Today on AirTalk, we remember Margaret Thatcher and discuss the legacy she left behind. We'll also talk about outdoor hockey and resale of digital products. Later, we'll consider the impact joining the Powerball lottery could have on California, debate the issue of whether to hire smokers, and look at how Annette Funicello went from Mouseketeer to pop culture icon.
The legacy of the Iron Lady
Margaret Thatcher, one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, has died at age 87. As British prime minister in the 1980s, Thatcher's decisive policies altered much of the United Kingdom and rippled around the world. Her conservative agenda reformed England's economy - privatizing major industries and strong-arming unions.
Today, British PM David Cameron credited Thatcher as the greatest British prime minister during peacetime. "[She] didn't just lead our country. She saved our country," Cameron said. President Barack Obama today highlighted her steadfast relationship with the United States in "standing shoulder to shoulder" with President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War. Her partnership with Reagan and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev helped bring down the Iron Curtain.
Why were Thatcher and Reagan able to forge such a friendship? How did they create and sculpt neoconservative ideology? How did she affect U.S. contemporary politics and policy?
Guests:
Dame Barbara Hay, British Consul-General in Los Angeles; Hay served as a UK foreign service officer in Moscow during the Cold War
Andrew Benton, President of Pepperdine University; teaches constitutional law; Pepperdine presented Thatcher with an honorary doctorate in 2008
Plans in the works for a Kings-Ducks hockey game at Dodger Stadium
Helene Elliott of the LA Times reports that the NHL is close to finalizing an outdoor hockey game in 2014 between the two SoCal hockey rivals. The NHL has been reticent about hosting an outdoor game in a warm weather city -- in 1991 the Kings played an exhibition game on an outdoor rink outside of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas amid upper 80’s temperature and the rink was overrun by grasshoppers -- but the plan is to hold the game at night in January, and with improved technology (the NHL has a portable rink they use at outdoor games) the ice should keep a strong game condition.
Is outdoor hockey a fun idea, or a gimmick? Would you like to see the Kings and the Ducks face off at Dodger Stadium?
Guest:
Bob Miller, LA Kings play-by-play announcer since 1973
Does selling 'used' digital music equal piracy?
A federal judge in New York has declared that a website that provides a secondary market for digital music is unlawfully infringing on original copyrights. The ruling is aimed at a company called in ReDigi, which in late 2011 opened a platform for people to upload and resell music files once legally purchased from retailers like iTunes.
The case was a litmus test for whether the first sale doctrine - a legal principle allowing owners of copies of books and music to freely resell them - would apply to digital media. The judge ruled that in this case, an illegal reproduction was still taking place. ReDigi claims that their software does not make a copy of a digital file, and that the original uploaded file becomes unavailable to the seller once the transaction is made.
Will digital resale companies find a way past this ruling? Does reselling digital music infringe on copyrights?
Guest:
Alex Sayf Cummings, assistant professor in Georgia State University’s department of history and author of his soon-to-be released book “Democracy of Sound: Music Piracy and the remaking of American copyright in the Twentieth Century”
Powerball lottery comes to California
California becomes the 43rd state to join the Powerball lottery today, giving residents the chance to play for a jackpot that starts at $40 million and can rise to hundreds of millions of dollars. Tickets for the Powerball lottery cost $2 instead of the usual $1, and drawings will be held every Wednesday.
This week’s jackpot is estimated to reach $60 million – the odds of winning Powerball are 1 in 175,223,510.California’s entry into the Powerball game is expected to generate $90 million t0 $120 million for the state, some of which would go into education funding.
Is the lottery a fool’s game? Will Powerball money have a significant impact on California schools? Will you play the game?
Guests:
Elias Dominguez, spokesperson for CA Lottery
Jonathan Kaplan, senior policy analyst at the California Budget Project
Smoking could be hazardous to your job - should employers be allowed to discriminate against smokers?
As if there weren’t enough impediments to landing a job these days. A growing national trend has some employers – predominantly health care institutions – deeming those who admit to being tobacco users candidates-non-grata. Twenty-nine states, including California, have laws prohibiting discriminatory hiring based on legal activity, and as of this writing, smoking is still legal throughout the U.S. But in those who don’t, employers are free to cite being smoke-free as a condition of employment.
The latest to adopt the policy is the University of Pennsylvania Health Care System; their website calls it a step “toward a tobacco free future” and lists improving worker health and reducing insurance costs among the reasons. Candidates are required to attest on their application that they don’t light up, with falsified information grounds for termination. Civil rights advocates call the policy invasive and discriminatory.
What’s next, you might ask? What other potentially harmful yet legal activities could violate future company policies - drinking, swimming, running barefoot? Does a non-smoking workforce really translate into saved costs for employers? Should people be encouraged to kick the habit with sticks rather than carrots? Should California amend its current law to allow for a ban on hiring smokers?
Guests:
Dave Fotsch, Public Information Officer, Idaho Central District Health Department
Lewis Maltby, President, National Workrights Institute
Annette Funicello, from Mouseketeer to pop culture icon
Original Disney Mouseketeer Annette Funicello died today at the age of 70 from complications of multiple sclerosis. Funicello was discovered by Walt Disney while dancing in a school production of "Swan Lake" at age 12. She went on to star in "The Mickey Mouse Club" and her own Disney series, "Annette," before becoming an icon of the emerging youth culture with a series of drive-in-bound "beach" movies such as "Muscle Beach Party" and "Beach Blanket Bingo."
After a long career acting and singing, she was diagnosed with MS in 1987, and later became an advocate, raising money for research for neurological disease.
Guest:
Susan King, Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter, writes the Classic Hollywood column