Tune in tomorrow for details.* *Prize merchandise is strictly ‘as is’.
GOD, GAYS & GUNFIRE: Knoxville Church Shooter Was The Quintessential Karl Rove Wedge Issue ‘Values Voter’
ASSOCIATED PRESS: KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An out-of-work truck driver accused of opening fire at a Unitarian church, killing two people, left behind a note suggesting that he targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal policies, including its acceptance of gays, authorities said Monday. A four-page letter found in Jim D. Adkisson’s small SUV indicated he intentionally targeted the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church because, the police chief said, “he hated the liberal movement” and was upset with “liberals in general as well as gays.” Adkisson, a 58-year-old truck driver on the verge of losing his food stamps, had […]
WORTH REPEATING: Say It Ain’t So, John
LEE STRANAHAN: Before I dive in, let me get the ‘objectivity’ thing out of the way. As a citizen journalist whose main claim to fame is producing satirical comedy [and the infamous 1984 anti-Hillary ad], I can be upfront about my political leanings. I’m a recovering libertarian and currently I’m a registered Democrat who is excited to be voting for Barack Obama in November. I like John Edwards and up until a few days ago, he would have been my first choice for Vice President on an Obama ticket. I’m far from Puritan — anything two or more consenting adults […]
HEAR YE: Conor Oberst Conor Oberst
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Conor Oberst plays the Troc Aug. 11th BY JONATHAN VALANIA The biggest cliche about Bright Eyes — aka 24-year-old indie-pop pinup Conor Oberst — is that he’s emerged as the latest “new Dylan,” a Mr. Tambourine Man for the O.C. Nation. Like all cliches, this one’s been worn meaningless by overuse. And yet it’s essentially true. Heck, Oberst already got props from the last New Dylan who amounted to anything: Bruce Springsteen. Like Dylan in his prime, Oberst writes long, elliptical narratives — weaving word-clotted threads of angst and regret, anger and shame, ecstasy and […]
HOT DOCUMENT: How Dry I Am
Following is a list of the top 20 “stone-cold sober schools,” according to Princeton Review‘s survey of 120,000 college students. 1. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. 2. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. 3. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn. 4. College of the Ozarks, Point Lockout, Mo. 5. Grove City College, Grove City, Pa. 6. U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. 7. U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. 8. Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. 9. Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, Calif. 10. Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich. 11. U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. 12. Wesleyan College, Macon, Ga. 13. Franklin […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR We humans have long wondered what separates us from the other animals — but neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga may have given the topic more consideration than most. Gazzaniga, a pioneer in what’s called split-brain research, has just published Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique. He talks to Terry Gross about his work, which involves investigating the varying functions of the left and right sides of our brains, and about how that research informs our understanding of the brain and human consciousness. Gazzaniga has spent the past 45 years studying the functions of the left and right brain. […]
LOCAL FOOLS MAKE GOOD: Tim & Eric’s Trip
NEW YORK TIMES: ON first viewing, the comedy sketches on “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” can seem like outtakes from a public-access channel that’s broadcast only in hell. They are full of shoddily produced, sloppily edited talk shows about acne and commercials for utterly unnecessary gadgets, and populated by people who should never stand within 50 feet of a camera lens. When these elements appear in a typical television program, they’re usually a result of accidents, budgetary restrictions and bad choices. When they appear on “Awesome Show,” they’re intentional. “We have a very strict set of rules of […]
Ever Dance With The Devil Under The Pale Moon Light?
WIKIPEDIA: Radovan Karadžic (Serbian Cyrillic: ??????? ???????, pronounced [râdo?a?n kârad?it?]); born June 19, 1945 (1945-06-19) (age 63) in Petnjica, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia) is a former Bosnian Serb politician, poet and psychiatrist, currently under arrest for war crime charges. Educated as a psychiatrist, he co-founded the Serbian Democratic Party in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was the first President of Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996. He was a fugitive from 1996 until July 2008 after having been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[1] The indictment concluded there were reasonable grounds for believing he committed war […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Dude Abides
NEW YORKER: Captain Blue is a pot broker. More precisely, he helps connect growers of high-grade marijuana upstate to the retail dispensaries that sell marijuana legally to Californians on a doctor’s recommendation. Since 1996, when a referendum known as Proposition 215 was approved by California voters, it has been legal, under California state law, for authorized patients to possess or cultivate the drug. The proposition also allowed a grower to cultivate marijuana for a patient, as long as he had been designated a “primary caregiver” by that patient. Although much of the public discussion centered on the needs of patients […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
ZOOEY STARDUST: She & Him, Trocadero, Last Night [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA We’ve all heard the mythic tale of Robert Johnson‘s Faustian bargain with the Devil, struck at the crossroads under a Delta moon. Let’s imagine for a moment that it’s a different night at that crossroads. On this night, the Devil is busy with other things, perhaps plotting the eventual rise of Slayer. And Johnson, well, he’s long since given the Devil his due, probably having second thoughts as to whether unlimited pussy, corn liquor and a little plantation-rock stardom was worth the eternal damnation as […]
THE FUNNY PAPERS: Dogs Can Tell
[via MARRIED TO THE SEA]
WORTH REPEATING: Oh, Sister Where Art Thou?
BY SARA CORBETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES On a humid Wednesday in late June, as she waited to be summoned by a grand jury, 16-year-old Teresa Jeffs hitched up her navy blue prairie dress and hoisted herself into the crooked arms of a live oak tree that sits in front of the Schleicher County Courthouse in Eldorado, Tex. For a few minutes, she was not — as has been speculated about many of the young women of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or F.L.D.S. — a possible child bride, or a sexual-abuse victim, or a […]
ALPHA OBAMA: Vive La France!
PARIS (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama expected to spend just enough time in Paris on Friday for talks with the French president and a joint news conference, not a rousing speech like the one he delivered in Berlin. Most newspapers headlined Obama’s pending arrival, with the leftist daily Liberation giving a full front-page spread to “Obamania.” After Berlin, where Obama drew some 200,000 spectators for a speech Thursday, the conservative newspaper Le Figaro wrote that Obama is not looking to draw crowds in Paris “because he knows his huge popularity in our country could ill serve him with […]