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Former presidential speechwriter Michael Waldman. His new book is called POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency. (Simon and Schuster) From 1993 to 1999, Waldman was a special assistant and then chief speechwriter to Bill Clinton. During that time, he worked closely with the president to write or edit nearly two thousand speeches, including four State of the Union addresses and two inaugural addresses. Previously a public-interest lawyer and writer, Waldman is the author of Who Robbed America? A Citizen's Guide to the S&L Scandal. Since leaving the White House, he has taught at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg has a commentary on the idea of community. A controversial recent book by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam argues that community participation is in sharp decline in American life, but Nunberg says the word community is being used more frequently than ever.

Publisher Andre Schirrrin, director of The New Press, and former head of Pantheon books, talks about the New York publishing world from the business side. Hes just written The Business of Books, (Verso) described as part memoir, part history of contemporary publishing.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews a new CD by Queens of the Stone Age. Its called R, as in the movie ratings code for Restricted. The band is currently on tour as part of OZZfest.

Republican Presidential nominee George W. Bush campaigned at a school in southern California today. Bush is the underdog in the state, but says he is optimistic that he can win an upset there. NPR's Andy Bowers talked to one voter who explained both why Bush both down in the polls and holds realistic hope.

Representatives from the major film studios faced the Senate Commerce Committee today and promised to take steps to limit the marketing of violent R-rated films to children. The hearing came after a report by the Federal Trade Commission revealed that the studios sometimes target marketing campaigns at children too young to see R-rated films. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

Ralph Nader is the Green Party nominee for president. He's run before, but this time, the consumer advocate has stepped up his effort. He's raising money, traveling the country, and drawing crowds to hear his pitch that there's little difference between the two major parties and that he is the candidate who will stand up for workers. All Things Considered is airing excerpts from candidate's stump speeches every Wednesday. Today, we hear a portion of one of Nader's.

The last time Australia hosted the Olympics, in 1956, Hungary was a power in water polo, and scored a victory over the Soviet Union. It was important because at the time, Hungary was trying to win a real war back home against the Soviets. Robert talks to Ervin Zador, who was injured in that 1956 game. Since then he's been coaching water polo and swimming in the United States.

Commentator Desiree Cooper talks about James, a young man who bludgeoned his father and is completely unrepentant about it. James says he suffered from abuse from his father. Cooper says that there is much concern about violence on television making kids more violent, but that real violence in their lives is an even more negative force in the lives of kids.

Catherine Houchins is pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge in Roanoke, VA. She is conducting funeral services for Danny Overstreet, who was shot and killed at a Roanoke gay bar on Friday. Six others were wounded in the shooting. Noah talks to her about the mood in the southwest Virginia community.

Senator Joe Lieberman is a household name because he's running for vice president. But he also has a second campaign to run this fall, for re-election to his Senate seat in Connecticut. He insists he intends to run both races, but some Democrats are having second thoughts. They worry that if Al Gore and Lieberman win the national race, Connecticut's Republican governor will fill the vacant Senate seat with a Republican. Connecticut Public Radio's John Dankosky reports.

NPR's John McChesney returns to the area where his family farmed for many generations in Saline County, Missouri. It's a rich agricultural region, surrounded on two sides by the Missouri River. He compares the way of life he knew as a boy with some of the new farmers. He finds that in some ways the farmers' modern high-tech methods are their own worst enemies: greater yield means flat prices. And in hog farming, the almost-automated life of the modern hog seems immoral to some old-timers who had more affection for their animals.