The facts. The skinny. The straight dope. If you're talking about health care reform (and who isn't, these days?), the truth has been thoroughly muddled lately with a lot of buzzwords, misnomers and outright fabrication. That's why The Takeaway is talking to Art Caplan. He's the director of the Center of Bio-Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, and he's going to put the health care debate and such concepts as the potential "co-operative insurance consortia" into plain-speak.

For many inmates in American prisons, the U.S. Supreme Court is their favorite pen pal. Prisoners have been known to write weekly (or daily) letters begging the justices to intercede in their cases. These direct pleas (writs of habeas corpus in legalese) have been consistently ignored by the U.S. Supreme Court for fifty years. Yesterday, however, the court surprised many legal observers by breaking its long habit and intervening in the case of death row inmate Troy Davis. He has been on death row in Georgia since being convicted of the 1988 murder of an off-duty police officer. Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for our partner The New York Times, joins us with more of the story.

For more, read With 2 Hours to Spare, Justices Stay Execution, in the New York Times.

Is the recession ending? Lakshman Acuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, thinks it is. He spends his days poring over economic indicators in order to make predictions for the business world. He says "forward-looking" or "leading" indicators – such as profits, housing, and commodity prices – are all saying the same thing: recovery is on the horizon.

Campaigning for the upcoming presidential election has officially ended in Afghanistan. Amidst continued security problems, the country is preparing for the vote on Thursday. It's hard to tell what effect threats of violence will have on voter turnout – one Taliban group specifically said they would cut off the inked finger of anyone who votes. Joining us from Kabul with an on-the-ground report of what to watch as Afghans head to the polls is Glenn Cowan, an international election observer working for Democracy International. We also speak to the BBC's Martin Patience who joins us with the lay of the land in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

With summer coming to a close, the United States is preparing for autumn's flu season. The Department of Health and Human Services said only 45 million doses of the vaccine against H1N1 (or "swine flu") will be ready in October, rather than the 120 million doses they had expected. While pregnant women and health care workers will be the first to get the two-dose vaccine, school-age children and teens are next in line. So who better to deliver those H1N1 vaccines than the schools themselves? In what could be the largest campaign since the polio vaccine in the 1950’s, schools across the country are preparing to inoculate their students. Joining us for a look at the supply of and demands for the H1N1 vaccine – and how it will be administered – is Dr. Maria Simbra. She’s the medical reporter for KDKA TV in Pittsburgh.

Health care, health care, health care. It’s all you see on the news, read in the papers, and hear on the radio. Will it pass? When? What will it look like if it does? What will things look like if it doesn't? We've been looking both at the broad strokes and picayune details of the various plans; today, we take a look at the potential ramifications of this debate on the political landscape.

The Democrats practically swept the 2006 elections and handily won the 2008 presidential elections, while the Republicans struggled with an identity crisis. But with this health care battle, has the G.O.P. found the grounds for a resurgence? Joining us with their take are Reihan Salam, from the New American Foundation, and Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University.

Older members of our society are the biggest consumers of medical care, and they have been vocal participants in the debate over reforming the health care system. What do the elderly think of the president's plan? The Takeaway talks to Trevor Hughes, a 77-year-old Jamaican immigrant and retired optician, who says the government should "butt out" of the health care. He recently underwent major spinal surgery which was covered by the insurance Hughes pays for out of his own pocket; he says that we can't afford to re-configure a system that just needs minor tweaks.

Dancing with the Stars is gearing up for its 9th season and while it doesn't begin until September 21st, the drama has already started. Yesterday the show announced the latest contestants who will be vying for the treasured mirror ball trophy. Among the contestants are former teen heartthrob Donny Osmond, former Teenage Witch Melissa Joan Hart, and former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Here to talk about how Dancing with the Stars is a half-way house for fame-addicted celebrities is Andy Borowitz. He's a humorist who writes for New Yorker and at Borowitz Report. He also wrote Who Moved My Soap?: The CEO's Guide to Surviving Prison.

"Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions.”

Internet radio host Hal Turner wrote those incendiary words on his blog and landed himself in a large and very public pool of hot water. In a case that will once again test the limits of free speech protection, the Justice Department charged that the radio host had crossed the line into hate speech, and that his words were tantamount to death threats. Mr. Turner was already on trial in Connecticut criminal court for comments made against Catholic lawmakers. ...(continue reading)

Former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was back in the headlines yesterday, not for any political or legal reason, but because he will compete on ABC's Dancing with the Stars this fall. In the House, DeLay was known as "The Hammer" for his ability to keep his party members in line; now he'll be trying to keep his feet lined up as he brushes up on his cha-cha, merengue and electric slide. He'll be vying for the mirror-ball trophy with the other competitors this season – the list includes Donny Osmond, Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin, and pop star Aaron Carter. We also asked DeLay about health care reform, because when you have a congressman on the line these days, it's a hard topic to avoid. ... (click through for the full interview transcript)

President Obama is set to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak today. The meeting is likely to be tense, as Obama is expected to push Egypt to make small – but important – concessions towards Israel. The Middle East peace process has been stalled for some time; if President Obama convinces Egypt to work with Israel, will this be the catalyst to once again restart progress in the Middle East? Michael Slackman, the Cairo bureau chief for the New York Times, joins us from Cairo with the Egyptian reaction to the two presidents' meeting.