Congress Votes To Restore Funding For the CPB; Chinese/Unocal Bid; FilmWeek
Congress Votes To Restore Funding For the CPB
In a victory for NPR and “Sesame Street,” the House voted 284 to140, late on Thursday to restore $100 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that a Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee recently voted to cut from the CPB. Larry Mantle talks with experts about the vote and the controversy surrounding federal funding for public broadcasting. Joining Larry are Kevin Close, President and CEO of NPR, Congressman Dana Rohrbacher, 46th Congressional District, Congressman Adam Schiff, Representative for the 29th District, Mark Erstling, Senior VP and Chief Operating Officer, Association of Public Television Stations, and Tim Graham, Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Chinese/Unocal Bid
China’s second largest oil company, CNOOC, recently made an unsolicited bid of $18.5 billion to purchase El Segundo-based oil company, Unocal, trumping U.S. oil giant Chevron’s bid of nearly $17 billion. If accepted, the acquisition will be the largest in China’s history of foreign trade and may signal the country as a major new player in the world oil market. Though it unknown whether Unocal will accept the offer, the prospect is causing alarm among American stockholders and politicians, such as two California representatives who are trying to encourage President Bush to stop the deal on behalf of national security. Larry talks with Mikkal Herberg, director of Asian Energy Security at National Bureau of Asian Research, Michael Wessel, Commissioner for the US-China Economic & Security Review Commission, and Stephen Leeb, President of Leeb Capital Management.
FilmWeek
Larry Mantle and critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety, and Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic of both CityBeat and ValleyBeat discuss this week's new releases, including Bewitched, Herbie: Fully Loaded, George Romero's Land of the Dead, Unwanted Woman, Wild Side, Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Last Mogul, Rize, and Yes.
Larry and the critics also discuss the Los Angeles Film Festival, in progress until June 26th.