FRESH AIR As head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Jack Goldsmith led the team of lawyers that advises the presidency on the limits of executive power. During his tenure, he battled the Bush White House on the now-infamous “torture memos,” as well as on issues of surveillance and the detention and trial of suspected terrorists. Goldsmith resigned his post after nine months. He’s speaking publicly for the first time about why he resigned in a new memoir, The Terror Presidency — which also recounts what he witnessed in Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital room, when Alberto Gonzales and […]
MAILBAG: ‘They Are Not Prisoners’ At WHYY
Dear Phawker, What a lame group of so-called ‘dedicated’ WHYY employees. These people claim they believe in the cause. “However, we’ve willingly decided to work for less, knowing we are contributing to a god [good] cause, a cause we strongly believe in.” Yet they contradict themselves throughout this letter. First they say that their CEO and COO have “contributed to an atmosphere of low morale, virtually no teamwork or cooperation between departments, and an overwhelming feeing of distrust between senior management and the rest of the company” What do they think they are doing sending things like this to the […]
PAPERBOY:Keepin It ‘Gayngsta’ Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right — these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
MEDIA: Columbus Dispatch Runs Nazi-Esque Cartoon
The thought that apparently DID NOT occur to the Columbus Dispatch‘s Op-Ed page editor when he/she green-lighted this frickin’ piece of work would have sounded something like this: Hmmm…Comparing an entire nation of people to cockroaches scurrying out of a drain is a little too close for comfort to the Nazis depicting Jews as scurrying vermin in The Eternal Jew. And the whole thing is made doubly offensive given Ahmadinejad’s disgraceful Jew-baiting and Holocaust revisionism. Hmmm…maybe this is a bad idea. [image via CROOKS & LIARS] * LOCAL ANGLE: “There is only one way forward that might possibly build on […]
AUTHOR, AUTHOR: Rick Moody Q&A
BY MAVIS LINNEMANN BOOK CRITIC Rick Moody tackles the hallucinatory pathologies of American paranoia in Right Livelihoods, a collection of three thematically-connected novellas. Each story centers on a paranoid protagonist who serves as unreliable narrator and as a result, the reader spends an awful lot of time wondering just what the hell is going on — which only adds to the ultra-vivid realism and disconcerting familiarity of it all. Add to the mix varying degrees of alcoholism and a drug that helps you recover memories, thwarted obsession and intra -office subterfuge, and a bomb that flattens Manhattan from The Hudson […]
CONFETTI BETTY: Dirty White Boys
By the time I arrived back in New Jersey — where, by the way, we know from this kind of thing, from the years of whispered is-he-or-isn’t-he to the dramatic press conference to the shell-shocked wife looking on — Sen. Larry Craig was reconsidering his decision to step down and now says he plans to stay away from D.C. Even here in the Jerz, where our to-the-left attitude is part drag queen, part gangsta lean, people are like, “Yo, good luck with all that.” I never thought I’d say this, but compared to the what the folks in Idaho are […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Bastille Day At WHYY
September 1, 2007 An open letter to William J. Marrazzo, CEO and President, WHYY Dear Mr. Marrazzo, We are a group of WHYY employees with an accumulation of 109 years of service. Many of us have worked for a number of CEOs over the years, but never has someone with your title and responsibilities impacted the company in such an adverse way. You have displayed a serious lack of understanding when it comes to creating an environment that is conducive to a healthy work place. This letter is to inform you of the growing negative climate created during your ten […]
UNAMERICAN ACTIVITIES: Federal Judge Strikes Down The Patriot Act, Calls It “An Ominous Free Pass To The Hijacking Of Constitutional Values”
BY DAN EGGEN OF THE WASHINGTON POST A federal judge today struck down portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional, ordering the FBI to stop issuing “national security letters” that secretly demand customer information from Internet service providers and other businesses. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled that the landmark anti-terrorism law violates the First Amendment and the Constitution’s separation of powers provisions because it effectively prohibits recipients of the FBI letters (NSLs) from revealing their existence and does not provide adequate judicial oversight of the process. Marrero wrote in his 106-page ruling that Patriot Act […]
FRINGE REVIEW: Flamingo Winnebago
Hey Jonathan, Yeah, wasn’t able to make the Flamingo Winnebago [pictured, below] or after-party at the Starlight… Before you throw your hands up in exasperation let me explain. By the time the show (Painted Bride) came around was beer buzzed and sort of “ripe”. ie, hadn’t showered in about a week. Don’t think it would have been good to show up in that kind of condition. (Not necessarily “drunk”, far from it, but *way* too stale/body odor smelling. We can work out the cash advance return payment at a later date.) Did see the “8-ball” guy on Sat. for about […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
YOU’RE LIVING ALL OVER ME: Dinosaur Jr., Trocadero, Last Night [SLIDESHOW] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Perhaps the first sign you are ‘getting on’ is the startling realization that, despite your heretofore vehement protestations to the contrary, you are quite simply not immune to nostalgia. While the nostalgia of preceding generations may have been sepia-toned, Rockwellian tableaus or the Brylcreem’d cheeseburgers in paradise of American Graffiti, these days nostalgia looks like a long-haired dude in a ski cap and a droopy metal tee worn semi-ironically, a la Seattle 1991. Such is the vibe of Dinosaur Jr.’s comeback album and […]
KILLADELPHIA: Reader Writes
DEAR PHAWKER, Gregory Paige was my little cousin. He just turned 18 years old a month ago. He was with 2 friends that he trusted and treated very well. They shot him to death that night..for what you ask ? they took his life for a chain.. a chain that he wore tht they were jelous of.. a chain that they wanted and that they thought was more important then my cousons life.. my cousin had a good heart.. always with a smile on his face.. loved his family and friends..but just got together with some really bad people.. some […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Executive producer and actor Jeff Garlin and actress Susie Essman discuss the upcoming season of the HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Garlin plays Larry David’s affable best friend and agent. Essman plays Garlin’s wife and as such is known for her vitriol, no-nonsense attitude and foul mouth. PLUS, The evangelist minister D. James Kennedy and broadcaster played a critical role in the rise of conservative Christianity. Kennedy founded the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida, which now has 10,000 members. His radio and TV shows were broadcast around the world. Kennedy stated that one of his goals […]