NEW YORK TIMES: BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power. Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat. The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
THE FINEST HOUR: R.E.M., The Mann, Last Night [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA First time I heard “Wolves, Lower” live was at the Beacon Theater in New York City, and The Dream Syndicate opened. It was 1984 and Michael Stipe had hair down to his shoulders. The second time I heard it live was last night at the Mann Music Center, and Modest Mouse and The National opened. Hate to sound like Bill Murray reviewing movies he didn’t see on SNL back in the day, but The National? Didn’t see ’em, babe. I blame the traffic planner who […]
DAILY DOS: Last Night’s Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Enjoy. We do. Last night’s complete Colbert Report after the jump.
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Comedian Mike Myers has created a slew of memorable characters through his career: Dr. Evil, Austin Powers, Shrek, and Wayne’s World‘s Wayne Campbell all serve as cultural reference points. Now, Myers wants to add another indelible character to that list: The Guru Pitka. In his new comedy The Love Guru, Myers plays a spiritual guide charged with reuniting a hockey star with his estranged wife so that he can lead his team to winning the Stanley Cup. But The Love Guru may be too outrageous for some. Some Hindu groups fear that the movie promotes offensive stereotypes. Some […]
MEOW MIX: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner!
Last night’s Anderson Cooper 360 featured a lively, if baffling, panel discussion about what Michelle Obama’s racial identity is going to mean to her husband’s supposedly post-partisan, post-racial politics presidential run. At one point, Cooper asked his guest whether discussion is needed of the fact that while Barack’s multi-racial identity has been one of the campaign’s most important cultural signifiers, “her racial identity is less mutable”? Translation: He may be the Tiger Woods of politics but she’s a black woman from Chicago, straight up. Since DoubleSecretThesis-gate didn’t exactly catch fire, do we need to instead debate the cultural implications of […]
HEAR YE: R.E.M. Accelerate
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because back in the ’80s, everyone had an earring and a girlfriend who loved REM — that’s why. PREVIOUSLY: This IS Your Father’s R.E.M. PREVIOUSLY: Riddle Me This PROGRAMMING NOTE: Check back for a full report from tonight’s R.E.M./Modest Mouse/The National show at the Mann
I, SWINGER: Obama Now Leads In 3 Key Swing States
QUINNIPIAC POLL: With strong support from women, blacks and younger voters, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the apparent Democratic presidential contender, leads Arizona Sen. John McCain, expected to be the Republican candidate, among likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to simultaneous Quinnipiac University Swing State polls released today. This is the first time Sen. Obama has led in all three states. No one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the Electoral College. Results from the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University polls show: * Florida: Obama edges McCain 47 – 43 […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 Shot, 1 Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
INQUIRER: One man was killed last night and another man injured in an East Germantown shooting, police said. The slaying marks the 148th homicide in Philadelphia this year. There were 182 murders last year to date. Last night, officers responded to the 2100 block of Godfrey Avenue at 10:16 p.m. and found Jerrett Washington, 22, with a gunshot wound to the back. Nearby, police found a 19-year-old man suffering a gunshot wound to his arm. Washington was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 2:37 a.m. The wounded 19-year-old was also taken to Einstein where […]
REPORT: ‘There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes.’
After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account. —Maj. General Antonio M. Taguba (USA-Ret.), preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives REPORT: Broken Laws, Broken Lives shows the human consequences of harsh and unlawful US interrogation practices. This landmark report reveals the excruciating pain and continued suffering of men who, never charged with any crime, endured torture at US detention facilities […]
VALLEY OF SHADOW: Fear & Loathing In Francisville
BY JEFF DEENEY While everyone else was at City Hall for the press conference concerning the police raid of a Francisville building last Friday, I was on Ridge Avenue hoping to find my old friend Ms. Edna Williams, of the Mary Jane Enrichment Center. I wrote about Edna in a City Paper article about grassroots homeless services not long ago; she’s been serving the needy from her SRO between 16th and 17th streets on Ridge for about 30 years now. Edna’s seen Francisville’s fortunes rise and fall over they years, as it changed from a prosperous commercial hub in the […]
KILLADELPHIA: Graduate Critical After Shooting
PHILLY.COM: An 18-year-old man was shot in the back at 4:19 p.m., less than a half-hour after his graduation from Strawberry Mansion High School, authorities said. The shooting took place in the 1700 block of North Broad Street, where the high school’s commencement ceremony at Temple University’s Liacouras Center ended at 3:55 p.m. The man, whom police would not identify, is in critical condition at Temple University Hospital.
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR While his nicknames may be ever-changing, Sean Combs himself is immediately recognizable as one of the richest and most influential people in hip-hop. In the past few years, the rapper-turned-mogul has found two new projects to juggle in addition to producing records, designing clothing and managing restaurants: acting on Broadway and rocking the vote with his “Vote or Die” campaign. Combs starred in the stage revival of A Raisin in the Sun in 2004. A television adaptation was released on DVD in May.Combs talks to Terry Gross about his almost obsessive rehearsal process for that show, about losing […]