Patt Morrison Wed 1/14/09

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

1:00 - 1:30

OPEN

 

1:30 -  2:00 

RIP Guantanamo Bay?

A lot remains uncertain about how and when it will be done, but President-elect Obama has pledged that the Guantanamo Bay prison has seen its last days.  The President-elect plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office directing the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, which will be the easiest part of what is sure to be a complicated process.  It could take as long as a year to sort out transfers of the remaining 248 enemy combatants and create some kind of hybrid trial system to prosecute the prosecutable prisoners.  As for those suspects too dangerous to release but too sensitive to try, their future remains an open question.  Even if President Obama closes down a decried symbol of the war on terror, will its problems live on?

 

Guests:

Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice; Chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence

CALL HER:  TBD

 

 Rep. Harman  introduced three bills in ’07 calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison, the reform of the military tribunal process and the restoration of Habeas Corpus rights for detainees.  She reintroduced those bills last week.

 

Robert Chesney, professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law; visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law

CALL HIM:   

 Chesney served as chairman of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and is the editor of the American Bar Association’s “The National Security Law Report.”

 

  

2:00 - 2:30

Bush Legacy - View from Inside the White House

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:

Dan Bartlett, former head of communications and counselor to President George W. Bush.  He is now Senior Strategist with Public Strategies, Inc..

CALL  HIM:  [BREAK]

 

2:30 –  3:00 

Are you Ready to Go Digital?

On February 17, old analog transmitters throughout the US will go dark as broadcasters will begin transmitting their TV signals only in digital format. Using digital signals will free up wasted wireless spectrum… most of which has already been auctioned off by the government. The Obama team has recently urged a delay in digital transmission, concerned that the government is not doing enough to help Americans in rural, poor, and minority communities in particular prepare for the switch. How about you? Are you ready?

 

Guests:

Marguerite Reardon, CNET News reporter.

Call her:  

 

Josh Waldron, Best Buy “blue shirt,” has spent a lot of time working the home theater department. 

CALL HIM: 

• Is on shift right now; you can ask him what the floor looks like.
• Cannot answer sales figure questions, but can tell anecdotes about customer questions, give sense of how prepared consumers are.