November 19 - 23, 2007
Monday, Nov. 19
Toy Companies To Be Sued Under Proposition 65
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Larry Mantle talk with Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo about the lawsuit being brought by the California Attorney General's office and the Los Angeles City Attorney's office against the Toy Companies as a result of lead tainted toys.
Port Of Los Angeles Commission President S. David Freeman On The Promise Of Alternative Energy
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Port of Los Angeles Commission President, S. David Freeman, joins Larry Mantle to talk about his new book Winning Our Energy Independence. Mr. Freeman believes that the sun, wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydrogen resources we have right now can be the fuels that solve energy issues and create a sustainable future for our planet.
Iraq Update
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Larry and his guests discuss the defeat of the Iraq funding bill and what the decrease in violence points to. Larry talks with Marina Ottoway, Director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Fred Kagan, Resident Scholar at American Enterprise Institute.
Raymond Chandler's Wife, Cissy
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Larry Mantle talks with Judith Freeman, author of the book The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved about Raymond Chandler and his life with his mysterious, much older wife Cissy Pascal.
Tuesday, Nov. 20
Stem Cell Breakthrough
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Scientists from two labs, one in Kyoto and one in Wisconsin, have succeeded in turning human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without using or destroying human embryos and thus avoiding the ethical pitfalls inherent in stem cell research that results in the destruction of human embryos. This new method to create stem cells involves adding reprogrammed genes to ordinary skin cells to transform them into cells having the potential of becoming 220 different kinds of human body cell types. Larry discusses this breakthrough in stem cell research with Dr. Bruce Conklin of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and Tadeusz Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
Los Angeles City Officials' Pay Increase
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Last week many of LA's 18 elected officials received a pay raise; their fourth since 2005. Six of them said they would not accept the raise and 8 said they would. Larry talks with Kerry Cavanaugh of the LA Daily News, and asks our listeners to weigh in on the pay raises that LA's City Council, Attorney, Controller, and Mayor have received.
AIDS Losing Momentum Worldwide
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Global health officials says there are 6 million fewer AIDS cases reported this year, compared to last year. Although the decline is largely due to revised numbers, U.N. officials still say the figures show the AIDS pandemic is losing momentum and that AIDS deaths have declined for the first time. While the global AIDS numbers are falling, there are huge regional differences. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the epidemic. There were more than 33 million AIDS cases in 2007, down from almost 39.5 million last year. Larry talks with Dr. Kevin De Cock, of the World Health Organization's Department of HIV/AIDS, and Dr. Roger Detels of the UCLA School of Public Health.
The Rise of Starbucks and the Coffeehouse Movement
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Larry talks with Taylor Clark, the author of the new book Starbucked (Little, Brown and Company). Clark's book explores the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and tells the story of how the coffeehouse movement changed our everyday lives, from our evolving neighborhoods and workplaces to the ways we shop, socialize, and self-medicate.
Wednesday, Nov. 21
The Supreme Court to Revisit the 2nd Amendment
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The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the District of Columbia can ban handguns, a case that could produce the most in-depth examination of the Second Amendment in nearly 70 years. The main issue before the justices is whether the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual's right to own guns, or instead merely sets forth the collective right of states to maintain militias. The former interpretation would permit fewer restrictions on gun ownership. Larry Mantle talks with UCLA School of Law Professor Eugene Volokh, Duke University School of Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, and Denis Henigan of the Brady Center to Protect Gun Violence.
General Wesley Clark
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Larry talks with retired four Star Army General, Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and former Presidential candidate, Wesley Clark about the current situation in Iraq as well as his new autobiography, A Time to Lead.
Oliver Sacks on Music and the Brain
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Larry Mantle talks with neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks about his new book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Knopf). Sacks' book chronicles the powerful affect of music on individual patients and their conditions.
Thursday, Nov. 22
Turkey Confidential
Lynne Rosetto Kaspar of The Splendid Table hosts this annual Thanksgiving special. Lynne talks with famous foodies about how to make your Thanksgiving a little tastier and avoid turkey disasters great and small. She'll also be joined by a few surprise guests. Join us for an hour of culinary triage on the day you need it most.
Turkey Confidential Web site
Boone: A Biography
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In his new book, "Boone: A Biography," Robert Morgan offers a new perspective of a man who has been an American icon for more than two hundred years. Larry talks with the author who describes Daniel Boone as an American hero as important to our country's history as his contemporaries, Washington and Franklin.
Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu
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Marco Polo was the most celebrated European to explore Asia and the earliest bridge between East and West. Larry talks with Laurence Bergreen about his new biography, "Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu," which chronicles Polo's life and his odyssey along China's Silk Road.
Friday, Nov. 23
American Creation
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The last quarter of the eighteenth century remains the most politically creative era in American history. In his new book, "American Creation", historian Joseph Ellis describes it as a time of triumphs and tragedies, all of which contributed to the shaping of our burgeoning nation. Larry talks with Ellis about his examination of the founding years of our country.
God And Gold
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In his new book, "God And Gold", Walter Russell Mead delves into the global political and economic systems of Britain and America that created the modern world. He explains that the key to the global predominance of the two countries has been the individualistic ideology of the prevailing Anglo-American religion. Larry talks with the foreign policy expert about how the two nations were able to create the liberal, democratic system whose influence continues to grow around the world.
FilmWeek
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Reviews of this week's new releases, including "Enchanted"; "August Rush"; "I'm Not There"; "Margot At the Wedding"; "Stephen King's The Mist"; "Starting Out in the Evening"; "Holly"; "What Would Jesus Buy?"; "Everything's Cool: A Toxic Comedy About Global Warming"; and the re-release of two short films, "The Red Balloon" and "White Mane". The critics also share their film gift lists for this holiday season.
