BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
WAR GAMES: How Sarah Palin Got Hacked
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska’s governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate. The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply. The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration’s use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago _ […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The Bush administration’s global anti-terrorism campaign was meant to prevent another terrorist attack on the United States. But journalist Jane Mayer says that policies like extraordinary rendition — whereby suspected terrorists are transferred to countries that allow harsh interrogations not permitted under U.S. law — have compromised American values. Mayer cites that case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who spent nearly a year in a Syrian prison after being deported from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport during a layover. Mayer has written for The New Yorker on what she calls “the outsourcing of torture,” on […]
REVIEW: Old Crow Medicine Show
BY DAVE ALLEN The fellas in Old Crow Medicine Show might look like shaggy hipsters, but they’re steeped in Appalachian string-band tradition and exude down-home soul. The band’s latest, Tennessee Pusher, strays only slightly from their roots as the boys holler and yearn about the seedier side of Appalachia. The sound of the band’s all-strings lineup – fiddle, double bass, slide guitar, and a banjo/guitar hybrid called a guitjo – is thinned out slightly on Pusher. Where it previously packed a fervid intensity, with plenty of hard-pickin’ and double bass-thumping so heavy you’d swear they had a drummer, there’s now […]
HOT DOC: Not In Our Name
Dear Friends: We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but the joke has really been on us, hasn’t it? Are you as sick in your stomach as I am at the thought of Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States? Since Palin gave her speech accepting the Republican nomination for the Vice Presidency, Barack Obama’s campaign has raised over $10 million dollars. Some of you may already be supporting the Obama campaign financially; others of you may still be recovering from the primaries. None of you, however, can be happy with Palin’s […]
TODAY: Time To Make The Donuts Rock The Vote
Rock the Vote’s Voter Registration Campaign has Reached an Unprecedented 1.5 million & Counting… NEXT STOP: “The Road Trip ‘08” concert at Community College of Philadelphia WHO: Artists: Talib Kweli, Solange, The James Gang. Featuring special appearances by Joe Pantoliano, Ken Swift of the Rock Steady Crew and Max Kennedy WHERE: Community College of Philadelphia – Winnet Courtyard 1700 Spring Garden St. WHEN: Thursday, September 18th, 2008 Time: 3pm WHY: 2008’s election stands to be remembered as the most historically significant and hotly contested race in many years. As such, promoting Rock the Vote’s mission to “engage and build the […]
OBAMA: Fundamentals Of Our Economy Are UNsound
Obama campaign ad: “Plan for Change” HUFFINGTON POST: Obama’s improved fortunes are relieving an epidemic of Democratic anxiety from Beverly Hills and South Central Los Angeles to the Upper West Side and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Recent fears among Democratic activists have been based on a brief spate of polls. After holding a relatively consistent lead for five months, Obama, two weeks ago, suddenly looked vulnerable. In six out of seven national polls conducted from September 5 to September 11 and tracked by RealClearPolitics, McCain led: Over the past six days, however, Obama appears to be regaining his footing, […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
REMAIN IN THE LIGHT: David Byrne, Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA, Last Night ROLLING STONE: Byrne uses bodies in motion to advance the ambiguous narratives his multi-cultural rock — think of it as modern dance for people who don’t like modern dance. [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA]
EARLY WORD: Liberation Is Our Occupation
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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 […]