Health Care and Too Big To Fail

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Healthcare reform acquires an air of inevitability on Capitol Hill; also House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank will introduce legislation to curb dangerously large companies. Frank calls it “death panels” for troubled companies. We’ll look at what’s being debated with Rick Klein, senior political reporter for ABC News, he also writes the ABC political blog, “The Note.”

Plain English Campaign

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One of the problems that came to light during the foreclosure crisis in the U.S. was that so many financial documents are near impossible to understand. We speak with 71-year old Chrissie Maher, who has been fighting to get clearer English used in everything from government documents to airport signs. She founded a group called the “Plain English Campaign” in 1979. Is there a simpler way to say ‘maximum debit balance’?

Bombings Shake Iraq

Family members and friends of a victim who was killed in a suicide bombing grieve at his funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. (AP)

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Two deadly bombings targeting government buildings in Baghdad yesterday raise questions about the Iraqi government’s ability to secure the country ahead of January elections and a scheduled U.S. troop pullout next summer. We speak with Anthony Shadid, foreign correspondent for the Washington Post in Baghdad.

Back to Srebrenica

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The trial of the former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, will begin tomorrow whether he shows up or not. That’s what the judges at The Hague say after Karadzic boycotted the trial today. His indictment lists many atrocities which took place in Bosnia in the war of the 1990s, the most notorious of which is the massacre at Srebrenica. Thousands of Muslim men and boys were slaughtered there by Serb forces in 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeepers. The BBC’s Allan Little has just visited the town to see how residents view the upcoming trial of Karadzic.

Governor’s Races in New Jersey and Virginia

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Residents in New Jersey and Virginia will choose a governor next week. We check in on both races with Tom Moran, columnist for New Jersey’s Star Tribune and Anita Kumar, who has been covering the Virginia race for the Washington Post.

Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms

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Patrick Watson performing in 2007. (Flickr/djenvert)

Using objects such as bicycle chains, toilet plungers, pots and pans, and tree branches as instruments, Canadian rockers Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms are making something of a name for themselves playing with the likes of avant-garde musicians Philip Glass and Steve Reich. We talk with the band’s front man Patrick Watson about the group’s latest CD, “Wooden Arms”.

Music from the Show

• The Sea and Cake, “I missed the Glance”
• U2, “Mothers of the Disappeared”
• Pinback, “Sender”
• The Shins, “Pink Bullets”
• Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms, “Wooden Arms”
• Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms, “Where The Wild Things Are”
• Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms, “Beijing”
• Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms, “Big Bird In A Small Cage”
• Patrick Watson and the Wooden Arms, “Hommage”