Music of peace and reconciliation as war drums are beating. We broadcast for you excerpts of a concert of Peace and Reconciliation and look at the role of music in our current crisis … from Yiddish folks songs to South African Freedom music.
Also, On Point movie maven Garen Daly reviews some of [...]

Richard Conniff has gone swimming with piranhas. He has gotten up close and personal with leeches. He does it all again, sort of, in his new book, “The Natural History of the Rich.”
This time, Conniff’s camouflage is a rented red Ferrari, and his compass is everything that evolutionary psychology tells us about human behavior. There [...]

Well-fed howler monkeys and the rich people who act just like them. A field guide to the habitat of the haves with Richard Conniff, author of “The Natural History of the Rich.”
Guests:
Richard Conniff, author, “The Natural History of the Rich: A Field Guide”

Two hundred and fifty years of women on top.
They printed the Declaration of Independence and published the Pentagon Papers. They cultivated cash crops and brought cosmetics to market. They were pioneers of must-have party dresses, and life-saving pyrotechnics. They gave us Barbie, and they became billionaires. Enterprising women are still at it, and in record [...]

A question for every American who read George Orwell in high school, and may still read him now: In a perpetual war on terror, where war is peace and peace might be war, are we now living in an Orwellian era?
Before you answer too quickly, is it American propaganda, or Al Qaeda’s, or neither [...]

A question for every American who read George Orwell in high school, and may still read him now: In a perpetual war on terror, where war is peace and peace might be war, are we now living in an Orwellian era?
Before you answer too quickly, is it American propaganda, or al Qaeda’s, or neither [...]

Even at the height of American supremacy, the great superpower may already be on the decline. Geopolitics in the 21st century will be about shared power, where the European Union and Asia each have a seat at the table. But can American unilateralism allow for a more equal global partnership?
Guests:
Charles Kupchan, author, “The [...]

President Bush has tapped Henry Kissinger to head an independent commission to investigate whether the government failed to prevent the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Guests:
Robert Schulzinger, director, international affairs program, University of Colorado, and author, “Henry Kissinger: Doctor of Diplomacy”

There’s a seismic shift from science fiction to fantasy flicks in America. The double bill of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and Tolkien’s “Two Towers” are expected to be the season’s monster hits. It seems America can’t get enough of swords and sorcerers. The past, not the future, is today’s battle [...]

Federal authorities annouced yesterday the bust of the largest identity theft ring in the nation, involving more than 30,000 victims. Stolen identities and credit card fraud: Is your personal information safe?
Guests:
Brooke Masters, business reporter, The Washington Post

It is the curse of the modern e-mailer: one e-mail from a friend, a colleague, or sister Sue. Three from the strange addresses flogging weight loss, sex tricks and easy money. E-mail was supposed to make life more efficient, more pleasant, gratifying even. Spam makes it a mess. And the volume of [...]

How U.S. and British forces are preparing on the ground in Iraq.
Guests:
Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane’s World Armies

Whatever you do, don’t call him a “peace-nik.” Longtime non-violence activist Gene Sharp says that makes it sound like he’s avoiding conflict.
Conflict is important, he says. Defining conflict, engaging, and, working through it. But it doesn’t have to take guns and tanks to effect change, according to Sharp. In fact, he [...]

The Washington Post reports that the GOP plans a vigorous push on their conservative social policies, including abortion.
Guests:
Jim VandeHei, Washington Post

Self-interest and American democracy. Despite widening inequality between the rich and the poor, why has democracy done so little to remedy the situation? In this hour, the pursuit of life, liberty, and one’s own happiness.
Guests:
Ian Shapiro, professor, political science at Yale University, and the author of a forthcoming book about democracy and redistribution [...]

In Zulu, their name means “we give hope.” South Africa’s Sinikithemba Choir, mostly women, and all HIV-positive, put a human face on the African AIDS tragedy. Through the power of song, they fight the stigma and give hope to HIV patients in South Africa.
Guests:
Nonhlanhla Mhlongo, director, Sinikithemba Christian Care Center, Durban, South Africa
Two members of [...]

Earlier this year, while researching a book on Kennedy, historian Robert Dallek, gained exclusive access to JFK’s medical files and uncovered shocking secrets about the state of the president’s health. Behind the images of all that “vig-ah,” there was a mask of pain , and a steely determination to keep it private. Dallek wrote about [...]

Debate over free speech in the halls of Harvard Law School. A campus committee wants to draft a speech code that would ban offensive language from the classroom. Critics claim First Amendment primacy. The tension between racial sensitivity and free speech at Harvard.
Guests:
Aaron Katz, 2nd year student at Harvard Law School, member of the Committee [...]

An experimental vaccine designed to protect against the virus that causes nearly half of all cervical cancer cases is showing promise.
Guests:
Dr. Kevin A. Ault, one of the authors of the report appearing today in the New England Journal of Medicine, obstetrician and gynecologist at The University of Iowa

U.S. says it has captured a senior Al-Qaida leader believed to be the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in October 2000. Faye Bowers covers national security for the Christian Science Monitor and has the latest details.
Guests:
Faye Bowers, covers national security for the Christian Science Monitor

Twenty-five years after Anwar Sadat’s speech to the Israeli Knesset, a look at the changing generations of leadership in the Middle East.
Guests:
Martin Indyk, director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution, U.S. Ambassador to Israel (1995-97, 2000-2001) and assistant secretary for Near East affairs, State Department (1997-1999)
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and a [...]

James Bennet, New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief on the impact of today’s suicide bombing on the upcoming elections
Guests:
James Bennet, Jerusalem Bureau Chief with the New York Times

The Bush administration issued requests for support for a US war effrot in Iraq. Where do American allies stand and what will they contribute if we invade Baghdad.
Guests:
Vernon Loeb, defense reporter, The Washington Post

Daniel Goldhagen stirred up a hornet’s nest with his best-selling “Hitler’s Willing Executioners.” Now he’s doing it again with a hard-hitting new book about the Catholic Church’s role in the Holocaust.
Guests:
Daniel Goldhagen, author of new book” A Moral Reckoning” and of “Hitler’s Willing Executioners”
Robert Ericksen, history professor at Pacific Lutheran University, author of “Theologians [...]

Guests:
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author, “A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair”

So you, or your cousin, have a nice federal job and you’re feeling pretty good about riding out rough economic times. Think again.
Last week, the Bush administration announced it intends to put nearly half the federal workforce’s jobs up for bid, with private contractors more than welcome to grab what they can. So much for [...]

Veteran war correspondent Robert Fisk has reported from the Middle East for 26 years. A vocal critic of the West’s “War on Terror,” he’s been all over the world - in every hot-spot - detailing the actions of our ubiqitous campaign. And he doesn’t think we’re going about it the right way.
Guests:
Robert [...]

The Senate is expected to pass the homeland security bill, which would bring about the biggest government reorganization in more than fifty years.
Passage of the bill is one of the last hurdles to the creation of an anti-terrorism department in the cabinet and it gives President Bush a significant political triumph. Democrats had argued the [...]

U.N. inspectors are back on the ground in Iraq tonight, back on the streets of Baghdad with a monumental job to do and fierce parties on all sides. Iraq has bowed to the U.N. Security Council’s demand that it accept inspectors with a sweeping mandate to look everywhere–but Saddam Hussein’s government is already charging [...]

A New York Times editorial today suggested Tiger Woods should skip the Master’s next year because of the all-male membership at Augusta National Golf Club. The club has been embroiled in a turf war with women’s groups over its refusal to admit women members. The Masters is one of golf’s four major championships, which [...]

Igor Stravinsky is known as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century… an incredible output of works, his unique sense of rhythm and harmony and a chameleon-like progression in his music. Conductor Robert Craft spent almost three decades as Stravinsky’s musical advisor, traveling companion, and intellectual stimulus. Tonight the life and music [...]

The religious and moral perils of pre-emption. As the US waits for Saddam Hussein to give up the goods, the specter of a war with Iraq looms. And as the likelihood of a conflict is debated in the press and among the people, religious leaders have begun to weigh in, too.
For some, St. Augustine’s Just [...]

From Hip-hop to swing music to rock and roll, from surfer culture to the break-dance scene, Hollywood has always been on top of new music. Movies like Blackboard Jungle, The Harder They Come, and Saturday Night Fever took music at that time underground into the mainstream. We look at movies that responded to new [...]

Election 2002: Hailed as a GOP victory, but in truth a win for incumbents everywhere. With district lines drawn to prevent competitive races, in many states, going to the polls was nothing more than a symbolic exercise. Except in Iowa. The Hawkeye State is the last bastion of good government in America.
Guests:
David J. Garrow, professor [...]

Can art help heal the wounds of war? Pictures and perspectives from Cambodia.
Cambodian Contemporary Arts at Providence College
Guests:
Ken Shulman, independent radio producer

A chilling audio tape of Osama bin Laden released yesterday is a sober reminder of an unfinished war on terror. The hunt for bin Laden continues but the outlook for success is still remote.
Guests:
Magnus Ranstorp, deputy director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St. Andrews
Daniel Benjamin, author, [...]

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops adopted revisions to their sex abuse policy that aim to protect the rights of accused priests while keeping molesters away from children. Negotiators from the Holy See and United States reworked the policy to satisfy Vatican concerns that Americans weren’t doing enough to ensure due process for priests.
The bishops insist [...]

Thousands of students in Tehran protested for the fourth day in support of academic Hashem Aghajari. Political unrest in Iran and potential consequences for U.S.-Iran relations.
Guests:
Scott Peterson, reporter, The Christian Science Monitor

Remembering Operation Torch. Sixty years ago, the Allied war against Germany began in earnest with the invasion of North Africa. It was the first step towards the ultimate liberation of Europe, and America’s ascendance as a great military power.
Guests:
Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of “An Army at Dawn”
Raymond Reitze, fought in Operation Torch [...]

Saddam Hussein knows U.N. Security Council Resolutions. In the past decade plus, he has flouted 16 of them. Resolution 1141, passed unanimously last Friday and calling for full disclosure of the Iraqi dictator’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, could be the latest that he disregards. Or the last.
The Iraqi Parliament has already voted to [...]

Life is filled with little mysteries. For high schools seniors and their parents, the bizarre and secret world of college admissions is one of them. Each fall, seniors put their fate in the hands of the admissions gods and pray. And for good reason. Nowadays, even perfect scores and varsity letters won’t necessarily cinch a [...]

Life is filled with little mysteries. For high schools seniors and their parents, the bizarre and secret world of college admissions is one of them. Each fall, seniors put their fate in the hands of the admissions gods and pray. And for good reason. Nowadays, even perfect scores and varsity letters won’t necessarily cinch a [...]

Veterans Day 2002 finds one group of veterans following the march toward war with Iraq with unmatched focus and awareness.
Almost 700,00 American troops served in the Gulf War over a decade ago. These men and women know fighting Iraq first hand. They know the skies and deserts that may soon again be battlefields. And they [...]

Former J. Geils Band frontman, Peter Wolf, and his sixth solo album, “Sleepless”.
A work of soulfulness and delicacy, Wolf pays tribute to master of old-school R&B, blues, and country. Stay awake with “Sleepless”.
Guests:
Peter Wolf, his new solo album is “Sleepless”

The idea sounds great–and maybe it is. Non-lethal weapons for a new era of war and conflict. Weapons that would not, in theory, kill–but would incapacitate a foe or potential attacker. Microwaves so powerful they could stop an oncoming vehicle in its tracks. Sprayable foam that would instantly harden into barriers [...]

They’re called boy crazy and bullies. Menaces to middle schools, and Sadie Hawkins’ worst nightmare. But when aggressive girls chase boys, bare their belly buttons, and gang up in the name of gender equality, are they feminists, or floozies?
Tonight On Point, a cultural survey of America’s girls. The media that molds them, and the mixed [...]