An organic farmer and an environmental advocate discuss the pros and cons of Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as head of the USDA.

Ed Genson defended R. Kelly and Conrad Black, not to mention countless mobsters and disgraced pols.

You can dance, you can jive, and the UK is having the time of its life with Mamma Mia! The movie has blown British box office records away surpassing Titanic and the Harry Potter series. A bemused Paddy O'Connell feels the beat of the tambourine with John and Adaora from London.

What musical, movie, or song do you listen to or watch when you need a little shot of sunshine on these dark winter recessionary days?

The Fed cut rates effectively to zero, while OPEC is cutting production and the U.S. Treasury is casting billions about in hopes of stimulating the sagging U.S. economy. Unfortunately none of it seems to be inspiring investors or improving the state of the American economy. In fact, the U.S. dollar plunged against the yuan yesterday and markets remain volatile. Jeremy Stretch, a Senior Currency and Markets Analyst at Rabobank, joins The Takeaway from the trading floor in London.

The Takeaway gets a first-hand update on the worsening situation in Zimbabwe from U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee. He shares his thoughts on president Robert Mugabe, the cholera epidemic and the possibility of a power-sharing deal between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition MDC.

The State Department announced yesterday that it recommended that the U.S. drop Blackwater, the main private security contractor for American diplomats in Iraq. Blackwater has had an international reputation as the big Baghdad bully who is exempt from Iraqi law and U.S. oversight. All of that changed last year when its guards opened fire in Baghdad, killing 17 Iraqi civilians. Five Blackwater employees have since been charged with manslaughter. If the Blackwater contract is not renewed next year, the big question is, who will rush in to fill the security vacuum? Joining us for some answers is Washington Post foreign correspondent Steve Fainaru, who was embedded with thousands of private security contractors while researching his new book, "Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq."

U.S. automaker Chrysler is in crisis mode. In the face of increasing economic turmoil and financial instability, it has announced plans to close its manufacturing plants for at least a month. While Chrysler may be holding its breath waiting for the White House to pass a bailout bill, their decision has a big impact on workers. Micheline Maynard, the Michigan-based New York Times business correspondent, joins The Takeaway to discuss the auto industry in hard times.

When Big Three automakers went to Capitol Hill to plead for a bailout they used two words that are bound to inspire fear: Ripple Effect. We're taking a look at how grim news from the auto industry is rippling through the larger economy. The Takeaway talks to Kirk Lewis, President of the Bing Group in Detroit, which manufactures auto parts for GM and Ford.

One of the world’s most revered classical pianists will play his final public concert in Vienna tonight. WNYC music host Terrance McKnight joins The Takeaway to talk about the legacy and the music of Alfred Brendel.

Selections heard in this segment:

• "Jeunehomme," Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major, K. 271, 2nd movement, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• "Les Adieux sonata," Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, opus 81a, by Ludwig van Beethoven

For those of you not in Vienna tonight, here's a YouTube clip of Brendel performing:

A UN court has convicted Theoneste Bagosora for organizing the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed more than 500,000 lives. The court said that Bagosora distributed weapons and directed Hutu soldiers and the notorious Interahamwe militia to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He was sentenced to life in prison. The Takeaway is joined by Peter Greste, BBC East Africa correspondent, who has been monitoring the trials from Nairobi.

Psychiatry's number one diagnostic manual is being re-written -- and it's making everyone crazy. Gender identification disorder may be in, while sleepwalking disorder is on the outs. By 2012, the American Psychiatric Association hopes to have published a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) -- the diagnostic manual used to determine if a patient has a mental disorder. Proposed changes are already being challenged by patients, insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical industry. The New York Times science journalist Benedict Carey explains.

For more information, read Benedict Carey's article in today's New York Times.

Despite the US Federal Reserve slashing rate cuts to almost zero and an enormous stimulus package created by Congress, the economic news in the U.S. is still bleak. Now the dollar has dropped steeply among currencies hitting a 13-year low against the yen. Joining the discussion on The Takeaway is James Hickman, the Managing Director of Caxton FX Foreign Exchange, a firm which specializes in trading and buying foreign currencies.

The profits on Wall Street are long gone. This week, Goldman Sachs, a longtime top performer, reported a quarterly loss of more than $2 BILLION, which is its first quarterly loss since going public nine years ago. While you would expect there would be no bonuses to executives at Goldman and other banks, that is not the case. Executives at banks that ran into the ground took home hundreds of millions. Now there are questions about what role those lavish bonuses played in the banks', and the economy's, collapse. Louise Story is covering this story for our partner the New York Times.

For more on this story, read Louise Story's article in the New York Times, On Wall Street, Bonuses, Not Profits, Were Real .