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Writers for past presidents say President Obama must be visionary and inclusive but also realistic in his second inaugural address. And many of the usual speechwriting crutches are off-limits: no jokes, no statistics and no funny quotes.

Some of the levees in New Orleans patched up after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city were unable to hold back surging waters from Hurricane Rita. Parts of the city that had been mostly drained of standing water are flooded again.

In the run-up to the 2012 election, rhetoric on the Democratic side seems to have taken on a populist edge. But Ari Berman of The Nation argues that the president can't raise money from Wall Street, and criticize it at the same time. He must make a choice.

Fresh Air's resident linguist explains how the magic of metonymy gave "occupy" its symbolism — and how the word implies a culture that made a bunch of protests feel like a movement.

Crowdsourcing tools are slowly working their way into the education policy world, designed to give teachers and school district employees more say on big decisions that affect their school environment. One site called for employees to submit ideas that could help improve the safety of students and staff at school.

The investigation, however, did prompt the resignation of one high-ranking official as well as the retirement of former ATF director Kenneth Melson.

Each year, as Congress works to wrap up budget and tax bills and other "must-pass" legislation, inevitably not so must-pass items creep into the mix — inserted either to smooth passage for the more important things, or in the hopes that no one will notice. This year marks the first time that leadership has been unable to use earmarks to buy off reluctant votes, and has turned to other forms of grease instead. NPR's David Welna reports.

As the violence in Syria continues, the international community has been unable to do much more than condemn it. Host Scott Simon talks with Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy about the mounting debate over intervention and the new humanitarian access to the country.

As tensions rise over the Iranian nuclear program, Jamie Fly and William Kristol of The Weekly Standard argue it's time for the Obama administration to ask Congress for authorization to use military force against Tehran.

Since the 1961 publication of the Third International Dictionary, people have debated the merits of dictionaries that describe language as it is and those that explain how it should be. Today the debate continues, but it doesn't hold the same cultural significance as before, writes Geoff Nunberg.