President Plans Federal Budget Freeze

Today the Congressional Budget Office predicted a $1.35 trillion deficit for this year- a slight improvement over last year- a day after the White House announced plans to ask Congress for a 3-year spending freeze on some domestic programs. The freeze would result in spending reductions of about $10-15 billion in the coming fiscal year, or about 1% of the federal budget. Critics say the plan is merely symbolic — the White House says it will help create a new atmosphere of fiscal discipline. What is the President is proposing, why, and will the real effects be? We speak with David Weidner, columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the Wall Street columnist for Market Watch.

Texting as a Parenting Tool, at Home

The average 6th and 7th grader sends 43 text messages a day, and some of them are to parents… in the other room. We speak with a father and daughter, Ian and Aiki Coxhead, about their texting; Ian feels it opens the door to better communication. And we hear from Aiki’s pediatrician, Dr. Megan Moreno of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

French Report Urges Ban on Face Veils in Public

Faiza Silmi, a 32-year-old Moroccan, in Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis, southwest of Paris. (AP)

A panel of French lawmakers is recommending a partial ban on Islamic face veils. If today’s recommendations become law, women would be prohibited from covering their faces with a burka or niqab in most public places. The parliamentary report says the full veil “is a challenge to our Republic.” We talk with the BBC’s Dominic Hughes about this latest development in a debate that’s divided many in France.

Is there a Real Estate Bubble in Pakistan?

Land for sale. Great location. Walk to the Ocean. Year-round sun. Also home to separatist movement. And surrounded by unrest. Reporter Shahan Mufti saw the brochures which said Gwadar, Pakistan, might be the next Dubai. The Chinese were developing it into a massive port. Was it a good investment for a reporter looking for a house by the sea? We speak with Mufti about his article on house hunting in Baluchistan in February’s Harper’s Magazine.

‘Trout Fishing In America’ Revisited

On Sunday, Richard Brautigan‘s groundbreaking 1967 novel “Trout Fishing In America” will be re-released to mark the iconic 1960′s counterculture writer’s 75th birthday.

Former poet laureate Billy Collins, who wrote the introduction to the re-release, explains why this book was so important.

Music from the show

Fugazi, “Sweet ‘n Low”

Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place”

Medeski, Martin and Wood, “Bloody Oil”

Christian McBride, “Brother Mister”

Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”

Rebecca

In response to the doctor saying she saw patients texting during appointments. I was in my university health services when i heard two nurses discussing how a patient had been texting her boy friend while they where giving her an invasive STD test. They where horrified and I agree you need to think about when texts are appropriate and the doctors office is certainly not an appropriate place.
rocco

texting is more polite (to others within earshot). Just thought I’d mention that since no one has as yet.
Rick

Please texting, I really can’t stand it. I miss the days before cell phones.
Roger

The host said that the stimulation was started under the Republicans. What program was this?

I do remember a couple of tax cut checks sent out under the previous administration. Those were nice but if that is considered stimulation then the new administration has not stimulated the tax payer at all.

Unless the host meant to say TARP or auto bailouts.

There was a similar comment last week about Tea Party people being put in a hard place if they refuse to go along with a bank tax. It’s an odd thing to say when the Boston Tea Party was a tax revolt.
vic

Texting e.g., college guest at Thanksgiving dinner who was clacking away sending messages at the table. She never talked with us. This sorta functions like the safety of a foreign language (how many times on public conveyance have we heard someone speaking in their native tongue?). What’s the impact? It cuts out some, includes the messagee and underscores their subgroup. And let’s them be themselves (some w/out manners). New device. Old behavior.
Jon

The so-called Stimulus Plan was supposed to be for infrastructure “Shovel Ready” projects. Early on, we kept hearing about “Shovel Ready”. Then out came the money and, in Michigan (and most other states), the Stimulus money went to fill holes in state budgets. Now…No more talk of “Shovel Ready”, infrastructure didn’t get fixed, and the deficit bloated. No wonder people sent Washington a message.
Robin Young

Roger you’re right.. altho I said stimulus instead of stimulation. I should have said TARP.

R
Kevin Campbell

Robin, thanks for the segment on Richard Brautigan. I still remember someone recommending his book of short stories “Revenge Of The Lawn” when I was a freshman at The University Of Louisville back in ’92. I remember rolling onto campus around 8am one day to quote Robert Mitchum: “Thirsting, hungover, and dry”. I knew I’d be worthless taking notes in a lecture hall so I walked over to the library and read that small book in it’s entirety. There’s a certain kind of wry, easygoing magic in Brautigan’s works; a man rearranging a sad world more to his liking with some kind of surreal water balloon.