Perspective Podcast - August 19, 2011

In this edition of Perspective ...

Campaign Season Kicks Off
The President this week completed a three day bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois hoping to recapture the magic that sent him to the White House.  It won't be easy as polls put his approval rating at an all time low of 39 percent.  The White House insisted that he was not campaigning, but rather was just "doing what president's do."  ABC's Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper was on the road with the president as the campaign season kicked into full swing.

Aruba Disappearance
It has been more than two weeks since Robyn Gardner, a 35 year-old Maryland woman, disappeared after traveling to Aruba with a man she met online.  He is now under arrest and his troublesome past is coming to light.  ABC's Matt Gutman reports from Aruba.

Babies For Sale
Selling babies is a crime that happens every day on the international black market.  It has become as technologically sophisticated as it is highly profitable.  We're going to introduce you to a powerful woman, a single mother on a quest to adopt a sibling for her daughter, but she stumbled onto this underground world and what she did next is breath-taking.  ABC's Dan Harris has the story.

The Watch Owls
At a time when belts and budgets need tightening, certain cutbacks have startling consequences.  There is no better example than one bankrupt California community forced to slash its police force.  In no time, cops on the beat have been replaced by prostitutes working their streets - and the first line of defense?  Fed up citizens.  Here's ABC's Neal Karlinksy   

Psychic Detectives
For true believers, psychics possess mystical, but very real powers, but for skeptics, psychics are something much less magical - they're hucksters who use parlor tricks to scam people and sometimes hurt them.  Here's ABC's Juju Chang.

Ex-Boyfriend Bling
Diamonds are forever - even when the relationship isn't.  After a painful break-up, the sentimental value of jewelry that was given as a gift may be tarnished, but that does not mean the jewelry isn't still valuable to somebody.  That's where the auction websites we're about to tell you about come in.  Every day they take heartbreak and turn it into consolation cash.  Here's ABC's Andrea Canning.

Google's Answer To The iPhone
Apple, Google and Microsoft - the three titans of technology right now - are locked in a battle for control of your smart phone.  Betting that in the not-too-distant future, all of us will be getting all of our information, and much of our entertainment, from our mobile devices.  In fact, Google announced this week it's betting 12.5 billion dollars on that with a deal to acquire cell phone giant Motorola.  The smart phone wars just got more interesting.  Here's ABC's Neal Karlinsky.

Host:  Cheri Preston
Producer:  Ryan Kessler

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Perspective Podcast, August 12, 2011

In this week's edition of Perspective...

London Riots.
This week London became a city torn apart by chaos and violence.  The perpetrators - mainly young men, seemingly bent on looting and vandalism.  The first protesters took to the street after a police shooting last weekend, but the question of motive for the gatherings appeared to have gotten lost amid the destruction   ABC's Jeffrey Kofman was there.

Missing Woman in Aruba.
An American woman missing in Aruba - it might sound like a headline from six years ago back when Alabama student Natalie Holloway disappeared on that Caribbean island and was never seen again - but now a second woman has vanished there and this time the case is complicated by the fact that those closest to her - including her live-in boyfriend back home in Maryland - didn't even know she was taking the trip.  Here's ABC Matt Gutman in Aruba.

Tough Love for the President.
"A true friend stabs you in the front" Oscar Wilde supposedly quipped.  If that's the case, President Obama has a couple of true friends in Professor Cornell West and talk show host Tavis Smiley - who are so frustrated with the man they helped get elected, that they've taken their critique on the road.  Here's ABC's Senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper.

Where the Jobs Are.
Payrolls expanded by 117,000 jobs in July as unemployment fell to 9.1 percent.  A modest improvement, but part of the problem is the skills gap across the country - in Silicon Valley in particular.  Good help is so hard to find in the tech sector, that companies are tripping over themselves to offer cash, cool perks and swank offices.  But who are they looking for exactly?  Here's ABC's Neal Karlinsky.

Lap Band Surgery.
Last year there was only one state in the nation with an obesity rate less than 20 percent - Colorado.  Shocking, especially when you consider that just 15 years ago, there were zero states with a 20 percent obesity rate.  The epidemic has spawned an aggressive search for new treatments, including different forms of surgery that radically alter the way patients eat food.  Could expanding one such surgery to millions more Americans help ease our epidemic?  ABC's Bill Weir went to find out.

Pop Star Boot Camp.
If your average day consists of pacing stages, dancing vigorously, and then sprinting from hoards of tweens, you'd better be in shape.  And if you're among the lucky few aspiring pop stars with the talent to get into the boot camp we're about to tell you about, oh you *will* get in shape.  Here's ABC's Juju Chang.

The Futurist.
Some experts have predictions for the future down to a science - they're known as futurists.  The world's foremost futurist has some controversial concepts for communicating with the dead and even beating death!  He tells ABC's John Berman what he thinks is going to happen next.

Host:  Cheri Preston
Producer:  Ryan Kessler

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Perspective Podcast - August 5, 2011

In this edition of Perspective ...

An Imperfect Debt Deal.
There was high political drama this week in our nation's capital.  Democrats and Republicans finally came together to pass a bill which raised the debt limit and cut spending and may have prevented an economic catastrophe.  But there was plenty of grumbling.  A "bitter pill" is how many political leaders, on both sides of the aisle, described the bill.  ABC's Diane Sawyer was in the capital as the debt clock ticked down.

Gabby Giffords Returns To Congress.
It was a scene of stirring courage and patriotism as congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from a gun shot wound to the head she suffered in January, stunned her colleagues by casting a vote to help end the debt crisis.  For just a moment, she brought a divided government together.  Here's ABC's Terry Moran.

D.B. Cooper Mystery Solved?
There could be a break in one of the most intriguing cold cases in our country's history.  In the early 1970's, a hijacker calling himself D-B Cooper jumped from an airliner in flight carrying 200 thousand bucks in ransom cash and disappeared in the woods of the pacific northwest.  His fate remained unknown, his true identity a mystery... perhaps until now... thanks to this exclusive interview with ABC's Pierre Thomas.

New Hampshire Murder Mystery.
It is a strange, sad case out of New Hampshire.  A missing 11 year-old girl was found dead this week - her body discovered in a river not far from her home.  Celina Cass's home town is so small, and her disappearance so shocking, police have planned to interview every person in town.  From West Stewartstown, New Hampshire, ABC's Ron Claiborne brings us the story.

New Revelations on the Garridos.
The story of Jaycee Dugard shocked the nation and revealed the failures of the country's legal system in dealing with sexual predators.  Kidnapped when she was just 11 years old, Jaycee Dugard was held captive for 18 years - a prisoner of Philip and Nancy Garrido.  Probation officers visited the home repeatedly, but they never found the missing girl.  This week, the prosecutor in the case released disturbing new home movies that show how Nancy Garrido stalked and videotaped other children to fulfill her husband's perverse desires.  ABC's David Wright has the story from California.

The Gluten-Free Diet.
For some people who suffer from a genetic condition called Celiac disease, eating starchy foods that contain the protein gluten can make them sick.  So for many people, a gluten-free diet has become the latest craze.  This week the government announced new guidelines about what foods can be labeled "gluten-free."  But is a gluten-free diet safe for everyone?  ABC's Terry Moran went to find out.

The Benefits of Meditation.
Meditation... it's not just for "yogis" anymore.  Scientists have proven its positive effects on the brain.  ABC's Dan Harris has the tips and facts to make you go "ohmmm."

Magic Trip.
In the early 1960's, Ken Kesey, the famed author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," set off on a legendary, LSD-fueled cross-country road trip to the New York World's Fair.  He was joined by "The Merry Band of Pranksters," a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers.  Aboard a psychedelic Magic Bus, they set out to make a documentary about their trip, but the film was never finished and the footage has remained virtually unseen until now.  ABC News Radio Entertainment Correspondent Bill Diehl has our ticket for a very bizarre bus ride back in time.

Host:  Cheri Preston
Producer:  Ryan Kessler

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