NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006

FRESH AIR Comedian Mike Myers has created a slew of memorable characters through his career: Dr. Evil, Austin Powers, Shrek, and Wayne’s World‘s Wayne Campbell all serve as cultural reference points. Now, Myers wants to add another indelible character to that list: The Guru Pitka. In his new comedy The Love Guru, Myers plays a spiritual guide charged with reuniting a hockey star with his estranged wife so that he can lead his team to winning the Stanley Cup. But The Love Guru may be too outrageous for some. Some Hindu groups fear that the movie promotes offensive stereotypes. Some […]

MEOW MIX: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner!

Last night’s Anderson Cooper 360 featured a lively, if baffling, panel discussion about what Michelle Obama’s racial identity is going to mean to her husband’s supposedly post-partisan, post-racial politics presidential run. At one point, Cooper asked his guest whether discussion is needed of the fact that while Barack’s multi-racial identity has been one of the campaign’s most important cultural signifiers, “her racial identity is less mutable”? Translation: He may be the Tiger Woods of politics but she’s a black woman from Chicago, straight up. Since DoubleSecretThesis-gate didn’t exactly catch fire, do we need to instead debate the cultural implications of […]

HEAR YE: R.E.M. Accelerate

Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because back in the ’80s, everyone had an earring and a girlfriend who loved REM — that’s why. PREVIOUSLY: This IS Your Father’s R.E.M. PREVIOUSLY: Riddle Me This PROGRAMMING NOTE: Check back for a full report from tonight’s R.E.M./Modest Mouse/The National show at the Mann

I, SWINGER: Obama Now Leads In 3 Key Swing States

QUINNIPIAC POLL: With strong support from women, blacks and younger voters, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the apparent Democratic presidential contender, leads Arizona Sen. John McCain, expected to be the Republican candidate, among likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to simultaneous Quinnipiac University Swing State polls released today. This is the first time Sen. Obama has led in all three states. No one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the Electoral College. Results from the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University polls show: * Florida: Obama edges McCain 47 – 43 […]

KILLADELPHIA: 2 Shot, 1 Dead Since U Went 2 Bed

INQUIRER: One man was killed last night and another man injured in an East Germantown shooting, police said. The slaying marks the 148th homicide in Philadelphia this year. There were 182 murders last year to date. Last night, officers responded to the 2100 block of Godfrey Avenue at 10:16 p.m. and found Jerrett Washington, 22, with a gunshot wound to the back. Nearby, police found a 19-year-old man suffering a gunshot wound to his arm. Washington was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 2:37 a.m. The wounded 19-year-old was also taken to Einstein where […]

REPORT: ‘There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes.’

After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account. —Maj. General Antonio M. Taguba (USA-Ret.), preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives REPORT: Broken Laws, Broken Lives shows the human consequences of harsh and unlawful US interrogation practices. This landmark report reveals the excruciating pain and continued suffering of men who, never charged with any crime, endured torture at US detention facilities […]

VALLEY OF SHADOW: Fear & Loathing In Francisville

BY JEFF DEENEY While everyone else was at City Hall for the press conference concerning the police raid of a Francisville building last Friday, I was on Ridge Avenue hoping to find my old friend Ms. Edna Williams, of the Mary Jane Enrichment Center. I wrote about Edna in a City Paper article about grassroots homeless services not long ago; she’s been serving the needy from her SRO between 16th and 17th streets on Ridge for about 30 years now. Edna’s seen Francisville’s fortunes rise and fall over they years, as it changed from a prosperous commercial hub in the […]

KILLADELPHIA: Graduate Critical After Shooting

PHILLY.COM: An 18-year-old man was shot in the back at 4:19 p.m., less than a half-hour after his graduation from Strawberry Mansion High School, authorities said. The shooting took place in the 1700 block of North Broad Street, where the high school’s commencement ceremony at Temple University’s Liacouras Center ended at 3:55 p.m. The man, whom police would not identify, is in critical condition at Temple University Hospital.

NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t

FRESH AIR While his nicknames may be ever-changing, Sean Combs himself is immediately recognizable as one of the richest and most influential people in hip-hop. In the past few years, the rapper-turned-mogul has found two new projects to juggle in addition to producing records, designing clothing and managing restaurants: acting on Broadway and rocking the vote with his “Vote or Die” campaign. Combs starred in the stage revival of A Raisin in the Sun in 2004. A television adaptation was released on DVD in May.Combs talks to Terry Gross about his almost obsessive rehearsal process for that show, about losing […]

Two Plus Two Not Adding Up To Four In Police Raid

DAILY NEWS: Moffat said he was handcuffed and placed in a patrol car while police entered the building, began a search and arrested the other three residents. Moffat said once the search began and L&I officials were called, he told Wilson that he owned the property and could show him a deed inside, but that Wilson wasn’t interested. He asked what they were accused of.”You’re not being charged, you’re being investigated,” he said Wilson told him. At another point Wilson said, “call it a kidnapping.” Then after about two hours, Moffat said, he was taken to jail. “We’re going to […]