Iraq Update; Declassified Presidential Daily Briefing Memo (PDB); Mayor James Hahn's LAX Plan; Easing Traumatic Memories; The Talking Cure
Iraq Update
Bill Powell, Senior Writer at Time magazine, joins Host Larry Mantle to discuss the latest news from Iraq. He wrote the cover story for this week’s time magazine, titled “No Easy Options.”
Declassified Presidential Daily Briefing Memo (PDB)
The White House released a PDB memo, dated August 6th, 2001, over the weekend, something long desired by the September 11th commission. Cal State Fullerton Professor of Political Political Science Raphael Sonenshein joins Host Larry Mantle to talk about the memo.
Mayor James Hahn's LAX Plan
Larry Mantle discusses Mayor James Hahn’s plan to modernize LAX in the wake of September 11th. The plan has come under intense criticism from City Council members as well as surrounding communities. Now, the two supporters of the plan have left the administration due to criminal probes into the awarding of contracts. Where is the plan now, and will the Mayor compromise? Joining Larry is Philip DePoian, Mayor Hahn’s senior advisor on aviation issues, and Amanda Bronstad, staff writer, Los Angeles Business Journal.
Easing Traumatic Memories
What if you could lessen a traumatic memory, or even erase it? In early trials, a common beta-blocker called propranalol appears to lesson the emotional effects of traumatic memories. Journalist Robin Marantz Henig joins Larry to discuss her article called “The Quest To Forget,” which appeared in the New York Times magazine, April 4th, 2004. It focuses on Harvard psychiatrist Roger Pitman’s pilot study of propranalol. Also joining the conversation is James McGaugh, Ph.D., Director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at UC Irvine. His work inspired Pitman’s study. How much do our memories make us who we are? Could propanalol be useful to deal with the horror of combat?
The Talking Cure
Larry Mantle speaks with playwright Christopher Hampton about his play "The Talking Cure." It involves Jung’s experimentation with Freudian psychoanalysis on a young Russian patient in a fin de siecle drama about to open at the Mark Taper Forum. The Talking Cure is directed by Gordon Davidson.