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The Brian Lehrer Show

Thursday, May 31, 2007
  • manhattan skyline (Fred Froehlich)
    (Fred Froehlich)

    Construction Boomdoggles

    A Daily News investigation discovered a deadly lack of City oversight during the current building boom. We’ll explore the relationship between the “honor system” for developers in New York City and the deaths of dozens of construction workers. Also, what do we mean by the term “American hegemony”?; America’s origins at Jamestown; and more questions for Time magazine’s Baghdad bureau chief, Bobby Ghosh.

    Watch Brian's Online Video Picks.

Construction Boom-Doggles

Brian Kates, reporter for the New York Daily News, reports on the City's deadly lack of oversight of building construction, and Oona Adams, chief researcher of the Greater New York Laborers-Employers Cooperation and education Trust who represents union workers and employers in construction, looks at the use of undocumented employees in the industry.

The Daily News series: Building Boom-Doggle

Part I: Danger & ripoffs are on the rise

Part II: So many ways to beat the system

Part III: At the mercy of contractors

Part IV: Dream denied

View of the News in Baghdad

Bobby Ghosh, Baghdad bureau chief for Time magazine, fills us in on the latest from Iraq as part of a month-long series.

"Empirical" Evidence

We continue our conversation about the U.S. and “empire” with Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. The author of Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order (2003) and Colossus: the Rise and Fall of the American Empire (2004), his most recent book is The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West (Penguin Press HC, 2006).

Jamestown: 400 Years and Counting

Tim Hashaw, journalist and the author of The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown (Carroll & Graf, 2007) and Karen Ordahl Kupperman, professor of history at New York University and the author of The Jamestown Project (Belknap Press, 2007), discuss new views of the Jamestown colony as we observe the 400th anniversary of its founding.

The Jamestown Project and The Birth of Black America are available for purchase at Amazon.com.

“The First Black Americans” in U.S. News & World Report
Prof. Kupperman’s NYU webpage

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.

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

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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.