Sierra Leone has repeatedly been called the worst country on earth to live in. On the coast of West Africa, it’s a nation plagued by years of disease, poverty, corruption, and 10 years of a brutal civil war.

As the journalist Daniel Bergner says in his new book: “You likely know it as the place of lost hands.” referring to the number of amputees. People there have a life expectancy of thirty-seven years. Bergner traveled through Sierra Leone over a period of two years, documenting the lives of the people he met there. The fighters and the victims; men and women; white and black, and all of them uncertain of their future. In the Land of Magic Soldiers, a new book on savagery and salvation in Sierra Leone.

Guests:

Daniel Bergner, New York City based journalist, author of “In the Land of Magic Soldiers: A Story of White and Black in West Africa.”

Howard Dean’s rival candidates ganged up on the former Vermont governor yesterday, hoping to slow the momentum of the man marked as the Democratic front-runner. At a debate in Iowa, John Kerry questioned the doctor’s reliability and electability. Joe Lieberman accused Dean of being less than honest in keeping his gubernatorial papers sealed. Dennis Kucinich badgered Dean to call on President Bush to pull troops immediately out of Iraq. And Dick Gephardt criticized his stand on Medicare.

The rivals know they have little chance of overtaking Dean. They are fighting to stake out the number two spot before the voting starts. After the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the primary gauntlet will be so fast and furious that momentum will count for more than ever before.

Guests:

Walter Shapiro, Political Columnist for USA Today, and author of “One Car Caravan”;Thomas Patterson, author of “The Vanishing Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty.”

Whit Ayres, GOP pollster with Ayres, McHenry and Associates in Atlanta, Georgia

Guests:

Walter Shapiro, Political Columnist for USA Today

Whit Ayres, GOP pollster with Ayres, McHenry and Associates in Atlanta, Georgia

Lee Bandy, reporter for The State newspaper in South Carolina.

We are not alone. Ask the Earthlings around you if they agree and many will nod emphatically, certain that out there in the vast, dark, and generally undiscovered universe, life in some form or fashion exists. And since Galileo’s telescope first scanned the skies, the search for signs of life beyond the Big Blue marble continues.

Right now, a swarm of probes and landers and rovers are all heading for the Red Planet. And although news reports continue to say the UK-built Beagle 2 has still not phoned home, NASA hopes that its own robot, called Spirit, will soon land safely and summarily call Earth, with news of its neighbor, and a fix for a bad case of interplanetary loneliness.

Guests:

Executive Editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine, and Editor of a new magazine called Night Sky

David Grinspoon, astrobiologist., principal scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and author of the new book, “Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life.”

Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, and professor of Astronomy at Cornell University.

Two days into this New Year, and two weeks into Homeland Security’s latest, high alert. It is the 5th time that the orange threat level has been imposed, and all that’s known at this point is that a handful of airline flights have been delayed or cancelled.

Ever since September 11th, people have spoken of a new normal, and billions of dollars have been spent to make this country a safer place. But still no one’s certain if the nation’s really safer, or just more anxious. James Gilmore, the man who oversees how America is responding to terrorist threats, is worried. He thinks the country’s becoming complacent, and worse, that the very freedoms everyone is determined to preserve, are at risk of being sacrificed in the name of vigilance. Orange Alert, Homeland Security in 2004, and the years ahead.

Guests:

Former Virginia Governor James Gilmore, Chairman of The Gilmore Commission

From the US election to the return of the business-lunch comeback to the mess in the Middle East. Talking to those who track world events to find out what’s ahead in the year 2004.

Guests:

Daniel Franklin, Editorial Director of the Economist Magazine’s Intelligence Unit, and Editor of the Economist’s “The World in 2004″

Robin Wright, Diplomatic Correspondent for the Washington Post

Paul Salem, Director of The Fares Foundation in Beirut, Lebanon

Frank Rich, Associate Editor and columnist for The New York Times

Dave O’Reegan, pub manager in Dublin, Ireland.