The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved by Hunter S. Thompson The following essay was originally published in Scanlan’s Monthly, vol. 1, no. 4, June 1970. The text of this essay was taken from the book The Great Shark Hunt, Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1, Strange Tales from a Strange Time by Hunter S. Thompson (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979). I got off the plane around midnight and no one spoke as I crossed the dark runway to the terminal. The air was thick and hot, like wandering into a steam bath. Inside, people hugged each other and shook hands…big grins […]
CAUSE CELEBRE: Free Burma!
NEW YORK TIMES: “HITLER is alive in Burma” reads the words scrawled on a cardboard sign, held aloft by a sweet-faced Ellen Page, the “Juno” star, in a 90-second human-rights public awareness message that began showing on video-sharing Web sites last week. The spot is one of 30 produced for U.S. Campaign for Burma, starring celebrities like Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston. They will be distributed on Fanista.com, a social-networking and entertainment retail site, then passed along to sites like YouTube and Google Video every day for the next month. The goal of the campaign is to thrust the cause […]
HOT FOR TEACHER: Twenty-Eight-Year-Old Teacher’s Aide Cops To Affair With 16-Year-Old Student
DAILY NEWS: It was a “secret love” within the confines of North Penn High School in Lansdale. She told him she wanted to have sex with him this summer, according to the affidavit of probable cause. He already began making his moves on her in a darkened classroom while a movie played for students, the document read. But Michelle Zulkowsky, 28, a teacher’s aide with the North Penn School District, grew fearful of her “emotional connection” with a 16-year-old student in the English as a Second Language program. Zulkowsky’s internal alarm prompted her to blow the whistle – on herself, […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Author Junot Diaz won a Pulitzer Prize this year for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Set in both the United States and the Dominican Republic, the novel explores the complexities of living in two cultures at once, with prose that frequently mixes Spanish and English. Diaz previously published Drown, a collection of short stories about a growing up in the Dominican Republic and New Jersey. He struggled with writer’s block following that debut; writing and publishing Oscar Wao took 11 years. Diaz is a professor of creative writing at MIT. ALSO, rock historian […]
JOHN MCCAIN: 100 Years
DNC Ad on John McCain and Iraq: “100”
Dolphin Spotted Near Art Museum, Could Be Kahlo Fan
DAILY NEWS: The dolphin was following the fish and the police were following the dolphin – until they lost it near Philadelphia International Airport. Authorities think that the dolphin is not hurt, just hungry. It apparently followed a school of herring that was swimming up the Delaware to spawn and veered off into the Schuylkill, where it was spotted yesterday by the police Marine Unit near the Art Museum, said marine unit officer Anthony Kowalski. The falls at the Art Museum proved too much for the dolphin, so it turned around and headed back downstream, Kowalski said. The cops figure […]
COPS: Cult Killed Baby Found In Suitcase In S. Philly
DAILY NEWS: The religious cult that Ria Reshma Ramkissoon belonged to shunned health care and formal education. The leaders were known as “King” and “Queen,” and their followers called themselves “Prince” and “Princess.” They were forbidden to interact with loved ones outside the cult without a member’s supervision. And they may be killers. Two days after police found a dead baby stuffed in a suitcase hidden in South Philadelphia, Ramkissoon’s relatives in Baltimore await a phone call that they suspect will confirm their worst fears: that the infant is Ramkissoon’s 18-month-old son, Javon Thompson. Relatives fear that cult members starved […]
MILESTONE: ‘Mission Accomplished’ Turns Five
HUFFINGTON POST: Has it really been five years since we were treated to that breathtaking “Mission Accomplished” scene aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln? I remember watching the president’s plane approach the carrier that day as cable news anchors gushed about the sheer genius of the setting for its public relations power. They talked about the president’s bravery, his mastery of the moment, his leadership skills, his macho. But back then, my skeptical feelings were tremendously out of step. Everyone else in the traditional media lapped up the phony photo op like hungry kitties handed a bowl of warm milk. According […]
NEWS CLUES: Like An Escort Service For The Truth
THE WOOD OF THE SUICIDES: Convicted DC Madame Kills Herself A woman police believe to be convicted Washington escort service operator Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide, officials said Thursday. Police said the body was found in a shed near Palfrey’s mother’s home Thursday morning. There was a suicide note, but police did not disclose its contents or how she killed herself. Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington’s political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for […]
THE SLAVES OF PENNSYLTUCKY: Rendell Vows To Re-Emancipate The Slaves If It Comes To That
JOHN BAER: Senate GOP Leader Dominic Pileggi said that if Fumo actually believes a majority of the Senate would vote to reinstate slavery, “It’s hard to see how that wouldn’t require an apology.” I wouldn’t count on it. Unless it’s one of those “if I offended anyone” things. Besides, Vince is merely extending (though by some distance) Gov. Ed’s stated view that some Pennsylvania whites won’t vote for blacks. And Gov. Ed’s spokesman assures me that if the Legislature passes a slavery bill, the governor will veto it. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Fumo Confident That A Law Re-Instating Slavery Would Pass In […]
MEGADICK 2: Stay Classy Flyerdelphia
To The Editor, My son and I drove from Montreal to catch Monday night’s Flyers-Canadiens playoff game at the Wachovia Center. Your fans have many reasons to be proud of their city and team, but how they treat their guests at a sporting event is not one of them. As the game progressed, the level of threats and abuse heaped on us grew at an alarming rate. At one point, an unfortunate Habs fan had a glass of beer poured on her head, and her boyfriend thought it best for them to leave the arena. By the end of the […]