Gallup polls indicate Americans are moving to the left on gay rights, while moving to the right on abortion. Say good-bye plastic bags in LA grocery stores? College is harder than ever to get in, but is it easier once you’re there? Romney education plan heavy on "parental choice." Facebook, Wall Street banks under scrutiny for IPO by lawmakers, attorneys. Edmunds releases 100 most powerful cars list. Plus, the latest news.
Gallup polls indicate more Americans support gay rights, while fewer identify as 'pro-choice'
According to the latest Gallup polls, public opinion on gay marriage and birth control has become increasingly more liberal. In 1997, Americans were evenly split as to whether gay marriage should be legal. Today, 63 percent say it should be legal, compared with 31 percent who say it shouldn’t be. As for birth control, 82 percent of U.S. Catholics and 89 percent of respondents nationally say it’s morally acceptable. This is far greater than last year, despite the political controversy surrounding the issue in this political cycle.
The real eyebrow-raising numbers from Gallup came Wednesday on the abortion issue. They indicate that a record low of 41 percent of Americans call themselves “pro-choice” while 50 percent now call themselves “pro-life.”
Does this mean that a significant number of Americans have changed their views about when women should and shouldn’t be legally allowed to have an abortion? Probably not. Gallup did ask that as well and it appears attitudes have changed very little in that regard. So what gives? Well, it might have to do with Gallup’s phrasing of the question. There are people who believe abortion should be legal in some situations, but not all, who now call themselves “pro-life.”
On the other hand, some with similar views called themselves “pro-choice” in previous polls. What’s behind that change? How do you define these labels? Even if support for abortion is holding its ground, support for contraception and same sex-marriage are soaring. What is it about abortion that continues to alienate people?
Say goodbye to plastic bags in LA grocery stores?
After four years of debate and discussion, the Los Angeles City Council approved a ban on plastic bags at Los Angeles grocery stores.
The council voted 13-1 Wednesday to phase in the ban of plastic bags over the next 12 months in grocery stores with $2 million in sales or 10,000 square-feet in size. Councilman Bernard Parks was the only council member to vote no. He said he was concerned that the decision sounded better than it might turn out.
"I just don't think that, in creating good public policy, you impose something without understanding the aftereffects. If we just take a step back and realize as the runaway train in the city went forward with getting rid of paper bags years ago and creating plastic ... it was saving the trees," Parks said. "Years later, no one had thought about what plastic is going to do, and now the same people that wanted to get rid of paper now are saying get rid of plastic."
Parks said that possible health issues were overlooked during the assessment of the plastic bag ban proposal. He added that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention consistently asserts that foods should not comingle. Reusable bags could become a hassle for those who don't own washing machines, or have enough bags to separate like goods.
"You begin to think about the bacteria, and the stories we've seen just in using a knife to cut chicken and moving it into another product, the disease gets carried," he continued. "All of a sudden now we're going to be saying to individuals that shop, 'You're going to have a meat bag, you're going to have to have a grocery bag, you're going to have a vegetable bag, a fruit bag.'"
Los Angeles Councilman Eric Garcetti backed the ban. He said such a move would help the city reduce the $16 million spent a year towards cleaning up plastic bags in the city of L.A. Garcetti said he thinks Los Angeles will adapt well to the change.
"Before the mid 1970s, we lived well without plastic, single use bags for shopping. There weren't epidemics; it wasn't the end of the world. We've seen in many small cities ... that we are not only able to not only adapt, but go back to what was very successful for years."
He went on to say that the new legislation will be tailored to fit city needs. Low income areas would have an exemption on the 10 cent fee for paper. "No matter what part of the city you're in, whether it's a big store or a small store, this will be sustainable for the stores," he asserted.
Garcetti acknowledged the concern some people showed about job loss. He said he hopes that the ban will incentivize new green jobs. "On the other side of the aisle, we had a group that hires veterans ... who stitched together some of the bags that we can reuse, and those are great, new, forward-looking green jobs."
The councilman added that he hopes the project parallels the green building ordinance passed in 2008. "New restrictions on how you build things also provided a whole new industry, and we think that this can happen with plastic bags, moving towards reusable bags as well," he concluded.
Parks said the council has sent mixed messages on the jobs front. "Here's a council that continually says they want to be business friendly. And yet we find that almost indiscriminately we say, 'Well, just retool your factory. So what if you lost a portion of your business?'"
He recalled the number of people that attended the council meeting split evenly on both sides.
"The people from the industry that said leave the bags alone are actually those that are impacted by the change. Most that spoke from other side were those who were from Heal the Bay and a variety of organizations that deal with environmental issues, but were not folks in industry," he described.
Parks noted that he backs certain issues addressed in the ban, but he thinks there are better ways to tackle those problems.
"We have educated the public on recycling in this city to where I think we are now recycling 60 to 70 percent of the trash that we pick up. We do much better in educating people on how to deal with this than to enforce against it."
Yesterday’s vote begins a four-month environmental review process followed by a vote on the ordinance. Large stores would have six months to put the ban into effect while smaller ones would have a year to phase out the use of plastic bags. One year after the ban is in place, stores will be required to charge 10 cents for paper bags.
WEIGH IN
Are you ready to give up your plastic bags when you grocery shop LA?
GUESTS
Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles City Councilman
Bernard Parks, Los Angeles City Councilman
College is harder than ever to get in, but is it easier once you’re there?
In a recent research paper from the University of California at Santa Barbara, evidence shows college students have it easier than ever. The paper, titled “Leisure College, USA,” compared modern survey responses with information from past studies, notably a longitudinal study called Project Talent which focused on college students in 1961.
The earlier students spent about 24 hours a week studying, which includes reading, writing, preparing for class and exams, and an additional 16 hours in actual classes. That’s 40 hours a week, roughly the same as a standard full-time job. Nowadays, however, students spend 27 hours total in class and studying, which is nearly equivalent to the expectation placed on modern kindergarteners.
Critics of higher education are citing this as evidence that college is no longer delivering on its mission to enhance the critical thinking and work ethic skills of students. But several students aren’t simply wiling away the extra hours; it’s now common for students to have a part-time college schedule but carry a full-time job as well.
How has your college workload been? Is it easier or harder to manage than high school? Are you an academic who has noticed this change over time? Is the entire collegiate system suffering, or is this a byproduct of better technology and more readily available information for students?
Guest:
Richard Arum, Professor of Sociology and Education, New York University. Also co-author of “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campus” (University of Chicago Press, 2010)
Romney education plan heavy on ‘parental choice'
Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney on Wednesday gave back-to-back speeches on education, revealed his education policy team and released his white paper on school reform. He also made strong statements about the current state of the problem, calling it the “civil rights issue of our era.”
Speaking at the Latino Coalition’s Annual Economic Summit, Romney said American students are receiving a “third-world education.” His plan, entitled “A Chance for Every Child” focuses on a voucher-style system for disadvantaged students and on transparency of teacher and school performance. “For the first time in history, federal education funds will be linked to the student, so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school of their choice.”
His plan also included the choice of private school where state law allows, or to use funds towards a tutor or digital courses and digital schools. The plan also seeks to “replace federally-mandated school interventions with a requirement that states create…public report cards.” He would also offer grants to districts that reform teacher tenure.
The plan also addresses college student loans. Even before Romney’s campaign events, the Obama team criticized the plan. “We saw what happened under Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts – class sizes increased and thousands of teachers were laid off, college costs skyrocketed, and graduation rates at community colleges lagged behind the national average,” Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith is quoted by the Boston Globe. Smith added, “Now we know that he would make deep cuts to education to fund tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.”
AirTalk will dissect the plan.
GUESTS
Ulrich Boser, Senior Fellow specializing in education, Center for American Progress; Former research director for Education Week newspaper.
Tom Luna, Member of Mitt Romney’s Education Policy Advisory Committee & the President of the Council of Chief State School Officers
Facebook, Wall Street banks under scrutiny for IPO by lawmakers, attorneys
Call it the opposite of “like” in Facebook terms. Facebook’s troubled and high-profile initial public stock offering has come under fire from both lawmakers and lawyers alike.
Two congressional committees announced Wednesday they would conduct a preliminary inquiry into the Facebook IPO, and attorneys have filed lawsuits claiming regular investors were misled days before shares for the social media giant began trading last Friday.
The question of whether the IPO process was fair also falls onto the heads of the company’s bankers, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, who shared a negative outlook about Facebook with a selective group of clients rather than with all investors. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said his panel was seeking briefings with Facebook representatives, regulatory agencies and others. At least three suits filed this week have been seeking class-action status, alleging Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and the banks shepherding the IPO concealed critical information before Facebook went public.
Did Facebook and banks underwriting the company’s IPO mislead mom-and-pop investors?
GUEST
Matt DeBord, KPCC economy reporter; writes the DeBord Report on KPCC.org
Edmunds releases 100 most powerful cars list
The car experts at Edmunds just released a turbo-charged list of the 100 most powerful cars – of all time. Think you know muscle cars? Think again.
Unless you’re a zillionaire car collector or have a PhD in automotive power, chances are, there are several you’ve never even heard of. The “weakest” of the bunch, if you can believe it, packs 544 horsepower. Coming in at #1 is the 2009 SSC Ultimate Aero. The 1,287-horsepower super car can go zero to 60 in less than 2.8 seconds, with a top speed of 257 miles per hour. It’s a thing of beauty too, assuming you don’t blink as it goes by.
Four other cars, including two Bugattis, break the 1,200-hp barrier. Today is the golden age of car power. The oldest vehicle on the list is a mere 23 years old and the top ten were all built in the last ten years. “Still, these are some of the rarest vehicles on the planet,” says Edmunds.com Editor in Chief Scott Oldham.
How did each car land on this list? How were ties broken? And were any worthy machines left in the dust?
GUEST
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com