Aug. 8, 2008: Word for Word: Stephen L. Carter

Aug. 8, 2008: Word for Word: Stephen L. Carter

War is a major issue in the 2008 presidential election. But Yale University law professor and author Stephen Carter says the U.S. has a bigger problem than just withdrawal or escalation of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says the western theory of "just wars" makes it too easy for a nation to fight wars it should not fight ... and too difficult to fight wars that it should. Stephen Carter discussed the "Just War Theory" at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

Aug. 1, 2008: Word for Word: Lincoln Hall

In 2006, Australian mountain climber Lincoln Hall was left for dead on Mount Everest. Twelve hours later, he was found by a fellow climber, alive and sitting cross-legged on the ridge of the mountain. Lincoln Hall recounts this remarkable tale in his book, "Dead Lucky" and also in a speech at the Commonwealth Club of California.

Jul. 25, 2008: Word for Word: How the rich get richer (David Cay Johnston)

You may have heard there's no such thing as a free lunch, but David Cay Johnston says there is -- and wealthy Americans do get richer because of it. In an April 14, 2008 speech at the Commonwealth Club of California, Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of Free Lunch, outlines how government-private sector collusion affects the middle class and the poor.

Jul. 18, 2008: Word for Word: The history of insect control

The human battle with bugs has been going on for centuries, but James McWilliams says chemical insecticides came into the picture by accident. McWilliams is a fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University and an associate professor of history at Texas State University. His new book is "American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT" and he was one of the featured speakers at the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

Jul. 11, 2008: Word for Word: "Who Speaks for Islam?"

In a July 1 panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Dalia Mogahed director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and Irshad Manji, author of "The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in her Faith" debated the question: "Who Speaks for Islam?"