Democrats Target Votes For Health Care Reform

Listen
Democratic leaders are picking up key votes for the president’s health care reform package. But with a vote expected on Sunday, the arm-twisting is getting intense. Rick Klein, senior political correspondent for ABC News and author of the network’s blog, The Note, tells us, this vote is expected to come down to the wire.

Whale Tale Reveals How Pollution Disrupts Reproduction

Listen

A humpback whale calf breaching in the Silver Banks Marine Sanctuary off the coast of the Dominican Republic. (Kike Calvo via AP Images)

A new novel, “The Eye of the Whale,” tells the story of a marine biologist who studies the songs of humpback whales. Her research leads to a breakthrough discovery of how pollution is harming them and humans. While the story is fiction, the science is not. We’re joined by Douglas Carlton Abrams, the book’s author, and Theo Colborn, who co-wrote the groundbreaking, “Our Stolen Future,” which details how endocrine disrupting chemicals are harming reproduction in whales and humans.

• See author Douglas Carlton Abrams’ whale video

Thousands Of Haitian Criminals Roam Free

Listen
The earthquake that hit Haiti in January brought down the walls of the country’s jails and the biggest prison escape in modern history put thousands of dangerous criminals back on the streets. Only a few hundred have been recaptured, and as the BBC’s Mark Doyle reports from Port Au Prince, the country’s main prison has few resources left to adequately house them.

Congress Aims To Reign In Credit Rating Agencies

Listen
When the markets crashed back in 2008, 80 percent of the mortgage backed securities that failed had the highest credit rating possible – AAA. How could that happen? And will anything change at the three big government-approved credit rating agencies to prevent another market crash? Binyamin Appelbaum, financial reporter for the Washington Post, tells us how Congress is looking to increase accountability and transparency for the agencies.

• Hear our conversation about the history of credit rating agencies with NY Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson

‘Silence of the Lambs’ Director Films Real Lives

Listen
Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme’s new concert documentary, “Neil Young Trunk Show,” opens tomorrow. He’s also planning a new documentary on Haiti, a country he’s long loved. We spoke to Jonathan Demme about Haiti and his long film career when he was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston.

Music From The Show

• Kar-Kar Madison, “Boubacar Traore”
• Herbie Hancock, “Watermelon Man”
• The Wee Trio, “Flint”
• Radiohead, “There, There”
• Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”
• Neil Young, “Promise of a Man”
• Neil Young, “Cowgirl in the Sand”
• Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime”