BY MIKE WALSH I never met Joey Vento, but in 1986 I purchased a home about a block-and-a-half from Geno’s and the infamous cheesesteak junction (Wharton, S. 9th, and E. Passyunk). Back then, the intersection was popular, but it wasn’t the loud, crowded, 24-hour-per-day hotspot it is today. A large, stone church occupied one corner, and the other restaurants and shops you see today at the intersection had not moved in yet. The neighborhood was not in good shape in the mid-80s. Many homeowners had abandoned the neighborhood, and hundreds of single family homes had been converted to apartments. […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Confusion Is Next
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY We are going to learn a great deal about ourselves as Americans, and as human beings, between now and November 7th, 2012. We’re going to find out what our REAL underlying values are; about our humanity, our ethics, our true morals. We’re going to expose our collective intelligence, our ability to reason, our ability to analyze, our ability to interpret. We’re most likely going to reveal whether, as a nation, we believe in basic science or the bible-tells-us-so. We’re most definitely going to learn a great deal about our capacity for tolerance, understanding and compassion; and […]
WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME: A Conversation With Dana Priest Of The Washington Post
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Last December, The Washington Post published a multi-part investigative series by Dana Priest and William Arkin that attempted to quantify the astonishing growth of the security-industrial complex in the wake of 9/11 and found that the exact parameters of that massive expansion are effectively unknowable. The series, which has been expanded into book form and recently published as Top Secret America: The Rise Of The New American Security State, boils down to this: The national security state “has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: No More Pussyfooting, Barry
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY One of the biggest gripes I’ve had lately (like for the past three years) with this administration is its seeming total lack of an offense — the foresightful OR the reactive variety. As a matter of fact, at times it’s been enough to make this card-carrying progressive wonder just who’s side they’re on. Now, I know that a damn good defense can, and more often than not, does, win football games but unfortunately for us Democrats, history continues to prove that even an outstanding defense seldom if EVER wins in the political arena. To put it […]
GASLANDIA: Q&A w/ Fracked Author Seamus McGraw
BY ALEX POTTER Seamus McGraw recently published The End of Country, a heart-breaking expose of the unexpected/unintended consequences of hydraulic fracturing, or, “fracking,” on the lives of the people in the hinterlands of Pennsylvania who have lived off the land for generations. As the book points out, it is both a curse and a blessing that they live on top of the Marcellus Shale, the world’s second largest subterranean deposit of natural gas. Four years ago, McGraw knew nothing about natural gas or the controversial techniques for extracting it from the ground. Amidst financial turmoil, McGraw and his family agreed […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: No Accountability, No Peace
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY I just finished reading an excellent New York Times article by the Democrat governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer. In it he pretty much tells it like it is regarding how and why his state has managed to weather the biggest, most heinous financial fraud ever perpetrated on the American people better than most. I confess I haven’t researched all his assertions, but I damn well salute his attitude and incisiveness. It got me thinking about our federal junkyard dog, the GAO (Government Accountability Office), and to what extent it was performing its mandate. At first glance it would appear that […]
RIP: Vaya Con Dios Jose Vento
From our partners in media crime over at Scrapple TV.
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: 8 Candles On The Yellow Cake
BY WILLIAM C. Henry Remember that nondescript swath of Syrian desert that Dubya decided to remake into Arlington National East? Well, S U R P R I S E, we’re forty-six-thousand-American-troops-strong still there! And assuming you haven’t been paying much attention lately, I’m sorry to have to report that that cesspool-in-the-sand is still swallowing up American dead and dismembered at a rate of more than a score a month–and never mind that Iraqis themselves are being blown up by the scores EVERY DAY! It’s the dirty little debacle that just won’t go away. And, by all that’s right and just, its memory never will. THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND […]
The Other Reason We Vote Against Our Best Interests
THE ECONOMIST: Instead of opposing redistribution because people expect to make it to the top of the economic ladder, the authors of the new paper argue that people don’t like to be at the bottom. One paradoxical consequence of this “last-place aversion” is that some poor people may be vociferously opposed to the kinds of policies that would actually raise their own income a bit but that might also push those who are poorer than them into comparable or higher positions. The authors ran a series of experiments where students were randomly allotted sums of money, separated by $1, and […]
Christine O’Donnell Storms Off Set Of Piers Morgan
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: The trouble started when Morgan asked O’Donnell about a part of her book that discussed gay marriage. That’s when O’Donnell accused him of “borderline being a little bit rude.” O’Donnell repeatedly urged Morgan to drop the topic of gay rights, but Morgan would not back down, asking another question about the Pentagon’s repeal of its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Morgan at one point looked as though he was trying to hold back a smile, and insisted, “I think I’m being rather charming and respectful.” O’Donnell said the gay marriage issue is not relevant or what she […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY I don’t know about you, folks, but I’m flat out fed up with hearing about “what needs to be done” to turn the country around. Who DOESN’T know what it is that we have to do something about? I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with the “blame game”– from BOTH sides. I’m sick and tired of being preached to by the weak-kneed and the well-heeled in Congress. There isn’t a cupful of courage or compassion between them. But most of all, I’ve about had it with my PRESIDENT! Where is he hiding? Is he on […]
S&P: Tea Party Assholism Triggered Downgrade
POLITICO: A Standard & Poor’s director said for the first time Thursday that one reason the United States lost its triple-A credit rating was that several lawmakers expressed skepticism about the serious consequences of a credit default — a position put forth by some Republicans. Without specifically mentioning Republicans, S&P senior director Joydeep Mukherji said the stability and effectiveness of American political institutions were undermined by the fact that “people in the political arena were even talking about a potential default,” Mukherji said. “That a country even has such voices, albeit a minority, is something notable,” he added. “This kind […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Wages Of Austerity
NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Cameron was good at selling people on the idea of cutting costs, but he has failed to make the case for what and how to cut: efforts to increase university fees, to overhaul the National Health Service, to reduce the military and the police, even to sell off the nation’s forests, have all backfired, with the government hedging or simply abandoning its plans. In attempting to carry out reform, the government appears incompetent; it has lost legitimacy. This has prompted some people living on Kingsland Road to become vigilantes. “We have to do things for ourselves,” […]