It probably wouldn't come as any surprise that men in Saudi Arabia are permitted to take as many as four wives.

But did you know that a man can divorce a wife by simply saying "I divorce you" three times?

Even more atrocious: a judge in Jiddah, a city...

Wait a minute. I thought for sure that I voted for a Democrat. I mean, when I voted for Scott Murphy in the special Congressional election up in New York state last March, the one to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's seat, I really thought I had voted for a Democrat. I...

On the day he was born, doctors told Alexander Prisant's father that his son wouldn't survive 24 hours. Thankfully, they were wrong. Mr. Prisant, now in his 50s, has led a rather remarkable life. In addition to working as a syndicated journalist and as a strategic advisor to British and...

If you don't live in DC, chances are you don't know about the troubling things that have been happening in the schools.

Even if you live in DC, you might not know.

There have been local stories about the teacher firings -- more than 200 teachers were purged on...

Let's hope the rumors aren't true. Let's hope the insiders have it wrong, and that Wednesday night's health care speech is not what some here in DC fear most: that Obama is ready to cave on health care, abandoning or backing off on the public option.

But...

Now we know. Police in Cambridge, Mass. have made public the 911 cell phone conversation that led to Harvard University Professor Gates' arrest at his home. Now we know that the concerned citizen who called police did not identify Gates and his driver as black men.

So based on this...

I once worked for a newspaper editor who defined news with a marvelous little example: it isn't news if a dog bites a man. But it's a helluva story when that same man bites the dog.

And so, news is the stuff of the out-of-ordinary. By and large, news focuses...

Maybe you were still asleep this morning. Maybe you didn't hear NPR's Steve Innskeep bring an exec with the health insurance industry on Morning Edition and let him froth on...

I think it's important to start by saying that I've been meditating for at least 10 or 12 years, every single morning. It's also important to note that I am fascinated by the discoveries being made about the mental powers of Buddhist monks (see for example Sharon Begley's fine book,...

Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius met today at the White House with small business leaders, who came to share their health insurance woes. Once again, the picture became crystal clear: we must fix the health care system in the U.S. and we must...

Maybe the front page of your newspaper is plastered this morning with photos of the late great Michael Jackson. But what you really need to know about is the huge health care...

You know the old saying that this or that GALLS me?

Well, I've finally figured where that saying comes from....as in, it comes straight out of the gut.

A few...

The news this morning shouldn't come as a shock, or even a surprise.

And it shouldn't bring tears to my eyes, or a funny tight feeling to my chest.

But...

Cherry blossom season has hit its glorious peak in DC this week, so on Monday, my husband and I decided to head downtown after work to see the pink majesty of...

Chances are, if you are reading this blog post, you are sitting in a comfortable office somewhere. Or maybe you are at your kitchen table, or on the sofa, or in bed, or at your desk. In other words, you are wired up at home.

The point is, you are...

Twice in the past week, I've heard the same bad news: two media outlets for whom I'd written articles informed me that they would not be paying me for the writing I had submitted.

One outlet is a very large and prominent city newspaper. The other is a regional...

I have a lawyer friend -- a criminal defense attorney -- who is also a Buddhist. He lives his life in a deeply mindful and respectful way. He is passionately opposed to the death penalty and he has written tomes trying to bring attention to the injustices of individual cases...

It's official, Kirsten Gillibrand, a "Blue Dog" Democrat from upstate New York, has been appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat.

Like so many others, I'd been hearing rumors that the little-known Congresswoman was on Governor Paterson's short list. But still, it comes as a bit of a...

It was way before sunrise when celebrants began to converge on the Mall to form the human quilt. How many of us were there? Two million? Three? Looking out at the sea of people, it looked like a red throbbing blur. Later, I spoke to people who despite their best...

Whether we are one of the millions converging on the Mall in DC, or we are sitting in the living room in South Dakota or Saint LouIs or Denver or Detroit glued to the TV, we are all riveted on Tuesday's inaugural events. We are a nation waiting for an...