Patt Morrison Mon 1/12

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Monday, January 12, 2009

1-3 p.m.

  

1:00   – 1:20 

OPEN

 

 

1:20  – 1: 40

Comfort Creatures 

It used to be just dogs, but now monkeys, parrots, iguanas, and even ducks are appearing as “service animals” in supermarkets, coffee shops, and work places across the country. The disabilities these animals assist their owners with are also changing, and now range from quadriplegia to anxiety. Should the law recognize all of them as legitimately needed?

 

Guest:

Rebecca Skloot, author of the New York Times Magazine article “Creature Comforts;” she teaches nonfiction at the University of Memphis

CALL HER 

 

Professor Lex Frieden, professor of health-information science at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; former director of the National Council on Disability

CALL HIM  

 

 

1:40 – 1:50

Hola La Nina

Back in early summer of ’08 weather forecasters were cautiously optimistic that the cool Pacific water trend known as La Nina, which forces the Jet Stream and all of its accompanying wet storms north out of Southern California, was fading out.  The hope was that a wet weather pattern might be in the forecast this winter—well after a reasonably wet December, it looks like our old friend La Nina might be moving back into our area.  Are we in for a repeat dry winter this year?

 

Guest:

NOT CONFIRMED:

Bill Patzert, research oceanographer and climatologist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory

CALL HIM:   

 

1:50 -  2:00 

The Presidential Decree:  Let There be a College Football Playoff

Sports fan (and President-elect) Barack Obama hasn’t been shy about advocating a playoff system for college football.  Currently mired in the bowl-driven and often confusing Bowl Championship Series (BCS), college football just ended another contested year with Florida claiming the top ranking, but many other college teams feeling they are also deserving.  On two more occasions last week the President-elect voiced his support for a playoff system:  will some presidential muscle finally see the playoff idea into the end zone?

 

Guest:

NOT CONFIRMED

Petros Papadakis, host of the “Petros & Money Show” on KLAC AM570; former tailback and team captain for the USC Trojans

CALL HIM:   

 

 

2:00 - 2:30

POV - Bush's Legacy

9-11. Iraq. Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Katrina. Eight years ago, President Bush was sworn into office with a $237 billion budget surplus and relative economic prosperity. He now presides over a $438 billion deficit, two wars, and a severe economic downturn. According to a Pew survey released this month, only 11 percent of Americans rate Bush as an "above-average president," compared with 44% for Clinton. How did the Bush Administration get here and how will history remember them? We continue our series looking back at the Bush years with political consultants, historians, and those close to the President.

 

Guests:

Christine Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency under George Bush from January 2001 until June 2003. She is now the president of The Whitman  Strategy Group, a consulting firm that specializes in energy and environmental issues. 

CALL HER:  TK

Contact:  Heather Grizzle 646-330-4850-O, 617-512-1643-mobile, hg@asg-advisors.com

 

 

2:30 –  3:00 

Foreclosing on America

When Adam Michaelson joined Countrywide Home Loans in 2003, he felt proud to be part of a company that helped people achieve the American dream of owning a home. But by 2006, his pride turned to ambivalence, and later shame, as the company began introducing new mortgage payment options through subprime lending. He joins us with an insider's account of how corporate greed and financial irresponsibility burst the housing bubble.

 

Guests:

Adam Michaelson, a former Countrywide Home Loans employee and author of The Foreclosure of America: The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream

IN STUDIO