On Today's Air Talk we'll take a look at Gov. Jerry Brown's call for deeper budget cuts, the California state's challenge of the federal Secure Communities Act, we'll open the question to listeners about summer plans for their children, a closer examination of the Obama campaigns strategy and where it needs help, a look at living wills and the author Jill Lepore joins us to talk about her new book The Mansion of Happiness. Plus, the latest news.
Brown calls for deeper budget cuts from lawmakers – but from where?
With just two days to go until a constitutional deadline for passing California's budget, Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic lawmakers remain at loggerheads.
They can't reach agreement over how to bridge a $15.7 billion deficit and remain divided on the key issue of California's welfare-to-work program, CalWorks. Under the governor's proposal, child care and welfare grants would end after two years instead of four for parents not in work or pursuing training, saving an estimated $880 million.
Democratic lawmakers presented their plans to the Assembly and Senate, but in a statement, Governor Brown said the budget proposal still "puts us into a hole in succeeding years."
Is Governor Brown right to target the CalWorks program in an effort to bridge the deficit? What other measures could be taken to balance the books? What are your feelings on the continued problems with the budget, year after year?
Guest:
Julie Small, KPCC's State Capital Reporter
California challenge to Secure Communities program enters next phase
California moved a step closer to breaking away from a controversial federal immigration enforcement program yesterday.
Launched in 2008, Secure Communities uses fingerprint sharing to identify potential deportable immigrants held in local jails across the country. In a counter measure, California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced the TRUST Act, a bill that would give local governments the opportunity to opt out of the mandatory fingerprinting initiative. The state's Senate Public Safety Committee approved the bill 5-2 yesterday. It now heads to one more committee, before the bill would go to the Senate floor. If it passes there, it would then require a “concurrence” vote in the Assembly, which passed the original bill.
Critics of Secure Communities say it creates more work for local law enforcement agencies, while the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service maintain it’s necessary to protect the public.
Should California be allowed to break away from a federal government mandate designed secure U.S. borders? Are you concerned that Secure Communities could target the wrong people?
GUESTS
Chris Newman, Legal Director, National Day Laborer Organizing Network
Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies
Time to play, but only if parents plan it
Schools are out for summer; a time for children to relax, have fun and explore - or is it? Summer vacations have become a revolving door of summer camps, art or sports classes, play dates and more. Yet none of these activities involve playing unsupervised in the neighborhood and beyond with friends.
The summer camps of days past involved going no further than the local park or to the backyard of neighbor, returning home in time for dinner. Have we become so concerned with the risk of sexual predators and children hurting themselves that the joy of unstructured play is being removed from childhood?
From the phones:
Stephanie in Venice said that the world is a lot more dangerous than it was before, and she's wary where she allows her kids to play.
"It's not as safe as it used to be in the '70s and '80s. You can't trust anybody. My children can do the play, but they have to be in the confines of our backyard, and [friends] need to come to our house. We will send our children to a week-long camp, but it's a half day."
David called from Culver City, saying that he thinks children are actually safer. "With all the new cell phones and GPS technology, it's actually a little bit safer for kids to be out, riding around, doing what they want in the daytime. Their parents can easily keep tabs on them."
Joe from Northridge called in, saying parents should do more than know of their children's whereabouts. He encourages his 8- and 12-year-old stepchildren to get outside more often, to enjoy the type of childhood make believe games he grew up with.
"Nowadays the kids are so stuck inside playing video games and watching television for hours and hours and hours," he described. "Some days the kids will sit inside for six hours playing video games, and I would urge them to go outside, and when I finally get them to go outside, they're very bored because they've had a lack of development of that type of play."
Tom, a little league baseball coach in Palos Verdes, shared that it helped to instill ideas for summer activities in the team's heads.
"The kids are so structured now growing up, even as 10-year-olds, playing a sport year round," he explained. "The head coach had the bright idea to introduce them to games that we used to play as kids, whether it was on the ball field or just in someone's yard. Their view was 'Oh, well I can't [play baseball], so I'll just play videogames.' But you can get three or four kids and play 'hit the bat,' or get six kids and play 'over the line.'"
Collin in Boyle Heights said children aren't staying in because they lack creativity.
"I've noticed that there's this kind of duality with kids now. Our children have access to computers and the Internet, and they're curious, they're very curious. They explore the world through their computers, but they don't go outside and explore their neighborhood," he continued.
Hilary in Irvine said some parents don't give children the chance for adequate free play. She warns about over-programming activities, camps and classes into a child's summer schedule.
"There's so much hype on summer learning loss, so much fear that they're kids are going to stay at home, that there are so many more opportunities than we had," she said. "The chances of running around, and being in sprinklers, and eating popsicles and going to the park nowadays are lost. ... It scares me a little that we don't let our children have downtime and let them play in the neighborhood, and do the things that we used to do, like seeking adventure in our own backyards.
WEIGH IN
What did you do during the summer vacation as a child? Do children lose out today because they're not encouraged to play independently? As a parent, under what conditions do you let your children play outside without supervision? With the holidays stretching out for weeks, is planning lots of activities a way to keep children out of your way?
What will you do with the kids this summer? Be a news source for KPCC.
What are your kids doing Summer 2012?
After talking to Ivanhoe Elementary School parents, KPCC decided to extend the question to all of Los Angeles:
Storified by 89.3 KPCC · Fri, Jun 08 2012 17:57:53
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@KPCC taking the kids to the grand canyon and leaving them there.Whale Staff
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(P.Sachin.Nayak/Flickr) A killer whale balances a trainer during the Shamu Show at Sea World California in 2009. Bernard Adamczyk, a freelance TV editor from Altadena says he, “would like to take the 3 year-old to Sea World as he has an obsession with killer whales.”
@KPCC We are camping at Big Sur but what our son is most excited about is the Ancestral Skills camp at EarthRoots Field School.Mary Castillo
@KPCC On June 23rd we’re hosting the LA Youth Hack Jam for kids 5-18 + parents to learn how to code. http://lahackjam.eventbrite.comTara Tiger Brown
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(Presidio of Monterey: DLIFLC & USAG/Flickr) Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center student Pvt. Michael Odoms, Marine Corps Detachment Monterey, reads from a book to children at Foothill Elementary, March 2012. Substitute teacher Leslie Chain of Youngstown, Ohio offers this summer suggestion: After years of "students" from K - 12 who can't conjugate the verb, “to be,” simple present tense, I would encourage all parents to take their children to the library. Get books; read to them; have them read to you; and insist they write letters and diaries.
Do rough times for America mean rough times for campaign Obama?
As November quickly approaches, the Obama campaign’s gears are turning at full speed. But some Democrats are worried about its health and chances of success given the current state of the union and the Romney campaign’s growing strength and wealth.
May jobs numbers weren’t as high as hoped and the middle class continues to feel the pain during a slow economic recovery. The GOP has also been quick to the draw with its criticism of the President’s recent news conference statement that “the private sector is doing fine.”
In addition to less than optimal economic news, the Obama camp has also been forced to grapple with several controversies. There are loud calls for a special prosecutor to investigate intelligence leaks to the media that have painted Obama in a favorable light. Also, Republican lawmakers are demanding the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious. Now many Democratic strategists are expressing concern over the campaign’s strategy in general, which is being led by the same team from 2008 and may be focusing on a message that is out of touch.
In such a complicated and rough political climate, how well-equipped is the Obama campaign to reach the American public and win?
GUESTS
Josh Gerstein, White House Reporter for POLITICO
Chris Lehane, Democratic Political Consultant and Partner, Fabiani & Lehane
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist and former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
Will your living will cover all bases?
If you’ve ever had a family member in a terminal state, you know the the heart-wrenching decisions that must be made about how – or whether – to treat them. If our loved one isn’t able to speak for themselves, how do we make those decisions?
Many people have what’s called a “living will” – known in California as an advance directive - a document that spells out how they want to be treated in the event of extreme illness or accident. But with advances in medical care over the past few years, end of life decisions have acquired many more shades of gray, and the original document may no longer be sufficient. Perhaps your family members know that you wouldn’t want to be kept alive by artificial means if there’s no chance of having a meaningful life going forward. But what exactly does “meaningful life” mean to you? Would you want to be kept alive if you could no longer walk, garden, communicate, feed yourself?
These are questions of personal values, beliefs and fears that must be discussed between family and physicians in order to ensure that your “living will” covers the variables that could affect those decisions.
Have you had that conversation with your physician? With your family? Who would you trust to carry out your wishes?
GUEST
Felicia Cohn, PhD, bioethics director for Kaiser Permanente of Orange County
Life before birth and after death: 'The Mansion of Happiness' explores all
Benjamin Franklin once famously wrote, "nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." But in historian, Harvard professor and New Yorker columnist Jill Lepore's new book, Lepore explores our purpose on the planet beyond payments to Uncle Sam and our descent to the grave.
"The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death" draws on centuries of American views on the many stages of life, from what happens before birth to breast pumps, cryogenics and our fascination with the afterlife. Excited by childhood and intrigued by death, Lepore says we no longer look for answers relating to our existence from the past, but glance ahead to the future.
What is the most compelling stage of life? What questions do you have about life after death? Within your own family, what conversations do you have about old age and death?
Guest:
Jill Lepore, David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and author of "The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death"