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President-elect Obama will have to decide if he is going discourage or encourage aggressive investigation into the Bush administration's policies and practices on torture, rendition and domestic surveillance. It will be a high-profile, highly symbolic and highly difficult decision to make. ()
Let's save the revelry for warmer weather and let Obama get some things done. ()
Commentator Frank Deford says Barkley's career has been marked by outsized talent and behavior. ()
Commentary
January 14, 2009 · Part of becoming attuned to nature is being aware that wild creatures are more alert to our doings than we are to theirs. There's not much that birds, in particular, don't notice. Commentator Julie Zickefoose shares a few stories of birds
watching people. ()
This I Believe
January 12, 2009 · Every Sunday for 30 years, Jim Haynes has welcomed complete strangers into his Paris home for dinner. By introducing people to each other and encouraging them to make personal connections, Haynes believes he can foster greater tolerance in the world. ()
January 12, 2009 · We've commissioned some of the nation's most celebrated poets to write their own inaugural poem. Nikki Giovanni has written an inaugural rap — one she says President-elect Barack Obama might deliver himself. ()
January 9, 2009 · We've commissioned some of the nation's most celebrated poets to write their own inaugural poem. The real inaugural poems usually have been serious and sweeping affairs. But not so for our exercise. Starting us off today is Calvin Trillin. ()
January 12, 2009 · The Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti says the past decade has seen three major instances when politicians (or voters) tried to remove a high elected official from office before his term was complete: the 1998 Clinton impeachment, the 2003 California recall and the 2009 impeachment of Blagojevich. He argues that impeachment and recall create more problems than they solve. ()
Can I Just Tell You? By Michel Martin
January 12, 2009 · A number of recent news stories have one thing in common: race. In her weekly commentary, host Michel Martin explains how discussions about race can be agitating, but they're still necessary. ()
Commentary
January 9, 2009 · Dr. Sanjay Gupta has plenty to offer: As a neurosurgeon and former White House Fellow in the Clinton administration, he is in an ideal position to help create and pass health care reform legislation. The problem? That's not in the surgeon general's job description. ()
Simon Says By Scott Simon
January 10, 2009 · A lot of people, including me, have had some wicked fun with the Blagoya-gate scandal in recent weeks. But speaking as a Chicagoan, this notion that people in Illinois actually enjoy political corruption is a vicious stereotype. ()
Books
January 8, 2009 · Richard Seaver was best known for his distate for conventional literary standards, and was responsible for the publication of some of the most controversial — and revered— works of our time. Novelist John Irving remembers a man who remained passionate about literature. ()
January 6, 2009 · Most of the world may not miss the departing president, who has drawn rock-bottom approval ratings and a couple of flying shoes near his head. Though his record isn't exactly glowing, he's done some good — and prevented the worst from happening. ()
Analysis
January 5, 2009 · At the Edge Foundation, a group of forward-thinking people are pondering that very question. Some of their answers may surprise you. ()
Commentary
December 31, 2008 · They were issues that dominated a news cycle — or many — but, in the end, they just didn't matter. Before they completely fade from memory, commentator John Ridley highlights some of the major "non-troversies" of the past year. ()