Patt Morrison for Thursday, May 17, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, May 17, 2012

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 - OPEN

 

1:21:30 – 1:39

Roseanne Barr for president

California voters will see a familiar household name on the June ballot for the state presidential primary – Roseanne Barr – according to state election officials. Barr, better known as a comedian than a political candidate, is hoping to win the Green party nomination. Seizing the nomination will not be easy for Barr, however, who in a four-way race will face tough competition from rival Green party candidate Jill Stein, who won the Green Party of Ohio endorsement earlier this year by a landslide. Scott McLarty, a national media coordinator for the Green Party, said some officials were impressed by Barr’s platform, which includes establishing a European style single-payer healthcare system and legalizing marijuana. The party’s nominee will be announced at the Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention in July. In the past two presidential races, the party failed to get 1 percent of the national vote. Would you vote for Roseanne Barr for president? Does Barr accurately represent the political views of the Greens?

 

Guest:

Roseanne Barr, Green party candidate running for President of the United States

IN STUDIO

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30 - OPEN

 

2:06 – 2:19

What is the definition of ‘assistance’ when it comes to assisted suicide?

Alan Purdy did not kill his wife Margaret. But he watched her die. The 84-year-old Margaret committed suicide on March 20, 2012, and Purdy’s story is yet another example of the extremely grey legal and ethical questions surrounding assisted suicide. Margaret had suffered from pancreatitis, three fractured vertebrae that refused to heal, and Sjogren’s syndrome, an auto-immune disease in which the body’s white blood cells attack its moisture-producing glands, causing everything from mild discomfort to severe pain. According to Purdy, Margaret had managed to live with Sjogren’s, but the pain became unbearable when combined with her other ailments, even with prescribed pain medications. In February, Margaret called her family together to say farewell, and on March 20, Purdy sat beside her as she died. “I wanted her to know that I loved her,” he told the Los Angeles Times. No one in Purdy’s family holds him responsible or wishes to see him prosecuted, but assisting a suicide is a felony in California. And if the district attorney decides not prosecute, what about next time, when there might be financial gain involved, or the deceased was not terminally ill? The police arrested Purdy on March 20, and at his arraignment on March 28, the prosecutors told the judge that the case was under review. Should family members who sit by and do nothing when their loved ones commit suicide be prosecuted? Should patients in chronic pain be allowed to choose when to end their lives?

 

*We reached out the San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who is unavailable to comment on the open case

 

Guests:

NOT CONFIRMED:

Justin Brooks, a criminal defense attorney and director of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law

Herbert Weston, Alan Purdy’s defense attorney

TBD, Californians Against Assisted Suicide Coalition  

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

Has “Institutional Christianity” helped or hurt the U.S.?

Is it religion’s dearth or presence that contributes to the country’s political gridlock? Or could it be possible that the answer is neither of the above? In his new book, “Bad Religion,” guest Ross Douthat argues the latter – that both the liberal and conservative views of religion have moved too far away from the “institutional Christianity” that served as a moral anchor during the Civil Rights movement, and that today’s religions serve as “dividers,” not “uniters.” Douthat has been criticized for being overly idyllic and not doing his due diligence when it comes to comparing and contrasting the U.S. to nations like Canada, which has never had a religious culture as unifying as 1950s America and yet maintains high social welfare standards, but does he have a point? Is the problem with religion in America not the tool itself but those who wield it?

 

Guest:

Russ Douthat, New York Times columnist and author of the book, “Bad Religion”

 

 

 

 

 

Lauren Osen

Southern California Public Radio - 89.3 KPCC

626-583-5173 / 626-483-5278

losen@scpr.org @Patt_Morrison