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Analysis and perspective on current events, issues and ideas Primary Format : Politics Also Listed as: Business Environment Health Political City : Unknown State/Province : Unknown Country : Unknown Country : UN User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: health | Political Health | Health Political | Environment | View this Podcast on a Google Map. Add to iTunes Text Only listing of NOW from PBS Podcasts Trumix.com listings available of NOW from PBS Podcasts Click Here to Update the directory of this podcasts programs.

Trumix.com listings available of NOW from PBS Podcasts Build your own playlists with this podcast. Subprime Solution? After the subprime mortgage debacle, have we learned that quick-turnaround mortgages to customers with low credit scores are always too good to be true? One enterprising entrepreneur says NO, and he has some success to back it up. NOW on PBS takes a look at the non profit organization "Just Price Solutions" and the man behind it, Brian Cosgrove. Cosgrove created a new mortgage model that, in his view, marries the speed and efficiency of the subprime model to safe lending practices including ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website India Rising The global middle class is expected to swell by more than 1 billion people over the next decade, with the biggest increases in China and India. While millions are being lifted out of poverty as a result, the booming middle class is also consuming more global resources. As a result, prices for everything from steel to gasoline to food are soaring. NOW reports from Pune, India, where college graduates are getting tech jobs, traditional families are flocking to the new mall, and professionals ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fighting the Army Thousands of U.S. troops are getting discharged out of the Army. Many suffer from post traumatic stress disorders and brain injuries and aren't getting the care they need. The Army claims these discharged soldiers have pre-existing mental illnesses or are guilty of misconduct. But advocates say these are wrongful discharges, a way for the army to get rid of "problem" soldiers quickly, without giving them the treatment to which they're entitled. NOW travels to Texas' Fort Hood to meet trauma ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Dialogue with Dictators? NOW talks with the former head of U.S. Central Command, Admiral William J. Fallon, who resigned in March after a year of duty. Fallon had sharp disagreements with the Bush Administration's Middle East policy toward Iranian President Ahmadinejad. The former commander of all U.S. military forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, Fallon was portrayed in Esquire magazine as the man in the military preventing the administration from going to war with Iran. Also, we talk with political columni ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fighting Child Prostitution Living in the shadows of contemporary American society are hundreds of thousands of underage prostitutes -- desperate, exploited kids robbed of their childhood and of hope. The Department of Justice estimates that each day at least 300,000 American children are at risk -- on the streets, through escort services and increasingly on the internet. But while the underage sex trade is spreading, some leaders are taking strong measures to stand in its way. NOW on PBS goes to Atlanta, where Mayor ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Rape in the Military There are more women serving in the military than ever before, and they're in danger -- but not just from combat. Last year, nearly 1400 women reported being assaulted and raped by their fellow soldiers, in some cases by their commanding officers. The shocking phenomenon has a label: military sexual trauma, or MST. NOW on PBS returns to the subject for an updated report and talks to women who've been raped and assaulted while serving in the military. Also on the show, NOW investigates how ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Education City While America's reputation in the Middle East is hovering at historic lows, the demand for American university-branded education has never been greater. NOW on PBS takes a look at the unprecedented boom of American university campuses in an area where American military and cultural exports are typically viewed with suspicion. In the tiny oil-rich nation of Qatar, American universities like Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, and Virginia Commonwealth are warmly embraced and enthusiastically attend ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Prisons for Profit America passed a grim milestone this year: One in every hundred Americans is now behind bars. This week, NOW on PBS investigates the government's trend to outsource prisons and prisoners to the private sector and examines the controversy it's causing. We travel to Colorado, where the debate over prison privatization is boiling over. The hot question: should incarceration be incorporated? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Election 2008: What to Expect Few predicted how competitive the race for President would be at this point, and no one knows how it will all turn out, but some insiders have the advantage of their own experience to provide a seasoned perspective. NOW on PBS host David Brancaccio shares a table with outspoken former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown and former McCain strategist Dan Schnur for an insider's look at what may happen next, and what the candidates each must do to win. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website College Summit While many kids from rich families take going to college for granted, poor kids face a harsher reality. According to one source, only 7% of low-income kids earn a college degree by the age of 25. NOW shares a year-long investigation of an innovative program trying to level that playing field. College Summit is hoping to close the gap by helping students from low-income families select schools, complete college applications, write personal statements, and navigate financial aid. After months ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Health Care Meltdown As the political campaigns gear up for Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, the candidates are trumpeting positions on one of the state's -- and the country's -- thorniest and most pressing issues: health care reform. With health care costs in the Keystone State 11% higher than the national average and rising twice as fast as the average wage, it's a problem Pennsylvania is desperately trying to fix on its own. The state legislature is debating a plan backed by Governor Ed Rendell to provide ben ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Taxing the Poor Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Back to the Front As President Bush seeks to add to the U.S. military presence in Iraq, NOW asks: are we asking too much of our soldiers, many of whom are on their second or third tours of duty? This week, NOW follows troops from Georgia's Fort Stewart as they prepare to leave their loved ones and head back into harm's way. Through their personal stories, we witness the strains both the war and our expectations are placing on America's military. Michael Murphy is one of the Fort Stewart soldiers deploying to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Home Grown Can America grow its way out of its dependence on foreign oil? Country music legend Willie Nelson thinks so, and has a new twist on a 100 year-old idea that just may get us there. Nelson has introduced a new kind of crop-based diesel fuel he calls "BioWillie." Not only does BioWillie burn more cleanly than regular diesel, but it could give farmers a brand new market for their crops. NOW talks with Neslon about this new trend in biofuels that is attracting the attention of farmers, environm ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How Green? Can environmentalists and conservative lawmakers get along in the Idaho wilderness? That's the challenge Republican Rep. Mike Simpson took on when he sponsored compromise legislation with the help of the Idaho Conservation League to protect a vast swath of the state's natural environment. But the price is too high for some. NOW talks to residents, ranchers, off-road vehicle fans, and wilderness advocates -- including singer-songwriter and resident Carole King -- to unearth the truth behind ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Food Fight Can labor unions still pack a punch for workers? This week, NOW travels to Tar Heel, North Carolina to investigate the twelve-year battle to unionize the world's largest pork processing plant. In so doing, NOW's Maria Hinojosa became the first TV journalist ever allowed to film inside the plant, owned by Smithfield Packing Company. Smithfield has been locked in a fight with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) for over a decade, amid court and government findings of past inti ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Corporate Compassion Corporations don't have the best reputation when it comes to compassion. More often than not, the bottom line leaves no room for benevolence. But some big businesses are taking a new approach. This week, NOW interviews Jonathan Schwartz, the charismatic CEO and president of Sun Microsystems, and billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, about their efforts to invest and grow programs that help make the world a better place. Khosla describes a radical proposal to move all U.S. automobile ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Norman Lear on Minding our Media Public opinion polls unanimously show that trust in mainstream media -- the institution most responsible for keeping us all informed and aware -- is at an all-time low. How did we get here, and more importantly, how can we repair the damage? NOW poses these questions to legendary television producer and People for the American Way founder Norman Lear. Also interviewed is Martin Kaplan, associate dean of USC's Annenberg School of Communication. Is mainstream media serving public or corporate ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Live and Learn Viewed before Hurricane Katrina as an institutional disaster, New Orleans' public schools got a second shot at success as a result of the devastation. City planners ran with the opportunity, deciding not just to rebuild schools, but to implement a bold experiment in public schooling. A full 60 percent of the city's reopened schools are now independently-run charter schools. NOW looks at the challenges, successes, and implications of one of these schools, Lafayette Academy, through the eyes ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fog of War Dozens of families say the military has misled them about how their loved ones died, and the army has officially acknowledged seven instances of misinformation. In the most high-profile case, the army is finishing its fourth investigation into the death of former pro football player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan two years ago. This time, they are investigating to see if facts were intentionally covered up. But Tillman is not the only disturbing case. NOW talks to the mother of Army Pfc. Jesse ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Election Day Outcomes News headlines are heralding Democratic Congressional victories on Election Night, but the larger story of the 2006 mid-term elections transcends statistical winners and losers. Since late summer, NOW has been focusing on crucial but underreported personal and political questions related to the election, such as: the performance of malfunctioning voting machines, the outcomes of deceptive ballot initiatives, the influence of religion in politics, the impact of immigration and minimum wage i ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sway the Course? With less than a week to go before the election, it's clear no single issue will have more impact than the war in Iraq. NOW goes to one of the most pro-war districts in the country -- the Texas 31st -- to see how townsfolk deeply affected by our presence in Iraq are expressing their feelings at the ballot box. This solidly-red district is home to Fort Hood, the largest active duty army base in America, and almost everyone living there has a personal connection to the war. Is the war in Iraq ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Minimum Wedge In the final days of campaigning, a big battle is brewing over small wages. Congress hasn't touched the federal minimum wage level in nearly a decade (though its members routinely raise their own wages). But this year, eleven states have approved raising the minimum wage and six others have it on this November's ballot. In this week's show, NOW visits a Missourian who's relying on the minimum wage to support her entire family. She and others are engaged in a David vs. Goliath struggle -- in ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Votes for Sale? The run-up to this year's midterm election smells of scandal and corruption, which raises the question: Can anyone stop the influence of big money and big influence on political campaigns? This week, NOW presents a special hour-long investigation into the fight to keep American elections free and fair. Airing less than three weeks before Americans go to the polls, "Votes for Sale?" will spotlight the so-called Clean Elections movement, a radical experiment adopted in Maine and Arizona to re ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website My Country, My Country Filmmaker Laura Poitras spent eight dangerous months documenting the life of an Iraqi medical doctor and his family as they struggled to maintain hope amidst the bombings, bloodshed, and military occupation. When she returned to America, Poitras was labeled with the highest possible threat rating from the Department of Homeland Security. The resulting film, "My Country, My Country," is an intimate portrait of daily life in the war zone. NOW's David Brancaccio talks to Poitras about her ey ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleaning House? Congressman Foley's abrupt resignation last week is sending political shockwaves throughout the Capitol and the country, but more distressing are allegations that House leadership may have known details of Foley's inappropriate correspondence with a young page and done little about it. NOW asks: Can Congress police itself? Our investigation looks at the collision of political and ethical decision-making in Washington and its profound effects on the upcoming elections and our democracy. Also ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Alien Nation? NOW looks at how Republican candidates, eager to rally conservative voters, are talking tough on illegal immigration -- even if that means bucking the President. Even more surprising, they're doing so in states which have few illegal immigrants. NOW travels to Indiana to see how the politics of immigration is playing out, what people's fears are, and if xenophobia plays a part in political tactics. "If you're a Republican Party that's fairing poorly, sometimes you have to win ugly," says Ro ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Taking the Initiative In the voting booth this fall, voters in states across the country will find ballot initiatives with titles like "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" and "SOS - Stop Over Spending." The aim is to slash state spending, including deep cuts in health care, education and other social services. But are these local initiatives really "home" grown? NOW investigates how one wealthy New Yorker is secretly providing major funding for these and other ballot measures way outside his neighborhood, in states acr ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Blog the Vote Left-leaning political bloggers are determined to demonstrate their real world influence in the upcoming mid-term elections. But will they finally make political headway, or just more hype? NOW visits a major political blogging convention and examines the candidacy of surprising U.S. Senate primary winner John Tester to find out. Bloggers both in his home state of Montana and outside of it have taken some credit for Tester's success. "You have a couple million people reading liberal blogs.. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Down for the Count Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Block the Vote Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lawmakers or Lawbreakers? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Warrantless Wiretapping Setback & Dancing With Wolves Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Anna Deavere Smith on Art and Politics Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Orville Schell on a Responsible Press Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Prisoner Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lebanon-Israel Crisis & A Fish Tale Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Do No Harm? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Still in Harm's Way & Man of Peace? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Toxic Transport Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Final Offer Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Crude Awakening Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Who Killed the Electric Car? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Tangled Web and Gagged Librarian George Christian Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Democrats Divided 2008 With the primary season underway, America is focused on whether the next president will be Democrat or Republican. Meanwhile, within the Democratic Party another struggle is unfolding. NOW on PBS reports on a rift between progressives who believe the party has sold out its liberal values and centrists eager to capture a broad swath of the more conservative voters. It's a struggle that is taking place at all levels of government. In Maryland, six-term incumbent Al Wynn is facing a tough chal ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Latino Vote 2008 The booming Hispanic population in political swing states is creating opportunities and headaches in both political parties as they try to court the Latino vote. NOW on PBS travels to Florida just weeks before its important primary to examine Republican tactics to win over Hispanic Americans. A fifth of Florida's residents are Hispanic, and Republicans are scoring points on traditional issues of faith and national security. But at the same time, they're frustrating Latinos with what many of ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Dirty Politics 2008 Political mudslinging as a campaign tactic is as popular as it's ever been. Romney, Clinton, Huckabee, Giuliani, Obama--no one's managed to steer clear of targeted rumors and malicious gossip. NOW on PBS travels to South Carolina, the home of legendary no-holds-barred campaigner Lee Atwater, to see where negative stories come from, how they spread, and whether they can be effectively defeated with positive messaging. "In South Carolina, we know how to run negative campaigns," Rod Shealy, a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How Green? Can environmentalists and conservative lawmakers get along in the Idaho wilderness? That's the challenge Republican Rep. Mike Simpson took on when he sponsored compromise legislation with the help of the Idaho Conservation League to protect a vast swath of the state's natural environment. But the price is too high for some. NOW talks to residents, ranchers, off-road vehicle fans, and wilderness advocates -- including singer-songwriter and resident Carole King -- to unearth the truth behind ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Home At Last? What do homeless people most need to reenter the fabric of society? Some say the answer is right there in the question: homes. NOW investigates a program that secures apartments for the long-term homeless, even if they haven't kicked their bad habits. If you think that sounds crazy, think again. Advocates say this approach reduces costs, encourages self-help and counseling participation, and restores self-esteem. The evidence seems to be with them, and the program is spreading to hundreds o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ron Paul and Internet Politics At the intersection of the Internet and politics, presidential candidate Ron Paul's supporters are rewriting the rules of political campaigns. NOW explores how the Texas congressman and his supporters are using the Internet to attract voters -- and massive contributions -- from across the political spectrum. Supporters include anti-war progressives, anti-tax libertarians, civil libertarians, and even some white supremacists. The common theme is anger over where the country is heading. "Ron ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Talking About War On the very day Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago, David Brancaccio interviews filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev. James Forbes Jr. about Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary "The War". Looking to the past as a mirror to the present, the four discuss how the waging of war intersects with our notion of democracy. "It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group. Sharp i ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will The 2008 Vote Be Fair? How safe is your right to vote? This week NOW talks to David Becker, a former Justice Department official and voting rights activist who worked under both President Bush and President Clinton, who alleges a systematic effort to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. In a revealing interview with NOW's David Brancaccio, Becker openly worries that the 2008 election will not be free and fair. And is our own government part of the solution, or part of the problem? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Oil, Politics & Bribes NOW shines a bright light on the scandalous connection between VECO Corporation -- an Alaska-based oil services company -- and Alaska's old-boy Republican network. Two state legislators have been convicted in Federal court for accepting bribes from VECO, while one more awaits trial. The FBI has video and audio evidence that reveal VECO executives shockingly handing out cash to those legislators in exchange for promises to roll back a tax on the oil industry. But that may only be the tip of ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mortgage Mess NOW travels to North Minneapolis to investigate the mortgage meltdown that's left the city scarred with boarded-up and abandoned houses. What's happened in communities like this one has investors everywhere shaken. Wall Street firms are stumbling and markets around the globe are reeling. Economists worry the mortgage bust may even lead to a recession. By one estimate, investors could eventually see as much as 400 billion dollars go down the drain--losses almost twice as big as the savings a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Children's Health Care Showdown NOW investigates the latest Congressional maneuvers to determine the fate of a children's health care program. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, is a block grant from the federal government to cover children whose family incomes exceed that which would make them eligible for Medicaid, but are too low to afford private insurance. But the fund is quickly running out of money. President Bush vetoed a bipartisan SCHIP reauthorization bill on October 3, claiming it would a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Growing Local, Eating Local When the federal government ended its 60-plus years of price support to tobacco farmers in 2004, Virginians were hit particularly hard. NOW travels to the mountainous farmlands of Appalachia to meet farmers who've attempted the difficult switch from tobacco to increasingly popular organic produce. Among those profiled is restaurant owner Steven Hopp who, along with his wife -- acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver -- spent a year living off the land. Social entrepreneur Anthony Flaccavento fo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website God and Global Warming In August, NOW traveled with an unlikely alliance of Evangelical Christians and leading scientists to witness the breathtaking effects of global warming on Alaska's rapidly-changing environment. Though many in the Evangelical community feel recognition of global warming is in opposition to their mission, the week-long trip inspired new thinking on the relationship between science and religion, and on our moral responsibility to protect the planet. Travel with NOW and the expeditionary group ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Immigration on Main Street With Washington stuck in place on illegal immigration policy, local governments are taking the matter into their own hands, shifting the cultural and political battleground from Pennsylvania Avenue to Main Street, USA. NOW catches up with two New Jersey mayors who have sharply different -- and politically surprising -- approaches to dealing with undocumented immigrants in their communities. Morristown mayor Don Cresitello, a Democrat, wants to invoke a Department of Homeland Security provis ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Child Brides: Stolen Lives NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels around the world for a revealing exploration of early child marriage in developing countries, and how people can act locally and globally to solve the problem. The hour-long special, 'Child Brides: Stolen Lives,' marks the first time the subject has been documented in a primetime television newsmagazine. Countries visited include Niger, India and Guatemala. The stakes are high: child brides typically experience high rates of childbirth compl ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Michael Apted on '49 Up' NOW's David Brancaccio sits down with acclaimed director Michael Apted to talk about the surprising human predictors of future-generation education and income both here and in Britain. Apted discusses what he's learned from "49 Up," the seventh chapter of his groundbreaking documentary series that follows the lives of English citizens every seven years. "49 Up" premieres on "POV" October 9. Also on the show, "Off the Grid," a visit to Decorah, Iowa, where several families are going above an ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Veterans of PTSD For many Iraq and Gulf War veterans, the transition from battlefield to home front is difficult. Bouts of fierce anger, depression and anxiety that previous generations of soldiers described as "shell shock" or "combat/battle fatigue" now earn a clinical diagnosis: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But the relatively new medical label doesn't guarantee soldiers will get the care they need. NOW looks at how America's newest crop of returning soldiers is coping with the emotional scars of war, ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Who's Making Money From Microcredit? Microfinancing has been hailed as a breakthrough in combating global poverty by giving small loans to impoverished people in the hopes of transforming their lives. But one very profitable Mexican lending program is now under intense scrutiny. This week, NOW continues its "Enterprising Ideas" series with a look at Compartamos bank, which started as a nonprofit organization lending small sums of money to poor indigenous Mexican women to help them start their own businesses. Today, it's a for- ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Third Time Around On the heels of a much-anticipated progress report in Washington, NOW travels to Iraq for an exclusive, hard look at the war through the telling eyes of U.S. soldiers on the ground, and of the families they left behind. We also examine first-hand the so-called "Anbar Awakening," a controversial partnership between U.S. soldiers and Sunni tribal leaders, many of whom who had previously been fighting the Americans. Some--including President Bush--are calling this a significant step forward in ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Military Sexual Trauma Roughly one in seven of America's active duty military soldiers is a woman, but a NOW investigation found that sexual assault and rape is widespread. One study of National Guard and Reserve forces found that almost one in four women had been assaulted or raped. Last year alone, almost 3,000 soldiers reported sexual assault and rape by other soldiers. The shocking phenomenon has a label: military sexual trauma, or MST. In one of the only national television broadcasts covering the issue, NOW ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Montana Meth Project When Tom Siebel, a billionaire software developer and part time Montana resident, learned the devastating effect methamphetamine addiction was having on the big sky state, he decided to use his successful marketing techniques--and 20 million dollars from his own wallet--to "un-sell" the deadly and highly addictive drug. It's called the Montana Meth Project. NOW's David Brancaccio talks with the venture philanthropist about blitzing the state with stark and shocking ad campaigns designed to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website AWOL Choosing to go to war is both a government's decision and one made by individual enlistees. But changing your mind once you're in the army is a risky decision with serious consequences. NOW talks to two soldiers who went AWOL and eventually left the Army, but who took very different paths. NOW captures the moment when one man turns himself in, and when another applies for refugee status in Canada, becoming one of the 20,000 soldiers who have deserted the army since the War in Iraq began. Ea ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Home Insurance 9-1-1 In the fall of 2003, one of the largest recorded wildfires in California's history destroyed over 2,200 houses and killed fifteen people. Soon after, many who'd lost their homes had a rude awakening: their insurance did not nearly cover their losses as expected. The insurance industry, which claims to cover "more property, more lives, more liability-related risks than any time at history," is busy fighting allegations that customers are receiving smaller payouts than what they were promised ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Income Inequality In America, the top one-tenth of one percent of earners makes about the same money per year collectively as the millions of Americans in the bottom fifty percent combined. This is putting a tight squeeze on the middle class, while leaving millions of others in the cold. This week, David Brancaccio talks with Pulitzer prize-winning financial reporter David Cay Johnston, as well as author and advocate Beth Shuman about the state of our country's vast income divide and how it's hurting those j ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Guantanamo Justice? A strong blow to the Bush Administration's detainee policy, and the military lawyer who dealt it. David Brancaccio talks with Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift, whose Supreme Court victory on behalf of his client, a Guantanamo Bay detainee, successfully challenged the Bush administration's detainee policy. It also laid the foundations for the current Congressional debate over how to try those accused of terrorism. Will this development in the war on terror deliver swifter justice or false ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Voter Caging Was there a White House plot to illegally suppress votes in 2004? Is there a similar plan for the upcoming elections? NOW examines documents and evidence that points to a Republican Party plan designed to keep Democrats from voting, by targeting people based on their race and ethnicity. Congress is investigating, and so are we. We speak with David Iglesias, one of eight fired U.S. Attorneys, who says he lost his job because he refused to go along with the White House plan to suppress votes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Post-Abortion Politics Does abortion cause long-term emotional and psychological problems for women? NOW introduces viewers to a new front in the effort to end abortions in the United States: claims of extreme negative effects on a woman's mental health. Once focusing primarily on the unborn child, anti-abortion advocates see new hope in an argument that focuses on the women who've made or are about to make a fateful decision. All sides of the debate have been listening and weighing in, including the Supreme Cour ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Emission Impossible? A California Assemblywoman's personal environmental mission to reduce auto emissions inspired her colleagues to act and other states to follow suit. Supported by favorable federal court decisions, encouraged by an iconic Governor, and armed with new laws, her state is now on the cutting edge of efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of everything from American power plants to automobiles. NOW investigates not only California's aggressive stance against global warming, but also strong politi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Insuring the Children While 45% of all children in the United States are receiving some form of public medical assistance, 9 million children are not covered by either public or private health care. The State Children's Health Insurance Program -- or SCHIP -- is a block grant from the federal government to cover those low-income children, but the fund is running out of money. NOW investigates how SCHIP's future is caught up in a battle between those who think the government insures too many kids, and those who t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Michael Moore on "Sicko" For years, the U.S. healthcare system has been assailed from all sides. At best, it's portrayed as a frustrating bureaucracy. At worst, it's costing people their very lives. In his new documentary, "Sicko," Michael Moore has turned his eye toward our American Healthcare system, as dominated and regulated by insurance companies, health maintenance organizations and legislators who are too often bought off by "Big Pharmacy" and HMOs. As part of his research, Moore asked for -- and received -- ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Report Card When New Orleans' failing public school system got washed away with the flood waters, the city embarked upon an ambitious and controversial overhaul with an emphasis on charter schools. Charter schools are publicly funded but independently managed schools that proponents hail for innovation, and opponents argue have not yet proven themselves. This week, NOW returns to Lafayette Academy, a charter school where students and teachers have struggled in the past school year with mismanagement an ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Unforeseen In the 1970s and 80s, Land Developer Gary Bradley worked to transform Austin, Texas' pristine hill country into lucrative residential subdivisions, making both headlines and lots of money. When local residents learned of new plans to develop 4,000 acres over nearby Barton Creek, they rose up to stop Bradley and his partners in their tracks. Whereas the developers had strong connections in the Texas legislature -- and a powerful ally in eventual Governor George W. Bush -- the city had an eve ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stents and Sensibility In 2006, Americans spent at least $14 billion dollars on procedures involving coronary stents -- little tubes that open clogged arteries to the heart. But according to the FDA, there's no evidence that stents significantly reduce the risk of future heart attacks. Now, a major study from a top cardiologist is suggesting many of the procedures prescribed for chest pains are overused. NOW investigates the facts behind coronary procedures and finds -- to no surprise -- that money is as much an ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Maximum Capacity The number of inmates in American prisons is outpacing the system's ability to hold them all. In one startling example, California prisons hold 70,000 more inmates than they're designed for, even though the state has built a dozen new prisons in the last 15 years. One of the biggest reasons is rampant recidivism. "Right now, 7 out of every 10 inmates that leaves this prison comes back," California Warden Mike Poulos tells NOW. "We need to stop that revolving door." NOW goes inside an Illino ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Health Care Franchise Can the quality of healthcare in developing nations be transformed by the same principal that makes fast food such a success here? NOW travels to Kenya to investigate an enterprising idea: franchising not burger and donut shops, but health services and drugs in rural Africa. American businessmen are teaming with African entrepreneurs to spread for-profit clinics around the country in the hopes of providing quality, affordable medical care to even Kenya's poorest people. But can they overcom ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Miles to Go Many of the cars now on America's roads get no better gas mileage than the ones we were driving twenty years ago. Meanwhile, other country's cars are leaving ours in the dust in terms of fuel efficiency. How did this happen, and what are American auto manufacturers doing about it? Former GM engineer and NOW correspondent Jonathan Silvers goes under the hood of the U.S. car industry to look at what's being called a colossal failure of American engineering. Does Detroit have a secret weapon w ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Royalty Treatment When veteran government auditor Bobby Maxwell learned oil giant Kerr McGee was not paying the $10 million he says it owed in oil royalties, he prepared an order to Kerr McGee to pay up. Making sure the government gets its money from energy companies was Maxwell's job in the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a division of the Department of the Interior. But Maxwell claims his bosses at the MMS quashed that order. After filing a lawsuit under the False Claims Act, which protects and encourag ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Casualties of War Reporter Steven Vincent and his translator put their lives on the line each day in Iraq to uncover the truth about sectarian violence. In August 2005, they were kidnapped by the very people they had been reporting on. Vincent was shot dead, becoming the first U.S. journalist murdered in Iraq. NOW's Maria Hinojosa travels to the Middle East to talk to his Iraqi translator, Nour Al Khal, an extraordinary woman who, despite being shot three times, survived. Like two million of her compatriots, ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Past Due and Pay Day Housing in the United States is taking a big hit, as "too-good-to-be-true" home loans fail, refinancing dries up, and foreclosures surge. How did the market plummet so far so quickly and are current homeowners paying the price? NOW investigates by revisiting a California town whose real estate fortunes have taken a hard turn for the worse. Also this week, NOW spends more time with a group of determined Florida farm workers who pick the tomatoes that may wind up on your fast food burgers or ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website No End in Sight Nearly four years after President Bush declared an end to combat in Iraq, the country is still fraught with daily casualties, costly commitments, and an ongoing debate on how to end the violence. How did it come to this? NOW's David Brancaccio speaks with two very different, but unforgettable men who allege that U.S. bungling in Iraq created and fueled the deadly insurgency. Paul Hughes, a retired Army colonel, was part of the transition team after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He says key dec ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stock Alert NOW takes a close look at hedge funds -- secretive, unregulated, and often very risky investment accounts that have brought incredible wealth and power to some, but with the potential to spell dire consequences for ordinary Americans. Hundreds of billions of dollars are invested in hedge funds, and there's a good chance some of your retirement money's in one. But many hedge fund managers say they won't tell anyone how they make their money -- not even the government. NOW talks to former SEC ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Interview: Kurt Vonnegut Listen to one of Kurt Vonnegut's last interviews, from NOW's October 2005 broadcast. Host David Brancaccio sits down with the legendary author of CAT'S CRADLE and SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE to talk about his life and the state of American democracy. With his classic wit, Vonnegut delivers some choice words for our parties, our system, and our president. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Inside Egypt NOW travels to Egypt for an international perspective on America, Americans, and the war in Iraq. Among those profiled is a thoughtful, educated young woman who boycotts American goods and represents a new generation of Egyptians familiar with Western culture, but turning toward Islam. From Arab streets to corporate settings, NOW uncovers outrage at America's foreign policy in the Middle East and investigates what America needs to do to regain the trust of one of our closest allies in the r ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Living Wage NOW examines the fight for a "living wage" -- the pay needed to cover an actual week's worth of living -- on the Nashville, Tennessee campus of Vanderbilt University. The chancellor there earns $1.2 million a year, the endowment is $3 billion, but some of the school's lowest-paid workers -- groundskeepers, custodians, and dining service workers -- earn less than $8.00 an hour. Is the university really sensitive to their basic needs? NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa reports that with ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Talking to Iran President Bush has declared Iran to be part of the "Axis of Evil" and administration officials have said no options -- including military options -- are off the table in the effort to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon. In the midst of this standoff between Washington and Tehran, some U.S. religious leaders are trying to succeed where politicians and diplomats cannot. This week, producer Jamila Paksima revisits her birth country of Iran with American spiritual leaders hoping to promot ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Spy in the Spotlight & Bill George Interview David Brancaccio takes a look at today's dramatic House committee testimony from former spy Valerie Plame. Plame testified about the leaks that ended her undercover career, but jumpstarted investigations into questionable "spin" tactics at the highest levels of our government. Also this week, NOW talks with a former Fortune 500 CEO and Harvard professor who prescribes a cure for self-serving corporate leaders who abandon rules of right and wrong at great peril to their companies, their comm ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Growing Hunger There are roughly 30,000 cotton-growers in America who receive billions of our U.S. tax dollars every year through government subsidies. But critics charge this generous financial support may be ruining the livelihoods of tens of millions of cotton growers in the poorest parts of the world. NOW looks at the tragic global consequences of our subsidies, and at a new farm proposal -- supported by the President -- which seeks to rein in the assistance. Are we paying a terrible global price for ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Enemies of Happiness David Brancaccio talks with Danish filmmaker Eva Mulvad about her documentary "Enemies of Happiness." The film follows the outspoken and successful campaign of Malalai Joya, a 28 year-old Afghan woman running in the country's first democratic parliamentary elections in 35 years. The elections represented a special milestone for Afghan women, who had endured second-class citizenry their entire lives. During the campaign, Joya's life was threatened multiple times because of her vocal and fear ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Vaccine Debate A new cancer-fighting vaccine holds life-saving promise for young women, but debate over its use is raising tough questions at the crossroads of medicine and morality. NOW investigates the controversy over Gardasil, a new vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical giant Merck that blocks certain high-risk strains of the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) which cause 70% of cervical cancers. Just weeks ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a controversial executive order requiring ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website For Your Eyes Only? NOW reports on new evidence suggesting the existence of a secret government program that intercepts millions of private e-mails each day in the name of terrorist surveillance. News about the alleged program came to light when a former AT&T employee, Mark Klein, blew the whistle on what he believes to be a large-scale installation of secret Internet monitoring equipment deep inside AT&T's San Francisco office. The equipment, he contends, was created at the request of the U.S. Government to s ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Digging Out of Debt The average American owes an estimated $9200 on credit cards. And while recent changes to bankruptcy laws may put a smile on the face of some banks and credit card companies, they're making it hard for average Americans to dig themselves out of debt. NOW returns to Waterbury, Connecticut, where it first began reporting about these laws, and revisits a family struggling with bankruptcy. Also this week, NOW review the case of Anthony Graves and explores whether the justice system is condemnin ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Home at Last? What do homeless people most need to reenter the fabric of society? Some say the answer is right there in the question: homes. On February 2 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), NOW investigates a program that secures apartments for the long-term homeless, even if they haven't kicked their bad habits. If you think that sounds crazy, think again. Advocates say this approach reduces costs, encourages self-help and counseling participation, and restores self-esteem. The evidence seems to be with ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Heat Over Global Warming Ahead of a major UN scientific report on global warming to be released next week, David Brancaccio talks with Laurie David, an environmental activist and outspoken co-producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." David levels direct charges against those she feels stand in the way of climate change education, and says America needs to lead the world in protecting the planet. "People are finally understanding the urgency of the issue. And I think they're starting to lo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Daughters for Sale Unable to make ends meet, many families in western Nepal have been forced to sell their daughters, some as young as six, to work far from home as bonded servants in private homes. With living conditions entirely at the discretion of their employers, these girls seldom attend school and are sometimes forced into prostitution. NOW travels to Nepal during the Maghe Sankranti holiday, when labor contractors come to the villages of the area to "buy" the children. There, we meet the Nepalese Yout ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Regulators Fail Investors Listen to David Brancaccio's web-exclusive interview with Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Levitt describes an "almost total failure of present regulatory institutions" at the root of the crisis sweeping financial markets, a crisis he assesses as even worse than those involving Enron and Worldcom. "Investors have been sorely, grievously hurt, and our system has been seriously endangered," Levitt said. He goes on to describe regulators as "cheer ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Save Energy, Save Money, Save the Planet Could a new effort to fight global warming save money and create jobs at the same time? NOW looks at a city-wide plan in Cambridge, Massachusetts to make all their buildings more energy efficient. Up to 80% of emissions in many urban cities comes from buildings. Cambridge hopes that this unprecedented effort to "green" its buildings will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ten percent in just five years, the equivalent of taking 33,000 cars off the road. If every major city in America took t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Toxic Toys? Why does the United States remain one of the few developed countries to allow children to play with toys that some scientists say may cause infertility in boys? The toys in question contain substances called phthalates. While the European Union has banned these substances in products meant for children, there is powerful resistance from the chemical and toy industries to doing the same here. NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels from California, where citizens have successfully g ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Economy on the Edge After a tumultuous week on Wall Street and for the economy as a whole, David Brancaccio talks with noted economic forecaster Allen Sinai about what lies ahead. Brancaccio and Sinai discuss the nation's economic crisis and what can be done to stabilize the financial system. Sinai is an economist who has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations. Sinai tells David, "I don't think Americans quite realize the danger we're in economically and financially. Listen | Listen in your iPhone |