Should Judge Vaughn Walker have recused himself in his Prop 8 ruling? Football fight - NFL players score a labor victory off the field. Tavis Smiley - how can failure beget success? WikiLeaks and the Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Virtual dog fighting - does it motivate or discourage the real thing? Susie Bright, the Godmother of erotica, opens up even more.
Proposition 8 supporters call for judge’s decision to be voided
The California Marriage Protection Act, which bans same-sex marriages in California, passed in 2008 despite protestations from gay rights activists. Last year in federal court, Judge Vaughn Walker, now retired, ruled that the measure was unconstitutional. Now ProtectMarriage, the organization that led the charge against same-sex marriage, has filed court papers asking that Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision be overturned. Why? Because he failed to disclose during the trial that he was in a long-term same-sex relationship, which, they claim, meant that he could personally benefit from the outcome of the trial. The move brings up the question of whether judges should recuse themselves for personal reasons. What personal experience or circumstances constitute conflicts of interest for judges? Do you think ProtectMarriage has a reasonable case?
Guest:
Rick Jacobs, Chair and Founder of the Courage Campaign
Steve Crampton, General Counsel for Liberty Council
Football fight at the bargaining table
The National Football League players scored a major victory off the field on Monday in their labor dispute with team owners. After bargaining talks broke down last month, owners locked out the players union. So the players changed their strategy entirely and launched an anti-trust suit against the owners. But they could only sue if the players union was allowed by law to disband or de-certify. Yesterday a judge granted NFL players the right to do just that. With the season beginning soon will this decision force the owners back to the bargaining table? If the labor dispute drags on, how would that affect the NFL season?
Guest:
Jason Cole, NFL Writer for Yahoo! Sports
How can failure beget success?
Radio and television broadcaster Tavis Smiley made Time magazine’s 2009 list of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People.” However, it was only a few years prior to this, on his 40th birthday, that he faced an existential crisis and feared he would die a failure. This led to some serious introspection, and Smiley realized how large a role one’s failures play in his or her overall success. Smiley’s new book Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure, is his effort to impart the wisdom he’s gleaned to others. Using accounts from his personal life, as well as historical and modern day examples, Smiley shows how a wrong turn can eventually lead you down the right path. What defining moments does he consider his biggest missed opportunities? When in your life have you been able to get back on the horse after falling off?
Guest:
Tavis Smiley, author of Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure, . He is also the host of Tavis Smiley on PBS and The Tavis Smiley Show distributed by PRI. His previous books include Covenant with Black America, which reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
WikiLeaks and the Guantanamo Bay prisoners
There has been another major leak of military secrets care of the Wikileaks organization this week. Several hundred documents exposed details about what goes on at the controversial Guantanamo Bay military prison. There's a little something in this leak for everyone who has an opinion on Guantanamo, critics and supporters alike. The leaked documents show why certain detainees are classified as high risk threats to the United States, but the files also reveal shoddy investigations that locked up innocent men for years. The Pentagon condemns the leaks and the media coverage, saying it could compromise American security. Does the new information change your mind about Guantanamo prison? What should be the fate of the so-called high risk threats? The dossiers on the detainees show a lot of contradictory findings and flawed investigations -- how should the administration respond to that?
Guest:
Tom Gjelten, Correspondent for National Public Radio
Virtual dog fighting: will it motivate or discourage people from doing the real thing?
Dog fighting is coming to a new arena, an app for the android platform allows users to raise and fight virtual pit bulls in epic, bloody battles. You can even inject your virtual dog with steroids and the game supplies players with a gun in case of a police raid. Not surprisingly, the backlash from the animal rights community and law enforcement has been swift and vociferous. They say the app should be yanked because it can be used to recruit potential dog fighters and even help them learn the ins and outs of the business. Animal rights groups point out that the app reinforces breed-specific stereotypes, which contributes to the negative image pit bulls have. The developers of the game aren’t talking. They’re an elusive group called Kage Games, a company that has no phone number, no address and no other contact but an email. They claim they’ve received death threats from animal rights activists. They also contend that what happens in the virtual world has no bearing on real life. But is that true? Does virtual dog fighting make people less likely to engage in the real behavior? Or, as the Los Angeles Police Protective League says, could this encourage real life dog fighting and be embraced by local gang members?
Guests:
Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States
Lawrence Walters, Attorney specializing in video game censorship
Susie Bright, the godmother of erotica, opens up even more
Titillating, arousing and salacious are words not normally ascribed to a writer’s memoir, unless, of course, that writer happens to be Susie Bright. Bright has been at the forefront of modern erotic literature since its inception during the Cultural Revolution. In Big Sex Little Death, the author recounts the arc of her life: indulging in Beatnik culture after her parents divorced, contributing to the underground paper, The Red Tide as a high school student, organizing for labor unions, and co-founding On Our Backs, the first erotic magazine ran by women for a lesbian audience. Truly a trailblazer in her field, Bright’s account shows a world of constant shifts and tumultuous progress, which no doubt influenced the woman who affected as much change as she saw herself. What role did sex play in Bright’s formative years as a person and as a writer? How did she earn the moniker “the Godmother of Erotica?”
Guest:
Susie Bright, author of Big Sex Little Death