Weekend America for DECEMBER 2, 2006
Hour 1
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A Protest Delayed
Chicago musician Malachi Ritscher wanted his death to be full of meaning. He set himself on fire in full view of morning rush hour traffic to protest the war in Iraq, leaving an emotional suicide note on his website. But for awhile, no one even knew about it. But now, some of his fellow Chicagoans are taking up his cause. Chicago Public Radio reporter Jenny Lawton has the story.
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Sacrifice
In 1965 Norman Morrison, a Quaker, set himself on fire in front of Robert McNamara's Pentagon office to protest the Vietnam War. He held his one-year-old daughter Emily until the final moment when he lit the match. It's still unclear what happened. Was this act a legitimate form of protest, or the actions of a deranged man who may have even been willing to sacrifice his own daughter for his beliefs? We talk about this with Paul Hendrickson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a former Washington Post reporter. He wrote "The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and the Five Lives of a Lost War" and spent a great deal of time researching the event.
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- Music Bridge:
- Wonderplucks
- Artist: Freeform
- CD: Outside In (Skam)
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Let's Talk About Sex
Americans around the country are observing World AIDS Day with candlelight vigils, art exhibits and fund raisers. But many people will be ignoring the AIDS crisis and having unprotected sex. Weekend America's Krissy Clark explores how, and if, AIDS has changed the way people hook up.
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- Music Bridge:
- A Little Something
- Artist: Aeroc
- CD: Idol Tryouts Two (Ghostly)
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Tournament of Noises
San Francisco's Exploratorium encourages visitors to explore sound through interactive exhibits and on Saturday they get even more interactive. The museum is inviting guests to participate in the first Tournament of Noises. Guests are encouraged to showcase their noisemaking abilities. Bill Radke talks to Andee Connors, and Beth Lisick, judges at the event.
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War of Words
This week some big news organizations started using the words "civil war" to refer to the situation in Iraq. We invited John Daniszewski, international editor at the Associated Press and Borzou Daragahi, Baghdad bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times to help us understand how these decisions get made. We ask them what power they think these words have, and who should choose them.
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De-Coded
Virginia State Police are bidding a 10-98 (that means assignment completed) to those codes you know from old cop shows: 10-108 (officer down), APB (all points bulletin), One Adam 12 (okay, that one was made up). The problem is, not everyone can remember what all those codes mean and that can cause major problems in an actual emergency. Bill Radke talks with Lt. Col. H.C. Davis of the Virginia State Police about switching to plain English.
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- Music Bridge:
- Big 'Uns Get The Ball Rolling
- Artist: Stanton Moore
- CD: III (Telarc)
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Command Performance
Czech Playwright Vaclav Havel was a leader of the "Velvet Revolution," the 1989 revolt that ousted Czechoslovakia's totalitarian Communist government. It was a term used by a French journalist to describe the peaceful revolution. And it also fits it nicely with Havel's love for the art-rock band the Velvet Underground. Independent Producer Trey Kay recently found out just how big a fan Havel is. Kay's band is playing the Velvet Underground's "Banana" album in a special performance for Havel next week.
Hour 2
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Refusing the Call
The Christian Coalition was once the most powerful religious lobbying group in the country but it has fallen on hard times. Since its founder Pat Robertson left five years ago, it has lost members and fallen into debt. Last week, it got another blow when a prominent, evangelical minister resigned the presidency. We'll talk to Dr. Joel Hunter of Northland Church in Florida who wants to expand the list of issues of concern to conservative Christians.
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Apocalypse Now
Just in time for Christmas, there's a new video game based on the popular Christian book series, "Left Behind." But not everyone is pleased that the books' apocalyptic images are being transferred to the small screen of a gaming console. Reporter Rene Gutel brings us the story.
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Gross Clinic
Thomas Eakins' painting of Dr. Samuel Gross performing surgery has been called the greatest American painting of the 19th Century. But like many works of art it was controversial when he painted it 128 years ago. It's become controversial again since Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia sold it last month to Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. Reporter Peter Crimmins tells us what the people of Philadelphia think about the sale.
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- Music Bridge:
- Ploy
- Artist: Giant Sand
- CD: Is All Over The Map (Thrill Jockey)
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Obsessive Consumption
Kate Bingaman has been hand drawing her credit card statements and selling them on her Web site for the past two years. Also, everyday she makes pen and ink drawings of something she bought that day: a Diet Coke, a pretzel, socks maybe. And she sells those too. We'll talk to Bingaman about her obsession with conspicuous consumption and our own relationship to money and consumer goods.
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- Music Bridge:
- With a Red Suit You Will Become a Man
- Artist: saxon shore
- CD: The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore (Burnt Toast)
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Good News, Bad News, No News
Our panel of non-experts reviews the week's events in our weekly parlor game to gauge what kind of week America had.
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- Music Bridge:
- Dance to the Underground (DFA REMIX)
- Artist: Radio 4
- CD: Chapter One (DFA)
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Imagining Mourning
Novelist Mitch Cullin has written about aging and loss in his fiction but recently he helped his mother write about her real-life struggle with those issues. He asked her to keep a journal of her battle with ovarian cancer. He tells Barbara Bogaev that sharing the journal with her helped prepare him for her death.
