Welcome !
This is the new "Ben Merens Blog," where you can share your thoughts and opinions about the topics covered each day on AT ISSUE.
AT ISSUE is broadcast statewide Monday - Friday, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm, on Wisconsin Public Radio. We cover it all: politics, world events, education, the environment, the economy, and more. And every hour I bring on a guest expert who KNOWS the issue inside and out.
Listen along, and then share your views with me, my guest, and other Wisconsin Public Radio listeners !
Ben Merens
Wisconsin Public Radio
Please note that this blog is here to allow you the opportuntiy to add to the discussion on topics covered on my program. If you would like to comment on other hosts' programs or Wisconsin Public Radio in general, please call our audience service department at 1-800-747-7444.
Thank You
posted by At Issue with Ben Merens @ 10:34 AM
16 comments
16 Comments:
Wisconsin Public Radio is my only souce of accurate news and information. Ben is the best. Keep up the good work.
Monday, September 11, 2006 Topics:
After four, Ben Merens invites listeners to share their memories and reflections on the five-year anniversary of the attacks of September eleven.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom that “everything changed” on nine-eleven, Ben Merens’ guest, after five, says the world didn't change that much the day America was attacked, but years earlier at the end of the cold war.
Guest: William Dobson, managing editor, Foreign Policy Magazine. Author of the article: “The Day Nothing Much Changed” www.foreignpolicy.com
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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Democrat Jim Doyle and Republican Mark Green face off tomorrow night in the first televised debate in the race for Wisconsin Governor. Today after four, Join Ben Merens and his guest to discuss the issues and preview the debate. Guest: Jeff Mayers, editor and president of WisPolitics.com. www.wispolitics.com
Ben Merens’ guest, after five, says the state should take over Milwaukee County government finances if the current fiscal crisis there can’t be fixed. Guest: Julia Taylor, president, Greater Milwaukee Committee www.gmconline.org
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Please ask your guest if the privatization of public highways is one of the ways that either canidates will use to balance the budget
Friday, September 15, 2006
Join Ben Merens for his weekly feature, Your Views on the News. Call in with your take on the week's news stories.
The common belief today is that we reach moral decisions through conscious reasoning about what society says is right or wrong. After five, Ben Merens’ guest disagrees with that idea, saying we do not determine our moral grammar, but are born with it.
Guest: Marc Hauser, professor of psychology, organismic and evolutionary biology, and biological anthropology at Harvard University. Director of the Cognitive Evolution Lab and co-director of the Mind, Brian and Behavior Program, Harvard University.
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Not only did David Limbaugh appear on the Wisconsin Ideas Network yesterday, but Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice appeared on Rush Limbaugh today. Maybe before the November election we can expect George W. Bush to appear on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and, for dessert, the men on QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY can surprise Justice Scalia with a personal make-over. A caller to Ben Merens' four o'clock show today commented that the blur between entertainment, information, and constructive discourse is becoming a serious media issue. I agree fully.
This afternoon I listened to "your Views on the News" while I was driving and sometimes getting out of the car to do some errands.
I didn't hear anyone else say this. The biggest news story of the week for me is that President Bush is trying to redefine the Geneva Convention and John Werner, Lindsay Graham, and John McCain are in favor of having our nation conform to the Geneva Convention
Hi Ben & Peter:
On Sept 7th, the La Crosse Tribune published an AP article describing another, newly discovered mechanism of global warming. As the Artic regions warm up and the permafrost thaws, methane which was formerly trapped in the frozen swamps, etc. bubbles out to the surface. Since methane is said to be 23 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, there is plenty of worrying going on. Also, there is a very large amount of soon to be melted permafrost in Alaska, Canada & Siberia.
It's doubtful that a whole show could be dedicated to this one mechanism of climate change. How about a show on climate change, describing some mechanisms where the earth will get be getting hotter and other mechanisms such as atmospheric aerosols that shade and cool the earth? There are lots of climate altering phenomena that Man is playing with and not all of them are CO2 related. A rundown of the various effects might be helpful. And it might help us understand why some people still fearing another ice age.
thanks,
Pete in La Crosse
RE:"that we reach moral decisions through conscious reasoning"
While it’s helpful to hear what professor Hauser is learning (thanks for the program) and the findings that point toward an instinctive basis of moral judgment, I was unconvinced (today anyway) by any larger conclusions that would tie the findings to decision making. That seems to be a leap.
What I heard was, when I make a “Judgment”, to the degree for me that Morality comes into play, my initial judgment is instinctive (as it is for my dog perhaps). However, the actual actions I take are not necessarily consistent with the instinctive, possibly universal, initial judgment. This is where I’m unconvinced by the ‘leap’ to “Action”. Action, for the mature, healthy mind is a long distance from that initial judgment. There is a light-year between them even when only seconds may span the two (although it could be days or weeks prior to actual “actions”). During that span, it seems undeniable that ethics are brought into play, a situational analysis of how that initial judgment should be acted upon.
All my combined learning, experience, imagination comes into play – and if it didn’t, if the action could be determined by the instinctive analysis alone, how would I be considered evolved (compared to my dog which might have similar instincts). While “Everything I Learned About Morals, My Dog Already Knew” might make a good book cover – at the end of the day, it’s just a hook.
While I agree that we should uncover the universal moral code for as many dilemmas as we can dream up, I think we will find the initial judgments to be less useful to determining what the proper action is to take than might be implied – after all, we already know those judgments in our hearts today and it hasn’t made things much clearer. Still, professor Hauser, I believe we will learn a good deal along the way and that’s a journey worth taking. Maybe that journey will help fill in the gaps I see in this discussion. We are right to start at the beginning, but we must also face the fact that the majority of society’s problems come from the “actions” taken and those actions are taken already with the full knowledge of the initial moral decision or judgments instinctually whispered in our ear.
Monday, September 18, 2006 Topics:
After five Ben Mernes and his guest examine terrorism... its origins, its goals, what to expect in the future, and what can be done to prevent it. Guest: Louise Richardson, executive dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Author, “What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat.”
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Topics:
After four, Ben Merens and his guest discuss what President Bush had to say earlier today in his address to the United Nations. Guest: Donald Betz, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He created and chaired the International Coordinating Committee on the Question of Palestine (ICCP), a UN-affiliated non-governmental organization (NGO) network pursuing peace in the Middle East based on UN resolutions.
Midwesteners are fed up with corrupt politics and distrust their state governments... but still believe reform is possible. After five, Ben Merens and his guest look at the latest research on campaign finance reform. Guest: Jay Heck, executive director, Common Cause Wisconsin. www.joycefdn.org
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Thursday, September 21, 2006
President Bush’s approval ratings are rising as gas prices are falling. Ben Merens’ guest, after four, says this is no coincidence but in reality the president has little to do with day-to-day trends in the economy. Guest: H. Sterling Burnett, Senior Fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis
After five, Ben Merens' guest liberal says Michael Moore is the Ann Coulter of the left, sabotaging his own credibility and the causes he promotes. Guest: Jesse Larner, author, "Forgive Us Our Spins: Michael Moore and the Future of the Left" (Wiley)
Share Your Thoughts and Opinions on the Issues
from Pete at La Crosse:
Gas in La Crosse is as of today down 80 cents from its peak in August. Crude oil is down $18/ barrel. Only 40 gallons of oil is contained in one barrel. $18/ 40 means that the raw material in a gallon of gas came down 45 cents. How come gas is down 80 cents?
It's a donation from the oil companies to make sure their buddy GBush is NOT held to task during the November elections because fuel costs are out of sight.
This donation from the oil companies will disappear as soon as the election is past. We are stocking up. Gas won't be this cheap again until the 2008 election.
Fellow Ideas Network listeners:
For all of you who dedicate your time to careful research of candidates and their voting records, allow me to suggest a wonderful website I discovered.
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm
I found this site on happenstance, going from link to link in conducting my own candidate research. I have no direct vested interest in sharing this site, I was just impressed and found it helpful.
AND, this could be a great source for preparing your questions for the Ideas Network candidate forums. I hope you like it.
Monday, September 25, 2006 Topics:
A judge will decide today whether Republican candidate for Governor Mark Green can use funds that were banned by the State Elections Board, after the board was lobbied by Jim Doyle's campaign. Ben Merens’ guest, after four, says all this focus on ethical questions might be just what independents need to decide this election. Guest: John McAdams, associate professor of political science, Marquette University.
This week, California may become the first state to pass legislation that would give all of their votes in the electoral college to the winner of the national popular vote for president. After five, Ben Merens talks with an advocate for this movement to nationalize presidential elections. Guest: Chris Pearson, member of the Vermont House of Representatives, board member, National Popular Vote, Inc. www.NationalPopularVote.com
Share Your Thoughts and Opinions on the Issues
I felt that Professor McAdams did not fully grasp the implications of the question I asked him on-air yesterday. So I have some follow-up questions for him.
Also, while I think having the "At Issue" blog is a great idea, I would suggest making each day's shows a new post, rather than as additional comments under one old post. That would make threaded conversations much easier.
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