Patt Morrison for Thursday, January 27, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, January 27, 2011

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 – 1:30

OPEN

 

 

1:30 - 1:39

Honest Abe meets dishonest Tom: does an altered date make any difference in Lincoln's legacy?

In the last hours of his life, President Abraham Lincoln signed an order pardoning a mentally incompetent Army private from the death penalty for desertion. False! It turns out the famous document discovered by amateur historian Thomas Lowry in 1998 was also altered by the very same historian. The National Archives and Records Administration revealed that the date on the document had been erased and changed from 1864 to 1865 probably to make it appear as if it was one of Lincoln's last acts and therefore a historic one. Dr. Lowry published a book the year after the find and was up until now credited with one of the most significant finds of Lincoln artifacts in the 20th Century. Luckily for Lowry, who has allegedly confessed, the statute of limitations on the case has passed, so the government cannot press charges. NARA will remove the document from circulation for the time being, and is looking into reversing the alteration - preservation officials say it will most definitely cause more damage. So even if Lincoln signed the pardon a year earlier, does it take away from the compassion displayed in the act? 

 

Guests:

TBD representative of the National Archives

 

 

 

1:41 – 1:58:30

John Lithgow’s Stories By Heart

John Lithgow, an actor’s actor if ever there ever was one, can be funny, poignant or seriously scary. And in every role he’s completely convincing – see his very different performances as transsexual Roberta/Robert Muldoon in the 1982 film, The World According to Garp, and as the Trinity serial killer in the Dexter series. And now this Tony and Emmy Award winning actor offers reflections on storytelling through memories of his father and two great stories that were ready to him and his siblings when they were young. Lithgow has brought his one-man theatrical memoir, Stories by Heart, from New York and London to the Mark Taper Forum in a tour de force performance.

 

PATT:  John Lithgow’s “Stories by Heart” continues at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum through February 13, 2011. It is conceived, written and performed by

Mr. Lithgow and features the works of P.G. Wodehouse and Ring Lardner.

 

Guest:

John Lithgow, Emmy & Tony Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated screen, television & stage actor

CALL HIM:

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:30

Does America really want democracy in the Middle East?

Be careful what you wish for—the call for democracy in traditionally autocratic regimes across the Middle East has been boiler plate rhetoric of most American presidents dating back to World War II.  President George W. Bush, in particular, pushed the idea of democratic movements, from Iran to Libya, holding up Iraq as an example of what an elected, representative government could look like.  Of course, while President Bush (and other presidents of both parties) spoke eloquently of democracy they also supported and relied upon trusted authoritarian Arab regimes in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen and beyond.  Last week protesters in Tunisia did what was thought to be nearly impossible, pushing out a long standing dictator with street demonstrations that reflected a true grass roots democracy movement.  Empowered by their fellow Arabs, and perhaps with a psychological barrier having been broken by Tunisians who exposed the weakness of an entrenched dictatorship, Egyptians have taken to the streets this week to protest the long, cruel rule of Hosni Mubarack, another reliable American ally.  Democracy in the Middle East might usher in governments that are decidedly unfriendly to the U.S. and our interests.  Do we really want democracy in the Middle East?

 

Guests:

UNCONFIRMED

Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and associate professor of political science & international affairs at George Washington University

CALL HIM:

 

Nabil Fahmy, founding dean of the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Cairo; former Egyptian Ambassador to the United States from ’99 – ’08, current Ambassador at Large in the Egyptian Foreign Ministry

CALL HIM:

 

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

Down and out (and depressed about it) in LA County

Diagnosed cases of depression rose by almost 50% over the last decade in LA County.  Is the traffic, smog, isolation, lack of health care and jobs to blame?  We don’t know what accounted for the sharp increase, but a new study by the LA County Department of Public Health showed that cases of depression rose from 9 percent in 1999 to 14 percent in 2007.  The study didn’t account for undiagnosed cases of depression—which may make the actual number of people suffering from depression much higher.  The study spotlighted one glaring fact: “women consistently reported higher rates of depression than men.” 11 percent of the women surveyed were diagnosed with depression in 1999, in 2007 that number rose to 17 percent.  Are people finding life a little less tolerable in Los Angeles, or is it just being reported more?

 

Guests:

UNCONFIRMED

Jonathan E. Fielding, Director of Public Health and Health Officer

 

 

Jonathan Serviss
Senior Producer, Patt Morrison
Southern California Public Radio
NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles
89.3 KPCC-FM | 89.1 KUOR-FM | 90.3 KPCV-FM
626.583.5171, office
415.497.2131, mobile
jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org
www.scpr.org