Lesson Seven
Section One: News in Brief
Tapescript
1. Both -House and Senate negotiators today approved sweeping im-
migration legislation that could grant amnesty to millions of illegal
aliens who entered the country before 1982. The bill, as worked, out
in five hours of closed-door negotiations, would establish a system
of fines against employers who hire illegal immigrants. It would also
make those who came to the US illegally but have established roots
in this country eligible for amnesty.
2. The Supreme Court today agreed to decide if Illinois can require
minors wanting abortions to notify their parents or obtain judicial
consent. The justices will review the decision striking down a 1983
law, which required some girls to wait twenty-four hours after tel-
ling their parents they wanted an abortion.
3. It was announced today that the winner of this year's Nobel Peace
Prize is Elie Wiesel. He has written twenty' five books on his experi-
ences in a Nazi prison of war camp and on the Holocaust. And he's
been a human rights activist for thirty years. NPR's Mike Shuster
reports. "Wiesel was sleeping in his Manhattan apartment when he
received the word at five o'clock this morning from the Nobel Com-
mittee in Oslo, Norway. Wiesel said he was flabbergasted at the
news, and later at a press conference, he said he would dedicate his
Prize to the survivors of the Holocaust and their children. "The hon-
or is not mine alone. It belongs to all the survivors who have tried to
do something with their pain, with their memory, with their silence,
with their life.' Wiesel, fifty-eight, is a native of Rumania. As a
teenager, he and his family were sent to a Nazi death camp. He and
two sisters survived; his mother, father, and younger sister did not.
After the War, Wiesel went first to France, then to the United States.
He is credited with the first use of the word 'Holocaust' to describe
the Nazi extermination of the Jews.'
Section Two: News in Detail
Tapescript
A House-Senate Conference Committee has agreed to an im-
migration reform bill. The measure, which had died in the final days
of the fast two Congresses, now looks as though it will become law.
NPR's Cokie Roberts reports.
One of the chief advocates of the immigration bill, New York
Democrat Charles Schumer, says that this year immigration became
a white hat issue, that the forces fighting against the measures finally
had a force on the opposite side of equal rate public opinion. The
opponents of immigration reform have always been many: Hispanics
in Congress and in the country have opposed the part of the bill most
lawmakers consider key - punishment for employers who knowing-
ly hire illegals. The measure, passed at a conference today, would
provide civil penalties and criminal penalties for those who repeated-
ly hire illegal aliens. Hispanics worry the employer sanctions would
cause discrimination against anyone with an accent or Spanish
name, whether legal or not. The new bill includes strong anti-dis-
crimination language for employers who do refuse to hire any
Hispanics while still allowing someone to hire a citizen before an
alien. To appease Hispanics and others, the immigration bill includes
amnesty for aliens who have been in this country for five years,
Many border state representatives fought against the legalization
provisions, saying that millions of people could eventually become
citizens and bring their relatives to this country. All those people
could bankrupt the state's social services, said the representatives,
but the idea of deporting all of those people seemed impractical as
well as inhumane to most members of Congress. And aliens who
came to this country before 1982 will ' be able to apply for
legalization. The other major controversial area of the immigration
bill is the farm worker program. Agricultural interests wanted to be
able to bring workers into this country to harvest crops without be-
ing subjected to employer sanctions, but the trade unions opposed
this section of the bill. Finally, a compromise was reached where up
to three hundred and fifty thousand farm workers could come into
this country, but their rights would be protected and they would also
be able to apply for legalization if they met certain conditions. The
elements of the final immigration package have been there all along,
but this year, say the key lawmakers around this legislation, the
Congress was ready to act on them. The combination of horror sto-
ries about people coming over the borders and editorials about con-
gressional inability to act made members of Congress decide the time
had come to enact immigration reform. But supporters of reform
warn the end is not here yet. The conference report must still pass
both houses of Congress, and a Senate filibuster is always a possibili
ty. I'm Cokie Roberts at the Capitol.
Section Three: Special Report
Tapescript
Many photography shops are quite busy this time of the year.
People back from vacation are dropping off rolls of film and hoping
for the best. But commentator Tom Baudet learned a long time ago
he was better off not hoping.
I I've been told that I take lousy pictures. It's not that my sbots
aren't technically OK; it's just that my pictures seem to bring out the
worst in people. I hope that's not a sign of something. I usually end
up throwing half the pictures I take. It's not that they're deceiving.
Not at all; they're just too honest. It's true what they say that a cam-
era never lies, but you certainly can lie to a camera.. We do it all the
time; at least we exaggerate a little to a lens. The first
thing you'll usually hear when you point a camera at someone is,
' Wait, I'm not ready.' Well, so you wait while they brush th
crumbs off their chin, put out a cigarette, or throw an arm aroun
the person next to them like they've been standing that way all day
Well, you get your picture, but it's blown all out of proportion. Ev
erybody's having a little more fun than they really were and likin
each other more than they actually do. We're all guilty of this on
time or another. You're with your sweetheart travelling somewhere
You've been walking and complaining about the price of the room
the blister on your heel and the rude waitress at the cafe. But then
you stop somebody on the street, hand them your camera, and pu
on your very best having-a-wonderful-time smile. Well, ten year
later you'll look at that picture in a scrapbook and remember what
great trip it was, whether it was or not. For it's a natural thing to do:
plant little seeds of contentment in our lives in case we doubt we ever
had any. Well, it 's good practice to take an opportunity to mug up to
a camera. There never seems to be a camera around for the real spe-
cial times: that make-up embrace after a long and dangerous discus-
sion, the look on your face as you hold the phone and hear you got
that promotion, the quiet ride home from the hospital after learning
those suspicious lumps were benign and something to watch but not
worry about. Those are the memories that should be preserved, to be
remembered and relied upon when harder times take hold. Those
times when a photographer like me will catch you at a party with a
loneliness on your face that you didn't think would show or bitter-
ness tugging at your lips during a conversation you didn"t intend to
be overheard. Well, we all slip up like this sometimes, and sooner or
later we get caught with our guards down. I think that's why I end
up with pictures like that. I like it when people leave their guards
down. We all know our best sides, and it's nice to keep that face for-
ward whenever we can. But I don't mind having pictures of the other
sides. Either way they all look just like people to me.
Writer Tom Baudet. He lives in Homer, Alaska. |