A dead body is brought out from a collapsed building in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP)

Haiti-U.S. Relations

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For nearly two decades, Democrats and Republicans have fought over U.S. policy in Haiti, resulting in an inconsistent and troubled relationship with the impoverished country. This week’s earthquake came as Haiti had finally achieved a measure of stability and as the Obama Administration was preparing to announce new policies that it hoped would win broad consensus. Glenn Kessler reports for the Washington Post.

Texting Help to Haiti

Millions of dollars of aid is being donated through text messages to organizations such as the American Red Cross and musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation. We find out how it works from Albert Angel, the founder and CEO of “Give on the Go,” which is coordinating Yele Haiti’s mobile-giving campaign.

Hearings into Financial Crisis

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We look back at the first round of hearings by an independent commission into the causes of the recent financial crisis. Bankers addressed the commission; regulators did too. Mistakes were made, the bankers contend. But will they face anything more than a slap on the wrist? Justin Fox, is editor at large at Time magazine and author of “The Curious Capitalist” blog at Time.com.

Desperation in Port-au-Prince

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The BBC’s Andy Gallacher reports on the chaos and desperation in Port-au-Prince.

Bees in Appalachia

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The Bee Lady of Appalachia describes her plans for thousands of acres of land that were used for mining. Tammy Horn works with coal companies to reclaim the land that was used for mining — she wants to get the genetic diversity back to where it was before the land was mined; she also wants to get local people involved in bee-keeping. Horn is a senior researcher at Eastern Kentucky University’s Environmental Research Institute.

• Read more about the Bee Lady of Appalachia

Mexico-centric Indie Rock

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Old Mexico has become hip among some white indie rock bands. Calexico, Beirut, DeVotchka, The David Wax Museum and songwriters like Devendra Banhart are all flirting with traditional Mexican forms in their repertoire. Producer Christopher Blagg explains why these groups have suddenly developed a penchant for Mariachi, huapangeuras, and donkey jaw bones.

Music from the Show

• Calexico, “Crumble”
• Tito Puente, “All Blues”
• Art Blakey, “C.O.R.E.”
• Dntel, “Last Songs”
• Fred Hirsch, “Desafinado”

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Big banks, small banks, a tax cut for Citigroup and more with Binyamin Applebaum of the Washington Post joins us.

Islam in Chinese Characters

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There are over 20 million Muslims in China, in every province of the country, and they have been there for over a thousand years. Our guest, Jackie Armijo, has been following what she says is a revival in Islamic schools in China, many of them founded by young women in the country’s poorest regions. Armijo is associate professor of humanities and social sciences at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, where she studies Islam in Asia.

Mexican Drug War

Josefa Angulo Flores, center, and Irma Cordova, center right, aunt and mother, respectively, of Mexican soldier Melquisedet Angulo attend Angulo's funeral in Paraiso, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Assailants on Tuesday gunned down Flores, Cordova and Angulo's siblings. Angulo was killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders , sending a chilling message to troops battling the drug war. (AP)

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The conflict that has claimed more than 15,000 lives in the last three years took another horrific turn this week when the family of a Mexican marine was slaughtered after his funeral. The marine died last week in a raid that resulted in the death of a notorious drug lord. Tracy Wilkinson, Mexico City bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times joins us to talk about it.

Living to 100

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What’s the secret to living longer? Is it exercise, a healthy diet, or just good genes? We revisit a conversation with Dr. Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study. He studied 1,500 centenarians and shares what he learned from them.

• Find out how long you’ll live, by visiting Dr. Perl’s life expectancy calculator

Belmont Madrigals

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For months now amateur singing groups have been practicing their selections of holiday music to perform in their communities. Here & Now’s George Hicks followed one such group – the Madrigal singers from Belmont High School in Belmont, Massachusetts, during their busiest week of the year.

• Hear the Madrigals sing “Thule, the Period of Cosmography,” a six-part madrigal by Thomas Weelkes, published 1600

Music from the Show

• Greyboy Allstars, “V-Neck Sweater”
• Gypsy Kings, “Hotel California”
• The Clash, “London Calling”
• Rush, “In the End”
• Got to Give, “Somethings”
• U2, “Out of Control”

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Republican Governor Rick Perry of Texas is in the middle of a controversy over the way he’s handled executions in his state. At issue is the case of Cameron WIllingham, a man put to death for killing his children by setting his house on fire. Just before the execution, a new opinion cast doubt on his guilt, and now there are questions as to whether the governor ever reviewed that report before allowing the execution to go through. Lise Olsen, investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle, helps us look at capital punishment in Texas.

We also speak to democrat Mark White, who oversaw 19 executions when he served as governor of Texas. Now the current debate is making him rethink his position. White says new science has proven that some innocent people have been put to death and he thinks the legislature should revisit capital punishment.

Sweat Lodge Inquiry

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Two people who survived a sweat lodge ceremony in Sedona, Arizona, are coming forward with details about what happened inside the structure. We speak to JJ Hensley who is covering the story for the Arizona Republic and Ted Schmidt, a Tuscon lawyer, who is representing Sidney Spencer, a woman who participated and lost consciousness during the sweat lodge ceremony.

Protecting Consumers and Capping Executive Pay

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A key Congressional committee today approved the creation of a new Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers by regulating mortgages, credit cards, and bank accounts. Also the Obama Administration announced a plan that will cut the compensation of senior executives at firms receiving government bailouts by more than one half. We speak with Lizzie O’Leary, Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg TV.

Controversy Over White Supremacist in Britain

Anti-fascist demonstrators protest outside the offices of BBC in west London, Thursday Oct. 22, 2009. (AP)

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Anti-fascist protesters are rallying outside the BBC’s west London studios today to protest the appearance of a white-supremacist party leader on a popular political debate show. British National Party chief Nick Griffin is scheduled to be a panelist on the TV program “Question Time” – a first for the far-right party. We’ll speak to the BBC’s British Affairs Correspondent, Rob Broomby.

Halloween Science

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Why do we get a chill down our spine when we watch a horror movie? Is there such a thing as a haunted house? A werewolf? Are black cats actually good luck? We speak with award-winning astronomer Stephen James O’Meara, who answers these and other questions in the book “Are You Afraid Yet: The Science Behind the Scary Stuff.”

Music from the Show

• Mike Mills, “Air”
• Sun Kil Moon, “Carry Me Ohio”
• Toru Takemitsu, “From me flows what you call Time”

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The $700 billion dollar bailout program has damaged the government’s credibility, has done little to change risky behavior on Wall Street, and taxpayers won’t get all their money back… but the Treasury Department’s Special Inspector General also reports that the TARP program did bring the financial system back from the brink of collapse. We speak with Steve Geimann, Washington Editor for Bloomberg News.

Slow Money

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Former venture capitalist Woody Tasch reacted to the high speed culture of Wall Street by calling for a new way of investing – one that’s a lot slower and tied to local communities instead of distant conglomerates. He founded a group called Slow Money, where investors can watch their money grow at a slower pace in small, local companies.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

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Iranian negotiators today agreed to consider a draft deal that – if accepted by the Tehran leadership – would delay its ability to make nuclear weapons by sending most of the material it would need to Russia for processing. The draft deal, which also has to be approved by the U-S, Russia and France, was announced by the head of the International Atomic energy Agency in Vienna. The BBC’s Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne joins us to talk about it.

Bank of America Under Investigation

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Newly released documents show that some executives at Bank of America were alarmed by mounting losses at Merrill Lynch more than a month before they asked stock holders to approve Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill for $50 billion. Congress is investigating who knew what when, and whether the government gave Bank of America a second, $20 billion bailout to force and subsidize that deal. We’ll speak with New York Times business correspondent Eric Dash.

Secret Lives of Great Composers

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Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Portrait Photo by Franz Hanfstaengl, 1858.

Who was the first rock star? According to author Elizabeth Lunday it was Franz Liszt, all the way back in in the 1840s. In her new book “Secret Lives of Great Composers: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the World’s Musical Masters,” Lunday presents a new perspective on the biography and music of these men. She reveals the hidden aspects of the earliest celebrities’ lives including Wagner’s cross-dressing in lace lingerie, Puccini’s stealing from his church, Berlioz’s attempted murder, Tchaikovsky’s hidden sexuality, and the madness of Schumann, Mahler and others.

Music from the Show

• Maserati, “Wires Were Towers”
• The Who, “Eminence Front”
• Couch, “Nah Dran”
• Hector Berlioz, “Symphonie Fantastique”, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra
• Phillip Glass, “Vessels from the Koyaanisqatsi- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”
• Gustav Mahler, “Symphony No.6″, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• John Cage, “Music for Two”, performed by Stephen Drury
• Giacomo Puccini, “La Bohème – Quando Me’N Vo’”,  performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
• Tchaikovsky, “Clara & The Nutcracker”,  performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Tchaikovsky, “In The Pine, Forest”, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Liszt, “Piano Concerto 1 Part 3″, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra
• Schumann, “Kinderszenen, Op. 15 – Ritter Vom Steckenpferd”, performed by Vladimir Horowitz
• Antonin Dvorak, excerpt from New World Symphony
• Wagner, “Siegfried – Act 3/Sc. 3″, performed by the Royal Opera House Orchestra
• Wagner, “Ride of the Valkyries”

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The debate over big bonuses for executives at bailed-out A.I.G. heats up again on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are hearing from the special inspector general for the $700 billion financial rescue program. Lawmakers are also considering whether to set up a consumer protection finance agency, which the banking industry is fighting. We speak with Steve Geimann, Washington Editor for Bloomberg News.

A Who’s Who of Insurgents in Pakistan

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The U.S. is increasingly shifting attention to Pakistan–some American military strategists argue that it’s the real ground zero in the war on terrorism–but whom are we fighting there? We’ll speak with Nicholas Schmidle, fellow at The New America Foundation and author of “To Live or Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan.”

Rush Limbaugh and the St. Louis Rams

In this Jan 18, 2009, file photo, talk show host Rush Limbaugh is interviewed on the sidelines before the start of the NFL AFC championship football game in Pittsburgh. (AP)

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We discuss the controversy over Rush Limbaugh’s bid to become part owner of the St. Louis Rams.  Our guest is Roman Oben, a former NFL player who opposes the Limbaugh effort. Limbaugh resigned from ESPN in 2003 after he said the media wanted a black quarterback to do well. Yesterday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also threw cold water on the Limbaugh effort, referring to the talk show host’s “polarizing comments that we don’t think reflect accurately on the NFL or our players.”

• More on Rush Limbaugh’s Bid for the Rams
• Rush Limbaugh on The Today Show

Five Farms, Part Three

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Our series, Five Farms, moves to Colrain, Massachusetts today where we visit with the Hager family. They’re dairy farmers who are trying to survive in a tough economy. A lot is riding on making it through the current crisis because the Hagers plan on a future for their farm that involves two of their children. Our producers are John Biewen and Susannah Lee.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

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Greg Heffley is back. He’s the scrawny kid, with the concave chest, a few strands of hair and an older brother who torments him in the “Diary of the Wimpy Kid” book series. The fourth installment of his adventures, “Dog Days,” chronicles his summer vacation – which he prefers to spend inside, playing video games. Author Jeff Kinney takes us inside the pages of the widely popular series and tells us why he thinks his morally-challenged protagonist is a powerful anti-hero for kids.

Music from the show

• Radiohead, “There, There”
• Charles Mingus, “Open Letter to Duke”
• Steve Earle, “Amerika Version 6″
• Charles Mingus, “Es Flat Ahs Flat Too”
• Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”

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President Obama makes his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly, calling for more global cooperation and partnership on issues such as nuclear weapons, global warming and economic stability. We speak with Jonathan Weisman, White House correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

Bankers’ Pay and Bank Regulation

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It’s high on the agenda at this week’s meeting of leaders from the world’s 20 largest economies. Britain and the U.S. have been arguing against pay caps, while countries like France are in favor. Other issues on the table include how much capital banks should be required to keep on hand, and whether developing countries will get greater say in running institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. We’ll speak with Christine Harper, Chief Financial Correspondent for Bloomberg News.

G-20 Haiku

We harvest leaflets
Blown like autumn leaves: our hopes
Speak truth to power

That’s the winning haiku in the Pittsburgh Filmmakers G-20 haiku poetry contest, written by our guest, poet and Pittsburgh resident Angele Ellis. Her haiku will be displayed on a theater marquee in sight of leaders of the world’s top 20 economies meeting in Pittsburgh tomorrow and Friday.http://www.pghfilmmakers.org/haiku.html

The Wizard of Oz Turns 70

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Today, 440 movie theaters across the country are celebrating the Wizard of Oz’s 70th Anniversary by screening a new high-definition version of the film. Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies and a film historian, created a special introduction to the screening, and talks to us about what it is like to see the beloved classic back on the big screen in its new high-def form. 

‘The MIT of the Middle East’ Opens

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Ceremonies are underway in Saudi Arabia today to unveil what’s being billed as the “M.I.T. of the Middle East.” We talk with Sandra Upson, a reporter for IEEE Spectrum magazine who is covering the opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology or KAUST. The school will be the world’s sixth largest university and a secular haven in a decidedly non-secular nation.

Shooting Beauty

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What happens when a fashion photographer jerry-rigs cameras so that people with severe physical disabilities can take photographs? Filmmaker George Kachadorian and our guest, photographer Courtney Bent sought to find out, and their resulting documentary is called “Shooting Beauty.”

• See photos of the photographers

Music from the show

• Peter Dixon, “Nagog Woods”
• Calexico, “Crumble”
• Paul Simon, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
• Herbie Hancock, “Watermelon Man”
• Judy Garland, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
• Christian McBride, “Theme for Kareem”
• Kar Kar Madison, “Boubacar Traore”
• Steve Earle, “Transcendental Blues”
• Moby, “Myopia”

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We speak with Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren about her brainchild, a federal agency to protect consumers from bad lending practices. It’s now before Congress as a key part of President Obama’s proposed overhaul of Wall Street. Warren also chairs the congressional panel charged with overseeing the Treasury Department’s 700 billion dollar rescue of financial markets.

• Read Elizabeth Warren’s Testimony to the House Financial Services Committee on Regulating Financial Products

Remembering Composer Leon Kirchner

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The music world is mourning the death of Leon Kirchner, one of America’s greatest composers. Kirchner died yesterday at his home in New York, the cause was heart failure. We revisit a conversation that Robin Young had with Kirchner before he was honored at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum earlier this year.

• Listen to our original interview with Kirchner

Struggling Synagogues

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The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset today and many synagogues are hoping the coming year will be better than the last. By one estimate Jewish organizations lost a quarter of their wealth in the economic downturn and grants to synagogues are down. Our guest is Rabbi Charles Klein of the Merrick Jewish Center on Long Island, New York.

ACORN Under Fire

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The U.S. House and Senate both voted this week to block federal funding for the national community organizing group ACORN. Hidden camera video released last week showed the group counseling two undercover filmmakers posing as a pimp and a prostitute on tax filing for their illegal business. We speak to Ben Smith, Senior Political reporter for Politico.com.

Curbing Larry David’s Enthusiasm

Larry David at the premiere of "The Heartbreak Kid" in Los Angeles in 2007. (AP)

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That crusty, curmudgeon Larry David is back for a seventh season of his HBO series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” This season, the “Seinfeld” co-creator has convinced the cast of Seinfeld to do a reunion show. Well, sort of. Since the reunion show is taking place on “Curb,” it’s not really a reunion at all. We speak with Larry David, who might have a future as a professional whistler if this whole TV thing doesn’t work out.

Larry David, Whistler Extraordinaire

Music from the show

• Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”
• Fred Hirsch, “Desafinado”
• Kar Kar Madison, “Boubacar Traore”
• Thelonius Monk, “Caravan”
• George Gershwin, “American in Paris”
• Frank Sinatra, “My Way”
• Leon Kirchner, “Flutings for Paula” performed by Paula Robison
• Leon Kirchner, “Duo No. 2” performed by Jeremy Denk and Corey Cerovsek
• Igor Stravinsky, “Disparition du Palais et des Sortileges de Kastchei, Animation des Chevaliers Petrifies” performed by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
• Leon Kirchner, “Music for Cello and Orchestra” performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Philadelphia Orchestra
• Leon Kirchner, “Piano Sonata No.1” performed by Leon Fleisher
• Leon Kirchner, “Trio No. 2” performed by the Claremont TrioArnold Schoenberg, “Verklarte Nacht Op. 4”
• Johann Sebastian Bach, “Cello Suite No. 1 in G” performed by Yo-Yo Ma

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The financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs just posted its biggest quarterly profit ever in it 140-year history. How did they do this, just months after receiving federal bailout money? Our guest, Matt Taibbi, writes about Goldman Sachs in Rolling Stone. He says the firm has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression, and is about to do it again.

• Read some reaction to Matt Taibbi’s article, including Goldman Sachs’ response.

How’s the Bank Bailout Working, and What Kind of Help Do Consumers Need?

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We’ll speak with Elizabeth Warren, Harvard law professor and chair of the congressional panel to oversee the U.S. bank bailout. Warren is also one of the movers behind the White House’s proposal to create a new Consumer Finance Protection Agency.

Entrepreneur Explores Space

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Entrepreneur Elon Musk, who co-founded PayPal, has turned his attention to SPACEX, which he hopes will become the first private company to take astronauts into space. Musk’s vision for future space exploration includes commercial private space flights and settlement on Mars.

Return to the Moon

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A quarter moon is visible on Earth's horizon, from aboard space shuttle Columbia on Jan. 26, 2003 (AP)

It’s been 40 years since astronaut Neil Armstrong took his one small step for man on the surface of the moon. President Bush set a goal of establishing a permanent human presence there by 2020. But with a recession and a $50 billion mission price tag, is there a good reason to go back? Our guest is David Mindel, professor of the history of technology at MIT and author of  the book “Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Space Flight.”

• Read more about moon exploration, and a $20 million dollar lunar probe contest

The “Harry Potter” Franchise

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The movie “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” is finally out. It’s the latest film in the lucrative Potter franchise. The BBC’s Vincent Dowd reports on the concept of the franchise film and whether it’s changing the film industry.

Music from the Show

• Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”
• Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”
• Peter Dixon, “Nagog Woods”
• Ken Vandermark, “Knock Yourself Out”
• John Williams, “Hedwig’s Theme,” from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” original motion picture soundtrack

Has the $200 billion that the federal government gave to hundreds of the nation’s banks actually increased lending as it was intended?  One of the biggest bailout recipients, Citigroup, is outlining plans today to lend $36.5 billion.  What does this mean for businesses and consumers?  We speak with Binyamin Appelbaum, financial reporter for The Washington Post.

Darwin at 200

Science writer David Quammen says Charles Darwin was an extremely cautious man who was burdened by a radical idea.  In an article in National Geographic, Quammen describes Darwin’s five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle and the radical idea that slowly emerged from the journey.

• Read another article on Darwin by Quammen in National Geographic.

Campaign Against Digital Dating Violence

Another new word has emerged from the digital revolution: “sexting,” or texting nude photos.  This  practice and others, including hacking into a boyfriend or girlfriend’s MySpace or Facebook account, and constantly texting a significant other to find out what he or she is doing, are all new, problematic behaviors  the Family Violence Prevention Fund calls “digital dating violence.”  We speak with Nick Law, chief creative officer of the digital advertising agency R/GA, that helped create the new “That’s Not Cool” campaign that aims to teach kids how to know when others have crossed a “digital line.”

Meals on Wheels

The Meals on Wheels program exists to help senior citizens who would not be able to provide for themselves.  We’re joined today by Sandy Centazzo, Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island executive director, who tells us that budget cuts have forced even stop-gap programs like hers to turn away people in need. 

Blindspot

This new novel is a sexy tale of passion and politics, along with a murder mystery.  It was written by two historians who combined their academic chops with the freedom of fiction to create what The New York Times calls an “entertaining re-creation of colonial America on the brink of the Revolution.” Here & Now’s Alex Ashlock spoke with the authors, Jill Lepore of Harvard and Jane Kamensky of Brandeis.