Bush League
“Wrong Again.” Lest we forget: Most of those “revelations” in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s recent CIA report about pre-Iraq war intel failures were actually known even back when Bush was peddling his preemptive strike. In his column in The Nation (Aug. 2-9), Eric Alterman argues that misconceptions such as the exaggerated threat posed by Saddam…
Quick Cash? No Interest, Says City
Payday lending and check cashing outfits typically charge customers about $17 for every $100 they lend, with payment due in two weeks. That’s equivalent to a credit card company charging more than 400 percent annualized interest. The companies argue that they serve cash-poor people who suffer temporary inconveniences, like car problems or minor home repairs,…
The Jeffersons
“If I was up there choking Arlen Specter, it would have made the news,” says Larry Davis Sr. “Can the city read something positive on men and fathers for once — and not just on Father’s Day?” Davis was “up there” on stage in Washington, D.C. on June 22 to receive one of 40…
Up in Smokestack
The Greenpeace protestors who climbed a Greene County smokestack have been spared federal prosecution, at least for now. As detailed in a July 8 column (Potter: ‘Stack the Deck,’), a half-dozen protestors scaled the Hatfield’s Ferry smokestack June 23, then hung a banner protesting the Bush administration’s energy policy. When the protestors returned to…
A Liberal Dose
Pity the poor liberal. Having won most of the major legislative and judicial battles of the 20th century — from pure-food laws to Roe v. Wade — and having moved the hearts and minds of Americans toward tolerance and diversity, this bedraggled creature has spent more than a generation on the retreat. Call him a…
Typhoon New Thai Cuisine
Location: 242 South Highland Ave., Shadyside. 412-362-2005 Hours: Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner, Sun.-Thu. 5-10 p.m., and Fri.-Sat. 5-11 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups and salads $5-12, entrees $14-20 Fare: Contemporary Thai Atmosphere: Understated elegance There’s been a lot of talk of late about political consolidation here in Western PA. Call them crazy, but some…
Appoint-Counterpoint
Sooner or later, everyone who criticizes the wisdom of our leaders hears the same retort: “If you know so much, why don’t you run for office, smart guy?” Well, here’s one reason: Getting elected is for suckers. Just ask the five guys appointed by Harrisburg to sit on the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, a panel…
A Conversation with Daviea Davis
Daviea Davis is a mother and artist who makes mosaics and teaches classes out of her home. She starts her day by yelling “Ugh!” from the front door. She lives in Edgewood, which is fitting, because every day she treads the edge of sanity, the edge of financial ruin, and the edgy, painful/joyful path of…
House Painting
Time after Time, Time and Time Again, This Time — the word is littered through song lyrics like discarded digital watches. In architecture, by comparison, the issue of time is less immediately visible, though time is the thing that drives the interpretation of both architecture and art. Just look at Clayton as portrayed in the…
Kings of Convenience
Your relationship to the Kings of Convenience is probably inversely proportional to your feelings for, say, Pabst Blue Ribbon, hockey fights and Baywatch: Chances are slim that PBR will soon be marketing its wares with the Kings’ “Stay Out of Trouble.” (Although Volvo could call any day.) Since this Norwegian duo made waves in Ibiza’s…
Nashville Bluegrass Band
To country music’s outlaw souls — derided for their dedication to self-destruction, their disruptive musical tendencies, their inability to kowtow to the hit-makers ranks — it means the same thing Washington, D.C., means to a Southwestern politician. To Japanese tourists, flocking to the Station Inn and Ernest Tubb’s record shop, it’s the cradle of American…
The Slackers
New York City’s long-reigning ska and reggae champions The Slackers didn’t need their years surrounded by “A” patches and exed-out flag buttons on the Warped Tour to teach ’em about mixing pop and politics. Nah, the Slack was well familiarized with Max Romeo’s War Inna Babylon, with Burning Spear’s “Slavery Days,” with Desmond Dekker, who…
Catwoman
Tangled up in this mid-summer hairball is a mystical Egyptian mau cat, killer makeup, heady confusion about female empowerment, and a Best Actress Oscar-winner down on all fours. Meow! That frantic scratching at the door means Catwoman, the much-sniped-about superheroine action flick about a feline ass-whupping avenger, wants in. Meek Patience Phillips (Halle Berry)…
Napoleon Dynamite
The fact that an amusing title sequence and a poignant last 10 minutes are the best parts of Jared Hess’ Napoleon Dynamite shouldn’t necessarily deter you from seeing it. I’m not exactly sure what should, but I’m pretty sure it’s something. In the parlance of his movie’s target audience, Hess’ titular character is a…
My Mother Likes Women
Let there be no mistake about the source of the central conflict in the brazenly titled My Mother Likes Women, a Spanish movie co-written and co-directed by Daniela Fejerman and Inés Paris: This is the story of Sofia — a concert pianist, and the mother of three grown daughters — and what happens to her…
