Higher Education Budget Deal; What’s Happening in Fallouja?; Caltech Edition; Kareem Abdul Jabbar Tells the Story of Brothers in Arms
Higher Education Budget Deal
Governor Schwarzenegger announced yesterday that a budget deal has been reached with California’s colleges and universities. The governor had been meeting secretly with leaders of the University of California and Cal State University systems, to the surprise of democratic lawmakers. Larry Mantle talks with Democratic Senator Jack Scott, California State University Assistant Vice Chancellor Patrick Lenz and Brad Hayward, Spokesman for the University of California.
What’s Happening in Fallouja?
On April 30th, Iraqi troops led by one of Saddam Hussein’s former generals entered Fallouja after a month long standoff between Marines and Sunni Muslim insurgents. The decision to have Iraqi forces replace Marines in Fallouja represents the evolving US strategy to end the volatile situation there and underscores how US policy in Iraq has drastically changed course to accommodate the reality on the ground. Joining Larry is Tony Perry, LA Times reporter embedded with the 1st Marine Division near Fallouja, and Lou Cantori, Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Caltech Edition
Christof Koch, Caltech professor of engineering and biology, joins Host Larry Mantle to discuss his new book, The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach (Roberts & Company). Koch investigates what he calls “zombie agents,” behaviors we do without thinking, looking at neural activity that bypasses conscious thought.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar Tells the Story of Brothers in Arms
Six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joins Larry Mantle to talk about the new book he co-authored with Anthony Walton in which they recount the wartime experiences of the first all-black tank battalion to see combat in World War II. As with many African American units at the time, the 761st was never intended to see battle but were trained mainly as a public relations gesture to sustain the support of the war in the black community. Working with writer Anthony Walton, Adbul-Jabbar interviewed surviving members of the battalion weaving together their stories of basic training and battlefield horrors along with their experiences of racial discrimination in postwar America. Their new book is called Brothers in Arms: The epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII’s Forgotten Heroes (Broadway Books).