FRESH AIR Ron Hansen has created worlds of sin in novels like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Desperadoes. His unsavory bandits have appeared on the silver screen and earned him critical acclaim. But priest and nuns have replaced outlaws in Hansen’s most recent endeavors: The novelist was ordained a Catholic deacon in 2007, and his writing reflects an increased devotion to the Catholic faith. His latest book, Exiles, tells the story of the sea tragedy that killed five German nuns and inspired Victorian poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins to write the poem, […]
DAILY DOSE: The Complete Colbert Report
Enjoy. Last night’s Daily Show With Jon Stewart after the jump. RELATED: TVNewser reports that E.D. Hill, who hosts “America’s Pulse” — and who raised many eyebrows this week after calling Barack and Michelle Obama’s fist-pound a “terrorist fist jab” — has lost her show.
WHY THEY HATE US: 80,000 South Koreans Protest Imported U.S. Crazy-Meat Force-Feeding
ASSOCIATED PRESS: SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president said Wednesday that his government will make a fresh start, hours after an estimated 80,000 people gathered in the South Korean capital in the largest demonstration yet against the planned resumption of U.S. beef imports. The government agreed in April to lift almost all restrictions that had been imposed on imports of U.S. beef over fears of mad cow disease. Opponents of the plan worry it does not do enough to protect citizens. Lee, a pro-American conservative, agreed in April just before a summit with President Bush to reopen the country’s […]
McCain In Town To Campaign For Third Bush Term
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] INQUIRER: Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP candidate, plans a town-hall meeting this morning at the National Constitution Center. [via Obama For America] McCain’s Gas Tax Holiday Would Cost Pennsylvania $330 million and 11,500 jobs. John McCain’s gas tax holiday would cost Virginia $330,462,939 in federal funding for local road and bridge projects and 11,493 highway related jobs. [American Road and Transportation Builders Association] State Highway and Transportation Officials: “McCain’s Gas Tax Holiday Would Devastate Highway and Transportation Programs;” Savings Would Be $28 For the Average Motorist. “Presidential contender Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has called for […]
ON THE DL: Santogold + Casablancas + Pharrell
DOWNLOAD: “My Drive-Thru” [MP3]
WORTH REPEATING: Why Rendell Will NOT Be Veep
[Photo by TED ADAMS] THE NEW REPUBLIC: A large, hairy bear of a man, Rendell would enliven Washington in a way that nobody has in years. He doesn’t double-talk when it comes to describing political reality. Like when he told me he would never consider being a U.S. senator: “It’s an incredibly easy job. They don’t do shit.” Like how he described his address to the Democratic National Convention in the 1980s: “Thirty seconds into my speech, it dawned on me that I could have been reading the best parts of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and it wouldn’t have mattered. … […]
CENSORSHIP: Comcast Won’t Run Ad Exposing Its Role In The Fascist Takeover Of The United States
SALON: Two weeks ago, the Blue America PAC submitted ads to numerous cable television stations, newspapers and radio stations criticizing Blue Dog Rep. Chris Carney (D-Pa.) for his support of a bill to expand dramatically the President’s warrantless eavesdropping powers and to immunize telecoms (such as Comcast) which broke the law in enabling the Bush administration to spy on their customers with no warrants. The ads also documented that several of the lawbreaking telecoms which would benefit most from the amnesty Carney advocates donated substantial sums to his campaign (with Comcast being the largest such contributor to Carney). The ads […]
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: 55th & Sickels
[Photos by JUSTIN ROMAN] BY JEFF DEENEY On the morning of February 15th neighbors found a Jane Doe laying riddled with stabwounds in broad daylight near 55th and Market Streets. The body was in a narrow, fenced in alleyway next to an abandoned building on the corner of tiny Sickels Street that runs from Market to Ludlow between 54th and 55th. Patrol cars and news vans swarmed the scene and helicopters hovered overhead. The police hung sheets from the fence to block the body from view but it was a Friday morning and school kids were already out and on their […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Women We Love
FRESH AIR In her new film, Savage Grace, the actress Julianne Moore plays the wife of the heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune, a middle-class woman who’s married up, but who craves more than the comforts money can buy. As her emotional neediness gets entangled with her son’s, boundaries of all kinds get broken — and a tragedy looms. The movie, based on the true story of a scandalous high-society murder, is playing now in limited release; Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers says “Moore delivers a tour de force … [she’s] savagely moving in her haunting delineation of Barbara’s journey […]
STRANGER THAN FICTION: Who’s Laughing Now?
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: The FDA and CDC first warned last week of dozens of people in nine states who had gotten sick after eating certain types of raw, red tomatoes. Now, the CDC reports that at least 167 people in 17 states have been infected with Salmonella Saintpaul, the salmonella strain involved in the current outbreak. Those 17 states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Salmonella bacteria can cause diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Serious and potentially fatal cases […]
ELEPHANT’S MEMORY: Petal Dead At 52
INQUIRER: The Philadelphia Zoo’s Petal — at 52, the oldest African elephant in a U.S. zoo — died yesterday morning. The animal staff was unable to determine the cause of her death. It did not appear to be heat-related, and an initial exam revealed no health problems, said Andrew Baker, vice president for animal programs. Tests are being conducted and results are expected over the next few weeks. In the wild, African elephants typically live to their early or mid-40s, Baker said. Baker said the elephant-care staff found Petal lying on her right side in her stall when they arrived […]
MIA: Number Of Cops On Sick Leave Skyrockets
DAILY NEWS: ON ANY given day, roughly 250 Philadelphia police officers are out of service due to on-the-job injuries. That’s more than 10 times as many as just a few years ago on a force that numbers about 6,600 officers. The drain on police manpower from “injured on duty” or IOD claims has skyrocketed since state legislators increased pay for injured officers and made it easier for them to resist returning to work. Police can now earn more by staying home than they can on the job. And if they disagree with a doctor’s finding that they’ve healed, they can […]