Herman Cain denies recent allegations. Move over, Marlowe – Spouse Spy’s on the case. Failure of CLASS act leaves long-term care needs unresolved. Disco is dead, but Nile Rodgers lives.
Will sexual harassment allegations hurt Herman Cain's campaign?
Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain's on the defensive today. The former Godfather's Pizza CEO this morning flat out denied those sexual harassment allegations that POLITICO reported over the weekend.
Sunday's story outlined accounts given by anonymous sources that two ex-employees accused Cain of sexual harassment at the National Restaurant Association which Cain operated in the 1990s. The story also says the women received financial settlements upon leaving and agreed not to speak publicly about it. Cain's senior campaign aide Mark Block emphatically denied the allegations, calling the POLITICO report "questionable at best."
This morning, Cain took to the airwaves on Fox News and responded by saying he "never sexually harassed anyone." He called the allegations "totally baseless" and "totally false." Meanwhile, national polls are suggesting Cain's already been losing ground among female voters. AirTalk speaks with the chief investigative reporter from POLITICO, Ken Vogel.
WEIGH IN:
What do the documents they obtained reveal about these allegations? Why has the campaign responded inconsistently to questions on this? Were the original allegations severe and serious enough to constitute sexual harassment? Can the Herman Cain campaign withstand this scrutiny?
Guests:
Ken Vogel, chief investigative reporter, POLITICO
Ron Elving, NPR’s senior Washington editor. His column, Watching Washington, appears online at NPR.org.
Move over, Marlowe – Spouse Spy’s on the case
Tailing a philandering mate used to be so messy, complicated – and expensive. Private detectives aren’t cheap, after all, and someone always seems to end up dead – at least in the movies. But nowadays, suspicious spouses don’t need to call on Philip Marlowe. You can shadow your significant other just by installing Spouse Spy, or one of many similar apps, onto his or her cell phone.
A simple download lets you track comings and goings, read text messages, ogle photos, even listen in on conversations – all in real time. And of course, it’s all on the Q-T. – these apps are designed to be undetectable. But are they legal? A bipartisan group of senators, led by Al Franken (D-Minnesota) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has asked the Department of Justice to look into whether these so-called “stalking apps” violate any laws.
If so, the senators are requesting that the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission investigate and prosecute those companies that develop and market them. There’s no question that having your actions monitored via your Blackberry is creepy and dangerous – Bureau of Justice statistics estimate that about 26,000 Americans were victims of GPS stalking last year, and the number is growing. One Minnesota woman was tracked by her abuser via cell phone as she was out trying to get a restraining order against him. But some could argue that there’s a legitimate use for such a product – to keep tabs on your teen, a parent with Alzheimer's, or even your own mislaid cell phone.
So, do companies have a right to market the software, even if it could potentially be used for illegal spying? And which laws, if any, are being violated? Back in 1990, California was the first state to enact an anti-stalking law, but technology has moved on since then – have the laws kept up?
WEIGH IN:
Have you been the victim of a cell-phone stalker? Would you use Spouse Spy on your own spouse? Is your Android watching you?
Guests:
Declan McCullagh, chief political correspondent for Cnet News.com; writes the “Politech” blog
Susan Freiwald, professor of law at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she teaches Cyberspace Law, Information Privacy Law, and Contracts
Failure of CLASS act leaves long-term care needs unresolved
Long-term care is one of the major health expenses for which nearly all Americans are uninsured. Most people assume that only seniors need to be prepared for long-term care needs. But a debilitating car accident or sudden stroke can happen to anyone regardless of age. The cost of a part-time home health aide can average $450 a week and nursing homes can exceed $200 a day. Medicare doesn’t cover it and only 3 percent of Americans have private polices that do.
The Obama administration hoped to provide at least basic, affordable long-term care insurance by including the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Program (CLASS) in the larger health reform bill passed in 2010. But the program was dogged by financial problems from the start and quietly killed a couple of weeks ago.
Given the failure of the CLASS act – where do we go from here? It could take decades before lawmakers are willing to take this problem on again and given budget battles and partisan gridlock, this is a problem with no solution in sight.
WEIGH IN:
So, how are we as a society going to deal with this? What should individuals and families do given the current situation?
Guest:
Shana Alex Lavarreda, director of health insurance studies at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Laura Mosqueda , M.D., Chair and Professor of Family Medicine, Director of Geriatrics and the Ronald Reagan Endowed Chair in Geriatrics at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine
Disco is dead, but Nile Rodgers lives
Whether you're glad the disco ball has stopped spinning or lamenting the decreased number of roller rinks, you can definitely hear disco's influence on modern pop.
Gender-bending performers from multiple races are producing dance music which is popular on the radio and in clubs. On paper, it's as if disco has been reborn.
Nile Rodgers — guitarist, songwriter, producer and member of influential band Chic — is responsible for some of the biggest hits from the 70s. With Chic he helped write "Le Freak" and "Good Times," Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" and The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight."
Though his disco hits were meant to get people's feet moving, they were far from mindless. Rodger made sure to build each track around what he called "Deep Hidden Meaning," or DHM.
"We need to understand the music's core truth. Every song to us has a core truth that it stands for," Rodgers told KPCC's Larry Mantle on Monday. "You can change a song from calypso to reggae to samba, anything you want it to be, but if you keep its core truth intact, you can choose those different vibes and still represent what the song says."
With an ear for success, he eventually went on to produce music for Madonna, Diana Ross and David Bowie.
People of different races and sexualities felt safe mingling in public on the disco dance floor. Rodgers said the musicians felt the same impact, and it was powerful "that little Cinderella groups like my band [...] could actually compete with the top of the food chain."
"I think that on some level, that threatened the rock and roll status quo. You'll see one-hit wonders that just come along, get a massive hit, then they disappear. That's what I thought was beautiful about the disco music; that it was all inclusive," he said.
In his new book, "Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny" (Spiegel & Grau), Rodgers recounts his atypical upbringing and exposure to music at a young age. He shares his stories of working with the greats, such as jamming with Jimi Hendrix, as well as his struggles with drug addiction.
WEIGH IN:
How did Rodgers manage to experience such wild success in the music industry? What is your favorite song he has written or produced? Considering the popularity of today’s dance music, is disco really dead?
Guest:
Nile Rodgers, author of ""Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny"