Patt Morrison for Monday, 12/14/09

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Monday, December 14, 2009

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

1:06 – 1:19

Any ‘hope’ in Copenhagen?

Have we made progress is some areas? Have we regressed in others? Are we any closer to a treaty? So many questions… do we have any answers? After a full week of the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, we check in to see if we are any closer to solving, what some are calling, the crisis of our lifetime.

 

Guests:

Bryan Walsh, environmental columnist for TIME magazine.  He is covering the climate conference in Copenhagen.

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1:21 – 1:30

OPEN

 

 

1:30 - 1:39

Throwing some political elbows in California’s “Race to the Top”

When the Obama Administration announced its national “Race to the Top” program, which steers some stimulus funds to public education systems across the country, California legislators and Gov. Schwarzenegger saw it as a good motivation to reform key parts of the state’s public schools.  The State Senate passed an aggressive reform bill that, among other things, would give parents the authority to intervene in failing schools or move their kids out.  The Assembly version was more moderate, lifting caps on charter schools and revamping the state’s academic standards.  And the legislative showdown has begun—what is the best path forward to fix California’s schools?

 

Guests:

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-41^st District (Calabasas, Oxnard); Chair of the Assembly Education Committee

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UNCOMFIRMED

Sen. Gloria Romero, D-24^th District (Los Angeles); Chair of the Senate Education Committee

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Ben Austin, executive director of Parent Revolution, a parents’ advocacy group

CALL HIM:  310-869-4516

Backup: 213-621-3052

 

UNCOMFIRMED

David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association

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Backup:  Mike Myslinski, 650-552-5324

 

2:06 – 2:30

Feel good event of the holidays: Is airport security just window-dressing?

In the eight years since the September 11^th terror attacks there has not been a major terrorist incident on an American airline, so on the surface it would seem that security measures at airports have been working.  But the Transportation Security Administration did not engender confidence last week when it inadvertently posted dozens of classified security documents on its very public website.  Even with everything learned since 9/11, how safe are the country’s airports and airplanes—is airport security anything more than window dressing?

 

Guests:

Rafi Ron, CEO of New Age Security Solutions; former director of security at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport

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• Ron directed security at Ben Gurion Airport from 1997 – 2001.
• New Age Security Solutions is a security consulting, design and training firm that specializes in his Behavior Pattern Recognition program.  Among many other airports and clients, the firm has worked with SFO in San Francisco, the Massachusetts Port Authority at Logan Airport, the U.S. Park Police at the State of Liberty, and the New York Police Department Counter Terrorism Bureau.

 

Steve Lord, director of the Homeland Security & Justice team at the Government Accountability Office

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• In the past year, Lord’s team at the GAO has conducted review on the technology and practices of TSA’s airport security checkpoints; on airports’ efforts to secure their perimeters and operating facilities; and on the security screening procedures of air cargo.

 

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

In the electronic age, is it possible vanish without a trace?

In the age of Facebook, Twitter and constant email access, can someone disappear and start over again? That’s the question WIRED contributor Evan Ratliff posed to his editors before he dyed and cut his hair, printed fake business cards, and donned the name “James Gatz.” He sold his car and tried to vanish for an entire month. His editors went for it, and even offered a $5,000 reward to the reader who could find him. He talks with Patt about his adventure.

 

Guest:

Evan Ratliff is a freelance writer and a contributing editor at Wired magazine; his article “Vanished” appears in the December issue

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Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

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