NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs

NUTTY PROFESSOR: Regrets What He Said, If He Said It James D. Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel prize for deciphering the double-helix of DNA, apologized “unreservedly” yesterday for comments reported this week suggesting that black people, over all, are not as intelligent as whites. In an interview published Sunday in The Times of London, Dr. Watson is quoted as saying that while “there are many people of color who are very talented,” he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa.” “All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — […]

WORTH REPEATING: Takes ‘A Wide Stance’ To Win Big

This morning, Stephen Colbert discussed his just-announced candidacy for the President of the United States with Tim Russert on Meet The Press. Crazy like a Fox, Colbert’s southern strategy is to run as a Republican in the South Carolina primary and to lose and lose big. How? By tapping Senator Larry Craig as his running mate, of course. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the closeted antics of Chuck Noblet — himself no stranger to the coded entreaties of men’s room meet-and-greets, and widely available on DVD — to drive gay-averse Dixiecrats into the arms of the enemy: Russert: […]

INSTA-REVIEW: Five Things You Should Know About Spoon Last Night At The Electric Factory

1. They start off mellow, measured and, frankly, boring-as-hell. Half the crowd is asleep by the third song. Please oh please, Britt! Break out some of them catchy tunes. You know, like that “Camera” song. Yeah, that one! Okay, that’s more like it. Hips are moving. People are grooving. Now the pace is set for the rest of the night. 2. “The Ghost of You Lingers” is meant to be heard live. The bassist and guitarists are banging, banging, banging on the keyboards. Britt’s tremulous voice lingers and echoes as if he were singing into a vast subterranean cavern. It’s […]

ALT-RAWK TALK: Thirteen Astonishing Things You Are NOT Supposed To Know About Spoon

[As told to JONATHAN VALANIA] 1. Britt Daniel has never killed anyone. “Technically, no,” he says when asked. 2. “Don’t Make Me A Target” was originally titled “Don’t Blame Me I Voted For Nader.” 3. Spoon is named after the Can song of the same name. Britt first learned about Kraut Rock in the 11th grade from his obsessive study of every word uttered by Julian Cope. 4. Britt Daniel may have voted for Ralph Nader instead of Al Gore in 2000. “I think maybe I did,” he says when asked. 5. Britt Daniel is 36 years old and has […]

MAILBAG: Less Anderson

DEAR PHAWKER, Normally i wouldn’t comment, but man, by my watch — phawker were the only ones that nailed the review. love wes anderson, but i thought critics by and large gave this movie a huge pass. when a movie’s is this dull, and strangly lifeless; anderson’s whole thing starts to feel like a formula to me. and when it starts to feel like a formula — it cheapens the memories of movie’s past.. and that is a drag. nice job on stepping out on this one. JIM SUTCLIFFE PREVIOUSLY: The Royal Dressing Down PREVIOUSLY: Live And Direct From The […]

THAT’S COMCASTIC! Or Why ‘Net Neutrality’ Matters

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users. If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and […]

‘Straight Scouts’ Get Bitch Slapped By City Hall

Kudos to the Fairmount Park Commission for holding firm on the Boy Scouts thing, though one suspects there may be other issues at work, like hmmm, say, the city getting its hands on that phat building at 22nd and Winter? Well, if it’s in the pursuit of an even higher cause, the real estate angle can be overlooked. Long story short: The Boy Scouts, America’s favorite homophobic paramilitary youth group,  pays $1 a year in rent on a building that should cost $200K. So it’s time to pay up or pack up, Boys. FOXNews goes there about whether city solicitor […]

FEAR OF A WOMAN: 126 Killed By Suicide Assassins

KARACHI, Pakistan — A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed at least 126 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan’s biggest city after eight years in exile. Two explosions went off near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house. An Associated Press photo showed a dazed-looking Bhutto being helped away. Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 126 dead and 248 wounded. It was believed to be the deadliest bomb attack in Pakistan’s history. Bhutto flew home […]

GOP: ‘Spare The Rod, Spoil The Child’

Despite votes from 44 House Republicans for an override, President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program stands. We were aware that Bush’s veto blocked the expansion of health insurance benefits to include an additional 10 million kids, but we didn’t know this: This legislation included a measure to expand the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for the first time ever, allowing more unpaid leave for families of service members injured in combat. By vetoing this bill, President Bush rejected a recommendation made by his own Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors. We urge Congress […]