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Connecticut's state flag

The 2010 Senatorial race in Connecticut to replace Chris Dodd's seat is one we'll be watching closely. Already we've interviewed all four major candidates. Listen here and judge for yourself.

+ Democratic Candidates

Attorney ...

In his new book, After Photography, Fred Ritchin, former New York Times Magazine photo editor; photography and imaging professor at NYU and director of PixelPress.org; discusses how affordable technology and digital manipulation have changed the world of photojournalism. Here are some sample images discussed on the BL Show 2/17/10. (Images 2-7 appear in After Photography.)

The text of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, delivered Thursday in Oslo, Norway, as provided by the White House:

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens ...

Comptroller Bill Thompson in an earlier interview with the show

The city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., called for greater mayoral control of schools today. Speaking on The Brian Lehrer ...

Here are the 32 controversial words that will be at the center of the hearings:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

And here, from ...

In the final days of the Uncommon Economic Indicators Video Contest we have had several submissions. We plan to feature all of them on this page in order of appearance in our inbox. Thanks to all the contestants. Your videos have enriched this project with more perspectives and more voices. ...

» Read the July 2006 Pentagon document committing to the application of the Geneva Conventions (via NY Times)

» Read then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez' 2002 memo on the Geneva Conventions (via MSNBC)

We want to hear from you today about a new Pragmatic Progressive wrinkle in the abortion debate. Check out this Op-Ed by Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid who are comming together on the abortion debate,

"Abortion debate shuns prevention" (Albany Times Union)

BL Blogger is strangely preoccupied with the magazine biz today, in particular with the peculiar resemblance of this week's New Yorker to this month's Vanity Fair:

Who's the white chicken: Roberts or Clooney?

What's your obsession? Email us!

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

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

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Look what came in the mail today!

A final 2005 mayoral race vote tally....OK, so Anthony got almost eight times as many votes as Brian...but he also spent, like thousands of dollars. You're a 'thousandaire', right, Anthony?

With apologies to Gawker, BL blogger spotten this late last night on nytimes.com:

The LL Show's Sarah English contributes this cartoon accounting of her hike from central Brooklyn to lower Manhattan:

A new opinion poll for Time, ABC News, the BBC, NHK and Der Spiegel suggests Iraqis are not only optimistic about their future, but strongly favor a democratic system of government. We'll talk more about it this morning.

Got some tidbit to share? Email us!

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! The early section of the president's address today in D.C. closely followed his 11/30/05 speech at the US Naval Academy, in many places using the exact same words. Everything below in bold appeared in today's second speech exactly as it did in the first one.

Two more to go...

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE WAR ON TERROR TO THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

Omni Shoreham Hotel

Washington, D.C.

10:44 A.M. EST

Last week at the Naval Academy, I gave the first in a series of speeches outlining our strategy for victory in Iraq. I explained that our strategy begins with a clear understanding of the enemy we face. The enemy in Iraq is a combination of rejectionists and Saddamists and terrorists. The rejectionists are ordinary Iraqis, mostly Sunni Arabs, who miss the privileged status they had under the regime of Saddam Hussein -- they reject an Iraq in which they are no longer the dominant group. We believe that, over time, most of this group will be persuaded to support a democratic Iraq led by a federal government that is strong enough to protect minority rights.

Here is the White House fact sheet on Iraq reconstruction, released a few minutes after the President's speech began.

Ragin' Cajun Congressman Charlie Melancon somehow got his hands on former FEMA Director Michael Brown's emails written during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. And he's making them available on his website here, complete with the congressman's analysis.