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The Brian Lehrer Show / April 13, 2007

The Brian Lehrer Show

Friday, April 13, 2007
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  • An Indian Sikh ties a ribbon onto his turban outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar, 13 April 2006. 'Turban Day'
    An Indian Sikh ties a ribbon onto his turban outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar, 13 April 2006. 'Turban Day' (Getty Images)

    The Sikhs of New York

    Last fall, five Sikhs won seats on the Queens County Democratic Committee—making them the first to win elected office in New York. We’ll learn more about the city’s Sikh community and discuss why April 13 is World Turban Day. Also: new takes on the war epic. Is there an Iliad or Gilgamesh of today?

    Watch Brian's video picks here

Governor Corzine's Injuries

Mike Kelly, columnist at The Record of New Jersey, parses the political fallout of the Governor's car accident.

Say You're Sorry

Washington Post Editorial Writer Jonathan Capehart discusses his op-ed piece in support of states apologizing for slavery.

Martial Arts

NYU’s Institute for the Humanities hosts a day-long festival on Sunday called “ War Music: Recent Stabs At The Epic.” We’re joined by three of the participants for a discussion of the continuing relevance and appeal of ancient war stories. Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet and Viet Nam War veteran Yusef Komunyakaa and playwright and dramaturge Chad Gracia joined forces to write Gilgamesh: A Verse Play (Wesleyan University Press, 2006) and actor Nigel Gore’s company Aurea headlines the festival with a performance of poet Christopher Logue’s contemporary version of The Iliad, "War Music.”

Gray Areas

Ann Althouse, law professor at the University of Wisconsin and blogger, says Rudolph Giuliani’s position on abortion is nuanced and complicated—and we should welcome candidates like him. Pollster Mickey Blum of Blum & Weprin Associates talks about just how welcoming New Yorkers are to their former mayor.

Read Ann Althouse’s op-ed in the New York Times

The Sikhs of New York

Harsimran Kaur, staff attorney at the Sikh Coalition, talks about Sikhism and the Sikh community here in New York

B.O.B.: The Bronx

Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio, co-artistic director of Full Circle Productions, represents The Bronx in P.S.122's Best of the Boroughs (B.O.B.) Festival with "Hip-hop to da Head," a fusion of dance, song, rhyme and monologs.

This week's other B.O.B. representatives on The Brian Lehrer Show:
Monday - Sara Valentine
Tuesday - Okwui Okpokwasili
Wednesday - Edith I. Freni
Thursday - Nia Love

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.

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

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.