Advertisement

Rundown 8/21

42:17
Download Audio
Resume

President Obama Losing Support

A new poll out today from the Washington Post and ABC News shows that 49 percent of Americans express confidence that Obama will make the right decisions for the country, down from 60-percent at the 100-day mark in his presidency. We speak with Rick Klein, senior political reporter for ABC News and author of the ABC Blog, The Note.

Long-Term Care

What's America's most urgent health care crisis? Our guest, journalist Howard Gleckman says it's the one we aren't talking about--the 10 million Americans in long term care today, with 44 million family members, friends, neighbors, and medical personnel helping them. And the numbers will go up sharply in the next generation. Gleckman learned about it when both his father and his wife's father became too sick to care for themselves. Gleckman's new book is "Caring For Our Parents: Inspiring Stories of Families Seeking New Solutions to America's Most Urgent Health Crisis."

Violence in Iraq

Men carry the coffin of a relative, killed in Wednesday's bombing, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009. A string of blasts killed at least 100 people in Baghdad on Wednesday. More than 500 people also were wounded when nearly simultaneous truck bombs struck Iraq's Foreign and Finance ministries on Wednesday _ the deadliest day of coordinated bombings in more than a year. (AP)
Men carry the coffin of a relative, killed in Wednesday's bombing, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009. (AP)

At least two more people were killed in Baghdad today after bombings earlier this week killed more than 90. We check in on a deadly week in Bagdad with Ernesto Londono, Iraq coorespondent for the Washington Post.

A Doctor in the House

Texas Republican Congressman Michael Burgess believes that putting health care spending decisions in the hands of patients through health savings accounts is the prescription for health care reform, rather than centralizing it under the federal government as he believes the Democrats want to do. Burgess is the chairman of the House GOP's healthcare caucus.

The Heartless Bastards

This Austin-based rock group has had a big summer, touring with Wilco, Jenny Lewis and the Decemberists. And the band's leader, Erika Wennerstrom, even found time to work on a side project that includes a new recording of the classic song, "If I Were A Carpenter." Today, we revisit a conversation we had with Wennerstrom earlier this year, on the heels of the release of The Heartless Bastards CD "The Mountain."

Music from the show

  • Freddie Hubbard, "Little Sunflower"
  • Thelonius Monk, "Caravan"
  • The Lickets, "A Crowd of Pimps in the Rain"
  • Talking Heads, "This Must Be the Place"
  • Medeski, Martin and Wood, "Bloody Oil"
  • Sweet Tea, "If I Were A Carpenter"
  • The Heartless Bastards, "Be So Happy"
  • The Heartless Bastards, "Hold Your Head High"
  • The Heartless Bastards, "Early in the Morning"
  • The Heartless Bastards, "Out At Sea"
  • The Heartless Bastards, "Nothing Seems the Same"
  • The Heartless Bastards, "Sway"

This program aired on August 21, 2009.

Advertisement

More from Here & Now

Listen Live
Close