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The Two-Way
1:11 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Arizona's Top Elections Official Considers 'Birther' Issue Closed

In all likelihood it won't change the minds of those who believe President Obama is ineligible to be president, but today Arizona's top elections official said he had put the "birther" issue to rest, when Hawaii sent him confirmation that Obama's birth certificate is legitimate.

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Politics
1:08 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

VP Contenders: Pawlenty And Martinez

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 1:35 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Pop quiz, Ken: Name the primary opponent who got 42 percent of the vote against President Obama in Kentucky yesterday.

KEN RUDIN, BYLINE: That would be Mr. Wolf.

CONAN: No, that would be uncommitted.

RUDIN: Oh, uncommitted.

CONAN: Uncommitted would be the...

RUDIN: Oh, I should be committed.

CONAN: You should be committed.

RUDIN: I'm sorry.

CONAN: In which state with Dennis Kucinich run for Congress this year?

RUDIN: None.

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Strange News
1:08 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Couch-Surfing: Global Travel On The Cheap

Credit studio tdes / Flickr
Couch-surfers pay for their lodgings with social interaction, not cash.

Originally published on Thu May 24, 2012 9:14 am

Nearly 4 million people are members of CouchSurfing.org and can find a host in every country — including North Korea — free of charge.

New Yorker staff writer Patricia Marx became a member recently and stayed with seven friendly strangers, from a graduate student in Iowa City to a couple in Bermuda in their 60s. She wrote about her experience for the magazine.

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Strange News
1:08 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Son Discovers Father's Secret Past On A Surfboard

Originally published on Thu May 24, 2012 10:11 am

Don Waters was 3 when his father, Robert Stanley Waters, abandoned the boy and his mother. But before Robert Waters died, he sent Don a short autobiography, hoping it would help him understand his father.

It took years before Don could bring himself to read it. When he did, he discovered an unsuspected past — and a shared passion for surfing. What he read prompted him to take a trip along the California coast, where his father played a part in establishing the surfer culture's first beachhead on the American mainland.

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Shots - Health Blog
12:21 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Compensating Organ Donors Becomes 'Talk Of The Nation'

Credit iStockphoto.com

When we first kicked around the idea of asking people to share their opinions about compensating organ donors, it was pretty clear that we were on to something. Everybody in the newsroom seemed to have a strong feeling about it.

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It's All Politics
12:21 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

At Auction, Reagan's Blood Is Pricey But A Bargain Versus Fidel-Signed Flag

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 2:30 pm

It's safe to say that when it comes to recent presidents, Ronald Reagan is the most venerated, especially among Republicans but not exclusively so. Some even accuse conservatives of beatifying the 40th president as though he were on the road to sainthood.

So it's not surprising there would be a Reagan relic out there, specifically a medical-lab vial purportedly containing the dried remains of a blood sample taken from the president on the day he was nearly assassinated in March 1981.

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The Thistle and Shamrock
12:15 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Thistle And Shamrock: Irish Classics

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Kevin Burke

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:01 pm

Early Bothy Band, Kevin Burke, Paul Brady...it's all here in our nostalgic browse through Irish classics of the '70s and '80s.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

The Two-Way
12:07 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Mayor Bloomberg: Immigration May Be Only Solution For Crumbling Cities

Credit Lucas Jackson / AP
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For the most part, we don't hear novel arguments in favor or against the controversial issue of immigration. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been one of the few to take a different view. Last year, he advocated opening the door to new immigrants if they all moved to Detroit.

At the time, it was derided as weird.

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The Two-Way
12:00 pm
Wed May 23, 2012

Patrick Fitzgerald, High-Profile Prosecutor, Stepping Down

Credit John Gress / Getty Images
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who obtained the conviction of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff for lying to authorities about the leaking of a CIA officer's name and who sent former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to jail on corruption charges, is stepping down from his post.

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Music
11:52 am
Wed May 23, 2012

Remembering Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Credit Erich Auerbach / Getty Images
German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau performing Benjamin Britten's 'War Requiem' in Coventry Cathedral.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 1:58 pm

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