You might call military contractors the absent presence in President Obama’s Tuesday speech announcing his new strategy in Afghanistan. There are currently 104,000 military contractors supporting the American mission there, and those numbers will grow as more troops deploy. Contractors serve meals, deliver munitions, run security for the U.S. Ambassador in Kabul, and help train Afghan police units... and according to an article in Vanity Fair this week, Erik Prince, CEO of Xe – the company formerly known as Blackwater – was involved in assembling hit teams targeting al-Qaida members.  Robert Young Pelton, author of "Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror," and Allison Stanger, author of "One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy" join us to discuss how much contractors cost the U.S., and how accountable they are to the government who hired them.

• Business Takeout: Louise Story tells us about a controversial new procedure at the Dallas Morning News and several other papers owned by the A.H. Belo Corporation, which asks some journalists to run their stories by the paper's sales department as well as by editors.
  
• Sports Takeout: Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin discusses what's at stake for international soccer teams at the much anticipated World Cup draw, scheduled for later today in Cape Town, South Africa.
• "The Waiting Room" Takeout:  The Takeaway is staying connected to Americans seeking healthcare with "The Waiting Room," a multimedia project and film documentary that collects interviews with patients at Highland Hospital in Oakland California.  Hear Producer/Director Peter Nicks on the genesis of "The Waiting Room."  Here's a recent video from the project:

Watch more from "The Waiting Room" here.

President Obama is making Allentown, PA, the first city to visit after yesterday's White House jobs summit. Our guest, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, attended the jobs summit and is trying to figure out the best ways to remedy high unemployment in his city and the country. Mike Fegley is the marketing director of his family-owned restaurant, Allentown Brew Works; he gives us a read on Allentown's morale and hopes the President stops by for a drink and a bite to eat.

Last night the storytellers at The Moth in Detroit took on the topic closest to Motor City's heart: cars. Alex Trajano, host of the event, shares the winning story with us and some observations on what happens when you make an open call to Detroiters to tell car stories in public. 

For this week's movie roundup, contributor Rafer Guzman reviews "Brothers," with Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tobey McGuire; "Everybody's Fine," with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore; and "Up in the Air," with George Clooney. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release November's unemployment numbers this morning; most observers expect unemployment to rise once again. Millions of Americans are either un- or under-employed, and many are making ends meet with unemployment checks. Some of the state unemployment funds paying those checks, however, are going bone dry. Carl Guzzardi, tax director for the Connecticut labor department, says the state is having to borrow billions of dollars. The Ford Foundation is helping many states overhaul their unemployment systems; Director of Quality Employment Helen Neuborne joins us to describe their efforts. And Georgia's Labor Commissioner, Michael Thurmond, discusses Georgia's attempts to overhaul their unemployment system.

• Business Takeout: Yesterday, Comcast announced a deal to buy a majority stake in NBC from General Electric. TIME media and TV critic James Poniewozik discusses how this new media conglomerate will affect TV viewers.
• Sports Takeout: Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recaps last night's matchup between the Buffallo Bills and New York Jets, and previews NFL games to watch this weekend.
• Listener Takeout: While President Obama was holding his jobs summit at the White House, Takeaway listeners conducted a summit of their own.  Listeners across the country called in with advice for the President on job creation and development.

Politico is calling it a "Family Feud" on Capital Hill. Mounting tension between the Congressional Black Caucus and one-time member, now-President Barack Obama, seems to be coming to a head.  Yesterday, our guest, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), issued a statement accusing the President of not doing enough to create jobs for people of color. While Lee downplays any friction, the criticism implies growing frustration from the caucus with the country's first African-American president.

More than a week after Tiger Woods' car accident, the buzz about his personal life shows no signs of waning – and it’s not just in the United States. The debate about privacy, celebrity, and what we have the right to know has gone global. The BBC's Madeline Morris gives us a sampling of the international conversation on Woods from 'World Have Your Say.'

In cash-strapped Arizona this week, a program that provides monthly subsidies of about $350 to help working parents pay for child care turned away their 10,000 child. Those 10,000 children are now on a waiting list, but Bruce Liggett, executive director of the Arizona Child Care Assocation, says  those kids will probably never get off that list. Arizona's budget woes are well documented: The Pew Center said this month that a massive deficit combined with a high foreclosure rate have given Arizona the dubious distinction of being the state with the second-worst fiscal woes in the nation. (Only California is worse off, says Pew.) We also talk to Sandra Hanner, director of A Kiddie's Kingdom daycare in Phoenix. She says her daycare is feeling the budget cuts acutely, and that she might have to start laying off staff.

This week, President Obama proclaimed that terrorists in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan are plotting new attacks aimed at American soil. The person tasked with preventing those attacks is Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. She joins us to talk about the biggest dangers appearing on her daily threat matrix, and how she hopes to approach the thorny issue of immigration reform. (click through for the full interview transcript)

We talk with our friend, University of Maryland economist and business professor Peter Morici, about what this morning's slightly-reduced unemployment numbers say about the state of the economy.

• Jobs Takeout: The U.S. economy shed 11,000 jobs in November, which is a much lower number than people expected.  Dan Gross, Newsweek columnist, joins us to unpack the statistics.
• Listeners' Takeouts: Listeners have written and called in about what changes they've undertaken to keep themselves employed.