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Analysis
4:12 pm
Sat July 14, 2012

Week In News: The 'Swiftboating' Of Mitt Romney

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By editor

Originally published on Sat July 14, 2012 6:21 pm

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(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.

MITT ROMNEY: I had no role whatsoever in the management of Bain Capital after February of 1999.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I think most Americans figure if you're the chairman, CEO and president of a company that you are responsible for what that company does.

ROMNEY: That's ridiculous and disturbing to come from their campaign and beneath the dignity of the president.

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Author Interviews
3:31 pm
Sat July 14, 2012

'Sunny Chernobyl': Beauty In A Haze Of Pollution

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Credit Manan Vatsyayana / AFP/Getty Images
Garbage litters the banks of India's holy Yamuna River on World Water Day 2010. For decades, the Yamuna has been dying a slow death from pollution. According to Blackwell, even its most ardent defenders refer to it as a "sewage drain."
Credit AFP / AFP/Getty Images
According to Blackwell, environmental problems aren't always caused by the presence of something toxic. They can also be caused by the absence of something. Take, for example, Brazil, where intense soybean agriculture has been inching its way into the Amazon, posing a threat to forested regions.
Credit Victor Drachev / AFP/Getty Images
The abandoned village of Vezhishche in Belarus sits within the exclusion zone established after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The zone was one of Andrew Blackwell's first stops on his tour of the world's most ruined places.
Credit Peter Parks / AFP/Getty Images
The coal-centric economy of Linfen, China, has earned it a reputation for being one of the most polluted cities in the world.
Credit Elizabeth Dalziel / AP
Guiyu, China, is known for its electronics recycling workshops, but Blackwell says the town has a strangely rural, even agricultural, feel. "There are giant piles of keyboards, which reminded me a lot of bales of cotton," he says.
Credit Todd Korol / Reuters/Landov
Blackwell also visited the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, which would supply the oil for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline through the U.S.
Credit Victor Drachev / AFP/Getty Images
The abandoned village of Vezhishche in Belarus sits within the exclusion zone established after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The zone was one of Andrew Blackwell's first stops on his tour of the world's most ruined places.
Credit /
Credit Lucian Read / Courtesy of Rodale Books
Andrew Blackwell is a journalist and filmmaker living in New York City.
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By editor

Originally published on Sun July 15, 2012 3:04 am

In some of the dirtiest places on Earth, author and environmentalist Andrew Blackwell found some beauty. His book, Visit Sunny Chernobyl, tours the deforestation of the Amazon, the oil sand mines in Canada and the world's most polluted city, located in China.

Blackwell says his ode to polluted locales is a bid for re-engagement with places people have shrunk away from in disgust.

Radioactive To Its Core

His first stop was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl.

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The Two-Way
1:18 pm
Sat July 14, 2012

U.N. Enters Syrian Town To Investigate Assault

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By Dana Farrington

Originally published on Sat July 14, 2012 2:39 pm

United Nations observers have entered the Syrian town of Tremseh to investigate an attack reported to be the bloodiest so far since the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

The details of the incident are unclear, as The Associated Press reports:

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The Salt
1:16 pm
Sat July 14, 2012

Let Them Eat Kale: Vegetarians And The French Revolution

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Credit Wikimedia
The execution of Marie Antoinette. Artist unknown.
Credit DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI / De Agostini/Getty Images
Roman civilization, 1st century A.D. Relief portraying a feast.
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By editor

Originally published on Mon July 16, 2012 9:29 am

Saturday was Bastille Day, the French holiday commemorating a pivotal moment of the French Revolution: The storming of the Bastille prison. But in addition to remembering the revolutionaries with a spirited verse of "Do You Hear The People Sing?"* should we also celebrate with a plate of veggies?

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Movies I've Seen A Million Times
12:16 pm
Sat July 14, 2012

The Movie Mira Sorvino Has 'Seen A Million Times'

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Credit AP
Marlon Brando starred in the 1955 film, On the Waterfront.
Credit Carlo Allegri / AP
Mira Sorvino stars in the new film Union Square.
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Originally published on Sun July 15, 2012 8:08 am

The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen a Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

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Music Interviews
11:03 am
Sat July 14, 2012

Dirty Projectors: A Polarizing Sound At The Fringes Of Pop

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Credit Jake Longstreth
David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors. The band's new album is titled Swing Lo Magellan.
Credit Jason Frank Rothenberg / Courtesy of the artist
Dirty Projectors' new album is entitled Swing Lo Magellan.
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By editor

Originally published on Sat July 14, 2012 6:21 pm

Opinions about Dirty Projectors couldn't be more divided. At a recent NPR Music listening party, audience members gave the band's new album, Swing Lo Magellan, both very high marks and very low marks. It was a genuine split decision.

Intrigued, weekends on All Things Considered spoke with Dirty Projectors bandleader Dave Longstreth to figure out why. One thing became clear pretty quickly: Longstreth and Dirty Projectors take a lot of risks.

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A Blog Supreme
7:03 am
Sat July 14, 2012

Around The Jazz Internet: July 14, 2012

Credit Guy Le Querrec / Courtesy of Charles Mingus Archives
Charles Mingus, Paris 1964.
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By Patrick Jarenwattananon

A bit of a retrospective emphasis this week:

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Science
6:54 am
Sat July 14, 2012

Found In Musical Translation: Higgs Boson Explained

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By editor

Originally published on Mon July 16, 2012 3:54 pm

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

It's been over a week since scientists announced that they've found the Higgs boson particle. It's an important discovery. They say that although the Higgs boson particle is small - or, come to think of it, perhaps because of it - it holds the universe together. But for all the publicity the particle's received, how many of us could explain what it actually does? Well, here's the announcement from scientists in Switzerland.

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Presidential Race
6:54 am
Sat July 14, 2012

Obama On The Stump In Virginia

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By

Originally published on Mon July 16, 2012 3:54 pm

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

As Mitt Romney defends his business record, President Barack Obama is on the campaign trail. He'll be in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia and Washington, D.C. today. Yesterday, the president traveled to the Tidewater region of southeastern Virginia, and he continued to make his pitch that he is the best champion for the middle class. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

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Business
6:54 am
Sat July 14, 2012

$6B Deal Eases Credit Card Surcharge Restrictions

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By Wendy Kaufman

Originally published on Mon July 16, 2012 3:54 pm

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Visa, MasterCard, some of the nation's other largest banks have agreed to a multibillion dollar settlement of a class action suit involving credit card transaction fees. Now, those are what merchants pay when you use plastic instead of cash. Retailers allege that the two largest payment networks conspired with the banks to keep so-called swipe fees high. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

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