Child Welfare and Confidentiality in LA County
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The Los Angeles Times has been reporting on the tragic deaths of children, while their families are supposedly being scrutinized by LA County's child welfare officials. The Board of Supervisors wants to know how the Times got the information. Critics say, how about asking what's going wrong, over and over again? Is the Board trying to cover-up a lack of resources and sheer incompetence? Also, Meg Whitman meets the Republican right wing at this weekend's party convention. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, this summer's most hotly debated issue is the mosque that isn't really at Ground Zero. We hear how it moved from the blogosphere to politics and what the consequences might be.
Making News
Meg Whitman Enters the Wingers' Den ()
Meg Whitman has spent more than $100 million on her race for Governor, but she's still just neck and neck with Attorney General Jerry Brown. At a time when she needs to rally the conservative base of her party, the base is preparing to challenge her at the Republican Party Convention this weekend in San Diego. Joe Garofoli reports on politics for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Guests:
- Joe Garofoli: Political Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, @joegarofoli
Links:
Main Topic
Child Welfare Records: The Latest LA Confidential ()
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said yesterday, "The obsession with leaks… exceeds the obsession with child deaths." He was the lone dissenter in a 4-to-1 vote to investigate what was called the "inappropriate disclosure of confidential child welfare information." At issue is a series in the LA Times on the deaths of children in families that are supposed to be under the scrutiny of the County's child welfare officials. Dissenter Zev Yaroslavsky said after the vote, "all the energy that is spent on that is energy that is not spent on trying to figure out what's going wrong in the Department of Children and Family Services." We hear from a Times reporter , Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who voted for the investigation, and an advocate of open government.
Guests:
- Garrett Therolf: Reporter, Los Angeles Times, @gtherolf
- Mark Ridley-Thomas: LA County Supervisor, @mridleythomas
- Terry Francke: General Counsel, Californians Aware
Links:
Main Topic
How an Uncontested Mosque Became the 'Ground Zero Mosque' ()
Last Friday, President Obama said Muslims have a right to include a mosque in a new community center two blocks from where the World Trade Center used to be. On Saturday, he said he did not mean to comment on the "wisdom" of the project, which many interpreted as a retreat from his first remarks. That suggests the political power of the controversy over what's come to be called "the Mosque at Ground Zero."
Guests:
- Justin Elliott: Staff Writer, Salon.com, @elliottjustin
- Clifford May: President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
- Brian Levin: Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University San Bernardino, @proflevin
- Haris Tarin: Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council's Washington Office
Links:
- New York Times on planned mosque (December, 2009)
- Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs blog
- Geller's 'Campaign Offensive: Stop the 911 Mosque!'
- Showdown over Temecula mosque (KCRW's 'Which, Way, LA?')
- Elliott on 'fear mongering' over the mosque
- Tarin's (Los Angeles Times) op-ed on a Muslim's faith in America
- MPAC video on leading American Muslims speaking out against violence as contrary to Islam
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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