Mid-term election preview - local and national races. Violent video games get their day in Supreme Court. A psychiatrist's stories of his most bizarre cases.
Local elections - sneak peak
It’s not over yet – but the barrage of campaign robo dials and political attack ads will finally cease after tomorrow’s election, for awhile anyway. This election season has been fraught with drama, floods of money, and big promises of change. With budgets tight and national implications at stake, which candidates and props will most likely prevail?
Guest:
John Myers, Sacramento bureau chief for KQED's California Report
National shake-up - the change promised over and over again?
It’s been a year filled with political surprises - from Tea Party upsets in the primaries, to newcomers giving incumbents more than they bargained for in the midterms. GOP hopefuls expect to take back the House and maybe even the Senate, while Dems vow to hold on to their hard won 2008 seats. Is D.C. on the brink of drastic change? Will voter rage result in big wins for the new guard? Which candidates and races are most likely to shake things up nationally?
Guests:
Jack Shaw, Capitol Hill reporter for Market News International
Alex Burns, political reporter, Politico
Do violent video games make kids aggressive? - Supreme Court weighs California ban
The nation’s highest court will plug into the gaming world Tuesday, as the Court weighs California’s ban on selling violent video games to minors. Oral arguments begin in Schwarzenegger vs. EMA, the case challenging the ban written by State Senator Leland Yee. The Supremes must decide whether buying violent video games is protected speech or if, like alcohol, cigarettes and porn, the games should be kept out of minors’ hands. Do psychological and scientific studies show a link between playing graphic games and more aggressive behavior? Or has the nanny state prematurely grabbed the console?
Guests:
L. Rowell Huesmann Ph.D., Professor of Communication Studies and Psychology; Director of the Research Center for Group Dynamics Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan; co-author of Amicus Brief before the Supreme Court documenting the harmful effects of video game violence
Christopher Ferguson Ph.D., Associate Professor of Clinical and Forensic Psychology, Texas A&M International, co-signer of counter Amicus Brief
A psychiatrist’s most bizarre cases
From naked headstands to fainting school girls and self-amputations, Dr. Gary Small’s psychiatry practice has generated a treasure trove of stranger-than fiction-tales. Tracking his journey to becoming a world wide expert on memory and the human brain, Dr. Small makes frequent stops along the way to highlight some of mental illnesses’ most interesting manifestations. In his new book The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head, Dr. Small introduces us to true-life patients who suffer from a variety of illnesses including mysterious hysterical blindness, shrinking penises, and frightening psychotic desires. Are there lessons for the rest of us in these unusual case histories?
Guest:
Gary Small, M.D., author of The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: A Psychiatrist’s Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases; professor of psychiatry and director of the UCLA Center on Aging at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior