WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. This hour we're going green as part of our 2010 massive election coverage. We're talking to gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein with a $20000 war chest and zero access to the debates. What can an outsider do to make inroads in this election. A fierce advocate for the environment and universal health care. Could her liberal values win over anough minded Bay Staters to get ahead in witnessing her fifth run for political office. Have voters grown weary of Stine as a perennial candidate. We'll talk to her about her fight for the State House and what kind of Extreme Makeover she'd like to give Massachusetts. We top off the hour with film contributor Guerin daily on the unlikely breed of cinemas leading man the nerd and along the way we check in with investigative reporter Philip Martin on sex trafficking in New England. Up next politics prostitution. And pop culture. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying President Obama's

commission investigating the BP oil spill in the Gulf is holding its second day of hearings in New Orleans. It's looking at the cause of the spill and how to make sure similar accident never happens again. From New Orleans NPR's Greg Allen reports much of the testimony has focused on the administration's suspension of deepwater drilling. You may not have heard of ocean nearing an oil services company based in Houston but you've probably seen the company's remote operated robots. They're working at the Deepwater Horizon site. BP Macondo well all sneering had its robots working at most of the deepwater rigs in the Gulf but the commission hearing in New Orleans CEO T.J. Collins said because of the moratorium it's robots and the crews are now just working at a handful of wells and that work soon will in will be reducing U.S. manpower and layoffs will be likely by September when the condo project is over. We're going to shift our focus to foreign operations. Brazil West Africa India nor see others predicted the drilling suspension could cost 38000 jobs across the region. Today the commission is hearing from local officials scientists and

community leaders about the spill social and legal logical impacts. Greg Allen NPR News New Orleans. Taking a look at what's happening in operations in the Gulf. A new cap has been installed on the blown out well that's been leaking crude. BP is now conducting tests to see if it actually stops the leak However the cap is meant to be a temporary fix. President Obama has to have a new budget manager. NPR's Ari Shapiro has this profile of Jacob Lew. If confirmed this will be the first time Lew has overseen a multi trillion dollar budget. Lew is director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. A decade ago President Obama said in a statement as the budget director who left the next administration a 237 billion dollar surplus when he worked for President Clinton. I have no doubt that Jack has proven himself equal to this extraordinary task. Lou is currently a senior adviser at the State Department. Early in his career he worked for iconic liberal lawmakers including Tip O'Neill and Bella Abzug. After he left the Clinton administration he spent five years overseeing the budget for

NYU who is nominated to replace Peter or Zach who recently announced his intention to retire as OMB director. Ari Shapiro NPR News the White House. Yankees fans are paying tribute today to team owner George Steinbrenner who died this morning after suffering a heart attack at his home in Tampa. He was 80 years old. Steinbrenner bought the then struggling sports franchise in 1983 and transformed it into a 1.6 billion dollar empire under his watch the Yankees won seven World Series titles in 11 American League pennants. Seven former political prisoners from Cuba are in Spain those who arrived in Madrid today with their families are the first of 52 prisoners. Cuba has promised to release under a deal struck with the Vatican recently. Last check on Wall Street Dow is up one hundred fifty six to ten thousand three seventy two. This is NPR. An appeals court is overturning a judge's ruling that the government should free Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamed. The three judge panel ruled there is enough evidence to suspected

ice ties to al Qaeda. The dahi has been at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo for more than eight years. The Yemeni former security guard denies being part of al-Qaida or fighting against the U.S.. The State Department confirms that a missing Iranian nuclear scientist has taken refuge at Pakistan's embassy in Washington. And as NPR's Jackie Northam reports he's planning to return home soon. The Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia last summer. The Iranian government said he was kidnapped by the CIA and possibly Saudi Arabia's intelligence service. The U.S. has never talked about a miry. But now that the nuclear scientist has shown up at Pakistan's embassy in D.C. The U.S. State Department is providing details Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says a miry has been in the United States of his own free will that he's free to go back home. In fact he was scheduled to leave Monday but wasn't able to make all the necessary arrangements. Crowley said he had no information to suggest that Amir was mistreated while in the U.S.. Jackie Northam

NPR News Washington. Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor is pleading not guilty to charges that he had sex with a minor in his arraignment in New York today the Hall of Fame linebacker was charged with third degree rape patronizing a prostitute and endangering a child. According to court papers the 51 year old Taylor admits to having sex with the girl but he says he was told she was 19 not 16. Taylor led the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles in the late 80s and early 90s. I'm Lakshmi Singh NPR News. Support for NPR comes from the Melville charitable trust supporting efforts to find and fight the causes of homelessness on the web at Millvale trust dot org. Good afternoon this is the Calla Crossley Show. It's time for another installment of GBH is 2010 mass decision election coverage. Joining me in the studio is Green Party gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein. She's a physician and environmental health

advocate and no stranger to political campaigns. Jill Stein welcome. Thanks so much Kelly great to be here. Now listeners Jule Styne has been effectively blocked from the upcoming debates featuring the other gubernatorial candidates. Do you think she should be included. Give us a call at 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 70. So Jill this is your fifth time running for office. And you know you're plugging away again at this one. The question as I have to ask is why. Why do you do this. Well you know do we want jobs. Do we want health care we can afford. Do we want strong schools you know if only we were getting it and if only we were getting closer. I've run for office actually four times unless you include the at the town meeting in Lexington. But each time I've run we've developed a stronger base of support. I win more votes. We're beating the Republicans in several of the contested races that I've won. So you know running as a as an

outsider as someone who is not a part of this big money big corporate political system that's really selling us down the drain. You know is is not a simple proposition but I think it's really important and beyond what I think you know we're hearing that voters that they're desperate they're really hungry for something that's different for real change and. When we looked at the landscape coming up in this race we were going to have the Treasurer the governor and the former head of economic development now a CEO for the insurance companies that are screwing us to the wall. You know is this the kind of change that people want. I don't think so and it's clear that if I'm not in the debate we're going to hear basically you know the the fringe you know the debate along the margins like how many slot machines should we have rather than the fact that we need real jobs we need productive secure good wage jobs not you know the kind of job destroying machine that that casinos create.

Now one of your big issues is in fact the whole corporate support of these campaigns. You've made a point to that take no money from corporations. Why should this be and actually the other part of that is that you know corporate tax breaks that have been issued by Governor Patrick and other and supported by others in the field. Why is this a big deal. This is a big deal because the people of Massachusetts are being crushed by a very unfair tax burden. If you actually look at how this stuff adds up all the state and local taxes what you see is that middle income families and working families and low income are actually paying twice as much as a portion of their income as millionaires at the top you know so the burden is really falling very hard we just you know we just saw the governor lead the charge to raise taxes to raise sales tax you know which hits ordinary working families. Not not not the wealthy very much. Now on top of that you know we've been giving away three hundred million dollars every year to Raytheon infidelity for example for jobs that were supposed to be created but which never were or which have long since

been destroyed yet that little sweetheart deal gets taken out of the budget it's put aside so that it's not scrutinized doesn't have to undergo yearly review or renewal and every year we're giving away 300 million dollars to a very wealthy corporation. You know this is basically extortion. This doesn't create a good economy it doesn't create jobs and we the people of Massachusetts more in this very you know in this economic development. Package which is now being negotiated this is sort of the year end gift to lobbyists that are that sort of gets rammed through under the radar every year. This year's gift includes another hundred million dollar corporate tax breaks. And you know who the main beneficiaries are. It's the utilities in the financial services you know the monster corporations that are making out like bandits. Wall Street just had its record profits ever in 2009. The you know the corporations traded on Wall Street made more a bigger killing. Well you

know in Massachusetts we have three hundred thousand people who don't have jobs. Many of them 30000 have already lost their unemployment insurance. You know it's clear that that that the guys at the top the Beacon Hills boys club you know and that's who is running for office now we have got a big you know boys club. They are not looking out for the average guy and the average woman and the average family so ordinary people need a voice in this race and a voice in the corner office. And by the way I just want to say that you say when you add up all of these tax breaks it comes to 1.7 billion. Just to put that out there for listeners and we have a caller Cindy from Dorchester. Go ahead please. I I would like to know if Joe were to become governor where would she start to look at producing jobs. Because we are hemorrhaging jobs. They have. You're not really new to the unemployment extension and I'm so worried. I'm worried about other things and how they will

fare during this time. Thank you Sandy Go ahead Joe. Thank you Cindy and that's really a case in point. We've seen the governor just in recent weeks talk about he wants to give 200 million dollars to a few good developers to build some more shopping malls and office parks as if that was going to create jobs I mean our shopping malls are largely you know have huge high vacancies now and who's got the money to go shopping. You know we should be using that $200 would be some construction job just put on a few that come and go but this doesn't build a creative economy you can't do it on construction alone. We'd like to see construction jobs rehabbing our housing so that we are both saving money on energy. We are converting to the clean economy and we're making people healthier because we reduce the use of polluting fossil fuels. So we saw the real jobs for you come from green technology. And not only that but in particular that we can look at supporting our small businesses we're getting all the breaks to the big guys and not to the small guys. So you know we can use our resources for ordinary

people instead of just the gorillas with with an inside connection. So we want to see green jobs in weather ization in insulation in creating. Clean energy the polarizations and wind farms and all that. But we can also we've got to create more sources of healthy local food this is another really real focus of our campaign because there is a green food economy which is growing like gangbusters in Massachusetts without the tax breaks with the playing field steeply tilted against it. And by creating more jobs there so that we're producing that healthy nourishing fresh local food. You know we're creating jobs at the same time that we're making our kids healthier we're making everybody healthier we need to have farm to school programs farm to hospital into health care into business and so on. There's all kinds of creative ways that we can be integrating the healthy sustainable food economy as well. And then you know the third area is that we

badly need public transportation for all kinds of reasons but among them we get healthier when we are walking as well as riding the tea or the bus or biking as there are jobs in that in that area exaggeration routes of construction talk about construction jobs there's just lots of building that needs to get done. When you look at our budget Calley half fully half of our state budget few people know this but. 50 percent of our tax dollars are being spent basically on a sick care system. So out of the roughly 28 billion dollar budget about 14 billion is being used for health care but it's not really health care it's more sick care. And if we simply integrated the infrastructure for health into our communities at the same time that we're creating jobs. Just think of the billions that we can save because we know that most of those expenditures are actually going to the chronic diseases that are very much tied into whether or not we have activity in our lives whether or not we're eating healthy food and whether or not we have clean air. So how about we do it all at once at the same time we're

creating jobs we get healthy and we save a ton of money. OK I should remind viewers that you have some credibility in this area for a stamp because you are a physician. I'm speaking with Jill Stein who's the gubernatorial candidate for the green rainbow party. Let me ask you something that's likely to come before you if you were to become governor. And that's the whole question of immigration we've seen how one governor that's Jan Brewer from Arizona who was in town just this past weekend has sort of ramped up this discussion nationwide by instituting a law in Arizona and saying hey we have to do something because the federal government has not. Now of course the. Obama administration has responded with a lawsuit to stop this law which ostensibly would go into effect on the twenty ninth. But as Governor what's your position on the kind of law that was instituted in Arizona and whether or not we can wait we can afford to wait for the federal government to do what needs to be done. Well you know I think the federal government is right here that this is a federal

responsibility and I think the president has only just begun now to turn his attention to it so it's good that that's happening. But this is clearly a problem that can only be solved at the federal level and if we're trying to solve it at the state level like Arizona's doing number one is that we're really violating civil rights that we are sort of we're searching and seizing without warrant you know and practicing racial profiling in order to do that so I think it really does violate civil rights. Secondly it you know it doesn't solve the immigration problem you know when illegal immigration really surged was after an after was passed and we began to basically destabilize the economies in Latin America and that's when people began coming you know crossing the border illegally and illegal immigration actually tripled after an after us so in the same way that the problem was caused at the national level. It needs to be fixed at the national level and in the meantime you know I think. We are a nation of immigrants we are all virtually immigrants here except for the Native Americans and you know that has enormously enriched our culture that immigrants as a whole are paying

taxes are dying in large numbers in our armed forces and make a huge contribution to our communities. The real problem is that we don't have jobs and that we don't have affordable health care so you know I think there's nothing that the big guys at the top like better than to get those who are struggling for survival to start fighting with each other and I think that's a lot of what we're saying is that people are displacing their their anguish really onto each other because it seems like the system just isn't responding but that's really what I want to put the focus because we know that not only can we deliver health care and jobs but that we can actually save a lot of money to do that. And this excuse that's used by the governor and others that we don't have enough. What they mean is that we don't have enough for you for our schools for our youth for violence prevention for health care because we've got plenty. We are giving away the stores in the corporate entitle mint programs as usual. OK we have another caller David from Boston Go ahead please.

Hi. Thank you very much Joe for appearing on the program. Thank you Kelly for having us. I was inspired by your mention of the importance of local food and I just think that it would have been best to serve. Through to hospital food to school he was a Grade A pharmacist. Hospital from school I think those are great ideas. I just wanted to mention that in Vermont there already was a least one program like that that I'm aware of. There's the farm to farm to family it's called where families never receive food stamps can use those to stand in in farmer's markets and I want to ask Joe whether there's any reason why Massachusetts couldn't have programs like that why are we behind. Thanks David and let me add. And does that create jobs. Yeah absolutely and it certainly can and first you know we do have the skeleton of such a program in place and in fact food stamps can be used at farmers markets now but it's administratively very complex so it's not happening very much but there are ways that we can simplify that. You know

they're there. I think there are at least one hospital campus in central mass that is also doing a farmer's market on there. You know in their parking lot and so on so we've got the beginnings and this is exactly what we need to be encouraging so that instead of spending money on shopping malls and calling that economic development we should be we should be really encouraging the development of these kinds of jobs creating farmer's markets and neighborhood gardens in every community. There's a thing called Community Supported Agriculture where people basically buy memberships in a local farm and then they receive free produce on a weekly basis throughout the summer and some are now starting to extend to pretty much year round. And you know why not call that part of our health care system or part of our economic development we've got plenty of money going into those areas. Let's do it up front because we all know we've we've heard you know from the get go that an ounce of prevention is worth in this case a ton of cure remember that's half the

budget being spent largely on preventable diseases and healthy local food has everything to do with preventing those diseases. Now let me ask you this question. The latest information from 2008 campaign demonstrates that in Massachusetts most people now identify as independent. Those are the those are the big numbers in the state nobody's aligned with the major parties which would seem to be an advantage for yourself. But how do you get to people who say you know I can like what she says. I might even agree with the entire pro platform that she articulated but somebody is going to win and I don't believe it's going to be her I don't think she has a chance so I don't want to waste my vote. You know I think that's been the case in prior elections but I have to admit as I'm talking to voters on the street now I'm not hearing that at all what I'm hearing is that you know people are really outraged. They've they're fed up and they've had enough and they're really exhilarated they're excited and they're overjoyed to hear that there really is an outsider there's someone running who's not just a member of the Beacon

Hill boys club you know who really is different who's entire you know working career has been spent in the trenches with families and communities struggling for affordable health care for Healthy Communities for healthy jobs and a healthy democracy. You know I see people are are you know it's like the frustration now has gotten to the point where people are not thinking about you know these kind of these calculations that the pundits make about can they or can't they when people are really desperate. I know people don't like to be asked this but you have a very strong point of view about a number of things and you know having your voice out there obviously pushes the other candidates in some direction. So if you should not win and be offered a job by whomever does win would you go inside and try to work from inside with somebody else. Sure. I mean I wouldn't rule that out. I've never seen it happen because I think you know my point of view is it's not business as usual and I've been a watchdog and kind of a critic of the wheeling and dealing which I

think sells ordinary voters down the drain. And you know I think most most of the typical candidates usually don't want that in their administration so you know I wouldn't rule it out but I'm certainly not holding my breath either but you know I think we're not in a good way. You know and I think that the momentum for change is really building and I wanted to. Something that you said it at the start and that is that only one debate has shut me out and that was Tom Fenner in the RKO debate and Tom Fenner I know that you're going to be included in the others that Patrick once ate in and Baker wants five but are they calling the shots. You know that's the question. Are journalists going to let candidates in a self-serving way define who is you know is that the candidates and not the voters who said yes now I would agree with you but I have been invited to two of the currently scheduled OK the only two publicly announced televised debates.

And I was also included in all of the. In all of the issue based debates including before the AFL CIO and the environmental forum as well so you know I think there's every reason that they don't want you to be in because you were very good the last time you and changed a lot of the dynamic in the in that I think that I think it's fair to say that that might be what's going on and in fact last time I got taken out after I was being declared the winner of the debates and an online viewer poll after one of them in particular so you know I think it's really incumbent on voters and listeners to weigh in. You know weigh in with. With your favorite radio show host and weigh in with your favorite TV news shows and with the broadcasters and let them know that you expect a real debate because business as usual has not solved this whether you're in the flame or the flam of the Republican or the Democrat. It's been pretty much a steady downhill course for the last 10 or 15 years on Beacon Hill and voters are really desperate for a change and viewers

and listeners can make that happen by getting in touch with our campaign which is just our website is just my name to find out org or by you know by contacting your news provider and letting them know you want a real debate and if I'm not in it you can be sure it's business as usual from the Beacon Hill boys club. Predictions for in the fall I mean lots of folks say you don't read the people and really concentrate until Labor Day. So where do you think you'll be. Look you know I I don't know and I think all bets are off which is which is I think the really exciting thing you know who would have predicted four months ahead that Scott Brown was going to pull it out or. Or Nikki. Nikki the forgetting her last name Tsongas I don't know not only gaily. Yes. South Carolina was at the bottom of the Cape in a four way race and pulled it out really I think in the last couple of weeks so I think we're in a very volatile time right now. You know the economy is volatile the weather is extremely volatile you know Wall Street is

extremely volatile. You know we're sort of at the endgame in a paradigm that has sort of played itself out and people are really hungry for good news of a good change for a healthy secure green future. Well I would say that women in this state seem to have a tough time so it's going to be a hard road for you isn't for women to get involved now. All right Will thank you. I've been talking with Jill Stein the Green Party candidate for governor Jill Stein thank you so much for joining us thank you Kelly. Great talking. Up next we look at what it will take to pass comprehensive human trafficking laws in Massachusetts. Stay tuned to eighty nine point seven. WGBH. The. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Suffolk University

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Register to win now online at WGBH dot org. The former president of Liberia Charles Taylor is on trial for war crimes including trading weapons for blood diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone in Sierra Leone you had crimes of mutilation serial rapes enslaving people. Most definitely. I'm not guilty. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. Blood diamonds and the horrors of war. ON THE NEXT MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Keep your summer stocked with great radio and great television by making the switch to WGBH sustainer as a sustainer you can break down your gift into monthly installments. Enjoy the ease of automatic renewal and help reduce on air fund raising. Learn more at WGBH dot org. I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show investigative reporter Philip Martin is wrapping up a four part series on human trafficking in New England. He joins us today to discuss why it is that

Massachusetts unlike so many other states in the country has never pass comprehensive human trafficking legislation. Phillip Martin welcome. Thanks Kelly appreciate it. So why has Massachusetts Never. Well like I can tell you there are there are reasons that were given to me but I'm not sure what the real reasons are. In other words I was told a number of other priorities are course taking precedent when you're trying to pass something like human trafficking laws you also have to look at the legal entanglements that come with that type of thing. You have to define what the term human trafficking means. I mean we just finished a series and of course in its simplest form human trafficking is the smuggling of human beings for the purpose of labor or sex or in any number of purposes across borders. Some of those borders include domestic boarders from Rhode Island for example to Massachusetts from Pennsylvania to New York. That type of thing. And Mark take me who is the chief sponsor of a human trafficking bill has been trying to

push this through for some time now it's been languishing since 2007. And we and simply because not simply but you know one of the big reasons is other priorities as you've said. Well the priorities I mean he basically has centrally set up in the in the final analysis that other things have sort of pushed it out of the way. OK let me let me let people hear from him about why this would be a good idea. A bill of this sort. So this is senator meant to Plymouth sponsor of the pro propose anti trafficking law which will provide training to law enforcement shelters and other resources for victims and it also provides assistance to traffic youth. The bill is supporting the victim. It's basically saying you will no longer be treated as a criminal runaway if you're under age and somebody is paying for sex with you. It is rape and it is a crime we're going to treat it that way and we're going to find the person who trafficked you not just get the person who paid for sex and unless you start at the street level and figure out that it's going on. So whether it's the nail salon or

the prostitute on the corner you have first have to investigate it at the local level and that's where there are no resources. Now that seems clear enough. And it's kind of a little bit confusing because you say in your series that Massachusetts Rhode Island have taskforce is set up to look into this arena. Well they do they have tests no payoff here. Well no they're payoffs in the sense of federal law. There are federal laws that certainly penalize traffickers. But what what doesn't exist in Massachusetts Massachusetts is one of about five states it's hard to believe one of five states that doesn't have a human trafficking law. And it seems bewildering given you know type of priorities that Massachusetts normally list in terms of what those things which are important and I think part of it again is that there is confusion about what human trafficking is. For example Norma Ramos of the Coalition for for women against trafficking. She is out of New York. Her organization

has basically said we have to consider that human traffickers include pimps. And I think you have a cut here where she sort of breaks it down explaining she essentially says that. That a pimp is nothing but a human trafficker. And I think that once people understand the broad definitions again the broad dimensions of human trafficking and you include that type of person in that definition. I think one takes me and others who are pushing this we will have more ammunition in terms of their particular argument. But I I think that right now domestic trafficking. There's some confusing confusion rather about what the domestic dimensions of trafficking. OK now let me ask this question because in your piece you point out that you highlighted the hotline and you said only a few of the thousand calls that come in were from Massachusetts and they're only 30 cases documented in the state. So is it that people feel well it's not such a big issue here.

No it's not so much that it's hard to it's hard to prove human trafficking it's very difficult. For example a lot of victims are afraid to come forward if they're immigrants for a number of reasons. Those which you have talked about in the past on your show fear of the police station for Tayshaun all those factors and so if you're a if you happen to be a farm worker and we do have farm workers of course in Massachusetts and your passport has been confiscated. And you are being paid pennies or nothing at all. We don't I don't think we've we've come across a case in a long time where no one is being paid nothing at all but quite often they are being paid pennies literally and that person would be very afraid quite often to go to the police because of the history of police misconduct and abuse in their own lands and they have the power and they have no power. If their passport has been confiscated their identity has been confiscated and the ability to negotiate for anything is compromised.

So if they're short of this law what can happen. Well of course victims can rely on federal law and the task force which includes immigration and includes non-governmental organizations includes Boston police Quincy police lots of police forces U.S. attorney's office. They will continue pressing or trying to find and to prosecute. Human traffickers and they can do that again using federal laws. But the idea of having more to do is more statutory tools. That's what this this law is all about. An additional law. It doesn't hurt to have a Massachusetts law an actual state law that penalizes human traffickers and presumably a series like this is has highlighted some of the issues and the need to have more of a coordination on the ground in this way. It has highlighted it I will be talking with speaking with politicians at the State House about the human trafficking bill and hopefully it will get out

of get out of committee some time some time this year before the end of the session. OK well I know that in the coming weeks and months we're going to be following up on this issue with the hope of presenting some answers to this ongoing problem. So congratulations on your series thank you Callen much appreciated which is on our website if people want to hear all parts of the series as is the hotline if you if you'd like to get that number. OK very good. Thanks so much for joining us Philip Martin investigative reporter for WGBH on his human trafficking series. Coming up it's a look at how the nerd has become Hollywood's unlikely hero. We'll be back after this break. Stay with us. With the.

Support for WGBH comes from you and from Newberry court overlooking the submarine river in Concord Mass a full service residential community for persons over the age of 62. You can learn more at Newbury CT dot work at Deaconess abundant life community. And from the Peabody Essex Museum presenting firey pull Maya and the mythic sea. Never before seen Discovery's powerful art and a new understanding of one of the world's great ancient civilizations. P E M dot org. And from the New England mobile book fair in Newton New England's independent bookstore. The Book Fair is your summer reading list headquarters. More details online at any book fair dot com. That's an e-book fair dot com. The bill is basically saying you will no longer be treated as a criminal runaway if you're underage and somebody is paying for sex with you. It is rape and it is a crime.

And I hope you'll tune in for the final installment of WGBH his investigative series on sexual and human trafficking at 7:50 during MORNING EDITION and ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Here are the features and learn more about this author and teacher extraordinary will be leading the WGBH learning trip to Paris. Our exploration of the flavors of France will uncover the culling airy landmarks that inspired Julia Child as Julie is executive chef and close friend in Julia's footsteps through the places the culture and the food that helped reinvigorate the American palate. Don't delay. Space is limited. Learn more at WGBH dot org slash learning tours. You could WIN a Nantucket food trip from a trip ticket from Boston to Nantucket courtesy of Cape summerhouse and register to win now.

I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. Forget about Rambo are the Terminator. It's not the big biceps that are winning over audiences but big brains are filled contributor Guerin Daley has been tracking an ongoing trend of the silver screen the unlikely hero of Hollywood the nerd Revenge Of The Nerds nerds nerds. Yeah right they've been the lack of. It. There's a. Gun and put down a Monkey See. They don't have the moves for the muscle but they've got the brains and the human do. It's time for the OP. To get people Direction tonight. The name. The media television news escape is usually very very sad time a story. That's a trailer of course of the 1984 classic revenge of the Nerds. Now Karen that just brought back a lot of memories and I started thinking about it when you brought the subject

up how many nerds are actually on the screen now. You know there are a fair number of them when you look at some of the big stars you got Michael Cera Ben Stiller and a bunch of other leader Jonah Hill. I mean then you have a bunch of Steve Carroll's another one you have a bunch of them who have really kind of ascended in Hollywood recently and very interestingly enough you mentioned Rambo and Schwarzenegger. Their films were popular in the 80s and they have a film coming out at the end of the summer called The Expendables. It's me very curious to see whether or not that kind of heavy testosterone action fueled beefed up guys who are all in their 50s and 60s now will actually succeed at the box office and I don't think it will. I think we're beyond that. And their heyday was also the beginning of the of the ascendancy of the nerd in film starting in 1904 with Revenge Of The Nerds. Now were there nerd films before Revenge Of The Nerds. There were I mean let's go back a little bit the word nerd comes back in 1900 starts in 1950 from of all places Dr. Seuss. Wow. In a book

called If I ran the zoo he talks about a nerd. The first time you see it in print is a 1951 and a Newsweek. Article talking about these socially inept scientifically bent guys it doesn't really become popular for him to have two TV things started happening one was the Fonz on Happy Days talks about nerds all the time but probably more importantly when Gilda Radner and Bill Murray did their Saturday Night Live thing with the with the hi pants in the big glasses and they were nerd nerds in love. And that's when it really started going but when you look talking about film you can go back to Harold Lloyd and the 20s in the 30s. You can definitely go back to Jerry Lewis in the 50s. You can talk about Woody Allen and the 60s and the 70s. So there are always been nerds but I don't think we really call them nerds until a little later on. OK well let's take a listen to one of the latest films. This is from the film House Bunny where a former Playboy playmate gives brainy coeds sexy maid Culver's how can we be so smart that everyone kind of thinks for

losing the person you least expect. So if you know him to be your mother will be exactly what you need to be a popular guy like this guys don't like us. I think it Shelley here if you just know. Now that was a very popular film particularly among the tween and the teen set. Yeah and again there's a lot of different kind of currents running through this film. First of all I mean as you set it up you have this Playboy bunny going into a sorority full of these really nerdy girls who have no idea and they're about ready to lose their sorority because they can't get enough pledges. Enter the Playboy bunny who teaches them how to be hotties and get some you know you know give them a hairdo show some some skin get the high heels and all of a sudden they've got guys and people looking at them like crazy. The interesting thing was in this movie they have to balance that hotness off with the fact that they are nerds and there are things in the nerd culture which are actually more substantive to being a real human being. So there's always been this kind of

tension between being you know something that is kind of hyper socializer hyper cultural as versus being real. That's the difference between being like a jock or a real cool guy versus being a nerd. Well there's a couple things there first of all that was. A female nerd and I know there are some other films featuring female nerds that I could bring up I was thinking about. Never Been Kissed which is which is wonderful when a dream and I were great in it. She's all that wear the jock remakes the nerdy girl in The Princess Diaries Actually that was a nerdy girl who get turned into you know the hot Prince but this is this is this is a theme that always runs through Hollywood Zack. You know take any woman you know give them a good make up job do over with the hair and the glasses off and the hair down hair down and put them in high heels and they're beautiful they're gorgeous. But you know I think there's you know when we look at nerds there's a need to almost to define what a nerd is because I think everyone has a very subjective feeling and I think you know

if you take a look at the fact that they're socially awkward There's also a confidence and I think this is one of the reasons why there's an ascendancy going on. Nerds aren't really all that concerned with being socially acceptable they'll talk about it. But you know they don't necessarily put the new dress on or they don't get the new quad for they don't get the latest from whatever store they don't go to the mall they're more confident in who they are and I think we see that in them and we project on them and we like that about them. OK well let's listen to another clip. Here's a quintessential nerd Woody Allen in the intro to the 1977 film. And I turned 40 and I guess I'm going through a life crisis or something I don't know. I'm not worried about aging I'm not one of those characters you know I although I'm balding slightly on top that's about the worst you can say about me. I think I want to get better as I get older. You know I think I'm going to be the balding virile type you know as opposed to say distinguished great.

So that's you know Woody Allen. I mean he's not the leading man at all and yet but he became a leader and I think I think he is actually the godfather of the nerd because he made it really acceptable for you to be nerdy to you know have those thick glasses to kind of talk and then hair and hair and he's a skinny guy doesn't have any muscles. But he's smart and he's intellectual and in a country where anti-intellectual ism runs pretty deep. Having somebody that's smart and that funny that draws women kind of give gave the rest of the nerds out there. A boost of confidence and a how's that change because that was a 1977 film House Bunny was of course most recent and in a minute I'm going to play something more even more current. But how is the nerd changed over the years. Well I think I mean culturally he's trying to change because the nerd is the person who has made our economy and today the nerd created the computer the nerd created the cell phone the nerd created you know the handheld devices and the videos there YouTube all these things and the noise of the people making the movies in Hollywood and writing the books and

running the entertainment that is very important and it's a very and part of that is the biggest nerd of them all Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. And there is something about having all that money that makes the nerd sexy and that's part of how it's changed in movies. The nerd has kind of merged at that metro sexual sensitivity getting in touch with his feminine side and being probably a better man you take a look at jocks now and especially like in Revenge of the Nerds the jocks are really square the nerds are really cool. Look at the Mac PC ads on TV where you know Joe you know that's Justin Long is so cool he's got the jeans on his back versus you know the IBM guy who is you know this round guy who's flustered all the time. Being a nerd is cool being a businessman like that is very square. OK. Before I play the next clip let me ask you what's the difference between a schlub a dweeb and a nerd brother.

And there you go again. OK. That way you know I think you know it really is very subjective. And I think nerd is a more as a broader thing and I think nerd means socially an awkward sexually and awkward very smart above average intelligence somebody who sees a rational universe out there and tries to control it. There's a scientific process going on. So it's they're less in touch with their feelings and definitely not in touch with their physical side. Very rarely do you see a nerd playing a team sport. You don't see nerds on the football field. You don't see nerds on the basketball court you might see them running you might seeing them maybe playing you know racquetball or something like that. But they're not playing any of those big team sports that seem to be completely different from that. I want to just point out that something that Ashton Kutcher did that I think did a lot toward really putting the nerd front and center this was on TV called Beauty and The Geek. Yes I don't know if you ever saw I was a reality show where he paired up really beautiful women who shall we say were somewhat intellectually

challenged or so it seemed at the beginning with these sort of super smart geeky guys and they had to do challenges and whoever came out at the end one. And each of them sort of wore off on each other. The beautiful women helped the nerdy guys be a little less awkward and the nerdy guys helped the beautiful women really tap into their intellect and said you know you're not stupid just because you look good you can do something. Well you know. I don't know if it shows your producer talking about this beforehand but this all sparked me because I read two scientific studies in The Economist one about guppies and the other about crickets and in it they looked at how you know guppies and crickets. You know the males are supposedly this big strong thing you know and it is and they're the ones that got the girls. But when they really studied they found that there were things called sneaks where these smaller guys these these these smarter guys were getting the girls because they were sneaky and smarty and witty and played better songs. And they actually had stronger sperm than the big big guys. And both society's need to have

balance. And what you're talking about there is a question about and I think that's where we're coming from where the nerd has gained ascendancy because for many years they were intellectuals. They would derogate they were made fun of and there was a derogatory element towards it. OK well here's a film where they are not made fun of this one the film Sorcerer's Apprentice which hits theaters tomorrow. What you're just isn't possible. I've been searching all. Over the wall. Here. You are going to be a force for good and a very important source. You're my parent. I'm a what. I love this clip. I mean it's all about learning and being smart. Yeah well you know you know this is actually one of the fan nerd fantasies and you take a look at Harry Potter another example you know very early in the Harry Potter films that backglass is a need to be fixed.

Then the fantasy is that you're somehow really really special and just need to be discovered and that there's something inside you that's really good. It's why the comic book culture is so closely allied allied with the nerd culture because you want to feel that you are special even if you're put upon by all the jocks in the world giving you wedgies in high school or any of those kind of embarrassing moments. Now what's interesting to me is that some of these films are just they seem so like almost bathroom humor is that you know as they put it out there I'm thinking about she's out of my league which features the character who is the TSA agent who is truly a nerd physically and the hot number 10 woman becomes interested in him for a variety of the same class and Sorcerer's Apprentice So there you go. And you know everybody everywhere they go people are saying you know why you together but it's just it's it's interesting to me that this. That this is now something that people are appreciating but yet it's encased in this kind of bathroom humor ish

plot. Well that's I think that's that's unfortunate part of the trend that's going on in Hollywood I mean that they lack really intelligent writing like that that they had in the 30s. But you know I've always been a great believe that humor and intelligence is equally an attractive thing to the opposite sex. So finding someone who is smart and funny is as sexy as someone who has had a lot of work done at a plastic surgeon. OK. All right. Here's another clip that I think is very interesting this is from the Napoleon Dynamite trailer which is about a listless and alienated teenager who helped his friend win the class presidency. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills. You know like no joke skills honing skills computer hacking skills. Well the skills that he's listening I don't know but you know here's a here's something is really interesting this film came out of nowhere. This is a small film I think was made in Utah and it went on the festival

circuit and it struck such a resonant chord that says that that nerd quality runs very deep in our society and I don't know about you but every once in a while I'll do something I go Well that's the nerd in me. Yeah I mean it's like you know I like there's certain things and it's like it could be a socially embarrassing but I think that we all have an inner nerd and I think that is the reason why is gained such ascendency over the past several years. Now what I want to talk to you about is that you know some of the films that we mentioned today are seem to me completely targeted to that tween and teen audience. But there seems to be a whole lot of other ones that are targeted toward baby boomer nerds so date night with Tina Fey and Steve Carell. Oh wonderful I mean they're two nerds mate and they have kids and you know what are they. It's great it's funny and I have a good time. Another one coming up is Dinner for Schmucks. Steve Carroll name of it. That's the name of it. So I mean and actually they they looked at it. It couldn't be dinner with stupids. OK that was politically incorrect yes it is. So they had to say dinner with schmucks.

So I mean yes there are this whole thing because guess what the boomers are the ones who define it we go back remember this started in 1950 was Dr. Seuss popularized in the 70s by Saturday Night Live in the Fonz on Happy Days. The boomers are the ones that created the nerd culture and I think that's why MacGyver is a nerd and very well appreciated. And it's sort of become entrenched I mean the MacGyver references are everywhere now and now there's even a parody of that from Britain. Yeah MacGruber coming from Saturday Night Live. I mean that to me is part of that whole baby boomer appeal. On on the big screen anyway. Absolutely absolutely I mean again. When you win when you say there's the teens and tweens like it the boomers like it that Hollywood is a huge to markets to markets right there that they can tap into and therefore they're making movies that tap into those two markets that also kind of self congratulate or congratulate the nerds out there and they're the good ones. Remember the Comic-Con Convention which started 15 20 years ago in San Diego. Now draws one hundred fifty thousand people. It opens next week and they're expecting a record breaking crowd.

That's all nerds. Would you think that would you characterize the supers. You know Superman the super woman the Wonder Woman The Spider man. Are they nerds. Definitely Spider-Man definitely Spider-Man because Peter Parker as the alter ego of Spider-Man is a nerd who can't get the girl he really is constant questioning himself. He feels socially inept all the time. And if you take a look at like X-Men and some of those other superhero comic book people they also exhibit A lot of the nerd qualities. Again looking at that teen age person who is reading that comic book they are identifying with that social awkwardness that emerging sexuality and that feeling that there is something special about them. Superman less so because Superman came out of the 30s and Superman has more to do with depression era politics than it does with being a nerd. So where do we go we're at dinner we're smocks now I mean beyond that how can this nerd be adapted change for the next 10 years. I

realized how he was always behind so that's one thing that's one thing yeah. I mean again I think it's a question of bounce I think for years it was the always the jock was the coolest guy. And then now it's the nerd is the coolest guy I think that you're going to see a balance a swinging of the pendulum back and forth because it just goes back and forth culturally all the time unless we discover that nerds created a virus that's going to wipe out everybody and that it's only the jocks are going to save the world. I think that we'll see a little bit of balance swinging back to towards where you know money talks so I'm curious about when. Iron Man went in the tank and that was a big blockbuster films that one of the action variety is kind of going down but and there's another one coming up a big blockbuster a kind inception that's coming out with Leo DiCaprio are scary films inception sorry I know I say deception. Ok I see Inception is a very good film though. OK. Iron Man 2 was not that good of a film. And that's something you have to kind of look at is the film actually any good versus you know what is it saying about the culture. Iron Man

2 failed because it was all over the place. There are too many plot lines. It was difficult to follow inception if inception does as well as I think it's going to do it's going to open up very strongly and then it's going to have good legs and it's a very smart nerdy kind of film. So the reason I asked as I'm trying to figure out if there is more money to be made in the nerd arena than there is in the action films now I would say probably yes especially if the nerd is an action figure. OK. And you're right I think behind it all you can buy it you know and also they have this self-doubt and there's a romance and I'm involved in it that will make it work if it's just nerds vs jocks kind of thing. It probably won't work. But again I was talking a little earlier about Expendables which has Schwarzenegger Willis Stallone and a couple of other action heroes and it is coming out later and what's that about. It's about a group of overly muscled men going out into the jungles and trying to salvage some mythical problem that you know messy

I'm not going to see that I can do that I don't think anyone's going to go see it. I mean there's no real draw there on the other they're all together for the first time. Yeah. OK so. I guess I'm trying to figure out how Hollywood makes a determination I know it's all about money. It's also there's another thing that's going on right now in Hollywood that's called Title familiarity. OK. That's why 18 was made. That's why Spider-Man 2 has made people it's so much easier to market something when people are already aware of it. There's so much clutter out there that people have to clear through all the clutter. But if they see something they recognize it's going to be a lot easier for Hollywood to market and when they spend 50 million dollars per film to market in advertising it's so much easier with theirs and it's a known name. That's why the films are all front loaded why they do all their business 70 percent of their business is done in the opening week. After that it just tails off till the final 30 percent. So Hollywood is very keen on that so that's why they want title familiarity. So that's where they're going to make the money. The problem is when you get a film like Iron Man 2 or like 18 which

disappoints because there is that familiarity but the film is not very good. So now does that mean I'm trying to remember was there a Revenge Of The Nerds to a stupid title familiarity. And I think there was a fourth. OK so that's done that you can't go back to that. No but I'd be willing to bet that there's going to be a sequel because whenever anything is really done well they always find a way to make a new re-imagining. Star Trek was re-imagined lots of films get re-imagine. So yes I see Revenge Of The Nerds the new beginning coming out. We're just looking for a new Woody Allen to play that part I think. We've been speaking about nerds on the silver screen and the trend there of with our film contributor Guerin daily Guaran always a pleasure my pleasure. Yaron daily as a film critic and host of the gerund Daily Show at full on 15 50 W in t in. This is the Calla Crossley Show todays program was engineered by Alan Maddox and produced by Chelsea murders and a white knuckle B and Abby Risiko are in turn is lucky she Landrum. We are a production of WGBH radio Boston

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