The latest Pentagon report on torture says there are new rules defining how the U.S. military should treat captives. But as a New York Times editorial, “Abu Ghraib, Whitewashed Again” pointed out yesterday, “Don’t ask what they are, because they’re classified.” And certainly don’t ask the Navy inspector general who wrote the report that approved […]

The classical music editor of The New York Times, James Oestreich, has backed out of this afternoon’s WNYC Public Radio Soundcheck broadcast, “The Naked Nexus of Music and Politics,” about the Vienna Philharmonic’s discrimination against women and minorities. He was scheduled to discuss the issue with composer Bill Osborne and musician Abbie Conant (below), outspoken, […]

Hammond Guthrie reflects: Then & Now (Again) Then we had: Zen inspired Beatitudes& Now we have: Wanna-be-Attitudes Then we had: FM — rock & roll and hot rods& Now we have: AM — talk radio and road rage Then we had: intellectual discovery& Now we have: video poker machines Then we had: free speech& Now […]

Question 1: What’s wrong with this picture? Answer 1: Nothing, unfortunately. It’s an undoctored photo in need of a Newsweek alteration. Question 2: Which part of Dear Leader’s anatomy is Ms. Mushroom Cloud measuring? Answer 2: His brain. (Shame on you vulgarians.) EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

So I was reading Eric Alterman’s blog item “Wolfowitz on the record, about a cocktail party Tina Brown threw in Washington the other night, and I kept getting the creepiest feeling. The author of What Liberal Media? had just outdone himself, proving once and for all there really is no such thing as the liberal […]

After Dear Leader’s nomination of U.N.-abuser John Bolton as the American ambassador to the U.N., what’s next? “Donald Rumsfeld to negotiate a new set of Geneva Conventions? Martha Stewart to run the Securities and Exchange Commission? Kenneth Lay for energy secretary?” That sneering question comes not from some sarcastic blogger like myself but from the […]

National Public Radio has caved in to pressure from the Museum of Modern Art and dumped a highly regarded arts reporter, artnet.com reports. The story, which has yet to appear in the print media, begins: Veteran art-news reporter David D’Arcy has been taken off the air by National Public Radio (NPR) after the Museum of […]

Finally something worth reading in TIME magazine. Have a look at this week’s cover package. It’s a story by Jeffrey Sachs, “The End of Poverty,” excerpted from his forthcoming book. But wouldn’t you know it? TIME offers a mere online tease. Access to the complete story is limited to the magazine’s subscribers. Sachs is trying to […]

With the arrival of the Vienna Philharmonic on Friday for three concerts at Carnegie Hall, the orchestra’s historic exclusion of women (not to mention its racist ideology) is to be discussed that afternoon on Soundcheck, the WNYC New York Public Radio talk show about music and culture. Invited to air their views about the orchestra’s […]

Hammond Guthrie points out that the Guardian in London has a weeklong series, beginning today, about Robert Crumb. And Robert Hughes explains his continuing relevance. “It was always such a treat when Crumb would appear late night al fresco at Enrico’s in San Francisco,” Guthrie messages. “If he knew you or recognized you from the […]

I’ve had my say about neocon Sufi Stephen Schwartz, and several Straight Up readers have had theirs. So here’s his say. It arrived in an email message. The header began: “I thought you were dead.” The message itself continued downhill from there. On the evidence I’ve seen, Schwartz has a faith-based belief in wishful thinking — […]

A reader who wrote earlier that the right-wing media has tried to sabotage “Million Dollar Baby” by giving away the ending sends this message: I sent a copy of my comments about the Weekly Standard article on “Million Dollar Baby” to a friend whose brother’s neck was broken in a classic diving board/swimming pool accident […]

Betcha never saw a correction like this one in the mainstream media. And you probably didn’t know who the funniest guys in the room were, either. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

For your viewing pleasure: a video clip of Bill Maher, Robin Williams, Leslie Stahl and Joe Biden on male prostitute-cum-White House correspondent Jeff Gannon. It’s old, but it’s good. (Click the DSL link.) If you don’t recall what that’s all about, here’s a reminder. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Frank Rich weighs in on Hunter S. Thompson in a column to run Sunday in the print edition of The New York Times. It’s already on the Times website here. A sample: Read “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72” — the chronicle of his Rolling Stone election coverage — and you find that […]

The item about Stephen Schwartz’s crackpot burial of Hunter S. Thompson continues to resonate: “I read his article on Thompson,” a Straight Up visitor writes. “It brought to mind the sound of an empty garbage can bouncing its way down a very long flight of concrete steps. It just bounced from declaration to declamation. It […]

Gawker took note of the Straight Up item about right-wing navel-gazer Stephen Schwartz laying his dead hand on Hunter S. Thompson. Our staff of thousands says thanks to Gawker for boosting traffic and welcome to all you newbies. So, while we have your eyeballs … “The 80s: 326 Years of Hip,” a group show of […]