Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to hold a conference on Afghanistan this month, and U.S. officials say Iran will receive an invite. Yes, that's "axis of evil" Iran. Ali Ansari of the University of St Andrews joins The Takeaway to explain the role Afghanistan could play in forming new international bonds.

So there’s this show, you might have heard of it, called Battlestar Galactica. And on the show, the human race is on the hunt for a mystical planet called Earth. Now, we humans today don’t share their problem, because we’re actually on Earth already. But for NASA, that’s not enough. Tomorrow, they are launching a telescope into space that is looking for other sustainable planets. We're checking in with Miles O'Brien, The Takeaway's intergalactic correspondent for more on this mission.

We spoke with William Borucki, the principal investigator for the Kepler Mission, earlier today, click here to listen to our discussion.

Over the past few years a rash of food-related illnesses caused by everything from tomatoes to spinach to peanut butter has sparked nationwide concern over food safety. Conventional wisdom has always said you can assure your food is safe by buying organic. But New York Times reporter Kim Severson did some digging and she found that organic certification has nothing to do with food safety.

For more, read Kim Severson's and Andrew Walker's article, It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?, in today's New York Times.

A rising tide of violence stemming from Mexico’s drug war has sent thousands of Mexican nationals fleeing across the border to the United States. Some of them go home, but thousands more say they cannot without fear of reprisal. Understandably, the number of Mexicans seeking asylum in the United States has skyrocketed in the past year. We’re joined by Carlos Spector an immigration attorney in El Paso, Texas, who has been helping people flee the violence.

Here is raw footage of Mexican troops being deployed to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, the country's most dangerous drug city.

Congress took a potentially transformative step when it devoted $100 billion in the stimulus package to education—the money could revive the reform efforts that began promisingly with President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, joins John with details on how the dollars will be spent.

Click through for the transcript.

The number of soldiers who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan is 4,253. As each soldier returns home, their bodies lay in coffins that are flown back to the U.S. through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. We have not been permitted to see those flag-draped coffins because of a Pentagon ban on media coverage that dates back 18 years to the George H. W. Bush presidency. The media, it was thought, would use these images in a malignant way instead of honoring the dead. This week, after an announcement by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the ban officially ends.

To read about this check out the New York Times article Defense Chief Lifts Ban on Pictures of Coffins.

View a larger photo of "Untitled, War Redacted Series, 2007." © Camille J. Gage, used with permission.

Between texting, instant messages, and, LOL!, the web, grammar has been under a steady onslaught in our modern times. This slow erosion of the language is too much for some and a small but active group of language watchers have formed a grammar vigilante squad to right the grammatical wrongs, one punctuation mark at a time. Joining us now is John Richards, founder and chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, from the other Boston in Lincolnshire, England.

Do you have a grammatical pet peeve? Tell us in the comments!

Sent in by a helpful listener, here is an episode of Steve's Grammatical Observations:

Today is the Tibetan New Year, but the Dalai Lama has put celebrations on hold. He's called instead for a commemoration of those killed in a crackdown on demonstrators on this holiday last year. The ongoing conflict with China over autonomy for Tibet is complicating the question of who will succeed the Dalai Lama, who is 74, with the Chinese government insisting that it has the right to designate his next reincarnation. Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University and author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters joins John and Jerome with a look at how this transition is likely to unfold.

Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter voted against the stimulus package even though his district west of Detroit is fighting major economic challenges. And since the funds will flow to his district despite his opposition, we'll ask him to describe how he would like to see the stimulus money spent to most effectively help his constituents.

Transcript available if you click through.

The Takeaway is back with David Carr, who writes the Carpetbagger blog for the New York Times. Carr was on the red carpet at last night’s Academy Awards with questions from his readers and Takeaway listeners. We’re going to hear how these questions went over.

Want to see how your question fared in the poll? Click here.

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been a united party over the past few weeks, as they refused to help pass President Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy. Now that the stimulus bill has become law, despite the lack of Republican support, how are Republicans on the state level handling the stimulus money heading to their states? Joining us to talk about where he comes down on the plan is Minnesota's Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. He joins us this morning from Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Click through for the transcript!

President Obama's plan to stave off foreclosures is reverberating in markets around the world, where the subprime mortgage crisis has left global financial systems reeling. For the global reaction we talk with the Financial Times' Michael Hunter in London and the BBC's Asia Business correspondent Juliana Liu in Singapore.

Trouble viewing this video? Check out the YouTube version (click "watch in high quality" for best quality).

Mark Bittman had one thought on breakfast: YAWNNN! So he decided to shake things up and started serving up breakfast items you would more closely associate with dinner. Things like black olives, miso, dried tomatoes, bok choy, and roasted carrots. Mark Bittman joins us with a stirring defense for serving wheat berries with soy sauce. Want a recipe? If you insist:

Wheat Berries With Sesame, Soy Sauce and Scallions

• 1 1/2 cups wheat berries
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
• 1/2 cup trimmed and chopped scallions.

1. In a 4- to 6-cup saucepan, combine wheat berries with a large pinch of salt and enough water to cover them by at least an inch. Bring to a boil and adjust heat so mixture bubbles gently.

2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until wheat berries are tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Add boiling water as necessary to keep wheat berries covered and to keep them from drying out as they swell and become tender. Wheat berries are done when tender with a slight bite to them; ideally you will have cooked out all the water at about the same time they are tender, but if any remains, strain them. (At this point you can drain berries and refrigerate for up to a few days, then reheat when ready to serve.)

3. Fluff wheat berries with a fork and toss with sesame oil. To serve, drizzle with soy sauce and garnish with scallions.

Yield: 4 servings.

For more of Mark Bittman on breakfast, read his article, Your Morning Pizza in today's New York Times.

Anybody who knows anything about Harry Potter has drooled over the Marauder's Map — a handy little tool that shows Harry, in real time, the location of every person at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (see below for details). Today, that fantastical map seems to be turning into reality: GPS applications on our cell phones, like Amigo Mapper, allow us to track our friends via their cell phones. But are there people, or companies, other than our friends who would be interested in knowing where we are? Yes, says John Markoff, technology reporter for the New York Times and author of an article on geographical cell phone technologies in today's Science Times. He joins The Takeaway to talk about the implications around the rise of GPS technologies in handheld devices.

For more, read John Markoff's article, The Cellphone, Navigating Our Lives in today's New York Times.

Today nearly 14 percent of Americans are underemployed. This is proving to be a challenge for beleaguered bosses and disgruntled employees struggling to keep morale up in the workplace. For those who are despairing, fear not. The ideal that IKEA holds forth in the form of those little flat wrenches and a lot of elbow grease, could prove to have some answers for business leaders, policymakers and everyday workers. It turns out what is true for the success of IKEA—the sense of accomplishment many experience in assembling IKEA’s housewares—could have broader implications. Joining us to discuss a phenomenon called “The IKEA Effect" is Dan Ariely, the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and author of Predictably Irrational.

Two judges in Eastern Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care. Ian Urbina is reporting this story for the New York Times and he joins us now for what this means for those convicted by these judges and for the justice system at large.

For additional details on this story, read Ian Urbina's and Sean Hamill's article, Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit, in today's New York Times.

Two hundred years ago, on February 12, 1809, a pair of cosmic twins entered the universe. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. Across the Atlantic, Charles Darwin was born on an English estate. When they left this earth they made an everlasting mark on the principles of democracy and human evolution. Writer Adam Gopnik gives meaning and significance to this enduring convergence in his new book Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life. He joins us now for a celebration of the 200th birthday of two amazing men.

For more on these two men, read the New York Times science article, Crunching the Data for the Tree of Life, browse Darwin's complete works online, buy the two books that will share this year's Lincoln prize for scholarship on the 16th president, and peruse William Safire's review of Lincoln literature.

While campaigning for president, Barack Obama was extremely critical of the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees. But now his administration is invoking the states-secret privilege to uphold the dismissal of a federal lawsuit involving rendition and torture. Here with us to discuss it is ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner, who argued the case for the plaintiffs.

Watch Rachel Maddow's (melo) dramatic reenactment of the hearing and Ben Wizner's appearance on her show:

Senate Democrats advanced the $800 billion plus stimulus bill yesterday, but just three Republicans voted for the bill in a procedural vote, and no additional Republican support is expected in the final vote today. Even though they don't support the bill, Republican Senators pushed for many changes in it. Takeaway Correspondent Andrea Bernstein and Susanna Capelouto, News Director of Georgia Public Broadcasting, join Todd and Katherine to talk through why that might be.

Follow the dollars online and tell us how the stimulus plan is playing out in your community. We're sharing your stories online and on air, and we'll continue the investigation with your help.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb) has a long history of reaching across party lines to reach consensus on pressing issues in the Senate. His ability to bring together Republicans and Democrats to compromise on key policy has been instrumental to passing important legislation in the past. In the face of the partisan bickering over the stimulus, and the President's statement that he wants a bipartisan solution to the economic crisis, Senator Nelson finds himself in the center of the debate.