As the House of Representatives passed one proposal for healthcare reform and the Senate considered at least two other sweeping bills, the partisan and even analytical rhetoric is heating up. The director of the Congressional Budget Office torpedoed all of the ideas coming out of Congress, charging that no piece of legislation proposes “the sort of fundamental change that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.” What are the current options for reform and what compromises remain the most palatable?
What are the repercussions of the freshly passed budget on our credit rating, which is currently the lowest in the nation? Will it become any easier for California to borrow money? Also, what does it mean that the budget includes the state’s first new offshore oil project in more than 40 years? The project should generate $1.8 billion in revenue over time, but is it another sign that the state is literally and figuratively tapped out?
The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/technology/21distracted.html">is reporting</a> that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2003 called off studies and withheld hundreds of pages of research about dangers of using cell phones while driving in order to avoid angering congressional stakeholders such as the House Appropriations Committee, voters who multitask while driving, and the cell phone industry. The information was released today as the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by two consumer advocacy groups. Now that the information is out there, is a federal ban on cell phones while driving in the works?
How is it that with a set of Map-Quested directions, a GPS on the dashboard and Google Earth to guide us, we still manage to get ourselves lost? If humans are so evolved why is it easier for an ant to find its way home? Patt explores the question with Colin Ellard, author of “You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon but Get Lost in the Mall."
Patt Morrison is known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, as well as its presentation of the effects of national and world news on Southern California.
