No ‘Perfect Candidate’ Yet For Iowa Conservatives

Four years ago in the Iowa caucuses, evangelical voters rallied behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won an upset victory and shook up the Republican field in the process. With the 2012 Iowa caucuses just over 10 weeks away, conservative Christian Republican voters in Iowa are still searching for a presidential candidate. Saturday night [...]

Pro Pitchers’ Dirty Secret Rubbed On Every Ball

Behind every pitch in professional ball is a guy like Dan O’Rourke, rubbing up baseballs in the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse. He plucks a ball from a stack of boxes between his knees and prepares his hands with mud. “I’m applying mud to the baseball to take the sheen, the shininess off the ball, so the [...]

Sometimes You’ve Got To Find The Right Word

On-Air Challenge: You’ll be given three words. Name the fourth word that, when added to each of these words, creates a familiar two-word phrase. The answer will rhyme with one of the three words. For example, if you’re given “boob,” “inner” and “test,” the fourth word would be “tube.” Last Week’s Challenge: Think of a [...]

Journey From N.Y. To Be Somalia’s Prime Minister

Somali-American Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed came to the U.S. in 1985 to work at the Somali Embassy in Washington, D.C. When civil war broke out in Somalia, Mohamed decided to stay in the U.S., moving to Buffalo, N.Y., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in political science at SUNY. Mohamed held [...]

Occupy Wall Street, Tea Party: United In Distrust

Members of Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party may disagree on many issues, but there’s one thing that unites both groups: distrust in concentrated power. “One can’t help but feel that there’s a huge system out there between politicians, between corporate interests, that really prevents the average Joe from being able to air out [...]

Will Smartphones And iPads Mush My Toddler’s Brain?

Parents of small children have long been told to avoid using the television as a babysitter. This week, the nation’s leading group of pediatricians reiterated its stance against letting kids under 2 watch any TV at all. But what about iPhones and iPads? These days, it’s pretty common to see Mom or Dad hand over [...]

‘Hamlet’ On An Elevator? The Bard Gets A New Venue

Wearing suits and somewhat harried expressions, veteran actors Michael Rothhaar and Tony Pasqualini blend right in with the lunch crowd of this Los Angeles office building. As they head into the packed elevator, Rothhaar and Pasqualini jockey for a spot in the back. When the doors close, that’s their cue. “Lord, I think I saw [...]

Voting For The Dead In Argentina

At a recent rally, hundreds of young supporters of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez chanted that her late husband is not dead. In a way, he’s not. Celebrated for guiding Argentina out of economic calamity a decade ago, former President Nestor Kirchner is as present in his wife’s re-election campaign as she is. In Argentina, Fernandez [...]

Drinking Whiskey In The Spirit Of George Washington

Virginians have always enjoyed their liquor. And for much of the 18th century, their preferred drink was rum. But when war and tariffs made imported rum hard to come by, George Washington saw an opportunity. Why not make liquor out of grains he was growing on his farms? “He was a businessman and he was [...]

Back To Jobs: Obama Reaches Out To ‘All Americans’

Even as President Obama announced the troop withdrawal from Iraq Friday, he acknowledged the U.S. now faces a bigger challenge: creating opportunity and jobs in this country. “After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build — and the nation that we will build — is our own,” he said, “an America [...]