NEW YORK TIMES: After the meeting at the White House, Republicans and Democrats offered differing versions of what by all accounts was a tense session. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, said he raised the idea of taking what savings could be achieved now — roughly $1.4 trillion — and then having additional votes to raise the debt limit again before the elections in November 2012, with Republicans ultimately seeking a total of at least $2.4 trillion in cuts with no tax increases. At this, Mr. Cantor said, the president “got very agitated, seemingly.” Mr. Cantor quoted […]

NATIONAL JOURNAL: At the center of a firestorm over alleged phone-hacking, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation announced Wednesday that it is dropping its bid to buy the share of Britain’s primary satellite TV broadcaster that it does not already own. The dropped bid comes a day after a U.S. Senator encouraged officials to look into whether the scandal affected any Americans. News Corp.’s stock has been hammered by the widening scandal, shaving billions of dollars off of the company’s market capitalization. Shares in the company have plummeted from $18.13 per share right before the first reports of the phone hacking and […]

FRESH AIR When the energy giant Enron collapsed 10 years ago, top executives of the company faced criminal prosecution, and many served lengthy prison terms. In the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, hundreds of bankers went to jail. But the financial meltdown of 2008 hasn’t generated a single prosecution of high-level Wall Street players — even though the Securities and Exchange Commission has brought civil cases against some companies and reached financial settlements. That’s a result of new guidelines issued by the Justice Department in 2008, which have allowed prosecutors to take a “softer approach” to corporate crimes. […]

This must-see video for “Symphony in White, No.2,” the b-side of the  Wild Palms single, is a mini-doc of the Philly-based bliss-popsters’ recent performance at the First Unitarian Church. The audio is from the 7″, and the video features projections made specifically for the music by Klip Collective. Sun Airway plays the Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday and WXPN’s XPoNential Music Festival on July 23rd. Sun Airway’s “Symphony In White, No. 2” from klipcollective on Vimeo.

COMMONWEALTH CONFIDENTIAL: Avila has grabbed headlines recently for his behavior around town. When he first came to Harrisburg from New York, he got into a dispute with a local diner owner over the freshness of the eggs in his egg sandwich. After exchanging words with the diner owner, Avila is alleged to have yelled: “Do you know who I am? I am the Secretary of Health!” He later sicced city health inspectors on the diner. Avila has also raised more than a few eyebrows for ordering spanking-new jackets, as well as a badge, identifying himself as the Health Secretary. He also ordered jackets […]

Love Four Paws, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless animals, is sponsoring an adoption carnival at ACCT, Philadelphia’s Animal Care & Control shelter, this weekend. “Fall in Love Under The Big Top” is going to be a great event to raise awareness about the shelter and save many lives through fantastic adoption specials. Cats over six months old are just $1! Spin the Wheel of Deals for our dogs, and the adoption fee is $40 or less—or perhaps even free! There will also be popcorn, snow cones, music, food for sale, and great raffle items. The event takes place […]

NEW YORK TIMES: The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Tuesday that a bipartisan budget deal with President Obama was probably out of reach, and he proposed a plan under which the president could increase the federal debt limit without Congressional approval for offsetting spending cuts. Mr. McConnell’s proposal reflected a growing sense of pessimism on Capitol Hill about the prospects that Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders could come to terms on a budget deal before the government’s borrowing authority hits its limit on Aug. 2 Mr. McConnell’s proposal would give Mr. Obama sweeping power to increase the […]

Back country road, upstate New York by JEFF FUSCO

Urge Overkill* plays the North Star Bar tonight with Creem Circus** and The Cocks*** *UO released its first full-length, the Steve Albini-produced Jesus Urge Superstar, in 1989 through Touch and Go Records and steadily began ascending in popularity. By the early 90’s, they were opening for Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and eventually signed to Geffen Records, who released their beloved classic LP, Saturation. The group’s biggest moment in the spotlight came when Quentin Tarantino prominently used their cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” in his film Pulp Fiction. The soundtrack soon became one of the most […]

MOTHER JONES: Of course, Nugent’s backdrop is a giant American flag, and it’s a secret to no one that he’s a bit of an oddity in this liberal haven. Soon enough, he’s ragging on California in general—”The Independent? I didn’t know that was legal here”—and telling off-color jokes about San Francisco’s Chinatown District. He introduces “Dog Eat Dog” by suggesting that people eat sweet-and-sour dog, and boasts that he dined on tiger-dick soup earlier in the day—a claim that becomes one of the evening’s running themes. Example: It being the fifth of July, Nugent deems it “Defiance Day”—an extension of […]