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The Gaza disaster: MARK LeVINE comments on Israel’s invasion, now 12 days old, which has killed 660 Palestinians – while Palestinians have killed 6 Israelis.  Mark teaches Mideast history at UC Irvine, his most recent book is Heavy Metal Islam, and he’s written for the WashingtonPost.com, Al Jazeera International, and the Huffington Post.  READ Mark’s latest blog post on Gaza at History News Network.

Plus: Our Washington update: HAROLD MEYERSON of the Washington Post op-ed page talks about Obama’s latest appointments; and Your Minnesota Moment: Al Franken wins–but doesn’t take his Senate seat – yet.  READ Harold’s new piece, “A Page from the Hoover Playbook.”

Also: The hidden history of the Reagan revolution: corporate execs opposed to labor unions, government regulation and welfare spending were more important than right-wing Christians, anticommunist neo-cons and disgruntled working-class whites—that’s what KIM PHILLIPS-FEIN says.  They provided the money and the organization for a war against New Deal liberalism. Kim teaches US history at NYU and writes for The Nation; her new book is Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan.

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Our year-in-review show features, first, IRAQ: the Forever War. DEXTER FILKINS  has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 for the New York Times. Filkins describes “an arid, hopeless policy” in an unforgettable book: The Forever War. (originally broadcast 9/17/08)

Obama and History: ERIC FONER comments — he teaches American history at Columbia U.,  and is the author of many books, most recently Our Lincoln.  His recent essay in The Nation, “Rooted in Reconstruction,” explores the history of black politics in America.  (originally broadcast 11/5/08)

Politics in 2008: DAVID CORN, Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones, reviews the year in politics – and considers the future of the Republicans.  (originally broadcast 12/17/08)

Your Minnesota Moment: it looks like AL FRANKEN will win the Minnesota Senate contest — and that Republicans in the Senate will try to block seating him.  Details at TPM Election Central.

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The war on Christmas continues!  CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS says “Religion poisons everything.”  You say religion might not be true, but it provides comfort in the face of suffering and death?  Hitchens replies: “How contemptible.” His number one best-seller is God Is Not Great. (Originally broadcast 5/30/07.)

Plus: Your Minnesota Moment: In honor of Al Franken’s Senate recount, we revisit our interview with him about Rush Limbaugh: “You’ve got to have compassion,” Al says. (Originally broadcast 10/22/02.)

Also: The best of 2008: “The Dark Side” – that’s where Dick Cheney said we would have to go to “achieve our objectives” in the White House’s war on terror. JANE MAYER investigated what “the dark side” really means. Her conclusion: “the dark side” violated the constitution and American freedoms, and also made it harder to pursue Al Qaeda.  Her award-winning book is The Dark Side.  (Originally broadcast 9/3/08.)

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Robert Reich on economics, David Corn on politics, and Juan Cole on shoe-throwing in Baghdad:

ROBERT REICH was Clinton’s Secretary of Labor; now he argues that “What we most lack. . . are the things we use in common – clean air, clean water, public parks, good schools, and public transportation, as well as social safety nets to catch those of us who fall.” His book Supercapitalism is out now in paperback.

DAVID CORN, Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones, reviews the year in politics – and considers the future of the Republicans.

JUAN COLE comments on Arab suprt for the journalist who threw shoes at Bush, and the secret government report on the failure of the US reconstruction effort in Iraq.   Juan’s indespensible Iraq blog, “Informed Comment,” is at JuanCole.com.  Juan’s book Napoleon’s Egypt is out now in paperback.  READ the secret official report on Iraq Reconstruction HERE.  WATCH shoe-throwing video HERE

Your Minnesota Moment: in the Al Franken Senate race, the state Canvassing Board recount of 1500 disputed ballots has begun.

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Corruption in Illinois, bankruptcy in Chicago: HAROLD MEYERSON of the Washington Post op-ed page comments on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s arrest for plotting to sell Obama’s senate seat, and on Sam Zell taking the Tribune Co., and the LA Times, into bankruptcy.

Plus: Kafka Comes to America – attorney Steven T. Wax talks about justice for Gitmo detainees.  (originally broadcast 7-16-08)

And we’ll talk about the financial crisis at MOCA, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art – the New York Times says the museum has “an exhibition record that many feel is the best in the country and even the world”  — but that its endowment has shrunk from $50 million to $6 million. CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT, art critic for the LA Times, will comment.  more info at MOCAmobilization.org.

Also: Your Minnesota Moment: In the recount in Al Franken’s senate race, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has incumbent Republican Norm Coleman ahead by 192 votes, but Franken says his own projections have him ahead — by 4 votes.

One more thing: The Department of Homeland Security is now an underwriter of National Public Radio.

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Leftists are worrying about Obama’s national security team—is this the change we need?  JOHN NICHOLS will have our Washington-in-Transition update.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Peter Matthiessen won the National Book Award last week – he’s best known for The Snow Leopard, an account of his spiritual journey in the Himalayas.  PICO IYER will explain – he wrote an introduction to the new Penguin Classics edition of the book.

Your Minnesota Moment: Al Franken’s margin in the Senate recount may down only 13 votes – we’ll listen to more of our 2003 interview, where Franken talks about Rush Limbaugh.  “You’ve got to be compassionate,” he says.

Also: THE JAZZ EAR: jazz musicians not only play differently from others; they listen differently. BEN RATLIFF of the New York Times listened to music with a dozen jazz greats and talked with them about what they heard – we’ll focus on Dianne Reeves. Ben’s new book is The Jazz Ear.  PLAYLIST: Dianne Reeves, “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (2007); Aretha Franklin, “Mary Don’t You Weep” (1972); Sam Cooke, “Try a Little Tenderness” live medley (1964); Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Closer and Closer Apart” (2006); Shirley Horne, “Here’s to Life” (1991).

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Obama’s economic advisors are not a “team of rivals” — they’re a team of Rubins, the same people who brought us the 1999 Clinton deregulation that produced the financial collapse.   ROBERT KUTTNER will comment – he’s co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and author of Obama’s Challenge.

Also: The continuing battle against Prop. 8: TORIE OSBORN comments — her piece “Push Back on Prop. 8” appears in The Nation this week.

Plus: Your Minnesota Moment: AL FRANKEN will win the recount by 27 votes, according to the celebrated statistician Nate Silver.  We’ll listen to more of our 2003 interview with Al Franken, when Fox News sued him for the title of his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

Also: “Guyland” is the world of white, middle class males aged 16 to 26 whose passions are limited to sports, video games, and depersonalized sex – a world where the number one task is to demonstrate to the other guys that you’re not gay.  Sociologist MICHAEL KIMMEL will talk about this ugly, frightening place.  His book is titled (of course) Guyland The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.

More stuff to read: my new piece on Nate Silver’s prediction that Al Franken will win by 27 votes at TheNation.com.

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Obama is appointing lots of Clintonians–does that means he will NOT bring us the change we need?  HAROLD MEYERSON will explain — he is op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and editor at large of The American Prospect magazine. (New Yorker illustration: Richard Thompson)

TARIQ ALI says “victory” there would require 200,000 troops and massive carpet bombing.  Tariq’s new book is The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power.

And: The spoof “New York Times Special Edition” is a work of satirical genius–Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men will tell all.

Your Minnesota Moment: the recount in Al Franken’s senate race begins today.  We’ll revisit our 2003 interview with Al Franken, when Fox News sued him for the title of his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

More stuff to read: my new piece at TheNation.com, “McCain’s Favorite TV Show, ’24,’ Brings Torture Back Sunday”

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JEFFREY TOOBIN talks about Obama’s tasks – and the next Supreme Court.  Jeff’s best-selling book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court is out now in paperback. He’s a staff writer for The New Yorker covering legal affairs and a CNN senior analyist.

Also: The “No on 8” campaign defending gay marriage: what went wrong? RICK JACOBS will comment — he’s head of the Courage Campaign and he chaired Howard Dean’s 2003 presidential campaign in California.

Plus: Is Sarah Palin the future of the Republican Party?  THOMAS FRANK will examine the possibilities – his new book is The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, and he writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal.

Your Minnesota Moment: AL FRANKEN  is behind in his Senate race by about 200 votes, and his chances of winning the recount are pretty good: details HERE.

And we’ll pay tribute to three of our greats who died in the last week: Miriam Makeba the singer, John Leonard the literary critic, and Studs Terkel the author and hero of radio.

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How we did it: HAROLD MEYERSON analyzes the campaigns, and the results.  Harold is editor at large of The American Prospect and writes for the op-ed page of the Washington Post.

Also: Obama and History: ERIC FONER comments on the significance of America electing a black man as president.  Eric is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia U.,  and author of many books, most recently Our Lincoln.  His new essay in The Nation, “Rooted in Reconstruction,” explores the roots of black politics in America.

Plus: Obama’s first tasks: ERWIN CHEMERINSKY discusses what Obama needs to do with Gitmo, the Patriot Act, and civil liberties and civil rights.  Erwin is dean of the new law school at UC Irvine and an authority on constitutional law and civil liberties.

And: Your Minnesota moment: JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation explains what happened with Al Franken’s senate campaign – he lost by 477 votes, while Obama won by 300,000.

More stuff to read: my new piece at TheNation,com, “Life After Election Day: No more Todd, no more Track, no more Bristol.”