Cardinal Mahony Being Investigated Over Priestly Abuses; Should Women Pay More For Health Insurance Than Men?; American Diplomacy In The Middle East; America's Defense Meltdown
Cardinal Mahony Being Investigated Over Priestly Abuses
The U.S. Attorney of Los Angeles has launched a federal grand jury investigation of Cardinal Roger Mahony. The probe seeks to find whether Mahony and other church leaders committed fraud by failing to adequately handle priests in the Los Angeles archdiocese who were accused of molesting children. Prosecutors are seeking to use a federal statute in a novel way, by proving that Mahony and other officials schemed "to deprive parishioners of the intangible right of honest services." Are the charges justifiable? Or is this a case of creative prosecuting? Larry talks with Tod Tamberg, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Ester Miller, an Orange County Director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and Laurie Levenson of Loyola Law School.
Should Women Pay More For Health Insurance Than Men?
The city of San Francisco has filed a lawsuit contending that California's health insurance laws discriminate against women by charging them more for individual insurance than men. Under current laws, insurers are allowed to use gender as a factor in setting health insurance rates, since women are more costly to insure. The result is that women could be paying as much as 39% more for coverage than men. Are current health insurance policies justifiable, or is this gender discrimination? Larry talks with Erin Bernstein, Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Francisco, Democratic State Senator Mark Leno, and Nicole Evans of The California Association of Health Plans.
American Diplomacy In The Middle East
As the two-time ambassador to Israel under President Clinton, Martin Indyk had a first-hand perspective of the peace process in the Middle East. In his new book "Innocent Abroad," he offers an honest and self-critical account of the accomplishments and failures of American diplomacy in the region. Indyk explains the mistakes of Clinton's approach of containment and Bush's policy of regime change, and draws from these lessons to offer valuable advice to the new administration. Martin Indyk talks with Larry Mantle about why America should not give up on diplomacy in the Middle East.
America's Defense Meltdown
Our leaders in Washington may be fully aware of the current financial crisis, but they might be unprepared for the possible collapse of our national defense. That's the warning from military and civilian defense experts in the anthology "America's Defense Meltdown" edited by Winslow Wheeler. The book's contributing authors argue that the country is descending deeper into debt from out-of-control spending on costly and ineffective weapons. Larry Mantle talks with Winslow Wheeler, and G.I. Wilson about the breakdown of the country's military-industrial complex and what should be done about it.