Congress Back in Session

Members of Congress are back from a two-week break, but how much will– or can — they get done to fix the economy, or address the foreclosure crisis, or deal with Iraq? To find out, we speak with Gail Chaddock, congressional correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor.

Iraq

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Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army are standing strong as the Iraqi government calls off its offensive in the key southern port town of Basra. What is next for Iraq and for U.S. strategy? Our guests are Vali Nasr, professor of International Affairs at Tufts University’s Fletcher Schoo, and General Barry McCaffrey, adjunct professor of International Affairs at West Point.

Foreign Workers Stay at Home

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The H-2B Visa Program allows a number of temporary, non-agricultural workers into the United States for seasonal work. Last year, Congress failed to pass an extension to the visas for returning workers, leaving restaurants, ski-resorts, landscaping companies and circuses scrambling for staff. We speak with James Judkins, the owner and founder of Circus Chimera in Hugo, Oklahoma. His circus did not open this year.

Trucker’s Protest

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Many of the nation’s half million independent truckers are staging work slow-downs and stoppages today to protest the rising price of diesel fuel which is up about 45 percent from last year. We speak with two of the movement’s organizers, Dan Little, owner-operator of Little and Little Trucking in Carrollton, Missour, and Shelia Walker, a lumber trucker from southern Georgia.

Secret Patches

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The so-called black world of secret military projects comes to life in the sometimes colorful patches or badges these secret units create for themselves.