Unemployment devastates both the financial and emotional lives of many Americans, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. More than half the nation's jobless have borrowed money from friends and relatives and have cut back on medical care. Almost half say they have suffered from depression or anxiety. We speak with Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project; and with Kevin Roach, executive director of the South Oakland Homeless Shelter in Royal Oak, Michigan. We also check in with James Foresteire, who has been homeless and living at the Bowery Mission for the past six months.

• Washington Takeout: Todd Zwillich on the announcement from the White House that they'll move some of the detainees from Guantánamo Bay to a maximum-security prison in the "sleepy" town of Thomson, Illinois.
• Sports Takeout: Ibrahim Abdul-Matin on Hideki Matsui's move to the Angels and other MLB trades.
• Listeners' Takeout: We hear from our listeners on their experience with freelance jobs.

The Senate needs 60 votes to pass a health care bill, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is one of several '60th votes' the Democrats need in order to seal the deal. But the independent Senator from Connecticut has a list of demands he wants met before pledging his support... demands which contradict plans he endorsed as recently as three months ago. We talk with David Kirkpatrick, of The New York Times, and Colin McEnroe, host of WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show in Connecticut, about Lieberman’s ever-evolving role in American politics.

[See this clip from an interview Lieberman did with the Connecticut Post in September, via Greg Sargent's The Plum Line]

As Iran's political turmoil continues, many Iranian opposition supporters have fled to neighboring Turkey. They're escaping what Amnesty International last week described as the worst human rights situation inside Iran in twenty years.  BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne has just returned from meeting members of the Iranian opposition in exile in Turkey, some of whom still fear for their safety.

During the holidays it’s not unusual for people to take on a holiday job, at a retailer or a mail-order company, to make ends meet and to help put Christmas gifts under the tree. But in this competitive job market, you might want to also consider that short term job a way to get your foot in the door for the long term. Beth Kobliner, author of "Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties," discusses this with Kurt Kuehn, Chief Financial Officer at UPS. Kuehn started with UPS as a seasonal driver's assistant 32 years ago.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in Copenhagen this week to take part in the Climate Summit for Mayors.  Last week, the Mayor passed his Greener, Greater, Buildings Plan, and this week he hopes to inspire leaders from other cities to follow suit. With cities around the world producing more than 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, changes in urban systems can have green effects globally. We speak with Bloomberg from Copenhagen.  (click through for the full interview transcript)
 

• Washington Takeout: Todd Zwillich on Senator Joe Lieberman's move to get the Medicare expansion out of the healthcare bill.
• Christmas Takeout: Prof. Gary Chastagner, AKA "Mr. Christmas Tree," may have found a way to keep Christmas trees from shedding.
• Listener Takeout: Wall Street Journal reporter Kelly Evans on what to expect for the dollar from today's scheduled Fed meeting.

Every year, one soldier in the Army wins the title "Soldier of the Year" after competing in a series of physical and mental tests. This year, Sgt. Clancey Henderson won the award. Henderson exlains what it takes to be an outstanding service member.

In the 1980s, HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, carried a deadly stigma.  The virus was initially thought only to spread among communities which put themselves “at risk.”  AIDS was a “gay” disease, or the killer of “drug addicts” and needle-sharers.  

Yesterday, Dennis deLeon, former New York City Human Rights Commissioner and prominent latino AIDS activist, died in Manhattan at 61 years old from heart failure.  deLeon was one of the first city officials to announce that he was infected with HIV.  The work he and others did to build awareness and education of HIV/AIDS helped reduce the virus' stigma.

Yet in some communities, HIV remains a potent killer.  According to the CDC, African-Americans account for 51 percent of our country's HIV/AIDS cases – while only making up 12 percent of our population.

In an attempt to draw attention to and combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, the National Black Leadership Commission, led by African-American clergy, convened in Detroit yesterday. The conference brings together religious, political and labor leaders in hopes of pushing a Congressional bill that would help tackle the spread of the virus in at-risk communities.

In this conversation we speak with Rev. Horace Sheffield, of New Galilee Baptist Church in Detroit, who spearheaded the conference; along with Dazon Dixon Diallo, the Founder and President of Sister Love, a women’s HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Justice Organization in Atlanta, Georgia.  Together, they discuss some of the structural and social reasons that make the African-American community so vulnerable to infection. 

In our weeklong series on our Life in Fine Print, we're taking a look at charges and fees. Congress has regulated certain banking fees, but there are still charges out there that can sneak up on you in ways you didn't imagine. Louise Story, finance reporter with the New York Times, talks about some of the big ones: overdraft charges, ATM charges, and checking account fees. And Glinda Bridgforth, author of the "Girl" series of personal finance books, including "Girl, Get Your Credit Straight!," tells us what we can do to minimize or avoid these charges.