10
Oct
2007
Every child in Davenport gets a big chunk of a college education paid for. The city's police and fire departments get a new stream of revenue. Paying for it all is an existing tax. While property taxes would likely rise modestly for a few years, they'd be back below current levels by 2014.
And the ultimate goal is a growing community with a larger tax base, which in the long run could mean more money for schools and city services with lower property-tax rates.
Who could possibly be against that?
On
"Puttin' People on the Moon," the Driver-By Truckers'
Patterson Hood sings a litany of tragedies personal and regional:
"Mary Alice got cancer just like everybody here / Seems everyone I
know is gettin' cancer every year / And we can't afford no
insurance, I been 10 years unemployed / So she didn't get no chemo
so our lives was destroyed / And nothin' ever changes, the cemetery
gets more full / And now over there in Huntsville, even NASA's shut
down too."
Protectionists
claim that free trade is bad for America - that increasing imports
of goods means increasing exports of jobs, thereby gutting our
economy. This notion could only be valid in a zero-sum world with a
fixed number of jobs, where one country's gain would be another's
loss; in fact, though, the number of jobs, both at home and abroad,
is locked into a clear uptrend. New businesses and industries
continually emerge in the never-ending attempt to satisfy humankind's
insatiable wants. We can never run out of jobs.
It's a woman's world in two upcoming CD tribute projects that benefit breast-cancer support and awareness. Later this month New Jersey's Face Down Records will release About a Girl, collecting cover contributions from Philadelphia-area artists taking aim at songs with a woman's name in the title. AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" is found within, covered by Beretta 76, as is the Jukebox Zeroes' spin on The Sonics' "Cinderella" and the Creeping Weeds' hand at Arthur Alexander's "Anna." With proceeds benefiting the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, the disc also includes covers of Elvis Costello's "Allison," Weezer's "Suzanne," The Kinks' "Victoria," and the AM-radio nugget by The Looking Glass, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)."
On
its new album, Silver Storms,
the Philadelphia-based quintet The A-Sides has crafted a striking mix
of ephemeral, elusive pop in the vein of The Shins; meaty,
arena-ready guitar parts; half-speed songs with patient crescendos;
upbeat power pop; and surprising accelerations.
The
newspaper headlines were just what Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted
last week.
