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The Brian Lehrer Show

Friday, March 02, 2007
  • Counting Calories, Counting Lobbyists

    Under pressure from the restaurant industry, the New York City Council may overturn the new Health Department rule that fast food chains must post the number of calories in their dishes. We get both sides. Also, immigration and domestic work in New York City; training NYPD undercover officers; tracking taxicabs; and lobbyists on your coffee table.

    Watch our videos of Democratic Presidential candidate, John Edwards on YouTube

Eye in the Sky

Bhairavi Desai, executive director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance, objects to plans to require satellite tracking for New York City taxis.

Training Days

Bob Hennelly, WNYC reporter covering City Hall and security issues, discusses what he found investigating the training of NYPD undercover officers.

Counting Calories

Dr. Lynn SilverCharles Hunt, executive vice president of the Greater New York City Chapters of the New York State Restaurant Association, talks about why the industry is opposed to a New York City Board of Health measure that would require restaurants to post calorie counts on menus. Dr. Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, talks about why the city says it needs to use this to make New Yorkers healthier.

Domestic Agenda

Erline Browne Rhacel Parrenas, associate professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis and the author of Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work (Stanford University Press, 2001) and Children of Global Migration (Stanford University Press, 2005) joins Ai-Jen Poo and Erline Browne, organizers with Domestic Workers United, to explore issues facing immigrant domestic workers.

Event
Today’s guests will be taking part in “Maids and Madams” a conference on immigration and domestic work sponsored by the Women's Studies Program and the Shirley Chisholm Center for Research on Women at Brooklyn College on March 6-8. For more information, call.

Strange Bedfellows

Neil Selkirk, photographer discusses his book Lobbyist (Powerhouse 2007) and Jane Earley, director of the Center for Conservation Innovation at the World Wildlife Fund and David Stuphen, vice president of Government Relations and Legislative Council at Viacom talk about being Lobbyist in Washington

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.

Just Launched! The Uncommon Economic Indicators Video Contest. All the details here!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.