drone attacks

Provisions of the much-disputed health care bill go into effect today, just as the Republicans unveil their new "Pledge to America," which includes a promise to repeal the law. But as the most popular bits are the ones that go into effect now, and, David Corn notes, health insurance companies aren't getting any more popular. Will allying themselves with the big insurers help Republicans? Or will people realize that they like the regulations just as Republicans try to pull them back?David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine, joins us via Skype to discuss the Pledge, the health care regulations, and suggest some strategy for Democrats for the midterms. "I'm not a feudal, I'm a writer," says Fatima Bhutto, but nevertheless she is best known as the niece of assassinated Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and as a prominent critic of her aunt's regime. Bhutto is a poet and a journalist, and her new memoir from Nation Books, Songs of Blood and Sword, looks into the long history of the Bhutto dynasty, from the origin of the Pakistani state to the floods that have devastated the country this summer--and the U.S. drone strikes that continue to kill daily.Bhutto joins Laura in studio for a special discussion of her book, her family's past, her relationship to Pakistani politics--and to the U.S.Finally, Charles Bowden and Molly Molloy both call the war on drugs a war on the poor. With U.S. politicians obsessed with "border security," Laura has some thoughts on what it all means.