Herman Cain's balancing act. Just say no...to graphic cigarette packages. How young is too young for a lifetime in prison? The inner world of Spalding Gray.
Herman Cain’s new balancing act
As the self-proclaimed "non-traditional candidate," Herman Cain is now being forced into the role of politician whether he likes it not. The accusations swirling around his campaign of sexual harassment have now been attached to at least one name and face, and he must deal with the pressure and scrutiny which the press reserves for presidential candidates.
In reaction to the press conference held by attorney Gloria Allred and Sharon Bialek, Cain’s accuser, he referred to Bialek as “Woman Number Four.” Last night on Jimmy Kimmel, Cain, who vowed to be done talking about the accusations, said that he would now address any future “fire storms” on a case-by-case basis.
This comes at a time when members of the GOP are reaching consensus that Cain should deal with the issue in a clear manner as soon as possible. Cain is set to hold a press conference today at 5 p.m. EST/2 p.m. PST. What are Cain’s handlers telling him to do? How will he quash these allegations once and for all? Is it time for “Herman to be Herman,” or should he try being someone else?
WEIGH IN:
What is your take on how Cain has reacted throughout the entirety of the ordeal? If you were in Cain’s camp, are you now in or out?
Donald Goldberg, Crisis communications expert; Partner at Bluetext, an integrated communications firm; former senior member of the communications team for President Bill Clinton
Just say no ... to graphic cigarette packages
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blocked a federal requirement that would have forced tobacco companies to put graphic images on their cigarette packages starting Sept. 22, 2012.
The FDA-approved graphics were to include color images of a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his throat, a pair of diseased lungs next to a pair of healthy lungs, a cadaver on a table with post-autopsy chest staples and a plume of cigarette smoke enveloping an infant receiving a mother's kiss.
In his ruling, Judge Leon said that since a lawsuit by cigarette makers to block the images is likely to succeed, he would stop the requirement to post them at least until the matter is resolved in the courts, which could take years. He ruled that the pictures violated free speech and veered into advocacy.
In his 29-page opinion, Judge Leon wrote, "It is abundantly clear from viewing these images that the emotional response they were crafted to induce is calculated to provoke the viewer to quit, or never to start smoking – an objective wholly apart from disseminating purely factual and uncontroversial information."
A lawyer representing Lorillard Tobacco Co., one of the cigarette makers that sued the FDA, said in a statement, "Today's ruling reaffirms fundamental First Amendment principles by rejecting the notion that the government may require those who sell lawful products to adults to urge current and prospective purchasers not to purchase those products."
Steven Shiffrin of Cornell Law School told Larry Mantle that 400-thousand tobacco-related deaths and billions of dollars in medical costs each year are reason enough to allow the images.
"That is a very strong interest for government to require that these graphic representations be there. I don't think courts should be making ad-hoc determinations as to what is grotesque; I don't think they should be making ad-hoc determinations as to what is emotional," he said Tuesday.
The Justice Department has argued in the past that the images, along with written warnings, were meant to communicate the dangers of tobacco to youngsters and adults. But does the use of graphic images instead of words, cross some legal line?
WEIGH IN:
Would these pictures have amounted to the government forcing tobacco companies to work against their own best interests? What are the arguments on each side and whose constitutional rights are in danger of being violated?
Guests:
Floyd Abrams, partner in the New York law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, representing Lorillard Tobacco Co.
Steven Shiffrin, professor of law at Cornell Law School
How young is too young for a lifetime in prison?
In 2003, 14-year-old Evan James Miller and a friend were drinking forties with a much older neighbor at their trailer park in rural Alabama when a fight broke out. Miller was later convicted of beating the neighbor until he was immobile and setting his trailer on fire to cover up the beating. The neighbor eventually died of smoke inhalation.
A few years earlier, in 1999, 14-year-old Kuntrell Jackson agreed to rob a video store with a couple of older friends. The robbery went south and one of the other boys shot the clerk. Jackson was given life in prison without the possibility of parole for his part in the crime.
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases of these two young boys whose lawyers say that because of their young ages, their sentences amount to cruel and unusual punishment and therefore violates the 8th amendment.
This court has given young criminals special consideration in the past. In 2005 they nixed the death penalty for minors who commit murder, and in 2010 they refused life in prison without parole for minors who are convicted of serious but non-homicidal crimes. Lawyers in the two cases will rely heavily on those rulings, saying they show precedent for leniency for younger defendants.
We will also speak with David Savage of the Los Angeles Times about today's oral arguments in the case about police use of GPS technology to track criminal suspects without a warrant.
WEIGH IN:
Is there a trend moving toward greater leniency for sentencing minors? Does a life without parole sentence for teenagers amount to cruel and unusual punishment? Some experts say the brain development of young convicts needs to be taken into account in sentencing. Does the science show that young men such as Miller and Jackson can and will change?
Guests:
David Savage, covers the Supreme Court for the Los Angeles Times
Barry Krisberg, research and policy director of the Earl Warren Institute at University of California Berkeley Law School; lecturer in residence at UC Berkeley Law School
John Eastman, professor at Chapman University School of Law; founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
Italian Prime Minister offers resignation
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi offered to resign on Tuesday, agreeing to step down on the condition that Parliament passes an austerity package, before the country goes to early elections, government sources said. The move comes in the face of an escalating debt crisis that has stagnated Greece, threatens Italy and could detrimentally affect the rest of Europe.
Guest:
Dan Liefgreen, Bloomberg news, Italy Bureau Chief
The inner world of Spalding Gray
An intimate theater – the Performing Garage in New York. As the audience waits, quietly talking, a slight, grey-haired man in a plaid shirt and jeans emerges from the shadows. He walks to the stage, sits down at a worn wooden table in front of a microphone and opens a notebook decorated with farm animals. He takes a sip of water and begins to read.
This is the opening scene from Jonathan Demme’s film “Swimming to Cambodia,” and the man is writer, actor and monologue artist Spalding Gray.
In his celebrated and well-crafted monologues, Gray charmed his audience while revealing aspects of his private life that most people would be reluctant to share. His skills as a storyteller were so profound, remembered one friend, that it was a pleasure just to sit around a loft and hear him recount the events of his day.
He made a career of his monologue skills; in fact, he reinvented the most ancient of theatrical devices, storytelling – creating a whole new genre in the process. But as it turns out, there was much more to his story than was brought to the stage.
Writer and editor Nell Casey was given full access to Gray’s unpublished material, from diaries, audiotapes and therapy sessions to notes written on scraps of paper, and has collected them in “The Journals of Spalding Gray.” What emerges is a fascinating picture of a driven and disciplined, yet highly emotional and self-destructive artist, chronicling his struggle with depression and, ultimately, the decision to take his own life.
In Gray’s writing we find private secrets within performed secrets, unspoken confessions behind public ones. “The Journals of Spalding Gray” reveals humor, irony and, above all, searing honesty from a man whose story we thought we already knew.
Guest:
Nell Casey,, editor of “The Journals of Spalding Gray” (Knopf). Casey is also the editor of "Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression" and "An Uncertain Inheritance: Writers on Caring for Family," which won a Books for Better Life Award.
Writer’s Block will host Nell Casey in conversation with LA Times’ Book Critic David Ulin and actors, including Peter Gallagher, who will read from the Journals of Spalding Grey – tonight, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Laemmle Sunset 5 Theaters on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood. For more information, click here.