captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: barges are moving slowly one at a time along a 15- mile stretch of the swollen mississippi river. good evening, i'm jim lehrer. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, tom bearden examines how the rising water is affecting the environment. they each picked up a lot of rain. those things have an impact. >> lehrer: then, we update the case against i.m.f. chief dominique strauss-kahn and explore the differences between u.s. and french laws and

reactions. >> ifill: congressional correspondent kwame holman reports on two bills aimed at big oil and bringing down high gas prices. >> lehrer: paul solman explores the connection between new technologies and new jobs. >> ifill: reporting from bahrain, margaret warner interviews the foreign minister about the government crackdown on protesters. >> lehrer: and spencer michels reports on a california artist, who finds inspiration in everyday places and things. that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and...

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: the mississippi river flood played havoc with commerce today, while towns and cities in two states waited for worse to come. ray suarez has the story. >> reporter: by late tuesday, cargo barges were once again plying the great river near natchez, mississippi. but, they were moving at a snail's pace and just one at a time to avoid creating wakes that would put even more pressure on levees. for most of tuesday, the coast guard suspended traffic on a 15- mile stretch of the river at natchez. and downstream, ten freight terminals between baton rouge and new orleans were closed due to high water.

>> reporter: indeed, the river is a major artery for carrying goods north and south from the midwest to the gulf of mexico. normally, up to 600 barges a day move up and down the mississippi, each carrying as much cargo as 70 tractor- trailers. the director of the port of new orleans warned today that flooding disruptions could cut operations to half capacity. and, that, he said, could cost the u.s. economy up to $350 million a day. meanwhile, the long wait for the damaging deluge continues in louisiana's cajun country. >> all we can hope for is that the dryness of the south will prevail and absorb hopefully 100% of the water. >> reporter: water levels in some areas have gone down, soaked up by soil parched from drought. on tuesday, dark green algae line marks near the town of

krotz springs showed where the water had been on monday. still, people in the town continued to sand bag in preparation. and low lying parts of francisville, louisiana and other small towns were already under water. upriver, in vickburg, mississippi, the flood tide has forced more than 2,000 people from their homes. >> it's devastating. it really is. it's heart breaking and devastating to see your house like that. but i know god didn't bring us this far to leave us, and it's going to be all right. >> reporter: the mississippi is projected to crest tomorrow at vicksburg, but governor haley barbour warned today that's not the end of it. he said it could be late june before the water retreats from parts of the mississippi delta. >> ifill: the massive flow of water headed down the mississippi river is doing more than just flooding neighborhoods. it's also sweeping potentially toxic chemicals into the environment. "newshour" correspondent tom bearden reports from southern louisiana.

>> reporter: an enormous quantity of water is roaring through the bonnet carre spillway west of new orleans. it's being diverted from the main channel of the mississippi river, and surging toward lake ponchartrain. the army corps of engineers opened the floodgates on may 9 to lower the level of the flood- swollen river and take pressure off the levees that protect new orleans. but some people are worried about what's in all that the water-- high levels of nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides from flooded fields further north and sediment. and how it all might affect the environment. we went along with hydrologist dennis demcheck and his u.s. geological survey team on one of their trips out onto the busy 24 mile long causeway that bisects lake ponchatrain. they're taking water samples to test for things like pesticides and petrochemicals. they're also looking for the

level of salt in the water. >> the salinity is 1.5. normally, that would be double or triple that. >> reporter: demcheck says ponchartrain is really an enormous lagoon connected to the gulf, and the water is brackish- - a mixture of fresh and seawater. >> for the next couple of months the character of this lake is going to change. it's going to go from a brackish water lake to a fresh water lake. so some of the fish that are normally in the lake, prized by sportsmen, they're going to swim away. they're not going to die, but they're going to swim away. >> reporter: demcheck says another concern is that all that fertilizer will provide food for a huge algae bloom later this summer. that will deplete the oxygen in the water. >> there could be a minor or transient dead zone, really, oxygen depletion at the bottom of the lake. the saving grace for this is that the lake will flush itself out eventually.

>> reporter: john lopez runs an environmental organization called the lake ponchartrain basin foundation. he says past algae blooms led to health warnings. >> during the summer, we'll start to see some algael blooms in the lake. those algael blooms can have some health risk assoated with them. they can produce neurotoxins. so this is something we would monitor over the summer. >> reporter: there's a lot of refineries along the river. petrochemicals in the water? >> yeah, benzene and some other volatile compounds. these are diluted. some are volatile so they evaporate. the high discharge in the river basically dilutes those normal industrial pollutants. so we don't see those of concern as long as those plants are working properly within current regulations. >> reporter: richard campanella is a professor at tulane

university, where he teaches at about interactions between people and the environment. >> i think it's useful to think of this mississippi river flooding as having both benefits and costs. >> reporter: he says short-term losses, like the thousand of acres of crops that will be flooded, will be mitigated by long-term gains. >> it's a jolt to the system. so the crops that are growing now are probably going to be lost. but in the long run, this is very rich sediment that gets deposited here and this is how this entire region was built and the areas that were built up by floods are the most arable lands. >> reporter: that sediment helps build up land that had been lost to coastal erosion. >> the river built this land. it built it with flood cycles and sediment. so here you have a flood cycle- getting that water out of the river. it also pushes back the salt water wedge and in certain areas builds new land and that's a good thing.

>> reporter: but brad robin sees no benefits at all. >> fat, healthy. >> reporter: his family has been in the oyster business since 1947. >> delicious. >> reporter: oyster boats are still docking in some of the tiny ports in st. bernard parish southeast of new orleans. but already two fishing areas have been closed because of the flooding. >> we did not have any time to move any crop we had because we never thought they were going to shut it down that fast. so now, we're sitting here, waiting, praying for the best. >> reporter: he says hurricane katrina six years ago killed huge swaths of oyster beds. they were just beginning to recover when he says b.p.'s macondo oil well blew out last spring and killed 90% of his oyster beds. >> what is coming down that river? we don't know. >> reporter: robin believes that the fresh mississippi river water that will flow out of lake

ponchartrain and over his remaining beds will destroy what little is left. >> in the oyster business, we need both. too much salt water, the oysters die. too much fresh water, oysters die. >> reporter: and it's not just the water itself. >> the problem with what's coming down the river is its more sand, silt, that settles on top of everything. and then we have to go and move it out. it will kill the oysters within two weeks. >> reporter: the state has asked the federal government to declare a fisheries disaster and send aid. >> hurricane katrina was bad, but we recovered. we haven't recovered from b.p. and now this, you know the old saying, where we go next? we are going to get through it. but, i ask myself, do i think it's worth it? i really don't know. >> reporter: many scientists believe louisiana's marine ecosystem will recover in just a few years and that will

ultimately be healthier for the experience. but robin says he thinks it will take five years or longer for his oyster beds to come back and he's not sure the industry can survive that long. >> lehrer: still to come on the "newshour": the case against i.m.f. head strauss kahn; the senate debate on oil policy; the high tech job market; the foreign minister of bahrain and a los angeles artist. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: for the first time, the u.s. today imposed sanctions on syrian president bashar assad for human rights abuses. six other top syrian officials were also included. human rights groups estimate more than 850 people have been killed by syria's crackdown on protesters. the u.s. move came as assad acknowledged police have made mistakes in handling the unrest. he said they are getting new training. in pakistan, 100 militants attacked a key security checkpoint and triggered a three-hour gun battle.

at least 17 people were killed. it happened near peshawar, along the border of the khyber pass tribal region, where taliban and other militants take refuge. meanwhile, in washington, defense secretary robert gates said it is still not clear who in pakistan might have known osama bin laden was holed up there. >> i have seen no evidence at l that the senior leadership knew. in fact, i've seen some evidence to the contrary. but, and we have no evidence yet with respect to anybody else. my supposition is that somebody knew. >> sreenivasan: gates advised against any attempt to cut off u.s. aid to pakistan. at least a dozen people were killed in afghanistan today after angry crowds fought with police. the protesters carried four bodies through the streets and chanted anti-american slogans. they said the victims were civilians killed by nato troops in a raid overnight. nato said the dead were insurgents who tried to fire on alliance troops. the government of libya has freed four foreign journalists

after holding them for six weeks. they included two americans-- james foley of "global-post", and clare morgana gillis, a freelance reporter. a british freelancer and a spanish photographer were also freed. the libyan regime said all four entered the country illegally. each received a one-year suspended sentence. wall street rallied today, boosted by a rebound in commodity prices. the dow jones industrial average ained 80 points to close at 12,560. the nasdaq rose more than 31 points to close at 2,815. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: now, to the latest on the arrest of the head of the i.m.f. and the reaction here and in france. dominique strauss-kahn sits alone in a cell separated from other inmates at new york city's notorious riker's island jail. the 62-year old international monetary fund chief stands accused of grave sexual offenses and is now being guarded against harming himself. >> he is in protective custody,

he has a suicide watch on him done by a mental health evaluator. >> ifill: strauss-kahn's status as a titan of global finance and a top contender for the french presidency is in tatters. denied bail monday, he awaits another hearing scheduled for friday on charges including attempted rape and sexual assault. it all stems from an incident saturday at this upscale manhattan hotel. prosecutors allege that a naked strauss-kahn forced himself on a maid on her cleaning rounds who entered strauss-kahn's $3,000 per night suite, thinking it empty. strauss-kahn's attorney, ben brafman, suggested at a bail hearing monday that the encounter was consensual. >> the forensic evidence, we believe, will not be consistent with a forcible encounter. >> ifill: but jeffrey shapiro, the attorney for the 32-year old maid says that claim is false. >> there is no way in which there is any aspect of this event which could be construed

consensual in any manner. this is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman. >> ifill: shockwaves continue to reverberate throughout the financial world. last night, treasury secretary tim geithner said strauss-kahn should be replaced. >> he is obviously not in a position to run the i.m.f. and i think it's important for the i.m.f. to put in place, formally, someone to act as managing director. >> ifill: but who would replace him? the i.m.f. is traditionally headed by a european, though many emerging economies believe they should be in line for the post. strauss-kahn was supposed to be in brussels today, where european finance ministers are meeting to tackle continuing threats to the eurozone economies. many participants avoided talking about the cloud his absence cast. >> i have no comment on that.

the investigation is going on >> ifill: but not all... >> if i had to show my solidarity and support for someone, it would be towards the woman who has been assaulted if that is really the case that she has been. >> ifill: but in france there is widespread sympathy for the man they call "d.s.k.," who was already a leading contender in next year's presidential election. even political rival segolene royal-- the socialist candidate for president in 2007-- defended him: >> ( translated ): we have seen the images of a man looking as if he has already been convicted. these images are extremely violent and painful. i think that we should respect dominique's human dignity, respect the suffering of his loved ones. >> ifill: further fuel was added to the firestorm today as another claim emerged in mexico that strauss kahn assaulted a hotel maid there adding that accusation to those of a french novelist and the maid, who testified today before a new york grand jury. for more on a story unfolding on

two continents, we turn to reporters in new york and paris. elaine sciolino reports for the "new york times." her forthcoming book is, "la seduction: how the french play the game of life." and, tamer el-ghobashy is covering the criminal case for the "wall street journal." tammer, how does the case stand tonight against dominique strauss-kahn? >> well, what we're waiting for at this point on wednesday is for a forthcoming court appearance on friday in which it's expected that mr. strauss-kahn will be learning whether a grand jury has voted to indict him and on charges of presumably sexual assault and criminal sex acts, among others. at this point, he's in rikers island jail here in new york city where he's there protective custody and under suicide which is not a very unusual move for an inmate who is being incarcerated for the first time and particularly someone of his

prominence the world and considering the charges that have been leveled against him. >> ifill: what are his attorneys saying at this point against the charges that we've heard about? >> well, what we've heard from the attorneys outside of court has been very little beyond that he's going to plead not guilty to whatever charge and this he denies anything happened that was criminal. what we heard in court was that they don't believe that there's... there was any... there is any forensic evidence to support a coerced sex act. in addition ma what they're saying is that this narrative that he left the hotel in a hurry to j.f.k. airport and boarded a flight to france was an attempt to flee, they believe that's false. they say they have evidence and will have testimony from people who will testify that that they met with mr. strauss-kahn after they left the airport and they can place him there, showing that he was in no hurry to leave

and that he indeed did nothing wrong. >> ifill: you mean after he left the hotel and before he left the airport. the prosecutors who we assume are repeating this story or the version of events provide provided by the complainant are saying they have forensic evidence. what does that mean? >> they are saying that they're testing certain items removed from the hotel room, including some section of carpeting that may have d.n.a. evidence that they believe belongs to mr. strauss-kahn in addition to the complainant's narrative of what happened and also they're building their case around video surveillance and interviews with other witnesses who may have come into contact with the complainant after this alleged event and also with mr. strauss-kahn. >> ifill: elaine sciolino, in paris and france somehow this

all being received? >> there's been an evolution in thethinking here, gwen. the first reaction was disbelief we cannot possibly imagine that dominique strauss-kahn could be guilty of this kind of crime. this is not the man i know said one political leader from his party. then that followed... was followed by rage, especially after the arraignment where he appeared unshaven, he had no tie and he had also been handcuffed which is, under french law, not acceptable to show a defendant handcuffed. so now there's been another sort of movement in people's thinking and there is starting to be sympathy for the woman, the victim. people are now raising the question of whether or not there should be changes in sexual harassment traditions or laws

here in france. >> ifill: i saw a poll which maybe is dated by now showing that 57% of french people thought that he was a victim of a conspiracy. is that shting >> well, exactly. as you use the word "dated." it was done on monday and things have changed since then as the sort of reality has sunk in and some more details are unfolding. also, polls in france-- and you know this day from your days covering politics-- polls in france are not like they are in the u.s. >> ifill: elaine, you've been in paris for some time and you probably have some sense of the cultural difference between the way these sort of things are perceived there and the way they're perceived here. does that explain part of the bad feelings, at least in the beginning? >> it does, because there is a sort of preservation of what's called vive privet, private life.

there's not... it's not a liability for a politician to have extramarital affairs. and the whole chattering class-- journalists, politicians, business leaders-- will tell you the fact that dominique strauss-kahn was rumored to have a very active extramarital sex life would not have been a factor in him being elected president. >> ifill: tamer el-ghobashy, let's talk a little bit more about the woman in this case. do we know anything more about her, about her background, about the charges that she brought? >> sure. we've been learning a little bit about who she is. of course traditionally here in the united states victims of sexual crimes or alleged victims of sexual crimes, their names are not released by authorities, however her name has leaked and it's appeared in foreign media. but what we know about her has been through an attorney that's been hired on her behalf. now, i have to note that he's not representinger in the criminal case nor is there a

civil case at this point and he said that there has been no conversation about a civil case against mr. strauss-kahn. however he's been acting as sort of a spokesman for her and has provided a few details about who she is. she's 32 years old. she lives in the bronx, she's the single mother of a 15-year-old girl. she's been working at the hotel in midtown for three years as a chambermaid. she arrived in the united states about seven years ago from guinea as a... she had receive asylum leer in the united states. what the circumstances of that asylum was and what condition... under what condition she left her home country not clear at this point. we know she's widowed. her husband died at some point under unknown circumstances. she's been described as a devout muslim woman who really has no criminal record or has been an anonymous new yorker up until this point. >> ifill: she is no longer

anonymous. do we know where she is or whether she has been seen in public? >> according to her attorney and several law ebb force. officials we've spoken to she's in an undisclosed secure location. she hasn't been able to return to her home primarily because there's hordes of media outside waiting for her from presumably all over the world. she just recently was reunited with her daughter i believe yesterday for the first time since the incident. so we haven't seen her in public. she has visited the special victims unit here in new york where she is being interviewed by detectives. she's also visited the district attorney's office and today she's... is due to or may have already testified in front of a grand jury. she was covered in a sheet when she did appear in front of some news cameras to protect her identity. >> ifill: let's make a distinction here. you make in the your book and other places between kind of the

attitude that the french very toward people and extra marital relationships or people who have very high profile sexual lives and people who may be accused of criminality. is that a dividing line in this case? >> it is, but i would argue that if the media had been more aggressive at the time that dominique strauss-kahn was named the head of the i.m.f. perhaps this unfortunate event, whatever it will turn out to be, could have been prevented. because there already had been a french woman, a journalist, who had come forward and accused dominique strauss-kahn of attempted rape. she never prosecuted him because she was advised by her mother not to do it, taking on the powerful in france is very, very difficult to do but had there been a real tradition of investigative reporting and investigating inside the bedroom bhab we wouldn't be here today. >> ifill: elaine sciolino and

tobe tobe tobe, thank you both very much. >> pleasure. >> thank you. >> lehrer: next, the political fight over rising gas prices. "newshour" congressional correspondent kwame holman has our report. >> reporter: the senate tussle over oil policy turned today to a republican plan to increase domestic production in the face of $4-a-gallon gas. >> every single american is feeling the pain at the pump, democrats and republicans alike. it's time for the two parties to come together and get serious about results. >> reporter: the g.o.p. proposal would force the interior department to go ahead and sell offshore oil leases in the gulf of mexico, virginia and alaska. and, permit requests would have to be reviewed within 60 days, or they'd be approved automatically. democrats dismissed the republican bill. majority whip dick durbin said it would do little to achieve its stated purpose of relieving pain at the pump.

>> if you take a look at all the known oil reserves in the united states, offshore and onshore, all of them, they comprise 2% of the known oil reserves in the world-- 2%. so the republican answer is drill, baby, drill. honestly, that's not going to solve the problem. >> reporter: kansas senator pat roberts and other republicans rejected that logic. they insisted opening more u.s. oil fields would make a difference. >> if we can allow greater access to own domestic resources and provide industry tools to expand, then we'll be able to put more americans back to work, add to global supply of crude, which will stabilize prices. >> reporter: mindful of last year's gulf oil disaster, the republican plan also included safety steps, such as requiring lessees to develop spill response and containment plans. but new jersey democrat robert menendez argued that in fact,

republicans are ignoring the lessons from that catastrophe. >> this reckless bill would allow drilling in sensitive coastal areas even though current safety and oversight laws have been deemed to be inadequate to prevent a repeat of the gulf disaster. so i ask you, mr. president: have we learned nothing? >> reporter: the obama administration also cited environmental concerns in opposing the bill. at the same time, the president used his weekly address last saturday to call for expanded drilling. >> to do this, i am directing the department of interior to conduct annual lease sales in alaska's national petroleum reserve, while respecting sensitive areas, and to speed up the evaluation of oil and gas resources in the mid and south atlantic. >> reporter: back in the senate, the republican bill ultimately fell 18 votes shy of the 60

needed to advance today. senate democrats failed in their effort to move forward yesterday with a measure that would have eliminated $21 billion in tax breaks for the top five oil companies, over the next decade. the bill's supporters argued it was time for the industry to pay its fair share. missouri democrat claire mccaskill said americans need to hear why the companies can't spare $2 billion a year. >> how do you explain to your how do you explain to them that we think that instead of $125 billion, instead of $123 billion of profit big oil's going to make this year, they need to make 125. >> reporter: in turn, texas republican john cornyn accused democrats of trying to score political points, instead of addressing the real issue. >> this is not an energy strategy, this is a public relations strategy. this is a "how do i get reelected" strategy. it does not solve the problem or the pain that americans are feeling at the pump.

>> reporter: democratic leaders have said they will have another go at repealing the oil tax breaks, as part of a broader deficit reduction plan to be considered later this year. >> ifill: now, to a second economic story. this one exploring why more good jobs have not been created in recent years. economics correspondent paul solman has our report as part of his series on making sense of financial news. >> reporter: america's seemingly chronic economic crunch: stagnant wages, high unemployment. the endless job fair lines we've been showing you for years. but why is it happening? tyler cowen's controversial answer has been making news. in a recent e-book, the economist, "new york times" columnist and longtime blogger blames the great stagnation on a slowdown in technological growth. >> if i think of the life of my

grandmother who was born in 1905, from the beginning of her life, even to the midway point, she saw enormous change: the coming of electricity, the flushing toilet, the automobile, radio, teleision, the typewriter-- massive gains. the whole world changed. if i think of my own life, i was born in 1962, there's the internet and computers, but not that much has changed. the rate of progress has slowed down, and this is our central economic problem today. >> reporter: sure, high tech gadgetry abounds, says cowen. but it hasn't transformed our economy, and created new high paying jobs, as past industrial revolutions have. take the ubiquitous ipod. it's created less than 14,000 jobs in the u.s. internet giant google? only 20,000. twitter? a mere 300. >> we have these series of myths. because we have internet or iphone or cell phone, we think we are, as a society, phenomenally innovative.

but in terms of revenue and jobs, the internet has not added as much value as most people think. the decade in which we've had the internet, macro- economically, has been our most miserable decade since the 1930s. >> reporter: want proof, says cowen. just look at his kitchen. >> the core elements of the kitchen, the electricity, the sink, the cabinets, the oven, the stove, they all were common by the 1930s. >> reporter: whoa, wait a second. a microwave was not common in the 1930s. >> common in the 1970s. i hardly use that microwave. i do it just fine on the burners. >> reporter: oh, wait. teflon. easy to use, washes scrambled eggs right off. >> well, that's okay, but i use the wood, too, and that's just fine. >> reporter: but you mean to tell me that there's no improvement in a kitchen in the last 50, 60, 70 years? >> there are improvements, but they're small improvements. keep in mind that a 19th century kitchen was built around a live fireplace. then we had electricity, pumped water, gas and electric heating come in, those were massive

improvements. >> reporter: cowen says we've pretty much exhausted the last great wave of invention. or, to use an economics metaphor, plucked the low- hanging fruit. >> low-hanging fruit is the stuff that's easy to get. earlier in our history, it was all that free fertile land. later, it was fossil fuels. later, it was sending all those smart kids through high school who had never been before. >> reporter: but the once easy pickin's are now slim, says cowen, demonstrating with our >> not so easy to get to. it's like all the science we've done that we have not yet turned into useful products. >> reporter: products that proliferated in the past and spurred the economy. >> cars are improving slowly, but not as rapidly as the car was an improvement over the horse. >> reporter: cowen points to recent visions of a future that's never materialized. the hoverboard, imagined as a 21st century staple in the '80s film "back to the future two."

space odyssey's to jupiter predicted for 2001, already a decade behind schedule. jet packs like the one high- flyin' double-o 7 sported way back in the 1960s. and the big breakthroughs we've heard so much about: nanotechnology, gene therapy? >> how close is nanotech to being a reality? no one knows, but it's not going to come tomorrow. the sequencing of the human genome. ten years ago, people thought it would be done by now and creating a lot of useful products. it has been done. it's a great breakthrough. it deserves tremendous respect but converting it into useful products has been very hard. >> reporter: okay, bold thesis, boldly made. but if you're skeptical, you're not alone. >> i.b.m. watson, people are already talking about the different markets where that could be applied, the different industries and job functions. >> reporter: these m.i.t. scholars are researching the

digital economy and think cowen is dead wrong. >> if anything the rate of change is not slowing down, it's accelerating. >> reporter: erik brynjolfsson, who runs m.i.t.'s center for digital business, thinks a new industrial revolution is in full swing. and if the jet pack hasn't yet transformed travel, it's now on the drawing board and in prototype, as are a host of once-futuristic technologies. >> every technology goes through an "s" curve, which means at first it grows fairly slowly, then there is a faster phase and then things get mature and level off. tyler cowen and a lot of the people who are focused on the great stagnation, i think, are sort of backward looking at the mature technologies that are the peak of their "s" curve rather than the new technologies that are just emerging. >> reporter: brynjolffson also thinks cowen has the stagnation story backwards. >> the problem is not that we've had a stagnation of technology, ironically, part of the problem is that technology is rushing ahead so fast that people are having trouble keeping up.

>> reporter: the jobs technology is creating today? just look at m.i.t.'s media lab. >> my name is nexi. what's your name? >> reporter: an expressive robot. a car with robotic wheels that spins on a dime, folds up and stacks eight to a parking space. soon to come: self parking. >> so you would pull up to your building, you'd pat the car, turn it loose and it would go and park itself. >> reporter: then there's the snap-on device to go with an eye exam app for your mobile. >> you look through it and after clicking on a few buttons it can scan for your cataracts and it can also give you data for the prescription for your eye glasses. >> reporter: reactive ping pong that senses where the ball hits the table. and finally, the m.i.t. mood meter, reading faces to assess state of mind.

in this first version, reading your smile, however forced. >> reporter: now i'm going to start smiling, more and more broadly. is it in the green yet? >> yeah! you're doing great! almost 100% >> reporter: almost 100%. whoo! this work promises to be able to read everything from depression to lying. if it does, the jobs created, as with all the other projects here, will be high-skilled, high-paying, but few and far between. >> it's a big error to think that technology automatically improves everyone's lives evenly. it's entirely possible for technology to make the pie bigger but not have that pie evenly divided. what's happened with the most recent wave of technology is what economists call skilled biased technical change. technology that benefits relatively more skilled workers and hurts the livelihoods of people who maybe who have high

school educations. as a result the median income has stagnated even though overall, wealth in the economy has grown quite substantially. >> reporter: tyler cowen, of course, sees the problem differently: an innovation drought, relative to the industrial revolutions of the past and to other countries today. >> the problem is we have not come up with the bigger and better endeavors to reemploy people, power our own growth and have us be leaders in new and important areas. >> reporter: but to eric brynjolffson, the problem is the nature of progress itself these days. >> i'm an optimist about technological progress, but i'm not nearly as optimistic about our ability to keep up with it. we've got some real problems. i just want to make it clear that the problem is not stagnation. the problem is more serious in some ways which is our basic human ability to keep up with technological progress. that problem is going to get worse and worse as technology speeds faster and faster. >> reporter: not a happy thought. but, then, neither is tyler cowen's.

and no matter who you believe, one thing's clear: technology isn't creating good jobs the way it used to. >> ifill: a hard copy of the book, "the great stagnation," comes out next month. >> lehrer: now, margaret warner reports again from bahrain. the persian gulf nation in political turmoil that is home to the u.s. fifth fleet and sits between two powerful neighbors-- saudia arabia and iran. tonight, we have margaret's interview with bahrain's foreign minister. >> warner: mr. minister, thank you for having us. spoob giving a speech on thursday addressed to the middle east and north afternoon a. do you feel you've had u.s. support for the actions you've taken here, both in the immediate crisis of the uprising and then there the crackdown? >> yes, of course, we felt that

we had u.s. support in general as we've always had the u.s. support in bahrain and the gulf region. there's no doubt that the u.s. support is a support that we always look for because the u.s. is a major ally. >> warner: now, is the united states urging you to ease some elements of this crackdown? for instance, to open up all the trials to press coverage? or to release some of the hundreds who are still in detention, indefinite detention? >> being an international safety situation, there's no doubt we are in constant contact with the united states regarding the whole spectrum of events of the last two months. the u.s. embassy is now present in the courtroom by a representative diplomat mat there. we're talking about having a diplomat there. we have nothing against it. we just want to make sure that the situation in the courtroom

the not chaos or is an orderly one. >> warner: and the desnengs the medical personnel and the u.s. says moderate opposition figures. >> yes, we are discussing the number of people arrested. we understand here in bahrain that there are a number of people who will be charged with crimes. lots of charges with misdemeanors and some are being studied to be released or so as we approach the end of the international safety situation. >> warner: bh shi'as tell us they're very disappointed in the united states that the u.s. hasn't been more forceful on the opposition side the way it was say, in egypt and tunisia. do you feel you've had the antitrust your corner during all of this? >> well, also some sunnis of bahrain may tell you the same message, that they're also disappointed with the united states of what they are doing one way or the other. it is so black and white here. so we are very good close friends and allies with the united states and we want the united states to trust and be

involved and see what we are doing. but to... it's not easy to convince all the people. >> couric: what do you say to the... >> warner: what do you say to the u.n. commission for human rights who say that th ought to be investigated by world bodies and just gond beyond the pale with the tensions and the way you're running trials, the allegations of abuse in prison. >> we're hearing the language. we are all ears. we're not saying that somebody is not telling the truth. there's no doubt we're seeing exaggerations all over the world. but that doesn't mean that we're acting as complete angels here. we are definitely looking at the picture and looking at what happened and if there's any mistake that takes place, we'll not tolerate that. it's not systematic. we'll not tolerate that at all. >> warner: the united states has said publicly they want you to take steps to reopen dialogue with the opposition or rather

renew your offer to have dialogue with the opposition. is that your intent? >> when the dialogue was offered after february 14 it's because of the situation on the street. we wanted to talk to everyone to bring back peace in order to move forward with a lot of the demands of the people but now after restoring law and order we're not looking at opposition here, we're looking at two different views between member 14 and march 17. we've seen them polarize into two camps which was very, very dangerous. and we warned them about not coming close to the abyss. we did prestlaent from happening so we're not talking to a government talking to opposition. we're talking to a government that is aiming towards reconciliation of their peop. >> the saudis and other gulf

nations have sent troops here, they're backstoping this crackdown. how long after the state of emergency is lifted in the next couple weeks do you need them to stay and why? >> it all depends. they're here from an external threat. it definitely did not come down to police or get into any sort of context with people of bahrain. they are not an occupying force. they are within the area that is governed by the pact it's the peninsula shield force. they are of the six nations any threat that any country would face that would definitely no doubt affect its neighbors, saudi arabia's only 28 kilometers away from here. we are looking at the g.c.c. force to be expanded. to have multibases everywhere in the g.c.c. so whether there was state or restructured, that's to

be discussed in the future. >> warner: you mentioned an external threat. what is that? >> what we have been seeing in the last couple months, the external threat has been coming from iran. we've seen a garage... daily barrage. we haven't seen this before from iran. daily garage of statements coming from every foreigner of iran. it's a trend that is non-stop from iran attacking bahrain this way and it worries us long term. >> warner: so were you saying they were behind the uprising to start with or have they started as the u.s. has said exploiting it politically along the way? >> they have people sympathizing

for them here. i want to be very careful. i'm not saying the shiites of bahrain are siding with iran, this is completely untrue. but bahrain is a small country surrounded by larger count rise from every side so everyone has a difference here in bahrain and there's definitely an iranian interest group here in bahrain. to answer your question yes and yes. yes there is an element of the long term and definitely the explay stations intensified. >> and what the state of emergency is listed as his majesty the king has announce willed happen in two weeks, will all these extraordinary measures end or will some repain? >> we... what you will see that the army will go back to their barracks but there's no doubt that the police will be out 24/7 because the time just after the june 1 when the end of the state

of emergency ndz it's a very delicate period that we want to ensure that nothing goes wrong and we don't slide back to chaos. >> warner: some so some of these measures may remain. even if that means continuing to undermine global confidence here the foreign investments and the fourisim in which your economy depends. >> why will it undermine the global confidence and the tourism that we depend on. we want to make sure that it's safe and continues to thrive. so having police do... to be vigilant and ready to watch and keep the place safe and secure is a... is assured success stories around the world. >> warner: mr. minister, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> lehrer: tomorrow, margaret will report on the reaction in bahrain to president obama's middle east speech.

>> ifill: finally tonight, a look back at the unusual 40-year career of a los angeles artist. "newshour" correspondent spencer michels has the story. >> reporter: inspiration is where you find it, even in the parking lot of an abandoned industrial site. in the california desert, the detritus of civilization litters the landscape, inspiring this assemblage called aristotle's cage one of 69 works in a new show by los angeles artist michael mcmillen. he has found inspiration in an intriguing collection of everyday things and places, even in seedy motels that reek of decay and intrigue. intrigue he has enhanced with tricks and trivia. red trailer motel is perhaps the showpiece of the first ever retrospective of mcmillen's art,

now at the oakland museum of california, a museum specializing in the history and the art of the golden state. mcmilllen, now 65, got training as an engineer before switching to art, and he's used his mechanical skills to shape his installations. he uses material and memories accumulated over the years. we're outside the red trailer motel, in you name it, wherever. it's basically an installation that hopefully takes museum visitor, out of where they think they are, and puts them into another real in time and place. i see a sign: "see the u.f.o. landing site." that's pretty funny. >> i think so. >> reporter: but in a way the motel is pretty tragic. i mean, this is not a place you'd want to stay. >> no, you probably wouldn't want to if you didn't have to. it has tinges of maybe the bates

motel. i wanted to create something that wouldeally, like you said, address the dark side and the humorous side simultaneously. >> reporter: mcmillan fits into a new school of artists, says phil linhares, the chief curator of museum. >> nowadays artists are creating installations, things that are experiential, things that people can walk through and experience, and mcmillen is one of the people who's really pushing that particular idea. >> reporter: this is one of mcmillen's most recent works: lighthouse. there is nothing pretentious about what he does. but that's not to say it is simple or unsophisticated. while lighthouse has a slightly sinister, mysterious look, mcmillen wants it to be familiar enough to draw in viewers, who can search for clues even in the sounds to give it meaning and context. a child of hollywood, mcmillen is steeped in the movies, and they permeate much of his work.

>> when i got out of art school, i found employment working building sets and doing miniatures for films, and that was a great kind of post graduate education. >> reporter: the mcmillan exhibit is not confined to one room or even several, like most one-man shows. rather, it's scattered throughout the oakland museum's collection. >> sometimes when i set in the pavilion of rain, i imagine i'm in port arthur, texas, in a rainstorm. i built that in 1987, a year after my father had passed away and i did it as a homage to him. >> reporter: pavilion of rain is an old shack on a lake: found objects stuck together, sitting in a pool water that collects and amplifies the rain that falls from the ceiling-- an inner sanctum.

>> once you're in that piece, it has an amazing calming effect at least on me. i was walking my dog through an alley and i found this, this single old gymnasium locker. >> reporter: and he added a small water pump you can't see. >> the sound of water running implies time, change, you see a lot of water symbols in my work, which again, like the wheel, is a kind of thought about process, endless process, water and time, erosion and change. >> reporter: mcmillen says he expects those who see his installations to work a bit to interpret what they find. and they'll find plenty of mysteries. his retrospective, including some films he made, runs at the oakland museum in oakland, california through august 14.

>> lehrer: again, the major developments of the day: the mississippi river flood played havoc with barge traffic, while towns in mississippi and louisiana waited for the deluge. and for the first time, the u.s. imposed sanctions on syrian president bashar assad for human rights abuses. and to hari sreenivasan for what's on the "newshour" online. ri? >> sreenivasan: we have a slideshow of the work of artist michael mcmillen. patchwork nation looks at the search for a g.o.p. frontrunner. our science unit reports on the runoff of pesticides and fertilizer into the gulf of mexico itself. and you can still submit your questions to the space shuttle crew and join us online tomorrow morning for a live interview with the astronauts. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at, president obama's speech on the political upheaval in the middle east. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again hereomorrow evening. thank you and good night.

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