California's Death Penalty; Iraq: When Can the US Pull Out?; Thom Mayne
California's Death Penalty
Yesterday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected condemned killer Donald Beardslee's request for a stay of execution. The US Supreme Court turned down remaining appeals, which cleared the way for Beardslee's execution early this morning at San Quentin State Prison. This made him the 11th person executed in California since the Death Penalty was reinstated in 1977. Over 600 mean and women remain on California’s death row, the largest condemened population in the nation. Larry talks with experts on both sides of the death penalty debate. Joining him is Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, a public interest foundation supporting the rights of crime victims; Steve Rohde, Vice President of Death Penalty Focus, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization dedicated to the abolishment of capital punishment; Mort Borenstein, an attorney specializing in capital cases, who spent 20 years as a public defender in LA County, and Bill Wood, Supervising Deputy Attorney General in charge of the capital litigation team in the San Diego Office of the state Attorney General.
Iraq: When Can the US Pull Out?
An article in the Los Angeles Times yesterday quoted unnamed military commanders as saying that it may not be feasible to fully defeat the insurgency on the ground in Iraq. Instead, they say, the focus should shift from offensive operations to training Iraqi troops to combat the counterinsurgency. Peter Khalil, visiting fellow at Sabhan Center for Middle East policy at the Brookings Institute, and Stephen Metz, Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, join host Larry Mantle to discuss this admission and where the US goes from here. When can our troops safely leave Iraq? What is acceptable threshold to leave while a counterinsurgency remains?
Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne is the founder of the LA- based architecture firm Morphosis, which means “'to be in formation.” He joins Host Larry Mantle to discuss his work and ideas. One of Mr. Mayne’s many projects is the new Caltrans District 7 headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.