Pakistani Intelligence Aiding Taliban; Twenty Years of the ADA; the Agenda; Head Lice; Sleep and Health

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Monday, July 26, 2010

Classified U.S. Army reports released by WikiLeaks say Pakistan's intelligence service has helped the Taliban; twenty years of the Americans with Disabilities Act; AAP recommends kids being treated for head lice be allowed to stay in school; Gold Star families meet in Arlington National Cemetery; Colorado midterm primaries; Michelle Rhee, chancellor of Washington D.C.'s public schools, fires 165 teachers for poor performance; the connection between sleep and health. Todd Zwillich fills in for John Hockenberry.

Top of the Hour: Leaked War Documents, Morning Headlines

Yesterday Wikileaks.org released more than 90,000 documents on the relationship between Pakistan and the Taliban. Pakistan correspondent for The New York Times, Jane Perlez discusses the papers; headlines.

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Leaked Memos Paint New Picture of War in Afghanistan

For geographic, political and strategic reasons, Pakistan has been a key player in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, new military documents leaked by Wikileaks.org and published by The New York Times have raised the question: just whose side is Pakistan's intelligence agency on?

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Gold Star Families Convene in Arlington

As many as two thousand members of Gold Star families – families who lost members while serving our country – convened at Arlington cemetery's “Tomb of the Unknowns” this weekend, to pay tribute to military men and women killed in action. This weekend’s events mark the largest gathering of such families in the country’s history.

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This Week's Agenda: Wikileaks, BP, Arizona, GDP

This week will mark 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, sending millions of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. BP's second quarter earnings are expected tomorrow, and the results will be telling about the oil company's future. What we do know: BP's future will not include Tony Hayward. The embattled chief executive officer agreed to step down yesterday, and will be replaced by Robert Dudley, BP's most senior American executive, who has been in charge of operations in the Gulf. We'll look ahead to the future of BP with Marcus Mabry, associate national editor for The New York Times; and Fernando Pizarro, a Washington correspondent for Univision.

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Michelle Rhee Fires 165 Washington DC Teachers for Poor Performance

Michelle Rhee, the chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools, is a polarizing figure. People either love her or hate her for the way she’s tackling education reform in D.C., which ranks as one of the nation’s worst school systems.

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Mexican Officials Blame Prison Inmates for Attacks

Prisoners in a Mexican jail were let out at night in order to perform murder-for-hire jobs. Three massacres have occurred in the city of Torreon, killing 35 people, including 17 who were killed at a birthday party last week. The attacks reveal the high level of corruption in the country. David Cuen, reporter for BBC Mundo, has the details.

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New Recommendation: Allow Kids with Head Lice in School

Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics is releasing a new clinical report suggesting that parents let their head lice infested children stay in school.

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Top of the Hour: WikiLeaks, 20th Anniversary of the ADA, Morning Headlines

Former United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith on the leak of classified documents; headlines.

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Twenty Years of The Americans with Disabilities Act

President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law 20 years ago, today. Since then, we’ve almost come to take for granted many of the things it required: accessible public transportation, reserved parking, more frequent curb cuts, equal access to employment and education opportunities, and much more.

 

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WikiLeaks Documents Show How Pakistan Aids the Taliban

Secret military documents released by WikiLeaks, and published in The New York Times yesterday, show that Pakistan's intelligence service has been aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan. These documents solidify what many Americans fighting the war, and those homeside have suspected and feared for some time. Peter Galbraith, former United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, looks more closely at the documents.

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Listeners Respond: Drawdown in Iraq, Talking About Race

Takeaway listeners have been weighing in on a bunch of conversations. We listen to what you think we've learned from seven years in Iraq. We also expand our conversation on race, which is an ongoing part of the show. David Wall Rice writes a blog post, "Living Race: Reflections on Shirley Sherrod, a Supreme Court Nomination, and LeBron James."   And readers had a lot to say in response.

 

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Two Soldiers Missing in Afghanistan

Two U.S. navy sailors went missing on friday when they were driving in a Taliban-held area in Eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban claims they kidnapped both of them and killed one. They are offering to exchange the body of the dead sailor with one of the prisoners being held by the U.S. It was also reported that the United States braodcast an offer of $20,000 for information leading to the return of the soldiers. Anand Gopal, reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, has more from Afghanistan.

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In Colorado Midterms, Nobody Wants to Be the Insider

It may seem like a distant memory, but back in 2008, the story of the Democratic presidential primary was the rise of a relative newcomer to Washington taking on the party establishment with grassroots organizing. It was a winning strategy for then-candidate Barack Obama in Colorado, where he earned more than two-thirds of the primary votes and defeated Hillary Clinton. 

In Colorado’s Democratic Senate primary this year, there’s another candidate campaigning as an outsider, but the establishment narrative is flipped. This time, the political newcomer is the incumbent, and the challenger is a mainstay of Colorado politics.

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DIY Checkup: Sleep and Health

For most Americans, getting eight hours of sleep a night tends to fall into the same category as flossing and wearing sunscreen: We know it's a good idea, and we feel vaguely guilty when called on it ... but we still don't tend to do it.  (A recent study found nearly one in five adults feels moderately to excessively sleepy during daylight hours, which is one sign we're not getting enough sleep at night.)

Our sleep and our health are closely related. Do you get enough sleep, most nights? How do you cope when you don't? How important do you find a good night's sleep?

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Afghanistan Responds to the WikiLeaks Documents

Richard Oppel correspondent for The New York Times reports from Kabul, where he attended a press conference about the released documents. Although the documents did criticize Afghan government and security forces, a spokesman for President Karzai focused on the civilian casualities and the complicity of the spy agency. Oppel says he asked if there was anything that angered the president in the documents and was told that there wasn't.

Oppel takes a closer look at the documents. He also follows the story of the two American sailors captured in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

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