Afghan men offer funeral prayers behind the bodies of civilian killed in a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. (AP)

Taliban Learning New Tactics

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U.S. and NATO officials say they are surprised at the increasing sophistication of the Taliban’s military tactics. They say the group has learned from its own mistakes, and that it has been studying U.S. tactics closely, allowing Taliban fighters to exploit gaps in American strategy. The result? The Taliban is now gaining psychological as well as actual ground in the war. We speak with Karen DeYoung, who reported on the new tactics for The Washington Post.

Cantaloupe Capital Suffering from Drought

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A lack of water, in part due to environmental regulations, has caused unemployment to climb to around 40% in the agricultural city of Mendota, California. Farmers and farm workers are rallying for federal help and a change in water restrictions protecting the 2-inch fish, the delta smelt. We speak with farmer Bill Diedrich and Mendota grocer and city councilor Joseph Riofrio.

Multitaskers Don’t Make Good Jugglers

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A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that those who engage in multitasking most, are actually the worst at it. We speak with lead author of the study, Eyal Ophir, a researcher at Stanford University’s Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab.

Hugo Chavez on Tour

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is on a whirlwind tour visiting world leaders. With his popularity at home dwindling and his leverage across Latin America weakening, Chavez is looking to places like Iran, Russia, and Syria for support. We speak to Douglas Farah, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Alexandria, Virginia.

Sin Nombre

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We revisit a conversation Here and Now’s Emiko Tamagawa had with Cary Fukunaga, the director of the film “Sin Nombre“, which won the director’s award at this year’s Sundance film festival. The Spanish language film tells the story of a couple fleeing gangs and the border police as they make the perilous journey through Mexico to the United States.

Music from the show

• Medeski, Martin and Wood, “Bloody Oil”
• Kar-Kar Madison, “Boubacar Traore”
• Paul Simon, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
• The Lickets, “Meat City”
• The Doors, “Peace Frog”
• Marcelo Zarvos, “The Journey”
• Marcelo Zarvos, “Sin Nombre”