Bill Moyers Journal (Audio) | PBS

As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama make their appeals to lower-income voters in Ohio and Texas, expert on media and politics Kathleen Hall Jamieson analyzes the messages on the campaign trail in the lead up to Tuesday's potentially decisive primaries. Also on the program, historian Nell Irvin Painter examines what history reveals about the current state of inequality in America. Painter looks at today's economic disparity as a new "Gilded Age" that threatens democracy.

Bill Moyers Journal and the PBS series Expose: America's Investigative Reports offer a hard and fresh look at how earmarks really work. Watch a preview. The broadcast profiles Seattle Times reporters on the trail of how members of Congress have awarded federal dollars for questionable purposes to companies in local Congressional districts-often to companies whose executives, employees or PACs have made campaign contributions to the legislators. Also on the program, Sarah Chayes, author and former journalist who has been helping rebuild Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime, with a look at the front lines of America's war there.

Does America's $9 trillion federal debt mean we are mortgaging our future and jeopardizing individual savings, healthcare, and retirement for generations to come? Bill Moyers gets a reality check from Public Agenda's Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, co-authors of Where Does the Money Go?: Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis. Susan Jacoby, author of THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON, talks about the crisis of ignorance in the U.S. and how a 'flight from reason' is playing out in American politics and society. "We have really, over the past 40 years, gotten shorter and shorter and shorter attention spans," says Jacoby. And photographer lori Grinker takes viewers to Amman, Jordan for a devastating look at the fate of Iraqi refugees displaced by the conflict.

One of America's most prominent conservative evangelicals, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, gives his perspective on the role faith is playing in this campaign season and his take on what's happening with the evangelical vote in the primaries. Rodriguez, who has voiced his support for a moral, biblical response to the issue of immigration, is president of the National Hispanic Christian leadership Conference. And, thousands have weighed in on The Moyers Blog to suggest one book the next President should take to the White House. Bill Moyers reviews the submissions for essential presidential reading. Also on the program, one of the nation's leading experts on media and politics Kathleen Hall Jamieson separates the fact from the spin in the Super Tuesday results.

In the week of the State of the Union address, Bill Moyers Journal goes beyond the rhetoric and examines the reality of waste and abuse of power in Washington with a look at the investigations being conducted by Congress's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "If no one thinks they're being watched and being held accountable, they think they can get away with anything," says Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), the Committee's chairman. Also on the program, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, one of the nation's leading experts and media and campaigns, on the events of the week.

Bill Moyers interviews John Grisham, best-selling author of The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Rainmaker, in a far-ranging conversation that gives viewers insight into the beliefs and background that influenced Grisham's work and provides an unexpected look at his views about the state of the nation. "I get angry when you look at our democratic system, and I wonder how democratic it really is," says Grisham, a former criminal defense attorney and former member of the Mississippi state legislature. "The elections are manipulated by religion, by money, by corporations. And then once the people are elected and they go to Washington, they fall under the influence of really serious money." Also on the show: a look at campaign ad spending, Katherine Newman on the downturn on the homefront and a Bill Moyers essay on rhetoric and reality.

With all the talk of change coming out of the presidential campaigns, can we expect big money to lose its grip on Washington? Bill Moyers interviews NEW YORK TIMES investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Cay Johnston who says America's system has been rigged to benefit the super-rich. Also on the program, Bill Moyers talks with Harvey J. Kaye whose book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America channels the "the greatest radical of a radical age." Bill Moyers sits down with journalist Craig Unger, contributing editor of VANITY FAIR and author of the bestselling House of Bush, House of Saud and, most recently, The Fall of the House of Bush, who offers analysis on President Bush's recent trip to the Middle East.A Bill Moyers essay on Martin luther King, Jr., lBJ, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

He won in Iowa and lost in New Hampshire, but what does Obama's candidacy tell us about the politics of race in America? Bill Moyers talks with Shelby Steele, who has written widely on race in American society and is author of the recent book A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. And leading expert on media and politics Kathleen Hall Jamieson sorts spin from reality after the primary.

Thousands of media outlets descended on Iowa, erecting a powerful wall of TV cameras and reporters between the voters and candidates. This week on Bill Moyers Journal in two interviews, Bill Moyers talks with Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, candidates with an inside view of the process who know well the power of the press to set expectations and transform the agenda. Also on the program, leading expert on media and elections Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, examines the campaigns and coverage in Iowa and looks at the media's power to benefit some candidates and disadvantage others.

Bill Moyers interviews best-selling historian Thomas Cahill in a far ranging interview that takes viewers from the Coliseum in Rome to death row in Texas and examines what our attitudes toward cruelty can tell us about who we are as Americans. "However difficult it may be the only way you are going to gain closure is to let go of your hatred," says Cahill, who is best known for his The Hinges of History series of books, which includes the widely read How the Irish Saved Civilization. Cahill says his books ask how we became the people we are: "It's human cruelty that is evil. We're not willing to acknowledge that this is inside of us. It's there," he says. "I'm really interested in what's good about us."

In the midst of the holiday spending and consumption frenzy, Bill Moyers interviews author Benjamin Barber about how capitalism isn't living up to its potential to serve society. "Capitalism is no longer manufacturing goods to meet real needs and human wants," says Barber. "It's manufacturing needs to sell us all the goods it's got to produce." Barber is the author of 17 books including international best-seller Jihad vs. McWorld and Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole. Also on the program: is it time to rewrite the Constitution? Moyers gets perspective from the University of Texas law School's Sanford levinson, author of Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It). And an update on changes to media regulations voted on this week by the FCC.

What's on Keith Olbermann's mind about the media? This week, as Rupert Murdoch takes over the Wall Street Journal and as the FCC is about to allow more newspapers to expand into the broadcast business, Bill Moyers Journal continues its reporting on media consolidation and gets insight from MSNBC's popular and provocative Keith Olbermann. The broadcast includes a report on the debate around relaxing ownership rules and looks at the real-world implications of increasing cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same markets. Also on the program, Dr. Ron Walters, director of the African American leadership Center at the University of Maryland, on how race is playing out in the campaign.

New media is changing the face, pace, and language of the election-what does it mean? Bill Moyers get perspective on the impact of the Web-blogs, YouTube, and social networking-on the election with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. And with pastor and denominational leader Mike Huckabee, surging in the polls and Mitt Romney giving a widely anticipated speech on his Mormon faith, Moyers and Jamieson are joined by scholar Melissa Rogers for a discussion of religion in politics. Rogers is visiting professor of Religion and Public Policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School.

In the wake of this week's peace summit in Annapolis, Bill Moyers Journal profiles the politically powerful group Christians United for Israel (CUFI), whose leader Pastor John Hagee wants to bring millions of Christians together to support Israel. But some say his message is dangerous: "It is time for America to...consider a military preemptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel and a nuclear attack in America." Bill Moyers Journal reports on CUFI and then gets theological and political context on Christian Zionism from Ronald J. Sider, Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry and Public Policy and Director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Palmer Theological Seminary and President of Evangelicals for Social Action, and from M.J. Rosenberg, Director of Policy Analysis for Israel Policy Forum.

With the noose and the lynching tree entering the national discussion in the wake of recent news events, Bill Moyers interviews theologian James Cone about how these powerful images relate to the symbol of the cross and how they signify both tragedy and triumph. "It was the poor, black victims being lynched. In Rome time, it was poor Jews being lynched. The analogy is almost perfect there," he says. "So, how are we today going to understand what was happening to Jesus unless we see what was happening to black people in those trees?" Dr. Cone is the Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York.