September 2010
120 posts
Metropolitan Opera Racking Up Expenses On 'Ring... →
Opera lovers are buzzing that the enormous cost of the upcoming productions of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” could bankrupt the Metropolitan Opera, which ran a $4 million deficit this year.
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Ellen Galinsky: We Need Play-cations, Not Just... →
It’s Labor Day Weekend—the last weekend of summer before we plunge into fall. Hurricane Earl swept up the East Coast, missing us, but bringing cold biting winds that, even amid the bright…
Tony Blair Cancels Book Signing Over Protests →
LONDON — Tony Blair on Monday canceled a planned public appearance in London to promote his new memoir over concerns about potential disruption from protesters.
The former British prime minister…
Venus Williams' U.S. Open Outfit: Short, Skimpy &... →
Venus Williams’ latest U.S. Open outfit is drawing plenty of attention. The tennis superstar showed up at the Grand Slam event Sunday in a skimpy pinkish red outfit — hardly the first time she…
Shoya Tomizawa Dead: Teenage Rider Killed At Moto2... →
MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy — Motorcycle racing endured its second tragedy in eight days Sunday, this time at the San Marino Grand Prix.
Shoya Tomizawa became the second teenage rider to die in the…
Eric Margolis: MIDEAST PEACE TALKS A CRUEL CHARADE →
On 2 Sept, 2001, in a newspaper article, I wrote: “America’s strategic and economic interests in the Mideast and Muslim world are being threatened by the agony in Palestine, which inevitably…
Larry Ashmead Dies: Successful Book Editor Dead At... →
A 9-year-old boy once visited his local library in Rochester to hear a mystery writer read from her book. But what particularly thrilled him was to learn that the author had a day job as an editor…
Denver Bike-Sharing Program Looks To Expand →
Denver’s bike-sharing program is rolling along with plans to add four B-cycle stations downtown in the next few weeks.
“The goal is to have 50 stations by fall,” said Brent Tongco, communications…
'Work' On Labor Day 2010: Stunning Photographs... →
“CHARLES LEDRAY: workworkworkworkwork” brings together over 25 years of remarkable work by Mr. LeDray, an artist who makes meticulously detailed, handcrafted work presented at an unexpected,…
Dan Persons: Cinefantastique Podcast: 2010 Summer... →
It’s a special Labor Day edition of the Cinefantastique Podcast. Eschewing the usual round-up of news and reviews, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski provide their assessment on the…
Van Der Sloot Admits Extorting Holloway's Parents:... →
AMSTERDAM — The Dutchman charged with killing a 21-year-old Peruvian woman and suspected in the disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway has acknowledged extorting money from Holloway’s…
David Woolner: FDR and Labor: Earning Our Way Out... →
In a recent editorial in the New York Times, former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich, writes that this Labor Day promises to be one of the worst in decades. Organized labor, he notes, is down to a…
Darrelle Revis, Jets Agree To 4-Year Deal →
NEW YORK — Revis Island is open for business again – just in time for the New York Jets to start their Super Bowl run.
All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis and the Jets agreed in principle to a…
Glenn W. Smith: Right-Wing Voter Suppression... →
A right-wing group in Houston engaged in a systematic voter suppression and intimidation effort used a doctored photo in its showcase video. Tellingly, a hand-lettered sign carried by an…
Labor Day Poems: The Poetry Foundation Favorites →
The Poetry Foundation By Becca Klaver
For the United States’ 129th Labor Day, we bring you a variety of poems, podcasts, and articles—some meditate on work, while others evoke restful,…
Linda Hallman: Want to Pay Tribute? Then Pay... →
The 23-cent average difference between men’s and women’s pay isn’t simply about fairness. This long-standing pay disparity hurts our nation, too. This serious problem needs immediate Senate action.
Basque Separatist Group ETA Declares Ceasefire →
MADRID — The armed Basque separatist group ETA, under pressure from political allies to renounce violence and decapitated repeatedly by the arrests of its leaders, announced another cease-fire…
Renata Sellitti: Unemployment Blues →
Jobseekers can’t always convince their friends and family to understand their situation, but they can let go of their frustration while holding onto hope. Finding that peace will make things better.
Obama To Push For Research And Development Tax... →
WASHINGTON — Seeking ways to spur economic growth ahead of the November elections, President Barack Obama will ask Congress to increase and permanently extend research and development tax credits…
Fareed Zakaria: America Overreacted To 9/11 →
Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat?
Read More… More on Terrorism
Alemayehu G. Mariam: Ethiopia: Indoctri-Nation →
The Ministry of Indoctrination
This past week Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education issued a “directive” effectively outlawing distance learning (or education programs that are not delivered in the…
Byron Williams: Is this really what we want to... →
Nadia McCaffrey, who lives in Tracy, CA, knows the pain that most parents can only think of in fleeting terms. The magnitude of the loss is too great to even contemplate.
Six years ago, Sergeant…
Jim Luce: Evil in America? U.S. Fundamentalist... →
One need not journey to the mountains of Afghanistan or Pakistan to discover evil. We have our own home-grown variety of dangerous extremism here in Florida. The Dove World Outreach Center in…
Michael Roth: Labor Day and the Start of the... →
As students plan their courses for the fall, and as faculty plan their curricula, how should we connect the reality of labor and unemployment to the broad liberal learning we so value? Read…
Alan Elsner: New Cello-Piano Duo Brings Insights... →
I’m generally suspicious of national stereotypes but a new CD recording of cello and piano works by Russian composers illuminates and gives life to the concept known as the “Russian soul.” The…
SHORT AND TWEET: Top 5 Tweets Of The Week From The... →
Short and Tweet, our weekly series, brings you the newsiest, most buzzworthy tweets of the past seven days. What’s in store this week? Kanye West issues a (lengthy) Twitter apology, Ashton Kutcher…
Iraq Combat Continues: Despite Formal End, U.S.... →
BAGHDAD — Days after the U.S. officially ended combat operations and touted Iraq’s ability to defend itself, American troops found themselves battling heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi…
Tariq Aziz, Saddam Confidant: I'll Die In Prison →
BAGHDAD — The man who once served as the international face of Saddam Hussein’s regime predicted Sunday that he will die in an Iraqi jail, citing his old age and lengthy prison sentence.
During a…
Regina Weinreich: Rock Star Envy: Alec Baldwin and... →
Did I detect a note of jealousy at Guild Hall where the Q&A following the screening of Last Play at Shea? The documentary traces the demolition of the famed ball park and home of the Mets through…
Future Hiring Will Mainly Benefit The High-Skilled →
Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay – or none…
Victoria Jones: Wow! Newsweek and Globe Tabloid... →
So President Obama might just as well be one. A Muslim, that is. Why not? What’s the worst that can happen politically? Armageddon in November for Democrats? That’s already bubbling up nicely. Not…
Obama Suffers Opinion Poll Fallout From Iraq,... →
Obama’s approvals began high like Bush’s but have now cratered dangerously close to Lyndon Johnson’s when he abandoned a reelection bid.
Read More… More on Afghanistan
Sunil Sharan: Enemy in Need can be Friend Indeed →
Come hell or high water, India and Pakistan’s leaders continually nose-thumb one another. Each snub is met with a counter-snub; every kindness by suspicion and prickliness. Memories of ghosts past…
Michael Giltz: DVDs: Friday Night Lights Scores... →
I don’t give a hoot about football — high school, college or otherwise — so believe me when I say Friday Night Lights Season Four ($29.98; Universal) is a very satisfying TV drama with one of…
Peter Dreier: What Kind of Capitalism? →
This Labor Day, America seems to be holding its breath, trying to decide what kind of society it wants to be. Many Americans are wondering whether the country has lost its ability - or our…
U.S. Quran Burning Sparks Indonesia Protests... →
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Thousands of Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on Saturday to denounce an American church’s plan to mark the anniversary of the 9/11…
Deepwater Horizon's Blowout Preventer Pulled From... →
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — A crane hoisted a key piece of oil spill evidence to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, giving investigators their first chance to personally scrutinize the…
Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup →
This week brought more depressing economic news, with the “underemployment” rate rising to 16.7 percent, and the White House considering a stimulus lite package of tax breaks. We need to keep…
Robert Schimmel DEAD: Comedian, 'Howard Stern'... →
PHOENIX (AP) — Standup comic Robert Schimmel, a frequent guest on Howard Stern’s radio show, has died after suffering serious injuries in a car accident. He was 60.
Schimmel’s spokesman, Howard…
Florida Foreclosure Courts Rush Despite... →
Earlier this year, Florida earmarked $9.6 million to set up foreclosures-only courts across the state, staffed by retired judges…. lawyers representing troubled borrowers contend that many of the…
Scott Cairns: Who's to Blame for Human Suffering? →
I daresay that if the innocent suffer they do so because one of us — you or me or some other thug — now or in the past has set their pain in motion. Read More… More on Christianity
Neil Zevnik: To Beef or Not to Beef: Musings of a... →
“To beef, or not to beef - that is the question…” Okay, so Shakespeare is twitching a little in his grave right now; but punning aside, this is a valid and hotly-debated question in food and…
Rabbi Sid Schwarz: Genesis 22: Abraham's "Return"... →
Many commentators focus on the way that Abraham’s faith is tested when God asks him to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. But there is another, very different lesson that we can draw. Read More…
Dr. Logan Levkoff: Sex Week Comes Under Fire:... →
The latest attack on sex comes from Margaret Brooks, in her Chronicle of Higher Education article entitled, Sex Week Should Arouse Caution Most of All. Even the Washington Post picked up on…
Holly Cara Price: Rubbernecking: Project Runway... →
As we re-enter the wacky world of the Runway Projectors this week, we’re treated to Michael D in bed chirping “Good morning” followed by, “it’s like being trapped in hell.” Which reminds me I’ve…
7 Spookiest Buildings In The World (PHOTOS) →
Has a building ever given you the creeps? It could be a beautiful church, an office building, a small cottage…and you might not be able to put your finger on why, but something about it was just…
Bristol Palin Tells Jay Leno: 'I'm Not... →
Bristol Palin was on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on Friday night and Jay asked her about her new gig on “Dancing With The Stars.” She said she doesn’t have much dance experience, to which…
Reese Witherspoon & Boyfriend Jim Toth Go Running →
Reese Witherspoon and her boyfriend, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, go for a run together on Friday morning (September 3) in Santa Monica, Calif.
[CLICK THROUGH FOR PHOTOS]
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Louis C.K. Talks Terrible NYC Public Schools... →
Hilarious comedian, “Louie” star, and recent drunk tweeter Louis C.K. went on “The Tonight Show” last night, and dished out some material on his two daughters’ NYC public school. C.K. told some…
Lisa Rinna's Bikini Tweet Homage To Demi Moore... →
Lisa Rinna tweeted a photo of herself in an animal print bikini and sunglasses this week, days after similar pics from Demi Moore surfaced, seen below right.
Rinna tweeted the below left…