Fort Hood Update
People in the crowd are emotional as they take their seats at a memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009, where President Barack Obama spoke. (AP)
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President Obama and others are at Fort Hood today to remember the 13 people — 12 of them soldiers — who were shot last week. We speak with Daniel Zwerdling of NPR who is reporting about Major Hasan’s time at Walter Reed Hospital.
Buying and Selling Carbon Offsets
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As world leaders prepare for next month’s UN Climate Change Conference, we look at what’s known as “avoided deforestation credits”. Mark Schapiro took a look at one use of these credits in Brazil, where General Motors, Chevron and American Electric Power purchased 50,000 acres of Brazilian forests nearly a decade ago. They agreed to preserve the forests, with the understanding that they have the rights to sell carbon offset credits based on how much carbon the forest is storing. Schapiro documents what he found in Mother Jones magazine.
Last Words
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On the day when John Allen Muhammad, the so-called “beltway sniper” is to be executed, we take a look at a collection of last words, from prisoners executed in Texas since 1982 and compiled by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Our guest, writer Claire Cameron, has been reading through them.
Health Care & Abortion
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President Obama is indicating that Congress should change a controversial provision in the House health care bill that would restrict abortions. The provision would prohibit abortion coverage for women who receive subsidies for health insurance, or who buy their insurance from or through the government, and it would ban insurers from providing abortion coverage if they accept subsidized policyholders. We speak with Alec MacGillis, national politics reporter for the Washington Post.
Woman Saved in Subway Station
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WG_qEHcGU
A video taken from inside a Boston subway station this past Friday shows a woman falling onto the subway tracks, with a train approaching. People standing by frantically wave, and the train screeches to a halt inches from the woman. Charice Lewis was driving the train, and she was honored yesterday as a hero.
The Man Behind the Bird
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Today is the 40th anniversary of the beloved children’s show “Sesame Street“. We mark the occasion by re-airing our visit with Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer-creator of two of that street’s most famous residents: Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Big Bird and Oscar also drop by our studios to chat with Robin.
Music from the show
- Joe Raposo, “Sesame Street Theme” as performed by The Hit Crew
50,000 acres… sounds big, doesn’t it? I just did the math: it’s right about 78 square miles. So 3 huge multinationals bought a tract of forest 7.8 X 10 miles. Pretty puny payment for the doings of GM, Chevron and American Electric Power it would appear. It would seem they’d have to buy about half of Canada to be absolved of their sins.
Posted by Tom Goodwin, on November 10th, 2009 at 12:21 pmRegarding abortion and health care reform:
Posted by thomas swartzwelder DO, on November 10th, 2009 at 12:58 pm1. pregnancy is not a disease.
2. President Obama promised in is speech before the joint legislature that no tax dollars would be spent on abortion. We will certainly hold him to his word.
With all the controversy over abortion in the health care legislation, I wondered how much an abortion actually costs. So I googled it.
See http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_an_abortion_and_birth_control_pills_cost
An abortion costs between $40 and $500. The morning after pill is the cheapest, and the cost goes up as the pregnancy progresses.
Here’s the kicker: Planned Parenthood charges based on income, so it can actually be free.
It would be a shame to derail health care reform over an issue that appears to have little practical significance.
Posted by Dave Coyne, on November 10th, 2009 at 12:59 pmRe: Health Care & Abortion:
It is never brought up that no matter what side of the abortion issue one takes, abortions have and will always be sought.
What language will this bill contain when it comes to repairing botched illegally obtained abortions?
Posted by Sue Fiala, on November 10th, 2009 at 1:04 pmInsurance companies provide a service by paying most of the cost of an operation or other medical procedure.
Posted by Peter Baldo, on November 10th, 2009 at 10:55 pmHowever, their biggest service is driving down the price of that operation or procedure. I am amazed that the total price paid by my insurer and me for stuff done to me is around 25% of the hospital’s sticker price. Either the hospital is overcharging by 4 times, or the insurance company is driving a very hard bargain.
On the subject of abortion, a health plan that didn’t actually pay for the procedure, but bargained for a good price and availability for their members, would still be providing a valuable service. I think that’s one way out of the current healthcare/abortion dilemma that will satisfy nobody but might work.
Somehow the discussion of the “Avoided deforestation” came across as having reached a conclusion that the idea was intrinsically “bad” and that “those evil corporations” were trying to get away with something wrong before the investigation started.
To me, the biggest problem is that the indigenous peoples get displaced. That should be easy enough to fix: If the “carbon” is in the trees let those people use the fruits and provide them with other materials to build their homes.
Of course, if the discussion of the rest of the rules was accurate, someone could buy a tract of forest, clear cut it, sell the trees for lumber or paper, plant new trees and have a “carbon credit” perfectly acceptable to the European regulators. The dichotomy makes no sense.
Posted by Richard Cole, on November 12th, 2009 at 7:51 pm