Regional foreign ministers from across the Americas are heading to Honduras in the next few hours.
They're going there to try to end the worst political crisis Honduras has suffered in decades. Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is still holed up in the Brazilian embassy in the capital of Honduras.
Today, diplomats from across the region are trying to set up talks between President Zelaya and the interim leader Roberto Micheletti. With the current situation, we talk with Americo Martins, Americas Editor at our partner, the BBC.

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.

Public outbursts and their consequences seem a lot more common, of late. Last week, Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) heckled the president during an address to both houses of Congress, and now faces a possible Congressional censure. This week, Serena Williams lost her cool (not to mention $10,500 in fines) when she lashed out at a line judge at the U.S. Open. Kanye West appeared on Jay Leno's show last night to apologize after he broke script at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards and grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift to praise Beyonce's video.

For more on public outbursts, we talk to Randy Cohen, who writes "The Ethicist" column in the New York Times Magazine and Latoya Peterson, editor of the online blog Racialicious.

Watch Kanye West on The Jay Leno Show apologizing for his outburst:

Our Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, looks at the chances that Congress will reach an agreement on a health care bill this week. Then Louise Story, Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times, looks at what's next on Congress' agenda: reforming regulations on the financial sector.

The biggest task for President Obama in his speech on Wednesday night was to take back the health care debate after a chaotic summer where unruly town halls and misrepresentations dominated the headlines. Yesterday, it seemed, some of that chaos continued, much of it centered on two words blurted by Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina): “You lie!” Wilson shouted the words in response to the president’s claim that no illegal immigrants would receive health care under his plan. Yesterday, after a request from GOP leadership, Wilson apologized for his outburst, calling it "spontaneous." For a look at how politics changed for Republicans this week we speak to Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been working on its own health care bill. We also talk to Jackie Calmes, Washington correspondent for the New York Times, about the raucous disagreement between the political parties and what it means for health care reform. (Read the full interview transcript)

In case you missed the presidential address, here it is in its entirety:

The Saturday night resignation of White House green jobs advisor Van Jones is as much a story of politics as it is about cable television, as well as the drive and magnetism of Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck. Beck's show on Fox News draws around 3 million viewers a night, and it was his targeting of Van Jones that lead to Jones’ resignation.

While President Obama seems to be struggling to get his message across, Glenn Beck has no problem being heard loud and clear. To understand Glenn Beck's popularity, we speak to Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers Magazine, the leading trade publication for the talking-head set, along with Robert Thompson, professor of Television, Radio and Film at Syracuse University.

It’s official: summer vacation is over and Congress is back in session, preparing to pick up where they left off. This week, President Obama will attempt to take back control of the health care debate in a prime-time speech Wednesday night.

Joining us for a round table discussion on what awaits the President this week – from health care to Afghanistan to the overall happiness of the nation – is Peter Baker, White House correspondent for The New York Times; Jay Newton-Small, Washington reporter for Time Magazine; and Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports.

A half century of single-party leadership came to an end in Japan over the weekend. The opposition Democratic Party won a resounding victory over the more conservative (and counterintuitively-named) Liberal Democratic Party. The LDP has dominated the Japanese parliament for nearly 54 years.

For more context, we're here with Bill Emmott. He's the former editor of the Economist and author of "Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan will shape our next decade."

President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke had an "explosive" meeting the day after last week's presidential election at which Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-box-stuffing and other fraud allegations. We speak with Rob Watson, defence and security correspondent for the BBC, for the latest news on Kabul.

People from all over the world are remembering Senator Ted Kennedy, who died early this morning. We're joined by former Senator Harris Wofford (D-Pa), who worked closely with Kennedy over many, many years in the Senate, as well as Tricia Rose, professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Brown University.

The Sunshine State is buzzing over Republican Florida Senator Mel Martinez's sudden resignation. Governor Charlie Crist, the Republican front-runner for this Senate seat in 2010, must pick a replacement who won't challenge him, and won't hurt him in a contested GOP primary. Joining The Takeaway to talk about this is Joshua Johnson of WLRN-Miami Herald News, and Al Cardenas, former chair of the Republican Party of Florida. He's also a good friend of Senator Mel Martinez.

Joining The Takeaway to discuss the summer recess—and all things political—is Bill Maher, host of the indispensable political gabfest, HBO's "Real Time." He talks about the president's beer summit, health care, and whether Joe Biden can be kept under control.

What is happening in the GOP? John Ensign and Mark Sanford are the latest casualties of controversy in the Republican Party, admitting to having extramarital affairs. Both were thought to be 2012 presidential hopefuls, but now what's in store for the Republican party?

Joining The Takeaway are two prominent advisers and strategists in the Republican Party. Grover Norquist is the President of Americans for Tax Reform and the author of “Leave Us Alone – Getting the Government’s Hands off our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives.” And Ron Kaufman is a former White House Political Director under George H.W. Bush and also a close friend and adviser to Mitt Romney.

Judge Sonya Sotomayor started her courtesy calls to Capitol Hill as a Supreme Court nominee. Sotomayor met with key senators, while harsh criticism continued on cable TV about her past statements and rulings. The Takeaway talks to Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich, who followed Sotomayor on the Hill.

Al Franken and Norm Coleman face off today in Minnesota Supreme Court as oral arguments start for the selection of junior senator in the land of ten thousand lakes. Norm Coleman's team declared that not all the votes have been counted and that Al Franken did not legally obtain the most votes. But, even if the court rules that no more ballots should be counted, Franken may still not gain the victory. Is he good enough, smart enough and dog-gone-it, do enough people like him to elect him Senator?

To figure out what's at stake for Al Franken and Norm Coleman, The Takeaway talks to Tom Scheck from Minnesota Public Radio.