The streets of Egypt are once again lined with protesters wanting more from their government. As the Egyptian army has taken over and Morsi's whereabouts are unknown, how can Egypt move forward? Then, the CDC reports a rise in painkiller deaths among women. Are doctors prescribing painkillers too quickly? Next, is cursive still a necessary part of curriculum, and does the LA Sheriff's Department systematically discriminate residents in the Antelope Valley? Later, we'll discuss the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and California's role in the battle, and our film critics take a look at July Fourth openings The Lone Ranger and Despicable Me 2.
Egyptian revolution 2.0
It was just in 2011 that powerful protests of the Egyptian people sparked the ouster of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Democracy was the goal. A constitutional convention was conducted. Elections were called and the people voted in current President Mohamed Morsi. Nevertheless, stability and economic growth remain out of reach. Many thousands of people don't feel represented by Morsi and what few parliamentarians remain in power. Once again, the streets are teeming with protesters. A deadline set by the military for Morsi to appease the people has passed today and it has suspended the country's constitution.
What can either side do for a way forward? Could talks earlier today between prominent Egyptians - including pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei, the top Muslim cleric of Al-Azhar Mosque and the Coptic pope - amount to anything?
Guests:
Borzou Daragahi, covers North Africa and the Middle East for the Financial Times. He is based in Cairo, Egypt
Nezar AlSayaad, Chair, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California at Berkeley
Are doctors over-prescribing painkillers?
About 18 women die from prescription painkiller overdoses in the United States each day. In a recent study released by the Center for Disease Control, prescription painkiller overdoses by women have increased by 400 percent in the last decade. The study showed that women are more likely to receive prescriptions drugs than men and to be given higher doses. Researchers found that painkillers are the leading cause of drug abuse, killing more than four times as many women than cocaine and heroin combined. Some health officials say part of the problem is that doctors are too quick to prescribe narcotics for pain too often and for too long.
Furthermore, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, criticized doctors on Tuesday for over-prescribing narcotics for pain treatment. Frieden said the use of narcotics should be limited to treating only severe pain.
Why are female fatalities from prescription drugs increasing? Should doctors be relying strong drugs or looking at other options? How much responsibility should the patient have in deciding what medications to take?
Guests:
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, MD, Chair of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY and President of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing
Myra Christopher, Chair for Pain and Palliative Care at the Center for Practical Bioethics and a principal at The Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy (PAINS)
Should schools still be teaching cursive?
With cursive instruction already on the decline, the newest editions of Common Core State Standards, a set of national goals for public schools, do not require that students learn cursive.
Some people think that makes perfect sense, as keyboards now dominate communication and handwriting is arguably becoming obsolete. Some teachers find teaching cursive to be a painstaking endeavor that bears little real world skills, and takes time from more important parts of the curriculum. But others think that cursive still has a viable place in a grade school curriculum.
Some argue that learning cursive is a practical matter, as cursive and handwriting styles are more efficient than printed letters. They argue that kids who master cursive will turn out to be faster writers on essays and placement tests and therefore more able to focus on content rather than process. Another argument is that learning cursive actually stimulates a part of the brain that improves motor skills.
The state senate in North Carolina agreed that cursive is important, and earlier this year passed a bill making it required learning in schools. Was this a good precedent to set, or should teachers let cursive fall by the wayside?
Guests:
Morgan Polikoff, Assistant Professor of Education at USC’s Rossier School of Education
Kathleen Wright, National Handwriting Program Manager for Zaner Bloser, a publisher of Language Arts materials for elementary schools
LA Sheriff bristles at Justice Department proposed fine for bias victims
The federal Department of Justice says $12.5 million should be paid to victims of racially biased investigations by LA County and the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale. In the Antelope Valley, thousands of low-income families use federal housing subsidies - known as Section 8.
Some of those residents sued housing authority investigators and other officials for targeting them unfairly in compliance checks. The lawsuit claimed officials "declare[d] 'war' on black and Latino families." The Justice Department agreed that the LA Sheriff's Department and others systematically discriminated against residents. Now, there are negotiations over a dollar-figure for restitution.
Does anyone contest the Justice Department's findings? What will change in Section 8 compliance checks going forward?
Guests:
Steve Whitmore, Senior Media Advisor, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Reverend V. Jessie Smith, President of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) of the Antelope Valley
150 years after the guns of Gettysburg fell silent, what was California’s role in the Civil War?
A century and a half ago today, the guns of Gettysburg fell eerily silent. The end of the bloodiest chapter in American history was over, the Confederate Army was on the run, and the end of slavery was a mere two years off. And though the Civil War often seems like a relic owned by the East Coast and its cemeteries and historical battle reenactments, California certainly played a role in the outcome of the war that shaped America’s identity, divided it, and reunited it all at once.
Like the rest of the nation, Californians were divided by the war. Some wanted to secede, others enlisted on the side of the Union, and in the election of 1864, the state overwhelmingly cast its vote for Lincoln.
But with so much distance between themselves and the battlefields of Gettysburg, Bull Run, and Antietam, did California really have skin in the war? How did Californians play a role, and was it a decisive one?
Guests:
Joan Waugh, a UCLA professor of history, Civil War authority and author of the award-winning 2009 biography “U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth” (UNC Press).
Daniel Lynch, UCLA doctoral candidate
Filmweek preview: The Lone Ranger and Despicable Me 2
Larry and KPCC critics give a Filmweek preview for July 4th. Critics Claudia Puig, Henry Sheehan and Charles Solomon review The Lone Ranger and Despicable Me 2. Also, the Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center begins tomorrow. TGI-early Filmweek!
The Lone Ranger
Despicable Me 2
Guests:
Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and USA Today
Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and criticsagogo.com
Charles Solomon, animation critic for KPCC, author and historian for amazon.com