Saturday High Noon

What's the matter with Kansas? "The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently reported that Kansas has the ninth-most unfair tax system in the county.  A Kansan earning $47,700 a year pays 9.5 percent of income in state and local taxes; but someone earning $1,191,700 pays an effective rate of just 3.6 percent."

So much for the 'trickle down' libertarian economic theories masterminded by the Wichita plutocrats Charles & David Koch; and implemented by Gov. Sam Brownback and his cronies in the state legislature.

Program Summary: 26 Dec. 2015

1st -  Produced by Tom Roe at Wave Farm/WGXC in upstate New York.  Headlines from the week, and a listen to some of the year's songs about radio waves. The headlines: AM radio going FM in 2016; Copyright Royalty Board sets internet radio rates; Hillary Clinton wants a 'Manhattan Project' to fight encryption; Congress changes CISA, spares net neutrality; Enlisted personnel in the Air Force can now fly drones. Elvis Perkins and "AM," Holly Herndon and "Interference," Circuit Des Yeux and "Dream of TV," and Wire and "Blogging" are also included.

To mark The Nation’s 150th anniversary, John Nichols was joined in conversation by the eminent radical intellectual Noam Chomsky at the Tucson Festival of Books in Arizona on March 15.  Discussing issues ranging from media accountability and voter participation, to money in politics and income inequality, Chomsky offered insight into the greatest challenges of our time.

“The race towards disaster is being carried out with almost euphoric intensity,” said Chomsky. Chomsky maintains that meaningful change requires a democratic awakening. “Democracy is a threat to any power system,” he said.