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An audio postcard from Mandalit del Barco. Spring meand one thing in Hollywood -- the Oscars. And preparations are well underway for Monday night's festivities.

Noah talks to Frank Rich, the culture and society columnist for the New York Times, about the music that's being heard at political rallies. Last night Senator Dole played "Soul Man" and "What I Like About You," two songs which Rich says are bad matches for the candidate.

NPR's Peter Overby reports..advocates of campaign finance reform haven't given up on the idea of passing a bill this year. One thing they are trying to do is to tie it to public interest issues. For example..saying reform is needed to make sure more women get elected to congress..or to make sure there are toughter cigarette regulations.

For listener comments, our Internet address is wesun@npr.org. lease note that this e-mail address is for WEEKEND SUNDAY ONLY.

Comedian George Burns died today, just weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday. Bob Mondello has this appreciation of a man whose career saw vaudeville, film, television and more than 90 years.

Daniel Zwerdling talks to Washington Post reporter Nora Boustany about suicide bombers. Boustany spent almost 20 years reporting from the Middle East. She says the process of indoctrinating young Palestinian men into martydom cults begins during childhood. Boustany says these young men are convinced that they are giving their lives for their faith and that they will be rewarded in heaven.

Neil Tickner of member station WHYY examines a new omputerized approach to tracing the origin of languages. Linguists have long elieved that all European and some Asian languages can be traced back to a ingle ancestral tongue. The new method, developed by researchers at the niversity of Pennsylvania, hopes to verify that claim.

We hear lettters from our listeners.

Robert talks with China expert Harry Harding, dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University, about the relationship between China and Taiwan. Harding says that Taiwan already has de facto independence from China and that the most likely resolution of the current crisis will be a continuation of the status quo.