Patt Morrison for Thursday, 6/30/2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, June 30, 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

 

 

FROM THE MOHN BROADCAST CENTER, I’M PATT MORRISON

 

1:00 – 1:20

OPEN

 

1:20– 1:40

Is the American dream still housed within four walls surrounded by a mortgage?

Even in the face of recession, nine out of ten Americans believe that owning a home is integral to the American dream, according to a new poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS News. Perhaps that isn’t so surprising—we’re all familiar with the house-and-white-picket-fence meme—but other findings of the survey are: for example, that respondents markedly supported government help for people with housing troubles over assistance for those who had been unemployed for many months due to recession.

 Additionally, many respondents said the government should be improving its support of the housing market and homeowners struggling with their mortgages, and they lambasted President Obama for his handling of housing issues so far. Blame for the housing crash was directed at financial institutions, lenders and regulators. Many also said that the bleak state of the market had affected their plans for the future and are very concerned about taking a risk in the housing market just now. Is the widespread pessimism unearthed by this survey warranted? What governmental measures can decrease foreclosures and brighten homeowner prospects for the future?

 

Guests:

David Streitfeld, reporter with The New York Times

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Additional guest on home buying:  TBD

 

 

1:40 – 2:00

Demise of “Mystery Shoppers” Program Remains a Mystery

The Obama Administration’s not-so-secret plan to deploy thousands of “mystery shoppers” to evaluate appointment wait time for primary care physicians has been cancelled, but the reason for its demise is still unclear. Though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources said that “politics did not play a role in the decision,” the influence of the fierce backlash from doctors who characterized the program’s approach as relying on “Big Brother tactics” cannot be discounted. Opponents of the program argued that fake patients could worsen wait times and use up valuable resources for real patients in need of care, but supporters maintained that mystery shoppers could identify nascent problems in the health care system that could later be addressed with federal money, guidelines and resources. Though the situation of primary care physicians is delicate in many states, it is particularly bad in California; the California Medical Association recently acknowledged that 74% of the state’s counties have shortages of primary care physicians, and the provider reimbursement rate, already considered too low by many doctors, may face a 10% cut by the legislature next week. Now that the mystery shopper plan is off the table, where do we go from here? What can we do to address ridiculously long wait times and the growing shortage of doctors?

 

Guests:

TBD

 

 

2:00 – 2:30

July 4^th, fireworks, BBQ’s and the flag!  What does the red white, and blue mean to you?

Ah, it's that time of year again--time to celebrate our nation's birthday and take pride in the principles for which we stand, or just appreciate the extra day off and the exploding blasts of twinkles in the sky. There is nothing that symbolizes our nation more than the American flag, but do we know as much about it as we should?  It's time to test our knowledge: true or false did Betsy Ross sew the first American flag? Is it illegal to burn the flag? Do the colors represent anything?

 

Guest:

Marc Leepson, journalist, historian and the author of seven books, including Flag: An American Biography

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2:30 – 2:40

OPEN

 

 

2:40 – 3:00

David Mamet, the reformed “brain-dead liberal,” on how the Left is dismantling American culture

David Mamet, the famous playwriter and director, whose works include films The Untouchables, The Verdict, and Wag the Dog and plays American Buffalo and Pulitzer-prize winning Glengarry Glen Ross, is a self-proclaimed “reformed liberal.” For the past thirty years, Mamet depicted the rationale behind liberal thought in his plays and movies as his underdog characters battled against the ruthless forces of a free market economy. But in 2008, he shocked his fans with his hugely controversial op-ed in the Village Voice titled “Why I am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead’ Liberal.” In this article and now in his new book, The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture, Mamet says he was living in a bubble in which he allowed the biased media sources he followed to keep him from seeing reason. He claims that Leftist thought is a “devolution from reason to belief”—a belief, that is, in government. He goes as far as to say, “The Left, in addition to its embrace of the false (higher taxes mean increased prosperity for all), and its acceptance of the moot as incontrovertible (global warming), must account for the incidental effect of the sum of these decisions. This effect is the destruction of our culture.” Mamet is here with Patt to take her questions and yours.

 

Guest:
David Mamet, playwriter and director, whose works include films The Untouchables, The Verdict, and Wag the Dog and plays American Buffalo and Pulitzer-prize winning Glengarry Glen Ross; recent author of The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture

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