Bear-Stearns Collapse; Tibet Update; Just How "Green" Are Your Natural Products?; Washington D.C. Gun Ban Argued In The Supreme Court; A Scientific Exploration Into The World Of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, And Time Travel
Bear-Stearns Collapse
JP Morgan Chase announced last night it will acquire Bear Stearns for $236.2 million. The all-stock deal was fast-tracked by the federal government to avoid a bankruptcy and so it would be completed before world markets opened today. Larry talks with Neil Irwin, of the Washington Post about the deal and what it means to the U.S. economy.
Tibet Update
Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces Sunday as Tibetans defied a Chinese government crackdown. Chinese authorities are now mobilizing security forces across a broad expanse of western China. In the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, a deadline approaches today for people who took part in a violent anti-Chinese uprising last week. The Chinese government has told them to surrender or face severe punishment. Tibet's governor says that 16 people have died and dozens have been wounded in the violence so far, which broke out in Lhasa on Friday. The Dalai Lama decried what he called the "cultural genocide" taking place in his homeland. Larry talks with Lhadon Pethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, and Tseten Panucharas, past president of LA Friends of Tibet.
Just How "Green" Are Your Natural Products?
Larry discusses the recent study of "natural" and "organic" consumer products including soaps and shampoos, that showed that almost half of them, while claiming to be "green," tested positive for a cancer causing chemical. Larry talks with Marla Cone, Environmental reporter for the L.A. Times, David Steinman, consumer advocate and director of the study, and David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps.
Washington D.C. Gun Ban Argued In The Supreme Court
In 1976, one of the toughest gun laws in the nation took effect in the District of Columbia, essentially outlawing the private ownership of new handguns in a city struggling with violence. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a challenge to the city's handgun ban. The case is likely to produce the most important firearms ruling in generations and could undermine other gun control laws nationwide if the court takes an expansive view of the right to bear arms. The Justice Department shocked the pro-gun lobby by writing amicus brief arguing that gun ownership was not a "fundamental" right but rather deserves only an "intermediate" level of protection. Larry Mantle and guests Eugene Volokh, the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, and Erwin Chemerinsky, Professor of Constitutional Law at Duke University School of Law argue the constitutionality of the DC gun ban and discuss the ramifications of the Supreme Court's decision in this case.
A Scientific Exploration Into The World Of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, And Time Travel
In his new book "Physics of the Impossible," the renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future. From teleportation to telekinesis, Dr. Kaku uses the world of science fiction to examine the fundamentals and the limits of the laws of physics as we know them today. He joins Larry Mantle to discuss the science of the impossible-from death rays and force fields to invisibility cloaks-revealing to what extent such technologies might be achievable decades or millennia into the future.