We look at the Supreme Court's role in guiding social change. Plus, the Mormon Church creates a new website calling for compassion for gays. Then, why your baby needs a flu shot this season, a new book looks at the secret life of Dr. Seuss, and the L.A. Dodgers drop big money on two new players...will this equal wins? Plus much more.
The Supreme Court's role in carefully guiding social change
Prop 8, and gay marriage in general, is just the latest major social issue the U.S. Supreme Court has taken on. They’ll be deciding on the case just four years after California voted to restrict same-sex marriage.
When it comes to broad social issues, the Supreme Court justices walk a fine line on how soon is too soon, will the public accept their decision, and what its legacy will be.
Michael Klarman, professor at Harvard Law School and author of, “From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage," joins the show to talk about the Supreme Court and its role in orchetrating social change.
Mormon Church calls for compassion for gays
When a federal judge overturned California's ban on gay marriage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints issued a statement saying it regretted the judge's decision.
When Proposition 8 was on the ballot, Mormon leaders called on California members of the church to donate their time and money in support of the measure. But, now the Church has a somewhat different message when it comes to gay rights.
Matthew Bowman, professor of religion at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and author of the book "The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith," joins the show to outline what Mormon leaders have traditionally had to say about homosexuality.
Will the LA Dodgers' spending spree pay off?
The owners of the Dodgers seem to be on a bit of a buying spree. Over the weekend, the team signed pitcher Zack Greinke to a six-year deal that will pay him $147 million.
They also reportedly spent $36 million on South Korean pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, pushing the Dodgers' payroll ahead of the New York Yankees.
Will money buy happiness for the Dodgers and their fans? To help us answer that question we're joined by Andrew Zimbalist, who studies the economics of sports at Smith College in Massachusetts.
The lasting legacy of Jenni Rivera
The singer known as La diva de la banda is dead. Jenni Rivera, a powerhouse in the Latin music scene, was killed in a plane crash in a remote area of Northern Mexico yesterday.
She was originally from Long Beach but she rose to dominate the Mexican banda scene, a popular style of traditional ballads known for their heavy use of brass and sad, soulful lyrics.
She's one of the only artists who's reached both Mexican and Mexican-American fans, building a bi-cultural and bilingual brand, and selling over 20 million albums during her 20-year career and becoming the first female singers to break into the male dominated Mexican music scene.
Here to talk about her career and life is USC's Josh Kun.
Hollywood News: 'The Hobbit,' 'Zero Dark Thirty' and 'Skyfall'
This week Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens in theatres, marking Hollywood's big return to Middle Earth.
Along with the usual special effects and 3-D, "The Hobbit" features something new: It was shot at 48 frames per second. That's twice the normal frame rate for film, but there's some controversy over whether it makes the film better, or worse.
Rebecca Keegan of the Los Angeles Times joins the show with more on "The Hobbit," and other news from Hollywood.
'The Cat Behind the Hat' uncovers the lesser-known works of Dr. Seuss
It's been more than two decades since children's literature lost the great Theodore Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss.
Since his death in 1991, his mini-empire of books has netted more than $10 million. His work is well-known by generations, from "Yertle the Turtle" to "Green Eggs and Ham" to the holiday favorite "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."
Lesser known is the life he led beyond his children's books. Geisel worked several decades in advertising, he served in World War II, and he even won a few Academy Awards. He also kept a vast collection of his own private artwork.
Now a new book, "The Cat Behind the Hat," reveals many of Seuss' darker, and intensely personal paintings for the first time. Published Bob Chase joins the show to tell us about Seuss's career and his experience putting the book together for publication.
Interview Highlights:
On the discovery of Geisel’s affinity for collecting hats and where they have been stored for seventy years:
"In an actual secret chamber. And the only thing that’s in that chamber that is really interesting is his hat collection. He collected hats. He traveled to 30 countries in the 1930s, if you can imagine that. Thirty countries in the 1930s. And in those travels, he collected hats. So his private hat collection as well as the artwork was stashed in this closet. It was amazing.”
On Geisel’s early life impact in Springfield, Mass. where his father was involved in the Springfield Zoo expansion:
On Geisel’s sculptures:
On the La Jolla Birdwomen series of paintings:
On what Geisel, and Dr. Seuss, can inspire in us for the upcoming new year:
Report shows US homeless rate held steady amid recession
A federal report out today shows homeless rates held steady over the last year, despite the recession. But the report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development also raises doubts that the federal government can reach its goal of ending chronic and veteran homelessness by 2015.
Dems divided on how to expand MediCal under healthcare reform law
California's plan to expand MediCal as part of federal healthcare reform is now being reconsidered as the state measures the financial burden that will ultimately come.
Nearly 8 million Californians use MediCal, the state’s healthcare program for low income residents. When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, state officials committed to expanding the program — especially since the federal government agreed to pick up most of the tab.
If California implements the full expansion, it could enroll 1.5 million uninsured adults. But the Brown Administration appears to be backing away from full expansion.
At a recent symposium on health care reform, the State Secretary of Health and Human Services, Diana Dooley, said there’s a risk in moving too fast.
“I don’t want to be on the hook for promising things we can’t deliver,” Dooley told hundreds of healthcare advocates. “So if we disappoint early because we didn’t go as far as people want, it’s because we have to build this on a solid foundation and be ready to make it real over the long-term.”
Dooley talked about the state's risk of taking on more that it can afford. The federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost increase for MediCal expansion, but only for three years. After that, California will have to pay 10 percent of the increase, which the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates could cost the state more than $6 billion over the next decade.
The federal government has given states the option of offering lesser coverage to the new pool of recipients — and making the pool smaller. The Brown Administration is considering both options.
That possbility frustrates Vanessa Cajina of the Center for Law and Poverty: “We want to provide coverage for people that they can afford and that’s accessible and still having the question open is disconcerting at this point.”
Democratic leaders agree. Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-San Gabriel Valley), a former optometrist who chairs the Senate Health Committee, told advocates at the symposium: “I have every intention to make sure that every single person has the fullest amount of benefits available and draw down as many federal dollars as we possibly can.”
Hernandez will carry a handful of bills to make that happen. He also thinks California should also raise the rates the state pays providers for treating Medi-Cal patients. California ranks 47th in the nation for the lowest rates — so low that many physicians refuse to participate.
Democrats also want to reinstate some optional benefits cut in recent years, such as dental coverage for adults. Assemblyman Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) noted that patients can now get covered for a tooth extraction, but not for dentures. Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell (D-LA) said that’s just not right.
“You know health and human services has been the stepchild of the budget process forever.” Mitchell said.
She wants Democrats — who gained a two-thirds majority in both houses in the November election — to use their power to take a look back and ask: “What are actions that we took that we know are wrong-that are harming Californians--that we can reverse? Not raise the lid off the box and make everybody nervous, but some areas in which we can invest again in California.”
The Governor will propose a plan for MediCal expansion as part of his January budget. That’s when he’s also expected to call lawmakers into a special session on healthcare reform.
Why your baby needs a flu shot
Glendale mom and music executive Rebecca Burman is in a quandary.
She knows that officials are predicting a particularly bad flu season and that children under 5 are a high risk group. Yet she's not sure she's going to get her 15-month-old son JD vaccinated.
When she took him to her pediatrician for the shot last year, he had a terrible reaction. He was inconsolable all night, "just screaming and crying," she said. "He didn't even want to be held."
It’s a concern that public health officials are familiar with, according to Dr. Robert Schechter, medical officer with the California Department of Public Health’s Immunization Branch.
But the “safety of the influenza vaccine has been looked at quite a lot and it’s very safe,” he said. Millions of children have been studied.
The most frequent side effect for children is redness, soreness, or discomfort at the injection site. There might also be fever or minor cold or flu symptoms in the days after the immunization, but “rarely is it more than that,” according to Dr. Harvey Karp, Assistant Professor in the USC School of Medicine and author of the popular baby help book “Happiest Baby on the Block."
And the “chance of getting the flu is enormous,” he said.
After JD had a bad reaction last year, Burman, consulted like-minded moms on a listserve called the Booby Brigade and found many who questioned whether the flu vaccination was safe and effective.
“You know the Booby Brigade spans all types of mothers and there are a lot of the more homeopathic and natural leaning moms, and I did get people who completely agreed that the flu shot is not something they should do,” she said. But she's going to talk with her pediatrician before making a decision this year.
More than 200,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized each year due to complications from the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Vincent Racaniello, a Columbia University professor and one of the nation's foremost experts on viruses, said 20,000 of them were children. Because their immune systems are immature, once kids have the flu it is easy for them to develop other serious diseases.
It's those secondary illnesses that are the big worry, said Michael Walsh, an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the State University of New York, Downstate.
“Pneumonia is the biggest killer in complicated flu among kids,” he said.
Racaniello, of Colombia University, said that parents shouldn't shrug off the shot on the basis of not having had the flu before. "Just because you haven't been infected [before] doesn’t mean your children won’t be infected and certainly doesn’t mean that you won’t be infected in the next week or the next month or the next year.”
Officials did offer one warning to parents: avoid pharmacy flu shots for young children. They are typially meant for adults and contain a mercury preservative that kids should avoid. Take your children to their pediatrician, most of which stock preservative-free influenza shots.
Flu symptoms that are most common in children are vomiting and diarrhea. The season, which typically hits highs in January and February, is already in full swing, the CDC said. Lab tests have already confirmed cases in nearly every state.
FDA finds antiseptic swabs may be culprit in infection outbreaks
Like flu shots, antiseptics and disinfectants are supposed to kill germs, but now there's evidence of cases where these products actually caused infections.
Researchers at the Food and Drug Administration found contaminated single-use swabs and surgical antiseptics were responsible for a number of infection outbreaks across the country. Later this week, the FDA will hold a two-day hearing on the matter.
For more on this we're joined by Wired's Maryn McKenna, author of the book "Superbug."
Boom in Mezcal production brings people home to rural Mexican town
There's been a boom in Mezcal production of Mexican spirits, a topic we've explored on this show before. The demand for Mezcal is bringing people home to one rural Mexican community. From the Fronteras Desk, Lorne Matalon reports.
New York Times writer Eric Asimov on 'How To Love Wine'
There are few jobs more enviable than being chief wine writer for the New York Times. Eric Asimov is the lucky guy who holds that position, and he shares his musings on the wine life in a new book, "How to Love Wine: A Memoir and a Manifesto." He joins the show to discuss the book and offer some insight into picking holiday wines.
Eric Asimov believes that there is a misconception about the glamorous image of wine drinkers. As wine writer for the New York Times, Asimov finds that culture predetermines that you be either a snob or a drunk if you are concerned about wine and its successive culture. According to Asimov, most people assume that he should be, “an older, plumper, more red-faced person, and they’re surprised when I don’t fit their image.”
Wine tasters and drinkers seeking out Asimov’s advice began expressing their ineptitude when faced with the challenge of interpreting wine as wine critics and connoisseurs often do. Asimov claims that it was a hindrance for people to choose wine, to drink, and essentially to enjoy it.
“It really began to bother me, because wine is, at its base, its just meant to offer pleasure,” said Asimov. “It can do a lot more than that, but it should do no less.”
He explained that people often spend a lot of money on wine, and therefore feel that they have to be able to describe the wine like a true expert. But trying to nail down a particular set of aromas and flavors in one singular score as a sort of rating system is actually misinterpreting the intention of wine.
“It is a disservice to consumers to reduce good wines to a set of esoteric aromas and flavors, which really tell you nothing about the wine but tell you about the creativity and the personal references of the critic,” said Asimov. The experience of wine is shaped not only by one’s own personal sensory experience, but additionally the context; by the glass shape, the people one is with, the food accompaniment, the weather, and even the mood of the environment.
However, there is a reason we have and need scores for wine. “[It’s] a way of making sense of this, you know, great, mysterious wall of wines and brands that we’ve never heard of and of languages that we don’t speak,” said Asimov. He mentions that a wine store clerks and sommeliers at restaurants can be great sources that are at everyone’s disposal and are eager to help people discover good wines.
Asimov cites Sicily, Santorini, and California as the most exciting wine producers currently in the market, adding that “This is the greatest time in history to be a wine lover, because there is a greater diversity of wines, in more styles, from more places than ever before.”