With unemployment still looming around 9.6 precent, the Obama administration is proposing to allow businesses to write off 100 precent of their new investments. Columnist for The New York Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin tells us whether he thinks the president's plan will put Americans back to work.

Midterm elections are now less than two months away, and this week President Obama’s agenda is all about the economy. In Milwaukee on Monday, the president said, “I am going to keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around, and put our people back to work.”

In Monday's speech, the president proposed a $50 billion plan to invest in infrastructure across the country—from roads to railways and runways—as well as an expansion of the tax credit for research and experimentation.

Today, in Cleveland, the president will give another speech on the economy, and one of the major initiatives he’s expected to propose would allow businesses to write off 100 percent of their new investments in equipment and plants all at once—rather than over a number of years, which is how businesses can currently deduct investment expenses. The idea is that this would be an incentive for businesses to start immediately investing in goods they need, and hiring more workers.

Consider the history of the civil rights movement, but set aside for a moment the well-known stories from men: those of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Emmett Till, Medgar Evers and Andrew Goodman. If we examine the movement through the eyes of the women there at the time, what would the story sound like? 

"We are proceeding with the community center, Cordoba House," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf announced in an op-ed in today's New York Times, referring to the proposed Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan that critics deride as the "ground zero mosque." On the eve of the ninth anniversary of 9/11, Rauf acknowledged the controversy that has polarized Americans and drawn the attention of Muslims all over the world. Rauf says he is "sensitive to the feelings of the families of victims of 9/11," but adds that the Cordoba House will be "a center for unification and healing."

It wasn’t that long ago that presidential candidate Barack Obama could command rapt crowds chanting his campaign motto of hope, change and rejuvenation for a nation seemingly in dire straits. But these days, President Obama has a harder time commanding that kind of grassroots support.

Should the United States cede its role as the world's only superpower? Later today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will deliver a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, and there are serious questions about whether the United States should or could continue to be the driving force behind the world's foreign policy debates. Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University and author of "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War" joins us for a discussion.

Nobody can argue that America’s place on the world's geopolitical stage is changing.  America is fighting a war in Afghanistan and maintaining ongoing military responsibilities in Iraq, while weathering a major financial crisis at home: There is reasonable concern over America’s ability to maintain the international diplomatic clout as it has for most of the 20th century.

We're asking you, our listeners, about America's role in the world now. What should it be? Leader? Helper? Should it be smaller? Bigger? Let us know in comments or text your answer to 69866 with the word TAKE.

Tired of PB and J? Had it up to here with ham and cheese? In honor of back-to-school season, we revisit and remix the lunchbox, with sandwiches that surprise, but don't require you to break a sweat.

Melissa Clark leads us in our journey. The author of "In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories About the Food You Love," she also shares her mother's sandwich theory of life.  (Recipes after the jump)

For women in Afghanistan, day-to-day life continues to be a struggle. It has been nearly a decade since the fall of the Taliban, yet every step forward for Afghan women seems to come with new setbacks.

Though girls now have the right to an education, getting one can be perilous. Reports over the years of schools being burnt down, teachers being beaten and beheaded, and acid being thrown at girls' faces as they walk to school can obscure signs of progress being made for women, yet they are there.

After 21 years in office, Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley announced on Tuesday that he would not be running for re-election this year. The announcement, made during a surprise press conference yesterday, came as a shock to Democrats and political analysts across the country.

Daley is the second longest serving mayor in Chicago history after his father, Richard J. Daley, who died in office in 1976. All eyes are on Chicago to see who will fill the political void left by Daily. Pundits and political observers are already speculating as to who will succeed Daley. Everyone from local aldermen to congressmen to President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are thought to be potential candidates.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," according to Shakespeare's Juliet. But would it look the same, too? Does language shape the way we see the world? And how do culture and language influence one another?

Earlier this morning, BP released the results of its own investigation of what caused the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico over the summer. The inquiry states that "no single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy," and heavily lays blame on BP's contractors, particularly Halliburton and Transocean.

The report is being seen both as an attempt at spin control by the beleaguered company, as well as their likely defense strategy in what could be years of litigation. Ian Urbina of our partner, The New York Times joins us with the latest.

We asked Takeaway listeners to weigh in on President Obama's plan to spend $50 billion on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. If you had the money to spend, where would you send the check? 

Lindsey Swift wrote on our Facebook page:

“Water resources and management, waste disposal, upgrade ports, high speed internet everywhere, diversify transportation options, establish comprehensive energy smart grid.”