Justin

Before Rob Gifford got his current job as NPR London Bureau Chief, he spent six years as NPR's Beijing correspondent.  While there, he made the 3,000 mile journey from east to west along China's Route 312.  Then he wrote a book about it, China Road.  Rob joins us via ISDN from London today to tell us all about his exotic roadtrip, his time in China, and to share some observations about China's present and future role as growing world superpower.

While you're listening, you can go to Rob's site to see some pictures from China, like the one below, taken by Patrick Fraser.  Click here to go right to the pics.

-Justin

-Justin

Whether or not you agree with Robert Kaplan's politcal opinions and worldview, which are undoubtedly controversial, a couple points are hard to argue.

He's highly influential, not only through his prolific writing, which includes a dozen books and twenty years worth of features and op-eds in everything from the NY Times to The Washington Post to military journals to The Atlantic Monthly, where he serves as correspondent, but also through the role he has played as advisor to the US government and military.

He's a great writer, always conveying a wealth of information in a way that is both literary in style and readable.  He does a great job of combining on-the-ground reporting, history, politics, travel writing, and literary references with his own forward-thinking analysis.

That said, you can decide for yourself what you think of Kaplan's opinions.  Click here for an archive of his articles for The Atlantic Monthly.  His most recent book is Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts.  I would strongly recommend one of his earlier books, Balkan Ghosts, an in depth look at the tumultuous Balkans.

Leave your comments here to let us know what you think of today's interview and any of Kaplan's writing that you may have read.

-Justin

Reporting from Iraq, not everyone's idea of a choice job.  Despite the obvious risks, some people wouldn't have it any other way.  One of our guests this hour, The Washington Post's Baghdad Bureau Chief Sudarsan Raghavan, has been on with us a couple times before.  Last time, his hearing was damaged from a bomb blast in the Green Zone that he was caught in the middle of.  I remember him talking about whether he considered leaving Iraq after that, and it sounded like he really felt compelled to stay.  Check out his articles here.

Two other reporters are joining us for the first time today, Gordon Lubold from the Christian Science Monitor and Tina Susman from the LA Times.  Just click on their names to see what they've been writing.

Hopefully, we'll have an hour today that goes beyond all of the political rhetoric on Iraq  last week, from Petraeus and Crocker's testimony to Bush's speech, and helps us gain an understanding of what is really going on there.

-Justin

First of all, is it just me, or does "General Petraeus" sound like a character from The Aeneid or some other Greek war epic?  It's a strange contrast with "Ambassador Crocker."

Secondly, the attention seems to really be focused on him, as opposed to Ambassador Crocker.  Maybe Crocker feels slighted, or maybe he's happy to avoid the harsh glare of the spotlight.  Either way, here are a couple takes on our willingness to trust military opinion on the war moreso than political opinion: one from the NY Times yesterday and one from The Center for Media and Democracy.

Here is the transcript of Petraeus' testimony yesterday and here is the transcript of Crocker's testimony yesterday.

Today is Patriot Day, a national holiday.  Wikipedia has an interesting article on it here.  Yes, there are greeting cards available, even e-cards.

-Justin

Back to school.. never my favorite time of the year.  So, I'm thankful that as students from nursery school to grad school go back to school this time of year, I'm not among them.

That being the case, I wouldn't have chosen to do what author Linda Perlstein did.  She spent a year immersed in the life of Tyler Heights Elementary School in Annapolis.  Her book, Tested: One American School Struggles To Make The Grade, chronicles the time she spent there.  Its focus is on the effect No Child Left Behind, and the increased focus on standardized testing in education, is having on school administrators, teachers, and most importantly, students.

Public education in the US has changed a lot in just the past few years.  If you have first-hand experience with those changes, as a student, parent, teacher, or through any other perspective, we welcome your thoughts, as always.

-Justin

Two shows in one blog post.

At noon we'll have our monthly installment of open phones.  If you want to get your ideas for discussion in early, comment here and we'll see what you have to say before we go on the air!

Then at one, we'll join in the frenzy of anticipation for the new Harry Potter book, which is going to be out at midnight on Friday.  I learned all about how closely guarded a secret this book is being kept until then when I looked into getting an advance review copy.  Turns out there's no such thing; I guess they don't need to worry about a lack of publicity.  So, it leaves us to speculate about what is going to happen in the last book.  We'll also hear some ideas about what you and your kids can read once you've exhausted the Harry Potter collection.

 -Justin

 Here's a list of books that were discussed today:

• Harry Potter Series
• Chronicles of Narnia
• Phillip Pullman’s books
• Lion Boy series
• Inheritance trilogy – Christopher Paolini
• Twilight and New Moon – Stephanie Myers
• Coraline – Gaiman
• Wizards Hall – Jane Yolen
• So you want to be a Wizard – Diane duane
• The Great Stalk and Company – Kipling
• The Omen – Terry Prachett
• Good Omens – Neil Gauman
• The House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer
• Mercedes Lackey - Tamora Pierce
• Bartimaeus Trilogy
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• Mike Lupica
• Matt Christopher
• The Dangerous Book for Boys
• The Spy Handbook
• The Redwall Series – Brian Jacques
• Enid Blyton’s books
• Discworld Series – Terry Pratchett
• Lloyd Alexander’s books

First off, a geography test.  Can you find the Eastern Shore on this map?

While much of The Eastern Shore is still full of small towns and farms, places like Kent County and Worcester County have seen large population growth and increasingly widespread development.  This hour we'll be looking at some of the concerns accompanying current development projects around the region.

As Jessica is from Ocean City, perhaps she has more to add here.

 -Justin

These pictures will make sense if you listen to the show on Monday, I promise.

This hour we'll have interviews with the authors of some pieces that caught our attention in the papers lately, or in one case, online.  If you want to do some homework over the weekend, here's a link to each one:

What Ted Stevens, Bolivian cocaine and Halliburton have in common by Michael Scherer on Salon.com

Parents' paranoia takes toll on kids' health, happiness by L.J. Williamson in The Baltimore Sun

New Lyrics for Israel by Adam Lebor in The New York Times

-Justin

-Justin

-Justin

(psst....this is Jessica, sneaking in with one for the ladies! )