Posted by leboheme at 02:08 PM

"Church fires photog over Scalia picture: Freelancer pays for ‘right thing’" (The Boston Herald)

Posted by leboheme at 10:08 AM

In which freed reporter Jill Carroll shows signs of Stockholm syndrome, Rep. Weiner accuses Gov. Corzine of a Ground Zero "shakedown", it's Bloomberg & Corzine v. Pataki & Silverstein over rebuilding downtown, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's 9/11 plans are revealed in a courtroom, and Naomi Campbell uses a crystal-encrusted BlackBerry as a weapon.

"Reporter Freed in Iraq, 3 Months After Abduction" (NY Times)

"Corzine Attempting 'Shakedown' of N.Y., Congressman Says" (NY Sun)

"Ground Zero Still in Limbo as Talks Fail" (NY Times)

"At Sept. 11 Trial, Tale of Missteps and Management" (NY Times)

"Maid says beauty turns attack beast" (NY Daily News)

Posted by leboheme at 08:48 AM

A great banner ad spotted this afternoon on Gothamist:

But do I have to lose my last tooth on the right to get them straight?

Posted by leboheme at 04:22 PM

In his last days at The Politicker, Ben Smith wonders why New York hasn't seen anything like the massive rallies for illegals in LA. Could that change this weekend?

And at washingtonpost.com, Congressman Tom Tancredo, who wrote a bill pushing stiffer penalties for illegals, has been chatting live with ordinary folks, describing how his Italian Grandfather ended up in Colorado, and arguing for a revocation of birthright citizenship.

Posted by leboheme at 04:14 PM

Featuring the sucking sound of journos being lured to Al Jazeera's new English-language service, a vicious takedown of a book liberals love, and the defection of a friend...

Al Jaz international plans to rival the BBC, CNN, and the AP as a global news source (Fast Company)

CNN Havana gal skips to Al Jaz and Buenos Aires (Washington Post)

Marine featured in doc will become Al Jaz journalist (Attleboro Sun-Chronicle)

Sir David Frost, new Al Jaz host: "the Emir has set out to make Qatar's influence and prestige in the world to be more akin to its wealth than to its size"

Weisberg on Kevin Philips: "At least Michael Moore tries to make us laugh when he says stuff like this" (Slate)

Ben Smith ditches The Observer to write a blog for the NY Daily News (The Politicker)

Got a story to share? Email us!

Posted by leboheme at 09:07 AM

In case you were wondering why he always asks to have all his TVs on Fox (thanks, Smokinggun), this email from the White House press office is illuminating:

Posted by leboheme at 03:16 PM

Unfortunately, it's a subscription-only article in Crain's, but the rules of fair use allow us to share this with you (we think):

Posted by leboheme at 08:51 AM

Kadima carries biggest share of Israeli vote, begins coalition talks (Haaretz)

9/11 plotter's confessions aired at Moussaoui trial (LA Times)

Analysis: Card shuffled out, Bush's hand still the same (Slate)

Albany agrees to $11b NYC schools funding plan (NY Daily News)

NY Archdiocese to dramatically cut schools and parishes (NY Daily News)

Bloomberg sharply criticizes gun bill on Capitol Hill (NY Times)

Suspicions of graft dogged Sharpe James before he dropped out of race for re-election (NY Times)

McGreevey memoir on sale at Amazon.com, 6 months early (Star-Ledger)

NYC cops increasingly turn to cell phones (NY Sun)

Analysis: why Cargo got dumped (Observer)

Posted by leboheme at 08:37 AM

We had a visit today from Thomas (l.) and Terje (r.), two Swedish radio producers working for a public broadcaster just outside Stockholm.

Vi älska den här!

They told us their employer actually pays for them to go places - like New York - to learn about the world around them, and that their next stop will be WPLJ!

Posted by leboheme at 02:37 PM

Armstrong: it's the pols, not the prophets who are the problem

Levy: loves the birds

Posted by leboheme at 02:32 PM

Subject: sounds like my mom
My mother, a devout Catholic, taught us very much what your guest has just said: all religions are the same, because there is only one God. I don't know what the Pope would have replied, but her daughters, whose conception of "god" is basically a secular one, learned from her that faith was about spirit, not dogma.
-RT

Subject: Karen Armstrong guest
"There is bad religion just like there is bad art and bad cooking." Possibly the truest statement I've heard from in media in years.
-RO

Subject: Question for Karen Armstrong
I am a painter. I experience the metaphysical, transcendent every day in my studio and yet I am an agnostic. Many think I'm a magical thinker, and yet I sell my work all the time and give pleasure, good will to people and yet I live in other worlds. Please explain.
-DS

Subject: Karen Armstrong on comp
Few comments on compassion that evolved at that time 200-400 BC. It also included not just human beings but also animals. Buddha is known to have offered himself as sacrifice in place of a sheep. Compassion to animals is very integral part of Jaininsm. We have strayed away from compassion not only to other human beings but more largely so when it comes to animals. How can we look into eyes of a pig which is known to be as intelligent as a 2 or 3 year old child and say you are destined to live in intense confinement from birth to before slaughtered and be transported and killed brutally.
-SD

Subject: 3/28
can you ask your guest if she has read "Is God an Accident?" (Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 2005). One of the article's contentions is that our brains are pre-wired to create order out of chaos. It seems to me that the desire for "order" has gone haywire with nations trying to impose religious rules on all human activities and their individual political objectives.
-NB

[listen to the BL Show interview of Paul Bloom on his Atlantic Monthly article from 12/28/05]

[listen to Brian's interview with Karen Armstrong from today]

Posted by leboheme at 02:06 PM

Sorry this is late, folks. Blame Andy Card before he rides off into the sunset
-ed.

Andrew Card resigns after 5 1/2 years as WH chief of staff (Washington Post)

Moussaoui upends own defense, claims involvement in 9/11 (NY Times)

Group asks Scalia to recuse himself from enemy combatants case (Washington Post)

MTA will reinforce underwater subway tunnels (NY Daily News)

Task force recommends free right on red for SI (NY Sun)

Analysis: why 500,000 gathered in LA to march for looser immigration rules (LA Times)

Britney sculpture to go up in Brooklyn (NY Sun)

Posted by leboheme at 11:01 AM

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, seen here as he combines artistic sensibilities with cutting social commentary

Posted by leboheme at 03:00 PM

Reaction continues to pour in (we're drowning here, actually) to our recent call-in on the play "My Name Is Rachel Corrie", as well as to BL's commentary on Weekend Edition Sunday

Subject: Outreach: discuss.
Dear Brian:
Thank you for readdressing this issue. I listened to it later on Friday because I had boycotted your show that morning.

I think that first of all, what education and outreach constitutes is misunderstood. My perception of it is a separate department specializing in educating the surrounding community with classes and workshops on theatre. They also work closely with the literary and dramaturgy staffs on study guides, usually for classes coming to see the show. The outreach component extends to expanding contact in the community beyond the standard subscriber base - i.e. low income families. NYTW, like most theatres in New York, does not have an Education and Outreach staff member, let alone a department. To refer to what they are doing with Rachel Corrie as "education and outreach" to me, is misleading and cynical.

I'm a theatre dramaturg and a great deal of what I do is write program notes, articles for the newsletter, give pre-show lectures and post show discussions. I have never thought of this work, though fun and rewarding, as education and outreach - it's mainly marketing where the point is to advertise the play, spark interest, and make the audiences feel included and like members of the theatre community. I don't mean to belittle this interaction, which I really enjoy and I have worked on plays where it has seemed very valuable to have some sort of dialogue after the show because the experience has been so powerful for the cast and the audience. But I've never seen the case where having experts diffuse the play afterward has been necessary- and certainly not worth postponing to the next season. Unless they're flying these people in from Israel, it shouldn't take that long to book them.

In terms of NYTW losing valuable patrons and fundraisers- I completely reject the idea offered by your caller that patrons should have any sway over a theatre's artistic choices. That is just wrong and dangerous. That leads to safe programming and a "giving the people what they want" ethos, which is not what non-profit theatre should ever aspire to, certainly not a theatre like New York Theatre Workshop. Theatres are fluid and they change with their leaders and times. Patrons and subscribers constantly leave for various reasons, be it financial or aesthetic and they get replaced by new ones. They are probably wreaking more financial damage on themselves by having a theatre dark for two months than programming a play that not all of their patrons approve of. I also think that NYTW does a tremendous disservice to their subscribers and patrons in thinking that they are neither smart nor loyal enough to go with them on this risk.

Of course everything I offer up here is speculation because NYTW has not been forthcoming at all with the reasons why they are not doing this play. Every time they speak in public they contradict themselves and sound just plain ignorant - i.e. Jim Nicola citing his source for Rachel Corrie being a member of Hamas as "the internet." I am so shocked by this behavior and really disappointed. I've always admired this theatre as they do some of the most theatrically daring and exciting work in New York. I'm even one of their script readers and I'm very proud of that. But I guess it is easier to get away with a modernized Hedda Gabler than a "politically incorrect" play, which whether or not you agree with its politics, is actually relevant and current.
Thank you for your time. Looking forward to Monday
Morning Politics.

-KB

Subject: Un-Named Sources

Brian, please! Manufacturing a sinister Jewish cabal without evidence? And what was your excuse? Well, people are talking about it. What people? Which Jewish donor withdrew his/her support? You've let the unsourced techniques of blogging poison your critical thinking.

As to outreach, I know all about it. Sadly. As a sometime playwright, I was dragooned into conducting post-curtain Q&A's with my Jewish Repertory Theatre audience. The subscribers some of them -- wanted me to defend my portraying a Torah Jew as a murderer. Since when does everybody get a vote?
-AG

Subject: Preformance Politics?

Dear Brian,

If "Rachel Corrie" is not a political statement but "art" because it happens to be told on a stage, then when a priest endorses a candidate in a church sermon it must be religion and not politics!

The Rachel Corrie play is pure and obvious politics in sheeps' clothing.

-GJ

Subject: Preformance Art

I listened to your radio show, and I also attended the Rachel's Words event at the Riverside Church. I have to agree with Katherine Viner that it is first and foremost the quality of Rachel Corrie's words, but I can only say this after having attended the Riverside Church event. I had read a few of Rachel Corrie's emails after her death, and while they were well written, hearing them spoken on stage was a completely different experience. It was good theater. It wasn't just good political theater, and that was what surprised me. I didn't expect to find hearing Rachel Corrie's words spoken from a stage so compelling.

What I really enjoyed about your interview with Viner was her laughter at the absurdity of the idea of a theater whose ultimate goal is "to foster community dialogue." A weak version of the theater, and a weak educational institution at once. That's the "theater" that the NYTW has to offer? Yawn.

-DG

Subject: Sorry we couldn't get it to the air...

Why are some in the Jewish community, donors, and ex-producers of this play are so devoted to maintaining an untarnished public perception of Israel and Jewish over sensitivities even at the expense of Rachel Corrie's words being heard?

Please air my thoughts. Thank you.

-BC

Subject: Extended Experts from a Letter to NPR about the BL's commentary that ran on Sunday's Morning Edition.

NPR broadcast racist propaganda this morning by airing Brian Lehrer's extended analysis of the NYC controversy caused by Jewish leaders pressuring the Downtown Theatre Workshop to abort its the scheduled production of a play that spotlights Israeli government terrorism. Mr Lehrer is an intelligent and liberal commentator about almost everything except Israel, where his usual progressive values seem to be trumped by some unspoken connection and bigotry.

For America, the essential importance of Rachel Corrie is that she was an American patriot, who, by sacrificing her life to resist and to expose Israel as a terrorist state, has issued a wake-up call that America desperately needs to hear. "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" needs to be produced now in New York and throughout the United States, because only by arousing our citizenry to the evil misuse Israel has made of our generous support can Ms Corrie's heroism guide America to force Israel to make full reparations for the horrors it has committed, and thereby start to bring peace and justice to the Middle East, honor to ourselves, and an end to terrorism.

-MG

Posted by leboheme at 11:42 AM

NPR's NY guy Robert Smith (no, not that Robert Smith) is guest-blogging over at NPR's blog, Mixed Signals.

Posted by leboheme at 11:28 AM

So, the government is worried that you're googling for kiddie porn on the web, but we're more concerned by the apparently gonzo market for mesothelioma-related goods and services, evidenced by the highest-value recent ad buys on google.

"Highest-Paying AdSense Keywords" on CyberWyre" (via Boing Boing).

Got something great to share? Email us!

Posted by leboheme at 10:57 AM

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights isn't binding international law, but somehow the document, adopted in 1948, remains the gold standard of human rights.

It may also stand in partial contradiction of the new Afghan constitution, which both affirms the UDHR (Article 18: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief") and states that ''no law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam" .

We'll talk about the fate of Christian convert Abdur Rahman this morning.

What's your take? Email us!

Posted by leboheme at 09:23 AM

NYC will release tapes of 9/11 casualties (LA Times)

Dry run of city's plans to deal with a toxic bomb considered a success, despite 74 "casualties" (NY Times)

UK memo indicates Bush was committed to war, no matter how Iraq inspections went (NY Times)

Analysis: how oil industry won $7 billion in royalty-free contracts (NY Times)
Illegals demonstrate in support of guest worker program (CS Monitor)

Scalia: Gitmo detainees do not have rights under the US constitution (Newsday)

Juvenile delinquency cases up 17%, iPods are blamed (NY Daily News)

Posted by leboheme at 08:47 AM

Wonkette introduces a West Highland Terrier named for Senator Chuck Schumer. We always thought of him as more of a Schnauzer.

Don't forget to tune in to my Sunday press conference!

Posted by leboheme at 04:04 PM

Subject: Viner's (?) positon is absolutely correct. This is a work of art.
Viner's (?) positon is absolutely correct. This is a work of art.

I find the idea of "context" development, "community outreach", etc to be red herrings. The aim here is obviously censorship by a group of people opposed to the airing of the play and its perspective.
-BI

Subject: RACHEL CORRIE
America is about freedom of speech. The Left wing anti-Semitic crowd
has every right to be able to glorify the life of a terrorist
collaborator like Rachel who gave her life to protect the tunnels
feeding the terrorist network in Gaza.
-MF

Got something to say? Email us!

[listen to our call in on "My Name is Rachel Corrie" from 3/24/06]

RE: rachel corrie play
theatres are probably afraid to produce anti-arab or anti-islamic plays becuase they may get burned down
-RF

Subject: Rachel C Discussion
This notion of outreach is absurd. Clearly as with everything else in this society, for this workshop it all comes down to the Benjamins. I'm a person of color, when August Wilson brought a play to stage, or any other playwright of color brings a play to stage did they consult members of the black or other minority communities to see how they would feel about the work?

This "controversy" highlights another issue that is primary in this society but is never talked about---and that is whenever anyone says or does anything that deals with the topic of Israel & Palestine that could be perceived in any way (no matter how small) as critical of Israel they can be or are afraid of being painted as anti-Semitic. Criticism of Israel does not equal anti-Semitism and it's about time people stand up and say so!
-SL

Subject: rachel corrie, murdered by israel, buried in new york
If Jews in America are so deadset about preventing news of the murder of an American patriot and peace activist by Israel reaching an American audience
that they will withdraw their funding, the theatre would be much better off
without them, and America would be better off to have this information
brought out as dramatically as possible.
-MGD

Posted by leboheme at 03:54 PM

Bush demands $ for military bases in Iraq, Congress raises questions (LA Times)

Analysis: Dem bid for House includes more women candidates (NY Times)

Scientists: global warming could melt Greenland and raise sea levels by 20 feet by 2100 (CS Monitor)

Court orders state to send CFE $ to NYC, but says how much is gov's decision (NY Sun)

ACS will institute Compstat-like system (NY Times)

Weld explains his side of feud with D'Amato (NY Times)

Weld supports eminent domain to clear way for Ratner project in Brooklyn (NY Sun)

Cheney expects all TV monitors on Fox when he travels (The Smoking Gun)

Posted by leboheme at 08:41 AM

With the next Presidential election only 36 months away, ABC has launched its invisible primary coverage; they use the term to refer to the "jockeying for supremacy in the contests to be positioned to be the major party presidential nominees between now and start of the actual caucus and primary voting."

We think that means: how the nominees sometimes get picked by their parties before you, the primary voter, get to pick 'em. In true Mark Halpern fashion, ABC is looking for "juice", something ABC thinks John McCain and Hillary Clinton have the most of. Been trading cheetos for juice boxes?

Posted by leboheme at 02:05 PM

GM will offer buyouts to all its union employees (USA Today)

Analysis: Roberts' first dissent reveals sharp differences with fellow justices (NY Times)

Iraq war vet to be Democratic nominee for House seat in Illinois (CS Monitor)

Analysis: there are holes in resume of Clinton challenger (NY Times)

Pay toilet prototype for NYC unveiled (NY Times)

Study faults laws to protect kids from drug dealers (Star-Ledger)

NY doormen may strike (NY Daily News)

Liberty Island and Ellis Island to be 100% "green-powered" (USA Today)

Posted by leboheme at 08:45 AM

We'd love to do a call-in on that topic, and Hickey-Freeman's ad in this month's Vanity Fair is pushing us closer and closer to that possibility.

They want to seduce you

Robin Givhan takes on the prickly topic of prepubescent power-lust in last Washington Post.

But the Onion was on to the story way back in 1998!

Got something to share? Email us!

Posted by leboheme at 04:17 PM

[Listen to John Patrick Shanley on the BL Show 3/22/06]

Posted by leboheme at 12:59 PM

Corzine proposes budget shaped by "painful choices" (The Record)

NYPD to expand by 1,200 (NY Daily News)

Analysis: city downplays low pay for NY's finest (NY Daily News)

City to introduce 505 new surveillance cameras (NY Daily News)

Bush suggests next president, not he, will preside over Iraq withdrawal (Washington Post)

EPA: NY and CA have the nation's dirtiest air (NY Sun)

Herring to be reintroduced to the Bronx River (NY Times)

Washington restaurateurs lobby against ban on lobbyist lunches (LA Times)

Posted by leboheme at 09:48 AM

The Community Service Society's Walter Fields

[listen to Walter Fields on the BL Show 3/21/06]

Posted by leboheme at 02:09 PM

For the first time in years, WH press corps senior prefect Helen Thomas got to ask the Prez a question in his Q & A today. Thomas then tried valiantly to get in a follow up on Rumsfeld, but W won round II.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

Helen. After that brilliant performance at the Grid Iron, I am -- (laughter.)

Q You're going to be sorry. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, let me take it back. (Laughter.)

Q I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?

THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is that -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --

Q Everything --

THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please.

Q -- everything I've heard --

THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, excuse me. No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We -- when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.

Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that's why I went into Iraq -- hold on for a second --

Q They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.

THE PRESIDENT: Look -- excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained --

Q I'm talking about Iraq --

THE PRESIDENT: Helen, excuse me. That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.

I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences --

Q -- go to war --

THE PRESIDENT: -- and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did, and the world is safer for it.

Q Thank you, sir. Secretary Rumsfeld -- (laughter.)

Q Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome. (Laughter.) I didn't really regret it. I kind of semi-regretted it. (Laughter.)

Q -- have a debate.

THE PRESIDENT: That's right. Anyway, your performance at the Grid Iron was just brilliant -- unlike Holland's, was a little weak, but -- (laughter.)

Sorry.

Posted by leboheme at 01:58 PM

This morning Brian speaks with David Grandeau, the head of the New York Temporary Lobbying Commission, who's recently reinterpreted the rules to dramatically limit gifts to Albany legislators.

In the meantime, check out these stats on the top lobbyists and lobby-ers of 2005, courtesy of the State Lobbying Commission:

Posted by leboheme at 10:26 AM

FBI agent testifies he warned about Moussaoui more than 70 times (Washington Post)

Conflicting positions on Dubai ports deal has provoked Hillary to insist on "veto right" over Bill's activities (NY Daily News)

Silverstein reaches out to Spitzer (NY Sun)

Bloomberg defends teaching the young about AIDS (NY Daily News)

Some analysts believe Iran is forging alliance with Al Qaeda (LA Times)

LA mayor tours NYC schools (LA Times)

Nixon library to receive public funding for the first time (Washington Post)

Celebs and ordinary citizens flock to Caracas to witness Hugo's revolution (NY Times)

Posted by leboheme at 09:47 AM

Anger from our airwaves

Well, I must be a very manly woman since I'm feeling kind of aggressive right now.

I enjoy your show very much, and this is only the second time in many years that I have taken issue with one of your segments. The first was in the winter of 2001-2002 when you had guests on explaining what precautions New Yorkers should take to protect their families against terrorism, a topic that I felt added to the problem of irrational fear in this city rather than helping to abate it.

Today I am asserting myself, however, on the topic of your interview with Mr. Mansfield. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am assuming that Mr. Mansfield is an older gentleman, and I find it very sad to listen to this dinosaur of the academic world spout 1950's era nonsense as if it were scientific fact. I agree with the first caller that you had on (and I wish she had stated her case with more manly aggression) that this all sounds a little too much like the "science-based" justifications for race discrimination that, unfortunately, we are still battling to this day. What really topped it all off for me was the conclusion that he came to at the end of the segment that women aren't as good at science as men and "you see this in the lack of great scientists who are women." It saddens me that a professor at Harvard could be so naive and out of touch with the complex workings of oppression that are woven into the very fabric of our society.

I am now going to assume also that your guest is white. While it does not surprise me too much that an older, white Ivy League professor would hold on so desperately to opinions that amount to an unexamined parroting of the the past one hundred years of patriarchal nonsense, it saddens me that you did not do more to challenge him on these ideas. Or perhaps you could have found another writer to debate with Mr. Mansfield on these issues, as you did with the excellent segment on the current economic state of twenty-somethings recently. As with the earlier mentioned show on preparing for terrorism, you allowed an excellent opportunity for debate to pass you by.

I feel bad for Mr. Mansfield that in fifty years his book will read like an archaic example of just how much individuals allow society to dictate their opinions, and how one man was unable to allow his mind to develop past 1950.

In the future, I hope that you will be more sensitive to the fact that such a controversial issue deserves a lively debate. This is what I have come to expect from your show, and I suppose that this is why I find myself so disappointed this afternoon. Maybe it was just a little too polite and womanly for me.

-KS

Who get's the last word?

Why did you leave Mansfield's last word unchallenged on 3/20 show?
("obvious from common sense that women lack the talent for highest
levels of science").

-SD

A slip on the job?

I love the show, but this Harvard professor didn't deserve the publicity you gave him and Brian completely fell down on the job. What purpose was served by having him on as a guest? Why didn't you ask what job his wife has? He said she works outside the home but he didn't say doing what. And if he thinks the women's movement should find a way to view housework as more noble, why wouldn't housework then become manly work? I have worked for ten years and have found the workplace is still dominated by white men who have wives at home diapering their babies, while I pay my bills, take risks, and try to have a career. I think risk-taking is not gender specific. But we will never know if it is unless women are given equal opportunities to take risk. And last but not least, if the professor had said what he said about black people instead of women, he would simply be called a racist.

-MS

Opening new minds!

Dear Brian,

-CH

A little sense of humor in it all

Harvey just said: "Feminism has condemned many women to lives as supermarket checkers, when they could have been a housewife, which is a more interesting occupation."

-CJ

Posted by leboheme at 05:07 PM

The two-time Peabody winner fills the shoes last worn by Morley Safer.

Posted by leboheme at 01:12 PM

BL associate producer Jim Colgan was at the three-year anniversary of the Iraq war protest to report on it for the newsroom. Here are some photos and impressions he gathered:

Protesters carrying fake coffins representing Iraqi civilian casualties in a march marking the third anniversary of the war in Times Square on Sunday. 17 were arrested when they tried to place the coffin at an armed services recruiting center.

Posted by leboheme at 12:32 PM

Allawi says Iraq is in a civil war, Bush disagrees (LA Times)

Jafari: excluding Sadr from governing council was an early US mistake in Iraq (Washington Post)

The House of Representatives will meet less than 100 days this year, a new low (USA Today)

New study: young black men aren't making it, even in boom times (NY Times)

Early spring on the upper Hudson may spell doom for rare flora (Washington Post)

Chinese language instruction catches on in NY schools (NY Sun)

Posted by leboheme at 08:24 AM

[listen to Garry Wills on the BL Show 3/13/06]

Posted by leboheme at 03:19 PM

Seven decades young and nearly as buff as the governator...

Good news for the Times' new blog on the Newark mayor's race

Posted by leboheme at 02:27 PM

Magic store owner and Queens-booster Roger Quan

Robert Polner: scribe of Queens boulevard

The New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert

Your host, Daljit Dhaliwal

Posted by leboheme at 01:36 PM

Happy St. Pat's! Daljit Dhaliwal hosts again today.

Our apologies for no blog yesterday, as you've probably noticed wnyc.org and this blog have both undergone a redesign (what do you think? Email us!) and our server was down for most of the day.

Study: rising ocean temperatures have caused tempests (LA Times)

Hevesi: city has not used $ to reduce class size (NY Daily News)

MSG still in the red from effort to stop West Side stadium (NY Daily News)

Council speaker to stay out of St. Pat's Parade over gay issue (NY Times)

Analysis: personal and political differences soured WH relations with congressional GOP (Washington Post)

Effort to create anthrax vaccine will miss deadline (Washington Post)

Posted by leboheme at 10:50 AM

Iran seeks direct talks with US on Iraq's future (Washington Post)

US launches huge air assault in Iraq (NY Times)

New national security document reaffirms pre-emption (Washington Post)

Weld says D'Amato betrays state GOP by working for Spitzer campaign (NY Sun)

Department of Corrections mulls more, smaller jails in more places (NY Daily News)

Financial institutions confer on halting payments for child porn (CS Monitor)

Yippies propose Bleecker St. museum (NY Sun)

Posted by leboheme at 03:18 PM

PA-Silverstein talks break down (NY Daily News)

Ben Bradlee: Armitage was first to leak Plame name (NY Post)

Huge Alaska oil spill unnoticed for days (NY Times)

Oil industry defends record profits on Capitol Hill (LA Times)

Feingold's censure motion unleashes debate in both parties (Washington Post)

Misstep in Moussaoui trial forces lawyer into spotlight (NY Times)

Ancient "skis" suggest Central Asians invented skiing (CS Monitor)

Posted by leboheme at 08:26 AM

Millerus13 has posted a funny refresher course on 3.14159265....whatever, on Youtube. The theme? Don McLean's "American Pie", of course.

Posted by leboheme at 02:01 PM

Author Micheal Gordon talks about his Cobra

Posted by leboheme at 12:57 PM

MDs: Milosevic may have poisoned self (NY Times)

Universitites open minority-only scholarships to whites too (NY Times)

Juan Gonzalez: proposed Randalls Is. water park a dud (NY Daily News)

City spends more than $1m a year on prison chaplains (NY Sun)

Blog posts celebrity sightings (including maps) within minutes, what will happen next? (NY Daily News)

Posted by leboheme at 08:34 AM

Work begins on 9/11 memorial (NY Daily News)

Khalilzad expected to be picked to run Iraq instead of Bremer (NY Times)

Smaller newspaper group snaps up Knight-Ridder (NY Times)

Judge may throw out Moussaoui case over prosecutor's violation of court rules (Washington Post)

Analysis: Gale Norton left one of the toughest jobs in Washington (CS Monitor)

Analysis: why courts are sympathetic to gay parents (Slate)

Posted by leboheme at 11:55 AM

Dubai Deal's Collapse Prompts Fears Abroad on Trade With U.S. (The New York Times)

Water plumes spewing from 'ice volcano' seen on a moon of Saturn (The Independent)

U.S. to quit Abu Ghraib prison (Chicago Tribune)

Interior Secretary Gale Norton Resigns (Washington Post)

Can I Make Them Score My SAT by Hand? (Slate)

The Sopranos Return (Los Angeles Times)

Posted by leboheme at 01:42 PM

Debra Galant, Baristanet Blogger

Posted by leboheme at 12:25 PM

In researching today’s interview with Barbara Wallraff, about how cultural changes require new words, we came across this mystery. Myth or reality? Do Inuit languages really have all those words for snow? Here are two opposing views:

It’s a “tundra” legend. This includes a satiric list of all the words for snow that’s practically poetry.

Or

It’s established by scholarship. It’s from Princeton!

Posted by leboheme at 11:51 AM

... comes great responsibility? With blogger, author and law professor Glenn Reynolds

Posted by leboheme at 02:43 PM

Bill Wasik in the flash

Posted by leboheme at 02:32 PM

Amid warnings by some, Congress renews Patriot Act (Houston Chronicle)

House Agrees To Vote On Ports (Washington Post)

G.O.P. Senators Say Accord Is Set on Wiretapping(NY Times)

Gordon Parks, a Master of the Camera, Dies at 93(NY Times) and don't miss the slide show

Bruno won't say how 'pork' funds to be spent (Albany Times Union)

Book excerpt on Barry Bonds and Steroids(Sports Illustrated)

Posted by leboheme at 11:10 AM

Author Marilyn Johnson talks about the preverse pleasure that we get from reading obituaries

Posted by leboheme at 02:08 PM

Tom Robbins, of the Village voice, talks about allegations of bid-rigging in the cut-throat world of streetlight repair

Posted by leboheme at 02:05 PM

Bush defends nuclear pact with India (Washington Post)

Archivist Urges U.S. to Reopen Classified Files (NY Times)

Hamas, on Visit to Russia, Is Told It Must Accept Israel (NY Times)

Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly (Washington Post)

Congress Ethics Office Rejected (LA Times)

Hillary on Bubba: Dubai-Ai-Ai (NY Post)

Editorial: We're No. 50 (Newsday)

Posted by leboheme at 01:11 PM

Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps, and Sarah Kramer, StoryCorps facilitator

Doug Cox and Sarah Havens, Guantanamo detainee attorneys

Posted by leboheme at 01:10 PM

Many in-studio guests this morning:

WNYC's Bob Hennelly is all over the Dubai Ports World story

2006 Whitney Biennial curators Chrissie Iles,

and Philippe Vergne.

Marcia Robinson Lowry from Children's Rights, Inc.

Posted by leboheme at 02:20 PM

Here's a selection of e-mails from listeners during the "Overheard in New York" and the "Ipod Obsolescence" sections of today's show:

Overheard in Queens, walking down the street.
A car making a u-turn drives up on the sidewalk and a cop standing there says:
”What are you doing?” The lady says “I’m not from around here” and the cop says, “So what, where you come from they drive on the sidewalk?” in perfect deadpan. It was a perfect NY moment.

Overheard on Grand Central to Time Sq Shuttle
St Patrick's Day 15+ years ago. A group of nurses who had marched in the parade. One nurse said to the group. Get off at the first stop.

How's this for a transition?
I decided not to even get on the ipod boat and have saved myself from what I'm hearing thousands of dollars. I tried my girlfriend's and had to jack the volume up so high to drown out the subway that I feared for my hearing. After one day I realized that what one of the things I enjoyed most about the transit system was listening in on other peoples conversations, something the ipod obliterates.

Opposing views on ipods
When I went to purchase an ipod mini when they first came out at a major electronics retailer, several clerks refused to sell it to me. They all said they had complaints from multiple customers about battery failure. . . . The clerks at the reailer suggested a good mp3 with replaceable AAA batteries.

and

I've had four different versions of iPods and never had one break down on me. I believe they last as long as you treat them well!

A last word
If my iPod lasted at least until it was stolen on the subway, I'd be happy.

Posted by leboheme at 01:35 PM