June 26th Show
The news coming out of Iraq seems to be positive. The number of roadside bombs declined by almost 90% over the last year, most provinces in the country have averaged less than one attack per day, and the job of the U.S. military has gone from controlling the insurgency in some places to peacekeeping. But is overall security better? And have there been related economic and political improvements? What about the most basic services for civilians? In other words -- IS Iraq better? In our first hour, the chief military correspondent for The New York Times and and the director of International Affairs and Trade at the Government Accountability Office talk about the situation in Iraq... really. At the end of the first hour, we'll talk about something that has actually happened to me. A friend of mine sent out her wedding invitations, and on it, she said something to the effect of "gifts not necessary, monetary contributions welcome." Kind of threw me until I took into account that both my friend and her fiance were in their late 30s, homeowners and basically wanting for nothing. My mom, on the other hand, had three words to say about her request: TACKY, TACKY, TACKY!!! So what do you think? Taking into account that this economy is horrendous, where on the etiquette scale should a couple asking for their guests to pay for their wedding fall? Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson will put in her two cents. (woo, bad pun! sorry about that, folks.)
In our second hour, we'll talk about a day in the life of a stand up comic. Comedians Richard Lewis and "Last Comic Standing" semi-finalist Esther Ku talk about what life is really like day in and day out on the quest to snag that big break into show business. Following that, we'll switch gears and talk about the 17 teenage girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts who allegedly got together to form a "pregnancy pact." The story has since been disputed by families of the girls and by the mayor. However, the latest nationwide statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does show that the teen birth rate rose 3-percent from 2005 to 2006. Sarah Brown, director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, talks about intended and unintended teen pregnancy, and why it's on the rise.
12:32 PM ET | 06-26-2008 | permalink
