The Brian Lehrer Show

(<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/281788575/" target="_blank">Sean Dreilinger</a>/flickr)

Does Harry Potter Get Whacked?

Friday, July 20, 2007

Like the iPhone and the Sopranos rolled into one, New Yorkers will be waiting in line to buy a book that won’t sell out, to find out if the main character gets whacked. Pottermania, New York-style, with Sarah Vowell. Also: there are four bad options facing Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Which should he choose? What exactly was agreed to in the congestion pricing plan? Also, how racism is bad for your health, and we open the phones for your calls on gentrification - where are you supposed to go?

Listen to the whole show

Deal or No Deal?

New York State Senator Martin Golden, R-22, and New York City Council member John Liu, D-20, explain what was and what was not agreed upon in the congestion pricing deal.

Trouble in Pakistan

The National Intelligence Estimate released this week revealed the continuing role of Pakistan in the survival of Al Qaeda. Former CIA analyst Paul Pillar and Lehigh University professor of international relations Rajan Menon talk about how US foreign policy could best address the problem.

Paul Pillar bio
Rajan Menon bio

Pottermania

Sarah Vowell, contributing editor to This American Life and author of Assassination Vacation, and Nancy Pearl, librarian and author of Book Crush: For Kids and Teens - Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest (Sasquatch Books, 2007), provide spoiler-free Potter discussion, as well as suggestions on what to read next after finishing the final Harry Potter novel.

Buy Book Crush at Amazon.com
Buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at Amazon.com

Following Up: Judith Miller

When former New York Times reporter Judith Miller came on the show to discuss her City Journal article about Ray Kelly, many listeners protested that her credibility as a reporter had been irretrievably damaged. We ask Geneva Overholser, chair in public affairs reporting for the University of Missouri School of Journalism, former ombudsman for The Washington Post and a contributor to the book, What Good Is Journalism?: How Reporters and Editors Are Saving America's Way of Life (University of Missouri Press, 2007) and Daniel Okrent, writer, editor, (inventor of Rotisserie League Baseball), and the first public editor at The New York Times (October 2003 – May 2005). His columns are collected in Public Editor Number One: The Collected Columns (with Reflections, Reconsiderations, and Even a Few Retractions) of the First Ombudsman of The New York Times (PublicAffairs, 2006).

Following Up: Is racism hazardous to your health?

Evidence is mounting that experiencing discrimination causes physical changes in the body that may contribute to the development of disease. Vickie Mays, professor of psychology at UCLA and William Gordon, a post-doctoral fellow at UCLA, explain what the latest research points to.