Hey America, Can We Talk About Electoral Dysfunction?

  BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR PHILLY POST Dear, U.S.A. I’d like to talk to you about E.D. — Electoral Dysfunction. I know it’s embarrassing and you like to pretend it never happened after every time it does, but I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be like this. These days there are over-the-counter remedies — admittedly, some may cause an election that lasts longer than three hours. But that’s a good thing. Unless your name is Dick Scott or Jon Husted. Before we get into it, I want to take a moment to congratulate you for once again […]

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Charles Darwin Still Not Bigger Than Jesus In Georgia

  HUFFINGTON POST: On an Election Day filled with upsets, the father of evolutionary theory proved incapable of riding the wave down in Georgia. Fictional write-in candidate Charles Darwin was promoted around Georgia’s 10th congressional district to provide a symbolic challenge to Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), the outspoken congressman who created a stir earlier this year when video emerged of him calling evolution and the big bang theory “lies from the pit of hell.” Broun had been running unopposed until Jim Leebens-Mack, a plant biologist at the University of Georgia, started a Facebook page floating the idea of running Darwin […]

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BIG STAR DOC: Nothing Can Hurt Me Now

BIG STAR: NOTHING CAN HURT ME is a feature-length documentary about legendary Memphis band Big Star. While mainstream success eluded them, Big Star’s three albums have become critically lauded touchstones of the rock music canon. A seminal band in the history of alternative music, Big Star has been cited as an influence by artists including REM, The Replacements, Belle & Sebastian, Elliot Smith and Flaming Lips, to name just a few. With never-before-seen footage and photos of the band, in-depth interviews and a rousing musical tribute by the bands they inspired, BIG STAR: NOTHING CAN HURT ME is a story […]

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

FRESH AIR President Obama has been re-elected. Democrats and Republicans have maintained their respective majorities in the Senate and in the House. So does this mean there will be more partisan gridlock? Norm Ornstein, a writer for Roll Call and a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross that it’s a mixed message. While it’s a substantial victory for Obama, Ornstein says, “I think we’re going to see conflicting themes in the Republican Party. They held the House of Representatives despite low approval of Congress — didn’t suffer serious losses there, and House Republicans […]

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BREAKING: Barack Obama Re-Elected

  We’re ready for the first black president to become the second black president, the one we voted for in 2008 — a change agent, a prince of peace, a transformational figure around which the arclight of history bends. NATE SILVER: Democrats maintained an edge in party identification, allowing Mr. Obama to win despite losing independent voters by several points. Forty-five percent of those who voted for Mr. Obama were racial minorities, a record number, and he made gains among Hispanic and Asian-American voters. Mr. Obama’s win carried forth into most of the swing states. Of the 10 states that […]

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ENDORSEMENT: The Case For 4 More Years

  BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Okay, I’ll come clean. Obama has been my leader of choice from the get-go and nothing whatsoever I’ve heard from or about the other guy has so much as twitched the needle on my partiality meter. I will, however, admit to an atom of admiration for Romney’s extraordinary chameleon-like ability to change his stance on any given issue to suit the exigency at hand. It’s a talent even a squid could envy. But I digress. Most significantly, I hold unwaveringly to the belief that Barak is simply more concerned about more of us. I continue […]

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OHIO STATE OF MIND: Waging Democracy

  EDITOR’S NOTE: Matt Goldfine has been working in Philadelphia and Harrisburg politics for the last five years. Tired of fretting over the polls from afar, he drove out to Ohio last Sunday to volunteer for the Obama campaign’s get-out-the-vote drive. He will be filing regular dispatches up to election night. BY MATT GOLDFINE BUCKEYE CORRESPONDENT Nine years ago when I bought my used army jacket from I Goldberg, Philly’s most well-known and beloved Army Navy store, I was a very different person. Still grieving heavily from my brother’s heroin induced death a few months earlier, I was living in […]

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VOTER GUIDE: Throw The Bums Out

BY MIKE WALSH In the big picture, the Democrats and the Republicans are just two different sock puppets on the same rich man’s hand. Elections will change nothing until the swamp of de facto bribery that is our current campaign contribution model is drained and elections are publicly financed. Only then will elected officials be responsive to the will of the electorate instead of the corporate paymasters that put them in office. Likewise, this country will continue to slide into a Second World Power until the two party stranglehold is broken and elections are opened up to the marketplace of […]

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BIRDLAND: A Confederacy Of Dunces

  BY JOE PAONE IGGLES CORRESPONDENT Given the horrific real-life events of the last week that actually matter, I’m going to judiciously avoid using words like “disaster,” “catastrophe” and “apocalypse” when talking about last night’s abomination of a performance by our erstwhile football heroes. Besides, why resort to using those words when “utter shitshow” pretty much nails it? This is no longer Andy Reid’s team. These guys don’t play like Andy Reid players, they don’t talk like Andy Reid players, they’re not as resilient as Andy Reid players, they’re not as serious as Andy Reid players. I feel awful for […]

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