The Brian Lehrer Show

Ivan Watson, NPR Foreign Correspondent, Istanbul (NPR/Jacques Coughlin)

Reading Blogs In Tehran

Thursday, June 16, 2005

With a population that is 70 percent under age 25 (and a voting age of 15), Iran’s younger voters will play a big role in elections there on Friday. Many of them are turning to blogs to avoid the mullahs’ stifling grip on public discourse.

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Live from Iran

Hossein Derakhshan, Iranian blogger, writes "Editor: Myself: A weblog on Iran, technology and pop culture"
» Hossein's weblog
and
Ivan Watson, NPR Correspondent (in Tehran for election)
» Ivan Watson's bio
and
Roya Boroumand, Historian, director of the Bouroumand Foundation for Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights in Iran
- with analysis of the upcoming elections in Iran

What's Good for the Goose

Lee Hall, legal director of Friends of Animals
-says foie gras is cruel, anyway you cut, spread, or spoon it
» Friends of Animals
and
Michael Ginor, co-founder, co-owner, and president of Hudson Valley Foie Gras
-says"inhumane" is a relative term
» Hudson Valley Foie Gras

Book Country

Christopher Hitchens,(photo right) book review columnist for The Atlantic Monthly, contributing editor to Vanity Fair and author, Thomas Jefferson: Author of America (Harper Collins, 2005)
- on current events in the Middle East as well as American's founding father
» Christopher Hitchens' website

Prison's Other Victims

Elizabeth Gaynes, Director of the Osborne Association, a group
» Osborne Association
and
Liz Garbus,Director and producer of Xiara's Song, a documentary about children of incarcerated parents, to be broadcast on Cinemax on June 19
» Xiara's Song website
-discuss the impact of the rate of children's parents in prison