Your Tax Dollars at Work
Did you know that many big box retailers, like Wal-Mart and Target, have deals with local communities to keep the sales tax you’re charged when you shop at their stores? Or that large public utilities collect taxes but scarcely pay them? For example, a utility in Portland, Oregon collected $900 million in taxes over ten years but paid less than $1 million. It’s all legal, but journalist David Cay Johnston says it’s time to change that. Part of his advice: invade the Cayman Islands to close down tax havens there!
Ted Haggard
New allegations about former pastor Ted Haggard have surfaced just days before the premiere of an HBO documentary about his 2006 fall from grace. A former church member has revealed that he and Haggard had a secret sexual relationship just before Haggard was fired, and that the New Life church in Colorado Springs paid the young man in a previously undisclosed legal settlement. Our guest is Tak Landrock of KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs.
Gaza Truce Breach
An Israeli soldier was killed on the Gaza border today, straining the 10-day-old ceasefire. Meanwhile, President Obama has dispatched special envoy George Mitchell to the Middle East, saying “the moment is ripe” for renewed peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. We speak with Tim McGirk, Jerusalem bureau chief for Time Magazine, who’s just returned from Gaza.
Road ‘Smahts’
Do you know what a flashing green light means? Or in which states it’s illegal to pump your own gas? We speak with Pete Demarco, who writes a weekly column in the Boston Globe called “Who Taught You To Drive?”.
Brandeis Closing Art Museum
Responding to a drop in both its endowment and fundraising, Brandeis University’s Board of Trustees voted yesterday to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its collection, which includes pieces by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. The move is being sharply criticized by the museum’s supporters. We speak to Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz.
Andras Schiff
Hungarian pianist Andras Schiff recently achieved a classical music milestone by recording the complete Beethoven sonata cycle. Here & Now music critic Tim Riley says this latest chapter in Schiff’s illustrious career will change the way you hear some of piano’s most familiar music.
‘I’m impressed with the topics, very specific and varied and of deep significance if properly explored.
What I always long for is that commentators should explore the consequences, long term as well as short term, of the particular outcome they’re discussing.
Posted by Renee Watkins, on January 27th, 2009 at 1:19 pmHi: concerning the “road smahts” quiz and question 5 on flashing green lights. I believe Mr. Demarco is incorrect about the use of flashing green lights in Canada (where I am from originally.) It is actually used to indicate “Advance Green” at a traffic light. When you see the flashing green light you know you can make a left turn without oncoming traffic starting up.
Two things which have amazed and dismayed me since moving to the USA have been the lack of Universal Health Care and the dangers of the “Advance Green” signs at traffic lights here in Concord, NH. The people making the left hand turns have no idea when the oncoming traffic is about to start driving. I have seen many instances of almost-collisions when one extra left-turner attempts to get through the intersection before the oncoming traffic, and the oncoming drivers have no idea that anyone would be attempting to turn in front of them. With the flashing green, the left-turners know when it is safe and then no longer safe to make the turn.
Far from “archaic” as Mr. Demarco states, I wish the flashing green would be used down here. If only Universal Healthcare was as easy to implement as an improved traffic light!
Posted by Terry Wardrop, on January 27th, 2009 at 3:31 pm“He actually saw the dead Donkey”
Regarding:
Putting a Face on Gaza’s Horror: A Father’s Loss
By Tim McGuire / Gaza Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009
Quot: “according to Abed Rabu”
Quot:”Khaled Abed Rabu, the Gaza man who claims his daughters and mother were shot by an Israeli soldier.”
I can NOT think of a more serious accusation then “WAR CRIMES”
That is the worst of the worst. There is NO CALL for that.
Because WAR CRIMES are so horrific every one MUST be VERY CAREFUL.
Perhaps “According to” and “Claims” are not Enough.
You must hear a man in his grief but you can NOT be the judge and the Jury.
The listeners to your show may MISS your UPDATE Telling them there was A mistake,
And things are not EXACTLY like they were broadcasted.
Thank you.
Eli
“Most residents of Jebel al-Kashif claim that there were no Hamas fighters in the area at the time of the alleged incident, but one middle-aged farmer in a battered army jacket took TIME’s reporter aside and said, in a near whisper, that Hamas had been firing rockets from in the vicinity of the incident, and he blamed the Islamists for bringing Israel’s wrath down on the neighborhood.”
Really…
Posted by Eli, on January 27th, 2009 at 9:21 pmAnd I thought they were all “Freedom Fighters”…
At the time of this incident, when the civilians were shot, some of the Israeli soldiers were relaxing; there were obviously no Hamas fighters there at that time. Previous earlier presence (alleged) is not a reason for shooting unarmed civilians and children.
I am disappointed at the (Robin’s) journalism. Bringing this up twice when it is not relevant to killing children in cold blood is an obvious attempt at obfuscation. It seems you will always find the most flimsy excuse to support the Israelis.
Why? Are you this racist?
Posted by Julius Kwame, on January 29th, 2009 at 5:35 pm