High Court Hears Arguments On Vaccine Side Effects

Parents who say their daughter suffered serious health problems from a childhood vaccine are trying to persuade the Supreme Court to allow them to sue the manufacturer. The justices are hearing arguments in a case that could open drug makers to a flood of lawsuits over the side effects of vaccines, including those from families of autistic children claiming that mercury-based thimerosal is linked to autism. Bloomberg News Supreme Court reporter Greg Stohr brings us the latest.

Healthcare Reform Gets Mixed Marks

Six months after President Obama signed healthcare reform into law, we get a progress report. Healthcare analyst and Yale political science professor, Jacob Hacker, discusses how employers and insurers are adapting, as well as how Republicans, Democrats and government agencies are both facilitating or thwarting the law. Hacker is author of “Healthcare for America” as well as the recently released “Winner Takes All Politics.”

New York Times: Get the complete healthcare law report card

California Candidates Spar Over Name Calling

Candidates for governor in California, Republican Meg Whitman, left, and Democrat Jerry Brown at a debate in Fresno, Calif. (AP)

Former governor and Oakland mayor Jerry Brown and former EBay CEO Meg Whitman hold their third and final debate tonight. Brown, a Democrat, is leading the polls even though last week he was buffeted by a recording of a conversation in which Brown and aides are caught calling Whitman, a Republican, a whore for her support of public safety pension benefits. Whitman has been struggling for several weeks since her housekeeper told reporters how Whitman fired her after learning she was an undocumented worker. We speak with John Myers, Sacramento bureau chief for “The California Report” on KQED.

To Prevent Suicides, Movement Tells Gay Teens ‘It Gets Better’

A series of suicides by teens who had been bullied for being gay got advice columnist and author Dan Savage thinking, “If only I could have talked to them for five minutes, to let them know it gets better.” Savage put up a YouTube video with his partner, Terry, talking about their experiences being bullied as teens and how they survived to become happy adults. Those videos have now grown into a burgeoning website, the “It Gets Better Project,” with videos pouring in from around the country and the world. We speak with Dan Savage about the project.

Authors Spin Childhood Tales Of Writer Zora Neale Hurston

"Zora and Me" Zora Neale Hurston grew up to become a writer, anthropologist and a leading folklorist of southern African American life. But how was she as a girl growing up in Eatonville, Florida, in the 1890s and early 20th century? Two authors, Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon, wrote “Zora and Me” for young readers. It imagines Zora living in Eatonville, weaving tales for her friends, getting into mischief, and sticking her nose where it shouldn’t be.

Here & Now: Read an excerpt from “Zora and Me”

Music From The Show

Sea + Cake, “Colony Room”

Doug Wamble, “Antoine’s Pillow Rock”

Four Tet, “Slowjam”

“Mule” performed by Zora Neale Hurston

http://not Margaret

Christians who badmouth gays are totally blowing their own second commandment:
Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Tim

My comment goes directly to this whole gay lesbian issue about it gets better. I absolutely take issue with calling Christians “homophobes” because of what the bible ( the book we live by) clearly teaches against same sex relationships and all we ae doing is standing up for what we believe is the truth. I’m not in any way condoning the actions of some Christians who clearly are missing the whole idea of what Christ did on earth which was to reach out to those in need of help and love and forgiveness not bash them over the head! We as Christians cannot expect to reach people without love an compassion but it does not mean that we have to agree with or support why they do. This does not make us homophobic for teaching our people our belief system but it is awfully hypocritical of someone always asking for tolerance from everybody else and they aren’t willing to tolerate the fact that for us to water down what we teach to suit them is not only wrong but shows their lack of tolerance fo those of us who believe this truth. They are perfectly welcome to make their own decisions about how they Want to live but they have to be willing to take whatever consequences come with those decisions whether they be homosexual, unfaithful to spouses, murderers, robbers or whatever. We have go love them but we don’t have to approve of what they do.
http://john-s-allen.com John S. Allen

The recording of Zora Neale Hurston played at the end of the program was played at a higher speed than it was recorded, giving an inaccurate impression of her voice. That was apparent in casual listening, and confirmed when I turned it up so I could hear the power-supply hum in the recording.
Joe

I applaud the efforts of Dan and Terry to reach out to despairing gay teens. No human being should be battered with prejudice. However, this interview illustrates a textbook example of prejudicial thinking. I challenge both Dan and Terry to really acquaint themselves with some of the people they deride as “Christians”. The view they have of Christians is really a very easy reflexive stereotype. I challenge you guys, get to know some real Christians. I happen to be one, and know lots of others, and real Christians are nothing like what you portray. The folks who are harming gay youth -ARE NOT CHRISTIANS-. I challenge you to broaden your horizons.
It’s not acceptable for anyone to make blanket assertions about a group of people -any group- of people. This is prejudice, and I cannot understand why, if you endure it, you would blanket others with it. Prejudice exists in the hearts of all people to one degree or another, and the greatest tool you can employ in overcoming it is…
-the mirror-.
Jean c. Zappia

I enjoy you show each day here in eastern N.C.. Do you think you could do a show or blurb in defense of our American Mustangs that are being threatened by our own government. all the horse lovers do not know how bad it really is for the mustangs. Thanks
Sue Smith

I appreciate the work Dan Savage is doing to offer hope to gay teens. However, I am offended by his reference during your interview to “homophobic teachers.” Is he unaware of how much work teachers have done on the behalf of their gay students, from incorporating tolerance into their curriculum to starting gay and lesbian support groups and alliances?
Amanda

Dan Savage has many valid points about the abusive treatment of gays as well as regarding hypocrisy within many Christian churches. I find, however, that this issue is not black & white– I am a Christian, who finds the bullying and abuse of gays appalling, who believes individuals have the right to choose their own lifestyle, who has close friends who are gay and yet, I still find homosexuality problematic based on my theological beliefs. To have an intellectual difference of opinion is not the same as hating or being homophobic. I feel no hate, no fear, no desire to shun or shame gays, I just have a different belief. There are many others like me but this point of view is almost never depicted in the media.
Frog

Health care reform: The only place I hear about “Death panels” is in the major media (including NPR). Around my watercooler we talk about how bad the economy is and wonder how much our health premiums will be going up in January. Now I’m starting to think this whole “Death Panel” canard is thrown into many discussions of health care to marginalize those opposed to the to current plan. Many, like me see cost control as a major problem with health care and I see no evidence that the current reforms will do anything to slow down the acceleration. In fact, we see a huge bill that is going to come due long after President Obama leaves office.
Dianne Petro

Listening in utter frustration to the report card on the health care reform. We are in our 60′s and on retiree health care and now discovering that several of the most useful provisions of the reform are NOT being allowed to us! We’ve been kicked by our country for the last couple of years and now we’re being kicked even harder. We worked long years to reach retirement, WHY are we being penalized on our health care??!! PLEASE INVESTIGATE FOR US!!
Beverly Mire

With all due respect to Dan Savage, I was very disappointed when he said, and I paraphrase, that straight teens have a better support system at home.
He should know that all-too-often that isn’t the case, and he should absolutely know that kids of color–both straight and gay–face crippling psychological abuse.
I’m an older woman of color who has never recovered from bullying at the hands of my peers. To this day I can’t believe the people who love me actually do, and constantly question how they can.
Mr. Savage deserves praise for what he’s doing for gay youth, but he should open his eyes to what’s going on outside his “community”.

Beverly Mire
Joe

Please Dan, don’t bash Christians in such a prejudicial way. Not all Christians are hypocrites, that should be obvious. Believe it or not, we are on the same side. Tolerance is for everyone, not just for those within your sphere of experience.
Karyn Miller-Medzon

Hi Frog,
This is Karyn Miller-Medzon, a producer with Here and Now.
Sorry that we didn’t include a source for the mention of “Death Panels” in our interview with health care analyst Jacob Hacker.
An NBC poll from August showed that 45-percent of respondents believed the president’s new law would include “death panels” (empowered to make end of life decisions).
Similarly, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey from late September showed that confusion over the new health law has risen to its highest point since April, with 53 percent of Americans saying they’re confused about health reform in general, and three in ten seniors saying they believed the law will permit government panels to make decisions about end-of-life care for Medicare recipients.
Marietta Biot

I have had the pleasure of reading “Zora and Me” and now I have experienced listening to the authors. I find them as fascinating as the novel.
Natalie Thomson

I too was listening to the program yesterday and took great issue with the comment that people who cheat on their spouses are still considered “good Christians.” I am a Christian, and I can say with certainty that a sin is a sin according to the Bible. Any “Christian” who thinks cheating on a spouse with a heterosexual partner is acceptable (or at least not despicable) needs to actually open the Bible. What disturbed me so much about the segment on the show was that this kind of blanket rhetoric about Christians as prejudiced, morality police goes unchecked by show hosts. I would encourage NPR hosts to challenge blanket stereotypes about Christians the way they would if such views were espoused about other religions, races, etc. I agree with others who have written in that any person who is hateful, rude, or violent toward homosexual people is not acting in a Christian manner. Christ calls us to love one another even when we disagree with one another. I do not have to agree with the lifestyle of people who are homosexual, but Christ still calls me to have love for them. I hope that NPR hosts will listen to members of their audience who are Christian and who are tired of hearing one-sided, stereotypical descriptions of our faith.
Jeff Newton

Just to give the Christians who have commented on here a reality check. You are the types of Christians Dan is talking about if you even just once vote against any policy seeking to give gays the same rights (i.e. MARRIAGE) as straights. After all, how hateful is it to say to someone they can’t marry the gender they biologically fall in love with because, as a Christian, you say no.

How many kids internalize that? Luckily as a 26 year old, I am wise enough to know my self worth and rightfully get pis**d off at those kind of “Christians”.
Rebecca Kell

Every time I hear a Christian say they’re not prejudiced or homophobic, but then go on to say that they “don’t agree with the lifestyle” or “find homosexuality problematic” I have to laugh. It’s like saying “I’m not anti-Jewish, but I don’t agree with their lifestyle; I find Judaism problematic” They’re both being bigoted. If you have to qualify your tolerance for a group with the reasons you don’t like them, that’s bigotry. Stop trying to kid yourself. If you don’t want to be a bigot, stop being a bigot. If you can’t stop, own up to your bigotry.
Natalie Thomson

To those who think disagreeing with something is the same as being bigoted, let me say this: If you didn’t disagree with something about Judaism (or Islam or Christianity, etc.), you would convert. Obviously, something is keeping you from doing so, and I would argue it’s because you disagree with something about those religions. So, does that make you a bigot?
Why are you allowed to bash Christians without being considered a bigot? To those who talk about complete tolerance toward all people and all points of view, how tolerant are you toward Christians?