TORTURE IS A WAR CRIME! FIRE, DISBAR AND PROSECUTE TORTURE ARCHITECT JOHN YOO! RELEASE THE PHOTOS! PROSECUTE THE WAR CRIMINALS! EVENT: Press Conference and Waterboarding Demonstration When: Thursday, May 28th, 2009 4:30 PM Where: The Philadelphia Inquirer 400 N. Broad Street (Philadelphia, PA) — In the face of the Obama administration’s refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen (15) U.S. cities will hold visible protests to demand that the government make the […]
BOARD GAME: Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
MORE [h/t P. RYDDY] * THE WORLD CAFE As a child, Benjy Ferree dreamed of becoming an actor. After discovering his love of music, he moved to Washington, D.C., and began playing gigs at local clubs. Before long, Ferree’s vintage Americana music had caught the eye of a label, which put out Leaving the Nest, a folksy, acoustic and blues-filled album that won the singer many new fans. Ferree’s new follow-up, Come Back to the Five and Dime Bobby Dee, Bobby Dee, tells the tragic story of Disney actor Bobby Driscoll in song. Though he sticks to Americana, Ferree adds […]
GUNS N’ ROSES: Judge Acquits Gun Shop Protesters
MONICA YANT KINNEY: Twelve religious activists pulled off a legal miracle yesterday: They convinced a judge — who once worked for the Philadelphia Police Department, of all places — that it’s OK to break the law if the harm you cause is less than the harm you think you’re preventing.The unusual case pitted ministers, a rabbi, and one self-described professional “peacemaker” against James Colosimo’s eponymous gun shop on Spring Garden Street. So many people came to listen — 150 by my count — the trial had to be moved to a bigger courtroom. For six hours, a passionate prosecutor in […]
ALL THAT YOU CAN’T LEAVE BEHIND: Sniffing Out The Paper Trail Of Prez Obama’s SCOTUS Pick
NEW YORK TIMES: Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s judicial opinions are marked by diligence, depth and unflashy competence. If they are not always a pleasure to read, they are usually models of modern judicial craftsmanship, which prizes careful attention to the facts in the record and a methodical application of layers of legal principles. Judge Sotomayor, whom President Obama announced Tuesday as his choice for the Supreme Court, has issued no major decisions concerning abortion, the death penalty, gay rights or national security. In cases involving criminal defendants, employment discrimination and free speech, her rulings are more liberal than not.But they reveal […]
WICHITA LINEMAN: You Can’t Fight City Hall, But You Sure As Heck Can F*ck It Up With Your Car
KWCH: The surveillance video shows a Lincoln Towncar crashing through the East-facing doors of Wichita’s City Hall, barreling through the hall in an almost perfectly straight line. The car exits through the west side of the building, destroying security equipment and a revolving door, before stopping in the attached parking garage. MORE KWCH: A man who pleaded no contest to driving his car through Wichita City Hall has been sentenced to just over ten years in prison. No one was hurt in the crash. The crash in January of 2008 caused at least $200,000 in damage to city hall. MORE
SCIENCE: The End Of Baldness?
TELEGRAPH: A cure for baldness has come a step closer after scientists identified a gene that is connected to hair loss. The breakthrough should help scientists develop new treatments as well as help pinpoint early in life which men are likely to lose their hair. The Sox21 gene has in the past been shown to be linked to the formation of nerve cells, but the new study is the first to indicate its function in ensuring hair retention. Researchers made the finding during experiments on mice which, like humans, carry the gene. The scientists blocked the activity of the gene […]
THIS JUST IN: All Men Not Created Equal
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law. The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists say they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote. Although the court split 6-1 on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the justices were unanimous in […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
RADIO TIMES w/ MARTY MOSS-COANE BRIAN TIERNEY, Publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News senior writer WILL BUNCH discuss the issues around hiring John Yoo as a commentator for the Philadelphia Inquirer. 11:00 a.m. Call in number is 1-888-477-9499 IT’S OUR CITY: Will Bunch is the Philadelphia Daily News staff writer and blogger who raised hell when he found out that torture memo author John Yoo was now a monthly columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Seeking more information about all of this, I emailed the Inquirer’s editorial page editor, Harold Jackson, this afternoon. What exactly was Yoo’s arrangement with […]
RIP: Jay Bennett, Ex-Wilco, Dead At 45
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Multi-instrumentalist and former member of Wilco Jay Bennett died this weekend, according to a post on the website for Undertow Music Collective. He was 45. A cause of death was unknown. “We are profoundly saddened to report that our friend died in his sleep last night. Jay was a beautiful human being who will be missed,” read the update on Undertow. The company released his 2002 solo album, “Palace at 4 am (Part I).” Representatives from the label and management firm had not responded to requests for comment as of Sunday evening, but the Chicago Sun-Times reached […]
CONCERT REVIEW: mewithoutYou + Danielson
BY DIANCA POTTS mewithoutYou’s super sold out CD release show started off with Greensboro hip-hoppers Urban Sophisticates. Currently signed to Right Hook Records, the classy stylistics of MC Benton James rocked the Troc to the back beat of the act’s rock-funk jam band sound. A surprising opener for Tooth and Nail’s mwY, Urban Sophisticates’ squeaky clean but catchy “Head Nod Head Rock” got hands in the air and ample applause by the song and set’s end. Quickly thanking the crowd and the evening’s headliner, the southern sextet turned the stage over to New Jersey’s Danielson. Dressed alike in uniforms like […]
CONCERT REVIEW: St. Vincent’s Holy Soul Jellyroll
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Saint Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), was a missionary and logician. Annie Clark (1982- ), the American singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist who goes by the name St. Vincent, brings a missionary zeal to her current status as indie’s ambassador of goodwill from The Other Side. Likewise, despite all its head-spinning detours and U-turns, her music follows the pristine logic of a flowchart. Such was the case Thursday night when St. Vincent stunned a near-capacity crowd in the sweaty basement of the First Unitarian Church with a flawless recreation of selections from Actor, her just-released and deservedly hyped sophomore collection […]
SPECIAL EDITION: The Good News Flower Hour
Collateral News: The Good News Flower Hour #22 This week we examine the strange art of Donald Rumsfeld’s holy war. Enjoy. RELATED: This Sunday, GQ magazine is posted on its Web site an article adding new details to the ample dossier on how Donald Rumsfeld’s corrupt and incompetent Defense Department cost American lives and compromised national security. The piece is not the work of a partisan but the Texan journalist Robert Draper, author of “Dead Certain,” the 2007 Bush biography that had the blessing (and cooperation) of the former president and his top brass. It draws on interviews with more […]
CINEMA: Triple Play
TERMINATOR: SALVATION (2009, directed by McG, 130 minutes, U.S.) ADORATION (2008, directed by Olivier Assayas, 100 minutes, Canada) SUMMER HOURS (2008, directed by Olivier Assayas, 103 minutes, France) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Now we know why Christian Bale was so on edge.Terminator: Salvation has a-risen and it is just as joyless and relentless as Bale’s on-set demeanor. We’ve finally arrived at the apocalyptic desert war briefly viewed in the original Terminator twenty-five years ago and now we understand James Cameron’s wisdom in making this scenario a peripheral aside instead of the main course. Here is another blockbuster series reboot, […]