This is too weird!
-ed.

Subject: Why does the River Pool Swimmer swim the Hudson?

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that the swimmer won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on "THIS" side of the river before he can go after the problem on the "OTHER SIDE" of the river. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his "CURRENT" problems before adding a veritable "TIDE" of new problems.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the swimmer is having problems, which is why he wants to cross the Hudson so bad. The color purple, swimming the Hudson ... though these metaphors of healing and cleansing are at work, this is life, People. So instead of having the swimmer risk drowning, which is a part of life, I'm going to give each swimmer at my show today a kayak. Then in the days and years to come he or she can just paddle across the Hudson and not have to live his life like the rest of the swimmers. Or not.

GEORGE W BUSH:
We don't really care why the swimmer crosses the Hudson. Homeland Security will be inspecting all "packages" and listening for suspicious "strokes". heh. We must know if the swimmer is on OUR side of the Hudson, or THEIR side. The swimmer is either swimming toward us, or the swimmer is swimming away from us. Bring 'em on!

COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of our swimmer, among many other innocent-looking swimmers, crossing the Hudson. Before we know it, he may have the capacity to encourage many other swimmers. We cannot afford to wait for Rivers and Estuaries to act. We must meet him before he can swim further.

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there IS a swimmer, but we have do not yet have access to the other side of the Hudson. Meanwhile, trainscrowds continue to gather on the Beacon side near the train station as the clarion whistle of the Amtrak passes toward Montreal.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted not to let the swimmer cross the Hudson, I feel you may have misuderstood my intentions at that time. I felt it was the wrong river to cross, and I was misled about the swimmer's intentions. Today, along with many who have crossed rivers all over the world, rivers throughout history, rivers that have flowed north and south and both ways, I ask you to support my plan for crossing the Hudson. Let us all put away our differences and swim together on July 30.

NANCY GRACE:
You can see it in his eyes and the way he swimms. That swimmer crossed the Hudson to prove once and for all, IT'S SAFE. All the slander in the media to the contrary will not stop the Swimmer.

PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hard-working American.

MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that swimmer was going. I had a standing order at the Beacon Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped. There was no insider swimmer. I have no information concerning the swimmer's intentions.

DR SEUSS:
Did the swimmer cross the Hudson water?
Did she cross it with a friendly otter?
Yes, the swimmer crossed the Hudson water.
Swimmimg dreams of River Pool have got her.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To put Newburgh behind. To reach the other side. Beacon. Alone.

JERRY FALWELL:
Because the swimmer is a Clearwater Believer! But I cannot say it more plainly: the swimmer is simply SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON. The liberal media paints it as "GOING TO THE OTHER SIDE." Brothers and sisters, YOU AND I are going to "the other side". The swimmer who says he is "crossing over" has been brainwashed. It's as plain and simple as that!

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the swimmer crossed the Hudson. Somebody told us the swimmer crossed the Hudson, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the swimmer tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how she experienced a serious case of swimmer's ear and could train only by going back and forth across Central Park and up and down the elevators at Bloomingdales for several months. She went on to accomplish her life-long dream of swimming the Hudson in her Blahnik water shoes.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine the Hudson River
It's easy if you try
Clean water below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Swimming for today...

You may say Pete was a dreamer
But he's not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
At the Pool floating in Hud-son

Imagine all the swimmers
stroking across in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but on July the thirty
You too can be one of them,
and the world will swim as one.

ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of swimmers to swim across the Hudson.

BILL GATES:
Because he used Internet Explorer to sign up at http://www.riverpool.org and encouraged others to support him there as well. In two years, like Pete Seeger for the past 30 years, I will be working full-time with Melinda to fund on-going operations of River Pools around the world. Meanwhile, I have just released eSwim2005, which will not only chart your route across the Hudson from Newburgh to Beacon but will speak directions through Microsoft eGoggles. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eSwim. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra.....@&&^( C .. ...

ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the swimmer really swim across the Hudson, or did the Hudson move beneath the swimmer?

BILL CLINTON:
First, let me say, I did not swim the Hudson with THAT swimmer. I crossed with many swimmers ... and kayakers ... That was another day. But now is the time that this swimmer swims for us all ... and we will swim on together, supporting all swimmers who take the challenge, equally and without regard to body mass, gender, or favorite stroke.

AL GORE:
The swimmer is discovering the Hudson ... as I have! It is never too late to discover.

COLONEL SANDERS:
Didn't this start out as a joke about a chicken?

Posted by leboheme at 02:01 PM

Subject: Your woman Islamic "expert" was quite disappointing
When I asked her to summarize her arguments about why the Koran does not say what it appears to say about women, she said it was too complicated for the airwaves & referred me to her books. I was insulted. This is the first time I've ever heard someone go on air on a topic and then refuse to talk about the substance of it.
-RC

Subject: criticizing islam
When criticizing Islam for being violent, and for mistreating women,
people should keep in mind that the predominantly Christian United
States built their nation on the backs of African slaves, committed a
genocide against Native Americans, denied women the right to vote until
eighty years ago and hardly gave women an opportunity to support
themselves economically until about fifty years ago.
-JF

Subject: Gender Jihad
Why should anyone lend credibility to a book like the Koran which says:

Moderate Muslims who draw "interpretations" the Koran only validate the use of the above passages by extremists. Why can't we say that this is a book with horrific passages and treat it as we would any other source from literature?
-PP

Subject: Islam is not unique
Many religions have oppressive restrictions on women. Too me, the issue
is related to literal interpretation of any religious text (or secular
text for that matter). Interpretations without reference to current
reality is at least as dangerous as a totally relative interpretation of
morality.
-SG

Subject: Jihad
Why does it fall to the West to police Islamic Extremists? I understand that there is no central Islamic authority, but wouldn't it be better if Islamic countries could control their 'nuts'??
-CA

Subject: Accountability
Perplexing.

If the "Koran trumps", why should we need to study her
books and other supplemental explanations.
-JM

Posted by leboheme at 03:56 PM

From Jack, Manhattan:

Every single person in this country is descended from immigratns, which people seem to forget. There are many in this country who would like to prevent immigrants from coming in when they are just one or two or three generaations removed from b eing immigrants themselves. It smacks of "I got here first, the rest of you go away."

From Marcus, White Plains:

I disagree with the speaker on her point that immigrants are fhosen over African American workers due to "enduring racism." The motivation is purely economic. Since many workers don't speak English and don't have anyone to compain to, they just have to accept it. If racism were the motivation, it would equally affect the immigrants who are also for the most part non-white.

From Sean, Manhattan:

One should be allowed to live wherever one wishes provided that he has the means to move and live there, with the understanding that he will acccept the cultural, economic, and political standards that exist in that place.

From Jon, Manhattan:

Pretend that you come home and ahomeless guy is on your sofa. He won't leave, but in return for staying on your sofa he is willing to wash your dishes. Somehow I don't think anyone, no matter how liberal they are, would be cool with that. And what if you want your kids to wash the dishes to teach them responsibility? Instead will you upgrade their chores to more white-collar work, like doing your taxes? Come on. It's not migration that is a right. It is the right of individuals to live well in their own homes.

From Tom, Queens:

Of course illegal immigrants bring down wages. It is only because the labor movement is no l0onger a large vital rorce in ours coeity today that illegals are getting away with coming here in such large numbers.

From Ronald, parts unknown:

To steal is wrong.
A father who steals bread to feed his children does no wrong.
To enter a country illegally is wrong.
To enter a county to be able to live is not wrong.

Posted by Seamus at 12:25 PM

During today's summer reading discussion a woman caller, who is embarking on a cross-country road trip with her family asked for some “on the road" reading suggestions. Here are some of your email responses:

PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon is a great book about Kansas. It would be wonderful on tape/cd as one makes the drive through the Mid-West.
-P.D.

Book for the road suggestion: Jack Kerouac's On The Road "the ultimate road trip novel"
-S.P.

I read a great book years ago called The Magic Bus. It was an account of a summer college course inspired by Kerouac's On the Road. The course required extensive reading about American history based on the itinerary of the drive. I loved it, and think that it would be great to listen to (if it's on tape) while driving cross country. It's a great resource for reading material about American regional history.
-A.J.

road-trip reading...Mark Twain!!
-F.D.R.

Advice for roadtrippin' readers driving along I-90: read Travels with Charley by Steinbeck; or get it on tape. He took a similar route.
-V.P.

Posted by Seamus at 03:26 PM

Subject: happy housewife
No wonder Brian took the day off! I'd say Ms. Flanagan may be channeling her inner housewife, but she sure isn't a happy housewife.

Did she forget to take her meds? I've never heard such anger from a guest! Has her pandering to the right failed to produce the book sales she'd anticipated?
-KC

Subject: Hurrah for Caitlin Flanagan
I am an unabashed liberal, and more positively disposed to the Democrats than the Republicans (who I think lack the milk of human kindness).

As a father of a 23 year old daughter Alana and a 33 year old
step-daughter Ann, we made do for a number of years on a single income
so my wife, Mary, could be at home and focus on raising our children.
When they were old enough, she went back to work. The family should never take second place to work. Hurrah for Caitlin Flanagan for reminding us of this.
-AvdM

Subject: Caitlin Flnagan
This woman had to be one of the most arrogant, pushy and annoying
guests I have ever heard on The Brian Lehrer Show and it's unfortunate
that she is a spokesperson for this very important and fascinating
issue. Congratulations to Sri for maintaining his composure!
-JD

Subject: Your guest isn't a stay at home mom . . .
she's a WORK at home mom, like I am, which is totally different. Not
everyone has a career that lends itself to staying home with kids and
working at the same time (I am a graphic artist.) She is very lucky
that she could switch careers, but there's no denying that she's a
working mom--writing columns and a book must certainly take some time
from her children. My husband is a work at home dad. There are trade-
offs here as well. Does she agree?
-P & N

Subject: caitlin Flanagan
while she had a few good things to say, i'd much rather read caitlin flanagan than listen to her.
she was loud and rude and abrasive.
-H

Posted by leboheme at 12:12 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

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

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

Subject: Mistakes, Misstatements and Half-truths, Oh My!
Again, your guest from the German newsweekly is playing fast and loose with the truth.
As of 2001, according the U.S. Department of State, there was _no_ Muslim cemetery in Denmark. (State noted this as part of its human rights
assessment.) Whether Danes have allowed one since I do not know.
A number of Christian cemeteries have allowed Muslim sections -- generous, but which failed to meet full Muslim religious requirements.
-HS

Subject: Let him who is without Sin draw the first Cartoon
I have been slightly amused by the surprise of the American press on the outrage expressed by Muslims over the Danish cartoons. No one seems to recall the not so recent vituperative outrage and threats of violence against artists in this country who dared cast a man of African heritage in the role of Jesus in a show.

It strains credulity to listen to our sanctimonious pronouncements, while choosing to ignore the degree of rabid intolerance in this country. I think you owe your audience a reminder that we do not go into this with clean hands.
-BA

Subject: Hate Speech by any other name...
I agree with Mahmoud that the cartoons are most reflective of a latent hostility and racism that underlie the European societies in which Muslim minorities are growing. The cartoons are most reminiscent of caricatures of Jews and anti-semitic drawings in many contexts throughout Europe in the past. I would argue that the cartoons would qualify as hate speech-- and, while hate speech has been a thorny free speech issue in many nations, I believe that hate speech can and should be regulated.
-ML

Subject: What Would Jesus Say?
I just wanted to share a story that may otherwise not have become a big deal had the Danish cartoons not been published. I'm a grad student at Parsons School of design working on an MFA in Design and Technology. On Tuesday Feb 21 at the Fellissimo gallery in NYC I'm showing a censored version of an interactive art piece that i developed this past Fall. The piece is a projection of Da Vinci's Last Supper with speech bubbles above Jesus and four of the disciples, as a viewer of the piece you are able to text message your own content into any of the bubbles. In essence a viewer can make Jesus say 'I love you.'

The piece was accepted into the show, but the gallery came back and asked that the image be changed. The gallery didn't want the kind of attention that the piece might get given the reaction to the danish cartoons. I joked that I'd just use puppy dogs with speech bubbles, but I really didn't want to change the image. The piece was about the enabling power of mobile technology to comment on the world around us. In a way we are all our own embedded reporters and I wanted to give people a subject to report on, come what may. So my solution will be to remove the image, but leave the speech bubbles in place, and if you want the image to participate you can text my cell phone and I will send the image to your phone through MMS.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share since this topic is so hot and I think that my work has become a victim of it. (Click here to view the project)
-PN

From an American in Sweden
1. Muslins integrate and don't integrate based on the education level they had coming in to the country. the ones who do often still complain that their children are still referred to as immigrants meaning the society as a whole has not and will not accept them. Those who do not integrate don't because they marry cousins from their home countries and their children are educated in state sponsored muslim schools that don't teach women past the 8th grade. That infuriates swedes who are staunch believers in equality.

3. denmark and sweden are wonderful places to live and immigrants American or muslin should be so lucky. i can' remember the last time i saw a homeless person.
-DR

Subject: Danish Pride, Considered

I have never written to a program before but I just had to put in my five cents for whatever it's worth.
I am Danish. These past months controversy breaks my heart. Just the other day when the snow fell, I was standing in the Amish Marked and one of the cashiers, a young muslim woman, asked me how I felt about the snow, I smiled and said "I love the snow, I am used to it. I am from Denmark" as I walked away, I realized how this controversy has changed how I feel about telling people that I am Danish - I was ashamed and angry. It is odd me, who have always hated flags suddenly feeling anger in my heart at seeing the Danish flag being burned on the streets in the middle east.
It is funny Denmark has always been on the forefront in aiding developing countries, a lot of them muslim and suddenly none of this matters because of twelve cartoonist and one newspaper.
Also, Denmark is not a particularly religious society. I guess most of us are born Lutheran but few practice it or even care about it, so your guest point of making it a Christianity versus muslim issue is bogus.
This is a joke but there is also some truth to it, that most danish people visit the church three times in their lives:
1) when they are baptized
2) When they get married
3) And at their own funeral

I believe most people in Denmark have shown solidarity towards the muslims living there and have voiced their support through peaceful demonstrations and public debate.
-NK

Got something to share? Email us!

Posted by leboheme at 02:55 PM

Subject: Muslims are under attack

The Western Media is uniformly focusing the democratic right to speak, write or draw an opinion. However, no one is addressing the issue of racism, and religious bigotry that these hideous cartoons convey. Would similar cartoons about Jews or Blacks be published in the West?

Today, in the West, we have open season on Muslims.
Islamic cultural history is deemed backwards, vengeful and violent. A foreign western army is occupying Iraq. Through out the world Muslim persons and countries are under siege. It is only human that the reaction is such by the besieged.
-TS

Subject: Philosophical versus Physical

I would like to know why the dialogue in the media regarding these cartoons has not focused on the violence associated with the protests. Why is there so little criticism of this violence? Even the governments of Denmark and Norway were quicker to criticize governments for not protecting their embassies than to criticize the violent protestors. Protest is crucial to democracy but violent protest is entirely unacceptable.
-SC

Subject: Bias bubbles to the surface

The Danish cartoons got it correct. The face of Islam to the world is the terrorist.

Other than Turkey, there is no predominantly Muslim country in which Non-Muslim's flourish. Muslim country's provide only one good to the world, Oil. They are not producers of culture, value added ideas, contributions to medical advancements, scientific insights or the arts. Your bias says to ignore all that and treat Muslims as if their sole human contribution to the world is destruction. I agree that there is no inherent reason that Muslims specialize in destruction. Their past societies have been open, advanced in science, mathematics, medicine and literature. Hiding the truth about today's Muslims does nothing of value.
-DR

Subject: Humor has a role!

All cartoons are not created equal. One of them was absolutely brilliant. I was at a dinner party the other night with two ex-music school parents (we meet in caves) and I described it to them: A group of charred, smoking figures on a cloud approach a man wearing a turban at heaven's gate. He flails his hands furiously in the air shouting "Stop, stop, we've run out of virgins!"

Lopping off the heads of infidels is all well and good, but one has to retain one's sense of humor.
-JM

Posted by leboheme at 01:45 PM

After today’s segment on Children and the Internet with Web Wise Kids, we noticed an interesting break down in the listener comments. The call in population, by and large, was talking monitoring techniques, while the email listeners were more likely to balk at the idea of watching children’s internet use. Here’s a sample of the web user response.

Subject: Everyone Calm Down!
I am a huge fan of the show, but today's treatment of kids and the internet was so hysterical, I thought I might be listening to FOX radio!

I am an educator, and work with teenagers and have a huge concern about their protection -in cyber world or otherwise. At the program where I work, we struggle with whether or not kids should be allowed on myspace, and sconex and the rest (we have a VERY powerful, almost annoyingly so, filter on your organizational internet access - for kids and adults!). Yet this idea that all kids are out there, eagerly looking for porn and suicide and anorexia instructions is so ridiculous. Yes, kids make lots of mistakes and can wind up in trouble without adequate supervision, and bad parenting abounds. Yet, your guest's tone was so extreme as to vilify kids, and seemed to endorse some sort of McCarthy-esque surveillance of teens. Why not equally vehement advice to get close to your kids, make sure they have other adults to talk to and confide in, make your home a safe space for their friends, let them have boy/girlfriends who you meet and know, talk to them about sex and protection and values, ENGAGE, so that they can make smart decisions for themselves - whether online, on the subway, on a date, at school, WHEREVER they are.

Hyper-monitoring a teen's every move- online, or on the phone, or in the world -is the last way to protect them, and the quickest way to alienate them. Next time, please include some different caller voices, and some of young people, in this debate. Your show is normally such a great forum for young people to engage in multigenerational debate - a great "expert" might have been your son, or another teen! I know this issue is scary for parents, but they might be heartened to hear from some tech-savvy, responsible teens who know how NOT to get caught in the internet's garbage.

Thanks, as always, for a great, thought-provoking show!
--KK

Subject: Parenting isn't easy
I think that your guests are on the wrong track. Policing never works with kids; they're too smart, and the culture is too pervasive. What are you going to do, search their bags every night to see if, in addition to marijuana, they have a cell phone with a camera? A 16 year old has his own money, and phones are cheap.

Our son is not perfect, and has given us plenty of headaches, but I firmly believe that the way to keep kids out of trouble -- if you can -- is to make points about common sense and responsible behavior at every possible opportunity, rather than wait for some really terrible thing to happen. You want a sensible child, because a sensible child will not be as susceptible as a silly one. Basically, your goal is not to keep him away from web cameras, but to make him savvy about risks. This takes trial and error: with our seventeen year old, we have found that pointing out that a pregnant girlfriend may mean 18 years of child support (and it's her choice, not his) may have been a more effective method of advocating birth control than would have been discussions about AIDS and herpes, which he has heard about ad infinitum at school.

Also, when he was ticketed in November for carrying an open beer can in public -- he is not allowed to drink, was supposed to be at a movie -- we put him through a court appearance, etc. (he got an ACD), rather than merely arrange for a dismissal through our attorney, as did his friend's father (don't ask!). He was also grounded for a month -- for drinking and lying about where he was going --including over the holidays. He'll have no criminal record, but there were consequences.
All this may yet fail, but you can't defeat technology: you must focus on the kid.
--RT

Subject: Let Kids be Kids!...
Maybe it is time to [re]evaluate kids’ se*uality rather than simply use software to keep ‘em out of something that is gone happen no matter what if the kid is precocious! Have grownups completely denied what they went through in their teens or even earlier? Kids are more than personal property or little peons who can be ordered to do this and not that for the first 18 years of their life.
--SS

Subject: ...Because They Will Anyway
This wasn't touched on during today's show, and it's not surprising, but why are the very different issues of children setting up porn sites with webcams in their bedrooms and children being able to access porn being conflated? Both are ultimately about parenting, but isn't yesterday's Playboy under the mattress today's SuicideGirls.com bookmark? Raging hormones and curiosity and illegal exhibitionism are totally different issues. The real problem is parents being so removed from their childrens' lives and technological know-how.
--JT

Subject: Free the IT 11!
If you choose to only let your kids to use the computer on your terms, your kids are not going learn how to really use computers.
By that I mean our children need to surpass our level of computer skill.
For instance, running their computer like a prison is not going to challenge them to learn about how to program a computer..unless, of course, they want to escape your prying eyes.
In my opinion, being overly protective is going to stunt the growth of our next IT professionals. There is more to the Internet than porn.
--BJ

Posted by leboheme at 02:59 PM

Subject: Gay?
The Heath Ledger character isn't gay. He's a straight man who finds
the kind of love he needs being a very love and touch-deprived man from another man who is more able to give love than the women in both their lives.
-ED

Subject: Brokeback Mountain - YES ITS GAY
Of course it's a gay movie.
Gay men in a straight world is still a gay experience. I'm gay and I
get so tired of all of the annoying, political over-analyzing in our community. Just call it what it is at face value ... a gay movie. I can't imagine my straight cousins and brothers huddleded around a TV watching this movie while drinking beers after a long day of riding dirtbikes.

Maybe the mainstream gay community would think it would be "gay" if
they had some crystal meth and some Techno and/or House music.
-BC

Subject: From Wyoming
I'm from the West - and having thought about this and talked to Gay men who grew up there, I have reached the following conclusion:

It's this connection to the West that confuses things for people-NM

Subject: it's neither gay nor homosexual
Brokeback Mountain is neither "gay" nor "homosexual". It's a solemn, middle-brow Hollywood movie, trading in age-old cliches. The sexual orientation of the protagonists is all but irrelevant.
-JP

Subject: brokeback is not gay
i am a gay man and a film maker and i typically hate "gay" movies
because they reduce being gay to a collection of pre packaged issues--
i loved brokeback mountain because it is just a plain-old great
movie--an unusually believable love story
-TF

Posted by leboheme at 03:41 PM

Subject: Fiction - Non-Fiction
Made-up Non-Fiction is Fiction. That's fine, but we should keep it that way and not sell it under the wrong label!
And "good-doers" like Oprah should not endorse lying to consumers!! That's exactly what it is.
-JT

Subject: Fiction and Non-Fiction
I am a writer of books on the border of fiction and non-fiction and I teach courses on history and fiction.

The line between fiction and non-fiction is blurry and in motion, but the case of Frey is clear cut. If you consciously make things up, it is fiction, even if it has lots of factual material in it. And it should be labeled as such. Doctorow has said, "There is no history or fiction, just narrative." He is right, in theory. Absolutely right. But he calls his books novels, and there is a reason for that.
-JG

Subject: Memoirs as truth
I was reminded of a Roman expression: 'Se non e vera e ben trovata.' (Even if it isn't true, it's to the point (well founded).)

Perhaps the notion of 'unreliable narrator' has carried over into the realm of non-fiction...
-LS

Subject: Do the embellishments matter?
The pieces of Frey's memoir that have come into question are really very minimal in regards to the whole book. It's a story of overcoming addiction and all but maybe five percent of it takes place in a rehab clinic. Everything The Smoking Gun is questioning is contained in that five percent that is outside the clinic. So, does it really matter if something was embellished in this area? Probably not. The story itself is strong and the message of the book was not altered at all by what Frey changed.

And as for JT LeRoy, I've been following "his" writing ever since his first book and always found it intriguing. The fact that he might not exist just kind of makes it more interesting, honestly. Maybe because his books don't deal with topics that are as real to me; or maybe because, while I imagined the events were primarily true, I still saw it as fiction.
-SS

Posted by leboheme at 04:45 PM

Subject: Misplaced Coverage
Mr. Lehrer, I can't believe with the incredibly debatable issue of whether our president has broken the law in regards to domestic spying that you are going to continue to focus on Judge Alito's cofirmation hearing. In addtion to the fact that the hearings are being covered live by your AM station, the Republicans have the votes to confirm him making the hearing almost moot.
Barring updates for some truly significant revelation from the hearings, please stop spending your valuable time picking apart every sentence he utters when you could be performing a so much more valuable service to our nation by hosting debates with learned guests from all sides of the issue on the legality of the president's actions.
-DH

A Spector of a Question
Regarding the question from Senator Spector re whether the Supreme Court's reasoning is superior to Congress' (referring to a reversal by the Court of a law passed by Congress becamse of its "method of reasoning"), it seems to me that since most of Congress' "reasoning" is based on temporal partisan politics and the Supreme Court is made of lifetime judges, supposedly not politicians, its reasoning *is* inherently superior to Congress. And since, as I think Senator Schumer said yesterday, the Court is our last resort, I think that we rely on their wisdom to reason deliberately and intellectually honestly.
-SS

Skip to my Dem's
brian,
thank you for skipping over republican questioning of samuel alito. i agree strongly that such questioning is highly unlikely to support the thesis that mr. alito is unfit to serve on the supreme court, so why bother with listening in on it? i just hope that you are flexible enough to be willing to cut in during republican questioning if at any point doing so might help further the thesis.
-JS

Give Sam a Chance!
Fair journalism? You choose NOT to air the less-aggressive questioning of Alito becuae the Republicans have been giving him a chance to actually speak on his own behalf, rather than just bloviate, attack him and give him no chance to respond (Biden, Kennedy, etc.)??
I am ardently pro-choice, but this Judge is fully qualified for the Supreme Court, and the attacks on him are absurd, baseless and peevish. You have now descended into one-sided partisan politics in your programming choices, which is very disappointing. I have always seen you as at least paying lip service to the "other" point of view.
-MO

Posted by leboheme at 02:06 PM

Subject: A Frank Exchange of Ideas
Brian -- I was truly offended when you referred to an anonymous Amazon review to "balance" your interview with James Risen.
It is a sad day when a journalist who is doing his job and finds evidence of administration law-breaking is paired with "D. Donaldson" who calls Risen a traitor and refers to my part-time employer as "The New York Slimes." I don't think it elevates the discourse and it shows me that you are working with some sort of political correctness calibrator that is nothing short of loony. To be frank, I was shocked to hear you read that slur in your own voice.
-NC

Subject: From the other:
Risen's answers are totally self-serving.
Does he think that his leak was less injurious to national security than the Plame leak?

Question: is he preparing for jail time?
-CA

Subject:And from the middle?
i know you've already hit this subject, but how exactly does mr. risen consider that while the inner workings of u.s. inteliigence agencies should be open to public scrutiny, but the inner workings of the nytimes are off limits?
--JS

Subject: The War on Three Kings?
I dont see banning the lords prayer or bible studies from school or the
ten commandments as doing anything else, but making kids and then adults
less moral and worse human beings.. I dont see any other results from
banning these things ....nothing.
-TV

Subject: Seperate!
Public school pupils should not be marching in the parade. Teaching about it is a great idea, but no one should be required to march in it. That's forcing someone to (apparently at least) endorse a religious belief that they may not agree with.
That said, and although I am not Latino, I think that schools should be closed on Three Kings Day. It's is obliviously a major holiday for the Hispanic community.
-TB

Subject: Learning by doing
I believe that there is no better way to learn about a custom than to participate in it. Just as you can't learn about 3 kings day without participating, you can't really learn about a muslim call to prayer without hearing it for yourself, or any other custom for that matter. Seeing and doing is far different that reading about a custom.
-JF

Subject: Small potatoes
I found your segment on public schools participating in Tres Reyes parades interesting, but you are mistaken if you think that public schools' participation in Tres Reyes parades is at the margins of New York City schools' involvement in religion. Schools in African-American communities all over the city have active "Gospel Choirs" which perform at "holiday" assemblies at Christmas-time. The songs they sing are not relatively innocuous "spirituals" like "Go Down Moses" which many of us sang in school as kids; they are full fledge gospel songs, full of references to "Jesus", "the Holy Ghost", etc., making a Three Kings parade seem pretty mild by comparison.

Nor, incidentally, are these manifestations "equal opportunity", teaching about all of our city's cultures. If you doubt this go to some public schools in predominantly African-American communities and search for references to Diwalli, Ramadan/Eid-il-fatr, Hanukah, or any Bhuddist holidays. (My work took me regularly to many such schools.) If you find any at all, which you may in a few schools, they'll be overwhelmed by the preponderance of attention to Christmas. In a year when Christmas, Ramadan and Eid, Diwalli, and Hanukah all occurred in close proximity, in one school I visited I counted over twenty-five bulletin boards devoted exclusively or overwhelmingly to Christmas, two which also mentioned Hanukah, several which mentioned Kwanza, and none that mentioned Diwalli or Ramadan/Eid. When I mentioned this to a supervisor I was told that it was natural, given the community in which the school was located.

Incidentally, the most common speakers at public school graduations in Brownsville, for example, are (in equal parts) religious leaders and politicians.
-RL

Posted by leboheme at 09:21 AM

A sampling from our mailbag from the past several days:

Subject: New York moment
I thought it was hysterical when I went by the Marcy Avenue station
yesterday, which was blocked off with the yellow police tape. The funny
thing was, the police tape read "Crime Scene - Keep Out"... Only in
Brooklyn...
-KAH

Subject: Your show: Voice Of The People
I listen to your show almost everyday -- and enjoy it very much. However, i think your callers are quite extreme. Maybe those are the ones who have the time to call (and remain on hold for up to 30 minutes).

I did not hear anyone criticize the strike for what it is -- illegal and a humungus act of chutzpah! How can anyone think theses issues (and the issues are small) are worth paralyzing an entire city.

The union need not agree to the contract. They can continue to negotiate. But they cannot strike. They all knew that was the law when they started working for the MTA. The issue is as simple as that. To invoke Rosa Parks is an insult to the Civil Rights movement.
-A

Subject: "Thug" is in no way racist! (MTA photo included)
This is becoming a farce. Racism has nithing to do with it, except that if this goes on much longer, Toussaint will be out of a job and a lot of whites in
NYC will begin thinking this is nothing but lazy minorities wanting more for nothing.

+Can't hear the system announcements
+Rats are everywhere
+Booth clerks always on the phone or napping (SEE PHOTO COLLAGE)
+Clerks doing nothing to be on the lookout for
suspicious activity/riders

Subject: Kalikow certainly needs to go ...
He is the equivalent of Brownie (FEMA), and his lack of action and
knowledge and ability are criminal. That he is in charge of the most
important piece of infrastructure in NYC is beyond belief. PLEASE
KEEP INFORMING PEOPLE OF HIS LACK OF QUALIFICATIONS!
-SB

Subject: taylor law!
The Taylor Law includes CUNY faculty. I'm a member of the PSC and haven't received a raise in nearly 3 years. Not surprisingly one of the sticking points in our negotiations is the city's unwillingness to support our welfare fund.-DC

Subject: War of words AND images, war against unionization
The war of words has definitely escalated, but the war of images hasn't been mentioned much yet. The first night of the strike, I tuned into TV news to findToussaint and his multi-ethnic entourage making a press-statement, followed by a cut to Bloomberg beginning the "thug" war, backed by his own white army in suits. The commonality: no women in either shot. I don't think this is coincidental.
-RH

Subject: The Strike
As a white collar professional who has been downsized and learned the need to negotiate for every economic benefit I receive, I am completely sympathetic to the TWU and its leader, Roger Toussaint.

The MTA is indistinguishable for all large, impersonal corporations who forget it is the people, their employees, who make the business. When I travel through the trains and subways it is the TWU, along with the police and national guard, who provide for my safety and security. Labeling any of these groups as "thugs" is sad.
-R

Subject: strike story
I was rushing home from my appointment with my shrink in the west village, my kids were being wathced by a neighbor because my mother-in-law in the UWS couldnt make it to my home on the east side in the 20s. I decided to try to hail a cab, as I put my arm up a Mercedes pulled up and the woman driving motioned me to get in. I wasnt sure if she was a livery driver or what. It became clear that she was just doing a good deed. She drove me all the way home as we spoke about kids, NYC scools and the guilt all mothers - stay at home or working - feel about raising our children. When I got home, faster and more comfortably that I ever have in the past, I told my neighbor the story and she asked if I was worried about getting into a strangers car, I never was concerned and maybe that is because the moment I stepped into her car I heard the familiar sounds of WNYC on her radio.
-SB

Posted by leboheme at 05:12 PM

Subject: walmart
One of the more disturbing aspects of the Wal-Mart health care policy is the fact that the Walton Family has a net work of over $70 billion dollars (according to Forbes). What would Wal-Mart’s health care policy look like if the Walton's were willing to give up $1 billion or $2 billion of those $70b and give it back to their workers? What impact could this amount of money make on the lives of their thousands of employees?
-MM

Subject: the health insurance discussion
Two things that need a bit of reflection:
(1) in the comparison of the usa to europe you cannot think only about comparing health care costs. if you add the higher taxes and the lower rate of corporate welfare in europe, it becomes less clear why american corporations are complaining.
(2) we, the citizens of this country are not CONSUMERS of health care. Health care, and education should not be treated as products. We are not consumers when we call the police or the fire department, nor when people are send to fight wars for us. All of these services (and i might add to it appropriate housing) are a part of what a government should provide to its citizens. And if it costs more money, everybody should pay more taxes, and those who do not need to think about it should pay much more. It is hard to believe that those at the top will spend much less (at least in the us) if they have a bit less. Needless to say taxes money isn't money that is out of the market, it gets back there through slightly different channels.
-OG

(no subject)
In your eagerness to expand the discussion to national health care issues, you did not read the memo carefully or address aspects of it that were not already well-worn topics -- beginning with the single payer issue. The cardiologist who talked about "life style" was getting at something, but you didn't pick up. Wal-Mart is not talking about all of us; it is talking about poor people and how they live in this country. Wal-Mart is also trying to invent an American workforce that is as underpaid and disadvantaged as those in SE Asia. Where was any of this in your review of the usual suspects?
-AC

Subject: health care
I have a hard time finding anything wrong with the Walmart Document. Imagine for a moment how the landscape would look if employers had slowed or stopped their practice of offering health care coverage years ago. By now the crushing weight of a single payer system would have created the political will necessary to get us all universal coverage.
The thing I really have a difficult time understanding is why this isn't a republican issue. I'm mystified that making our workforce the healthiest in the world (and therefore costing employers fewer health care dollars and fewer sick days) isn't at least as important as the unemployment figures.
-BR

And the last word goes to our guest on the program, Professor Cindy Watts:

The issues of the kind of delivery system we have and who is in charge are critical to all the points made this morning by your callers (interesting to hear the different average perspective from those who call in to NPR programs in Seattle!). The landscape is clearly different now than it was in the 70's when providers and consumers got pretty much whatever they wanted and the 90's when managed care ruled the market. In my mind, most everything worth thinking about fits into a frame that someone else has already created -- often a musical frame. I have attached my version of health care history to the tune of "Santa Baby."
I hope you enjoy it.

Posted by leboheme at 11:14 AM

Suggestions from our listeners, via email and phone.

["Best Books" - BL Show - 12/12/05]

A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz. Translated from Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange
Oz writes a powerful personal memoir of a writer growing up in the war-torn city of Jerusalem, with politics and humor around a clash of cultures.

A Great improvisation: Franklin, France and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff.
An engaging history of Benjamin Franklin’s time as a statesman in France, A great Improvisation is replete with colorful characters and mysterious intrigues.

The End of the Line by Barry Lynn
The End of the Line takes a deep and in-depth look at the Anatomy of globalization, and the systems of dependence it has created.

Lessons in Taxidermy by Bee Lavender
In a memoir of her body’s failures, Lavender writes about sickness, survival, and the disassociation that comes with living daily with ones own mortality.

Garbage land: the secret trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte
Where does our Garbage go after we set it on the curb? Garbage Land is a brilliant exploration into the soiled heart of the American trashcan.

One Woman’s Army by Janice Karpinski
A first person account of what went on in the now infamous Abu grab prison, Karpinski also talks about the experience of being a woman in the role as military commander.

The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto
A history of the Island of Manhattan, Shorto examines the beginnings of the city and the initial influences of Dutch settlers to its eventual formation.

The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
A coming of age story about a boy without a father who turns to his relationships with his mother and with the family found in his uncles bar to see him through.

The pope’s Daughter by Carolyn Murphy
The story of Felice della Rovere, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II, and her role in the renaissance.

The bomb in my Garden by Dr. Mahdi Obeidi
Dr. Obeidi, the chief weapon’s scientist for Saddam Hussain’s Iraq, tells his own story about WMD’s and Invasion.

The End of Poverty by Jeffery Sachs
Sachs examines Economic solutions to the world’s poverty problems.

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Mountains Beyond Mountains is the story of a Doctor who finds his calling in providing modern medicine to those who have the least access to it. It follows Dr. Paul Farmer, the co-founder of Partners in Health.

The top five according to the NY times editors and contributors, straight from the mouth of Sam Tanenhaus
Assassins Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer
This groundbreaking book recounts how the United States set about changing the history of the Middle East and how it became ensnared in a guerilla war in Iraq.

de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens
This exhaustively researched biography is a portrait of the abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, who arrived in New York as a stowaway from Rotterdam in 1926 and underwent a long struggle to become a painter.

Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr
A biography of the Italian artist Caravaggio leads the author Harr on a complex journey to rediscover one of the artist’s long lost paintings.

Post war: a History of Europe since 1945 by Tony Judt
This book is a mammoth history of the trends and changes of a continent after having been ravaged by two wars.

Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Didion writes an intensely personal memoir of sickness and health, marriage, and other details family life.

Posted by leboheme at 03:41 PM

Two suggestions from BL Show listeners:

personalized postage stamps

personalized church sign magnets (see below)

[Open Phones on holiday giving - BL Show - 12/9/05]

Posted by leboheme at 03:53 PM

Subject: Blog
> We couldn't help but notice, listening to the President's speech
> today, that some W's words sounded awfully familiar. So we checked the
> transcripts, and its true!

Yeesh, do yourself a favor and don't even get onto a turnip truck without a helmet!

-J

["Deja Vu All Over Again?" - BL Blog - 12/7/05]

Posted by leboheme at 02:40 PM

Subject: changing minds (blog)
Women's absolute authority over their reproductive systems comes with absolute responsibility for their choices. There is however, no right to an easy choice. Compelling an unwilling father into legal parenthood is just as foul as compelling willing mothers into legal abortion. There are no happy endings here as you point out, but if through accident or idiocy a couple is forced into these unhappy choices it is her right to terminate and his right to walk. Just because both of these are arguably moral doesn't mean that the law should be required to make the choice easy; or worse not a choice at all.
-BR

Subject: Baby discussion
It can't be both ways:
If women are equal participants in sex, then pregnancy is a "no-fault" event.

The law should reflect that once having decided to give birth to a child, support is the female's responsibility provided the father has signified immediately upon learning of the pregnancy that he is against it.
-ES

Subject: compelling a woman... OR a man
Is the situation of abortion and childbirth completely unique? Wouldn't we object if one member of a couple could legally compel another to take a particular job, live somewhere they didn't want to, or quit school against their preference?

Even within marriage, the legal right to force a person to act against his or her will is repugnant, even if that choice has profound consequences for the other partner.
-AM

(no subject)
If any man doesn't want a female to be pregnant he needs to wear a condom. That is where his right ends to prevent a child
-SH

Subject: men and pregnancy
for centuries, when it came to unplanned pregnancy, men held all the cards and women held none. That is, men could decide whether they were going to be upstanding and stick around or whether they were going to disappear. But women had no choice but to bear the physical, social and financial burden of being pregnant.

Now, legalized abortion has turned the tables. Men are left hoping that their partners will do what they want them to. And they have to grapple with what to do when the woman disagrees with them about a situation that the women, by virtue of biology, get the final say on. I can't help but wonder if on some level this issue is less about being "fair" to the men or if it's more about men not being able to accept a situation where they aren't ultimately in control and don't get the last word.
Maybe men have to accept that nature and science have conspired to give women the final say in this important matter, and while it might not be "fair" perhaps it's what's most appropriate for a whole host of reasons.
-EG

(PS: I do think though, that given the fact that a woman does have a choice, if she decides to keep the baby against his wishes he shouldn't have any financial obligation to her).

Feedback!

Posted by leboheme at 03:32 PM

We had a huge response from our listeners during today’s call in segment on how to recycle just about anything in the Five Boroughs. Thanks to everyone who called or emailed in the following tips and suggestions!

New York City has an official page to help with recycling. The site includes city recycling rules and regulations as well as locations in the five boroughs for difficult waste like Auto-Fluid and Batteries.

There is also a site that helps locate recycling options by Zip Code, and can help deal with all sorts of difficult to dispose of products.

Want to find a place for all your organic compost? Go to the New York City Compost Project and look for a center near you for composting, horticulture advice, or just to give something back to the worms.

On the phones, there is a Manhattan based Packing Peanut Hotline, call to check your local drop off spots at 1 800 828-2214

We also had callers who told us they were able to take drained batteries to both Radio Shack and Whole Foods.

Last, but certainly not least, a caller advised us that old furniture and appliances that the Salvation Army might not accept can be taken to a local homeless shelter. When people in the shelters find a permanent place to live, the shelter can start them off with something for the home.

and a final note to think about from a listener in Brazil:

Dear Bryan,
Here in Rio de Janeiro, the sanitation department has attached special containers to light poles on busy pedestrian sidewalks to collect used batteries. These special green colored containers have a very small opening to prevent pedestrians from discarding other trash in them.
People seem to use them.
-LP

Posted by leboheme at 04:19 PM

Subject: doesn't just happen to adoptive families
a note on the very personal and sometimes rude questions that strangers will ask about other people's children:
my family background is quite diverse. black american, native american, portuguese, italian, and french on my mother's side; black american, jamaican, and senegalese on my father's side. NO ONE in my family is the same skin tone, or even has the same facial features. My point is: you just have to deal with other people's ignorance in as succinct a manner as possible. be as polite as you can while you let them know that they are being rude, or that there is a better way to ask whatever question they are posing. and your kids will learn to handle themselves assuredly because they KNOW who they are and who their family is.
-SW

Subject: Adoptive parents
People shouldn't assume that a child is adopted simply because they
don't look like a parent. I have 2 biological children, one looks
like me, the other like my husband. My husband is Filipino, I am of
eastern european descent. It is constantly assumed that my daughter
is adopted because she is dark, and I am fair. She (at 8) has been
asked if I'm her real mom. I've been asked what country my daughter
is from, straight out if she's adopted, and more. I want to tell
people how many hours I was in labor with her!
-NP

Subject: How disappointing.
I live in Ithaca, NY where there are lots of adoptive children,
but only a few adoptive African-American children. I wondered why there
are so many children adopted from other countries when there are so many
African-American children in need of being adopted. My personal thoughts
were that there might be a base in our country's "racist" past, but your
guest suggested some other reasons. Unfortunately, time ran out and we
did not get to hear the complete answer. Would you consider asking your
guest the remainder of her answer?
-ML

Subject: eskimo adopted by jew/ identity crisis
My best friend (I'm from Alaska) is an Eskimo, adopted by his Jewish father and Eskimo mother. He was raised with some Jewish traditions, but wasn't encouraged to go through a bar mitzvah. Nowadays, he is a borderline functional alcoholic, and I believe suffers from clinical depression. I don't know whether his problems have their root in an identity crisis, but I'm afraid that this may be true.
-IK

Posted by leboheme at 05:01 PM

This just in from a listener in Ireland, responding to an earlier query for an obscure Irish dish:

My mother’s recipe would be close to this one. If any herbs were used it would have been parsley. Some call for a bunch of herbs. It might be a good thing to add but it wouldn’t be traditional. A lot of the online recipes call for hard apple cider. The cider in particular is an American addition! The Irish wouldn’t have that available in the 19th century.

--
Tommy Weir
The Old Dispensary
Dromhaire, Leitrim

Posted by leboheme at 02:50 PM

BL's interview with the Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, led to a conversation in the hallway outside our studio about Diamond District resturants and the Dublin Coddle recipe which grandma took with her to the grave.

Anyone out there got a good hand-me-down formula for Dublin Coddle? Share it, or any other recipes from the ancestors.

Email:
Subject: jamaican fruitcake
Just heard this caller inquiring about this -- there is a recipe for what sounds like exactly this cake -- a rich, black caribbean fruitcake -- in Laurie Colwin's book, Home Cooking (from 1988). I've always wanted to make it. :)
-JF

Subject: The Jamaican Fruit Cake
THe caller looking for the 'Fruit Cake' can find the recipe for hte dessert by googling the term "Black Cake" (as the colour of the cake is very close to black). It can be found nearly anywhere in Flatbush, Brooklyn, which is a West Indian enclave.
-DD

Subject: The Lead Cake
I had that cake in Little Cayman, West Indies in 1990, and it blew my
mind. The cook created it in an outdoor oven built in sand. Heavy as
lead. Delicious.
-AG

Subject: fruitcake not jamaican
Fruit cake is a commonwealth thing. Australians always have fruit cake at this time of year. AND we have fruit pudding after Xmas dinner. (Of course we also have shrimp and oysters because it's 100 degrees) Oh.. do I miss it.
-PC

Subject: Dinner at the block grandmother's house
My parents have lived in the same house on 10th Street in Park Slope for
27 years. Sophie Stoll, who lived two doors down until her death last
November, lived on the block from 1953 on. Every child on this block grew
up with Sophie as 'Aunt' or 'Grandma' Sophie as our babysitter, and every
child over 10 here can remember going to Sophie's house for dinner at
least once a week, even when we were well past the age of needing a
babysitter. Sophie's food was anything but exceptional -- usually
Raviolli out of a can, or Gordon's Fish sticks on Friday (no meat on
Fridays, of course, whatever Vatican II might say) -- but those meals are
something that all of us, now in our twenties and thirties, share, as
shown by the fact that there were more than 20 of us at her funeral.

But Sophie also brought the community together in a different way. People
always forget that in this community there are very many old people, many
of whom live on fixed incomes. Whenever we held a block party or get
together, the leftovers would always go to Sophie, who would bring them to
the local chruch and distribute them to the local elderly.
-SD

Posted by leboheme at 04:03 PM

Listen to today's "Evolving Intelligence" segment featuring Laurie Goodstein, national correspondent for The New York Times.

Subject: Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Was the Flying Spaghetti Monster mentioned during the Dover debate regarding Intelligent Design?
-MP

Subject: Intelligent Design - Solution
Here's the solution to the controversy--declare Charles Darwin to be God. Evolution is now both science AND religion. Seriously, I was taught that a scientific theory was, by definition, a testable theory, not a belief. Creation science is not science but a thinly veiled attempt to force religion into the schools, where it does NOT belong.
-HR

Subject: Intelligent Design in General
From my (extremely limited, sideline view) scientific standpoint, making this intelligence design thing a politically polarized debate hinders our understanding of biology. Why isn't there "intelligence" in cell biology? Any nano-technologist trying to build cell-sized machines would recognize intelligence in the harmonious interaction of molecules, but an "intelligence" that's better described by modern computing paradigms such as evolutionary computation and distributed intelligence. Why do we have to get caught up in such a narrow, even outdated version of intelligence as some Prime Mover sitting on a cloud, creating nature in a top-down manner? And if there is a God, does He or She like being shoehorned into our pitiful notions of intelligence and creation?
-JB

Subject: Theories
There is no such thing as a proven theory. Theories can only be proven false. Every student of science knows this. That evolution is not proven could also be said of relativity, Newton’s gravity, and the physics of the transistors that we use everyday.
-MK, a [self-proclaimed] career scientist

Posted by leboheme at 02:10 PM

Listen to today's "Patients is a Virtue" segment featuring New York Times staff reporters John Leland, who wrote the article, "The Money Trap," and Jan Hoffman, who wrote the article, "Overwhelmed by Choice." Both pieces appeared in the paper's "Being a Patient" series.

Subject: Making Your Own Health Decisions
[...] until relatively recently people either doctored themselves or made decisions with their "healers" about the proper route to take for treatment.

don't be afraid. do the homework. ask every question and, if need be, fight the system when you think you're right. my family has and we have many examples of being right when the "docs" were wrong.
-BS

Subject: Prescription Assistance Program
For people needing help paying for medication, they can turn to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (https://www.pparx.org). 1-888-4PPA-NOW
-DD

Subject: Healthcare discussion
Just fyi, NJ residents can go to http://www.rx4nj.org to get free or covered prescriptions and it links to many options, including programs set up by pharmacutical companies.
-LB

Subject: Health Care Madness?
[...] If the NYT reporters are in possession of this information, why isn't the Times editorial board advocating on a daily basis for a national single-payer system? Is it our purpose in life to accomodate corporate profits?
-PK

Subject: Insurance Mandates
I am the last person to stand up for the insurance companies, but as a business, they are required to spread their risk based on what treatments and drugs they must cover. It is incredibly easy for legislators to simply require blanket coverage for fertility treatments and acid reflux drugs, but since the money comes from the employers and consumers and not the taxpayers (except in the case od Medicaid) some people are going to get hit harder than others.

If we are going to move to a more equitable system, we have to decide to cover everyone equally and make decisions as a society what kind of coverage is fair.
-SU

Posted by leboheme at 03:08 PM

Listen to today's "Cult of the Occult" segment featuring Mary Roach, author of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife.

Subject: mediums
Recently, NJ Monthly ran an article on a woman who has helped a NJ police dept. solve crimes through her psychic abilities. In one instance, she was taken to someone's bedroom, the site of an alleged murder, where she had a vision of a murder weapon, and of several other things not apparent to other investigators, that led to the perp and to his conviction. She continues to work for that PD, as far as I know. More info at www.njmonthly.com.
-ES

Subject: correction - halloween/samhain
Halloween/Samhain (pronounced sow-en …like pig sow) as it comes from the Celts is not to ward OFF evil spirits but to celebrate and dance with them as the “veils between the worlds” are very thin at this time of year.
-JF

Subject: Psychics
I think the most compelling argument against the "supernaturalness" of psychics is that there has never been a psychic whose "powers" couldn't be reproduced by a skilled magician. (The Amazing Randi has made a career out of reproducing psychic phenomena.)
-TH

Subject: Psychic psegment
First of all, there is in fact such a thing as time, a thing that we call
time. The psychics love to go there to try to explain their work and give
it an air of veracity. Read any of Jane Robert's "Seth" books.

Would you please do a longer segment on this? You were surprised to see
how many of your show's listeners want to chime in.
-HE

Posted by leboheme at 02:39 PM

Subject: Related to the Question of Good and Evil
I believe we all come from the same "stuff" - and the vagaries of birth, family, country, gender, race, you name it, pulls or pushes us in various directions. To categorize human behavior as GOOD and EVIL separates us from one another in our hearts, and this is destructive to my mind. This does not mean that we condone all behavior - on the contrary, we are constantly needing to make choices, evaluating, acting or not acting - all across the scale of human experience, from the huge cataclysm of 9/11 down to something as seemingly simple as cutting off a person as we race to the closing subway door. Keeping love in our hearts is the most important and perhaps most difficult of all human endeavors, and without it, what are we left with?

Thank you.
-EC

Subject: Harry Potter on the issue
I was reading Harry Potter 4 to my 7and 9 year old last night and I was struck by something that Dumbledore the headmaster said to the students about evil:

"The Ministry of magic does not want me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so...It is my belief that the truth is generally preferable to lies and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric dies as a result of an accident, or some sort of blunder, is and insult to his memory...Remember, that if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy..."

It occurred to me that this is the appeal of the Harry Potter books and that Dumbledore was talking about me.
-JC

Subject: 9-11 evil and kids
My two little kids are now 8 and 9. At the time of the attacks, they saw it on TV, of course, and I told them that evil people attacked us, the United States, and used airplanes as missiles to destroy buildings, kill people and hurt our country. They wanted to know why they would do such a thing. I told them they had a desire to harm us and I told them they senselessly pursued their desires.

Thus, I gave them my take on evil deeds and evildoers.
-HE

Posted by leboheme at 02:39 PM

As you may have heard in Brian's promo, the Notorious C.H.O. will be a guest on the show today, prompting this email from a listener:

Subject: Margaret Cho
I never heard of Margaret Cho until coming across this tableaux at an
upper east side flea market in 2003. No, I don't live on another
planet. Just Upstate.
-DD

Posted by leboheme at 09:53 AM

Subject: NYC Hospitals
I agree with the Mayor 100%. The distinction in Mayor's statement is about the service not the access. Let me give you an example. Last year I had an unfortunate accident and broke my leg. I was in HSS for almost a whole week. During the time, a Hispanic immigrant ~70 yrs old was admitted and was the in the bed next to me. He was an indigent patient who did not have a dime, no relatives, did not speak English, did not know his address and did know where he was! I was amazed and impressed at the care and the service he got!
-RS

Subject: NYC Public Health discussion...
These discussions are absurd. They leave out the middle class that can't afford health insurance and isn't eligible for Medicaid. That's a lot of people. Only a national or state program will solve that problem and it's the crux of it all.
-IE

Posted by leboheme at 03:20 PM

Researchers in Finland theorize that the unprecedented number of evergreens north of the 45th (approx. the Vermont/Canada border) parallel absorb heat especially during short days and slowly emit the warmth in comparison to ice or snow fields. They predict that prevailing summer westerly winds could drive forest fires the breadth of Canada converting heat absorbing evergreen areas to vast snow filelds the next winter reversing the cycle.
-PA
Landscape Architect

About a year ago I read an article in Wired Magazine that interviewed someone, whose name I do not recall, who suggested putting lots of iron filings in iron-poor areas of the South Pacific, which would cause huge algal blooms in the middle of the ocean that would soak up CO2 and sink, sequestering the CO2 in the bottom of the ocean.
-AY

You guys had some poor girl on that was worried about losing her apartment. If this guy does not know what is going on, then why spread fear to the mass public about events of nature that happen in cycles over millions of years or at the most accelerated as decades. If you get a geologist on your show, he can tell you the over the billions of years the earth has had ice caps melt and refreeze. As your guest stated, 62 millions years ago the world water levels were higher then they are know and I don’t think the dinosaurs had the technology to create CO pollution and green house gases. The dinosaurs did not ever have an industrial age to raise the temps and melt ice caps.
-SE
Replenishment Analyst (what's a replenishment analyst?)

Posted by leboheme at 01:50 PM

Subject: oy! the bloody transition from martha to dan!

I am dismayed at the transition from Martha (?Burque) to Dan Savage! (First of all I need to ask, though, why I don't find her listed on the web site?!) You are honored enough to have this sharp, intelligent, and most interesting women as your guest. Still, at the end of her section I did not here her name repeated with proper spelling so that I could find her book. (I apologize if this was done and I missed it.)

The real reason I am driven to write is that as a longtime feminist and lesbian myself I found it absolutely offensive to hear you and Dan Savage chuckling together over his little statement that: 'men have sex and women talk'. And I seriously wish that I could remember the exact term he used, was it 'the lesbian process' that referred to a lesbian who according to this savagely misogynist man will be talking until menopause before they will 'process' enough to decide on how to have a child!!!

I wonder, Brian if you would have been so accepting to hear this and let it pass from a straight man. Gay though I am, as is Dan Savage, I can tell you that among the feminist, lesbian people I know he is not popular but is seen for what he is: a misogynist and sexist man.
-DS

Dear DS,

Duly noted. Martha Burk's name did not appear on the website this morning because she was not booked until shortly before the program began. But you can get info and links to her on the episode page now. Click here for more.

Posted by leboheme at 03:00 PM

Subject: too late but my name is pflaum

That's right, P as in Peter, F as in Fred, L as in Larry, A as in Apple, U as in underwater, M and Mary.

I was thinking of changing it to Pflaumbaumskivich so when people ask me if I have ever thought of changing my name, I can say I did, it used to just be Pflaum.

-WP

Subject: Top 5 Ethnically Incongruous Sports Names

Vladimir Guerrero
Shaquille O'Neal
Dante Culpepper
Juan Pierre
Jose Offerman

Bonus
Herschel Walker

-DH

Subject: NOAA

As your caller mentioned, finding names that are accessible to multicultural/multilingual audiences is a difficult exercise.

I suggest, as I have friends who are multi-ethnic expecting children, to look at the Nat'l Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin (NOAA) hurricane name list. It is a list that must be easy to say in French, Spanish and English. It is a great resource for naming, if not strange for the chances of naming you child after natural disasters.

-PG

Subject: An African-American Woman Given a Consciously Assimilationist Name

I strongly disagree with your last caller who described African Americans as "neologians." I believe that this is the class-based practice of a subset of the black population. My parents, born in 1933 and 1940, made a conscious effort to distinguish us from other African Americans [who] gave their children "bongo beating names". While I completely disagree with the internalized racism that prompted them to describe more creative naming in this derogatory manner, I think that they were being protective of us in a way with these lackluster names. When I was young, I remember a Jewish teacher saying that my name was good because "they won't know what you are". It took years for this to make sense.

-BG

Posted by leboheme at 03:19 PM

Blogger Bill Kavangh shares his take on today's discussion on Cindy Sheehan's silencing in Union Square. The short version: "Time to get a new Mayor."

[Bill Kavanagh's blog]

Tell us what you think!

Posted by leboheme at 02:42 PM

Our segment with Anneli Rufus today provoked an avalanche of emails about the inappropriate emotions we sometimes experience around someone's death. Here's a sampling:

Subject: DeathWhen my brother died suddenly, my first thought was, "At least that's one funeral where he won't show up drunk." At my sister's funeral, he stood up and argued with the minister. Later he similarly disrupted other family funerals and weddings. All this while insisting on a myth of family togetherness. I was glad in a way to have that particular struggle over with.
-ABP

Subject: the farewell chronicles: comment
Just last week I attended the funeral of my 86 year old grandfather,
who died of cancer and in a sever stage of alzhiemers. this topic is very real for me right now. One thing that I found most difficult about the funeral was how to responds to the sympathy of others when I felt more relieved than anything else about the entire situation. i think it is ironic that as soon as the person passes away, that the death becomes more about the feelings of the people left behind than the person that died.
-CP

Subject: Re. Program on Death
From my experience, sometimes people hold back from talking to someone grieving about the person they've lost because they are afraid of the impact it can have on that person to bring up feelings of loss. Maybe they are afraid of their own feelings, But it's not necessarily out of insensitivity or indifference.
-FA

Subject: dying
when my mother died from cigarettes it was the end of my mourning, and i had let go of my disappointment and anger, accepting that she had chosen her own path. however much i don't endorse that, i also insist on being left alone to live my life as i choose. how can i do differently for another?

at her funeral i took some control. instead of letting the canned ceremony grind along meaningless for me, i chose to read a bit from Passages, and spoke about the need for my siblings and me to let go of whatever we didn't get from her, it's too late. instead, recognize and embrace the parts of her that are in us. it must be a part of the tribal life, so why not ours?
-AA

Subject: Death!
Orson Scott Card wrote a series of sci-fi novels known as the Ender Series. This was a book about a boy who was raised to destroy a whole race of alien species who attacked the human race.

I hope that when I die, people will rise to the occasion to speak my death in this manner, and not hide the nastier parts of my humor simply because they deem it inappropriate, or impolite.
-CF

Posted by leboheme at 12:16 PM

Subject: Nerd Core Rapper
Your guest is just using "white ebonics". Of course, this will be all the rage for white kids and programs on MTV. However, when black people use slang, we are castigated in the media. But when white kids use "Valley Girl" talk, or "nerd rap", it's all the rage...for white people. Why the double-standard? It's just another example of white people co-opting black culture...to their benefit. Can't white people do anything culturally orignal without copying or ripping off black people?
-RM

Posted by leboheme at 01:42 PM

Preemptivekarma and Crooksandliars both pick up on Brian's interview with Senator Rick Santorum yesterday.

Posted by leboheme at 08:15 AM

Subject: ANGRY at you -- Boring teachers?? (august 1st show) Teachers are forced to be boring . . . 2 examples

[check out this segment]

I love your show, but never have I been as angry as you as when you made the off-hand remark in a general question, asking what to do about 'boring teachers.'

Thanks a lot. By the way, I write on education as well as teach. I'll send you on an article about charters. Read the part about Jack Welsh.
-BF

Still awake and interested? Send us an email!

Posted by leboheme at 02:35 PM

Subject: Ibrahim Hooper and the Fatwa against terrorism.

[check out this segment]

I am an American Muslim, and I disagree with the Fatwas issued by Muslim leaders in Europe and North America for a few reasons.

A side note, to say that Muslims have not condemned acts of terror is absolute lunacy. I remeber driving through Main St in downtown Paterson NJ and seeing a banner that stretched accross the considerably wide street saying "Muslim's Condemn Terrorism" funded by the Islamic Center of Passaic County.
-BA

Feedback!

Posted by leboheme at 02:32 PM

Subject: union
Bravo to the last caller John. He was right on the money. Unions are necessary for all of our protections. The teacher asks why or how can he be recognized for his good work as if he would if we did not have a union. The truth is that he should be recognized for his good work but that should not be the determiner of how he or other teachers get paid. That sets up a very political situation where one is favored over another just because of undefined reason that can be manipulated. If teachers are paid in an objective manner based on years of service and degrees you have earned that is fair and objective.
-AP

Subject: Last word on unions, Stacey the business owner
Duh!?
Stacey the business owner complained about a union guy threatening to
unionize her workers, raise the wages, so she'd have to close her shop--all
because she undercut a union shop.

Does she not realize that EVERY competitior of her shop is trying to put her
out of business all the time--that's what capitalism is all about. Only they
don't tell her to her face.
-LM

Subject: Labor unions & Auto mfrs
Non-union auto companies only pay well (competitive with union pay) because there are unions at the other plants. Without unions, there would be no pressure to pay well.

It is interesting that the new Honda plant is going to be built in Ontario, Canada (union) rather than non-union Alabama, asserting that the educational requirements are not met in the south.
-JK

Subject: Labor Unions
I am in favor of the union split that occurred this week. I am so sick and tired of centrist and inefficient groups, such as the AFL-CIO and Democratic Party, who have done nothing but get fewer members, lower political clout, and been dragged policy-wise closer to so-called free market neo-cons who are laughing all the way to the bank while they ship jobs overseas to China where they can utilize workers who work under pre-1900 conditions.
-AH

Subject: SEIU Split ...I support the split I'm in 32BJ
Good for democracy: lateralizes power, spreads horizontally and increases
numbers instead hierarchical and vertical direction of power.

Labor is in a very different situation than the "perfect" models used in
economic theory. Unions allow for labor to enter and exit the market place
more effectively. Capital can move around the globe seconds whereas labor
cannot travel so easily to say China to compete for jobs.
-TAS

How to Use Insects as Food

Feedback!

Posted by leboheme at 02:43 PM

So many emails on our call-in today, taking up Katherine in Montville's slam yesterday against same-sex love (click here to listen to the slam in realplayer, Katherine's contribution comes at 37:10).

To listen to today's edition of "democracy wonk", click here.

your feedback:

Subject: Reaons to let bigoted opinions be heard
On the issue of whether you, as facilitator and host of a talk radio show, should cut off callers who express hateful or bigoted opinions, I believe that you have an obligation to let them express their opnions, and then respond to it in reasonable, intelligent manner. In my opinion there is no truth to the argument that you legitimize someone's opinions by letting them express them publicly - if anything it is quite the contrary.

That's the principled reason. However, from a purely callous entertainment point of view it is even more crucial that you do this. Rupert Murdoch's most talented producers could not have engineered a more dramatic and satisfying 20 minutes than what we heard on WNYC from 11:40 to Noon today.
-JC

Subject: Limp wristed liberals
Congratulations. Your last show was exciting, engaging and had all
the intellectual merit of the Geraldo show.

No matter how they attempt to dress up their arguments in the trappings of compassion, the anti-gay members of your audience fundamentally are all arguing from a biblical/religious perspective. YOU WILL NEVER CHANGE THEIR MINDS because they argue from faith and scripture rather than logic or conviction.
-ER

Subject: homosexuality, Greeks, Hebrews, Republicans, Democrats
many different cultures have had many different attitudes about sex between people of the same gender. In ancient Hawaii a propensity or inclination for a man to prefer sex with men to the exclusion of women was considered a sign of being blessed or magic or powerful.

Seems we still have Greeks and Hebrews today. Red and Blue states.
Each condemning each other on the same basis used by 2200 years ago.
-WP

Subject: homosexuality
If only people had paid better attention in their biology class at school there might not be so much bigotry towards sexual orientation. When we start out as a single cell we are both male and female. Only when genes from the sperm begin to be transcribed are female characteristics suppressed and male characteristics enhanced, in the case of making a male. The reverse happens when the sperm contains an X chromosome rather than a Y chromosome.

Evolutionarily we're attracted to the sex that will produce "fit" offspring. But how do we or any other animal know how to do this? Chemical signals and physical characteristics are how the animal kingdom typically does it and those cues are determined during development and the result of how and when genes are transcribed. Again, we don't all do it the same way. It's 100% natural. These differences have always been part of biology and always will.
-IW

Subject: That gay marriage debate
It is easy and disingenuous to mock the statement that gay marriage "threatens traditional marriage." Of course no one's marriage is actually threatened by another's definition of marriage. But should gay marriage become legal and accepted, our common definition and understanding of marriage will de facto be changed.

Some pro-choice advocates profess not to understand why anti-abortion demonstraters persist. It's a personal choice, they argue. If you don't believe in abortion, just don't have one. I often wonder whether those pro-choice folks old enough to remember Vietnam (like me) felt the same way about the war. Were they saying, "Look, all we ask for is protection for conscientious objectors? If you want to go and kill Vietnamese, that's OK." Of course not. We believed it was morally wrong to be at war. And we felt the policy to do so undermined us as a nation.

Believe it or not, there are people who have beliefs that are deep and moral even though they may differ from ours!

A current anti-abortion bumper sticker reads, "It's a child, not a choice." I am waiting for the bumper sticker that says, "It's a child, and it's a choice. What a terrible dilemma." Would both sides vandalize my car?
-TC

Subject: the caller today
I think that a radio show like yours strives to enlighten people and your dialogue with the compassionate woman who believes that she is helping people overcome a moral wrong. You handled it so well, by persistently challenging the woman's logic, rather than condemning her, as some of your listeners wanted you to do. It was fascinating to hear her try to explain her though process when faced with simple reason. Fascinating.

Dialogue! It reminded me of the Marshall Macluhan scene in Annie Hall, when Woody Allen turns to his movie audience and asks, "Wouldn't it be great if real life was like this?"
-J

Subject: Why even bothered
Why even bothered. The woman is obviously still in the closet and venting out because she can't live the normal life that other gays can.
-NX

Subject: please: no more anti-gay hate speech on your airwaves
I enjoy your show 90 % of the time, but I must ask you: please don't put any more gay-hating fundamentalist nuts on the air. I doubt that you'd give air time to some klansman who believes that blacks don't deserve equal rights, and I see no reason why this sort of anti-gay garbage gets a free pass.
-DH

Subject: re caller: Elaine
What a great caller. Thank-You for staying so personally balanced. She seems to be a seeker of the truth, looking for and sometimes finding these truths -- and sometimes not (Don't we all). That she could carry a conversation like she did for so many minutes impressed me greatly, I would've gotten tied up.

Thank-You so much for giving her those minutes.
Absolute support for allowing these calls.
What makes the difference is a person arguing without hate.
-JA

Subject: commentary slam: WOW!
i was trepidatious about the whole idea of the commentary slam, but it was really incredible radio. you delved into some really deep, important issues in today's recap. i was moved by the competing arguments and impressed once again with brian's ability to think on his feet, give competing views their space, and still find ways to rebut them, all in a spirit of comity.

i love hearing the voices of all these thoughtful, intelligent fellow new yorkers joining in the conversation.
-JN

Subject: Amazing Show
Well done....I found that final segment incredibly moving. The forum you provide for these two people to discuss their disagreements is so powerful. Kudos to the two women you had on the air discussing these things. I could hear how strongly they believe in what they were discuss yet they were able to be respectful and calm toward one another. Actually, I think this could be a good argument for men to step down from leadership roles around the world and let women take over. I think the many horrors we see around the world would diminish.
-BH

Subject: Homosexuality Discussion
historically, women were the property, first of their father and, after marriage, their husbands. Marriage, and the contract signed, was a recording of the transfer of "property". That is why it is termed a "contract of marriage". In a Brooklyn Museum exhibit I saw such a contract dating back before the birth of Christ. We continue the practice of marriage certificates not because of the transfer of property any longer, but rather for the division of property when the parties divorce or die.

It is for the convenience of the state in determining property ownership of assets as between the couple and the public. If my position is correct, gay unions/marriage of whatever name would aid in the division of property two people have shared.-PH

Subject: Debating Homosexuality
Your caller against "The Gay Agenda" was contradicting herself. You could have held her to account on that. I found 75% of every word she said hurtful and a steath-attack.

When you try to manipulate others into doing or being what you want, regardless what they want, you are not their friend.
-JPW

Subject: it caught me today!!! -Naoko
What I'm thinking about the gay couples' issue is about what you asked to the caller "Why you care about it? What would hurt you?" or that kind of things. If I remember correctly, you mentioned that gay couples have been accepted in society, like getting the right to get married in some states. So.... so?? The reasons you raised weren't persuasive to me although I respect gay couples and hope they can get any rights to do what they want to and also hope they are accepted by society. Her voice sounded so serious and sad... She seemed to have some certain reasons to say that. Yes, I also wanted to know why she was so serious about that.

At the same time, as I listened to her, I became to think she also should have the right to say anything she believes. I imagine she might have been blamed when she addressed her belief before people. It seemed people consider she shouldn't think in that way, maybe not all people but some people? I might be wrong. It made me think about what true democracy should be.
-NM

Subject: Today's Show (7-15-05)
What happened on your show today was inspiring--a non-violent ballet in verbal action--and your choreography was stunning, in my opinion. Had your guest in question been denied or heavily shamed from airing her views, she might have missed, or closed her mind to, this important opportunity to hear truths that have been evading her consciousness.
-BB

Feedback!

Posted by leboheme at 02:25 PM

subject: classically trained
What is the difference between including "classically trained" or "self taught" in a bio? If it's a fact, it is germane.

Writers lay claim to attending Oxford, politicians to graduating Harvard Law, CEOs to their MBAs from Wharton. (Not to mention journalists whose curriculum vitae announce Columbia University as alma mater.) If a pop musician actually did the classical training, should she be proud of it or not? It seems it would be false to try to hide the fact.
-TC

subject: Keith Jarrett
One reason he rejected his classical training, he said in an NPR interview years ago, was that he felt that the best performance often was the first time you ever played a piece, that after practicing, you could lose the freshness and spontaneity.
-ED

Posted by leboheme at 04:00 PM

Subject: 4 SCJ = Christine Todd Whitman

After hearing her on NPR, she sounds reasonable, sane and articulate. She's a republican who has explicitly rejected a social and political order emerging out of "biblical truth." All interpretations, however attentive to textual meanings must also integrate both the context of the writer[s] as well as the context of us, the readers.
-JF

I am a militant moderate: be reasonable or else! Some elements of the militant moderate philosphy:

Liberals exist to keep the neanderthals from ruling the world. conservatives exist to keep the pointy-heads from ruling the world.

The liberals have the arts, the media, and education. The conservatives have business and the military. Sounds fair and balanced to me.
-JM

I'm a fan of the Judge Judy show and though I don't know if she has the qualifications for a supreme court position I appreciate what I observe as her common sense approach to justice and fairness. Many of the litigates I've seen on her show seem as if their efforts would've been better served by a similar use of that approach.
-NV

We live in a highly sexist society: look @ Elian Gonzales for example. If his father had taken him on that boat and left his mother in Cuba, he would have been home by the time dessert was being served on that Thanksgiving day and not Easter of the following year.
-LR

Posted by leboheme at 05:22 PM