Dear Friends,

Monday, Maureen McCue and Michelle Gin discuss Physicians for Social Responsibility's Coal Campaign. And in case there's any doubt, they're agin' it. Might have something to do with the fact that physicians care about folks' health, and coal's health-related liabilities are coming under increased scrutiny.

Tuesday, Steffen Schmidt and Arnie Arnesen discuss the political maneuvering we're starting to see as hordes of Republican presidential wannabees jockey for advantage in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Wednesday, Tom Litchfield, the State Deer Biologist, joins us to discuss the growing problem of prime deer-hunting land being bought-up by folks who live elsewhere. What effect is this having on efforts to control Iowa's deer population? What effect is the forest reserve tax break (which benefits many absentee landowners) having on rural counties' budgets? And is the Iowa Legislature likely to do anything about the problem?

Thursday, we're joined by retired ISU chemistry professor Bernie Gerstein, who has been on the Fallon Forum in the past talking about coal and climate change. Turns out Bernie has some pretty strong feelings on US foreign policy as well, and that'll be the topic of our discussion this time.

Also Thursday, I'm filling in for Bradshaw, and Frank Cordaro joins me at 1:00 to discuss a radical Christian activist's take on the meaning and message of Christmas. At 2:00, we'll dig into the class-action job discrimination case against Wal-Mart, which has grown from a half-dozen women to the largest such case in U.S. history. At 3:00, we'll discuss the NRA's proposal to require every Iowan to carry a gun (kidding . . . but seeing how far the NRA wants to go during the next session of the Iowa Legislature, maybe mandatory ownership is next).

On Friday at 1:00, Deb Thornton tries to convince me that Governor-elect Branstad should reject the $300,000 grant Iowa landed to support expansion of passenger rail. At 2:00, Chuck Raasch, who writes for Gannett out of Washington, DC, discusses his recent editorial: “Deficit? What Deficit?” And at 3:00, an undisclosed member of the Iowa Legislature is my guest as we talk about what's likely to happen on the Hill this session.