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No discussion of the midyear pop charts would be complete without a breakdown of contenders for the honorific "song of the summer."

FROM PARIS, WHERE THE FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS TO BE HELD SUNDAY, NPR'S ANDY BOWERS REPORTS THAT LIKE AMERICANS, THE FRENCH PICK THEIR LEADERS BASED ON WHAT THEY LEARN ABOUT THEM IN NEWSPAPERS AND ON TELEVISION. BUT WHAT THE FRENCH SEE IN THE MEDIA IS NOT AT ALL LIKE WHAT WE SEE IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

Commentator Lee Cullum says too many Americans have no acquaintance with the past. Cullum says most Americans don't know where Medicare or welfare came from or why, and even some of our elected representatives believe history began with Ronald Reagan. But she draws some hope from the fact that "Sense and Sensibility" is both a best selling book and movie.

American Auction - From member station WNYC in New York Laura Sydell reports on a remarkable collection of African American artifacts and documents appearing in a New York auction house. Scholars have mixed feelings about the auction, although they are convinced of it's historic nature, they feel some might take advantage of the artifacts and hold on to them for higher resale at a later date.

Robert talks to Seymour Martin Lipset, author of "American Exceptionalism: A Double Edged Sword." (W.W. Norton & Company) Lipset says that many of the characteristics that Alexis de Tocqueville described as uniquely American still exist in our society today and continue to make the United States different from other countries. But Lipset notes these characteristics have a negative side, too.

Celeste Headlee of member station KNAU reports that Native American rights advocates are asking state and federal prisons to allow sweat lodges (a structure intended to house prayer ceremonies) to be built on prison grounds. Prisons in many states already have sweat lodges, but some states with large Native American inmate populations do not allow sweat lodges.

Ten years ago this week, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. The law prohibits employers from discriminating against workers based on their physical or mental disabilities. Stephen Smith of American Radio Works reports on how well the law has worked for people who faced discrimination at work because of their mental disorders.

NPR's Laura Sydell reports that the Smithsonian Institution will return an important cultural artifact to a Native American group today. For the past 80 years, the brain of the last Yahi Indian has been part of the Smithsonian's collection of Native American remains.

Commentator Judy Muller says there are similarities between Joseph Lieberman, the democrats' vice-presidential candidate, and his predecessor 16 years ago, Geraldine Ferraro. She says Lieberman will be scrutinized as a symbol of American Jews, just as Ferraro was seen as a symbol of American women.

Today in Phoenix, Arizona in a community college gymnasium, 4-hundred 50 people are gathering to be sworn in as American citizens. Robert talks with Sadir (SAH-deer) Hamati (HA-ma-tee), a native of Jordan, about what it means for him to become an American citizen. Mr. Hamati came to the United States 10 years ago and now lives in Phoenix.