Is it really possible to meet our energy needs with renewable sources and conservation?  Economist John Blackburn says it is, and he gives us plenty of reasons why wind, solar, and other decentralized sources are up to the task of replacing our dependence on carbon fuels.  Blackburn is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University and the author of The Renewable Energy Alternative: How the United States and the World Can Prosper Without Nuclear Energy or Coal.

 This is "Reality TV"? --  Corporate CEOs as heroes of the working class?  Mark Brenner of Labor Notes and the Old Mole's Denise Morris discuss the new TV series "Undercover Boss."  Brenner recently published "Reality TV Gives Corporate America a Big Wet Kiss" in Labor Notes.  

The Well-Read Red.

Mainstream news from Afghanistan tells of US Military plans and hopes for stabilizing the shattered nation, and rarely covers the enormous obstacles in their way.  In an article "Getting Out of Afghanistan" published last October in Dissent Magazine, Todd Gitlin shows what's wrong with all the reasons given for the US-NATO occupation.    Clayton Morgareidge  reads an edited version of the piece.  

This segment includes of songs by Mavis Staples and the Staples Singers, plus a discussion of her music and her career with radical musicologist Brad Duncan and the Old Mole's Bill Resnick.  Their music was an integral part of the civil rights movement, and she's still at it.  

 Hosted by Bill Resnick and featuring the powerful protest music of Mavis Staples, this show includes a discussion of the real feasibility of replacing coal and nuclear power with wind and solar; a conversation critical of the "reality" show "Undercover Bosses"; and an analysis of the quagmire in Afghanistan.