DWP rate hikes. The philosophy of bumper stickers. Health reform's $15 billion fund to promote healthy lifestyles. Later, a 1960's quest to spread love and LSD around the world.
LA DWP rate hikes
After some political tussling, Mayor Villaraigosa will announce rate hikes for LA’s Department of Water and Power customers today, in a compromise deal crafted by the City Council’s Richard Alarcón. A portion of the additional revenues will be set aside for solar energy initiatives. Are you willing to pay more for sustainable energy? Will the extra money make Southern California’s energy supply cleaner and greener? Or is the City of LA simply raiding DWP to close their budget shortfall?
Guests:
Rick Orlov, City Hall reporter, The Daily News
Jan Perry, Los Angeles City Council, 9th District
Rhonda Mills, Southern California Program Director, Center For Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
Carol Schatz, President and CEO of the Central City Association
The philosophy of bumper stickers
Long before there were tweets and blogs, there was another way people expressed their opinions and philosophies to the public. The ubiquitous bumper sticker was, and still is, a way for people to make their views, voting choices, and sense of humor available to the world—or at least anybody who happens to be stuck behind them in traffic. In his book, If you Can Read This: the Philosophy of Bumper Stickers, writer Jack Bowen entertains with a look at some of the most popular bumper stickers and what they say about the people who sport them.
Guest:
Jack Bowen, author of If You Can Read This: the Philosophy of Bumper Stickers (Random House)
An ounce of prevention is worth ... $15 billion?
One would think it’s a no-brainer—give up a life of cheeseburgers and fries or give up your life. And yet Americans suffer from an epidemic of severe dietary and lifestyle-related illnesses. So wouldn’t it make sense for doctors to focus on lifestyle to prevent illness, instead of scalpels and drugs to treat them? There’s been impassioned debate about the new healthcare laws—but what’s been largely overlooked is a $15 billion fund to channel cash to programs that emphasize more healthy lifestyles. The effort will be coordinated by a “National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council.” But in this country chock-full of McDonald’s, Pizza Huts and Kentucky Fried Chickens, can this really make America more healthy?
Guests:
Daniel Zingale, Senior Vice President at The California Endowment, formerly a senior adviser to Governor Schwarzenegger, and one of the architects of California's 2007 attempt at health reform
Ted Marmor, Professor Emeritus of Public Management and Political Science at Yale University
Linda Van Horn, Director, Nutrition Research & Education in the Department of Preventative Medicine at Northwestern University
Taking a trip: Brotherhood of Eternal Love
The 1960s was a time of war, domestic strife, civil rights, trips to the moon and trips on acid. Inspired by Timothy Leary and his belief in LSD as way to understanding, the “Brotherhood of Eternal Love” (also known as the “hippie mafia”) set out to spread love—and drugs—throughout the world. In his book Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love and Acid to the World, writer Nicholas Schou follows the history of this group of hippies in Laguna Beach that grew into one of the world’s biggest drug cartels.
Guest:
Nicholas Schou, Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love and Acid to the World (Thomas Dunne)