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As an immigrant living in the States, I would love to hear more about immigration’s news. Is the immigration reform still in questions marks? The U.S. government has overlooked or perhaps doesn’t care to pay attention to a possible immigration reform. Especially that of the Dream Act that would help millions of children brought here into the US by no choice but sadly is paying the consequence of their parents. President Obama got significant amount of votes from Latinos by pledging for an immigration reform. If is not now, then when?

Please do something on PlaNYC 2030, its legislation that was just enacted (as of Dec. 28 2009), the changes in the bldg. code just proposed (WNYC did a great story on it this week), explain the legislation and proposed bldg. code changes, and how it will begin to change awareness about energy use and conservation in NYC. This is deeply important to our city and to the world.

It's time for an unbiased analysis of the true nature of sex offenses, sex offenders and statistical games playing by the media, politicians and the criminal justice system. Folks who believe that registration, residency regulations, and civil commitment will solve this problem are wasting lives not to mention tax payer's money. The vast majority of sex offenses are committed by relatives (usually in authority)and often for the first time. Recidivism is at 5 FIVE percent. What the country needs is sex education that includes a discussion about boundaries and entitlements for males.

Hello, This is not related to Manhattan or NYC. I would like to see something on the current situation inArgentina. The President of the Banco Central, the main bank just resigned. It's a all just mess over there. Eugenia Renskoff

I called in and mentioned "the physical world problem", that economic growth already used up everything easy to use on earth, and now mostly creates complications. Lots of physical economists see that fact of "diminishing returns" as the underlying cause of the financial collapse and the "no jobs recovery". SOMETIMES... when you're driving a vehicle that get's stuck, and everyone is urges you to go faster... the correct choice is to stop and look at the problem instead.

Everyone's plan to use ever more energy is the direct cause of ever increasing fossil fuel use, for example, and also the conflict that makes global warming quite impossible at present. Once you look at the whole problem you see realistic solutions have to address the whole problem.

I didn't read all of the above comments, but searched for "real" on the page and found #45, #46 also fitting this definition of "physical world problem".

www.synapse9.com

synapse9.com

why so little attention here to the current british inquiry into the iraq invasion, includingt the blair-bush memos in 2002 planning the 2003 invasion?

Hi Brian,
I wish people would cover the Andrew Wakefield story. He proposed that vaccines can cause autism in kids in a lancet article that was highly flawed.
Well the Lancet just published a full retraction of his paper following the result of an investigation conducted by the UK General Medical Council's Fitness to Practice panel. This investigation uncovered broad fraud and scientific misconduct on Dr. Wakefield's part.
His fraud has resulted in the resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases all around the world. For more info:http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/02/lancet-retracts-mmr-paper

The coming crash/devaluation of the dollar on the world market and hyperinflation.

http://www.videonewslive.com/view/288549/peter_schiff_on_20092010_usa_hyperinflation

China is already backing away from buying more US treasuries and debt, and Congress STILL keeps raising the debt ceiling.

There will be food shortages, gas lines, and probably riots. I think this is more important than the Superbowl or Michael Jackson's doctor.

And why is no one asking why the US is invading Haiti and blocking supplies from getting to the people. Is it because Haiti has OIL? (they do, you know)

And yes, anything on Democracy Now, Raw Story, BuzzFlash, Bradblog, whatreallyhappened.com, globalresearch.ca and http://www.legitgov.org and commondreams.org

The issue of overpopulation has all but disappeared from environmental/political news coverage. Perhaps it is a "third rail," as the suggestion of any form of population control, mandatory or incentive-based, will invite vilification from religious groups and from proponents of perpetual-growth capitalism, who realize that population shrinkage would be its death knell.

The problem is, however, probably the most important one we face, as overpopulation is simply choking the planet to death.

Finally!! “The medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday retracted a controversial 1998 paper that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism”. The medical community officially now considers Dr. Andrew Wakefield to be what he is, a quack and a fraud!!! So get your shots!!!

Still think there is a connection? Read a real study that was done on the entire population of every (yes every) child born in the Denmark from January 1992 to December 1998. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/347/19/1477.pdf How can anyone who is not paranoid of their own shadow dispute this study? So get your shots!!!

It is rather ironic that you have an educational segment before the open comment segment because my comment was on education and its lack of attention on both a political and business level.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/19/US-slipping-in-education-rankings/UPI-90221227104776/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml

Love your show, but with all due respect, your misstatement that there was now a moratorium on gas drilling in the NYC watershed shows why this is an underreported issue. Your misimpression results from a Chesapeake Energy press release; they tried to snow people by saying they would not drill in the NYC watershed; this is of course no help to the rest of the state, or to PA, or those in Jersey who get their water from the Delaware itself, downstream of the NYC watershed. Moreover, Chesapeake's comment was merely a press release, not binding on themselves or any other driller. What is needed is first, for the NYS DEC to throw out the existing dSGEIS and start over, and ultimately a moratorium on this practice. (And for what it's worth, Gov. Paterson's attempt to push this practice should be reason enough to throw him out of office.)

Please do some research and then host more segments on this issue.

The Pacific Garbage Patch, bills to ban BPA in food grade plastics, bottle and bag bills, and the public attitude toward SUPs (Single Use Plastics) and wasteful packaging in general.

The crazies were over-represented during this call-in segment. What happened?

Along the lines of distributing food coupons to only women, alot of microfinance businesses only make loans to women.

I wanna know more about the role of mercenaries in both wars and why the US government is paying so much for them.
War profiteering is a crime.

Leading Chinese solar panel maker Suntech starts construction on a plant in Goodyear, AZ, near Phoenix. Other Chinese solar companies are following suit. Similar potential to Toyota/Kia/etc plants in America.

Another story re green jobs, China getting ahead in renewable energy, but also the interchange between the two countries.

federal government (and northeast taxpayers) subsidize poor unsustainable southern, mountain and plains states.
let the free market have it's way and stop these RED welfare states
http://www.taxfoundation.org/UserFiles/Image/Blog/ftsbs-large.jpg

the media is out of contol , The story I like to see is 2010 Olympics .

Hey conservatives: OBAMA CUT TAXES!
We middle-classers will supposedly see the effects around April 15, no?

Greece's economy is tanking. ???

There's a tiny village settlement in Moscow called Rechnik that's being demolished, with the city ordering people to be kicked out of their homes into the subzero cold. The city says that it has a court order to destroy the homes because they were built illegally, but the residents insist that other similar villages have fallen under an amnesty program and Rechnik was just forgotten.

12 elderly people have died since the demolitions began a week and a half ago.

The residents are attempting to appeal to Germany and the US for refugee status, but a lot of these people are elderly veterans and disabled people and as it is they're having a hard enough time trying to defend their homes from being razed to the ground.

They're currently trying to appeal to the European Court of Justice about genocide. I think it's insane that this isn't front-line news.

Dear Brian,

A few weeks ago Jon Stewart showed a piece, Glenn Beck drives up the price of gold by fanning the flames of fear, but not because he's a paid spokesman, it was very funny that no one else picked up on this, I just thought it interesting.

Thanks

Claire

There have been two news stories recently about men abusing dogs in their care. How about something on the implications of this (i.e.disempowered loser men who have to take their insecurity out on the helpless), the show could explain how to prevent and report animal abuse.... The local ASPCA is such a great resource --- and never heard on the BL show!

I would like to see more reporting on shale gas drilling, which remains underreported considering its potential to industrialize rural NY and PA. The land use changes alone from installing many thousands of 5-acre well pads, with attendant roads, compressor stations, etc., would be very damaging to downstream water quality for the millions who rely on the Delaware River system; add to this the fact that each of these thousands of proposed sites is the equivalent of a federally unregulated underground injection well for the carcinogens used in the process.

This is an entirely avoidable disaster but it will require much greater consciousness on the part of the majority who stand to lose from this process; as it stands now, the tiny minority of large landowners, backed by gas industry millions, are having a disproportionate influence on both the reporting and the political process.

While (thankfully) the show often contacts and interviews representatives of lesser known, community-based organizations, what many/most don't realize is the scope of this world in the city (and beyond, in fact). Though many organizations are focused on specific issues (a particular illness or event), many form coalitions about issues much broader than their immediate focus, sometimes beyond their obvious contexts. For example, many organizations focused on support for a specific illness (i.e., for research or direct services) have also joined coalitions to support Medicaid/Medicare reform and paid family leave. There's a broad network of CBOs and people who work in them who know each other and come together on a wide range of issues--it would be useful for NYC to know and acknowledge these otherwise unknown organizations--and their often underpaid workers and volunteers.

I would like more in depth media attention on GMOs in food, vaccine safety testing, and I read any little blurb I see. I also love to follow any little news about astronomy and the search for dark matter. It's striking that it makes up 90% of our universe and yet we don't know what it is.

- Teachers appreciation- still a mysterious issue
- What is privacy these days?
- Work-life balance- what is: "quality time" when it comes to work or kids.
- Does recycling work? What happens to what's separated for recycling?
- Where do donated clothes really go to?

I've just learned of nonconsensual pelvic exams being done on women who have been put under anesthesia. Totally shocked me that some people actually think this practice is okay. I also, found myself wondering whether there is a similar practice of having physicians practice giving men prostate exams while they're under. If not, why not if this sort of invasive thing has been happening with women.

The increasing extremism of the Republican base, as evidenced by a Research 2000 poll of the Republican rank and file:

"A plurality of rank-and-file Republicans wants to see President Obama impeached. More than a third of self-identified Republicans believe he wasn't born in the United States. A 63% majority is convinced the president is a socialist, about a fourth believe he wants terrorists to be successful, and about a third think Obama is a racist who hates white people."

You do not see this discussed anywhere in the MSM, yet it could threaten the stability of our democracy.

My landlord has just discovered a great way to make lots of money. He has taken a bunch of rent-stabilized apartments, done major renovations on them, and is now renting them out (illegally) as hotel rooms. The remaining rent-stabilized tenants are trying to get help from our elected officials and city agencies, and are being told that this is an extremely difficult problem to address. Usually, the landlord just gets a slap on the wrist and a small fine. Given the $4,000+ a month being charge on apartments that should be no more than $1800 or so, his profits more than cover the small fines he MIGHT be charged.

Where is the outrage?

I'm really following the seeming housing bubble in China. There's been a rush over the past decade to develop a real-estate ownership culture. As a result, asking prices have been rising, in some cities, by 25% annually for the decade.

In large cities new housing is more expensive than in many parts of New York City. All this in a nation where in the richest cities the average per-capita income is still just around $10,000/year.

Over the past year a couple of the nations largest real estate brokerage firms have closed up shop...a collapse of the Chinese domestic real-estate market would severely affect their ability to buy the debt we're desperate to sell to support our proposed deficit.

Another appalling story about an unscrupulous person exploiting the Holocaust -- this time a rabbi!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012203257.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/menachem-rosensaft/exploiting-torah-scrolls_b_445605.html

Sexual harassment by landlords. There's Level 3 sex offender who is a superintendent, right here on the UWS!

The U.S. is a torturing nation, enshrined in policy and procedure.

**yawn**

How is it that our society has just shoved this moment of collective moral bankruptcy under the rug, with Obama leading the charge to fail to account for and examine how the US got to be a nation that practices torture?

3 American Soldiers killed in Pakistan blast. The first known U.S. military fatalities in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions near the Afghan border. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100203/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

We always hear about bad teachers in NYC, but what about bad principals.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/love_boat_prom_scandal_7Q54kR1dV4O2baEf0s2GHO

Just because it was reported in the post doesn't mean it's not true. Nothing will happen to the principal because the school serves immigrants and not Park Slope or Upper West Side kids.

We always hear about bad teachers in NYC, but what about bad principals.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/love_boat_prom_scandal_7Q54kR1dV4O2baEf0s2GHO

Just because it was reported in the post doesn't mean it's not true. Nothing will happen to the principal because the school serves immigrants and not Park Slope or Upper West Side kids.

I am following the EPAs rules regarding mountaintop removal coal mining. After putting a hold on all new blasting permits to re-evaluate the effect on stream water, they have opened the floodgates on new permits. It seems that president Obama is on the "Clean Coal" bandwagon.

There is a new parking/bus service in my area that is really cool, but more people need to know about it. Basically you send a text message to a service called Roadify, and they send you information regarding bus or parking around the area. The thing is that they have based their system on other commuters providing the information. Therefore, if nobody gives information, nobody gets information. It's a really cool idea, but I'm not sure enough people are giving! I do my best when I can.

There is a new parking/bus service in my area that is really cool, but more people need to know about it. Basically you send a text message to a service called Roadify, and they send you information regarding bus or parking around the area. The thing is that they have based their system on other commuters providing the information. Therefore, if nobody gives information, nobody gets information. It's a really cool idea, but I'm not sure enough people are giving! I do my best when I can.

Everything on Democracy Now because you don't see or hear it reported anywhere else, for the most part. You want to know what stories those are? Watch it yourself, it's on 8 am live MNN M-F, repeats on CUNY 6:30pm then 1:30 am. Or go to the website Democracynow.org and learn something you didn't know about. Online you can select one segment that interests you or watch the whole show it's just short of an hour.

Is it true the the Haitian Government is instituting a new policy that will impose taxes on all humanitarian help?

I would love to hear more about the food industry in America. As a growing movement beyond the trendy,and as it happens, rather meaningless "organic" farming, a focus on natural and real food and farming will be demanding more and more attention and activism. Can we get government officials, both representatives and the FDA to talk about the problematic impact of modern food on the health of our nation, or if they are even compelled to think about it all? The surgeon general talks about treatment to the record-high levels of childhood and adult obesity and diabetes, but what about prevention? Thanks.

Obama's $708 billion defense budget for 2011 -- Why is the DOD funded so freely while health care, which will save lives rather than systematically taking them, continues to get the shaft? Even with the escalation in Afghanistan, there's no reason to raise spending to WWII levels.

Defense spending has for a long time represented the warmongering ignorance of our government, and of modernity itself. Obama, it seems, could not be more status quo. And I notice, by the way, that no republicans are raising a fuss about this.

The forthcoming media models for paywalls (NY Times and Brill's meter model). What's the future w/ the pending release of iPad? iPad's main drawback? sluggish network bottlenecks as AT&T rushes to update their network.

I imagine you're tired of this story, but Atlantic Yards continues to be underrepoted. Two stories: The project is still tied up in court and the development agreement for the project was only released a week ago last Monday.

War Eastern Congo. As per the UN since 2007 5.4 million people have died. For every death they have estimated 9 rapes. The international community has been silent yet again about genocide on Africa.

Prosecution of members of the previous administration for war crimes and crimes against the constitution. They ask us to forget in the name of progress and bipartisanship. Why should i forget?. The Iraq war based on a lie has led to more American deaths than 9/11, not to mention innocent Iraqi deaths. We wont forget 9/11, why should we forget crimes against the constitution by American politicians. Justice needs to be served or it will happen again.

How about all the significant holes that are appearing in the climate change propaganda machine. Ex. emails admitting that data was suppressed or altered (not mistakes, but willfull actions), the use of articles based off of hikers' accounts of Himilayan glacier melt in the Noble Peace Prize winning report (which is being used by governments to push legislation), the writers of said report admitting that used it as a scare tactic, etc.

How about the ongoing siege of the Gaza strip by Israel a year after the Israeli army assault killing over 1400 Palestinians.Israel has over 1.5 million people in the largest open air prison in the world barley surving.Medicine,building material,school supplies,ect.are being restricted by the right wing Israel government on this ravaged war torn Ghetto.
This would hardly be possible if not for the over $10 Million per day in US aid to Israel by US taxpayer.

Yeah Brian, it's Palestinian school books that are the problem!!

Tired of the depressing economic and political news, I find myself checking this out: http://www.thing-a-day.net/

This February marks the fourth anniversary of the Thing-a-day challenge. Participants are committed to posting something they create everyday. For some it's a process, others cathartic. For me, it's a challenge to keep exploring the world beyond my office cubical.

Evidence suggests that the tragic death on the Upper West Side last Friday of film editor Karen Schmeer is the result of police over-reaction when they initiated a high-speed car chase down Broadway in pursuit of three shoplifters.

Please review these stories from The New York Times and Streetsblog, and please consider doing a segment on the topic of police over-reaction pegged to this recent tragedy. Perhaps you may find callers who were witnesses.

www.streetsblog.org/2010/02/01/nypd-denies-role-in-another-pedestrian-death-kelly-bloomberg-silent/

www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/nyregion/01schmeer.html?scp=2&sq=karen%20schmeer&st=cse

WNYC reported this on Monday, but it needs more follow-up.

Thank you.