SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCH; STATE SPENDING CAP: “LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS” ACT; DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?; MICHAEL RITCHIE
SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCH
The space shuttle Discovery launched at 7:39am, Pacific Time, this morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida; the 114th space shuttle flight in 24 years. Discover was originally set to lift off on July 13th but the launch was scrubbed due to a faulty sensor. This spacecraft has a redesigned external fuel tank and nearly 50 other improvements made in the wake of the Columbia tragedy two and a half years ago. Larry talks with former shuttle astronaut, Scott Horowitz, about today’s launch and the shuttle’s return to flight.
STATE SPENDING CAP: “LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS” ACT
Governor Schwarzenegger is asking voters to support a measure that will cut government spending. The “Live Within Our Means” Act will limit how much lawmakers can increase the state’s budget by tying allotted budget growth to the average state revenue increase of the previous three years. Schwarzenegger’s proposal is aligned with a nationwide conservative strategy to curtail state budget growth. Larry Mantle talks with LA Times staff writer Evan Halper, Jean Ross of the California Budget Project and Mitch Zak of the Schwarzenegger Coalition.
DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
Larry Mantle talks with Larry Diamond, former senior advisor to the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq about his new book Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. In the book, Diamond argues that the American effort was hampered not only by insurgents and terrorists but also by a long chain of miscalculations, missed opportunities, and acts of ideological blindness that helped assure the transition to independence would be neither peaceful nor entirely democratic.
MICHAEL RITCHIE
Larry Mantle talks with the Center Theatre Group’s new artistic director Michael Ritchie.