Today on AirTalk we preview Wisconsin's recall vote and its implications, examine gaming trends in light of E3's kickoff, discover how music can be used to help the homeless, figure out just how polarized this country is, find out why a man was booted from a Barnes & Noble, and listen in to the sweet, sweet sounds of obsolescence.
Wisconsin recall vote, implications for national labor unions
Wisconsin voters head to the polls today in a crucial recall vote. It's being described as a referendum on GOP Governor Scott Walker's efforts to restrict the collective bargaining rights of public workers and a measure of the power and influence of the unions.
The recall vote marks the seventh time state voters had been asked to cast their ballot in the last 14 months on a range of matters. Even with suspected voter fatigue, a turnout of 60 to 65 percent is expected, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. The recall comes at a cost: over 63.5 million dollars have been spent by candidates which pits Governor Walker against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. More than half of that figure relates to donations to the Walker campaign alone. In addition to the battle of the candidates, it also pits the on-the-ground organizing chops of Democrats against the fund raising prowess of Republicans; all of which have wider implication for November's presidential election.
How do you think this recall could impact on the 2012 presidential election? What ramifications could it have for labor unions and collective bargaining?
GUESTS
J.R. Ross, Editor of WisPoltics.com, an online site for political news and analysis in Wisconsin
BY PHONE
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
IN STUDIO
Darry Sragow, Democratic Strategist; Attorney and Managing Partner of the law firm SNR Denton in Los Angeles
The latest trends in gaming from E3
It's the most wonderful time of the year -- if you're a gamer that is. E3, otherwise known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is the annual trade show for the computer and video games industries held in Los Angeles. It's where the latest innovations in technology are revealed - and the rest of us learn what we need to buy for our children - or ourselves in the coming months.
Guest:
Guy Cocker, Editor at GameSpot UK
WHAT'S HOT FROM E3
HALO 4
Assassins Creed III
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
TEDx Skid Row: Where the elite meets the street
If you're not familiar with TED talks, the California-born lecture series has become world famous for delivering fascinating lectures to the masses. Now one of its inspirational speakers based in L.A. is bringing the high-minded talks to downtown's darkest streets.
Celebrated violinist Robert Gupta is hosting TEDxSkidRow this Saturday, June 9 at the Hint Mint Gallery downtown. Gupta wants the event to foster dialogue across L.A.’s disparate communities. He asks, "If we can ignore Skid Row and the stories of people there, what are we ignoring about ourselves?"
When Gupta started playing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, he was confronted with Skid Row, a world away yet a stone's throw from Disney Hall. He began to use music to heal, entertain and connect with the homeless and mentally ill individuals there. His work was featured in L.A. Times pieces by Steve Lopez. (Famously, Lopez's columns, his own good works, and his book, "The Soloist," about Nathaniel Ayers was turned into a feature film starring Jamie Foxx.) Gupta says this inaugural series is about activating advocacy. Because TED's slogan is "ideas worth spreading," Gupta wants the project to help Angelenos in "taking off their blinders" and changing their point of view.
Where do the arts factor in when it comes to homelessness and mental illness? Why does Gupta want this renowned lecture series to focus on Skid Row? Who is he trying to reach? What is his message?
GUEST
Robert Gupta, Violinist, Los Angeles Philharmonic; Founder, Street Symphony – musical outreach for those suffering from mental illness in disadvantaged communities; Senior Fellow, TED
About TEDxSkidRow
The event will feature recent phenomenal streamed TED and TEDx talks, as well as live speakers from the world of arts and activism, advocates for homelessness, mental health, Veterans care, and incarceration within the community of downtown Los Angeles, the Arts District and Skid Row. The event will take place downtown at the Hint Mint Gallery on June 9th from 8:30 -- 4:00 PM. Registration is required and is now open.
Pew study says politics now divides Americans more than race, class or gender
If you suspect that Americans have become more politically polarized in recent years, you’re right.
A Pew Research Center survey released today shows that politics are now the primary divisive element in society, more so than race, education, income, sex and religion. Pew has studied 48 different aspects of partisanship since 1987, and in that time the gap between those on different sides of the political spectrum has jumped from 10 points to 18 points, bringing the U.S. to its highest level in 25 years. This jump primarily occurred during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and the specific issue that experienced the strongest change in polarization was that of the welfare system for the poor. From 1987 to today, the issue has grown from 23 points to 41 points.
The reason for this spike is due to changing demographics within the Republican and Democratic parties. Republicans have grown to be increasingly conservative in recent years, and that sector dominates over the moderate members of the party. Democrats, which have typically been ruled by moderate forces as well, are now seeing those ranks matched by liberals. In fact, even independents aren’t safe, as most of those who are unaffiliated still lean toward one of the major political parties.
So what gives? What happened to moderates on both sides of the aisle? Is it possible to reign in this polarization? Have you noticed the country getting to be more partisan than in years past? What harmful effects could this have down the road? How do you deal with this societal division in your daily life?
Guest:
Carroll Doherty, Associate Director, Pew Research Center
Booted from children's section of Barnes & Noble for being a man?
73-year-old Omar Amin was shopping for his grandchildren in a Scottsdale, Arizona Barnes & Noble store when he was asked to leave by an employee. The employee in charge of removing Amin told him that a female shopper had complained about him sitting in the children’s area of the store by himself talking on the phone.
Amin, who is a native of Egypt and director of the Parasitology Center in Scottsdale, wrote a formal complaint to Barnes & Noble’s corporate office explaining that, “I did not break any rules, there was no sign posted that said men are not allowed in the children’s book area.”
Barnes & Noble at first stood by their employee’s decision, then released a public statement of apology. But Amin, who has not received a response to his complaint of gender discrimination, is considering legal action.
If it were a woman in the children’s section, would she have been treated the same way? And ten or twenty years ago, would anyone have questioned a grandfatherly type being in a children’s bookstore? Did Barnes & Noble overreact, or were they right to be protective of other customers who were concerned by Amin’s presence? Is it tough out there for a man?
Guest:
Lisa Wade, Ph.D, professor of sociology at Occidental College and author of the blog Sociological Images
The sweet sounds of obsolescence from the Museum of Endangered Sounds
"Imagine a world where we never again hear the symphonic startup of a Windows 95 machine ... [or] the textured rattle and hum of a VHS tape being sucked into the womb of a 1983 JVC HR-7100 VCR." -- Brendan Chilcutt
A fear of audio extinction is what led Chattanooga State Community College student Brendan Chilcutt to start The Museum of Endangered Sounds, a website that preserves and archives those beloved electronic and technological noises from our (or our children’s) childhood.
As technology advances and one device is discarded for another, the beeps, clicks and whirrs that once punctuated our lives are being silenced forever. Longing for the tuneful “beep-beep-beep” of a Touch-Tone phone? The jubilant voice of AOL telling you “You’ve got mail!”?
These and other once-familiar noises are collected on Chilcutt’s site, the first phase in a ten-year plan to archive those disappearing sounds and then translate them into binary code.
An ambitious project for one person – which, as it turns out, Chilcutt is not. Brendan Chilcutt (named for former Houston Rockets forward Pete Chilcutt) is the combined alter-ego of three Virginia Commonwealth University Brand Center graduate students -- the brain trust behind the Museum of Endangered Sounds.
What sounds do you miss from your childhood?
Some of our favorites:
A Sony cassette tape player rewinding:
A disconnected landline phone number:
A dial-up modem:
Guests:
Phil Hadad, one of the creators of The Museum of Endangered Sounds
Marybeth Ledesma, one of the creators of The Museum of Endangered Sounds