Legal issues delay Albert Brown’s execution. A new study suggests that non-believers know more about religion than people who practice. Assemblyman Dave Jones joins host Larry Mantle to talk about the race for California Insurance Commissioner. Wiretapping the Internet. A local genus wins the $500,000 MacArthur Grant. The Mummies of the World exhibition at the California Science Center, and the latest news.
Legal issues delay Albert Brown’s execution
Death row inmate Albert Greenwood Brown was scheduled to die at 9 p.m. Thursday for the 1980 rape and murder of a Riverside girl. First Governor Schwarzenegger ordered a one-day delay in the execution. And then late yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a trial judge to reconsider a ruling that allowed Brown to choose a one-drug lethal injection—so that will cause further delays. What are the legal grounds for the reversal? And what will this mean for Brown and other death row inmates as California continues to struggle with the correct administration of the death penalty?
Guest:
Laurie L. Levenson, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School
Non-believers know more about religion?
It’s kind of intuitive: someone who goes to church would be more knowledgeable about religion. Intuitive, maybe, but according to a new poll from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, it’s wrong. In reality, atheists and agnostics tend to know more about religion. The survey found, for example, that the majority of Protestants couldn’t identity Martin Luther as the driving force behind their religion. And Catholics scored lowest overall, getting only about 15 of 32 questions on religion correct. Atheists meanwhile, got 21 of the questions right. What does that say about faith and religion? Why would atheists know more about something they don’t even believe in?
Guest:
Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the USC Annenberg School for Communication
Elections 101: race for Insurance Commissioner
On November 2, voters will choose California’s next insurance commissioner. The candidates include Democrat Dave Jones, an assemblyman from Sacramento, and former Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines. The winner will be responsible for overseeing the state’s 1500 insurance companies, hundreds of thousands of agents and brokers, and guarding against companies unfairly jacking up insurance rates. The next insurance commissioner will also confront the new and daunting responsibility of overseeing national health care reform in California. Candidate Jones says he would carefully monitor how the state establishes a health care insurance exchange, so the most needy, aren’t left uncovered. What else is on his agenda?
Guest:
Dave Jones, Democrat from Sacramento, serving his third term representing the 9th District in the California State Assembly. He currently chairs the Assembly Health Committee and serves on the Appropriations, Judiciary (former Chair) and Accountability & Administrative Review Committees.
Wiretapping the internet?
For years, the Federal government has been able to eavesdrop on telephone calls in which criminal activity is believed to be taking place. Now, the Feds want to expand those abilities to include FaceBook, Skype and BlackBerry communications. The bill being drafted, which the Obama administration hopes to introduce next year, raises new questions about how to balance security needs, without abandoning privacy or hampering innovation. With more and more people taking their conversations online, should the FBI have greater access to what we’re writing each other?
Guest:
Charlie Savage, Washington correspondent for the New York Times covering the Justice Department and legal policy issues; author of Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency
Local Genius wins MacArthur Grant
Eight Californians are among the 23 winners of the MacAurthur Fondation’s “genius” grants. Caltech Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Bioengineering John Dabiri is among the winners, each of which receive a prize of $500,000 over the next five years. Dabiri is an expert on the underwater motion of jellyfish.
Guest:
John Dabiri, Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Bioengineering Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California.
Mummies of the World Exhibition
The “Mummies of the World” made its world premiere at the California Science Center and is the largest collection of mummies and related artifacts ever assembled. Along with the mummies, the exhibit also features scientific analysis including 3-D animation, X-Ray, DNA analysis and CT scans. As many as 100,000 people visited in the first 50 days and it continues to be incredibly popular. The exhibit runs until November 28th.
Guests:
Diane Perlov, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Exhibits, California Science Center
James DeLay, Vice President of American Exhibitions, Inc. who produced the exhibition
Dr. Manfred Baron Von Crailsheim, he is a direct descendant of the Baroness Schenck von Geiem one of the mummies featured in the Mummies of the World exhibition