Hour 1 Last weekend, President Obama addressed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) amidst increasing criticism from its members that he has not addressed the needs of the African American community, particularly a 16.7% unemployment rate among blacks,  and that he has compromised too much with Republicans in Congress at great cost to urban America.  This [...]

Filed under: author, business, economy, politics, religion, social issues |

Hour 2 Writer and teacher MICHAEL LEVY describes China to his students as a country exactly like the United States in size, in cities, in the same number of rich and poor people – but add one billion peasants. Levy served two years of service in the Peace Corps in China and saw a country [...]

Filed under: author, culture, economy, education, environment, health, history, politics, religion, social issues, world |

Hour 1 When you order something from an online retailer like Amazon.com, it’s easy to forget the work that happens between your keyboard and the package arriving at your door. But an investigation by SPENCER SOPER, reporter for The Morning Call of Allentown, discovered that the Amazon warehouses in Breinigsville, on Route 100 near Interstate [...]

Filed under: economy, journalism, work |

Hour 2 The idea of a traditional burial in this country is changing.  It used to involve embalming the body and setting it in a metal or concrete casket six feet deep in the ground.  But today, people are increasingly looking for greener and simpler alternatives.    Cremation and natural burials are becoming more popular as [...]

Filed under: business, culture, environment, family issues, religion, social issues |

Hour 1 Last week Rutgers history professor JACOB SOLL received word that he had been selected as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.  The honor, which recognizes creative accomplishments in varied fields, is known as the "genius grant" and comes with a $500,000 financial award to be used over five years.  Soll's scholarship focuses on the birth [...]

Filed under: arts, author, history, politics |

Hour 2 “THE 99” are a new breed of super heroes dreamed up by Kuwaiti-born psychologist Dr. NAIF AL-MUTAWA. Based on the 99 universal human values exemplified by Allah and rooted in Islamic history and culture, “THE 99” are Al-Mutawa’s attempt to provide Muslim children like his own with better heroes than suicide bombers. Dr. [...]

Filed under: culture, politics, religion |

Hour One Do you know when you’re making a medical choice? And is it the right choice? JEROME GROOPMAN, MD and PAMELA HARTZBAND, MD come in to discuss how the sick make their way though the confusing path of medicine. Groopman and Hartzband, married and Harvard University colleagues, have put together a book based on [...]

Filed under: author, family issues, health, medicine, science, social issues |

Hour Two “Just as the twentieth century was the age of physics, the twenty-first is the age of biology,” says our guest, visiting University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor, JONATHAN MORENO. The editor of Center for American Progress’ online magazine grounds his science in the cultural and historical contexts of controversial issues like stem cell research, [...]

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Hour 1 ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER and DANIEL DREZNER have engaged in a digital debate in the last two months in their respective online columns and Twitter. At its root is a dispute about whether, and how, digital and networked media have changed the nature of international politics. SLAUGHTER, former policy planning chief in the Obama State [...]

Filed under: politics, world |

Hour Two It does matter how good looking you are if you want to get ahead in this world, according to University of Texas at Austin economics professor DANIEL S. HAMERMESH. His research reveals attractive workers make an average $230,000 over a lifetime more than those who are less attractive, particularly with women than men. [...]

Filed under: author, business, economy |