Since President Barack Obama’s election into office, health care reform has been a topic of heated debate among Democrats and Republicans. So this week’s Eye on the Triangle focused on this issue in several of our segments, giving both the Democratic and Republican perspective, as well as opinions from around the University and opinions from locals. If you missed the show, you can listen to the clips below, and you can also get more information on our interviewees and topics here. And if you are tired of hearing about the health care debate (though our segments are unique and a must-hear!), be sure to at least check out our Wolfpacker of the Week segment.
VIP:
Thanks to some of our friends’ connections in the political scene, Eye on the Triangle’s Adam Compton and Saja Hindi spoke to U.S. Congressman David Price (D), serving N.C. district 4, and the spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party Jordan Shaw by phone about each of the party’s stances on the proposed health care reforms.
N.C. GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer was scheduled to do an interview but canceled at the last minute due to a pending knee surgery.
You can watch a N.C. GOP video here on criticisms of the proposed reforms. You can also read a response from the N.C. Democratic Party on the president’s health insurance reform speech here.
Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs Steven Greene also gave his Eye on the Triangle his own analysis of the health care debate, a topic he has been discussing in his classes this semester.
We also replayed Soundbytes from Sept. 7’s EOT about students’ opinions on health care reform.
COMMUNITY CANVAS
EOT’s Kelly Reid talked to local musician and licensed insurance holder Alex Maiolo about his role in leading HINT, Health Insurance Navigational Tool, which is part of the Future of Music Coalition, where according to Maiolo, “policy and law and music all sort of intersect – that’s where we are. Things that happen on Capitol Hill that affect musicians, that’s what we’re interested in.” Maiolo said his focus is on the health care crisis in the musicians’ community.
HEAR THIS
This segment was not free of a health care reform spin either. EOT’s Jacob Downey interviewed Mike McDonald, organizer of the Tom Cushman benefit concert scheduled for Sept. 27, from 3 p.m. to about 2 a.m. at White Collar Crime . Cushman, a local musician and veteran of the first Gulf War, was hospitalized for pneumonia a few months ago, two weeks later hospitalized again due to lung failure and was admitted once again to the hospital last week. Eleven bands will be playing at the benefit concert to raise money for Cushman, who doesn’t have health insurance, to pay his bills. Read the Indy’s article for more.
The song clips played in between segments of the show all came from songs from bands playing at the concert.
WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK
Wolfpacker of the Week, 2005 alumnus in English Language, Writing and Rhetoric Ben McNeely talked to us by phone about his new project, Modern Film Fest taking place Sept. 25 to 27. You can follow @modernfilmfest on Twitter for more information. Attached are some photos of the venue (courtesy Creative Commons, Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic) as well as the co-directors.
Check back for updates about next week’s show. Send your ideas, comments, questions, suggestions and complaints to publicaffairs@wknc.org.
Listen to episode 5.
