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CRUEL & UNUSUAL: If Pigs Could Fly
They wouldn’t have to put up with this shit. PETA: For more than three months, PETA went undercover at an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets who are raised and killed for Hormel products. PETA found rampant cruelty to animals — committed by workers and supervisors. The farm changed ownership and management during PETA’s investigation, but that made no difference to the animals who were born and confined there: Abuse and neglect were widespread during PETA’s entire investigation. The following are just some of the abuses that were documented: A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow’s vagina, struck […]
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: The Lord Is My Shepherd
BY JEFF DEENEY The economic development plan to save Chester hinges on building a major league soccer stadium at the foot of the Commodore Barry Bridge. The $500 million dollar revitalization effort would include transforming Chester’s heavily industrial waterfront into a verdant river walk and building hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office space and condominiums. The coalition pushing for the development plan, KickStart Chester, have a website where you can watch the radical transformation of the vast, neglected vacant lots the stadium will sit on into an artists rendering of what the project will look like upon […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
INQUIRER: Two men were gunned down in unrelated incidents last night in Philadelphia, police said. Police were called to the 1500 block of N. Bouvier in North Philadelphia shortly after 8:30 p.m. to find Rockie Jenkings, 25, dead at the scene of multiple gun shot wounds to his neck and torso. Investigators have no motive or suspects in the killing. * About an hour later, patrol officers in Kensington were called to 800 block of E. Thayer Street. They found Sharees Brown, 24, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Brown was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead […]
HISTORY: Great Moments In Community Organizing
COLLATERAL TV: Sarah Palin likens her previous experience as small town mayor to that of community organizers “except that you have actual responsibility.” In a country with a strong tradition of community organizing we felt it necessary to point out what some of those organizers have accomplished … like founding this country.
MOTHER: Will The Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE EMINEM’S MOTHER TELLS ALL IN A MUCH-ANTICIPATED MEMOIR: My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting the Record Straight on My Life As Eminem’s Mother By Debbie Nelson, with Annette Witheridge BEVERLY HILLS, CA—September 16, 2008—Eminem is the Elvis Presley of the new century. His fans are legion and loyal. Tens of millions of his albums have flown off the shelves. His music videos—even the older ones—have tallied millions of hits on YouTube. His relevance is undisputed. And his mother wants to set the record straight. In MY SON MARSHALL, MY SON EMINEM, Debbie Nelson reveals the truth […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Dick Cheney is arguably one of the most powerful vice presidents in American history, but much of his work is done behind the scenes. In his new book, Angler, journalist Barton Gellman details the forty-year political career of Bush’s second in command. Gellman is a special projects reporter on the national staff of The Washington Post. In 2002, he shared the Pulitzer with the Post staff for the paper’s reporting after the Sept. 11 attacks. Angler expands the Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles about Cheney that Gellman and Jo Becker wrote for the paper in 2007. RADIO TIMES […]
YOU CAN PUT LIPSTICK ON A STONEWALL BUT: Palin Refuses To Speak To ‘Troopergate’ Investigator
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin is unlikely to speak with an independent counsel hired by Alaska lawmakers to review the firing of her public safety commissioner, a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday. Democrats charged that the McCain campaign was trying to stall the investigation. “The partisan presidential campaign of McCain/Palin has interfered and is picking partisan targets to smear in order to make this investigation look like something it isn’t,” said Patti Higgins, chairwoman of the Alaska Democratic Party. “Rather than cooperating with the investigation, the Republican presidential campaign is doing everything it […]
HEAR YE: DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same. As it. Ever. WAS. EDITOR’S NOTE: Rolling Stone asked me to cover the opening night of the David Byrne tour at Zoellner Arts Center in Bethlehem tonight. The tour ends November 8th at the Tower. Standby for a complete report. WIKIPEDIA: In December 2007, David Byrne announced on the BBC Radio music show, The Weekender, that he was working with musician/producer and former collaborator Brian Eno on a brand new album of “proper songs”, describing it as a “completely different thing” from My Life […]
WHO KILLED WALL STREET: Phil ‘Stop Whining’ Gramm, McCain’s Econ Advisor/Belarus Ambassador
MOTHER JONES: As the news broke of the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the rest of the latest financial crisis, John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, angrily declared, “We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. This is a failure.” And in a statement released by his campaign, McCain called for greater “transparency and accountability” on Wall Street. If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm. […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Acclaimed novelist and essayist David Foster Wallace, 46, was found dead in his home Sept. 12; reports attribute his death to suicide. His 1996 novel Infinite Jest was a critical and popular success, while in recent years he has written short-stories and nonfiction. And he wrote a celebrated Rolling Stone profile of John McCain in 2000; it was revised and this year as McCain’s Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express With John McCain and a Whole Bunch of Actual Reporters, Thinking About Hope. Wallace was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1997. Fresh Air remembers him with an […]
SEE YOU ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON: Pink Floyd Keyboardist, Rick Wright, Dead At 65
ASSOCIATED PRESS: LONDON (AP) — Richard Wright [pictured, far left], a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died Monday. He was 65. Pink Floyd’s spokesman Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member’s family did not want to give more details about his death. Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965. The group’s jazz-infused […]