WYPR: Midday with Dan Rodricks Podcast

We check in on the Republican National Convention, in its third day and after speeches by Ann Romney and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday night. With Dave Schwartz, Maryland State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Heather Olson, 2nd Vice Chair of the Prince George's County Republican Central Committee and Jill Homan, incoming RNC national committeewoman for Washington, DC who is attending the convention.

If you value good conversation and coherent writing, today’s obsession with texting is a sign that the world is doomed. But our guest, linguist and political commentator John McWhorter, says texting is actually an exciting new form of hybrid communication that combines speech and written language. John McWhorter, contributing editor to The Root.com and The New Republic, is the author of “What Language Is (and What It Isn’t and What It Could Be).”

With so much media attention on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s taxes, a closer look at what exactly “effective tax rate” means, why Romney reportedly paid a 15 percent rate while President Obama and Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan paid 20 percent, and what average Americans pay on their income. Also, documents recently obtained and published online by Gawker.com show that Bain Capital used an aggressive tax strategy to save its partners more than $200 million in income taxes and more than $20 million in Medicare taxes, a strategy that that some tax attorneys say is illegal. Plus, financial advice: when it’s best to start taking Social Security. Midday Money, our personal financial hour with Megan Avery, president of Legacy Tax Advisory and Consulting and Michael Kitces, partner and director of research, Pinnacle Advisory Group.

After heading up the Baltimore Development Corporation for 16 years, M.J. "Jay" Brodie stepped down earlier this month. A departing interview with the man who helped dramatically change the face of Baltimore's downtown and its neighborhoods, with a look at the city's future as a place to live, work and visit.

Tony Foreman gives his recommendations on wine.

Journalist, commentator and long-time Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. argues that Americans can’t agree on who we are because we can’t agree on who we’ve been, or what it is, philosophically and spiritually, that makes us Americans. In “Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent,” Dionne tours American history, from the Founding Fathers to Clay and Lincoln and on to the Populists, the Progressives and the New Dealera. He provides an analysis of our current politics that shatters conventional wisdom.

Our legal affairs show with Baltimore attorneys and law professors, and husband and wife, Jim Astrachan and Julie Rubin. This week: Big Tobacco lawyers take on agribusiness and the food industry.

Just before the start of classes, a conversation with Renee Foose, Howard County's new superintendent of schools.

Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO of Year Up, a year-long program that teaches, trains and provides internships for low-income 18-to-25-year-olds in high tech, high finance and government. The program is based in nine cities, including Baltimore. Chertavian writes about his experiences in "A Year Up: How a Pioneering Program Teaches Young Adults Real Skills for Real Jobs With Real Success."

Our relationship with the great whale, how Americans young and old respond to Melville's great American novel, with George Cotkin, author of "Dive Deeper: Journeys with Moby Dick," an entertaining guide to Ishmael's journey; Meg Guroff, a Hopkins grad who created a web site with an annotated Moby Dick to help readers; and Hollis Robbins, professor of humanities at Hopkins and the Peabody Institute who has taught the novel in a Peabody seminar.

Tim Wise, an author and lecturer on racism, looks at racial politics across the American landscape -- from the presidential campaign to the rise of the Tea Party to battles over immigration. Wise is the author of six books, most recently, "Dear White America, Letter to a New Minority."

Longtime Baltimore Sun columnist Rob Kasper, author of "Baltimore Beer: A Satisfying History of Charm City Brewing," traces the sudsy story from the days when alehouses lined the Jones Falls to the stories behind the current crop of local brewers who are fermenting a craft brew revival. With special guest: Beer consumer, aficionado and beer-can collector Joe "Turkey Joe" Trabert. Originally aired 06/29/12.

Renowned grammar guru Mignon Fogarty is back to share tips from her latest book, "Grammar Girl's 101 Troublesome Words You'll Master In No Time." Fogarty guides us through words with double meanings and hard-to-remember spellings, words and phrases that have tripped up even native speakers and convinced many that English is one of the world's most difficult languages. Originally aired 07/09/12.

The extraordinary tale of a journey deep into the darkest parts of the Upper Amazon -- the vast Javari Valley Indigenous Land, 33,000 square miles of dense forest -- to track one of the planet’s last uncontacted indigenous tribes. With Scott Wallace, author of “The Unconquered.” Original airdate 07/25/12.

What if Baltimore's vacant lots were transformed into half-acre farms, producing greens, onions, herbs, berries, honey and other fresh produce for residents and for the city's restaurants and markets? Urban farms are becoming increasingly popular in Baltimore and other cities. What does it take to run one, and could this be an option for revitalizing some abandoned areas and for reducing the number of "food deserts" in the city? Guests: Ted Rouse, chairman of Big City Farms; Beth Strommen, planner and environmental scientist, Baltimore City Office of Sustainability; and Anne Palmer, Eating for the Future program director, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Originally aired 07/12/12.