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Robert Siegel and Melissa Block
Jill Roberts and Janie Gould

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Planet Money
3:42 pm
Thu February 23, 2012

How Mitt Romney's Firm Transformed A Struggling Company, In 5 Steps

Credit iStockphoto.com

Originally published on Mon May 7, 2012 12:19 pm

Mitt Romney says his experience in private equity taking over troubled companies would make him a good manager of America's economy. So we're reporting on companies that Bain Capital bought while Romney was in charge of the firm. This morning, we told the story of one that went bust. Here's the story of one that succeeded.

How A Private-Equity Firm Turns A Company Around

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Law
6:56 pm
Wed February 22, 2012

Is A Lie Just Free Speech, Or Is It A Crime?

Credit Bruce Smith / ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Supreme Court heard arguments over whether it should be a crime to lie about receiving military medals. Here large replicas of the Medals of Honor hang at the Medal of Honor Museum.

The U.S. Supreme Court took up the subject of lying on Wednesday.

Specifically at issue was the constitutionality of a 2006 law that makes it a crime to lie about having received a military medal. But the questions posed by the justices ranged far beyond that — from advertising puffery to dating lies.

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Law
6:19 pm
Wed February 22, 2012

Supreme Court Considers Case On Military Honors

The Supreme Court engaged in a lively debate Wednesday when it heard oral arguments in a case testing whether the 2006 Stolen Valor Act is constitutional. The law makes it a crime to lie about military honors.

Music Reviews
3:28 pm
Tue February 21, 2012

A 'Giant Anthology' Of Profile Records, Rap's Early Champion

Credit Frank Micelotta / Getty Images
Profile Records never meant to get into the rap game, but the label launched the careers of rap groups like Run-D.M.C.

Before the rise of Def Jam as hip-hop's definitive record label, there was Profile, which helped shepherd in some of the genre's early shifts in sound and style. A new two-CD anthology, Giant Single: The Profile Records Rap Anthology, chronicles the label's 15-year history and legacy.

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Music Interviews
3:19 pm
Tue February 21, 2012

Galactic: A Funky Day In The Life Of Mardi Gras

Credit Zack Smith
The New Orleans funk band Galactic's latest album, Carnivale Electrico, takes listeners from Fat Tuesday to Ash Wednesday.

Get ready to dance, because it's Mardi Gras — a day to cut loose before Lent begins. In New Orleans, that means a day of parades, costumes and music everywhere you turn.

For the members of Galactic, Mardi Gras actually started on Monday, with an "annual gig that goes until the sun comes up at local club Tipitina's," saxophonist and harmonica player Ben Ellman says. For the long-running New Orleans funk band, it's one of the biggest gigs of the year.

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You Must Read This
5:50 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

A Depressive Diarist Chronicles His Descent

Patrick deWitt is the author of The Sisters Brothers.

"Doesn't the act of noticing matter as much as what's noticed?" So asks the narrator of Harry Mathews' masterpiece of minutia, The Journalist.

On the mend from a nervous breakdown (though it's mentioned only in passing — "the steering wheel came off in my hands," he says), he's been encouraged by his doctor to keep a journal. A seemingly benign idea, and he throws himself into the task with gusto — far too much gusto, it turns out, as the journal soon eclipses his entire life.

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Arts & Life
3:52 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed For A Matrix?

Credit MGM
Design Within Reach? The cool sterility of 2001: A Space Odyssey is just one example of how pop culture expresses an anxiety that's seemingly about technology, but may be as old as time.

When Hollywood imagines the future, from Logan's Run to Avatar, it tends to picture living spaces as sterile and characterless, without any cultural clues to the person who lives there. No record library, no DVDs, no Hemingway on bookshelves ... often no bookshelves.

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Election 2012
3:00 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Candidates Hit Ground For Contests In Mich., Ariz.

Host Audie Cornish talks with Don Gonyea about the week ahead in politics, including the contests in Michigan and Arizona.

Middle East
3:00 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

Yemen The Next Arab Nation In Line To Oust Dictator

Voters in Yemen go to the polls on Tuesday in a one-candidate presidential election many hope will lead to a resolution of the nearly year-long crisis there. While most Yemenis support the peaceful transfer of power from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to his deputy, many are frustrated that Saleh has immunity for all the protester deaths last year and that his sons and nephews still control the country.

Television
3:00 pm
Mon February 20, 2012

'Clinton' Doc Turns Lens On Former President

Host Audie Cornish talks with writer and director Barak Goodman about his latest project, Clinton, part of the American Experience: Presidents series. The first of two installments airs Monday night on PBS.

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