In 1861, 11 states seceded from the Union, wrote a new Constitution, and formed the Confederate States of America. Marking the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, historian Adam Goodheart joins the National Constitution Center on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. to share what’s been called ”an evocative re-interpretation of the Civil War’s beginnings.” Admission to the event at the Center is FREE, but reservations are required and can be made by calling 215.409.6700 or online at the NCC web site. Goodheart’s visit coincides with the release of his new book, 1861: The Civil War […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Great American Shame
EDITOR’S NOTE: OK, admittedly it’s not a very original title, but it IS accurate. William C. Henry is better known to me as ‘Uncle Bill.’ He’s always been a man of strong opinions and a persuasive argument-maker, but I was a little surprised to learn — after re-connecting with him after a prolonged period of radio silence — that his current perspective so closely mirrors that of Phawker. Which is refreshing, to say the least, since most (white) people seem to turn into Fox News zombies when they get to be his age (early 70s, FYI). Not Uncle Bill. It […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Tina Fey grew up in a household with parents she has described as “Goldwater Republicans with pre-Norman Lear racial attitudes.” But, she says, her parents were always supportive of her career, even when she told them she was moving to Chicago to start a career in improv. “To their credit, they never said, ‘You like entertainment. Are you sure you don’t want to be an entertainment lawyer?’ ” she tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “[They understood] me wanting to pursue this before I had commitments, before I had a family. And I think they knew that neither my […]
AP TICKER: ‘This Is Why Rome Fell’
AP weighs in on the budget puppet show, explaining why the Republicans are such dicks and the real reason the Dems let them be such dicks. All part of his unfolding Unified Theory Of Everything That’s Wrong With America. Here’s brief excerpt: The GOP has managed to turn a lie into a truth simply by repeating it over and over again until it becomes received wisdom: We need to cut spending to create jobs. That’s their mantra. And that is exactly the opposite of the truth. The Congressional budget office estimated that if the Republicans get all the cuts they […]
COMEUPPANCE: Stephen Colbert’s Outrageous Tweets About Jon Kyl Are ‘Not Intended To Be Factual’
After lowering the boom on Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (SEE BELOW) for declaring on the floor of the Senate that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortions — when in fact abortion accounts for only 3% of the medical services it provides — and then, after he was called on it, issuing a statement saying the 90% thing was “not intended to be a factual statement,” Stephen Colbert has been going after Kyl on Twitter. Every hour for the last 24 hours, @StephenAtHome has been tweeting ludicrously scurrilous allegations about Kyl as part of a likeminded thread called #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement. […]
TONITE: Bill Hicks Died For Your Sins
JOSH GOLDBLOOM: Bill Hicks is the greatest comedian you may have never heard of. He did his first professional gig when he was 15. By 19 he was represented by the William Morris Agency. He toured 300 nights a year, every year. And, by 1994, Hicks was dead, aged 32. If you have no idea who Bill Hicks is, I implore you to seek out his work. Go to YouTube and watch every bit of his stand-up you can find. With a razor-sharp mind and a butcher’s knack for finding the soft underbelly of American society, stand-up comic Bill Hicks […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The first shots of the American Civil War were fired 150 years ago in the Charleston, S.C., harbor. Less than two days later, Fort Sumter surrendered. It would take the Union army nearly four years to bring the coastal fortification back under its command. On Fresh Air, historian Adam Goodheart explains how national leaders and ordinary citizens responded to the chaos and uncertainty in the days and months before and after the struggle at Fort Sumter, an almost-bloodless two-day battle that became the start of the Civil War almost by mistake. “[At Fort Sumter] the Southerners thought that […]
TONITE: You Say You Want A Revolution
The Rise of Digital Democracy Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30pm The National Constitution Center Admission: FREE A diverse range of panelists who will be discussing how social media was used to harness the democratic fervor in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and beyond, and how Facebook, Google, and Twitter are changing the global political landscape. The panelists include: Tony Burman, Al Jazeera’s Head of Strategy for the Americas Charles Sennott, Executive Editor and co-founder of GlobalPost, an internet journalism site devoted to international newsgathering for the digital age Susannah Vila, Director of Content and Outreach for Movements.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, connecting, and […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Black Lips At The Troc
[Photo by Louis Kwok] BY JAMIE DAVIS The Black Lips from Atlanta Georgia. I want to write that sentence in caps so maybe it’ll show you what I mean. THE BLACK LIPS from ATLANTA GEEEORGIA! Swagger, hats on a jaunty angle, blood, sweat, tears, spit and booze. Rock and Fucking ROLL, man. No guitar designed before 1970 was present, and and same goes for their riffs. Heavy, catchy and absolut Rock Music. A Genuine Real Live American Rock Band is hard to find these days. The White Stripes are gone, and The Strokes have gone all… perhaps it’s better to […]
WORTH REPEATING: When They Hand You A Shit Sandwich, Mr. President, Don’t Say ‘Thank You’
RJ ESKROW: We’re being told we should celebrate a “compromise” in which Democrats gave up $38.5 billion in spending cuts, when the original Republican demand was for $32 billion. That means the Democrats only gave the Republicans 20% more (20.2135%, to be precise) than they originally demanded. Okay, guys. You get an extra 20% — and not a penny more! MORE FACT: The agreed upon budget compromise calls for $38.5 billion in spending cuts. FACT: Canceling federal subsidies for the oil companies — roughly $4 billion a year — for the next 10 years would have cut $40 billion out […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Loudon Wainwright III At WCL
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER A long, long time ago a guy named Paul wrote his pen pals the Corinthians asking: “Oh death, where is thy sting?” The answer, my friend, is blowing in the winding stanzas of a late-period Loudon Wainwright III song. For more than 40 years, Wainwright has earned his keep as a dark-but-folksy ironist, as funny as Mark Twain on a good day, troubadouring across the fruited plain, looking for and invariably finding the punch lines in the dashed hopes, thwarted dreams and doomed romance of this American life. Which is, admittedly, strikingly ironic for […]
HIDDEN DRAGON: Japan Now Admits Fukushima Disaster Far Worse Than Previously Acknowledged
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Japan’s nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. An official with the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, speaking on national television, said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 — the highest level on the international scale. The official, who was not named, said the amount of radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was around 10 percent of the Chernobyl accident. The level 7 signifies a “major accident” with “wider consequences” than the previous level, according […]
TONITE: Get Your Folksy On
Garrison Keillor | Good Poems, American Places Monday, April 11, 2011 at 7:30PM Festival Main Stage Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students Buy tickets onlineHost and writer of Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor is a storyteller, humorist, columnist, musician, satirist, and the author of more than a dozen books including Homegrown Democrat, Lake Wobegon Days, Pontoon, and Liberty. A poetry connoisseur, he is the editor of Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times, and he hosts the American Public Media radio program and podcast The Writer’s Almanac, which features daily poetry readings. His new […]