Fun around town, for $10 or less: Of Course It’s Free: "Neither Red nor Blue: The Libertarian Party in 2008 Election" featuring Bob Barr and the Cato Institute's David Boaz at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch), 6:30PM. $9 Calmer: Intro to Buddhist psychology and meditation presented by the Menlha Buddhist Center at the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia (1906 S. Rittenhouse Sq), 7PM. $10 Buried: Buried Beds, These United States, and The Mural and......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Is the Pope Muslim?: Two professors address the question ''Are American elections truly democratic?'' at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch), 6:30PM. Free Delightful: Screening of Garden of Earthly Delights at International House (3701 Chestnut), 7PM. $7 Depressing and Fishy: Screening of the documentary Red Gold: The Last Great Salmon Run on Earth at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S 18th), 7PM. Free Got a frugal tip? Don't......

I loved Ray Bradbury's writing from the first time I read The Martian Chronicles, and once I picked up Fahrenheit 451, the images of those burning books never quite left me. In these bizarre times, I'm grateful that the Rosenbach is marking Banned Books Week with Authors of Mischief, a juried artist exhibit featuring contemporary artists' books on themes related to banned books, censorship, and control. The exhibit will be on display at the Rosenbach......

Yesterday, local Jewish leaders criticized a poll performed by the Republican Jewish Coalition that targeted 750 Jewish voters in swing states, including 150 in Pennsylvania. It sounds like the thing was a push poll that was attempting to convince voters that Obama is pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. Authorities issued a warrant yesterday for Dorien Oberlton's arrest in the case of Tuesday's vicious beating of Eric Derrickson in an underground subway concourse. Several witnesses came forward to......

Sources say that Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter will announce at a 1PM press conference today that Foxwoods Casino has made an agreement with the state and the city to move its long-delayed slots parlor, originally planned for the South Philadelphia waterfront, to the Gallery at Market East. In January, former President Bill Clinton will replace former President George H.W. Bush as chairman of the National Constitution Center. Bush suggested Clinton as his replacement and......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Unnatural: The Chimeras, Captain of Industry, Busses, and Anti Emz at the Khyber (56 S 2nd), 8PM. $8 If It’s Not Funny, At Least It’s Free: Open Mic Extravaganza featuring 20 up-and-coming comics at Helium Comedy Club (2031 Sansom), 8PM. Free On the Eve of the Olympics: Film screening and discussion about the relationship between the United States and China with journalist Elisa Rubin at the National Constitution......

Yesterday a Delaware County trade-school instructor mistakenly left his 14-month-old grandson in the backseat of his sweltering car in the Lawrence Park Shopping Center while he went to work for several hours in Broomall. Apparently he typically picks the child up in the morning and takes him to day care, but yesterday he forgot the boy was with him, and only realized his mistake when he came back in the afternoon to get something out......

Yesterday Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey fired four police officers and disciplined four others for taking part in the infamous videotaped beating of three shooting suspects. "Students from four Philadelphia-area high schools are meeting at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia today, with other students videoconferencing from as far away as Louisiana, to discuss issues in the presidential election and create a student agenda for the candidates." As promised, Governor Rendell announced the highest......

"No - no words. No words to describe it. Poetry! They should've sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful..." - Ellie Arroway, talking about the amazing spring day we have here in Philadelphia. OPEN STAGE NIGHT AT COMEDY CABARET You know the deal. Show up and pound a few so you can convince yourself that people want to see you try to sing or be funny or do that weird thing where you put......

Have you been outside yet? It's raining Mondays! BASEBALL: THE MELTING POT It's as good a day as any to discuss some baseball. The National Constitution Center will host this event, emceed by Jayson Stark and including speakers on topics including the Negro Leagues and Japanese baseball. With the summer creeping up on us, it's not a bad idea to look back at the beginnings of a sport that has displayed many of the......

The Eagles' 2008 schedule has been released, and one of the more exciting games will be the one they'll they'll play at home versus the Arizona Cardinals on Thanksgiving night. It will be nationally televised on the NFL Network. (Via Sarah) Barack Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, was apparently well received when she spoke at a rally at Haverford College yesterday. A new Daily News/Franklin & Marshall poll has Clinton still in the lead with......

TV critic Ellen Gray at the Daily news takes a look at last night's Colbert Report, filmed right here in Philly, featuring appearances by Mayor Nutter and Benjamin Franklin. We have incredible amounts of news today related to the Pennsylvania primary. First off, applications for absentee ballots have to be in no later than 5PM today. Clinton is announcing a "major endorsement" at noon today at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. Obama admitted to......

Because Obama's speech was delivered to a private audience in the middle of the day on Tuesday, many of you may have missed it. Phillyist contributor Warren Longmire posted his thoughts on the speech that day, complete with a link to a video of the speech found on Huffington Post. Because the speech is still making headlines, we wanted to take the opportunity to embed it in its entirety here. We are not posting this......

Editor's Note: We mentioned Mr. Colbert's impending visit to our fair city yesterday (and announced a contest, no less), but Phillyist Joshua felt this historic event deserved more in-depth coverage. Enjoy! If we’re to trust Hillary Clinton’s supposition that It Takes a Village, wouldn’t logic then dictate that a nation could get the job done faster and with far more efficiency? Philadelphians will soon have the chance to witness that theory in action up close......

History is something modern Americans often seem to view only in the past tense. Between the structured playtimes of our youth, the constant barrage of class and after-class activities through school and our busy 40+ hour work weeks, often it’s hard to remember what happened last week, let alone the effects of our past and impact of our present. Our only release often comes in the form of ironic cynicism, rendering statements like “history-making” at......

Commissioner Charles Ramsey has ordered an Internal Affairs investigation into how the suspect that cops had cuffed and put in the back of a patrol car somehow drove off in the vehicle on Sunday. It appears that the suspect "slipped his hands under his feet and then squeezed through an opening in the Plexiglas panel separating the back and front seat." The question is, how was he then able to start the car? A police......

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On Saturday, members of the Philadelphia Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), set off to march twenty-five miles from the National Constitution Center to Valley Forge National Historical Park, "to show support for veterans and service members testifying at Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan," an IVAW event occurring in Washington, D.C. March 13-16. The event gets its name from a quote by Thomas Paine, who said that winter soldiers are those who......

Today is another irresponsibly light day when it comes to Can't Miss This! fare. It's not that we don't love you, it's just that we are very popular and everyone wants to spend time with us and, some days, it gets out of control. Like today. So, here's the short-and-sweet skinny on what you should do tonight instead of staying home to defragment your hard drive. Nerd. THE LEGACY OF 1808: THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Iron Ladies: The Independent Television Series presents Iron Ladies of Liberia, a documentary of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, followed by a discussion at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch), 6:30PM. Free Jazz Premiere: Famed jazz-pianist Dave Burrell performs four new works, all inspired by the works of poet Marianne Moore, at the Rosenbach Museum (2008 Delancy), 6PM. $5-8 Crashers: Fatal Seduction, a Dumpsta Players production, wherein celebrities crash......

We guess that your reading this means that you survived Monday. Good! We started you off slowly, and without much vigor, so let's see if we can step things up a bit tonight. We have kink, espionage, and poetry. What more could a Phillyist reader ask for? VALERIE PLAME WILSON - FAIR GAME: MY LIFE AS A SPY, MY BETRAYAL BY THE WHITE HOUSE Remember when journalism and government conspiracy combined to create the sensational......

The Inquirer has the highlights from Nutter's first crazy day as Mayor, and they also take a look at his "almost impossibly ambitious goals for Philadelphia." Nutter's first act as Mayor was to declare that Philadelphia has a "crime emergency," for which our new police commissioner has only 22 days to develop a strategy. A high-profile area World War II veteran who has served as a frequent speaker, museum advisory board member, and reunion......

A college student died in West Chester over the weekend from an unusual strain of meningitis called meningococcal meningitis, which is not one of the five or six strains covered by the vaccine recommended for college students. The death has prompted some fear and panic in the area, but only two people have been identified who had close enough contact with the student to warrant antibiotics. The source of the student's infection remains unknown. News......

Films: Mojave Phone Booth, Just Sex and Nothing Else Future Screenings: Mojave Phone Booth: Sunday, April 15, 9:30PM, National Constitution Center Just Sex and Nothing Else: No future screenings scheduled Who knew how exhausting sitting in a series of darkened rooms for a few hours at a time a piece could be? I don't think I've been this tired since I was trying to wrap up my senior thesis! At least the films I saw......

This weekend, I caught a couple of films at the National Constitution Center. It was cold, but since it's technically spring, and it was a holiday weekend, the tourists were out in throngs on Saturday. Yeah, yeah. We all know tourists can be rude and annoying. They blow those stupid duck whistles up and down the streets. They complain loudly about things they don't like or approve of. They act like, since they're here spending......

Films: Boy Culture, Monkey Warfare (with "The Saddest Boy in the World") Future Screenings: Boy Culture: Monday, April 16, 9:30PM, The Prince Music Theater Monkey Warfare: Sunday, April 8, 3PM, The Ritz East My day didn't go as planned, at all: it was a series of missed connections and plan cancellations. That's okay, though. It meant seeing two films, when I wasn't planning on seeing any. The first, Boy Culture, was actually screened at the......

Time to gear up, people: the 16th Philadelphia Film Festival starts tomorrow! As we did last year, Phillyist is planning plenty of coverage, mostly taking the form of film festival diary entries from various staff members (including, of course, yours truly, whose schedule can be seen here, in case you're interested). But what's going on this year, and what should you look forward to? Well, we're glad you asked. Let's pick through the overview press......

Senators Arlen Specter and Robert Casey Jr. held a joint hearing on Mentoring and Community Based Solutions to Delinquency and Youth Violence in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center on Monday. The Inquirer article talks about the hearing in general and how the community leaders there decided mentoring is indeed a good short-term solution for preventing crime. Meanwhile, the Daily News article focuses on what school district head Paul Vallas had to say at......

Clearly in reaction to the whole dust-up around the potential sale of that Eakins' masterpiece by Thomas Jefferson University, Mayor Street is proposing strengthening Philly's historic preservation law in order to stop valuable art from leaving the city. Will Smith and Dr. J might own the Sixers by the end of the year. That kind of warms our hearts a little. The union and our favorite Philly papers have reached a tentative agreement on the......

Once in a while, our awesome skyline adds a little variety by changing the lighting scheme on a whole bunch of buildings. Our four tallest skyscrapers - One and Two Liberty Place, the Mellon Bank Center, and the Bell Atlantic Tower - will spend their October nights wearing bright pink in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The shift normally happens on October 1st, but since it falls on a Sunday this year,......