Asian markets rallied today [Monday] on news of the U.S. government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But Peter Stein, Hong Kong bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, says Asia may be overreacting--there are still big problems with the housing market and the U.S. economy...He also wonders how the U.S. will continue to advocate liberalization of markets in Asia while practicing such a massive intervention at home.

A recent study suggests that the kind of music we prefer may have less to do with taste ( or lack therof) and more to do with our personalities. For example, being a fan of opera could indicate that you are a gentle soul, with high self esteem and a creative bent. Other genres have other implications, as Professor North has researched.

Forget Red State - Blue State politics. But don't forget that all politics is local. The Christian Science Monitor's Patchwork Nation project is redefining political geography based on social and economic data, and in the process is clarifying the issues that will matter to Americans come November. Project leader Dante Chinni returns to The Takeaway to talk about another Patchwork Nation community, "Evangelical Epicenters."

From time to time, we do an update of our Hero Reports series -- our highlight of everyday acts of courage. We recently heard about something called the “Heroic Imagination Project.” The man behind it, Dr. Philip Zimbardo, author of "The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, is famous for his theories on the subject and served as an expert witness for a U.S. military police reservist involved with mistreatment at Abu Ghraib. We ask him about his latest work, which seeks to “democratize” acts of heroism and good deeds.
Listen Add to Playlist

Last week John McCain shook things up when he chose as his running mate the unknown Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. This week, a number of disclosures raise eyebrows about her candidacy and about how rigorously she was vetted. For a look at past Vice Presidential vetting we talk to Joel Goldstein, law professor at St. Louis University and vice presidency scholar.
Listen Add to Playlist

There's a micro-sized voting bloc you probably haven’t heard about this election cycle: "Hip Hop Republican." The group has a blog, an agenda and several members attending the Republican National Convention. But what does this apparent contradiction of terms really mean? And what does the group think of the convention and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Arizona Senator McCain's VP pick? We speak with group member Claudio Simpkins, a conventioneer, former Huckabee volunteer and student at Harvard law.
Listen Add to Playlist

Hundreds of thousands of parents are flooding college campuses, decorating dorm rooms, eating lunch at the student union and driving back to an emptier home-- for the first time. To talk through the mix of emotions that parents are experiencing, and the best way to prepare for this life-changing event, we turn to family psychiatrist Alan Manevitz. And for context we check in with Sandra Markt-Reardon. She’s just driven her last kid off to college.
Listen Add to Playlist

Hero Reports, a new Web site by MIT doctoral candidate Alyssa Wright, is tracking stories of everyday acts of courage, mapping goodwill in the same way others map home values and crime rates. It was inspired by the New York subway's "See Something, Say Something" campaign, but seeks not to uncover acts of terrorism, but to tap a zeitgeist of good, promote a civic culture and reflect the communities we live in.

Read Hero Reports from New York City here. Or, if you've witnessed an everyday act of courage anywhere in the country, share your Hero Report with us here.

Wednesday June 25, 2008
» The Takeaway talks with Alyssa Wright, creator of Hero Reports, and the stories of hero reporters.
» John, joining the ranks of the hero reporters, tells the subway bag story

Wednesday July 3, 2008
» Faith unites Jews, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists in Iowa flood aftermath
» Your Hero Reports

Wednesday July 23, 2008
» A Hero Report on YouTube: The Hugging Saint

Thursday September 4, 2008
» Famed psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo looks at how heroism can be "democratized"

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is holding talks today with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Tajikistan. Medvedev says China and four Central Asian republics have expressed understanding for Russia's actions in Georgia. Meanwhile, seven Western countries, including the United States, issued a joint statement condemning Russia’s decision to recognize Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Listen Add to Playlist

Read Senior Editor Femi Oke's notes on the series below.

It's been three years since Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast and changed the lives hundreds of thousands of Americans. This week, The Takeaway is talking to some of those people and looking back at the events that followed the storm.

Yesterday Russia further stoked the fire of the Georgia conflict by announcing that is was recognizing the regions of South Ossettia and Abkhazia as independent states. Next, on The Takeaway, The Central and Eastern Europe correspondent for The Economist, Edward Lucas seems to think we are looking at the beginning of a long and bumpy road.
Listen Add to Playlist

Forget Red State - Blue State politics. But don't forget that all politics is local. The Christian Science Monitor's Patchwork Nation project is redefining political geography based on social and economic data, and in the process is clarifying the issues that will matter to Americans come November.
Listen Add to Playlist

Are you still ambivalent about the presidential candidates? A new study says that, subconsciously, you’re much less torn than you think you are. Test your ambivalence with the U.S. Election 2008 Implicit Association Test.
Listen Add to Playlist

Function MRI, or fMRI, promises to map and discover new patterns of brain activity that were previously inaccessible. But are scientists so caught up in the possibilities of modern neuroscience that they are missing something?
Listen Add to Playlist

Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast; thousands of folks remain in trailers or are still homeless. The barriers to recovery are complex but the struggles exist for the poorest of folks, particularly in the area of housing and jobs. Sharon Hanshaw, a lifelong resident of Biloxi, Mississippi was and remains one of those thousands of Americans still struggling with recovery.
Listen Add to Playlist

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, then FEMA director Michael Brown took a beating for his lack of formal emergency management experience. It’s been three years since Brown stepped down as FEMA’s director. But in one way at least, he’s picked up where he left off: Brown now owns a crisis management firm. We check in with Michael Brown about life after Katrina, lessons learned, and how he thinks about that tragic moment now that he has the clarity that often comes with the passing of time.
Listen Add to Playlist

Listen Add to Playlist

A new study says professional sports stadiums aren’t so discerning when it comes to serving underage-looking or already-intoxicated fans.
Listen Add to Playlist

PBS is rolling back broadcasts of the children's television series "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," which stopped airing in 2001. But for some cardigan-wearing fans young and old, this is not a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Listen Add to Playlist

Soaring oil prices, coupled with climate change, is making commercial aviation not only unpopular but maybe impossible. Is the mile-high club about to end for good?
Listen Add to Playlist

Guest: Dr. Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist and professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense.”
Listen Add to Playlist

Listen Add to Playlist

It turns out that in many parts of the United States, corporal punishment is still standard operating procedure. A joint Human Rights Watch and ACLU report finds that nearly a quarter of a million students were paddled or spanked last year. Adding insult to injury, black students and special education students received a disproportionate share of the punishment. The Takeaway explores what this says about the American school system and the culture that perpetuates these modes of discipline.
Listen Add to Playlist

Guest: "Bjorn Turoque" (Dan Crane), "Master of Air-Emonies" at this year’s Air Guitar World Championships
Listen Add to Playlist

Guest: Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, Sociology Professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She's been studying women and childlessness for more than a decade.
Listen Add to Playlist

For this year’s Emmy’s, the Academy is asking people to vote online for their most memorable television moments – either in comedy or drama. But what about news and other reality TV? At The Takeaway, we’re also head first into news and love these moments, so here’s our own category: most memorable “unscripted” television moments...

Guest: Jim Hayes, Acting Director of the Office of Detention and Removal of Operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Listen Add to Playlist

Guest: Tim Moore, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park
Listen Add to Playlist