Breakfast With Ahmedinejad; Thai Coup Update; 9th Circuit Rules Initiatives Can Be English-Only; Ray Suarez's New Book, The Holy Vote; Supermob
Breakfast With Ahmedinejad
Larry Mantle talks with Jim Walsh from M.I.T. about his breakfast meeting this morning with the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Walsh was chosen along with several other journalists and scholars for the meeting.
Thai Coup Update
Larry Mantle discusses the latest news about the military coup in Thailand.
9th Circuit Rules Initiatives Can Be English-Only
An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that language requirements for voting materials do not apply to initiative petitions. The appeals court found that applying the Voting Rights Act-- which requires that election materials be printed in other languages if spoken by more than 5 percent of a region's voters-- would increase the costs of petition backers and have a "chilling effect." The decision stems from a lawsuit challenging the legality of a 2003 election that resulted in the ouster of Santa Ana Unified School District trustee Nativo Lopez. It overturns a prior ruling by a three-judge 9th Circuit panel, which had found two-to-one that the petitions must be translated into other languages.
Ray Suarez's New Book, The Holy Vote
Larry Mantle talks with senior correspondent for the Jim Lehrer News Hour, Ray Suarez about his new book The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith In America. In his book, Suarez examines the way America worships, how organized religion and politics intersect in America, and how this powerful collision is transforming the current and future American mind-set.
Supermob
Investigative reporter Gus Russo tells the story of the "Supermob"-a cadre of men who, over the course of decades, secretly influenced nearly every aspect of American society. Presenting never-before-seen revelations about such famous members as Jules Stein, Joe Glaser, Ronald Reagan, Lew Wasserman, David Bazelon, and John Jacob Factor-as well as infamous, low-profile members-Russo highlights a half-century of criminal infiltration into American business, politics, and society. At the heart, is Sidney "The Fixer" Korshak, who from the 1940's until his death in the 1990s, was not only the most powerful lawyer in the world, according to the FBI, but the enigmatic player behind countless 20th century power mergers, political deals, and organized crime chicaneries.