Search results for

Commentator Andrei Codrescu brings us this glimpse of the kind of day that feeds a commentator's mind.

NPR's John McChesney reports on the one-dollar-per-head fee cattle producers must pay when they sell cattle. The money goes in large part to finance commercials that promote beef consumption. But some ranchers say forcing them to pay for the campaign violates their constitutional rights.

NPR's John Nielsen reports on plants that make a stink. For example: the voodoo lily. When it blooms -- people wilt.

DuPont and other multinational corporations announce the launch of the Chicago Climate Exchange. The effort is the first major attempt at establishing a market for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Andrew Aulisi, a policy analyst with Environmental Defense.

Insects known as "walking sticks" have gained and lost wings several times over the last 10 million years. At least that's what a study in this week's issue of Nature magazine contends. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Michael F. Whiting, professor of evolutionary biology at Brigham Young University and lead author of Loss and Recovery of Wings in Stick Insects.

NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that a World Trade Organization court has ruled that the so-call Byrd Amendment to U.S. trade law is a violation of international trade rules. The amendment, named after Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), requires the Customs Service to hand over the anti-dumping duties it collects to the companies that brought the unfair trade complaints. Hard-pressed steel companies were the main beneficiary of the law. The U.S. Trade Representative's Office says it will work with Congress to bring U.S. law into compliance with international trade rules.

David D'Arcy reports on this year's Sundance Film Festival, widely regarded as the most prestigious showcase for independent films and documentaries, which opens tonight. One film features a handful of the 40,000 Cubans who left their island on rafts in the 1990s.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu ponders the disappearing American mustache. He says only bad guys have them. He was born with a mustache but recently shaved it off. Now he wonders if he really is one of the bad guys.

Quinn Klinefelter of WDET in Detroit reports the head of the National Highway Traffic Administration says automakers must improve the safety of sport utility vehicles or the government may force them to do so. But car companies counter that they are already offering improved safety devices on the popular vehicles.

Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) was Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election. He and his wife have just written a memoir of the campaign, titled An Amazing Adventure: Joe and Hadassah's Personal Notes on the 2000 Campaign. On Monday, the third-term senator announced he would be running as a candidate for president in 2004.