Topic: Government
"Electoral Dysfunction 2008" is a sample of some of the political comedy that is taking on the presidential campaigned. The sketch show is performed by Kansas Public Radio's Right Between the Ears comedy troupe. This is an excerpt from the full show which is an hour of high energy take-offs and put-ons, spiced with off-the-wall sound effects and music.
Defense journalists Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger have traveled globally to visit sites where the infrastructure of the nuclear arms race still remains. On this edition of IEEE Spectrum Radio, Hodge and Weinberger, who are husband and wife, talk about nuclear tourism and their motivations for writing the book A Nuclear Family Vacation which chronicles an array of discoveries from a one-eyed baby in Kazakhstan to radioactive deer hunting in Tennessee.
Jon Udell speaks with Granicus co-founder Tom Spengler, who explains how his company's streaming media system enables governments to manage the capture and synchronized presentation of video and text, making the proceedings usefully transparent.
How has the "fundamental right" to vote evolved since the colonial period? In this excerpt from the historical public radio show, BackStory, the hosts review how elections were handled as the country was formed and how voting fraud has always been a major problem. They interview Mark Summers, Professor of History at the University of Kentucky about how things have changed in the last two hundred years.
People along the U.S.-Mexico border are hoping to have their voices heard in the coming election. Marco Grajeda, news director of NPR's KRWG, describes the impact tighter border security and toughened immigration efforts are having on border communities and how the next President will have to deal with the issue of illegal immigration.
Micah Sifry discusses his work with the Sunlight Foundation, an organization using the power of the Internet to strengthen the relationship between citizens and their elected officials and to foster public trust in Congress. He talks about the technical details of the site, including its API and how it makes its data available.
A naturalized citizen talks about the importance of a president showing strength and power and a producer reviews the differences between the current election and the 1968 campaign. Nick van der Kolk reviews what people are discussing when it comes to a president being strong, and Barbara Bernstein talks about how people alienated by the Nixon/McGovern campaign feel about the Obama/McCain campaign.
What do people think about the candidate promises about the Iraq war? How is Barack Obama's candidacy likely to change the idea of cultural diversity? Shia Levitt interviews an Iraq veteran and an academic on the importance of what the candidates are saying about the war. Then Dmae Roberts discusses Obama's March 2008 "race" speech and how it might add to the complex topic of race and identity.
Most Americans are unaware of the enormous progress Mexico has enjoyed since the peso's devastating collapse in 1994. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox highlights his country's opportunities to foster democracy, develop entrepreneurism, and promote alternative energy sources as it emerges as a world economic power. He addresses challenges, including a poor educational system, rapid population growth, and dwindling oil reserves. This audio lecture is sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation.
Latin America may be poised to become a much bigger player on the world economic stage, yet 54 percent of its citizens would choose an autocratic regime over a democratically elected government if it meant more jobs. Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo reflects on the challenge of democratic development and consolidation in Latin America in this audio interview sponsored by the Stanford School of Education and moderated by Stanford sociology and political science professor, Larry Diamond.
