repressive laws that - particularly the ones that kept people, black people, from moving around. You know, they had to carry passes, and also there were times when whites wanted particular areas of land and property, and they would have what they called forced removals. They would just move black people out to some place way away from where their normal homes were and think nothing of it. And so, she fought against all of those things. And also, another one of the more repressive of the apartheid laws was detention without trial, and she, herself a trained lawyer, as the sole representative of her party, the Liberal Progressive Party in parliament, she stood up, she spoke truth to power, and she never, never backed down in the face of just enormous opposition.
INSKEEP: What was she like when you were in the room with her?
HUNTER: In fact, you know, I was just reading one of the obituaries and - in which they said that, you know, several people she told over the past few weeks that she was about to leave the earth, she was passing on. But one of her colleagues was telling me that he was forever - she was forever calling him to see if he would take care of her dogs because she said, you know, I'm not going to be here very long. Well, that went on for several years.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HUNTER: But she was the most self-deprecating person. She achieved just an enormous amount in terms of bringing apartheid and this retched system to the eyes and ears of the international - and conscience of the international community, but she was very self-deprecating.
INSKEEP: Just a couple of seconds left: Was she satisfied, do you think, with what happened after the end of apartheid?
HUNTER: No. You know, Helen Suzman was the kind of woman who spoke truth to power no matter what, and while she was hailed by Mandela as being a champion that helped end apartheid, she spoke truth to the black-led government, too. There were many things that they were doing that she was opposed to, and so she never, you know, hesitated to call out what she saw as people committing injustices or not staying on the right democratic path.
INSKEEP: OK.
HUNTER: And you know, calling people to account...
INSKEEP: OK.
HUNTER: Over something that she herself fought for, for many, many years.
INSKEEP: Charlayne Hunter-Gault in the death of Helen Suzman. You're listening to NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. After a stretch on the outside politically, California may be headed back to Washington's A list. President-elect Barack Obama has picked a number of Californians for top jobs in his administration; California Democrats will also chair half a dozen powerful committees in Congress; and Californian Nancy Pelosi remains speaker of the House. As NPR's Ina Jaffe reports, it means the new president may look west when he wants to get something done.
INA JAFFE: There are a lot of big items on the agenda of the upcoming Obama administration. There's that humongous stimulus package, for example, that's supposed to promote, among other things, green jobs. There is universal health-care coverage, global warming, energy independence - all of those items will go through congressional committees headed by Californians like Representative Henry Waxman, the new chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
R: Both the health issues and the energy and environmental issues, they were the reason I decided to seek the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, because those two issues do go through our committee.
JAFFE: Waxman will have an ally in the Senate, where California's Barbara Boxer chairs the Committee on Environment and Public Works. Californians, says Waxman, take particular pride in leading the way on energy and environmental issues.
R: We've set standards for automobiles so that they are cleaner-burning than the rest of the country, and we're trying to do the same with carbon omissions and mileage efficiency.
JAFFE: The state of California has had to fight the Bush administration over such policies and suffer national ridicule for others, like investing in wind power years before it came cool. But in the next four years, California's long-held philosophy on energy could become the nation's. President-elect Obama suggested as much when he introduced his pick for Secretary of Energy.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE, DECEMBER 16, 2008)
INSKEEP: Dr. Steven Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who has been working at the cutting edge of our nation's efforts to develop new and cleaner forms of energy.
JAFFE: Chu's done this as head of the National Laboratory, run by the University of California at Berkeley. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren was thrilled with Chu's nomination.
R: There's a convergence here of new thinking of technology, of progressive policies and science led, really, by California-type thinking.
JAFFE: Some of the other Californians joining the Obama administration will head the Council of Economic Advisors and the Council on Environmental Quality. And in the Cabinet, Congresswoman Hilda Solis will serve as Secretary of Labor.
R: (Laughing) I mean, she knows my home phone, and I know her home phone.
JAFFE: Says Zoe Lofgren.
R: We can always get a hold of each other, and I'll always be able to at least say, here's what I think for your consideration.
M: There's going to be a real synergy that's going to exist in Washington, D.C., that will benefit California.
JAFFE: Political consultant Chris Lehane has been a spokesman for both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
M: For the people of California, it's obviously much nicer to go to Washington, D.C., and knock on the door of people who are in power who are actually from your home state.
JAFFE: That means California could have more to gain than just influence on the policy front, says Lehane.
M: You look at this economic recovery plan; it's predicated on putting money out the door to infrastructure programs, and there's a lot of shovel-ready infrastructure programs that exist in California, the state, just by its sheer size.
JAFFE: So, Californians may have the double pleasure of seeing federal dollars flow into their state, while ideas they've longed championed take root in the nation's capital. Ina Jaffe, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The next president might appoint one, two or more justices to the United States Supreme Court. He'll also make appointments to the lower courts. So this morning, we're going to discuss that with NPR's Nina Totenberg as we consult some of our in-house experts about the next administration. Nina, good morning.
NINA TOTENBERG: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Let's talk first about the president-elect, who would be making these decisions if, say, Supreme Court justices retire. What background does he bring to this?
TOTENBERG: Barack Obama probably has more knowledge, and cares about the substance of this, more than any president in memory, in a broad sense. He was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago; he devoted a chapter of his book to his idea of what he thinks the role of the court should be and how one should pick Supreme Court justices.
INSKEEP: And let's emphasize we're not saying he's right or wrong; we're saying he's thought about it a lot.
TOTENBERG: He's thought about it a lot. And people who know him well, very conservative people who, for example, served on the law review with him, have a lot of respect for him, but don't agree with him about a lot of stuff, say, this is a guy who really has thought about this.
INSKEEP: So, he was the editor of this respected law-school publication. He's thought about this issue a lot. What conclusions does he appear to have come to about what kind of a person, say, should be serving on the Supreme Court?
TOTENBERG: Well, I think you can take something from the fact that he voted against both of President Bush's nominees to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. And he didn't seem to have any hesitation about that, was perfectly willing to defend it, and said he simply disagreed with their view of how to interpret the law.
INSKEEP: Well, let's listen to some Barack Obama's literal words on this subject. He actually did a book on tape - he read his book out loud - and this is something that he said about different Supreme Court justices.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK "THE AUDACITY OF HOPE")
INSKEEP: (Reading) Anyone like Justice Scalia, looking to resolve our modern constitutional dispute through strict construction, has one big problem: The founders themselves disagreed profoundly, vehemently, on the meaning of their masterpiece. Before the ink on the constitutional parchment was dry, arguments had erupted not just about minor provisions, but about first principles; not just between peripheral figures, but within the revolution's very core.
INSKEEP: Nina Totenberg, what do those words tell you?
TOTENBERG: They tell me that he is not a subscriber to the idea of originalism, which is Justice Scalia's view - to oversimplify it - that the words on the piece of paper mean exactly what they say, and you can know what they meant.
INSKEEP: OK. Now, we know the approach that Barack Obama - or something anyway - about the approach Barack Obama might take to naming justices. What vacancies might possibly come up on the U.S. Supreme Court?
TOTENBERG: Well, I think we're almost certainly going to have two, at least two, and possibly three. Justice John Paul Stevens is 89, or will be 89, in April, and he's the rational choice to go first. But I've got to tell you, he plays very aggressive tennis, he's sharp as a tack, and those who disagree with him, whenever they lose, they say, the fine hand of Justice John Paul Stevens is behind crafting this majority. So, he's one. Justice David Suiter, who's a lot younger - he's 68 - desperately, desperately wants to leave.
INSKEEP: Why?
TOTENBERG: He hates Washington, and he'll put it really that way. He hates Washington, he wants to go back to New Hampshire, and he is itching to leave. And I would bet a lot that those two men are having a conversation, and Suiter is saying, look, if you aren't going to go this year, John - to John Paul Stevens - I am.
INSKEEP: Now, who's the third person that might go? You said there could be three.
TOTENBERG: Well, the next oldest person is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had colon cancer nine years ago, but she says she has no intention of going anywhere - right away, anyway.
INSKEEP: Now, Nina Totenberg, when you name some of the people who might plausibly leave in the near future from the Supreme Court, you seem to be naming people who are, more or less, on the so-called liberal wing of this Supreme Court. Does that mean that if they leave and Obama replaces them, that the composition of the court doesn't really change that much?
TOTENBERG: You've got it. The conservatives will still have a majority on most issues.
INSKEEP: We could go through a lot of names, I'm sure, but can you just name one person or maybe two that seem like obvious candidates to Democrats to be promoted to the Supreme Court or named to a high judicial post?
TOTENBERG: Female, female, female.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: You're saying that there's an urge to appoint women, is what you're saying.
TOTENBERG: Well, there's only one woman on the court, down from two. More than half the voters in this country are women. A hefty majority of them voted for Barack Obama, and I think it is inevitable that the first appointment will be a woman. A Hispanic woman would be even better. You know, Barack Obama's going to be interviewing these people, and these are going to be interviews unlike George Bush or Bill Clinton conducted. They are going to be, I think, fairly sophisticated legal interviews, and he's going to decide based on that.
INSKEEP: NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, thanks very much.
TOTENBERG: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's business news starts with an appeal from the steel industry.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Think of it as a steel bailout. Since September, U.S. steel output has plunged about 50 percent, five-zero. That is largely due to declines in construction and auto manufacturing. Steel output is now at its lowest point since the 1980s. And now, according to our friends at the New York Times, the struggling industry is urging President-elect Obama to give them some help. They're not asking for a direct cash infusion the way that the banks were, but they do want a stimulus plan that would include up to $1 trillion for public works. That plan would include funds to build things like bridges, highways, electric-power grids, mass-transit systems - things that need a lot of steel. The president-elect has not yet released details of his planned economic stimulus, but aides have suggested it will include significant infrastructure spending.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Western countries are calling on Russia to resolve its dispute with Ukraine over natural-gas prices. Moscow's gas shutoff is now in its second day, and concern is mounting that a long standoff with Ukraine might threaten deliveries to Western Europe. NPR's Gregory Feifer reports from Moscow.
GREGORY FEIFER: Europe depends on Russia for a quarter of its gas, most of which crosses Ukraine. But European countries have done almost nothing to fulfill promises to diversify their supplies since Moscow last cut off gas deliveries to Kiev three years ago. Back then, supplies to Europe were seriously affected. This time, both Kiev and Moscow have been at pains to say they guarantee deliveries to Europe will remain unaffected. But European countries, which have reserves to last only several days, are watching nervously. The European Union has called for negotiations to resume, but yesterday, Russia's state monopoly Gazprom toughened its demands.
M: (Russian spoken).
FEIFER: Gazprom's CEO, Alexei Miller, said the company was more than doubling the rate it charged Ukraine for gas last year. Washington yesterday criticized Russia, saying talks should continue without a gas shutoff. Gazprom's cutoff is renewing widespread perceptions abroad that Russia is using its role as a major energy supplier to punish pro-Western Ukraine, which has infuriated Moscow by wanting to join NATO. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Moscow.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Today's last word in business is a way to save money and maybe help the environment. A Dutch company called Sprank has found a way to make your printer cartridge last longer. It's a new font that the company says uses 20 percent less ink. Here's how they do it. The ecofont, as it's called, is made with tiny holes in the letters. The company tried using striped or thin letters first, but the font wasn't readable. The company's co-founder admits the font is not beautiful but says it works, and it's available for download for free. We're doing something similar here at NPR. Our printers now no longer use vowels. And that's the Business News on Morning Edition from NPR Nws (ph) . I'm Steve Inskeep.
: The bombing was intended to stop Palestinian rocket fire into Israel, and despite hundreds of bombing runs, those rockets are still arriving. NPR's Mike Shuster has more.
MIKE SHUSTER: First, Israel hit military targets - buildings, tunnels and bases used by the security forces of Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement that governs Gaza. In the past few days, the targets have expanded to include government operations not directly associated with security or the military, such as the education ministry and the legislative assembly. Yesterday, for the first time in more than four years, Israel also targeted one of Hamas's leaders, Nizar Rayan. A one-ton bomb, dropped on the building where he lived, killed him along with two of his four wives and several children. The death toll in Gaza has passed 400; four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets. There are no signs yet that either side is eager to stop the conflict. Asked yesterday how long it will go on, Israel's President Shimon Peres said the decision rests with Hamas.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE, JANUARY 1, 2009)
: It depends upon them. This - today, after all the death and all the blood, they fired 70 rockets today. What for? If they really care about their people, stop it.
SHUSTER: Many Israelis had hoped that an operation like this could end Hamas's control in Gaza. That seemed to be the message conveyed by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who met yesterday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE, JANUARY 1, 2009)
SHUSTER: The idea of this operation is in order to change reality and to give the Israelis the possibility to live in quiet and to have peaceful life. This is the idea.
SHUSTER: Some Israeli leaders have expressed the view that the Palestinian population of Gaza will blame Hamas rather than Israel for the violence and bloodshed, but so far, there's no evidence of that. There are just more rockets being fired from Gaza, 400 over the last week. Some newspaper columnists in Israel have begun to question whether a bombing campaign of this sort can really end the rocket attacks. They got support from an unlikely source yesterday, the spokeswoman of the Israeli Defense Force, Avital Leibovich, who suggested that neither the continuation of the air campaign, nor the possibility of a ground invasion of Gaza, would end the rocket attacks completely.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE, JANUARY 1, 2009)
SHUSTER: I can't guarantee 100 percent ending the rocket fire in any scenario. That's why the goal of this operation is actually to cripple the capabilities of launching, the launching capabilities of Hamas, rather than diminishing them altogether.
SHUSTER: There is growing pressure in Israel to send the Army back into Gaza. In 2005, Israel removed its troops and settlers from Gaza after a 38-year occupation. Now, thousands of soldiers, along with tanks and artillery, are deployed along Gaza's border with Israel, poised to return, the state of affairs that Israel's President Shimon Peres seemed to find regrettable.
: I don't think ground defense or any other measure is a purpose in its own right. We would like to stop it as soon as we can, with minimum fire as we may. Israel left the Gaza Strip in order not to return there. It's not our wish, it's not our aim, and I hope it won't be necessary.
SHUSTER: One more factor in all this has not gotten a lot of notice, but is surely on the minds of Israel's leaders. That's the change in leadership in Washington that is rapidly approaching. Yesterday, former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, from the right-wing Likud Party, suggested that Israel will have to complete this operation before Barack Obama is sworn in as the new American president.
F: We will have a new president in the United States in January 20th. So, we don't have so much time, and I think that the window of opportunity now is open, but it won't be open forever.
SHUSTER: As the days tick by, that factor, more than anything, may determine how long the Israeli attack on Gaza will last and whether Israel will send in the ground troops. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Many civilians have been among the casualties in Gaza. So this morning, we've called Dr. Abdel Aziz Thabet. He runs a mental-health program in Gaza that deals with the effects of violence. He's a British-trained psychiatrist who works mostly with women and children. Dr. Thabet, welcome to the program.
D: Thank you very much.
INSKEEP: Would you describe some of the people who've turned to you for help in the last several days?
D: We have no electricity; we have no mobile phones. So, even I cannot go to my office. I heard yesterday - I just came through to the email, and I found somebody from America telling me that my headquarters in Gaza Community Mentality Programme is destroyed. For me, I'm in Gaza, and I don't know about it, from people from Washington, telling me that your headquarters is destroyed because we cannot leave the homes now in the last six days.
INSKEEP: So, that's our first point here, I suppose. You were trained in helping people cope with violence, and you can't even get your job started.
D: I can't start because my office in Gaza community - I went next day to my office in the university - was broken. It is near of these military quarters; it was broken. I feel I cannot do anything here now this time, because the trauma is, this time, is very devastating and there is no other measures can help us, nothing. We have no gasoline at home. When you have no electricity at home...
INSKEEP: Dr. Thabet, how does it...
D: It's the first time in our life that we cannot help people.
INSKEEP: Dr. Thabet, how does it affect people to be civilians and be in this situation, to discover that they're in a war zone?
D: For civilian, I think coping is very high. They believe in God, that this is the will of God. And they are expecting the worst, you know. As I talk to many people, some children, they said, better to die suddenly and not to continue under the siege, because the siege is a slow killing of the people. Many families now, and my family, are going back to cook in the gasoline. So, we come back to 50 or 60 years back.
INSKEEP: Oh, meaning that you've lost utilities, you've lost electric power, and it's like a different era all of a sudden?
D: Everything - no, there is no cooking gas for the homes; there is no electricity, nothing.
INSKEEP: If I can understand one thing, Dr. Thabet, you said that people are having to use wood to cook because they can't get gas; they can't get electricity. Is there something to cook? Because there's been concern about a shortage of food and medical supplies.
D: Yes, there is shortage. There is no wheat. There is - you can see only something coming by UNRWA things, you know? You cannot find...
INSKEEP: Oh, that's United Nations...
D: If you go now to the bakery, you'll find the queue of around, maybe, 500 meter, people waiting to get some package of bread, you know.
INSKEEP: You're saying there's a line to get into the store or to get relief supplies that's 500 meters long?
D: Yes. Yes. There's a queue to get some bread and the stores - if you go to the - I just - I came from the store - you cannot find what you want. And you know, there's a problem that 70 percent of the Palestinian people, they are very poor people. These are refugees, and these people are dependent on the United Nation packages given to them. And this people, they have no money to buy it. This is the problem. This is a big problem. What do you expect? I think they are breeding violent people; the Israeli are breeding Palestinian to be more aggressive.
INSKEEP: If I can understand one other thing, Dr. Thabet - I mean, this is an area that certainly has seen its share of violence for many years; there have been troops on the streets; there's been fighting in the streets; there have been rockets fired out of Gaza; there have been warplanes striking in Gaza. Is anything different or more severe about the past week?
D: Really, this time, when I go to the street now, I have the fears. Before, I have no fears. In the last incursions, there's no fears. But now, I - when I go out - I just went today by my car - I was looking every time what would happen to me. I expected to die in any minute.
INSKEEP: Dr. Abdel Aziz Thabet, thank you very much.
D: OK, thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Abdel Aziz Thabet is a psychiatrist in Gaza who works with people affected by violence.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
A: Colombia. Colombia received billions of dollars from the Bush and Clinton administrations to fight drugs. The money was used in ways that dismayed the journalist and novelist Laura Restrepo.
M: I think that the war on drugs, supported by the United States government, ruins everything but drugs. I mean, the drug business keeps on growing and growing, while democracy keeps getting weaker and weaker.
: Laura Restrepo lives in a country that's more peaceful than it was a few years ago. Colombia's president has made progress against communist guerillas and other violent groups. What Restrepo worries about is the price. Over the years, the government relied on paramilitary forces that killed their suspected opponents.
M: Yes, we can use the roads to go from one end to the other in certain parts of the country. In other parts, we can't. But it's a pax paramilitaire. I mean, the peace that's going on now depends a whole deal on paramilitary forces, which cause a lot of deaths and that, of course, act outside the institutions. And that's a bankrupt for a nation that wants to be a democracy.
: Although it sounds like you are very dubious of the price that's been paid to make Colombia a little more peaceful, I know President Alvaro Uribe has been very popular in many circles. Is President Bush popular in Colombia?
M: I don't think so. Uribe is very popular. I know that my way of thinking corresponds to a minority here. Uribe practically had to destroy the constitution to get re-elected, which he did, with a huge amount of votes. I suppose President Uribe, in many ways, corresponds to the Bush age, where it was believed that military solutions were good solutions. Now, about President Bush, I do think a majority of Colombians - and let me say so, of Latin Americans - dislike him profoundly. I mean, many times we have been in a bad relationship with American governments, but this time, it has really gone off the limit. We have felt lonesome; we have felt hurt by military aggression; we have felt destroyed by this war that's going on. And it's not even an important war anymore, Steve. War on drugs is a forgotten war.
: Well, let's talk about the way that Colombia has watched the events of the last several months in the United States. I suppose, because there's so much U.S. aid to Colombia, people must have watched the presidential election in the U.S. with an entirely different eye than Americans did.
M: I don't know how much. I mean, there was big joy here, you know, over Obama's victory. And I suppose there is one first reason for this that's, in a way, behind any political consideration, and it has to do with race. We're sort of white, sort of black, not one or the other, but a mixture of bloods. If you would see my skin, it's whitish, but not so much. I mean, we have Indian blood; we have black blood. And then, there's, of course, plenty of people that have - that are black and that are Indian down here and anyway, would belong to this mestizo race that is part of the races that have been ill-treated and damaged over the centuries. And of course, we see each other very close to a black man like President Obama. We do feel that this is our victory.
: Well, do you expect President Obama to actually change the U.S. policies toward Colombia?
M: That I don't know, Steve. I do not trust very much the Democratic Party - neither the Republican, of course - but I feel that he's a man much more linked to an interest in human rights, and I don't see him as close as Bush to the belief that the military way out is really valid.
: Laura Restrepo is a writer, journalist and political activist in Bogota, Colombia. Thank you very much.
M: OK, it's been a pleasure. Thank you.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
OK. Here we are. It's time for the NFL playoffs. The playoff roster does include Atlanta and Miami, and it does not include the most dominant team of recent years, the New England Patriots. We'll leave that where it is for now but bring in Bill Curry, a former pro-football player and head coach at Georgia State University. Coach Curry, good morning.
M: Good morning, Steve. How are you?
INSKEEP: OK. Good to talk with you again. Happy New Year.
M: Happy New Year to you.
INSKEEP: Before we get down to one or two specifics, I just want to ask what you think it takes for a team to win this time of year.
M: Well, I was so lucky in my career to be on great teams in Green Bay and Baltimore, and I've had a lot of time to think about it. But it comes down to, really, ball security, field position and physical dominance. That's not interesting stuff to most fans. But if you study the teams with the best turnover margin - Miami, Tennessee, Baltimore, Indiana, New York Giants - what do they have in common? They're all in the playoffs. Field position, great kicking game, physical dominance, great defense - Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, the Giants - all in the top five in defense. So, those are the things that win this time of year, most of the time, with a few notable exceptions.
INSKEEP: So, the last-second pass is what we remember, but what really happens for a winner is they hang on to the ball, they don't fumble, and they grind it down the field.
M: Yeah, they do all that. Unless you have one of the Manning guys on your team, and either of them gets hot, that kind of quarterback can make the difference and overcome some of the other stuff that we just talked about, the basics. But it takes a superhuman effort by that player at the key time.
INSKEEP: We do have a couple of Mannings in the playoffs once again.
M: Yes, we do. And they're both there, and you've got to admit that they could change all this stuff I'm talking about.
INSKEEP: Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts is at the head of a team that looked a little shaky beginning of the season, but they're hot at the end.
M: If you're shaky at the beginning of the season and you win nine in a row at the end, and if you can get through the San Diego thing - because there's another hot team just in the last week or two - then they will be a real threat. But I think their biggest problem's going to be this weekend.
INSKEEP: Oh, and why's that?
M: Because of Philip Rivers, who's another hot quarterback, and a hot team that has played poorly not in just the first part of the season, but most of the season. And San Diego, to their amazement, finds themself with chance to go the distance here, and you wouldn't want to play them in San Diego this weekend.
INSKEEP: OK. So, Indianapolis-San Diego, one of four games this weekend. The other Manning with the New York Giants, the Super Bowl champions; they get the week off. Before I let you go, Bill Curry, I want to ask about one other team, though: the Miami Dolphins. What do you think it's like to be a team that won, was it, one game last year, another in the playoffs?
M: It's not only the story of the year; it's one of the great stories ever in the NFL. Nobody's ever gone from one win the previous year to a playoff berth the following year. The 10-game spread is- it matches the best ever by the Indianapolis Colts in '99. And Bill Parcells gets the credit, along with Chad Pennington. Just an incredible story about coming together and being hungry and being team-oriented.
INSKEEP: In a couple of seconds, could they win some games here?
M: They could, because they lead the league in turnover margin. It's just that simple. If you can do that stat, if they keep playing the way they've been playing, they've got a shot.
INSKEEP: It gets back to that basic thing, hanging onto the ball.
M: That's right, and taking it away from the other guy.
INSKEEP: Bill Curry, it's always a pleasure talking with you.
M: It was great talking to you, Steve, thank you.
INSKEEP: He is head football coach at Georgia State University, and also author of the book "Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: It's NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. The holiday season that's just ending is an important time for cognac makers in France. They export all over the world, but the United States is the most important overseas market for French brandy. For the last several years, cognac sales to the United States have soared, and much of that is due to its growing popularity with African-Americans. As Eleanor Beardsley reports, American rap stars are updating cognac's traditional image.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Cognac has been produced for hundreds of years in a cluster of quiet villages and vineyards in southwestern France. The region's proximity to the sea, its mild climate and its chalky soil are said to produce the perfect grape for the liquor. Cognac can only be produced here; if it's made elsewhere, it's just brandy.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNLOCKING DOOR)
M: So, be careful when you go down here; it's a bit slippery.
BEARDSLEY: Cognac maker Alexander Gabriel, of the small, prestigious cognac house Pierre Ferrand, opens his cellar to sample some of his prime stock. Cognac is aged for as long as 60 years in porous, oak barrels that bring out its oaky flavor and amber color. Because of the aging process, the equivalent of some 40 million bottles of cognac evaporate every year here. Producers call it the angel's share.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOTTLE OPENING)
M: That was made in 1912 before First World War. And it's very creamy, very nice, very smooth. When you make cognac the right way, that's what it tastes like.
BEARDSLEY: Not far from Gabriel's small cellar lie the distilleries of one of the giants of the trade, Courvoisier, reputed to have been the cognac of Napoleon. Every Courvoisier bottle bears his image, but even an emperor's stamp of approval couldn't help Courvoisier's marketing problem a few years ago. Cognac was seen as an old-fashioned drink for old-fashioned people. That all changed in 2001, when rap artist Busta Rhymes came out with his hit song "Pass the Courvoisier"
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "PASS THE COURVOISIER")
BUSTA RHYMES: (Rapping) Pass the Courvoisier. Pass the Courvoisier. Pass the Courvoisier. Pass the Courvoisier...
M: Well, it was huge for the brand because, first of all, of course, our volumes followed and skyrocketed, but also the amount of additional advertising was incredible, because it went on all of the big hit lists. And the truth of the matter is, is that it really showed us what the importance of having that particular status in the African-American market was all about.
BEARDSLEY: That's Courvoisier marketing manager Jennifer Zenovitch. She says African-Americans have drunk cognac since the 1940s, when black soldiers brought it home from France after the war. But only in recent years has it really taken off as a status symbol among young and successful black professionals. Skyrocketing U.S. sales led the big cognac makers to cash in with sexy packaging and advertising campaigns.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING IN FRENCH)
BEARDSLEY: Smaller cognac producer Alexander Gabriel felt left behind by big hitters like Courvoisier and Hennessy. So, 10 years ago, Gabriel created a new brand of cognac for the younger, hipper cognac drinker. And in 2007, Gabriel found his own star rapper.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "LANDY IN MY EGGNOG")
SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) I need some Landy in my eggnog, man. We're going to do it real big. Yeah, tonight I'm going near, So, man, I need some Landy in my eggnog...
BEARDSLEY: Pop artist Snoop Dogg was already a fan of Gabriel's new Landy cognac, so Gabriel signed him on. Now, Gabriel's exports to the U.S. are booming, and Landy represents more than 80 percent of his total business.
M: The fact that the African-American culture has chosen cognac as an iconic drink has changed the image of cognac, I think, worldwide, worldwide - in France as well. So, I think it's a little revolution.
BEARDSLEY: But some things don't change.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE HAVING DINNER)
BEARDSLEY: To celebrate the company's success, Gabriel sits down to a traditional year-end dinner with his employees and their families in an old manor house surrounded by ancient vineyards. It's a simple, country affair, with thick steaks cooked on an open fire and, of course, fine cognac.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPOON CLINKING ON GLASS)
BEARDSLEY: For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Cognac, France.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "LANDY IN MY EGGNOG")
DOGG: (Rapping) Man I need some Landy in my eggnog. I thank God that I made it. I know suck a (unintelligible) So, here pour me some Landy in my eggnog. Yeah...
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A Washington State man says he wanted to stop a friend from driving drunk, and that's why Shawn Wallace allegedly blasted his friend's windshield with paintballs. Police arrested Wallace but gave him credit for being creative. Creative people around Milwaukee have an event for bike riders. On New Year's Day, they ride their bikes into Lake Michigan. Half a dozen people plunged into a lake so cold that they had to break up the ice first. It's Morning Edition.
G: Return stolen property to rightful owners." It's Morning Edition.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
In these tough economic times, many Americans are struggling to pay for health care or health insurance. And hospitals in Mexico are expanding in hopes of attracting more patients from north of the border. A growing industry is now marketing medical tourism to Americans. Hospitals in Tijuana, just half an hour's drive from San Diego, can do many medical procedures for half or a third of the cost in the U.S. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.
JASON BEAUBIEN: Grupo Angeles is the largest private hospital network in Latin America. Their hospital in Tijuana is a modern six-story building. Its glass lobby accented with orange looks like it could be the set for a soap opera.
CARLOS ZAVALA RUIZ: This is our emergency room. We have four observation cubicles.
BEAUBIEN: Carlos Zavala Ruiz, the business director for Hospital Angeles Tijuana, says this facility opened three years ago.
ZAVALA RUIZ: All the equipment and everything is just basically brand new.
BEAUBIEN: Right now, about 50 percent of this hospital's business comes from north of the border. Americans mainly come for elective surgeries - hip and knee replacements, laser eye surgery, plastic surgery. The greatest number come for treatments for extreme obesity. Hospital Angeles does gastric bypass surgeries. They insert gastric sleeves and install lap bands. Zavala says the cost of these procedures in Tijuana is just a fraction of what they'd cost in the States. Take, for example, a lap band surgery.
ZAVALA RUIZ: I think you will find that a lap band in the United States, it's about $18,000 right now - $16,000.
BEAUBIEN: Compared to here, what is it going to cost?
ZAVALA RUIZ: $7,000.
BEAUBIEN: He says their overhead is far less than in a U.S. hospital. Wages are also far cheaper. A nurse just a few miles north in California might earn $70,000 a year. A starting nurse here earns $500 a month. Zavala says the potential for growth in treating Americans is huge. Grupo Angeles plans to open 12 more hospitals in Mexico over the next five years, much of this to cater to international clients. Miriam Gray is a nurse from Wisconsin. She's recovering in a private room in Hospital Angeles after gastric bypass surgery.
MIRIAM GRAY: I'd probably like to lose at least 125 pounds, which is a lot, but I'd like to.
BEAUBIEN: Gray has a body mass index of 42, which is categorized as extremely obese. After years of failed diets, she hopes gastric bypass surgery will finally help her lose weight. She flew from Wisconsin into San Diego where a driver from the hospital met her and brought her here. Gray, who doesn't speak Spanish, says the entire procedure has gone even smoother than she had expected.
GRAY: I was checked in, had my blood withdrawn and the X-ray all within about an hour. I know that that is impossible in the United States. I mean, I work in hospitals. It just doesn't happen that fast.
BEAUBIEN: Gray paid $12,000 for this operation - about a third of what she says it would have cost her back home in Wisconsin. The medical tourism industry has been around for a while. Costa Rica has marketed its hospitals to foreigners for years. Even Cuba has a bustling business selling health care procedures to Canadians and Europeans. But these arrangements have generally been a single person paying for a single procedure abroad. Now there's a movement to offer cut-rate health plans that provide traditional health care, but some big ticket benefits may only be offered outside the country.
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina last year set up an affiliate to offer benefits abroad. In June of this year, the American Medical Association for the first time issued medical tourism guidelines. Terry White with Bridge Health International is marketing health plans to businesses in which some of the procedures are only available in, say, Thailand, Costa Rica, or Mexico. White says participation in these plans should be voluntary.
TERRY WHITE: The patient should not be forced to go to an international destination because, you know, their plan only offers surgery in Mexico or something like that.
BEAUBIEN: What he's offering, he says, is health care coverage that can save both consumers and employers significant amounts of money.
WHITE: This needs to be about the empowered health care consumer who's able to make choices that have an economic impact with the assurance that they're getting good quality when they go someplace.
BEAUBIEN: Unlike Carlos Zavala at Hospital Angeles in Tijuana, White sees the potential market for international health care - particularly in an economic downturn - to be huge. Jason Beaubien, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro. A decade ago, the novel "The Reader" reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. A year later, it became a selection for Oprah's Book Club. The book tells the story of a 15-year-old who falls in love with an older woman. Later, he has to come to terms with her role in the Holocaust.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE "THE READER")
LENA OLIN: (As Ilana Mather) Why don't you start by being honest with me?
RALPH FIENNES: (As Michael Berg) The affair only lasted a summer.
OLIN: (As Ilana Mather) And did Hanna Schmitz acknowledge the effect she'd had on your life?
SHAPIRO: Now "The Reader" is a new movie with Lena Olin, Ray Fiennes, and Kate Winslet. The book was written by Bernhard Schlink, and he joins us from our New York studios. Welcome.
BERNHARD SCHLINK: Hi, Mr. Shapiro.
SHAPIRO: Your book has been incredibly successful, translated into nearly 40 languages. It's virtually required reading in German schools. I wonder, when it came time to make it into a movie, why did you decide to entrust someone else with that responsibility?
SCHLINK: I wanted it to be an international movie because even though it's a very German topic, I think it's not just a German topic. The problem of what does it mean to us, how do we cope with the fact that someone whom we love, admire, respect has - turns out to have committed an awful crime, I think is not just a German problem.
SHAPIRO: This is interesting to me that you describe the movie not as a story about the Holocaust per se, but a story about loving someone who turns out to have done something awful.
SCHLINK: Well, it's not a movie about the Holocaust. It's a movie about the second generation trying to come to terms with what the first generation had done.
SHAPIRO: It seems as though this is an issue and a question that you've struggled with throughout your life and your career as an author and as a member of the second generation in Germany.
SCHLINK: Yeah, that's true.
SHAPIRO: What kinds of answers have you reached?
SCHLINK: I think that it is in fact inevitable that we of the second generation or someone who loves someone who is guilty and doesn't break with this person, doesn't expel this person from his or her solidarity, is being entangled into that guilt and has to live with it.
SHAPIRO: You sound as though you're speaking from personal experience.
SCHLINK: This is something that I think everyone in my generation has to tell a story of. In my case, one of the stories was that a teacher whom I really owe a lot - among other things, my love for the English language - who was a wonderful teacher, and then it came out he had been involved in something quite awful. He had denounced people with the Gestapo. He himself was an SS officer. He denounced people with the Gestapo who then were subsequently killed.
SHAPIRO: And in writing this story, were you better able to resolve how you ought to feel about those relationships?
SCHLINK: I think it just helped to find gestalt for it. In a way, it's an unsolvable problem. I mean, the second generation can't just expel the parent generation from its love and solidarity. If one doesn't expel them, then they stay close to us.
SHAPIRO: You write about this a bit in the book. And if you have a copy there with you, I wonder if I could ask you to read a passage from it. This is on page 104 of the paperback. I'm not sure which edition you have.
SCHLINK: That's the passage that you have picked. OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF NOVEL "THE READER")
SCHLINK: (Reading) We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible. We may not compare the incomparable. We may not inquire because to inquire is to make the horrors an object of discussion, even if the horrors themselves are not questioned, instead of accepting them as something in the face of which we can only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt. Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?
SHAPIRO: You wrote those questions more than a decade ago now. And I wonder if you have answers to them.
SCHLINK: Yes and no. I think that the second generation finally wasn't and isn't just silenced by revulsion, shame, and guilt. We all tried as researchers, as teachers in the media, as authors to make that past speak out for our and - even more so - for the next generations.
SHAPIRO: Before you became an author, you were an attorney, a law professor, a judge. I understand you still teach and practice. Tell me a little bit about what you get from writing about justice in fiction that you don't get from administering justice in the real world?
SCHLINK: Administering justice means you have to bring problems to the point of the solution, to the point of the decision. And that's on the one hand good and it makes you focus in a very specific way. And at the same time what literature does is it allows to keep things in their ambiguity, to live with tension and ambivalence that is not resolved in one or the other way.
SHAPIRO: No, I suppose the court is not very good at handling ambiguity and ambivalence.
SCHLINK: (Laughing) No.
SHAPIRO: Do you ever feel in your life as an attorney, as a law professor, as a judge, as though the real world is less equipped to handle the intricacies of life than the fictional worlds that you create?
SCHLINK: (Laughing) That's a nice question. The world does as good a job as it can.
SHAPIRO: Well, thank you very much. It's been wonderful talking with you.
SCHLINK: Thank you for talking to me.
SHAPIRO: That's Bernhard Schlink speaking about his novel "The Reader." You can read a review or watch clips of the film version of "The Reader" on our Web site, npr.org.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro. In a moment, Robert Krulwich on the pranksters at Apple.
But first, America's legal societies, who's up and who's down. The last eight years were a good time to be in the Federalist Society. Members of that conservative legal group occupied every level of the Bush administration, and that infuriated some liberals. In 2005, Ralph Neas was interviewed on WHYY's Fresh Air. At the time, he was president of People For the American Way.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2005 INTERVIEW)
RALPH NEAS: The Federalist Society once was on the outside; it's now on the inside. It runs the White House counsel's office; it runs the Department of Justice; it runs most of the federal agencies.
SHAPIRO: The Federalist Society would dispute that description. The organization didn't literally run any part of government. But there's no question that in the Bush administration, Federalist Society members were among the most powerful people in Washington. Now Washington is changing. Democrats are ascendant, and so as is a different legal group, the American Constitution Society.
GOODWIN LIU: This is just a tremendous opportunity for us.
SHAPIRO: UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu is the new chairman of the board at ACS.
LIU: Whereas I think in the last seven or eight years we had mostly been playing defense in the sense of trying to prevent as many - in our view - bad things from happening. Now we have the opportunity to actually get our ideas and the progressive vision of the Constitution and of law and policy into practice.
SHAPIRO: The groups have similar structures. In fact, ACS was modeled on the Federalist Society. Both have debates, lectures and conferences to discuss how to approach the law. Essentially, the Federalist Society promotes a literal reading of the Constitution, and ACS believes people should consider the changes to society over the last 200 years when they interpret the Constitution.
Barack Obama has already tapped ACS Executive Director Lisa Brown to be his White House staff secretary, and ACS board member Eric Holder is his choice to be attorney general. Robert Raben is an ACS board member who's been active in the society since it was created eight years ago.
ROBERT RABEN: The fact that the new president is tapping so many already from amongst our midst is very exciting, and I think, frankly, there's more to come. But to be clear, there is no litmus test. There should be no litmus test. Membership in a particular organization should never be criteria for entrance to public service. Never.
SHAPIRO: It's important for Raben to say that because in the last eight years, Bush administration officials did use a litmus test for jobs that were supposed to be apolitical. The Justice Department's inspector general found that managers at Justice regularly hired conservative Federalist Society members over liberal ACS members for nonpartisan jobs even if the ACS members were more qualified. That violates federal laws and civil service rules. Goodwin Liu of ACS says it won't happen again.
LIU: I have a lot of confidence, actually, that the new people in the Justice Department and elsewhere in the government are keenly aware of that issue and that in the hiring of career staff that will not be an issue. However, in the hiring of political staff, as well as, frankly, in the nomination of judges, the decision-makers are entitled to consider a broad range of factors, including the political background or affiliations of the candidate.
SHAPIRO: This sounds a lot like the argument that Federalist Society leaders have made in the last eight years. They say people who gravitate towards these societies also gravitate towards government work. The society isn't the reason they're tapped for government jobs. Eugene Meyer has been president of the Federalist Society since its inception in the early '80s.
EUGENE MEYER: I don't think Eric Holder is going to be attorney general because he was an ACS board member any more than I think Spencer Abraham was appointed energy secretary because he'd been a Federalist Society board member earlier or I think Ted Olson was appointed solicitor general of the United States because he was highly involved in the Federal Society.
SHAPIRO: Now, as the ACS gains strength, the Federalist Society's philosophy is losing clout in Washington. Meyer isn't bothered.
MEYER: My view is that our role basically remains much the same, which is to vigorously examine and look at such ideas as interpreting the Constitution according to the original understanding of what it meant.
SHAPIRO: The difference is that now those discussions will happen from the outside looking in - just as members of the American Constitution Society did for the last eight years.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
Rolling Stone magazine has called the band Blitzen Trapper the best Grateful Dead knockoff in forever. True enough. But frankly, that shortchanges what this band is doing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "SLEEPYTIME IN THE EASTERN WORLD")
BLITZEN TRAPPER: (Singing) Drifting down the sleepy river Waking like a child Never gonna know what the spirit's saying Unless you drift down for a while Never gonna know what the wind is whispering now Never gonna know unless you leave this world somehow Unless you leave this world somehow ...
SHAPIRO: Blitzen Trapper's new album is called "Furr." The record made Rolling Stone's list of the best albums of 2008 and it also made the list of best CDs of the year in the NPR All Songs Considered listeners poll. Blitzen Trapper's songwriter and lead singer is Eric Earley, and he came to the studios of Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland to talk with us. Hi.
ERIC EARLEY: Hey, how's it going?
SHAPIRO: Good. I understand your dad was a bluegrass musician?
EARLEY: That's right.
SHAPIRO: And he taught you to play your first instrument.
EARLEY: Oh, yeah, yeah. I still got a banjo that he gave me.
SHAPIRO: Is there a track on this album that features you playing the banjo that we might take a listen to?
EARLEY: You can play the banjo so often(ph) Saturday night. It's kind of fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF BANJO MUSIC)
EARLEY: That kind of organy-sounding thing, accordian-sounding thing is the melodica.
SHAPIRO: The melodica? What's a melodica?
EARLEY: It's a sort of weird German instrument that you blow into.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
EARLEY: It was used by the dub kings, you know, by all the dub guys from Jamaica back in the '70s.
SHAPIRO: So that - were you playing your dad's banjo there? The one that your dad gave you?
EARLEY: Yeah, yeah. That's like a Kentucky made.
SHAPIRO: Tell me about the piano that you wrote most of the stuff on.
EARLEY: I don't even know whose it is. It got left out in the hallway of our studio space, and so me and Brian one day just pulled it into our studio.
SHAPIRO: Brian's your bandmate.
EARLEY: He's a drummer, yeah. We just kind of had it in there, and I start to writing songs on it at night and according with it. It was a beat-up old thing. We don't have it anymore. We just sort of left it in the hallway when we moved out.
SHAPIRO: Was there something about composing a song on a piano that sounded terrible that made the songs develop differently?
EARLEY: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say it sounds terrible. I mean, it definitely is slightly out of tune, and I mean, I don't know. I think that it sounds unique. And also, it was all I had at the studio anyway, so...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "NOT YOUR LOVER")
TRAPPER: (Singing)
In my sleep, I'm not your lover anymore When I wake, I have to remind myself that I'm lying on your shore Cause I'm a moon-walking cowboy Dusty riding and I doesn't know what's in store All I know is in my sleep I'm not your lover anymore...
SHAPIRO: There's kind of a clicking sound in the background. Is that that piano?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
EARLEY: Yeah. Yeah, you can hear the hammer smacking. The thing with that piano is that the front of it had broken off so you could see the interior of it, the guts of it. And you could also hear it.
SHAPIRO: When you're on tour and you have a beautifully tuned Grand, do you feel a little nostalgic for this old clacker?
EARLEY: Sometimes, yeah. Although not that much.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: I want to ask about your Portland influences. I'm from Portland, Oregon, and I was reading an old interview that one of your bandmates did, and I kind of found the question perfectly phrased, so I'm going to quote directly from this interview that was on brightestyoungsthing.com, a blog. And the interviewer said, this is sort of a backwards way of getting you to say that it's the best state in the union, but how do you think Oregon has affected or influenced you?
EARLEY: I mean, there's a certain darkness to Portland, the weather and the economy. But I think there's also a certain warmth and familiarity that goes along with it.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: Where did the story of the "Black River Killer" come from?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "BLACK RIVER KILLER")
TRAPPER: (Singing)
It was just a little while past the sunset strip They found the girl's body in an open pit Her mouth was sewn shut, but her eyes were still wide Gazing through the fog to the other side...
EARLEY: Well, I don't know. I mean, that's kind of like a conglomeration of different ideas. I mean, I was drawing heavily off of, you know, like Cormac McCarthy style.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
EARLEY: Narrative.
SHAPIRO: The novelist.
EARLEY: But it's also based, sort of, on my uncle Tommy, my father's lost brother who was a criminal, a junkie and a barely sweet guy.
SHAPIRO: What was his story?
EARLEY: You know, he, as a kid, he was around a little bit. And when we'd visit L.A., you know, he was the guy with the big beard, with the stained T-shirt, that was, you know, always like playing Rolling Stones songs in my grandfather's back shed, you know.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "BLACK RIVER KILLER")
TRAPPER: (Singing) It was dark as the grave, it was just about three When the warden with his key came to set me free They gave me five dollars and a secondhand suit A pistol and a hat and a worn out flute.
So I took a bus down to the Rio Grande And I shot a man down on the edge of town Then I stole me a horse and I rode it around Till the sheriff pulled me in and sat me down...
EARLEY: And then as I got older, he disappeared. After my grandfather died, he disappeared, and the cops would come to our house in Oregon once a year looking for him. Have you heard from Tommy, we got - we're looking for him, he's pulled a heist in such and such city, you know, that kind of thing. And so I kind of always had this like mythical view of Tommy, you know. And like, you know, he's down on the border like running guns or I don't even know. We haven't heard from him for 10 years, maybe, no, more than - probably 15 years.
SHAPIRO: Did he ever do anything like the Black River killer in the song?
EARLEY: I don't know. I mean, he didn't kill anybody that I know of. He might have, I have no idea. I hank the best story about him that my father used to tell me was in the late '60s, Tommy got on a chain gang for possession. And back then, you know, they would chain them up and they would work, usually, digging ditches. And he escaped from the chain gang one afternoon. And he was running, you know, in his prison garb, and he stole a car and headed back towards my dad's house in East L.A., and he got pulled over. So he's just escaped from a chain gang, stolen a car, and he gets pulled over. And my - my Uncle Tommy was just a sweet talker that he talked the cop out of the ticket and rolled up into my dad's driveway in a stolen car. And my dad's like, what are you doing here?
SHAPIRO: And did your dad turn him in?
MR EARLEY: No.
SHAPIRO: Wow.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "BLACK RIVER KILLER")
TRAPPER: (Singing) Well the sheriff let me go with a knife and a song So I took the first train up to Oregon And I killed the first man that I came upon Because the devil works quick, you know it don't take long...
SHAPIRO: I should say, we have not played the title track off your album, "Furr," and that's because listeners heard it during All Things Considered segment on the best albums of 2008. But if you want to listen to it in full, it's on npr.org. Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper, it's been a pleasure talking with you.
EARLEY: Yeah, likewise. Thank you.
SHAPIRO: Happy New Year.
EARLEY: Yeah, same to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "BLACK RIVER KILLER")
TRAPPER: (Singing) Oh when, oh when Will the keys to the kingdom be mine again? Oh when, oh when Will that black river water wash me clean again Oh when, oh when Will the keys to the kingdom be mine again...
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
Baltimore has plenty of blocks like this one - boarded-up row houses, broken windows, bullet-proof glass at the corner market. Across the street there's an unremarkable-looking elementary school, Harriet Tubman. Practically all the students here get free or reduced lunches. Some of the kids live in homeless shelters. But here's the thing. Harriet Tubman seems to have an invisible force field around it that makes the school somehow different from the rest of the neighborhood. Dan Trahey struggles every day to keep that force field intact. And he doesn't even work for the school. He works for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He's standing next to the jungle gym that the BSO helped install a few months ago.
DAN TRAHEY: Imagine, we're looking at the ground right now. And imagine this is the playground. And this was like a crystal field full of broken bottles and glass. It was awful. You - we would be crunching under our shoes right now. And actually our director of finance, you know, being very good with numbers and very meticulous, she sat out here for like five hours on her hands and knees picking up all these little pieces of glass and using a sieve and getting the good dirt out.
SHAPIRO: So it's not an environment where you would imagine a lot of Mozart.
TRAHEY: No, not at all. But hopefully it'll ring through these streets very soon.
SHAPIRO: Dan Trahey runs a program called OrchKids. It's spelled O-R-C-H KIDS, like Orchestra Kids. It's a collaboration between the BSO and Harriet Tubman School. The idea is to introduce disadvantaged students to classical music and maybe change their lives in the process.
As we walk through the shiny red school doors, the neighborhood blight disappears.
TRAHEY: As you see, we painted the brick. And actually Marin did this.
SHAPIRO: Marin Alsop, the maestro of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, painted the brick walls in this elementary school.
TRAHEY: I can show you some pictures. It's pretty amazing. She's a better conductor than she is a painter. But...
SHAPIRO: I won't tell her you said that.
TRAHEY: ...she was great.
SHAPIRO: Walking through the halls, older students ask Dan Trahey if they can help with OrchKids. This is the first year of the project, and it's starting with the younger students. Each year it'll grow to eventually encompass the whole school. Every kid here seems to want to be involved in the program. In truth, that's basically the only thing there is to do after school.
TRAHEY: Everyone, OrchKids, you need to be lined up over here.
SHAPIRO: Upstairs, the OrchKids practice room is a warm, bright space. IKEA cabinets for walls, potted plants on top. Kids often drag their parents upstairs to show them there are actually live plants growing indoors.
TRAHEY: The kids need to be in the most positive environment they can be. And probably a lot of the other spaces they're in, none of these things have been thought about. I mean, the colors on the walls, what's on their walls, on what they're seeing, all that. So we wanted to make it the best we could for them.
SHAPIRO: Yeah. You're a trained musician. You have an MFA. You've played in orchestras. So did you always know that you wanted to bring music to places where they might not have a lot of classical music exposure in their lives?
TRAHEY: Yeah. To be honest with you, I mean, I've felt like I was performing for the wrong audience. And I felt like the people that I was performing for, they didn't really need it. And I wanted to perform for people that I felt needed it.
SHAPIRO: Explain to me what you mean by that because I think people understand the need for food and the need for clothing. You say people need this music. What do you mean?
TRAHEY: Well, I think there's something - there's something that we feel inside of us that brings out emotions that we can't bring through talking or through reading that music brings out. There's something - something that triggers in the brain that helps us get to deeper rooted emotions. And I think that's something that these kids really need.
SHAPIRO: OrchKids is based on Venezuela's program El Sistema. That program's been going for more than 30 years, and it's all over the country. El Sistema's graduates include Gustavo Dudamel. He's about to become musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Venezuela's government pays for El Sistema. OrchKids is not government funded. So far, Harriet Tubman is the only place it exists. And it fits right in with the school principal's plan for her students.
Kimberly Sollars is fiery, proud, and practical. We met her in the principal's office, but she's almost never there. She spends all day in classes with her kids. She's been at the school less than a year. The last principal was forced out when the school failed No Child Left Behind standards. I asked Ms. Sollars how will the new paint job help kids who don't have food and clothes.
KIMBERLY SOLLARS: Well, our school has more than just a new paint job. I'm a believer that when they cross that threshold, they've come into a place that's all about them. And that paint job wasn't done by a bunch of strangers. It was done by the kids. It was done by the community. It was done by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra members. So it's more than a paint job. It's a paint job to an outsider, but it's love to us. And our kids know that.
SHAPIRO: Down the hall, Dan Trahey has gathered some of his first grade OrchKids in the cafeteria to show us what they've been learning.
TRAHEY: I want to start with our mouths. We're going to do some rhythms with our mouths. And them I'm going to actually have you do something on the table. But I don't want you - I want you to have your hands in rest position, OK? I want your bottoms and your feet to be pianissimo, right? As soft as possible, OK? Eyes on me, please. Arianche(ph), eyes on me. You ready? Let's start with this one. Bap-bap-barap-ba.
Unidentified Children: Bap-bap-barap-ba.
TRAHEY: Bap-bap-bap-barap-ba.
Children: Bap-bap-bap-barap-ba.
TRAHEY: Bu-bap-barap-ba.
Children: Bu-bap-barap-ba.
TRAHEY: Bap-barap-barap-bap-ba.
Children: Bap-barap-barap-bap-ba.
TRAHEY: Now, let's use some of our hands. Let's start various (unintelligible), OK? Can you repeat after me? Mississippi hot dog, I like peas, I like peas. Do it.
(SOUNDBITE OF RHYTHMIC BANGING ON THE TABLE)
TRAHEY: Mississippi hot dog, I like peas, I like peas.
SHAPIRO: Was that Mississippi hot dog I like peas, I like peas?
SHAPIRO: No. I like cheese.
SHAPIRO: I like cheese. Oh, I misremembered the title of the song. So who can tell - you guys looked so focused when you guys were doing those rhythms. Who can tell me what's going through your head while you're doing that? Asia(ph), right?
ASIA: I was concentrating, and I was listening.
SHAPIRO: Do you - when you're in class during the day, do you think about that concentrating and that listening?
ASIA: Yeah.
SHAPRIO: Yeah? Tell me more about that.
ASIA: I know 100 plus four...
SHAPIRO: Asia starts showing me her math skills. Another girl named Arianche says doing this music makes her feel sad.
ARIANCHE: So sad, I feel sad deep in my heart.
SHAPIRO: Why?
ARIANCHE: Because a lot of people would look at you playing the instrument.
SHAPIRO: So when you're up there playing an instrument, you imagine people watching you?
ARIANCHE: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: And being proud of you?
ARIANCHE: And then they clap for you. And they settle down for you. And they would not talk for you.
SHAPIRO: The idea of adults settling down, not talking, listening to these kids is a big deal.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE CHATTING)
SHAPIRO: The day we visited was a major event. The students were about to see their instruments for the first time. BSO maestro Marin Alsop has arrived. So has the truck.
Unidentified Child #2: Violin, violin...
TRAHEY: So grab one instrument, and then we'll head upstairs. Marin, do you want to actually give them one of the instruments to carry up? That'd be...
MARIN ALSOP: Yeah, sure.
TRAHEY: ...that might be nice.
ALSOP: Come on. Grab that. OK. What do you want? You want that one?
SHAPIRO: No, I want that one right there.
ALSOP: OK. That one. You go.
SHAPIRO: Kids are carrying boxes bigger than they are, literally an orchestra's worth of instruments. They haul their stash upstairs to the OrchKids room where they sit and listen to the woman they call Ms. Marin.
ALSOP: Yup. So, you know what I've brought? I wanted to show you my violin because this is a violin that I've had, oh, since I was just a little bit taller than you are. And so - isn't it beautiful?
Children: Yeah.
ALSOP: Isn't that pretty? But you know what? Having an instrument is like having a pet. You have to take good care of it. It's not that I'm advocating that you all play the violin, but you really should.
SHAPIRO: Each kid gets to try an instrument. It's like opening Christmas gifts.
ALSOP: And I just wanted to tell you that - is that what you want to play?
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN TALKING IN UNISON)
TRAHEY: Let's check it out. Look at this. It's brand new, too. So let's pull it out of its case.
Unidentified Child #4: That's mine.
TRAHEY: Now I need you to see that you go like this with your lips since you want to play this. Everybody watch my lips. I want you to see this. It's actually more like a bee than a horse. It's like a...
(SOUNDBITE OF DAN TRAHEY MAKING A BUZZING SOUND)
TRAHEY: Can anyone do that?
Unidentified Child #5: Yes.
TRAHEY: Let me see it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN MAKING A BUZZING SOUND)
TRAHEY: Put your lips really tight together and go...
(SOUNDBITE OF DAN TRAHEY MAKING A BUZZING SOUND)
(SOUNDBITE OF TRUMPET)
ALSOP: Yeah.
TRAHEY: Your first sound, lovely.
ALSOP: First sound.
TRAHEY: Your parents are going to be thrilled.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLAPPING)
SHAPIRO: After each kid plays a few notes, they trickle out of the building. And Marin Alsop sits down looking happy.
In these last couple hours as the kids were getting their musical instruments, what was your internal monologue?
ALSOP: I was kind of jealous. Isn't that terrible? Because - and I'm from a family of professional musicians. But, you know, my parents were always, OK, here's the piano, play it, you're going to be a concert pianist, you know. OK, that didn't work, let's get to the violin. You know, I didn't have the opportunity to try a trumpet. I mean, can you imagine being able to try instruments until you feel that this is the one for you?
SHAPIRO: She has a lot riding on this program, and not only personally. Alsop contributed $100,000 from her MacArthur genius grant to help fund this project. And she's starting it when many other arts organizations are laying people off, or worse.
ALSOP: Economic hard times are going to come and go. But our responsibility doesn't come and go. I mean, just because we hit a major speed bump, I think that's the moment to step up even further and to be bold and to do something important. And maybe in some ways it enables us to remember that, you know, life is not about money.
SHAPIRO: Well, $100,000 is much better spent on this than in the stock market.
ALSOP: Well, clearly, this was the best hundred thousand dollars I've ever spent because the rest of it is only worth 50,000.
SHAPIRO: Alsop says she can't wait to see her orchestra of 90 kids from this neighborhood playing side by side with her musicians from the Baltimore Symphony. Maybe not next year, but in a decade, she says, definitely.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: You can see a video blog of the Harriet Tubman students at our blog, npr.org/soapbox. You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro. Scott Simon's back next week.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
An icon of American journalism was laid off this week, Nat Hentoff. His most recent job was with the Village Voice newspaper in New York. The 83-year-old Hentoff had been associated with the paper for six decades. When we talked to him, he said the condolences poured in immediately.
NAT HENTOFF: It's like reading one's obituary while you're still alive.
SHAPIRO: Well, how does it feel to have reached this point 60 years after you started writing for the Village Voice?
HENTOFF: Well, I can't say it's exhilarating but I've been through this before. I have been fired from some of the more prestigious publications over the years.
SHAPIRO: (Laughing) Is that so?
HENTOFF: So I can understand this tone of voice when I get the call. One of my favorite ones was I was at the New Yorker magazine for over 25 years under the legendary William Shawn. He left, he was fired. And when Tina Brown came in, it was about 10 days before Christmas, I got a note from her managing editor thanking me for my service now that I had retired. It was very kind of her because I hadn't been aware I'd retired.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: You are certainly not the only prominent journalist to have been laid off in the last few years, but you are among the most prominent, and I wonder what you think this says about the state of media and newspapers today?
HENTOFF: Well, that's very troubling. Those papers in those small towns, some of them are folding. And that means, of course, the Internet, which is fine, except what you get most of the time is people going to those sites and those blogs with which they already agree.
SHAPIRO: Right.
HENTOFF: So that bothers me in terms of what James Madison said - I'm paraphrasing - if people do not understand the history of the country, the nature of the Constitution, if they're not an informed citizenry - and I'm paraphrasing very badly here - we've blown the gig. That it's hard to keep a republic if the citizens don't know why they are different from other countries, and the I think that's a key problem now.
SHAPIRO: Do you have any advice for young journalists who are starting out their career at this point?
HENTOFF: The main thing is if you're passionately interested in something - and we all are in one or more things - that's something that - that's an area you ought to really get familiar with, and if you can go into interviews to begin with with a real knowledge of what you're asking the interviewee. The other thing that I'd have to tell them is what one of my mentors, Izzy Stone(ph), told me when I was in my 20s. He said, if you think you're in this business to change the world, go get another day job.
Because if you do change anything, it'll be incremental, and you may not even know that it happened. But if you have this insistence once you get a story that has to be told to follow it, that's why you're there. Don't worry about you're becoming part of the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: You know, you joked at the beginning of this conversation that this experience has almost been like reading your obituary. And I wonder, as folks who are now looking back on the last 60 years that you spent at the Village Voice, look at the body of work you've created. Is there any subject you've written about or a column you wrote that you would like people to visit and reread in particular?
HENTOFF: Well, I can tell you - some other way of answering this. It's very hard to know when you write or when you broadcast whether you're really reaching people in a way that makes a real difference to them. And a few years ago, there was big conference in New York of lawyers, and all these lawyers from around the country were there. And I was sitting at the table with them, and three lawyers came over - they looked to be in their 30s or so. And one, speaking for all of them, looked at me and said, I want to tell you why we're here. When we were all in high school, we were reading you in the Voice, and you made the law so exciting that that's why we're here. My goodness, that was a great thing to hear.
SHAPIRO: Well, before you wrote about politics and the law, you wrote about music, and I wonder if there's a song you would like us to go out on that maybe describes your career or that's just a personal favorite?
HENTOFF: One of Duke Ellington's songs, "Things Ain't What They Used To Be." And that is, of course, continually what we are confronted with as journalist, as readers, as citizens. But the other part of that is the roots of jazz go way back to Bark Gospel and all the songs of the field haulers in slavery time. So while things ain't what they used to be, if you're a good reporter, you got to remember what the roots of everything is that you write about because it keeps coming back.
SHAPIRO: Nat Hentoff, it's an honor to talk to you. Thank you very much.
HENTOFF: Well, thank you, sir.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
2008 was a rough year for network television. It began with the writers' strike. And then by the end of the year, NBC had announced its plan to try something new - Jay Leno at 10 p.m. That basically writes off a full hour of what had been primetime scripted programs. Linda Holmes writes for NPR's entertainment blog "Monkey See." She's here in our studios. Good morning.
LINDA HOLMES: Good morning.
SHAPIRO: OK. Well, if there were plenty of losers in this year of television, let's talk about who some of the winners were. Who did well in 2008?
HOLMES: There continue to be a couple of comedies that are doing well, but a relatively small number. You still see good returns from "The Office" and "30 Rock."
SHAPIRO: The interest in politics really seemed to help topical, political satire shows.
HOLMES: Absolutely true. I think "Saturday Night Live" probably was more relevant culturally than it's been in a very long time. "Saturday Night Live" got very lucky when people immediately latched onto the, just, similarity in physical appearance between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, and they sort of rolled.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
TINA FEY: (As Governor Sarah Palin) And who wouldn't want the complete set of limited edition Joe action figures?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
FEY: (As Governor Sarah Palin) There's Joe the Plumber, Joe Six-Pack, and my personal favorite, Joe Biden.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
FEY: (As Governor Sarah Palin) If you pull this cord, he talks for 45 minutes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Jon Stewart on the "Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report" both also had really strong years and were able to take advantage of the political events to good results.
SHAPIRO: Another big winner, Jay Leno. What's the impact of NBC moving him to 10 p.m.?
HOLMES: Well, I think widespread depression for a lot of people is the impact.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: A lot of people in the industry, you mean?
HOLMES: People in the industry and also people who like scripted programming. It's not a good sign for specifically shows on NBC that sort of teeter on the edge of being canceled. They have a couple of shows - "Chuck" is one, "Friday Night Lights" is another - which have, sort of, always been on the bubble and are probably going to die as result of this move. The immediate impact, though, for NBC is the saving of a lot of money.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW "THE TONIGHT SHOW")
JAY LENO: The latest trend is wedding cakes for dogs. Have you heard about this? More and more owners are holding wedding ceremonies for their dogs.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
LENO: You know, how does this make gay people feel, huh?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Everybody is short of money. Everybody is trying to find cheaper ways to make programming. There have been some news reports about budgets being cut across the board at some of the networks. So everybody is trying to figure out how to do more with less in this industry, as well as, you know, lots of others.
SHAPIRO: And then there are Web sites like Hulu where people can now watch full-length TV shows for free.
HOLMES: You know, Hulu, I think, has been a success story in that they have found a way to carry a lot of TV shows and to provide them in an interface that's really user-friendly and...
SHAPIRO: And you can't zip through the commercials.
HOLMES: You can't zip through the commercials. But the commercials are - there are fewer of them than you would find if you watched something on television.
SHAPIRO: Is Web-only television doing well?
HOLMES: Web-only television had a very big story this year which was "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," which is a production that was...
SHAPIRO: "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."
HOLMES: Yeah, it was a Web-only musical, a total of just about 45 minutes long. It was done by Joss Whedon who did "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and some other shows. It was something they sort of came up with during the strike. And that again is something that has had a life entirely outside of network television, which is interesting on a business level, obviously, because they're using some different delivery mechanisms. But also it was very interesting creatively because you can sort of tell when things are made lovingly, and it was something that was made lovingly.
SHAPIRO: Let's listen to a clip from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" in which Neil Patrick Harris plays a super-villain trying to take over the world.
(Soundbite of Web musical "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog")
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: (As Dr. Horrible) And by the way, it's not about making money. It's about taking money, destroying the status quo, because the status is not quo. The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it.
SHAPIRO: So if this was a huge success online and it had no life on television, what's the takeaway lesson?
HOLMES: You know, if you look back at the story of the Radiohead album that they did where it was not released in the...
SHAPIRO: "In Rainbows"?
HOLMES: Exactly - where it was not released in, sort of, a conventional way. But they released it with a, sort of, pay what you want. One of the arguments that came out of that was, first in order to do that, you have to be Radiohead. And one of things about "Dr. Horrible" is it might turn out to be that in order to do this, you have to be Joss Whedon. It's not clear yet whether this is a model that's going to work for everyone.
SHAPIRO: Linda Holmes is a writer for the NPR blog "Monkey See." Thanks for talking with us.
HOLMES: Thank you.
SHAPIRO: And you can read her thoughts on whether we have just ended a golden age in television at npr.org/monkeysee.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
Think of the unforgettable moments of joy in your life, maybe when your kid was born or when you got married or when the Red Sox won the World Series - I'm sure that was somebody's unforgettable moment of joy. Well, anyway, for planetary scientists, one of those moments was five years ago today.
Unidentified Man: You can see it. There it is. Finally.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS)
SHAPIRO: That was the sound from the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena when scientists and engineers had confirmation that their Mars rover called Spirit had landed safely on the Martian surface. The rover was designed to have a 90-day mission but today, amazingly, it is still operating on the surface of the Red Planet. NPR's Joe Palca was in Pasadena that memorable day, and he joins me here in the studio. Good morning.
JOE PALCA: Good morning.
SHAPIRO: What was that day like?
PALCA: You know, it's so bad to be an articulate person and to be tongue-tied. But it is indescribable. The - we live - we work in a profession where we get vicarious thrills as other people do interesting things that we talk about, but this was over the top. They were just beside themselves with joy.
SHAPIRO: Even as an outside journalist, you couldn't help but be caught up in the enthusiasm. You can hear it in that tape.
PALCA: Yeah. Well, and some people afterwards said, oh, you know, you sounded like a cheerleader. Well, I couldn't help it. I mean, you know, you're in the room, and these guys are just jumping up and down, and they're on Mars, and then a few minutes later, you see a picture of Mars. Of course, you're excited. It's amazing.
SHAPIRO: And this is not the only rover on Mars, right?
PALCA: No. There - this is the first. And then a few weeks later, a second one called Opportunity, which, again, you know, all these things that had to go right went right, and it landed on the other side of Mars. So it was quite remarkable.
And you know, both missions were supposed to last 90 days, 90 days, and now it's five years later. They've both been taking pictures and studying rocks and looking for signs that there was water in this very dry place that Mars is today.
One thing that's happening, though, is that the rovers are covered in red dust. Mars is a very dusty place, and the dust is now settled on the solar panels, which means the rovers are getting less power from the sun. And that's one of the things that's making them harder to operate.
Now, Steve Squyres has been the principal investigator on the rover since they were conceived, and I talked to him a little while ago. He says the science team is tired, honestly. But he says he and his colleagues try not to lose sight of the remarkable nature of what they're doing.
STEVE SQUYRES: We are conducting humanity's first overland expedition across another planet. And, boy, if you can't get excited to get up and go to work each day if you're doing that, forget it.
PALCA: Squyres says the trick to keeping people motivated is to keep, you know, giving themselves challenges. And so now they're going to try and send Opportunity five miles across the Martian plain to this crater they want to have a closer look at.
SHAPIRO: So, these scientists signed up for a three-month project. They've now been on a five-year project. But they have to know it's going to end eventually, right?
PALCA: Yeah, of course. Of course. But Squyres says he's concerned about how it will end.
SQUYRES: This mission could end because our funding gets cut off. I don't want that to happen. It could end because we screw up and drive a rover off a cliff. I sure don't want that to happen. So you know, I've always felt that the only acceptable ways for the mission to end would be either we just wear them out - that's the one I'm hoping for - we just drive them until they can't do anything anymore, or Mars kills them. Mars reaches out with a dust storm or something and just kills them.
SHAPIRO: He must be incredibly proud of what's he accomplished in the last five years.
PALCA: Yeah. And he's, you know, he's very proud of the rovers, but he's a thoughtful guy, and he has a very sane perspective about when the rovers do die.
SQUYRES: People talk about the plucky little rovers and the determined way(ph). Spirit's not determined. Spirit's not courageous. Spirit doesn't feel pain. Spirit doesn't fear death. Spirit's a robot, OK? All those emotions, they're here on earth. OK? And those are things that we have endowed the vehicle with, but those are human emotions, and they exist among the team that built them and among the people who follow them. And even when the rover dies, we've still got that.
PALCA: But it will be, as Squyres says, it will be a sad day when we have to say goodbye.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR's Joe Palca. Thanks, Joe.
PALCA: You're welcome.
SHAPIRO: To see a slideshow of images shot by the Mars rover, go to npr.org.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro. In his weekly address this morning, President-elect Barack Obama gave a name to the stimulus package that his transition team is putting together.
BARACK OBAMA: An American recovery and reinvestment plan.
SHAPIRO: And with it, Mr. Obama promised a new approach to government spending.
OBAMA: We can't just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future.
SHAPIRO: The president-elect says he wants to create three million new jobs. Many of the details of the plan echo promises Mr. Obama made during his campaign. Those jobs can't come soon enough. Just two days into 2009, a closely watched manufacturing index compiled by the Institute for Supply Management was released. And it showed that U.S. factory activity fell to a 28-year low in December. What does that mean? Well, the last time this happened, the nation was on the verge of the recession of the early 1980s. Now U.S. auto companies are just barely standing. And if they go down, the manufacturing sector could become an enormous drag on the entire economy.
Economic fear is spreading, and that makes everyone less willing to take risks. Even venture capitalists who thrive on risk are being far more cautious now. That can be painful for some small startup businesses. It means they may remain at a fledgling stage for longer than the founders and their investors bargained for. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI: In a normal year, legions of entrepreneurs get funding from private investors who like their concept. It's called venture capitalism. The idea is for a young company to incubate and grow on this private money for a few years. And if the concept works, it all pays off when the company is sold. But if there's no buyer, there's no payoff. Mark Heesen is president of the National Capital Venture Association.
MARK HEESEN: Just like you have a teenager that you thought would be out of the house by now, we have companies that we thought we would have sold or have gone public by now, and they're still at home.
NOGUCHI: During the first three quarters of 2008, the association says only six venture-backed companies sold shares to the public through initial public offerings, or IPOs. That compares with 86 for all of the previous year.
HEESEN: We saw zero IPOs in the second quarter of 2008. That's the first time in the 30 years that we've been tracking this that we've never had an IPO in a quarter.
NOGUCHI: One of those shelved sales was a company called Convio. The company designs software that helps nonprofits track and communicate with their donors. The company did well and hoped to sell shares to the public earlier this year. Jim Offerdahl is Convio's chief financial officer. He says when the company had hoped to pull the trigger, there simply was no interest from investors.
JIM OFFERDAHL: We decided that good companies don't go public in bad markets.
NOGUCHI: In August, Convio scrapped its plans. For the investors in startups, this scenario repeated over and over could create a major backlog. Instead of reaping those profits through sales, venture capitalists are facing the prospect of having to fund their companies for longer. Trevor Loy is managing partner for Flywheel Ventures in Santa Fe. He says this is starting to happen to him. Flywheel has $40 million invested in 23 companies. In order for his fund to keep investing in new companies, he needs to get the proverbial kids out of the house and finding their own money source. And in order for that to happen, the stock market and the economy needs to recover.
TREVOR LOY: If you don't see the capital markets' interest in the companies funded by venture capitalists pick up in another year to two years, that runs a risk of absolutely destroying the engine of innovation in the country.
NOGUCHI: Loy says that's because historically it's the private investors who've been willing to take risks on new technologies. He says bigger, more established companies tend not to fund revolutionary ideas. Companies like Google and Apple and many companies in biotech and green technology started out funded with seed capital from private firms.
LOY: Whether it's climate change and environmental sustainability or, sort of, human health and disease, or the need to build infrastructure for three billion people who are joining the middle class around the world, those are all challenges whose only solutions involve hardcore, deep innovation. And venture capital has had, certainly, a pretty outsized role in fueling that innovation over the last few decades.
NOGUCHI: For now, young companies with great ideas might survive with funding from existing investors. But for entrepreneurs looking for cash, a protracted downturn means having to cast their nets wider or just running on fumes for a while. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro filling in for Scott Simon. The Israeli military offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza has now been going on for eight days.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKETS FIRING)
SHAPIRO: Israel hit some two dozen targets inside Gaza today.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKETS FIRING)
SHAPIRO: Over the last week, the focus of the strikes has been government offices, security compounds, and tunnels used for smuggling along the Egyptian border. Partly because of Gaza's dense population, schools, clinics and residential areas have also been hit. Meanwhile, Hamas rockets have reached farther into Israel than ever before. In a moment we'll hear from a medical worker in the city of Be'er Sheva, but first to Gaza.
Hamas said strikes overnight killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of Hamas' armed wing. More than 400 people in Gaza have been killed and over 2,000 injured since the fighting began. The U.N. says that death toll includes more than a hundred civilians. And Israeli ground troops remain on the border waiting for a signal to invade. We called Sami Abdalshafi in Gaza City. He's a business consultant and he's been a contributor to the British newspaper The Guardian. I asked him to begin by describing his situation.
SAMI ABDALSHAFI: The situation currently is very difficult. The civilian population of Gaza is enduring so much hardship. They are scared. They are staying indoors to try to protect themselves from the near constant Israeli air raid.
SHAPIRO: You're saying they're enduring so much hardship. Tell me specifically what you mean. Is food available? Are other basic necessities accessible to people?
ABDALSHAFI: Most people have been kept on edge with respect to the supplies that they need. But what stands out here is the period before the war started even, which is the crippling siege which has been imposed on the Gaza Strip. So going into this unfortunate war, people have already been short on many basic supplies. And to the sixth or the seventh day of the war, those who ran out of supplies are even scared to get out of their homes to buy what they need.
SHAPIRO: So how do they survive?
ABDALSHAFI: They're just rationing. They're simply rationing on every supply they have, even on each loaf of bread. Maybe you've seen in world media the long lines that are in front of bakeries. There are no dairy products available, no medicines available. Life is very difficult for ordinary people here.
SHAPIRO: You're joining us from the BBC studios in Gaza. And so you've been traveling around the area a bit. Could you tell us a little bit about what you've seen?
ABDALSHAFI: Actually, I passed by a few demolished buildings, a few demolished mosques. What stands out really is not only the devastation but that Gaza has become a ghost town. People are truly scared for their lives, and they're suffering from a growing sense of mortality and desperation.
SHAPIRO: Within Gaza, is there any sense of a place that people can go that they'll be safe?
ABDALSHAFI: There is no safe place in Gaza except one's home. But one's home is becoming an unsafe place unfortunately because of the huge munitions that are dropped over Gaza, which cause huge explosions and huge vacuums following these explosions, which are causing a lot of breaking doors and exploding glass which is harming people in their own homes. This has happened so often. To avoid that, of course, many people keep their windows open, including myself, as we speak. And for the seventh day, during the coldest month in Gaza, I am keeping all of my windows open to avoid the possibility of the next explosion actually exploding my own windows. So it's very difficult. It's very difficult.
SHAPIRO: Have your family, friends, and loved ones been all right so far?
ABDALSHAFI: They have been all right so far, but that's the visible, physical aspect of it. Many people - in fact most people in the Gaza Strip - by now are actually traumatized.
SHAPIRO: Now, Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border. There has been speculation that a ground assault may be imminent. Are people concerned about that?
ABDALSHAFI: They are very concerned. But they don't know what the goal of the Israeli operation eventually is. So they are, therefore, unable to predict the extent of the ground incursion. So they're just waiting.
SHAPIRO: Sami Abdalshafi is a business consultant and a contributor to The Guardian. He joined us from Gaza City. Thank you and stay safe.
ABDALSHAFI: Thank you very much.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
And now to Be'er Sheva. It's the largest city in southern Israel, home to almost 200,000 Israelis. Unlike Israeli towns closer to the Gaza border that regularly endure rocket fire, the last time Be'er Sheva was hit by rockets was more than 40 years ago, during the Six-Day War. Shlomi Kodesh is the deputy director of the Soroka Medical Center. I asked him whether the attacks took people by surprise.
SHLOMI KODESH: We received notice on Saturday from the army's homeland front that we might be attacked. It was still quite a shock to see it actually happen.
SHAPIRO: Can you describe what took place?
KODESH: On Tuesday evening, firing sounded at night across the entire region. And we were later notified that there were some rockets that hit Be'er Sheva. At that point, the hospital was set at a much heightened alert level where we had to clear out wards and patients. And we were also receiving quite a large number of acute stress related patients coming into the hospital. They'd come in on stretchers unable to talk, unable to walk as a result of the fear and as a result of stress of hearing rockets landing very close to where they live.
SHAPIRO: What's the mood like particularly for people who have not experienced a rocket attack before? The last one was more than 40 years ago.
KODESH: People adapted surprisingly fast. The mood is very serious. People are very concerned for their loved ones. And still people carry on with their life.
SHAPIRO: Do you see people leaving the area, moving northward to be out of range?
KODESH: Very few, although we have noticed a decrease in the number of births in our hospital. Expecting mothers have apparently chosen to go north and have their children, which is fairly understandable.
SHAPIRO: Well, now that the citizens of Be'er Sheva know they are within firing range, are people doing things differently to prepare?
KODESH: Yes, people are staying closer to homes, as per army instructions. We have a one-minute notice sent and a siren sounds to the time we have to be in a protected environment. So, people don't stay out in open spaces too long. Schools and kindergartens are out. So we all have to find solutions for where our children will spend the day while we're working.
SHAPIRO: How has your family coped with that? Do you have a small child?
KODESH: We have three children. Our two daughters are 10 and eight and a three-year-old boy. The first night the siren sounded, the girls both got out of bed. We had a family drill prepared in advance to what would happen if a siren sounded. They knew exactly what to do. They were both quite shocked and very surprised, but knew what to do.
SHAPIRO: What is the hospital doing to prepare for any potential future attacks?
KODESH: This is a very unique situation. We do have preparedness plans for mass casualty events, be it terrorist or natural disasters. But this is unique to us because we're under attack ourselves potentially. This means we had to close about 15 percent of our hospital beds that were located in buildings that aren't defendable. No one's on vacation. All vacations were cancelled. We do not perform complicated surgery to make sure we have enough ORs and intensive care unit beds available. Still, most of the hospital still operates normally.
SHAPIRO: Now, I understand Israeli troops have been massing and there's speculation about a potential ground incursion into Gaza. Are people talking about that where you are?
KODESH: It's a significant part of our hospital preparedness level. We're the closest tertiary care center to the Gaza Strip. I have to prepare for the eventuality that this attack will take place and we might have many casualties to care for.
SHAPIRO: What kind of notice will you get if something like that is about to happen?
KODESH: For security reasons, none. We were notified of the attack last Saturday in Gaza as it took place. So we probably knew about five minutes before the press, but that's all the head warning we got.
SHAPIRO: Shlomi Kodesh is the deputy director of the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva. Thank you.
KODESH: Thank you.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
Eight years ago this week, I arrived in Washington from Portland, Oregon. My plane touched down on New Year's Eve. The city was in a deep freeze. I took the Metro to my one-room apartment. I'd never seen it before. And I'd never met my roommate before either. She was already living there. We'd found each other on Craigslist. I slept on the pullout couch. The place was hardly big enough for one person, let alone two. I had just graduated from college, and I was deep in debt. I had an unpaid internship at NPR.
The next morning, New Year's Day, I walked to the NPR building, just to make sure I could find my way there. I stood in the lobby and looked at the photos on the wall. Scott Simon, Robert Siegel, Linda Wertheimer, and the woman I would be interning for, Nina Totenberg. They were people whose voices I'd grown up listening to.
The Clinton administration was ending, and the Bush administration was on its way in. Nina took me to one Washington party after another. We went to the Kennedy Center and the Supreme Court. I would make a beeline for the free food. And then she would point out the senators and the Supreme Court justices. One night I came home and called my mom. Mom, I just spent the evening talking about literature with Justice Anthony Kennedy! She was happy for me, but I'm sure she would have preferred I had chatted with one of the court's more liberal justices instead.
A few weeks later, it was Inauguration Day. There was freezing rain in Washington, and NPR was broadcasting live from the Canadian Embassy. My job was to run bag lunches from NPR to the hosts and reporters around the city. That year, Barack Obama was a member of the Illinois Senate. Sarah Palin was a small town mayor. 9/11 was still just another day on the calendar. We were not at war.
Now, eight years later, crews have erected the inauguration platforms outside the Capitol and the White House again. When I first showed up here on New Year's, I never thought I would consider Washington home. I never thought I would be a journalist, let alone fill in as host on this show.
People in Washington have played guessing games about who might challenge Barack Obama for the White House in four years, or in eight years. Could it be someone we've never heard of? Someone who right now is toiling away in state government? Or governing as mayor of a small town somewhere? Could someone who right now is an intern, deep in college debt, sharing a one-room apartment with a stranger, be an NPR host eight years from now? I don't know if that'll happen. But I know it could.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
For years the U.S. has had special courts for the mentally ill, for drug users, for battered women. There are places where judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and charities can come together to help people get back on their feet. Now there's a growing number of special courts for American war veterans and the unique problems they bring back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
MICHAEL MCCARTHY: The court doesn't necessarily have to be a place where a sentence is meted out just to serve a sentence.
SHAPIRO: Judge Michael McCarthy is working to set up a veterans' court for non-violent offenders in Pittsburgh. McCarthy, himself a Vietnam vet, says the courtroom is sometimes the last chance for veterans to get the help that's available to them.
MCCARTHY: Courts are a way to put the veterans face forward and say, here's the difficulty. You are faced with a crime, and you have an alternative here. And the alternative is you can take the services and turn your life around.
SHAPIRO: What did you experience as a Vietnam veteran that makes you appreciate the need for these kinds of courts?
MCCARTHY: Well, my experience, I was a Navy Seabee veteran on a Seabee team and spent a year in Vietnam. Coming back, I was basically dropped back into the society. Now, but for the grace of God, go I. Duquesne University appealed to me. I went to the university. And that was my bridge, sort of, back into our society. Unfortunately, these young veterans that are coming back are facing somewhat of a different set of problems. There's an unemployment problem. There's a lost, sort of, sense about some of these veterans. There are places where veterans can receive help, and some of them do. But I am concerned about the few that don't.
SHAPIRO: So do you see yourself in some of the non-violent offenders who were coming before these veterans' courts?
MCCARTHY: Yes, in a way. Some veterans have - common to all wars - what they call the thousand-yard stare. If you've ever seen photos, black and white, of World War II, of Vietnam, sometimes a photojournalist can capture it. It's that sense about all of the things that you've learned and have been taught, and then you see what man's capable of doing. And you have to deal with all of that.
Some deal with it in different ways. Alcohol may be a way. Drugs may be a way. Education may be a way. Your community may be a way. And I think the courts have to deal with it. They deal with it as a criminal matter and/or a homeless situation, but they can at least sentence or avail the veteran of these opportunities. And that may be just the push. To save one is worth the effort.
SHAPIRO: Judge Michael McCarthy spoke with us from the studios of member station WDUQ in Pittsburgh. Thanks a lot.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
SHAPIRO: This is NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro. Scott Simon is away. This week, tensions rose in the Middle East as Israel continued its military offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have left more than 400 Gazans dead and Hamas has continued its rocket fire into Israel. Also this week, President-elect Barack Obama returned home from a holiday vacation and prepared for his family's move to Washington. Meanwhile, his old Senate seat remains the center of controversy in Illinois. Joining us now is NPR senior news analyst Dan Schorr. Hello.
DAN SCHORR: Hi, Ari. Welcome aboard.
SHAPIRO: It's a pleasure be on your program.
SCHORR: My pleasure.
SHAPIRO: Well, first, let's start with Gaza. Israel is now in its 8th day of airstrikes in Gaza. They're trying to stop Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, but the offensive has not stopped the rockets. The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, says the only way it will be possible to end the violence is if Hamas stops its attacks. So do you see a chance for a ceasefire here?
SCHORR: Not very soon. The only way you'll get a ceasefire will be if Hamas stops the rocket attacks on Israel. Israel says pending until then, Israel is going to continue and maybe expand its action against Hamas.
SHAPIRO: What do you see as being at the root of this conflict?
SCHORR: Oh, I think at the root of this conflict is the influence of Iran. Just as the Hezbollah represented Iran in Lebanon, so, I think, they are the ones who are sending these rockets to be used by the Hamas. It is a proxy war with Iran that's being fought through other countries.
SHAPIRO: Well, assuming the violence continues through Inauguration Day, how much of a problem will this be for the incoming Obama administration?
SCHORR: Well, it could be great one. It could be - if it does continue that long, I think that the president will have to reflect on it and what he's going to do about of it and that nothing easily suggests itself. It's a very dark and muddy view that you see from here.
SHAPIRO: And speaking of Obama, he arrives here in Washington on Sunday, just in time for his daughters to start school on Monday. Aside from that, what are his top concerns as he makes this move?
SCHORR: Well, his one major concern, as he has indicated himself, is to move very, very rapidly now on what's called a recovery package, used to be called a stimulus package, which could go up anywhere towards a trillion dollars. And because that needs a lot of works still, although they've been working on it very hard, he would, if he were left alone, really concentrate on that. But life doesn't leave you alone sometimes.
SHAPIRO: What do you see as the chances for that package passing, particularly with Republicans?
SCHORR: Well, pretty good. We don't yet know where the Republicans will stand, but given the nature of the threat of the economic downturn that we're facing now, the need to restore some confidence among the American people by showing that something is going on, I imagine they will end up agreeing with the Republicans.
SHAPIRO: And in the middle of all this, there is the inauguration, which people are expecting to draw a record crowd. What are you looking for there?
SCHORR: Well, I'm looking to see what the crowds are going to be like. I've heard estimates ranging all the way up to four million, some kind of enormous record for inaugurals. Other than that, I myself will be staying home watching it from there because it happens to be also my wife's birthday.
SHAPIRO: Oh, well, Happy Birthday to her.
SCHORR: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: As you look back on the inauguration's past, what are the moments that really stand out in your mind?
SCHORR: Well, everybody remembers 1961 with Senator Kennedy. They were eight inches of snow on the ground and they used army flame-throwers to try to clear a path through Pennsylvania Avenue. I remember that. There was President Reagan on his second inaugural that I remember where it was so cold that they had to cancel the parade and all outdoor events, and he actually delivered his inaugural address inside the Capitol. And I remember that. I remember - boy, there was President Truman, who was the first one to do his inaugural on television.
SHAPIRO: Mmm.
SCHORR: And then my old friend, Richard Nixon.
SHAPIRO: Everybody's favorite.
SCHORR: Everybody - who took - had his own way. He had to take the oath. He took them not on one but two bibles.
SHAPIRO: He swore on two bibles?
SCHORR: He swore on two bibles. I don't think it helped, though.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: Well, finally, onto Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. This week a number of things happened. He appointed former State Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama's old Senate seat.
SCHORR: Right.
SHAPIRO: But then the Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said he would not certify the appointment. Senate Democrats said they won't accept anybody who is appointed by Blagojevich. But still, Burris says he's going to show up in Washington on Tuesday when the new senators are sworn in.
SCHORR: Yep.
SHAPIRO: He has the support of some African-American members of Congress, like Bobby Rush of Illinois, and he wants the Illinois Supreme Court to force the secretary of state to certify his appointment. So, how much of a distraction is this for the Obama administration?
SCHORR: And you can add to that that the Illinois legislature is preparing to vote impeachment...
SHAPIRO: Right, that just happened on Friday.
SCHORR: This is where you call it theater. Great circus, maybe theater of the absurd you can call it. But the fact of the matter is that Blagojevich has the law on his side. The secretary of state doesn't have any discretion. He has to certify. He's performing what's called a ministerial duty. It's a question of what happens if Burris shows up on Tuesday in the Senate.
SHAPIRO: Unwelcomed by Democrats.
SCHORR: Unwelcomed by almost anybody except the (unintelligible). Comes from Chicago and says he's a friend of his and may not bar him from walking into the Senate and sitting down. This is going to be one that will be going to the courts, maybe up to the Supreme Court, for years and years to come. Where Burris will be during all of this knows only God.
SHAPIRO: Well, how do you untangle this mess?
SHCORR: I don't know - in the end, I suspect that they start in the Senate by appointing a commission to investigate the thing, and they spin it out over a long a period time, and then eventually, what happens at the end of that long period of time, I don't know.
SHAPIRO: NPR's senior news analyst Daniel Schorr. Thank you, Dan.
SCHORR: Thanks, Ari.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
Change is coming to Washington, and that's not just a metaphor. More than 60 new members of Congress will be sworn in on Tuesday. One of them is 34-year-old Democrat Tom Perriello. He represents the Charlottesville area in Virginia. His race was one of the biggest come-from-behind upsets of 2008. It took a recount, but Perriello eventually squeaked out victory over his Republican opponent. He won by fewer than 800 votes in a district that favored John McCain for president. Now, Tom Perriello is about to become Congressman Perriello. He came to the studios of UVAN Charlottesville to talk about what that means. Welcome, and congratulations.
TOM PERRIELLO: Well, thank you very much. It's great to be here.
SHAPIRO: What exactly will you do your first day on the job besides probably represent the people of Virginia's 5th district?
PERRIELLO: You know, the first day is the day before we're sworn in, but the day we get sworn in I think they're going to put us right into a session on the stimulus package. During their orientation sessions and just from the trips around the district, it's clear just how fragile the economy is right now. So I think we'll probably be focused right on a recovery plan for the economy.
SHAPIRO: When you're plunged into something like this, how do you learn how to do the basic stuff, from knowing how much staff to hire to knowing how to write a law?
PERRIELLO: Well, they have some orientation sessions for us, which is helpful, and you try to find some existing members of Congress who will take you under their wing a little bit and help you along, and you know, hopefully...
SHAPIRO: Do you get a mentor?
PERRIELLO: It's not one that's assigned to you, but there have been some folks up there that have been great to us. You know, Senator Webb's office has been wonderful, and on the House side, you know, Jim Moran and Jim Clyburn's office and others that have just been great in helping us out.
SHAPIRO: What are the gaps you're most concerned about?
PERRIELLO: Well, you know, a lot of folks come out of state legislatures and I'm not one of those, so I'm - I don't know all the Robet's Rules of Orders and knowing how to introduce emotion and some of the technical speak. So I don't think I've washed quite enough sea spin in my day, and I'm trying to bone up on that.
SHAPIRO: I know that in an earlier session, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, who's now been tapped to be President-elect Obama's chief of staff, warned incoming freshmen not to go on Stephen Colbert's show, "The Colbert Report." Has there been any kind of cautionary note like that issued to you guys?
PERRIELLO: Well, Colbert, like myself, is a serious Catholic, and I think we may have to hash out some theology at some point on social justice teaching in the church.
SHAPIRO: All right, Stephen Colbert, take note. Now I understand you've already found a place to live in Washington. Did Congress help you out with that?
PERRIELLO: They do have programs. I'm actually taking a basement apartment in a house of some people I went to college with.
SHAPIRO: What's your plan for Inauguration Day?
PERRIELLO: Well, expect complete chaos. I think it's about the best anyone can do. As you can imagine, our number one duty these days is to figure out distribution of the inaugural tickets, the ultimate commodity in America right now.
SHAPIRO: Who's going to get your tickets to the inauguration?
PERRIELLO: Far be it from me to be making those choices...
SHAPIRO: Oh, come on, you've got this new power. Don't you want to wield it?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PERRIELLO: People have written these amazing letters to us about their experiences through segregation and beyond. And you know, how does one make choices between people who put in thousands of volunteer hours on the campaign trail and people who've lived through movement struggles and everything else? And so we will be doing a lottery system.
There's actually a woman who wrote to me who had two kids, five and seven. She's an African-American lady. And they had been so excited to go into the booth with her to vote, they drew lots of who was going to get to vote for which race, you know, Perriello, Mark Warner for Senate and Barack Obama for president. They got in the booth, and the seven-year-old voted for me first, and then the five-year-old hit submit vote by mistake. And they didn't get to vote for Barack Obama for president.
SHAPIRO: Maybe that's why McCain carried your district.
PERRIELLO: They were just mortified, and the mother, you know, to try to comfort them said, you know what, at the end of the day, Perriello was the one who needed our vote the most. So you know, I think it's stories like that that are really enjoyable at this point to read about.
SHAPIRO: Congressman-elect Tom Perriello, thanks very much for your time.
PERRIELLO: Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Ari.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
The rest of the Congressional freshmen class includes some characters. There'll be Representatives Fudge, Bright and Posey. That's Marcia Fudge, Bobby Bright and Bill Posey, representing Ohio, Alabama and Florida respectively. And speaking of Poseys, Roll Call newspaper notes that freshman Kathy Dahlkemper from Pennsylvania used to run an arboretum. She's a Democrat. And so is Debbie Halvorsen, who was a top Mary Kay saleswoman in her home state of Illinois. The youngest newcomer is - Schock! Really. Aaron Schock, Illinois Republican. He's 27. Congratulations all.
E: a couple of naughty tales from the two Steves, the first one from Mr. Wozniak, the second from Mr. Jobs.
ROBERT KRULWICH: It was 1970 something, the early 1970s, and Steve Wozniak, the future inventor of the Apple One computer was then at Berkeley, and he was how old?
STEVE WOZNIAK: Let me think about this. I'd say I was 20.
KRULWICH: And one day, he told me at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, he picked up an Esquire magazine and he read about a guy named Captain Crunch - not his real name - who had figured out how to make international phone calls for free by whistling a certain tone into the phone. It was a high E.
WOZNIAK: Yes. You could dial any call anywhere in the world just by that method. Now, this guy...
KRULWICH: Well, hold on, you whistle this high E into the phone and then you'd get a free line?
WOZNIAK: Well, you whistle...
(SOUNDBITE OF SINGLE WHISTLE)
WOZNIAK: That's a one. If you whistle...
(SOUNDBITE OF TWO WHISTLES)
WOZNIAK: That's a two.
(SOUNDBITE OF THREE WHISTLES)
WOZNIAK: Three of them, it's a three. So, you get...
KRULWICH: So he makes free long distance calls by mouth, in effect.
WOZNIAK: That's correct.
KRULWICH: Well, Steve decided he had to meet this guy, the whistling guy, so he called one of his best friends and future Apple partner, Steve Jobs. At this point, Jobs was still in high school. And together, they figured out that Captain Crunch actually lived pretty close by.
WOZNIAK: We found the main phone freak, Captain Crunch, who discovered that the little whistle given away in Captain Crunch cereal, if you blew it, you got that high note that seized the phone line...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WOZNIAK: At your command, and he was not caught yet by the FBI. They didn't know who he was, and we stumbled onto him. Yeah, Steve and I did.
KRULWICH: What's more, Wozniak asked the Captain over to his college dorm room.
WOZNIAK: He actually came to the door at my dorm in Berkeley, and everyone wanted to see what this guy looks like. The suave engineer who's smarter than the phone company enters and I open it up, and here's this guy with his hair all strangley and he's got a smell and he's missing a bunch of teeth, and I was a little shocked. I was expecting something different. And I said, are you - ? And he says, I am he, Captain Crunch.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KRULWICH: So, Captain Crunch taught the Steves how to do the whistles using a device called a blue box, which they built. And once they had their own blue box, they wondered...
WOZNIAK: Should we try the technique that Crunch just taught us to make calls on a pay phone?
KRULWICH: Mmm.
WOZNIAK: Yeah. Let's try it. We got to learn.
KRULWICH: And learn they did. Soon they were making calls everywhere for free.
WOZNIAK: You dial calls through satellite, to country, to another country, around the world, to the phone next to you, and it's just so amazing and intriguing. And you'd like to show it off to people who don't know it's possible.
KRULWICH: So because they could and because they were now very good at it...
WOZNIAK: Well, we're in college and we're young, and this is not too far away from when we would do Apple Computer, yeah.
KRULWICH: Steve Wozniak decided to go all the way.
WOZNIAK: One time I called the pope, and I said, this is Henry.
KRULWICH: Wait - one time you called the pope. Why did you think of the pope? I mean, that's kind of a tough call.
WOZNIAK: I don't know how I thought of it. I just thought of it.
I got called Italy inward(ph), I asked for Rome inward(ph), I got to the Vatican. I asked for the pope. I said, this is Henry Kissinger calling on behalf with Richard Nixon at the summit meeting in Moscow. And I didn't even...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KRULWICH: Did you use an accent?
WOZNIAK: Not at first. But I was talking to an operator, and she said, well, till 5:30 here in morning. Why don't you call back in an hour? So I called back in an hour.
KRULWICH: Oh, my God! Well, do you mean did you think that you were actually maybe going to be able to speak to the pope?
WOZNIAK: Oh, absolutely. I thought I might get there. Yeah, sure. Amazing things happen, you know, when you're coming with a different...
KRULWICH: Had you planned any - had you planned what to tell him had he gotten online?
WOZNIAK: No, I don't know. I probably would have just said, oh, is this really the pope?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KRULWICH: An hour later, Wozniak did call back to the Vatican.
WOZNIAK: And I got to the bishop who was going to be the translator. And this is like the top bishop. And I said - I used a Henry Kissinger accent by then - and I said, can I talk to the pope? And he says, you're not Henry Kissinger. I just spoke to Henry Kissinger.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WOZNIAK: I guess they had called to check up on my story.
KRULWICH: So the Vatican very gently hung up on Steve Wozniak. That was about 37 years ago. But it's not like Wozniak or his old partner Steve Jobs had ever stopped their pranks. At a MacWorld meeting a couple of years ago in 2007, Jobs was introducing his now famous iPhone.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACWORLD MEETING)
STEVE JOBS: What I'm going to do is I'm going to go look for something. I'm going to certainly want a cup of coffee afterwards.
KRULWICH: And to demonstrate how his phone worked right there, live, he picked up the iPhone, punched in some instructions to locate nearby coffee shops.
JOBS: So I'm just going to look for Starbucks, right?
KRULWICH: And he tapped the keys and up came a map showing all the nearby Starbucks.
JOBS: There's all the Starbucks.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
KRULWICH: Then he chose the closest one.
JOBS: And there it is. And let's give them a call.
(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)
: Good morning. Starbucks (unintelligible). Can I help you?
JOBS: Yes, I'd like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please - no, just kidding. Wrong number. Thank you. Bye-bye.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
JOBS: OK.
KRULWICH: The thing is, there is something about playing with telephones that for four decades now has made both Steve Wozniak and Steven Jobs just a little bit crazy. Robert Krulwich, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News. In Colorado, Governor Bill Ritter has reportedly made up his mind on who will be the state's new U.S. senator. Later today, he's expected to name Michael Bennett, who's now superintendent of the public schools in Denver. Bennett would replace Senator Ken Salazar, who's leaving Congress to be Barack Obama's secretary of the interior. Bennett was widely regarded as the dark horse for the Senate spot, and he was surrounded by some political thoroughbreds who wanted the job. From Denver, Deanna Garcia of member station KUNC reports.
DEANNA GARCIA: Here in Colorado, the choice of Michael Bennett comes as a surprise to some because of his lack of legislative experience plus a long list of much bigger political players were being considered. Among the other Democrats said to be in the running for the vacancy were term-limited state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and 7th District Congressman Ed Perlmutter. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper also asked to be considered. Former Denver Mayor Federico Pena and Congresswoman Diana DeGette were also mentioned but told the governor they weren't interested.
Denver political consultant Floyd Ciruli says Bennett could be a risky choice for Democrats, who'll have to spend millions of dollars defending that seat in two years.
FLOYD CIRULI: This is going to be a very competitive seat. Republicans are gearing up. Once it was an open seat they knew they had a better chance, and of course, now I think they're quite ecstatic about the fact that it looks like the appointment is going to go to somebody with no statewide base or a name identification or a political experience.
GARCIA: Bennett is a Yale-educated lawyer who in 2003 was tapped to be chief of staff for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Two years later, with the mayor's encouragement, he applied for and got the job of superintendent of Denver's public school system. Although he's not a political name, Ciruli says Bennett's freshness may be the thing that persuaded the governor to pick him.
CIRULI: It could be really out of the ball park. It could be a very good choice, and Ritter could look like - that he made a sort of brilliant decision here of bringing in somebody new, independent, nonpartisan.
GARCIA: Colorado's relatively undramatic selection process of finding a replacement senator is a marked departure from the scandal in Illinois and the star search in New York. For now, Colorado Senator Ken Salazar will remain in his seat until he's confirmed as interior secretary, which could take several weeks. From Greeley, I'm Deanna Garcia reporting for NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro, and it's time now for football.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: It's wildcard playoff weekend in the NFL. Now, I'll be honest with you. Football is not my strong suit. But lucky for me, our own Howard Bryant is on the line to walk a newbie like me through the games ahead. Good morning.
HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning. How are you?
SHAPIRO: Good, thanks.
BRYANT: Ari, you're not the guy who the week before the Super Bowl is going to buy that 60-inch flat-screen television. You're a man after my own heart for not having to pay attention to football.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: Fortunately, I have very smart producers who tell me that today the Atlanta Falcons are playing the Arizona Cardinals. This is one thing I do know about football. I have this Michael Vick dog-fighting problem.
BRYANT: That's right. And it's quite a remarkable turnaround for the Falcons to be a year removed from Vick and prison and the news and losing the way they did and to be in the playoffs. It's going to be a good game for them. They've got a great running back in Michael Turner. They've got the great rookie - I don't know if he's great yet but they've got the rookie, Matt Ryan, at quarterback. And I think it's going to be a really interesting matchup against the Cardinals because they've got a high-powered offense. Anguan Boldin is going to come back from his injury. Larry Fitzgerald is fantastic, the two best receivers tandem in the game. And it's going to be Atlanta's ball control against the high-octane offense in the desert.
SHAPIRO: And then there's also the Indianapolis Colts versus the San Diego Chargers today. And their running back, LaDainian Tomlinson, got hurt last week.
BRYANT: The winner of this game could very well go to the Super Bowl. This should be the matchup of the weekend. The Chargers are playing really well, even though they were only 8 and 8 and probably didn't deserve to make the playoffs. But they're in. And the Colts are the hottest team in football in the playoffs right now. They've won nine straight. And these two teams, as we like to say in the world of cliche, don't like each other. But I have a feeling that the Colts are just too close to it and that they're going to win.
SHAPIRO: And now onto Sunday's games. There's Miami versus Baltimore. Baltimore, I understand, is the favorite in this one. Any chance of an upset?
BRYANT: Big chance of an upset because they both play defense. And when you've got January football, two defensive teams, it's whoever holds on to the ball, whoever creates those turnovers early in the game. You can get a game that just goes completely unexpected, neither team scores a lot of points. The Dolphins can score but they're a defensive team primarily. That's what got them back on top. And I just - I have no feel for that game whatsoever. I think it could go in either direction.
SHAPIRO: You know, you're actually making me want to watch some of this.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BRYANT: I'm doing my job right now.
SHAPIRO: OK. Well then, also Sunday, Philadelphia is playing Minnesota, and I understand this one is a real tossup, so...
BRYANT: Very intriguing matchup as well. I like Philadelphia in the game even though they're on the road because it looks like Donovan McNabb has finally decided that he's not going to allow anybody to get in his way in terms of doing what he likes to do on the field.
SHAPIRO: He's the quarterback?
BRYANT: He is the quarterback. And it seems like the coach, the most dogmatic coach in the National Football League, Andy Reid, has decided that, gee, maybe, 75 years of wisdom in the National Football League actually matters for something, and he's going to run the football.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
BRYANT: On the other hand, the Vikings have Adrian Peterson, who made the best running back in football, and if the Eagles don't stop him then it's going to be a long afternoon for Philadelphia. But I have a feeling that the Eagles have won four straight and Philadelphia has got that magic going after the World Series, so the mantra from some of my friends in Philadelphia is think like a winner. So we'll see if the Eagles can continue that Philadelphia magic.
SHAPIRO: Howard Bryant, a senior writer for espn.com, ESPN the magazine, and ESPN the bleacher.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: Thanks, Howard.
BRYANT: Thank you.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Early in his campaign, Barack Obama's education agenda included a long wish list of proposals - early childhood education, dropout prevention, after school and college outreach programs. He called it his Children First agenda. In the latest installment of our "Memo to the President" series, NPR's Claudio Sanchez examines what educators want the president-elect to focus on first.
CLAUDIO SANCHEZ: With the economy on life support and just about every state now slashing education funding, President-elect Barack Obama is likely to focus less on his wish list and more on the political consensus that he says he wants to build around education. Here's Mr. Obama last month in Chicago right before he introduced his nominee for Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.
President-Elect BARACK OBAMA: For years, we've talked our education problems to death in Washington, but we failed to act, stuck in the same tired debates that have stymied our progress and let schools and parents to fend for themselves. Democrat versus Republican, vouchers versus the status quo, more money versus more reform, all along failing to acknowledge that both sides have good ideas and good intentions. We can't continue like this.
Ms. JEANNIE ALLEN (Founder and President, Center for Education Reform): The most important thing that Obama can do right now, which he started doing in that speech, is remind the American people that we have a crisis.
SANCHEZ: That's Jeannie Allen, head of the Center for Education Reform, which promotes school choice and charter schools, in particular. She says Mr. Obama may not be confrontational by nature.
Ms. ALLEN: But he has the capacity and popularity to go out in a dramatic and forceful way, really get everyone's attention and say, look, we are not going to deal with unions and business as usual anymore. We are not going to allow parents to send their kids to failing schools and be told to wait a few years.
SANCHEZ: And to do that, Allen says, President-elect Obama must first deal with No Child Left Behind and its future. Many in Congress want to tweak the law. Some want a complete overhaul. Allen says Mr. Obama will come under a lot of pressure to water down the law, but he must protect, at all costs, two key mandates.
Ms. ALLEN: We need to keep the testing in place at the federal level, and we need to make sure that bad schools close if they fail to comply.
SANCHEZ: It's not clear, though, whether Mr. Obama wants to be heavy-handed in holding states and school districts accountable for students' progress. He has said repeatedly that the law relies too heavily on standardized tests to determine if a school is doing a good job or not. But he also says there should be consequences if failing schools don't improve. Andy Rotherham, a top Obama adviser, says that what the president-elect should avoid is getting bogged down in political skirmishes over No Child Left Behind. Rotherham says it would douse the energy that his education proposals have generated.
Mr. ANDY ROTHERHAM (Adviser to President-elect Obama): And people are really engaging and believing that we can really turn public education into the engine of opportunity that it needs to be. And so, the thing that will disappoint people is if that energy and if that excitement isn't translated into really bold action from Washington.
SANCHEZ: One example of bold action could be a push for merit pay for teachers. Joe Williams, head of Democrats for Education Reform, says it would be a perfect opportunity for Mr. Obama to promote his reform agenda and get teachers on board.
Mr. JOE WILLIAMS (Head, Democrats for Education Reform): The way that President-elect Obama has talked about merit pay to reward excellence in teaching. But doing it in a way that isn't seen as anti-teachers is a crucial element to this, which was missing in a lot of the discussions on things like merit pay for a long time.
SANCHEZ: Whatever he decides to tackle first, William says, Mr. Obama needs to get the nation to think in a broader sense about children and what they need. Definitely, says, Amy Wilkins of The Education Trust, an advocacy group for low-income, minority children. She says if Mr. Obama makes the quality of poor kids' lives - not just their schooling - a priority, he will have done the boldest thing of all.
Ms. AMY WILKINS (Principal Partner, The Education Trust): There has, for so long in this country, been the very sort of strong, overarching story that there are some kids who are so damaged by their circumstances - whether that's poverty, whether that's immigration status, whether that's racism - that there are a set of kids who are so damaged they can't learn. These are kids who have never been a priority in this country.
SANCHEZ: Wilkins, though, wonders whether Mr. Obama really has the political will to change that, especially if it comes with a hefty price tag, which brings us back to Mr. Obama's long wish list for education. Because unless the economy bounces back soon, that's all it is - a wish list. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.
HANSEN: You can read more "Memos To The President" at npr.org.
Unidentified Man: I believe in adaptation.
Unidentified Woman: I believe in a silver lining.
Unidentified Woman #2: I believe that being flexible keeps me going.
Unidentified Man #2: I believe every single person deserves to be acknowledged.
Unidentified Man #3: This I believe.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Our This I Believe essay today was sent in by Gina Parosa, who lives on a farm in La Center, Washington. She and her husband have other jobs too, but on the farm, they raise hay and keep horses. The horses led Perosa to write about her belief. Here's our series curator, independent producer, Jay Allison.
JAY ALLISON: Gina Parosa wrote her essay right after, what she says, was one of the worst nights of her life. It was a moment she realized that one of her beliefs had limits, and it was up to her to set them. Here's Gina Parosa with her essay for This I Believe.
GINE PEROSA: (Reading) The architectural term, pathways of desire, refers to dirt ruts in the grass that people make when they want a shortcut between prescribed routes. If you have a yard, you probably have at least a few of them. I live on a farm, and we have dozens. The path between the doghouse and the porch, the tight corner around the house on the south side, horse trails, the line between one gate and the next. I'm a firm believer in protecting pathways of desire, but I believe we have to be careful of them too.
On one hand, I hate rules. I'm pretty creative about finding ways around them, and I always think twice about thwarting those of others. I respect desire in my children and in the animals on my farm. Their pathways look, to me, like individual choices, and I respect those. But my respect is double-edged because pathways of desire can also lead us into trouble.
Lately a pathway of desire has led our horses across what are supposed to be impassable barriers, the cattle guards. They want to come into our yard to eat green grass and apples off the trees before the family can. I understand this desire, even though I feed them bales of hay every day, and it ought to be enough. Well, Saturday night, our oldest horse fell while leaping the cattle guard and broke his hip. We had to put him down and have his carcass hauled away. The other horses watched the drama unfold. Did they learn anything? No.
Today, they're back in the yard. Thwarting pathways of desire is a constant concern of planners and architects and farmers, too. I'm going to have to pull out and enlarge our cattle guards, excavate deeply under them, paint them bright yellow, and pull a strand of electric fence across them until the horses understand that their pathway of desire isn't available to them anymore. This is hard for me. It goes against my nature, but sometimes I need to modify my belief based on what I've learned.
I realize that as a mother, a farmer, and wife, I sometimes must go along with the rules. For instance, my husband and I disagree on a lot, religion, politics. We don't like the same music. While our pathways of desire might breach our relationship, we put up a cattle guard, and we stay obediently on our own sides. It mostly works. Boundaries are necessary sometimes. Enforcing them takes a lot more effort than it ought to. I believe you have to choose your pathway of desire with care. Get it wrong and the consequences might be fatal. My old horse and I learned this the hard way.
ALLISON: Gine Parosa with her essay for This I believe. Parosa told us that the snow has been so deep lately that it covered the cattle guards, and the horses began crossing them again. She and her husband had to put the electric fence back up. As we enter the New Year, we want to repeat our invitation to write an essay for our series and submit it at npr.org. For This I Believe, I'm Jay Allison.
HANSEN: Jay Allison is co-editor with Dan Gediman, John Gregory, and Viki Merrick of the book, "This I Believe, Volume Two: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women."
(Soundbite of a choir vocalizing)
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Two dozen boys and girls, between the ages of seven and 11, are practicing in the rehearsal room of a concert hall in Salt Lake City. They're halfway through a year-long tour of more than 200 concerts that will take them to nearly every state in the nation. When the tour is over, they will return home to some of the poorest places in Africa, and to a new life, one that's very different from the one they left behind.
In this week's What's In a Song from the Western Folklife Center, we feature the African Children's Choir and its mission to rescue young lives by harnessing the power of music.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. MALUGO PATIENCE(ph) (Member, African Children's Choir): My name is Malugo Patience. I'm nine years old from Uganda.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR and Ms PATIENCE: (Singing) Papa is out in the field. Mama is down at the well. Grandma's away at the market...
Mr. CHIMERA VICTOR (Chaperone, African Children's Choir): The song talks about how life is in Africa. It is the responsibility of a whole community to raise up a child. My name is Chimera Victor, 26 years old, and I'm currently a chaperon with the African Children's Choir.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) An old man comes along and tells them a story. Always makes them laugh, and he says, "When you're down by the river, watch out for those crocodiles!"
Mr. VICTOR: When I was growing up, anyone had the right to discipline you. It didn't have to be your parent or your relative. It just had to be someone who was an elder in the village, someone older than you in the village. If they found you doing something wrong, it was upon them to correct you and make sure you are doing the right thing. So that's how it goes. It takes a whole village to raise a child.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) It takes a whole village to raise a child...
Ms. PATIENCE: (Singing) Ina chukua kijiji kizima, kum lea m' toto(ph). That's the Swahili way of saying it takes a whole village to raise a child.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) Kum lea m' toto(ph)...
Mr. VICTOR: OK. This is how it works. The organization will go to the most needy places. We're talking about communities that have been hit by poverty and stricken by disease and war. And the children are brought in to a training academy where they are trained for maybe about four months before they join the choir. Then, they will tour for about between 12 to 15 months. Then afterwards, they will go back to the Music for Life Center where they will have their education.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) And who is raising their children...
Mr. VICTOR: In my case, I was living at on orphanage, and they carried out an audition, and I was chosen to join the choir. I went on tour when I was about nine years old. And when I was done with tour, I went back home, and Music for Life paid for my tuition fees all the way until university. I graduated in 2006, and I decided to come back and volunteer and work with the choir as a chaperone.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) In Africa, the old saying goes. It takes a whole village to raise a child...
Ms. PATIENCE: When I came in the choir, they taught us how to dance and to sing. I have learned to speak English. I have learned to tell people about the Gospel of God through singing. And I have learned how to read it.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) Leave them a dream. Tell them a tale. Teach them to read and hammer a nail...
Mr. VICTOR: This is what goes through my mind when I see the children sing. For example, Patience, I know that life ahead for them is good because I've gone through the program. And I know looking at myself now, I know there's hope. There's a future for them that lies ahead of them, and it's theirs for the taking.
(Soundbite of song "It Takes A Whole Village")
AFRICAN CHILDRENS CHOIR: (Singing) It takes a whole village...
HANSEN: What's In the Song is produced by Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis of the Western Folklife Center. To learn more about the African Children's Choir and to see pictures of Patience and Victor, visit our website at nprmusic.org. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. During the month of December, we broadcast a series of stories and conversations about the impact of war on U.S. military personnel and their families. Now we're going to examine the war's effects on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Next Sunday, Iraq will be the subject. Today, we focus on Afghanistan.
2008 was the most violent year in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, especially for civilians. Some 1,200 innocent men, women, and children were killed last year, most of them by militants. This is some of what happened in the southern city of Kandahar.
(Soundbite of ambulance sirens and people shouting)
HANSEN: NPR's Afghanistan correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson recorded those sounds of ambulances and voices of private citizens ferrying scores of wounded to the main hospital after a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a crowd at a dogfight on the outskirts of the city last February. It was the worst suicide bombing ever in Afghanistan. More than 100 people were killed.
Taliban fighters are not the only ones killing civilians in Afghanistan. The number of innocent Afghans dying at the hands of Western forces also climbed dramatically in 2008, up 21 percent, according to a United Nations tally. Most of the people died in military air strikes and during Western missions to target insurgents. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is with us. And Soraya, I mean, after hearing your tape, how are the Afghans, given the numbers we just gave for 2008, how are they reacting to this growing death toll?
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: Well, Liane, Afghans are very, very angry. But surprisingly, perhaps, their anger is directed mainly at Western forces because many people here feel that the West is leaving a trail of innocent victims in their war on terror. A good example is tribal elder Abdul Rashid(ph), who I interviewed in August, a few days after his village was badly damaged in a U.S. ground and air operation. Basically, this operation had gone after a Taliban leader in the village.
And what happened was, when U.S. Special Forces and Afghan Special Forces showed up to arrest the man, he and his men apparently fired first, and this resulted in a battle that lasted for many hours. And by the time it was over, 90 civilians were dead, according to the U.N. and Afghan government counts. But that count is still disputed by American authorities.
Mr. ABDUL RASHID (Tribal Leader, Afghanistan): (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Here, a tearful and frustrated Rashid shows me a woman's headscarf that he's just pulled out of the rubble. He wants to know if this is something the Taliban would wear, and he asked how something like this can happen in a free and democratic Afghanistan. He's not the only one asking these kinds of questions. President Karzai has publicly lambasted the West on many occasions, and certainly after Azizabad, saying that the West is not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties.
It even got to the point where he was - he and his government were talking about perhaps changing the status of forces agreement, which would basically restrict what the West does here on the ground in their fight against terror. And arguably, this attack in Azizabad did more to damage U.S and Afghan relations than any other in 2008.
HANSEN: So, Soraya, what accounts for the increasing death toll at the hands of U.S. and NATO troops?
NELSON: Well, one problem is that there just are not enough troops to deal with the mountainous terrain in Afghanistan, which basically means that NATO and U.S. forces have to use air strikes to cover more ground to be able to get at the insurgents and the terrorists that they're trying to get rid of. Another problem seems to be bad information - basically, bad information being provided by informants.
And also, because Special Forces, when they do their operations, they just swoop into an area without consulting with local authorities, which is something that actually a lot of other troops that are on the ground will not do. They will try to coordinate to avoid incidents like the one in Azizabad.
Of course, complicating it even further is that a lot of these Afghan households in these rural and bad areas, basically every Afghan has a gun, because this is how they - there are no police or whatever to protect them. So they protect themselves. And so if they see these foreigners coming in, especially if they are approaching women in the compound, that sort of thing, they will open fire. And of course, what are the troops going to do? They're going to have to fire back. And if they need help, they'll call in air strikes and you end up with a lot of civilian casualties.
But another big problem is that when in fact the Taliban do engage the West, which is quite often, they will do so from villagers' homes, and they will use people as human shields. And certainly that's what happened in the Azizabad case, according to the Americans.
HANSEN: Why aren't the Afghans expressing more anger, then, toward the Taliban fighters who are purposely putting Afghan civilians in harm's way?
NELSON: Well, one thing is fear. I mean, these Taliban are not very nice people. And so if people were to publicly complain and say, what are you doing? I mean, the fear is that the Taliban would come and kill them afterwards. I think there's less expectation that the West would come and kill them if they did that. Also, I think because we are talking about insurgents being the enemy and Westerns allies being friends, they kind of expect the West to take more care in preventing civilian casualties.
And I think there's also a third thing at play here and that is that Westerners in uniforms remind a lot of Afghans here of when the Soviets were here. And the Soviets did not have a reputation for taking great care about civilian rights and lives either. And so I think a combination of these three factors is what's creating more of the anger and resistance to what the West is doing.
HANSEN: So what are the U.S. and NATO forces doing to prevent these civilian deaths and ease the Afghans' anger?
NELSON: Well, to ease the anger, Americans do something that many other NATO countries do not and that is make condolence payments when there is an incident of civilian death that's caused that's proven. And they do this quite liberally and quite frequently. Also, in general, the West has changed its rule of engagement in the past year or so, really addressing the need to be more careful and perhaps look before you shoot and that sort of thing.
They've also improved public outreach and have started conducting joint investigations since Azizabad to sort of avoid this, you know, Americans saying so many died and everybody else is saying so many died and, you know, creating conflict that way. It's also noteworthy that Taliban leaders have issued fatwas, or religious decrees, demanding that their fighters not kill innocent Afghans, that it's sinful for them to do so.
Yet, even with all these efforts afoot, it seems a lot of people here widely expect that the civilian death toll is going to go up this year, especially with at least 20,000 more American troops coming in and increased pressure to clear out insurgents and improve security before the Afghan presidential elections this fall.
HANSEN: NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Afghanistan. Thank you so much.
NELSON: You're welcome, Liane.
HANSEN: Next week, our Baghdad correspondent, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, will join us to talk about the impact of war in Iraq on its citizens.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Peel an onion and you'll most likely cry. Peel back the pages of The Onion newspaper and you'll probably laugh so hard you'll cry. The newspaper gives a refreshing perspective on current news events, most of which are satirical. So to predict which news stories are probably not going to make NPR headlines or for that matter CNN, Fox, or Al Jazeera in 2009, the editor of The Onion, Joe Randazzo, joins us from our New York bureau. Welcome and happy new year.
Mr. JOE RANDAZZO (Editor, The Onion): Happy new year to you, Liane.
HANSEN: OK, 2008, big headlines, pirates, the election, the global economic and food crisis - what was your top story of 2008?
Mr. RANDAZZO: Well, we actually found 2008 to be a pretty uneventful year. The one thing that did seem to capture some of the nation's attention was there was an election for president of the United States. And that was actually so successful for MBC in particular that we're predicting that in 2009, they're actually going to re-release a new election.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. RANDAZZO: Just because the ratings were so high and it was so engaging, you know. They really only intended the series of the election to be two and a half seasons long. But it was so popular that I think they're going to bring it back. A couple of different things they could do is maybe have flashbacks with John McCain and Barack Obama when they were younger, sort of to see what made them into the people that they are. Maybe bring in some new characters in 2009, the first Asian-American president for instance or a first female president.
So I think, you know, maybe if they can work in a cliffhanger, some sort of twist ending or something like that, they might have a very successful series, you know, this year, as well, with another presidential election. It was just too popular to pass up.
HANSEN: Well, you know, Jay Leno will have that spot in primetime. So, you know, they're going to have to fill it, right?
Mr. RANDAZZO: Yeah, I thought that was very interesting that he retired to 10:00 p.m. So I guess people are going to bed earlier?
HANSEN: Maybe so. We don't have enough money to stay up any later.
Mr. RANDAZZO: That's true. I'm not sure exactly how the logic of that works, but I'm sure that that's the case.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: In 2008 we learned, among other things, the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. What lessons do you think we should brace ourselves for in 2009?
Mr. RANDAZZO: Well, I think an important lesson that I'm going to be carrying into 2009 is stock up on kerosene and learn to wield a spear. Because I do think that one of the hot new trends we're going to see in the coming year is roving bands of kerosene pirates, you know, who are just kind of scavenging around trying to survive. And I think it's something that is going to appeal to children. They're going to be able to get outdoors and fight for their own food and survival. The elderly may not fair as well in 2009 if the economy, you know, continues to go the way it's going. But at least people will get out and get a good amount of exercise and really learn kind of what, you know, what it means to be living in a post-economic apocalyptic world.
HANSEN: I'm making my list: kerosene, spears.
Mr. RANDAZZO: You can fashion your own spears from objects that you have just lying around the house. And if you do kill a bear, which you will probably need to do for sustenance, I would also recommend using the fur to kind of keep you warm during those cold winter months.
HANSEN: OK. And let's talk about some people making headlines. I mean, of course, we had that election and the new American president-elect, Barack Obama. But there are other people - I mean, he's putting his team together. And one of the people during the campaign that put out a great video, very compelling, was Paris Hilton. Do you think that she might be picked for, I don't know, say, the president-elect's energy team?
Mr. RANDAZZO: I think she would actually make a very good secretary of state. She has managed to win over the hearts and minds of the American public at large. And if she were to, you know, stroll into the Senate chamber with that adorable Chihuahua of hers and just that certain joie de vivre and sophistication that she possesses, she might be able to win over the Senate and sort of wedge her way in there. If not that, I think energy secretary is a good guess, as good as any.
HANSEN: Speaking of diplomatic affairs and foreign policy. Do you think Brangelina will adopt a small country?
Mr. RANDAZZO: What we're predicting for 2009 is that Brad Pitt will actually become pregnant...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. RANDAZZO: With quadruplets. It's the only way to top, I think, what they've already been up to.
HANSEN: Well, they did have a - there was a pregnant man in 2008.
Mr. RANDAZZO: Right. Although, I did a little research on that. And it's not - he's not actually a man. So it's a kind of a complex issue that might be hard for people to understand. But he's not totally a man. He does have a womb. It's not like Arnold in that movie where he had - you know, he had a baby. I think there's something a little fishy here.
HANSEN: OK. What about music? I mean, do you think in 2009 we'll hear some notable music? I mean after all, Britney is back in the game.
Mr. RANDAZZO: Britney is back in the game. We're expecting classical music to make a huge resurgence. You know, Gregorian chants have not been popular for quite some time. And I think with the all the new downloadability in mp3s and stuff like that, people in 2009 with the economy and the sort of dour pall that's been cast over the nation, I think they're going to want something a little more somber, and Gregorian chants seem to fit that niche.
HANSEN: So sitting next to my kerosene heater holding my spear, a chant will be what I want to listen to.
Mr. RANDAZZO: Yeah. You want to be listening to some Gregorian chants to lift your spirits.
(Soundbite of a Gregorian chant)
HANSEN: Joe Randazzo is editor of The Onion, could you tell? And he joined us from our New York bureau. To share your predictions on what next year's headlines are going to be, go to npr.org/soapbox. Joe, thanks a lot, and happy new year to you.
Mr. RANDAZZO: Happy new year to you. It's my pleasure.
(Soundbite of a Gregorian chant)
HANSEN: This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. And joining us is puzzle master Will Shortz. Hi, Will. Happy new year.
WILL SHORTZ: Happy new year, Liane.
HANSEN: Did you make any resolutions for 2009?
SHORTZ: No. As I said one previous time when we talked about this, if I think I can improve myself anytime during the year, I resolve then, and I don't wait until the start of the year.
HANSEN: Every day is New Year's for you.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: That's good. All right, we're going to repeat the challenge that we gave last week. But unbeknownst to me, I actually gave the answer to the puzzle before you gave the puzzle itself.
SHORTZ: That's right. That's right.
HANSEN: And apparently Ed Pegg Jr. wrote to you and was amazed that you were able to keep your cool when I did that.
SHORTZ: And, actually, I flinched when you gave the answer. But yep, I went right ahead with the puzzle.
HANSEN: He said he could hear you flinch.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: But yes, I know, the very last words I said were the answer to the puzzle. So let's take it back to the old year when you gave us the challenge for the first puzzle of 2009.
SHORTZ: Right, as you know, it's from Ed Pegg Jr. who runs Mathpuzzle.com. And I said, take the phrase "counting down the days," remove four letters from this, and rearrange the remaining letters to spell an appropriate number. What is it?
HANSEN: What is it?
SHORTZ: Well, the answer is 2009 which is - and you said it right before I gave the puzzle. What is the first puzzle of 2009?
HANSEN: 2009. I think a lot of people were either listening to me give the answer or are bright as always to figure it out by themselves. You started the year off with a bang with our first puzzle. 2,500 people wrote in with the correct answer. And from those answers, we randomly selected Beth Snyder of Sacramento, California. She's going to play with us today. Hi, Beth.
Ms. BETH SNYDER (Competition Winner): Hello.
HANSEN: Happy new year.
Ms. SNYDER: Happy new year to you.
HANSEN: Now, how long did it take you to solve the puzzle?
Ms. SNYDER: Well, I was stuck on the notion of 20 somewhere and that took me a while to figure out that it wasn't going to work. I rearranged all the letters and started from scratch, and then I came up with 2009.
HANSEN: So you didn't hear the answer before you started working on it then?
Ms. SNYDER: I can't say that I remember that.
HANSEN: Are you a puzzle person?
Ms. SNYDER: I am. I have done crosswords and word searches all of my life. I love jumbles. It's just fun to me.
HANSEN: And how long have you been doing our radio puzzle?
Ms. SNYDER: Well, I can remember when you were still accepting postcards.
HANSEN: Ah, long enough.
Ms. SNYDER: I didn't start submitting answers until we were allowed to do them online.
HANSEN: Oh, my. Well, you know, 2009 will be my 20th anniversary on this program, when we started. So that's quite a long time. You've been there half the time, and here you are playing on the air. Are you ready?
Ms. SNYDER: I think I am.
HANSEN: All right, Will, what do you have for Beth? Let's play.
SHORTZ: All right, Beth. Today's puzzle is called "What's In the Pan?" Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with P-A and the second word ends in N. For example, if I said namesake of a popular pizzeria chain, you would say, Papa John. It starts with P-A, ends in an N. All right, number one is body of water along the West Coast.
Ms. SNYDER: Pacific Ocean.
SHORTZ: That's right. Try this one. Socialite and hotel heiress once seen on "The Simple Life."
Ms. SNYDER: "Simple Life," Paris Hilton.
SHORTZ: That's right.
HANSEN: And who appeared on David Letterman with Will Shortz.
SHORTZ: (Laughing) That's right. Once the most common bird in America, it became extinct in 1914.
Ms. SNYDER: Ah, something pigeon.
SHORTZ: Yes, what kind?
Ms. SNYDER: Oh goodness. I should know this. It's on the tip of my tongue.
HANSEN: You know why I remember this? You gave this as a clue in another puzzle a couple of weeks ago.
SHORTZ: I did.
Ms. SNYDER: I knew I heard it recently.
HANSEN: You did. Passenger pigeon, right?
SHORTZ: Passenger pigeon is it, good. Good. Fictional lumberjack famous in tall tales.
Ms. SNYDER: Paul Bunyan.
SHORTZ: Right. First lady after Lady Bird Johnson.
Ms. SNYDER: Patricia Nixon.
SHORTZ: That's right. When police arrest a lot of people, what they take them away in.
Ms. SNYDER: Oh, paddy wagon.
SHORTZ: Right or patrol wagon, either way. Container at a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams store.
Ms. SNYDER: Paint can.
SHORTZ: Aha. Actress and sex symbol who co-stared on TV's "Baywatch."
Ms. SNYDER: Pamela Anderson.
SHORTZ: Good. 1973 film starring Ryan and Tatum O'Neal.
Ms. SNYDER: Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. I'm drawing a blank.
HANSEN: "Paper Moon."
Ms. SNYDER: "Paper Moon."
SHORTZ: "Paper Moon." Good.
HANSEN: I'm refraining from singing the song.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHORTZ: Try this one, writing implement that competes with Cross and Sheaffer.
Ms. SNYDER: Writing implement? Pen.
SHORTZ: Yes, and what kind, or what brand name?
Ms. SNYDER: Pen, Bic.
SHORTZ: It's a higher-end pen than that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Well, actually, I have two. Couldn't...
SHORTZ: One of them is high end and one of them is medium.
HANSEN: Paper Mate or Parker, right?
SHORTZ: Parker is what I was going for. Paper Mate pen also works. Classic arcade game involving chomping dots in a maze.
Ms. SNYDER: Pac-Man.
HANSEN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: That's right. What a meter maid gives a ticket for.
Ms. SNYDER: Parking violation.
SHORTZ: Right. And your last one. Listen up.
Ms. SNYDER: Pay attention.
SHORTZ: That's it. Nice job.
HANSEN: Beth, nice job.
Ms. SNYDER: Thank you. Thank you for your help, Liane.
HANSEN: Nice job. Oh, it's a team effort. It's always a team effort, believe me.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Oh my. You do have a way with words. And our - the gentleman who is going to read your puzzle prizes today certainly has a way with words. He's a poet and the director of the African-American Resources Center at Howard University. He appears on our show frequently to reflect on great poets of the past. And here's E. Ethelbert Miller with your puzzle prizes.
Mr. E. ETHELBERT MILLER (Director, African American Resource Center, Howard University): For playing our puzzle today, you'll get a Weekend Edition lapel pin, the Eleventh Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, the Scrabble Deluxe Edition from Parker Brothers, "The Puzzlemaster Presents" from Random House, volume two, Will Shortz's "Little Black Book of Sudoku," and "Black and White Book of Crosswords" from St. Martin's Press, and one of Will Shortz's "Puzzlemaster Decks" of riddles and challenges from Chronicle Books.
HANSEN: Wow, doesn't it - it's like an angel in your ear, right?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. SNYDER: He has a very smooth voice.
HANSEN: Yes. He's a wonderful poet and a wonderful writer, but when he reads the poem - I mean, he can make puzzle prizes sound like high art, you know.
Ms. SNYDER: I agree.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Oh well, that's what you get, Beth. And before we say goodbye to you, tell us what member station you listen to.
Ms. SNYDER: I am a member of and I volunteer for 889 KXTR and 90.9 KXJZ.
HANSEN: Oh my goodness. You have the listener hat-trick. You listen, you're a member, and you volunteer. Good job. Beth Snyder in Sacramento, California, thanks for playing with us. It was a pleasure to have you on our first puzzle of 2009.
Ms. SNYDER: It was absolutely my pleasure.
HANSEN: All right, Will, I hope I don't give away the answer this week. What's the challenge?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHORTZ: Yes, it comes from listener Louis Sargent of Portland, Oregon. Take the last name of a famous actress in two syllables, nine letters. Transpose the syllables and you'll have, phonetically, the word for a common ailment. Who is the person and what's the ailment? So, again, last name of a famous actress, two syllables, nine letters. Transpose the syllables, and you'll have, phonetically, the word for a common ailment. Who is it and what's the ailment?
HANSEN: When you have the answer, go to our Web site, npr.org/puzzle, and click on the "Submit Your Answer" link. Only one entry per person, please. Our deadline this week is Thursday, 3 p.m. Eastern time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. We'll call you if you are the winner, and you'll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of the New York Times and Weekend Edition's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Will, thanks a lot.
SHORTZ: Happy new year, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. Israeli troops overnight took control of a substantial portion of the northern Gaza Strip. Backed by tanks and warplanes, they appear to be attempting to surround the dense population center of Gaza City and to divide the territory in half. NPR's Eric Westervelt is at the Israeli border with Gaza. He called in with this report earlier this morning.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Israel says the objective of this military campaign is to stop the rocket and mortar fire, and there's been less of that today. But from where I'm standing here, I've seen several rockets hit the town of Sderot. And just a few minutes ago, there was indirect fire, mortar fire, on a hillside right near me. So while it's less today, Hamas and others have still been able to fire rockets and mortars into towns in southern Israel.
HANSEN: That was Eric Westervelt at the Israel-Gaza border. We're joined now by NPR's Mike Shuster in Jerusalem. Good morning, Mike.
MIKE SHUSTER: Hi, Liane.
HANSEN: What more can you tell us about Israel's ground operations today?
SHUSTER: Well, details are hard to come by. It's not clear how many troops Israel has sent into Gaza, but it looks like several thousand. They've been using tanks extensively. Much of northern Gaza has been covered in white smoke from the explosions for most of this day. The first objective of the incursion appears to be the more open areas of northern Gaza where Israeli military intelligence believes the vast majority of the rockets into Israel are launched from.
The operation near and around Gaza City seems to be aimed at more directly challenging Hamas' ability to be in control there, or to put up resistance. This seems to reflect the differing views of Israel's leaders, with some saying the whole purpose of the operation against Gaza is to end or diminish rocket attacks and others saying it's aimed at destroying or undermining Hamas' ability to maintain control over all of Gaza.
HANSEN: What are you hearing from the people inside Gaza?
SHUSTER: People are traumatized. We're hearing a lot of stories. Many are hiding in basements or whole families huddled in a single room. There are many reports of casualties as a result of tank fire, numerous fatalities at a shopping center in Gaza City, multiple fatalities similarly in Jabalia, which is a refugee camp, and in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. The number of dead total in this whole operation is now believed to be over 500. Hospitals, especially, are in chaos. Dozens of newly wounded are presenting what sounds like an insurmountable task for hospitals. They don't have enough rooms, enough equipment, enough medicine, or even enough blood to care for all the wounded. It sounds like a terrible situation.
HANSEN: Mike, to you, does it appear that the Israelis will be content to hold their positions? Or might they push further into Gaza? What are Israeli leaders saying about how long this ground attack could last?
SHUSTER: Well, they're being very cagey about this, and they're not saying much about what the ultimate goal is or how long it might last. There isn't any clarity on it at all at the moment. If what they've done so far doesn't end the rocket fire, which seems to be their most immediate goal - and it hasn't ended the rocket fire, at least today - logic would suggest they'd have to extend the ground invasion deeper into the territory.
If they do push further, especially into the dense urban parts of the territory where they're expected to encounter much more resistance from Hamas, they'll surely need many more troops, and the Israelis will likely take many more casualties under those circumstances. It may be that they have a plan to carve up the territory strategically with the aim of making it impossible for Hamas to communicate and maintain control, but that would imply a longer occupation of the whole territory. And Israel's leaders insist that's not what they want to do. So after a single day of ground operations, we're not sure.
HANSEN: OK, Mike. Thanks very much. That's NPR's Mike Shuster in Jerusalem. Again thank you, Mike.
SHUSTER: You're welcome.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
For an update on what the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza means for Palestinian politics, we are joined by Hanan Ashwari. She is a member of the Palestinian Third Way Party and a longtime Palestinian negotiator. And she joins us from her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Welcome to the program. Thank you for your time.
Dr. HANAN ASHWARI (Member, Palestinian Third Way Party; Palestinian Negotiator): Thank you, Liane.
HANSEN: What are the Palestinians in the West Bank saying about this Israeli ground offensive?
Dr. ASHWARI: Well, all the Palestinians feel that this targets the Palestinian people as a whole. It targets the Palestinian cause itself. It is not a sort of limited offensive against the Hamas or one party or one military wing. That Israel, as usual, is escalating, is using violence, is targeting the Palestinians without any accountability, without any intervention or restraints, and it is doing so for its own political purposes.
HANSEN: Is there any sense at all that Hamas should be held accountable?
Dr. ASHWARI: This became really very secondary. Maybe before this onslaught, people were telling Hamas not to use rockets. We all believed, and I still believe, there is no military solution, that you cannot resort to violence to end this occupation, because Israel has an endless reservoir of violence and violations against the Palestinians. What we need to do is expose the limits of power and violence, and try to solve this issue from its core, from the basis, which is the occupation itself, and have a negotiated settlement.
HANSEN: What are you and perhaps your counterparts in the other Palestinian political parties doing? Are you planning on meeting, getting together?
Dr. ASHWARI: We have been meeting. We have been discussing. Actually, in the street, there has been a total national unity and protest at the strike. But they're saying that the Palestinians have to stand together, have to unite in the face of this assault.
HANSEN: Hanan Ashwari is a member of the Palestinian Third Way Party and a longtime Palestinian negotiator. Thank you for your time.
Dr. ASHWARI: Thank you. It's my pleasure.
HANSEN: Yesterday, NPR's Guy Raz spoke to Mark Regev, Israeli spokesman for the prime minister, when Israeli troops entered Gaza.
Mr. MARK REGEV (Israeli Government Spokesman): Our objective is ultimately defensive. We want to protect the civilian population in the southern part of Israel that's been on the receiving end of rocket after rocket launched by Hamas in Gaza. Now up until now, we've hit the Hamas military machine from the air. Today we started a ground operation. The idea is to neutralize the threat that is posed to the Israeli civilian population in the south of the country.
HANSEN: That was Israeli spokesman Mark Regev yesterday, speaking to NPR's Guy Raz.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Congress returns to work this coming week, and there will be a lot of new faces, thanks to the November elections. There's a sense of change in the air, at least in the rank and file, if not among the top leaders. Joining us to talk about the new mood on Capitol Hill is NPR senior Washington editor Ron Elving. Hi, Ron.
RON ELVING: Good to be with you, Liane.
HANSEN: You know, every two years, there's a fresh batch of ambitious people arriving in Washington. But this time, actually, it seems the climate in the Senate is ready to change. What's going on there?
ELVING: What's going on is we're getting 13 or 14 new faces in the Senate. That's quite a few. It's one seat in seven. And it's come because of a series of retirements, a series of incumbents who lost in November, all of them Republicans, and then because since the election we've had Barack Obama leave the Senate, his running mate Joe Biden leaving the Senate, the likely Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is likely then to resign, and also Ken Salazar, who's joining the Cabinet as interior secretary, resigning his seat from Colorado. So, all these people have to be replaced. And that means we're going to see, depending on the situation in Minnesota, either 13 or 14 fresh faces in the Senate.
HANSEN: Who are you watching among the new people?
ELVING: You know, this is a very interesting class. We haven't talked about Al Franken, who's still battling it out in Minnesota to see whether or not he's going to win his seat. If he is, in fact, certified the winner - he does seem to be ahead by several score of votes out of 2.9 million cast - if he does become a member of this freshmen class, he will certainly be one to watch. And the Republicans are doing everything they can to make sure he's not around to watch.
But then beyond that, I think even if we got a Caroline Kennedy or an Al Franken, there are still going to be some other people who ought to get some media attention. I'm thinking particularly here about Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska. Alaska has been very much in the news of late. And here's a guy who has knocked off Ted Stevens, the absolute monument to Republican incumbency, the senior-most Republican, the longest serving Republican in history, and there he was defeated for re-election in November. So Mark Begich is somebody to watch.
Also, let's watch the Udall cousins. They are able and attractive gentlemen from Colorado and New Mexico, who had very famous fathers. Mark of Colorado is, of course, the son of Moe Udall, a longtime congressman, a lot of people's favorite congressman over the last several decades. And Tom Udall of Mexico was Stewart Udall's son. He was, of course, secretary of the interior back in the Camelot Kennedy days. So they're going to be very interesting.
Also, keep an eye on the women who defeated Republican incumbents in longtime red states back in November. That would include Jean Shaheen in New Hampshire, who defeated John Sununu, and Kay Hagan in North Carolina, who defeated Elizabeth Dole.
HANSEN: We spent a considerable amount of time in the Senate. What's going on in the House?
ELVING: You know, in the House, one person sure to be noticed is the Republican coming from New Orleans, and his name is Anh Cao, C-A-O. He goes by Joseph. He is a Vietnamese American and the first Vietnamese American to be elected to Congress. He is a Republican, and he defeated longtime incumbent Bill Jefferson. Yes, the same Bill Jefferson indicted in a selling of one's office case, a corruption case. We'll watch to see how long he lasts and what he does in the time that he has in the House.
HANSEN: How many other new Republicans are in the House?
ELVING: More than you might think in a big Democratic year. There are 22 new Republican freshmen. That's because you get a lot of Republicans replacing other Republicans who retired.
HANSEN: Are there individual House members you'll be watching?
ELVING: Well, the new kid on the block is Aaron Shock of Colorado. He is just 27 years old, and he is coming into a seat there in Colorado that has been a traditionally Republican seat. No big surprise there. The oldest new House member is going to be a Democrat from Alabama named Parker Griffith, who is just elected to his first term at the age of 66. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Congressman Aaron Shock is not from Colorado. He actually represents Illinois' 18th District.]
Now, possibly the richest member is Jared Polis of Boulder, Colorado - at least the richest new member of Congress, who is said to be worth something like $200 million. He is in his early 30s, and he's an entrepreneur - quite successful one, obviously. And also the first openly gay freshmen male elected to Congress. We do have one lesbian member of Congress who was elected as an out lesbian, but all other gay members of Congress who have served have come out only after first being elected.
HANSEN: New members of Congress to watch this coming week. NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving. Ron, thanks a lot.
ELVING: Thank you, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, and around the world, millions of people are celebrating. Braille's alphabet of raised dots has helped those without sight read and write. Mike Hudson is the director of the Museum for the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, where celebrations are being held. And he joins us from member station WFPL. Welcome to the program, Mike.
Mr. MIKE HUDSON (Museum Director, American Printing House for the Blind): Thank you, Liane.
HANSEN: What is your organization doing to mark Braille's birthday?
Mr. HUDSON: We're celebrating all things French, and so not only looking at Braille's life and the code that he invented, but also the music, the literature, and the food of the day.
HANSEN: Can you give us just a little thumbnail biography of Braille and, as you say, his code?
Mr. HUDSON: Well, he was born in 1809 in a little village outside of Paris, France. And by the time he was six, he had gone blind. He was lucky that he lived in the only country in the world that actually had a school for kids that were blind or visually impaired where he was exposed to the only books that had been made for the blind anywhere in the world, and those were in raised letters.
They were very hard to learn how to use. And at some point, a man named Charles Barbier, a soldier, tested a system of writing with dots at the school. And Braille took that system, adapted it, and made it into the system that we use today - the code, as I say - basically a substitution code of using dots instead of the letters that sighted people use.
HANSEN: Can I ask what kind of artifacts do you have in the museum?
Mr. HUDSON: The oldest artifact we have is from 1786. It's actually the only copy that we know of, of one of those raised-letter books that was in that school for the blind in Paris.
HANSEN: It's now common to see Braille underneath the buttons of an elevator or on the automatic teller machines. I wonder, are there some new technologies -emerging ones maybe - that might eventually make Braille obsolete?
Mr. HUDSON: Here's the thing about Braille. Braille allows someone to actually read and write, whereas almost every other technology that we've come up with really is just kind of a complicated way of reading, not writing.
HANSEN: And so it won't be obsolete, but it could exist on a computer keyboard, for example.
Mr. HUDSON: Exactly.
HANSEN: Well, I guess this is the time to say, all hail to Louis Braille.
Mr. HUDSON: Without Braille, a lot of personal memory that's out there would not ever have been written down.
HANSEN: Mike Hudson is museum director at the American Printing House for the Blind. Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille. And Mike Hudson joined us from member station WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky. Thank you very much. Have fun.
Mr. HUDSON: Thank you.
HANSEN: This is NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
To make sense of the worsening economy, it may help to look to the past. If you want to see how the dot com crash of 2000 was covered on the Internet, then boot up the Wayback Machine. David Kushner, our digital culture commentator, is here to explain. Hey, David.
Mr. DAVID KUSHNER (Journalist, Rolling Stone and Wired; Author): Hi, how are you?
HANSEN: Now, I remember the Wayback Machine from the old Sherman and Mr. Peabody cartoons. You're not talking about the same thing, are you?
Mr. KUSHNER: Not the same thing, though it is inspired by that in name. But the Wayback Machine is basically like a time machine for the Internet. And it lets you see old Web pages that may no longer be around. So you go to the site. You can find it at archive.org. And what you do is basically type in a Web site address. And then you click a button that says "Take me back." And it does take you back. And you see snapshots of the site as it looked on specific dates going back as far as 1996.
So, you might use it to look at historical events like surfing newspapers and blogs, say, on 9/11 or even the day of the dot com crash. And you could also look at personal homepages. I am a fan of the band Radiohead. So I went back and found their site from 1997. I found my own site from 2003. You can even use it to look at sites of people who are deceased and maybe their sites are no longer online now. So this is really one of the only ways we have of going back.
HANSEN: How many old Web pages are in the archives?
Mr. KUSHNER: Right now, the count is at about 85 billion Web pages, which is a lot. And it's actually - to get really geeky and technical about it - it's two petabytes of data growing at a rate of 20 terabytes per month. So it exceeds the texts in the world's largest libraries, including the Library of Congress.
HANSEN: How does a site wind up in these archives?
Mr. KUSHNER: Well, there are a couple of ways. One way is that there's a basically a robot on the Internet called the Alexa, and it crawls around and it stores public Web sites and archives them. People can also submit their own sites to get archived. It takes about eight weeks once you submit your site for it to get crawled, and then it takes about another six months for it to go online. Of course, there some people who just don't want their sites at all archived for whatever reason. And you can actually set up your site so that it won't get stored on the Wayback Machine.
HANSEN: What do you see as the significance of this?
Mr. KUSHNER: You know, it taps into this larger idea about the ephemeral nature of our lives online and the steps that we now have to take to really preserve our history because, you know, we spend so much time on the Internet. We're gaming online. We're communicating online. And we're not really leaving as many paper trails anymore. We're essentially leaving pixel trails. And this is part of the effort to save them.
HANSEN: David Kushner writes for Rolling Stone and Wired. His latest book, "Levittown," will be published in February. Thank you, David.
Mr. KUSHNER: Thank you.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. Israeli troops backed by tanks and warplanes moved into the Gaza Strip overnight. They encountered heavy resistance from Palestinian fighters. Israeli officials say dozens of Palestinian fighters had been killed, but Hamas confirmed only four of them. Officials in Gaza told the Associated Press that at least 31 civilians had died. The Israeli military said one soldier had been killed, and 30 of its troops had been wounded. NPR's Eric Westervelt is at the Israel-Gaza border. And Eric, can you describe the situation where you are?
ERIC WESTERVELT: Hi, Liane. I'm in a hilltop, overlooking north Gaza. I can see Beit Hanoun and some of the other outlying villages on the outskirts of Gaza City. There's been pretty heavy gunfire throughout the morning. There's been the boom of tank rounds as the Israeli army has pushed into these eastern outskirts of Gaza City. You can see occasional plumes of black and white smoke from Israeli army strikes. There's some - still some air strikes going on, there's occasional flood of outgoing artillery, and there's some occasional incoming rocket fire from Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza.
HANSEN: The Israelis continue to bar journalists from entering Gaza. So what have you been able to learn about the situation there?
WESTERVELT: Well, I've talked by phone to several people inside Gaza City. I talked with one person I know who is in Beit Hanoun, in the north, and he really described a scene of fear, panic and exhaustion. He said he and 11 of his family members were holed up in one room - the room with the fewest windows. They have no electricity, no running water, very little food. He says his kids were all panicked.
I also spoke with another civilian in Gaza City. He said he fled his apartment building abruptly, as did many of the people in the building, Liane, after some heavily-armed militants took up fighting positions inside his building. So panicked residents fled to safer areas, as everyone inside Gaza and on the outskirts is bracing for more violence and heavier clashes as Israel pushes deeper into the city.
HANSEN: Have you been able to learn anything about the objectives the Israelis have for this ground offensive, and how long it's going to last?
WESTERVELT: Well, Israeli military officials and people on the ground here say it'll take time, and it will take as long as it takes. They say the objective, Liane, is to try to stop the Hamas rocket fire and mortar fire. So far, it has not. I've had several Kassam rockets whiz over my head today, including one that landed just a couple hundred yards away. There's also been some mortar fire in and around this hillside from Gaza that I have seen and heard. So officials here say this operation will take time. You're not going to see an immediate reduction and so far, you have not seen a dramatic reduction.
HANSEN: NPR's Eric Westervelt at the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. Eric, thank you very much.
WESTERVELT: Thank you.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
The manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy has hit its lowest level in 28 years. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group for purchasing executives, reported Friday that manufacturing activity in all industry sectors plummeted - another sign of the current recession. Joining us by phone is Nigel Gault. He's the chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, an economic research and forecasting firm. Thanks for joining us.
Mr. NIGEL GAULT (Chief U.S. Economist, IHS Global Insight): Thank you.
HANSEN: Is it any surprise to you that manufacturing is in such a bad slump?
Mr. GAULT: Unfortunately, not based on what we've been seeing over the past few months. Manufacturing in the U.S. had been heading down for some time now, but not catastrophically. Unfortunately, over the last few months, this recession has broadened out to cover all sectors in the U.S. economy and also the global economy, and that's now taking down exports on which manufacturing had previously been relying to prop things up.
HANSEN: So everything is going down globally. It's not just the United States having an effect on that, or is it everyone is having problems?
Mr. GAULT: The biggest problem is the origin of the problem. Yes, we can say that's in the United States. But it's much, much broader than that now. It's really very, very hard to find anywhere in the world that you can say is not taking part in what looks like the worst global recession in the post-war era.
HANSEN: How big a role is manufacturing actually playing in this recession?
Mr. GAULT: The manufacturing sector, by its nature, is very cyclical. It produces a lot of durable goods, which means things that you can easily postpone the purchase off, for example, an automobile or a firm considering a purchase of capital equipment. You can decide, I'm going to do this year. I'm going to wait a bit until things improve. So, as always in recessions, manufacturing is more cyclical. It tends to take more pain than the other parts of the economy.
HANSEN: Now, what effect will this have on people who maybe don't have anything to do with the manufacturing sector? They don't work there. How is this going to affect the ordinary citizen?
Mr. GAULT: Well, if manufacturing is going down, then it means that the people who work in manufacturing maybe they lose their jobs or maybe they're working less overtime or maybe they're forced to work part-time instead of full-time. They have less income. And if they have less income, then they spend less so that any businesses - maybe in the service sector, who rely on the spending from people employed in manufacturing, they will see the demand for their products go down as well.
HANSEN: What are the industries that have been hardest hit? I mean, we know about the auto industry in the United States, but what are some of the others?
Mr. GAULT: Well, in the early stages, it was industries that were, you know, very closely related to housing. And what we're starting to see now is industries that may have been helped, up until recently, by export demand, that might be machinery, heavy equipment, particularly construction machinery, they are now seeing demand evaporating, as well.
HANSEN: Does it strike you as manufacturing is kind of another domino falling in a long line?
Mr. GAULT: I think so. Yes, absolutely. And you sort of wonder what other dominoes are there to go. I think the next domino to go, in quite a big way, is probably going to be non-residential construction - building of offices, building of retail malls, et cetera, which, up until recently, that's held up pretty well. But all the signs are that that is going to go down very heavily over the next year or so.
HANSEN: Nigel Gault is the chief economist for IHS Global Insight. He joined us by phone from his home in Bedford, Massachusetts. Thank you so much.
Mr. GAULT: Thank you. ..COST: $00.00
LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. In a little more than two weeks, Barack Obama will be sworn in as president of the United States. We've been holding a series of conversations with NPR News analyst Juan Williams about milestones in civil rights. And on this first Sunday of the new year, we are going to talk about the legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
(Soundbite of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech)
Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (Civil Rights Leader): It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.
HANSEN: That's Dr. King in his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. And NPR's Juan Williams is in the studio. Welcome back, Juan.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Liane.
HANSEN: Dr. King really became a household name during the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. Black bus riders throughout Alabama were pressured to sit at the back of the bus, but why was Montgomery the center of the storm?
WILLIAMS: Well, a good question, Liane. You know, in fact, in '53, 1953, there was a one-week bus boycott in Baton Rouge, Louisiana led by Reverend T.J. Jemison. And it had some limited success, and it could have been really a starting point because, as I say, they only had limited success. The difference with Montgomery is that you had a state capital, Baton Rouge being a state capital, but Montgomery a state capital with a substantial presence of black people. You had Alabama State University. You had a substantial network of black churches. And as a result, you had the opportunity on those bus lines, to work with a population of bus riders that were 70 percent black. So, it really was a threat to the economic viability of the bus lines.
Dr. KING, JR.: I don't have but one message as I journey around this country, and it is a message which says that I am convinced that the most potent weapon available to oppressed people as they struggle for freedom and justice is the weapon of non-violence.
WILLIAMS: You had Dr. King understanding, and I think many people associated him right from the start in Montgomery with Gandhi, understanding the power of non-violent political action. Clearly blacks were the minority, did not have the militia, did not have the power of police forces. But what they did have was the power of conscience and you see this. I mean Rosa Parks refusing to give up the seat, willing to go to jail. All the rest, the whole notion being that what blacks had and what minorities had - Jews and others who were fighting against the power of, let's say, organized corporations in Appalachia, what you had was the power to organize, organize and protest. And Dr. King really was the epitome of that.
HANSEN: Was Martin Luther King engaging in any dialogue with the president at the time?
WILLIAMS: He did, he did have some dialogue with President Kennedy, even after the march on Washington. You know, Kennedy initially have been opposed to their, to bringing such a large group of black people to the capital. There was fear that if you had so many blacks in the capital, it could lead to rioting. They surrounded the capital with military forces in case of just such an eventuality, Liane. But afterwards, seeing that it had been a peaceful protest, that it had come off successfully, President Kennedy invited Dr. King and other leaders of the march over to the White House for lemonade and spoke to them about the need for change in terms of civil rights in the country.
And you start to see, for the first time, and this is the overarching, I think, aim of Dr. King during this period, is to get the federal government, because of the protest, to get the federal government into a posture of having to enforce civil rights laws rather than, and this had been Kennedy's inclination, simply wait. Kennedy had thought, you know what, we've got some things in motion. We've already had the tumult surrounding the Brown decision. Let things settle down. Here was King pushing the envelope and saying to Kennedy, you've got to enforce civil rights laws. Blacks had voted overwhelmingly for Kennedy in the '60 election, and yet, Kennedy had not proposed any civil rights legislation and had not acted aggressively to enforce civil rights laws.
HANSEN: Of course, we know, President Kennedy wasn't able to fulfill his term of office. Then President Lyndon Johnson came in, and Dr. King approached President Johnson to support that civil rights legislation. He wanted him to sign a new voting rights bill. What was Johnson's stance on civil rights and on voting rights at that point?
WILLIAMS: Well, you know, Johnson's position pretty much picked up on Kennedy's. Now, of course, Johnson uses the Kennedy assassination as leverage with the Congress to gain passage of a civil rights bill in '64. And after passage of that bill, Johnson's attitude is well, again, let things settle down. Let the South get accustomed to the idea of civil rights laws that allow blacks into hotels, restaurants, public accommodations and the like. Do we have to have voting rights right away?
And again, you see the likes of Dr. King and others, the freedom riders, going into the South trying to insist, no, you've got to enforce civil rights laws. You can't allow it to be a back burner issue. This is critical for us in terms of black America, in terms of civil rights in America today. Here's Johnson at the signing of the Voting Rights Act.
(Soundbite of then President Lyndon B. Johnson at signing of the Voting Rights Act)
President LYNDON B. JOHNSON: There were those who said this is an old injustice, and there is no need to hurry. But 95 years have passed since the 15th amendment gave all negroes the right to vote. And the time for waiting is gone.
HANSEN: What do you think overall is Dr. King's political legacy?
WILLIAMS: Well, you know, in a speech at Selma, and when you talk about convincing President Johnson to act in terms of the Voting Rights Act, it was going to Selma. It was challenging Governor Wallace in terms of voter registration. It was insisting that literacy tests, poll taxes, and the like, be invalidated, that they had no place, that people had to have the right vote.
Dr. King once said, we wouldn't have politicians standing in school house doors if blacks had the power to vote. We wouldn't have people like Sheriff Jim Clark down in Selma, you know, releasing the fire hoses, beating people, beating black people who were simply trying to register to vote if black people had the power to vote. And so, in many ways, King's legacy is about the passage of the Voting Rights Act, even more so than the Civil Rights Act.
And it ties in directly to what we're going to see in two weeks here in Washington, Liane, because it's the power of the vote. And it's not just the black vote, it's the Hispanic vote, it's the female vote. It's the power of people coming together who have felt that they were dislocated or ignored and coming together to create a passion for a candidate. I think you see that in Barack Obama. And so, to my mind, it's a natural extension of gaining the right to vote, exercising that right to vote and then seeing an unorthodox candidate, an African-American like Barack Obama, rise to the power of the presidency.
HANSEN: NPR News analyst, Juan Williams. He's the author of "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary" and "Eyes on the Prize," the companion book to the widely acclaimed PBS series on the Civil Rights Movement. Thanks for coming in, Juan.
WILLIAMS: You're welcome, Liane.
(Soundbite of song "A Change Is Gonna Come")
Mr. SAM COOKE: (singing) I was born by the river In a little tent
LIANE HANSEN, host:
When Sam Cooke first sang "A Change is Gonna Come," he was keeping the hope of the Civil Rights Movement alive.
(Soundbite of song "A Change Is Gonna Come")
Mr. SAM COOKE: (singing) It's been a long, a long time coming but I know A change is gonna come
HANSEN: Today, those same words and promises still hold strong. Last year, change was the key word in the presidential campaign, and President-elect Barack Obama is charged with making that change happen. The new year also marks a time for us to make changes in our own lives. So, to reflect on the power of words, poet E. Ethelbert Miller joins us to examine the works of past poets and how their words of change and dreams still resonate today. Ethelbert Miller chairs the board of the Institute for Policy Studies and is the director of the African-American Resources Center at Howard University. And welcome back.
Mr. E. ETHELBERT MILLER (Poet; Chairman of the Board, Institute for Policy Studies; Director, African-American Resources Center at Howard University): Oh, it's always good to see you.
HANSEN: Happy holidays.
Mr. MILLER: Same to you.
HANSEN: You've written an essay you're going to share with us. And you're looking at the work of poet Langston Hughes. First of all, what is it about his work that you most relate to?
Mr. MILLER: I always feel that he's a person who spoke directly to the African-American people and also to America. He also was an international poet. He always had this big smile. You know, he was always jovial, even when you listen to recordings of his reading. You know, Langston is just a beautiful person, and so I always connected to him and also his work, which I think is so easy to understand, but so profound at times that you go back and read it a second time.
HANSEN: Would you read the essay?
Mr. MILLER: (Reading) Two thousand eight was a rollercoaster ride with its ups and downs, a poor economy, foreclosures, tornadoes, and hurricanes. They bashed our hopes, but hopefully not our dreams. The poet Langston Hughes was our dream keeper. He once wrote, "Bring me all of your dreams, you dreamers. Bring me all of your heart melodies that I may wrap them in a blue-cloud cloth away from the too-rough fingers of the world."
Our world is changing and although the world's fingers are still rough, we still seem to be making wonderful progress. One thing which terrorism, wars, ethnic violence, and hatred cannot stop is the strength that resides inside the human heart and our capacity to love. In January, we will once again celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. We will remember the dream he spoke about back on August 28th, 1963. How far have we come? On January 20th, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. It seems as if the time has come to unwrap our dreams, to soften the fingers of this world with songs of peace and hope. When dreams turn into flesh, we discover ourselves. Is Langston Hughes who wrote, 'Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.'"
HANSEN: Poet E. Ethelbert Miller reading his essay on Langston Hughes. Wonderful verse there. Given that you mentioned the inauguration and it playing just such a big part in the metaphor of the poem, he has actually invited poet Elizabeth Alexander to read at the ceremony, and she's only the fourth writer to be asked to read their work as part of a U.S. presidential swearing in ceremony.
If you could choose an African-American female poet from the past that should be thought of at about this time who would you choose?
Mr. MILLER: Oh, I'm very happy that he slated Elizabeth Alexander.
HANSEN: Yes.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. MILLER: And that was one person I was, you know, highly recommending a couple months ago. But because Obama always seems to be making reference to Abraham Lincoln, you know, one would probably go back and look at what African-American women were popular during the time Lincoln was alive.
And that would lead us to Frances Harper. Her voice really captures a voice of the abolitionist, her voice that witnesses slavery. But when we look at the themes that she addresses in terms of religion, freedom, I think her work would be one that one would invite her to read.
HANSEN: Would you read one of her poems?
Mr. MILLER: This is perhaps from her - one of her favorite well known poems. "Bury Me in a Free Land." (Reading) Make me a grave wherever you will, in a lowly plain, on a lofty hill. Make it among earth's humblest graves, but not in a land where men are slaves. I could not rest if around my grave, I heard the steps of a trembling slave. His shadow above my silent tomb would make it a place of fearful gloom.
I could not rest if I heard the tread of a coffle gang to the shambles led, and the mother's shriek of wild despair rise like a curse on the trembling air. I could not sleep if I saw the lash drinking her blood at each fearful gash. And I saw her babes torn from her breast like trembling doves from their parents' nest.
I'd shudder and start if I heard the bay of bloodhounds seizing their human prey, and I heard the captive plead in vain as they bound afresh his galling chain. If I saw young girls from their mother's arms bartered and sold for their youthful charms, my eye would flash with a mournful flame, my death-paled cheek grow red with shame. I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might can rob no man of his dearest right.
My rest shall be calm in any grave where none can call his brother a slave. I ask no monument, proud and high, to arrest the gaze of the passers-by. All that my yearning spirit craves is bury me not in a land of slaves.
HANSEN: And that's poet E. Ethelbert Miller, reading Frances Harper's poem, "Bury Me in a Free Land." Ethelbert Miller chairs the Board of the Institute for Policy Studies and is director of the African-American Research Center at Howard University. Thanks so much for coming back.
Mr. MILLER: Oh, thank you.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Since we put out the word that we're trying to find people who will attend the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, we've received lots of responses, but we want more. So if you managed to snag one of the 250,000 golden tickets to the ceremony, let Weekend Edition know how did you get tickets? Who's going with you? Who isn't? How are you getting to Washington?
Join the multimedia fun, and tell us everything. We accept video logs, blog posts, tweets, and email. To find out more, go to npr.org/soapbox.
You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Time now for your letters. First, a correction from yesterday's show. Journalist Nat Hentoff mistakenly said that McClatchy's Washington bureau had closed. The bureau is not closed. McClatchy CEO, Gary Pruitt, said in a statement the bureau represents our continuing commitment to providing outstanding regional, national, and international news coverage.
Last week, as part of our Eco-nomical Series, we spoke with fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi about how to be stylish while on a budget. He offered this advice.
Mr. ISAAC MIZRAHI (Fashion Designer): If you really want to look a little better, or a little thinner, or a little something or other, you just make your heels as high as you can take them.
HANSEN: That comment made some of you want to throw your shoes at us. Before you grab your spikiest Jimmy Choo's, listen to this advice from John Mesmer of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.
Dr. JOHN MESMER (Family Physician, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania): As a family physician, I spend an inordinate amount of time managing the damage to women's feet, ankles, knees, hips, and backs from high heels. If women in the '60s had burned their high heels instead of their bras, an entire generation would now be more comfortable. I don't give fashion advice, but my medical advice is to wear heels only if you do not intend to stand or walk.
HANSEN: Nancy Jane Whar(ph) of Austin, Texas was also concerned about the health hazards of wearing high-heeled shoes.
Ms. NANCY JANE WHAR: Isaac Mizrahi broke my heart when he began his otherwise excellent fashion advice with the instruction to wear shoes with the highest heels possible. High-heeled shoes draw the pelvis forward, putting the wearer off balance. It's hard to walk far in them, much less run if you should need to. Please, Mr. Mizrahi, rethink your ideas about high heels and come up with some flat-heeled shoes that both look stunning and allow the wear to walk all over New York City if necessary.
HANSEN: Our segment about Clementine Paddleford, a famous American food writer in the early to mid-20th century, mentioned that she carried a map on her lap while flying her plane because she had a poor sense of direction. That had some of you waving your spatulas at us. Jonathan Spencer of Brighton, Massachusetts, points out that pilots are taught to fly with a map in their lap.
Mr. JONATHAN SPENCER: Everything looks different from the air, and relying on your sense of direction, no matter how good, is definitely not a good idea. Only very recently, with the advent of something called the electronic flight bag, have pilots stopped keeping paper maps on their laps. They still keep the electronic map handy, and many of us still carry the paper map in case the electronic one dies.
HANSEN: If you think we're flying off course, or if we're heading in the right direction, let us know. Go to npr.org, and click on the Contact Us link, or you can respond on our blog, npr.org/soapbox.
This is NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. It's not news that digital forms of communication are replacing hand-written letters and diaries with text messages and Facebook entries. Even the ancient art of carving an epitaph on a gravestone is not sacred. Stone carvers say they're losing business because of rising cremation rates, and their work is being replicated by computer graphics. Reporter April Dembosky visited with a veteran stone carver to talk about his trade's precarious future.
APRIL DEMBOSKY: Sprinklers rotate as twilight falls over Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. A gaggle of geese forage for dinner in the damp grass, waddling through row after row of gravestones.
Mr. TOM DIETRICH (Veteran Stone Carver): There are more people buried in Colma than in any other place in the world. There are millions of people buried here. Literally, millions of people.
DEMBOSKY: Which means millions of gravestones.
Mr. DIETRICH: My name's Tom Dietrich, and I'm what's known in the trade as a stone figure carver.
DEMBOSKY: Dietrich is a tall, gentle man with very grey hair and very dusty clothes. To him, stone carving is like blacksmithing, and age old blue-collar trade that takes decades to master.
Mr. DIETRICH: In old times, every monument shop had a load of apprentices.
DEMBOSKY: Dietrich learned his craft in South Tipperary, Ireland from a master who started out as an apprentice. His name was Shamus Murphy.
Mr. DIETRICH: And he had to do all this grunt work, and sucked dust and, you know, work real hard on these things, and run errands. And you know, it wasn't getting a cup of coffee. It wasn't getting a pint for the lads at lunchtime.
DEMBOSKY: Those days are long gone.
Mr. DIETRICH: We don't have apprentices here. We can't afford them. With workman's comp, and SDI, and all that, it's - there's no way you could have apprentices.
DEMBOSKY: Instead, there are machines.
Mr. DIETRICH: OK. So this is a sandblast room. What it does, it takes a certain kind of silicon sand, air compressed, and you see, the big one we have, you know, powers it through this nozzle, and it's so tough. It'll eat away at the pattern we've designed there. That dust then is filtered in through here, you know, and taken out of the room.
DEMBOSKY: The sandblaster drills the stone in the shape of the rubber stencils Dietrich draws and cuts by hand. He moves to smaller tools for the detail work.
Mr. DIETRICH: It's hand-carved with a mallet and a chisel. Some of it is done with very sophisticated diamond tools.
(Soundbite of drilling)
DEMBOSKY: Hand carving is the one thing that still distinguishes Dietrich's work from other companies. Today, most monument makers rely on computer designs. They scan old images or a photograph on to the stone. And an electric laser traces the outline into the granite. The final images are shallow and fade after a few years.
Mr. DIETRICH: It's not real work anymore. You could actually buy a computer package and be on your merry way producing monuments.
DEMBOSKY: Many gravestones today are adorned with these computer-generated images. The Virgin Mary, Chinese dragons, fishermen, and hot rods are all laser etched to perfection. Dietrich believes he could be the last generation of carvers.
Mr. DIETRICH: You'll probably see this - this particular trade will be carried on in the world in China.
DEMBOSKY: Wait a minute, China?
Mr. DIETRICH: Beautiful carving there, just absolutely exquisite. And they, too, you can just, you know, send them a photocopy and pictures of what you want, and they'll, you know, they'll carve and Irish cross for you, and do a hell of a job, too. ..TEXT: DEMBOSKY: Still, he believes in China, machines will also take over from skilled hands, and he worries the art will fade into history. For NPR News, I'm April Dembosky.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Abraham Lincoln said, And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. In this new year, we begin a series that focuses on the wisdom of older generations in a time of change. The Ninth Inning will feature people who've kept going long past retirement age.
We begin with Chester Aaron. He's an 85-year-old garlic farmer from Occidental, California. You may have heard his garlic essays on NPR. Well, here's his essay about his life.
Mr. CHESTER AARON (Writer, Garlic Farmer): Remember Mae West? About 60 years ago, an interviewer asked her on radio, Mae, if you had it all to do over what would you do? And Mae said, If I had to do it all over, I'd do it all over you. My sentiments exactly.
North Butler, Pennsylvania 1930. I was seven years old. Came home with cuts and bruises. I told one of my five brothers I'd fought some kid who'd called me a Jew. That brother, Ray, was the only athlete in the family. Ray said, you better learn to fight.
By the time I was in high school, I was good enough to get to the finals in the Golden Gloves in Pittsburgh. My mother hated me wanting to be a boxer. My father said it was a good idea. Jews, he said, had to learn how to defend themselves. When my father was 14 in Russian, Cossacks came through his village. One of the Cossacks stabbed his pregnant sister. Papa grabbed a butcher knife and killed the Cossack. He ran and never saw his family again.
When the war started in 1941, three of my brothers went off to fight. I wanted to go too. Every hour, every day, I heard what the Germans were doing to Jews. I wanted to kill Germans, but I had to stay home to help my parents. In 1943, I volunteered. I ended up a heavy machine gunner in an armored infantry unit. I was with the troops that liberated Dachau. When I came home, my mother and father were dead. My father had died in an insane asylum.
I went to California. And thanks to the G.I. Bill, went to college, UCLA. A professor said I would be a writer someday. From that day on, that was all I wanted to do, write stories and novels. I married an Irish Catholic woman in Berkeley and made my living as an X-ray technician. As an X-ray technician, I discovered that hospitals all over the country, for no legitimate reason, were over radiating what were then referred to as Negro patients.
I tried to publicize the fact, tried to get the practice stopped. I was fired. Unable to find hospital work, I went back to school, earned my master's degree, and was hired by St. Mary's College. I was a professor there for 25 years. I retired to a life of farming garlic and writing.
Five years ago at the age of 80, I sent a four-page vitae to 30 agents describing all my publications and awards. I received one response. She said, let's face it, Mr. Aaron. You are 80 years old. Why should I waste my time and money on you? Since then, I have published a collection of stories and two novels, and I have a new novel coming out next year. That's why.
HANSEN: Eighty Five-year old Chester Aaron of Occidental, California. To learn more about Chester and to share your own life stories, go to npr.org/soapbox.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
There are points on the timeline of American military history where the tables turned. The 2007 surge in the current war in Iraq is a recent example. William Tecumseh Sherman's march to the sea in 1864 is another. The Union general's campaign, after the capture of Atlanta, Georgia, to the taking of Savannah, has provided an unending source of material for Civil War historians, including Noah Andre Trudeau. Longtime listeners know him as Andy, our Oscar music guy. But Trudeau is an award-winning writer, and "Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea" is his latest tome. He's in the studio. It's really nice to see you again, Andy.
Mr. NOAH ANDRE TRUDEAU (Author, "Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea"): Great to see you, Liane.
HANSEN: Paint that picture for us. Atlanta is burning, Lincoln has been re-elected president, and William Tecumseh Sherman convinces the president and General Grant that he can take a huge contingent of men and arms, cease communication, and march to Savannah. How did he convince them?
Mr. TRUDEAU: He counted a lot on his friendship with Grant. This really was the partnership that I think won the Civil War, these two men - Grant in charge in the East, Sherman in charge in the West - intimately trusting each other. Grant had come in and said, what we've got to do is smash the enemy's armies. Here is Sherman in September of 1864 saying, you know, I think the best thing I can do is turn my back on the biggest enemy army near me and march to the sea. You know, to me, the great success of this campaign was the logistical achievement. He had to move 60,000 men, almost 3,000 wagons, and - what blows my mind - 5,000 cattle across 300 miles, seven major river crossings, with no bridges, and he did it.
HANSEN: He waged total war. Beans and bullets is a phrase that is used. Was total destruction in Georgia the goal or the byproduct?
Mr. TRUDEAU: It was a byproduct. Sherman was really trying to do a number of things. On a tactical level, he was moving 60,000 men from Atlanta to the sea where they would be more useful to Grant. On a practical level, he had to feed these guys. Ultimately, he was really showing to Southern civilians that the Confederacy could not protect them. And he was showing to Southern soldiers that no one was protecting their loved ones and the sooner they ended this war, the better.
HANSEN: In feeding and supplying his men, did that get out of hand?
Mr. TRUDEAU: Yes and no. You know, if you abandoned your house, it would likely get looted. If somebody fired a gun from your house, your house was probably toast. But for a lot of them, especially the ones who wrote a lot of the memoirs, when you really look past the story they're telling, you realize that after Sherman's army left, they still had their home, they still had some foodstuffs. I mean, there was no widespread starvation in Georgia in the winter of 1864-65. So, yes, it had a tremendous impact, but it was not the kind of catastrophic scouring operation that I think people often assume it was.
HANSEN: Another story about this march - the army was followed by legions of slaves who were being freed. Was this a march to free the slaves?
Mr. TRUDEAU: Sherman was adamant that the last thing he wanted was a large procession of African-Americans following after his armies. He was willing to take the young, strong guys. He could use them to build roads and cut down trees and do those sorts of things, but he didn't want the children, the women. But look, this was freedom, it was there for the first time in many of their lives, and a large number of them just dropped everything and followed the armies.
HANSEN: For Sherman's benefit, nobody ever knew where he was even though he had this large army with him. Part of it was there was no press. And so he becomes a mythical figure from the beginning. What was his last word on the march?
Mr. TRUDEAU: Years later, when everyone was really obsessed with the march, he really tried to discourage their interest. He follows the march up with a second campaign where he proceeds through South Carolina, North Carolina and winds up ending the war outside of Raleigh. He said, look, if the march through the Carolinas was a 10, my march to the sea was a one. And he got to hate all the little things that came along with it. I mean, whenever he popped up to speak, there'd be a band somewhere cranking away "Marching Through Georgia."
(Soundbite of song "Marching Through Georgia")
Unidentified Choir: Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the Jubilee! Hurrah! Hurrah! The flag that makes you free. So we sang the chorus, From Atlanta to the sea, While we were marching through Georgia.
Mr. TRUDEAU: The song really encapsulated a lot of the popular mythology around the march and a sense of good spirit that I don't know necessarily the soldiers felt, but it was certainly then ascribed to them.
HANSEN: After all the time you've spent with him, what's your lasting impression of the man?
Mr. TRUDEAU: He was brilliant in a way. He was twisted in a way. He had a very strange set of values. And he hated the fact that this great equality was sweeping the nation. Not only African-American - he was not a big fan of African-Americans as equal citizens - but in a way he believed in a social hierarchy that there were people meant to rule and there were people meant to be ruled.
And he hated the fact that the common soldier could run for office, could have positions of importance. The great irony was he was an instrument of this change and I think years later probably came to regret all those changes and maybe never quite understood the role he played in making them happen.
HANSEN: Noah Andre Trudeau's newest book on the Civil War is called "Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea." It's published by Harper Collins. Andy, thanks a lot.
Mr. TRUDEAU: My pleasure, Liane.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The way we read is changing. Time we once might have spent curled up with a good book is now often devoted to catching up on blogs and browsing websites. To win readers back, one publisher has a new take on an old-fashioned idea. She's offering a serial novel, just as Charles Dickens used to do, but this one is on the Web. She's calling it a Wovel. It appears one chapter at a time, and readers have a say in how the plot advances. From member station KUSP, Rick Kleffel reports.
RICK KLEFFEL: While she was working as an editor at Dark Horse Comics, Victoria Blake used breaks from work to surf the Web.
Ms. VICTORIA BLAKE (Founder, Underland Press): I noticed that I was using my random ten minutes in between tasks to go to gawker.com, which is my favorite media gossip site. And I realized that if I provided prose, fiction that I would want to read myself online, that I would use those ten minutes to read prose, not gossip.
KLEFFEL: Blake left Dark Horse to found Underland Press, an integrated online and traditional print publisher. She wanted to offer exciting, edgy fiction with a touch of the fantastic, and to make her Web site a primary component of her business. She hired Jesse Pollack to help her with Web programming, and then got together with him, some of his programming friends, a six-pack and a bag of Oreos. They came up with a genre that demanded a new name: The Wovel.
Ms. BLAKE: The Wovel is a Web novel. There's an installment every Monday. At the end of every installment, there's a binary plot branch point with a vote button at the end. Voting is open from Monday to Thursday.
KLEFFEL: For Web programmer Jesse Pollack the Wovel format was reminiscent of the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, with a high-tech twist.
Mr. JESSE POLLACK (Web Programmer, Underland Press): And that's what's so attractive about the thought of the Wovel, is allowing the readers to choose their way through and decide on integral changes in the plot.
Ms. BLAKE: The results go to the author, who writes from Thursday through Sunday. A new installment is posted on Sunday night and is ready for reading on Monday morning.
KLEFFEL: Victoria Blake understands this fast-paced format is a challenge for the Wovelists. Jemiah Jefferson is an author whose books include "Wounds," "Fiend," "A Drop of Scarlet" and "Voice of the Blood." She's writing a new Wovel, a cyberpunk saga titled "Firstworld." As a guide to writing a novel in a serial fashion, she looks to the past, not the future.
Ms. JEMIAH JEFFERSON (Author/Wovelist): The example of Dickens is a really interesting one. I do have a larger story arc in mind, but it's - it's not as tightly structured as it has been for the print novels that I've written in the past.
KLEFFEL: Publishing a Wovel draws on skills used more often for journalism than fiction. Proofreader Rachel Miller uses tools entirely outside the realm of Web work to ensure that the Wovel is internally consistent.
Ms. RACHEL MILLER (Proofreader, Underland Press): I find myself holding up a ruler to the monitor underlining, you know, going line by line - just, you know, looking at my style sheets, or looking back at past stories to make sure that there are, you know, consistencies between characters and plot threads.
Ms. AMBER NEY (Wovel Fan): I just don't have any time. You know, I get up really early, and I have three children, so I'm kind of pressed for time.
KLEFFEL: Amber Ney reads the Wovel at home late at night, and even sometimes at work.
Ms. NEY: Sometimes, yeah, if I'm in between projects or doing whatever, and I happen to check my email, and it would say that the new installment was up, I would click over and read it while I was at work.
KLEFFEL: By updating the serial format used by Dickens, publisher Victoria Blake is trying to bring an industry born in the 15th century into the 21st century.
Ms. BLAKE: It combines the technical functionality of Web 2.0, the creativity of fiction and the pace of print journalism.
KLEFFEL: Blake says, as reading habits change, the publishing industry have to continually figure out how to keep up. For NPR News, I'm Rick Kleffel.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
If the Obamas have time to do any sightseeing, they could drop by a place that has been described as the most beautiful building in Washington's Federal Triangle. There are more than 50 murals on the walls. It's not the National Gallery of Art, or any of the art museums for that matter.
Ms. WINIFRED HEART (Former Tour Guide, Justice Department): Welcome to the Department of Justice. We're delighted to have you here.
SHAPIRO: This is one of the Justice Department's most famous tour guides. Winifred Heart has been retired for a while now. But back in 1996, the Justice Department recorded her giving this guided tour.
Ms. HEART: I don't like to talk about the people next door, but they have perfectly hideous walls and not very nice ceilings.
SHAPIRO: As Winifred Heart put it, the Justice Department is loaded with symbolism.
Ms. HEART: We drip symbolism in this building. This building is a sermon, a hymn to justice.
SHAPIRO: If that sermon, if the hymn were purely predictable, it wouldn't be much worth talking about. Of course the building has flags, eagles, scales of justice, everything you would expect. But there's also real art. Dynamic paintings that were progressive, controversial, even radical in their time. For example, in the 1930s, the Justice Department installed a mural that showed black and white students being educated together. The art showed a dream that democracy had not yet realized. Washington, D.C. was still a segregated city. Virginia Mecklenburg is a curator from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Ms. VIRGINIA MECKLENBURG (Senior Curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum): The whole scheme of all the murals in the Justice Department was really a grand epic view of the role of law in American society.
SHAPIRO: The building was brand new. America was struggling through the Great Depression, and the country's most prestigious artists of the day competed to win commissions for paintings that would show how law and justice can make life better for everyone.
Ms. MECKLENBURG: So these were going to be the shining stars that launched this program that they were hoping would put murals in post offices and federal buildings all over the country. It was a real initiative to take art to the American people, and not just people who were used to looking at art. It was a way to get art into the heartland of America.
SHAPIRO: One of the most arresting paintings in the building has a place of honor in the Justice Department. It hangs just above the main library, around the corner from the office where the attorney general works every day. It's an anti-lynching mural.
Mr. ROGER KENNEDY (Director Emeritus, National Museum of American History): There is a cowering or terrified person on the steps of the courthouse, with the judge coming forward from the court, standing off a lynch mob in bandannas with a flame of hate rising behind them.
SHAPIRO: Roger Kennedy is director emeritus of the National Museum of American History, and he used to be the director of the National Park Service. He's writing a book called "When Art Worked." And he was an attorney at the Justice Department in the 1950s.
Mr. KENNEDY: When we worked here, we'd show up here to go do our - get our briefs together. We thought we were serving the cause of justice, and this thing said to us, it's not foolish or proud or vainglorious to think that you're participating in the noble work of American justice. This is what you're here for. Go to work. Do it better.
SHAPIRO: So every attorney at the Department of Justice going into the library to research a legal brief will walk under this image?
Mr. KENNEDY: Yeah. Yeah, and you hope that it takes.
SHAPIRO: It really is striking. One would expect in a building like this to see images of America at its finest. We walk into the Department of Justice, and in the main library there's an image of what might be considered America at - near its worst.
Mr. KENNEDY: Yes, absolutely. This is art really doing its work, and it tells us what our country is really like. And incidentally, it's inescapably us. Not somebody else. Not the founders. Not the 19th century, because they're - what illuminates the scene are two things, the flame of hate in the back and the car headlights in the front.
SHAPIRO: And it is only the judge that is holding that back from the man cowering on the steps.
Mr. KENNEDY: That's right.
SHAPIRO: One man in the lynch mob wears a dapper linen suit and a hat. In the back of the mob, two girls are waving. They look like they're having a good time. The man holding the lynching rope has his face covered, so does the man cowering on the steps. It's as if both the hunter and the hunted could be anyone. When John Steuart Curry painted this mural in the 1930s, lynching was a serious problem in America. Curry submitted one sketch after another to the Fine Arts commission, and the commission kept rejecting the sketches and sending them back before finally settling on the design that now hangs over the library. Curator Virginia Mecklenburg.
Ms. MECKLENBURG: There's this wonderful letter. A very nice letter, but a very firm letter from a man named Edward Roan(ph) who was essentially running the program at this - the mural program at this point, saying, you know, you're a terrific painter, and we really like the ideas that you talked about. But we can't accept these murals, because we don't think they are your best work.
SHAPIRO: Tough words for one of America's top artists. Mecklenburg says there was just so much riding on these murals. They were meant to launch a program that would inspire America and give the country hope.
Ms. MECKLENBURG: The Depression was awful. There were bread lines everywhere. And somehow to suggest that we really are a civilized society. And in the case of the Justice Department, murals, everything having to do with law, that we can't slip back. That it would be terrifying if we lost, even in this dreadful time, we lost everything that we had achieved as we'd gone through the 18th, 19th, and 20th century to build the institutions that guide our lives.
SHAPIRO: Now a new attorney general is about to go through confirmation hearings. Eric Holder is set to become the first black attorney general in American history. When he walks through the halls of the Justice Department, he will pass all these murals, reminding him that this is his story and ours, and that his job is justice. The Justice Department is not open to the public, so you can't see these murals in person, but we have detailed images of them at npr.org. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
We are just wrapping up the season when many people on the West Coast crack open a crab. Dungeness crabs show up in markets and restaurants during the holidays. Fresh crabs are only easy to find for a few weeks, and during this time the crabs provide a burst of flavor at the table, as well as a burst of income for fishermen. They also account for a thriving fishery that is suffering from its own success. Here's NPR's Richard Harris.
RICHARD HARRIS: It's 3:40 AM and I am at the harbor in Crescent City, California. Folks here are preparing their crab boats to go out for what promises to be an insanely long day of pulling crabs out of the Pacific Ocean. Already, quite a number of the slips are empty, and the boats are idling and getting ready to head out to sea on what is thankfully a very calm-looking day.
Mr. BRETT FAHNING (Crab Fisherman): Good morning!
HARRIS: Good morning
Unidentified Man: Good morning.
HARRIS: Crab fisherman Brett Fahning has invited me to spend the day with him and his crew on the Rogue, his 58-foot long fishing boat.
Mr. FAHNING: I bought this crab boat in 2004.
HARRIS: Fahning is a baby-faced 35, and sports a goatee. Under the boat's blazing lights he pilots the Rogue out of the harbor at 4 AM sharp and heads out to sea. This port is a mere shadow of what it was decades ago. Two-thirds of California's commercial fishermen have abandoned their business in the last 15 year, but Dungeness crab is one bright success story. The rules for keeping this fishery healthy are simple. Fishermen only catch large male crabs, and only in a defined season.
Mr. FAHNING: It's just like a no-brainer sustainable fishery. It always has been, and it's not like - they had to change anything from how it started.
HARRIS: Natural cycles do make the crab populations boom and bust, but biologists say fishing is no threat to the crabs. That's true, even though there's an absolute frenzy when the season first opens.
Mr. FAHNING: It's kind of a derby fishery. Most of the production - and I don't know the stats offhand, but an educated guess is that 80 percent of the crab are caught in the first two weeks.
HARRIS: There are only so many crabs, and they get scooped up fast during the bonanza days. After that, it's slim pickings, so there's a race to grab them before they're gone. And more fishermen are joining the derby every year, meaning less crab per vessel. Boats that once caught other species are now turning to Dungeness crabs. That includes vessels that used to go out for salmon, until that fishery collapsed a few years ago.
Mr. FAHNING: Since we haven't had that, more guys are kind of focusing on Dungeness crab. And investing in Dungeness crab, meaning they're buying more pots, more gear, upgrading their boats.
HARRIS: It's become an arms race to catch crab, and, as a result, economist Steve Hackett at nearby Humboldt State University says there's a huge over-investment in the crab fishery. There are something like 170,000 crab pots off California, about three times as many as you'd need to catch all the crabs in a season. Those excesses also make crabbing less profitable. And the race for crab is dangerous. It's the deadliest fishery on the West Coast, with fatalities just about every year. Fahning says some fishermen are just too anxious to get in on the early days of the race, weather be damned.
Mr. FAHNING: I mean, I know what kind of boat I have here. It's an old wood boat. I'm obviously not going to go and fish in conditions that I shouldn't be fishing in. And you just have to use your head and be safe. And a lot of times, guys don't do that.
HARRIS: Captains also fall asleep at the end of their long, long days, and run up into the rocks. So safety and money issues have led crab fishermen to establish a task force to find ways to make their business more rational. A rational season would also mean more fresh crab. Right now, with the huge burst at the beginning of the season, most sweet Dungeness gets frozen.
Mr. FAHNING: OK, I better pay attention here.
HARRIS: Brett Fahning slows his boat as he arrives at his first string of crab pots. He has about 450 in the water, and they need to start pulling them well before dawn if they have any hope of harvesting all their crabs today.
(Soundbite of winch)
HARRIS: Standing on deck behind the wheelhouse, Bobby Kissinger uses a winch to pull up a crab pot. It takes just a few seconds to bring the cage up through 120 feet of water. The crew scoops out a couple of writhing crabs, brown, glistening, about two pounds apiece. They toss them into a bin, re-bait the trap, and toss it overboard.
You're going to do that 400 times today?
Mr. BOBBY KISSINGER (Crab Fisherman): 400 plus, yeah. We get in a zone and we stay there for 12 to 18 hours.
HARRIS: As soon as one pot is done, the boat is up to the next one. Kissinger and his deck mate Andy Allen have their timing down to the second. Allen says most important is Bobby's control over the winch, which keeps the 100-pound crab pots from flying out of control.
Mr. KISSINGER: Yes, everything's riding on that hand. If his hand slips, makes the wrong move, then we're dead men.
HARRIS: Pot after pot comes onboard. Five crabs in one, a dozen in another. Nothing but giant starfish in some.
Brett Fahning watches the action from the wheelhouse. He's a transplant from Wisconsin, educated as an oceanographer, but hooked on the business and sport of fishing. As each crab pot comes up, he eyes it eagerly, to gauge his luck.
Mr. FAHNING: Pretty inconsistent, huh? It's all right, though, huh?
HARRIS: So how's this year panning out?
Mr. FAHNING: I think it's going to pan out OK. It's not going to be a disaster.
HARRIS: This is a slow year for crabs, but Fahning thinks he can earn enough, at least, to pay his bills. Fishermen could potentially make life easier for the entire crab industry if they could find ways to slow their expensive and dangerous arms race.
Mr. FAHNING: There's been suggestions of, let's make it a daylight fishery only. No lights are allowed, you can only go fishing during the day. With the idea that's going to slow things down. Or limit the amount of pots is another one. But I don't think it's fair to try and equalize, to socialize the industry.
HARRIS: Sure, he says, the situation now isn't ideal, but he likes the risks and rewards of the crab business.
Mr. FAHNING: I think it's the independence, really. It'd be pretty hard for me to go back and get a real job after this. I think it's really that. I mean, and ocean, you know, there's the romantic part of it, too. But I think it's just mostly the independence. The romanticism kind of wears off a little bit after a while, after you've been doing it for a while.
HARRIS: And it's that independent streak, found in so many fishermen, that will make it tough for the crab industry to agree on any changes. But they'll try.
Finally, around 7:30 in the evening, the Rogue ties up again in Crescent City with 4,000 pounds of crab in its hold. The crew members go their separate ways, but they will be back in about eight hours, and racing out again to their pots. Richard Harris, NPR News.
INSKEEP: Richard continues tomorrow with new California fishing rules that are intended to protect both fish and those who catch them. I'm looking now at photos taken onboard a crab trawler and inside a California crab shack. You can find them in an audio slide show at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
When Russia shut off the flow of natural gas to a neighbor the other day, it raised fears of an energy crisis in Europe. It also underlined the power that comes with Russia's natural resources. And that, in turn, calls attention to Russia's huge gas company. It's called Gazprom, and it plays a role in Russia's foreign policy. So, this morning we begin a series on Gazprom, and we start on the site of the company's biggest gas fields. They're in Yamal-Nenets, which is a remote region of Siberia. NPR's Gregory Feifer reports.
GREGORY FEIFER: The wind moves slowly over an endless landscape of stunted trees and snow. Temperatures here often reach minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This land may be inhospitable, but it's the source of much of Russia's new wealth.
(Soundbite of turbines pumping gas)
FEIFER: Inside a Gazprom processing plant, large turbines pump the Siberian gas into pipelines that stretch thousands of miles to Western Europe. This region produces 20 percent of the world's entire output of natural gas. Gazprom is among the few employers in the region, and wages are relatively high. But electrician Sergei Kompaniets says there's another reason he's proud of his job.
Mr. SERGEI KOMPANIETS (Electrician, Gazprom): (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: Gazprom is a world leader. The entire country depends on us, he says. Gazprom is Russia. Gazprom used to be the world's third biggest company, but that was before the global financial crisis cut its share value by 75 percent. A predicted drop in gas prices next year will deal another blow. Even so, thanks to long-term supply contracts, Gazprom still earns billions of dollars, and it's the main pillar of what's called Kremlin Incorporated.
More than a thousand miles away in Moscow stands a towering glass-paneled skyscraper. This is the headquarters of Gazprom. More than just a gas supplier, it's also a bank, an oil firm, and a media company.
The building behind me is the center of Gazprom's business empire, which has also become a key tool of Russia's foreign policy. The company's stranglehold on European energy supplies is central to Moscow's strategy for muscling its way back on the world stage. Most analysts believe this company is so interlinked with the Kremlin, on the other side of town, there can be no serious discussion of its independence.
Gazprom was originally created from the old Soviet gas ministry by former Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin who became a billionaire almost overnight. After Vladimir Putin came to power, he put Gazprom firmly under Kremlin control by appointing loyalists from his hometown, St. Petersburg. One of them, Dmitri Medvedev, was made chairman. He's now the president of Russia.
Putin based his doctoral thesis on the argument Russia should use its energy industry to promote the state's interests. But energy expert Konstantin Simonov says in Russia, political leaders treat state assets like their own personal property.
Mr. KONSTANTIN SIMONOV (Russian Energy Expert): Putin is thinking about Gazprom as about his company. And that is why we can say that of course Putin is number one in Gazprom.
FEIFER: Putin supporters dispute the widely held belief that Russia's former president, now prime minister, calls the shots at Gazprom. His former energy minister, Victor Khristenko, insists Gazprom is no different from any Western energy company.
Mr. VICTOR KHRISTENKO (Former Russian Energy Minister): (Through Translator) It's not a state company. It's a private company in which the state just happens to have a controlling stake.
FEIFER: But those who study Gazprom say the company's profits are controlled and, many believe, siphoned off by shady Kremlin connected financial and trading structures. There are also concerns about where Gazprom is going to find the gas to fill its foreign contracts. Gazprom has already been forced to buy cheap gas from central Asia to make up for falling domestic production and might soon have to cut back on supplies to Russian consumers.
Back in Yamal-Nenets, inside the modest offices of a Gazprom subsidiary, Deputy Director Anatoly Sorokin admits production will decline in 2009.
Mr. ANATOLY SOROKIN (Subsidiary Deputy Director, Gazprom): (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: But Sorokin says he's confident Gazprom is spending enough on production and exploration of new gas fields. Despite its supply and financial problems, Gazprom is not scrimping on expanding its network abroad. Even as the company appealed for government aid, Gazprom announced it would go ahead with plans to spend tens of billions building two new pipelines to the west. That would further deepen foreign dependence on Russian energy and make Gazprom even more powerful. Gregory Feifer. NPR News, Yamal-Nenets.
INSKEEP: So, that's Siberia where the gas comes from. And tomorrow we'll go where some of Russia's natural gas is consumed. It's Germany, where some think Gazprom's deals affect relations between Russia and this major ally of the United States.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
President-elect Barack Obama has been unequivocal about wanting to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. NPR's Jackie Northam outlines some of the challenges the Obama administration faces as it tries to fulfill that campaign promise.
JACKIE NORTHAM: Just days after Mr. Obama won the presidential election, a transition team made up of analysts, lawyers and military officials began tackling the Guantanamo issue. They started sifting through the files of the roughly 250 men still held at the remote prison camp, trying to come up with new ideas to solve the Guantanamo conundrum. This was pretty much what John Bellinger has faced as legal adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Bellinger is now helping the transition team.
Mr. JOHN BELLINGER (Legal Advisor to the Secretary of State): I have no doubt that the next team will move to close Guantanamo rapidly, but they will be bedeviled with the same issues that we have.
NORTHAM: Those issues center on what to do with the terror suspects if the Guantanamo prison camp is shuttered. Around 500 of the former prisoners have been released. About another 60 are cleared to go, but there are problems finding countries willing to take them. Bobby Chesney, a Wake Forest University law professor, says the new Obama administration should capitalize on its vast reservoir of international good will.
Professor BOBBY CHESNEY (Law, Wake Forest University): There's some talk that with a new administration on the way, that other states, perhaps some European states, may be willing to take in some detainees. But a lot of the smoke signals in that area suggest that the United States has to be willing to do some of the same.
NORTHAM: It's widely believed that if and when the Guantanamo camp is closed the prisoners will be brought to the U.S. mainland. Sally Hodgkinson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee issues, says the new administration will have to decide where to keep the men. She says federal law requires that they be segregated from the regular prison population. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The name of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee issues is SANDY Hodgkinson.]
Ms. SANDY HODGKINSON (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Issues): You would require some modifications to any existing facilities to ensure the security situation was adequately mitigated. You would also need to ensure that there were all of the same types of facilities that we have at Guantanamo Bay. So you would need, obviously, additional medical facilities, you would need additional transportation options.
NORTHAM: Mr. Obama may have to spend some of his domestic political capital finding a location for the Guantanamo prisoners. The Pentagon has faced outright anger from community and political leaders in virtually every location it's checked out. Things get even trickier when it comes to prosecuting the suspects. The Obama team will have to decide under which system to try the men. Bellinger says some of the key terror and counterterrorism statutes were not on the books when many of the Guantanamo detainees were picked up.
Mr. BELLINGER: So for an average Yemeni or Saudi who had traveled for Afghanistan to simply train, but had not yet formed a terrorist plot, not altogether clear that someone could be tried in federal court for that.
NORTHAM: One option would be to create national security courts, which would have greater latitude for classified material and hearsay evidence. That would require legislation, and many analysts say national security courts would be too much like the troubled military commissions now in place at Guantanamo. Bradford Berenson, a Washington lawyer who helped draw up the policies for the military commissions, says the new administration has a much tougher problem to solve than just figuring out how to prosecute the terror suspects.
Mr. BRADFORD BERENSON (Lawyer): What are you going to do with the detainees who cannot be tried in a normal court proceeding, but who are also too dangerous to release back out into the world?
NORTHAM: There are currently about 80 Guantanamo prisoners who fall into that category. There's not enough evidence to prosecute them, but U.S. intelligence agencies believe the men would pose a serious risk if released. Berenson says that problem still exists.
Mr. BERENSON: I think the policies that have led to preventive detention for suspected foreign terrorists at Guantanamo will probably change far less in the new administration than many people on the left hope and expect. And that's because those policies were adopted out of a sincere and genuine concern for protecting the public.
NORTHAM: Some analysts say the new administration should not perpetuate the policy of preventive detention. It should prosecute the men and run the risk of acquittal. The question is, if a suspect is acquitted and no other country will take him, would he be free to walk out the front door of the courtroom? All those interviewed for this report say it's important that Mr. Obama get Congressional backing for whatever policies he puts in place. Wake Forest University's Chesney says the new administration also needs to think beyond Guantanamo.
Prof. CHESNEY: My advice would be to be mindful of how the policies designed to shut down and deal with Guantanamo may relate to larger questions going forward. Such as, what's our detention policy in connection with ongoing armed conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
NORTHAM: When it comes to Guantanamo, there are no easy answers for the new administration. Jackie Northam. NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro. Israeli troops have effectively cut Gaza in half. Several thousand soldiers have split the middle of that strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. The Israelis have also occupied much of the northern half that includes Gaza City.
INSKEEP: That's the area from which Palestinian rockets have been fired into Israel. The ground offensive is the latest phase in an Israeli military campaign that started with air strikes and has killed more than 500 Palestinians, including many civilians. And as we can hear in this report from NPR's Mike Shuster, the gunfire continues.
(Soundbite of gunfire)
MIKE SHUSTER: Israeli forces went into Gaza along its northern sector from several directions. The operation involved infantry, artillery, tanks, and engineering troops backed by air and naval forces. Almost immediately, the Israelis were met with resistance from Hamas militants, but they were no match for Israel's overwhelming firepower. A spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Force, Avital Leibovich, said Israel intends to stop the missile attacks altogether.
Major AVITAL LEIBOVICH (Spokeswoman, Israeli Defense Force): This is going to be a long operation. The purpose of this stage is actually getting in charge of those areas from which launching rockets is taking place for the past years. So we are trying, really, to minimize to a minimum the launchings of the rockets towards Israeli civilians.
SHUSTER: So far the rocket attacks against Israel have not stopped. There were at least 40 such launches on Sunday. But Sunday night, Israeli troops effectively surrounded Gaza City and split the territory in two, apparently with the aim of preventing Hamas from re-supplying weapons to its fighters in the northern zone. Israeli casualties have been modest with one soldier killed by this morning and several dozen wounded. Israel says its forces killed several dozen Hamas militants, but the heavy casualties in the ground invasion have come among the civilian Palestinian population.
Tank and artillery fire have cost many Palestinians their lives over the past two days with shells exploding in shopping areas and residential neighborhoods. It's been a catastrophe, says John Ging, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency which is trying to provide food and emergency aid to the people of Gaza.
Mr. JOHN GING (Gaza Director, U.N. Relief and Works Agency): They are being killed and injured in very large numbers, and they have no end in sight. The inhumanity of this situation, the lack of reaction or action to bring this to an end, is bewildering to them.
SHUSTER: Hospitals in Gaza were already overwhelmed by the weeklong air bombardment. Then came the ground operation, and the hospitals were flooded with more dead and wounded. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor working at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, found the case of two boys who were brought in on Sunday to be particularly wrenching.
Dr. ERIK FOSSE (Norwegian Doctor, Shifa Hospital, Gaza): They were not allowed to play in the street because of the dangers, so they played on the roof of their home. They were hit by shrapnel. One boy died due to enormous injuries to the chest. The other boy will probably survive, but he lost a leg and has a serious head injury.
SHUSTER: Israeli officials and government spokesmen have been bombarded with questions about the level of civilian casualties in Gaza. Captain Elie Isaacson insists that Israel is doing everything it can to minimize the effect of the operation on civilians.
Captain ELIE ISAACSON (Israel Defense Force): Any military operation anywhere in the world involves risks - risks to our own personnel, risks to people in the surrounding area. But when you are dealing with the problem of the scale which we're talking about, which is the eight-year barrage of rockets onto Israeli civilians, the solution needs to be proportionate to that.
SHUSTER: The Israeli operation also appears to be aimed at destroying Hamas or at least crippling its ability to control Gaza. Several leaders of the group have already been killed. But Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman in Beirut, brushed those losses off as insignificant.
Mr. OSAMA HAMDAN (Hamas Representative, Beirut): We have a leadership, and there is a chain of command in Hamas. And if one of the leaders who are killed, someone will replace him, and we will continue. There will be no disturbance. I think this will generate more to fight the occupation. Killing your people will not stop you.
SHUSTER: The Israeli military also wants to destroy Hamas' ability to smuggle additional weapons into Gaza. And overnight its forces again targeted tunnels along the border with Egypt through which weapons have moved and storage tunnels elsewhere in the territory. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And now we turn to Michael Oren. He's a best-selling author and scholar of military history in the Middle East. In more normal times he would probably be sitting in front of his keyboard at an office in Jerusalem. But today he is in his army uniform near the border with Gaza where he is a reservist working as a spokesman for the Israeli military. And he joins us now. Good morning.
Dr. MICHAEL OREN (Senior Fellow, Shalem Center, Jerusalem; Author; Journalist): Good morning, Ari. How are you?
SHAPIRO: Fine thanks. Israel has made previous incursions in Gaza in recent years, and they have not stopped the rocket fire. So why will it be different this time?
Dr. OREN: I don't think any previous incursion has been of this magnitude and this duration. And I think that the amount of military components that Israel is devoting to this operation far exceeds anything that they have devoted in the past. And I think that even the public mood in Israel is very much in support of the operation, achieving a goal which at minimum would stop the rocket fire that has been terrorizing close to a million Israelis who have been under pretty much continuous rocket fire, including from where I'm talking to you right now. We were interrupted several times last night by barrages of rockets.
SHAPIRO: But Israel has said it doesn't want to keep troops in Gaza indefinitely. As soon as the troops leave, won't Palestinian militants just start making more rockets or smuggling them back into Gaza?
Dr. OREN: Well, the hope is to deal Hamas a decisive defeat that it will either learn its lesson and not engage in rocket fire again and perhaps engage in civilian development and economic development, or that Hamas will not be able to recover at all and that it will be some type of different regime put in place in Gaza, perhaps by the international community. In any case, you're absolutely right. Israel and the Israel Defense Forces have no intention whatsoever of reoccupying Gaza. They don't want to stay in Gaza a moment longer than they have to.
SHAPIRO: So if you say one of Israel's goals here is to deal Hamas a decisive defeat, does that mean Israel really would like to see Hamas ousted as the governing party in Gaza?
Dr. OREN: Well, I don't think anybody, certainly on the Israeli side, I don't think many people in the West, and indeed many, many Arab leaders among the moderate Arab states do not want to see a continuation of Hamas ruling Gaza. It is not Israel's explicit goal to topple the Hamas government. That is not the explicit goal. That's not the stated goal of this operation. If it happens, I think that, again, there will be many people happy about it and I think that it will be - make a great contribution to the future prospects for peace in this region.
The stated goal to restore security to the southern part of Israel - again, we're talking about close to a million Israelis who have been under continuous rocket fire for the last 10 days, and they have been the targets of over 7,000 rockets since Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
SHAPIRO: Well, describe for us how Israeli troops are operating in the Gaza Strip. Are they staying in their armored vehicles? Are they getting out and going street to street on foot? How exactly are they operating?
Dr. OREN: The fighting is quite intense and it is street to street, though Israel is trying to avoid inserting its troops into densely populated areas. Israel has learned many of the lessons from the Lebanon campaign of 2006. A, that you cannot stop rocket fire by air power alone. You have to put troops on the ground. They have to get into the nitty-gritty work of taking out those rockets. But they also learned the lesson not to advance in cautiously, to take the operation slowly, which in a manner that will not only safeguard Israeli troops to the degree that you can, but also minimize the number of civilian casualties on the other side.
SHAPIRO: Well, how do Israeli troops function in these very densely populated areas without inflicting excessive civilian casualties?
Dr. OREN: Well, it's unavoidable. It's unavoidable in any military conflict.
SHAPIRO: I'm sorry. Are you saying excessive civilian casualties are unavoidable?
Dr. OREN: No. Civilian casualties are unavoidable - not excessive. I think that so far well over three quarters have been armed gunmen, and that is a percentage which is very rarely attained in urban warfare. We're dealing with an enemy that specializes in fighting from in the midst of civilian neighborhoods. We actually have pictures of them shooting rockets out of schools, even using hospitals as headquarters. There is no division between civilian and military. It makes it extremely difficult.
So, civilian casualties are unavoidable. Keeping those civilian casualties less than excessive, as you would say, is the great task of the Israeli Defense Forces. And I think that up to this point we are doing very admirably in that one.
SHAPIRO: Thank you, Michael.
Dr. OREN: Thank you.
SHAPIRO: Michael Oren is a distinguished fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. And he's temporarily serving as a spokesman for the Israeli military.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Today is the first day back in class for lots of kids, including two little girls starting at their new school here in Washington, D.C. Commentator Patricia Elam is glad that if President-elect Obama has his way, his daughters Malia and Sasha will have some extra support at home. Mr. Obama has invited his mother-in-law to join the family in Washington.
Professor PATRICIA ELAM (English, Howard University; Author): Marian Robinson, the first grandma to be, from all appearances possesses that familiar balance of no nonsense, tempered by large doses of love. I've peeped her standing protectively behind the girls. I watched her wordlessly take the president-elect's hand in hers on election night. Her face exuded the pride of a mother.
She's not effusive with it though, at least not in public. She knows her role, and she's done it well for many years, as evidenced by the remarkable children she already raised, the coach and the first lady to be. Many families, especially African-American ones, have enlisted grandmothers to help raise children, both out of necessity and out of shear respect for our elders. Grandma, Nana, Gramee, Ma'Dear, Big Mama, by whatever name necessary, they are often the family arbiters. We tend not to want to institutionalize our older folk, and many remain youthful and spry for quite some time.
My teenage students constantly remind me I'm the same age as their grandmothers, several of whom are raising them. Others relieve parents who work during the day or at night. In many cases, they live in. I grew up with my paternal grandparents only a few blocks away. We spent time with them whenever our parents had meetings or date nights. My grandmother cooked the best fried chicken on Sunday mornings. A stereotype, I know, but true and delicious nonetheless. And we knew better than to turn down her request for a command performance of a poem, dance, or song we had learned in school.
I loved many things about my grandmother: her wispy blue hair, her funny stories about the old days and my father as a little boy, her bowl full of peppermints, and the fact that she went to bat for us on those rare occasions when our parents, sharp minds temporarily eclipsed by hectic schedules and long hours, had simply made the wrong decision. I bet the Obama girls can count on that from their grandmother too.
SHAPIRO: Patricia Elam is a professor at Howard University and author of the novel "Breathing Room."
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Many Americans out of work right now face a tough choice. They can accept a lower paying job that is available in this tough economy or they can hold out for something closer to the paycheck they lost. NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the choices facing many unemployed workers.
LARRY ABRAMSON: After a year of negative economic growth, a lot of workers out there are going through the various phases of unemployment from I'm going to get a job tomorrow enthusiasm to a kind of Zen patience to total despair. Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Project says this recession has swept in a lot of workers who are totally new to this mind-numbing ego-bruising exercise.
Mr. ANDREW STETTNER (Deputy Director, National Employment Law Project): Most people you talk to will say I've never had this problem before.
ABRAMSON: If you're a go-go salesman like Rick Carter(ph) who's been unemployed since August, the waiting can be hard to take.
Mr. RICK CARTER (Unemployed Salesman): I'll be honest with you. Looking back at it, I'm a little surprised that something didn't happen because there was a lot of activity and there was a lot of interviews. A few things came very, very close. You know nothing's happened quite yet.
ABRAMSON: Carter lives with his wife and 11-year-old daughter in a spacious home in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. He used to earn six figures selling security technology and was laid off after a takeover. At first, he saw this as an opportunity to do even better, but after four months he's wondering whether he may have to settle for less.
Mr. CARTER: I'm finding now that there's opportunities out there that when you first are presented them, you know, it may be that it could be a significantly lower, what we call, base salary.
ABRAMSON: Meaning that it would be up to Carter to earn more money through commissions. That could be tough to do in slow times. But Carter at 53 years old still sees himself as young and aggressive. In addition to the spiritual downer, being unemployed during the holidays, Rick Carter says many companies just stop hiring from Thanksgiving on. In interviews they told him they would reassess after the first of the year. But when I spoke to him just before the holidays, he was determined not to let this drag on.
Mr. CARTER: It may happen, but I want to be more aggressive than that. I would like to be back to work sooner than that.
ABRAMSON: The recruiter who introduced me to Rick Carter is Brock Boyd. As CEO of CMI Careers in Vienna, Virginia, he sees a lot of successful executives and marketing people who spend months refusing to think about a job with lower pay.
Mr. BROCK BOYD (CEO, CMI Careers): The trouble is that once they do, oftentimes they've now been out of work for five, eight, 10 months. And now it becomes extremely challenging to find even the compensation that five to eight months ago would have been achievable.
ABRAMSON: Boyd says there's no magic number of months workers should wait, but he says white-collar types may be viewed as damaged goods if they're out of the workforce for too long. Some workers say as long as their unemployment insurance keeps paying out, they don't feel the need to look at lower paying jobs. But after a full year without work, Ken Stalma(ph) of South Plainfield, New Jersey, says he's feeling the pressure.
Mr. KEN STALMA: I used to eat at the Four Seasons in Manhattan in the '80s when money was falling out of your pockets. Now I'm relegated to cooking meals back at home by myself.
ABRAMSON: Stalma used to do custom kitchen and cabinetry work. Now that the home renovation market has disappeared, so has his income. He says the market in his area is so bad his unemployment supervisor left him alone. There just weren't any offers to entertain. But now that his insurance has run out, and he's having health problems, he's a lot closer to taking a minimum wage job.
Mr. STALMA: Listen, if the money runs out, I'm going to do whatever I've got to do.
ABRAMSON: It's a choice each worker has to make on his or her own terms. For Rick Carter, our unemployed tech salesman, a good offer came just before the New Year. The salary is a lot lower than what he was hoping for, but he likes the company, and he was getting tired of waiting. Larry Abramson, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today Congress looks more closely at the agency that did not protect investors from Bernard Madoff. Madoff is the Wall Street trader accused of a $50 billion fraud. And the agency is the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its chairman says his staff never informed him about the trouble with Madoff. Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski will be looking into that claim by the SEC chairman, Christopher Cox.
Representative PAUL KANJORSKI (Democrat, Pennsylvania): I don't think Chris has an excuse. He's supposed to know those things. It's shocking when he says - it's somewhat like a general saying, well, we lost the division because the bomb fell on top of it, but it's not our fault because nobody told us the division was going to be there. You know, spare me that type of excuse that we didn't know at the very top level. They are clearly responsible whether they know or don't know. And if they don't know, we want to know why they don't know and make sure that doesn't happen in the future.
INSKEEP: I also wondered if Chairman Cox's version of the story was the only version of the story, or if we might come to hear from some staff members who said, hey, I was waving a red flag on this.
Representative KANJORSKI: That's possible. And that's why one of the witnesses at the hearing will be the IG...
INSKEEP: Inspector general of the SEC.
Representative KANJORSKI: Right. And he, I hope, will be able to reconstruct for us exactly what he found. At this time, this particular case establishes everything that we need to do a case study of what may be wrong with overall regulation in the securities industry of the United States and in the financial industry of the United States, see what the problems are and go to respond to those problems.
For instance, there were banks that were involved here that made investments with Madoff. Where was their due diligence? And when they lost money, that may have subjected the American taxpayer to some obligation, because they were under federal regulation if they were an insured bank.
INSKEEP: Oh yeah. If they fail, the U.S. government is the one that ends up picking up the tab for the other depositors.
Representative KANJORSKI: Where were the regulators, the bank regulators? When you're talking about $50 billion or multibillion-dollar transactions, you just assume that regulators are going to take an extra time and extra effort to understand that to its thoroughness.
INSKEEP: Two things have seemed interesting to as an average guy reading accounts of what Madoff's investors did and what Madoff himself did. And one is that it seems that some individual investors and fund managers didn't seem to have much trouble figuring out that something was suspicious here. They asked Madoff how he was making his money. They weren't satisfied with the answers. And so they put their money someplace else.
Representative KANJORSKI: Yeah, yeah, very true. And why didn't - what's the level of the other financial people that they didn't react the same way? And what are we doing? There's a licensing problem here too. We find that in certain size organizations, they aren't required to be audited by necessarily the top accounting firms. And that may be a problem in this case. And that's something to look at very seriously. We don't have serious auditors.
INSKEEP: Although the other thing that seemed interesting to me, Mr. Kanjorski, was that if I understand these accounts correctly there some people who put their money with Bernard Madoff who had no idea that they were doing so. They invested in some fund, they were paying a fund manager to manage their money, and basically all those people were doing was handing it on over to Bernard Madoff's firm, and Madoff was doing whatever he wanted with it. Is that a really common practice on Wall Street that if I put my money in a mutual fund, the mutual fund might just be buying another fund, which is buying some other fund, and nobody really even knows where their money is.
Representative KANJORSKI: I suppose outsourcing now has become a disease that's permeated the whole financial world. And that's something, I think, seriously to look at. But I have to say, look, it's first and foremost the responsibility of the private individual in this country to due diligence, and not to turn their money over to people without keeping track of it or watching out what's happening.
But one of the things that annoys me most about this. Even the people that may have caught onto this scheme and withdrew their money may find that if that has happened in the last six years, they will able to be caught after to get that money back.
INSKEEP: Oh, because Madoff was effectively stealing money from other people to pay them their imagined returns.
Representative KANJORSKI: Right. And boy wouldn't that be a shocker and a double whammy when, you know, say five years ago, you spent a lot of money, made an examination and came to the conclusion you thought this wasn't a good deal and decided to take your funds out, and did. And now you've been going on your merry way, investing those for the last five years, to find out that you lose all of that. That could be a shocker. So that's where we don't even know where the secondary ramifications of this will be.
INSKEEP: Congressman Paul Kanjorski is chairman of a House subcommittee that's examining the Bernard Madoff case today. Congressman, thanks very much.
Representative KANJORSKI: Thank you very much.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Court verdicts should be coming soon in the ongoing scandal over China's tainted milk. So far the contaminated milk has killed six children and made nearly 300,000 sick. As NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing, some victims' families are not pleased with the compensation they expect to receive from the government. And observers note that the trial is not addressing how the scandal was covered up.
ANTHONY KUHN: As is often the case in China, which now claims the world's biggest online population, hundreds of victims' families first met in cyberspace. In English their Web site's name means KidneyStoneBabies.com. That's the ailment that hit most of the kids who drank milk or milk powder tainted with the chemical melamine. On Friday police detained and then released the Web site creator and some parents who planned to give a press conference. Other parents met with reporters in the street. Twenty-three-year-old Lan Junxian is the mother of twins, both of whom got kidney stones after drinking Sanlu brand milk powder.
Ms. LAN JUNXIAN: (Through Translator) The government has promised compensation worth $30,000 for fatalities and up to $7,300 for serious cases. I may get no more than $300. We're just here to defend our children's rights. Right now, they've only got kidney stones, but we don't know what ailments might affect them in the future.
KUHN: The government plan calls for a onetime payment and a fund to cover victims' medical expenses until they're 18 years old. On Friday the parents demanded lifelong medical care for their children and research into the possible harm that melamine can cause. Another parent, Hou Rongbo, says his eight-month-old son who was raised on Sanlu milk powder was first diagnosed with kidney stones and then with leukemia. He doesn't know whether melamine is at fault.
Mr. HOU RONGBO: (Through Translator): Our child is at home, and we have given up on treating him. A bone marrow transplant would require the equivalent of $44,000. We're just an ordinary farming family with very little income. Our child is now one year old, and we just watch him get weaker by the day.
KUHN: As parents grappled with their ordeal, prosecutors in several north China courts laid out charges last week against Sanlu dairy company executives and melamine producers. On Wednesday Sanlu's former general manager, 66-year-old Tian Wenhua, admitted that she knew about consumer complaints as early as May, but that Sanlu continued to sell hundreds of tons of tainted milk power until the scandal went public in September.
Anne-Marie Brady is an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. She says that in fact Tian was just following orders.
Dr. ANNE-MARIE BRADY (School of Political Science and Communication, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand): So Mrs. Tian is probably feeling very resentful because she'll know that lots and lots of people knew about what was going on, and she's just having to take the blame.
KUHN: Brady notes that no charges have been brought against the New Zealand dairy firm Fonterra, which held a 43 percent stake in Sanlu. Nor has anyone held the Communist Party's propaganda department accountable for banning media coverage of food safety issues in the run-up to the Olympics. Critics say that despite its slogan of putting people first, Beijing made Olympic glory and public image its priorities. Again, Anne-Marie Brady.
Dr. BRADY: Unfortunately for those 300,000-odd Chinese kids and their parents, the national interest was much greater than the interests of those people and their health and safety.
KUHN: China's top product safety official has already resigned in the scandal. Tian Wenhua and her associates face possible life terms in prison. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
NPR's business news starts with that Russian gas dispute.
(Soundbite of music)
INSKEEP: Russia still is not sending any natural gas to its neighbor Ukraine, and European leaders are now holding emergency talks about this. Russia and Ukraine cannot agree on gas prices, and that appears to be disrupting supplies to Europe. Europe depends on a lot of Russian gas, most of which travels through Ukraine on its way to those other European countries. And last week Russia cut off the supply to Ukraine.
Now Russia is accusing Ukraine of stealing gas intended for other European countries, a charge the Ukraine denies. Several European countries, though, are reporting reduced gas supplies. And this whole incident is provoking memories from three years ago. That's when Russia cut off gas supplies for a day and prompted accusations that Moscow was using its energy supplies as a political weapon.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
President-elect Barack Obama is about to meet with lawmakers to push for his economic stimulus plan. But top Democrats warn it will not be ready for his signature in time for his inauguration on January 20. NPR's Allison Keyes reports.
ALLISON KEYES: Mr. Obama has said his plan will create three million new jobs, mostly in the private sector. Some will involve rebuilding the nation's crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. The president-elect says the proposal provides tax relief to 95 percent of American workers and doubles production of renewable energy. This weekend the president-elect used his audio-video address to urge Congress to take quick action on the plan, which is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $775 billion.
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American dream slipping further and further out of reach.
KEYES: But the second-ranked Democrat of the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer, is warning that even if lawmakers move as quickly as possible, it may take weeks to get the plan ready to be signed into law. The Maryland Democrat told "Fox News Sunday" it is unlikely his party will push for a vote next week.
(Soundbite of "Fox News Sunday")
Representative STENY HOYER (Democrat, Maryland): It's probably going to slip because this has been a complicated effort, a cooperative effort between the Congress and the incoming administration. And again we want to do this right. We want to have people know what we're doing.
KEYES: Republicans like House Minority Leader John Boehner have pushed for just that, calling for public hearings and more time to review the proposal. Hoyer says he hopes to see the package pass the house by the end of this month, get to the Senate, and then to the president's desk before Congress breaks in early February. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
That gas dispute has helped push up the price of oil. Still, oil is much cheaper than it was for most of last year. That means it will be cheaper to heat homes this winter. In the Northeast, where home heating oil is common, costs could be 25 percent lower compared to last year. But some consumers are not happy with the prices they will be paying. From member station WBUR in Boston, Curt Nickisch reports.
CURT NICKISCH: Fuel oil dealer Eddie Basile is filling the home heating oil tank at a house outside Boston. Basile's thrilled to tell the owner she's getting the lowest price per gallon so far this winter.
Mr. EDDIE BASILE (Fuel Oil Dealer): For you, $2.39.
Unidentified Woman: It's a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It's like a Christmas present.
NICKISCH: It's like a Christmas present because fuel oil cost almost twice as much at its peak back in July. Back then, people were freaking out that costs would climb even higher, so many people bought contracts to lock in the going price at the time. That way if the market rate went up, you'd still be paying the same. Well, it went down.
Mr. KEN GLASSER: Some years you're the dog and some years the hydrant.
(Soundbite of laughter)
NICKISCH: That's a nervous laugh Ken Glasser has got because he's paying $4 a gallon to heat his home in the Boston suburbs, the price he locked in back in August. That's about a buck and a half more than the current market price. And if he wanted to forget that, he can't, because he got 60 other people to join in with him.
Mr. GLASSER: These people are my mother, my sister, and several very close friends and retired people that are friends of my mother, people from church, people from work. So it's not anybody that we want to see get hurt.
NICKISCH: It's making for some pretty frosty conversations. Turns out individual customers are not the only ones burned by fixed-rate contracts this year. The city of Newton, Massachusetts, did the same thing. In fact, it's been buying heating oil at a set price every summer for 10 years now. Jeremy Solomon in the mayor's office says until now, the strategy has always paid off.
Mr. JEREMY SOLOMON (Spokesman, Mayor's office, Newton, Massachusetts): Yeah, I mean, over the course of a decade we saved hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars by locking in early and sitting back and watching as the prices go up and the deal gets better and better.
NICKISCH: This year the deal got worse and worse as the prices went the other way. Now the city will have to cough up an extra $1.5 million this winter. Any other year, Solomon says, that would be more manageable, but this year the recession has already cramped the city's budget.
Mr. SOLOMON: You know, in any times such as these, when every nickel counts, this is most unfortunate. It's just a shame.
NICKISCH: But it's also the name of the game, something people are quickly finding out when they try to get out of the contract. Sometimes there is a termination fee, usually pretty hefty. Otherwise they're stuck.
Mr. JIM COLLOURA (Vice President, Government Affairs, New England Fuel Institute): The contract is a contract. It was offered as a service to the customer. It was no malicious intent here.
NICKISCH: Jim Colloura works for the New England Fuel Institute, an association of heating oil dealers. He says his group's members have been getting angry calls from fixed-rate customers. All the dealers can do is deliver the bad news.
Mr. COLLOURA: I got to be honest with you. I think this is a learning curve for everybody.
NICKISCH: It's not just home heating oil. The recession has also lowered natural gas prices. As manufacturers go out of business or take longer holiday breaks, that's giving home consumers a break and making those people who bought fixed-rate gas contracts wish they'd procrastinated. For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And our last word in business today is the end of the Rainbow. The Rainbow Grill restaurant, part of the famed Rainbow Room, is temporarily closing. The Rainbow Room opened in 1934. It's become an icon of glitz, glamour, and dinner dancing. The landmark upscale party venue overlooks the skating rink in Rockefeller Center. It offers stunning views of the city and $50 steaks - $53 rib eyes to be exact. They don't seem to be selling well these days.
The recession and a dispute over the lease have forced the owners to close down the Rainbow Grill. A spokesman says it's unclear when it will reopen. But don't put away your dancing shoes just yet. Weekend dinner dancing, as well as the bar and banquet space, will remain open. And that's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. President-elect Barack Obama faces two awkward situations this week. One is the debate over filling his Senate seat, and we'll have more on that in a moment.
SHAPIRO: But we start with the other awkward situation. Obama's choice for commerce secretary has withdrawn from consideration. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson faces questions about whether a company paid to get a state contract.
INSKEEP: The Albuquerque Journal first reported the allegations in August, so the Obama transition team had plenty of warning. NPR's Ted Robbins reports.
TED ROBBINS: The deal in question goes back to 2004. That's when CDR Financial Products, a California consulting firm, got contracts to advise the state of New Mexico on a bond issue to fund highway and light rail projects. The contracts were worth $1.4 million.
Meanwhile, in 2003 and '4, CDR and its president, David Rubin, gave $100,000 to two Richardson committees. One to register Hispanic and American Indian voters, the other to help the governor pay expenses at the 2004 Democratic Convention. CDR did not answer our request for comment. But no one, at least no one publicly, has said there was a link between the two actions.
So what has changed since Richardson was named to the Cabinet December third? Well, it's been widely reported, only in the last three weeks, that a grand jury in Albuquerque has begun investigating the allegations. Joe Monahan, who writes a blog called New Mexico Politics, says political tolerance toward alleged favors for money has also tightened in the last month.
Mr. JOE MONAHAN (Blogger, New Mexico Politics): I think the obvious thing that's changed is the situation with the Illinois governor and the pay-to-play allegations surrounding the appointment of that U.S. Senate seat. And that's shone a spotlight, perhaps more brightly, on the situation in New Mexico, causing, you know, more severe political problems for Richardson than the Obama team anticipated.
ROBBINS: In a written statement Sunday, Governor Richardson said he has done nothing wrong, but is pulling out as commerce secretary because the quote, "ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process," end quote. Few politicians in America have the breadth of experience that Bill Richardson has. He was a congressman, U.N. ambassador, and energy secretary before becoming governor. Trip Jennings covers state politics for the online New Mexico Independent. He says despite Richardson's experience, not everyone is happy to see him stay on as governor.
Mr. TRIP JENNINGS (Reporter, New Mexico Independent): You know, I think there's some folks in the legislature who were kind of breathing a sigh of relief that Governor Richardson was leaving New Mexico. They were wishing him well, but I think there were some folks in the legislature - not just Republicans, some Democrats, who viewed him as a bully.
ROBBINS: On the other hand, New Mexico Speaker of the House Manual Lujan says Richardson's return is a blessing in disguise. Like many states, New Mexico faces a budget deficit. Lujan says Richardson is up to speed on the issues, unlike Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, who would have become governor if Richardson left. Lujan is a longtime Richardson ally who says the governor will come through the scandal unscathed. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The New Mexico Speaker of the House is named BEN Lujan.]
State Representative BEN LUJAN (New Mexico Speaker of the House): I have no doubt that he will be fine, and he himself, I'm sure, feels that way.
ROBBINS: President-elect Obama, in his own written statement, accepted Richardson's withdrawal. But he left open the possibility, even the desire, to have Bill Richardson as part of his administration in the future. Ted Robbins, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Then there's the man Mr. Obama would rather not have in the Senate. At least not this way. Roland Burris has been chosen to fill a vacant seat. He got a big welcome last night in a Southside Chicago church.
Unidentified Man: Chicago, Illinois, the United States of America, Mr. Roland Burris!
SHAPIRO: NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
(Soundbite of church choir singing "It's Not Over")
CHERYL CORLEY: As a choir sang "It's Not Over," Roland Burris sat on a stage flanked by three pews filled with ministers. Several hundred people, including city and state legislators, had come to offer spiritual and political support.
Senate Democrats have said they won't accept anyone who was appointed by Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich, who faces federal corruption charges, and is accused of trying to sell the Senate seat. Burris told the crowd he's been legally appointed, and he'll show up at Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony.
(Soundbite of speech)
Mr. ROLAND BURRIS (Former Attorney General, Illinois): I am ready to serve, friends. I am ready to serve.
CORLEY: Some supporters say an African-American should finish the Senate term of President-elect Barack Obama. Burris would be the only black senator. He says if he's turned away Tuesday, he won't make a fuss.
Mr. BURRIS: I just hope that they follow the law.
CORLEY: Burris says he will take legal action if needed. He's scheduled to meet with Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
SHAPIRO: Let's get some analysis now from NPR's Cokie Roberts. Morning, Cokie.
COKIE ROBERTS: Good morning, Ari.
SHAPIRO: So as we just heard, Roland Burris plans to be in Washington tomorrow when the new senators are sworn in. How much of a problem is this for the Obama team?
ROBERTS: Well, look. The problem is the Senate should be focusing on its meetings with Obama, which are scheduled for today, and on the economic situation, which continues to get worse. And it has to be worrying about this, and that's a problem. The symbolism is also horrible. Blocking an African-American, basically, at the Senate door.
Senator Reid, the Democratic leader, says he'll meet with him. Maybe there can be a compromise. Meanwhile, the Illinois legislature is meeting this week to move on to impeaching Governor Blagojevich. So you know, this could be settled pretty quickly. It basically falls into the category of who needs it when there are many more important things to worry about?
SHAPIRO: And then what about Governor Richardson's withdrawal of his nomination as commerce secretary? Does that affect what, until now, has been a mostly smooth transition?
ROBERTS: A remarkably smooth transition. That's also a who-needs-it question. And I think there's some irritation in the Obama camp with Governor Richardson. Some sense that he was pushed, he didn't just move by himself. What's surprising is that with a transition team that was asking questions about embarrassing emails and such things, that they missed a grand jury investigation.
SHAPIRO: Right.
ROBERTS: But I think that Richardson - that this, again, will be a blip. That, you know, that this didn't get to the confirmation hearings stage, another person will be named, and on we'll go.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And then moving from New Mexico to Minnesota, officials are expected to announce a winner in the Minnesota Senate race later today. And it looks like it'll be Democrat Al Franken. Is that the end of it?
COKIE ROBERTS: Now, this one could - yeah, this one could be a real problem. The Republicans are saying this should be settled in Minnesota, that Minnesota law is very clear that court cases should be heard before anyone is declared the winner and that the secretary of state shouldn't certify.
Look, if we get into a big interparty fight, a Republicans versus Democrats on seating a senator, that could be very, very nasty. Those things tend to just blight any bipartisanship, and that mood is really there. I talked to Mitch McConnell yesterday, the Republican leader, and he said, look, we are in a bipartisan mood. There's too much to be done. There's a new president with high approval ratings. But you get something like this and they start fighting with each other, and that could really, really make it very difficult for the Senate to come together.
SHAPIRO: And then finally, one state has a new senator to replace an Obama Cabinet appointment. That's Colorado, where Michael Bennet has been tapped to take over for Senator Ken Salazar, who will be secretary of the interior. What do we know about Mr. Bennet?
ROBERTS: Well, what we know is that he's been superintendent of education, and it's a surprising and unusual pick. But it could also signal that education will be more on the Senate agenda than we expected. Mr. Bennet, along with the education secretary pick, Arnie Duncan, and some other education reformers in big cities, like Michelle Rhee here in Washington. Joel Klein in New York, have talked about education as an economic issue. And he's likely to frame it that way in the Senate, and it will come to the fore.
But of course, the most important issue right away is the economy, that big economic stimulus package. And there, we've heard from Democratic leaders not to expect that now right away, but maybe before the Lincoln's Day recess in February. Obama is throwing out some ideas to bring on Republicans like maybe a $300 billion tax cut. But that's where they really need to keep the momentum going, keep the Congress together to get that done very, very quickly.
SHAPIRO: Thanks. That's NPR News analyst Cokie Roberts.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Renee Montagne is away this week. Let's get an update now on an effort to bring assistance to Gaza. Today, a convoy has been traveling across the Sinai desert on the eastern edge of Egypt. The destination is that strip of Palestinian land where Israel began a ground offensive over the weekend. Aid groups say many essential items are in short supply in Gaza. We do not know if the aid will be allowed across the border. A short time ago we reached NPR's Peter Kenyon, who's traveling with the convoy.
PETER KENYON: Hi Steve. I'm traveling with the convoy from the Egyptian Relief Committee. These doctors in particular and volunteers are from Alexandria. They were up at 2 a.m. loading their donated supplies, medicines, gurneys for stretchers, some very basic stuff, as well as some more specialized equipment. And then they drove through the night. We picked them up outside of Cairo, and we're now crossing the Sinai, getting close to the border. It has sent 10 tons of the medical supplies to the border already, this organization, and they also have a list of dozens of doctors who say they're willing to go into Gaza and work alongside the Palestinian doctors, but so far they're not being given permission to cross.
INSKEEP: If they don't have permission to cross, why are they continuing toward the border? Are they hoping to almost shame people, or just get lucky?
KENYON: They are occasionally letting cargo through, and how it works is a truck will cross from the Egyptian side into the no-man's-land of the border crossing area itself. It will be unloaded to a Palestinian truck, and those trucks will go on into Gaza. Now, that was working more or less all right with lots of delays up until the ground offensive started. And now that the Gaza strip has been cut and the internal transportation in Gaza is so difficult, it's not clear if these supplies get across the border into Gaza - into the Rafiah side of the Gaza strip - whether they'll make it to Gaza city or not.
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Peter Kenyon. He's on board a relief convoy that is heading for Gaza from Egypt. And Peter, on this program in the last few days, we've been reminded more than once that the border is closed on the Egyptian side. And part of the reason for that is that Egypt is not particularly supportive of Hamas, which controls Gaza. Does this relief convoy suggest a little different point of view on the part of the Egyptians?
KENYON: I wouldn't say that, Steve. Egypt has sharpened its rhetoric over the weekend. The president, Hosni Mubarak, called the ground offensive a savage aggression that must be stopped immediately. But the actual facts on the ground, as we often say in this part of the world, have not changed that much in this case. Occasional cargo trucks are getting through. But people, be they doctors or others, and sometimes even patients getting out - some patients are being allowed out, but not nearly as many as could be. The border issue is still a very restrictive one and a very touchy one. The anger against Egypt is rising.
INSKEEP: Peter, I know you're moving there, but have you had an opportunity to talk with any of the people on this convoy and find out what motivates them to try this?
KENYON: I did. The first doctor I talked to actually turned out to be a pharmacist from Alexandria, and he's going along to volunteer and help unload. And if he does manage to get across, he'll do whatever he can. His wife is coming. If he gets stuck for several days, which he's actually anticipating, his wife's a pediatrician. There are, he says, dozens, probably, of doctors from around the world, from Europe, from Arab countries, camped out essentially at the Rafiah border crossing hoping for a chance to get across.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Peter Kenyon on board a relief convoy as it nears the border with Gaza. Peter, thanks very much.
KENYON: You're welcome, Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
President-elect Obama has arrived in Washington. He touched down in a Boeing 757 decorated with the presidential seal. It's a military aircraft often used by vice presidents and first ladies. Air Force 1, of course, is still taken, as is the house that Obama and his family plan to call home for the next four years. So for now, the Obamas plan to stay in Washington Hay-Adams Hotel. The family came to Washington before the inauguration so the couple's two girls could start school. The president-elect says after a couple of years of traveling during the campaign, he is not looking forward to another two weeks in a hotel, but the Hay-Adams does have some of the best views in the city. Including a view of the White House, which is visible just across a park.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Good morning, I'm Ari Shapiro. James Howarth of Detroit has a new pen pal, the IRS. First came a letter in November that said he owed the IRS a nickel. Pay the five cents, the letter said, or face additional penalties. Then came a second letter saying the IRS owes him four cents. And it said he won't get the money back automatically since it's less than a dollar. Mr. Howarth called the IRS toll-free number to sort it out. But after waiting on hold, and waiting, he gave up. This is Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Clients of Bernard Madoff may have lost their money, but they did come away with souvenirs. Now, clients and former employees are selling items with the company's name. They came away with swag from the guy accused of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, and they're using the auction site eBay to sell things like T-shirts, beach towels, umbrellas, coolers, binoculars, flashlights and tote bags. The postings tell buyers they can own a piece of history.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Next, let's remember a man who led the U.S. Justice Department in the wake of a scandal. The scandal was Watergate, and the attorney general in the years afterward, some of the years afterward, was Griffin Bell. He grew up with President Jimmy Carter and became his attorney general in the late 1970s, and he has died in Atlanta. Bell was 90 years old. And Griffin Bell was one of those widely credited with restoring public confidence in the Justice Department after Watergate. Our legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg is here. She spoke with him last summer, not long after he learned - we learned that he was dying. And she joins us now live. What made him a significant figure, Nina?
NINA TOTENBERG: Well, you have to remember what the Justice Department was like in the wake of Watergate. The attorney general had gone to jail for obstruction of justice, and many of - and he had sort of pulled the entire department, including the head of the FBI, into this massive obstruction along with the president to protect the president.
INSKEEP: The definition of a politicized Justice Department.
TOTENBERG: The definition of a politicized Justice Department. You know, we think we've just had a very nasty political scandal in the Justice Department, but nobody went to jail because of it. And it was - it never reached into the presidency itself or the attorney - the attorney general has not been charged with any crime. But that is where we were then. And the first guy who inherited this mess was President Ford's attorney general, Edward Levi, who was an academic and sort of righted the ship.
And then came Griffin Bell, who was a political figure in the sense that he'd always been involved in politics, but he'd been a judge for 15 years. And he was just a sort of a breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine. And he sort of knew what his job was. And when I talked to him a few months ago, at the time that he knew he was dying, here's what he said was the task before him in restoring trust.
Mr. GRIFFIN BELL (Former U.S. Attorney General): Trust is a coin of the realm, and if the public doesn't trust the Justice Department, we're in trouble. So I think you have to be transparent. And so you need to let people know what's going on and who you're meeting with and who's influenced you and who had a chance to influence you. And I took great pride in that.
TOTENBERG: Yeah, he did. What he did was he published his log every day, the log of who he met with and who he talked to on the telephone. And he gave it to the press corps every day.
INSKEEP: So you never had any questions about backdoor dealing, or at least fewer questions about backdoor dealing.
TOTENBERG: And he said he had fewer calls from members of Congress.
INSKEEP: Because who wants to have that publicized that they're calling the attorney general about something?
TOTENBERG: And it's so interesting that here is this guy who was - initially people said, oh, he's a crony of the president. And he was fiercely protective of the career people in the Justice Department, brought them into the decision making process on a routine basis. He did a lot of things that we take for granted today. He was sort of a hawk, a hardliner, on national security. But he was a fierce advocate for doing it within the confines of the law - wiretapping. And he fought off the CIA on that. He fought off and wrote the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which has been in place ever since until President Bush started circumventing it.
INSKEEP: This allows wiretapping against national security targets, but only within limits and with the permission of a court.
TOTENBERG: He said there had to be a court, an independent judge overseeing it.
INSKEEP: Which gets back to that issue of trust and confidence in the system.
TOTENBERG: Absolutely.
INSKEEP: NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Nina, thanks for coming by.
TOTENBERG: My pleasure.
INSKEEP: And again, former attorney general Griffin Bell, attorney general in the Carter administration, has died at the age of 90.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
When we talk about Somalia on this program, the news is often about warlords and violence, or as we heard earlier, pirates hijacking ships off the coast. Well, here's a different kind of Somalia news, a rapper named K'Naan is trying to change the way his country is viewed. He's become an artist to watch in the world of hip-hop. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.
ELIZABETH BLAIR: K'Naan grew up in Mogadishu on what he calls the meanest streets in the universe. In one song on his new CD, he calls his hometown the "risky zone," full of pistols and Russian revolvers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "ABCS" BY K'NAAN)
NAAN: But it ain't just because we want to We ain't got nowhere we can run to Somebody, please press the undo They only teach us the things that guns do
NAAN: They don't teach us the ABCs, We play on the hard concrete, All we got is life on the streets, All we got is life on the streets, They don't teach us the ABCs, We play on the hard concrete, All we've got is life on the streets, All we've got is life on the streets,
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "ABCS" BY K'NAAN)
BLAIR: Somalia is one of the poorest and most violent countries in the world. Malnutrition and clan warfare are rampant. According to Amnesty International, some 6,000 civilians were killed in fighting in 2007 alone. K'Naan wants to use his music to raise consciousness about what's happening there.
NAAN: The people of Somalia just do not have a voice. They are, to me, the most forgotten people in the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG BY K'NAAN)
NAAN: (Singing) Heaven Is there a chance that you could come down And open doors to hurting people like me
BLAIR: K'Naan left Somalia in 1991 with his mother and older brother. He was a teenager. The country was in a civil war, with multiple factions fighting each other.
NAAN: Mogadishu was burning, and the government had just - is falling. And all the embassies are packing up, and my mother is able to get visas to the United States.
BLAIR: She got visas for herself, K'Naan, his older brother, and his cousin, who K'Naan says was his best friend. But in the end, his mother could only afford three plane tickets and had to tell K'Naan's cousin she couldn't take him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG BY K'NAAN)
NAAN: Heaven,
BLAIR: K'Naan's cousin got out of Somalia last year and now lives in the U.S. K'Naan is not a newcomer to hip-hop. His first CD, "The Dusty Foot Philosopher," was a hit with critics here and abroad. His new CD, "Troubadour," features Mos Def and Damian Marley. The L.A. Times recently listed K'Naan as an artist to watch in 2009. The Guardian newspaper called him "powerfully low-key, theatrical [and] witty." Salem Mohammed(ph) is not a music critic, but like K'Naan, he knows all about growing up in extreme circumstances.
SALEM MOHAMMED: I think one of the things I'm drawn to K'Naan music, he lives it. He talks about the truth.
BLAIR: Salem Mohammed grew up in an orphanage in Kenya. Today, he's a community organizer in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in East Africa. He met K'Naan when they worked on a cable TV show together.
MOHAMMED: He just doesn't sing for himself. He sings for us. That's the most important thing. And when you hear him speaking, it's a voice of so many coming out of him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG BY K'NAAN)
NAAN: And I got my prize so I begin to hide it Like fire in Freetown You begin to light it
BLAIR: K'Naan writes in a variety of music styles, but before he moved to North America, before he spoke any English, his first love was American rap.
NAAN: (rapping) I came to the door I said it before I never let the mike magnetize me no more but it's frightening
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
NAAN: Eric B. and Rakim, "Paid in Full." I had it memorized just like that. But of course, I didn't know what door meant.
BLAIR: K'Naan could not be mistaken for an American rapper, at least not a gangster rapper. He wears no bling, though he is stylish. He has a kind of vintage bohemian look. K'Naan doesn't think American gangster rap has much credibility, because even the toughest American neighborhoods aren't nearly as dangerous as Mogadishu.
NAAN: Where rocket-propelled grenades are fired around you on a daily - you know, a guy bragging about - standing on TV, and talking about how gangster he is, and how, you know, he'll do - for us, it's more a source of entertainment., It's more like a comedy or something that we watch, and we say oh wow, that's kind of cute of American gangsters or something. But it isn't hardcore. It isn't that bad. you know, it's like let's get things in perspective, you know.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG BY K'NAAN)
NAAN: (Rapping) I don't expect you to feel my pain But with respect to the rules of the game They don't apply 'cause I made it this far staged out like a ghetto rock star
BLAIR: Lately, K'Naan has been talking about the Somali pirates who've been hijacking ships from western countries off the Somalia coast, because, he says, there's more to that story, too. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
SHAPIRO: You can download K'Naan's song "Somalia," and hear more of his music at nprmusic.org. In fact, why wait?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG BY K'NAAN)
SHAPIRO: This is Morning Edition from NPR news. I'm Ari Shapiro.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
If you want to understand the power that Russia gets from its energy industry, consider just one fact. Russia sends natural gas to a number of U.S. allies. Those allies depend on it more and more. And they're getting a reminder of Russia's power right now. Russia shut off the gas to its neighbor Ukraine. And it appears that less and less gas is passing through Ukraine on its way to a country at the heart of Europe - Germany. This morning we'll continue our reports on Russia's giant gas company known as Gazprom. NPR's Gregory Feifer reports from the country that's Gazprom's biggest customer.
(Soundbite of laughter)
GREGORY FEIFER: This is Potsdamer Platz at the heart of Germany's capital, Berlin. This square with its soaring steel and glass roof is surrounded by corporate headquarters and a massive entertainment complex. It was built on what was once desolate wasteland, the site of the Berlin Wall.
Thousands of businessmen, shoppers, and filmgoers throng Potsdamer Platz. Despite the current financial crisis, the square is still a symbol of Germany's economic success. But that success depends on imported energy. Russia, the World War II enemy that split Germany in half, now supplies it with more than 40 percent of its natural gas.
Critics, especially in the United States, say control over energy supplies gives Moscow more power to influence Europe today than the Red Army did during the Cold War. Harvard University's Marshall Goldman says the threat was made clear when Moscow first shut off gas to Ukraine in 2006 and supplies to Western Europe were also disrupted.
Dr. MARSHALL GOLDMAN (Associate Director, Harvard Russian Research Center, Harvard University): It intimidates the country. And in a sense, it neutralizes the country. And so if you look at Germany's policies after that incident, they become much more timid in challenging some of the things that countries might do that would upset the Russians.
FEIFER: Last November, the Bush administration campaigned to put Ukraine and Georgia on a path to NATO membership, an issue that's provoked fury in Russia. Despite international outrage over Russia's summer invasion of Georgia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the opposition to Washington's plan, and the U.S. was defeated. At the same time, Germany blocked proposed European Union regulations that would have restricted foreign companies from buying European energy utilities, a policy that could have slowed Gazprom's advance into Western Europe.
Meanwhile, despite the financial crisis, Gazprom is going ahead with plans to build a pipeline to Germany directly from Russia, cutting out transit countries such as Ukraine. The head of the North Stream pipeline project is none other than Germany's former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, who took the job only weeks after he left office.
(Soundbite of woman speaking Russian)
FEIFER: German high school students in the Baltic Sea city of Rostock play a Russian-language board game. It's part of a competition held in schools across the country, sponsored by Gazprom. The Russian monopoly has spent a lot of money on its public relations campaign in Germany, and it seems to be working. University student Francisca Ullman, who barely remembers the Cold War, says cooperation with Russia is the future for Germany.
Ms. FRANCISCA ULLMAN (German University Student): (Through Translator) It's smarter to have an energy partnership with Russia because it's much closer than, say, the United States.
FEIFER: Germans say Russia's need for German investment makes their relationship one of co-dependence. But above all, politicians say, Germany, which is phasing our nuclear power, simply has no other option. Ekhard von Klaeden of Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Party is a well-known Russia critic. But even he praises the new North Stream pipeline, saying it will help Germany guarantee energy supplies to other European countries.
Mr. EKHARD VON KLAEDEN (Member, Christian Democratic Party): The answer has to be a network of pipelines within Europe. And if the North Stream project is integrated in this way, I don't see this reason for fear and concern.
FEIFER: It's difficult to find Germans in positions of influence who will express concern about Gazprom's growing penetration of Europe's energy market. Those outside Europe who do worry about Gazprom's widening influence think the company has been successful in persuading European countries to consider their own national interests ahead of a unified European energy strategy. Celeste Wallander of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., says Gazprom has been cultivating Western energy companies to act as lobbyists for Russian interests.
Professor CELESTE WALLANDER (School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University): There are a lot of European business people making a lot of money by being willing to make deals with Gazprom. And those business elites, say, in Germany most clearly, are obviously influential in the politics and policies of their own country.
FEIFER: Germany and other European countries have repeatedly promised to diversify their energy supplies, but their dependence on Russia keeps growing while Gazprom pursues its strategy of controlling the entire gas supply chain from Siberia direct into the homes of millions of European consumers. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Berlin.
INSKEEP: Tomorrow, we'll go the Balkans, to Serbia, where Gazprom has agreed to buy control of the country's entire oil and gas industry. And you can trace how Russian gas reaches Europe at our Web site, npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The places where people have protested Israel's offensive include the country where we're going next. Lebanon is where Israel waged a similar campaign against a threat on its border in 2006. Lebanon is also home to many Palestinian refugees. They've lived in camps there for generations, and they've watched events in Gaza with intense interest. NPR's Anne Garrels has more from Beirut.
ANNE GARRELS: Thousands have taken to the streets of Beirut over the past week. While their fury is directed primarily at Israel and the United States, the demonstrators have also lashed out at Egypt and others for doing nothing to defend the Palestinians.
(Soundbite of crowd)
GARRELS: In the squalid lanes of Shatila, a refugee camp in Beirut, Palestinians understand they can't expect Hezbollah to get involved in another war just two years after taking on Israel in 2006. Hezbollah is looking ahead to parliamentary elections, and 29-year-old Palestinian Mahid Deen says starting a conflict could risk Hezbollah's political gains by angering Lebanese who are weary of war. He also fears a backlash against Palestinians. While many Lebanese may support their cause, many also resent the Palestinians' continued presence in this already fractured country.
Mr. MAHID DEEN (Palestinian Refugee, Lebanon): (Through translator) Lebanon is small country, and it has it's own problems. But Egypt, Syria, Jordan, they could all help.
GARRELS: Are they?
Mr. DEEN: No.
GARRELS: Osama Hamden, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, is also hoping growing discontent in the Arab world will force governments to do more.
Mr. OSAMA HAMDEN (Hamas Representative, Lebanon): This is the biggest failure for Israel. After 60 years, you are creating more enemies.
GARRELS: Um Khalid has lived in Lebanese refugee camps for 60 years, since she fled her village in what is now northern Israel. Three generations are now crammed into two small rooms.
Ms. UM KHALID (Palestinian Refugee, Lebanon): (Through translator) See the conditions we're living in? It's almost a living death. What can we do?
GARRELS: A charcoal brazier takes the nip out of the winter evening. And whenever the intermittent electricity comes on, the family is glued to television reports from Gaza. Her brother, Mohammed Marzouk, says Hamas fighters have reached the point where they don't care if they live or die.
Mr. MOHAMMED MARZOUK (Palestinian Refugee, Lebanon): (Through translator) Now, this might help. But on its own, it's not enough. If they have Arab leaders that unite, I'm angry at these Arab leaders because they're traitors. They haven't done anything.
GARRELS: He says Israel's latest assault is likely to radicalize young people.
Mr. MARZOUK: (Through translator): They see babies and children being killed, and just like I watch people being killed, and I get angry, and they get angry. And where do they store all this? In their hearts. So what are they going to grow up to be? It's natural. It's a resistance.
GARRELS: There are splits within the Palestinian community here between those who support the Palestinian Authority and peace talks, and those who support Hamas and its rejection of Israel. Suheil el Natoor, a leader of the secular Democratic Front, says those splits have been constrained here because an outright fight among the factions would bring yet another crackdown by the Lebanese authorities. And at a moment like this, he says, everyone supports the resistance.
Mr. SUHEIL EL NATOOR (Lebanese Democratic Front): This is not a moment to settle the accounts, you know. This is a moment of unity to stop the bloodshed.
GARRELS: All the major Palestinian factions here have made a point at working together during the Gaza conflict. Some say this may lead to renewed talks, possibly here in Lebanon, to breach the Palestinian divide. But Suheil el Natoor says Israel, ultimately, must make the difference.
Mr. NATOOR: You can't uproot Hamas if you give the Palestinians no hope of having an independent state.
GARRELS: Like many in the Middle East, Suheil el Natoor believes Israel timed its move against Hamas 24 days before President Bush leaves office, knowing it would have Washington's backing. He says he's disappointed, but not surprised, at President-elect Obama's silence. Anne Garrels, NPR News, Beirut.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The nation's third-largest employer is losing money. If you want to help, write a letter. Tamara Keith reports on the plight of the U.S. Postal Service.
(Soundbite of sorting machine)
TAMARA KEITH: Thousands of identical envelopes fly through a barcode sorting machine at a Washington, D.C., postal facility. It's mostly ads and solicitations asking for charitable donations or offering new credit cards. And it's mail like this that told the U.S. Postal Service that the economy was in trouble way back in December of 2007.
Mr. STEPHEN KEARNEY (Senior Vice President, Customer Relations, U.S. Postal Service): We noticed a big drop-off in our mail volume beginning, and then it accelerated throughout the year.
KEITH: Stephen Kearney is senior vice president of customer relations for the Postal Service.
Mr. KEARNEY: Our mail volume had its biggest decline since the Great Depression.
KEITH: In the fiscal year that ended in September, mail carriers delivered 9.5 billion fewer letters and packages than the year before. Kearney says the Postal Service made aggressive cuts and still lost $2.8 billion. Fiscal year 2009, which started October 1, he says isn't looking any better.
Mr. KEARNEY: We may have losses that are larger than the 2.8 billion we had last year. Revenue is not doing well so far in October and November.
KEITH: Mail volume always suffers when the economy suffers, but this economic downturn is hitting the Postal Service particularly hard. That's because the slumping housing and financial sectors have typically been big users of direct mail marketing. In the third quarter, credit card offers were down 30 percent from the year before. That's according to data from the tracking firm Mintel Comperemedia. Stephen Clifford is a company vice president.
Mr. STEPHEN CLIFFORD (Vice president, Mintel Comperemedia): Lenders and credit card issuers need to be more selective about who they're mailing offers to, so that's down.
KEITH: Plus, he says, direct mail marketing isn't cheap.
Mr. CLIFFORD: You send less mail, you spend less money.
KEITH: And it's not just corporations. Postal Service officials say people sent fewer holiday cards and packages last year. More people are paying their bills online. There's even a "Do-Not-Mail" movement urging people to protect the environment by skipping catalogs and paper statements. Dan Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, says this recession is forcing the Postal Service to evolve.
Mr. DAN BLAIR (Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission): The question remains is will consumers come back to using the mail? And more importantly, will the banks, will the credit card companies, will the financial institutions continue to use the mail, or are they going to look to using the Internet as a means of communicating with their customers?
KEITH: And if they don't come back, Blair says the Postal Service and Congress may have to more seriously consider some cost-cutting ideas that have been out there for a while.
Mr. BLAIR: For instance, are they going to be able to continue six-day-a-week delivery? Are they going to be able to keep all those small post offices operating?
KEITH: For now, Stephen Kearney says the Postal Service is adjusting routes to reflect the reduced mail volume, offering early retirement to employees, and changing operations at sorting facilities from 24 hours a day to 18. There haven't been any layoffs, but through the trims, the Postal Service has cut the equivalent of more than 20,000 jobs.
Mr. KEARNEY: A lot of people have predicted the demise of the Postal Service many times before, including after the invention of the telegraph, the telephone, and the fax machine. And we think when the economy recovers, demand for our shipping and mailing services will be renewed.
KEITH: And when the economy does recover, Kearney says the Postal Service should be among the first to know, since mail volume is what you might call a lesser-known leading economic indicator. For NPR News, I'm Tamara Keith.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Agencies like the CIA are supposed to work mainly overseas. But in recent years, they've been urged to work more closely with domestic security agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, which we'll hear about next. That much criticized agency gets a burst of publicity starting tonight. ABC begins a reality show called "Homeland Security U.S.A." It has the look of a documentary. It avoids politics, and is paced more like a police drama. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.
CARRIE KAHN: (Soundbite from "Homeland Security U.S.A.")
U: The United States, with entry points at hundreds of airports, harbors and along a border of more than 100,000 miles, is protected by the Department of Homeland Security.
KAHN: (Soundbite from "Homeland Security U.S.A.")
U: This is "Homeland Security U.S.A."
KAHN: (Soundbite from "Homeland Security U.S.A.")
U: Please make the notifications up the chain of command that we have a possible 40 kilos of cocaine, and we're going to continue to search the rest of the car.
KAHN: (Soundbite from "Homeland Security U.S.A.")
U: When I have to go?
U: Tonight, you will be transported to another facility, spend the night.
U: But I don't accept this decision.
KAHN: (Soundbite from "Homeland Security U.S.A.")
M: Hi, what are you bringing from Mexico?
U: Nothing.
M: What was the purpose of your trip to Mexico?
KAHN: Brown landed a starring role in the premiere episode, and much teasing from colleagues.
M: I get called names like Hollywood, and, you know, they keep asking for autographs. But I won't sign an autograph for under five bucks, so...
KAHN: (Soundbite from "Homeland Security U.S.A.")
M: (Spanish spoken) Open the door!
U: No.
M: Code three! Code three!
KAHN: Agent James Carraway was one of the officers in that scene. He says unfortunately, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
M: Sometimes those things does happen. It's unfortunate, but they do happen.
KAHN: Were you upset that that made it into the show?
M: Not really, because, you know, one thing I believe in is not trying to portray a false sense of what we do.
KAHN: Department of Homeland Security spokesman Ed Fox says the agency has no editorial control over the show, but it did suggest changes when an agent's safety was compromised, or if enforcement strategies were revealed. He says the show doesn't deal with policy or politics, just the hard work of keeping the country safe.
M: And sometimes that's lost in the rather heated debates of Washington over the high-profile, sensitive issues that we deal with at this level.
KAHN: But some immigrant advocates and other critics say you can't separate the workers from the work, and charge that the show is propaganda. A few have planned to hold protests in front of ABC affiliates tonight. That may be the least of worries for "Homeland Security USA." Starting next week, it will compete in the 8 o'clock time slot with Fox's "American Idol." Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Los Angeles.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro sitting in for Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep, good morning. This is the day a new Congress begins with bigger Democratic majorities. The lawmakers face one overriding issue, the economy. They're asking how a Wall Street trader made $50 billion disappear, and we'll hear from an alleged victim of Bernard Madoff in a moment.
SHAPIRO: We start with an effort to help the economy recover. President-elect Obama is asking Congress for help. He met with both Democrats and Republicans yesterday. The president-elect has not spelled out a price tag for his stimulus plan, but lawmakers say it could top one trillion dollars. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: President-elect Barack Obama says the storm clouds over the nation's economy are getting darker. And Friday's unemployment report is likely to deepen the chill. With that in mind, Mr. Obama traveled past the White House to the Capitol yesterday urging his former colleagues in the Legislature to waste no time approving a stimulus measure designed to bring a little sunshine into the forecast.
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: The most important message today is that the situation is getting worse. We've got to act boldly and we've got to act swiftly. We cannot delay.
HORSLEY: Although Democrats originally hoped to have a stimulus measure ready for the new president's signature as soon as he takes office, that now appears unlikely. But Mr. Obama doesn't expect to wait long. Despite skepticism from Republicans and some Democrats, Mr. Obama hopes Congress will pass a stimulus measure by the end of January or early February at the latest.
President-elect OBAMA: We are not going to get bogged down in a lot of old-style politics on either side. There's not going to be a lot of finger pointing or posturing. The American people need action now. That's what I intend to provide as president of the United States.
HORSLEY: A significant share of the stimulus package is likely to take the form of tax breaks for both workers and businesses. That could make the plan more palatable to Republicans than if it were based solely on new government spending. After a meeting with his economic advisers yesterday, Mr. Obama insisted the proposed tax cuts are not just a political gesture meant to curry favor with the GOP.
President-elect OBAMA: For the last two years, I've talked about the need for middle class tax cuts. So the notion that me wanting to include relief for working families in this plan is somehow a political ploy, when this was a centerpiece of my economic plan for the last two years, doesn't make too much sense.
HORSLEY: Whatever the motivation, the likely inclusion of tax cuts in the stimulus package may help to win bipartisan support. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell predicts that portion of the bill will be met with widespread GOP enthusiasm.
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky): The best way to stimulate the economy obviously is to put money directly into pockets of taxpayers.
HORSLEY: Still, McConnell argues that new government spending in the stimulus package must not go for frivolous projects. He suggests that if states were required to pay back any money they receive from the federal government, they might be more careful about how they spend it. House Republican Leader John Boehner also worries about the overall size of the stimulus measure at a time when the government is already running big deficits.
Representative JOHN BOEHNER (Republican, Ohio): This is not a package that's ever going to be paid for by the current generation. It's going to be paid for by our kids and grandkids. And so while we want to get the economy moving again, the overall size and how we craft this is going to be very important.
HORSLEY: The Obama camp has been talking about a stimulus package in the range of three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said yesterday it might be even bigger.
Senator HARRY REID (Democrat, Nevada): I have not received, of course, the exact package from the president-elect and his folks. But he has indicated that there's at least 20 economists that he's talked with. And all but one of those believe it should be from 800 billion to one point two or three trillion.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama stressed that however much money the government spends on the stimulus, the process should be transparent and predictable. In contrast, the uncertainty he says has hampered some of the government's previous bailout efforts. Eventually, Mr. Obama says, the government must get control of its deficit spending, just not right away.
President-elect OBAMA: Right now, the most important task for us is to stabilize the patient. The economy is badly damaged. It is very sick. And so we have to take whatever steps are required to make sure that it's stabilized. But we also have to recognize that if we're going to grow this economy over the long term, if we're going to create a better future for our children and our grandchildren, then we can't be fiscally irresponsible about how we do it.
HORSLEY: Ultimately, Mr. Obama says, that will require tradeoffs and hard choices. But for now he's looking to craft a measure that will include something to please everyone. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
This may please investors who say they lost their money with Bernard Madoff. Congress is asking what went wrong. And prosecutors are asking a judge to send the investment adviser to jail. They say he tried to hide his assets by sending jewelry and other items to friends and relatives. Here's NPR's Jim Zarroli.
JIM ZARROLI: Until recently, the relationship between law enforcement officials and Bernie Madoff had seemed to be a cooperative one. Authorities said that Madoff had willingly answered questions about the collapse of his financial firm. Yesterday, the mood seemed to have changed. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt told a federal judge that Madoff had been sending watches and jewelry to family and friends. And he suggested that Madoff was trying to conceal the assets from authorities who are compiling a restitution fund for investors. Outside the courthouse, Madoff was mobbed by reporters.
Unidentified Reporter: Why were you getting rid of all the jewelry, Mr. Madoff? Why were you getting rid of the jewelry?
ZARROLI: Madoff's attorney told the court the items were family heirlooms and that Madoff had been trying to recover them. The judge said he'd rule later on whether to revoke Madoff's bail. In Washington meanwhile, members of Congress are investigating the Madoff case. Allan Goldstein, a 76-year-old retiree, told the House Financial Services Committee that he and his wife had placed their life savings with Madoff on the advice of their accountant. Now, he said, he's had to cash in his life insurance policy to pay his mortgage.
Mr. ALLAN GOLDSTEIN (Madoff Investor): Ruth and I thought we were living the American dream. Our dream, as well as so many others, has turned into a nightmare. We had considered Madoff's securities not a get-rich scheme, but a buffer against risk. We entrusted Mr. Madoff with all we had, and now everything I worked for over a 50-year career is gone.
ZARROLI: Goldstein said he blamed government regulators for failing to stop Madoff. His words were echoed by lawmakers, some of whom had tough words for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Republican Scott Garrett of New Jersey noted that regulators had been warned about Madoff several times over the years.
Representative SCOTT GARRETT (Republican, New Jersey): What's most unfortunate is that the SEC regulators had numerous chances to uncover the scheme and that they continually either didn't see the multiple warning signs, didn't follow up on them, or simply chose to ignore them.
ZARROLI: Others went further. Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York said she no longer trusted the SEC to provide proper oversight of the markets. The lone SEC official to testify was Inspector General David Kotz who's been charged with investigating the Madoff scandal. Kotz was peppered with questions about the case, and he repeatedly said the answers would have to wait until his investigation was finished. At one point Kotz alluded to stories about the ties between Madoff's firm and the SEC. He noted that many SEC officials go to work at big Wall Street firms when they quit their jobs.
Mr. DAVID KOTZ (Inspector General, SEC) One of the things that we do need to look at, and one of the things that we've already looked at, is that relationship between SEC employees when they leave SEC and when they go into private industry.
ZARROLI: Kotz told the committee he is so concerned about the SEC's handling of the case that he's expanding his investigation. He said he'll look not just at the Madoff scandal itself, but at the agency's inspection and enforcement divisions and make recommendations for change. And with the uproar over the Madoff scandal, many lawmakers say an overhaul of the agency is both necessary and likely. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
With more bad economic news coming in almost daily, we wondered if Americans are making contingency plans. Here's how some folks in Los Angeles said they would cope with their worst-case scenarios.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. LARA FUKES(ph): My name is Lara Fukes. I'm 38 years old. And if another Great Depression would happen, I would probably talk to all my good friends and probably all go together to a farm and, you know, start raising our own animals and vegetables, and we could survive together.
Ms. SONIA CHEY(ph): My name is Sonia Chey, and I'm 33 years old. If I lost my job and my home, I think I'd be stressed and then depressed. And then I would probably, like, pursue something I wanted to really do, which was move overseas.
Mr. AZIZ MEGCHI(ph): My name is Aziz Megchi. My age is 31. Me, that would never happen to me because I'm a financial analyst. So I usually see it before it comes.
Mr. DUTCH NAVARES(ph): My name is Dutch Navares. I'm 31 years old. You know, I dabble with it now, but medical cannabis, getting into it really big and like promoting it, that would be definitely something I'd be interested in.
Mr. JOSE GARCIA(ph): My name's Jose Garcia, and I'm 27 years old. I mean, that thought's been coming through my head a lot, especially when you have kids and you've got a mortgage. I don't have anything planned out right now, but I kind of rely on having two jobs. If I was to lose one job, I don't think I'll make it with the other job.
Mr. TERRY WATSON(ph): My name is Terry Watson. I'm 72 years old. I don't think it's ever been this bad. It's going to get worse. It's going to get worse before it get better. You just got to deal with it. You have to - peoples now going to have to cut down a little here and little there. They'll make it. Everybody, they gonna make it.
SHAPIRO: Those are some voices from the streets of Los Angeles.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, is on a mission to the Middle East. He says he's in search of a cease-fire. This was his job when he was head of the European Union, which is deeply involved in the Middle East. It's not formally his job anymore, because his country no longer holds the European Union presidency. Still, Sarkozy says it's France's duty to look for all paths to peace. His critics are saying the French president is on a power trip, and they accuse Sarkozy of muddying European Union efforts to broker a cease-fire. Eleanor Beardsley has this report.
(Soundbite of French National Anthem)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: In his televised New Year's address, Sarkozy listed his accomplishments as dynamic leader of the European Union. He boasted that he had not just shaped the destiny of France, but that of the whole world. Then he made it clear that he had no intention of taking a backseat.
President NICOLAS SARKOZY (France): (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: France will continue to act in Africa, in Asia, and of course in the Middle East, said Sarkozy, because it is France's duty to fight for peace and human rights.
"Is France too small for Sarkozy?" read one magazine headline. Daily newspaper Le Monde wrote, "Sarkozy's greatest fear is again becoming the president of an average country confronted by recession and soaring unemployment." Political analyst Dominique Moisi says Sarkozy thrives on the international stage.
Mr. DOMINIQUE MOISI (French Political Analyst): Well, he wants to exist. When he was president of the European Union, the Americans had just a lame-duck president. And he knows he has a short period of time before the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States where he can be, so to speak, alone.
BEARDSLEY: But Sarkozy is not alone in the Middle East. There is an official EU delegation there led by the European Union's current head, the Czech Republic. While one of Sarkozy's top aides said there was no competition between the two delegations, another of his Cabinet members hinted at French feelings that the Czechs might not be quite up to the job.
(Soundbite of Europe 1 radio broadcast)
BEARDSLEY: Speaking on Europe 1 radio, French Budget Minister Eric Woerth said Sarkozy was the only leader capable of undertaking such a peace initiative.
Mr. ERIC WOERTH (French Budget Minister): (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: We'll see what the Czech presidency is all about in time, but in all honesty the Czech and French idea of Europe is not exactly the same thing, said Woerth. Sarkozy does have a few points in his favor. With a Jewish grandfather, he is seen as a true friend of Israel. France also has longstanding relations with many Arab states. Even Sarkozys' detractors admit he is one of the few world leaders trusted in both camps. He was not shy about condemning both the Israeli army's incursion into Gaza and Hamas' rockets in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders yesterday.
Sarkozy hopes to push regional leaders to play a bigger role in resolving the crisis in visits to Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. The French press says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad owes Sarkozy a favor, since he brought him out of diplomatic isolation with a trip to Paris last summer. Analyst Dominique Moisi.
Mr. MOISI: The trip to Damascus and the encounter with the Syrian president is probably the most significant, the most original, and the most important part of his trip.
BEARDSLEY: Last night, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused Sarkozy's call for a cease-fire in a meeting between the two leaders. No one in France holds out much hope for Sarkozy's success. Moisi calls his trip politically risky, but says it is a risk worth taking. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO: And I'm Ari Shapiro. The man appointed to fill President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat arrived at the U.S. Capitol today hoping to be sworn in as the Democratic senator from Illinois. A short time later, he stepped outside in the rain and stopped briefly before a crowd of reporters.
Mr. ROLAND BURRIS (Democrat, Illinois Senator-Designate): Members of the media, my name is Roland Burris, the junior senator from the state of Illinois. I've presented my credentials to the secretary of the Senate and advised that my credentials were not in order and I would not be accepted and I would not be seated, and I would not be permitted on the floor. And therefore, I am not seeking to have any type of confrontation. I will now consult with my attorneys and we will determine what our next step will be. Thank you all very much, and God bless each and every one of you. Thank you.
SHAPIRO: That's the entire statement of Roland Burris. The Democratic leadership in the Senate has said it won't seat Burris because he was appointed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who's accused of trying to sell the Senate seat. We'll hear more from Roland Burris this afternoon on NPR's All Things Considered. This morning, we're examining a story that touches on politics, ethics, and race. We begin with a profile of the Chicago politician who stepped before those microphones today. Here's NPR's Cheryl Corley.
CHERYL CORLEY: It's been exactly a week since embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to the Senate seat. As senators and others have railed against the appointment, calling any Blagojevich choice tainted, Burris has gone on the offence, touting his credentials with reporters and at a rally of supporters.
(Soundbite of rally)
Mr. BURRIS: I spent 20 years in Illinois government. There is nobody in this state who knows Illinois the way I know it. They couldn't have sent a better person to Washington to represent the 13 million people of the state of Illinois than myself.
CORLEY: Congressman Danny Davis turned down the appointment when offered. But it's no surprise that Burris stepped into the Senate fray, says Alan Gitelson, a political science professor at Loyola University. He says the former attorney general wanted to go much further than he had in public life.
Dr. ALAN GITELSON (Professor of Political Science, Loyola University): At the age of 71, he's obviously very much a senior member of the political scene in Illinois. His political history was his past history, and this was an opportunity there that I doubt in any sense of the word he was going to be able to turn down.
CORLEY: Besides, it's no secret the small, bespectacled Burris has a strong ego - not uncommon for many politicians, but it's played out in interesting ways for Burris. Both Burris' daughter and son, Rolanda and Roland II, are named after him. And on a wall of a mausoleum he owns at a Chicago cemetery, there's a list of his accomplishments with room for more. At the top of the list, carved in stone, is the word "trailblazer." Nothing wrong with that says Gitelson.
Dr. GITELSON: He has been a trailblazer. What happened, though, was that he began to fade away.
CORLEY: Fade away because Burris has been out of the political scene for so many years. But Burris began trying to break barriers in his youth. As a teenager in Centralia, his hometown in southern Illinois, he attempted to integrate a local swimming pool. After he graduated from Howard University Law School, he became a banker, and later he would go on to make history in Illinois politics becoming the first African-American to win a statewide office. He was Illinois comptroller for three terms and then became the state's attorney general. Roosevelt University political science professor Paul Green has known Burris since the days of his first campaigns.
Dr. PAUL GREEN (Professor of Political Science, Roosevelt University): In those days he always wore a vested suit. And Roland was the party guy. Roland was the insider against the community organizing people. And now these community organizing people are now rallying to Roland's side for the first time ever.
CORLEY: Many of those supporters say an African-American should fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama. While Burris has a reputation of being more of a benign politician than activist, most pundits here agree he understands the political system and what he must do to get elected. In the race for attorney general, he supported abortion rights and gay rights, a plus in this moderate state, and he bested a conservative Republican.
Where Burris went wrong, though, says Rob Warden, is when as attorney general he didn't acknowledge mistakes made in the prosecution of a convicted murderer, Rolando Cruz, who was later exonerated of killing 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. Warden is the head of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions.
Mr. ROB WARDEN (Executive Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern University): He wanted to appear tough on crime. And he thought probably that the public is not going to quite understand what's gone wrong here and why this case produced the wrong result, and therefore chose to ignore it.
CORLEY: After his term ended, Burris had a string of losing campaigns, failing in his efforts to become Illinois governor in three campaigns, losing a bid for Senate, and taking on Mayor Daley in the mid-1990s as an independent. Daley would win in a landslide. Since then, Burris has worked as a private attorney and run a lobbying and consulting firm. Now, he's moved back into the political spotlight with the gift of a new career. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
OK. You heard the opinion that an African-American should fill that Senate seat. The people making that argument include Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush of Chicago. Rush says it's important to have African-Americans in the Senate, and he says efforts to keep Roland Burris out remind him of the country's history of segregation.
(SOUNDBITE OF CBS BROADCAST)
BOBBY RUSH: And you have officials standing in the doorway of schoolchildren. You know, I'm talking about all of us back in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm talking about George Wallace, Bull Connor. And I'm sure that the U.S. Senate don't want to see themselves placed in the same position.
INSKEEP: That's the view of Congressman Bobby Rush, speaking on CBS. We'll get a different view this morning from Ta-Nehisi Coates, a writer for The Atlantic Monthly. Welcome to the program.
TA: Thank you for having me.
INSKEEP: How much does it matter that this is a black man trying to get into the Senate, which right now has upwards of 90 white people?
COATES: It matters. But there's this thing we do where we think an African-American in the Senate somehow personifies all African-Americans, and that's necessarily a step forward for all African-Americans. What I would rather see is some discussion about policy. How will this specifically help African-Americans? It's quite likely it may well be that somebody who isn't African-American may be better for African-Americans in Illinois and overall better for people in the state. So, I understand why it's in the mix. I obviously firmly disagree with Bobby Rush making that the top consideration. That didn't necessarily have to be so.
INSKEEP: Although, Rush can push back and say, look, you're going to have 99 white people in the Senate. Shouldn't you have one black person? Couldn't you have one percent African-Americans in this very important body?
COATES: Yeah, you should. But there are two things. First of all, in probably about half the states in America, you just aren't going to have a black senator. I don't necessarily think that there should be a black senator from North Dakota, from South Dakota, from Idaho. Now, having said that, there are plenty of states where you could have a black senator from possibly someplace like Maryland, New Jersey, maybe New York. And if African-Americans - if we're really concerned about that, I would hope that we would organize, we would get the funds together, we would do what I suggested on my blog the other day, an African-American version of Emily's List.
INSKEEP: Oh, Emily's List. That is the organization that raises money to encourage the election of women to high office.
COATES: Yes. And if this is our issue, if this is Bobby Rush's issue, then he should go out and organize and make the case that African-Americans should do that and not say that the only way we can do it is through a governor who has been accused of selling a Senate seat and a governor who only weeks ago Burris and Rush themselves were condemning.
INSKEEP: Well, now it sounds like there's two sides to this. One would be positive from the point of view of an African-American who wants to run for Senate. You're saying, hey, there may be more opportunities here than anybody is giving you credit for.
COATES: Yes.
INSKEEP: The other side of it seems to be that someone like Congressman Bobby Rush cannot, as you put it, play the race card so easily and say people are being pushed down because they're black. Obviously there's a black man who was able to make it through whatever barriers there were.
COATES: We have to compete on the field that we're given, and that's not to say that we shouldn't be arguing about matters of race, that we shouldn't be trying to push this country forward in terms of matters of race. But at the same time, you have to go out and compete. There's a time to try to even the playing field, and then there's a time to try to just go out there and run the ball.
INSKEEP: Ta-Nehisi Coates is a writer for The Atlantic Monthly. Thanks very much.
COATES: Thank you for having me.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
NPR's business news starts with Toyota skidding to a halt.
(Soundbite of music)
SHAPIRO: U.S. auto sales had a dismal month, and now Japan's leading carmaker announced it's freezing production at all of its Japanese factories for 11 days over the next two months. This is on top of a 3-day shutdown at Japanese factories this month. The last time Toyota announced a sweeping production halt was in 1993, and that was for only one day. The recession is hitting Toyota harder than top management expected. The company sales in the U.S. fell 37 percent last month. That's worse than General Motors or Ford. Now many of the Japanese-made cars that Toyota exports to the U.S. are not even making it out of the ports.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Here in the United States, the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, will not make it to this year's MacWorld Expo which starts today. Now, few chief executives are linked so directly with the fortunes of their company as Steve Jobs, and many people took notice when he began looking gaunt last year. Speculation about his health has become so intense that Jobs has finally addressed the issue publicly. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI: Giving a speech in October, Steve Jobs looked like a wisp of a man. His wrists appeared as thin as a girl's. His trademark turtleneck and jeans hung off his shoulders and hips. And after months of silence, Jobs yesterday acknowledged this in a written statement. He said, "The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors." The root cause, he says, is a hormonal imbalance that's been robbing his body of proteins. Rob Enderle's a tech consultant and a Silicon Valley watcher. He says speculation likely won't end there.
Mr. ROB ENDERLE (Technology Consultant): It's not what they said. It's what they didn't say. They didn't say he didn't have cancer.
NOGUCHI: Five years ago, Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. John Marshall is an oncologist with Georgetown University. He says such surgery often affects enzyme levels consistent with Jobs' symptoms.
Dr. JOHN MARSHALL (Clinical Director of Oncology, Georgetown University Hospital): Very few people will actually be cured of the disease.
NOGUCHI: But survival depends on many different factors, and Enderle the consultant says it's a problem because Apple hasn't groomed a successor for Jobs.
Mr. ENDERLE: There is no succession plan at Apple. And so regardless of what happens to Steve Jobs, he is mortal, and the company desperately needs to have a plan for what they're going to do if something were to happen to him.
NOGUCHI: For his part, Jobs says he's trying to get better. But if he can no longer do the job, he'll step down. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
OK, so it's a little tougher to find a job at the post office. There is another way that you can find employment, though. Get on the FBI's most wanted list, which might be posted at the post office - no, no, no, no, not that list. There is another list. It's a list of open jobs. And that's the subject of our last word in business today.
The FBI needs to fill 850 special agent positions. It also has openings for more than 2,000 support staff. Officials say this is the agency's largest job posting since just after 9/11. Attrition and a wave of retirements are the reasons. And that means another generation has a chance to search for the people on that other most wanted list. That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro. This week's ground fighting in Gaza has two kinds of effects. One is the effect on world opinion, especially the Arab world. And in a moment, we'll hear from refugees in Lebanon. The more direct effect is on the people in Gaza. Israel's military stepped up its attacks in that strip of land on the Mediterranean coast. Casualties are going up, and just today, Israeli tank fire killed at least 30 Palestinians at a United Nations school. The humanitarian crisis keeps getting worse. Here's NPR's Mike Shuster.
MIKE SHUSTER: Many people died in Gaza last night and into this morning. In one widely-reported incident, a pregnant mother and her four children died when a tank shell exploded in their home. In another incident, reported by medical workers, fire from Israeli naval ships offshore killed 10 Palestinians in central Gaza. Haider Eid(ph), a professor from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, described what it was like last night through Al Jazeera's English-language satellite channel, the only international news outlet that has reporters and cameras inside Gaza.
(Soundbite from Al Jazeera's Satellite Channel)
Professor HAIDER EID (Al-Aqsa University, Gaza): I can hear shelling in the north. I can hear shelling in the south. Two kilometers from where I live is the Tefah(ph) neighborhood, and it has been exposed, actually, to intense shelling for the last, actually, two to three hours. I can hear Apache helicopters, I can hear F-16's and I can hear shooting from the gunships in the Mediterranean. It's a very, very hard night, indeed. And we don't know what the morning is bringing to us.
SHUSTER: The Israeli military reported that in the intensified fighting, it's forces killed more than 130 Hamas fighters. Three Israeli soldiers died last night as well, in an incident that is described as friendly fire. In the Sajia(ph) neighborhood of East Gaza City, considered a Hamas stronghold, a tank shell was fired at a building seized by an Israeli infantry unit. Some of the soldiers were on the roof.
In addition to the three dead, 20 other Israeli soldiers were injured, many seriously. The Israeli Defense Force initially thought Hamas gunmen used an anti-tank weapon against the Israeli soldiers. But after several hours of investigation, the IDF concluded the three Israelis died when their own tank fired on the building.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza gets worse by the day. United Nations Aid workers say the only electricity available in the territory comes from generators, and fuel for those generators will run out in two days. Food is scarce. Flour and other staples are warehoused in distribution points, but they are not accessible because of the fighting. Running water has not been available for days, and the sewage and sanitation systems are broken down, says Maxwell Gaylard, the chief UN humanitarian coordinator.
Mr. MAXWELL GAYLARD (Chief UN Humanitarian Coordinator): Large numbers of people, including many children, are hungry, they are cold, they are without ready access to medical facilities, they're without access to electricity and running water. Above all, they are terrified. That, by any measure, is a humanitarian crisis.
SHUSTER: Diplomats from Europe and the Middle East have begun to push hard for a cease-fire. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and several foreign ministers from the European Union visited Jerusalem, Cairo and the West Bank. They met here with Israel's leaders, but reported no progress. After one meeting, Israel's foreign minister, Tsipi Livni, emphasized Israel's commitment to following through with its military operations.
Foreign Minister TSIPI LIVNI (Israel): What Israel is doing is not only expressing its right to defend itself, and this the legitimate right of self-defense. What we are doing represent the battle in this region and the fight against extremism and against terror.
SHUSTER: Overall, since Israel's operation began on December 27th, nearly 600 Palestinians have died. More than 2,500 have been injured. At least five Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting, and another four Israelis were killed by Palestinian rockets falling inside Israel. The fighting has not stopped the Palestinian rocket attacks. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The deepest canyon on earth is about to become a protected area. The Mariana Trench is part of three new marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean. President Bush plans to create those monuments today. With the stroke of a pen, he'll protect a total area larger than California. These preserves are designed to conserve areas untouched by humans. NPR's Richard Harris reports.
RICHARD HARRIS: For more than a hundred years, when we've thought of protecting the Earth's natural wonders, we've mostly thought about the stuff on land, places we can see. But some of the Earth's truly spectacular sights are actually underwater, such as the Mariana Trench out near the island of Guam.
Mr. JOSH REICHERT (Pew Environment Group): It's the sole place on Earth that has huge active mud volcanoes, one more than 31 miles across.
HARRIS: Josh Reichert at the Pew Environment Group has been making the case for preserving this unique volcanic landscape in perpetuity.
Mr. REICHERT: The Trench contains the second boiling pool of liquid sulfur ever discovered. The first one is on one of Jupiter's moons.
HARRIS: And you want exotic wildlife? You got it.
Mr. REICHERT: It has the only known living bird which uses volcanic heat to incubate its eggs.
HARRIS: That would be the Micronesian Megapode. And now Reichert will get his wish to preserve this area.
Mr. Bush is expected to declare much of the Trench and waters around some nearby islands as a marine national monument. In fact, that's one of three monuments the president plans to establish today. A second is around Rose Atoll near American Samoa, and the third is the sea surrounding seven islands, US territories, scattered way out in the Pacific. Their remoteness is actually what makes them special.
Mr. ENRIC SALA (Marine Ecologist, National Geographic Society): These places are so pristine that they are like time machines that take us hundreds of years in the past.
HARRIS: Enric Sala at the National Geographic Society is one of the very few people on Earth who has actually had a chance to swim around some of these remote islands, which are surrounded by coral reefs.
Mr. SALA: You jump in the water and immediately you are surrounded by 10, 15 sharks that are very curious, and many other fishes that have probably never seen humans before. So it is like the sensation that Darwin must have had when he stepped into the Galapagos for the first time.
HARRIS: And this is not simply a joyful experience for the occasional visitor. For science, Sala says it is an exceptionally rare opportunity to visit a reef that's at the peak of its health.
Mr. SALA: These places are the last instruction manual we have to understand how coral reefs function, and also to understand the magnitude of our impact on these coral reefs.
HARRIS: Ideally, Sala says they can be used as a model to rebuild reefs elsewhere around the world. Now, in 2006, when President Bush created another marine monument near Hawaii, he won strong praise from conservationists. Diane Regas, at the Environmental Defense Fund, is now delighted that the president has decided to more than double the size of marine protected areas with his latest declaration, with the four marine monuments together protecting 350,000 square miles.
Ms. DIANE REGAS (Managing Director, Oceans Program, Environmental Defense Fund): We've been working to preserve these areas because there's nowhere else like them on Earth. I think we'd call this a bigger-than-Texas-sized gift for all of us.
HARRIS: Josh Reichert at Pew is also is celebrating the actions of a president who is not exactly known for his environmentalism.
Mr. REICHERT: It's a monumental achievement. If you add up all the areas that have been protected over the course of the past two and a half years, it's far greater than any other person has ever done.
HARRIS: The ocean is so vast, these reserves save just the tiniest bit. But Reichert says it's an important bit. There is a lot of life and wonder in the ocean, and it's under more stress now than ever before. Richard Harris, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Some of the world's navies are trying to put pirates under stress. They've been patrolling the waters off Somalia, where pirates have captured tankers and other ships. And today, we can tell you that some of the pirates were actually caught. They ran into a French naval ship that is familiar to many of our listeners. We listened a few weeks ago as that ship's crew ordered suspected pirates to stop.
(Soundbite of French naval officer)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Fishing vessel, fishing vessel. This is European warship on your port side. I request you to stop!
INSKEEP: Last week, that same ship successfully captured eight pirates as they tried to board a Panamanian cargo vessel. They had approached it in small boats calls skiffs. The captain, Alexis Beatrix, came to the phone to talk about the chase.
Lieutenant Commander ALEXIS BEATRIX (Captain, French frigate): We started to chase, to try to catch them, and we had to fire, to conduct an intimidation fire with small-caliber weapons, to make them clear that we intended them to stop.
INSKEEP: Intimidation fire, meaning you fired warning shots, you fired close to them, but not at them.
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: That's correct.
INSKEEP: Once you had dragged these eight men onboard and had questioned them, as I assume you did, or your crew did, who were they?
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: They did not speak English. Only one out of them was a little bit Arabic-capable, so it was very difficult to establish good understanding with them. What we learned is that they went from a north port of Somalia, and that is all what we could be sure, because they did not wear ID papers, etcetera, etcetera.
INSKEEP: So what have you done with the accused pirates once you had them onboard?
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: We accommodated them onboard the best way we can onboard a military vessel. Food, medical assistance, everything, and they were of course kept under surveillance for their own security, and for the security of the ship, of course.
INSKEEP: Is there a legal system under which they can be tried?
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: Yes. There is a state agreement between France and Somalia enabling transfer from a French unit, as mine, to the Somalian authorities.
INSKEEP: Lieutenant Commander, do you feel that you're making progress overall against piracy in that area?
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: Yes. About seven skiffs have been intercepted from the first of January this year, seven. And at least 30, three-zero, pirates have been disarmed. So it's a very clear step in the right direction.
INSKEEP: I wonder if you could draw me a picture, a word picture. What does it look like when you look out from the ship today? What is the sea like, how busy is it?
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: Today, the weather conditions are very good, either for us or for the pirates. That is to say, the sea state is low, the wind is low too. Good visibility. And some fishing activities are observed not very far from the corridor. One of our tasks is to check that these fishing activities, performed by small skiffs, are not a waiting position for potential pirate skiffs. That is one of their modus operandi, that is to try to look like local fishermen. But now we have a good ID. Our knowledge of all the area is improving day after day.
INSKEEP: Lieutenant Commander Alexis Beatrix is the captain of a French frigate that's part of a European Union effort against piracy in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Thanks very much.
Lieutenant Commander BEATRIX: Oh, you're welcome.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
With election season over, Democrats and Republicans are getting new party chairmen to gear up for the next election cycle. The Democrats have already made their choice, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. He was an early supporter of President-elect Barack Obama. Now the Republicans are searching for their next party chair. As NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports.
MARA LIASSON: After losing Congress and the White House, the Republicans are licking their wounds and trying to figure out the future direction of their party. Yesterday,the six candidates for party chair participated in a debate sponsored by the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, where former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele said he believes the glass is still half full.
Mr. MICHAEL S. STEELE (Former Lieutenant Governor, Maryland): It's not the easiest thing in the world right now to be a Republican, as you probably know. So we're here to prove that it is. All that noise about this party dying, or is at death's door, bunk. Don't believe it. We're alive. We're well. We're conservative. We're strong. And we're moving forward.
LIASSON: Steele is African-American. So is Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state. It's the first time two African-Americans have ever run for GOP chair.
Mr. KEN BLACKWELL (Former Ohio Secretary of State): We have to reinvigorate the base and push power, responsibility and resources back to state and county parties. We must abandon the 28-state strategy that has been in play.
LIASSON: Many Republicans share Blackwell's concern that the party is shrinking to a small Southern base. Then the moderator, conservative activist Grover Norquist, asked the candidates, who was their least favorite Republican president? Only Blackwell was willing to answer in a way that criticized George W. Bush.
Mr. BLACKWELL: Hoover, because he opened the door to big government activism. And I think that unfortunately President Bush in the last few months has opened up the door to Mr. Obama's big government.
LIASSON: There were few clashes about the future ideological direction of the party. Instead, there was a chorus of calls to get back to basic conservative principles. Smaller government, strong defense, individual freedom. And Norquist tested anther one of the candidates' conservative credentials.
Mr. GROVER NORQUIST (Conservative Activist): How many guns do you own?
(Soundbite of crowd laughing)
Unidentified Man: Four handguns and two rifles.
Mr. STEELE: Too many to count.
(Soundbite of crowd laughing)
Mr. BLACKWELL: Seven, and I'm good.
(Soundbite of crowd laughing)
Mr. NORQUIST: Chip?
Mr. CHIP SALTSMAN (Former Campaign Manager, 2008 Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee): In my closet at home, I've got two 12-gauges, a 20-gauge, three handguns and a 30-aught-six, and I'll take you on anytime, kid.
(Soundbite of crowd laughing)
LIASSON: They all agreed that the party had to do better in areas where the Democrats had bested them. Outreach to young voters and Hispanics, both groups Republicans lost two-to-one this fall. They also acknowledged the need to catch up to the Democrats in the use of new technology.
Mr. NORQUIST: Do you use Twitter, and how many followers do you have? Michael.
Mr. STEELE: I do, and the last time I checked it was about three-four hundred.
Mr. NORQUIST: Yes.
Mr. BLACKWELL: Yes, I do Twitter, but let me just say that I have 4,000 friends on Facebook. That's probably more than these two guys put together. But who's counting?
LIASSON: In three weeks, the members of the Republican National Committee will meet in Washington and choose one of these six men, who also included Saul Anuzis, the Republican State Chair of Michigan, Mike Duncan the incumbent RNC Chair, Chip Saltsman, the former campaign manager for 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and Katon Dawson, the chairman of the South Carolina state party who made this promise to his fellow Republicans.
Mr. KATON DAWSON (Chairman, Republican Party of South Carolina): Our party will be ready to go into battle in 2010. We will be ready. We'll be organized. We will not get caught sleeping again. We as a party will be ready to go to battle against the Democrats.
LIASSON: Mara Liasson. NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro. The identity of the man who will keep the secrets was kept a secret until yesterday. He's Leon Panetta, and he's President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the CIA. Panetta is a former Congressman from California, and he also served as Chief of Staff in the Clinton White House. He has almost no experience in the spy business. So to help make sense of the pick, we're joined this morning live by NPR's Tom Gjelten. Good morning, Tom.
TOM GJELTEN: Good morning, Ari.
SHAPIRO: OK. So Leon Panetta, did anyone see this coming?
GJELTEN: Not anyone that I've talked to, at least outside the Obama circle. This is a total surprise, Ari. Dianne Feinstein, the incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, put out a statement last night saying she was not informed about the choice, and also making clear she wasn't happy about that. There are lots of possibilities for CIA director - were mentioned, but never Panetta. He's got almost no intelligence background, as you say. In fact, it's fair to say that Leon Panetta would be the least experienced CIA director since President Kennedy picked the businessman John McCone for that position back in 1961.
SHAPIRO: Well, there have been plenty of controversies involving the CIA in the last eight years involving enhanced interrogation techniques and other things. How did those debates affect Obama's choice here?
GJELTEN: I think it meant that the Obama team felt in the end they had no choice but to go for an outsider. The current CIA director, Michael Hayden, had made clear he wanted to stay on, but Hayden and other former CIA officers in the end, it seems, were seen as too closely associated with those old controversies, unwarranted wire-tappings, secret prisons.
SHAPIRO: Right.
GJELTEN: Water boarding. I think this choice shows that the Obama people, in the end, probably concluded they couldn't find anybody who had a lot of agency experience, but who was not tainted by those agency controversies.
SHAPIRO: Well, does this suggest that the Obama administration may be taking the CIA in a different direction?
GJELTEN: Well, it would seem so, but it may not be easy for Panetta to turn the agency around precisely, because he is not an intelligence professional. He doesn't know agency operations, the agency culture, the sources and methods available. He'll need a lot of on-the-job training. He'll have to depend on the people already there. The challenge, I think, will be to surround himself with people who know how the agency works, but who are also able to mobilize the agency for the kinds of reforms that are needed.
SHAPIRO: What kinds of reforms are those? What would a reformed agency look like?
GJELTEN: Well, we've talked about interrogation. A top one would clearly be to revamp the agency's interrogation guidelines. Mr. Obama made clear during the campaign he thinks the CIA and other intelligence agencies should abide by the guidelines in the army field manual, which are far more restrictive than what the CIA had been allowing. That's one change. The other big reform issue, I think, is accountability and oversight. The CIA leadership has kind of a black eye on Capital Hill right now among both Republicans and Democrats, because the agency has been less than forthcoming about some of its more controversial practices. I think as a former member of Congress, Leon Panetta would be expected to run the CIA with more sensitivity to the concerns of Congress and repair their relations there.
SHAPIRO: Although, as you mentioned, Senator Dianne Feinstein already was displeased that she didn't know that Panetta was the choice until yesterday.
GJELTEN: Not a good start, is it?
SHAPIRO: Well, President-elect Obama also announced that he would like a man named Dennis Blair to serve as Leon Panetta's boss. Blair would be the Director of National Intelligence. Tell us a little bit about who Blair is, and what his challenges are going forward.
GJELTEN: He's a former senior Navy officer, Ari, a four-star admiral, used to be commander of all the U.S. forces in the Pacific. And in that respect, he has that in common with the current Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell. Also Michael Hayden, the outgoing Director of the CIA, is a retired Air Force general. So we've got these - we got this tradition here continuing of senior intelligence people from the military. And I think Blair will be under some pressure to show his independence from the military. Another big issue for Dennis Blair is intelligence reform. This position, Director of National Intelligence, was created less than five years ago, and the role and the resources that go with it are still being worked through. There's likely to be a turf battle between the DNA - DNI, and the CIA over authorities and resources. So I think we can expect to see some rivalry between Dennis Blair and Leon Panetta.
SHAPIRO: Thanks, Tom.
GJELTEN: You're welcome, Ari.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR's intelligence correspondent Tom Gjelten.
ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
Good morning, I'm Ari Shapiro. If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake and drugged it. A woman who works at a Connecticut home for the disabled made a cake for residents and accidentally spilled prescription pills into the batter. She pulled them out, but must have missed some, because employees called police when they spotted the drugs in the cake after it was partially eaten. No word on what kind of pills they were or whether the home residents have started acting strange. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. We don't know what they were thinking, but the Anheuser-Busch brewing company says it will stop giving out free samples. Makers of Budweiser also run theme parks like Busch Gardens and Sea World. If you'd dropped by a park, you could get free beer. Now they're trying to make the parks more kid-friendly, which means some of the parks get more restaurants, and also, no free alcohol. The company says the samples had a narrow appeal. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
This week on Morning Edition, we've been exploring the power you gain when you're the guy who heats everybody's home. We've seen a demonstration in recent days after Russia shut off the supply of natural gas to one of its neighbors. Now, a number of European countries say they are running short of Russian gas. So it's fitting that we've spent the last few days exploring Russia's giant state gas company, Gazprom.
Its business extends Russia's influence to a number of U.S. allies. And Gazprom is also busy in a region where the United States took part in multiple wars. NPR's Greg Feifer traveled to the Balkans in southern Europe. That's where Gazprom plans to purchase a controlling interest in Serbia's state energy industry.
GREGORY FEIFER: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had reason to look pleased when he met Serbian President Boris Tadic in Moscow on Christmas Eve. The two leaders finalized an agreement for Gazprom to buy 51 percent of Serbia's state oil and gas companies and a plan for Russia to construct a gas pipeline through Serbia.
Serbian leaders said the promised pipeline would end their country's crippling energy shortages. But many Serbians welcome sacrificing control over their energy industry for political reasons as much as economic ones. Both Russia and Serbia are Slavic countries that consider each other traditional allies. Moscow supported Belgrade during its bombing by NATO in 1999, memories of which are still raw here.
This street of bustling shops and outdoor cafes, with its sparkling fountain, is a stark contrast to the rest of Belgrade. After years of economic sanctions under Slobodan Milosevic, the soot-stained, crumbling buildings give Belgrade the lingering look of a Soviet bloc city. Student Vlada Vasic is among many who believe Serbia's plans to join the European Union are the only way forward. But he says they won't be affected by Russian control over the energy industry.
Mr. VLADA VASIC (Student): (Through Translator) Russia supplies a lot of countries in Europe, and the Russians are our brothers. I don't think we have anything to fear from them.
FEIFER: Others aren't so sure. The Gazprom deal came at a critical time, just as the Serbian province of Kosovo was preparing to declare independence, which Belgrade and Moscow opposed. Many believe pro-Western President Tadic, who was running for re-election, couldn't afford to displease the Kremlin.
In a cafe in Belgrade's down-at-heel Moskva Hotel, parliament member Slobodan Maras, of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, criticized Tadic for buying Russian political support.
Mr. SLOBODAN MARAS (Serbian Member of Parliament, Liberal Democratic Party): (Through Translator) Signing away our energy industry was a huge price to pay for what we got. Now the Russians can direct our energy policy.
FEIFER: There's much more at stake than simply the Serbian energy market. Belgrade is part of a fierce struggle between Russia and the West over the future of energy supplies to Europe. A number of European companies had hoped to buy into Serbia's energy industry but withdrew because of the cost.
But despite the global financial crisis, Gazprom found the money because it wants to make Serbia the European hub of its planned, new South Stream pipeline from Russia. The project is meant to compete with a planned European Union pipeline from the Caspian Sea that would cut out Russia. The Nabucco pipeline is championed by the United States, but the view from well-heated Washington sharply differs from how ordinary people see things in Serbia, a country that's been on the brink of economic collapse for years.
In the high-ceilinged kitchen of an old central Belgrade apartment, Ivana Gevic lights her stove to make tea.
Ms. IVANA GEVIC: (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: She says the Gazprom deal is the only way to make sure gas supplies don't run out, but she's worried Serbia is enmeshed in a murky, high-stakes deal. In October, a shady intermediary company suddenly raised the price Serbia will pay for Russian gas by 60 percent. Critics say the intermediary is one of the obscure structures the Kremlin is using to secretly control the company's profits.
Final negotiations between Gazprom and Serbia Gas were further complicated by Gazprom's insistence on paying only half the estimated value for Serbia's state oil company. The deal could still fall apart, but energy analyst Sasha Djogovic says Serbia, hit hard by the global financial crisis, has no real alternative but to agree to Gazprom's terms. And that's something Russia is exploiting.
Mr. SASHA DJOGOVIC (Energy Analyst): This decision is not only a decision because of the economy aspect. This is a decision because of political aspects. Energy sector is the hand for the strengthening of political power of Russia in the world.
FEIFER: Such has been the success of Gazprom's strategy, Moscow is even setting up an organization of gas-exporting countries that some are calling a natural-gas version of OPEC. Analyst Djogovic warns that unless the West develops a common response, it risks losing the competition over European energy supplies. In the energy market, he says, Russia is a shark.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Gregory Feifer reporting on the Russian company Gazprom. And Greg, stay with us a moment, because if this analyst is right and Russia is a shark, I want to ask if it's biting right now. You know the news - we mentioned it - that Russia's cut off gas to Ukraine. Other European countries that get their gas through Ukraine are reporting shortages. How bad is it?
FEIFER: It's bad. I guess you could call this a new form of the Cold War. Russian gas deliveries have completely stopped to a dozen countries, including Serbia, Italy and Germany. But it's really the former Soviet bloc countries that depend on Russia for up to 90 percent of their gas that have been hit hardest.
Just as a freezing cold spell is hitting northern Europe, thousands of people in Bulgaria were left without heat overnight. And Slovakia now has declared a state of emergency. Now, European energy companies are digging into stockpiled gas reserves, and they're really scrambling to find alternate supplies.
INSKEEP: Knowing that a lot of people's comfort or even their lives might be at stake here, I'd like to know, is this really just a dispute over prices between Russia and Ukraine, which is how it started, or is this another projection of what you've been talking about the last three days, Gregory Feifer, the increasing power of Russia and a way that Russia's flexing its power.
FEIFER: I think you're absolutely right. There is certainly another major aspect to the standoff. Russia says this is a purely business dispute, but it was the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who was seen on television giving the order to reduce supplies to Europe by the amount Gazprom says Ukraine is stealing.
Putin blamed the crisis on what he called the irresponsibility of the Ukrainian leadership, and it's really been part of a stream of very angry vitriol that's been directed at the pro-Western Ukrainian leadership. I think that whatever Russia says, this is very much a political dispute, and it's getting very nasty.
INSKEEP: NPR's Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer, thanks for your reports all week.
FEIFER: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: And you can see just how much Russian gas goes to European countries, and also hear the rest of our series, at npr.org.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Talk of changing the nation's health-care system is giving some people in Washington a sense of deja vu. Back in 1993, a new president came to town, and his own party held the House and Senate. Tens of millions of people had no health insurance and high hopes for change. That reform effort crashed. Today, the experts involved in that effort say the Obama team will have to do things differently if they want to be successful this time. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
JOANNE SILBERNER: In 1993, Sheila Burke was the top aide to the minority leader of the Senate, Republican Bob Dole. She says bad timing was one of the prime reasons for the failure of the Clinton health plan.
Ms. SHEILA BURKE (Former Chief of Staff for Senator Bob Dole): The Clintons had made this issue a critical one in the course of the campaign, talking about health reform, but then essentially let a year go by while their task force pulled things together. And in the course of that, you lost the attention of the American public in many respects, and you also allowed the opponents to essentially mount a campaign.
SILBERNER: Another problem: The Clintons came up with a 1,300-page bill and asked Congress to pass it. Burke says the health reform effort would have fared better...
Ms. BURKE: Had the president simply created a framework, given us a set of expectations and goals, and then allowed the Congress to essentially work through all the issues it had to work through in order to put something together that could pass legislatively.
SILBERNER: Then, she says, there was the complexity of the bill. Chris Jennings sees that as a problem, too. Jennings was the White House senior health policy adviser throughout the Clinton years. He says the Clinton team learned that people fear change that they don't understand.
Mr. CHRIS JENNINGS (Former White House Senior Health Policy Adviser): People aren't happy with their current health-care system, but they aren't willing to trade up or down for anything until they know exactly what it is.
SILBERNER: From what Jennings can see, Obama's campaign promises were the right ones, that people could keep what they have, it would be more secure and less expensive, and there'd be more choice. Obama didn't get bogged down in detail, says Jennings. And so far, he's not pushing a lot of confusing mandates.
Mr. JENNINGS: You don't hear about price controls or premium caps, or you don't talk about new government agencies.
SILBERNER: Both Burke and Jennings are optimistic that this time around, something will happen. Burke says that's in no small part because health insurance costs more, and more people are uninsured than in 1993.
Mr. JENNINGS: People are increasingly frightened. And their economic situation has grown worse. But as a result, they are losing their coverage, they are getting sicker, they are more costly to care for. So it's hard to imagine from a policy standpoint not addressing this issue.
SILBERNER: Both Burke and Jennings are encouraged by the president-elect's pick of Tom Daschle to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and the health-reform effort. Daschle, they say, knows how to get legislation through after his stint as Senate majority leader. And he knows health care because it's been one of his issues since his time as a Democratic senator.
Daschle and Obama will have to pacify some powerful interests: insurers, doctors, hospitals, patient groups. And they're facing a skeptical public worried about losing what they have. Burke says the public has to prepare itself.
Ms. BURKE: I think they have to anticipate that things will change.
SILBERNER: Among the changes Obama has been calling for: Employers would have to offer insurance or pay some kind of fine; insurers would have to cover pre-existing conditions; the government would offer a health plan anyone could join. That's a lot simpler than the 1993 plan, but it's destined to get a lot more complicated as the details get worked out. The challenge will be to keep the public involved and onboard until there's legislation ready to sign. Joanne Silberner, NPR News, Washington.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners meet tomorrow night in Miami for the National College Football Championship. One of them will win the title, but that's not likely to settle the controversy over how college football chooses its champion. Commentator Frank Deford says it's just one of the sport's oddities.
FRANK DEFORD: When you think about it, college football really is a strange duck. Things are just more different in college football than in our other major sports. It's not only the bizarre system used to pick the two teams that play for the championship tomorrow night - a playoff that isn't employed in any sport anywhere in the world. The attention devoted to the top individual award for college football far exceeds that of any other team sport. People start handicapping the Heisman Trophy winner as soon as the season starts. The so-called Heisman Watch is a weekly feature. But in college basketball, now, do you hear talk about who the winner of the Wooden Trophy will be? College football is different. College football has so many more players and coaches and subordinates of every stripe than any other sport. Its finances dwarf all the others. It's also the only sport where a large number of athletes choose to become unhealthy in order to play. The number of obese players dwarfs those in every other sport, too.
And really, at the end of the day, college football is more cultural than athletic. Even as baseball became the national pastime, college football was becoming far more important on campus. Football, after all, correlates with the start of the school year. College is back, football is back. People don't think of college football games, they think of college football weekends. The alumni return to campus for homecoming - for football. So many college football programs now are, in effect, overseen by off-campus, quasi-official booster clubs.
This seems to be one of the reasons why college football alone awards so few head coaching jobs to African-Americans. In college basketball and in the major pro sports, black coaches are so common now, nobody much bothers to mention race when one is hired or fired. But just a month ago, only three of the 119 Division I football coaches were African-American - 2.5 percent - when it's estimated that at least half of all Division I players are black. A veritable frenzy of minority hiring has raised the number of black coaches to seven, but it's invariably the lesser colleges that give blacks a chance.
Auburn chose a white guy whose record was five wins, 19 losses, instead of Turner Gill, an African-American who had completely turned the University of Buffalo's program around. Of course, Gill's alma mater, Nebraska, had passed on him, too. In some countries, the second most famous man in the land is the national soccer coach. That's also pretty analogous to the way it is in our colleges with football, only more so. The football coach is the face of the college, and a lot of boosters and alumni and athletic directors and presidents aren't ready to see a black man out in front of our football team, our place. College football is different. Different, even, from the United States.
SHAPIRO: Commentator Frank Deford joins us each Wednesday from member station WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
President Bush will leave office in 13 days. During his time in the White House, he's had some of the highest poll numbers in presidential history - and some of the lowest. Those eight years have included the 9/11 terror attacks, two wars - still ongoing - Hurricane Katrina, and an economic crisis worse than anything the U.S. has seen in half a century. His hope now is that history treats him better than the polls.
NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea has covered the entire Bush presidency. He spoke with a historian, a presidential scholar, and a journalist who authored a recent biography of Mr. Bush to get their first take on the Bush legacy.
DON GONYEA: For some former occupants of the Oval Office, it takes just a snippet of tape to sum up what we remember most about them.
(Soundbite of vintage recordings)
Former President FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Former President JOHN F. KENNEDY: The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
Former President RICHARD NIXON: Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got.
Former President RONALD REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
GONYEA: But what will it be for George W. Bush? There's his moment with the bullhorn at ground zero days after 9/11, his declaration of war in Iraq, a pair of conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, the current economic crisis. President Bush says it's up to history to judge him. And he likes to recall that Harry Truman was unpopular when he left the White House, but in the decades since has become an icon of strength in adversity. On CNN recently, the president acknowledged his low standing with the public.
(Soundbite of CNN interview)
President GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm sure people have disagreed with my decisions, but they've been made with a lot of deliberation, and they have been made with one thing in mind: what's best for the United States of America.
GONYEA: The early part of the Bush presidency is defined by 9/11. Author Robert Draper has written what is to date the only comprehensive biography of the president that Mr. Bush has cooperated with. The book is called "Dead Certain."
Mr. ROBERT DRAPER (Author, "Dead Certain"): The nation very much needed a president with that level of certitude, with that clarity of vision such that he could say, you're either for us or you're for the terrorists. He brought forth from the public a great amount of pride in America and a great amount of determination.
GONYEA: The country got behind its president when he launched the war in Afghanistan. But then he used 9/11 as a justification for going into Iraq, despite the lack of evidence of a connection between those attacks and Saddam Hussein. The war was controversial from the beginning, dividing the country, and over time driving Mr. Bush's once record-high public approval ratings way down. Professor George Edwards of Texas A&M.
Professor GEORGE EDWARDS (Political Science, Texas A&M University): Certainly, if Iraq should turn into a stable democracy and a model for the Middle East, that would be a huge plus in his legacy. I don't think that there's much you can do about what I would say not being on top of all issues, not having planned for the aftermath of Iraq. That was a disaster, and there's nothing that can rehabilitate that.
GONYEA: Historian Robert Dallek has written books on FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Reagan. He says the negative impact of the Iraq War will have a lasting effect on Mr. Bush's legacy and on the U.S.
Dr. ROBERT DALLEK (Historian; Author): The bad name that the United States has been given as a consequence of the torture, Abu Ghraib, the waterboarding - America's standing around the world has been badly injured by this Bush administration.
GONYEA: Nonetheless, Bush biographer Robert Draper says Mr. Bush leaves office confident that history will see him as being on the right side of important challenges.
Mr. DRAPER: He believes he has installed terrorist-fighting tools in the form of enhanced interrogation techniques, as they say. And he believes they were right in terms of leaning into the global AIDS crisis. And so you can view all that, and on the one hand it sounds pretty positive. And then on the other hand, you see a, you know, an economy in tatters and America fighting two wars.
GONYEA: The economy's problems will only make it harder for the president's image to be rebuilt. Here's Professor Edwards.
Professor EDWARDS: Not anticipating the financial crisis that we're experiencing right now is again, something that's certainly not all his fault, and it's never fair to blame everything on a president. But certainly, doing very little to anticipate this or pre-empt it or prevent it is not going to look well in history.
GONYEA: Although historian Robert Dallek is a strong critic of President Bush's performance overall, he does give him some credit for his approach once the economic crisis hit. He cites a willingness to help financial institutions and the auto companies, breaking with many of his conservative allies to do so.
Dr. DALLEK: And as Cheney said, we don't want to be remembered as a Herbert Hoover. Now, it doesn't mean he solved the economic crisis of the country. But at least he tried some things, and I think he deserves some credit for that.
GONYEA: Meanwhile, Texas A&M's George Edwards says President Bush will also get credit for being decisive, for good or for ill.
Professor EDWARDS: Certainly, history will view this as a consequential presidency. George W. Bush was one who thought boldly and aimed explicitly to make a lasting impact.
GONYEA: Bush biographer Robert Draper agrees that whatever individuals feel about this president, he'll be regarded as consequential. But historian Dallek has a different prediction.
Dr. DALLEK: Fifty, 75, 100 years from now, I think Bush will be a forgotten president.
GONYEA: Dallek notes that President Bush cites the avoidance of another 9/11 attack as a major accomplishment of his administration. But Dallek also holds that people don't remember you for what didn't happen. He then adds this thought.
Dr. DALLEK: The most memorable presidents, without question, are those who had some kind of catchphrase - a bumper sticker, if you will. Theodore Roosevelt, the Square Deal; Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal; John Kennedy, the New Frontier; Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society; Reagan remembered for saying, it's morning in America. What is there with George W. Bush? What's the bumper sticker? I don't know.
GONYEA: Of course, President Bush won't simply be on the sidelines. He says he'll make his own case by writing his memoirs. And at age 62 and in good health, he expects to be around a long time to play a role in what will surely be a continuing debate over his legacy. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Washington.
SHAPIRO: You can retrace some of the highs and lows of President Bush's eight years in office through an interactive timeline at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have the constitutional right to challenge their detentions in American courts. That was the recent finding of the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, a federal judge considers whether the same right extends to detainees at a U.S. military prison near Kabul, Afghanistan. Here's NPR's Dina Temple-Raston.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON: The prison is Bagram Air Base, and the question is whether the Supreme Court ruling that gave Guantanamo prisoners habeas corpus rights extends to other terrorism suspects as well. And the case's outcome will likely hinge on whether the judge sees Bagram as a prison like Guantanamo or as a battlefield detention facility in a war zone.
Ms. BARBARA OLSHANSKY (Lawyer): Bagram is probably more like Guantanamo than Guantanamo was.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Barbara Olshansky is one of the lawyers in the case. She's representing four Bagram detainees who have been held for six years without charge and are challenging their detention there.
Ms. OLSHANSKY: This is the last vestige, we hope, of a policy that tries to lock people away without charge or trial forever.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Justice Department officials declined to speak about the case on tape, but in their legal brief, they say that Bagram and Guantanamo couldn't be more different. Bagram is in use in an ongoing military operation and, they say, that means there's no role for the U.S. courts there. They also argue that Bagram's detainees are warriors captured on the field of battle. And that's true of most of the prisoners there now. But according to Tina Foster of the International Justice Network, her clients were picked up in third countries and then taken to Bagram.
Ms. TINA FOSTER (Founder and Executive Director, International Justice Network): The only reason that our clients are anywhere near Afghanistan is because the United States government brought them to Afghanistan and to Bagram against their will.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Here's one reason why Bagram's fate is so important now. Ever since the Supreme Court gave Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their detentions in the Boumediene case, the favorite place to send terrorism suspects has been Bagram. If the case being heard today is decided against the government, that legal netherworld could vanish. That said, David Laufman, a former Justice Department lawyer, says a close reading of last summer's Supreme Court ruling gives the government the advantage.
Mr. DAVID LAUFMAN (Former Justice Department Lawyer): The Supreme Court in Boumediene left the door open to agreeing with the position taken by the government in this case.
TEMPLE-RASTON: He says that's because the Supreme Court is sensitive to the fact that if a detention facility is in a war zone, having to deal with prisoners filing writs of habeas could be impractical. John Sifton is a lawyer who has been dealing with Afghan issues for nearly a decade, and he says the Obama administration can tinker at the edges of policy to avoid these kinds of legal problems.
Mr. JOHN SIFTON (Lawyer): The issue going forward is avoiding these types of situations by adopting a more nuanced way of looking at the detainees it captures overseas.
TEMPLE-RASTON: He says the Obama administration can distinguish itself by not treating all terrorism suspects, whether masterminds or hangers-on, the same way.
Mr. SIFTON: Some might be Taliban fighters captured on the battlefield. Others might be persons of interest who have intelligence that might be useful to the CIA or to the military. But these are the nuances that have been lacking for, you know, the last eight years. This sort of sense that some people might be one type of detainee and others might be another.
TEMPLE-RASTON: The dilemma for President-elect Obama is that Bagram could help him keep his promise to close Guantanamo. The Afghan detention facility provides a place to keep prisoners while the new administration tries to figure out what to do with detainees who are just too dangerous to release. Right now, Bagram has about 700 prisoners. A new prison is under construction there. It will be able to hold about 10,000 more. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep, good morning. Here's what we know about a proposal for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Israel, whose troops moved into the Palestinian area, says it welcomes the idea, which does not necessarily mean the shooting stops right away. Israel says it's willing to keep talking about a cease-fire so long as the idea applies to both sides.
Hamas, the group that's fired rockets out of Gaza, has yet to respond in public. Now, the latest idea of a cease-fire came from Egypt and France, and the discussion comes after a sharp increase in civilian casualties. Israeli troops struck United Nations-administered schools in Gaza yesterday. Dozens of people were killed. And this morning, NPR's Mike Shuster reports on the most deadly incident.
MIKE SHUSTER: The shelling of the U.N. school in the Jabaliya refugee camp has caused an uproar. It was the third U.N. school to be hit by Israeli fire on Tuesday, and the devastation there was by far the bloodiest. At least 300 people had gathered there in a desperate effort to avoid the fighting in their neighborhoods. But during the late afternoon on Tuesday, according to the Israelis, Palestinian militants launched mortar rockets from near the school. The Israelis responded with tank fire.
John Ging, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which runs the school, says the U.N. provided location coordinates to the Israeli Defense Force for all its facilities in Gaza in an effort to avoid just such an incident.
Mr. JOHN GING (Director of Operations in Gaza, UNRWA): The civilian population here have no protection at the moment. They are dying in their hundreds. They're being injured in their thousands. And they're entitled to action from the international community. And the international community must be accountable for its action or inaction in protecting civilians caught up in conflict because these people are trapped. They cannot even flee this conflict.
SHUSTER: This was just a single incident in a day that saw rapidly mounting casualties among Gaza's civilians. It put Israel on the defensive. Andy David of the Israeli Foreign Ministry insisted Israel has been doing everything it can to minimize civilian casualties. He put the blame on Hamas, whose militants hide themselves among the civilian population.
Mr. ANDY DAVID (Spokesman, Israeli Foreign Ministry): We are trying to avoid casualties. Eighty percent of the air force operations, for instance, are being aborted just because there are civilians present. But when you have soldiers, combatants, gunmen hiding amongst civilians, this has in the past given them protection. That will no longer be the case.
SHUSTER: But Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel. One reached the town of Gedera yesterday. Gedera is only about 17 miles from Tel Aviv. Until now, no Hamas rocket has flown that far. The Israeli operation in Gaza is aimed at stopping this rocket fire. Major Michael Oren, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Force, conceded it will inevitably result in civilian casualties.
Major MICHAEL OREN (Spokesman, Israeli Defense Force): If you move ground troops in with heavy armor into urban areas, and Hamas wants to fight from those urban areas, it would be almost unavoidable, some type of rise in the number of civilian casualties.
SHUSTER: The bloodshed yesterday has given new momentum to an international effort to bring about a cease-fire. At the U.N. in New York and in Cairo, Paris, and other international capitals, the calls for at least a temporary humanitarian cease-fire are growing more urgent. Among Palestinians outside of Gaza, there is enormous anger and frustration. In Ramallah in the West Bank, Randa Siniora of the Independent Palestinian Commission for Human Rights brushed aside Israel's justification for its actions.
Ms. RANDA SINIORA (Executive Director, Independent Palestinian Commission for Human Rights): Israel cannot claim as an occupying authority that it is in self defense doing what it is doing because, simply, it's very clear in international humanitarian law that you cannot attack. And it is considered war crimes to create harm and damage and a lot of sufferings among the civilian population under the justification that they are defending themselves.
SHUSTER: How precisely Israel will act at the moment is not clear. Israel's leaders are beginning a discussion about whether to expand the ground operations and order Israeli soldiers deeper into the dense, urban neighborhoods of Gaza City. That would be a significant escalation and would inevitably bring even greater casualties among the civilian population. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And now to some of the legal and ethical questions of war. As we've heard, the fighting in Gaza has produced many civilian casualties. On Monday, Israeli military spokesman Michael Oren told us that roughly one in four killed in Gaza so far have been civilians.
Major MICHAEL OREN (Spokesman, Israeli Defense Force): That is a percentage which is very rarely attained in urban warfare. We're dealing with an enemy that specializes in fighting from in the midst of civilian neighborhoods. We actually have pictures of them shooting rockets out of schools, even using hospitals as headquarters. So, civilian casualties are unavoidable. Keeping those civilian casualties less than excessive is the great task of the Israeli Defense Forces.
SHAPIRO: That prompted us to ask how U.S. military planners draw the line between what's necessary and what's unacceptable.
Colonel JIM HELLIS (Chairman, Department of National Security and Strategy, U.S. Army War College): There is no fixed mathematical calculation for what is or isn't an acceptable level of civilian casualties.
SHAPIRO: That's Colonel Jim Hellis. He teaches war planning at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Colonel HELLIS: The thought process that you should step through is, first, what is the value of the target that you're trying to engage? Then you have to weigh against that, what are the risks of causing civilian casualties or destroying civilian structures - mosques, churches, hospitals, and so on - in attacking that target?
SHAPIRO: Is there anything that the law of war specifically says about what is unacceptable?
Colonel HELLIS: The law of war lays out certain structures, facilities as off-limits, such as medical facilities, religious shrines and so on. If a combatant uses one of these protected sites for military purposes - as an observation post, as a firing point, as a storage facility for weapons - then it does become a legitimate military target. And again, law of war lays out criteria, but it's conceptual, it's subjective. There's no objective criteria.
SHAPIRO: Well then, if we set aside the law of war for a moment and just look morally at waging war, are there things that might be legally acceptable that would not be morally acceptable in terms of civilian deaths?
Colonel HELLIS: I would argue that the legal test is the first test that you have to go through in engaging a target, but then you have to go through the moral and ethical factors. You also have to couch it in a political and a strategic perspective.
SHAPIRO: Right.
Colonel HELLIS: In a conflict, wars end with political solutions. Wars are fought for political reasons. And if you look at Gaza, if you look at Afghanistan, those are conflicts that are not going to be resolved by military means. They are going to be resolved by political reconciliation. And anytime that you cause civilian casualties, that potentially pushes back your ability to reach a political solution.
SHAPIRO: You teach at the U.S. Army War College. And I wonder how you teach these principles when, as you say, there is no black and white. There is no hard and fast rule that you can turn to.
Colonel HELLIS: We teach it at the War College by first introducing the law of war, which is a somewhat more objective test because it does lay down criteria of whether or not the target is a legitimate military target. We also address at the higher level what determines a just war in terms of the cause for which you're fighting, the proportionality in pursuit of the war, the limitation of civilian casualties. So we look at it at the strategic and the operational levels.
SHAPIRO: Could you explain what you mean a bit more by proportionality?
Colonel HELLIS: Sure. Wars are costly. They're destructive. In my mind, there's no such thing as a good war. There may be necessary wars, but there's no such thing as a good war. And in proportionality, the issue is, are the gains that you're going to achieve worth the costs in terms of lives and destruction and treasure that are going to be expended in fighting that war?
SHAPIRO: So it's not proportionality of casualties on one side versus the other?
Colonel HELLIS: No. It is the proportionality of the ends that you're pursuing as opposed to the costs of achieving those ends.
SHAPIRO: Relative to all of the other decisions that commanders are making in the thick of war, how important is this particular calculation?
Colonel HELLIS: It's an extremely important one for a lot of reasons. There is the legal dimension. There is the moral and ethical dimension. There is the strategic political dimension. And anytime that you are going to cause or risk causing casualties amongst that population, you've got to think hard about making that because it is going to be a setback. There's going to be a price paid politically by incidents that result in civilian casualties.
SHAPIRO: Colonel Jim Hellis is chairman of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College. Great talking with you. Thank you.
Colonel HELLIS: Thanks very much. Good to be here.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. President-elect Barack Obama is seeking a little star power for a position that's sometimes a little anonymous. As NPR's David Folkenflik reports, the administration in waiting is paging CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: Both CNN and a person with the Obama transition team confirmed that Gupta is under close consideration for the job of U.S. surgeon general. It's not a done deal yet, as Gupta is still being scrutinized. Currently, Gupta is a medical correspondent on CNN and a contributing reporter on CBS News. The 39-year-old neurosurgeon is also an assistant professor on the medical faculty of Emory University in Atlanta.
In recent decades, the surgeon general has basically been a cheerleader for good public health practices and above all, a communicator. But Gupta was a White House fellow during the second Clinton administration, and the Washington Post is reporting that Gupta has been offered a voice in developing public-health policy by Obama. His appointment would also depend on confirmation by the full U.S. Senate. Gupta is perhaps best known for reporting on the health-care implications of dangerous events such as Hurricane Katrina and the invasion of Iraq.
In one situation back in 2003, Gupta helped perform emergency brain surgery on a wounded boy in south central Iraq while traveling with a team of U.S. Navy doctors. CNN says it removed Gupta from covering health- care policy and other political matters involving Obama as soon as it learned he was under consideration for the federal job. Gupta did not respond to a request for comment. David Folkenflik, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
NPR's business news starts with layoffs spreading throughout the economy.
(Soundbite of music)
SHAPIRO: The car industry is shrinking, housing is in a slump, and that means aluminum makers are in trouble. The lightweight metal is not just used for foil, it's also in cars and home appliances. The world's largest aluminum maker is Alcoa, and now that company says it's getting rid of more than 15,000 jobs. That's about 15 percent of its workforce. Alcoa's global rivals are also cutting costs. The entire industry is being hit by falling demand and falling aluminum prices.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Alcoa's just the latest company to announce job cuts and in fact, the unemployment situation is getting so serious that offices in at least three states, unemployment offices, have experienced computer crashes. That's because of the crush of people filing for jobless benefits. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on the situation in New York.
JIM ZARROLI: New York's unemployment claims office has been under a lot of stress. The state's unemployment rate has gone from 4.6 to 6.1 percent in a year. Some 800,000 people contacted the office in November, compared to 300,000 in November 2007. Leo Rosales, spokesman for the state Labor Department, says earlier this week, the system buckled under. So many people contacted the office that the security filters used to identify claimants stopped working.
Mr. LEO ROSALES (Spokesman, New York Labor Department): We had thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers - 10,000 calls per hour, we were averaging - which contributed to the shutdown of the system.
ZARROLI: Rosales says the trouble started two days ago. He says calls tend to spike right after the holidays, and they're always especially high on Monday morning as well. So Rosales says it was a perfect storm. Once the office figured out what had happened, it set to work upgrading the software that handles calls and by yesterday, the system was working again. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. A Web site used by North Carolina's Employment Security Commission crashed twice this week after too many people tried to access it to file claims. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The technology industry's biggest extravaganza of the year begins this week in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Show is where companies of all sizes showcase their latest gadgets and tricks for the year ahead. Morning Edition's technology guru, Mario Armstrong, is there, and he just came back from a sneak preview. Good morning.
MARIO ARMSTRONG: Good morning, Ari. How are you?
SHAPIRO: Good. So this is the end of a long day for you, the beginning of the day for us.
ARMSTRONG: That's right.
SHAPIRO: What were some of the highlights of your day? What were the best things you saw?
ARMSTRONG: You know, I really saw some exciting things there. One category that really caught my attention was the netbook category. Are you familiar with what these are?
SHAPIRO: Is this like Kindle, the books you read in a handheld?
ARMSTRONG: No. They're bigger than a Kindle, but they're smaller than your average laptop. I mean, these are, for all intents and purposes, a laptop. I mean, it has a keyboard, it has a screen, but they're lighter weight, and the real appealing thing for a lot of people is the cost. They are right at around $400, compared to, you know, your average laptop of maybe 7 or 800 or more.
SHAPIRO: So this is sort of the computer equivalent of downgrading from an SUV to a Kia.
ARMSTRONG: That's exactly what - you know, that's exactly what this is. This reminds me of featuritis. And I kind of look at featuritis as just, you know, too many features piled in that we never end up using. You know, it's the 80-20 rule. You trim out the 80 percent of fat, and you get this 20 percent of real productivity, and I call those netbooks.
SHAPIRO: Well, what else do you expect to be big at this show?
ARMSTRONG: You know, I'm really seeing this convergence of the Internet now being easier to access on our television screens.
SHAPIRO: Oh, people have been talking about this for years, being able to play video games, use the computer, watch TV, video-on-demand, all of that on the same box.
ARMSTRONG: Yeah, but, you know, it's still not quite there yet. I mean, you can do it, and in most cases it's very technical. If you want to try to connect your computer to your television screen, yeah, I mean, good luck with that. I mean, unless you have like built-in tech support in your house...
SHAPIRO: I can barely program my DVD player.
(Soundbite of laughter)
ARMSTRONG: And a lot of people can relate to that. But we all do, to some degree, watch video content on the Web. It's a growing area. And I saw a young company - it's a start-up, it's called Boxee, B-O-X-E-E. And I tell you, you use a regular remote, not a keyboard and a mouse, you turn on your television, and you really wouldn't even know where the source of the video is coming from.
SHAPIRO: Wow.
ARMSTRONG: It could be coming from a Web site, or it could be coming from over-the-air networks. You really don't know. And you really don't care. The fact that it was so simple really just floored me. And then the last thing about it, Ari, was the social media context of it.
SHAPIRO: Oh, like the networking, Facebook and MySpace, that sort of thing?
ARMSTRONG: You got it. I mean, it had like a recommendation engine in there. So I could have you as one of my friends, and I could see, oh, well, you know, what are you watching tonight? Or, better yet, you could recommend to me, hey, Mario, I saw this TV show. I think you would love it.
SHAPIRO: Cool. I understand there was something that looked very simple that drew a big crowd.
ARMSTRONG: Big crowd. And it's called Powermat, created by an Israeli company. It enables you to charge your devices without wires.
SHAPIRO: How does that work?
ARMSTRONG: So you grab your phone, or you grab your MP3 player, and you basically lay those devices down on a mat, something that's maybe equivalent to the size of a mouse pad or a little bit larger than that. And you don't need to plug anything in. You just lay the devices down, and it uses its own technology that's built into it to basically charge the devices.
SHAPIRO: Could this work with my cell phone now, or is there more technological innovation that's needed before this can be widespread?
ARMSTRONG: Yeah, I think that what they're trying to create is a standard here, so you do need some additional connections. Right now, what they were showcasing was something that looked like a magnet that would basically slap on to the back of your existing devices. But I think going forward, if they could create a Powermat standard, then manufacturers would create that specification in the devices before they left their facilities.
SHAPIRO: Mario Armstrong is Morning Edition's regular technology commentator, and he also hosts the show Digital Cafe on Baltimore's public radio station, WYPR. Thanks, Mario.
ARMSTRONG: Hey, I appreciate it. Take care.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Many retailers want to cash in on the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Obama, and that includes Amazon.com, which gets our last word in business today. The site offers almost everything you could possibly need if you're attending the inauguration - and maybe some things you don't. You start with your Obama pins, Obama T-shirts, Obama action figures. You can buy all the books the president-elect is said to be reading. And then there's a section of cold-weather gear if you want to join the throngs on the National Mall for this outdoor event.
You can buy an inauguration ball gown, cubic zirconium earrings or red toe pumps. And there is even a section of items called Play Secret Service. You, too, can buy your own walkie-talkies, even a so-called Secret Service throat mike so that you can unobtrusively tell your friends about all the great stuff you bought. Everything is available except inauguration tickets. And that's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Whatever passes the House would also have to pass the U.S. Senate. That's where Republicans have more power. And it is still not entirely clear which senators will be around to vote on the bill. A couple of Democrats who think they should be seated have not been. And one Democrat who took an oath this week is expected to leave within a couple of weeks. NPR's David Welna has the story.
DAVID WELNA: An hour and a half before the Senate convened at high noon, Roland Burris was already stealing the show.
(Soundbite from U.S. Senate)
Unidentified Man: Open up the hall, please.
WELNA: The man Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed last week to fill the Senate seat of President-elect Obama swept into the Capitol, escorted by the Senate sergeant-at-arms. They went up to the secretary of the Senate's office and 20 minutes later, Burris was back outside the Capitol under a steady, cold rain. He told reporters his bid to be seated as the junior senator from Illinois had been rejected.
Mr. ROLAND BURRIS (Democrat, Illinois; Former Illinois Attorney General): I presented my credentials to the secretary of the Senate, and advised that my credentials were not in order and I would not be accepted, and I will not be seated, and I will not be permitted on the floor.
WELNA: The certificate of appointment Burris presented lacked two crucial items: a signature from Illinois' secretary of state, and the seal of the state of Illinois. Burris is suing to get that missing signature, which the secretary of state withheld because of Blagojevich's arrest last month on corruption charges. Speaking later on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Harry Reid sounded conciliatory as he addressed the Burris imbroglio.
Senator HARRY REID (Democrat, Nevada; Senate Majority Leader): Mr. Burris takes possession of valid credentials, the Senate will proceed in a manner that is respectful to Mr. Burris while ensuring that there's no cloud of doubt over the appointment to fill this seat.
WELNA: One leading Senate Democrat, California's Dianne Feinstein, broke ranks with her colleagues and issued a statement demanding that Burris be sworn in and seated, saying his appointment by Blagojevich had been legal. Another Democrat left waiting in the wings is Minnesota's Al Franken. A Minnesota board certified Monday that Franken got 225 more votes than GOP incumbent Norm Coleman. Still, because Franken has not yet been given a certificate of election, he was not sworn in. Majority Leader Reid yesterday urged Coleman to concede.
Senator REID: I hope that former Senator Coleman and all of our Republican colleagues will choose to respect the will of the people of Minnesota. They've chosen a new senator, Al Franken, and his term must begin, and will begin soon.
WELNA: But Mitch McConnell, the leader of Senate Republicans, warned against a rush to fill the seat.
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky; Senate Minority Leader): The only people who have pronounced the Minnesota Senate race over are Washington Democrats, and the candidate who is the current custodian of the most votes. The people of Minnesota certainly don't believe that the Minnesota Senate race is over.
WELNA: One Minnesotan, in particular, doesn't think that race is over. Now former Senator Coleman announced in St. Paul yesterday that he'll challenge the recount results in court.
Senator NORM COLEMAN (Republican, Minnesota): This is not just about me. The eyes of the nation are on the state that we love, and we need to show them that Minnesota has done everything we can to make sure that we protect every voter's right.
WELNA: Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney was in the Senate chamber yesterday swearing in senators, including Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
Vice President DICK CHENEY: Please raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States...
WELNA: Biden says he plans to hold onto his Senate seat until possibly late next week.
Vice President-elect JOE BIDEN (Democrat, Delaware): This will be the shortest Senate term anyone ever had.
WELNA: The vice president-elect looked uncertain, though, when asked if he'll be casting any significant votes before leaving.
Vice President-elect BIDEN: With the grace of God, the goodwill of neighbors and a lot of luck, we might be able to cast a significant vote. But I don't think it's going to get done.
WELNA: Not in the Senate, still trying to settle who'll be seated. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
INSKEEP: And just to let you know, President-elect Obama is going to take questions on the economy and the appointment of Roland Burris as a senator from the state of Illinois. He'll be talking at a news conference this morning, and you can hear it live at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro. The 111th Congress has barely been seated, and its first order of business is a big one: President-elect Obama's stimulus package. Some lawmakers are saying it could cost a trillion dollars. Congressman David Obey is one of the men leading the package through the House. He's a Democrat from Wisconsin and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and he joins us from his home outside Washington. Good morning.
Representative DAVID R. OBEY (Democrat, Wisconsin; Chairman, House Appropriations Committee): Good morning.
SHAPIRO: You've said you're worried that this stimulus package may not be big enough. Whether we're talking about 750 billion or a trillion dollars, that's a lot of money. How much do you think it's going to take?
Representative OBEY: Well, the answer is nobody knows that. But most of the major economists who are respected on both sides of the aisle are telling us that this is the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. And the last thing we want to do is to wind up doing half measures, and then have to come back and do a double dose later on down the year. It's crucial that we get money pumped into the economy now in order to prevent huge job loss that could otherwise occur in the next six months alone.
SHAPIRO: It looks right now as though the biggest chunk of the stimulus package would go for a tax cut. It's about 40 percent of the package, and we're talking about, maybe, $300 billion here - about $500 per worker. Is $500 per worker really going to help that much?
Representative OBEY: Not alone, it certainly isn't. That's why you have to have a combination of other things that are happening. I mean, we have an opportunity here not only to deal with the job loss that we're looking at, but we have an opportunity in doing that to try to make investments that will make the economy stronger over the long haul.
SHAPIRO: Let's talk about the infrastructure projects that this stimulus package is expected to fund. These are road, bridge-building, etc., projects. How does Congress decide which ones get priority?
Representative OBEY: We don't. On the transportation infrastructure, for instance, we will provide funding through the regular formula for distribution of funds to states.
SHAPIRO: What does that mean?
Representative OBEY: It is states that will determine which projects are going forward. We simply want to make sure that the projects that are funded are those which can put shovels in the ground very early so that you do, in fact, begin to create jobs almost immediately.
SHAPIRO: Some people have said the projects that are ready to go from day one are least likely to be the innovative kinds of projects that could transform America into a functioning, 21st-century economic engine.
Representative OBEY: Well, with all due respect, we have an emergency on our hands, and we don't have the luxury of deciding whether we're going to use some old reliable hoses or find a nice, shiny, new one at the hardware store. We've got to use whatever equipment we have at hand because every month that we delay, we see a rapid, downward, death spiral of this economy. I think everybody understands that governors and state highway commissions have a pretty good idea what's needed at the state level. There are going to be no earmarks in this package in the House. We're going to leave it up to the people who know the most about what's ready to go.
SHAPIRO: So people who are saying this is going to turn into a Christmas tree loaded down with every lawmaker's pet project, you're saying, no, absolutely not, zero earmarks?
Representative OBEY: I can't control what happens in any other body, but I can certainly refuse to bring a bill to the floor if it has earmarks, and that's what I will do.
SHAPIRO: There are also a lot of state legislatures that are meeting, and, as I don't need to tell you, states are in big trouble right now. Some have said they expect to get help from this package. New York, California, Florida have all been very open about this. How much help can they expect to get from the federal government?
Representative OBEY: I am concerned that we will not provide enough help for them. The fact is that we can not afford to have states raising taxes and cutting back services at the same time at the federal level, we're cutting taxes and increasing public investments because that would run counter to the stimulus effort and weaken our economic-recovery actions. This has to be a common effort to recognize that this is a crisis at the federal, state and local level.
SHAPIRO: Representative David Obey of Wisconsin is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Congressman Obey, thank you very much.
Representative OBEY: Thank you.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Now for an update on that coal ash spill in Tennessee. It happened right around Christmas, when a holding pond burst and flooded 300 acres with sludgy residue from a power plant. Officials in eastern Tennessee say the health risks are minor, but some people near the plant are skeptical. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports from Kingston, Tennessee.
ADAM HOCHBERG: To appreciate how much anxiety there is here about lingering health effects of the coal spill, consider that the mayor of Kingston felt the need last week to hold a most unusual press conference. With cameras clicking and reporters watching, Mayor Troy Beets did something many of his city's residents won't do. He drank a glass of water.
Mayor TROY BEETS (Kingston, Tennessee): This is a cup of Kingston city water that comes from my house and out of my tap, and I just want to drink it for you right here. And I'm going to be fine.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HOCHBERG: Indeed, the mayor didn't keel over after enjoying his beverage. And despite the ash spill that's turned parts of two rivers into stagnant sludge pools, state and federal officials say their tests show the local water is safe to drink. Likewise, they've declared the air safe to breathe and suggested that as long as people don't come in direct contact with the coal ash, there's no danger at all. But those assurances have done little to alleviate people's worries.
Unidentified Man: I'd like to welcome everybody to the town hall meeting in Harriman tonight.
HOCHBERG: Last night, at a pair of public meetings in the neighboring cities of Kingston and Harriman, leaders of TVA and other agencies were confronted by skeptical crowds. Several people alleged the government is downplaying the hazard. Brenda Bailey(ph) said she initially believed there was no danger to staying in her house, about a half mile from the TVA plant.
Ms. BRENDA BAILEY (Resident, Kingston, Tennessee): I trusted you, and I went back home. I got sick, and the doctor told me that I had asthma, which I had never had, due to the dust that was stirred up. But nobody will help me.
HOCHBERG: Other speakers said they feel fine now but worry about the long-term effect of exposure to coal ash, which contains arsenic and other heavy metals. Brian Long(ph) is so worried that he's ready to pack up his family and leave town.
Mr. BRIAN LONG (Resident, Kingston, Tennessee): I'm not willing to see what the effects are going to be 10, 15, 20 years down the road. So my family and I are in contact with real estate companies now about selling our home.
HOCHBERG: People received few assurances last night about the long-term effects. The head of the TVA, Tom Kilgore, talked mainly about more immediate challenges, like keeping the spill contained and figuring out how to clean up the tons of sludge.
Mr. TOM KILGORE (CEO, TVA): Let me say this. I do have children and grandchildren. I'd want them to be safe. I'd want to hear what you're hearing from me, that we will clean it up. This is not something we would want to happen.
(Soundbite of helicopter)
HOCHBERG: Yesterday along the Clinch River, TVA helicopters dropped grass seed and fertilizer on the muck, an effort to control dust and erosion. Nearby property owners, who've seen the once-flowing river degenerate into a gray swamp, watched with only mild interest. Jason Robertson(ph), who's fished these waters for years, predicted it will be decades before he can do it again.
Mr. JASON ROBERTSON (Resident, Kingston, Tennessee): It makes me horrified, really. You could just come out here and it'd be peaceful, calm, be able look out on to the river and everything would be fine. And you can't even do that. I mean, my favorite fishing hole is gone.
HOCHBERG: Robertson's family is among several in this neighborhood who are buying bottled water. And he's even working with a private lab to do his own water tests, an indication of how little confidence some residents have in the public officials who have assured them they're safe. Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Kingston, Tennessee.
SHAPIRO: This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Today, Roland Burris tries again to be accepted as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He meets with leaders of the Senate, which has already turned him away once. This morning, we'll talk about the debate that was ignited because the man who was denied that seat is black. It has exposed a divide between two generations of black leaders. And we're joined now by NPR news analyst Juan Williams. Juan, good morning.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: If I may ask about two Chicago politicians here, both African-American, they actually ran against each other in an election once. One is Congressman Bobby Rush, who says that denying the Senate seat to Burris is like segregation. The other is President-elect Obama, who says this is about corruption, and it's fine to keep him out of the Senate. What leads to that difference in outlook, do you think?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think for the older generation, Steve, it's identity politics. It's being a spokesman for black grievance and a conduit to white political power - I think that's the model that they are deeply enmeshed in - versus a younger generation of black politicians who are seeking a place in mainstream politics - like earlier generations of Italians or Irish who've now found themselves in mainstream American politics.
INSKEEP: Wait a minute. Bobby - you're saying Bobby Rush says, you know, I have to stand up for other African-Americans because we have to stick together, and President-elect Obama is thinking in a different and broader way.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely. So you get the former Black Panther, Bobby Rush, saying that keeping Burris out of the Senate is like old segregation, and making the argument that, you know, he's essentially blocking the schoolhouse door, but it's the Senate door this time. And if you think about for a second, Steve, the Illinois secretary of state is black, President Obama's black, they both oppose Burris being seated. So that argument isn't getting traction. Instead, it's the legal argument that is right now being the best - best that Roland Burris can do to try to get his seat in the Senate.
INSKEEP: Hard to miss that Rush and Obama are different in age. Is there a split, of sorts, between older and younger black leaders in the way they view the world?
WILLIAMS: Oh, I don't think there's any question. You stop and you think about the fact that if we were talking a year ago, you'd realize that most of the Congressional Black Caucus was supporting Hillary Clinton. They knew her. I mean, this is the key thing, they - you stop and think about it, even the older black politicians don't know this younger generation. They don't know that they'll return their phone calls. They don't know that they will make deals. They don't know that they will back them when it comes to funding programs or supporting their campaigns down the line. These guys didn't come up through the pulpit. They didn't come up through the civil rights movement. Remember, Barack Obama wasn't part of that at all. He comes from a separate generation. He's Ivy League-educated. They're still coming to know those folks, so it's no surprise that they would be reluctant to throw out immediate support to the likes of Barack Obama or this younger generation.
INSKEEP: Are you saying the older generation of civil rights leaders, at least some members of that generation are still skeptical of Barack Obama, even after seeing him campaign?
WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. Well, all - Steve, the only thing that makes them not skeptical is the fact that there is such overwhelming support in the black community for Barack Obama and many of these younger black politicians. But the fact that they have no history with them tends to define them as strange, different. You know, they don't see them as one of them quite yet. So maybe that's coming down the pike. I'm - just - was yesterday talking with Artur Davis, the Congressman from Alabama, Ivy League-educated. And he told me he's thinking of running for governor of Alabama. A black man might be governor of Alabama. But he's looking for a model. He's looking at President Obama. He's looking at Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana. He's not expecting support from older black politicians in the state. In fact, he said he says he imagines that they will oppose him and put him in a corner as a relative risk, and suggest that people stick with them and with the established Democratic lines of authority in the state. That's - that's what's going on in the country, that split between the generations.
INSKEEP: Juan, thanks very much.
WILLIAMS: You're welcome, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR news analyst Juan Williams.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro. As more Palestinian civilians die in Gaza, there are growing calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The Bush administration says it would like a quick end to the fighting, but a cease-fire has to last. That means making sure Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. NPR's Michele Kelemen has more.
MICHELE KELEMEN: As foreign ministers of the U.N. Security Council gathered yesterday afternoon, a U.N. official in Gaza, John Ging, appealed for help. He said there's simply nowhere that's safe anymore. U.N. schools where Palestinians sought shelter have been hit by Israeli fire.
Mr. JOHN GING (Director, UNRWA, Gaza): The Palestinians have to stop firing the rockets. The Israelis have to stop with their disproportionate and inappropriate use of force in densely populated, urban areas. And I also call on international political actors to get effective. We need more than words. We need effective action.
KELEMEN: U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon pressed that case in the chambers of the Security Council, as did Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, foreign ministers from the Arab world and from Europe. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country has taken the lead in the search for a cease-fire, urged the council to back Egyptian proposals to host talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and to secure and open Gaza's borders. Kouchner spoke through an interpreter.
Mr. BERNARD KOUCHNER (Foreign Minister, France): (Through Translator) A halt to violence is the immediate priority. My country condemned the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza and the launching of rockets. And we call for an immediate, humanitarian truce.
KELEMEN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she understands the urgency of this crisis, and pointed out that Israeli has agreed to set up humanitarian corridors to help get relief supplies to Palestinians in Gaza. And though she said she supports Egypt's mediation efforts, she said any truce must deal with what she calls the root of the problem: Hamas's ability to fire rockets into Israel.
Ms. CONDOLEEZZA RICE (Secretary of State, United States): We need very much to find a solution to this problem in the short term. But it really must be a solution this time that does not allow Hamas to use Gaza as a launching pad against Israeli cities. It has to be a solution that does not allow the rearmament of Hamas.
KELEMEN: Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group says there are some serious flaws to this approach.
Mr. ROBERT MALLEY (Director, International Crisis Group): All that makes perfect sense, except for the fact that in the meantime, there's a heavy human toll, there's a political toll. I mean, let's not forget that every day that goes by, President Abbas and the moderates, who we want to support, are looking increasingly irrelevant, feckless and to some Palestinians, complicit as well.
KELEMEN: Malley says the U.S. should follow the example of others, pushing for a quick end to the fighting first, and then putting in place the longer-term solutions. He co-authored a report that offers some suggestions, including real efforts by Egypt and others to end arms smuggling into Gaza, and putting European monitors back at Israel's border crossings with Gaza to reopen trade.
Mr. MALLEY: There seems to be a pretty broad consensus that those are the pillars of any final cease-fire. The differences are in the timing. How much more should Hamas's military potential be pummeled before we get there? Differences, too, into what kind of role Hamas will play not only in getting to the cease-fire, but once the cease-fire is in place.
KELEMEN: Malley says the diplomacy on Gaza is starting to look a lot like the situation in 2006, when the U.S. refused to call for an immediate truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. He says the U.S. lost credibility in the Arab world for that, and the conflict dragged on for more than a month. While others seemed to have learned their lessons and are trying to act quickly this time, Malley says the U.S. seems to be once again standing in the way of a quick resolution to another Middle East conflict. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
One of the Israelis closely watching the conflict is Amos Oz. When written on the page, his name looks to many Americans like Amos Oz. And many Americans have seen it on the page, because he may be Israel's best-known novelist, and has been translated into many languages. He's also well-known as a so-called dove. He co-founded a group called Peace Now in 1978.
Mr. AMOS OZ (Israeli Author; Co-Founder, Peace Now): I deal with language all my life. I get up in the morning, I drink a cup of coffee, and I start working with the language. This gives me a certain obligation to respond publicly to political events, to questions of life and death.
INSKEEP: Amos Oz first supported Israel's strikes on Gaza. He believed it was a legitimate response to years of Hamas rocket fire. But now he's speaking out in favor of a cease-fire.
Mr. OZ: I objected the ground offensive. I think this went out of proportion. I felt after the aerial raid, Israel should have stopped the operation and wait to see the response from Hamas. If Hamas ceases the fire, then there would have been a cease-fire.
INSKEEP: Amos Oz, I'd like to know, because you've written so movingly of Israel's past - more than 60 years of existence - how you think Israelis' view of a conflict like this is shaped by their past?
Mr. OZ: Well, everything is shaped by the past. The Israelis are haunted by the fact that they have been besieged for decades. They are haunted by the historical ordeal of the Jewish people, by the sense of being alienated by many countries and nations, and by world public opinion. This provides the Israelis with a certain sense of stubbornness. The world will criticize us anyway, whatever we do, whichever way we behave, so let's be tough.
INSKEEP: Is that your point of view sometimes?
Mr. OZ: No, it's not. I don't believe in toughness for toughness sake.
INSKEEP: Although when you write - you talk about people feeling besieged - you write about Israel's war for independence in the late 1940s, and being a child and being besieged in Jerusalem.
Mr. OZ: Yes. I wrote about this state of siege which is - ironically, makes me capable of image the plight of the civilians in Gaza under Israeli siege.
INSKEEP: What do you imagine is going through their minds, based on what went through yours as a young person?
Mr. OZ: Fear, loneliness, despair, inability to do anything. Unlike myself as a child under the Arab siege in 1948, those Palestinians can not really uprise against Hamas, and they are caught between the Israeli fire and the Hamas operation.
INSKEEP: You're saying that that feeling of being besieged, which you personally felt as a child, makes people stubborn and determined later on. Is that part of the reason that you think that besieging Palestinians in Gaza will not work for Israel in the long term? It makes them stubborn?
Mr. OZ: In the long term, the only thing that will work for Israel and for the Palestinians is the unavoidable one and only political solution, which is a two-state solution. The Palestinians are in Palestine for the same reason for which the Norwegians are in Norway. It is their homeland, and they are not going away. The Israelis are in Israel for exactly the same reason, and they're not going anywhere, either. They cannot become one happy family because they are not one and because they are not happy, and because they are not even a family. They are two unhappy families. Now the good news - and there are some good news from the Middle East, although you people only get the bad news all the time. The good news is that the majority of the Israeli Jews and the majority of the Palestinian Arabs know now in their heart of hearts that in the end of the day, there will be a partition and a two- state solution.
INSKEEP: I wonder if you think that it's possible to get past the cycle that your country and that region seem to have been in for so long. Someone finally is forced into a kind of cease-fire - such as what you describe - and maybe it works for an hour, maybe it works for a day; sometimes, it works for a year. But the violence comes back in a different form.
Mr. OZ: Well, as I told you, we know the solution. We know the way out. We don't like this way out. It's like a patient who has to undergo a painful surgery, an amputation. And dividing the country into two nation states is going to be like an amputation, both for the Israelis and for the Palestinians. But it has to be done, and it's time for bold leadership on both sides to carry out this solution and to do what people know has to be done.
INSKEEP: Amos Oz is the author of many novels, short stories and a memoir called "A Tale of Love and Darkness". Thanks very much.
Mr. OZ: Thank you for having me.
INSKEEP: We're hearing many perspectives on the conflict. On Monday, we spoke with the historian Michael Oren, who's a spokesman for Israel's military and wearing their uniform. Tomorrow, we'll hear from the Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The end of the College Bowl season means that some fans can finally stop watching three games at once on three separate televisions. They can finally get up off the couch - unless, of course they're trying for TV greatness. NPR's Tom Bullock has the story.
TOM BULLOCK: The quest for the ultimate couch potato. The search for the one with the guts and grit to best all others in comfortably doing not much at all. Finally, a contest you could be advised to try at home - that is, until someone at ESPN turned it into a sport. Applications flooded in. The handpicked finalists arrived on New Year's Day to the ESPN Zone's sports bars in New York, Chicago, and here in Baltimore. This year's competition came complete with a referee and a rule book.
Ms. LEE FRIEDMAN (Officiator, Couch Potato Contest): The official rules are that you must sit in your seat, and you must be watching sports on TV the whole time. You can't fall asleep, and you can't get out of your seat. Those are deal-breakers. You're out if you do either of those things.
BULLOCK: That's Lee Friedman(ph). She's officiating the ultimate couch potato contest.
Ms. FRIEDMAN: We see that you have to be sitting. And fortunately, I haven't had to really define sitting.
BULLOCK: And they take their sitting here very seriously. After all, this is to crown the new king of the couch. Each contestant must remain in their faux leather recliner, complete with cup holder and airline-style tray table. Sound easy? Think about your last long plane flight.
Ms. FRIEDMAN: Three, two, one, you can stand up and stretch.
BULLOCK: Each hour on the hour, the finalists have five minutes to get up and stretch to make sure nothing went permanently numb. They got all the food and drink they wanted free of charge, but they could only use the restroom once every eight hours. No exceptions. And this is what clearly separates the competitive couch potatoes from the amateurs. Well, that, and a consumption strategy. Here's 23-year-old finalist Alex Pizik(ph).
Mr. ALEX PIZIK (Finalist, Couch Potato Contest): I've been sticking to the carrot cake, you know, when I need a quick burst of something sugar, and green beans and salads.
BULLOCK: Eat just enough to keep going, not enough to have to go. Twenty-six-year-old Jessica Mosley even trained for that.
Ms. JESSICA MOSLEY (Competitor, Couch Potato Contest): I did. I actually practiced not going to the bathroom for eight hours. Like, weird as that sounds. I practiced that to make sure it was feasible.
BULLOCK: For some, it wasn't. One finalist here didn't make it past the first night, felled by a salmon dinner that didn't sit quite right. For those who survived, the nights were the real challenge. Remember, no sleeping allowed. And contestants were forced to watch the sports equivalent of infomercials. Finalist Craig McGarry(ph)
Mr. CRAIG MCGARRY (Finalist, Couch Potato Contest): We watched a rugby match, we watched a little cage fighting, and we watched, I think, wrestling from 1990 on ESPN Classic.
BULLOCK: So which city can claim to be home to the latest legend of lounging? Chicago declared its winner after 39 hours. New York, they threw in the towel just 18 hours in. So much for the city that never sleeps.
Mr. PIZIK: I wish I lived in New York to enter that contest.
BULLOCK: But Alex Pizik and the Baltimore finalists kept sitting and watching and waiting to see who would be the new A-Rod of recliners, the Secretariat of the sofa. And just who did win?
Ms. MOSLEY: I did. The girl kicked their butts.
BULLOCK: That's right. After 70 hours and 22 seconds, Jessica Mosley out-sat them all, shattering the current Guinness Book couch potato world record. Who knew? Tom Bullock, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Good morning, I'm Ari Shapiro. No ski bum jokes or full moon jokes, just the facts, the bare facts. A vacationer somehow fell through the chair of his ski lift in Vail, Colorado. His pants got caught. And in a feat worthy of Cirque du Soleil, he ended up hanging upside down, naked. He was not injured, and he didn't have to hang there too long, just seven minutes - long enough for other skiers to snap photographs, which, of course, are now online. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A Florida congressman missed a chance to delay certifying the election of Barack Obama. Cliff Stearns mainly objected to the timing. The House certifies that election tomorrow, which is the same day as the national championship football game between Florida and Oklahoma. The congressman would rather attend the game with his home-state team instead of staying in Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined his request to reschedule House business. It's Morning Edition.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
There's more bad news on the economy today. The Congressional Budget Office announced that the federal budget deficit will hit $1.2 trillion this year. That's one of the subjects President-elect Barack Obama discussed in a news conference earlier this morning. He also made a new appointment, and we'll have more on that in a moment. But first, NPR's Brian Naylor here with all of the latest news. He joins us live. And first, Brian, let's listen to what President-elect Obama said about this latest deficit number.
BRIAN NAYLOR: All right.
(Soundbite of news conference)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: We're going to be inheriting a trillion-plus dollar deficit. And if we do nothing, then we will continue to see red ink as far as the eye can see.
SHAPIRO: So, Brian, what's he planning to do?
NAYLOR: Well, as you know, Ari, he has been talking for some time about a stimulus package. He's been negotiating, or meeting with congressional leaders about the size of it and what exactly it will entail. He said that it's probably going to be on the high end of estimates, which have ranged from 800 million to - I'm sorry, 800 billion to $1.2 trillion. And he's saying that it's going to be closer to the high end of that.
It's going to include some tax cuts and also a lot of old-fashioned - perhaps not old-fashioned - but some public-works projects that involve everything from, you know, what the states need in terms of roads and bridges to retrofitting federal buildings and schools in hopes of turning the economy around and also starting some green jobs.
SHAPIRO: Well, as we mentioned, he also announced a new appointment this morning. Nancy Killefer is going to be the country's first chief performance officer. What exactly does that title mean?
NAYLOR: It sounds pretty wonky, doesn't it? Chief performance officer. Well, she is someone who has come from experience in the private sector in a management-consulting capacity and also has worked for the Treasury Department. Mr. Obama said today that she helped prepare the IRS for the Y2K problems. She is someone who's going to come in and scrub the budget, look over line by line what programs work, what programs don't work, in a way - in an effort to keep the deficit under control. Obviously, Mr. Obama said today it's going to have to go up because of the stimulus, because of all of the bailouts, and because of the lousy economy.
Her job is going to be to keep it from increasing needlessly, and going over and trying to determine what's working in the government and what isn't. What I thought was interesting, she said that, you know, she's going to have to be working with federal employees, which by and large have been rather dispirited for the last eight years in the Bush administration.
SHAPIRO: And then there's Roland Burris, the man tapped to fill Mr. Obama's Senate seat, who was turned away yesterday when he tried to take his seat. He met with Democratic leaders this morning. And tell us the latest about what's happening there.
NAYLOR: Well, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, spoke just moments ago, and after meeting with Mr. Burris, said that they still need to see the signature on his certificate from the secretary of state in Illinois before they're willing to seat him, and that there is - that's going to be decided by the Supreme Court in Illinois, whether or not the secretary of state should in fact certify his appointment. And if that happens, the clear implication is that he will be seated by the Democrats in the Senate. ..TEXT: SHAPIRO: Thanks, Brian.
NAYLOR: All right, Ari. Thank you.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR congressional correspondent Brian Naylor.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Most of the world's oceans are seriously overfished. We've been hearing this for a while. And over the last two decades, many fisheries in U.S. waters have scaled back sharply to make fishing here more sustainable. In California, two-thirds of commercial fishermen have left the business. Now some are concerned that if the industry gets much smaller, some fishing ports will collapse altogether. NPR's Richard Harris traveled to northern California, where new rules are being developed to protect both the fish and the fishermen.
RICHARD HARRIS: There's a bustle of activity at the Caito fish processing plant tucked away in Fort Bragg, California. Crab boats are unloading their writhing catches and huge crates of flatfish are being dumped out and shoveled onto a conveyor belt. It's a scene of great bounty from the sea.
Jim Caito watches happily as some 75 people crack crabs, sharpen their knives and slice and skin fish in his cool and spacious plant.
Mr. JIM CAITO (Owner, Caito Fish Processing Plant): We are in our fillet room - fillet and thickening room. They're filleting groundfish right now, packing it for fresh market. They're filleting Dover sole right now.
HARRIS: So this is sort of an assembly line? Because it looks like, are those the sole up there, sort of the whole fish?
Mr. CAITO: Those are the whole fish that they're filleting. You can call it an assembly line.
HARRIS: A disassembly line, I guess.
Mr. CAITO: It's a fillet line, is what you call it.
HARRIS: The fish will be packed and trucked south to San Francisco and points beyond, where the succulent fillets are sought and savored as part of a healthy diet. The bustle is a scene Jim Caito's father enjoyed, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, who arrived on these shores in the late 1880s.
Mr. CAITO: Our ancestors came over from Italy, landed in San Francisco and they were processing groundfish, and we just kind of followed suit. Family business. As a kid I filleted.
HARRIS: And you still have all your fingers.
Mr. CAITO: Uh-huh. I got a few cuts, but I still have all my fingers.
(Soundbite of seagulls)
HARRIS: Step out on the dock in front of Caito's, though, and things don't look so bountiful. Up and down the harbor are empty buildings. Thirty years ago, this port was home to half a dozen processing plants.
Mr. CAITO: And they're all gone. We're the only ones left.
HARRIS: These days, only seven boats head out to sea from Fort Bragg to trawl the bottom for Dover sole, cod, whiting and similar species. That means business is slow next door to Caito's, where Tommy Ancona's fishing supply store has been in business for 40 years.
Mr. TOMMY ANCONA (Owner, Fishing Supply Store): People always say this, oh my God, the fishing industry has gone away, it's gone away. Well, you know what? You got to kind of think back at how it's evolved.
HARRIS: Back in the heyday, he says, fish were treated like they were giant redwood trees or gold, something to be extracted for quick profit. But in the past couple of decades, rules designed to stop that overexploitation inevitably meant cutting back on the number of boats.
Mr. ANCONA: We're down to a core group of fishermen now.
HARRIS: Five years ago, many fishermen who trawled for groundfish agreed to give up their boats for a lump sum of cash. That dramatically reduced the size of the fleet. There are now only about 160 bottom trawlers left in California, Oregon and Washington. And the ones who remain, though by constitution fiercely independent people, now work within a very complex set of rules and regulations.
Mr. ANCONA: It's not a wide open industry any more. It's all highly regulated and so you know, if there's anything going wrong, it's in the management.
HARRIS: Ancona says there are things going wrong, so he's part of an effort to change the management rules, which are set by a federal commission called the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Thanks to the council's efforts, the fish are doing OK, he says. It's now the industry that's in trouble.
(Soundbite of metal striking metal)
HARRIS: Two hundred miles up the coast, Randy Smith is gearing up his bottom trawler in Crescent City. His boat is one of just three at this port that still goes out for groundfish like sole.
(Soundbite of metal striking metal)
Mr. RANDY SMITH (Fisherman): Where's that boom tack?
Unidentified Man: I don't know, buddy.
HARRIS: With a heavy beard and a baseball cap, this 51-year-old fisherman says things are good for him personally.
Mr. SMITH: Right now, trawl fisheries is actually better than I've ever seen it. There's more fish now than any time in my life.
HARRIS: That's basically because there are far fewer boats out there trying to catch the fish. Even so, Randy Smith's share of the catch didn't increase as much as he expected when he agreed to buy out his colleagues. That's partly because the allowable catch factors in a certain amount of waste.
Mr. SMITH: Right now we're on a two month quota. We're given so much fish that we can catch in two months, period. Well, that creates waste, because when you meet the quota and you go over the quota, you got to throw fish away.
HARRIS: Dead fish just get dumped overboard. Smith says he can't help that if he wants to work within the rules.
Mr. SMITH: The nets on the bottom and you can't see it, and if you tow for 15 minutes too long you could have too much fish.
HARRIS: To address that and other problems, the Pacific Fishery Management Council recently approved a major change to the rules. They're instituting a new scheme called individual transferable quotas.
Here's how they work. Smith will get a quota he can fill throughout an entire year, so he'll only have one deadline to worry about, not six. And he doesn't have to catch all the fish himself. He can buy, sell or trade quotas. So for example, if he accidentally catches too many Dover sole, he can get on the radio and buy shares of Dover quota from another fisherman instead of dumping his fish, dead, back into the sea. Randy Smith says whether it works for him or not depends on the details, which are yet to be worked out.
Mr. SMITH: I don't know if it's going to be a good or a bad thing yet.
HARRIS: The whole thing makes him uneasy about the future.
Mr. SMITH: I have five kids and none of them are going to go fishing. I mean, I can still make a real good living, you know. Some of the kids went to college and stuff. But I don't know where things are headed. I don't like it.
HARRIS: It's not just the change in fishing rules that worries him. He's concerned that more and more areas will be declared off limits to bottom trawling, since the nets can disturb delicate cold-water coral on the seafloor.
(Soundbite of seagulls)
HARRIS: Back in Fort Bragg, the potential rule changes are also worrisome to Jim Caito at the fish processing plant. He expects that about half the fishermen who get the quotas will eventually just sell them off, leaving the fleet even smaller than it is today.
Mr. CAITO: You shrink it down that small, the boats are going to have a lot of fish to catch. There's no question about that.
HARRIS: But there may be only three or four boats left in Fort Bragg to provide him with groundfish throughout the year.
Mr. CAITO: You know, it could be that our vessels here sell their quota or lease their quota to someone in Oregon or Washington, and want to retire and get out of the business and we're left with no fish. And if we don't have groundfish, I mean, we won't be here to do crabs, salmon. Because without groundfish, you won't be able to stay in business.
HARRIS: He says the fishing port simply can't get much smaller and still hope to survive. Richard Harris, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
If you overindulged during the holiday season and you're having a hard time cutting back now, turns out there's a biological reason for that. NPR's Patti Neighmond has the story.
PATTI NEIGHMOND: Dr. Rita Redberg says she sees it all the time, those January patients lugging around an extra five pounds or even more. Holidays can do that to you, says the University of California at San Francisco cardiologist.
Dr. RITA REDBERG (Cardiologist, University of California, San Francisco): I see it on the scales, because we'll have a very earnest talk in October about weight loss and then the visit after the holidays is generally a weight gain.
NEIGHMOND: And year after year...
Dr. REDBERG: People get discouraged when they realize they're now up 50 pounds. You know, it started as five pounds, and then, you know, 10, 20, and those pounds just start piling up quickly. And I see that commonly in my patients.
NEIGHMOND: When you overeat, biological changes in your body can set you up for a lifetime of overeating. Take the biological clock, an innate mechanism that tells you when to sleep and when to eat. Dr. Joe Bass, an endocrinologist and molecular biologist at Northwestern University, studies the body clock in mice. And he says when mice are overfed, their body clock changes, and not for the better.
Dr. JOE BASS (Endocrinologist & Molecular Biologist, Northwestern University): So mice, for instance, if they eat a high-fat diet they actually wake up during what is nighttime for them and eat. It would be as if you were waking up every night and eating all the sweets in your refrigerator.
NEIGHMOND: All this suggests that people who eat less fat will sleep better and not engage in nighttime bingeing. And the body clock's just one of a number of changes that occurs when we overindulge.
Dr. SASHA STILES (Obesity Specialist, Tufts Medical Center): It sets your body chemistry sort of into red alert.
NEIGHMOND: Dr. Sasha Stiles is a family physician who specializes in obesity at Tufts Medical Center.
Dr. STILES: An inordinate amount of what you eat will dump into fat storage, where it will remain as fat in your body.
NEIGHMOND: And all that food can trigger an unfortunate cycle. The pancreas produces extra insulin to process the sugar load and remove it from the bloodstream. It doesn't stop producing insulin until the brain senses that blood sugar levels are safe. But often too much sugar is removed.
Dr. STILES: So the most common thing that people will chuckle about is that, well, I'll just get up and I'll eat some more chocolate or some, you know, pancakes with syrup, or something, or some more doughnuts and carbohydrates to bring their blood sugar back up to normal.
NEIGHMOND: And if you drink lots of icy beverages with your food, it only gets worse.
Dr. STILES: When you drink cold liquids, your stomach will start contracting. And what that means is that it will then contract and it will massage the food that will again quickly leave your stomach to the rest of your GI tract. Your stomach will be empty.
NEIGHMOND: And you'll be hungrier sooner. And if you consistently overeat, your stomach changes too. The neurological tissue at the top of the stomach, which signals the brain when the stomach is full, starts to malfunction.
Dr. STILES: When you overeat time and time again, this electrical conduit pathway gets tired and it doesn't tell your brain that you're full anymore.
NEIGHMOND: So here's some food for thought. The next time you're tempted, just think about all those biological body cycles, about your sleep cycle, your metabolism, and how easily they can get disrupted by that extra piece of cake or bunch of cookies or juicy cheeseburger. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.
(Soundbite of music)
SHAPIRO: For more on the biology of eating, check out what experts have to say about fasting at npr.org.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Today in "Your Health," what happens to your body on the inside when you overeat? And while you're digesting that thought, we go first to a peculiar condition affecting vision. It's called amblyopia. You might have heard of it as lazy eye.
There are about a million Americans who have this, and one of them is NPR's Joe Palca. Recently Joe traveled to the optometry school at the University of California at Berkeley. Researchers there are developing new ways to help improve the vision of people with this condition.
JOE PALCA: I've known all my life that I have this vision problem that's hard for people to understand. And the reason it's tricky is that there's nothing wrong with my eyes. There's something wrong with my brain. You see, what happened was I was born cross-eyed. One eye turned in. And my brain then got two images of the world. And that didn't make any sense, so my brain just suppressed one of the images. Well, I had surgery to straighten out the eye, so I look reasonably normal. But my brain never figured out how to see two images at once, and that left me with a problem.
Dr. DENNIS LEVI (Dean, College of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley): Hi. Joe?
PALCA: Yes.
Dr. LEVI: Hi. Come on in.
PALCA: We're in the office of Dennis Levi. He's dean of the Optometry School at Berkeley. His lab is small and cluttered. The furniture is old. There's an eye chart taped to the wall.
Dr. LEVI: Let's just see what you can see.
PALCA: My problem is seeing things in 3D, what optometrists call stereo vision. To test my stereo vision, Levi hands me a book with a picture of a fly, and tells me to put on a pair of glasses like the kind you get in 3D movies.
Dr. LEVI: Can you grab the fly's wings.
PALCA: To me, it looks just like a picture of a fly. So I touch the page with my fingers.
Dr. LEVI: Pretty much flat on the page.
PALCA: Yeah.
Dr. LEVI: They're not sticking out?
PALCA: No, not at all.
Dr. LEVI: You are essentially stereo blind.
PALCA: In other words, my brain is incapable of getting an image from both eyes simultaneously and fusing them to get a sense of three dimensions. For people with stereo vision, the fly looks very different. To prove it, Levi hands the book to my producer Jane Greenhalgh.
JANE GREENHALGH: I'll put the magic glasses on.
Dr. LEVI: Yeah. Can you grab those (unintelligible) fly's wings.
GREENHALGH: Oh yeah. The fly's wings are right up here.
PALCA: Jane is grasping at a spot about two inches above the page. Traditional wisdom says past age seven or so, if brain paths crucial for vision aren't working, they'll never work. But Levi is part of a growing number of researchers who think you can teach an old brain new tricks, and he thinks he can help me with this stereo blindness problem. His colleague Susannah Chung(ph) takes me over to a box with two prisms mounted in front of a video screen. The idea is to adjust the prisms until two white boxes on the screen are superimposed.
Dr. SUSANNAH CHUNG (College of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley): So now, how many squares can you see?
PALCA: Oh. I see two. There's one over here and there's one over there.
Dr. LEVI: Can you get them closer by turning the knobs?
PALCA: I twiddled the knobs, but the two boxes stay stubbornly apart. If I could fuse them, it would be the first step in establishing stereo vision. Of course, if you've already got stereo vision it's easy. Once again, Jane demonstrates.
GREENHALGH: I mean, I can definitely see two squares. And now I see one square. Oh, Joe, this is so easy. I'm sorry.
(Soundbite of laughter)
PALCA: And yet, I persevere.
(Soundbite of laughter)
PALCA: Then the question is how much can the brain do? Is there a chance with work that I could get to the point where I could see with both eyes?
Dr. LEVI: It's possible.
PALCA: Levi encourages me to call a famous patient with an eye problem similar to mine.
(Soundbite of telephone ringing)
PALCA: Hi. Is this Sue Barry?
Dr. SUSAN BARRY (Professor of Neuroscience, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts): Yes, it is.
PALCA: Sue Barry is probably the most famous amblyopia patient in America. There were profiles of her in New Yorker magazine and on NPR. Like me, she was born with a crossed eye. But working with optometrists, she was able to do the equivalent of fusing the boxes, and now she has full stereo vision. I asked her what that felt like. She said the world has a sense of space it never had before.
Dr. BARRY: A sense of space and a sense of immersion in that space. And that's what stereo vision gave me, this incredible sense of being immersed in the space around you as opposed to sort of being - looking in on it from a slight distance away.
PALCA: How hard was it?
Dr. BARRY: To gain stereo vision?
PALCA: Yeah.
Dr. BARRY: I went through procedures for about a year.
PALCA: And was it worth it?
Dr. BARRY: Absolutely. There's a complete revelation in what I could see.
PALCA: Sounds awfully tempting. Maybe I'll see if my old brain can learn new tricks. I'll let you know. Joe Palca, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Thirty years after Soviet tanks rumbled through Afghanistan, many of them are still strewn, wrecked and rusted along the mountainsides, a reminder of a war that Russians withdrew from in humiliation. It entered that war in confusion. The year was 1979, and it was shortly after Afghanistan's communist party had taken over the government. In its zeal to modernize its feudal society, the new Afghan government seized land and killed landowners, angering much of the countryside.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
All of this worried its neighbor, the Soviet Union, at a time when the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was bloated and ill and hardly able to make decisions.
MONTAGNE: We pick up this story with Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer. He's written a new history of that war called "The Great Gamble."
Mr. GREGORY FEIFER (Author, "The Great Gamble"): Essentially, the Soviets saw what was going on in Afghanistan through their ideological glasses. They wanted to go in and shore up a very young communist regime in Afghanistan. And so they simplified it, they blamed all of the country's unrest brewing in the countryside on one of Afghanistan's two leaders. There was one, the president with whom the Soviet leadership was quite close, and there was his rival, the prime minister. And the idea was, just get rid of him and all of Afghanistan's problems would go away, and it would continue developing toward a mature socialist state.
MONTAGNE: There's one story that you tell that really brings out how much intrigue was involved, and even bungling.
Mr. FEIFER: Absolutely. When I was speaking to the KGB's chief representative in Afghanistan at the time, he told me that years after the invasion, the head of the Afghan intelligence service told him that he should write a book about all the plots and skullduggery that was going on. And the KGB chief respondent saying, you know, no one would believe it. You know, it would read like fiction.
The common view of the war was that it was a Soviet territorial grab. But really, the truth was much more confused, and actually the Soviet Union spent about a year turning down requests by the Afghan and communist government to bring in Soviet troops. When it was finally decided that the Soviet Union would take action, the idea was to get rid of the Afghan leader. And the Soviet leadership had decided that they would poison him. And so his cook, who was a Soviet agent, delivered poison in a glass of his favorite drink, which was Coca-Cola. And when the Soviets showed up at the presidential palace hours later to check on whether he had died, he was still very much alive. It turned out that the Coca-Cola had counteracted the effects of the poison.
Now, there was a second attempt two weeks later that was relatively more successful. This time, the poison was delivered in some soup, and it made the president ill and he was dying. And his aides called up the Soviet embassy, and the people at the embassy had no idea what was going on. They had no idea that there was a plot to kill the Afghan leader, so they sent doctors. So Soviet doctors came to the presidential palace and started resuscitating him, and he had essentially recovered when the Soviet invasion actually began. There was no one decision to launch an invasion, it was basically this sort of inertia that surrounded these attempts to - bungled attempts to poison the Afghan president.
MONTAGNE: And to end this story - and I get this from your book - this president who was revived by a Russian doctor was simply just killed by Russian soldiers. The Russian soldiers' experience in Afghanistan has often been compared to American soldiers experience in Vietnam, in the sense that they were traumatized and disillusioned.
Mr. FEIFER: For many soldiers, the war was just simply hell. And there was a lot of disease. Many people say that more soldiers died from disease in Afghanistan than they did from combat. Soldiers had to essentially steal to survive Soldiers stole food from their own canteens, and of course they would also steal from the civilian population. And a lot of the soldiers to who I spoke who took part in the opening years of the war say that they really believe that this thievery from the civilian population really escalated the war very quickly. That that's what lead the local population to rebel against the Soviets.
MONTAGNE: The Russian soldier's lives were hellish. They also, however, were incredibly brutal towards the Afghan population.
Mr. FEIFER: Absolutely. A lot of the people - a lot of the veterans who fought in Afghanistan were told before going there that they were going to take part in a patriotic mission to help their communist brothers, and what they found themselves in was a bitter counter-insurgency. Battling in the mountains - they had huge Soviet columns of mechanized forces rumbling up and down trying to attack on Mujahideen that consisted of small groups of men, highly mobile. Locals, of course, they knew the territory very well, and they would just continue climbing higher and higher and melt away. Operations were poorly coordinated, and they quickly became very demoralized. And they responded from the top down by taking out their aggression essentially against the civilian population. The Soviets really committed unspeakable atrocities. They mined huge parts of Afghanistan. There were thousands and thousands of civilian casualties. On the other hand, there were atrocities carried out against these young Soviet conscripts who were fighting in utterly alien territory, and didn't really know what they were doing.
MONTAGNE: Greg, how much of the story, of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, can be applied to the coalition war that is taking place today?
Mr. FEIFER: Well, the NATO forces in Afghanistan are now about to dramatically increase under a new Obama administration in the United States. It is vital to try to stabilize the country as best we can. And that will require rebuilding the society so that the government there can be sustainable. We have to do essentially the opposite of what the Soviets did. We have to be incredibly sensitive to the needs of the local population. And our mission is to rebuild the society so that the government can be sustainable. It's an incredibly difficult task, but it's vital that we understand what happened in Afghanistan if we have any chance of succeeding now.
MONTAGNE: Greg, thanks very much for joining us.
Mr. FEIFER: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: Gregory Feifer is NPR's Moscow correspondent, and he's the author of the new book, "The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan." And you can read more twist and turns of those attempts to poison the Afghan president at our website, npr.org. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
SHAPIRO: And I'm Ari Shapiro.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
We've been hearing about the economic stimulus package that Congress is working on. It could approach $1 trillion. So how much of that money will go to boost green technologies? And how much should? Tamara Keith has the story.
TAMARA KEITH: President-elect Barack Obama talked about the promise of green jobs in a November radio address as he was making his final push in the race for the presidency.
(Soundbite of radio address)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: We'll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new green jobs that pay well, can't be outsourced and help end our dependence on foreign oil.
KEITH: It's not clear just how much funding the economic stimulus package will set aside for renewable energy. But California Senator Barbara Boxer says she hopes that in addition to projects like road-building, the package will include tax incentives and loan guarantees that will boost green industries and create green jobs.
Representative BARBARA BOXER (Democrat, California): A tax incentive so people will put solar rooftops on. They'll invest in solar wind and geothermal. We want to see people going to work putting solar roofs on schools.
KEITH: Boxer chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works committee. She says some of these green jobs could be ramped up quickly, like the solar installers. But she says investing in green industries is also about shaping the future of the American economy.
Rep. BOXER: You not only get people to work, but you also save money in the end and fight global warming and become energy independent. Those are the kinds of things I want to see.
KEITH: At a committee briefing Boxer held yesterday in Washington, green-tech evangelist John Doerr called for stimulus money to be used to update the nation's electrical grid. He said a modern grid that could better handle wind and solar power would enable a green technology boom. Doerr is a venture capitalist who backed Google and Amazon.com in their early days. He says the green revolution has much greater job-creating potential than the Internet revolution did.
Mr. JOHN DOERR (Green-Tech Evangelist): There were no installers. There were no maintenance people. There were no construction jobs. That's not true in green technology. In green technology you make things, and you're dealing with batteries and biofuels and solar cells.
KEITH: But not everyone is convinced that green jobs are the answer to today's problems.
Mr. KENNETH GREEN: (Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute): They don't qualify as a stimulus. This is an attempt to sort of Shanghai the stimulus money
KEITH: Kenneth Green is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a fiscally conservative think tank. He says investing in renewable energy is a long-term proposition, and a successful economic stimulus needs to have an immediate impact.
Mr. GREEN: The people need to be hiring right away and building projects right away. And there are very few environmental projects you can think of that are in that category in terms of laying on more windmill building, laying on more solar panel building. To ramp up those industries very quickly is probably not possible.
KEITH: And economist David Kreutzer at the conservative Heritage Foundation isn't convinced it's even a good idea.
Mr. DAVID KREUTZER (Economist, Heritage Foundation): A windmill might be good. Weatherizing a building might be good. But we need to look at the costs as well as the benefits and compare them. Is it worth the money that we're spending?
KEITH: Kreutzer says if market forces are a guide, then the answer is green jobs don't pencil out.
Mr. KREUTZER: The fact that people aren't willing to spend the money to weatherize their own buildings says that it's not worth the money. Now, has the federal government - have they decided that it's now worth it, where it wasn't worth it six months ago when they had more money? That seems odd.
KEITH: When it comes to the economic stimulus package, one person's pork is another person's bridge to the future. For NPR News, I'm Tamara Keith.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The federal budget isn't the only one in Washington with a potential shortfall. Mr. Obama's inaugural committee and his transition project need to raise millions of dollars. NPR's Peter Overby reports.
PETER OVERBY: The inaugural committee pays for the official inaugural festivities. The balls, the jumbo video screens on the National Mall, and almost everything else except the swearing-in ceremony itself. The transition project finances the grunt work of the new administration, everything from recommending appointees to assessing the condition of agencies.
But after a campaign in which candidate Obama sometimes raised more than $50 million in a single month, the economy's gone bad, and money doesn't gush the way it used to. So far, the inaugural committee has raised about $27 million, that's 60 percent of its projected budget.
Ms. LINDA DOUGLASS (Inaugural Committee Spokeswoman): We're on target for making our budget.
OVERBY: Linda Douglass is the committee spokeswoman.
Ms. DOUGLASS: Certainly people are looking to see what sort of contribution they can make. But we are on target.
OVERBY: Three hundred and fifty people looked and saw they could give $50,000 each. That's the maximum the committee will accept. It's about seven times what a donor could legally give to candidate Obama's campaign. Among the donors are many celebrities who gave to the campaign, Steven Spielberg, Samuel Jackson and others.
Money also comes in bundles, contributions collected by a single person. More than 100 bundlers from the campaign are at it again for the inaugural committee. Twenty bundlers have hit the committee's ceiling of $300,000 each. The transition project only takes contributions of $5,000 or less. Most of its 56,000 donors have given much less.
A transition spokesman says the average contribution is $70. Just 220 donors have maxed out. That seems to be because the transition got to use the Obama campaign's four million donor database soon after the election. The transition budget is also much smaller than the inauguration committee's, $12 million. The government pays almost half, and the rest comes from donors.
Now, the transition spokesman says they expect to raise, quote, "The amount of money we need." These efforts are not regulated the way campaigns are. Inaugural committees used to be rife with corporate money. Linda Douglass says the president-elect has put corporations off limits, and some others too.
Ms. DOUGLASS: No corporations, no lobbyists, no unions, no pacts.
OVERBY: And something else not required by law. Both the inaugural committee and the transition project post their donor information online.
Ms. DOUGLASS: When you shine light on fundraising in the way that this committee has done, it really does beat back the notion that people are somehow buying influence.
OVERBY: And even when this year's top donors max out at $50,000, that's still just one-fifth as much as the top-end for President Bush's second inauguration. Alex Cohen is with the advocacy group Public Citizen, where he writes for Becoming44.org, a blog about the Obama transition. He judges the Obama standards this way.
Mr. ALEX COHEN (Blogger, Becoming44.org): Far and above anything that the Bush administration ever, ever levied.
OVERBY: But he says shutting out some donors doesn't totally shut down special interest pleading. Not when some donors have been invited to events with incoming administration officials.
Mr. COHEN: The reality is that a person doesn't need to be a lobbyist or a corporation to have interest before the administration. And to say that no issues come up during these meetings - OK, well I don't know.
OVERBY: And neither does anyone else. It's the kind of thing that won't become known until the Obama administration starts making decisions that matter to its big donors. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And I'm Ari Shapiro. We've been reporting for the last couple of weeks on war in Gaza. Now, violence on another one of Israel's borders. Several rockets from Lebanon landed in northern Israel today. The Israeli military quickly fired back. Lebanon's prime minister condemned the attacks on Israel and the retaliation. At the same time, violence in the Gaza Strip continues. Diplomats are in Cairo trying to secure a cease-fire. Egypt is hosting separate talks today with representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Israeli police say two civilians were lightly wounded after several rockets landed in the northern town of Nahariya. One rocket hit a retirement home. The Israeli military says it immediately responded with an artillery barrage to where the rockets were launched from. No Lebanese group has yet claimed responsibility. It's not yet clear if it was a barrage from a Palestinian faction in Lebanon or from Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group Israel fought a month-long war with in the summer of 2006. The Associated Press quoted a Lebanese official saying the government is committed to a truce.
Nonetheless, the Israeli military and civilians in the north remain on high alert. And people were warned to stay near shelters in case the barrage was not a onetime show of force. Meantime, in the south, Israel bombed several targets overnight and today in Gaza. Israeli warplanes again attacked smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt, tunnels that are a key subject in any cease-fire deal. Israel wants guarantees Hamas won't rearm through its tunnel network. The U.N. says more than 5,000 Palestinians have fled the southern border area near the tunnels and sought shelter at U.N. schools. And in Khan Yunis, an Israeli air strike destroyed the house of a senior Hamas commander suspected of involvement in the 2006 cross-border abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The fighting erupted again quickly after a brief calm yesterday afternoon. A three-hour Israeli cease-fire prompted Gaza civilians who had been hunkered down indoors for days to rush out to try to stock up on clean water, food, and blankets. Thirty-three-year-old Ali Nazli(ph) stood in line at a Gaza City market getting food for his wife and two kids. Nazli said he's skeptical the three-hour truce will lead to anything more lasting.
Mr. ALI NAZLI: (Through Translator) The Israelis have been massacring civilians in Gaza. So now Israel wants to make their ugly face look pretty. That's why they gave us this little cease-fire.
WESTERVELT: United Nations officials say the Israeli pledge of a three-hour lull every other day is not sufficient to distribute goods, assess need, and retrieve wounded civilians from combat areas. Gaza City civilians say they are struggling to adapt to the chronic shortages of water, cooking gas, and food staples. Jihad al-Sharafa(ph), who's 56 years old and unemployed, says whole neighborhoods are now bartering for goods.
Mr. JIHAD AL-SHARAFA: (Through Translator) Some people have water wells in their houses so they'll distribute water to the neighbors in exchange for some food. The situation is very difficult. One of my friends has no cooking gas, and I have two cooking gas cylinders left. So I am now sending one of them to him, and he'll send to me some bread.
WESTERVELT: There was more rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel overnight and this morning. Police say there were no serious injuries. On a windy hilltop near the Israeli town of Sderot, 20-year-old yeshiva student Nadav Zabari(ph) stood and watched the plumes of smoke from air strikes and ground fighting. Zabari held a prayer book and said he's been coming most every day to watch the war, pray for the soldiers, and show support for his government's attack into Gaza. He said after years of rocket fire from the territory, it was time to hit back hard.
Mr. NADAV ZABARI (Israeli Yeshiva Student): People get hit. And now in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Be'er Sheva. Like, we're strong. We can answer to whatever they're doing to us. And I think we finally do it to avoid them as much as we can to hit us.
WESTERVELT: Israel's Security Cabinet met Wednesday to discuss the five-day-old ground attack. Officials would not comment in public on the next step. But Israeli TV reported that the Cabinet has decided to press ahead with the military campaign. And in the occupied West Bank, sporadic protests continue against Israel's Gaza offensive. Israeli soldiers today shot and killed a Palestinian man after he tried to set fire to a gas station at a Jewish settlement. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, southern Israel.
SHAPIRO: News assistant Ahmed Abu Hamda in Gaza City contributed to that report. Israel continues to bar reporters from entering the Gaza Strip.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Yesterday's three-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip allowed some badly wounded Palestinians to leave for medical treatment in neighboring Egypt. And some medical supplies and food were allowed into Gaza. But doctors who have gathered on the Egyptian side of the border are growing angry at being prevented from joining their colleagues in Gaza. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.
PETER KENYON: After a slow day at the Rafiah border crossing Tuesday, Wednesday saw a flurry of activity with a line of aid trucks moving into the border area to load their goods onto waiting Palestinian trucks. Egyptian volunteers muscled large sacks of milk powder from the Ukraine onto the back of a vintage red Volvo truck already partially loaded with medical supplies and other goods. The ever-present whine of an Israeli unmanned aircraft was in the background until it was replaced by the boom of an air strike a few hundred yards away. The workers paused briefly to look at the smoke plume rising across the border, then returned to their loading. Palestinian truck driver Rha'ad Abu-Elwan(ph) climbs down and checks his load. He's from Rafiah - the Palestinian side of Rafiah that is just on the other side of the wall that separates Gaza from Egypt. When asked who is in charge at the other end of the border crossing, he shrugs and says two or three guys from Hamas check the trucks, and send them on to the hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern part of the strip. That's as far as he can go.
Mr. RHA'AD ABU-ELWAN (Truck Driver, Rafiah): (Through Translator) Everything else is closed. The beach road is also closed. The main road is closed, too. We only go to Khan Yunis.
KENYON: Officials are hoping that will change with Israel promising humanitarian corridors that won't be subject to attacks. But there have been no guarantees that these corridors will extend south to Rafiah, as well as north to the Gaza-Israel border. Outside the gate a crowd is growing, many of them wearing white medical coats. Dozens of doctors from Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Qatar, even Sudan and Iraq, have been waiting for permission to enter. But they say Egypt's state security service is refusing to let them go. Privately, some of the doctors say they think the problem is that some in the Arab Medical Union are allied with the Egyptian opposition, including the officially banned Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Tiha Osman(ph) of Cairo's Ain Shams University made a passionate plea to put politics aside to do the right thing for badly wounded Palestinians.
Dr. KAHAN OSMAN (Ain Shams University, Cairo): (Through Translator) I swear to you, we are not on any political side. If the problem is from the Egyptian side, we beg you to let us in. If the problem is from the Israeli side, figure it out with them. In the name of humanity and all things charitable, I beg you. I beg you, let us treat the wounded. Let us do our jobs.
KENYON: Tuesday evening on a brief visit to the border crossing, Egyptian minister of health, Hatem el-Gabaly, deflected questions on letting the doctors in, saying it was Israel's fault.
Dr. Hatem el-Gabaly (Minister of Health, Egypt): (Through Translator) The latest information that I have is that on the other side of the border there are complications. We would let them go, but the problem is coming from the other side. From who exactly? I don't have that information, but I'm asking and following up.
KENYON: But the Arab doctors say that argument doesn't ring true, because two Norwegian doctors were granted permission to cross this border, and have spent the past week working at the main Shifa hospital in Gaza City. An official with the Norwegian NGO sponsoring the two doctors says the pair is trying to come back out of Gaza today. But even with the new talk of three-hour ceasefires and humanitarian corridors, it's not clear if that will be possible. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, at the Egypt-Gaza border.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
We're getting more details on the attacks in India that killed more than 170 people in Mumbai in November. India now says it has transcripts of telephone conversations between the attackers and their controllers. And India says those controllers were from Pakistan, and their instructions in the transcripts include, "Inflict the maximum damage. Keep fighting. Don't be taken alive." Now India wants Pakistan to act against the people India believes were behind the killings. NPR's Philip Reeves reports on the rising tensions between the two rivals.
PHILIP REEVES: Six weeks after the attacks on Mumbai, India's anger is unabated. Indian officials said from early on that the Mumbai attackers were from the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, but they refrained at first from accusing Pakistan's spy agency or its powerful army of playing a part. That's changed as India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, made clear this week.
Prime Minister MANMOHAN SINGH (India): There is enough evidence to show that given the sophistication and military precision of the attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.
REEVES: Singh's words went down very badly in Pakistan.
Senator ENVER BAIG (Pakistan's Peoples Party): That's absolutely absurd - absurd and baseless.
REEVES: That's Enver Baig, a senator and leading figure in the ruling Pakistan People's Party.
Senator BAIG: The state of Pakistan is not at all involved in anything like the Indian prime minister put it, that it's government-sponsored state terrorism. When they make such wild allegations, the cooperation which then is expected would not come.
REEVES: India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the end of British rule in 1947. Both have nuclear arsenals. In the last few years, they've slowly been forging peace. Now the relationship's on the rocks again. Analysts in both countries say peacemaking has been dealt a long-term setback by the Mumbai attacks. Beparapuram Parthasarathi(ph) used to be India's envoy to Pakistan.
Mr. BEPARAPURAM PARTHASARATHI (Former Indian Envoy to Pakistan): Yes, this terrorist attack has done lasting damage. It'll take quite some time to - for us to get over the anger which India feels. And I think the Pakistanis are in a mood of denial.
REEVES: A few days ago, India presented Pakistan with a dossier of evidence about the Mumbai attacks. It says this includes the confession of the sole surviving gunman plus transcripts of telephone conversations between the gunmen and the masterminds of the assault.
India wants the Pakistani authorities to arrest and hand over those masterminds. But Pakistan's not willing to send any of its nationals to be tried in India, with whom it has no extradition treaty. Trying suspects in Pakistan could cause further friction. India may decide to question the credibility of the court. Parthasarathi has a solution based on the fact that the Mumbai victims include six Americans.
Mr. PARTHASARATHI: It serves our interests far better to provide the evidence to the United States. And I would personally hope that ultimately these guys who were involved in killing American nationals are taken and tried in America.
REEVES: Frustration's building on both sides. The Indians feel the Pakistanis aren't seriously investigating. They point to Pakistan's past record of sponsoring militant groups as proxies to pursue their territorial aims. The Pakistanis say they're ready to cooperate. They also say Islamist militants are as much their enemy as India's. After all, militants have killed many hundreds of their soldiers and citizens in the last several years, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Again Senator Baig.
Senator BAIG: I think the international community and India should understand that we are victims ourselves. Pakistan is ready to cooperate on every level because we face these issues on daily basis.
REEVES: Jingoism's taking hold in both countries. Pakistani commentator Ayesha Siddiqa believes this is strengthening Pakistan's military and enabling the government to avoid confronting the real threat of Islamic extremism.
DR. AYESHA SIDDIQA (Pakistani Independent Security Analyst and Strategic Affairs Columnist): They almost will have the media building a consensus which refuses to look at the larger issue of militancy and terrorism in Pakistan. It has completely got buried under the other issue of the India-Pakistan tension.
REEVES: Analysts expect that tension to continue for a long time, though they say neither India nor Pakistan wants military conflict. The Indian government's under some internal pressure. Elections are looming. Some wanted to respond to the Mumbai attacks with at least a symbolic missile strike against suspected militant bases in Pakistan. Pakistan says if it's attacked, it'll fight back. So far that situation hasn't arisen. This might change if there is another militant attack in India linked to Pakistan. Former Indian envoy Parthasarathi believes India's response would be, in his words, "extremely robust." He says that's a scenario the whole world should worry about.
Mr. PARTHASARATHI: It would be too horrible to contemplate. In that case, all bets are off.
REEVES: Philip Reeves, NPR News, Islamabad.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Get a little rain in a desert, and all sorts of things can happen - like frogs. In our series "Sounds Wild", NPR is collecting the voices of animals. Today we've got a mob of frogs recorded in the Australian desert after a sudden rain shower. David Stewart made the recording. He chases down animals in the outback with a microphone.
(Soundbite of frogs calling)
Mr. DAVID STEWART (Producer, Nature Sounds): A little bit inland in Queensland, we were driving through very dry country, and I heard this incredible chorus of frogs in a pond beside the railway line. And I thought, wow, this is good.
(Soundbite of frogs calling)
Mr. STEWART: There are 11 species in this recording, and the bigger frogs have the deeper sound, and the smaller frogs have a higher pitched sound. It's interesting how you can sort of single out the different sounds, if you listen carefully, to let you know that quite a number of species are calling.
(Soundbite of frogs calling)
Mr. STEWART: A lot of people are not aware that only the males call, not the female. The female only calls when she's distressed and she's about to be eaten, or something like that. But all the sounds you hear of frogs are only the male. They're just adverting for their mate, and they're letting other frogs know nearby that this is my territory. So it's very competitive. So when you get a large chorus of frogs, that's what's happening.
(Soundbite of frogs calling)
MONTAGNE: The human voice was that of David Stewart. Our sounds come from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. And thanks to NPR's Christopher Joyce for tracking them down. You can see and hear more about our series at npr.org.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Tonight's college football national championship game matches the Oklahoma Sooners against the Florida Gators. The subplot involves the match-up between two star quarterbacks, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford and Florida's Tim Tebow. From Miami, NPR's Tom Goldman reports.
TOM GOLDMAN: Sam Bradford is part Cherokee Indian and an inspiration to thousands of Native Americans in his home state of Oklahoma. He won this season's Heisman Trophy after throwing a whopping 48 touchdown passes and helping the Sooners set a record for most points in a season. Although, he says he's now used to his sudden fame, Sam Bradford still has Greta Garbo moments.
Mr. SAM BRADFORD (Quarterback, Oklahoma Sooners): You know, most of the times I put on a hat before I go out the door. And if I can go somewhere no one knows who I am, that's great.
GOLDMAN: Which means, he should be OK with his treatment in Miami. Not that he's unknown here, but even with his story, smart and personable Sam Bradford is the second most talked about athlete in tonight's game. His Florida counterpart, Tim Tebow, has such star power that he even rates a mention in church.
(Soundbite of church service)
Reverend ERIC BROWN (Minister, Campus Church of Christ, Gainesville, Florida): Good morning.
Unidentified Congregation: Good morning.
Reverend BROWN: Good to see everyone here.
GOLDMAN: Last October, Eric Brown, the minister at the Campus Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, led a sermon entitled "Why I Pray for Tim Tebow."
Reverend BROWN: I said I want to pray for him for the same reason that you are praying for me, because you appreciate it when people, especially young people, are trying to live lives of integrity and trying to glorify God.
GOLDMAN: Tebow has lived such a life since he was born in the Philippines to missionary parents. Not just another athlete who praises God after victory, Tebow has taken the message of religion into Filipino slums and into prisons here in the U.S. It's given him a perspective that's evident when he talks to sports reporters.
Mr. TIM TEBOW (Quarterback, Florida Gators): Pressure isn't having to win a football game. Pressure is having to find your next meal.
(Soundbite of Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony)
Unidentified Man: Without further ado, the winner of this year's Heisman Trophy is Tim Tebow.
(Soundbite of people cheering and applauding)
GOLDMAN: In 2007, when he became the first sophomore to win the Heisman, Tebow also became the first player with at least 20 passing and 20 rushing touchdowns in one season. This season was more about leadership than scoring records. In late September, Florida had its only loss. Tearing up, Tebow publicly apologized to Gator fans.
Mr. TEBOW: You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. And you will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. And you will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season. God bless.
GOLDMAN: After his pledge, Florida won nine straight games convincingly. Tebow proved he's the best player in America, says his coach Urban Meyer. This week, though, Oklahoma defensive back Dominique Franks danced a little gig on Superman's cape. He said Tebow, the pride of the Southeastern Conference, wouldn't even be the best in the Big 12.
Mr. DOMINIQUE FRANKS (Defensive Back, Oklahoma Sooners): I'd say he'd probably be about the fourth best quarterback in the conference.
GOLDMAN: The Big 12 was a quarterback paradise this season with Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy of Texas finishing ahead of Tebow in the Heisman voting. But Franks' comment still was interpreted as the big diss. The true believer in Tebow turned the other cheek. It's an honor to be fourth best, he said. I'll take it as a compliment.
The football player in Tebow followed up by saying he gets amped up when he plays teams that talk a lot. Bad news for Oklahoma's defense, which has struggled at times. The Sooners will be trying to stop the always supercharged Tim Tebow now playing with a few more amps. Tom Goldman, NPR News, Miami.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with the financial scandal rocking India.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Police this morning are standing guard outside the home of one of India's most prominent business figures. The head of one of the country's top technology companies resigned yesterday after admitting he had cooked his books to the tune of $1 billion. It's been called one of India's biggest corporate scandals, and the fallout is being felt in the United States. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.
PHILIP REEVES: Satyam Computers was supposed to be a showpiece. It has a glittering headquarters in the Indian city of Hyderabad, befitting India's fourth-largest software company. It has more than 50,000 employees and an impressive list of clients, many in the U.S., some Fortune 500. Today, clients and investors are digesting the stunning news that Satyam's 54-year-old chairman, Ramalinga Raju, has for years, on a gigantic scale, been quietly inflating the figures.
Raju penned his confession in a letter in which he took sole responsibility for the fraud. He resigned and said he was submitting himself to the full force of the law. He tried to fix the fraud, but couldn't. He said it had been like riding a tiger. Not knowing how to get off without being eaten.
India has reacted with shock. Its stock market plummeted with the news. Satyam's share value dropped by 80 percent. There are concerns the scandal will discourage foreign companies from outsourcing to India. There are worries, too, that it'll generally dent foreign investor confidence at a time when, like everybody, India is trying to weather the fallout of the global economic meltdown.
Today, India's newspapers are full of angry questions about how Raju got away with his fraud for so long. One stands out. Why, they want to know, didn't the auditors spot anything? Philip Reeves, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Those deals are among the many unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show. That's the huge technology spectacle that kicks off today in Las Vegas. NPR's Laura Sydell is there, and she's been taking a close look at consumer electronics that are being developed for cars.
LAURA SYDELL: I'm standing in the middle of an almost 5,000-square-foot hall. Every inch is dedicated to displays of technology for the car. Right in the center is a 1959 black Cadillac Eldorado with ruby-red leather interior. A car from a simpler time, when having an AM radio was about as high-tech as in-vehicle technology got. The vintage Caddy is surrounded by technology that can transform it into a 21st century vehicle.
In a year in which car sales are in the doldrums, these companies are hoping that even if you won't buy a new car, maybe you will upgrade the one you have.
Mr. RICH COE (Manager of Research and Development, Eclipse): With used cars, the first areas that people refurb the cars to is wheels, tires, and audio system.
SYDELL: I'm talking with Rich Coe, who does research and development for Eclipse. They make a device that can be added to the dashboard of your car. It will give you a GPS system, a DVD player that connects with screens in the rear seat, an iPod connection, radio, CD, all for around a thousand dollars. All through the hall are devices that range from a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars that can upgrade your car. There are digital television receivers...
Unidentified Man: This is the Exonic EXD-TV100 digital TV tuner with antenna designed for mobile applications.
SYDELL: There are speaker systems that will rival your home stereo.
Unidentified Man: This is the Boss Audio Systems OHC63 full-range speaker with die-cast aluminum frame.
SYDELL: There are safety features.
Unidentified Man: This is our top of the line crimestopper collision avoidance system.
SYDELL: There's a night vision camera...
Unidentified Man: We're NAV-TV. We put FLIR PathFindIR thermal imaging cameras into your car, making night driving safer.
SYDELL: But this is just the beginning for the merger of consumer electronics and the automobile. Back at the Eclipse booth, Rich Coe explains where it's all headed.
Mr. COE: I'm going to give you a scenario. What's the first thing you do when you get home? Most people go to their computer and do their emails. You, in the future, may be able to get into your car and say, hi, it's me. Your voice, being as unique as your fingerprint, allows you to access the system.
Boot the house. Now you have your car talking to your home. All you have to do is say, what's the security status for the day? Nobody broke in. What's the temperature? It's 55 degrees. Please raise it to 70 degrees. Read my email. All your emails are read to you in the car, you don't have to access the computer when you get home.
Since you have navigation in the car, the system in your house knows where you are. As you turn the corner to come up the street, part of your programming of your system to have it your way, you see your lights turn on, and the garage door opens for you.
SYDELL: How far away are we from a future like that?
Mr. COE: Without saying next year and then next year, next year, within the next five years you're going to see it start popping.
SYDELL: And what's in the way?
Mr. COE: It can be done now. It's a matter of somebody taking the risk of investment.
SYDELL: Could it be slowed down also by the economy at this point?
Mr. COE: The economy is obviously slowing everything down, obviously.
SYDELL: Reporting from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, this is Laura Sydell, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And our last word in business today is more of a last note. It's Johannes Brahms' First Symphony.
(Soundbite of Johannes Brahms' First Symphony)
SHAPIRO: The Berlin Philharmonic performed this work on Tuesday, and they streamed it live over the Internet. It's the first performance in the Philharmonic's new digital concert hall. Now you can buy tickets to watch performances live online, or for $14 you can access the music anytime within two days of the broadcast. You can also buy season tickets for about $200 and watch all of their performances from anywhere in the world.
All you need is a computer and an Internet connection, although a flat screen TV and surround-sound speakers certainly wouldn't hurt. That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Sitting in for Steve Inskeep, I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. President-elect Barack Obama will deliver a major speech on the economy this morning. He's expected to make his case for urgent action on his stimulus plan. That plan is aimed at creating and saving some three million jobs. Economists say the next unemployment numbers could show more than half a million additional jobs were lost last month. NPR's John Ydstie has more.
JOHN YDSTIE: All this week, President-elect Obama has been laying the groundwork for his stimulus package. Monday on Capitol Hill, he told lawmakers the economic situation is bad and getting worse. He's likely to repeat that sentiment to the rest of the country in his speech today in order to sweep aside concerns about the immense size of the package. The Obama team has suggested it could reach between $675 and $775 billion over two years. In a news conference yesterday, Mr. Obama said he is still consulting with Congress on the final number.
(Soundbite of News Conference)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: We expect that it will be on the high end of our estimates, but will not be as high as some economists have recommended.
YDSTIE: Some economists have suggested the stimulus package needs to be as much as $1.3 trillion over two years. Mr. Obama said that would be too much given the projected level of the federal deficit, $1.2 trillion this year, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office yesterday.
(Soundbite of News Conference)
President-elect OBAMA: We're going to be inheriting a trillion-plus dollar deficit, and if we do nothing, then we will continue to see red ink as far as the eye can see. And at the same time we have an economic situation that is dire, and we're going to have to jumpstart this economy with my economic recovery plan. Creating three million jobs, that's going to cost some money.
YDSTIE: So in the short term, Obama admitted the deficits could go even higher. Yesterday, he tried to demonstrate his seriousness about reducing deficits and making governments more efficient by naming the government's first ever chief performance officer. She is Nancy Kellifer, a director of the big management consulting firm McKinsey and Company. Mr. Obama said she will scour the budget to eliminate programs that aren't needed or don't work. In addition, he said taming the deficit will require addressing the costs of entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.
(Soundbite of News Conference)
President-elect OBAMA: We are beginning consultations with members of Congress around how we expect to approach the deficit. We expect that discussion around entitlements will be a part - a central part of those plans.
YDSTIE: The president-elect said he would have more to say about his approach to controlling entitlement spending by February, when he outlines his first budget. In his speech today, Mr. Obama is expected to provide more details on his stimulus package. He said his economic team has been focusing not only on creating short-term jobs and jumpstarting the economy, but doing it with programs that have a lasting impact. He gave this example.
(Soundbite of News Conference)
President-elect OBAMA: Part of our stimulus package is going to involve revamping all federal buildings so that they're energy efficient. If we do that effectively, then over the long-term we are going to save billions of dollars in energy costs for the federal government and for taxpayers.
YDSTIE: Mr. Obama said his stimulus package will also include investments in areas like health care and education, in addition to middle-class tax cuts and infrastructure spending. Today's speech could also be an opportunity for Mr. Obama to attempt to restore some confidence in the investment community, especially in light of the continuing revelations about the $50 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Bernard Madoff. Yesterday in an interview with CNBC, the president-elect said he would have a framework for reform ready within a few months.
(Soundbite of CNBC Interview)
President-elect OBAMA: Wall Street has not worked, the a regulatory system has not worked the way it's supposed to. So it's going to be a substantial overhaul. We're going to have better enforcement, better oversight, better disclosure, increased transparency.
YDSTIE: Mr. Obama also told CNBC that given the weakness in the economy, he was now leaning toward leaving the Bush tax-cuts in place for the time being. And he said he would unveil a plan aimed at preventing foreclosures in the next month or two. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And we turn now to one of the few foreign journalists who is inside Gaza. Ayman Mohyeldin is a reporter for Al-Jazeera English, and he's been in the territory since the fighting began almost two weeks ago. We reached him in Gaza City.
Mr. AYMAN MOHYELDIN (Reporter, Al-Jazeera English): Good morning, Renee. How are you?
MONTAGNE: Fine thank you. Could you begin, please, by telling us what the scene is like right now in Gaza?
Mr. MOHYELDIN: Well, it's certainly relatively calm compared to what it has been throughout the course of the evening. In fact even the early morning, we still hear the sound of Israeli drones or unmanned aerial vehicles hovering overhead, as they have been throughout this entire military operation. We do occasionally hear the constant sound of shelling off to the eastern border between Gaza and Israel. And every once in a while we will hear the sounds of some very heavy machine gun fire. And that is the situation here, at least in Gaza City.
There is slightly a little bit more traffic in the early mornings as people try to venture out and get whatever they can in these few hours that, you know, there is daylight and they can make it to bakeries and pharmacies and other food shops. In fact where I'm standing, I can see a line that really extends all the way around the corner. It's almost a three to four-hour line wait for people to try to get their hands on bread. There's been a scene like this every day since this military operation began, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, you know, we've been seeing photographs, of course, of a lot of damage there. But give us a sense of is it in places or are there areas that have escaped the air strikes?
Mr. MOHYELDIN: Absolutely not. There is no safe zone in Gaza. And it's important to remember two things. One, Gaza does not have the kind of infrastructure for this type of military operation. What I mean by that is there's no early warning system. There are no shelters. There are no bunkers. There was nothing to notify the people that, you know, an aerial assault was going to begin on Saturday, which is, you know, in Israel obviously they have an early warning system when rockets are fired. Sirens go off and people can actually run and take cover.
Here it's not like that whatsoever. And what's made it more slightly dangerous is that no inch of Gaza is being spared. If you look at the list of targets that have been hit throughout this military operation: hospitals, mosques, schools, homes that belong to individual people, police stations, government ministries, nothing has been spared.
MONTAGNE: Are you able to move about reasonably freely and see what's going on?
Mr. MOHYELDIN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, we are able to move around. There is also a colleague of mine, Sherine Tadros. And the two of us have been able to move around and assess for ourselves the situation. We've been to the hospitals, the schools that have been hit. We've been to the homes of people. We've stayed the night with Palestinians. And so we're getting a very good firsthand account of what life here is like.
MONTAGNE: Have the sites targeted by Israel revealed in your reporting, in your experience, Hamas hideouts?
Mr. MOHYELDIN: Well, you know, I think the terminology of what is a Hamas hideout is really difficult to, you know, to accurately describe. I mean, we have been to mosques. We have been to homes. We have been to the U.N. shelters. It would be very difficult to say that a U.N. shelter is a Hamas hideout, but in fact three U.N. schools have been hit.
MONTAGNE: You know, of course, when you're speaking of women or children or maybe older men, it would be clear that these are civilians. But would you be able to distinguish when you're speaking of younger men there which is a militant and which - you know, is a Hamas militant, potentially a threat to Israel, and which is functionally a civilian?
Mr. MOHYELDIN: Certainly not. The short answer to that is no. You cannot distinguish because if you were just going to base it on looks, since the first day of the attacks, we know that a lot of the services here, the police services as well as the military factions, are not dressing in particularly identifiable uniforms. They may have done on the first couple of days, but there is no clear identifiable marker to say someone is a civilian or someone is not.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
Mr. MOHYELDIN: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: Ayman Mohyeldin is a reporter for Al-Jazeera English speaking to us from Gaza.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This week we're hearing from writers and intellectuals on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Yesterday, Israeli novelist Amos Oz spoke of his vision for two states, Israel and Palestine. It's a vision shared by Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh. He's a man whose roots in Jerusalem date back centuries.
Professor SARI NUSSEIBEH (President, Al-Quds University): This is really the only way out. There's no other rational way to go forward towards peace. Otherwise we'll be going round in circles.
SHAPIRO: Nusseibeh is president of Al-Quds University, the Arab university in Jerusalem, where he also teaches philosophy. I asked him whether he believes a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians is still possible.
Prof. NUSSEIBEH: It is true we're running out of time. Indeed, after what we've seen in Gaza, perhaps even the desire to go to a peaceful solution has faded from the hearts and minds of people on both sides. Even so, what we saw in Gaza must make us in fact jump forward now as quickly as we could in order to arrive at a final peace between the two sides. And if we can't make use of this horror that we witnessed in Gaza to make us go ahead and do that, then that's it. I think we'll just go enter into a phase in history which is going to be dreary for both sides, both peoples. And it's not going to get any better as time goes on.
SHAPIRO: What do you see in the younger generation that you teach at the university? Is there a difference, do you think, between them and between the generations that came of age around the time of the creation of Israel?
Prof. NUSSEIBEH: I can't really make that comparison properly, because I wasn't around at the time of the creation of the State of Israel.
SHAPIRO: Sure.
Prof. NUSSEIBEH: I was born. I'm a year younger than Israel. But I think on the Palestinian side, my own observation really is the following with the younger generation. That one, the growing tendency towards religion. Religion is becoming more of an important factor. And secondly, the fading away, the slow disappearance, if you like, of the desire for Palestinian national independence. The idea of a nation. The idea of a state. And you know, this is partly because of the fact that we haven't been able to establish the state in the past 15 years, through negotiations. But it's also that we don't seem to have internally, as Palestinians, been very clever at putting together the institutions of the state as we dreamed one day we would be able to. So the new generation I see around me, as a result, do not have the same interest towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state that I used to see, for instance, around me in the student community 20 years ago when I first started teaching in the university campuses around the West Bank and Gaza.
SHAPIRO: How do they see themselves? And where do they see themselves 10 or 20 years from now?
Prof. NUSSEIBEH: Well, I don't think they have articulated a particular political vision for themselves. I believe that they have just come to see themselves as simply in a stage of suspension of confrontation. It's not a very hopeful sign, actually. It's something that basically portends a future explosion. So it's not really good what one sees on the ground today.
SHAPIRO: As someone who has been involved in these issues for your whole life, more or less, do you just feel like the summit of the mountain is getting further and further away? That every year that we return to these conversations, peace doesn't seem to be any closer?
Prof. NUSSEIBEH: Well, you know, I have a - a kind of different way of looking at the world. I don't see the summit as being either far or near objectively, so to speak. I see it being as far or as near as we the people on both sides wish it to be. You know, peace can just happen in 24 hours, just as - and as simply as war happening also within the space of 24 hours.
SHAPIRO: I know you believe peace can happen. And I know you believe peace must happen. Do you believe peace will happen?
Prof. NUSSEIBEH: You know, once again, I say the only future that's out there is the future that we the people on both sides will be making for ourselves. And if people do realize this, then I think certainly we can make peace happen.
SHAPIRO: Professor Nusseibeh, thank you very much.
Mr. NUSSEIBEH: Thank you, thank you Ari.
SHAPIRO: Sari Nusseibeh teaches philosophy and is president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. His memoir is called "Once Upon A Country: A Palestinian Life." Commentators from around the world are writing about the Gaza conflict, and you can read a sample of world opinion and add your own thoughts at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Nigeria's famous con-artists and thieves seem immune to the law, possibly because police there are too busy arresting people in funny hats. Helmets are now required on Nigeria's wild motorcycle taxis. So riders are opting for less expensive options - cooking pots, tire rubber, and huge gourds tied with string. Besides drivers, Reuters reports police have arrested scores of passengers who say they fear helmets carry disease or black magic. It's Morning Edition.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Now to some technology news. Microsoft has scored a victory against its competitor Google. The two companies had been vying to become the default Internet search provider for Verizon's mobile phones. Early reports said Google was in the lead to seal the deal, but the winner is Microsoft. Verizon made the announcement yesterday. Microsoft announced it also reached a similar search engine agreement with Dell Computer. Both deals boost Microsoft's position in the competitive world of search engines and advertising.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Good morning, I'm Ari Shapiro. President-elect Barack Obama may inherit his predecessor's wars, his deficits and his address, but he will not have to ride in George W. Bush's car. During the inauguration, Mr. Obama will cruise down Pennsylvania Avenue with a brand new 2009 Cadillac presidential limousine. This model has bigger windows than the old one. It's made by General Motors, and if GM could just get a few million more people to buy one, maybe they wouldn't need that government bailout. It's Morning Edition.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
NPR's business news starts with a fresh appeal from the president-elect.
(Soundbite of music)
SHAPIRO: President-elect Barack Obama says the economy is in desperate shape and needs immediate attention.
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Nearly two million jobs have been now lost. And on Friday we're likely to learn that we lost more jobs last year than at any time since World War II. Just in the past year, another 2.8 million Americans who want and need full-time work have had to settle for part-time jobs. Manufacturing has hit a 28-year low.
SHAPIRO: Mr. Obama spoke this hour at George Mason University in Virginia. He made another pitch for a new economic stimulus package, saying it will save three million jobs and lay the foundation for America's economic future.
President-elect OBAMA: And that's why we'll invest in priorities like energy and education, health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century. That's why the overwhelming majority of the jobs created will be in the private sector, while our plan will save the public sector jobs of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and others who provide vital services.
SHAPIRO: Some experts say the plan could cost more than three-quarters of a trillion dollars. The president-elect could face resistance from Congress. Lawmakers are already voicing concerns about the ballooning deficit.
President-elect OBAMA: There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in our economy.
SHAPIRO: There are still 12 days until Mr. Obama takes over at the White House, and his speech today was aimed at laying the groundwork for a major initiative early in his presidency.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
President-elect Barack Obama is urging Congress to act quickly on a huge economic stimulus plan, a plan that could cost some $800 billion.
(Soundbite of speech, January 8, 2009)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA (Democratic Senator, Illinois): I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation. We have already tried the wait-and-see approach to our problems, and it is the same approach that helped lead us to this day of reckoning.
MONTAGNE: Mr. Obama is calling for tax cuts and new government spending to revive the economy. Our next guest could help make or break that plan. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell will be the most powerful Republican in government when the Bush administration leaves office. He leads his party in the Senate, where they have enough votes to stall legislation if they stick together, and he's led numerous filibusters in the last Congress. As the new session begins, Senator McConnell spoke to us from the leadership office on Capitol Hill.
What do Republicans and conservatives need, specifically, in this stimulus plan to support it?
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky): Well, I think there's widespread agreement that action is needed. But we're all sobered by the deficit figures that have come out in the last few days, indicating this year's - the deficit is going to be $1.2 trillion. So, what should be the guiding, underlying principle with the stimulus package? I think the speaker - Speaker Pelosi - had it right when she said last year it ought to be timely, targeted and temporary. In other words, we should not use the stimulus package as an excuse to engage in long-term spending that makes our fiscal situation even more dire than it already is; it's pretty dire now.
MONTAGNE: What would qualify as long-term spending that you would not support?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Well, there have been suggestions by the incoming administration and others that the stimulus package is an opportunity to make long-term systemic changes. If any of these long-term systemic changes cost more money, then you're only exacerbating the preexisting problem. So, what kind of things would be stimulative(ph)? The new president may well agree with us on this, that putting more money in the pockets of taxpayers is likely to be stimulative. With regard to the concern that I just expressed about the size of the deficit, you know, one way of looking at aid to states and local governments might be to make it a loan instead of grants. I think they'd be more careful in how they spent it. There are at least two states I'm familiar with that don't want any money at all. Why should we give money to a state that doesn't need it and doesn't want it?
MONTAGNE: So, the emphasis here, as I'm hearing you, is on temporary, targeted; what about timely?
Sen. MCCONNELL: I think everybody agrees we should move soon, and I believe we will move soon.
MONTAGNE: Soon, though, initially was thought to be approximately the day that Barack Obama took office. That's not happening, right?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Well, that was unrealistic. I mean, the plan has not even, as we speak today, been produced in detail yet. I mean, the American people, before we spend close to $1 trillion, would like for there to be some hearings and some input. And Republicans feel like that they ought to have an opportunity to have an input, and it's not just a matter of pride for us. We represent in the Senate - Senate Republicans represent half the American population. To shut us out - and I don't believe that the new president wants to shut us out; in fact, he's assured me he doesn't.
MONTAGNE: But how, if you're talking about hearings, how can you keep the process speedy enough to jolt the economy and hold hearings and what not that take all kinds of planning and can drag out?
Sen. MCCONNELL: I think there's a good chance of getting it done by early February. That's pretty fast, as legislative work goes.
MONTAGNE: Does President-elect Obama's proposed $300 billion tax cut help make this morning palatable to Republicans?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Well, it depends on what form it takes, but you know, the one thing that unifies Republicans typically, from Maine to Mississippi, is tax relief. And depending upon how this tax component is crafted, it could well have broad Republican appeal and make it much more likely that the measure passes with broad bipartisan support, which is what the new president would like and what we would like.
MONTAGNE: If you are not satisfied with the shape or size of this package, is there any possibility you would resort to a filibuster?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Well, if you mean, will something in the Senate require 60 votes?
(Laughing) That's true of almost everything these days.
I don't think that this measure's going to have any problem getting over 60 votes.
MONTAGNE: And in fact, President-elect Obama has said he's targeting even a much higher number of Republicans.
Sen. MCCONNELL: Yeah, he would like to have the bill supported on a broad bipartisan basis. So, you know, we all understand the need to do something and to do it quickly, and I think how it's ultimately crafted will determine how many Republicans support it.
MONTAGNE: Could we go back for a moment to talk of the deficit? Which is a record deficit, $1.2 trillion, for this budget year. What steps would you support in the long run to lower the national debt? I'm asking, would you consider Social Security cuts, cuts in Medicare?
Sen. MCCONNELL: The two huge systemic spending problems we have long-term everybody is aware of; Medicare and Social Security are simply unsustainable. I expect the current economic crisis will actually show down our willingness and ability to tackle those issues, but they're there.
MONTAGNE: Well, it certainly makes it less appetizing, let's say, if there are more people unemployed, to talk about cutting Medicare or cutting...
Sen. MCCONNELL: Yeah, well, I, you know...
MONTAGNE: Social Security.
Sen. MCCONNELL: Exactly what's going to be done is another matter. We can't negotiate what can be done here this morning on this program. But what we do know is they're not sustainable at the current levels. It cannot be left alone in perpetuity.
MONTAGNE: Just a moment for a question on another subject. Senator, you've endorsed having a special election in Illinois to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Barack Obama. As of this morning, does it look like the man appointed by Governor Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris, will be seated as a Senator?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Well, you know, Americans are clearly tired of hearing about ethical issues in Washington. My colleagues, my Republican colleagues, I think, to a person, would prefer a fresh start that allows the people of Illinois to choose their new senator. But candidly, if Mr. Burris presents the correct paperwork, he's going to be a senator.
MONTAGNE: Is there any Obama nominee that you foresee facing difficult questions in the Senate?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Well, I think the attorney general nominee, Mr. Holder, has got serious questions to respond to with regard to his role in the Marc Rich pardons at the end of the Clinton administration and some other matters.
MONTAGNE: Eric holder, that is?
Sen. MCCONNELL: Eric Holder, yes, I'm sorry. You know, beyond that, I don't anticipate trouble for the new president's nominees. I think most of them are people we're familiar with and have outstanding records.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for talking with us.
Sen. MCCONNELL: OK. Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is the Republican leader in the Senate. His backing is critical as President-elect Barack Obama calls for an economic stimulus package. That plan could cost $800 billion. For more on Senator McConnell's career in Congress, go to npr.org.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR news.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Time now for StoryCorps. Over 40,000 people so far have shared some of the most important moments of their lives. Today, we'll hear how one woman's life changed in an instant. In 1997, Barbara Esrig was driving home from work. She was struck head-on by another car, and the crash nearly killed her.
Ms. BARBARA ESRIG: A car was trying to pass four or five other cars, and they wouldn't let him back in the lane. And suddenly, things just slowed way down, and there was this huge white explosion and then silence. I had five cranial nerve paralyses, and I broke 164 bones. Everything was broken except for my neck and my spine and my pelvis and my hips.
(Laughing) So, all the important ones didn't break, but everything else was kind of toast.
The staff and the doctors, nobody really thought I was going to make it. But I knew that I would. And this one doctor came in - he was a student - and he was pretty freaked out. I had a patch on my eye; I was on a respirator; I had every tube you can imagine, could barely see my face. But I was definitely alive inside. I knew exactly where I was. And he came in with my chart, and he had his head in the chart and he goes, we don't know if you're ever going to talk again; we don't know if you're ever going to smell again; we don't know if you're ever going to taste again. And I have these chopsticks; I have a board, alphabet board, and I'm spelling by pointing with these chopsticks. And then I write on this board, I said, life is not worth living if you can't eat cannolis.
(Laughing) And he looks at me; he sees my one little eye twinkling.
So, then I write down and say, now, put down the chart and give me a hug. And he did. Later on he told me, he said, you know, you reminded me of why I wanted to be a doctor. And from then on, I called him Dr. Cannoli. He became this wonderful doctor, and we became friends. And it was really important for me to have people show me that I was something other than a car accident, that I was something other than a diagnosis, that I was a whole human being.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Barbara Esrig at StoryCorps in Gainesville, Florida. Her story and all the others will be archived at the Library of Congress. Read more in the StoryCorps book, "Listening Is an Act of Love," or sign up to tape your own at npr.org.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
We go to mosquitoes now. In an unusual experiment, scientists have discovered something romantic about the sounds of mating mosquitoes; the male and female of one species perform a duet of truly operatic skill. NPR's Christopher Joyce has this story about a flight of acoustic fancy.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE: Sometimes scientists do strange things, like anesthetizing mosquitoes and gluing them to a tiny string or tether. When the mosquitoes wake up, well, neurobiologist Ron Hoy can explain.
Dr. RON HOY (Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University): We tethered a female, got her flying, and then took a tethered male and brought the male within a couple of centimeters of the flying female, and then the interaction would begin.
JOYCE: The interaction being - well, no, not what you think - not at first, anyway. The female mosquito, of the species Aedes aegypti, will not mate with just any male who flies by. First, the male must produce the right flight tone.
(Soundbite of flight tone)
JOYCE: That's the sound made by his beating wings.
Dr. HOY: When the male now is brought close to the female, what we see is an acoustic interaction. There's going to be variation of the flight tones; the male will adjust whatever he's been doing to bring about a match.
JOYCE: What they do is vary the pitch of their flight tones until they're a perfect duet. The male's pitch is at about 600 cycles per second; the female's, a little lower, at 400 cycles per second. In music, he's roughly a D, and she's about a G. And then, something very special happens...
(Soundbite of flight tones)
JOYCE: If you listen closely, you can detect a third tone - an overtone, in musical terms - fainter, more ghostly than the two main mosquito tones, up at 1200 cycles per second. OK, it's no "Madame Butterfly," but hey, these are bugs. The important thing is, once the mosquitoes detected this overtone, they mate. At his laboratory at Cornell University, Hoy tested this by creating just the 1200Hz overtone with audio equipment. When he played it for mosquitoes, they responded to it.
Dr. HOY: The interesting thing about mosquitoes is that, you know, if you're tone deaf, you're going to be squat out of luck, aren't you?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. HOY: Because you're not going to catch that modulation. So, I think this is pretty amazing stuff.
JOYCE: And mysterious. Why would mosquitoes do this? Hoy says producing the perfect pitch might be some kind of proof of male mosquito macho. Certainly, singing for sex isn't that unusual in animals. Rex Cocroft, a behavioral biologist at the University of Missouri, has recorded lots of bugs doing that, but he says the mosquito duet is one of a kind.
Dr. REX COCROFT (Behavioral Sciences, University of Missouri): We think of insects as being masters of timing and rhythm and not so much masters of pitch.
JOYCE: Now, humans are also masters of pitch, and some scientists wonder whether we learn some musical rules by listening to animals, even mosquitoes.
Dr. COCROFT: So, for example, when people were writing early melodies, like Gregorian chants, well, when you have a large jump up in frequency, then you tend to drop down stepwise, and people were asking, well, do animals show similar kinds of rules?
JOYCE: If that sounds crazy, consider this: The interval between the male mosquito's tone and the female's is quite close to what musicians call a perfect fifth.
(Soundbite of perfect fifth piano notes, staccato)
JOYCE: In fact, composers for centuries considered the interval of a fifth to be the most euphonious.
(Soundbite of perfect fifth piano notes, carried out)
JOYCE: So, if mosquitoes have it right, all you need to do is find a melody with an interval of a fifth, and you're guaranteed romantic success.
(Soundbite of song "Feelings")
(Soundbite of flight tones)
Mr. ALBERT MORRIS: (Singing) Feelings, nothing more than feelings...
JOYCE: The mosquito research appears in this issue of "The Journal: Science." Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
(Soundbite of song "Feelings")
(Soundbite of flight tones)
Mr. MORRIS: (Singing) Trying to forget my feelings of love...
MONTAGNE: OK. So, you can watch a video of a mosquito in pursuit of love at npr.org. You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
In the TV show "24," Jack Bauer's a federal agent in the counterterrorism unit. Each season, we live through 24 hours of his day in real time, and he has some terrible days. In six seasons, Bauer has survived a nuclear explosion, a nerve gas attack, an abduction by the Chinese government, and he's died twice, at least for a few minutes, anyway. This Sunday, he returns to Fox for another day and season seven. It was delayed for a year because of the Hollywood writers' strike. As before, this season finds Bauer trying to stop a terrorist plot using any means necessary.
(Soundbite of TV show "24")
Mr. KIEFER SUTHERLAND: (As Jack Bauer) (Shouting) Show me where the device is.
(Soundbite of bang)
Mr. SUTHERLAND: (As Jack Bauer) (Whispering) So help me God, I will kill you, and you will stay dead this time.
(Shouting) Where is the device?
SHAPIRO: Kiefer Sutherland has played Jack Bauer since 2001. He came to our New York bureau to chat about the show. Good morning.
Mr. SUTHERLAND: (Actor) How are you?
SHAPIRO: Fine, thanks. How are you?
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Good, thank you.
SHAPIRO: Well, let's start where the season picks up. There's a Senate hearing into Jack Bauer's use of torture on terrorism suspects, and torture is sort of a motif that has run through the seasons of "24." At this point, his actions have caught up with him, and he's about to be indicted. So, let's listen to a clip.
(Soundbite of TV show "24")
Mr. SUTHERLAND: (As Jack Bauer) Am I above the law? No, sir. I am more than willing to be judged by the people you claim to represent. I will let them decide what price I should pay. But please do not sit there with that smug look on your face and expect me to regret the decisions that I have made.
SHAPIRO: This sounds a lot like a real hearing that took place a few months ago with some Bush administration officials called to testify about torture.
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Well, I think one of the things that's kind of remarkable about "24," I mean, we ended up shooting, I think, the first eight episodes before the terrible events of 9/11. There are a lot of things with regard to "24" that, unfortunately, are tracking a lot of issues that are happening almost in real time. And so, yes, that's not surprising. With regards to the torture aspect, we were using that as a dramatic device to show you how important a situation was. Then obviously, the events in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and everything else became a real focal point for us as a nation to look at what we were doing. So, it only seemed sensible that we as a show would do the same thing, and so, we took what used to be a dramatic device just to set up a sense of importance, this seventh season takes a real hard look at it. And Jack Bauer as a character has to really come to terms with a lot of the things that he's done in this season.
SHAPIRO: In fact, he does at one point in the show say he thinks he ought to be accountable for his own actions. Let's listen to this clip.
(Soundbite of TV show "24")
Mr. SUTHERLAND: (As Jack Bauer) In the name of protecting this country, we've created two worlds, ours and the people we promise to protect. They deserve to know the truth, and they can decide how far they want to let us go.
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Well, I think in the Senate hearing, Jack Bauer's very disenfranchised with the government, and many of the things that he has done he was asked to do by that government. And so, he has a great contempt for that government condemning him for his actions. But what he articulates later in the clip that we're discussing now is that on a much more personal level he feels a deep sense of regret, and he feels that outside of his blind ideology - which kind of drove him for at least the first four seasons - that he feels that we have stepped off course and that he himself has stepped off course, and that's something that he deals with all through season seven.
SHAPIRO: Well, as a show that is so tied into the national zeitgeist and as an executive producer on that show, how much do you think about, or care about, the impact that the show might have on the real world?
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Well, again, I've always considered "24" to be this really fantastical idea that came about before it was viewed as something that was paralleling things that were happening in the world, and I've always tried to maintain the show on that level.
SHAPIRO: And yet, West Point commanders have had conversations with the show's writers when they say...
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Yes. There was a time when - I think was someone - I think it was the head of West Point, you know, they had conversations with the writers from "24," because they were worried that a show like "24" was affecting the behavior of their soldiers. And I think if that's - if you're really concerned about that, we've got a much bigger problem...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. SUTHERLAND: In the military than you can imagine. If you're going to actually blame "24" for situations in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, that's just ludicrous to me.
SHAPIRO: What do you think the real-time format provides that you don't get out of a ticking-time-bomb show that isn't in real time, like, say, the old "Mission Impossible"?
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Exactly that, a ticking time bomb. When you're sitting there watching a television show and you see a clock come up and you know that the episode is an hour long and something's going to happen, and a clock starts winding down from 15 seconds.
(Soundbite of laugher)
Mr. SUTHERLAND: And it hasn't happened yet, it makes you sit up.
SHAPIRO: Does your pulse jump when you hear that little ticking second sound?
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Well, mine doesn't, because I read the script.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. SUTHERLAND: But I was hoping that someone else's does.
SHAPIRO: Mine does.
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Good. Then, we succeeded.
SHAPIRO: Why do you think people like Jack Bauer so much, even though his actions are so often morally ambiguous?
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Hmm. Because I think the world is ambiguous. I think Jack Bauer lives in the grey. It's muddy; it's dirty. And you know, I always reference back to the first season when I was attracted to him as a character. This is a guy who's responsible for protecting the first black president in the United States and taking on terrorists and protecting a potential coup, and couldn't handle his 16-year-old daughter. I related to that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Jack Bauer, I think one of the things that's interesting about this character is, is that there's no winning in a lot of the choices that he has to make. And I think on some level - on a much smaller level, I think all of us feel like that about three or four times a day.
SHAPIRO: Are we over analyzing Jack Bauer - the grand we, America - in the last eight years?
Mr. SUTHERLAND: You know, that's not my place to say. I'm certainly - as an actor, it's been an honor to play him and to have people talk about - I mean, if you go back to Chekov, and he's describing what he loved about theater and what he now hates about theater, and he says, you know, I watch these high priests of a sacred art - and he's talking about actors - and I watch this high priests of a sacred art depict the way we will eat, drink, walk about, make love and wear our clothes, and then I see them try and squeeze a moral out of the tritest words and the emptiest phrases. What he is saying to me is we have the capacity, as actors and as writers and as filmmakers and as TV-show makers and theater performers, to get people to talk. And I think "24" has done that amazingly well.
SHAPIRO: Kiefer Sutherland, thank you very much.
Mr. SUTHERLAND: Oh, thank you very much for having me. Happy New Year.
SHAPIRO: The new season of "24" begins this Sunday night on Fox.
(Soundbite of movie "24")
Mr. SUTHERLAND: (As Jack Bauer) This is Morning Edition from NPR News.
SHAPIRO: That's Kiefer Sutherland. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution last night calling for a, quote, "immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip. But there's more fighting today. The Israelis carried out a new round of airstrikes overnight, and Hamas launched more rockets into Israel. Aid groups said their workers were trying to help civilians in Gaza when they came under Israeli fire. Those aid groups are now suspending operations in the territory. Joining us with the latest is NPR's Eric Westervelt, who's in Jerusalem. Good morning, Eric.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: It seems as if the UN resolution has done really nothing at the moment to change the situation on the ground. Is that the case?
WESTERVELT: That's exactly right. Fighting continues; Israeli officials have had no immediate reaction to this UN vote, but we see by the reactions of the military on the ground that they've kept up their attack. The Israeli Air Force say fighter jets overnight hit several targets and some again early today. The Palestinian death toll continues to rise, and Hamas leaders said through a spokesman today they didn't recognize the UN resolution and hadn't been consulted about it. And they kept fighting as well, Renee. Hamas militants fired several Katyusha rockets at Be'er Sheva this morning, as well as several smaller Qassam rockets at Ashkelon, Ashdod and other cities. So, you know, the fighting continues, and the UN resolution appears to have no impact whatsoever.
MONTAGNE: Well, talking about those aid groups, the UN says it suspended all aid operations in Gaza, after one of its drivers was killed by Israeli tank fire. The Red Cross has protested Israeli actions. What's the latest on those aid groups?
WESTERVELT: Well, exactly. The UN - it's not just the UN and the Red Cross; several nongovernmental aid agencies say the Israeli military has blocked efforts to deliver aid and ongoing efforts on the ground to try to treat the wounded and retrieve the dead. The Red Cross, in a very strongly worded statement, accused Israel of failing to meet its obligation under international law to allow for the evacuation of the wounded. The Red Cross, in particular, Renee, is reporting some horrific scenes involving civilians caught in the combat areas. The agency says they found four children starving next to their mother's corpse and talked about wounded civilians who had to go several days without treatment. The UN, for the second time this week, is calling for an investigation after one of their drivers was killed by tank fire. This is the second time this week; they called for, earlier, an investigation into a shelling of a UN school in which more than 40 civilians were killed.
MONTAGNE: And amidst those stories of civilian deaths in Gaza, we're also hearing of three Israeli soldiers killed by Hamas fire yesterday. Now, the Israeli army appears to be at something of a crossroads as to whether it should push deeper into urban Gaza or, alternatively, pull back.
WESTERVELT: That's right. Israeli forces are fighting on the edges, Renee, especially in the east and in the north of Gaza City, but they have not yet pushed deeper into the city. And commentators here are saying the military really now has to decide quickly whether to push in deeper or to pull back. Some of the troops, we're told, are on relatively static positions, which can create easy targets for militants. Three Israeli soldiers, as we said, were killed yesterday, and aside from a friendly-fire incident earlier in the week, it was the Israeli military's deadliest day since the fighting began. One soldier was killed by Hamas sniper fire, we were told; another by an anti-tank rocket. And Hamas fighters, it appears, want to try to draw the Israeli forces deeper into these dense, urban areas, where they believe the Israeli heavy armor and superior firepower is simply less of an advantage.
MONTAGNE: Eric, we just have a few seconds here, but where should we be looking on the diplomatic front?
WESTERVELT: Well, Egypt's been trying to play a key role in efforts to stop the fighting, but it appears talks in Cairo have made no real progress, and as we said, the UN resolution as well has not made progress. So, it's really unclear right now where to look for - next for diplomatic progress.
MONTAGNE: Thanks very much. NPR's Eric Westervelt speaking to us from Jerusalem.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And as Eric mentioned, several countries have been working to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians. I asked Aaron David Miller, a Middle East adviser to six U.S. secretaries of State, to give us a snapshot of the main players.
Dr. AARON DAVID MILLER (Author, "The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace;" Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars): Well, the French clearly have a large Muslim population, around five million. The Palestinian/Israeli conflict has generated enormous tensions. Sarkozy also fashions himself to be a broker, a friend of the Israelis as well. So, France is playing its traditional role, reflecting both its Middle East and domestic interests. The Egyptians have a much more primary, critically important interest.
SHAPIRO: Because they share a border with Gaza.
Dr. MILLER: They share a common border with Gaza. One Egyptian official described Gaza as one of Egypt's kidneys. It's quite clear they're very concerned about Hamas. And the Egyptians normally are considered patrons of the Palestinians - brokers of inter-Palestinian reconciliation. So, they have an enormous amount of equity. The Turks, a very interesting role over the last year or so; of course, they've emerged as informal brokers of indirect Israeli-Syrian negotiations, and they fashion themselves, to some degree, as a bridge between East and West. And the United States, of course, with its traditional interests.
All of these mediators, and rarely have I seen so many chefs stirring the Middle East pot, reflect the reality that America's role has to some degree been eclipsed. Since the early '90s, we have had very little success, and as a consequence of that fact, others have sought to intercede in a problem in which everyone appears to be interested. The other reality is that we don't have relations with some of the key actors. We don't have a relationship with Hamas; we don't have a relationship with Hezbollah; we have no relationship with the Iranians right now; and a very strained, not terribly substantial, relationship with the Syrians. So, others, the Egyptians in particular, will seek to fill the bill.
SHAPIRO: Does the reduced role that the United States is playing in this particular conflict have anything to do with the U.S.'s strong support for Israel? Because the other major players seem to have more sympathies for the Palestinians than perhaps the United States government does.
Dr. MILLER: The fact is - I'll speak personally here - my phone, and the phones of six secretaries of State, would not have been ringing all these years if the United States was not perceived to have the kind of relationship with the Israelis that could lead to leverage. And when we use that relationship wisely, we can actually get something done and make a very bad situation better. But what's happened, I'm afraid, is that the special relationship has morphed into an exclusive one, and that exclusive relationship, which is perceived to be too acquiescent in Israeli behavior, has created a situation in which our influence and credibility as an effective mediator has been diminished.
SHAPIRO: You have advised six secretaries of State on Middle East issues. What do you see looking ahead to the Obama administration?
Dr. MILLER: Barack Obama is inheriting one of the most complicated international environments and perhaps the worst economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression. He has a limited amount of political currency and capital to spend.
SHAPIRO: It sounds like you're not optimistic.
Dr. MILLER: Unless he gets very lucky, there are regional changes which inspire and/or compel the Arabs and the Israelis to go beyond where they have gone in the past, then there are great odds in favor of his trying to manage these problems. But the prospects that they can be resolved, or that he will resolve them, are probably slim to none.
SHAPIRO: If the U.S. does not become a substantial force for Middle East peace in the Obama administration, can it be achieved with the other players, Turkey, France, Egypt?
Dr. MILLER: I do not believe that Arabs and Israelis are capable of conflict-ending agreements without a meaningful role by the United States. We alone have the kind of confidence and trust that is required to persuade the Israelis to take the kinds of existential risks that are required. No one else has that capacity - not the Brits, not the French, not the UN, not the Russians, not the Turks.
SHAPIRO: Aaron David Miller is a public-policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He's author of the book "The Much Too Promised Land." Thanks very much.
Dr. MILLER: You're welcome.
(Soundbite of music)
SHAPIRO: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Today, confirmation hearings begin for the woman President-elect Obama has chosen to serve as his Labor secretary. Democratic Congresswoman Hilda Solis of California is the daughter of immigrant union workers. Frank Langfitt covers labor for NPR, and he's with us in the studio. Good morning.
FRANK LANGFITT: Good morning, Ari.
SHAPIRO: How do you see the Labor Department changing under the Obama administration?
LANGFITT: You know, Ari, this may be the biggest ideological change we're going to see at the Cabinet level under this new administration. Under President Bush, organized labor was at war with the Labor Department; they saw the administration as the enemy. Take Elaine Chao; she was running it for the past eight years. She's seen as a very pro-business. She came under a lot of criticism for failing to kind of look out for workers, certainly from the point of view of unions. It was a government report that criticized the department for not investigating hundreds of overtime and minimum-wage complaints for a year or more.
Now, Solis, she has a completely different kind of profile. As we mentioned, she's the daughter of union members. Her dad's from Mexico and was a shop steward with the Teamsters. Her mom is from Nicaragua; she's a member of the United Rubber Workers. So, she's seen as a lot more sympathetic to organized labor and a lot more focused on sort of the daily concerns of ordinary workers.
SHAPIRO: OK. So, we have a shift from a Republican administration, generally perceived as being aligned with business interests, to a Democratic administration, generally seen as being aligned with union interests. But given that we're in an economic recession right now, a crisis, is the Obama administration going to have to make choices that the unions are going to disagree with?
LANGFITT: Absolutely. I think that one of the big issues that's going to come up, and it's already been put off, is what's called the Employee Free Choice Act. Right now, most union elections are through secret ballot, and it would allow them actually to do this by just asking people to check a card, saying they wanted to have a union. And the advantage to the union is that they can do this quietly, frankly, on the side, and not have the businesses know what's going on. When the businesses realize that a union drive is coming, they often mount a very tough campaign, sometimes hiring labor-union-busting firms, law firms. And it's been very challenging for unions to organize, and that's been one of their problems.
SHAPIRO: So, this bill would make it much easier for employees to form unions?
LANGFITT: Dramatically so. Looks like that particular bill won't come up until the summer. Even though Obama had supported the bill during the campaign, it remains to be seen how hard he can push for that, given that the real front-burner issue now is the economy.
SHAPIRO: What about Detroit specifically? There's been a lot of talk about, if the auto companies are going to stay alive, there will have to be fundamental restructuring. Can the Labor Department and the autoworkers union see eye to eye?
LANGFITT: I think it's going to be one of the first big challenges for the Obama administration. You know, the Bush administration gave $13 billion to Chrysler and GM at the end of the year, and one of the things it said is it wanted real concessions; it wants a very different business model; wants these companies to cut a lot of costs; and it wants the unions to take big, big hits on their wages and salaries and health benefits. The United Auto Workers head Ron Gettelfinger is going to go to Obama and say, you know, we can't accept this; you have to fix this for us. President-elect Obama is under a lot pressure to fix these companies and make sure they have a good business plan going forward, because now, as taxpayers - you, I, the rest of our listeners - we're all investors.
SHAPIRO: When you look at this relationship between President-elect Obama and his chosen Labor secretary, Hilda Solis, Mr. Obama is not strongly affiliated with the unions in his history; Congresswoman Solis is. Do you see her as being perhaps more allied with the unions and maybe trying to convince President-elect Obama to do things that he might not otherwise do?
LANGFITT: I don't know. I think that his choice of her is a very positive sign to the unions, but on some of these big issues, like the future of Detroit and this bill that would make it easier to form labor, I suspect that that's going to be run out of the White House.
SHAPIRO: That's our labor correspondent Frank Langfitt. Thanks, Frank.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Ari.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. The Senate kicked off the confirmation process for President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks yesterday. First to go before a Senate committee was a former member of the world's most exclusive club, Tom Daschle. He used to be the Senate's majority leader, and now he's been tapped to head the Department of Health and Human Services. NPR's Julie Rovner has more.
JULIE ROVNER: It was supposed to be Tom Daschle's day, but his appearance was almost overshadowed at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee by the return of its chairman, the venerable Edward Kennedy. Kennedy's been mostly absent since last spring, undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor. But only a slight tremor betrayed Kennedy's health troubles, as he welcomed back his former leader.
Senator EDWARD M. KENNEDY (Democrat, Massachusetts): Reform is urgently needed, and Tom Daschle is just the person for the job.
ROVNER: Daschle, the veteran of more than a few of these hearings, quickly returned favor.
Former Senator THOMAS A. DASCHLE (Democrat, South Dakota; Appointee, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Barack Obama Administration): Testifying on the subject of healthcare before Ted Kennedy feels a bit like talking about one's trumpet-playing skills in front of Louis Armstrong.
ROVNER: As the presumptive secretary of Health and Human Services, Daschle said his first and largest task will be to work with Congress to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.
Sen. DASCHLE: It is unacceptable that in a nation of approximately 300 million people, nearly one in six Americans don't have health insurance, and as we face a harsh and deep recession, the problem of the uninsured is likely to grow.
ROVNER: And it wasn't just Kennedy who sang Daschle's praises. The panel's top Republican, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, said he's read Daschle's recent book on healthcare and instructed his staff to read it, too. Unfortunately for Daschle, the health committee doesn't get to vote on his nomination. That task belongs to the finance committee, which oversees an even larger portion of the HHS portfolio. That hearing is expected next week. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
One pressing healthcare issue every winter is the flu. It kills thousands of people, often small children, frail seniors and people with chronic diseases. In recent years, doctors have relied on the drug Tamiflu to treat serious flu cases. As NPR's Richard Knox reports, most of the flu viruses circulating in America so far this season are resistant to Tamiflu.
RICHARD KNOX: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tested about 120 flu viruses so far this winter. Dr. Joseph Brasee of the CDC says 73 of them turned out to be a type called H1N1.
Dr. JOSEPH BRASEE (Chief, Epidemiology and Prevention, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Center for Disease Control and Prevention): And of those 73 strains, 72 were 99-percent found to have the mutation that makes it resistant.
KNOX: Resistant to the drug Tamiflu. Just before Christmas, the CDC warned doctors that if their local public health officials say the H1N1 strain is making the rounds in their community, they should assume that Tamiflu won't work against it.
Dr. BRASEE: We were worried about the possibility that a doctor might be treating a patient for flu, give them Tamiflu, because that's what they usually give, not realizing that there are some resistant viruses spreading.
KNOX: Dr. Mike Osterholm says the doctor has to make a stab in the dark about what flu strain is making his patients sick.
Dr. MICHAEL T. OSTERHOLM (Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota): Unfortunately, we don't have a good test that would automatically tell us not only do they have flu, but is it specifically, too, this H1N1 type?
KNOX: Osterholm leads the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Minneapolis. He says losing Tamiflu leaves doctors and patients with few options. For instance, doctors can't use an alternate flu drug called Relenza on children under seven. There are two other alternatives, Amantadine and Rimantadine, but over the past couple of years, their use has declined sharply because another common flu strain has become resistant to them. So, now, when doctors prescribe these drugs, they can't always get them.
Dr. OSTERHOLM: We are already learning of some shortages that are occurring out there, where apparently the supply of either or both of those drugs was not anticipated to be needed this year, and so that some of the pharmacies have not been able to get it on the day that it's requested.
KNOX: The worldwide emergence of flu viruses as resistant to Tamiflu causes another, bigger, worry. What if the Tamiflu-resistant gene jumped from the H1N1 virus into H5N1, the deadly bird-flu virus that still circulates in Asia and the Middle East?
Dr. OSTERHOLM: We're clearly seeing H1N1 in Asia that could very easily provide some type of jumping mechanism if they were to combine with H5N1. It has not been demonstrated yet, and clearly, that's one that people are looking at or looking for, but it hasn't happened to date that we're aware of.
KNOX: Experts still fear the bird-flu virus might learn how to spread in humans, touching off a devastating pandemic. If that happens, the world is counting on big stockpiles of Tamiflu to save lives. Richard Knox, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
It's Europe's worst energy crisis ever. Factories and hospitals have shut down in Slovakia and Hungary, and in Bulgaria, hundreds of thousands of people are without heat. This is because Russia decided to cut gas supplies that run through Ukraine. NPR's Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer reports on efforts to resolve the crisis.
GREGORY FEIFER: There was diplomatic drama in Brussels yesterday, where the CEO of Russia's Gazprom met the head of Ukraine's energy company and EU leaders bent on getting gas flowing back to Europe. Europe depends on Russia for a quarter of its gas, most of which crosses Ukraine. Russia shut off those supplies on Wednesday, accusing Ukraine of stealing them. Kiev denies the accusation. Yesterday, Gazprom said supplies to Europe could be restored if the EU would send monitors to verify gas flows through Ukraine. Kiev said it agreed to the monitors, but at the last minute, Moscow insisted on Russian observers taking part, and the deal fell apart. Meanwhile, there's been no sign of movement on the underlying price dispute that's caused the crisis.
Prime Minister VLADIMIR PUTIN (Russia): (Russian spoken).
FEIFER: In Moscow yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia wasn't budging from its insistence Ukraine pay more than double what Kiev says it's prepared to pay for Russian gas. Putin lashed out against Kiev, accusing the Ukrainian leadership of incompetence. This is also a bitter political dispute. Many believe Moscow wants to punish pro-Western Ukraine for its drive to join NATO. But despite all the charges and countercharges, there are reports a temporary deal may have been reached to get gas flowing to Europe. After telephone talks between Putin and his Czech and German counterparts, the European Commission said it would send monitors to Ukraine today. Moscow and Kiev are expected to continue talks today, but it may take days for gas to start flowing to a continent held hostage by Moscow's dispute with its former Soviet neighbor. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Moscow.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
As jobs continue to evaporate, President-elect Barack Obama's case for a big economic stimulus package looks ever more compelling. One question is what Congress will do, and to talk about this, we turn to David Wessel. He's economics editor of the Wall Street Journal and a regular guest on our program. Good morning.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Let's begin with just a capsule version of what the president-elect is proposing for this stimulus plan.
WESSEL: He's proposing about $775 billion over two years, of which about 40 percent would be tax cuts for families and businesses and the rest would be spending. Some spent soon, and some would be like those time-release capsules that would spend a little later, because he expects the economy to be weak for some time.
MONTAGNE: Are we going to end up with a lot of Bridges to Nowhere? I know that the word there was" no earmarks," but how do you control that? What's an earmark, and what's an important project?
WESSEL: Well, all an earmark means is a specific project designated by a member of Congress, and President-elect Obama says he's going to try and avoid that. But inevitably, some of this money is going to be wasted. You can't spend that much money without wasting it somewhere in doing something that you later regret. It's really a question of balance. They're going to try and do some spending that they think will get into the economy right away, in order to help create demand, which is so weak, and get the economy moving again.
And then they're going to try - and they're going to talk an awful lot about this - to do things that will pay off in the future: energy efficiency in government buildings, and weatherizing people's homes, and spending money on computerizing healthcare, which is seen as a way to save money in the long run. They'll be lots of talk about oversight and lots of vows about prudence, but as you point out, $400 billion is a lot of money, and the government, inevitably, is going to end up wasting some of it. And we're going to be writing about some scandal here or there. It's just inevitable, but they think that's a risk worth taking to save us from a really deep recession.
MONTAGNE: Now, of course, what's going to be key is how this plays out in Congress. What's your view on that?
WESSEL: Well, I think we're seeing that the president-elect is having some trouble with Congress. Republicans are asking for more accountability, more transparency; worried about ending up with a much bigger government; showing signs they're not just going to lay over and play dead, even though they have a minority. And he's running into some problems with members of his own party. On the one hand, you have the fiscal conservatives, who are worried about the deficit, and there are others who are eager that this spending be pulled in the direction that they would think is important, even if it's not quite what the president-elect thinks. So, it's one of the problems with fiscal stimulus; you want to do it really quickly so it'll help the economy when it's weak, but the political process, generally, doesn't work quickly. So, this is going to be a real test of his ability to navigate through Congress.
MONTAGNE: Well, OK, if President-elect Obama gets Congress to go along with this stimulus plan, what does that mean for the $700 billion financial bailout?
WESSEL: Basically, you need both of these to work. Just like the human body needs oxygen and it needs food, the economy needs both some help in stimulating demand - that's the fiscal stimulus - and it needs the financial system to be working again and banks lending again, and that's going to require at least the second half of the $700 billion, if not more.
MONTAGNE: David, thanks very much.
WESSEL: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: David Wessel is economics editor of the Wall Street Journal.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
And our last word in business today is senior stimulus. President-elect Obama is making the case for his economic stimulus plan, and the Social Security Administration has a stimulus package of its own for seniors. The financial publication Forbes.com notes that overall, Social Security payments will go up $38 billion this year. That's because the government ties Social Security payments to inflation. Inflation went up last year when oil prices spiked, and as a result, Social Security payments will rise nearly six percent this year. For a couple receiving $1,700 a month, that's about a hundred extra dollars each month. And that's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. U.S. officials are telling NPR about what they're calling a significant victory against the war against al-Qaeda in Pakistan. A CIA strike on New Year's Day is said to have killed al-Qaeda's chief of operations in Pakistan, along with his top lieutenant. If the U.S. intelligence is accurate, this is an important development; both men have been on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists for many years. Joining us now is NPR intelligence correspondent Tom Gjelten. Morning, Tom.
TOM GJELTEN: Morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Tell us what officials have been telling you.
GJELTEN: Well, Renee, you know, we heard last week there were at least five missile strikes against suspected al-Qaeda targets over a two-day period - on New Year's Day and then on the next day - in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, near the village of Karikot; this is in the mountainous area along the border with Afghanistan. Now, we're told by U.S. counterterrorism officials that among those killed on one of those New Year's Day strikes were two top al-Qaeda operatives. One of them, as you say, was allegedly al-Qaeda's chief of operations in Pakistan, a man known to U.S. intelligence experts as Fahid Msalam. The other's been identified as Msalam's senior aid. Msalam is said by U.S. officials to have been the al-Qaeda operation's chief in Pakistan and a mastermind of that big bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September, when more than 50 people were killed.
I need to say this was first reported last night by the Washington Post, but U.S. counterterrorism officials have separately told me it's true. We don't have information to corroborate that separately from these U.S. sources. I can only pass on what I'm told, but these officials tell me they're sure that these two al-Qaeda operatives were killed there on New Year's Day.
MONTAGNE: Besides that big bombing, what else are these two accused of doing in the past?
GJELTEN: They are well-known to U.S. law enforcement, Renee. The second man's name is Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. Both are from Kenya, and both are alleged to have been involved in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In fact, both were indicted in U.S. federal court for their alleged role in those bombings, and since then, they've been on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists, each with a $5 million reward on his head. One report I read last night alleged that they'd actually been involved in terrorism as far back as 1993 in Somalia. In the last two years, they've allegedly moved back and forth between East Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kenyon authorities have charged them in connection with the bombing of a hotel in Kenya in 2002. So, they're definitely big-time international terrorists. And if, indeed, they were killed on New Year's Day, it would be significant.
MONTAGNE: Caught in alleged history, do you know more details about how they were killed?
GJELTEN: No, I don't. I was told last night that these two men were in a building that was used for explosives training and operation planning. They were said to have been at work on a new bombing plot, but no details on how they were killed; presumably it was a CIA missile strike. The CIA is not commenting, but we do know the CIA in the last six months has carried out dozens of these missile strikes from unmanned aircraft in that region.
MONTAGNE: Now, if all of this turns out to be true as described, what does it say about the U.S. effort against al-Qaeda?
GJELTEN: It's certainly a lot more aggressive. It was really ramped up, Renee, this past summer, after President Bush signed an executive order that authorized more joint operations in Pakistan against al-Qaeda by the U.S. military and the CIA - not just missile strikes; attacks involving AC-130 gunships, helicopters, even commando forces on a couple of occasions. And it's apparently having an effect. We've heard now of a half dozen or more senior al-Qaeda figures killed in these strikes in the last few months. U.S. intelligence officials say it's possible because they're getting a lot better targeting information about where these guys are: intercepted telephone calls, Internet traffic, human intelligence on the ground. Maybe somebody is going to get those $5 million rewards, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Well, just lastly and briefly, is there any reaction from Pakistan?
GJELTEN: Not yet, you know, they're so focused on India right now. But this would suggest they're allowing this fight to go on.
MONTAGNE: Tom, thanks very much.
GJELTEN: You're welcome, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Tom Gjelten covers intelligence for NPR.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
New unemployment numbers are out today, and they offer more evidence, if any were needed, of the troubled economy. The nation lost 524,000 jobs last month, sending the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent. The bleak employment picture is adding urgency to President-elect Barack Obama's call for a giant economic stimulus package. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: President-elect Barack Obama says the nation is facing an economic crisis unlike most Americans have seen in their lifetimes. And he says, the situation has only gotten worse in the last few weeks.
(Soundbite of speech)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Many businesses cannot borrow or make payroll; many families cannot pay their bills or their mortgage; many workers are watching their lifesavings disappear; and many, many Americans are both anxious and uncertain of what the future will hold.
HORSLEY: All this week, Mr. Obama has been stressing the need for Congress to act quickly on an economic stimulus package. Yesterday, he warned that only the federal government has the wherewithal to reverse the economy's downward slide.
(Soundbite of speech)
President-elect OBAMA: I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible.
HORSLEY: Economists from across the political spectrum have endorsed the idea of a big government stimulus package, and many agree with Mr. Obama that it needs to come quickly. Nariman Behravesh, of the economic forecasting firm Global Insight, says if Congress acts quickly on a stimulus package, the economy could start growing again as early as this summer. Otherwise, Behravesh warns, the recession is likely to stretch into late this year or early next.
Dr. NARIMAN BEHRAVESH (Executive Vice President, Global Insight): The sooner they get this passed, the quicker they can get money into the pockets of households, businesses, and get started on some of the infrastructure spending they're thinking about. We don't have a lot of time; you know, the clock's ticking.
HORSLEY: The president-elect is proposing a mix of tax cuts and new government spending to help jumpstart the economy. He acknowledged the government has already spent hundreds of billions of dollars on bailout efforts without a noticeable improvement in the job market or confidence. He pledged that money spent in the stimulus would go for useful projects like new roads, high-speed Internet hookups and investments in clean energy.
(Soundbite of speech)
President-elect OBAMA: There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes and confidence in our economy.
HORSLEY: The federal government is already running on borrowed money, and it will have to borrow a lot more to pay for the stimulus package, estimated cost at least three-quarters of a trillion dollars. But even deficit watchdogs, like Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition, seem willing to accept that for the time being.
Mr. ROBERT BIXBY (Executive Director, Concord Coalition): I think it's OK to do some short-term stimulus, and it may have to be rather substantial because we have a very large recession staring at us in the face. However, we have a huge unsustainable budget problem to begin with over the long-term, and we don't want to do anything in the short-term that's going to make that worse.
HORSLEY: Bixby says he's less concerned with the overall size of the stimulus package than how it's structured. A one-time investment in making homes or government buildings more energy efficient, for example, is easier for him to swallow than tax cuts or other programs that would be hard for the government to undo. Mr. Obama has been sensitive to that. All week, he's been coupling his message about the need for short-term spending to stimulate the economy with a promise to streamline government and cut the deficit in the long run.
(Soundbite of speech)
President-elect OBAMA: We cannot have a solid recovery if our people and our businesses don't have confidence that we're getting our fiscal house in order. And that's why our goal is not to create a slew of new government programs, but a foundation for long-term economic growth.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama has also promised that the stimulus package would be closely monitored, with an oversight board and an online database, so taxpayers can see how the money's being spent. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
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ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Illinois lawmakers are expected to vote today on whether to impeach their governor. If that happens, it would be the first time in the state's history. Democrat Rod Blagojevich faces a wide range of federal corruption charges, including allegations that he wanted to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. Yesterday, Roland Burris told the state's impeachment committee how he came to be Blagojevich's choice for the seat. From the Illinois state capital in Springfield, NPR's David Schaper reports.
DAVID SCHAPER: This should be an exciting time for Illinois lawmakers here in the state capital. One of their former colleagues, who walked these echoey halls with them just a few years ago, is about to be sworn in as president. But the scandal that's engulfed Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich in the weeks since the election of Barack Obama has cast a pall under this capitol dome.
State Representative BARBARA FLYNN CURRIE (Democrat, Chicago, Illinois): This is a very sad day in the state of Illinois.
SCHAPER: Chicago Democrat Barbara Flynn Currie chairs the Illinois House Special Impeachment Committee, which has been gathering evidence of the governor's alleged improprieties since shortly after Blagojevich's arrest a month ago.
Rep. CURRIE: The totality of the evidence clearly suggests that this is an individual who is not fit to be governor of the state of Illinois, and I vote yes.
SCHAPER: The committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend that the full House impeach Blagojevich. The Illinois House takes up the matter today, and if the House votes to impeach, the Illinois Senate would then put the governor on trial a couple of weeks from now. A conviction would result in his removal. Lawmakers say the criminal charges that accuse Blagojevich of trying to sell or trade his official duties for campaign cash or other personal benefits call into question most every action he now takes, and their case for impeachment goes beyond criminal allegations. They say he abused the power of his office, bypassing the legislature to create new programs he couldn't pay for, circumventing hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, and misappropriating taxpayer funds. Republican State Representative Mike Bost.
State Representative MIKE BOST (Republican, Carbondale, Illinois): He has snubbed his nose at that oath of office, and therefore snubbed his nose at the people and the constitution, and it hurts tremendously to know that we have a chief executive officer that can't realize the pain that his actions have caused the state of Illinois.
SCHAPER: But while many decry this as a sad day for Illinois, Republican Bill Black takes an opposite view.
State Representative WILLIAM B. BLACK (Republican, Danville, Illinois): I don't think this is a sad day for Illinois; I think it's a good, glad, happy day for Illinois, because it points out that nobody is above the law and anybody will be held accountable for their actions.
SCHAPER: After the impeachment committee vote, Governor Blagojevich issued a statement, calling the proceedings flawed and biased and the outcome a foregone conclusion. Blagojevich attorney, Ed Genson.
Mr. ED GENSON (Counsel, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich): I don't think that the hearing did much more than reinforce decisions that had already been made.
SCHAPER: Earlier in the day, Genson filed a motion in federal court to try to get Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and his top assistants thrown off the corruption case. Genson contends Fitzgerald made prejudicial statements when outlining the charges against Blagojevich. Fitzgerald said the governor was, quote, "on a political corruption crime spree," and that his conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave. An assistant U.S. attorney calls the motion meritless.
Meantime, former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris testified before the impeachment committee about how Blagojevich chose to appoint him to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Burris reiterated that he didn't offer anything to Blagojevich in exchange for the seat, nor did the governor ask him to pay to play. Burris responded emphatically when asked by lawmakers if he ever discussed any quid pro quo with the governor.
Mr. ROLAND BURRIS (Former Attorney General, Illinois, Democrat; Appointee, U.S. Senate): Absolutely, positively not.
SCHAPER: It's not just Illinois lawmakers seeking that assurance from Burris under oath, but it was a condition set by Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate before they'll consider allowing Burris to take his seat.
Mr. BURRIS: I feel I passed the test with flying colors.
SCHAPER: But Burris still has another test to pass. He needs the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment to the Senate, a second condition for him to be seated. Burris is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to force White to sign. There is no word on when the court might rule. David Schaper, NPR News, in Springfield, Illinois.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
For the second time in three years, the University of Florida has won the college football national championship. Last night in Miami, the Gators beat the Oklahoma Sooners 24 to 14. The title game matches the top two nationally ranked teams, but as NPR's Tom Goldman reports, the marquee matchup didn't quite live up to expectations.
TOM GOLDMAN: Nothing like a fight song to get you going.
(Soundbite of football game broadcast)
(Soundbite of University of Florida Gators fight song)
GOLDMAN: Not that anyone in packed Dolphin stadium last night needed extra motivation. This game was a guaranteed doozy. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks on each team - Oklahoma's Sam Bradford won it this season; Florida's Tim Tebow was the 2007 winner - a Sooners offense that scored more points than any team in history, including at least 60 points in each of Oklahoma's last five games. So, deep breath with the opening kickoff and...
(Soundbite of raspberry)
GOLDMAN: A bit of a clunker. Low-scoring interceptions, penalties; the game's rhythm was choppy. Tebow, his voice strained from screaming over the stadium din, admitted it wasn't a thing of art.
Mr. TIM TEBOW (Quarterback, University of Florida Gators): You know, you see in that game, it was not great execution; it was not great by me, as far as execution, but our team played with a lot of heart. And they played for four quarters, really, really hard, and that's why we won.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
GOLDMAN: The Gators also won because they had Tebow. His clinching touchdown pass with a few minutes left in the game looked more like a jump shot in basketball. It was vintage Tebow, who is probably the most resourceful quarterback in college football. He jump-passes, shovel-passes, just gets the ball in someone's hands anyway he can. He also runs with the ball like a bull. He was named the game's most outstanding player, and - here's a first - Tebow, the son of missionary parents and a devoutly religious young man who takes the message of God to the poor, was penalized at the end of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Mr. TEBOW: You know, I'm not a trash-talker. I didn't say anything, but yeah, I did the Gator chomp. I was pretty excited. And you know, we had hurt a lot all game. Just gave it a little Gator chomp. It was also for the fans. I think they kind of enjoyed it, too.
GOLDMAN: No doubt the thousands of orange-and-blue clad Florida fans loved Tebow's Gator chomp, with both arms moving like an alligator's jaws. Earlier this week, an Oklahoma defensive back trashed Tebow and said he'd be only the fourth best quarterback in Oklahoma's big 12th conference. Florida star linebacker, Brandon Spikes, who did some pre-game trash-talking himself, said the Sooner's abuse continued last night.
Mr. BRANDON SPIKES (Linebacker, University of Florida Gators): Just doing all kind of dirty stuff, you know, just poking your eyes, just pushing your head down. You know, it's something - it wasn't nothing we weren't used to, but we just felt like, hey, the referee should've seen this (unintelligible). I felt like they weren't calling some of the stuff they needed to, but hey, we came out; you know, the best team won.
GOLDMAN: But does that mean Florida really is the best of all? Polls and BCS rankings may say so, but a big chunk of football fans in this country still say, don't even bug me about national champions until there's a playoff. Too many good teams, they say, like USC, Utah, Texas were left out of the championship equation. So, what does number one really mean? Today, at least in South Florida, it means one big Gator chomp. Tom Goldman, NPR News, Miami.
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ARI SHAPIRO, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Steve Inskeep is spending the day at member station KJZZ in Phoenix. I'm Renee Montagne. Lawmakers in Congress want to give bankruptcy judges the power to make lenders reduce payments for struggling homeowners. And news from Citigroup, it's reached a deal with top Democrats on legislation to prevent home foreclosures. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.
CHRIS ARNOLD: The deal is a surprising about-face for Citigroup, and such industry support increases the chances that the legislation will get passed. Advocates say the proposal could keep more than a million American homeowners in their houses and out of foreclosure.
Senator DICK DURBIN (Democrat, Illinois): We've had a breakthrough today.
ARNOLD: Senator Dick Durbin gathered with other top Democrats in Washington to announce the deal.
Sen. DURBIN: I want to commend Citigroup. They showed real leadership on this; first major financial institution to step forward and to say, we understand this is a crisis in America. The current efforts, as good as they may be, have not resulted in a dramatic change or reduction in the number of mortgage foreclosures.
ARNOLD: Durbin and other Democrats have been pushing to let bankruptcy judges help fix the foreclosure mess. These judges intervene all the time for other kinds of loans: car loans, second houses, boats. If you get into financial trouble and can't pay and declare bankruptcy, a judge can restructure your debt, lower your payments, so the amount that you owe to what you can realistically pay. That's called a cramdown, but the law does not allow judges to do that for your primary residence. Dick Durbin.
Sen. DURBIN: So, as a consequence going into this mortgage-foreclosure crisis, many people with their homes at stake, facing foreclosure, headed into bankruptcy, had no way to have the mortgage rewritten in the bankruptcy court, even if they still had an income and the change in interest rate or principle was all they need to stay in the home. So, I've been trying for almost two years now to change this.
ARNOLD: But the industry fought the proposal. It argued that this would violate contract law, increase lenders' risks and therefore drive up interest rates for all borrowers. And the measure hasn't had the votes to pass. But now, with Democrats more firmly in control of Washington, the pendulum is swinging towards greater regulation and more help for homeowners. Citigroup declined an interview, but in a letter to lawmakers, said it would now support the legislation if several changes were made. For example, Citi only wants judges to be able to cramdown existing loans, not new loans going forward. Lawmakers agreed to the changes, and many foreclosure-prevention advocates think all this is a very big deal.
Mr. MIKE CALHOUN (President and Chief Operating Officer, Center for Responsible Lending): The Citi announcement is a real milestone in starting to take effective action to correct the housing crisis.
ARNOLD: That's Mike Calhoun with the Center for Responsible Lending, one of the groups that's been working to pass a bankruptcy-reform bill. These groups stress that bankruptcy judges are not going to help people who don't deserve it; say, people who didn't have a job and lied on their loan application to buy a house that they totally couldn't afford. Ira Rheingold heads up the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
Mr. IRA RHEINGOLD (Executive Director, National Association of Consumer Advocates): You're turning yourself over to the hands of a court who will look at it and say, OK, based on your income, and based on the real value of your property, can you afford this home? Based on the parameters that'll get set out with this legislation.
ARNOLD: Rheingold says a lot of people facing foreclosure have decent jobs; they just stretched too far to buy a house at the market's peak. Some are stuck in high-interest loans, and with prices falling, they can't refinance. He says it's in the best interests of the lenders to be flexible with those people, so you don't have all these foreclosures glutting the housing market and fouling up the whole economy. But Mike Calhoun says the industry has been paralyzed.
Mr. CALHOUN: The real problem we have here is that the loans that are facing foreclosures were tangled up in these complicated securities that Wall Street created.
ARNOLD: Calhoun thinks that even if most of the problem loans never end up in bankruptcy court, just the threat of a cramdown from a bankruptcy judge could break the logjam and prevent a lot of foreclosures. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
The government tracks the amount of cash it prints, and it says 900 billion is the total number of dollars in the world right now. That's actual currency - dollar bills - not blips on a screen. The odd thing is a lot of that money is missing. NPR's David Kestenbaum is part of our Planet Money project. He helps explain all the mysteries of the economy, including this one. Good morning, David.
DAVID KESTENBAUM: Good morning.
SHAPIRO: They really don't know where it is?
KESTENBAUM: That's right. According to the Federal Reserve, there is something like $900 billion in cash out there, and in this country, the U.S. population is something like 300 million people. So, if you divide it out that means each person would have $3,000 in cash.
SHAPIRO: $3,000.
KESTENBAUM: So, how much do you have in your wallet?
(Soundbite of counting money)
SHAPIRO: $35.
KESTENBAUM: All right, I've got like $42. So, where is the rest of...
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHAPIRO: We're missing some money.
KESTENBAUM: I must say we're definitely missing some money. So, what's your guess?
SHAPIRO: Businesses, cash registers, the back of a store.
KESTENBAUM: OK, right. So, that's a good guess. I asked someone who has studied this question, Ken Rogoff. He's an economist at Harvard University. Is it cash registers?
Dr. KENNETH S. ROGOFF (Economics, Harvard University): That's very easy to check, and the short answer is cash registers have only a very small percentage of it, that, you know, they account for a couple percent of the total. It's not big at all.
KESTENBAUM: All right. So, another idea is banks, right, the big vault. Here's what Rogoff says.
Dr. ROGOFF: So, indeed, banks are holding some cash, and it adds a little bit, but they're not storing gigantic amounts. I mean, if you think about it, there's a bank in my neighborhood that for some reason gets robbed periodically, and they did again.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. ROGOFF: And the person made off with $2,000. That's great, but the whole bank was holding $2,000?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. ROGOFF: So, clearly it's not in the banks.
SHAPIRO: OK. So, if most of it is not in cash registers and not in banks, where is the rest of this $900 billion we're talking about?
KESTENBAUM: Really, there's only one other option.
Dr. RICHARD PORTER (Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago): It's outside the U.S.
KESTENBAUM: That is Richard Porter. He is a vice president and senior policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He was part of this team that looked into this puzzle for a number of years, and they concluded that - get this - basically one-half of all U.S. dollars are outside the United States.
SHAPIRO: Wait a minute. So, like, Russian cab drivers, restaurant workers in Turkey?
KESTENBAUM: Right, exactly.
SHAPIRO: People in China are just hoarding American dollar bills?
KESTENBAUM: Well, I mean, think about places where people don't trust the local currency, right? They're worried about inflation or something. So, Porter gives the example of a farmer in Argentina who wants to be paid in dollars.
Dr. PORTER: The last time I made an estimate, which was ages ago, for Argentina, but they were close approaching $50 billion U.S. dollars, presumably mostly in $100 bills, mostly, you know, in mattresses or safety deposit boxes, to protect their savings.
SHAPIRO: OK. So, you said something like half of it is overseas. That takes care of 450 billion. Where's the other 450 billion?
KESTENBAUM: Well, it kind of has to be right here in the United States somewhere.
SHAPIRO: Like, buried in the ground?
KESTENBAUM: Yeah or maybe, you know, in mattresses or maybe in what's called the underground economy, you know, drug dealers; you always think of drug dealers that keep suitcases of cash.
SHAPIRO: Prostitution, things like that?
KESTENBAUM: Or small businesses, just using cash to avoid paying taxes. Actually, Ken Rogoff at Harvard actually thinks that's a sizeable chunk of it. He's studied other countries, and they also have this missing-currency puzzle.
Dr. ROGOFF: All these other countries have the same problem, and we know their cash isn't being used abroad, not in any big amount. And yes, we're different and we're special, but maybe we're not that different and special as we think.
SHAPIRO: So, what are the consequences if this big chunk of American cash is being used in illegal, presumably untraceable, ways?
KESTENBAUM: Right. Well, I mean, there is some debate about how much is used in illegal activity. But perversely, there is this way in which we benefit from it, because, sure, the government may be missing out on some tax revenue, but we do benefit financially from the fact that people love the U.S. dollar. So, if all the drug dealers and the tax avoiders around the world switch to yen or something, Rogoff says that would cause some trouble for us.
SHAPIRO: So, we should be proud that that farmer in Argentina wants to use the U.S. dollar, in case his economy collapses, instead of the Japanese yen.
KESTENBAUM: We should be proud, though, it would be good for all of us if everyone felt safe with their home currency.
SHAPIRO: NPR Planet Money correspondent David Kestenbaum. Thanks very much, David.
KESTENBAUM: You're welcome.
SHAPIRO: You can hear more from NPR's Planet Money team on their podcast at npr.org/planetmoney.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The drill team at Barack Obama's old high school in Honolulu can't take that Aloha weather with them when they march down chilly Pennsylvania Avenue for his inauguration. So, the Punahou School marchers will be rehearsing on Hawaii's one and only ice rink, at Honolulu's Ice Palace.
And Americans caught in London on Inauguration Day can still get a look at the new president at Madame Tussauds wax museum. On that day, Americans get in for free. It's Morning Edition.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Good morning. I'm Ari Shapiro. Seventy-two-year-old Bernice Gallego found an old baseball card and posted it on eBay for $10, from the Red Stocking BB Club of Cincinnati. She'd never heard of the team. Turns out, it's 140 years old and considered one of the first baseball cards ever made. It could be worth more than $100,000. One collector said it's like unearthing a Picasso. Gallego told the Fresno Bee, I don't thing I've ever been to a baseball game. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And there's more bad economic news this morning. The Labor Department announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in December, 524,000 jobs were lost, the highest monthly level in 16 years. Today's numbers complete a bleak picture for the year just past. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, the most in more than half a century.
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
We have a new jobs report to tell you about this morning, and the news is not good. The nation's unemployment rate last month shot up to 7.2 percent. The government and businesses cut 524,000 jobs in December. Joining us now is NPR's Yuki Noguchi to discuss this report. Morning, Yuki.
YUKI NOGUCHI: Morning.
SHAPIRO: OK, well, we already know that 2008 was a terrible economic year. Do these numbers show it was worse than we thought?
NOGUCHI: Well, yes and no. I mean, some had predicted much bigger job losses last month. However, what's more telling is that in October and November, which, as you know, were already terrible months, turned out to be worse than thought. Labor Department revises the year for those months and is now saying an additional 154,000 jobs were lost during that time. So, job loss really accelerated towards the end of the year, and now, the total jobs lost for all of last year? A whopping 2.6 million.
SHAPIRO: Wow. So, not only was December terrible, but October and November were worse than we thought. Well, when you break this down sector by sector, were there any bright spots at all?
NOGUCHI: Not many. Many of the jobs lost came from manufacturing and construction, as well as retail, which usually rises toward the end of the year, and the only sectors that didn't lose jobs were government, medical and education. Also, there's what economists call the invisible jobless, which are people who are discouraged and stop looking for work, or are part-time workers who can't find full-time jobs, and if you factor that in, some people say the actual number of people looking for jobs at the moment is closer to 13 or 14 percent. And you know, the unemployment numbers are really just talking about people who are looking for jobs.
SHAPIRO: Ah, I see.
NOGUCHI: And here's what John Silvia, who's chief economist with Wachovia Financial, told me this morning.
Dr. JOHN SILVIA (Managing Director and Chief Economist, Wachovia Corporation): The bright spot is the negative story, that the downdraft in jobs was so severe in the fourth quarter that we have seen the worst, in terms of the single biggest quarter for job losses and a decline in GDP.
NOGUCHI: So, basically, he's saying that while unemployment will continue to get worse, it won't be falling quite as quickly this year.
SHAPIRO: Hm. Well, put this in some historical context for us. How bad is it compared to previous years and decades?
NOGUCHI: Well, economists point to the early 1980s and post-World War II recessions as a kind of model for what's happening now. They say this isn't a regular recession, where businesses experience a kind of mild down cycle; it's a major structural change. And John Silvia says that a lot of that has to do with giving consumers more and more access to credit over the last four decades. So, let's take a listen.
Dr. SILVIA: And what we're finding out now is that perhaps, in many cases - in terms of access to credit cards, auto loans, auto leases, home mortgages, subprime lending - we may have pushed the envelope too far.
SHAPIRO: Well, what does this bode for 2009, looking ahead?
NOGUCHI: Well, most economists think that the unemployment rate will continue to rise, at least through the first half of this year and maybe into the second half, even. It might reach 8.5 or even nine percent. Of course, this will be a major issue for the incoming Obama administration to contend with, and they're talking about creating and retaining three million new or - jobs or - you know, different jobs by investing in infrastructure, schools and new energy. But even if their economic stimulus package passes really swiftly, the effect just won't be immediate.
SHAPIRO: Hm. That's NPR's Yuki Noguchi on news this morning that the unemployment rate has jumped to 7.2 percent. The economy lost more than 524,000 jobs in December. It was a dismal coda to a year in which 2.6 million jobs were lost. Thanks, Yuki.
NOGUCHI: Thank you, Ari.
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SHAPIRO: This is NPR News.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
NPR's business news starts with unemployment above seven percent.
(Soundbite of music)
SHAPIRO: This morning, the government released its closely watched monthly unemployment report, and it says employers slashed 524,000 jobs from their payrolls in December. That covers nearly every industry. It's the 12th straight month of declines. All told in 2008, more than two and a half million jobs were cut from payrolls, and unemployment now stands at 7.2 percent.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
A memorial service was held yesterday in Atlanta for former federal judge and attorney general Griffin Bell. He died this week of pancreatic cancer at the age of 90. Along with his immediate predecessor, Edward Levi, Mr. Bell is widely credited with restoring the U.S. Justice Department's reputation for independence and excellence in the wake of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s.
This past summer, not long after Griffin Bell learned he was dying, he agreed to an interview with NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.
(Soundbite of archived interview)
NINA TOTENBERG: Not many public figures would cheerfully agree to an interview when they know their days on Earth are numbered, but Griffin Bell didn't hesitate when I asked him. Sure, he said. You want to do it now? No, I replied, you've had a treatment today. You're probably tired. Yeah, he said, with typical humour. I won't die between now and next week.
Bell began his career in public service when he was appointed a federal appeals court judge in 1961. In his 15 years on the bench, he would rule on more than 140 school desegregation cases and other controversies of the civil rights revolution. Shortly after returning to private practice, he was appointed attorney general by President Carter. When we talked, I asked this son of the Old South when he first began thinking about segregation. When he returned from World War II, he replied, he had a part-time job examining land titles and had to ride through rural areas in Georgia.
Mr. GRIFFIN BELL (Former Attorney General; Former Federal Judge): And for the first time, I saw a black school right in the rural area. And I had somebody with me. I said, you know, this won't - this won't last. This can't last. It's not fair to the blacks to have such a poor school, poor building, and the whites have good buildings, and it must reflect in the teaching.
TOTENBERG: By the late 1960s and early '70s, he was presiding over dozens and dozens of school desegregation cases as a federal judge. Along the way, he recalls...
Mr. BELL: I hit on an idea of explaining to the school board that the supremacy clause of the Constitution was binding on them just like it was on me and that therefore there was no escape for them. They had to carry out the court's order.
TOTENBERG: The supremacy clause establishes the Constitution, federal laws and treaties as the supreme law of the land. Bell recalls one time when the chief judge of the then-Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals assigned him to preside over a school case in Augusta, Georgia after the district court judge there had been hung in effigy and recused himself.
Mr. BELL: So I said, I'm a circuit judge, not a district judge. And he said, well, people don't get as mad with you as they did with some of the other judges. And I said, all right, I'll do it. So I sent for the school board and brought them to (unintelligible) and read the supremacy clause to them. I said, you all have got to carry out the court order.
TOTENBERG: If you don't, Bell told them, he would do what he'd done elsewhere - appoint somebody else in the school board's place to do the job.
Mr. BELL: I gave them 15 minutes to make their mind up, and they agreed. That's the kind of approach you had to take for those cases. I think I was in more school cases than anybody, about 140 different cases. That was a big job, a big challenge, but it was also something you got a great deal of satisfaction out of.
TOTENBERG: But with the end of the civil rights revolution, the appeals court docket changed to more prosaic issues, or, as Bell puts it, drug running and things like that.
Mr. BELL: And I thought, am I going to do this for the rest of my life? That's when I was started thinking about leaving the court.
TOTENBERG: Bell soon went back to practicing law, but within a year was Jimmy Carter's attorney general. At the Justice Department, he was avocal advocate for getting more blacks and women on the bench. Why, I asked him, did he think that affirmative action and judicial appointments was so important?
Mr. BELL: So people would trust the law. I mean, you can't help 20 percent of the population who aren't represented on a court.
TOTENBERG: Or, for that matter, in the case of women, over 50 percent. Bell's appointment as attorney general initially drew opposition from the right and left. There was great suspicion that this longtime Georgia friend of the president's would be a political fixer. That turned out to be dead wrong, though Bell readily concedes that he had to fight off some of the White House staff to preserve the department's independence.
Mr. BELL: The presient called and told me that he wanted the Justice Department to be a neutral zone in the government, which I agreed with. Well, it can't be neutral if the White House is telling you how to run it, who to prosecute and whatnot. And I had just fight all the White House staff. I always won. If it had to go with president, I'd win every time, but it was just a nuisance to have to do that.
TOTENBERG: At the Justice Department, Bell was beloved by the career staff. He included top career people in all major decision-making, respecting them as the best example of excellence in government. In an effort to restore trust in the department, he made public every day the previous day's calendar - who he met with and who he spoke to on the phone. And when he overruled a recommendation of the career staff, he always offered them the option of making that public too.
Mr. BELL: Trust is at the corner of the realm(ph). If the public doesn't trust the Justice Department, we're in trouble. So I think you have to be transparent, and so you need to let people know what's going on and who you're meeting with and who's influencing you, who got a chance to influence you. And I took great pride in that. I was quite surprised nobody else has ever done it.
TOTENBERG: More than surprised, he was puzzled.
Mr. BELL: I don't think it hurt me at all for posting those daily schedules. In fact, they helped me in a lot of ways because it cut down on the number of calls you got from Congressmen.
TOTENBERG: At the time of this interview in August, Bell knew that at best he had only a few months to live. He had already planned the inscription on his tombstone.
Mr. BELL: Citizen soldier, trial lawyer, federal jurist, and attorney general of the United States. That's the four things that I considered to be the most important in my life.
TOTENBERG: He said he wanted most to be remembered for what he did in the school cases with a focus on neighborhood schools wherever he could do that.
Mr. BELL: I resisted the busing because it was a fool idea. I'm proud of working on all those school cases and getting the schools renovated and going through what I call the civil rights revolution.
TOTENBERG: As for himself?
Mr. BELL: I'm at peace. I had a long life until I was 89. I never was seriously ill, and most everything I've ever done turned out to be a success. I just don't have any complaints.
TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Time now for your letters.
(Soundbite of typewriter)
SIMON: First, a correction from last week's show. Nat Hentoff mistakenly said that McClatchy's Washington bureau had closed. The bureau is not closed. McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement, the bureau represents our continuing commitment to providing outstanding regional, national and international news coverage.
A number of you thanked us for a profile last week of OrchKids, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's education outreach program at Harriett Tubman Elementary School. Barbara Grant(ph) of Corvallis, Oregon writes: Despite the symphony's own hard economic times, Marin Alsop, its director, spoke the truth and is an inspiration when she explained that our social responsibilities are even more essential these days. In fact, attending to our community's needs is an investment with far-reaching, positive returns. NPR, along with the general media, ought to regularly highlight such stories rather than reinforcing models based on fear and self-preservation.
Detroit teacher Tony Gibson(ph) adds: Kudos to the principal at Harriett Tubman. Without her unwavering support, even projects with the BSO cannot be sustained. I say, pay close attention to the principal. They make a huge difference if they are keenly interested in what is best for the students and not what is best for themselves.
Now to another musical story. Two weeks ago, Bridget McCarthy(ph) reported on adults who decided to take up a musical instrument later in life and how the brain works as you're learning that instrument, which sparked memories for Sheila Zackary(ph) of Concord, New Hampshire: When I began taking violin lessons at age 47, I wrote a poem, "Ode to an Adult Beginning Music Student," she writes. The poem includes the lines, if I can play just one tune in real or jig time, when I am 97, I will still be in my prime. Ms. Zackary says she dedicated to the poem, quote,"to my neighbors who share in my joyful musical development because they live too close to avoid it when my windows are open."
Now last week, guest host Ari Shapiro spoke with NPR's Joe Palca about Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Rovers that are still studying the planet five years after they'd landed there. Philip Davis(ph) of West Gardener, Maine says that as an engineer, he respects what he calls the extraordinary performance and durability of the Rovers, but he adds, I am dismayed by your failure to ask the uncomfortable questions, the questions that might get you less ready access to NASA publicity flacks. Give us for once a thorough analysis of the cost-benefits of space missions. I predict that you will find missions like this Mars Rover are marvelously cost-effective, while the entire man space program is a worthless drag and impediment to both science and exploration.
Send us your criticisms or your compliments. Just go to npr.org and click on the Contact Us link. You can also visit our blog at npr.org/soapbox.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Ireland's bestselling solo artist first began to dazzle and haunt America with her voice 20 years ago with her album "Watermark."
(Soundbite of song "Orinoco Flow")
ENYA: (Singing) Let me sail, let me sail, let the Orinoco flow, Let me reach, let me beach on the shores of Tripoli.
SIMON: Since then, her music has crossed borders of state and song. In the 1990s, The Fugees sampled her work with their hit song, "Ready or Not.
(Soundbite of song "Ready Or Not")
THE FUGEES: (Singing) Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide, I'm gonna find you, and take it slowly. Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide.
SIMON: Two of her songs were used in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" film, "The Fellowship of the Ring." And her song "Only Time" was often used as background music in television reports about 9/11. Of course, we're talking about Enya. She has sold 70 million albums around the world, but it's almost hard to believe, she has never done a concert tour and does not do a lot of interviews. So we're pleased to be joined by Enya from our studios in New York. She has a new album out, "And Winter Came." Thanks so much for being with us.
ENYA (Singer): You're very welcome.
SIMON: Now, if somebody listens to this album very carefully, is there any chance they're going to get frostbite?
ENYA: (Laughing) I hope not, I hope not. I think it's more to do with that reflective time of year. The spring, summer, you know, it's quite a hectic time for people in their lives. But then it comes to autumn and to winter, and you know, you can't but help think back to the year that was, and then hopefully looking forward to the year that is approaching.
SIMON: I want to ask you about a song that maybe doesn't fit into the winter theme, "My! My! Time Flies!"
(Soundbite of laughter)
ENYA: Yes.
SIMON: In fact, let's listen to a little of that, if we can, for a moment.
ENYA: OK.
(Soundbite of song "My! My! Time Flies!")
ENYA: (Singing) My! My! Time flies! One step and we're on the moon, Next step into the stars. My! My! Time flies! Maybe we could be there soon, A one-way ticket to Mars.
SIMON: What moved you to write this song?
ENYA: This is a song that's really kind of talking about the new year. And there's a very sort of strong influence, I think, you know, musically from the Beatles, I have to say. And the lyrics, it was quite interesting, because the day we decided, yes, we'll include this on the album, Roma was sitting in the studio with us, and the conversation we had is what she based the lyrics on. So we were talking about the Beatles. It would have led to Tchaikovsky. It led to Elves Presley. It led to BB King. And she thought it would be quite interesting to have a reference to everything we spoke about that day within the lyrics.
(Soundbite of song "My! My! Time Flies!")
ENYA: (Singing) My! My! Time flies! A new day is on its way, So let's let yesterday go. Could be we step out again. Could be tomorrow but then, Could be 2010.
SIMON: Let me ask you about a technique that Nicky Ryan uses, called the choir of one, where he layers your voice so that it sounds like there is a choir of Enyas. How does this work?
ENYA: He will ask me to sing a first harmony, and he continues to record that same harmony until he gets what he calls the sound. And then he'll ask me spontaneously to sing a harmony to this. And then it kind of builds up each time.
(Soundbite of song "White is in the Winter Night")
ENYA: (Singing) Have you seen the bright blue star? It fills your heart with wishes. Have you seen the candlelight? It shines from every window. Have you seen the moon above? It lights the sky in silver.
ENYA: It's a process which I really enjoy because there are no shortcuts. You have to sing from the beginning of the song to the end of the song, and it's only the very end that you hear is it working or is it not?
(Soundbite of song "White is in the Winter Night")
ENYA: (Singing) Gold is in the candlelight and crimson in the embers. White is in the winter night that everyone remembers.
SIMON: The word "spiritual" is so often used to describe your music. Are you spiritual?
ENYA: I would say, yes. You know, it's more to do with, you know, I was brought up singing in church, and it's more sort of the spiritual side of it that I've taken and the religious side of it. And I enjoyed the participation in a school choir at church. So, I think, you know, that to me, musical influence, that would be definitely an influence that comes through for me.
SIMON: Enya, I think it's safe to say, if I might put it this way, despite the critics, you have sold 70 million albums around the world.
ENYA: Yes, yes.
SIMON: While you have the chance, because you don't do a lot of interviews, is there anything you'd like to say to critics?
ENYA: I have to say that, you know, I do understand that not everyone is going to sit and listen to an Enya album. And you know, I grew up listening to very diverse music. And I still listen to all genre music. I think it's really important. So when someone says, it's not their cup of tea, it's not their album, that's fine by me, you know.
SIMON: Is it easier to be gracious to critics when you've sold 70 million albums?
(Soundbite of laughter)
ENYA: Again, to me, I have to say, in all honesty, that when you spend two to three years working on an album, that I feel very happy with the end results, you know. So, it's a nice thing to say for me is there's nothing I would change. So, I feel, you know, within myself musically that I've kind of achieved what I set out to do.
SIMON: You live in this castle in Ireland? May I ask, are you lonely?
ENYA: Absolutely not. It's more to do with a case of how beautiful the castle is. It's very inspirational to me because let me describe my view in the morning.
SIMON: All right.
ENYA: It's overlooking the Irish Sea and the Wicklow Mountains. And the grounds descend down into a wooded area. And it's every day, every minute, when you look at the horizon and the sea, it's very, very different. So this is where after I leave the studio, this is where it's very important to have time to myself. I'm very closely guarded about what I do in my free time. But it's a very normal lifestyle that I have once I sort of leave those studio doors.
SIMON: And you're so nice to talk to.
ENYA: Thank you.
SIMON: Good luck, OK?
ENYA: Thank you.
SIMON: Speaking with us from New York, Enya. Her new album, "And Winter Came," is out now.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: And you can hear songs from Enya's new album at nprmusic.org.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Scientists in Eastern Tennessee are trying to measure the environmental impact of last month's massive coal ash spill. Some 300 acres of land and water were inundated with the thick sludge when a holding pond burst at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant. Biologists worry that the effect on fish and wildlife will be severe. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports from Kingston, Tennessee.
ADAM HOCHBERG: Even before a billion gallons of coal sludge flooded the Emory River, the waters here were under stress. Decades of industrial contamination and farm runoff left the river polluted and made some of its fish unsafe to eat. Now the coal spill has transformed part of this already endangered river into something that barely resembles a river at all.
Mr. BOBBY BROWN (Biologist, Tennessee Wildlife Resourcces Agency): Back behind you here, you can see a lot of the ash that's in the Emory itself. The channel used to go right straight around here and hook to the right, but the channel is pretty much completely filled in now.
HOCHBERG: Biologist Bobby Brown of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has responded to many emergencies over the years on this river - fish kills and chemical spills and the like. But as he piloted his boat up the Emory this week, he called the coal ash inundation far worse than anything he's seen - indeed far worse than anything he ever thought he would see. He steered the boat toward a small inlet where flowing water has been replaced by stagnant gray muck.
Mr. BROWN: You can see in between this white house and this house off of North Shore Drive here, that's one of the coves that's completely filled in.
HOCHBERG: That was navigable back there. You could bring a boat back there.
Mr. BROWN: Yes, you could.
HOCHBERG: And now it's just piles of...
Mr. BROWN: Piles of this fly ash and debris.
HOCHBERG: This week Brown's agency and several others began trying to measure the spill's effect on the environment. They know hundreds of fish were killed instantly when the earthened dam broke and sent a 60-foot mountain of ash tumbling into the river. Now scientists are examining the fish that survived the avalanche to see how they're doing after spending almost three weeks in the gray, chemical-laden water.
Dr. ANNA GEORGE (Director and Chief Research Scientist, Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute): We got some tiny bluegills. Do you guys see anything besides (unintelligible)?
HOCHBERG: Anna George of the Tennessee Aquarium is part of a crew that's traversing the Emory and two nearby rivers catching fish with big nets.
Dr. GEORGE: What we're doing right now is just trying to figure out what fish are still here and what fish are surviving. So you're trying to determine if the spill had any effect on what fish are found here. The other reason we're doing this is we're hoping to capture some catfish and some black bass, and those will be used for analysis of the levels of different contaminants in their bodies.
HOCHBERG: The researchers are spending much of their time in the waters adjacent to the TVA plant, waters that were so full of residue that the surface at one point was dotted with what the research team calls "ashbergs." But crews also are taking measurements further downstream where things appear normal on the surface but are polluted below.
Dr. SHEA TUBERTY (Biologist, Appalachian State University): Give me - let's try to do that conical 50 ml tube thing...
HOCHBERG: Using a claw device, Appalachian State University biologist Shea Tuberty scoops sediment samples from the river bottom. As he digs about five inches down, he finds the contamination worse than he feared.
Dr. TUBERTY: We expected to see a rich, dark sediment covered with a light layer of ash, but the entire thing was ash.
HOCHBERG: In a clean body of water, that would have been, what, dirt and...?
Dr. TUBERTY: It would have been a mixture of twigs and leaves that may or may not have had invertebrates living in it.
HOCHBERG: And instead you've got ash and nothing living in it?
Dr. TUBERTY: Nothing living in it, completely devoid of life. It looks like something you would have gotten off the moon.
HOCHBERG: Of course, from an environmental standpoint, there's never a good time for a coal ash spill. But the timing of this one is especially frustrating to people who work this river because they had been making slow progress cleaning it up. Before the spill, restoration was under way on parts of the Emory as well as on the Tennessee River where the Emory's waters eventually flow. The state aquarium has been trying to reintroduce endangered lake sturgeon into the river system. Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby of the group Appalachian Voices worries the spill will severely set back those efforts.
Ms. DONNA LISENBY (Riverkeeper, Appalachian Voices): If this site follows the pattern of previous sites that have had similar contamination, much of the aquatic life here will be devastated, and sometimes it will be the next generation of fish, as they attempt to reproduce, that show some of the effects.
HOCHBERG: The TVA has promised to clean up this river, though the utility hasn't said when that will happen, how much it will cost, or exactly how it will be accomplished. Lisenby predicts it will be 20 years or more before the Emory begins to resemble what it used to look like before the spill. Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Kingston, Tennessee.
SIMON: To see photos of the devastation and find out more about the potential environmental impact, you can come to our Web site, npr.org.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Joan Rivers joins us now from New York. She has a new book out with a title so sensational only she can say it.
Ms. JOAN RIVERS (Comedian): "Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery."
SIMON: Joan Rivers, of course, is the acclaimed comedian, raconteur and talk show host. Thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. RIVERS: I'm thrilled. I'm a great listener to this show.
SIMON: A lot of people are going to be delighted about the fact that we're interviewing you but not comfortable with doing a book about plastic surgery.
Ms. RIVERS: Well, that's why I did the book because people will tell you now how much money they lost with Bernie, how they're destitute because of Enron, and you'll say, what about plastic surgery? Have you done anything? Oh, I can't discuss that. So I said, it's time to discuss it.
SIMON: Now, I want something understood. You were quite forthright in telling people in this book that if they decide to have plastic surgery done, remember, it's surgery. A doctor should be involved.
Ms. RIVERS: Totally. Well, first of all, the book is very funny. I did it as if I were talking to a friend, but I also did a year and a half's worth of research on it, and everything I found has gone in the book and is terribly serious when you get to those points. Death is absolutely a part of saying, yes, I'm going to get my boobs done.
SIMON: But there are a lot of people who would decide that that's not worth the risk.
Ms. RIVERS: Fine. Good luck to them. I hope they live a nice, long, lonely life with no companions and no friends and saggy boobs that they step on.
SIMON: (Laughing) Oh, my gosh.
Ms. RIVERS: But Scott, we live in a society where looks count. It's so silly to say they don't.
SIMON: I would never argue that - I would never argue that looks don't count.
Ms. RIVERS: Go and look at the pictures on the covers of magazines. They are beautiful women.
SIMON: I only read foreign affairs. They don't have pictures.
Ms. RIVERS: Oh, well, then you're missing a lot.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Just that gray cover, you know. And the Economist.
(Soundbite of laughter)
You describe in this book a so-called standard face lift, and I got to tell you, it's difficult to read.
Ms. RIVERS: I'm a doctor's daughter. I'm a sister-in-law of another doctor and the aunt of another doctor. So I've been brought up in medical surroundings. It's a procedure, and you should know what's going on, and you should take it very seriously before you make your decision. And yes, it is hard to read. It was hard to research.
SIMON: I'm going to read some of your own words.
Ms. RIVERS: Oh, my.
SIMON: You write in this book, your surgeon will detach or elevate the skin from your face starting from the temple.
Ms. RIVERS: I'm getting nauseous.
SIMON: Exactly. Then you say, rolling forward in front of the...
Ms. RIVERS: Yes, I know.
SIMON: Oh, my word! It's one thing to accept those risks if it's, lets say, a heart stent.
Ms. RIVERS: I love you very much , Scott, but you're a man, and I'm a woman. Since I stopped having my period, no man has come over to me and said, hello, baby, you're hot. It's life. You want to look young, and you want to look sexy. It's about yourself, truly. The woman is - or a man - a lot of men are getting it done. If you're unhappy with what you look like and it gives you confidence...
SIMON: You're pretty blunt in this book about people who have had something done...
Ms. RIVERS: Yes.
SIMON: And don't look their best.
Ms. RIVERS: Again, know who your doctor is. See other things that he's done and always say, give me a little less. I mean, Robert Redford - terrifying. Terrifying. He looks like he went through a wind tunnel.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: There are some people you do not recognize. You say, who the hell is that? He's a lovely man. and he's a very dedicated man to what he does. He has to wear a name tag now in movies.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: He goes down the red carpet, I go, who's that? They said, it's Robert Redford. Oh, my gosh.
SIMON: May I ask you...
Ms. RIVERS: Anything.
SIMON: Is there a procedure, a plastic surgery procedure that you just wouldn't have done?
Ms. RIVERS: That's a wonderful question. Not that I'm surprised because your questions are always very good. But yes, the G-spot amplification. It's a real - you see? You see?
SIMON: Pardon me, I'm...
Ms. RIVERS: This is the last...
SIMON: I have to kick-start my heart again.
Ms. RIVERS: I know. They are now doing that, and it started, of course, in Los Angeles. I'm going to wait on that for several reasons.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: One, is there anyone around that cares?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: And two, I find that it's not insane because if it makes - again, if it makes somebody's life happier, if it doesn't bother anybody else and you want to have it done, do it. I just think that would be so painful.
SIMON: Can I ask you about a totally unrelated subject?
Ms. RIVERS: Of course, of course.
SIMON: I was doing some research, and I finally saw this clip from the British talk show - is it called "Loose Women"?
Ms. RIVERS: Yes. (Laughing) Yes.
SIMON: Were you...
Ms. RIVERS: I was thrown off.
(Soundbite of TV show "Loose Women")
Unidentified Woman: Is that a part of your life that you enjoy doing, that kind of meeting and greeting the celebrities on the red carpet? ..TEXT: Ms. RIVERS: When they're nice.
Unidentified woman: Yeah.
Ms. RIVERS: You get someone like Russell Crowe, and you want to say to the camera, he is a piece of - get ready to bleep this...
And then I let go with what I thought - he's a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she said to me, which is very English, we don't believe.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: I was amazed that you were thrown off the show because everybody there was laughing.
Ms. RIVERS: I was very upset for about five minutes. I thought it was ridiculous.
SIMON: Who makes you laugh? What makes you laugh these days?
Ms. RIVERS: Oh, Bernie Madoff, of course. It's so - in between being hilariously funny, it's so - it's just ruining so many lives that - so, the economy. I'm doing a lot on the economy now. Obama you cannot touch yet because we all have such high hopes for him. The Bush's you leave alone because it's so sad, in a way. You know, it's such a sad ending to what could have been a - if anybody is president, they should be leaving a great legacy.
So what makes me laugh is, of course, the absurd, the horror. Anything that upsets me. I talk about how I hate children because I really love them. I reverse a lot of stuff.
SIMON: You hate children - you love your daughter.
Ms. RIVERS: I adore my daughter, but it kind of hurt when she started to cry when she found out she wasn't adopted.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: That can break a mother's heart. My grandson has no respect for me because we're not a new face(ph). You know, you don't forget these things, Scott. You move forward, but you don't forget.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: I do a lot of jokes on terrorists. I do a lot of jokes on 9/11 still in my act. Anything that you can't grasp, if you bring it down to where you can laugh at it, it becomes manageable and you become in charge of it.
SIMON: You're still working a lot.
Ms. RIVERS: More than ever. I've just done "Celebrity Apprentice." I have a new show on TV Land called, "How'd You Get So Rich?," which starts in March. I have a second show that's on for another year on IFC, Independent Film Channel. I do my concerts without a stop. I have the two books. I have a second book called "Murder at the Academy Awards."
SIMON: This is a novel that you're doing.
Ms. RIVERS: I love to work. That's a novel that got - how about - how about I work like a dog on "Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs," and I'm so proud of it, and it's got so much good information, and it's funny.
"Murder at the Academy Awards," I've always loved mysteries. I knocked it off in three months. You know how funny life - life is insane.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: You work so much. I'd like to think you'd be doing that regardless of whether or not you'd had all these surgeries over the years.
Ms. RIVERS: Oh, if they would let me. I don't - you know, my business, if you don't re-invent, you're over.
SIMON: Yeah.
Ms. RIVERS: And also, I am so lucky. I always said, if I can make a living, just make a living, pay my car payment by being in the business, writing and performing, I'm lucky. And that's to this day that's what I always think. So maybe I would just have ended up a woman writer, you know. But a performer, they would never have let me hang around this long unless things had been done.
SIMON: Joan, it's always a pleasure to talk to you.
Ms. RIVERS: It's a pleasure to talk with you. I just had the best time with you. I hope I didn't shock too many people.
SIMON: Well, it's too late for that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. RIVERS: Too late now.
SIMON: But you know what? They'll be talking about it for weeks.
Ms. RIVERS: I hope so. I hope so.
SIMON: Joan Rivers. Her new book is "Men Are Stupid," with a subtitle you can only find on our Web site, npr.org. Who am I kidding? Any bookstore in America. Thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. RIVERS: A pleasure, a pleasure, a pleasure.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: And you can hear our unedited, no-holds-barred, no-bleeps conversation with Joan Rivers on our Web site, npr.org. 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. Israel's military attack on Hamas in the Gaza Strip ended its third week as air and ground forces attacked more than 50 targets overnight and today. Fierce fighting continues on both sides as they ignore a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. Palestinian doctors in Gaza say that more than 800 people have been killed so far, nearly half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed since the fighting began, including three civilians. We're joined now by NPR's Eric Westervelt in Jerusalem. Eric, thanks for being with us.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: And we're told that ground battles continue in the north and the east side of Gaza City. What's the latest?
WESTERVELT: That's right. We're told firefights are ongoing today. The Israeli military says they killed at least 15 Hamas gunmen overnight and early today. Civilians, of course, continue to die as well, Scott. According to Palestinian medical officials, an Israeli tank round this morning killed eight civilians in the Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City. We can independently verify that. Israel continues to bar journalists from entering Gaza. But as the ground offensive continues, we're getting more and more of these reports every day and details of rising civilian casualty tolls.
The Israeli military says Hamas is using civilians as human shields. Hamas denies that. Doctors in Gaza say the number of civilians wounded, Scott, in the fighting is really staggering, and it's now more than 3,000 wounded with 400 of those critical cases, we're told.
SIMON: And what it's like on the Israeli side of the border?
WESTERVELT: Well, Scott, today's been one of the quietest days of the war so far. Only half a dozen Hamas rockets have been launched so far today from Gaza. The army tells us no civilians have been injured in those attacks.
SIMON: Now, would that suggest that the Israeli attack has had some success then?
WESTERVELT: Israeli military officials say, don't read so much into that. Rocket fire is down today, but it could be up again tomorrow. And they're going to continue their operations, they say, until all rocket fire has ceased.
SIMON: Now, for the third time in recent days, Israeli forces are going to stop firing for three hours to allow aid groups in to try and help civilians. But a lot of the aid groups say that's simply not enough time.
WESTERVELT: That's right. Workers with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, in Gaza say about two-thirds of the 1.5 million people in Gaza, Scott, are without electricity now and half don't have running water. There are food shortages reported. There's been extensive damage to roads and buildings throughout Gaza City. UNRWA is passing out more emergency food supplies today, we're told, but they're not receiving any new shipments into Gaza right now.
The U.N. suspended those operations, Scott, after Israeli soldiers - according to the U.N. - opened fire on a clearly marked and flagged U.N. aid convoy and killed one of its drivers earlier this week. The military denies that it was responsible, and it's not clear when the U.N. will resume those delivery operations.
SIMON: And what's the status of the Egyptian-French proposal for ending the fighting? Apparently, there are more meetings in Cairo today, but the Egyptians themselves have some reservations.
WESTERVELT: The Egyptians themselves have some reservations about troops along its nine-mile border with Gaza. There are more talks ongoing, but they've really had no impact whatsoever on the fighting on the ground, Scott. Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas today held talks with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. He endorsed the Egyptian cease-fire plan. He called for international monitors on the Palestinian side of the southern border between Gaza and Egypt.
But Hamas has opposed that idea. And frankly Mahmoud Abbas has become largely irrelevant during this crisis. His power is confined to the West Bank, and people on the ground are not listening to much of what he has to say.
SIMON: NPR's Eric Westervelt in Jerusalem. Thanks very much.
WESTERVELT: You're welcome.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
The political fallout from the controversy over the impeachment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich continued to shake up national politics this week. NPR News analyst Juan Williams joins us. Juan, thanks so much for being with us.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: And the vote to impeach the governor, which is not a conviction, to impeach him, was all but unanimous. There was someone who voted present. But of course, they have to get a two-thirds vote of the Senate now to convict him. If you were a betting man, what would you say his prospects for survival are?
WILLIAMS: Not good. You know, actually the person - there were people who voted present, but there was one who voted against it. And I would suspect that you're going to see a similar outcome in the Senate. Now, the trial's set to start in about two weeks, the 26th of the month. Then you go forward into February or so, and I would imagine this will take 10 days, maybe a little longer, in the Senate. But it seems to me the outcome is set. He will be convicted and ousted. Now what you saw yesterday was Governor Blagojevich already talking to jurors in the Northern District of Illinois.
SIMON: Yeah, in his press conference.
WILLIAMS: Exactly, and putting on quite a show. It was an incredible piece of theater and highlighted, of course, by the idea of quoting the poet Tennyson and making himself out to be...
SIMON: Who speaks powerfully to people in northern Illinois.
WILLIAMS: Is that right?
SIMON: Yes, absolutely.
WILLIAMS: I'm glad that you can tell me that.
SIMON: He's a real...
WILLIAMS: But he spoke to these...
SIMON: A lot of people think Sandburg is the great Chicago poet.
WILLIAMS: But apparently Blagojevich is in touch with the people, you know.
SIMON: Yeah. He's - let me just read briefly. He says, "One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Now that arguably does appeal to the fighting spirit of people who are watching him.
WILLIAMS: It must have appealed to the governor who was out running in the snow, just jogging along, while the state Legislature was impeaching him.
SIMON: Now, we should of course remember that this is not a criminal trial.
WILLIAMS: No.
SIMON: It's impeachment. What are the possible complications for a national administration that's coming in that's from Chicago? And certainly, there's no implication in the governor's affairs. But this incoming administration, the Obama administration, has people who worked with, or for, or endorsed the governor, and they've certainly been nourished from the same political stream(ph).
WILLIAMS: Well, we've seen this week in Washington that Governor Blagojevich knows no bounds in terms of his strategies and political tactics. In fact, he had quite a successful week in being able to tie up the U.S. Senate and bring the whole Roland Burris drama here to Washington and put the Senate on the defensive for the most part. And where it extends, I think, to a more problematic front is with President-elect Obama.
Clearly, it's a distraction for that administration, but potentially a dangerous one. Remember, Governor Blagojevich and President-elect Obama are both tied to Tony Resco, the financier now in jail. And they had many of the same funders. And you can imagine that Governor Blagojevich is going to be anxious to talk at some point. Maybe Tony Resco is anxious to talk. Lots of folks in Chicago are going to start talking about where bodies are buried, Scott. I hope I'm not offending your hometown.
SIMON: No, no.
WILLIAMS: And that's not, you know - again, that's all pointing towards Chicago corruption. And President-elect Obama's team already is worried about exactly who will be caught on tape having talked to Governor Blagojevich about the vacant Senate seat.
SIMON: Let me switch to the Republican side. Quite a contest going on now for chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. What do you hear there?
WILLIAMS: This is quite an interesting race because literally they're trying to find voice for the Republican Party, for the opposition. And it's come down to people talking about how many guns they own, who was the greatest Republican president ever. And by the way, the correct answer is Ronald Reagan, not Abraham Lincoln. And the problem is how do you find voice? Who - what is it? Is it small government? Is it less taxes? What is the theme that Republicans will employ to challenge Barack Obama?
SIMON: Is there some split between what I'll refer to as the gubernatorial wing, Republican governors and the congressional wing?
WILLIAMS: Big split because the governors clearly are more about pragmatic politics at this point and the congressional wing is much more about larger social issues, everything from the gay marriage - stopping gay marriage - to abortion.
SIMON: OK. Thanks very much. NPR's news analyst Juan Williams, thanks so much.
WILLIAMS: You're welcome, Scott.
SIMON: By the way, Juan and I go undercover to talk about President-elect Obama's choice for CIA chief in this week's "Open Mic" vlog. You can see the video on our blog, npr.org/soapbox, or you can go to our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/weekendedition.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
A lot of people, including me, have had some wicked fun with the Blagoya-gate scandal in recent weeks. But speaking as a Chicagoan, this notion that people in Illinois actually enjoy political corruption is a vicious stereotype. Illinois is the heartland. It's the most American of states. When I was a boy, growing up in Chicago, we had a roadside stand in front of my beloved alma mater, Al Capone Jr. High School, named for an esteemed local philanthropist. We sold lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, zoning permits, and seats on the Chicago City Council.
All these snide jokes you hear on these late night comedy shows done out of New York! I think I sense a little envy. The governor of New York got arrested for buying companionship. The governor of Illinois gets arrested for trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. Really now: Which governor shows more can-do attitude? The governor of Illinois doesn't need to buy companionship. The FBI has him under surveillance 24 hours a day.
New Yorkers like to think of themselves as cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Someone who wants to be senator from New York knows that they have to have the highest possible qualifications and experience - like editing an anthology of children's poetry. I mean, no one in New York could ever buy a Senate seat with just their name, wealth, or connections — could they?
Now take Illinois former Governor George Ryan. There's a man of convictions. Eighteen, to be exact, for racketeering and fraud. When he was in office, Governor Ryan declared a moratorium on the death penalty, saying it was a just and moral thing to do. It was also far-sighted. By the time he got to prison, Governor Ryan had already made friends.
Now I hope no one thinks I'm mocking my home state. We've just had an election that's been historic and important to millions of people, and I don't mind saying that I'm proud that the name of Illinois is now uttered with respect and affection around the world. I truly believe that people who learn politics in my home state have gone to the best possible and practical Academy of Fine Political Arts. And I think Chicago is a place of singular ingenuity, diversity and character, with the best music, food, and most laughs of any place on earth.
So if you thought I was making fun of my home state — as Governor Blagojevich might put it, pardon me, please. Bleeping pardon me. In Illinois, we don't dismiss governors selling favors, or public officials getting tailored for prison jumpsuits, with a single, tired, overworked cliche like corruption. In our little village of Chicago, we call it something else.
(Soundbite of song "Tradition" from "Fiddler on the Roof")
Unidentified Vocalists: Tradition, tradition! Tradition! Tradition, tradition! Tradition!
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. More on the Blagojevich case now. Governor Blagojevich is fighting back against the state lawmakers who impeached him. The Illinois House voted, as we said, almost unanimously Friday to impeach him, to impeach the governor who was arrested last month and charged with various pay-to-play political corruption schemes. In one, prosecutors insist the governor was looking for payoffs in exchange for the appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Governor Blagojevich insists that he is innocent. NPR's David Schaper reports.
DAVID SCHAPER: There's nothing like babies to give a politician a chance to show a softer side.
(Soundbite of crying baby)
SCHAPER: After weeks of being pummeled over corruption allegations and being the butt of jokes over his prolific use of four-letter words in conversations secretly recorded by the FBI, Rod Blagojevich surrounded himself with moms, dads, seniors, and kids to try to turn the tables on the Illinois House lawmakers who voted yesterday to impeach him.
Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH (Democrat, Illinois): The House's action today and the causes of the impeachment are because I've done things to fight for families who are with me here today.
SCHAPER: Blagojevich then listed several health care insurance and prescription drug programs that he says he created without legislative approval because the House tried to block them.
Governor BLAGOJEVICH: I took actions with the advice of lawyers and experts to find ways, creative ways, to use the executive authority of a governor to get real things done for people who rely on us. And in many cases, the things we did for people have literally saved lives. I don't believe those are impeachable offenses.
SCHAPER: Governor Blagojevich reasserted that he is not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing, and he says he will continue to fight both the charges and efforts to remove him from office.
Governor BLAGOJEVICH: And I'm confident that at the end of the day I will be properly exonerated.
SCHAPER: The Democratic governor says he expected the Illinois House to impeach him. Blagojevich has feuded bitterly with lawmakers in his own party for years, and he calls the impeachment proceedings flawed and biased.
Assemblywoman BARBARA FLYNN CURRIE (Democrat, Chicago, Illinois): The governor is dead wrong. We did a deliberative approach to this issue, bipartisan totally. If you look at the committee report, it's thoughtful, it's thorough, it's comprehensive.
SCHAPER: Chicago Democrat Barbara Flynn Currie chaired the committee that made the case for impeachment. She says its report includes page after page of evidence beyond the federal criminal charges. Lawmakers say the governor has betrayed the public trust, abused his authority, and violated his oath of office to the point he is no longer fit to govern. State Representative Jack Franks says his vote to impeach was a vote to stop what he calls the freak show that has become Illinois government.
Assemblyman JACK FRANKS (Democrat, Marengo, Illinois): It's just bizarre. No one could script anything this crazy or this bizarre or making so little sense. And it's embarrassing. It's demeaning. Somebody's got to be the adult and pull this back in, and that's what we're doing today.
SCHAPER: The impeachment case now goes to the Illinois state Senate for a trial, which is scheduled to begin January 26. Since this has never happened before in Illinois, a Senate committee is still working out rules for the trial. The presiding judge will be the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. Illinois' 59 state senators will serve as the jury, and two-thirds of them would have to vote to convict for Blagojevich to be forced out of office.
In other developments, Illinois' U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says Roland Burris won't be seated in the chamber unless his appointment is certified by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. White refuses to sign official documents to certify Blagojevich's appointment of Burris because he says the governor was arrested in part for trying to sell the very same Senate seat. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Friday White's signature is not necessary to make Burris' appointment legal. But Durbin, the Senate majority whip, says the Senate must insist on its rule requiring the signature. David Schaper, NPR News, in Springfield, Illinois.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
And it's time now for sports.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: Sorry we had to jog the band awake. The pro football playoffs continue this weekend. And tonight, as it was almost a decade ago, the spotlight will be on Kurt Warner. The man who used to be a stock boy at an Iowa grocery store and played football over in Europe, where they think footballs are round, would sure like to get back to another Super Bowl, this time with the Arizona Cardinals. The resurgence of Mr. Warner is just one of the storylines running throughout the four divisional playoffs this weekend. We're joined now by our man Tom Goldman. Tom, thanks very much for being with us.
TOM GOLDMAN: Good morning. And you don't have to jog me awake, Scott. I'm ready.
SIMON: Thank you. Thank you very much for speaking with us so early from the West Coast. Look, I'm sorry to sound like Chris Matthews, but I get a chill running up and down my leg every time I think about Kurt Warner. What a great story this is.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Ten years after he was in the spotlight, he's back. What can we expect to see from him in this game tonight against the Panthers?
GOLDMAN: Well, you can expect to see him probably to throw the ball a heck of a lot. That's what Kurt Warner does so well. It's what he's been doing since the late 1990s when he led the high-flying offense in St. Louis, the St. Louis Rams, called the greatest show on turf. And so he'll be doing that again. And of course he's got the best receiving tandem in the NFL - Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Bolden - although Bolden is a game-time decision. He's got a sore hamstring. So that could hurt the Arizona Cardinals as they try and do a very, very tough thing beating a very strong Carolina team, undefeated at home this year. One other interesting factoid here, Scott.
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: The Cardinals are 0 and 5 in the East this year. They just don't play well when they go back East. They just don't like to set their clocks ahead, I guess, or something. And so a lot is against them. But you know, you can dream. And that's certainly what a lot of people who are 37 and older are doing with Kurt Warner.
SIMON: Tennessee Titans play at home against the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens have a new quarterback and a new coach. And it's safe to say that's made a real difference, hasn't it?
GOLDMAN: It really has. I mean, the term rookie doesn't really apply in Baltimore. Joe Flacco, the rookie quarterback out of University of Delaware, has played like a veteran. And he hasn't been great statistically, but the one statistic that is important is he just doesn't throw a lot of interceptions. At least he hasn't thrown them in the latter part of this season and in the playoff victory over Miami last week.
And then you've also got a rookie coach, as you mentioned, John Harbaugh, who - you know, I don't know how great he is, but one of the things he's done it seems is he has reinvigorated this great Baltimore defense. You know, they've got the veteran Ray Lewis, who's playing well, but he's playing like a maniac again. They've got the cornerback Ed Reed, a very tough defense, and going against a very good Tennessee Titans team as well.
SIMON: Tomorrow, the New York Giants, defending Super Bowl champion, play the Philadelphia Eagles. Let me ask you a couple questions in sequence. First, with the Eagles. Did Donovan McNabb, their quarterback, have a better season by being benched at one point?
GOLDMAN: He sure did. And that's a lesson to all of us, Scott. Beware or maybe get benched.
SIMON: When you get benched next week, Tom, remember.
(Soundbite of laughter)
GOLDMAN: And I'll be back even better.
SIMON: For your own good, yeah.
GOLDMAN: You know, since he was benched in the game on November 23rd, he roared back, led the Eagles to five wins out of six games. And they are like the Giants were last year. They come into this game with a tremendous amount of momentum. And even though they're playing in New York, you know, some people say they can win this game.
SIMON: Did the Giants miss Plaxico Burris, even if the criminal justice system doesn't?
GOLDMAN: Yes, they do. Plaxico wasn't having the greatest season before he was suspended for the year because of what happened to him. But he is that homerun weapon, to mix sports metaphors here.
SIMON: Oh, weapon.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, and he's the one guy. And since he's been gone, Eli Manning has only thrown two touchdown passes in about four weeks. So, you know, they need him.
SIMON: San Diego Chargers, late in the afternoon, play the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have been tough to beat at home this year.
GOLDMAN: They have been tough to beat, but watch out for these crazy San Diego Chargers and especially five-foot-six-inch Darren Sprawls, this running back dynamo.
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: And some people think, how does he do it? Well, one of the ways he does it is the defense can't see him. He's so little, and he darts, and he runs...
SIMON: You mean when all those guys who are 400 pounds and six foot seven, they can't see a guy who's five foot...
GOLDMAN: Exactly. And San Diego is on a tear. They've won five straight. So, watch out for them.
SIMON: We have an extra 25 seconds, Tom.
GOLDMAN: All right.
SIMON: Who do you pick to go all the way?
GOLDMAN: That's why I defer to you, Scott. The exciting thing about these final eight teams is you could make a case for any of them. And the NFL is so unpredictable. All the things I've said will be in reverse. So, who do you like?
SIMON: Well, I know I should say San Diego, but I like in all ways Arizona.
GOLDMAN: Well, good luck to you.
SIMON: Thanks very much. All right, a minority once again. NPR's Tom Goldman, thanks so much for being with us.
GOLDMAN: You're welcome.
SIMON: And you can follow the football playoffs all through the weekend. You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
An interesting study appeared this week in the New England Journal of Medicine about oxygen levels in blood. The experiment took place above 27,000 feet up on Mount Everest. Four mountaineering physicians unzipped their down suits and exposed their groins, all for the sake of science. They extracted samples of their own blood at freezing temperatures to measure the effects of altitude on blood oxygen levels. Dr. Mike Grocott headed the team. He joins us from Southampton, England. Doctor, I've got to ask. I mean, they've got high altitude chambers these days. Why did you have to go up to Mount Everest to take a blood sample from your groin?
Dr. MIKE GROCOTT (Co-director, Center for Aviation, Space, and Extreme Environment Medicine, University College London): There have been previous studies taking these sort of measurements in chambers. Interestingly, the results have - are different. They're not as low. And that may be because climbers, because they're exercising quite heavily for a long period of time, actually develop some fluid in their lungs.
SIMON: And why not just take the blood sample from your fingertip?
Dr. GROCOTT: In order to know what the heart and lungs are sending out to the tissues, you need to take the sample from an artery. And you can find them in various places. So the place we classically think of is in the wrist. Unfortunately, when it's relatively cold, those arteries tend to constrict down. They become very small and very hard to get a needle in.
SIMON: So how cold was it?
Dr. GROCOTT: It was probably a little bit over freezing. But that was because we descended from the summit, and we were in a small shelter. We originally had planned to take the blood on the summit, but it was about minus 25 there with 20 knots of wind.
SIMON: So what did it feel like?
Dr. GROCOTT: I guess it felt slightly strange. Certainly, the climbers around us thought it was slightly strange that we were pausing to take blood samples from our groin.
SIMON: (Laughing) Yeah, I mean that's not recommended mountaineering technique, is it, to get up at that altitude and drop trou?
Dr. GROCOTT: It's unusual.
SIMON: Well, let's hope.
Dr. GROCOTT: (Laughing) Yeah.
SIMON: And what did you learn?
Dr. GROCOTT: Firstly, the values that we found are extraordinary low. It's amazing that we were able to function effectively given those low numbers. And that maybe alters a little bit our understanding of what - given sufficient time and the time factor, the fact that we'd had a period of time to acclimatize - but given sufficient time, it is extraordinary how much humans can adapt. And there may be implications that lead from that to the care of patients.
The reason I say that is because when patients become critically ill, we use high levels of oxygen and mechanical ventilation to maintain a level of oxygen in the blood. Now, sometimes using the supplemental oxygen used in ventilation can itself be causing harm. And what we speculate is that it may be that if we aimed for a slightly lower target in some patients who've had a duration of time to adapt to the low oxygen level, we may be able to do less of these potentially harmful interventions, and thereby overall the patient benefits.
SIMON: Well, Dr. Grocott, good climbing to you in the future, sir.
Dr. GROCOTT: (Laughing) That's very kind. Thank you. Bye-bye.
SIMON: Dr. Mike Grocott. He's co-director of the Center for Aviation, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine at University College London. This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Coming up, the music of Enya. But first, in New Orleans Mardi Gras preparations are already under way. The massive parades of marching bands, elaborately decorated floats, and masked, costumed riders begin in just a few weeks. One of the premier parades is the Krewe of Zulu. That's the first to roll on Fat Tuesday, the final day of Mardi Gras. And this year is special for Zulu, which turns 100. The organization got its start to allow African-Americans to participate in Carnival. Eve Abrams reports from New Orleans on Zulu and its history.
EVE ABRAMS: During Mardi Gras, there are more than 40 parades, including the Zulu Krewe, led by marching bands like this one from last year.
(Soundbite of marching band)
ABRAMS: In 1909, when the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club began parading, the official New Orleans Mardi Gras was more or less an all-white affair. Zulu historian Clarence Becknell says those early parades were a way for poor black laborers to participate in the city's biggest party.
Mr. CLARENCE BECKNELL (Historian): We weren't allowed to go a whole lot of places because of the segregation laws that were in place at that time. So a lot of the clubs actually paraded within the black neighborhoods, the so-called backstreets of New Orleans.
ABRAMS: This changed in 1969 when the Zulus were allowed to roll down New Orleans' main parade route. In the process, Zulu integrated Mardi Gras and became known for their unique traditions. While other Krewes riders used masks to hide their identities, the Zulus donned black face makeup. All parades throw beads and doubloons into the crowd, but the Zulus also hand out painted coconuts - some of the most prized giveaways of the Mardi Gras season. And there are other firsts for the Zulus. In 1949, they were the first to crown a celebrity as their king, one of New Orleans most famous natives, trumpeter Louis Armstrong. The mayor of New Orleans at the time, Chep Morrison, presented Armstrong with a plaque.
(Soundbite of vintage recording)
Mr. LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Trumpeter): Thank you very much, Mayor. This is really a thrill. This is the thrill of my life. I've always wanted to be the king of the Zulus. I've been a member all my life. And this right here, I'm going to frame this and I'm going to dare anybody to touch it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Thank you very much.
ABRAMS: During Armstrong's reign, his float was pulled by a team of mules. And by days end, it crumpled under the weight of friends who'd crowded aboard. Twenty odd years later, when future City Councilman Roy Glapion attended the Mardi Gras parade, it was still a ragtag, disorganized affair. Glapion's son, also named Roy, remembers how seeing it touched his father.
Mr. ROY GLAPION Jr.: I was a little kid. And I'm sitting there, watching the Zulu parade. And you know, it wasn't quite the Zulu parade that we know today. And as I recall, I think he even had a tear in his eye. He looked down at me and he said, you know what, son, I'm going to do something about this.
ABRAMS: Glapion transformed Zulu into the premier Krewe it is today. He was crowned king in 2000, and his daughter, Desiree Glapion Rogers, who now serves as the social secretary in the Obama administration, reigned as queen twice. Zulu has long been the center of Mardi Gras for the African-American community. But when it became part of the city's official celebration, it afforded African-Americans a good bit of respect. Clarence Becknell remembers when he was a kid, he couldn't watch the main parades.
Mr. BECKNELL: Blacks weren't allowed there. You either got into a fight or something. You had to hear the racist remarks. The policemen used to push you back and pull a white family in front of you. I mean, that's the kind of thing you had to put up with. While when Zulu came around and started parading like we did, that put pride in the black community.
ABRAMS: The pride continues this weekend. A year-long exhibit opens at the Louisiana State Museum in the French Quarter, exploring the Zulu's origins, carnival traditions, and civic contributions. Becknell says the exhibit is a formal recognition of what the Zulus mean to Mardi Gras and New Orleans.
Mr. BECKNELL: In the beginning, no one knew what Zulu was about. In the middle, it started questioning it. Now they really want to know because this made a big impact economically, socially, popularity wise.
ABRAMS: Even as Zulu celebrates its centennial, it's looking forward to a more stable future. Like scores of New Orleanians, many Zulu lost their homes when the city flooded, and they're still scattered throughout the country. Mardi Gras is one time when they get to come home. For NPR News, I'm Eve Abrams in New Orleans.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Tomorrow night, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hands out Golden Globes for the best TV shows, movies, and actors. Then the handicapping for the Oscars really begins. The Golden Globes are considered the best predictor for who will win an Academy Award, but there could also still be some surprises next month. Our film critic, Desson Thomson, joins us in our studios. Desson, thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. DESSON THOMSON (Film Critic): Great to be here.
SIMON: What do you look to happen at the awards?
Mr. THOMSON: I tell you what I enjoy at the Globes is the speeches because somehow they are - they seem to be a lot of giddier than the ones at the Oscars. The Oscars, everyone has to be a bit more on their P's and Q's.
SIMON: Is that because they're considered warm up, as opposed to the Oscars?
Mr. THOMSON: Yeah, they're considered warm up. And it's much more of a love-in(ph) because all of the critics who vote, they sort of wine and dine the people that are nominated. So, it's a much more strange and incestuous kind of gathering, in a good way.
SIMON: I gather from reading the reviews, I don't know as how anybody is going to knock off "Slumdog Millionaire".
Mr. THOMSON: I tell you. I really feel there's a groundswell there.
SIMON: Which is a film set in India made by a Scottish director?
Mr. THOMSON: Yeah. Well, how else would we have it?
SIMON: And that's the story of America.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. THOMSON: It's a very good film, and it's a very globally good film, and it's the one to beat.
(Soundbite of movie "Slumdog Millionaire")
Mr. ANIL KAPOOR: (As Prem Kumar) In Alexander Dumas book, "The Three Musketeers," two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third musketeer?
SIMON: It is the Foreign Press Association that votes for it, right?
Mr. THOMSON: Yeah.
SIMON: Does this mean people like you, God forbid?
Mr. THOMSON: No, worse than me.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Oh, well. OK. Please...
Mr. THOMSON: No, no. There's people...
SIMON: What kind of lowlifes you have.
Mr. THOMSON: They're foreign critics from all over the world. So you might get a Hungarian critic who covers Hollywood, living in L.A., who suddenly decides that "Slumdog Millionaire" is the best picture of the year, and he actually will indirectly influence Hollywood. There are members of this sort of strange boardroom.
SIMON: In the Golden Globes, nominated films and actors get funneled into some categories that I think, it's safe to say, are peculiar to the Golden Globes.
Mr. THOMSON: Correct.
SIMON: I mean, for many critics, "Wall-E" was a surpassingly good film that happened to be done as an animation.
(Soundbite of movie "Wall-E")
Mr. THOMSON: And so therefore transcendent. And now it's nominated only as a best animated feature film for the Globes. It's a good question. It's good and it's bad, isn't it? Because if you get all these people who are nominated for a comic role, let's say, or a good animation film, it's brings more attention to them, but does it put them in a category elsewhere when they should have been considered best picture? I think that we, as humans, think that comedy, musicals, and animation is not as important and prestigious as straight drama. And why is that? It shouldn't really be that way.
SIMON: What actors, do you think, are going to walk away with Golden Globes?
Mr. THOMSON: I think they're going to give Sean Penn the award for "Milk."
(Soundbite of movie "Milk")
Mr. SEAN PENN: (As Harvey Milk) First order of business to come out of this office is a citywide gay rights ordinance just like the one that Anita shut down in Dayton County. What do you think, Lotus Blossom?
Mr. THOMSON: Unfortunately, for a very good film, that's the only nomination that is in the Globes - for best actor. It should have been for best picture. So I think on that strength alone, they'd give it to him. It's also that and Mickey Rourke's performance as "The Wrestler" - those are the two ones to beat.
SIMON: But doesn't Hollywood find it irresistible to take someone who is considered to be washed up and forgotten about, if I may put it that way, Mickey Rourke. Because after all, a lot of people in Hollywood think that could be them someday.
Mr. THOMSON: And also the redemption story is about the hottest ticket in town in terms of plotlines.
SIMON: Yeah.
Mr. THOMSON: So - and he deserves it. It's a really great performance.
(Soundbite of movie "The Wrestler")
Mr. MICKEY ROURKE: (As Randy "The Ram" Robinson) I'm the one who is supposed to make everything OK for everybody. It just didn't work out like that. And I left.
Mr. THOMSON: And it really is a story about someone who was washed up professionally and coming back, just like the way John Travolta came back with "Pulp Fiction." People love comebacks. Who doesn't? You know, we all hope to get one of those at the end of our lives if nothing else works out.
SIMON: Our film critic, Desson Thomson, thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. THOMSON: And thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. This week, President-elect Obama urged Congress to act quickly on his proposed economy recovery package and warned the nation's economy could deteriorate even further if the government doesn't act soon. The Illinois House voted to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich, and confirmation hearings began for those who have been nominated to be in President Obama's Cabinet. We're joined now by NPR senior news analyst Dan Schorr. Hello, Dan.
DANIEL SCHORR: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: And let's please begin, Dan, with the plan that President Obama is now trying to urge on Congress. He calls it the American recovery and reinvestment plan. Now, we know it could cost up to $800 billion, and the math involved, not to mention the money, is imposing. How would you summarize the plan?
SCHORR: Briefly, it's very difficult because it's a very long, complicated plan, but let me say this. It's $800 billion, as you said, and mounting. It could reach as high as a trillion. About 40 percent of it would be for investment and infrastructure - the roads, the bridges, all the things that come under infrastructure. Another 40 percent would be tax cuts of various kinds. One, for example, would be $3,000 tax credit for employers who hire new employees, a whole bunch of things like that. And then 20 percent goes to the states. That comes from Senator Barbara Boxer of California.
SIMON: How do you read the reaction in Congress?
SCHORR: I'd say rather cautious. I mean, nobody in Congress has yet said in the face of the president saying this is an urgent thing and there will be hell and damnation if we don't do this right away. So nobody wants to take a position against it. On the whole, saying we will cooperate, we will work it out. They're meeting over the weekend, trying to work things out. There are some questions about which tax cuts, how much tax cuts, how much spending. There are things that need to be worked out, but as of now, nothing stands very much in the way.
SIMON: Mr. Obama has been scrupulous about saying over the past few weeks - and certainly, we're talking about foreign crisis and we're obviously going to get to Gaza in a moment - we have only one president at a time.
SCHORR: Yep.
SIMON: But who are we talking about as being the real engine of economic recovery at this point?
SCHORR: I'll tell you, when it comes to foreign policy, he's backing off and saying one president at a time, but not on this economic thing. He had really hoped to get something he could sign the day after he has been inaugurated. He won't get that, but he's stepping right out, and if you ask, one president at a time, when it comes to the economic things, that one president seems to be Mr. Obama.
SIMON: And let's get to the Blagojevich case where the Illinois House voted to impeach Governor Blagojevich on Friday.
SCHORR: Yes.
SIMON: It was expected the vote was all but unanimous. The situation, as we speak, as to who, when, how President Obama's seat might be occupied in the Senate - and of course, Governor Blagojevich rather notably appointed Roland Burris to that seat - is still confused. What are some the national political implications of this that you see as we go forward?
SCHORR: Well, there were constitutional questions involved, the constitutional question of who has the right to the state - can a secretary of state, can any one person stop something which the governor wants to do? Then it is, is he the governor? He's a governor in a lot of trouble but he still is the governor, and that has to be worked out.
SIMON: Here we should point out, he hasn't even been indicted.
SCHORR: He has not been indicted. There's been criminal information against him and not yet indicted and the indictment will yet come. But whether he's indicted or not, he appears to be still the governor acting as governor unless he is challenged. And there is a certain challenge coming on the leadership of the Democrats in the Senate, who really would like to slow up this thing at least.
SIMON: The Senate held its first confirmation hearings for what will be the Obama administration. Former Senator Tom Daschel had been nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services appeared before two panels on Thursday. Things seemed to go smoothly.
SCHORR: Yes.
SIMON: Do you see any notable problems for any of the other nominees?
SCHORR: There will be, probably, a grilling of Leon Panetta to be CIA chief. There are some who think that the CIA chief should be somebody from the CIA. But the fact of the matter is the CIA is in such trouble at the moment that they probably need somebody come in fresh to look at it. And so I think after they have asked a lot of questions of Panetta, who is really a first-class official, he probably will be confirmed.
SIMON: You've covered intelligence matters for decades at this point.
SCHORR: Yes.
SIMON: There are people in the intelligence community who say unless you come from the world of intelligence, if you come into that world from the outside, they'll eat you alive.
SCHORR: Well, George Bush Sr. became CIA director coming from the outside with no previous experience. John McCone was a businessman who walked in and ran the CIA very well. I really don't think you have to come from inside in order to look at the thing whole.
SIMON: And of course, air strikes, rocket fire continued in Gaza throughout this week. The UN Security Council voted 14 to nothing to call for an immediate ceasefire. The United States abstained from that vote. Would you see U.S. policy being different a month from now?
SCHORR: Well, yes. I think the president-elect has made clear that if there's any really big problem when he's the president, he has to address it. And I think if he were there right now, he would address it. And I think if this is still going on, very soon after January 20th he will get involved in this one way or another. There have been European Union has tried to have some effect there. The Egyptians have. The United States have been standing on the sidelines.
SIMON: It must be said, the principal Democrats have not urged Israel to accept a ceasefire. They've all just talked about - be it Senator Durbin or President-elect Obama.
SIMON: That's right. But the pressure is mounting as more and more civilians are killed, and it's going to be more and more difficult to maintain the line that this is after all in response to rockets being fired at Israel. It's going to be tough.
SIMON: Thanks very much, Dan Schorr.
SCHORR: Sure, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
We just heard political reactions to Mr. Obama's plan from Dan Schorr. So now we go to Wall Street. Our own friend from the world of business, Joe Nocera, joins us. Good morning, Joe.
JOE NOCERA: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: And what does business think about President-elect Obama's proposals?
NOCERA: Business is a little quarrelous, like everybody else, mainly wondering if it will be enough, if it will do the trick. And you know, the truth is, Scott, throughout history, this is - you know, you just don't know whether a stimulus package is going to do what you hope it will do. And so, you know, this is the first - I mean, really, one way to think about this is this is the first volley of what I suspect will be several volleys once he takes office.
SIMON: The all-time high unemployment numbers that we saw this week, is that the figure that bears watching more than what the market is doing?
NOCERA: Oh, absolutely. The market is - I wouldn't say it's irrelevant, but the market matters so much less at this point than unemployment. I mean, these were the worst numbers since 1945 in terms of yearly job loss, and especially the fact, Scott, that of the 2.5 million jobs that were lost in this past year, 1.9 million came from September on. Gee, do you think the Lehman bankruptcy made a difference?
SIMON: Yeah.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Which brings up something that happened last night rather quietly. Robert Rubin, former treasurer secretary under President Clinton, a man who has been regarded as a philosopher and a guru and a source of wisdom, announced that he's resigning from Citigroup. Now, place him in this current crisis, if you could.
NOCERA: Well, you know, it's a little like Greenspan. He was lauded as ahero when he was a secretary of the treasury for keeping the economy turbo-charged and sort of taking care of the Asian crisis and the Mexican peso crisis, which he did, actually, quite brilliantly.
But in the time that he has been at Citigroup, his reputation has really been besmirched for two reasons. First of all, it seems clear in retrospect that he helped encourage Citigroup to become a bigger risk-taking institution, and that helped lead it to the troubles that it's in today. Second of all, he took $150 million in that time and has basically claimed no responsibility for what happened to Citi, you know. And finally, it does appear in retrospect that government officials at the tail end of the Clinton administration and the beginning of the Bush administration, you know, didn't do enough regulatorily to put the brakes on derivatives and other securities that have turned out to haunt us.
SIMON: And Mr. Rubin is, it must be said, considered what amounts to the patron of several of president-elect Obama's top financial advisers.
NOCERA: Well - well, that is true, although Larry Summers, in particular, seems to have - not have the same tarnish as Mr. Rubin. I suspect that's partly because when he went back into private life he became, you know, president of Harvard and more or less remained a public intellectual as opposed to somebody who was really engaged in the business of financial services.
SIMON: Joe Nocera writes the Talking Business column for the New York Times, which I believe appears in the paper today.
NOCERA: It most certainly does, Scott.
SIMON: What a coincidence! Joe joins us from the studios of the Radio Foundation in New York. Thanks so much, Joe.
NOCERA: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
One way for President-elect Obama to deal with America's financial crisis may be right in the palm of his hand. Mr.Obama has often spoken with ardent devotion about his BlackBerry. He's told interviewers, they're going to pry it out of my hands because he's been told he'll have to give it up as president because of legal and security concerns.
This week, several marketing executives told the New York Times that if Mr. Obama could endorse commercial products, his plug for BlackBerry could earn $25 to $50 million. Now, has anybody thought of bringing down the federal deficit by making the incoming president our Pitchman-in-Chief? He could wear a swoosh for a running shoe on the back of his Air Force One jacket, patches for major auto companies on his arms and shoulders like a NASCAR driver. In fact, when Mr. Obama is sworn into office, maybe he can place his left hand on Lincoln's Bible, and his right hand around a soft drink, saying, thanks, America - you deserve a break today!
In fact, why does it have to be Lincoln's Bible? Why not Lincoln's digital reading device?
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The Israeli government says that Iran has been helping to arm Hamas with rockets it has fired into Southern Israel. That's among the reasons Israel has cited for sending air strikes and troops into Gaza. I'm going to speak to two experts who may have different ideas on how deep or important the connection between Iran and Hamas may be.
Hillary Mann Leverett is the CEO of Stratega - that's a political risk consulting company - and a former Foreign Service officer. Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. We'll hear from Hillary Mann Leverett in a moment, but first, Matthew Levitt joins us from his office in Washington, D.C. Mr. Levitt, thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. MATTHEW LEVITT, (Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy): Thank you.
SIMON: Is there a connection between Iran and Hamas?
Mr. LEVITT: A significant one.
SIMON: Is it - is it just ideas, sympathies, or guns and money?
Mr. LEVITT: If only it were just ideas and sympathies. Iran provides Hamas with the majority of the funding, weaponry, training and intelligence it needs to carry out its activities targeting Israel. And we're talking about a significant amount of funding and a significant proportion of its overall budget. Without Iran, Hamas would not be able to function as it does today.
SIMON: What makes you confident in saying that?
Mr. LEVITT: The U.S. government, Canadian government and others have come out with assessments over the years. A lot of information has been made public in court cases here in the United States. There really is unanimity on the subject of whether or not Iran provides funds and support - material support to Hamas.
Canadian intelligence assessments over the past few years have run between 3 and $18 million a year. Other assessments are more to the tune of even 25 to $50 million in certain years. The question is how much at any given time, and even more so, under what circumstances, if any, could Iran be convinced to cease that support.
SIMON: Can this sort of thing be followed? Can it be proven?
Mr. LEVITT: Yes, it can be proven and in different ways. First of all, you know, there are intelligence methods for tracking communications between individuals. Second, there are intelligence means of tracking and following the money. Third, when the Islamic Republic provides weapons to Hamas, these almost always have serial numbers, and fragments of missiles fired by Hamas have had serial numbers that have been traced back to Iran. And finally, you know, for example, when the Israelis raided the West Bank a few years ago, they confiscated documentation of meetings and correspondence of communication between Hamas leaders in Damascus and Iranian officials specifically talking about the moneys and support that Iran provides Hamas and the need to carry out attacks.
Finally, Iran is pretty open about it, and they talk about the fact that yes, of course, they finance Hamas because it is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in the eyes of Teheran.
SIMON: Matthew Levitt, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Thank you so much.
Mr. LEVITT: Thank you.
SIMON: For possibly a different take on the connection between Iran and Hamas, let's turn to Hillary Mann Leverett. She's the CEO of Stratega. That's a political risk consulting company. She's also a former Foreign Service officer and joins us in our studios. Thank you so much for being with us.
Ms. HILLARY MANN LEVERETT (CEO, Stratega; Former Foreign Service Officer): Thank you for having me.
SIMON: Do you agree that Iran supplies Hamas with money and weapons?
Ms. LEVERETT: Well, we really haven't seen very much hard evidence of that. I spent over 10 years in the U.S. government at the State Department and the National Security Council. I was one of the few people authorized in the Bush administration to negotiate with Iranians over al-Qaeda and Afghanistan, so I got to know them quite well and spent a lot of time looking at how they finance, arm, equip and form relationships with groups and parties throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, where we were focused on working with them.
What's fascinating to me about it is this focus on Iran has not allowed us to look at other possibilities. In the Sinai, the Egyptian territory of the Sinai that borders Israel, some of the major cities there - Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Taba, El Arish - they have all been centers of major al-Qaeda bombings over the past five or six years. Nobody ever pointed a finger to Iran's activity or a connection to any of those bombings. There could just as likely be weapons that are coming from al-Qaeda or Suni-based groups that Hamas is somehow getting a connection to.
But the idea that Iran can somehow - by air, by sea, by land, through Egypt - get large, sophisticated weapons there, it's not plausible. And then there is an alternative that we see that al-Qaeda has gotten weapons into Sinai. It is possible that Hamas could be tapping into some of those supplies.
SIMON: What would you say to those people who say that they've seen information, court cases, declassified intelligence and other information that indicates to them that money is coming from Iran to Hamas?
Ms. LEVERETT: We've really seen very little of that. The Iranians, I think, would like to give Hamas a lot more money. They just don't have a real way of doing so clearly. The Iranian banking system itself has come under a lot of scrutiny and has been closed off in many ways, and of course, there's no functioning banking system inside of Gaza for Hamas to be able to get money.
This was dramatically shown when two Hamas leaders went to Tehran right after they won the elections, the Palestinian elections. They went to Iran to try to get, number one, political recognition, which of course they got, and they also tried to get financial support. The only way they are able to get the financial support at the time was to bring suitcases and literally stuff the suitcases with money. That was really, I think, an important anecdote that shows the extent to which Iran is able to get money to Hamas.
SIMON: That anecdote would also suggest that as you say, Iran would like to support Hamas.
Ms. LEVERETT: I think they would like to support Hamas, and you see - you see that in the streets of Iran like you've seen that in the streets of Egypt and many other Arab capitals the past week with the Israeli attacks on Gaza. There are people who are signing up to go to fight the Israelis, to protect the Palestinians, but the Iranian government has taken a decision - whether it's because of a lack of ability to get money or weapons there or because of a political decision - not to allow people to actually go to fight the Israelis or to send money or to send weapons...TEXT: Now, whether this is a logistical question or a political question that the leadership in Iran has determined that it does not want to antagonize an incoming Obama administration is an interesting one, but I think it's clearly there. You have, I think, reporting both in Western media, Iranian media, Arab media, whatever the Iranians or any Muslims or Arabs who want to go to fight the Israelis and protect the Palestinians - they're not able to do so. The Iranian government has decided they're not going to do that.
SIMON: Hillary Mann Leverett is CEO of Stratega, a political risk consulting company and former Foreign Service officer. Thanks so much.
Ms. LEVERETT: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR news. I'm Scott Simon. A young man from Boston of imprecise religious feeling has studied Hebrew and hopes to apply his scholarly skills to translate great works of literature, but he winds up working in a warehouse in Western Massachusetts shlepping, picking up old books owned by old people written in Yiddish and delivering those books to a Jewish library so that the stories do not disappear.
In one of those volumes, he learns the story of Itsik Malpesh, the Russian immigrant in his 90s who is the last Yiddish poet in America. That's the plot of the new novel by Peter Manseau, the author of a highly acclaimed memoir called "Vows." It's his first novel, "Songs for the Butcher's Daughter." Peter Manseau joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. PETER MANSEAU, (Author, "Songs For The Butcher's Daughter"): Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
SIMON: And how does a nice gentile boy like you wrote a book like this?
Mr. MANSEAU: A bit like one of my characters, I ended up quite by accident working for a Jewish cultural organization a few years ago. I had done some work with religious languages, with Greek and with Hebrew, and I stumbled into the Yiddish language, a language which I had no cultural, religious or ethnic affiliation with, and through the process of learning that language, I learned about the great literature written in Yiddish and I fell in love with it.
SIMON: You have a section that I want to get you to read, which is just one of the best descriptions I have ever heard about the nature of a library, if you wouldn't mind.
Mr. MANSEAU: Yes, in the Yiddish book warehouse in Western Massachusetts.
(Reading) As July turned to August, the heat inside the warehouse caused the books to sizzle on the shelves. Filled with nearly a century of moisture and the oils of readers' fingers, they hissed in the arid air, yielding up the scent of warm paper. Just looking at the maze of books, such a fire hazard, all that potential energy, I had soaked through my T-shirt by noon, so I sat and I read. Three days each week, alone among the bookshelves with boxes piling up at least as high as they've been in June. Instead of sorting through them, I'd position myself by the largest of the metal fans and work my way through page after page. I did so haltingly, with a Yiddish-English dictionary by my side from the moment I arrived until it was time to go home.
SIMON: And in so doing, that's when he catches up - that's when he notices - first notices the story of Itsik Malpesh. Itsik, your narrator, discovers was born during an act of violence.
Mr. MANSEAU: Yes, born during a pogrom, and throughout his whole life he lives with these stories he's heard from his parents that a neighbor girl, the butcher's daughter of his title, has saved his family somehow, miraculously. She was just four or five years old as this happened, and he never meets her. She leaves the town in which he was born, and he spends his entire life trying to find this woman who was a young girl who somehow overcame this violence.
SIMON: Malpesh says that - he says that translation's an act of intimacy.
Mr. MANSEAU: Yes. For me, who has dabbled in many languages but has real fluency with none, I'm always aware that the books I love best are the books that have been translated. And the awareness that works created in another language could be so meaningful to me, so transformative to me, it does seem a kind of intimacy, that these authors who I couldn't have spoken to had I met them in life, that they can be inside my head, the most intimate space.
SIMON: I wonder if you see a relationship between immigrants' stories and religious parables.
Mr. MANEAU: I am drawn to both stories of religion and stories of immigration because to me they are - they are stories of self-conscious self-transformation. They are stories in which the people involved in them know they are becoming something different, something new, and they hope through religious transformation or through the act of immigration to leave whatever they were behind and become something that they would not recognize themselves.
To me, that's the stuff of great drama, and what makes it most interesting to me is that most of the drama happens on the inside, even as you go through the act of getting on the ship and coming to a new world. The person you're becoming, the new person you're becoming is what arises from within.
SIMON: Sasha is the young woman, the butcher's daughter, has her own extraordinary lifestory which is sketched out in this book.
Mr. MANSEAU: She does. As I said, she is - as Itsik understands it, she's responsible for his survival in the Kishinev pogrom of 1903. She leaves Kishinev with her mother after having lost her father in the violence and takes the road not traveled, goes the other path that Itsik does not take. She ends up first in Odessa and then eventually in what was then Palestine and lives through the birth of a new kind of Jewish existence - Israeli Jewish existence. And she, likewise, eventually ends up back in New York for the first time and finally feels pulled away for reasons I will leave to the telling of the tale.
But I wanted her story to be mostly off the page because for me she was the ghost that hangs over the novel. She is both Itsik's muse and his love. In Yiddish they have the term "beshert(ph)," destiny. Itsik believes that Sasha is his destined one made for him by God. And yet for her, she is troubled by this idea of destiny because if we truly have people who are - we are destined to meet, does it mean we have any free choice at all? So she is - spends her life striving against what she knows or fears to be her destiny.
SIMON: I'm struck by something that Itsik Malpesh says in the book. He says, to be the greatest, one only needs to be the last.
Mr. MANSEAU: Those who are left to be the last bear the burden of collective memory, of having to be the ones who tell the story, who keep them safe just through the act of telling the story. And so the poet I've created, Itsik Malpesh, he's not a good poet, and I wanted that to be the case because many of the Yiddish poets who I most admire for their life story in fact weren't very good poets. They were immigrants with very particular religious educations who had no experience writing modern poetry.
SIMON: They were also working like 10 hours a day.
Mr. MANSEAU: Yeah. Many of them were part of the group that liked to call themselves the Sweatshop Poets because they came to New York, they worked in the garment industry. They worked 16-hour days, and somehow, when they went home, they spent four hours writing poetry. I'm just fascinated by that. Whether or not they were good poets is really beside the point to me.
SIMON: Yeah.
Mr. MANSEAU: And so I just find such heroism in that. There's a figure in Yiddish literature who comes up again and again whose - he's called basically The Little Man, Das Kleyne Mentshele in Yiddish. And to me, he's not a sad sack(ph). He's a hero. And that's the story I wanted to tell with this book.
SIMON: You worked a job once where you began to write poetry on paperbacks, didn't you?
Mr. MANSEAU: (Laughing) As many writers do, I've worked many odd jobs in my life, and I was not a particularly good carpenter for a while. I worked on a house-building crew in Massachusetts, and just not long before, I hppened to learn about these Sweatshop Poets. And so, on one of my lunch breaks I sat down on a rock in the cold, and as I was eating my sandwich I began to write a scene on my paper bag that was, in fact, of a Yiddish poet writing a poem while he was on his lunch break 80 years before. And to me, what really stayed with me and what made me continue to write this story of a Yiddish poet was the fact that I could feel such fellow feeling with these men and women who lived lives totally removed from mine - culturally, linguistically and religiously - and yet I did have this fellow feeling with them. I felt that we were having similar experiences, and that, to me, is what is wonderful about literature.
SIMON: Peter Manseau. He studies religion and teaches writing at Georgetown University, and his new novel is "Songs for the Butcher's Daughter." Mr. Manseau, thanks so much.
Mr. MANSEAU: Thanks so much for having me.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Today, we're looking at the legacy George W. Bush will leave behind. His poll ratings have been among the highest and the lowest received by modern-era presidents. But feelings about him personally never dropped as low as his job-approval numbers did. NPR's Linda Wertheimer looks at what people liked about the president.
LINDA WERTHEIMER: Ask his staff or his friends to describe the president, and they'll say normal, regular. If he moved in next door, you'd be friends. And the president made an effort to keep his life normal. He likes meetings to begin and end on time. He likes a schedule. Dan Bartlett works in Austin now, but he was a close White House aide for seven years and involved in all the president's winning campaigns, beginning with the race for governor of Texas.
WERTHEIMER: He's a very disciplined man who appreciates systems and routines. So the scheduled times to work out, the scheduled times to have dinner with his wife - those things, I think, were trying to ingrain into his life as much normalcy as possible to help sustain him during the presidency.
WERTHEIMER: President Bush apparently does not relish pomp or circumstance. He's had very few state dinners or official dinners at the White House, the sorts of entertainments that involve dressing up, long receiving lines and lavish banquets. I asked Cox Newspapers' Ken Herman, who has covered him for years, if the president prefers a quiet life.
WERTHEIMER: Quiet enough that he can get to sleep by about 9:30 every night or so, as is his preference. And indeed, the president has been out to dinner in restaurants three times in Washington - twice for Mexican, once for Chinese - and not since January 15th, 2003.
WERTHEIMER: The Bushes prefer old friends and dinners at home, but it was not always so. The president apparently once liked parties and liked to drink. He talked about that in an interview on C-SPAN in December.
(SOUNDBITE OF C-SPAN INTERVIEW)
P: I wasn't a knee-walking drunk, but I was, I was, you know, I was drinking. I mean - and alcohol was beginning to compete for my affections. And so I quit. One night I had too much to drink in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I haven't had a drink since.
WERTHEIMER: That was in 1986. Don Evans is a friend of 40 years. He was secretary of commerce in the president's first term. He says that act demonstrated the president's commitment to his family, and to the Bush family's belief in public service.
WERTHEIMER: And he realized at that point in his life, not only for his children and his family, but for all fellow man, he can't honor that core belief like he wants to if he's drinking. So he quit. Pretty amazing, I might say.
WERTHEIMER: These days, the president's only addiction appears to be exercise. He played sports as a younger man. He was a runner until an injury sidelined him. Now, he's a mad mountain biker. Reporter Ken Herman has ridden in the presidential peloton.
WERTHEIMER: This was in Crawford. I've done two, a couple of summers back. And it's a rigorous activity, and it's hard to keep up. There's no small talk. It is not a leisurely ride in the park. He does mountain bike riding like he does foreign policy. It's full-speed ahead. There's no turning back once a decision has been made. And it's grueling.
WERTHEIMER: Participants, including the president, often come back scratched up from falls and collisions. There are favorite bike trails at Camp David, at the FBI training center at Quantico - but the ranch at Crawford, Texas, is a special place. Daughter Jenna decided to forgo a White House wedding and be married at the ranch. Friends say it was her choice. The president is devoted to his wife and twin daughters. And Dan Bartlett says he's always interested in the lives of people who work with him. Bartlett's wife had twins during the 2004 presidential campaign.
WERTHEIMER: And the president was repeatedly calling from Air Force One into the hospital, trying to find out the status of the birth of my boys. And I put him on the phone with one of the nurses, and she completely freaked out. And he was trying to tell her to focus on her responsibilities, and it was pretty funny.
WERTHEIMER: And then there are the pets: the cat, India, who died recently, and two Scotch terriers. Dan Bartlett jokes the older dog, Barney, is the son the president never had. And everyone we talked to makes the point that hanging out with the president is fun even in challenging times - watching football, playing golf, biking. If only, they say, the American people knew him as we do.
WERTHEIMER: I promise you this. Anybody that has a chance to sit down and visit with George Bush will come away saying, you know what, I really like that guy. He is really a good man.
WERTHEIMER: That's Don Evans - the last word from one of the president's oldest friends. Linda Wertheimer, NPR News, Washington.
GREENE: And you can retrace some of those highs and lows of President Bush's eight years in office through an interactive timeline at npr.org.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
When Yale students return from winter break on Monday, a 160-year-old tradition will be shuttered. Mory's Temple Bar, a private club for Yalies, is nearly broke and needs a loan fast. NPR's Brian Reed reports on his alma mater.
BRIAN REED: If you've heard of Mory's, then you're probably my grandparents' age, and you probably remember Rudy Vallee or Bing Crosby covering the Whiffenpoof Song.
(SOUNDBITE OF "WHIFFENPOOF SONG")
BING CROSBY: To the tables down at Mory's To the...
REED: Jamie Warlick business manages the Whiffs, the nation's oldest college a cappella group. They've performed at Mory's every Monday since...
M: January of 1909, so we missed the hundred-year mark by not more than two weeks.
REED: I wasn't a Whiffenpoof. But I was a member of the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, an SOB. We sang at Mory's on Tuesday nights.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
REED: Singing at Mory's meant singing for cups - giant, silver, two-handled chalices filled with red or gold or green concoctions. They're alcoholic, of course, and you gulp them down while your party serenades you, then you pass the cup around the table.
M: When you drink a cup, you not only imbibe the glory of the alcohol, but the glory of the spit of everyone else that you have been drinking this cup with. It is a shared communion.
REED: That's Barry McMurtrey. He was an SOB and a Whiffenpoof, and he is an active alumnus. Barry estimates that since his freshman year in 1984, he has been to Mory's at least 800 times. But his enthusiasm is rare. In an informal survey of 100 Yale seniors, most of the non-singers said they had been to Mory's at best once a semester. Chris Getman is the new president of Mory's board of governors. He says that before any alumnus will bail them out, they need a business plan to make Mory's relevant to students again.
M: A lot of people come here because of the ambiance of the place. Then they don't come back once they've seen it.
REED: Several students said Mory's made them a bit uncomfortable. One said she disliked the, quote, masculine nostalgia of a club that didn't admit women until 1972. Noel Leon sings at Mory's every other week with Whim 'n Rhythm, the Whiffenpoof's female counterpart. She enjoys Mory's for the same reason that it kind of turns her off.
M: Mory's is really old, and that carries some things that make it really awesome and also make it strange, potentially.
REED: As for Barry? He says asking Yalies to go on without Mory's is like asking Notre Dame students to go to services in a plain, Presbyterian church.
M: We can go through the rituals in other places, but somehow the soul will be missing or languishing to be in its home.
REED: Until his dear old Temple Bar reopens, Barry will spend his Mondays and Tuesdays languishing as well. Brian Reed, NPR News.
GREENE: You can listen to full versions of the Whiffenpoof song and a song by the SOBs - both mention Mory's - on our Web site, npr.org. This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
It's the beginning of a new year, a good time to start those diets we've been talking about, and a good time to check in with our food expert, Weekend Edition food essayist Bonny Wolf. She's been studying the trends we might see in the world of food in 2009, and she's with me today to talk about what she's learned. Hi, Bonny.
BONNY WOLF: Hi, David.
GREENE: So, looking at 2009, are there two or three words that might sort of capture the food scene that we're going to see?
WOLF: Well, definitely comfort and value. As you've probably noticed, we're in uncertain times. And this is the time when we crave comfort food. The cover of Gourmet Magazine this month is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
GREENE: Just the cure for tough economic times.
WOLF: Yeah. And people are looking for bargains, too, in restaurants and at the market. Everybody's looking for a deal.
GREENE: Well, how uncertain or rough have these times been if you're a restaurant owner?
WOLF: Well, restaurants are sort of lagging indicators, but the predictions are that we are over the era of pretension, and that what we're going to see is a lot more casual, simple kind of restaurants. And they're bringing in a lot of things to entice people to spend money. So there'll be bar menus, more fixed-price meals, more flexible hours. And one thing I've heard about is breakfast all day. This is the most comforting meal to people, and now you should be able to get it whenever you want it.
GREENE: As an omelet lover, that makes me very happy.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: So, let's say you're a home cook most of the time and you're cooking in your own kitchen. Is this rough economic time affecting you at all?
WOLF: And this also may bring back, the trend-spotters say, the family dinner, which has been a victim of two-income families and after-school activities for the last few years. And it's supposed to be very good for kids. And kitchens will be greener. People will think of the ecological concerns when they put together their kitchens.
GREENE: So if I want to make that really trendy meal and impress my friends, what foods are going to be trendy in 2009?
WOLF: Well, you should probably put out a charcuterie platter. This is...
GREENE: Sounds good.
WOLF: Yeah. Pates and cured meats is very big in restaurants and possibly at home, too. Bite-sized desserts, so you don't have to eat a whole piece of German chocolate cake. You can just have a little, tiny one that comes in a spoon. A lot of things will come in spoons. Peruvian seems to be the next ethnic food that's going to be coming in. Certainly, at least Peruvian drinks. Pisco sours are expected to be big. And noodle bars, which you see a lot of in New York, may be...
GREENE: Plenty of them.
WOLF: Yeah. And there - I know there's one opening in Washington, and I think they're - that we'll see them in other places as well.
GREENE: And noodles are great comfort food.
WOLF: Absolutely. And noodles will be in soups. They'll be in main dishes. I've heard that anything with an egg on top is going to be very trendy this year, that people are going to go back to smoking food. And bargain wines - people are going to be looking for good wines that don't cost a fortune. Cost is out, and thrift is in.
GREENE: Now that you've made us all hungry, we will say goodbye. Weekend Edition food essayist Bonny Wolf, thank you.
WOLF: Thank you, David.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Now, here's something that I promise will get you up off your tush to dance.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "STRUGGLE" BY CHOPTEETH)
GREENE: Now, Chopteeth means just what it sounds like, eating one's own teeth - not that there's anyone who would be crazy enough to try to do that. But band member Michael Shereikis says that the name reflects the band's spirit, especially when they are performing live. And Michael plays guitar; he writes music for Chopteeth; and he joins us here in the studios. Hi, Michael.
M: Hello.
GREENE: And Robert Fox is also here, bass player, founding member. And welcome to you.
M: Thank you for having us, David.
GREENE: OK. So the first question has to be, explain to us where the name Chopteeth came from, and how in the world it reflects your spirit.
M: Chopteeth comes from one song by Fela Kuti. It's called "Jehin, Jehin," which means chopteeth. It translates rough - loosely as that. And it, you know, as you say, means somebody who eats their own teeth, somebody who's foolish enough to attempt something like starting a 14-piece Afro-funk band. If you're at a live show, we keep coming at you from different places. We'll play like Fela, and then - from Senegal, or Kastor Bela(ph) from Senegal, and then we'll go to Ghana and then Kenya. And then we'll play an original, and then we'll throw in, you know, a Jamaican ska tune. Occasionally, we'll even have a James Brown song where our keyboardist, Brian, sings. And there's something coming. There's always something coming for you.
GREENE: So Robert, you founded the band. What exactly did you have in mind at the time?
M: You know, the way it got started was actually, sort of a personal story. A close friend of mine was killed in a car accident, and I came back from his funeral, which was a very painful experience, and I realized that, you know, people always say, what would you do if you got hit by a truck? My friend actually was hit by a truck, and so I put some thought into, what am I missing in my life? And I realized, very fortunately, you know, I had a great family and a rewarding career. But I realized I couldn't live with myself unless I played bass in an Afro-beat band. And I'd played guitar for 25 or 30 years, and I'd been a record collector, had been a DJ for a while, you know, radio station stuff. So I was deeply obsessed with music, but I'd never played the bass before. So before I changed my mind, I went down to the music store and walked in, told the guy, sell me a bass, sell me an amp before I leave here today.
GREENE: How long ago was your friend's - was your friend's accident?
M: Almost seven years ago now.
GREENE: I mean, do you feel like this has healed in the way that you expected?
M: Healed - you know, I don't know that I would say that. I mean, it's still a painful memory. You know, his name was Zack Auckin(ph). We dedicated the album to him. But it certainly makes me feel like it's something that Zack would've really appreciated and would have, you know, wanted to do and be a part of, so...
GREENE: Well, let's listen to some of the music that he might have appreciated. This is the song "Upendo."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "UPENDO")
GREENE: OK. So I understand "Upendo" means love. Is that Swahili?
M: Yes, Swahili. That accordion you hear on there is a particular favorite aspect of that song just because, you know, that really brings that kind of really old, almost colonial-era kind of sound. You know, that sweet sort of street corner accordion sound is really a nice touch.
GREENE: So it's accordion, yeah. I wanted to ask about that. You guys are known for big band, but that didn't seem like big, big horns there. That felt like - what were we listening to?
M: It's still the same five-piece section, but it's - you know, they can play nice. Those horns can play nice sometimes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: Not always, but they try sometimes.
M: No, sometimes they're nasty. (Laughing) But, yes. So it's the same sound, you know, how you arrange them, and sometimes you separate the section that, you know, so it's not such a powerful, unified attack. I mean, that was suppose to be an uplifting kind of, you know - those pulled notes are South African kind of style. You stretch the note out.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "UPENDO")
M: You know, there's different aspects of that that kind of come from different regions of that song.
GREENE: But it's not just South African. There's Kenyan and some other East African rhythms in there as well. I guess I'm wondering, do musicians from different parts of, you know, such a giant continent - I mean, how did they feel about, you know, a band being here and trying to kind of blend from different places?
M: I think, you know, we don't - I wouldn't say that we blend in any sense willy nilly. It's, you know, all those aspects of "Upendo" are regionally consistent. In fact, generally, you know, we write in a vein so that people can find themselves inside the music. We're not trying to impress anybody or be purists about anything, you know. So far, every musician, every African musician we've played with has given us the thumbs up.
GREENE: Can you guys talk a little bit about the process of composing African music? I mean, you know, rhythm section, is there a repeating element to it, then where do you go from there?
M: I mean, I only know how we do it. So I'm sure it's done differently in different places. But yeah, it usually starts - the process usually begins with a bass line or a guitar line. And then, you know, then the process after that in building the rhythm section generally is finding where the spaces are in that line and filling the space, but not gratuitously, trying to find something that locks in nicely and makes - and kind of answers the other line. And then once you've woven all those things together, there's the horn line over the top of that and the vocals and the interaction between those. And that seems to be pretty much the way it gets built up.
M: You know, some people have perfect pitch; Michael has perfect rhythm in a very unusual way. So he'll be introducing a new song to the band, and he's playing one drum line on one foot and another drum line on the other foot. And then with the guitar, he's thumbing the bass line and then playing the melody with his fingers while he sings the horn lines to the horn section, and teaches the rest of the band how to play the song. And it's a strange thing to see, and it can be difficult to keep up with sometimes, but it's really a real inspiration for us and - so that's true.
GREENE: So is there a song where the nasty horns really come out? I mean, when you got the serious big band sound?
M: On the album, maybe "No Condition Is Permanent" is pretty head-on. "Fogo Fogo," "Eyi Su Ngaangaa, - probably that'd be the one.
M: Yeah, yeah.
GREENE: And that's - that's one of the cover songs that you guys end with on the CD?
M: Yeah. It's a hybrid. It's an old song by the Sweet Talks from Ghana from 19- like, '72 or '74. They used to play in the port town of Tema, east of Akra. And they would play for sailors in the sailors' pub. I just like to imagine that when I'm playing the song. And it means you cry like a baby, and I added a little French rap on there for good measure
GREENE: All right. Nasty horns with French rap. Let's go out on a little of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "EYI SU NGAANGAA")
GREENE: The band you're hearing is Chopteeth, and we've been joined in the studio by Michael Shereikis and Robert Fox, two of the band's 14 members. Thank you guys so much for speaking with us.
M: Thanks.
M: Thanks for having us.
GREENE: I think we're going to be dancing out of the studio.
GREENE: For more Chopteeth, go to our Web site, nprmusic.org. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm David Greene. Liane Hansen will be back next week.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm David Greene. And joining us is puzzle master Will Shortz. Hello, Will.
WILL SHORTZ: Hi, David. Welcome to the show.
GREENE: Thank you, I appreciate it. This is my first run at the puzzle. Any tips, advice since you're the expert?
SHORTZ: Well, just the advice is always sit back and do the puzzle just the way you'd do it at home. Shout out at the radio. You know, stay loose.
GREENE: And you're so loose, I understand we caught you doing your dishes today.
SHORTZ: Sixty seconds ago, I was doing my dishes.
GREENE: Is there anything special about the challenge this week and who we're going to be talking to?
SHORTZ: Yeah. I understand that our contestant's wife was the puzzle player exactly three years ago to the week. How's that for a coincidence?
GREENE: So you're going to have to convince people this thing is not totally rigged and that it is very random when we select these people.
SHORTZ: Right. You know, I have nothing to do with this. This is all done in Washington.
GREENE: There you go, blame us. Well, let's get to it. Remind us of the challenge that you left us with last week.
SHORTZ: Yes. It came from listener Louis Sargent of Portland, Oregon. I said take the last name of a famous actress in two syllables, 9 letters. Transpose the syllables, and you'll have, phonetically, the word for a common ailment. Who is the person and what is the ailment?
GREENE: And the answer is?
SHORTZ: Well, the actress is Bernhardt, as in Sarah Bernhardt, the famous stage actress. Transpose those syllables, you get heartburn.
GREENE: Well, that puzzle must have given some of our listeners both heartburn and maybe even a headache because we got fewer correct entries than last week. Just over a thousand sent in the correct answer this time. And from those correct entries, we've randomly selected Whit Morison of Bristol, Virginia, to play our puzzle on the air with us today. Whit, are you there?
WHIT MORISON: I'm here.
GREENE: Excellent. With a name like Whit, you've got to be good at puzzles, I guess.
MORISON: (Laughing) We can hope so.
GREENE: How long did it take you to solve this one?
MORISON: Well, actually, my wife and I, we collaborate. And so she got the majority of this one. It didn't take too long. What's funny is three years ago, I think I helped her on that one. So this is always a group effort.
GREENE: Puzzle team. Did you ever think that you'd both be on at some point?
MORISON: Never did. I mean, we always submit.
GREENE: How long have you been going at this with us?
MORISON: Well, we've actually been submitting since we could do it via email, but we've been listening since the postcard days.
GREENE: It sounds like with that kind of luck, maybe luck is on your side today. So are you ready to go?
MORISON: I'm ready.
GREENE: All right. Well, Whit, meet Will, and let's do it.
MORISON: Hey, Will.
SHORTZ: Hi, Whit and David. Every answer today consists of two letters of the alphabet that sound like a word or name. Fill in the blanks to get them. For example, if I said blank watermelon, you would say C-D, as in seedy watermelon. And I'll give you hints if you need them. The first one is poison blank.
MORISON: Ivy.
SHORTZ: Poison Ivy is right. Number two is blank Couric.
MORISON: Katie.
SHORTZ: Katie Couric is right. Indian blank.
MORISON: Indian...
SHORTZ: It's a dwelling.
MORISON: Tepee.
SHORTZ: Indian tepee is right. Blank listening.
MORISON: Easy.
SHORTZ: Easy listening, good. Radio format. Blank doll, D-O-L-L.
MORISON: Blank...
SHORTZ: Blank...
MORRISON: Barbie doll.
SHORTZ: Blank doll. And it is a toy.
MORISON: David?
SHORTZ: You know this one, David?
GREENE: Barbie? Kewpie?
SHORTZ: Kewpie is it. Kewpie Doll. Q-P.
GREENE: I have to say someone in our studio told me. I can't take credit for that.
MORISON: Great.
SHORTZ: OK. Try this one, blank calories. And your clue is junk food.
MORISON: High in - empty.
SHORTZ: Empty calories, good.
GREENE: Nice.
SHORTZ: Blank DeGeneres.
MORISON: Ellen.
SHORTZ: Ellen is right. Baked blank, and it's a food. Baked blank.
MORISON: Baked cake - pie.
SHORTZ: It's an Italian food.
MORISON: Ziti.
SHORTZ: All right, that just might be a name you don't know. Do you know it, David?
GREENE: Eubie?
SHORTZ: Eubie Blake. E-U-B-I-E.
GREENE: My colleague Charla Bear is just doing some serious work in the studio here. That's fantastic.
MORISON: I'm impressed, guys.
SHORTZ: How about this one? 19 blank, and it's a year.
MORISON: Eighty?
SHORTZ: You got it, 80.
MORISON: Eighty, OK.
SHORTZ: You got it. Here's the next one. Daytime blank. And it's the name of an award.
MORISON: Emmy.
SHORTZ: Daytime Emmy is right. And your last one is blank pie, and it's a term of endearment.
MORISON: Cutie.
SHORTZ: Cutie pie is it. Good job.
GREENE: Very nice.
MORISON: Wow.
GREENE: What's your wife's reaction? Whit, is she there watching this whole thing?
MORISON: No, she's not. I'm actually in my office at work.
GREENE: Well, there you go. If she had been there, if you guys had had the team going, it would have been every single one. But that was impressive.
MORISON: Yes, I helped her.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MORISON: I shouldn't say that. I was there for her when she played.
GREENE: Well, let her know she should have been here for you.
MORISON: Yeah. Actually, well, no, it's OK.
GREENE: All right. And to tell you what you've won, we have our celebrity guest. It's NPR's own Robert Siegel who is walking into the studio as we speak. Hi, Robert.
ROBERT SIEGEL: Hello, David. How are you?
GREENE: I'm well. How are you?
SIEGEL: All right. How are you holding up?
GREENE: I'm hanging in there. Any advice you have, though, let me know.
SIEGEL: Ah, I think this is the only hosting shift where Will Shortz puts questions to you and puzzles you in the middle of the job. It seems more challenging than my work.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: It might be.
SIEGEL: Hi, Will. How are you?
SHORTZ: Hi there. Good, good.
SIEGEL: I think David's doing a knockout job here. And I like the way especially, David, when you're confronted with fishy coincidence that Whit Morison's wife had done the puzzle three years ago, you addressed that with just enough skepticism so that in case it's a total fraud you were on to it...
GREENE: I appreciate that...
SIEGEL: But not so much as to offend them. And I think if you can get that down, that gear down, you're home free as a host.
GREENE: On-air praise from Robert Siegel. I'm writing the check to you as we speak. And I will hand it to you as you leave the studio.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: So you have some prizes that you're going to tell us about.
SIEGEL: I do. I - this just handed me. Hi, Whit. How are you?
MORISON: I'm well, thank you. How are you?
SIEGEL: Fine. And for playing our puzzle today, you will get a Weekend Edition lapel pin, the Eleventh Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, the Scrabble Deluxe Edition from Parker Brothers, "The Puzzlemaster Presents" from Random House, volume two, Will Shortz's latest book series, " Will Shortz Presents KenKen" volumes one, two and three from St. Martin's Press, and one of Will Shortz's "Puzzlemaster Decks" of riddles and challenges from Chronicle Books.
GREENE: Whit, did those sound familiar? Because we've looked back. Those sound like some of the very things that your wife got. So, you might be doubling up at home.
MORISON: Some are. Some are new. So that's OK.
GREENE: If you need to unload any of them, I'll give you my name and address. You're more than welcome to - I love Scrabble, so send them my way.
MORISON: (Unintelligible) if we can do that.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: Whit, you did a great job. Just before we let you go, what member station do you listen to down in Virginia?
MORISON: We are members of WETS out of Johnson City.
GREENE: Fantastic. Whit Morison of Bristol, Virginia, thank you again for playing the puzzle with us. You were great.
MORISON: Well, thank you very much. It was a pleasure.
GREENE: And Robert Siegel is still here, host of All Things Considered. You weren't so bad yourself.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
GREENE: Have you done this puzzle thing before?
SIEGEL: No, I've never done the puzzle thing with Will before, but I thought you did admirably. When you instead of a kewpie doll tried Barbie doll, I didn't know that BAR was a letter in the alphabet.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SIEGEL: But, it's OK with me.
GREENE: Will, anything for Robert Siegel before we let him go?
SHORTZ: No. Just a big fan. I listen.
GREENE: OK. Before we go, Will, you've got a challenge for us for next week.
SHORTZ: Yes. Take a very common three-letter word. Say the letters phonetically, and together they'll sound like a six-letter word meaning knockout. What is it? So, again, a very common three-letter word, say the letters phonetically and together they'll sound like a six-letter word meaning knockout. What word is it?
GREENE: Well, I'm sure we'll get a lot of knockout answers. And when you have the answer, go to our Web site, npr.org/puzzle, and click on the "Submit your Answer" link. There is only one entry per person, please. And our deadline this week, listen up, is Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern time. And please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time, and we're going to call if you're the winner. You'll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of the New York Times and Weekend Edition's own puzzle master, Will Shortz. Will, thank you.
SHORTZ: Thanks a lot, David.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm David Greene. Israel is warning residents of the Gaza Strip that its military offensive against Hamas may soon enter a new, more intense phase. The warning came as cease-fire talks in neighboring Egypt made little apparent headway. And a senior Hamas official said any hope of compromise with Israel was dead. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Cairo.
PETER KENYON: Some negotiators have proposed an international force to monitor the border crossings, but Egypt flatly refused to host foreign troops on its soil. It prefers more technical assistance of the type provided by the U.S. last year to help it locate and close smuggling tunnels. Abbas suggested international troops be placed inside Gaza, but that was quickly rejected by Hamas. Meanwhile, Hamas's top political official, Khaled Meshaal, delivered a defiant speech from Damascus in which he said the Israeli assault on Gaza had accomplished nothing, except killing off any hope of peace talks.
M: (Through Translator) You have put an end to any prospect of compromise. No Arab or Palestinian official will be able to promote compromise with you anymore.
KENYON: It's not clear if Meshaal's exhortations for Palestinians to keep fighting, delivered from the safety of Damascus, will inspire Gaza residents. As heavy fighting was reported in the suburbs of Gaza City, many fear that the worst is yet to come. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.
U: This story contains some graphic descriptions of violence.
ERIC WESTERVELT: We interviewed Mahsouda al-Somuni(ph) in her hospital bed at Al-Quds Hospital in south Gaza City, where she's recovering from shrapnel wounds. The 20-year-old tears up and pauses several times, seemingly lost in pain as she describes how dozens of members of the extended Somuni family had crowded into her cousin's house to try to avoid the fighting in the area. She says they were running out of everything.
M: (Through Translator) We were there for almost three days, Israeli shells and rockets falling all the time. Really, we never saw anything like that before. The kids needed food and water, and there just wasn't any.
WESTERVELT: We were screaming. And the kids, too, were screaming, she says. Gaza medics say 30 people in the house were killed, including Mahsouda's husband and 10-month-old son, who, she says, died while she was holding him.
M: (Through Translator) I was cradling my infant baby in my arms, and the second little boy was on my legs, and my third son was behind me. The infant was hit in his stomach with two pieces of shrapnel. He's so small and weak. I saw his head flop down, and he opened his mouth. So I knew he was dead.
WESTERVELT: Mahsouda says she and her sister-in-law fled in panic to a nearby house carrying her kids, including her dead son. Israeli soldiers were deployed less than one hundred yards away, she says, but wounded family members went more than two and a half days without medical care. It's not clear the Somunis asked the Israeli army for any medical treatment.
O: dead bodies, and kids too weak to move from lack of food and water.
M: Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the BBC an independent investigation should be launched. The events in Zeitun, Pillay said, display elements of what may constitute war crimes.
M: There's an international obligation on the part of soldiers in that position to protect civilians, not to kill civilians indiscriminately in the first place - and when they do, to make sure that they help the wounded. And in this particular case, these children were helpless, and the soldiers were close by. So I would say that all these call for urgent, independent, transparent investigation.
WESTERVELT: It's the second time in a week the U.N. has called for an investigation of Israeli military conduct in Gaza. The U.N. continues to call for an independent probe of the Israeli mortar strike Tuesday that killed some 40 civilians who'd taken shelter at the U.N.-run Jabaliya Prep Girls School in north Gaza. The Israelis say they were taking fire from militants near the school. Israel Defense Force spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovich says the army is looking into events in Zeitun.
M: Well, we are trying to do the utmost to prevent civilian casualties. We are doing an investigation into Zeitun, and I believe that we are looking into it with the utmost seriousness.
WESTERVELT: The scene in Zeitun was hardly the only horrific story of civilian dead to emerge from Gaza. In the rubble-strewn streets of the Zayfia(ph) neighborhood, Red Cross workers say they saw the charred, dead bodies of several children whose remains, it appeared, had been ravaged by the wild dogs common across Gaza City. Eyad Nasser is with the Red Cross in Gaza.
M: We collected three bodies from the side of the road of two children and one baby, 1-and-a-half-years-old baby, eaten by wild animals, it seemed, from the street.
WESTERVELT: Nasser says his colleague, a veteran Red Cross worker, told him: I've never seen such images, and what I've seen will haunt me for the rest of my life. Eric Westervelt, NPR News.
: NPR assistant Ahmed Abu Hamda in Gaza City contributed to that story. Israel continues to bar foreign reporters from entering the territory.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
The presidential inauguration is today - well, as far as its choreographers are concerned. Thousands of band members, military personnel, even a faux first family are taking over a part of Washington, D.C., this morning for a massive practice run of the inaugural ceremonies and also the parade. NPR's Allison Keyes is on the scene. We spoke to her a bit earlier. Hi, Allison.
ALLISON KEYES: Hi. How are you?
GREENE: Very well, thanks. So tell me what you're seeing, hearing out there.
KEYES: I am seeing exactly what the president-elect will be seeing on the morning of January 20th - less about a million people, I should say. All the players are here today. The military band is here. There are people standing in for the president-elect, outgoing President George W. Bush, and living presidents such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter are all here. They're wearing placards around their necks so that we'll know who is who.
GREENE: Good - that you can identify them. Well, how many people are actually out there, if not the millions that we'll see in a short while?
KEYES: There are somewhat more than 3,000 people out here today. You have the military personnel. You have the military band. And there are actually members of the general public that are standing behind the rows of chairs and porta-potties that are already set up today. It's a pretty cool thing.
GREENE: So the actual event on the 20th is going to be massive. I mean, what kind of problems are organizers hoping to address or learn about by going through this thing today?
KEYES: They also are dealing with what happens inside the Capitol because there are people that actually have to bring out the members of the Supreme Court, the joint chiefs and the president. So they will be spending all day doing real-time run-throughs to make sure that everything is working correctly.
GREENE: Well, I've got to ask you: How did they pick people to play, you know, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and the families? I mean, did they win some kind of contest or something?
KEYES: I'm not sure that there is an actual contest. But they did choose members of the actual military. And they had to choose people that look like the president and the first lady. So for the first time this year, an African-American couple is being the president and first lady. For President-elect Barack Obama is Army Staff Sergeant Derrick Brooks, who's been in the military for seven and a half years. Standing in for Michelle Obama is Navy Yeoman First Class Leshaun McCray(ph). She says she is very excited and honored to be here, even if it's just for a drill. They even have people standing in for the Obama children: 14-year-old Dominique Celo(ph) and 10-year-old Giana Justice Samora Nixon(ph).
GREENE: And the band is practicing as well, it sounds like. I'm glad everyone has nametags just to - everyone has nametags to avoid any confusion.
KEYES: Yes.
GREENE: Allison, thank you very much.
KEYES: You're welcome.
GREENE: NPR's Allison Keyes she's reporting for us from the dress rehearsal for the presidential inauguration here in Washington, D.C.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Well, regardless of how people feel about him personally, President Bush's legacy will certainly be dominated by his stewardship of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last month, we ran a series of stories and interviews about the impact of those wars on members of the U.S. military and their families. Listeners said they also wanted to learn more about how war affects people living in war zones. And so we've turned our focus to the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week, we talked to NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Kabul. Today, we turn to Iraqis.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS)
GREENE: The war in Iraq started nearly six years ago. Since then, countless Iraqi civilians have lost their lives, killed by military action, sectarian attacks and criminal acts. And while civilian deaths have dropped dramatically over the last year, Iraqis still perish from random violence every day. Just last Sunday, 40 died when a woman walked into a crowd of religious pilgrims near a shrine in Baghdad and blew herself up. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro has been in and out of Iraq since before the invasion, and she joins us now from NPR's bureau in Baghdad to talk about the toll on civilians. Lulu, welcome.
LOURDES GARCIA: Thank you.
GREENE: So can you give us a big picture? I mean, how many Iraqi civilians have died? Do we have a sense?
GARCIA: The short answer, David, is no. We don't know. Let me go through the numbers. The gold standard, really, is Iraq Body Count. According to their Web site, which we use, they estimate that there are 98,560 civilians that have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion. They get their data crosschecked from media reports, hospitals, morgues here, and official Iraqi figures. It's probably an extremely low number, but it's the most credible one out there for now. The Brookings Institution gives a figure of about 115,000, and there was one very controversial and very well-known report published in 2006 in The Lancet that estimates almost 800,000 Iraqis have died.
GREENE: Well, I mean, we're dealing with human lives. Why is it so tough to come up with some concrete numbers, or even something close to concrete numbers?
GARCIA: It's a hugely controversial issue. For example, the U.S. military says it doesn't do body counts. But we know they do keep some sort of tally. They just choose not to release those numbers. And the reason is obvious. It makes them look bad. I've also spoken to Iraq's government about this many times. And their health ministry, for example, no longer releases its figures to the United Nations. They used to write a report about civilian deaths. And they give the same reason. They feel it makes them look bad.
GREENE: And I know you've done a lot of work trying to bring this to our listeners. And we wanted to play a clip from a report that you filed. And in this piece, you were taking us to Baghdad Central Morgue, and relatives were looking at pictures of unclaimed bodies.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVE REPORT)
GARCIA: The pictures are flashing silently by. I see a charred corpse, a young man shot in the head, a man that's been garroted with barbed wire, a bearded man whose face is contorted in a grimace of pain. These are the victims who ended up in mass graves. There's barely anything to identify them as human.
GREENE: I mean, Lulu, how do Iraqis cope?
GARCIA: Well, it's extremely difficult. I mean, to go to Baghdad Central Morgue is really a chilling experience. You have families showing up there that are looking for their loved ones. And every time they recognize one of their loved ones, it's the enormous pain and suffering. It's a personal war. So many people have suffered. So many people have had their friends, their family killed or wounded. It's the big, sort of untold, almost, story of Iraq.
GREENE: And when you're talking to Iraqis about this pain, I mean, do they try to assign blame? Do they point at the U.S.? Do they look at Islamist extremists or sectarian militias?
GARCIA: It really depends who you're talking to. I was speaking to a family in Fallujah just the other day, and this one particular family had had five of their brothers killed in different ways. Two of them had joined the insurgency and had been killed by the Americans. Another one had been killed by al-Qaeda extremists. Another person was killed in random sectarian violence. It was sort of a story of the conflict in Iraq. But certainly, many Iraqis do feel that this was all brought on, obviously, by the U.S.-led invasion.
GREENE: Looking at one positive - I mean, we mentioned in the intro that civilian deaths did sharply decrease in 2008. Why do you think that was? Did the surge have something to do with it?
GARCIA: The surge was, of course, a pivotal thing that happened in Iraq, when the U.S. troops came into Baghdad and secured the city. But, I mean, there were other reasons as to why those deaths decreased. First of all, there was the Sadrist movement. The Mahdi Army loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared a cease-fire. We also saw the tribal leaders allied to al-Qaeda turn against them - the awakening movement, if you will - and started fighting al-Qaeda. And now you see places like Anbar, which was one of the most violent places in the country, as - I was just there the other day, and it is very secure. Baghdad - people are out, people feel safe, they go out to parks. There is this lingering fear, but Baghdad as a city is a much safer city than it was just a year ago.
GREENE: NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro. She joined us from NPR's bureau in Baghdad. Lulu, thank you.
GARCIA: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
So there's a little less flash in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show this weekend. It's the industry's annual showcase, where companies show off their crispest flat-screen TVs, their smartest smartphones, and all those loud video games. There is still a lot of all that, but the rough economy is just as much a presence this year as the GPS navigators and all the stereo systems. NPR's Laura Sydell has been to the trade show many times in the past, and she joins us now from Las Vegas. Hi, Laura.
LAURA SYDELL: Hello, David.
GREENE: OK. So how is this year different from all these other trade shows you've been to?
SYDELL: So really all you saw was, for example, for a hundred dollars you could get a charger that you could put on your backpack, and it could recharge your phone, or an electric bicycle. So, even that was still pretty low-key. And unfortunately for the industry, this hasn't been a year where they had some kind of big breakthrough.
GREENE: It is not a city that is known for having a low-key side. I mean, I guess this means the electronics industry isn't doing that well. Is it in as bad shape as the rest of the economy?
SYDELL: Well, it isn't as bad as the rest of the economy, but sales were pretty flat over the holiday season. And for an industry that's used to seeing double-digit growth, flat is bad. So there's a lot of concern about that. The kinds of things that were selling were a lot of home electronics because I think a lot of people are getting ready for the digital television transition. And a lot of people are thinking, well, we're not going to go out. We'll stay home and watch TV. So you saw sales there, but nothing stellar this year.
GREENE: Any trends we can talk about in terms of price or gadgetry you're seeing?
SYDELL: I also saw glasses that had a phone in them. So you could be walking along and instead of just having your little Bluetooth headset, you'll be talking into your glasses.
GREENE: Cool, I'm taking notes. I'm going to send you a list of things to bring back.
SYDELL: I will do that.
GREENE: Enjoy the show. And I hope you get a little time out on the strip as well. Thanks a lot. That's NPR's Laura Sydell. She is at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Thanks, Laura.
SYDELL: You're welcome.
GREENE: And there's a lot more about the show on our Web site, npr.org, including a guide to green technology and also, five new ways to listen to music.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
We did get some good feedback on our new series that celebrates seniors who are still moving and grooving well past retirement age. The story of 85-year-old former college professor and garlic farmer Chester Aaron struck a personal cord with Jill Brusco-Fox of Sacramento, California. She had this to say.
M: I attended St. Mary's College and was a student of Professor Aaron. He truly was a gem. And although I enjoyed writing before I took his class, he taught me the power of words and writing. It has served me well throughout my career. I am so glad to hear he is still enjoying all that life has to offer. He continues to be an inspiration.
GREENE: Chet Smalley from Erie, Pennsylvania, liked last week's segment about the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth. Chet said Mr. Braille's invention - that alphabet of raised dots - has been important to him.
M: First, thank you for taking a little time - 2 minutes and 59 seconds - to observe the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth. I've been reading Braille since the age of 6, thanks in large part to my wise mother, the former Irma Wise, who insisted in 1961 that, despite the fact that I still had some useable sight, the Buffalo school system teach me to read Braille in case my sight departed. Indeed, it did, and I've been literate into middle age owing to my mother's wisdom.
GREENE: You might remember last week's story about a veteran stone carver who says his craft is dying out in favor of laser-carved gravestones. Dirk Burrowes of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who is president and CEO of Vytek Lasers, had this to say.
M: Stone carving continues to be in demand for monuments using traditional lettering and sculpting motifs. For consumers who want to create personalized life story memorials with detailed images, computer-driven laser engraving is the technology of choice. Computers, laser machines and other modern tools have revolutionized the art and technology of monument building, improving on the limited choices provided by the traditional hand carving and sandblasting.
GREENE: Blast us your thoughts, comments or complaints. Just go to npr.org, and click on the "Contact Us" link. And also, don't forget to visit our blog, npr.org/soapbox, where you'll see NPR's Scott Simon with a football jersey on his head.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Today, of course, is football Sunday. NFL fans are eating happily this morning in Baltimore and Phoenix; the Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals won big playoff games on the road yesterday. Today, more games, more stressed-out fans. We wanted to talk to one. So we called up Randy Robinson. His Philadelphia Eagles play the New York Giants today. Randy does love those Eagles.
M: It's like a relationship and a marriage that is almost going well. You're working toward this goal, goal, goal and you fall short, or sometimes you get over the hump. You really, really are drawn into it mentally and emotionally, and every aspect of your life is relative to it.
GREENE: You guys have had one of those up and down years that makes a football fan want to just give up and watch tennis.
M: Oh, yeah. And I think this is why Philadelphia is one of the cities that leads in purchasing jerseys because the team make you rip up your damn jersey and burn it during the season, only to come back and make the playoffs. You go out and buy a new one.
GREENE: Have you ripped up a jersey this year?
M: I threw mine away already. I mean, I was already on the get rid of Andy Reid, you know...
GREENE: Your coach.
M: Get rid of the guy bandwagon. Honestly, hey, maybe they're OK this week, but we'll see, though. This year has been the most miraculous year for them ever to make the playoffs. I mean, they were dead in the water just a few weeks ago.
GREENE: OK. So I understand that you go to the same bar every single week...
M: Yeah, I mean. Philadelphia, we're such avid fans, it's really difficult - I mean, the waiting list for season tickets, you've got to be (unintelligible) like your third generation. So, Philadelphia has lots of rituals. And most of them, you know, we're a neighborhood city, so people have their local spot or their - the place they go there. And mine is Cavanaughs(ph). The best part about Cavanaughs is that because of the influx of those students at Penn and Drexel, you get fans for every team there. And the Philadelphia fans love to come in and persecute them and torment them. So Cavanaughs will be...
GREENE: That's like tormenting college students from other parts of the country. That's...
M: Yeah. We got people from other parts of the country here quite often, and they all dissipate by the third or fourth weeks of the season. They're all there the first...
GREENE: They get scared of people like you, right?
M: GREENE So have you any of those weird superstitions on game day that you want to tell us about?
M: No. I mean, where is a decision. It's just that we have to sit at the exact same table, and the chairs have got to be configured the same way. And if we were not to sit at our table, we wouldn't come. We'd leave. We've got to sit on our table, and everybody is sitting there in their same, exact seats.
GREENE: That's not weird at all. That sounds like a very normal superstition. Randy Robinson, joining us from Philadelphia, where he is a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan. Randy, thank you.
M: Absolutely. Thank you very much. E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!
GREENE: OK. Randy may have his chant. We Pittsburgh Steelers fans have our song. That's the Steelers' polka.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "STEELERS FIGHT SONG")
U: (Singing) We're from the town with that great football team. We cheer the Pittsburgh Steelers.
GREENE: Randy's getting ready for his game. I'm getting ready for mine. I've gotten a few funny looks this morning in the studio because I'm decked out in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. My Steelers play in the other game today against the San Diego Chargers. And the Chargers have hurt me before. They upset us in the 1994 AFC Championship game. That is not going to happen again, I will tell you. And - there's the studio door. And hi, Scott. It's NPR's Scott Horsley. Why - what - why - what are you doing here?
SCOTT HORSLEY: Well, David, I - you know, I've just moved to Washington to try to fill your big shoes as a White House reporter. And I came here after 14 years in San Diego.
GREENE: That's great. That's a lovely city, and I hope there are going to be some very ticked-off football fans this weekend.
HORSLEY: Well, you know, no one has ever called Chargers fans the best in the NFL...
GREENE: No, not even close, actually.
HORSLEY: We're sort of notoriously fair-weather fans, but that's appropriate because it's...
GREENE: And are you one of the fair-weather fans yourself? I've never seen you wear Chargers stuff around the office or...
HORSLEY: I'm actually, you know, a born and raised Denver Bronco fan, but I've lived in San Diego for a long time. And since they clobbered the Broncos a couple of weeks ago, I guess I'll be rooting for them on Sunday.
GREENE: Are we able to cue up that polka that we played a few minutes ago? Because I would love this in Scott's ear - a lot. There we go, louder. That's great.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "STEELERS FIGHT SONG")
GREENE: I think maybe we need a new lock for that door to the studio. Well, happy football Sunday, especially to a man named John Poinor(ph) of Craton, Pennsylvania. He is 87 years old and says he has not missed a Steelers game since 1945. Let's win one for him. Go, Steelers. By the way, if you're a New York Giants fan, and you don't feel like we've given you enough love here, go to our blog, npr.org/soapbox. Our editor Tony Marcano(ph), who's decked out in his own jersey today, writes about life as a Giants fan. And you can also add your thoughts. Tell us about your team, and tell us if your face is painted today. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm David Greene. Liane Hansen will be back next week.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
The Detroit Auto Show is opening later this week, and usually it's a big blowout where American and foreign car makers show off their future models and dream cars. But this year's show comes during the worst sales in decades, and two of Detroit's Big Three companies, GM and Chrysler, would probably be bankrupt by now were it not for government loans. NPR's Frank Langfitt covers the auto industry, and he's going to the show's press preview today. Hi, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT: Hey, David.
GREENE: So what are we expecting to hear when you head to this press preview? And I guess, how is the show going to differ from what we've seen in the past?
LANGFITT: Well, as you know, David, this is a lot more than just a trade show. This is the biggest event in Detroit's social calendar. It's a big extravaganza usually. It's a kind of Vegas comes to Motown. Last year, Chrysler had a herd of cattle. They ran them downtown to promote the upcoming Dodge Ram. Well this year, it's going to look a lot different. I think it's going to be a lot more subdued and frugal. Nissan has actually pulled out. We're not going to see the big parties and the free drinks. And one of the major reasons is these three Detroit companies, they're scrimping. They don't have a lot of money. GM and Chrysler are now operating with billions of dollars in taxpayer loans from the Bush administration. And right now, most of the plants around here, they're shut down because just not many people are buying cars.
GREENE: Well, tell us what kind of products we might see coming out of the show, and maybe if any of these products might help the auto industry pull out of this slide over time.
LANGFITT: Well, you know, given the high fuel prices from the summer, and of course our economy, there's going to be a big emphasis on smaller cars and alternative energy. Chrysler might have an electric concept car. We'll be probably seeing a plug-in from a Chinese company. Also seeing some next-generation hybrids like the Prius. I talked to Sean McAlinden this weekend. He's the chief economist at the Center for Auto Research in Ann Arbor, it's a think tank. And here's how he described the industry's mindset going into the show.
M: They're sticking to their green guns, there isn't any question about it, and their small-car guns. Ford has a tremendous product plan on small cars. There's even rumors they'll get styling right a little bit.
LANGFITT: You know, Sean just mentioned Ford, and that's a company I'm very curious about. It's the healthiest of the Detroit Three. They have some money. They're not - they don't have a government loan, and they're further along in their turnaround plan. One thing we will see is a redesigned Taurus. You remember, that was a really successful car. It competed well against the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. But they allowed it to languish, and it nearly died.
GREENE: When we talk about the health of these companies, I guess Chrysler is known as the weakest of the Detroit Three. Any idea what they're going to be doing at the show?
LANGFITT: You know, I don't know what to expect. I'm really - that's one I'm very curious about as well. Most analysts think Chrysler is going to be broken up. It's not really big enough and doesn't have enough strong brands to compete, and the owner, the private equity firm Cerberus, most people here think they're just looking for a buyer right now to kind of get out of what's turned out to be a bad investment. So I hear they're working very hard on this show, but I kind of wonder how the company is going to manage all this uncertainty and gloom, you know, in a public arena.
GREENE: Well, you said it's a big social event. Maybe the show could distract some people away from their economic troubles in a good way. That's NPR's Frank Langfitt speaking to us from Detroit. Thank you, Frank.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, David.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Just as Detroit is struggling, so are cities and local governments nationwide. They're faced with lower tax revenue and rising costs. But one Chicago suburb is bucking the trend. Chicago Public Radio's Adriene Hill reports on one municipality that's actually giving tax money back to its residents.
ADRIENE HILL: OK. So this probably sounds like some sort of magical dreamland. But even in a recession, the village of Crestwood, Illinois, a small community with about 12,000 people, has surplus funds that it's redistributing to eligible homeowners. Of course, this is real life we're talking about, so there's paperwork to fill out.
U: Fill up the what? The top two?
U: These two bottom lines.
U: Oh, I'm sorry.
HILL: The village clerk has to review all the documents, and stamps applications with a satisfying, inky pound.
(SOUNDBITE OF STAMP)
HILL: In 2008, homeowners here got about a quarter of their total property tax bill back. So someone who paid $3,000 in property taxes got a check for about $750. Marilyn Sullivan is in line at the office, waiting to apply for her refund. She's lived in Crestwood for 22 years.
M: There was a time I thought about maybe moving, and then I thought about my little tax refund and I thought, oh no. I just - this is like my little heaven.
HILL: And do you have friends in nearby towns who are jealous of your tax refund?
M: Oh, you better believe it. You better believe it. Enough that I had one of my friends move here, you know, because of that. And - yes, they're wondering, like, how come your town got it?
HILL: And that's the thousand dollar - or so - question. How, especially in a recessionary economy, is this village able to send the money back to its residents? Mayor Robert Stranczek says it takes a lot of work and a lot of frugality.
M: It's been the village's policy for over 40 years to run the village as a business.
HILL: The tax rebate has been in place for more than a decade. It works like this: Sales taxes from two shopping centers in the village are set aside for the tax surplus fund. It's that money that gets mailed back to residents, giving them an added incentive to shop in their community. And, Stranczek says, the village manages its costs. It saves up to buy what it needs, things like repaving neighborhood sidewalks and building a community pool.
M: Oh, you know, we see how Crestwood is, to a lot of people, the envy of the South Side here, and we're proud of that. And we put a lot of work into that actually, too. It's a lot easier to go around and pass bonds and pass tax referendums and get more money, but it's not the prudent thing to do, as we see in other forms of government.
HILL: The village has privatized some city services, including garbage collection, accounting and payroll. Village workers aren't unionized, and it leans heavily on volunteers and part-time workers.
M: We have 25 full-time employees for our village, and we have 12,000 residents here. We have a full-time police chief, but then we have part-time officers who work there. We have a volunteer fire department. So a lot of our expenses there are lower from other communities that have full-time forces.
HILL: Even Stranczek works part time. He also runs a trucking company. Professor Michael Pagano researches municipal finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He says privatizing village services and counting on part-timers can help a village like Crestwood manage its budget. But there is a downside.
P: You often lose a lot of loyalty. There's a commitment to dedication of the work force that is questioned by having either part-time employees, or having employees in which the work is contracted out or on an occasional basis.
HILL: And, he says, with privatized labor, municipalities have the additional responsibility of making sure services are actually being delivered. AFSCME, a government employees labor union, argues that privatization can lead to lower-quality public services. But no one I talked to in Crestwood had any concerns. Though when I talk to them, they were signing up to get some of their tax dollars back. For NPR News, I'm Adriene Hill in Chicago.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
One month ago, an American expert on kidnapping was himself abducted in northern Mexico. He hasn't been heard from since. Felix Batista had been invited to the relatively quiet city of Saltillo to give seminars on corporate security. Batista worked as a private hostage negotiator, and his former employer says he successfully resolved nearly a hundred kidnappings. His abduction underscores the rampant kidnapping problem in Mexico. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Mexico City.
JASON BEAUBIEN: This week in Miami, Felix Batista's wife, Lourdes, made an impassioned plea for her husband's life. She appealed to his captors to let him go.
M: I beg you with all the strength in my heart to please have mercy.
BEAUBIEN: Batista disappeared on December 10th after getting into an SUV outside a Saltillo restaurant. Local officials say they're not calling his disappearance a kidnapping because so far, there's been no ransom demand. In fact, there's been no contact with Batista at all. Kidnapping has become a major criminal enterprise in Mexico. Various gangs attack all levels of society. Some run express kidnappings, in which a person is held just long enough to withdraw the daily limit from their ATM cards. Others grab the children of poor merchants and extract ransoms of several hundred dollars. More sophisticated gangs target the upper-middle class, the rich and foreign business executives. Initial ransom demands in these cases can be in the millions of dollars. Batista was part of an industry that specializes in negotiating with these hostage takers.
M: Any Western business that has operations, whether it be manufacturing in Mexico, have K kidnap and ransom insurance, on their executives.
BEAUBIEN: Fred Burton is the vice president of counter-terrorism and Corporate Security at Stratfor, a private intelligence company based in Austin, Texas. Burton used to work on hostage situations for the U.S. State Department. He says kidnappings are increasing in Mexico, and have become so common that large companies factor them in as part of the cost of doing business. And the criminals, Burton says, know this.
M: The facts are, most companies do pay.
BEAUBIEN: Last year, two high-profile kidnapping cases dominated the news in Mexico. One was the abduction of the teenage daughter of a former cabinet minister. The other was the abduction of the teenage son of a fitness-chain mogul. Both families offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to the kidnappers, yet both children were killed.
M: (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: Felix Batista, in an interview with Seguridad Total TV before he was abducted, estimated that 20 percent of victims in Mexico are mutilated, raped or killed by their captors - a rate that he says is far higher than anywhere other than Iraq. Batista goes on to advise how to survive a kidnapping.
M: (Spanish spoken)
BEAUBIEN: First, he says, remain calm. Then, try to get rid of any information or photos in your wallet or purse about your family. He advises people to give their captors the minimum amount of information possible. Give the kidnappers just one contact with whom they can open negotiations. Most kidnappings, he says, are resolved in a few days or a week. The fact that Batista hasn't been heard from for a month is, by his own view on these things, a bad sign. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Mexico City.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Barack Obama's rise to the presidency is strongly rooted in battles for racial equality in the U.S. And during the past month, in anticipation of his inauguration, we've looked back at the modern civil rights movement, from the landmark Brown versus Board of Education decision, to civil rights activists forcing the government to confront segregation, to the powerful legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. NPR News analyst Juan Williams has written several books on civil rights history, and our series of conversations with him continues today with a look at the growth of African-American political power. Hi, Juan.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Hello, David.
GREENE: Just for some perspective, pre-Barack Obama, has any minority or woman candidate ever really come close to winning the presidency?
WILLIAMS: Short answer, David, no. But it's an interesting list, nonetheless. I mean, if you think about it, the closest that anyone ever came was Jesse Jackson Sr. His son is obviously in Congress now. But you think back to 1988, he ran in '84 and '88, and he came in second in delegate count in '88, and gave quite a speech at the 1988 convention in Atlanta.
(SOUNDBITE FROM 1988 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION)
GREENE: As a testament to the struggles of those who have gone before, as a legacy for those who will come after, tomorrow night, my name will go in nomination for presidency of the United States of America.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
WILLIAMS: There are others that are on the list that, I think, you will find interesting. You can't forget that Shirley Chisholm became really, the first black candidate in the modern era for president, 1972. A black woman from Brooklyn, New York. And then you've had people ranging from Alan Keyes on the Republican side to Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley Braun. Sharpton and Braun both ran in '04. Don't forget Doug Wilder. And also, don't forget Eldridge Cleaver. Remember, the old Black Panther, he ran in '68, as did the comedian Dick Gregory.
GREENE: So you've been thinking about all this. Is there one election that we look to that signaled the start of modern black politics?
WILLIAMS: And Stokes had been in the Ohio legislature. But right after you see Stokes elected, then you get black mayors. Tom Bradley in Los Angeles comes in '73, David Dinkins in New York in '89. And of course, Doug Wilder is governor of Virginia in '89. Now, you're at a height for blacks in Congress, about 43, Latinos in the Congress today at 31, women in the Congress today, 91. You know, we shouldn't go through this whole conversation without mentioning the closest any woman has ever come to winning the presidency was Hillary Clinton in 2008.
GREENE: So certainly a historic moment, not just for Barack Obama. Well, if we look sort of broadly over the years, when did minorities start to gain this presence in national politics?
WILLIAMS: So if you stop and think about it in those terms, that's when you start to see black people playing on the national stage. And yet it wasn't until '72, really, that you had Shirley Chisholm really making an impression that a black person could run for president.
GREENE: And then we come to the 2008 campaign. And speaking of amazing moments, I mean, we have this figure, Barack Obama, and his quick rise, and everyone talking about how he can potentially be the first black president, except really him. And I was struck during his campaign that - he did give in Philadelphia that one day a really heartfelt speech on race. But after that, he didn't really emphasize it that much in the campaign. Why was that, and does his victory really signal a break with much of civil rights history and the kinds of campaigns with black politicians that we've seen?
WILLIAMS: Well, David, I think that's the question that we have to come to next week. You know, the whole issue of, is he a break with this legacy, this tremendous history, or is he some kind of new adventure, new arm, reaching out into history? And I don't think there's any question that Barack Obama represents so much of women, minorities breaking into American politics at the highest level, but is he a break with much of this history? Let's talk about it next week.
GREENE: We certainly will. We've been talking to Juan Williams, NPR News analyst. He's the author of "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years." It's the companion volume to the acclaimed PBS series. He's also written a critically acclaimed biography of Thurgood Marshall, "And My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience." Juan, thanks for being here.
WILLIAMS: My pleasure, David. Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Barack Obama's election has already had a palpable impact in Europe. It's giving Europe's millions of minorities a new sense of pride and empowerment. NPR's senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli joins us now from Rome to talk about her three-part series on minorities and racism in Europe, which airs on Morning Edition this week. Hi, Sylvia.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Hi. David.
GREENE: So you've been traveling to several countries, I understand, for the past few weeks. What are you seeing as far as an Obama effect on the continent?
POGGIOLI: Well, you know, I found that the biggest impact was among minorities. Everyone I spoke to was euphoric. This is how some young rappers in the poor housing projects of Jean-Villier(ph) outside of Paris reacted when I told them that I was American.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
POGGIOLI: They cheered, Obama's election is out of this world. It seems to me that the election of an African-American has inspired a new kind of consciousness among minorities and immigrants in Europe, and has emboldened many of them to begin demanding their full civil rights.
GREENE: Well, let's talk about civil rights in Europe. Is there a lack of civil rights legislation in the continent, or is it there and it's just not being applied?
POGGIOLI: It's there, and it's not applied. And also, there is a deep-rooted reluctance to embrace the idea of a multicultural society. There are millions of people of immigrant origin now in Europe, and they're economically crucial in a continent with low birth rates and aging populations. But everywhere I went, in Germany, in France and in Italy, these people are not considered full-fledged members of society, even when they have citizenship. A German political scientist, Jan Tekau(ph), told me that traditionally, the concept of national identity in Europe is based on exclusion.
M: For hundreds and thousands of years, identities were created by excluding those who were not part of the crowd, by drawing up borders, and this is why becoming a German, when you are from Africa or Asia or Turkey or elsewhere, is such a difficult thing because not only do you have to subscribe to everything that's normal here, you also have to overcome this exclusion barrier.
GREENE: And if we're seeing these exclusion barriers, as we heard there, Sylvia, I mean, are you seeing the same ones in all the countries you reported on, or how do the situations differ?
POGGIOLI: Mass immigration arrived later and much faster in Italy than in most other European countries, and Italians are obviously unprepared. Among all Europeans, they're the most hostile toward immigrants. Amnesty International has accused Italian politicians of legitimizing racist language. Jean-Leonard Touadi, the only black member of the Italian parliament, told me politicians' favorite buzz word is security.
M: Security means, first of all, all migrants are criminals or potentially criminals, and this is not true. That that means to indicate to the Italian population what is the heart of their insecurity.
GREENE: I know those rappers that you played for us sounded pretty emboldened by the Obama election. Has this moment in the United States emboldened minorities around the continent?
POGGIOLI: Perhaps the most immediate impact of the U.S. election, though, has been in France, which has been rocked in the past by riots by minority youth. President Nicolas Sarkozy has felt the pressure. Last month, he acknowledged the failure to achieve a color-blind society, and he nominated a new diversity czar. He is Yazit Sabeg. He - a self-made millionaire whose parents were Algerian immigrants. He's promoting American-style affirmative-action policies, long a taboo because they clash with French ideals of egalitarianism.
M: What has happened in the States, it's a lesson for us. We have to start a process to transform the French society and to admit that we have to correct the equality.
POGGIOLI: Now, nobody expects Europe to produce an Obama of its own anytime soon. However, France seems to be taking the lead in acknowledging that European societies can no longer see themselves as monocultural and monoethnic.
GREENE: We've been talking to NPR senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli, and you can listen to the first part of Sylvia's series on minorities and racism in Europe on Morning Edition tomorrow. Thanks so much for speaking with us, Sylvia.
POGGIOLI: Thank you, David.
DAVID GREENE, Host:
Throughout this month, we're focusing on the extraordinary experiences of older generations in a series we've titled, "The Ninth Inning." And today, we're going to introduce you to dancer Dorothy Toy Fong of Oakland, California.
M: I like to dance, and that makes me feel lively.
GREENE: Lively at 91 years old. Dorothy did take a fall recently, but she didn't stay down long. She teaches dance these days, and was back with her students last week. Now, when we spoke to Dorothy, she took us back to a different time, 1934. She and her dance partner, Paul Wing, were just starting their career.
M: We started in that "Happiness Ahead" with Dick Powell.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC AND TAP DANCING)
GREENE: You are the one Only you beneath the moon and under the sun Whether near to me or far It's no matter...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
M: Day and night Why is it so That is...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
M: But on the other numbers, our arranger would arrange different music for us.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
M: It's called "Best Dishes."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "BEST DISHES")
M: Oh my goodness. It was me ...(laughing). I do not know how to describe the dance. It wasn't a ballroom, it wasn't a jazz, it was a swing number, and it had a little bit of Lindy in it, a little rock and roll, just a little bit of that. We had little snatches of everything, but we did it ballroom style.
GREENE: Snatches of everything, including a Russian dance. She called it one of her favorites.
M: Because it was always bent knees and doing ronde de jambe in a plie position all across the stage, which would always get a big hand, and that was our last number. And then my partner would do his splits and jumps up off of the piano into a split, and things like that.
GREENE: Their act drew invitations to perform around the world. Toy and Wing broke ground in 1939, when they became the first Asians to perform at the London Palladium. For that trip, they crossed the Atlantic on the ocean liner Normandy as enthusiastic and naive young dancers really living a fairy tale - until war began to get in the way.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN)
GREENE: Dorothy vividly remembers being in London when that first air-raid siren rang out.
M: We were at church one day, and we heard the sirens going.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN)
M: We were not too smart. We never knew what was going on, but we saw all the people leaving the church. So the siren meant that they saw a plane coming. So we didn't know, because we're too young, and we're unaware of things. So when the church emptied out, and we're still sitting there and then all of a sudden, the priest leaves and the altar boy leaves, and we thought, well, we'd better go out and follow the priest. So we went outside and followed the priest. This is really ridiculous, but when you're two young people who don't know too much - so we went down to where the priest was going, and there was all the people down below, way down below of the - where all the underground is.
U: Down here on the platforms of the famous Piccadilly Tube in the heart of London's West End. It's one of the saddest results of the war that women, children and men, in that order - men are in the minority here - have to be here at all. Many are bombed out of their homes. All looked tired, but they feel safe here, a good hundred feet below ground, and their spirit and fortitude are simply grand.
M: And then when the siren blew that it was clear, then we went upstairs with the rest of them, but we had to follow people because we're too young, and we didn't know what was going on.
GREENE: When the young couple returned home, the fairy tale briefly resumed. Wing and Toy performing on Broadway at a time when that was rare, if not unheard of, for Asian-American dancers. But then, war returned to their lives. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered that persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast should be placed in internment camps. Dorothy was living on the East Coast and avoided being incarcerated. Her parents were not as lucky.
M: My parents, they're Japanese, and they had a restaurant in Los Angeles. And when the war came, they had to all go to camp.
GREENE: Dorothy herself is Japanese-American. Her real name is Dorothy Takahashi. But even before the war, she'd given herself a Chinese name to face less discrimination.
M: The Japanese were not well-liked. We - I never used that anyway. We always used Chinese names. They're shorter and easier to put on the paper.
GREENE: In 1944, Dorothy and Paul were still dancing on Broadway. But then, Paul was called to war, drafted into the service. Dorothy remembers when he came home.
M: He was a little different, and he was a little shell-shocked or something. He wasn't the same person that I danced with, I could tell. He wasn't the same, so we split up.
GREENE: There were a few attempts to revive the act, but Dorothy and Paul eventually went their separate ways, having left those magical moments during wartime behind. Paul Wing died in 1997. Dorothy, seven decades after her first feature film, is still going. She wouldn't let her recent fall keep her away from her students.
M: I started to teach a week ago, and I had one of my students come back. And I'm teaching her and going over all her routines that - I taught her several dances.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: Dorothy Toy Fong, still dancing, and still inspiring, at age 91.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: We should say that comments have been coming in about our "Ninth Inning" series since its first installment last week. One criticism was that this series might encourage older Americans to keep working longer than they really should. Well, Chester Aaron, the 85-year-old garlic farmer we profiled last week, emailed us a response to those critics. Chester said people like him know that the game is almost over. They just don't feel like they have to surrender their strength and their independence.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
More than 2,000 community organizers met in Washington, D.C. recently to celebrate the election of a former organizer, Barack Obama. They're also asking themselves, now what? They hope they will have unprecedented access in a new administration. NPR's Pam Fessler plans to follow some of these community groups over the next year to see what, if anything, they can do with this influence. This report is the first in an occasional series.
U: Four, three, two, showtime!
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
PAM FESSLER: Showtime, indeed. For those gathered at the Washington Hilton last month, it was a long-awaited opening. For years, these community organizers were stuck in the wings. But Teresa Anderson of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition said now, it was their time to shine. And she recalled a promise made in Iowa a year earlier.
FESSLER: Senator Obama, now President-elect Obama...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
FESSLER: ...told us that we would have a place at the table where the decisions that impact all of us were going to be made. Today, we are here to keep that promise. Today is a new day!
U: Let's go, fired up and ready to go. Fired up and ready to go. Come on. Fired up and ready to go. Come on. Fired up and ready to go.
FESSLER: The crowd was so ecstatic and expectations so high, the walls actually shook. It wasn't your typical Washington affair. The activists, with their brightly colored T-shirts and baseball caps had traveled by bus from more than 30 states, many with children in tow and hope in their eyes. These people are usually on the front lines, pushing for low-income housing, universal health care, a higher minimum wage. But here they were on the inside, being courted by soon-to-be White House aides, such as Obama domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes.
FESSLER: We are counting, counting on you to talk to us. And we have already started that process of listening to people on health care so that we can use that information to build the solutions that are going to bring opportunity and mobility back to this country.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
FESSLER: But a few blocks away was a sober reminder of just what they're up against. Executives from the Big Three auto makers were appearing on Capitol Hill to plead for a $34 billion government bailout. Gerry Hudson of the Service Employees International Union tried to bring everyone down to earth.
FESSLER: I know and you know that this will not happen just because we now have a friend in the White House. It's going to take the active participation of all of us in trying to figure out, how do we, in fact, realize the promise of this moment?
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL RINGING)
FESSLER: Which was the topic two weeks later in the basement of a small church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Staffers from the Virginia Organizing Project had attended the Washington rally, and now a dozen of them now sat at a table in a former daycare center planning their next moves. These organizers are used to working at the state and local level, but executive director Joe Szakos reminds them they're now part of something bigger.
FESSLER: We're talking about going to Washington, D.C. in February and March. Just want to let you know some more details. It would be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...
FESSLER: Community organizers decided at the D.C. rally that they'll return to Washington every week for the first one hundred days of the new administration to lobby for their agenda - health care, jobs and immigration reform - and to make a mark.
FESSLER: There will be a place for you to stay, and you'll be working with the staff people, with the Center for Community Change and other national groups. So you don't have to worry about setting up appointments or doing any of that. You just have to go, learn a lot and get people active.
FESSLER: Szakos says the Obama campaign spawned an incredible grassroots network. Although it's nonpartisan, the Virginia Organizing Project knocked on more than 140,000 doors this summer to get out the vote. They also asked voters what issues mattered most to them, and entered that information into a national database, something called the Voter Activation Network, which is used widely by Democrats and progressive groups. Organizer Kevin Simowitz tells his colleagues it will be a powerful tool in the coming months.
FESSLER: We could really quickly pull up a list of everyone from this summer that said health care was their number one priority, who lives in the city of Alexandria, and who is 65 years of age and older. We could make that list in about 10 minutes, and have it in 20 at this point. And then we could follow up and do phone calls with them tonight.
FESSLER: Joe Szakos says the ability of community groups to pool information has transformed the political landscape.
FESSLER: In the past, a lot of elected officials just refused to meet with you. And what we found is, we've switched their political calculator a little bit, because there's almost a direct relationship. The more doors you knock on, the easier it's going to be to get that meeting.
FESSLER: He says that's because the door-knockers have been able to learn what's on people's minds, and politicians know that the organizers can communicate directly with those voters.
FESSLER: They know with one push of an e-mail, you can send out something statewide. All of a sudden, they can't control as much as they could in the past, and they can't hide.
FESSLER: I want to acknowledge now three people who have been apprentice organizers with us. And we're going to take away the apprentice, and call them organizers. Sharon, Harold and Kevin.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
FESSLER: But legislative director Ben Greenberg, who's a seasoned lobbyist, has some words of caution. He thinks the new administration's honeymoon is already over because of the bad economy.
FESSLER: They're going to be in a survival mode for at least a couple of years, and I'm hoping not for the entire four years. So I think we have reason to worry that we're going to be still dreaming about the things we want to accomplish very late in the first term.
FESSLER: That doesn't mean they won't try. These community organizers plan to be at the table along with everyone else. The first step is to show Washington they're a power to be reckoned with. Pam Fessler, NPR News.
INSKEEP: As Pam's series continues, we're going to follow some of the local community groups as they come to Washington to make their case, and try to figure out which cause they'll push for first.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The election of Barack Obama got people thinking in Europe. It forced Europeans to ask if minorities in their countries could ever reach such prominence. This week, we'll examine the way that Europe treats its minority groups, and we begin in central Berlin. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from a country where your identity is closely linked to your ethnicity.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: This is a small theater club in the Neukoln district. White and black young people sit on assorted chairs and stools. Tonight's reading is a work about the lives of black people in Germany. Author Sharon Otoo stands on the small stage.
(SOUNDBITE OF TALKING AND LAUGHTER)
POGGIOLI: The daughter of Ghanaian parents, Otoo is angered that German society labels her and the estimated half-million Afro-Germans as foreigners or treats them as non-existent.
SHARON OTOO: When you take white as the norm and everything else as deviant from that, and your advertising is always targeted at white people, or when you write school books, and they're targeted at white children, this is for me a racist experience.
POGGIOLI: Another member is Carl Camurca, son of a German mother and an African-American father. He identifies culturally with the land of the poet Goethe but says he is repeatedly stopped by police demanding to see his permit to be in Germany.
CARL CAMURCA: White Germans do not perceive themselves as racist at all. Basically, the idea is, there are no other races in Germany. Germany is a monoracial country, so we can't be racist. It's pretty easy.
POGGIOLI: There are hardly any minorities in the mainstream media, police, judiciary, or politics. One of the few elected officials is 23-year-old Green Party member Sinan Senyurt, whose grandparents came from Turkey. Councilor of a Berlin district, he slams his fist on the table, insisting he's fully German.
SINAN SENYURT: (Through translator) Calling me of migrant descent is a subtle way to separate me from them. It's discrimination. I was born here, so why do people tell me I'm disadvantaged just because my grandparents were migrants? Maybe I am not a pure German, so call me a new German.
POGGIOLI: John Matip Eichler was born in Leipzig, son of a German woman and an exchange student from Cameroon, a father he hardly knew. He says racism was as intense in communist East Germany as in the West.
JOHN MATIP EICHLER: After World War II, it was difficult for our mothers because we had this word which was called rassenschande. It's a shame of race. That means a woman who was engaging with especially a black guy, that was a shame for the family. So sometimes these women were also forced to give their children into orphanage.
POGGIOLI: And throughout Germany, people still ask him, where are you from? With the unspoken follow-up, when are you going back? All minorities wonder when will we finally be considered Germans?
JAN TECHAU: I have no idea. That's the one big question that nobody has an answer to.
POGGIOLI: Jan Techau of the German Council on Foreign Relations says the German concept of identity is based on exclusion.
TECHAU: For hundreds and thousands of years, identities were created by excluding those who were not part of the crowd, by drawing up borders. And this is why becoming a German when you are from Africa or Asia or Turkey or elsewhere is such a difficult thing because not only do you have to subscribe to everything that's normal here, you also have to overcome this exclusion barrier.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL "THE STREETS OF WEDDING")
INSKEEP: I can just imagine to flip the switch and turn on the light. Could this be my chance?
POGGIOLI: The musical was a runaway success and toured throughout the country. It's an examination of life in Wedding seen through the eyes of the students themselves, nearly all of migrant origin, socially disadvantaged kids with few prospects in German society.
(SOUNDBITE OF RINGING BELL)
POGGIOLI: At the Ernst-Schering School, young performers gather to discuss how the musical transformed them. Jennifer Hunze is of Polish origin.
JENNIFER HUNZE, Host:
(Through translator) Before, to many people, I wasn't visible. I didn't speak out either, but I felt like a ghost, you know? They didn't take any notice of me. But now, I know that I have to, you know, speak out, and then they will take notice of me.
POGGIOLI: The man responsible for motivating the kids is musician and composer Todd Fletcher, an African-American. Long before the Obama campaign chose its slogan, Fletcher helped the kids write a song with the refrain, yes we can. He says it had a real impact.
TODD FLETCHER: Because the yes we can attitude is crucial. Without that, there's no hope for these kids. And they need someone saying, you can do things because their entire lives they are told, you can't do it. You're not going to succeed. You're not going to make it out of this ghetto.
POGGIOLI: John Eichler, the Afro-German from Leipzig, says just as the musical's message empowered the kids in Wedding, the election of Barack Obama is giving all minorities more self confidence. He hopes German society will finally wake up.
MATIP EICHLER: The perceptions will change because we have all these stereotypes about people of African descent - of course, sportsmen, entertainers, all this. And now, we have a first family, and we talk about Harvard, and we talk about taking over responsibility in a country, and this is completely new, and that opens the eyes.
POGGIOLI: Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.
INSKEEP: Unidentified Man: We are considered as ghosts, something just less than human beings. No one is interested in your condition, your future, your past - no one at all.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Now, it may not be at the top of the agenda for the next president, but Barack Obama's incoming team has some challenges at the Federal Aviation Administration. During the Bush administration, some FAA inspectors and air traffic controllers blew the whistle on their own agency. In congressional hearings, there were accusations that the FAA had cozied up to the airlines that they're supposed to regulate. NPR's Wade Goodwyn has this memo to the incoming president on the state of the nation's air travel system.
WADE GOODWYN: By any measure, 2008 was a rough year for acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell. Being dragged before a congressional committee to defend your own and your agency's integrity has to be pretty high up on anyone's list of activities to try to avoid in the new year.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS)
M: Senator Biden, I just want to be very clear. I'm not making any excuses for what happened on behalf of the FAA. It was not appropriate. We're going to take action, and we're going to fix it.
GOODWYN: Bobby Sturgell was responding to accusations made by his own inspectors in Dallas that the FAA had gotten too cozy with Southwest Airlines. That FAA supervisors had, in essence, allowed Southwest executives to cherry pick which FAA inspectors they would work with. The whistleblowers said it was emblematic of the way the FAA had started doing business during the Bush administration.
C: The problem was - is that instead of being the overseer of airlines, the FAA considered airlines their customer.
GOODWYN: Congressman Jim Oberstar heads the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which held the hearings and put the FAA through the wringer.
C: If there is a customer - and I don't think there is - but if there is a customer for the FAA, it is the air traveling public, not the airlines. Not corporate interest, but the public interest.
GOODWYN: FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell disagrees, and says in an industry this technically complex, the federal government and the airlines must be in a cooperative relationship, not cop versus bad guy. But the coziness allegation is just one FAA issue among several, equally pressing, that the new administration must cope with. Another is what to do about the capacity limitations in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and most of all, New York City. Sturgell says delays in and out of New York spread through the air traffic control system like a contagion.
M: You can pull up Life magazine from 1968 and see New York, LaGuardia on the cover. You know, the same issues have been facing that airport for many, many years.
GOODWYN: The Bush administration wanted to try a little capitalism. Make the airlines pay higher fees for prime-time departure and arrival slots. But the airlines hated that proposal. Most domestic carriers are staggering along, while many foreign carriers are in far better shape and could afford the higher fees easier. The FAA administrator knows this approach will likely be completely scrapped by the new administration and Congress.
M: What we ended up doing was restricting the number of operations to what the airport could actually handle. And that has really cut delays substantially.
GOODWYN: Mr. ADRIAN SCOFIELD (Senior Editor, Aviation Week) They probably are behind the eight ball. It's happening a bit late.
GOODWYN: Adrian Scofield is a senior editor at Aviation Week.
M: We're sort of approaching the peak of the bubble now, I think, when there's going to be a lot of veterans leaving.
GOODWYN: Instead of a gradual transition, steely-nerved air traffic controllers with decades of experience are going to be replaced en masse with rookies still learning how to turn up the volume in their headsets. Add to that a bitter contract dispute with the FAA and its controllers, and you've got a recipe for serious agency morale problems. Let it fester as long as it has, and you get whistleblowers outing your agency and a real challenge for the next administration. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
In its annual showcase of new products, GM, Ford, and Chrysler focused on humility and sustainability. They emphasized more fuel-efficient cars, and they avoided big publicity stunts. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports on the contrast with just a year ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAST YEAR'S DETROIT AUTO SHOW)
D: In just a few seconds, they're going to show the all-new Dodge Ram pickup. We're expecting a cattle drive down the street, and it should be really exciting. Chrysler never disappoints.
FRANK LANGFITT: That's how Chrysler kicked off last year's auto show. 130 head of longhorn steer accompanied the truck through the streets of Detroit. This year, everything was different. Instead of a waterfall which spelled out Jeep, there was a curtain of electric cords signifying the company's electric car offerings. Jim Press, Chrysler's co-president, acknowledged the contrast.
JIM PRESS: Probably like me, you're looking to see if the cows are behind me.
LANGFITT: The company's financial crisis hung over the event like a cloud. Chrysler had to borrow $4 billion from the government last month just to keep operating. Press tried to joke about it while introducing company executives, including the chief financial officer.
PRESS: The government checks go right to Ron Kolka.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PRESS: So if anybody needs a loan, see Ron Kolka.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLAPPING)
LANGFITT: Frank Klegon, who oversees product development, introduced three new electric vehicles.
FRANK KLEGON: So let's see it now, the Dodge Circuit EV.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LANGFITT: After the unveiling, CEO Robert Nardelli took questions not about the vehicles, but Chrysler's future.
ROBERT NARDELLI: You know, a lot of people, some naysayers maybe would like to see Chrysler go away. But we're here to tell you that we're going to prove them wrong.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
LANGFITT: The scene over at General Motors was more upbeat. Company employees gathered to greet the new models. They waved blue and green signs that read 40 miles a gallon and here to stay. Soon, the new GM cars came rolling down the carpet. GM executive Bob Lutz introduced the star of the show.
BOB LUTZ: Ladies and gentlemen, the Cadillac Converj concept.
LANGFITT: Frank Warren is 49 and works at a GM transmission plant. He says the auto workers have already given up enough.
FRANK WARREN: We've given up positions that it's taken 30 years to get. We've got workers coming into our doors now making $14 an hour without healthcare. Can you support your family on $14 an hour and pay a mortgage? I don't think so.
LANGFITT: Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Detroit.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's Rob Gifford visited the English city of Coventry once known as the British Detroit.
ROB GIFFORD: But those jobs slowly disappeared as the industry declined. The British company that owned Ryton was sold to Chrysler, which then sold it to the French firm, Peugeot, which finally declared that Ryton was not cost-effective and closed the whole plant two years ago, moving the remaining 2,300 jobs to Slovakia.
IAN MCCALPINE: The plant's straight down into my garden.
GIFFORD: Standing in his yard, 46-year-old Ian McCalpine(ph) can almost see the plant or what's left of it, where he worked for 26 years and where he expected to end his working life.
MCCALPINE: It was a massive blow for me. Mostly everybody that was there was in the same sort of position. They'd just see their days out there to the end, retire, and that was it.
GIFFORD: In the 1970s and '80s, the British government had thrown money at the auto industry to try to keep it afloat. As time went on, though, it decided just to let some car firms fail or be taken over by foreign companies. Rolls Royce is now owned by a German company, Jaguar by an Indian firm, and MG Rover was bought by a Chinese one.
BRIAN WUDSKOWEN: I think Britain in the 1970s had many of the features of America today, and we have probably as a country been through this industrial transition, this industrial change earlier.
GIFFORD: Brian Wudskowen(ph) runs an organization that combines government and private money to help retrain the newly unemployed. Looking out of what used to be the Ryton car plant, he says the key is getting government and business to work together and to focus on reinventing the local economy.
WUDSKOWEN: Well, just in front of us is going to be a national distribution center for a mail-order company. And then over to the right will be manufacturing units, but manufacturing not cars, but things like mobile phones and technology-based industries.
GIFFORD: Wudskowen remembers very clearly the bad old days of the British auto industry, when all the same things were being said in its defense as are now being said in Detroit - that it was too important to fail, that too many jobs depended on it. He says, that is simply not realistic anymore.
WUDSKOWEN: So I would be very optimistic if I were talking to the people of Detroit, which I've visited many times, and say, this will be a difficult transition, but be confident that there is a future.
GIFFORD: As well as helping former industrial areas reinvent themselves, the government-sponsored initiatives have also allowed the readjusted auto industry in Britain to thrive, says Professor David Bailey of the University of Birmingham Business School.
DAVID BAILEY: It's completely different today. You've got some major international firms producing in the U.K. high-quality vehicles. Productivity is as good as anywhere in the world. It's much smaller, of course, but what's left of it is hugely efficient and produces cars that usually people want to buy.
GIFFORD: Rob Gifford, NPR News in Coventry, central England.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Today, Barack Obama is having his first meeting with a foreign leader since he was elected in November. The president-elect will hold talks with Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN: These days, there are plenty of issues to talk about, from trade to immigration and the drug war. One of President Felipe Calderon's priorities is to make sure the Obama administration picks up on a new U.S. aid program to help Mexico combat the drug trade. President Bush's national security advisor, Stephen Hadley, told a Washington thinktank last week that the drug violence is a real threat.
KELEMEN: It is a potential threat to the future of a democratic Mexico. And I think if you listen to President Calderon, that's how he sees it. It is very much the kind of threat that President Uribe faced in Colombia.
KELEMEN: And just as in the case of Colombia, the U.S. has started a more than one-billion-dollar multi-year program to help Mexico train and equip authorities to battle the drug cartels. Congress has already appropriated more than $400 million to the so-called Merida Initiative, and Hadley is encouraging the incoming Obama administration to keep it up.
KELEMEN: We think what we have left for the new team is a good framework. And thanks to Congress, we have an initial down payment of some important resources to put into it, but again, this is going to be one of those long, long struggles.
KELEMEN: Mexico's President Calderon, a conservative who came to power in 2006, has also been worried about Mr. Obama's rhetoric on the campaign trail about the North American Free Trade Agreement. But Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, an expert who tracks U.S.-Mexican relations for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, doesn't expect NAFTA to be a dominant theme today.
KELEMEN: At least the Mexicans won't touch NAFTA per se in the meeting, but try to make President-elect Obama aware of how integrated the two economies are and how to some extent there is a benefit in working together in trying to strengthen the competitiveness of the two economies vis-a-vis the rest of the world.
KELEMEN: While today's meeting is meant to highlight the U.S.-Mexican relationship, Peschard-Sverdrup expects Mr. Obama will quickly turn his attention elsewhere.
KELEMEN: That's one of the risks, that at the end of the day it ends up creating high expectations at a time when, you know, President Obama's going to be preoccupied with other very pressing priorities, primarily the economy.
KELEMEN: And relations with Mexico will be far less a priority, handled mainly, he says, by Mr. Obama's aides at the White House and at the State Department. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The death toll inside Gaza is now approaching 900 with dozens of Palestinians killed over the weekend. Many of them were women and children. Israel kept up its airstrikes today, and there's also fierce ground fighting with Israeli ground troops on the outskirts of Gaza City. NPR's Mike Shuster has more.
MIKE SHUSTER: United Nations officials say, of the close to 900 Palestinians killed in more than two weeks of war, 40 percent are women and children. More than 3,700 Palestinians have been injured, and more than half of those are women and children according to Maxwell Gaylard, the U.N.'s chief coordinator of humanitarian aid.
SHUSTER: It is becoming very clear that the civilian population is bearing the brunt of this conflict. As long as the hostilities continue, civilians remain unprotected, and more will be killed, and more will be injured. This is a conflict where the civilian population has nowhere to go, nowhere to flee.
SHUSTER: That has convinced many in Olmert's cabinet that the operation should be expanded with the goal of crippling Hamas and cutting off the flow of weapons from Egypt through tunnels along what the Israelis call the Philadelphia Corridor - the border between Gaza and Egypt. That's the view of Israeli government minister Zeev Boim.
SHUSTER: We have to enlarge the military operation in Gaza against the Hamas and the terror infrastructure. And we have to consider control of Philadelphia route. Otherwise, we will see in the next round more missiles and long-range missiles.
SHUSTER: Not all of Israel's leaders favor pressing the fight in this manner. Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, is believed to oppose inserting more ground troops deep into Gaza's population centers, where many of the houses conceal bombs and explosive booby traps. Yesterday, Israel's president, Shimon Peres, also expressed a desire to put limits on the operation.
INSKEEP: We don't want to regain Gaza. We don't want to hold the people in Gaza. We don't want to have an endless war. What we want is really an end to the shooting and an arrangement that will prevent the Iranians to send missiles into the Gaza Strips.
SHUSTER: Hamas for its part is also divided. The leaders of Hamas inside Gaza who have been under intense military pressure are believed to be open to negotiations that might lead to a ceasefire. Hamas's political leadership in Syria appears unmovable. Over the weekend, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal issued his demands in a television appearance from Damascus.
SHUSTER: (Through translator) Firstly, an end to the aggression. This is not an equal fight. Secondly, the immediate withdrawal of the occupation from Gaza. Thirdly, lifting the siege on Gaza. Fourthly, the opening of all the border crossings, including the Rafah crossing. These are our demands, and we will deal with any initiative based on these points. We will not accept any initiative for truce whilst we are under attack.
SHUSTER: As a sign of growing Israeli confidence, Israel has reopened schools in many areas within target range of the rockets from Gaza. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Israel wants these tunnels stopped. Egypt claims it needs better technology to detect them. But Egyptians who live along the border say as long as Israel's blockade of Gaza continues, so will the smuggling. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Rafah on the Egyptian side of the border.
PETER KENYON: Rafah has spent the last three decades as a divided city, with some families having members both in Egypt and in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. As with many border towns, Rafah has its share of people who don't see why they should be constrained by political boundaries, especially if there's money to be made.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAFE)
KENYON: The Morning Light Cafe in Rafah was a lively place on a recent afternoon. A local resident introduced the crowd to a visiting reporter, adding in a low tone of voice that everyone in the room worked in the tunnel business one way or another, but none of them would admit it. As predicted, the young men first denied there were any tunnels, and then insisted they only shipped food, fuel, and other essential goods through them.
U: (Through translator) The tunnels are the only life support for Palestine. They've been blockaded from every point with all crossings closed. How are they supposed to eat?
KENYON: For these young men who only laugh when asked their names, it's not hard to justify smuggling goods into people who are under siege by the powerful Israeli military with the backing the world's only superpower.
U: (Through translator) Israel will not leave until it collapses all the tunnels. But it's not about the tunnels. It's about crushing the Palestinians. The Palestinians will die locked inside Gaza if the tunnels collapse and the borders aren't opened. Look, it's simple. If the borders are open, there will be no tunnels. If the borders stay closed, the tunnels will operate.
KENYON: Another man chimes in to voice a common belief both here and in Israel, that no matter what Egyptian leaders may say in public, they're allowing the smuggling to continue.
U: (Through translator) We are Muslims, and what Hosni Mubarak is doing with the tunnels is a mercy for the people living there. Any Arab country would do the same for the Palestinian people.
KENYON: At one squat, stone farmhouse, the family isn't fazed by unexpected visitors, spreading a blanket on the sand and offering sweet tea. After loudly condemning the Israeli attacks on Gaza, a man who gives his name as Abu Hian(ph) says frankly, love for their Palestinian brothers has nothing to do with the smuggling.
M: (Through translator) Let's be honest. It's all about business. Let's not lie to each other and say that we're doing this for the Palestinian cause.
KENYON: In the past, Israel has considered several options for blocking the tunnels, an international force, underground barriers, even a flooded trench along the border area. But officials on both sides of the border say without an agreement that guarantees a basic standard of living for the people of Gaza, the smugglers will find a way to keep the goods and the money flowing. Peter Kenyon, NPR News in Rafah, Egypt.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Those tunnels have come up as people continue discussing the fighting in Gaza. In Cairo, Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, says elements are in place for a possible ceasefire. He said one of the key elements of the plan was to end the smuggling from Egypt.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The deal involves Citigroup combining its brokerage operation with the brokerage of rival Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley would pay Citigroup $2 to $3 billion. If that combination were to go through, Morgan Stanley would have a controlling stake in a new operation that could be the largest retail brokerage in the world.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
If you're still waiting for the government to fix the economy, you can go to Las Vegas looking for a new job while you're waiting. A major new development in Vegas is hiring in a big way. The MGM Mirage is looking to fill 12,000 jobs in its huge CityCenter project. As NPR's Ted Robbins reports, the company expects to be flooded with applications.
TED ROBBINS: CityCenter is an enormous complex of resorts, condominiums, and retail stores going up on the Las Vegas strip. At roughly $8 billion, it's said to be the most expensive private construction project in U.S. history. MGM Mirage Vice President Alan Feldman says when it opens in December, CityCenter will need a lot of workers.
M: Front desk personnel and bell staff and restaurant servers, housekeepers, (unintelligible) house staff, engineering and maintenance personnel, accounting and administrative staff.
ROBBINS: That's even after the project was scaled back. One of the condo components was cancelled, and one of the resorts was postponed. Feldman says having any jobs to offer in a recession makes CityCenter different than Las Vegas resort openings he's seen over the last two decades.
M: There's something very profound this time about putting out a call for 12,000 people in the midst of headlines that seem to run every day of, you know, that number and more are being laid off in other places.
ROBBINS: Feldman expects about 100,000 applicants in all. People are being asked to apply online first. Interviews will begin next month starting with workers who were laid off from other MGM Mirage resorts in Vegas over the last year. Ted Robbins, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Exports from American manufacturers were surging until now.
M: The depths of the decline that we're seeing right now is extreme, and manufacturing production is falling exceptionally fast.
INSKEEP: That's Nigel Gault, an economist with IHS Global Insight. And he says many manufacturers are cutting deeply into their most valuable asset, their workforce. Frank Morris of member station KCUR in Kansas City reports.
FRANK MORRIS: This time two years ago, the market for big, over-the-road trucks was strong, and the Haldex plant near Kansas City which makes brake parts for these trucks had to pedal to the metal.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUFACTURING)
MORRIS: The plant is a maze of automated milling machines and assembly lines, all coded with a thin patina of grime and heavy use. Jay Longbottom, the guy in charge of this part of the company, says back in the day, he couldn't tolerate a minute of downtime.
M: I really remember that frustration of, what do we need to do to drive this faster? What do we need to do to get these machines up to full production? We need this output desperately.
MORRIS: Then, orders screeched to a stop.
(SOUNDBITE OF SCREECHING MOTORS)
MORRIS: So did the machines. The plant's not producing half of what it did two years ago. And while Longbottom used to scramble to get parts in time, now, he's delighted to see supplies start to run low.
M: It's a big part - a huge part of coping with things right now is bringing your inventories down and to generate the cash flows to come through this.
MORRIS: Longbottom's cut staff too by almost a third and trimmed hours for the rest. The survivors are mostly quick, analytically-minded detail freaks who run high-tech machinery. Skilled factory workers like these are desperately hard to come by. Employers hate to see them go. But facing the biggest downturn in modern history, many are just out of options.
M: This is a total interruption of demand, so people take fairly drastic actions to try and make sure that they survive.
MORRIS: That's Norbert J. Ore, the guy who writes the Institute for Supply Management monthly report on business. He says the plunge in orders last month forced manufacturers to cut production fast. They responded with the biggest job cuts in more than a quarter century. But then there's Bob Bundschuh.
(SOUNDBITE OF HEAVY MACHINERY)
MORRIS: Bundschuh's company, Pretech, hasn't laid anyone off yet.
M: We talked to the guys, and they would much rather work less hours but keep their job than have to pick four or five people to let go.
(SOUNDBITE OF HEAVY MACHINERY)
MORRIS: The floor shakes as a huge machine rattles and squeezes a freshly cast section of concrete pipe big enough to hide a small family. Pretech here in Kansas City, Kansas makes storm sewers as well as concrete utility boxes and manholes. That business collapsed last summer when builders stopped putting in new subdivisions. But Bundschuh says he's holding on for the federal stimulus package.
M: One of the first things you do in any building is you put in the sewers. We're in before the roads are in.
MORRIS: Bundschuh expects his business to pick up by spring. Most economists aren't so optimistic. Jay Longbottom, the brake part manufacturer, says U.S. industry is in for a long, uncertain recovery, and he fears that a lost generation of highly skilled factory workers may prove impossible to replace. For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Unfortunately, you cannot smell it through the computer yet. A spokesperson for the website says finding a smell function is the next challenge. I smell an opportunity for somebody. And that's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
This presidential transition may be a reminder that not everything changes just because the White House is changing occupants, even changing parties. President-elect Obama takes office in just over a week. President Bush is on his way out. Yet there are times when the two men sound quite similar. NPR News analyst Cokie Roberts joins us, as she does every Monday. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: (Soundbite of "This Week" interview.)
INSKEEP: When I've set up the hierarchy of things that I've got to do, my number one priority every single day that I wake up is, how do I make sure that the American people are safe?
INSKEEP: OK. So that's Barack Obama speaking. Although you could imagine President Bush saying that.
ROBERTS: And that came up again with Obama when he was asked about prosecuting anyone for past actions that might be considered torture. And he said firmly that while he wanted to be clear that he considered waterboarding to be torture, and there would be no torture in his administration, that he was very careful on the question of prosecution. He said he wanted to look forward rather than backward, and he didn't want to do anything that would have intelligence professionals, whom he described as extraordinarily talented people, he didn't want to have those intelligence professionals looking over their shoulders. That also sounded very similar to President Bush.
INSKEEP: Although wait a minute, let me ask about something where the two men have sounded very different. At least they sounded different when Barack Obama was seeking votes. President Bush opened a prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. President-elect Obama, when he was campaigning, said he would close it.
ROBERTS: Well, and he's - continues to say he will close it. But he said, don't expect that to happen in his first hundred days, because quote, "It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize." He said, look, the problem here is is that you've got a lot of bad guys whose prosecutions might be tainted. The evidence against them might have been gotten in ways that are not right quite legal. But you still don't want to let them loose, because they are - there are dangerous people. So he's clearly having some difficulty figuring it out.
INSKEEP: Is he figuring out his economic stimulus plan?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: And meanwhile, the Obama team is helping the Bush team lobby for the release of the second $350 billion of the bailout package passed last fall. The package called TARP, which is highly unpopular with the American people, but they both say it's got to get done.
INSKEEP: Any chance that Congress won't come up with the money?
ROBERTS: No. I think that in the end, the economy is in such dire straits, and President-elect Obama reiterated that again yesterday, that the Congress will have to act, and they will. But they are going to do their best to get whatever they can before that.
INSKEEP: OK. Thanks very much. That's NPR's Cokie Roberts, who joins us every Monday morning. Always a pleasure to hear from you, Cokie.
ROBERTS: Thank you.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
One thing the outgoing Bush administration has done is push mortgage rates to their lowest levels in nearly four decades. Many people who have refinanced have saved hundred of dollars per month, which should strengthen the housing market, but a lot of people cannot qualify for the low rates. And it's not just people with bad credit. NPR's Chris Arnold reports from Boston.
CHRIS ARNOLD: The financial crisis has definitely been getting better and parts of the frozen credit markets have been thawing out. But here's a sign that things are still out of whack. Right now, people who live in more modest houses, schoolteachers, bus drivers, nurses, can get very low rates, but people with bigger loans for more expensive homes have to pay a dramatically higher rate. And most of those people aren't millionaires.
M: My house is a very ordinary house. It is by no means, you know, a mansion or Taj Mahal. It's your basic Colonial. Three bedrooms...
ARNOLD: Bill Kearns is an accountant who lives in Westwood, Massachusetts. It's a nice suburb outside Boston. He's got four kids. He says he doesn't make enough to afford private school for all of them, so a few months ago, he says, he moved to be in a better school district. Houses weren't cheap; he paid around $470,000, and that was a bit of a stretch.
M: Not that we can't afford the mortgage. we can certainly afford what I have now. But I'm paying more than I would clearly like to. With a family of six, you can never make enough money.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ARNOLD: Without that backing, larger loans have always had slightly higher rates, but right now, the premium for the bigger loans has gotten huge. Kearns is paying around seven percent. Rates have been around five percent for the smaller conforming loans. So he's paying $500 a month more than he'd pay if he could get that lower rate.
M: Certainly, $500 a month would absolutely help. And it's not like it's a very high-risk mortgage. I mean, I make a good pay doing what I do. I clearly have the income to pay the mortgage. And, you know, I just think its unfair that other people can get this rate and I can't.
ARNOLD: Kearns keeps calling his mortgage broker to see if he can work something out.
M: I talk to him, you know, probably once a week. What can we do here? We got to be able to do something. We got a find a way to make this work.
M: He's sitting at seven percent, and I'd like to get that down.
ARNOLD: Kearns' mortgage broker, Paul VanWort, is working the phones trying to get him a better deal from another lender. But so far, no luck. VanWort says he's getting four or five calls or emails a day from people like Kerns who can't qualify for the low rates because their loans are too big.
M: It's frustrating, because I have some very good clients that are also good friends that I'm not able to refinance. I, for one, have a jumbo loan that I can't do anything with. There's nothing I can do about it.
ARNOLD: The reason for the big premium on these larger loans is that lenders are nervous. The economy could be heading into the worst recession since World War Two, and the banking system is still in shock from the sub-prime mortgage debacle.
M: With everything that's happened in the credit markets, everything is thrown out of whack.
ARNOLD: Jon Shibley is the founder of Lenox Financial, a large mortgage broker. He says lenders are still very reluctant to loan any money at all for home loans if the government's not guaranteeing them. And the government hasn't been willing to guarantee these larger so-called non-conforming home loans. Last year, the government was guaranteeing larger loans in some high-ranked districts, but starting this January, it lowered those limits.
M: The lenders only have a certain amount of money to lend. And if they have a choice to put it in bucket number one, where it's all guaranteed, you can be paid up front and sell it off to Fannie and Freddie Mac, and bucket number two is you have to hold it and take the risk of values that continue to go down, I think they're going to put most their money in bucket number one for a while.
ARNOLD: It looks like some more people will be getting into that bucket with the lower rates. Key lawmakers are now pushing to once again raise the limit for loans that Fannie and Freddie can purchase. Up to about $730,000 for people who meet certain qualifications in dozens of high-cost counties. Already, though, millions of Americans can get very low rates. That's putting extra money in their pockets, and the governments hoping that will be a powerful boost to the struggling economy. Chris Arnold, NPR News, Boston.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
We've been reporting every day on Israel's war in Gaza. This morning, we'll examine an Israeli military mission that has not taken place - at least not yet. The New York Times reported over the weekend that Israel may have been preparing to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. Israel sought help from the United States. NPR's confirmed that the Bush administration turned them down. Let's talk about this now with NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, who's in our studios. Tom, good morning.
TOM BOWMAN: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: He's with us live. What did Israel ask for?
BOWMAN: Well, they wanted a large number of bunker-buster bombs. And they've already received some of these bombs over the years from the Americans, but for this mission they need a lot more.
INSKEEP: We're talking about really powerful bombs that can penetrate concrete. They can get into bomb shelters.
BOWMAN: Absolutely. Some of these bombs weigh up to 5,000 pounds. And for the multiple targets and the hardened targets, they would need a lot of these bombs. They also were looking for overflight rights. Americans control the Iraqi airspace. The quickest way from Israel to Iran is right through Iraq, and they didn't get either. They didn't get more bunker-buster bombs, did not get overflight rights.
INSKEEP: Now the part of this that may surprise some people who've been closely following this story is that the Bush administration, after expressing so much concern about Iran's nuclear facilities, would say no to a request like this.
BOWMAN: That's right. Well, there were some within the administration that thought this was a good idea - civilians within the administration. People I talked with at the Pentagon, most of them never thought this was a good idea. They never thought it would be successful. Again, a lot of targets here. You can never be assured this whole nuclear program would end. The other thing is, maybe more importantly, the concern for American forces in Iraq maybe getting attacked by Iran lobbing some missiles in. There are also other American forces within the region that could be vulnerable to, let's say, Iranian missiles or Iranian sabotage. Fifth Fleet is in Bahrain. That was a big concern as well. There was also a concern of adding one more war to the region. We have Iraq and Afghanistan now. And Admiral Mike Mullen talked a little bit about this last spring.
BOWMAN: Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us.
BOWMAN: And Mullen went on to say he was opposed to any kind of strike occurring. He said, "I don't need it to be more unstable in the region."
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Tom Bowman, who has confirmed that the Bush administration blocked - did not give assistance to - an Israeli plan to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. At the same time, though, Tom, what is the Bush administration doing covertly to try to sabotage those facilities?
BOWMAN: Well, the New York Times reporter - we were unable to confirm that Americans went to the manufacturers who are supplying Iran with equipment - computers, electronics, hardware, that sort, and sought, in some ways, to sabotage this equipment. You could do it by, let's say, you know, faulty equipment, computers with viruses, that kind of thing. There are many ways to do this, and there's actually precedent for this. It's - in the spy world - for example, in the Cold War, American intelligence agents were able to learn the secret messages of other nations - Iran, Iraq and Libya - by going to the manufacturer of encryption equipment, and they - actually able to secretly rig the machines, so they could easily break the codes and read the messages of some of these officials.
INSKEEP: That was something that was tried in the past. We don't know if anything has succeeded this time around.
BOWMAN: Absolutely.
INSKEEP: That's NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman. Tom, thanks very much.
BOWMAN: You're welcome, Steve.
INSKEEP: And he's telling us about Bush administration efforts to go after Iran's nuclear program. And also what they were not willing to do, support an Israeli military strike.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
We've been reporting every day on Israel's war in Gaza. This morning, we'll examine an Israeli military mission that has not taken place - at least not yet. The New York Times reported over the weekend that Israel may have been preparing to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. Israel sought help from the United States. NPR's confirmed that the Bush administration turned them down. Let's talk about this now with NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, who's in our studios. Tom, good morning.
TOM BOWMAN: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: He's with us live. What did Israel ask for?
BOWMAN: Well, they wanted a large number of bunker-buster bombs. And they've already received some of these bombs over the years from the Americans, but for this mission they need a lot more.
INSKEEP: We're talking about really powerful bombs that can penetrate concrete. They can get into bomb shelters.
BOWMAN: Absolutely. Some of these bombs weigh up to 5,000 pounds. And for the multiple targets and the hardened targets, they would need a lot of these bombs. They also were looking for overflight rights. Americans control the Iraqi airspace. The quickest way from Israel to Iran is right through Iraq, and they didn't get either. They didn't get more bunker-buster bombs, did not get overflight rights.
INSKEEP: Now the part of this that may surprise some people who've been closely following this story is that the Bush administration, after expressing so much concern about Iran's nuclear facilities, would say no to a request like this.
BOWMAN: That's right. Well, there were some within the administration that thought this was a good idea - civilians within the administration. People I talked with at the Pentagon, most of them never thought this was a good idea. They never thought it would be successful. Again, a lot of targets here. You can never be assured this whole nuclear program would end. The other thing is, maybe more importantly, the concern for American forces in Iraq maybe getting attacked by Iran lobbing some missiles in. There are also other American forces within the region that could be vulnerable to, let's say, Iranian missiles or Iranian sabotage. Fifth Fleet is in Bahrain. That was a big concern as well. There was also a concern of adding one more war to the region. We have Iraq and Afghanistan now. And Admiral Mike Mullen talked a little bit about this last spring.
Admiral MIKE MULLEN (Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff): Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us.
BOWMAN: And Mullen went on to say he was opposed to any kind of strike occurring. He said, "I don't need it to be more unstable in the region."
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Tom Bowman, who has confirmed that the Bush administration blocked - did not give assistance to - an Israeli plan to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. At the same time, though, Tom, what is the Bush administration doing covertly to try to sabotage those facilities?
BOWMAN: Well, the New York Times reporter - we were unable to confirm that Americans went to the manufacturers who are supplying Iran with equipment - computers, electronics, hardware, that sort, and sought, in some ways, to sabotage this equipment. You could do it by, let's say, you know, faulty equipment, computers with viruses, that kind of thing. There are many ways to do this, and there's actually precedent for this. It's - in the spy world - for example, in the Cold War, American intelligence agents were able to learn the secret messages of other nations - Iran, Iraq and Libya - by going to the manufacturer of encryption equipment, and they - actually able to secretly rig the machines, so they could easily break the codes and read the messages of some of these officials.
INSKEEP: That was something that was tried in the past. We don't know if anything has succeeded this time around.
BOWMAN: Absolutely.
INSKEEP: That's NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman. Tom, thanks very much.
BOWMAN: You're welcome, Steve.
INSKEEP: And he's telling us about Bush administration efforts to go after Iran's nuclear program. And also what they were not willing to do, support an Israeli military strike.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Plenty of people will spend time at black tie events in Washington, D.C. next week. It's not just the inaugural balls, but also dinners and private parties and dances. The fancy dress shops in the nation's capital are rolling out their best wares, and in a city that still has places that still do business the old-fashioned way, maybe no place caters to its clientele quite like Harriet Kassman. NPR's Nina Totenberg and producer Gisele Grayson paid a visit last week.
NINA TOTENBERG: Here at Harriet Kassman, on occasion, you see judges, journalists, ambassadors, even cabinet officers accompanied by guards with plastic gizmos in their ear, and bulges beneath their suit jackets. The conversation is not about policy or politics. It's about something nearer and dearer to most women. Clothes.
M: I don't think I've ever bought a ball gown any place except here. So this one's gorgeous isn't it? About what size is that?
TOTENBERG: That's Fran Norris, who's shopping for a gown she can wear to an inaugural ball and the Washington National Opera's midwinter gala.
M: Go in there and try those on, and then we'll try some more on.
TOTENBERG: And that's Harriet Kassman, the 87-year-old dynamo who owns the store and prowls the floor chatting up whoever comes in. Part of the secret of her success is that Harriet could schmooze a sock. She gets to know her customers, their problems, their triumphs, what they need clothes for, what kind of work or play, and what they like.
M: And I don't believe that everybody's rich, so we have to have things in every price range. In other words, if you want to spend $5,000 on a gown, we have it. If you want to spend $500 on a gown, we have it.
U: I'm wearing the wrong jewelry.
TOTENBERG: In the middle of our interview, the wife of the Turkish ambassador, Gulgun Shassoy(ph), a petite brunette, dashes in for a fitting on her black chiffon inaugural gown.
M: I really love the dress. It's - what shall I say - a very appropriate dress, as my mother would say, for the occasion as well.
TOTENBERG: Meanwhile, Fran Norris, aided by saleswoman Miriam Houmani(ph), is trying on an array of gorgeous gowns.
U: OK. We're coming out.
M: Coming out. Wow.
M: Isn't that beautiful?
M: Oh, isn't that pretty.
M: Oh, you look absolutely magnificent.
M: Ah, that's pretty special. Isn't it? Wow.
TOTENBERG: Norris is wearing an African violet color, empire-style chiffon gown with jeweled details.
M: And all you need is need is a pair of earrings which I'm going to bring.
TOTENBERG: Rhinestone dangle earrings with pink stones at the ear - Vavoom. Ah, fashion. For many of us women, it's our self-expression. But these are tough times in the retail business, especially for a small business like this one. Harriet Kassman.
M: It's terrible. It's the worst I've ever seen. I've been through this up and down and sideways. I've never seen it like this.
TOTENBERG: Are you going to be OK?
M: I better be. I'm determined to be.
TOTENBERG: Harriet Kassman has run this store for 33 years in Washington. But she comes to the trade by birth, as it were. Her father and mother ran a dress shop in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1941, she was in school at the University of Georgia when her mother got sick.
M: And so in those days, the girl comes home, not the boy. My twin brother continued in school, but I came home to help my father. And my mother died May 1st, 1941.
TOTENBERG: After a few months in the store, Harriet went to New York to buy the next season's offering.
M: I knew nothing, absolutely nothing. I didn't know how much money we had to spend. And I didn't know what an older person could wear, or what a younger person - none of those things.
TOTENBERG: So she bought everything she liked in all sizes. And she fell in love with a new product on the market, beautiful sheer nylon hosiery.
M: And I bought it as though I was a department store instead of a small specialty store. I bought it like I was a real big shot.
TOTENBERG: Her father was horrified at her gluttonous buys. Then boom, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was at war. And along with rationing, clothing manufacturers limited all their customers to 25 percent of their buy in the previous season. So you got 25 percent of this enormous order.
M: That's why I did so well. It only happens once in a lifetime.
TOTENBERG: This is Nina Totenberg in pre-inaugural Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
We're about to tell you the word of the year. The year was 2008, and the American Dialect Society each year puts out a word of the year. And in 2008, it was bailout. Here are some of the runners-up.
M: Obamabonanza, Obamabot, Obamacare, Obamacism, Obamacise, Obamacon, Obamadammerung.
INSKEEP: You could call them Obamifications. Words manufactured from Barack Obama's name. That's Grant Barrett reading the list.
M: Obamatard, Obamathon.
INSKEEP: He's vice president of the American Dialect Society. Some of its members thought these words should be the words of the year. It's not about their politics, they say, it's just that the words are fun to say.
M: Obamamama, Obamamania, Obamamentum, Obamamerica, Obamanobul. I'm sorry, Obamanable. Obamaination, Obamanation, Obama - Obaman - (laughing) some of these are impossible to say. Obamania. Obamaniac.
INSKEEP: And let's not forget Obamalicious, Obamaphoria and Obamanoxious.
M: My favorite pair, though are Obamanation and Obamination. And they differ only by a single vowel. One is a play on Obama nation, you know, referring to a nation of people for Obama. And the other one is a play on abomination, which is a negative. Obviously a word used by the people who did not, or do not, support Barack Obama.
INSKEEP: And for voters who changed direction in midstream, there's this one.
M: Obamacon, which is a conservative who's come over to the Obama camp, is a coinage as well.
INSKEEP: And let's not forget Obama's first name. There's Barackiavellian and Baracklamation. And a few that should never have seen the light of day, like the Barack Ness Monster.
M: Most of them are doomed to die. They're going to have the life of a mayfly. They'll last about 24 hours. They'll serve their purpose, whatever it might be, for a day or a moment, and they'll never be heard of again.
INSKEEP: Except maybe this one.
M: The anti-Obama camp is out there already using NOBama2012 in their emails and on their weblogs. So it looks like NOBama, at least, whatever your politics are, has some legs.
INSKEEP: Grant Barrett is co-host of the public radio show "Away with Words," and vice president of the American Dialect Society. It's announced its Word of the Year for 2008, bailout. Some of the other runners-up were maverick, credit crunch and that old standby, change. It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Joe the Plumber is now Joe the War Correspondent. Samuel Wurzelbacher became famous after he questioned Barack Obama during the campaign. Then he was repeatedly invoked in a presidential debate. Now, he's working for a conservative website, and he's in Israel reporting on Hamas rocket fire. Joe the War Correspondent has not claimed deep background in Middle East affairs. He does say he is, quote, "an expert on media bias." It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Tourists near the U.S. Capitol yesterday could be forgiven for double-checking the date. Barack Obama raised his right hand for the inauguration. It was a rehearsal. The incoming president was played by a stand-in named Derrick Brooks. He's a U.S. Army staff sergeant, 26 years old. He was chosen for his resemblance to Mr. Obama, though it's not perfect. Sergeant Brooks met the real Barack Obama, who said Brooks' ears were smaller than his. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
President Bush appeared in the White House briefing room this morning and looked out at the reporters who'd gathered there.
(SOUNDBITE FROM NEWS CONFERENCE)
INSKEEP: We have been through a lot together.
INSKEEP: And with those words, Mr. Bush began what was billed as his final news conference as president. He was animated, he acknowledged some mistakes, and he said history will be the judge of his presidency. NPR's Cokie Roberts was listening in, and joins us now for some analysis, as she does every Monday morning. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: I suppose we should mention that there's a reminder here that President Bush is still president of the United States. We're in the middle of this $700 billion bailout of the financial industry; the first half has been spent. He was asked if he would ask Congress for the second half, and he said no.
ROBERTS: Well, he basically said that Senator Barack Obama - President-elect Obama - that they had talked about it, and that he'd said if Obama wants him to ask for it, that it's important for it to happen on his watch, that he will do it. But he says it's essentially up to Obama.
INSKEEP: So the president will not be taking that dramatic step; he will leave it to his successor. And he spent a lot of the rest of his...
ROBERTS: Or Steve, but I wouldn't say - it could happen in tandem, with the two of them doing it.
INSKEEP: I see.
ROBERTS: Because it could happen sooner than next week.
INSKEEP: And we are still, of course, days away from the inauguration, and who knows what kind of economic news those few days will bring?
ROBERTS: Right.
INSKEEP: I suppose we should mention that a lot of this news conference was, of course, looking back at the nearly eight years now that the president has been president. And he spoke rather candidly, acknowledging a couple of mistakes.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS CONFERENCE)
INSKEEP: Clearly, putting a Mission Accomplished on a aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message. We were trying to say something differently, but nevertheless it conveyed a different message. Obviously, some of my rhetoric has been a mistake. I've thought long and hard about Katrina. You know, could I have done something differently?
INSKEEP: In particular, he wondered if he should have landed in New Orleans to look around after that storm instead of flying over it and be photographed looking out the window from Air Force One. In both cases, he was concerned about messages that he'd sent, images that had been left in the public's mind.
ROBERTS: But he was reflective about mistakes. He - I thought that it was very interesting that he said that Social Security, after the 2004 election, to emphasize that was a mistake, that it should have been immigration. And clearly, the failure to do something on immigration reform is something that he takes away as a disappointment from this presidency.
INSKEEP: Cokie Roberts, as someone who has seen a number of presidents come and go, how much power do they have to shape the way they're remembered?
ROBERTS: But one thing I found really interesting is he said he didn't feel isolated in this job, which you've heard from other presidents. And he said, I don't think Obama will. He has a great family, and he'll be a 45-second commute from a wife and two little girls who love him dearly. He said, you know, sometimes these burdens are overstated. These are people whining, why did the - why did the economic disaster happen on my watch? He said, you know, that's not the way to do it.
INSKEEP: Cokie, thanks very much. That's NPR's Cokie Roberts, giving us analysis on this Monday morning.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea is covering the story. He's with us live. Don, good morning.
DON GONYEA: Hi. Good morning.
INSKEEP: Wasn't the administration trying to save that money for Barack Obama to spend?
GONYEA: So we really - it was really the first moment where we saw this sitting president deferring to the incoming president. And the sense was they were leaving it for him, but clearly, because we've now heard from the transition - the president-elect's transition team that he has made the formal request of the president to please release the money.
INSKEEP: Mm-hmm.
GONYEA: The Obama team feels they need it in place now so they can move immediately when he takes the oath.
INSKEEP: Just so we understand the order of this, let's listen to the presidential news conference from just a couple of hours ago earlier this morning. This is what President Bush said about Obama asking him for that $350 billion.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS CONFERENCE)
INSKEEP: I told him that if he felt that he needed the $350 billion, I would be willing to ask for it, in other words, if he felt like it needed to happen on my watch.
INSKEEP: And so now, the request has been made from the president in waiting to the president of the moment. The president of the moment then goes to Congress and asks for the money. I suppose this doesn't necessarily mean - does it, Don - that President Bush will have time to spend it. Maybe it will end up being President Barack Obama who spends it, maybe on his first day in office?
GONYEA: So there's not a lot of time for President Bush to do anything with it. But it does really sound like - and again, it was a strange feeling to be sitting there, to see this man who's always described himself as the decider saying, well, I just haven't heard from President-elect Obama yet to have him tell me what he wants me to do.
INSKEEP: Well, Don Gonyea, I want to ask you about that final news conference and what was described anyway as the final news conference for this president. People were watching this closely. They said that the news was that the president admitted a couple of mistakes in the way that he dealt with the so-called mission accomplished after Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. That was the news. But you're sitting there, Don, and you're somebody that has been at these news conferences for eight years covering this president. What struck you?
GONYEA: But he was very combative still on key points. He aggressively denied that the U.S's standing has been damaged overseas by - or around the world - its moral standing by the Iraq war, by Abu Ghraib, by enhanced interrogation techniques and waterboarding. And on Katrina, he acted as though the main problem with federal response to the hurricane was his decision not to land Air Force One in Baton Rouge or New Orleans.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks very much. That's NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea. This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
This does not mean Congress will release the money without reservation. Earlier today, the head of the powerful Senate banking Committee, Democrat Christopher Dodd, said his colleagues would not approve the money unless there are limits on executive pay and help for struggling homeowners.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The New Zealand comedy band "Flight of the Conchords" is taking to the air once again. The HBO series about the adventures of this funny folk duo returns for a second season this Sunday. As NPR's Robert Smith reports, the goofy show is taking a slightly darker turn.
ROBERT SMITH: If you missed the first season of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords," do not worry. The two stars can sum up a year's worth of shows in just 11 seconds.
MONTAGNE: Two guys from New Zealand come to New York, and they're a band. And they fail to...
MONTAGNE: Weekly.
MONTAGNE: They fail every week, yeah. At 10 o'clock.
SMITH: You see, the band has no gigs, only one fan and a hapless manager. And through it all, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie greet their failures with awkward silence.
MONTAGNE: Stereotypical sense of humor in New Zealand is dry and understated.
MONTAGNE: Even to the point of having none at all.
MONTAGNE: We've definitely used that.
MONTAGNE: It's kind of bordering on boring. We keep it at that edge.
SMITH: Which makes it all the more delightful when the boys burst into song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: It's business, It's business time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: And then Bret brings on his rap alter ego, the Rhymenoceros.
MONTAGNE: (Singing) Other rappers dis me Say my rhymes are sissy Why? Why? What? Why exactly? What? Why? Be more constructive With your feedback, please Why? Why?
SMITH: They do psychedelica, reggae, new wave, French pop.
MONTAGNE: (Singing) Camembert Jacque Cousteau Baguette
SMITH: And a whole riff on what it would be like if NASA launched David Bowie into space.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: While the show was on hiatus, an album by The Conchords debuted at number three on the billboard chart. And the band has been selling out their tour dates, which puts a lot more pressure on the boys for their second season on HBO. How do you play convincing losers when you're already a hit? At a sound stage in Brooklyn, they're filming the last episode of season two. It explains how The Conchords got together and their early days in America - or at least a fictionalized version of the story. Jemaine and Bret are practicing a scene about how they came up with the idea for their very first song.
MONTAGNE: Let's go to this party
MONTAGNE: We have to finish this song, man. We don't have any songs.
MONTAGNE: You've forgotten how to rock the party.
MONTAGNE: You know who likes to rock the party.
MONTAGNE: SINGING ...likes to to rock the party?
MONTAGNE: That's it, man. That's it. Who likes to rock the party?
SMITH: It didn't really happen that way. During a break in the filmmaking, Jemaine and Bret explain that they were college students and then roommates together in New Zealand.
MONTAGNE: We weren't really planning on playing to an audience. We were just messing around mainly for our flat mates. Even they didn't like some of the songs, but we continued to play them while they were making their dinner.
SMITH: All the while, the two were auditioning for acting roles on New Zealand TV, and never getting the parts.
MONTAGNE: I remember us one day saying, let's forget acting. Let's make a band. And this is the band we made.
MONTAGNE: And then by making a band, we got a TV show.
MONTAGNE: Ironically.
MONTAGNE: Hmm.
SMITH: And now they joke that they're one of New Zealand's top exports after lamb, butter and Lord of the Rings DVDs. Just don't expect their real-life success to spill over into the sitcom.
MONTAGNE: It seems like the second season, if anything, has some darker themes. Like perhaps by Jemaine and I living in America for a couple of years now, we've lost a little bit of our naivety.
MONTAGNE: It's almost - actually in this series, almost every episode is about losing our innocence.
SMITH: Jemaine even tries to become a gigolo, although he's so bad at it he has to solicit his customers over the phone.
(SOUNDBITE FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: In order to rescue him, Bret croons his own version of that song by The Police, "Roxanne."
(SOUNDBITE FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
MONTAGNE: You don't have to be a prostitute, No, no, no, no, no, You can say no to being a man ho, A male gigolo, You don't have to be a prostitute, No, no, no, no, no, You can say no to being a night looker, boy hooker...
SMITH: "Flight of the Conchords," season two, debuts on HBO this Sunday. And if you don't have cable, well, the band has learned some tricks from their online cult status. They'll now offer the shows' songs for download on the Internet after every episode airs. Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Italy was once a poor country, and millions of its citizens went abroad to find work. Now, workers flood in from other countries. Italy needs the workers since the native population is aging - which does not mean that Italians are eager to welcome the newcomers. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli has the second part of her series on minorities in Europe.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Castel Volturno is located on the coast 20 miles north of Naples. Once a summer resort, it's now called Little Africa, home to 6 to 8,000 black people who live in rundown condos and gather at Internet cafes like this one. Most immigrants here eke out a living in a gray economy controlled by the Camorra, the local mafia. Last fall, hit men gunned down six Africans who probably broke the rules.
M: This is Camorra's land. It is not a no-man's land because it's Camorra's land.
POGGIOLI: Jean-Rene Bilongo is a social worker who comes from Cameroon. He says the Camorra controls this large pool of cheap labor. The workday starts at 5 a.m. It's a long wait for a ride to Naples. Buses are so full, the worker often waits for a second or third bus before reaching his destination, a day-labor site.
M: He goes to a junction or a roundabout, stands there with the hope that somebody will come and pick him for a daily occupation, daily job. The pay is 25 to 30 euros, depends whether the sandwich is included or not.
POGGIOLI: Most immigrants in this town are illegal, without documents. Bilongo says they're abandoned.
M: We are still considered as ghosts, something just less than human beings. No one is interested in your condition, your future and your past - no one at all.
POGGIOLI: Italy now has an estimated 4 to 5 million immigrants, about 7 percent of the population. Surveys show that among Europeans, Italians are the most suspicious about immigrants. A majority believes they have too many rights, and that many of them should be deported. And most Italians say immigration has brought only crime. Xenophobia is strongest in the north, where most immigrants have regular jobs.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH BELLS RINGING)
POGGIOLI: Citadella, the Citadel, is a small town, one of the few with perfectly intact medieval walls surrounded by a moat. It's living up to its name. Mayor Massimo Bitonci has sharply restricted immigrants' rights to live here. His ordinance sets a high threshold - a regular work contract, a minimum income of $5,000 per family member, and a home size that's too expensive for most immigrants. Mayor Bitonci says the town feels besieged.
M: (Through Translator) We are very frightened by what we see around us. We write the rules here. We want to safeguard our culture. Yes, we are raising the drawbridge, and we are on the battlements to defend ourselves from external attacks.
POGGIOLI: The northern city of Padua boasts a history of glorious guests. Giotto painted here, and Galileo taught mathematics. But now, nobody wants outsiders. Residents allege out loud that immigrants bring only disease, and a local Northern League politician claims that with all their different languages, immigrants bring only chaos.
MICHAEL: It is very difficult for a black man to ride a bus here.
POGGIOLI: Twenty-nine-year-old Michael - he wouldn't give his full name - is Nigerian. We meet at a ramshackle phone center near the Padua train station, a gathering point for many immigrants. Every time he takes a bus, he sits at the back because, he says, Italians look at him as if he were an alien creature.
MICHAEL: They don't like black immigrants. The black man has a brain, you know? They don't give the chance to utilize what he have. They don't allow black man to open up what is in their mind. You understand what I'm saying?
POGGIOLI: The language Italians hear from the mass media and politicians is disparaging about The Other. One Northern League minister calls Africans Bingo Bongo. Roma people, or gypsies, as they're sometimes called, are often depicted on TV as kidnappers of white children. And Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made international headlines by describing the newly elected Barack Obama as young and tanned.
M: We need really a kind of ecology of language in a multicultural context.
POGGIOLI: Jean-Leonard Touadi is the only black member of the Italian parliament. He believes insensitive language has increased Italians' fear of immigrants. Politicians' favorite buzzword, he says, is security.
M: Security means, first of all, all migrants are criminals or potentially criminals. And this is not true. That means to indicate to the Italian population what is the heart of their insecurity.
POGGIOLI: Italy's colonial rule in Africa in the last century has not helped Italians adapt to immigrants.
(SOUNDBITE OF ITALIAN FASCIST ARMY ANTHEM)
POGGIOLI: The anthem of the Fascist army in Africa promised a young girl - a little black face - the glories of the Fascist empire. But Italy's colonial period was brief, violent, and filled with military defeats. Lucia Ghebreghiorges, an Italian of Ethiopian origin, says many Italians still see their former colonial subjects as enemies.
M: This is why they are unprepared for immigration. We are part of the future of this country, but they still see us as barbarians.
POGGIOLI: Many Italians are worried about what the media calls a racism emergency. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has even called on the Catholic Church to help Italians overcome racism. MP Touadi says Italy must realize it's no longer a monocultural society.
M: We have to work hard inside society, in the schools, in universities, in newspaper, to raise up a new generation of Italian and to change, to make a change behavior in the way of speaking and approaching problems. First of all cultural transition, and then only political transition.
POGGIOLI: Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: So that's immigration in Italy. Sylvia was in Germany yesterday, France tomorrow. And you can read more about her experiences in compiling this series in her Reporter's Notebook at our Web site, npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
One of the losers in the Gaza fighting could well be Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement. When Israel's offensive began, Abbas pointed a finger at Hamas, saying it was at least partly to blame because it had provoked Israel with its rocket fire. Abbas has since been more critical of Israel. But as we hear from NPR's Ann Garrels in the West Bank, he seems to have misread popular Palestinian sentiment.
ANNE GARRELS: While there have been massive demonstrations against Israel's assault on Gaza across the globe, similar protests have been largely suppressed in the occupied West Bank, which is run by opponents of Hamas, President Abbas and his Fatah movement.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMONSTRATION)
GARRELS: Last Friday, when demonstrators moved from this mosque in downtown Ramallah, parking attendant Abdul Hakim Nakhleh watched as helmeted Palestinian police beat the largely peaceful protesters.
MONTAGNE: (Through Translator) People were chanting, not knowing that they would be beaten and tear-gassed. Even women were beaten by women police.
GARRELS: The demonstration, which had started out in support of the people of Gaza, turned into a protest against Abbas. Forty-three-year-old Abdul Hakim says he once voted for Abbas but from now on, he will vote for Hamas. After a year of failed peace talks, Abbas is hard-pressed to persuade people here moderation pays. Jeweler Murad Odeh says he thinks Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, will be in trouble in the next elections.
MONTAGNE: (Through Translator): Abu Mazen keeps talking about peace, but we haven't seen anything. Despite Israel's promises to withdraw, there are still more than 600 Israeli roadblocks. They continue expanding their settlements on our land. At any time, the Israeli army can come here and arrest people. People here do not feel secure.
GARRELS: Ayman Daraghmeh is a member of parliament affiliated with Hamas. He believes President Abbas has made serious mistakes in recent weeks, reinforcing the growing perception he's a pawn of Israel and the U.S. But however much Hamas may have gained, he says the continuing split within the Palestinians must be resolved so there can be new elections.
MONTAGNE: After this crisis will end, what I think - people will have to sit together to end this kind of split between Gaza and the West Bank.
GARRELS: He warns if the two sides can't work together, if there's no progress on real peace talks - not just empty negotiations - there could be more violence.
MONTAGNE: People sometimes will explode suddenly - like in the first uprising, second uprising - without any permission from the Palestinian leadership.
GARRELS: Abdullah Abdullah, a senior Fatah official, also hopes the crisis in Gaza will somehow force the Palestinians to resolve their differences. He says the international community is as much to blame for the split as the Palestinians themselves.
MONTAGNE: If the peace process was progressing normally, Hamas wouldn't be there. Extremism comes to fill a vacuum. That vacuum was created by those who never thought seriously of achieving peace.
GARRELS: While loathe to acknowledge Abbas has lost ground, he does say the security forces in the West Bank have gone too far.
MONTAGNE: We don't tolerate their intervention to arrest any demonstrator.
GARRELS: It's going on.
MONTAGNE: No, it has stopped. We intervened strongly, and it has stopped.
GARRELS: This may be too little, too late. It remains to be seen Friday, when more demonstrations are expected, if the Fatah-led government will, indeed, allow them. Anne Garrels, NPR News, the West Bank.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The nominee to run the Energy Department, Steven Chu, will explain his plans for America's energy future when he goes before a Senate panel today. If confirmed, Mr. Chu's job will be simply to create a new, greener, energy economy. Just that one simple thing, which happens to touch on every single thing we do in life. At least that's what President-elect Barack Obama's been promising. NPR's Christopher Joyce has this look at what Steven Chu may have in mind.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE: Steven Chu, the physicist, is something of a rock star among scientists. He won science's most coveted award, the Nobel Prize, in 1997. Steven Chu, the bureaucrat, is a green energy advocate. Four years ago, Chu took over the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California. He bent his own career, and the focus of the lab, to the problem of making new fuels from green sources, things like grasses and agricultural waste. The reason, he says, is that fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas - are warming the planet dangerously. Chu hasn't been saying much since his nomination, but in a conversation about a year ago with NPR reporters, Chu said he thinks Americans aren't up to speed on the climate threat.
M: I don't think the American public understands the reasonably high probability some very bad things will happen. They fundamentally don't understand that. Because if they really felt that, then they would do something about it.
JOYCE: But Chu says people shouldn't think of fighting climate change as a sacrifice.
M: The goal is not to actually say, OK, everybody use less energy. Don't heat your homes. Don't light your homes. The goal is to have a standard of living which is carbon-neutral and works well with the world.
JOYCE: Carbon-neutral means moving away from coal and other fuels that put a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. Chu says one way to do that is through the marketplace.
M: A price on carbon is one of the - if I had to name six things, that would certainly be one of them.
JOYCE: Chu says he's no fan of coal, and that could get him into some hot water among members of Congress who represent coal-mining states, for example. Chu says coal will have to be used in a less polluting way. The coal industry says it could do that, but it's going to be expensive, since coal provides about half the country's electricity. Many climate activists say coal's only hope is to go clean. Eileen Claussen runs the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a climate think tank.
M: The notion that we would simply stop burning coal, I think, is a fantasy. So the issue is, how quickly can we make it into something that doesn't harm the climate? And I think he will be an advocate for that.
JOYCE: The Department of Energy may not be the best place to do that, however. While the DOE's research budget is among the largest in the federal government, most of DOE's money goes to building and maintaining the government's nuclear weapons, and to cleaning up nuclear waste. The research and development budget has been pretty flat during the Bush administration. But Mr. Obama says he wants to change that and build a new green energy economy. Again, Eileen Claussen of the Pew Climate Center.
M: I think we're seeing a new Department of Energy, because I think the focus is going to be on energy, more than on nuclear weapons' side of the house. I think the president-elect is committed to a new energy future, and I think he's going to look to DOE to do a lot of the technological work to make sure that that future is possible.
JOYCE: But no one expects this to happen fast.
INSKEEP: There is built into the system a kind of inertia.
JOYCE: Ernest Monias is a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was undersecretary of energy for President Bill Clinton. He says retooling the energy economy will affect the environment, agriculture, commerce, transportation - just about everything the government regulates.
INSKEEP: And the secretary of energy is, frankly, not in a position to easily convene all of those interests. So energy policy really cries out for a White House coordinating function.
JOYCE: Which it will have. Mr. Obama has created a new Climate and Energy Office in the White House. It's an office the new energy secretary is likely to be visiting quite often. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
An icon of the civil rights era will deliver the benediction at the inauguration of Barack Obama. Reverend Joseph Lowery was a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC. He marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., and says now he's gratified by the political gains he's lived to see. From Atlanta, NPR's Kathy Lohr has more.
KATHY LOHR: The man who will be the 44th president personally called Joseph Lowery to ask him to be part of the inaugural program.
MONTAGNE: Of course I accepted. I was honored and humbled to do it, and I look forward to it. I'm very excited about it.
LOHR: The 87-year-old Lowery has been a dominant presence in the civil rights movement for more than half a century. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama, began his civil rights work in the 1950s, and worked for voting rights in the 1960s.
(SOUNDBITE OF VINTAGE RECORDING OF PEOPLE SINGING)
LOHR: After King's death, the Methodist minister continued to work for civil rights, and may be best known for his outspoken nature and his ability to turn a phrase. He outraged some in 2006 when he read a poem at Coretta Scott King's funeral that indicted the Bush administration and criticized the Iraq war.
(SOUNDBITE OF READING AT THE FUNERAL OF CORETTA SCOTT KING)
MONTAGNE: We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there...
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD OVATION)
MONTAGNE: But Coretta knew, and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here.
LOHR: Lowery was a longtime president at the SCLC and in 1982, he spoke at the group's 25th anniversary meeting.
(SOUNDBITE OF SCLC 25TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING, 1982)
MONTAGNE: We've come a long way. But black-elected officials in this country still only comprise 1 percent of the total number of elected officials. We've got to hold fast to dreams of political justice.
LOHR: Lowery was one of Barack Obama's most ardent supporters, even when many African-Americans across the South were backing Senator Hillary Clinton. He decided to back Mr. Obama after hearing him speak at a voting rights march in Selma, Alabama, two years ago. Lowery says the change he's witnessed in society and in politics is remarkable.
MONTAGNE: I'm very proud that people across this country, even in Southern states, chose to vote for an African-American. That's a sign of real progress, and I'm so grateful that I lived long enough to see it come to pass.
LOHR: As the first African-American president, Lowery says Barack Obama will be scrutinized intensely. He knows the selection of Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation has upset some supporters. But Lowery defends the decision and calls it part of the president-elect's promise to include people with differing political and religious views.
MONTAGNE: Oh, I don't think it hurts. I think it'll pass. I think it'll even pass before the ceremony is over.
LOHR: The civil rights pastor says the president-elect has inspired the nation to end hostility and division, and he says the inauguration is the beginning of a new era in America.
MONTAGNE: And I hope that in my closing prayer, I can find a way to inspire people to take that spirit and warmth, that feeling of conviviality and brotherhood, take it with us back down into the valley.
LOHR: Beyond that, Reverend Lowery would not reveal just what he will say at the inauguration. All he'll say for now is that he's working on it. Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Atlanta.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Next week's presidential inauguration is a historic occasion, and also a tempting target. The presence of huge crowds, not to mention the president, president-elect, and nearly every member of Congress and the Cabinet, make for a lot of concerns about security. The Secret Service is in charge of security for this event, but they will be backed up by the police, the FBI, and about 12,000 members of the military. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports on the role the armed services will play.
MARY LOUISE KELLY: So we're out here at Fort Belvoir. That's about 18 miles south of Washington, and it is a freezing cold morning out here, and we're waiting. And there they go. That's two Black Hawks, Army helicopters, lifting off for a training run. The Black Hawks will be on standby for the inauguration. And they'll have plenty of company up there. The number of air patrols that day will be doubled.
G: It could be F-16s. It could be F-15s. It could be F-22s.
LOUISE KELLY: That's General Gene Renuart. He's in charge of Northern Command, which means he's the military commander ultimately responsible for the defense of the United States. On Tuesday, Northern Command will be fielding emergency medical teams, bomb-disposal teams, and a force designed to respond to a large-scale chemical, biological or radiological event. On the Potomac River, LCACs will be on alert. LCAC is short for Landing Craft Air Cushioned, a sort of military hovercraft that could evacuate people in a hurry. But, General Renuart says, all of this is just in case.
G: The good news is that these are all prudent measures that we take in the world we live in since 9/11. We don't believe that there is an imminent threat, but any time you have a couple million people compressed into an area like we will see, you want to be prepared for any kind of an event.
LOUISE KELLY: Now, aside from security, the military also plays a big ceremonial role in the inauguration. And for that, we're going to have to head across town. Next stop is Fort McNair. This is home to the military district of Washington, and they are basically in charge of the military preparations for the big day. And here we come up to the gate. Hi.
LOUISE KELLY: How you doing?
LOUISE KELLY: Here to see General Rowe.
LOUISE KELLY: All right.
LOUISE KELLY: Major General Rich Rowe, he's commander of the Army Military District of Washington, and he's also chairman of the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee.
LOUISE KELLY: We will present the colors. You will have the premier service band provide the national anthem and the musical support on the west steps of the Capitol. We will form a presidential honor guard to escort the president up Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the inaugural parade. And then we will have elements within the inaugural parade.
LOUISE KELLY: General Rowe will be walking at the front of that honor guard. He says he's looking for a great day: blue skies, big crowds.
LOUISE KELLY: And so I'm hoping that the parade route is filled. We know based upon the demand that the Capitol is going to be filled - every place you can stand, every place you can sit. And then I think that the vision - which is a Mall that is filled to historic proportions - I think we're going to see that picture. And so I'm pleased.
LOUISE KELLY: Well, if everything does go to plan, and the parade and all the speeches come off without a hitch, there's still one thing left. The military will also be on duty right here at the Convention Center on Tuesday night. That's just in case they're needed at the inaugural balls. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Democrats are also questioning the president-elect's plan to restore the economy. He wants to create 3 million jobs, and he wants to do that with a massive combination of spending and tax breaks. Some of those items raised the eyebrow of Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. He's the Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and he does not think that parts of the plan will work. Consider a $3,000 tax credit for an employer who creates a new job.
INSKEEP: If you're in the automobile industry, are you really going to take a $3,000 tax credit to hire somebody that costs you $50,000 a year to produce cars that aren't being sold? It just does not work well in this environment.
INSKEEP: Well now, what are they doing, do you think, that could create jobs here realistically?
INSKEEP: I think the evidence is really very clear that in this circumstance, job creation follows most directly from direct investment in things like roads, bridges, waterways, energy projects that reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Those kinds of expenditures give you the biggest bang for the buck.
INSKEEP: Senator Conrad, Republicans have looked at some of the numbers that the incoming administration has put out, and have said that President-elect Obama wants to create 3 million jobs in America, which sounds good, and have gone on to say that he wants 80 percent of that to be private sector, 20 percent to be public sector, government jobs. And they do the math on that, and they say 600,000 new government jobs?
INSKEEP: Well, if it is considered a government job to rebuild a road or build a bridge because government is paying for private-sector contractors, I'm less concerned about that. And I think they've got more of a case if it's people that go on the federal payroll and have some expectation of staying there long term. Because one of the tests we've got to apply to this economic recovery plan is to have provisions that are temporary in nature. They've got to be timely. They've got to be temporary. They've got to be targeted.
INSKEEP: And when you look at this bill, is everything looking temporary?
INSKEEP: No. For the most part it is, but there are a series of things here that are not. For example, changes in unemployment insurance that some want to make permanent. Changes in COBRA benefits, health benefits, that some want to make permanent. That gives concern because, as you know, we are running massive deficits - 1.2 trillion this year before the cost of the economic-recovery package. And we've got increases in debt of over a trillion dollars a year every year for the next 10 years, if we don't change course.
INSKEEP: Are you concerned that a lot of this money is going to end up in the hands of corporate executives as opposed to people with new jobs?
INSKEEP: I'm more concerned about that on the TARP funding, that is, the Troubled Asset...
INSKEEP: Oh, the bailout, yeah.
INSKEEP: ...Relief Program. You know, the current administration did not restrict, I think, appropriately bonuses to executives who are the beneficiaries - at least their companies are the beneficiaries. Further, you know, when you provide capital to the banks because their capital is impaired, and you want to make sure they can lend, I think you then have to get an assurance from those lending institutions that receive money that they're actually going to use the money to broaden credit availability. And this administration failed to do that.
INSKEEP: You mentioned that with the financial-bailout money, you felt that the Bush administration didn't do everything that they should have done in terms of oversight. Do you have confidence that a Democratic Congress will be able to provide independent oversight of a Democratic White House if it starts wandering away from what the bill tells them to do?
INSKEEP: That remains to be seen. Will Congress do everything that it should? I hope I can say yes. But, you know, after what I saw with respect to the Bush administration's handling of the TARP, part of that was a timing issue. Congress was out of session. We weren't here. And the Bush administration, specifically the secretary of the Treasury, did not use some of the oversight facilities that were provided for and that were fully intended to be engaged.
INSKEEP: And Congress didn't find a way to make them do it, which makes me wonder if you'll be able to put pressure on a president of your own party if there's a problem.
INSKEEP: I think the truth of the matter is, Congress did not do an effective job. Of course, for most of the Bush administration, they were dealing with a Republican Congress that wasn't all that interested in exercising oversight. And so that's a test for us.
INSKEEP: Senator Conrad, thanks very much.
INSKEEP: You bet. Good to be with you.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. President-elect Obama won the White House on a promise of change. Now, he may have to deal with a Congress demanding more change than he is.
INSKEEP: Top lawmakers may belong to Mr. Obama's party, but they've got their own priorities. In a moment, we'll hear an alternative view of the president-elect's economic recovery plan.
MONTAGNE: We begin with a debate over some key policies of the Bush administration. Mr. Obama said over the weekend it may take time to close a prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He also played down possible legal probes into the Bush administration's interrogation policies. Democrats in Congress have their own plans, as NPR's David Welna reports.
DAVID WELNA: The interrogation policies the Bush administration has used in Guantanamo include the waterboarding, or simulated drowning, of three detainees. The new chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, California's Dianne Feinstein, pointed out last week on the Senate floor that in the past, the Justice Department has actually prosecuted the use of waterboarding.
INSKEEP: The administration used what I believe to be faulty logic and faulty reasoning to say the waterboarding technique was not torture. In fact, it is.
WELNA: President-elect Obama also views waterboarding as torture. To find out who authorized its use in interrogations, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has introduced a bill creating a bipartisan commission with subpoena power. But when Mr. Obama was asked on ABC's "This Week" whether he'd back such a commission, he was cautiously noncommittal.
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INSKEEP: We're still evaluating how we are going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions and so forth. And obviously, we're going to be looking at past practices, and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.
WELNA: Some Democrats who strongly opposed the Bush administration's detention and interrogation practices say they agree with Mr. Obama's cautious approach. Among them is the Senate's number two Democrat, Dick Durbin.
INSKEEP: There's a big debate going on about holding the previous administration accountable for their actions. And I would say for the time being that the Obama team is focused properly on the future. Our economy is so weak. We're in desperate need of jobs. Before we start looking at the pages of history in the Bush administration, we should be looking at the obvious need to create jobs and create a new economic climate in this country.
WELNA: You might think such talk would be disheartening to those who've been pushing for probes into warrantless wiretapping and coercive interrogations. But the American Civil Liberties Union's Caroline Fredrickson says she still has faith that much done in the past will come to light.
MONTAGNE: Everybody knows that we've got an economy in the toilet and that that is the first order of business. But these things are not inconsistent, and certainly Congress can occupy itself with multiple tasks at any one time, as it always does.
WELNA: One Democratic senator who sits on both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees says Congress does need to see the secret legal opinions drafted for Vice President Cheney by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Rhode Island's Sheldon Whitehouse considers those opinions a blot on the Justice Department.
INSKEEP: So I think that there's a lot that remains to look at. And I appreciate that President Obama doesn't want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this. But I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility.
WELNA: Whitehouse says he expects that should Eric Holder be confirmed as the next attorney general, he, too, will quickly face many questions about the Bush administration's detention policies. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. It's often said that Israelis fight their wars against the clock. They move as quickly as they can as the world increases its demands for a cease-fire. In Gaza right now, that cease-fire has yet to arrive. And Israeli forces have moved into the most densely populated parts of the Palestinian area. The death toll on the Palestinian side has now surpassed 900. Nearly half are civilians. Israel has lost 13, 10 of them soldiers. NPR's Mike Shuster has more from Jerusalem.
MIKE SHUSTER: Israel's ground troops were also active. There were numerous encounters between Israeli troops and Hamas gunmen as the Israeli military moved to tighten the encirclement of Gaza City. Television pictures from inside Gaza have shown a flood of injured people, many of them children, with hideous wounds and burns. Buildings have collapsed under the onslaught in many areas of Gaza; no one knows how many people are still buried in the rubble. United Nations officials have confirmed much of the information from the Palestinian side. Numerous U.N. officials have issued increasingly desperate calls for an end to the fighting. This is John Ging, the head of the local U.N. Relief and Works Agency, speaking in Gaza yesterday.
MONTAGNE: Here, in Israel and internationally, you have an obligation to the ordinary people. In the name of humanity and all that is civilized, we need to stop this now. More children have died today, and more will die tomorrow unless the fighting stops.
SHUSTER: Yesterday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair stepped into the process. Blair is the top envoy of the Middle East quartet. The quartet is a diplomatic mechanism that brings together the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia. Blair's public remarks did not leave the impression that a cease-fire could be worked out soon.
MONTAGNE: I am hopeful we can put an agreement together, but it's going to have to be worked on very hard, and it's got to be credible - credible both in terms of stopping the supply of weapons into Gaza, but credible also in terms of opening up Gaza and allowing the Gazan people to get what they need from the outside world.
SHUSTER: The key stumbling block is the border between Gaza and Egypt. This is where hundreds of tunnels have been dug over the years, permitting the smuggling of just about everything into Gaza, including weapons. They have been a major supply source since Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2006. The Israelis call this border zone the Philadelphia Corridor, and they say in any cease-fire, Israel must have confidence that the tunnels won't be reconstructed. It's a very hard problem to solve, says Zvi Mazel, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt.
MONTAGNE: We must control the tunnel under the Philadelphia passage. There is no other way to stop this war. Otherwise, we have to go into Gaza and kill all the Hamas people. Egypt must cooperate with Israel and stop it on its side, you see, and we'll do our job in this side. It is difficult and complicated because Egypt doesn't want to fight the Arabs. But there is no other solution. We must find an agreement.
SHUSTER: Whether Hamas is really willing to engage in these talks is a big question. The Israelis believe the damage they've done to Hamas has caused some of the movement's leaders to give serious consideration to a cease-fire. But Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader in Gaza, who has been in hiding since the first week of the war, issued a statement yesterday that Hamas would consider a cease-fire only after Israel withdrew from Gaza and ended the blockade of the territory. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's business news starts with Russia restoring the flow of gas.
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INSKEEP: After intense negotiations, EU officials brokered a deal to get some gas flowing again. Yet we're told the gas is still not getting through Ukraine, which the Ukrainians blame now on what they describe as a technical problem.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And let's go back now to the United States, where Dell has agreed to pay nearly $4 million. This $4 million is to settle claims by consumers. The accusation is that Dell misled consumers about financing and service offers. Here's NPR's Jim Zarroli.
JIM ZARROLI: Dell said yesterday that it was pleased by the prompt and reasonable settlement. A spokesman said the number of consumer complaints represented only a very small percentage of the tens of millions of consumer transactions that Dell was involved with. But the company did agree to provide customers with more information about financing, and to fulfill its warranty obligations. Consumers who believe they were misled by Dell are supposed to file claims with their respective states within 90 days. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
You can see the way Europe's economy is changing when you look at the affairs of a giant computer maker. Dell has its European manufacturing base in Ireland - or at least it has up to now. Dell is cutting two-thirds of the workforce at a major factory in Limerick. It's moving the 1,900 jobs there to a shiny, new plant in Poland. The move is a shock to the western Irish city, where Dell was the main employer. It's also a sign that Ireland is losing the cost-competitiveness that boosted its economy for decades. NPR's Rob Gifford reports from Limerick.
ROB GIFFORD: Dell has been by far the largest employer in this friendly, verdant corner of the Emerald Isle ever since the company set up here 18 years ago. The impact of the job losses here was summed up by Alan English, editor of the local newspaper the Limerick Leader.
MONTAGNE: Yeah, the headline in the paper today is "The Blackest Day." And we have five further pages of coverage on what is the biggest bad-news story to hit our area in a generation.
GIFFORD: There are still a thousand non-manufacturing Dell jobs remaining here, and another 1,300 in sales and marketing in Dublin. But in Limerick, in small coffee shops like the one run by Liz Murphy(ph) near to the Dell factory, the layoffs will certainly be felt.
MONTAGNE: We're just around the corner from Dell. We're just at the entrance to the industrial estate. So I think the loss of jobs is going to have a huge impact on the business here in just, you know, a small coffee shop.
GIFFORD: Dell opened its Limerick facility with great fanfare in 1990, right at the start of the boom that led Ireland's economy to be known as the Celtic Tiger. Low corporate tax, government subsidies, and a skilled but relatively cheap labor force led other companies to follow Dell's lead and move their manufacturing bases to Ireland. But Dell's European vice president, Sean Corkery, said Dell can't make computers in a place that pays $15 an hour when the company could make them in a place that pays 5.
MONTAGNE: We have to remain cost-competitive. It's a very difficult market out there. And as part of our restructuring program to be more cost-competitive, we need to be a price leader in the market. And for that, we need to have the right costs. It's in that context we had to make this decision.
GIFFORD: Ireland has now become the victim of a policy from which it once benefited, whereby poorer European Union countries could offer subsidies to lure foreign firms. Now, though, the EU Commission says it's investigating the legality of Poland's $66 million grant to lure Dell from Ireland. Stephen Kinsella of the University of Limerick says there could be a silver lining to the closure of the Dell plant.
GIFFORD: This is going to be seen as a watershed moment in Irish economic history. This is the moment when we changed from a low-value, manufacturing-based service economy and our focus changed to a high-value, innovation-based research and development economy - painful, but utterly necessary.
GIFFORD: More jobs will likely be lost in the short term, says Kinsella, but he adds the Irish government needs to invest even a fraction of the money it spent bailing out Irish banks to help laid-off workers of Dell or other companies to set up their own businesses.
GIFFORD: If you give 100 of those people loans, and they create nine more jobs each, you've taken 1,000 people out of the unemployment line. Of those 100 companies, 75 of them are going to fail, five of them will be small to medium enterprises, 10 more might be enterprises with 15 to 50 people in them. One of them might be the next Google.
GIFFORD: Ireland has proved before that it can reinvent itself. The problem is this time, it will have to be done against the looming backdrop of the credit crunch and the global recession. So this time, it's likely to be more difficult, and to take much longer. Rob Gifford, NPR News, Limerick in western Ireland.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And our last word in business is about a job opening for what may be the best job in the world. That's what the employer calls it. The Australian state of Queensland, home to the famous Great Barrier Reef, is looking for an island caretaker. Shana Pereira is with the tourist authority there.
MONTAGNE: It's a live-in position with flexible working hours, and the key responsibilities include exploring the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to discover and promote to an international audience what the islands have to offer.
MONTAGNE: Basically, you stroll around the sand, soak up the sun, swim, snorkel, and blog about it. The blogging is the work which pays - for a six-month contract - 100,000 U.S. dollars.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Where do I apply for that?
MONTAGNE: I knew you're going to say that. I'm ahead of you in line, Steve.
INSKEEP: I'm writing an application now.
MONTAGNE: Strangely enough, only about 150 people have applied so far.
INSKEEP: Renee, would you write my letter of recommendation?
MONTAGNE: Well, yeah, as soon as this - we've got a couple of more seconds here, and then I'll get to it.
INSKEEP: We'll talk about it afterward. All right.
MONTAGNE: That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. President-elect Obama wants another $350 billion in bailout money. So all he has to do is win over lawmakers who think the last 350 billion was badly spent. In a moment, we'll hear from one key congressman, Barney Frank. First, NPR's Scott Horsley explains why some lawmakers are skeptical.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Congress hastily approved the bailout package, known as TARP, in the midst of the financial meltdown last fall without a lot of strings attached. But there was one, and it's threatening to tie the new administration in knots. Before the Treasury Department can spend the second half of the bailout money - $350 billion - the president has to get permission from Congress. Mr. Obama is now making that request via President Bush. He says he wants to have a lifeline available in case the financial system is once again in danger of going under.
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INSKEEP: In consultation with the business community and my top economic advisers, it is clear that the financial system, although improved from where it was in September, is still threatened.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama spoke during a photo op with the president of Mexico. He acknowledges that the first half of the bailout money has done little to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, or business people trying to get credit. Wall Street firms that took advantage of the government's money were not required to make credit more widely available. Mr. Obama promises fundamental changes in how the second half of the money will be used.
INSKEEP: We're going to focus on housing and foreclosures. We're going to focus on small businesses. We're going to focus on what's required to make sure that credit is flowing to consumers and businesses to create jobs in the United States.
HORSLEY: The president-elect's economic adviser, Larry Summers, put some of those promises in writing yesterday. In a letter to congressional leaders, Summers guaranteed some of the money would flow to neighborhood banks, small businesses and consumers in need of credit. He also promised a full accounting of how the money is spent and, he said, firms that receive bailout assistance will be subject to strict and sensible limits on dividends and executive pay. Some lawmakers say they're reassured by those conditions, but others are still reluctant to free up the additional money. Dick Durban, the number two Democrat in the Senate, says the request for the bailout funds is likely to face some tough questioning, even from members of the president-elect's own party.
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INSKEEP: There are a lot of people who are critical and skeptical of the first $350 billion spent by the Bush administration, and we have to convince them that this money is going to be in the hands of the new president, Barack Obama, and a new administration that will have new rules, more transparency, more accountability and, I hope, better impact on the economy.
HORSLEY: A House committee holds a hearing today on conditions that could be attached to the second half of the bailout money. Committee chairman Barney Frank says lawmakers should not allow their disappointment with the way the first half of the bailout was used to prevent the Obama administration from using the rest of the money in more appropriate ways. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Joining us now is Congressman Barney Frank. Good morning.
C: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: What would be more appropriate? You say the rest of the bailout money should be used in more appropriate ways. Give us some specific examples.
C: And inexplicably to me, the Bush administration ignored the very specific language in their first efforts to deal with foreclosure. Secondly, and we've mandated in this bill - I put a bill on the floor because I think members need a chance to vote to show what they really want in this. And we we asked that up to 100 billion of the 350 go to foreclosures, and if they don't do that, they've got to explain why they couldn't.
MONTAGNE: Well, let's talk, Congressman, just momentarily about foreclosures. Given that a significant percentage of loans modified in 2008 went back into foreclosure, how can you assure that mortgages will be modified in such a way that the borrower doesn't go back into default and keep this mess going?
C: For example, one of the major ones that we adopted - and it had some flaws in it, and we need the TARP money to fix it up - would be to reduce the amount of principal people owe. If you reduce the principal, you're much less likely to get these re-defaults. Even there, by the way, there's been a high number of re-defaults, but they've been cut - the foreclosures have been cut in half in those programs. We could do a lot better than that. So that's precisely the point. Without this kind of money and without this sort of effort, it won't be as successful.
MONTAGNE: As we just heard from our reporter, President-elect Obama wants to spend the second 350 billion in different ways - this time, putting the focus with some of that money on housing and on small business. How will this work better than the way the first half was spent?
C: Well, that's what we were just talking about. I'm sorry, my...
MONTAGNE: Small business.
C: The different approach that you're going to see under President Obama is, yes, we're going to give this money to financial institutions - in part. Some of it will go in foreclosure and elsewhere, but we are not simply going to give it to them and sit back and assume they'll do the best. We are going to prescribe more rules as to how they spend it.
MONTAGNE: We're talking with Congressman Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. We just have a few seconds left, but let me just ask you, many lawmakers from both parties are unhappy with the way the first installment of the bailout money was spent.
C: Everybody is.
MONTAGNE: Right. Is it going to - is Congress going to release that next 350 billion?
C: In other words, this is part of a very big change. And yes, it is true that almost everybody is dissatisfied with the way in which the Bush administration administered the first half. But it is precisely because of that dissatisfaction, I believe, that we've elected President Obama. And to deny him tools that he could use constructively because you're unhappy with the way the Bush people used them would really be to kind of say, well, what was the point of having the election?
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us. Congressman Barney Frank is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Well, the Detroit Auto Show opens to the public later this week, which would normally be a cause for celebration, just not so much this time. And the depression is not just because of bad car sales. When auto executives went to Washington late last year, they were grilled by Congress and heavily criticized by the media. And some Detroit residents feel the city has become a national punching bag. Other people say that the car industry has been living in a bubble, that's their metaphor here, and they say the car industry has to come to terms with a harsh reality. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.
FRANK LANGFITT: In Detroit, 2008 was a very bad year.
U: Thank the heavens above, the Lions are 0 and 16.
LANGFITT: The mayor resigned after lying about an affair.
U: Mr. Kilpatrick, you understand that by pleading guilty, that you're going to give up certain constitutional rights. And one is the right to be tried by a jury. Do you understand that, sir?
M: Yes.
LANGFITT: But perhaps what stung people the most was when car executives went begging for money in Washington, and many in Congress bashed them.
INSKEEP: No one can say that they didn't see this coming. Their boardrooms and executive suites, in my view, have been famously devoid of vision.
M: It was a complete shock to me.
LANGFITT: Susan Tompor writes a column for the Detroit Free Press. She was surprised at how commentators attacked the auto industry and by extension, her hometown. Tompor remembers a CNBC reporter based on Detroit, trying to give what she considered a balanced report on the car companies. Then, she says, other people on the program accused him of, quote, going native.
M: In a way, it said we're a Third World country or something, that we're not a part of the United States.
LANGFITT: Tompor vented her anger in the paper. She wrote...
M: "I've always understood that many people do not like American cars or union workers or car company CEOs. I didn't know that some really, really hate us."
LANGFITT: The column drew more than 200 emails. Many readers said they were just as frustrated with the outside criticism.
M: I use the word mean-spirited.
LANGFITT: Paul Chido is a retired engineer with Ford. He thinks some people resent Detroit because of what they see as overpaid auto workers. And along with Tompor, he admits the car companies made some big mistakes in the past.
LANGFITT: How do you think the country sees Detroit?
M: Well, I think they know we're in trouble, but they don't really - they feel it's our own making. I guess that's true, to a degree, but I don't see that we abused anything here and we need to be punished.
(SOUNDBITE OF TYPING)
LANGFITT: Daniel Howes has covered the auto industry for the Detroit News for a dozen years. He says people here shouldn't be surprised at the anger focused on their city.
M: We tend to exist in here as the Detroit bubble.
LANGFITT: Howes says some people here live in the past. They act as if Detroit still dominates the car industry, although foreign companies now sell more than half the vehicles in America. And Howes says some union members think they shouldn't have to give up benefits, even though their employers have to borrow government money to keep operating.
M: Particularly in southeast Michigan, a lot of folks approach their relationship with their employer that it's a lifetime kind of relationship, and that once you, quote, hire in, not only do you work for them until retirement, but they will then take care of you in some manner, shape or form, until the grave.
LANGFITT: But Howes says if some thinking here is out of date, so are some outside views of his adopted city. Like most people in Detroit, he says public perception of domestic cars is caught in a time warp.
M: Detroit today is building some of the best products it's ever built in its history.
LANGFITT: Independent analysts say similar things. But some people here are moving on from the industry that has defined the city for decades. Christopher Lowe(ph) considered a job at a Ford plant a few years ago. He's so glad he didn't take it. Now 27, he works for a rental-car agency while studying for an MBA. Lowe says sympathy for the auto companies, even here, is waning.
M: From, you know, management experience and from my education, I think it's a joke. You have to change, you have to adapt. I mean, foreign-car companies are making changes, and they've done it two, three decades ago. They're not cutting back and laying off entire plants and layoffs, and they're not going to Capitol Hill asking for money.
LANGFITT: That said, Christopher Lowe still loves his hometown and its gritty, industrial roots. When the economy improves, he hopes to put his MBA to use here - just not in the auto industry. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Detroit.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Duncan has his Senate confirmation hearing today, where he can expect questions about the No Child Left Behind law. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, many educators believe more spending is required to make that law work.
ABRAMSON: Even President Bush's detractors agree that No Child Left Behind was a big deal.
C: Well, I think this is the most significant reform of education policy since the 1960s.
ABRAMSON: That's Democratic Congressman George Miller, chair of the House Education Committee. He says No Child Left Behind did shine a light on the terrible achievement levels in some schools. But that law was passed during the administration's first year. Since then, Miller says, the Bush education policy has been one of...
C: Neglect. Just outright neglect.
ABRAMSON: Neglect, because funding to implement the law fell well short of expectations. Meanwhile, the pressure to improve test scores at failing schools is mounting. School principals, like Kaaren Andrews(ph) of Madrona Elementary in Seattle, say the law offers her all stick and no carrot.
MONTAGNE: We moved a huge percentage of kids from Level 1, which is far below standard, to Level 2, which is approaching standard. You get no credit for something like that under this law.
ABRAMSON: Andrews says more money could fund programs that could move those kids forward faster.
MONTAGNE: We'd be able to keep kids for a longer period of time. We would be able to do more with parents.
ABRAMSON: Many members of Congress agree more money is needed. So does President-elect Obama. So where's the hang-up? Well, there's the colossal, ever-growing budget deficit, of course. But there's something else. Congressman George Miller says Congress will want something in exchange for that extra funding.
C: And when you're then asking the Congress to put money forth for the act, they want to participate in writing the law as they see fit.
ABRAMSON: Miller has tried to rewrite the law before. He faced resistance from many, such as outgoing Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. She still favors leaving No Child Left Behind alone to letting Congress mess it up.
MONTAGNE: Certainly, that's a better place to be than any old reauthorization, which could be worrisome.
ABRAMSON: And the new administration may not want to start off its first term with a huge fight over a controversial education law. That's why Katie Haycock of the Education Trust think tank says that...
MONTAGNE: We're much more likely to reauthorize the law in 2010 than we are in this year.
ABRAMSON: Much may depend on the approach of the new secretary of education. Much as Margaret Spellings tried to fight off changes to the law, Arne Duncan could change the terms of the debate and push it to the front of the agenda. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. With a new administration coming to power next week, the Senate this week is busy holding confirmation hearings. We'll hear about the prospective energy secretary in a moment. But first, Hillary Clinton is expected to have a fairly easy confirmation process to be the next secretary of state. Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee are promising, though, to quiz her about foreign donors to her husband's charitable foundation. And she'll get plenty of questions about the Middle East and other hot spots, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN: When Hillary Rodham Clinton was formally nominated as secretary of state last year, she joked about how being a senator from New York helped prepare her for the job.
INSKEEP: After all, New Yorkers aren't afraid to speak their minds, and do so in every language.
KELEMEN: Being a senator may also make things go more smoothly for her today, as she's among friends and colleagues. Senator Clinton met with as many committee members as possible before the hearings. The message she's been sending is one of a new approach in foreign policy.
INSKEEP: Our security, our values and our interests cannot be protected and advanced by force alone - nor, indeed, by Americans alone. We must pursue vigorous diplomacy using all the tools we can muster to build a future with more partners and fewer adversaries, more opportunities and fewer dangers for all who seek freedom, peace and prosperity.
KELEMEN: Her aides say she brushed up on the issues in meetings with top diplomats, including the State Department's number three official, William Burns, who's expected to keep his job. She's also been making plans to bring back familiar faces and some foreign policy heavyweights to her State Department, if confirmed. Former President Clinton's Bosnia negotiator, Richard Holbrooke, is expected to be an adviser. And former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross is to deal with Iran and, perhaps more broadly, Middle East issues. A former ambassador to Israel, Sam Louis, says there are no great mysteries about these advisers. He's predicting the approach to the Middle East will be similar to that of the Clinton administration, though different from the Bush administration.
MONTAGNE: It'll be more multilateral. It will be less arrogant, I think. Less, this is what you have to do and when you do it, then we'll think about talking to you - which has really been the Bush approach towards Syria and Iran both. I don't know if it will be different about Hamas. I think they'll stay with the same policy, pretty much, on Hamas for the time being.
KELEMEN: Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas - which the U.S. considers a terrorist group - is sure to be a topic at the confirmation hearing. Senator Clinton may also be asked about the State Department's role in rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq, and what she'll do about U.S. foreign aid in these tough economic times. Georgetown Professor Carol Lancaster, who was a top aid official during the Clinton administration, thinks Senator Clinton, if confirmed, will want to present another face of America to the world.
INSKEEP: I think she will try, in more than just words, to elevate development. It's one of the three D's we all talk about: defense, diplomacy and development. I think we have yet to realize - I think she - I think she'll want to do that.
KELEMEN: And this is one area where Mrs. Clinton does have a strong background, according to Lancaster, who co-chaired a working group on development for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
INSKEEP: She understands the development issue like no other secretary of state I've known - and I've served under five or six of them - because she's seen it. She - every time she made one of her trips when she was first lady, she would go and look at aid projects. She would meet with people, including women. That's also, obviously, a very strong interest of hers, women's empowerment. And she'd give speeches on it.
KELEMEN: There is a related question that senators have been asking: whether international donations to former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation will lead to any conflict of interest for a Secretary of State Clinton. The former president has released his donor list, and has agreed to let State Department ethics lawyers look over speeches and future donations. Senators of the Foreign Relations Committee will want to know just how that will work. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Free music downloads were very good to Amazon.com's music business in 2008. The company recently released its list of best-selling music, and the number-one seller was something that started out as a free download. It was Nine Inch Nails' "Ghosts I-IV."
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Only some of the songs on Nine Inch Nails' instrumental were available online for free. If you like those and wanted the rest, you had to buy them from Amazon or the Nine Inch Nails Web site. No advertising, no labels and no record stores.
INSKEEP: And Nine Inch Nails was not the only business model experiment on the Amazon list.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "IN RAINBOWS")
INSKEEP: When Radio Head first released "In Rainbows" more than a year ago, the band posted it for free online and asked fans to pay whatever they wanted. Sort of like public radio. And in the end, the album also made some money for Amazon, coming in at number 11 in sales for 2008.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "IN RAINBOWS")
MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne with news of a fresh start for a very old lobster. The 20-pound lobster has been in a tank at a New York restaurant since he was caught a couple of weeks ago. Now known as George, the giant lobster had been posing for pictures with customers. Experts say 20 pounds makes George ancient - somewhere between 80 and 140. That's one reason the restaurant allowed the animal rights group PETA to return old George to the sea. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
All of which is probably unimpressive to a woman in China. She was afraid to marry when she was young. Now, for the first time, she's decided to look for a husband, at age 107. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The inauguration of the first African-American president is especially anticipated by the small but determined staff of a Smithsonian museum that won't exist until 2015, at least not in bricks and mortar. Still, NPR's special correspondent Susan Stamberg found that the vast warehouse of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture is filling up with pieces of our past and future.
SUSAN STAMBERG: Off an undistinguished highway somewhere in deepest Maryland, there are cartons full of treasures, evidence, remnants of disgrace and great pleasure. Here's a suitcase that I would find in my basement, so why should that be in the Smithsonian?
LONNIE BUNCH: Well, let's open it and see.
STAMBERG: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOCK SNAPPING OPEN)
STAMBERG: A museum staffer reveals a gleaming musical instrument. It's a trumpet.
STAMBERG: And Michelle(ph) has put on her white curator's gloves, taken the trumpet out of the case. Oh my gosh, this was Louis Armstrong's trumpet?
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ)
BUNCH: And they don't let me touch it.
STAMBERG: Not without gloves.
STAMBERG: Lonnie Bunch is director of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Although when told his title could take up our entire program, Mr. Bunch offers an alternative.
BUNCH: I'm some guy from Jersey trying to make it in the big city. There it is. (Laughing)
STAMBERG: Like all the objects being collected, Louis Armstrong's 1927 trumpet can be appreciated on many levels.
BUNCH: Looking at it as the sort of wonderful sound to tap your toe, but then it's also a way to understand what the music tells us about black life and American life.
STAMBERG: A poor kid in New Orleans, through his music, Louis Armstrong became an ambassador to the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ)
STAMBERG: A scarring part of the African-American story is told in two rusted metal cuffs attached to a long bar. They are shackles from the late 18th century, extremely rare objects. Most were destroyed or lost. Chief Curator Jackie Stirwhir says the shackles kept slaves immobile while ships carried them from Africa to the New World.
JACKIE STIRWHIR: There's hardly enough room for a leg. They often walked around with the flesh of their legs raw, because this metal would rub against their legs. And they were, of course, often attached to each other, they were attached to places where they slept. And so it was an instrument of torture.
STAMBERG: But historian Lonnie Bunch sees something else.
BUNCH: In some ways, a sacred object. This is an object that spoke of a people saying, how do we start anew in a place that didn't see us as a human? This is going to allow us to tell one of the most difficult stories in America, but tell it in a way that helps people understand that the slave story is the quintessential American story. This is the story that shaped our notions of who we are, shaped our abilities to create the economic engine that led to America, it obviously brought millions of people to a new world, and changed the way this country would be.
STAMBERG: The director of the Museum of African-American History and Culture says he makes a point of touching these shackles every day he can.
BUNCH: This is the closest I come to understanding my slave ancestors.
STAMBERG: So blacks will encounter their history in these shackles and other artifacts of slavery. But, Dr. Bunch declares, so will every other visitor. He thinks you can't comprehend what it means to be an American without including the African-American experience.
BUNCH: Whether you've been in this country, your family's been in this country 200 years or 20 minutes ago, I want you to come through this museum and say, I get it. This is not a black story, this is my story. This is the American story.
STAMBERG: I have to say, as a white person I look at this, and I feel terrible guilt...
BUNCH: Mm-hmm.
STAMBERG: On the part of my race, for having inflicted this.
BUNCH: Well, I think part of what history does is that it illuminates guilt, it illuminates the dark corners. But I think that only by illuminating guilt can you then wrestle with it.
STAMBERG: Twenty-first-century history is being gathered, too. Right after Election Day, museum staffers raced to an Obama campaign office in Falls Church, Virginia, to grab objects before they hit the dumpster. Banners, magic marker signs painted by children - "Find Your Precinct," "Kids for Obama." Could those kids have imagined their artwork would be in a museum? Also saved for the ages, a big beat up, brown corduroy chair. It's a La-Z-Boy.
BUNCH: A campaign headquarters is really a home. The people live there, they put so much time in it. I bet people fought over to get the chance to take their nap in that La-Z-Boy.
STAMBERG: And while they wait for other campaign memorabilia, Lonnie Bunch says the election of Barack Obama epitomizes his museum's main goal, to redefine and clarify what it means to be American.
BUNCH: He has claimed his American-ness, without being shy, without saying, oh, I'm a black American. He says, I'm an American who is African-American.
STAMBERG: But you know, in the end, it's certainly a racial triumph, not just for him, but for people of every color in this country. But doesn't it negate the reason to have a separate museum on African-American history, since you now have an African-American in charge of it all?
BUNCH: Not at all. Because first of all, the election of one person doesn't mean that race is no longer an issue, doesn't mean that we've resolved every issue. And even if we did, to understand how we got there, that's what this museum will help you understand.
STAMBERG: But so much of African-American history is the history of tragedy and of brutality. I would think it's a little hard to think through showing triumph, and deciding how to do that.
BUNCH: The African-American experience has never simply been about tragedy. It has really been about difficulty and resiliency, tragedy and optimism, belief in a world that didn't want you to be equal, but you believed that you were equal.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ)
STAMBERG: In 2015, when the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture opens on the Mall in Washington, the country's first African-American president may still be in office, as our history continues being defined. I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ)
MONTAGNE: To get a look at the Louis Armstrong trumpet that's at the African-American History collection, go to npr.org. And while you're there, you'll find more stories on museums in the 21st century.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ)
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
To get one perspective on the fighting, we went to the British Embassy in Washington. Amid the wide hallways and columns that symbolize Britain's former power, we sat down with the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He's now a Middle East envoy, just in from Jerusalem and Cairo. And Blair was thinking about what happens after a cease-fire finally arrives in Gaza.
TONY BLAIR: In very concrete terms, the first thing you do is you get massive humanitarian help in. That, in practical terms, is what, literally, the day after you would need. But in a sense, looking a little beyond the day after, but I don't mean much beyond, the single most important thing is that there is a strong signal of intent and commitment sent out. And incidentally, I believe this is exactly what the new president will do. But which shows that we have a strategy for resolving this, and also the right partnership between America and the international community to get it done.
INSKEEP: You think the next signal would be from here? From Washington, D.C.?
BLAIR: Well, I think it's from Washington, but also from the international community as a whole, to say that we know what we need to do. And in a sense, what I'm saying to you is that even saying this is important.
INSKEEP: Let me ask about that, because this is a question you can answer, not only as someone serving as a diplomat, but as a politician. As you know, President-elect Obama is going to have many things on his plate. He's going to have to have many decisions to make about what he wants to spend political capital on first. Are you able to make an argument for him that he ought to act in this region, this area first, or almost first?
BLAIR: Sure. But I think when you say first, look, let's be clear about this. There's the worst economic crisis the world has known for decades. I mean, he has got to focus on that. But here's the thing about being a president or a prime minister. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose the agenda of problems. The agenda chooses itself. He, of course, will focus enormously on the economic crisis. He has to. But actually, this is also a crisis, and also requires focusing upon. And I'm absolutely sure from - certainly from the conversations I've had with him, and indeed with Senator Clinton, I've no doubt at all that they are going to focus on it, and they will have to do that alongside the great challenge of the economic crisis.
INSKEEP: How much have you been speaking with them?
BLAIR: You know, I speak to them reasonably often. And for obvious reasons, I know them well from the past. And Senator Clinton and, of course, General Jones, who's the national security advisor, has been working with me, specifically out in Palestine. But I think what this Gaza conflict shows is something I've tried to underline to people for a long time, which is, you cannot ignore Gaza. Gaza is a relatively small strip of land separated geographically from the West Bank, which is the main part of the Palestinian territory and where most of the Palestinian people live. There was a feeling, I think, that maybe you push ahead on the West Bank, and you just kind of put Gaza in the isolation ward for a time. Just leave it and hope to return to it. What this conflict in Gaza shows is that that's not going to happen. You're going to have to deal with that alongside dealing with the West Bank.
INSKEEP: Well, let me make sure of something that's skeptically said by analysts. I'm just curious if you agree with it about both the expected secretary of state and the president-elect. About Hillary Clinton it's said, obviously, very world famous figure, very strong figure, but someone who's going to be seen as biased towards Israel, and therefore will have trouble making progress. You think there's something to that?
BLAIR: Not really. One of the things people sometimes don't understand when they're reading - I mean, I spend so much time out in this region now, and I've found I've got a lot clearer understanding of it, probably more than I did when I was prime minister, even though I used to visit often in my 10 years in the job. But everybody knows in the region that unless you have the right relationship with Israel, you can't sort this. So the fact that Senator Clinton is respected in Israel is a benefit. It's not a problem.
INSKEEP: Does your relationship have to be right with Egypt, right with Jordan, right with Syria, in order to solve this?
BLAIR: It certainly has to be right with the surrounding Arab countries. That's absolutely right. But those countries don't always have the same set of interests. So one of the challenges, let's say, of doing this is that you have to navigate your way around very complex politics.
INSKEEP: Let me ask about something that is said, somewhat skeptically, about President-elect Obama, which is that his election is seen as a moment of hope, a moment of change around the world, but there are predictions that in the end he will turn out to be another American president pursuing American interests, and he may disappoint expectations.
BLAIR: Look, the fact is, the expectations have changed. And there is this enormous sense of hope and possibility, but the decisions haven't. And these decisions are tough. If we have the right and wise enough strategy, I think we can use that goodwill to make real change and progress. But you know, of course you'll find that within a short period of taking office, there will be all sorts of criticisms that are being made. But that's the way it is, and I'm sure he - in fact , I know perfectly well he understands that.
INSKEEP: Mr. Blair, thanks very much for your time.
BLAIR: Thank you.
INSKEEP: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Washington to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a final gesture from his partner in the Iraq War and many other things, President Bush. We asked Blair about the Iraq War and his legacy at npr.org. It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The upcoming inauguration of America's first black president has prompted some self-reflection in France. The French used to consider themselves much more enlightened than Americans when it comes to race relations. Barack Obama's election underscores France's own shortcomings in building a colorblind society. This morning NPR's Sylvia Poggioli has the last part of her series on Europe's treatment of minorities.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Unidentified Guide: (French spoken)
POGGIOLI: Racism, he says, is when you consider a person of different origin or skin color to be basically inferior. Jocasta Matos, one of the exhibit organizers, says France today is not as bad as the American South in the '50s, but racism is still strong.
JOCASTA MATOS: (Through Translator) It is tough here for all minorities. They don't beat us, but they insult us. They show disdain for us. This is perhaps even worse than being beaten, this sense of not being welcome, not accepted. We fight against this.
POGGIOLI: And the Obama victory has jolted minorities here into demanding a greater voice in society. After the U.S. election, Patrick Lozes, founder of one of the first black associations in France, says he spoke directly to President Nicolas Sarkozy, demanding minorities be included on party slates for the upcoming European Parliament election.
PATRICK LOZES: (Through Translator) What's so extraordinary about Barack Obama's election is that this is the first time we didn't hear only negative things about us. Young people now believe they can conquer the world. It has given them a new consciousness of their possibilities. A black can be an ambassador, a doctor, anything. We must nurture this equal rights movement.
POGGIOLI: And even those few who do break barriers still confront what historian Pap Ndiaye calls "hidden racism." A black professor at the School for Advanced Study of Social Sciences, he describes what happens when he goes to the university library.
PAP NDIAYE: The person will look at the ID and scratch the picture as if this ID was a fake ID, you see, as if there was, you know, some kind of bizarreness in the fact of seeing a black man with a faculty ID.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRENCH MUSIC)
POGGIOLI: France was not always so hostile. Paris was once a haven for many black Americans, writers such as Richard Wright and James Baldwin, and the great entertainer Josephine Baker. That was the heyday of Negritude, a black pride movement spearheaded by the Senegalese poet Leopold Sedar Senghor, which was embraced as part of French cultural identity. But, Pap Ndiaye says, society turned white again when the colonies sought independence in the 1960s.
NDIAYE: Many French thought that the black Africans were not grateful to all the good things which French civilization - medicine and schools and blah, blah, blah - brought to their areas and populations.
POGGIOLI: Today activists have found that 55 percent of blacks in France have university degrees, but most get only low-skilled jobs like security guards at supermarkets or janitors.
YAZID SABEG: The French society is frozen. You know, the elite protecting itself and also its children.
POGGIOLI: Businessman Yazid Sabeg is a self-made millionaire whose parents were Algerian immigrants. The day after Barack Obama was elected, Sabeg released a manifesto. It urges adoption of affirmative action policies, still a taboo because they clash with French ideals of egalitarianism.
SABEG: What is happening in the States, it's a lesson for us. We have to start a process to transform the French society and to admit that we have to correct the inequality.
POGGIOLI: Sabeg says the most visible examples of inequality are the banlieues - large, dilapidated housing projects outside the big cities. Three years ago they were rocked by riots. For weeks, minority youth protested lack of opportunities. Sabeg laments no improvements have been made. The impoverished population lives there in increasing segregation.
SABEG: And this is very dangerous. It is not the French tradition to have ghettos. And you have millions and millions of peoples, you have three generations of population in these suburbs. This is a social bomb.
POGGIOLI: It's not easy to reach the banlieues - long train rides from Paris. Once there, the sense of hopelessness is palpable. Unemployment among young people reaches 40 percent. Many kids don't bother to finish high school. Here in Gennevilliers, tough-looking guys hang out at an empty shopping mall. Only a few rundown stores are still in business. The mood is resentment toward outsiders. But one topic brings joy and makes them smile - the fact that Americans actually chose a black for president.
KAKY BROWN: (French spoken)
POGGIOLI: A rapper who calls himself Kaky Brown says kids here are lucky if they can get a job as a street cleaner. He raps in quiet desperation.
BROWN: (Rapping in French)
POGGIOLI: As interior minister in 2005, Sarkozy described the young rioters as "scum." But last month, in the wake of the Obama election and growing tensions in the banlieues, President Sarkozy announced new measures to bring diversity to elitist institutions, the civil service, politics, and the media.
NICOLAS SARKOZY: (Through Translator) How can we talk about a republic when your success at school and in professional life depends not on merit but largely on your social origin, the neighborhood where you live, your name, or the color of your skin?
POGGIOLI: Sarkozy also appointed Yazid Sabeg as diversity czar. The millionaire son of Algerian immigrants knows how hard his job will be.
SABEG: Reality to accept to give more to the people who needs more, especially their origin is foreign - black or Arabs - I think it's not still in the mind. There is big resistance on this.
POGGIOLI: But for the first time in France, concepts such as racism and discrimination are entering the national debate. Sabeg is convinced that step by step, the establishment stranglehold on French institutions will be broken. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.
INSKEEP: You can view Sylvia's earlier reports in this series by going to npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. This time next week, President Bush and his wife, Laura, will be waking up as private citizens for the first time since 1995. They'll be at their ranch in Crawford, Texas, but they won't be staying there for long. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports, the Bushes also bought a home in their old neighborhood in Dallas.
WADE GOODWYN: Everyone better look while the looking is good. This little section of Dallas's Preston Hollow neighborhood is about to become a gated community, courtesy of the United States Secret Service. You won't be hopping out of your Chevy Suburban into Mr. Bush's front yard and snapping your cell phone pictures then, that's for sure.
PRESTON BARRY: Well, we're certainly annoyed by all the traffic and the gawkers, but we're very excited that the president and the first lady are moving back to Dallas and that they've chosen this neighborhood.
GOODWYN: Preston Barry and his family have just moved in down from the Bushes two weeks ago, only to find out they weren't going to be the neighborhood's only new arrivals. There are quite a few lawns with yard signs that say "Welcome Home George and Laura." A young Republican who lives in the neighborhood had them printed up. There was some debate about whether the signs' familiar use of George and Laura might be a tad disrespectful, but in the end it was thought to be acceptably Texan in style. Barry says this neighborhood is full of Republicans, after all.
BARRY: It has been a tough eight years, but we're very proud of the president and the tough choices he's made, and feel like he's been a wonderful president.
GOODWYN: The Bush house is a red-brick, one-story ranch with slate tile roof. But the home's modest curb appeal hides its true size and luxurious appointments. D Magazine reporter Candy Evans, whose online blog is called "Dallas Dirt," broke the biggest story of her career when she scooped where the Bushes were going to live. Everyone wanted to see.
CANDY EVANS: It is 8,501 square feet, probably a his and her office, and you have a couple of guest rooms. There are quarters above the garage, which can be developed into, you know, a guest house or security detail. Eighty-five hundred square feet, I know it sounds like a lot, but actually that's not a really huge home. When you start talking 15 and 20 thousand, those are the big mamas.
GOODWYN: The Bush property backs up to that of one of Dallas' richest men, Tom Hicks. Hicks owns the Major League Baseball team the Texas Rangers, the hockey team the Dallas Stars, and the European soccer team Liverpool FC, among other substantial holdings. There's a rumor that now that the Bushes have moved next door, the billionaire is planning on building a helipad for their convenience. But outside the Republican enclaves of Preston Hollow, the ranch in Crawford, and his hometown of Midland in West Texas, where Mr. Bush grew up, Texans' feelings about the president are considerably more diverse. Bruce Buchanan is a government professor at the University of Texas, an expert on presidential politics.
BRUCE BUCHANAN: He wanted to be a difference maker as president. He wanted to be a transformational leader and not a steady-state or incremental leader. And by golly he threw a lot of long passes, although most of them were incomplete.
GOODWYN: In Dallas, Mr. Bush will have a new presidential library to build and a controversial legacy to defend. But first, George and Laura Bush will begin their new life by spending some quiet time in the familiar surroundings of their hill country ranch. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Now let's focus on somebody you read about in the sports pages. Charles Barkley retired from pro basketball but not from the spotlight. He's a commentator for the cable TV program "Inside the NBA," and that's now a job from which he's taking a leave of absence that follows his arrest a few weeks ago on suspicion of driving under the influence. Our sports commentator Frank Deford still finds him arresting.
FRANK DEFORD: To begin with, he was that oddity, a fat basketball player. The round mound of rebound. Middle-aged, he is a large man of large, intemperate habits, especially where booze, betting and sex are concerned. Sir Charles had baldly admitted losing $2.5 million in six hours at blackjack.
DEFORD: Barkley has agreed to stay away from TNT for a bit. Fair enough. DUI is dangerous business, and he deserves to be punished. but for goodness sake, have we reached a point where we take sports so seriously that chubby, chattering old ex-ballplayers are treated to the standard of preachers and presidents? Amidst all the tedious sports analysts who treat games like worship, Sir Charles happens to be three things, fun, unpredictable and blasphemous. And as always, two out of three ain't bad.
INSKEEP: Commentary from Frank Deford, who usually manages at least two out of those three himself. He joins us each Wednesday from member station WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut. It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The fighting in Gaza has led to protests around the world - in Europe, the Middle East, even in some American cities. In some cases the protests have been violent. In Brussels last weekend a rally against the Israeli military offensive ended with protesters smashing windows and overturning police cars. In Miami recently a rally led to a dozen arrests, but some Palestinian and Jewish activists in Florida are seeking common ground. Here's NPR's Greg Allen.
GREG ALLEN: In South Florida scarcely a day goes by that there's not at least one rally in support of Israel or a protest of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Florida is home to both sizeable Jewish and Muslim populations. Muhammed Malik is doing something that some might consider risky, even foolhardy. He's organizing rallies that include both Palestinians and Jews. The first one earlier this month in Miami grew heated with taunts and jeers being thrown by both sides until police stepped in. Malik says there were maybe a dozen hotheads out of a crowd of more than a thousand.
(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY)
MUHAMMED MALIK: And so when you take that one percent, it ruined the rest for everyone else. And we all know the media likes to focus on violence because it's sexy and it attracts a lot of advertisers because people want to read. But we hope that peace will also be sexy too.
ALLEN: This week, a Jewish and a Palestinian group decided to try again with a rally for peace in downtown Miami. It sounds simple, but it requires something not usually found at rallies - sensitivity to the other side's position. It didn't start well. A few dozen Palestinians and their supporters held up signs and waved Palestinian flags. And one of the Jewish organizers, Yatir Nitzany, told Palestinian activist Samia Ahmad that he didn't like what he was seeing.
YATIR NITZANY: Listen, this is an anti-Israel rally. The signs...
SAMIA AHMAD: Where do you see anti-Israel?
NITZANY: OK, the signs "Free Palestine" - that's blaming Israel.
AHMAD: Where do you see "Free...
NITZANY: Everyone has a little banner, "Free Palestine," "End the Occupation." There's a sign out there, "Stop the Holocaust" that Israel's doing to the Palestinians.
AHMAD: Where do you see "Stop the Holocaust"?
NITZANY: Right over there.
ALLEN: After a few minutes it was worked out. The offending signs were removed, and more Jewish activists showed up. They'd been held up in traffic. Pretty soon, the still-sparse crowd was waving Israeli flags along with Palestinian ones. Jack Lieberman of the Jewish American Dialogue Association said he hopes that Jews and Palestinians in this country can agree on just one idea, the need for peace. If so, he says, perhaps they can encourage the incoming Obama administration to resume the U.S.'s role as a peace broker - something he believes is in Israel's best interests.
JACK LIEBERMAN: I want Israel to be a prosperous, democratic state. It cannot be a prosperous, democratic state while it's at war and while it's occupying the West Bank and Gaza.
ALLEN: This rally was just a few dozen people, a fraction of the nearly 2,000 people who showed up at pro-Israel rallies in the Miami area a day earlier. Muhammed Malik of the South Florida Palestine Solidarity Network says it takes time for people to lower their guard and to put aside their distrust of those on the other side. He says missteps, harsh words, and flaring tempers have to be expected.
MALIK: It's like when you first learn how to ride a bicycle, you fall a couple of times. So, if this is the first time where people are coming together, maybe they might disagree here, maybe not be perfect, but you can't expect perfection. Yeah, this is our way of riding the bike with Jewish and Muslim relations. We'll fall off a couple of times, and then we'll get back on.
ALLEN: It's a basic human response. Faced with the continuing violence in the Middle East, Palestinians and Jews who live in the U.S. are speaking out for friends and relatives caught in the middle of the conflict. The question a few people in South Florida are asking, is it possible to speak out without bringing the conflict and the hatred here? Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
One pending bill that's been largely overlooked involves health insurance for children. The plan is formally known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Congressional leaders have scheduled a vote today to renew it. I sat down with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her office on Capitol Hill to talk about SCHIP and the wider legislative agenda.
MONTAGNE: Thank you for joining us.
NANCY PELOSI: My pleasure, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Congress passed an extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program twice, but President Bush vetoed it both times. To pass the bill now would be even more expensive. How do we pay for this now that America is facing a $1.2 trillion deficit?
PELOSI: The bill has always been paid for. When we presented it to President Bush two times, he said we couldn't afford the bill. And it is paid for largely by a 61-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes.
MONTAGNE: Although the National Association of Tobacco Outlets says raising the cigarette tax even for a good cause like this would cost jobs.
PELOSI: Well, it will improve health, is what it will do. The 61 cents on a pack of cigarettes, while it seems like a lot, is a small price to pay for over 10 million children in America being insured.
MONTAGNE: Now SCHIP will be separate from the big stimulus package that's being proposed. President Obama is considering a stimulus package that over two years would reportedly cost something in the neighborhood of $775 billion. As reported, this 300 billion would go to tax cuts. Would congressional Democrats accept 40 percent of a stimulus package going to tax cuts?
PELOSI: I think it's more like two-thirds, one-third. And that's probably appropriate as long as the tax cuts are those which stimulate the economy, which give a tax cut to the middle class, not the wealthiest people in America. But there is no question that investments create jobs faster and bring a bigger bang for the buck, as the economists say. But the tax cuts are also important.
MONTAGNE: Now when you talk about investments, you mean investments in infrastructure. There's talk of, you know, mass transit, bridges, green technology...
PELOSI: Well, physical infrastructure of our country and the human infrastructure of our country. So health and education have a strong piece of this recovery package.
MONTAGNE: Speaker Pelosi, you have been very insistent that there will be no earmarks in this stimulus package.
PELOSI: Absolutely not.
MONTAGNE: As have the Republicans...
PELOSI: That's right.
MONTAGNE: Do you mean that there will be no pet projects snuck in in the middle of the night at the last minute?
PELOSI: Those days are over.
MONTAGNE: Won't the members of Congress, though, still decide which bridges, roads...
PELOSI: No.
MONTAGNE: ...energy projects get funded?
PELOSI: In the economic recovery package, we are going with proposals that we have in general for infrastructure, for innovation, for health care, and for energy independence, and they really are all related. And I said if you want four words to describe this - science, science, science, and science; the science, technology, and engineering to build the infrastructure for the future; the science for the innovation to keep us competitive and number one in the world markets. This is not your - our grandfathers' public works program of the '30s. You will not be able to identify any project in this economic recovery package. There will be no earmarks.
MONTAGNE: Just one last question. Aides to Mr. Obama have suggested in recent days that the president-elect might want to hold off on repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Would congressional Democrats and would you go along with this?
PELOSI: Well, that isn't part of this discussion. That's not part of this national recovery - economic recovery package. Right now we're talking about a certain amount of investments, a certain amount of tax cuts that go with this. That is a completely separate question.
MONTAGNE: Well, the stimulus package aside, were the president-elect to decide that so much has changed since the campaign, the country is in such big economic trouble, that it would at this point in time not be the best thing to...
PELOSI: Well, I think that's a theoretical question. I have not heard that from him. What I will say for myself - and I know I speak for many Democrats in Congress on this score - the biggest contributor to our huge deficit that we have now are the tax cuts of the Bush administration for the wealthiest people in America. We campaigned in 2004, 2006, and 2008, House Democrats, on the idea that these tax cuts were not helping our economy and they must go.
MONTAGNE: Well, back for one last moment on the stimulus package. You've said that this package would be passed before the President's Day recess, which is next month.
PELOSI: If we don't have it by the time of the president's recess, there will be no recess.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much.
PELOSI: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talking to us in her office on Capitol Hill.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The next president starts his job with the same words that President Bush did, the same words spoken by every president.
FRANKLIN D: I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
HARRY S: I, Harry S Truman, do solemnly swear...
RICHARD M: I, Richard Milhous Nixon, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office...
RONALD REAGAN: The office of president of the United States.
ROOSEVELT: I will to the best of my ability...
TRUMAN: Preserve, protect, and defend...
NIXON: And defend the Constitution of the United States...
REAGAN: So help me God.
MONTAGNE: Ronald Reagan and other presidents took the oath that Barack Obama will soon repeat.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
This morning we'll find a deeper meaning in words that seem like a simple formality.
MARVIN PINKERT: If I went up to 12 people on the street and said, where would you find the instructions for the oath of office? I doubt that many of them would tell me it's actually written into the Constitution.
INSKEEP: This is the one thing that's really specific...
PINKERT: It's the only sentence in quotes in the entire Constitution.
INSKEEP: And you would understand why those exact words matter when you learn how they were edited. Marvin Pinkert shows us how, by leading us to documents in a glass display case.
PINKERT: So let's start with the first document, which is the first printed draft of the Constitution. At this point, the Constitutional Convention starts to meet in mid-May.
INSKEEP: 1787?
PINKERT: 1787. They've gone through all the big political issues about creating a House of Representatives in small states and big states, and how they're going to orient themselves in the separation of powers. But there are a lot of details missing. And so what you're looking at here is George Washington's working copy of this draft Constitution, and you can see that there's a piece of the oath of office - we've blown it up here.
INSKEEP: I, blank. Where's it go from there?
PINKERT: Solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States. That's the whole oath at the time. You can see where Washington has written in very small print a change. George Mason and James Madison have proposed to make a change to the document that adds this phrase about defending the Constitution, so that in effect the president is taking an oath of subordination.
INSKEEP: To the law?
PINKERT: To the Constitution of the United States.
INSKEEP: Which is significant, I suppose, because in future generations presidents will have this dilemma. Do I do what I think is best for the country or do I follow the law, even if I don't think that's best for the country? Do I break the law? There are presidents constantly wrestling with that dilemma.
PINKERT: And I suspect that that's what leads to the next change in the document. What you're looking at here is from the last few days of the Constitutional Convention. There was a committee of revision and style that has made a few suggestions for changes. And among those changes is to cut out the word "judgment" and replace it with the word "abilities." So the president no longer is exercising his best judgment, but instead to the best of his abilities...
INSKEEP: Is following?
PINKERT: Is following the Constitution. The last set of changes will have to go where the final Constitution is.
INSKEEP: Which we can do down the hall at the National Archives. In a cavernous room, a kind of civic temple, we find the Constitution itself under glass. The ornate handwriting shows a few final tweaks, for example the phrase "and power is dropped."
PINKERT: I can't honestly tell you how those last changes took place, but this is the final step of getting the 37 words of the oath.
INSKEEP: Now that is not precisely what modern presidents have said, is it?
PINKERT: Modern presidents have generally added the phrase, so help me God. But that is not in the Constitution.
INSKEEP: Oh, is it not known where the so help me God began, which president might have picked it up along the way?
PINKERT: I don't know. There are people who will tell you it was said by Washington, and then there are people who say it wasn't said by Washington. Having no tape, I have no ability...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PINKERT: To determine that.
INSKEEP: Well, thanks very much for sharing these documents with us.
PINKERT: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Of course, there will be tape next week. Marvin Pinkert is executive director of the National Archives Experience. And you can see one of those papers we talked about at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. President-elect Barack Obama is asking Congress to do something it normally doesn't - act swiftly. He wants lawmakers to approve a lot of spending, and we'll hear the thoughts of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a moment.
INSKEEP: We begin with just one of the massive requests from the president-elect. He wants access to the rest of the money that was committed to bail out the financial industry. About half that $700 billion is still available. Lawmakers are now deciding under what conditions they would give it to him. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Congressman Barney Frank thinks lawmakers should allow the incoming administration to use the second half of the bailout money. But the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the powerful House Financial Services Committee is not willing to simply hand over a blank check.
BARNEY FRANK: Many of us believe that before voting yes or no, we ought to be able to say, "yes but..." I take it back. Not "yes but...," but "yes if..."
HORSLEY: "If" in this case means if the next $350 billion is spent very differently than the first 350. Frank wants a full accounting from financial firms that get the so-called TARP money. He wants more of it to go to smaller banks. And he wants a sizeable chunk devoted to helping homeowners who were otherwise at risk of foreclosure.
FRANK: It reminds people that Harry Truman said being president of the United States means trying to get people to do what they should have done in the first place on their own if they had any brains. And that's what we are trying to do with the TARP. We're trying to get an administration to do what it should have done in the first place.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama has promised a sweeping effort to help struggling homeowners, but Frank wants to see a price tag on the plan. He's offered legislation that would require at least $40 billion of the bailout money to go for foreclosure prevention. Mike Calhoun of the Center for Responsible Lending says at least a hundred billion is what's really needed.
MIKE CALHOUN: Time is running out to stem the flood of foreclosures and protect Americans from an even deeper financial meltdown. Eight to ten million American households will lose their homes to foreclosures - one out of six families over the next four years.
HORSLEY: The president-elect has also promised that more of the bailout money will be used to help small businesses and consumers who need credit. North Carolina Republican Walter Jones complains financial firms that got the first half of the money in many cases just held onto it.
WALTER JONES: I do not know how these banks are getting by with fattening their profits, so to speak, because they were in trouble and we give them money - the taxpayers do. And yet the taxpayer who has a business, small or large, can't even get a loan.
HORSLEY: Some lawmakers are skeptical that another $350 billion is needed right away. Republican Spencer Bachus of Alabama says the financial system seems more stable than it did last fall. He wonders what's the hurry to spend more taxpayer money.
SPENCER BACHUS: We understand Americans are struggling, that people are out of work. But that's no excuse to rush to judgment and really take $350 billion from the very people that we're concerned about.
HORSLEY: But President-elect Obama said this week the financial system is still fragile, and he wants some ammunition to fend off any additional financial attacks. Mr. Obama made his case in person yesterday in a meeting with Senate Democrats. Afterwards, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he's very confident he'll have the votes needed to keep the bailout money flowing.
HARRY REID: I think it was a very good meeting. We left, I think, all of us felt very good that we're going to work with the president-elect to bring the country out of a deep hole that it finds itself in.
HORSLEY: A vote on the money could come as early as tomorrow. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's business news starts with big companies getting smaller.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: One company that could soon shrink is Chrysler. After receiving billions in government bailout money, the automaker is under extra pressure to restructure. Now the Reuters news agency reports that Chrysler may sell, quote, "key assets" to a French-Japanese carmaker, Renault-Nissan. Renault-Nissan denies any talks, though it has spoken to Chrysler in the past, and the two companies have plans to produce cars together. Reuters also reports that Chrysler may sell some of itself to a Canadian auto parts supplier.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Some other news now. President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Treasury secretary has run into a problem. Tim Geithner failed to pay more than $40,000 in taxes over a four-year period. This is the guy who's nominated to oversee the Treasury. He's repaid the money, but the misstep has delayed his confirmation hearing, as NPR's John Ydstie reports.
JOHN YDSTIE: For instance, he owed Social Security taxes to the U.S. government. He did forward the employee portion to the IRS, but he did not send the portion of the Social Security tax normally paid by the employer, as he was supposed to do. The IRS audited Geithner for tax years 2003 and 2004 and required him to pay additional taxes and penalties, but Geithner did not amend his 2001 and 2002 tax returns until Obama transition officials discovered the problem. Geithner quickly paid the nearly $26,000 he owed. Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, who serves on the Finance Committee, said the issue should not jeopardize Geithner's confirmation. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And another big name is about to get smaller. Citigroup plans to become a leaner company. The financial services colossus says it's merging its Smith Barney brokerage unit with Morgan Stanley's wealth management division. That merger will create a single brokerage with $1.7 trillion in client assets. Citigroup is reportedly planning to sell more of its business. To find out more, we turn to NPR's Jim Zarroli. Good morning.
JIM ZARROLI: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Well, let's start with the deal announced yesterday involving Morgan Stanley. What exactly does Citigroup hope to get from the merger? And I have to say leaner and smaller, but we're talking $1.7 trillion?
ZARROLI: Shows you how big Citigroup will remain even after these reductions. I think Citigroup hopes to get cash from the deal. Morgan Stanley is going to pay $2.7 billion. In exchange it's going to get 51 percent of the new brokerage company. There will also be some other cost savings for Citigroup. But the point is Citigroup is getting money, and it needs money badly right now. It's lost money for four straight quarters. It was really hurt very badly in the mortgage downturn. You may remember the federal government had to come in and guarantee some of its bad loans and buy up some of its stock. So it's under a lot of pressure to show regulators and also investors that it can stop the hemorrhaging.
MONTAGNE: And there are reports today that Citigroup will be selling off other divisions as well. Does Citigroup benefit then by becoming smaller? As you said, it needs the money. But what's the upside of being smaller?
ZARROLI: Well, like the merger of AOL and Time Warner, you know, it sounded good on paper, but in practice it was just too hard to make it work. Investors were really unhappy with the way the company was managed. And then Citigroup also became a big player in the mortgage-backed securities business. And when that tanked, it lost a lot of money.
MONTAGNE: And next week Citigroup is supposed to announce its earnings report for the last quarter of 2008. What do you expect the company to say?
ZARROLI: Well, they're going to announce another loss for the last quarter of 2008, its fifth straight loss. They're also, I think, going to come out and say explicitly that it is changing course. For a long time Citigroup was sticking to this financial supermarket strategy, but they're not doing that anymore. The fact is that, you know, things haven't worked out well for the company, and it really needs to come out and present a new strategy. Don't forget it's received a lot of money from the taxpayers in recent months, and that really puts a new kind of pressure on them, not just from investors, but from the government as well.
MONTAGNE: Jim, thanks very much. NPR's Jim Zarroli.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Yesterday on our show we told you about a really special job opportunity in Queensland, Australia. The tourism authorities there are looking for an island caretaker. That job involves swimming, snorkeling, and strolling along the islands of the Great Barrier Reef - also blogging about it. The salary for this six-month job is about $100,000. Well, yesterday 150 people had applied, a mere 150. But once word got around, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the site, which crashed.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MONTAGNE: Still, more than 350 people have managed to submit applications from as far away as the Vatican City and Mongolia.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And Washington? Washington?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Just checking.
MONTAGNE: That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. This is the time when we meet some of the people who will run the government. Or to put it more precisely, they will run the government...
MONTAGNE: If the Senate finds nothing too disturbing in their records. This morning we'll listen to three of President-elect Obama's choices. They all testified before Congress.
INSKEEP: And we begin with the highest-profile nominee of all. Hillary Clinton sat down before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She got a friendly reception, along with some questions. Some senators are concerned about foreign donations to her husband's foundation. NPR's David Welna has the story.
DAVID WELNA: Perhaps nowhere have the lines between the Senate and the incoming Obama administration crossed more than during Hillary Clinton's five-hour appearance before the Foreign Relations Committee. John Kerry is the panel's new chairman because the previous chair, Joe Biden, will soon be vice president. Another panel member who's left for higher office is Barack Obama. And Clinton herself got a club member's kind of welcome when Kerry gaveled in her lengthy job interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
JOHN KERRY: I think every member of the Committee believes very strongly that in Senator Clinton we have a nominee who is extraordinarily capable and smart, an individual with the global stature and influence to help shape events.
WELNA: Also mixed in were frustrated presidential ambitions. Kerry's as the Democratic nominee four years ago, and Clintons as this year's Democratic primary runner-up. At one point in an exchange with Kerry, she slipped.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, Mr. President - the president-elect, chairman...
KERRY: I'll take that.
CLINTON: Yes. It was a Freudian slip. The president-elect...
KERRY: We're both subject to those, I want you to know.
CLINTON: Yes, indeed, indeed. On this subject especially.
WELNA: Left unsaid was that Kerry himself very much wanted the job Mr. Obama in the end offered to Clinton. Choosing the former first lady to be secretary of state led to some sharp grilling yesterday about the foundation headed by former President Bill Clinton, who did not attend the hearing. For Dick Lugar, the panel's top Republican, that foundation is a problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
DICK LUGAR: The core of the problem is that foreign governments and entities may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favor with the secretary of state.
WELNA: Lugar said the chance is too great that State Department decisions could be seen as helping Bill Clinton's foreign donors.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
LUGAR: The bottom line is that even well-intentioned foreign donations carry risks for United States foreign policy. The only certain way to eliminate this risk going forward, is for the Clinton Foundation to forswear new foreign contributions when you become secretary of state.
WELNA: Clinton insisted her husband's agreement to publicly disclose his donors once a year was enough.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
CLINTON: I don't know who will be giving money. That will not influence - it will not be in the atmosphere. When the disclosure occurs, obviously it will be after the fact. So it would be hard to make an argument that it influenced anybody, because we didn't know about it.
WELNA: As for the foreign policy she'd pursue, Clinton described what she called a marriage of principles and pragmatism, not rigid ideology. The emphasis, she said, would be on smart power.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
CLINTON: With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of our foreign policy. This is not a radical idea. The ancient Roman poet Terrance declared that in every endeavor, a seemly course for wise men is to try persuasion first. The same truth binds wise women as well.
WELNA: But Clinton also made clear that for certain players there will be pre-conditions.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
CLINTON: You can not negotiate with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and agrees to abide by past agreements. That is just, for me, you know, an absolute.
WELNA: And Clinton called a nuclear-armed Iran simply unacceptable. Her performance clearly impressed Chairman Kerry.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION HEARING)
KERRY: I think you have acquitted yourself with great distinction today. I think people are impressed by the versatility and the breadth that you have shown, both in the preparation as well as in your own knowledge. We really do anticipate trying to move this as rapidly as we can.
WELNA: A committee vote on Clinton's nomination is expected to tomorrow. She could be confirmed by the full Senate as soon as next Tuesday. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Economist Peter Orszag is Mr. Obama's nominee to head the White House Office of Management and Budget. He testified before the Senate Budget Committee yesterday and told lawmakers that this is a momentous time. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports.
ANDREA SEABROOK: There are two challenges of enormous, unprecedented size facing Orszag when he becomes budget director. Number one is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Number two, some of the worst budget deficits in American history. These require diametrically opposed solutions. To cure problem number one, the crisis, the government will spend a huge amount of money. That, in turn, will make problem number two, the deficits, much worse. So two ends of a massive game of budgetary tug-of-war. Peter Orszag will be the rope.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE HEARING)
PETER ORSZAG: These twin challenges of economic recovery and fiscal responsibility will make the job of O.M.B. particularly challenging. But again, if confirmed, I relish and look forward to attempting to meet those challenges.
SEABROOK: Orszag was light on details. He told senators those would be in the president's first budget request to Congress coming in mid-February. But he did outline the funding priorities of the nascent Obama administration.
ORSZAG: Health care, energy, education, housing and obviously, support for the middle-class being kind of an overarching theme. I think you're going to see a lot of energy and activity surrounding those major items.
SEABROOK: Now, for the last couple of years, Orszag has been the head of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. So he has a good relationship with lawmakers. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican, said, well, that's about to be tested.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE HEARING)
JEFF SESSIONS: You're popular. Yeah, a lot of people like you. But how long you think that will last after you become O.M.B. ...
ORSZAG: Not very long.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SEABROOK: When lawmakers want their pet-projects funded over others, Orszag is the guy they'll call. So Sessions asked him if he's prepared to go from being known as Doctor Orszag to Doctor No? His answer? Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE HEARING)
ORSZAG: One of the things, in my experience, has been, it's not just whether you say no or not, but how you say it and whether you explain your reasoning. And that people are much less likely to get so angry at you if you explain yourself clearly.
SEABROOK: So Peter Orszag is already preparing himself to be Mr. Obama's no-man. And as Senator Sessions said, being nice helps. A little bit. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, the Capitol.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
President-elect Obama attended a dinner party last night, and you might be a bit surprised to hear who broke bread with the Democratic president-to-be. The dinner was hosted by the conservative columnist George Will at his home in the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland, and conservative pundits Bill Crystal and David Brooks were also among those in attendance, according to reporters. We have no word yet on whether Mr. Obama has invited his dining companions to a return visit to what will be his new home in Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The Republicans took a beating at the polls this fall, and that's why when the party gathers at the end of the month, there's a lot riding on who it chooses as party leader. This year, Republicans have a more diverse field to choose from. Here to tell us about it is NPR News analyst Juan Williams. Good morning.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And before we look at the candidates by name, remind us what the party chairman does, and how important what he does is.
WILLIAMS: Remember that Democrat Howard Dean had his 50-state strategy. Republicans right now are looking for someone to fill that slot who could be a strong voice of opposition to the Democrats, at a time when Democrats control the House, Senate and White House. And the Democrats for themselves just appointed Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia. So this all comes at a time when, in the last cycle, Republicans lost 21 House seats, 7 Senate seats. So the RNC chairman becomes a key player in Washington.
MONTAGNE: And two of the six people running to head the RNC, the Republican National Committee, are African-American. Is this a sign that blacks are moving up into leadership posts in the party?
WILLIAMS: Right. Well, you have two African-Americans, Renee. Ken Blackwell, former secretary of state of Ohio, Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland. No, in this race, two of the six, as you said, this would be a first for the RNC. The Democrats had their first black chairman back in the late '80s - 1989, Ron Brown. But Republicans have lost ground with African-Americans under President Bush, especially so in the last election cycle with Barack Obama at the head of the ticket - the Democratic ticket. So the party is looking to expand its base, especially so with black and Hispanic voters, and trying to do something in terms of growing those numbers and avoid being isolated as a party of white Southern men, for the most part.
MONTAGNE: Now, there have been controversies, though, in the midst of this involving racial overtones to do with two of the other candidates. Tell us about that.
WILLIAMS: Well, Chip Saltsman, who's party chair in Tennessee, distributed a CD as a Christmas holiday card type of thing that included a song mocking Barack Obama. It was a song that aired originally on a radio show, and it was called "Barack The Magic Negro." That caught...
MONTAGNE: A parody - a parody song.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely. Yeah, so lots of people were a little bit uncomfortable about that. And then Katon Dawson, who's the chair of the South Carolina Republican Party, is a former member of an all-white country club in Columbia, South Carolina. He's resigned. But both of these issues have come up during the campaign for RNC chair.
MONTAGNE: And just in the few seconds we have left, the other two names are?
WILLIAMS: Saul Anuzis, who's the current chairman at the Michigan Republican Party, and Mike Duncan, who - of course, who is the current chairman of the RNC, and who has been under much criticism for his time. President Bush had appointed him back in 2006.
MONTAGNE: Well, finally, whoever wins, won't Senator Mitch McConnell remain the face of Republican power in Washington? He's the minority leader.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely, in the Senate. And when it comes down to tough decisions, it's going to be also John Boehner in the House, but Mitch McConnell in the Senate. They're the most powerful elected officials on the Republican side in Washington right now. And to a certain extent, they're not always great spokesmen. Boehner better, more so than McConnell.
MONTAGNE: Thanks for joining us. NPR analyst Juan Williams. This is 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 fighting goes on in Gaza, as diplomats try to find a way to stop it. The UN Secretary-General arrived in Egypt today, joining special envoy Tony Blair on the diplomatic front. In a moment, we'll talk with Mr. Blair about what must happen to reach a cease-fire. But on the ground, conditions inside Gaza deteriorated further. The death toll is approaching 1,000, and complaints are mounting about Israel's use of phosphorus bombs. NPR's Anne Garrels has more from Jerusalem.
ANNE GARRELS: Every day this goes on, casualties mount, supplies diminish and there are fewer and fewer safe places for those trapped inside. UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness says Israel is still not permitting adequate supplies to go in through its crossing points. He says aid workers cannot do their job.
CHRIS GUNNESS: Delivering aid in Gaza right now is becoming more and more problematic as each air attack happens and as each rocket flies out of Gaza. We have a million people without electricity. That includes us. We have between nine and ten thousand workers. We have 750,000 people without water. Of course, that includes us. We have vast swathes of northern Gaza completely cut-off from our aid.
GARRELLS: He calls the daily three-hour cease-fire, which is regularly violated, beyond inadequate. Eyewitnesses report the growing use of phosphorus bombs by Israel. They're used to illuminate targets at night or create a smoke screen for day attack. They're not banned, but Fred Abrahams with Human Rights Watch has seen artillery shells explode in midair over densely populated areas. He says the phosphorus then fans down like the tentacles of a jellyfish.
FRED ABRAHAMS: It has an indiscriminate effect because it comes down and burns, and when it touches the skin it can, in cases, burn to the bone. So when used in open areas as an obscurant, it's lawful. But if it's used in populated areas, it raises huge questions because of its indiscriminate impact on civilians.
GARRELLS: At Gaza's Shiva Hospital, doctors describe how the face of one young burn victim was almost melted. Doctor Nafiz abu Shaban(ph) says there's little he can do for the growing number of burn patients, among them many children.
NAFIZ ABU SHABAN: The site of burn continues to - produces smoke and burning for long time, even after dressing. Other cases, it causes severe destruction of the tissues. Even amputation of the limbs.
GARRELLS: The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has no hard evidence Israel is deliberately targeting civilians with phosphorus. However, it knows evidence is still limited because of the difficulties of gaining access to Gaza. Ahead of the secretary-general's arrival in the region, Israel's ambassador to the UN wrote him, saying it's Hamas that is violating international law by deliberately endangering civilians, using them as human shields. Hamas continues to rocket Israel, but the number of attacks is way down, from about 60 a day at the beginning, to 15 yesterday. The Israeli Army chief of staff says Israel has achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure. But he says there is still work ahead. Anne Garrells, NPR News Jerusalem.
FIRE: finance, insurance and real estate, F-I-R-E. Now that finance is wiped out, the city apparently wants to make it MIRE, replace the F with an M for marriage. New York is challenging Las Vegas as the nation's marriage capital. The city has renovated its marriage bureau so you too can have a quickie New York marriage. Though unlike Vegas, there is still a waiting period, and no Elvis. It's Morning Edition.
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Thirteen-year-old California girl Reina Hardesty uses her new cell phone a lot. In one month, she managed to rack up more than 14,528 text messages. That's about an average of 470 texts a day, or a message nearly every 2 minutes she was awake. Luckily for her parents, Rita's phone plan includes unlimited texting. Still, her dad wasn't pleased. New rule, no texting after dinner. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
As we know for children with autism, social interactions are a struggle, so researchers in Baltimore have come up with a course designed to teach those kids social skills. NPR's Jon Hamilton has the story.
JON HAMILTON: Math and numbers are easy for Alex Lee. He can tell you what pi is out to 100 digits. But Alex doesn't do so well with chitchat. Here he is talking to psychologist Brian Freedman at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.
Mr. ALEX LEE: Do you know how to play the piano?
Dr. BRIAN FREEDMAN (Psychologist, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore): I don't know how to play the piano, but were we talking about...
Mr. ALEX LEE: What instrument do you play?
Dr. FREEDMAN: Hang on, were we talking about me playing the piano?
Mr. ALEX LEE: No.
Dr. FREEDMAN: What were we talking about?
Mr. ALEX LEE: What instrument do you play?
Dr. FREEDMAN: Were we talking about me playing instruments?
Mr. ALEX LEE: No.
Dr. FREEMAN: No.
HAMILTON: But Alex says he's doing better than he used to.
Mr. ALEX LEE: I had a perfect week last week.
Dr. FREEMAN: You did? What made it a perfect week?
Mr. ALEX LEE: I was like - I was never going into the red zone.
HAMILTON: For the past couple of months, Alex and several other children with mild autism have been meeting every week with Freedman and autism specialist Elizabeth Stripling. The idea is to teach the social skills that most kids pick up without even thinking about it. Freedman says the gap between kids with autism and other kids isn't so wide when they're in kindergarten. But after that it can become a chasm.
Dr. FREEMAN: This group is 10 to 12 years old. They're also starting to move toward middle school, and the social rules are changing all around them. And so it's incredibly hard for them to keep up. So that's why we need to have a group like this.
HAMILTON: During the sessions, Freedman and Stripling give pointers on how to do things like keep a conversation going. It's basic stuff. If someone says they like music, ask what kind of music. They remind the kids to make eye contact and listen when someone else is talking. Freedman says it's all about coaching and practice, not just rules.
Dr. FREEDMAN: One of the problems that kids with autism can run into is when they're taught very rigid rules, they only stick to those rules. So we try to create some - and help them understand some nuances with interaction.
HAMILTON: On this afternoon only two boys have shown up, Alex and another 10-year-old named Joseph Santana. A few minutes into the session, Joseph says he wants to talk about something that happened to him. Freedman and Stripling help Alex respond appropriately.
Mr. JOSEPH SANTANA: On Sunday, I went to the emergency room.
Dr. FREEDMAN: Oh, my gosh.
Mr. SANTANA: Because I couldn't breathe.
Dr. ELIZABETH STRIPLING (Autism Specialist, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore): Oh, my goodness.
Mr. ALEX LEE: So sorry to hear that.
Mr. JOSEPH SANTANA: They put sticky things and hooked them up to the...
Dr. STRIPLING: What could you ask Alex?
Mr. ALEX LEE: Why couldn't you breathe?
Dr. STRIPLING: Good job.
Mr. JOSEPH SANTANA: Well, I...
HAMILTON: It's not completely spontaneous. But Freedman says the conversations show how far Alex has come. He is clearly listening, and his responses even suggest empathy. And for Joseph, just telling the story is a big achievement. He has trouble communicating with other kids. But he's been trying hard with the children he's met in these sessions. Freedman says the first thing Joseph did after getting out of the hospital was send an email to the entire group.
Dr. FREEDMAN: The email wasn't just to check in and say hi, but it provided context to say that something had happened to him. The next sentence was followed by, I'm OK. And all of that was followed up by emoticons that showed the feelings that went along with that. So, I would say, especially for a kid like Joseph, that was tremendous progress.
HAMILTON: Joseph grew up loving the History Channel but hating school.
Ms. KATHLEEN SANTANA: Kids would pick on him, beat him up. You know, they were really not very kind to him at all.
HAMILTON: That's his mom, Kathleen Santana. She says when kids at school handed out invitations to birthday parties, Joseph never got one.
Ms. SANTANA: In the beginning, he just wasn't aware. But now that he's getting older and learning more that that is happening, he is becoming more aware, and I think that is a hurtful situation for him.
HAMILTON: Eventually, Santana decided to teach Joseph at home. Alex has been doing OK at school. But his father, Hugh Lee, says his son is lonely.
Mr. HUGH LEE: He wants to make friends with other kids. I think it's a disability in him that he doesn't know how to.
HAMILTON: After many weeks of practice, Alex and Joseph are getting ready for a kind of final exam. They'll be going to the Australia exhibit at the Baltimore Aquarium. Their parents will be going too. Their job is to award points when the boys do well and take points away when they don't. Points earn prizes. A week later, Alex, Joseph, and several other boys arrive at the aquarium. The main attraction is a really big lizard.
Dr. STRIPLING: That's a bearded dragon. Can you tell your friends, though, what type of lizard that is?
Mr. ALEX LEE: It's a bearded dragon.
Dr. STRIPLING: Yes. Did you tell one of your friends?
Mr. ALEX LEE: A bearded dragon.
HAMILTON: A little later they get a face-to-face meeting with another bearded dragon named Tinker.
Dr. STRIPLING: Do you guys want to see how she eats?
Mr. ALEX LEE: Yeah.
Dr. STRIPLING: OK. So, we're going to bring her over to this table.
HAMILTON: When it's time to actually touch the lizard, Joseph Santana is one of the first in line.
Dr. STRIPLING: What do you think it feels like?
Mr. JOSEPH SANTANA: Spiky.
Dr. STRIPLING: Spiky.
HAMILTON: Then it's time for the boys to ask each other questions. Alex Lee is ready. He turns to his friend.
Mr. ALEX LEE: Joe, what do bearded dragons like to eat?
Mr. JOSEPH SANTANA: Bugs.
Dr. STRIPLING: Bugs, very good. OK, do you guys want to write down that answer?
HAMILTON: It's time to add up the points and find out who got prizes. Alex checks in with his mom.
Ms. LEE: You did a very good job initiating conversations in the beginning. But I did deduct a couple of points, because sometimes you touched the objects.
Mr. ALEX LEE: I thought that's only 14(ph).
HAMILTON: This is the sort of conversation Alex likes. It's about numbers.
Mr. ALEX LEE: So, 18 minus 3 equals 15.
Ms. LEE: Yeah, that's your total points.
Mr. ALEX LEE: So, I have more than 10, and I have exactly 15. So a large prize.
Ms. LEE: Are you happy?
Mr. ALEX LEE: Yes.
HAMILTON: For kids like Alex and Joseph, the stakes are high. They're smart enough to go to college, find jobs, and live on their own. Freedman says his goal is to make sure they acquire the social skills to accomplish those things. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And far from Washington, a group of children eagerly await Inauguration day. They're children at Eagle's Nest Intermediate School in Tuba City, Arizona. They live in the windswept high desert, part of the Navajo Nation, a place where about half the adults are unemployed. These fourth, fifth and sixth graders were given a class assignment: Write a letter to the president-elect.
Mr. IAN HUNTER BURDEN (Student, Eagle's Nest Intermediate School, Tuba City, Arizona): Dear Mr. Obama, My name is Ian Hunter Burden. If I was president, I would be panicked. But you don't look panicked. Sincerely, Ian Hunter Burden.
Mr. CHRISTOPHER TINAJERO (Student, Eagle's Nest Intermediate School, Tuba City, Arizona): Dear Mr. Obama, My name is Christopher Tinajero. I live in a brick house. All my family needs is food. Whenever I get home I'm hungry. We can't go anywhere because we have no gas to drive. My mom voted for you, Obama, because we are such big fans. I would want you to take away guns so our people don't have to die. Sincerely, Christopher Tinajero.
Mr. CLARENCE CHAMPAGNE (Student, Eagle's Nest Intermediate School, Tuba City, Arizona): Dear Mr. Obama, Hello, my name is Clarence Champagne. Our school is broke. Please give us money. We kids are in need of books. I would like some new computers and a gym. We told everybody to vote for you. I think we deserve some credit. Sincerely, Clarence Champagne.
Ms. LEAH MARIA GRASS (Student, Eagle's Nest Intermediate School, Tuba City, Arizona): Dear Mr. Obama, My name is Leah Maria Grass. I am a Navajo. We have clans. I am Bitter Water. I was wondering if you could come to my house. Whenever would be good. You are really good at what you do. Take care. Thank you, or as my culture says, ahehee', Leah Maria Grass.
MONTAGNE: See the kids and read and hear more letters to the incoming president from the Eagle's Nest students at our Web site. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's not just the guns in Kabul that are dangerous; it's also the air. In the freezing winters, many residents in Afghanistan's mile-high capital burn plastic and tires for warmth. Those lucky enough to own a car use leaded fuel.
(Soundbite of engine starting)
MONTAGNE: And then there are thousands of gas-burning generators in shops and homes across the city to provide power that the government can't. Air pollution in Kabul is so bad that President Hamid Karzai has declared an emergency. NPR correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson lives in Kabul and has this story.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: Experts say Kabul is rapidly becoming one of the world's worst cities for air pollution, and nowhere is it more polluted than in this neighborhood near President Karzai's compound. Here, the rancid air casts a yellow haze. Pedestrians hurry past, pressing scarves to their faces.
(Soundbite of sirens)
NELSON: Several American Humvees roll past Mahboobullah Bakhtiari, who is setting up a cylindrical device. He works for Afghanistan's Environmental Protection Agency and is here to measure just how bad the air is.
(Soundbite of street traffic)
Mr. MAHBOOBULLAH BAKHTIARI (National Environmental Protection Agency, Afghanistan): We put the filter in there.
NELSON: Bakhtiari places white filters into the monitor.
Mr. BAKHTIARI: And then we tight it. Now, it's ready.
NELSON: He says it will take less than a day for those filters to turn black.
Do you wear a mask yourself here knowing how bad the air is?
Mr. BAKHTIARI: No.
NELSON: Why not?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BAKHTIARI: Because if we would wear masks, people will laugh on us.
(Soundbite of laughter)
NELSON: They will laugh at you?
Mr. BAKHTIARI: Yeah.
NELSON: But he and others here say the smog is no laughing matter. Jarullah Mansoori is the chief of staff at the Afghan EPA.
Mr. JARULLAH MANSOORI (Chief of Staff, National Environmental Protection Agency, Afghanistan): The air pollution that we are facing currently in Afghanistan in Kabul, if such pollution exists anywhere else in the world, there will be no schools open, no shops. No government agencies will be able to function because this is seven time worse than the standards.
NELSON: And the problem is growing. Experts say there are many reasons why, such as five million people living in a city designed for 500,000. Most of them burn wood, coal and trash to keep warm during the cold winters. Raw sewage and dust add to the smog, as do factories that spew unfiltered smoke. There are also 10 times as many cars on the streets now than during the Taliban era. Most are foreign castoffs that run on leaded fuel. The result of all this smog is seen in hospitals across Kabul. Doctors say residents flock to them with lung and heart ailments as well as cancers. Mohammad Iqlil Niazi is a doctor at Ali-Abad hospital.
Dr. MOHAMMAD IQLIL NIAZI (Ali-Abad Hospital): (Pashto spoken).
NELSON: He says four years ago, one in five patients had an ailment triggered by air pollution. Now, he estimates one in three is sick from the smog.
(Soundbite of coughing)
NELSON: Like 55-year-old Mohammad Ismail, the frail shopkeeper who doesn't smoke, suffers from a chronic lung disease his doctors say is caused by air pollution. He's come to the hospital for drugs to ease his cough. His doctors say the only real remedy is for him to leave Kabul. That's what Mansoori did. The Afghan EPA official moved to a nearby town. He says he'd rather risk attacks by militants during his commute to Kabul than let his kids breathe the air here. Yet few in the government besides Mansoori have paid attention to air pollution.
Mr. MANSOORI: Something is definite that previously environment was not priority for this government. Security, defense, other issues were priority.
NELSON: Mansoori's agency was given no teeth and little money when it was established three years ago. Even now, there are few environmental laws on the books, none of which are enforced because of rampant bribe-taking. At a recent cabinet meeting, President Karzai declared such inaction must end and quickly. Mansoori, who was there, says Karzai authorized $100 million to buy equipment to reduce air pollution in Kabul. He formed an emergency committee with far-reaching powers to tackle the problem. Mansoori says the president also ordered that bushes be handed out to residents for planting to help absorb the toxins.
Mr. MANSOORI: Now I think the cabinet members and the president himself, they came to know that if you don't have safe environment, clean environment, you never have safe economic development and sound social development.
NELSON: But Mansoori says that doesn't change the fact it will take years to reduce smog here. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Kabul.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Najib Sharifi contributed to that report.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. A couple of stories today in "Your Health." In a few minutes we'll hear how children with mild autism learn to improve their social skills. Now, they'll look at the debate on whether mothers can influence the gender of their babies. A British study found that women who ate lots of breakfast cereals, salt, and potassium were more likely to give birth to baby boys. As NPR's Allison Aubrey reports, there are still plenty of skeptics.
ALLISON AUBREY: If you remember high school biology, you may recall that it's the father who determines gender, right? If the man contributes a sperm bearing an X chromosome, the embryo becomes female. A Y sperm produces a male baby. And as far as statistician Stanley Young is concerned, that's the end of the story.
Dr. STANLEY YOUNG (Assistant Director of Bioinformatics, National Institute of Statistical Sciences): The female has relatively little, in fact nothing to do with the gender of the child.
AUBREY: Young is a bioinformatic's expert at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences. He says last spring when a prestigious British journal published a paper titled "You are What your Mother Eats," it prompted overnight buzz and thousands of Google hits. The paper concluded that what women eat in the months before they become pregnant does influence gender. But Stanley Young wasn't convinced.
Dr. YOUNG: The biological reasoning did not seem reasonable to me, and I looked at the statistics, but that didn't look reasonable either.
AUBREY: A British researcher at the University of Exeter named Fiona Mathews is the author of the paper. She says she understands Young's skepticism, but she says a growing body of research into evolutionary biology has scientists asking new questions. They're trying to understand what happens to embryos in utero, after sex is determined.
Not all embryos make it to birth. So perhaps the mother's environment, diet, or overall health does promote the survival of one gender over the other. With this thinking in mind, Mathews and her colleagues surveyed about 700 British mothers about their pre-pregnancy diets, asking about intake of lots of foods. She says it turned out that women who ate the most calorie-dense diets were more likely to deliver boys, but just slightly.
Dr. FIONA MATHEWS (Biologist, University of Exeter, England): If you went from being a woman in the lowest third of energy intake to upping your calories so that you're now in the top third of energy intake, you're switching your probability of having a boy from being about 45 percent to about 56 percent.
AUBREY: So, still close to 50-50 odds. Statistician Stan Young says he won't be convinced unless these findings can be replicated. And he says women shouldn't be led to believe that they can manipulate the odds of having a boy. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Of the countless photos we'll see of Barack Obama in the coming years, some of the most intimate will come from the official White House photographer. That's the person, or really, a staff of people, who follow the president everywhere. President-elect Obama's White House photographer is a man who already captured memorable images of Senator Barack Obama, like a black-and-white image of the senator on his way to work.
Mr. PETE SOUZA (White House Photographer, Barack Obama Administration): And this is a photo as he is running up the steps of the U.S. Senate. He's so recognizable from behind.
MONTAGNE: That's the next White House photographer, Pete Souza. He's a former photo journalist. He was also the official photographer for a different president, with different political views, as he told Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP: So, in your conversations with senator and then presidential candidate and now President-elect Barack Obama, when did it first come up that you'd been a photographer for Ronald Reagan?
Mr. SOUZA: I believe it was when I went to Russia with him, and he did a tour of Red Square. And I remember telling him a story about the last time I had been in that very spot, you know, had been 20 years before with President Reagan, and I was sort of describing the scene then for him.
INSKEEP: What was it like going through that square with Reagan?
Mr. SOUZA: Well, he was being escorted by Mikhail Gorbachev, and there were these different groups of, you know, quote/unquote, "tourists," set up around Red Square, and Gorbachev would escort him over, and they would ask President Reagan questions, you know, human rights in the U.S. And I remember saying to the Secret Service agent, I said, I can't believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions. And the Secret Service agent said to me, oh, these are all KGB families.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. SOUZA: Now, what's really interesting is I have a picture in my Reagan book, and off to the left is this - one of these tourists with a camera around his shoulder, and it's been pointed out to me and verified that that was Putin.
INSKEEP: Vladimir Putin?
Mr. SOUZA: Yeah.
INSKEEP: Showed up to see Ronald Reagan in Red Square.
Mr. SOUZA: He was a tourist.
INSKEEP: He was a KGB guy.
Mr. SOUZA: There you go.
INSKEEP: A quote/unquote "tourist."
Mr. SOUZA: Right. And as soon as you see the photo you go, oh, my gosh, it really is him.
INSKEEP: What is it ultimately that we get from the White House photographer, from years and years of photographs, that we don't get from years of years of press photographs of the same guy?
Mr. SOUZA: I think it's pictures that are going to be timeless. It's going to be pictures that were taken in sensitive meetings in the Oval Office, Cabinet room, Situation Room, the kind of pictures that the press photographers don't get. I'm also quite interested in making sure that my support staff are photographing events in a different way, showing the scene. For instance, you know, if the president has an event in the Rose Garden, you know, I might put one of my photographers on the roof of the West Wing, so that 50 years from now, people will be able to see what that scene looks like. I think there's only one picture that I've ever seen of the Gettysburg Address, and you know, Lincoln, you can barely see him, but it gives you an idea of what that scene was like. I want people to look at these pictures in 50 and 100 years and learn something from that time.
INSKEEP: Can you think of a photograph, either of Ronald Reagan or of Barack Obama, that you had a different emotion when you saw the image than you did when you were there?
Mr. SOUZA: You know, there's a photograph in the book, and I think it's on your Web site, of the - just the moment before Senator Obama is to walk out and announce that he's running for president. And he's standing inside the old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, with his wife Michelle and his two kids, Sasha and Malia. And Michelle is brushing specs of dirt from the back of his coat. And he's got this look on his face; it's subtle, and there's anxiety, I think, in Michelle face and maybe even in the kids' faces. And I look at that photograph now, and I say to myself, you know, he's about to walk out that door, and his life will never be the same. And I look at that photograph now, and now, that photograph captures that sort of feeling, and maybe at the time that I took that photograph, I really wasn't aware of the magnitude of what he must be experiencing.
INSKEEP: One of those moments that became larger as time went on.
Mr. SOUZA: To me it has, yeah.
INSKEEP: Pete Souza, thanks for coming by.
INSKEEP: Thanks for having me, Steve.
MONTAGNE: From Capitol Hill to Kenya, Pete Souza has photographed Mr. Obama and his family, and you can see that photograph he was talking about and a gallery of other images at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
One of the most innovative television programs of the 1960s was "The Prisoner." There weren't many episodes, but it became a cult classic, and the man who helped create it was actor Patrick McGoohan. He has died in Los Angeles at the age of 80, and NPR's Tom Cole has this look back at his most famous work.
TOM COLE: "The Prisoner" opens ominously on storm clouds and thunderclaps.
(Soundbite of thunder)
COLE: Behind the wheel of a racecar, Patrick McGoohan speeds across a barren landscape and into London. He stalks down a dark tunnel, throws open massive double doors, pounds on a desk, and slams down a piece of paper. Then he storms out. His photograph is X-ed out, and his file dumped into a drawer labeled "reassigned." He's then gassed and wakes up in a bucolic, empty village.
Mr. DAVID THOMSON (Author, "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film"): It was an extraordinary show which I think led the way, in many ways, in showing just how powerful, how profound a TV series could be.
COLE: David Thomson is the author of a biographical dictionary of film.
Mr. THOMSON: It's sort of as if James Bond material had been given to Harold Pinter to write, to some extraordinary surreal designer to design, and Hitchcock to direct.
(Soundbite of TV show "The Prisoner")
PATRICK MCGOOHAN (As Number Six): What's the name of this place?
Unidentified Woman: You're new here, aren't you?
PATRICK MCGOOHAN (As Number Six): Where?
Unidentified Woman: Do you want breakfast?
PATRICK MCGOOHAN (As Number Six): Where is this?
Unidentified Woman: The village?
PATRICK MCGOOHAN (As Number Six): Yes.
Unidentified Woman: I'll see if coffee's ready.
PATRICK MCGOOHAN (As Number Six): Where's the police station?
COLE: Patrick McGoohan was assigned the number six, and spent all 17 episodes of "The Prisoner" trying to escape the candy-colored village where everyone was watched by hidden cameras. The number was perhaps a reference to a line in the title song of the series that launched him as a secret agent.
(Soundbite of song "Secret Agent Man")
Unidentified Vocalist: Secret agent man, secret agent man, they've given you a number and taken away your name.
COLE: When Patrick McGoohan was approached to do a follow up, he insisted on setting his own terms. He co-created "The Prisoner" and wrote, directed, and produced a number of the episodes. McGoohan was also a noted stage actor and starred in the classic 1962 jazz film "All Night Long," and more recently opposite Mel Gibson in "Braveheart." The single-mindedness that produced a series about an individual resisting authority earned Patrick McGoohan an intensely devoted following. TV Guide once ranked "The Prisoner" as number seven in a list of the 25 top-rated cult shows ever. Too bad it couldn't make it to number six. Tom Cole, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
We go now to the latest round of Senate confirmation hearings. Barack Obama's Cabinet picks appear to be winning over lawmakers. Senators had warm words for the two we'll hear about now, beginning with the man nominated to be secretary of agriculture. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.
HOWARD BERKES: It was the kind of Senate reception every Cabinet choice wants. Here's Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin.
Senator TOM HARKIN (Democrat, Iowa; Chairman, Senate Agriculture Committee): I can tell you from my long history with Tom Vilsack, he knows production agriculture, what's needed to promote profitability and a better future, including for beginning farmers and ranchers.
BERKES: And here's the ranking Republican, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
Senator SAXBY CHAMBLISS (Republican, Georgia): I look forward to reporting the nomination out of committee and quickly approving the nomination on the Senate floor.
BERKES: In fact, there were no discouraging words for former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, despite a petition campaign fighting his nomination. The issue there was Vilsack's support of genetically-modified food, but that didn't come up at the hearing. These were farm state senators, after all, interested in - well, here's how Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln put it.
Senator BLANCHE LINCOLN (Democrat, Arkansas): We're looking for a champion. We're looking for someone who is going to really recognize the hard work, the dedication, the pride that exists in all of our farm families.
BERKES: Whether they have big farms or small, or a farm in Iowa or Arkansas or Georgia or anywhere else, this was a nudge to Vilsack. It's not just about corn and soybeans in Iowa. There was another nudge, about limiting farm subsidies, something President-elect Obama has vowed to do. Kansas Republican Pat Roberts urged caution.
Senator PAT ROBERTS (Republican, Kansas): These programs are indeed necessary. We must be fiscally responsible and frugal, but they only represent a mere one-quarter of one percent of federal spending.
BERKES: Vilsack obliged with this response.
Mr. TOM VILSACK (Secretary of Agriculture-Nominee): I think it's incumbent upon USDA to recognize the importance of that farm safety net. I think it's also important to make sure that people who deserve to get support are getting that support, and folks who don't deserve to get it aren't getting it.
BERKES: Vilsack promised to resolve once and for all a longstanding dispute over discrimination against black farmers.
Mr. VILSACK: Discrimination in any form will not be tolerated in this department.
BERKES: He promised to focus on food safety, alternative fuels, nutrition in federal food programs, sustainable federal forests, supporting family farms, and bolstering rural economies. And Tom Vilsack was the only one in the room who used the phrase, "If confirmed as agriculture secretary." It seemed a done deal to everyone else. Howard Berkes, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. Gaza City was the scene of panic this morning as Israeli forces made their biggest push yet into the city's crowded neighborhoods. At the same time, cease-fire talks are still going on. In a moment, we'll have an update on the diplomatic efforts taking place in Egypt. First we'll hear about the intense fighting on the ground. One of the places hit was the United Nations compound in Gaza City. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Overnight and today, Israeli tanks and infantry forces fought their way into Tal al-Hawa, a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Gaza City. Across much of Gaza City today, the sound of machine guns, air strikes, and drones again can be heard.
(Soundbite of explosions)
WESTERVELT: This morning, witnesses say large groups of civilians in the south of the city and in other parts are now fleeing their homes as Israeli ground troops, backed by attack helicopters, move deeper into crowded residential areas. Here's NPR news assistant Ahmed Abu Hamda in Gaza City.
Mr. AHMED ABU HAMDA (Palestinian News Producer): As we heard from some witnesses, today morning thousands of people who used to live in the south of Gaza City in Tal al-Hawa area, that thousands of them, they started to evacuate, to run away, trying to find a safe place for them and for their families. Now I'm standing here in what's called Shawah and Hussari(ph) building. It's in the middle of the city. And I can see that the whole sky of Gaza City, it's full of black condensed smoke, all of Gaza City. It's very choking atmosphere even.
WESTERVELT: The main United Nations compound in central Gaza City was hit today by what U.N. officials say was Israeli fire. The U.N. compound is now burning. In Jerusalem, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed outrage at the attack and said the death toll in Gaza had now reached an unbearable point. It's likely today's ground and air attacks deeper into the city are an attempt by the Israelis to make last-minute gains and pressure Hamas as cease-fire talks in Cairo intensify.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than one thousand people in Gaza have been killed so far, and more than 400 of the dead are women and children. According to the Israeli human rights group Bet'selem, in 20 days in Gaza, the Israeli military has now killed more Palestinians than in any single year this decade.
On Wednesday, a coalition of nine Israeli human rights groups called for a probe of whether the Israeli military had committed war crimes in the Gaza attack. Fred Abrahams with Human Rights Watch says both Hamas and Israel have likely violated the rules of war. But he notes that researchers continue to be denied access to Gaza.
Mr. FRED ABRAHAMS (Senior Emergencies Researcher, Human Rights Watch): We're getting serious and consistent allegations of violations of the laws of war. But you need to investigate. You need to find out where was Hamas? Were they among the civilian population? What type of weapon did Israel use? Did they take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm? Those are the kinds of research that must be done on the ground. And we're blocked. We can't get in, along with the media.
WESTERVELT: Three Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire, but none in more than two weeks. On Wednesday, 16 rockets were fired into Israel with no serious injuries reported. But the number of daily rocket attacks by Hamas is down significantly from the start of the Israeli offensive. The Israeli military death toll remains 10, half of them by friendly fire accidents. The Israelis continue to be able to move at will across large parts of the coastal territory. In fact, during nearly three weeks of combat, it appears Hamas fighters have not been able to mount serious resistance or a significant counterattack.
Professor GERALD STEINBERG (Political Studies, Bar Ilan University): They certainly fell into the trap that often happens in the Middle East of believing your own propaganda.
WESTERVELT: That's Israeli analyst Gerald Steinberg of Bar Ilan University. He calls the Israeli human rights abuse allegations exaggerated and political. Steinberg says the Israeli leadership is up against a political clock. They'd like to end the fighting before President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in next Tuesday.
Professor STEINBERG: It would be good to have a new page when - a semi-new page, nothing's new in the Middle East. But if you have the pictures of the inauguration combined with a lot more fighting in Gaza and outside, that would take some of the sheen off the Obama inauguration. So Israel's very conscious of that.
WESTERVELT: But for many of the civilians of Gaza and Israelis in towns across the south, it's far more than an issue of image and politics. They want the violence and bloodshed to stop. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Jerusalem.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
So the Gaza fighting rages on even as Egyptian mediators and Hamas officials say they are making progress on a potential cease-fire. An Israeli negotiator arrived in Cairo today. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from the Egyptian capital.
PETER KENYON: For several days now, Israel's lead contact with the cease-fire efforts, General Amos Gilad, has remained in Jerusalem while Hamas negotiators met with Egyptian and other officials trying to craft an accord that would end the Palestinian rocket fire and the Israeli military operation. But now it seems that the talks are close to bearing fruit. Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, speaking from Gaza, told NPR that talks have progressed to the point where the proposal can be put to the Israeli side.
Dr. GHAZI HAMAD (Hamas Senior Official): Look, I can say without going in details that the negotiation between Hamas and the Egyptians are very good and there is positive atmosphere, positive negotiation. And I think now this is the (unintelligible) the Egyptian side to talk with the Israeli side, in order to understand what is its position now.
KENYON: The sticking points are likely in the details, according to officials familiar with the talks. One issue is the length of the cease-fire. Suggestions have ranged from a year or longer to as little as 10 days. A brief cessation of violence would be intended to give negotiators time to work out a longer-term deal. It would also mean that when Barack Obama is sworn into office, Gaza would be quiet. Some analysts have wondered if Israel always intended to finish its Gaza operation before President Bush leaves office on Tuesday.
Israel wants guarantees that Hamas won't use any cease-fire to rearm, which in its eyes means a more effective effort to block arms trafficking through the tunnels from Egypt that the Israeli air force has been relentlessly bombing this week. The 2005 agreement on the Rafah crossing to Egypt involved EU monitors, and Hamas has signaled some willingness to have Turkish forces on its side of the border. The Israelis seem to be counting on a beefed up effort from Washington to assist in controlling the smuggling.
Analysts say the Cairo talks have been hampered by conflicting agendas, and not just between Israel and Hamas. Within Hamas, officials from Gaza have consistently sounded more open to a cease-fire, while those based in Damascus called for more armed resistance. That rhetorical gap has closed recently, although Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil told reporters in Cairo that the group's goals have not changed.
Mr. SALAH AL-BARDAWIL (Hamas Official): (Through Translator) We continue in all directions to achieve all of our goals to stop the aggression and break the siege and open the border crossings and rebuild Gaza and compensate people. This is what we are looking for. The Egyptian initiative is the only initiative that has been put forward to us, and we continue to coordinate with this.
KENYON: The Islamist Hamas movement is also estranged from the secular Fatah movement that runs the Palestinian Authority. There has been talk of a national unity government, but no real moves in that direction. And Palestinian disunity seems to reflect the larger Arab world with pro-Hamas states such as Syria and Iran condemning Egyptian and Saudi Arabian leaders who remain deeply uncomfortable with Islamist movements such as Hamas.
In Beirut, former EU negotiator Alistair Crook told Al-Jazeera's international channel that these cease-fire talks might have gone more smoothly had Egypt not been preoccupied with its own concerns about Hamas' growing popularity.
(Soundbite of Al-Jazeera broadcast)
Mr. ALISTAIR CROOK (Former EU Negotiator): And it would indeed be a paradox if we can't reach a cease-fire because there are other agendas that are intruding into it. And in fact it's, I think, almost to the state where we are having a mediation between the mediators, if you like, between Turkey and Egypt. And this is happening really at a time when we do see signs that Israel is actually looking for a way out.
KENYON: Arab divisions continued yesterday with Qatar calling for an emergency summit that was dismissed by Riyadh and Cairo. But officials say the best hope for a cease-fire still lies with the Egyptian effort. If the details are hammered out quickly, the proposal would still have to go before Israel's Security Cabinet and then the full Cabinet for approval. For the residents of Gaza, that likely means at least a few more days of the relentless pounding they have endured for nearly three weeks now. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In another Senate hearing yesterday, Mr. Obama's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency - Lisa Jackson is her name - was asked about air pollution, toxic coal ash, and reversing some Bush administration policies. NPR's Elizabeth Shogren has this report.
ELIZABETH SHOGREN: Lisa Jackson used to head New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection. So, one of that state's senators, Robert Menendez, helped introduce her. He said she reminded him of a famous T-shirt.
Senator ROBERT MENENDEZ (Democrat, New Jersey): It says, "New Jersey - Only the Strong Survive." Lisa Jackson has not only survived, but she has thrived in developing and implementing policies that have won wide-ranging praise and respect.
SHOGREN: Jackson is a chemical engineer who spent 15 years at the Environmental Protection Agency earlier in her career. She would be the first African-American to head the agency. Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer of California asked her to respond to last month's coal ash spill in Tennessee. Jackson replied by saying she wants to address the threat from huge piles of toxic coal ash stored at hundreds of other coal-fired power plants around the country.
Ms. LISA JACKSON (Administrator of the EPA-Nominee): I would think that EPA needs to first and foremost assess the current state of what's out there and where there might be another horrible accident waiting to happen.
SHOGREN: Jackson said she'd also consider regulating coal ash, something the EPA has been studying for almost three decades. Boxer urged her to do so quickly, or else.
Senator BARBARA BOXER (Democrat, California): If we are not satisfied with action, we may move legislatively.
SHOGREN: Boxer and other senators also pressed Jackson to make good on Mr. Obama's pledge to grant California's request to set tough greenhouse gas standards for cars. The Bush administration turned California down. Jackson said decisions by the Supreme Court and other federal courts have laid the groundwork to start regulating greenhouse gases, and do more to cut other air pollution.
Ms. JACKSON: All those things together mean that there will be an extraordinary burst of activity not just at EPA, but I would expect potentially from Congress.
SHOGREN: Delaware Senator Tom Carper summed up how busy Jackson will be with a comment to her husband, Kenneth.
Senator TOM CARPER (Democrat, Delaware): I just want to say, take a good look at your wife. When you bring her home from the inaugural ball, take a real good look at her. That's the last time you'll see her till Christmas.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Senator CARPER: Make sure your kids have plenty of pictures of her. Well, they'll see her on TV.
SHOGREN: Elizabeth Shogren, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
After months of speculation about his health, Steve Jobs announced he's taking a leave of absence from Apple. As soon as the news came out, Apple's stock went down. Perhaps more than any other major company, Apple's success is seen as linked to the fate of its CEO. NPR's Laura Sydell looks at the impact this development is likely to have on the company.
LAURA SYDELL: To some, Steve Jobs is like a rock star. His company's products have opened up new forms of creativity in communication all over the world - the iPod, the iPhone, the iMac, the MacBook. For nearly a decade, Jobs' appearances at the Macworld trade show in San Francisco set off weeks of speculation about what new gadget he might announce. But when he didn't appear at Macworld this year, the speculation focused on his health.
A few months ago, he appeared in public looking gaunt and ill. In 2004, Jobs had been diagnosed and treated for pancreatic cancer. Rumors began to churn that his cancer had returned. Initially, Jobs dismissed these rumors and said his health was under control, until yesterday when he announced he was taking a six-month leave of absence. Leander Kahney, the news editor of Wire.com and the author of a biography of Jobs called "Inside Steve's Brain," found the announcement troubling.
Mr. LEANDER KAHNEY (News Editor, Wire.com; Author, "Inside Steve's Brain"): He declares that, you know, what he has is more complicated than he previously thought. Unfortunately, you know, I just - I feel that we're being lied to, or we're not getting the full story. And I know I'm definitely not alone. Everyone else certainly feels like this.
SYDELL: Kahney attributes Jobs' reticence to his desire to keep his personal life private. He doesn't like to talk about his family or children. But Kahney says when you are running a large public corporation, it creates problems, especially when you are as connected to the company as Jobs is to Apple.
Mr. KAHNEY: So, he has a, you know, a duty to be forthcoming about this. And of course, the more cryptic he is, the more speculation he invites.
SYDELL: As private as Jobs is, he was very public in his role as CEO of Apple. He seemed to relish making announcements about the latest Apple innovations. He would take the stage in his trademark black turtleneck and jeans, and announce new products. Then just as it looked like he was leaving the stage, he would turn around and say.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. STEVE JOBS (CEO, Apple): But we do have one more thing today, one more thing.
SYDELL: And with that shtick, he would then announce the really big product, like the iPod. Well over a hundred million have been sold since it was introduced in 2001. Bob Lefsetz writes a widely read newsletter about the music industry.
Mr. BOB LEFSETZ (Author, The Lefsetz Letter): He made music completely portable. What could be better than that? Music is the elixir of life, and he made it so everyone could have it.
SYDELL: Many credit Jobs with turning Apple around. It was on the brink of bankruptcy when he returned to the helm in 1997. Since then Apple has produced hit after hit after hit. If Jobs is gone, what will it mean? Well, if it's really only six months, analysts think the company will be fine. Michael McGuire, an analyst with Gartner, says Jobs has brought in and trained managers himself to run the company's various divisions.
Mr. MICHEL MCGUIRE (Analyst, Gartner): One of the things that he often doesn't get a lot of credit for because he's always positioned by the press as the all knowing, all seeing omnipotent Steve at Apple is he's pulled together some pretty good managers to run these groups.
SYDELL: But it is possible that Jobs' leave of absence could turn out to be permanent, in which case no one can predict whether the company he has molded in his image really will be able to step into his shoes. Laura Sydell, NPR News, San Francisco.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with the latest cuts in jobs.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: As President-elect Barack Obama shepherds his economic stimulus package through Congress, there's a lot of talk about job creation. Many employers are more focused on eliminating jobs. In some of the latest cuts, Delta Airlines said it expects to lose about 2,000 workers this month through early retirement programs. Motorola, which make mobile phones, yesterday said it will lay off 4,000 workers this year. That's on top of 3,000 job cuts Motorola announced a few months ago.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Overseas, even in normally robust Germany, the recession is accelerating and at an alarming rate. This week the government there unveiled an economic stimulus package worth nearly $70 billion. From Berlin, Thomas Marzahl reports.
THOMAS MARZAHL: For months, Germany was accused of not doing enough to revive its ailing economy. Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel even earned the nickname Madame No. Her coalition of social democrats and conservatives thought a limited stimulus they passed back in November would be sufficient. But Madame No is no more. On Wednesday, she defended a new stimulus package, including billions of euros for roads and schools, and tax cuts and incentives for consumers.
Chancellor ANGELA MERKEL: (German spoken)
MARZAHL: Germany should not just survive this crisis, Merkel told the country's lower house of parliament. The stimulus would help it emerge stronger, with a more secure economic future. Analysts say the collapse of the global economy woke up the government because it eventually led to Germany. Exports of the country's wanted cars and machine tools are plunging, and last month unemployment also edged up for the first time in years.
While the financial industry has not hemorrhaged money like in the U.S., Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, just announced it lost $5 billion in 2008. Critics are warning of dangerously higher deficits and dismissed the tax cuts as insignificant. One opposition politician scoffed that low-income Germans would gain about $4 a month, barely the cost of a bratwurst. For NPR News, I'm Thomas Marzahl in Berlin.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Also yesterday, upscale department store Neiman Marcus said its cutting 375 positions. It's not just upscale stores. Mid-market, down-market, you name it, all retailers are suffering from the consumer slowdown. Yesterday the government just reported the sixth straight month of declining retail sales. Stores aren't just cutting jobs. Some are filing for bankruptcy. And it's all bad news for malls. The nation's second biggest mall operator now looks like it's on the financial rocks. We have more from NPR's Wendy Kaufman in Seattle.
WENDY KAUFMAN: Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle is one of roughly 200 malls nationwide that's owned or operated by General Growth Properties. Inside its malls there are more than 20,000 retail stores and restaurants. Many, if not most, are hurting financially, and some have gone out of business.
Ms. PATTY EDWARDS(ph) (Retail Analyst, Storehouse Partners): Well, right across from us we have two out of three or four stores that are actually closed and empty. Aand this is a fairly well-trafficked area.
KAUFMAN: Patty Edwards, a retail analyst at Storehouse Partners, joined us at Westlake. She says this mall isn't unique. Across the country, retailers are closing stores and curbing expansion plans. Other companies are seeking bankruptcy protection or going out of business. Just yesterday, Neiman Marcus disclosed layoffs. Gottschalks, a California-based department store, filed for bankruptcy. And Circuit City was auctioning itself after reporting it may have to liquidate if it can't find a buyer by tomorrow. As analyst Edwards explains, when mall retailers close and their spaces go empty, mall operators see their revenues shrink.
Ms. EDWARDS: They not only get rent, but they also, in a lot of cases, get a percentage of the sales that go through that store. You can imagine that if sales are down the way they are across the nation, not only do you have some of these openings coming up so you're not getting rent, but then you have lower sales on top of that, and it really can compound the problems.
KAUFMAN: For General Growth Partners, the immediate problem is paying off a sizeable debt, says Michael Niemira, the chief economist of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Mr. MICHAEL NIEMIRA (Chief Economist, International Council of Shopping Centers): It's a very big problem for them to the extent that they've taken on over the last number of years a lot of debt for their growth and now they need to refinance some of that, and there really isn't an opportunity to go to any one source for that.
KAUFMAN: If the company can't pay off its debt or negotiate new loan terms by next month, it could be forced into bankruptcy. General Growth Partners has said it's working with advisers to develop a comprehensive plan to generate capital. In addition to the weak economy and tight credit, mall operators face yet another problem. Too many stores and too many malls, says California-based retail analyst George Whalin.
Mr. GEORGE WHALIN (Retail Analyst): We've been over-retailing for quite a while. We've been adding millions of square feet of retail space every year. You know, everything that goes up has to come down at some point. Realistic is what we're trying to get to at this point, a realistic balance between what the consumer really wants and needs and what the marketplace could give them.
KAUFMAN: Whalin says some malls, perhaps a lot of malls, will be closing down. But for most consumers, including 19-year-old Shawn Oborn(ph), shopping choices will remain abundant, and shopping malls as a fixture of American life are clearly here to stay.
Mr. SHAWN OBORN: I think it's a place to go to see a lot of different, new faces and have a really good shopping experience, because there's a variety of stores to choose from. Whatever I need, I can find it.
KAUFMAN: And at the moment, at least, he may well find it on sale, as retailers try to weather the economic storm. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News, Seattle.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Our last word in Business is million dollar gamble. In Biloxi, Mississippi, a woman was playing slots at a local casino, and she hit the jackpot. The display on the machine showed she'd won $1 million, but a sign on the machine said the maximum payout was $8,000. The casino naturally wanted to pay out that lower amount, even though state gaming officials deemed the woman should get the million. But a state judge ruled in favor of the casino. The feisty gambler is not giving up. She's now placing her bets on Mississippi's Supreme Court. She's taking her case there to see if she can get her million-dollar payout.
And that's the business news on Morning Edition for NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. Many in Congress are less than thrilled about the way money has been spent in the financial bailout package. We'll hear in a moment how the senator who runs the powerful banking committee wants the rest of those billions to be spent. Today, the House and the Senate are both expected to vote on measures dealing with the second half of that $700 billion rescue. President-elect Barack Obama has requested the money. Most Senate Democrats appear to be on board, but Senate Republicans are another story. Mr. Obama dispatched top aides to Capitol Hill last night to try to win them over. NPR's David Welna has more.
DAVID WELNA: GOP senators gathered behind closed doors with Larry Summers, who'll be Mr. Obama's chief White House economic advisor, and with Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Going into the meeting, South Dakota's John Thune said Summers and Emanuel had a pretty heavy lift to get Republicans onboard.
Senator JOHN THUNE (Republican, South Dakota): You know, I'm anxious to hear what they have to say, but certainly have a number of questions, and I think it's going to be - you know, they've got their work cut out for them to convince Republicans to be for this.
WELNA: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emerged an hour later from the meeting, refusing to say whether he or any other Republicans had been won over. His main concern was how the troubled asset-relief program, or TARP, money might be spent.
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky): What we were looking for is that this second tranche of TARP is not going to be used to implement an industrial policy where the government basically decides winners and losers in the economy. We thought the $700 billion - not just 350 of it, but all of it - was designed to save the credit system.
WELNA: Like McConnell, Maine Republican Susan Collins did vote last fall for the first $350 billion in TARP funds. But she says she's now had it with writing blank checks.
Senator SUSAN COLLINS (Republican, Maine): The money has to be contingent upon specific uses, detailed reporting and full transparency. Without that, this is a non-starter for Maine.
WELNA: Maine's other Republican senator, Olympia Snowe, says Mr. Obama called her yesterday and assured her that there will be full transparency in how his administration uses the TARP funds.
Senator OLYMPIA SNOWE (Republican, Maine): So, they're going to set a whole plan forthwith that they're going to, you know, lay it out and that they'll be transparency. And they'll put the plan and everything on the Web site, how the money's being used and so on, making sure that there is accountability. So, he's - obviously understands, receptive, and is responding to the issues that have concern to, obviously, everyone here in the Senate and the House, but also to the public at large.
WELNA: Snowe and other moderate Republicans say they may join Democrats in opposing the measure the Senate's voting on today. It's a resolution of disapproval that would block the release of the funds sought by Mr. Obama. Only 51 votes are needed to defeat that measure, which cannot be filibustered. With Roland Burris being sworn in today as the new junior senator from Illinois, Democrats will have 58 votes in their caucus. That's enough to make them confident the additional TARP funds will not be blocked. Even with the resolution's likely defeat in the Senate, the House still plans to vote on it if only to show a broader support for releasing the funds. House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank last night ridiculed House Republicans who oppose approving TARP money for the Obama administration because of how the Bush administration spent the first half of the bailout.
Representative BARNEY FRANK (Democrat, Massachusetts): It's like the story of the mother who says to the teacher, my child is very sensitive. So, if he misbehaves, smack the kid next to him because that will impress him. Well, Obama is the kid next to the people who misbehaved. Don't smack him.
WELNA: The House today votes on legislation Frank's sponsoring that imposes accountability guidelines on future TARP outlays. It also calls for spending up to $100 billion on preventing home foreclosures. Frank says he's received assurances the Obama administration will follow those guidelines whether his bill becomes law or not. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Senate Democrat Christopher Dodd has been trying to change how the rest of the recovery package is spent and managed. He's the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and we reached him yesterday in his office on Capitol Hill.
Welcome to the program.
Senator CHRISTOPHER DODD (Democrat, Connecticut; Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs): Thank you, Renee, very much. Delighted to be with you.
MONTAGNE: Now, President-elect Barack Obama wants the remaining 350 billion on hand when he takes office next week. He's, I gather, been lobbying very hard there on Capitol Hill. Will Congress go along with that request? And the Democrats in Congress?
Sen. DODD: Well, I believe they will. It'll be close, I think. It's not going to be an overwhelming vote because people are, rightfully, angry and frustrated over how they perceived the first 350 billion was managed by the Bush administration. But clearly, there will be no support for this, or very limited support, if there's not clarity on the specifics: foreclosure mitigation, greater accountability, much more transparency. And we've received a pretty strong letter from Larry Summers, but candidly, more specificity I think needs to be explained if you're going to win these votes to secure the passage of this bill.
MONTAGNE: And Larry Summers, of course, Lawrence Summers, a close financial advisor to the President-elect Obama. Senator, you were one of the people who was most disappointed and even angry, as you described yourself back in an interview we had with you in November, about how the banks were using the bailout money. If you don't mind, we'll just listen to a short clip of your interview.
(Soundbite of NPR's Morning Edition, November 21, 2008)
Sen. DODD: I didn't expect lenders to immediately start pouring money out the door. But when you get reports of hording, of paying dividends, of still having - fighting executive compensation, excessive executive compensation, that certainly was never the intent of the use of taxpayer money.
MONTAGNE: Now, looking ahead to the next 350 billion, is the legislation that's been written - do you believe that will fix it, and how?
Sen. DODD: Well, clearly we need - and I think we've received this, by the way. President-elect Obama appeared before the Democratic caucus the other day and clearly expressed determination that this program will be fundamentally managed differently. What we don't want to find out is, after giving these resources to the administration, we'll have a repetition of what occurred after the resources were provided to the Bush administration, in which we were promised, for instance, and the law certainly talked about this, that there would be efforts to mitigate foreclosure problems. None of that happened over this period of time. So, greater specificity is being given, more needs to be provided. But any repetition of what we've seen over the last few weeks will be met with very severe hostility.
MONTAGNE: With this, as you say, greater specificity, some of these are what you might call strings as well. I mean, some of these are directions on how to use this money and how not to use this money. Would that be problem for President Obama?
Sen. DODD: Well, it's a great question, Renee, and a legitimate one. And again, what we're talking about here is just understanding in broad terms, but with some further assurances, foreclosure mitigation is essential. We may have as many as eight million homes going to foreclosure. That's one out of six homes in the country. And the idea that we can just jawbone on this and beg or ask banks to do something - we're way beyond that point. That has been an abysmal failure. The institutions have not stepped up. Sheila Bair at the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has had the best ideas in this area; she's finally being listened to. So, again, I don't want to say to the administration, you must specifically have this plan or that plan. What I want them to do is to listen to people with good ideas and do something to put a tourniquet on the hemorrhaging that's occurring with homeownership in the country.
MONTAGNE: On this whole subject of foreclosure mitigation, Senator Dodd, given that a significant percentage of loans modified in 2008 went back into foreclosure, isn't it possible that there are a lot of people out there who simply cannot afford these mortgages, and mitigating them or rewriting them in some way will be throwing good money after bad? And the good money in this case is taxpayer money.
Sen. DODD: Yeah, it can be. I think anyone who says to you, Renee, or anyone else, that we're going to take care of everybody here is wrong. There are people we will not be able to help, that never should have gotten into homeownership in the first place. But it is important to note as well that over 80 percent of people whose homes are underwater - that is, the value of their homes is worth less than the mortgage they have today - don't want to move. They're not interested in selling. And we ought to be able to figure out a way to get the costs down so that people can do just that, stay in their homes. And I believe that can happen.
MONTAGNE: Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut, is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Thanks very much for talking with us.
Sen. DODD: Thank you very much.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And you might say the people of Sri Lanka are hardened when it comes to tragedy. Tens of thousands have died there during decades of civil war. Mostly the rest of the world hasn't paid much attention, but the case of one man is an exception. In this letter from South Asia, NPR's Philip Reeves focuses on a journalist whose work cost him his life.
PHILIP REEVES: Lasantha Wickrematunge knew he was going to be murdered. He said so in an article shortly before he died. He also predicted who would do it.
Wickrematunge was one of Sri Lanka's most distinguished newspaper editors. His paper, the Sunday Leader, repeatedly challenged the government of a corruption and atrocities. The paper is also respected for its even-handed reporting of the island's conflict, a particularly vicious war between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels seeking a homeland in part of the island for the Tamil minority. They finally killed Wickrematunge as he was driving to work last week in the capital Colombo. Two gunmen on a motorbike shot him through the head.
Thousands turned up for the funeral. Now, they, and many others, are demanding the Sri Lankan authorities track down the murderers. Wickrematunge's voice from the grave has joined this outraged chorus. In an article published a few days after his death, he states, when finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.
The president of Sri Lanka is a man called Mahinda Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa's government's riding high because its forces are routing the Tamil Tigers from almost all their territory. Wickrematunge, the editor, was no friend of the Tigers. He considered them ruthless and bloodthirsty, and believed they should be eradicated. But he also excoriated the Rajapaksa government for using force at the expense of a political solution. In his final article, he accuses it of trying to win the war with merciless bombing and shooting and of violating Tamil rights.
Wickrematunge was a friend of President Rajapaksa. In that same article, as he imagines his own murder, he addresses the president personally. I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call for a swift and thorough inquiry, he writes, but like all the inquiries you've ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too.
In Sri Lanka, journalists are censored, harassed, beaten and abducted for doing their jobs. More than a dozen have wound up dead. Lasantha Wickrematunge, a father of three, refused to stop writing, although he knew it would eventually cost him his life. He wanted his final article to guide those he left behind. He wrote that he hoped his assassination will be seen not as a defeat of freedom, but an inspiration, an inspiration for those who survive to step up their efforts exposing the truth. Let's hope his wish comes true. Philip Reeves, NPR News.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In Oakland, California, a former police officer with the transit system will be arraigned today for the shooting death of an unarmed man. Twenty-seven-year-old Johannes Mehserle was arrested late Tuesday. And there's been a public outcry ever since the shooting on New Year's Day. As NPR's Richard Gonzales reports, there was another big demonstration in Oakland last night.
(Soundbite of protests)
RICHARD GONZALES: A crown of about 2,000 mostly young people rallied peacefully in front of Oakland City Hall to protest the killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, an African-American who was fatally shot by Officer Mehserle, who is white. The shooting happened on New Year's Day, while Grant was being held face down on a train platform, a scene captured by cell-phone video cameras and widely viewed over the Internet. Mayor Ron Dellums congratulated the crowd for not allowing Grant's killing to be swept under the rug.
(Soundbite of speech, January 14, 2009)
Mayor RON DELLUMS (Democrat, Oakland, California): Every time someone's life is taken by a public servant in the name of democracy, we the people have a right to raise questions. You did, and you bent the process to your will.
GONZALES: Last night's protest was mild compared to one week ago, when an angry crowd railed at the slow pace of the investigation of Grant's death. In a series of community meetings, local residents, black and white, demanded officer Mehserle be charged with murder. Initially, District Attorney Tom Orloff said his investigation would take two weeks to complete. But yesterday, he made the surprise announcement that Mehserle had been arrested and charged with murder.
(Soundbite of press conference, January 14, 2009)
Mr. TOM ORLOFF (District Attorney, Alameda County, California): Murder charges were filed, because at this point, what I feel the evidence indicates is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act, and from the evidence we have, there's nothing that would mitigate that.
GONZALES: Mehserle was taken into custody in Nevada, where, reportedly, he had sought refuge from death threats. He resigned from the police force of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency, rather than submit to investigators questions about the shooting of Oscar Grant. Orloff said the fact that the officer didn't cooperate with investigators made it impossible to know his side of the story. The DA says that influenced the decision to file murder charges; so did the public outcry in Oakland.
Mr. ORLOFF: Because of the intense public interest, I think more resources were put into wrapping this up then would be put in other situations.
GONZALES: An attorney for Mehserle, Christopher Miller, said the video of the Grant killing doesn't tell the whole story, and he expects the former officer to be exonerated.
(Soundbite of street noises)
GONZALES: But back on the streets of Oakland, few would agree. In fact, the video of Oscar Grant's death underscores lingering tensions between police and young African-American men, says 29-year-old Marcus Miles(ph).
Mr. MARCUS MILES: When I saw the tape is when I actually got emotional. I was like, yo, why did he get shot when he was face down? Even if the officer intended to tase him, he didn't pose a threat. And that's when I felt like something was going to happen, because I knew if I felt like this, the black community felt like this and other people who are for justice felt the same way, and that's why we're here today.
GONZALES: By the end of the evening, most protesters dispersed peacefully. However, later in the night, a handful of young men went on a window-smashing spree. But overall, city officials credited protest organizers for keeping the peace. Richard Gonzales, NPR News, Oakland.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. President-elect Barack Obama is defending his nominee for Treasury secretary. Timothy Geithner's confirmation hearing was postponed yesterday after it was revealed that he neglected to pay $34,000 in taxes. Yesterday speaking on CBS, Mr. Obama said he's confidant Geithner will be confirmed.
(Soundbite of TV show "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric," January 14, 2009)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA (Democratic Senator, Illinois): We knew about this before we nominated him. It was an innocent mistake, a common mistake that's made. But here's the bottom line: Nobody denies that he is uniquely qualified for this job.
MONTAGNE: The Senate Finance Committee will now consider Timothy Geithner's nomination next week. The ranking Republican on that committee is Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and he joins us now. Good morning, senator.
Senator CHUCK GRASSLEY (Iowa, Republican; Ranking Republican, Senate Committee on Finance): Good morning. Glad to be with you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Great to have you. Do you agree with the president-elect that Timothy Geithner made an innocent mistake on his taxes?
Sen. GRASSLEY: I don't know at this point that I want to characterize it one way or the other. But what I do want to say is that there's a one hand and then the other hand. I don't have any disagreement with the president-elect. On the one hand, there's no doubt in bipartisan agreement of the qualifications of Mr. Geithner and the need for somebody of Mr. Geithner's talents at a time when we have all this economic problems we have. And that's pretty much bipartisan agreement.
The distracting part is the tax issue. And it isn't so much because of the tax issue, per se, but it's because Senator - Secretary-designate Geithner is in a position, as secretary of Treasury, overseeing the IRS and the extent to which - when IRS employees have problems with their taxes, a lot of times they're given less leeway, because they're supposed to set an example. So, what sort of a situation does that create?
Now, I have not made a judgment yet, because there's a lot of other issues to go over with him that are policy issues, things like the economic crisis, how he's handled the bailout as the president of the Fed. And so, I'll be making a judgment on the total picture, not just on the income-tax issue, after the hearing. And that's characteristic of most nomination hearing that I go through in other committees.
MONTAGNE: Senator, just a little background for those who may not have been following so closely. Timothy Geithner worked for the International Monetary Fund at the time. This is back in the early 2000s.
Sen. GRASSLEY: Yeah.
MONTAGNE: Does not hold - withhold U.S. Social Security and Medicare taxes from paychecks. That's what he was supposed to have paid, needed to pay himself. Now that Geithner has paid most of those taxes, is that enough?
Sen. GRASSLEY: Well, it's - you've got to balance that against the fact that every year he worked for the International Monetary Fund he signed a statement in order to get the money that the IMF would normally pay as an employer - he signed a statement because they were going to give him and other employees the money to pay their Social Security tax. And he signed a statement to get that money, and part of that statement was...
MONTAGNE: Right.
Sen. GRASSLEY: An understanding that he was going to pay his Social Security tax. So, you wonder, if he signed a statement to get the money and that statement also said that he was going to take the responsibility for paying it, why wouldn't he have paid it when it was due?
MONTAGNE: So, you still have some concerns. But we just have a few seconds left here. How important is it that you confirm a Treasury secretary quickly? I mean, in a way, is Timothy Geithner, by virtue of the position he's been chosen for, too big to fail in this nomination?
Sen. GRASSLEY: Well, the hearing is the day after the nomination, and it could be approved very quickly.
MONTAGNE: Other senators on your committee have said his confirmation is a given. Do you think in the end that will happen after all this has aired?
Sen. GRASSLEY: I don't - from talking to my colleagues on the Republican side, and I haven't talked to all of them - and that's one of the reasons that I don't speak very openly about this, because it is my job as Republican leader to consult with them - but I have not found people that are going to vote against him based upon just the income-tax issue.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much.
Sen. GRASSLEY: Thank you. Goodbye.
MONTAGNE: Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. And again, that committee considers Timothy Geithner's nomination for Treasury secretary next week.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Today could bring a very contentious confirmation hearing for one of Barack Obama's Cabinet nominees, other ones. Eric Holder is in line to be attorney general, and Republicans have made it clear that they're not going to let him sail through. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.
ARI SHAPIRO: Spoiler alert: Unless something very unexpected happens, Eric Holder will be the next attorney general. The votes to confirm him are there. That does not mean his confirmation hearing will be easy. On this program last week, the Senate's top Republican was asked whether any Obama nominee would face difficult questions at confirmation. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell replied...
(Soundbite of NPR's Morning Edition, January 9, 2009)
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky; Senate Minority Leader): I think the attorney general nominee, Mr. Holder, has got serious questions to respond to.
SHAPIRO: And a few days before that, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee gave a speech about Holder on the Senate floor. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter raised question about whether Holder can be independent from the White House.
(Soundbite of speech, January 6, 2009)
Senator ARLEN SPECTER (Republican, Pennsylvania; Ranking Republican, Senate Committee on the Judiciary): Sometimes it is more important for the attorney general to have the stature and the courage to say no.
SHAPIRO: Specter's written statement drew even more pointed comparisons between Holder and disgraced former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The statement said, quote, "I am convinced many of Attorney General Gonzales's missteps were caused by his eagerness to please the White House. Similarly, when Mr. Holder was serving as deputy attorney general to President Clinton, some of his actions raised concerns about his ability to maintain his independence from the president," end quote. Now, in the legal world, you do not want to be compared to Alberto Gonzales. He was driven out of office in a scandal of politicized hireling and firing.
Senator SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (Rhode Island, Democrat; Senate Committee on the Judiciary): I know Alberto Gonzales. I've questioned Alberto Gonzales. Eric Holder is no Alberto Gonzales.
SHAPIRO: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. He pointed out that as deputy attorney general, Holder authorized Ken Starr to continue investigating President Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And as Washington, D.C.'s U.S. attorney, Holder indicted the powerful Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski.
Sen. WHITEHOUSE: So, you know, the notion that this is a guy who rolls over for the politically convenient decision is totally belied by the entire span of his career.
SHAPIRO: Republicans have been looking most intently at pardon decisions Holder made as deputy attorney general. There was the pardon from billionaire fugitive Marc Rich on President Clinton's last day in office, and Holder recommended that President Clinton grant clemency to members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist group FALN. Career prosecutors objected to both those decisions. Congress grilled Holder about both those incidents years ago. They accused him of taking politically convenient positions to further his career. Paul McNulty was deputy attorney general under President Bush.
Mr. PAUL MCNULTY (Deputy Attorney General, George W. Bush Administration): I think having gone through that, he is going to be better prepared to face those challenges on a day-to-day basis.
SHAPIRO: McNulty wrote a letter urging Congress to confirm Holder. So did all of the people who served as deputy attorney general under President Bush. The list includes Jim Comey, who was the chief prosecutor in the Marc Rich case. Republicans also plan to ask about some of the work Holder did as a private attorney. He represented Chiquita on charges that the company paid protection money to Colombian terrorists. And he won a legal services contract from Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is now being impeached. That contract was cancelled before Holder got any money out of it. Rachel Brand is a veteran of these kinds of battles. When she worked at Justice, she led both of President Bush's Supreme Court nominees through confirmation hearings.
Ms. RACHEL BRAND (Former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, George W. Bush Administration): I think what this is about is laying down a marker that while there Democrats tried to tar the current DOJ as much as they could, you know, the Republicans are going to be watching the incoming DOJ and holding it to account at well. I think it's a little bit of that.
SHAPIRO: And so, do you think the talk about this being a bloody confirmation hearing is overblown?
Ms. BRAND: Look, I think bloody confirmation hearings happen when there's a thought that the person could be defeated or there are seriously controversial issues. Now, he's going to be asked a lot of uncomfortable questions about things like Marc Rich, but he'll have to come up with a good way of dealing with that. And as long as he can do that in a way that looks honest, credible, respectable, I think he'll be OK.
SHAPIRO: Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Brooklyn has been hip for some years, as writers and artists fled an increasingly pricey Manhattan. Now the borough has got a new scent. It's a perfume just launched called "Brooklyn." It comes in a bottle covered in graffiti, a whiff, if you will, of the old days. The perfume maker wanted to capture the young vibe of Brooklyn, which apparently smells not of grungy subway trains, but rather of grapefruit, cedar and cypress. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The government has given billions to automakers, who need to sell more cars. Congress may soon offer you a few thousand bucks to buy a new one. The proposed bill is called Cash for Clunkers. The idea is to get millions of aging gas-guzzlers off the road and replace them with fuel-efficient cars. If the program is approved and if you want to save fuel, you could get a voucher for up to $4500 to make the trade-in. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Time now for StoryCorps. This recording project is traveling the country, collecting stories from everyday people talking about their lives. Today, we hear from Brad Guidi and his wife Willa Woodson Guidi. They met in 1970 at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He's from an Italian-American family; she's African-American. And they talked with their daughter Tasha about how their courtship was complicated.
Ms. TASHA GUTH: How did you guys meet?
Mr. BRAD GUIDI: We were introduced by a mutual friend, Jackie McLean(ph).
Ms. WILLA WOODSON GUIDI: She was saying, oh, there's this really fine white boy I want you to meet.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: I thought, oh, please, Jackie, stop.
Mr. GUIDI: You know, when I went to Bradley, I knew two African-Americans in my life, and that was Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. So, it was different.
Ms. GUTH: When did you think it was time to tell your parents?
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: Well, I had - my mom and I were very close. So, I called her right away when I met him. But I didn't mention anything about race. I just said I had met somebody. So, I just left it at that.
Mr. GUIDI: As far as my family's reaction, I guess, probably, at the best it was considered a death in the family.
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: They wanted me to stop seeing Daddy, and I think at that point they had - had they disowned you?
Mr. GUIDI: Pretty much.
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: My mother's reaction was like, well, do you think we're excited about it?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: And then my dad was like, well, they're going to do what they want to do, and I've got to go to work.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GUIDI: The coolest people in our whole family were Nona(ph) and Aunt Ziya(ph), because they had experienced racial discrimination as Italians, and they could only live on the west end of town. To them, it really wasn't as big a deal as it was to the next generation that was born in the United States and had grown up and not experienced that discrimination that they had.
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: Yeah. But I must say, once I became pregnant, Brad's mom just stepped up to the plate. You were the first grandchild, and once you were born, that's when everything turned around.
Mr. GUIDI: You know, seeing a child or seeing a grandchild, they see themselves. This is just not Willa and I having a relationship; they're part of you, and you're part of them. So, now, they understand, this is blood; you know, this is family.
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MONTAGNE: Brad and Willa Woodson Guidi with their daughter Tasha Guth at StoryCorps in Peoria, Illinois. Their story and all the others are archived at the Library of Congress. Hear some of them at npr.org.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
More than any other presidential candidate in recent memory, President-elect Barack Obama has been a master of branding. His campaign had a bold logo and simple mottos like "hope," "change" and "Yes, We Can." Now, some companies are hoping to ride Mr. Obama's wave by selling their own brand of change. Reporter Tamara Keith has more.
TAMARA KEITH: Ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's is known for its topical flavors, so perhaps it isn't a surprise that their latest treat is called Yes Pecan, as in "Yes, We Can," except with nuts. Ben & Jerry's is describing them as roasted nonpartisan pecans, surrounded by amber waves of buttery ice cream.
Unidentified Saleswoman: Good morning. Would you like to register for an IKEA...?
Unidentified Woman: I can't right now.
Unidentified Saleswoman: No, that's fine. You just take it home with you.
Unidentified Woman: OK.
Unidentified Saleswoman: You design your own Oval Office.
KEITH: At Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, furniture store IKEA set up its own version of the Oval Office for a campaign it's calling Embrace Change '09. There are even campaign buttons.
Ms. MARTY MARSTON (Public Relation Manager, IKEA USA): We've created a replica of the Oval Office using IKEA furnishings.
KEITH: So, it's a little different.
Ms. MARSTON: It's a lot different.
KEITH: Marty Marston is the public-relations manager for IKEA in the United States. The Swedish company made its name with sleek designs and cheap bookcases, and there are quite a few of those in this Oval Office. Marston says IKEA's advertisements around Washington, D.C., include slogans like It's Time for Fiscal Responsibility and Change Begins at Home.
Ms. MARSTON: We really believe that change starts at home, and if we think about what's going to happen in the White House, I mean, that certainly is the most iconic home in the world, and change is about to occur there.
KEITH: Commuter Vanessa Porter grabs a catalogue as she runs off to work. The not-so-subtle tie-in to the inauguration and President-elect Obama doesn't bother her a bit.
Ms. VANESSA PORTER: I think it's a great idea. What, over a million people are going to be here this weekend? Why not?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. PORTER: Everybody else is.
KEITH: Including possibly, though, not officially, one of America's most venerable brands. Have you seen the news Pepsi logo? Ken Wheaton is an editor at Advertising Age.
Mr. KEN WHEATON (Editor, Advertising Age): I think whether Pepsi meant it or not, or whether they'd like it to or not, there is sort of a blatant visual symbolism there. Their new logo looks, you know, quite similar to Obama's logo.
KEITH: Pepsi officials deny the connection. But there's no denying the bubbly-drink maker has picked up on some of the themes of Mr. Obama's campaign.
(Soundbite of Pepsi-Cola television ad)
Unidentified Man: (Singing) And the world is made of vanity. And the world is electricity. And the world...
KEITH: In this television ad, words and Pepsi logos flash on a brightly colored screen. It includes the phrase, It's Time for Optimism." There are signs, too, declaring, Yes, You Can and All for One. The Os are replaced with Pepsi logos.
Mr. FRANK COOPER (Vice President, Portfolio Brands, Pepsi-Cola North America): There's this hunger, this need, for hope and optimism, and it aligns well with our brand.
KEITH: Frank Cooper is vice president of portfolio brands at Pepsi-Cola.
Mr. COOPER: We didn't set out to kind of align ourselves and say, let's deconstruct Barack Obama's campaign and see if we can understand how he developed that as a brand. It just so happened that as we looked at the underlying trends in culture today, we saw the same thing.
KEITH: Coincidence or not, Adonis Hoffman, senior vice president at the American Association of Advertising Agencies, isn't surprised this is happening. He says something similar happened with some of President Reagan's campaign themes.
Mr. ADONIS HOFFMAN (Senior Vice President and Counsel, American Association of Advertising Agencies): We saw a little bit of that creep into some commercial marketing and commercial messaging. But my recollection - and I was around during those days - not anything as widespread as what we've seen with President-elect Obama's brand and messaging and the resonance that it has had and he has had with commercial marketers.
KEITH: Of course, there are also risks, like upsetting the millions of people who voted for someone else. For NPR News, I'm Tamara Keith in Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When Mr. Obama takes office next week, he'll inherit a war Afghanistan that's not going well. NPR's Jackie Northam reports on the challenges the new president will face in what's often called the forgotten war.
JACKIE NORTHAM: During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama made it clear that he wants to start extricating the U.S. from an unpopular war in Iraq and increase America's commitment in Afghanistan, where Taliban militants are on the offensive. That means more resources, including troops. As many as 30,000 additional service personnel will head to Afghanistan, nearly doubling the number there at the moment. Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, with Center for a New American Security, says the key to success in any counterinsurgency campaign is providing security for the population. Nagl says so far, the U.S. has not been able to do that in Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Colonel JOHN NAGL (Retired, U.S. Army; Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security): We have to solve that security vacuum. We have to fill it. The immediate short-term answer is to fill that security vacuum with American forces.
NORTHAM: Nagl says until now, there were sufficient U.S. and NATO troops to clear insurgent areas, but there haven't been enough troops to hold those areas, and so the Taliban fighters return. Nagl says now is the time for a new administration to devise a clear strategy on how to turn that around.
Lt. Col. NAGL: The correct strategy is going to be some mix of counterinsurgency - clear, hold and build - and counterterrorism, which is whacking the bad guys, right? We have to find the right balance between those two.
NORTHAM: Retired Russian Lieutenant General Ruslan Aushev spent five years in Afghanistan during the 1980s, when Soviet forces battled the mujahedeen. Aushev says the new U.S. administration should study the Soviet Union's efforts in Afghanistan before committing more American troops.
Lieutenant General RUSLAN AUSHEV (Retired, Soviet Armed Forces): (Through translator) One should realize one thing: It is impossible to solve this problem by force. Once should understand and know the history of Afghanistan. They have always been against foreign troops based in the country.
NORTHAM: Many analysts say the time for a troop increase has come and gone. Seven years into this conflict, the U.S. military runs the risk of looking more like an occupation army than a liberation force. Retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich, a professor of history and international affairs at Boston University, says the incoming Obama administration needs to be realistic about what it hopes to do in Afghanistan. Bacevich does not support the concept of nation-building there and says the new administration should focus on America's key interests.
Colonel ANDREW BACEVICH (Retired, U.S. Army; Professor, History and International Affairs, Boston University): They are simply to ensure that Afghanistan does not provide sanctuary to violent Islamic radicals intent on launching attacks against the United States. That's just about all that we care about Afghanistan or should care.
NORTHAM: And Bacevich says the new administration's approach to Afghanistan should complement whatever policy it puts together for neighboring Pakistan.
Col. BACEVICH: Pakistan is the bigger danger, the bigger concern, the thing we have to get right.
NORTHAM: Christine Fair with the RAND Corporation and specializes in South Asia. She says Mr. Obama needs to quickly lay down the law with the Pakistanis; make it clear that they need to be fully committed to fighting the militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, who are allies of the Taliban.
Dr. CHRISTINE FAIR (Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation): Obama needs to come in and say, whatever Bush tolerated, this is a different administration.
NORTHAM: Fair says Mr. Obama also needs to think about Afghanistan in more regional terms, which may include dealing with its neighbor, Iran. Despite longstanding enmity between Washington and Tehran, Fair says Iran could be helpful. The predominantly Shiite Iran has little interest in seeing the Sunni Taliban come back to power in Afghanistan.
Dr. FAIR: By just being willing to put on the table we're willing to work with you on Afghanistan signals to Islamabad that gone are the days when American policymakers thing that we need Pakistan more than it needs us.
NORTHAM: Several policy reviews on Afghanistan are already under way and are expected to be released not long after Mr. Obama is sworn in as the next president. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The bad economy has been bad news for most colleges. Endowments have plummeted, and students have had a tougher time paying tuition. But for one small school in Los Angeles, the last few months have been great. Occidental College is celebrating the man who has become its most favorite alum, even if his time there was brief. One of Occidental's less well-known alums is a producer here at Morning Edition. We sent Ben Bergman back to college for this report.
(Soundbite of song "Theme from Beverly Hills, 90210")
BEN BERGMAN: Up until recently, my proud alma mater's great distinction was being the location for TV show "Beverley Hills, 90210" and for the '90s classic "Clueless," starring Alicia Silverstone.
(Soundbite of movie "Clueless")
Ms. ALICIA SILVERSTONE: (as Cher Horowitz) Uh, as if.
BERGMAN: We've also had some famous alums: former congressman Jack Kemp, Ben Affleck, oh, and there was some guy known as Barry, who enrolled as a scrawny freshman in 1979. Whatever became of him?
(Soundbite of speech, November 4, 2008)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA (Former Democratic Senator, Illinois): At this defining moment, change has come to America.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
BERGMAN: Oh, yeah, he did all right, I guess? Barry, as he was known in those days, was mentored by politics professor Roger Boesche.
Dr. ROGER BOESCHE (Arthur G. Coons Professor of the History of Ideas, Occidental College): I taught Barack Obama his first politics course.
BERGMAN: Boesche gets asked a lot these days if he saw something truly presidential in the young student from Hawaii.
Dr. BOESCHE: No, I cannot say that I looked across my class and said, now, that guy someday will be even in the Senate, much less the president. But he stood out, and he was very articulate.
BERGMAN: When Mr. Obama wasn't in the classroom he spent hours in the gym playing pickup basketball with classmate Brian Newhall.
Mr. BRIAN NEWHALL (Head Men's Basketball Coach, Assistant Director of Athletics, Occidental College): Vividly remember him in the gym being very thin. We both thought we were very good. We played against each other quite a bit. Driver, herky-jerky would be the basketball term, where - and he was very left-handed, but athletic, fast, competitive, but not such a good outside shooter.
BERGMAN: It's become folklore around campus that Mr. Obama wasn't good enough to make the team. That's not true, says Newhall, who now coaches the Occidental team.
Mr. NEWHALL: Would have been an excellent division III basketball player, but just chose to study and focus on his academics.
BERGMAN: Mr. Obama also made another choice after his sophomore year. He left Occidental and transferred to Columbia, because he has said he wanted a bigger school and to be in New York. That along with the fact that Mr. Obama rarely mentions Occidental haven't stopped the school from claiming him, though. It points out his former dorm on tours and has devoted a special section to the president-elect in its bookstore.
Ambassador DEREK SHEARER (Former Ambassador to Finland, William Clinton Administration; Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental College): This is the display of BarOxyWear.
BERGMAN: BarOxyWear, a play on Occidental's nickname, Oxy, explains politics professor Derek Shearer.
Amb. SHEARER: One of my favorites, which I've already purchased for my grandchildren, is the pants that you put on young kids around their diapers that say "Change We Need - Barack Obama." There's the Yes, We Can top for good-looking women, and we have beautiful Obama-Oxy hats, which are already selling out.
BERGMAN: The school also hopes to capitalize on Mr. Obama's victory through alumni giving and admissions. Occidental President Bob Skotheim says the president-elect could be especially helpful now, given the recession.
Dr. ROBERT A. SKOTHEIM (President, Occidental College): We hope that this will be an offset to that and that the Obama bump will counter what offset private colleges might experience.
BERGMAN: And any Obama bump would be amplified with a campus visit. It hasn't happened yet, despite a meeting between some of the college trustees and Mr. Obama during the campaign.
Dr. SKOTHEIM: The invitation is open to him at his convenience. His response to the trustees was, in fact, I will come when I'm in the White House.
BERGMAN: And now that he's almost there, Occidental is waiting to see if Mr. Obama follows through on his promise. Ben Bergman, NPR News, Los Angeles.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
A name from the past has been coming up an awful lot lately: John Maynard Keynes. He's the British economist who, back in the Depression, came up with the ideas that are now inspiring President-elect Barack Obama's plan to get our economy out of this recession. We thought it would be worth getting to know this man, Keynes, who, 63 years after his death, has suddenly become central to the thinking of an incoming president. NPR's Adam Davidson has been studying Keynes' life and writings, and he joins us. Good morning.
ADAM DAVIDSON: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Let's start with a quick - a thumbnail biography.
DAVIDSON: John Maynard Keyes is an absolutely fascinating character, and lots and lots of contradictions there. On the one hand, he's the quintessential British elitist. He was a graduate of Eton and Cambridge, and he really spent his life believing that people who had gone to Cambridge were really the only people worth knowing or spending time with. But at the same time, you know, while he lived in very high society, very cultured, the peaks of British society, he also was a shocking figure. He was openly gay, in the early 1900s. He was - would bring his boyfriends to dinner parties and talk about being married to them. He loved writing the most stunning things. I mean, you're - just reading his writing, you can just tell there's nothing that made him happier than really...
(Laughing) Freaking everybody out, if I can use that phrase.
MONTAGNE: Give us a sense of really what made him so influential.
DAVIDSON: He wrote on everything. He was a fast writer; he was a very good writer; he owned his own magazine; he published his own books. And frankly, I think, even Keynes' strongest supporters would say most of what he wrote was - can I say? - just nuts.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MONTAGNE: You can.
DAVIDSON: He was...
(Soundbite of laughter)
DAVIDSON: OK.
MONTAGNE: Is that accurate?
(Soundbite of laughter)
DAVIDSON: Yeah. I mean, just all over the place. Constantly contradicting himself. One day he's a free market extremist; the next day he's almost a socialist. Some of his writings are, frankly, very disturbing to read today. He did not like Jews. He didn't like the French. He really found Americans to be stupid. He didn't think they had any right to have as much power as they had in the world. And he really did not care for the working class at all.
MONTAGNE: Well, as you describe him, he sounds like quite an unpleasant guy. How could President-elect Obama turn to him and his thinking now?
DAVIDSON: The reason we're talking about him now is because of a book he published in 1936 called "The General Theory of Money, Employment and Interest." And that book literally transformed economics from one kind of way of thinking to a different way of thinking. It was absolutely radical, even though for most of us now, in a post-Keynesian world, it's a commonplace. But you have to understand, before Keynes, the central idea of economics was that markets are self-regulating. They are fully able to correct any problem from within the economy itself; the government should just get out of the way.
Now, this is obviously a familiar thought, because there are many people who are not persuaded by Keynes' radical idea, and there are many people who still believe that. But what Keynes theorized was that markets can reach a point where they cannot, within themselves, correct themselves. Unemployment will stay high for a very long time; the economy will not grow for a very long time. And Keynes actually came up with a solution, too, which should sound pretty familiar. When all else fails, the government can step in where the private sector failed and kick-start the economy. And basically, you could say that the economics profession since 1936 has been a huge battle over the implications of Keynes' ideas.
MONTAGNE: Well, what about it? It sounds like, you know, a sort of last-chance idea, but does it work?
DAVIDSON: If only it were so easy to answer that question, does Keynes work? Now, you can find plenty of strong Keynesians - you know, Paul Krugman would be a famous example - who say, yes, he was proven to work in the Great Depression, the fact that World War II, all the spending then got us out of the Great Depression, proves that Keynes was right. Others say, absolutely not, he wasn't proven at all. In fact, Kennedy and Nixon, who misused Keynes, proved that Keynesianism doesn't work. The fact of the matter is we don't know. The problem is it's hard to find other ideas, so at least some are saying, hey, I guess we've got to give this a try.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Planet Money correspondent Adam Davidson, thanks very much.
DAVIDSON: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And for more on John Maynard Keynes, you can check out our Planet Money blog and podcast at npr.org/money.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. And the passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 have a lot of people to thank this morning. There is the pilot, who safely landed the crippled aircraft in the Hudson River yesterday afternoon; there are the ferry-boat, workers who helped rescue all 155 people on board; then there are the emergency crews, who pulled people from the frigid water. NPR's Robert Smith tells us the story from New York.
ROBERT SMITH: It was three in the afternoon when Captain Chesley Sullenberger pushed back Flight 1549 from the gate at LaGuardia Airport. It was a clear, freezing day, very little wind, and everything seemed normal as the plane climbed over the northern end of Manhattan. Then, a minute after takeoff, Sullenberger radioed air traffic control. He said they had a double bird strike, which usually means birds have hit both engines. For the passengers onboard, it sounded like...
Mr. JEFF KOLODJAY (Passenger, US Airways Flight 1549): Explosion and our plane dropped. That was scary.
SMITH: Jeff Kolodjay was in seat 22A. He could see smoke coming from the left engine.
Mr. KOLODJAY: It was pretty scary, man. Like, I thought he was going to say, circle back to LaGuardia, because I've flown out of LaGuardia a lot, and I knew you could come around this way and circle in, in that runway over there, and he goes, just brace for impact. I said, oh, this is going to be ugly, man.
SMITH: Six rows forward, Fred Berretta looked out his window and saw the Hudson River coming up fast below the plane.
Mr. FRED BERRETTA (Passenger, US Airways Flight 1549): The only time there was really shouting was when we were just about to hit the water, and people were yelling to the folks in the exit row to prepare to get the doors open.
SMITH: From the office buildings of midtown Manhattan, people who saw the plane land in the water said it seemed under control. The captain, Chesley Sullenberger III, is a former fighter pilot with 40 years flying experience. Already, aviation experts are calling it one of the most remarkable emergency landings they've seen. But the pilot was also lucky. The plane went down right across from the ferry terminal of New York Waterways. Vinnie Lombardi, the captain of the ferry Thomas Jefferson, was just pulling out when he saw the floating aircraft and its frightened passengers.
Mr. VINNIE LOMBARDI (Ferry Boat Captain, Thomas Jefferson, NY Waterway): They were on the raft on the wing, and there were a few people in the water.
SMITH: He was over there in three minutes, and the crew knew exactly what to do. They practiced these water rescues every couple of weeks. Hector Rabanez and Wilfredo Rivera went to the railing of the ship.
Mr. WILFREDO RIVERA (Crewmember, Thomas Jefferson, NY Waterway): People are panicky. They said, hurry up.
Mr. HECTOR RABANEZ (Deckhand, Thomas Jefferson, NY Waterway): Yeah, they said the water's cold. The water's cold. The water's cold.
Mr. RIVERA: Because the water's cold. Everybody was nervous, everybody's screaming, so everybody was in shock. So, I tell Hector, let's get the ladder down. We got the ladder down. We started getting people off.
SMITH: They rescued 56 people. Meanwhile, 14 other boats had arrived to help. A police helicopter hovered above the scene. Rescue diver Michael Delaney saw a woman in distress in the 42-degree water and jumped in.
Detective MICHAEL DELANEY (Harbor Scuba Team, New York Police Department): She was very frantic at the time. I just told her to relax. I asked her what her name was. She said, please don't let me go. She thought that the boat was going to run over us at the time. And then we helped her up on to the boat.
SMITH: The plane's Captain Sullenberger twice walked the aisles of his aircraft, making sure that every passenger was out. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a pilot himself, had nothing but praise.
Mayor MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (Independent, New York City): The pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out.
SMITH: People who have worked with Sullenberger say they aren't surprised. Sully, as he's know to his friends, runs a safety consulting company on the side and is a member of UC Berkeley's Center for Catastrophic Risk Management. Bob Bea, the co-founder of the center, said he got goose bumps when he heard Sully was the pilot.
Dr. ROBERT BEA (Civil Engineering, Co-founder, Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California, Berkeley): I thought, well, if I was on that airplane, I'd want Sully at the flight deck in charge, because he knows how to do it right.
SMITH: After the rescue, the half-submerged US Airways plane floated down the Hudson River. It was eventually towed to the southern tip of Manhattan. It's docked there this morning, awaiting the 20-person federal team who will figure out just what happened to the flight. Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.
MONTAGNE: One more thing: As of this morning, there were already 11 Facebook fan clubs devoted to Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III. One group of the pilot's fans has 650 members and growing, and there are about 200 comments from Rockford, Illinois, England, Germany and Nigeria. The one from Nigeria reads: You are the man! My hats are doffed for you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In Washington, many thought that Eric Holder, the attorney general-designate, would face a tough confirmation hearing, but when he appeared before a Senate committee yesterday, he acknowledged some past mistakes and appeared to defuse much of the potential criticism. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.
NINA TOTENBERG: Republicans had a few stern questions, but for the most part, they seemed impressed. Some of that may be because so many Republicans in law enforcement have endorsed Holder, including ones who disagreed with him about controversial pardons. And some may be because Republicans, too, are tired of being stiffed by the Bush administration. If what most senators wanted was a new day, they got it right out of the starting gate, when Chairman Patrick Leahy asked about waterboarding, the interrogation technique of controlled drowning begun in the Spanish Inquisition and authorized for use against some terror suspects after 9/11 by the Bush administration.
(Soundbite of confirmation hearing, January 15, 2009)
Senator PATRICK LEAHY (Democrat, Vermont; Chair, Senate Committee on the Judiciary): Do you agree with me that waterboarding is torture and illegal?
Mr. ERIC H. HOLDER JR. (Appointee, Attorney General, Barack Obama Administration; Former Deputy Attorney General, William Clinton Administration): We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture.
TOTENBERG: And can the president override laws and treaties against torture?
Mr. HOLDER: Mr. Chairman, no one is above the law. The president has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.
TOTENBERG: Republicans focused on two controversial pardons that Holder was involved in as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration. His position on the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, he said, was a mistake. He told the Clinton White House he was neutral, leaning towards favorable. Holder said he'd been unaware that Rich's ex-wife had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party, but more important, he said he did not know the details of the charges against Rich.
Mr. HOLDER: That was one of the mistakes I made. I did not acquaint myself in a way that I should have about all that existed in the files about Mr. Rich. I think if I had done that, I would have come up with a different determination.
TOTENBERG: Holder, however, did not back away from his recommendation of a pardon for Puerto Rican nationals convicted of terrorism-related crimes. The men, he noted, had served almost 20 years. Their pardon was supported by leading religious figures, and their sentences were out of whack with other sentences for similar crimes.
Mr. HOLDER: They did not directly harm anyone. They were not responsible directly for any murders. But I think another factor is that we deal with a world now that is different than the one that existed then. That decision was made in a pre-9/11 context. I don't know what President Clinton would do now. I tend to think that I would probably view that case in a different way in a post-9/11 world.
TOTENBERG: Ranking Republican Arlen Specter questioned Holder about his decision not to recommend appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate then-Vice President Al Gore's fundraising. Holder acknowledged that it gave him pause when the FBI director and a top career lawyer recommended such an appointment, but he said he thought the career lawyers in the public-integrity section were correct in recommending against it. Senator Specter was not satisfied.
Senator ARLEN SPECTER (Republican, Pennsylvania; Ranking Republican, Senate Committee on the Judiciary): My evaluation is that a man in your position knew better. That's the whole point. But you've expressed yourself, and I've expressed myself...
Mr. HOLDER: Senator, we're getting close to a line here. I will certainly understand a difference of opinion, but you're getting close to questioning my integrity, and that is not appropriate. That's not fair. It's not fair, and I will not accept that.
TOTENBERG: That, however, was a momentary dust-up. Civility, even humor, was the hallmark of the day, as when Senator Herb Kohl, who just happens to own the Milwaukee Bucks, suggested Holder should take on President-elect Barack Obama on the basketball court. Holder responded this way.
Mr. HOLDER: He's 10 years younger than me.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. HOLDER: He plays a lot more frequently than I do. Having said that, I've got a New York City game.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. HOLDER: I come from the city that produced Connie Hawkins, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate "Tiny" Archibald. I learned how to play ball in P.S. 127 in Queens. If you give me a little time and a little space to get back in shape, I think I could hang with him.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. HOLDER: I don't think I'm ever going to be in a position to beat him, nor do I think that would be a wise thing to do.
(Soundbite of laughter)
TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Of the various government institutions dedicated to the arts, none offer a Cabinet-level post. Among those who think it's time for a Secretary of the Arts, the U.S. conference of mayors, a former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a music mogul. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.
ELIZABETH BLAIR: Quincy Jones, with help from two classical musicians in New York, started an online petition asking President-elect Obama to create a Secretary of the Arts, because he believes the arts have a spiritual benefit Americans need.
Mr. QUINCY JONES JR. (Composer; Producer): (Unintelligible) arts is just as important as military defense, you know? Emotional defense is just as important.
BLAIR: So far, the Quincy Jones' petition has more than 115,000 signatures. Right now, arts and culture have fragmented representation throughout the U.S. government. There's the National Endowment for the Arts, which provides federal funding to groups around the country; then there's the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, even the State Department. Bob Lynch is head of the advocacy group Americans for the Arts. He says a Cabinet position would have direct access to the president and could bring arts and government under one umbrella.
Mr. ROBERT L. LYNCH (President and CEO, Americans for the Arts): The breadth of things that are happening in State Department for example, cultural diplomacy or in trade issues, when we see sales of CDs and videos internationally is really big business, copyright. A lot of things in different parts of government that are really not talking to one another right now - very, very separated and spread throughout government, so much so that when other nations have a meeting of all of the cultural ministers of the world, very often, the United States is not invited, because we don't have a person that speaks for that kind of breadth. Sometimes they may ask the head of the National Endowment for the Arts to come, but that is just one piece of the cultural puzzle. So, that is why Americans for the Arts a year ago started to talk to all of the presidential candidates about the idea of a senior-level administration official with an arts portfolio.
Dr. DAVID SMITH (American History, Baylor University): Having a Department of Culture with a secretary of Culture would create the wrong impression about the arts in the United States.
BLAIR: David Smith teaches American History at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He's also the author of "Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy." He does not like the idea of a Cabinet position, because he doesn't think the arts should be so closely connected to government.
Dr. SMITH: Maybe the greatest thing about the arts in America is their decentralized nature. And I think the perception would be detrimental to that decentralized vibrancy if you wound up with something as ponderous as a Department of Culture and a secretary of Culture.
BLAIR: Quincy Jones thinks just the opposite. He believes artists helped to find a society and that having a secretary of the Arts would send the message that America values its culture.
Mr. JONES: Teach the kids throughout the country what their roots are about. Every country can be defined through their food, their music and their language. That's the soul of a country.
BLAIR: Quincy Jones' petition is still online. He plans to talk to President-elect Obama about his desire for a secretary of the Arts soon. As for whether he'd like the job, he says he doesn't know. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
On Inauguration Day, the eyes of the world will be on Barack Obama, but when the sun goes down, that gaze will shift to Michelle. What the new first lady wears to the myriad balls will be parsed, praised, maybe even pilloried, a dress so significant it might one day be displayed at the Smithsonian. With us to talk about the special gown and more is fashion writer Simon Doonan. He's the author of "Eccentric Glamour" and the creative director of Barneys New York. Good morning.
Mr. SIMON DOONAN (Author, Eccentric Glamour; Creative Director, Barneys New York): How are you?
MONTAGNE: Pretty good. Thank you very much. So, inaugural balls. Michelle Obama faces many fashion challenges here, in a way. First, she has to look stunning but also appropriate. What does a first lady need to wear to the ball in a recession in the winter?
Mr. DOONAN: Well I have to tell you that I've become sort of increasingly uncomfortable with this hysteria about what she's going to wear and how she looks. But there's a tremendous amount of talk about what she will or won't wear because everyone in fashion can see she has that great physicality, that she can wear the most conservative, appropriate clothes, and she's always going to give them this extra sizzle, which, in actual fact, she's not wearing anything which is intrinsically different than what Laura Bush might wear. She just happens to have that magical physicality that Jackie O had. You're talking about a woman who is tall, athletic, amazing posture; you know, that's a great sort of blank canvas for any designer to work with if they're going to give a public servant an iconic look.
MONTAGNE: It's all over the Web, though, sketches for what Michelle Obama could wear, you know, offered by designers. It's kind of a fun game, in a way, to say, now, that would look great. Do you - what do you think?
Mr. DOONAN: Well, as somebody who's in the fashion world, for the last six months, I've been looking at those sketches. Every time I open Women's Wear Daily, there's another slew of sketches about what she would, could, might, ought to wear. And it is fun to play paper dolls and you know, think about what would look good on her. Basically, when you're a public servant, you have to dress in an appropriate way. I remember years ago, I interviewed Hardy Amies, who designed for the Queen of England. He gave the Queen of England her iconic look, that sort of frumpy dress with the matching coat and the hat and the purse.
And I said to him, how did you come up with this iconic look for the queen which, was for many years criticized, how she could look chicer if she let Parisian designers designed her and blah, blah, blah. So, Hardy Amies looked at me through his glasses with great withering contempt and he said, young man, the Queen of England must always appear to be friendly and appealing. And if she were to look chic, she would become unfriendly and unappealing, because there is an unkindness to chic. But what I would wear if I was Michelle Obama is something very, very simple. Once you start adding couture, ruffles and fooffles(ph) and bows, you could get into trouble.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, that - although everything you've just said goes to, maybe, how excited and happy people were when Michelle Obama showed up on television and was asked what she was wearing, and it turned out to be J.Crew. Much was made of it because it was so accessible.
Mr. DOONAN: I think one always wants to think that she's a populist; she's shopping where rest of us shop, et cetera, et cetera. But I feel that, you know, you want her to be known for something else - education, mental health, I don't know what else - but she has to be known for something other than looking great in a shift dress, because she's obviously an incredibly accomplished woman with a broad frame of reference, broad interests. You know, that's my Michelle Obama. It's not somebody with her head in a fashion magazine.
MONTAGNE: Simon Doonan is creative director for Barneys New York and writes a style column for the New York Observer called "Simon Says." Thanks very much for joining us.
Mr. DOONAN: Thank you.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The Philadelphia Eagles are just one game away from reaching the Super Bowl even though it's been an up-and-down year for the team. Coach Andy Reid and quarterback Donovan McNabb have been the focus of fan ire, as Mike Pesca reports.
MIKE PESCA: As if Philadelphia needed another underdog, but this year a certain south paw known as the Italian Stallion was upstaged by the Eagles. The team's low point, the equivalent of Rocky having his locker cleaned out by Mickey, came in at week twelve at Baltimore. There was Donovan McNabb in his ninth year as starting quarterback. McNabb, who took his team to playoffs more times than not, who made the Pro Bowl more often than not, standing there on the sidelines, not the field, to the shock of the Fox announcers.
(Soundbite of baseball game broadcast, November 23, 2008)
Unidentified Fox Announcer #1: Wow, that's shaking up...
Unidentified Fox Announcer #2: This is huge. This is a storyline that is absolutely huge, in sitting down Donovan McNabb for the second half of the football game.
PESCA: The Philadelphia media and fans were exasperated with their quarterback and their head coach, Andy Reid. And yes, the team won a week after the benching, and sure, they won again the week after that and the week after that. But by all rights, this season was in the coffin. It was just like the Eagles to deny their fans the final nail. During that time, ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio actually heard many of his fellow Philadelphians worrying that short-term success would just delay necessary personnel changes. He didn't buy that argument.
Mr. SAL PAOLANTONIO (Bureau Reporter, ESPN): I think all sports fans are unfair in general, not just in Philadelphia.
PESCA: Paolantonio knows from an objective standpoint the Eagles have been a very good football team ever since McNabb took over as quarterback. He also knows it's hard for Eagles fans to be objective.
Mr. PAOLANTONIO: They're invested emotionally and financially in a way that you don't find any many other places.
PESCA: And so, when the Eagles did sneak into the playoffs and win two games, it may have been hard for the players to believe the fans were back to stay. Eagles guard Shawn Andrews says the fans want to win and so does the team, but still...
Mr. SHAWN ANDREWS (Guard, Philadelphia Eagles): You have to have some thick skin playing here, or you won't survive. It's, like, we appreciate fans being at training camp and being so close, but even being that close, they really don't understand, I don't think, the hard work that goes in. Nobody - not too many fans have been here at the NovaCare Complex.
PESCA: Actually, there were a couple of fans at the Eagles NovaCare Training Facility early this week. Michael Fritz(ph) gained access as part of a promotion. He wore his Brian Westbrook jersey. He was a beaming believer in contrast to his state of mind a month and a half ago.
Mr. MICHAEL FRITZ (Fan, Philadelphia Eagles): Yeah, I was on all the blogs, the hate mails and everything else. I just couldn't believe at how the season was going. It was just going down the tubes. I had 'em - I left them for dead.
PESCA: Now, Fritz says he's come to love McNabb all over again. For his part, the quarterback seems happy, easily brushing aside the contention that he can't do the things he did five years ago.
Mr. DONOVAN MCNABB (Quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles): None of us can do the things that we did five years ago, not even - including you guys. I mean, some of you are writing slower than you did five years. Stuff you're talking about in the paper just don't make sense. Some of you dressing kind of funny.
PESCA: If the assembled media weren't fully charmed, the fans seemed to be. The turnaround has been - well, there's a scene in "Rocky IV," when the champ, having just defeated the Soviet destroyer, addresses the Moscow crowd. Rocky says...
(As Rocky Balboa) If I could change and you could change...
You know, let's Mike Fritz sum it up.
Mr. FRITZ: Oh, yeah, I was definitely wrong. I mean, they've really turned around. I take back everything I said. Obviously, Andy knows a lot more than me.
(Soundbite of laughter)
PESCA: Well, then, until Monday morning. Mike Pesca, NPR News.
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MONTAGNE: It's NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. And we heard earlier that Eric Holder thinks waterboarding is torture. His view matters, because Holder is Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general. But waterboarding is just one of the techniques used by the CIA after 9/11 to extract information from suspected terrorists. It will be up to Mr. Obama to decide what other procedures will off limits under his administration. As NPR's Tom Gjelten reports, he's getting conflicting advice.
TOM GJELTEN: During his campaign, Barack Obama spoke out against the use of anything like torture in the interrogation of suspected terrorists. He said as president, he'd order that all interrogations be carried out in accord with the U.S. Army Field Manual, guidelines far more restrictive than the ones President Bush has given the CIA. Mr. Obama was supported in that position by a group of retired generals and admirals. As military officers, they worried that interrogation methods tantamount to torture might someday be used on American prisoners. About a dozen of them even asked for a meeting with Mr. Obama's transition team last month to make sure he wasn't backing down from his campaign promises. Among them was retired Marine General Joseph Hoar, former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.
General JOSEPH P. HOAR (Retired, U.S. Marine Corps; Former Commander, United States Central Command): The golden rule is the golden rule, that you don't do something to someone that you wouldn't have done to an American citizen that was held for interrogation. And I think that's as true for a CIA operative as it is for a person in uniform.
GJELTEN: The incoming Obama administration is also being pressured on this point by Congress. Last year, it passed legislation that would have required CIA interrogators to abide by the Army Field Manual guidelines. President Bush vetoed the bill, but the incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, has introduced it again, as she reminded Eric Holder yesterday during his confirmation hearing.
(Soundbite of confirmation hearing, January 15, 2009)
Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN (Democrat, California; Chair, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration): It has been revised by the military. It is a comprehensive, thoughtful manual. It has more than a dozen different techniques. Do you believe that the Army Field Manual should comprise the standard for interrogation across the United States government?
GJELTEN: Holder said President-elect Obama will make that call on his own.
Mr. ERIC H. HOLDER JR. (Appointee, Attorney General, Barack Obama Administration; Former Deputy Attorney General, William Clinton Administration): He's giving all components an opportunity to express their views, not only the military, but those on the intelligence side. If there's a contrary view, we want to give them an opportunity to make their case.
GJELTEN: There are contrary views. Many military officers not only worry about harsh interrogation methods being used against their own troops, they also doubt the reliability of information gained under any procedure that resembles torture. But outgoing CIA director Michael Hayden vigorously disputes the idea that the coercive methods used by CIA interrogators did not produce useful information. These techniques worked, Hayden insisted yesterday in a meeting with reporters. I'm convinced, he said, that the program got the maximum amount of information, particularly out of the first group of detainees taken into custody after 9/11. Hayden says there are various interrogation methods that are not in the Army Field Manual, but that are nevertheless legal. For that reason, he argues against limiting CIA interrogators to the Army manual. In his Senate testimony yesterday, Eric Holder personally took the military side in this debate over whose guidelines should govern CIA interrogations.
Mr. HOLDER: It is my view, based on what I've had and the opportunity to review and what I've been exposed to, that I think the Army Field Manual is adequate.
GJELTEN: Mr. Obama himself appears to be keeping his decision options open. He may be realizing that this issue, like others, is not clear cut. John McLaughlin, a former deputy director of the CIA, says the debate over what interrogation methods should be used is abstract, until the day the U.S. government finds itself holding a terrorist who really does know about an upcoming attack on the United States.
Mr. JOHN E. MCLAUGHLIN (Former Deputy Director, CIA; Senior Fellow, Senior Fellow, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies): Then, you do have a dilemma: Do you need to get that information or do you not? If you don't get that information, have you failed in your moral responsibility to your fellow citizens? And it's only when it gets real that that debate begins to bite.
GJELTEN: In the best case for the Obama administration, that scenario will not present itself and there won't be a dilemma. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with mortgage rates at an all-time low.
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MONTAGNE: It's one of the few positive signs in this economy. The latest survey from mortgage giant Freddie Mac shows that mortgage rates have dropped for 11 straight weeks to a record low. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.
CHRIS ARNOLD: Hone mortgage rates haven't been this low since Freddie Mac started tracking the data back in 1971. The weekly average rate for 30-year fixed-rates loans is 4.96 percent, and that factors in that some people are paying so-called points to buy down the rate, but many people get around five and a quarter without paying points. That's saving a lot of people hundreds of dollars a month on their house payments if they refinance right now. And rates might get even better.
Dr. ALBERT "PETE" KYLE (Finance, University of Maryland): I think there's a good chance that long-term fixed-rate mortgage rates could continue to fall and get into the mid fours or even low fours.
ARNOLD: Pete Kyle is a finance professor at the University of Maryland. He says the government is taking steps that should drive rates lower, and he says the extra spending money and the boost to the housing market will be a big help to the economy.
Dr. KYLE: It's a great thing to the economy, and I think it's the most powerful financial stimulus we have right now going on.
ARNOLD: So, Kyle says, it might be time to take advantage of the situation and get your mortgage broker on the phone. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And our last word in business today is: reach out and text someone. That's what wireless companies are asking people to do this Tuesday if they are among the huge crowds expected to attend the inauguration. The companies are adding extra lanes on their wireless highways, using mobile cell towers like this.
Ms. TANYA LIN (PMP Manager, Logistic and Program Management, Sprint Nextel Corporation): This is an F6 chassis. We've got the actual cell tower, equipment built onto it. You've got a mass that extents 65 feet with a height of the vehicles about 70-foot mass. So, you can provide a very large bubble of coverage.
MONTAGNE: That's Tanya Lin of Sprint Nextel. She says, despite this added capacity, those using mobile phones are still likely to run into blockages. And the worst time to make a call? Not necessarily the moment Barack Obama raises his hand to take the oath of office.
Ms. LIN: It's when people are waiting. So, what do you doing when you're waiting, you're bored? And you take those pictures; you send the text messages; you get on the phones, like, you will never believe how cold it is.
MONTAGNE: Tanya Lin says people maybe too focused on the speech and swearing in to click, snap or text their friends. Whenever you do use your devise, carriers asked that you text. And if you take photos, wait until later in the day to hit the send button. That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. The Senate has voted for the release of the second half of the financial rescue package. That means that when President-elect Barack Obama takes office next Tuesday, he'll have an additional $350 billion to battle the financial crisis. In a moment, we'll talk about the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, with the Wall Street Journal's David Wessel. First, NPR's John Ydstie reports on the intense lobbying by Mr. Obama and his team to secure this early legislative victory.
JOHN YDSTIE: Both the president-elect and his top economic aides visited Capitol Hill this week to urge lawmakers to release the second $350 billion in TARP funding. The effort at persuasion continued even as the bill to block the second installment was being debated on the Senate floor. It came in the form of a letter sent to congressional leaders yesterday afternoon by one of Mr. Obama's top economic aides, Larry Summers. The letter described Mr. Obama's plans to use the funds. Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd said it provided greater clarity on the incoming administration's intentions.
Senator CHRISTOPHER DODD (Democrat, Connecticut; Chair, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs): Detailing specifically how this will work, how it will be monitored, how important the intervention on foreclosures will be, and focusing on the flow of credit, which is obviously critical if we're going to get back on our feet again. And that letter, I think, ought to provide some confidence to members who are concerned about how this program will be managed and run.
YDSTIE: The letter from Summers committed the Obama administration to spending $50 to $100 billion to address the foreclosure crisis, something many Democrats and some Republicans had insisted on. It also said the president-elect had no intention of using any of the funds to implement an industrial policy, a pledge Republican leaders had wanted to hear. The letter promised to post, on the Treasury Web site, details of assistance provided to companies. In addition, limits on executive compensation were strengthened, and the letter said dividends paid by companies receiving aid would be restricted to a penny a share until the government is repaid. But Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama was unconvinced. He said neither Congress nor the administration really knows how the money can be used effectively.
Senator JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS (Republican, Alabama): I have a vision in my mind of the guy that flew into the hurricane off the Golf Coast where I live, and he threw out dry ice, and he thought he could cool off the hurricane and stop the hurricane. So, now, we've got the secretary of Treasury and he thinks he can get in there and throw this money around and stop the financial hurricane.
YDSTIE: South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint agreed, saying that despite the argument back in the fall that TARP was necessary to head off an economic collapse, $350 billion has been spent and the economy hasn't improved.
Senator JAMES W. DEMINT (Republican, South Carolina): The stock market has fallen nearly 25 percent, and we're in the same credit problem, situation, that we had then. It's just too much money to be throwing at the wall in hopes that it might work.
YDSTIE: Congressman Dodd countered that without the $350 billion spent so far, things might have been much worse.
Sen. DODD: It is impossible to go back and say what would have happened with any great certainly had we not acted. I think much can be said here today. When you have an outgoing Republican president and administration, an incoming Democratic administration, with very different views about how our economy ought to be managed ask us jointly to step up and make this decision, I think it's important we listen and we act.
YDSTIE: When the votes were counted, Mr. Obama and the TARP had prevailed 52 to 42. There was little doubt that the incoming Obama administration was ultimately going to get the second $350 billion in TARP funds, but the victory in the Senate spared Mr. Obama the prospect of vetoing a congressional resolution as one of his first acts. And having the money available immediately may be critical. A new wave of losses among the nation's banks could destabilize the financial system once again. Now, the new administration will have money available to meet that challenge should it materialize. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Last night, the government moved to shore up Bank of America with $20 billion more from the bailout fund. David Wessel of the Wall Street Journal joins us now. David, good morning.
Mr. DAVID WESSEL (Economic Editor, Wall Street Journal): Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now, I have some questions for you on the Troubled Assets Relief Program, but first, just about this news on Bank of America getting this government money, why?
Mr. WESSEL: Well, as you remember in the fall, Bank of America agreed to buy Merrill Lynch during that terrible week in September when Wall Street redwood seemed to be falling every day. And they did it without government assistance. Apparently, in December, Bank of America came to Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke and said, look, these Merrill Lynch books are in much worse shape than we thought, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to close the deal. They begged him to close the deal for the good of the system, and now they're giving him his reward. The government will invest $20 billion more in Bank of America, that's through the TARP, and the Fed will say to the - is saying to Bank of America, put $118 billion worth of real estate loans, mortgages and stuff like that in a basket, and if it turns out that they're worth a lot less, you take part and we'll take part. And Bank of America's losses on that are limited to about $20 billion. It's just like what they did for Citigroup a few weeks ago.
MONTAGNE: OK. So, the government will now be spending more - or the remainder of that bailout money. But let's talk about, is it working, generally? Some say that first 350 billion has not done what it was supposed to do. Is there a reason to believe this second chunk will?
Mr. WESSEL: A lot of it depends on what you think it was supposed to do. So, one, you have to say that it might have been worse if the government didn't have this money and this power. We might have seen a big bank failure with all the panic that that ensued. Secondly, the whole point here was to build up the banking system's capital so they wouldn't shrink lending, and that may have succeeded, but it hasn't managed to stimulate a lot of lending and get us out of the hole. Part of the problem of that is the problem is just much bigger than was conceived either in September, and part of it was in the execution of the TARP and in the conditions they put on it. So, you see that the Obama administration is trying to use the fundamental idea of the TARP the same way the Bush administration did, but with some conditions and tweaks to make it work better.
MONTAGNE: But David, can the government force banks to lend more?
Mr. WESSEL: Well, it can certainly try. And Larry Summers, the president's economic advisor, laid out some new conditions yesterday, where they are going to make banks that are healthy, that don't have major capital shortfalls - if there's any of those left - show that they are lending more tomorrow than they are lending today. But at the moment, the government doesn't own the banks and control them. It's put a lot of money in, and it can only encourage, cajole, put pressure on them to lend. It's not running the banks. And the second thing is a lot of federal regulators don't want the banks to go out and make a lot more bad loans. And with the economy deteriorating so much, it's a very fine line between lending more that makes sense and lending more that doesn't make sense and creating problems down the road.
MONTAGNE: Now, getting that second 350 billion of bailout money is part of Mr. Obama's economic recovery plan. The other part is his stimulus package, more billions there. Where does that stand?
Mr. WESSEL: Well, it's moving along a little more slowly. There's a lot of disagreement about precisely what should be in it, although there seems to be very little disagreement that there should be a big stimulus package. Yesterday, the House Democrats put out their version: an 825 billion two-year plan that has about 550 billion in new spending and 275 billion in tax cuts. The Obama people think that spending more may have a more immediate stimulative effect on the economy, but when the Senate takes this up, they may want more tax breaks, especially if President-elect Obama has any hope of getting Republican votes for this thing. But this should be a little bit easier. It's - there are a lot of goodies to give out here, and the argument is about who gets them.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, just briefly, what have we learned about the president-elect in the last few days?
Mr. WESSEL: Well, that's interesting. I mean, I think President-elect Obama had his first test with Congress, and he did a Lyndon Johnson. He twisted enough arms in the U.S. Senate yesterday to get them to vote for something that is very unpopular. And so, it suggests that, you know, the guy may have some skill at this thing, and it's going to give him a lot of momentum going into this fight over the stimulus, which is much more pleasant. It's about giving out goodies, rather than bailing out banks.
MONTAGNE: David, thanks very much.
Mr. WESSEL: A pleasure.
MONTAGNE: David Wessel is economics editor of the Wall Street Journal.
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MONTAGNE: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. Last night, President Bush gave his farewell address from the East Room of the White House. Although he leaves office with very low approval ratings and a dismal economy, the president also claimed successes. NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports.
MARA LIASSON: The speech was George W. Bush's last chance to define his presidency on his own terms. Although the early verdict on his legacy is a poor one, President Bush delivered his own scorecard last night, and it included a government transformed to better fight terrorism, Afghanistan no longer ruled by the Taliban and the situation in Iraq heading towards stability.
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President GEORGE W. BUSH: There's legitimate debate about many of these decisions, but there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.
LIASSON: The president claimed a legacy in domestic affairs as well, pointing out that after his eight years in office, every taxpayer pays lower income taxes, and the Supreme Court includes Samuel Alito and John Roberts. He even cited his handling of the economic crisis.
Pres. BUSH: When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted.
LIASSON: And like other presidents before him, Mr. Bush had some parting words of warning.
Pres. BUSH: In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we much reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger.
LIASSON: Although the president has admitted the result of the 2008 election was in part a repudiation of him, he can count on the incoming president to build on much of what he's done without completely reversing course in foreign policy and even in dealing with the financial meltdown. And Mr. Bush had kind words for his successor, who will be sworn in on Tuesday.
Pres. BUSH: Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation, and I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle and their two beautiful girls.
LIASSON: The speech was President Bush's last scheduled public event before he sits in the front row at Barack Obama's inauguration and then welcomes the new president and first lady on the portico of the White House. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
President Bush gave his speech at the White House, and a few blocks away on Capitol Hill yesterday, House Democrats unveiled some details of the giant stimulus bill meant to revive the economy. The price tag? $825 billion. That's even more than the incoming Obama administration said it wanted. NPR's Andrea Seabrook has the story.
ANDREA SEABROOK: Legislation of this size is almost unprecedented. The only thing before Congress that rivals it is the federal budget, and that takes months to put together. So, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walked out in front of the cameras, you could tell that this stimulus package was taking some serious work.
Representative NANCY PELOSI (Democrat, California; Speaker of the House): With practically no sleep on anyone's part, but that not having any impact on their judgment, we were just presenting to our House caucus a package that is $825 billion.
SEABROOK: More than half of which will be direct government spending on things like construction projects, job training, scientific research and health-care technology. About a third of the bill's cost comes from tax cuts, both for working families that make under $200,000 a year and for businesses, to spark investment and new jobs, Pelosi said.
Rep. PELOSI: It's pretty exciting. We have more money for investments because we believe that's where job creation is greater.
SEABROOK: Now, if Democrats are already exhausted by this bill, Republicans are just starting to show their dismay.
Representative JOHN BOEHNER (Republican, Ohio; House Minority Leader): Oh, my God.
SEABROOK: Minority leader John Boehner.
Rep. BOEHNER: I don't even - my notes here say that I'm disappointed. I just can't tell you how shocked I am at what we're seeing.
SEABROOK: Boehner said Democrats did not consult the Republicans at all when they were crafting the bill, and, he said, it shows.
Rep. BOEHNER: It's clear that they're moving on this path along the flawed notion that we can borrow and spend our way back to prosperity.
SEABROOK: Boehner said that many Republicans object to the huge size of the bill and the myriad government projects the money would go to. But he said he has hope his party will be able to negotiate, not with House Democrats, but with President Barack Obama after he's sworn in next week.
Rep. BOEHNER: He's made it clear that he wants to work with us. We're going to supply him with our better solutions.
SEABROOK: As for the next step, the entire Capitol is an ultra-high security zone through next Tuesday's inauguration. But on Wednesday, the first full day of Democratic domination over the legislative and executive branches, House committees will begin the formal process of hammering out the details. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Now, to news on the fighting in Gaza. Three weeks after the shooting began the possibility of a ceasefire seems to be gaining momentum. The Israelis made a big push in Gaza City yesterday, but said their offensive could be, quote, "in the final act." Israel's foreign minister is on her way to Washington. She wants help in preventing Hamas from rearming. Another Israeli negotiator is shuttling between Cairo and Jerusalem. The question now is, how long will it take to work out the details? NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Cairo.
PETER KENYON: Residents of Gaza reported that dawn broke to a period of comparative quiet, although the Israeli military put that in perspective when it reported that it had struck some 40 targets overnight. The military spokesperson also said Palestinian rocket fire was down significantly today. The Israeli military announced a targeted killing yesterday of the most senior Hamas official hit to date, the interior minister, Said Siam. Siam was the head of Hamas' security forces inside Gaza. Last year, they routed their counterparts from the secular Fatah movement, giving Hamas full control of the Gaza Strip.
The most controversial attack of the day was the Israeli shelling of a United Nations compound that sent huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air for several hours afterward. Witnesses said tons of aid supplies, including badly needed food and fuel, were destroyed in the attack. Israel contended its forces were responding to enemy fire, but UN relief officials angrily denied there was any militant hostile activity from within the compound. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at a news conference in Tel Aviv, condemned the Israeli attack.
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Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON (United Nations): I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and the foreign minister and demanded a full explanation.
KENYON: Ban is on a regional tour trying to secure a ceasefire, and he suggested that the Israeli government could make an important decision on a halt to violence in the coming days. In her public comments, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni offered no hint as to when the military operation might cease. Even as the estimated Palestinian toll rose above 1100 killed and 5,000 wounded, Livni stuck with the official Israeli line that it's the Palestinian militants, not the Israelis, who are the aggressors.
Minister TZIPI LIVNI (Foreign Minister, Israel): And Hamas, for the first time, understands that Israel is not going to live any more in a region in which the bullies controls the flames. According to our daily assessment, we'll decide when this is going to end.
Unidentified Reporter: Will it be soon?
KENYON: Hours later, Livni was dispatched to Washington to promote an agreement on U.S. assistance in preventing arms smuggling via tunnels from Egypt into Gaza. The immediate hope is for a short-term end to the violence, followed by a withdrawal of Israeli forces in conjunction with a longer-term truce, lasting several months to a year, although the length of any ceasefire remains in contention. As with past negotiations, suspicions abound. Israel isn't convinced that Egypt or anyone else is prepared to do what it takes to close down the smuggling tunnels, and that means Hamas will inevitably rearm. For their part, the Palestinians have no confidence that Israel will abide by any commitments to open Gaza's borders. They fear Israel will continue to use its control of Gaza's food, fuel, water and electricity supplies as a weapon. But with global revulsion growing at the images of dead and wounded civilians coming out of Gaza, analysts suggest that even an imperfect peace is looking like a good alternative. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.
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MONTAGNE: This is Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Tuesday, his hand will be placed on the Lincoln Bible, the first time that Bible has been used since Abraham Lincoln's own inauguration back in 1865. Here in Washington, one can step back into that time in a different way by going to the party that celebrated Lincoln's second term. It was held in the elegant building that now contains the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and there you'll find displayed on the floor numbered shoeprints, arrows and a dance.
Mr. CHARLES ROBERTSON (Guest Curator, The Honor of your Company is Requested: President Lincoln's Inaugural Ball Exhibit, Smithsonian American Art Museum): No, four.
MONTAGNE: Oh, Yes.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. ROBERTSON: Follow the arrow, of course.
MONTAGNE: This is embarrassing - oh, yes, and one.
Mr. ROBERTSON: Four.
MONTAGNE: Oh, that's rather elegant.
The Waltz was one of the more popular dances in Lincoln's day. Those dance steps are part of a new exhibit at the museum titled...
Mr. ROBERTSON: The Honor of Your Company Is Requested: President Lincoln's Inaugural Ball.
MONTAGNE: Charles Robertson is the guest curator of the exhibit. It traces Lincoln's brief time from his bid for reelection to his assassination at Ford's Theater. And at the heart of the exhibit is the gala event one Washington newspaper described as surpassing any previous event of the sort since inauguration balls were inaugurated.
What was the sense of things for this inaugural ball?
Mr. ROBERTSON: Right, you would think with the horrible, bloody casualties of the Civil War it would be a very solemn occasion, but in fact, because we were so near the end of the war and it was almost over, it was a time for celebration, euphoria, really.
MONTAGNE: And the party, says curator Charles Robertson, was open to the public.
Mr. ROBERTSON: Any gentlemen could buy a ticket for $10, which admitted him and two ladies of his choice.
MONTAGNE: One item on display shows just how much dancing was done that night. The rose-colored type is so faded Charles Robertson has to lean in close to make it out.
Mr. ROBERTSON: Here is the dance card which was specially printed for the occasion. So, some of the popular dances were quadrille, Scottish, lancers, polka, waltz, Virginia reel.
MONTAGNE: Taking up much of a wall nearby is a print so large you could almost dance into the night's festivities yourself.
Mr. ROBERTSON: It's an artist's conception of what this room looked like, and we see the gas lighting on pipes specifically installed for the ball hanging from the ceiling. We see the president and the first lady on a dais here on the edge of hall. And then on the other side, on a raised platform, was the band, and the band was paid a $1,000 for this - for the night, which was quite a substantial sum at the time.
MONTAGNE: All of those in attendance dressed to the nines; gowns, suits and military dress uniforms were the order of the night. Under glass, there's a gray silk lady's jacket actually worn to the ball. It has blue velvet trim and accents in the finest needlework. Then, like now, the night's fashions dominated the next day's news, especially for the first lady.
Mr. ROBERTSON: And so, the newspaper said Mrs. Lincoln, quote, "looked extremely well and was attired in the most elegant manner. She wore an elaborate white satin gown, complimented by jewelry of the rarest pearls and a fan trimmed with ermine and silvered spangles. Trailing jasmine and clustered violets adorned her hair."
Mr. ROBERTSON: But by far the most in newsworthy event of President Lincoln's second inaugural ball seems to be an extravagant midnight buffet.
Mr. ROBERTSON: There were huge confectionary models of the Capitol, of Fort Sumter, of Admiral Farragut lashed to the mast of his ship. I mean, this caterer went way overboard.
MONTAGNE: So did the guests. When there was not enough space for thousands of hungry revelers to eat all at once, the dinner turned into a melee.
Mr. ROBERTSON: They were jostled, glasses were broken and it was really chaos. The Evening Star reported, quote, "The floor of the supper room was soon sticky, pasty and oily with wasted confections, mashed cake and the debris of fowl and meat." And the New York Times reported, quote, "In less than an hour, the table was a wreck, positively frightful to behold."
MONTAGNE: And that's how the inaugural ball ended?
Mr. ROBERTSON: Well, they danced...
MONTAGNE: Did they go back to dance?
Mr. ROBERTSON: Oh, they danced until 4 o'clock in the morning, and some stayed even until dawn.
MONTAGNE: Charles Robertson curated The Honor of Your Company Is Requested: President Lincoln's Inaugural Ball, on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And if you're trying to get to the festivities surrounding next Tuesday's inauguration, take heed: Getting around Washington, D.C., will not be easy. Most bridges connecting Northern Virginia and Washington will be closed to private vehicles. So, too, will be a number of city streets. Washington's subway system is warning of, quote, "crush level crowds," as nobody knows how many people are really coming, but talk is of a million to several million people expected to turn out to see Barack Obama take the oath of office. Still, there is another option.
Mr. ERIC GILLILAND (Executive Director, Washington Area Bicyclist Association): It really could be a fantastic environment to ride around in.
MONTAGNE: Eric Gilliland is the executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. And yes, by ride around he means on a good, old-fashioned two wheeler.
Mr. GILLILAND: It's just going to be the easiest way to get around that day.
MONTAGNE: But tight security means you won't be able to park your bike just anywhere. So, Eric Gilliland and his group are setting up two bike valet stations around the city.
Mr. GILLILAND: We have volunteers that will park it for you. You go and enjoy the festivities, and when you come back, you show us your claim check, and we give you your bike, and you're off.
MONTAGNE: And he swears your bike will be perfectly safe.
Mr. GILLILAND: Totally safe, we've - we haven't lost a bike yet.
MONTAGNE: So far, the group has some 60 volunteers to work the stations. Each will be dressed in appropriate valet attire, complete with vest and bow tie. Whether you plan to join the throngs in Washington for the inauguration or watch it on TV, you can share your experience online. Head to npr.org/inaugurationreport, and become part of our coverage.
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MONTAGNE: From NPR News this is Morning Edition, directed by Van Williamson and Nicole Beemsterboer. The production staff includes John Vince Pearson, Claudette Lindsay-Habermann, Asma Khalid, Steve Munro, Emily Ochsenschlager, Leah Scarpelli, Kimberly Adams(ph), Julia Bailey, Lindsay Totty, and Ben Bergman and Melissa Jaeger-Miller at NPR West. Our director of morning programming is Ellen McDonnell. Morning Edition's theme music was written BJ Liederman and arranged by Jim Pugh. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. It was a schoolyard dare immortalized in the movie "A Christmas Story:" lick a metal pole in cold weather. And in the town that movie was based on Hammond. Indiana, a 10-year-old boy was dared - maybe even triple dog dared - to do just that. Temperatures were at 10 degrees, and guess what? The boy got stuck. An ambulance arrived, but by then, the boy was able to, ah, unstick his tongue. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. In this struggling economy, a debt collection firm in Lithuania has turned to magic. It's hired the country's most famous self-styled witch to track down deadbeats of all stripes who are failing to pay their debts. In addition, a spokesman said their new employee will use her powers to heal those, quote, "suffering from the psychological impact of bankruptcy and depression." Her tools include hypnosis and what she calls the bio-energy field. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
One of America's best known artists died this morning. Andrew Wyeth was 91. He painted his neighbors and his surroundings, the landscapes of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine. Jim Duff is the director of the Brandywine River Museum. It's in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where Andrew Wyeth was born and lived for much of his life. Welcome to the program.
Mr. JAMES H. DUFF (Director, Brandywine River Museum): Thank you.
MONTAGNE: What tradition would you place Andrew Wyeth in? And how do you think he'll be remembered?
Mr. DUFF: He'll be placed by art historians in the strong tradition of American realist painting. But I would prefer to think of Andrew Wyeth as a representational artist. He often painted a house with a different number of windows every time he painted it, no matter how many dozens of times he painted it or drew it. He was a man who interpreted his surroundings.
MONTAGNE: He painted individuals as - well, women, in particular. He painted them over time. He would pick a model and really investigate what was there.
Mr. DUFF: That's absolutely true, women and men with whom he was very well acquainted, and he liked strong people. His exact word would have been "tough," tough people, people who knew their own strengths and their own limitations and lived their lives to the extent that they could in view of those limitations and those strengths.
MONTAGNE: Which gets us to his best known painting, "Christina's World," a woman crawling through a grassy field, apparently...
Mr. DUFF: Yes.
MONTAGNE: What, crippled by polio?
Mr. DUFF: Few people realize that Christina Olson was crippled and that that poignant picture is of Christine Olson attempting to, literally, drag herself across her farm back to her house.
MONTAGNE: Why do you think this particular painting is so caught the imagination of the public and also of those who know art as well as you? What in a sense makes it so remarkable?
Mr. DUFF: It is simply a compelling picture, isn't it? It speaks to all of those things that comprised Andrew Wyeth's life and his particular deep understanding of the human condition.
MONTAGNE: What do you say to critics who don't hold - or haven't held - Andrew Wyeth in such lofty regard? There are those who consider him more of an illustrator than an artist.
Mr. DUFF: I think they haven't looked deeply enough and they haven't looked long enough.
MONTAGNE: And they would see what, in your opinion?
Mr. DUFF: Extraordinary ability with pencil and pen and brush, and in egg tempera, his primary medium, and at the same time, perception of the human condition conveyed through the rendering of objects of intense personal importance to the artist that, despite the fact that they represent the people and objects he knew so intimately, have relevance to people around the world. Those objects become universal objects.
MONTAGNE: Just finally, you knew Andrew Wyeth for many years. How would you describe him?
Mr. DUFF: A very lively man intensely interested in life and people; an important friend to all who knew him, a raconteur, for sure, but a raconteur with a deep, abiding interest in all the people he met. It's a terrific loss. Sunday mornings sometimes he would come to my house and have a waffle, and I will miss that forever.
MONTAGNE: Oh, well, thank you for spending this time to talk to us about Andrew Wyeth.
Mr. DUFF: You're very welcome.
MONTAGNE: Jim Duff is director of the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, which houses many paintings by the artist Andrew Wyeth, who died earlier today. He was 91 years old.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Two days after Barack Obama was elected president, will.i.am went on the Oprah show to unveil a new song.
(Soundbite of song "It's A New Day")
Mr. WILLIAM JAMES ADAM (a.k.a. will.i.am): (Singing) I went to sleep last night tired from the fight. I've been fighting for tomorrow all my life. Yeah, I woke up this morning feeling brand new, Cos the dreams that I've been dreaming has finally come true. It's a new day...
I wrote it the day before the Election Day. What did Bono say? Bono said, Will, you know how to capture the zeitgeist. When he said that, I didn't know what zeitgeist was.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: I was going to ask you.
Mr. ADAM: A zeitgeist is a ghost of time, the energy that surrounds us. And there are some people that know how to paint that, capture it, blog about it, write songs about it.
SIMON: We'll hear more from will.i.am in a few minutes. But first, music mogul Russell Simmons. Of course, he's the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and endorsed Barack Obama during the primaries. He'll be coming to town for the inauguration and the hip-hop inaugural ball. Russell Simmons joins us from our studios in New York. Thank you so much for being with us.
Mr. RUSSEL SIMMONS (Co-Founder, Def Jam Recordings): It's a pleasure.
SIMON: Tell us about the hip-hop ball.
Mr. SIMMONS: Well, we've been involved in the social and political landscape in this country in a very powerful way for a long time. I mean, the hip-hop community campaign to get young people registered and to the polls eight years ago. Then they went out again in another nonpartisan effort, and they had 50 summits. We had as many as 10,000 kids showed up in each summit. Eminem hosted Detroit; Snoop Dogg, L.A.; Will Smith, Philadelphia. All the artists worked to get young people registered, educate, and to the polls. And so they deserve celebration now.
SIMON: Mr. Simmons, when you get a demo from someone...
Mr. SIMMONS: I haven't signed a record in 10 years.
SIMON: Seriously?
Mr. SIMMONS: I have five charities. Oh, my God, I'm on the board of so many more. That's - those are my jobs.
SIMON: Well, there goes that question.
Mr. SIMMONS: And I work with lots of rappers on lots of things all the time.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Well, let me put it this way then. When you hear a piece of music, what says to you this performer, this artist, has what it takes? What do you listen for?
Mr. SIMMONS: I wish I knew. You know, it's just a feeling sometimes. Some artists, tongue twisters and great voices - some artists, just their content is so powerful. You know, I turn on the radio and someone says, what's your favorite record? And I say, sometimes, the one on the radio. There's something inside them that we're looking for that makes them special and have a lasting and stable career. And I never know what that is until it hits me.
SIMON: Mr. Simmons, forgive me not knowing, you have met President Obama - President-elect Obama?
Mr. SIMMONS: Oh,yeah.
SIMON: And when you get his ear, what do you say to him, if we may ask?
Mr. SIMMONS: The president - now I haven't spoken to him since after the election. But I don't know, you know, what am I going to say? You know, prison reform. He said he liked retroactivity, where Senator Clinton didn't. Animal rights - 9 billion suffering farm animals. You know what, I think the arts in the schools - small - meditation in schools. The worst school in Detroit is now the best as a result of sitting still, quiet time. Little things he can promote, he could make a difference.
SIMON: And may I ask, Mr. Simmons, when you come to the inauguration, do you have to stand in line?
Mr. SIMMONS: Well, I don't - I haven't asked. You know, I'm not a celebration dude. Like when he won, I went home. I was at a party. Puffy had a big party. I was excited, I guess, but I went to sleep. You know what I mean? It was good. It's like the work is more important for me. I'm not going to get drunk and, you know, and go to... And I probably won't have to get on too many lines. That's probably true. I probably won't.
SIMON: Russell Simmons, speaking to us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us, sir.
Mr. SIMMONS: Well, thank you so much.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This past year, William James Adams, better known as will.i.am., front man for the Black Eyed Peas, put a campaign speech to music and created a hit.
(Soundbite of song "Yes We Can")
Mr. WILLIAM JAMES ADAM (a.k.a. will.i.am): (Singing) Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world.
SIMON: The song is called "Yes We Can," after Barack Obama's speech that inspired it. The video is part celebrity endorsement and part campaign anthem. Tomorrow, will.i.am joins countless other musicians in Washington, D.C., for an HBO-sponsored inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Will.i.am, William James Adams, joins us from NPR West. Thanks very much for being with us.
Mr. ADAM: Thank you.
SIMON: Quite a lineup at this concert - Bruce Springsteen, Bono, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow. As I understand it, it's not going to be what we might call a greatest-hits concert, but artists are going to be performing songs related to the theme "We are one."
Mr. ADAMS: Mm-hm. I'll be performing a song called "One Love," written and performed originally by Bob Marley, one of the greats.
SIMON: What do you see this concert as saying?
Mr. ADAMS: The concert to me, you know, what it symbolizes is America's growth. If you think about all the protest and all the marches and all the cries for equality, what it means to me is America's graduation.
SIMON: You know, I guess I don't know entirely what moved you to hear that speech. And it's a speech Senator Obama gave after losing the New Hampshire primary, not the one that he gave after winning the Iowa caucuses. What made you decide to turn it into a song, and how did you do it?
Mr. ADAMS: Well, before that, in January, 2007, I talked to Terry McAuliffe on the phone. He called me up and said, hey, Will buddy, we're going to go at it again, and we want you to support Hillary Clinton. I said, you know, Terry, I don't know what the Black Eyed Peas, what we want to do collectively. I don't know what Fergie - who she wants to support, and Ap and Taboo. So the last time we got involved, we knew Kerry was the nominee. It was like, well, even if the Black Eyed Peas don't know, I want you to get involved.
So then he calls in January again. I said, you know, I'm really on the fence. I said, can we wait until after Super Tuesday? He said, sure. After Super Tuesday, we should know who you should support. We need to get a Democrat in the office. And by this time, Hillary's lead will be even bigger. So, OK. So I'm sitting there maybe a week after I talked to Terry McAuliffe, and I'm watching TV. My eyes are glued to the TV screen when Obama gives his speech in New Hampshire.
(Soundbite of President-elect Barack Obama's speech)
President-elect BARACK OBAMA (United States): When we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of apeople. Yes, we can.
(Soundbite of applause)
Mr. ADAMS: It was a creed written in the founding documents that declared the destiny of the nation, Yes, we can. And that rung to me like it was truth, and that was truth.
(Soundbite of applause)
Mr. ADAMS: Those words, I was like, wow. But then I thought when I was in school, all the speeches that I had to recite - you know, Martin Luther King's speech and Lincoln's speech and Kennedy's speech - and I pitied that the youth today, you know, there was - there are really no politicians that any child or adult in college can be inspired by. And I wanted to try to get that speech taught in the schools. That was a goal that I thought was achievable.
To say like, yeah, I'm going to get this - I'm going to do my best to try to get this guy elected. You're really shooting for the stars. But if you can have an immediate goal, that I could achieve, like I know I could get a song on the radio. I know how to make a jingle for a campaign or a product. Maybe I can make it into a song and put a melody to the words.
Mr. ADAMS: (Singing) It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.
(Soundbite of song "Yes We Can")]
Unidentified Vocalists: (Singing) It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores, and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Mr. ADAMS: When I did it, it gave me the chills. And from that speech, I knew who I wanted to support. I was inspired by Obama. And when inspiration calls, you don't send it to voicemail. You answer it. You pick it up. You have a conversation with it.
SIMON: What issues do you think it's very important for him to follow through on? And please feel free to be as specific as you want to be.
Mr. ADAMS: I live in California, and they've cut $200 million, around there, in education. That's scary to me. We need to fix education. Like that is - it should be just as important, even more important, than homeland security. Creating new jobs is important. I have a Tesla. It goes zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds. It's just as fast, even faster, than my Bentley. It's an American-made car. There's no oil, no gas or water. It's not like the technology isn't there; it's there. And when I get solar panels on my house, then I'm totally carbon free.
SIMON: I ask you this as someone who is in show business. In show business, you learn you have to deal with high expectations. It's difficult when you get introduced to, now, the greatest act of all time. So imagine here you are, Senator Obama is becoming president with people really having a lot invested in his success. How do you meet those expectations?
Mr. ADAMS: You meet the expectations by keeping the people involved and informed. You muster away to continue to inspire people without traditional media. People have to be invested in the success of Obama. Obama isn't just one person. The concept of Obama is we. And that's how you meet the expectations for the we to continue to be involved.
SIMON: Mr. Adams, I can't thank you enough for all your time.
Mr. ADAMS: Oh, thank you so much.
SIMON: Do we call you Mr. i.am?
Mr. ADAMS: No, it's cool. You can call me Will.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: OK, Will. Speaking with us from NPR West, will.i.am. By the way, it's going to be cold out on the Mall.
Mr. ADAMS: Yeah, I have my wool.
SIMON: Well, thanks very much for joining us.
Mr. ADAMS: Okey doke.
(Soundbite of song "Yes, We Can")
Unidentified Vocalists: (Singing) ...politics suggests that we are one people, that we are one nation, and together we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea - Yes, We Can.
SIMON: You can hear the song and watch the video for "Yes, We Can" at nprmusic.org.
(Soundbite of song "Yes, We Can")
Unidentified Vocalists: (Singing) ...Shining sea. Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Yes, we can, Ohhh. Yes, we can.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Throughout his term, President George W. Bush has worked to preserve coal's preeminence as the biggest source of electricity, and to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas. NPR's Elizabeth Shogren reports these priorities translated into a lasting environmental legacy.
ELIZABETH SHOGREN: One of the best places to contemplate the impact of the Bush administration's environmental policies is from Larry Gibson's mountain in southern West Virginia.
Mr. LARRY GIBSON: Let me show you something. If you turn around and look, you see that point over yonder? And this point way over here. They went up like this, like a camel's back.
SHOGREN: Gibson grew up here, and so did many of his ancestors. It used to be that if you stood at the edge of his property, all you'd see was Kayford Mountain.
Mr. GIBSON: You could not see past this mountain because this was the highest.
SHOGREN: It was 3,200 feet high at some points. Now, Gibson is standing at 2,400 feet, looking down.
Mr. GIBSON: And this is here is what hell looks like to me on Earth.
SHOGREN: What used to be a peak is now a massive mining site. A coal company scraped off the top of the mountain to get to coal seams. Across Appalachia, similar operations are flattening mountains and covering up streams. The Bush administration has promoted what is called mountaintop removal mining, and even changed environmental rules when lawsuits threatened to halt the practice. Last summer, President Bush told the West Virginia Coal Association that coal is the most reliable source of electricity.
(Soundbite of speech)
President GEORGE W. BUSH: Coal is affordable, and coal is available right here in the United States of America.
Mr. JOE LOVETT (Lawyer, West Virginia): Truly, I think that the Bush administration is responsible for the destruction of one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world.
SHOGREN: Joe Lovett is a West Virginia lawyer who has argued most of the lawsuits to end mountaintop mining.
Mr. LOVETT: And if you fly over the mountains, what you see is a wasteland where once there were the most productive and diverse tempered hardwood forests in the world, mountain streams - those are gone.
Mr. BILL RANEY (Executive Director, West Virginia Coal Association): I don't agree with that.
SHOGREN: Bill Raney is the executive director of the West Virginia Coal Association.
Mr. RANEY: They want everyone to believe that, you know, every mountaintop is going to be mined, and that simply is not true.
SHOGREN: One of the rule changes that bolstered mountaintop mining was signed by Christine Todd Whitman, President Bush's first environmental protection agency chief.
Ms. CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN (Chief, Environmental Protection Agency): Mountaintop mining is, frankly, to my mind, ugly. On the other hand, it is the sole way of earning a living for many, many people down there.
SHOGREN: Whitman says lots of people don't like coal. But other energy options also have downsides. Half of the nation's electricity comes from coal. She says that's why a lot of Bush administration environmental decisions were made to help the mining companies and utilities that make electricity from coal. For instance, President Bush reversed a campaign pledge and decided not to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. He also made it easier for older, coal-fire power plants to avoid installing pollution-control devices.
Ms. WHITMAN: And that was too bad. That was a loss for all of us, frankly.
SHOGREN: Whitman says she couldn't sign off on that one. It's part of why she quit. But she says President Bush's environmental legacy is misunderstood.
Ms. WHITMAN: What you hear is a lot of the negatives, and there were a lot of negatives. But there were also good things that were done, and people tend to forget that - and we shouldn't.
SHOGREN: Whitman points to decisions to slash cancer-causing pollution from diesel trucks and buses, and preserve huge stretches of the Pacific as marine national monuments.
But environmentalists say that's not what people will remember. Marty Hayden of the environmental law group Earthjustice says the president's legacy will be opening treasured landscapes for timber harvests and oil and gas development.
Mr. MARTY HAYDEN: (Legislative Director, Earthjustice): And we're talking about places like the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado, areas across the Red Rock region of Utah, and they've leased millions of acres of the polar bear seas right out from under the polar bear.
Mr. MICHAEL OLSEN: (Lawyer, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP): Contrary to what some believe, this is not the administration of just drill, drill, drill at all costs and do nothing else and ignore the environment.
SHOGREN: Lawyer Michael Olsen was an undersecretary of Interior. He says the president's actions are explained by his desire to make America less dependent on foreign oil at a time when competition for limited resources is increasing. And Olsen says whether you're talking about mountaintop mining or drilling for oil offshore, these are tough issues, and they will challenge the next president as well. Elizabeth Shogren, NPR News.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host;
In Wyoming, many people seem to anticipate Inauguration Day with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. Only 33 percent of the voters in that state voted for Barack Obama. No state voted less Democratic. But many people in Wyoming say they will give the new president the respect any president of the United States deserves. Wyoming Public Radio's Addie Goss reports.
Mr. DIETER STURM (Gun Shop Owner): Gentleman, can I help you?
ADDIE GOSS: Just days before the inauguration, the cash register is ringing at this gun shop in Laramie. Owner Dieter Sturm says sales are up 50 to 100 percent. People worry, he says, that Obama will ban certain semiautomatic weapons. Those are going especially fast.
Mr. STURM: He's been one of the best guns salesmen. Actually, he's been better than the Clintons were, and they were damn good.
GOSS: Sturm didn't vote for Obama. He questions the president-elect's patriotism and his stance on Iraq. But for now, Sturm says, the threat of a Democratic president is good for business. The picture is less cheery 50 miles down the road in Cheyenne, where the Wyoming legislature began work this week. Lawmakers here mingle in suits, boots and bolo ties. Many, like Republican Senator Curt Meier, are anxious about Obama.
Senator CURT MEIER (Republican, Wyoming): We know that we are going to get change. We just don't know what the change is going to be. And I think that brings both a sense of excitement, and both a sense of fear. Because the man is very capable in some areas, but I think that he's awfully green in the gills.
GOSS: Many lawmakers agree Wyoming has a lot at stake. The state's mineral royalties have already taken a hit with the economic downturn. Meier says Obama's push for alternative energy could be even more painful. But other Wyoming residents are eager for change, especially in Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming. At a coffee shop downtown, many people's eyes light up when they talk about Barack Obama.
Mr. MICHAEL YAKE (University of Wyoming): I feel very optimistic.
GOSS: That's university employee Michael Yake.
Mr. YAKE: I think he's got some really good environmental policies. Hopefully, that'll hold up, that won't - he won't get a lot of opposition from the Republicans in this state who want to drill and drill, and keep on drilling.
GOSS: Others are worried about Obama's stance on the environment. Across the interstate in West Laramie, four ranchers sit around the table at McDonald's. One of them is Tom Page, a dark-haired man with a silk handkerchief knotted around his neck.
Mr. TOM PAGE (Rancher): My wife had the comment. She said that Obama is going to be like Clinton on steroids. And the farming and ranching industry had a lot of trouble with Clinton.
GOSS: Page says his first concern is about endangered species protections. To liberals in Washington, he says, endangered species are an abstract, feel-good issue. But he says to Wyoming ranchers, some of those species, like gray wolves, are a real threat to their cattle and to their livelihoods.
Mr. PAGE: You know, if we would turn that wolf loose in Central Park or down there around the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C., they'd be screaming bloody murder about it real sudden.
GOSS: Across the table, rancher Scott Sims says he worries the Obama administration will raise the estate tax. He says that could make it tough or impossible for ranchers to pass their land down to their children.
Mr. SCOTT SIMS (Rancher): We don't need more government. We need less government. We don't need more taxes. We don't need the redistribution of wealth.
GOSS: The other men nod in agreement. University of Wyoming history professor Pete Simpson has seen the tides of Democratic and Republican administrations come and go. He says there's a mix of emotions in Wyoming when it's the Democrats' turn.
Professor PETE SIMPSON (History, University of Wyoming): Some anxiety, some hopefulness, some historical ennui. We're not too great on change in this state.
GOSS: Regardless, change is coming on January 20. And many here say, come Tuesday, they'll stand behind their new president. That's just the Wyoming way. For NPR News, I'm Addie Goss.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Israel's security cabinet is preparing to vote later today on a cease-fire in Gaza. Diplomatic efforts had been under way in Washington and Cairo to work out the details, which seem vague at the moment. Until yesterday, it was the Egyptians taking the lead in trying to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas on how the cease-fire might be implemented. Now, it looks like Israel may declare a unilateral cease-fire and ignore Hamas' demands altogether. In the meantime, the Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues. NPR's Mike Shuster has more from Jerusalem.
MIKE SHUSTER: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was meeting with Palestinian leaders yesterday in Ramallah on the West Bank when he endorsed the idea that Israel should declare a unilateral cease-fire and stop the shelling.
Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON (United Nations): We have no time to lose. If they had taken some more time, there would be more casualties, more losses of human lives, more destructions. A unilateral declaration of a cease-fire would be necessary at this time.
SHUSTER: Instantly, Israeli leaders dismissed Ban's suggestion, but it must have provoked some second thoughts within the government because soon after that, Israeli spokesmen began to hint that a unilateral cease-fire might just suit Israel's needs. A unilateral cease-fire would mean that there would be no formal agreement between Israel and Hamas. Thus, Hamas would not be legitimized as a negotiating partner in any way. Nor would Israel have to agree formally to Hamas's demands to open the border crossings and end the economic blockade of Gaza.
Internal divisions in Hamas have also made agreement on a cease-fire difficult. The group's top people inside Gaza have been more flexible, but its external leader, Khaled Meshal, has been immovable, insisting there would be no cease-fire before Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza and opens up the borders. Meshal spoke to a meeting of Arab heads of state in Qatar yesterday.
Mr. KHALED MESHAL (Hamas Leader): (Through Translator) This heinous aggression against the Gaza Strip is not against Hamas, as the enemy portrays it, but against all of Gaza, all the Palestinian people, the Palestinian cause and the nation. Israel has by now realized that it will not pay the agreed price to Palestinian negotiators or Arab negotiators. So it wanted to create a new game with new rules, and to impose conditions for a settlement.
SHUSTER: It appears that whatever kind of a cease-fire is finally achieved, the United States will have some role in maintaining it. Yesterday, Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, signed an agreement in Washington that spells out ways in which the U.S. will assist Israel in the technical and intelligence fields. According to Secretary of State Rice, the goal is to assure that more weapons are not smuggled into Gaza once a cease-fire is in place.
Secretary CONDOLEEZZA RICE (State Department): We've said repeatedly that the continued supply of armaments to Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza, including by some in the region, is a direct cause of the current hostilities. It is therefore incumbent upon us in the international community to prevent the rearmament of Hamas so that a cease-fire will be durable and fully respected.
SHUSTER: On the ground in Gaza, overnight and into today, Israeli forces appeared to maintain their current positions and continued aerial and artillery bombardment. Israeli shells hit near another U.N. school serving as shelter for civilians fleeing the combat zones. Two brothers were killed. The current estimate of Palestinian casualties is 1,200 dead and 5,300 injured. The Israeli death toll stands at 13, as it has for most of the war. Ahmed Abu Hamda, who works with NPR in Gaza, said there is much anticipation about a possible cease-fire - and much uneasiness.
Mr. AHMED ABU HAMDA (Palestinian News Producer): People here in Gaza - actually, they feel so confused also because the situation is partially calm here. And we need so - people are so afraid because Israelis were so tricky in this war, so they don't know if the Israelis will hit in Gaza City or not, if they're moving on ground or not.
SHUSTER: Israel's senior leaders in the so-called security cabinet are expected to meet tonight to discuss the current state of cease-fire negotiations. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Jerusalem.
SIMON SCOTT, host:
In addition to Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, U.S. engagement oversees, the Obama administration is going to inherit a failing economy, and a nation racked by uncertainty. We're joined now to help us wrangle all - some of these challenges - NPR news analyst Juan Williams. Juan, thanks for being with us.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Scott.
SCOTT: And Robin Wright, whose books include "Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East," thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. ROBIN WRIGHT (Journalist; Author, "Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East"): Nice to be with you.
SIMON: Well, let me turn to you. Everybody in Congress seems to be urgently paying attention to the task at hand - the economy. Is this kind of amity and agreement and a sense of urgency unusual? And how is it going to move events?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think it's given a sense of President-elect Barack Obama having a very compressed time period, and the need to demonstrate that he's in command very quickly. So he's trying to get out of the gate early. That's why we had all these confirmation hearings going this week. The hope was that he would set a record, in fact, in terms of the number of Cabinet officials who have been confirmed before he took office.
And just yesterday, he's out there on - it's almost like a campaign-style presentation in Bedford Heights, Ohio, at a big bolts plant, saying, you know what, we need to put more people to work. He wants green jobs, arguing for his stimulus package, that nearly trillion-dollar package. And, of course, last week, he just got the second half of the bailout money that had been made available to President Bush. So this is all part of his effort to gear up quickly, to demonstrate that as these first 100 days come in, he's a guy who's in control from day one.
SIMON: And a quick question: Do Republicans at the same time have a need to appear cooperative?
WILLIAMS: Well, they can't appear as obstructionist. And so far he has made the case to them, he has reached out to them - dinner with the journalists, private meetings with the people on the Hill. So he has made a real show of being willing to work with them, and put them in the position of having to work with him and having to show good faith.
SIMON: Robin Wright, let me turn to you. Is the Israeli offensive in Gaza over just in time for the inauguration, and what does this do to the president's agenda?
Ms. WRIGHT: Well, I think that it comes at a very hopeful time because this is - the president doesn't want to have to take on a war - ongoing war. After all, he was elected at a time that the Israelis and the Palestinians were still in the midst of the most direct peace talks they'd ever held in six decades of the conflict. This, at least, offers an opportunity for the new secretary of state to engage in some way that may look at the future rather than at the messy past.
SIMON: In addition to all of the datelines we've just mentioned, is there a foreign policy situation that's maybe in the tall grass, that President Obama might confront?
Ms. WRIGHT: Well, I think there are five looming challenges in the first year. You have an increasingly assertive and self-confident Russia. There are deep differences over missile defense, NATO expansion more in Georgia. You have rising China, which is important not just because it's a major power in Asia, but because it holds today an enormous share of our debt. Then you have the issue of North Korea and the Clinton administration, the Bush administration, their last days both thought they had a deal and neither did. And so the Obama administration inherits that mess again.
Then you have the looming challenges of failed states like Somalia, and imploding democracies like Venezuela, which as we saw with Afghanistan, can look distant or something you can handle tomorrow or long term, but can suddenly land in your lap in very volatile ways. And then there's the big issue of the 2025 CIA analysis that looked at where the United States will stand in just over 15 years. And it had some very dire warnings about the United States increasingly losing power. It will not be the lone superpower at that juncture. It will face issues of climate challenge that have to do not only with temperatures rising, but also with migration and conflict - challenges that we don't yet see. And then there's the big challenges - the five urgent challenges he has to face in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Arab-Israeli, and the daunting challenge of Iran.
SIMON: Wow.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Let me take a few seconds to ask you a question about the daunting challenges of domestic policy because here's a president who walks in on an almost unprecedented financial crisis and yet until then, he had a big domestic agenda.
WILLIAMS: He still does because I would say that if you looked at it in the terms that Robin was just talking about, you would start listing things like green, making sure that our economy has more innovative and green attitudes about, even as he creates those jobs; talk about health care as a real priority, trying to reform a health-care system. He says he even wants to do something about Social Security. And then, of course, education looms very large in his agenda, especially dealing with preschool children.
SIMON: OK, Juan Williams, Robin Wright, thanks so much.
Ms. WRIGHT: Thank you.
SIMON SCOTT, host:
I'm remembering a few people on this weekend before Barack Obama is sworn in as president of the United States on the steps of the U.S. Capitol - a national symbol that was built, in part, by slaves. Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery. James Meredith, who refused to cringe under a jeering mob in Oxford. The Freedom Riders, who rode all night under the menace of darkness and violence, and the people who marched over Selma's Edmund Pettis Bridge.
I remember James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who gave their lives for civil rights, and got shot and buried for it in a Mississippi dam. And four little girls - Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertston, and Addie Mae Collins - in the basement of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham when a bomb went off that took their lives and seared a nation's soul. I'm remembering scores more people whose names I've forgotten, but who sacrificed their lives to make America live up to its promise.
Barack Obama may be the most popular man in the world right now. Even those who have reservations about his experience and proposals acclaim his intelligence and eloquence. A lot of people had predicted that America could never accept his election. Stealthy forces would buy votes, steal them, or otherwise overturn democracy. Instead, Mr. Obama's opponents have congratulated him graciously and pledged their cooperation. So far, they even seem charmed.
Mr. Obama's approval rating will no doubt often fall as he has to make hard decisions. But the United States has turned out to be capable of more change within just a generation or two - my own lifetime - than those who were implacably convinced that this country was irredeemably racist and impossible to change. America may be a smaller, less dominant presence in the century ahead. But it is something rare and precious in this world: a society made up of, and made richer by, people from all over the world, and a place where - the week ahead reminds us - people can turn history with their own hands.
(Soundbite of song "A Change Is Gonna Come")
Mr. SAM COOKE: (Singing) It's been a long time coming, But I know a change is gonna come. Oh, yes it will. It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die...
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. With his swearing-in as the 44th president of the United States now just three days away, President-elect Barack Obama is in the middle of one, final, campaign-style road trip before officially taking on manyt of the challenges that await his arrival in the Oval Office. Today he's making a whistle-stop train trip from Philadelphia to Wilmington, Delaware, to Baltimore and finally on to Washington, D.C., where the pre-inaugural weekend will be in full swing. NPR's Don Gonyea is traveling with the president-elect on the train. Don, can you hear us?
DON GONYEA: I can hear you, yes.
SIMON: Do you have a snack car on that train?
GONYEA: There is a snack car. And it seems to be stocked. And you know, there are a lot of reporters on the train, so there's been a bit of activity at the snack car.
SIMON: Well, we'll look forward to reviewing your expense account. But what has President-elect Obama been saying?
GONYEA: Well, we rolled out of Philadelphia about 45 minutes ago or thereabouts, through all these little towns, Sharon Hills(ph), Chester, Claymont. And right now, as we speak, the train is coming to a slow roll. We're going to stop in Wilmington. And that is where we pick up Vice President-elect Joe Biden. Of course, this is his home state, and he'll be here with his wife, Jill, joining the president-elect and Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama, by the way, 45 years old today. Her birthday is on the train.
SIMON: This must be, for so many families, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the next president of the United States.
GONYEA: Well, here's what it is, looking out the window, you see, you know, little knots of people - a dozen here, four or five there at an intersection as we roll through or on an overpass. I saw a guy standing on top of one of those giant tanks at some kind of a refinery as we rolled out of Pennsylvania in his, you know, heavy coveralls and hard hat, just all by himself up there as the train went by with him silhouetted against the morning sun. And in Wilmington, of course, we expect a very big crowd. There will be an event here, as there will be one later in Baltimore.
SIMON: Wilmington, as you note, of course, the nominal home of the Biden family before they move on to Washington, D.C. What's the metaphorical meaning the Obama administration wants us to take from this train trip right before he becomes inaugurated?
GONYEA: You know, he does want to feel close to the American people and give them a chance to kind of see him in this way, as he heads to Washington to take the oath. They are also retracing at least part of a trip that Abraham Lincoln took in 1861 on the way to his inaugural. He went through Philadelphia and to Baltimore before heading to Washington. Many comparisons between these two men have been made. We are seeing more of that today.
SIMON: NPR's Don Gonyea, traveling with President-elect Obama as they head south on the rails coming, finally, to Washington, D.C. Thanks so much, Don.
GONYEA: My pleasure.
SCOTT SIMON, host
In the last few weeks, we've asked our listeners who'll be attending the inauguration to tell us how and why they're going. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Roberts wrote in to tell us that she'd be flying in from Colorado with her friend Olivia Rudeen. Together the two started a Students for Obama Club at their East High School in Denver, even produced a video encouraging their fellow students to ask their parents to vote early.
The video, which they posted on YouTube, features names that register with the under-18 crowd, including Jeff Tweedy from the band Wilco and Jonny 5 from The Flobots. It also featured some big names in politics, including Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Senator Mark Udall, who's now made their trip possible by giving Ms. Roberts and Ms. Rudeen two tickets for the inauguration. Alyssa and Olivia join us now from the studios of Colorado Public Radio in Centennial, Colorado. Thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. ALYSSA ROBERTS (Student, East High School): Thank you.
Ms. OLIVIA RUDEEN (Student, East High School): Thank you for having us.
SIMON: So, Alyssa and Olivia, if I may call you that, why do you want to get involved in politics?
Ms. ROBERTS: Well, I think really it was the Obama campaign that was very inspiring. I remember watching Senator Obama - or Senate candidate, then - Obama speak at the 2004 DNC, and his words were very moving to me. And I went online and ordered an "I'm an Obama Fan. Vote Barack '08" T-shirt. And ever since then, Olivia and I have been working hard on this campaign.
SIMON: You must have been 13 years old then.
Ms. ROBERTS: I think I was 14; it was eighth grade.
SIMON: Olivia, how did you get involved in this?
Ms. RUDEEN: Well, a big part for me - although I know it's become a little bit cliche - was the hope and optimism of the campaign because I just remember after the 2004 election, realizing that President Bush would be the leader of our country for basically the rest of my childhood, and I sort of felt kind of powerless. But then this was really my chance to kind of regain my role in politics.
SIMON: Regain - you were 13 or 14.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: I'm trying to figure out what kind of role in politics you had before then.
Ms. ROBERTS: Well, I remember when we were 10, we chanted at a Halloween party: Gore, Gore, Gore!
Ms. RUDEEN: Yeah, we were always very, very interested in politics. I think probably, like, a lot that came from our parents.
SIMON: What are you going to do in Washington?
Ms. ROBERTS: Well, we're going to the inauguration. We're very lucky to be two people that get two of the 240,000 tickets available.
SIMON: May I ask you, are you going to be with your parents or some adult supervision?
Ms. ROBERTS: Well, I'm turning 18 today.
SIMON: Well, happy birthday.
Ms. ROBERTS: Thank you.
SIMON: And so you're old enough to go into the Marine Corps, so you're old enough to go to an inauguration?
Ms. ROBERTS: Mm-hm. And I can register to vote. It's a little late, but for next time.
SIMON: Well, you've had your effect, anyway. And just - so you have a place to stay?
Ms. ROBERTS: Mm-hm, with my grandma.
SIMON: What else are you going to do while there in Washington? Any idea?
Ms. ROBERTS: We're really hoping to get tickets to the youth inaugural ball. I think I've been calling the presidential inaugural committee five times a day, but we're still working on it.
SIMON: What do you expect from President Obama, let's say, over the next two years? What do you feel you have a right to expect, having lent him your support?
Ms. ROBERTS: Well, I expect to receive most of the change and promises that he has made during his campaign, things like ending the Iraq war, closing down Guantanamo Bay. Hopefully, we'll see a lot of progress.
SIMON: Olivia?
Ms. RUDEEN: I'm just really anticipating the honesty that he has exhibited throughout his campaign to continue into his presidency. And just including the general public in politics, including our desires, our wishes, our concerns.
Ms. ROBERTS: We, the people.
SIMON: Alyssa Roberts and Olivia Rudeen will be traveling from Denver for the inauguration on Tuesday. It's been very good talking to both of you. Thanks very much for your time, and have a wonderful time at the inauguration.
Ms. ROBERTS: Thank you.
Ms. RUDEEN: Thank you so much.
SIMON: And you can see their YouTube video at npr.org/soapbox. And you can come back to our blog each day before the inauguration, as Alyssa and Olivia will be sending us a daily video blog.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Some soldiers and their horses from Fort Riley, Kansas, are on their way to Washington, D.C., today. The 1st Infantry Division Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard will ride in Tuesday's inaugural parade. They're one of a handful of mounted Army units in the U.S., and the only ones taking part in this year's ceremony. Carla Eckels of member station KMUW in Wichita, Kansas, caught up with the Color Guard in Kansas last week.
CARLA ECKELS: Sporting black Stetson hats, bright red shirts and blue jeans, 14 soldiers are leading their horses out of their trailers in a grassy area near the river in downtown Wichita. Army First Sergeant Dean Stockard(ph) says the Mounted Color Guard is practicing in Wichita to help the horses get adjusted to urban environments.
First Sergeant DEAN STOCKARD(ph) (1st Infantry Division Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard): Similar to what they'll face in Washington, D.C., basically trying to have the horses and the riders be comfortable with the sounds of the streets, the feel of the roads, the different surfaces that we may encounter in Washington.
ECKELS: Eighteen troopers are traveling to D.C. Fourteen will ride in the parade, while four will assist as ground crew. Stockard rides the lead mount, a white horse making its second appearance in the inaugural parade.
First Sergeant STOCKARD: This is Cyclone here. He originally came from the (unintelligible) of Kansas area. He's a 10-year-old quarter horse. He originally came off of some Robert Redford bloodlines. So, Robert Redford has his own bloodlines in quarter horses, and this is one of the horses of that bloodline.
ECKELS: The animals swish their tails as the soldiers brush down their coats and check their hoofs before lining them up in formation to practice marching before a local crowd. Stockard says they practice exactly what will take place once they approach where Barack Obama and other dignitaries will be seated.
First Sergeant STOCKARD: At the point in time that we do detachment eyes left, I'll give the hand salute. The soldiers will turn their heads to the left, the colors will dip slightly to give honor and pomp and circumstance to the new president of the United States.
ECKELS: After the horses have paraded through parts of downtown, an eager crowd waits for the soldiers to dismount.
(Soundbite of people applauding and cheering)
Staff Sergeant WILLIAM JOHNS(ph) (1st Infantry Division Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard): I'm Staff Sergeant William Johns. This is my horse, Jecodi(ph). We call him Chewy(ph) for short. It's easier for the little kids to pronounce. After being injured in Baghdad and - healing up and coming full circle, then having to go to inaugural for a new president, it is - most people can say it's priceless.
ECKELS: On Tuesday morning, the Fort Riley Color Guard will get a police escort to the ceremony and wait its turn to become part of history in this year's presidential inaugural parade. For NPR News, I'm Carla Eckels in Wichita.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Carol Barton is a pop-up book specialist who has come up with a way for children to participate in the inauguration without worrying about parking, walking or diapers. Ms. Barton is the author of "The Pocket Paper Engineer," and she has created a do-it-yourself inauguration pop-up that's appearing in the pages of the Washington Post. Carol Barton joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. CAROL BARTON (Author, "The Pocket Paper Engineer: How to Make Pop-Ups Step by Step"): Oh, thank you.
SIMON: I have the elements for a prototype, a couple of pictures, right, that I downloaded off your site. And they're of the - tell us about - because it's a picture of the Obama family standing there with Chief Justice Roberts. And of course, this hasn't happened. It's not an actual picture.
Ms. BARTON: No, no. So, this was one of the challenges I had.
SIMON: I'm going to cut as you speak, OK...
Ms. BARTON: OK. The challenge was coming up with a scene that hadn't taken place yet. So in order to do that, I asked a number of neighbors and friends to pose in their steads, and we substituted the faces of the Obamas and Chief Justice Roberts.
SIMON: There we go. OK. I've cut it out.
Ms. BARTON: OK.
SIMON: And now what do I do?
Ms. BARTON: Well, then you take the bone folder, which is a special...
SIMON: You gave me something called a bone folder.
Ms. BARTON: Yes, yes.
SIMON: And now, is this made of actual bone?
Ms. BARTON: It's made of cow bone.
SIMON: This is something you might've used to like assassinate the Neanderthal man.
Ms. BARTON: Oh, no, no. It's not that sharp.
SIMON: OK.
Ms. BARTON: So, you take that bone folder, and you run it along the dashed green lines there.
SIMON: OK. I've got it.
Ms. BARTON: OK. Then you have the Capitol grounds and a background sky, and you will tape the grounds and the sky card together.
SIMON: All right. And then - so I fold the old bone folder again.
Ms. BARTON: Yes.
SIMON: Does this seem right?
Ms. BARTON: Yes.
SIMON: OK. What do I do?
Ms. BARTON: Now, what you're going to do is tape together the sky, there, and then you're going to attach the Capitol grounds to that.
SIMON: Like that, right?
Ms. BARTON: OK. And then you're going to do the same with the Obamas. You're going to put glue on the bottom of their tab, and position them right up against the front of the Capitol. And there you have it.
SIMON: Oh, my word. So, we've got a picture of the Obama family as President Obama receives - being sworn in. Now, I am told that in the original picture that you guys contrived, there were also people impersonating Senator Biden and his family.
Ms. BARTON: Yes. I had originally put the Bidens in. But going back through the pictures of past inaugurations, the editors of the Post noticed that the vice presidential party usually wasn't standing right with the president as he was being sworn in. So, my apologies to the Bidens, but they are not in the pop-up picture anymore.
SIMON: They didn't make the pop-up.
Ms. BARTON: They're sitting in the background with the dignitaries.
SIMON: Well, thank you very much.
Ms. BARTON: Oh, thank you.
SIMON: You can download Carol Barton's inauguration pop-up Tuesday from the Washington Post Web site. This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Any presidential inaugural address is a piece of history. But some have lines that live on longer than others. Few have been cited and quoted more than this one.
(Soundbite of vintage recording)
Former President JOHN F. KENNEDY: And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for you country.
(Soundbite of people cheering)
SIMON: President John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address 48 years ago. We're joined now by the man who was known as JFK's chief wordsmith, counselor and conscience. Ted Sorensen joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. TED SORENSEN (JFK Speechwriter): Nice to be with you Scott.
SIMON: You know, you worked so many memorable lines with John F. Kennedy. But if I can get you to tell the story once and for all, maybe one line you didn't write was that one.
Mr. SORENSEN: Let's just say that my work over an 11-year period with John F. Kennedy was a collaborative process, and I wouldn't remember now who provided one word or one line. But John F. Kennedy was the author of his inaugural address because he's the man who made the decisions on what policies and values to enunciate.
SIMON: When you were helping President Kennedy draft that address, you and the president reportedly read from many past inaugural addresses. Can you remember what you learned from some of them?
Mr. SORENSEN: I learned that most of them were pretty poor speeches. Of course, Lincoln's second inaugural is one of the greatest speeches of all time. Roosevelt's first inaugural was very important at a time of economic collapse even worse than today. Jefferson's first inaugural was important in the early history of our country. Most of the others were forgettable. I have forgotten them.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Well, what do you think a great inaugural address should accomplish?
Mr. SORENSEN: First of all, it's not a campaign speech. It's a talk to convey America's values to the world, and to stamp the identity of that new president for at least the next four years.
SIMON: So when you say it's not a campaign speech, they should forget some of the rhetoric of the campaign and go on to something new?
Mr. SORENSEN: They certainly shouldn't attack their opponents or even go too heavy into ideology.
SIMON: Yeah. You, of course, famously endorsed Barack Obama during the primaries. Would you dare to give him any rhetorical advice as he presumably polishes his inaugural address this weekend?
Mr. SORENSEN: I might, but I don't think I would give it over Weekend Edition.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: All right. You can't blame a guy for trying, can you? Another direction entirely - President Carter nominated you to head the CIA, but the nomination never got to a vote. What do you make of some of the skepticism that has been expressed over President-elect Obama's nomination of Leon Panetta to head the CIA?
Mr. SORENSEN: It all sounded a little familiar. People on the inside saying, but he's not on the inside. That's one of the great attractions I see in Leon Panetta for that job.
SIMON: That he comes in from the outside and...
Mr. SORENSEN: Yes because clearly, the CIA has done some good and great things. But it has also done some bad and terrible things. And a fresh look from the outside could shake it up and clean it up.
SIMON: Can you - having been through it yourself - can you help us understand the process of putting together an inaugural address? Can you project yourself into that Obama speechwriting team and kind of fathom what they're going through this weekend?
SORENSEN: It's tough for them this weekend because expectations are so high. The time is so important. Obama is so eloquent that people are expecting a speech that will truly soar. And fortunately, he has a first-rate speechwriting team, and I think they will meet those expectations.
SIMON: Ted Sorensen, a man who wrote many phrases that are chiseled into marble. His latest book is "Counselor: Life at the Edge of History." Ted, thank you so much for being with us.
SORENSON: Happy to be with you, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. This week, 11 of President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks appeared before Senate committees for confirmation hearings. Meanwhile, Mr. Obama continued to press for his economic stimulus plan, saying that dramatic action is needed. And George W. Bush delivered his final presidential speech to the country. We're joined now by NPR senior news analyst Dan Schorr. Hello, Dan.
DAN SCHORR: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: And let me ask you about the confirmation hearings. Eleven Senate committees held hearings this week for nominees, and one, Senator Hillary Clinton, has already won committee approval. Do you see any real trouble for the nominees ahead?
SCHORR: No, not very much. The only possible trouble was with Eric Holden, the nominee for attorney general, and the part that he played in getting the pardon for Marc Rich during the Clinton administration. They've been over that, and they've been over it a couple of times, but it sounds as though they are satisfied to quiz him on the subject and have him say that he made a mistake, and he hopes that he learned from the mistake. That seemed to be about the only one. There is Tim Geithner, who has not yet come up...
SIMON: Secretary of the Treasury who was apparently forgetful about his income tax.
SCHORR: That's right. And he's coming up next week. But the people who know the Hill better than I do say that nobody seems to be in any serious trouble.
SIMON: Let me ask you, I guess, what we used to call a water-cooler question, maybe nowadays a latte question about Tim Geithner, the nominee to be secretary of Treasury. I think a lot of Americans are asking this week, how can they nominate somebody, who, among other things, will have the responsibility to supervise the Internal Revenue Service...
SCHORR: Right.
SIMON: When he can't remember to pay his own taxes?
SCHORR: It looks as though, yeah, you could make the point, and a lot of people are making that point, but it does not look as if somebody wants to deny Obama his secretary of the Treasury at this point.
SIMON: President-elect Obama, of course, has been busy dealing with Congress on the economic stimulus plan.
SCHORR: Yes.
SIMON: And how does that look ahead?
SCHORR: Well, there are two aspects there. First of all, the president-elect decided to ask for the release of the second big part of the big bailout money that's being held by Congress because they don't like the way it's been spent, but he finally got the Senate to give it to him, and that may be one of his first, small successes with Congress.
Another may well be that he has now unveiled his stimulus package of $800 billion or so, and that, however, looks as though it has to be negotiated in some kind of grand bargain with the Democrats or with the Republicans. The Democrats want to have more spending and less tax cutting. Some of the Republicans want to have more tax cutting and less spending. And it looks as though the first test of his ability to bring people together is going to be how soon he can get them to agree on the stimulus package.
SIMON: And meanwhile, the House approved a child health-care bill that had - I believe President Bush had vetoed twice.
SCHORR: That's correct. And it may very well be the first act that the new president will sign after Tuesday.
SIMON: President Bush delivered his farewell address to the nation on Thursday. What did you notice? What struck you? Any surprises?
SCHORR: Well, Bush remains Bush. I mean, he sees his troubles from a certain point of view. He wants it known that he meant well. He doesn't claim that everything he did was right, but he wants to be taken as somebody who has made all the decisions that he made mainly under the influence of 9/11. Apparently, that rests with him as the thing that determined what his career was. And he's aware that his ratings aren't very high, but he says he tried.
SIMON: Let's update ourselves on the situation in Gaza. There are reports that Israel and Hamas may be near a temporary cease-fire. What are the chances of that?
SCHORR: Well, the Israeli cabinet is planning to vote on a proposal by the Egyptians for what might be, in effect, a unilateral cease-fire on the part of Israelis. The cabinet is considering that. I have the impression there may be some movement there because Israel, from the very start, has indicated they really wanted to have this operation over by the time that Obama comes into office. And so I think they are toying with the idea of getting this or something close to it, and there may well be a cease-fire very soon.
SIMON: Dan, I'd like you to reflect on what's being called the miracle on the Hudson.
SCHORR: Yeah.
SIMON: The rescue of 155 people. No injuries from that jet that splash-landed, if you please, along the skyline of New York City. And of course, the man being saluted as the valiant captain, Sully Sullenberger.
SCHORR: You know, I was tremendously moved by it. I looked hour after hour on television at that story. Now, I'll tell you what moved me so. If you say Katrina is an example of not caring and incompetence, now this was the opposite. This was a case of caring along with enormous competence. You had passengers asking the other person to go first and so on - really a case of the better angels. I always remember that episode.
SIMON: Thank very much, Dan Schorr.
SCHORR: Sure.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Whether you're looking forward to change or not, change is a-comin'. And that might be hard not only for some conservatives, who will see the U.S. government run by Democrats, but liberals who have enjoyed years of jokes about George Bush's syntax or Dick Cheney's aim. What do you hope for when your prayers have been answered?
Well, to help with the transition, we've brokered an important discussion to take place between left and right. Joining us from the left is radio host Stephanie Miller, host of "The Stephanie Miller Show." She's on the line from her studios in Burbank, California. Stephanie, thanks for being with us.
Ms. STEPHANIE MILLER (Host, "The Stephanie Miller Show"): Thanks for having me.
SIMON: And from the right, right here across the table in our studios, is Jonah Goldberg, contributing editor for the National Review. Jonah, welcome back to our show. Thank you very much.
Mr. JONAH GOLDBERG (Contributing Editor, National Review): Always great to be here.
SIMON: You've been through this kind of transition before, haven't you?
Mr. GOLDBERG: Indeed, yes.
SIMON: Eight years ago, when President Bush entered the White House. What's your advice to Stephanie Miller as she is not from the winning side?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLDBERG: Well, I mean, there's some easy ones. For example, if your vice president shoots someone in the face, have a sense of humor about it. These things happen; we now know this.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLDBERG: Another one, another - I mean, another obvious one is when the French declare, we're all Americans now, just keep in mind that they're probably lying.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Ooh. Stephanie, what happens if President-elect Obama can't turn water into wine?
Ms. MILLER: Please, Jonah, you weren't listening to Oprah. He is the one.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. MILLER: He is - he will turn water into wine. He will part the waters of the Potomac. Jonah, here's the other thing. I'm going to go out on a limb and I'm going to say - I'm going to predict that in eight years, Joe Biden will not shoot anyone in the face. I'm just going to - I'm going to go with that.
Mr. GOLDBERG: But a lot of people he talks to would - might prefer it.
SIMON: Oh!
Ms. MILLER: What? That was sniping. Was that not sniping, Scott?
Mr. GOLDBERG: Fair enough, fair enough.
SIMON: Yeah, you're sniping. I'll be the unofficial scorekeeper in here.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Stephanie, I think probably not a day goes by I don't get a George Bush joke emailed to me. They're already sounding a little dated, aren't they? I mean, what are you going to do for laughs?
Ms. MILLER: Well, that is true. I've said this over and over. Obama, great for the country, just the death of comedy as we know it. We've got nothing so far with this guy. But George Bush, I'd rather, you know, not have a joke as president, so I'm happy to see him go.
Mr. GOLDBERG: Yeah. I think this is a real dilemma is that - particularly for shows like "The Daily Show" and "Colbert," and these are very talented, very funny guys, but they've also sort of taken it upon themselves to be the court jesters of politics, and that's going to be a much more difficult act to do against Barack Obama, which I think Stephanie is absolutely right about, but it's also just going to be a much more difficult act to do against Republicans. Republicans are completely out of power, and if they're going to be equal opportunity, they're going to have to - for want of a better catch phrase - speak truth to power to the people who are in power, and I think it's going to be interesting to see how well liberals react to that.
SIMON: We want to note that according to my information, Stephanie Miller, you're coming to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. Jonah Goldberg, who lives here, is leaving town.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLDBERG: I'm in all likelihood getting out of town.
Ms. MILLER: Good. And stay out.
Mr. GOLDBERG: Yeah, I may well.
SIMON: So do you have any advice to give Stephanie? I mean, as prosaic as tourist attractions, restaurant recommendations, anything like that?
Mr. GOLDBERG: Well, you know, it's funny. I was reading up on some of the sort of, you know, what-to-do guides for the inauguration, and several press reports said the people who are going to the inauguration should bring their own toilet paper because the crowds are going to be so big.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLDBERG: And I don't know, just me, but I generally have a philosophy of anything that's B-Y-O-T-P, I don't go to.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MS. MILLER: Or to clean up after George Bush's mess.
Mr. GOLDBERG: There you go.
MS. MILLER: To clean up the big, steaming pile that he left for us. Are you allowed to say steaming pile on NPR? Probably not. Oh, well.
SIMON: Oh, you can say steaming pile.
Mr. GOLDBERG: Only if - only if it's part of some National Geographic audio experience...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLDBERG: About some fungus in the jungle that's endangered by George Bush's policies on global warming.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: That's really good. What do you make of the fact that President Obama had dinner at George Will's house this past week with a bunch of conservatives?
MS. MILLER: Yeah.
SIMON: And by the way, Jonah, what do we make of the fact that you weren't on the guest list?
(Soundbite of laughter)
MS. MILLER: What do we make of the fact that Jonah Goldberg was not invited?
Mr. GOLDBERG: I steadfastly refused to be co-opted by refusing to actually be invited to it. No. My boss, Rich Laury, was invited. I think it was a brilliant thing for Obama to do, whether it was in the spirit of bipartisanship or in the spirit of a co-optation. To Obama's credit, it's not something that George Bush would have done, but at the same time, you know, it's worth remembering that it's a lot more fun being out of power. It just is because all you have to do is shoot spitballs at the guys in power. And it's going to be a lot more difficult for liberals to figure out how to both govern and stick to their principles, just as it was hard for the conservatives to do it over the last eight years.
MS. MILLER: You sounded almost sincere saying that.
Mr. GOLDBERG: I am almost sincere.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Stephanie Miller in her studios in Burbank, California. Thanks so much. And Jonah Goldberg, who in addition to working for the National Review writes a column for the L.A. Times. Thanks, both, very much.
Mr. GOLDBERG: Thank you.
MS. MILLER: Thanks, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Coming up, tallying up President Bush's score on the environment.
But first, President-elect Obama next week will replace a president whose counterterrorism policies have created controversy. Some members of his own Democratic Party say that an Obama administration should authorize investigations of the Bush policies on the detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists. But officials at the CIA and other intelligence agencies express strong opposition, and it now appears that Mr. Obama will not support those investigations. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
TOM GJELTEN: In the months after 9/11, CIA officers were under pressure to find out whatever they could about whether and how al-Qaeda might carry out new attacks. The agency instituted a program under which suspected terrorists were rounded up, put in secret CIA prisons, and subjected to so-called enhanced interrogation procedures that many say were tantamount to torture. As details of the program became public, it stained the image of the United States, and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon thinks theObama administration should authorize the declassification of documents pertaining to the program.
Senator RON WYDEN (Democrat, Oregon): I want to see documents that relate to the history of the program. I want to see documents that relate to whether these enhanced techniques have been effective, and then I want to see documents that relate to the legal justification for these programs.
GJELTEN: Wyden is not alone. This week, the House Judiciary Committee released a report calling on the incoming Obama administration to begin a criminal review of Bush policies. But the idea was pretty much dead on arrival. Interviewed last Sunday on the ABC program "This Week," Mr. Obama showed little interest in the idea of investigating what the Bush administration authorized the CIA to do.
(Soundbite of TV show "This Week")
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Obviously, we're going to be looking at past practices, and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.
GJELTEN: Here is some background to that comment. Last month, Mr. Obama had a long meeting with the outgoing CIA director, Michael Hayden, and the director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell. In that meeting and in subsequent sessions with the Obama transition team, Hayden made clear that any inquiry into the CIA's operations could demoralize CIA officers. In a session with reporters this week, Hayden described the likely reaction of a CIA counterterrorism officer to the news he's under investigation. Here's how he put it: The next time any president comes to him and says, hey, big guy, I've been thinking I'd like you to go do this for me - forget about it.
Hayden's warning apparently sunk in with the president-elect. In his interview last Sunday, Mr. Obama praised the work of CIA officers and said he does not want them, quote, to feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up. McConnell, as director of national intelligence, had a similar reaction. In a meeting with reporters yesterday, McConnell said the declassification of counterterrorism documents could complicate the work of intelligence professionals under his charge.
Mr. MIKE MCCONNELL (Director of National Intelligence): I have to run and be responsible for a community that penetrates the most closely held secrets of people who potentially wish to do us harm. And so my problem is, the more you tell somebody in Iowa about it, the more the other side knows, and they can take that away from us.
GJELTEN: Senator Wyden says the documents underlying the Bush administration's counterterrorism program could be made public without jeopardizing either national security or the careers of CIA officers. He says he heard similar objections from past CIA directors three years ago, when he pushed for the declassification of an inspector general's report into the CIA's performance.
Senator WYDEN: They said, oh, you're going to declassify these documents, and employees will be brought before disciplinary boards and be prosecuted. And I said it wasn't going to happen. Those documents were declassified. I made it clear that I didn't want to see anyone prosecuted, and no one was.
GJELTEN: Wyden and other Democrats say they intend to push ahead with their investigation proposals, but without support from the new administration, their efforts are unlikely to go far. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
The name of Captain Chesley Sullenberger has been mentioned quite a bit over the past few days. He's the pilot who with nerve and grace steered a huge U.S. Airways Airbus onto the icy surface of the Hudson River, seemingly as easily as a man tossing a pillow onto a bed. But he had helped saving those 155 lives.
The first officer on the flight was Jeffrey Skiles. The three flight attendants who help lead people out of the plane, onto the wings, and into rafts and rescue crafts, and made sure that the passengers were safe and accounted for, were Donna Dent, Doreen Walsh and Sheila Dail.
So the next time you might get exasperated over some air-travel problem and be inclined to say something sharp to a flight attendant, you might want to remember: their first and last responsibility is safety, and as we saw this week, they will risk their lives to save yours.
Now, isn't that worth a lot more than a small bag of peanuts?
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Amid mounting losses at the nation's banks, President-elect Obama succeeded in prying another $350 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds from the Congress to fight the financial crisis. Meanwhile, Democrats in the House outlined their ideas for a stimulus package totaling $825 billion. Speculation mounted that that package will ultimately hit a trillion dollars. NPR economics correspondent John Ydstie joins us. John, thanks very much for being with us.
JOHN YDSTIE: Hi, Scott. Glad to be here.
SIMON: And first of all, Congress was very angry about the way they thought the Bush administration had used that first $350 billion in TARP funds, and they threatened not to release the second half of the package. What convinced them?
YDSTIE: Two things, I think: Lyndon Johnson-style lobbying effort by Mr. Obama - without the profanity, we hope - and more huge losses at the nation's banks. Citigroup posted a loss of $8.3 billion in the fourth quarter. Bank of America, the nation's biggest bank, posted a $1.8 billion loss for the quarter, and it told the government it needed more money to absorb Merrill Lynch, which it took over back in September. Luckily, the Congress paved the way for the second $350 billion of rescue funds on Thursday afternoon because on Friday morning, the Treasury did inject $20 billion of TARP funds into Bank Of America. Plus, the Fed promised $118 billion in backing for some dodgy Merrill Lynch assets the Bank of America has inherited.
SIMON: So there's more money to bail out Wall Street, but President-elect Obama said that he wants to use TARP money to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
YDSTIE: Yes, he has said that, and you know, he made his priorities clear to members of Congress this week in face-to-face meetings, in phone calls, and in a letter released by Mr. Obama's people just before the Senate vote on TARP. The letter contained a commitment of 50 to $100 billion to reduce foreclosures, also a promise of tougher restrictions on executive compensation and dividend payments by companies that get the bailout money. And it said that banks that get TARP funds have to increase lending.
SIMON: Because there have been a lot of criticism that banks haven't increased lending even after getting the money.
YDSTIE: Absolutely, lots of criticism. But some data out this week suggest indeed, bank lending did increase in the last quarter of the year, and it suggested that the real problems in lending are in loans that get securitized, bundled together and sold to investors, like mortgages and auto loans. And they've been making the headlines in terms of the credit freeze.
SIMON: So why, after so many billions of dollars in bank loans that were supposed to stop the slide, are we still seeing banks getting into trouble again?
YDSTIE: Well, one reason is the deep problems in the real economy. They're causing more people to default on loans that once seemed like solid loans, and that's causing the banks to have greater losses. Another reason is the banks are acknowledging further losses on so-called toxic assets, mostly related to risky mortgages that are still on their books.
Interestingly, both Fed Chairman Bernanke and outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson revived the original idea of the TARP this week - you know, the Troubled Asset Relief Program - suggesting that some of the bailout money should, indeed, be used to help banks unload these investments.
SIMON: And finally, House Democrats unveiled their draft of the stimulus package. It's $825 billion over two years, larger than what the president-elect had proposed. Is he going to go along with it?
YDSTIE: I think in principle, the House and Mr. Obama see things together, at least House Democrats and Mr. Obama. But there are fewer tax cuts in the House proposal. That doesn't make the Republicans very happy. On Thursday, their leader, John Boehner of Ohio, said he was shocked at the size and the makeup of the package.
SIMON: John Ydstie, thanks so much.
YDSTIE: You're welcome, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Time now for sports. Tampa Bay and the Super Bowl await the winners of tomorrow's AFC and NFC championship games. Will it be Baltimore or Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Arizona, rye or whole wheat? We're joined now by Howard Bryant. Howard, thanks for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Scott, good morning.
SIMON: I'm sorry, were you busy doing something else?
(Soundbite of laughter)
BRYANT: I'm right here, Scott. I could barely hear you.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: All right. Nice to talk to you, Howard.
BRYANT: I'm doing nothing else but talking about sports with you today.
SIMON: Thank you. I've built my day around it, too. Pittsburgh and the Ravens played twice during the regular season. The Steelers won both times. So do they have the edge tomorrow, or do the Ravens maybe have their number, finally?
BRYANT: Well, I think that Pittsburgh has the edge for a couple of reasons. One is that they're at home. Two, because you've got two very, very good players, Samari Rolle and Terrell Suggs, on the Ravens who may not play. And I think that also, when you beat a team twice, there's a feeling that you can beat them a third time even though it's very, very hard to beat one team three times in the same season. I think that the Ravens' defense is phenomenal, a really, really great defense. They're playing so well right now that they can probably win the game by themselves. But I'm still picking Pittsburgh to win just because I think that they've got a little bit better offense when it comes down to if the game gets so close because both defenses are great, and somebody has to make a play. I'm going to take the Steelers.
SIMON: And Philly in Arizona. I picked Arizona to go to the Super Bowl last week, and I was widely ridiculed and mocked. Looking a little better this weekend, isn't it?
BRYANT: But you can crow a little bit because I think Arizona could win that game. The one thing that drives me crazy is the contrived notion that the Philadelphia Eagles were turned around because Donovan McNabb was benched. The Eagles turned around...
SIMON: I think I said that. Yes, go ahead.
BRYANT: Because the Eagles run the football when they've got Brian Westbrook and he's healthy. I don't think the football fan can go wrong this week, and I think if you get an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl, that's great. And if you get Baltimore, Arizona, you've got great offense against great defense. Can't go wrong.
SIMON: Just a few seconds left, but Tony Dungy announced he's stepping down as head coach of Indianapolis Colts this week. This is one of the class acts in the country, not just sports.
BRYANT: Yeah. Wonderful - I really enjoy Tony. I'm going to miss him. I think he's class, he's grace, he's all those things that you read about, and I think the good news is, I think he'll be back. I think a lot of good coaches, they need a little bit of time. But I hope we haven't seen the last of him.
SIMON: And as some of his players and friends pointed out, the world gets someone who's very involved in his community and other things that he cares about.
BRYANT: Better place.
SIMON: Exactly. Thanks very much, Howard. Talk to you later.
BRYANT: Thank you.
SIMON: Howard Bryant, senior writer for ESPN.com and almost every place else. This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Coming up, Elizabeth Alexander talks about writing poetry on demand - in this case, for a presidential inaugural.
But first, we mark a milestone.
Unidentified Man: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore...
SIMON: Monday, January 19, marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the American master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. The city of Baltimore, where Poe lived on and off - there's a place full of his haunts, including his house on Amity Street, and the tavern where he drank before his death in 1849 - Baltimore is holding a year-long Poe commemoration. And tonight, actor and Baltimorean John Astin will present an hour of Poe's works at Westminster Hall. The actor, who is perhaps always best known as Gomez in the "Adam's Family," joins us now from the studios of WYPR in Baltimore. Mr. Astin, thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. JOHN ASTIN (Actor): Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: And tell us how you first maybe felt Edgar Allan Poe moving through your life as a Baltimorean.
Mr. ASTIN: Sometime before I was 12, my mother gave me "The Purloined Letter" to read. When I put the book down, I was so stunned by the ending of "The Purloined Letter" that to this day, I remember all of these details of the room when I sat there pondering. And then, oh, I guess, "The Pit and the Pendulum" was next, and "The Cask of Amontillado." And when I was older, I became attracted to the poetry and...
SIMON: To hear you read it, I mean, there is something extraordinary about those rhythms and the internal rhymes and his choice of language that must be so both gratifying and challenging for an actor.
Mr. ASTIN: Yeah, it's both. I don't think there is anything like it in the rest of literature.
SIMON: Because you've become something of a Poe scholar, maybe you can explain this to us. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston and lived a number of places, including Richmond, Philadelphia and New York. Of course, he died in Baltimore. Why do we associate him so much with Baltimore? Why does that wind up becoming the signature city in his life?
Mr. ASTIN: Well, two things. First, it's where he met or at least established the relationship with the young woman who would eventually become his wife: his cousin, Virginia, his first cousin Virginia. And it was a joyful time for him. So I think that's one important aspect of his Baltimore time. The other, of course, is that he died here, and he died mysteriously. We don't really know what happened, and I think that mystery continues.
SIMON: But is there still someone who steals into the graveyard and leaves - is it a rose - on his grave every year?
Mr. ASTON: Every year, yes. And a glass of brandy.
SIMON: That's right. The Poe toaster, he's called, or she.
Mr. ASTON: Yeah, yeah. Whoever it is - none of us know.
SIMON: Two hundred years later, do you see - if I might put it this way - the ghost of Allan Poe when you move around Baltimore?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. ASTIN: I see the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe all the time. He's in my home. He's at my shoulder. It's interesting. In preparing a one-person show, when I conjure up all these characters from his life, he shows up. He doesn't want to be left out.
SIMON: Mr. Astin, it's so nice talking to you, and...
Mr. ASTIN: It's a pleasure.
SIMON: And to Mr. Poe.
Mr. ASTIN: OK.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: John Astin, joining us from studios of WYPR in Baltimore. He's participating in Nevermore 2009, a year-long commemoration of the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe.
Mr. ASTIN: And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted - nevermore.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Ask any schoolchild who their idea of a great president is - any adult, for that matter - chances are they'll say Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is the subject of a whole new flood of biography, studies and appreciations as we approach the 200th anniversary of his birth. There are also many books for children.
One of them, in particular, stood out to our ambassador to the world of children's literature, a man of considerable stature himself, also from Illinois, Daniel Pinkwater. Daniel, thanks so much for being with us.
DANIEL PINKWATER: Scott, Lincoln Schminken. If we'd have had Governor Blagojevich back in those days, the whole sucession of things could have been settled without a shot being fired.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Yeah. How much do you want for it, right?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: We're talking about a lovely book called "Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln."
PINKWATER: Yes, we are.
SIMON: By Judith St. George, illustrated by Matt Faulkner.
PINKWATER: Very well illustrated, indeed. And the book is part of a series called Turning Points, all to do with the lives of future presidents and supposed to depict some singular event to which we can connect their eventual ascendancy. It's an idea. I've seen it all my life in schoolbooks and Boy Scouts-approved biographies - Washington and the cherry tree and all that.
It's usually a process of mythmaking and deification. You look out for the illustration of the hand of God on the shoulder of George Washington. You know, we don't know whether the boy Lincoln necessarily witnessed slaves in chains, and it's for sure we don't know what he might have thought at a moment like that. So I bring you a book of an ordinary type - but...
SIMON: And the but is?
PINKWATER: Look at the pictures, first of all, Scott.
SIMON: Mm hmm.
PINKWATER: Really-good art.
SIMON: Yes, wonderfully - wonderfully done pictures.
PINKWATER: And it has an effect on me of familiarity, you know. OK, granted, the life on the, you know, southern Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky frontier was a little different in the 19th century, but a lot of it feels pretty similar - it's family life. And somehow, the drawings make me feel like, oh, yeah, this is like go to school when you're little.
SIMON: Let's - if I may put it this way - let me set up the story about Lincoln the boy here.
PINKWATER: Absolutely.
SIMON: When Abe is young, he sees - at least according to some stories over the years - he sees slaves and...
PINKWATER: We can assume.
SIMON: And, certainly, and is affected at seeing men in chains.
PINKWATER: We can assume.
SIMON: He has a younger brother who dies soon after birth. Family moves around. His mother, a very strong influence who encourages learning at a time when the onus is often on young children just to work the land. She teaches him to read, but then his beloved mother dies. His father goes back east to find another wife, and Abe and his sister, Sarah, are left alone.
PINKWATER: (Reading) Chapter Five, Abe Up in the Air. One December day, Abe and Sarah heard a commotion of horses and voices outside. Their father was home. He'd come back with a farm wagon piled high with furniture and a wife. Three children were perched on the wagon with her.
SIMON: (Reading) Sally Lincoln was tall and big-boned with a wide smile. She beamed and waved to Abe and Sarah. She didn't seem to notice that Abe's long limbs stuck out of his greasy butternut jeans and filthy toe shirt or that Sarah's dress was in tatters. She opened her heart and arms to the two sad-looking children. Sarah flew into them. Not Abe. He always took his time making up his mind about anything new, and what was newer than a new stepmother?
PINKWATER: (Reaading) Back in Kentucky, Thomas(ph) had known Sally for years. She was widowed, too. Now, Sally introduced her children to Abe and Sarah. There was Elizabeth - she was 12, Matilda was 8, and John Dee, 5. Abe was tall for 10. He towered over little John Dee. They were one family now.
First things first, Sally filled the horse trough with water. Abe and Sarah knew what that meant - a bath. But baths were for summertime, not December. There was no arguing with Sally. Abe and Sarah shivered through a good, hard scrub.
SIMON: (Reading) Cleaning the dirty cabin came next. Abe carried water back and forth from the creek, but he didn't join in the chatter. He needed time to get used to Sally. Not only was she big and broad-shouldered, but she also had a loud, booming voice. Abe's mother had been tall and slender, and her voice had been soft. How could a stepmother with three ready-made children have any love left over for them?
Right off, Sally announced she couldn't read or write, so Abe was struck dumb when she unpacked a pile of books - and what books! "Aesop's Fables," "Pilgrims Progress", "Arabian Nights," "Life of George Washington," "Robinson Crusoe." Sally must have seen Abe's eyes light up. She told him he was welcome to read any book he wanted.
PINKWATER: Let me break in here.
SIMON: Yeah.
PINKWATER: We can identify with this because this would be just as true in a family today as then. What makes this book resonate for me is the way the author and illustrator have handled the assignment. Instead of putting an artificial spotlight on questionable or made-up moments in Lincoln's childhood, they give us a story...
SIMON: Yeah.
PINKWATER: They create picture of people living in a community, and we get to see young Abe - a nice bright, capable, promising kid, like a lot of kids. He's not quite extraordinary.
SIMON: Yeah.
PINKWATER: He doesn't have any prophetic moments, but we like him.
SIMON: Yeah.
PINKWATER: And without the book telling us, we get the feeling that the people around him liked him.
SIMON: Yeah.
PINKWATER: He survived reverses, he got a bit of help here and there, found ways to develop his natural aptitudes, and he belonged to a community. It seems real to me.
SIMON: Yeah. And of course, the stepmother, the wicked stepmother is often how it's portrayed in storybooks, but here in life you have a woman who was touched by this real, little child and really was a turning point in his life because it was Sally, as the book goes on to explain and we know from history, who interceded with Abraham Lincoln's father so that he wouldn't have to do the chores until he'd done his schoolwork. She...
PINKWATER: Yeah. All done in a very compact way. It's a good blend of text and art. I'm particularly enamored of the illustrations. I think that they're as good as can be for this kind of thing, and it's a handsome book on a popular topic.
SIMON: A good week to remind ourselves that tall, skinny kids from Illinois can amount to something.
PINKWATER: And that people from Illinois in general tend to be heroes.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Present company...
PINKWATER: Certainly included.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Well, I wasn't going to go that far, but I'll stand with you.
SIMON: The book is "Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln," written by Judith St. George, illustrated by Matt Faulker. Daniel Pinkwater joined us from his home in the Hudson Valley. He's the author of many fine books for children and for adults. His forthcoming novel is the "The Yggyssey," and you can read the book before publication at pinkwater.com. Thank you so much, Daniel.
PINKWATER: Scott, it's always fun to talk to you.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Poet Elizabeth Alexander was asked to write an original poem for the inauguration. The African-American studies professor from Yale, and friend of President-elect Obama, joins us now from New York. Ms. Alexander, thanks so much for being with us.
Prof. ELIZABETH ALEXANDER (English Language/Literature, African-American Literature and Gender Studies, Yale University; Poet, Essayist, Playwright): I'm pleased to be with you.
SIMON: So, is it done?
Prof. ALEXANDER: The poem is done, yes. That does not mean that there may not be a last-minute fiddle or tweak, but it is - it is fundamentally done.
SIMON: So, can we, like, hear it?
Prof. ALEXANDER: No, you can't.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Prof. ALEXANDER: You have to wait until the 20th.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Prof. ALEXANDER: And then you get the whole thing.
SIMON: I was hoping to catch you unawares.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Prof. ALEXANDER: I'm guarding it like a mother tiger.
SIMON: I remember reading once, a number of years ago, that Robert Frost, who's one of this very illustrious, short category of poets who have read previous inaugurations, he'd written his poem - or said he had written his poem - on a pad of paper that he was balancing on his foot, he wrote his poem. May I ask, paper, pen, computer - how do you write?
Prof. ALEXANDER: I begin often with scraps of paper because poems for me begin when I'm in the midst of doing the things that I do on regular days - teaching, picking up my children, making dinner. I always have pen and paper nearby because in the meditative snatches of time in the midst of the day, I find that many, many, many phrases often come to me. And then once I have some clear time to myself, that's when I gather the scraps and see what's there, and see what has a life that goes beyond the fragment. After I've drafted it on legal pad, that's when it goes into the computer.
SIMON: And may I ask, this poem you're going to read at the inauguration, did you have to run it by anybody?
Prof. ALEXANDER: No, isn't that extraordinary? I did not, and I think that that says something about believing that what artists bring that folks need and can use.
SIMON: Have you chosen to run it by anybody whose opinion you respect and want?
Prof. ALEXANDER: My husband is the person who always hears my poems, and he gives me the big thumbs up or the big thumbs down, and so we've gone through our usual ritual.
SIMON: In your mind now, what do this mean for you to share this moment, and to help embody this moment in America?
Prof. ALEXANDER: It is profoundly humbling. What this day means to so many people and the power of that emotion is something that I've really tried to respect and consider. This is a day that reminds us of all of the work that there is ahead, but it's also a day of a very, very sober and powerful joy. And so that has kept me sober myself.
SIMON: I don't want to be responsible for instilling you with even more anxiety, if that's what you're feeling.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: But...
Prof. ALEXANDER: I'll keep it together.
SIMON: The audience will be, I assume, in the billions.
Prof. ALEXANDER: Mm-hmm.
SIMON: And your words will be quoted for decades, centuries.
Prof. ALEXANDER: Well, that's right. And so, when faced with the literally unimaginable - I mean, really, who can imagine that? None of us, nobody can imagine that. It just took me back to what I already know about how to approach a poem. You're looking at a blank page. You are humbled before the muse. You hope that she will help you. You make a million false starts. I can't tell you how many crossings out and excisions and overwriting and then cutting back, I mean, you know, the drafting process just went on and on and on because what I did know - and this as regards your question - is that I had to feel that I had absolutely done my very best and then some. So I did give it my very best and then some.
SIMON: And without imparting anything to us or in any way destroying the magic of discovery, is your poem about the president, about the country?
Prof. ALEXANDER: Well, it's hard to say what the "about of" is in this poem. Is the word Obama in it? No. I can tell you that. It's not about the president in that way. But I do think that it's about this very, very, very extraordinary moment that I really see as a collective moment, and about trying to strike a tone that keeps us aware that a lot of work and sacrifice brought us here, and that that's what we need to keep doing to move forward.
SIMON: And may I ask, in conclusion, does it rhyme?
Prof. ALEXANDER: There are some rhymes in it. I'm not trying to evade your question, but there are some rhymes in it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Prof. ALEXANDER: Wait and see.
SIMON: OK.
Prof. ALEXANDER: Be surprised.
SIMON: All right, All right. I will.
Prof. ALEXANDER: OK.
SIMON: Elizabeth Alexander, who will read her poem at the inauguration of President Obama on Tuesday. Ms. Alexander, so nice talking to you.
Prof. ALEXANDER: You, too. Thank you very much for your questions.
SIMON: And if you're braving the cold and crowds of Washington, D.C., or you're simply watching Barack Obama's inauguration at home, we'd like you to share your experience. You can head to npr.org/inaugurationreport and actively be a part of our coverage. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Every night this past week on the campus of Howard University here in Washington, D.C., the halls of the fine arts building have been alive with the sound of music.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)
HANSEN: Four young men are beating wooden drumsticks on a plywood board. Their eyes are focused. Their arms move in sync again and again and again. They're the snare players in the drum line of Howard University's Showtime Marching Band.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)
HANSEN: This practice session is crucial because on Tuesday, they will perform for newly inaugurated President Barack Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)
HANSEN: Howard's marching band is among the some 90 groups in Tuesday's inaugural parade. And drum line co-captain Renaldo Biddy said that makes him quite proud.
RENALDO BIDDY: This is something I could tell my grandkids, my great grandkids, like I was actually able to perform in the inauguration parade for our first black president. And I'm very proud of it.
HANSEN: John Newson has been the director of the Showtime Marching Band for 22 years. Under his direction, the group has performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in music videos, and in NFL halftime shows. But this is the first time Newson applied to be in an inaugural parade.
JOHN NEWSOM: I'm not a parade person. And don't get me wrong, we've done major parades in Macy's and so forth. But this was one that I felt that I personally wanted to do. And I told the band back in August that I wanted to do the inaugural parade this year. And, you know, so I told them to kind of put it - pencil it in and go from there.
HANSEN: You penciled it in in August, and that was before Election Day.
NEWSOM: Yeah.
HANSEN: And so you were...
NEWSOM: No.
HANSEN: No.
NEWSOM: I'm just a good prayer that's all.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: Before his prayers were answered, Newson had to send videos, photos, and an essay to the inaugural committee. More than 1,300 groups applied to be in the parade, but the committee was inspired to give one of those coveted parade spots to Howard. What was your reaction?
NEWSOM: I just got out of the shower, so I dried off. And after I dried off, I shouted, and I was glad. And you know, I said, I thanked the Lord for that because I was hoping and praying that we would get selected.
HANSEN: But the news came in at an inconvenient time. Newson got the call last month during final exams, and students were getting ready to head home for the holidays. So rehearsal time is very short.
NEWSOM: We didn't get started until Wednesday of last week. That's when everybody got back in town. So this is pretty much our fourth rehearsal.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S SHOWTIME MARCHING BAND PRACTICE)
HANSEN: And it becomes obvious that the trumpet section needs some work.
NEWSON: Those (unintelligible) after C, make sure you all hold those all the way out for the sixth beat.
(SOUNDBITE OF HUMMING)
NEWSON: Question?
HANSEN: John Newson also brought in other musicians to augment the band's sound.
NEWSON: What we've done is combine the band and we have some students from the jazz ensemble, some of the students from the concert band, and some alumni.
HANSEN: Guy Taylor Edmondson(ph) is one of those alumni. He plays the alto saxophone. How are you going to keep your concentration when you're going by, you know, the viewing box, yeah?
GUY TAYLOR EDMONDSON: That's easy.
HANSEN: Are you sure?
TAYLOR EDMONDSON: I mean - well, my history, personally, I was in the movie "Drumline" in my high school year. So, you know, I had that in the backburner. I also was in a Lil Kim(ph) video shoot when I came to Howard for the jump off. So it's not - it's no big thing for me to be in, you know, a big star atmosphere. I know how to keep it professional. I also know how to play when it's time to play.
HANSEN: Yeah.
TAYLOR EDMONDSON: So...
HANSEN: But admit it, how excited are you?
TAYLOR EDMONDSON: Extremely. I'm probably going to jump out of my skin when we pass by and I see him. I'm going to be like, how you doing? And keep on going, you know, so...
HANSEN: How are you preparing yourself for the parade? It's going to be cold. It's going to be long. How are you going to keep your lips from sticking to your mouthpiece?
TAYLOR EDMONDSON: Unidentified Women: One, two, four, six, eight.
HANSEN: Unidentified Women: Ooh La La!
HANSEN: Unidentified Woman: Show up. Show out. Shut it down.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: The Ooh La Las, the saxophonists, drummers, and all the members of the Showtime Band are focused on doing their absolute best. Actually that's the polite way of saying, they're ready to bring it. They're not only performing for the president, but there could be some bragging rights up for grabs too. Howard is among the six historically black colleges appearing in the parade. The other bands are from Florida A&M, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Delaware State, Grambling State in Louisiana, and the other H.U., Hampton University in Virginia. Are we going to see a battle of the bands down Pennsylvania Avenue?
NEWSON: I do not think so. Everybody's asking that question, but the way they have the parade structured, none of us are close to each other, which is - maybe is good in a way.
HANSEN: John Newson says Howard will be one of the last bands in the parade. So I thought that might give his band a chance to blow everyone else out of the water. Not quite.
NEWSON: Well, we got Ohio State coming behind us. So...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
NEWSON: But we're going to do our thing. And if we get a chance to stop and do something, we will.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S SHOWTIME MARCHING BAND PRACTICE)
HANSEN: This is a very big deal for the band and Howard - big enough for the president of the university, Sidney Ribeau, to come to rehearsal and say a few words of encouragement.
SIDNEY RIBEAU: We're so glad that you're going to be participating in an inauguration event. That should be fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
RIBEAU: Yeah, yeah. The real president, President Barack Obama, will be kind of coming in, and you need to bring him in with style. And it couldn't be a parade, inauguration parade, without Howard University.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
RIBEAU: That's - we couldn't, we couldn't do that.
HANSEN: So the final question for John Newson is - what are you going to play?
NEWSON: Well, I would say it was a secret, but we - on the application, we had to put a tune down, and we had put down "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" because that was one of Barack Obama's favorite artists, Stevie Wonder. And after I found out that it was about four or five of the bands playing the same song, we've changed ours. And so, you know, it's no secret now, but we're playing the tune entitled "The Boss" by Diana Ross.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "THE BOSS" PERFORMED BY THE SHOWTIME MARCHING BAND)
NEWSON: And it's not so much about the song itself, it's about the title. And Barack Obama, being the president, he is the boss. And so this is our tune, and I'm hoping nobody that's listening to this would take our tune before we play it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: And on Tuesday, you can see all the inauguration day action at npr.org where you'll find live video and photo galleries of the day's events as well as up to the minute analysis and live chats. And don't forget to check out our blog, npr.org/soapbox, for video blogs from high school students Alyssa Roberts and Olivia Rudeen about their journey to the inauguration.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Some of the multitude of visitors in Washington D.C. for the inauguration may find their way to the National Gallery of Art. There they'll find a number of iconic presidential portraits painted in the early 1800s by artist Gilbert Stuart. NPR's Neda Ulaby has more.
NEDA ULABY: Five men gaze gravely from the gallery's gray walls: Monroe, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and George Washington.
FRANK KELLY: Sometimes it's hard to look at an image that is so familiar because you just go, it's Washington, I know exactly who it is. I've seen it hundreds of times.
ULABY: Curator Frank Kelly says Gilbert Stuart painted the picture of Washington that's on the dollar bill. To look at these portraits, Kelly says is to know each president was watching Stuart while he moved his brush.
KELLY: And realize you're looking at images that were created by someone who, of course, knew these people when they were alive. Knew what they looked like.
ULABY: And shape the way we see them. Kelly points to Stuart's affectionate portrait of John Adams.
KELLY: There's a wonderful highlight of white - of light striking on his nose and then this great, gentle aura of light playing across his mostly bald head.
ULABY: These presidential portraits don't telegraph their subject's importance. They're just five old fellows framed from chest to head.
KELLY: And in a sense, they're very democratic in that way. There's nothing of the traditional sort of trappings of what was called, the grand manner of portraiture that says, this is an important person.
ULABY: And so, Stuart help start another tradition. Showing the president that relatively use, you left with a sense of presence and personality, says visitor Brad Alldredge.
BRAD ALLDREDGE: And he got makes George Washington look very old. His skin, it looks fragile and wrinkled and old, and they all look they've had hard - hard experiences.
ULABY: War and nation building take a visible toll. But visitor Patricia Andrews sees vitality in Thomas Jefferson.
PATRICIA ANDREWS: He seems to have high color and be in good health, and good experience which is the way I hope everyone will be on January 20th.
ULABY: Andrews, a former Hawaii resident, looks forward to how Barack Obama might be painted as president.
ANDREWS: I guess I'd like to see him in Hawaii. I guess with a hair like that, my sort of (unintelligible) in him, there in his Hawaiian bathing trunks.
ULABY: This president is different says senior curator Frank Kelly. He says he hopes visitors who chance upon the Gilbert Stuart portraits might take a moment for reflection.
KELLY: How much has changed, you know, how much has changed since then and now as we get ready for the inauguration, there'll be you know, wonderful things and people coming from all over, I look at these men and think, boy, they were really carving out of raw material, something remarkable.
ULABY: And as visitors leave the National Gallery and survey the Capitol of the United States, the monuments and the White House, maybe they'll look at them with new eyes. Neda Ulaby, NPR News Washington.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
This month is the 50th anniversary of the creation of the word pheromone. Pheromones are chemical signals that animals use to communicate with each other, often about sex. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce examines whether humans have pheromones and the online sales of supposedly pheromone-based potions.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE: If you go to Google and type in human pheromone, you will get hundreds of thousands of links.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: And most of them are trying to sell you something.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Tristram Wyatt studies pheromones at the University of Oxford.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The idea that there is something you can splash on yourself to make you irresistible is the ever-enduring hope.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: At least since scientist identified the first known attractant, a chemical sent out by the female silk moth to lure males to her. Its discovery five decades ago led scientists to coin that new word - pheromone.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: It was built up from two Greek words, hormone for excite, and pherein for transfer. So it's excitement transferred from one individual to another.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Wyatt wrote an essay for this week's issue of the journal Nature that reviews what researchers have learned since the invention of the word. He says there is no doubt that a lot of different animals, including mammals, use chemical signals. But he says no one has identified anything like that for humans, but not for lack of trying. Wyatt says back in the 1980s and 1990s, various chemicals were proposed as being the, quote, "human pheromone." A bunch of them belong to a family of steroids related to testosterone.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: But there is no good evidence that these actually are the human pheromones. The evidence is always circumstantial and rather poor.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: If someone tries to sell you a jar full of something called a hundred percent human pheromones, I guess as a scientist, what's your reaction to that?
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Well, I'm afraid it's wasted money.
M: My name is Bill Horgan. I'm CEO of Human Pheromone Sciences.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Human Pheromone Sciences is based in California, and for 50 bucks it will sell you a blue bottle of what it calls pure human pheromones. Horgan says a key ingredient is one of those chemicals related to testosterone.
M: The androstadienone is found in the human body, and people who are exposed to it - men and women - indicated a feeling of warmth and lack of negativity, improved positivity.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says his products affect the person who wears them.
M: They're not sexual attractants. That's a key thing that we try to get across.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: His company's Web page, NaturalAttraction.com, does say that, quote, "Human pheromones are gender-specific, naturally occurring substances that trigger specific mating responses." I told Horgan the scientist I'd talked to said no chemical had ever been proven to be a human pheromone. Horgan insisted that studies show his products can produce pheromone-like effects on mood and behavior.
M: We've seen it and others have seen it, independent of us. In fact, some of them were detractors of us at first - they didn't believe it - like the Monell Institute.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: So I called Wysocki. He said, oh, that study. It was done years ago. He said he had his doubts at the time about the design, the analysis of the results, and his collaborators' far-reaching conclusions made him uncomfortable, to the point where he asked to have his name taken off the paper. I sent Horgan an email telling him that. He expressed amazement and said the science behind his company's products is supported by other researchers. Wysocki says if someone is trying to sell you a bottle of human pheromones...
GREENFIELDBOYCE: I'd be very skeptical. Caveat emptor.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Now, Wysocki does believe that body smells can influence other people in various ways. For example, he did one well-controlled study. He did blood tests on women who sniffed samples of male underarm odor.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: We did see an alteration in the hormone system that regulates the menstrual cycle.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: But he doesn't know what in men's body odor was causing that.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: What we are lacking is the actual chemical identities. That's where chemistry has to catch up with the behavior and the endocrinology.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He's trying to find those chemicals. But even if he did identify a human pheromone, Wysocki says whatever effect it had would be subtle - nothing like the irresistible sex lure that scientists found in moths decades ago. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
I: I believe in adaptation.
U: I believe in the silver lining.
U: I believe that being flexible keeps me going.
U: I believe every single person deserves to be acknowledged.
U: This I believe.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Our This I Believe essay today is a bit unusual. It was written by a six-year-old. Tarak McLain, who's now at grand old age of seven, wrote about his beliefs last year when he was in kindergarten in Austin, Texas. Here's our series curator independent producer, Jay Allison.
JAY ALLISON: I met Tarak McLain a few months ago at a This I Believe book reading when he handed me his list of a hundred beliefs. He'd written them for the hundreth day of kindergarten when all the kids were asked to bring in a hundred things. There's brought cotton balls, or pecans, or Cheerios. Tarak brought beliefs. He said his mother helped him think about them but all the words are his. He agreed to shorten the list to 30 for the radio. I asked him if he wrote the original list quickly or if he had to think pretty hard.
TARAK MCLAIN: I had to think pretty hard. Well, every day I did two hours of it, and then in all it was six hours.
ALLISON: Was it pretty different from what the other kids did?
MCLAIN: Yes. A lot different.
ALLISON: Well, let's just start right at the top, take your time, and read every one of them.
MCLAIN: OK. Start?
ALLISON: Yeah.
MCLAIN: I believe life is good. I believe God is in everything. I believe we're all equal. I believe we can help people. I believe everyone is weird in their own way. I believe hate is a cause for love. I believe that when I meditate I feel peaceful. I believe I should - we should be generous. I believe brothers and sisters should be kind to each other. I believe kids should respect their parents. I believe I should not whine. I believe people should wake up early. I believe people should go outside more. I believe in nature. I believe people should use less trees. I believe we should help the Arctic and rainforest animals. I believe people shouldn't throw litter on the ground. I believe people should not smoke. I believe God is in good and bad. I believe in magic. I believe people should not give up. I believe love is everywhere. I believe that God helps us to have a good time. I believe that we live best in a community. I believe that we can protect people in danger. I believe we should help the poor. I believe it's OK to die, but not to kill. I believe war should not have started. I believe war should stop. I believe we can make piece.
ALLISON: Tarak McLain with his essay for "This I Believe." Tarak tries to live some of his beliefs. He bags up food to carry in the car to give to homeless people, and has raised money for causes he cares about.
MCLAIN: I've had two fundraisers already, one of them was for a school in Thailand. We raise about $350 for it. And then the other one was for a Honduras school. We sold toys, clothes, and stuffed animals.
ALLISON: If you want to see photos of Tarak and his fundraising events, or if you want to submit your own essay, no matter what your age, visit npr.org/thisibelive.
HANSEN: Jay Allison is co-editor with Dan Gediman, John Gregory and Viki Merrick of the book This I Believe, Volume II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
M: (Singing) You know, I think back to when I was a little girl, and my momma used to have to drag me to church, uh huh.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Now, some of you may recognize Sharis Addison as the runner-up on Black Entertainment Television's Sunday Best, the church-inspired version of American Idol. And tonight, the Chicago native will perform at an inaugural ball honoring the president-elect. We caught up to Shari en route to DC at member station WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia. Welcome to the program, Shari.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
M: Thank you.
HANSEN: You must be getting very excited.
M: I am extremely excited.
HANSEN: I mean, you're going to be performing at the African-American Church Inaugrual Ball. There'll be some other heavy hitters in gospel besides you: Regina Belle, you know, one, and the event is a tribute to the first African-American president of the United States. What does this performance mean to you?
M: This is an opportunity of a lifetime. I feel like I'm going down in history as well as our fourty-fourth president.
HANSEN: Uh huh.
M: And it's something that my children can tell their children, you know, your grandmother actually performed for one of the inaugural balls
HANSEN: You have four kids?
M: I have four daughters.
HANSEN: How old are they?
M: Yeah. Oh my, here we go. (Laughing) My oldest daughter is - my oldest is - and I like to go this direction because it just really messes people up - my oldest daughter is 24. The one under her is 18. The one under her is 17, and the one under her is four.
HANSEN: Oooh.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: Yeah.
HANSEN: But they must be so proud of you.
M: They really are. All four of my women are extremely proud of their mom.
HANSEN: I plan to sing a song called, "It's your time." It's on my CD, and I think it's very appropriate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT'S YOUR TIME")
M: It's your time. It not only speaks to me, walking through a new door in my life, a new chapter. It signifies anybody out there to be encouraged that when it's your time, you can't miss that circle, the time is now for you to prosper and it talks about you may have been waiting for a long time and I know I have. I've had this desire to be full time in my music ministry forever.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: It feels like forever and this is an opportunity and I feel like, it's a very befitting song for this event because they're honoring people that have carried the torch. This is their time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT'S YOUR TIME")
M: (Singing) You're ready to be there. Ready to be seated. It's your time.
HANSEN: It's an interesting contrast, that song, to some of the others that actually appear on your album at the beginning of our conversation, we heard a snip it of - you know, this really bass-heavy jam, "I Praise You."
M: "I Praise You."
HANSEN: Yeah. I mean, that's almost like a pole or opposite end and then there are other songs that are really R&B.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I PRAISE YOU")
M: (Singing) There's hope that lies within you There's life that shine inside His love will always hold you Guide you through the climb
M: I wanted my CD to be relevant to where people are right now. And oftentimes, in our music we gear it to one group of people, one set religion or something. I wanted it to be very diverse. Some people may not have been fully raised in a church environment, but need to know about Jesus, need to be able to relate to the music and the ministry. And I feel like my music does that and it doesn't water down the massage any.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HANSEN: You do a classic there. It's a tune by Marva Heinz but I think so many people associate it with the late great James Cleveland. "Please Make Me Better."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLEASE MAKE ME BETTER")
M: (Singing) And if it takes all the worldly things from my life Make me better, Lord (please) Make me better
HANSEN: How did you make it yours?
M: The funny thing about songs, my mother has always told me to do it like it's your last time. For it just might be, I don't know. And when I step up to a song, I never tried to mock anybody or mimic anybody. I just go for what's in me and that song was written absolutely, incredibly wonderfully so by Marva Heinz and that I didn't have to do it very much. Just sing it the way I know to sing with everything that's in me and it - a classic jazz was reborn. It came to life all over again.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLEASE MAKE ME BETTER")
M: (Singing) Because I want to give you my best And I'd only be hurting myself If I try to give you less
M: I don't think I broke it. You know, sometimes you can take a classic and do too much. But I think it was just right.
HANSEN: One of the songs you do is with your pastor. And you wrote the song with him, Christy Harris Senior(ph), "Can't Make It Without Him." I love the way you described it because it's perfect. Three minutes and fifty seconds of sheer Pentacostal power.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T MAKE IT WITHOUT HIM")
M: (Singing) Now through the trials I've learned to pass Like never before me (unintelligible) great Now I'll be coming I'll stand here say (I don't know what I would do without the Lord)
M: I have listened to the song myself and at the end of the song, I realized, I don't think I was breathing.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: You know, and it's just like that. You know, something that is so intense but wonderful and you're enjoying the ride almost like a roller coaster, really. And once you get to the end, yeah, that's what I envisioned. Hands up in the air and you coming to a halt like whoa.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT HIM")
M: (Singing) Get on your feet Help me sing here
M: (Singing) Never knew how bad it would be To all of my friends have to believe
HANSEN: Shari Addison's new self-titled CD is on Verity Records. She'll be singing tonight at the African-American church inaugural ball. We reached her on her way to Washington at member station WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia. Thanks. Have a lot of fun.
M: Thank you, Liane. You know, I will.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT HIM")
M: (Singing) I know I'm coming back to (unintelligible)
HANSEN: You can hear full songs from Shari Addison's Album at nprmusic.org and on Tuesday, you can see all the Inauguration Day action at npr.org where you'll find live video and photo galleries of the day's events as well as up to the minute analysis and live chats. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. And joining us is puzzle master Will Shortz. Hey, Will.
WILL SHORTZ: Welcome back, Liane. How are you feeling?
HANSEN: I'm feeling much better. Thanks a lot. And it's good to be back. Did I miss anything?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: Let's see, I have a special puzzle in today's New York Times in the inauguration special. It's called presidential 20 questions.
HANSEN: All right. Well, we had our regular radio challenge. You had a good time playing with David Greene last week. And you left an interesting challenge. What was it?
SHORTZ: I said, take a very common three-letter word. Say the letters phonetically, and together they'll sound like a six-letter word meaning knockout. What is it?
HANSEN: What is it?
SHORTZ: Well, the three-letter word is but, and spell it out, B-U-T is a knockout.
HANSEN: Love it. Love it. Well, I think our listeners knocked that one out of the park, to use another definition of the word. Almost 2,500 people had the correct answer. And from those entries, we randomly selected Mr. Lacy Hayes of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to play our puzzle on the air with us today. Hi, Lacy.
LACY HAYES: Good morning. How are you doing today?
HANSEN: I'm doing well, sir. You know, you're the first man I've ever met that has the name Lacy.
HAYES: Yes. And I am, too, except my father has the same name. I'm like Lacy Jr.
HANSEN: Oh, so it's a family name.
HAYES: Yes.
HANSEN: All right. How long did it take you to solve this puzzle?
HAYES: It came to me very quickly. I think when Will said knockout, I didn't think of boxing. I thought of a knockout like a good-looking girl. And from there beauty and but just came out right away.
HANSEN: Well done. Have you been playing our puzzle for a long time?
HAYES: Yeah. I'd say for about 20 years or maybe even a little more.
HANSEN: Wow. Yeah, that's since the beginning of the program.
HAYES: Yeah. That's - I can remember when they had postcards.
HANSEN: Right, when we had the old snail mail. So, I understand you're an attorney in Harrisburg, but you may be switching careers if things go well?
HAYES: Well, if things go well, yeah. I just announced that I am running for judge here in Dauphin County.
HANSEN: Well, good luck to you on the campaign. And now I'm going to wish you good luck as we play the puzzle. Are you ready to play?
HAYES: Yes, I am.
HANSEN: All right, Will meet Lacy, already an interesting character. Let's play.
SHORTZ: All right, Lacy and Liane, this is a good two-person puzzle. Every answer today is a word starting with O, as in Obama. I'm going to give you two words that can precede and follow it to complete familiar two-word phrases. You give me the inside words. For example, if I said elected and statement, you would say official, as in elected official and official statement. Number one is agent bowl, B-O-W-L.
HAYES: Orange.
SHORTZ: Orange is good. Toaster mitt, M-I-T-T.
HAYES: The first - oh, toaster oven.
SHORTZ: Toaster oven, oven mitt. Good. Vegetable filter.
HAYES: Oil.
SHORTZ: Vegetable oil and oil filter, good. Indian liner, L-I-N-E-R. And for Indian blank, think geography.
HANSEN: Or perhaps a body of water.
SHORTZ: Yes.
HAYES: Ocean.
HANSEN: Ocean, yeah.
SHORTZ: Indian Ocean and ocean liner is it. Black and branch.
HAYES: Olive.
SHORTZ: Black olive, olive branch. Good. Stock, S-T-O-C-K, and play, P-L-A-Y.
HANSEN: Aha.
SHORTZ: Is that an aha of recognition, Liane?
HANSEN: I'm not sure because it - with play?
SHORTZ: With play, with P as in Peter. And for blank play, think of football.
HANSEN: It's got to go with stock.
SHORTZ: Yeah.
HAYES: Option.
HANSEN: Option.
SHORTZ: Stock option and option play. Good.
HANSEN: I thought option, but I thought option play, what's that? You can tell I don't know enough about football.
SHORTZ: You're more a baseball person, I know.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: I am, really.
SHORTZ: Let's try this. Electrical mall, M-A-L-L.
HAYES: Outlet.
SHORTZ: Outlet, that was fast. Grand, G-R-A-N-D, and bell, B-E-L-L.
HAYES: Opening.
SHORTZ: Grand opening. Good.
HANSEN: Nice.
SHORTZ: Pipe, P-I-P-E, and transplant.
HAYES: Organ.
SHORTZ: Pipe organ, organ transplant. Equal knocks, K-N-O-C-K-S. Equal blank, blank knocks.
HAYES: Opportunity.
SHORTZ: Oh, good. And here's your last one. Chamber and pit, P-I-T.
HAYES: Orchestra.
SHORTZ: Good job.
HANSEN: Oh man, quick on the ball with that one. Lacy, nice work.
HAYES: Thank you.
HANSEN: This wasn't easy. I swear this wasn't easy. I'm glad I had you on my team for this one. I think we made a good team together.
HAYES: I'm glad you were there to help me. Thank you very much.
HANSEN: No problem. We have a little treat for you, Lacy. Coming up we are going to give everybody a sneak peak into the inaugural parade. We actually went to a practice session of Howard University's Showtime Marching Band, and they're going to be playing in the inaugural parade. And they were playing a song that seems fitting. Since you were so outstanding, here's the band with their rendition of the Gap Band song "Outstanding," and band director John Newson has your puzzle prizes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUTSTANDING" PERFORMED BY HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S SHOWTIME)
JOHN NEWSON: For playing our puzzle today, you will get a Weekend Edition lapel pin, the Eleventh Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, the Scrabble Deluxe Edition from Parker Brothers, "The Puzzlemaster Presents" from Random House, volume two, Will Shortz's latest book series, "Will Shortz Presents KenKen" volumes one, two and three from St. Martin's Press, and one of Will Shortz's "Puzzlemaster Decks" of riddles and challenges from Chronicle Books.
HANSEN: What do you think, John Newson, 22 years director of the marching band at Howard? You know, the lyrics to that part we chose are "girl you knock me out" which is sort of coincidence, you know. I don't want David Greene to have all the coincidences.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: What do you think, Lacy?
HAYES: Oh, it's very appropriate.
HANSEN: Yeah. It kind of gets you in the mood for Tuesday's parade. Well, before we say goodbye to you, sir, what member station do you listen to?
HAYES: WITF, and I've been a member there for probably 20 years, maybe more.
HANSEN: Oh my. We should make that lapel pin gold for you. I tell you, that's great. Well, thank you, Lacy Hayes of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You were wonderful. It was great to meet you. And good luck in your campaign.
HAYES: Thank you very much.
HANSEN: OK. Will, we need a challenge to work on all this week. What do you have?
SHORTZ: Yes, it comes from listener Dave Shukan from San Marino, California. Name an implement that might be in a kitchen drawer. It's a compound word. Add the letter S, as in Sam, after each part of the compound, and you'll get two synonyms. What implement is it? So again, an implement that might be in a kitchen drawer. It's a compound word. Add the letter S after each half of the compound, and you get two words that are synonyms. What implement is it?
HANSEN: When you have the answer, go to our Web site, npr.org/puzzle, and click on the "Submit your Answer" link. Only one entry per person, please. Our deadline this week is Thursday, 3 p.m. Eastern time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time, and we'll call you if you're the winner. And you'll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of the New York Times and Weekend Edition's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Will, thanks a lot.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
You could call it the final 137 miles of the presidential campaign. President-elect Barack Obama and his family boarded a train in Philadelphia yesterday and headed south toward Washington, D.C. The train made stops for rallies in Wilmington, Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland, and arrived, last night, in the nation's capital where inaugural activities and parties are already in full swing. NPR's Don Gonyea was on board.
DON GONYEA: There was no shortage of symbolism along the way, including the first stop - Philadelphia, the place where America's Founding Fathers gathered, where historic Independence Hall stands not far from the train station where Mr. Obama spoke before boarding the train.
BARACK OBAMA: What's required is a new declaration of independence. Not just in our nation, but in our own lives. Independence from ideology and small thinking. Independence from prejudice and bigotry. Independence from selfishness. An appeal not to our easy instincts, but to our better angels.
GONYEA: The train's first official stop was Wilmington, Delaware. That's where Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill joined up. They and the Obamas headed off to a rally just outside the station. There was a crowd of nearly 8,000. Biden, who represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, was the sentimental favorite.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: Biden's remarks were mostly personal, but he, too, talked of the challenges the new Obama administration will face.
JOE BIDEN: Our economy is struggling. We're a nation at war. Sometimes, just sometimes it's hard to believe that we'll see the spring again. But I tell you spring is on the way with this new administration.
GONYEA: Unidentified Group: (Singing) Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.
GONYEA: That was just before the train made its final stop of the day - a big, campaign-style rally with 40,000 shivering people outdoors at the War Memorial in downtown Baltimore. Here, the president-elect again asked people of all backgrounds, of all beliefs to work together for a larger cause.
OBAMA: No matter what we look like, no matter where we come from, no matter what faith we practice, we are a people of common hope, a people of common dreams, who ask only that was promised us as Americans, that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did, that that promise is fulfilled.
GONYEA: Less than two hours later, the train pulled in to Washington where, day after tomorrow, Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States. Don Gonyea, NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Washington, D.C., is straining beyond capacity this morning. Incoming planes are packed. Hotels are filling up. Celebrities are preening. And visitors are gawking in the run-up to the presidential inauguration. There's a free concert today that will draw a multitude, and millions are expected at the inauguration and parade on Tuesday. This is a huge challenge for law enforcement officials, who have devised an unprecedented and elaborate security plan to protect the new president and the huge crowds. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.
BRIAN NAYLOR: While President-elect Obama has been thinking about what to say Tuesday and happy Democrats are figuring out what to wear that night, the Secret Service has been planning too. Actually, their preparations started long ago as the service began working with 57 other agencies to make sure the new president and those who hope to catch a glimpse of him Tuesday are safe. Special agent Ed Donovan is a spokesman for the service.
ED DONOVAN: The Secret Service certainly recognizes the historical significance of this inauguration. It's been widely reported that the crowds are expected to be larger than average. So that's something that we're certainly considering. And the plan that we come up with is going to have to be elastic.
NAYLOR: Latest estimates say as many as two million people might crowd the parade route and fill out the National Mall to watch the events surrounding the inauguration of the nation's first African-American president. Cathy Lanier, the chief of Washington's police department, remembers election night. Thousands of revelers spontaneously poured into the city's neighborhoods to celebrate Mr. Obama's victory, and it became clear then that this would not be an ordinary inauguration.
CATHY LANIER: My officers, we were out standing around these large crowds in Adams Morgan. People were just running over and hugging the officers in just an unbelievable spontaneous reaction.
NAYLOR: And so that gave you a clue as to what you might be expecting in the inauguration.
LANIER: I looked at my assistant chief about 20 minutes into this - and this went on until 4 a.m. on a work night - and we just looked at each other and thought, you know, that whole plan that's almost complete is going to have start all over again now, because it's going to be a very different event.
NAYLOR: The biggest crowds will be on the Mall, where Jumbotrons will show the swearing in ceremonies. The screens will also be used to pass along messages in case an evacuation is needed and to advise when the inaugural parade route is filled to capacity. Some two square miles of the downtown along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route will be fenced off, accessible to people only after going through metal detectors and bag checks. At the Joint Operations Center, law enforcement officials will be monitoring feeds from hundreds of security cameras. They'll be looking, Chief Lanier says, for anything out of the ordinary.
LANIER: This is our city. You know, we patrol it every day, and we know, you know, sometimes things that are very subtle, that are out of place.
NAYLOR: Seemingly, nothing has been left to chance. The Coast Guard will patrol the Potomac River, military and police will patrol the skies and there will be lots of police on foot. More than 4,000 officers from 99 different departments will augment 4,000 D.C. cops. Lanier says while most police will be visible, many will not.
LANIER: There will be a lot of security, layered security, some that you will see and some that you will not. Yes, I have both plainclothes and uniformed folks out there, but I think it's very safe to say that there will be many, many, many law enforcement folks out there that you won't see.
NAYLOR: After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in which a major hotel was targeted, police began briefing hotel and restaurant managers to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. But authorities say their biggest worries are simply the numbers of people who may show up in Washington and getting them out if something should happen. While law enforcement hopes it's planned for almost every contingency, officials say they want the day to be memorable for the right reasons. Secret Service Agent Ed Donovan.
DONOVAN: We don't want the story at the end of the day to be the security. We want it to be the democratic process. And we hope that that's not the case that people are talking about security after this. We hope that they're talking about what a great event it was and how the democratic process proceeded.
NAYLOR: Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. He's been billed as the next Billy Graham and a new kind of evangelical. He is Rick Warren, and he's delivering the opening prayer at Barack Obama's inauguration. But an outcry over his views on gay marriage has revealed the two sides of Warren's Christian outlook. NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty has this profile.
BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY: In 1980, fresh out of seminary, Rick Warren and his wife Kay moved to Mission Viejo, California, to start a church. Warren had no money, no building, no congregation. But his brother-in-law Tom Holladay says he did have a plan: to build a church for people who never went to church.
M: So he knocked on the doors of just hundreds of people. And he asked them a lot of questions about what advice they would give to a new pastor in the area. And he also asked them all, why don't you go to church?
BRADLEY HAGERTY: They told him church was too formal, it was irrelevant, or always begging for money. So based on that survey, he shaped Saddleback Church to meet their needs. David Domke, author of "The God Strategy," says Warren targeted the young, upwardly mobile, busy baby-boomer.
P: He sold it like you sold vacuum cleaners back in the 1940s. You go out and you build a clientele and you build a relationship, and then you invite these people to come and maybe check out the product.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Warren shied away from fire and brimstone, though that's part of his Southern Baptist theology. He focused on people's needs.
P: How to raise a child, how to deal with a divorce, how to deal with personal issues, alcoholism, workaholism, whatever - all the kinds of problems that are just part of the human experience.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: It worked. Today, 22,000 people attend Saddleback each week. By the 1990s, Warren had become an icon within the Christian subculture. Then in 2002, he published "A Purpose Driven Life," a sort of manual for living out God's will. The book was a bestseller among churchgoers, but few others had heard of it. Three years later, he and his book landed in the media spotlight.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
M: An all-new Oprah. You saw the headlines. Seven hours of terror. A single mom...
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Ashley Smith, an Atlanta woman, was taken hostage by a spree killer. During the ordeal, Smith read to her captor from "A Purpose Driven Life." A few hours later, the killer peacefully surrendered. And a few months after that, Smith and the pastor appeared on Oprah.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
M: He's here, and he wants to meet you in person.
M: No way, no way.
M: Please welcome the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," Rick Warren.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Warren became a household name, and his book became the biggest blockbuster in American publishing history. The book's success prompted him to do some soul-searching. Warren told religion reporters that the American evangelicalism he had pioneered catered to the needs of the rich while ignoring the poor.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: And I had to repent. I had to say, God, I'm sorry. I can't think of the last time I thought about widows and orphans.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: He began spending much of his time in Africa, making AIDS, poverty, and illiteracy his top priorities and trying to shift evangelicals in a new direction.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: My goal is to move the American church from self-centeredness to unselfishness.
P: I talk about Warren as what I call kind of evangelical 2.0.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: David Domke says Warren has kept his core conservative principles, but updated them with elements like social justice and the environment. This shift drew the attention of Barack Obama, then a newly elected senator from Illinois. He asked Warren to read a galley proof of his book, "The Audacity of Hope," and the two struck up a friendship. Warren, who had largely avoided politics, became a key figure in the 2008 presidential campaign when he invited Senators Obama and John McCain to a televised forum on faith and world view.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2008 TELEVISED FORUM)
BRADLEY HAGERTY: I have to tell you up front, both these guys are my friends.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Obama's campaign thought Warren would stress international and social justice issues. It didn't turn out that way.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2008 TELEVISED FORUM)
BRADLEY HAGERTY: At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?
P: Well, you know, I think that whether...
BRADLEY HAGERTY: As Mr. Obama stumbled through one of the worst performances of his campaign, Warren peppered him with litmus test questions. Have you ever voted to limit abortion? Would you support a constitutional marriage amendment? Do you favor stem cell research?
M: I hear from good sources that it sort of surprised the Obama campaign.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Michael Cromartie heads evangelical studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
M: They did not seem to realize that Rick Warren was a man who had broadened the evangelical agenda, but he hadn't let go of the former agenda that many evangelicals care about.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Warren hasn't budged an inch on abortion, premarital sex, and homosexuality. He quietly supported California's Proposition 8, which barred gay marriage. And later he drove the point home in an interview with Steve Waldman of The Wall Street Journal and BeliefNet.
(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)
BRADLEY HAGERTY: I'm opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I'm opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I'm opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
M: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Oh, I do.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: President-elect Obama's invitation to Warren to deliver the invocation at his inaugural set off an outcry from gay rights activists. Mr. Obama defended Warren, saying both men believe in conversation with those who disagree with them. Likewise, many conservatives have criticized Warren for his association with the liberal Democrat. Over the next four years, that commitment to civility shared by the new president and the purpose-driven pastor will likely be tested again and again. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Next month, we'll mark the 200th birthday of the most influential biologist ever, Charles Darwin. It's impossible to underestimate the significance of this man or his book "The Origin of Species." So in February, Weekend Edition and NPR's science desk will begin a series on Darwin. And NPR's Joe Palca is in England to prepare stories for the Darwin bicentenary, and he joins us. Hey, Joe. I know you've been there a few days. Where are you?
JOE PALCA: Hey, Liane. Well, I'm in the Sedgwick Museum, which is on the campus of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge. And there are fossils here of all sorts. It's a remarkable little museum. I'm standing at the end of a case where there's a collection, some fossil shells, I think, that were collected in the Falkland Islands when the Beagle stopped there in the 1830s.
HANSEN: Wow. What else have you seen since you've been there?
PALCA: Well, this morning we were over at the Cambridge University library looking at some of the documents that Darwin wrote before "The Origin of Species" was published, when he was getting his thoughts together, including these tiny beautifully - well, not beautifully written because he had kind of hard handwriting to read - but really interesting little notebooks where he was jotting down his ideas. And it's like touching somebody's brain.
HANSEN: You used the pronoun we. I understand you're there with American evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll?
PALCA: Yeah, yeah. He gave the kickoff lecture last night to the Darwin College, which is one of the colleges here in Cambridge. In fact, he's standing right here. You want to say hello to him?
HANSEN: Oh, sure.
PALCA: All right. Hold on a second. Liane.
SEAN CARROLL: Hi, Liane.
HANSEN: Hi. Is this Dr. Carroll?
CARROLL: Yes, it is.
HANSEN: Is it Dr.? I assume it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
CARROLL: Yes, it is.
HANSEN: Joe is describing some of the things that he's seeing in the Sedgwick Museum, and he seems all wide-eyed. Are you as impressed as he is?
CARROLL: Yeah. It started this morning. We were looking at original notebooks where the first thoughts were occurring to Darwin about the changing of species. And then we've come over to the museum, and we're seeing specimens that were collected throughout the time of the voyage. Many of these specimens we're looking at carry their original labels. They're in little pillboxes. They're in little sauce bottles that were used on the ship probably for foodstuffs. And then now he emptied them out and filled them with shells, and things like that, and corked them. And you get really a sense of not just what Darwin collected but how he collected.
HANSEN: Oh, well, have yourself a great time while you're there. That's American evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll who's with NPR's Joe Palca. Can I talk to Joe one more time?
CARROLL: Sure.
HANSEN: Thanks.
PALCA: Well, so yeah. So if you hear something in the background, Liane, it's - this museum has, you know, a bunch of visitors, and including a little baby who I think is too young for this. But that's OK.
HANSEN: Well, let me ask you. Given we're coming up on the 200th birthday of Darwin, is there Darwin fever in England?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PALCA: Yes. You know, everything - everything Darwin, I think, in this year. And, you know, someone was making the point that they celebrated his birthday a hundred years ago, on his centenary, and it was a big deal. But his importance did not diminish in the last hundred years. It grew.
HANSEN: NPR's Joe Palca speaking to us from the University of Cambridge in England. And our series to mark the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin begins next month. Joe, thank you very much.
PALCA: You're welcome.
C: the Packers, the Cowboys, the Giants. This list does not include the Cardinals. First from Chicago, then St. Louis, now Arizona, the team has gone without a championship longer than any other. Today they play for the NFC title. And if they win, they go to the Super Bowl. NPR's Ted Robbins has more.
TED ROBBINS: No one seemed more surprised or pleased at the pack of reporters and cameras waiting for him at practice than Cardinals linebacker Carlos Dansby.
CARLOS DANSBY: First time I've ever seen this many people out here.
ROBBINS: Dansby has been a Cardinals player for five seasons, during which time the team won 33 games and lost 47. So I asked him in the locker room if he ever thought this day would come.
(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)
DANSBY: Um.
ROBBINS: Truthfully.
DANSBY: Unidentified Man: Set, hit.
ROBBINS: They may be having fun in practice, but come game time it will be about respect. The Cards made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Then they beat Atlanta in the first round. And in a shocker last weekend, they beat heavily favored Carolina. For the franchise, playing for a conference championship is uncharted territory - but not for its veteran quarterback, Kurt Warner. Nine years ago, Warner helped lead the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory. Before that, the Rams were losers. So Warner is used to being on a Rodney Dangerfield team.
KURT WARNER: You know, I laugh at it just from the fact that, well, why wouldn't we get a lack of respect when we haven't done anything to prove otherwise. Hopefully, we've made again some steps in that direction. But it takes, year in year out, it takes consistency to earn that kind of respect.
ROBBINS: It's even been hard to earn respect or loyalty from fans. In the last two decades since the Cardinals moved here, Phoenix has exploded in population, which means relatively few adults were born here. Crystell Demron(ph) is a typical Arizona fan.
CRYSTELL DEMRON: We have so many of us who came from somewhere else who now live here, who still have allegiance to their hometown, like me, the Bears. It's kind of hard when they play each other, but they don't really do that too often, so.
ROBBINS: No conflict now.
DEMRON: So, I'm excited. Yes.
ROBBINS: Then there are the long-suffering fans. Think what's it's been like for Mike Perry(ph). He's been a Cardinals season ticket holder for 15 years.
MIKE PERRY: Agony. A lot of agony and pain.
ROBBINS: But Perry thinks the agony is over for longer than just this year.
PERRY: They're building a team. They have good players, quality players, coaching staff.
ROBBINS: One year at a time, though. One game at a time. The Arizona Cardinals are still slight underdogs going into the game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Ted Robbins, NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of people, are expected in the nation's capital to witness and celebrate the transfer of power from one administration to another this Tuesday. The festivities for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president are already beginning, as are the sales of inaugural doo dads. Darlene Gaye(ph) of Miami had her bit of kitsch picked out.
DARLENE GAYE: Unidentified Woman: Did you see the bobblehead doll?
GAYE: Yes. My husband loves the bobblehead. Most likely, we're going to buy it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: Later today, some of America's most popular musicians give a free open-air concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Allison Keyes is out on the Mall checking out the preparations. Allison, where are you? What's going on where you are?
ALLISON KEYES: I'm at the corner of 23rd and Constitution and just came through a pretty major security check for the media. The public is entering at several different venues along Constitution Avenue, but people out here are having a really good time this morning.
HANSEN: Really? Are there many people out this early?
KEYES: I would say there were several hundred people in line when I walked up at about a quarter to seven. I can't see all the way down the street, but the line, which is broken up in parts, extends past 19th street, which is several blocks from where I am. There are a lot of people dressed up in layers. People have chairs. There are people out dancing. Everybody is pretty excited to be here.
HANSEN: Yeah. You mentioned people dressing in layers. I know it's a little warmer today, but not much. It's cold. Do people seemed like they are really dressed warmly enough?
KEYES: Well, some of us are lucky enough to be from Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KEYES: So, I've got about four layers myself.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KEYES: But I ran into a group of women from California who are actually singing and dancing in line, "I Will Survive," and that kind of thing. They said they bought their first winter coats this morning, but they've been out since 4:30 a.m, they have a big thermos of coffee, which actually is prohibited, so they're having a good time. They say they just are exited to be a part of this whole thing.
HANSEN: And from where you are, can you see any preparations on stage?
KEYES: I cannot see the stage yet from where I am. Where I'm standing is in a secure area. There is an army unit in fatigues in front me and the secret servicemen that are checking the media. There are barricades all along Constitution and along the roads leading up to the Memorial, and a lot of live trucks where I am right now.
HANSEN: Can I ask you of the people that you've seen are they older? Are they younger? Are just an absolute mixed bag?
KEYES: It's an absolute mixed bag. I think the youngest person I've met so far this morning is four. She was not pleased to be out this early.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
KEYES: But her dad said he was coming to see Springsteen no matter what. Of course, the people next to him were all for Shakira. Then there was another group of people for Beyonce. So it looks like a pretty multi-generational thing. And people say that they're equally excited about the concert and to be part of this inaugural, which everybody describes as historic.
HANSEN: So even though people's eyes maybe running from the cold there are big, big smiles on their faces.
KEYES: Yes. (Laughing) And it's not that bad. They're actually one woman out here that has on a face mask that looks like Hannibal Lecter. She seems to be the warmest person I have seen.
HANSEN: NPR's Allison Keyes. She's on the National Mall here in Washington in preparation for the big concert later today. Allison, thank you very much.
KEYES: You're welcome.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Basketball fans will remember Kevin Johnson as the former all-star point guard for the Phoenix Suns. But that's not why we're about to talk to him. In November, Kevin Johnson was elected mayor of his hometown - Sacramento, California. He is here in Washington this weekend for the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and he joins us by phone. Mayor Johnson, thank you for taking timeout.
KEVIN JOHNSON: Thank you, Liane. My pleasure.
HANSEN: After you retired from the NBA, you established a community development organization that got a lot of praise. But this is your first time as an elected official, has it been difficult to adjust from the non-profit sector to the public one?
JOHNSON: It's been very, very different, to say the least. When you're in the non-profit sector world, everybody loves everything you do. And you're happy that you're part of a do-gooder organization trying to improve your community. And once you become an elected official, politics is fair game. And playing in the NBA for 12 years, I thought basketball was a dirty sport, but politics, a whole another level. It's as dirty as it gets.
HANSEN: Well, you prevailed. You were elected, and now, you have to face a $50 million deficit in your city. And that's a lot for anybody to handle, especially someone, you know, who's in his first term. Do you have a plan?
JOHNSON: First thing we want to do is control spending. Unfortunately, our expenditures had exceeded our revenue so we're not going to let that happen going forward. Secondly, we're going to make sure that we consistently have a balanced budget. Number three, we're going to put more money away in our reserve. And then lastly, we've got to expand economic development opportunities. We've got to increase and expand our tax revenue base, and that will give us an opportunity to make sure we preserve our services and our programs and are not laying off people, especially in this very challenged market.
HANSEN: I imagine budget deficits are a hot topic at the conference. Is there any city that has a fiscal policy you'd like to emulate?
JOHNSON: Yeah, there's a lot mayors doing great things around the country. And the mayor of Fresno, they have a great system in terms of their budget. They have a balanced budget. They actually have a surplus, which is very difficult to have during these trying, economic times. They're putting more police officers on the street, more firemen on the street. I believe if we align the resources we do have with the priorities of our community, which are public safety, education and certainly economic development opportunities, meaning jobs in particular, we'll get through it.
HANSEN: You're in a state, California, that as a whole is in trouble. The state is expecting a $40 billion deficit through next year. You know that - I mean, you know this, there's thousands of civil servants in Sacramento. So what happens, I mean, if the state turns to layoffs?
JOHNSON: It's very difficult. The state just announced that they're going to be doing furloughs and Sacramento is a government employee town. A lot of our employee base works for the state of California. And when we're talking about laying people off, it impacts us in a very, very significant way. So, I am one, as well as other mayors around the state of California, that are sending letters to the governor and to the pro tem and the speaker of the house to make sure that we can get this budget resolved sooner than later.
HANSEN: Now, that the conference is going on this weekend. You know, there's a big day coming up on Tuesday. Are you staying in town for the inauguration?
JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'm out here for the National Conference of Mayors, but we'll balance some meeting and some work time with a little fun.
HANSEN: Former NBA star Kevin Johnson is the newly elected mayor of Sacramento, California. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and enjoy yourself and good luck during this time.
JOHNSON: Thank you very much, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. The much anticipated inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States is now only a few days away. Over the past month, we've been broadcasting a series of conversations with NPR News analyst Juan Williams about the intersection of history and politics when America's first black president is sworn in. Juan has written extensively about race and civil rights. And today, we're going to talk about how this president is likely to deal with race. First, here is candidate Obama talking about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright during his now famous speech on race in March of last year.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARCH 2008 CAMPAIGN)
BARACK OBAMA: I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raised me, a woman who sacrificed, again and again, for me, a woman who loves as me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who pass her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
HANSEN: That's President-elect Barack Obama during his campaign in March of 2008. Now, to Juan Williams. Welcome back, Juan.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good to be with you, Liane.
HANSEN: We've been talking about the power of the Voting Rights Act going back into history, the emergence of black politics. How does Barack Obama fit in this tradition?
WILLIAMS: Well, he's the first viable black candidate for president of the United States. And what distinguishes him as such, really, is that fact that he is a crossover candidate. You think back to others such Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Alan Keyes - none of these people would you characterize as viable to win the nomination. And Barack Obama, from the very start, seemed to be an outsider, but everyone took him seriously as a candidate for president of the United States.
HANSEN: Remind us a little bit about how the issue of race was talked about during the campaign.
WILLIAMS: Now, the last group to come along was an older generation of black politicians. The model for this older generation of black politician was someone who was a spokesman for the black community, and it was still on a segregated model. Barack Obama's whole model is contrary to that. He is a politician sitting there who just happens to be black.
HANSEN: Hmm. So, two things then, is Barack Obama now creating a new era in black politics? And if so, what does this mean for the older generation?
WILLIAMS: Well, the older generation, in a sense, is in shock. They've never dealt with anybody like this. He doesn't come out of the pulpit, so he's not a minister, which is another tradition of black leadership. He doesn't come out of established black politics. He didn't come up as a local city councilman, school board member, mayor and...
HANSEN: He lost a congressional seat to a former Black Panther.
WILLIAMS: To Bobby Rush. When Barack Obama ran against Bobby Rush, Barack Obama once said to me that he was told by many of the voters, you know what? Wait your turn, young man. You know, you haven't exactly proven yourself to us yet.
HANSEN: Is it possible that black America, you know, that, I guess collective that we use, will be disappointed with its first black president?
WILLIAMS: So, this is a new era in black politics, you get people like Artur Davis, the congressman from Alabama or Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey. I remember when Cory Booker was running at one point against Sharpe James, his predecessor, Sharpe James said, we don't have time to teach you how to be black. The whole idea was, you know what? You have to wait. Well, now with Barack Obama as president, that older generation finds the time for the younger generation to wait has passed.
HANSEN: NPR News analyst Juan Williams is the author of "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years," the companion book to the acclaimed PBS series. He's also the writer of a biography Thurgood Marshall and "My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience." Juan, good to see you, again.
WILLIAMS: Liane, this has been a joy for me. Thank you for inviting me.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
It's been 25 years since the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations. Despite divisions over the war in Iraq, relations have been warmest during the current Bush administration. In the Letter From Europe, NPR's senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli reports that Vatican officials are bracing for a sharp shift in relations under an Obama administration that will be openly pro-choice.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Vatican analysts say Pope Benedict is also well aware that the next American president enjoys unprecedented worldwide popularity. One church historian quipped this week, it's Obama who now holds the hope card. On January 20th he told me, people will be expecting the new American president to walk on water. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News Rome.
HANSEN: And you can read and respond to Sylvia's letters from Europe at our blog npr.org/soapbox.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
We had fascinating replies from civil rights activists to high school students who were too young to vote, but still participated by enrolling voters in their communities. Well, today, two of our listeners join us to tell their good luck stories. Walter Dear is in the studios of KSUT in Ignacio, Colorado. Welcome to you, Walter.
WALTER DEAR: Thank you so much, Liane. Pleasure to be here.
HANSEN: Walter, I want to start with you. Now your daughter wrote in to us, and she says that you have pictures with John F. Kennedy, General Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton. I mean, how was it you got so close to all of these presidents?
DEAR: Well, I was an editor, publisher for a daily newspaper in Henderson, Kentucky for like 40 years, and I just sort of flocked to the political scene from time to time. My brother Joe, who later became president of the National Press Club called me in the early '50s to over to New York City to hear Ike Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University announce his resignation. Eisenhower had a remarkable facility for avoiding answers to pesky questions asked by newsmen. He would talk and talk and say nothing. Sort of like Alan Greenspan.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: Now, how did you get your tickets to the inauguration?
DEAR: I pestered our United States Congressman John Salazar and his brother Ken Salazar, and we got four tickets, which is lucky me. So my daughter Jenny and I are going and then two friends from Durango are going.
HANSEN: Well, we want to bring Krupali Tejura into the conversation and to - I guess re-introduce her to everybody. We actually have a clip because she appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show."
DEAR: Wow.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW "OPRAH")
TEJURA: (Singing) O-b-a-m-a, O-b-a-m-a, O-b-a-m-a, Obama was his name-O. He lined with character, he loves...
HANSEN: Hi, Krupali.
TEJURA: Hello.
HANSEN: Oh, I bet you love to hear that tape of you singing.
TEJURA: No.
HANSEN: No?
TEJURA: After I sang that, I was so embarrassed. I did not share that film or tape with - or that story actually after I got back home with anybody.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: So you don't want to repeat the experience here?
TEJURA: Well, I mean, I could if you ask.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: Well, could you?
TEJURA: I sure can.
HANSEN: Go ahead.
TEJURA: Would you like me to sing it?
HANSEN: Oh, sure.
TEJURA: OK. (Singing) There once was a man from Illinois who became a state senator. O-b-a-m-a, O-b-a-m-a, O-b-a-m-a, Obama was his name-oh. He'd led with character, he led with integrity, he made the people happy. O-b-a-m-a, O-b-a-m-a, O-b-a-m-a, Obama was his name-oh.
HANSEN: Whoo.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: Nice work.
TEJURA: I'm not a singer. I'd like to prefix it with that.
HANSEN: So, it wasn't your singing voice that got you tickets to the inauguration?
TEJURA: You know, on the day after the election, I booked a flight to D.C. I knew I was going to be there no matter what, with or without a ticket. It was going to be a full-circle moment for me no matter what. People thought I was a little nuts, but you know, I said, you know I'm going to go whatever happens happens. That same day, I wrote into both my senator, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who happens to be the chair of the Inaugural Committee and you know, the same day that the "Oprah Winfrey Show" called me. I kid you not. I got a message on my cell phone from the Dianne Feinstein's office that said that I had received two tickets.
HANSEN: Oh.
TEJURA: And they had received - I...
HANSEN: Oh, well four years to the day that you got the "Oprah", you got the Obama tickets. Walter Dear, let me bring you back in. Walter, where are you going to be staying?
DEAR: About 15 miles from the mall, and I know that a lot of people think that it's crazy to go because the trains are going to be jammed. There are not going to be enough port of pallis(ph). But I'm just like my new colleague over there in California, we'll just expect chaos, and it'll be fun.
TEJURA: Yeah, the original Obama girl is making it to D.C.
HANSEN: Those are Weekend Edition listeners Krupali Tejura and Walter Dear. They're both coming to Washington D.C. to attend Tuesday's inauguration of the 44th President Barack Obama. Have a great time. Thank you both.
DEAR: Thank you, Liane.
TEJURA: Thank you so much.
HANSEN: Unidentified Woman: Right, first screen scene is right behind me on the Lincoln memorial. He was (unintelligible) for the big show tomorrow, for the opening ceremony. We're hoping he'll come back on. But wait and see. Otherwise, we'll be seeing him tomorrow.
HANSEN: To see Alyssa and Olivia's diary, go to our blog, npr.org/soapbox. You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. We've received a lot of email about our series "The Ninth Inning." Over the past few weeks, we've heard the stories of extraordinary Americans over 80. An 85-year-old garlic farmer and author and a 91-year-old dancer. Today, we're talking to 84-year-old Eldora Wood, who came to our attention through one of those emails. Her son, George Wood, wrote in to tell us why we should feature his mother and since George is in Washington D.C. for the inauguration, we asked him to come into our studios to read his letter.
M: My mother runs her own gift shop. She goes to work every day and travels around the country to stock the store. She was a child of the Midwest and the Depression. She taught school in a one-room school house in rural Iowa. She survived breast cancer and the slow death of her husband from Alzheimer. My mother also raised four children of her own and three from her husband's first marriage. She's affectionally known by her children as the queen mother of Pinehurst.
HANSEN: Eldora Wood, queen mother of Pinehurst, joins us from member station WUNC in Durham, North Carolina. What a pleasure to be able to talk to you, Mrs. Wood.
M: Thank you. This is really a real honor.
HANSEN: It's an honor for us as well. Do you have spare time and if so, what do you do in it?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: I'm supposed to have one day a week off. But they kind of slip by.
HANSEN: It does. What does a week look like for you? I mean, what are some of the things you do in the course of a week?
M: Well, I do try to go into the shop every day. I try - I really sometimes don't get there until 10 o'clock. I used to be there when they opened the door. But sometimes, I wait until 10 and then I try and come home around 3:30.
HANSEN: Your son wrote in that you grew up on a farm in Iowa during the Depression. What was that like for you? Tell us about that.
M: The thing I most remember is my mother was always canning things and taking it to the people who didn't have enough to eat. We never felt that we didn't have enough of anything. There was a time when things weren't going very well and my father just couldn't handle that very well. And he took his own life and it was rather difficult for the rest of us, but we stayed on the farm. You just knew you had to do those things. There wasn't any question about it. So...
HANSEN: You've hit a lot of bumps in your long road of life. You were diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988.
M: Right, right.
HANSEN: You had a mastectomy.
M: Right.
HANSEN: And a knee replacement?
M: I...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: Right. I've got a new knee, so that gives me a couple of more thousand miles to go, I figure.
HANSEN: What was it like for you when you were diagnosed with your cancer?
M: That was very shocking to me because it was so soon. I had just lost my husband about two or three years before that happened. That was rather upsetting and then I thought, no, this'll be all right. We just got rid of that and I just went on. And it never occurred to me that it might appear again, and it never did.
HANSEN: Yeah.
M: So.
HANSEN: You were married for 32 years when your husband died.
M: Right. Mm-hmm. Right. Yes, that - I resented I guess more than anything else. I didn't quite think I deserved him to leave me so soon because I still had the boys at home. Two of them were in college yet and that I guess I resented but, I guess you finally think, no, this is all right. And then you find something to do and help other people and I think that makes a big difference.
HANSEN: I also heard your eldest son died of heart failure in 2002.
M: Right. Mm-hmm.
HANSEN: That must have been a blow to have one of your children die.
M: That was. You're just always sure that you're going to live - that they are going to live longer than I will live. I think that must be one of the most difficult things to try and handle is losing a child. And I still miss him.
HANSEN: I bet. There's a lot of people - and I'm about 30 years younger than you are. And I don't think I even have your energy. What would you recommend people do who are about your age? And I can take this advice, too. And strive to be active just like you. But you know, feel a little less mobile and less energetic.
M: Right. I think one thing that I enjoy doing is walking. I try to walk every morning for about a half hour before I go to work. Walking gives you a lot of energy.
HANSEN: I'm listening to you and there's just, like you can't wait to get on to the next thing.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HANSEN: Finish this interview already. I got to go do something.
M: I'm very fortunate. Every day, I have a place to go and someone to be with and someone to talk to. And I think that's what makes my life so interesting. I just think it's so important for older people to realize, hey, there's still a lot to do out there.
HANSEN: Eldora Wood joined us from member station WUNC in Durham, North Carolina. To share your own life stories, go to npr.org and click on the Contact Us link, or visit our blog, soapbox. Eldora Wood, it has been a pleasure to talk to you; you're an inspiration.
M: Thank you so much. This is a real treat for me.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. There is not yet total peace in Gaza. But the fighting is way down. Palestinian militants fired into Israel today in defiance of Israel's declared cease-fire, and Israel attacked what it said were the rocket launchers. But there are indications Hamas is now agreeing to a temporary lull and has given Israel a week to pull its troops out. Last night, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israelis in a nationally televised address that a unilateral cease-fire would begin in Gaza, but he said Israeli troops would remain in place for now. NPR's Anne Garrels joins us from Jerusalem. And Anne, where do the Israelis see this going from here?
ANNE GARRELS: Well, Israeli officials certainly say they expected some attacks that Hamas would want to be seen as having the last word on the ground, and they're monitoring events minute by minute. But they say if Hamas causes injuries of Israeli citizens, civilians, soldiers, Israel will react aggressively. Israel hopes that by declaring a cease-fire, it's got more international support if Hamas continues its resistance. The prime minister's spokesman said today, he hopes now the world will understand who is actually responsible.
HANSEN: Can you tell - I mean, how long do Israeli troops expect to stay in Gaza?
GARRELS: That's a very good question. Prime Minister Olmert was deliberately vague on this in an interview with NPR earlier today. Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres says troops could be there for days, perhaps weeks. He indicated much depends on what the international community does to help stop arms smuggling into Gaza through Egypt. While the U.S. has signed a memo of understanding with the Israelis that calls for a vague standard cooperation to prevent Hamas from rearming, Israel wants to firm up exactly what the U.S., NATO, and specifically Britain, France, and Germany will do. And then there's the issue of what Egypt will allow on its territory. So far, Egypt has said it will not accept foreign troops on its soil.
HANSEN: Hamas may be battered at this point, but is it possible that resistance to Israel will continue and maybe spread to the West Bank?
GARRELS: You know, that's a very real possibility. When I asked this very question of President Peres this morning, he insisted Hamas' days are numbered militarily and politically. Though Palestinians voted in large numbers for Hamas, he now believes Gazans look to negotiations with Israel. He said Israel can empower the Palestinian Authority, Hamas' rivals in the West Bank, by making peace with them. He said Israel has to do this. Whether that's indeed the case, possible, well that's the biggest question of all.
HANSEN: NPR's Anne Garrels reporting from Jerusalem. Anne, thank you very much.
GARRELS: Thank you.
LIANE HANSEN, Host:
Candidate Barack Obama made a lot of promises during his ultimately victorious presidential campaign - 510 of them to be exact. In the past, it was difficult for the average citizen to keep track of how many presidential promises were kept and how many were broken. But it's the Internet age, and now the answers to those questions are just a click away. PolitiFact.com, a Web site run by the St. Petersburg Times, kept track of the rhetoric and advertising during the campaign with its truth-o-meter. Now the site has pledged to keep a tally on each of each of President-elect Obama's 510 promises on what it's calling the Obameter. Bill Adair is the Washington bureau chief of the St. Petersburg Times and editor of PolitiFact.com, and he's back in our studios. Welcome back. So many meters.
M: Thank you for having me. Yes, we feel like we should trademark the word meter.
HANSEN: There you go. Did you find anything particularly unusual about President-elect Obama's promises?
M: Well, I think initially we were surprised at the scope and just the sheer number. Five hundred and ten is really more than both Bush and Clinton's first-term promises combined. So it is just many, many promises.
HANSEN: And what's different about Obama's promises compared to his predecessors'?
M: Well, I think that he has tried to be very specific, to reassure people that he did have the - sort of the chops to be a solid candidate, to be somebody who could really run the government. And so we found that they were very, very specific and often had deadlines. There would be something that would say, within one year I will convert the White House fleet of cars to hybrids. And those sort of deadlines are an attempt to reassure voters and also help us at PolitiFact as we try to measure them. Because if he hasn't done it by then, then we're going to rate it on our Obameter as a promise broken.
HANSEN: And that way, he's actually showing some willingness to be accountable.
M: In looking through some of the things he said - and we put one of the quotes on our site - Obama has said repeatedly, hold me accountable. And so on our site, we say, OK, we will. And so we have it so that it will be a dynamic database where you'll be able to come to the site and see how many promises are in the works, how many are stalled, how many promises are kept or broken or whatever.
HANSEN: Of the 510, which will be the hardest to keep?
M: Well, some of the ones, for instance, climate change will be particularly difficult where the timeframes are 10, 15 years out.
HANSEN: What promises can he get to right away?
M: Well, one that's actually in the works on our Web site right now is buy my daughters a puppy. And we...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: We decided that indeed was a campaign promise, too, and looks like he's going to fulfill that. The one about converting the White House fleet to hybrids will probably be relatively easy. He left himself a little wiggle room for security.
HANSEN: Before I let you go, I know we've been talking about the president's promises. But with your truth-o-meter, are you going to be doing anything about keeping track of Congress this year?
M: Yeah, and that's another change on PolitiFact. We decided that the truth-o-meter had worked so well during the campaign that we should bring it to Washington. And so we are going to be checking members of Congress, people who testify before Congress. And we're hoping to do the same thing we did in the campaign, which is just sort of bring the truth to politics.
HANSEN: Bill Adair is the editor of PolitiFact.com. Thanks for coming in.
M: Thanks, Liane.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The justice minister in France returned to work only five days after she gave birth. And that has sparked a national debate. Her brief maternity leave has set off howls of outrage from French feminists, who say it's a bad example. Eleanor Beardsley sends this report.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Justice Minister Rachida Dati turned up for her first cabinet meeting last week, surrounded by television reporters and photographers. And as if showing up for work just hours after leaving the maternity clinic wasn't enough, Dati came decked out in a sleek, velvet outfit and stiletto heels.
U: (Speaking French)
BEARDSLEY: What incredible shape she's in. Her black suit fits perfectly, exclaimed one radio reporter. And look at those heels. Just five days after a cesarean, raved another. The coverage started a debate that has raged in France. Florence Montreynaud is a writer and feminist.
M: This example separates women into two categories:a few superwomen with a wonderful job, and millions of other women that are totally normal to feel a little tired after birth. These women are - what to say - sissy? Or weakling?
BEARDSLEY: Dati's story has always fascinated the French press. One of 12 children of Algerian-Moroccan parents who grew up in a gritty, French suburban housing project, Dati is a rare immigrant success story and the very symbol of women's emancipation. She's in charge of reforming the French legal system, which has seen her take on powerful French magistrates. The Cinderella of the Suburbs has become the star of President Nicolas Sarkozy's cabinet.
M: (Speaking French)
BEARDSLEY: But Laurence Pieau, editor of French magazine Closer, says nothing spoke louder as a symbol of the modern woman than the photos of the petite, glamorous and radiant Dati striding out of the maternity clinic and back to the office.
M: I think these images will stay on the memoir collective, on the memory of all the French women, because it's a very strong image. And I think this images give hope to women in their 40s, women who want children, because it shows that you can be pregnant and keep the important responsibilities in your job.
BEARDSLEY: Martine Dupont, who's eight months pregnant, leaves a Paris maternity clinic after a check-up. Unlike Dati, Dupont says she'll use every bit of her maternity leave.
M: (Through translator) I'll probably even take a couple of months of parental leave after that. Dati doesn't project the best image of a mother, but I don't think it'll affect the rest of us mothers.
BEARDSLEY: Some of those who call the fury against Dati unfair blame her boss, President Sarkozy. They say it's his fault that Dati felt pressured to return to work so soon after the birth of her daughter. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Tomorrow, Inauguration Day, we turn a page in history. Yeah, I know it's one of the oldest cliches in the book, so to speak. But with so many people focused on this historic moment, let's remember that a page can be turned with precision and grace, or with a clumsy hand. So on this inaugural eve, we have advice from a professional, somebody who literally turns pages for a living. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg makes the introduction.
SUSAN STAMBERG: Well it's not the only thing he does. David Evan Thomas is a professional composer. His work has been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, chamber groups, choruses. He's also a singer and a pianist. But Mr. Thomas also turns pages for musicians, including biggie pianists like Peter Serkin and Leon Fleisher - and even on request for radio broadcasters. Mr. Thomas, if you have some pages in front of you, would you just turn them for me, please?
STAMBERG: All right.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAGE TURNING)
STAMBERG: Hear that? Just barely - good - that's the goal, being quiet. But it is not that easy to achieve. Page turners must read the music right along with the pianist to keep the beat, do their turnings sometimes several measures before the music on the page runs out, and be pretty much invisible.
STAMBERG: And the page turn is sort of a butler for the pianist. Anthony Hopkins said when he was preparing for "The Remains of the Day" that a butler told him that the room should feel more empty when a butler is there than when he is not.
STAMBERG: Same with page turners. Empty the room, let the music flow. To demonstrate, at our piano in Studio 4A, a pianist and her page turner are poised to play. The turner sits to the left of the pianist. Let the music flow.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO MUSIC)
STAMBERG: Bravo! Another near-silent performance - by the turner, anyway. When he turns in St Paul, Minnesota, David Evan Thomas is paid 50 to $100 a concert. As part of his preparation, he reviews the music to be played, makes sure to tuck his tie in carefully so it doesn't flap, and that his teeth are freshly brushed. 'Course, no matter how careful the page turner's preparation, there is always the possibility of messing up. Ever turned two pages at once?
(SOUNDBITE OF PAGE TURNING)
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO MUSIC)
STAMBERG: That's always a fear. And because of that, when you get up and you grab the pages, you have to press them to make sure that you only have one page. And pianists have told me that they like to actually hear you press the pages together, so that they know you have it.
STAMBERG: (Laughing) Do you ever sort of lick your finger before you reach over?
STAMBERG: Oh, that's part of the technique. You have to lick your finger.
STAMBERG: Mr. Thomas's only near-catastrophe as a page turner had nothing, really, to do with his turning. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma was playing a Cesar Franck sonata in St. Paul - this is a commercial recording.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
STAMBERG: Ma's accompanist was pianist Katherine Stott. Stott's page turner was David Evan Thomas.
STAMBERG: As I turned a page, I found that the book was not stapled, and the pages started to cascade down the music rack toward the keyboard. And there was a gasp from the audience, which I could hear.
STAMBERG: Thomas leaned forward, smacked the falling pages against the piano, and pushed them back up into place.
STAMBERG: It was a heart attack. I could liken it to a traffic accident, actually, or a near traffic accident, where you know you've had a near miss.
STAMBERG: But he saved the day. And Katherine Stott just kept on playing. A similar, but far more disastrous tale, comes from a pianist who was the victim of a page turner. Lambert Orkis, principal keyboard with the National Symphony, says lots of terrible things can happen in performance.
STAMBERG: You can slip. A page turner can fall on you. I'm not kidding you.
STAMBERG: Here's the disaster story. Decades ago at a recital, pianist Lambert Orkis accompanied a bassoonist. He can't remember what they played, but this one's nice. A music student was assigned to turn pages for him. In this case, the music wasn't in a book but rather, on a long sheet of paper that folded and unfolded like an accordion. The young accompanist looked really nervous. Sweaty, kind of shaky.
STAMBERG: We were approaching a page turn, and I could see she wasn't going to make it, she wasn't standing up at the right time. So I just said, fine, I'll turn it myself. And my hand goes to turn the page, she gets into a panic situation, and she rushes to grab the page, hits my hand, which then deflects the page so that this accordion-like affair is starting to unravel. It now falls onto the keyboard, so she tries to reel in the music, and now it falls off the keyboard onto the stage itself. And then she tries to pull it some more, and now it falls off the stage down into the audience part of the hall.
STAMBERG: Pianist Lambert Orkis never stopped playing for a second during this chaos, but he pretty much gave up using page turners after that. Then again, he never worked with David Evan Thomas. It's easy at a concert to get swept away by the music, lost in the grandeur of it all. But Mr. Thomas says that's the job of the audience, not the page turner.
STAMBERG: As a matter of fact, you don't really listen. Listening involves personal involvement that is expectation and hope and disappointment, and whatever the music asks of your ears. Whereas a page turner can't listen that way; you simply have to note where you are and keep up with it.
STAMBERG: So in this season of turning a new political page, how about some applause for those unsung heroes of the concert stage, the people who turn pages filled with black dots and lines so that the dots and dabs can become music to our ears. I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.
INSKEEP: And for a list of all the music you heard in Susan's story, visit our Web site, npr.org. It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
People who made it through the crowds got a glimpse of the first black man elected president, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, delivering a brief speech yesterday. During his campaign, Barack Obama presented himself as a post-partisan figure. Promised to build bridges, said he wanted to span not only the divide of race and culture, but also the divide of ideology and party. Now, it's becoming clear what President-elect Obama's post-partisanship means in practice, as NPR's Mara Liasson reports.
MARA LIASSON: Since the election, Barack Obama's rhetoric hasn't changed. He's still trying to position himself above or outside the traditional partisan divide, especially when he talks about the economic crisis.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
INSKEEP: This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem at this stage. This is an American problem, and we're all going to have to...
LIASSON: And that sounds a lot like other presidents, says Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. Ornstein has spent his career analyzing the corrosive effects of partisanship in Washington.
INSKEEP: Let's face it, we've had presidential candidates and presidents frequently talk about how they were going to bring in a new era to bring us together.
LIASSON: There was Richard Nixon, whose slogan was "Bring Us Together"; Gerald Ford, who promised an era of compromise, conciliation and cooperation; George H. W. Bush, who was kinder and gentler; and George W. Bush, who wanted to change the tone. But nothing really changed in Washington until - maybe - now, says Ornstein, who is getting ready to set aside his cynicism on the subject.
INSKEEP: What we've seen, at least in this interregnum period before Barack Obama takes office, is, it seems to be more than just rhetoric. We are actually seeing, for the first time in a long time, some actions that may or may not lead to a different kind of partisan dynamic in Washington.
LIASSON: Last week, Mr. Obama was adamant that when it came to his economic stimulus package, he had no pride of authorship, no preference for a Democratic or a Republican idea - just a good idea.
INSKEEP: If it works better than something I've proposed, I'll welcome it. What is not an option is for us to sit and engage in posturing or the standard partisan fights when the American people are out there struggling.
LIASSON: The president-elect has received high marks from the GOP leadership for giving them a chance to consult, if not collaborate. And to get Republican votes, he added $300 billion worth of tax cuts, almost 40 percent of the total stimulus package. That's something that left former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich impressed, and wondering whether the new president will fight to keep them.
INSKEEP: If they can convince liberal Democrats to drop $300 billion in tax cuts in with $700 billion in spending increases, you know, for liberal Democrats, that's a pretty darn good ratio of tax cuts. And I think you have to stop and say, well, let me rethink this. When Obama does something smart, we ought to be for it. We ought to applaud him when he does something that's truly - shows unusual leadership. And when they do things that are destructive or left wing, we ought to be pretty tough about it.
LIASSON: And no doubt, there will be plenty of opportunity for that, because no matter how civil and inclusive Washington becomes, traditional ideological divisions are real and in many cases, meaningful. And the Obama teams insists that being a post-partisan is not the same thing as being a centrist on all issues, or meeting your opponents halfway every time. Here's how transition director John Podesta defines the Obama style of post-partisanship.
LIASSON: I would not describe that at all as splitting the difference, but he's open to talking to Republicans and trying to bring them on board to try to help shape that program, to try to get by, and try and look for ideas across political spectrum.
LIASSON: Buy-in is a big concept with the Obama team. On his very first piece of legislation, the economic stimulus, he's trying to pass a big bill with big bipartisan majorities. And for that, Mr. Obama needs buy-in from both sides. That, in turn, will help lay the political groundwork for his next two big items; transforming the health-care system, and the way Americans consume energy. And, says Norm Ornstein, whether a President Obama can hammer out the grand bargains needed to pass his big reforms will still be the most important test for this self-styled, post-partisan politician.
INSKEEP: No matter how skillful you are at giving something to everybody, no matter how much they feel that they are inside the tent, it's still going to come down to performance. Can you get things passed, enacted into law, and have them begin to have an impact in the country and the world?
LIASSON: On Tuesday, President-elect Obama becomes President Obama and starts working in earnest to accomplish that goal. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.
INSKEEP: And we'll have live coverage of the inauguration tomorrow on NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
On this day before a Democratic president's inauguration, it's worth recalling that it wasn't that long ago that Republicans swept Washington. In 1994, the party won a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, and the man who engineered the takeover was Newt Gingrich. He has two bits of advice now for his fellow Republicans today.
M: The second challenge for Republicans is to become the better-solutions party, not the opposition party. It's very easy to get tempted to just scream no, and that's not a very adequate role. The American people know we have very real challenges both at home and abroad, and the job of the Republican Party during this period in the minority is to take the time, focus the energy, and come up with an entire generation of new solutions.
INSKEEP: New solutions for what Newt Gingrich says is the biggest challenge today: an economy in crisis. Our Renee Montagne sat down with the former House speaker in his Washington office.
M: The real challenges to President-elect Obama makes partisan posturing irrelevant. He's going to inherit an economic mess. It is a genuine historic mess. It's deep enough, it's big enough, it's frightening enough. Three or four years from now, he's either going to have carried us a long way towards recovery, or he's not. And all of these partisans sniping between now and then aren't going to make much difference.
RENEE MONTAGNE: Let me ask you about tax cuts that have come up in the stimulus package that's being proposed. When I spoke recently to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, he said those tax cuts were a good way to get bipartisan support.
INSKEEP: The one thing that unifies Republicans, typically, from Maine to Mississippi is tax relief. And depending upon how this tax component is crafted, it could well have broad Republican appeal, and make it much more likely that the measure passes with broad, bipartisan support, which is what the new president would like, and what we would like.
MONTAGNE: Why are tax cuts so critical to ensuring Republican support?
M: And second, because Republicans believe that real job creation occurs largely in the private sector. In a sense, there's a party of entrepreneurial, small business and self-employed and free enterprise, and there's a party of bureaucracy and politicians and government spending. And they're fundamentally different theories of how the economy works.
MONTAGNE: Although there is a question of whether Republicans are too narrowly focused on the tax issue, maybe just at this point in time. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to play another clip. And this is an interview that we did with conservative columnist David Frum.
M: You don't want to forget who you are. Republicans are the party of limited government, lower taxes, pro business, more freedom. That's all understood. Then you take that philosophy, and you listen to people when they tell you what's bothering them. And if they say, you know, I'm a lot more bothered about health care than I am about taxes, you don't say well, then, we have a nice tax cut for you.
MONTAGNE: Does that ring true to you?
M: Well, look, I think, first of all, having helped balance the budget for four years and pay off $400 billion in federal debt, Republicans ought to be for smarter government rather than dumber government. And I think that if you're to go around and interview everybody and say, how big do you think the government would be if it was as small as possible? If you went around and interviewed the 40 most conservative Republican members of the House and Senate. They're talking about a government that's still a trillion, $500 billion. Well, we ought to then have a smart, trillion, $500 billion government, not a dumb one. Lincoln built the transcontinental railroads, one of the key factors in the rising Republican majority of his generation. Theodore Roosevelt built the Panama Canal. Eisenhower proposed the interstate highway system as a national defense act and as a result, every middle-class American has been able to go on vacation and visit their families and do things. There are smart things government should do. My favorite, for example: doubling the size of the National Science Foundation. I think it's absolutely imperative that we make the investment to remain the world's leader in science and technology. And the Republicans ought to play a role of offering you both lower taxes, smaller government, but also much more effective government.
MONTAGNE: But those projects that you've just mentioned as examples, they sound very much like the projects that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi mentioned to us just a few days ago.
M: Well, I haven't heard them describe any large projects. I mean, Lincoln didn't...
MONTAGNE: Education, national - mass transit.
M: Throwing money at things, but, you know, Lincoln didn't say let's build 75 small railroads, one in each congressman's district.
MONTAGNE: She did, though, say no earmarks.
M: Well, I'd be interested in seeing how they spend the money. You can have a bill that says, I am for transportation, here's $40 billion, there are no earmarks, but by the way, the whole bill is going to be spent fixing potholes. There's a huge jump from the transcontinental railroad president to a pothole presidency. What I've seen so far is a tendency to have relatively tiny projects that have no strategic impact on the country's long-term future.
MONTAGNE: Would you identify those as the shovel-ready projects that are being so much talked about?
M: Yeah. And my question is, you know, are they shovel-ready projects that get you beyond temporary employment of shovels?
MONTAGNE: Let me just ask you one last question. What is your assessment, though, of President-elect Barack Obama in this latter period of transition? I'm really thinking of the fact that he succeeded in freeing up the $350 billion left in the Troubled Assets Relief Program, TARP, by going to the hill and twisting arms.
M: Sure. I give President-elect Barack Obama very high marks, both for how he selected his Cabinet and his staff, and the fact that he did the opposite of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt in 1932 would not intervene at all until the inauguration, and the situation got much worse. President-elect Obama has intervened in talking with the president of Mexico about what I think is the largest foreign policy challenge we have, which is the civil war under way in Mexico. And President-elect Obama took the lead in reaching out to the Senate to get the additional money. And while I happen to think the money is largely being wasted, from his perspective, to achieve what he wanted, he was right to intervene. So he's actually, I think, probably been the most active pre-inaugural president-elect in American history.
MONTAGNE: And you think that's a good thing?
M: I think that in this circumstance - I think it fits the nature of our time. And you have 24-hour news cycles, and I suspect we'll look for ways to accelerate the transitions in the future, because I don't think once you've had a decision by the American people, you necessarily want to wait two months in order to make the transition to new leadership.
MONTAGNE: Mr. Gingrich, thank you very much.
M: Thank you.
INSKEEP: This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
We don't know exactly how many people are coming to Washington for Barack Obama's inauguration. We do know that a whole bunch of them are getting onto a bus with NPR's Ina Jaffe. And Ina, where you?
INA JAFFE: I am in Louisville, Kentucky, Steve. And we have four buses here. And people are just boarding right now. And we are outside of the Expressions of You Coffee House Gallery in the African-American community here in Louisville. And there are some very, very excited people here. They started out having some prayers and some inspirational talks from local pastors and radio personalities. And they're all dressed in their Obama stuff, Obama buttons, Obama shirts. One woman had Obama carved into her hairdo. And they're ready to go.
INSKEEP: Can you give us an idea who organized this trip? And what kinds of people are going?
JAFFE: Well, I would say most of the crowd is African-American, but not entirely. And the man who organized it is the owner of the Expressions of You Coffee House, and his name is James Linton. And he says that this whole project started with his 10-year-old daughter, and he told that story. And let's listen to it now.
M: My daughter is Armarni(ph) Linton, and she comes down the steps and says, dad, I want to go to the presidential inauguration. So two days later, she comes and goes, dad, I've invited the cheerleaders and the dance team. And I said, well, we can't get them all in dad's car. I'm going to have to make some arrangements to get everybody there. We started calling around and finding out about some buses. By that time, my mother calls me and says, we've got 40 family members who want to go. So, I said, OK. I'm going to need more than one or two buses. And now we're going to the inauguration, we're very excited. We're going to be riding into history. And we can't wait to get there. I've been packed for two weeks.
INSKEEP: When you said they won't all fit in my car. Maybe that could be the theme of all the travel in the next couple of days, Ina Jaffe.
JAFFE: Well, there were some activities planned for this trip. They were going to visit some important historical sites in Washington, D.C. They were going to have a big party when they got to Baltimore, which is where they're going to stay overnight before they go into town for the inauguration. And there was just such a logistical nightmare, with all the people coming in and all the buses that are going to be there, that basically, everything's been canceled. It's up early into the buses and into Washington, D.C. for the Inauguration and that's it, then its home.
INSKEEP: Oh, you mean they don't even have a spot in Baltimore, which is 35 miles outside of Washington, D.C., by the way. They couldn't even get a hotel that close?
JAFFE: Well, they thought this would be the simplest thing. They originally thought they could take the train into town, and they found out that that was going to be really hard because the trains are going to be so crowded. So now, they're taking the bus.
INSKEEP: Ina, I've had a look at the National Mall, where the inauguration will take place, and people with tickets would at least be able to see Barack Obama, although from some distance. Do these folks have tickets?
JAFFE: No, they do not have tickets. They will be on the Mall, watching on the Jumbotrons.
INSKEEP: Meaning that they could be a mile away, they could be two miles away, looking at these giant-screen televisions.
JAFFE: They will be in the presence of history, as far as they're concerned. I don't think it bothers them at all.
INSKEEP: Wow. And do they have any celebration planned other than being on the Mall on that cold day, and listening to the words from a distance, and looking at the giant screens?
JAFFE: Well, I don't think they realize how cold it's going to be when they stand out on the Mall for hours yet. But right now, they seem to have their happiness and joy and goodwill to keep them warm.
INSKEEP: Well, maybe just...
JAFFE: Because it is snowing here in Louisville.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Maybe just the sheer number of people will keep them warm. Are they prepared? I mean, are they dressed well for the cold?
JAFFE: Yeah, yeah, you know, it gets cold here in Louisville, Kentucky, apparently. It is, as I said, snowing now, looks like a paperweight. And we have to get on the bus now. So, we're the last ones on, and they're going to leave without us if we don't go.
INSKEEP: Well Ina, enjoy the ride.
JAFFE: Thank you very much, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Ina Jaffe in Louisville, Kentucky. This is NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep with Renee Montagne. From Washington, D.C., officials yesterday was a trial run for tomorrow's presidential inauguration. Hundreds of thousands of visitors turned up at the Mall for a concert, and that placed a lot of stress on the city's trains, buses and roads. As NPR's Laura Sullivan reports, not everything went smoothly.
LAURA SULLIVAN: The day started out well. It was bright, clear, and traffic officers were in a great mood.
(SOUNDBITE OF MALL)
M: Welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon! Welcome!
SULLIVAN: Traffic director Melanie Smith kept a steady stream of people moving down the street with gusto.
M: Oh, I love it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: I love it. Yeah, I got to holler at these people.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!
SULLIVAN: Smith had been at her post hollering since 7 a.m, and even at noon, people were still making good time as they passed her. But up ahead at the security checkpoint, things began to slow to a crawl. D.C. resident Chris Cutting(ph) climbed up onto a security barricade to get a better view of the long lines inching toward the checkpoint.
M: Standing up on here looking across - a lot of people, every standing spot full.
SULLIVAN: Cutting was on a scouting mission for his friends.
M: I told them last night that I'd give them a call and let them know, you know, if there was any reason to come down.
SULLIVAN: So, what's the verdict?
M: No, I don't think so. You know, the concert might be over by the time they get in.
SULLIVAN: That's exactly what happened to many people. Some waited in security lines two hours, only to be told when they got to the front that the viewing area was full. They were left with only the hill of the Washington Monument, half a mile from the stage. Bobby Hamilton(ph) and his family, from Greensboro, North Carolina, spread out a blanket under the last Jumbotron on the hill and were determined to make the best of it.
M: Better than the one at the house.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: And we'll see everything still.
SULLIVAN: It took almost seven hours for the lawns of the Mall to fill up with people. They came by train, bus, Metro, and carpool. And most people reported they had a pretty easy time of it. Then, they all tried to leave at once. At the Foggy Bottom Metro station, a thousand people piled up outside the entrance, trying to get into the station. Inside, the train platform was packed all the way to the edge.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN)
M: Clear the doors.
SULLIVAN: A woman tried to keep the doors of an overpacked train from closing by sticking her hand between them, drawing the ire of Metro officer Michael Jones, who had this point had been herding people for almost two hours.
M: These are not elevator doors.
SULLIVAN: As each train pulled up already full, frustrated train announcers tried to keep new passengers from trying to squeeze in.
(SOUNDBITE OF METRO)
SULLIVAN: Outside, police officers began barricading the Metro entrance to keep people out until space opened. Security officer Eric Houser(ph), with the D.C. government, tried a more friendly approach to try and get people to another station.
M: It's a beautiful day to walk five blocks to the east, folks. Five blocks to the east. And thank you for coming to D.C.
SULLIVAN: Down the street, there were a couple buses. But like the rest of downtown D.C. traffic, they weren't moving. After about 20 minutes, they opened their doors, and the passengers piled out to set off on foot. Officials say they expect a crowd several times larger on Tuesday. Laura Sullivan, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Those two neighbors have been feuding over prices since the start of this year. The dispute has been a huge problem for many European countries that import their Russian gas by way of Ukraine. Many parts of the continent were left without gas in the middle of winter. Now, the two former Soviet republics say they have worked out a deal that will allow Ukraine to pay a little more than it did last year, though it still gets gas at a discount. Ukraine's prime minister headed to Russia today to sign that agreement.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
In this country, the recession has shoppers hunting for huge discounts. This weekend, many lined up outside Circuit City, where a liquidation sale continues this week. The company is closing its 567 stores and laying off more than 30,000 people, yet the bargains were not quite as good as many shoppers expected, as Libby Lewis reports.
LIBBY LEWIS: There's a sea of people circulating at a Circuit City store in Rockville, Maryland. The line at checkout is 20 deep. But much of what people are buying is smaller stuff, not flat-panel TVs or laptop computers. Jim and Amy Marin(ph) of Rockville are in the TV section. They're trying to talk over the cacophony of Sonys and Toshibas surrounding them.
M: Size is a problem. We need something a little bit bigger, but I don't want to spend that much. But the quality is fabulous.
LEWIS: The Marins are like a lot of Americans - they can't remember the last time they were in a Circuit City. That's one reason why the second largest electronics retailer is going out of business. Amy Marin says she's been buying electronics at Target, where she doesn't expect a lot of help, just low prices.
M: Here, I expect to be able to find somebody that knows what they're talking about. And it's hard to find somebody here at all, let alone somebody that knows what they're talking about.
LEWIS: Ron Collins(ph) and his wife found a copier, but didn't think it was much of a deal.
M: You take away price and expertise, why would anybody come here? You know, Darwinian principle: It deserves to die.
LEWIS: Azin Kahn(ph), on the other hand, is sorry Circuit City is going out of business. He found good service on warranties and repairs, but he's leaving empty-handed.
M: It's still, like, only 10 percent off of TVs. I know I'm probably going to get it somewhere else a little bit cheaper.
LEWIS: He was heading to Best Buy. For NPR News, I'm Libby Lewis.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Here's an industry that's not going out of business. It's the business of selling Barack Obama's image, which is available on just about everything. If you walk along the streets of Washington, D.C., in preparation for the inauguration here, there are plenty of people selling something with his picture on it and plenty of things to buy - posters, bracelets, plates and, as Nate DiMeo reports, coins.
NATE DIMEO: The founding fathers were against the British practice of putting their leaders on currency, so Americans had to wait 133 years, until the Lincoln penny of 1909, to see one of their presidents on a coin. Barack Obama didn't have to wait so long.
(SOUNDBITE OF INFOMERCIAL)
U: You're going to get, from the state quarter program, two quarters: one from Illinois, one from Hawaii.
DIMEO: Which you may have noticed if you've watched TV lately, particularly after midnight. At 1 in the morning the other day, this infomercial.
DIMEO: We have the Barack Obama commemorative coin set.
DIMEO: Featuring multiple Emmy award-winner Montel Williams in full how-the-mighty-have-fallen mode, was on two different stations on my dial at the same time.
(SOUNDBITE OF INFOMERCIAL)
U: When these are gone, they are going to be gone.
DIMEO: The set includes a dollar coin, a half dollar, and two state quarters with full-color pictures of the president-elect adhered to the front of each. There are similar sets, some of them dipped in gold, sold through cable and newspaper ads in bad web videos.
U: At 29.95 value, yours for just 9.95.
DIMEO: They come from companies with official-sounding names like the New England Mint, the National Mint and the U.S. Coin Network.
DIMEO: It's a masterpiece of copyrighting.
DIMEO: Rudy Franchi appraises collectibles and presidential ephemera on the "Antiques Roadshow."
DIMEO: It hits all the right notes, you know, it makes it seem like it's officially from the government. It implies that it will go up in value.
(SOUNDBITE OF INFOMERCIAL)
U: I mean, this is backed by the full faith of our federal government. You got to understand that. That's why it always will have value.
DIMEO: Which is true, it is just a U.S. coin with a sticker. Assuming the paint doesn't chip or the adhesive doesn't come off, you can make a phone call with it. And though they dance around the truth, the ads don't seem to lie. And in the Montel infomercial, they make sure they get their legal cover out of the way at the top of the program.
(SOUNDBITE OF INFOMERCIAL)
U: The U.S. Coin Network is not affiliated with the United States government in any way.
DIMEO: That doesn't mean that people don't get fooled. The U.S. Mint issues advisories distancing itself from the work of the non-Mint mints. Larry Shepherd is the head of the American Numismatic Association, which makes him sort of like the chief coin collector.
DIMEO: They really don't have a value, either for as a bullion coin or for numismatic purposes.
DIMEO: But how about purposes non-numismatic? If you've ever watched the "Antiques Roadshow," you may very well have seen Rudy Franchi tell someone that her thrift-store McKinley button or yard sale Calvin Coolidge cuff links are worth a bundle. But he says there's simply too much Barack Obama stuff to guarantee that any of it is going to be worth anything.
DIMEO: It's like trying to stuff a whale into an aquarium. Because there's going to be millions of these out there, but there's only a handful, in the low thousands, of people who collect political memorabilia.
DIMEO: So, no. Maybe someday, President Obama will find himself on a real coin, with numisma-tacular value. But these aren't it. However, faced with a choice of investing in a painted quarter or underwear, or any number of the many, many objets d'Obama out there, maybe you should take the coin. At least it's worth a quarter. For NPR News, I'm Nate DiMeo.
INSKEEP: Numismatacular? Is that a word?
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
If you prefer a presidential potion with more kick, you might head to a bar in the capital and order an Obamatini, although the president-elect reportedly prefers plain, old beer. In which case, if you want to toast the nation's new leader tomorrow, you could head to a pub here in Washington and order a brew called Ale to the Chief. And that's the Business News on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
You could think of Sunday's events in Washington, D.C., as a warm-up for the presidential inauguration. Big stars played, and an incoming president spoke. Instead of the Capitol, the backdrop for this huge crowd was the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln was a president who meant different things to different generations, but one meaning above all was hard to miss as Obama stood on the monument's white steps. NPR's Debbie Elliott was there.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT: From the moment Mr. Obama launched his campaign for president, he has evoked the imagery of the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. It was at the foot of Lincoln's statue that celebrities took to the stage to call for the nation to unite, and to recall key moments in U.S. history. Bono and U2.
(SOUNDBITE FROM CONCERT AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL)
BONO: Let freedom ring.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BONO: On this spot where we're standing, 43 years ago - 46 years ago, Dr. King had a dream...
ELLIOTT: Hundreds of thousands of people lined the reflecting pool on the National Mall yesterday, reliving the 1963 March on Washington. President-elect Barack Obama watched with his family from a transparent enclosure on the stage and appeared to enjoy it all, including the comedian Jamie Foxx's impersonation.
(SOUNDBITE FROM CONCERT AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL)
M: This was the most incredible moment of my life and all of your lives when our president-elect said to the American people - and he said it very smooth and calmly - he said, if there's anyone who still doubts...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
M: ...that America is not a place where all things are possible, tonight is your answer.
ELLIOTT: Mr. Obama called the concert a celebration of American renewal, but was candid about what his administration must overcome.
(SOUNDBITE FROM CONCERT AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL)
INSKEEP: In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes.
ELLIOTT: And he warned, quote, our road will be long, our climb will be steep.
(SOUNDBITE FROM CONCERT AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL)
INSKEEP: I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way, there will be setbacks and false starts, and days that test our resolve as a nation.
ELLIOTT: Mr. Obama said despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, he's hopeful the United States will endure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "HIGHER GROUND")
ELLIOTT: The Obamas were on their feet dancing when Usher and Shakira joined Stevie Wonder for his classic "Higher Ground." The crowd was euphoric. Christina Kerry(ph) of Odenton, Maryland, was wearing a "Yes We Did" button.
M: Yes we did, and here we go. It's a new era.
ELLIOTT: Kerry and her friend Bob Randolf(ph) said the concert captured the spirit of this moment in history.
M: It's amazing.
M: The people, it's a positive atmosphere all over the place. I mean, it's just great.
M: It's exactly what we needed.
M: Yep.
M: Giving everybody hope. It's time for a change, and I think he's the right person to do it.
ELLIOTT: Todd Garrett(ph) of San Francisco was sporting his "Republicans for Obama" button.
M: The primary reason I got so frustrated being a Republican was how divided our politics had become. And Barack seemed like the kind of person who could bring this country back together again.
ELLIOTT: Others, like Paul Grey(ph) of Chicago, were less interested in the celebration than the work ahead.
M: I think it's time to get going on government. I mean, I'm happy for the inauguration, but I'm really interested in seeing what's going to happen day after tomorrow.
ELLIOTT: As the show came to a close, folk legend Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen led the masses in an anthem to their vision of America.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")
M: This land is your land This land is my land From California...
ELLIOTT: Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Washington.
INSKEEP: I'm looking at a photo gallery of people on stage, from Beyonce to Pete Seeger. You can find it at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
This land is also Cokie Roberts' land. She joins us every Monday morning for analysis, and she's with us once again. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS: And you admit you're really singing right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: We'll sing, we'll sing right after the break. In about four minutes, you and I can sing. Right off air - off air, we should stress.
ROBERTS: Off air.
INSKEEP: Exactly. OK, so the real work starts tomorrow. President-elect Obama becomes President Obama. And I suppose we should remember amid all this celebration, this is a guy who won with 52 percent of the vote. How broad is his support?
ROBERTS: Almost 80 percent of the people saying that they like him. Similarly, his political approval is way up there; two-thirds give him - you know, pass the Goldilocks test, saying that his ideology is about- just right, not too liberal , not too conservative. And in the New York Times-CBS poll, almost 80 percent say they're optimistic about Obama's presidency.
INKEEP: Well now, Cokie, does that mean if you've got millions of people - if those polls are right - millions of people who didn't vote for the guy, who now support him just a couple of months later, does that mean he's been successful in reaching out to conservatives and other kinds of voters?
ROBERTS: But look, it's also true, Steve, that people are terrified about the economy. I mean, both polls show huge numbers saying the economy is bad, close to 100 percent - in the 90s in both. And 80 percent say it's worse than it was five years ago. So these people are ready to give Obama the benefit of the doubt on just about anything at this point.
INSKEEP: Does the president-elect have a benefit now that he will not have in six months or a year? Meaning, that if people are thinking about whether they approve of him or not, they compare him with President Bush, with whom many people disagree?
ROBERTS: Also, people are saying his place in history will be poor. Fifty-eight percent in the ABC poll believe he will be rated as an average or poor president. And he's the only recent president to be that high. Carter was about 46 percent. Compare it with George Bush's father, at 12 percent saying that. So that definitely makes Obama's task easier.
INSKEEP: Although, let me ask about something else. Because, of course, just four years ago, President Bush was taking office for a second term. His party had control of Congress. He had a huge agenda he wanted to push through, and almost none of it got done. Is it likely that Barack Obama is in position to do better?
ROBERTS: More than 60 percent of the people say they're confident in him, compared to only 43 percent confident with the Democrats in Congress, only 29 percent with the Republicans in Congress. And the Republican identification, only 23 percent of the people are calling themselves Republican. That's one of the lowest in history. So they have to be very careful not to be seen as obstructionists. Especially after tomorrow, Steve, when Obama's likely to even get more approval.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks very much. That's NPR's Cokie Roberts. And of course, NPR News will be bringing you live coverage of tomorrow's presidential inauguration. You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. An acclaimed artist from India was invited to inaugurate an exhibition of his work. S.H. Raza's work is so popular that it sometimes sells for millions of dollars. He turned up at a gallery in New Delhi, and he paused to admire some of his paintings on the walls - which is how the artist discovered that most of the paintings on exhibit were fakes. Somebody forged his abstract paintings to get a payoff that was not abstract at all. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
If he had lived, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have marked his 80th birthday last week. He's remembered for his pursuit of civil rights, of course, and for motivating people to serve a cause.
(SOUNDBITE OF 1968 SERMON)
D: If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
INSKEEP: Martin Luther King delivered that sermon in 1968, shortly before his assassination. His birthday became a national holiday in the 1980s and in 1994, Congress expanded its mission to include a national day of service. People were urged to get involved in their communities. And this year, more volunteers are stepping forward to take up that challenge. Here's NPR's Kathy Lohr.
KATHY LOHR: President-elect Barack Obama is calling for a new spirit of service in America. Last year, half a million people participated in King Day volunteer events. More than double that number is expected to help out his year at thousands of service projects, including one at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Atlanta. The group provides temporary housing, clothing and food to the needy.
M: Basically, this would be one of the bins of food that come in as a donation.
LOHR: William Haygood has been a volunteer for the group since he was laid off from his own job as a machinist a few months ago. He sorts and unpacks various canned goods and bags of potato chips so the items are ready to be placed on the food pantry shelves.
M: It's been beautiful working here. I've seen a lot of people come in and actually be able to get help.
LOHR: That includes himself. Haygood is still looking for full-time work, but says volunteering is his way of giving back to St. Vincent de Paul, which serves 55 counties in Georgia, including Atlanta. Piles and piles of clothing and household items are received at the warehouse here, and eventually go out to nine thrift stores. Because of the harsh economy, the group has seen a huge increase in people seeking assistance, including those who are homeless and others who've never needed help before. Sharon Maddox(ph) is manager of the Family Support Center.
M: No question about it. People who were in the car industry, people in offices that work for governments, you know, all these folks are cutting back, and we see a lot of them coming to us for assistance for the first time.
LOHR: Maddox says the two things that the group needs most: food and more volunteers. This is the first time St. Vincent de Paul is participating in the King Day of Service. The group asked for about two dozen volunteers to help organize its food warehouse, and Maddox says almost twice as many signed up to help.
M: The thing about Martin Luther King is that he did say that everyone can serve. No matter what your educational background is, no matter what your financial background is, everyone can serve. And I hope that they will.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
D: I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say...
LOHR: The holiday honors King's life, his teachings and his service. Organizers hope volunteers will make a commitment not just for a single day, but throughout the year. Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Atlanta.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
If President-elect Barack Obama pauses this week to thank African-Americans who came before him, he might tip his hat to some black actors. We're about to meet a writer who explores the connection between Obama and movie stars like Sidney Poitier. In the movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," Poitier plays the black fiance of a white woman, whose father is played by Spencer Tracy.
(SOUNDBITE FROM MOVIE "GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER")
M: (As Matt Drayton) Have you given any thought to the problems your children are going to have?
M: (As Dr. John Wade Prentice) Yes, and they'll have some.
M: (As Matt Drayton) Is that the way Joey feels?
MR: (As Dr. John Wade Prentice) She feels that every single one of our children will be president of the United States. And they'll all have colorful administrations.
MR: (As Matt Drayton) But how do you feel about that problem?
M: (As Dr. John Wade Prentice) Well, frankly, I think your daughter is a bit optimistic. I'd settle for secretary of state.
INSKEEP: Sidney Poitier in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." The writer Jabari Asim has been thinking about that kind of character. He wrote a book called, "What Obama Means." In that book, Jabari Asim describes a type of movie character that is mockingly called the Magic Negro.
M: It kind of ties into this mythical notion of a certain kind of heroic black character that exists primarily to redeem white American lives.
INSKEEP: What is an example of that?
M: I guess a notable example would be Bagger Vance in "The Legend of Bagger Vance," played by Will Smith. Another, Michael Clarke Duncan in "The Green Mile."
INSKEEP: Where the black character is not the central character, but he's the guy who moves the white star in the right direction. Is that what you're saying?
M: Yes.
INSKEEP: Let's listen to a little bit of Will Smith, acting here with Matt Damon in this movie, "Legend of Bagger Vance." Will Smith is playing a golf caddy, and Matt Damon is the guy who is going to benefit from his advice.
(SOUNDBITE FROM MOVIE "THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE")
M: (as Bagger Vance) The trick is to find your swing.
M: (as Rannulph Junuh) What'd you say?
M: (as Bagger Vance) Well, you've lost your swing. We've got to go find it. Now, somewhere in the harmony of all of this...
(SOUNDBITE OF GOLF SWING)
M: (as Bagger Vance) ...all that was...
(SOUNDBITE OF GOLF SWING)
M: (as Bagger Vance) ...all that will be.
INSKEEP: Deeply philosophical bit of practice there, I guess.
M: Yes, very much so. But I think that it has become a convenient place in movies, and in literature, for African-American characters to exist. And it's a different kind of stereotype. These are not inferior beings. They're often magical, mysterious beings. But I think they speak to some need in the mainstream American imagination to place African-American figures in a way that makes them beloved and non-threatening, but somehow still defined by others' perceptions of them.
INSKEEP: What, then, gets you from thinking about the Magic Negro, as it's described in film, and Barack Obama? What's the connection there?
M: Well, you know, I think Barack Obama in many ways fills that role. But he seems to have some knowledge of how people respond to him. I mean, he doesn't entirely resist this notion that he exists to redeem America. We are the ones we have been waiting for, he says. But at the same time, I think he subverts that stereotypical image, because these characters, for all their gifts, are not especially resourceful. They're not especially intelligent. And I think that his ability to marry this mystical notion with real-life policy proposals and down-to-earth language, as well as the elevated eloquence that he's capable of, sort of subverts the notion at the same time that he profits from it.
INSKEEP: In other words, he has to go beyond that image if he's going to be credible.
M: Exactly.
INSKEEP: Now, what about Sidney Poitier? Why do you end up writing an entire chapter comparing Barack Obama to Sidney Pointier?
M: Well it's interesting that when Barack Obama's campaign team first began to do testing, in terms of how the public was responding to him - and this was when he was putting together a run for Senate - some of the white women of a particular generation responded in focus groups by comparing him favorably to Sidney Poitier. And at first, I scoffed at that. You know, I said, boy, that's a really limited response. But as I began to think about it, it made sense. In many ways, the characters that Sidney Pointier played over the years helped make possible the very idea of black men not only in leading roles, but in leadership positions.
INSKEEP: I want to come back to that notion of the Magic Negro - and again, that's the film character who helps the white character along in some fashion. Do you think that on some level, that there are lots of white Americans who do feel that way about Barack Obama? Who are comfortable with him in that particular role in their lives?
M: Well, I think that there are a significant degree of mainstream Americans who may regard him in that way, but I don't think that it is an entirely bad thing. I think that he can be cast in a heroic way, in a way that provokes admiration and inspiration as opposed to earlier, more negative responses to blackness. And that if it's necessary to embody this particular personality for a while, if it means that it will lead us to more wholehearted and comprehensive notions of what black people are and what they're capable of, then this isn't a bad thing.
INSKEEP: Jabari Asim is editor of the NAACP magazine "The Crisis," and author of a new book called, "What Obama Means."
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. It may be no coincidence that the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas comes in time for the inauguration of President-elect Obama. Everybody knows a new American president can help or hurt their cause. Nobody wanted to force him to act on that crisis in his first day in office. Israel announced a unilateral cease-fire Saturday night. Then Hamas followed with its own, week-long cease-fire. In a moment, we'll hear what our correspondent finds inside Gaza. First, diplomats have some breathing room here. NPR's Anne Garrels has more from Jerusalem.
ANNE GARRELS: As the firing stopped, European and Arab leaders met in Egypt on Sunday. They pledged support for rebuilding Gaza, and called for an end to arms smuggling, a key Israeli demand. But the details of a coordinated, multinational effort to block weapons getting into Gaza have yet to be finalized. The leaders also called for the opening of Gaza's border crossings, a key Hamas demand. Six European leaders then went to Jerusalem for a brief meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He told them Israel was interested in leaving Gaza as quickly as possible. Martha Myers, country director for Care International in Gaza, says Israel must open up more than one border crossing to enable aid shipments to get in.
M: Estimates are that Keren Shalom at present can manage about 100 trucks a day, 150 trucks. The Gaza strip needs a minimum of 500 truckloads of material a day for its basic needs.
GARRELS: That doesn't begin to include material for reconstruction. Aid teams are only beginning to assess those needs, which they anticipate will be in the billions of dollars. Reactions in Israel to the cease-fire are mixed. Some, especially Israelis in the south, wanted Hamas wiped out. They're not satisfied; Hamas, while battered, can still launch rockets. They would have liked to see the offensive continue. While the offensive was on, an overwhelming majority of Israelis support it. Now, the debate begins on how it was conducted, and what was achieved. These debates are likely to intensify in the coming weeks as politicians resume campaigning for elections to be held in early February.
GARRELS: This is the voice of Dr. al-Aish, a Palestinian doctor from Gaza talking on the phone with an Israeli TV journalist and friend. His three daughters have just been killed by an Israeli attack. Dr. al-Aish had been a fixture on Israeli TV during the war. He was sympathetic. He was a Palestinian who believed in co-existence. He was someone Israelis had come to know. He worked in Israel. He spoke fluent Hebrew. In the final days of the fighting, he became one of the victims. His case has led some commentators to begin to ask if there was an excessive use of force. Dr. al-Aish has been evacuated to an Israeli hospital, where a fourth daughter is being treated for injuries. He says he hopes his children's deaths are not in vain, that his family's tragedy will open the eyes and minds of Israelis to what has happened. He says there were no militants in his house. He wants an investigation.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAN CRYING)
D: I fully believe in the moral of the Israeli leaders. I count on their professionalism, that they are serious, and they have the courage to see the truth. They committed a mistake.
GARRELS: Unlike other instances where Israeli officials were quick to say Hamas was to blame, the Israeli military says it's still investigating this case. Anne Garrels, NPR News, Jerusalem. $00.00
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Let's get our own view now inside Gaza, now that journalists are being allowed in during the cease-fire. NPR correspondent Eric Westervelt is in Gaza City. And Eric, what have you been seeing today?
ERIC WESTERVELT: Good morning, Steve. I spent the better part of the morning up in the Tuam neighborhood in north Gaza City. It's a scene of utter devastation. Big parts of the entire neighborhood are completely destroyed. The - whole houses have been collapsed and destroyed. These weren't little - teenie shanties, Steve. We're talking three-, four-story cement buildings have been completely collapsed and destroyed. Other buildings have artillery tank and naval fire holes in them. People were picking through the rubble to try and find anything they could left of their home. People were weeping, they were pulling up in donkey carts, trying to find any of their belongings. You could just kind of go house to house for stories of civilians facing extreme loss and devastation. Some people were digging through trying to find belongings, others were saying they were looking for relatives who were still lost from the fighting.
INSKEEP: I imagine the images there overpower the words, but what words are you hearing from people?
WESTERVELT: There's a lot of sadness and anger right now; people are in shock. I was there as people were walking into their homes and, you know, opening the door and seeing the back of their house just collapsed and, you know, a tank fire had taken out living rooms. I was with this one woman, she's 55 years old. Her husband was wounded by shrapnel and is recovering in a hospital. She was there with her grandkids, the house is destroyed, and she was just distraught and weeping. She at first said she blamed both Israel and Hamas, saying, what do we get from these stupid rockets Hamas has been firing? And she said to the Israelis, what do you think you're going to get by shelling innocent civilians? But then later, after spending about a half hour, hour with her, Steve, she sort of switched and started to say, you know, my kids, I encourage them to be apolitical growing up. But now, I don't see any reason not to encourage them to join Hamas to become part of the resistance. If all we're going to get is death and destruction, then we should fight on - were her words.
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Eric Westervelt; he's in Gaza City. And Eric, you've touched on something that Anne Garrels also reported on a moment ago: the debate now within Israel about whether Israel used too much force. I wonder, now that you're on the scene of some of these explosions - you talk about destroyed living rooms; of course, we've heard about destroyed schools. Israel has said anytime that it was striking targets like that, it was firing at Hamas rocket launchers nearby or fighters of one kind or another. Do people, do survivors that you talk to, give a sense that they were at least in the neighborhood of Hamas fighters when they were - their homes were struck by Israeli forces?
WESTERVELT: It's mixed. Some people you talk to say yes, resistance fighters, as they call them, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and others, may have been in the area firing. But other times, the people you talk to say, look, we're not part of the resistance; we just lived in the neighborhood, and there were not resistance fighters in that area. So, it's certainly mixed. I talked to Ghazi Ahmed, a Hamas official today, and he didn't really - he conceded, Steve, that the Hamas fighters may have, indeed, been firing from amongst civilian areas. But he said, what do they want from us, we're part of the people. We're among the people. We live among the people, and Israel came and attacked us here, and that's where we stood and fought.
INSKEEP: So, let's talk about those people. Do they want to stay in Gaza? Do they want to get out? Do they want to rebuild their homes? What?
WESTERVELT: Today, many I talked to said they're hoping the international community gives money and aid to help rebuild their homes. People were literally, you know, as I said, just pawing through the rubble, and they have nothing. I talked to one person who said, I don't know where I'll go. I can go to my uncle's house, but we're a huge family. We can maybe stay there a few days a week, but we can't fit in this house. We don't know where we're going to go. We don't know how we're going to live. It's cold, it's winter, there's still shortages of electricity and water, still huge problems throughout Gaza. And they're just looking to the world now and saying, help us rebuild, help us rebuild.
INSKEEP: Very briefly - food and medical supplies, are they available?
WESTERVELT: Some are coming in through Israel. And I came in last night through Egypt, and some medical supplies were coming in. But doctors you talk to say they still would like to receive more and have crews of doctors be allowed to come in more expeditiously.
INSKEEP: Eric, thanks very much.
WESTERVELT: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Eric Westervelt. He's in Gaza City, where a cease-fire is now in effect. It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Economists worry about deflation, falling prices, but at least the price for Super Bowl ads keeps going up. Some troubled companies are staying away. Don't expect to see a lot of ads for General Motors. But NBC says most Super Bowl ads are sold. And if you're watching the big game, you should feel flattered. Thirty-second ads are going for $3 million. That means somebody paid $100,000 per second to talk to you. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And let's go next to Gaza itself, which is widely accessible to Western journalists for the first time since the shooting began. And as reporters are going in, civilians in North Gaza are returning to their homes. Many wept. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARABIC SPOKEN)
ERIC WESTERVELT: Muttering prayers and weeping, 55-year-old Hahdija Sakker walks into her three-story home in the Tuam neighborhood of northern Gaza City. The area is on a patch of high ground near the sea. Today, big parts of Tuam have been reduced to rubble. The walls on two sides of Sakker's home are gone. The roof is blown out. Inside, there's nothing but debris. The upstairs is teetering on the verge of collapse.
HAHDIJA SAKKER: (Through translator) I don't know what I hope or what to say, but what do the Israelis want from us? We are civilians; we just want to live. Why do they attack us? They attack with planes. Let them attack other planes or the resistance. We are civilians. We didn't do anything. Where shall I go now? I have three families in my house. If I go to relatives or friends, they will keep me for two or three days, or a week. But after that, where shall I go? What shall I do?
WESTERVELT: I lost everything, she repeats over and over again. Outside, the sound of Israeli naval gunfire echoes all along the beach. Some cease-fire, she says. The Israeli military says it's checking about the gunfire but had no immediate answer. Fifteen family members, many of them children, lived in Sakker's house until the fighting began.
SAKKER: (Through translator) Honestly, I'm telling you, none of my sons or family members were Hamas or resistance fighters. That's why we were so confident no one would attack us, and why we stayed here until the last minute.
WESTERVELT: Her husband finally left - reluctantly, she says - before the Israeli tanks rolled in. He was wounded by shrapnel in an airstrike and is recovering in the hospital. Israeli infantry and armor clearly set up fighting positions here; on the trashed floors, there are big sacks of Israeli military bread, and wrappers from Israeli power bars. Bulletshell casings litter the sand. Outside, sand berms from tanks and deep tracks from armored personnel carriers crisscross the rubble. Two young grandsons trail behind Sakker in silence, looking frightened. She says waves her hand, weeps, and says she blames the Israel Defense Force, or IDF, and Hamas.
SAKKER: (Through translator) I blame both of them. I blame the IDF for destroying our house but finally, I blame both of them for what happened to us. Both take the responsibilities.
WESTERVELT: What did we ever get from those stupid rockets? she says of the Hamas attacks into southern Israel. Then, 10 minutes later, she unleashes a wave of anger at Israel. We didn't side with Hamas or Fateh, she says of Gaza's main factions. But now, she says, that's changed: We are with Hamas.
SAKKER: (Through translator) Now look what they have done to me. They have destroyed my house. I wasn't in the resistance. But now I will oblige my sons to be the resistance. Now I will be Hamas. We hate them more now. I feel more hatred toward them.
WESTERVELT: Hamas official Ghazi Hamad concedes that the group's fighters were no match for the Israeli military, and he's not declaring victory by any means. But Hamad says Israel cannot claim victory, either.
GHAZI HAMAD: I think because Israel failed to kill the fighters of Palestinian factions - they killed more innocent people, more women, more kids - I think this not victory. They did not succeed to stop firing missiles. They did not stop the - to crack down Hamas or Palestinian faction. So I think this is not victory.
WESTERVELT: The scenes of devastation and loss are playing out all across northern Gaza today. People are picking through the ruins of their homes, and using donkey carts and taxis to haul away anything they can find. Eric Westervelt, NPR news, Gaza.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News with Steve Inskeep. I'm Renee Montagne. The swearing in of the first African-American president is particularly moving for many black Americans who've lived through segregation and the Civil Rights movement. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports on one woman who may be the oldest African-American to travel to Washington for the inauguration.
JOSEPH SHAPIRO: It started the day after the election. Ella Mae Johnson called people she thought could help her get to Washington. It wasn't going to be easy. For one thing, Ella Mae Johnson is 105 years old. She's seen more than a century of African-American history, and she wanted to see with her own eyes Barack Obama sworn in as president.
Ms. ELLA MAE JOHNSON: I have experienced some of the terrible things that happened to groups, to us and to others. There are people who believe because you were different you were less than them.
SHAPIRO: She's also been an actor in that century of black history. Johnson was a student at Fisk University in Nashville in 1924 when civil rights activists and writer W. E. B. Du Bois came to speak. Du Bois criticized the white man who ran that black college for being paternalistic. Students responded by going out on strike.
Ms. JOHNSON: I stayed off campus. I didn't go to classes for one semester. And I went back and graduated one semester later than I should.
SHAPIRO: The students' strike forced the Fisk president to step aside. In 1929, Johnson got her graduate degree in social work from Western Reserve University in Cleveland. But she wasn't allowed to live on campus because of the color of her skin. She stayed in Cleveland, and today she lives at Judson Park, an upscale assisted-living facility. Her social worker and other staff there set about to get her to the inauguration. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown quickly came up with tickets. But last week, they realized it was going to be a lot tougher than they'd expected. Long lines and not just a few hours, but six, seven or even more outside in freezing temperatures. Iris Williams is a nurse at Judson Park. She explains what happened when she and others staffers tried to get Johnson to reconsider.
Ms. IRIS WILLIAMS (Nurse, Judson Park): Her comment was, and? And? And she just didn't blink an eye. And her final comment was, well, now we know the problems.
SHAPIRO: So this morning, Ella Mae Johnson, 105, got up hours before dawn. She put on her pearls and the elegant outfit that she's brought. The rented Lincoln Town car will take her as close to the Capitol as it can. The nurse will push her in a wheelchair. Johnson says she wants to be there for the new president.
Ms. JOHNSON: My hope for him is my hope for the country. If he fails, the country fails. He knows and he says, not me, but you. Not us, but all of us.
SHAPIRO: Joseph Shapiro, NPR News Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. This Inauguration Day is the day when Washington most feels like the nation's capital.
MONTAGNE: It's also the Inauguration Day of the nation's first African-American president.
INSKEEP: So, what did you see on your way in this morning, Renee, at 3 o'clock in the morning?
MONTAGNE: I saw some pretty unusual things, at 2.30 actually - I gave myself an extra half an hour. People walking across - in icy, icy weather - bridges. You never see them there in the middle of the night. An alternative route I took going by Ben's Chili Bowl, now famous. Now everyone knows about...
INSKEEP: Barack Obama stopped in there...
MONTAGNE: Didn't mean to do it. Everything else was barricaded off. The place was going nuts - really, really crazy.
INSKEEP: Middle of the night rush-hour traffic in some parts of Washington, D.C. Let's talk about this day now with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Mara, good morning.
MARA LIASSON: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: The last several days in Washington have had quite a bit of buildup.
LIASSON: It certainly has. People have been filling this town. We've heard crowd estimates ranging from one million to two million people who will be on the Mall today. And from what I've seen around town, the hoards of people pouring into Union Station yesterday to pedestrian - that's pedestrian gridlock downtown last night. I would say this town is packed to the gills with hopeful and happy people.
MONTAGNE: And, you know, while all those people are waiting - and you actually have to say it's very, very cold here - what is Barack Obama's morning going to be like?
LIASSON: Well, the president-elect and his wife will follow the traditional program of Inauguration Day events. They'll start with a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church, which is right across Lafayette Park, right across from the White House. They'll move on to the North Portico of the White House itself. That's a very seldom-used entrance. They'll meet President George W. Bush and the first lady. They will travel up to the Capitol together, all four of them. They'll be seated right about 11 o'clock Eastern time, and then he'll take the oath of office.
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Mara Liasson on this inauguration morning. And Mara, we should mention if people go back into inaugural addresses, they don't find too many that are memorable. But a few are. What clues do you have about the direction that Barack Obama will take?
LIASSON: Yes, I think that this one will be memorable. It won't be long - probably 15 to 20 minutes. Most of them are pretty short. I think he will stress the same themes he's been using since he started to run for president - hope, unity. He'll talk about a new era of responsibility. Senior transition officials say that he wants to describe the moment we're in. He'll say our nation is at war, our economy is in crisis, and we have to move beyond the old politics. But I think almost nothing that he says will be more overwhelming than the fact of him standing there, an African-American, promising to preserve, protect, and defend a Constitution that originally counted a black man as three-fifths of a person.
MONTAGNE: All of this could be pretty overwhelming for Mr. Obama himself. Expectations are off the charts. You know, looking ahead just momentarily, how does he manage these expectations and keep them realistic?
LIASSON: Well, he certainly is talking a lot about the problems ahead and how difficult they'll be to solve. The polls show that he has tremendous goodwill. I don't think any modern president has come into office with this much goodwill. And there are good reasons for that. The historic nature of his presidency, the decisive win he had, also just the seriousness of the problems we face. So everyone wants him to succeed because the alternative is quite horrible to contemplate.
But it does seem from the polls that people are absorbing the message he's been sending that it's going to be tough, it's going to take a long time to solve these problems. People seem ready to make sacrifices. But I think the Obama team is very aware that very soon he'll own all of these problems. He'll own the economy. He'll own Iraq. He'll own Afghanistan. They need to move very fast to make a difference. And that's why we've had an Obama pre-presidency. He's already moving to pass legislation through Congress before he was inaugurated.
INSKEEP: Now, Mara, since you mention that everybody wants him to succeed - and in a large sense, of course, that's true - but when you get down to details, there is another party here. And in fact President-elect Obama dropped by a party that included John McCain last night, as I understand.
LIASSON: He did, the man he defeated for the presidency. He was at a party to honor Senator McCain. I think that's really unprecedented. I can't think on Inauguration Eve of another incoming president honoring the man he just defeated. But this is really one of the things he's been pushing hard on, reaching out to the other side, a lot of bipartisan symbolism. Talk about a team of rivals - he's not just honoring John McCain, he's been calling him repeatedly for advice.
But Barack Obama wants to do big things. And after he passes the stimulus package, he wants to do health care, energy, at some point a deficit reduction and entitlement reform package, all in his first term. And he wants to do these big things with big majorities, at least in the Senate. And I don't think he can get the public to make sacrifices - because that's what you're going to need, at least after the tax and spending part of the stimulus is over. That's the easy part. You need a lot of bipartisan buy-in to do the things that he wants to do. So he's not just saying all the right things. He really is trying to include Republican ideas in his legislation.
INSKEEP: Mara, thanks very much.
LIASSON: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Mara Liasson is NPR's national political correspondent.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And here's another thing that President Obama, or President-to-be Obama, has been doing since - as he goes into taking office. He's been painting. He helped to refurbish a Washington, D.C., homeless shelter yesterday. And he encouraged all Americans to volunteer in their own community, saying government can't solve every problem. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: The president-elect's turn with the paint roller was part of a day-long celebration of public service. Mr. Obama said it was an appropriate way to spend Martin Luther King Day, calling the late civil rights leader not just a dreamer, but a doer. For Sam Wilson(ph), who grew up in Atlanta, today's inauguration is a fitting bookend to Dr. King's March on Washington 46 years ago.
Mr. SAM WILSON: This picture, you know, for households of African-Americans and other different ethnicities, I think the moment - the March on Washington hangs in a lot of houses, either in their hearts or in their minds or physically. I think this moment will hang in a lot of homes to inspire the generations to come about what can be. It certainly will hang in our home.
HORSLEY: Wilson plans to be on the National Mall today, as close as he can get to the swearing in ceremony. He says he's already been inspired by Mr. Obama's call to service, a message the president-elect tried to drive home yesterday. Shaking hands with volunteers at Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, Mr. Obama said it's his job to make government work, but everyone else has a job to do as well.
President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Government can only do so much. And if we're just waiting around for somebody else to do it for us, if we're waiting around for somebody else to clean up the vacant lot, or waiting for somebody else to get involved in tutoring a child, if we're waiting for somebody else to do something, it never gets done.
HORSLEY: Standing near the U.S. Capitol, where Mr. Obama will take the oath of office today, Henry Wiley(ph) said the president-elect's call for service is the right message for the time.
Mr. HENRY WILEY: With conditions as they are in this country, with the country at war and with the economy in the state that it's in, I think people are in a mood to listen to that kind of talk and that kind of request.
(Soundbite of music)
HORSLEY: Wiley's wife and two young children listened as engineers tested the giant loudspeakers that will broadcast the inauguration to hundreds of thousands of people gathered around the Capitol. It's a big moment for the entire country, Wiley said. And he wanted his kids to be a part of it.
Mr. WILEY: They've been talking about "Back Obama" these last few days. Gwen's(ph) convinced he's going to come over and give her a hug.
HORSLEY: Gwen is only two years old though, and her brother Brady(ph) just five. So instead of braving the outdoor cold, they'll watch today's ceremony from home in nearby Maryland. Not so Catherine Nash(ph). The 65-year-old traveled from Fort Worth, Texas, to be here. She plans to be outside waving on Pennsylvania Avenue when the nation's first black president passes by.
Ms. CATHERINE NASH: I'm very proud to be here because I feel that we have hope and yes, we can. And I say that because I have a six-year-old grandchild, and I believe that she can go all the way. This is a great day in history. And I just had to come.
HORSLEY: Nash says the people who've gathered in Washington to hear Mr. Obama today are no strangers to the kind of sacrifice he's calling for. She hopes they'll be inspired by his message of working together, and that afterwards, when they return to their homes, they'll be ready to do what they can. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
We are hearing voices from overseas on this Inauguration Day, and that includes the voices of people in Kobama, Kenya, the ancestral home of President-elect Obama's father. Residents have been writing songs in Obama's honor, like this one.
(Soundbite of African tribal music)
INSKEEP: That sound was recorded by NPR's Gwen Thompkins who's with us now from Kobama. And Gwen, what's the song about?
GWEN THOMPKINS: Well, the song is pretty much about what all the songs are about. People are thrilled that Barack Obama, the president-elect, will be taking office today. They're wishing him well. And they're also cautioning him that it's time to make good on his campaign promises.
INSKEEP: Cautioning. So this is not entirely just cheering that - well, I don't want to say the hometown guy - but the guy with an ancestral connection to Kenya.
THOMPKINS: Well, I think that people here are extremely proud. I mean, people are really bursting at the seams. At the same time, I mean, Kenyans have gone through their own presidential election not so long ago, and they are keenly aware that winning the election is an amazing feat, but making good on one's campaign promises is the whole reason that everybody shows up at the polls in the first place.
INSKEEP: So, given the time difference, I guess it'll be evening in Kobama when Barack Obama takes the oath in Washington, D.C. Are people planning to watch or listen?
THOMPKINS: Oh, my goodness, yes. There are going to be jumbo screens set up in Nairobi, also in Kisumu, which is the regional capital of southwestern Kenya, and as well as in the ancestral homeland of Mr. Obama's father and where his step-grandmother is living.
INSKEEP: Are there a lot of televisions - I mean, is there a lot of communication in Kobama?
THOMPKINS: That's an excellent question. Where we are right now is southwestern Kenya. This is near Lake Victoria, actually. This is very far from Nairobi. And in this area there aren't very many television sets. In fact, there's not a lot of electricity. And so this is a public service, and people are really going to gather around these televisions because this is going to be their only chance to see Mr. Obama in action.
In southwestern Kenya it's also important to know that not everyone speaks English and not everyone is going to understand what Mr. Obama says during his speech, his inaugural speech. But what many people have told me in the weeks leading up to this event is they don't really need to understand English in order to realize the importance of this event and in order to feel as if one of their own sons has reached such a vaulted office in the United States.
INSKEEP: NPR's Gwen Thompkins is in Kobama, Kenya. Gwen, thanks.
THOMPKINS: Thank you, Steve.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When Barack Obama was still a state senator in Illinois, Cory Booker was running for mayor in Newark, New Jersey. He was up against an older African-American who told voters that his younger opponent was not black enough. When Cory Booker won, he became part of a new generation of leaders, like Barack Obama, whose appeal appears to transcend racial politics. Cory Booker is in Washington, D.C., this week to see his friend take the oath of office. And he stopped by our studios. I ask him his thoughts on the country's first black president.
Mayor CORY BOOKER (Mayor, Newark, New Jersey): He presents himself in a way that such a diversity of Americans, all of us, feel included in the presidency in a way I don't think we've seen before. So it won't be urban-suburban, it won't be north-south, Republican-Democrat. I think a lot more people are going to see us as the United States, as he often says.
MONTAGNE: Or possibly it won't be black-white. I mean, this election has generated so much talk about post-racial politics in America. You've been used as an example over and over again as one of the new breed of African-Americans taking it beyond what is traditionally known as black politics. How true is that notion?
Mayor BOOKER: Well, first of all, I really reject this idea of post-racial. I mean, I want to be post-racism, I want to be post-bigotry, but the reality is I love the racial deliciousness, diversity in the United States of America. I don't think that Barack Obama signals the end to race being an important factor in America. What I hope it does is exposes us to the great beauty of our country and that each individual cultural current in this nation adds to the tidal wave of strength that is America.
MONTAGNE: Although, within what has traditionally been black politics there's an older generation. Jesse Jackson is giving way to his own son, Jesse Jackson, Jr. Al Sharpton, not so old, actually, but old school I think would be fair to say. What comes of those folks, and do they become niche politicians at this point?
Mayor BOOKER: First of all, I think Al Sharpton has a way of reinventing himself, so I wouldn't pigeonhole him like that at all. But the reality is there is a generational divide even in the country, and it's not a bad thing. I was born after King was shot. I was born after Kennedy, after the modern civil rights movement as we know it. And my parents even integrated a town that just 10 years earlier they wouldn't have been able to even move into. So we are now beneficiaries of opportunities and exposure that that other generation made possible.
But what has me so excited is when I do look at the American landscape, you see these incredibly talented men and women - Adrian Fenty, these people that are coming to the table with such a great skill set and benefiting from an older generation that imbued them with opportunity as well as skills and knowledge.
MONTAGNE: Adrian Fenty, of course, mayor of Washington, D.C.
Mayor BOOKER: Yes, another bald-headed black man leading a city.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MONTAGNE: But do you see then - does your generation of politicians, do you still see what might be called core black issues?
Mayor BOOKER: Well, I think the benefit of my generation - I think it's a good thing - is that, you know, I'm leading a majority-minority city, but it's not a simplistic black chocolate city, as they used to say.
MONTAGNE: This being Newark, New Jersey.
Mayor BOOKER: This being Newark. But pick your city. I love the fact that any leader, be they black or Latino, has to be a lot more nimble in their politics and has to be able to show a vision that is appealing to all. Just as white politicians for generations have represented all of America, black politicians now can be seen to represent all of the state of Massachusetts, all of the United States of America.
MONTAGNE: Talking to Cory Booker, who is mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Does the Obama presidency change in any way where you see yourself going or maybe how fast you see yourself going politically?
Mayor BOOKER: Look, I have a father who I love a lot, and he's here with me in the studio. And, you know, we have conversations that I wish, I pray I never have with my children. My father was born to a single mother in poverty. Will those problems still be around a generation from now? As far as my path in the future, I've never been so proud to be in the trenches, to be in the fight. We're going to solve these problems. We're going to make an example in our country, another light of hope in Newark, New Jersey.
MONTAGNE: Is Mr. Booker out there?
Mayor BOOKER: Yes.
MONTAGNE: Your father. Bring him in here and ask him what he thinks about the inauguration.
Mayor BOOKER: OK. He's listening.
MONTAGNE: This will take one minute. I'm sorry for not knowing this, but Mr. Booker, can I ask your full name?
Mr. CARY ALFRED BOOKER: Cary Alfred Booker.
MONTAGNE: Cary Alfred Booker. Did you imagine this day would come in your lifetime?
Mr. CARY ALFRED BOOKER: Yes, I did. I felt very strongly that it would, and I felt that my son would be one of the leaders of it.
MONTAGNE: Did you tell him that when he was a little boy?
Mr. CARY ALFRED BOOKER: I tried to.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mayor BOOKER: The question is did I listen to what my father told me. But a wonderful quote from James Baldwin says, children are never good at listening to their parents, but they never fail to imitate them.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you for joining us. And this will be a big day for everyone, but enjoy the inauguration today.
Mr. CARY ALFRED BOOKER: Thank you.
Mayor BOOKER: Thank you very much.
MONTAGNE: Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and his father, Cary Alfred Booker.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
In addition to being the first black president, Barack Obama wants to be the greenest president. He says he wants to green up the energy economy. Some people who hope to help him came to the Green Inaugural Ball last night in Washington, D.C., the environmental elite who partied side by side with corporate bigwigs. Expectations are high, despite a recession that could interfere with a green makeover. And NPR's Christopher Joyce was at the celebration.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE: The first Green Inaugural Ball - no, actually it's one of at least three in Washington this week - is warming up at the National Portrait Gallery. Several hundred environmental movers and shakers are here to celebrate the ascension of an eco-friendly Barack Obama to the presidency. People are munching organic hors d'oeuvres and leaving as small a carbon footprint as the organizers could manage. We're going to go talk to some of them right now.
I found Amy Christiansen(ph) who's on the organizing committee for the Green Ball.
Ms. AMY CHRISTIANSEN (Organizing Committee Member, Green Ball): Most of us, our day jobs are spending our time working on the environment. So, of course, we spent a great deal of effort to make sure that what we're doing here has the least footprint, the least impact as possible. Everything from what kind of food we ordered, to make sure that we had as many vegetarian and vegan options, because of all the energy and water inputs that go into that; to how people could get here, to make sure that it was on Metro, very accessible, and that we supported people being able to get here in that way; to the flowers that we're using being reused by people afterward.
JOYCE: Sure, there was carbon in evidence. Big limos, for example, were two deep at the entrance. Christiansen acknowledged that being green can become a sort of competitive sport. Someone can always claim to be greener. But for one night, in one place, everyone was singing from the same hymnal, green energy and green jobs, if the new administration can find the money to pay for it. That's something that concerns Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Mr. RHONE RESCH (President, Solar Energy Industries Association): I mean we're in a recession. There's no doubt about it. And the solar industry is getting as hard, if not harder than most of the other industries in this country. So what we need in place is an economic recovery bill. And so as we step back and look at the bailout that they did for Wall Street - $800 billion - one would think there's an opportunity here to put 10 or 20 or 30 billion dollars in the energy industry to help ensure that we create these jobs, starting this next month.
JOYCE: If Congress parcels out a big chunk of that stimulus money for environmental projects, some of the companies sponsoring this Green Ball will take some. Among them are Wal-Mart, the Dow Corning Company, and the American Gas Association - not organizations or companies normally thought of as waving the green flag. And if the recession casts doubt on how a green revolution can be paid for, well, for some businesses green may seem like the only place where there is money. So, argues Amy Argento(ph) who works for Brightworks, a company that helps design green buildings.
Ms. AMY ARGENTO (Brightworks): Sometimes we'll talk to clients, like if you don't do this, your option might be to go out of business. I think that this is the way that things are heading, and I think a lot of corporations are jumping on the bandwagon.
JOYCE: How many that bandwagon can hold will depend a lot on how the economy fares under the new administration. At least one speaker at the Green Ball was confident that it would fare well enough.
(Soundbite of speech)
Former Vice President AL GORE (Climate Change Activist): Tomorrow, a new day begins.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
JOYCE: Al Gore, former vice president and climate change guru.
Former Vice President GORE: We prove tomorrow, at high noon, that in the United States of America, political will is indeed a renewable resource.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
JOYCE: Once the hangovers have worn off and Barack Obama has moved into the White House, Congress will have to decide how much of the new president's green package the taxpayer can afford. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Rick Warren will give the invocation at today's inauguration of Barack Obama. He's the pastor of the Saddleback Church in Southern California, a megachurch with 22,000 members. The conservative Southern Baptist preacher was also the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King holiday celebration in Atlanta yesterday. And his presence there drew some opposition, as NPR's Kathy Lohr reports.
KATHY LOHR: On the way to give the inaugural prayer, Pastor Rick Warren stopped in the heart of the civil rights movement. He spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King, Jr., preached. Outside, on a frosty morning, dozens of gay rights picketers gathered in the shadow of this historic place.
(Soundbite of picketers chanting)
Unidentified Picketers: Gay, straight, black, or white, we demand our civil rights.
LOHR: Both black and white protesters joined in holding signs that read, we are all the beloved community, and we still have a dream. Craig Washington, with the Black Gay Rights Coalition in Atlanta, says Warren was the wrong choice for the King celebration.
Mr. CRAIG WASHINGTON (Co-Founder, Black Gay Rights Coalition, Atlanta): He compares same-sex marriage to incest and adults having sex with children. And it's important for people to understand that when we fail to call out bigotry, then we desecrate the legacy of Dr. King and we abandon the dream.
LOHR: The controversy stems in part from Warren's support of California's Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage and from comments he made last year. During yesterday's service, which commemorated King's 80th birthday, the civil rights leader's nephew, Isaac Newton Farris, Jr., said King's dream had not been realized. But Farris said the election of Barack Obama was a giant leap forward, and he defended Warren's right to speak.
(Soundbite of Martin Luther King holiday celebration, Atlanta)
Mr. ISAAC NEWTON FARRIS, JR. (President and CEO, The King Center): And let us remember that followers of Martin Luther King, Jr., hold diverse views on topics like abortion and same-sex marriage. All of the great freedom movements in America are based on free speech. And it's appropriate that we give a fair and courteous hearing to those we may disagree with as we search for common ground to resolve the great conflicts of our times.
LOHR: Warren did get a warm reception from the overflowing crowd, except for a couple of demonstrators who were escorted out after shouting their protests. Warren was undaunted. He announced he wasn't giving the remarks he had prepared, and instead spoke extemporaneously saying King was a model for social justice and a model pastor. But Warren said everyone can pick up that mantle.
(Soundbite of Martin Luther King holiday celebration, Atlanta)
Reverend RICK WARREN (Pastor, Saddleback Church, California): You may never have the adulation, the fame that Dr. Martin Luther King had. But your life is significant, and you can make a significant difference with your life.
LOHR: Rich Warren said churchgoers need to be more faithful and selfless, and pledge to make a commitment to a life of service, just like King did.
(Soundbite of Martin Luther King holiday celebration, Atlanta)
Reverend WARREN: Martin Luther King was a mighty tool in the hand of God. He was a model for millions of us, hundreds of millions of us. But God isn't through. He isn't finished with what he wants to do. And justice is a journey. And we're getting further and further along.
LOHR: After the service, some said they didn't know much about Warren. Quinton Dodds(ph) and Sandra Link(ph) enjoyed his sermon, even though they say they don't agree with his views on gay marriage.
Ms. SANDRA LINK: We all have opinions.
Mr. QUINTON DODDS: Exactly. He's entitled to his opinion. It's just that simple.
Ms. LINK: Yeah.
Mr. DODDS: I disagreed with him, but that's his opinion. He can have that opinion.
LOHR: Millions of Americans are expected to be watching the inauguration today to witness history. And the controversial Rick Warren will be front and center once again. Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Atlanta.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Today's inauguration gets our news analyst Juan Williams thinking about his childhood. Juan is a few years older than the president-elect. And in 1961, when Barack Obama was born, Juan Williams was a kid growing up in largely segregated public housing in Brooklyn.
JUAN WILLIAMS: I'd be on one corner, and there'd be Black Panthers telling me, you know, if you want to be a black man, you got to join the Panthers, you got to fight the man. And on the next corner, you had people there from the NAACP talking about all their activities and why don't you come to our meetings?
INSKEEP: That was New York City through the 1960s, a city that had been a destination for a huge migration of African-Americans. Juan Williams recalls a few giants of his youth, people like Martin Luther King or Malcolm X.
WILLIAMS: People like Thurgood Marshall, who had been a chief lawyer for the NAACP, and then, of course, onto the Supreme Court. Shirley Chisholm, who was a congresswoman from Brooklyn in the early '70s, then goes on and she runs for president. She is one of Barack Obama's predecessors in terms of black people who were asserting the idea that a black person could be president of the United States.
INSKEEP: And it must have been tremendous pressure for them, because they're one of the few black voices on the stage, that they're compelled in some sense to represent an entire race, rather than just represent their own political viewpoints or their own congressional district.
WILLIAMS: That's right. And what you're seeing in that phase of black politics is that black politics is all about being spokesmen for the black race, a race that was still suffering the consequences of slavery and legal segregation. And this black leadership that's emerging today, that's much more about being a politician representing each and everyone in his or her district and just by happenstance happens to also be black, much in the way that you think of a politician who was Irish-Italian or Jewish simply happening to come from one ethnic or racial group.
INSKEEP: I'm curious because Shirley Chisholm lived for a long time and because you went on to become a journalist around Washington, did you ever get a chance to meet her?
WILLIAMS: No, I never met Shirley Chisholm in person. You know, it's for me - when I see people like the Little Rock Nine, who'll be there, you know, on the inaugural stand, I see people who I think of as living examples of those who struggled and made history. The Tuskegee Airmen - they were in World War II - they're the people that really, I think, forced President Truman's hand in terms of desegregation of the military.
INSKEEP: Which is interesting because that happened in 1948, just over 60 years ago, and you realize that so much has happened in the lifespan of one person, that somebody could show up at Obama's inauguration that remembers that earlier event or played a role in it.
WILLIAMS: Oh, absolutely. I think there will be people there who remember everything from Jesse Owens to Jackie Robinson, or you stop and think about giving the benediction will be Joe Lowery, who created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King, Jr.
And of course, it's all - you know, to me, I remember the first time coming to Washington and learning about how people like Thurgood Marshall, you know, even when he's working on cases at the Supreme Court, had no place to eat lunch. They'd have to go over to the Union Station because that was the one place where black and white people could sit down and get a sandwich together. And you think to yourself, my God, wait a second that was in '50s, that's in the '60s. How could that be? But that was the reality. And when you think about being told that the U.S. Capitol itself, the White House - built by slaves. The Mall that Barack Obama will be facing tomorrow, that was a slave market, if you look back at the history of Washington, D.C.
INSKEEP: And then on Sunday we had that president-elect standing on the steps, of all places, the Lincoln Memorial.
WILLIAMS: The man, the great emancipator, the man who freed the slaves, the man who put in place the 13th Amendment freeing the slaves in 1865. And, you know, I was reminded on the day that Barack Obama won the general election, and you saw young people flock to Lafayette Square, it reminded me of nothing so much as the slaves or former slaves who rushed to Lafayette Square and to the White House, when they heard about the Emancipation Proclamation, to celebrate.
It reminds me of, you know, the lines from "Lift Every Voice and Sing," when it talks about silent tears, you know, weary the rode we trod, harsh the chastening rod. You stop and think, you know, Obama doesn't talk much about race, but he can't stop the history from absolutely surrounding, saturating this moment where I think words cannot express the power of seeing someone black raise his hand and take the oath of office - unbelievable.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Juan Williams. We'll have live coverage of all of today's festivities throughout the day continuously live from 10 o'clock, 7 o'clock Pacific. You can also watch video, find pictures all day long at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with Chrysler's Italian option.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Chrysler is still struggling to find a path to survival. One road may lead to Italy. Chrysler is in talks with Italian carmaker Fiat about a possible alliance. Neither company has announced details, but industry publications and news reports say that Fiat could take a stake in Chrysler. The deal could involve Fiat's retooling Chrysler factories and helping Chrysler produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. Fiat could also sell cars in the U.S. through Chrysler.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Today's presidential inauguration should bring some good news for the troubled newspaper industry. Newspaper sales soared the day after Barack Obama was elected last November, and a similar spike is expected with his inauguration. There you go, economic recovery already. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.
YUKI NOGUCHI: Today and tomorrow you might hear this.
Unidentified Boy: Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
NOGUCHI: The Washington Post is printing morning and afternoon editions hawked by 500 people selling them in the streets.
Mr. MICHAEL TOWLE (Director of Circulation, Washington Post): It really is a throwback to the '30s and the '40s.
NOGUCHI: That's Michael Towle, circulation director for the Post. The newspaper plans to print twice its normal volume, 2.7 million papers in two days. Towle's job is complicated by the fact that a thousand newspaper racks need to be removed from the streets for security reasons. But that's not the main distribution challenge.
Mr. TOWLE: Our only fear at this point is the worrying about gridlock - can we get to where we need to get?
NOGUCHI: The newspaper will cost $2, nearly three times its normal price. But Towle says the paper will get more of an emotional windfall than a huge financial profit.
Mr. TOWLE: It has energized everybody in the newspaper industry that, you know, people want our product. You still can't take the computer screen home with you and put it in your attic for the next 40 years, where you can do that with a newspaper. There's something to be said about holding a piece of history in your hand.
NOGUCHI: Other newspapers, including the president-elect's hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, plan to run extra editions or extra copies of their inaugural editions. For those not braving the streets of D.C., the Washington Post is selling today's paper online for 8.95 apiece, or if you want a really big chunk of history, a 100-pack goes for 400 bucks. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And on the streets of Washington today, at least for today, the local economy looks good.
Unidentified Street Vendor: We got what you like, Obama goodies, hoodies. Keychains. We got his picture on a United States flag. Souvenir pictures, take them back with you.
MONTAGNE: Street hawkers are everywhere, and they have hundreds of thousands of customers.
Unidentified Woman: I'm excited about getting my Obama gear.
Unidentified Street Vendor: Obama gear, folks. That's right.
MONTAGNE: This is what you call the front end of the business, the selling end. We wanted to get an idea of what happens at the back end of souvenir selling. Here's NPR's Neva Grant.
NEVA GRANT: Maybe it's a little crass to call it the back end. This warehouse in Kensington, Maryland, actually has a sweeter name, the Fulfillment Center. It's where they fulfill orders for inaugural clothing...
Ms. STEPHANIE WARLICK(ph) (Employee, Fulfillment Center, Kensington, Maryland): It's the comfy blue sweatshirt.
GRANT: Inaugural buttons...
(Soundbite of buttons clinking)
GRANT: Inaugural basketballs.
(Soundbite of bouncing balls)
GRANT: Some of these items will be trucked to gift shops in Washington hotels, which can be their own little centers of fulfillment on an inaugural weekend. A single gift shop can make tens of thousands of extra dollars these days. And the other souvenirs here, they're being sent out of Washington to Web shoppers who found this stuff online.
Ms. WARLICK: Well, we're making a button package that's going to Andrea(ph) in Pittsburgh. One of our signature Obama basketballs, regulation size, is going to Renee(ph) in Omaha, Nebraska.
GRANT: Stephanie Warlick helps run things here, and she works for Jenny Walter(ph), who describes herself as a serial entrepreneur.
Ms. JENNY WALTER (Proprietor, Fulfillment Center, Kensington, Maryland): Can you hand me that Obama button?
GRANT: Walter owns a handful of hotel gift shops and a new Web site that specializes in inaugural tchotchkes.
Ms. WALTER: I think every supplier, if you talked to them, would tell you there are no limits to what they could sell. No limits.
GRANT: She'll be thrilled if her inaugural Web site makes half a million dollars this month. And because this is such a historic occasion, it might have a longer shelf life.
Ms. WALTER: We actually have orders for things being made right now so that we can get shipments in after the inauguration.
GRANT: And she doesn't think buyers will lose interest.
Ms. WALTER: They don't care if the inauguration's over. They still want a piece of it.
GRANT: If they don't drive her crazy first. Souvenir shoppers, says Jenny Walter, can be demanding.
Ms. WALTER: We had the woman from France who wanted the mugs with Obama in French on the mugs. I said, sure, but the reality is that there wouldn't really be anything done differently, except his name would be his name.
GRANT: Then there was the buyer who said he'd seen an eye-catching tiepin on their Web site, one that showed John McCain and Sarah Palin as the president and vice president.
Ms. WALTER: Yes, he emailed us and said, can I get that?
Ms. WARLICK: His name was Rick(ph). I'm not sure where in the country it was shipped to.
Ms. WALTER: He's from somewhere in Texas, I think...
GRANT: Jenny Walter and Stephanie Warlick say after Rick in Texas made this request, they realized that, yes, by mistake, they had displayed some McCain-Palin inaugural samples on their site.
Ms. WALTER: Stephanie and I were both a little bit shocked. And when we went to do the research, we found this supplier had some product that was in case McCain-Palin won. So I bought it all.
Ms. WARLICK: You've got it still?
Ms. WALTER: Yes.
Ms. WARLICK: Where?
Ms. WALTER: In my house.
GRANT: And as for Rick in Texas, the Fulfillment Center delivered. He got his tiepin honoring the inauguration of President McCain and Vice President Palin. Cost him $14. One day, years from now, it might be worth a lot more. Neva Grant, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
There is another item with a presidential theme that's likely to retain value, maybe even gain some value, and that is our last word in business today. Presidential signatures are hot items, we're told. That's what we found out from Don Prince of History For Sale, an autograph and manuscript dealer. He says the most valuable presidential signature is that of Abraham Lincoln. Most recently he's been seeing Lincoln go in the two to three hundred thousand dollar range, two or three hundred thousand dollars for a piece of paper that Abraham Lincoln signed.
Mr. Prince says that once Barack Obama is president and starts signing documents, those documents will one day be worth a lot of money. And in fact, he says it's been a boost to the entire category of documents signed by African-American historical figures. 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:
And the sun's not up yet here in Washington, D.C. Snow flurries are possible later today. The temperature is expected to be about 30, but it feels a lot colder than that right now. Still, people are already at the Mall, and that included NPR's Ari Shapiro. Good morning, Ari.
ARI SHAPIRO: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Where exactly are you? What are you seeing?
SHAPIRO: We are on the east end of the Mall, close to the Capitol. Illuminated in the pre-dawn darkness, with people just flooding as close to the Capitol as the can get. And I have to tell you, walking down here this morning, it was a mass migration. Thousands and thousands of people filing the sidewalks, filling the streets. We walked through a highway underpass that had been closed off to traffic, and you could just see the human bodies stretching out as far as you could see.
And I thought to myself as I was walking through there, this is an image that you usually see in times of tragedy. When there's been a national - a natural disaster, or a protest for some injustice. And here, these thousands of people walking on this highway were celebrating something joyous that everybody was so exited to be here for. So it was a really unique moment.
MONTAGNE: We have heard crowd estimates over the last weeks, ranging from a million to several times that many. What are the latest expectations?
SHAPIRO: You know, I haven't seen the latest numbers, although, as you say, we have heard anywhere from one to five million. Just moving through the city over the course of the weekend, it feels completely different. It does not feel like the Washington, D.C. that I've called home. There are people everywhere you go with enthusiasm, and vendors on every sidewalk. We - somebody selling Barack Obama air fresheners for $2. That's just one end of the swag spectrum that you see here all over the course of the weekend, particularly here on the Mall now this morning.
MONTAGNE: Well, just briefly, how is the crush of people there as per, you know, for officials? I mean, are people - is there any concern at all, do you feel?
SHAPIRO: No. There are huge masses of people, but they're all enthusiastic and joyous and friendly and polite. And as we were trying to make our way through the crowds, you know, with our media pass, people kindly stepped aside. The officials seem to be in good spirits. So so far, the - everything feels very positive.
MONTAGNE: All right, thanks very much. We'll be catching up with you later. NPR's Ari Shapiro on the Mall here in Washington, D.C.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. So many people are already arriving at the National Mall, you'd think the inauguration was now. It's not happening for almost six hours. It's a little bit after 6:00 in the morning in Washington, D.C.. And many more people are arriving from out of town on buses. They're converging on many places, including RFK Stadium, a few blocks east of the capital, which is where we found NPR's Frank Langfitt. Frank, what are you seeing?
FRANK LANGFITT: Well, tons of people coming in here. The buses got here, actually, at 3:00 and were circling the parking lot because no one was really - they were only supposed to open at 4:30. So they eventually got in, There are tons of buses here now, people streaming towards shuttle buses to take them down to the capital.
INSKEEP: And people are going to be in the cold for hours here, aren't they?
LANGFITT: Yeah, they are. They're very well dressed. I met a woman named Betty Jennings(ph), she was wearing this giant fake fur coat. She's 70 years old, retired teacher form Gainesville, and she actually took off at midnight Sunday from Gainesville, spent the night in Richmond, got here at about 2:30, and she's on a walker, but, you know, really, really engaged in this, really wants to be here.
She said she had met President-elect Obama back in Jacksonville during the campaign, and he had given her a kiss. And she said, you know, I could not let this pass without coming to Washington. She just - she never expected she'd see a day like today.
INSKEEP: You know, I don't mean to be pessimistic. I doubt if she's going to get a kiss from the president-elect today when you look out at the television images of the Mall. There's already thousands of people. She's not going to be very close. But I wonder if someone like that arriving from out of town doesn't care. It's not necessarily getting a close-up look at Barack Obama, it's that they're the story, that they're arriving here in Washington, D.C.
LANGFITT: It is, Steve, and I think you've really hit on something that's interesting. This - it's not a party, or it's not a big festival. People are here for history. And when you talk - when I was talking to Mrs. Jennings, she said, you know, it means - the election of President-elect Obama means that all our children will have a chance to succeed.
So they see this as an enormous moment. And even if it means, you know, freezing and being so far from the Capitol that you can just barely see figures, I think they feel that they just - they really need to see this and to experience it.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks very much. That's NPR's Frank Langfitt. He's at RFK Stadium, where people are arriving by bus for today's inauguration.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
We'll continue to have live reports from the Mall throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. Now, this inauguration coincides with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, whose words and achievements will be a theme in today's ceremony. But the first inaugural to take place at the United States Capitol was that of Thomas Jefferson in 1801. Founding father, author of the Declaration of Independence. Also, incidentally, a slave owner. Here to tell us about his first inauguration is our own historian and news analyst, Cokie Roberts. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS: Good morning, Steve. What a day.
INSKEEP: Indeed, indeed. How did Thomas Jefferson go about inaugurating this place where the swearing-in will take place today?
ROBERTS: Well, it had been after the presidency of John Adams, and people had thought that Adams was too monarchical. So Jefferson, in a great PR stunt, walked to the Capitol - the under-construction capital - from his boarding house on Capitol Hill, making a statement, I'm a man of the people. And he got there, the only room that was complete was the Senate chamber. And so I'm now going to read to you the description of it from a woman named Margaret Bayard Smith, who was a - became a journalist and a novelist in her own right. At this point, she was married to a journalist.
But she said, "On one side of the house, the Senate sat. The other was resigned by the representatives to the ladies." So they were all there. "It has been conjectured by several gentlemen whom I'd asked that they were near a thousand persons within the walls. The speech was delivered in so low a tone that few heard it." Jefferson was apparently a terrible speaker, which is why he never gave a State of the Union speech to the Congress. He sent them in writing, and that lasted up until Woodrow Wilson's time.
INSKEEP: Well, how did it go when, like Barack Obama today, he was sworn in by a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who he had not favored - who he had not voted to confirm?
ROBERTS: Well, he wasn't there, of course, to vote on John Marshall. But John Marshall was a cousin of Thomas Jefferson, and they hated each other. And John Adams had appointed John Marshall as one of the famous - or infamous - midnight judges at the end of his term. And Jefferson just tried throughout his entire presidency to undo that. To - the whole famous case of Marbury versus Madison - establishing judiciary review was all in response to it, because Marshall and Jefferson were such enemies. And Jefferson, in an extraordinary set of letters to Abigail Adams, complained about this appointment.
But also, his vice president, Aaron Burr, he had tied with, as you recall that famous story, and they had just gone through 36 ballots where, finally, Jefferson won at the end of that. So it was not exactly a friendly dais that you were talking about there. A vice president who had refused to pull out in the race against him, a cousin who was chief justice administering the oath, who he didn't like very much.
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Cokie Roberts on this inauguration morning, as thousands of people already are gathering outside the U.S. Capitol. She's telling us about the first inauguration at that site in 1801. And since we've just been through a presidential transition, Cokie, can you tell us what the transition was like in 1801?
ROBERTS: Well, John Adams - we've seen a tremendous graciousness on the part of George W. Bush toward Barack Obama, and Barack Obama toward the Bushes. And we will see at noon today the current president sitting there handing over power to the new president, even though it's a different party. It is a remarkable thing we do in this country over and over. You know, it still is this peaceful transfer of power. That the loser accepts the verdict. But on that day in 1801, the first one at this United States Capitol, John Adams snuck out of town early in the morning on an early stagecoach. He didn't want to be there to see his former vice president and former friend and current foe to take that oath of office. But since then, pretty much they have been, except John Quincy Adams, he didn't show up for Andrew Jackson either.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks very much. That's NPR News analyst Cokie Roberts on this inauguration morning. And we'll continue to have live coverage from the U.S. Capitol and elsewhere throughout this day. It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Transportation is one of today's biggest concerns here in Washington, D.C. Streets, bridges, parkways and entire swathes of the capital and neighboring Virginia are shut down to private auto traffic. Add to that thousands of buses that will be bringing passengers to the center of the city and, well, you get the idea. NPR's Larry Abramson joins us from the 14th Street Bridge. And Larry, I gather you took the subway before dawn to get there, even though you might have driven on another day.
LARRY ABRAMSON: That's right. I took the very first subway. The train was absolutely packed with people who had gotten in on trains that are further out, stations that are further out. And as we moved into the city, you can imagine more people started to shove their way onto those trains. A lot of people at Metro said these are just the early birds, it won't be that bad later on in the day. But if it continues to be that bad, we're going to have a lot of problems on the Metro and a lot of disappointed people who will have to walk in.
MONTAGNE: Now, when I was coming in, I was seeing people crossing bridges that you never see people cross in the middle of the night, and they were quite far from the National Mall, from the scene of the inauguration.
ABRAMSON: Right.
MONTAGNE: What are seeing there, on the 14th Street Bridge?
ABRAMSON: Well, ordinarily, this is a bridge that only a few hardy bicyclists use and hardly any pedestrians go across. It's basically a giant swathe of freeway. But now we're seeing a steady stream of pedestrians coming in, a few bicyclists. And then on the actual roadway, we're seeing dozens of charter buses coming in. They're moving very fast, traffic is moving pretty well. But, you know, this section of the freeway, Renee, ordinarily is a major commuting route, it's been completely shut down for miles and miles from the capital beltway into the city in order to facilitate the rapid movement of these charter buses. There are also taxis and limousines, they are also allowed through.
MONTAGNE: Do you have any estimates on the numbers of people trying to get into this city?
ABRAMSON: No. I have absolutely no idea. You know, this is such a vast area, and the operation that they tried to man here, you know, shutting off the thousands of tiny little streets that feed into other tiny little streets and then come onto the freeway is so complex. I can see the ring of freeways that go around the Pentagon and around some of the parkways along the Potomac River, and they've had a very difficult time finding ways to shut these freeways off while still giving pedestrians a way into the city. So right now it's very hard to tell.
MONTAGNE: Do you have a few words to express the sight, if you will, that you're seeing? You just described it literally, but...
ABRAMSON: It's really, it's stunning, Renee. It's almost out of something from "First Encounters of the Third Kind," if you remember, you know, that theme at the end of the movie when the spacecraft lands and it's at night, and here we have all these blue and red lights from the police cars that are sort of floating around on these little parkways. There are buses and boats coming along the river, they're patrolling the river to stop any kayakers who had expressed interest in getting across. And then all the monuments are glowing off in the distance. It's just beautiful.
MONTAGNE: OK, Larry, thank you very much. NPR's Larry Abramson.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
When Barack Obama takes the oath, the crowd of people behind him on the stage will include most members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans both. The one we're about to meet next is newly elevated to a spot in the Republican leadership. Congressman Mike Pence represents a chunk of Indiana that relies on farms and the auto industry.
Representative MICHAEL PENCE (Republican, Indiana): I love to say in Indiana we do two things well. We grow things and we build things. So this great difficulty in the domestic automotive industry has been a time of great anxiety for many families across eastern Indiana.
INSKEEP: The challenge for Pence is that he's more conservative than the president about to take office. So while he favors action on the economy and welcomes the new president, he has some questions about what Mr. Obama may do.
Representative PENCE: I think most Hoosiers understand that we can't borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy. A week ago, I was at a town hall meeting in Muncie, Indiana, and a woman stood up, told me with some tears in her eyes that she'd lost her job. But then she said, Congressman, I want you to explain to me how the Wall Street bailout is helping me.
So I think there's a real resilience among people in the heartland and districts like mine. I think they know government should be taking action, but I think they also know we need to do the right thing, and not simply add to deficits by what may be ineffective and massive government spending.
INSKEEP: Does that mean that when you're called upon to vote on this economic stimulus package, which includes hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts as well as in spending, that you'll be voting no?
Representative PENCE: You know, I don't want to pre-judge it. We've seen a draft last week from House Democrats, we've heard the incoming administration make some statements. The president-elect and his people have been very solicitous in inviting Republicans to bring forward our ideas. We've been diligently preparing those, and frankly hope, even later this week, to have a chance to sit down with our new president, present those Republican ideas for permanent, across-the-board tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms.
INSKEEP: Wait a minute. When you say, permanent, across-the-board tax relief, are you saying that one Republican idea is to go to the president and say, don't do these targeted tax cuts, just cut everybody's taxes the way that President Bush did?
Representative PENCE: Well, not necessarily. I don't want to preempt what the Republican stimulus working group is going to unveil later this week. But our judgment is, you know, the way you create jobs is by creating certainty in the economy. And that means permanent tax relief, rather than the kind of short-term stimulative rebate checks.
You know, economists left, right and center all agree that last year's rebate checks and so-called tax relief had very, very little impact on the economy.
INSKEEP: You know, the former Republican leader Newt Gingrich, remembering 1993, when there was a new Democratic President, Bill Clinton, and a Democratic Congress as well, Newt Gingrich was the leader of the Republican minority in the House. And President Clinton came up with a budget bill that included tax increases. And he vowed that there would not be a single Republican vote for this tax increase, and that turned out to be very beneficial to them. They point directly from that to the Republican victory in Congress just a couple of years later. Can you imagine a showdown like that involving the Republican minority now?
Representative PENCE: Well, I hope not. I mean, I think that during these very difficult economic times, the American people would like to see us come together. But when principle demands that we contest, then we want to - as we intend to do on the stimulus bill - to offer substantive, principled alternatives to the challenges facing the American people.
INSKEEP: We should remind people that senators in the minority have power. They can filibuster in many cases, not all. You don't have that power. In fact, the minority in the House can be completely powerless. What's a circumstance in the next couple of years where you could stand in the way of something you don't like, or force something to change in a way that you do like?
Representative PENCE: One of the things that we learned last year when House Republicans held the House floor through the month of August to demand an up-or-down vote on lifting the historic moratorium on off-shore drilling, is that a minority in Congress plus the American people equals a majority. We'll have a voice, we'll have an impact and we'll be able to make a difference for the values that Republicans are elected to advance.
INSKEEP: Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana. Thanks very much.
Representative PENCE: Thank you, Steve.
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
As crowds are converging on the National Mall in Washington - and calling them crowds is understating the reality of it - thousands of people are moving onto the National Mall. We're going to check in with NPR's Allison Keyes. She's in a different place, Washington's U Street district. That's an historic African-American neighborhood. Good morning.
ALLISON KEYES: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So what are - it's still not even light yet, what are you seeing there?
KEYES: Frankly, I'm still looking at the moon on the street corner here. There are a lot of groups of people passing by here. I mean, with coffee, bundled up, hats, gloves, scarves, blankets. It's not the way U Street looks on a Saturday night when you can't move, but people are beginning to trickle down to the subways here. I'm standing in front of the Reeves Center. It's a city building where volunteers are gathering. They're going to go down to the parade route and volunteer at first-aid stations. And it is indeed historic. I heard you talking about Ben's Chili Bowl earlier, and yes, there have been lines there around the block the last couple of days. It's not open yet, or at least it wasn't about 15 minutes ago. But the workers are in there practically stacking up things, so they're expecting a major crowd today.
MONTAGNE: And the mood there sounds, from what you just said, festive. Any - you know, is that what it is?
KEYES: I'm sorry. Say that again.
MONTAGNE: The mood there, Allison. Is it as festive as you seem to be suggesting?
KEYES: The mood here is jubilation. I actually took the metro through the Mall area to get here. The Metro was packed down by the Mall, and people on their way into the U Street station, which is about a block away, are so excited. I spoke to a couple of guys, Christopher Jones(ph) and Wade McKenzie(ph), they have tickets to the purple section. Wade drove in from New Jersey overnight, and he said he would not have missed this for anything. He wants to be able to tell his kids he was here.
MONTAGNE: Allison, thanks very much. That's Allison Keyes.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And while all eyes are focused on Barack Obama, his ears will be glued to this man.
Mr. CHARLIE BROCKMAN (Inaugural Parade Announcer): My name's Charlie Brockman, and I am the presidential inaugural parade announcer. I'm 81 years old, and this will be my 14th consecutive inaugural parade. The first was President Eisenhower.
(Soundbite of 1957 presidential oath of office)
Former President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, do solemnly swear...
Mr. BROCKMAN: Eisenhower was a military man. There was no real hoopla. Basically, he was saying, I've got work to do in the White House. Let's get this thing over with.
The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans. Mr. Kennedy had charisma, personality, top hats and high fashion. It was really a lot of fun. However, we had a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., and the committee wanted to cancel the parade. And they got 3,000 service men, 700 trucks, they even had Army flamethrowers. They melted the snow, and the parade did go on as planned. When Johnson was our president, they had the most security up until that time, and the Secret Service were having nervous breakdowns, because he gets up and out of the glass enclosure, walks down to Pennsylvania Avenue so that he could shake hands with everybody. I think this is going to be the biggest and best parade we've ever had. We expect about 15,000 people to be in this historic parade, and it's exciting to have my little pinkie in political history.
MONTAGNE: Charlie Brockman has been announcing inaugural parades since 1957. It's NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Many of the people arriving in Washington began their trip in buses in their hometowns across the country. NPR's Ina Jaffe traveled in a caravan of four buses that set out from Louisville, Kentucky. We spoke with her earlier yesterday, and now she's back with this report on how it went.
INA JAFFE: Today will be a long day for the Louisville contingent. It will be cold in Washington and crowded on the Mall. And will come after another very long day.
Unidentified Man #1: (singing) When you board that big Greyhound Carry our luggage to D.C. town Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
JAFFE: At 3:00 Monday morning, about 200 travelers gathered outside the African-American coffee house that organized the trip. There was a brief send-off ceremony, a little music, a few prayers, followed by 14 hours on the road. No matter, Darlene Jones(ph) said there was never any question that she'd be here.
Ms. DARLENE JONES: The night that Obama won, we instantly said we're going to the inauguration, no matter what. Didn't know how we were going to get here, but we're going to be here.
JAFFE: She had to do it, she said, to honor family members who came before her.
Ms. JONES: Some of them were sharecroppers in Mississippi. They fought hard to climb up.
JAFFE: The buses drove through snow and high winds and arrived late in a hotel in Baltimore. As everyone lined up to register, Jana Shope(ph) explained that she'd canvassed for Mr. Obama, and now she had to be there for the final chapter of that story.
Ms. JANA SHOPE: If I see him on the big screen, I'm satisfied. And if I get a little bit of a glimpse of him, that'll be even better. But my best hope is to see him on the big screen. I hope to see him.
JAFFE: Nineteen-year-old Deke Lowery(ph) also views Barack Obama's inauguration as the culmination of a story, but one that started long before his time, with the civil rights pioneers who paved the way for this day.
Mr. DEKE LOWERY: Do I ride in a bus, or whatever, it kind of makes you feel like back in their generation they rode the bus for like Civil Rights and been fighting for this moment, you know, is was kind of sad that someone went here to see it and fought so hard for it. So you don't want to miss that, because then it's not giving them the honor they should have.
JAFFE: But some of those civil rights activists are still around. Sonny Wells(ph) began marching and protesting in Louisville in the 1960s.
Mr. SONNY WELLS: I had to be here. This is the history for me. It's something I can tell my grandkids and something I can tell everybody. I never dreamed this day would happen. But we made it. We made it.
JAFFE: Everyone we spoke to felt the weight of the past. But not one even tried to guess what they might feel when they actually witness Barack Obama taking the presidential oath of office. They just knew they would feel something great once the new president uttered the words, so help me God. Ina Jaffe, NPR News, Baltimore.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's Margot Adler has also been on a bus. This one began its journey in New York. Good morning, Margot.
MARGOT ADLER: Good morning. I'm streaming with the mobs of people down 18th Street towards the Mall. And we just came in from Rochester, New York, which I've been told is the home of Frederick Douglass, of Susan B. Anthony. Our bus was really an incredible group of people. Basically, aged 10 to 71, but I'd say 85-90 percent African-American, and firefighters, preachers, sanitation workers, nurses, people who work for the local community college. And I think what was really powerful is that many of them said, you know, we missed Dr. King, we were either too young or we didn't make it. One woman said she basically had been from South Carolina, had experienced racism, had experienced separate bathrooms, and for her this was a coming of age, a coming of - sort of almost adulthood of America.
MONTAGNE: Margot, this is something unusual, but I understand you worked to register voters in Mississippi more than 40 years ago. Did you - well, what can I say? When did you - when did you expect to see a day like this?
ADLER: I can tell you I still don't believe it. I - there's a part of me that - I was 19 years old. I worked in Mississippi in voter registration. In one month we didn't register, maybe, two people. It was - there was terror. There was horror. And I have to say that, you know, this has nothing to do even with who Obama is or whether he's going to be a good president or a bad president. But the fact is, we have erased a stain. A stain that was on our country and our Constitution. And that's what it feels like to me. That we've sort of grown up as a country.
MONTAGNE: Margot, we don't have but just a second, really. But a highlight of the trip?
ADLER: Oh, it was, what, seven hours - seven hours - it wasn't that long, and it was done without almost any traffic. It was great. And the people were in great humor.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Margot Adler, who's just gotten off the bus traveling from New York State. Thanks very much.
ADLER: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's Audie Cornish is at the Lincoln Memorial. That's at the other end of the National Mall from the Capitol. It's also where some of the biggest names in music performed - you might have heard them - for the incoming president and his family on Sunday. And of course, it's where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech that was more than four decades ago. And Audie, what's the scene like there this morning? You sound cold.
AUDIE CORNISH: Hi, Renee. It is a little bit cold. There's a nice sheen of ice on the reflecting pool here in front of the Lincoln Memorial. This is obviously the furthest end of the Mall, and so the folks that are here right now are volunteers. A few hundred people in cherry-red winter caps, and they are being dispersed to the different security gates, because they're going to open at 7:00, and the crowds are going to start coming in. My producer and I walked all the way down here from the NPR building, and along the way we saw definitely a few hundred people gathering up against the barricades, getting in line essentially, waiting for the gates to open.
MONTAGNE: And are they expecting a large crowd? I mean, there are so many people coming in, but this is the other end of the Mall.
CORNISH: That's true. I mean, this weekend at the sort of opening ceremony of all of this at the Lincoln Memorial - the "We are One" concert, there were several hundred thousand people there. And that was a little bit of a trial run of what they expect to come. That being said, at one point, estimates were coming to the event - estimates for the crowd size was 4 million, and each week that's been bumped down just a little bit as people adjust their expectations to say a million - million and a half is the last I heard from D.C. city officials.
MONTAGNE: Interesting thing, that memorial is next to the bridge that leads to Virginia. And that's a foot bridge basically today, right?
CORNISH: It will be a foot bridge, the only one. And there's been a lot of closures for folks on the Virginia side, and so this will be one of the main points of entry for them. I haven't seen any crowds yet coming from that direction, but I'm sure that this is going to be a popular spot because of the significance of Lincoln and how the president-elect has talked about it.
MONTAGNE: Well, we'll be talking to you later in the morning, and thanks very much. NPR's Audie Cornish.
CORNISH: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When a new president is sworn into office, there are usually a few hometown experts joining the administration. Barack Obama is bringing a big group of Chicago movers and shakers with him to Washington, D.C., and that may make for some change for both cities. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
CHERYL CORLEY: The shift to power from Chicago to Washington is familiar ground for some Obama allies. Chief-of-staff Ram Emmanual has shuttled between the two cities as a Clinton aide and a former Congressman. Some of the newcomers to Washington include incoming Education Secretary Arne Duncan, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, Presidential Advisor Valerie Jarrett, and political guru David Axelrod. And that's just a partial list of the Obama Chicago-D.C. connection.
Ms. AVIS LAVELLE (President, A. LaVelle Consulting Services; Former Assistant Secretary Public Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services): There's so many people going that they'll have a comfort level.
CORLEY: That's Chicagoan Avis LaVelle. She did her own stint in Washington as part of the Clinton administration and runs a consulting firm. LaVelle says Chicago has a deep talent bench, so it's not likely that the city will suffer from so many influential people leaving. Instead, LaVelle says, the Midwest will get more attention.
Ms. LAVELLE: That's not to say that they won't be able to ignore the issues that get everybody all whipped up on the East Coast or the West Coast, but I think it will certainly add another dimension to what the nation focuses on and what the administration focuses on.
CORLEY: In the Kenwick Hyde Park neighborhoods on Chicago's south side, there's still a barricade around the Obama home. Until recently, Hyde Park was like a Midwest wing of the White House with a convoy of black SUVs racing through the city taking the president-elect to various places. One of the restaurants he used to frequent when he was here is called Valois.
TOM CORNOPOLIS(ph) (General Manager, Valois Restaurant): Yeah. He used to come in a lot. Obviously, before he got famous.
CORLEY: That's general manager Tom Cornopolis, who offered a free Barack Obama special, scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns on election day. Delmarie Cobb, a Democratic political consultant who frequents the restaurant too, says even with the Obama crowd's departure, there's a chance for this south side neighborhood known for its large mansions and brownstones to prosper even more.
MS. DELMARIE COBB (Democratic Political Consultant): You have tourists who are coming in. They want to see where Obama lives. They want to see where Obama ate. They want to see where he gets his hair cut. Where he got his shoes shined, where he takes his clothes to the cleaners. I mean, all of these things.
CORLEY: But the focus now is on Washington and the mark the Obama administration will make. And Walker Marchant, the head of a corporate communications firm in D.C., worked as a special assistant to former president Clinton.
Ms. ANN WALKER MARCHANT (Founder and CEO, Walker Marchant Group): Every administration brings a new twist to the city, and we're very much looking forward to the Chicago crowd coming into Washington and really participating a lot in the Washington, D.C. - that social and political activities.
CORLEY: There is, of course, curiosity, not only about the president's family, but about administration officials who will wield substantial influence. For example, Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution says he's interested to know what type of chief of staff Ram Emmanuel will be.
Mr. STEPHEN HESS (Brookings Institute): If you look at past chiefs-of-staff, the ones who do best, survive longest, are those who say no with a pat on the back and great servility. That's not Ram Emmanuel's way. So we will see.
CORLEY: And Marchant says she has a bit of advice for the Chicagoans who are coming to D.C. and are not as familiar with it as Ram Emmanuel.
Ms. WALKER MARCHANT: Understanding that Washington is a very unique city, and you can't transplant Chicago to Washington.
CORLEY: Don't tell that to the Obamas, however. They have a close-knit extended family of friends in Chicago, and they've asked some of them to visit as often as possible.
Dr. ERIC WHITAKER (Vice President, University of Chicago Medical Center):You know, we've all been raising our families together.
CORLEY: Dr. Eric Whitaker, a vice president at the University of Chicago Medical Center, says he, his wife and small children spent time with the Obamas nearly every weekend in Chicago. And Whitaker says the Chicagoans who are now in Washington will do well to remember the city that nurtured and made them.
Dr. WHITAKER: I'm believing that they have a deep investment in our city. We're just simply letting them be on loan.
CORLEY: A loan that will last four years and perhaps more, but that's for another story. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. People are waiting hours for hot dogs in Washington, D.C. President-elect Obama stopped at Ben's Chili Bowl the other day. That local landmark serves Washington's best-known indigenous food, half-smoked sausages. Ever since, the line at Ben's has gone out the door. There may also be a line at a restaurant in Hawaii. It'll be early morning there when the Hawaii native takes the oath, and Don Ho's restaurant is offering a special inaugural breakfast. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Yesterday, Superman, Spider-Man, Usher and Oprah all came together. Yes, they answered Barack Obama's call for service. Instead of a day off, Mr. Obama called for a day on. So Usher and Superman - that would be actor Brandon Routh - and Spider-Man - Tobey Maguire - helped build shelves in the library at Simon Elementary School in southeast Washington, D.C. Oprah - her crew documented the whole thing. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
For NPR News, I'm Renee Montagne with Steve Inskeep. Today is the day that Barack Hussein Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States. He'll take the oath of office at noon here in D.C. in a ceremony in front of the U.S. Capitol. As dawn breaks, hundreds of thousands of people continue to pour into Washington to witness the swearing-in of the nation's first black president. Over the next few minutes, we'll check in with our correspondents who are covering today's events and we're going to start with NPR's Debbie Elliott. She's on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and she joins us live. Hello, Debbie.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Well, how does it look at this first light?
ELLIOTT: Oh, it's just beautiful. The sun is just coming up, and I'm starting to now make out people on the Mall. I'm standing on the west front steps of the Capitol looking out at the Washington monument, and when we got here this morning, it was dark but you could tell people were there because of all the camera flashes going off. People were looking up at the beautiful U.S. Capitol taking pictures. The Capitol is all adorned in red, white and blue and - as the workers here are making the last minute preparations for the inauguration to begin.
MONTAGNE: And tell us something about those - that ceremony, how is the program expected to unfold?
ELLIOTT: Well, in about an hour, the first gates will open for people to come to the seats that are here on the Capitol grounds. These are the people, you know, dignitaries who have gotten tickets from their members of Congress or several Congress members have lotteries for people to apply for tickets. And then up - as you look up toward the Capitol, there are seats where all of the dignitaries will be. The first people to come in will be the VIPs, the members of Congress, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court. They will fill seats, then there are these high-backed blue chairs that they've just brought in. The last people to come in of course will be President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama.
MONTAGNE: Now, just briefly, obviously, a ceremony and a day of celebration also work to do today.
ELLIOTT: Also...
MONTAGNE: Some work...
ELLIOTT: Work to do today?
MONTAGNE: The new president will have to do today.
ELLIOTT: Yes, he will be going immediately to the Capitol to sign his nomination recommendations for his Cabinet so that that work can get underway. There's activity in the White House, getting ready to change occupants, lots of work going on behind the scenes.
MONTAGNE: Debbie, thanks very much. We'll be checking back with you later. That's NPR's Debbie Elliott at the Capitol.
ELLIOTT: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: And thank you. Thank you, and let's get a view now of crowds in another area from NPR's Frank Langfitt. He's outside RFK Stadium where busloads of people have been arriving since three o'clock this morning. Hello, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT: Hi. Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Tell us about the scene over there.
LANGFITT: Well, it looks like the lots are almost full now. As you were saying, they got here about three o'clock, about an hour and a half before the lots were supposed to open. And you had all these tour buses really from all over the country circling RFK waiting to get in. Now you have a lot of people streaming towards the Capitol. They're getting on shuttle buses, lining up and making their way. It's a neat scene. I mean, you have huge numbers of people streaming towards these shuttle buses, you have a lot of vendors selling funnel cake and hot chocolate. There's an Obama blowout sale, $3 for everything, very appropriate to our times. They're selling t-shirts and pendants and everybody seems you know, very up and in a very good mood.
MONTAGNE: What are they telling you this morning? And you know, you're seeing visions, we're seeing on television actually people waving flags and whatnot over there at the National Mall. What are people telling you as they arrive?
LANGFITT: I think people, you know - first of all, they want to get to the mall, so I think they're probably in a little more serious mood over here at RFK in that they're very focused on transportation and staying warm. But it really seems that they've come here for history more than anything else. I think there'll be a great celebration on the Mall. But they seemed really moved by what happened in this last election and the fact they were, you know, going to see our first African-American president. I met a woman named Betty Jennings, 70 years old from Gainesville, Florida, retired teacher, and she was actually on a walker. She has a really bad back and she was bundled up in a big sort of white fur coat. And she said that you know, this was just something she never thought she would see and there was no way that she wasn't going to come here and see it. And she took off - I mean, gosh more than a day ago from Florida in a bus and just arrived here about 2:30 this morning.
MONTAGNE: Well, speaking of somebody who is older and maybe, you know, problem walking, it's very cold here. How are people expecting or are they coping with the cold so far and the fact that, of course there are going to be big crowds standing a long time?
LANGFITT: I think it's - people are taking layer upon layer of clothes. They're getting these hand-warmers that you can sort of break open and keep your hands warm. But more than anything else, I think that you know, they're probably going to be very cold and maybe suffer a bit, but they're more than willing to do it because they really don't want to miss this.
MONTAGNE: Frank, thanks a lot.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Renee.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Frank Langfitt outside RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. And now we go to a place where all those busloads of people are headed. NPR's Ari Shapiro is on the National Mall and he joins us live now. Ari, hello. Good morning.
ARI SHAPIRO: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So the picture...
SHAPIRO: Well, I...
MONTAGNE: The pictures we're seeing are quite stunning, the U.S. Capitol, it's bathed in light, thousands of people are already gathered at the Mall. You hate to say, the visuals are better than the audio but I must say this morning, I have to tip my hat to the looks of the thing. It's amazing.
SHAPIRO: Well, let me see if I can give you a sense of that. Thousands of people, everybody with American flags, everybody in high spirits watching the sun come up over the illuminated Capitol, and I'm actually sitting here with somebody who is from Delaware, a woman named Sarah Sordin(ph). She got off work last night, hopped in her car, drove here, has been here all night and is now celebrating her birthday here at the inauguration this morning.
MONTAGNE: Do you want to put her on the line?
SHAPIRO: Absolutely. Here she is.
Ms. SARAH SORDIN(ph) (Inauguration Attendee, National Mall): Hello there.
MONTAGNE: Hello, Sarah Sordin. How are you?
Ms. SORDIN: I am so happy to be here. I just can't wait to hear what he has to say to the nation. But most of all, I'm just so glad that we have come together as a nation, one for one and one for all.
MONTAGNE: So you're not put off at all by the cold or the crowds or the fact that you'll be standing there for hours and hours?
Ms. SORDIN: I don't feel no cold. I am so excited. I don't feel no cold. It's my birthday. I'm going to see Obama. I'm from Delaware and Biden is up there. Hey, what can I say?
MONTAGNE: It's your birthday. Well, happy (laughing) birthday. This will be some day you'll certainly remember easily then.
Ms. SORDIN: Yes.
MONTAGNE: All right...
Ms. SORDIN: Fifty-two years.
MONTAGNE: OK. Well, Sarah Sordin, thank you for joining us. If you want to pass this back to our own Ari Sharipo, appreciate it and have a you know, good day today.
Ms. SORDIN: I shall. Thank you.
SHAPIRO: I'm back, Renee. Hi.
MONTAGNE: So tell us some more, Ari. I mean, you're looking out there. It's you know, it's going to be some day ahead of us.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
MONTAGNE: And it's already going strong.
SHAPIRO: Jumbotron TV screens all across the Mall with people gathered in front of them. They just turned on within the last hour and now there's this presidential inauguration logo. The moment that the TV screens lit up, everybody let up a cheer. You know, people who are coming here have to kind of decide whether they want to go to the parade route or the Mall. And so the people here got here early, they decided to be here, they've got front row seats for the Jumbotron TV screens and they can see the real thing in the background with the illuminated Capitol dome and they're just getting ready for an event that people described as a once-in-a-lifetime memory.
MONTAGNE: Now, do you know exactly - do you want to give us just a small rundown of what we expect to see later today? What the ceremony will be?
SHAPIRO: You know, actually I got a sneak preview of it yesterday. I was walking past the Mall and Aretha Franklin was practicing "America, The Beautiful." So, I can tell you, that's going to be a highlight. In addition, there's of course, the inaugural address, a number of bands, the swearing-in with Chief Justice John Roberts followed by the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and the hundreds of thousands if not, millions of people here to watch it.
MONTAGNE: Ari, thanks very much. That's NPR's Ari Shapiro on the National Mall here in Washington. And I am sitting here with NPR's Ron Elving. He's senior Washington editor, and I just want to chat with you just for a few minutes that - a few seconds rather we have left. You've seen inaugurations.
RON ELVING: This is my seventh.
MONTAGNE: Yeah. And I mean, how does this - how does this, well, how can I say it? I want to say rate but maybe how does this look compared to the rest of them?
ELVING: The closest it would compare in terms of weather would be 1985, the second Reagan inaugural. But the closest in terms of mood would be the first Reagan inaugural in 1981 when there was a tremendous sense of change in Washington, very different political change. But a tremendous sense of watershed moment, and we're seeing that again now going in the other direction if you will from right to left. And I would say that the enthusiasm of these people combining the braving of the cold and the excitement from the two Reagan inaugurations is really quite unprecedented.
MONTAGNE: Ron, thanks very much. We'll be talking later through the morning. Ron Elving, senior Washington editor, and you are listening to Morning Edition from NPR News on this Inauguration Day.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
One of the places where Barack Obama's inauguration has special meaning is Birmingham, Alabama, a city rich in civil rights history. Tanya Ott of member station WBHM is there at Boutwell Auditorium where crowds will gather to watch the first African-American president take the oath of office. And good morning. I hope I said that right. Did I - I said the auditorium right.
TANYA OTT: Well, not exactly, Renee, but thank you. Good morning.
MONTAGNE: No, dig.
OTT: It's Boutwell Auditorium.
MONTAGNE: Boutwell. No one could go a couple of ways.
OTT: Boutwell. Yes.
MONTAGNE: Well, I'm not from there, so - but many of our listeners are not either, so tell us what the scene is like.
OTT: Well, you know, right now, the scene is rather quiet because Boutwell Auditorium doesn't open to visitors or to people that are coming to the inaugural celebration until eight o'clock Central Time, sort of about an hour and a half away. Right now, we've got media lined up out front with their trucks doing live shots for the morning television news. Of course, this event is attracting international attention. The BBC is supposed to be here and we're here as well talking with you. If you were to look at the scene here, you've got an auditorium that seats about 6,000 people and it is absolutely plastered in red, white and blue - dozens of red, white and blue buntings hung from railings and flags hung from the ceilings and, of course, the obligatory balloons suspended above and ready to be dropped when the appropriate moment comes.
MONTAGNE: Remind us why this day is so significant to the people in your city.
OTT: Well, let me just look over here at the stage. On the stage here in the auditorium, it's flanked by two massive American flags. And this is a stage that in 1956, singer Nat King Cole was performing here at Boutwell Auditorium, and he was assaulted by three white assailants who jumped on stage during a segregated performance here and accosted him. And later that year, there were other really prominent musical performances here at Boutwell that also played to segregated crowds, and there were picketers outside the auditorium. Just a couple of blocks from here, Renee, four or five blocks down the road is where the infamous protests were done where Bull Connor turned the fire hoses and police dogs on civil-rights protesters. Those images, of course, are classic, classic images from the Civil Rights Movement. So, folks have been watching the election of Barack Obama very closely and for them, this is an incredibly historic moment.
MONTAGNE: Tanya, thanks very much for talking with us.
OTT: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Tanya Ott of member station WBHM at the Birmingham, Alabama Convention Center.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The fighting in Gaza has stopped for now, but both the Israelis and Palestinians are waiting to see what Barack Obama's incoming administration has to say about the conflict. We go now to NPR's Eric Westervelt, live, who's been covering the fighting and is now in Gaza City. Good morning, Eric.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So, the ceasefire seems to be holding there in Gaza. Does it look like there is a will on both sides to keep it in place past these few days?
WESTERVELT: There seems to be a will to try to extend this ceasefire. It's holding so far. The Israeli government had said that its forces on the ground will pull out completely from the Gaza strip by the end of today. They are still pulling out as of this time, and the government has not confirmed that all the troops are yet out, but the Hamas said government and militants here today held a rally and in some ways proclaimed a kind of victory saying we stood up to Israel, we were able to fire our rockets throughout this three-week war. But certainly, the destruction, Renee, here on the ground and people's neighborhoods and the homes lost, tell the different story for many years. Certainly, it was no victory.
MONTAGNE: Give us a sense of what it looks like there at this moment.
WESTERVELT: Well, certain neighborhoods certainly in the north and on the east side and in the south of Gaza City are completely destroyed. The U.N. said they believe at least 55,000 homes all were partially destroyed in the fighting. There's a huge need. People simply can't return to their homes. I talked to a U.N. official today who said they were giving out, you know, plastic sheeting and tape and rope so people can, you know, put up plastic over giant tank holes so they can stop the wind and the rain, it is winter time. I talked to Red Cross officials, they said, you know, they're trying to get blankets and plastic sheathing and try to deal with the fact that thousands of people, tens of thousands of people simply cannot return to their homes. They have been displaced by the fighting, and there's still just an enormous need. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Actual figures of home destruction appear to have been much lower. Estimates by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics established that about 4,100 Gaza homes were destroyed and 17,000 were damaged, for a total of 21,100 - a figure cited in subsequent NPR reports.]
MONTAGNE: Now, there - of course was talk that the ceasefire partially went into effect because both sides didn't want to have this fighting going on when Barack Obama was inaugurated. What are the Israelis and Palestinians hoping to hear from an incoming - this incoming U.S. president.
WESTERVELT: Well, I think on the Palestinian side, they're hoping to see something of a change of policy, and then I talked to many here today who - some didn't even know that Barack Obama was being inaugurated today, and others I did speak with at length voiced skepticism, Renee, that U.S. policy will really change. Many told me, look, U.S. presidents have been so pro-Israeli, for so long and we don't think Barack Obama will change that. So, they're deeply skeptical that any policies will change. On the Israeli side, there was some skepticism during the campaign that Obama would be as pro-Israel as George Bush, who's been very, very supportive of Israel throughout his eight years. And so, they're cautiously optimistic that Obama will continue the strong relationship with Israel and support.
MONTAGNE: And the picture in the larger Middle East? How does the Arab world view the presidency of Barack Obama now that it is upon us?
WESTERVELT: Well, painting with a big brush, but the Arab world is certainly divided and of many of her opinions, but I think there's a cautious optimism that perhaps the policy, the eight years under George Bush policies will change significantly. They've seen war, invasions and dissension, and they're hoping that Barack Obama brings a fresh perspective and some new policies.
MONTAGNE: Eric, thanks very much. NPR's Eric Westervelt in Gaza City.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne with Steve Inskeep. This morning, hundreds of thousands of people are streaming into Washington for the inauguration of Barack Obama. Entire swaths of the capital and neighboring Virginia are closed to private auto traffic. Buses in subways have been packed with passengers since before dawn this morning, and some people are making their journey by foot. NPR's Larry Abramson is watching the influx from the 14th Street Bridge, and he joins us now to describe, well, what you're seeing there, that's what we want to hear, Larry.
LARRY ABRAMSON: All right, well, I'm seeing a beautiful sunrise over the frozen Potomic River rink and a lot of bundled up and people coming up the plight path along the George Washington Memorial parkway. They're coming in on roller blades, they're coming in on foot, they're coming in by every possible convenience, and actually you can hear there's some sort of coastguard boat skimming along the water of Potomic. There - I think they're trying to block people from approaching by water in case anybody just got that idea into their head.
MONTAGNE: Tell us about some of the people you've met since you've been there just for - you've been there a few hours.
ABRAMSON: Well, I've talked to a lot of bicyclists and most people who were taking this route are locals or are seen with locals in Arlington or Alexandria, and they figured out that they didn't want to brave the metro because they are afraid of the huge crowd. And they went to great trouble to figure out if exactly how they could get - if somebody has a themselves dropped off at National Airport and then walked up here from National Airport. So again, the arrangements the people had to make to try to figure out the easiest way to get into the city are incredibly sophisticated.
MONTAGNE: And you had a - I'm left wondering how you got there this morning? ABRAMSON: I took the metro in from out in Maryland, and it was at four in the morning. It was already packed. It's was getting a little tense in there as people on the incoming stations try to shove their way unto to train, so I wonder what that's going to look like later on in the day.
MONTAGNE: But we'll be hearing from you later in the day. Larry, thanks very much.
ABRAMSON: OK. Thanks, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Larry Abramson speaking to us from the 14th Street Bridge in Washington D.C. And NPR's Linda Wertheimer is with me here in the studio this morning. Good morning, Linda.
LINDA WERTHEIMER: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: You have witnessed many inaugurals here in Washington. What about the mood this year and the crowds, how does it compare to years past?
WERTHEIMER: I think this is the biggest one that I have ever seen. I mean, we - I've seen inaugurals from President Nixon forward. And I think that the first Reagan inaugural was one of the - was something like this, you know, that there was a whole lot of - there were lot of people for whom he was the perfect president for the time, and they were very anxious that he, you know, get the right send off and so there a lot of people coming to Washington for that inaugural. But this is different, this is much, much bigger, and there sort of party atmosphere - all day yesterday it was a lot like Denver was during the convention where everybody was steaming toward Invesco Field for the final night, 70,000 people, which is way more than were actually at the convention. And I think that the sort festival mood is still holding with this crowd. People are anxious to get there, just anxious to be in the presence of the event that changes everything.
MONTAGNE: And you kind of wonder, you want to say in spite of, but maybe because of the economic crisis and the two wars that we're living with right now maybe that adds to some level of hope?
WERTHEIMER: Well, I think there's a hope of change and the possibility of change is something that people are, you know, are very caught up in. But, you know, every inauguration is more expensive, more lavish, bigger than the last one was just by virtue of the fact that four years have passed and everything is more expensive than it used to be. But I think that this - I still think, this is an extraordinary and special occasion for the United States of America, the first African-American president.
MONTAGNE: Linda, thanks very much. NPR senior national correspondent Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep at the U.S. Capitol where, as far as we can see, thousands of people have gathered to witness history.
MONTAGNE: In about four hours, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the first black president. He'll take office amidst serious economic worries, high expectations. And Steve, why don't you give us a view from the steps of the U.S. Capitol?
INSKEEP: Well, Renee, we are on the edge of what you might think of as a kind of amphitheater, an improvised amphitheater that is built into the side of the U.S. Capitol, the west front of the U.S. Capitol which looks like nothing so much as a wedding cake today, decorated with American flags. In front of us is a platform, a lectern, almost a national pulpit, if you will, which is where Barack Obama will take the oath of office right around noon today and give his inaugural address.
But the most astonishing scene is off to the right looking across the National Mall. We see thousands and thousands of seats of the ticketed spectators. Those seats are empty mostly. Those people will be able to file in, in good order later today. But the people with no tickets, with no assurance of a close-up view, have come by their thousands. They were here before dawn. The sunlight is just now beginning to strike them in the last 10 or 15 minutes - the dawn, the sunlight shining off the Washington Monument in the distance. And what I see is a wall of people from here to the Washington Monument, perhaps a mile away.
MONTAGNE: And you just made your way through there. How are those crowds for getting through?
INSKEEP: Oh, we didn't have such a bad time because we're with the media. We've got our own entrances. But people who are not in that situation have been coming extraordinarily early. Even at 3 or 4 o'clock this morning, the streets were very busy, as we've been hearing from our correspondents around the city today. And that's going to continue throughout the day. People have been arriving on buses from - to RFK Stadium, which is a distance perhaps 15-16 blocks to the east of the U.S. Capitol and riding shuttle buses or walking in. Going through security is necessary, filing in from every direction that can be allowed with this massive security.
MONTAGNE: And Steve, you're not alone there. I know Michele Norris, host of NPR's All Things Considered, is there with you and also our White House correspondent, Don Gonyea.
INSKEEP: Oh, yeah, let's bring them both in. First, Michele, I want to ask you about something, Michele, because we went in together. We will be doing together live coverage of the actual swearing in later today. And we're in this vehicle. It is 6:30 in the morning. You've got this big job ahead of you, and you're talking to your - I heard something about, put on the blue coat, the blue coat.
MICHELE NORRIS: Yeah, yeah, I have - like many people here. I have a houseful of family members who've come here from Minnesota and Chicago, and they've made their way here in every bed, in every couch, and every sleeping bag, and the house is filled up. And they thought that they were getting an early start. Well, we know that by 6:30 in the morning, this place was already packed down here. I've covered a lot of inaugurations, and there are several things that really stand out about this one. One is, of course, the size of the crowd. I mean, for an inauguration, you always see the high rollers, lots of fur, lots of statement jewelry.
Something's very different here. A lot of regular folks just got on, as you say, buses, they drove, there are car pools, they made their way here, a lot more people of color. And that's no surprise there. I have never seen an inauguration where so many young black families, young black kids, older black Americans made their way here. And one other thing that stands out - and we saw this the minute we left the building - have you ever seen this much presidential paraphernalia for sale?
INSKEEP: Everywhere, I mean, everywhere.
NORRIS: Anything that they can put his name on.
INSKEEP: Anything you want. Renee.
MONTAGNE: Michele, I want to say hello to you this morning.
NORRIS: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Welcome. And also Don Gonyea, of course, as we've said earlier, our White House correspondent. Let me just ask you, Don, what - Mr. Obama, he takes the oath of office at noon, as we know. But what is he doing this morning?
DON GONYEA: His final hours before taking on the responsibilities of the office, he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden and their spouses are starting out with Mass at St. John's Episcopal Church, a church service, right across Lafayette Park, across Lafayette Park from the White House. Then at 10:05 Eastern time - this is all very precise - they head over to the White House. They'll be greeted under the North Portico by President and Mrs. Bush.
They'll go inside, and for 45 minutes they'll have an informal coffee closed to the press. Vice President Cheney and Mrs. Cheney will be there as well. And it's one last moment that these two men will have together. And then they head over here at about 10:45 Eastern time, all of them together in the motorcade.
MONTAGNE: And the three of you will be there. You'll be there, Michele, with Steve really taking us through this, through the morning and through the inauguration itself.
INSKEEP: That's correct.
NORRIS: We'll be here all day until 2 o'clock, and then we hand over the baton to Neal Conan and he continues the coverage.
INSKEEP: That's right, that's right. And we should mention it's a little chilly today, but I haven't seen anybody complaining. I haven't heard anybody complaining. I just think there's a great, a tremendous energy here. We'll see how unhappy people are in a few hours when they're heading back.
(Soundbite of laughter)
NORRIS: Well, the sun is rising. Maybe that'll warm us up a little bit.
MONTAGNE: Yeah. Well, all snuggle up together there and enjoy the view. We're listening to our own NPR's Steve Inskeep, Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep. Also Michele Norris of NPR's All Things Considered, and Don Gonyea, our White House correspondent. And we're going to move on now, really off the Mall, just a little beyond the Mall, just past the Lincoln Monument over to the Memorial, over to Memorial Bridge. It's a major connection between Virginia and the District of Columbia. And NPR's Allison Aubrey is there. Good morning, Allison.
ALLISON AUBREY: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So, what is happening where you are?
AUBREY: Well, I am here on the bridge, on Memorial Bridge, as you say. This is one way folks are getting to the Mall. And I have to say it's probably the most peaceful and quiet route into the city. It's closed off to cars and buses. It's only pedestrians here. There's really a steady stream of people. They're spread out across the entire span of the bridge. And as people walk, they have a sense on their face that they finally made it. I'll tell you what they're seeing in front of them is the Lincoln Memorial. It's straight ahead. It's a gorgeous view. It's a beautiful sky. Just behind them is the Eternal Flame from Arlington Cemetery on the hilltop. And it just sort of adds to the sense of place and symbolism.
And folks know that they're headed into crowds, but for now they're in small groups of one or two just taking in the scene. They are bundled because it's cold, as you've heard. But people here are really reflective more than celebratory. And for many, the sense of history is just powerful. I've got here with me Telli and Bridget Scarborough(ph). They have walked three miles to get here. Would you like to hear from them?
MONTAGNE: Yes, absolutely.
AUBREY: All right, all right, here we go. We've got Telli Scarborough here.
MONTAGNE: Hello, it's Telli.
Ms. TELLI SCARBOROUGH: Good morning.
MONTAGENE: Good morning. And you're with Bridget. I would guess that you're both related.
Ms. TELLI SCARBOROUGH: Yes, she's my daughter. She lives in Atlanta.
MONTAGNE: Now, OK, Atlanta. Now, how far did you come from?
Ms. TELLI SCARBOROUGH: Well, we came from Kansas City, and Bridget from Atlanta.
MONTAGNE: All the way for this inauguration. So, what are you hoping for?
Ms. TELLI SCARBOROUGH: I'm hoping for a leader who'll bring (unintelligible) justice, hope - he gives me a lot of hope - health care for people who don't have it, my god.
MONTAGNE: Why don't we put on - we just have a few seconds - put on your daughter, Bridget.
Ms. TELLI SCARBOROUGH: All right, here's Bridget.
Ms. BRIDGET SCARBOROUGH: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Hey, good morning. And is it worth the trip so far?
Ms. BRIDGET SCARBOROUGH: It has been worth the trip. It's been an awesome experience at this point. And I think it's going to be even better starting from now.
MONTAGNE: It is. I guess you're all bundled up and everything. Well, just briefly, what are you, what's your first glimpse here?
Ms. BRIDGET SCARBOROUGH: We can see - it's a perfect view of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument is creeping over the trees, walking over the bridges. I was planning on doing that from Atlanta. I talked Mom into doing it. And it was definitely worth it.
MONTAGNE: Well, Bridget Scarborough and with your mother, Telli, thank you very much for joining us. And if you don't mind passing us back to Allison.
Ms. BRIDGET SCARBOROUGH: Definitely, here you go.
MONTAGNE: All right.
AUBREY: All right, Renee.
MONTAGNE: You know, we just have a few seconds. But given the crowds and everybody in a sort of jubilant mood it seems, what about security? Is there a very visible police presence there?
AUBREY: You know what, there is a park service that's manning the bridge here and there are barricades set up. There's not much need for crowd control here. As I said, it's a peaceful scene. And the National Park Service have it down. Once you get across the other side of the bridge, there's a lot of military patrols, a lot of police.
MONTAGNE: Well, Allison, thank you very much. Stay warm.
AUBREY: All right, trying to. Thanks, Renee.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Allison Aubrey, one of our many correspondents and voices that we will be hearing all during the morning and all during the day here at NPR News. She, Allison Aubrey, is on Memorial Bridge in downtown Washington, D.C.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Today's inauguration of Barack Obama brings the departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, though the outgoing president's day is also full of ceremony. Following White tradition, President Bush is leaving a note in the oval office for President-elect Barack Obama as he takes the reigns of the executive branch. NPR's Scott Horsley is outside out front of the White House, and he joins us now. And we've heard all morning of crowds streaming into Washington. What is the scene like - if there is one there - at the White House?
SCOTT HORSLEY: Well, we're actually across Lafayette Park from the White House, outside St. John's Episcopal church, where in a short while the vice president-elect and the president-elect will come with their wives to attend church services. And then they'll make their way over to the White House for coffee with the outgoing president and vice president, and also some of the Congressional leaders. It's a mob scene around the secured perimeter here, but right where I'm standing, is actually fairly quiet, because this area is all been blocked off to the general public.
MONTAGNE: Well, besides the coffee and I guess the note, which is a lovely note, a really lovely tradition, what does the day hold for President Bush?
HORSLEY: Well, President Bush will, of course, attend the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol, and then he will depart as the new president has lunch with lawmakers and takes care of getting his new Cabinet secretaries officially nominated. And then the Bushes will make their way out of Washington and home to Texas. And the new president will arrive at the White House, and during that short period of a few hours, all the possessions of the Bushes will be moved out, and the possessions of the Obamas will be moved in.
MONTAGNE: Well, you're saying he's arriving after the oath of office, naturally, but when in fact does he arrive? And beyond what you've just listed as his duties, new Cabinet secretaries, signing of on - does he have really any kind of a work day today, Mr. Obama?
HORSLEY: Well, much of his day this afternoon will be spent actually reviewing the parade. He will, of course, lead the parade from the Capitol down to the White House, and I'm actually looking now at the giant reviewing stand that's been built for the president that watch over Pennsylvania Avenue and watch the large crowd of vans and others who will be coming through on the parade ground. And then this evening, there are no fewer than 10 official inaugural balls for the Obamas to attend. And we're told he will attend all 10, and will make remarks at all 10.
MONTAGNE: Which is a form of work, I suppose.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MONTAGNE: Although they'll be all dressed up in, you know, tie and tails and whatnot.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MONTAGNE: Scott, thanks very much.
HORSLEY: My pleasure, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Scott Horsley is outside St. John's Episcopal Church outside the White House, where President-elect Barack Obama is about to attend a prayer service.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
We've been hearing this morning about the crowds gathering in the nation's capital for today's inauguration. We're going to get a view now from outside Washington. NPR's Robert Smith is at the Harlem Armory in New York City. Good morning, Robert.
ROBERT SMITH: Good morning, how are you doing?
MONTAGNE: Take a look around. Tell us what's happening where you are.
SMITH: Well the Harlem Armory is going to be home to about 5,000 screaming middle school students here. Behind me you can hear a tape we had earlier of step dancers practicing. This has been - this is being hosted by Democracy Prep. They're a school of about 300 students...
(Soundbite of students chanting)
SMITH: So that's going to be a huge show, a big party here for school students. You know, it almost didn't happen because the Department of Education had scheduled a middle school test for today for all middle school students, and they decided to postpone them for one day...
MONTAGNE: Oh, smart move.
SMITH: So that they could do these kind of events, yes.
MONTAGNE: I can't imagine they would've really tested the kids today. Tell us a little about the people you're meeting there.
SMITH: Well, right now it's just mostly the students from Democracy Prep, this middle school. They've taken on the election as an entire project this year. They've done get out the votes. They've done community discussions. And they were all going to travel down to Washington, D.C., found that they couldn't swing the logistics. So they said, well, you know what, we're going to host the biggest party in New York City. And so they have like 200 tables set up. They're putting up balloons now. These kids have been working since the wee hours of the morning. They are so excited for today. They have a big art project planned. They're going to sing. They're going to dance. We're just wondering whether it'll ever be quiet enough for 5,000 students to be able to hear what Barack Obama has to say.
MONTAGNE: Well, great, enjoy yourself there. Robert Smith speaking to us from Harlem in New York. NPR's Laura Sullivan is at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. And I - Laura, I hear you saw some problems at a security checkpoint on the National Mall. What was that?
LAURA SULLIVAN: Well the biggest problems were is just that they're shutting down some of the security checkpoints because they say there's too many people already in certain areas. That's creating a problem, people trying to get across the parade route in order to get on to the Mall. So there's a lot of confusion and a little bit of chaos about how to get to meet people and get to their locations. In general, people are very expressive. Right now, believe it or not, I'm standing at an Obama protest which got about a hundred people paying attention to it, about two dozen protesters.
You know, this crowd keeps breaking into chants of Obama, and the protesters start screaming anti-Christ, Obama is the anti-Christ. It's an interesting dynamic from what I see. People are pretty patient at some of the checkpoints. At some of the others there was a lot of pushing, there was even a sense of panic. One woman that I was talking to had to sit down because she started having a panic attack because the pushing got so strong as she tried to come up to the security checkpoint.
MONTAGNE: Well, how are the officials now dealing with the crowds? Are they being quite gentle with them or are they really, you know, starting to feel that there's a lot of people out there and they need to, you know, draw some lines?
SULLIVAN: At 6 o'clock this morning inside one of the main tunnel arteries of D.C. people were very festive. I met a couple from Minnesota who said they've been in line since 3:00 in the morning. They were excited. People were very patient. By like 7:30 at the security checkpoint out in the freezing cold, there was definitely a loss of patience. People were pushing, pushing forward. Rhe military guys on their bullhorns were saying stop pushing or nobody is getting in, back up, back up. You know, there was a sort of heated tension in people's voices. And you know, some of the kids were getting a little bit scared. They were at the front of lines. They were getting so close to the security checkpoints.
MONTAGNE: Right, but for the most part, looking out there, a pretty excited crowd.
SULLIVAN: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, well, actually, we'll leave you now. We'll be talking later in any event all through the morning. Laura Sullivan speaking to us from the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Here at the U.S. Capitol we're witnessing one of those moments you'd never expect as part of a presidential inauguration, but it makes perfect sense there are men windexing the bullet-proof glass that will be in front of President-elect Barack Obama when he becomes president of the United States. That's one bit of the scenery here, we have reporters across the country and across the world today including NPR's Howard Berkes. Howard, where are you?
HOWARD BERKES: I'm at the Ester's Country Grill, a restaurant in Coalgate, Oklahoma.
INSKEEP: And why go there, Howard? What's happening?
BERKES: This county in Oklahoma is 84 percent Democratic, but voted 76 percent for John McCain. It's also between the election in 2004 and this election the Republican vote increased 20 percent. So this is a place where there wasn't a lot of the poor for Barack Obama, and I came here to see how people are marking the day, what they're thinking - what they're thinking about the transition that's taking place in the White House.
INSKEEP: Well, that's particularly interesting because of these polls that you say that show the president-elect with an approval rating for what it's worth of something like 80 percent, far greater than the percentage who actually voted for him. But what are the kinds of things you are hearing in this county that voted for - very strongly for John McCain?
BERKES: Well, there's, you know, people say they voted for John McCain because of issues like gun control, affirmative action, abortion, the very strong conservative street here. They vote Democratic in local elections and then state elections, but when it comes to the national party it's just too liberal and they perceive Barack Obama as being too liberal. But I...
INSKEEP: So...
BERKES: I did speak with some people this morning who said - I asked them if they're going to mark the day today in a special way. The TV here, for example, is not tuned in to anything. People are going about their business, he said I'm planning on working. But then he paused and he said, you know, this is a historical deal, there's no question about it. Many said Martin Luther King's dream has come true, may be he's the man, meaning, Barack Obama, we'll find out. And then before he left he said, I hope he is.
INSKEEP: Do you sense that people in that conservative area feel included in this national event?
BERKES: Well, I think people do recognize the fact that it is a historic moment. Maybe they didn't support Barack Obama, there's concern about the economy here like there is everywhere else, things have slowed down here a bit. So there's - you know, there's still some hope here with this change even if they didn't vote for Barack Obama, even if they didn't - don't fit their views on some political issues.
INSKEEP: OK. All right. Thanks very much. That's NPR's Howard Berkes reporting on this inauguration morning from a coffee shop in Oklahoma.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep at the U.S. Capitol where the temperature is in the 30s at best, but many thousands have come to witness history.
MONTAGNE: And Steve, as we all know, it's just, well, three hours, a little less than that that Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. And you're sitting with a perfect view of what will come. What are the festivities - as they begin shortly, what's happening there now?
INSKEEP: Well, right now we're hearing recorded music and people are filing in. The people with tickets have begun to arrive in great numbers, and the people who were not ticketed, who had no chance to see anything close up are, as far as we can see, still across the Mall. And as the sun came up earlier, you could see thousands of flash bulbs going off as people got pictures to capture that moment. You can still see that glitter out there.
Now, I'm on the edge of this improvised amphitheater, if you will, on the edge of the U.S. Capitol, joined by a couple of colleagues, one of whom is NPR's Don Gonyea, who covered the Bush White House, will be covering the Obama White House. And Don, what are your thoughts as you witness what's happening here today?
DON GONYEA: First, this is my third inaugural that I've been from roughly - watched from roughly the same vantage point. And I've never seen anything even remotely like this. It really is astounding. Of course the country is in a very different place than it was when George W. Bush first gave his inaugural address back eight years ago on this day. That speech, as well, came at the end of a very bitter election contest, and this feels so different today.
INSKEEP: And we should mention the basics are all the same. There's a platform where the president-elect will take the oath of office, just as George W. Bush did and Bill Clinton before him. There's a vast semicircle of folding chairs where all the members of Congress will be. Governors and mayors and other officials from across the country will be here. This is in many ways the same event it always is, but what you're saying is the energy feels a little different.
GONYEA: That's it exactly. And a lot of it is the historic nature of this incoming presidency, being the first African-American, but there's also something about the campaign and the kind of campaign he ran that was unlike any that we have really seen.
INSKEEP: Much of this event is symbolism, Don. But one thing is substantive and that will be the inaugural address. What have the people around President-elect Obama been telling you about what he'll say?
GONYEA: The memorable inaugural addresses throughout history have been those that not only described the time, but they also kind of reflect the time when they are given. And President-elect Obama's people say that his goal really is to describe the moment we find ourselves in right now. We will hear echoes of John F. Kennedy here - "Ask not...
INSKEEP: "What your country can do for you," yeah.
GONYEA: "What can your country can do for you." We'll hear that. We will also get some, I think, very brief allusion to the historic nature of this, but he's not going to dwell on this. But mostly it will be a variation - a new language certainly - but a variation on what we heard over the course of the general election campaign that it's time to put divisions aside and for everyone to work together.
INSKEEP: Time to change politics, he said, and now is when he has to provide the substance to that...
GONYEA: Correct.
INSKEEP: Beginning today. There's another voice we'll be hearing much in our coverage over the next several hours. NPR's Michele Norris will be joining me and all the rest of us as we listen to that inaugural address and the rest of the festivities through the day. Michele, good morning.
MICHELE NORRIS: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What are you thinking about as you look across over this crowd that now stretches far beyond what we can see?
NORRIS: Oh, I am sure it stretches far into Virginia and perhaps even into Maryland just to the north of us. See, one of the things that makes this feel so different is the sheer number of people and the sense that we live in a world where you can have so many virtual experiences. You can watch things on television, you can look at that little screen on your PDA, but a sense that so many people weren't content to watch on television or even listen on the radio...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
NORRIS: That they had to be here. There was this sense that they would make great sacrifice, spend a lot of money, slog here, you know, in buses and cars. They had to actually be here physically just to hear this.
INSKEEP: And you've heard those conversations. People say, why do you bother going when it's a worse view than what you get on television? And of course the answer is, I don't care, I'm going.
NORRIS: You know, one thing, did you notice that when we were making our way here, it's really early in the morning, but normally when you walk down on the street in Washington, you almost always see people with those little white ear buds in their ear...
(Soundbite of laughter)
NORRIS: Closing out the rest of the world.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
NORRIS: Didn't see that at all this morning. It was sense that people didn't want to close out the world. They wanted to be a part of what was going on here today.
INSKEEP: A huge event. And let's go out into that crowd. Stay with us, Michele. We want to go to NPR's Ari Shapiro, our justice correspondent normally, and today he's a crowd correspondent. Ari, where are you? Can I see you? Should I wave?
ARI SHAPIRO: You should wave to me. I'm standing here on the Mall in the midst of this immense crowd that is jamming to a replay of the Sunday concert that was in front of the Lincoln Memorial. People have been gathering since before dawn, waving flags. And actually, Steve, I'm going to hand over the microphone here to somebody who I'm standing with, a woman named Sarah Schumann(ph) who is a Swedish citizen, lives in New York, and I'm going to let her finish the story, OK? Here she is.
INSKEEP: Hi, Ms. Schumann.
Ms. SARAH SCHUMANN: Yes.
SHAPIRO: What brought you here today?
Ms. SCHUMANN: I decided the last minute to drive down here from New York just because this is a historical event. And I'm here with two of my American girlfriends. I got - when Obama was elected, I decided right away that I want to apply for citizenship. I've been in New York for nine years, and I've been a resident - I have a green card for almost eight years. And I just never thought about even applying for citizenship. I never really felt like I was that eager to become a citizen.
But now, Obama elected, I feel that there actually is hope in this country, and I want to be part of that. And now I'm proud and I already filled in my applications. And you know, I thought it was - I can't miss this event. It's going to be a big thing for me, and it's kind of a kickoff for me to be here and the beginning of becoming a citizen.
INSKEEP: Ms. Schumann, I just want to ask - I want to understand if it's something about Obama's policies. Is it the fact that he's the first black president, the fact that he, unlike a lot of American presidents, has spent a lot of time abroad? What made you as a foreigner feel more comfortable now that this election has taken place?
Ms. SCHUMANN: I think he's - for me it's very important with the foreign policy. And I think he's a more popular president in other countries. Especially in Sweden, he's - that's what - most people like him there. And I think he's for - environmental friendly, he's for change, he's young, he's a smart man. And I listened to him a lot even before he was an elect. And I always liked him as a politician, and I like having a smart person as a leader.
INSKEEP: Well, Sarah Schumann, thanks very much for sharing your story with us, and good luck as you apply for citizenship to become an American. Congratulations.
Ms. SCHUMANN: Well, thank you very much.
INSKEEP: Michele Norris is with me here. A helicopter is passing overhead, as has been happening, and people are continuing to file in.
NORRIS: Perhaps trying to get a crowd estimate, tying to figure out how many people are actually out here on this mall.
(Soundbite of laughter)
NORRIS: Steve, it's - you know, we're starting to see the precursor to the ceremony. The first family will start to make their way here in about an hour. On the stage, they have a number of seats set up where the president, the family, the Cabinet will be seated, members of Congress. And we see here now John Podesta who ran the transition, former White House chief of staff, walking through very carefully, checking the seats, making sure that everyone is seated exactly where they should be.
INSKEEP: You would think that somebody a little less senior would be doing that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
INSKEEP: But no, this is important. This is symbolism. And everybody has to be taken care of.
NORRIS: And Don Gonyea noticed also that John Lewis made his way here. And I don't know, Don, were you wondering if maybe he just wanted to come and take an early peek because he didn't look like he had business to take care of. He just sort of came out to take a look.
INSKEEP: Great civil rights leader and congressman.
GONYEA: And there are no other members of Congress coming through yet, and you do very much get the sense that he just wanted a moment alone out there maybe...
NORRIS: Yeah, yeah.
GONYEA: ...to take things in.
NORRIS: Lion of the civil rights movement, faced hoses and dogs as he tried to nudge and shove this country forward, and I imagine what's on his mind today.
INSKEEP: OK, and we want to mention that we will continue live coverage throughout the morning. Starting at 10 o'clock Eastern, 7 o'clock Pacific, we will be all live from this location with Michele Norris. We'll bring you the latest. We will hear the music and much of the performances that will be taking part - that will be part of this. And of course we'll hear the swearing in, 37 words swearing in Barack Obama as president of the United States, followed by his inaugural address, about one hundred feet or so from this spot. We'll bring you more as we learn it. You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne with Steve Inskeep at the U.S. Capitol. There's a festive atmosphere on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., this morning. Hundreds of thousands of people are gathering there to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, of course. Among them is a group of beauticians and barbers from New York state. NPR's Margot Adler accompanied them on their bus journey here to Washington, D.C., and joins us now to talk about them. Margot, last time we spoke earlier this morning you were coming down 18th Street. Where are you now?
Hello, Margot, can you hear us? Margot? OK, I think we actually - we're going to lose Margot there. But we have in the studio with us our own Linda Wertheimer, of course, senior national, senior political correspondent. I'm going to take a guess at your title. Sometimes I forget. So, why don't we speak a few minutes?
LINDA WERTHEIMER: Just senior.
MONTAGNE: So, why don't we speak a few minutes? You haven't been out yet in the crowds - going to go a little bit later.
WERTHEIMER: No. But it is - this is an inauguration in which so many people are headed for the Mall. They're headed for the back end of the Mall down by the Lincoln Memorial where they will not possibly be able to see anything except for the Jumbotron screens which are left from the big concert. So, everybody just somehow wants to be in the presence of the event, and I think it's going to be quite a remarkable thing.
MONTAGNE: Well, Linda, thanks very much. We're going to actually turn to our correspondent Ina Jaffe. She's been traveling with another bus caravan. I think we have her on the phone now. Ina, are you there?
INA JAFFE: Yes, I am.
MONTAGNE: OK, well, when we spoke to you yesterday - and actually we've heard from you earlier this morning - you were in Louisville Kentucky in the beginning. Where are you now? Where have you got to?
JAFFE: I am now on L St. near 20th. We have finally parked. We have finally gotten off the bus. It was quite an odyssey. There was no traffic. They have the streets clear as people who live in Washington have been lamenting because they can't drive anywhere. But we couldn't find a place that we could keep all of our buses together, and we wanted to keep the four buses from Louisville together so that we could all come back and find our stuff at the end of the day.
But this particular caravan is sort of part of a larger group of 33 buses coming from eight different cities. All are either friends or relations of James Linton(ph) who organized a local tour. And they all wanted to park together. And I've just been told by Mr. Linton that we have 17 of the 33 buses now successfully parked. And people are starting to get out of them and stream towards the Mall.
MONTAGNE: Well, that's a start. But I mean, the time was getting pretty close to the inauguration. Are they all going to make it and get into those crowds?
JAFFE: I guess it depends on how fast they walk.
(Soundbite of laughter)
JAFFE: We hope so. And they certainly are very motivated.
MONTAGNE: Well, tell us about the trip then, since you've just arrived here, what happened? What are the moments that stick out for you?
JAFFE: I'm not sure I heard everything that you asked me. But if you're talking about the trip we took yesterday, we drove through some pretty bad weather. The interstate was down to one lane, and a pretty snowy lane at that, in some spots. But we made it to Baltimore just an hour or two later than we expected to. And we overnighted in Baltimore. And then it was clear sailing all the way into town. We just couldn't find a place to leave the bus.
MONTAGNE: You know, when this group that you are going with - I mean, did they have stories to tell while you were riding along of their own histories?
JAFFE: Oh, of course. We talked to so many people. And I would say that history is the word here. I mean, not only that this is an historic moment, which you hear from everybody, and yet people just can't stop themselves from saying it because it means so much to them, but also their personal history. We talked to a woman who came from a family - I heard her grandparents were sharecroppers in Mississippi. And she felt she needed to be here to honor them. We talked to a young man, 19 years old, who knows that he didn't sacrifice what some of the pioneers of the civil rights movement did, but he felt it would be a dishonor to them if he didn't come here to represent them, since some of them aren't around here to do it anymore.
MONTAGNE: So some of these people are a little bit getting on in the years, but they're going to - you guys are going to walk over to the Mall?
JAFFE: I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Oh, sorry. Well, thank goodness we're hearing you just fine. And thank you, Ina. I know we'll be talking to you later in the morning.
JAFFE: OK. Thanks, Renee.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Ina Jaffe who has arrived in Washington, D.C., after traveling with a group from Louisville, Kentucky.
And we turn now to someone who does have - or a story of a woman who has many, many memories. The inauguration of the nation's first black president stirs deep emotions, of course, among African-Americans who lived through segregation and the struggles for civil rights. That one person is 105-year-old Ella Mae Johnson. She came from Cleveland to watch Barack Obama take the oath of office. NPR's Joseph Shapiro caught up with her here in Washington, D.C. And he's here to tell us a little about her story, which has been changing as the days go by. To start, although quickly, with Ella Mae herself, Joe...
JOE SHAPIRO: She's an amazing woman. First of all, because she's 105 and she has witnessed all of this history. She was born in 1904. She just celebrated her birthday. She went to - she spent her career as a social worker. She went to Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She wasn't even allowed to live on campus because of the color of her skin. And she wanted to be here today. And she lives in a - now in an assisted living facility in Cleveland, and they helped her come.
MONTAGNE: And you know, we played a little tape earlier that you had gotten when it was pointed out to her by a nurse that it was going to be very, very cold. We're almost getting bored with this whole idea of cold - but it is very, very cold. And we're talking about someone 105 years old. And her response was basically...
SHAPIRO: She said - they said, do you want to reconsider this? It's going to be a lot colder. It's not going to be just a matter of being out for an hour. It's going to be hours and hours and hours. And she said, yes. And those are the problems, but I'm going. There's no way you can turn me back.
MONTAGNE: So she's here now, Ms. Johnson, I believe.
SHAPIRO: She's here. I just left her about half an hour ago. She's got into her seat at the Capitol. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, her home state, got her some good seats. And she's there with a nurse from Judson Park, the assisted living facility where she lives.
MONTAGNE: And she'll be, you know, may I say, she'll be watching the ceremony from what? What kind of...
SHAPIRO: Oh, she'll be right there. She's right in front of the podium. And she'll be watching it. And she's all bundled up in a sleeping bag, and you can barely see her. There's just - just her nose is showing. She's - they bundled her up well in hats and scarves and jackets. And then the final thing was she's in a wheelchair. They lifted her out of the wheelchair, they put a big blue sleeping bag on her and she's bundled up from head to toe. And as they're pushing her through the line to the Capitol, people would learn that this a woman that's 105, and people came up and they congratulated her and - or they wished her a happy birthday because her birthday was last week. And just people wanted to come up and thank her for being there and congratulate her.
MONTAGNE: You know, we have a little bit of time here, which is a little bit unusual. We've been talking about the inauguration, but in your time with her, Ella Mae Johnson, did she tell you a particular story about her life that really sticks with you?
SHAPIRO: Well, I sort of like the idea that she's not just a witness to a century of black history, but she's also has been an actor. And I like the fact that she was a young woman from Texas. She got a scholarship to Fisk University in Nashville in 1924. And there were some student strikes then - the activist and writer W.E.B. Du Bois came to speak. He was a graduate of Fisk. And he came back and he criticized the - there was a - the man who was the president was a white man, and he was criticized for being paternalistic. And Du Bois' speech led a strike, and Mrs. Johnson was one of the students who went on strike, and they changed things. They actually got that president to step down. Now it'd taken till 1947 till Fisk got a black president, but she was an early civil rights activist, you could say.
MONTAGNE: All right, Ella Mae Johnson. And thank you very much for joining us, NPR's Joe Shapiro.
SHAPIRO: My pleasure.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
On this inauguration morning, we're checking in with our reporters overseas to find out what they're hearing about a Barack Obama presidency. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is in Kabul. Hey, good morning.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: How closely are Afghans following this inauguration?
NELSON: Well, they're certainly talking a lot about it, especially because President Karzai is not attending. While the Nangarhar governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, who you may recall Mr. Obama visited during his trip here in July, he is attending. So there's a lot of questions about what this means and what the new relationship between the American administration is going to be with the Afghan one.
MONTAGNE: May I just ask what is the theory of why President Karzai, who one would expect to be at a presidential inauguration in America, why he isn't here?
NELSON: Well, he did have to open the parliamentary session today and deliver a speech. That certainly is one reason. What's going around on the streets is that he wasn't invited. And we were not able to ascertain whether in fact he was or wasn't.
MONTAGNE: As we know, during his campaign, Mr. Obama pledged to send more troops to Afghanistan. He certainly expects to do so in just the coming months. What about that? How does it play with Afghans?
NELSON: People here have mixed feelings about that. They really do want the added attention. And they certainly want suicide bombings and other militant attacks to end. Plus, many Afghans really feel that Americans are more serious about winning the war here than their European counterparts. But Afghans are also worried that the new American president isn't really doing something new, but is just simply continuing the strategy of the outgoing administration, which thus far has not done anything really to secure Afghanistan against suicide attacks, widespread corruption in the Afghan government, and more importantly, I think, the economic turmoil that so many Afghans feel.
MONTAGNE: Thanks very much, Soraya.
NELSON: You're welcome, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, speaking to us from Kabul. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is in Baghdad. And Lulu, are Iraqis watching this inauguration closely? I mean, are they interested in this transition?
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: You know, Renee, they are, of course. Most believe he will usher in a better relationship with Iraq, and many hope he will correct the mistakes - a word they used - of the Bush administration here. Now that meant different things to different people, but the general impression of Mr. Obama, like in many places across the Middle East, is positive. People use the words diplomat, statesman. They said they thought he would be flexible and invested in solving Iraq's problems. So, generally positive and hopeful about the man himself.
MONTAGNE: Can you tell specifically what Iraqis might be expecting in the way of something different from President Obama?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: On January first, the security agreement between Iraq and the U.S. went into effect, and one of the stipulations is the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in three years. Mr. Obama in the past has said that he wants to speed that up. There was not an Iraqi that I spoke to yesterday who didn't say that the invasion of Iraq had been a mistake. Many said they felt humiliated by the continued presence of U.S. troops. But they were divided, Renee, on what should happen next. A few people voiced mistrust, saying that whatever Mr. Obama's promises, America will have a presence here forever because of the oil. So everyone is pretty much waiting to see what he does and if he fulfills his campaign promises to withdraw U.S. troops, and what exactly that will mean here in Iraq.
MONTAGNE: And Iraqi officials, what are they saying about Mr. Obama and how the government is going to be dealing with him?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: They have a very different view. There is some trepidation frankly, Renee. The fear here is that all the money and the interest is headed east to Afghanistan. Even though Iraq paid a terrible price in blood, the political class here, which really does rely in many ways on the American presence, is afraid that the interest in Iraq will evaporate and that this will become the forgotten war.
MONTAGNE: Lulu, thanks very much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, speaking to us from Baghdad.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Downtown Washington, D.C., is a sea of people at this hour awaiting the inauguration of Barack Obama. In the next few minutes, we're going to visit some key spots where people are gathering. NPR's John Ydstie is near the White House at the reviewing stand where soon-to-be President Obama will watch the parade. Good morning, John.
JOHN YDSTIE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, what's the crowd like there on the parade route?
YDSTIE: Well, there is no crowd at all on the parade route, just a few officials milling about in Pennsylvania Avenue between me and the reviewing stand across the street by the White House where the president and the vice president and their families will watch the parade. But there is something going on behind me at St. John's Episcopal Church - a Morning Prayer service where President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden and their wives are right now. And it's something of a tradition in Washington to visit this church before the inauguration. Five presidents, going back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, have done it. Both Presidents Bush worshiped there before their inauguration. So did Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan.
MONTAGNE: You know, it sounds like a good time if one wants to watch the parade and doesn't mind missing the inauguration to get a spot if there is not too many people there. But is there a visible security presence given that these, you know, the elects - the soon-to-be president and vice president - are in a prayer service right there?
YDSTIE: There is great security there. I actually came down 16th Street coming to my location here just as Joe Biden was arriving, but there were massive crowds on the street there and lots of security shouting at people to stay on the sidewalks and sirens blaring. Vice President Biden, Vice President-elect Biden, waved at the crowd as they went by. They were all quite excited.
I didn't see the president-elect get here. It's quite possible he may have just walked across the street from Blair House, because you have Blair House on the west side of Lafayette Park where I am standing in this press reviewing stand. St. Johns Episcopal is on the north side. And the White House is on the south side. So it may be that he just walked over there.
MONTAGNE: John, can you give us just a little quick preview of what's - who's going to be in the parade?
YDSTIE: You know, actually, I've got a list of people. Let me just get it out here very quickly.
MONTAGNE: Give us a 30-second view. Yeah, just rattle off a few things.
YDSTIE: Thirty second view. Well, there is the Punahou School JROTC and the school marching band, the president-elect's high school in Hawaii.
MONTAGNE: Punahou, Punahou, excuse me. As a child of Hawaii myself, I can tell you that it's called Punahou. Yes, OK.
YDSTIE: Punahou. I noticed as a Minnesotan, I noticed the Fergus Falls High School Marching Band will be here. Brooklyn Music and Arts Program will be represented. There will be an Illinois home state float. Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums will be here. Southern Ohio Ladies Aside - I'm not quite sure what that is. But a long, long list of representation in the parade.
MONTAGNE: Well, John, thanks very much. And we'll be talking to you later here at NPR News, whether or not it gets on the morning show or not - or in Morning Edition. NPR's John Ydstie, he's at the reviewing stand where Mr. Obama will watch the parade. And we go now to our own Steve Inskeep, my co-host, who's sitting at this moment in time at the Capitol, on the steps of the Capitol.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
I'm standing. I'm too cold to sit, I'm afraid, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Oh, dear.
INSKEEP: They are checking the seats. They're Windexing the bulletproof glass, or they did a short time ago. And there is this immense crowd off to my right as far as I can see. And let me just do a little geography for you here. The National Mall is a very long rectangle. As far as I can see, it is crowded with thousands and thousands of people. You see the flash of thousands of flashbulbs. And then there is a little hill in the center of it where the Washington Monument rises. And far beyond that, I can just glimpse the pillars of the Lincoln Memorial a couple of miles away, and that's where we're going next. NPR's Audie Cornish is there. And Audie, what do you see from that end?
AUDIE CORNISH: Hi, Steve. Well, just over that little bump you're describing, that's where the sea of people thins out just a little bit. This is where more and more people are gathering trying to push forward as close as they can to the Capitol. But this area is actually still a little sparse. Where there is a big collection of folks is here on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and I've talked to people from California, as close as Maryland, who even though they showed up there at six in the morning made it a point to be on those steps.
INSKEEP: Why?
CORNISH: Well, a lot of them really believe in the symbolism of being on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, being at the feet of Abraham Lincoln, and talked a lot about the strides he made in terms of race in America and that they felt that it was unavoidable that they could not come here and not take in this scene from any other vantage point.
INSKEEP: It certainly was striking on Sunday afternoon to see the president-elect, to see the first black president stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King gave that "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. And with the statue of Abraham Lincoln behind him there, that was a striking image. And I suppose that must have been on people's mind.
CORNISH: And many people mentioned that specifically. They mentioned, this is the place where Martin Luther King came and where there was that march. And you know, it was really interesting, the younger people I spoke to really talked about really having the opportunity to be a part of something, to be a part of another historical event to be happening at this location.
INSKEEP: OK, thanks very much, Audie Cornish, at the Lincoln Memorial. We're about two and a half hours now from the presidential inauguration. NPR's Don Gonyea is here. And Don, what has the president-elect been doing with his morning?
DON GONYEA: He is at Mass as we speak. He's at St. John's Episcopal Church. That's that church just a block from the White House on Lafayette Park. And just over a half an hour from now, it will be a social coffee at the White House - the outgoing president welcoming the incoming president.
INSKEEP: Coffee not tea. Now tea would be upraised pinky fingers.
GONYEA: Tea may be an option.
(Soundbite of laughter)
GONYEA: They've got quite a kitchen there.
INSKEEP: Anything hot. So the two first families will spend a little bit of time together this morning. OK, we will continue to bring you more as we learn it here today. And this is a tremendous view from the U.S. Capitol - people continuing to arrive by their thousands. And let's just bring it out - let's just take it out with some music from the Lincoln Memorial. Let's listen.
(Soundbite of music)
INSKEEP: Recorded music from Sunday night, I believe when Bono was at the Lincoln Memorial. And the crowd continuous to file in.
MONTAGNE: We also have Allison Aubrey on the telephone now. Just one - we have 30 seconds here. NPR's Allison Aubrey, what do you see there?
ALLISON AUBREY: All the people I see are actually headed up to the Lincoln Memorial, and people are streaming in. Many people have walked for miles and miles. There is sort of a quiet expectation among folks here. They're walking quickly. It's not loud and rowdy out here. It's just a lot of reflection and people taking in the scene.
MONTAGNE: And so you're - and the scene there is the Memorial Bridge here in Washington, D.C. We're just talking to Allison Aubrey. Also other folks from all over the city from NPR. And this is our continuing coverage on Morning Edition and later more coverage live of the inauguration of the 44th president. It's NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
All morning we've been looking ahead to the inauguration of Barack Obama. He'll take the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in just over two hours. I'm in our studio here at NPR Washington, D.C., listening in, watching much of what's going on at the White House, along the parade route, and at the National Mall. Like many of you out there this morning, NPR's Steve Inskeep is there. He's in the thick of it. He's on the Capitol steps. And he joins us now. Tell us what you're seeing, Steve. What is it like?
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Let's listen for a few seconds, Renee, to the San Francisco Boys Chorus and Girls Chorus in their red hats against the cold weather as the sun rises over the Capitol.
(Soundbite of song "America the Beautiful")
SAN FRANCISCO BOYS CHORUS AND GIRLS CHORUS: (Singing) America! America! God shed his grace on thee...
MONTAGNE: That's beautiful.
INSKEEP: Certainly, yeah, moving music. And there was something that was equally as moving, Renee. Looking out over these hundreds of thousands - we don't even know at this moment how many people spread across the National Mall from here to the Washington Monument and beyond - a short while ago, our director looked over and saw thousands of people, thousands of people, waving American flags all at once.
MONTAGNE: And these are people doing this quite, obviously, spontaneously, possibly also to keep warm.
INSKEEP: (Laughing) Yeah, perhaps so. It's like doing the wave, but a patriotic version. Everybody waves little flags. Someone's handing them out, quite obviously. And it was really quite a scene. So we're going to be continuing to cover the festivities here. We're just getting started. That was the first live musical performance - that is the first live musical performance. We'll be hearing more of that in a few moments as part of our live coverage. We'll hear the U.S. Marine Band, a special composition by John Williams. Yo-Yo Ma among the performers there. And of course the business of the day, the swearing in and the inaugural address all coming live later on today.
MONTAGNE: Well, that's great. And we'll be hearing you live over the next couple of hours, rather than our regular programming here on Morning Edition. But for the next few minutes, President-elect Obama will meet with the man he will succeed. And we're going to go to NPR's David Greene at the White House, and eventually to Scott Horsley. But David, I understand that President Bush and Mrs. Bush will have coffee with President-elect Obama and Mrs. Obama.
DAVID GREENE: Hi, Renee. Yeah, that's actually about to happen. We're watching President-elect Obama's motorcade pull up right now at the White House, at the North Portico facing Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're expecting President Bush to greet President-elect Obama. And this, of course, will be the final time that Mr. Obama is coming to the White House as a guest. And we expect them - Mr. Bush, Mr. Obama - to sit down and have coffee.
And you know, it's been quite a morning here at the White House. It almost feels like we're in the eye of the storm here, you know. I'm looking on television, seeing all this activity and craziness around the nation's capital, but here in this cocoon, this cordoned off security area, it's been very quiet and peaceful. And right now we're watching the door open, and I think we're seeing Vice President-elect Joe Biden just got out and has arrived at the White House. And we're expecting President-elect Obama to be following shortly.
MONTAGNE: And now, President Bush has famously talked about how he won't miss the limelight - watching vice president-elect walk into the - be saluted as he walks into the White House - President Bush says he doesn't - he's not going to miss the limelight. But this must be an emotional moment for him and Mrs. Bush.
GREENE: It has to be. And you know, Mr. Bush has been talking about this for the last few weeks about this peaceful transition. And his White House has tried to make this as smooth as possible. And all the pomp that we're going to see today, you know, this is the moment when these two men will, you know, sort of trade places, as it is. You know, stand there and, you know, as cliche as it sounds, you know, this feels like a very vacant house right now that's about to get a new occupant. I mean, we have paint cans, we have boxes, empty walls where paintings once were. And we're watching right now - we see a smiling Barack Obama...
MONTAGNE: Obama...
GREENE: ...get out of the car.
MONTAGNE: Yeah, the new occupant is emerging along with his wife, the new first lady, Michelle Obama. She's carrying a gift.
GREENE: It looks that way, yeah. A box. And now we have first lady Laura Bush greeting Michelle Obama and the president and president-elect chatting in the North Portico. And they're about to go inside and sit down for coffee in the Blue Room, as we understand it, one of the historic rooms in the White House.
MONTAGNE: Yeah, well, they're heading in - it looks like they're heading in right now. We're going to lose sight of them in just a moment. So, I'll lose sight of you for now, David. We'll be probably hearing from you later on NPR News. NPR's David Greene, speaking to us from the White House. And we're going to get a final word from NPR's Scott Horsley. And Scott, a year ago Michelle Obama talked about how she'd feel if her husband were to put his hand on the Bible and take the oath of office. Now that moment has come.
SCOTT HORSLEY: That's right. Just also exactly a year ago, on another chilly January day in Reno, Nevada, I listened as Michelle Obama talked about growing up on the South Side of Chicago and how nothing in her experience had sort of foretold her experience, going on to Princeton and Harvard law. And what she said was she found that every time she grabbed her spot at the table, she was just as ready and just as prepared as those who felt so entitled to that spot.
And she talked a year ago about what it would mean to children of all races and all backgrounds if Barack Obama were to stand on the steps of the Capitol and put his hand on a Bible. And today we've arrived at that moment. Michelle Obama herself will be holding the Lincoln Bible as Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. She said that would snatch the veil of impossibility off the heads of so many children and give them a new sense of possibility. And she also said it would change the way the world looked at the United States because she said the whole world is watching. And it feels like a good portion of the world is right here watching in person here in Washington, D.C.
MONTAGNE: Yeah, it certainly does. Well, those words from the new first lady - soon-to-be first lady, just a couple of hours from now, Michelle Obama. Possibly a fitting end to our morning's coverage here on NPR's Morning Edition. Scott Horsley, thank you very much for joining us.
HORSLEY: Good to be with you.
MONTAGNE: And our coverage of the inauguration of Barack Obama continues on many NPR member stations and at npr.org. You are listening to Morning Edition from NPR News with Steve Inskeep on the Capitol steps. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
From NPR News, it's Morning Edition. The sun has come up over the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Marine band is arriving. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. And all morning we've been following today's inauguration, or pre-inauguration, activities as they progress. And following the inauguration means following the crowds. We're going to go now to NPR's Brian Naylor who is at a checkpoint near 13th Street here in Washington, D.C. Masses of people lined up to pass through security checkpoints to see the inaugural parade. And Brian, what's going on there?
BRIAN NAYLOR: Renee, you're right. There are masses of people lined up. I'm standing across the street from the Warner Theater where the marquee raised(ph) "An Evening with Jay-Z." Well, that was last night. This morning, they're lining up to see the president march by later on today in the inaugural parade. There's about a block-long line at this checkpoint, but it is moving. There's actually several lines being funneled through metal detectors. And things seem to be pretty orderly and people seem to be pretty happy.
MONTAGNE: Definitely so far so good considering we're talking tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people milling about, you know, upwards possibly. You know, there's been predictions of a million to way more than a million. People there in good spirits even though these lines are long?
NAYLOR: They are. I talked to a couple of women who came here from Atlanta who said, you know, we expected lines, we expected crowds, we expected that it was going to cold. But they were still happy and, you know, they're here to see the new president, and I think their adrenalin is still flowing pretty well. I should say some of the - or at least one checkpoint on 7th Street, sort of near where NPR's headquarters in Washington is, was closed because the crowds got overwhelming. So, people have been kind of walking down parallel to Pennsylvania Avenue looking for ways to get in. And every once in a while there's an ambulance that you can hear behind me now trying to get through some of these crowds. But it's relatively calm and it's not as chaotic as you might think.
MONTAGNE: Well, OK, thank you very much. That's NPR's Brian Naylor on 13th Street in Washington, D.C., at a checkpoint where the parade will pass by. And we're going to be joined - we're going to turn now to you, Steve Inskeep. You're at the Capitol.
INSKEEP: Yeah, as I look at the Marine Band filing in here in their dress uniforms and their white hats and their brass instruments, all I can think about is this is what it means to be tough enough to be a Marine. You can put a brass instrument on your lips when it's 29.1 degrees on the thermometer here and moving right around 30 degrees or so. NPR's Debbie Elliott is here on the Capitol grounds somewhere. Debbie, where are you?
DEBBIE ELLIOTT: Hi, Steve. I'm right down kind of in the middle in the seated section. If you see some of these cameramen with the big boom cameras that are going around in circles and people are waving, I'm here. This is the seated section where people had to get in touch with their congress member or be connected in some way to have a seat on the lawn of the Capitol.
INSKEEP: And so, who have you been talking to?
ELLIOTT: You know, mostly people who are here, who have worked in the campaign. I talked with a couple from Los Angeles, Mai and James Lassiter(ph) who recalled having a backyard fundraiser for a state senator from Illinois when he was running for the U.S. Senate and saying they had to beg people to come. They said, come for us...
(Soundbite of laughter)
ELLIOTT: ...even though you don't know this man. And now they're sitting with - practically a front-row seat to watch him take his oath of office. James Lassiter recalled at the time, you know, people were amazed at the speech that he made - that Barack Obama made in their backyard. And they said he should forget the Senate, he should be president. And he said he remembered chuckling saying, a black man for president? Huh! He's an African-American himself, and now he says this is the possibility. Things have changed. We can teach our children something different now. He said, you know, this has changed the way I think about the country. And he and his wife were both very emotional about being here in this moment.
INSKEEP: We should remember I suppose, it is a pretty high bar to get here, to be at this inauguration if you're from out of town. You had to secure lodging. That's difficult for many people. And as we've moved about the city, I'm sure this has happened with you, Debbie, if there's not somebody staying in your house. There's somebody staying down your street.
ELLIOTT: And they've asked. Yes.
(Soundbite of laughter)
INSKEEP: The door opens on the neighbor's house and a dozen people come out. And you know a dozen people don't live there. There are people who've been crowding in from everywhere, and some of them were down there with you.
ELLIOTT: I, actually, am standing here with a young woman from Birmingham, Alabama, Marica Coleman(ph). I first met Ms. Coleman in Birmingham on Super Tuesday, and she was working there for Barack Obama. And she's really excited to be here. Marica, can I ask you a couple of quick questions?
Ms. MARICA COLEMAN: Sure, sure, I'd love it.
ELLIOTT: You mentioned to me that - what you want to hear Barack Obama tell the country today.
Ms. COLEMAN: Right. Yes of course, we're all excited about this 44th president. But we really want to hear the direction that we're moving in as a country - issues around education, health care, the economy. And now Barack Obama needs to tell us after the campaign what he needs from us as a country, what can we do as the new foot soldiers. Everybody is going to have to take up the ranks and get to work to get this economy in order. So I want to hear that from him today.
ELLIOTT: And what it is like when you look down on the Mall and see all the millions of people here.
Ms. COLEMAN: Absolutely amazing. You know, when I look down here, I see the possibilities for America. I see every race, I see every social and economic background. I see America. Actually, I see the world. We see people internationally. So we're so excited that everybody's here. And now we have to get to work to turn everything around and go in the right direction.
ELLIOTT: Thank you.
INSKEEP: OK. Debbie Elliott, thanks very much. Thanks to Marica as well. And we'll come back to you as the morning goes on. And we are live here at the U.S. Capitol.
MONTAGNE: Yes, and Steve, I want to let you know something that'll make you feel maybe a little less pain on the part - on behalf of those Marines in the Marine Corps band, I gather in this icy weather, they are putting plastic mouthpieces to their lips while they're playing those brass instruments. So there - we all feel better knowing that.
INSKEEP: I'm disillusioned. No, I'm disappointed. I thought they were tough. OK.
MONTAGNE: We are going now to check in again this morning with NPR's Frank Langfitt. He's been at RFK Stadium since the early hours this morning. And Frank, thousands of buses were supposed to arrive at RFK. Is that in fact what happened?
FRANK LANGFITT: Yes, tens of thousands of people, Renee, have come through here this morning. And they've been getting off the buses and then heading to shuttle buses to take them down to the Capitol. And it's really kind of a festive and historic feeling here. There are a lot of vendors here. There's - one person was selling a T-shirt with a picture of Barack Obama dressed up as Superman dunking a basketball. Those are going for about $15.
I think a lot of people have come here just because they don't care to a great extent if they can really see the president-elect today, but just to be on the Mall. I talked to a woman named Betty Jennings(ph). She's 70 years old, a retired teacher. She came in from Gainesville. She's wearing a big fake fur to stay warm. And she was on her walker. And she said she just wouldn't miss this. And here's how she put it.
Ms. BETTY JENNINGS (Retired Teacher, Gainesville): I've seen so many changes, but nothing as drastic as this. I'd never thought that I would live to see this. And I could not let this pass, not coming to Washington.
LANGFITT: What does it mean to you that he's been elected?
Ms. JENNINGS: It means that all of our children will have a chance to succeed.
MONTAGNE: So braving the cold, as we've been talking about all morning, and a lot of walking, a lot of big crowds, you know, how are the people coping?
LANGFITT: Well, people seemed pretty warm on their way to the shuttle bus. But I also, just, I guess about half an hour ago, I ran into some people who were actually heading back. They had actually been down in the Mall and it had been too cold to them. One woman I met, her name is Elizabeth Robinson(ph), she's 66 years old. She's a traveling nurse. She was in from Chicago. She'd said she'd already been on the Mall for about four hours and just had to head back to her bus. She just couldn't take it. And here's how she described it.
Ms. ELIZABETH ROBINSON (Nurse): We're going back to the bus right now.
LANGFITT: Why is that?
Ms. ROBINSON: Because we got extremely cold, and we had one child with us that got ill.
MONTAGNE: So, how is Elizabeth Robinson going to spend the inauguration?
LANGFITT: Well, I said, are you going to go back? And she wasn't quite sure. She said, possibly. But they do have a TV on that bus. So I think that I would bet they're going to stay in the warmth of the bus and watch this on television. But like I said, whether people actually are on the Mall to see this or not, I think what really strikes people is the most important thing is just being in Washington for this day that many of them thought would never come.
MONTAGNE: Thanks, Frank, very much. NPR's Frank Langfitt speaking to us from RFK Stadium here in Washington, D.C. And you are listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The elections are particularly important in Anbar Province, west of Baghdad. We used to report from there all the time, because it was a center of the Iraqi insurgency. In Anbar now it looks like traditional parties will lose ground to newer groups. As NPR Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports.
LOURDES GARCIA: Wow, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, machine guns, and bullets.
INSKEEP: We have. We have some RPG's.
GARCIA: Mr. AL-ISSAWI I have deal with American. I promise them they can have some - finish the fighting and after, leave. Success and we finish the fighting. I told them I will give you all the heavy guns.
GARCIA: He hasn't quite done so yet. The big guns he uses as head of Fallujah's tribal security force are still here. Stacked among piles of Sheik Aifan's campaign posters. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi politics have been largely dominated by exiles who return to this country with American support. But in this election, especially in the once violent western province of Anbar, a new homegrown political movement has emerged. Sheik Aifan is one of the founding members of the Sahwa, or Awakening, movement. In 2006, he and other tribal leaders turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and joined the Americans. Now, Anbar is one of the more stable Iraqi provinces, and these fighters want to become a political force here.
INSKEEP: You know, we are new in the political. And we don't catch up because we sacrifice to help the people more than anyone. We sacrifice - me? They kill my mother, and they kill one of my sisters, and they kill nine of my family.
GARCIA: The Sunni boycott of the polls in 2005 left them with little representation. This time, the sheik says, they're going to flex their electoral muscle.
INSKEEP: We will vote now. They understand exactly why they lose everything for five years.
GARCIA: One of the only Sunni parties that did participate in the last elections, the Iraqi Islamic Party, or IIP, got a high number of seats in the Anbar provincial council. Sheik Aifan sees the IIP as his main rivals. He speaks like a seasoned campaigner.
INSKEEP: The IIP is stealing money. They didn't build water stations, schools, factories, nothing. We should build clinic. We should build schools.
GARCIA: Still, Sheik Aifan is worried that the Sunni's nascent political power will be undermined by intra-Sunni rivalry. The Awakening movement itself is fractured with different tribal sheiks running for office on different lists. And there are dozens of other Sunni groups competing here as well.
INSKEEP: Big mistake. It will make us weak. We will be good in the future, but we are weak now.
GARCIA: At Fallujah's main market, vegetable sellers hawk recently arrived batches of spinach and eggplant. This city was once the capital of the insurgency and the target of two U.S. offensive in 2004, which left thousand dead and wounded. It's much more peaceful here these days, so much so, that on Monday the U.S. Marines formally handed over their base, Camp Fallujah, to the Iraqis. That stability has allowed candidates to actually hit the streets and campaign in Anbar. Still with dozens of groups and individuals competing here, many people seem confused. 26-year-old Majid Abu Ayman says he's really not sure who any of the candidates are.
M: (Through translator) I do not have someone special in mind, because I don't know who is running. But we hope all of them are good.
GARCIA: There is a sense here though, that these elections are important. And many people here spoke of wanting their sect to be represented.
INSKEEP: There's me during the meeting with brother Bush last year, do you remember.
GARCIA: Back at his compound, Sheik Aifan shows a visiting reporter pictures of himself with personalities, including President Bush and President Obama. He is plotting his success in these provincial elections. But the real price he says is the national election slated for the end of this year. That's when a new Iraqi parliament will be voted into office. He says talks are underway to creating national Sunni list similar to the Shiite list that swept into power in 2005.
INSKEEP: If we unite and if we success and if we won in the elections, we will control all of that.
GARCIA: Despite the Sunnis' minority status, he dreams that one day they will resume their place at the helm of this country. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News Fallujah.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Let's follow up now on the story of Ella Mae Johnson. She's the 105-year-old African-American woman from Cleveland who was determined to see the swearing in of President Obama. She was determined even after people suggested the weather would be too cold and the wait outside too long. NPR's Joseph Shapiro tells us how she did.
JOSEPH SHAPIRO: Ella Mae Johnson is an elegant woman. She dresses with impeccable style. She keeps her flowing silver hair just so. But for the inauguration she sacrificed all that, in good humor, to the greater task of staying warm. Johnson's nurse, Iris Williams, zipped her up in a bright blue sleeping bag. The puffy fabric covered Johnson from head to toe, with only her eyes and nose peeking out.
WILLIAMS: Once I get you sealed in, there's no turning back now.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: You can't move left or right, up or down.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: You're stuck.
SHAPIRO: Unidentified Man #4: Congratulations.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ELLA MAE JOHNSON: I'm fine. Now all I need is a rub on my nose.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: OK. Hold on.
SHAPIRO: Johnson has been a witness to more than a century of African-American history. And when this historical moment was over, she talked about what it meant to be in the middle of such a friendly crowd.
MAE JOHNSON: We were all there. We were there waiting. It didn't matter what my color was. It didn't matter what your color was. And I could not ask for anything better.
SHAPIRO: Ella Mae Johnson spent seven hours outside in the frigid weather. But she said she was too wrapped up and too happy to feel the cold. Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Now that the crowds are gone and the cleanup has begun, a very small number of people woke up this morning with a view of the National Mall. That small number includes the new occupants of the White House. It was a festive Inauguration Day, but a somber speech suggested the challenges of the days ahead. NPR's Scott Horsley reports on a new president's first day.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Inauguration Day for Barack Obama began at St. John's Episcopal Church not far from the White House. The church choir sang "This Little Light of Mine," and a visiting pastor from Dallas, T.D. Jakes, observed that God always sends the best men into the worst times. Mr. Obama, his running mate, Joe Biden, and their wives then had coffee at the White House with George and Laura Bush and Dick and Lynne Cheney as a huge crowd assembled on the National Mall. The noontime swearing in ceremony was preceded by some all-star musical talent ranging from Itzhak Perlman to Aretha Franklin.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "MY COUNTRY 'TIS OF THEE")
ARETHA FRANKLIN: (Singing) My country,' tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing...
HORSLEY: The day was mostly clear and cold in Washington with temperatures hovering in the 20s. In his inaugural address, President Obama hearkened back to another frigid winter, suggesting that as tough as times might seem right now, the nation has weathered worse.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
BARACK OBAMA: In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by nine campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood...
HORSLEY: At that moment, Mr. Obama said, when the American Revolution was most in doubt, George Washington offered an inspirational message.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
OBAMA: "Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."
HORSLEY: Aides say the president's speechwriting team began working on the address before Thanksgiving, but that Mr. Obama himself wrote most of it a couple of weekends ago while holed up in Washington's Hay-Adams Hotel. He wanted to express the severity of the situation the nation finds itself in - a struggling economy and two wars - while at the same time instilling confidence that those challenges can be overcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
OBAMA: Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD OVATION)
HORSLEY: The new president has championed a huge economic stimulus package, while at the same time promising to reform health care and develop cleaner forms of energy. He said the question is no longer whether government is too big or too small, but rather whether government works.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
OBAMA: When the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. When the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
HORSLEY: And as much as government can and should do, Mr. Obama said, every American has to take responsibility for the common good. VIPs at the Capitol included Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who guided his crippled jet to a safe river landing last week, then made certain that everyone got off the plane. Mr. Obama paid tribute to some less famous acts of heroism.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
OBAMA: It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job, which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child that finally decides our fate.
HORSLEY: On foreign policy, Mr. Obama renewed his promise to end the war in Iraq, while also warning terrorists that the U.S. won't bend in its battle against them. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered to hear the speech in person in a crowd that stretched from the Capitol well beyond the Washington Monument. Joseph Holloway(ph) and his three-year-old son chose to watch from the far end of the Mall on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
JOSEPH HOLLOWAY: When you just think about what happened during Lincoln's time and then with King making such a huge statement to the world from these very steps, and to be here when the first African-American president is sworn in to the office is just unbelievable. It's something that, you know, we'll never forget. And I think it's a great opportunity for our son.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama did not dwell on race, but he did suggest his election is a sign of how far the nation has come.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
OBAMA: This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
HORSLEY: After taking that oath, with his hand on Lincoln's Bible, Mr. Obama escorted former President Bush to the east side of the Capitol for his departure to his home in Texas. Later, the new White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, issued a memo freezing all pending Bush-era regulations until the new administration can review them. While the new administration has a lot on its plate, the president and first lady did take a few hours yesterday to party.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING AND PEOPLE CHEERING)
HORSLEY: Unidentified Man: Obama, Obama, Obama...
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)
HORSLEY: The first couple then danced their way through 10 official inaugural balls. It was a long day and a long night, the first of many Mr. Obama will spend as president. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
INSKEEP: Let's be fair, the presidential oath of office was not as badly botched as the oath in various slapstick movies - you know, where the guy says, repeat after me, I, state your name. And the answer comes back, I, state your name. It wasn't that bad. Still there was an awkward moment when Chief Justice John Roberts got the words slightly out of order. He said the word "faithfully" in the wrong place. And the new president paused as if wondering whether to say the words in the order that they are written in the Constitution or just politely repeat after Justice Roberts.
JOHN ROBERTS: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear.
OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear.
ROBERTS: That I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully.
OBAMA: That I will execute...
ROBERTS: The office - faithfully the office of president of the United States.
OBAMA: the office of president to the United States faithfully.
ROBERTS: And will to the best of my ability.
OBAMA: And will to the best of my ability.
INSKEEP: You'll notice that after that awkward pause, the politeness of both men prevailed. Even as the chief justice was correcting himself, the president repeated the words in the way that Roberts misspoke them. Chief Justice Roberts was a nominee of President Bush, and the people that opposed him included Senator Barack Obama, which made that awkward pause, if anything, more meaningful. This first moment of the new administration showcased two people of very different backgrounds and very different views just trying to get it right. You can explore NPR's coverage of the inauguration from the National Mall, across the country, and across the world at our Web site, npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Barack Obama's first day as president was not all parades and balls. His first presidential signature declared a national day of renewal and reconciliation. He used that signature again to officially nominate his Cabinet choices. He put all new federal regulations on hold, and that includes some rules from the last days of the Bush administration that were controversial. Then late last night the new administration filed a motion to suspend war crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay for at least 120 days. And there's already been some action on that first day request. A military judge agreed today to suspend one of those trials. Now this morning we're going to hear an expert on presidential first days who was in the crowd for the inauguration. He spoke with our own Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Yes, I'm here just off the National Mall with Stephen Hess. He's an expert on presidential transitions at the Brookings Institution. He served in two administrations, the end of the Eisenhower and the beginning of the Nixon. And good to be with you.
STEPHEN HESS: Yes, and beginnings are more fun than endings, let me assure you of that.
MONTAGNE: Well, that's a good start to this conversation. How do you see the first day of President Obama's administration fitting into the larger picture of first days?
HESS: To me that's very significant because I remember the first moment that I said, yes, this man is thinking like a president was one of those early debates on the issue of Iraq, and his position being different than the others was significant. And there was always a snidely(ph) how you're going to do it? And he said, the first day I'm going to bring in the Joint Chiefs. We're going to sit down, and I'm going to tell them what I want. And I said at that moment, he's thinking like a president.
MONTAGNE: What about historically a president who would have come into office in similar times? And I'm thinking here of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933.
HESS: OK. One thing that'll be different there, right from the start, of course, was he inaugurated on March 4th. He had a lot longer time to prepare for this.
MONTAGNE: But on that first day, did Roosevelt have much to do?
HESS: Look, Roosevelt had 100 days. That's what we measure things by today. And he had everything ready to go, and Congress was perfectly happy to pass it before they had even read it. Now, unfortunately, we're stuck with that tradition of 100 days, so that on the 99th day you will be calling me and saying how well did this guy do? That's totally unfair. And I think that Barack Obama has done very well in trying to change the expectations of that.
MONTAGNE: So, does the first day set the tone for a new administration?
HESS: It can, but I don't think it necessarily does. It hasn't in the past. I mean, you think of previous administrations where often the tone is set by something unexpected that happens in that first day, whether it's 9/11 or whether it's Reagan had an assassination attempt or whatever it may be.
MONTAGNE: And you mean not the literal first day, but in those first days.
HESS: Well, the first days. What it is about the first days that are so important is that everybody is feeling good about the president. His ratings are maybe as high as it's ever going to be. Take advantage of it. But it doesn't mean that if you don't, you're never going to have a comeback. Bill Clinton had a miserable transition and it reflected in a very bad first days. He started with gays in the military. He didn't realize how emotional that was.
MONTAGNE: Don't ask, don't tell.
HESS: Yeah. He had problems with choosing an attorney general, so he didn't have his Cabinet in place until March. Things did not go well, but actually he was re-elected president of the United States, so he must have done something right. So why waste those first days? But don't think that they're the be all and the end all.
MONTAGNE: Will this first day be remembered on the last day of the Barack Obama administration?
HESS: Well, for one thing, there won't be many people left anymore from the first day. When I was with Eisenhower, people stayed six years, even eight years. Now they don't, either because they burn themselves out - it's so much more work at the top than it used to be - or they get offers they can't refuse, because Washington is full of advocacy and law firms and other things that they're attracted to. But they're probably not around. So they may remember this first day, but they'll remember it from some place on K Street.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
HESS: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: Stephen Hess is a senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution and author of "What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect." $00.00
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Renee Montagne was on the National Mall for yesterday's inauguration. NPR's David Schaper was in the new president's home city, Chicago.
DAVID SCHAPER: A steady lake-effect snow falling and icy northwest wind, temperatures in the low 20s and a wind-chill around 5, none of it mattered to the several hundred people who were bundled up in Pioneer Court along Michigan Avenue at the Chicago River to watch the inauguration on jumbotrons.
KATHLEEN BOYLE: It's freezing out here, but no one seems to care. We're all just, you know, having a good time watching on the big screen. So I think people are just energized by the spirit.
SCHAPER: Kathleen Boyle actually came to Chicago from New York with a broken foot to stand in the Chicago cold and watch President Obama take the oath of office. She says she wanted a closer connection to the president than she would have felt in New York. That same kind of reasoning got Anna Nasmyth of Chicago off her couch.
ANNA NASMYTH: Well, I took the day off today, and I was going to sit at home and watch it on TV. But I said, you know what, I really want to be out and feel the energy.
SCHAPER: And Nasmyth says she does feel it, both the energy and the emotion of this historic moment.
NASMYTH: I never thought I would see the day, live to see it. And it's here and it's awesome. It's really - there's no words to really describe it. I'm just - I'm a little choked up, really.
SCHAPER: When Yo-Yo Ma finished performing and Supreme Court Justice John Roberts began to administer the oath, an excited hush fell over the Chicago crowd. They laughed when Justice Roberts and Mr. Obama flubbed the word "faithfully," and then...
JOHN ROBERTS: So help you God.
BARACK OBAMA: So help me God.
ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
SCHAPER: Among those erupting in cheers and clapping her gloved hands with a tear in her eye was Andrea Myers from the small town of Alden, Illinois.
ANDREA MYERS: I am absolutely thrilled. I can't believe that this is happening.
SCHAPER: Like many people around Chicago, Myers claims she knew long ago Mr. Obama would someday be president.
MYERS: Because he's amazing, and he listens, and he thinks, and he answers, and he's honest and true. And we just need somebody like that so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHANTING "OBAMA")
SCHAPER: Renada Hardy of suburban Park Forest pulled her daughters out of school so they could be a part of history.
RENADA HARDY: We couldn't make it to Washington, but we made it here.
SCHAPER: Hardy calls this moment miraculous and brilliant. As for the cold, she says history kept them warm. Indoors, from libraries and churches to bars and blues clubs, Chicagoans continued celebrating the inauguration of the first president from the second city long into the night. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's Ina Jaffe was also at the National Mall yesterday. She arrived on one of four buses that came in a caravan from Louisville, Kentucky.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHOIR SINGING "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")
INA JAFFE: At 9.30 in the morning yesterday, the National Mall was already jammed. Yet despite the festival atmosphere, Kim White(ph) never lost sight of the reason she was there.
KIM WHITE: When I was 11 or 12 at a little small movie theater in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and as an African-American I had to go to the balcony. And I actually remember seeing fountains black and white - I remember that.
JAFFE: Like everyone else on the Mall, Kim White stopped talking when Barack Obama took the oath.
JOHN ROBERTS: So help you God.
OBAMA: So help me God.
JAFFE: And with that Anne Reynolds(ph) knew that Obama had already created change in her.
ANNE REYNOLDS: I hadn't worn red, white, and blue for over 20, 30 years, and I didn't say the pledge of allegiance with the liberty and justice for all. So, maybe I'll stand up and say it now.
JAFFE: The Mall had filled up gradually and then emptied all at once. The wind picked up, the sun went behind the clouds, and the walk back to the buses was bone-chilling and slow. So what? Nate Jones(ph) was relaxing and waiting for the 14-hour ride home to Louisville.
NATE JONES: Even though I wasn't in the front row, but it don't matter.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
JONES: I was here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
JONES: That's the main thing that matters. Just electricity. While everybody was there it was warm. When it was over with it got cold. It was, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
JAFFE: Though Jones seemed pretty warm again, reliving the memories of the day. Ina Jaffe, NPR News, Washington, D.C.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. The location of yesterday's inauguration - the backdrop, the U.S. Capitol - reminds us that Congress organizes this show for each new president, and afterward the two branches of government may or may not work together, although in this case lawmakers were welcoming a former member of the U.S. Senate. NPR's David Welna reports.
DAVID WELNA: It was a day when members turned up in the House chamber wrapped in heavy overcoats and mufflers. Some playfully balked when the presiding officer, Illinois Democrat Jerry Costello, gave them instructions on assembling outside for the inauguration.
JERRY COSTELLO: Members will be escorted in order of seniority.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOOING)
WELNA: Hawaii's Neil Abercrombie thought he had a better idea.
NEIL ABERCROMBIE: Mr. Speaker, point of order, the processions should proceed alphabetically.
WELNA: But once again, seniority trumped alphabetical order. And for many Republicans, national pride, at least momentarily, trumped political loyalty. Take South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham. He was one of John McCain's most outspoken advocates on the campaign trail last year.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: Nobody worked harder to try to help Senator McCain. It did not work out. But this is a day of transition of power. It's going to be peaceful. There are millions of people out there who are just smiling from ear to ear. And it's infectious. So, the spirit of the day, I hope it lasts well beyond a day. But like every other American, I'm just going to marvel at the way we do business. And hats off to President Obama. He ran a marvelous campaign, and it was no easy road for him to get here. So this is his day, and I'm going to enjoy it with him.
WELNA: Former GOP House speaker Newt Gingrich was also at the Capitol for the inauguration.
NEWT GINGRICH: I think it's a moment of bringing the country together. I think inaugurations are very important as a reminder that in the end we are all Americans and that we are bound together by far more than we're divided.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States Barack H. Obama and Mrs. Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
WELNA: It was the new president's grand entrance to a congressional brunch held in the old House chamber right after the inauguration. That event's most dramatic moment, though, was unplanned. It came when Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy had to be taken away from the gathering on a stretcher after suffering a seizure. At the end of the lunch, President Obama paid tribute to Kennedy, who last year underwent surgery for a brain tumor.
BARACK OBAMA: I would be lying to you if I did not say that right now a part of me is with him. And I think that's true for all of us. This is a joyous time, but it's also a sobering time.
WELNA: Kennedy's doctor later said the senator was doing well and would be released from the hospital this morning. Meanwhile, as President Obama went off to the White House, Majority Leader Harry Reid declared it was time for the Senate to get down to business.
HARRY REID: That's why we're in session now, just a few short hours in the swearing in. Faced with some of the great challenges of our life time and challenges in the history of our country, there really is no time to waste.
WELNA: The Senate did confirm six Cabinet members by acclamation yesterday. But Texas Republican John Cornyn held out for a roll call vote on Hillary Clinton's nomination to be secretary of state. Cornyn demanded a three-hour debate today on what he considers to be inadequate disclosure of foreign donations to Bill Clinton's foundation.
JOHN CORNYN: The former president, who's got this foundation and accepting huge contributions from foreign nationals and foreign countries, happened to be married to the person who'll be the chief diplomat for the United States. There's a concern about a conflict of interest. Senator Lugar and Senator Kerry identified that in the committee. And I think it's a - as I told Senator Clinton, I think it needs some more work to have greater transparency.
WELNA: A vote on confirming Senator Clinton as secretary of state is expected to pass later today. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Inauguration Day was relatively quiet in the Gaza Strip. That's where Israel and Hamas observed a cease-fire that's widely seen as timed for the inauguration, which is now over. The question is whether that cease-fire can last. Israel and the United States want to make sure that Hamas does not take advantage of the quiet to rearm through tunnels in Egypt. For Egypt, those tunnels are a puzzle that the government has long been unable or, some say, unwilling to solve. The Bedouins who do much of the smuggling say the Egyptian government has never treated them fairly. And we have a report this morning from NPR's Peter Kenyon in the Sinai Peninsula.
PETER KENYON: Egypt has long argued that it could reduce the weaponry that finds its way into the tunnels headed for Gaza if its peace accord with Israel didn't limit the number of troops it can have close to the border to 750. Isander al-Amrani(ph) a Cairo-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, says the Egyptians do have a point because the accord also bars certain equipment from being deployed there.
ISANDER AL: It's a mountainous region. The local Bedouins know these mountains inside out. Often the Egyptians are unable to use, for instance, helicopters to go and chase them. So, the other possible outcome is that the Egyptians and the Israelis will have to renegotiate these terms that limit the security presence at the border.
KENYON: But virtually no one who lives along the border in north Sinai believes that's the only problem Egypt faces with the tunnels. Many say the bigger problem is the seriously dysfunctional relationship the government has with the Bedouin tribes here. Sheikh Hallaf(ph), tribal leader of Gora(ph), a village very close to the border, is too diplomatic to criticize the government directly. He prefers to say the very severe problems are due to the actions of certain security forces under the Department of Interior.
HALLAF: (Through Translator) We cannot yet see daylight. There are harsh relations between some Sinai tribes and the Ministry of Interior, and of course the Ministry is part of the government.
KENYON: Those relations grew harsher last fall when three Bedouins were killed by security forces. If that had happened in, say, Cairo or Alexandria, the response might have been protests or lawsuits. Not here. Enraged tribesmen responded by kidnapping dozens of the Interior security force, including officers. They also released a video of one security man appearing to confess that a Bedouin man had been tortured during interrogation. Analysts say the government, which routinely crushes dissent elsewhere, is extremely wary of provoking clashes with the Bedouin that it may not be able to contain.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE ULULATING)
KENYON: The patriarch of this family is eager to convey his anger at the Israeli bombardment of Gaza to a visiting reporter and says of course Hamas should be allowed to rearm. But a younger member of the family who gives his name as Abu Hian(ph) laughs at the Egyptian government's assertion that it's physically incapable of closing the smuggling tunnels.
ABU HIAN: (Through Translator) The Egyptian government could prohibit these tunnels in 24 hours. Maybe they haven't done it because they're really trying to help the Palestinians or maybe it's because there's money coming into Egypt from the tunnels. It's their decision on what to do about the tunnels, not ours.
KENYON: Analyst Isander al-Amrani says the economic argument is a big problem for Egypt, considering its already rocky relations with the Bedouin.
AL: There is a vast criminal economy there that, of course, should be brought under control. But the problem is that the Egyptian government has never really developed a plan to offer economic alternatives for the people who live there. And that's a very difficult issue that they'll have to deal with.
KENYON: The people of Gaza therefore face a dilemma. On the one hand, if arms smuggling resumes, another Israeli assault may result. On the other hand, if the tunnels are closed and the Rafah Crossing to Egypt doesn't open, Gaza will be completely at Israel's mercy for its supplies of food, fuel, and electricity - precisely the situation that led to the recent violence. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, near the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's business news starts with the slipping financial markets.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: As people were celebrating the new president, investors were dumping bank stocks out of fear that the crisis in financial institutions in the United States and Great Britain might be getting worse.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
In France, troubled carmakers are banking on a bailout. The French government says it is willing to make massive investments to save its two big auto manufacturers, Renault and Peugeot. Eleanor Beardsley reports.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: Sitting beside Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault-Nissan, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon signed a deal for nearly $8 billion of state aid to keep the French car industry afloat in the current financial storm.
FRANCOIS FILLON: (French spoken)
BEARDSLEY: In sharp contrast to the U.S. approach, the French government is insisting that its carmakers protect jobs. Both Renault and Peugeot-Citroen have come under fire recently for setting up plants in Eastern Europe. The car industry employs 10 percent of the French workforce, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed not to let the nation's key industries fall victim to the current crisis. But tumbling sales have forced the two automobile icons to let their factories run idle for weeks at a time and slash thousands of jobs.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
BEARDSLEY: Job cuts in some areas have been met with massive protests by unions. Before digging deep into its pockets, the French government tried to help the nation's automakers get rid of unsold stock by offering consumers a 1,000 euro bonus for buying an energy-efficient new car, but it wasn't enough in the face of the growing crisis. Renault says it sees no problem with what the government is asking, but Peugeot, which is deemed to be in better shape, says it doesn't understand why it should have to issue a guarantee to protect jobs in exchange for financial aid. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Back in the U.S., the Senate Finance Committee is holding a confirmation hearing this morning for Timothy Geithner. He's President Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary. The hearing was delayed because of taxes that Geithner didn't pay years ago. To talk about what else might come up in today's hearing, we've called David Wessel. He's economics editor of the Wall Street Journal and a regular guest on this program. David, good morning.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: I want to ask about something that could easily be more controversial than Geithner's taxes. He was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, which means he's been in the middle of this financial bailout, which has been much criticized.
WESSEL: That's right. And so his challenge this morning is to defend what he has done and what the Fed has done, including saving Bear Stearns, the big investment bank, and letting another big investment bank, Lehman Brothers, collapse, while trying to re-brand, if you will, the bank bailout that he and Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson engineered at a time when it doesn't seem to be working very well. So I suspect he'll defend what they did, but suggest a new direction going forward, particularly on the banks.
INSKEEP: I think it was just a few weeks ago, late last year, that Paulson, on our air, said, hey, we've stabilized the banking system. And here we have this plunge in the Dow just yesterday because of worries that the banking system is not stabilized. Is Geithner going to give any clues as to what the new administration is going to do about that?
WESSEL: Well, if he's asked about it, and I suspect the senators will ask about it, he will probably outline the principles that they're going to follow in rethinking what to do about the banks. The banks are in worse shape than had been anticipated. There's a lot of talk about putting more government money into the banks. One of his challenges is to say that the government will do whatever necessary to protect the financial system without scaring away anybody who might be thinking of investing in banks for fear of being wiped out.
INSKEEP: Oh, I suppose if you're talking about nationalizing banks, people might run from them.
WESSEL: Exactly. Not depositors, of course, but potential investors.
INSKEEP: Wow. Now, is Geithner going to try to deliver a message about spending and tax cuts and let's dare - do we even dare mention the deficit today?
WESSEL: He certainly will make a point, I predict, that it's important for Congress to move swiftly on President Obama's stimulus package of spending increases and tax cuts, pointing to how weak the economy is and how urgent it is to get on with this. And he will - as both the president has and Larry Summers, his economic adviser, have emphasized that while we're spending a lot of money now and cutting a lot of taxes now, we do have to prepare for going in the opposite direction to assure people that in the long run, the U.S. government can deal with its deficit. So that's another one of these balancing acts he's going to have to do today.
INSKEEP: OK. So, huge issues will have to be addressed here. But also, no doubt, questions about Mr. Geithner's taxes. What does he say?
WESSEL: It'll be interesting to see whether they bring that up or not, as there's been a lot of attention to the fact that he didn't pay all the taxes he was supposed to when he was working for the International Monetary Fund. The one thing that seems clear, though, is that this is not going to derail his nomination. Even Republican senators who have been a little critical of his behavior on taxes seem to think that, as one Washington Post columnist put it, this nomination is too big to fail.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: In other words, the issues are too huge here to go into his past and go after every little thing, that's what you're saying.
WESSEL: I think that they're going to try and score political points, but in the end it seems like such an urgent situation to have a Treasury secretary in place that it looks like they will, you know, beat him up a little bit and then approve him so that he can get to work trying to save this financial system from collapse.
INSKEEP: David, always good to talk with you.
WESSEL: A pleasure.
INSKEEP: David Wessel is economics editor of the Wall Street Journal.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
His words were more somber than some expected, given some of the soaring speeches of his recent past. But if Barack Obama's speech was quiet, the goals laid out were vast. He spoke of no less than remaking America and also changing its relationship with the world. One of the many people listening around the world was NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
MARA LIASSON: As the Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren put it in his invocation, yesterday was a hinge point of history. The first African-American president of the United States, with his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible, taking an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, which originally counted a black man as three-fifths of a person. But President Obama barely mentioned race yesterday. Instead, he wasted no time describing what he called the gathering clouds and raging storms the country confronts right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL SPEECH)
INSKEEP: Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.
LIASSON: Mr. Obama didn't describe what hard choices Americans will have to make. That, presumably, will come later on. But he did promise bold, swift action to fix the economy, and he laid out a list of his priorities, many of which are already proposed in the stimulus plan Congress is considering.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL SPEECH)
INSKEEP: We will act not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.
LIASSON: All this we can do, Mr. Obama said, and this we will do. In addition to the economic stimulus, health care and energy, President Obama is planning the huge and growing budget deficit and reforming Medicare and Social Security. All in his first term. It's a hugely ambitious program, and he acknowledged yesterday that some wonder if our political system can handle so much big change. But he asserted that one debate has already been settled, about the need to recalibrate the balance between government and the market.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL SPEECH)
INSKEEP: What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them. That the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works. Whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.
LIASSON: Ronald Reagan declared that government was the problem. Bill Clinton declared the era of big government was over. Yesterday, Barack Obama said the market has spun out of control, and he argued that only a better, smarter government can provide the balance wheel. If there was one memorable slogan in the speech, it was "a new era of responsibility." Mr. Obama called on Americans to summon some old-fashioned virtues, hard work and honesty, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL SPEECH)
INSKEEP: What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility. A recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world. Duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
LIASSON: For presidential historian William Leuchtenburg, the speech recalled the words of another young president.
D: There were the echoes of John F. Kennedy in the call for the American people to realize that they're going to have to pitch in, that this is not something that government alone can solve, which is another way of saying that this isn't something he alone is going to be able to solve. And that it's going to require a change of attitude, a willingness to work hard, a willingness to accept discipline.
LIASSON: On foreign policy, President Obama repeated his promise to use more soft power, saying we could have our ideals and safety at the same time. To the Muslim world, he offered a new way forward based on mutual interest and respect. But he also had a warning to those who might test a young, relatively inexperienced new president.
(SOUNDBITE OF INAUGURAL SPEECH)
INSKEEP: We will not apologize for our way of life. Nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now, that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: Today, President Obama will spend his first full day at the White House and he will focus on foreign policy, convening a meeting of his national security council to begin planning for a withdrawal from Iraq and an escalation in Afghanistan. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.
INSKEEP: The crowds at the National Mall were so huge that for most the new president was a tiny figure on a distant platform. In fact, some couldn't even see that much except on the giant TVs. But for most, reports NPR's Andrea Seabrook, just being there was enough.
ANDREA SEABROOK: Wanda Smith(ph) is a substitute teacher in Lithia Springs, Georgia.
M: I bet I drove a total of a thousand and something miles or more. 1,500 approximately. I'm just saying.
SEABROOK: Imagine this, Smith went from outside Atlanta, northwest to Tennessee to pick up her grandsons. From there she drove north through Kentucky to Ohio, where she had other relatives. Then she followed a bus her sister had chartered to Washington, D.C.
M: I wanted to bring my grandsons and my nephew, all my cousins, for a historical event that I know that will go down in history and be written in the school books.
SEABROOK: On the National Mall yesterday, there were countless stories just like this. People who'd made a pilgrimage to this place for this day. John Condray(ph) said he just couldn't stomach watching it on TV.
M: When other people see it who were on television while - remember this, they'll remember seeing it. We breathed it, we felt it, it was all around us, it was living in the people that were around us. It was - all of the senses were engaged. It just - I couldn't pass this up. You know, I couldn't let that go.
SEABROOK: All over downtown Washington, people shone with joy. They just beamed. Ecstatic flags, spontaneous cheers. Rosalyn Inker Black(ph) danced in the street, keeping warm and waiting for President Obama's parade.
M: He's holding America accountable for the changes in America. And you just - it's unbelievable. He's including us in this process, and I have never felt more proud to be an American. Not an African-American, but an American. Today, I am an American, and I feel very good about this process.
SEABROOK: Now, though people were cheerful, there were problems. TJ Ravetti(ph) came down from New York City. He had tickets to the ceremony, but he couldn't get through the gate.
M: They just kept us there the whole time, very much quarantined. They closed off the doors. We weren't able to get in. So it was very poorly planned.
SEABROOK: Then again, even in those moments, some found joy. Laurie Johns(ph) and her family couldn't reach their spot either. So when it got too cold, they started knocking on parked tour buses.
M: We finally - About the fourth or fifth bus, the guy let us in, and he was giving refuge to all kinds of people that needed to use the restroom and that were cold. And so we sat there with a bunch of refugees, (laughing) and he had it on the radio and we listened to it.
SEABROOK: During President Obama's speech, that long ribbon of people did something impossible-seeming, they were quiet. Listening. Margot Linebarger(ph) was among them.
M: It was just so hopeful, and, I mean, I'm 55 years old and I did not think that this would ever happen. Not in my lifetime. And I'm glad that I've been able to raise a generation of kids where this is normal.
SEABROOK: Linebarger said for her, it shows just how far we've come as a nation. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
We begin with Tanya Ott of member station WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama.
TANYA OTT: Nearly 6,000 people packed Boutwell Auditorium for an inaugural celebration billed as "Birmingham: Where History Meets Hope."
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHANTING "O-BA-MA")
OTT: And there's a lot of history to draw on. In 1963, just a few blocks from here, Bull Connor turned fire hoses and police dogs on civil rights marchers. Yesterday's celebration honored foot soldiers like the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who enjoyed the tribute from a wheelchair in the front row.
U: We celebrate the election of our president, because of the work of this man...
OTT: The history wasn't lost on Connie Hunt(ph), who was born in south Alabama in the 1950s.
M: We wasn't allowed to walk in, you know, to restaurants. Schools were segregated. But things now have changed a lot, that's why we're here today, because what they did back then, what our family did, our parents.
OTT: Still, some attendees, like J.C. Cunningham, noticed the audience was overwhelmingly African-American.
M: I didn't want this to be like that, you know- This is an American event, not a racial thing, you know- You know, we are down South. It's going to take a little while for a lot of things to change.
OTT: For NPR News, I'm Tanya Ott in Birmingham, Alabama.
JEFF BRADY: I'm Jeff Brady, and on the campus of the University of Denver, dozens of students and staff watched the inauguration on big-screen TVs in the basement of a former sorority house.
GLEN SUMMERS: This actually used to be Condoleezza Rice's sorority house.
BRADY: Former Secretary of State Rice was a student here in the early '70s. Glen Summers(ph) says now it's the place on campus where international students come for help and just to hang out. On Tuesday, many of them came to watch the inauguration.
M: My name is Ana Leon, and I'm originally from Mexico.
BRADY: Leon is a Master's student studying public policy. She became a US citizen in time to vote last November. She says President Obama's focus on foreign policy in his inaugural speech was exactly what she wanted to hear.
M: I feel like in the last eight years we have neglected some of those relationships abroad, and I think that they're important to the stability and the economic growth of our country.
BRADY: Other students marveled at the number of people who showed up in the Mall in Washington. A student from Japan said his country changes prime ministers so often it's just not that big of a deal any more. Laurie Cook works in the admissions office at DU, and says the new president's speech left her feeling hopeful.
M: I've been very fearful for many years. War and the economy and what's coming next, what's coming down the pipe for all of us. And we watch people losing their jobs constantly, and he's saying jobs are coming, have hope. Change is coming.
BRADY: Jeff Brady, NPR News, Denver.
MARTIN KASTE: At Central Cinema, one of those dine-in movie theaters, Andrea Betser(ph) reviewed the morning's menu.
M: We're doing an egg strada.
KASTE: Egg strada, it's Italian.
M: Yeah, it's kind of like a quiche, only a little bit fancier.
KASTE: Inside the theater, the mostly-white baby-boomer-leaning crowd watched the inauguration on PBS. Sightings of Dick Cheney provoked a predictable enough reaction.
(SOUNDBITE OF HISSING)
KASTE: But the hisses weren't as heartfelt as they might have been just a couple of months ago. These Seattle-ites are tired of hating the Bush administration. They're more interested now in watching what they see as the rightward drift of the new president.
M: Just having the guy who's doing the invocation today, Warren, is very upsetting.
KASTE: Jane Stiedel is talking about Rick Warren, the socially conservative pastor whose "amen" was met here with stony silence. Still, Stiedel says Mr. Obama's efforts to reach out to the right do not dampen her Obamanian feelings of hope.
M: I'm just kind of taking deep breaths and saying, OK, (laughs) you know, this is bigger than me and my little beliefs.
KASTE: And Chuck Morgan(ph) also says Obama deserves some patience.
M: I think the reason that Obama's getting, quote unquote, more of a break than Bush got, is because you sense the direction in which Obama is trying to head is different than the direction in which Bush was heading.
KASTE: Martin Kaste, NPR News, Seattle.
HOWARD BERKES: This is Howard Berkes at Esther's Kountry Grill in Coal County, Oklahoma, where candidate Barack Obama received only 26 percent of the vote. Co-owner Barbara Elkins is among the vast majority here who voted for Republican John McCain. But as she watched the inaugural ceremonies, she wept.
M: If I'd owned this restaurant 40 years ago, I wouldn't have been allowed to have black people come in here. It's wonderful to know that our country has come this far, that we can elect a president not based on his color. I'm hoping the best for him, even though he and I don't share the same political views.
BERKES: Most people in Coal County don't share the new president's politics, even though most are Democrats. More than 80 percent of registered voters here are Democrats, but more than 70 percent voted Republican in November. They've been Democrats for generations, but this part of Oklahoma is known as Little Dixie. People are too conservative to accept the national party principles and liberal candidates. Ken Braddock is the postmaster in the county seat of Coalgate.
M: I changed my affiliation because I can not agree with abortion, and I can't agree with same-sex marriage. And that is the platform of the Democratic Party. Therefore, when that became their platform, I had to switch to the Republican Party.
BERKES: Retired salesman Dale Ennes(ph) was munching on chicken fried steak and macaroni salad as the inaugural ceremonies began, and he stayed focused on his food.
M: That changeover don't interest me. I just got to wait and see where we're headed to. See if he does anything good, which is doubtful. I feel like I'm going to have to pay a lot of money. He likes to spread the wealth. So what little I've got I'm really afraid he's probably going to spread it.
BERKES: Wanda Utterback(ph) was more conciliatory. She's the newspaper editor here, and she said that many of those who didn't support Mr. Obama still want him to succeed.
M: I think we all have that hope, even in a place that didn't vote for him, because he's still our president.
BERKES: And then Utterback interviewed me about interviewing her and others here at Esther's Kountry Grill. Howard Berkes, NPR News, Coalgate, Oklahoma.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
When money stops moving in the economy, so do goods. And for the huge ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, that means a lot of things are piling up. Things like luxury cars, recycled paper, even huge container ships off the coast of California. Rob Schmitz of member station KQUED reports on how those ports cope with the clutter.
ROB SCHMITZ: At an enormous warehouse south of Los Angeles, a forklift outfitted with a huge scooping attachment digs into a 20-foot-high mountain of white paper. Alan Company owns this warehouse. It's one of the largest recycled paper companies in the country. Bill Woodhouse is the manager here.
SCHMITZ: Everybody's got their recycling can out in from of their home and those cans end up coming to a sort center and then it gets sorted at a sort center and then baled, and then it can easily find its way into a warehouse like this.
SCHMITZ: Once that cardboard box you threw into the recycling bin the other day arrives here, it's put into a container and shipped to places like China.
SCHMITZ: China starts the cycle all over again. They'll make a new product out of it, and it finds its way back into the United States. And the cycle will then start again.
SCHMITZ: But these days, Americans just aren't doing what they do best - consuming. And that's interrupting the cycle Woodhouse just talked about. Its stopping point is inside this warehouse, where 8,500 tons of paper and cardboard are stacked up to the three-story-high ceiling, crammed by forklifts into every available inch of this 120,000 square foot space. It's the same story at the Port of Long Beach. Port spokesman Art Wong seems oblivious to semi trucks barreling by him on an overpass which offers a birds-eye view of the busiest port in the country. Directly below us is the biggest traffic jam in Los Angeles. For the last few months, several thousand Toyotas and Mercedes have been parked here with nowhere to go, and no-one to buy them. Dealerships don't have room for them, so they're stuck here.
SCHMITZ: Manufacturers like these automakers haven't been able to slow down manufacturing nearly as fast as we've slowed down consumption.
SCHMITZ: Just looking across the port from this perch, you can almost feel an economy that has come to a standstill. Past the sea of cars, empty containers are stacked on top of each other. At the docks, enormous freight ships sit idle. Wong says shipping companies have abandoned their bigger ships here in favor of smaller ones that carry less freight. Wong says last year when the housing market collapsed, so did the volume of imports coming through the port. But now he's noticing a more troubling trend.
SCHMITZ: One of the more ominous signs of this recent downturn has been the drop-off in exports. Empty boxes are now starting to stack up again because we're not sending things overseas. And this has been very, very recent. In just the last couple months.
SCHMITZ: This standstill has meant things like toys, clothes, furniture, recycled plastic, you name it, it's all stuck here. And those recyclables, plastic and paper, have plummeted in value.
SCHMITZ: It's now costing more to sort the paper than the paper is worth itself.
SCHMITZ: That's Kara Boughton, with recycled paper giant Alan Company. In October, the company was selling its cardboard for $250 a ton. Boughton says it now sells for $50 a ton if it sells at all. And until that happens, it'll sit here in this port city alongside a variety of merchandise, piling up. For NPR News, I'm Rob Schmitz in Los Angeles.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Iraq is preparing for its first big election since 2005. And unlike that last time, just about everybody plans to participate, all major sectarian groups. More than 14,000 candidates are running in the provincial election set for the end of the month. It's an important test for Iraq, because a large, peaceful turnout could strengthen Iraq's fragile democracy, and trouble at the polls could weaken it. NPR's JJ Sutherland reports from Baghdad.
JJ SUTHERLAND: Posters are everywhere. Layers of them sometimes three or four deep are affixed to seemingly every vertical surface in Baghdad. The faces of one politician or another asking for or demanding votes. Some are ripped down or defaced. A new kind of conflict in Iraq. The ubiquitous concrete blast-walls that carve the city into various districts have become the platforms for young, raucous and uncertain democracy. Ibrahim Sumidi is a political analyst.
M: By this elections, I think, it is the first step for all Iraqis for sharing power. If we get it slowly, peacefully, and by ensuring integrity, I think we put Iraq on the first step on the democracy.
SUTHERLAND: Iraq is a fractured country. Kurd versus Arab, Sunni versus Shiite, religious versus secular. The idea of sharing power is new, and the idea of power moving from one set of hands to another peacefully is untried. At recent Friday prayers in the Shiite slums of Sadr City, the stage is set as usual. The preacher reads from the Koran. There are some anti-Israel protests, the standard American flag to burn. But there's also a second and highly politicized sermon. But even exhortations of his religious leaders don't impress Amad Hussein(ph). He's 18 years old, unemployed, and has little trust in the political process.
M: (Speaking Arabic)
SUTHERLAND: These elections are a lie. The politicians arrange everything among themselves. And even if I vote no, they will change it to yes. That perception is widespread here. Already, accusations of bribery and intimidation are being made. Legitimacy is crucial. For the first time, Sunni's have been brought into the political process in large numbers. And for the first time, parties that hold power may end up losing it. And getting them to respect the outcome is critical. Judge Kassam Hasan Abudi(ph) is with the independent High Election Commission here in Iraq. He says he's sure not everyone will be happy with the results.
SUTHERLAND: You know, there's some, especially in Iraq, some complaints. Some people who not satisfied with the results.
SUTHERLAND: And if those complaints aren't resolved in a timely and fair manner, it may end up that the ballot box won't be considered by Iraqis a valid way to transfer power. That's the worry of Judge General Ray Odierno, the top American military officer in Iraq.
SUTHERLAND: We want to make sure that things stay calm as we seat the new government. That the people who get disappointed, that they don't get disappointed then use violence. They try to use diplomatic and political means.
SUTHERLAND: American and Iraqi officials expect an uptick in violence as election day approaches. Three candidates have already been assassinated, but overall violence is down dramatically. Worries about fraud have brought a host of counter-measures. From the famous ink that everyone will dip their fingers into, to water marks in the ballots, to as many as 200,000 Iraqi and international observers. The provincial elections are only one of a series of voting opportunities for Iraqis planned this year. Erin Matthews is with the National Democratic Institute, which is helping prepare for the elections.
M: These elections are important to see how people - at what level they participate, how the parties do, what the post-election atmosphere is. So I think they set the stage for later elections.
SUTHERLAND: And some analysts warn that if the elections are not seen as legitimate, that will cast doubt on the whole idea of resolving the very tough issues Iraq faces through any sort of peaceful political process. JJ Sutherland, NPR News, Baghdad.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
We've just finished a night full of parties in a city that is not particularly known for them, Washington, D.C. There were 10 official Inaugural Balls plus countless unofficial events, from crowded restaurants to church basements. And there was also glitz for people who don't usually get much. NPR's Pam Fessler followed a group of women getting ready for one party.
PAM FESSLER: The women from the End Street Village Shelter in Washington aren't the usual kind of people who go to Inaugural Balls, most were homeless or drug addicts before they came here for help. Many are at a low point in their lives but not this week.
U: (Singing) going to the Ball, and we are going to have fun.
FESSLER: That's women at End Street Village on their way to pick out Inaugural gowns last Sunday. They were among 300 disadvantaged people, invited by Virginia businessman Earl Stafford to be his guests at the Peoples' Inaugural Ball. Stafford's charitable foundation spent $1.6 million to make the event possible. He even set up a boutique with donated formal wear.
U: And these are in-street dealers.
FESSLER: Volunteers tried to keep order as dozens of anxious men and women lined up to pick out dresses and suits for the Ball.
U: Ya'll just hold on, because we're trying to keep our groups together, so ya'll can go in there and ooh and ah together.
U: Ooh, it's so beautiful.
FESSLER: The boutique was filled with racks of colorful beaded gowns and tables covered with jewelry, purses, and shoes with spiky heels.
FESSLER: Oh, look at these shoes. Oh, my goodness. I'm in heaven.
FESSLER: Bobby Henderson turned to End Street Village for shelter after she got sick and lost her home in July. But here she and the others were looking for that perfect outfit.
FESSLER: This feel better than the blue one.
U: Yes, I like those.
FESSLER: Yes, so we'll take these.
U: OK.
FESSLER: Betty Brentley(ph) picked out a pair of black and silver sandals to match the white-beaded dress she'd selected with the help of a volunteer.
FESSLER: Thank you so very much. Thank you.
U: Why don't you get a pocket book? And some jewelry.
FESSLER: I can still get some jewelry and a purse?
U: Yes.
FESSLER: Brentley lost her job two years ago and has spent some time living on the streets. She says now she felt like Cinderella.
FESSLER: A beautiful dress, beautiful shoes. A chance to get your hair done and everything, but I guarantee when we walk in here we're going to feel like the belle of the ball.
FESSLER: And indeed, last night, the End Street Village women were among the belles at a very elegant Ball. Just two blocks from the White House, hundreds of tuxedoed men and women in long gowns filled the hotel ballroom. Many here were high-end donors mingling with hurricane survivors and the mentally disabled. Stafford said he wanted to bring all kinds of people together to celebrate the Inauguration and Betty Brentley couldn't have been happier.
FESSLER: Nobody knows who we are. You know, nobody knows who we are. They don't know where we come from. All they know is we got on a gown, we're in this crowd and we're with the best of the best right now. And what a feeling that is.
FESSLER: She and the other women said it was a fitting tribute to the Inauguration of Barack Obama who's promised to give people like them some hope. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
The president and first lady went to all 10 official inaugural balls. Each had a theme - the Youth Ball, the ball for the Armed Forces. NPR's Elizabeth Blair was at the Home States Ball where the Obamas danced.
INSKEEP: Hello everybody! Hello!
ELIZABETH BLAIR: A little after 8 p.m. as President Obama took the stage, hundreds of digital cameras went up in the air. He told the guests from Illinois and Hawaii they were a special crowd.
INSKEEP: So many of you got involved, not just in my campaign, but got involved in our lives many, many years ago. You're not new friends, you're old friends. And for that we are grateful to you.
BLAIR: President Obama looked a little tired but genuinely happy to see his home state's crowd. Michelle Obama was dressed in a radiant white-chiffon gown designed by 26-year-old Jason Wu. The first couple danced only briefly, but Michell Obama gave the crowd a kind of knowing smile. It looked like she was dancing at a party with close friends.
M: I think the first couple are ordinary people. They're regular, ordinary, nice folks, and they are part of the Chicago community.
BLAIR: Joy Cunningham from Chicago worked on the Obama campaign. She says it's easy for folks in the Mid-West to identify with the first couple. The Home States Ball was held in a huge room at the Washington Convention Center, spacious enough for the thousands of guests dressed in tuxedos and elegant gowns. Last night's celebration stirred up a lot of pride in people from Illinois and Hawaii.
M: To my good friends from Illinois I would have to say this, he is the president from Illinois, he is the first president ever from the state of Hawaii.
BLAIR: Walter Dodds from Honolulu is a retired chairman of First Hawaiian Bank, he did some fundraising for the Obama campaign.
M: If you know anything about Hawaii, the Aloha Spirit involves a unique perspective on the way we treat other human beings. In Hawaii, everybody is an ethnic minority, and we've learned a lot about how to deal with each other. And Obama - Senator Obama, now President Obama, I think he projects it.
BLAIR: For many people attending the Home States Ball, campaign contributors, volunteers, the politically well-connected, last night was the culmination of a very long campaign. At the end of the night when almost everyone had left, the velvet-blue lighting of the evening was replaced by harsh bright lights so that workers could clean up. Reggie Forman(ph), a housekeeper at the Washington Convention Center is sweeping up what the revelers left behind.
M: Cups and bottles, and everything else, you know. It shows you right there they had a good celebration. And that's what we all - that's what you want to see.
BLAIR: This was the end of a very long, very full, and very cold day in the nation's capital. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington.
M: We will sweep up.
INSKEEP: You have a chance to relive yesterday's Inauguration, including videos, photo galleries, and commentary. And you can take a closer look at inaugural fashion by going to our website npr.org. It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. On Inauguration Day, John McCain received an honor he never wanted. His portrait was unveiled on the wall of the First State Bank in Norton, Kansas. The bank has a gallery of presidential losers, all 59 men who just missed. McCain hangs on the wall alongside such luminaries as John Kerry, Walter Mondale, and the longtime senator from Kansas Bob Dole. And McCain could be the last. The bank says it's out of wall space. It's Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. We do not know if this will improve its case for foreign aid, but the island of Antigua has confirmed it will rename its tallest peak. This summer, the mountain will become known as Mount Obama, 1300 feet high. It happens August 4th, the birthday of the person who gets the honor. The new president can only hope that the mountain's old name contains no symbolism for his agenda, because up to now, the mountain has been known as Boggy Peak. You're listening to Morning Edition.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
President Obama's choice as his Treasury secretary is appearing before the Senate Finance Committee this morning. It's a confirmation hearing. The committee is deciding whether to approve Timothy Geithner, who was most recently head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The hearing was delayed a number of days because of some concerns over taxes that Geithner didn't pay years ago. NPR's Jim Zarroli is following the hearing. He joins us now live. Jim, good morning.
JIM ZARROLI: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: So, what does Geithner say about, well, wanting to be the guy who runs the Treasury and he didn't pay some taxes?
ZARROLI: Well, he addressed it right away. He tried to explain what had happened, why he didn't make the payments. He said he had prepared his taxes himself using a tax preparation software program.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONFIRMATION HEARING)
ZARROLI: These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes. But they were unintentional. I should have been more careful.
ZARROLI: He was grilled by some of the senators. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who's a very influential voice on the committee, asked him a series of questions about this, saying it shouldn't be swept under the rug, even asking him what kind of tax software he used. But I think then they moved pretty quickly away from that.
INSKEEP: Well, there certainly are other things to ask about because as the head of the New York Fed, this guy was central to this gigantic financial bailout which has been much criticized ever since Congress approved it last fall.
ZARROLI: Yeah. He said he knew the bailout program needed reforms. There were questions about the transparency of the way the money was distributed. A lot of confusion about the goals, which is certainly true. He said, we have to reshape and redesign the program. But he wasn't at all apologetic about what the government tried to do. He said, we confront extraordinary challenges, catastrophic loss of trust in the financial system, and a deep uncertainty about what the future holds.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONFIRMATION HEARING)
ZARROLI: Senators, the ultimate cost of this crisis will be greater if we do not act with sufficient strength now. In a crisis of this magnitude, the most prudent course is the most forceful course.
ZARROLI: He said, the government has to restore confidence in the financial system. And once it does that, it will have to - it will then go about unwinding some of the extraordinary interventions that have taken place to stabilize the system. And there has to be an attempt to address some of the regulatory issues, he said, that allowed this to happen. He also said the president will come before Congress hopefully in the next few weeks and lay out a plan to stabilize the financial system.
INSKEEP: Well, Jim Zarroli, given that the economy is in crisis, and he's a central player on the team, or would be if confirmed, does there seem to be now a rush to approve him?
ZARROLI: There are a lot of senators, especially Republicans, who are very unhappy with the way that the bailout program has gone. But on the other hand, there's - you know, there's so much uncertainty and fear right now, so I don't think that will be enough to derail his nomination. You know, when he was named, the stock market responded very positively. And if for some reason his nomination was jeopardized, I think you'd see the markets react pretty negatively.
INSKEEP: Jim, thanks very much.
ZARROLI: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Jim Zarroli in New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
If you're hoping to change the world, the writer Mark Bittman says you can start by changing what you eat. Bittman wrote a book called "Food Matters." Mixed in with the recipes in this book is an argument about how your diet can affect more than your health. He told Steve Inskeep the next time you pass on the cheeseburgers, you could help save the planet.
Mr. MARK BITTMAN (Author, "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes"): It's not that challenging. We all enjoy vegetarian meals from time to time. I'm just advocating that we enjoy more of them.
STEVE INSKEEP: Here's why Mark Bittman is the latest author to argue for eating a little less meat. When you eat, say, a steak, somebody had to grow a cow, feed it for years, butcher it, transport it to market, all of which takes more energy than if you just ate some corn.
Mr. BITTMAN: Beef happens to be the worst. There are fish that are not quite so offensive, farm-raised fish that are not quite so offensive. But it's also worth looking at environmental damage that's done by all, let's just say, industrial farming - from fish farming to chicken farming, to, for that matter, egg and dairy farming. All has an environmental impact, and as someone said to me recently, every breath each of us takes has environmental impact.
(Soundbite of laughter)
INSKEEP: Well, if I just stop breathing, the whole problem would go away.
Mr. BITTMAN: Your carbon footprint shrinks proportionately for the amount that you're alive.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BITTMAN: So, if you do go away, your carbon footprint goes to zero.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BITTMAN: But the fact is there is environmental impact in every agricultural process. But for people who want to make a difference, you can take a quick look at these different processes and see that by eating fewer animal products - and by animal products I mean all animal products, from dairy, eggs, fish, meat, et cetera, and more plants, and it's very much the Michael Pollan mantra, which is eat food, mostly plants. And my take on this is that proportionally, if you eat, say, 10 meals that include meat a week, which is not uncommon in the United States, where people eat 200 pounds of meat a year. So, a lot, right? Half a pound a day, more or less. If you eat a couple of meals less of meat each week, you're doing yourself - for a variety of health reasons - and the planet, in a smaller way but not an insignificant way, if we all did it, obviously - you're doing all of us a favor.
INSKEEP: The food writer Michael Pollan, he's been on this program more than once, and he's recently been in the news because he's been advocating different national policies having to do with food, in saying that we can't really deal with problems like energy unless we deal with food. I get his arguments on a national level. I understand where he's coming from there. Are you arguing that individuals could make a significant difference, though?
Mr. BITTMAN: I am arguing that individuals could make a significant difference. If the United States processes - which is a nice word for kills - ten billion with - that's with a b - billion animals each year - that is, we raise and slaughter 10 billion animals a year for consumption; 10 percent less is obviously nine billion - that would have both an environmental impact and an impact on all of our mutual health.
INSKEEP: Although people aren't going to want to do that 10 percent unless they're still getting a good meal, I suppose?
Mr. BITTMAN: Well, there's nothing wrong with eating smaller amounts of meat. There's nothing wrong with eating meals that have no meat whatsoever. And you know, in "Food Matters," I give recipes for doing so, but I almost don't even want to say that. I want to say, look, it's quite common sense that you can eliminate animal products from some of your diet.
INSKEEP: Mark Bittman, I see that you've divided some of the recipes in this book, "Food Matters," by meal. And you've got a chapter here on different breakfasts. And I want you to sell me on a breakfast that fits your requirements. And you need to know in advance that I could eat breakfast three times a day. So, how am I going to get a good breakfast that I like and still fit with your requirements?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BITTMAN: I had for breakfast a bowl of oatmeal with maple syrup in it, so I, you know, and I was quite happy with that. Now, if you're not happy with that because it's not enough for you, or maybe three times a day would get to be...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BITTMAN: A bit much for you, I would say at lunch you might have that same bowl of oatmeal with perhaps some, oh, I don't know, scallions and soy sauce on top, which would be very Asian, but still pretty good.
INSKEEP: Soy sauce oatmeal?
Mr. BITTMAN: Oh, my God, it's great. And for dinner, I don't know, a poached egg on your oatmeal, since you're having oatmeal three times a day now. But it's - seriously, I eat whole grains.
INSKEEP: But I shouldn't be eating an egg, right, because that's an animal product?
Mr. BITTMAN: Yeah.
INSKEEP: You're saying - not that I never have an egg, but I should eat less of them, you're saying.
Mr. BITTMAN: Well, I would say you should not have an egg seven times a week. Although if you wanted to have an egg seven times a week, I would then argue that you don't have cheeseburgers seven lunches a week. The general rule, though, is, I probably eat 70 percent less in the animal kingdom than I did two or three years ago. But that's a much different diet than the way I used to eat, where I'd wake up in the morning and eat the kind of breakfasts you were just talking about, eggs and bacon and toast or pancakes or whatever. And then maybe have a sandwich with meat for lunch, or a hamburger for lunch or, you know, pasta with meat or, you know, big carbohydrate lunch. Now, it's really - my daily - my in day eating is really fruits and vegetables for the most part, and then at night, I go back to eating, kind of, old style.
INSKEEP: Was it hard for you to change your diet, given that what's available is what's available, especially when you're out going to restaurants or trying to get a quick lunch or whatever else?
Mr. BITTMAN: Well, there are challenges, but the rewards are incredible. So, first let me speak about the challenges. The challenges are, as you say, what's available is not the ideal diet. But you can go out - and I've done this all over the world - you can go out to a store and buy yourself a bag of fruit or a bag of fruit and vegetables, if that's how you want to eat, and walk around snacking on that stuff all day. It's not the most sophisticated and satisfying diet, but it works.
We're not going to see - as individuals we're not going to see an impact we're having on the environment or on climate change, obviously. But for me, when I started eating the way I'm describing, I lost 35 pounds, which was about 15 percent of my body weight. My cholesterol went down 40 points. My blood sugar went from borderline bad to just fine. My knees, which were starting to give out as a result of running at too high a weight, got better. And I had had sleep apnea, which one doctor suggested was a result of being overweight, and that went away. So, all of those things happened within a few months and that's some serious positive reinforcement there.
INSKEEP: That, and feeling like you're changing the world.
Mr. BITTMAN: Well, feeling like you're changing the world, yeah, that's a nice thing, too.
INSKEEP: Mark Bittman, thanks very much.
Mr. BITTMAN: It's been great to talk with you.
INSKEEP: His new book is called "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating."
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: And we've got an excerpt from "Food Matters" and a recipe from Mark Bittman's Breakfast Bread Pudding at npr.org. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. With Steve Inskeep, I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Nearly 35,000 US soldiers have been injured in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and Robert Sprenger is one of them. After he was badly burned, he spent months in a hospital bed, and then he and his family made a troubling discovery. The military paid him compensation, yes, but it wasn't nearly enough to cover his family's expenses. So, Robert Sprenger and his family swallowed their pride and did what a growing number of veterans' families have done: They asked strangers for money on the Web. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports.
DANIEL ZWERDLING: Robert Sprenger's mother lives in a tiny little Victorian across the street from the church. She's in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. It's a farm town. She's not the activist type, but Vicky Sprenger is mad.
Ms. VICKY SPRENGER: It's really kind of sad what the Army does. And I shouldn't - I would never cut the Army down for any reason whatsoever, but no, I just think it's really - it kind of stinks, you know, that we do have to struggle the way we do.
ZWERDLING: And here's what Vicky and her son say they've had to do to get by: Go to your computer and get on the Web and type usatogether.org. This is one of a new breed of Web sites that's helping troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Ms. SPRENGER: Right down there, if you go to the home page...
ZWERDLING: There are all kinds of organizations that help vets. The American Legion has been helping them since the end of World War I. But groups like usatogether.org are different. It's not even really a group; it's basically just a Web site. It lets individual troops like Sprenger tell their story, and then it allows you to send help directly to that vet.
Ms. SPRENGER: He's probably the eighth person in the...
ZWERDLING: And there's a photo of Vicky's son lying in his hospital bed. He's wrapped in gauze, like a mummy, and he's pleading for somebody out there to help. Vicky reads the caption.
Ms. SPRENGER: OK.
(Reading) I'm Specialist Robert Sprenger, and I was wounded in Iraq. I was a gunner in a Humvee that was hit by an IED. I was burnt on 40 percent of my body. One week before my injuries, my sister was diagnosed with bipolar/borderline personality disorder and put in placement. Since then, my mom has lost her job; she had taken too much time off from her previous job taking care of me and my sister.
ZWERDLING: What do think Robert Sprenger is asking for? $10,000? $5,000? No. He's asking for a washing machine. He says, ours doesn't work anymore. Vicky keeps reading.
Ms. SPRENGER: (Reading) Due to her job situation, we have fallen behind on our monthly bills. I'm still in...
(Laughing) I'm going to start crying.
(Reading) I'm still on med hold, waiting for a discharge from the Army. When I am better I will be able to help our family.
ZWERDLING: Did you ever imagine that you would have to go begging on the Internet to raise enough money to help your injured son?
Ms. SPRENGER: And that's the most horrible-est thing.
Mr. DAVE MAHLER (Founder and President, USA Together): Well, it's - I think it's important for this population of injured service members not to be a hidden population.
ZWERDLING: That's the man who created this Web site, USA Together. His name is Dave Mahler, and he says he doesn't know anything about the military. He's a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. He sold a software company, he made a ton of money, and about a year ago, he was looking for a new project.
Mr. MAHLER: I drive past a VA hospital, and have driven past it, you know, almost every day for the last 25 years, and I've never been on the property. I was in between some projects, and wanted to do something to help this group.
ZWERDLING: So, one day, he looked up the VA spokesperson. He asked her out for coffee. It was very Silicon Valley. They got together at a Starbucks, and Mahler said, how can I help?
Mr. MAHLER: This public affairs officer told me that occasionally she's able to get a story in the local newspaper and community people would reach out to help that individual. But it doesn't help the next ones in line behind them. And so, I thought it was interesting that people seem to want to help, but they didn't know who or how.
ZWERDLING: Actually, the government offers a huge range of benefits to disabled vets, like disability payments and job training, like subsidies to buy cars and houses. But studies show that a lot of vets don't know about those benefits, so they don't apply for them, and the average vet who does apply has to wait months or sometimes years to get them. So, hundreds of private groups try to fill the gap, like Soldiers' Angels or Community of Veterans or the American Legion. And Mahler says they do a great job, but he wanted his Web site to help people in a slightly different way.
Most groups raise money from people like you, and then the group decides how to spend it. Instead, Mahler set up USA Together so you can choose the individual vet you want to support. Look at his Web site. You want to help a soldier named Tara? She's standing on a prosthetic leg, and she writes, I could use any help with one month's mortgage. Mahler reads some of the other postings.
(Soundbite of typing)
Mr. MAHLER: The next one from Michael T. is: food for our family. Our refrigerator unexpectedly died and we lost all of our food. The next one is Michael H. from Army that says, you know, I need a sleeper sofa. We live in a small, two-bedroom apartment, as it's all we can afford in the area. Currently the boys and our daughters are all in the same room.
ZWERDLING: And of course, Vicky Sprenger and her son sent their story to the Web site. Mahler's colleague checked out their information. They asked for military and medical records, that kind of thing. And the posting had barely gone up when somebody sent the Sprengers a brand new washer and dryer from Sears.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. SPRENGER: I was so tickled because they actually came to my house. I was kind of embarrassed that they had to put these brand new washer and dryer down in my basement, but you know, I even took all my kids down there and said, oh, look at this, you guys, brand new.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. SPRENGER: I've never had a brand new washer and dryer, and so that was really nice of them.
ZWERDLING: Here's what puzzles me. BJ was in Iraq; he got seriously injured. I think most people would assume, didn't the government pay him all kinds of money?
Ms. SPRENGER: No, not at all, uh-huh. They gave him $25,000. But if you think about all he went through in the last two years, $25,000 isn't anything.
ZWERDLING: And that raises a question.
Mr. PETER GAYTAN (Director, Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Division, American Legion): The question has to be asked, if VA is meeting their obligations to America's veterans, why is there a need for any other nongovernmental organizations or veterans' service organizations to provide any level of assistance?
ZWERDLING: That's Peter Gaytan. He's one of the directors of the American Legion. They're the granddaddy of veterans' groups. Gaytan says he has mixed feelings about the explosion of Web sites like USA Together.
Mr. GAYTAN: If our system were ideally able to meet all the needs, then we wouldn't have the need for these organizations springing up. But it's heartening to see that the citizens of this country, they care enough to go to a Web site, to take the time to help a returning veteran and their family. I think that's heartening as a country.
ZWERDLING: Just before they left office, the Bush administration announced a new program at the Department of Veterans' Affairs. The VA is going to appoint a federal employee to work with private, nonprofit groups across the country. The VA won't give them money, but the VA's press release says it will help them identify the unmet needs of veterans and their families. Nonprofit groups say they've already been doing that for years. Daniel Zwerdling, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: And if you'd like to find out about the different groups that help veterans, we've got a list at our Web site, npr.org.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning. In your health today we'll consider the risks of sporadic or light cigarette smoking. President Obama has indicated he'll abide by the White House no-smoking policy. And in an interview with Tom Brokaw just after the election, he said he had quit cigarettes, for the most part.
(Soundbite of TV show "Meet the Press," December 7, 2008)
President BARACK OBAMA: You know, there are times where I've fallen off the wagon. Well...
Mr. TOM BROKAW (Guest Host, "Meet the Press"): Oh, wait a minute, that means you haven't stopped?
Pres. OBAMA: Well, the - fair enough.
MONTAGNE: Fair enough. Well, experts say that quitting cigarettes, quitting smoking for good, even if you're only smoking a few a day or even a week can drastically cut the risk of heart disease and cancers later in life. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.
ALLISON AUBREY: When President Obama was in his early 20s and living in an apartment in East Harlem, he'd sit on the fire escape with his roommate after work on nice evenings and smoke. In his 1995 autobiography, he wrote he'd sit on the stoop and, quote, "study dusk washing blue over the city." The image could make some look back longingly to the days when a cigarette helped spur a contemplative moment or an easy camaraderie.
Dr. JONATHAN SAMET (Chair, Department of Preventative Medicine, University of Southern California): Well, it's not surprising that people might think back to their youth and the interactions that at the time seemed to have been made pleasant by tobacco.
AUBREY: Jonathan Samet chairs the department of preventative medicine at the University of Southern California. He says what was missing in those days was an appreciation of the dangers of tobacco. Clearly, he says, President Obama's active lifestyle, which includes intense cardiovascular workouts on the basketball court, has lessened his risk of heart disease compared to people who smoke and don't exercise. But he stresses there is no safe level of tobacco use. Smoking just one or two cigarettes a day puts people at risk.
Dr. SAMET: Even at that level, there's roughly a doubling of the risk of heart disease for people who smoke that amount compared to people who are not smoking at all.
AUBREY: So that's the bad news. Tobacco does pose risks for so-called chippers or very light smokers, particularly if they've been heavier users of tobacco earlier in life. The good news is that quitting completely seems to reverse a lot of the damage. Kenneth Warner is dean of the University of Michigan's School of Public Health.
Dr. KENNETH E. WARNER (Dean, University of Michigan's School of Public Health): When smokers quit, within about three years or a little bit more, their risk of heart disease associated with smoking reverts to that of a never smoker.
AUBREY: The reduction is quick and dramatic, and it includes not only heart attacks, but the risk of strokes, blood clots and chronic bronchitis. Unfortunately, Warner says, the drop-off in the risk of lung cancer and other cancers is not as dramatic.
Dr. WARNER: Cigarette smokers are exposing themselves to over 50 known causes of cancer in humans every single time they are sucking on a cigarette.
AUBREY: And he says there's no way to completely undo the damage that comes from inhaling so many toxic chemicals. But one thing experts agree on is that it's never too late to quit; there's always some benefit to stopping. And if you do it before the age of 50, there's a measurable decline in your risk of premature death. Michael Thun is an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society.
Dr. MICHAEL THUN (Vice President, Epidemiology and Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society): People who stop smoking before the age of 50 cut the risk of dying in the next 15 years in half compared to those who continue to smoke.
AUBREY: So, if you happen to be, say, 47? Take note, there's benefit in quitting. And experts say living in a house with a no-smoking policy may help enforce the commitment. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In his Inaugural address Mr. Obama offered this new view of reality.
(Soundbite of Inaugural Address)
President BARACK OBAMA: What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.
MONTAGNE: That's a big part of the president's appeal. He promises to transcend old divisions. Whether he delivers may depend in part on the man we'll meet next. John Boehner of Ohio is the Republican leader in the House of Representatives. The day after the inauguration, Congressman Boehner stepped into his office, stirred up the flames in a corner fireplace, and sat down to talk with Steve Inskeep.
INSKEEP: Is the president correct when he says that long-running debate over the size of government, big versus small government, is over or different?
Representative JOHN BOEHNER (Republican, Ohio; House Minority Leader): I'm not sure that anyone knows exactly what he was trying to say. Clearly, in our society, there's a role for government, and you know, by and large liberals tend to believe that government's the answer to almost anything. I and most Republicans believe that a smaller, less costly government gives us a healthier economy and a healthier society. And so, that tension between the two parties has been there. I don't think it goes away. And if you look at this effort to stimulate our ailing economy, those differences are going to play themselves out.
INSKEEP: When I looked at a recent statement of yours about this economic stimulus plan, you raised concern about a number of spending items, and one was a $400 million to NASA to study global warming. What made that an item of concern for you?
Rep. BOEHNER: Remember, the goal of the stimulus package is to preserve jobs and help create new jobs in America. And I don't know how giving NASA $400 million to study global warming is going to meet the goals. You know, we just gave the CIA last year a big chunk of money to study global warming; now, we're going to give NASA money. I don't know how that translates into fixing up our economy.
INSKEEP: When I saw that item, I did wonder, though, if, when it comes to that issue, which is very huge too many people, that we're still in the same place that we've been for a number of years, that the political parties are in a different place as to how important global warming is and how much of a sacrifice or how much of an effort needs to be made to fight it.
Rep. BOEHNER: I think most members think that the climate change is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The question is, how do you address it? And we've never got into the debate and the discussion about the consequences of trying to deal with it and how expensive it will be and the changes it will make to our society. And the fact that if we don't have our industrial partners around the world engage with us, what does that mean in terms of job loss in the U.S.?
INSKEEP: I'm just thinking about that because, of course, there's been this Kyoto Protocol in affect for a number of years that has restricted a number of overseas countries and has not restricted the United States. The opposite, actually, has been the case for the last decade or so.
Rep. BOEHNER: Well, I think America will be interested in the discussion and the debate that is likely to come up this year.
INSKEEP: Do you think that this is going to be a major subject to the year, although it hasn't really been discussed that much in the last couple of months?
Rep. BOEHNER: I do. I really do. I think it's a - we going to hear the conversation. We're going to have debates. We're going to start to see policy proposals. We've had a lot of discussion, but there hasn't really been any serious policy proposals laid on the table. There really hasn't been the challenge of different ideas, and I think that is likely to start this year.
INSKEEP: That leads to another issue, Congressman Boehner. We should mention that while the minority in the Senate has a great deal of power - they can stop the entire business of the Senate - the minority in the House doesn't have the same power.
Rep. BOEHNER: That is correct.
INSKEEP: (Laughing) You say with your eyes rolling.
How do you make sure that your voice is heard?
Rep. BOEHNER: Well, part of our job is to work with the new administration, to work with our Democratic colleagues, when we think what they're doing is in the nation's best interest. Sometimes, we're going to disagree. But I think, as I said on the opening day when I handed Nancy Pelosi the gavel, our job is not to be the party of no.
INSKEEP: I'm thinking in more practical terms. Do you have to wait until Democrats are divided on some issue and then you have an opportunity, because your votes will be needed?
Rep. BOEHNER: Oh, I think we'll have opportunities as the year goes on. Not every Democrat thinks alike, and there are a number of Democrats from moderate to conservative districts who ran almost like Republicans and will tend to vote almost like Republicans. But it's our challenge to put better ideas for the American people on the table.
INSKEEP: Well, Congressman Boehner, thanks very much.
Rep. BOEHNER: My pleasure.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Congressman John Boehner of Ohio is the Republican leader in the House of Representatives. He spoke with Steve in his office at the Capitol.
INSKEEP: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Today marks the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. By tradition, opponents of abortion march from the Washington Monument to the Supreme Court in protest. And there's another tradition that's been developing; it involves an incoming president making some policy changes on this issue. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.
JULIE ROVNER: It's both a blessing and a curse that the Roe anniversary comes just two days after Inauguration Day. On the one hand, it's a chance for a new president to throw a bone to some of his or her most devoted followers. On the other, it shines a spotlight on one of the most divisive issues in all of American politics just 48 hours into a brand new administration. The most frequent alteration on the Roe anniversary is the so-called Mexico City policy, known to its detractors as the global gag rule. It bans federal funding for international family-planning programs that perform or promote abortion. Colorado Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette says the policy simply makes no sense.
Representative DIANA DEGETTE (Democrat, Colorado): By the United States restricting women's rights to reproductive planning internationally, it really destroys their lives, because they can't control the size of their family. That affects their use of resources and food and child nutrition and so many other things.
ROVNER: But Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says the policy doesn't actually reduce U.S. aid for international family planning and is perfectly reasonable.
Mr. RICHARD DOERFLINGER (Associate Director, Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): Because you can't reduce abortions by promoting abortions. Let's keep it centered on family planning. And an organization that takes the money to do family planning in developing nations will agree not to perform and promote abortion, and the vast majority of organizations have been able to sign that pledge.
ROVNER: The Mexico City policy has been something of a political football since it was first instituted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. President Bill Clinton rescinded it on the Roe anniversary two days after he became president in 1993. Then President George W. Bush reinstituted it on the Roe anniversary just after he took office in 2001. President Obama's expected elimination of the policy will be more than merely symbolic, though, says Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Ms. CECILE RICHARDS (President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America): It is an administration that's going to focus on women's health and women's health needs. And it's been eight long years in the wilderness.
ROVNER: Under a pro-choice President Obama, Doerflinger concedes that pro-life forces will now find themselves playing defense.
Mr. DOERFLINGER: And there is a lot to defend, but most of what is there to defend is really very modest but effective laws that a vast majority of Americans support and see as commonsense things, things like parental involvement when an under-aged daughter seeks an abortion, not forcing taxpayers to fund abortions, allowing conscience rights for doctors and nurses who are morally opposed to abortion, allowing them to refrain.
ROVNER: The last is a reference to a last-minute Bush administration regulation abortion-rights backers are working to see rescinded. Still, Congresswoman DeGette says that with President Bush out of office and Democrats in control of Congress, perhaps the tone of the debate could be softened.
Rep. DEGETTE: The problem was that the religious right decided to talk about the far edges of the abortion debate, the most outrageous and egregious examples, when, in fact, we can find common ground just by promoting robust pregnancy-prevention programs. That's a message that almost everybody, except for the most extreme voters, can agree with.
ROVNER: But both sides have talked about finding common ground for many years now. So far, they just haven't been able to find very much. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
That would be, of course, the White House. And it turns out there are a lot of occasional smokers like President Obama, and many claim they smoke so rarely that they're not addicted. NPR's Brenda Wilson has this look at that claim.
(Soundbite of people talking)
BRENDA WILSON: With a certain regularity, there's a group that shows up at a local restaurant in Washington, D.C., on many Friday evenings. Conviviality, the talk of politics, sports, no doubt, draw them, but James Schafer, a university math professor, and Dan Bore (ph), a consultant to private companies, also like to get together once a week for a couple of drinks and about four cigarettes.
Mr. DAN BORE (Consultant): Max, four cigarettes a night.
WILSON: You don't have any cigarettes any other day of the week.
Mr. BORE: Never, no.
WILSON: Oh, come on?
Mr. BORE: I'm serious, seriously. Why would I? Why would I lie to you?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. JAMES A. SCHAFER (Mathematics, University of Maryland): For a multitude of reasons, Danny.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BORE: No, actually I keep my packs in little baggies.
Dr. SCHAFER: Little baggies.
Mr. BORE: And I keep a little wedge of apple in there to keep it moist through the week.
Dr. SCHAFER: I am different from Daniel, because if I buy a packet of cigarettes, then I will smoke it till the end. But if I don't have one, I won't go out and get any.
WILSON: Experts have various names for smokers like Dan and Jim: social smokers, occasional smokers, controlled smokers. Psychologist Saul Shiffman at the University of Pittsburgh calls them intermittent smokers. He's studied them for years now and says they're becoming the dominant pattern among smokers.
Dr. SAUL SHIFFMAN (Psychology, University of Pittsburgh): Many of them smoke when they're alone. They smoke in the morning when they're not having a drink. So, there's a much broader range of smoking among intermittent smokers than we have recognized.
WILSON: And outside of developed countries, they are, in fact, the majority of smokers around the world, who may smoke a few cigarettes a day because that's all they could afford. At one end of the spectrum is what Shiffman calls the chipper, who smokes a couple of cigarettes a day. It's a term also used to describe heroin users who deliberately limit their use of the drug.
Dr. SHIFFMAN: Chippers and intermittent smokers are very unlikely to be the people huddling in their overcoat outside the office, because they don't feel the need to smoke. I emphasize need in the same way that a regular heavy smoker does.
WILSON: Whether smokers have two a day or a pack, Shiffman says they're all smoking for the same reason.
Dr. SHIFFMAN: In the time that I've been doing smoking research, I've watched a handful of companies simply go bankrupt trying to sell cigarettes that have no nicotine. And to me, that's the strongest experiment you could have, that people smoke for nicotine.
WILSON: Even though smokers may have a cigarette occasionally and can go long periods without them, experts say these smokers are hooked. Dr. Joseph Difranza is a family doctor who teaches at the University of Massachusetts. He says light smokers are regular smokers who are just feeling society's pressures.
Dr. JOSEPH DIFRANZA (Family Practice, University of Massachusetts): Most of the non-daily smokers are daily smokers who've cut back, and they keep cutting back, and that's as far as they can get. They haven't been able to give it up completely.
WILSON: He says they seem to have just as much trouble quitting as people who smoke every day. But Difranza also thinks there might be a few smokers who are not addicted.
Dr. DIFRANZA: If these people have no cravings for cigarettes outside of that special situation where they're drinking in a bar, for instance and they could go weeks without a cigarette and it never interrupts their thoughts that they need a cigarette, then they probably have no addiction. Although I think your friend with the stash of...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. DIFRANZA: Cigarettes in the freezer is a little suspicious.
WILSON: But Difranza thinks that true non-addicted smokers are a minority, because nicotine changes the brain, creating receptors for nicotine that harbor memories of the smoking experience.
Dr. DIFRANZA: You also have the heat of the smoke. You have the taste. You have the smell. You have the physical component of taking a deep breath and holding it in and letting it out. And all these other physical aspects of taking in the nicotine with the cigarette smoke all help to stimulate the brain also, because, well, maybe over thousands of repetitions, the delivery of the nicotine has been paired or coupled with all these physical sensations of the smoke.
WILSON: Which is why, he says, nicotine in the form of gum, patches or pills don't quite do the trick and why people lapse many times after they quit. It can take up to three months for the mind to settle down and the cravings for nicotine to go away.
Dr. SCHAFER: Who's going to be spending time in the Rose Garden smoking?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BORE: Always the smoking thing.
Dr. SCHAFER: He'll go straight from the basketball court to have a smoke in the Rose Garden.
Mr. BORE: What's he going to do with his butts? Is he just going to throw them down on the grass or...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BORE: Secret Service guys pick up butts.
Dr. SCHAFER: And they all have to take one puff to make sure they're not poisoned.
(Soundbite of laughter)
WILSON: Brenda Wilson, NPR News.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The Oscar nominations were announced in Beverly Hills this morning. Here's an audio clue to three of the best-picture nominees.
(Soundbite of movie "Slumdog Millionaire")
(Soundbite of dramatic music)
Mr. ANIL KAPOOR: (As Prem Kumar) Two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third musketeer?
Mr. DEV PATEL: (As Jamal Malik) I'd like to phone a friend.
(Soundbite of movie "Milk")
Mr. SEAN PENN: (As Harvey Milk) The first order of business to come out of this office is a citywide gay-rights ordinance just like the one that just like the one that Anita shot down in Dade County. What do you think, Lotus Blossom?
(Soundbite of movie "Frost/Nixon")
Mr. MICHAEL SHEEN: (As David Frost) Just so I understand correctly, are you really saying that in certain situations, the president can decide whether it's in the best interests of the nation and then do something illegal?
Mr. FRANK LANGELLA: (As Richard M. Nixon) I'm saying that when the president does it, that means it's not illegal.
MONTAGNE: A few moments from three of the five movies nominated for best picture, "Slumdog Millionaire," "Milk" and "Frost/Nixon." The other two are "The Reader" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Here to tell us more is Kenneth Turan. He reviews for Morning Edition and the Los Angeles Times. And he's on the line from his home in Las Angeles. Good morning, Ken.
KENNETH TURAN: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Any surprises on this? Maybe some surprises on what's not on the list?
TURAN: Definitely, the Batman film, "The Dark Knight," which was a hugely successful film and much admired by critics, did not get a best-picture nomination. And one of the surprises that's included, it was considered a long shot, is "The Reader," the film about - the Holocaust story based on the bestselling novel. That was in there probably in the place that most people thought "The Dark Knight" would take.
MONTAGNE: And what about "Gran Torino," Clint Eastwood, his big movie?
TURAN: For acting, I think people thought Clint Eastwood had a shot. I think as best picture, I think most people thought not. So, he's - he missed both of them, but I think in best picture, it's less of a surprise.
MONTAGNE: Well, let's go on to the acting category, and if you don't mind, let's start with the best-actress nominees.
TURAN: OK. You know, there's one surprise there. It's an independent film called "Frozen River" that won the grand jury prize at Sundance exactly a year ago, and Melissa Leo, who is a veteran actress, been around for awhile, did a spectacular performance. It's a kind of small performance that years ago the Academy never would've noticed, but this year, it's got a nomination.
MONTAGNE: Any other best-actress nominees?
TURAN: Yeah, we've got Kate Winslet from "The Reader," which is a surprise over "Revolutionary Road;" we've got Meryl Streep from "Doubt," which was kind of a shoo-in; Angelina Jolie from "Changeling," the other Clint Eastwood drama about a mother whose child disappears; Anne Hathaway from "Rachel Getting Married," another independent film about a wedding. It's hard to say who's going to win this category. This one looks very close. I would say it's going to be between Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep, and I would go with Kate Winslet.
MONTAGNE: And best actor, that's also quite a competitive category.
TURAN: Yes, the three people who everyone knew would be in there, Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon," Sean Penn, "Milk," about the gay activist in San Francisco, Mickey Rourke, a comeback film where he plays - "The Wrestler" - a professional wrestler, and Brad Pitt, the "Benjamin Button" film, and the surprise here, though some people thought it might happen, is Richard Jenkins in a little, independent film, "The Visitor," about immigration issues in this country.
MONTAGNE: There seems to be one theme that's carrying through, and that's sort of the underdog. I mean, Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler," in a sense, comeback but also underdog, but what else is going on along those lines?
TURAN: Well, you know, the big underdog of the year is "Slumdog Millionaire," a film that almost didn't get American distribution, that finds itself nominated for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, you know, three of the biggest categories. So, this is really an underdog coming through.
MONTAGNE: And coming off the Golden Globes, you know, it has a shot.
TURAN: Absolutely it has a shot.
MONTAGNE: Ken, thanks very much.
TURAN: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Kenneth Turan reviews movies for Morning Edition and the Los Angeles Times. A complete list of Oscar nominees is at our Web site, npr.org. The Academy Awards will be held one month from today.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And the recession could push up the number of uninsured motorists. An insurance industry group says that as unemployment rises, so could the number of people who let their policies lapse. NPR's Jeff Brady reports.
JEFF BRADY: The correlation between unemployment and driving without insurance seems logical, but now David Corum with the Insurance Research Council can put numbers on this phenomenon.
Mr. DAVID CORUM (Vice President, Insurance Research Council): If the unemployment rate goes up by one percentage point, we would anticipate that the percentage of people who are uninsured would go up by three-quarters of one percentage point.
BRADY: IRC researchers looked back at their data over two decades and found both statistics track each other very closely. And since the unemployment rate is expected to go up through 2010, Corum can predict a rise in uninsured drives.
Mr. CORUM: We are anticipating that the percentage of people who go uninsured will increase from 13.8 percent in 2007 to a little over 16 percent in 2010.
BRADY: If you can predict a rise in uninsured drivers, then maybe it can be prevented. Consumer advocates suggest help for low-income drivers, especially in parts of the country, like rural areas, where public transit isn't always a viable option. California launched a low-cost auto insurance program a few years back: A family of four earning less than $53,000 a year can get a bare-bones policy for under $400. Jeff Brady, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Much attention has been lavished on Washington, D.C., this inaugural week. But an event on the West Coast will be in the limelight today. The Oscar nominations will be announced in Beverly Hills later this morning. The nominations kick off a period of excitement and speculation leading up to the Academy Awards, to be held one month from today. Dave Karger is a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly. He writes the magazine's Oscar Watch blog, and he's here to talk about some of the likely nominees. Good morning.
Mr. DAVE KARGER (Senior Writer, Entertainment Weekly): Good morning to you.
MONTAGNE: Well, let's start with the big one, best picture. Only five movies can make that cut. What do you think are the real major contenders?
Mr. KARGER: Well, the sure-thing nominee is "Slumdog Millionaire." A lot of people are calling the best-picture race over even though the nominations haven't even come out yet. So, you'll definitely...
MONTAGNE: You think so? I mean, of course, it got a Golden Globe, but that doesn't always point an arrow directly to an Oscar.
Mr. KARGER: That is true, but if you talk to Oscar voters and Oscar consultants, this is the movie that most people seem to be responding to, and the Academy really does look at films that seem to have something to say about the state of the world in the particular year that they are released. And that's why in the last couple of years you saw movies like "No Country for Old Men" and "The Departed," which were ruminations on violence, win the big prize. "Slumdog Millionaire" is a more international story. It's a story of hope, and I think that that's significant.
MONTAGNE: So, this may be a favorite, but other contenders?
Mr. KARGER: I think "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" will definitely be nominated, and then the other three I think will be in the final five are "Milk," "Frost/Nixon," and probably "The Dark Knight," which is the Batman film.
MONTAGNE: And not - there's two other films that have gotten a lot play - "Grand Torino" and "Doubt."
Mr. KARGER: "Grand Torino" is definitely a film that could be a surprise best-picture nominee, and I often like to call the Academy the Cult of Clint. I think that they worship him and they are always very interested in what he's doing. "Doubt," however, seems to really be fading in the best-picture race, but I think it'll get a bunch of acting nominations.
MONTAGNE: Let's get to acting categories starting with best actress.
Mr. KARGER: This year, you have a real race between Meryl Streep in "Doubt," Kate Winslet in "Revolutionary Road" and Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married." And even someone like Sally Hawkins for this tiny British film called "Happy-Go-Lucky," she's really been racking up the awards as the last couple of weeks have gone on. So, that one is a tough one to call, and I think the fact that Kate Winslet will also be nominated in the supporting-actress category for "The Reader." it just makes it even muddier.
MONTAGNE: And turning now to best actor, what's the competition there? Mickey Rourke, of course.
Mr. KARGER: Yes. and this is a real race as well. Not only do you have Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler," which is a real surprising performance from him, very sensitive turn, you also have Sean Penn playing the gay activist and politician Harvey Milk, in the film "Milk." And then you also have some other people floating around like Frank Langella, so great as Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon," and also Clint Eastwood. So, that's actually become a really interesting competition as well.
MONTAGNE: All right. So, overall, how does this group of movies rate?
Mr. KARGER: I actually think, as a whole, the movies this year are not as strong as they were last year, where you had not only "No Country for Old Men," but "Michael Clayton" and "Juno" and "The Savages" and "Into the Wild" and "Eastern Promises," "Lars and the Real Girl." It was such a wealth of great, great films last year. And there are some nice films. I actually am partial to "Revolutionary Road," even though many people find it very, very dark. "Slumdog Millionaire," especially on a repeat viewing, is just phenomenal. But overall, I have to say I don't find the movies as good as they were last year.
MONTAGNE: Dave Karger is senior writer for Entertainment Weekly. Thanks very much.
Mr. KARGER: My pleasure.
MONTAGNE: And we'll keep you posted on the Oscar nominations when they're announced later this morning. And once those nominations come out, you can chat about them live with NPR's Bob Mondello at 10 o'clock eastern time. Just go to npr.org. This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. With Steve Inskeep, I'm Renee Montagne. President Barack Obama has inherited two wars and a recession, and that's why on his first full day in office he met with his military and economic advisors. Mr. Obama's day was a full one, and it was capped off by an encore of his swearing-in ceremony. Also today, he'll reportedly sign an order to close the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay. NPR's Scott Horsley has more.
SCOTT HORSLEY: From the Oval Office to the Situation Room, President Obama is settling in to his new role. He began his day with a few private moments in the Oval Office, reading the note left for him there by President Bush. Later, he met with his military advisors and directed them to do the additional planning needed for troop drawdown in Iraq. Mr. Obama also made phone calls to Middle Eastern leaders, stressing the U.S. commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab/Israeli peace. And he squeezed in an ecumenical prayer service where Muslims, Jews, Christians and Hindus stood side by side. Reverend Sharon Watkins delivered the sermon at the prayer service. She gave thanks for a new beginning in Washington, and she marveled at this week's inaugural celebrations.
(Soundbite of prayer service)
Reverend SHARON E. WATKINS (General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)): Dancing till dawn. What were you thinking?
(Soundbite of laughter)
(Soundbite of applause)
Rev. WATKINS: There is still a lot of work to do, and today the nation turns its full attention to that work.
HORSLEY: The White House still has as transitional feel to it, with empty walls where pictures once hung and paper name tags identifying seat assignments. Welcoming senior staffers yesterday, Mr. Obama said he has confidence in them and that soon the American people will, too.
President BARACK OBAMA: What a moment we're in. What an opportunity we have to change this country. And for those of us who have been in public life before, you know, these kinds of moments come around just every so often. The American people are really counting on us now.
HORSLEY: Before a meeting with his economic advisors, Mr. Obama noted that many families are tightening their belts, and he said Washington should do the same. He signed an order freezing salaries for the highest paid White House staffers, and he ordered new limits on the revolving door between government and lobbying firms.
Pres. OBAMA: It's not about advantaging yourself. It's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization. Public service is simply and absolutely about advancing the interests of Americans.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama then watched as some of his top lieutenants were sworn in. During his own swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts had mixed up some of the words, leading some legal experts to question whether the oath was valid. Aides initially laughed off the suggestion, but then in what the White House counsel called an abundance of caution, they decided to get right. So, last night in the White House Map Room, the chief justice and the president recited the oath again. There was no Lincoln's Bible this time and no cheering crowd, only a handful of reporters and one handheld recording device to capture the event.
(Soundbite of swearing-in ceremony)
Chief Justice JOHN G. ROBERTS (U.S. Supreme Court): I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...
Pres. OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...
HORSLEY: This time, the two men stuck to the wording in the Constitution, and when they were finished the chief justice said, congratulations, again. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When Portland, Oregon, welcomed Sam Adams into office this month, it became the largest U.S. city to have an openly gay man as mayor. But already a sex scandal is muddying his short record. April Baer of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.
APRIL BAER: Sam Adams was supposed to spend Tuesday at Barack Obama's inauguration. Instead, Portland's first openly gay Mayor got to face down an army of TV cameras.
(Soundbite of press conference)
Mayor SAM ADAMS (Democrat, Portland, Oregon): I want to apologize to the people of Portland for my dishonesty and for embarrassing them.
BAER: During Adams' mayoral run, rumors started churning about an alleged sexual relationship in the candidate's past with a young man called Beau Breedlove.
Mayor ADAMS: The allegation coming at me was sex with a minor.
BAER: Adams says that was not true, but he wasn't telling the whole story.
Mayor ADAMS: I should have told the truth at the time and taken the consequences then.
BAER: That truth, Adams says, is that sex did happen, but it didn't happen until a few weeks after Breedlove's 18th birthday, the age of consent in Oregon. Still, Adams says he didn't think anybody would believe him, so he lied and asked Breedlove to do the same. The revelations have been a body blow to a city that prides itself on it thriving gay community. Portlanders were proud of Adams and proud that his personal life hadn't been much of a campaign issue. But pride has turned to angry outrage, spilling over onto blogs, talk radio and even some Sam Adams strongholds, including here at this gay community center.
(Soundbite of people talking)
BAER: Tuesday morning, gay men, lesbians, transgendered people and others gathered on couches and folding chairs to watch the inauguration.
(Soundbite of song "The Star-Spangled Banner")
Unidentified Chorus: (Singing) O, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
BAER: Sam Adams helped to found this place. To these people, he was part of a rising tide of social justice.
Ms. KIMBERLEY VAN PATTON: Here we are standing on the mountaintop, looking over and we've got our black president and our gay mayor, and we were going to get this done, you know? And now I just feel like we've totally been let down.
BAER: Portlander Kimberley Van Patton(ph) says the scandal is more than a setback.
Ms. VAN PATTON: We spend our whole lives trying to convince everyone that we're OK, that we're not broken or wrong. And I don't care who he slept with, but he lied.
BAER: In another corner of the room, Ryan Shultz(ph) was mindful of how 45-year-old Adams initially dismissed the story as a nasty smear, the worst kind an older gay man could face, Shultz says, a smear suggesting he was trying to recruit younger men into a gay lifestyle.
Mr. RYAN SHULTZ: He was trying to break it down, that stereotype, but in fact he's building it up by lying about it.
BAER: The chorus of reprimands for Adams isn't quite citywide. Bryan Boyd is a blogger for site Gay Rights Watch, who's followed Adams political career.
Mr. BRYAN BOYD (Blogger, Gay Rights Watch): Things like this happen in a straight city all the time. Humans have sex, consensual sex, and that's that. I think Portland needs to get over that. And you know, Sam does need to regain our trust in a lot of ways, because he did lie.
BAER: But Boyd thinks Adams still has things to offer as mayor and that resignation is the wrong move. The city's police union, its major daily paper, and even the local gay newspaper disagree; all three are calling for Adams to step down. In some ways, the city's reaction has been colored by ghosts of the past. In 2004, former Portland Mayor Neil Goldschmidt was revealed to have sexually abused a 14-year-old girl over a period of years. While Adams' circumstances are very different, Portlanders are looking at this current scandal with a deep weariness. The Oregon attorney general's office is investigating. For NPR News, I'm April Baer in Portland, Oregon.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with Apple still polished.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Many big tech companies are taking a bruising in this recession. Not Apple. Shoppers snapped up so many iPods, iPhones and Mac computers that sales for the most recent quarter rose nearly six percent. Profits were up two percent at the company, famous for its stylish gadgets. In the past quarter, Apple sold nearly four million iPhones around the world and 23 million iPods.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Moving to China, Beijing today announced that its economy grew almost seven percent in the last quarter of 2008 and nine percent for the entire year. It sounds amazing, but in China, that's considered bad news. We called NPR's Louisa Lim in Shanghai to talk about why this is seen as such a problem. Good morning, Louisa.
LOUISA LIM: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Why is this a problem? Here in the U.S., of course, we would be thrilled with the growth of even two or three percent.
LIM: Yes. Nine percent growth might sound like a lot, but let's put it in context. That's the slowest pace of growth in seven years, and it compares to economic growth of 13 percent in 2007. I asked an economist, CLSA's China strategist Andy Rothman, what to make of these latest figures, and this is what he had to say.
Mr. ANDY ROTHMAN (Strategist, CLSA): There was a significant slowdown. The GDP growth rate in the quarter that just finished was 25 percent slower than the previous quarter and at least 40 percent slower than the same period in 2007. But at the same time, it really wasn't too bad, especially if you compare it to the other two countries in Asia that have released their fourth quarter data. Both those showed contraction, negative GDP growth, in Korea and Singapore.
LIM: That was Andy Rothman of CLSA. Now, China's target is eight percent GDP growth for this year, but already, just three weeks into the new year, Chinese officials are warning that it could be extremely difficult to hit that target.
MONTAGNE: So, why does that eight percent mean so much there? I mean, your economist there just suggested that China's doing better than its neighbors, South Korea and Singapore.
LIM: Yes, but eight percent is the government growth target that's been repeated so much that it's acquired almost this sort of talismanic significance. And that's because a certain amount of growth is necessary to absorb the new entrance into the workforce. And I mean, one Chinese think tank has warned that unemployment in urban areas could be as high as 9.4 percent. So, having large numbers of dissatisfied, unemployed people obviously increases the risks to social stability, and we have seen a few small-scale labor protests already. And the most pessimistic predictions are saying there could be a threat to Communist Party rule, something which could have been barely imaginable just a couple of years ago.
MONTAGNE: So, how aggressive is the government in trying to tackle this?
LIM: Well, the government is trying very hard to kick-start the economy. They've announced this huge stimulus package of $586 billion. They've announced subsidies for steel and auto sectors, and they're also trying to get Chinese consumers out and spending their money, because there are very high savings rates in China. So, there are a huge range of measures in place, and economists say they are beginning to see a few signs of hope. Bank lending, for example, is up 1,000 percent in December. But still, there are these warnings that the year ahead, and particularly the first half of this year, could look quite dicey.
MONTAGNE: You know, Louisa, just finally, is there any kind of silver lining in this? I mean, there were economists over the recent years that have said China is growing too fast.
LIM: This is a slowdown, but it's a much faster slowdown than the soft landing China had been hoping for, and some have described it like falling off the edge of a cliff. And of course, when you have a very fast-paced contraction, that does bring lots of risks and it brings pain for ordinary people. I've just interviewed a local couple who just bought a flat for $200,000, and then over the next 30 days, they watched it lose value, and it lost about $1,000 a day. I mean, that's an awful lot of money. It is likely to be a painful year for China, and of course, that has global implications. When China suffers, it drags down growth across Asia, and ultimately, it will slow down the pace of economic recovery worldwide.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Louisa Lim speaking to us from Shanghai. Thanks very much.
LIM: Thank you, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
OK. So, China's economy is cooling, but it's still one of the fastest growing markets for Starbucks. Our last word in business today is all the coffee in China. The big Chinese New Year's holiday is this Monday. So, Starbucks is trying to tap in to patriotic palates by rolling out a new blend that includes beans grown in China. The company says it's been working with growers in southwestern China, an area that's known for coffee production. It's not to save money, Starbucks says. It wants local beans on the menu, of course, in hopes of bringing in more customers. A spokeswoman describes the new blend as having gentle acidity, a soft herbal flavor and a cocoa taste. That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. President Obama is expected to issue orders today to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year. It's a pledge he campaigned on, and it's one of the several policy decisions expected in coming days over how the United States treats terrorism suspects. We're joined now by Jackie Northam. She's NPR's national security correspondent. Good morning.
JACKIE NORTHAM: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: What does this executive order entail? I mean, is it as simple as it sounds?
NORTHAM: Well, yes. The signing part is simple. That's actually the simple part. Implementing it is going to be a bit more challenging. I'd like to say that this is a really, really important move, and it sends out a strong signal to the international community that this is a very different administration now in the White House. As you say, it's essentially the unraveling of some of the most contentious and controversial Bush administration policies for detaining and interrogating terror suspects. Essentially, what the Guantanamo executive order will call for is an immediate review of how to deal with the remaining detainees at Guantanamo, whether some can be repatriated or sent to third nations; some may be transferred to facilities in the U.S. The order will call for an immediate stop to these very troubled military commissions at Guantanamo, as well, and that's the legal system set up there to try the prisoners.
MONTAGNE: Now, you have visited Guantanamo several times. Remind us how many people are there and what they're accused of.
NORTHAM: Right. No, as you say, I've been covering the story for, now, nearly six years, and I've been to Guantanamo many times. And Renee, I have to say, you know, you've watched as these camps have grown, as the number of prisoners there have grown as well, you know, as the military tried to set up this legal process, dramatic moments in the courtroom. There's been hunger strikes, suicides, and about 500 men, over the past few years, men that the U.S., the Bush administration, called the worst of the worst, have been released. To answer your question, though, there are now about 245 prisoners still at Guantanamo. Only 21 have been charged, and they've been charged with war crimes.
MONTAGNE: Well, the whole question about closing the detention center has been all along. So, like, what to do about these men if they don't - if they're not there? What about that? Will they be tried? And if they are, how and where?
NORTHAM: Right. Well, some will be tried. Actually, they're trying to - 60 - approximately 60 - you never get firm numbers from the Pentagon, but approximately 60 are cleared for release. The U.S. just can't get rid of them. They can't send them to other nations. Having said that, though, over the past few days, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, have indicated that they're going to take these men. So, if there's a great diplomatic push, they can probably get rid of that group.
But then there are these other groups that the U.S. does want to prosecute. And this is what the Obama administration's going to have to sit down and figure out is how to prosecute them, whether they use federal courts; there might have to be a bit of tinkering there; whether they use the military system, the military courts martial system; whether they try to rework these military commissions that are already being used right now, if they can do something with that, to make them more palatable to the international community and the legal community. The other thing that we're hearing now is the use of national-security courts, setting up a whole new system, and that would require legislation. So, there's some options out there, and they've got a year to work on this, to figure out what's the best way to try to prosecute them.
MONTAGNE: And there is another legal layer here, and that's the concept of preventive detention, detainees that are considered dangerous but have never been charged. Is this whole concept of detaining without charge under review by the new administration?
NORTHAM: Oh, yes, I imagine so. Some people who I've spoke with who are on the transition team - of course, this is- you know, this is a very, very tricky issue. As you say, there are Guantanamo detainees, there's about 80 of them, that fall into this category where there's little or no evidence against them, but U.S. intelligence folks say they're just too dangerous to release. And the administration is going to have to figure out if they want to continue this policy of preventive detention, if there's justification for it. There are many people that say, let's just prosecute these men anyway and run the risk of acquittal, see what happens. The question then becomes, if they are acquitted, are they released? Are they deported? Will another country take them? They're back to square one, again, essentially.
Now, the administration is going to have to put policies in place that extends beyond Guantanamo, you know, in other words, if somebody's picked up in Afghanistan or Somalia, what policies will be applied to them as far as interrogation, as far as detention? And there are a couple of other executive orders that are out there, you know, banning harsh interrogation tactics against terror suspects, and also, we understand, one to close very controversial secret prisons that are run overseas by the CIA.
MONTAGNE: NPR national security correspondent Jackie Northam, thanks very much.
NORTHAM: Thank you, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Now, to a closely watched political story: Caroline Kennedy has ended her bid for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. After a series of conflicting reports, Kennedy issued a one-sentence statement earlier today. She told New York's governor, who will appoint Hillary Clinton's replacement, that she's withdrawing for personal reasons. NPR's Robert Smith is covering this story and joins us now from our New York bureau. Good morning.
ROBERT SMITH: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Well, so it was earlier today - it was early in the morning - or rather, probably, late at night, if you think of it that way. She was considered a favorite for the New York Senate seat, for awhile there even, though she never held elected office. Why with the withdrawal now?
SMITH: Well, once again, her statement just said personal reasons. It was only 21 words; it was very terse. It came out after midnight. But NPR talked to a source close to Caroline Kennedy, who said she was influenced by the health of her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy. As you know, he's battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, and he collapsed this week during an inauguration event. And the source says that this was weighing on her for personal reasons. I should say, some news outlets are reporting that she wasn't going to get the job anyway from Governor David Paterson, and that perhaps she withdrew to avoid embarrassment.
MONTAGNE: You know, in recent weeks, Kennedy had won over some key political leaders in New York. But speaking of embarrassment, I mean, she was embarrassed by, you know, comments made on how she spoke when, you know, in her public speaking, her uhs and ahs. And you know, she also had some detractors. This couldn't have been fun for her.
SMITH: Oh, no. This was the most botched political debut that I've seen in a long time. I mean, you have to remember the kind of hopes people had for Caroline Kennedy. When it was floated that she was a possibility to get Hillary Clinton's job, I think people of a certain generation, baby boomers especially, thought, wow, the daughter of the late John F. Kennedy, sort of entering the family business for the first time, and someone who has been active in philanthropic circles here in New York City. They thought it was a great idea.
She had a lot of public support, but fairly quickly, she showed that she wasn't up to this kind of really political campaign as she tried to convince the governor. She wouldn't talk to the media at first. And then when she did, she was inarticulate. We'll put that kindly. And she revealed that she'd only voted in about half the recent elections. And time after time, people saw someone who was not showing the kind of grace that they expected from a Kennedy and certainly not the kind of political savvy they expected from a Kennedy.
MONTAGNE: Governor Paterson is expected to name a replacement for Hillary Clinton in the next few days. With Caroline Kennedy out, who has the best shot?
SMITH: Well, we can never know what the governor's thinking at this point. But the name that's been floated most often is our state's popular attorney general, Andrew Cuomo. He is the son of Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York. And Cuomo has a huge approval rating in New York. He's already won a statewide race. He is a good bet for one of the top names for the position. But Governor Paterson has said that he would look strongly at naming a woman to the seat, to Hillary Clinton's seat. He would like to name someone from upstate New York. And one of the names that comes up is a representative, Kirsten Gillibrand. She's 42 years old, a mother of two. She's only been in Congress a couple of years, but she's shown that she can win in a conservative district, like upstate New York.
MONTAGNE: Whoever the governor appoints, of course, that term will be very brief.
SMITH: Very brief. In two years, they have to run again in a special election. And two years after that, they have to run for the seat, again, to - for reelection.
MONTAGNE: Robert, thanks very much.
SMITH: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Robert Smith speaking from New York, on news that Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn from consideration for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The U.S. National Figure Skating Championships are taking place this week in Cleveland, Ohio, and many are watching the competition with an eye toward next year's Winter Olympics. Among them is Christine Brennan. She's a columnist for USA Today and a regular guest on this program. Good morning.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So, the women take to the ice tonight. Is there anyone who looks to be the next big star?
(Soundbite of laughter)
BRENNAN: Really, right now, Renee, the answer...
MONTAGNE: You laugh.
BRENNAN: Yes - is no. And you remember the days we went, in the U.S., from Peggy Fleming to Janet Lynn to Dorothy Hamill. Later on Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan. The lineage was there. This year, and looking ahead to Vancouver, the 2010 Games, as you mentioned, it is possible, even likely, that no U.S. woman will win a medal at those Winter Olympic Games. And if that happens, it would be the first time there's no U.S. female Olympic skating medalist since 1964, which was three years after a tragic plane crash, Renee, wiped out the entire U.S. national team. Peggy Fleming was 15 then and rising up, sixth place in '64, moving up to the gold in '68 and starting that great run of U.S. skaters. So, it's really stunning to see no one leaping to the fore, so to speak, as the Olympic Games are just a year away.
MONTAGNE: And what has happened to the American female skaters?
BRENNAN: I think there's a few things that have happened. The compulsory school figures, the painstaking tracings of figure eights - they got rid of those in 1990 for the sport worldwide, and now that means it's more gymnastics on ice, where the tiniest little bodies have the best chance to twist and fly through the air. But it also means that the little jumping beans rise to the surface, bubble to the top, and then fall back. And so, what we see is there's no staying power for these little kids. Often they're 14, 15, 16, they get injured, and therefore, you don't have that long reign like we saw with Michelle Kwan, which was amazing, ten years, at the most turbulent time in the history of this sport.
MONTAGNE: So, you know, expand on that a little bit. What does this mean for the future of American women in this sport, this big change?
BRENNAN: Unless figure skating decides to change something with its rules and maybe again put in something that makes - adds - looks to maturity and demands an older skater, I think we're going to see this be very much like gymnastics, where the kids come and go. And so, Mirai Nagasu is the reigning national champ. She was 14 last year. She's coming in to defend her title now at 15, and she's talking about being too old and being injured and feeling old and not having that same energetic feeling at the age of 14. Isn't that amazing...
MONTAGNE: Yeah.
BRENNAN: That at 15 - 15 is the new 30 in figure skating.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, is this something that you expect will go on for some time, based on rules and new style that people expect?
BRENNAN: You bring up a great point about rules. The judging system, the 6.0s - you remember that - the 5.9 and the 5.2 from the Russian judge. Well, now it's a point system, and it's kind of almost like pinball on ice. So, you just try to rack up points everywhere. Skating has really done itself a disservice, I think, by emphasizing the jumping. Therefore, you lose the artistry, you don't have the grace of a Peggy Fleming or a Dorothy Hamill, and you don't have those athletes that people get to know. And at a time when every sport's trying to get more attention and have economic, you know, success in this recession, you're finding figure skating having trouble because they don't have the superstars. Japan seems to be more where the action is. The U.S. is definitely in a downtime.
MONTAGNE: Christine, thanks very much.
BRENNAN: OK, Renee. Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Christine Brennan is a columnist for USA Today. The U.S. National Figure Skating Championships are underway in Cleveland, Ohio.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. And with the country in a recession, it's pretty clear that President Obama's top priority will be the economy, and to deal with the troubled economy, he'll need the help of a Treasury secretary. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote today on Timothy Geithner, Mr. Obama's nominee for that post. Geithner's failure to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier this decade clouded his nomination and delayed the process, but the committee is expected to recommend that the full Senate confirm Geithner. NPR's John Ydstie reports.
JOHN YDSTIE: Geithner has now paid all the past tax obligations in full. But during his confirmation hearing, Republicans continued to explore questions about whether Geithner had intentionally avoided the taxes or whether his payment of some of them just before his nomination was opportunistic. The concerns led the Finance Committee's ranking Republican, Charles Grassley of Iowa, to ask the Treasury nominee a series of questions during the hearing, including this one.
(Soundbite of congressional hearing, January 21, 2009)
Senator CHARLES GRASSLEY (Republican, Iowa; Ranking Republican, Senate Committee on Finance): Were you liable for self-employment taxes on your IMF income from 2001 through 2004?
Mr. TIMOTHY GEITHNER (Nominee, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Barack Obama Administration): Yes.
YDSTIE: But Geithner only paid half the tax, which includes Social Security and Medicare taxes. Essentially, Geithner said, he was confused about his obligations. Actually, there's often confusion among IMF employees on this issue because the International Monetary Fund, unlike most U.S. employers, doesn't withhold taxes for its workers and forward them to the government. Geithner said yesterday he mistakenly thought the IMF was forwarding the employer's portion of the tax to the IRS, so he just forwarded the worker's portion. That meant he was paying only half the tax required; this, despite the fact that the IMF regularly informs its workers of their obligation. In the end, Geithner said he was at fault.
Mr. GEITHNER: These were careless mistakes, they were avoidable mistakes, but they were completely unintentional, and I take full responsibility for them. And again, I apologize for putting you in the position where you had to spend so much time looking through these questions, particularly now.
YDSTIE: But Republicans weren't willing to let Geithner off the hook. Their concern centered around the fact that after an IRS audit in 2006, Geithner paid the back taxes for 2003 and '04, but the statute of limitations prevented the IRS from collecting the taxes for 2001 and '02. And Geithner didn't pay those taxes until the Obama transition team brought the issue to his attention just before he was nominated. That troubled Republican John Kyl of Arizona.
Senator JOHN KYL (Republican, Arizona): It's legal to rely on the statute of limitations. There's nothing wrong with relying on the statute of limitations. I think what some people find implausible is that that isn't what you're saying you did. What you're saying is that you didn't think about it until it was brought to your attention in connection with your nomination. Is that correct?
Mr. GEITHNER: I said, senator, that I did not, looking back on it, did not think about it carefully enough, did not ask enough questions, and I regret not having done that.
YDSTIE: In the end, Kyl said, that though he initially had hoped to vote for Geithner, the responses troubled him enough that he was reconsidering. Still, there appears to be enough support to move Geithner's nomination forward. The Treasury nominee responded to other concerns, too. He defended the decisions he'd participated in during the financial crisis as president of the New York Federal Reserve. Those decisions committed hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue companies like AIG and Bear Stearns. Geithner said the threat of financial collapse required the bold action, despite the risk for taxpayers. And he suggested Congress and the Obama administration should not shrink from taking bold action to fix the economy now.
Mr. GEITHNER: The ultimate costs of this crisis will be greater if we do not act with sufficient strength now. In a crisis of this magnitude, the most prudent course is the most forceful course.
YDSTIE: Geithner said President Obama would present a detailed plan to address the financial crisis to the Congress and the nation in a few weeks. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
If Timothy Geithner is confirmed, he'll face one huge and immediate challenge: the credit markets. A few months ago, those markets were frozen. Now, there's a bit of a thaw. For example, mortgage rates have moved lower, but many banks are still on the verge of collapse and doing very little lending. NPR's Chris Arnold details the problems facing the new administration.
CHRIS ARNOLD: Despite all the government's efforts to prop up the banking system, a lot of banks around the country can't escape this basic problem: They've got a bunch of toxic assets on their books, some tied to bad home loans, and the losses keep getting worse and dragging the banks down. Citigroup, Bank of America and others continue to lose billions.
Dr. ALBERT KYLE (Finance, University of Chicago): This is, I think, the biggest issue in financial stability that economists and finance professors like myself are thinking about.
ARNOLD: Pete Kyle is a finance professor at the University of Maryland.
Dr. KYLE: The market is still wondering, how much larger are these losses going to be? And it looks like hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of losses still remain to be taken by the banking system.
ARNOLD: That's a really big problem. Many banks were already crippled by losses on bad home loans even before the recession hit, and now there's more credit-card debt going bad, business loans to companies that are going under, and the worsening recession is snowballing all of these losses. That's forcing banks to pull back on their lending, especially to people or businesses without perfect credit, and that continues to hurt the economy. At a Senate hearing yesterday, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker summed it up this way.
(Soundbite of congressional hearing, January 21, 2009)
Mr. PAUL VOLCKER (Former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve): To put it starkly, we are in a serious recession with no end clearly in sight. The financial system is broken. It's a serious obstacle to recovery. There's no escape from the imperative need for the federal government to come to the rescue.
ARNOLD: Volcker thinks that complex rescue of the credit markets will involve several trillion dollars of government guarantees, loans and investments. Some analysts think the government is going to have to step in and inject a lot more government money into the major banks. Pete Kyle.
Dr. KYLE: I think the stage is set for what some people are going to call nationalization of the big banks.
ARNOLD: That prospect has hammered back stock prices over the past couple of weeks. Though shares regained some ground yesterday, investors don't know what's coming next. One possibility is that the new administration might help the struggling banks to get those bad assets off of their books so they can recover and start lending to more people again.
Senator JOHN KERRY (Democrat, Massachusetts): There're too many zombie banks out there.
ARNOLD: Senator John Kerry yesterday said too many banks are like the walking dead, and just pumping more money into them hasn't been working.
Sen. KERRY: We're propping up fundamentally insolvent institutions. And unless those institutions clear their books of those toxic assets, we're simply going to compound this crisis.
ARNOLD: There are a few ways to do that. One is for the government to officially nationalize and take over the banks, but that's not very likely. Another option, a bank's assets could be split up into a good bank and a bad bank, so the good bank can raise money for shareholders and get healthy, and the government could help manage or buy up the toxic assets from a lot of banks, perhaps managing all of them in one massive bad bank, full of bad loans and securities. Pete Kyle says economists like him have never seen anything like this before.
Dr. KYLE: The scale of the bad assets is simply breathtaking. We are looking at bailouts that will dwarf the S&L crisis of the 1980s.
ARNOLD: Kyle warns that the government could take a bath on all this if it's done the wrong way, and even if it's done right...
Dr. KYLE: It's going to be very expensive for taxpayers. It's going to require hundreds of billions of dollars more, maybe trillions. And this is going to limit the ability of the government to do other good things going forward.
ARNOLD: Like fix the health-care system. That's why, Kyle says, as the government puts the credit markets back together again, he wants to see tough new regulations put in place to stop this from happening again. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
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MONTAGNE: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. For its New Year, China has an equivalent of the glittering ball falling in Times Square. It's a big bash on state TV, featuring movie stars, political big wigs, hundreds of dancers. This year, for the first time, the official show has competition, the Wall Street Journal reports. It's a homemade variety show aimed at the little people. Amateur acts are on the popular Web site include a man who does tricks on a bicycle and a dancing troop of monks. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The White House emphasized that President Obama took his oath a second time out of an abundance of caution. Back in 1923, Calvin Coolidge seems to have really needed his do-over. The then vice president was at his father's farm in Vermont, when President Warren G. Harding suddenly died. Coolidge's father, a justice of the peace, quickly swore his son in as president. It turned out that authority applied only to taking office in Vermont. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
There's one kind of home that is still being built and sold even in this dismal housing market. Over the last decade, Rocio Romero, a young architect in Missouri, has been adding a modern architectural touch to prefab homes in bringing low prices to the realm of high design. Matt Sepic of member station KWMU in St. Louis reports.
MATT SEPIC: With its corrugated metal walls, huge windows and strong horizontal lines, Rocio Romero's house, an hour's drive from St. Louis, sits in sharp contrast to the neighboring hog barn. But step inside and the grassy, rural landscape rolls right into a bright, uncluttered interior. All the open space makes this home feel much larger than its 1,200 square feet.
Ms. ROCIO ROMERO (Architect): This is our LV. It's our standard home. So, it's two bedrooms, two baths.
SEPIC: What's not immediately obvious is much of this house was flat-packed, IKEA style, and trucked here. Romero says building her way puts the architect in full control.
Ms. ROMERO: Fabricating my components enables me to ensure that every customer is going to get the home the way that I had envisioned it.
SEPIC: Modern usually means expensive, but Romero says constructing the wall panels and other big pieces off-site saves money without sacrificing quality. Her LV house costs the same, or even less, per square foot than a plain, old, stick-built home. New York Times design columnist Allison Arieff says it's still plenty stylish.
Ms. ALLISON ARIEFF ("By Design," New York Times): It's really simple. It's really clean. And so I think what Rocio's done is create a design that's quite sophisticated, but it's certainly not overdone.
SEPIC: Leading architects like Buckminster Fuller and Frank Lloyd Wright saw the benefits of prefab decades ago, but their ideas never caught on. After World War II, a company called Lustron even tried manufacturing steel houses for returning GIs.
(Soundbite of Lustron advertisement)
Unidentified Announcer: It is in this field of home construction that the sensational idea has been proposed of turning idle airplane plants into factories.
SEPIC: Lustron failed, too, and aside from double-wide manufacturers, no one was able to find a viable business model. But Rocio Romero may have. Even in this dismal housing market, she still has about 40 active projects and hasn't had to lay anyone off. Her Web site caught the eye of Ethan Whitehill of Kansas City, who just built a vacation home in Arkansas. Whitehill says he didn't want to spend a lot of money, but he didn't want a log cabin, either.
Mr. ETHAN WHITEHILL: When you're inside, you know, the walls basically just fall away, and you just focus on what's outside.
SEPIC: Some builders like Romero's concept, too. Matthew King has put up two Romero homes in Upstate New York. He says having the house's major exterior components shipped in on a single flatbed simplifies construction.
Mr. MATTHEW KING (Home Builder): My brother and I are able to put it up by ourselves in about two weeks. But after that, then, it's just, like, pretty much building out any house. It's all custom from there on out.
SEPIC: Both of the houses King assembled were for people who wanted inexpensive second homes. And the New York Times' Allison Arieff says for now, modern prefab will likely remain a niche market. While its fan base is growing, the concept of manufactured housing can still be off-putting, reminding many people of FEMA's formaldehyde trailers. But even if Rocio Romero's prefabs won't become the next Levittown, her concepts of efficiency and quality may just catch on in a struggling housing industry desperate for innovation. For NPR News, I'm Matt Sepic in St. Louis.
MONTAGNE: To see what these prefab houses look like, check out our photo gallery at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Time now for StoryCorps. Loved ones are talking with each other for this project in recording booths around the country. E.J. Miller brought his dad, Ed Miller, to StoryCorps in New York City. E.J. wanted to hear more about his grandfather, who lived in Brooklyn, known to the family as Pop.
Mr. ED MILLER: He was a short-order cook at a local restaurant. And I would go on Saturday mornings. My father would open the store up at 6 o'clock. I'd have an apron that was six times too big with me, and I would fill the sugar jars and fill the salt shakers and stuff like that. And in a busy place, he could take orders from the waitress, and 99 percent of the time get the orders right and never lose his cool. You know, I thought it was pretty amazing.
Mr. E.J. MILLER: What kind of a dad was Pop?
Mr. ED MILLER: You know, my mom ruled the roost. You know, she was the disciplinarian. But Pop was the play guy. He'd come down and play stickball with us until he'd throw his back out. Then, you know, his back would heal, and he'd be reaching for a bat, and the whole neighborhood would be running, no, no, no, no, don't let him swing that bat.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. E.J. MILLER: Sounds like somebody I know.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. E.J. MILLER: What do you think you learned from him?
Mr. ED MILLER: Pop would give me advice that at the time, I probably thought was corny. You know, he would say do a good job and work hard, and you'll get noticed, and not necessarily to get noticed, but because it was the right thing to do. And the most important thing I learned from Pop was to be gentle, not a gentleman, just gentle, you know?
Mr. E.J. MILLER: I think that's - I mean, that's something I've gotten from you, too. How did it feel when you found out you're going to be a father?
Mr. ED MILLER: You know, knowing that you're going to become a father is not as big a deal as actually becoming a father. If I had advice for people now who are young having babies - is try to remember every single minute of that time, you know, when your son or your daughter thinks that Daddy is the greatest thing in the world. When you walk in the door, you know, the sun is shining because Daddy walks in. We go to the mall nowadays, me and Mom, I see dads walking with their sons or daughters, holding their hands, and I tell you, my heart aches for the days when I used to do that. It's heart-aching, sometimes. You know, I don't know how I got so lucky. I did a lot of good things in my life. I did a lot of things that - not so good. And I'm blessed with a woman that I'm still in love with, and you three guys.
Mr. E.J. MILLER: There's no doubt about it. You are my hero. You're what I think of as a good man. You know, I thank you and Mom for just being such great examples.
Mr. ED MILLER: That's pretty cool, J.
Mr. E.J. MILLER: I love you.
Mr. ED MILLER: I love you, too, man.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Ed Miller with his son E.J. at StoryCorps in New York City. Their story, and all the others, are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Hear some of them at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now, we get an update on another region that's been wracked by violence: the cities along Mexico's northern border with the U.S. We've been hearing a lot about Juarez and the bloodshed there linked to the drug trade. But another border city has quietly calmed down. Nuevo Laredo, across the river from Laredo, Texas, has experienced a dramatic drop in killings. The 55 murders last year were less than a third of the total in 2006. Residents report they feel safe in the streets again, and tourists are trickling back. NPR's John Burnett reports.
JOHN BURNETT: It's hard to overstate how bad it was. The new police chief was murdered hours after he was sworn in. Rival cartel gangs used rocket-propelled grenades in street battles. Thugs murdered the editor of the largest daily, El Manana, in 2004, because they didn't like its coverage. And two years later, they attacked the newspaper's newsroom. Editor Daniel Rosas remembers.
Mr. DANIEL ROSAS (Editor, El Manana): They started shooting with automatic weapons in the direction of the receptionist. And after that, one of the shooters threw a grenade. It exploded right in the hall in front of the editorial director office.
BURNETT: A bullet hit a reporter, who remains in a wheelchair to this day. Around the city, tourism evaporated. Even the U.S. consulate closed briefly. Families that could fled across the river to Laredo. Then in 2007, the turf war apparently ended, and the city began to return to normal.
Mr. ROSAS: Fortunately, the violence has decreased a lot. Fortunately, investment is coming back. We have a new Wal-Mart. We see a renewal.
BURNETT: What a difference a truce makes. The Sinaloa cartel had been trying to muscle into Nuevo Laredo, which is controlled by the Gulf cartel. The Sinaloans wanted access to this, the busiest trade port along the U.S.-Mexico border, where it's relatively easy to smuggle drugs inside some of the 6,000 commercial trucks that travel south to north every day. But the two warring mafias, weakened by their own casualties and under pressure from Mexico's tough anti-cartel president, Felipe Calderon, made a prudent business decision, says Will Glasby. He's special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, stationed on the southern border.
Mr. WILL GLASBY (Special Agent, Drug Enforcement Administration): They weren't making money at that point. They realized that they were spending more time waging a war as opposed to conducting their criminal enterprises, and in doing so, they were losing members on a daily basis due to executions, assassinations.
BURNETT: Under the current cease-fire, Glasby explains, the Sinaloans pay a tax to the Gulf cartel to use the Laredo border crossing. At the same time, the Sinaloans moved upriver to try and wrest control of Juarez from the Juarez cartel, which has resulted in the daily carnage in that city. No one suggests that today, the cartels have gone away. The city has reverted to an earlier model. The traffickers smuggle cocaine and marijuana across the river, mostly mind their own business, and Mexican authorities - some of whom are on the take - look the other way. The city's charismatic new mayor, Ramon Garza, put it bluntly.
Mayor RAMON GARZA (Nuevo Laredo, Mexico): Let's put it this way: You cannot have a city like Laredo without a cartel.
BURNETT: The mayor knows all too well the power of the cartels. His friend and adviser Rolando Montante was murdered last January. A U.S. official in the area said they suspect the narco mafia was behind it. Ever since he took office last January, Ramon Garza has been trying to turn around the image of his city.
Mayor GARZA: A lot of people still think Nuevo Laredo has still a lot of violence in our city. The perception is the hardest thing to change.
BURNETT: Mr. Garza - tall, handsome, 47 and ambitious, the son of a wealthy customs-brokerage family - climbs out of a gleaming, white Suburban.
(Soundbite of car door closing)
BURNETT: The mayor wants to redefine his city. Over the course of an afternoon, he shows off Nuevo Laredo's handsome new cultural center, the new civic center and the zoo. There's Chino the pot-bellied pig, Lupita the alligator, and an as-yet-unnamed, ill-tempered bobcat.
(Soundbite of bobcat growl)
BURNETT: But the crown jewel of his year-old administration is the old train station.
Mayor GARZA: (Spanish and English spoken) Buenas tardes. Como estan? Buenas tardes. Buenas tardes. This is Estacion Palabra.
BURNETT: "Estacion Palabra" translates Word Station. In a leap of imagination, Garza has transformed the old passenger-train station into a sleek and sunlit literature center. It was inaugurated last September by none other than Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Latin America's literary giant, who passed through here in 1961. Garza stands over a glass case containing editions of Marquez's masterpiece, "One Hundred Years of Solitude."
Mayor GARZA: (Spanish and English spoken) Y esta es la edicion de Gabriel Garcia Marquez, la leccion Colombiana, where he's from, the Colombia nation where he's from.
Como estas?
(Soundbite of man whispering in Spanish)
BURNETT: A distinguished-looking gentleman wearing a jaunty hat and a scarf comes up to warmly shake the mayor's hand.
Mayor GARZA: (Spanish and English spoken) A tus ordenes. He doesn't work here or anything. He's a person that comes very often. We have people that comes to read. Since September, we have more than 15,000 people that comes into this place.
BURNETT: As journalists say, the storyline has changed in Nuevo Laredo. You won't hear as much about it now because the drug violence has moved to Juarez. And that's a very good thing for Nuevo Laredo. U.S. counter-narcotics agents expect the combatants in Juarez to tire of their bloodletting sooner or later. Mexicans on the border are sick and tired of living in the crossfire of the drug wars. Many would much rather go to a quiet place and read a good book. John Burnett, NPR News, Nuevo Laredo.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
With a stroke of a pen yesterday, President Obama issued an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within one year. NPR's Jackie Northam reports on the challenges the new administration faces as it tries to meet its own deadline.
JACKIE NORTHAM: Signing the executive order to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay may very well be the easiest part of the process to shutter the controversial camp. Over the next few months, there will be much discussion, debate and undoubtedly, arguments amongst the president's taskforce and others about what to do with the remaining roughly 245 detainees held at Guantanamo. John Hutson, the dean of Franklin Pierce Law School and a former Navy judge advocate general, was part of a team of military officials who met with President Obama yesterday about Guantanamo. Hutson says the first thing to do is figure out who is really at Guantanamo.
Rear Admiral JOHN HUTSON (Retired, U.S. Navy; Former Navy Judge Advocate General; Dean, Franklin Pierce Law School): One of the things these executive orders do is bring all the documents and evidence into one place, which, apparently, up until now, hasn't been done. So, you've had evidence kind of littered around the world so that it's been very difficult to determine what the real case is here.
NORTHAM: Hutson says once the taskforce has gone through all the evidence and intelligence, it can determine who needs to remain in detention, and who can be released. At the moment, there are roughly 60 detainees who have been cleared for release for many months now, but either the Bush administration did not send them to their home countries, fearing they may be persecuted or worse, or their home country or another country didn't want them. John Bellinger was legal adviser for the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and worked on repatriating the detainees. Bellinger says one of the biggest stumbling blocks getting other nations to take the detainees was the Bush administration's refusal to bring the prisoners to the U.S.
Mr. JOHN BELLINGER (Former Legal Adviser, Secretary of State, George W. Bush Administration): You can imagine going into a negotiation to urge Europeans or others to take detainees. The first question is always, well, are you willing to take some? And we, so far, have said no.
NORTHAM: Bellinger says he expects things will change under a new administration, in part because there is much international goodwill for President Obama.
Mr. BELLINGER: I certainly can't guarantee it, but I would expect the Obama administration will take a much closer look at whether they could take a handful of individuals into the United States as a way, essentially, to prime the pump and remove that reluctance from other countries.
NORTHAM: Detainees will likely end up in the U.S. anyway if countries are not willing to take those cleared for release, or it's determined they should be tried and detained in the U.S. But already, there's opposition. Yesterday, House Republicans introduced legislation to prohibit federal courts from ordering the release or transfer of Guantanamo detainees into the U.S. President Obama may have to spend some of his domestic political capital in bringing them to the mainland. It also has to be decided how the men will be prosecuted. Scott Silliman, a law professor at Duke Law School, says one option would be military courts martial, which could be held anywhere in the world.
Professor SCOTT L. SILLIMAN (Executive Director, Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, Duke Law School): I think we've got to be concerned, the president has got to be concerned, about restoring America's standing in the world. So, we've got to come up with a fair system, but one which will guarantee a secure atmosphere.
NORTHAM: Glenn Sulmasy, a professor of law at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, says the administration should think of a multifaceted approach, using federal courts for cases where there is evidence, and creating a national security or terrorism court for those men where there is no evidence.
Professor GLENN M. SULMASY (Law, U.S. Coast Guard Academy): We can use this new system of justice not necessarily to detain them indefinitely but to actually try them, but with standards that are different than our existing criminal-justice system.
NORTHAM: Creating that type of court would require legislation, which would take time. Identifying a location and building a new prison would also take time. But many analysts say the yearlong time frame is doable. No matter how it happens, 12 months from now, the gates to the prison camp will be closed; the detainees will be taken out of their cells and put on airplanes bound for freedom or continued detention elsewhere; and Guantanamo Bay will revert to a sleepy naval base on the far side of Cuba. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. President Obama said during the campaign that he would seek to improve America's standing in the world, and he spent yesterday addressing several front-burner issues. In a moment, we'll get more details on the new president's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. First, we'll hear about his visit to the State Department, where Hillary Clinton is in charge. Together, they named a pair of high-profile envoys to deal with some of the most vexing problems in the world. As NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports, the announcements reflected an administration that intends to put more emphasis on diplomacy.
MICHELLE KELEMEN: Fresh from her Senate confirmation and from a rousing welcome at the State Department, Hillary Clinton hosted President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and many other dignitaries to stress what she's been calling a new, smart-power approach to foreign policy. She singled out two areas in need of robust diplomacy: the Middle East and South Asia.
(Soundbite of press conference)
Secretary HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (U.S. Department of State, Barack Obama Administration): We know that anything short of relentless diplomatic efforts will fail to produce a lasting, sustainable peace in either place. That is why the president and I have decided to name a special envoy for Middle East peace, and a special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
KELEMEN: Secretary Clinton and President Obama are putting former Senator George Mitchell in the lead of promoting Arab-Israeli peace. Richard Holbrooke, best known for negotiating a peace deal in Bosnia during the Clinton administration, is to work on Afghanistan and Pakistan. He called it a daunting task, saying the U.S. and its partners are fighting a ruthless and determined enemy in Afghanistan.
Mr. RICHARD HOLBROOKE (Special Envoy, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Barack Obama Administration): And across the border lurks the greater enemies still, the people who committed the atrocities of September 11th, 2001.
KELEMEN: The new Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, spoke about the difficulties that lie ahead in his assignment, but he says he learned a lot negotiating peace in Northern Ireland, that there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended.
Mr. GEORGE MITCHELL (Special Envoy, Middle East, Barack Obama Administration): Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings. I believe deeply that with committed, persevering and patient diplomacy, it can happen in the Middle East.
KELEMEN: The announcement of Mitchell is winning praise from many Middle East watchers, including Sam Lewis, a former ambassador to Israel, who said in an Israel Policy Forum conference call that Mitchell is a superb choice.
Former Ambassador SAMUEL LEWIS (Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel): Not just because of his record in Ireland, but because of his temperament and the fact that he has a remarkable degree of balance and persistence - and thick skin, I might say.
KELEMEN: Another veteran diplomat, now a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Aaron David Miller, adds that it's a choice that buys the Obama administration some time.
Dr. AARON DAVID MILLER (Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center): The fact is there is no Israeli/Palestinian agreement ready. There is no Israel/Syrian agreement ready. And Mitchell's appointment suggests a commitment, or a statement of intent, that is designed to show that yes, I am serious, we're going to work this issue...
KELEMEN: Miller, who has advised six secretaries of state on the Middle East, says it's unusual for the secretary to subcontract out such big issues early on. So, he said, Clinton and President Obama will have to manage all the players well.
Dr. MILLER: Because the stakes for America are too high to allow bureaucratic tensions and egos to undermine what could be a fresh, new and effective foreign policy.
KELEMEN: Secretary Clinton tried to play up the team atmosphere of the new administration when she walked in to the State Department yesterday morning to a cheering crowd of about 1,000 employees.
Sec. CLINTON: This is a team, and you are the members of that team. We are not any longer going to tolerate the kind of divisiveness that has paralyzed and undermined our ability to get things done for America.
KELEMEN: Hillary Clinton seemed to push all the right buttons for State Department employees, many of whom felt sidelined in the Bush administration. She promised to make sure diplomacy and development are right up there with defense as the pillars of America's foreign policy. Michelle Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
President Obama not only ordered that the Guantanamo prison be closed, he also put a halt to the CIA's use of extreme interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists. His order requires U.S. intelligence agencies to abide by the guidelines laid down in the Army Field Manual. Mr. Obama had promised throughout his campaign to put an end to any practices that resemble torture. Still, his move left some questions unanswered, as NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.
TOM GJELTEN: Since his election, Barack Obama has made moves to show he's strong on national security, asking Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to stay on, appointing retired Marine General James Jones as his national security advisor, and choosing another retired four-star officer, Admiral Dennis Blair, to serve as director of national intelligence. Mr. Obama said yesterday that making the CIA revise its interrogation policies does not mean his administration won't be fighting terrorism.
(Soundbite of press conference, January 22, 2009)
President BARACK OBAMA: We are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals.
GJELTEN: One provision of yesterday's executive order prohibits the CIA from holding any detainees in secret prisons. Not a big change; those prisons are all closed anyway, according to U.S. officials. Another provision says all people detained by the U.S. government must now be treated in accord with the Geneva Conventions. That is a change. Interrogation practices are now to be governed by guidelines laid down in the U.S. Army Field Manual. But the executive order also sets up a task force, co-chaired by the attorney general and secretary of defense, to evaluate whether the interrogation guidelines in the Army Manual, quote, provide an appropriate means of acquiring the intelligence necessary to protect the nation, unquote. Congressman Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said yesterday it may have been better to do that study before changing the interrogation policies.
Representative PETE HOEKSTRA (Republican, Michigan; Ranking Republican, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence): Yeah, we really had put the cart before the horse. We've determined policy without going through the analysis.
GJELTEN: The outgoing CIA director, Michael Hayden, claims coercive interrogation techniques used on high-value detainees actually produced valuable information about planned terrorist plots. Those techniques were authorized on a case-by-case basis by senior Bush administration officials, including Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The new order prohibits interrogation techniques not in the Army Manual, but Hoekstra notes that it also includes a provision under which the attorney general could in the future provide, quote, further guidance, unquote, on what intelligence officers can and cannot do while interrogating detainees.
Rep. HOEKSTRA: That doesn't sound much different than what we have today.
GJELTEN: It's a balancing act for the Obama administration to ensure nothing like torture happens again during interrogation while at the same time, leaving room for whatever flexibility may be needed. While the new executive orders were being signed, the Senate Intelligence Committee was considering Admiral Blair's nomination to be the new director of national intelligence. Blair said he's heard the argument that coercive interrogations may provide valuable information, but he said the tactical benefit of intelligence gained that way has to be weighed against the damage caused to America's reputation by using those harsh techniques.
(Soundbite of congressional hearing)
Admiral DENNIS C. BLAIR (U.S. Navy; Nominee, Director of National Intelligence, Barack Obama Administration): And in my experience, America's reputation is what has others doing the right thing when we're not watching. That's very important. It's been a great benefit to us over the years. And that has a great value of itself.
GJELTEN: Blair faced a few tough questions during his confirmation hearing, but he appears likely to be approved easily as the new overseer of all U.S. intelligence operations. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
If you're like me, your financial vocabulary is now brimming with once-exotic terms like credit default swaps. This week brings another one. Suddenly on everyone's lips: the bad bank. The Obama administration is considering a new plan to help troubled U.S. banks, and one idea floated by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as banks continue to experience huge losses, is to create a bad bank. And with us to explain why a bad bank might be a good idea is Simon Johnson. He's a professor at MIT and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. Good morning.
Dr. SIMON JOHNSON (Entrepreneurship, Global Economics and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Hi.
MONTAGNE: Let's start with bad bank. It's an interesting expression. What is a bad bank?
Dr. JOHNSON: Well, a bad bank is a way to clean up the really bad banks. All the private banks that have problem assets, take those problem assets off their books. Think of it as the biggest financial sanitation project ever.
MONTAGNE: What makes this different from the plan that former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put out when asking Congress for this bailout, basically having the government buy up troubled assets from financial institutions? Wouldn't they have put those assets in a bad bank?
Dr. JOHNSON: Well, that's a great question, and there would have been some aspect there if he ever got his program off the ground. The key difference, though, is that the Paulson - the original Paulson plan, the key idea of that was that you would overpay for these bad assets.
MONTAGNE: By overpaying, you would ensure that banks would be happy to unload them.
Dr. JOHNSON: That's right, exactly.
MONTAGNE: And so now, this bad bank idea does what differently?
Dr. JOHNSON: Well, the bad bank idea would be to take those assets and provide new capital, both balance-sheet cleanup and recapitalization. This is a very standard process in banking-system cleanups all around the world, when they happen.
MONTAGNE: Why would anyone want to be saddled with the burden of these toxic assets? Is a bad bank a good investment?
Dr. JOHNSON: Well, not really. I mean, it's not something that you would put your money into. The government is doing this in order to clean up the banking system because we need a healthy banking system, and the government is going to lose some money on this, hopefully not that much money if it's done right and done carefully. It's not something that private investors will touch with a barge pole right now; hence the problem. If you clean up the banks' balance sheets and create some better banks to resume lending to the real economy, that's the heart of the strategy.
MONTAGNE: So, it - the government could only, you think, recoup some of its losses, meaning not all of the taxpayer dollars that go into this?
Dr. JOHNSON: Absolutely. So, the basic point is this, that the cost to the taxpayer of cleaning up a banking system when you have massive failure around the world - experiences that cost you and me between 10 and 20 percent of GDP. So, that's the addition to government debt that's going to come out of this. That's a lot of money, but it's manageable. We can afford it. U.S. doesn't have that much debt to start with. As long as we get it right the first time, we'll be OK.
MONTAGNE: How do we know this will work?
(Soundbite of laughter)
MONTAGNE: I mean, that the remaining good banks will, in fact, survive and resume lending.
Dr. JOHNSON: Well, we don't know. Every - there's no way to know. We're in completely unchartered territory here. This, as part of a broad comprehensive approach with a strong fiscal stimulus and a housing-refinance program - I think both of those are pretty much done deals - the three legs to this strategy, if they have a large bank recapitalization piece to it and a balance sheet cleanup, it will most likely work. No magic bullets, though. I don't promise that you get credit resuming its growth within six to 12 months, but over a two-to three-year horizon, this will work.
MONTAGNE: If a bad bank is created, is there a place - I mean, I know they're not going to go out there and build it with, you know, brick and mortar exactly, but is there a place that this money goes?
Dr. JOHNSON: Sure, you'd have to create an entity, a financial institution of some kind. The good news is there's lots of experienced professionals looking for jobs in the financial-management industry right now. So, no trouble at all stocking it with absolutely top talent.
MONTAGNE: Simon Johnson is professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. Thanks very much.
Dr. JOHNSON: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's official: President Obama is keeping his BlackBerry. He's the first president to have one, even though it does make security officials nervous. During the campaign, Mr. Obama and his BlackBerry could not be parted. And as NPR's Laura Sydell reports, the president and his personal digital assistant will stay together with only a few changes.
LAURA SYDELL: For such a small thing, President Obama's BlackBerry has generated a lot of interest. At yesterday's White House press conference, spokesman Robert Gibbs finally turned to address the pressing question.
(Soundbite of press conference, January 22, 2009)
Mr. ROBERT GIBBS (White House Press Secretary, Barack Obama Administration): Oh, everybody's stirring for a - look at that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GIBBS: Make sure the pen still works.
SYDELL: In a recent interview on CNBC, Mr. Obama actually said that security officials would have to pry his BlackBerry from his hands. It looks like the president can declare victory in one of his first official battles. Gibbs says the president reached a compromise with his security team.
Mr. GIBBS: That allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends in a way that use will be limited, and that the security is enhanced to ensure his ability to communicate but to do so effectively.
SYDELL: Gibbs didn't give details on exactly how they would enhance the security of what might be called the First BlackBerry, but experts say there are many security problems. Alan Paller is director of research at the SANS Institute, which provides professional education on information security. Paller says it can be hard to tell if your BlackBerry is on or off.
Mr. ALAN PALLER (Director, Research, SANS Institute): So, you think your machine's off, and a hacker can actually turn it on and turn the microphone on so he can listen in on conversations you don't know you're having.
SYDELL: Paller says it's likely that White House security will make sure that the president's BlackBerry really shuts off. Experts also say having messages directed through White House servers, rather than commercially owned ones, would provide more security. However, Paller doubts that Mr. Obama will be permitted to make phone calls on his PDA. The problem of protecting cell-phone conversations goes way beyond the White House. Some may remember back many years, when Britain's Prince Charles was infamously recorded having a personal conversation with his mistress on a cell phone. Paller says that could happen today. Commercial phone companies just haven't come up with effective techniques for encrypting cell-phone conversations.
Dr. PATRICK TRAYNOR (Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology): The encryption of phone conversations isn't quite ready for prime time. The people who've used encrypted phones have gotten so mad they've thrown it against the wall to break it.
SYDELL: Security for handheld devices is actually becoming more of an issue, says Patrick Traynor, a computer science professor at Georgia Tech. In the future, he expects more people will store credit-card numbers, bank-account information and maybe even medical records on their PDAs. Right now, Traynor doesn't think the vast majority of commercially available devices, including the BlackBerry, have enough security protection. For example...
Dr. TRAYNOR: If you send a text message that's formatted in a certain way, you can actually prevent the phone from ever turning on again.
SYDELL: But as the first president to have a First BlackBerry, Mr. Obama is setting a precedent that may help develop new, better security measures for mobile devices, says researcher Alan Paller.
Mr. PALLER: This is the government leading by example, and the things that they have done will filter out to the rest of us so that we can feel more and more secure. This is actually what government should always be doing.
SYDELL: It's not so clear that Mr. Obama was really thinking about new technology policies. The president says he just wants to feel like he's connected. And like a lot of us, he's just addicted to his BlackBerry. Laura Sydell, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. There has been no shortage of rebels and warlords to keep the long-running conflicts in the Congo going. Today, the most prominent of them was captured. He's been waging a brutal war in the eastern part of the country. NPR's Gwen Thompkins has been covering that story, and she joins us from Nairobi. And Gwen, who has been arrested? And tell us about him.
GWEN THOMPKINS: Well, General Laurent Nkunda has been arrested. He is the Congolese Tutsi who is the leader, or had been the leader, of a rebel organization that, in August, began a major push, a major offensive, in Eastern Congo. That offensive, you know, resulted in the Congolese Tutsi rebel group taking over many of the major cities and trading posts in Eastern Congo. But it also resulted in the deaths of many, many people in Eastern Congo, and the displacement of an estimated 250,000 people.
MONTAGNE: You met Nkunda late last year at one of his camps. Tell us about his style of leadership.
THOMPKINS: Well, this is a man who spent a lot of time burnishing his image as not only a great military leader, but also, Renee, as a great statesman. You know, when I saw him, he was carrying his trademark, silver-tipped cane, and he was dressed so sharply, Renee, that he could have attended one of those Washington inaugural balls this week just in his fatigues. I mean, they were pressed and starched so beautifully. And he was sort of - you know, he's been described by his own men, actually, as something of a megalomaniac. He did not delegate authority very well. He liked to be front and center. He loved to talk to the press. And you know, even in recent peace talks, he gave his delegation very little authority to make any decisions without him. And I believe that his men began to chafe under that kind of leash. And also, they began to think about their own futures irrespective of General Nkunda. And in the end, many of them, many of his top lieutenants, abandoned him in recent weeks and started up a rival, splinter rebel organization. That weakened Nkunda and right now, he has about - an estimated 2,000 soldiers who are still behind him. But no one really knows what will happen next, whether those soldiers are going to fight for him or whether they're going to find something else to do with themselves.
MONTAGNE: Gwen, thanks very much.
THOMPKINS: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Gwen Thompkins, speaking from Nairobi in neighboring Kenya.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with a giant merger gone awry.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: It was described as a shotgun marriage. The giant brokerage firm Merrill Lynch was reeling from the credit crisis in September, and threw itself into the arms of the more stable Bank of America. Now, that merger is on the rocks. Yesterday, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis ousted the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain. It came out recently that Thain continued and slipped in big bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees before the merger. Merrill revealed billions in losses last year, forcing Bank of America to ask the government for financial help.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And there's more glum news about the critical housing market. A government housing regulator says in the 12-month period ending last November home prices dropped 8.7 percent. NPR's Yuki Noguchi has more.
YUKI NOGUCHI: By nearly every measure, all parts of the housing sector are sick. Builders aren't putting up new homes' banks aren't lending much; and there's a huge glut of homes on the market, pushing prices down further. And despite the low interest rates, few people are buying. The problem is especially pronounced in the West, which saw a huge run-up in prices and building in recent years. In the Pacific Coast states, including Hawaii and Alaska, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said prices fell more than 22 percent. In the Mountain states, including Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, housing prices fell 9.1 percent in the span of a year.
Mr. RICK SHARGA (Senior Vice President, Marketing, RealtyTrac): There may still be more air in that balloon to let out.
NOGUCHI: That's Rick Sharga, senior vice president for a company, called RealtyTrac, that researches the housing market. He says foreclosures hit particularly hard in the Western regions. Overall, the foreclosure rate increased 80 percent in each of the past two years. That staggered even the biggest pessimists at his company. The expectation among Sharga and other market watchers is that this year, home-building will continue to slow, foreclosures will rise, and that home prices will, therefore, keep falling. To be an optimist in a market like this one is to expect the housing market to bottom out sometime this year, and then slowly start to recover. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And our last word in business today is "instant revival." Polaroid announced last year it would cease production of its instant film. Some people just couldn't bear the idea of never again seeing images magically appear on that iconic white-bordered paper. The imminent death of Polaroid film sparked a global campaign to keep it alive. Now, an Austrian entrepreneur plans to start manufacturing the film at a factory in Holland. Florian Kaps has an established passion for Polaroid. He has a Web site dedicated to Polaroid photography and an art gallery in Vienna dedicated to Polaroid art. He says this project is more than a business plan; quote, "it's a fight against the idea that everything has to die when it doesn't create turnover." And that's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. And this Friday morning, President Obama has been in charge at the White House since Tuesday at noon. Even though it hasn't yet been a full week, we thought we'd check in with NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea to see how the new team is adjusting. Good morning, Don.
DON GONYEA: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So, of course, you've spent quite a bit of time around the White House in these last years. The new president has made some major moves in his first days in office, including yesterday's executive order announcing that the Guantanamo Bay detention center will be closed. Talk to us about that.
GONYEA: Exactly, and it's just one way, just the handling of that particular topic, that makes you realize how different things are now from how they were just a week ago. But that action on Guantanamo was just one of several things he signed yesterday. And even though it doesn't answer all of the questions about how closing the center will work - the detention center will work, it puts in motion steps that should result in its closing within a year. He also yesterday addressed the issue of interrogation of prisoners; again, he reiterated, as he did during the transition, during the campaign, there will be no torture, that the Geneva Conventions will apply. And he headed over to the State Department. He greeted his brand-new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. He appointed a special envoy to the Middle East, former Senator George Mitchell, who gets to work immediately. And at the State Department, he really, really stressed how big of a role diplomacy will play in his foreign policy.
MONTAGNE: Now, how - in moving, it seems, quickly to an outsider, is it as quick as it seems?
GONYEA: It is very quick. It's not that presidents don't come right out of the box and do things, but there is a lot of symbolism here. These are very concrete steps he took, every single one of them. But the symbolism: to the world, the president sent a very direct message around the world on foreign policy, that things are now different in the White House, and that this is a very new path in terms of how the U.S. will fight terrorism, and how the U.S. will play the role of leader in the world.
MONTAGNE: Now, there was a new voice at the White House yesterday that we'll be hearing a lot from in the coming, you know, moments of this new administration, a briefing by press secretary Robert Gibbs.
GONYEA: We are all going to get to know him very well. If there were some opening-day jitters for him, he masked them. He may be a new face to the public, but he played a big role during the campaign, both advising candidate Obama on his dealings with the media and in dealing with us directly. At that briefing yesterday, the questions really did run the gamut. He got a pretty good sense of how things go, first time out. He got asked about torture. He got asked about Guantanamo. He got asked about the economy. He got asked about the president's BlackBerry. The president will keep that BlackBerry, if people are wondering. But let's just listen to one exchange to get a sense of Gibbs. The questioner here is Major Garrett from Fox News.
(Soundbite of press conference, January 23, 2009)
Mr. MAJOR GARRETT (Senior White House Correspondent, Fox News): Are you not prepared today to say that it will be an administration benchmark not to allow any major financial institutions in this country fail?
Mr. ROBERT GIBBS (White House Press Secretary, Barack Obama Administration): Let me - I'm prepared to say, and I'll reiterate what the president said throughout the campaign and transition, that the president will do everything possible to prevent a financial catastrophe, to ensure the working of the financial system, to get credit and lending moving again, to create - or save or create 3 to 4 million jobs to get the economy moving again.
GONYEA: And again, certainly some answers - like that one, Renee - sounded an awful lot like campaign rhetoric.
MONTAGNE: Yeah, on message sounds like - for a starter. But you know, maybe he'll loosen up as time goes by.
GONYEA: Exactly.
MONTAGNE: Now, we heard that the first day or two were marked by glitches - phones that didn't work, email addresses - and this is technical problems. You know, how normal is that?
GONYEA: It seemed to be a little more glitchy than usual, for me. But I'll tell you, yesterday at one point, they made an announcement over the PA system. They called for the press pool to gather outside. Sounds pretty mundane, but that PA hadn't worked for the first 48 hours. So, a cheer went up. People had found their desks. People have been getting through security, it seems. But it was really strange watching this highest of high-tech campaigns struggle with these basic technical issues for a couple days.
MONTAGNE: And just a quick thing, that PA system is actually quite important, because it sort of calls you guys - you reporters - when the president does something important, like walk into the room.
GONYEA: We got a call last night. The president - yeah, the press should come to the briefing room. We all went up there, and here comes the president, something that doesn't happen often. Renee, he even came down to the basement, where the radio folks live. It's not the prettiest part of the White House.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MONTAGNE: Oh, OK.
GONYEA: But that's where I live, and it was unusual seeing him come through like that, especially so early.
MONTAGNE: NPR's White House correspondent, Don Gonyea.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now, for the political drama that's been playing out in New York State: Governor David Paterson has chosen a little-known congresswoman to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. An aide to Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand has confirmed she's the governor's choice. The governor has scheduled a press conference for noon in Albany. Kirsten Gillibrand was first elected to public office a little over two years ago. In choosing her, Paterson passed over two of the Democratic Party's biggest political dynasties: the Cuomos and the Kennedys. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann joins us now on the line from Saranac Lake, New York. And when I said passed over, of course, actually, Caroline Kennedy withdrew her name from consideration. But let's talk about Kirsten Gillibrand.
BRIAN MANN: Yeah, right. Just a couple of years ago, she was an unknown even here in her district. She is 42 years old. She and her husband have a couple of young kids. She gave birth to her youngest son, Henry, last year while she was out on the campaign trail. Now, she actually does come from another political family in New York, not quite as famous as those others you mentioned. Her father, Doug Rutnik, has been a top lobbyist and deal maker in Albany for years. So, another politically connected choice here for the governor.
MONTAGNE: She herself, though, pretty new to politics.
MANN: Yeah, brand new. She was working as a corporate lawyer in Manhattan in 2006 when she was recruited by Rahm Emanuel. He asked her to make a really long-shot run against an upstate Republican. She raised a ton of money and turned out to be a ferocious campaigner, and she also got lucky. There was that big surge in 2006 for Democrats and her opponent, a guy named John Sweeney, was caught up in a nasty, domestic-violence scandal. So, her win that year was one of the big upsets, and then she was re-elected easily in November.
MONTAGNE: Now, I gather she lobbied pretty fiercely herself for this appointment. But how did what is a relative newcomer rise to the top of Governor Paterson's list?
MANN: Well, I think the first thing is, she got lucky again. Andrew Cuomo - I think it's still a little bit unclear why his name sort of moved to the side. And then Caroline Kennedy, who you mentioned, she was seen as the heir-apparent for this Senate seat. Her bid kind of unraveled. She just couldn't find a way to explain why she should be the one to replace Hillary Clinton at a time when New York faces big problems, a big economic crisis. So, Kennedy's poll numbers crashed, and she eventually dropped out.
MONTAGNE: Now, does it appear that the governor did, in fact, want to replace one woman senator, Hillary Clinton, with another woman? I mean, was that an element that was strongly running through what will, presumably, be this announcement?
MANN: It's going to be interesting to hear what he says about that, but he has sort of telegraphed all along that he did think that that was an important move to make. Kirsten Gillibrand is also the one woman on his list who has a proven track record connecting with voters in parts of New York State where, you know, Democrats just haven't always done very well. And that's a political calculation for Dave Paterson. He's going to be running for re-election next year himself, and to have her sort of at his side running across the state, that could be a great help for him.
MONTAGNE: Brian, thanks very much. Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio, speaking to us from Saranac Lake, New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Economists measure the depth of a recession through indicators like the unemployment rate and the gross domestic product. Our Planet Money team has been measuring it through something else: people's observations. NPR's David Kestenbaum has this selection.
DAVID KESTENBAUM: Robert Chappel's(ph) personal indicator is the number 50. He lives in Wisconsin, and it's his job to deliver the Wisconsin State Journal. He drives around in the predawn hours, and throws them out his car window. Chappel says the newspapers used to get delivered to him in stacks of 40, but there are fewer ads now and the paper is thinner. So, instead of 40 to a stack, they can fit in 50.
Mr. ROBERT CHAPPEL: Literally, it doesn't weigh as much. It's literally harder for me to get it to your porch.
KESTENBAUM: When the economy was better, he says, that paper was pretty satisfying to throw.
Mr. CHAPPEL: You get it rolled up, you put a rubber band around it - or a bag around it if it's raining - and you fling it to the air, and it does its little pirouettes through the air and plops on the porch. Now, it sort of goes whew-whew-whew and sort of settles on the ground.
KESTENBAUM: Here's the national statistic that goes with that. According to the Newspaper Association of America, if you compare the third quarter of 2008 with 2007, ad revenue in print and online dropped by 18 percent. One state to the south and two states over in Ohio, Terry Weiss(ph) noticed an economic indicator at work. The free packets of coffee in the office kitchen stopped being delivered. This is at a textbook company in Dayton, Ohio. She sent out a little text message to her friends, quote: My company quit paying coffee service, so they quit delivery. Brought my own coffee to brew today. That was just the beginning.
Ms. TERRY WEISS: I was literally standing in my boss's office, and we were talking about, huh, wonder if we should go buy our own coffeemaker so we can make coffee. And somebody said - ran by, did you see the email? We're like, what? She opened her email, and it said that the entire printing-services division of my company was shut down, and that was in Tennessee. And I said, well, that's horrible. Maybe that makes our division, creative services, a little safer. Bing! Then she got another email, and it said we were terminated, and that was it.
KESTENBAUM: That's when her coffee pot indicator turned into something the government does track. Ohio has an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent, slightly above the national average. Terry Weiss says she's not sure what happens now.
Ms. WEISS: Well, you smile a lot, and you try to...
(Soundbite of door closing)
Ms. WEISS: I'm shutting my door so the kids can't hear me. I mean, I will probably lose my house. I will probably have to move. I sent my resume a million places. I don't know, I mean, I've gotten offers from two family members that we can come and live with them.
KESTENBAUM: Ohio last year had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, one filing for every 44 homes. Ken Rogoff, who lives in Massachusetts, is used to thinking about numbers like that because he's actually an economist at Harvard. But he saw a very concrete indicator that something is amiss with the economy: the scene at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association. Rogoff was part of an expert panel discussion and normally, that would be a pretty sober affair. This time, he says, you couldn't find a seat.
Dr. KENNETH ROGOFF (Economics, Harvard University): You couldn't move. People lined up against the walls, pouring out the door. And there was one TV producer, told me she wanted to cover it, and she thought, well, I'll be very clever; I'll sneak around through the kitchen in the fire door...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Dr. ROGOFF: And we'll get in that way. She gets there, you know, with her crew, and finds 150 people waiting outside the door, you know, trying to hear what's going on. It's really - people are starved for some kind of perspective.
KESTENBAUM: The crisis will end, he says; recessions do end. But in the thick of one, it never feels like it will stop. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: Our Planet Money team wants to know how you measure the recession in your own life. Add your comment to our blog at npr.org/money.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The National Hockey League will stage its all-star game this Sunday evening in Montreal. The game is just an exhibition, but the festivities surrounding it are a sign of how far the sport has come since it was shut down for an entire season just four years ago. Commentator John Feinstein has been watching the signs and joins us now, live. Good morning, John.
JOHN FEINSTEIN: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: For the sake of context, remind us of that strike that cost hockey a full season.
FEINSTEIN: Well, it was a complete disaster in the minds of everyone connected with sports. Never in history had a sport shut down for an entire season. There have, of course, been strikes in baseball, in football, in basketball, or lockouts. This was actually a lockout started by Commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners because they believed they had to completely revamp the financial structure of the league, and they were willing to go an entire season without hockey. That's what happened.
And what was just as important, though, Renee: They got the salary cap they felt they needed to survive financially, that all sports now have except for Major League Baseball. But while they were doing it, they revamped the rules of the game because it had become slower, clutch and grab. The players weren't able to show their great skills because of the rules. They changed the rules, and they changed the financial structure all at the same time. So, when hockey came back the next season, it not only was sounder financially, it was a better game for fans to watch.
MONTAGNE: What has been more significant, though, the changes in the labor contract, or the changes in the rules of the game?
FEINSTEIN: That's a good question. I think it's both because the team - most of the teams now are on stable ground financially. There are a couple still struggling, Phoenix, in particular, coached by the great Wayne Gretzky. But most of them are doing better financially. The fans came back, though, and that's what the rules changes did. After a long lockout like that, there was a good chance many fans wouldn't return to the sport; they'd be so disgusted. But the game is so exciting now. And additionally, two great, young superstars came into the game that season when hockey came back - Alex Ovechkin, here in Washington, and Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh. It was a great - it was good ,perfect storm for the sport.
MONTAGNE: Well, yeah, good timing, and the arrival of the superstars was happenstance, I guess, but the league has done some pretty smart marketing as well.
FEINSTEIN: They really have. I mean, first of all, they have recognized the fact that these two youngsters, and they are young - Ovechkin has already been a MVP, he's only 23; and Crosby, who's been an MVP and is the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is only 21. They've marketed them. But they also did something remarkable two years ago. They decided to stage an outdoor hockey game on New Year's Day in Buffalo, which sounds like craziness, Renee, but it - they drew 70,000 people to the game. It got the biggest TV rating a hockey game has gotten in years. And now, they had it this year in Wrigley Field in Chicago, historic Wrigley Field, sold it out, again, got a bigger rating than any of the bowl games that day, football bowl games. And all of a sudden, people are actually talking about hockey.
MONTAGNE: So, it's back. Where does it go from here?
FEINSTEIN: Well, I think it's never going to surpass football or the NBA or baseball, but it's gone from being a struggling niche sport that had really fallen behind golf, and was down at the level of tennis in terms of struggling, to solidly being the number-four sport - team sport, in our country and in Canada, obviously, now, and a worldwide sport. And I think its future is only going to go up. People are going to pay attention to the sport now.
MONTAGNE: John, thanks very much.
FEINSTEIN: Thank you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: The comments of John Feinstein, whose most recent book is "Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Unforgettable Season."
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. One way to measure China's economic might, modernization and can-do spirit has been Shanghai's glittering skyline. That symbol is now masking new problems in China as the property market in that city is on a downward slide. Some believe it's exposing weaknesses in China's economic model. NPR's Louisa Lim reports from Shanghai.
(Soundbite of elevator)
(Soundbite of people talking)
LOUISA LIM: The view from the world's highest observation deck is astounding. I'm standing here on the 100th floor of the World Financial Center in Shanghai, and peering down through a murky haze, I can see skyscrapers and buildings sprouting in all directions. However, behind these gleaming glass facades, all is not well. Shanghai's real estate is slumping, especially here in the business district of Lujiazui.
Mr. MARK LATHAM (Managing Director, CB Richard Ellis) A global economic slowdown, coupled with a significant amount of new supply that hit the market, did result in rising vacancy factors probably of upwards of 20 percent at this stage.
LIM: Mark Latham, from property agent CB Richard Ellis. Prices are plummeting all over China, and major property-investment transactions here in Shanghai were down 66 percent in the second half of last year. There are two differing schools of thought on how to read what's happening. First, here's Mark Latham with the optimistic view.
Mr. LATHAM: This is another economic dip. It's a down swing in the market. We've gone through them before. We'll come out of these again.
Professor HUANG YASHENG (Political Economy and International Management, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Future historians are going to look back at the rise of the skyscrapers and draw the conclusion that was going to be the beginning of the warning sign of the problems in the Chinese economy.
LIM: That was Huang Yasheng, from MIT's Sloan School of Management. He argues that the economic crisis is exposing weaknesses in China's interventionist, top-down style of capitalism. His example: the city of Shanghai, known for its sky-high economic growth. But he says official statistics show living standards for average Shanghainese have only shown moderate improvement. This has happened because the state has requisitioned land from its residents at artificially low prices and sold it off at higher market rates, keeping the difference.
Prof. HUANG: The way that China has urbanized is overbuilt, overinvest, without making average people rich. Developers get rich. Government officials get rich. But because the land prices are controlled by the government, the people don't get that much from the building boom.
LIM: But local governments have cashed in. By some estimates, property has accounted for half the revenue of local governments. So, the bursting of the property bubble could leave them cash-strapped. So far, China's unleashed an array of measures to try to revitalize the property market. Developers have been urged to cut back prices, which were too high for many ordinary people. But when they have complied, this has led to fury and protests among home buyers, like 28-year-old David Liu.
Mr. DAVID LIU: They tried to offer some special discount and to stimulate the market.
LIM: I mean, how do you feel about those discounts?
Mr. LIU: That's crazy, you know, totally unfair.
LIM: The discounts have lowered the value of existing homes, in his case, by 20 percent before he's even moved in. He and his wife are accusing the developer, Vanke, which is one of China's largest, of cheating them and cutting corners on quality. Their project is already sold out. But as others stay empty, it's widely expected that some smaller developers will go bankrupt. Independent economist Andy Xie says China's economic recovery depends on reviving the real estate market.
Mr. ANDY XIE (Economist): Unless the property market turns around, it's really, I believe, a waste of time talking about domestic demand. It's just such a huge sector, 10 percent of GDP in terms of investment alone by the developers. I think it's just the key thing for the economy.
LIM: This construction site is ominously silent, with building work here suspended for the moment. That's happening all over the city, with predictions that construction will contract by 30 percent this year as developers feel the pinch. Who knows? This slowdown could even herald an end to that forest of skyscrapers characterized memorably as the architecture of irrational exuberance. Louisa Lim, NPR News, Shanghai.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The Year of the Ox begins Monday in China, which means train travel. An estimated 188 million Chinese passengers will endure hours and even days on crowded trains over the biggest holiday of the year. And the journey's first hardship is just getting a ticket. That can be a hurdle, in part, because of ticket scalping. Public anger over this issue recently boiled over, forcing China's president to take action. NPR's Anthony Kuhn has more from Beijing.
(Soundbite of people speaking Mandarin)
ANTHONY KUHN: On January 10th, a traveler at the Beijing railway station used a cell phone to videotape the ticket seller behind window number 37. The clerk printed out over 100 tickets and arranged them in piles behind the closed window.
(Soundbite of people speaking Mandarin)
KUHN: She's leaving the tickets for insiders, says one ticket buyer. Report her. Upload the video to the Internet. She's utterly shameless, chimes in another customer. No wonder none of us can buy tickets. The video was put on the Internet, and netizens were outraged.
(Soundbite of Chinese news report)
Unidentified Reporter: (Mandarin spoken).
KUHN: Four days later, state television reported that President Hu Jintao had issued instructions to railway officials to, quote, turn on their brains, unquote, and find ways to fix the ticket problem. The following morning, Vice Minister of Railways Wang Zhiguo denied to reporters that the ticket seller in the video was putting aside tickets for personal connections. But he said...
(Soundbite of press conference)
Mr. WANG ZHIGUO (Vice Minister of Railways, China): (Mandarin spoken) The actions of a ticket seller at window 37 caused some misunderstandings that hurt travelers' feelings. I sincerely apologize to travelers on behalf of the Railway Ministry.
KUHN: It's a common experience for rail travelers in China. You're first in line at the ticket window before tickets for your train go on sale. But when the window opens, you're told that tickets are sold out. The government says that the nation's railway system is simply overburdened, but many travelers say that's beside the point. Electrical engineer John Li Kun(ph) is waiting for a train at the Beijing station.
Mr. JOHN LI KUN: (Mandarin spoken) The reason it's hard to buy tickets isn't that there aren't enough of them. It's because the tickets don't make it to the windows, where people line up to buy them. Many tickets are set aside for insiders.
KUHN: And that, experts say, is where scalpers get tickets. Most of China's economy has been privatized over the past 30 years of market reforms, but key industries, including transportation, energy and telecommunications, are still government monopolies that are subject to little public oversight. The current scandal is a holdover from the days of the planned economy, when getting scarce commodities, like lean pork, was nearly impossible without resorting to personal connections or the black market. Beijing-based lawyer Li Jing Song(ph) explains how train stations now operate.
Mr. LI JING SONG (Attorney, Beijing, China): (Mandarin spoken) Only 30 or 40 percent of the tickets make it to the windows to be sold fairly. Another 30 or 40 percent are sold through inside channels. Up to 10 percent are reserved for officials on public business.
KUHN: Li researched the matter in order to sue the Beijing railway station over the way it sells tickets. Li was not too surprised that he lost the suit. After all, the court belongs to the Railway Ministry, which also has its own police. Li also learned about ticket sales from the case of Li Zhijun(ph). He was the head of a train station in the midwestern city of Wuhan. In 2006, he was given a suspended death sentence for, among other things, amassing a small fortune from the sale of tickets to scalpers. Chinese media did report the incident, but they left out one important detail: Li Zhijun's older brother is Liu Zhijun, China's railway minister since 2003.Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The movie "Slumdog Millionaire" snagged 10 Oscar nominations yesterday, including one for Best Picture. The world seems to love this movie and today, it opens in India, where it was made. As NPR's Philip Reeves reports, the movie has already triggered a fierce argument among Indians about the way their nation is perceived by the outside world.
(Soundbite of Indian news broadcast)
(Soundbite of music)
PHILIP REEVES: India's media is ecstatic.
Unidentified Reporter: Well, our top story. After grabbing four Golden Globes, "Slumdog Millionaire" is on its way to Oscar glory as well. It's got...
REEVES: The movie is directed by Danny Boyle of "Trainspotting" fame and came out of Britain. But almost all the cast is Indian; so is the composer, A. R. Rahman. His music's won three Oscar nominations. Many in India are celebrating "Slumdog's" success as recognition of their nation's movie-making after feeling overlooked by the West for years - but not all. Arguments about the film have been raging on the Internet. Nandini Ramnath is a film critic based in Mumbai, or Bombay, as many still call the city. She's been following the debate.
Ms. NANDINI RAMNATH (Film Critic, Time Out Mumbai): Every few days, various people will say, I saw a pirated version of this film. I think it was really offensive. But somebody will rise up in defense of the film. These are all Bombayites. These are people from the city.
(Soundbite of movie "Slumdog Millionaire")
Mr. DEV PATEL: (As Jamal Malik) Latika! Latika! Latika!
(Soundbite of music)
REEVES: "Slumdog Millionaire" is a love story built around a poverty- stricken kid who wins a quiz show. It is set in a massive slum in Mumbai, India's richest city. That's one reason why some Indians are angry. They feel it focuses excessively on poverty and squalor, including prostitution and crime. The film's fans and foes have been slugging it out on various Web sites without mincing their words.
Unidentified Woman #1: I'm so sick of the common Western impression of India. India's always portrayed in that negative, degrading type of way.
REEVES: That's just one comment on the Net, but it typifies many. Nandini Ramnath says Indians tend to be sensitive about the way the West portrays them.
Ms. RAMNATH: India's always been very conscious, Indian government, Indian politicians. Large sections of the Indian middle class have been very conscious of their place in the world. So, yes, part of it is also, we're not just about slums, and we're not just about drought and famine. We're also about the tech boom, the information-technology boom, and so on.
REEVES: Just over a week back, the debate burst into life because of this man.
Mr. AMITABH BACHCHAN (Actor): There are two Indias in this country.
REEVES: Amitabh Bachchan, the patriarch of Bollywood, India's massive movie industry. When Bachchan speaks, his country listens.
Ms. ANUPAMA CHOPRA (Movie Reviewer, NDTV; India Today): This is a guy who has been a superstar for 30-odd years.
REEVES: Anupama Chopra writes and broadcasts about Bollywood.
Ms. CHOPRA: He is the elder statesman, and for a certain generation in India, there is no other.
REEVES: Bachchan has a blog. On it, he suggested "Slumdog Millionaire" might not have received such international acclaim were it not directed by a Westerner. The blog also states: If the movie projects India as a third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations. Bachchan's since distanced himself from these remarks. A lot of his devoted fans have not.
(Soundbite of children playing)
KUHN: Some of them live here. This is Dharavi, the slum from "Slumdog Millionaire." It's one of the largest slums in Asia, a huge, fetid, teaming warren in the middle of Mumbai. The conditions are shocking.
(Soundbite of open street)
KUHN: Where all these narrow alleys that run through Dharavi, some of them are about as wide as a person. And it's very difficult to get down them. They've got open drains. I've seen a couple of rats running along. The smell, in some places, is pretty horrible.
(Soundbite of children chattering)
KUHN: That's not the whole story. Dharavi also a hive of economic activity. Businessman Shamsute Khan(ph) says a lot of the slum's multitude of residents are not actually poor by Indian standards. He said he's already seen "Slumdog Millionaire" and disapproves.
Mr. SHAMSUTE KHAN: (Through translator) Dharavi is not a slum in our eyes. We've got a leather industry that functions from here. We've got a textile industry that functions from here. We've got a lot of businesses going on from here. So, we're very hurt of the image that was portrayed on the screen.
REEVES: Some slum activists are now on the warpath. They want the film's name changed, saying it's an insult. Others disagree. Like more than half of Mumbai's 13 million-plus population, Nimal Kadir(ph) has lived in a slum all his life. Standing outside his hovel in Dharavi next to a sea of trash, he says he's glad "Slumdog Millionaire" focuses attention on India's poverty.
Mr. NIMAL KADIR: (Through translator) People have a right to see the way we live. Unless there's awareness, we won't get funding into the city, people will not come over to help.
Unidentified Man: We are now going to allow the television cameras to be able to capture the truth.
(Soundbite of people shouting)
REEVES: In the last few days, the makers of "Slumdog" have been in India promoting the movie. At a press conference in Mumbai, director Danny Boyle responded philosophically to the criticisms.
(Soundbite of press conference)
Mr. DANNY BOYLE (Director, "Slumdog Millionaire"): We've had the privilege of making the film and then presenting it to the world. And everyone has the privilege of saying whatever they want about it.
REEVES: So, how will "Slumdog Millionaire" fare in India? A Hindi-language version has also been released. Film writer Anupama Chopra thinks despite all the arguing, the movie will be a hit.
Ms. CHOPRA: I think it has enormous spirit, and it isn't boring for a minute. It's a fairytale that comes out of the Ravi(ph), and we like fairytales.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. CHOPRA: So, I think it'll do well.
REEVES: Phillip Reeves, NPR News, New Delhi.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: The soundtrack for "Slumdog Millionaire" is up for an Academy Award for best original score.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: And for the three nominees for best original song, two are from "Slumdog Millionaire," including this one, called "Jai Ho."
(Soundbite of song "Jai Ho")
Unidentified Singer: (Singing in Hindi).
MONTAGNE: From NPR News, this is Morning Edition. Our engineering supervisor is Kevin Langley, who's a real prize himself. Our star technical director is Brian Jarboe. Award-worthy audio engineers include Arthur Laurent, Stacey Abbott, Kevin Maynard, Gary Henderson, Stu Rushfield, and Renee Pringle with Theo Mondle at NPR West. Morning Edition's theme music was written by B.J. Liederman and arranged by Jim Pugh. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE; host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. "Slumdog Millionaire" snagged 10 Oscar nominations yesterday, and another Indian-themed picture, "The Love Guru," picked up seven nominations - for the Razzies. The Razzy Awards, of course, are given each year to the worst Hollywood has to offer. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is up for worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel. Golden Raspberries could also go to Eddie Murphy for "Meet Dave," and Kate Hudson for "Fool's Gold." It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. I'll let you Google the odds. On Monday night, the winning numbers for Nebraska's lottery were 1, 9 and 6. The next night, the winning numbers were 1, 9 and 6 - the same three numbers in the same sequence. A lottery spokesman said two separate computers randomly generated the same numbers. Each night did produce entirely different winners. The top prize, by the way, was $600. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Chief Justice John Roberts may have flubbed the oath he administered to President Obama, but the quartet that played at the inauguration was note perfect, despite freezing temperatures that would have sent their instruments wildly out of tune. And that's because the world heard a recording. The quartet, with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman, did play at the inauguration, but only those nearest the stage heard them. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with downshifting at Harley-Davidson.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE:
The American motorcycle maker is going over some rough road. Today, the company said its sales in 2008 tumbled, and it expects 2009 to be another tough year. So Harley-Davidson is cutting 1,100 jobs, about 12 percent of its total workforce. The cuts will take place over the next two years. Harley-Davidson says U.S. sales dropped more than 10 percent last year, though overseas sales are up. Still, the vast majority of Harley-Davidsons are sold here in the U.S. The company also plans to close a factory in Wisconsin and consolidate plants as it brings down production.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
The Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme is so huge, it's often hard to understand. One man who testified before the House Financial Services Committee hearing earlier this month may help us understand what it means in real lives. Allan Goldstein is 76 years old. He and his wife of 52 years, Ruth, are retired in upstate New York.
Mr. Goldstein was in the garment industry in Manhattan. He did well, and wanted to invest conservatively, but wisely, and he was led to Madoff Securities. Mr. Goldstein has not spoken to the press since his testimony. He joins us now from the studios of WAMC in Albany, New York. Mr. Goldstein, thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. ALLAN GOLDSTEIN (Retired Garment Industry Worker): My pleasure, and good morning.
SIMON: And let me just ask you straight out, I know you had a few million before this happened, how much are you left with now?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had - I used up all my assets over the years to let my Madoff account grow so I could retire with a decent income from the Madoff account. So I had no assets left except - I've cashed in my life insurance policies. I'm having trouble paying my mortgage. My children are helping me out. My house is up for sale, and that's where we are.
SIMON: You're 76 years old, and your house is up for sale.
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Yeah. I'm looking for a job. How do you like that? I have to buy food and car and gasoline and things like that. I can't keep taking money from my children.
SIMON: And you draw Social Security?
Mr. GOLDTEIN: Yes, I draw. My wife and I both draw Social Security. Between the two of us, I think it's about $22,000 a year pre-tax.
SIMON: How did you become a success in the garment business? What did you begin with?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: I sold textiles to garment manufacturers. I started off with a job, I was paid $200 a month and through hard work, being aggressive, and knowing what I was doing, I was able to advance myself and save some money. And we started this business with the monies we saved. I was working six days a week, 12 hours a day, and we made a success out of the business.
SIMON: Boy, I hate to sit here and recount the problems you're having, but you can't hold on to your house, you have no income except for what your children give you.
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Right, it's a horrible situation. And I have to tell you that I receive emails every day from - there are so many, many people in the same position I'm in, that it's heartbreaking, heartbreaking. I have my health, and my wife is healthy, and she's having a difficult time getting through this, but we'll get through this somehow. But there are people out there who are suffering horrendously. It's a terrible, terrible situation.
SIMON: What are your feelings towards Bernie Madoff? Did you ever meet him?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: I never met him. I never had any contact with him. And I said this to the House Committee and I'll say it on the radio that the first three days, four days, I don't remember, I was just filled with anger because I was in shock. I lost all my money. I didn't know what to do or where to turn. And I realized that I couldn't go on and live my life consumed with anger. So right now I really don't care about Bernie Madoff. I don't care if he goes to jail. I don't care if he stays out of jail. It's not going to improve my life one way or the other, so I really don't care.
SIMON: Do you think there are regulatory agencies who should have been more vigilant?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: I think the regulatory agencies that were paid from my tax dollars and other people's tax dollars have failed us. And I believe it's more than a failure, I believe they were complicit in this. There were so many red flags, so many warning signals, so many letters written about this, and they did nothing.
SIMON: Do you think there were ways in which you should have been more vigilant or at least skeptical about all the good news you got?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Honestly, no. I said many, many times I'm not comfortable having all my money in one place. But if it's not broken how can I fix it? It was no, not one inkling of anything wrong. The statements came every month. Any monies I needed to live on that I withdrew were taken out with no problem. They were sent to me. And beside myself, who was a small investor, there were banks, there were hedge funds who put billions of dollars into this man. They must have done some due diligence - and they also invested their money.
SIMON: How did you hear about Bernie Madoff? How did you begin investing with him?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Many years ago I had money invested with an investment counselor, and also money invested in money market funds because I just tried to be as prudent with my money as possible. And my accountant at that point had told me to - I should put some money with Madoff whose returns were 10 to 12 percent in good years and bad years, very prudent, very safe.
SIMON: The statements that you got every month turned out to be just moonshine and nonsense?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Statements I got every month, from what we've been learning, were just fabricated statements. It seems that he didn't make any of these trades. It was just something computer generated - I don't know how they did this.
SIMON: Mm hmm. As we know now, of course, the money wasn't there, but on the other hand, on those occasions that you needed to tap into the fund, he did have enough for you.
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Absolutely.
SIMON: And that turns out to be, as we know now, I guess, money from people who thought you were doing so well, they'd invest with it.
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Right, exactly. That's what I think.
SIMON: Mr. Goldstein, I think somebody would really benefit from hiring you. I know it's...
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Well, thank you very much. I ran a business for many years, I could run an office, and I know my way around and possibly something good will happen out of this.
SIMON: Well, it's been awfully good to for you to speak with us. Thank you so much.
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: And I thank you for your time and thank you.
SIMON: Allan Goldstein, who was an investor with Bernard Madoff, joining us from Albany in New York.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
There's a birthday celebration tonight at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Benny Golson is turning 80 years old. Benny Golson played the saxophone with Dizzy Gillespie's band of the 1950s, also played alongside Lionel Hampton and Johnny Hodges. He was co-leader of the famous Jazztet with trumpeter Art Farmer in the early '60s. As a composer, he's written some of the most memorable melodies in jazz including "I Remember Clifford," "Whisper Not," and this one, "Killer Joe."
(Soundbite of song "Killer Joe")
SIMON: In a busy and varied career, Benny Golson has also written scores for TV shows, including "Mission Impossible," "M*A*S*H," and "The Cosby Show." He was immortalized in "The Terminal" when that hapless traveler played by Tom Hanks is finally released from airport purgatory and takes a cab straight to a club to meet his idol, Benny Golson.
(Soundbite of movie "The Terminal")
Mr. TOM HANKS: (As Viktor Navorski) You are Benny Golson?
Mr. BENNY GOLSON (Jazz Musician): Yeah, yes, I am. Yeah.
Mr. HANKS: (As Viktor Navorski) Benny Golson, I am Viktor Navorski. I am from Krakozhia. My father, Dimitar Asenov Navorski, he was a great, great fan of your music.
Mr. GOLSON: Oh, a jazz fan, fantastic.
Mr. HANKS: (As Viktor Navorski) Yes, it is. Sign your name please.
Mr. GOLSON: Uh-oh. Can I do it a little later? We have - we have to get started now. Just a minute.
Mr. HANKS: (As Viktor Navorski) Oh, I will wait.
Mr. GOLSON: OK.
SIMON: Benny Golson just released a new CD on Concord Jazz. It's called "New Time, New Tet."
(Soundbite of jazz music)
SIMON: Benny Golson joins us in our studio. What a pleasure to meet you. Thanks so much.
Mr. GOLSON: Pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.
SIMON: Well, I think it's safe to say I've heard more about you.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: You're Benny Golson after all.
Mr. GOLSON: I am seeing and hearing close up now for the first time.
SIMON: Well, it's a real pleasure to meet you, Benny. And tell us again about this new CD, "New Time, New Tet." The title means?
Mr. GOLSON: Well, it's a resurrection of the old Jazztet. See, when we had the group together, it was a Jazztet, but we used to refer to it as the Tet. What time does the Tet hit? When is the Tet's next gig? Just cutting everything short. And I think they drew upon that. With the resurrection and its news, we have some new members. Of course my partner Art Farmer passed on a little while ago. And all new musicians - I'm the only one from the past. And we've got a new approach to what we're doing now. We didn't only draw upon the jazz things, but we went to the realm of some of the classics like Chopin and Giuseppe Verdi with a new approach to it.
(Soundbite of jazz music)
SIMON: We've been talking about some of the classical - some of the classical arrangements and classical compositions that you have on the CD. Let's listen, if we can, to some Chopin in its original form on the piano, and then we'll see how that makes the transition into your arrangement.
Mr. GOLSON: Interesting.
(Soundbite of Chopin Waltz performed on the piano)
Mr. GOLSON: Yes.
SIMON: Now that's the Chopin waltz that's often known as the "Farewell Waltz."
Mr. GOLSON: Yeah.
SIMON: L'adieu.
Mr. GOLSON: L'adieu, yeah.
SIMON: And here's your version, which you called L'adieu.
(Soundbite of composition "L'adieu")
Mr. GOLSON: I started out as a piano student when I was nine, and he was one of my favorites. And what I wanted to do is transfer the sound from the piano to the trumpet. But you notice as he's playing, there is a piano accompanying him, just the two in the beginning.
SIMON: Oh.
Mr. GOLSON: Later the horns join, and it becomes something from the 21st century.
SIMON: Yeah.
(Soundbite of composition "L'adieu")
SIMON: Eddie Henderson on trumpet.
Mr. GOLSON: Eddie Henderson - he's a doctor. I don't know if you know that.
SIMON: I did not know. Medical doctor or...? No, doctor...
Mr. GOLSON: He was a psychiatrist. He had a practice in San Francisco for 10 years. And the music, the trumpet won out. And he was also an ice skater. He was in Ice Capades.
SIMON: (Laughing) No, I didn't know that.
Mr. GOLSON: Incredible.
SIMON: He said he was at the Ice Capades?
Mr. GOLSON: Yes, an ice skater...
SIMON: That in and of itself, an ice skating psychiatrist, is pretty unexpected, but then he becomes a great trumpeter.
Mr. GOLSON: What an aberration. Yeah, that's him, Dr. Eddie Henderson.
SIMON: How did - may I ask, how did you find - you grew up in Philadelphia, right?
Mr. GOLSON: Yes.
SIMON: How did you find the saxophone, or how did the saxophone find you?
Mr. GOLSON: Well, as I said, I started as a piano student, and I went at it assiduously, I mean, I fancied that I wanted to be a concert pianist, and that got a few chuckles in the ghetto, you know.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLSON: Everybody is playing the blues, and I'm talking about Chopin. But when I reached the age of 14, I went to the theater in downtown Philadelphia to see Lionel Hampton, and everybody was saying at high school how great this band was.
(Soundbite of jazz music)
Mr. GOLSON: And I'd never seen a live band before, and I was mesmerized. And the saxophone stood up from the section, came out to the edge of the stage, and lo and behold, right from the floor, this microphone came up out of the floor, and he started to play. And that's when the piano paled.
(Soundbite of laughter)
(Soundbite of jazz music)
Mr. GOLSON: Arnett Cobb was the fellow that was playing that saxophone. Many years later, I told him that I played the saxophone because of him. He was so impressed, I saw a tear in his eye.
SIMON: Oh...
Mr. GOLSON: Yeah.
SIMON: Well, of course. Now, do I get this right? Growing up in Philadelphia, you knew the great John Coltrane and Jimmy Heath?
Mr. GOLSON: Oh, John and I were like blood brothers. I mean, I was 16 when I met him, and he was 18. And we spent our time in my living room listening to lots of 78 records, trying to figure out what was going on. And we had a beat-up piano in the corner, and I'd play after a fashion while he played. And he played worse than I did, for me. We really annoyed the neighbors. We were on the front room and it was the summertime.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: I see, this is hilarious. You annoyed the neighbors. But I wonder what the neighbors would think if, you know, Benny Golson and John Coltrane...
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: ...were playing next door.
Mr. GOLSON: But we knew we were getting better. My mother would go to the market, and after a few months, we were getting requests. Do they know "Body and Soul"?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLSON: Do they know "Don't Blame Me"?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GOLSON: So we knew we were progressing, see?
(Soundbite of jazz music)
SIMON: And what's the performing life for you?
Mr. GOLSON: The performing life - let me start by saying this. One night at the club, one of the owners came up and he asked, are you going to play a particular song? I said, oh, yes, we'll play it. And then he asked, what solo will you play? And I said, I don't know. And he was taken aback. You don't know? As though I was disorganized. I said, no, no, no, jazz is about improvisation. Metaphorically it's like going to the same forest all the time, but to different trees. That's what happens with music, the moment, improvisation.
(Soundbite of jazz music)
SIMON: The CD also has one of your most famous tunes, sung here by Al Jarreau.
Mr. GOLSON: Oh, yes.
SIMON: "Whisper Not." Let's take a listen.
(Soundbite of song "Whisper Not")
Mr. AL JARREAU: (Singing) Sing low, sing clear, Sweet words in my ear. Not a whisper of despair, But love's own prayer...
SIMON: Of course Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Mel Torme the - among the vocalists who've sung this is one - considered one of the great jazz standards.
Mr. GOLSON: You're au courant. Not everybody knows that.
SIMON: Oh, well, I have the advantage of producers who make me au courant. Problem is you can't bring them round in your personal life, so I'm often...
Mr. GOLSON: OK.
SIMON: I'm often stumped in my personal life.
Mr. GOLSON: Great.
SIMON: But do I have this right? This song began as an instrumental?
Mr. GOLSON: Oh, yes, definitely. Leonard Feather, he was - he's passed on now, he was a jazz critic.
SIMON: Yeah.
Mr. GOLSON: He wrote them without my knowledge and sent them to me one day and told me, what do you think of this? It sounded pretty good.
(Soundbite of song "Whisper Not")
Mr. AL JARREAU: (Singing) So now, we'll be, On key constantly. Love will whisper on eternally. So do you see what I did.
SIMON: "Whisper Not," I gather, is the title of your forthcoming autobiography.
Mr. GOLSON: Yes, it's coming. The problem is the publisher wants no more than 300 pages. I have well over a thousand. So...
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Oh my word.
Mr. GOLSON: Trying to boil it down.
SIMON: Well, you have a rich life.
Mr. GOLSON: Yeah.
SIMON: Is it a time in your life when you ask what you hope people take from your music?
Mr. GOLSON: I hope they have privy to look into the deepest grotto of my heart's core to understand what I'm about musically. And maybe they'll understand that what they hear is the reflection of my inner parts - my thinking, my curiosity, my imagination, and creative ability.
SIMON: Benny, thanks so much.
Mr. GOLSON: Thank you.
SIMON: And happy birthday.
Mr. GOLSON: Thanks so much.
SIMON: Composer and saxophonist Benny Golson. He will be celebrated at the Kennedy Center tonight for his 80th birthday, which is actually tomorrow. "New time, New Tet" is on the Concord Jazz label. And once again, Happy Birthday.
Mr. GOLSON: Thank you.
(Soundbite of jazz music)
SIMON: And you can hear full audio cuts from Benny Golson's new album - really worth doing too - on our Web site, nprmusic.org.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Carlo Ponti Jr. believes that classical music is just music, after all. He's trying to make it popular and appreciated among more people. Mr. Ponti is the music director and conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra in California. He's also featured as the conductor on the new CD, "Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition," by the Russian National Orchestra. Carlo Ponti Jr. joins us now from the studios of NPR West. Thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. CARLO PONTI Jr. (Director and Music Conductor): Thank you, Mr. Simon. It's a pleasure to be on your show.
SIMON: I don't know how you became a musician, and let's note for our audience, of course, your father was perhaps the most famous world film producer of his time, Carlo Ponti and your mother, still the most beautiful woman in the world, I'd say.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Sophia Loren. How did you find your way to music?
Mr. PONTI: Well, it was always something that I - that came to me quite naturally. I was a pianist by trade. But I must say, whenever I performed in piano, whenever I performed in public, I always had, you know, specific adrenaline which we all have. But in that situation, it didn't work for me. It sort of froze me instead of freeing me, you know. And when I'm on a podium, when I'm conducting an orchestra in a concert, that extra kind of adrenaline really gives me the edge that I need to make the concert exciting.
SIMON: And why is it important to you to bring new audiences to classical music?
Mr. PONTI: Because I think that classical music especially with youth and with the students in the school, with whom I work very closely in San Bernardino, desperately need specific education in the musical classics, were it not only for the fact that it teaches them how to live, it teaches them how to be organized, it teaches them organized thought...
SIMON: Mm hmm.
Mr. PONTI: It teaches them how to have a community, how to be unified, things I think that young people in this day and age really, really need.
SIMON: And classical features some of these disciplines more than some other forms of music?
Mr. PONTI: Well, I think it does in a way, because classical music is really cooperating between players whether it's, you know, chamber music or a big symphony orchestra, the concept of cooperation is always there, and also the concept of interaction, of listening to one another - those are all things I think that are mirrored in social life.
SIMON: You go into the schools a lot, I gather.
Mr. PONTI: Mm hmm.
SIMON: And do you find things changing? Because there doesn't seem to be a youngster in the United States or Western Europe now that doesn't have a set of earbuds in his or her ears.
Mr. PONTI: That's very true, but the school, you know, at least in this country are - not so much in Europe, but in this country are very much lacking in specific education in music, and sadly the first thing that get cuts of the curriculum is the music classes, you know, so it's something that we've had to really fight against, you know, in America because the general public is not as informed and so tends not to support symphonic music so much, whereas in Europe it's much more part - a mandatory part of the school program, and so you have a population group which is informed and which supports much more symphonic music.
SIMON: I want to play a clip of music now from a piece that you say, if somebody wants to acquire a good working interest in classical music, they should begin with this.
(Soundbite of "Ninth Symphony" by Beethoven)
SIMON: Now why Beethoven's Ninth, Mr. Ponti?
Mr. PONTI: Because Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, I've done it many, many times in concert and I always found that even if the audience is constituted of people that are not very much informed about classical music, it's such an organic symphony, and the flow of it is so natural, and the themes that he chose are so universal that anybody can be - if it's done of course right, if it's interpreted right, anybody almost can be touched by his message.
(Soundbite of music by Mussorgsky)
SIMON: Tell us, if you could, about Mussorgsky?
Mr. PONTI: Mussorsky was a composer of the romantic era - a Russian composer of the Romantic period. And he was a very talented composer, but he had the quite nasty habit of liking to have a good time a little bit too much and he liked to drink a little bit. And so he never really pulled works to their full fruition, meaning that he started and then he never finished them really. He never, you know, wrote them for full orchestra, he always left them in piano reduction form because he did not finish his work. And so he left to others the task of specifically orchestrating his works. And with the case of "Pictures at an Exhibition" it started out as a work for solo piano and Maurice Ravel, which is a French composer and very famous orchestrator of the 20th century, took upon himself to transcribe the work for full orchestra.
(Soundbite of orchestral version of Mussorsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition")
SIMON: I'm told your wife is a violinist?
Mr. PONTI: She's a violinist, yes.
SIMON: And you have a two-year-old son?
Mr. PONTI: Yes, almost two years old.
SIMON: Now have you met any of these American couples who, literally when they're pregnant, will hold the speaker playing classical music to the stomach of the expectant mother?
Mr. PONTI: Well, there's many ideologies I think, and I don't discredit any of them, I mean my son Vittorio was - I remember when he was still in the womb I was learning Schumann's First Symphony, you know, the Spring symphony of his.
SIMON: What do you mean, he was learning? He was still in the womb? (Laughing)
Mr. PONTI: No, I was learning.
SIMON: Oh, you were learning, OK, yeah.
Mr. PONTI: I was, kind of love it. I was - or maybe also he was learning, who knows? And so I think, you know, he might, you know, when he hears it again in a few years it might sound familiar.
SIMON: Mr. Ponti, thanks so much for your time.
Mr. PONTI: Thank you, thank you. It was a pleasure.
SIMON: Carlo Ponti Jr., music director and principal conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra joining us from our studios at NPR West, and this is music from Mussorsky, "Pictures at an Exhibition," by the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Carlo Ponti Jr.
(Soundbite of "Pictures at an Exhibition")
SIMON: And you can hear recordings of Carlo Ponti's work on one of our Web sites, nprmusic.org.
(Soundbite of "Pictures at an Exhibition")
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. President Obama spent much of the day yesterday in meetings about the economy. It doesn't sound like a cheery day. The administration is pledged to reach bipartisan consensus on an economic stimulus package to signify the Democrats and Republicans agree the economy is in serious crisis and something bold needs to be done. So far, the lineup in Congress seems to be divided. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
DON GONYEA: The president's schedule yesterday included four separate economic meetings, one with his choice to be Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, another on the federal budget. His daily calendar now includes a daily economic briefing not unlike the national security brief the president receives every morning. And there was a morning session Friday in the Roosevelt Room with the Democratic and Republican leadership from Capitol Hill. The topic there was the proposed $825 billion economic stimulus currently being debated on the Hill.
President BARACK OBAMA: I want to thank both the House and the Senate for moving forward very diligently on this process of getting a recovery and renewal plan passed. I know that it is a heavy lift to do something as substantial as we're doing right now...
GONYEA: The president acknowledged that there were differences around the table on the details both between the administration and Congress, and among leaders in Congress. Afterward, in the White House driveway, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was pleased that Mr. Obama had sought GOP input.
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky; Senate Minority Leader): The administration strikes me as open to our suggestions, and we've made a number of them, both Senate and House leadership. I do think we'll be able to meet the president's deadline of getting a package to him by mid-February.
GONYEA: He was joined at the mike by House Republican Leader John Boehner, who was more directly critical, though not of the president.
Representative JOHN BOEHNER (Republican, Ohio): You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package, and I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there. How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives, how does that stimulate the economy? You can go through a whole host of issues in this bill that have nothing to do with growing jobs in America and helping people keep their jobs.
GONYEA: One of the disagreements involves the way tax cuts are administered. The Republicans want tax reductions for all working Americans who pay income taxes and for businesses. And they oppose a plan to give a cut to all Americans, even those who don't earn enough to pay income taxes. They call that a government giveaway. But the president disagrees and argues that the November election result backs his position. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the divide.
Mr. ROBERT GIBBS (White House Press Secretary): This is work in progress. It didn't end today. It didn't start today. There's a committee process. There's a floor process. We all understand the different sausage-making aspects of legislation. I think it's a little premature to prejudge all of this.
GONYEA: But not premature to argue about it, which is what Washington does best. Don Gonyea, NPR News, the White House.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
NPR's news analyst Juan Williams has also had his eye on the Obama administration this week. He joins us in our studio. Juan, thanks for being with us.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: We just heard Don say that all the public amity and vows to work together - to the contrary, the stimulus package seems to be a pretty much one-party affair so far. What's in the House draft of the stimulus package and what are some of the sticking points?
WILLIAMS: Well, in the House draft is - it's been devised by the Democrats, who are in the majority, as you know. There's like $5,000 tax credit for anybody that makes less than $75,000 a year. They also want to boost the earned income tax credit for people who aren't paying taxes in the country. And they want to put money in, of course, for things like colleges and alternative fuels and the like. And that really has set the Republicans on edge because their argument is more of this money should be going to, let's say, small businesses and tax breaks in the form - in forms that would generate job creation and economic activity.
Now, yesterday there was this wonderful exchange, as reported at the White House, the president meeting with all the leaders. And Jon Kyl, the senator from Arizona, says he doesn't see why there should be these tax breaks for low-income people, to which Barack Obama, President Obama, responds, I won. There was a November election, and I won. Argument's settled. Republicans are taking this to be kind of a slap in the face from a man who had promised that there would be a bipartisan approach.
The other thing that's in there that upsets them are things like money for contraception, for energy savings plans, money that goes to the states to help with Medicare and Medicaid. Some of the Republicans say that's just going to allow the states to waste money on other items because the federal government's covering their expenses on required spending, entitlement spending for health care.
SIMON: And let me steer over to Guantanamo. President Obama signed off on closing - shutting down within a year. It happens in more or less the same day it got reported that a prisoner who was released from Guantanamo in 2007 has become an al-Qaeda leader in Yemen. Now, does this suggest that closing Guantanamo is going to be more complicated?
WILLIAMS: It's complicated. I don't think anybody ever thought it wasn't complicated. Now there was a gesture made this week - and I think about how I use that word, gesture - by President Obama in signing an order saying we're going to close Guantanamo Bay. But of course he hasn't dealt with the complexities of it. How do you deal with these people? Do they go to military courts? Do we have to have legislation that creates new vehicles for dealing with people where you couldn't have evidence introduced because the evidence against was gained through intelligence or maybe even coercive measures? Are other countries willing to take some of these people from Guantanamo? And what happens if that country is Yemen that took, for example, this man we're talking about and now has allowed him back onto the battlefield.
SIMON: We're going to play a clip from "The Daily Show" that I think - of course, there are some - some of our listeners want us to play - only play clips from "The Daily Show," as a matter of fact, when we're on the air. Well, let me go ahead and suggest it - play it and get your reaction.
(Soundbite of TV show "The Daily Show")
Former President GEORGE W. BUSH: We can usher in a new era of enhanced prosperity and peace.
President BARACK OBAMA: America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
Former President BUSH: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom?
President OBAMA: We carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Ms. JON STEWART (Host, "The Daily Show"): Why are you doing this?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Of course, Jon Stewart. Does this suggest that where you stand depends on where you sit, and Mr. Obama now sits in the Oval Office?
WILLIAMS: He sits in the Oval Office. He's getting all the briefings that President - former President Bush, former Vice President Cheney ever got. He's under the pressure to make sure the country is not attacked again. He's got to deal with the weight of those issues. This morning, there came news that he'd approved an air strike in Pakistan, despite protests coming from the Pakistani government. So he's continuing so many of the policies of the Bush administration.
And the language - you know, if you think about the inaugural language where he talked about not terrorists - don't make any mistake, the American spirit's not going to be broken - where he spoke to the Arab world about understanding it's not what they destroy, but what they build that will allow their people to prosper. I think Jon Stewart is on to something here. If you're president, there is certain language that you have to use, but of course I think it's off-putting given the call for change that came from the campaigner, the candidate Obama.
SIMON: Before you go, finally, this morning, Juan, you of course were the - you wrote "Eyes on the Prize."
WILLIAMS: Right.
SIMON: I don't mind saying the definitive history of the American civil rights movement. What's this moment like - to see Barack Obama as president of the United States?
WILLIAMS: Scott, it's stunning, you know. President Obama didn't really use the language of the movement in his speech. I think he spoke as the American president. But Joe Lowery, who helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King, Jr., when he started quoting from "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in his benediction and talking about silent tears and talking about days that he could not have dreamed of with Dr. King, I just - I started to get emotional. It's unbelievable, Scott.
SIMON: Yeah. Thanks very much, Juan Williams.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This score in girls' high school basketball just in: Covenant 100 - Dallas Academy zero. Ouch! But now it's the winner that's embarrassed. The Covenant Knights defeated the Dallas Academy Bulldogs by that one-sided score last week. Covenant is a private religious school. Dallas Academy is a very small private school that offers personal attention to students with learning differences like dyslexia. Parents who attended the game said it looked like shooting practice for Covenant. The team deployed a full-court press against Dallas Academy and gunned for thee-point shots even after the first half ended with the score at 59 to nothing. So this week Covenant issued a statement on its Web site saying, we humbly apologize. The school has asked Athletic Conference officials to let it forfeit the game because a victory without honor is a great loss.
This week Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, invited the Dallas Academy team to sit in his private box to watch a game. He did not invite the players from Covenant. Now, it's tempting to portray the Covenant team as greedy, spoiled athletes, but years ago, a pro basketball coach explained to me that trying to hold down the score of a game when you're far ahead is not easy. It not only violates every competitive instinct instilled in athletes, it harms the integrity of the game. Players are supposed to score points. They are obliged to play as hard as they can, whether winning or losing. Getting the ball and just throwing it around like a sofa pillow until time is called actually demeans and mocks an opponent as much, maybe more, than continuing to score.
And the eight players on the Dallas Academy team don't deserve condescension. Their small school hasn't won a game in more than four years. The fact that they kept on playing and didn't whine, cry, or complain is one of the defining character traits of true champions. Forfeiting the game might seem a good way for Covenant to publicly atone for the adolescent excesses of its basketball team and coaches and reverse adverse publicity, but I wonder if a forfeit is good for Dallas Academy. Will the players see their one lonely W among all the Ls for losses and be reminded of a great victory or a great act of pity? I'd like to think that if and when their athletic conference offers the Dallas Academy Bulldogs a forfeit, they'll have the pride to say, no thanks. We'll wait to win one on our own. As Bulldog's Shelby Hyatt told the Dallas Morning News, even if you're losing, you might as well keep playing, keep trying, and it's going to be OK.
(Soundbite of song "I'm Shooting High")
Mr. CHRIS O'CONNOR: (Singing) I'm shooting high, Got my eye on the star in the sky. Shooting high, I'll never stop till I get to the top, Tell me why shouldn't I...
SIMON: And this is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. While the nation and the world are focused on President Barack Obama's inauguration, halfway across the country, another political milestone has been reached. For the first time in U.S. history, two African-Americans lead both chambers of a state legislature, and it's happened in a state with a very small black population. From Rocky Mountain Community Radio, Bente Birkeland reports from Denver.
BENTE BIRKELAND: Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, James Meredith, Thurgood Marshall, Terrance Carroll, certainly you're familiar with the trailblazing accomplishments of the first four Americans, but Terrance Carroll?
Unidentified Woman: I - and say your name.
Assemblyman TERRANCE CARROLL (Democrat, Denver, Colorado): I, Terrance Carroll.
Unidentified Woman: Do solemnly swear.
Assemblyman CARROLL: Do solemnly swear.
Unidentified Woman: That I will uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Assemblyman CARROLL: That I will uphold the Constitution of the United States.
BIRKELAND: Terrance Carroll, the son of a sharecropper's daughter who grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., was part of history earlier this month. One of only two black lawmakers in the Colorado state legislature, Carroll was sworn in as the state's next speaker of the house, the first black in Colorado to accomplish that feat. The other African-American in the legislature, Peter Groff, is the president of the state senate. Never before have two blacks led both chambers of a state legislature. The history has not gotten past Carroll or Groff.
Assemblyman CARROLL: You can't help but notice that you really do have a large responsibility, not just for this chamber, but also for your community, and not just the black community in Colorado, but, you know, for the entire nation. And that's a lot of weight to bear.
State Senator PETER GROFF (Democrat, Denver, Colorado): We're standing on the shoulders of a generation that went straight from the streets of protests into the halls of power. We grew up in the halls of power, and so we look at solving issues in a completely different way, not from a racial standpoint, but from a standpoint of what's going to be best for all Coloradans.
BIRKELAND: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, African-Americans make up only four percent of Colorado's population. And while Groff acknowledges it's unusual Colorado would be the first state in the country to have two black legislative leaders, he says it also makes sense.
State Sen. GROFF: There is less of a racial legacy in Colorado than compared to Alabama. We didn't have to go through slavery, reconstruction, and then Jim Crow for decades and then try and work our way out of that. So it speaks more, I think, to my colleagues and to the state than it does to us.
BIRKELAND: And it helps that Democrats have been making political inroads. Two years ago, they expanded their margins in the state legislature and gained control of the governor's office. Last fall, they picked up a U.S. Senate seat and a House seat. Coloradans also voted for Barack Obama, turning the state blue for the first time in three presidential election cycles and only the second time since 1964. John Straayer is a political science professor at Colorado State University. He says the selection of Groff and Carroll should be placed into this broader context.
Professor JOHN STRAAYER (Political Science, Colorado State University): Their ascendancy to positions of leadership also parallel the advance of the Democrat Party. Prior to that with the Republicans in control, obviously Democrats like Groff and Carroll would never advance to leadership positions. It is historical. It's also very understandable given their capabilities.
BIRKELAND: Both have law degrees and are good friends living just 10 blocks from each other in Denver. And they have similar leadership styles - even-tempered, smart, and well-liked. Carroll, the great-grandson of a slave and raised by a single mother with a third-grade education, says he's especially proud of how far he and his country have come.
Assemblyman CARROLL: Then when you have time to reflect about where you started and where you are right now, you know, I just kind of pinch myself and say, really, am I right here about to do this right now?
BIRKELAND: The state's busy legislative session won't give Carroll much time to reflect on his role in history, but when a woman sang an anthem about African-American hope and patriotism during his swearing-in ceremony, there was no mistaking it.
(Soundbite of song "Lift Every Voice and Sing")
Unidentified Vocalist: (Singing) Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us...
BIRKELAND: For NPR News, I'm Bente Birkeland in Denver.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
President Obama has well-publicized roots in Kenya. The village where his father is buried has been swarming with international press since then Senator Obama visited in 2006. It's called Kogelo. But the president also has relatives in another village nearby, and they say they'd like some attention too. NPR's Gwen Thompkins reports.
GWEN THOMPKINS: Tourists come to Africa every year to see what is called the big five - elephants, leopards, buffalos, rhinos, and lions - that remind us that the world is still a magical place. But the Kenyan Tourist Board is hoping that foreigners will come to see their big six: elephants, leopards, buffalos, rhinos, lions, and Obamas. Southwestern Kenya is home to the extended family of U.S. President Barack Obama. His father is buried not far from the shores of Lake Victoria, and so was his father's father. Fred Okeyo(ph) works for the Kenya Tourist Board. He says Obama is good for business.
Mr. FRED OKEYO (Kenya Tourist Board): Because of his linkage with Kenya, we've seen a great amount of interest from the travel trade and from various parts of the world.
THOMPKINS: And Kenya could use a boost. Okeyo says tourism plunged by nearly 30 percent in 2008 because of post-election violence here. But Kogelo, Kenya, the tiny farming village to which Mr. Obama referred in his inaugural address, could be a draw. The Kenyan government has plans to tarmac the dirt road leading to Kogelo, and they've also brought electricity there and expanded the water supply. But so far there are no plans to improve another village that claims the Obama pedigree. It's called Kobama. That's where Mr. Obama's great grandfather lived and died. But even Fred Okeyo is unclear about exactly where Kobama is.
Mr. OKEYO: No. I've not been to a town called Kobama. Where is that, huh?
THOMPKINS: It's not on the map, but then Kogelo isn't on the map either. Both communities are several miles from the regional capital of southwestern Kenya, and both communities are surrounded by handsome countryside. Sometimes when the sun catches the landscape just so, the area looks like a painting by one of the old masters, one of those Flemish pastoral scenes. And while Kogelo is reveling in its good fortune, the folks in Kobama say they could use some of that tarmac, electricity, and water piping too. Eli Muga Obilo Obama(ph) says his father and the president's grandfather were brothers.
Mr. ELI MUGA OBILO OBAMA: We don't see the reason as to why we should be left out, because we are also real family members. So if the government or any organization has something for them, then we should also expect to get the same. If we are given something, we won't mind.
THOMPKINS: The Obamas of Kobama say they recall a visit from a young Barack in the mid 1980s. Cousins point out a house where he is said to have slept for two nights. They are hoping for a museum in Kobama. Roy Obama(ph) is a distant cousin of the president.
Mr. ROY OBAMA: Everybody wants to associate with his family, including the government, nongovernmental organizations. And because of that, we are expecting development.
THOMPKINS: When then Senator Obama visited Kenya again in 2006, he skipped Kobama. But the people here say they didn't take offense. Many went to Kogelo to see him because that's what you do for family. Gwen Thompkins, NPR News, Kobama, Kenya.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Yesterday, Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested in Rwanda. He's been leading a rebellion in Congo since 2004. Groups like Human Rights Watch have said that soldiers under his command have been responsible for much of the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including mutilation and rape. Next month, Eve Ensler, author of "The Vagina Monologues," and Dr. Denis Mukwege are setting off on a tour to tell the stories of women who have survived sexual violence in Congo. Dr. Mukwege is a gynecologist by training. He's founded the Panzi hospital in Congo, a place where victims can find treatment and counseling. He's been honored by the U.N. Thank you very much for being with us, Dr. Mukwege.
Dr. DENIS MUKWEGE (Gynecologist; Founder, Panzi Hospital, Congo): Yes, Simon.
SIMON: We are also joined by Eve Alice Rustock Stohler(ph) who'll be translating for Dr. Mukwege. Eve Ensler joins us from our studios in New York. Thank you.
Ms. EVE ENSLER (Playwright, "The Vagina Monologues"): I'm thrilled to be here.
SIMON: And let's alert the audience. We're talking about a vicious crime and some of the language may be graphic. Dr. Mukwege, tell us about the women that you treat in your hospital. What's happened to them? What do you try to do for them?
Dr. MUKWEGE: (Through Translator) The first thing is to help them on a psychological level because when they arrive they are psychologically traumatized, and we need to help them feel like human beings again before we can do anything else. The second type of help we give is medical help. And there 30 percent of women who are in the hospital will undergo major genital surgery. The surgery will be to repair vaginal fistula in parts or the whole vagina.
SIMON: Eve Ensler, how did you become involved?
Ms. ENSLER: I was asked to interview Dr. Mukwege around two years ago at the request of OTA(ph), a U.N. group. And I think it was the first visit to Bukavu when I spent a few weeks interviewing women and being at Panzi Hospital and sitting and hearing the stories. I had really never heard anything like what was going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo - without a doubt the worst crimes towards women.
SIMON: Look, it's Saturday morning, but at the risk of being graphic, can I ask you to tell us what's going on?
Ms. ENSLER: It's estimated that between 300, 400 thousand women have been raped in the last 10 to 12 years. It's really important we know that this is not all the men of the Congo or Rwanda who are committing the rapes. It's a very small percentage of men. But I will say that the crimes that are going on range from girls as young as six months, nine months old, their vaginas being ripped apart; eight-year-old girls were held for two weeks at a time and raped by scores of soldiers so that they become incontinent from fistula; eighty-year-old women being raped; groups of soldiers being sent into villages who are known to have AIDS to rape the community so that they infect all the women in those communities; women being strategically raped in front of their husbands, so that they absolutely destroy the infrastructure of the family.
You know, one woman who Dr. Mukwege operated on and saved her life, she was shot in her vagina with a gun, and her insides were so blown apart, Dr. Mukwege didn't even know where to begin the operation.
SIMON: Dr. Mukwege, how does it come to be historically in terms of recent events that sexual assault should become so prevalent in Congo?
Dr. MUKWEGE: (Through Translator) The most important reason, among others, is that rape is used as a war strategy. When a woman is publicly raped, and so violently, not only is she traumatized, but the whole community is traumatized - her husband, her children, and the whole village. The result is often that a population will leave the village and will leave it to the armed bands who can then use the cattle and the fields. And so that's just as good a result as using weapons.
Ms. ENSLER: And...
SIMON: Eve Ensler.
Ms. ENSLER: And if I can add, I mean, I think it's really important to remember that the war in Congo is essentially an economic war. It is a war that's being fought over mines and fought over resources because it is plentiful there. And I think rape is a very cheap method of warfare. You don't have to buy scud missiles or hand grenades. You just send soldiers in, and they take care of communities. And it's often right near mines, because once the village has been raped and destroyed, then people flee, and the bandits and the rebels can then take over those particular mines.
SIMON: Dr. Mukwege, from your point of view, what can people listening to our broadcast in America do if they are moved to help? What can they do both to stop the crime of rape and to help the women who you treat as patients and others who can't get to you to be treated?
Mr. MUKWEGE: (Through Translator) We need the help of Americans for the hospital. We need Americans' help to heal women in the hospital, but also to help the women who cannot be healed, the women who cannot be cured because they have such problems - they have no more vagina, no more rectums, no more bladders - and these women need to be taken care of in a different way. The second type of help we need is for prevention, because some women leave the hospital, but they come back months later in an even worse state. Sometimes they have contacted VIH when they didn't have it before.
And so we need the help of Americans to prevent these things to happen. And we need the Americans to put pressure on the political actors of the countries of the Great Lakes so that there will be a political will to prevent these horrible crimes.
SIMON: I want to thank you both for all of your time. Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavo in Democratic Republic of Congo, thank you so much for being with us.
Mr. MUKWEGE: Thank you. Bye-bye.
SIMON: Also, Eve Alice Rustock Stohler, who was our interpreter. And Eve Ensler, of course author of "The Vagina Monologues" and founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women, thank you very much for being with us.
Ms. ENSLER: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Time now for your letters.
(Soundbite of typewriter)
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: You've done it again this morning. I laughed, I cried. So writes Emily Mazer(ph) of Tucson, Arizona. I got a little misty hearing all the inauguration interviews. I remember watching John Kennedy's inauguration at the age of eight. I brought all my dolls into our TV room to watch the momentous occasion. I was lucky to be at home because we got a snow day in Long Branch, New Jersey. There was snow in Washington that day as well. I only hope the memories of Barack Obama's inauguration loom large in another eight-year-old on Tuesday.
Now, regarding our interview with teenage video bloggers who traveled from Colorado to Washington for the inauguration, Susy Malia(ph) of Portland, Oregon, wrote in with a subject line, pardon me, sir, but your generation gap is showing. Thank you Weekend Edition for featuring youth activists Alyssa Roberts and Olivia Rudeen, she writes. And shame on you, Scott Simon, for letting your surprise sound so patronizing. The teenagers whose political experience and involvement you laughingly questioned appeared to have shown more get out the vote initiative than most people twice and three times their age. I appreciate your nod to these new voters and hope you'll treat others with due respect. We'll be relying on their political and financial resources sooner than we expect.
Now, speaking of Alyssa and Olivia, you may have heard in NPR's coverage of the inauguration that more than 5,000 ticket holders outside the security gates were denied entry to the National Mall.
(Soundbite of protesters shouting)
Ms. ALYSSA ROBERTS (Teenage Blogger): So here's what happened. Each of these grains of rice represents one person. We have the certain metro stop we're supposed to get off of right here because we have purple tickets. So we get off, like we're supposed to, and then there's a spot we have to go to get in line, about hereish. But we get there, and there's this huge line of people with purple tickets. It was really, really sad.
SIMON: That's Alyssa Roberts on our video blog using a diagram of rice grains to demonstrate what she and Olivia went through. The inaugural committee later apologized to those who didn't get in. But we're happy to report that Alyssa and Olivia made it in after the initial snarl and got to the ceremony just in time to hear President Obama take the oath of office. You can see Alyssa and Olivia's latest video on our blog, npr.org/soapbox. We welcome your comments. Just come to our Web site npr.org, click on "Contact Us," and please tell us where you live and how to say your name.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Many historic movie theaters were shuttered in the 1950s with the growing popularity of television. Elaborate pipe organs that provided the live music for silent films were put into storage. But in pockets around the country, especially Northern California, historical architects have now restored a number of these movie houses to their original design and reinstalled the organs. One of the most popular brands was the Mighty Wurlitzer. Reporter April Dembosky introduces us to one Wurlitzer and its proud performer.
(Soundbite of the Mighty Wurlitzer)
APRIL DEMBOSKY: Jim Riggs is an anonymous celebrity.
Mr. JIM RIGGS (Organist, The Mighty Wurlitzer): I've played for, I don't know, over a million people in the Bay Area the last 20 something years, but they don't know what my face looks like.
DEMBOSKY: His most regular gig is playing for movie audiences 30 minutes before show time at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. His ruddy complexion, bowtie, and loafers give him the look of a high school history teacher, but his many fans know him only by the back of his head.
Mr. RIGGS: It kind of goes with the territory. Matter of fact, years ago I took a Craigslist personal ad out, and it went something like, ever wondered who that organist playing at the Paramount or the Castro Theater, what he's like? Because you never see his face. And it went on like that. Actually, I got a couple of nice responses too.
DEMBOSKY: Riggs plays the Mighty Wurlitzer organ, which has more than 1,800 pipes, four keyboards, 244 keys, and 32 foot pedals.
Mr. RIGGS: I can't tell you how many times I've heard, that looks like the cockpit of a 747.
(Soundbite of the Mighty Wurlitzer)
Mr. RIGGS: There's a celesta, there's a glockenspiel, two xylophones.
(Soundbite of Wurlitzer xylophone sound effect)
Mr. RIGGS: The drums, the cymbals, tambourines, castanets.
(Soundbite of Wurlitzer castanets sound effect)
Mr. RIGGS: And then there are silent film sound effects - things like horses' hooves.
(Soundbite of Wurlitzer horse's hooves sound effect)
Mr. RIGGS: There's a surf effect or a crash cymbal.
(Soundbite of Wurlitzer cymbals sound effect)
DEMBOSKY: The sounds don't come out anywhere near the keyboard. Riggs shows me to the secret room where the music is actually made - the organ chamber. The chamber is a story above the stage overlooking the seats, which means we have to climb a narrow iron ladder to get there.
Mr. RIGGS: I hope you're not afraid of heights.
DEMBOSKY: Wow. It looks like a room in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, with very elaborate, very shiny plumbing. The pipes go from being as short as a pencil to as tall as a house. When Riggs plays the key on the organ console marked English horn, this is where the sound comes out.
(Soundbite of Wurlitzer English horn sound effect)
DEMBOSKY: There's the xylophone, the glockenspiel, and the sleigh bells.
(Soundbite of Wurlitzer sleigh bells sound effect)
Mr. RIGGS: Great for playing jingle bells.
DEMBOSKY: Riggs' love affair with the organ began when he was in middle school. His class went on a field trip to see a local woman who had installed a Mighty Wurlitzer in her home.
Mr. RIGGS: Now, I'd seen pipe organs in church.
(Soundbite of the Mighty Wurlitzer)
Mr. RIGGS: And, you know, ho hum.
(Soundbite of the Mighty Wurlitzer)
Mr. RIGGS: And she sat at the console, slapped a whole bunch of stuff(ph) down and started playing.
(Soundbite of the Mighty Wurlitzer)
Mr. RIGGS: I had tears coming down my face - 13-year-old kid.
(Soundbite of the Mighty Wurlitzer)
DEMBOSKY: Riggs became the resident organist at the Paramount when his predecessor, known as Rosie, died 20 years ago. The theater staff believe Rosie's spirit lives on in his brown tweed jacket hanging on a lamp backstage.
Mr. RIGGS: She keeps watch over the joint.
DEMBOSKY: Riggs says the jacket brings good luck to the theater, so no one touches it. Rosie's glasses and his orange peeler are still in the pockets. For NPR News, I'm April Dembosky.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. This week, the world watched as Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States. President Obama got right to work, too, moving to change ethic rules and public records laws and to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. NPR's senior news analyst Daniel Schorr joins us. Hello, Dan.
DANIEL SCHORR: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: And let us begin with President Obama's inauguration speech. Many pundits suggested it was sobering not celebratory. What did you hear?
SCHORR: Well, I think that's right. I mean it was - it was very short on the kind of slogans that used to inform his campaign speeches. It was now, we're down to business now and that business is going to be very hard to do and a lot of terrible things there. It was - sobering I think is the right word for it. It was laying out an agenda and saying we have a lot of work to do.
SIMON: Let's talk about his first 100 hours. We'll wait on 100 days as a benchmark. He signed an executive order to make it easier to get documents under the Freedom of Information Act, announced new ethics rules that would prevent people under the administration from leaving and lobbying executive branch officials. Do you perceive a kind of tone he is trying to set?
SCHORR: Yes, the tone he is trying to set is that we really are working and working very hard and very fast. It really was quite amazing all he managed to do - the ethics rules, the executive orders, including one to close Guantanamo in a year. And in between, he sort of hopped over to the State Department, announced the appointment of two special envoys, one for the Middle East, one for Afghanistan and Pakistan. So I say, whoo, that's some hundred hours.
SIMON: We want to get - and follow up on some of that. But let me ask first, he's going to be allowed to keep his BlackBerry apparently by the Secret Service and security officials. Do you see any significance in that?
SCHORR: The significance is that he wants a way of communicating with his friends outside the bubble that he's going to inhabit. Question is, whether it is legal for him to do so. There was a Presidential Records Act of 1978 that says everything the president says has to be preserved for the archives. And these talks he has with friends or others may not be preserved, but I think they're going to humor him and let him have it.
SIMON: And let me follow up. Because he - President Obama says he wants to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year.
SCHORR: Yeah.
SIMON: A story came out on Friday that a former Guantanamo detainee, Said Ali Al-Shihri, who'd been released in 2007, has now become a top deputy for al-Qaeda in Yemen.
SCHORR: Yeah. That was not a convenient story for the administration to come out right now just as the president talks about closing Guantanamo. He's already having a great many problems. There is a question as to where these 245 people or so can go. Who will accept them? The European Union is having a meeting on Monday to decide what they want to do about it. They're not very happy to do anything about it. And it may well be that one way or another, if you close Guantanamo, they will end up in the United States. And not to make too much of a big joke, there is Alcatraz which hasn't been used for a long time.
SIMON: Well, not as a prison. It's a museum and national park.
SCHORR: Right. But I think that would not go very far because that's in Nancy Pelosi's district.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: This week, President Obama met with leaders in Congress urging them to act on this $800 billion economic recovery package. Does he have the votes and - or does it have to be all from one party?
SCHORR: Well, he may have the votes, I'm not sure. But he wants more than the votes of Democratic majority, he wants to make this a bipartisan effort. But among Republicans as well, they're not so happy with this. They think that a little bit too much is going into spending and too little is going into tax cuts. They have other ideas about it. And we are not out of the woods on this yet.
SIMON: And significance, as you see it, for George Mitchell being appointed special envoy for the Middle East and Richard Holbrook for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
SCHORR: That is a great tradition of presidents to have their own envoys to places. He has a secretary of state. He has a National Security Council. He has a lot of other things, but he really wants to show his interest in these subjects by saying, here's one special person that I've sent to work for me on this. And whether it'll make any difference, I don't know. There are two very obdurate problems there - one of which is Pakistan and Afghanistan, and what's happening up on the border there. And the other is, here is Gaza, just - Israeli troops just have been - having barely pulled out and some question of what happens now.
SIMON: And on Friday, governor of New York, David Paterson, chose a replacement for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat and that's Representative Kirsten Gillibrand from a rural district in eastern New York. Caroline Kennedy, of course...
SCHORR: Not only rural, but upstate from New York City.
SIMON: Rural and upstate New York, what does she bring to the Senate?
SCHORR: Well, I think that the governor wanted to have a woman in the first place. So I think that that was probably one of the things that figured. For the rest, I don't know. It could've been almost anyone else. He was really taken by surprise when Caroline Kennedy suddenly pulled out. And when - she had said to him she was having second thoughts, then she told him to go ahead, I'm still in, and then suddenly she abruptly pulled out. That's quite mysterious.
SIMON: Representative Gillibrand is a supporter of gun rights and is what they refer to as a Red Dog Democrat, too conservative for New York State?
SCHORR: And yes - and so Congresswoman Maloney, whose husband was killed by guns and was elected on that, is threatening to enter into the primaries against her because of her stand on guns.
SIMON: Dan, thanks very much.
SCHORR: Sure thing.
SIMON: Dan Schorr.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
It wasn't just the words and themes that drew attention in President Obama's inaugural address, but the cadence in which he spoke. Linguist and cultural observer John McWhorter joins us now from our studios in New York. John, thanks very much for being with us.
Prof. JOHN MCWHORTER (Linguist; Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute): Thank you for having me, Scott.
SIMON: And you wrote in The New Republic, you were exhilarated by President Obama's speech, in large part because of the cadence.
Prof. MCWHORTER: Well, yeah. I think that as his speech go, it wasn't his best. It was excellent, but it was not at the level of the Grant Park oration or his oration on race. But, what was fascinating to me was that here was the first time that an inaugural address is delivered partly in the cadence of Black English.
There were times when he would do the little hang at the end of sentences or when he would pronounce the word responsibility as "responsibility," which was a black intonation. And it said a lot about our nation that we would get to that point. Black English is becoming a kind of unofficial lingua franca of people under a certain age. If only in how people hear it, whether or not they actually speak it.
SIMON: Because you suggest that this has been an important part of his appeal to young voters.
Prof. MCWHORTER: Most definitely. Imagine, say, John Kerry, you know, bless him, but John Kerry trying to use the slogan, Yes We Can, in his voice. No matter how he said it, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't have worked for Hillary Clinton. It's because they're not black. There's a way of saying that that gives it a kind of spiritual flavor that reaches people.
SIMON: At the same time, does he benefit from the fact that there are other times, of course, when he absolutely speaks like a University of Chicago law professor?
Prof. MCWHORTER: Mmm hmm. And it's interesting. He's a very bidialectal person and most black people are. He is especially good at it, though, in that he can talk in a way where you would not know that he was black over the phone, and that is not true of most black Americans where there are issues of cadence and vowels and coloring where you can tell even if they're using completely standard English in terms of sentence structure. But then, especially when he talks to a black audience, he can sound quite a bit like Reverend Lowery sounded at the inauguration. And so it's a very large and flexible linguistic repertoire.
And as a linguist, what fascinates me about all these things is that these things tend to be subconscious. It's not that he's walking around thinking, now I'm going to use this dialect. It's about identity and audience. This is the way people speak. It's a fascinating thing.
SIMON: I want to ask you about a couple of offhand remarks. He goes to Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C., which is cash only. I forget what the check was, but he gave a 20. And the guy behind the counter tried to give him back change and he said no, I'm straight - just means, keep the change.
We happen to have the same favorite restaurant in Chicago, and the staff there talks about how he goes in that they know what he orders to drink. Perhaps I shouldn't give away that on the air. But in any event, and they said so Mr. President, would you like the blank? And he goes, that's how I roll.
Prof. MCWHORTER: What really is happening is that America since the '60s has been a much more dressed-down place in terms of clothes, in terms of music, and in terms of language. And we could say that the first president who grew up under that new regime was Clinton, and then after him we had George Bush. Both of them used colloquialisms too, but I think that we tended to process them as Southern, you know, as maybe Hillbilly or Texan or something like that.
Barack Obama is somebody who grew up under the new regime, and he'll be using colloquialisms in public more than say Warren Harding or Abraham Lincoln would have, except we won't think of him as being Southern. He's either mainstream, in which case we will remark that the president is talking like a real person, or black, in which case we'll notice that the president is sounding very slightly street or church.
SIMON: John McWhorter, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, an adjunct professor of comparative literature at Columbia. Thanks so much.
Prof. MCWHORTER: Thank you.
(Soundbite of music)
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Yo-Yo Ma and friends played "Air and Simple Gifts" at President Obama's inauguration, sort of. Inauguration officials worried that Tuesday's frigid temperatures could snap piano and cello strings. So as the classical quartet went through the motions, an official played a recording the musicians had made two days earlier. This string synching is actually what millions of people heard on the mall and around the world.
A broken string was just not an option, Yo-Yo Ma told the New York Times. It could have been a disaster if we had done it any other way, Itzhak Perlman added. This isn't a matter of Milli Vanilli, said an inauguration official, speaking of the old pop group that lost a Grammy after it was revealed that they had merely lip-synced their songs. But the U.S. Marine Corps band played live. Imagine how the Army, in fact the Russian Army would kid them if the Marines had said it was too cold to play. But if Chief Justice John Roberts had prerecorded the oath of office, he wouldn't have had to do it the second time.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Coming up, the first bill that President Obama might sign. But first, President Obama and his new economic team have inherited a financial system in serious trouble. The stocks of many major banks have plummeted recently, and many seem in danger of collapse without more government help. At the same time, though, parts of the financial system are healing. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.
CHRIS ARNOLD: Outside of the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama, one of the more memorable, if less inspiring quotes of the past week came from Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve. At a Senate hearing, he summed up the current financial state of the country.
(Soundbite of Senate hearing)
Mr. PAUL VOLCKER (Former Chairman, Federal Reserve): To put it starkly, we are in a serious recession with no end clearly in sight. The financial system is broken.
ARNOLD: We are in the midst of a colossally expensive debacle that economists say will dwarf the savings and loan mess of the 1980s. And there are still a lot of problems. But as the new administration takes over, there are some definite signs that parts of that financial system are on the mend.
Dr. NARIMAN BEHRAVESH (IHS Global Insight): There's no question that there's been quite a bit of improvement since, let's say, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
ARNOLD: Nariman Behravesh is the chief economist of IHS Global Insight. And he says that a few months ago, we were in an economist's nightmare. Basically the plumbing inside of the economy, the pipes that money flows through to reach big and small businesses and people wanting to get a loan for a house or a car, those pipes suddenly froze.
Dr. BEHRAVESH: And they froze up in a very, very problematic way. Essentially it's almost like the lending came to a complete grinding halt. And so, we've now seen a gradual thawing out of markets.
ARNOLD: One of the biggest reservoirs of money in the economy is the system of money market funds. Together these funds hold several trillion dollars that they lend out to banks and major companies so they can meet payroll and continue to function. That reservoir had frozen. David Glocke is a big gun in the world of money market funds. He manages the giant mutual fund company Vanguard's money funds.
Mr. DAVID GLOCKE (Bond Fund Manager, Vanguard): We're really getting more back to normal now in the money market area. There is a degree of calm being restored now to the marketplace.
ARNOLD: Glocke says a few months ago, if he wanted to sell, say a short-term bank CD that he had purchased, he had a lot of trouble. There were no buyers, no market, and that was stopping money funds from investing any more money into banks or other companies. But now, the government has intervened with a system of guarantees and that's broken up the ice.
Mr. GLOCKE: Liquidity has been restored to the marketplace now. I can go back in and I can sell securities to dealers on the street. I'm more - certainly far more optimistic as a result of that in the money market space.
ARNOLD: Things are also better in the mortgage market. The government has pushed interest rates to historic lows, which is putting a lot more money into many Americans' pockets as they refinance their home loans. Still, it's hard for many businesses and people who don't have the very best credit ratings to get loans. Arne Sorenson is the chief financial officer of the hotel company Marriott International.
Mr. ARNE SORENSON (Chief Financial Officer, Marriott International): There are clear signs of improvement. I think not withstanding that, there still is an abhorrence of risk.
ARNOLD: Sorenson says it's still almost impossible to get funding for new hotels, even for low-risk projects that he says make sense right now. He says that banks just aren't lending enough money. And that hurts the economy. At Marriot alone...
Mr. SORENSON: There are thousands of jobs that are not being created that normally would be created. And that's entirely because of the lack of credit available to fund new hotel projects.
ARNOLD: So while money is flowing through parts of the financial system a lot better, the banks themselves remain in serious and deepening trouble. Despite all the government support, Citigroup, Bank of America, and others recently reported that they're still losing billions. That's rattled investors and sent their stocks plunging. So when you just look at the banks...
Mr. SORENSON: I think this crisis has taken a turn for the worse.
ARNOLD: Economist Nariman Behravesh says we've entered a new phase in the crisis, where the economy is getting caught in a downward spiral.
Dr. BEHRAVESH: What's going on here is that up until a few weeks ago, it was as if the financial sector and the housing sector were dragging down the economy. Now it seems to be the other way around, it's the economy dragging down housing and the financial sector.
ARNOLD: Now millions of Americans are losing their jobs. More credit card debt and all kinds of other loans are going bad. That's magnifying the banks' losses. So right now, another massive bailout is being considered in Washington. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
On Capitol Hill, the focus has been on the new president, his nominees and the economic stimulus package. You may not have noticed a key bill that could be the first to land on President Obama's desk. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act aims to make it easier for workers to file pay discrimination suits. The Senate passed it this week. It's expected to glide through the house. NPR's Audie Cornish has more.
AUDIE CORNISH: Fighting wage discrimination was one of President Barack Obama's campaign pledges.
(Soundbite of speech)
President BARACK OBAMA: I believe that if you work hard, you'll do a good job, you should be rewarded no matter what you look like, where you come from or what gender you are.
(Soundbite of applause)
CORNISH: So, it's no surprise that congressional Democrats are bringing back labor bills that's stalled under the Bush administration. One of those is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act named for an Alabama woman who spent the last year speaking about her brush with the gender discrimination law.
Ms. LILLY LEDBETTER: It has been a long time. It's been a long fight. It's been a long hard fight, but it was worth it. And I knew we would eventually win.
CORNISH: Back in 1998, Ledbetter was a supervisor on the verge of retirement when she learned that she earned much less than her male co-workers at a Goodyear Tire plant. When her case reach the Supreme Court a decade later, the justice has ruled she'd waited too long to sue. The pay discrimination bill that passed the Senate this week would reverse that ruling.
Ms. LEDBETTER: I think the message that it has sent to the Supreme Court is they got it wrong, and they did. They changed the law when they made that ruling.
CORNISH: Civil rights law says workers have 180 days to file pay discrimination claims. The justices ruled that the clock starts when the active discrimination first happens. That's unrealistic according to Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
Senator CLAIRE MCCASKILL (Democrat, Missouri): They're being discriminated against.
CORNISH: Congress crafted the Ledbetter Bill to amend civil rights laws so that the 180-day clock would reset each time the worker gets an unfair pay check. That means more time for workers to sue and more opposition from Republicans.
Senator MITCH MCCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky; Senate Minority Leader): This so-called Ledbetter Bill is really a trial lawyer's bailout.
CORNISH: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Senator MCCONNELL: This bill is about effectively eliminating the statute of limitations on pay discrimination. It unfairly targets business owners who in many cases will no longer have the evidence they would need to mount a just defense. As we all know, job creators have enough to worry about these days. We shouldn't have the threat of never ending lawsuits.
Senator BARBARA MIKULSKI (Democrat, Maryland): Pay people equal pay. That's the way you avoid a lawsuit.
CORNISH: Maryland Senator and bill sponsor, Barbara Mikulski.
Senator MIKULSKI: Give equal pay for equal or comparable work. If you don't want to end up in court and EOC, you don't want to end up with a tattered and torn reputation, pay people equal pay.
CORNISH: In the end, the Ledbetter Bill passed the Senate 61 to 36. It's expected to pass the House easily and land on President Obama's desk next week. It's one of several labor-related measures on the way. The most contentious is likely to be the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. That measure would allow workers to establish unions without a secret ballot. Both businesses and labor have promised it will be a fight. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.
SIMON: You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Joshua Silver wants to help the world to see. The retired Oxford University physics professor has developed low cost, self-adjusting eyewear that he wants to make widely available to poor people in developing countries. The U.S. military has bought 20,000 pairs to give away to people in Africa and Eastern Europe. Dr. Silver hopes to get a million pairs of his glasses out in the next year. Dr. Silver joins us from the studios of the BBC in Oxford, England. Doctor, thanks so much for being with us.
Dr. JOSHUA SILVER (Director, Research at the Center for Vision and the Developing World): You're welcome.
SIMON: With respect for a marvelous invention, these - and I'm just - I've just seen them, I must say, on your face in newspaper photos.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Looks like something Woody Allen might wear.
Dr. SILVER: Well, the initial device, which is now in use in about 15 countries, is a little bit clunky, but it does work.
SIMON: How do you make glasses that adjust themselves or that you can adjust?
Dr. SILVER: There are actually several technologies, but the particular one I chose is a fluid-filled chamber which is bounded by thin elastic membranes, and it's - you pump fluid in or out of that chamber, and as you do that, the curvature of the surfaces of the chamber change, and then you have effectively a mimic of the eye lens, a variable power lens.
SIMON: So people put on these glasses and they adjust them to where they can begin to read, begin to thread a needle, begin to see traffic signs?
Dr. SILVER: Absolutely.
SIMON: How much do they cost?
Dr. SILVER: Currently they cost just a little over $19. So, you want to deliver eyewear to - we estimate that there's about 3 billion people in the world who need corrective eyewear today. Now, if you want to tackle that problem and you want to bring them corrective eyewear, you've actually got to be able to make a device at very low cost. And so, my long-term goal is to be able to make a device for around a dollar.
SIMON: Have you had offers to sell this technology commercially on a much greater scale?
Dr. SILVER: There are always offers from the industry, as it were, to take the device and to take it further. But I've always been somewhat concerned that my interest may not be absolutely in line with the interest of the industry because I actually want to take this technology and apply it to poor people. But yeah, there have been offers, but there's a huge challenge now to actually scale up for where we are in order to get it to those very large number of people. And that's being - that's under discussion now.
SIMON: To make many more pairs of glasses?
Dr. SILVER: Absolutely, yeah, at lower cost.
SIMON: Dr. Silver, thanks so much.
Dr. SILVER: You're welcome. Thank you.
SIMON: Joshua Silver, director of Research at the Center for Vision and the Developing World. This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
(Soundbite of song "Thugz Mansion")
Mr. TUPAC SHAKUR: (Singing) A place to spend my quiet nights, time to unwind So much pressure in this life of mine, I cry at times...
SIMON: Tomorrow, just outside Los Angeles, the remaining assets of Death Row Records will go on the auction block. Death Row helped launch a generation of West Coast hip-hop artists, including Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. But Shakur was gunned down in 1996 when feuds broke out between the company's founders Suge Knight and Dr. Dre. Then in 2005, Death Row was unable to pay a $107 million judgment, awarded to woman that contended that she helped found the company. Death Row Records was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following year. Steve Grove, president of the auction company Kohn-Megibow. Mr. Grove said he expects bidders from around the country to converge on the auction for a chance to buy pieces of hip-hop history including Suge Knight's cigars and engraved cases, framed gold and platinum records, fitness equipment, even a model of an electric chair used in the Death Row logo and on some of its videos.
Mr. STEPHEN GROVE (President, Kohn-Megibow): The most interesting thing, really, probably is the electric chair. Then also some of the paintings are, you know, they're rather bizarre and close to pornographic. Of course, the other thing that caught my eye from a dollars and cents standpoint is the hundred of thousands of CDs in their original wrappings.
SIMON: Grove says one potential bidder might be WIDEawake Entertainment Group which just purchased Death Row catalogue for $18 million. Death Row has sold millions of albums worldwide, WIDEawake might bring Death Row back from the grave to sell a few more.
(Soundbite of song "Ain't Nutt'N But G Thang")
SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) ...goin crazy, Death Row is the label that pays me unfadeable so please don't try to fade this
Dr. DRE: Hell yeah
SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) But a back to the lecture at hand perfection is perfected so I'ma let em understand from young G's perspective and before me (unintelligible) I have to find a contraceptive you neva know she could be earn'n her man and learn'n her man and at the same time burn'n her man
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Benjamin Busch is a man with many dimensions and multiple resumes. One charts his service in the U.S. Marine Corps, from infantry officer school in Quantico in 1993 to commander of Delta Company, serving in Iraq, and his promotion to lieutenant colonel in 2007. Then there's his other resume as a technical adviser, director and actor, from "Party of Five" to "The Wire" to the new TV show called "The Beast," with Patrick Swayze. He may need to start a third resume soon, for his writing. He's a contributor to Harper's magazine. And the February issue includes his essay "Bearing Arms: The Serious Boy at War."
We need to say welcome back to our show. We first met you in November of 2005. You and your father the novelist Frederick Busch were on our show. You were serving in Iraq, and he'd written in Harper's what it was like to have you fighting on the other side of the world. Thanks very much for being back with us.
Mr. BENJAMIN BUSCH (Writer): Thank you for having me. You know, a number of people have gone to your Web site to that interview, mostly to hear his voice again, but I can't do it yet, you know, it isn't a common thing to have your farewells recorded, and that interview ends with our last goodbyes. I never had a chance to say goodbye when he died?
SIMON: I'm glad you're back. By the way, Benjamin Busch joins us from the Interlochen studios in Michigan. Well, you write in this article in Harper's about how your parents didn't want you to have guns when you were growing up. What was their thinking, and what began to change in your life?
Mr. BUSCH: Well, you know, I think ultimately you become who you are despite the best intentions of your parents, and I was born in 1968, kind of at the height of that conflict. Their intentions were very good that they would seek to avoid contributing to conflict, and they try to keep me from it as all parents do. And, you know, I found my way despite that.
SIMON: I was struck by - in this memoir, I was struck by the section, maybe you can recreate a bit of it for us - your father, who had not liked guns - you went off to the Marine Corps, and he took possession of your gun?
Mr. BUSCH: Yeah.
SIMON: Because it was important to you, he made it a part of his life.
Mr. BUSCH: He did, it became his own. My father had a very strange relationship to nature. His mother had been a naturalist, and it had offended him for life.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BUSCH: And he was both amused and fascinated by nature, but also horrified by it. And there was always this sense that, you know, you don't step into a river and you don't go into the forest, really, because nature is in there.
SIMON: Yeah.
Mr. BUSCH: And nature wants to kill you, so...
SIMON: Your father was such a wise man.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BUSCH: He was. And I was...
SIMON: I'm not going into the forest until they, until they put a Starbucks there, but go ahead (laughing).
Mr. BUSCH: (laughing) Well, you know, because of that maybe, and because of who I was, I was completely the opposite. I was the child who said, I have no idea what's in there, so that's where I'm going. And I think pursuit of war almost was the same thing, and the great incomprehension of it was what in some ways drew me in - besides service alone was, you know, the same thing that draws people to stare at fires. There's a fascination to the things we just don't quite get, and in a place where there is danger, some people have a need to say I am not afraid, and I was that way.
SIMON: Explain the Marine Corps' very famous rifle creed to us if you could, the one that begins, This is my rifle.
Mr. BUSCH: This is my rifle. Marines really have a Spartan relationship to military service. And what defines them is that they are all riflemen. It doesn't matter what your military occupational specialty becomes after you are swept into the arms of the Marine Corps, but you are always first a rifleman. That bond between you and your rifle is something which is bred into you in training, and it really becomes something that you feel you're missing thereafter because of how serious that relationship is trained to be. So there comes that famous beginning, This is my rifle, there are many like it, but this one is mine. You know, it literally says in there, without my rifle I am useless, you know, without my rifle I am useless. And that language itself, strange at it seems, follows you, become very powerfully ingrained somewhere. And who knows how the folds of the mind work, but the stuff that gets caught in there doesn't go away. I think, you know, in the writing of all these things, that memories feed into the fabric of your thinking. They seemed to migrate towards certain words and ideas, and when you focus on the life that has gathered around you, you can see the weave, and I just started writing the weave. I don't understand how memories work, but I finally learned why we keep them, and since my parents died it seems to have crystallized a certain focus on my past.
SIMON: Some of the most startling sections of this memoir are of course when you describe what it's like to be under fire.
Mr. BUSCH: At that point your choices are made for you in many ways. Instinct is combined with emotion, and I think that war weighs on you with such emotional complexity that your fatigue is really from the tiring of your mind. You live by constant counterbalancing, but the tension is always underneath. And I don't know afterwards if it goes away. I think that I've just become accustomed to it.
SIMON: I - if I might quote just a couple of - a few of your words. Something explodes, try running through a city like that, the phosphorous burn of tracers flashing too bright for your eyes to adjust to, gone as fast as they pass. You don't know how long you will have to stay on the roof that you've found yourself on. You've ordered the family of the home into a room beneath you, you were out of order; you hope that the rest of the bats in your unit know that it's you on the roof as they hurl themselves into the area to reinforce. Someone is shooting, watch the tracers, keep low, you may be there all night, you may be there for the rest of your life. You watch the alleys and the windows for anyone you don't know. You don't know anyone.
Mr. BUSCH: I think despite the masses that you go forth in, you know, a unit even a small as a fire team of four Marines feels like a mass because you protect yourselves with each other and you make yourselves larger, and it's like - it's putting on a certain armor. But in the end there's just you and bullets. War like art is a solitary event.
SIMON: Have you ever been tempted to put your rifle away, get rid of it?
Mr. BUSCH: No. It's my rifle.
SIMON: Benjamin Busch - actor, writer, Marine. His memoir "Bearing Arms: The Serious Boy at War," appears in the February issue of Harper's magazine. Thank you so much, Ben.
Mr. BUSCH: Thank you so much for having me, Scott.
SIMON: And this is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
If you put the rural northwestern Pennsylvania town of Bradford into the Google search engine, you'll find some interesting facts. It was an oil boom town in the late 1800s, and today is home to the oldestcontinuously operating oil refinery in the United States. Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne was born in Bradford in 1934. And since 1932, Bradford has been the home of the Zippo lighter.
(Soundbite of the click of a Zippo)
The windproof lighter, with its familiar click and blue flame, has been an American mainstay for everyone from Gis in foxholes in Germany and Vietnam, to Indiana Jones.
(Soundbite of movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade")
Mr. HARRISON FORD: (As Indiana Jones) Try and burn through the ropes.
(Soundbite of lighter being lit)
Mr. PAT GRANDY (Marketing Communications Manager, Zippo): In '96, there was a Zippo lighter in every film that was nominated for Best Picture.
HANSEN: Pat Grandy is referring to "The English Patient," "Fargo," "Jerry McGuire," "Secrets & Lies" and "Shine." Grandy is in charge of communications for Zippo. He and Zippo historian Linda Meabon are taking us on a quick tour of the Zippo museum in Bradford. So, my first question to Meabon is, where did George Blaisdell, Zippo's founder, came up with that nifty name?
Ms. LINDA MEABON (Zippo Museum Curator and Historian): Well, the zipper had recently been invented in Meadville, Pennsylvania. And he loved catchy phrases and catchy names. And he loved that zipper, but he couldn't use it. So he took the E-R off and added the O - and that's how we've become Zippo.
HANSEN: Since the 1930s, more than 450 million Zippos have been manufactured. They are guaranteed for life, so there's still a lot of them out there. Some are emblazoned with four-leaf clovers, smiling Buddhas, grinning skulls, Harley insignias, American flags and evil clowns. But the most popular models are Elvis and the Playboy Bunny.
(Soundbite of Zippo commercial)
Unidentified Man #1: I'll blow your lighter out, too. I will.
Unidentified Man #2: No, you won't. It's a Zippo, the lighter that's really windproof. Prove it yourself. Try the fan test. See how Zippo lights with a zip even in wind. And Zippo offers you free service for life.
HANSEN: The tiny holes in the small chimney of the lighter make the Zippo windproof. Founder George Blaisdell got the idea one day while having a smoke with a friend out on the porch of a country club. His friend's European lighter seemed to work in the wind. Blaisdell saw an opportunity to adapt that design, one that has lasted and lasted.
(Soundbite of hammering)
HANSEN: The Zippo workshop is behind the museum in Bradford. Here, a handful of women, many of them smoking, sit hunched over workbenches processing and repairing Zippo sent in from Scotland, Missouri, Washington State and Brooklyn. Some 300 arrive every day.
(Soundbite of opening a package)
HANSEN: Often, there's an accompanying letter.
(Soundbite of paper rustling)
Unidentified Woman: Dear Zippo staff, this lighter belonged to my grandfather and was never used. Anyway, the wheel kept binding with the flint tube, which isn't solid in place. If you folks could fix this for me, I would be very happy. I will cover any postage. Thank you.
Mr. GRANDY: It's not like a toaster or a blender or something that you can just fix and send out. These are really family treasures, and so we try to be extremely careful with tracking them and fixing them.
HANSEN: Repair person Barbara Gervais has been at Zippo for 21 years. And one story still sticks with her.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. BARBARA GERVAIS (Repair Worker, Zippo): This one guy said his pig ate his lighter - and he followed him around for two weeks. That one sticks in my mind.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: The decline in smoking, and rules about carrying cigarette lighters onto airplanes - which, by the way, are no longer in effect - have hit sales at Zippo. Counterfeiting is a huge problem. And because of health concerns and fire marshals, the tradition of holding up a lighter at the end of a rock concert to show your appreciation and encourage an encore is no longer practiced. But Zippo found a solution for enthusiastic music lovers. Now, they can download a virtual Zippo lighter on iTunes for the iPhone.
Mr. GRANDY: It's a flat screen and a picture of the lighter, but if we touch the lid, the lid will open, and it clicks just like the regular Zippo lighter. And if you shake the phone, you can shake the lid shut.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Just like you would if you had the lighter in your hand.
Mr. GRANDY: Just like you would if you had the lighter, and Liane, if you'd like to run your finger down the flint wheel, you can strike the flint, there we go. And there's...
HANSEN: First time, every time.
Mr. GRANDY: Virtual fire.
HANSEN: Oh, that's so cool. But even though the lighter now exists in cyberspace, the Zippo company in Bradford, Pennsylvania, expects to sell its 500 millionth real lighter by the end of the year.
(Soundbite of song "Under Pressure")
QUEEN: (Singing) The people on the edge of the night And loves dares you to change our way of Caring about ourselves This is our last dance This is our last dance This is ourselves Under pressure...
HANSEN: And if you'd like to see a real demonstration of the virtual Zippo, visit our blog at npr.org/soapbox.
(Soundbite of cheering)
HANSEN: You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Virginia Woolf is in that league of novelists whose work is required reading - in other words, very, very serious. But she had a silly side - and it came out in her only play, "Freshwater." It receives its professional premiere tonight off-Broadway. Jeff Lunden has the story.
JEFF LUNDEN: In those days before big-screen TVs, Wii and the Internet, people had to create their own entertainment. And British novelist Virginia Woolf and her Bloomsbury circle of free-spirited artists read each other's work and entertained each other with plays and pageants. And that's what "Freshwater" was. It was given one performance in her sister's art studio, on January 18th, 1935, and then went back into a drawer, undiscovered until 1969. Last year, producer Julie Crosby placed the script into director Anne Bogart's hands.
Ms. ANNE BOGART (Director): And it burned my hands because I just started leafing through it, and the language just popped off the page, even before I had the plot. And my entire being said, yes, I want to do this. This is great. Because the idea of Virginia Woolf writing a play for her family to perform for their friends is so full of like the exuberance of theater in the first place, you know, the amateur spirit that actually makes theater happen.
(Soundbite of play, "Freshwater")
Unidentified Man #1: At 2:30, we start for India.
Unidentified Man #2: On my word. You don't say you are really going.
Unidentified Man #1: Oh, yes, Alfred. At 2:30, we start for India.
Unidentified Woman #1: Oh, that's to say, if the coffins have come.
(Soundbite of knocking)
Unidentified Woman #2: Take my sponge, girl. Now go and see if the coffins have come.
Unidentified Woman #1: If the coffins have come.
LUNDEN: "Freshwater" is a loopy, hour-long satirical farce. The characters include several real-life artists from the late Victorian era: Woolf's great-aunt, the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron; painter George Frederic Watts and his very young bride, the actress Ellen Terry; and the great poet Alfred Tennyson. Woolf was lampooning an earlier generation, says Barnard professor Mary Cregan.
Dr. MARY CREGAN (English Professor, Barnard College): She's very lovingly poking fun at these people who were so eccentric, and at the same time, they were all artists as well, just as she and her friends are.
(Soundbite of play, "Freshwater")
Unidentified Man: Don't move. Ellen, make yourself perfectly still - I'm struggling with great toll of (unintelligible).
(Soundbite of laughter)
Unidentified Man: I've been struggling for six months. It is still not drawing. But I say to myself, the utmost for the highest, keep perfectly still.
LUNDEN: Woolf started the play in 1923, but set it aside and then rewrote it in 1935. Julie Crosby, artistic director of The Women's Project, says this production combines both versions.
Ms. JULIE CROSBY (Artistic Director, The Women's Project): We read both scripts aloud and then it was about, where do we get it? Where don't we? And each script had something different to bear. The 1923 script, in many ways, was far more vivid about character, but had very little plot. And the 1935 version had far more dramatic plot, but it was much harder to center some of the characters.
LUNDEN: Still, "Freshwater" isn't exactly long on plot, says director Anne Bogart.
Ms. BOGART: The plot is that here are these high-faluting oldish, long-bearded Victorians, one of whom, the painter Watts, has married Ellen Terry as a young adolescent. And it's essentially the story of Ellen Terry's escape from this place.
(Soundbite of play, "Freshwater")
Ms. KELLY MAURER: (As Ellen Terry) If only I could escape. For I never thought when I married Mr. Watts that it was going to be like this. I thought artists were such jolly people, always dressing up and hiring coaches and going on picnics, and drinking champagne and eating oysters and kissing each other and - behaving like the Rosetees(ph). As it is, senor can't eat anything except the grizzle of beef minced very fine, passed through the kitchen chopper twice.
LUNDEN: Actress Kelly Maurer plays Ellen Terry. She says working on the piece was challenging, since the play is filled with references to both the Victorian and Bloomsbury artists. So all the members of the acting company did research on their characters to help the audience navigate what was originally a series of inside jokes.
Ms. KELLY MAURER (Actress): I do believe that we've built a piece and relationships amongst these wacky people that, even if you don't get every single reference, you will get a feeling for them and the family that they are and the struggles that they're going through, and how unique and funny and moving they all are.
(Soundbite of play "Freshwater")
Ms. KELLY MAURER: (As Ellen Terry) Here, porpoise, take that.
Unidentified Man: Lord now, now you've gone and done it. The porpoise has swallowed your wedding ring. What'll Lady Mount Temple(ph) say to that?
Ms. MAURER: (As Ellen Terry) Now, you're married to Mr. Watts, porpoise. The utmost for the highest, porpoise. Look upwards, porpoise, and keep perfectly still. I suppose it was a female porpoise, John.
LUNDEN: Woolf scholar Mary Cregan says the serious-minded author was aiming for giddiness in her only play, and was very happy with its one performance during her lifetime.
Dr. CREGAN: She thought it was a great lark. She said it was tosh, which is sort of slang for frivolous and silly. And it is, it is that. And that is very much a part of her sense of humor.
LUNDEN: And that little-known side of Virginia Woolf's personality is why Women's Project artistic director Julie Crosby has produced "Freshwater."
Ms. CROSBY: It needed a production. A script is only a blueprint for what you build on the stage. And Anne Bogart has built a very beautiful play from the blueprint left to us by Virginia Woolf.
LUNDEN: Today is Virginia Woolf's 128th birthday, and "Freshwater" opens at the Julia Miles Theater off Broadway tonight. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.
HANSEN: And you can hear a scene from "Freshwater" at our Web site, npr.org. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Studying animals in nature isn't always about close encounters. Wild animals can be hard to find. Some hide by scurrying into burrows. Others scamper up trees or dive underwater. For the field biologist, there is passion in the search for the quarry. Our next story is a tribute to that search. It's from scientist turned independent radio producer Ari Daniel Shapiro.
Dr. ARI DANIEL SHAPIRO (Independent Radio Producer): I've spent part of my life as a killer whale biologist. I'm fascinated by both the whales and the lengths we go to to study them.
Dr. VOLKER DEECKE (Research Fellow, Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, Scotland): Killer whales are great animals. They fascinate me a lot.
Dr. SHAPIRO: That's a friend of mine, Volker Deecke. He makes his living researching killer whales.
Dr. DEECKE: I love the challenge of having to think like a killer whale. You know, having to strip your biases as a terrestrial, visually based mammal, and now have to try and understand what life might be like for an animal that lives in a three-dimensional world where vision is not very useful, where sound travels for large distances.
Dr. SHAPIRO: I studied killer whales for my graduate work. So I get what it's like to imagine myself thinking and moving like a killer whale. In the field, I've had unbelievably vivid dreams of encountering the very whales I was hoping to find by day. Back home, I've heard emergency sirens outside, and mistaken them for a band of roving killer whales that have somehow come ashore to put out a fire.
(Soundbite of killer whales)
Dr. SHAPIRO: Whales are mythic and real at once.
Dr. DEECKE: The one thing that I always notice about whales is people use them as a canvas, you know? The white whale, people just color them in and project whatever they want onto them. And the less you know about an animal, the more you can do that. You know, once you actually have the full knowledge of what the animal is about, it takes away that freedom to project your ideas into it, what it should be, and what it should be doing.
Dr. SHAPIRO: So before we go any further, let's color in the killer whale a bit. They live in every ocean and hug the coastlines of every continent. Each population feeds on something different. In Norway, they eat fish, mostly herring. In Alaska, one of the populations eats marine mammals, including seals and porpoises. Killer whale feeding involves two basic phases. They locate and pursue their prey, and then they attack and eat it. In one very obvious way, killer whales that eat fish behave differently from those that eat marine mammals.
(Soundbite of Norwegian killer whales)
Dr. SHAPIRO: These are the Norwegian fish eaters. They're loud. They call to one another a lot. They echolocate using sound like an acoustic strobe light to scan their surroundings and find fish. Now, here's a recording of the Alaskan mammal eaters in pursuit.
(Soundbite of Alaskan killer whales)
Dr. SHAPIRO: They're absolutely silent. The seals and porpoises they eat have excellent hearing, and a vocal killer whale would tip them off and help them escape. So the killer whales keep quiet. But hearing in fish tends to be poor. So it's OK for killer whales to be chatty. It may be that they're informing one another of where they are, or maybe they're just excited. Both types of killer whales, those that eat fish and those that eat marine mammals, spend a lot of time in pursuit, waiting for and following their prey. And it's not unlike how killer whale researchers spend their time waiting for the whales to show up - chatting with one another, scanning the water from a windy bluff.
Dr. DEECKE: I mean, you're just looking for little irregularities in the water. Anything vertical really sticks out on this horizontal landscape.
Dr. SHAPIRO: Volker is speaking from Fitful Head, a lookout in the south of the Shetland Islands, which are about 80 miles to the north of Scotland. I visited him and a field team of three this summer in Shetland, where they were studying the killer whales. One of the big questions was whether the Shetland whales eat fish or mammals. The team wanted to watch the animals in action, look for evidence of fish scales or marine mammal guts in the water, and listen for the presence or absence of killer whale vocal activity. But to get close enough, they first had to find them by spotting the animals from a distance. And that takes a lot of waiting. Here's Andy Foote, a killer whale biologist and one of the field team members scanning the water for whales.
Mr. ANDY FOOTE (Killer Whale Biologist): I think when you first get into working with whales, you almost jump at every wave or marker buoy. And as you get a little bit more experienced, you sort of actually don't exclaim at and have an outburst at the first sight. You wait for it to come up a second time and make sure, and you're like, ha, OK. Just that sense of excitement, where all of a sudden your - the hairs on the back of your neck stand up a little bit, and then you've got your whale.
Dr. SHAPIRO: Day after day, while we stood there looking for whales and not seeing any, there were often tourists and locals observing us, trying to make out why we watched the waters around us so intently, so hopefully. Some folks understood what brought us there, like this fellow, Gordon(ph).
GORDON: When I was a kid, a teenager, we used to go bus spotting. Ever heard of that? We used to go around and take numbers of the buses.
Dr. SHAPIRO: Oh, yeah.
GORDON: And we had special books with all the buses in them and all the different types of buses - double-decker, single-deckers. And we used to go in different carriages and sit behind the wheel and vroom, vroom, vroom, you know?
Dr. SHAPIRO: That was your thing.
GORDON: That was my thing.
Dr. SHAPIRO: So you can understand how you could get really interested in something?
GORDON: I can understand how a person could be interested in a worm or a killer whale or a bird or whatever.
Dr. SHAPIRO: But some bystanders weren't quite so convinced, like Tom(ph).
TOM: Could I do it? Not really.
Dr. SHAPIRO: How long would you wait up here?
TOM: Well, if I thought I was going to see one, I'd probably stay a half-hour or an hour.
Dr. SHAPIRO: Would you stay here for three months?
TOM: Oh, no, no, no. No, no. No, thank you.
Dr. SHAPIRO: In three months, Volker Deecke's team followed killer whales in Shetland only 12 times. On average, that's a little less than once each week. But it's a start. They eventually observed whales targeting marine mammals, namely harbor seals, as prey. There was no evidence for feeding on fish, but the possibility can't be ruled out just yet. So, they'll probably go back next summer to try to learn more. Volker's looking forward to it.
Dr. DEECKE: Having the time to immerse yourself into the place and just go beyond the first impression, I think is a real privilege in itself, whales or no whales. So that's certainly what keeps me going.
Dr. SHAPIRO: As killer whale biologists, we wait weeks for a glimpse of a black fin on light water, for the moment when we can observe and describe what the animals let us see. It takes a kind of love to maintain that kind of relationship, because we're pretty sure the killer whales don't feel the same way about us. It's not like they're waiting for us to show up. But it doesn't matter. We're drawn to them.
Ms. ALICE ROCCO (Killer Whale Researcher): With killer whales, it's incredible.
Dr. SHAPIRO: That's field assistant Alice Rocco.
Ms. ROCCO: Like the first time we saw them, to me the male was extremely sensual - you know, like he had these sexy movements going on. Looked like he was a dancer or something - a really good dancer.
Dr. SHAPIRO: And it's not just we biologists that get infatuated. Killer whales are awesome creatures. Local Shetlander Derrick Herning(ph) watches them from shore.
Mr. DERRICK HERNING: You get a thrill from seeing a killer whale. I mean, I know they're cruel, that they play around with seals. They toss them up in the air and all the rest of it. But it's still a marvel of nature, this - it's a beautiful whale, the killer whale. So I take my hat off to it. I don't wear a hat, but never mind.
(Soundbite of music)
Dr. SHAPIRO: Killer whales capture the imagination. And maybe that's because of their very elusiveness, the way they disappear beneath the water's surface into their own world, leaving us behind on the shore, wishing to see them just once more. A love like that can sustain you for a lifetime.
(Soundbite of music)
HANSEN: Our story was produced by former killer whale biologist turned public radio producer Ari Daniel Shapiro, with help from Jay Allison and the public radio Web site Transom.org. To watch a video by Ari Daniel Shapiro of researchers conducting field work on killer whales, visit our Web site, npr.org.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News, this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. In the Gaza Strip, the United Nations and private relief agencies are struggling to care for and shelter thousands of people who fled or whose homes were destroyed or damaged by the Israeli military during the three weeks of fighting. Doctors in Gaza say some 1,300 Palestinians were killed. Thirteen Israelis died in the conflict. In Gaza, more than 10,000 people remain in refugee shelters. The Hamas government, operating from makeshift offices because its administrative buildings had been bombed, said it would provide $52 million in cash relief for families who lost relatives or had their homes damaged. As NPR's Eric Westervelt reports, many of the refugees are unsure how to start to rebuild their lives.
ERIC WESTERVELT: The Gaza village of Juhor al-Deek is one of the Palestinian communities closest to the Israeli border. It sits on the high ground overlooking the southern entrance to Gaza City near Salahadin, a main north-south roadway. So it's clear strategically why the Israeli army, during an attack, would want to control the land around this farming village. What's less clear, though, is why the army demolished almost every house in Juhor al-Deek.
Kasm Abu Tar walks through the ruined landscape. The entire village looks like it's been run through a giant meat grinder. Big piles of rubble and debris dot the hillside, home items churned into fragments by Israeli armored bulldozers, tanks and heavy shelling. The 17-year-old student says over the years, this village got used to Israeli raids but never saw such devastation.
Mr. KASM ABU TAR (Palestinian Student): (Through Translator) When the Israelis came before, we would stay inside our homes. They would knock on the doors, open up, look around and leave. Maybe some roads would get damaged, but nothing, nothing like this.
WESTERVELT: A U.N. truck overloaded with blankets rumbles by on the dirt road, past an elementary school badly damaged by tank and machine-gun fire. A few families are burning pieces of their ruined homes to heat tea water. Some are picking through the wreckage. Half-broken cinderblocks go here, intact cinderblocks go there. Burnable shards of clothing here, whole clothing items there.
Abu Tar says after the Israelis dropped leaflets warning civilians to leave Juhor al-Deek, almost everyone fled south about three miles to a U.N.-run elementary school in the Bureij refugee camp. Refugees from the village and surrounding areas were moved out of the school this weekend so the U.N. could restart classes. About 30 displaced Gazans are now packed into a small changing room below a gymnasium at a U.N. recreation center in Bureij. Aisha Abu Ariban cradles one of her nine young children. Thin foam mattresses are stacked in one corner of the narrow basement room.
Ms. AISHA ABU ARIBAN (Palestinian Refugee): (Through Translator) In this room, we can't tell if it's the daytime or if it's the nighttime because there is no sun. It's unhealthy. When we lived in the village, we made it with very little money. We didn't need people to donate food to us. All we want is to return home.
WESTERVELT: But she has no home to return to. She says she has no idea what she and her family will do next. The school nurse at the U.N.-run Bureij refugee camp, Hisham al Askar, says a worrying number of the refugees seem traumatized. Kids aren't sleeping well; Parents seem shattered.
Mr. HISHAM AL ASKAR (Nurse, Bureij Refugee Camp): (Through Translator) A woman last night, she started just running in the corridor. So I gave her a valium injection, and then we transferred her to a hospital.
WESTERVELT: Many of the kids here experienced the Israeli air and ground shelling firsthand. In the last three weeks, nurse al Askar has had to become something of a makeshift trauma counselor.
Mr. AL ASKAR: (Through Translator) Yesterday, a kid came in here. He hasn't been eating for like two or three days. He's in shock. When a shell hit near his house, he saw the shrapnel. He saw people cut into pieces. We're trying to take care of him.
WESTERVELT: The care here consists of shots of valium and the nurse's well-intentioned but meager attempts at counseling. I took a psychology course in school, he says cheerfully. I tell them, you lost your home, but not your whole family. So it could be worse. U.N. officials here say enormous work remains to get back to something resembling normal. Most U.N.-run schools and many of Gaza's public schools reopened Saturday. It went as best as could be expected after three weeks of heavy fighting.
Mr. JOHN GING (Director, U.N. Relief and Works Agency, Gaza): Of course, it wasn't a normal school day. But what we have to try and do is to return the children to normality as quickly as we can.
WESTERVELT: That's John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza.
Mr. GING: This is an awful situation. I mean, we have desperation everywhere. We have to try and get the kids back into the schools for obvious reasons. We have people who have nowhere else to go. And of course, that's what we're going to be facing now in the coming period - overwhelming need and overall, an inadequate response until we can get the aid moving.
WESTERVELT: And that, Ging says, means normalization of the border crossings into Gaza, including additional supply trucks being allowed in by Israel every day. There are no signs that will happen anytime soon. Israel and Hamas, for now, have stopped shooting at each other. But the border crossings remain firmly closed to all but limited humanitarian supplies. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Gaza City.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
With the global financial crisis widening and deepening, there will be no place more important in the world this coming week than Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum will bring together more than 2,500 participants from 96 countries, including 41 heads of state, to discuss the theme "Shaping the Post-Crisis World." Carl Lavin, managing editor of Forbes magazine, will be in Davos for the forum. It starts Wednesday. And he joins us now by phone. Thanks for your time. Welcome to the program.
Mr. CARL LAVIN (Managing Editor, Forbes Magazine): Thank you, Liane.
HANSEN: The title - or the theme, "Shaping the Post-Crisis World," what exactly does that mean?
Mr. LAVIN: Well, that's optimistic, for one thing. It means we're going to get out of this and there will be a post-crisis world. It also means that this is a time that world leaders in business and in government need to really be focused on, is this a matter for government, is it a matter for businesses, what's the role of capitalism? Those are some of the questions we're going to be asking.
HANSEN: And will there also be debate on things like, you know, regulation, the free market, that kind of thing?
Mr. LAVIN: Absolutely. And there's also a regional split. If you think that demand for consumer goods - for example, in China and in India - will continue to increase at a good pace and that somehow, that will help the rest of the world get back on track, that's one view. But a lot of people are also looking back here, back to the West and to our financial institutions, how can liquidity get going again?
HANSEN: So there will be discussions between the non-Western and the Western countries. A Chinese premier will be there.
Mr. LAVIN: Premier Wen will be there. He'll be speaking. There's just been a little kerfuffle between the United States and China, and it'll be an opportunity for Premier Wen to try to settle things down a bit. He probably realized that Tim Geithner submitted testimony in writing in which he said that China's manipulating currency rates, and China shot back the next day saying, no, we're not. And the United States and China need to smooth things over.
HANSEN: Timothy Geithner will not be there, though.
Mr. LAVIN: No. Representing Barack Obama will be a close friend and an adviser, Valerie Jarrett. She's been a mentor to Barack and Michelle Obama, a Chicago executive who's now in the White House as a senior adviser. Geithner still has not been confirmed, and it's considered a little rude to be out in public until you actually are confirmed.
HANSEN: And with Valerie Jarrett being there, is there a feeling that if you can get her ear, you're getting the ear of the president?
Mr. LAVIN: Yes. Anything that she can do to let people know that there's a sense from the new administration that they do have things under control - they are working hard, they have the stimulus plan working its way through Congress, and they're trying to do everything they can to get the economy going again - I think that will send a very important message.
HANSEN: What of substance do you expect to come from this meeting?
Mr. LAVIN: I do think that at the very highest level among governments, there will be some bilateral and small group discussions on the regulatory framework that will continue - discussions that will come back. I think it's - the next G20 meeting is in April. But the UK has a stimulus plan. Germany has a stimulus plan. The United States has a stimulus plan. China has a stimulus plan. To get them acting in a more coordinated fashion to stir the global economy is quite important right now.
HANSEN: Carl Lavin is the managing editor of Forbes Magazine. He will be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this coming week. Thanks a lot.
Mr. LAVIN: Liane, thank you.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed a US Airways flight on the Hudson River, received a hero's welcome yesterday in his hometown.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
HANSEN: Some 3,000 people in Danville, California, a suburb of San Francisco, braved gray skies to come out and hear the pilot speak publicly for the first time since the miraculous crash landing.
Captain CHESLEY SULLY SULLENBERGER (Pilot, US Airways): Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular flight on that particular day. But I know I can speak for the entire crew when I tell you, we were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do.
HANSEN: It certainly was a job well done. Not long after Flight 1549 left LaGuardia Airport, Captain Sullenberger called into air traffic control with bad news. The jet had hit a flock of birds and lost power in both engines - adire prognosis for any experienced pilot. But somehow, Sullenberger managed to bring the plane down into the Hudson River, saving all 155 passengers onboard. Since then, he's been hailed as a hero. All the news networks fought for the first interview. Then-President George Bush called to personally congratulate him. President Barack Obama made sure he had tickets to the inauguration. Facebook fan pages sprouted up. The world celebrated his name.
Ms. LORIE SULLENBERGER: Mostly for me, he's the man that makes my cup of tea every morning.
HANSEN: That's Lorie Sullenberger, his wife. She stood beside her husband on the stage yesterday and called him the most honorable man she knows. Friends say Sullenberger's not the type to love the spotlight. But maybe the Danville mayor said it best. There are 155 reasons to celebrate the pilot.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
The inauguration of President Barack Obama put the spotlight on Washington, D.C., and on its dynamic, young mayor, Adrian Fenty. In a few minutes, we'll hear from a Washington Post columnist about the traditionally rocky relationship between the White House and D.C.'s City Hall. But first, Libby Lewis has this profile of the mayor.
LIBBY LEWIS: A bunch of city workers wend their way through D.C.'s troubled Trinidad neighborhood. This is a ritual of Mayor Adrian Fenty's regular walkthroughs in the city to talk to residents and to fix things - potholes, street lights, uncollected garbage and such. On this walkthrough, the streets and alleys are mostly neat and clean. Fenty's tall and sleek. He's in a long, black coat and running gloves emblazoned with the name of his family's local sporting goods shop, Fleet Feet. At the end of the walkthrough, Fenty's talking about plans to build a new sports field for the school nearby. But resident Antoinette Douglas(ph) complains about the kids who hang out on this very block to deal drugs.
Ms. ANTOINETTE DOUGLAS: We got the traffic, drug trafficking. We got all kinds of stuff going over here. What are you doing now?
LEWIS: Fenty responds this way.
Mayor ADRIAN FENTY (Democrat, Washington, D.C.): I know you mean to be a lot more positive than you sound. So let me just try and re-create it in a positive vein here.
LEWIS: Fenty takes Douglas's grievance and puts it in the context of his plans for the future. Douglas listens and nods. You can tell her concern is still there. But it's tempered. She's been heard. Later, I meet the mayor in a noisy Starbucks.
Mayor FENTY: I think for so long, the people's issues have been marginalized or dismissed or divided. But the new way of approaching things in politics is just to get things done. People don't have any time for all of the rhetoric and excuses. So whether you're president or governor or mayor, I mean, you're going to be judged on how you get things done.
LEWIS: It's easy to draw comparisons between President Obama and Mayor Fenty. Both are Democrats. Both are the child of a black father and a white mother. Fenty picks it up.
Mayor FENTY: Both of our wives are named Michelle. All four of us are lawyers.
LEWIS: A week after Obama first came to town, the mayor met him for a chili, half-smoked sausage at Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street. Fenty says they talked about the city, the schools, affordable housing, and voting rights for D.C.
Mayor FENTY: I was so excited for the city that we had a new president who is excited about getting out and about to the neighborhoods and knowing the issues of the city and helping to solve them.
LEWIS: They're both sports nuts. Fenty does triathlons. He's brought that mindset to running a city that for decades, ran more like a tortoise. Columnist Marc Fisher writes about the District of Columbia for the Washington Post.
Mr. MARC FISHER (Columnist, Washington Post): All of the images come together in this guy who's about action. He's young, he's dynamic, he's thin, he's biracial, and he's intelligent, and he's all these wonderful things.
LEWIS: You can hear a "but" coming. We'll get to that in a moment. Adrian Fenty swept every ward in the city when he first won office in 2006. He took off like a sprinter. He seized control of the abysmal city school system. He named a new chancellor and a police chief, mostly without consulting city leaders. Marc Fisher again.
Mr. FISHER: He's not very good at playing politics.
LEWIS: His relations with the city council are prickly. He's made some of the labor unions seethe with his school chancellor's hard line on teacher performance, and his own decision to fire city workers he's deemed incompetent. Phil Mendelson's an at-large member of the city council. He thinks the mayor sometimes acts too fast without thinking things through.
Mr. PHIL MENDELSON (Council Member, Washington, D.C., Council): The public likes that decisiveness and take no prisoners, and we're going to get rid of the dead wood. The council is more thoughtful about it. Only time will tell whether the mayor has struck the right balance.
LEWIS: Fenty says he's made some mistakes in his tenure, and he says he makes adjustments when he has. But he also says...
Mayor FENTY: Mayors are elected to make decisions, as are governors and presidents. And ultimately, there's no way in the world that a decision you make is going to please everybody.
LEWIS: Fenty grew up here. He was born two years after Martin Luther King was assassinated and parts of Washington burned in rage. His parents brought up their three sons in the political activism of the times. Phil Fenty is his father.
Mr. PHIL FENTY: We took them to demonstrations. We - when Martin Luther King birthday, we were trying to get that as an issue, we took them to the demonstrations, and they were very, you know, involved in that. So our family sort of grew around those sort of things.
LEWIS: Even when residents don't agree with Fenty on something he's done, like allowing police checkpoints in a neighborhood, they often adore him anyway because he takes care of their neighborhoods. Erin Rebhunt(ph) lives on a street lined with grand, turn-of-the-century rowhouses, not far from the U.S. Capitol. Rebhunt's 4-year-old daughter is on the floor with her building blocks.
(Soundbite of girl playing)
LEWIS: Last year, someone broke into Rebhunt's house while the family was home. Nobody was hurt. But soon after that, a neighbor was nearly killed in a drive-by shooting. Rebhunt joined a neighborhood safety group that convinced the city to install a surveillance camera near the scene of the shooting. The safety group kept meeting, Rebhunt tells me, as we walk through her neighborhood.
Ms. ERIN REBHUNT: Other things came up, like how to make it more of a community, what sort of things we could do. And one of the things was trying to calm traffic.
LEWIS: They decided to push for speed bumps, though the neighborhood had been trying to get them for years. Fenty came to one of their meetings. He brought reps from the city's transportation office to hear the residents' petition. The city workers said they couldn't install speed bumps anytime soon. The mayor listened.
Ms. REBHUNT: And he said, well, I don't understand why we can't just do it. And it was - and then it was done.
LEWIS: Within weeks.
Ms. REBHUNT: It was a really gratifying moment because it was like, yeah, why not?
LEWIS: Speed bumps may not sound like much, but Rebhunt says the experience left her feeling, for the first time, like a real citizen with a voice. Libby Lewis, NPR News, Washington.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
As you just heard, one of the people Libby Lewis talked to about Mayor Fenty was Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher. We want to continue the conversation with him about the District of Columbia's relationship with the White House. So, Marc Fisher joins us from the Washington Post. Welcome to the program.
Mr. MARC FISHER (Columnist, Washington Post): Thanks so much.
HANSEN: You wrote a column before the inauguration telling President Obama about life in D.C., warts and all. And forgive me for quoting you to you, but your last paragraph says: It's been decades since a president focused attention on cities. Contrasts between haves and have nots don't make for easy political solutions. But our country's future lies in places like this. And you told us you were about the future. The district gives you plenty of chances to show it. Do you think this president will actually pay more attention to the district?
Mr. FISHER: Well, maybe marginally. Certainly in a superficial kind of way, we're already seeing that he's a big change from President Bush in that he gets around town. He goes out and plays basketball. He's hitting the restaurants, both the high-end and low-end places. So I think he's going to be a lot more evident to people who live in the District of Columbia. But is he going to really adopt an urban agenda, is he going to change the way we think about cities? I don't think there's going to be a whole lot of that, either in symbolic ways or in the real, nitty-gritty kinds of things that Mayor Fenty and others would like him to do.
HANSEN: Do you know if Mayor Fenty has been, I don't know, maybe lobbying him to take a more active role in the city?
Mr. FISHER: He has. And obviously, the city's very much struggling public school system is something that both President Obama and Mayor Fenty are very deeply interested in, and so that may turn out to be a place where they can find some common ground. But I think on most of the issues that are of special interest to the District of Columbia - they were talking about voting rights and that unusual status that the District of Columbia has, not so much as the capital city, but as the capital colony - on those kinds of issues that are near and dear to the hearts of Washingtonians, I don't expect we'll see so much from this president.
HANSEN: How does it go? I mean, why has there been a chilly relationship between the city of Washington and the White House? Is it because of the city or because of the White House?
Mr. FISHER: Well, it's really a question of the status of Washington. Washington is not like any other city. It's a special place. It was created for the purpose of being the capital. And the problem is that it's still kind of a colony. It's still more or less run by Congress. And it has been the plaything of Congress. Congress uses it to do all sorts of social experiments that they would never inflict on their own hometowns.
For example, charter schools and vouchers on the education front, or forbidding the District of Columbia having a needles program for addicts, which many other cities already have - these are the kinds of things that particularly conservative congressmen from around the country have either foisted on or prevented Washington from doing more or less to make some big public show, and it's a way that they can do these experiments without getting any grief from their own constituents.
HANSEN: So, even if President Obama wanted to do something to improve conditions in the district, it's going to come with some political baggage because Congress holds the purse strings.
Mr. FISHER: Exactly. The district is very much in the beggar position. It's got to go to Congress for its annual budget approval, and then Congress has actual line-item veto power. And so they have all kinds of control over the district that they wouldn't have over any other city, and that lends itself to this plaything kind of status. The other problem, though, is that the district really doesn't have political friends across the country. It's really not in any senator or congressman's best interests to really stick their neck out for the District of Columbia, which has no voting representation in Congress at all.
HANSEN: Marc Fisher is a columnist at the Washington Post and author of the "Raw Fisher Blog." He joined us from the Washington Post. Marc, thank you.
Mr. FISHER: Thank you very much, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Time now for your letters. Last week's essay for our "This I Believe" series was written and read by 7n-year-old Tarak McLain of Austin, Texas. As a 6-year-old kindergartener, Tarak wrote down 100 things he believes in, and read 30 of them on our program. His reading brought in many responses such as this one from Cathy Sheen(ph) of Lafia, Colorado. "Tarak McLain's '30 Things I Believe' was a perfect way to start a Sunday morning. As I listened to this wise little boy, he brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, Tarak, for your inspiration. Life is good."
But a few of you found Tarak's list of beliefs just a bit too sophisticated for a 6-year-old. Chris Williams(ph) of Montclair, New Jersey, said the segment was an obviously parental-inspired, if not written, essay. As a parent of a 6-year-old, this smacks of adult intervention. And Paul Wheeler(ph) of Baltimore wrote: The 6-year-old believer has achieved an important insight and learned a vital skill at an unusually early age. To stay on his mother's good side, he must take accurate dictation.
My preview of our upcoming series on Charles Darwin with NPR science correspondent Joe Palca brought in many notes of anticipation and a few suggestions. Steven Burke(ph) of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, wrote: Although Darwin gets all the credit for introducing the world to the theory of evolution, he was not the only person working on the idea at the time. In fact, it has been speculated that he may have stolen evidence to prove his theory from Alfred Wallace. It is believed that Wallace may have become the father of evolution had his work in the Amazon River Valley not gone down in a shipping accident. Will Alfred Wallace be given any credit for his years of work during NPR's Darwin series?
We also received a response with a personal connection to my interview with Shari Addison, the gospel singer whose first CD was just released, and who was invited to perform at the African-American church inaugural ball. Pastor Calvin Singleton Jr., of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, left this note in the comment section on our Web site: The song Shari has decided to sing during the inauguration ball, "It's Your Time," was written by my brother, Clarence Singleton. I agree with Shari that this song is appropriate for this historic time in our country.
(Soundbite of song "It's your Time")
Ms. SHARI ADDISON: (Singing) How can I declare? Your victory. No, you can't deny for it's your time. It's your time. God has not forgotten you...
HANSEN: Notes of praises, skepticism, or thanks are always welcome. You can send an email by going to our Web site, npr.org, and clicking on the "Contact Us" link. And remember to check out our blog, npr.org/soapbox. I have a fun video blog about Zippo lighters. This is NPR News.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
From NPR News this is Weekend Edition. I'm Liane Hansen. And joining us is puzzle master Will Shortz. Hey, Will.
WILL SHORTZ: Hi, Liane.
HANSEN: You know, I'm suffering a little post-inauguration letdown. I don't have anything to talk about. Do you?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHORTZ: Well, do you know this is our 22nd anniversary of the program?
HANSEN: Yes, it is. January 1987.
SHORTZ: That's it.
HANSEN: When we first went on the air with Susan Stamberg as host. I came onboard in 1989. So, later this year I'll be celebrating my 20th. Oh, I've known you for so long.
SHORTZ: And that is a lot of puzzles.
HANSEN: It is a lot of puzzles. But the weird thing is I've seen you maybe four times in those 20 years.
SHORTZ: I know.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: That's really interesting. Well, I think we should cut right to the chase. In order to do that, you have to remind us of the challenge you left last week.
SHORTZ: Yes, it came from listener Dave Shukan of San Marino, California. I said, name an implement that might be in a kitchen drawer. It's a compound word. Add the letter S after each part of the compound, and you'll get two synonyms. What implement is it?
HANSEN: You know, I couldn't get past can opener. What was the answer?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHORTZ: The answer is nutcracker, making nuts and crackers.
HANSEN: Oh no.
SHORTZ: Which are both synonyms for daft.
HANSEN: Absolutely. I think that one drove our listeners nuts because we had fewer than 500 correct entries. And from those who managed to crack the puzzle correctly, we randomly selected Gloria Earls of Middletown, Connecticut, to play today. Hi, Gloria.
Ms. GLORIA EARLS (Competition Winner): Hi.
HANSEN: How long did it take you to solve this one?
Ms. EARLS: We got it right away.
HANSEN: Oh, you're kidding me.
Ms. EARLS: No, because usually we don't have the patience to let it drag on for days, but we opened the drawer also.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Who's we?
Ms. EARLS: I'm sorry, my husband and I.
HANSEN: How long have you been playing our puzzle?
Ms. EARLS: Oh, since postcards time.
HANSEN: This isn't the first time you've sent in an entry, is it?
Ms. EARLS: No, no.
HANSEN: Oh, good, because you know some people...
Ms. EARLS: We've been entering since postcard times.
HANSEN: Oh, good for you. All right. That will give hope to all of those others who have been and have to hear people - oh, this is my first time, you know. What do you do in Middletown?
Ms. EARLS: Well, right now I'm retired from elementary school teaching, and I've been playing tennis, doing yoga, and taking watercolor lessons.
HANSEN: Oh, good for you, man. You seem busier in retirement than you were when you were working. But you're ready to have some fun?
Ms. EARLS: I think so.
HANSEN: All right. Well, Will, meet Gloria. Let's play.
SHORTZ: All right, Gloria. I'm going to read you some sentences. Each sentence conceals the name of a make of automobile somewhere in consecutive letters inside it. You name the automobile. For example, if I said, give them a Z, Dave. You would say Mazda, because that's hidden in consecutive letters in "them a Z, Dave."
HANSEN: OK.
SHORTZ: All right. See if you can do these in your head. No writing down.
HANSEN: Oh.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SHORTZ: Number one is Alex uses hair dye.
Ms. EARLS: Alex uses - a Lexus.
SHORTZ: Lexus. That was fast.
Ms. EARLS: Yeah.
SHORTZ: We were attacked by ninja guards.
Ms. EARLS: We were attacked by ninja guards?
SHORTZ: Right. I'll give you a little secret on puzzles like this. Focus in on the words that sound the most awkward.
Ms. EARLS: A Jaguar.
SHORTZ: There you go, Jaguar. Good. The vapor's chemicals overwhelmed me. Look inside vapor's chemicals.
Ms. EARLS: Porsche.
SHORTZ: Porsche is right. At DuPont, I accomplished a lot.
Ms. EARLS: At DuPont, I accomplished a lot. Pontiac.
SHORTZ: Pontiac. Good. Try this one. Ellen simply mouthed the words.
Ms. EARLS: Ellen simply mouthed - Plymouth.
SHORTZ: Plymouth. Good. It was Harold's mob I let loose.
Ms. EARLS: It was Harold...
SHORTZ: Right, H-A-R-O-L-D, as it was Harold's mob I let loose.
Ms. EARLS: Oldsmobile.
HANSEN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Oldsmobile, good. Is the golfer rarin' to go?
Ms. EARLS: Is the golfer, what?
SHORTZ: Rarin, R-A-R-I-N. Is the golfer rarin' to go?
Ms. EARLS: Ferrari.
SHORTZ: Ferrari, good. Try this one. The subway has a turnstile.
Ms. EARLS: The subway has a turnstile. I have a Subaru, but that doesn't work.
SHORTZ: No.
Ms. EARLS: Saturn.
SHORTZ: Saturn, good. And here's your last one. Alan drove really fast.
HANSEN: Is that A-L-L-E-N or A-N, A-L-A-N?
SHORTZ: It's A-N. A-L-A-N. Alan drove really fast.
Ms. EARLS: Really fast. Alan drove - Land Rover.
HANSEN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Land Rover, nice work.
HANSEN: Woo.
Ms. EARLS: Whew.
HANSEN: Yeah, I know. I feel exactly the same way. I was writing them down, Gloria. How about you?
Ms. EARLS: Oh, yeah.
HANSEN: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he wants us to do it in our heads.
SHORTZ: In your heads, yeah.
HANSEN: You can do it in your head, Will. Well, anyway, Gloria, you did really well. This wasn't very easy, but you did really well. Good accomplishment. And we wanted to - well, actually, it's kind of fitting to have another accomplished individual to tell you your puzzle prizes. This young man has done what few others have been able to do. He earned all 121 Boy Scout merit badges. So here's 18-year-old Sean Goldsmith with his next feat, a rundown of your puzzle prizes.
Mr. SEAN GOLDSMITH (Boy Scout): For playing our puzzle today, you will get a Weekend Edition lapel pin, the Eleventh Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, the Scrabble Deluxe Edition from Parker Brothers, "The Puzzlemaster Presents" from Random House, volume two, Will Shortz's latest book series "Will Shortz Presents KenKen" volumes one, two, and three from St. Martin's Press, and one of Will Shortz's "Puzzlemaster Decks" of riddles and challenges from Chronicle Books.
I may have 121 merit badges from water sports and rock climbing and skating, but the one thing I don't have is a Weekend Edition lapel pin. Liane, and Will, if you'd be kind enough, can you please send me one? Thank you.
HANSEN: I think it would be great if he showed up with his sash and amidst all of those badges was the Weekend Edition lapel pin. Hey, Gloria, what do you think?
Ms. EARLS: I think he has a lot of accomplishments, and I'm glad this is over.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Before we say goodbye, Gloria, tell us what member station you listen to.
Ms. EARLS: We're members of WNPR.
HANSEN: Oh, well, that's the magic word, member. Gloria Earls of Middletown, Connecticut, thank you so much for playing with us today. You were fabulous. Was it worth the wait for 20 years?
Ms. EARLS: Oh, absolutely.
HANSEN: OK. Take care. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.
Ms. EARLS: Thank you very much.
HANSEN: All right.
Ms. EARLS: Bye-bye.
HANSEN: Will, we need a new one, even though our brains are fried. We need another challenge for next week.
SHORTZ: Well, try this. Think of a word that starts and ends with the letter M, as in Mary. Drop the first M, insert an O somewhere, and you get a new word that means the same thing as the first word. What is it? So again, a word that starts and ends with the letter M. Drop the first M, insert an O, and you get a new word that means the same thing. What words are these?
HANSEN: And you're not telling us how many letters are in this word, right?
SHORTZ: That's for you to figure out.
HANSEN: Ah, naturally. Well, when you have the answer, go to our Web site, npr.org/puzzle, and click on the "Submit your Answer" link. Only one entry per person, please. Our deadline this week is Thursday, 3 p.m. Eastern time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. We'll call you if you're the winner. And you'll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of the New York Times and Weekend Edition's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Will, thanks a lot.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. In Iraq this weekend, roadside bombs have killed at least two Iraqi soldiers and wounded one Iraqi police officer. The toll is virtually a daily burden on Iraqi's security forces. Tens of thousands of Iraqi policemen and soldiers have been wounded in the six years since the U.S.-led invasion, but few get good medical care, and there are no working pension systems. Instead, many are kept on the Iraqi police books, swelling the numbers of police officers who cannot carry out their duties. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from the northern Iraqi city of Mosel.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's training day at the police academy in Mosel. Names are called out. One by one, men line up with their belongings before getting marched off to their barracks.
In a corner of the large, dusty lot, about a hundred men huddle together. Many in this group lean on crutches. Some are in wheelchairs. One man has metal pins piercing the skin of his right leg, holding his shattered bones together. Abdulsamat Halaq Halil(ph) was wounded in a roadside bombing.
Mr. ABDULSAMAT HALAQ HALIL: (Through Translator) We've gotten no compensation. It's been two years since it happened, but I've got nothing from the government.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: These men are paid half of the regular policeman salary in lieu of a pension or other support. Still, they say, it's not enough. Muhammad Jimahalad(ph) needs surgery on his badly injured foot.
Mr. MUHAMMAD JIMAHALAD: (Through Translator) I was told that my surgery would cost 8 million Iraqi dinars, but I have no money to do it. I can't walk without crutches. The only place they can do the surgery is in Syria, but I don't have the money to go there.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Hussein Ali Jasmaboud(ph) was shot multiple times in the abdomen and legs. He's sold everything he has to help pay for his medical care.
Mr. HUSSEIN ALI JASMABOUD: (Through Translator) The government tells you to be patient. I've been patient for five years now. I suffer from severe pain. Besides the money issue, the government says if we spend more than 15 days away from our posts, they'll stop paying us. I can't have surgery and recover in that small amount of time.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Now the U.S. military, which oversees police training in Mosel, says the men need to be taken care of some other way. Captain Charles Muller(ph) is with the 302nd 2nd MP company out of Grand Prairie, Texas.
Captain CHARLES MULLER (U.S. Military Police): There are some of the people that they keep on the payroll, or have kept on the payrolls in the past - one of the things that we're working with them to do is get these guys who aren't capable of doing the job and work, getting them off the books so that we can hire more able-bodied policemen, and get those able-bodied policemen on the streets.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: As the U.S. military lowers its profile here, American commanders say it's become more important than ever to get Iraq's police up to par - especially in Mosel, where there is still a thriving insurgency. Captain Muller says that corruption is the main problem. Much of the money that should go for the care of wounded officers is siphoned off by interior ministry officials and senior police commanders.
Captain MULLER: The pension program - it exists, but sometimes you can get lost in the shuffle when you're outside of the influence of the people who have the money and distribute the money when payroll time comes around.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Still, Iraqi police general Fouaz Mahmoud(ph) says that for now, keeping the officers on the active police roster is the only way to support the men.
General FOUAZ MAHMOUD (Iraqi Police Department): (Through Translator) They were all once policemen. Nothing was wrong with them but because of terrorism, they were disabled. They had no choice in the matter.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Nearby, the injured men are told to get in line. They are about to be taken for a medical review. Muhammad Fatah Ahmed(ph) was once an interpreter for U.S. military. He was threatened by militants, so he joined the police. He was then shot in the line of duty.
Mr. MUHAMMAD FATAH AHMED (Former Interpreter for U.S. Military): I have a bullet in my left leg. But now I can't walk (unintelligible).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He's scare he will be fired, and then he'll have no source of income.
Mr. FATAH AHMED: Help us. We did everything for them.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I fought the terrorists, he adds plaintively, and no one seems to care. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Mosel.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
The Obama administration has put an early emphasis on diplomacy and development, breathing new life into the U.S. State Department. NPR's Michele Kelemen has been following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first days on the job, and the mood among diplomats.
MICHELE KELEMEN: The vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, Steve Kashkett, was the one who introduced Hillary Clinton to an eager staff.
(Soundbite of welcome ceremony for Secretary of State Clinton at the U.S. State Department)
(Soundbite of applause)
Secretary HILLARY CLINTON (U.S. Department of State): Thank you.
(Soundbite of applause)
Mr. STEVE KASHKETT (Vice President, American Foreign Service Association): Secretary Clinton, on behalf...
(Soundbite of applause)
KELEMEN: The rousing welcome ceremony on Thursday, the smiles and handshakes, told it all. This is a department that feels back in business, according to Kashkett.
Mr. KASHKETT: It reflected the strong desire of our members and of State Department employees worldwide for change, for a secretary who is prepared to pay attention to the needs of the foreign service and the State Department.
KELEMEN: In the corridors of the State Department, one ambassador said he felt he had new wind in his sails. Secretary Clinton said what many State Department officials wanted to hear.
(Soundbite of welcome ceremony for Secretary of State Clinton at the U.S. State Department)
Secretary CLINTON: I'm going to be asking a lot of you. I want you to think outside the proverbial box. I want you to give me the best advice you can. I want you to understand there is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate and the kind of dialogue that will make us better.
(Soundbite of applause)
KELEMEN: The professional association's vice president, Kashkett, says he's heard nothing but positive reviews so far from foreign and civil service officers here in Washington and abroad.
Mr. KASHKETT: We take that to mean that there will be a very lively discussion of important policy matters and that our professional diplomats, who have tremendous expertise and experience on many of these issues, will be part of that discussion.
KELEMEN: If, after eight years of the Bush administration, State Department employees felt the need for a morale boost, the need was even greater at the U.S. Agency for International Development. There, the representative of the American Foreign Service Association, Francisco Zamora, welcomed Clinton on Friday with a hopeful attitude.
(Soundbite of applause)
Mr. FRANCISCO ZAMORA (Vice President, American Foreign Service Association, U.S. Agency for International Development): It would be redundant to point out the problems of understaffing and underfunding that our agency has been experiencing for more than a decade now. And you and President Obama have been very clear about the need to turn this around. Thank you.
KELEMEN: Clinton did not give any hints about how she might reorganize U.S. assistance efforts, but she said she believes that development and diplomacy should be full partners with defense in U.S. foreign policy. She made clear that she thinks the U.S. has been relying too heavily on the military in rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan.
(Soundbite of Secretary Clinton speaking at the U.S. Agency for International Development)
Secretary CLINTON: It is ironic that our very best, young military leaders are given unfettered resources through the Commanders' Emergency Response Program to spend as they see fit - to build a school, to open a health clinic, to pave a road. And our diplomats and our development experts have to go through miles of paperwork to spend 10 cents. It is not a sensible approach.
(Soundbite of applause)
KELEMEN: But she reminded the crowds that these are tough financial times, so the development experts and diplomats will have to make a strong case for boosting U.S. foreign assistance. Those words of caution did not detract from the mood in the packed auditorium. The acting USAID administrator joked that he didn't have to bring in the rock star Bono to get such a crowd; Secretary Clinton's presence was enough. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
President Obama and Secretary Clinton wasted no time putting their firm stamp on the State Department. Two days after the president's inauguration and a day after Secretary Clinton's confirmation, they announced the appointments of Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and George Mitchell as special envoy for Middle East affairs. Both men are seasoned diplomats who have brokered peace deals around the world.
Joining us to talk about the new administration's approach to the Middle East is Rami Khouri. He's the editor-at-large of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut. He joins us from Dubai. Mr. Khouri, welcome back to the program.
Mr. RAMI KHOURI (Editor-at-Large, Daily Star Newspaper) Thank you. Glad to be with you.
HANSEN: How were the appointments of Mr. Holbrooke and Mr. Mitchell received there in the region?
Mr. KHOURI: Generally, I think they were well-received. People have a lot of respect for Mitchell, especially. They know him more than they know Holbrooke. But they have - there's generally good respect for him and more importantly, the clear, direct support of the president, the fast way that Obama addressed this issue - his second day in office, all of these are things that make people, I think, broadly speaking, look at this process with a little bit of hope and expectation.
HANSEN: In his inaugural address this past Tuesday, President Obama promised to engage the Muslim world. Do you have any idea how Muslims are interpreting that statement?
Mr. KHOURI: Well, the fact that he just mentioned it is something that, again, is broadly well-received. I think that he announced that this is something he wants to do is good, better than, you know, saying we're going to change regimes and force you to change your systems and do all these other things by compulsion or force - that Bush had been doing or talking about. But these are just - this is at the level of rhetoric. What he did in the Middle East is take it to the level of action and policy, and that's how he's going to be judged in the end.
HANSEN: So what is the impression of the new secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in the Middle East and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region?
Mr. KHOURI: You know, it's too early to make any kind of judgment because she hasn't really done anything yet. Her statements and her hearings for the congressional confirmation didn't give away very much. We have to wait until they actually implement policies on the ground to be able to judge them.
I don't think people put that much emphasis on Clinton as such because they know that the policy direction is going to come from President Obama and the convergence of the special-interest groups in Washington. So I think the critical thing is Obama's personal engagement. And he's positioning the U.S., I think, to become a little bit more even-handed because he knows that only an even-handed mediator will be a successful mediator, and we are seeing signs of that as well.
HANSEN: Rami Khouri is editor-at-large for the Daily Star. He joined us from Dubai. Thanks very much.
Mr. KHOURI: My pleasure.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. Skyrocketing unemployment numbers are causing some workers to consider switching careers. Retraining programs are booming. And the next economic stimulus package likely will include money for such programs. But even with new skills, finding a job will be difficult.
For every vacant job, there are at least three workers available. To find out if retraining actually will help struggling job seekers, we turn to New York Times labor and workplace reporter Steven Greenhouse. He's the author of "The Big Squeeze: Tough times for the American Worker," and he joins us from our New York bureau. Welcome back to the program, Steven.
Mr. STEVEN GREENHOUSE (Labor and Workplace Reporter, New York Times; Author, "The Big Squeeze: Tough times for the American Worker"): Very nice to be here, Liane.
HANSEN: Every day, there's another announcement that a company is laying off, jobs are going every day. If there are fewer jobs, how will retraining help?
Mr. GREENHOUSE: A lot of studies, Liane, show that retraining has a mixed record. I think politicians love the idea of retraining because it's political appealing. It shows people that we're doing something about the problem of unemployment. But with unemployment soaring to 7.2 percent, the highest rate in 16 years, it's not clear whether retraining is actually going to help laid- off people find jobs.
HANSEN: Say someone who's been laid off re-trains, maybe for a completely different kind of job. Isn't it likely that if that person gets a job, it's much likely to be at a lower pay scale?
Mr. GREENHOUSE: When laid-off people find work, even after retraining, they're making, on average, 20 or 30 percent lower. And various studies have shown very different things depending, in part, on how good the training programs are, on, you know, the job markets in the various cities and states.
HANSEN: Mmm. Are there organizations that offer retraining programs that also offer guarantees about getting a job?
Mr. GREENHOUSE: Yes and no. Many economic studies have shown that the best retraining programs are ones where, like, an employer will say, my company needs, you know, 36 welders. And the community college trains 36 people for these welding positions. And when they graduate, boom, they have a job. There's a pot of paychecks for them at the end of their retraining rainbow, so to speak. But it's not that frequently and - where there are the specific retraining programs that lead to specific jobs.
HANSEN: Is there a better option for workers who can't find a job in their field?
Mr. GREENHOUSE: I think, you know, when unemployment is rising, if you have the money, go retrain, go get better skills, go back to college. But unfortunately, a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, and they can't afford to take, you know, six months or a year retraining.
You know, my sense is when you're having problems finding a job, improve your skills. Maybe you won't get a better job six months from now, a year from now, but hopefully, when the economy improves in a year, in two years and four years, that retraining will pay off because you'll be able to get a better job than the one you left.
HANSEN: But in the same field. I mean, retraining doesn't necessarily mean a total career change.
Mr. GREENHOUSE: You're absolutely right, Liane. Retraining can mean going from being a nurse's aide in a hospital to become a full nurse, or from being a teacher's aide to become a full teacher. Or, you know, the many laid- off factory workers who see that the one field in the nation that's really growing is health care, and they're retraining for all sorts of health-care jobs - whether it's to be someone who checks blood pressure, whether it's to be a radiologist, or whether it's to be a nurse.
HANSEN: So there are industries that are looking for workers?
Mr. GREENHOUSE: Yes. When one looks at the areas in the economy where there is job growth - and they're really very few right now, you know, because, you know, we've seen layoffs in retail, layoffs in high-tech, layoffs in factories. But, you know, health care is a growing sector. There will be more money spent on education, so I think there will be greater demand for elementary school teachers, high school teachers. And for unskilled people, they can be hired as teacher's aides. I think there's growing demand for workers who will serve people in their 70s and 80s. You know, nursing homes need workers.
I mean, there are many different levels of skills that various retraining programs provide - from a three-month to six-month certificate to become a nursing home aide, two or three years to become a paralegal or, you know, a full degree to become a full engineer.
HANSEN: Steven Greenhouse is a labor and workplace reporter for the New York Times. He's also the author of "The Big Squeeze: Tough times for the American Worker." Thanks for joining us, Steven.
Mr. GREENHOUSE: Thanks, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
When Barack Obama took office Tuesday, he inherited what he called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. As Mr. Obama spends his first 100 days in office, NPR is launching a project called "100 Days: On the Road in Troubled Times." NPR's David Greene will spend most of the next hundred days roaming the United States. And with some help from our listeners, he wants to tell stories about the recession: how it's affecting people and their communities, and how Americans feel about their new president's handling of the economy. David joins us from his first stop, the blustery upper peninsula of Michigan. David, are you warm enough?
DAVID GREENE: I'm warming up now, getting indoors, Liane. But it's pretty blustery out there.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Yeah. So, David, I understand you're going to be taking advantage of some new technology to get our listeners involved.
GREENE: Trying to. And I don't know if you've used a lot of these new gadgets like Flicker and Twitter and, you know, we'll be using our own Web site, but I'm picking up all of it, getting tutorials as we speak. And it's going to help us really keep in touch with listeners, and I hope they'll get involved and really sends some ideas and, you know, keep the conversation going with me.
HANSEN: So, upper peninsula of Michigan. This is your starting-off point.
GREENE: It is, and we're going to be all over the country. But the first month or so, we're doing I-75, you know, the industrial Midwest down all the way to Florida and speaking to retirees, but starting here in Michigan. And this state, as you know, has been hit so hard, you know, the auto industry and the economy in general. And even before landing in Sioux Saint Marie, you know, this town at the top of I-75, I was meeting people somehow touched by the economy and all of its troubles. I sat next to this woman on the plane coming in, and we walked out of the airport together. And she - we have a little tape of her introducing me to her area.
Ms. JOANNE AMBRASSIS(ph): You're almost at the end of the earth. Not quite, but you can see it from here. It's hard and it's cold, and it's long, hard winters up here. You can see the snow banks that are quite tall.
(Soundbite of laughter)
GREENE: Taller than us.
Ms. AMBRASSIS: Taller than us, yes.
GREENE: That was Joanne Ambrassis, and she works for one of the local tribes on housing issues. And she was actually flying back from Chicago and had a meeting with housing officials. And she said, the topic was this economic stimulus package that everyone is expecting to come out of Congress at some point soon. She sounded almost like this package is a pie that's not even cooked, but everyone is just dying to get a piece of it already. And the advice that she was getting with her housing program - they better get up and get some ideas ready to go when that money comes, or else they'll be passed by.
HANSEN: What did she say about the people that she serves? There's - recession means more people in need of public housing.
GREENE: Absolutely. And I mean, Michigan's had some housing problems for a while now. But you know, as more people get unemployed, her waiting lines are growing. And actually, the headline in the Detroit News that greeted me when I got here to Michigan was right across the front page: Michigan jobless rate hit 10.6 percent in December.
And you want to talk about coming across people randomly who were hit by this economy, I'm reading that paper, having dinner at the bar at Applebee's in Sioux Saint Marie, and this guy walks in, sits down at the bar, and tells the bartender that he just lost his job. This guy's name is Shane Bailey(ph). He was an engineer with the Coast Guard. He thinks he'll be getting his last paycheck soon. And I met him the next morning, and we were walking around town a little bit, and he said it was tough delivering that news to his friend Crystal, who was the bartender at Applebee's.
Mr. SHANE BAILEY: Because I know a lot people there at that establishment. They already knew I basically was going to lose my job, but Crystal, though, she just moved back up here, I think, about - about a month ago or so. So, I didn't really tell her the real news until last night.
GREENE: And you had said if things don't go well, I mean, you have friends who might take you in or...
Mr. BAILEY: Exactly.
HANSEN: So he means he'll need to move in with friends.
GREENE: Yeah. You know, he's hoping to find a job, but he knows about one job as a janitor at a tribal casino that he might go for. But if not, he'll have to give up his apartment and move in with a group of friends. And he says that's happening a lot around here.
HANSEN: So, I-75 for you downs towards Detroit?
GREENE: That's right. And then on south to Miami.
HANSEN: And if you want to follow David's travels, go to our Web site, npr.org. We'll be adding a map soon. And as David said, he'll be on Twitter and other social media sites. Help him find interesting stories along the way. And David Greene, thank you. Good luck.
GREENE: Thanks, Liane.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Barack Obama - you can call him president, commander-in-chief, or leader of the free world. And the world now describes Michelle Obama as first lady. Poet and author E. Ethelbert Miller says we shouldn't forget that we can also call the first couple husband and wife, mom and dad, and heads of the family. He wrote this essay.
Mr. E. ETHELBERT MILLER (Poet and Author; Director, African-American Resources Center, Howard University): When I look at pictures of the first family, I want to merely turn the images into a new version of those Black is Beautiful posters from the 1960s. Elegance, grace and style have returned to the White House. What we are looking at are people in love, and loving on the world stage.
Much has been written about the marriage between Barack and Michelle Obama. I still tell everyone that I feel good every time I see them holding hands, husband and wife as true partners. But what does the Obama family reflect when it comes to the family image? First, I think we acknowledge Michelle Obama's mother, being invited to live in the White House and help take care of the grandchildren. It underscores the importance of the elder in the family. Many grandmothers are sweet but stern. There's no way the Obama girls are going to run around the White House without supervision. Maybe the White House will need one less Secret Service agent.
The Obama family presents itself before the American eye at a time when there is no real typical American family. Gay couples uphold strong family values, as do single-parent households. The problem with poster images is that posters sometime cover walls of reality.
Still, we like what we see in the Obama family. It tells us that our government and the economy might not be working well, but something still is. Cultural images don't pay bills but for a moment, they can provide warmth during this winter in America.
I do at times wonder how responsive the American public would be if the Obama girls were little black boys. Would they still be called adorable? How would they dress? And what will happen when the first family adopts their dog? How different will this family image be from the one in my old Dick and Jane readers that blessed my childhood?
Just the other day, I was talking to my daughter Jasmine Simone. She is thinking about getting married soon. She wanted to know what I thought made a marriage and family successful. I had been teasing her and her boyfriend by calling them Barack and Michelle. But as I stood looking into my daughter's eyes, I realized the idea of family came from my own mother and father, two people who never graced the cover of a magazine.
Barack and Michelle are today's first family, and I'm very happy about that. But I'm also happy for all the other American families across this nation. Count us. We are not first, but many.
HANSEN: E. Ethelbert Miller is board chairman of the Institute for Policy Studies, and director of the African-American Resources Center, at Howard University.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen. "The Ninth Inning" is a series we've been running all month to celebrate the remarkable lives of older generations. We began with 85-year-old garlic farmer and writer Chester Aaron, then we tapped our way into the life of 91-year-old dancer Dorothy Toy Fong and last week, we spoke with 84-year-old Eldora Wood, who's fondly known as the queen mother of Pinehurst, North Carolina. This week, we tracked down 81-year-old Harry McGinnis, who likes to be known as Hawk. In 1992, Hawk began walking around the world.
Mr. HARRY MCGINNIS: Hello?
HANSEN: And this past week, he phoned us from Leon, Nicaragua.
Mr. MCGINNIS: This is a very economic way to travel, and not only that, you see more. Now, you don't see anything flying over in an airplane, and you certainly don't see it in fast cars as the scenery whizzes by you, but when you walk, you become part of everything, and it becomes part of you.
HANSEN: Hawk carries a large, steel-tipped staff, and his belongings are in a backpack.
Mr. MCGINNIS: Yeah, I've been in 80 countries. Traveled about 80,000 miles. This is a very educating experience. It's an experience of a lifetime. How many people get to walk around the world for almost 28-plus years and see different cultures and ethnicities, experience the different food? This is a living encyclopedia.
HANSEN: When Hawk was growing up on a farm in Indiana, he would often dream about visiting far-off countries. He would spend much of his time flipping through the pages of National Geographic and its pictures of exotic locations.
Mr. MCGINNIS: All those faraway places, strange sounding names, I said, one day, maybe if I hold the dream long enough, I'll be able to see them in real life.
HANSEN: His dream came true in 1944, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was stationed in the Philippines and Okinawa. After Hawk returned home in 1947, he began a series of careers - from big-band singer to magazine editor to Methodist minister. And he's not ready to retire.
Mr. MCGINNIS: I have so many things to still do. I've always wanted to play the piano, and I also want to tap dance. And so I said, when I get through this trip, I'm going back and take up tap dancing and maybe ballroom dancing, and I'm going to also do some other things that I haven't done in my life.
HANSEN: It may seem as though Hawk will meet any challenge. But he admits to being very scared when, at the age of 69, he jumped off a bridge in Victoria Falls, Zambia. And when he made his way through Egypt, he met some men who turned out not to be friendly.
Mr. MCGINNIS: Two of them jumped out and said, what's yours is going to be mine. They didn't say that in English, but that was the general concern. And I was doing pretty well until another person came up and whacked me in the back of the head. And when I woke up, a circle of people were around me, and the soldiers were them asking questions. They took me to a hospital and x-rayed my head to make sure I didn't have a brain concussion. And the next day, I was released.
HANSEN: Hawk has good advice for those who want to get out and see the world.
Mr. MCGINNIS: Just get out there and do it. You'll be surprised, all the doubts and fears will fade away. I mean, the secret in life is to experience life. Life is about living life. This trip has, I'm sure, allowed me to be younger than my age.
HANSEN: Eighty-one-year-old Harry "Hawk" McGinnis, who is walking his way around the world. To share your stories about remarkable people of older generations, and to find out where in the world Hawk is, go to npr.org/soapbox.
LIANE HANSEN, host:
Although the Second World War ended more than 60 years ago, stories about it are still being written. A recently published book contradicts what we have come to believe about the end of the conflict - that in small towns all over Europe, cheering crowds greeted smiling GIs as heroes. Although it was true in some cases, there was also brutality, injustice and violence.
"The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe" is written by William Hitchcock, a Temple University professor who specializes in the history of Europe since 1939. Professor Hitchcock joins us from WRTI, on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. Welcome to the program.
Dr. WILLIAM HITCHCOCK (History, Temple University; Author, "The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe): Thank you. It's good to be with you, Liane.
HANSEN: I have an anecdotal story for you. Many of the taxi drivers in Paris are from Normandy and you know, whenever they pick up an American, they are always so effusively grateful for what the Americans did. And yet in your book, you write after D-Day, when the Allied troops moved through, it wasn't all kisses and flowers. Explain.
Dr. HITCHCOCK: Well, after 60 years, the French people have put a lot of the bitterness of the immediate liberation period behind them, and I think rightly so. We have a very long, and on the whole, a very close relationship with the people of France despite our periodic differences. But in June of 1944, in the summer of 1944, the situation was quite different.
On June 6th, 1944, the American and the British armies came ashore at Omaha and all the other beaches, and we're very familiar with that story and what it looked like. We know it was a great day of sacrifice on the behalf of the liberators, but I don't think we realize just what it was like to be on the receiving end of that storm of violence that came ashore. And in fact, we now know that about 3,000 French civilians were killed on June 6th alone. So that may be part of what those French taxi drivers are putting behind them now to focus on the longer story, which is the just war that we fought together to defeat the Germans.
HANSEN: There are several incredible chapters. I mean, you write about Belgium, you write about the camps and the fact that many of the inmates in some of the camps weren't even allowed to leave during liberation. And there's one chapter that you call "Hunger," and this is about the terrible situation that the Dutch were in. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Dr. HITCHCOCK: Oh, it's a terrible chapter, and it's very difficult material to read about, but at the very end of the war, just on the eve of liberation, the Dutch people as a whole rose up against their German occupiers, but it was too soon. And the German military put down that uprising and as punishment, they cut off all additional imports of food, of medicine, of clothing into Holland.
So Holland, in the winter of 1944 and into the spring of 1945, went through an absolutely awful period of privation. At a time when the Americans and the British were beginning to push further into Germany, the Dutch were sort of left in a kind of limbo waiting for liberation. They could see it just across the rivers of the Rhine and the other rivers in the south of Holland. But the Germans kept them under a very fierce occupation, and thousands of them starved to death.
HANSEN: They were eating tulip bulbs?
Dr. HITCHCOCK: Oh. After having used all sorts of creativity to try to draw nourishment from leaves, from grass, from bark, the Dutch turned to the two things that were most readily available. One was tulip bulbs, which when boiled could be turned into a grotesque kind of a soup, and the other was sugar beets, that when boiled and boiled and boiled can be turn into kind of a sickly sweet pulp. It's designed really - was meant to be used with cattle food, but the Dutch were forced to eat this kind of thing just to survive that hunger winter of 1944.
HANSEN: There was an awareness of the situation that the Dutch were in. Why was no help given? Why was no food sent?
Dr. HITCHCOOK: It was one of those terrible moral decision. I think it wore on Churchill, in particular, who was very close to the Dutch, and he agonized over it. And at the end of the day, he had to agree that the way to save the Dutch was to defeat Germany first.
HANSEN: So, the idea was that if food had been dropped into the Netherlands, that it would feed the German soldiers and not the people?
Dr. HITCHCOCK: That was certainly one of considerations, that Eisenhower felt if we drop tens of thousands of tons, at great cost and at great risk, tens of thousands of tons of food and medicine, the Germans will steal it anyway. So, that doesn't make a great deal of sense for us to undertake a large-scale, humanitarian relief when the Germans will simply steal this material from the Dutch people themselves for whom it's intended.
HANSEN: Many books have been written about the military aspect of World War II, the bravery and courage of what's known as the greatest generation. Why haven't more been written about the condition of the European people during the liberation, the humanitarian side of all of this?
Dr. HITCHCOCK: Well, I think that Americans - and Britains, really too - like to tell a certain kind of story about the Second World War. We focus on the fact that it was a just war, which it undeniably was. There was a sense of national sacrifice.
But as a consequence of focusing on our sacrifices, I think we have gotten away from the sacrifices that ordinary European civilians often made. But I think it also gets us away from another great story that we ought to tell about the Second World War and our role in it, not just the military story, but the humanitarian story because immediately following the armies of liberation, came armies of humanity, if you like.
Volunteer organizations, not just the Red Cross, but dozens and dozens of other similar humanitarian intervention organizations came in order to bind up the wounds of Europe. They gave food, they gave medicine, they provided clothing, they provided DDT powder, which was used to control lice that carried typhus, they provided barracks and clearing centers for people to get papers so that they could get on their way back home.
HANSEN: You specialize in the history of Europe since 1939. What inspired you to write this book?
Dr. HITCHCOCK: Well, in 2003, the United States and Europe was engaged in a great debate about whether or not to invade Iraq. And the Americans, American leadership took a very strong view that like in the Second World War, so in Iraq, there was a bad guy, a dictator whose regime was criminal and genocidal, and he had to be stopped.
But at that time, Europeans in 2003, the Europeans were saying, wait a minute, before you go barging in, just keep in mind that many ordinary civilians are going to suffer in Iraq because wars of liberation are unpredictable. And wars of liberation sometimes sort of spill out over the nice, neat boxes that you want to keep them in.
And I was fascinated by this debate because both sides in the U.S. and in Europe made a lot of references to the war experience, and it occurred to me that Americans and Europeans remember the Second World War very differently because of their different experiences in it. And as a consequence, they have very different views about how to use force in the contemporary world.
HANSEN: William Hitchcock's new book is called, "The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of The Liberation of Europe." He joined us from WRTI, on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. Thank you very much.
Dr. HITCHCOCK: Thank you so much, Liane.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
The neighboring states of Ohio and Kentucky normally get along just fine, but now they have a problem, a dispute over an 8-ton rock of questionable historic value. Fred Kight of Member Station WOUB in Athens, Ohio explains.
FRED KIGHT: Steve Shaffer is a historian in Ohio who read about Indian Head Rock when he was a kid and became fascinated. The rock was partially submerged in the Ohio River near Portsmouth, Ohio, and was first noted in an archeological publication in 1847. It's sandstone, brownish in color and about the size of a small car. Shaffer never forgot about the boulder and several years ago began a quest to locate it. But that was easier said than done. Navigational dams have raised the Ohio River, and the rock hadn't been seen since 1920. After many diving excursions, Shaffer and some buddies found the relic and hauled it out of the river.
WERTHEIMER: I was given a tip. This is in September of '07. And I received a tip that it was down on the riverbank. And so I went down there, and it was covered with a large tarp.
KIGHT: That's Frank Lewis, a reporter for the Portsmouth Daily Times, who's been on this story since the rock was removed from the river.
WERTHEIMER: And so that is kind of how it all started. And then we started following the history of it, not realizing how far this was going to go.
KIGHT: Steve Shaffer donated the rock to the City of Portsmouth, Ohio. But the Ohio River is actually in Kentucky, so Portsmouth officials offered it to the town of South Shore, Kentucky. They said they weren't interested in the rock. So Portsmouth officials began making plans to put it on display in Ohio. That irked Kentucky state officials. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway wrote a letter demanding the return of the boulder.
WERTHEIMER: This was a registered antiquity within the commonwealth of Kentucky, registered by the commonwealth of Kentucky, and it was taken. And that constitutes theft of an antiquity under our statutes.
KIGHT: But Ohio officials argue that Indian Head Rock now belonged to them. Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers weighed in, arguing that it had jurisdiction of the river. Meanwhile, the rock has been moved to a most inauspicious place - a city service department garage. Indian Head Rock isn't really much to look at until you get up close and can see that it has lots of names etched on it.
WERTHEIMER: In essence, it's a graffiti rock.
KIGHT: Randy Nichols is a local history buff. Some of the names are haphazardly scratched and difficult to make out. Others are neatly chiseled and easy to read. There's also a head etched on the side, though it looks nothing like a Native American.
WERTHEIMER: There's a face here that some have said it looks like Charlie Brown, and in the early days it was known as the Portsmouth Indians Head Rock. It's pretty much a life-size depiction of a face, a smiley face if you will.
KIGHT: Historian Steve Shaffer is not smiling though, nor is he talking to the media on the advice of his lawyer. That's because removing the boulder from the Ohio River bottom put him in legal jeopardy. Shaffer and one of his helpers were indicted on felony charges in Kentucky this past summer and are awaiting trial. Meanwhile, Indian Head Rock remains not on display in a park, but in the corner of a service department garage in Portsmouth, Ohio. For NPR News, I'm Fred Kight in Athens, Ohio.
WERTHEIMER: To see photos of the Indian Head Rock, visit our Web site, npr.org.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
It's called honor killing - taking the life of your child, sibling, or spouse in the belief you are protecting the family against shame or disgrace. The United Nations says it happens about 5,000 times a year. Most of the victims are women from the Middle East and South Asia. It rarely happens here in the United States. But last year a 25-year-old woman from Pakistan was strangled to death at her home near Atlanta, and her father is charged with her murder. A pretrial hearing gets under way in Jonesboro, Georgia, and that's where NPR's Jamie Tarabay went to find out more.
WERTHEIMER: This is old Jonesboro. Railroad tracks go through town up here. To the left's Confederate Cemetery.
JAMIE TARABAY: Detective Mike Christian has lived in this pocket of the Atlanta suburbs all his life.
WERTHEIMER: Supposedly Tara - the big plantation from "Gone with the Wind" - this is where it was located.
TARABAY: Past the cemetery where the flag still flies, Christian pulls into a quiet street with tidy brick-front two-story homes.
WERTHEIMER: This is it, 9816. They've got a "for sale" sign in the yard. The window to her bedroom is open.
TARABAY: It was past 1 a.m. on July 6 when police got several 911 calls connected to that house. The first was from a man who told police, my daughter's dead. Then at 1:55 a.m....
U: Clayton County, 911.
TARABAY: This call from a woman named Gina Rashid, worried about her stepdaughter Sandeela.
WERTHEIMER: I heard a lot of hollering and screaming. And I just woke up and I asked my family what's going on. They're from Pakistan. They're not speaking English to me. They're not telling me nothing. (Unintelligible) Sandeela's dead. Sandeela's dead.
TARABAY: Sandeela Kanwal was the 25-year-old daughter of Chaudry Rashid. Christian said when police arrived at the house, they found the 57-year-old pizza shop owner sitting cross-legged in his driveway, smoking a cigarette.
WERTHEIMER: They talked to him for a minute, asked him what was going on. He said, my daughter is dead. They asked him again what he had said, and he said, my daughter is dead.
TARABAY: Police found Kanwal dead on the floor of her bedroom, still in her Wal-Mart uniform. She'd been working the late shift that night. As they surveyed the scene, police tried to fathom what had happened. Rashid was taken into custody and then questioned by police.
S: He admitted to actually taking the life of his daughter.
TARABAY: Sergeant Stefan Schindler is a 13-year police veteran.
S: And the reason that he took his daughter's life, by his own words, was that she was not being true to her religion or to her husband.
TARABAY: Police believe Rashid killed his daughter because she wanted a divorce and said that would have brought shame on his family. Schindler says Rashid told him it was a right given to him by God, and that God would protect him. To police, in other words, this was an honor killing.
S: Since my career's begun here at the Clayton County Police Department, I've never encountered anything like this. This was the first time.
TARABAY: Schindler says Rashid told police he strangled his daughter with a bungee cord, which he later burned and flushed down the toilet. Police were unable to find it. And that's just one of the many holes in this case, says Rashid's lawyer, Alan Begner.
WERTHEIMER: No one saw what happened. There was no one - there are no witnesses to it. There is said to be a confession, but there was no interpreter there, although an interpreter was on a speakerphone, they say.
TARABAY: Schindler sat in on the interview. He says Rashid was read and understood his rights. But Begner questions its validity.
WERTHEIMER: And it's not clear to me Mr. Rashid understood that by giving a statement it might be held against him.
TARABAY: Rashid remains in jail after he was refused bail. He's charged with murder and other felonies, including assault. When he first appeared in court, Chaudry Rashid said through an interpreter that he hadn't done anything wrong. That made the news. The words "Muslim honor killing" were everywhere. It was unfamiliar territory for the police, says Detective Mike Christian.
WERTHEIMER: Here in Georgia - this is going to make me sound uneducated or like a backwoods cracker - but we don't have that many dealings, we don't have that many Muslims. We don't have that much diversity down here - at least that I'm aware of.
TARABAY: It sent a ripple through this swath of Bible-belt country.
WERTHEIMER: For me and my upbringing and just - nothing in your life prepares you for that.
TARABAY: In some honor killings overseas, family members have killed women who've been raped because they're considered to have brought shame on their families. For Muslims in Atlanta, the unwanted attention was the last thing they needed.
WERTHEIMER: These things hurt the Muslim community. Not only Muslim community, Pakistani community, you know.
TARABAY: Shahid Malik is a local representative of Atlanta's Pakistani population and one of the very few willing to speak about the Rashid case. He says Sandeela Kanwal's killing has nothing to do with Islam, but that Rashid has little education and comes from a small village in Pakistan where tribal traditions are strong.
WERTHEIMER: I think in their mind - maybe if they use the name here honor killing, maybe they give less punishment. But that is wrong because law is changed. This is American law.
TARABAY: Malik says years ago Pakistan used to punish honor killings with only seven years' prison. Now, he says, the sentence is greater. But Rashid's lawyers don't want the notion of an honor killing associated with this case. Alan Begner again.
WERTHEIMER: Whatever this case is or is not, this is not an honor killing case. It is not based upon Pakistani law. Chaudry Rashid loved his daughter.
TARABAY: Begner hopes the state doesn't make this about Islam or ethnicity. This death could have happened, he says, in any culture, with any family. Jamie Tarabay, NPR News.
WERTHEIMER: For a list of countries where honor killings have been reported, go to our Web site, npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
When we reached food writer Nigella Lawson recently, she was feeling a little under the weather.
MONTAGNE: I feel that the cold and flu thing that's going around now is a bit like one of those monsters in a 1950s sci-fi movie, whereby a many-tentacled creature comes out of the deep, and you think you've killed it, and then a bit later, another tentacle comes up and grabs you.
MONTAGNE: Even with a cold in chilly London, Nigella Lawson says she still finds warmth in those freezing days of winter. And no surprise it comes from the kitchen.
MONTAGNE: I never complain about the cold weather. For me, that just means soups, stews and something soothing and rich in carbohydrates. So for me, it's all positive.
MONTAGNE: As you say, you have soups and stews in your different cookbooks. There's one recipe for sweet corn chowder that is pretty easy to make.
MONTAGNE: Oh, it's incredibly easy to make. And it also - which is useful when one's busy - is one of those comfort foods that children like a lot as well. It's a kind of multi-generational comfort food. And the thing that's so easy about it is you just need to get a bag of frozen sweet corn, and it's little kind of niblets. And if you just put it in a colander and pour boiling water from a kettle over it, that will defrost it.
MONTAGNE: That is such a nice cheat.
MONTAGNE: You know, it's easier. What I do is, rather than make a soup and then blend it when you've got all those hot liquids going about - not in itself a comforting act juggling with, you know, small children and hot liquids. I process the sweet corn - and it doesn't really work when it's still frozen - and I just process that with some scallions and garlic, and I put a tiny bit of semolina. You know, sometimes people put flour to thicken soups, which I don't like. But semolina somehow echoes the corn-flavored yellowness of the actual corn I'm using. And then it's really just a question of just cooking that with some hot vegetable stock - and I don't make my own, I must own up, and I'm not ashamed of that. And then while that's cooking, I put some tortilla chips out of a packet and put a bit of grated cheese or sliced cheese or whatever you want on top that, and warm those in the oven. And then I just put a huge helping of toasted cheese tortilla chips on top of the soup, slightly submerged. And I suppose it's - in a way, you could say it's a North American version of a French onion soup. Very easy in a store-covered standby, which actually is a comfort as well. If, I know I've got things in my kitchen that will feed me when it's too cold to go out shopping, that makes me happy.
MONTAGNE: When it comes to a main dish.
MONTAGNE: Yes.
MONTAGNE: There - in the winter months, there is - is one dish that might just cry out comfort, and that is a version of chicken pie.
MONTAGNE: Oh, when I just hear the word pie, what amount of balm and comfort is there in that word, you know you're going to feel better. I make a pie which is really incredibly simple. I get an all-butter puff pastry - you know, already made and it comes frozen, and you can thaw it. And I just fry some bacon, and then that gives off such a fantastic flavorsome juice. And I just add a few mushrooms. Then I flour some chicken strips, a bit of dried thyme. I add a bit of stock. And I like to add Marsala, but, you know, it's just that sort of fortified wine from Italy. And I - you get a kind of thick gravy sauce. And all that needs then is be put in its little pots and roll out the thawed bought pastry, and put a little lid around. Into an oven just till the pastry itself is golden and puffy, and that's it. You've got a couple of very comforting pies with very little time expended.
MONTAGNE: Although, with that puff pastry, they do look a little elegant.
MONTAGNE: Mine never look terribly elegant, because they puff up in a rustic fashion, they don't puff up uniformly. So some suddenly look like a rather fantastic sort of toadstool that might have been found. And then, some look like elegant ruffled French pies.
MONTAGNE: I can smell it right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MONTAGNE: You know, I must let folks know that there will be these recipes on the Web, so not to despair.
MONTAGNE: Yes, because of course, it helps to have measurements, and they're going to be online, so that's easier to follow.
MONTAGNE: Well, we have reached a point at which we could talk about - oh, the comfort of dessert and indulgence. Certainly, something you could, in a situation like this, actually curl up in bed with after it was done. Tell us about the chocolate pear pudding cake.
MONTAGNE: And everyone panics at this stage because it doesn't look like there's enough lovely, gorgeous, sort of Aztec brown batter to coat the pears, but there really is. You just put that on top of the pears, pop it in the oven. And what happens is, where the chocolate sponge hits the pears underneath, you get an almost - like a layer of sauce. It's slightly gungy there. You half spoon it, half cut it, it's that sort of texture. With that, you either could have some cream or some ice cream. You could make a rich chocolate sauce by melting dark chocolate into some heavy cream if you wanted - you don't need to.
MONTAGNE: Would it be just good with a cup of tea?
MONTAGNE: Oh, it would be very good with a cup of tea. I mean, I can't think of a bad way to eat it. But it is very much better warm.
MONTAGNE: Now, it's cold in London these days?
MONTAGNE: Very.
MONTAGNE: So what will you be having for dinner tonight?
MONTAGNE: Well actually, what I'm going to have for dinner tonight is an old standby of mine, because I've got people coming over for dinner. It - which is Thai curry with shrimp and salmon. If a bowl of curry doesn't sort my cold out, nothing is going to.
MONTAGNE: Nigella Lawson on wintertime comfort food. Her latest book is "Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast." And you can get her recipes, those that we've just heard for sweet corn chowder, chicken mushroom and bacon pie.
WERTHEIMER: And do not forget chocolate pear pudding cake.
MONTAGNE: Absolutely, no, it is there, npr.org. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Bon appetit, I'm Renee Montagne.
WERTHEIMER: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
You've heard about businesses doing poorly in the downtrodden economy, and you've heard about the bargain stores that usually thrive in tough economic times. Thrift shops. But, there are others which provide luxury goods and services that are also doing well. As NPR's Tovia Smith reports, they're surprising even themselves.
TOVIA SMITH: In tough times, you'd think it'd be the first thing to go.
DIANE: Hi, Donna, I'm Diane. I'll be your message therapist today.
WERTHEIMER: Nice to meet you.
DIANE: Nice to meet you. So, if you'd...
SMITH: From the waiting room at the 1-on-1-Self-Indulgence Day Spa in Concord, Massachusetts, take the double doors on the right.
WERTHEIMER: (whispering) Just watch your step right here. Try a river walk.
SMITH: And you enter a world of indulgence.
WERTHEIMER: (whispering) That's our couple's room, or our calming room for two. It's a prelude to our signature massage and, you know, it's - you feel like butter afterwards.
SMITH: Tempting, for sure. But owner Cindy McCullough is the first to acknowledge it's definitely in the discretionary spending column. Back out in the lobby, she says she's been watching so many businesses fail, she was preparing for the worst.
WERTHEIMER: I told my staff, brace yourself. It might be slow. We might be dead. We might not have anybody.
SMITH: But instead, McCullough says, sales are up some 10 percent over their record high.
WERTHEIMER: It's shocking. It's shocking. You know, you got to check your books twice. I go to my business partner, hey, you know.
SMITH: McCullough says she keeps hearing the same story. People are cutting out their big expenses, like vacation and travel, and spending more on smaller indulgences like massage.
WERTHEIMER: That's exactly what I'm doing.
SMITH: Donna Tito says she's been working extra nursing shifts since her husband, an investment real-estate broker, saw his income cut in half. So when it came time for vacation?
WERTHEIMER: I tried to get my husband to go away, but he said no. And so I said, well, I'll just stay and maybe go get a massage and maybe facials and just try to take care and treat yourself.
U: All right. Bring it up and easy.
SMITH: Just across the street, you hear much the same story at the studio called Yoga and Nia For Life.
U: Especially the head. Let the head go.
SMITH: Among the two dozen women packed into this group is Lisa Daigle, who decided to take two dance classes a day during her vacation this year, instead of her usual exotic travels that have taken her everywhere from Kenya to Mount Kilimanjaro.
WERTHEIMER: I'm not saying that I wouldn't go on these vacations again, don't get me wrong. But I don't feel regrets or denial, because you're going to this dance class that's designed to really nurture your mind and your body and your spirit, right. And there's, I think, a very transformative effect.
U: All right. Like you're standing on top of Mount Everest. Oh my God. Ready?
SMITH: It's exactly the kind of comfort consumption that experts say always spikes during stressful times like a recession. Add in the substitution effect, that people are traveling less, eating out at restaurants less and staying home more, and it's no wonder business is booming as well at liquor store.
U: Do you have a section on Spanish wines?
U: Yes, we do. Right here in the back here.
SMITH: At Murray's Liquors in Newton, Massachusetts, customer Peter Buechler says that down economy has just forced him to close his consulting business. As he looks for a new job, he says he's reallocated what money he has. Theater, restaurants, and football games have been cut...
WERTHEIMER: Instead of going to the Patriots, we get a couple of bottles and sit around the tube just as well.
SMITH: So, bottom line, you've saved.
WERTHEIMER: Oh, yes.
SMITH: But your total spending on alcohol is up?
WERTHEIMER: It is. I can tell when I do the recycling there are more bottles. So something must have happened to them.
SMITH: Nationally, the liquor store sales are up as much as 10 percent. But Murray's owner, Mark Greenberg, says it's the cheaper stuff now that's selling.
WERTHEIMER: We have certainly increased our two-for department, two-for-tens, two-for-twelves. So people can still enjoy a good bottle of wine by shopping in stores and taking it home.
SMITH: So the restaurants' loss is your gain?
WERTHEIMER: I'm sorry to say that, but I think it's very true.
SMITH: Then, as if on cue, Greenberg gets a fax.
WERTHEIMER: OK, here's an - (laughing) here's an order we just got in from - I can't say the name - a company that deals in bankruptcy law.
SMITH: (laughing) There you go. And they're probably doing well, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WERTHEIMER: I bet they are doing well.
SMITH: It may not be a luxury, but that's one other business that booms when others bomb. Tovia Smith, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
It was just over a year ago that Kenya's disputed presidential election led to widespread rioting. Rioting along tribal lines. The two leading candidates eventually reached a power-sharing agreement. There's still tension between them, and many ordinary Kenyans say the wounds from last year's fighting still have not healed. NPR's Gwen Thompkins has more.
GWEN THOMPKINS: But something has changed. The guys aren't as optimistic as they used to be. Nesto Ameesi is a barber here.
MONTAGNE: We are trying to build our life to normal, but not normal, the way it was before election.
THOMPKINS: The commission eventually called the race for the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, a candidate from the Kikuyu tribe. But Ameesi says he and most everyone here bet on the other guy, Raila Odinga, the candidate from the Luo tribe.
MONTAGNE: When we are waiting for the results, they announced the wrong person. It's caused everything.
THOMPKINS: But out west, there are still dead bodies at the morgue. And nationwide, there are still food shortages, because so many crops were destroyed or never got planted. What's more, Elvis Odoyo says, the ethnic rifts that were exposed by the election have lingered.
MONTAGNE: It was hell. I mean, and most Kenyans, none of them has even forgiven each other. The perception is that it was only Raila and Kibaki who shook their hands.
THOMPKINS: A year ago, Odoyo was an accountant at a local insurance company, but his company folded. He now runs a rival barber shop in Kibera that doesn't get half the business that Boys II Men does. Would you want an accountant to cut your hair?
MONTAGNE: I love it.
THOMPKINS: Joseph Ogunga Juma is a tailor in the stall next door. He says he lost two sewing machines to looters.
MONTAGNE: You've got to forgive and forget. Your yesterday doesn't determine your tomorrow.
THOMPKINS: But if you did know who did it?
MONTAGNE: Yeah, I would work on him one-on-one.
THOMPKINS: What does that mean?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MONTAGNE: I wouldn't forgive.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
THOMPKINS: In the Rift Valley, about an hour northwest of Nairobi, Raquel Kabura Kanyi says Kenyans need to see the consequences of their actions.
MONTAGNE: (Through translator) If the government decides not to bring these people to justice, then this problem will remain forever.
THOMPKINS: But When the Kikuyu candidate took the oath of office, a mob of people from other tribes came to Kanyi's house and set it on fire. She and the children fled, and she expected her husband to follow. She later learned he'd been murdered. His body was dumped near a dam.
MONTAGNE: I was not able to bury my husband, because the situation was so bad and people were just killed like dogs. There was no official burying.
THOMPKINS: But beyond owning the land, the people here don't have much with which to begin life anew. Most of them are Kikuyus, who as merchants or farmers don't have the capital to get back into business. They want more from their government. But former shopkeeper James Njoroge doubts that the coalition can deliver justice.
MONTAGNE: (Through translator) A coalition government came together and they forgot us, the common citizen. And now, we are left behind. We are still in the tents. The condition here is in very bad shape.
THOMPKINS: David Gikonyo is a Pentecostal minister who lives in another Kikuyu-dominated community near Nairobi. He says he has only to look at his wife to know that things will get better. She is from the Kalenjin tribe, which was known to commit many of the atrocities against Kikuyus and others in the Rift Valley. And while many inter-tribal marriages failed last year, he says he could never leave her.
MONTAGNE: For me, I think I can not think of divorce. She was the only wife for me.
THOMPKINS: Gikonyo predicts that Kenya will one day be a nation of brotherly love, when Kikuyus are less Kikuyu and Luos are less Luo and Kalenjin are less Kalenjin. Maybe then, he says, everybody will be a little more Kenyan. Gwen Thomkins, NPR News, Nairobi.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer. This week President Obama is expected to make his first trip to the Pentagon to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military leaders for all the services. The visit follows the president's meetings last week with his top national security advisers on Iraq and Afghanistan, the two wars he inherited. NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman joins us now to talk about the national security agenda this week. Good morning, Tom.
TOM BOWMAN: Good morning, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: The president's made it clear he wants to draw down forces in Iraq and then increase them in Afghanistan. Are we expecting any more details about troop levels this week?
BOWMAN: And what we do know is they'll be sent to the southern part of the country where the Taliban is quite strong. Now, in Iraq, at the end of this week we're going to have provincial elections there. And then maybe sometime after the elections, maybe a month or so, we could have an announcement of troop reductions in Iraq, both Marine and Army units.
WERTHEIMER: President Obama has said that he wants all combat troops out in 16 months - out of Iraq. So is this the beginning of that?
BOWMAN: Well, President Obama has said that repeatedly - he would like all combat troops out in 16 months. He said that often during the campaign. But he also said he'd listen to commanders on the ground. And they're going to be much more cautious. They're afraid violence will increase again if troops move out too fast. So we're going to have that tug between what the president wants and what commanders feel comfortable with. And I'm told there's really no plan to reduce troops outside maybe an Army brigade and a couple of Marine battalions sometime after that provincial election.
WERTHEIMER: What about Afghanistan? What about beefing up there?
BOWMAN: Well, clearly, again we're going to see troop increases in Afghanistan. This is sort of just the beginning now. And they have about 32,000 troops there now. We're going to see a lot more troops over the coming year. And it's not just troops there. It's really the strategy - what strategy is correct for Afghanistan, what's the right path ahead. There are three separate reviews going on now, and they all seem to agree on one thing, that creating a stable democracy there is going to take many years. And perhaps the U.S. was too optimistic, even too unrealistic, about how quickly that could be done. And here's Defense Secretary Gates talking about this just last week.
ROBERT GATES: We need more concrete goals that can be achieved realistically within three to five years in terms of re-establishing control in certain areas, providing security for the population, going after al-Qaeda, preventing the re-establishment of terrorism, better performance in terms of delivery of services to the people, some very concrete things.
BOWMAN: Yeah, those concrete things include dealing with corruption in the Afghan government, building up the army. And the delivery of services Gates talks about, the Taliban has created sort of shadow governments in many parts of the country providing those services and even their own court system.
WERTHEIMER: So the troop increases for Afghanistan could be just the very beginning of a new deeper U.S. commitment.
BOWMAN: Absolutely. Again, about 32,000 troops there now, American troops. We could see that more than double over the next year.
WERTHEIMER: Thanks very much.
BOWMAN: You're welcome, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's Pentagon correspondent, Tom Bowman.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And now we consider the fallout from the recent bloodshed in Gaza. The battle there touched nerves in France. And why that matters is because France is home to Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities. Even though the Gaza fighting is over for now, there is still friction between Muslims and Jews in France, as Eleanor Beardsley reports.
U: (Singing) Shabbat shalom...
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: At the height of the Israeli attack on Gaza, several hundred Jews, Muslims, and Catholics gathered in a small Paris community center to sing and pray for peace in French, Hebrew, and Arabic.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAN PRAYING IN ARABIC)
BEARDSLEY: Even though the group agreed not to discuss politics, there was still tension in the air. Fatima Amadoushi(ph), a Muslim mother of three teenagers, says this conflict more than any other has put a strain on relations between Muslims and Jews in France.
MONTAGNE: (Through Translator) We can live together, but this makes it so difficult, because when our young people see women and children being killed on TV, they become aggressive and they want to retaliate. We tell them to ignore what's going on there. You live in France, we say. But it's hard to control them.
BEARDSLEY: Thousands of Jews and Muslims live side by side in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris. A walk down the narrow streets takes one past halal and kosher butchers and a Hasidic religious school. One of its students, 21-year-old Remi Oliel(ph) is on lunch break. He says the atmosphere here is directly related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how the media portrays it.
MONTAGNE: (Through Translator) Everything in France is completely ruled by the media. And your opinion depends on which channel you watch. Some of the channels show very shocking footage about Israel, and no explanation or words can undo the damage done by such images.
BEARDSLEY: Oliel says he's still in touch with his Muslim friends, but they're careful never to discuss the Middle East.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
BEARDSLEY: Chaim Nissenbaum(ph) is a rabbi in the 19th Arrondissement. He says much of the trouble comes from disaffected Arab youth.
MONTAGNE: These young Arabs, they are out of the society. They don't have work. They face every day a true discrimination because of their names, because of what they are. And they see Jews as very important people in France, very, very rich people. So there is a cultural and social problem. It's one of the - I think one of the greatest failures of France.
BEARDSLEY: About two-thirds of French Jews are Sephardic and share many of the same North African roots and customs as their Muslim neighbors. Behind the counter in his halal butcher shop, Abdul Madek(ph) says he was shocked by the violent footage coming out of Gaza, but he says relations here are fine.
MONTAGNE: (Through Translator) Everything is normal here between Jews and Muslims. And the war won't change that. But it's true we have to avoid talking about politics.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRENCH TELEVISION NEWS REPORT)
BEARDSLEY: Not all reports on French television have been about the violence. This one is about a group of Jewish and Muslim women called les batisseurs de paix, or peace builders. Annie Paul(ph) helped found the group during the second intafada in 2002. She says the fighting in Gaza this time has blown apart every Muslim-Jewish friendship group except hers. One reason is because they are women, says Paul. The other reason...
MONTAGNE: We don't talk about the Middle East. I always repeat, don't forget you live in France, and you want your children grow up together in France. And for that, I ask to you to put your pain on the side.
BEARDSLEY: For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And now an update on a story we brought you last Friday. In it, NPR's David Kestenbaum used stories of people to measure the recession. One of those people was Terri Weiss of Dayton, Ohio. She was laid off at the beginning of the year from her job with a textbook company. She paused while speaking with NPR.
TERRI WEISS: You try to - I'm shutting my door, so the kids can't hear me. I mean, I will probably lose my house.
MONTAGNE: It was a heart-stopping moment. Just hours after our broadcast, she received a new job offer.
WEISS: That was the first question that my son asked me. If you get the job, do we get to stay in our house?
MONTAGNE: She begins her new job this week, and yes, she hopes to keep the house.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. After eight years of mostly chilly relations across the Atlantic, European foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels today to discuss how to work with the new American administration. As NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports, Europeans are realizing it will be much harder to say no to President Obama than his predecessor.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: President Obama's inaugural speech was received enthusiastically throughout Europe. His world view is seen as long overdue. Addressing the French parliament, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon laid out what Europe is now demanding from the new administration.
POGGIOLI: (Through Translator) We expect President Obama to recognize that unilateralism has been a failure and that it must now give way to multilateralism.
POGGIOLI: Divided over the war in Iraq and feeling shunned by the Bush administration, European governments had begun to focus on their own national interests. But now with the sharp change of course in Washington, Europeans will have to adapt to that change. French political analyst Dominique Moisi imagines the first thing President Obama will tell Europeans.
WERTHEIMER: Well, I know you have voted massively for me. I thank you for that very deeply. Now, what will you do for me? Your votes in symbolic terms were great, but I need your actions in very concrete terms.
POGGIOLI: French Defense Minister Herve Morin says France has already sent enough troops to Afghanistan and is overstretched in missions from Kosovo to Africa. Countries such as Italy and Spain also have troops in other international missions such as Lebanon. And German political scientist Yan Tekow(ph) says the troop issue is particularly sensitive in Germany, which holds elections later this year.
WERTHEIMER: In Germany we have a very, very strong prevailing pacifist mood in the society, which makes it very, very difficult for any government to move on security issues, especially deploying troops - which is politically, it's a suicide issue for almost any politician.
POGGIOLI: NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has urged the allies to offer at least more development and reconstruction aid and finally fulfill their commitments in what are considered vital areas, such as Afghan police training. The area where there was perhaps the widest divergence between Europe and the Bush administration was how to deal with a newly assertive and oil-rich Russia. Lucio Caracciolo, editor of the Italian foreign policy journal Limes, says the Bush administration's major focus was the creation of a Western front to contain Russia.
WERTHEIMER: This is exactly the opposite approach of Western Europe - say Germany, France, Italy, Spain - which have the best possible relations to Russia and which have built in the recent years a very strong interdependence as far as energy is concerned. So we have a clash of interests in this area.
POGGIOLI: The contrast came to a head at a NATO summit in Bucharest last year where for the first time in alliance history America was rebuffed. The allies resisted President Bush's pressure to grant NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine, an expansion vehemently opposed by Moscow. Political scientist Yan Tekow says that in all of Europe, Germany has perhaps developed the closest relations with Russia.
WERTHEIMER: The Eastern orientation was always very strong with Germany. This is why still today we're only partially a Western country. We have Eastern instincts, the only major country in Europe that has Eastern instincts. This is why Russia plays such an important role for us, also because we have business interests and security interests.
POGGIOLI: Europeans are looking to the new Obama administration with great expectations and a dose of anxiety. Commentators wonder whether the new president will be a multilateralist miracle worker or whether he'll focus exclusively on American national interests, forsaking a stronger partnership with Europe. In any case, the French daily Le Monde writes, President Obama's popularity in Europe is so great that European leaders will find it harder to turn down his requests. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
And now we check in on Russia where a top human rights lawyer was shot dead last week on a central Moscow street along with a journalist walking alongside him. Several critics of the Kremlin have been killed in recent years in cases that remain unsolved. Lawyers who have been fighting for human rights in Russia fear the latest shooting may not be the last. NPR's Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer reports.
GREGORY FEIFER: Inside a cramped courtroom in an old 19th century Moscow neighborhood, a judge reads the accusations against three men. They're accused of involvement in the murder two years ago of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, but none of these defendants pulled the trigger or ordered the killing. Those people are still at large. Still, Karinna Moskalenko, a veteran lawyer who represents Politkovskaya's family, says she hopes the proceedings will uncover at least some of the truth - a process she says is obstructed by the official hostility toward human rights defenders like her.
WERTHEIMER: The authorities by doing this, create possible situation when people can be assaulted or even killed.
FEIFER: It was one of Moskalenko's close colleagues, Stanislav Markelov, who was killed last week. He had opposed the release this month of a Russian army officer imprisoned for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old Chechen girl.
(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY, MOSCOW)
WERTHEIMER: (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: Before his death, Markelov spoke at a Moscow rally to protest an attack against another client, a campaigning journalist who was brutally beaten and left for dead.
(SOUNDBITE OF RALLY, MOSCOW)
WERTHEIMER: (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: Last week a masked gunman shot Markelov in the head in broad daylight within sight of the Kremlin. Markelov died on the snow-covered sidewalk. He was 34. Several hundred mourners trudged through slush under icy rain last Friday to attend his funeral, which they watched in stunned silence.
WERTHEIMER: (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: Markelov's friend Irina Bagerleva says killers are carrying out political murders with growing impunity, despite the promises of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
P: (Russian spoken)
FEIFER: Medvedev, a lawyer and a former law professor, promised during his lavish inauguration last May that establishing the rule of law and providing security to ordinary Russians would be among his top priorities. Critics say the promise was hollow. Human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov, who often worked with murdered lawyer Stanislaw Markelov, says the security forces are unable to protect society.
WERTHEIMER: (Through Translator) That's because they're required to spend most of their time cracking down on legitimate opposition groups instead of tracking down killers.
FEIFER: Ponomaryov believes he was mistaken to take Markelov's courage to mean the young lawyer fully understood the risks he undertook. Now Ponomaryov and the other members of Russia's dwindling human rights community have been forced again to think who may be next. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Moscow.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with a big pharmaceutical merger.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Pfizer is the world's largest drug maker, and it could soon become bigger. Pfizer's reportedly close to a deal to buy another large drug maker, Wyeth. The New York Times reports the two companies have reached an agreement and that Pfizer will pay $68 billion for its rival. It would be the biggest pharmaceutical merger in a decade. Drug makers are trying to cut costs and expand their offerings as patents on many blockbuster drugs are set to expire over the next few years. That includes patents on Pfizer's lucrative cholesterol-fighting pill Lipitor and Viagra. A merger would allow Pfizer to acquire Wyeth's top-selling childhood vaccine and a popular rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
In the banking industry, there are more layoffs. The Dutch bank ING says it's eliminating 7,000 jobs. That's more than five percent of its total workforce. The company does substantial business here in the U.S., but last year it lost more than $1 billion. The layoffs are part of a larger announcement. The bank has decided to accept loan guarantees from the Dutch government, and its chief executive will also step down.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And with all that turmoil on Wall Street, these are trying times for graduates of business school, graduates who might be looking for work. Hiring hasn't come to a complete halt, but it's a tight market for graduates who used to have their pick of high-paying jobs. From Seattle, NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.
KAUFMAN: MBA students at the University of Washington's Foster School know their timing isn't great. Trying to land a high-paying job in a down economy isn't the easiest thing to do. Nate Solstrum(ph) is 29. He used to tour with a band and did a stint in finance before going back to graduate school.
MONTAGNE: One of the things I found that's challenging about remaining optimistic is that it's difficult to open the Economist or the New York Times without seeing doom-and-gloom headlines about the job market. That kind of weighs down on your optimism.
KAUFMAN: Also weighing on Solstrum's mind is the competition he'll face from experienced MBAs who've been laid off. He recently lost out on a mid-level job that went to a former chief financial officer. What's more, as fellow student Chris Comer(ph) has seen, many companies are unsure about their hiring plans.
MONTAGNE: There have been some companies that have come on campus, conducted interviews, and then instead of calling people back for a second interviews say that the budgets are frozen and they're not hiring.
KAUFMAN: Students are understandably nervous because many took out sizable student loans with the expectation their degree would bring them a top salary. But Paula Klempay, director of the MBA career center at the University of Washington, tries to look on the bright side. Yes, she says, the market is tighter. But just how tight, we don't really know. Still, she says, businesses are still looking for students with the skills that come with an MBA.
MONTAGNE: It's very quantitative, it's analytical, it's strategic, and they still need that. They need it now more than ever.
KAUFMAN: To make her point, we take a short walk to the giant bulletin board outside her office. She points to the full-time jobs that have been offered and accepted.
MONTAGNE: This is one of our Microsofts. We've got a number of other students in play at Microsoft right now. This was Intel. This is Amazon. This gentleman has gone to Scotia Capital. We've got a couple in consulting.
KAUFMAN: But there's no denying there are fewer job offers being made. MBA candidates have fewer offers to choose from. And, says Chris Comer...
MONTAGNE: More and more, I think, we're lowering those expectations of signing bonuses.
KAUFMAN: Signing bonuses have been a mainstay for top MBA hires. The biggest bonuses, sometimes as much as $50,000, came from Wall Street. That put pressure on other employers to offer them as well. But now, with a number of Wall Street firms out of business and others in serious trouble, many bonuses are shrinking. Still, Professor Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School suggests that things are not as bleak as you might expect. He says beyond the skills that MBAs bring, banks, consulting firms, and others are making a strategic bet. By hiring now, they keep the pipeline of new talent flowing.
P: In 2001, when the economy went south, the consulting firms, and to some extent the banks as well, stopped hiring quite dramatically. And they discovered a couple of years later that, you know, they didn't have any third-year associates to supervise and help teach the first-year people coming in, and it messed up the way their work was organized. So I think they more or less concluded after that that they were going to try to do what they could to avoid repeating that situation in the future.
KAUFMAN: MBA candidate Comer says he's heard from some regional consulting firms that they expect more business as companies that need the skills of MBAs but don't want to hire full-time staff turn to them. Comer, whose background is in media buying and online advertising, says he hopes to land a job that he's excited about within a couple of months. If not, he has a plan.
MONTAGNE: In the worst-case scenario, I wait it out. I'm expecting my first baby in about four weeks, and so either I get a job that pays me more than it would cost for daycare, or I become Mr. Mom for a few months.
KAUFMAN: Win-win, he calls it, pausing for a moment to add, provided my wife still has her job. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News, Seattle.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer. Steve Inskeep is on assignment. President Obama is now getting a daily economic briefing along with the usual intelligence briefing. Late last week, he said the news in those economic briefings has not been good.
P: Each day brings, I think, greater focus on the problems that we're having. Not only in terms of job loss, but also in terms of some of the instabilities in the financial system.
WERTHEIMER: Mr. Obama says it's ever more urgent that Congress pass a massive spending and tax-cut package to help stimulate the economy. That legislation is before a Senate committee, and will be on the House floor this week. NPR's Andrea Seabrook has this preview.
ANDREA SEABROOK: You've heard the expression, laws are like sausages, it's better not to see them being made. Well, this bill, it's a big fat bratwurst.
P: I know that it is a heavy lift to do something as substantial as we're doing right now.
SEABROOK: President Obama, meeting with congressional leaders at the White House.
P: I recognize that there are still some differences around the table and between the administration and members of Congress about particular details on the plan.
SEABROOK: The hope is that all this money will buoy the sinking economy. But before you get too comfortable with the details, consider these words from House Republican leader John Boehner, as he was leaving the White House.
MONTAGNE: I think, at this point, we believe that spending nearly a trillion dollars is really more than what we ought to be putting on the backs of our kids and their kids. Because at the end of the day, this is not our money to spend, we're borrowing this money from our kids.
SEABROOK: But part of President Obama's idea of change has always been change in the way Washington works. Less bickering, more bi-partisanship. So in this at least, Republicans have some leverage to influence the details of this bill. And what do they want? Listen to House Minority Leader Boehner, again.
MONTAGNE: At the end of the day, a government can't solve this problem. The American people have to solve it. And the way they can solve it is if we allow them to keep more of the money that they earn.
SEABROOK: That's code for bigger tax cuts, always a main push of Republicans. So this week, as the economic stimulus bill gets hammered out in Congress, watch for all different parties to try to influence the final legislation. Republicans, Democrats, House, Senate, the Obama administration. There are a lot of cooks making this sausage. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, the Capitol.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
We just heard a note there about President Obama's push to change the way Washington does business. Still, there's little support among House Republicans for his economic recovery plan, at least in its current form. Joining us now for some analysis is NPR's Cokie Roberts. Good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So what happened to the bipartisanship on this very first, very important measure?
ROBERTS: So what they're saying is this is, essentially, for all the bipartisan talk, this is essentially a Democratic bill. Now, Speaker Pelosi argued there are things in this bill that wouldn't be in it without Republican input. She says they could have voted for it based on that. And they say not. Look, they know the president wants to be bipartisan, and they're a little bit like the kid with the new babysitter, who's testing it. Seeing how far they can push the president on this very important piece of legislation.
MONTAGNE: He will be meeting - the president will be meeting with House Republicans this week. Last week, he mentioned to them that, you know, as I - To quote him, he won. Is there any likelihood that he'll persuade the other side to change its position?
ROBERTS: But there were others where he said to the Republican whip, Eric Cantor, he said, this isn't crazy. So I think that, you know, that there are some places where he is willing to go along, willing to listen. He's certainly done that on a number of business tax cuts, or tax credits, for small business. And, you know, he has - he clearly has the upper hand, to put it mildly. Not only did he win, but since then, his poll numbers have only gone up. And the Republican numbers have not. So he can obviously use that.
MONTAGNE: And the Republican leader in the Senate has taken something of a different tone. Mitch McConnell has said Republicans have to be more cooperative, even if it gets them criticism from with in their own party. What do you make of that?
ROBERTS: And now what you're seeing is, to a certain degree, each side trying to make bipartisanship a partisan issue. You know, I'm being more bipartisan than you are. And that's an interesting dynamic to see play out.
MONTAGNE: Well Cokie, just finally, which party do you think will get more out of this, I'm anti-partisan?
ROBERTS: Well I think in the immediate moment, the Republicans can on this stimulus package because the president wants it to pass quickly. So they have some leverage on that. But that can change any minute. The minute that somebody starts pressing too hard, pushing too far, and Republicans talking about, we're here to support the taxpayer, the taxpayer has to make sure - they have to make sure the taxpayer believes that. So they have to be very careful how far they push, because this whole thing can then start to look partisan, even as they're saying, where's the bipartisanship? A little complicated.
MONTAGNE: Cokie, thanks very much. NPR News analyst Cokie Roberts.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
President Obama's father was from Kenya. And to honor that heritage, the boy's choir of Kenya was in Washington last week to perform at the inauguration ceremonies.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOYS CHOIR OF KENYA)
WERTHEIMER: The 26-member choir wore traditional Maasai costumes and were widely praised as they sang on stages, at embassies and held impromptu performances on city sidewalks.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOYS CHOIR OF KENYA)
WERTHEIMER: They were at London's Heathrow Airport on the way home when they were tracked down by a representative from the Universal Music Group with contract in hand. He signed them up right there in Terminal 4. The music executive said he had seen then on CNN and YouTube, and had to have them on his roster.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOYS CHOIR OF KENYA)
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich may not be in office much longer, but he is not going quietly. The Democratic governor was arrested in December on wide-ranging corruption charges, and now he's hoping to salvage his reputation and political career with a PR blitz. He's in New York this morning making the rounds on national TV shows, including "Good Morning America" and "The View." He won't be in the Illinois state capital in Springfield, where state senators today will begin his impeachment trial. NPR's David Schaper reports.
DAVID SCHAPER: Governor Rod Blagojevich could be convicted by the Illinois Senate and removed from office within just a few days. But he and his legal team are offering up no defense at his impeachment trial which starts at noon today. He complains the rules of the trial are fundamentally unfair, trampling on the Constitution. But he and his legal team do not seem inclined to go to court to have the impeachment trials stopped. Instead, the embattled governor hired a new flashy PR firm as Blagojevich goes on an all-out media blitz, appearing on national TV and on talk radio back home in an effort to cast himself as a victim of a bipartisan conspiracy.
(SOUNDBITE FROM NEWS CONFERENCE)
G: The heart and soul of this has been a struggle of me against the system.
SCHAPER: Governor Blagojevich says he has done nothing wrong, and he accuses both Democrats and Republicans of teaming up to oust him from office, because he is a champion of the people against what he calls a political-industrial complex. In recent days, he's compared himself to Teddy Roosevelt, who battled the entrenched corporate and political structure a century ago. And to the Jimmy Stewart character in the classic movie "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." And when asked on "The Today Show" about his first thoughts when he was arrested in his home and led out in handcuffs by the FBI, Blagojevich compared himself to great jailed leaders of the past.
(SOUNDBITE OF "THE TODAY SHOW")
G: I had a whole bunch of thoughts. Of course, my children and my wife. And then I thought about Mandela, Dr. King, Gandhi, and tried to put some perspective in all of this.
WERTHEIMER: Anything short of, I am resigning, doesn't matter.
SCHAPER: Chicago businessman Scott Lee Cohen founded the grassroots group called Rod Must Resign, which has been circulating petitions and leading protests to try to convince Blagojevich to step down. He calls the governor's PR blitz a charade and a waste of time.
WERTHEIMER: It shows that he has no empathy for the citizens of Illinois. He's self-centered and self-concerned. He's not worried about the stimulus package. He's not worried about the jobs. He's not worried about the healthcare situation. He's worried about himself.
SCHAPER: One setback for the governor, Blagojevich's lead defense lawyer, Ed Genson, is dropping from the case.
WERTHEIMER: I never require a client to do what I say, but I do require them to at least listen to what I say. And I intend to withdraw as counsel in this case. I wish the governor good luck and God speed.
SCHAPER: Meantime, newly released federal subpoenas of the governor's office show just how far the investigation of Blagojevich is going beyond the charges the governor's already facing. The subpoenas seek information and documents related to everything from state hiring and highway and building contracts to the real-estate business of the governor's wife, Patty Blagojevich. Subpoenas issued the day before the governor's arrest seek information related to contact between Blagojevich's office and two of President Obama's top advisors, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod. A judge ordered the governor's office to release the subpoenas under Freedom of Information requests. Blagojevich had fought to keep them secret. David Schaper, NPR News Chicago.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
California's among a number of states that have passed standards even more stringent than those set by the federal government. Under the Bush administration, the EPA blocked California from enforcing its rules. Now that could change. Sasha Khokha of member station KQED reports from California's central valley.
SASHA KHOKHA: I'm standing near Highway 99, which is one of the busiest freeways in the state. Reducing the emissions from cars on freeways like this one has been a top priority for California air regulators. Four years ago, the state adopted rules that require auto manufacturers who sell cars in California to cut their fleet's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in just under a decade. Now that doesn't mean gas-guzzlers couldn't be sold in California anymore. It means auto manufacturers would have to sell enough low-emission vehicles so their fleet's average could meet the standard. In the meantime, more than a dozen other states have adopted California's standard, but none of those states can act until California gets a waiver from the EPA.
C: EPA, shame on you. EPA, shame on you.
KHOKHA: In 2007, the state was denied that waiver by the EPA administrator under then President Bush, Stephen Johnson. That enraged California environmentalists.
U: This is a man...
C: Boo.
U: This man is not listening to science. This man wants to set his own agenda.
KHOKHA: President Obama has clearly indicated that his environmental appointees, including new EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, will listen to science. She's pledged to review California's waiver request, quote, "very, very aggressively."
WERTHEIMER: The environmental community's eager to see a lot of change fast. There's a huge amount of pent-up enthusiasm and demand for change.
KHOKHA: Trip Van Noppen is executive director of EarthJustice, an environmental law group. He's got a long list of expectations for the new administration, but California's greenhouse gas emissions waiver is at the top.
WERTHEIMER: It is something that is primed for early action, teed up and ready to go.
KHOKHA: But automakers say, not so fast. With their industry hitting the skids, now more than ever, they can't afford to build different cars for different states under what they call a state-by-state patchwork of regulations. Charles Territo is a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which has fought California's rules in court for years.
WERTHEIMER: You know, at this difficult time for the industry and for the economy as a whole, what we need is certainty and consistency. Not confusion and chaos. And I think we're all concerned that this would create chaos, not only for consumers, but also for dealers and for manufacturers.
KHOKHA: It may be painful for automakers, but California won't back down, says Jerry Brown, the state's attorney general.
WERTHEIMER: The irony here is the auto companies want a bailout in many ways because they weren't building the kind of cars that were compatible with today's energy market. And at the same time, they want to keep going with their lawsuits, which have already cost millions and millions of dollars.
KHOKHA: If California wins this battle, it will cost consumers, adding hundreds or thousands of dollars to the sticker price of each vehicle. And that's not just for California car buyers. More than a dozen states to poised to adopt the California standard, and that's at least 40 percent of the U.S. auto market. For NPR News, I'm Sasha Khokha.
O: Still, the ox is said to be a solid and reliable zodiac - not bad in a time of economy uncertainty. Those born in an ox year are seen as hardworking, plodding, and methodical, and they never lose sight of their goals. They include actor George Clooney and President Barack Obama. And that is the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
I'm Renee Montagne.
: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. A 14-year-old boy in Chicago is charged with impersonating a police officer. Apparently that's what he wanted to be, but he didn't wait to grow up. The teenager wore a uniform into a police station and got assigned to a patrol car. Chicago police officials say he looked a lot older. The aspiring police officer never got a gun or issued any tickets. He was spotted as a fake only after his five-hour patrol ended on Saturday. It's Morning Edition.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
Good morning, I'm Linda Wertheimer. It could have been a record-setting battle in the frozen north. Four thousand people signed up on Facebook for the University of Wisconsin, Madison's snowball fight. But only hundreds showed up. There was a basketball game, the snow was too powdery to pack, it was really cold. So Michigan Tech still holds the snowball record, but there is snow in the forecast. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
NPR's business news starts with a big pharmaceutical merger.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: Pfizer is the world's largest drug maker, and it could soon become bigger. Pfizer has announced plans to buy another large drug maker, Wyeth. It's paying $68 million in stock and cash to scoop up its rival. If the deal goes through, it will be one of the biggest pharmaceutical mergers in the last decade. Drug makers have been consolidating to try to reduce costs and expand their offerings. The patents on many lucrative drugs are set to expire over the next few years and that includes Pfizer's cholesterol-fighting pill Lipitor and Viagra. This merger will allow Pfizer to acquire Wyeth's top-selling childhood vaccine and also a popular treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
Along with the merger agreement, Pfizer also said it's slashing more than 8,000 jobs. That's one of several major layoff announcements this morning. Heavy machine maker Caterpillar says it's cutting another 5,000 jobs in the next three months as part of a plan to reduce its workforce by 20,000 people. Home Depot is cutting 7,000 jobs. Wireless phone company Sprint said it's axing 8,000 jobs, 14 percent of its workforce.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
President Obama offered an early look at his environmental and energy policy this morning.
P: The days of Washington dragging its heels are over. My administration will not deny facts. We will be guided by them. We cannot afford to pass the buck or push the burden onto the states.
WERTHEIMER: President Obama speaking at the White House. The president said he is directing the Environmental Protection Agency to review a decision by the Bush administration that blocked California and other states from enforcing strict fuel emission standards. Joining us now is NPR environmental correspondent Elizabeth Shogren. Elizabeth, what does California want to do? And how big a deal would it be?
ELIZABETH SHOGREN: California wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2016. Lots of other states want to follow it. Already, 13 other states have adopted this plan and others say they would if it gets approved. And what this would do is it would cut greenhouse gas emissions about twice as much as the new tougher federal fuel economy standards would. And those are expected to be put into place pretty soon.
WERTHEIMER: And that affects cars because you have to have, like, more miles to the gallon cars.
SHOGREN: Exactly. Cars would have to go farther on a gallon of gas and they would also have other changes to them to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that they would emit from their tailpipes.
WERTHEIMER: Now, the president talked about this as part of a broader clean energy strategy. What else is he planning to include?
SHOGREN: Yes, he did. He talked about things that he hopes to do as part of the stimulus package. They include doubling the capacity of alternative energy like wind and solar, putting in new transmission lines that would carry this alternative energy to the power plants where it's needed. He would also make 75 percent of federal buildings more energy efficient and help Americans as they make their homes more energy efficient. Two million, he said.
WERTHEIMER: And any reaction from the auto industry about their share of this improvement in the air quality?
SHOGREN: Well, the auto industry - the carmakers have fought this every step of the way. They've been in federal court and in state courts trying to prevent California from implementing these new standards. They don't like this at all. However, they're a bit softer now with President Obama in office. Today they were saying that they were glad that he didn't say that he would in fact grant this request of California's. He's just said that he would reconsider it. And they also said that maybe there was a way to move ahead together all as one nation to cut fuel use and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Maybe there's a nice easy way to do this.
WERTHEIMER: Mr. Obama also said that these decisions that he will make are part of his national security strategy.
SHOGREN: Yes, he did. He said that this is part of trying to wean America from its dependence on foreign oil, which he says we get more than half of our oil from foreign sources. He said just by following what Congress wants us to do and not even what California's talking about, we would save over two million barrels of oil. That's nearly as much as we get from the Persian Gulf. He also says its part of his plan to lessen the impact of climate change, which he says are very serious. He talked about violent conflicts, terrible storms, shrinking coastlines, and irreversible catastrophe.
WERTHEIMER: Thanks very much, Elizabeth.
SHOGREN: Thank you.
WERTHEIMER: That's NPR's Elizabeth Shogren on news today that President Obama will re-examine tougher auto emission standards from the state of California.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
One of the few species that has not appeared in a Cal Worthington ad is the subject of our next story. Off the west coast of Ireland, there's a rocky speck of land known as Great Blasket Island. Every year, thousands of Manx shearwaters gather there before their annual migration to South America. These ocean-going birds don't build nests, but make burrows in the ground instead. As part of our series Sounds Wild, we're going to Great Blasket with Asta Bowen to hear these birds flying home to their burrows.
(Soundbite of birds)
ASTA BOWEN: This is an extraordinary bird. The Manx shearwater, Puffinus puffinus, according to the local wisdom, only really call on misty and moonless nights.
(Soundbite of bird calls)
BOWEN: Their black or dark-gray brown depends on the season on top, and then they shade down to white underneath.
(Soundbite of bird calls)
BOWEN: The adults, by the way, are gone from the burrows and gone from the island throughout the daylight hours, and they only come back after dark. And so the chicks, then, are left essentially unattended all day, and the adults have been feeding, presumably, out on the water all day. And so they're bringing back their small fish that they've fished for, and bringing those back to the young in the nest.
(Soundbite of bird calls)
BOWEN: At this point, I'm set up with the stereo mic pointed right into the burrows on a little tripod. And so the adult birds were landing and actually, in some cases, knocking into the mic and pushing it around on the tripod. And then some of the calls, the squeaky calls, are perhaps the young in the burrows, begging.
(Soundbite of bird calls)
BOWEN: There is something compelling about the shearwater. There are wailers and screechers and screamers, and it's a very electric sound.
(Soundbite of bird calls)
BOWEN: I felt like this was one of the highlights of my life.
WERTHEIMER: Thanks to Asta Bowen and NPR's science correspondent Christopher Joyce for tracking down these wild sounds. The recordings come from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. With his administration barely a week old, President Obama has given an interview to Arab TV, Al Arabiya. And in recent weeks on this program, we've been hearing from politicians and intellectuals on the prospects, however dim, for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Today, we hear from a man who mediated peace between Israel and Egypt three decades ago, former President Jimmy Carter. More recently, he caused a stir, a controversy, with his book called "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." This week, he's out with another book, "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work." That's the title. And I asked him, why this new book just two years after the other one?
Former President JIMMY CARTER: So much has happened since then. First of all, and I didn't anticipate it, although I hoped for it while I was writing the book - it was finished in November - that President Obama would be in office, and that we would have a balanced and aggressive commitment to bring peace. That's quite a change. Secondly, that there would be a move that Hamas could be accepting a peace agreement that would be negotiated.
I went to meet with the Palestinians on all sides last April ,and again in December. For the first time, the Hamas leaders pledged that they would accept any peace agreement negotiated between the Palestinian leader - that is, Mahmoud Abbas - and Israel, provided that same peace agreement was submitted to the Palestinians in a referendum, which is very good. And third, I think the seeing of the evolving tragedy since Gaza was destroyed as another element of urgency to bringing peace to Israel.
MONTAGNE: President Carter, the subtitle of your book is "A Plan That Will Work." What makes this plan that's in your book different from the two-state solution that American administrations have been promoting in some form for years?
Former President CARTER: There's no difference. In a two-state solution, the basic framework is to recognize Israel and Israel's right to exist and live in peace within its pre-1967 borders. And these '67 borders can be modified through goodfaith negotiations. By the way, that's also what's been espoused most recently by the prime minister of Israel at this moment. That is Ehud Olmert, who says we have got to withdraw from the West Bank; we have got to let Palestinians return to Palestine; and we've got to share Jerusalem with them.
But there are two very difficult things. One is, Israel so far has not been willing to withdraw from Palestine, that is, from the West Bank. And secondly, the Palestinians will have to accept the proposition that all - a flood of Palestinians cannot return inside Israel. They'll have to return, I would say, into the West Bank and Gaza - not into Israel - and be compensated, those that can't return. So a two-state solution is the only logical plan, and that's what I spell out in the book.
MONTAGNE: And of course, again, the key is getting there. One thing you have urged by way of moving forward is engagement with Hamas.
Former President CARTER: Yes.
MONTAGNE: And the one big question that is always asked is, what form could that engagement possibly take, given that the long-term goal of Hamas is to eliminate Israel, and that it's been labeled a terrorist organization?
Former President CARTER: Well, it's labeled that by some people. That's correct. But Hamas has agreed with me, and publicly, that they will accept Israel's right to exist and to live in peace. They'd forgo the commitment to recognize Israel diplomatically because Israel is not prepared to recognize a Palestinian state. And they have also agreed that they will declare a 50-year hudna, or cease-fire, in both the West Bank and Gaza, and not abuse any Israeli civilians.
So I think that we have now an opportunity to move toward a two-state solution. And I think this new approach that has now been put forward by President Obama, based upon his choice of George Mitchell to be hisrepresentative for peace talks, I think holds good promise that something is going to be done.
MONTAGNE: President Obama pledged to help consolidate the cease-fire that now exists in Gaza, appointed George Mitchell as a special mediator. Do you think you'll have a role? And if you do, what will that role be?
Former President CARTER: No, I don't think I would have any sort of an official role, and I don't want any. I'm much more free if I just represent the court of center, which is all I ever represent. I've had two conversations with President Obama, and I've had two conversations with George Mitchell, even since he was chosen. And I think that they obviously get advice and counsel and information from many other sources.
But there's a turning point here in that President Obama, while he was a candidate, promised that he would start immediately when he came in office as president, to work aggressively on the solution for peace for Israel and her neighbors. This is quite different from what Bill Clinton did or George Bush did in their administrations, when they only turned to the Middle East aggressively - or somewhat aggressively, on the part of Bush - for the last year they were in office. But you have to start early. You have to do it when you have a lot of political clout in order to get anything done. And I believe so far, President Obama has proven that his promise was good.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
Former President CARTER: I've enjoyed talking to you, as always.
MONTAGNE: Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States. His new book is called "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work."
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
An entire generation once sat before their televisions waiting patiently for MTV to play their favorite music videos. Now, of course, that's changed. You can watch nearly any video whenever you want online or on your cell phone. NPR's Neda Ulaby wondered how music video directors have adapted from the small screen to the smaller and much smaller screens of MySpace, YouTube and iPhones.
NEDA ULABY: It's not the little screens that annoy Grammy-winning music video director, Sean Drake. It's all the noise around them.
Mr. SEAN DRAKE (Music Video Director): When I make a video, I just assume the majority of watchers are going to be A, on the Internet, and b, in between, you know, AIMing someone and some chat and doing some other task on Word and checking their Facebook.
ULABY: So Drake must somehow command their attention. One obvious trick, flashy visuals.
(Soundbite of song "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" by Panic at the Disco)
Oh, well imagine As I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor And I can't help but to hear
ULABY: For a song by the group Panic at the Disco, Drake frontloaded the video with clowns, fire eaters, pink-haired strippers and accordionists, all guests at an over-the-top wedding.
(Soundbite of song "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" by Panic at the Disco)
Well this calls for a toast So pour the champagne
ULABY: Think Fellini on acid. It's hard to look away.
Mr. DRAKE: There's just a lot of costuming and makeup, but there's also a lot of face shots, a lot of close-ups.
ULABY: Compare the bright, shocking colors with a classic from 1983, "Thriller"
(Soundbite of song "Thriller")
Mr. MICHAEL JACKSON (Singer):
(Singing) It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark
ULABY: Michael Jackson leads a huge cast of zombies dancing in the darkness. So many zombies, it's hard to tell what's going on when you watch it on the Internet. There's relatively few close-ups, and it looks terrible on tiny screens. There's something epic about "Thriller," something complicated and baroque. It seems squished and muddy in this new format. It's like watching "Spartacus" on an iPhone.
iPhones are fine for music videos, but they might also be watched on a range of different-sized boxes and rectangles. So, says music video director Joseph Kahn, now there's a tendency to center frame, to put the image smack in the middle.
Mr. JOSEPH KAHN (Music Video Director): I can almost look at every video, and it's pretty much a center-framed video. And the reason why is because you see the whole image all at the same time. Like, the whole image is completely seen at first glance on a tiny little rectangle or a tiny little square.
ULABY: As an auteur, Joseph Kahn is actually not a fan of center-framing. He says it's not really cinematic. But because Kahn also works in reality, he's using center-framing in a new video he's making with a singer, Lady GaGa.
LADY GAGA (Singer-Songwriter): Are you getting my face like that?
Unidentified Man: I'm checking the data Mike on…
ULABY: Kahn's says he's managing hundreds of crew members and dozens of dancers during a grueling two-day-shoot.
(Soundbite of song by Lady Gaga)
ULABY: You can use center-framing in smart, artistic and unexpected ways says Kahn. Take one brilliant video he did not direct.
(Soundbite of song "All the Single Ladies")
Ms. BEYONCE KNOWLES (Singer):
(Singing) All the single ladies, all the single ladies, All the single ladies, all the single ladies, All the single ladies Now put your hands up
ULABY: The "Single Ladies" video puts a barelegged, black body-suited Beyonce and two dancers in stark contrast against simple white backdrop.
Mr. KAHN: And it's very effective, because it doesn't rely on any format whatsoever. It's essentially just a dance video in the center of a screen.
ULABY: For the first few minutes, the camera just moves in and out as the dancers go through a complicated Bob Fosse-inspired routine. Then, the video switches techniques, using the quick cuts that MTV made famous 20 year ago, but even more intensely. Kahn says there's a reason for this explosion of editing. Lots of fast cuts work better on little screens than on big ones.
Mr. KAHN: Your eye has to actually scan the screen a bit, you know. And now, when you see like really small things. I mean, things are getting cut even faster now. It's cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.
ULABY: Kahn estimates that these days, he cut's about five times more than a video from the '80s. But if you can't afford fancy editing or elaborate productions, all you need is a great concept. One of the most successful music videos of the past few years has no cuts at all.
(Soundbite of song "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go)
It could be ten, but then again I can't remember half an hour since a quarter to four
ULABY: The band OK Go was still relatively unknown when they made a music video dancing on treadmills.
Mr. KAHN: And really, I mean, it looks like it was made for 20 bucks or something.
ULABY Roger Beebe is a professor at the University of Florida. He just co-edited a book about the evolution of music videos. He says the genius of the 2006 video for "Here it Goes Again" is not that it's center-framed, well lit and simple, but it's compellingly clever.
Professor ROGER BEEBE (University of Florida): It's sort of beautifully crazy in its choreography. And they come up with trick after trick. At some point they seem to be ice-skating, at another point, sliding through each other's legs. And, you know, I don't know that that band or that single would have made the cut back in the glory days of MTV. I don't know if it would have passed through the filters.
ULABY: And that's what Beebe loves about music videos online. That it comes down to creativity more than bloated budgets or great cinematography. Music is big he says, even if the pictures got small. Neta Ulaby, NPR News.
WERTHEIMER: You can see the videos Neta mentioned at our website, - nprMusic.org.
LINDA WORTHEIMER, host:
As President Obama fills jobs across the federal government, there are several positions he may want to handle with extra caution: the 93 U.S. attorney's offices across the country. President Bush created a political scandal by firing a group of U.S. attorneys all on one day, apparently for partisan reasons. NPR's Ari Shapiro joins us now to talk about how the Obama administration is approaching these appointments. First of all, just tell us why the U.S. attorneys are so important.
ARI SHAPIRO: Well, if you think of the Justice Department as an octopus, the U.S. attorney's offices are the 93 tentacles all across the country. So they have enormous power. Each U.S. attorney is like a local attorney general, the chief federal law-enforcement official. And they can indict people for anything, from environmental crimes to terrorism charges. These are considered plum political posts, but once you get the post, you're supposed to be nonpartisan in your enforcement of the law.
WORTHEIMER: Now, the last two presidents tripped up a bit on appointing U.S. attorneys.
SHAPIRO: That's right. It's traditional for each president to replace all of the former president's U.S. attorneys. When President Clinton took office, he fired all of the first President Bush's U.S. attorney's in one day, which angered some Republicans in Congress. But that pales in comparison to the scandal that the most recent President Bush created when he fired a handful of U.S. attorneys after he was re-elected; this was January of 2005.
And the problem was, it looked as though he was firing people who were not partisan enough in their enforcement of the law. The inspector general for the Justice Department investigated this and in fact, concluded that there was substantial evidence that partisan political considerations played a role in the firings. And this scandal led to about a dozen resignations at the top levels of the Justice Department, including the attorney general himself, Alberto Gonzales.
WORTHEIMER: So what has President Obama done so far?
SHAPIRO: Well basically, he has learned from his predecessors' mistakes. He has not appointed any new U.S. attorneys yet, but the conversations have already begun. In early January, an email went out to all of the U.S. attorneys currently serving, asking them to stay in their jobs until further notice.
WORTHEIMER: These are Bush appointees?
SHAPIRO: Exactly. Although even then, there were not 93 Bush-appointed U.S. attorneys in office. They had been resigning in large numbers, sort of seeing the writing on the wall of the last few months. And at this point, according to the Justice Department's numbers, 54 of the 93 U.S. attorneys across the country are Bush-appointed, Senate-confirmed. The rest are acting, interim, temporary people filling in on the job.
WORTHEIMER: And how does President Obama then plan to fill the jobs? How does he choose?
SHAPIRO: Well, according to sources close to the process, the administration has already been talking with the senior Democratic senators in various states about who they would recommend. If there's no Democratic senator, they're talking with the most senior member of the House. And then there are a few positions that are kind of in a category of their own. There's Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami. People are going to be fighting over who gets those very, very high-profile positions.
WORTHEIMER: Right now, the most famous one's probably Chicago's U.S. attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald.
SHAPIRO: That's right.
WORTHEIMER: He's the fellow that prosecuted Scooter Libby.
SHAPIRO: The vice president's chief of staff, and he's currently leading the charge against Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and President Obama have said they plan to keep Patrick Fitzgerald on in Chicago. But there probably won't be many beyond that. Probably, almost all the 93 are going to be replaced with Mr. Obama's people.
WORTHEIMER: So where do the Bush-appointed attorneys go?
SHAPIRO: Well, this is the odd thing. Typically, a U.S. attorney can choose his or her job in the private sector.
WORTHEIMER: Especially if they stay in the state where they served.
SHAPIRO: Exactly. But right now, people in the U.S. attorney community tell me that even U.S. attorneys in major cities are having real trouble finding jobs. Even a year ago, this would have been unheard of. But because the economy is affecting every sector, including the legal market, people who are U.S. attorneys from major cities simply cannot find work. And from what I hear, this has less to do with ideology and more just to do with the state of the economy and the impact it's having on the legal market.
WORTHEIMER: NPR justice correspondent Ari Shapiro. Ari, thank you very much.
SHAPIRO: Good to talk to you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now to an issue that's once again a source of heated debate: the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. The Senate gets down to work in earnest today on a bill to extend and expand SCHIP. It's been a bipartisan effort until now. As NPR's Julie Rovner reports, Republicans are hopping mad over some changes Democrats have made to the bill, particularly one that would expand the program to children of legal immigrants.
JULIE ROVNER: To listen to the early Senate floor debate yesterday, you'd think little about the SCHIP bill had changed since Congress last considered it back in 2007. Here's Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Senator HARRY REID (Democrat, Nevada; Senate Majority Leader): With the support of Democrats and Republicans in Congress and a new president in the White House poised to sign this bill into law, we can ensure that more low-income families can provide their children with the medical care they need to grow up strong and healthy.
ROVNER: In fact, in many ways, the bill now before the Senate does resemble the one that passed Congress with bipartisan backing in 2007 but was vetoed twice by President Bush. It would extend for four and a half years the program that provides health insurance to almost 7.5 million children. The program is for kids and families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but still can't afford private coverage.
The bill would also provide enough additional funds to add 4 million more children to the rolls by the year 2013. It would mostly do that by a 61-cent increase in the federal cigarette tax. But without a Republican in the White House and with larger majorities in both the House and Senate, Democrats decided they could roll back some of the compromises they made in the 2007 measure. That's not sitting well with Republicans like Arizona's Jon Kyl.
Senator JON KYL (Republican, Arizona): This year, however, the Democratic majority has decided to work it alone, to write a partisan bill without Republican input.
ROVNER: The change that has Republicans most outraged would eliminate the current five-year waiting period for legal immigrant children to qualify for SCHIP or Medicaid. West Virginia Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, who managed to get the language added as an amendment by the Finance Committee, has been working to eliminate the waiting period almost ever since it was imposed in 1996.
Senator JAY ROCKEFELLER (Democrat, West Virginia): The parents are working. They're paying taxes. They're doing everything they should be doing. And what I'm trying to do is not penalize those children who are legally here.
ROVNER: But Republicans, like John Ensign of Nevada, say it simply sends the wrong message.
Senator JOHN ENSIGN (Republican, Nevada): And it would seem to me that we are giving more incentives for folks to come to the United States, not just to participate in the American dream, but to come to the United States to get on the government dole. And that's - I think this is exactly the wrong direction that we should be going with our - with this piece of legislation.
ROVNER: Republicans said they also worried that if, down the road, millions of immigrants currently here illegally are made legal, that the cost of the provision could balloon. Again Arizona's Jon Kyl.
Senator KYL: So we are once again adding huge costs to one of the entitlement programs at the same time that we acknowledge that we can't even pay for things like, for example, the physician update every year, whereby American doctors take care of American citizens in the Medicare program.
ROVNER: The Senate is expected to spend much of the week debating the bill. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer. Renewed violence in Gaza today is threatening an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire that's barely a week old. But there's still an accounting going on from the three weeks of heavy fighting that recently ended. Both Hamas militants and the Israeli military are being accused of violating the rules of war. One of the most tragic cases involves the Samouni family. At least 29 members of that extended family were killed by Israeli fire. From Gaza, NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Dazed and dirty, nine-year-old Abdullah al-Samouni walks around the ruined landscape of his Zeitoun neighborhood on the southern edge of Gaza City. Recorded readings of the Quran drift out from a makeshift mourning tent. Almost all of the homes and greenhouses that belonged to this large, extended farming family have been flattened. The piles of rubble evoke an earthquake, except for the thick tracks and tread marks in the dirt from Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers. Gaping holes scar the few Samouni homes that are still standing. Abdullah says he and some 20 of his relatives hid in one bedroom of their house when Israeli ground forces swarmed into Zeitoun around 6:30 AM on Sunday, January 4th. Abdullah says he remembers the red laser light from the soldiers' rifle sights darting around the dark room. One soldier, Abdullah says, asked his father to come forward.
Mr. ABDULLAH SAMOUNI (Resident, Zeitoun Neighborhood, Gaza): (Through Translator): We were sitting in the bedroom, and the soldiers asked, who is the owner of this house? My dad went out with his hands up, and the Israeli soldier shot him immediately in the doorway.
WESTERVELT: His father, 46-year-old Atiyeh, died instantly. Abdullah's brother, 22-year-old Faraj al-Samouni, says he and others shouted, "Children!,Children!" in Hebrew as soldiers moved toward the bedroom, some firing their automatic rifles. Witnesses say the survivors, some wounded, were eventually allowed to leave that house. Many fled to Wa'el al-Samouni's place nearby.
Ahmed al-Samouni is short and frail. He looks younger than his 16 years. He says at dawn on Monday, January 5th, after about 90 Samounis had taken shelter in Wa'el's house, the shelling began again. Ahmed's brown eyes look a little vacant as he describes the chaos as shells hit the house.
Mr. AHMED SAMOUNI (Resident, Zeitoun Neighborhood, Gaza): (Through Translator): They hit us with a bomb. Many in the house were killed, many were injured. My brother Izhaq was bleeding for two days. He was full of holes. I remember I gave him two tomatoes to eat. It was all he had before he died.
WESTERVELT: Doctors and family members here say 22 Samouni family members were killed inside Wa'el's house in the initial shelling. In the confusion and panic, roughly 50 others fled the partially collapsed home. Many of those, Ahmed says, were wounded. Nine people were left behind, including Ahmed, his mother, 42-year-old Laila, and at least three of his brothers. Ahmed says he watched his 4-year-old brother, Nissar, and then 15-year-old Ismael, and brother Izhaq bleed to death.
Mr. SAMOUNI: (Through Translator) My brother Nissar was in the kindergarten. What's his fault? Why to get him shot? He's 4 year old. He was with my mother. She was hugging him when he died. My brother Ismael kept bleeding for two hours just beside me when he died.
WESTERVELT: The Samounis' part of Zeitoun sits on slightly elevated farmland, key terrain for the Israeli army to control the southern approach to Gaza City. Witnesses say over the years, militants have regularly launched rockets at Israel from the orange groves around here. But witnesses say there was little or no resistance here when the Israelis attacked. Evidence on the ground supports that. There are almost no casings from AK-47 rounds or remnants of rocket-propelled grenades, the main weapons of Hamas militants. Witnesses here claim the Israeli soldiers knew there were wounded civilians in the Samouni houses, but ignored pleas for help. Attempts to contact Palestinian emergency services proved fruitless. Dr. Bashar Murad directs the emergency medical division at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza City.
Dr. BASHAR MURAD (Director, Palestinian Red Crescent Society Emergency Medical Division): (Through Translator) In the first two days of the ground offensive, we got 140 emergency calls for help from the Zeitoun area alone.
WESTERVELT: Dr. Murad says in past attacks, the Israeli army had coordinated with the Red Cross-Red Crescent and had treated wounded civilians. So he was hopeful when he got the green light from the military on Sunday to send an ambulance into Zeitoun. But when Red Crescent driver Mohammed Shriteh drove his ambulance down Salahadin road into Zeitoun on Sunday around 10:30 in the morning, he says he was met by two Israeli tanks, an armored bulldozer and dismounted infantry. Shriteh says the soldiers then signaled him to stop, and told him to get out of the car and strip off his shirt.
Mr. MOHAMMED SHRITEH (Ambulance Driver, Palestinian Red Crescent): (Through Translator) He told me to lay down on the ground on my stomach. A soldier stood next to me and searched me. I told him that I'm from the Red Crescent. The soldiers just kept telling me, Shut up! Shut up! They made some phone calls to I don't know who. Then they told me just to drive away and leave the area quickly.
WESTERVELT: Shriteh drove off, frightened and worried. Dr. Murad says medics tried to give emergency medical advice to wounded Samouni family members over the phone. The Red Crescent and Red Cross were denied access to Zeitoun for three more days. The Red Cross finally reached the wounded and dead on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. JONATHAN DRIMMER (Attorney, War-crimes Expert, Former Top Prosecutor, U.S. Justice Department): You must permit the treatment of civilians who are injured, or even noncombatants who are injured. You must permit them medical care.
WESTERVELT: Attorney Jonathan Drimmer is a war crimes expert and former top prosecutor for special investigations and war crimes in the U.S. Justice Department. He says information available so far suggests serious violations of the rules of war were committed by both sides. The case against Hamas, Drimmer says, seems clear-cut.
Mr. DRIMMER: I think there is no question that Hamas did violate the rules of war by firing indiscriminately into civilian areas, which they've done over substantial periods of time, deliberately targeting civilian areas.
WESTERVELT: Drimmer says the allegations against Israel, including charges the army used disproportionate force, failed to protect civilians and denied them medical care, all warrant further investigation.
Mr. DRIMMER: Any time you do have allegations of summary executions, of denial of medical care, of unnecessary deaths to civilians, it is greatly troubling. It's exactly what the laws of war are designed to prohibit.
WESTERVELT: The UN's top human rights official, Navi Pillav, has already said the events in Zeitoun warrant a full probe. Israel Defense Force spokesman Captain Benjamin Rutland says the military is taking the allegations seriously.
Captain BENJAMIN RUTLAND (Spokesman, Israel Defense Forces) The investigation into the allegations of incidents in Zeitoun is ongoing. It is an investigation which is being done at the command level, which is the highest level within the IDF. We're taking this very seriously. And we believe it's more important to do a very thorough investigation than to return something quickly.
WESTERVELT: The prospect that either side will be held to account for any wartime abuse seems dim. There is evidence that after the fighting ended, Hamas militants here had beaten and, in some cases, shot Palestinian opponents and intimidated civilians into not talking to investigators or the media about its conduct during the fighting.
On the Israeli side, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week dismissed what he called the moral acrobatics, of human rights groups, which he said have ignored years of Hamas rocket fire. Olmert, nonetheless, ordered his justice minister to prepare legal teams to protect soldiers and officers from any war crimes charges stemming from the Gaza operation. And Israel's military censor has barred publication of any pictures or names of field commanders who served in the Gaza offensive. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Gaza City.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In announcing his plans for greener energy, President Obama predicted the effects would be far-reaching.
President BARACK OBAMA: It will put 460,000 Americans to work with clean energy investments, and double the capacity to generate alternative energy over the next three years. It will lay down 3,000 miles of transmission lines to deliver this energy to every corner of our country. It will save taxpayers $2 billion a year by making 75 percent of federal buildings more efficient. And it will save working families hundreds of dollars on their energy bills by weatherizing 2 million homes.
MONTAGNE: And as NPR's Christopher Joyce reports, these incentives are welcome in an industry that's been struggling.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE: Green-energy advocates have been anticipating the opening of a green spigot. And the new energy plan delivers it: tens of billions of dollars for solar and wind energy, power plants that run on farm waste, and transmission lines to wheel green electrons around the country.
But Malcolm Woolf, head of Maryland's energy administration, says it's the simpler stuff in the new plan that will create jobs and juice up the economy now, like weatherizing homes.
Mr. MALCOLM WOOLF (Chief Energy Administrator, Maryland): The initial investment, by having folks get trained to put in insulation - that pays dividends today because it employs people. And it pays dividends down the road because those homes, therefore, use less energy and are saving those families money.
JOYCE: Woolf says most states are already set up to help consumers weatherize their homes. He says in Maryland, there are more people who want financial help to do this than he can pay for. The federal energy plan would boost his budget by at least a factor of 10. Making buildings more energy efficient is fairly quick and fairly easy. Woolf just weatherized his own home. It took a week and employed four people. The energy plan would theoretically multiply that by 2 million.
But lack of cash is only part of what's been dogging the green energy business. The recession has hurt in unintended ways. For example, the government already gives sizable tax credits to solar developers. But Arno Harris, CEO of the solar company Recurrent Energy, said that's not helping a lot nowadays.
Mr. ARNO HARRIS (CEO, Recurrent Energy): The challenge is that most developers don't have large tax bills and thus, they can't use the tax credits themselves. As a result, in order to finance the projects, they have to go find a bank or other partner with a large tax bill, and basically put together a financing partnership.
JOYCE: That worked OK until the recession hit. Now, a lot of banks aren't as interested in a solar energy tax write-off as they used to be.
Mr. HARRIS: If you're a big bank and you just lost many billions of dollars and you're not looking at a big tax bill at the end of the year, it doesn't make sense to invest in tax credits.
JOYCE: Harris says language in the new energy plan proposes to shift money straight to energy developers. Another problem in the past - one type of energy tax credit expired every year and had to be renewed by Congress. Investors couldn't plan ahead. Chris Fox is an analyst with Ceres, a green investment network.
Mr. CHRIS FOX (Director of Investor Programs, Ceres): That creates a boom-and-bust kind of environment which, as you can imagine, it makes it difficult to scale these projects up when there's a start and stop.
JOYCE: Congress is considering language in its bill that would keep this tax- credit provision but extend it for up to three years, which Fox says will encourage more private investment. Energy experts say spending cash now to weatherize homes and changing tax rules should work fast to stimulate the economy. But other provisions, such as building 3,000 miles of transmission lines to distribute solar and wind power, will take years to get going. And in the meantime, electricity from carbon-based fossil fuels, the ones that warm the planet's atmosphere, is still comparatively cheap. The energy plan doesn't deal directly with that. Chris Fox from the Ceres Investment Group says green investors would like to see that change, too.
Mr. FOX: Investors would like to see movement toward a carbon price, a mandatory national policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide.
JOYCE: Congress is expected to debate a price on carbon later this year. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
And I'm Linda Wertheimer. President Obama hosted legislative leaders at the White House last week. Today, he travels to their turf. Mr. Obama will meet skeptical Republicans on Capitol Hill this afternoon in hopes of winning at least token bipartisan support for the $825 billion economic stimulus package. The president wants to spend some of that money on clean energy projects. In a moment, we'll hear about industries that could benefit from his plan. But first, NPR's Scott Horsley reports on what supporters and detractors are saying as details of the stimulus package emerge.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Environmentalists were in a celebratory mood yesterday as they gathered in the White House East Room. The president was about to sign a pair of orders that promised to make cars go farther on every gallon of gas. But before Mr. Obama picked up his ceremonial pen, he had a few sobering words about the U.S. economy. Caterpillar and Home Depot had just announced thousands of job cuts. on top of thousands more at Sprint- Nextel, United Airlines and even Microsoft.
President BARACK OBAMA: These are working men and women whose families have been disrupted, and whose dreams have been put on hold. We owe it to each of them, and to every single American, to act with a sense of urgency and common purpose. We can't afford distractions, and we cannot afford delays.
HORSLEY: Which is why today, Mr. Obama heads for Capitol Hill where he'll once again urge lawmakers to quickly pass the giant stimulus bill. He's hoping to win at least some Republican support for the measure, and he's promised to listen to GOP ideas. With the House set to vote tomorrow, though, most Republicans are still in the no column. GOP leader John Boehner told "Meet the Press" a plan calling for one-third tax cuts and two-thirds government spending is not the way to go.
(Soundbite of TV show "Meet the Press")
Representative JOHN BOEHNER (Republican, Ohio): They believe that all of this spending is going to help. Some of it on infrastructure, if you can get it out the door quick enough, will help. But spending $200 million to fix up the National Mall, $21 million for sod, over $200 million for contraceptives, how is this going to fix an ailing economy?
HORSLEY: Republicans have also complained that much of the money in the stimulus package won't reach the economy in time to provide short-run help. The White House counters that three-quarters of the money would flow within 18 months. Any faster, officials say, and you'd run the risk of wasting money. Here's economic adviser Larry Summers speaking on NBC.
(Soundbite of NBC broadcast)
Dr. LAWRENCE SUMMERS (Director, National Economic Council): These problems weren't made in a day or a week or a month or even a year. And they're not going to get solved that fast. And so even as we move to be as rapid as we can in jolting the economy, in giving it the push forward it needs, we also have to be mindful of having the right kind of plan that will carry us forward over time.
HORSLEY: That includes investments in things like energy efficiency and alternative power. Mr. Obama calls them a down payment on a new energy economy that relies less on fossil fuels and especially, imported oil. Every president since Richard Nixon has promised to reduce America's dependence on foreign energy sources, but the commitment tends to rise and fall with the price of gasoline. Mr. Obama insisted his administration will stay the course, even as he acknowledged that course may be difficult.
President OBAMA: I cannot promise a quick fix. No single technology or set of regulations will get the job done. But we will commit ourselves to steady, focused, pragmatic pursuit of an America that is freed from our energy dependence, and empowered by a new energy economy that puts millions of our citizens to work.
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama took what he called a first step in that direction yesterday, ordering the Transportation Department to implement higher fuel economy standards passed by Congress two years ago, and opening the door for California and other states to enact stricter limits on greenhouse gases. On a day when General Motors announced 2,000 more job cuts, the president said he wasn't trying to add another burden to the auto industry. It's already relying on taxpayer assistance. Instead, he said he wants to help automakers prepare for the future.
President OBAMA: We must help them thrive by building the cars of tomorrow, and galvanizing a dynamic and viable industry for decades to come.
HORSLEY: Automakers responded with a statement saying they are ready to work with the administration, but cautioning that they want one national standard for fuel economy, not different rules in different states. Because of the credit crunch, automakers say, they are already facing the toughest consumer market since World War II. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
The phrase "sound as a pound" used to mean something. It was as reliable as the British currency. After all, Her Majesty's government stood behind its money. But recently, a number of British banks have been at least partially nationalized by Her Majesty's government at a time when they are not inspiring much confidence. We turn to Philip Coggan of The Economist magazine in London to learn more about the troubled state of the British banking system. Good morning.
Mr. PHILIP COGGAN (Capital Markets Editor, The Economist, London): Good morning, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: First of all, tell us what's happening in the British banking system.
Mr. COGGAN: It's a mess, Linda. We've already had two banks nationalized. We've had two of the biggest banks in the country where the government now owns significant stakes. And the share prices of the banks have taken a fearful battering in recent weeks.
WERTHEIMER: So how does the crisis in Britain compare to what is happening here?
Mr. COGGAN: It's worse from our point of view because the banks are so big relative to the size of the economy. To take the four biggest banks in the U.K., they have something like assets of $4 trillion, which is around three times the size of the British economy. So it doesn't take very big debts or write-offs in those banks to cause a significant problem. A lot of the things that they owned - just as with U.S. banks - are very hard to price. They're very obscure sort of assets. And over the last 18 months, they've just been taking write-off after write-off and looking weaker and weaker.
WERTHEIMER: We haven't yet had a full-scale run on the banks. Has something like that happened, or close to happening, in Britain?
Mr. COGGAN: Well, we did have a run on the bank in September 2007 with a bank called Northern Rock, where we had people queuing outside for the first time, probably, in well over a hundred years. But in October, the government did step in, basically, to say that any big bank, it would help rescue. And that stopped us from having the kind of problem where people are worried about the safety of their deposits. So the concern has changed, really, from worrying about the banks to worrying about the effect of the government finances of rescuing the banks. So we have seen the pound take a very big hit over the last six months, particularly against the dollar.
WERTHEIMER: So what is it that the British government is doing?
Mr. COGGAN: It's doing a number of things. It's taken those equity stakes in banks. It's got 70 percent of one of our biggest banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland, for example. It is trying to find a way to buy assets off the banks, just as the U.S. government is doing. It's also agreeing to insure some of the loans that the bank makes against losses if the companies they've lent to, or if the consumers they've lent to, go bust.
WERTHEIMER: This sounds a great deal like the kinds of things that the Bush administration was doing in its latter days.
Mr. COGGAN: Yes, indeed. In fact, the same problems are coming up for Britain as come up in the U.S. or elsewhere, which is, if you buy assets off the banks, what price do you pay? If you pay a price that's fair to the taxpayer, it may be such a low price that it's crippling for the banks. And if you pay a price that is better than that and helps the banks out, then it's not fair to the taxpayer, and the taxpayer can end up losing money. And squaring those two things off is extremely difficult.
WERTHEIMER: So, what needs to happen now?
Mr. COGGAN: Well, we're working on a plan that we think in the long run - which will be a good bank, bad bank system where all the bad assets are put into one sort of pool and then run off over a period of years.
In the U.S. you had the Resolution Trust Corporation, which dealt with the savings and loans like that in the 1990s. But it's going to take a while for that to get set up. And while all that's being set up, of course, confidence is getting lower and lower with each week.
We have had at least one bit of good news recently, which is that Barclays Bank, one of the biggest banks, has come out with a statement saying its losses aren't as worse as people feared. Indeed it's going to announce a profit for the last year. And that has helped its share price bounce back after getting very low. But it's a sort of a lone swallow in a very bleak winter.
WERTHEIMER: Not that much good news from Philip Coggan, who is capital markets editor for The Economist magazine. Thank you, anyway.
Mr. PHILIP COGGAN: Thank you, Linda.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
In Cambodia, drinking water carries many risks. Many of the nation's wells and rivers contain bacteria, parasites, pesticides and arsenic. There are ways to avoid unsafe water, but it's been hard to get Cambodians to take precautions, so one group is trying to spread the message through karaoke videos. NPR's Jon Hamilton has the story.
JON HAMILTON: This video shows a beautiful Cambodian woman in a white blouse, filling a pail with water from a gushing well spout. She turns to her husband, a ruggedly handsome man, and starts to sing.
(Soundbite of Cambodian karaoke public information video)
Unidentified Vocalist: (Khmer sung)
HAMILTON: Rough translation: You're a great husband for giving me this well. I gave you this well because I love you, he answers. The man behind this video is an American named Mickey Sampson, who says the plot is about to take a dramatic twist. The husband is telling his wife they need to do one more thing before drinking their water.
Dr. MICKEY SAMPSON (Country Director, Resource Development International): He goes, there's something else you should know about. It's called arsenic, and it doesn't have color, and it doesn't have odor, and it can be found in our wells. And we need to spend a dollar to have a test run to see if it is safe or not.
HAMILTON: Arsenic can weaken the immune system, cause cancer, and disfigure hands and feet, so contaminated wells can't be used for drinking. And arsenic is just one threat to water. Sampson says his group has also made karaoke videos dealing with bacteria and hygiene. Sampson moved to Cambodia with his family more than a decade ago to teach chemistry, but his plans changed.
Dr. SAMPSON: There was a small village near where we were living called Dopang Raang(ph), and I heard about the number of kids that were dying from diarrhea. And I just - I couldn't even fathom it. And so that's why we began tackling the most, you know, prominent problem, which is bacterial contamination of water.
HAMILTON: From untreated sewerage. These days, Sampson works for Resource Development International, a nonprofit whose projects include making ceramic water filters. Those filters remove most bacteria and parasites, but not arsenic. And ironically, arsenic poisoning has become more common in Cambodia because of recent efforts to provide clean water. Sampson says well-intentioned groups have put in hundreds of wells that turned out to have dangerously high levels of arsenic.
Dr. SAMPSON: It's really sad to go into a village and realize that someone wanted to help them and put wells in there, but then you see people who need amputations, and people who are extremely sick from this water source.
HAMILTON: Sampson realized that Cambodians needed to know more about how to protect themselves, but there were obstacles. Many people can't read, and poor villagers tend to accept waterborne diseases as part of life. Then one day, Sampson heard the babysitter singing a familiar tune.
Dr. SAMPSON: (Singing) I love you. You...
Dr. SAMPSON: She was singing the "Barney" song. And, you know, she speaks no English. And it just hit me that education through media, through song, was the way that we needed to go. And that was the piece of the puzzle that was missing, not technology.
HAMILTON: In Cambodia, new songs usually arrive in the form of karaoke videos.
Dr. SAMPSON: And so what we started doing is putting some of these messages in karaoke form, and going out with little video trucks and karaoke trucks, and letting villagers sing about water and begin to realize that this is something that they need to understand and they need to take action on.
HAMILTON: Which brings us back to our video. As the story unfolds, the happy couple get their well water tested and find out it does contain arsenic.
(Soundbite of Cambodian karaoke public information video)
Unidentified Vocalist: (Khmer sung)
HAMILTON: So they paint the well spout bright red to let everyone know this water is not for drinking. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
(Soundbite of Cambodian karaoke public information video)
Unidentified Vocalist: (Khmer sung)
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
The American Library Association has given the prestigious Newbery Medal for children's literature to Neil Gaiman for his novel, "The Graveyard Book." It's the story of a boy raised by the ghostly inhabitants of a cemetery. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr reports.
EUAN KERR: The inspiration for "The Graveyard Book" came more than 20 years ago, when Neil Gaiman lived in England. He'd been watching his 2-year-old son ride his tricycle in the old country graveyard across the street from their house. Last summer, at his current home near Minneapolis, Gaiman recalled thinking about Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book."
Mr. NEIL GAIMAN (Author, "The Graveyard Book"): "The Jungle Book" is all about a kid whose family are killed, who is taken in by animals in the jungle, and taught all the things that animals know. I'd like to do a story about a kid who doesn't have a family, who is adopted by dead people, and taught all the things that dead people know.
KERR: It took him a couple of decades to write, however. He tried several times, but never felt he had it quite right. Finally, a couple of years ago, he wrote one chapter and read it to his youngest daughter, who is now a teenager. She demanded to know what came next. Thus began the story of Nobody Owens, better known as Bod to the ghosts and other supernatural beings in the graveyard. The book became an instant best-seller, but Gaiman says now getting the Newbery is like winning a Nobel Prize or an Oscar. Speaking from the Los Angeles airport, he says the American Library Association essentially decides which books will become part of a literary canon.
Mr. GAIMAN: This is a book that will be around probably after I'm dead. It will still be on the Newbery shelves.
KERR: The Newbery is one of roughly 20 awards the American Library Association gives out at its annual convention. The best-known are the Newbery and the Randolph Caldecott Medal, which goes to the illustrator of a children's book. This year, that honor went to Beth Krommes for her work on "The House in the Night," with text by Susan Marie Swanson. The association also gives out prizes for African-American literature, books for beginning readers, and works for young adults. Neil Gaiman says he's been surprised by the number of grown-ups who have read his book and have told him the ending reduces them to tears.
Ms. ROSE TREVINO (Chair, 2009 Newbery Medal Selection Committee): I'm one of them.
KERR: Rose Trevino is the chair of this year's Newbery committee. She says the judges loved the characters and the development of the plot, but also the way Gaiman weaves human longing into the story of Nobody Owens coming of age.
Ms. TREVINO: And the result is, yes, it does bring tears to your eyes because you know that Nobody is now going to go on forward.
KERR: The characters in "The Graveyard Book" may return in other novels, Neil Gaiman says, but that's in the future. He was in Los Angeles to prepare for the release of the 3-D animation of his children's novella "Coraline." For NPR News, I'm Euan Kerr in St. Paul.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with a delay for digital TV.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: Just three weeks before the big switch to digital broadcasting, Senate lawmakers have passed a bill that would delay that transition by four months. If House lawmakers also pass the bill, households would have the extra time to prepare for the shift. That means they can have cable installed, or buy a digital TV, or buy a converter box that allows old-fashioned analog TV to receive the new digital signals.
The government mandated the all-digital TV, both to give public-safety officials more room on the airways and to improve viewing quality, but concern has been growing in Congress that many households are not ready for the February 17th transition date - particularly the poor, the elderly and rural families.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
The economy continues to lose jobs at a disturbing pace. Yesterday, several big corporations announced major layoffs. NPR's Wendy Kaufman has more.
WENDY KAUFMAN: The layoff announcement from Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of construction equipment and an economic bellwether, was all too familiar. Quarterly profits were down; the future is dim. Thus, the company is shedding about 20,000 positions, including contract and other workers.
Other big cuts were announced yesterday by Sprint-Nextel, Home Depot and Texas Instruments. Drug maker Pfizer, which is buying rival Wyeth, said it planned to eliminate about 19,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of the combined company's workforce. Typically, companies are cutting jobs through layoffs and attrition.
Mr. KEN GOLDSTEIN (Labor Economist, The Conference Board): I don't know anybody who really saw that this was going to get this bad this quickly.
KAUFMAN: Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein says the January job cuts come on top of huge job losses in November and December. That was the worst two-month period for such losses in half a century.
Mr. GOLDSTEIN: Part of the reason why we have folks down in Washington, D.C., talking about spending a huge amount of money in terms of a stimulative program is precisely because of just how bad the situation is, and how quickly it developed momentum.
KAUFMAN: The unemployment rate now stands at 7.2 percent. Over the next year, it's widely expected to go to 8 percent, possibly hitting 9 percent. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Now to a business that appears to be doing well in this recession: direct sales of beauty products.
Cosmetic companies like Avon and Mary Kay say for many women, the opportunity to be their own boss in difficult times has a strong appeal. Here's Gloria Hillard.
GLORIA HILLARD: The evidence of Linda Klein's(ph) success is sitting in the front driveway of her home in a suburb of Los Angeles.
Ms. LINDA KLEIN (Sales Representative, Mary Kay): And this is a brand- new, pink, Cadillac SUV I just....
HILLARD: And on the rear window of her 12th new pink Cadillac is the familiar sticker...
Ms. KLEIN: Mary Kay, enriching women's lives. And that's really our official sticker. That's our - philosophy of our company is to enrich women's lives.
HILLARD: In August, the company reported a more than 40 percent increase in new Mary Kay sales reps, compared to the same month last year. Income is based on commissions, so earnings vary, but Klein says a new rep working full time can expect to earn close to 50,000 in a year. Getting that pink Cadillac, she says, takes building a sales team. And in the last six months, Klein and her team have signed on 60 new beauty consultants.
Ms. KLEIN: Mostly because they've been downsized or let go, or their whole companies have folded, actually. And we're really seeing women of all ages.
(Soundbite of Mary Kay training session)
Ms. KLEIN: Hey, Tammy(ph)! Hi! So? Look at your...
HILLARD: Klein is hosting her weekly training session and soon, her home is filled with energetic women who, well, sparkled.
Ms. LORRAINE RICHARDSON(ph) (Sales Representative, Mary Kay): We love pins.
HILLARD: Lorraine Richardson is wearing a heavy, bejeweled, red blazer. She calls it Mary Kay bling. Think rhinestone merit badges. She's 68 and after seeing her retirement savings take a dive, signed up with Mary Kay.
Ms. RICHARDSON: I would have had to go out and work, and who's going to hire somebody my age and make the money that I do? Nobody.
HILLARD: The Dallas-based Mary Kay is not the only direct-selling company in town.
(Soundbite of Avon TV ad)
(Soundbite of doorbell ringing)
Unidentified Woman: Avon calling.
HILLARD: These days, you may not see Avon ladies decked out in hat and gloves on your doorstep like those iconic TV ads, but the company remains the largest direct seller of cosmetics in this country as well as worldwide.
Ms. ANDREA JUNG (CEO, Avon): I believe the number of lipsticks sold is four lipsticks per second, every second of the day.
HILLARD: Avon CEO Andrea Jung says beauty and personal-care products are some of the last things consumers give up in recessionary times. And, as with Mary Kay, today's economy is creating an uptick in Avon's sales force.
Ms. DAPHNE COLEMAN(ph) (Sales Representative, Avon): You are your own boss - your terms, your time, flexible. You can't get laid off. You are in control of your own destiny and your own career. So I think it has a lot of resonance right now.
HILLARD: After losing her job in the mortgage business, 46-year-old Daphne Coleman signed up with Avon. She's making a house call today. In her hand are tiny lipstick samples.
(Soundbite of house call)
Ms. COLEMAN: Here you go. Take one of those. That's a new lipstick.
HILLARD: And Coleman's set on her new career as an Avon representative. She says she won't go back to the mortgage business even when things turn around.
Ms. COLEMAN: Avon's been around since the 1880s. It's made it through the first Depression. I mean, we're in a recession, so come on. And it's products that we need.
(Soundbite of Mary Kay training session)
HILLARD: Meanwhile, back at the Mary Kay weekly training session, in appreciation of growing sales, Linda Klein had elaborately wrapped gifts for the women on the kitchen counter. Dinner was in the oven. And Klein led the ladies in a resounding chorus of positive thinking.
(Soundbite of Mary Kay training session)
Ms. KLEIN: My enthusiasm makes getting lots of leads and lots of bookings easy for me.
Avon Representatives: My enthusiasm makes getting lots of leads and lots of bookings easy for me.
HILLARD: Women turning the word recession on its heels.
Avon Representatives: I'm increasing my sales every week.
HILLARD: For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
The theory that lipstick sales go up in a recession does have its believers. But our last word in business today is gloss-over. There may be some evidence that low consumer confidence sparks a rise in sales of this relatively affordable luxury, but "The Economist" magazine takes a swipe at that notion. A recent article says historical data is spotty. The theory may also be wishful thinking. The term lipstick index was coined by an executive at the cosmetics company Estee Lauder. That's the business news on Morning Edition, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WORTHEIMER, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wortheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Steve Inskeep is on assignment. The impeachment trial for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich continues this morning. Illinois has never impeached a governor and in this case, that governor was a no-show. Instead, he's been offering his defense on national TV. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
CHERYL CORLEY: As the impeachment trial began, chairs for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his attorneys sat vacant. Presiding Judge Thomas Fitzgerald, the head of the Illinois Supreme Court, told the senators to continue as if the governor had entered a plea of not guilty.
(Soundbite of court hearing)
Judge THOMAS R. FITZGERALD (Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice): This is a solemn and serious business that we are about to engage in. Both you and I have taken an oath to do justice, in essence, to be fair. I know that I, and I'm sure that you, come to this chamber and these proceedings prepared to be true to that oath. So it should be.
CORLEY: Federal authorities charge Governor Blagojevich with trying to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama for money or favors. Other allegations accuse the governor of defying state lawmakers, circumventing hiring laws, and trading state contracts for campaign contributions. Prosecutor David Ellis says he'll show how the governor abused his power.
Mr. DAVID ELLIS (State Prosecutor, Illinois): The audits will show that the governor liked splashy ideas, big ideas, headlines. But when it came to implementing his policies, he consistently violated state law and federal law, often jeopardizing the safety of our citizens in the process.
CORLEY: Governor Blagojevich calls the Senate's rules for this impeachment trial biased. He says the senators have already made up their minds to remove him from office. So while the trial moves forward in the Illinois capital, the governor has been pleading his case on network television shows.
(Soundbite from "Good Morning America")
Unknown woman: This morning, the embattled governor of Illinois. Did he try to sell the president's Senate seat?
CORLEY: On "Good Morning America," for example, Governor Blagojevich reiterated his claim that he has done nothing wrong.
(Soundbite from "Good Morning America")
Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH (Democrat, Illinois): Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? How is it that you can make a couple of allegations, take some conversations completely out of context? The whole story's not told.
CORLEY: Neither the governor nor the senators can call witnesses in this trial that may play a role in the criminal case against him. But the governor says he needs witnesses like White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has said publicly his conversation with the governor about the U.S. senate seat was appropriate.
Blagojevich says that affirms his claims of innocence. Today, he's scheduled to plead his case on TV again. It's lent an air of surrealness to the impeachment proceedings. And that was evident when the governor appeared on the ABC show "The View," and he was asked to imitate a former president.
(Soundbite from "The View")
Ms. JOY BEHAR (Co-Host, "The View"): Wait a minute. He does a fabulous Nixon impression. Do it for us.
Governor BLAGOJEVICH: Who said that?
Ms. BEHAR: Somebody told me. Come on. Just say, I am not a crook. Do it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Governor BLAGOJEVICH: No, I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to go there.
Ms. BEHAR: Come on.
CORLEY: The governor did not take that bait, and he never directly answered questions about conversations the government secretly recorded. Last night, on CNN's "Larry King Live," a listener from Springfield, Illinois, wanted to know if there was more to the media interviews than the governor was letting on.
(Soundbite from "Larry King Live")
Unidentified Caller: Is this media blitz his attempt to taint his upcoming criminal trial, and to taint the prospective jury pool?
Governor BLAGOJEVICH: No. What I'm trying to do is - trying to explain to any fair-minded person across America, is that a governor elected twice by the people, I'm being denied the right to be able to show that accusations against me are not true.
CORLEY: Illinois lawmakers say the governor can summon witnesses to the impeachment trial, and even appear on his own behalf. Republican Senate Minority Leader Christine Redogno says with such a grave situation, the Senate wants to make sure everyone has their say.
Senator CHRISTINE REDOGNO (Republican Senate Minority Leader, Illinois): We're not trying to play getcha. We really want to have a fair hearing on both sides. So if the governor were to show up, you know, my guess is that we'd be anxious to hear him.
CORLEY: It will take 40 votes, two-thirds of the Illinois senate, for lawmakers to remove Governor Blagojevich from office. He says it's a given that he'll lose his seat. The Senate could also bar the governor from ever holding office in Illinois again. Cheryl Corley, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
As the American auto industry struggles to stay afloat, a veteran car dealer from Los Angeles has a few thoughts about the future. Cal Worthington is a California cowboy who's famous for pitching his cars with some wild TV commercials. Now in his late 80s, Worthington is still selling cars, but as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports, the business isn't what it used to be.
CARRIE KAHN: Wearing his trademark cowboy hat and Western red tie, Cal Worthington faces the camera in a TV studio he built in an old bunkhouse at his 24,000-acre ranch. And without a script, he starts his familiar pitch.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON (Car Dealer, Los Angeles): Hello again. I'm Cal Worthington for Worthington Ford. Hey, we're having a big SUV sale. I mean, we've got hundreds and hundreds of SUVs on special sale, and they're all certified.
KAHN: Behind him, you see pictures of Worthington's snow-covered dealership in Anchorage, Alaska. By noon, he'll shoot commercials for four car lots across the country without ever leaving the ranch, just changing the backdrop. It's what Cal's been doing for the past 50-plus years, selling cars with a jingle that sticks in your head.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON: I first did it really slow with a big drum roll.
(Singing) If you need a better car, go see Cal - with a big drum roll. We're the best deal by far - and then I got thinking, I've got to speed this thing up.
(Soundbite of TV advertisement)
(Singing) If you need a better car, go see Cal. He's the greatest one by far, go see Cal. Give a new car to your wife, she will love you all your life, go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal.
KAHN: The ads began blanketing late-night TV in Los Angeles at a time when nothing was too outrageous for LA's auto-dealer pitchmen.
(Soundbite of TV advertisement)
Unidentified Man: Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot.
KAHN: Worthington's trademark was appearing with his dog Spot, which was never a canine.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON: I'd say the craziest one was the hippo.
KAHN: He used gorillas, tigers, and even rode a killer whale. The stunts turned him into a minor Hollywood star, landing him appearances on the Johnny Carson show, making him really rich, and keeping him happy - until now.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON: This is absolutely, beyond a doubt, the worst time I have ever seen in the car business. If we don't do something drastic, this is going to be a 1928-29 deal.
KAHN: Worthington sits in the TV room in his California ranch home, about a hundred miles north of Sacramento. It's been restored since wife number three burned the house down sauteing mushrooms. Worthington has a few memory gaps, but loves to tell a story. It's really the story of the U.S. car business.
At age 24, straight out of the Air Force, he sold his first car in Corpus Christi, Texas. Worthington says he made 60 bucks and was hooked. He opened his first dealership in Los Angeles in the late '40s, selling Hudsons.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON: Well, there wasn't anything else available, (laughs) and they practically gave it to me. The guy was losing his shirt.
KAHN: With pent-up demand after World War II, he sold a lot of cars. In the '50s and '60s, as America connected with interstate highways, he sold even more. He bought Dodge dealerships, Ford and Chrysler franchises. He sold them all.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON: Another thing I've done, I've taken dealerships that were broke and busted, and built them up and then sell them. If I have a dealership that somebody wants more than I do, I'll sell it to them.
KAHN: He says the '70s were tough during the oil embargo. In the '80s, when interest rates jumped to double digits, he launched his own financing business. At age 88, he still flies his own Learjet to check up on his four dealerships, but leaves the day-to-day management to others, like his 23-year-old grandson, Nick.
Mr. NICK WORTHINGTON: How was your service today?
Unidentified Man: It was good, good, so far.
Mr. NICK WORTHINGTON: (Laughing) Yeah?
KAHN: Like his grandfather, Nick Worthington wears a white cowboy hat and doesn't veer from the time-tested formula of hard work and heavy advertising. Both still bring customers into Worthington's flagship Ford dealership in Long Beach, California.
Mr. NICK WORTHINGTON: How did you guys find us today?
Unidentified Man: The commercial that's been playing for the last 20, 30, 40 years.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. NICK WORTHINGTON: Keeping you up at night, I imagine?
KAHN: This man drove more than 50 miles to go see Cal.
Mr. NICK WORTHINGTON: And in L.A., you're passing a whole lot of Ford stores just to come here.
KAHN: Nick Worthington says his grandfather tells him he should be selling at least 300 cars a month. Last month, he sold less than half that. But Nick has no regrets.
Mr. NICK WORTHINGTON: You know, my grandfather says I got in at a bad time, but you'll never learn so much as when business is down. I've probably got a good five years of experience in this last one.
KAHN: Despite the hard times, neither Worthington is ready to quit, especially Cal.
Mr. CAL WORTHINGTON: I've been so successful at it, you can't give it up. You know, you find something you can do, works well, you just can't give it up, as much as you might like to.
KAHN: But he does believe the car business is in for at least two more tough years.
(Soundbite of TV advertisement)
(Singing)I will stand upon my head to beat all deals. I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red, go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal!
KAHN: Carrie Kahn, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The town of Grasse in the south of France has been the center of the French perfume industry, and some say the world's, since the 16th century. After four years of renovations, a museum dedicated to explaining and celebrating perfumery has reopened in this city of scent. Susan Stone sniffed out the story.
(Soundbite of music)
SUSAN STONE: Singers and dancers dressed in traditional Provencal costume of straw hats, pantaloons and flowered dresses, carry arches of braided flowers through the winding streets of Grasse. They're celebrating the museum's reopening, which is a big deal here. Grasse is a company town, nearly everybody works with the building blocs of the perfume industry. Growing the flowers or making the extracts that go into fragrances by Chanel, Dior, Guarlain and many others.
(Soundbite of music)
(Soundbite of applause)
STONE: Curator Marie-Christine Grasse stands inside the museum's glass-walled terrace garden and points to some of the industry's living source materials from South-East Asia, the Indian Ocean and Central America.
Ms. MARIE-CHRISTINE GRASSE (Curator, Perfume Museum, Grasse, France): Plants like vanilla, pepper, canella.
STONE: But some of the most important plants of perfumery flourish here, in the region's Mediterranean's climate.
Ms. GRASSE: Like the rose, like the jasmine and the oranges, citrus. We can see them outside in another garden, the next garden.
STONE: These plants are still grown and processed nearby, though globalization has taken some of the business away from the south of France. The city's contributions and history are lovingly illustrated in the museum. There are also more than 5,000 treasures on display from around the world. Egyptian ointment pots, modern crystal perfume bottles. And, this being France, there's a whole room devoted to Marie Antoinette, including her 176-pound traveling vanity case.
STONE: Did we smell something in here?
Ms. GRASSE: Yes, you smell violet fragrance.
STONE: Violet was one of Marie Antoinette's favorite scents. In the Middle Ages room, it's rosemary. In the antiquity's room, incense. You might expect to be overwhelmed by odors in here, but actually, its fragrance on demand. Visitors must push a button to experience the scents.
Ms. GRASSE: Well, you can smell it if you want, but may be the public doesn't like all the perfume.
STONE: An interesting admission from the curator of a perfume museum. But as Grasse resident and Hermes in-house perfumer, Jean-Claude Ellena points out, our noses are always at work, whether we want them to be or not.
Mr. JEAN-CLAUDE ELLENA (Hermes In-House Perfumer): I think odors are something important for your life, human life. The relationship with the other, social interaction, because before you see somebody, before you talk to somebody, you smell somebody.
STONE: And enhancing or covering that human scent was part of what drove the creation of perfumery, and still does today. It's a billion-dollar industry that uses cutting edge technology. Ellena says it's also a creative field that should be considered on par with painting or sculpture.
Mr. ELLENA: It's an art. It really is an art. It's an art of illusion, so it's an art.
STONE: Jean-Claude Ellena is delighted by this idea, for good reason. Many of his own masterpieces of illusion are now on display at the International Perfume Museum in Grasse. For NPR News, I'm Susan Stone.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
If that makes you long for the bygone era of music videos when Blondie, Madonna and Duran Duran ruled MTV, do we have some good news for you. One of the biggest names on Broadway, the Nederlander Organization, announced yesterday it has acquired the rights to make a musical based on the Michael Jackson music video "Thriller."
(Soundbite of song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson)
WERTHEIMER: Nederlander is fresh off the success of the musical "Mama Mia." And remind me what the plot was in those office songs?
WERTHEIMER: Yeah, right.
RENEE MONTANGE, host:
The organization's gambling this time on the story of a young man out on a date who turns into a werewolf and leads a team of zombies in a coordinated dance routine.
(Soundbite of song "Thriller")
Mr. MICHAEL JACKSON (Singer):
(Singing) 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike You know it's thriller, thriller night
MONTAGNE: The Nederlander Organization has a track record of Broadway hits including "Rent," the "Lion King." This new project is endorsed by Michael Jackson, and producers hope he'll have a hand in its creation. After all, the album "Thriller" is still, 27 years on, the best-selling album of all time. And this is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
WERTHEIMER: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
(Soundbite of song "Thriller")
Mr. JACKSON:
(Singing) You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination, girl! But all the while you hear a creature creeping up behind You're out of time
'Cause this is thriller, thriller night There ain't no second chance against the thing with the forty eyes, girl Thriller, thriller night
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. That smart aleck Chihuahua who starred in TV ads that turned into a pop cultural phenomenon has just taken a bite out of Taco Bell. A federal appeals court ruled last week the company owed the two men who came up with the idea for the little dog $42 million. The purveyor of burritos and tacos already survived controversy in the '90s. Then, some Latino leaders complained the fast-talking Chihuahua was feeding into negative stereotypes about Mexicans. It's Morning Edition.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
Good morning, I'm Linda Wertheimer. Susan McCullen saw a good thing at a Goodwill warehouse in Tennessee. She was sorting items for sale when she spotted a gold frame, and found a vivid watercolor of the Bay of Naples, with a letter from the artist, Ellsworth Woodward, who sold it in San Francisco for $75 dollars around 1915. It brought 8,000-plus this week in the Goodwill online auction. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
For his very first formal television interview after taking office, President Obama made an unexpected choice, al-Arabiya. Mr. Obama directed his message to the networks Arab audience. A key topic was Israeli-Palestinian relations.
President BARACK OBAMA: The bottom line in all these talks and all these conversations is, is a child in the Palestinian territories going to be better off? Do they have a future for themselves? And is the child in Israel going to feel confident about his or her safety and security?
MONTAGNE: The president sat for that interview after dispatching special envoy George Mitchell to the Middle East.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. As Iraq readies to elect its provincial governments this Saturday, the southern part of the country is where much of the action is. It's mostly Shiite, and it's become the main political battleground for two of the strongest parties. Those parties are allies in the national government, but their rivalry in the south could threaten that alliance, as we hear from NPR's JJ Sutherland.
JJ SUTHERLAND: Diwaniyah sits on a branch of the Euphrates River a bit more than a hundred miles south of Baghdad. It's a market town and the capital of Qadisiyah province. The area around it is dotted with rice fields and palm trees. The streets of Diwaniyah have become the public battleground of the electoral campaign. Political posters are everywhere.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN)
SUTHERLAND: Mahdi Abdullah thinks perhaps there are too many.
MAHDI ABDULLAH: (Through Translator) We see them on the houses, shops, and light posts. They have defaced our city with their posters.
SUTHERLAND: The faces of two politicians dominate the landscape here. The first is Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. His Dawa party has surged in popularity in recent months. His supporters say he is a strong leader who has helped bring a fragile peace to the country. His party appeals to a middle-class, more secular Shiite population. He's also been courting Shiite tribal leaders. The other politician pictured is Abdul Aziz Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. His party's posters strike a more religious theme. The Supreme Council is seen as closer to Iran than the Dawa party. It draws its support primarily from among the poor and the more religious. The Supreme Council's leader in the south is Hasan al Zamahly.
HASAN AL ZAMAHLY: (Through Translator) Our duty as religious people and as representatives of this party is to call on our people to participate to preserve the political future for them as sons of these provinces. And our political future depends on the region south of Baghdad.
SUTHERLAND: The Supreme Council is pressing for the creation of a large autonomous region in the south, much like the Kurds already have in the north, a southern mega-province that would control the region's vast oil fields. Fadhil Mawat sits on the Qadisiyah Provincial Council. A Dawa party member, he says the Supreme Council's plan would be disastrous for Iraq, and he has made it a central campaign issue.
FADHIL MAWAT: (Through Translator) The people have realized that if the provinces become more powerful than the central government, that would lead to the division of Iraq.
SUTHERLAND: Prime Minister Maliki is making a huge push in these provincial elections, campaigning hard in the south in an effort to build a base for national elections later this year. At the moment, the Supreme Council controls most of the southern provinces and their local security forces. Mawat claims the Supreme Council leaders are using the police to intimidate their opposition, including the Dawa party.
MAWAT: (Through Translator) They're trying to provoke us. It reached the point where some of our list members, including myself, have been threatened with assassination.
SUTHERLAND: The Supreme Council's Zamahly counters those charges by alleging Prime Minister Maliki is using the Iraqi military as a political force. He cites a recent parade in another southern province.
AL ZAMAHLY: (Through Translator) All the army vehicles that took part in the parade carried posters of Maliki and his new political list. It was kind of election propaganda. The army should not be politicized.
SUTHERLAND: It's this kind of maneuvering that has people worried here in Diwaniyah and elsewhere in the south. Local analysts say there's a real possibility the Supreme Council could lose control of some provinces, and there are fears that the transfer of power may not go peacefully, especially if the election isn't seen as legitimate. JJ Sutherland, NPR News, Diwaniyah, Iraq.
LINDA WERTHEIMER: The stimulus package before the House includes $20 billion to help computerize medical documents. During his campaign, President Obama promised large and sustained spending for health information technology. NPR's Joanne Silberner investigates whether this spending is likely to create jobs, or to cut the nation's health care bill.
JOANNE SILBERNER: Right now, only 17 percent of doctors have computerized practices. Increasing that will create jobs. Just ask Dr. John Halamka. He's the chief information officer at Harvard Medical School at one of its teaching hospitals, and he oversees 20,000 computers dedicated to health care.
JOHN D: It requires a lot of hands-on. This means you need training and education, much more than hardware and software. And that means a lot of people.
SILBERNER: Halamka has helped more than a thousand doctors in Massachusetts go electronic. They can use to computers to order tests and drugs. They have access to patient records anywhere they have a computer. And the computers can prompt them about possible diagnoses and treatments. Halamka has used the Massachusetts experience to calculate what it would take on a national level to train health personnel and get systems up and running.
HALAMKA: It comes out to about 50,000 new jobs just directly involved in electronic health record roll out.
SILBERNER: Then there are hardware jobs, software jobs and a growing number of Internet companies that let people keep their own records online.
HALAMKA: All told, it probably will be about 200,000 new jobs with the House stimulus package.
SILBERNER: That's not far from an estimate used by the Obama administration. Even opponents of the House bill say it will create jobs. Their main complaint is that the jobs won't come soon enough. There would be a two-year phase-in period. Supporters of health information technology say there's a second benefit. Dr. Paul Tang is the chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
PAUL TANG: The longer-term payoff for this investment is to have the majority, if not all American physicians, using electronic health systems and producing better care. And better care, I believe, will result in lower costs. So that becomes self-sustaining.
SILBERNER: Tang and others say doctors who can look up your record on a computer won't need to send you for a second MRI if they don't have the results of your first one. The computer won't let them automatically prescribe a drug that will cause you problems. Halamka at Harvard has some numbers.
HALAMKA: Fifteen percent of our health care is redundant, while we spend $30 billion a year, just in Massachusetts. So 4.5 billion in just Massachusetts of dollars that would be saved through coordination of care.
SILBERNER: There is some argument among economists about how much the health care system as a whole would save through computerization. What can be said now is this. The federal government would pay more, not less. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that with the House bill as written, the overall impact to the budget would be $17 billion in total costs by 2019. Some politicians and planners are concerned about pushing programs of this size through Congress so fast. James Gelfand of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also says a number of provisions need a more careful look, including how to make sure that patient records are kept private while still making them available to healthcare personnel.
JAMES GELFAND: We've been trying to find an answer to that for two Congresses now. It's been, you know, more than four years we've been debating this issue, and we haven't reached a consensus. So how are we going to pass a bill now, when there is no consensus that's been reached?
SILBERNER: Lawmakers will have to reach that consensus quickly if they want health IT in the stimulus bill. The House is expected to pass its version today. The Senate could vote on its version soon. The self-imposed deadline for working out the differences between the two bills is mid-February. Joanne Silberner, NPR News, Washington.
LINDA WERTHEIMER: Commentator Frank Deford remembers a simpler time.
FRANK DEFORD: Nevertheless, for all of us here at Morning Edition, may I wish you and yours a very Merry Super Sunday and a Happy Groundhog Day.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WERTHEIMER: Commentator Frank Deford celebrates with us each Wednesday from Member Station WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
The first 100 days of any presidency are important. And with the recession getting worse by the day, the stakes for the Obama administration could not be higher. To mark this crucial period, NPR is launching its own 100 days project. Our reporter David Greene is on a road trip across the nation. The goal is simple - to hear from you about the economy and the financial crisis and how you and your communities are faring. David begins his travels with a trip down I-75 starting in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "THE SNOWMOBILE SONG")
TOM CONNORS: (Singing) It's wintertime and the weather's fine, The snow on the woods and fields when I reveal... My snowmobile...
DAVID GREENE: That's Canadian folk singer Tom Connors, and his song captures the way many snowmobilers feel about their sport. Up here it's more like a way of life. Restaurant signs say "Snowmobiles Welcome." At gas stations you see more snowmobiles filling up than cars. A few days ago I'm driving into the little town of Paradise, Michigan, for what's supposed to be a big day of snowmobiling. It begins with the annual pancake breakfast. The breakfast in the community center is where I meet Joanne Cook.
JOANNE COOK: Normally, we are really busy with the breakfasts here, and it's way down right now. So I think it's the economy. Nobody knows if they've got a job or not.
GREENE: Paradise is a snow-pummeled community on Lake Superior. Six hundred people, a smattering of hotels, and miles of snowmobile trails. Most years, by late morning tourists are buzzing around everywhere.
COOK: Oh, it would be all snowmobiles. It would be like bumblebees going by.
GREENE: But when times are uncertain, Joanne says, people don't travel to a place like Paradise for their snowmobiling. They stick closer to home. And Joanne has felt the effect of that. She runs a grocery store here.
COOK: I used to have to stay open from 9 to 9. Now I'm down to 9 to 6, Monday through Saturday. I'm closed on Sundays because there's nobody around.
GREENE: But Joanne is putting her best face on because this is an important day. It's the annual snowmobile blessing.
COOK: OK, I got to head down and start the fire for the blessing.
GREENE: Oh, cool. Can I go with you? Is that OK to see how that's set up?
COOK: Unidentified Man #1: Are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?
GREENE: I know what I'm getting myself into.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINES REVVING)
GREENE: Finally, there's that sound people in Paradise love to hear. Maybe you're not seeing snowmobilers darting around town like normal years, but here on this snowy field on the edge of town, the diehards have come. Looking like astronauts in their thick snowsuits and helmets, they're gathered around a fire. For them, snowmobiling's almost a religion.
EDSON FORRESTER: Creator of the heavens and the Earth, give blessing to these snowmobilers...
GREENE: Meet Edson Forrester. He's the ordained minister in charge of the annual blessing. He says he's just trying to keep everyone safe.
FORRESTER: God, we ask for your guiding light when the blizzards leave us blind, when accidents leave us alone in the dark...
CARL HARM: We're going to probably run through here. It looks like she wants us to lead the pack.
GREENE: Carl Harm is one of the diehards. He drove to Paradise from Traverse City, 170 miles on his snowmobile. Carl's a mechanical contractor back home. The tight housing market has hurt him.
HARM: I - usually I do, you know, eight, 10, 12 houses a year. I'm a small contractor. But, you know, in the last year, I did one. This year, I've got one going.
GREENE: And maybe Carl's had to tighten his budget, but he's not giving up his snowmobiling. He and his buddy Rick Drewyour ride together. It's not a cheap sport. Carl and Rick are each outfitted in a thousand dollars' worth of gear, including helmets installed with voice-activated walkie-talkies.
RICK DREWYOUR: Carl is usually in the lead. He can inform me of any other sleds that are - you know, coming toward me. Or if I have a problem, I can tell him that, you know, hey, I need to stop and take a potty break, or my sled's making a funny noise, or whatever. So it makes riding a little more enjoyable.
GREENE: Before this group heads out for an afternoon of racing, the minister holds smoking bunches of cedar and tobacco up to each snowmobile. Tobacco, the minister says, is known to carry prayers up to God.
FORRESTER: Unidentified Man #2: Be safe out there. Let's have fun. I'm excited.
GREENE: At this year's blessing, the people of Paradise say they're adding an extra prayer - for next winter to be a little more crowded. I'm David Greene, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "THE SNOWMOBILE SONG")
CONNORS: (Singing) Through the golden glow on powdered snow, When the moon comes rolling along...
WERTHEIMER: As David roams the country for the next 100 days reporting on the recession, he's looking for your help. You can suggest ideas and follow David as he blogs his way across the U.S. at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
On the day the president was inaugurated last week, the FBI had word from overseas of a possible terrorist attack. It was linked to a Somali group officials fear has been recruiting young men from Somali communities in the U.S. In the past year, as many as two dozen of them have disappeared from Minneapolis alone. Federal agents believe these young men are turning up in Somalia, that they are being trained as terrorists, and that one day they may return to this country. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston visited Minneapolis and has this report on what may be a new type of terrorism, along with the story of one boy who disappeared.
DINA TEMPLE: Last November on Election Day, 17-year-old Burhan Hassan and six of his friends quietly slipped away from their neighborhood in East Minneapolis, boarded a plane, and headed to Africa.
ABDIRIZAK BIHI: My nephew is Burhan Hassan.
TEMPLE: Abdirizak Bihi runs the youth center where all the local Somali kids go. For more than a year, he heard rumors that boys in the community were going missing, but he didn't believe it. Then his nephew Burhan disappeared.
BIHI: My sister called me and said Burhan's missing. Then one of the mornings she called me and I was already to sleep. In the morning we talked and she went to his room. Everything he had was gone.
TEMPLE: A local Mosque is at this storefront next to Palmer's Pub. Its back doors open out onto The Towers, and that's because, the Imam told us, the elders won't need to cross the street to go to prayer. This area in Minneapolis is like a little Mogadishu.
OMAR JAMAL: In from the cold.
TEMPLE: Let's take an elevator up, and we'll walk down the corridor.
JAMAL: Yeah, we can do that.
TEMPLE: OK.
JAMAL: This is sixth floor.
TEMPLE: The elevator doors open to reveal a hallway that looks 1970s public housing chic, all fluorescent lights and linoleum tile. The floors are gleaming, as if they've just been waxed. Women are gossiping at one end of the hallway. Their sons skip down the corridors. This is where Burhan Hassan grew up. And it's easy to imagine him running up and down hallways just like this one in an apartment complex where he could knock on just about any door and expect to be greeted by a fellow Somali. The children here straddle two worlds.
JAMAL: Most of those kids are going through identity crisis. They don't know who to belong to. Who are they? Who am I? I'm not American. I am not Somali. I see them as the victims.
TEMPLE: Now, many of the Somali kids, like Burhan Hassan, managed the transition pretty well. They got good grades. They took advanced courses in high school. Burhan was supposed to graduate in May. Burhan's mother was saving up to send him to medical school.
HUSSEIN SAMATAR: He is extremely bright student and very nice towards his mom.
TEMPLE: That's Burhan's other uncle, Hussein Samatar. He runs a development office for the community.
SAMATAR: He's being the youngest of the family and he had awesome relationship where sometimes just he will call even during the school day. He will take a break and will call his mom and say within four hours every time, class is going well and I will see you soon.
TEMPLE: All the young men who left were reared by single mothers, and they were particularly devout. All of them attended two local mosques, one near The Towers and another across the river in St. Paul.
HASSAN MOHAMUD: Sisters, you can sit there, and brothers (unintelligible).
TEMPLE: The Dawah Islamic Institute in St. Paul is one of those mosques. It's in a converted cinderblock storefront in a deserted strip mall. There are rows of plywood shelves to store shoes at the front door. Masking tape marks off lanes on the carpet, so those who come here for prayers can line up in regimental rows. On the evening we arrive, Imam Hassan Mohamud is helping a small group of young men and women memorize the Koran.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE RECITING THE KORAN)
TEMPLE: According to their parents, the missing boys spent a lot of time here. Many spent the night. Dawah's Imam Hassan told us his mosque has nothing to hide.
MOHAMUD: We're not missing any single student who is connected to the mosque at the Dawah Islamic Center. And that has to be very clear.
TEMPLE: Imam Hassan is a small man. He's used henna to dye his beard a bright orange hue. He's joined by the mosque's youth director, an African-American from Queens named Neelain Waled Mohammed. He's a flurry of denials too.
NEELAIN WALED MOHAMMED: If I was a parent, I'd be coming to the Mosque, where's my youth? They should be at the doors. They should be banging on the doors. We've had nothing like that.
MOHAMUD: Exactly.
WALED MOHAMMED: I mean if I was a parent, where's my son? You sent him away.
TEMPLE: Burhan's Uncle Bihi says he and the other families have gone to the mosque to ask about their sons, but they haven't received any answers. As you might expect, Bihi has relived the last day he saw Burhan a million times, hoping to see some sign or indication of what was about to happen.
BIHI: His mom tried to pick him up to school - drop him off to school. He said, oh, mom, you know, I'm going to take the train to school. Then she saw him again before he left. And she said, well, the train's gone already and you're late. He said, no, no, my friend so and so - my classmate will pick me up. And that was the last time she saw him.
TEMPLE: Burhan's uncle says someone managed to convince the young men that it was their duty as good Muslims, as good Somalis to return to their homeland and fight in its civil war. The FBI believes this might be happening in other American cities as well and has launched investigations in Columbus, Ohio, and Boston. The only word from Burhan came two days after he disappeared. He called his mother.
BIHI: He said that he's in Somalia. He's fine, well, and he would call when he gets his own cell phone. Then he doesn't call now.
TEMPLE: His family is still hoping for the phone to ring. The FBI would like to talk to Burhan too. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
In Gaza, Hamas militants are working to reassert their control of the battered territory. Now that the Israeli offensive is over, Hamas has been cleaning up debris and handing out money to the wounded and the homeless. They're also accused of cracking down on their political opponents, sometimes brutally. From Gaza, NPR's Eric Westervelt has our story.
ERIC WESTERVELT: Ahmed Youssif is one of the few Hamas leaders who dares to appear in public here these days. Most of the rest are still living underground, fearful of Israeli assassination attempts. Youssif seems in an oddly giddy mood this day, as he surveys the rubble piles near the Rafah tunnels along the border with Egypt. Tunnels that Palestinians already have started to dig out, rebuild and, in a few spots, re-open.
AHMED YOUSSIF: This means that the Phoenix rises again from the ashes.
WESTERVELT: Hamas loyalists are walking the drab corridors and recovery rooms in al-Shifa Hospital, passing out brightly-colored envelopes of cash to the wounded. Fisherman Imad al-Najar grimaces in pain, half-conscious, and IV stuck in his arm. He was shot in the chest and shoulder on the last day of the Israeli offensive. His brother Nader says the family is grateful for the Hamas help.
NADER AL: (speaking Arabic) (Through translator) We thank our brothers in Hamas for their efforts, although we know there are limited resources for them to give us.
WESTERVELT: Hamas police officers are back on the streets, never mind that they and other government workers here have no useable or safe places to work. Ihab al-Ghusain is with the Hamas Interior Ministry, which had its building and its minister annihilated in Israeli airstrikes.
IHAB AL: Even if we don't have buildings, we have difficulties. But we didn't stop, and we're still in charge.
WESTERVELT: Hamas is also affirming that it's still in charge in other, more brutal ways.
ABDUL KAREEM: (Speaking Arabic)
WESTERVELT: Abdul Kareem says a few days into the cease-fire, Hamas security men suddenly grabbed him from behind as he entered Shifa Hospital to visit a wounded friend. The Hamas men, he says, then took him to a building under construction next to the hospital where they beat him senseless. There was no questioning or interrogation, he says, they just clobbered him until he was half-conscious.
KAREEM: (speaking Arabic) (Through translator) They hit me with their hands. They beat me with pieces of metal and thick, wooden rods. They beat me up and hadn't asked me any questions. I asked them, why are you beating me? Why am I here? And every time I started to talk, they just said, shut your mouth, don't say a word, and beat me more and more.
WESTERVELT: Thirty-year-old Abdul Kareem acknowledges he was active in Fatah, Hamas's bitter political opponent, whose members were violently run out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007. But Abdul Kareem says he has no idea why Hamas abused him, other than to intimidate and send a message to potential rivals.
KAREEM: (Speaking Arabic) (Through translator) Hamas is trying to preserve its own state, its own authority. Even during the wartime, I think that their fighters were spending more time inside Gaza trying to preserve their own rule.
WESTERVELT: He's also investigating dozens of cases of arbitrary arrests, as well as six political killings. The investigator says all attacks were carried out by Hamas militants against Fatah activists and political opponents in the last three weeks. Eric Westervelt, NPR News Gaza City.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
And now we'll hear about a controversy in the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI's decision to rehabilitate four excommunicated bishops - including a Holocaust denier - is causing dismay among Jewish leaders. And the move has also troubled many Catholics. They fear it may point to a repudiation of the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Just days before the pope revoked the excommunication of the four bishops, one of them, Richard Williamson, again denied the Holocaust.
RICHARD WILLIAMSON: The historical evidence is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler.
POGGIOLI: When his interview began circulating on the Internet, the Vatican was quick to try to dampen the controversy.
FEDERICO LOMBARDI: (Italian spoken)
POGGIOLI: And the official daily L'Osservatore Romano stressed that the pope deplores all forms of anti-Semitism. But for many Jewish leaders, efforts to distance the Vatican from Williamson's revisionist views sounded hollow. Rabbi David Rosen, the director of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, said that without Williamson's full recantation and apology, the Catholic-Jewish dialogue is in jeopardy.
DAVID ROSEN: It raises a question mark indeed on the Catholic Church's own commitment to combat anti-Semitism, which John Paul II described as a sin against God and man. I mean, if an individual is a Holocaust denier, which is a blatant anti-Semitic position, then how do you accept an individual as a bishop if it's in complete conflict with your official teaching?
POGGIOLI: The four bishops were excommunicated in 1988 by Pope John Paul II. They are members of the Society of St. Pius X, which was founded in opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, such as the dialogue with Jews and religious freedom. Pope Benedict has always made clear he wanted to end this schism. But his decision is causing great anxiety inside the Catholic Church. Alberto Melloni, director of the Pope John XXIII Foundation, is dumbfounded by Benedict's decision.
ALBERTO MELLONI: (Through Translator) It undermines the Catholic Church's credibility. It legitimizes a faction whose tenets include anti-Semitism. These ultraconservatives still uphold the idea that the Jews killed Jesus, an infamy rejected by the Second Vatican Council. Their rehabilitation makes it optional to adhere to Vatican II reforms.
POGGIOLI: In Germany, the head of the National Bishops' Conference, Matthias Kopp, said Williamson's statements are unacceptable because they are in total contradiction with the teachings of the Catholic Church. One of the most critical voices is that of Swiss theologian Hans Kung. Kung was disciplined during the papacy of John Paul II. Kung claims Pope Benedict is gradually sapping the essential substance out of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
HANS KUNG: He has an idea of the liturgy, for instance, which is much more similar to the liturgy of the Middle Ages, of the anti-Reformation time. He tries to interpret the council not forward, for having a popular liturgy, with new elements. He uses Vatican II just as a text to go backwards.
POGGIOLI: This is not what Kung had expected when a few months after he became pope, Benedict invited him to the papal summer residence. Their talks lasted four hours. But Kung says his hopes for change at the Vatican were dashed. This is a pope, Kung says, who has lost touch with his flock.
KUNG: It's just Potemkin church, with a nice facade. But behind, there is a great deal of complaints that this pope has done nothing to help them in the parishes. We have less and less priests. Every year we lose hundreds of priests. And I think the celibate clergy is just dying.
POGGIOLI: Pope Benedict's rigid stance on what Catholics call life issues - from abortion to embryonic stem cell research to euthanasia - has already earned him the title "Father No." And many faithful believe the church of Benedict cares more about Christian unity with conservatives than seeking dialogue with progressive Catholics and other religions. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.
WERTHEIMER: In developments this morning, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel joined the fray. The death camp survivor told Reuters that rehabilitating the bishop gives credence to, quote, the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism. And the pope also issued a statement affirming his, quote, "full and unquestionable solidarity with Jews."
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
A Senate committee last night gave the green light to some $31 billion intended to encourage green energy development. The spending would come in the form of incentives in tax credits as part of President Obama's economic stimulus plan. One man who stands to benefit is Ray Lane. He is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist. Lane says it's especially important for alternative energy to get a government boost right now.
RAY LANE: Because of the economic decline across the world, the tax equity financing and project financing and even later-stage equity financing has dried up. So we have hundreds of wind projects and hundreds of solar projects and tens of transportation projects that will go abandoned if they do not get capital. The only source of that capital today is going to be some help from the federal government.
WERTHEIMER: In the form of what?
LANE: Loan guarantees would be first. Second would be tax incentives. And then finally there are outright grants.
WERTHEIMER: Do you have any concerns that given the fact that the federal government has had such a hard time persuading credit markets to thaw out enough to do anything, that they'd be willing to this, even presented with incentive?
LANE: Well, I don't think we have a choice. The whole renewable energy field has the possibility of fulfilling exactly what President Obama wants, and that is to solve multiple problems with a single solution. This will help to burn less foreign oil. It of course helps the environment. And it will create new jobs.
WERTHEIMER: Now, President Obama clearly believes that this - combining these goals works. What do you think?
LANE: I absolutely believe it. I have companies that I'm affiliated with - a solar thermal company that is ready to build projects that are 200, 300, 500 megawatts in size, which create thousands of jobs, that will create enormous amounts of energy. I have a car company that is developing a fuel-efficient vehicle that is over 50 miles per gallon and is very, very economical for consumers and can be purchased anywhere. These two projects will he haltered without getting capital.
WERTHEIMER: Now, one of the things that has always stood in the way of creating alternative energy sources is that the kinds of energy sources we use now are cheap.
LANE: Correct. The prices at which we sell electric cars or the prices at which we provide renewal energy from solar or wind must be competitive with current fossil fuel prices. Now, there may be some incentives that help it, but it must compete. Consumers typically will not pay a premium just to go green.
WERTHEIMER: So, enough money has to be invested at the front end to create the economies of scale, to make price possible?
LANE: That's exactly right. And so we'll see legislation in the next couple of years to price up burning carbon. So oil and coal will be more expensive. So solar, wind, electric cars will come down and compete favorably with coal and oil prices that will be priced up because they are soiling the environment.
WERTHEIMER: Ray Lane, thank you very much.
LANE: Pleasure talking to you.
WERTHEIMER: Ray Lane is a managing partner with the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlow Park, California.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Throughout his campaign, during his transition to the presidency, and now in his first week in office, President Barack Obama has talked about changing the partisan tone in Washington. With that in mind, he went to the Capitol yesterday and met with House and Senate Republicans to make his pitch and to hear their ideas. Mr. Obama also saw firsthand just how difficult winning Republican votes will be. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
DON GONYEA: President Obama did something unheard of yesterday. He made his first trip to Congress as president and met only with the opposition party. He was looking for votes on the economic stimulus from a reluctant GOP, but he was also sending a message to the American people that he is ready to work with Republicans and that he wants their help dealing with the current crisis.
BARACK OBAMA: The main message I have is that the statistics every day underscore the urgency of the economic situation. The American people expect action.
GONYEA: Then came the pitch for cooperation despite what he called some legitimate philosophical differences.
OBAMA: I don't expect 100 percent agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I do hope that we can all put politics aside and do the American people's business right now.
GONYEA: But so far there appears to be little common ground on the stimulus. There were no Republican votes in the House committee that reported the bill to the floor. Republicans say that it's too costly and that it won't create the promised jobs. House Minority Leader John Boehner yesterday called on his Republican colleagues to vote against the stimulus proposal even before the president arrived on the Hill for the session with GOP House members. Later, Boehner was joined at a news conference by Indiana Representative Mike Pence, who began with kind words.
MIKE PENCE: And we take as genuine the president's desire to set partisan differences aside and draw on the best ideas in the Congress to deal with this very real crisis in our economy.
GONYEA: But Pence also made it clear that a changed tone doesn't mean changed minds.
PENCE: But as grateful as we are for the president's spirit, as I told him personally, House Democrats have completely ignored the president's call for bipartisan cooperation.
GONYEA: Democrats counter that Republicans lost control of the Congress two years ago and lost even more seats last November. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
NANCY PELOSI: So bipartisanship means giving them an opportunity to make their voices heard and maybe to persuade and prevail in the marketplace of ideas. It does not mean that we are going to have a continuation of the last eight years of failed economic policies that have taken us where we are today.
GONYEA: House Democrats have the votes to pass the stimulus package today. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president will take any Republican votes he can get, and he stressed numerous times how cordial yesterday's meetings were.
ROBERT GIBBS: The American people deserve a process that understands the severity of the crisis that they're involved in, not to get involved in some animal house type food fight on Capitol Hill about what's going to happen up there.
GONYEA: Congressional Republicans seem to have made the calculation that this is the president's bill. Let him pass it with Democratic votes, and he'll take the heat if it doesn't work. There is risk. Mr. Obama is hugely popular. And to rebuff his friendly overtures could backfire. So for now, there is a more civil tone in Congress, but little else appears to have changed one week into the Obama presidency. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
NPR's business news starts with men, women, and health insurance.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against California state insurance regulators yesterday. The suit claims the state allows insurance companies to discriminate against women by charging them more for health insurance. This applies to individual insurance, not group policies. The lawsuit says California women pay up to 39 percent more for their policies compared to men. The Los Angeles Times says only 10 states outlaw this common industry practice. It's called gender rating. The industry defends the higher insurance prices for women. It says statistics show women tend to be more accident prone than men, more likely to get sick, and younger women in particular make more visits to the doctor.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
Insurance company State Farm has told Florida officials that it is going to stop selling property insurance in that state. The move could leave more than a million customers looking for a policy. From Miami, NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN: State Farm says during 2008, it saw its surpluses in Florida reduced by $201 million. And that was in a year when no major hurricanes hit the Sunshine State. To help rebuild the surplus, State Farm asked Florida regulators for a 47 percent rate increase. That request was denied. Yesterday top company officials met with regulators in Tallahassee to inform them State Farm was pulling out of the Florida residential market. Ed Domansky of the Office of Insurance Regulation says consumers will have lots of options. In the last two years, he says, 30 new insurance companies have been licensed to write homeowner policies in Florida.
ED DOMANSKY: With the new companies that have come into the state of Florida in recent years, there will be adequate opportunity for State Farm customers who may lose their State Farm coverage to find a new insurer.
ALLEN: The state now has 90 days to review State Farm's request to pull out of the market. After that, the company is required to give customers at least six months notice if their policies won't be renewed. State Farm says its decision will only affect property insurance policies, not it's nearly three million auto insurance customers or those with life and health insurance coverage. When asked about State Farm's announcement yesterday, Florida's governor, Charlie Crist, was anything but conciliatory, saying, quote, "Floridians will be better off without them." Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Believe it or not, it is still possible to buy a house with no money down. A small but growing number of homebuyers are turning to an obscure home loan program backed by the U.S. government. From member station KJZZ in Phoenix, Rene Gutel reports.
RENE GUTEL: When Trevor and Jessica Fuller(ph) got married, they moved in with Trevor's parents in Phoenix. It was supposed to be only temporary, but then they had a baby and one thing led to another, and soon enough four years go by, and Jessica says they were still living with the in-laws.
JESSICA FULLER: Three of us and a dog are pretty much crammed into an 11 by 12 bedroom, and it's hard.
GUTEL: With Trevor making $34,000 a year selling air conditioning parts, buying a house was out of the question. Until one day Trevor heard something about a government-backed loan program that would allow him to buy a house with no down payment.
TREVOR FULLER: I was suspicious about it, and I didn't think it was true, but my parents kept bugging me, just call, give him a call, see what he says. So I gave him a call.
GUTEL: The man he called was Mike Mets(ph), a Scottsdale mortgage banker. Mets ran Fuller's credit history and a few other numbers and then told him he likely qualified for what's called a rural development guaranteed loan, backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
MIKE METS: If you had a good job and decent credit, maybe 300 bucks in the bank, you can own a home. You can get the keys to a house.
GUTEL: The program was created in 1991 to give low-income families like the Fullers the opportunity to own a house. To qualify, you can't earn more than 115 percent of the average income in your county. The catch, if you want to call it a catch, is that the home has to be in what the USDA considers a rural area - by their definition, a town with a population of less than 25,000. And in Greater Phoenix, many of the suburbs qualify, and that's how the Fullers ended up buying a three-bedroom, two-bath house in Buckeye.
FULLER: Want to play with your plates and bowls?
GUTEL: Trevor and Jessica Fuller's 3-year-old daughter Elizabeth(ph) is playing with a Pink Princess tea set in her new bedroom. They got the house for $100,000. Three years ago, this same house sold for 188,000. Trevor is thrilled.
FULLER: Knowing that I have - right now I have a stable job, and I'm able to afford this house just on my salary alone makes me feel pretty proud about it, you know.
GUTEL: While the mortgage industry has been tanking, there's been an explosion of interest in this USDA program. Bush appointee Russell Davis is the department's outgoing program administrator.
RUSSELL DAVIS: Historically we do, say, 35,000 loans a year, and last year we did double that. And this year we'll have even much greater demand. We will have hit our legal ceiling.
GUTEL: While the USDA program is growing by leaps and bounds, not many people have heard of it. Guy Cecala has. He's the publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry newsletter. He says the program is small enough that the risk to the federal government is tiny, but Cecala does have a few concerns.
GUY CECALA: We're still in a housing market where prices are declining. And if that is the case, does it make sense to be putting people in homes with no down payments, effectively making them underwater or upside down on their mortgage from day one?
GUTEL: The USDA contends that it's in the business of backing good, old-fashioned loans based on income, not risky loans based on inflated housing prices. Meanwhile, with the program poised to hit its ceiling before the year is out, there's talk of expanding it beyond its current annual cap by several billion dollars. For NPR News, I'm Rene Gutel.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
Our last word in business today is recession solidarity. Like many restaurants, Mr. B's Pancake House in Muskegon, Michigan, is struggling with fewer customers. Last week, one of the cooks suggested everyone work a day for free. So on a recent Sunday, 17 employees, about half the staff, worked without pay. They saved the restaurant $700 in wages, and the deed did not go unrewarded. Patrons found out what was going on and left $800 in tips. That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
The newly appointed Middle East Envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel today. His orders from President Obama are to listen to both Israelis and Palestinians while Gaza teeters on the edge of renewed fighting. The assignment is daunting, because the fractures between and within the two societies are deeper than ever. NPR's Anne Garrels has more from Jerusalem.
ANNE GARRELS: Eight years later, each side accuses the other of failing to fulfill their pledges. Yaron Ezrahi welcomes an invigorated U.S. diplomatic effort. A political scientist at Hebrew University, Ezrahi says a lack of attention has allowed extremists on both sides to flourish at the expense of moderates.
MONTAGNE: What we have here is a Hamas movement, on the one hand, totally uncompromising. On the other hand, we have the settlers, it's lead by a messianic religious movement. They are really trying to impose on the region a completely different concept of order and statehood of the kind that cannot actually allow this place to be stabilized.
GARRELS: Ezrahi thinks Mitchell is the right man to deal with this. His appointment also gets the approval of many Palestinians in the West Bank. Ghassan Khatib is an independent Palestinian analyst at Birzeit University in Ramallah.
MONTAGNE: Things deteriorated mainly because of the absence of any American and international diplomacy.
GARRELS: Mitchell will find a moderate-lead government in the West Bank much weakened. Khatib blames Israel for undercutting the Palestinian Authority by not responding to its efforts to improve security. Instead, he says, Israel has continued to humiliate Palestinians in the West Bank by expanding settlements and checkpoints, making life more and more difficult.
MONTAGNE: The PA was weakened intentionally as a result of the failure of the peace process, which the PA has gambled on.
GARRELS: Gerald Steinberg, chairman of the political science department at Bar Ilan University, says Mitchell got it all wrong in 2001. He says most Palestinians don't accept Israel's right to exist, whatever they say on paper. He refuses to accept the argument that by continuing the settlements, or continuing the blockade on Gaza, Israel bears responsibility for the growth of Hamas and the weakening of Palestinian moderates.
P: There is no Israel presence, and there has not been an Israeli presence in Gaza since August of 2005. That certainly didn't decrease the level of violence, hatred and incitement. On the contrary, it became much worse. So those types of connections, like settlements lead to conflict, an end of settlements will lead to peace, there's no evidence for that.
GARRELS: Mitchell's first visit here is more a gesture of intent than the beginning of a far-reaching peace initiative. His first task will be cementing the fragile truce in Gaza. Israelis want to know what concrete steps Egypt's going to take to stop Hamas from smuggling weapons. Palestinians, in turn, want an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza. Michael Oren is an Israeli historian, who's currently a visiting scholar at Georgetown University.
P: The approach in the Bush administration was to focus on the West Bank and just ignore Gaza. And if anything that the recent crisis has proven to all sides, is that they can no longer ignore Gaza. It won't go away.
GARRELS: Oren says, even if there were to be progress between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank, another explosion in Gaza could stop any peace process in its tracks. Anne Garrels, NPR News, Jerusalem.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
The Federal Reserve is meeting today to ponder the deteriorating U.S. economy and what, if anything, it can do to help out. To find out what they may be considering, we turn to David Wessel. He's the economics editor of the Wall Street Journal and a frequent guest on our program. Good morning, David.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
WERTHEIMER: Now, later this week, the government is going to reveal just how bad it is, or at least how bad it was in the last three months of 2008. We're talking about the upcoming report on the Gross Domestic Product, which is presumably one of the biggest economic indicators we have. What do you think it's going to say?
WESSEL: Well, analysts are expecting that on Friday, the government will report that the economy contracted at a five percent annual rate in the fourth quarter. That comes after a small decline in the third quarter, and what's expected to be another big decline in the current quarter.
WERTHEIMER: Explain the disastrous figure, the five percent, contracts at the rate of - what does that mean?
WESSEL: What it means is that, if you look at how much the economy shrank between the third quarter and the fourth quarter, and you come up with a number, then what the government does is say, if that rate of decline continued for a whole year, the GDP would be 5 percent smaller. The country produces about $3.5 trillion of goods and services every quarter, and what this decline means is that in the fourth quarter, the economy produced roughly $40 billion less stuff than it did the quarter before.
WERTHEIMER: Are there any encouraging signs out there?
WESSEL: Well, there are not very many, but there are some. You know, one of the early developments in this recession was the collapse of the housing industry, and people have been waiting to see when will house prices stop falling. One favorable sign is that the inventory of unsold houses has fallen now for five months in a row, and that's kind of a precondition for house prices to stop falling, and is one of the few bright spots we see in the recent numbers.
WERTHEIMER: But does it mean that people are buying those houses, or that those houses are moving off the market because people are deciding they just simply can't sell them?
WESSEL: It means both. Clearly, some people are pulling houses off the market, but in some parts of the country, house prices have fallen so low, or foreclosed houses are being offered at such low rates, and mortgage rates have come down a little bit, that there are some signs that people are beginning to put their toe in the water and start buying houses.
WERTHEIMER: The Fed has already cut interest rates to zero. What more can they possibly do?
WESSEL: The Fed already has begun to bypass the banks and lend directly to securities markets and indirectly to make loans. It is, for instance, buying mortgage-backed securities, which is an indirect way of making mortgages, and it's about to do the same with auto loans and student loans. And one of the things on the table is to buy more long-term Treasury bonds as a way to lower those interest rates, which are very important to the economy. Their statement this afternoon will probably talk some more about that, provide a few more specifics than they did six weeks ago when they first announced this new strategy.
WERTHEIMER: Can you see their tracks anywhere? Is it doing any good?
WESSEL: Yes. You can see that mortgage rates started to come down as soon as the Fed said last year that it was going to put up to $500 billion of its money into buying mortgages on the market. They haven't spent very much of that money, maybe 10 percent of it, but mortgage rates have already started to come down, and that's one of the few signs of good news that's helping the housing industry.
WERTHEIMER: David Wessel is economics editor of the Wall Street Journal and a regular guest on Morning Edition. Thank you very much.
WESSEL: You're welcome, Linda.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Author John Updike, the relentless chronicler of postwar America, has died. In his vast body of work, Updike probed the ordinary dramas that unfold in suburban and small-town America. He described his creative process in a 1984 interview with Book Beat Radio's Don Swaim.
(SOUNDBITE OF 1984 INTERVIEW)
JOHN UPDIKE: The moment of excitement really comes before you actually sit down at all at the desk. It's when you get the idea and you feel it inside you as something wanting to be born, wanting to be said. And then you see the book more or less whole. Then you are inspired, if ever, and feel excited about it. And the rest is work of a kind.
MONTAGNE: And in John Updike's case, the rest was a lot. In addition to his many novels, he wrote more than 800 stories, essays, poems and book reviews for the New Yorker magazine. Joining us now is David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker. Good morning.
DAVID REMNICK: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: John Updike once said, "I like middles. It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules." Lovely sentiment. How did that play out in his work?
REMNICK: Well, in many ways. But I think one of the things that he was, was determinedly the chronicler of the middle of American life. He was not a writer about kings and queens, nor was he someone who, like Claude Brown or writers we have who've experienced the worst of urban life, that chronicler. He was someone whose great hero in the Rabbit novels was someone who sold used Toyotas.
MONTAGNE: And that was Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom.
REMNICK: That's right. Which is not, if you think about it, what you'd expect the hero of "Remembrance of Things Past" or "War and Peace" to be. But he was very much of the middle, as you...
MONTAGNE: This car salesman, at the center - you know, but also a high school sports hero - what did he get from him that spoke to that world, that suburban, small-town world?
REMNICK: Well, Julian Barnes is a wonderful novelist himself and an admirer of John's. Described coming to America for a book tour, you know, lots of time on his hands, lots of time on planes and trains. And in London, he bought the first Rabbit novel, and as he criss-crossed the country, he read all of them. And he realized that he just saw so much of American life, whether it's just the small sadnesses of, as you say, the high school athlete who suddenly realizes that his glories are all behind him, or the transactions between husband and wife and wife and husband, and parent and child. Infidelities...
MONTAGNE: And betrayals, yeah.
REMNICK: Everything, everything of American life is in that quartet of novels. And I should say, as an editor of the New Yorker, and somebody who grew up as a kid reading him, a really young kid reading him, at first, to be the manager of this - to be privileged to be the manager of this thing is suddenly like having Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio leave - although he was a great Red Sox fan.
MONTAGNE: although for you too, you knew him. What does it mean - what is your thought, just in the few seconds we have?
REMNICK: I'm bereft. The entire magazine is - feels that way. He meant everything to us. You know, the historical accounts of the magazine have Thurber and E.B. White as these big, large, mythological figures at the beginning of the magazine. He meant everything to the magazine, not for three or four or five years, but for half a century, and with an intensity and a level that's just impossible to imagine, and certainly impossible to replace.
MONTAGNE: David, thanks very much.
REMNICK: Sure.
MONTAGNE: David Remnick is editor-in-chief of the New Yorker, remembering author John Updike, who died yesterday at the age of 76.
LINDA WERTHEIMER: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is boycotting his impeachment trial, choosing instead to defend himself in national media interviews. But his voice still echoed through the Illinois State Senate chamber yesterday. That's where the prosecutor played tapes of the governor's conversations that were secretly recorded by FBI wiretaps. NPR's David Schaper has this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF RECORDED TELEPHONE CONVERSATION)
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Hey.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH: Hey. How you doing?
BLAGOJEVICH: Good.
DAVID SCHAPER: Chances are, many phone conversations between Governor Rod Blagojevich and his brother Rob started this way. But federal prosecutors say this call was all about money. Brother Rob is chairman of Blagojevich's campaign fund. And prosecutors allege Rob is telling the governor about the status of a hefty campaign contribution they want from the owner of a couple of Illinois horse racing tracks.
(SOUNDBITE OF RECORDED TELEPHONE CONVERSATION)
BLAGOJEVICH: He's going to give you, you know, he didn't get it, but he's, you know - I'm good for it, I got to just decide what - what accounts to get it out of, and Lon's going to talk to you about some sensitivities legislatively tonight when he sees you, with regard to timing of all of this.
BLAGOJEVICH: Right, before the end of the year though, right?
BLAGOJEVICH: Oh, yeah, yeah.
SCHAPER: This call was record in mid-November. Prosecutors contend Governor Blagojevich was in a rush to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaign fund before new campaign finance restrictions went into affect January 1st. It's a point they say Blagojevich emphasizes again in the call.
(SOUNDBITE OF RECORDED TELEPHONE CONVERSATION)
BLAGOJEVICH: So, but clearly before the end of the year, right?
BLAGOJEVICH: Yeah, yeah.
SCHAPER: The criminal charges against the governor allege he was extorting this campaign contribution by refusing to sign legislation that would benefit the horse racing industry until he received the donation from the race track owner. In conversations with a lobbyist identified as Lon Monk, Blagojevich's former chief of staff, Monk calls Blagojevich to tell him he just met with the race track owner to remind him of his commitment to the governor. The next day, Blagojevich is asking whether he should give the race track owner a call. Monk responds, quote, "It might be better if you do, from a pressure point of view."
(SOUNDBITE OF RECORDED TELEPHONE CONVERSATION)
BLAGOJEVICH: I'll call him and say, yeah, and we want to do an event downstate. We want to do it, and we hope to do this so we can get together start picking some things to do to get the bill signed.
SCHAPER: Moments later, the lobbyist adds this.
(SOUNDBITE OF RECORDED TELEPHONE CONVERSATION)
LON MONK: I'm telling you he's going to be good for it. I got the state.
SCHAPER: Blagojevich responds, "Good." Prior to the tapes being played, FBI agent Daniel Cain, who oversaw the wiretapping of Governor Blagojevich, testified the voice and the words are that of Blagojevich. Cain also testified that other comments attributed to Blagojevich are accurate, too. Such as when he allegedly called the Senate seat vacated by President Obama "a bleeping valuable thing." In continuing his blitz of media interviews, Blagojevich doesn't deny making these comments, but he says the excerpts are being taken out of context. The recordings did seem to make an impression on the jury for his impeachment trial, Illinois state senators.
WERTHEIMER: I think it kind of grabs you when you hear the voice, you know. The live tape. You know, clearly, if nothing else, led to better theatre here today.
SCHAPER: But Republicans Dave Luechtefeld and Kirk Dillard and other senators say they won't offer a judgment until after they've heard all the evidence in the impeachment trial which continues today. David Schaper, NPR News in Springfield, Illinois.
LINDA WERTHEIMER: It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. President Obama was on Capitol Hill yesterday, trying to drum up Republican support for an economic stimulus package.
BARACK OBAMA: I don't expect a hundred percent agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I do hope that we can all put politics aside and do the American people's business right now.
MONTAGNE: The $825 billion plan is up for a House vote later today. Republican leaders in the House have urged members of their party to oppose the bill. Still, the president made his case at a luncheon with the Republican leadership, including our next guest. Congressman Eric Cantor, he's the Republican whip. Good morning, Congressman.
ERIC CANTOR: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now, did the president say anything yesterday that made you change your mind?
CANTOR: Well, what the president said that was very encouraging was that he had no pride of authorship in this bill. That said to us that frankly, he is open to continuing to work to try and get this stimulus right. And after all, if we're going to deliver on trying to revive this economy, a stimulus bill has got to be focused like a laser on the preservation, protection and creation of jobs.
MONTAGNE: And what, in your opinion, prevents it from doing that? Specifically, what's in the bill that you would like out?
CANTOR: Well, this is an $850 billion package, and frankly, as it works its way through Congress and gets over to the Senate, I would not doubt that it will be over a trillion by the time it's all said and done. That's a lot of money. And if we're going to go and borrow that kind of money and create a trillion dollars worth of additional deficit this year, we ought to make sure we're getting it right. And the kinds of spending that is n the bill, frankly, I'm - this is an emergency. We don't need Washington to be working the same way it always does. You've got plenty of projects that are maybe laudable in and of themselves, such as $3 billion for health and wellness prevention, such as $600 million for the purchase of additional federal fleet. These, again, may be worthy goals, but right now, we ought to be focused, again, like a laser on trying to get jobs back on track.
MONTAGNE: Well, Congressman what would you - what would you or the Republicans say would do that that is not in this bill? What would you like in it?
CANTOR: Well, first of all, we have to be very mindful of the overhang of a looming deficit that's growing by trillions of dollars a year. That's number one, because that in and of itself dampens entrepreneurial activity and investment. So being cognitive of that is number one. Number two, you know, we've got to make sure that we are stimulating investors, entrepreneurs, small business people to get back in the game. And there's only $41 million for small business expensing in this bill. That's for the real mom-and-pops, that's for the real entrepreneurs out there that are creating 70 percent of the jobs in this country. There's some terrific tax provisions in the bill. We thanked the president for working with us in getting those in, but if we want to be meaningful about what we're going to do tax-wise, we have got to be much more focused on the real job-generators in this country.
MONTAGNE: Let me ask you a political question. Now, we're talking with Congressman Eric Cantor, one of the Republican leaders in the House. You and your fellow Republicans may vote against this bill. Do you think you will pay any price, because this bill is attached to a very popular president?
CANTOR: I told the president that when I met with him on Friday. He - I would like to see him step up and work with the Democrat leaders in the House and say, look, we're all in this together. We got to stop the nonsense. I mean, people in this country are tired of the bailout mentality. I think they are turned off by spending a trillion dollars. And if they looked at what was in this bill, it does not warrant the type of support that some of the Democrat leadership in Congress feels it does.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much, Congressman.
CANTOR: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Eric Cantor of Virginia is the Republican whip in the House of Representatives. The House plans to vote today on the economic stimulus package.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The latest tell-all sports doping book went on sale this week. It's called "Bases Loaded," and it's by a real insider, a man who was once a Major League Baseball clubhouse attendant. Kirk Radomski says he spent a decade selling banned performance-enhancing drugs to nearly 300 big leaguers. One of them, he says, was all star David Justice, who's now retired. This week on ESPN Radio, Justice says Radomski is not telling the truth.
(SOUNDBITE FROM ESPN RADIO)
DAVID JUSTICE: The only reason I can think of is because he's pissed off that I called him out for the fraud and the liar that he is. And also, he's selling a book.
MONTAGNE: Kirk Radomski may be selling the latest book on doping, but the question is, who's going to buy? NPR's Tom Goldman reports.
TOM GOLDMAN: You'd figure Frank Sanchez would be licking his chops. Sanchez is the head buyer at Kepler's Books. The half-century-old independent bookstore is located in the San Francisco Bay area, which happens to be the epicenter of the Balco doping scandal. The 2006 book, "Game of Shadows" about Balco, sold big at Kepler's. Now three years later, I ask Frank Sanchez how he's preparing for the latest doping saga, Kirk Radomski's "Bases Loaded."
FRANK SANCHEZ: Not in a big quantity, couple of copies. You know, so...
GOLDMAN: You actually mean that, just two?
SANCHEZ: Oh, you know, I just mean a handful. Oh, people have just kind of thrown up their hands about the whole subject, and I really don't see people shelling out, you know, $24.95 for a book.
GOLDMAN: At least Radomski has a book. Last week, the estranged brother of former homerun champion Mark McGwire alleged that he turned brother Mark onto steroids and wanted to tell the story, but couldn't find a publisher. Gotham Books, which published "Game of Shadows," wasn't interested, partly because the company felt readers may be tired of McGwire's story. Four years after McGwire famously clammed up in front of Congress...
(SOUNDBITE OF CONGRESSIONAL HEARING)
MARK MCGWIRE: I'm not here to talk about the past.
GOLDMAN: ...when asked if he used steroids. Now, it's not just the book world that's witnessing doping fatigue in the public.
GARY WADLER: People were saying, all right, well just give me back my sports. Give me back my box scores, give me back the competition, give me back what sports is all about. And I don't want to hear about this anymore.
GOLDMAN: Anti-doping expert Dr. Gary Wadler has been dreading this phenomenon of doping fatigue for years. It not only means people are buying fewer books, but also ignoring what Wadler says are significant news stories. Like the one earlier this month that revealed 106 major league players, nearly eight percent were given medical exemptions last season so they could use banned stimulants to treat attention deficit disorder.
WADLER: Eight percent of major league baseball players seems to be so off the radar screen of probability. And all of this barely caught the attention for a millisecond of the general public.
GOLDMAN: Some simply are tired of the drug issue, says Wadler. Some believe there's been enough progress in combating the problem. And some appear to be following their leader. Right before last year's election, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were asked on ESPN's "Monday Night Football," if you could change one thing in sports, what would it be? Here's Senator McCain.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESPN'S "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL")
JOHN MCCAIN: I'd take significant action to prevent the spread and use of performance-enhancing substances.
GOLDMAN: But here's the man who won.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESPN'S "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL")
BARACK OBAMA: I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football.
GOLDMAN: Of course, the public's pulse may quicken again this spring, if a highly publicized steroids case against baseball star Barry Bonds goes to trial. Remember Barry Bonds? Tom Goldman, NPR News.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
Good morning, I'm Linda Wertheimer. The world's largest coffee chain is cutting back by cutting off decaf after lunch. Forget the half-caf, half-decaf in the afternoon unless you have extra time to wait for a special brew. Starbucks says afternoon customers want the real deal. They've been throwing out too much of the low-voltage variety. Starbucks says it's part of a plan to save $50 million a month. This is Morning Edition.
: Open an umbrella just as the turkey charges, tricking the feathered foe into believing he's facing another dominant mail. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
News out of Baghdad this morning. Iraq's government will bar the military contractor Blackwater Worldwide from providing security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq. For years Blackwater was accused of using excessive force. The firm outraged Iraqis in 2007 when its guards opened fire in traffic and allegedly killed at least 14 unarmed civilians. Several of those Blackwater guards are now awaiting trial. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro joins us from Baghdad. And Lulu, what did the Iraqis say about why they're making Blackwater leave?
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, on January 1, the new security agreement went into effect, which effectively puts all private security contractors under the jurisdiction of the government of Iraq. For the past five years, they've operated with complete immunity here. Blackwater in particular has been a target of the government of Iraq. It's acquired a reputation here for being heavy handed. And of course, as you mentioned, there was that infamous incident in 2007.
The Interior Ministry spokesman, Abdul-Karim Khalaf, told us that Blackwater's license to operate here has been suspended because of that particular incident and others. He said there were - that Blackwater was no longer welcome in this country. Now, it's not clear how long the Iraqis are going to give the U.S. Embassy to find another security provider. We have heard that they are giving them about six months.
MONTAGNE: If not Blackwater, who is going to protect U.S. diplomats?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Renee, there are about 70 to 80 private security firms here that operate in Iraq. The State Department alone works with three private security companies. They work with Triple Canopy, they work with Dime Corp, and they work with Blackwater. Other U.S. agencies have their own contracts with different security companies. So ostensibly that contract could be filled with another provider who already works here. They could choose to use the U.S. military. That of course carries its own attendant problems. Basically in a period where the U.S. will be drawing down, they'd have to be pulling soldiers away from stabilization missions to act as protection, so that might not be the best use of the U.S. military here.
But I think at this point what we're hearing is that all options are on the table. They're trying to figure it out. The key question is time. And if they are given six months, that might be enough time obviously to fill the role of Blackwater. But it's a very difficult process, as you can imagine - personnel, logistics, taking over such a large contract as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad because of course, as we all know, the U.S. Embassy here is the biggest U.S. Embassy in the world.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro speaking from Baghdad. Thanks very much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
If you own just one jazz album, chances are it's "Kind of Blue," by Miles Davis.
(Soundbite of song "So What")
MONTAGNE: Fifty years after its release, "Kind of Blue" is the best-selling classic jazz album of all time. It features some of the most famous names in American music - John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and of course, Miles Davis. A new box set has been released that commemorates this 50th anniversary of "Kind of Blue." Included in that set is an essay by music journalist Ashley Kahn. And Ashley chats with us on occasion about music, and he's joining us this morning. Hello.
Prof. ASHLEY KAHN (Author, "Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece"; American Music Historian; Journalist; New York University): It's great to be here, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, you say that one of the reasons the album was so successful is that it wasn't formulaic, that Miles Davis pushed his musicians outside their comfort zone.
Prof. KAHN: Absolutely. I mean, he was definitely of the mind that the music had become a little paint-by-numbers, and he wanted to force the soloists to really reach inside themselves to come up with a much more individual expression. One of the best examples of this is, you know, Miles's own solo at the very beginning of "So What."
(Soundbite of song "So What")
MONTAGNE: Now, you've argued that the solos on this album have become as famous and influential as the songs which contain them.
Prof. KAHN: It really is true. I mean, the improvisations themselves live on in the music world, and a lot of people outside of the jazz circle are known to quote these great improvisations. Another great example is the beginning of Cannonball Adderley's solo on "All Blues."
(Soundbite of song "All Blues")
Prof. KAHN: The thing about Miles in the studio was that he was so direct and so economical in the way that he kind of guided his sidemen to do what they did best. And that really is what these legends who were playing behind him in his band at the time took from their experience with Miles. We have a snippet of what Miles sounded like. Here he is working on "Freddie Freeloader" with Wynton Kelly on piano.
Unidentified Studio Technician: CO 62290 - No title, take 1.
Mr. MILES DAVIS: (Trumpeter; Bandleader; Composer): Hey, Wyn, after Cannonball you play again, and then we'll come in and end it.
(Soundbite of song "Freddie Freeloader")
Mr. DAVIS: It's too fast.
Unidentified Studio Technician: Here we go. Ready? Number 2.
(Soundbite of song "Freddie Freeloader")
MONTAGNE: There again, Miles Davis in a recording session talking to Wynton Kelly. And what did the musicians on the album have to say about working with Miles?
Prof. KAHN: Well, there's an interview from 1972 that Cannonball Adderley did with a deejay, Jack Winter in Denver, where he talks about what it was like working with Miles in the studio.
Mr. JULIAN EDWIN "CANNONBALL" ADDERLEY (Saxophonist): The band was a workshop. Miles really kind of talked to everybody and told everybody what to not do. Not so much what to do.
Mr. JACK WINTER (Deejay): Mm-hmm.
Mr. ADDERLEY: And I heard him and done it. Up to that point, I've never played so well.
(Soundbite of saxophone)
MONTAGNE: I would think working with Miles Davis would be a little bit scary, if you will, certainly challenging. But the album itself sounds relaxed.
Prof. KAHN: It certainly was in the studio. And Miles could be stern if you weren't delivering the stuff that he wanted to hear. But if he heard what he wanted - I mean, he was known for going up to musicians and kissing them on the ear.
(Soundbite of laughter)
(Soundbite of song "Freddie Freeloader")
MONTAGNE: Now, Miles Davis got some of his ideas for "Kind of Blue" from classical music. How did he weave that into this album?
Prof. KAHN: It has to do with basically trying to find new harmonic territory to solo over and the idea of static harmony, staying with one scale or one mode. Hence the term modal jazz, which is used to describe the music on "Kind of Blue." One of the best examples of modal jazz to this day is "Flamenco Sketches."
(Soundbite of song "Flamenco Sketches")
MONTAGNE: That is really something. ..TEXT: Prof. KAHN: That's John Coltrane.
MONTAGNE: Miles Davis was famous for not doing the same thing over again, constantly changing styles. What did he say about "Kind of Blue" as his own career evolved?
Prof. KAHN: For about 10 years, he kept certain tunes from "Kind of Blue" in his songbook, you know, performing them live. But by the end of the '60s, he was definitely moving on. Here's Miles Davis talking with NPR's Ben Sidran in 1986 regarding "Kind of Blue."
Mr. DAVIS: Those songs to me don't exist. They were done in that era, the right hour, the right day and it happened, it's over. You know, people ask me, why don't you play this? Go buy the record. It's selfish, I know, but I'd just want to be dead if I couldn't create.
(Soundbite of song "All Blues")
MONTAGNE: Ashley Kahn, thank you very much. We're talking, of course, about the album "Kind of Blue," which came out 50 years ago. Ashley Kahn is the author of the book "Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece." He also contributed to the album's 50th anniversary box set. And it's been a pleasure having you.
Prof. KAHN: It's been fun. Thanks, Renee.
(Soundbite of song "All Blues")
MONTAGNE: For an essay on the making of "Kind of Blue," go to npr.org. And this is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
(Soundbite of song "All Blues")
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. This morning in "Your Health," a cancer that's become increasingly common, but is not as deadly as it used to be. We'll get to that story in a few minutes. First we'll hear something new about how the brain handles memories. In the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, people often remember events from childhood with perfect clarity, but they may have trouble recalling what happened yesterday. A new study explains why this happens. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports.
JON HAMILTON: Recent memories depend on a structure deep in the brain called the hippocampus. Scientists know that from studying people like Clive Wearing, a British musician. More than two decades ago, Wearing's life changed forever when a brain infection caused severe damage to his hippocampus. In this scene from a BBC documentary, Wearing and his wife, Deborah, are having a pretty typical conversation.
(Soundbite of BBC documentary)
Ms. DEBORAH WEARING: I'm going to see your kids tomorrow.
Mr. CLIVE WEARING (British Musicologist; Conductor; Keyboardist): You're going to see my kids?
Ms. WEARING: Yeah, your children.
Mr. WEARING: What are they up to now?
Ms. WEARING: Do you know what they're up to now?
Mr. WEARING: No, no, no.
Ms. WEARING: Guess what you think they're up to.
Mr. WEARING: No idea. Couldn't guess.
HAMILTON: Even though his wife told him just a few minutes earlier. Studies of people like Clive Wearing have made it pretty clear that the hippocampus plays a critical role in storing new memories and retrieving recent ones. Larry Squire, a researcher at UC San Diego says that fits in with what's known about Alzheimer's.
Dr. LARRY SQUIRE (Professor of Psychiatry, Neurosciences, and Psychology, University of California, San Diego): The reason that Alzheimer's disease begins with memory problems typically is because the areas that are damaged early in the disease are exactly these areas that we've been speaking about.
HAMILTON: But it's been less clear why older memories stay intact for longer. So Squire's scanned the brains of 15 healthy people in their 50s and 60s. He watched their brains as they tried to answer questions about news events from the past 30 years. Questions like...
Dr. SQUIRE: Where did a large airline accident take place involving two 747s? Things like that, where people might only be correct 60 or 70 percent of the time.
HAMILTON: That airline disaster took place in the Canary Islands in 1977. But Squire says the study wasn't about getting the right answers, it was about seeing which parts of the brain became active when people tried to retrieve memories from different time periods.
Dr. SQUIRE: And what we found was that the hippocampus was most active when subjects were recalling memories about news events that occurred just a year or two earlier. And the hippocampus became less active as subjects recalled memories that were five years and 10 years old.
HAMILTON: And even less active for stuff that happened before that. So, if the hippocampus wasn't involved in retrieving these old memories, what part of the brain was? The study offers some clues. It found that old memories trigger a lot of activity in the cerebral cortex, the surface layer of the brain. Squire says this observation could help explain one of the brain's most impressive feats.
Dr. SQUIRE: Events can be learned in an instant and still last for a lifetime.
HAMILTON: Because the brain gradually archives important information into protected storage sites. The new research published in The Journal of Neuroscience is generating a lot of talk among scientists.
Dr. RUSSELL A. POLDRACK (Professor of Psychology, UCLA): It's pretty compelling evidence.
HAMILTON: Russell Poldrack is a professor of psychology at UCLA.
Dr. POLDRACK: It's the clearest study to demonstrate, you know, what happens to memories as they get older.
HAMILTON: Poldrack says Squire's work seems to confirm not only work involving patients with brain damage, but also an observation about dementia made more than 200 years ago.
Dr. POLDRACK: The idea that older memories are more likely to survive actually is called Ribot's law. And Ribot was a 19th century scientist in Europe.
HAMILTON: Back then, most people didn't live long enough to get Alzheimer's disease. Now that they do, there's a compelling reason to understand why some memories persist and others slip away. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Let's turn now to one of the most dramatic success stories in cancer care. It involves multiple myeloma. This bone marrow cancer used to be one of the deadliest forms of the disease. As NPR's Richard Knox reports, that's changed.
RICHARD KNOX: Hardy Jones is a documentary filmmaker and a recreational surfer. He knew something was wrong when he lost his usual energy.
Mr. HARDY JONES (Documentary Filmmaker): I just couldn't get that stoked feeling, no matter what I did. I was just always dragging. And to get off the beach, I had to carry my surfboard and wetsuit and stuff up a fairly steep hill, and I just started to have these heart palpitations.
KNOX: His doctor did some tests. He mentioned that among other things it might be cancer. While Jones waited for the results, he started reading up on the possibilities. Some of them were scary.
Mr. JONES: I had vowed that I would go in there and no matter what the diagnosis was, I'd be cool. And when the doctor said, well, its multiple myeloma, I said, oh, my God.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. JONES: I totally cracked. I wasn't cool. But he said, stop it, stop it. This is not a death sentence.
KNOX: Not any more. Jones, who was almost 60 when he got the diagnosis, got it at the right time, just when new drugs were turning the tide against multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma is a painful cancer of the bone marrow. It weakens bones so much that patients can break a bone just stepping off a curb. Now there are easy-to-take drugs that keep myeloma at bay for years.
Dr. KEN ANDERSON (Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston): Everybody responds, and the majority have a very significant response. So it's clearly a new day in myeloma.
KNOX: That's Dr. Ken Anderson of Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He says the big breakthrough came a decade ago. The late Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard suggested that doctors try treating myeloma with thalidomide. You may have heard of it. Thalidomide caused an epidemic of birth defects when doctors prescribed it to pregnant women 50 years ago. Hardy Jones' doctor put him on thalidomide, which is now considered safe when used in the right patients. That was five and a half years ago. He's still doing well. Successes like this touched off an explosion of drugs effective against myeloma, some related to thalidomide, others that work in a different way.
Dr. ANDERSON: The excitement here is that we have six new treatment options that we didn't have only five years ago. And we have three additional treatment strategies that are in the last stages, so-called phase three clinical trials, that likely will create additional options.
KNOX: Having drugs to mix and match gives myeloma patients hope of remissions even after they relapse. This is unusual in cancer treatment.
Dr. ANDERSON: It really offers for us opportunity to treat patients even when their myeloma has come back not once, but perhaps even many times.
KNOX: Doctors can't yet cure myeloma, but they're turning it into a disease that patients can live with for many years. Meanwhile, researchers are about to launch an international study to see if the new drugs are better than bone marrow transplants, which are grueling. Officially bone marrow transplants are still the first-line treatment for myeloma, although many patients like Hardy Jones are looking at transplants as a last resort.
Dr. ANDERSON: Now, the question becomes relevant, do you actually need the transplant? That question couldn't even have been asked before.
KNOX: But the picture's not all positive. Dr. Brian Durie of the International Myeloma Foundation says more patients are being diagnosed with myeloma.
Dr. BRIAN DURIE (International Myeloma Foundation): In the United States, there are approximately 20,000 new patients diagnosed each year. The incidence used to be 12,000 new cases a year. So it's a significant upward trend.
KNOX: Other experts say the increase in numbers is from aging of the population, not from a real increase in the rate of myeloma. Durie is convinced that younger people are getting myeloma, which used to be an older person's disease, but others are skeptical. There's also debate about whether environmental toxins are causing myeloma.
Dr. DURIE: The commonest chemical that has been linked to myeloma is dioxin.
KNOX: That's why some Vietnam veterans are thought to have gotten myeloma - from exposure to Agent Orange. There's emerging evidence that civilians exposed to herbicides and pesticides do have a higher risk of myeloma. But experts say it's too soon to conclude that environmental toxins are the cause. Richard Knox, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: Many of you listened to our commentator, the late Leroy Sievers, and read his blog "My Cancer" on npr.org. This week that blog becomes an online community forum called "Our Cancer." You can join in the discussion at npr.org/ourcancer.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.
A dozen years ago, Vice President Al Gore returned from Kyoto, Japan, with a climate treaty in hand, and it was already a dead letter. The U.S. Senate, which ratifies treaties, strongly opposed the deal. Yesterday, Al Gore returned to the Senate. This time, he offered advice on how to deal with the new climate treaty that will be negotiated this year in Copenhagen. NPR's Richard Harris reports.
RICHARD HARRIS: The federal calendar is packed with pressing business this year. One of the toughest deadlines is to lay the groundwork for the international climate talks in Copenhagen. Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reminded his colleagues the new treaty will be negotiated in December of this year.
Senator JOHN KERRY (Democrat, Massachusetts): That means there is no time to waste. We must learn from the mistakes of Kyoto, and we must make Copenhagen a success.
HARRIS: To help set the tone for that, Kerry invited his old friend and colleague Al Gore in to offer the Senate advice. Gore happily obliged. First, he said, the Congress needs to settle on domestic actions that will reduce our own emissions and make us credible on the international scene. That's starting to happen with the stimulus package, and Congress has even bolder plans for later this year. But Gore also acknowledged one reason the Senate balked at ratifying the Kyoto Treaty was other major emitters in the world had no obligations to cut back themselves.
Mr. AL GORE (Environmental Activist, Former Vice President): The very fact that developing countries like Brazil and Indonesia, China, which is in its own category, have now begun to take initiatives, I think that makes it a very different situation.
HARRIS: Since Kyoto, China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. On the one hand, the rapid construction of coal-fired power plants is driving China's economic development, but Gore says some people in the Chinese government now recognize that runaway growth, if it comes with runaway climate change, could dry up their water supplies.
Mr. GORE: The great rivers of Asia, the Indus and the Ganges and the Brahmaputra and the Salween or the Irrawaddy, the Mekong, the Yangtze and the Yellow, all originate in the same ice field. And 40 percent of the population on Earth gets 50 percent or more of its drinking water from this melting pattern.
HARRIS: That ice field could be gone in 2035 as a result of climate change. That potential disaster is not going unnoticed, Gore said.
Mr. GORE: Recent statements by Chinese leaders have made it very clear that they are changing, and changing rapidly.
HARRIS: But so far, China has not promised to meet any binding limits on carbon dioxide emissions. And that was what the Senate demanded back in 1997 when the Kyoto Treaty went down to defeat. After the hearing, Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists underscored just how much the international landscape has changed since Kyoto.
Mr. ALDEN MEYER (Union of Concerned Scientists): We've seen a number of countries in the last year or so put forward very specific proposals for what they're prepared to do to reduce their emissions. We've seen that from South Africa, from Mexico, from Brazil, from other countries. And we know that China and India have analyses in the works. The question of binding is a tricky one.
HARRIS: China has been reluctant to make binding promises until the United States does. And since the U.S. wants promises from China up-front, it's a bit of a game of chicken at this point. Meyer says unfortunately, a lot of senators don't realize that developing nations are doing as much as they are.
Mr. MEYER: It surprises senators, for example, when they find out that China has in place today stronger fuel economy standards for new cars sold in China than the Congress adopted last year for the U.S. in 2020.
HARRIS: Yesterday, Al Gore started selling members of the Senate on the need to act and act fast. And while he had a very sympathetic audience at the Foreign Relations Committee, it takes 67 senators to ratify a treaty, and it's clear that there's a lot more convincing to do. Richard Harris, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It was big news last fall when California voters approved a ban on gay marriage. Today a federal judge in Sacramento faces an aftershock from that acrimonious political battle. The judge is being asked to stop the disclosure of the names of those who donated to organizations that pushed the ban. The problem is, public disclosure of who gave what is at the core of the campaign finance laws. NPR's Peter Overby reports.
PETER OVERBY: Two groups that worked for Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage initiative, were ProtectMarriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage California. They argue that their donors were targeted by Proposition 8 opponents. They say it was worst just after the election. Their court filing includes anonymous declarations from several donors. One says he made a five figure contribution. When it became public, three Facebook groups formed to boycott his stores and the stores were picketed. He says he, quote, "would not donate like this again."
The lawyer here is James Bopp. He may be the leading plaintiffs' lawyer in campaign finance cases. He says Prop. 8 opponents perpetuated vandalism, demonstrations, and even death threats against Prop. 8 donors.
Mr. JAMES BOPP (Attorney): It presents a serious issue for the kind of civil society we're going to have and whether or not democracy is going to continue to flourish.
OVERBY: Bopp is asking federal Judge Morrison England Jr. to stop the disclosure of donors who made small contributions late in the campaign. The big donors have already been disclosed.
Mr. BOPP: It's just hard to believe that anyone, if this information had been available before the election, would care that Joe Blow gave $100 to a multimillion-dollar initiative campaign.
OVERBY: Bopp also wants all of the donor lists for ProtectMarriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage California removed from government records. There's no doubt that many gay rights advocates are angry. There's an anonymous Web site that matches up the Prop. 8 donor lists with Google Maps, so you can identify the donor's house down the street and how much that donor gave. But it cuts both ways. In October, ProtectMarriage.com wrote to big donors to a gay rights group, Equality California. The letter noted their contributions and respectfully requested that the donors correct this error with a big check to ProtectMarriage. Those who didn't donate would have their names published. Geoff Kors, the director of Equality California, monitored the letters.
Mr. GEOFF KORS (Director, Equality California): It went to unions. It went to other businesses. It went to a whole variety of people. So for them now to be saying that they want to hide their donors is incredibly hypocritical.
OVERBY: The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed some exceptions to the disclosure laws if a group can show that disclosing its donors could put them at risk. But this challenge is broader - arguing that the two groups were raising money for a ballot initiative, not for candidates, and so they should be exempt from California's disclosure law. Rick Hasen teaches campaign finance law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Professor RICK HASEN (Campaign Finance Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles): There is something very disturbing about people being harassed because they've given money to a particular ballot measure. On the other hand, I think that the idea that a court would come in and strike down a longstanding statute that serves an important public purpose is unlikely.
OVERBY: Hasen also says that in California, politicians are usually involved in the initiative campaigns.
Professor HASEN: It's a well-worn tradition here. And so the idea that there's no potential for corruption of candidates or elected officials through contributions to ballot measure committees is simply incorrect as a factual matter here in California.
OVERBY: California state officials are fighting the complaint. They're scheduled to release the donor lists next Monday. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In between those economic meetings we've just heard mentioned, President Obama made his way yesterday to the Pentagon. He spoke with military leaders about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president stopped at the Pentagon days after he visited the State Department. And that sequence did not go unnoticed. Many are watching closely to gauge whether the new administration will make good on promises to return diplomacy to the forefront of American foreign policy. Here's NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
MARY LOUISE KELLY: Mr. Obama spent close to two hours in what's known as the "Tank," the conference room of the joint chiefs. Afterwards, he greeted Pentagon staffers who'd lined both sides of the hall and apologized for keeping people waiting. The president said, quote, "We kind of lost track of time." But he hadn't lost track of his message.
President BARACK OBAMA: We have for a long time put enormous pressure on our military to carry out a whole set of missions, sometimes not with the sort of strategic support and the use of all aspects of American power to make sure that they're not carrying the full load. And that's something that I spoke with the chiefs about and that I intend to change.
KELLY: And there's some evidence he means it. New Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already named envoys to the Middle East and to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they are diplomats, negotiators, not military men. That's seen as a move to distill the influence of regional military commanders.
Then there's Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who might not seem the most natural candidate to campaign for more influence for the State Department. But he has. And he acknowledges the military is involved in lots of activities that used to fall to civilian agencies.
Secretary ROBERT GATES (Defense Department): This has led to concern among many organizations about what's seen as a creeping militarization of some aspects of America's foreign policy.
KELLY: All this might seem to indicate that the days of "creeping militarization" are numbered. But the Pentagon still dwarfs the State Department and every other federal agency both in budget and manpower. Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor who's held senior posts at both the Pentagon and the State Department, puts it like this.
Professor JOSEPH NYE: (International Relations, Harvard Kennedy School): The trouble is, we have a U.S. government which is one giant and a lot of pygmies. And it's natural, then, that a president, when he needs something to be done, turns to the giant. And the giant is now saying, hey, I need some help. And maybe we ought to spend a little bit more on some of those pygmies.
KELLY: Here's some perspective on that giant. The defense budget is $515 billion a year. That's 13 times that of the State Department. Which raises the question, what would it actually take to shift resources and clout from the military to diplomats? Kori Schake, who served on President Bush's National Security Council, says it is doable and even in tough economic times.
Professor KORI SCHAKE (International Security Studies, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.): If Secretary Clinton comes into the budget meetings asking for her budget to be doubled or tripled, there will be a gasp around the room. And then people will look to see whether the president supports her.
KELLY: And if he does, she may be in luck.
Professor SCHAKE: And if he does, she will have the capacity to have people in the State Department start to envision a different horizon.
KELLY: Schake says, for too long State Department culture has been to make do with inadequate resources.
Professor SCHAKE: And if we want them to be a culture like the Defense Department that says, there's a problem, let's go fix it, we really need to give them the money, the education, the time horizon to be able to do that.
KELLY: Specifically, Schake says it will require more Foreign Service officers and more training for them - all of which costs money. But in the grand scheme, several thousand Foreign Service officers cost less than one aircraft carrier strike group. Still, there are skeptics as to whether the Obama administration can, or should, elevate diplomacy.
Mr. LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER (Former Secretary of State): This new administration's patting itself on its back about moving from military force to diplomacy is in large part a phony.
KELLY: Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. He argues that diplomacy works, but you have to back it up with military force. Eagleberger, who served under the first President Bush, worries the Obama administration will use diplomacy as an excuse for doing nothing.
Mr. EAGLEBURGER: And I would suggest to you that if in fact 10 years from now Iran has a nuclear weapon and we haven't done anything other than to diplomatically try to stop them, we will regret very much the fact that's all we did.
KELLY: For the record, President Obama has suggested a willingness to talk to Iran, but he hasn't taken the threat of military action off the table either - which brings us to the idea of "smart power," a phrase much in vogue in Washington these days. Secretary Clinton used it at her confirmation hearing. She defined smart power as using, quote, "the full range of tools" — diplomatic, economic, military, and more. The question now is, will she get the money for all the tools she wants? Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. And as expected, the House of Representatives voted last night to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the ailing U.S. economy through a combination of tax cuts and direct government spending. That vote was a victory for President Obama, but it came about without the bipartisan buy-in he was hoping for. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the economic stimulus package. But the White House says there's still time to bring GOP votes onboard. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: President Obama said in a statement last night he's grateful to the House for moving the stimulus forward, but he's already looking ahead to the next round. Mr. Obama hosted a cocktail party at the White House for top Democratic and Republican lawmakers. A spokesman says the president looks forward to building a working relationship, adding there's room to change the stimulus as it makes its way through the Senate. The president is also working to build public support for the measure. He met yesterday with about a dozen chief executives - most of them from high-tech companies like Google, Xerox, and IBM.
President BARACK OBAMA: These are people who make things, who hire people. They are on the frontlines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now.
HORSLEY: The president called it a "sober meeting" in a week in which big companies have announced more than 80,000 job cuts. Honeywell Chairman David Cote said afterwards the economic outlook is dire.
Mr. DAVID COTE (Chairman, Honeywell): No company is immune. Even if you feel you're going to do fine weathering the downturn, you have to think about your customers and your suppliers. The demand just isn't there and there's incredible fear. Everybody's just so concerned about what's going to happen next that things are just locking up.
HORSLEY: The stimulus package is designed to help unlock the economy. And Mr. Obama has spent much of his short time in office trying to build bipartisan support for the measure. He hopes to be able to sign the bill within the next few weeks.
President OBAMA: The workers who are returning home to tell their husbands and wives and children that they no longer have a job, and all those who live in fear that their job will be next on the cutting blocks, they need help now. They are looking to Washington for action.
HORSLEY: As they did during the campaign, the Obama team is trying to keep their focus on long-term goals and avoid momentary distractions. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs shrugged off questions about whether the president's effort to reach across the aisle had failed. His answer: the game's not over yet.
Mr. ROBERT GIBBS (White House Spokesman): There will be a vote next week. There will be votes the weeks after that until we eventually have what we think will be a bipartisan proposal to get this economy moving again. I know we all have analysis to write, but let's not stop after the third inning and tell us who won in the ninth.
HORSLEY: President Obama said in his statement last night, the government must move swiftly and boldly and not allow the same partisan differences to get in its way. Earlier he joked about how a relatively small amount of ice had paralyzed Washington and closed his daughter's school. Mr. Obama called for a little "flinty Chicago toughness."
President OBAMA: As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never cancelled.
(Soundbite of laughter)
President OBAMA: In fact, my seven-year-old pointed out that you'd go outside for recess in weather like this.
(Soundbite of laughter)
President OBAMA: You wouldn't even stay indoors.
HORSLEY: Partisan differences in the Capitol may be thawing slowly. But even as he tries to break the ice, the president has his coat buttoned up, and he's pushing forward. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
We turn now to a story involving serious charges against a CIA officer based in Algeria. He's being investigated for sexual assault against two Muslim women. The story was first reported by ABC News. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has confirmed the report and has details of the case.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON: The CIA's station chief in Algiers was summoned back to Washington for a meeting this past fall. At the meeting, CIA officials confronted him with the allegations that two women had accused him of raping them after spiking their drinks with a knockout drug. Both women, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation, say they fell ill and woke up in the CIA officer's bed. They say they didn't know how they got there.
The state department's diplomatic security service is handling the investigation. And in an affidavit, an investigator said that the CIA station chief admitted having sex with the two women, but he said that it was consensual. The state department is handling the case because the assaults took place in embassy housing.
Sources told NPR that investigators found a bottle of pills in the CIA officer's apartment in Algiers, which the FBI later tested. They found evidence of several drugs that could be used in date rape. The official said investigators also found videotapes in which the sexual encounters were recorded. The two women appeared semiconscious in the videos.
Officials have been investigating the allegations since the fall, when the first woman came forward to complain. A short time later, another woman emerged with similar charges. As station chief in Algiers, the officer worked high-profile intelligence and terrorism cases. For example, he was the CIA's top agent working with Algerian intelligence to track down al-Qaeda operatives behind a wave of bombings there, including an August 2008 incident that killed 48 people.
After being summoned to Washington, the station chief was not allowed to return to Algiers. He was relieved of his post and was suspended from the agency. He told investigators he would cooperate with their inquiry. A CIA spokesman refused to comment on the case directly, but said the agency would take seriously any allegations of impropriety. The Justice Department is preparing a criminal complaint. A grand jury could consider an indictment in a matter of weeks. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now for an update on the troubles in a country in Africa. Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since 1991. This week a powerless transitional government collapsed completely. Radical Islamist fighters overran the seat of government in the town of Baidoa. Leaders of the ousted government are now in exile in the neighboring country of Djibouti. If they want to return to Somalia, chances are they'll have to fight their way in. NPR's Gwen Thompkins reports.
GWEN THOMPKINS: The Six Eighty hotel is known throughout Nairobi as a kind of Casablanca for Somalis. This is where political exiles, intellectuals, and opportunists hang out all day, every day. Some are waiting for papers that would allow them to stay in Kenya. Others are waiting for visas to go someplace else. Most are waiting for a cup of tea.
The cafe here is decorated safari style. Animals are painted on the walls - elephants, crocodiles, zebras, a cheater, a hyena, and a lion. The predators and the prey don't face each other, their eyes never meet, but the message is clear. It's a jungle out there, and life has every potential of being brutal and surprisingly short. This seems as good a time as any to talk about Somalia's transitional federal government, which the people here call the TFG.
Mr. MUSA JAMA (Somali Textile Trader): The TFG has collapsed.
THOMPKINS: That's Musa Jama, a Somali textile trader with ties to the last president of Somalia's transitional federal government. Two years ago, then President Abdullahi Yusuf arrived in the Somali capital of Mogadishu triumphant, courtesy of the Ethiopian army. The Ethiopians had broken an Islamist movement that briefly controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia. But today nearly all of the government's territory is in the hands of radical Islamist insurgents called al-Shabab.
The Ethiopians have pulled out, Yusuf is gone, and the leaders of what remains of the government are now in Djibouti. They plan to choose a new president in the coming days. Jama says he's not optimistic. Ali Said Omar directs the Center for Peace and Democracy in south-central Somalia.
Mr. ALI SAID OMAR (Director, Center for Peace and Democracy, Somalia): I think the Somalis are all waiting what can come out from Djibouti. That's the only hope we have now. And if that fails, it's like Shabab will rule Somalia.
THOMPKINS: Ali Said Omar says he left Mogadishu for good last year when he got caught in gunfire outside a Mosque. If the insurgency has taught the world anything, he says, it's that Islamist leadership in Somalia is a sign of the times. After all, Somalia is a Muslim nation and there's been a popular Islamist movement toward a more conservative read of the Koran. Islamists credit themselves with getting the unpopular Ethiopian army to quit Somalia, and that's probably why Somalia's internationally backed government is reinventing itself.
In Djibouti, government leaders have nearly doubled the size of their parliament to include moderate Islamists. And Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is a moderate who is now favored to become the next president. But Ali says whether any moderate can lead all the disparate clans of Somalia is as yet unclear.
Mr. OMAR: Many things will depend on the first message that president releases. If it becomes a message of unity, message of hope, like Obama did in America, you know, if it becomes like that message, then everybody will say we need a government.
THOMPKINS: And yet muscling back into Somalia may prove impossible. The government has al-Shabab to contend with, a group the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaeda. But the Shabab reportedly have their own problems. There is said to be dissension in the ranks, as not all who fight say they are properly compensated. And Ali says there simply aren't enough Shabab fighters to govern all of Somalia. In most of the places they conquer, the militia leaves only a few fellows around to collect money from local businesses.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is the United Nations special representative for Somalia. Speaking recently from a nearby hotel, he said the Shabab don't know how to live in peace, but he also said there are many other groups doing battle in Somalia.
Mr. AHMEDOU OULD-ABDALLAH (United Nations Special Representative for Somalia): The violence we have now in Somalia, what violence is it? Is it political? Is it religious? Is it business? Because the conflict has been so long, it is very difficult to pin.
THOMPKINS: What's more, there's no guarantee that any group will ever take the biggest prize of all, Mogadishu. Somalia's capital is dominated by powerful clans that have their own militias. Moderate Islamists also keep fighters there. And Mogadishu's big business owners, like those who run the nation's multimillion-dollar telecommunications and money transfer industries, employ hired guns. It's a tough place. Most who have tried to take Mogadishu in the past have learned the hard way what the walls of the Six Eighty hotel in Nairobi say in animal pictures - that life has every potential of being brutal and surprisingly short. Gwen Thompkins, NPR News, Nairobi.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The decades of violence in Northern Ireland have ended, but it's still possible to stoke the anger left over from that troubled time. A new report aimed at reconciling the bloody past of this British province did the opposite yesterday. It brought protesters out into the streets. NPR's Rob Gifford reports.
ROB GIFFORD: The report was written by an independent body called The Consultative Group on the Past, and it contains many suggestions about reconciliation. But even before yesterday's unveiling, focus had all been on just one of them. The suggestion that families of all people killed during what is sometimes euphemistically known as "the troubles" in Northern Ireland, should receive a one-time payment of £12,000, about $17,000. That's regardless of which side they were on, and whether they were innocent victims or members of paramilitary groups. For some family members of victims in the violence, this was too much.
(Soundbite of arguments at protest):
Unidentified Woman: Ladies and gentlemen, please. Sir, sir we're going to have to ask for some people to be removed. We really don't want to have to do it. Where are the police?
GIFFORD: One protester held up a placard that read "The Wages of Murder is £12,000," while another displayed a poster reading "Terrorism Pays, Apparently." More than 3,000 people were killed during the three decades of civil unrest in Northern Ireland before Britain and Ireland brokered the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. The decade since then has seen faltering efforts to bring self-rule to the province, which led the way to a landmark power-sharing deal last year between former bitter opponents, some loyal to London, others wanting a united Ireland. One of the report's authors, Lord Eames, said the offer of money should not be regarded as compensation.
Lord ROBIN EAMES (Author, "The Troubles in Northern Ireland Report"): This is a recognition payment, in a sense, on behalf of the whole of society to say look, at the end of the day, when families are concerned, there is no difference - and I'm quoting directly from a Unionist politician, who spoke to us - there's no difference in a mother's tears.
GIFFORD: The authors of the report were advised by legal experts who had also advised the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa after the end of apartheid. Other recommendations in the report concerned the investigation of killings that were never solved and the provision of money for projects promoting reconciliation. But Willie Fraser of the group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives said the current plans for the financial handout were unacceptable, and that families of paramilitaries killed in Northern Ireland must at least express some remorse for what their relatives did.
Mr. WILLIE FRASER (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives Group): We believe that by accepting this money, we legitimize the use of violence. We can't do that. Now, one of the suggestions we've got here was that, if the family of perpetrators wanted to approach a commission and say that they didn't believe what their son did, or their father, or whatever, that that would entitle them to some type of redress.
GIFFORD: The British government must now decide which of the proposals to adopt and which not to. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was careful in Parliament yesterday not to say what he plans to do, but he did express his deepest sympathy for the families of innocent victims in Northern Ireland. Rob Gifford, NPR News, London.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with dithering over going digital.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: As of this morning, the deadline for the big switch to digital TV is still February 17th. That means you have less than three weeks to get ready. Democrats in the Senate have been trying to postpone the date until June. They fear millions of Americans, especially the elderly and low-income viewers, aren't prepared for the transition and will be left without a way to watch TV.
President Obama supported the idea, but yesterday House Republicans swatted it down. They said a delay would confuse customers and that it would be costly to companies to have to keep broadcasting in analogue for another four months.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Starbucks is shutting down more stores. After announcing last summer that it will close hundreds of outlets, the coffee chain now says it's shuttering 300 more and its slashing jobs. From Seattle, NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.
WENDY KAUFMAN: With quarterly profits down sharply and the economy getting weaker, Starbucks hopes to slash its costs by about $500 million this year. Speaking on a conference call, CEO Howard Schultz said employee benefits are being trimmed, expansion plans are being scaled back, operations are being streamlined, and jobs are being cut.
Mr. HOWARD SCHULTZ (CEO, Starbucks): These decisions were about the need and our management's intent to transform Starbucks into a leaner, more nimble, and more aggressive company that is prepared to act and react quickly to fast-changing market conditions and consumer behavior in the U.S. and around the world.
KAUFMAN: Most of the job cuts, about 6,000 of them, are related to retail store closings and slower expansion efforts. In addition, 700 non-retail jobs will be eliminated. In this climate, the moves are hardly surprising, and Starbucks will still have more than 11,000 outlets in the U.S. Still, marketing consultant John Moore(ph) says it's quite striking to see a company whose business model was based on growth scale back.
Mr. JOHN MOORE (Marketing Consultant): Now they are having to do business in an economy where they are seeing fewer customers coming in each day, each week. On top of that, they will have fewer locations to drive new sales.
KAUFMAN: One other thing is being scaled back. Howard Schultz asked his board of directors to cut his salary. His base pay, excluding stock options, is now $10,000, down from more than a million last year. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News, Seattle.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
If you've turned on the TV lately, you've probably noticed ads like this one.
(Soundbite of TV ad)
Mr. DENNIS HAYSBERT (Actor): 1931 was not exactly a great year to start a business, but that's when Allstate opened its doors. And through the 12 recessions since, it noticed that after the fears subside, a funny thing happens. People start enjoying the small things in life.
MONTAGNE: With the economy going south and consumers hunkering down, companies now must peddle products to people who don't want to part with their money. To find out how companies market during recessions, we reached Tim Calkins. He's a marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Welcome to the program.
Professor TIM CALKINS (Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University): Great to be here.
MONTAGNE: Now, we just heard a bit of an Allstate ad. Is this among the sort of classic pitches that a company would make during a recession?
Professor CALKINS: Well, it is absolutely something that makes a lot of sense for companies to do. And they're trying to say, of course, that, you know, even though times might be tough, the good things in life are still there, and we'll all get through this together. And you know, at Allstate we've been here for a long time, and we will be here for a long time to come, unlike some other companies, so perhaps...
MONTAGNE: Here's an ad from a company that actually went a step further.
(Soundbite of TV ad)
Unidentified Voiceover: Buy any new Hyundai, and if in the next year you lose your income, we'll let you return it. That's the Hyundai assurance. We're all in this together, and we'll all get through it together.
Professor CALKINS: The Hyundai program is very unique. This is the first time a program like this has been rolled out in the auto industry. But I think it reflects what's going on in the auto industry right now, which is that people are so hesitant to buy cars. So what Hyundai is doing is trying to reach out and connect with people and say, well, even if everything goes south, we'll still let you out of this financial obligation. I bet you'll see more offers like this coming from the automakers over the next few weeks.
MONTAGNE: Are we seeing a lot of companies trying to bond with consumers in their pain?
Professor CALKINS: You know, advertising has to connect with folks. The hard part, though, is how do you do that, because you don't want to talk about price and being cheap, because that's a very dangerous road for any company that tries to be different and unique. So the hard part is you've got to talk about value or you've got to really talk about what makes you unique.
So on the value front, for example, the diamond industry, leading into the holidays, De Beers was running a very creative campaign around diamonds where they spent a lot of money. And basically the gist of the campaign was all about fewer, better things. And they said that even though things are tough and you're feeling stretched, this is the time to get rid of all the disposable stuff and really to spend on stuff that will last and will endure, and of course go out and buy diamonds.
MONTAGNE: The biggest advertising moment of the year is almost upon us, and that of course is the Super Bowl. How do you think the recession will affect the kinds of ads that we'll see at this year's Super Bowl?
Professor CALKINS: Well, there's nothing like the Super Bowl when it comes to advertising. It really is an amazing event. It's still the case this year. But I think there's two ways the recession's going to affect the Super Bowl this year. One is in terms of simply demand for the spots. Companies are struggling a little bit more to say is this a year to step up and get on the game and invest the - what they're saying is $3 million a commercial. You know, so FedEx, one very notable advertiser, this year decided not to advertise, first time in about a decade. General Motors, not advertising in the Super Bowl, first time for about a decade.
The second thing, though, is I think the message you might see this year may be slightly different than we've seen in past years. I suspect you'll see a lot more subdued ads and maybe ads that are a little more reflective of the economy that we're in.
MONTAGNE: Tim Calkins is a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management. Thank you for joining us.
Professor CALKINS: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And our last word in business today is sex sells vegetables - or so the nonprofit organization PETA was hoping. The group, which stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wanted to broadcast its message during the Super Bowl.
(Soundbite of PETA ad)
MONTAGNE: So it came up with this ad that you're hearing that used tried and true formulas. Its steamy 30-second spot features scantily clad women holding broccoli, pumpkins, and asparagus in provocative poses. It claims vegetarians have better sex. NBC rejected the sexually explicit ad, and, naturally, that ad is now getting free play on the Internet. And perhaps that was the idea all along. That's the business news on Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Steve Inskeep is on assignment in Tehran. I'm Renee Montagne in Washington.
Eight days into Barack Obama's presidency, the House passed the massive economic recovery bill Mr. Obama called for in his inauguration speech. It totals more than $800 billion, and aims to jolt the economy with a combination of tax cuts and spending. The vote came a day after the president took the unusual step of going to Capitol Hill to woo Republicans. He did win some praise from them, but no votes. NPR's Audie Cornish reports from the Capitol.
AUDIE CORNISH: There was one point on which both sides could agree. California Republican David Dreier sums it up best.
Representative DAVID DREIR (Republican, California): Our constituents are hurting. We're all feeling the pain of this economic downturn. The question is, what action will we take?
CORNISH: To Georgia Democrat David Scott, the answer was clear.
Representative DAVID SCOTT (Democrat, Georgia): This country is looking for us to provide the kind of leadership that is needed. They don't want us to hang around the docks like little boats, they're looking for us to go way out where the big ships go. We must think big and bold. Our economy is crumbling around us.
CORNISH: Only 11 Democrats voted against the bill, which is divided one-third for tax cuts, two-thirds direct spending. The cuts include college tuition credits, expanded relief for low-income workers, and a payroll tax refund of $1,000 per eligible family. The rest of those billions go to stimulus spending. Republicans questioned whether some items were more of a Democratic wish list than an economic recovery plan. Congressman Ken Calvert of California.
Representative KEN CALVERT (Republican, California): The bill provides a mind-boggling $365 billion for labor, health and human service programs. The strategy under this bill is to throw billions of dollars in every bureaucratic direction, cross our fingers and hope for the best.
CORNISH: And it was spending of which the GOP had little or no say, said Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee.
Representative JERRY LEWIS (Republican, California): It's one thing to seek constructive input in the hopes of building bipartisan consensus on a bill as important as this package. But that clearly has not happened.
Representative PAUL RYAN (Republican, Wisconsin): We thought we were going to have bipartisanship here. That's what we were promised. None of that has occurred here.
CORNISH: That was Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan. President Barack Obama had spent days courting GOP members like him, meeting lawmakers in both the House and the Senate. Mr. Obama made concessions, such as dropping a multi-million-dollar family planning provision, widely criticized by the opposition as having little to do with job creation. But the alternative plan presented by Republicans and based on largely on tax cuts, made little headway with Democrats and their leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Representative NANCY PELOSI (Democrat, California; House Speaker): This is an initiative for the future. And some of the initiatives they have put forth are really the same policies that got us into this terrible economic crisis that we are in.
CORNISH: And Democrats lined up to defend stimulus provisions, such as the $41 billion in grants for local school districts and $32 billion to modernize the electric energy grid. House Majority Whip James Clyburn.
Representative JAMES CLYBURN (Democrat, South Carolina): Our package is balanced. It has middle-class tax-cuts. It has business tax-cuts. It has investments in our physical infrastrucutre. It is the right mix of spending and tax breaks to get America working again. This legislation is pro-growth and pro-business.
CORNISH: But not bipartisan. The measure passed 244 to 188 without a single Republican vote. President Obama issued a statement last night thanking the House for approving a plan that would create millions of jobs. He also called on the Senate, which takes up the bill next week, to overcome partisan differences. That could be a challenge. The bill that is taking shape on that side is estimated to cost even more money. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Not long after the House vote yesterday, with no Republicans in the House behind him, President Obama continued his lobbying efforts. He hosted a cocktail party at the White House for House and Senate leaders, both Democrats and Republicans. It was another attempt to rally bipartisan support for the economic stimulus package, which so far is very little in evidence. Joining us now for some analysis is NPR's Juan Williams. Good morning.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: You know, why do politicians always seem to talk about bipartisanship, but then when it comes down to it, they vote along party lines?
WILLIAMS: Well, Renee, it's a question of what's in it for me? And during campaign season, politicians want to talk to middle-of-the-road voters, and they want to be seen as willing to compromise in order to get something done in Washington and break the partisan gridlock.
But when it comes to key votes pushed by their base, the people who provide money to politicians, the organizers, the talk show hosts, then the politicians find they are going to have to rally to really satisfy hard-line principles. And in the case of the Republicans, that would be low taxes, small government, not spending to increase the size of the deficit.
So in general, the only recent example, Renee, that I can think of in terms of bipartisanship would be Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cuts. And there you had some conservative Democrats who feared his popularity and the recession. But now, we have few liberal Republicans.
Bill Clinton didn't get one Republican vote during the '93 effort, that deficit cutting bill. And even George W. Bush got little support for his tax cuts in '01. So the key thing here is there few liberal Republican votes left who fear either Obama - President Obama's popularity or the national economic crisis.
MONTAGNE: Although the parties did work together in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, and also in the vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq. I mean, is going to war the only real uniter these days in Washington?
WILLIAMS: Good point, Renee. You need fear. You need to have the politicians in fear. And the question is, what do they fear? And they fear charges of not being patriotic, as in 9/11 or war, as you were discussing. But also, in the case of not being responsive to a national emergency. And so what you're hearing from Republicans is that we really don't have that national emergency right now because of earlier efforts at stimulus packages and bailouts that haven't exactly satisfied the problem of Wall Street and the economy in general.
MONTAGNE: Now, with the stimulus bill now going to the Senate, are there changes that are likely that would get Republican votes?
WILLIAMS: Well, it's basically tax politics we're talking here. There are some big arguments about whether or not to give tax credits to low-wage workers who pay payroll taxes on Social Security and Medicare. Republicans oppose it, they see it as a welfare payment.
The Senate Democrats are also willing, though, Renee, to employ an alternative minimum tax to hold down taxes for middle-class voters. That's going to increase the size of this package up to $900 billion. That's something Senate Democrats are willing to do, something that appeals to Senate Republicans. So that could get a few more votes because, again, in the Senate, unlike the House, you have more moderate Republicans who are willing - who have that sense of fear and are willing to play ball with President Obama.
MONTAGNE: Juan, are Republicans officially declaring themselves the party of opposition?
WILLIAMS: Well, no question. You know, in the House, Renee, President Obama was up there the other day, and in discussing the lack of bipartisanship, he shook his head and said, old habits die hard. And right now what you see is on the Republican side an effort to blame Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to portray Democrats as tax-and-spend.
And they're going to go to their retreat this weekend - they're going off to a retreat - and John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, is going to feel terrifically strong. Because when he gets to Hot Springs, Virginia, he's going to be able to say, I held my troops together.
So Republicans right now are all about saying. we're back to core principles as the party of opposition. Small government, low taxes, defense spending and, of course, abortion. So, that's the key.
MONTAGNE: Well, all right, but let me just ask just briefly here, is there a risk for Republicans at a time the economy, in particular, is in crisis and people are demanding action?
WILLIAMS: Big risk, Renee. And that's what the Democrats are pushing, and President Obama - polls right now show there's about a 49 percent approval for Democrat performance in Congress. And in terms of the 2010 elections, two-to-one preference for Democrats right now among the voters.
On the other hand, the Republicans say, you know what, we are sticking with our base and we're holding to principle, and developing that voice of opposition to this popular Democratic president.
MONTAGNE: Juan, thanks so much.
WILLIAMS: You're welcome, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR News analyst Juan Williams.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
We've all watched as the Federal Reserve has tried a lot of new and unconventional tactics to get the credit markets moving again. Yesterday, Fed officials said they would go even further. The central bank said it was ready to begin buying long-term government debt from the Treasury Department. That's a way of bringing interest rates down. It's a strategy with some risks, as NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.
JIM ZARROLI: Federal Reserve officials have already lowered the short-term interest rates they control directly about as far as they go. But that has so far done little to get the economy moving. And so in recent months, the Fed has been pursuing new and sometimes untested strategies aimed at making it easier to get credit. Economist Sung Won Sohn(ph) of California State University says some of these measures are succeeding.
Mr. SUNG WON SOHN (Economist, California State University): The central bank has been buying mortgages, lowering the mortgage rates significantly to a near-record low. If it weren't for the Fed, today we would be seeing much higher mortgage rates than we see.
ZARROLI: Yesterday, after its two-day meeting, the Fed issued a statement. It said it would keep pursuing these strategies, and even expand them. But it also said it was ready to do something else as well, buy up long-term US government debt, the Treasury bonds that investors all over the world buy the billions of dollars each day. Ann Owen is a former Fed economist and an associate professor at Hamilton College.
Professor ANN OWEN (Economics, Hamilton College): I think that they're trying to throw everything at this economy that they can think of. That would suggest that simply getting the credit markets working again isn't going to be enough. That they think that additional stimulus is necessary.
ZARROLI: If the Fed does begin buying long-term government debt, it will essentially be flooding the Treasury bond market with money, and Sung Won Sohn says interest rates should fall.
Mr. SOHN: Many consumer and business lending rates are tied to the Treasury yields. When Treasury yields go up, then consumer and business loan rates go up, and then vice-versa.
ZARROLI: And, he says, with interest rates lower, it will be cheaper for businesses to operate. Consumers will have more money to spend.
There are plenty of risks, however. Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo, says the tactic amounts to monetizing government debt.
Mr. SCOTT ANDERSON (Vice President and Senior Economist, Wells Fargo): You're trading government IOUs for Federal Reserve IOUs, and that could ultimately be destabilizing for things like the dollar and U.S. inflation down the road. So I think there's a lot of reluctance in the Fed to do that.
ZARROLI: Economist Louis Crandall of Wrightson ICAP points to another potential problem. He says the Fed can flood the Treasury bond market with money by buying debt, but once it does so, it has no real control over where the money goes.
Mr. LOUIS CRANDALL (Economist, Wrightson ICAP): If you buy Treasury securities, you run the risk that the people who sell them to you will take their money to other markets around the world. There's no guarantee that they're going to reinvest in the sectors you care most about.
ZARROLI: That means foreign investors, who now hold huge amounts of U.S. government debt, could take their money back home with them, and that would rob the US economy of capital it needs to grow. But after exhausting the more traditional means of stimulating the economy, Federal Reserve officials have no choice but to venture into uncharted waters and do whatever it takes to get credit flowing again. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Iran has given its first signal in response to the Obama administration talk of engagement with that country, and it's anything but an olive branch. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, gave a speech yesterday in which he enumerated Iran's long list of grievances against the U.S. In the portion of the speech broadcast on Iranian television, Ahmadinejad gave no indication he was interested in meeting President Obama halfway. On the line with us now to talk about that from Tehran is NPR's Mike Shuster. Hello.
MIKE SHUSTER: Hi, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Off - help us out with this list of Iranian grievances.
SHUSTER: Oh, well, it was long. The Iranians have always had a long list of grievances against the United States, and they go back more than 50 years now. They start with the CIA-backed coup in 1953 that put the Shah of Iran back on the throne and kept the Shah in power for 25 years. And then they go on to complain about the fact that the United States backed Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and many, many, many Iranians died in that war. There's a smaller incident in 1988, when the United States - a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf shot down a civilian airliner and almost 300 people died.
But the funny - and these were all things that President Ahmadinejad enumerated, essentially saying to President Obama, you've got to apologize for these if you want to see improvement in relations with the United States. The funny thing about this, Renee, is that U.S. officials have in the past apologized for some of these incidents, some of these happenings.
MONTAGNE: Weren't some of those addressed, in fact, during the Clinton administration?
SHUSTER: They were. In 2000, then-Secretary of State Albright gave a speech in Washington in which she apologized for the U.S. - the CIA coup that backed the Shah. And she also said it was regrettable that the United States had backed Saddam Hussein and Iraq and the Iran-Iraq war. And in fact, the U.S. has paid compensation to those who lost relatives in the 1988 civilian airline shoot-down. So it's a little bit strange that Ahmadinejad would bring these up again and ask again for an apology. It's not clear whether he was aware of those previous so-called apologies, or whether he just wanted it out there that there are these big issues that still stand as obstacles to improved relations between Iran and the United States.
MONTAGNE: Among Iranians, though, how widespread are these sentiments?
SHUSTER: Well, it certainly feels true that those who support President Ahmadinejad, the sort of conservative side of the political spectrum here, this is their view. I've done several interviews this week in which I've heard these exact same issues brought up and spoken about in the same language.
There's also another side of the political spectrum here. There are reformers, they backed the previous president, Mohammad Khatami. They would like to see a reformer return to the presidency, the president's office in Iran. And although they begin by saying that there's not much difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to Iran policy, once they get that out of the way, they start talking about how if there was a different president in Iran, if it wasn't Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, there might be a better response to the current overtures from the White House, and there might be actual progress between Iran and the United States.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Mike Shuster in Tehran. Thanks very much.
SHUSTER: You're welcome, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep is on assignment in Iran. On Saturday, he'll report from the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini as Iran marks the 30th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution. And next week on Morning Edition, Iranians tell their stories of life in a nation long at odds with the United States.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
President Obama signed his first major piece of legislation this morning, just a short while ago. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Standing with the president and first lady at the ceremony was the woman for whom the law is named, Lilly Ledbetter. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg has the story on the events that lead to this day.
NINA TOTENBERG: Lilly Ledbetter is a diminutive blond, who at age 70 looks nothing like a crusading feminist who fought a multi-billion dollar company in the courts, then took her fight to Congress and emerged this week as the victor. Nor does this rather proper-looking Southern lady look like a woman who has spent nearly two decades in supervisory blue-collar jobs at Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Gadsden, Alabama. But she did. Her path to the White House signing ceremony today began in 1998.
Ms. LILLY LEDBETTER (Equal Rights Crusader): Someone left an anonymous - just a scratch piece of paper in my mailbox.
TOTENBERG: After 19 years as a Goodyear supervisor, she found that the 16 men who did her job all made more money. The lowest paid of them, a relative newcomer, earned $6,000 a year more than Ledbetter.
Ms. LEDBETTER: I discussed it with my husband first, and then on my next day off, I went to Birmingham, Alabama, and filed an EEOC charge.
TOTENBERG: A jury eventually awarded her the maximum $300,000 in actual and punitive damages, plus $60,000, the maximum two years of back-pay permitted under the law. But Goodyear appealed, asserting that regardless of when she first discovered there was a disparity in pay, under the statute, she could only win damages or back-pay for the hundred and eighty days prior to the filing of her claim. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in a five-to-four decision in 2007. In Congress, the Lilly Ledbetter Law was born to put the law back to where it had been as understood by the lower courts and regulatory agencies before the Supreme Court's decision. The bill passed the House in 2007, but Republicans filibustered it in the Senate. Among those who opposed the bill was Arizona Senator John McCain.
Senator JOHN MCCAIN (Republican, Arizona): I don't believe that this would do anything to help the rights of women, except maybe help trial lawyers and others in that profession.
TOTENBERG: Mrs. Ledbetter, who'd initially declined to participate in partisan campaigning, was infuriated. After all she observed, the law caps damages at $300,000, limits back-pay to two years and does nothing to fix the effects of unequal pay on pensions and Social Security. She not only appeared at the Democratic Convention, she cut an ad for Barack Obama.
(Soundbite of Ad for Barack Obama, voice of Lilly Ledbetter):
Ms. LEDBETTER: I worked at this plant for 20 years before I learned the truth. I'd been paid 40 percent less than men doing the same work. John McCain opposed a law to give women equal pay for equal work. And he dismissed the wage gap, saying women just need education and training. I had the same skills as the men at my plant. My family needed that money.
TOTENBERG: Political consultant Frank Luntz tested every campaign ad on survey groups for Fox News, and this ad, he said, had a stratospheric effect.
Mr. FRANK LUNTZ (Political Consultant): It was one of the few effective negative ads in the campaign, because it delivered a statement that women looked at and said, you know what? This is right. John McCain, how dare you?
TOTENBERG: So it's puzzling that when the bill came up again and in the new Congress, only three Republicans in the House voted for it, and in the Senate only five Republicans, four of them women, plus Senator Arlen Specter. In short, Republicans, many of whom faced tough re-election contests in less than two years, were opening themselves up to the same kind of attack. As for the Supreme Court, for the first time in more than a decade-and-a-half, Congress has pushed back hard, and once again, as in 1991, it is a conservative court being repudiated on civil rights.
As for Mrs. Ledbetter, she took early retirement at age 60, after she was re-assigned to a job that required her to lift heavy Hummer tires for inspection. Just weeks ago, her husband, a retired Alabama National Guard sergeant major, died after a massive heart attack. In November, he, for the first time in their 53 years of married life, voted for a Democrat for President. Money remains tight for Mrs. Ledbetter, whose jury award was voided by the Supreme Court.
Ms. LEDBETTER: Money could not have bought what I have had the last two years since I've been in this fight.
TOTENBERG: So is she the same person today?
Ms. LEDBETTER: I'm still basically the same person, but my life has expanded, because I have met so many wonderful, great people. It's sort of shocking when I answer my phone and someone says, will you please hold for the president-elect?
TOTENBERG: Indeed, she even danced with President Obama at an Inaugural ball. And today, she's front and center at the White House. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Bart Simpson is known for prank phone calls, but he now seems to be answering to a higher power. Nancy Cartwright, the actress who does Bart's voice, has recorded a robocall - partly in character - advertising an event hosted by the Church of Scientology. For now, the FOX Network isn't having a cow, but "The Simpsons" producer told the Hollywood Reporter that the show doesn't endorse any belief system "more profound than Butterfinger bars." It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. New Mexico's state bird is the roadrunner, and its official state neckwear is the bolo. That means a string tie ought to get a man into any place that demands a tie. Except, it turns out, the floor of the state legislature. A New Mexico state representative has now introduced a resolution to allow lawmakers to sport bolo ties. He's tried before, no luck, but perhaps this year's message of change will extend to the sartorial. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And because it's Friday, it's time again for StoryCorps, the oral history project that's collecting audio snapshots of America. The financial crisis has been called the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and it's brought back some memories for one 86-year-old, James Bost. He recorded some of his recollections through the StoryCorps Project. Bost told his son a story about his own father, who was a salesman during the Depression.
Mr. JAMES BOST: When I was 9 years old, and that was about 1932, my dad was working 24/7 to make it. There were seven salesmen within my father's area or domain, and six of them were fired. There was only one left, and that was my father. And he busted himself to keep that job, and that brought on a heart attack. He recovered, and did something that still sticks with me. He went into the bank and he said, I want to withdraw my money. And the teller gave him a hard time. They had windows with big, iron bars.
He got so agitated, and he took a hold of the bars. He scared the teller, no question about it, and the teller brought his money to him. He put it into a suitcase, and he went into the backyard of the house where we lived. He dug a large hole, about four feet deep, and buried that suitcase. No one knew anything about it except the family. He didn't trust the banks for a long time, and this made an impression on me, to the point that in the last year, I went to the local bank where I've been doing business and withdrew several thousand dollars.
Mr. DOUG BOST: Did you dig a hole and put it in the garden?
Mr. J. BOST: No, I didn't do that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. J. BOST: I have it in an undisclosed location. I don't have a lot of money, but if there was a crash right now, I'd have X amount of dollars to deal with the next month or two, and I wouldn't have to worry. I think it's kind of silly in some ways and kind of stupid, but at the same time, the Great Depression made a big impact on me, and I can't forget it.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: James Bost with his son Doug at StoryCorps in New York City. Their story and all the others are archived at the Library of Congress. Get the podcast at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In Russia this week, the Russian Orthodox Church elected a new leader, following the death of its patriarch last month. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, this, the world's second-largest church, has become powerful, wealthy and highly visible. Still, critics say the church isn't connecting with many ordinary Russians. NPR's Gregory Feifer reports.
(Soundbite of choir singing)
GREGORY FEIFER: A choir sings at a daily service under the vaulted ceilings of an old church in central Moscow. There are no pews here. People stand, coming and going as they please. The air is thick with the smell of incense and smoke from candles crackling in front of gilded icons.
(Soundbite of people talking)
FEIFER: Outside, the building's intricate facade is topped by the kind of gold onion domes that symbolize Russia itself. The Orthodox Church is a part of Russian life that survived revolutions, world wars, and all the political turmoil. Standing on the icy street after the service, parishioner Liudmilla Mamaenkova says Russian Orthodoxy is a central part of being Russian.
Ms. LIUDMILLA MAMAENKOVA (Parishioner, Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow, Russia): (Through translator) The church is everything to us. Every believer has a duty to join the Russian Orthodox Church and attend services regularly.
FEIFER: Church and state are officially separate in Russia, but many see the Orthodox Church as the official religion in all but name. In the 1990s, the state gave the church tax breaks to trade in alcohol and tobacco, enabling it to become a lucrative business. And the previous patriarch, who died in December, was often seen on state television with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. But while more than two-thirds of Russians say they're Orthodox believers, only around 10 percent actually attend services regularly. Conservative voices in the church, like Deacon Andrei Kuraev, blame the low level of attendance on the church's attempts to cultivate political influence with the Kremlin. He says that's forced the church to sacrifice its own independence.
Deacon ANDREI KURAEV (Russian Orthodox Church; Professor, Moscow Theological Academy): (Through translator) The church must serve the people, not the authorities. Without an independent church that plays the key role in society, Russians will lose their power in this part of the world and become just another ethnic group.
(Soundbite of choir singing)
FEIFER: Children practice choir singing in a chapel opposite the Kremlin. To boost the number of young believers, the church has pushed to make classes about Russian Orthodoxy mandatory in state schools. It's also railed against foreign missionaries and campaigned against reconciling with the Catholic Church. Human-rights activist Yuri Samodurov says that's because the church wants to monopolize Russians' religious beliefs.
Mr. YURI SAMODUROV (Director, A. D. Sakharov Armenian Human Rights Protection Center): (Through translator) The church insists on dictating Russians' morality and ideology, because its main goal isn't to help people, but to increase its own power.
FEIFER: In 2005, church leaders denounced Samodurov for organizing a controversial art exhibit. A state court later found him guilty of instigating religious and ethnic hatred.
(Soundbite of prayer service)
FEIFER: On Tuesday, just before being selected as the new patriarch, Metropolitan Kirill led priests and monks in prayer inside Moscow's massive new Christ the Savior Cathedral. Kirill is considered a modernizer in a highly conservative church. But he's criticized the idea of human rights as a cover for lies and insults to religious and ethnic values. Samodurov says the church will see no real change as long as its support for the country's authoritarian leaders gives it a privileged role in society. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Moscow.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Finland is taking a novel approach to fighting the recession: a national ad campaign urging people in this time of crisis to spend. Some posters feature a demonic-looking piggy bank and the words, Don't feed the recession. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports on whether the idea is likely to take hold.
DAVID KESTENBAUM: Before we get to the ad from Finland, just think how contrary this is to everything your mom told you. For instance, here's an ad running right now in the United States, which urges the exact opposite: Feed the pig. Message: Saving is good.
(Soundbite of FeedThePig.org advertisement)
(Soundbite of music)
Unidentified Announcer #1: Welcome to today's lottery drawing.
(Soundbite of lottery balls shuffling)
Unidentified Announcer #1: And today's winning numbers are...
(Soundbite of lottery ball)
Unidentified Announcer #1: Not yours...
(Soundbite of lottery ball)
Unidentified Announcer #1: Not yours, and another number that's..
(Soundbite of lottery ball)
Unidentified Announcer #1: Not yours.
(Soundbite of FeedThePig.org advertisement)
Unidentified Announcer #2: When it comes to having money, don't rely on luck.
(Soundbite of music)
Unidentified Announcer #2: Brew your own coffee at home instead of buying that latte; brown-bag it to work instead of ordering in. Go to feedthepig.org for more...
KESTENBAUM: By contrast, the ads running in Finland argue, no, no, no. Brewing coffee at home, bringing your lunch? That kind of behavior can be hell for the economy at a time like this, because if you don't buy that coffee, the coffee place can't hire as many workers; the shop can't pay the rent on the store; then the landlord is in trouble, etc. Economists actually have a phrase for this: the paradox of thrift. It's just not something that usually turns up in ad campaigns. The ads were put together by an advertising agency in Finland called Bob Helsinki. Mika Sarimo is the CEO there. He says yes, as a kid, he had a piggy bank with Donald Duck's Uncle Scrooge on it.
Mr. MIKA SARIMO (Chief Executive Officer, Bob Helsinki): Yeah, they had him sitting on a little container, and you were able to put money there. That's what I had.
KESTENBAUM: And here you are with a campaign that features a pig with little devil ears.
Mr. SARIMO: Yeah. That's how it goes, you know?
KESTENBAUM: Sarimo says his agency launched the campaign because Finns were cutting back on spending, even people who had steady jobs.
Mr. SARIMO: We felt that we are just drifting towards a more difficult situation, and there was an idea from one of our founding partners that, why don't we create a campaign which is kind of against the recession?
KESTENBAUM: Government officials have signed on, and the evil piggy bank is on posters. There are related TV ads. It's a national campaign urging people not to overreact. Could this work? Kent Smetters at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business says in theory, yes, but in practice, probably not. It only works if everyone does it, and barring some sort of incredible act of faith and patriotism, people will act in their own self-interest and save.
Dr. KENT SMETTERS (Insurance and Risk Management, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania): This is really what we call the prisoner's dilemma, this - where everybody could be better off if everybody moved. But in fact, not everybody is going to move. In fact, nobody is going to move.
KESTENBAUM: OK, maybe Finland will surprise you, and they collectively, as a country - there are only 5 million people there, they're pretty educated - you know, maybe they could all just get together and do it.
Dr. SMETTERS: That would be a surprise, and as an economist, I'd love to be able to study that as a case study. Maybe in a family of five, but in an economy of 5 million, I think it's unlikely.
KESTENBAUM: The truth is Finland can't just fix itself, because the world's problems are Finland's problems; the country exports a lot. But the dueling-pig ads pose a deeper economic question, which is this: What is the right level of savings? Kent Smetters says in his opinion, sorry, Finland, the friendly U.S. pig is right, the one that says, feed me. Finns don't save a lot, and neither do Americans. A few years ago, the U.S. savings rate dipped negative, meaning we spent more than we earned.
Dr. SMETTERS: During the last year, after the housing prices have come down, saving rates hit a high - by high, I mean relative to the last several years - of about 2.5 percent. And that is still much lower than what it should be. It really should be closer to 10 percent on a gross income level.
KESTENBAUM: There is debate about what the right number is, but some saving is definitely essential for the economy. When you save money at a bank, those dollars can be loaned out to someone else, which is how the economy grows. It is possible to save too much, but Smetters doesn't think that will be a problem in the United States. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: And you can see the dueling pig ads for yourself. Go to the Planet Money blog at npr.org/money.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And we want to tip you off now to something new on our Web site. It's a preview of the kinds of consumer electronics becoming available to the deaf and the blind. Think about it: What do all those new touch-screen devices do for a person who is visually impaired? The musician Stevie Wonder made a special plea earlier this month at the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Mr. STEVIE WONDER (Musician): Hundreds of thousands of people on this planet are blind or with low vision. So, to me, that's enough to say, let's do something about it.
MONTAGNE: Stevie Wonder was speaking to npr.org producer Joshua Brockman, who was also at that technology conference. We invited Josh into the studio to talk about some of the devices he saw there.
JOSHUA BROCKMAN: One of the most interesting products is a GPS that's been specifically designed to help blind people navigate in the world. And one of the fun things about that is, it provides this ongoing narration, so everything on the device will talk to you. And it gives such feedback - like, if you're walking on the street, it will tell you how far you are from, say, a store or a restaurant. This information can be delivered by speech or by Braille.
One of the other really fascinating things is called knfb Mobile Reader. And what this is, is - this is a device that allows you to take a piece of paper and lay it flat on a table or anywhere, and take a photograph of it with a cell phone. And the phone, within five seconds, will read that back to you, either in whole or in part. And that's really helpful for blind people. Let's say, if they go into a restaurant and want to see what's on the menu, they can actually take this digital photograph, and it will tell them exactly what's on that paper.
MONTAGNE: Now, full disclosure, NPR recently won an award, as a matter of fact, from Stevie Wonder for helping develop accessible radios. And one of those radios has Braille for the blind; another has captions for the deaf. What is out there now that's new for the deaf?
BROCKMAN: One product that's out there is something called a VPAD+, and that's a video-conferencing solution that allows two deaf people to speak with one another. And this is also a portable device that's made by a company called Viable.
MONTAGNE: And you've just given us a few examples, but are these devices and others causing any kind of buzz in the communities that would use them?
BROCKMAN: There is a lot of interest in these technologies, particularly because they're making a lot of the world much more accessible in very concrete ways. One of the factors, though, is the price point. There are subsidies that are sometimes available, but just to name one example, the knfb Mobile Reader, that costs more than $1,000. And when you add the cell phone to that, it's about $1,400. So, it's - these are technologies that the blind and deaf can really benefit from, but the price point does present a challenge.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Joshua Brockman. You'll find a demonstration of a videophone for the deaf, and learn more about accessible gadgets, at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now, to northern Iraq. In the city of Mosul, preparations for tomorrow's election have taken a violent turn. Mosul is a mixed city, with an Arab majority and a substantial Kurdish minority. But it's the Kurds who've controlled the provincial council for the past three years. Mosul's Arabs are vowing to change that this time around. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro spent some time with U.S. forces in Mosul, and has this report.
Mr. ABDUL KHALIQ NAYEF SULTAN: (Arabic spoken).
Lieutenant TODD KIRWAN (1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, U.S. Army; Operation Iraqi Freedom): Just stopping around today to kind of check the security, and also get some information about the polling sites in your area.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: Lieutenant Todd Kirwan, with the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, is searching all the houses on this street. They're near what will become, this weekend, two voting centers. On this day, the Americans are working with Iraqi army soldiers, all of whom are Kurdish. This is an Arab neighborhood. The house owner, Abdul Khaliq Nayef Sultan, tells Lieutenant Kirwan that the area is safe, and that there are no problems. But as the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are leaving, Nayef whispers to a visiting reporter that he doesn't like the presence of the Kurdish soldiers in his home.
Mr. NAYEF: (Through translator) It's really difficult to have them here, but we are helpless. We really feel invaded. I expect 100 percent that come Election Day, they will try and prevent us Arabs from voting.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Suspicions are rife, and tensions are high, on both sides here ahead of the elections. Because of the Arab boycott in 2005, the Nineveh provincial council is controlled by Kurdish parties, despite the fact that Mosul is predominantly Arab. The Arabs in Mosul accuse the Kurds of targeting the Arab population through assassinations and intimidation. At least two Arab candidates have been killed in the run-up to the vote, and the main Arab party in Mosul, known as al-Hadba, says its offices have been raided repeatedly at the behest of Kurdish officials. The Kurds, for their part, cite the long history of repression of Mosul's Kurds during the reign of Saddam Hussein. And Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman says that more recently, Arab-Islamist extremists have terrorized Mosul's Kurdish population.
Dr. MAHMOUD OTHMAN (Member, Iraqi National Assembly): From 2003 'til now, we have had 2,500 Kurds killed in Mosul. That's a lot of casualties. So, Kurds have suffered more than others.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The struggle for control of Mosul has involved the highest levels of the Iraqi government. Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has repeatedly tried to purge the two Iraqi army divisions in the region of Kurdish officers, to the outrage of senior Kurdish officials in his own government. Sami al-Askari, a confidant of the prime minister, says that Maliki is trying to stop Kurdish expansion in the North.
Mr. SAMI AL-ASKARI (Member, Iraqi National Assembly): (Through translator) Wherever there's a Kurdish population, they want the land to be part of Kurdistan. They are working towards that in legal and illegal ways, through creating facts on the ground, through political pressure, and through illicit alliances.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Those fears have been taken out to the stump, principally by the al-Hadba party, which is expected to do well this weekend. Major Adam Boyd is the senior American intelligence officer in Mosul. He says that because the Arabs have been politically disenfranchised all these years here, the Arab majority has been, up until now, sympathetic to the insurgency.
Major ADAM BOYD (Intelligence Officer, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army, Operation Iraqi Freedom): They run on a very anti-Kurd ticket but at the same time, they run on a security ticket. They can run - the Hadba can run on a ticket of, they couldn't provide security; we can. We get elected back in? A good deal of the insurgents go away.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The Kurdish parties, which are running on a unified list, know they will lose their position of dominance. Last month, Kurdish members of the current council tried, but failed, to postpone voting in the province.
Maj. BOYD: Do you have any concerns with having polling sites right here in your neighborhood?
Unidentified Iraqi Man: (Arabic spoken).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Back on patrol with American troops here, Kurdish Sergeant Ali Farouk says he is loyal to the Iraqi army and their mission of protecting all citizens. But he acknowledges that the Kurds have bigger ambitions.
Sergeant ALI FAROUK (Iraqi Army): (Through translator) We want an independent Kurdistan, of course, and we want Mosul to be a part of that Kurdish state.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The Arabs here vow that will never happen. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Mosul.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The head of the archdiocese of Los Angeles says he is willing to appear before a grand jury. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Cardinal Roger Mahony is criminally culpable for the way he dealt with priests who allegedly abused children. NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports that prosecutors have been interested in the case for years.
BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY: Cardinal Mahony thought he was done with the sex abuse scandal. In 2004, he admitted publicly that he had made mistakes by transferring abusive priests from diocese to diocese. In 2007, the archdiocese paid $660 million to more than 500 alleged victims, by far the largest settlement in the country. But the criminal investigation never went away. Now, a federal grand jury's investigating whether he and his deputies obstructed justice or defrauded parishioners.
(Soundbite of interview)
Cardinal ROGER MAHONY (Archbishop, Los Angeles, California): We were mystified and puzzled by the whole thing.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Mahony spoke yesterday on KNX, a Los Angeles talk radio station. He's declined an interview with NPR. He said the grand jury has subpoenaed records involving 22 priests; two of them have died, and the rest are no longer in ministry. Mahony added that most of the alleged abuse occurred decades ago, when it was standard practice to put an abusive priest into a treatment program and later return him to ministry.
Card. MAHONY: This way of dealing with these issues has evolved, and during those early years, it was not handled right. We've said that over and over again. So, that's what puzzles me. Why now does this come up?
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Two reasons, sources say. First, federal prosecutors may be sifting through documents in civil and criminal cases that have recently been released to lawyers, to see if there's evidence that church officials obstructed justice. Second, sources say prosecutors are exploring using a novel legal theory, namely, that Mahony and others schemed to deprive parishioners of, quote, right of honest services. Patrick Wall investigates sex abuse cases for plaintiffs against the Catholic Church.
Mr. PATRICK WALL (Expert, Roman Catholic Church Sex-Abuse Scandal; Author, "Sex, Priests and Secret Codes"): So, the theory is that Cardinal Mahony knew, that the vicars for clergy knew, and that several auxiliary bishops knew, and they failed to warn the public of that danger.
Professor REBECCA LONERGAN (Associate Director, Legal Writing and Advocacy, USC Law; Former Federal Prosecutor): This is a very creative and unusual use of a statute that's been out there for two decades.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: Rebecca Lonergan is a former federal prosecutor who specializes in public corruption cases. She says federal prosecutors are using public corruption laws that are unavailable to the local district attorney. Since 2002, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has investigated Mahony for perjury and obstruction of justice. That investigation hit a dead end. But sources say files obtained by the local grand jury found their way over to the U.S. attorney's office. And last fall, federal prosecutors began presenting evidence to a grand jury with their new legal theories. Lonergan says the statute has never been used against church officials and, she says, it's a hard argument to make to a jury.
Prof. LONERGAN: When you have a defendant like a church official who is highly respected, it's a very steep hill to climb to convince people that these people have an actual intent to harm, an intent to defraud. Poor judgment is not the same thing as an attempt to defraud.
BRADLEY HAGERTY: For his part, Cardinal Mahony says he is cooperating with investigators and believes that despite mistakes he may have made in the past, the archdiocese today is safe for children. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. It's official: During the final quarter of last year, America's economy shrank at its fastest pace in over a quarter of a century. The Commerce Department reported this morning that gross domestic product - that's the measure of total goods and services - dived at an annual rate of 3.8 percent. This was a much steeper slide than the GDP took in the third quarter. One tiny bright spot: Analysts had expected an even grimmer number. The decline in the GDP does reflect a deepening recession; consumers and businesses are putting the brakes on spending. The Labor Department, meanwhile, reported figures that show companies are stinting on overtime, and cutting back on benefits. Then there are the layoffs. Layoffs that began in the real-estate and finance sectors are now hitting workers in nearly every field. And even some iconic firms are slashing jobs by the thousands, as NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.
FRANK LANGFITT: In recent weeks, companies unconnected to the roots of this recession have announced big job cuts: nearly 20,000 at Caterpillar; more than 6,000 at Starbucks; and 5,000 at Microsoft. Tyler Cowen is an economics professor at George Mason University in Northern Virginia.
Dr. TYLER COWEN (Chair, Economics, George Mason University): The economy is at a stage where it really is unraveling, but some jobs are being lost simply because other jobs are being lost.
LANGFITT: These companies aren't actually losing money yet, but demand for their services is falling, and so are earnings. Cowen says the firms are getting rid of workers now to prepare for the worst.
Dr. COWEN: A lot of companies want to do what's called recapitalizing, to have a larger stash of cash, because one thing about this downturn is a lot of people are saying it could last at least five years, and whether or not that's true, the idea's out there. So, managers think they really need to have a treasure chest.
LANGFITT: Layoffs at a company like Caterpillar were particularly jarring because the firm has been such a success. The Illinois-based company rode the global boom, selling heavy equipment to countries like China and India. But Cowen says some firms went into this downturn with weaker business plans and now have to adjust.
Dr. COWEN: There's an old saying that the recession reveals what the auditor does not find.
LANGFITT: Take Microsoft; it's been trying to develop new lines of business for years, but it still relies on selling lots of Windows software packages on PCs. Matt Rosoff is an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, an independent research and consulting firm. He says Microsoft expected strong PC sales at the end of last year. Instead?
Mr. MATT ROSOFF (Analyst, Directions on Microsoft): Sales really started to tank in the second half of the quarter.
LANGFITT: Freaked out by the economy, maybe worried about their jobs, most consumers just weren't buying computers, and Rosoff says Microsoft didn't have enough revenue from other products to cushion the blow.
Mr. ROSOFF: They've been trying to diversify, but I don't think they got there fast enough, and they were diversifying precisely because of this scenario.
LANGFITT: Last week, Microsoft announced 5,000 job cuts, including 1,400 immediate layoffs. But Rosoff says the reality is more complicated. Even as Microsoft gets rid of some workers, it will hire others.
Mr. ROSOFF: The announcement of layoffs and the use of the word "layoff" was, in some sense, more meant to please Wall Street and give Wall Street the idea that, yes, Microsoft is aware of expenses, it's doing some things to try and control expenses, rather than a real, necessary, broad layoff.
LANGFITT: But for those losing their jobs each month, unemployment is painfully real. Diane Glasspool(ph) is a laid-off legal assistant. Yesterday, she visited a government employment office in San Francisco.
Ms. DIANE GLASSPOOL: It is a little overwhelming sometimes here, because there are so many people in here at one time looking for work.
LANGFITT: Garrison Grimes(ph) recently lost his job installing home theaters around Nashville. He says the labor market there is tough as well.
Mr. GARRISON GRIMES: It's the old action that we're back to supply and demand now, and they understand that there's more of us out here than there are jobs.
Dr. LAWRENCE F. KATZ (Economics, Harvard University): Layoffs are just the tip of the iceberg.
LANGFITT: That's Lawrence Katz. He's a labor economist at Harvard, and he says people like Glasspool and Grimes face a squeeze. It's not just that they've lost their jobs, but that companies are creating far fewer jobs they can apply for. A couple of years ago, there were one and a half unemployed workers for every job opening. Today, Katz says, it's like this.
Dr. KATZ: Four unemployed workers searching for every job out there, and that's really a dire situation.
LANGFITT: Katz says most companies are too anxious to add new jobs right now. He thinks the only hope for jobs growing soon is direct spending from the federal government. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The Senate is braced for a showdown next week. The Democrats are in charge, and they plan to push through an economic stimulus package worth nearly $900 billion. The House passed a slightly smaller measure this week without a single vote from Republicans, and that was after President Obama personally lobbied GOP lawmakers. The question now is, how many Senate Republicans will heed his call? NPR's David Welna has this report.
DAVID WELNA: If the Senate's Democratic leaders were startled that not one House Republican voted for the stimulus, they weren't showing it. Here's majority leader Harry Reid speaking to reporters yesterday at the Capitol.
(Soundbite of press conference, January 29, 2009)
Senator HARRY REID (Democrat, Nevada; Senate Majority Leader): I think that the president was right in saying he hoped there would be broad bipartisan support. I still hope that we are going to have broad bipartisan support for this bill in the Senate.
WELNA: But at another Capitol briefing, 10 GOP senators showed up and said they had no intention to vote for the stimulus as it stands now, and Alabama's Jeff Sessions played down any prospect of the bill being amended.
(Soundbite of press conference, January 29, 2009)
Senator JEFF SESSIONS (Republican, Alabama): There's very little likelihood that we'll have a substantial change, and so we need to resist this package with every strength that we have. Indeed, the financial soul of this country may be at stake.
WELNA: Republicans like Sessions prefer a stimulus bill with far more tax cuts. Currently, nearly two-thirds of the Senate's version goes to federal spending. And that, said South Dakota's John Thune, is why he's voting against the massive bill.
Senator JOHN THUNE (Republican, South Dakota): It represents, in my view, business as usual in Washington. There's something in there for literally every interest. It's a pent-up wish list of spending programs that many around here have wanted to implement for a really long time.
WELNA: Such spending has strong backing, though, from unions and advocacy groups aligned with Democrats. A coalition known as Americans United for Change is targeting Republican senators in four states with TV ads, like this one aimed at the two GOP senators from Maine.
(Soundbite of Americans United for Change advertisement)
(Soundbite of music)
President BARACK OBAMA: The first job of my administration is to put people back to work and get our economy moving again.
Unidentified Announcer: Tell Senators Collins and Snowe to support the Obama plan for jobs, not the failed policies of the past.
WELNA: Both of Maine's senators are moderates. As it happens, Olympia Snowe cast the only GOP vote in favor of the tax portion of the stimulus package in the Finance Committee this week, and four Republican senators did vote for the spending portion of the package in the Appropriations Committee. Snowe says she expects bipartisan backing in the full Senate for the bill.
Senator OLYMPIA SNOWE (Republican, Maine): I think it could be a very constructive process next week that builds a groundswell of bipartisan support. Hopefully that - that would be the case, because I think it's an important signal to the country at this moment in time and certainly, aftermath of an election that represented extraordinary change.
WELNA: The real question may be how many Senate Republicans it takes to have truly bipartisan support for the stimulus. Senate Republican whip Jon Kyl is his party's chief vote counter. He says Democrats would have to make major concessions to win the kind of bipartisan support envisioned by President Obama.
Senator JON KYL (Republican, Arizona; Senate Republican Whip): The president said he knew that it could be passed without Republican votes, but I think he said in the Senate he'd like to have - or like to see 80 votes. And in order to do that, obviously, you'll have to have key Republican concepts embedded in the legislation.
WELNA: Kyl says Democrats can try to cram a stimulus package through the Senate without GOP support, but Democrats alone, he adds, would then have to answer if Americans six months from now say they're no better off or in even worse shape than they're in now. Still, New York's Charles Schumer, who is part of the Senate Democratic leadership, says members of his party are not about to cave to Republicans to bring the vote total to 80.
Senator CHARLES SCHUMER (Democrat, New York): Is it a failure if it doesn't get 80 votes? Absolutely not. It's a failure if it fails, or if it doesn't put people to work, or doesn't get the economy going. That's the key here. And to totally eviscerate the package to get 80 votes and have a package that doesn't work? That's not where we're going to go.
WELNA: Schumer said hopefully we can get some Republican votes. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
(Soundbite of music)
MONTAGNE: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
The state of Illinois has a new governor this morning. Patrick Quinn took the oath of office moments after the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to convict Rod Blagojevich at his impeachment trial and remove him from the post late yesterday. More about Governor Quinn in a moment. Now to an historic and turbulent day in the Illinois State Capitol, where Blagojevich made a last- minute attempt to save his job. NPR's David Schaper reports.
(Soundbite of Illinois General Assembly vote, January 29, 2009)
Unidentified Man: Althoff?
State Senator PAMELA J. ALTHOFF (Republican, Crystal Lake, Illinois): Yes.
Unidentified Woman: Bivins?
State Senator TIM BIVINS (Republican, Dixon, Illinois): Yes.
DAVID SCHAPER: One by one, the 59 members of the Illinois Senate cast a vote like none they had ever cast before, and all said yes to convicting the governor.
Justice THOMAS FITZGERALD (Illinois Supreme Court): The article of impeachment, having been sustained by the required constitutional majority, I now pronounce the judgment of conviction against Rod R. Blagojevich, thereby removing him from the office of governor effective immediately.
SCHAPER: Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Fitzgerald presided over the four-day long impeachment trial. After boycotting for three days, Blagojevich retained his flair for the dramatic until the very end, showing up in the Illinois Senate chamber for a last-ditch effort to save what little remained of his once-promising political career.
(Soundbite of Illinois General Assembly hearing, January 29, 2009)
Former Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH (Democrat, Illinois): I'm here to appeal to you, to your sense of fairness, your sense of responsibility, and to the truth, and to the truth. I'm asking you to acquit me and give me a chance to show my innocence.
SCHAPER: Blagojevich argued the special prosecutor failed to prove any one of the 13 charges in the article of impeachment against him.
Gov. BLAGOJEVICH: And you haven't been able to show wrongdoing in this trial. And you've denied me the right to be able to bring in a whole bunch of witnesses who will show you I didn't do anything wrong, and I've done most things right.
SCHAPER: Illinois state senators weren't buying.
State Senator MATT MURPHY (Republican, Palatine, Illinois): He is an unusually good liar.
SCHAPER: Republican Matt Murphy.
Sen. MURPHY: He came down here without impunity, and lied to every member of this chamber.
State Senator JOHN M. SULLIVAN (Democrat, Quincy, Illinois): His appearance today was - to say the least - too little too late.
SCHAPER: Democrat John Sullivan said Blagojevich is no longer fit to govern. During the impeachment trial, senators heard testimony about schemes in which they found Blagojevich abused his authority, bypassed the legislature, mismanaged and misspent taxpayer funds, and traded the official duties of his office for campaign contributions. Democrat James Meeks used the governor's own infamous words when allegedly scheming to cash in on the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Obama, in explaining his vote.
State Senator JAMES T. MEEKS (Democrat, Calumet City, Illinois): I say, we have this thing called impeachment, and it's bleeping golden, and we've used it the right way.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SCHAPER: Outside the Senate chamber, many of the Illinois residents who came to watch the trial say they're glad to see Rod Blagojevich go. Anita Pence(ph) of Litchfield works in the Illinois secretary of state's office and came over on her lunch break to hear Blagojevich speak for the last time as governor.
Ms. ANITA PENCE: He doesn't really care what the people of Illinois think. He keeps talking on and on about all the things he's done. I - you know, I'm beginning to think he thinks he's Mother Teresa reincarnated or something.
SCHAPER: Pence says morale among state workers has plummeted during the Blagojevich scandal. She says she's looking forward to the day Illinois is no longer the butt of the nation's jokes. For his part, Blagojevich immediately flew home to Chicago, using his state plane one last time before the Senate voted him out of office. He says he's disappointed but not surprised, and he vows to fight on - next in the criminal courts. David Schaper, NPR News, in Springfield, Illinois.
CHERYL CORLEY, host:
I'm Cheryl Corley. The mood in the state house shifted from somber to joyous when Illinois Democratic Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn was sworn in as the state's top executive.
Unidentified Woman: Congratulations, governor.
Governor PATRICK QUINN (Democrat, Illinois): Thank you very much.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
CORLEY: Quinn's family - his 91-year-old mother, his two adult sons and two brothers - had come to celebrate the occasion with the new governor and the cheering lawmakers in the Senate chambers.
Gov. QUINN: It's a very great honor to be here in the people's house in our State Capitol, and I thank everyone for being here. And I want to say to the people of Illinois, the ordeal is over.
CORLEY: It was a moment of political relief for a state left reeling from a Blagojevich maelstrom, and even President Barack Obama issued a statement saying Illinois had been crippled by lack of leadership for months and now, that cloud had been lifted. This new status for Patrick Quinn is not entirely unexpected. He's been around government for many years as a city revenue director, a county tax appeals board member and a state treasurer. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2002 and again in 2006, and devoted much of his time as an advocate for members of the military. Even so, Quinn has never been considered a political insider. Early on in his career, he was more likely to take on the political establishment as a consumer rights advocate than be a part of it. He continued to embrace that role. In 2006, for example, he criticized the use of taxpayer-funded bodyguards for elected officials.
(Soundbite of speech)
Gov. QUINN: Well, it's ridiculous for four bodyguards for the city clerk. About the only threat that a city clerk or a city treasurer or state treasurer might encounter would be a threat from a paper cut, and it's really a waste of money.
CORLEY: Yesterday, at his press conference as governor, Quinn cracked a smile and quipped that the room filled with reporters reminded him of his days as the leader for the Coalition for Political Honesty, a group he organized more than 30 years ago with a goal of slashing the size of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was successful, though the effort did not endear him to state lawmakers.
Gov. QUINN: But I'm an organizer. I believe in organizing: early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize. So, that's what we've got to do in Illinois for everyday people. I know that my mission here in the next 700 days is to work as hard as I can for those people who don't have lobbyists in Springfield, who don't have friends in high places.
CORLEY: One of his top priorities, says Quinn, will be to restore confidence in Illinois government. Illinois Republican Senator Dale Righter says it may be difficult at first for the governor to convince scandal-weary constituents that state government will be honest and transparent, but...
State Senator DALE A. RIGHTER (Republican, Mattoon, Illinois): You know what? In some areas, the new administration has to achieve very little to be much better than his predecessor.
CORLEY: Governor Quinn says the state's massive budget deficit is also a primary concern. He said the Blagojevich administration didn't provide any details. So, he'll be working to get a handle on the true shape of the state's finances before presenting a budget in March. And recently, Quinn announced the creation of a reform commission charged with finding ways to clean up state government.
Gov. QUINN: I think it'll really be the - what the doctor ordered to deal with the culture of corruption that has afflicted our state for far too long.
CORLEY: Patrick Quinn will be moving into the governor's mansion soon, something his predecessor did not do. When asked if he'll run for election in 2010, the governor said there'll be plenty of time for politics later on. Quinn wants this year to be all about governing, and repairing damage in Illinois. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Springfield.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In Sunday's Super Bowl, many eyes will be on Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. And that's appropriate, in a way, because as a boy, Fitzgerald received vision training from his grandfather, an optometrist. That training helped him in ways not apparent to the untrained eye. NPR's Mike Pesca explains.
MIKE PESCA: In football, receivers are usually evaluated on their hands and their feet: how well they can catch the ball, and how well they can run after they catch it. But ask someone who's ever made a reception with a 210-pound safety draped over him, and you'll get an insight as to what it takes to catch a pass in the NFL. Former wide receiver Cris Collinsworth has been there.
Mr. CRIS COLLINSWORTH (Former Wide Receiver, Cincinnati Bengals; NBC Sportscaster): To be open in the NFL, you're open from the distance that you and I are apart here, about a yard. I mean, that's open. And so, in order for them to get that ball in there, they've got to throw it well before you're making your break. So, the ability to spin your head and see something - whether it's a helmet, a fist or a football flying at you - you have to be able to react to it that quickly. And if he's a fraction of a second faster than everybody else - would explains some things.
PESCA: Reaction time explains some of Larry Fitzgerald's edge, but it goes a lot deeper than that. When Fitzgerald was a boy of about 8, he would visit his mother's family in Chicago. There, his grandfather, Dr. Robert Johnson, ran one of the only optometry clinics in the inner city.
Dr. ROBERT JOHNSON (Optometrist, Chicago, Illinois): We have to be able to measure what goes into the eye, what goes back with the brain - see, we actually see with our brain. Our vision is with our brain. How well does a child perceive his world? And can he get meaning out of what he or she sees?
PESCA: In fact, Fitzgerald's early training was not meant to increase his athletic ability; it was to help him in the classroom. Everyone knows the old story about the boy who was falling behind in school because he couldn't see the blackboard. Dr. Johnson believes that a more complex version of that story often hinders learning. So, his grandson and other children that he treated were given exercises to increase their ability to recognize patterns and draw meaning from visual stimuli. Those exercises also turned out to be really helpful on the football field. Fitzgerald still credits those 15-year-old drills.
Mr. LARRY D. FITZGERALD JR. (Wide Receiver, Arizona Cardinals): He had me covering each eye, you know, with a patch on my eye. And I would have to catch objects, you know, with the opposite hand. I think it was definitely the foundation of good, strong hand-eye coordination.
PESCA: Daniel Laby, an ophthalmologist who's worked with professional sports teams, says the particular drill that Fitzgerald was just describing may have aided in developing what's known as contrast sensitivity.
Dr. DANIEL LABY (Ophthalmologist, Canton, Massachusetts): Think about trying to catch a football against all those fans in all different colors, you've got to have good contrast to pick that out of the background.
PESCA: Fitzgerald's excellent peripheral vision, pattern recognition and quick processing allow him to visualize his next move, because he actually takes his eye off the ball. Sorry, peewee football coaches everywhere, but it's true. It's one of his many assets, but a vital one, according to Shannon Sharpe, who retired as the greatest pass-catching tight end the game has ever known. In Sharpe's eyes, Fitzgerald is the best pass catcher in the NFL today.
Mr. SHANNON SHARPE (Former Tight End, Denver Broncos): The thing is when you run, your eyes bounce, and somehow he's able to find a way to stabilize his eyes. His eyes is what he catches the football with. He make plays that guys will love to have, he make them look so routine.
PESCA: What actually has become routine are the drills that Fitzgerald's grandfather developed. Today, aspiring athletes, even those with 20/20 vision, are given a regiment of eye exercises. So, in 15 years, there may well be a generation of wide receivers who can see as well as Larry Fitzgerald. Of course, there will also be a generation of defensive backs to thwart their efforts. Mike Pesca, NPR News, Tampa, Florida.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with Japan's sinking economy.
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MONTAGNE: Japan's economy minister says he's never seen such a steep fall in production. His government today released numbers about that economy, still the world's second largest. It shows that industrial production plunged nearly 10 percent last month, a record fall. Japan's companies are being ravaged by the global recession, as consumers stop buying its exports. That includes cars, electronics and industrial machinery. Corporations have already trimmed back on temporary staff. There's fear they may start cutting full-timers.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And the deteriorating economies around the world mean less cargo is moving around the skies. Tennessee's Nashville International Airport just experienced its worst monthly decline in freight since the days after 9/11. From member station WPLN, Blake Farmer reports.
BLAKE FARMER: Shipping had been a bright spot for the Nashville airport, even as passenger numbers declined through 2008. But December saw a 33-percent dive.
(Soundbite of door opening)
FARMER: The evidence is in the warehouse of China Air.
Mr. RON PIERCE (Nashville Sales Representative, China Airlines): You can walk out here and go, huh, it doesn't look like America's shipping that much.
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FARMER: Ron Pierce is the China Air sales rep in Nashville. Just outside his office, pallets covered by cargo nets sparsely dot the tarmac. Six planes a week bring in parts for Dell computers from Taipei. They return to Asia with MasterCraft ski boats, Mercedes Benz sedans, and glass TV screens manufactured by Corning. In fact, Corning accounted for more than 600 tons of freight per month - until now. Pierce says the company has downshifted its order, and moved shipments to much slower ocean liners. Corning isn't in the rush it once was.
Mr. PIERCE: You know, if the ocean has got free space, then they're the cheapest. That's the way you're going to go.
(Soundbite of warehouse)
FARMER: The cargo operation at Nashville International accounts for some 700 jobs. Each China Air 747 takes a dozen workers to load. Airport operations chief Monty Burgess says China Air has already scaled back expansion plans for an additional flight into Nashville each week.
Mr. MONTY BURGESS (Chief Operating Officer, Nashville International Airport): If it continues like it is now, which is quite probable, we could very easily see in the next couple of months, or maybe even sooner, some of that inbound flight service being eliminated because it's nonprofitable to them.
FARMER: Burgess says cargo planes will stop coming in if they're always leaving half empty, and fewer flights means less money in landing fees for the airport and fewer jobs in Nashville, a downward spiral that's become all too familiar in today's economy. For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And our last word in business today is dispirited. You've heard the marketing adage, sex sells. Well, flight attendants at Spirit Airlines don't want to use sex to sell their services. They've complained to the company about its series of sexually suggestive ads. One invites customers to enjoy its DDs, which the airlines says stands for deep discounts, though it could be read as a bra size. The head of the flight attendants' union says she feels as though she's reliving the battles that women fought 40 years ago. An airline spokeswoman said the ads have been out for a year with no complaints.
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MONTAGNE: That's the business news from Morning Edition on NPR News. Morning Edition is produced by Tracy Wahl and Alice Winkler. Senior producers include Cindy Carpien, Tom Bullock, Barry Gordemer, Neva Grant and Jim Wildman. Our executive producer is Madhulika Sikka. The director of morning programming is Ellen McDonnell. Morning Edition's theme music was written by BJ Liederman and arranged by Jim Pugh. I'm Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Steve Inskeep is on assignment in Iran. I'm Renee Montagne. Turning now to provincial elections in Iraq, tomorrow's vote is the country's first major election since the violent days of 2005. And one place where there's a frenzy of activity is Anbar, the large expanse of western Iraq once a hotbed of the insurgency. Marine Major General John Kelly has spent the last year there in command of multinational forces. We've spoken with him occasionally during this, his third tour in Iraq, and are catching up with him now that he's just days away from returning home. General Kelly joined us from Al Asad Marine base. Hello.
Major General JOHN KELLY (U.S. Marine Corps; Commanding General, Multinational Force West): Renee, how are you?
MONTAGNE: Fine, thank you very much. Let's begin with these elections. You're there. Give us a thumbnail of what's going on in terms of campaigning for Saturday's elections there in Anbar.
Maj. Gen. KELLY: It's crazy, the campaigning. It's a joy to watch, and we should be ashamed, I think, as Americans, to know 100 percent of those eligible registered to vote. There's not a flat surface in the province that doesn't have multiple posters, some of the posters as big as billboards, but - you know, with the symbols of Arab culture - you know, white stallions in the background, and the coffee urn that is the symbol of hospitality in Iraq - very, very interesting.
MONTAGNE: Are the candidates able to actually get out and campaign in a classic way?
Maj. Gen. KELLY: They are, Renee. They're able to get out - here, they do campaigns things like, they walk through the markets shaking hands, and the same kind of thing you'd see in America. The key to survival anywhere, I think, is to not be predictable and not to do things on too much of a scheduled basis. But there is an occasional campaign rally.
MONTAGNE: You and I have talked about this over this past year, but in Anbar, the U.S. has nurtured partnerships with tribal leaders, where the sheiks helped defeat the insurgency. Aren't those tribal leaders really driving the election process there now?
Maj. Gen. KELLY: Other than to get the vote out, they're not driving it. But we've also nurtured, you know, some very, very strong relationships with everyone, not just the sheiks. An awful lot of the sheiks, frankly, are coming by or asking to see me and say goodbye, and give me the little going-away gifts they do. And all of them have said the strength of our personal relationships, and the influence we have out here, come from the fact that we never took sides. We worked with every sheik - the upper-tier sheiks all the way down to the lower-tier sheiks - with the police, the army, with the imams. Interesting enough, we're having announcements from the mosques on Friday that it is your responsibility to get out and vote. These are from the same mosques that harangued their followers to go out and kill Americans a year or two ago. They're telling them to get out and vote.
MONTAGNE: We've reported here at NPR, along with other media, that some of the tribal leaders in Anbar are practicing what you might call an extreme version of old-style Chicago politics - you know, buying support, or using what cash they have to spread some of the goodies around, demanding loyalty. Have you seen any of that?
Maj. Gen. KELLY: The officials in power certainly are using whatever patronage they have in terms of the smoke-filled-room kind of things you referenced to try to maintain power. But there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the performance of the elected government here now. So, I think the vast majority of the sheiks, they're unified in wanting to see a change in Anbar politically. They want their government to be more secular and certainly, more responsive. But don't see an awful lot of, as you've described, the sheiks working that angle. I see the in-power politicians doing it the most.
MONTAGNE: General Kelly, how do you feel about heading home after this third tour in Iraq? Relieved? A little sad?
Maj. Gen. KELLY: It seems like it was yesterday I came here until I start thinking about things, you know, over the past year, and then I realize it's been kind of an 18-hour-day, seven-day-a-week grind. And you know, I hope my wife doesn't listen to this, but in one way, I'd like to stay here six more months, but I think, probably, if I was here another six months, I'd want to stay another six months.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us, and safe travels home.
Maj. Gen. KELLY: Thanks a lot, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Major General John Kelly is returning home in a few days, after commanding multinational forces in western Iraq for the past year.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
It's Morning Edition from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. And tomorrow, one of the most powerful men in corporate America steps down.
(Soundbite of speech)
Mr. H. LEE SCOTT (President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart): When people say, what do you want your legacy to be, I, you know, I started out as assistant manager of the truck fleet. I don't give a lot of thought to legacy.
MONTAGNE: For the last nine years, H. Lee Scott has run the world's biggest retail.
(Soundbite of Wal-Mart advertisement)
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Unidentified Announcer: Life can be pricey. Wal-Mart isn't.
MONTAGNE: When Lee Scott took over Wal-Mart back in 2000, the company was under attack for its low wages, its lack of health insurance for many workers, and its seeming indifference to its impact on the environment. Wal-Mart was vilified and demonized. Still, CEO Lee Scott grew and grew the company.
Mr. CHARLES FISHMAN (Author, "The Wal-Mart Effect"): During Lee Scott's tenure, the sales at Wal-Mart have more than doubled, from $166 billion to what will be $400 billion this year. The number of stores outside the U.S. has gone from fewer than 1,000 to 3,500.
MONTAGNE: Charles Fishman wrote the book "The Wal-Mart Effect."
Mr. FISHMAN: Sixty-five percent of Americans live within five miles of a Wal-Mart. Ninety-four percent of Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart. Even if you don't shop at Wal-Mart, wherever you shop, that store is competing with Wal-Mart. So, there's no question that Wal-Mart itself touches the life of every single American, every day.
MONTAGNE: Even if Americans have barely heard the name Lee Scott. It's not a name that trips off the tongue. Most people don't really know much about him.
Mr. FISHMAN: Right. Wal-Mart is fairly faceless, and I think for a long time, that was purposeful. I guess people knew who Sam Walton was. But Lee Scott himself, I think, has been a very effective leader inside the company. He has changed the way the company thinks about itself and relates to the world. Wal-Mart was so insular when Lee Scott took over. They essentially did not talk to reporters; they did not have a Washington lobbying office. And he actually listened to the criticism and instead of bunkering in, which has been Wal-Mart's practice for 40 years, and ignoring the criticism - covering their ears and just building new stores - he actually had the wherewithal to stop and say, well, maybe if we can turn down the screaming, there might actually be something there for us to learn from.
Mr. FRED KRUPP (Former President, Environmental Defense Fund): You know, it's probably a little bit of an overblown analogy, but I almost think of Lee Scott as a Gorbachev leading glasnost, because Lee was this figure that opened Wal-Mart's walls up to the outside and changed how they did business.
MONTAGNE: That's Fred Krupp; he was once among the fiercest critics of Wal-Mart, as head of the group the Environmental Defense Fund. That's past tense, because he now works closely with the giant retailer, and therein lies an interesting tale about Lee Scott. A couple of years ago, the CEO joined the environmentalist on a trip to the white mountains of New Hampshire. Lee Scott wanted to learn about climate change. What he learned moved Scott to throw his company's weight behind energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. That was the beginning of Wal-Mart's shift towards becoming a greener corporation.
(Soundbite of Wal-Mart advertisement)
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Unidentified Woman: This is a GE compact fluorescent light bulb. Didn't cost a lot because I got it at Wal-Mart. It can save me $47 in electricity costs...
MONTAGNE: Lee Scott also realized he could make money selling affordable energy-saving products, and by cutting energy costs inside his own company. After 30 years at Wal-Mart, he wasn't about to change Sam Walton's focus on keeping prices and costs low. In a recent speech, Lee Scott recalled one manager's meeting with his old boss and company founder, Sam Walton.
(Soundbite of speech)
Mr. SCOTT: And he'd get around that room and he looked at me, and he said, Scott - so, you knew it was coming - what in the world happened to your driver uniform costs this month? Normally, it was $1,000, it was $1,500. Five hundred - this a billion-dollar company, and he managed the details of that business.
MONTAGNE: Lee Scott is still beholden to Walton family members who control the board, and that's why Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union, continues to wage war with the company over pay and health insurance. So, while environmentalist Fred Krupp describes Scott as a transformative leader, Stern believes he missed his chance for greatness.
Mr. ANDY STERN (President, Service Employees International Union): Where Lee Scott never really came out of his Arkansas background to appreciate is, the leader of the largest private-sector company in the world has an opportunity and an ability to set a different standard in the marketplace. And he chose to keep making his $15,000 an hour, and kept those workers at $10.68 an hour. And if he had said, I am going to share more, I'm going to have a different business model - and I think that is the missing link for Lee Scott's greatness.
MONTAGNE: As for the CEO himself, a couple of weeks ago, Lee Scott had this to say about his departure.
Mr. SCOTT: I want to be able to walk out of my office on the 31st of January, I want to turn out the light, and be able to believe that Sam Walton would be proud of what myself and my team accomplished.
Mr. FISHMAN: Sam Walton would have to rub his eyes many times to try and understand the company that he left behind just 16 years ago. It's 10 times the size it was then. There was one overseas store when he died. Overseas sales are now twice what the whole company was when he died. So, I'm sure Sam Walton would be proud. I think he'd be puzzled. I think he'd need a tour.
MONTAGNE: Author Charles Fishman.
Mr. FISHMAN: I think the question is, if the legacy that Lee Scott set in motion in the last three or four years really takes root inside Wal-Mart, I think we'll look back 15 years from now and say, Wal-Mart has become one of the most important sustainability forces in the country. So, his legacy remains unclear, but he has laid a really interesting foundation for a new agenda for Wal-Mart.
MONTAGNE: Lee Scott steps down tomorrow and on Monday, Wal-Mart's new CEO will be another little-known company insider, Mike Duke. He's been running Wal-Mart's international operations. That's a division of the company that barely existed when Lee Scott took over, but is now seen as critical to the future of Wal-Mart.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Time now for your comments.
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MONTAGNE: Something that caught your attention recently was an interview with food columnist Mark Bittman. In his book "Food Matters," Bittman writes that Americans should eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat, for their health and for the environment.
(Soundbite of NPR's Morning Edition, January 22, 2009)
Mr. MARK BITTMAN (Author, "Food Matters"): If you eat a couple of meals less of meat each week, you're doing, yourself and the planet, you're doing all of us a favor.
MONTAGNE: Katie Hacker-Brown(ph) in Keystone, Indiana, says sometimes, eating meat does the planet a favor. She writes: If someone is choosing between a plate of corn grown many states away, or a steak from cows raised purely on grass in their own area, then the steak actually makes more sense.
And we'd like to make a little more sense for you on something that many of you write that you're confused about. That's our references to President Barack Obama as Mr. Obama. NPR's own ombudsman, Alicia C. Shepard, hopes to clarify.
ALICIA C. SHEPARD: NPR's policy is to call him President Obama on first reference, and Mr. Obama every time after that. This has been NPR's policy all the way back to the Ford administration.
MONTAGNE: That would be back in the 1970s, with former President Gerald Ford.
And one of our listeners pointed out an omission yesterday in our story about the 50th anniversary of the Miles Davis classic album, "Kind of Blue." Laurence Burke(ph) of Lakeland, Florida, noted that we didn't acknowledge the only living member of the group of musicians who played on that album. That person is drummer Jimmy Cobb. He turned 80 on Inauguration Day.
(Soundbite of song "Kind of Blue")
MONTAGNE: And here he is on "Kind of Blue." Jimmy Cobb's So What band is celebrating that album at 50 with a world tour. That tour kicks off at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on May 2nd. You can send us your notes any time by going to npr.org. Just click on Contact Us.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. In these hard times, many states are reduced to selling government property, like desks and police cruisers. Mississippi plans to sell a jet. Valued at $3.7 million, it's been used to fly Governor Haley Barbour around. If the state senate approves, Mississippi will offer the jet on eBay. That's something Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, famously did. Mostly lost in that story: The Alaska state jet didn't sell on eBay. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. A kindergartner in Nevada celebrating his birthday got cupcakes in class - and an unusually big present. When young Gabriel put down his cupcake long enough to unwrap that huge box, out popped his dad, back from Iraq. Army mechanic Casey Hurles is home for two weeks of playtime. Gabriel understands his dad will leave soon. The Associated Press quotes the child as saying, he works in the war. It's Morning Edition.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with the shrinking American economy.
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MONTAGNE: The U.S. economy turned in its worst economic performance in more than a quarter of a century in the last three months of 2008. That's according to a report from the Commerce Department this morning. The gross domestic product, or the output of all goods and services in the economy, contracted at an annual rate of 3.8 percent. NPR's John Ydstie joins us to talk about it, and John, economists had predicted the report would show a 5.5 percent decline in economic output. So, it turned out not that bad or - so, could you call this a good sign?
JOHN YDSTIE: You know, I don't think it changes the overall situation very much. After all, this is the first estimate; it'll be revised a couple of times in the next few months, quite possibly down. There was a big build-up in unsold inventories during the quarter. That means businesses have lots of goods already on hand to sell off. That means factory work will probably slow down even further in the coming months.
MONTAGNE: So, is that part of the reason we're seeing layoffs in companies like Caterpillar, which has been quite successful until recently, and Boeing this week?
YDSTIE: That's right. They're anticipating even less demand for their products in the coming months, because the world economy is also deteriorating rapidly. It's interesting to note that this GDP report showed the U.S. economy actually grew 1.3 percent for all of last year, but then had a big drop-off in the last quarter. And that's largely because, even though U.S. consumers were getting stingier all through the year, the overall U.S. economy was being kept afloat by exports because China and India and other parts of the world were buying our products. But in the last quarter of 2008, the demand from the rest of the world dried up as they began to be affected by this financial crisis as well.
MONTAGNE: Is this the worst quarter that we're going to see? I'm going to ask you to predict if we've hit bottom.
YDSTIE: You know, I don't think many observers would be willing to say that, even though we hit some pretty negative milestones in October, November and December of last year. For instance, consumer spending fell by about 3 and a half percent, after having fallen by about the same amount in the previous quarter. That's the first time since they began keeping records back in 1947 that consumer spending has fallen more than 3 percent in two consecutive quarters. But there's no sign consumer spending is picking up right now. In fact, there are signs that the decline in the economy continues to accelerate, as more and more companies - from Boeing to Starbucks - announce layoffs.
MONTAGNE: NPR's John Ydstie, thanks very much.
YDSTIE: You're welcome, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is Morning Edition from NPR News. Steve Inskeep is on assignment in Iran. I'm Renee Montagne. And in Afghanistan, getting supplies to U.S. and NATO troops has become a major headache. The country has few airports, so many supplies are trucked in from Pakistan. And militants are ambushing these trucks on isolated roads; 60 were hijacked or destroyed last year. The U.S. military is trying to set up new supply routes, and announced a deal last week with Afghanistan's northern neighbors and Russia. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is in Kabul, and files this story.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: A truck hauling electrical supplies enters the gates of the NATO-led coalition's headquarters in Kabul. A forklift driver is on hand to meet the truck.
(Soundbite of forklift)
NELSON: He removes its cargo box by box, and drives them to a nearby storage shed. The delivery looks quick and easy, but looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to supplying Western military bases in Afghanistan. Just ask U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Wilson. The West Point professor is currently a senior American logistics officer here.
Lieutenant Colonel JEFFREY WILSON (Philosophy, U.S. Military Academy at West Point; Logistics Officer, U.S. Army, Afghanistan): I have a friend who is in charge of the joint logistics command under the 101st Airborne Division, and the phrase he uses is that logisticians in this country move the ball down the field two yards at a time.
NELSON: Wilson says this mountainous country, with more dirt roads than paved ones, poses challenges for even the most seasoned military-supply experts.
Lt. Col. WILSON: Compounding these challenges, of course, is the presence of a human enemy.
NELSON: That enemy is the Taliban. In the past year, its fighters and their allies have increased attacks on all trucks and tankers inching along the roads leading from Pakistan. Officials say militants have also started blowing up bridges and overpasses on other major roads. Still, Western military officials claim the attacks have not noticeably disrupted their supply lines. Jeffrey Wilson, the Army logistician, says more goods were successfully trucked in to U.S. forces last month than during any month in the past four years. Canadian Brigadier General Richard Blanchette, the spokesman for the NATO-led coalition here, likened it to a river.
Brigadier-General RICHARD BLANCHETTE (Deputy Chief, Staff Operations, International Security Assistance Force, NATO): This is a constant flow of good that is coming in, and the insurgents are basically shelling water outside of it. And you know, those that are using the water at the end don't see the difference.
NELSON: Owners of Afghan trucking companies hired to deliver military supplies are far less confident, like Tila Mohammad Otmanzai.
Mr. TILA MOHAMMAD OTMANZAI (Owner, Trucking Company, Afghanistan): (Pashto spoken).
NELSON: He complains the private security guards sent to accompany supply convoys make the trucks more of a target. Some of his drivers have also accused the guards of fleeing during attacks. Otmanzai adds that a few of his drivers refuse to haul military supplies anymore, like Noorgol Otmanzai, who is no relation to him.
Mr. NOORGOL OTMANZAI (Truck Driver, Afghanistan) (Pashto spoken).
NELSON: The 28-year-old says he quit after he and his younger brother were attacked five months ago, while coming from Pakistan. Their tractor-trailer, which he painted with flowers and peacocks to make it look more like a civilian truck, was carrying cooking oil bound for a Kabul market. Otmanzai says the militants attacked them with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire. One bullet struck his brother, Mirwais, tearing through both of his legs. He says they managed to escape, thanks to a U.S. military convoy that turned up. The Americans returned fire and drove the militants off.
(Soundbite of open road)
NELSON: The spot where the brothers were attacked is a notorious pass two hours from Kabul called Tangeeyeh Abrisham.
(Soundbite of open road)
NELSON: It's easy to see why this is a good place for insurgents. They come to the top of the mountains here, where they have a direct vantage point on the trucks, which move very slowly because they are going uphill. You can see tankers and other trucks that have been shot that are just littering the side of the road. Those that have been removed, you can see the black marks that are left behind.
Recent U.S. and Afghan military operations appear to have curbed attacks in the area where the brothers were attacked. But they and most other Afghans interviewed for this story believe that putting more soldiers on the roads is the only way to ensure lasting safety. Colonel Jerry O'Hara, a spokesman for U.S. forces here, says he appreciates the truckers' concerns.
Colonel GERALD O'HARA (Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Army, Afghanistan): And we talked about an initiative where truckers and drivers can - via cell phone - call in directly to our operations center and report an incident, thereby decreasing the time it takes to react to a particular incident.
NELSON: But O'Hara says there aren't enough troops here - foreign or Afghan - to guard all of the country's roads all of the time. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Kabul.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Perhaps you'd rather forget the movie and just go out for a beer. With that in mind, we have a tale now about a beer made in Laos. OK, Laos, beer, not an obvious connection. The Southeast Asian nation doesn't have a long history of making or exporting beer, but it does have a national brand and lofty goals. The company's brewmaster - a woman, by the way - wants to go global. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports from the Laotian capital.
MICHAEL SULLIVAN: Sivilay Lasachack is not your average brewmaster. For starters...
Ms. SIVILAY LASACHACK (Brewmaster, Lao Brewery Company): I don't like to drink.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. LASACHACK: I cannot drink a lot. I am brewmaster, but I cannot drink so much beer, because I don't prefer get drunk.
SULLIVAN: But she does like to make beer, and she's making plenty of it these days at the Beerlao brewery just outside Vientiane.
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SULLIVAN: Laos is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia and one of the most sparsely populated, too. But the brewery here is state of the art, and it's running nonstop, producing Beerlao in bottles, kegs and cans.
There's a lot of beer being made here. How much beer can you make a day?
Ms. LASACHACK: Eighty thousand cases per day.
SULLIVAN: Eighty thousand cases of beer a day?
Ms. LASACHACK: Yes.
SULLIVAN: That's a lot of beer.
Ms. LASACHACK: Yes, is a lot of beer.
SULLIVAN: There's only 6 million Lao, but you drink a lot of beer.
Ms. LASACHACK: Yes, about 20 liters per person per year.
SULLIVAN: That's almost as much beer as Americans drink. But the Lao weren't always so fond of their beer. The brewery was actually started by the French, for the French, back when they were the colonial power here. Sivilay never much liked that idea. She remembers riding past the brewery one day as a teenager and thinking Lao should be running it, not the French. Once the communists took over, she got her chance when she was given a scholarship to study in the Eastern bloc with some of the world's best.
Ms. LASACHACK: I learned from Czech Republic in Prague at university. And also, I trained in Copenhagen, also brewmaster, and also in Germany, in Berlin also.
SULLIVAN: Six years later, she was back in Vientiane and set about changing the beer made at the factory now under state control. She quickly ditched the old French recipe - too bitter, she says - and replaced it with a new one that used more rice instead of expensive, hard-to-get imported grains.
Ms. LASACHACK: Beerlao is a little bit sweet when we use the rice. It's good thing for Lao person, because the Lao people, the customer, prefer that one.
SULLIVAN: Do they ever. Production has steadily increased from just 3 million liters a year to 200 million liters a year today. And it's not just the Lao drinking it but foreign tourists, too, many of whom have their first frosty Beerlao at one of the many restaurants that have sprouted up along the Mekong River in the capital.
Mr. AARON THURMEYER: It tastes similar to some of the beer in Canada that I like to drink, actually. It goes down really smooth...
SULLIVAN: It's a lot cheaper.
Mr. THURMEYER: It's cheap - cheap is nice, yeah. Since we've been in Lao, I haven't drank anything but. Seems to be the only way to go.
SULLIVAN: That's Aaron Thurmeyer from Calgary. His traveling companion, Sarah, says she's a fan, too, and would drink it at home if she could.
SARAH: I think I would buy it just for the simple fact that I drank it overseas and so, you kind of get...
Mr. THURMEYER: The nostalgia of it, yeah.
SARAH: A little bit, yeah. You kind of get a little bit of, you know, bring Lao home with you, sort of.
SULLIVAN: And that's exactly what Sivilay Lasachack and her team are counting on - a word-of-mouth campaign rather than a big advertising blitz they couldn't afford anyway - to create the kind of beer buzz Mexico's Corona enjoyed back in the '70s. Sivilay says her beer is better than Corona. and a beer that stacks up well in international competitions, where Beerlao has won several awards.
Ms. LASACHACK: We export now to France, to U.K., Japan, Australia and Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia. But the capacity is not so big.
SULLIVAN: Sivilay says only about 1 percent of production finds its way abroad, and she hopes to increase that to 10 percent in the next five years. She's not the only one who thinks the beer has a future outside Laos. Carlsberg recently acquired a 50-percent stake in the company, and has agreed to us its global distribution network to help grow the brand. Until then, Sivilay says, she's resigned to hearing more of the same at international competitions: Great beer, people say, but where's it from? And where is Laos, anyway? Michael Sullivan, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
While you're waiting to see which motion pictures win the Oscars this year, maybe you'd like to see a movie that's not exactly Oscar caliber. If so, film critic Kenneth Turan says he's got just the one for you, opening this weekend.
KENNETH TURAN: "Taken" is a brisk and violent action film that can't help being unintentionally silly. It's all about an innocent American teen abducted in Paris by a completely ruthless gang of Albanian white-slavers. And would you believe that the only person who has the skills and the moxie to have even a chance of bringing her back alive is her divorced dad? He starts by giving the bad news to his ex-wife and her new husband.
(Soundbite of movie "Taken")
Mr. LIAM NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) She's been taken.
Ms. FAMKE JANSSEN: (As Lenore) What are you talking about?
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) Any enemies overseas, Stuart?
Mr. XANDER BERKELEY: (As Stuart) Why would I have any enemies?
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) Because you do business overseas through multiple shell corporations. Because you're involved in an oil deal with a bunch of Russians that went south five years ago.
Mr. BERKELEY: (As Stuart) How the hell do you know about that?
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) Because I was not going to let my daughter live with someone without knowing everything about them.
TURAN: That's Irish actor Liam Neeson as the tough dad. Larger than life at 6-foot-4, and an actor who wears his heart on his sleeve, Neeson throws himself into the role of Bryan Mills, ex-CIA, making good use of a purposeful scowl that combines fury with disgust. He certainly has a lot to scowl about. Mills is retired now, spending lonely nights consuming take-out Chinese food because he wants to get closer to his daughter and make up for years of separation. But as Mills himself says, I'm retired, not dead. And when his daughter and a friend get abducted by those amoral Albanians, he springs into action.
(Soundbite of movie "Taken")
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) If you were looking for ransom...
(Soundbite of beat)
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills...
(Soundbite of screaming)
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) Skills I have acquired over a very long career.
(Soundbite of impact)
Mr. NEESON: (As Bryan Mills) Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
(Soundbite of yelling)
TURAN: Mills always puts evil in its place, whether it's a horde of virginity-despoiling Arabs - some stereotypes simply refuse to die - or that unpleasant gang of marauding Albanians. Innocent people do get shot in the process but hey, no one said this was going to be easy. Mills leaves an innocent friend bleeding on the floor and tells her husband: Tell your wife, I apologize. And they say that chivalry is dead.
MONTAGNE: The movie is "Taken." Kenneth Turan reviews movies for Morning Edition and the Los Angeles Times. And we review more of the current movies at npr.org.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Harvey Pekar is best known for the autobiographical comics he began publishing in the 1970s. Over the years, his caustic self-portraits have highlighted his struggles with everything from cell phones to Cleveland winters to cancer. The success of his comic books earned him guest appearances on "The David Letterman Show" and on this show. In 2003, the Oscar-nominated film, "American Splendor," closely based on his comics, introduced Harvey Pekar to many who'd never read his books. And tonight, the former hospital file clerk is making his opera debut with his wife and another couple onstage at Oberlin College. From member station WKSU, Karen Schaefer reports.
KAREN SCHAEFER: Comic-book fans may not know it, but jazz fans know that Harvey Pekar is one of them. He writes record reviews and album liner notes.
Mr. HARVEY PEKAR (Comic Book Writer): I've been a critic of jazz and of fiction for a real long time, and I'm always up on my soapbox, you know. So I sort of put down on paper one of my rants.
SCHAEFER: What he put down on paper was the libretto of what's being called a jazz opera, titled - not uncharacteristically - "Leave Me Alone."
(Soundbite of jazz opera "Leave Me Alone")
Mr. PEKAR: Hello, I'm the famously dyspeptic Harvey Pekar. I came up with a theme for tonight's performance and helped put it together.
SCHAEFER: "Leave Me Alone" opens with a monologue delivered by Pekar about how ordinary people should support experimental art, particularly avant-garde jazz. And he really believes he can convince the mainstream to like this music.
Mr. PEKAR: I'm trying to get every man involved in art, into experimental music or painting or novel writing. It's important to have the support of the masses. I'm trying to get them to think about what it takes.
SCHAEFER: It's just the kind of music saxophonist Dan Plonsey plays in his spare time.
(Soundbite of saxophone)
SCHAEFER: A Cleveland native, Plonsey now lives in the San Francisco Bay area. He was approached to compose a jazz opera, and his wife, a longtime Pekar fan, suggested he call Harvey to write the libretto. Pekar had already reviewed some of Plonsey's music.
Mr. DAN PLONSEY (Composer; Saxophonist): The way Harvey and I worked was Harvey had this idea about the avant-garde needing to find its audience, otherwise it'll die. My addition was I wanted it to be also a personal kind of - there's a personal need to find a time to do creativity, otherwise you'll die. So he's speaking for society, and I'm kind of speaking for the individual.
(Soundbite of jazz opera "Leave Me Alone")
Unidentified Man: (Singing) Music is the next system.
SCHAEFER: In the opera, both men play themselves. The plot, not unlike a Pekar comic, is autobiographical and revolves around the writing of the opera itself. Spotlighted on stage in a set that looks like his California studio, Plonsey, a 50-year-old high school math teacher by day, struggles to bring home a paycheck and still have time for his art. In one scene, Plonsey's real-life wife, Mantra, lights into him for cleaning up the kitchen when he's meant to be working on the living room.
(Soundbite of jazz opera "Leave Me Alone")
Ms. MANTRA PLONSEY: (Singing) Stop that.
Mr. PLONSEY: (Singing) What?
Ms. PLONSEY: (Singing) Stop sweeping with all the things we have to do.
SCHAEFER: Mantra, an actress, dancer and mother of two, says playing the role of the angry wife doesn't bother her too much.
Ms. PLONSEY: What good does it do to give a false impression of what it's like to be an artist married to an artist with kids in the real world?
SCHAEFER: Across the stage, the 69-year-old Pekar alternately writes, sleeps and eats on a secondhand sofa on a set designed to replicate his own cluttered Cleveland living room. Sitting in his real-life living room for an interview, Pekar was interrupted by his wife, Joyce Brabner.
Ms. JOYCE BRABNER: Oh, hi. Could you do interviews out of the house, Harv?
Mr. PEKAR: Yeah, I know. But I didn't think you were going to be back so soon.
Ms. BRABNER: Well, I'm sorry, but you know, we've had too many people in.
Mr. PEKAR: Well.
Ms. BRABNER: I'd appreciate if you could wrap this one up.
Mr. PEKAR: OK. You're right.
Ms. BRABNER: Like I said, I'm serious, Harv. I just don't want...
Mr. PEKAR: I know, I know you're serious.
Ms. BRABNER: No, that means you take me seriously, OK?
SCHAEFER: Brabner is an author of political comics and non-fiction. She's also co-written a number of Pekar's books. Despite her fit of pique, she's a strong supporter of her husband's work.
Ms. BRABNER: The reality of it is that in this house there are two writers who are both working. And you know, one of my jobs is making Harvey famous, you know, publicizing, promoting him, making deals, finding people who want to make movies. See, if I had been constructing this opera, I'd be celebrating the mundane activities that go on to support the art every bit as much. I wouldn't be talking about them as intrusions. Because let's face it. If somebody's not calling you to dinner and you're the genius artist, you're not going to eat.
SCHAEFER: Besides the two couples, Oberlin College students make up most of the opera's cast and orchestra. Twenty-three-year-old Patty Stubel(ph) is one of the singers.
Ms. PATTY STUBEL: It's funny. I went back home to Dallas, and my friends were like, so, you know, what are you doing? And I told them about this opera, and I was like, yeah, it's written by this guy named Harvey Pekar. And they're like, as in "American Splendor" Harvey Pekar? And I was like, yeah, I had never, you know, I hadn't really heard of it. And they're like, are you kidding me? So, my bad.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SCHAEFER: While a lot of other people do know who Harvey Pekar is, it's probably fair to say even most jazz fans don't know composer Dan Plonsey's work. He'll be satisfied if just a few people leave the opera knowing a little more about him and the music he and Pekar are trying to champion.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. PLONSEY: You know, I'm not out to sort of invent some whole new, crazy method of making music. I find it more interesting to try to lure people in with something that they can actually hear, and then they discover what they're listening to is really strange.
SCHAEFER: As for Harvey Pekar, the famous curmudgeon seems uncharacteristically anxious to reach an audience.
Mr. PEKAR: I don't know what this is going to be like. I mean, you know, I seriously want to make this a good show and a thought-provoking show, and I hope that the audience, you know, likes it, thinks a little bit about what I said and enjoys, you know, the music.
SCHAEFER: Pekar says while he hopes people will enjoy the opera, he's not about to write another one. For NPR News, I'm Karen Schaeffer in Kent, Ohio.
SIMON: You can see photos from "Leave me Alone" and hear a conversation between Harvey Pekar and artist (unintelligible) at nprmusic.org.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
On Tuesday, "Liza's at the Palace" will be released. It's the original cast recording of Liza Minnelli's recent sold-out show on Broadway. And the two CD set is in fact a double showcase because disc one features many of the tunes that made her most famous on stage, including - do we need to tell you this? - "Cabaret."
(Soundbite of "Cabaret")
Ms. LIZA MINNELLI (Singer and Actress): (Singing) Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret.
SIMON: The second disc relives the 1940s nightclub act that was made famous by her godmother, Kay Thompson.
(Soundbite of "Hello, Hello")
Unidentified Man: (Singing) Katie Kay Thompson.
Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) Hello, Hello. Hello and thanks so much. Your greeting is enough to touch my heart.
SIMON: Liza Minnelli joins us from our studios in New York. Thanks so much for being with us.
Ms. MINNELLI: Thank you. Hello, everybody.
(Soundbite of "Hello, Hello")
Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) And now that all the formalities are through We might as well - Oh, you haven't all met No.
SIMON: Of course, everybody knows, you're the daughter of Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland but let me get you to talk about Kay Thompson, your godmother.
Ms. MINNELLI: All right.
SIMON: You first.
Ms. MINNELLI: OK.
SIMON: (Laughing)
Ms. MINNELLI: Well, Kay Thompson was Hollywood's secret weapon.
(Soundbite of song "The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe")
Ms. JUDY GARLAND (Actress and Singer): (Singing) What a lovely trip I'm feeling so fresh and alive And I'm so glad to arrive It's all so grand
Ms. MINNELLI: She was the musical director at MGM. So all of those great arrangements that you heard, I guess in the 40s, you know from '44 probably right up till '49, were all Kay Thompson's. So, everything that made you smile really was - was because of her. She taught people how to sing. She arranged things. And the - her vocal arrangements were astounding.
(Soundbite of song "The Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe")
Ms. GARLAND: (Singing) When I ever took a ride on the Santa Fe I would lean across my window sill
SIMON: There's a part of me that - I think one of the best movie songs of all time is "The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe."
Ms. MINNELLI: Me too. Kay Thompson.
SIMON: That was her song.
Ms. MINNELLI: Absolute - that was her arrangement.
SIMON: It was her arrangement, yeah.
Ms. MINNELLI: Absolutely. All of that stuff and - that's Kay.
(Soundbite of "I'm Nobody's Baby")
Ms. GARLAND: (Singing) What a thrill With the wheels a-singin' westward ho Right from the day I heard them start.
Ms. MINNELLI: And like I said. She had been the lady behind the scenes. And suddenly, she did a nightclub act with four guys called the Williams Brothers, one of which was Andy Williams, right? And it knocked everybody off their seat. And she played that run - that night club run for almost 60 weeks. So, Ron Lewis, who is my friend and my director and choreographer and has been since 1970, I asked him, will you - would you help me? Let's try and celebrate Kay Thompson. She was such a huge part of my life.
(Soundbite of "I Love a Violin")
Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) And when the violin Begins to sob and sigh I look at you and I I've got to fall in love So, honey, hold me close My heart is in a spin.
SIMON: I've read the reviews, and the show on stage that you do, - it requires constant movement. I think the Wall Street Journal said, even the tireless Ms. Minnelli is frequently left gasping for breath. Now you had - what is it - in recent years knee operations, hip replacements?
Ms. MINNELLI: Oh, yeah, I've had everything but, you know, so has practically everybody else. (Laughing). You know, I'm just, you know, I'm fine but I'm disintegrating. (Laughing). No, I think, you know, Kay Thompson did everything in a musical term called "tune". In other words, just to demonstrate for those people who don't know that term. If you're going, (singing) Bugs won't bug, breeze won't breeze, and do won't do, right? That's four. If you're going, (singing) Bugs won't bug, breeze won't breeze, and who won't do, that's two. And she did everything in that pace.
(Soundbite of stage performance)
Ms. MINNELLI: Others may lag, temples may drag but Kay Thompson could never be slowed. So, (singing) let's get this show on the road. Clap your hands, let me (unintelligible) Give me that. Give me that. Give me that crazy mixed up beat. (Scatting)
She was amazing. And, yes, I am left gasping for breath but it's the most joyous exhaustion I have ever experienced
(Singing) Come along and join a two (unintelligible).
SIMON: You have a whole new set of fans - Liza fans you've created by appearing on the show "Arrested Development."
Ms. MINNELLI: Yeah. Isn't that the silliest show you ever saw?
SIMON: What made you do such a show?
Ms. MINNELLI: Well, I - my friend Ron Howard, who I've known since my father directed him in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," the movie.
SIMON: Mm-hmm.
Ms. MINNELLI: He called me one day and he said, listen, I think I met one of the few people who knows how really funny you are, and I want you to play a slapstick role. Just - it's out-and-out humor. You don't have to be the straight man, you are the comic part. And I said, sure. I'll do that.
(Soundbite of "Arrested Development")
Ms. MINNELLI: (As Ms. Austero) Buster?
Mr. TONY HALE: (As Byron "Buster" Bluth) Wow, Ms. Austero. What - what are you doing here?
Ms. MINNELLI: (As Ms. Austero) A touch of the disease (laughing).
Mr. HALE: (As Byron "Buster" Bluth) Oh, oh (laughing).
Ms. MINNELLI: I mean this lady has vertigo and, you know, whenever she gets nervous, falls down.
SIMON: Mm-hmm
Ms. MINNELLI: So, the first time that I - I went to shoot the first, you know, episode that I was in, it came time for the line right before I fell down and they said, OK, cut. And they brought in a lot of pads for the floor and a stunt double, and said well, she'll fall down for you. I said, are you kidding? I went to my dance teacher, Luigi, and he taught me 17 different ways to fall down.
SIMON: (Laughing)
(Soundbite of "Arrested Development")
Ms. MINNELLI: (As Ms. Austero) Oh, I'm all right. I'm all right. Ugh!
SIMON: I want to ask you about - a song that's on the - this other disc which is "Liza Minnelli: The Complete A&M Recordings," it's one of my favorites, the Kander and Ebb song "The Happy Time."
Ms. MINNELLI: Oh, yes. Well, you know, I - I have always said that Kander and Ebb really invented me. They wrote "Liza with the Z" for me and gave me my identity.
SIMON: Mmm hmm.
Ms. MINNELLI: You know, everything they wrote for me, I adore singing. "The World Goes 'Round" - like what a song that is! But, you know, everything and the "Happy Time" is well, you'll hear it just makes you happy.
(Soundbite of "Happy Time")
Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) I'm longing to see you smile And hear you laugh So I can have a photograph and remember you Remembering the happy time
SIMON: Do you listen to Judy Garland music?
Ms. MINNELLI: Not often. It makes me sad.
SIMON: Yeah.
Ms. MINNELLI: You know, to other people it's Judy Garland music. That's my mother. And it makes me miss her.
SIMON: Yeah.
Ms. MINNELLI: It would be like you had - if you- those of you who've lost a parent, if you had a recording of their voice, even speaking to you and you played it over and over again. It's sentimental.
SIMON: Yeah.
Ms. MINNELLI: You know. My mother never wanted me to be sad.
SIMON: Well, it's just been wonderful talking to you. Thanks so much for all of your time.
Ms. MINNELLI: Oh, thank you so much.
SIMON: Liza Minnelli. Her new CD, "Liza's at the Palace" is on Hybrid Recordings and it comes out this Tuesday, speaking with us from New York. Thank you so much for all your time. Nice talking to you.
Ms. MINNELLI: Thank you, sir. Can I ask you to play one thing for me?
SIMON: Of course.
Ms. MINNELLI: Thank you. To kind of close my section because it's everything I've ever wanted to say to an audience.
SIMON: Of course.
Ms. MINNELLI: And if that sounds corny, screw it. (Laughing) I don't care. I'm old enough to say that.
SIMON: Yeah:
Ms. MINNELLI: It's the second song on this album. It was written by Billy Stritch...
SIMON: Uh huh.
Ms. MINNELLI: And Johnny Rodgers and Brian Lane. And you'll hear it now. And it says everything I wanted to say to you all. Thank you very much.
SIMON: That's "I Would Never Leave You"?
Ms. MINNELLI: Yes.
SIMON: OK. Thank you so much for all of your time and being so nice.
Ms. MINNELLI: Thank you, honey.
(Soundbite of "I Would Never Leave You")
Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) The smoke have cleared And look who is out here The same damn dame you've always known I never left and I would never leave you, where would I go? Just know how much I need you I never left and I would never leave you alone
SIMON: You can hear more of our conversation with Liza Minnelli and full music cuts on our website, nprmusic.org. You know, it's worth going there. This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
As the recession wears on, it's likely that more people will lose their jobs, but employers may be able to soften the blow. At least that's what a business school near Seattle teaches. In fact, the school was forced to test that concept when it recently had to make painful staff cuts of its own. From member station KUOW, Liz Jones reports.
LIZ JONES: The Bainbridge Graduate Institute isn't your typical business school. The institute, or BGI, says it offers a degree in sustainable business. Students call it the hippy MBA program. The school's founder, Gifford Pinchot, explains it this way.
Mr. GIFFORD PINCHOT (Co-founder and President Emeritus, Bainbridge Graduate Institute): Bainbridge Graduate Institute is devoted to bringing sustainability and social justice into the business curriculum.
JONES: So last fall, when the school faced cuts, it wanted to avoid a so-called corporate approach.
Ms. JILL BAMBURG (Former Dean, Bainbridge Graduate Institute): As a business school, we teach our students the values of transparency and participation, and it's very difficult to maintain those values in a layoff situation, but we did at least try.
JONES: That's Jill Bamburg. She's the former dean who helped guide the budget-cut process. The school needed to trim more than a million dollars to make up for a drop in fundraising. Once that target was set, things moved quickly. A task force, including Bamburg, drafted a plan. The next morning, they called an all-staff meeting. Then they did something few businesses would attempt - they came clean and asked for help.
Ms. BAMBURG: Everybody knew what we were up against. And by getting everybody to work together on the three most desirable choices, which were cut out-of-pocket expenses, cut programs or increase revenues, that's a great place to harness everybody's energy.
JONES: Each department split off to review their individual budgets. Sally Metcalf had worked at the school less than a year. She knew her job on the accreditation team was on the line.
Ms. SALLY METCALF (Staff Member, Bainbridge Graduate Institute): It was a very uncomfortable thing to do because I felt as if, OK, I'm coming into this room and cutting myself out of a job.
JONES: But Metcalf tried to put her own job aside as they went through the numbers.
Ms .METCALF: People were very much wanting to look at the budget, contribute, find where we can trim, do the best that we can for the organization.
JONES: When the group reconvened, they'd collectively found more than a half million dollars in cuts. They'd saved some jobs but the budget was still short. Next up was pay cuts, 10 percent from managers and 20 percent for top officers. That was a last step before layoffs. All afternoon, the school ombudsman met with employees about staffing needs. Finally, the task force settled on eight people to lay off, a quarter of the staff. First thing the next morning, managers met privately with people who'd been let go. Sally Metcalf was one of them.
Ms. METCALF: When I went into the room to be laid off, the two people who were talking to me started to cry. You know, that really kind of says it all. Sally, we really don't want to see you go. Are you going to be OK?
JONES: This style of a more personal, compassionate approach to layoffs is something Frank Buysse is seeing more of lately. He's a manager with Lee Hecht Harrison, a global firm that advises companies about downsizing and layoffs.
Mr. FRANK BUYSSE (Manager, Lee Hecht Harrison): I do see more care about how the message is given. And it really values not just those employees, but also their brand as an organization. By doing this right, it will maintain the value of their brand in the community.
JONES: What's more rare, Buysse says, is BGI's open and inclusive approach when it came to budget cuts. He questions, though, whether that would work for bigger companies.
Mr. BUYSSE: It may work. There are some challenges in that, I think. There'll be people jockeying for position, and I do see some challenges, especially in public organizations that are traded on Wall Street. I haven't seen it work that way.
JONES: People at BGI agree there's no perfect way to do layoffs, but students there say it's good to learn a new approach, although they're not exactly eager to use it. From NPR News, I'm Liz Jones in Seattle.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
The rise of Barack Obama and the historic challenges facing his presidency have prompted comparisons to past presidents including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. But in these very early days, there are also parallels drawn between Mr. Obama and a more recent occupant of the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
DON GONYEA: First, let's state one very basic truth right off the bat, President Obama and former President Reagan are very different ideologically. Obama, a Democrat on the liberal side, Reagan, a Republican and an iconic conservative. Having said that...
Representative MICKEY EDWARDS (Republican, Oklahoma): There's a lot more similarity between Reagan and Obama in their approach to government than people give credit for.
GONYEA: That's Mickey Edwards, a conservative Republican who represented Oklahoma in Congress during Mr. Reagan's years in the White House. Edwards says it starts with tone, and he hears echoes of Mr. Reagan's first inaugural address in Mr. Obama's. Most people who remember the Reagan speech remember him saying government is not the solution. But Edwards remembers he also said this.
Former President RONALD REAGAN: Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work. Work with us, not over us - to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it.
GONYEA: Compare that to President Obama's address, where he said the question is not whether the government is too big or too small.
President BARACK OBAMA: But whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account.
GONYEA: Lou Cannon has written five books on Ronald Reagan and he is struck by one common element in the two presidencies.
Mr. LOU CANNON (Reagan Biographer): In 1981, when Reagan was in office, it was as bad in unemployment as Obama faces, much worse in some areas. He had 15 plus prime interest rate, 12 plus inflation. We're talking about the two worst economic situations in Reagan's and Obama's that have been inherited since the Depression.
GONYEA: Cannon says the President Obama he's been watching for the past week and a half seemed to take on the role of president effortlessly, and that you have to go all the way back to 1981 to find a new president who seemed as instantly comfortable in the job.
Mr. CANNON: You've got presidents who are comfortable in their own skin.
GONYEA: The similarity of style also struck former Congressman Mickey Edwards.
Representative EDWARDS: The sense of, we're going to provide you with competent leadership that is not full of certitude. We have ideas, we're going to try the ideas. If they don't work, you know, we'll try something else and we'll keep at it until we get it done.
GONYEA: Edwards says that approach tends to reassure the public, and polls seem to bear that out. Both Mr. Obama and Ronald Reagan saw their poll numbers jump dramatically between election day and the day they took office. Edwards is one of a number of prominent Republicans who say they voted for Mr. Obama. The list includes several of Ronald Reagan's top advisers, such as General Colin Powell and former Reagan Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein. Edwards goes so far as to wonder whether the former president himself, if he were still alive, might have thought about voting Democratic in 2008. Reagan biographer Lou Cannon declined to speculate on that theory but he did offer this.
Mr. CANNON: I don't know whether he would have ever voted for Obama. But what I think he would have been doing now is silently cheering for him.
GONYEA: It is clear that Obama has studied the Reagan presidency closely. During the Democratic primaries, he even got heat for admiring remarks he made about the Reagan leadership style and commitment to ideas. Now he's got the job, though, no one seems to mind if the 44th president emulates those particular qualities of the 40th. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
You know, for many Americans, Super Bowl Sunday is about beer, but that's not how our next guest sees it. Gary Vaynerchuk is the proprietor and thehost of winelibrarytv.com. He also runs the Wine Library in New Jersey. He's a friend of our programs. He's also the world's ranking New York Jets fan, and boy, they could use a fan right about now, aren't they?
Mr. GARY VAYNERCHUK (Host, Wine Library TV): I love being known as the ranking number one Jets fan, I'll take it. Better than being the wine guy.
SIMON: Let's see what you recommend for some specific things a lot of people are going to be serving at Super Bowl parties, OK.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Sure, OK, fire away.
SIMON: Nachos.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Nachos. We're going to go with a wine called Paso a Paso, and you should see these glasses we have. These are tremendous.
SIMON: They're French jelly-jar glasses.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Yes. Paso A Paso, it's a 100 percent Verdejo from Spain, high acid, eight to ten bones a bottle and a wine that would go tremendous with not only nachos but if you are using guacamole, as well. First, a sniffy sniff.
SIMON: Yeah. OK.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: You got to smell the wine.
SIMON: All right.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: All right? What are you picking up on the nose? Are you getting acacia flowers at all?
SIMON: Oh, I wouldn't have said that, but yeah. I am, come to think of it, now that you've put it in my mind. Yeah. I was going to say wheat grass.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: There is a grassiness component to it, a little bit like a slice of lemon, almost what you'd put on the top of - a lemon peel on top of your espresso. So there's a little bit of a citrus play here, as well. Now give it a whirl. Wait till you see what the acid does.
SIMON: Oh, I like that! Mmm. That is great for nachos. Oh, wow!
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: I mean, to me - you're impressed, right? And you know why? Because it's got a lime component, and I think a lot of people like that.
SIMON: That is great. It's even got a nice label, you know?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: And it's green, so like the Jets. So that makes me happy.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: It is kind of Jets green, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Yes, a little bit. Let's move on.
SIMON: OK.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: What else you got?
SIMON: They're not in the Super Bowl this year, but let's say, you know, Buffalo wings.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: You got it. Let's go to the red wine glass. I'll pour this for you. I've got an interesting play here. This comes from Chile. This is an $8 bottle of wine. Again, you know, price has no impact on the quality of wine, so a lot of times people don't think about wine for Super Bowl because they don't want to serve junk, but they can't spend a fortune because it's expensive. I mean, what are you going to, have wine for 40 people?
SIMON: So that's when they get...
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Coors Light is easier. And don't forget, people don't drink as many glasses of wine as beers. So there is an absolute value play even in an economy like this to serve good wine and still make a smart budget play in comparison to beer and have great food and wine pairings.
So what this is is the Cantus, C-A-N-T-U-S, Carmenere. It's a grape a lot of people have not had a lot of experience with out there. It's one of the original Bordeaux grapes, but it's really made a home and a name for itself in the last five years in Chile. I'm curious to see when you think here.
SIMON: Black cherry?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Agreed.
SIMON: There's a little - there's another something...
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: A basily(ph) green pepper component, right?
SIMON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: It's got - so it's got like cherries but it got greenness to it.
SIMON: Yeah, yeah.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Which I like. I'm a big vegetable guy.
SIMON: Ah, that's very tasty.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Do you like it?
SIMON: Yeah, I do, that's light. That's nice, yeah.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: This is interesting to me because you have to be a big fan of pomegranate. I mean, do you get it? There's a pomegranate base here, a little chocolate action.
SIMON: It's really good. You know, I'm thinking of, like, with the Buffalo wings, that'd really be good. That is kind of like stop it cold, you know?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: I think so, too. You know, for a meatier, kind of chicken play, I think that this black fruit and that pomegranate little cranberry on that mid-palate that you get, and then that shaved Snickers kind of milk-chocolaty feel. It's got the length and the creaminess, I think, to match up with that kind of food.
SIMON: All right. What about chili?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Chili is a tough play, and really - because there's so many variations out there. Believe it or not, I actually...
SIMON: Oh yeah, because I mean, now they make wild boar chili, that sort of thing. I had wild boar chili in Texas. Thank you.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: I'm going to go somewhere pretty interesting on this. I've done this before. It's thrown people for a loop. I actually recommend Chardonnay for chili a lot of times, but not the oak monster, that scary thing that comes out of California a lot when they over-oak the Chardonnay. No, we're recommending a Tripoz Macon from the Macon region in Burgundy, in White Burgundy, 100 percent Chardonnay. Again, a $12 wine from T-R-I-P-O-Z is the (unintelligible) Tripoz.
SIMON: We're going to sniffy sniff now, right?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: We're sniffy snipping, yeah, you get it.
SIMON: Something almost like lemon and celery.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: You know what's funny? I got a lot of celery on this wine.
SIMON: Yeah.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: A lot. I also get a little bit of a fig component on the nose.
SIMON: I like it. Nice finish. Is that what we say? Nice finish?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Yeah. I think it's a little hollow in the mid-palate, but you know what I'm getting? A lot of pineapple on the back end. Are you getting it? It's almost like Dole. I mean, just like Dole juice, like the pineapples were taken out and...
SIMON: That's what it is, yeah.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Right? Isn't it wild? It's really heavy. I don't even remember it having this much.
SIMON: This could be a good breakfast wine.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Yeah, breakfast wine...
SIMON: My father-in-law looks for a breakfast wine.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Everybody just got excited. There's a lot of people who have need some breakfast wine.
SIMON: Gary, always a pleasure me taking to you. OK?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: It's a real pleasure.
SIMON: Thanks very much. Gary Vaynerchuk. By the way, you can also find a link to Gary on our Web site, npr.org. Of course, you can also him in person at the Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey. Why bother with midtown Manhattan when they can come and see you in New Jersey?
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Or at the parking lot of Giant Stadium, any football Jets home game.
SIMON: Oh, right. You'll be there, too, come to think of it.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Yes, I'll be there too.
SIMON: Thanks very much, Gary.
Mr. VAYNERCHUK: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
It took less than 24 hours for the new governor of Illinois to start putting his imprint on state government. Patrick Quinn, sworn in this week after Illinois lawmakers ended the state's scandal-ridden saga by impeaching and ousting Governor Rod Blagojevich. NPR's Cheryl Corley has more on Mr. Quinn's first full day on office.
CHERYL CORLEY: Just like anyone who wants to make a good impression on a new job, Governor Quinn started the day early. First, phoning in to radio talk shows.
Governor PATRICK QUINN (Democrat, Illinois): Well, it's a busy day ahead. You know, it was quite a day yesterday.
CORLEY: Next, the governor held a press conference for a phalanx of reporters who have been standing sentry outside the glass doors of the governor's office in the rotunda of the state capital.
Governor QUINN: Good morning, I think the people of our state are ready to move forward and that is...
CORLEY: Pat Quinn has often been described as a do-gooder and a populist. So, it wasn't surprising there was no pomp and ceremony. Instead of a grand entrance from the governor's office, he had come from behind reporters and made his way to the podium. The governor called this day a beginning and he announced he was signing his first executive order, making sure that a reform commission looking for ways to clean up state government would operate under the auspices of his new office.
Governor QUINN: We're going to start to fumigate state government from top to bottom to make sure that it has no corruption.
CORLEY: Quinn said one of his top priorities is to restore the state's integrity. He also took on a number of other questions about the size of the state's budget deficit, about taxes and about when he was moving into the state's executive mansion. As the questions continued, the governor's press secretary Bob Reid started to look a little nervous. The schedule was packed. It was time for Quinn to get on the state's plane and head to Chicago. And Reid was trying to move the governor along.
Mr. BOB REID (Press Secretary for Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn) I'll do what I can.
CORLEY: But this was new territory for the governor so many reporters and so many questions. He stuck around a bit longer.
Unidentified Woman : Do you expect to get any sort of honeymoon period from Republicans?
Governor QUINN: Well, I don't expect a honeymoon, I just expect...
CORLEY: Just work in the best interest for Illinois, he would add before heading into his office. Soon afterwards, he'd fly into Chicago.
Governor QUINN: How are you guys? We have all of our constitutional officers here.
CORLEY: Governor Quinn ended his first day of official meetings in his Chicago office. He had asked other state officials - the Illinois attorney general, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, and the Illinois comptroller - to join him in a brainstorming session. Attorney general Lisa Madigan, who had tried removed former Governor Rod Blagojevich from office through legal maneuvering, called this gathering of the state's top executives with the governor a rare occurrence.
Attorney General LISA MADIGAN (Illinois): And I can say that the last time that happened under former Governor Blagojevich was July first, 2003. So I know already that Governor Quinn is going to be a very different governor than our former governor.
CORLEY: Quinn says the meetings will be held regularly. So the state's elected executives can work together to find solutions to the state's finances, or to initiate ethics reforms. But this first meeting says Quinn, was about unity.
Governor QUINN: Well all love Illinois, and I think it's very important that we convey that to the public, that our state is going through a tough time and it's had a grievous wound. But we're going to repair any damage, all of us working together.
CORLEY: Today, the governor will attend a conference in the state capital and visit another part of Illinois to salute volunteers helping neighbors with their taxes, it's all part of Patrick Quinn's plan to show Illinois residence that they have a new governor who has an entirely different approach to governing. Cheryl Corley, NPR News.
SIMON: You're listening to Weekend Edition from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
To put a 30-minute TV show on the air, you need actors, producers, directors, camera people and a physicist - at least for some shows. More and more shows now rely on scientists to keep the facts straight in a plot. Astroparticle physicist David Saltzberg is a consultant to the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," a show about a socially awkward geeky scientist. He joins us from McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Dr. Saltzberg, thanks so much for being with us.
Dr. DAVID SALTZBERG (Astroparticle Physicist): Oh, my pleasure.
SIMON: What's an astroparticle physicist?
Dr. SALTZBERG: I'm actually trained as a particle physicist, and my interests over the years have drifted a little more towards astronomical questions. And we're using the tools of particle physics to do a little astronomy. And so people in this situation call ourselves astroparticle physicists.
SIMON: So how do you help out a sitcom?
Dr. SALTZBERG: They send me the scripts a couple weeks in advance, and I look them over and see if there is anything that would make a physicist cringe when they might hear it. And I get, for example, if someone is doing an experiment or has a new piece of apparatus, I get a chance to fill it in.
SIMON: So for example, if you get a script that has a scientist referring to the Earth being flat, you say, no, no, no, it's actually round.
Dr. SALTZBERG: That's right, I say, almost but round. Exactly.
SIMON: Do you ever branch out into other forms of advice of like, I mean, do you ever say something like, that's not funny?
DR. SALTZBERG: They have a lot more experience with comedy than I have at physics, so I tried to pretty much stay away from that. Once in a while I try to pitch a joke and we see how far it goes, and I think in a total of 30 episodes, I've only gotten one through. So, I think we'll let the professionals stay with the comedy.
SIMON: My experience with comedy writers has been, one out of 30 is not bad. Can you give us an astroparticle what do you call yourself, (laughing) astroparticle physicist joke?
Dr .SALTZBERG: Astroparticle physics?
SIMON: Yes, can you give us a joke about that? One astrophysicist walks into a bar. Bartender says...
Dr. SALTZBERG: We have one like this one. A proton walks into a black hole.
SIMON: Yeah, yeah. (Laughing) Oh, I get it. Well, that's very good. So is - do the show business people ever say, thanks for your advice, doctor, but we think we're going to stick with what we have?
Dr. SALTZBERG: Sure, it's their show. But the writers love science. When I have an idea for a (unintelligible) to come or a small correction, they're genuinely interested in the reason.
SIMON: Dr. Saltzberg, what are doing in Antarctica?
Dr. SALTZBERG: We're building a telescope down here. But it's not a telescope that uses light, it's a telescope that uses particles called neutrinos. And neutrinos don't like to interact very much, and they are very hard to catch. So we need an enormous telescope, and we're using the Antarctic ice sheet as the first piece of our telescope. So, we have a million-square kilometer telescope.
SIMON: Is it a little hard to work down there as a scientist and not have a laugh track?
Dr. SALTZBERG: (Laughing) We have a lot of laughter going on here.
SIMON: Thanks very much, astroparticle physicist in UCLA professor David Saltzberg speaking from McMurdo Station. Thank you, doctor.
Dr. SALTZBERG: You're welcome.
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Today's elections are being seen as a test of the sturdiness of Iraq's democracy, six years after the U.S. invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein, just as the new administration has pledged to withdraw U.S. troops in 16 months, depending on conditions on the ground. We're joined now by two Iraqis whose lives have also enriched America. Feisal al-Istrabadi served as deputy permanent representative for Iraq at the United Nations from 2004 to 2007. His grandfather helped draft Iraq's first constitution in 1925. His family had to leave Iraq following the 1970 coup that installed the Baath Party. Ambassador Istrabadi joins us now from member station WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana, where he is currently visiting professor at the Maurer School of Law there. Mr. Istrabadi, thanks so much for being with us.
Mr. FEISAL AMIN AL-ISTRABADI (Former Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations): My pleasure to be with you.
SIMON: And we're joined in our studios by Anas Shallal, a businessman and peace activist. Mr. Shallal's father was ambassador for the Arab League to the United States. His family too fled Iraq two years before the al-Istrabadis and could not return after Saddam Hussein seized power. Mr. Shallal runs several restaurants in Washington, D.C. and provided the catering for Cindy Sheehan's peace encampment in Crawford, Texas a few years ago. Mr. Shallal, thank you very much for being with us.
Mr. ANAS SHALLAL (Iraqi Businessman): Thank you so much.
SIMON: Let me ask you each in turn, beginning with you, Mr. Ambassador, then you, Mr. Shallal. Is Iraq better off today than it was six years ago?
Mr. AL-ISTRABADI: Too soon to tell. We're better off in that we got rid of the previous regime, and but for the American intervention, Saddam Hussein and his sons and his grandchildren after him would have ruled Iraq. I'm convinced of that. The number of American blunders, however, made the road of reconstruction unnecessarily difficult. It exacerbated the tensions between Iraq's various communities and within its political class, tensions which have threatened in the past and may do so again to rip the country asunder. I think the jury is still out.
SIMON: Mr. Shallal?
Mr. SHALLAL: I think there has been, and I agree with Mr. Istrabadi, there has been so many blunders that have taken place in this invasion. So, to say, is it better off or not depends on who you ask. Everybody has lost a child or a loved one or a mother or a father. Everyone has seen injury and death firsthand. Iraq is in desperate condition as we speak and, you know, it can only get better. So, hopefully, things will start to turn around.
SIMON: Mr. Shallal, let me address this to you first. The Obama administration seems to already be saying that Iraq is yesterday's commitment. They're moving to put more forces in to Afghanistan. How do you feel about that?
Mr. SHALLAL: I think it's long overdue that U.S. troops need to depart from Iraq. I think the presence of U.S. troops and the fact that U.S. troops have overstayed their visit is problematic to Iraqis and sovereignty of Iraq. Maybe in the short run, it serves a purpose by keeping the warring factions apart from one another. But sooner or later, they're going to have to leave, and the longer the U.S. stays in place, and the longer those divisions become deeper and clearer, the more difficult it will be for the U.S. to depart and for Iraq not to fall in to a serious civil war.
SIMON: Ambassador Istrabadi?
Mr. AL-ISTRABADI: Well, this is a very difficult question. On the one hand, the United States has been inept in its presence. On the other hand, in the absence of the U.S. over the past six years there would have been complete chaos in the country, not with the country breaking up into a Shia zone, a Sunni zone and a Kurdi zone, but rather a very high probability of the country ending up looking like Somalia with warlords controlling particular geographic areas.
SIMON: Let me ask each of you this finally. Let's arbitrarily say three years from now, will Iraq be together, Mr. Istrabadi?
Mr. AL-ISTRABADI: Three, yes.
SIMON: Five?
Mr. AL-ISTRABADI: Yes.
SIMON: Mr. Shallal?
Mr. SHALLAL: Three, no. Ten, yes.
SIMON: Really?
Mr. SHALLAL: Yeah.
SIMON: The country will come apart and then decide?
Mr. SHALLAL: I think that almost inevitably it's going to happen. Once these walls that have been built come down literally, you're going to have a lot of infighting.
Mr. AL-ISTRABADI: I think that the existence of these sectarian parties, I think that their days are numbered. So, I think the Arabs of Iraq will be able to come together and hold that part of the country together. I don't think we're going to divide into a Sunnistan and a Shiastan.
SIMON: Gentlemen, thanks so much. Ambassador Feisal Istrabadi is now a visiting professor of law at Indiana University in Bloomington. Thank you, sir.
Mr. ISTRABADI: My pleasure. Thank you.
SIMON: Anas Shallal, an Iraqi businessman living in Washington D.C, thank you so much.
Mr. SHALLAL: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This week, President Obama opened a meeting on the economy by saying he just had to get something off his chest.
President BARACK OBAMA: My children's school was canceled today. Because of what?
Unidentified Woman: Ice.
President OBAMA: Some ice?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Unidentified Woman: Welcome to Washington.
Unidentified Man: Chicago.
(Soundbite of laughter)
President OBAMA: As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled. In fact, my seven-year-old pointed out that you'd go outside for recess in weather like this.
(Soundbite of laughter)
You wouldn't even stay indoors. So, it's - I don't know. We're going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Rah. The president's comments might reflect some of the frustration of moving from Chicago, where the civic creed is, I will, to Washington D.C. where the municipal motto might as well be, not so fast. By the way, the District of Columbia's public schools did not cancel classes. It was the private school which Mr. Obama's daughters attend that canceled them. But Washingtonians are a little loony about snow. Mere flurries make weathermen wail, schools shutter, food stores empty and people slip and slide like sailors staggering down Bourbon Street. In Chicago, they say, snow, shmo, and salt, shovel, and otherwise dispose of it the way Al Capone disposed of Bugs Moran. Washingtonians think, that's an awful lot of heavy lifting for an event that strikes just once or twice a year. Mayor Marion Barry once enunciated his stunningly simple snow removal plan. Hey, it'll melt.
At the same time President Obama was proclaiming some of the virtues that Chicagoans like to feel are instilled by Great Lakes winters, Governor Rod Blagojevich was demonstrating that true character is not guaranteed by geography. He was on trial before the Illinois State Senate, but rather than offer a point-by-point rebuttal, Mr. Blagojevich whirled through a circuit of talk shows like Tom Cruise trying to sell a bad movie. He didn't quite bounce on Oprah's couch, but he let slip that he'd pondered offering America's daytime queen a seat in the U.S. Senate. Now, some impeached politicians would stand defiantly in the docket against their accusers. Governor Blagojevich decided it was time for his close-up.
(Soundbite of song, "Everything's Coming Up Roses")
Ms. ETHEL MERMAN: (Singing) Curtain up! Light the lights! You got nothing to hit but the heights! You'll be swell. You'll be great. I can tell. Just you wait. That lucky star I talk about is due! Honey, everything's coming up roses for me and for you!
SIMON: Ethel Merman. This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Argentina and Uruguay finally agree - it does take two to tango. For years, the two countries have vied over which created the dance that's considered the closest thing to canoodling on two feet. Uruguay claims the tango was invented in Montevideo. Argentina says, it was created in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. The two nations have decided to unite to petition UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency, to grant tango world heritage status. Each country hopes to establish a tango museum in its capital city. Eduardo Leon Duter, director of culture from Montevideo told Britain's Observer newspaper this week, the dominant factor is that tango is something we share. While it's good the tango is spreading around the world, alterations invariably begin to creep in. There are certain original elements that need to be preserved. But no two nations are competing to claim credit for inventing the Macarena.
(Soundbite of "Tres Amigos" by Canaro, Francisco y Su Orquesta Tipica)
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The polls have closed in Iraq without any major violence reported. It's the first time that all ethnic and religious groups have taken part in the voting. Sunnis boycotted the last election in 2005. They were expected to turn out in large numbers today. These elections will decide who controls 14 of the 18 Iraqi provinces. Four of them are not voting today. It's turned into a heated but relatively peaceful political campaign. We go down to the Shiite holy city of Najaf. NPR's JJ Sutherland is there. JJ, thanks for being with us.
JJ SUTHERLAND: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: How did the voting go?
SUTHERLAND: Well, incredibly well according to all Iraqi officials. There were no major reports of violence. There were no major reports of incidents of elections violation. Turnout here in the south was very high. People were - everyone I spoke with was very excited about voting. There was a steady stream of voters, the people - the places I went to. But elsewhere in the south was high, and also - but the Iraqi government is very, very pleased. They've extended the voting for one hour so everyone could get to the polls, but there have been no reports of any problems.
SIMON: And in that area of the country, which of course, as we noted, is mostly Shiite, what are the campaign issues?
SUTHERLAND: The biggest issue here is, there are two major Shiite parties. One which is run by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the other, which is a more religious party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. Now, they're partners at a federal level in a coalition government, and - but at the provincial level they really do have some major differences. The biggest one is that the Supreme Council would like to make a sort of mega-province in the south, which would be very distant from the federal government, sort of like the Kurds have in the north already. And Prime Minister Maliki really wants the central government to be strong here. And so that was the biggest issue.
SIMON: As we noted, Sunnis didn't vote the last time. Many Sunnis are expected to participate this time. What changes might that bring about?
SUTHERLAND: Well, it really changes dramatically in two provinces. One, Diyala Province northwest of Baghdad, because the Sunnis didn't vote, was end up being run by Shiites provincial counsel, even though Sunnis are the majority there. And that also happened in Nineveh Province, except there it was the Kurds. And in Anbar Province, which is all Sunni, only a very small number of Sunnis actually turned out. So this is really going to dramatically change the make-up of those provincial counsels. The Sunnis really have high expectations, now that for the most part the fighting has dramatically reduced, that they can actually get some services and some recognition from the government, which they really feel has been somewhat sectarian in not delivering services to them.
SIMON: And JJ, what do Iraqis see as being at stake in these elections?
SUTHERLAND: Well, I think the what they really feel as being at stake is, what is the future of their country going to be? Is it going to be able to become a democratic country? The elections four years ago in 2005 were far from representative. They were marred by violence. And this is really - and what they've done today is, they've shown they can have an election peacefully. Now the next step is, can there be a transfer of power peacefully? Because I think that in some of these provinces, the parties that are in charge now will no longer be in charge, but there's never really been a peaceful transfer of power here by elections. And so the question is, is this election going to be legitimate? Can it be seen as fair and free? And will those now in power turn over that power to their electoral opponents?
SIMON: NPR's JJ Sutherland in Najaf, Iraq. Thanks so much.
SUTHERLAND: You're welcome, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. This week, an $819 billion stimulus plan passed the House of Representatives. No votes from Republicans. Meanwhile, new numbers from the Commerce Department showed the nation's economy shrank at a 3.8 percent rate in the final quarter of 2008, the worst drop since 1982. President Obama had tough words for some Wall Street executives. And Illinois kicked its embattled governor out of office. NPR senior news analyst Dan Schorr joins us. Hello, Dan.
DANIEL SCHORR: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: And first, let's get to the stimulus package. It passed the House on Wednesday. No Republican votes. Many Republicans said it is not just a stimulus plan, but they thought a lot of it constitutes spending without job creation. How important is it to President Obama to have some Republican votes?
SCHORR: Well, it's very important. He wants very much to be a consensus president, and in order to get some Republican votes, he invited them to see him alone, with Democrats and so on. He really has gone very far out of his way to try to get Republican votes. The fact that he didn't get votes in the House, however, should not necessarily be taken to mean that the Senate will be just the same.
SIMON: You think he might win some Republican votes in the Senate.
SCHORR: There were indications that some of the - Olympia Snowe of Maine and others are indicating interest. They want changes. And now it comes down to a very tense negotiation.
SIMON: All of this is going on as the economic numbers seem to be getting worse. The nation's GDP dropped at a 3.8 percent rate at the end of last year. Consumer spending fell, 3.5 percent pace. President warned, says there will be an even worse slump if Congress doesn't act. How do you assess what seems to be now the central face-off between spending that's going to create jobs with projects and those that say a lot of this spending doesn't necessarily lead to jobs?
SCHORR: Well, it's a question of, does spending create jobs or do tax cuts create jobs? It comes down to that. The Republicans say, as they have always said, that the best thing you can do is to give them their money back, that is to say, to cut taxes.
SIMON: Yeah.
SCHORR: And that will inevitably flow into the economy. It doesn't always work that way. The Keynesian principle, which is a principle which the Democrats are following, that you need a big massive infusion into the economy, which cannot come from tax cuts alone.
SIMON: Meanwhile, President Obama denounced a massive infusion into the pockets of Wall Street executives who got $18 billion in bonuses last year even while their firms were tanking and had to get support from the taxpayers.
SCHORR: Yes. And the president called that an outrage. And I must say, I've never seen him quite so publicly angry as he was about this. If you think back to Lincoln, Roosevelt, and how you get things done when they're very hard to do, what you really try to do is first of all, you make a lot of friends. Then you need an enemy. For President Roosevelt, the enemy was so-called economic royalists, the fat cats. Here you have, in this new president, he would rather do it by consensus, but short of that, he could look for an enemy. And any kind - anybody on Wall Street who at a time like this while taking taxpayers' money goes out and buys big airplanes or otherwise uses the money for bonuses and so on, is a pretty good candidate for enemy.
SIMON: Let's turn to Illinois. I've been restraining myself for a couple of minutes. But the state senate voted 59 to zero to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office.
SCHORR: Yes.
SIMON: He is now banned from holding state office in the future. Do you see some spillover effect into American politics generally? I mean, will this be dismissed as, oh, that's just Illinois?
SCHORR: Well, I don't know. Well, Illinois is Illinois. Chicago is Chicago. And I must say, things like this have happened before, although I must say, never quite in such a dramatic fashion. What this has done is to simply dramatize the great problem of creeping corruption.
You know, when I was in the Soviet Union, corruption was taken as a matter of course. You could see a doctor. It was free, socialist medicine, but you had to bribe the doctor if you didn't want to wait two years to see him. You want to get a seat in a restaurant, you have to bribe the headwaiter. Bribery was taken as a matter of course. I often used to think then, thank God I come from a country where bribery is not a matter of course. But now I'm not so sure anymore.
SIMON: Middle East. Special envoy George Mitchell traveled there this week for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and came back and said, you know, we have a lot of hurdles. This is going to be tough. Now people have sometimes cautioned over the years that envoys are for window dressing. In the end, the countries themselves have to want to talk.
SCHORR: Well, that's right. And he's apparently going very cautiously. First of all, he says, you've got to solidify the ceasefire, make sure that that's in place. Secondly, you've got to provide humanitarian aid for Gaza, and he comes with over $20 million that has been authorized by the president for UN agencies to help. Then thirdly, after done all that, in a very gingerly fashion and very carefully, he was then saying, can we get together and talk about a future peace settlement? That will take a while, but he's not hurrying.
SIMON: In Iraq, citizens voting in provincial elections today. How does the stability of that young democracy look?
SCHORR: Well, they had a big security clampdown to make sure that there isn't too much trouble. And it's very important to them because as a way of becoming part of the international community and becoming a sovereign state again, you demonstrate that by having elections and the elections work, and so they're working very hard to have this come out. It's only provincial elections and it doesn't change the whole government and so on, but the Iraqis think it is very important to demonstrate that they can vote.
SIMON: Thanks very much, Dan Schorr.
SCHORR: Sure thing.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
President Obama spent more than a couple of hours meeting with Republicans in Congress this week, though this didn't seem to win many votes for his economic package. It follows a dinner that conservative pundits enjoyed with Mr. Obama. Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, was one of the guests at that dinner. And Rich, did you in fact enjoy it?
Mr. RICH LOWRY (Editor, National Review): I did. It was enjoyable and fascinating and a very memorable evening.
SIMON: What's he like?
Mr. LOWRY: He's pretty much in private what you see in public. He's an extremely impressive guy. One thing I was struck by, he's just very comfortable in that kind of setting because he's really one of us, and by that I don't mean a conservative columnist, obviously, but a writer and someone who's interested in the world and interested in ideas. And I came away with an overwhelming sense of his self-confidence, which is really rather extraordinary and perhaps a little disturbing.
SIMON: Ooh, I guess we got to follow up on that, and here I just thought you were liking him.
Mr. LOWRY: (Laughing) Well, you can just see it fading into hubris, and he's someone who has zero sense of neediness. It's the exact opposite personality type of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton would have gone into that room and needed absolutely every individual to come away loving him and thinking that he agreed with them on everything. There's none of that to Barack Obama at all.
SIMON: He didn't change your mind on anything?
Mr. LOWRY: No, and it really wasn't that kind of - you know, he wasn't actively lobbying us. I think he just wanted to give us a sense that he's serious about wanting to listen to all comers.
SIMON: And do you think this meeting with House Republicans, meeting with folks like you, is this an important step in making the atmosphere more civil?
Mr. LOWRY: Yeah, I think the atmospherics are important, but as we saw on that stimulus vote, there's still no substitute for substance, and the Republicans on the Hill who have met with him come away liking him and saying he's sincere and they really appreciate that he takes time to see them, but they don't see the effects on the actual legislation.
And it's a very interesting phenomenon we've seen in the last week, Scott, where Republicans are opposing Obama without explicitly opposing Obama. They're voting yes to the package and saying, oh, it's not because of Barack Obama. It's all Nancy Pelosi's fault, which is, among other things, a reflection of the president's popularity at the moment.
SIMON: And let me ask you this. Governor Sarah Palin has launched a political action committee called SarahPAC. Her staff says it's not an exploratory committee for anything but we might be seeing some bumper stickers. Is Governor Palin someone who you look to to carry the torch of conservatism?
Mr. LOWRY: It remains to be seen. She's one of the most famous Republicans in the country. I think any Republican with national aspirations would envy that kind of recognition and fame that she has. But so she has a window of opportunity, but she has to take advantage of it by saying something substantive and distinctive about conservatism and the way ahead, and it remains to be seen whether she'll say that or not. In other words, she's not going to take advantage of this window just by showing up and winking, winsome though that may be.
SIMON: Rich Lowry, editor of National Review. Thanks so much for joining us.
Mr. LOWRY: Thanks a lot, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Coming up, kinder, gentler layoffs - is that possible?
But first, today Iran begins celebrating the anniversary of its Islamic Revolution. Thirty years ago, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile. Within 10 days, he was in power, replacing an American-backed king with the cleric who denounced the United States. Iran's regime marks the anniversary with a celebration it calls the 10-Day Dawn. It started today at Ayatollah Khomeini's tomb near Tehran. NPR's Steve Inskeep was there.
STEVE INSKEEP: The first thing to know about this shrine is that it's huge. The second, that it's unfinished. There are four giant gold minarets around an unfinished dome. We're beneath the ceiling made of bare steel trusses from which crystal chandeliers hang. A portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini is up on the wall with that famous glower. He's staring right at the camera with dark eyebrows. And far in the back of this huge crowd, we can hear some people getting off a few preliminary chants of "Death to America."
SIMON: Steve Inskeep at Ayatollah Khomeini's tomb earlier today. Steve joins us now from Tehran. And Steve, do the crowds still really chant "Death to America" or is it kind of like just for old times' sake now?
INSKEEP: (Laughing) They do definitely chant it, Scott, but they're very polite about it. There were songs by a military band at this event, and at the end of several of them you heard the chant, "Death to America." We heard it on the streets of Tehran at a demonstration earlier this week, but even at that demonstration, one of the people who was chanting turned around, saw us, saw that we were Westerners, we had microphones, and he said, I'm ready for my interview now.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: Americans have a set of memories about the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago. What do Iranians remember in speeches and songs today?
INSKEEP: They mark the exact moment that Ayatollah Khomeini's plane touched down. He was returning from exile in France. The Shah of Iran had already fled. Khomeini, who was a leader of the opposition, was coming back in effect to take charge of the country, and the details of this event are recounted the way that American schoolchildren learn to recount the battles of Lexington and Concord and the ride of Paul Revere. They see this as the beginning of a republic and a moment when huge crowds supported Ayatollah Khomeini.
It's worth remembering at a time when this government is not seen as very popular that Khomeini was hugely popular then. He was seen as a figure who altered the history of his country and helped to make it independent from the West. Of course, we should also remember that in those days, Khomeini was promising to include lots of kinds of people in his government, and in the end, he pushed many people out.
SIMON: And help us understand what Iran confronts on its anniversary today.
INSKEEP: Well, this is a time when Iran has a president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is being criticized at home and abroad. Iran's economy is bad. Inflation is among the highest in the world - as high as 28 percent. The government says it's being pulled down a bit, but it's still quite high. And at the same time, oil prices, which are a key part of the economy for this oil-producing country, are way down. And suddenly, Iran is being forced to discuss cutting back the subsidies that help people pay for things like food and fuel. And as a result of all of this, some people are reevaluating where Iran goes next.
But it's also a moment of great interest, Scott, because of course, there's a new administration in Washington and talk of possibly some new relationship with the United States.
SIMON: And does the Iranian government still have that hold on people we hear in those chants?
INSKEEP: Formally, yes. The government definitely holds all levers of power. They can arrest people who oppose them, and they often do. They jail journalists. They've closed opposition newspapers. But it's difficult, Scott. I was talking this past week with an analyst who said, Iranians are by no standards the people they were 30 years ago. The population is bigger, it's younger, it's better educated, too, and demanding a lot. And that might be symbolized by the coffee shop where I met this person.
There was a sign on the door saying women would not be served unless they were wearing traditional Islamic dress, and there was even a diagram, but inside, women were being served even though they had stretched the rules, stretched the requirement as much as they possibly could.
SIMON: NPR's Steve Inskeep in Tehran. Thanks so much.
INSKEEP: Glad to do it, Scott.
SIMON: Steve will report from Tehran over the next week on Iran 30 years after its revolution. Tomorrow on Weekend Edition Sunday, we'll listen to the voices of Iranian women. They've been the agents of change but are also targets of persecution.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
A hundred thousand more Americans lost their jobs this week. Layoffs were announced from Kodak to Starbucks to Ford. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed a stimulus plan and the new Treasury secretary got to work. Joining us now to help us absorb all this news is our friend from the business world, Joe Nocera, who joins us from the Radio Foundation in New York. Good morning, Joe.
JOE NOCERA: Good morning, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine, thanks. But this loss of 100,000 jobs in a week - literally staggering.
NOCERA: It's brutal. It's totally brutal. I mean, if you looked at Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, there must have been 50,000 jobs announced in the B section that day alone.
SIMON: Yeah. Well, let me ask you about what might wind up grabbing attention over the long haul, in any case, is the tongue-lashing that President Obama gave to Wall Street executives who got more than $18 billion in bonuses as their companies were being propped up by taxpayers. Mr. Obama called that shameful.
NOCERA: Right.
SIMON: You write at some length about this today in the New York Times. So let me put it to you bluntly. Are these executives greedy or stupid?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: And personally, I am stumped for an alternative word.
NOCERA: Well, you know, they have this mindset that bonuses is how people get paid. And they also have a mindset that this is a - not the top executives, but the top, top executives are not taking bonuses because they understand the symbolism, but everybody underneath it are still getting bonuses. They're smaller than they were, but it's still the sixth highest on record for crying out loud. And it is a cultural thing.
The bonus structure is so powerfully embedded in Wall Street that if you took away all the bonuses tomorrow, A, they'd all go broke because they're all living in the expectation they'll get a bonus, you know. And B, it's almost as if the Wall Street would collapse without bonuses. But having said that, it is ridiculous that they would do this in the face of the tens of billions of dollars of losses they've taken. The fact that the government is having to bail them out, you know, and the fact that frankly, let's be clear here, Wall Street brought down the financial system for the entire world.
SIMON: What's Secretary Geithner's next step? Or shall I put it this way, first steps?
NOCERA: Well, there are two things that they have to do almost immediately, and they're clearly working on both. The first is that they have to find a way to get the banks lending again. And that is, you can't just job(ph) on that. You have to get these bad assets that are on the banks off the banks' balance sheet because as long as they're there, they will continue to drop in value, they will continue to create losses and write downs, and as they do, they create fear among bankers that they can't - that any money they lend is money they should be hoarding as capital so they can remain solvent.
So they've got to figure out a way to do that. And there's a lot of talk about do we set up a government bad bank to buy these assets? Do we nationalize? Do we do an RTC program like the S&L?
The second thing they have to do is figure out a way to stabilize foreclosures on Main Street because as I have said more than once on this show and in my column, the root of the problem is that people are in homes they can't afford, and as foreclosures increase and continue, that goes right up the chain. That not only destabilizes neighborhoods and cities, but it also destabilizes Wall Street because it adds to the losses. So those are the two top priorities for the new secretary.
SIMON: And what about the finger-pointing back and forth between the U.S. and China?
NOCERA: Well, I thought Mr. Geithner was pretty dumb to speak a truth. You know, it's the old story, you know, the mistake is not saying something that's untrue, the mistake is saying something that's true. It is absolutely true that China manipulates its currency and is keeping it artificially lower that it would otherwise be. But it is also true that China is our largest creditor at this point, and if they stop buying our Treasury bills, we're in a heap, a heap of trouble.
And China is so - they get their back up so quickly when anyone criticizes them for, you know, their national policies of any sort that it just was an unhelpful remark. And of course, the Chinese immediately lashed back, both at Davos and then also in China itself.
SIMON: Do you think this represents a new kind of stringency in U.S.-Chinese relations?
NOCERA: It's hard to know. You know, the Chinese loved Hank Paulson, who had been there many, many times, like Goldman Sachs. And I'd like to point out, Goldman is the only investment bank that operates in China. So, you know, he always had that quiet diplomacy, and everything he said was moderated and cautious, and I'm not sure that this new government of President Obama's is going to be quite as cautious.
SIMON: Joe Nocera, thanks very much.
NOCERA: Thank you, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Time now for your letters.
(Soundbite of typewriter keys)
Many of you wrote about our discussion with Eve Ensler, the playwright, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who founded a hospital in Congo, about rape and mutilation in that country beset by civil war. Now, we prefaced the interview with a warning about the explicit nature of the conversation, but Jeff Emell(ph) and Mary Martin(ph) of West Hartford, Connecticut write: Words cannot express how strongly my wife and I are outraged at the story. We encourage our six- and ten-year-old children to listen with us on the weekends as there's so much interesting news and commentary. So for you to get into the graphic detail that was included in the story was just totally unnecessary and inappropriate. I agree that it's appalling what's happening to these poor people, but so is your coverage of this.
A different view from Elaine Livese Fisell(ph) of Los Angeles who writes: It's strange to say thank you for bringing such a horrific and beyond brutal and barbaric story of the evil, of the rape by Congolese men of women, children and even babies, but it is important and vital that listeners became aware of such tragedies.
Several of you wrote to ask how you can help the victims, and you can find that information on our blog, npr.org/soapbox.
Lots of mail also about our conversation with Alan Goldstein who had invested all of his substantial retirement savings with financier Bernard Madoff and is now broke. At age 76, his house is up for sale and he's looking for a job, but Mr. Goldstein says he doesn't want to be consumed by hatred for Mr. Madoff. Ann Hampton(ph) of Santa Rosa, California writes: This man is a saint. To have started at the bottom and made all that money himself with his wife and then to have it all stolen from him, my God, I find it remarkable that he can so practically state that he's now looking for work without a hint of sorrow or self-pity. I wouldn't expect that from a 20-year-old, let alone a man of 76. I am in awe of him.
Liz Pfizer(ph) of Wichita, Kansas has a different reaction. She writes: I find this maudlin portrayal awfully disturbing. He invested millions of dollars in one investment and a very risky investment. Scott Simon said there is a lesson in this, but did not follow up with advice to diversify investments, especially to move a large portion of assets into less risky investments such as bonds, money markets and CDs.
Finally, our conversation with the 80-year-old Benny Golson prompted this from Meredith Askey(ph) of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania: The piece on Benny Golson was magical. The way you intertwined the Chopin from the piano to Golson's version, weaving in Golson's voice, explaining his thought process. The whole story transported me.
Well, we offer free transportation wherever you like. Just write us via npr.org, and remember, please tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name. This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Now it's time not just for sports but the Super Bowl.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: Monday, the sun will rise in the east and a new champion of football will stride the Earth. But first, a game must be played. Super Bowl 43 to be exact, with the dynastic Pittsburgh Steelers face the upstart Arizona Cardinals anchored by veteran quarterback Kurt Warner. Joining us now before the battle begins, our own champion, Howard Bryant. Hello there, Howard.
HOWARD BRYANT: Hey, Scott, that was a passable John (unintelligible).
(Soundbite of laughter)
BRYANT: It was OK. He's not rolling over in his grave right now but he's thinking, give me a little bit more bass.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: A little bit? More like volume. Look, I mean, what a wonderful story. Kurt Warner, 37 years old, and you know, that's like a 109 in football years, and he's back in the Super Bowl for a second time.
BRYANT: Yeah. It's amazing when you look at Warner who played for the New York Giants and he got booed off the stage and he was on a Hall of - he was working on a forklift before making this Hall of Fame run of his when he went to the Rams. And then as high as he went, he crashed pretty much as quickly, and then he rose again with the Cardinals.
And it's fun to watch because he's one of those players that I think everybody can root for because his road wasn't easy, and he's not - we like to talk about the pampered athlete. I mean, once again, here is a person who was working. I think he was working at Home Depot, and now he's playing for the Super Bowl for the third time.
SIMON: And although the Steelers have five rings, and they're obviously one of the preeminent franchises, look, they are a great family-run organization when that's getting unusual, certainly, in sports.
BRYANT: It's almost extinct. They're one of the only ones, the Mom and Pop store of the NFL. I mean, the Rooney family goes back as far as you can go in terms of - along with the Giants, with the Mara family. I mean, that's not the same anymore, either.
So it's a great match-up. You've got so many different things that work here. Number one, you've got the dynastic Steelers. Yes, they do have five rings, and you've got the Cardinals, who are one of the great sad-sack franchises in the NFL. And they're completely - they don't have any respect in the league because even their ownner never spent any money, and so all of a sudden you have them playing for a championship. And normally, when you had one dynastic franchise going up against an upstart team, it was pretty much a guarantee for a Super Bowl blowout. But I don't think that's going happen in this game because Arizona has got a great offense. Pittsburgh's got a fantastic defense.
But it's also a family story, too, because the Cardinals were built by taking a lot of the Steeler executives when Ken Whisenhunt, who was with Pittsburgh when he got the job, he brought Pittsburgh executives over there and his coaching staff. And so, you've got two teams that really do know each other really well.
SIMON: You know, I got to go in there. A few weeks ago, I said I thought it was Arizona. Of course, the team began in Chicago years ago, so I got to go with the Cardinals. But Gary Smith, employee here who was at the front desk of NPR, the world's ranking Steeler fan, some of our listeners may remember, died a few months ago, and I got to tell you. Gary's up there calling the plays.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIMON: And I think things are going to look very good for Pittsburgh.
BRYANT: Well, I think he's in good shape. I think the Steelers will win the game because I'll always take offense over defense, and Larry Fitzgerald, even though he's been a one-man gang, I think the Steelers are going to - when you get two weeks to game plan for one player, I think you can beat them.
SIMON: Well, I'll say Arizona by three, and we'll figure this out next week.
BRYANT: I say Pittsburgh.
SIMON: Howard Bryant, senior writer for ESPN.com the magazine and the transmission fluid. Thanks so much.
BRYANT: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
Nobody put together words more lucidly, dreamily or sharply than John Updike. He died this week at the age of 76 after writing more than 22 novels, poems, short stories, essays and critiques. I'll miss the three or five more novels I'm sure he might have written, as even into old age he continued to grow and challenge himself.
Here are the opening lines from his 1960 novel, "Rabbit, Run."
(Reading) Boys are playing basketball around a telephone pole with the backboard bolted to it. Legs. Shouts. The scrape and snap of Keds on loose alley pebbles seem to catapult their voices high into the moist, March air, blue above the wires. Rabbit Angstrom, coming up the alley in a business suit, stops and watches. The ball leaps over the heads of the six and lands at his feet. He catches it on the short bounce with a quickness that startles them. As they stare, hushed, he sets his feet with care, wiggling the ball with nervousness in front of his chest. The cuticle moons on his fingernails are big, and the ball seems to ride up the right lapel of his coat and comes off his shoulder. As his knees dip down, it appears the ball will miss because he shot it from an angle. But the ball isn't going toward the backboard. It wasn't aimed there. But it drops into the circle of the rim, whipping the net with a ladylike whisper. "Hey!" he shouts in pride. "Luck," says one of the kids.
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Highway 90 cuts through west Texas and stops just once for the blinking light in the tiny town of Marfa. Its desolate beauty is the kind of blank slate filmmakers love. The movie "Giant" was shot there, as were scenes from "No Country for Old Men." Marfa was also the perfect canvas for artist Donald Judd's ambitious dream to create an indoor-outdoor art museum beneath the wide, blue Texas skies. Anne Goodwin Sides paid the town a visit.
ANNE GOODWIN SIDES: If you come into Marfa at night, you'll hit the brakes at a bright candy box of a store, emitting an extraterrestrial glow. It's an art installation called Prada Marfa, a faux boutique displaying beautifully lit Prada bags and shoes. It's hard to tell whether this store-as-sculpture is meant to be whimsical or wry. Is it art disguised as commerce? Or a big, wet advertisement for Prada pretending to be art?
Mr. BOYD ELDER (Videographer): The thing about Prada people don't realize, all that stuff is handmade. It's like from the old guild system which is almost gone. It's not like manufactured in China.
SIDES: Boyd Elder's attitude and appearance are pure Dennis Hopper. Elder is a videographer and artist whose painted cow skulls graced album covers for the Eagles. He works out of a studio in an old water tank within sight of Pradab Marfa.
Mr. ELDER: The really ironic thing about it, too, is, you think about all the immigrants that have walked across the desert in tennis shoes and cactus stalks woven into sandals and carrying a bag. And then you walk by the Prada store, and you see these shoes and these Prada bags on the immigrant, drug-dealing path into the North. I hate it, but then in another way it's so outrageous you got to love it.
SIDES: Elder isn't quite sure what Donald Judd would think of Marfa's latest installation. Elder knew him for more than 20 years before Judd died of cancer in 1994. A titan in the contemporary art world, Judd was a cantankerous, larger-than-life figure who'd scored a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art before he turned 40. His meticulously proportioned aluminum and colored Plexiglas boxes were as much a signature of the 1960s as the work of Andy Warhol, Richard Serra and Frank Stella.
MR. ELDER: Donald didn't believe in creativity out of chaos. I mean, everything with him was like set, established, perfect size, perfect color. He knew exactly the way he wanted it.
SIDES: Judd wanted his art displayed in clean settings, unmediated by titles or artist statements or curator's notes. He grew more and more frustrated with New York's small gallery spaces. So in 1971, he moved to Marfa, Texas. Judd proceeded to build one of the most ambitious art fiefdoms anywhere. He bought 16 decaying buildings, an entire decommissioned army base and three ranches spread across 40,000 acres. On the old army base, he transformed a pair of immense artillery sheds into modern art cathedrals. Glass walls let the sunlight play against the surfaces of Judd's 100 aluminum boxes, making some shimmer, some glow from within like furnaces.
For his residence, Judd turned two former airplane hangars into a starkly modern compound called the Block. This home, library and private gallery open out onto an expansive plaza of pea gravel.
Mr. CRAIG REMBER (Collections Manager, Judd Foundation): This is the fusion of art and architecture for Judd, and it's very important because here at the Block, you see his furniture, his art, his living spaces, how he modified his living spaces for art and working.
SIDES: Craig Rember, the Judd Foundation's collections manager, walks along the razor-straight path separating a raised lap pool and a vine-covered pergola. Rember swings open the square, metal-and-glass front door that gracefully pivots in the center, and we step into a bedroom the size of a basketball court.
Mr. REMBER: And what you see here are the three variations of the so-called stacks that Donald Judd is pretty much - it's pretty much his signature piece. They are 10 individual units, each one measuring nine by 40 by 31. And...
SIDES: Rectangular boxes made out of stainless steel and yellow and blue Plexiglas are stacked like giant staircases that climb the walls in mathematically calibrated progressions. Larger boxes are placed in the center of the room like sleek futuristic sarcophagi. Judd didn't set out to build a personal shrine. He dedicated equally lavish spaces to the artists he admired most. A cavernous warehouse along the railroad tracks houses John Chamberlain's baroque sculptures of crumpled car parts. Six U-shaped barracks are the stage for Dan Flavin's hypnotic light installations.
Mr. DAVID NOVROS (Painter): There are a lot of artists who have had similar visions about having art in place but they only think about it for themselves. Donald was way beyond that.
SIDES: New York painter David Novros was commissioned by Judd to create works specifically for his exhibition spaces.
Mr. NOVROS: He was thinking about places where art could be seen by everybody for free made by a lot of different people, you know, who all share this one idea about making a thing in place, you know, and that's really unique.
SIDES: Judd's two children grew up in this vast, raw desert where sculptures outnumber people. Rainer, his 38-year-old daughter, says it took some adjustment.
Ms RAINER JUDD (Donald Judd's Daughter): As a kid, I was really into trees. And I would say, oh, where are the trees? There aren't very many trees here. And I don't know exactly why I was born liking trees to a man who liked the desert.
SIDES: An actress and screenwriter who looks and moves like a young Meryl Streep, Rainer oversees her father's estate as president of the board of the Judd Foundation.
Ms. JUDD: The reason I mention trees is because he would say, well, if you look out here, you can actually see the shape of the land, where if it's covered with trees you can't see it. And I think about the way he would talk about his work when people would call it minimalist and he didn't like that description. And just in the way that the desert is extremely rich and beautiful and it doesn't have a lot of trees, I think he was interested in creating extremely rich work that didn't have a lot of trees, if you know what I mean.
SIDES: The environment Donald Judd created in Marfa has drawn countless other artists who've put their own stamp on the town. Marfa's become a trendy art mecca that's attracting celebrities. Weatherbeaten ranchers still eat homemade donuts at Formica tables in Carmen's Cafe. But they may be sitting next to Lance Armstrong or Julia Roberts. To capture her father's relationship with the town, Rainer Judd began filming a documentary two years ago, called "Marfa Voices." One of them belongs to Jack Brunson, who helped Donald Judd build his art. It took Brunson a while to fully appreciate Judd's 15 concrete cubes, arrayed across a field of tall prairie grass.
Mr. JACK BRUNSON: You have to look at those and wonder what in the heck they are. But you sit up there on the hill and look back down there and watch that in the afternoon, and you watch the shadows move about, you can see you're looking at something that you never saw before. You don't realize it driving up the highway. You see these blocks out there and there's nothing. But if you get to the proper place and look, and watch - take your time and watch - you see art.
SIDES: And that's exactly what Donald Judd wanted. For NPR News. I'm Anne Goodwin Sides.
SIMON: You can see images of Donald Judd's art on our website, npr.org.