Patt Morrison for Wednesday, July 13, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, July 13, 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 – 1:39

OPEN

 

 

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30

The inevitability of ethnic politics in congressional redistricting: competing visions of California’s new districts

A big part of the appeal of having a citizens panel rather than elected representatives draw the new map of Congressional & state districts, was to make the process more democratic. But now citizens’ interest groups are complaining they’re being left out of the process after the Citizens Redistricting Commission announced this week that they’re cancelling plans for a second draft of the redrawn maps. Commissioners say this is a necessary step if they’re going to meet their July 28^th deadline to present a final map to voters who will then have two weeks to give their feedback. But the interest groups, largely divided along racial and ethnic lines, say it’s shortchanging the public. California Friends of the African American Caucus have worried that the proposed boundaries will dilute the number of black districts, while members of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund are upset that the first round of maps didn’t increase the number of Latino-majority districts. The California Republican Party, in particular, is not happy about the possibility of creating more safe Democratic districts. Is there any way this process, which has been called a “political blood sport,” can end in a democratically satisfactory way?

 

• The commission must adopt a final set of boundaries by August 15 after two weeks of public scrutiny

 

Guests:

Jeanne Raya, commissioner on the California Citizens Redistricting Commission

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Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book and long-time Republican advisor in past redistricting efforts

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UNCONFIRMED

Thomas Saenz, president & general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:39

Tea Party wins? How this group of rogue fiscal conservatives is driving the national agenda

The fight over the debt ceiling has highlighted the prominence of Congress’s newest members, the freshmen who pledge allegiance to the Tea Party. With ferocity and a strict unwillingness to compromise, the party’s congressional representatives have made huge “progress” in recent weeks. Their inflexibility has forced the left-leaning President Obama to put huge spending cuts on the table for the Democrat’s most valued social programs, Medicaid and Social Security, and the sizes of the proposed cuts they’ve extracted from their Democratic counterparts are certainly in line with conservative aims to curb big government. Perhaps even more interesting, the Tea Party has amassed enough political influence to cow centrist Republicans into refusing a deal on the debt ceiling that they ordinarily might accept. The threat of a Tea Party challenge in home primaries has proven threatening enough of a prospect to ensure the cooperation of their colleagues, even from Republicans with private wealth who stand to lose if the United States defaults after August 2^nd. Some decry the Tea Party’s tactics, but do they deserve credit for the momentous changes occurring on Capitol Hill?  Join Patt for a discussion with the founder of the National Tea Party Patriots, and weigh in with your politics-related questions or comments.

 

Guest:

Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots

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2:41:30 – 2:58:30

First one to the Office gets the patent: House of Representatives passes change to patent procedure

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would make the most radical changes to patent law that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has seen in 60 years. Backed by many Republicans and Democrats, as well as the White House, the bill will allow the first person who files an application—rather than the inventor—to receive the patent for a given product or procedure. Congress will also stop diverting millions of dollars from the Office’s revenue to other causes every year, a process which has created a shortage of money for evaluating patent applications. With a backlog of 700,000 applications and an approximate 3-year wait for consideration, many think it is time for a change. Supporters, who include companies such as Microsoft Corp., General Electric Co., Pepsico Inc., and Exxon Mobil Corp., say the changes will bring U.S. patent procedure up to date with that of other countries, spur innovation, create new jobs and make the nation more competitive. Opponents like the American Bar Association and American Civil Liberties Union say that the bill’s provisions are unconstitutional, as it doesn’t give inventors exclusive rights to their inventions for at least a limited amount of time, and question the good in changing guidelines that have worked relatively well for the past 220 years. Does the recently-passed House Bill adequately protect inventors, and will it really produce economic growth? And how does one invent something great anyway? Join Patt for a discussion about patent law and invention with expert Steven J. Paley, author of The Art of Invention: The Creative Process of Discovery and Design.

 

Guests:

Steven Paley, Inventor, Entrepreneur, and Author of Art of Invention

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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