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The Monday Edition

Just a few of the highlights from the latest show. For a more detailed rundown, click on "Read More" at the bottom of this entry. Or consult the box marked "Latest Audio" at the right-hand side of the webpage.

PART ONE

CANADIAN HEALTHCARE - PREMIER. Take it or leave it. The country's premiers say Ottawa is abdicating its responsibility on healthcare by imposing a new funding formula on them -- with no strings attached.

WOMAN BLOWS UP BUILDING. Relief available at the push of a button. Sixteen years after an industrial accident killed her father, Sarah Griffiths got to blow up the building where he died.

PART TWO

CRUISE SHIP SINKING. Hell on low water. Theories abound as to what caused the cruise liner Costa Concordia to run aground off the Italian coast on Friday. Industry analyst Julian Bray takes us through the possibilities.

FALKLANDS PILOT REUNION. Facing the enemy. A British Falklands War Veteran meets the Argentine pilot he thought he'd killed in 1982.

PART THREE

GREY SEALS REPORT. For Cod's sake. A new report blames Grey Seals for the lack of cod stock recovery off Nova Scotia's shores.

SOMALI PIRATE ECONOMY. Treasure trail. A British researcher has been following the path of Somali pirate ransom money.

 


Show:AS_IT_HAPPENS
Date:2012/01/16
Time:17:30:01

MONDAY BILLS Duration: 00:01:41

Tonight:

A new fetal position. To stop abortions based on the sex of the baby, a Canadian medical journal advises we delay revealing the sex of the baby.

Quotability on potability. Last week, a guest in Pennsylvania told us fracking wrecked his drinking water -- and tonight, an oil-company rep tells us the water's fine.

Spend it all in one place. Ottawa will hand health-care money to the provinces, based on population -- and the premiers are feeling a little logy about it.

The raze-er's edge. Lots of people wanted to blow up a soup factory in England -- but only one woman wanted to get revenge on the building itself.

The unbearable lightness of being in New York. A movie location scout shares his darkest fear: that the Big Apple is running out of suitably creepy dark alleys.

And...icon-troversy. A car company faces outrage when it chooses to illustrate a "revolutionary" new program with a famous photo of a stern Che Guevara.

As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that suggests they save face by losing face.


CMAJ - SEX SELECTION Duration: 00:06:51

It's a right all Canadians have -- to know if a fetus is a boy or a girl at any point during a pregnancy.

Now, an editorial published in today's Canadian Medical Association Journal, wants to limit that right. The reason for that change: postponing notification of a baby's sex could curb abortions among ethnic groups here in Canada.

We reached the C-M-A-J's editor-in-chief, Doctor Rajendra Kale, in Ottawa.


LITTLE BY LITTLE Duration: 00:00:21
Album:TKOL RMX 1234567/RADIOHEAD
Label:TBD, 88088217592
Persons/Roles:
COLIN GREENWOOD - COMPOSER
JONNY GREENWOOD - COMPOSER
ED O'BRIEN - COMPOSER
PHIL SELWAY - COMPOSER
THOM YORKE - COMPOSER
NIGEL GODRICH - PRODUCER
RADIOHEAD - POP GROUP
DAN SNAITH - DJ MIXER

CDN HEALTHCARE - PREMIER Duration: 00:08:21

Do things have to be the same to be equal?

It's a question that the country's premiers are grappling with today at a meeting in Victoria. And a question that may well affect the kind of treatment you get when you go to see a doctor.

The federal government has imposed a new funding plan on the provinces. It'll write cheques to the provinces based on population size -- and then get out of the way.

With no strings attached to the money, some fear it'll mean better care in some place, worse in others.

Darrell Dexter is the premier of Nova Scotia and we reached him in Victoria.


COSMIC TREE Duration: 00:00:20
Album:4 HERO PRESENTS EXTENSIONS
Label:RAW CANVAS, RCRCD03
Persons/Roles:
MARK CLAIR - COMPOSER
JENS "GROOVEMASTER 7" DOHLE - DRUMS
STEFFEN "STEVE BASS" ILLNER - CONTRABASS
OEZLEM - SINGING
CHRISTOPH REUTER - PIANO
YE: SOLAR - ENS INSTR
ANDRE ZIMMA - DIR

Q/U: MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY Duration: 00:01:12

And now, Quote/Unquote.In Washington, DC, you'll find the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. And on that memorial, you can read something Dr. King himself purportedly once said. Quote:

"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

Unquote.

It's not one of Dr. King's more famous quotations. Which seemed strange to some people. Including the Washington Post's Rachel Manteuffel. Last week, in an op-ed, she wrote, quote:

"It sounded almost conceited. And it was past tense, as though King was speaking from the grave. It didn't sound like King at all." Unquote.

Well, she was right. Those weren't the words Dr. King spoke. What he actually said -- one more now -- was, quote, "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness."

Still not sure who wanted to say he was a "drum major" at all, but that full quotation certainly has a different tone. So much so that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced on Friday that the monument will be corrected.


WOMAN BLOWS UP BUILDING Duration: 00:06:15

They say revenge is sweet, but in some cases it can also be explosive.

Sixteen years ago, Sarah Griffiths' father died an industrial accident at a Campbell's Soup factory. And yesterday, in a bizarre act of closure, she was given the chance to blow the building up.

We reached Sarah Griffiths in King's Lynn, England.


AT HOME Duration: 00:00:15
Album:FILMOTHEQUE/LEMONGRASS
Label:LEMONGRASS MUSIC
Persons/Roles:
ROLAND VOSS - COMPOSER
LEMONGRASS - PERFORMER

SC: CHE GUEVARA AD Duration: 00:02:09

Imagine you're in a room full of marketing people. Your task is to come up with a punchy way to get across that Daimler AG's new initiative, called CarTogether, is revolutionary.

Daimler AG makes Mercedes-Benzes. And CarTogether is an app that helps drivers find people to share rides with. It reduces emissions, it involves social networking -- in the corporate community, it's considered radical.

So there you are, in the room, with the marketing people. Where, you're told, there are no bad ideas. So you start spit-balling. What's revolutionary? Uh, how about an actual revolutionary? Great, go with it, go with it. Lenin? Trotsky? Too obscure. Plus, neither of them was very sexy. Martin Luther? Good thought, but the religious angle's a turn-off. Plus, he also wasn't sexy. Robespierre? Crickets.

Well, wait. What about that guy who's on all the T-shirts? The guy with the cheekbones and the hipster beard and the beret? What's his name -- Che Guevara! That's our revolutionary! And hey -- we can change that symbol on his beret to a Mercedes logo!

And that's what they did. Nine days ago, Daimler AG's Chairman of the Board of Management stood onstage at the Consumer Electronics Show, in front of that huge picture of Che Guevara with the Mercedes logo on his beret. And he said -- the Chairman, not Che Guevara -- "Some colleagues still think that car-sharing borders on communism. But if that's the case, viva la revolución!"

But la revolución came to an abrupt end when Cuban expats heard about the whole Che Guevara thing. Turns out they're a little mad at him over that whole Cuban revolution thing, with the communism and the executions and all. So much so that they inundated Daimler AG with outraged complaints.

Almost immediately, Daimler apologized, saying the decision to use Che Guevara's face was "thoughtless" and "absolutely stupid". That won't change the minds of the furious, but it might mean a step forward for marketers everywhere. If so, viva la evolución.


PENNSYLVANIA FRACKING WATER FOLO Duration: 00:08:02

Craig Sautner has a drinking problem. But he doesn't need treatment. His water does. The problem, he says, was caused by the Cabot Oil & Gas Company.

Last week, Mr. Sautner, who lives in Dimock, Pennsylvania, told us he can't drink the water from his tap because it is polluted with methane and other chemicals. He and ten other families are suing Cabot Oil for contamination of their water. Under an agreement with Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, Cabot agreed to supply the Dimock residents with clean drinking water. But late last year, the DEP declared that the water was now drinkable, and Cabot could stop the deliveries.

George Stark agrees the water's just fine. He's the spokesperson for Cabot Oil and Gas, and we reached him in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


WELL, WELL, WELL Duration: 00:00:22
Album:THERE WILL BE A LIGHT/HARPER, BEN/BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
Label:EMI, 7243 4 73466 2 0
Persons/Roles:
BOB DYLAN - COMPOSER
DANNY O'KEEFE - COMPOSER
BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA - POP GROUP
BEN HARPER - PRODUCER
BEN HARPER - VOCALS

CRUISE SHIP SINKING Duration: 00:06:59

More than a dozen passengers of the doomed cruise ship the Costa Concordia are still unaccounted for. Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine just what -- and who -- went wrong.

As you've heard in the news, the luxury liner, carrying forty-two-hundred passengers, ran aground off the coast of Italy on Friday, and capsized. Six bodies have since been retrieved. The search for the remaining missing passengers resumed today, after bad weather temporarily forced rescuers to halt their efforts.

Now it will be up to investigators to determine whether the responsibility rests solely with the ship's captain -- now under arrest -- or with the ship itself. Or both.

Julian Bray is an industry analyst, and, as a guest lecturer, a frequent passenger aboard cruise liners. We reached him in Peterborough, England.


FLAX Duration: 00:00:15
Album:TRILOGI/FREDRIK
Label:THE KORA RECORDS
Persons/Roles:
FREDRICK - COMPOSER
FREDRICK - POP GROUP

FALKLANDS PILOT BBC Clip Duration: 00:00:46

Neil Wilkinson has met a ghost.

In 1982, Argentina and Britain went to war over ownership of the South Atlantic Falkland Islands. At the time, Neil Wilkinson was an anti-aircraft gunner in the British navy. And during one battle, he shot down an Argentine Skyhawk fighter jet -- killing everyone on board.

Or so Mr. Wilkinson thought.

But actually, Mariano Velasco, the lone pilot, survived the crash. And three decades later, the two former enemies have met.

The BBC was there to document the meeting.


FALKLANDS PILOT REUNION Duration: 00:06:22

We reached Falklands War veteran, Neil Wilkinson, at the BBC studios in Leeds, England.


FTR: PHILADELPHIA MAYOR LANGUAGE Duration: 00:01:13

When Michael Nutter sees red, his tongue turns blue.

Over the past few days, a video of Mr. Nutter -- who is the mayor of Philadelphia -- has gone viral on the internet.

What you should know is that Mr. Nutter isn't one for political prevarication. He calls things the way he sees them. Particularly if what he sees makes him angry. For instance, a few years ago, after the Phillies had won the World Series, Mayor Nutter warned Philadelphians not to get rowdy, telling them -- and I quote here -- "You can be joyous, you cannot be a jackass."

Anyway, last week a thirty-year-old man shot at a car full of teenaged boys, killing three of them. The boys had been quarreling with the man's stepsons. They were unarmed.

The shooting understandably upset Mayor Nutter. Here, for the record, is what he had to say about the incident:


INTERMISSION Duration: 00:01:03
Album:MOONITURE/ATKINSON, ANNA
Label:CUSTOM
Persons/Roles:
ANNA ATKINSON - COMPOSER
ANNA ATKINSON - VOCALS
BRENT BODRUG - PRODUCER

LOTUS FLOWER Duration: 00:00:32
Album:TKOL RMX 1234567/RADIOHEAD
Label:TBD, 88088217592
Persons/Roles:
COLIN GREENWOOD - COMPOSER
JONNY GREENWOOD - COMPOSER
ED O'BRIEN - COMPOSER
PHIL SELWAY - COMPOSER
THOM YORKE - COMPOSER
NIGEL GODRICH - PRODUCER
JACQUES GREENE - DJ MIXER
RADIOHEAD - POP GROUP

GREY SEALS REPORT Duration: 00:06:39

Researchers may have solved the mystery of why Nova Scotia's cod stocks won't recover.

Overfishing led to the collapse of cod stocks off the Nova Scotia coast. But after a commercial fishing ban in 1993, scientists were baffled as to why cod stocks had not rebounded.

Well, a new study by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography is asking the scientific community to take a fresh look at an old suspect: the Grey Seal.

Bob O'Boyle is the lead author of the report. We reached him at his office in Bedford, Nova Scotia.


SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS Duration: 00:00:22
Album:FUZZBOX/THE SECTION QUARTET
Label:DECCA
Persons/Roles:
BEN GIBBARD - COMPOSER
JIMMY TAMBORELLO - COMPOSER
THE SECTION QUARTET - STRING QUARTET

SOMALI PIRATE ECONOMY Duration: 00:06:22

Somali pirates make a lot in ransom money. But have you ever wondered where all that bounty actually goes?

Well, that's exactly what Anja Shortland, a Senior Lecturer in Economics and Finance at the UK's Brunel University, wanted to find out. And the British think-tank Chatham House has just published Ms Shortland's findings.

We reached Anja Shortland at her home near Oxford, England.


FRICTION Duration: 00:00:26
Album:VESPERS/REDHOOKER
Label:SOFT LANDING, SLR002
Persons/Roles:
STEPHEN GRIESGRABER - COMPOSER
MARLAN BARRY - PRODUCER
STEPHEN GRIESGRABER - ELECTRIC GUITAR
STEPHEN GRIESGRABER - PRODUCER
PETER HESS - BASS CLARINET
MAXIM MOSTON - VIOLIN
REDHOOKER - INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE
ANDIE SPRINGER - VIOLIN

FTR: JON HUNTSMAN Duration: 00:02:51

Mitt Romney couldn't be happier. Today, another candidate for the Republican nomination bit the dust.

John Huntsman has dropped out of the race, just a few days before the South Carolina primary. He also endorsed Mr. Romney's campaign.

The former ambassador to China was always considered a long shot. Even a strong-ish showing in New Hampshire last week -- Mr. Huntsman finished third -- still wasn't enough.

For the record, here some of what Mr. Huntsman had to say at a press conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.


MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS Duration: 00:00:36
Album:SOUND OF THE WORLD - 33 ARTISTS FROM 28 COUNTRIES
Label:WRASSE, WRASS 169
Persons/Roles:
CHRISTOPHER FAIUMU - DESIGNER
DALLAS TAMAIRA - DESIGNER
DJ FITCHIE & JOE DUKIE - ENS IN-V

NY DARK ALLEY SHORTAGE Duration: 00:05:51

If you go to New York City, you will almost certainly find yourself running down a dark alley, chased by a gang of angry criminals. Alternatively, you'll stumble over a corpse -- also in a dark alley. Or, on your way home from a Broadway show, you'll be cornered by a drug-crazed mugger, who'll demand all your money. In, of course, a dark alley.

Anyone who's seen a movie set in New York has seen these dark alleys. There are hundreds of them! Well, there used to be. That's the problem: New York City is running out of dark grimy alleys to shoot movie scenes in.

No one knows this reality better than Nick Carr. He's a New York-based location scout for film productions, and we reached him at home.


GENERIQUE STEPHANE Duration: 00:00:42
Album:SCIENCE OF SLEEP, SOUNDTRACK
Label:ASTRALWERKS, 000042
Persons/Roles:
JEAN-MICHEL BERNARD - COMPOSER
JEAN-MICHEL BERNARD - PERFORMER

SCRIPT/MUSIC: BEYONCE HORSEFLY Duration: 00:01:56

Bryan Lessard is a big fan of Beyoncé. And he and the pop star have something in common: recently, they each named something they dearly love. In Beyoncé's case, it was her first child, a daughter -- whom she christened Blue Ivy Carter.

Mr. Lessard, on the other hand, chose to name his baby after Beyoncé -- because it reminded him of her.

Now, when I say baby, I don't mean human baby. What I really mean is horse fly. Specifically, I mean the Scaptia Plinthina beyonceae -- the "all-time diva of flies", according to Mr. Lessard. He's a scientific researcher in Australia, who's just published a paper about the insect, which he describes as "pretty bootylicious". Yes: he called a horse fly "bootylicious".

In case you didn't know, Bootylicious is the name of a song by Beyoncé's former band, Destiny's Child. The song celebrates big rear ends -- which, apparently, this horsefly has in spades. That might explain why locally it's known as the "gold bum fly".

Mr. Lessard hasn't found any living specimens of it, but he did meet someone who claims to have been bitten by it. And Mr. Lessard has obviously been bitten by it too, in another way. And by Beyoncé, who happens to be the same age as the discovery of Scaptia Plinthina beyonceae. The first specimen was caught in 1981 -- the same year Beyoncé was born.

Bryan Lessard doesn't know if Beyoncé's heard about his gesture, but he hopes she'll be flattered. How could she not?

Especially given, as Mr. Lessard points out, that horse flies, quote, "...are vital pollinators of native plants, not just in Australia, but all over the world. It's extremely important to name all the undescribed species so we can measure our human impact on the environment and hopefully protect it for future generations to enjoy."

Now that's sexy.

.


HORSEFLY Duration: 00:01:36
Album:NO PLACE/SILVER HEARTS
Label:CUSTOM
Persons/Roles:
TINY DAVIS - COMPOSER
MIKE BEGIN - PRODUCER
SILVER HEARTS - FOLK GROUP