Today on AirTalk we'll discuss President Obama's speech to the U.N., review a Stanford study on high civilian deaths from drones, move in to a tiny San Francisco apartment and uncover the reasons why people chose to live in them and the potential hazards of small living quarters, why Californians are choosing to not be Californians anymore and a conversation with author Dave Tomar about his new book, “The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat”. Plus, the latest news.
President Obama addresses the U.N. General Assembly
President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly today, focusing mainly on the fallout of anti-American attacks in Egypt and Libya. Obama, who typically strikes an amicable tone when addressing the international body, went in a markedly different direction.
The President showed definite signs of frustration when addressing the leaders of countries, especially those in the Middle East, who were not doing everything in their power to tone down the intolerance and violence in their societies. While acknowledging that not every country in the U.N. has the same rights to free speech that the U.S. does, Obama still urged world leaders to accept the fact that information can no longer be controlled as in the days before smart phones and social media, and that attention must be paid to teaching citizens all over the globe that no form of speech justifies mindless violence.
How far should America go in exporting its idea of freedom of speech in the Middle East? That’s all well and good for Obama to say, but how exactly will other countries react to this forceful statement? How far should America go in exporting its protections of freedom of speech? And does this move by Obama go far enough in addressing GOP criticisms that he is an American apologist?
Guest:
Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director, The Palestine Center
Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; former Pentagon official; former political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004)
Study shows that America’s ‘drone war’ may be killing Pakistani civilians
Technology has revolutionized the ongoing war on terrorism and created new problems for American policymakers.
The increasing deployment of remotely piloted vehicles, also known as ‘drones,’ has meant that American forces can engage the enemy without putting pilots at risk. The Obama administration has touted a classified CIA drone program’s success rate at killing Taliban and Al Qaeda militants who have taken refuge in northern Pakistan while keeping civilian casualties down, but a new report by researchers at Stanford and New York University shows that drone strikes may not be as surgical as the Obama administration says.
The report, ‘Living Under Drones,’ does not contain actual statistics as for civilian casualties, but estimates from other sources say that as many as 884 Pakistani civilians may have been killed by American drone strikes since 2004. The drone program and resulting civilian deaths has strained already tense relations between the government and citizens of Pakistan and Washington.
What is the best way for the American military to engage enemy combatants in rural tribal areas halfway around the world? Are drone strikes as precise as the Obama administration claims?
Guests:
James Cavallaro, professor of law at Stanford law school; director of the Stanford International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic; co-author of the study ‘Living Under Drones’
Bill Roggio, Managing Editor, Long War Journal; Senior Fellow, The Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Former embedded reporter in Iraq & Afghanistan
Living the teeny tiny life in San Francisco
“My apartment is so small...I have to go out in the hall to change my mind!” It’s no joke -- a newly built apartment building in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood boasts pre-fab mini-units of 300 square feet.
But why stop there? SF’s Board of Supervisors is voting today on whether to allow apartments of just 220 square feet - that’s including bathroom, kitchen and closet. Why the shrinking spaces? A tech boom has led to a housing crunch and a run on rentals by new hires, desperate for city living on a budget.
Studio apartments in the area typically go for over $2,000 a month; the micro-units would rent for $1,200 to $1,700. Developers, anxious to cash in, say they can build thousands of tiny apartments in available real estate for an increasing influx of single city dwellers. But opponents of the plan cite fears of traffic congestion and strain on city services. They also worry about one unintended consequence: low-income families with few options being shoe-horned into living spaces barely double the size of a prison cell.
Americans have gotten used to “wide-open spaces,” but proponents of downsized living extoll the virtues of shedding the possessions and responsibilities associated with large homes. Would you consider living in such a small space? Could you give up your elbow room and walk-in closets? What would make it worthwhile to you - convenience, location, price?
Guests:
Patrick Kennedy, owner of Panoramic Interests, a Berkeley-based developer
Sara Shortt, Executive Director, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
Are Californians really bailing on the Golden State?
A new study by the conservative Manhattan Institute says that Californians are leaving the state in droves, searching for cheaper living conditions and a more favorable business climate.
"In the last 20 years, California has switched from being a state that was a big in-migration magnet to one that sheds people to other states," said lead author Tom Gray.
Not so fast, say well-studied naysayers, who allege that the study is light on hard evidence. It’s true that the film and TV industry has been shooting more in states who give bigger tax breaks to production companies, but California’s slowing growth rate may be chalked up to myriad factors.
"Who wants such a high growth rate when your state is pushing 40 million already?" added demographer Dowell Myers. "California is returning to a normal level for the whole U.S., and most Californians don't want to have excess growth."
Gray said the decrease in raw growth is neither good nor bad. "It's not so much an issue of whether California is bigger," he continued. "It's if people are leaving, why they are leaving, and if that's indicating if something else is wrong."
Though population continues to increase due to foreign migration and resident births, overall growth has come down as Californians search for jobs and cheaper housing. But Gray said lowering housing costs isn't a viable solution.
"You're not going to lower prices for housing because people – that's their wealth," he said.
According to Myers, there's merit in California's expensive price tags. "Prices are high because they're attractive. We invest in human capital. Other places are low because people aren't competing to get there," he noted. "The unemployment rate in California is very high right now. That's actually causing us to lose more than we're gaining because of the cheaper prices."
To Myers, the answer lies in bolstering education quality.
"California is slipping in what it can offer to high level talent and their families, and we need to shore up our education system again, to once again make it attractive so people can recruit good workers," he said.
Are you considering leaving California’s sunshine behind? Why would you choose to stay or go?
Guest:
Tom Gray, editor, writer, communications consultant and lead author of the Manhattan Institute’s study “The Great California Exodus: A Closer Look”
Dowell Myers, demographer and professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC
Dave Tomar on how he made a living helping college kids cheat
Dave Tomar was a cheater… or at least he helped cheaters cheat.
For years, Tomar made a living writing term papers - over 3,500 of them - for college students, but now he is coming clean about his questionably unethical line of work in a new memoir called “The Shadow Scholar: How I Made A Living Helping College Kids Cheat.” In the book, Tomar exposes the sordid underground world of higher education where lazy students buy good grades, colleges overcharge students, and misguided parents help make it all possible.
Tomar contextualizes his story in the post-2008 recession economy when students are strapped with more college debt than ever before and the national unemployment rate is dangerously high. Ultimately, the author examines the true value of the expensive American education system and attempts to explain why so many students end up cheating.
Guest:
Dave Tomar, author, “The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat” (Bloomsbury USA); Philadelphia-based freelance writer