Rand Paul finished his nearly 13 hour filibuster and spoke extensively on drones. We'll look at some of his comments and future drone policy. Also, a Navy Environmental Program Manager will address if Navy training and tests impact whales in Southern California. Then, we discuss if cell phones should be jammed for drivers on the road, and a gun-loving Democrat tells of his journey across America in attempts to discover the real American gun culture.
Of filibusters, drones, extrajudicial powers, Holder and Paul
Senator Rand Paul - a Republican with strong Libertarian leanings - led a nearly 13-hour filibuster in the U.S. Senate yesterday. He began during proceedings to confirm John Brennan as CIA Director, but Paul's protest had a different target. Myriad times during the hours-long filibuster he asked President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to address extrajudicial killings of American citizens.
Paul cited the death of the American-born son of Anwar Al-Awlaki. Both were men, U.S. citizens , were killed in separate drone strikes in 2011. Lawmakers have been dealing with the controversial issues of domestic drones, targeted killings and presidential powers. However, the politics are unpredictable. Some of Paul's fellow Republicans helped keep the bluster going during the filibuster, but voters are more accustomed to Democrats keeping a check on civil liberty issues.
What was Paul protesting yesterday? When can the U.S. target alleged American terrorists overseas? When can the U.S. use drones in American territory? Was the filibuster effective?
Guests:
Stephen Vladeck , Professor of Law; Associate Dean for Scholarship at American University Washington College of Law; he was part of the legal team that successfully challenged the Bush Administration's use of military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006); last week, Vladeck testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary on the subject of presidential powers and drones.
John Bellinger, partner at Arnold & Porter in Washington DC. He served as the Legal Adviser for the National Security Council and for the Department of State [under Condoleezza Rice] during the Bush Administration; last week, Bellinger testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary on the subject of presidential powers and drones.
Can the Navy train in SoCal waters without harming whales?
Tomorrow, the California Coastal Commission will hear details of underwater exercises proposed by the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet. The Navy wants to increase the number of training activities off the coast of Camp Pendleton and San Diego.
Environmental advocacy groups warn that sound waves of sonars cause deadly harm to marine mammals. The fight over the issue has gone on for years. In 2008, the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled against the Navy's use of sonar, but later the Supreme Court overturned that decision. The Navy says it mitigates against harm by keeping watch for whales, then pausing testing as necessary. Environmental groups say it's impossible to watch for whales at night or to protect against the millions of sonar strobes and detonations.
A few months ago, the California Coastal Commission rejected a request for offshore seismic testing proposed by Pacific Gas & Electric. The board said PG&E could not go ahead without minimizing environmental impacts.
What's the best way to minimize harm while maintaining military readiness?
Guests:
Michael Jasny, Director, Marine Mammal Project, Natural Resources Defense Council
Alex Stone, Environmental Program Manager, U.S. Pacific Fleet
Are laws not enough to stop people from using cellphones while driving?
California has banned driving while using a hand-held cellphone since July 2008. But really, how many times have you seen drivers tapping feverishly in his or her iPhone at a red light, or worse, while they are driving on the road? It’s not only a source of frustration for other drivers, it has proven deadly.
Experts at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis have calculated that cellphone-distracted drivers have caused over 300,000 injuries and over 2,500 deaths per year. And researchers from the University of North Texas Health Science Center estimated that texting was the cause for more than 16,000 crash-related deaths between 2001 and 2007.
Two researchers—Jeffrey Coben and Motao Zhu—at West Virginia University have a radical suggestion to end our addiction to driving while cellphoning: by configuring vehicles with devices that would disable mobile phones when the car is in motion. They argue that federal, state, or local laws are not sufficient when it comes to ending the dangerous practice of distracted driving and that more drastic measures are in order.
Is what they are proposing too extreme? Is it even feasible? Who would foot the bill for the installation of these devices?
Guests:
Jeffrey Coben, MD, Professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Community Medicine at West Virginia University; co-author of the study “Keeping An Eye on Distracted Driving”
Paul Atchley, PhD, Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Studies; Psychology Director, Ph.D. Program in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Kansas
Good, gunning and game across America
Author Dan Baum is a self-professed Democrat and gun lover. While that combo seems like oil and water in an era of partisan stands on the 2nd Amendment, Baum argues that appreciation of guns is not as polarizing as the media might have us believe. To prove his point, he set out on a road trip across the United States to discover what America’s gun culture really looks like.
Baum was the kind of kid a bully might pick on as a boy, but at camp in the Catskill Mountains, he found out he was a good shot, and guns found their place in his life from there on. His road trip was an attempt to square blue-state America’s image of gun rights advocates with red-state America’s image of liberals who want to disarm law-abiding citizens. While driving from city to city and town to town, he parses the numbers and language surround a culture that, in the wake of Newtown and Aroura, has found its way into the center of our national political conversation.
Guest:
Dan Baum, author of “Gun Guys: A Road Trip”