Yesterday President Obama announced that he is scrapping the Bush administration's plans for a land-based missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. He's opting instead to focus on a defense system that would intercept shorter-range missiles from Iran. This move has upset Poland and the Czech Republic, but pleased Russia, who was against Bush's plan. Is this an intelligent decision based on new information about Iran's weapons? Or will it empower Russia and Iran at the expense of American allies? We speak to former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who served under President Bush, and to Alexander Cooley, professor of International Relations and Foreign Policy at Barnard College. (Click through for a full interview transcript.)

Louise Story, finance and Wall Street reporter for The New York Times, has been keeping a close eye on the Securities and Exchange Commission as they propose new ways to regulate Wall Street. Federal regulators voted yesteday on new rules designed to stem conflicts of interest, provide more transparency for credit rating groups like Moody's and Standard & Poor's, and ban so-called "flash orders."

The Takeaway's sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, is ready to talk football: specifically, the biggest game in the AFC East. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots hope to win the ninth game in a row at the Meadowlands against their bitter rivals, the New York Jets.

What happens when you're a Massachusetts critic of South Carolina Rep. Joe ("You Lie!") Wilson? You end up on his fundraising list, apparently. Listener Sarah Rulnick joins us with her story.

Have your own story? Join the conversation by calling us at 877-8-MY-TAKE, DM us on Twitter @the_takeaway, or send us an email at mytake@thetakeaway.org.

In a flashback to the '90s, when then–First Lady Hilary Clinton went out and stumped for health care reform, new First Lady Michelle Obama starts hawking health care today. She'll pitch herself as a soccer mom who gets what families need from their insurance plans. And, though the tactic is different, it's hard not to hear echoes of Hillarycare. We speak to former Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers and Nia-Malika Henderson, White House reporter for Politico, to ask: How do first ladies fit into health care reform, and are there lessons to be learned from the Clinton White House? 

President Obama has decided to scrap President Bush's plan for a land-based missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. Critics claim that this would leave our allies open to harm, while proponents say the move reflects a focus on realistic 21st-century threats. How is the world responding to this decision? We turn to Ros Atkins, host of the BBC's call-in show "World Have Your Say," to find out. They've been gathering comments from across the globe.

On Fridays we talk movies; today we're joined by Newsday film critic Rafer Guzman and Spoutblog editor Karina Longworth. Anna Faris, Mr. T and others bring a classic children's book to screen this weekend in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon do comedy with "The Informant." We also look at Jennifer Aniston's new romantic comedy "Love Happens," poet John Keats falling in love in "Bright Star," and Juno writer Diablo Cody's attempt at "feminist horror" with "Jennifer's Body."

Watch the trailer for "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" below and click through for more:

The national uproar surrounding the effort to reform health care has us wondering: How did anyone ever get changes to health care passed? And what lessons can be learned from the notable failures (*cough* Clinton *cough*)? Political consultant Bob Shrum, former senior advisor to Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. John Kerry and Vice President Al Gore as well as former speechwriter for Sen. Ted Kennedy, gives us a look at the legislative magic of LBJ's Medicaid bill and how he might get health care reform done today.

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) has been getting a lot of attention lately for his leadership in the health care debate ... not all of it good. Our Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich explains how isolated Baucus is these days on Capitol Hill.

The Takeaway's sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, joins us to talk about one of the NFL's key matchups this week: the New York Giants' visit to the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC East showdown. We are also joined by Jeff Blank, a big Giants fan, and Chad Muller, a huge Cowboys fan, both of them here to talk some trash.

Are you a company that is "too big to fail?" Well, Congress hopes, someday, to have a plan for you. Louise Story, finance reporter for The New York Times, joins us with a look at the federal government's latest moves to prepare for failures of the future.

The Frankfurt Motor Show is not a happy place this year. The international car industry is reducing production as the global recession causes demand to drop sharply. Adding insult to an injured industry, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters that their new purchase, a small car company called Chrysler (maybe you've heard of it?) is in far worse shape than they thought. Receiving the blame for the sorry state of Chrysler is Cerberus, a private equity firm who owned the company for two years, ostensibly thinking they were making improvements. Peter Morici, professor of international business at the University of Maryland, joins us with a look at cars and the inner workings of private equity.

President Obama campaigned on an agenda of change: change for health care, change for the environment and change for the nation. Ten months into his presidency, those changes have proved hard to come by. In his upcoming article for The New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai writes about what President Obama needs to do to win over the American people and pass his ambitious agendas, including health care reform.

The outburst and apology by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina), the public aftermath and charges of racism – some overt, some covert – have driven a national conversation this week. John Hockenberry takes us on a tour of some of our listeners' reactions to this week's news.

Have your own story? Join the conversation by calling us at 877-8-MY-TAKE, DM us on Twitter @the_takeaway, or send us an email at mytake@thetakeaway.org.

President Obama announced yesterday that he is abandoning plans for a missile defense shield. President Bush had slated the shield for development in Poland and the Czech Republic, but the defense scheme became an increasing irritation in U.S.-Russian relations, and President Obama has opted to go a different direction, asking for a mixed land/sea-based system to guard against Iranian missiles. So how is Russia reacting to the news? Olexiy Solohubenko, Russian affairs expert at the BBC, joins us with a look at how the story is being in reported in Russian media.

The famed moralist and writer Samuel Johnson was born 300 years old today. Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column for The New York Times Magazine, gives us his take on what the crusty, eminently quotable moralist might have made of some of our present-day dilemmas.

1784. ÆTAT.- And now I am arrived at the last year of the life of Samuel Johnson, a year in which, although passed in severe indisposition, he nevertheless gave many evidences of the continuance of those wondrous powers of mind, which raised him so high in the intellectual world. His conversation and his letters of this year were in no respect inferiour to those of former years.
--James Boswell, "The Life of Samuel Johnson"

infa'usting. The act of making unlucky. An odd and inelegant word.
--Samuel Johnson, in "Johnson's Dictionary"