Today on AirTalk we'll discuss the Florida GOP victory over voter eligibility, recall the 2009 Station Fire, take a bite out of genetically modified apples from Canada, consider whether or not there is such a thing as hands-free texting while driving, examine the case of a British Internet piracy enabler, and author Jesse Bering explains some of the mysteries of life, science and manhood.
Feds grant Florida right to access citizens list to purge ineligible voters
Republicans scored a political victory this weekend in their ongoing fight over voter eligibility and election fraud.
In Florida, Governor Rick Scott’s administration successfully sued the Homeland Security Department to access the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. This is a document which keeps track of foreigners with visas, green cards or other permits who live in the United States legally, but do not have the actual right to vote. Florida election officials plan on using this information to crosscheck voter rolls and purge ineligible names.
Republicans claim this is an effort to ensure that elections are fair and accurate, while Democrats stress that document voting fraud is rare and that this is a cynical effort to suppress voting among minority groups and those individuals in lower socio-economic strata. Still, this federal concession is not as worrisome to Democrats as the GOP’s call for photo identification to be necessary at the polls, due to the fact that many minorities simply don’t have it.
It should be noted that the new policy in Florida will not necessarily catch illegal immigrants who wound up on voter lists, because they do not have the same permits which are used to keep track of the names in the SAVE database.
So are these Republican efforts a form of disenfranchisement or a means of protecting the validity of elections? Is there a better way of going about making sure only those who can vote are allowed at the polls? With similar movements happening in pivotal election states all over the country, should California start looking at such a policy as well? Why or why not?
Guests:
Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow, Heritage Foundation
Rick Hasen, Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at
University of California Irvine School of Law and author of The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown (Yale University Press, August 2012)
Could the Station Fire happen again?
Wildfires have been sparking across the Southland this month. So far, only a relatively small acreage has been affected, but it's a reminder of the vulnerability in the SoCal region.
It's been almost three years since the devastating and deadly Station Fire, which started on August 26, 2009, and scorched large portions of San Gabriel County. Two firefighters were killed, more than 160,000 urban acres were burned and several homes were destroyed.
The Forest Service promised a report on what could have been done better — and whether night-time firefighting aviation should be part of its operations but has yet to deliver.
That doesn’t sit well with Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) who says his constituents need answers.
“It’s really mind-boggling to step back and realize that we’re three years now from the Station Fire and we still don’t have answers that we asked for three years ago,” said Schiff on AirTalk. “And that is the Forest Service gave up the capacity in the 1970s to fight fires at night and so they have to call in other agencies which may or may not be available.”
The Forest Service stopped flying in the 1970s after a tragic helicopter crash. Sciff feels that night-flying needs to be considered again.
“The technology has improved, the training is better. It’s more safe, it’s never going to be safe, but it’s more safe then it was 30 years ago,” Schiff claimed.
Schiff believes ultimately the Forest Service knows full well night-flying ought to be implemented, but that it’s worried about who will pay for the services. The Congressman said that one way or another we will have to pay because these fires aren’t going away.
The Forest Service was asked to comment and be on the program but declined.
UPDATE: After the show, the Forest Service issued the following statement:
Statement from National Director of Fire and Aviation Tom Harbour:
The Forest Service has been continuing its dialogue in regards to night flying, and the Forest Service continues its efforts in evaluating night flying.
Currently, the Forest Service is contracting for all daytime operations, relying upon cooperators for night firefighting operations and Incident EMS support. The Forest Service continues working with cooperator agencies in Southern California to provide helicopter night flying coverage for Forest Service fires.
In addition, the Forest Service is considering resumption of helicopter night operations to expand firefighting mission support using night vision and hoist equipped helicopters to provide 24-hour air support from two helicopter bases (helibases) in Southern California.
Weigh In:
Should the forest service have unleashed a more aggressive aerial attack? Is it time to make this standard practice? When it comes to battling big fires, would the benefits of night-flying outweigh the costs?
Guest:
Adam B. Schiff, (D-CA) Congressman representing California’s 29th district, which includes Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, Glendale, Griffith Park, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena, Temple City
No matter how you slice them, these apples won’t turn brown
Could a genetically modified apple change whether we reach for a piece of fruit or for a candy bar?
The Okanagan Specialty Fruit company has created apples that don’t brown after being sliced. The company says people are eating less apples and this new and improved fruit could make them popular again, just like baby carrots increased carrot eating.
Traditional apple growers are outraged and are fighting the introduction of this apple saying it will undermine the fruit’s healthful image. Consumers in the U.S. have been eating genetically modified foods since the 1990s, but most of them have been in ingredients of processed products, so will shoppers buy into eating a whole fruit?
Is this the best thing to happen to apples since pie? Or is this an abomination? When fruit’s modified to look good, what happens to how it tastes? What are the facts and fears around GM foods?
Guests:
Neal Carter, President, Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.
Nancy Foster, President and CEO, U.S. Apple Association
Governor Brown OKs hands-free texting, but is there such a thing?
Drivers still do it, but texting while driving has been illegal in California for more than three years. Now, Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law that will make it legal – as long as you don’t touch your phone.
Many mobile devices have speech recognition technology, such as the Siri feature on the iPhone, which allow people to send and receive text messages by dictation. This still requires some handling of the phone. But if your car features totally hands free technology, you will be within your legal rights to text while driving, starting January 1. The new law leaves some questions as to which devices will be legal. And some safety officials argue that texting while driving, by any method, makes the roads more dangerous.
Is Apple's voice-activated Siri command OK? Is it legal to look up and dial contacts on our mobile phones? If so, shouldn’t we be allowed to press one button to activate Siri while driving? How would police know the difference? Do enough cars have hands free technology now or is the technology not really there yet?
Guest:
Curt Augustine, Director of Policy and Government Affairs, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; the Alliance sponsored AB 1536
US seeks to extradite British piracy enabler
To some, he’s a video game-playing British college student who started a search engine out of his dorm room. To the U.S. Justice Department, he’s a felon who raked in big money — around $230,000 — pointing people to illegal download sites for American movies and TV shows.
The DOJ is trying to extradite 24-year-old Sheffield University student Richard O’Dwyer on criminal charges for creating TVShack.net. The site, which has since been taken down, didn’t host or distribute movies, but it did have links to “the most popular movies today” — and where to get them for free.
Prosecutors say that could net O’Dwyer ten years in prison. Meanwhile, supporters including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launched a campaign against extradition, with a petition that has reached over 225,000 signatures.
So was TVShack a gateway to piracy, or a search engine? Is O’Dwyer guilty of “aiding and abetting” thieves to download illegal content? If the DOJ is successful in making criminal charges stick, what does that mean for other online search sites? Can a search tool be held liable for what its users download?
“I wouldn’t want to condone copyright infringement but, having said that, we do need to try and preserve the freedom of the internet,” said Julia O’Dwyer, mother of Richard O’Dwyer, the computer science student up for extradition. “Despite that the website no longer exists, those places where [you were] directed to go and look at this material, they still exist on the internet. Closing down his site and prosecuting him has not gotten rid of that material that’s freely available on the internet.”
But Mike Robinson, executive vice president, and content protection and chief of operations at Motion Picture Association of America, disagrees. He says Richard O’Dwyer’s site was not merely a search engine but that the young Brit was actively “pursuing” and distributing the copyrighted material by providing links.
“If you went to that site, you would see that it clearly identified the most popular and available television shows and films that were still in theaters,” Robinson said. “Even though the domain’s name was seized twice by the U.S. Federal Government, Mr. O’Dwyer continued to engage in the activity.”
Robinson and the MPAA were proponents of SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, shot down earlier this year.
Attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mitch Stolz said prosecution of a middle-man like O’Dwyer is unheard of, describing it as “a stretch … an attempt to break new ground.” He said links are essentially speech and that any criminal prosecution of speech needs to be considered and evaluated critically.
Stolz said SOPA actually included, “a provision to criminalize infringing streaming of TV shows...which are exactly what the charges against Mr. O’Dwyer are.”
“It’s interesting that the U.S. government is going after someone, not even a U.S. citizen, for a crime the U.S. voters have pretty decisively rejected,” he said.
Listeners were split, some overwhelming supporting O’Dwyer while others believed he was just as accountable as those illegally uploading content.
“How is it that once a product is on the internet it is magically transformed into a free product? “ wrote John on AirTalk’s website. “Would it be alright if I posted a site that had links to another site that had visa and MasterCard numbers that were available for use, even though they belonged to another?”
But Brian from Moreno Valley called the case “ridiculous.”
“They’re trying to prosecute somebody who’s not forcing that person to click on the copyrighted or uncopyrighted material,” he said.
Robinson from the Motion Picture Association of America remained steadfast that the goal was to create “an internet that works for everyone, one that protects everyone’s freedom and protects the rights of the creators as well.”
Despite Robinson’s insistence, listeners and members of the online community seem unconvinced -- and frankly — undecided.
Guests:
Julia O’Dwyer, mother of Richard O’Dwyer
Mike Robinson, Executive Vice President, Content Protection and Chief of Operations, Motion Picture Association of America
Mitch Stoltz, staff attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Science author answers primary question of 12-year-old boys the world over
There are many questions in the world: what is the meaning of life? What is my motivation? And for men — and anyone else who views their nether regions — why is the penis shaped like that?
"I'm actually not a penis expert," points out Jesse Bering, scientist and author of "Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? And Other Reflections on Being Human." But, he acknowledges, "I've always been attracted and interested in these sort of inappropriate topics."
"These are the kind of things people wonder about, and really cut to the heart of being human," he says. "These are also the things people are afraid of discussing openly."
But, the male phallus is "just another body part" and its design is "just so revealing," according to Bering. He describes the appendage as a "specialized tool," one designed with the Darwinian goal of maximum procreation impact in a (fairly) short period of time. Most evolutionary psychologists hypothesize that humans "almost certainly" evolved to have more than one sexual partner over a 48 hour period.
However, the reason behind other evolutionary processes remain in the dark — including the female orgasm.
"If you think about it, women don't actually need to have an orgasm to conceive," acknowledges Bering, but, he points out, sex is generally more desirable when it feels good to both parties.
Although the book's titular essay is focused on the "sober and high-minded" issue of genitalia, it also wanders down side streets and alleys of bizarre human behavior, including suicide, free will, sex and cannibalism. The essay "The Bitch Evolved" discusses girls and relational (or social) aggression.
"Boys seem to be much more physically aggressive," says Bering. "When they have fights, they engage in physical combat." Girls, on the other hand, focus their efforts on psychological warfare in a subconscious effort to undermine the image of others as potential mates.
At least, so says Bering.
"I'm an evolutionary psychologist," shrugs Bering. "It's not like these traits are completely irreversible, but it's a complex interaction between our experiences as individuals and the biological structure of a brain that's evolved over millions of years."
Guest:
Jesse Bering, Scientist and author of "Why is the Penis Shaped Like That?" (Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Read an excerpt of "Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? And Other Reflections on Being Human"