PRO PUBLICA: For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire. The peer-reviewed study [1], published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate [2] over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks. The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas […]
DEENEY: How I Got Blackballed From Radio Times
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JEFF DEENEY On Thursday May 19th, WHYY’s Radio Times was going to air a segment featuring me and a local psychiatrist talking about the alarming rise of PCP in Philly’s black and Latin communities and the massive social costs associated with a drug that can prove ruinous to chronic users’ mental health. You would have heard first hand accounts from the inpatient director of Einstein Medical Center about the steady stream of PCP-related involuntary commitments to the hospital’s psych unit, and the difficulties associated working with patients suffering from severe, acute episodes of profound drug […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt approached politician James M. Cox to offer him what should have been a cushy gig: the ambassadorship to Germany. But Cox turned down the job. Germany was unstable and violent — and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s paramilitary army had started to attack and jail thousands of its own citizens. The job remained open for months as candidates were summarily rejected. In early June 1933, Roosevelt’s commerce secretary suggested an alternative: William Dodd, a professor at the University of Chicago who spoke German and received his graduate degree in Germany. Roosevelt offered Dodd […]
THE EARLY WORD: Iraq & Roll
Baghdad metallurgists ACRASSICAUDA have survived Baathist dead-enders, al Qaeda goons and assorted jihadist jerks — but can they survive Fish Town? Find out Thursday when they rock Johnny Brendas, along with all-girl Metallica tribute band Misstallica.
REVIEW: Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee II
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Albums like Paul’s Boutique make men out of Boys, and in the process change the game. Coming on the heels of the critically acclaimed/commercially successful Licensed To Ill, Paul’s Boutique didn’t much impress Capitol Records, their label at the time, or for that matter anyone at the RIAA. Paul’s Boutique literally was the holy-baloney “I can’t believe you sampled Johnny Cash” mother lode debacle of the music-sampling century. It eventually established a harsh precedent for all future sampling, requiring artists to acquire permission, and invariably pay through the nose, before sampling anything. This arguably compromised the art […]
THIS JUST IN: R. Kelly Is Coming To The Mann
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] Just announced: R. Kelly at the Mann July 3rd with Keyshia Cole & Marsha Ambrosius. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. PREVIOUSLY: Platinum Until Proven Guilty PREVIOUSLY: The Last Tempation Of R. Kelly?
Spielberg In Town To Honor Comcast For Doing Something Nice And Un-Evil For A Change
[Photograph by RAY SKWIRE] ASSOCIATED PRESS: Spielberg was inspired by his 1993 Holocaust epic “Schindler’s List” to establish the Shoah Foundation, which gathers video testimonials from Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses to use as teaching tools for current and future generations. Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust. Today, the foundation’s Visual History Archive is one of the world’s largest video libraries, with nearly 52,000 testimonials from 56 countries and in 32 languages. Its goal is to provide the videos to scholars and educators as a way of educating young people about the suffering caused by xenophobia around the world. Roberts, […]
REVIEW: Cage The Elephant At The E-Factory
BY PELLE GUNTHER The best thing to come out of Kentucky since fried chicken, Cage The Elephant are a gang of punky, blues rockers currently wreaking their own brand of testosterone-driven, rock-havoc on the world. Currently they are as popular as they are obvious — I hear undigested chunks of Pixies, Janes, Pumpkins in the mix — but since when was that a bad thing in rock and/or roll? Their self-titled debut spawned three singles that charted in the top 5, and the new Thank You, Happy Birthday has been eagerly awaited at my house. Saturday’s Factory sold out lightning […]
WORTH REPEATING: Let Freedom Ring
“I believe we have to judge our society not by how we treat the privileged and the empowered, but by how we treat the silenced, the condemned, the undocumented, and all those whose views and rights are deemed inconvenient. The ACLU works tirelessly to uphold the promise of the Constitution, and I am proud to support their courageous and necessary work.” — OLIVIA WILDE
CINEMA: Hammer Of The Gods
THOR (2011, directed by Kenneth Branaugh, 114 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It’s the unofficial kick-off of the summer blockbuster season when it seems that a Marvel super hero epic arrives as dependably as Spring allergies. At this point the Marvel franchise can’t pretend to be a product of inspiration; Marvel characters are being forged into films like widgets on an assembly line. Past botched entries like Wolverine and Daredevil have kept expectations low, so it is a pleasant surprise to discover that the latest, featuring the intergalactic Norse God Thor, has been hammered into a pretty […]
Koch Brother Says Obama Deserves Zero Credit For Getting Osama, Calls Prez A ‘Hardcore Socialist’
DAVID KOCH: “I don’t think he contributed much at all. He just made the decision, it was obvious where the guy is. He was one of the worst terrorists organizing attacks on the United States. I mean, no president in his right mind would not approve that decision to go eliminate him. So he’s getting a lot of recognition and his polls have jumped up, but his decision was the easiest of them all. The real hard work was done by the intelligence and the SEALs.” MORE THINK PROGRESS: “Obviously, the SEALs did the work here. But making decisions is […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
[Artwork by ALEX PREISS] BY WILLIAM C. HENRY So, we finally got the scumbag. Am I happy? You bet your sweet ass I am! The only thing that could have made me happier would have been his being taken alive, shipped back in a cage, tried in a New York courtroom, found guilty, and publicly hanged (televised worldwide) at Ground Zero in front of a jeering crowd made up of every living relative and friend of every person who lost their life or suffered any harm as a result of the 911 attacks. I’d also have wanted a specially placarded […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Veteran journalist and writer Pete Hamill fondly remembers the nearly 40 years he spent working in the newsrooms at the New York Post and the New York Daily News. “[At the Post,] We had Murray Kempton [on staff,] who wrote like an 18th century restoration dramatist. We had Nora Ephron, who was a brilliant writer when she was a kid, walking into the city room. We had William F. Buckley in the paper,” he tells Fresh Air‘s Dave Davies. “These were not people who thought the audience was stupid. They thought the audience was smart and they wrote […]