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Rundown 8/17

42:37
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Democratic Divide on Health Care

The Obama Administration is hinting that it is willing to drop the public insurance plan in order to pass a bill. The Senate is considering health care cooperatives. U.S. News and World Report Reporter Kent Garber tells us how they would work.

Murder Allegations Against Blackwater Founder

Two former Blackwater employees have filed statements in federal court claiming that Blackwater founder and owner Erik Prince may have murdered or facilitated the murder of people who were cooperating with federal officials who were investigating the company. Jeremy Scahill also reports in The Nation that Blackwater, recently renamed as Xe Services, still has an armed presence in Iraq.

Another View of Afghanistan

An Afghan man dances, left, as another plays a drum during an election campaign rally for  presidential candidate and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17, 2009. Afghans will head to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect a new president for the second time in the country's history. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
An Afghan man dances, left, as another plays a drum during an election campaign rally for presidential candidate and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17, 2009. (AP)

Presidents and Health Care

While the debate over health care reform continues, we're reminded that the issue has a long history. In fact, Teddy Roosevelt made national health insurance an issue in his last, losing campaign for the White House in 1912. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, joins us to put the current debate over health care reform into historical context.

Writer Nick Burd

We speak with Nick Burd about his debut young-adult novel. "The Vast Fields of Ordinary" is the story of Dade, a young man growing up gay in Iowa and his eventful summer between high school and college.

Music from the show

  • Air, "Mike Mills"
  • Herbie Hancock, "Watermelon Man"
  • Tito Puente, "Royal T"
  • The Lickets, "Serial East"
  • Freddie Hubbard, "Little Sunflower"
  • Peter Dixon, "Nagog Woods"
  • The Wee Trio, "About a Girl"
  • George Michael “Faith”

This program aired on August 17, 2009.

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