Who will win the cover wars? You can’t fight city hall, but can you sue the federal government? Governor Brown's revised budget. Greece out of the Eurozone and if so, what does that mean? The King of Late Night.
Who will win the magazine cover wars?
Barack Obama has been married to a woman for about 20 years but according to this week’s cover of Newsweek he just became our first gay president. It was his statement last week supporting gay marriage that did the trick. It even prompted republican Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, to say Obama’s policies “couldn’t get any gayer.”
Needless to say, the cover story is getting a lot of attention. Last week, Time magazine’s cover story about “attachment parenting” caused a tremendous stir with the picture of a young mother breast feeding her three year old son.
What are the ethical, journalistic and business implications of the decisions to run these covers? Are these news magazines entering into a new cover wars phase designed to make them more relevant?
GUEST:
Kelly McBride, Senior Faculty for Ethics at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg
You can’t fight city hall, but can you sue the federal government?
Alec Loorz is a regular kid about to graduate from high school. He’ s studying for final exams, playing Ultimate Frisbee on the weekends and, oh yeah, suing the federal government.
Loorz, along with four other juveniles (he’s turning 18 at the end of the month), have filed suit against Lisa P. Jackson, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and heads of several other departments. These young litigators are primarily concerned with climate change, and are demanding that the U.S. government reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6% each year starting in 2013. Some critics are already writing this off as a mere publicity stunt, but organizations such as the National Association of Manufacturers and several others gave the suit enough credit to file a motion to intervene in the case.
District Court Judge Robert L. Wilkins, an Obama appointee, granted this motion, and last Friday heard the defendants’ reasoning for a dismissal of the case. Their main point of contention is whether or not individuals and organizations can use tort law to affect policy decisions that would affect the entire nation. The National Association of Manufacturers and similarly minded groups don’t think so. If this case continues, and if a high court rules in the plaintiffs’ favor, there would be a definite negative effect on industrial businesses. Transportation and manufacturing costs would go up, and using conventional sources of energy as has been done for decades would eventually be impossible.
How did Alec Loorz get the idea to file this suit? What other players are involved in this case? What’s more important, to maintain the level of business and productivity in a lagging economy, or try to advance environmental gains which could pay off down the road. Loorz himself says, “We are the future. But we’re more than that. We’re here now. So let’s work together to change the world. Not just occupy it.” Do you agree or disagree?
GUEST
Alec Loorz, high school student from Ventura, California and one of the plaintiffs in “Alec L. et. al vs. Lisa P. Jackson, et. al”
Beth Molito, Senior Executive Council, National Federation of Independent Business, Small Business Center
Gov. Brown on revised budget: 'This is the best that I could do'
Governor Jerry Brown's revised $91 billion budget plan for California will cut healthcare and welfare spending, and halt construction of new courthouses, he announced this morning in Sacramento. In addition, the budget would protect funding for education and public safety.
“This budget reflects the fact that the nation’s economic recovery is proceeding more slowly than anticipated,” said Governor Brown. “Lower tax revenues, coupled with federal government obstructions that blocked billions in necessary cuts, have created a deeper budget hole. More painful reductions will be necessary as a result, but education and public safety must be protected.”
While the new budget cuts $8.3 billion from government spending, it proposes a 16-percent increase in funding for K-12 education. In addition to the cuts, Brown proposes a temporary $6-billion increase in taxes to help pay for education and public safety.
The funds raised by these taxes are expected to help the state meet its Prop 98 requirements and to increase finding to schools and community colleges by $2.9 billion. If taxes are not approved, Brown says schools will lose $5.5 billion in funding.
"I'm laying out some pretty tough cuts," said Brown. "This is the best that I can do."
If Brown's tax increase is approved by voters, it will temporarily increase the income taxes for the wealthiest Californians for seven years and will increase the sales tax by one-quarter percent for four years.
California currently has a $15.7-billion deficit, almost double what it was four months ago, as tax revenues and state spending levels did not match up with Brown’s optimistic projections.
The last round of budget negotiations in Sacramento did not lead to a compromise, and once again the legislature faces a June 15th deadline to pass a fiscal plan.
WEIGH IN
What taxes are being proposed? How much revenue will they raise? Why were Brown’s projections for the budget so off the mark? What is the best way to reach a compromise on this issue?
GUESTS
Julie Small, KPCC, State Capitol Reporter
Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell, California State Assembly Democrat representing the 47th disctrict including Culver City and Crenshaw
Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, California State Assembly Republican member representing the 25th Assembly District, which includes Modesto and Mammoth Lakes
Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California
Greece out of the Eurozone and if so, what does that mean?
Stalls in talks to form a new government in Greece could result in the troubled, cash strapped nation turning its back on the Euro. There are political differences over harsh austerity measures by international lenders designed to save the country from economic disaster. But if Greece fails to meet the demands of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the last remaining lines of credit to the Mediterranean nation will be cut off. The turmoil has shaken markets across Europe, and there is now talk of Greece leaving the European Union all together.
What impact would this have on European markets? What would this mean for Greece's economic stability and employment opportunities?
GUEST
James Hertling, European Government Editor for Bloomberg
The King of Late Night
In a new documentary film, two-time Emmy-winning filmmaker Peter Jones explores the life, career, complexities, and contradictions of Johnny Carson. Seen by more people on more occasions than anyone else in American history, Carson became a fixture of national life and an intrinsic part of the American zeitgeist.
Over the course of 30 years, his show aired 4,531 episodes and welcomed 23,000 guests. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Carson taking over The Tonight Show from Jack Paar and the 20th anniversary of his retirement. Peter Jones’s film is narrated by two-time Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey and features 45 original interviews with Carson’s friends, family and colleagues, including his second wife, Joanne, Dick Cavett, Doc Severinsen, and other The Tonight Show staff. Jones also interviewed performers who appeared, or began their careers, on the show, including David Letterman, Jay Leno, Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Drew Carey, Garry Shandling, Steve Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ellen DeGeneres, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Joan Rivers, and David Steinberg.
GUEST
Peter Jones, Writer/Director/Producer of “American Masters Johnny Carson: King of Late Night”