Face-to-Face With the Fires

Filed under: On Air

US Forest Service firefighters from the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles, California.

David McNew/Getty Images

 

At this point, tens of thousands of acres have burned in California, and more than 19,000 people are fighting the flames. Yesterday, the town of Big Sur was given a mandatory evacuation order, as one of the many wildfires moved closer to the city. While most news reports focus on acres burned, homes and buildings lost, and people uprooted, today we'll get the other side of story. We'll talk with firefighters who battle forest fires, from the ground and the air, and find out what it's like to battle the flames face-to-face. If you're a firefighter, what's your experience?

-- Scott Cameron

Tags: California fires | firefighting | wildfires

Man v. Machine in Space

Filed under: On Air

Same Moon, different machine.

Source: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

After the outstanding series on NASA missions that ran last month (they got Neil Armstrong!) "In the Shadow of the Moon", The Discovery Channel starts a new six-part series next week, called "Moon Machines." The second episode, which airs Tuesday night (7/8), focuses on the guidance computer NASA engineers developed and installed aboard both the Command capsule, and the LEM, the vehicle that actually landed on the moon. It's based on a book called, Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight, written by David Mindell, a professor who specializes in the history of technology at MIT. As he notes in the book, the relationship between man and machine is not a new story -- he cites the mythical John Henry, who won his battle with a steam drill at the cost of his life, and Charles Lindbergh, who used the word "we" to describe his partnership with his aircraft. In the 1960s, even as they incorporated the then exotic technology of integrated circuits and software, a word almost unknown as the project began, they had to figure out how these new machines would be used by the astronaut/pilots. The "man-machine" system they adopted kept the astronaut "in the loop", visibly and overtly in command, partly as the result of politics, partly to respect the professional dignity of the pilots and partly because there are times when there is no substitute for human judgment. Though the computer was programmed to land the LEM, every pilot who descended to the surface of the Moon, starting with Neil Armstrong, turned the automatic system off, and landed on manual. As we see ever more capable technology, including cruise missiles and the drones now widely used for military reconnaissance, it's a discussion that continues today.

-- Neal Conan

Tags: Digital Apollo

The Case of Ronnie White

Filed under: On Air

In Prince George's County, Maryland, a teenager, 19 year old Ronnie White, was brought into custody by local police Saturday evening on the suspicion that he was behind the wheel of the stolen pickup truck that struck and killed PG County officer Cpl. Richard S. Findley. Officers booked him, then put him in solitary confinement. The next morning, Ronnie White was found dead in his cell of strangulation and asphyxiation. It's a horrendous story on all sides -- a slain officer, a tragic death -- and suspicion of wrongdoing at the prison runs rampant. I was listening to a call-in hip-hop show on WPFW last night, and hosts DJ Tru and Noodles spent the whole hour taking calls on the White case. Most callers were up in arms about it, and one in particular stuck out: A woman from Ethiopia, who recently became an American citizen, was so incensed that she threatened to turn in her American passport if justice isn't served in this case. Of course, this could be a bit of emotional hyperbole, but her explanation was even more interesting: She didn't know how to explain it to her people back in Ethiopia, that she'd moved to this great democratic country and still this tragedy was allowed to happen. It's still unclear who's to blame, and how it will be handled. Do you jump to conclusions when you hear a story like this? What are the assumptions that you make? Would it change how you feel about the case if White was, in fact, guilty of murder?

-- Sarah Handel

Tags: Richard S. Findley | Ronnie White | corrections system | police

Poetic Justice (Groan)

Filed under: On Air

Robert Frost, circa 1960.

Source: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Think twice about throwing a party in that abandoned farmhouse down the road... you might end up in poetry class. In Ripton, Vermont, a bunch of teenagers threw a rager at Homer Noble Farm, site of an unheated farmhouse on a dead-end road. Sounds like a typical teenage stunt, right? Atypically, the farmhouse, now owned by Middlebury College, is where Robert Frost spent his summers for more than two decades. So, yeah. It's kind of special. The kids (and a few adults) trashed the place -- destroyed antique furniture and china, carpets stained with puke and urine -- and 28 ended up charged with trespassing. Most of them entered pleas, trading their sentences for a combination of fines, community service, and poetry classes. Apparently, prosecutor John Quinn believes in (wait for it... wait for it...) poetic justice. Frost biographer and Middlebury professor Jay Parini agreed to teach the vandals two lessons on Frost's poetry, and made it relevant to the illicit revelers. Today, he joins us to tell us exactly how he did that.

-- Sarah Handel

Tags: Jay Parini | Middlebury College | Robert Frost | party | vandalism

Great Economic News!

Filed under: Quick Thought

George T. Stagg, aka the really good stuff.

Source: mgaffney

Ok that's a bit of a misnomer, to be sure, but seriously, it seems there's at least one industry that's not in the tank: the bourbon industry. Obviously, this pleases me. According to the article, the company that makes Evan Williams and Elijah Craig "recently spent nearly $4 million boosting capacity 50 percent at its distillery in Louisville." Not impressed yet? Wild Turkey's "$36 million expansion near Lawrenceburg will nearly double its production" (mmmm, Russell's Reserve!). You want more? Maker's Mark is expanding for the second time, and my go-to Jim Beam "is in the midst of a $70 million expansion in Kentucky." Heck yes. Here's to many more raised glasses of bourbon.

-- Sarah Handel

Tags: bourbon | economy

The Political Junkie

Filed under: On Air

Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) traveled to Unity, New Hampshire to emphasize (read: "hammer home") their admiration for, and support of, each other. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is in Colombia, where he promises not to talk about the campaign. At all. And Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) questioned the relevance of a candidate's military experience. Or lack thereof.

Our Political Junkie, Ken Rudin, will join us at the Newseum, to talk about the continuing campaign. And we'll hear from Michael Gerson -- once a speech writer for President Bush, now a columnist. McCain met with the Rev. Billy Graham last week, and Obama has talked a lot about religion lately. We'll ask Gerson about the role religious and evangelical voters will play in this election.

If religion plays a role in how you vote, what do you think of what the candidates have said about faith thus far? What would you like to hear them say?

-- David Gura

Tags: Barack Obama | CFR | Hillary Clinton | John McCain | Ken Rudin | Michael Gerson | Political Junkie

The Faux Fed

Filed under: On Air

Tell me this doesn't have all the makings of a made for TV movie... A stranger shows up in a small town, says he's a federal agent riding in to clean up the local drug problem. He makes arrests, busts in doors, knocks heads (ok not literally, but there are reports of physical abuse). Turns out, though, the guy's NOT a federal agent, he's not even a cop. He made the whole thing up for reasons nobody can be quite sure of. But it wasn't the local police or mayor who found him out... It was a local reporter. And she says some people in town are actually disappointed he wasn't true blue -- after all, they say, he was doing a pretty good job. That "job" has left him facing charges, put a chief of police out of a job, and left a whole town asking how something like this could happen in this day and age. We'll talk with Linda Trest, the reporter, on the show today, and find out how she got her scoop, and how this ruse went on so long.

-- Scott Cameron

Tags: Bill Jakob | Gerald | Linda Trest | Missouri | fake cop

Black Patriotism

Filed under: On Air

In two days, some of you will wave sparklers and flags like wands, others of you may head to the local park for a thunderous fireworks display, and a few of you may even don an outfit with the red, white and blue. The Fourth of July wells many people with patriotism. But, for some African Americans, patriotism doesn't come so easily. A history of slavery, segregation and racism overshadows and contradicts a sense of patriotism -- loyalty felt to America. Black poet Langston Hughes captured this contradiction in his poetry and writings. The poem "Let American be America Again" is a lyrical criticism of the notion of freedom and the realities of inequality. "There's never been equality for me.. Nor freedom in this 'homeland of the free,'" he writes. And in "I, Too, Sing America" he reminds us that black America is American. Today, we talk about black love of country and why some African Americans struggle with it. If you're black, do you struggle with patriotism?

-- Dalia Martinez

Tags: black patriotism | patriotism | race

July 2nd Show

Filed under: Coming Up

We're back at the Newseum today, and in our first hour we'll get our weekly dose of the Political Junkie. Today, NPR's Ken Rudin will talk about John McCain's visit to Colombia and Mexico and Barack Obama's upcoming trip to Europe and the Middle East. And Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for President Bush, talks about each presidential candidate's appeal to religious and evangelical voters. We'll also be joined by Michael Gerson. He is currently a columnist for The Washington Post, but also served as President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter and senior policy adviser until 2006. And of course you'll get this week's trivia question. No cheating, please. At the end of the hour, Linda Trest, a staff writer with the Gasconade County Republican in Missouri , will talk about how she broke the story of "Sergeant Bill," a man impersonating a federal drug agent and using a fake badge to arrest methamphetamine users.

As the July 4th holiday nears, we'll take a look at black patriotism in America. Loyalty to this country can present a problem for many African Americans. Although the United States has made strides to becoming a more fair nation, there still persists the legacy of slavery, segregation and racial and ethic disparities. In our entire second hour, three African Americans discuss their views on how this country's history has shaped their allegiance to the flag.

-- Gwen Outen

12:40 PM ET | 07- 2-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Good For You Foods

Filed under: Quick Thought

To your very good health: Swiss chard.

Source: bucklava

By now you may have caught on that I love lists. They're everywhere -- I know I'm not alone in this -- so here's my favorite one for today: The Best 11 Foods You Aren't Eating.

It seems like every day there's a new list of the superfoods we should all consume daily (I'm a big fan of berries and broccoli and spinach, oh yum!), or news that oh wait, awesome-food-X is actually bad news, or, my favorite, news that a vice is now a virtue! But the cool thing about this particular list, which Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times had Jonny Bowden compile, is that folks often overlook these items when they're thinking of healthy foods. In my oh-so-scientific poll (one person polled: myself) of whether this list is revelatory or just another superfood re-write, I found that actually, I don't consume those 11 foods very often, and of the 11, I'd be perfectly happy to incorporate 9 of them (sorry, sardines and beets. Yuck and double-yuck, according to the poll). So take it from me, list-lover, healthy-food-lover, and poll-taker extraordinaire, if you like such things, this list is worth a peek.

-- Sarah Handel

Tags: food | health | lists

'On Point II'

Filed under: On Air

Earlier this week, the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth released On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign, "the US Army's first historical study of its campaign in Iraq in the decisive eighteen months following the overthrow of the Baathist regime in April 2003." The report is candid and critical of senior officers and civilian leaders, and it tries to explain how military decisions contributed to the long, bloody conflict that followed.

During the first hour of the program today, we'll talk with Dr. Donald Wright, a civilian historian at the Combat Studies Institute and an author of On Point II. We'll also hear from three former officers who were interviewed for the report: Col. Douglas MacGregor (Ret.), Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.), and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (Ret.).

Were you in Iraq after the invasion? What do you think went wrong? If you weren't there, what questions do you have about what happened?

-- David Gura

Tags: Donald Wright | Doug MacGregor | Iraq | Jack Keane | On Point II | Ricardo Sanchez

Chucking Both Ways

Filed under: On Air

In baseball, you generally get an advantage as a right-handed hitter when you face a left-handed pitcher. So, if you're a switch hitter, you pick which side of the batter's box to step into based on which hand the pitcher wears his glove. Simple strategy. But, what to do if both the hitter AND the pitcher can play from either side? A full-time switch pitcher hadn't faced a switch hitter in pro ball in 120 years... until this month. Pat Venditte, an ambidextrous pitcher with the Staten Island Yankees, set-off a comical chain of events in a game on June 19th when he and the batter he faced repeatedly switched sides... Right, left, right, left. The umps called time, met, and decided how the switch-off would end. We'll talk with Venditte on the show today, about the confusion of throwing from both sides, and what it's like to potentially be the first full-time switch pitcher in major leage history.

-- Scott Cameron

Tags: ambidextrous pitcher | switch hitter | switch pitcher

The Olympic Dream

Filed under: On Air

Adam Nelson, two-time Olympic silver medalist, heads to Beijing this summer.

Source: Andy Lyons/Getty Images

For many athletes, it's a driving goal, a dearest dream, the hoped-for pinnacle of a (young) life's work: the Olympic Games. For most, it's an impossible trip, as injury, expense, the four-year Olympic cycle, and plain old not-good-enough conspire to keep athletes away. For the lucky few, it's life-changing, and for the very lucky (and talented, and hard-working) few, it's a trip they make multiple times. And there, at the very top, you find the medal winners. Today we've got 2008 US Men's Gymnastics Team alternate David Durante, gold medal winning diver and '08 team member Laura Wilkinson, and Adam Nelson, who's won the silver in shot-put twice and heads to Beijing this year for another heave at the gold. They'll tell us all about their successes and failures en route to the dream, and we'd like to hear yours: did you share their dream of Olympic glory? How'd it turn out?

-- Sarah Handel

Tags: Adam Nelson | David Durante | Laura Wilkinson | Olympics

'Gonzo'

Filed under: On Air

Hunter S. Thompson in 'Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.'

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

I can think of few subjects for a documentary richer than the legendary Hunter S. Thompson. Journalist. Drug enthusiast. Candidate for sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. Those things come as little or no surprise. But to me, a casual consumer of his work (I read Fear and Loathing, and I'm familiar with the iconic depictions of his world drawn by his friend and collaborator, Ralph Steadman), Alex Gibney's new documentary Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson filled in the blanks with feeling and nuance. My favorite segment of the film reveals Thompson's Carter awakening -- apparently, Thompson attended a speech given by Jimmy Carter at the University of Georgia Law School in May of 1974. He had no interest in Carter, and repeatedly slipped out to refill his glass of iced tea (read: Wild Turkey) instead of watching the event. And then Carter credited Bob Dylan with changing his understanding about the balance of power between the landowner and those who work on the farm (and thus, the rich and powerful who make the rules, and everyone else), and Thompson was transfixed. He later wrote about the speech, "by the time it was over, it had rung every bell in the room." It's a beautiful sequence. If you'd like, leave your favorite Thompson quotes here.

-- Sarah Handel

Tags: Alex Gibney | Gonzo | Hunter S. Thompson

July 1st Show

Filed under: Coming Up

Here's a quick look at what's coming up today:

Earlier this week, the U.S. Army released its account of what went wrong after the United States invaded Iraq. The seven-hundred page report is called On Point Two: Transition to the New Campaign. In our first hour, we'll talk with a military historian who worked on the project and three officers who were interviewed for it. Following that, we'll talk with Staten Island Yankee pitcher phenom Pat Venditte. He is the only ambidextrous pitcher in major league baseball and may become the first full-time switch pitcher in the pros in 120 years!

Olympic athletes aren't born. They are made. Those vying for a spot on an Olympic team must completely dedicate their lives to becoming world class athletes. But what EXACTLY does it take to reach that level? Three athletes, two who will be at this year's Olympic Games in Beijing and one who just missed the cut, talk about putting their sport first in the hope of bringing home the gold. That will be at the top of the second hour. At the end of that hour, we'll talk to director Alex Gibney about his upcoming movie "Gonzo" that explores the life and work of the late journalist and writer Hunter S. Thompson.

-- Gwen Outen

12:53 PM ET | 07- 1-2008 | permalink | e-mail post