Maura Reynolds, White House corespondent for The Los Angeles Times on George Bush’s trip to Europe.
Guests:
Maura Reynolds, White House corespondent for The Los Angeles Times

Humans could face extinction in this century if we do not change our ways. The list of dangers has never been longer. Global warming, biological terrorism, or even a runaway lab experiment could bring about the demise of life on earth, warns Sir Martin Rees, Britain’s Astronomer Royal.
Theologian and ethicist Ted Peters responds. How will [...]

Barbara Wallraff, best-selling author of “Word Court” and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly magazine analyzes today’s buzz words.
Guests:

In the early 1970s, Manthia Diawara was one of many young adults living in the Western African nation of Mali, praying to Allah for a better life in the West.
They were especially lured to France — the land of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and later to the United States the land of Freedom, opportunity and [...]

The real face of Russia. President Bush travels to St. Petersburg on Saturday in advance of the G8 meeting in France. From Moscow to Vladivostok, a look at the new Russia.
Guests:
Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Center, author of “After the Collapse: Russia Seeks its Place as a Great Power”
Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at [...]

In a report released today, Amnesty International says that the war on terror is degrading human rights worldwide. We take a close look at the laundry list of concerns the human rights organization is presenting.
Guests:
Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Regional Director for Amnesty International USA
Bill Frelick, Refugee Program Director for Amnesty International USA
Daniel Byman, Assistant Professor [...]

Taking the media for a spin. Ari Fleischer’s resignation leaves the Bush Administration without one of its smoothest media mainstays. But the White House remains masterful at media management. And much of mainstream media seems happy to go along for the ride. From “the Coalition” to “Embeds”, a look at Washington’s [...]

In what could mark an escalation of an already tense situation with Iran, top aides to President Bush met today to discuss options. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he’s certain Tehran is harboring senior al-Qaida terrorists, a charge Iran denies.
Rumsfeld’s remarks were the latest in a round of tough statements by American officials on [...]

At the age 13, Erik Weihenmayer lost his sight. At 16, he found rock climbing. Finding footholds on the side of a rock face opened up a new world for Erik. He is now a world-class climber, one of less than 100 people to have scaled the Seven Summits, and the first sightless person to [...]

Today, America celebrates Memorial Day. There’s always been a Norman Rockwell-like small town feel about it–parades, speeches, flags, backyard barbecues. This year, the big scary world has crashed in on Main Street. U.S. troops are still in Iraq, and there have been casualties. In recent weeks, terrorists have struck targets around the [...]

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Mo Rocca, fake reporter for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” is the new darling of television news. With commentaries on NBC and punditry on FOX, CNN and Court TV, Rocca closes the gap between satire and journalism. He joins us for On Point Fridays for a conversation [...]

Time correspondent Michael Ware has followed the ravages of war through Afghanistan and on to Iraq. The war in Iraq is over. But has the dust settled in Northern Iraq or is it a powder keg ready to explode? A darkening view of unrest in the north.
Guests:
Michael Ware, correspondent, Time Magazine

Congress is set to pass a hefty $350 billion tax cut package tonight. Though $200 billion short of what President Bush was lobbying for last month, the administration is already calling the anticipated passage a victory for the President and the country. Critics warn the cuts will come at the expense of such social programs [...]

From day one of her tenure as EPA’s top administrator, it was anything but smooth sailing for Christie Todd Whitman. The former New Jersey governor and moderate Republican tried to keep both oars in the water, attempting to strike a nearly impossible pro-environment pro-business balance.
She ended up bruised and badmouthed by lobbyists on both sides, [...]

Annika Sorenstam is the Tiger Woods of the LPGA. With 43 tournament wins in just a decade, she dominates the field. Now, she’s getting ready to tee off against the men at the Colonial Open in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the home course of Ben Hogan, one of only five players to win all [...]

The alarms seem to be everyone now. From the shadows of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Al Qaeda is back. Two deadly attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco in the last two weeks, have cast shadows on the statement made by the Bush administration recently that Al Qaeda is on the run.
According to Rohan Gunaratna, [...]

Pop quiz. What do all these words have in common?
Able-bodied, anchorman, barbarian, bookworm, codger, cowboy, deaf, deformed, Eskimo, fairy, God, Hottentot, hussy?
They’ve all been banned, along with thousands of other words, ideas and images, from the pages of American educational materials.
A movement that began with efforts to take racism out of textbooks has expanded, [...]

Five Palestinian suicide bombings in 48 hours wreaked havoc in Israel. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon then postponed his trip to Washington. Today, there was even a revival within in the Israeli government of a proposal to expel Arafat, although that has since been rejected.
President Bush called Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to calm [...]

How did Adolf Hitler rise to power in Germany - a democracy, after all? A CBS docudrama miniseries on Adolf Hitler, “Hitler, the Rise of Evil,” which began last night, explores this question. We take a closer look, with a historian of Nazi Germany and an expert on Hitler.
Guests:
Gerhard Weinberg, Professor Emeritus of History at [...]

A ban on small nuclear weapons is a cornerstone of a decades-old policy of nuclear restraint. But in a the age of terror is a ban necessary or not? The argument for and against the development of small nuclear arms.
Guests:
James Sterngold, national correspondent, The San Francisco Chronicle
Charles Ferguson, physicist, Center for Nonproliferation Studies [...]

Born Valerie June Carter into the first family of country music, June Carter Cash helped create a musical bridge from the days of playing with her mother and sisters in the Carter Family to her long-time marriage and musical collaboration with legendary country music icon Johnny Cash.
Songs she helped pen, perform and popularize are now [...]

In past generations, the oceans of the world were teeming with life, and human beings thrived on their bounty. But at the present pace the oceans will soon be empty.
Humans have devastated the stocks of large fish and according to a new study published in Nature, there has been a 90 percent reduction in the [...]

Ever since Sue Miller wrote her luminous debut novel “The Good Mother,” she has taken readers into the souls of her characters and makes them so real — so flawed and so human–that they have staying power and poignancy long after the last pages of the books have been turned.
Her new book is “The [...]

He’s the philosophical guru of Washington’s high-flying neoconservatives. But who was Leo Strauss? A look at the philosophy, teachings, and the man whose influence on the Bush Administration is nothing short of profound.
Guests:
Harvey Mansfield, professor of government and political philosophy at Harvard University
Shadia B. Drury, recently appointed Canada Research Chair in Social Justice at the [...]

Born Jacob Maza in Sheboygan, Wisconsin to a family of rabbis, Jackie Mason grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and contemplated his own life as a rabbi until he turned to stand-up comedy.
He honed his craft in the popular Borscht Belt and has performed an unprecedented 6 one-man shows on Broadway. Jackie [...]

The Jayson Blair story is a cautionary tale for young-journalists-to-be. A young 27-year-old New York Times reporter’s career is cut dramatically short due to a mind-numbing path of deception. Truth, journalism and a betrayal of trust.
Guests:
Jack Shafer, editor-at-large, Slate
Seth Mnookin, media writer, Newsweek
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The [...]

In light of the recent conflict in Iraq and America’s efforts to rebuild it, an important question is facing the Arab world at large today: Can Islam and democracy mix?
Khaled Abou El Fadl, Islamic scholar and professor of law at UCLA, believes that a country’s democracy cannot be established if the values, traditions and the [...]

Suicide bombers killed dozens, including at least seven Americans, in Riyadh yesterday. Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a visit to the bombed site, said the attacks have “all the fingerprints of Al Qaeda.” We’ll take a close look at the U.S. relationship with Saudia Arabia and whether it is still in line with U.S. [...]

With 28 camels, six horses, four Mongolian camel drivers, ten Chinese specimen collectors, and a whole lot of moxie, Janet Elliot Wulsin set out with her husband Frederick for the far reaches of Tibet, China, and Mongolia to study the people, flora, and fauna of the region.
The year was 1923 and little in young Janet’s [...]

Secretary Colin Powell’s peace mission to the Middle East bore little fruit as Israel walled off the Gaza Strip today, imposing the strictist restrictions in years. Harvey Morris of The Financial Times reports on new roadblocks on the path to peace.
Guests:
Harvey Morris, Jerusalem correspondent, The Jerusalem Post

The Israeli-Palestinian ‘road map’ to peace got a jump start over the weekend with Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Jerusalem and Jericho. The American Jewish community is watching the process carefully - and more than a few of its major representative bodies are putting in their two-cents worth. Most are expressing cautious optimism. [...]

Yo Yo Ma was born in Paris. His first musical memories, and music lessons, were Parisian. Then came America, full classical training, and an explosion of genius and fame.
Yo Yo Ma never felt comfortable staying in the classical tradition. His repertoire has covered music from the four corners of the earth from [...]

The administration is calling for a lifting of sanctions that have crippled Iraq for more than a decade, “The regime the sanctions were directed against no longer rules Iraq,” said Mr. Bush
Guests:
David Usborne is New York Correspondent for the Independent

What’s the best way to bring up baby? The answer used to be, “ask grandmother.” But that changed at the turn of the 20th century. Pediatricians and psychologists took up the baby rattle and began a quest to predict and perfect children’s futures.
Over the past 100 years, advice has ranged from pearls of wisdom [...]

Earlier this week, the Senate unsealed thousands of pages of transcripts of secret committee hearings designed to weed out Communism, led by Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950’s. One of the men interrogated by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was writer Rueben Ship.
Tonight, On Point Audio Archeologist Ned Connors brings us the story [...]

Twenty five years after the publication of her groundbreaking work “On Photography” Susan Sontag revisits the themes of war and cycles of violence in her new book, “Regarding the Pain of Others.” The power of images to capture horror and atrocities–and why they sting to the depths of our humanity.
Guests:
Susan Sontag, writer and author [...]

Americans are mired in credit card debt like never before. Credit card companies are offering credit to people who can’t afford it, Americans are eating it up, and the result is staggering. Americans who owe money on their credit card accounts have an average debt of $13,000, and the country’s credit card debt has skyrocketed [...]

Spy wars and turncoats. Thirty year CIA veteran Milt Bearden reveals the untold story of the war between the CIA and KGB during the final days of the Cold War, leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Fighting the last intelligence war–and what it means for the war on terror.
Guests:
Milt Bearden, [...]

After 3 years of negotiation a global treaty to control the marketing of tobacco, known as the “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” was set to be ratified later this month. But last week the United States delegation insisted on re-opening the negotiations in order to include a clause that would allow signitors the right to [...]

Janice Tibbetts, staff writer for the Ottowa Citizen, explains the move by Canada to pass new legislation that would decriminalize marijuana, which has prompted stern warnings from the White House.
Guests:
Janice Tibbetts, staff writer for the Ottowa Citizen

Nobody wants to talk about it but it exists and it’s growing. In his new book “Reefer Nation,” the author of “Fast Food Nation” Eric Schlosser goes inside America’s illicit, enormous underground economy that is booming on pot, porn and illegal labor.
America’s black markets, he says, have nearly doubled in size since the 1970s and [...]

Michael Hirsh, senior editor at Newsweek, reports on the progress of reconstruction efforts in Iraq since Baghdad fell four weeks ago.
Guests:

Nobody loves an occupation. Capricious crowds may greet an army with smiles one minute and pelt rocks in the next. Is Washington ready for the long haul in Iraq?
According to Ian Lustick, Professor of Political Science at University of Pennsylvania, the major challenge the U.S. faces in Iraq is the creation of the right conditions [...]

After 50 years in a sealed location, transcripts from closed door hearings of The Permanent Senate Subcommittee of Investigations have been made public. The documents reveal Senator Joseph McCarthy out of the crusading spotlight which held the nation riveted. Senate historian Donald Ritchie talks about the discovery.
Guests:

Nature photographer Subhankar Banerjee spent two years in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, documenting its landscape, its wild species, and native peoples. His new photo book, “Seasons of Life and Land,” is the fruit of his labor.
The book’s release comes at a critical time, amidst a heated fight between proponents of oil and gas drilling [...]

Nine Democrats held their first Presidential debate on Saturday, May 3rd, 2003 in South Carolina, where they battled over the war in Iraq, the economy and health care insurance.
The nine Democratic candidates were:
Gov. Howard Dean
Sen. John Edwards
Rep. Dick Gephardt
Sen. Bob Graham
Sen. John Kerry
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Sen. Joe Lieberman
Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun
Rev. Al Sharpton
The debate highlighted deep [...]