Guantanamo Detainees to Illinois?
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A new maximum security prison that sits largely unused in the small town of Thomson, Ill., might become the home of terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center. Federal officials are inspecting the site today. We speak with Jerry Hebeler, president of the village of Thomson, who says the facility would bring jobs to the area. We also speak with Christi Parsons, Washington correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.
China in Afghanistan
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While the U.S. is battling the Taliban, a Chinese company is building a large mining operation in Afghanistan — and U.S. troops are protecting the Chinese workers. It’s the geopolitical future of Asia, says our guest, Robert Kaplan, in which China will benefit regardless of what happens to the U.S. in Afghanistan. Kaplan is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a national correspondent for The Atlantic.
‘Twilight’ Mania
Fans of the Twilight film series attend a UK fan party of the saga's latest film "New Moon" in London on Wednesday. (AP)
“New Moon,” the next film in the vampire love series “Twilight,” opens on Nov. 20, and advance sales have been huge around the country. But as the BBC’s Madeleine Morris reports, the love of “Twilight” isn’t just an American phenomenon: Britain and the rest of the world are mad for the books as well.
‘Don’t Be Creepy’
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Google’s corporate philosophy is “Don’t be evil,” but, recently, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company is being careful that it doesn’t cross the “creepy line” in the amount of data it collects from people. That could be tricky, considering the enormous amounts of information Google amasses from its search engine — along with Gmail, digital documents, virtual books, blogging, photo storage and, now, its smartphone software that powers Motorola’s new Droid phone. Here & Now media analyst and Boston University professor John Carroll talks to us about how to guard your privacy in a Google world.
‘Lark and Termite’
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Author Jayne Anne Phillips highly acclaimed novel “Lark and Termite” is one of five finalists in the fiction category for a National Book Award this year. “Lark and Termite” interweaves the stories of Lark, a young girl coming of age in 1950s West Virginia, her brain-damaged brother Termite, their aunt Nonie and Termite’s father, Robert, a soldier who is killed while escorting fleeing civilians during the Korean War. We revisit a conversation we had with the author earlier this year. Read book recommendations from Jayne Anne Phillips.
National Book Award Nominees for Fiction
- Bonnie Jo Campbell, “American Salvage”
- Colum McCann, “Let the Great World Spin”
- Daniyal Mueenuddin, “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders”
- Jayne Anne Phillips, “Lark and Termite”
- Marcel Theroux, “Far North”
Music from the show
- Peter Dixon, “Nagog Woods”
- Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”
- Thelonius Monk, “Caravan”
- The Lickets, “Meat City”
- Fred Hirsch, “Desafinado”
- Massive Attack, “Future Proof”
- Steve Earle, “Transcendental Blues”
The creepiest part of China’s worldwide “investment” is that they’re doing it with money earned selling gullible Americans trillions of dollars of junk over the last three decades – ever since Nixon “opened up” China.
Posted by Richard Cole, on November 16th, 2009 at 1:43 pm“Don’t Be Creepy”
Speaking of ‘creepy’, am I really the only person to notice that the image on the Motorola/Verizon/Google-Droid advertisements looks just like the image of “HAL”’s “eye” used throughout the movie “2001”?
Posted by Richard Cole, on November 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pmRobin,
Posted by Debby Daman, on November 17th, 2009 at 9:02 amI am one of those ladies who discovered her breast cancer through self-examination. I had had my mammogram the year before (at beginning of 2001)and discovered the lump in June 2002. I was 49 years old at the time. After a follow-up mammogram and ultrasound, it was discovered I had invasive ductile carcinoma in my OTHER breaast as well as the lump. What if I had waited and not had checked myself or had mammograms?? I shudder to think! After double mastectomies, chemo, & radiation, I am alive and well!! It has been 6 years since my treatment ended and I have seen two of my three children happily married and I am looking forward to being a grandmother in February. Women need to be familiar and aware of their bodies!! Do self-exams and have mammograms especially if there is high risk. (There was no history of BC in my family) I am thankful for the excellent medical care I received, but don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself!! Thanks!!
Robin,
The news about mammography is disturbing enough, but to see that the panel questioned the value of self-breast exams and doubted the value of physician breast exams is even more disturbing.
My small invasive cancer was found in an office visit with my primary care doctor. It had not been picked up in my mammogram 6 months previously. That discovery led me to an ultrasound, biopsy, lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation and I am grateful for that because my prognosis was excellent because it was caught early.
It is indeed stressful to have mammograms and biopsies, but I feel that it is irresponsible to suggest that women should not check their own breasts. And that stress has to be balanced with the stress that most certainly will occur if a late stage cancer is detected because there has been no screening
I had no history of breast cancer in my family and was 48 at diagnosis. The large majority of the women I met throughout this process were women in their 30’s and 40’s. And those in their 30’s seemed to have more aggressive types of cancer.
This experience has led me to think that not only should people have mammograms at a younger age (at 30 or 35) but that MRI’s should also be added into the mix when dense breast tissue (which most people have) cannot be clearly seen in mammography.
No one should die of breast cancer but they do because of late detection and spread to other parts of the body.
I am healthy and consider myself cured, but I will now always be vigilant through dr’s visits, exams and screening. My doctor, in my opinion, saved my life. Everyone should have that benefit.
Posted by Carole, on November 17th, 2009 at 10:37 amAm I the only one to find the irony that this page uses javascript served directly from Google’s servers (google.com, googleapis.com), as well as tracking javascript from google-analytics.com? So the simple act of visiting a page to re-listen to a story talking about how creepy Google is actually gives Google more information about you. Only those few people who are actually willing to block Google’s servers from placing code on their machines are immune to this frightening tracking, and even WBUR/Here and Now contribute to Google’s knowledge base.
Truthfully, Google isn’t the problem; the general population’s acceptance of this nonsense is.
Posted by Charlie Summers, on November 18th, 2009 at 8:00 amI think Jamela is on to something. Just the presence of this paranoia is proof that web browser monitors are going too far. I think this hot button word of “net-privacy” is a issue worth looking at. I think issue gained rise in popularity after the patriot act. This is no longer a time when everyone just writes letter and meets in person. Web monitors and anyone that took a computer class at a community college can read your e-mails if they really want to. No longer can the private information of a person’s severe hemorrhoid outbreak or sex change operation be sealed in an envelope. I think just like any technology the google system comes with a price. The price is our privacy. personally I don’t really care who reads what. It does scare me that people feel they have to delete their facebook before they job hunt.- love Rich
Posted by Richard Davis, on November 23rd, 2009 at 2:57 pm