NEW YORK TIMES: Paul is a libertarian, certainly, but more importantly he’s a particular kind of a libertarian. He’s culturally conservative (opposing both abortion and illegal immigration), radically noninterventionist (he’s against the Iraq war and the United Nations), and so stringently constitutionalist that he views nearly everything today’s federal government does as a violation of the founding fathers’ vision. This worldview goes by many names, including “paleoconservatism,” “the old right” and “paleolibertarianism.” But its adherents — Paul and his father, Ron, included — view themselves as America’s only true conservatives, arguing that the modern conservative movement has sold out to […]
Beloved Broadcaster Wee Willie Webber Dead At 80
PHAWKER: Wee Willie Webber turned us onto Ultraman when we were, like, seven — and we remain eternally grateful. Goodnight Mr. Webber, wherever you are. INQUIRER: William W. Webber, 80, a fixture on Philadelphia radio and TV for more than 50 years, died Sunday of a heart attack at Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia while awaiting heart surgery there later this week, his son, William W. Jr., said. He lived on Rittenhouse Square. Known as Wee Willie at 6 feet, 5 inches, Mr. Webber was a workhorse, a host of children’s TV shows and a radio disc jockey, often on […]
FBI: Walter Cronkite Aided Vietnam War Protesters
YAHOO NEWS: Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite allegedly collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists in the 1960s, going so far as to offer advice on how to raise the public profile of protests and even pledging CBS News resources to help pull off events, according to FBI documents obtained by Yahoo! News. The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show that in November 1969, Cronkite encouraged students at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., to invite Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie to address a protest they were planning near Cape Kennedy (now known as Cape Canaveral). Cronkite told […]
MEDIA: Tom Waits Guest Edits 200th Issue Of Mojo
DEPT. 56: Iconoclast TOM WAITS takes a turn as Guest Editor for Mojo’s 200th edition on stands now. “I don’t know how they talked me into doing this. All I really wanted to do was drive the forklift,” Tom Waits In this legendary issue, Waits discusses the following with Hank Williams III: reconciling musical personalities; how to create “a death metal hillbilly invasion;” meeting Minnie Pearl; haunted houses; and why Hank Sr. must be reinstated as a member of The Grand Ole Opry. Elsewhere, Joe Henry interviews Harry Belafonte, one of Tom’s lifelong heroes, while artist Kellesimone Waits, Tom’s daughter, […]
ATLAS MUGGED: Rand Paul’s Foot-In-Mouth Disease
RAND PAUL: “What I don’t like from the president’s administration is this sort of, ‘I’ll put my boot heel on the throat of BP.’ I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I’ve heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it’s part of this sort of blame game society in the sense that it’s always got to be someone’s fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen.” THE NEWS ROOM: The editorial board of Louisville’s Courier-Journal didn’t mince words following its sit-down with Rand Paul last month. Much of what […]
CINEMA: Weasels Ripped My Flesh
CASINO JACK & THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY (2010, directed by Alex Gibney, 118 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC One thing that is agreed upon across the political spectrum — from the Tea Partiers to the Progressive Left — is that our government is rife with corruption and that it favors corporations over the individual. If you want to nurture that cynicism with some cold hard facts, there are few more concise blueprints detailing the way money corrodes democracy than the latest film from Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex (Taxi To The Dark Side) Gibney, Casino Jack & The […]
MUST SEE TV: The Greatest Political Ad Ever Sold
…or my name ain’t Nathan Arizona!
BREAKING: Balloon Shuts Down Independence Hall
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Investigators are trying to identify a white powder found inside a balloon at the downtown Philadelphia building that houses the historic Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence. The Liberty Bell Center and part of a street next to it have been evacuated. A guard found the balloon inside the visitors entrance to the Liberty Bell Center on Thursday afternoon. FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver says testing is being done on the substance. He says it’s not explosive or radioactive but is what he calls a “biological substance.” Klaver says one type of biological substance is anthrax, an infectious […]
KITCHEN BITCH: Give Brussel Sprouts A Chance
BY MAVIS LINNEMANN Like any child, I hated Brussels sprouts. Detested them. They emitted that bizarre sulfur odor, tasted like garbage and looked like something the dog had thrown up. Even as an adult, I thought there was no way in hell you could ever get me to eat another Brussel sprout. Enter my roommate, Laura. Armed with a fistful of bacon and a killer recipe, Laura proved to me that these tiny cabbages deserve a place in my cooking repertoire. Since then, I’ve convinced many other avowed Brussels sprout haters to give them another go-round, and I dare say […]
REISSUED: Exiles On Mainstream
PW: Hangers-on aside, these were not the most ideal of recording conditions—the band hunkered down in a dank, sweaty basement for all-night sessions that were prone to power cuts and instruments detuning due to the oppressive humidity. They rarely saw daylight. You can hear it on the record as vocal tracks bleed into one another, the mix often muddy, Jagger frequently sounding as if he’s singing with a mouthful of molasses. And yet, out of chaos came a certain raffish, ragged glory, a triumphant last hurrah, before ennui, cynicism and nasty habits got the better of the band. Above all, […]
TWITCH HUNT: Is PA Attorney General Tom Corbett Abusing The Power Of His Office To Silence Critics?
TECH CRUNCH: Tom Corbett, current Attorney General of the state of Pennsylvania and Gubernatorial Candidate, has subpoenaed Twitter to appear as a Grand Jury witness to “testify and give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of Pennsylvania”. The subpoena orders Twitter to provide “any and all subscriber information” of the person(s) behind two accounts – @bfbarbie and @CasaBlancaPA – who have been anonymously criticizing the man on the popular micro-sharing service. MORE WIRED: Corbett is apparently treating his online critics as potential criminals, using his power as the state’s top law enforcement official to issue a grand jury subpoena. The subpoena does not state […]