Senate Closes in on Health Care Bill

What’s left in the Senate health care reform bill, now that the public option and an expansion of Medicare have been dropped from the measure? We speak with Gail Chaddock, congressional correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

History According to Howard Zinn

Historian, teacher, author, and activist Howard Zinn now brings his reading of history to video. The People Speak, featuring Matt Damon and other stars, aired on The History Channel. It’s a visual presentation Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.

Small Town Police Accused of Murder Cover-Up

The police chief and two officers in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania are facing federal charges for allegedly covering up evidence in the 2008 beating death of a Mexican immigrant. The men are accused of tampering with evidence and lying to the FBI to protect a group of popular, white high school football players. The young men allegedly killed 25-year-old Luís Ramírez during a fight. Two teens, who were convicted of only minor charges earlier this year, have also been charged with federal hate crimes. Mike Urban of the Reading Eagle brings us the latest on the case.

Yemen

When President Obama outlined his Afghanistan strategy, he mentioned Yemen as a haven for Al Qaeda. That may be, but the country has many other security problems, including a civil war in the North and a secessionist movement in the South. The BBC’s Owen Bennett Jones is there.

Nearsightedness On the Rise

A study in the latest Archives of Opthamology found that nearsightedness also known as myopia has skyrocketed since the 1970s. We speak with Susan Vitale, of the National Eye Institute who is lead author of the study.

Heavy Metal Choir

The band performs at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston in November 2008. (My Lush Life/Flickr)

If you’re getting weary of the omnipresent piped-in Christmas music this time of year, we have a break for you – a heavy metal choir. Here and Now’s Andrea Shea profiles Bang Camaro, a Boston based group which consists of two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and as many as 20 lead male singers.

See video of Bang Camero Practicing

Music from the show

Paul Simon, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
Thelonius Monk, “Caravan”
Moby, “Inside”
Fred Hirsch, “Desafinado”
Radiohead, “There There”
Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”

Rick Evans

Howard Dean is *mostly* right. This piece of trash of a bill should be scrapped. Where he errs is by only calling it a gift to the insurance companies.

It’s actually a gift to the entire profligate, bloated, wasteful and corrupt medical industrial complex of which insurers are the easy poster whipping boy. Americans spend on medical services double per capita what other industrialized nations with universal health insurance spend; about $7500 vs $4000.

So what does congress want to impose on the uninsured. Force them to help refinance this greedy industry by extorting them with the power of the internal revenue service. Please let this mess go down in flames.
Kevin Campbell

Amen Rick, I’m praying to Bob Dobbs this bill turns up on it’s back like a dead bug on the Senate floor. What a mess this country is in. We have the GOP living in Dutch Reagan bizarro world and a motley crew of either corrupt, inept, or totally neutered Democrats on the left. People would probably fare just as well healthwise if they find their own River Styx to dip themselves into.

Also, great interview with Howard Zinn today Robin. I missed it the first time around.