Stimulus, What Stimulus?
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While President Obama attends the G8 meeting in Italy, Vice President Joe Biden travels to Ohio to make a pitch for the administration’s economic stimulus package, which is facing growing criticism. At the same time there are those, including Warren Buffet, who say a second stimulus package might be needed. Rick Klein, senior political reporter for ABC News, tells us what it all means.
Big Pill Bill Not Easy to Swallow
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Drugmaker Genzyme convinced the Costa Rican government to pay $350,000 dollars a year indefinitely for the drug Cerezyme, to treat two people afflicted with rare Gaucher disease. The company has also had success getting governments in Brazil, Kuwait and Bulgaria to pay for expensive biotech drugs for a handful of patients. We speak with Boston Globe reporter Stephen Heuser, who traveled to Costa Rica for the story.
Black Box Hopes Fade
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Tomorrow search teams will give up their effort to locate the audio pings from Air France Flight 447’s black boxes. Signals began to fade last week, and with them, the hope of finding out exactly what caused the Airbus A-330 to crash off the coast of Brazil during a thunderstorm on May 31, killing all 228 people on board. We talk with Dan Michaels, who’s been covering the story for the Wall Street Journal.
Fighting D.O.M.A.
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Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same sex marriage, has become the first state to sue the federal government over the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman. The Massachusetts Attorney General claims the law forces the state to discriminate against same sex couples, by denying them federal benefits. We speak with plaintiff Nancy Gill, and Gary Busek, legal director for the group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.
The Hurt Locker
Members of an explosive ordinance disposal team unearth a missile on May 9, 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)
The Iraq war brought front and center the work of E.O.D., or Explosive Ordinance Disposal Squads, the soldiers who defuse the bombs left by insurgents. In the new film “The Hurt Locker“, director Katherine Bigelow tells the story of one fictional E.O.D. squad. Producer Emiko Tamagawa speaks to Katherine Bigelow about the movie, and about the difficult and often deadly challenges these soldiers face.
Music from the Show
- Air, “Mike Mills”
- Paul Simon, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
- The Wee Trio, “Flint”
- Radiohead, “In Limbo”
- Sonny Rollins, “Get Happy”
- Evan Ziporyn, “War Chant,” performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
