How Prop 25 changes everything in terms of the California budget process. Orange County news. Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle talks about his new film, 127 Hours. The biggest loser in the Midterm election? The political center. Author Antonio Damasio and the search for the conscious mind.
Californians make it easier to pass budgets - maybe
By a gap of 10%, California voters passed Prop 25 so state budgets can be passed by a simple majority in the legislature. Until now, it took a two-thirds vote. This is a monumental shift, which many hope will put an end to budget gridlock. But Californians also said yes to Prop 26, making it harder for lawmakers to raise certain fees – and therefore harder to pass budgets. What do you get when you throw in a new Democratic Governor – and stir? Is budget reform possible without new fees and taxes?
Guests:
Darrell Steinberg, President Pro Tem of State Senate, California State Senator
Bob Dutton, Senate Republican leader, 31st District
Orange County Journalists Roundtable
Larry and our talented trio of Orange County journalists riff about the latest election results from the OC including the Loretta Sanchez win over Van Tran for the congressional seat in the 47th district.
Guests:
Gustavo Arellano, Managing Editor of the OC Weekly and author of Ask A Mexican
William Lobdell, Orange County based freelance journalist and author of Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America and Found Unexpected Peace
Teri Sforza, Staff Writer for the Orange County Register
Close encounter with a comet
JPL’s EPOXI spacecraft came within about 430 miles today of the Hartley 2 comet, a ball of ice, dust and rocks flying at 27,000 miles per hour. Medium resolution photographs show the best pictures yet of the space object as it streaked through the solar system, leaving a trail of dust. What does NASA hope to learn from this mission? And what do comets tell us about the formation of the solar system and the future of planet Earth?
Guest:
Tim Larson, JPL’s EPOXI Project Manager
Danny Boyle’s New Film, 127 Hours
Imagine hiking alone, in a slot canyon in Utah, and having a boulder fall on your arm, helplessly trapping you. What would you do? Danny Boyle’s new film, 127 Hours, stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston and tells the true story of Ralston’s harrowing experience and the choices he made while trapped for 5 days in a Utah canyon.
Guest:
Danny Boyle, Director of 127 Hours and Academy Award winning director of Slumdog Millionaire
The biggest loser – political middle
With the GOP takeover of the House, Nancy Pelosi is probably out as speaker. Her presumptive successor is Republican John Boehner. In terms of agenda, the two couldn’t be more diametrically opposed. The White House has signaled that President Obama is open to negotiation. But with an even more polarized Congress and a shrinking political center in Washington – is compromise possible? Both sides claim to be speaking for a majority of Americans, but are they? What, if anything, will lawmakers be able to accomplish between now and the next presidential election in November 2012?
Guest:
Mark Barabak, political correspondent for the LA Times
The search for self & the origin of consciousness
Ever wonder what makes you, well, you? Great minds have long pondered the question of how we actually perceive, recognize, and feel our “self.” Understanding human consciousness has been the Holy Grail for various kinds of seekers, from poets and priests, to experts in brain physiology. In his new book, Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, Dr. Antonio Damasio helps clear the air with scientific evidence that consciousness is a biological process. Damasio goes back to the root of things with an evolutionary perspective on the persistent question of how our minds develop the perception of self. Does this put your mind at rest?
Guest:
Antonio Damasio, author of Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain