What is the state of the state? Is the mercury in fillings a health hazard? Egypt's domino effect. Republicans split over GOProud.
Governor Brown presses budget vote & invokes protests in Egypt
California’s new Governor Jerry Brown gave his first State of the State speech last night. The Governor pulled no punches, saying the upcoming legislative session would be “difficult and wrenching.” He also went off script in areas to chide Republicans for not coming up with their own budget plan. Cuts and taxes were the main focus of the 14 minute speech, with the Governor touching on the elimination of redevelopment agencies and big cuts to schools. The Governor noted that in a state facing a 25-billion dollar budget shortfall, there are no easy answers – and the budget plan is the best he can come up with. With massive cuts and more taxes on the table though, the Governor insists lawmakers shouldn’t go forward without what he called a “legislative check-in with the people of California.” But that vote can’t go forward without some Republican support…and the clock’s ticking. Something has to be done by March to get a ballot measure in front of voters by the summer. So, is the Governor right? With so much at stake do the voters of California deserve to weigh in? Or are we taxed enough? Are deep sweeping cuts the only way out of our budget crisis? If so, where and what?
Guests:
Julie Small, KPCC's State Capital Reporter
Joe Simitian, California State Senator from the 11th district
Is the mercury in your teeth a health hazard?
Dentists have used them for more than 150 years and millions of us have them. But the debate has raged for decades: does the tiny amount of mercury in amalgam dental fillings pose a human health risk? The Food and Drug Association has repeatedly said it doesn’t. But just a year and half after its latest ruling on the issue and at the prodding of consumer and dental activists, an FDA advisory committee is revisiting the issue. Amalgam fillings are generally longer-lasting and cheaper than the composite resin alternative, but concerns over the possible side effects of mercury vapor – including brain and kidney disorders -- have consistently been raised by consumer groups. If it reverses its stance could the FDA, dentists and the American Dental Association be vulnerable to consumer lawsuits? How safe do you feel about the mercury in your mouth?
Guests:
Charlie Brown, Executive Director of Consumers for Dental Choice, one of the groups that sued the FDA and petitioned it to review its position.
Dr. Edmond Hewlett, Professor in the Division of Restorative Dentistry at the UCLA School of Dentistry and Consumer Advisor for the American Dental Association.
After Egypt’s civil unrest, how will the dominoes fall?
What began as a single enraged fruit vendor setting himself aflame in a rural Tunisian town has sparked into at least two country-wide popular protests. Inspired by the uprising in Tunisia, Egyptians took to the streets to topple the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, and most recently King Abdullah II of Jordan fired his entire cabinet after protesters in Jordan gathered together in popular revolt. All of this has the world asking: what’s next? The Middle East is a notoriously unstable region and many countries within the Middle East could very well go the way of revolution. Is this just the beginning of a wave of popular revolt, and a new Middle East? Will the tide of revolution end in Egypt? Will the revolts lead to vital democracies or give birth to a new wave of autocratic regimes?
Guest:
Nicholas Kulish, New York Times reporter currently in Alexandria and Mona El-Naggar, Egypt
Daniel Brumberg, Senior Adviser, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Danielle Pletka, Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Republicans split over GOProud
Every year Republicans come together at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a right-of-center meeting of the minds designed to create a long-term strategy for the Party. Riding the success of the November elections, Republicans this year were hoping to get past some of their internal divisions and develop a big-tent, inclusive strategy that could unite social and economic conservatives, traditional Republicans, and Tea Partiers. But out of the gate, there’s been trouble. GOProud, a gay conservative group, is a sponsor of the meeting. That didn’t sit well with church-based groups such as the Family Research Council and others such as the Heritage Foundation, which are pulling out. What does it say about the chances of a Republican “big tent” if they refuse to be in the same room? And what will the schism mean for the 2012 Presidential elections?
Guests:
Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud
Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, which is one of the groups that pulled out of CPAC
Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President for FRC Action (the lobbying arm for the Family Research Council, which advocates for socially conservative causes)