California Budget Shortfall; Junior ROTC Under Attack At Roosevelt High; American Islam; Ayaan Hirsi Ali
California Budget Shortfall
In her annual review of Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed budget, independent Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, urged lawmakers to enact midyear cuts. Hill's analysis detailed billions of dollars in overstated revenue and billions more in understated expenses and liabilities by the administration. About the findings in her report, Larry speaks with Hill and with H.D. Palmer, Deputy Director for external affairs for the California State Department of Finance. Joining the conversation is Republican State Assemblyman Roger Niello who is Vice Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee.
Junior ROTC Under Attack At Roosevelt High
At Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, many students and teachers are angered that Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) programs are concentrated in low-income, primarily minority communities. A coalition has formed to end the program at the school. But some students would regret seeing the program, whose daily cadet class teaches skills that include financial planning and map reading with no obligation to join the military, abolished. Larry Mantle talks with Ted MacDonald, JROTC coordinator for LAUSD and with the Arlene Inouye, Founder of Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools (CAMS).
American Islam
Islam, alongside Christianity and Judaism, is now an American faith. It has not been easy to be a Muslim in the United States since 9/11. The roughly six million Muslims in the United States are now subject to much more scrutiny and distrust. They are also more prosperous, better educated than the average American, and overwhelmingly law-abiding. How do they reconcile their faith and traditions with an American culture that appears overly permissive? Larry Mantle talks about American Islam with veteran journalist and author Paul M. Barrett whose new book American Islam: The Struggle for Soul of a Religion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) explores the lives of contemporary American Muslims.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Larry Mantle talks with Somali-born, former Dutch Parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali about her memoir, Infidel (Free Press) which is a number one bestseller in Europe. Hirsi Ali has endured civil wars, female mutilation, expulsion by her family and clan, and death threats, yet has continued to speak out against the oppression of women in conservative Muslim societies. She is a former member of Dutch Parliament, a screenwriter, and author of the book The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam (Free Press). Ayaan Hirsi Ali is currently a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.