What the protests in Iran mean to an Iranian

Posted at 5:14 PM on July 8, 2009 by Sanden Totten (1 Comments)

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stood up this week and proudly declared Iran's elections the "freest" and "healthiest" in the world. While that may be up for debate, it does seem that the fury over the results has died down.

But if you check Iranian blogs you'll get a different picture, one of a movement that is finding quieter, more symbolic forms of dissent.

To find out more, In The Loop got in touch with one Iranian living abroad who has been keeping close tabs on the news from inside her country. In her blog, Neo-Resistance, she offers up a complicated and nuanced picture of her homeland. She also explained to us why what Americans hope to see come from the Iranian protests and what the Iranians want are two totally different things.

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Listener Palin Poems, rollin' in

Posted at 9:25 AM on July 8, 2009 by Jeff Horwich (0 Comments)

Fertile poetic ground, apparently. Got a good number of submissions to sort through before we put the next podcast together. (Submit your NewsPoems here.)

Here's a great one I found in my email this morning from Chris Kemp and his wife Laurie.

Tremendous effort, though it's probably too long for us to include in the show. Enjoy! (Photo: Johnny Wagner/Getty)

The Face on the Political Floor
(With apologies to Hugh Antoine D'Arcy)

T'was a balmy summer evening
And a goodly crowd was there,
That well nigh filled the lakeside
In Alaskan woods somewhere.

As wild geese and turkeys
Squawked and clucked upon the shore,
A Governor crept slowly in
And beckoned the press corps.

"Where did she come from?" someone said,
"The wind has blown her in."
"What does she want?" another cried,
"And why the sheepish grin?"

Twas the weekend of the fourth,
Most our newsy weren't at work,
A clever plot to hid the fact,
Her duties she would shirk.

All focused on the Governor
A focus she embraced.
In fact, she smiled as though she thought
She had found the proper place.

"Come boys, I know there's kindly hearts
Among so good a crowd;
To be in such good company
Would make a deacon proud."

"Give me a mic, that's what I want.
I like to talk you know,
When I was running for VP,
McCain would say lie low."

She gave a speech so rambling
With sentences n'er finished
The people who were watching
Thought her faculties diminished.

"That I was ever a graduate,
Not one of you would think,
Five schools it took to get me through.
Can you get me a drink?"

"You've treated me abysmally,
And I'd like to tell you now,
That I'm fed up, I'm sick and tired,
I'm resigning here and now."

"As I told you once, I am a mom
With kids and grandkid too,
And it kinda makes me wonder,
Oh, . . . I have a Russian view."

"My hometown is Wasilla, I was Mayor there ya know,
As Oil and Gas commissioner, it just got kinda slow.
But soon I'll run for President, because there's the job for me.
I'll stay almost my whole term through, because the travel's free."

"Now I must leave as governor, cause I can't trust myself
As lame duck in my office, not to waste Alaska's wealth.
But trust me as a candidate to lead the GOP
With guns and prayers and SUVs we'll keep this country free."

"Keep feds out of our bedrooms," (now here's the funny part)
"Except for gays and lesbians we're keeping them apart.
We'll bring back family values, you know you're just like me
And we know you're a socialist, if you do not agree."

"You know it's true, for a month or two, my smiles were freely given,
And when your cameras were on me, why I was just in heaven.
But up here in Alaska boys, I've hardly seen you're faces.
So I've decided now it's time for me to find new places."

"I hope you will not miss me and do not collapse from shocks,
If down the road you find me with a prime time show on Fox.
For now I'll fish for salmon and raise my kids ya know
So please don't you all miss me in those other states below."

"You'll see me here, you'll see me there, but I won't say a word.
I promise I won't disappear, why that would be absurd
The GOP all want me, I don't do it for myself.
So on the trail you'll find me long about 2012."

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Iraq won't miss us much . . .

Posted at 5:43 PM on July 2, 2009 by Sanden Totten (0 Comments)

On Tuesday, Iraqis said goodbye to what I'm sure many of them felt was an overstayed house guest - the U.S. Army.

Iraqis on parade.
Photo by Qassem Zeina AFP/Getty Images

U.S. forces pulled out of the cities and handed control to Iraqis. There was much celebration. In fact, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Malaki made the day an official holiday called National Sovereignty Day. But there's a lot of big changes happening in Iraq besides the withdrawal of troops.

To get an update for our latest podcast, In The Loop called Roman Zagros, editor-in-chief of Metro, a daily magazine covering elections in Iraq.

He described the celebrations, gave us a primer on the politics in Kurdistan and told us what Michael Jackson meant to Iraq.

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NewsTune (video): Franken+Twitter=Song

Posted at 11:27 AM on July 1, 2009 by Jeff Horwich (2 Comments)

Written and recorded quickly on the afternoon of the Coleman/Franken Supreme Court announcement.

A tune for all the political geeks and Twitter-lovers who used their 140 characters to celebrate. Can I hear a #WHATWHAT!

(Yo: This is one of those tunes where I'm taking on a persona to poke a little fun. My own personal views? ...A mystery, as always.)

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In real life, affairs don't always end with an apology

Posted at 5:20 PM on June 30, 2009 by Sanden Totten (0 Comments)

Infidelity has been a part of human relationships for about as long as humans have had relationships. But when it happens to a public couple, it's still news.

Governor Sanford looked genuinely sorry.
(Photo by Davis Turner/ Getty Images)

The disappearing Governor, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, is the latest in a string of politicians who have been caught wandering from their wives. There's Senator John Ensign, Elliot Spitzer, John Edwards ... the list goes on.

There is a familiar pattern. The politician is cornered with incriminating evidence. He holds a press conference. The wife stands by as he admits his failings. The couple agree to work hard to patch things up.

Can relationships survive infidelity?
(Photo by fmarq via Creative Commons)

But that's politics. How do affairs play out in real life? We're going to look into this for our next podcast, but here is a taste of what we found. One listener, who wished to remain anonymous to protect the identity of her child, told us that when she sees these politicians make teary eyed apologies to their wives, she isn't cynical. She is a little jealous.

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NewsTune: Could That Someone Be "Tim The Pen..."

Posted at 11:34 AM on June 29, 2009 by Jeff Horwich (1 Comments)

I've collaborated a few times recently with listeners on music for the show, but here's our first musical collaboration across MPR services...(ooooh...)

I'm pleased to present the first joint Dale Connelly-Jeff Horwich project.

Take Dale's spot-on lyrics, add my ability to sing apparently without shame or self-consciousness and vaguely like Bobby Darin, and you have a catchy little riff on Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's budget-slashing episode.

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Dale (if you don't know -- who doesn't know?) hosted the Morning Show for years and now hosts Radio Heartland here at MPR. Props to Dale for the Pawlenty-Bobby Darin photo mashup as well.

Let's do this again sometime, eh?

(Hungry for more? Here are two more recent NewsTunes from the show.)

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Not Mr. Rogers and fake Prince

Posted at 10:00 AM on June 29, 2009 by Sanden Totten (0 Comments)

(Photos from Children's Media Foundation & RoyalTalent.com)

Michael Kinsell had a dream. He wanted to be the next Mr. Rogers. He had the look. He had the comforting voice. He certainly had the ambition. What he didn't have was any backing from PBS or any big-time exposure in the world of entertainment. So he set out to fix that.

Kinsell organized a huge tribute to Fred Rogers where Hollywood celebs from Tom Hanks to Yo Yo Ma were slated to come. He announced the start of a new show called Micheal's Enchanted Neighborhood. He promoted himself in the media.

But as reporters, like Dru Sefton of Current, dug deeper they found holes. Celebrities supposedly on his event's guest list claimed they hadn't even heard of Kinsell. PBS denied any relationship with him. Sefton says it quickly became clear Kinsell's claims were bogus. But then he pulled out a wild card, he promised to get Prince to endorse his cause . . . live on air. Sefton explains how this went down.

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Debut of the ITL "Listener Cold Call"

Posted at 3:14 PM on June 26, 2009 by Jeff Horwich (0 Comments)

OK, an experiment:

When we gathered with listeners a while back, one of the ideas they pitched was that we essentially "cold call" listeners to talk about what's in the news. (It hearkens back to our live-audience days, when anyone could join in the conversation about the ideas and trends we were covering. Lots of folks miss that dynamic, and I do too.)

Hmmm. Worth a shot.

Our first guinea pig was Colin Ernst. On the agenda: Health care reform & Iran.

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Elegy for Michael, one fan's poem

Posted at 12:30 PM on June 26, 2009 by Sanden Totten (0 Comments)

(Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images)

Aaron Belz can still remember when Thriller came out, can summon up the songs in his head "like lightning". Like for a lot of us, Michael Jackson defined an era for Aaron. Within 10 minutes of hearing the news of Jackson's passing, Belz penned this poem.

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The man who wanted to be the next Mr. Rogers

Posted at 12:01 PM on June 25, 2009 by Sanden Totten (0 Comments)

Michael Kinsell had a dream. He wanted to be the next Mr. Rogers.

(Michael Kinsell ties his shoe. Photo courtesy of the Children's Media Foundation.)

Michael jumped into the limelight last year when he announced a gala event to be held in a suburb of San Deigo. Hollywood's biggest stars would be there. Famous musicians would perform. Everyone would honor the life and work of the late Fred Rogers, and then, Kinsell himself would be announced as the next man to wear the famous cardigan sweater.

But there were a few problems. No top tier Hollywood stars had agreed to come. No performances were lined up and Michael Kinsell was not about to host a show on PBS. But some how, this optimistic 18 year old entrepreneur managed to string along a handful of people, promoters and reporters . . . at least for a little while.

Dru Sefton spoke with Kinsell a number of times over the last few months. She covered the story for Current.org. I spoke with her the other day to get her take on what motivated Kinsell. Was he running a scam? Did he believe his own story? Sefton says she still doesn't know. In her 30 years of reporting she has never met a man like Kinsell:

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