The Bob Edwards Show, September 10-14, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012: In June of this year, a Gallup poll found that 1 in 5 Americans said they would not vote for a Mormon president. Documentary director Trevor Hill explored why in his documentary The Religious Test. Then, when Pastor Robert Jeffress called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints a cult on national television, Mormons and even some non-Mormons took offence. But the incident proved that although the LDS church continues to grow in numbers, there are still many people who don’t understand who or what they are. With Mormon Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigning fiercely for the presidency, Matthew Bowman’s book The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith, now out in paperback, offers context and explanation for this sometimes mysterious religion.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012: Kristina Rizga is an education writer and her latest piece for Mother Jones Magazine describes that “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong.” After spending a year in San Francisco’s Mission High, one of the nation’s most diverse public schools, she says attendance is up, dropout rates are falling and college acceptance is “through the roof.” Yet, it’s labeled a “low performing school.” Then, as the name suggests, “Carbon Nation” is more movement than movie. Documentarian Peter Byck unveiled his progressive solutions for climate change in 2011 when the film was released. However, he and the Carbon Nation crew are still gaining media attention for their initiative, appearing recently on Real Time With Bill Maher. Byck and Bob talk carbon, our nation, and the movement.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012: Journalist Joan Walsh caused quite a ruckus with an article she wrote for Salon.com called “What’s The Matter With White People”. Naturally, it became a book: White People: Why We Long For A Golden Age That Never Was. Walsh is a political analyst for MSNBC, and an editor-at-large for Salon.com. Then, scholar, literary critic and best-selling writer Stephen Greenblatt’s book, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, examines the ancient Roman document that inspired the Renaissance. The Swerve won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and is now out in paperback.
Thursday, September 13, 2012: Last year, the Herblock Foundation released their Report on Editorial Cartooning, stating that: “At the start of the 20th century, there were approximately 2,000 editorial cartoonists employed by newspapers in the United States. Today there are fewer than 20 staff cartoonists, and that number continues to shrink.” Bob talks with Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonists Ann Telneas (Washington Post) and Matt Wuerker (Politico) about the state of political cartoons and their importance in an election year. Then, Bob talks sports with John Feinstein, Washington Post columnist and co-host of SiriusXM’s “Beyond the Brink” (Mad Dog Radio, channel 86).
Friday, September 14, 2012: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, the story of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger reads like a film. A notorious gangster turned-FBI informant, Bulger fled his native Massachusetts in 1994 after he was tipped off to a forthcoming indictment. Tom Foley was a State Police Colonel and a key investigator on Bulger’s case. In a new book, Foley reveals that in addition to routinely turning a blind eye to his crimes, the FBI also actively shielded him from Foley’s investigation for over a decade. Bulger was finally captured in Santa Monica, California in June, 2011. Tom Foley is the author of Most Wanted: Pursuing Whitey Bulger, the Murderous Mob Chief the FBI Secretly Protected. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus. As children grow into adults, they try on different roles for themselves, looking for the person they will become. Sometimes parents and siblings find this process jarring, wondering what happened to the person they used to know. Baxter-Stoltzfus used semi-permanent hair dye to create a slightly different personality for just a little while – “the kind that lets you be whoever you want without letting go of how you got there.”