Obama to speak about Libya intervention tonight. NPR's Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep - just back from Cairo. CA GOP wish list and the fate of Brown's budget. Jerusalem: an ancient city ignites the modern world.
Libya update: Obama prepares the U.S. for further intervention
This past weekend, rebel forces in Libya made advances by capturing the oil town of Port Brega on Sunday. The forces are now planning to strike Surt, Kadafi’s hometown and a center which is the Libyan leader’s strongest source of support outside of Tripoli. The tide has turned in favor of the rebels; they have managed to hold on to eastern Libya due to the consistent airstrikes on Libya’s government militia. The original no-fly zone enacted by the U.N. allowed for attacks on Libyan forces which could potentially harm civilians, but did not permit actual strikes in accordance and in support of the rebels. On Sunday, the countries of NATO expanded their roles in intervention to include attacks on Kadafi’s security personnel and equipment. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates made the rounds on Sunday talk shows to lay the groundwork to sell the plan in Libya to the American people. Clinton stated “They didn't attack us, but what they were doing and Kadafi's history and the potential for the disruption and instability was very much in our interest." How is the public reacting to this expanded involvement? Is the United States making the right moves, or overreaching?
Guest:
Abby Phillip, reporter for POLITICO at the White House
This just in from Cairo - Steve Inskeep
As the host of Morning Edition, the most widely heard radio news program in the United States, Steve Inskeep went to Cairo to cover history in the making as pro-democracy Egyptians agitated in the streets for the ouster of then-President Hosni Mubarak and the formation of a new government. While there, Inskeep reported on everything from Secretary Clinton’s visit to the region, to a pop musician singing about the revolution. Meanwhile, NPR was making its own headlines over controversial remarks made by one of NPR’s chief fundraisers caught in a video sting and calls to end federal funding for public broadcasting. Upon returning to the states, Inskeep wasted no time defending NPR’s standards in a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, responding to accusations of a liberal bias that he says simply does not exist. Inskeep asserts that according to a recent study, most NPR listeners identify themselves politically as “middle of the road” or “conservative.” This resulted in an avalanche of critical comments on the Wall Street Journal’s web site. Inskeep joins us in studio to share his impressions of Egypt, the stories he covered and the future of NPR as he sees it.
Guest:
Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s Morning Edition
California Republicans issue budget wish list
After weeks of failed budget negotiations between Governor Jerry Brown and Republican lawmakers, Democratic legislative leaders said they are poised to pursue options that don’t require GOP support. On Friday night, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, released a wish list of more than 50 demands, which include rollbacks of public employee pensions, a reduction of California's environmental regulations and changing the hiring and firing process for schoolteachers. What will the impact of these demands be on further negotiations? Will they help or hurt California solve its budget crisis?
Guest:
Kevin Yamamura, reporter, Sacramento Bee
Tom Del Beccaro, Chairman of the California Republican Party
Jerusalem: an ancient city ignites the modern world
Jerusalem has long been a topic of interest due to its rich tradition and historical significance. In biblical times, Jerusalem’s society was rigid and brutal, an extension of the threats which faced Jerusalem in its formative stages. In the middle ages, Europe looked to the city as a heavenly beacon, breeding the resentful seeds of anti-Semitism and colonial racism. The bloodiness of the crusades further reinforced this Western view of Jerusalem as a city of heightened violence. In Jerusalem, Jerusalem, James Carroll details not only Jerusalem’s history as the City on a Hill, but how it has influenced America from the days of Christopher Columbus to Ronald Reagan. How has Jerusalem’s presence affected the rest of the globe? How has its definitively religious status coincided with so much violence? What, exactly, is so inciting about this ancient city?
Guest:
James Carroll, author of Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignites Our Modern World (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)