Two-fer Tuesday: Romney wins Michigan and Arizona. SAG and AFTRA send merger ballots, as law suit aims to block the vote. Midwest storm system results in deaths. Friendly tips from Asian Americans for sports journalists. Sadie Hawkins Day: Why most women still say “I don’t” to popping the question.
Two-fer Tuesday: Romney wins Michigan and Arizona
Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have turned the Republican nomination for president into a two-man race, leaving Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich in the dust. Today we have winners in two key states, Arizona and the much-discussed Michigan primary.
The Great Lakes State is Mitt Romney’s home state and his father served as Governor there. Romney needed a win to maintain momentum, even more than he needed the delegates. Romney squeaked this one out, taking 41 percent of the vote to Rick Santorum’s 37 percent.
But Sanoturm saw the close vote as a big win for himself. In fact, if you were listening to Santorum’s post-election speech, you might not have noticed it was a concession. Arizona was more cut and dried with Romney taking it 47 to 26.
WEIGH IN:
So, what do the results mean with Super Tuesday on the horizon? Who has momentum going into the next round of nominating contests? Will Paul and Gingrich remain in the race even after big losses in two more states? And, what’s the likelihood of a brokered convention this summer?
Guests:
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama advisor in 2008, now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group.
SAG and AFTRA send merger ballots as lawsuit aims to block the vote
Two labor unions that support the Hollywood entertainment industry sent ballots this week to about 131,000 members of each organization, seeking approval of a proposed merger. SAG and AFTRA have tried — and failed — to join forces twice since the late 1990s. But this time, 87 percent of SAG’s Board of Directors supports the merger, as do celebs like George Clooney, Glenn Close and Tom Hanks.
Not everyone’s on board though. Dozens of members who oppose the merger filed suit last week accusing the Guild’s Board of Directors of not giving members enough information about the merger’s true impact, especially in terms of pension and health benefits. Plaintiffs include actors Martin Sheen, Valerie Harper and Anne Marie Johnson, as well as former SAG Presidents Ed Asner and Alan Rosenberg.
They argue that the Guild has done nothing to support its claims that the benefits of average SAG members, who make less than $10,000 per year, will be protected. SAG and AFTRA reps say voting members have all the information they need to make an informed decision about the merger, including a pension and health feasibility study published online and sent along with ballots. Only 60 percent of the unions’ members must vote yes, to ratify the merger and members have until March 30 to return their ballots.
WEIGH IN:
Will the two entertainment unions finally become one? Or will merger opponents manage to block the vote? What are the key issues that might stand in the way?
Guests:
Ned Vaughn, 1st Vice President and Chair of the Hollywood Division, Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
Anne-Marie Johnson, a 14-year Screen Actors Guild national board member and former 1st Vice President; actress and star of several hit television series and features
Midwest storm system results in deaths
Several deaths have occurred in two states due to a storm system in the Midwest. Tornado watches were issued in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri, with the latter two states suffering the most. A tornado in Harrisburg, Illinois ended up killing six people, injuring over 100 and damaging nearly 300 houses. Missouri accounted for two deaths, with one victim being thrown out of a mobile home during the storm. Kansas is feeling the brunt as well, with a state of emergency being declared in Harveyville. Is the weather abating in the area? What relief efforts are being made?
Guest:
Jennifer Fuller, reporter for WSIU, Southern Illinois Public Radio
Friendly tips from Asian Americans for sports journalists
Would you be surprised to learn that break-out basketball star Jeremy Lin is Asian American? Doubtful. Because in nearly all the coverage of the New York Knicks player's rapid ascension as savior for the team, his ethnicity floats pretty high to the top of any story.
It bubbled over when a few sports journalists used the phrase "chink in the armor" to describe a rare faltering performance by Lin in recent weeks. The ESPN journalist who wrote it was fired. Another was suspended.
In reaction to it all, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) has issued guidelines for coverage of Lin. In a media advisory, they write, "AAJA has noticed...an alarming number of references that rely on stereotypes about Asians or Asian Americans." It goes on to clarify Lin's precise biographical background (for one, he's Asian American, not Asian -- he grew up here, unlike Yao Ming, so best to avoid that comparison).
The guidelines upend stereotypes and warn of "danger zones" including phrasings such as "Me love you Lin Time." It was the AAAJ that flagged its concerns about ESPN reporters using the phrase "chink in the armor." The sports network is trying to stay in front of the controversy.
This week, ESPN's "First Take" talk show asked whether society has become oversensitive with race. Sportscaster Stephen Smith shouted, "In this whole Jeremy Lin situation, there have been things that have come up that I had no idea was offensive at all!"
WEIGH IN:
What have journalists gotten right and wrong on the story of Jeremy Lin? Why the "Linsanity" in the first place? What are all the "danger zones" from the AAAJ? What are yours? And what's fair game?
Guest:
Doris Truong, National President, Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA); multiplatform editor, The Washington Post
Bachelors beware, it's Sadie Hawkins Day
Modern times be damned, there is still just one day every four years when a woman can propose marriage to her man. The Leap Day tradition of gender-role reversals dates back to the 17th century, according to the Wall Street Journal, when a woman could "pitch woo." If a man took a pass, consolation came in the form of money, a smooch, or perhaps a pretty dress.
In the 1930s, an ugly bachelorette character from the comic strip "Li'l Abner" inspired a name for day. Sadie Hawkins was desperate for a mate. Her wealthy father organized races where single men run, chased by single woman who they'd be forced to marry if caught. Drats! Oddly, grooms-to-be on bended knee is not exactly traditional either.
Marriage expert, Stephanie Coontz, tells KPCC, "Through much of history, especially for the upper middle classes and higher, proposals were negotiated with parents." For many cultures that is still the norm. Coontz adds, "Today the idea that the man proposes seems to be especially persistent despite all the other changes in gender relations, even though in fact, as far as I can see (and we don't have a lot of hard evidence) most 'proposals' have been a product of negotiation between couples."
WEIGH IN:
Hey ladies, will you take advantage of this centuries-old tradition? Would you dare ask a man on a date, for a dance, for his hand? How do guys react to a gal popping the question?
Guest:
Stephanie Coontz, teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington; Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Families; Author "A Strange Stirring": The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s (Basic Books, 2011) & “Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage” (Viking Press, 2005).