First Lady Sharon Davis; Bush's Environmental Policy; The Spoken Word; Mexican Folk Art
First Lady Sharon Davis
Guest Host Patt Morrison speaks with First Lady of California Sharon Davis about the recall's aftermath and the plans that she and her husband have for the future.
Bush's Environmental Policy
Bush chose Utah Governor Michael Leavitt to head up the EPA, after Christie Todd Whitman left the agency. This changing of the guard comes amidst ongoing criticism of the Administration's environmental policies. Defenders of Bush's environmental record say that his Clean Air Act has done a great deal to help air quality. They say that managed logging is not a problem, as it is a sustainable industry; that water pollution has decreased, and note how Bush has ordered stricter emissions standards. Critics of the Administration's environmental record say that Bush's policies are a disaster on all fronts, and that California's emission standards will be undermined by the EPA. Greg Wetstone, Director of Advocacy at the National Resources Defense Council and Jim Di Peso, Policy Director for Republicans for Environmental Protection join guest Host Patt Morrison to discuss the Administration's environmental record.
The Spoken Word
Professor of Linguistics John McWhorter and Patricia Skarda, professor of English at Smith College join guest Host Patt Morrison to discuss the demise of rhetoric and oratory in the American public arena. They contend that we have become a nation of sound-bytes, which has no place for the eloquent speeches of yesteryear, like the Gettysburg Address or the more recent speeches of John F. Kennedy. What happened to oratory in America, and what does its demise say about contemporary culture?
Mexican Folk Art
Patt Morrison talks with Assistant Curator of Ethnology at the Natural History Museum, Bill Wood and Melinda Casares of Banamex about the new exhibit at the Natural History Museum, "Grandes Maestros: Mexican Folk Art." The exhibit runs from October 19th, 2003 through January 4th, 2004.