Missile Defense

The United States and Poland signed an agreement today to put part of the US missile defense system in Poland, which is aggravating tensions between the West and Russia over Moscow’s intervention in Georgia. We speak with Julian Barnes, Pentagon reporter for the LA Times.

A Doctor’s Story About Performing Abortions

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We rebroadcast our earlier conversation with Susan Wicklund, whose memoir is titled This Common Story: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor. In it, Wicklund tells the story of her own abortion, and how that motivated her to become a doctor. She also tells the story of her beloved grandmother — Wicklund eventually told her what she did as a doctor, and her grandmother then told her her own experience with abortion many years ago.

The FCC and Product Placement on Television

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American television has had a storied history of commercialism. The FCC is considering more regulation of a certain, transparent type of advertising: imbedded product placement, which is 33% more prevalent now that it was just a year ago. A coalition of 23 advocacy groups are petitioning the FCC to come down stronger on the advertising industry; some even want an on-screen pop-up to notify viewers when a product has been paid for. Our guest is Adonis Hoffman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

Anatomy of a Subway Hack

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Three MIT students, who discovered a way to counterfeit subway tickets, are now free to discuss their research. In federal court yesterday, a judge lifted a gag order imposed on the students last week after Boston’s MBTA sued to block a planned presentation at a hacking conference. The MBTA admitted in court that the magnetic strip on the so-called Charlie Tickets can be cloned. They say it will take five months to fix the problem. Here and Now’s Monica Brady-Myerov has more on the case.

Who Owns Antiquity?

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Western museums have been under pressure to return ancient artifacts to the countries where they were found. Nations successful in getting these precious objects back may view it as a victory, but it’s a defeat for humanity, argues James Cuno. Cuno is the director of the Art Institute of Chicago, and he holds the view that art is the common heritage of humanity, and further, that seeing art objects through a modern nationalist frame prevents us from a fuller understanding not only of our common past, but of our present. His new book is Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums and the Battle over our Ancient Heritage.