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The Brian Lehrer Show / May 28, 2008

The Brian Lehrer Show

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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    Driven

    As gas prices are marching up, many drivers are trading down. We talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathan Welsh about the nationwide decrease in driving – and the spike in scooter sales. So what color is YOUR Vespa? Also: a new report calls for changes in how transracial adoptions are handled, and a year in the life of Brooklyn’s Maimonides Hospital.

Trading Down

Battered by gas prices, Americans drove 11 billion miles less in March of this year than they did in March 2007. While some people are turning to public transportation, some are turning to transportation of the two-wheeled kind. Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathan Welsh talks about the spike in scooter sales.

Read Jonathan Welsh's article, "Born to Be ... Fuel-Efficient"

McCain on Nuclear Weapons

Yesterday Sen. John McCain publicly voiced his stance on nuclear security policy. Leonor Tomero, director for nuclear non-proliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, provides analysis.

The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Transracial Adoption

Margaret Fleming, director and child welfare supervisor at Adoption-Link, to discuss a new report that shows that "colorblind" adoption may not be helpful.

Taking the Hospital's Temperature

Journalist Julie Salamon writes about her year following the action at Brookyn's Maimonides Hospital in Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God and Diversity on Steroids (Penguin Press, 2008) and reports on all the things besides medicine that affect patients' health.

Events:
Event/talk with Pam Brier from Maimonides Hospital
Wednesday, May 28 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
WAGNER SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICE
New York University, the Puck Building
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY

Talk / Book Signing
Monday, June 2nd, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM
BARNES & NOBLE
106 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY

McClellan' It All

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's new book does not come out until next Monday, but it's already causing quite a stir. Washington Post staff writer Michael Shear goes through some of the highlights from the memoir.

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.