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Representatives from the Government Accounting Office and Librarian of Congress James Billington faced off today at a Congressional hearing. The GAO has just released a very critical report of mismanagement at the Library of Congress. The report also challenges the Library's mission. Dean Olsher reports.

Commentator Captain Rosemary Mariner calls for a return to the concept of "vertical accountability" in the military. Recent allegations of sexual misconduct in in Army training schools violate one of the most basic moral concepts in the military; if these are allegations are true, we should be disciplining people at the top of the pyramid, not the bottom.

Jacki speaks with Paulette Giles, author of "Northern Spirit," (Hungry Minds Press, Doubleday Canada) her account of seven years of living among the Ojibway and Cree Indians in Canada's north woods. Giles says she discovered and learned to appreciate a world apart during her years in the wilderness.

New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins has been covering the recent elections in Iraq. In April, he received the George Polk Award for War Reporting for "his riveting, first-hand account of an eight-day attack on Iraqi insurgents in Falluja."

Personal accounts and reflections of individuals affected by the Iraq war. Jesse Mays has a tattoo parlor near Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he's applied his art to many Marines who train there. They are now in Iraq, and 11 have been killed in action.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns Syria to stop shipping military gear, including night-vision equipment, to Iraqi forces. He says "such trafficking" amounts to "hostile acts," and says Syria will be held accountable. Hear NPR News.

U.S. accounting firms are increasingly outsourcing data-entry work related to tax returns overseas. This year, as many as 100,000 American taxpayers may have their returns prepared in India. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

Noah talks to the executive at Orion Pictures in charge of international marketing of movies... and several foreign buyers. International sales account for a tremendous chunk of the Hollywood money chest - with foreign buyers contributing early on in the movie making process. It appears that people all over the world are as obsessed with the American dream as we are.

Consumer confidence tumbled in December, the third straight month it has fallen. The decline in the closely watched Conference Board index is another indication that the economy has cooled and that consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economic activity, is slowing. NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports.

NPR's Robert Smith reports on how President Bush's education proposals are playing out in the states and local school districts that will be charged with implementing them. While many educators welcome his proposals for holding schools accountable, many worry about the demands for more testing and how much it will cost.