Israel Rejects Cease Fire Proposal; Time Warner Cable and Viacom Deadlock; Psychiatric Diagnoses and The DSM Manual; State Budget Negotiations Update; Top 10 Humanitarian Crises of 2008; New Years Eve 2008: How Will You Celebrate?
Israel Rejects Cease Fire Proposal
More Israeli troops and tanks are headed to the Gaza border. An Israeli defense official says commanders are preparing for a possible ground assault. Despite international pressure for a cease-fire, Israel is continuing its bombardment of the Hamas-ruled territory today. Guest host David Lazarus gets the latest from Griff Witte, Jerusalem Bureau Chief, The Washington Post.
Time Warner Cable and Viacom Deadlock
Time Warner and Viacom Inc. are deadlocked over pricing for Viacom's package of 20 channels, which include Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, and Comedy Central. If a deal is not reached by midnight tonight, select channels could go out for Time Warner Cable subscribers. Viacom claims it's only asking for a modest increase of $3 a year for its cable package, while Time Warner contends that such demands are unreasonable during an economic recession. Time Warner also argues that Viacom is trying to make up for losses in advertising revenue by having cable subscribers pay the difference. David Lazarus talks with Kelly McAndrew, Vice President for Corporate Communications at Viacom and Patricia Fregoso, Regional Vice President for Communications for the Western Region for Time Warner Cable about what this means for the nearly 2 million Time Warner subscribers in Los Angeles.
Psychiatric Diagnoses and The DSM Manual
Work is underway on the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the "DSM." The DSM is used by psychiatrists and other clinicians to assign labels to mental disorders and to find appropriate drugs to treat them. The DSM is also used by insurance companies who use the guide to make reimbursement decisions, and by attorneys to substantiate evidence in court cases. The process of revising the manual is carried out by a group of psychiatrists behind closed doors, but because the DSM is used in such a broad and official capacity, there has been criticism lately that its revision process should be more transparent and open to scrutiny. One of the main concerns raised is that the DSM contains too many diagnoses, which leads to the pathologizing of normal human behavior. David Lazarus talks with Dr. Michael First, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and editor the current edition of the DSM.
State Budget Negotiations Update
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, joins David Lazarus to talk about California's budget and what needs to be done to avoid a crisis in the new year.
Top 10 Humanitarian Crises of 2008
Each year, the international organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres releases its list of the most critical humanitarian and medical emergencies. Several of the crises stemmed from civilians caught in war-torn regions like Somalia and Sudan, and also from problems caused by rising food prices. In Myanmar, urgent health needs remain unmet due to this year's devastating cyclone and the lack of action from the ruling regime. Also included were the need for greater attention to growing rates of HIV-tuberculosis co-infection and for the increased effort to prevent and treat childhood malnutrition. David Lazarus discusses this year's list with Nicolas de Torrente, U.S. executive director of Doctors Without Borders.
New Years Eve 2008: How Will You Celebrate?
What are you doing on New Year's Eve? Staying in? Going out? How do you feel about New Year's Eve festivities? Blast or bust? David Lazarus talks with Alex Frias, Managing Director, Track Entertainment.