President Obama’s stimulus plan's main goal was to help needy communities build roads and create jobs, to help kick-start the economy. To keep track of how the stimulus money is being spent, ProPublica has asked for volunteers from communities across the country for help. The Adopt-a-Stimulus Program is being launched today. Joining The Takeaway to talk about the program is Amanda Michel, Editor of Distributed Reporting at ProPublica; also joining the show is Geoff Badenoch, a volunteer tracker from Missoula, Montana.

Read about the initiative at ProPublica

Also follow as information is tracked on Stimulus Spot Check

President Obama hoped to have his health care reform plan passed before Congress goes on recess in August, but now that seems unlikely. Over the weekend, the Congressional Budget Office reported that they saw no way that health care spending would decrease, forcing the president to spend the rest of the weekend defending the plan. Joining The Takeway is Trudy Lieberman, Director of the Health and Medicine Reporting Program at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Walter Cronkite, an icon in television news, had retired in 1982. In his post-anchorman career he had become critical of the state of journalism today, even having a few regrets from his own career. Joining The Takeaway to talk about Cronkite's criticism of journalism is The New York Times Media Reporter, Brian Stelter.

Irish Author Frank McCourt died yesterday of cancer in New York City. He was 78. McCourt was best known for his book "Angela's Ashes," a memoir about his impoverished Irish childhood, which sold 4-million hardcover copies. The memoir was published in 1996 and won a Pulitzer Prize. Joining us to talk more about McCourt's influence is New York Times reporter Motoko Rich, who covers the publishing world.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in India today. Joining The Takeaway to talk about Clinton's trip and Washington's challenges in the subcontinent are Linda Blake, Wall Street Journal contributor in Delhi, India, Professor Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in Delhi and Richard Wolffe, Daily Beast Columnist and political analyst for MSNBC.

Read Linda Blake's blog Global Reporter

Watch a clip of Secretary of State Clinton's speech to India on July 15, 2009 below.

For those out of work and looking for a job, staying motivated can be tough. But with a "job search buddy," job-seekers can lean on someone for encouragement. The Takeaway talks to Deborga DiRago, an out-of-work New Yorker, and Marci Alboher, a career expert who writes the blog Working the New Economy.

Michael Vick, the NFL star convicted of running a dog fighting ring, is released today from two months of house arrest, after an 18-month stint behind federal prison bars. Is he heading back to the NFL or will he be shut out? To talk about what is in store for Vick is The Takeaway Sports Contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin.

For this Monday's agenda segment, we talk about the Senate Finance Committee's bipartisan plan and President Obama's health care reform. The Takeaway also talks about Hillary Clinton's trip to India, the Taliban video of the captured U.S. soldier and how some banks are making big money again. The Takeway is joined by Marcus Mabry, International Business Editor for The New York Times and Jill McGivering, Asia Editor for the BBC.

Walter Cronkite died at the age of 92 on Friday night after a long bout with cerebrovascular disease. Cronkite revolutionized television news and the role of the news anchor, and was once called the most trusted public figure in the U.S. To help The Takeaway remember this television news legend is his former Executive Producer for the CBS Evening News, Sanford Socolow.

In the video below, Walter Cronkite looks back on his own life.

On the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, The Takeaway talks to two members of the next generation of astronauts: Kate Rubins, who has been accepted to NASA’s 2009 Astronaut Candidate Class; and Tina Druskins, a high school sophomore who just got back from Space Camp.

A chilling video was released last weekend of the first U.S. soldier, Army Private Bowe R. Bergdahl, to be captured by the Taliban since the war started in Afghanistan. The 23-year-old was serving with an infantry regiment in Eastern Afghanistan when he was captured. Nicholas Schmidle, a fellow at the New America Foundation and author of "To Live or To Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years Inside Pakistan" joins The Takeaway to talk about what this video means. And from Kabul, Afghanistan, Wall Street Journal reporter Anand Gopal also joins the discussion.

You can watch a clip of the video below.

As the NAACP wrapped up the celebration of its 100-year history, President Barack Obama stopped by to address the crowd. Joining us with their reactions to the president's speech and the legacy of the NAACP are Geraldine Sam, the first African-American female mayor of LaMarque, Texas, Reihan Salam, a fellow at the New American Foundation, and Farai Chideya, friend of The Takeaway.

 

If you missed President Obama's speech, you can watch it in its entirety below.

Last night the first African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama, addressed the NAACP convention. His speech was a poignant capstone for the organization's hundred-year history. Farai Chideya, guest host of The Takeaway, hosted a special broadcast from the anniversary. She was joined by Patrik Henry Bass, Takeaway contributor and editor at Essence magazine, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, an associate professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton University, and Michael Meyers the president and executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition.

(Click through for the full advance transcript of President Obama's speech

 

 

This morning, JP Morgan Chase posted a quarterly profit of $2.7 billion. That's a 36 percent jump from a year ago. It comes just two days after Goldman Sachs announced a quarterly profit of over $3 billion. As the two banks weather a harsh economic climate, they have managed to pay back the huge government loans they took last year and proceed to earn record profits. Joining us to discuss Chase's earnings is Eric Dash, banking reporter for The New York Times.

Today the NAACP wraps up its convention celebrating its 100-year anniversary. For a look at what the group's future fights for civil rights should be and how their past accomplishments shaped the nation, we are joined by Lani Gunier. Lani Guinier is the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is also the first and only tenured black female professor at Harvard Law School.

We’ve been covering the NAACP’s centennial convention all week. Tomorrow we wrap up the conversation with linguist John McWhorter. We’ll look at his vision for keeping the NAACP relevant in the 21st Century.

Click through for a transcript of our conversation with Lani Guinier

Read about what was life was like for black Americans in 1909.

 

 

The Emmy nominations are out this morning. Some shows or actors were shoo-ins, while others were shut out. Topping the nominees was Tina Fey with a jaw-dropping 22 nominations; the other big nominee was AMC's "Mad Men". On The Takeaway is Kim Potts; she runs the blog TV Screener and is here to talk about the Emmys.

Click through for a complete list of nominations, but here are the headlines:

Drama Series: "Big Love," HBO; "Breaking Bad," AMC; "Damages," FX Networks; "Dexter," Showtime; "House," Fox; "Lost," ABC; "Mad Men," AMC.

Comedy Series: "Entourage," HBO; "Family Guy," Fox; "Flight of the Conchords," HBO; "How I Met Your Mother," CBS; "The Office," NBC; "30 Rock," NBC; "Weeds," Showtime.

Flight of the Conchords made a surprise appearance in the Best Comedy category, and one of it's stars, Jemaine Clement, is vying for Best Actor in a Comedy Series:

The other big nominee was AMC's period drama Mad Men:

As Judge Sonia Sotomayor prepares for another long day in front of the U.S. Senate Judicial Committee, we turn to The Takeaway's Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich. He was there for all of yesterday's highlights and he joins us with his take on the ongoing confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court nominee. (Todd is Twittering the hearings' highlights; follow him on thetakeaway.org.)

Here, Sen. Al Franken questions Sotomayor on abortion and the Constitution:

President Obama is aggressively selling his health care plan to both the American people and the U.S. Congress. On Tuesday the House unveiled its health care reform bill and yesterday the Senate got its plan through committee—by a slim margin. Both plans guarantee insurance for most Americans. But they raise taxes on high-income people while providing subsidies to Americans at moderate-to low income levels. Both plans also penalize employers who do not provide health benefits to workers. For a look at how the president is selling the plan, The Takeaway talks to Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist and the president of Lake Research.

Here is one way the plan is being sold—Heartfelt advertising:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been out of the media spotlight lately. But yesterday she staged a coming out party in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her speech focused on Iran and she had forceful words for the Islamic nation. Mark Landler is The New York Times Diplomatic Correspondent and he joins The Takeaway with his analysis of Clinton’s speech yesterday. Also joining the conversation is Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation and author of The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom, to help us understand the shifting relationship with the U.S. and a post-crackdown Iran.

Watch Hillary Clinton's speech below:

Four decades ago, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and "Buzz" Aldrin took off in the Apollo 11 spacecraft, headed straight to the moon. The tour was one small step for man, and one giant leap for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. But once you go to the moon, is the only direction to go...down? To reflect on the moon landing, on NASA today and forty years ago, The Takeaway is joined by NASA's current acting administrator, Christopher Scolese.

For more, head over to NASA's Apollo 11 page and take a tour of the landing site.

Here's a slideshow of Apollo 11 photos and memorabilia: