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The Brian Lehrer Show / August 24, 2006

The Brian Lehrer Show

Thursday, August 24, 2006
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  • A family photo broods, a grim reminder of displaced humanity, in a flood-damaged Gulf coast home, Nov. 17, 2005 (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/springsrescuemission/76344671/" target="_blank">springsrescuemission</a>/flickr)
    A family photo broods, a grim reminder of displaced humanity, in a flood-damaged Gulf Coast home, Nov. 17, 2005 (springsrescuemission/flickr)

    Treading Water

    Next week marks the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation that was visited on the Gulf Coast. New Yorker writer Dan Baum chronicles what he calls the “Lost Year” and the failure to rebuild the poorer sections of New Orleans – despite the national attention and the seeming good intentions of the public and the politicians. Plus, mathematical uproar over a spurned prize; an update from the Atlantic Yards public hearing; and the Iran nuclear negotiations.

Reining in Uranium

Vali Nasr, professor of Middle East and South Asia politics at the Naval Post-graduate School, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future (W.W. Norton, 2006)
and
Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy a bipartisan think tank dedicated to studying the Middle East
- discuss the latest maneuvers in the Iranian nuclear negotiations

» Vali Nasr's biography
» Patrick Clawson’s biography

Fields of Dreams

Keith Devlin, mathematician at Stanford University
- why the latest winner of the Field prize in mathematics is declining the award and the significance of his mathematical feat

» Keith Devlin's website at Stanford
» Highest Honor in Mathematics Is Refused in the New York Times

Treading Water

Dan Baum, staff writer at The New Yorker magazine
and
Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective, a community volunteer organization offering assistance to hurricane victims along the Gulf Coast
- looks at the failure to rebuild in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward

» Consulat D’Influence in the New Yorker
» Common Ground Relief
» How to help

Crossing Atlantic

Gersh Kunztman, editor of The Brooklyn Papers
- talks about the public hearing over the Atlantic Yards project

» The Brooklyn Papers

A person dressed as a bear to represent a bear market performs outside the New York Stock Exchange on October 6, 200 in New York. Wall Street tumbled after the opening bell as fallout from the credit crisis triggered concerns about the economy and the Dow fell below 10,000 for the first time in four years.

Uncommon Indicators

The Brian Lehrer Show

The Brian Lehrer Show wants to hear how the economy is affecting the little things in your daily life. Share your stories and photos of the downturn.

Cast your vote for our video contest semi-finalists.

Ray Young, General Motors Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

The Rocky Road Ahead

The Brian Lehrer Show

Ray Young, the chief financial officer of General Motors, talks about GM’s bankruptcy.

Then, Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and Greg Williams, former owner of the recently closed Huntington Chevrolet in Huntington Station, NY., discusses the effect GM’s bankruptcy has had on dealerships and their employees.

paper trail small

Tweet If You Use Twitter

The Brian Lehrer Show

Farhad Manjoo, Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society talks about what Twitter means and how different groups use it.

What's your take on Twitter? How do you use it? Comment below!

(<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexerde/80417539/">alexerde</a>/flickr)

Don't Say That, Literally

The Brian Lehrer Show

John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants discusses the running list the band keeps of "things we can no longer say." (a few examples: "my bad" "don't go there" "one hundred and ten percent" and "voted off the island")

What would be on your list of banned words or phrases? Comment below!

happiness

From Denmark with Love

The Brian Lehrer Show

Jesper Grunwald, senior managing editor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, talks about the Danish economy, biking to work, and why the Danes are allegedly the happiest people in the world.

Judge Sotomayor

Squatting, Then and Now

The Brian Lehrer Show

As former squats in the East Village make the transition to coops, making homes from abandoned housing is again an issue. Andrew Reicher executive director of Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, Frank Morales an Episcopal priest involved in East Village/Lower East Side squatting and homelessness activism since the late '70s, and Rob Robinson, a leader of the Housing Campaign of Picture the Homeless, discuss the return of squatting.

Video Picks

The Brian Lehrer Show

Check out some recent video clips of interviews with guests and Brian Lehrer's weekly Web video picks.