A production still from Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave."; Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures

With nine Oscar nominations, "12 Years a Slave" is looking to top a fruitful awards season with the much coveted Best Picture award next month.  "12 Years a Slave" tells the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who is abducted and forced into slavery. What follows is a fight for survival and dignity for more than a decade.  

Set in pre-Civil War America, the story hinges not only on the acting, but the re-creation of a bygone era. This job fell to set designer, Adam Stockhausen, who is nominated in the Best Achievement in Production Design category.  

Nothing in his career to date would suggest an interest in historical period drama. Past projects include several Wes Anderson films,  the slasher horror "Scream 4" and romance flick, "The Switch."

Watch the trailer for '12 Years a Slave' to get a sense for Stockhausen's work:

Guest:

Adam Stockhausen, Oscar-nominated production designer of Steve McQueen’s ‘12 Years a Slave.’ Stockhausen’s other credits include production design on Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom' and Wes Craven's 'Scream 4,'-- and art direction on Wes Anderson's 'Darjeeling Limited' and Charlie Kaufman's 'Synecdoche, New York.'

Registered nurse Donna Morrone prepares a flu shot October 12, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois.; Credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Flu season has been especially vicious this year, resulting in a prolonged campaign from health care providers for people to get a flu shot. In Rhode Island, a proposed policy from the Department of health would require mandatory flu shots for children aged 6 months to 5 years who wish to enter preschool or daycare.

The usual anti-vaccine lobby is speaking out against the mandatory flu vaccines, but in this case, there’s a twist: the ACLU has joined the ranks of groups fighting the potential law. The ACLU says that a mandatory flu shot would violate parents rights to personal choice. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC both recommend flu shots for people over 6 and especially for children under 5 -- an especially vulnerable subset of the population.

But the ACLU cites a 47% efficacy rate and the right to personal choice as crucial components in a campaign against mandatory flu shots. The 47% statistic is actually the efficacy for the general population -- children age 6 months to 17 years have a 67% efficacy rate. Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York City have similar mandatory flu vaccine policies.

What is the most moral and medically sound decision in this case? Are the two issues in conflict? Should California implement a mandatory flu shot?

Guests:

Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., NBC News contributor and Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center

Hillary Davis, Policy Associate at the ACLU of Rhode Island

California Highway Patrol investigators at the scene of a crash that left six people dead and hurt two others.; Credit: Courtesy California Highway Patrol

A devastating crash this weekend on the 60 near Diamond Bar killed six when an intoxicated driver went the wrong way down the freeway. The driver, 21-year-old Olivia Culbreath, was allegedly speeding at around 100 miles per hour and was arrested at the scene for drunk driving.

A similar incident occurred in Florida on Sunday and killed five people. There are already safety measures in place aimed at preventing wrong-way driving. Depending on the state, prevention tactics may include road signs, arrows and lettering on pavement, and lights signaling the flow of traffic.

Traffic safety engineers have proposed barriers and other signage to further take action against wrong-way driving, while the California Highway Patrol highlights behavioral changes -- awareness and sobriety. Most wrong-way drivers are intoxicated or elderly.

What are the best ways to draw attention to existing safety measures? Is it financially and logistically possible to install more preventative barriers and signs? Is this an engineering issue, or a behavioral issue?  

Guest:

Hamid Bahadori, Transportation Policy and Advocacy Manager, Auto Club of California

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook during a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting on September 24, 2013 in New York City. Timed to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly, CGI brings together heads of state, CEOs, philanthropists and others to help find solutions to the world's major problems. ; Credit: Ramin Talaie/Getty Images

Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, announced today a new partnership with Getty Images, one of the largest stock photo libraries in the world. Together, Sandberg's nonprofit LeanIn.org and Getty have created a collection of stock images depicting diverse women in non-stereotypical scenarios.

There are images of women working as doctors, doing CrossFit, and in office scenarios that don't include literally climbing a ladder with high heels. In addition, the purpose of the collection is to also include diversity, whether it be in body shape, race or age.  LeanIn.org will get 10 percent of the licensing revenue. This the first time Getty has partnered with a nonprofit to share licensing revenue.

Is there a need for these less stereotypical images? What kind of an impact might this new collection have on how we view women in the workplace? Why have stock photos been perpetuating sexist depictions of professional women?

Guest:

Jessica Bennett, contributing editor of LeanIn.org. She was part of the team who spearheaded the Getty deal.

Pam Grossman, director of visual trends for Getty Images

Interview Q&A

Is there a dearth of women in a variety of professions and women in non-stereotypical positions?
Jessica Bennett: "Getty has a beautiful collection already, but what we've done is curate 2,500 images that are specific to showing women in leadership positions and all of the families supporting them in one place that's easy to search. I think part of what our hope is, is that there will not be an excuse to not use these images anymore. When a photo editor or creative director is looking for something to portray a woman in power they can go right here and we've made it easy for them."

So will the result of that be that these images will be more prominent?
JB: "We hope so, this is the most direct way that we can envision to get these images into the hands of the people who are making decisions around advertising and marketing and media. We really believe that media has a huge impact on leadership aspirations and it may not be something that is measurable in the same way that you can measure the number of women at the top, but we are consumed by media every day, from billboards to the Internet to television."

From a business standpoint, how does this arrangement make sense?
Pam Grossman: "We have a really phenomenal collection of photographs and video that we have created and sourced from image partners, as well. We've been doing a lot of great work around the representation of women for the better part of a decade now. But what's exciting about our partnership with Lean In is we can really blend together the power of both of our platforms and hopefully inspire some change. Getty Images has 2.4 million customers in every industry that you can imagine. So we really think that we can help spread the Lean In message and get more powerful pictures of women and girls into the right hands."

What are some examples of how clients use these images?
PG: "As I said, we have 2.4 million customers around the world, and those are customers in advertising agencies, also creatives and head's of marketing in every kind of industry you can imagine. So if you think of any big bank, any big technology company, any big book publisher, these are all our clients, so we have a really powerful reach."

How important is the social component of your job?
PG: "We've seen a lot of conversations happening these days about representation of women in media, in the stock photography industry specifically. We thought to ourselves, we have powerful pictures in our collection already and we want to make even more powerful ones. So this really is our way of entering this dialogue and hopefully coming up with real world solutions instead of just criticisms."

How can you encourage clients to choose women with a range of body types:
PG: "I would say even as long as five years ago, we began to shift away from using modeling agencies and shifting more towards casting "real people" doing more street casting, and making sure that we have a very diverse representation of all different body shapes. This is not only coming from the top down, it's not coming from fashion and advertising, it's coming from real people who want to see themselves reflected in these images. I think social media has a huge impact on the kind of pictures that we're all used to seeing of one another, and it's only right that advertising and fashion and the photography industry at large catch up and make sure that we're taking responsibility for the images that we're putting out there."


Could this have an impact on women's products? 
PG: "Absolutely, a lot of my role is meeting directly with our clients. On any given week I'm meeting with creative directors at advertising agencies, with the chief marketing officers of various corporations, and these are the conversations that I'm having with them time and time again. They're hungry for this kind of content, and we're really happy that we're in a position to be able to put those images in their hands."

How often to big companies use stock photos in their campaigns?
PG: "It happens a lot more frequently than you might realize. In this day and age, we're a real weapon in the back pocket of any agency you can imagine. The biggest ones you can imagine come to us to help them either to deliver the hero images of campaigns or to supplement some of the original content that they're creating. So this is happening kind of behind the curtain every second of the day. We're just talking about it much more publicly to have an impact with our issue."

What are some examples of depictions of women in stock photos?
JB: "I think, typically, for many years women hadn't been in the workforce as much as men, so there simply wasn't a ton of photography to choose from, but you also tend to notice that women aren't always in the leadership roles, they're not sitting at the table, they may not be leading the meeting. Even things like body language, we really paid attention to the body language of the characters in the photos and we wanted them to look powerful, we wanted them to be standing upright, we wanted them to be moving forward. We really paid a lot of attention to diversity, not just of industry, but of body type, or background, of age and we really want to be inspirational to young girls because I think these images do have a real impact on what they inspire to be."  

P.J. O'Rourke's most recent book, “The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way” (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2014).

"We are the generation that changed everything. Of all the eras and epochs of Americans, ours is the one that made the biggest impression—on ourselves. That's an important accomplishment, because we're the generation that created the self, made the firmament of the self, divided the light of the self from the darkness of the self, and said, 'Let there be self.'"

That's how P.J. O'Rourke describes his generation - 75 million strong - in "The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way…And It Wasn't My Fault…And I'll Never Do It Again." While skewering boomers just a bit, O'Rourke also credits them with making the world a much better place.

Whether or not you're one of them, how do you see the batch born between 1946 and 1964? What did they get right and what could have been better?

Guest:

PJ O’Rourke, journalist and author of “The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way” (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2014)

Michael Sam #52 of the Missouri Tigers celebrates with fans after the game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium on November 9, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. Missouri won 48-17. ; Credit: Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Michael Sam, an All-American defensive lineman from the University of Missouri and a N.F.L. draft prospect, has come out as gay, paving the way to become possibly the first openly gay player in the pro-football league. 

The 24-year-old Sam made his declaration to The New York Times on Sunday. At 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds, Sam was named the top defensive player in the Southeastern Conference, thought to be the country’s best college football league.

Sam is expected to be picked in the third of later rounds of the NFL draft in May. Does his disclosure positively or negatively impact his draft prospects? Is the NFL, with the league’s macho overtones, ready for an openly gay athlete? How are fans reacting?

Guests:

Michael Schottey, NFL National Lead Writer for the Bleacher Report

Andrew Zimbalist, Professor of Economics at Smith College and co-author of "The Sabermetric Revolution: Assessing the Growth of Analytics in Baseball"  (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014)

Thomas Wheeler testifies in his confirmation hearing to become Federal Communications Commission chairman, before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on June 18, 2013 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images

Mobile phones seem nearly ubiquitous, and over 20 years after the SMS was sent, text messaging is more widely used than ever. As more people turn to their cell as a primary phone and rely on unlimited text and data plans, phone service providers are adapting to keep up. Now, text-to-911 programs are joining text-to-donate numbers and crisis text lines.

Verizon already provides text-to-911 in a few areas with dispatchers equipped to take text messages, including some departments in Los Angeles county.

The four major carriers have plans to introduce text-to-911 programs of their own by May 2014, with more providers to follow. These services may prove useful and frequently crucial for the 40 million Americans with hearing and speech disabilities, people experiencing spotty service (which may allow a text but not a call), people in active shooter or domestic violence situations, and others.

FCC still strongly recommends calling emergency numbers instead of texting because of the back-and-forth interaction with dispatchers.

What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of text-to-911 programs? Will they be effective, or is the concept still flawed? How will dispatchers be trained to handle texts?

Guests:

David Furth, Deputy Bureau Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau

Ty Wooten, Education and Public Safety Anwer Point Operations Director at the National Emergency Numbers Association

Glenn Greenwald, who was among the first to reveal Washington's vast electronic surveillance program as a reporter for The Guardian, testifies before the investigative committee of the Senate that examines charges of espionage by the United States in Brasilia on October 9, 2013.; Credit: EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images

Glenn Greenwald became one of the world's most famous journalists almost overnight after he reported on secret programs leaked from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden. The Intercept, his new venture with e-Bay co-founder Pierre Omidyar, launched Monday morning with two new stories about the National Security Agency.

Greenwald has said that the NSA secrets exposed so far constitute but the tip of the iceberg of what the Snowden files contain, and one aim of The Intercept is to "provide a platform and an editorial structure in which to aggressively report on the disclosures provided to us by our source, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden." 

In this interview, Larry talks with Greenwald about The Intercept, the Snowden files, and the global ripples the NSA revelations have caused.

Call in with your question. 

Guest:

Glenn Greenwald, investigative journalist and one of the editors behind the new online magazine, The Intercept, which debuted yesterday. 

A PAIRS poster rests in front of Mark Deeken (L) and his wife Patty Deeken, of Warminster, Pennsylvania as they listen to a lecture by James McGlynn, not shown, during a Practical Skills for Extraordinary Relationships class, or PAIRS, April 14, 2004 in Spring House, Pennsylvania. U.S. President George W. Bush's proposed Healthy Marriage Initiative would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain healthy marriages. ; Credit: William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

The $800 million in federal dollars spent on the Healthy Marriages Initiative has had little effect on national marriage or divorce trends, a new study has found. The money is intended to foster better relationships based on the idea that children raised in a marriage may be less likely to endure poverty or commit crimes.

The program’s ineffectiveness has reignited a debate about whether government should promote better marriages as a measure to prevent poverty. One in eight children raised in married households live below the poverty line, while five in ten raised by single mothers do.

Children raised in two-parent households also tend to have fewer behavioral problems. The logistics are fairly simple -- the likelihood that a married household has two full-time incomes is higher.

But is that a reason for the government to promote marriage as a way to combat poverty? Is marriage an appropriate focus for the government? Should the focus be on encouraging new marriages, or improving existing ones? Are there better ways to fight poverty?  

Guest: 

Wendy Manning, Professor of Sociology and Co-Director for the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She is the co-author of a study that looks at the effectiveness of the Healthy Marriage Initiative and lowering divorce rates and raising marriage rates.

Patty Howell, President of the   Healthy Relationships California, a statewide nonprofit organization that receives funding from the federal government to promote healthy relationships and marriage in California

Natural eggs from chickens are seen for sale at a local Farmers Market in Annandale, Virginia, August 8, 2013.; Credit: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Should states be required to meet California's strict animal welfare standards in order to sell their products in the state?

That's the basis of the lawsuit filed by Missouri's attorney general, which alleges that a California's law requiring chickens to be kept in cages much larger than the nation's standard 'factory' size cage effectively bans their eggs from the state.

In 2008, California voters passed a  ballot initiative requiring all  egg producers house their chickens in cages large enough for them to spread their wings. Two years later the state adjusted that law to require all eggs sold in the state to come from farms that meet California's requirements - even if the eggs were produced across state lines.

Missouri, which sells a third of its  1.7 billion eggs to California every year, says the law violates the constitution's commerce clause and that they weren't given enough time to comply. Estimates show that upgrading to the more chicken-friendly cages would cost Missouri egg producers $120 million and raise production costs by 20 percent.

Does California's egg law violate the commerce clause? Should out of state producers be held to California's higher standards? How will that impact both the economies of California and the heartland where the state gets much of its food?

Guests: 

Baylen Linnekin, attorney and executive director of Keep Food Legal, a non-profit that advocates for food freedom

Bruce Friedrich, senior policy director of Farm Sanctuary

A man blows into a breathalizer during a field sobriety test after he was stopped by San Bruno Police officers at a DUI checkpoint November 27, 2006 in San Bruno, California. San Francisco Bay Area law enforcement agencies have begun to set up DUI checkpoints as the holiday season gets underway.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Police have revealed more about the woman accused of killing six people while driving drunk at high speed in the wrong direction on the 60 freeway in Diamond Bar over the weekend. Olivia Culbreath, 21, of Fontana - now being investigated for manslaughter and driving under the influence – had her license suspended for a DUI when she was a teenager. Authorities say they found an alcoholic beverage at the scene of the crash.

Also over the weekend, in a much less severe crash, actor Chris Kattan of SNL fame, was arrested for a DUI after his car hit a Department of Transportation vehicle on the 101 freeway.

Coincidentally, the LAPD conducted a DUI blitz over the weekend. Its January sobriety campaign resulted in 40 arrests. Despite all we know about driving under the influence – including a proposal last year to lower the accepted blood alcohol limit to .05 instead of .08 – it seems many still try to take their chances.

What about you? What’s your perception of an acceptable amount to drink (or smoke) before you drive? What do you see amongst your friends, family, and co-workers as acceptable?

Guest:

Dary Fiorentino, Rearch Psychologist specializing alcohol-impairment and crash risks with DF Consulting based in the Van Nuys; Fiorentino’s research has been used by the National Transportation Safety Board

Photographers take selfies from the top of the US Capitol dome during a tour of the dome December 19, 2013 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

From the Oxford Dictionaries word of the year to the Selfie Olympics, it’s clear that smart-phone  and digital camera self-portraits—or ‘selfies’—are something of a cultural touchstone. We’ve seen selfies at funerals, presidential selfies—even a selfie from space.

These informal, intimate shots are filling up social media feeds, particularly those of young people. They’re also raising some concerns about a self-obsessed, attention-seeking culture.  Thailand’s Department of Mental Health recently issued a warning about the potential negative impact of rampant ‘selfie culture’—claiming that young people are suffering from emotional problems when their uploaded selfies go underappreciated.

As with many tech trends, the merits of selfie-taking are hotly debated. Why do we take so many selfies? How might the slew of peace signs, shirtless fitness shots, duck face, and dirty mirrors be impacting our culture? Does the popularity of posting instant self-portraits and waiting for likes to pour in pose problems for the emotional health of the selfie-obsessed?

Do you take selfies? Do you gain anything from looking at someone else’s? Does the rise of ‘selfie culture’ reveal generational narcissism—or are we expressing ourselves and communicating more effectively through new technology?

Guest:

Pamela Rutledge, PhD, Director, Media Psychology Resource Center, a non-profit dedicated to media research, assessment and education based in Newport Beach, Calif.; Adjunct Professor, Fielding Graduate University; Blogger, Psychology Today

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in "Gravity."; Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Alfonso Cuarón’s stunning sci-fi drama ‘Gravity’ earned 10 Oscar nominations this year. Among them, a nod for the film’s production design—which includes a meticulously-crafted Space Shuttle and striking simulation of the zero-gravity environment beyond earth’s atmosphere. Transporting audiences so convincingly to a far-off place they’ve never been was the job of production designer Andy Nicholson.

Nicholson has spent the last two decades working in the art departments of Hollywood films—including Tony Scott’s ‘Spy Game,’ Paul Greengrass’ ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and Tim Burton’s ‘Frankenweenie.’ ‘Gravity’ is just Nicholson’s second time in the production designer role—and this space suspense drama was no ordinary job. So much of the interstellar scenes were digitally created.

In addition to real sets, Nicholson built proxy ones—and worked with computer animators upfront to meticulously design the materials and sets that were added in post-production.

How much research did designing ‘Gravity’ require? What went into the creation of scenes like the one below?

Guest:

Andy Nicholson, Oscar-nominated production designer of director Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity;” Nicholson’s other credits include art direction on “Sleepy Hollow,” “Troy,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Golden Compass” and more.

A woman waits outside the mammogram and women's health services area on the first day of the fourth annual free health clinic at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in downtown Los Angeles September 27, 2012.; Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

By Marilynn Marchione, AP Chief Medical Writer

A Canadian study that many experts say has major flaws has revived debate about the value of mammograms. The research suggests that these screening X-rays do not lower the risk of dying of breast cancer while finding many tumors that do not need treatment.

The study gives longer follow-up on nearly 90,000 women who had annual breast exams by a nurse to check for lumps plus a mammogram, or the nurse's breast exam alone. After more than two decades, breast cancer death rates were similar in the two groups, suggesting little benefit from mammograms.

It's important to note that this study did not compare mammograms to no screening at all, as most other research on this topic has. Many groups have not endorsed breast exams for screening because of limited evidence that they save lives.

Critics of the Canadian study also say it used outdated equipment and poor methods that made mammograms look unfairly ineffective.

The study was published Wednesday in the British journal BMJ.

Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Nearly 1.4 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Many studies have found that mammography saves lives, but how many and for what age groups is debatable. It also causes many false alarms and overtreatment of cancers never destined to become life-threatening.

In the U.S., a government-appointed task force that gives screening advice does not backmammograms until age 50, and then only every other year. The American Cancer Society recommends them every year starting at age 40. Other countries screen less aggressively. In Britain, for example, mammograms are usually offered only every three years.

The Canadian study has long been the most pessimistic on the value of mammograms. It initially reported that after five years of screening, 666 cancers were found among women given mammograms plus breast exams versus 524 cancers among those given the exams alone.

After 25 years of follow-up, about 500 in each group died, suggesting mammograms were not saving lives. The similarity in the death rates suggests that the 142 "extra" cancers caught by mammograms represent overdiagnosis — tumors not destined to prove fatal, study leaders concluded.

The work was immediately criticized. The American College of Radiology and Society of Breast Imaging called it "an incredibly misleading analysis based on the deeply flawed and widely discredited" study. Mammograms typically find far more cancers than this study did, suggesting the quality was poor, the groups contend.

In a letter posted by the medical journal, Dr. Daniel Kopans, a radiologist at Harvard Medical School, described outdated machines and methods he saw in 1990, when he was one of the experts asked to review the quality of mammograms used in the study.

"I can personally attest to the fact that the quality was poor," he wrote. "To save money they used secondhand mammography machines" that gave poor images, failed to properly position breasts for imaging, and did not train radiologists on how to interpret the scans, he wrote.

The study leader, Dr. Anthony Miller of the University of Toronto, said it was "completely untrue" that inferior equipment or methods were used.

Still, the study highlights the fact that mammograms are an imperfect tool that lead to many false alarms, needless biopsies and treatment of many tumors that would never threaten a woman's life.

"Overdiagnosis is not an anomaly in the study from Canada. This has been compellingly demonstrated in research from the U.S. and Europe," said another study leader, Dr. Cornelia Baines of the University of Toronto.

Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in New Hampshire, spoke on the issue at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December.

"Screening is a choice, not a public health imperative. There are trade-offs here," he said.

"The people who stand to gain the most from screening are the people at greatest risk of the disease" — older women who are more likely to have breast cancer and those not too old that they are likely to die of something else, he said.

Death rates from breast cancer have fallen mostly because of dramatic improvement in treatments, he and other doctors have said.

"The better we are at treating clinically evident disease, the less important it becomes to find it early," Welch said.

A big caveat: The Canadian study was on routine mammograms to screen healthy women. No one doubts the value of diagnostic mammograms — more detailed X-rays when a problem is suspected or after a lump has been found.

WEIGH IN:

Are doctors changing breast cancer screening in response to studies such as this? If you’re a woman in your 40s or 50s, what’s your plan for breast cancer screening?

GUESTS:

Dr. Joanne Mortimer, Vice Chair and Professor, Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, Director and Women's Cancer Programs, Co-director, Breast Cancer Program at City of Hope

Dr. M. William Audeh, medical director of the Wasserman Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Program at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute

Members of the Alcoholics Anonymous self-help group take part in a meeting in Moscow, on December 1, 2012. ; Credit: YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images

The 12-step model of alcohol addiction treatment has been the status quo in rehabilitation centers for well over fifty years. Alcoholics Anonymous was formed in the 1930s and by 2000, the 12 steps were the program of choice for 90 percent of American addiction treatment programs.

The success of these rehab programs is now under extra scrutiny since the Affordable Care Act now requires that substance misuse be covered by insurance in the same way as physical illnesses. Several prominent physicians have come out to challenge the dominance of the 12-step model.

A new book, The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry, by former professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School Dr. Lance Dodes is the latest to criticize the AA model.

He argues that some studies find that people mandated into AA programs aren't any more successful, and sometimes do worse, than those who are simply left alone.

Is the abstinence-based AA model the most successful treatment program? Should it be the dominant program for the vast majority of American treatment centers? Does one method of treatment work better than another?

Guest: 

Dr. Lance Dodes, MD, former director of Harvard’s substance abuse treatment unit at McLean Hospital and co-author of the upcoming book, The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind Twelve-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry

Marc Mahoney, director of operations at SOBA Recovery Center in Malibu, a treatment center rooted in the 12-step philosophy. 

Outside Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on Tuesday, a nun prays.; Credit: Valdrin Xhemaj /EPA /LANDOV

The Opinion Pages in the New York Times on Sunday had an intriguing feature, asking whether atheism is a rational belief. A theologian argues in the piece  that there's an absence of evidence to support atheism as a logical position, that the best atheists could prove is that God might not exist.

Atheists, on the other hand, would say that burden of proof in this debate rests on the believers, because the amount of evil in the world contradicts the existence of God.

Guests:

William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, a private Christian University based in La Mirada, California

Michael Shermer, founder of Skeptic Magazine        

A reveller waves a rainbow flag during the Gay Pride Parade in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 30, 2013.; Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images

Matthew Barrett was elated when offered a job last year as food services director of Massachusetts Catholic school, Fontbonne Academy. As reported on NPR, Barrett started to prepare new-hire forms including listing his husband as an emergency contact.

Two days later, the school called him in to say the Catholic Church does not recognize same-sex marriage and he could not be hired. In a statement, the Academy explained it "does not discriminate based on sexual orientation but that Church doctrine against same-sex marriage drives policy at Fontbonne and other catholic schools." Federal law exempts religious groups from most employment discrimination laws, but those exemptions tend to be used for leadership or teaching hires.

How much latitude should the school have? How does the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage interact with discrimination exemptions for religious organizations? Does a cafeteria manager's same-sex marriage choice affect the teaching of the a Catholic school?

Guest: 

Brad Dacus, President of Pacific Justice Institute, a non-profit organization that defends religious liberties and parental rights

Sarah Warbelow, State Legislative Director at Human Rights Campaign

A sign stands in front of a Comcast customer service center on August 3, 2011 in San Rafael, California.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The two biggest cable companies in the US want permission to merge into one giant media behemoth that would provide cable TV to nearly one-third of all homes in the country. Comcast has announced that it wants to buy rival Time Warner Cable in an all-stock deal worth $45.2 billion.

Regulators still have to approve the deal and it's not clear if the new company would be too big to pass muster with antitrust authorities and consumer watchdogs. The two companies don't currently compete so the change may not be a major upheaval for consumers. But given how much customers love to hate their cable company - this giant merger isn't likely to earn them any fans.

Consumer advocates say it will reduce innovation and drive up prices. The corporations say the merger will actually speed up the release of new consumer products such as Comcast's X1 operating system.

But is cable TV still a necessity in today's world? Cable providers have endless competition from streaming devices such as Roku and Apple TV as well as online content services like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. Given that, it'll be interesting to see if federal regulators decide that the new company will be too much of a monopoly over customers' televisions.

In the meantime, we can always speculate what the new company will be called: ComWarnerCast? ComCable? CoTiWaCa?

Guests:

Steve Effros, analyst and lawyer in the cable industry based in Virginia. Former president of Cable Telecommunications Association, a precursor of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the main cable trade association.

Jodie Griffin, Senior Staff Attorney with Public Knowledge, a consumer rights group based in Washington D.C.

Amy Chua and her husband Jed Rubenfeld co-authored the controversial book "The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America."

Yale law professor and self-described 'Tiger Mom' Amy Chua is no stranger to controversy. Her first book, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother incited a rancorous debate in the so-called 'mommy wars' over the best approach to raising successful children. The book pushed cultural stereotypes about strict Asian parents that use harsh discipline to push their children to be the top of their class in every subject.

Now she and her husband, fellow Yale law professor and novelist Jed Rubenfeld, are back with a new book that fans the flames even further. The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America takes cultural stereotypes even further.

It argues that certain cultural groups - including Cubans, Jews, south Asian Indians and Iranians - experience more financial and academic success in the US because their cultures possess three common qualities: impulse control, feelings of superiority and feelings of inferiority. Their conclusions are controversial and have earned them some serious criticism within the academic community.

Do certain cultural traits make one group more successful than another? Can these traits be learned? Is culture really a good predictor of future success?

-FORUM EVENT PROMO: Tonight Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld join Patt Morrison at our Crawford Family Forum to talk more about their controversial thesis. This event is full, but you can watch the live stream online at KPCC.org.

Guests:   

Amy Chua, Yale law professor and co-author of The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America

Jed Rubenfeld, Yale law professor and co-author of The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America

Geoff Dyer's new book, "The Contest of the Century."

After decades of rising, China has entered a new and critical phase where it seeks to unseat the United States as the world’s top global power. This battle will take place in every arena: from control of the seas, where China's new navy is trying to ease the United States out of Asia and reassert its traditional leadership, to rewriting the rules of the global economy, with attempts to turn the yuan, the Chinese currency, into the predominant international currency, toppling the dominance of the U.S. dollar.  

In "The Contest of the Century," former FT Beijing Bureau Chief Geoff Dyer argues that China and the United States are now embarking on a great power-style competition that will dominate the century.

Guest:

Geoff Dyer, author of “The Contest of the Century: The New Era of Competition with China--and How America Can Win (Knopf, 2014). He is also the former Beijing Bureau Chief for the Financial Times