Talk of The Nation on WRVO-1: NPR News

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng called into a U.S. congressional hearing from his hospital room in Beijing yesterday to describe violent attacks on his brother and sister-in-law and what he called trumped up homicide charges against his nephew. Chen testified with the help of his friend, Bob Fu, a Christian pastor and fellow activist who took Chen's call on his cellphone and interpreted Chen's remarks for the congressional committee. Bob Fu fled China himself in the 1990s, relocated to Texas and founded a human rights group called ChinaAid.

Just months after moving to Paris to start her first full-time job, Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer — acute myeloid leukemia. Like many who face life-threatening illnesses in their twenties, she is coping with a dwindling sense of independence — increasingly relying on her parents for care — while simultaneously dealing with the very adult issues of mortality, infertility and disease.

Jaouad is chronicling her experiences with cancer for the New York Times Well blog in a column called "Life, Interrupted." "Cancer, she writes, "has forced me to pause my life at a time when my peers are just beginning theirs."

The push for civil unions recently failed in Colorado, and Governor John Hickenlooper has some ideas about why. Also, former Nevada Governor Bob List talks about the influence of Ron Paul on the Republican Party. And NPR's Political Junkie columnist Ken Rudin rounds up the news.

Wisconsin Democrats hope to unseat Republican Governor Scott Walker in a recall election. In the Los Angeles Times, Jonathan Zimmerman, a lifelong Democrat, says he is "appalled." The recall, he writes, "epitomizes the petty, loser-take-all vindictiveness of contemporary American politics."

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

It's Tuesday, and time to read from your comments. Many of you heard our conversation with Teresa MacBain and Jerry DeWitt about religious leaders who lose their faith. And while many empathized, some challenged why we aired their story. Greg Calder in Germany wrote: NPR would never have a show about an atheist who found religion. Why give the platform to the atheist if you won't do the same for those that believe? And in a similar vein, Brendan Wolfe in Fairbanks commented: Now that NPR listeners have heard this story about religious leaders losing their faith on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED and TALK OF THE NATION, I'm looking forward to hearing the report on atheists becoming committed Christians. When can I expect it?

Over his long academic career, Bernard Lewis has arguably become the world's greatest historian of the Middle East. Now, at 96, Lewis turns his attention inward in a memoir that looks back on his life, work and legacy.

The linguist and scholar's career began before World War II, and in a new memoir he covers more than a few sensitive areas, from race and slavery in Islam, to the clash of civilizations and his long argument with scholar Edward Said, to his role as an adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

NPR's Neal Conan talks with Lewis about his new book, Notes on a Century.

Interview Highlights

On religious tolerance under Islamic rule

"Many black women are fat because we want to be." With those words in a New York Times op-ed, novelist Alice Randall sparked a controversy. Touching on flashpoints of race, weight, politics and gender, her contention prompted a debate and raised serious questions about health, culture and race.

"I speak and write as a novelist from my own experience and what I observe," Randall tells NPR's Neal Conan. As her own weight passed the 200-pound mark, she started to analyze why. And it wasn't just about the food she was eating or the amount of exercise she got.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Fans of the Chicago Cubs come up with all kinds of explanations for the team's epic ineptitude: the curse of the Billy Goat, Steve Bartman's 2003 foul ball catch, and generations of incompetent management. In the Wall Street Journal today, Rich Cohen comes to a different conclusion: Wrigley Field. Destroy it, annihilate it, he wrote. Implosion or explosion, get rid of it, not merely the structure but the ground on which it stands.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

The New York City police reported that its officers stopped and frisked almost 700,000 people last year, which prompted a fresh round of protests over the controversial policy. In today's Washington Post, Richard Cohen writes that these questionable tactics have to be measured against their effects. New York City is heaven on earth, he wrote, possibly because it is a certain kind of hell for young black and Hispanic men. Do results justify questionable police tactics?

800-989-8255. Email: talk@npr.org. You can also join the conversation on our website. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION. Richard Cohen joins us now from his office in New York. Nice to have you back on the program.

RICHARD COHEN: Hi.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

And now, the Opinion Page. Markets around the world continue to fall. After losing ground several days in a row, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 80 points at last glance as the political stalemate drags on in Greece. A final push is set to begin tomorrow in Athens to form a coalition government after elections that served as an angry rebuke of austerity by Greek voters. Analysts are increasingly concerned that Greece's political paralysis may lead that country to leave the eurozone and head towards default.

In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited African-American educator Booker T. Washington, who had become close to the president, to dine with his family at the White House. Several other presidents had invited African-Americans to meetings at the White House, but never to a meal. And in 1901, segregation was law.

News of the dinner between a former slave and the president of the United States became a national sensation. The subject of inflammatory articles and cartoons, it shifted the national conversation around race at the time.

NPR's Neal Conan talks with Deborah Davis, author of Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation about the dinner that she believes changed history.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan, in Washington. The age of eight or nine, when kids complete third grade, represents a key turning point. Up until then, children are learning to read. Afterwards, they read to learn. Many educators believe that kids who can't read should be held back, and several states use standardized tests. Kids who don't pass are automatically held back, or retained.

Critics say such a policy is counterproductive and mean-spirited. Both sides cite statistics in support. But in most places, these decisions are not automatic, and in the coming weeks, teachers and parents will face the tough decision to hold back kids who struggle with reading or not.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Every politician knows that a drunk driving charge or a secret lover can come back to haunt come campaign time, but so can an unfortunate turn of phrase in an interview decades-old, a now-outdated policy position, a master's thesis or even, as Mitt Romney learned this past weekend, high school pranks that may have gone too far.

Last May, German investigators found secret files embedded in a pornographic video on memory cards being carried by a suspected al Qaeda operative. Peter Wayner describes the history and technology of the technique for hiding information, known as steganography.

A group of science advocates say the American president should have the basic scientific know-how to understand policy challenges, evaluate options and devise solutions. Ira Flatow and guests discuss how a presidential science debate can help voters decide if a candidate is up for the job.