EDITORIAL: No Matter What Rush Limbaugh Is Talking About — Iraq, Football, Yummy Oxycontin — It Always Seems To Come Down To ‘How Scary Black People Are’

“We’re concerned with death here. We’re concerned with body counts. We’re concerned with the breakdown of law and order. [inaudible] Insurgencies, gangs, whatever you want to call them. They’re out of control in major American cities, and Philadelphia is just one example, and where are the hearings on this? Oh, I know. Senator [Joseph R.] Biden [D-DE] and Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi [D-CA] are too busy trying to weaken the commander-in-chief so we can’t win the war in Iraq. They are not only invested in defeat, they can’t allow victory. They simp — politically, they cannot allow it. Four-hundred-and-six Philadelphians murdered […]

VIET-NOW: These Are People Who Died

[Click Image To Enlarge] In January more than 1,900 people — soldiers, security officers and civilians — were killed in the insurgency in Iraq, up from 800 in January 2006. Many corpses showed signs of torture, meaning the victims were probably killed by religious and tribal death squads. [Source New York Times] HORSEFEATHERS: Rush Limabaugh Compares Philly Murder Rate To Baghdad, Wonders Where The Outrage Is, Almost Like He Cares, Almost [Audio]

FILM: ERASERHEAD NOW 1977-2007

BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC By now, after 10 feature films, assorted shorts and TV’s weirdest nighttime soap, we have mapped many of the dark recesses of the psyche of writer/director David Lynch. We know just what provocations push his buttons. We can relax into a comfort zone now while Lynch unleashes his expected tropes — the bugs twitching underground, the violent sex, the ironic old pop songs, the flashes of gore and morphing identities. Yet somehow, despite his mannerisms becoming ever more familiar, the years have done little to dull the effect of Lynch’s debut masterpiece, 1977’s sleepwalking vision […]

OBAMA TO MEDIA: STOP HURTING AMERICA

Illinois Senator Barack Obama made a plea for a positive campaign, insisting that the “reality tv show” mentality fed by the 24-hour news cycle is “not why we are here.” Describing America as being in a “sobering place” Obama said this is “not a contest; it is a serious moment for America. The American people understand that. Every candidate will have something serious and valuable to offer. Campaigns should not be about making each other look bad but about how we can offer something good for this precious country of ours. Our rivals won’t be each other or the other […]

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

FRESH AIR WITH TERRY GROSS Cultural historian Christopher Frayling is the author of Once Upon A Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone, a large-format, beautifully illustrated book that chronicles the history of the spaghetti western. Frayling tells the story of the movie genre and the iconic director through researched text and interviews with Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Eli Wallach. Frayling is rector at London’s Royal College of Art and a professor of cultural history. He is also chair of the Arts Council of England. He’s known for his broadcast work on the BBC and has written more […]

Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?

Today we are handing out nothing but lollipops and sunshine, because EVERYBODY wins this week! To wit, simultaneously strong cover art and, rarer still, strong-ass cover stories from both CP and PW this week. And in a curious coincidence, both tackle the drug issue from intriguing angles. CP’s Jeff Deeney reminds us that a fool and his coke whore are soon parted, especially when you rack up $16,000 on your credit card. (Here’s an idea: how about you find a girlfriend and buy a case of Red Bull instead, hmmm?) Yeah, the story states the obvious, but readers LOVE following […]

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

FRESH AIR WITH TERRY GROSS Thirteen journalists have been murdered since Russian President Vladimir Putin took office. The Kremlin is widely believed to be behind some of those and other recent murders. On the next Fresh Air we talk with MICHAEL SPECTOR about his recent New Yorker article, “Kremlin, Inc.” Why are Vladimir Putin?s opponents dying? PLUS MOLLY IVINS remembered. Liberal political columnist Molly Ivins died yesterday at the age of 62. In her long career, she wrote for newspapers such as The Texas Observer and The New York Times, and her columns were widely syndicated. These interviews originally aired […]

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

FRESH AIR ON WHYY Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, has just issued his quarterly report investigating waste, fraud and security problems in the reconstruction efforts. PLUS, Former FBI Agent Eric O’Neill and Director/Screenwriter Billy Ray have collaborated on the new film Breach. It is based on the true story about FBI operative Robert Hanssen who was found guilty of treason and the FBI agent (O’Neill) who was assigned to Hanssen to draw him out of deep cover. RADIO TIMES Is America prepared to compete in the future global marketplace? A new study says a radical overhaul of […]