August 23 - 27, 2004
Monday, Aug. 23
New Plan For Trucks On The Alameda Corridor
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Transportation planners are seeking to build new highways exclusively for trucks that would stretch from Southern California's booming ports to as far away as the Inland Empire. The focus on so-called dedicated roads for trucks is a sharp departure from long-standing plans to use trains to haul more cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and is an acknowledgment that the 2-year-old Alameda Corridor rail line, built in part to alleviate truck traffic, might never attract the share of the freight it was designed to transport. Patt Morrison talks with KPCC reporter Rachael Myrow who is at a news conference at the Port in Long Beach.
NFL Comes To Rose Bowl?
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Darryl Dunn, General Manager of the Rose Bowl
Arab Journalists' Round Table
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Guest Host Patt Morrison speaks with a roundtable of Arab journalists about the news of the day--Iraq, the stand-off with Muqtada al-Sadr, Israel and the Palestinians, and more. Guests include Michael Young, opinion page editor for the Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon and contributing Editor for Reason magazine; Jennifer Hamarneh, Editor-in-Chief of The Jordan Times; and Alisdair Soussi, a freelance journalist from Scotland.
What Do Vets Think About John Kerry's War Record?
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What are veterans and active duty service men and women thinking about Senator John Kerry’s war record and the controversial campaign ads attacking and defending his experience in Vietnam and his post-Vietnam anti-war activities. Guest Host Patt Morrison opens the phones to hear specifically from military personal and vets about the campaign to smear the Democratic presidential candidate.
How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream
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In his new book The European Dream, author Jeremy Rifkin, claims that the American Dream is losing its vitality because Americans are increasingly overworked, underpaid, squeezed for time and unsure of their prospects for a better life. Rifkin contrasts the American approach of “live to work” with the European “work to live” ethic and uses statistical and anecdotal evidence to show that the European Dream with its more humane approach to capitalism, its risk-sensitive foreign policy, its secularism and its social democracy, is a more appropriate and desirable model for the U.S. to follow.
Tuesday, Aug. 24
Abu Ghraib Panel Conclusions
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An independent panel released its final report about Abu Ghraib today. It concluded that leadership failures at the highest levels of the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff and military command in Iraq contributed to the climate of abuse at Abu Ghraib. Philip Coyle, former assistant secretary for defense at the Pentagon, joins guest Host Patt Morrison.
Assemblyman Frommer’s Affordable Prescription Drug Act of 2004 Bill, AB 1957
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Assemblyman Dario Frommer joins guest Host Patt Morrison to discuss AB 1957, which would create a web site comparing US drug prices with those of Canadian drugs. It would contain links to Canadian pharmacies considered to be safe by the California Board of Pharmacy. Governor Schwarzenegger sent Assemblyman Frommer a letter last week, saying that he will not sign AB 1957. Instead, the California Department of Health and Human Services is offering a plan called “California Rx,” a plan that Frommer says looks suspiciously like one advocated by the pharmaceutical industry. Assemblyman Frommer joins Patt. So does Jack Calfee, economist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Carlo Michelotti, CEO of the California Pharmacists Association and Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
Jocks for Justice
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Have you ever noticed that most professional athletes are silent on political issues? Patt Morrison talks with Occidental College Professor Peter Dreier and writer Kelly Candaele who ask “Where are the ‘Jocks for Justice?’”
General Tommy Franks
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Guest host Patt Morrison talks with General Tommy Franks, Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command from July 2000 through July 2003, about his new book American Soldier (Regan Books).
Wednesday, Aug. 25
Sacramento Update
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Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub joins Guest Host Patt Morrison to talk about what’s left in the current legislative season. What has passed? What bills are dead in the water? Who made compromises? And what still needs to be done? Patt and Dan will also talk about the new Senate leader Don Perata.
Governor Schwarzenegger's Deal With The Tabloids
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In an exclusive investigation, published in September's Los Angeles magazine, writer-at-large Ann Louise Bardach reports that before Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor of California, he and the tabloids made a secret deal that guaranteed he would no longer be a target of their stories. Bardach's story reveals how he made a hush-hush deal with David Pecker, CEO of AMI, the corporate owner of The National Enquirer, The Globe, and The Star that allowed him to run for governor. Also joining Patt Morrison is Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times staff writer.
The Centennial Of Venice
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A tobacco mogul, Abbot Kinney, broke ground on what he hoped would be ‘the Venice of the West’ in September, 1904. The community was dedicated on July 4th, 1905, but it never became quite what Kinney expected. Venice Beach epitomizes a Bohemian lifestyle, even if it has become more gentrified in recent years. It’s the centennial of the ground-breaking for Venice, and guest Host Patt Morrison takes a walk down memory boulevard with a couple of people who know Venice well including John Maynard, Assistant Professor of History at CSU Bakersfielsd and author of the book, Venice West: The Beat Generation in Southern California, and Elayne Alexander, historian with Venice Historical Society and author of several books on Venice history.
My California
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Guest Host Patt Morrison talks with essayists from a collection called My California: Journeys by Great Writers. Several of the contributors including Anh Do, Editor of the Nguoi Viet Daily News II, Gerald Haslam, author and editor of twenty-seven books, most of which are set in California’s Central Valley, and Derek Powazek, author and designer living in San Francisco join Patt to talk about the Golden State, from their perspectives--San Francisco, Little Saigon and the Mojave Desert. What experiences define your California?
Robert Greenwald
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Patt Morrison talks with Robert Greenwald, who produced and directed the documentary “Outfoxed: Robert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” about his newest film that he produced and directed, “Uncovered: The War On Iraq.” The film opens this Friday.
Thursday, Aug. 26
Republican National Convention Preview
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Experts Arnold Steinberg and David Menefee-Libey join Guest Host Patt Morrison to preview the RNC--the issues, the ads, the polls, the personalities.
Bush Administration Favors Fast Track For Gas And Oil Drilling In West
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Patt Morrison talks with Keith Rattie, chairman, president and CEO of Questar, Johanna Wald, Senior Attorney and Director of the Land Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Steve Ellenbecker, Senior Energy Advisor for the Governor of Wyoming, about the aggressive move by the Bush administration to push for the approval of gas and oil drilling permits in the West, resulting possibly in the transformation of some of the regions most treasured landscapes.
Congressman Adam Schiff Returns From Iraq And Afghanistan
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Congressman Adam Schiff (CA-29) just returned from the Middle East. He traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Pakistan to visit U.S. troops and receive updates on intelligence and military operations. Congressman Schiff met in Baghdad with Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. He also visited with American soldiers, including Californians in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division. In Kabul, Congressman Schiff met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, received military and counter-narcotics briefings and had dinner with U.S. troops based there.
A Critical Look At America’s Pharmaceutical Industry
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Former New England Journal of Medicine Editor and M.D. Marcia Angell joins Guest Host Patt Morrison to discuss her new book, The Truth About Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It. Angell would like to see many changes in the drug industry, including a wish to see the FDA reform how it approves new drugs. Dr. Angell would also like to see a national, and public, registry for all clinical trials for new drugs. Joining the conversation also is Jack Calfee, economist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
How Dogs Think
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Dr. Stanley Coren, best-selling author, psychologist, and world-renowned expert on dog behavior and training, joins Patt Morrison to provide a fascinating picture of the way dogs interpret their world and their owners, how they solve problems, learn, and take in new information. Dr. Coren, who has also written The Intelligence of Dogs and How to Speak Dog, looks at both the heights of intellect and the depth of our misunderstanding of what goes on in a dog's mind. Dr. Coren’s newest book is How Dogs Think: Understanding the Canine Mind.
Friday, Aug. 27
Fire Season Update
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Guest Host Patt Morrison does a "fire update" at Fire Station #66, located in Eaton Canyon in Pasadena. She checks-in on the status of the current fire season and discusses lessons learned from the firestorms of last year. In addition, Patt will look into differences in fighting fires in terrain covered by chaparral vs. terrain with conifers, planned burns, and general fire ecology. Joining Patt is CJ Fotheringham, fire ecology expert from the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, UCLA, Jody Noiron, Supervisor of the Angeles National Forest, Jon Regelbrugge, Assistant Director of Forest Restoration at the San Bernardino National Forest and Michael Dyer, Deputy Fire Chief with the LA County Fire Department. Useful web sites to check for fire safety information are:
LA County Fire Department
Firewise.org
Smokey Bear website for children
FilmWeek
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Guest Host Patt Morrison and critics
F.X. Feeney of the L.A. Weekly and
Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic of both
CityBeat and ValleyBeat
discuss this week's new film releases, including Anacondas: The Blood Orchid, Hero, Suspect Zero,
L.A. Twister, Uncovered: The War on Iraq and last week's Exorcist: The Beginning.
