Our current Congress is making history with a record low number of bills passed this session. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Then, the use of the ADHD drug Adderall and other stimulants in the workplace is on the rise. Can those meds really make us smarter or more productive? Then, we're talking to the lost boys behind the musical 'Peter and the Starcatcher.' Later, we'll talk about the large number of fast food workers and other low wage earners who rely on government assistance programs. Then, is it possible to be both overweight and healthy? And we'll talk about Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon.
Special Coverage: A look at Nelson Mandela's life and legacy
South Africa's president Jacob Zuma confirmed today that Nelson Mandela died at age 95. Zuma says "we've lost our greatest son."
RELATED: Nelson Mandela, South Africa's peacemaker, dies at 95
Mandela served as South Africa's president from 1994 to 1999 and was the first black South African to hold that office. His administration focused on breaking apart the country's long standing apartheid system of systematic racial segregation.
Mandela made a historic visit to Los Angeles in 1990 after being released from a 27-year prison sentence under the charges of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
RELATED: Timeline: The Life of Nelson Mandela
Larry Mantle hosts special coverage on the death of Mandela.
Talk To Us:
Do you have any memories of meeting Mandela or hearing him speak? How did his life and work influence you? What lessons did you learn from him and how do you feel about his passing?
"For me, Mandela was so inspirational because he lived in a complicated world and managed to show us reconciliation and good and hope." -- Shelly in Redlands
"This is a man who was great but not impressed with his own greatness." -- Charles in Culver City
"In the 80s paragon of love and courage was Nelson Mandela. In college at the time we looked back at the Vietnam War and the activism and really the thing to be activist about in the '80s was apartheid...The universities at the time held stock that invested in South African business, and we wanted to say not to that. A few years later my partner and I adopted a bi-racial child and we named him, his middle name, Mandela. I would say that Mandela is the shining hope for a loving change in the world. I'm hopeful that there will be younger generations that will see through the fog of electronics that has come up in the ensuing 25 years, blinded a lot of people to what's important and take the courageous lead that he brought." -- Tom in Santa Barbara
Guests:
Edward (Ned) Alpers, professor emeritus of history with a focus on Africa formerly based at the UCLA. He's followed Nelson Mandela's career through the decades and was one of the participants in the Nelson Mandela tribute in Los Angeles.
Lawrence B. Carter, Dean of the Martin Luther King International Chapel based at Morehouse College
Cecil 'Chip' Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME), he was appointed as the John R. Tansey Chair of Christian Ethics in the School of Religion at the University of Southern California
Gideon Strauss, executive director of the DePree Center for Leadership at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. A native of South Africa, he served as an interpreter for the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission under Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Patt Morrison, KPCC correspondent and L.A. Times columnist. Morrison attended Mandela's visit to L.A. in the 1990s and she still has her press pass from the event
Joe Richman, founder of RadioDiaries which produced the documentary 'Mandela: An Audio History' in 2004. Check out MandelaHistory.org
113th Congress on course to become least productive in modern history
In the world of U.S. politics, 2013 will go down as a year of marathon filibusters, a government shutdown, heated debates over Obamacare and 12 months of near record-low productivity for Congress. Legislators have passed just 55 public laws since January - an average of less than one per week.
Fingers of blame are now being pointed across the aisle. House Speaker John Boehner says the House has approved 150 bills this year but many have been blocked by the Senate due to a lack of ‘common ground’.
Meanwhile Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid says the glacial pace of change in Congress is down to conservative Senate Republicans who 'don't believe in government'.
How does this lack of productivity impact the way you think about Congress? Do you think there should be penalties for lawmakers who fail to enact laws? Who do you blame for the low level of laws passed this year?
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; founder of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
Use of Adderall and other stimulants in the workplace on the rise
According to IMS Health, the use of ADHD meds is up -- way up.
In 2007, 5 and a half million monthly prescriptions for ADHD medications were written for people between 20 and 39. By 2011, that number went up to 14 million, and that's not counting unsanctioned use.
It’s hard to know how many people are taking them without prescriptions, but it’s safe to say those numbers are going up too. Some of the increase can be attributed to people of all ages feeling more and more overloaded with information and expectations in school and at in the workplace. So, the thinking goes, if there’s a little pill that can increase productivity and creativity, why not take it?
But do these meds really make us smarter? If so, at what cost? What are the risks and long term health and cultural implications of this kind of “cosmetic neurology?”
Guest:
Dr. Karen Miotto M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Addiction Medicine Service in the UCLA Semel Institute
The lost boys behind ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’
Based on the young adult novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher tells the story of how Peter Pan became the beloved boy who would never grow up.
The play which was adapted for the stage by Rick Elice, follows Peter as he joins forces with Molly in order to keep the powerful and magical "starstuff" away from the pirates who would use it for evil. Instead of elaborate scenery and countless props Peter and the Starcatcher relies on imagination and wit to tell the captivating adventures of Peter.
Guests:
Roger Rees, Director, “Peter and the Starcatcher”
Rick Elice, playwright who penned this musical based on the novel “Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Peter and the Starcatcher is playing at the Ahmanson Theatre until January 12. You can buy tickets here
Large number of low-wage workers rely on public assistance programs
Low-wage workers in 100 American cities are walking off their jobs today to push for a $15/hr living wage, the latest demonstration of strength in a grassroots movement that has been steadily gaining steam nationally since 2012.
The protests are backed by organizations like Fast Food Forward and Fight for 15, along with the Service Employees Union. The collective effort has grown from its initial focus on fast-food employees to include low wage workers in other industries, particularly those who work for big box retailers like Walmart.
In Los Angeles, the protest is taking place at McDonald's at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Vermont Avenue. While workers say that it is impossible for them to live on their current wages, the National Restaurant Association and some economists have argued that raising the hourly rate would actually have the opposite effect, leading to layoffs and higher unemployment.
Adding to the debate is a newly-released study from UC Berkeley that finds that taxpayers are essentially subsidizing low-wage bank tellers to the tune of nearly $900 million a year in social benefits including food stamps and Medicaid.
California has recently passed a bill that sets the state minimum wage at $10/hr. President Obama has thrown his support behind a proposal from congressional Democrats to raise the national minimum wage to $10.10/hr. With bipartisan gridlock firmly in place, there's little hope that the bill will go anywhere.
Guests:
Ken Jacobs, Chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center; Co-Author of study entitled “Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry”
David Neumark, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at UC Irvine
Is it possible to be both fat and healthy?
New research is taking aim at the idea that you can be both overweight and healthy at the same time. A small number of recent studies have indicated that overweight or obese people that don't have high blood pressure, diabetes or and normal cholesterol levels can be just as healthy as their normal weight counterparts. But not so fast say researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
According to new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, people with a higher than normal BMI still had a higher risk of dying early or having heart related problems even without high cholesterol or abnormal blood pressure. The researchers concluded that there's no such thing as "benign obesity", or obesity that doesn't affect a person's health.
Can you be overweight and still physically healthy? Why is there such a discrepancy among studies about the link between weight and health? Does a person's physical fitness level factor into discussions about health?
Guest:
Dr. Caroline Kramer, M.D.endocrinologist and diabetes specialist; research fellow at Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Amazon.com started out as an online bookseller and it has come a long way from its humble and focused beginnings. Now, you can find pretty much anything you want to buy on the site, often at a steep discount.
The online retailer is the vision of one man--its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who is as spotlight-shy as his company’s corporate culture is secretive.
In writing “The Everything Store,” Bloomberg Businessweek senior reporter Brad Stone gained unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees as well as members of the Bezos family to present a view of the one of the world’s most famous companies from the inside.
Guest:
Brad Stone, author of “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” (Little, Brown and Company, 2013) and a senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.
AirTalk reached out to Mrs. MacKenzie Bezos. You can read her commentary here