While the ashes still smolder from President Obama's failed nomination of Goodwin Liu for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, it's probably worth asking, how can the Senate get past the cycle of retribution that makes it resemble the Appalachian feud the Hatfield and McCoys?

If you're a reality TV snob, maybe you think one hyped-up singing competition is just like any other.

But from the start, NBC's The Voice seems built as an answer to complaints about American Idol. And now they have emerged as mirror images of each other.

One of the biggest knocks on Idol is that great singers lose if they don't have an Idol-extruded generic popularity. Even the show's judges lamented the early departure of one of Idol's best singers this year, the charisma-challenged Pia Toscano.

Eddie Simmons was relieved to hear that the Mississippi River crested slightly lower than expected north of him in Vicksburg, Miss., confident his house would survive the flooding that is plaguing many states.

Simmons, a retired logger, is recovering from hip-replacement surgery and can barely leave his bed. Despite water swamping his front yard and creeping beneath his house in Port Gibson, he has decided to ride it out.

This is the Maeklong market in Thailand. This apparently happens several times a day. Here's a longer video with more context.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it expects an "above-normal" hurricane season this year:

Across the entire Atlantic Basin for the six-month season, which begins June 1, NOAA is predicting the following ranges this year:

• 12 to 18 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which:
• 6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including:

We thought there was more time to get ready for the Judgment Day that evangelical radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicts is coming on Saturday.

Filmmaker Mike Mills' parents met in junior high school. For 45 years, they lived together, raising Mills and his older sisters, until Mills' mother died in 1999. Six months later, Mills' father — a 75-year-old retired museum director — announced that he's gay.

Mills' second movie, Beginners, is loosely based on his own relationship with his father, Paul. The movie stars Ewan McGregor as a graphic designer whose 75-year-old father, played by Christopher Plummer, has just come out and wants to experience the gay life he denied himself when he was married.

Abbey Lincoln died at age 80 last year, and she is remembered as a legendary jazz icon, composer, lyricist and performer of the 20th century. Some of America's most influential contemporary jazz divas are gathering in Washington D.C to honor her at the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. Host Michel Martin reflects upon Lincoln's music and legacy with two of the Festival's attendees: Grammy winners Dee Dee Bridgewater and Diane Reeves.

The Barbershop guys discuss President Obama's speech on the Middle East, Arnold Schwarzenegger's shelved acting career and Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts' announcement that he is gay. Host Michel Martin hears from author Jimi Izrael, civil rights attorney Arsalan Iftikhar, screenwriter John Ridley and The Nation magazine sports editor Dave Zirin.

In 1994, Christian talk radio host Harold Camping first predicted that the beginning of the end comes on Friday, May 21st, 2011. Host Michel Martin talks about apocalypse predictions and movements they inspire with Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of the National Center for Jewish Learning and Leadership, and Harvard Divinity School professor Harvey Cox.