Armed Forces

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Open service

Repeal of military's gay ban moves forward
A deal between the Obama administration, congressional Democrats, and the Pentagon that will repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law banning homosexuals from serving openly in the US military was approved last week by the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee, though action by the full Senate may not come for months.
By KEGAN ZEMA | June 02, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Voice of the County

Travis James Humphrey gets local in Nashville
How boys who grew up a few miles from each other in the County wound up making a record together in Nashville is one of those vagaries of the music business that will never make sense.
By SAM PFEIFLE | May 12, 2010

Afghanistan: Just say no!

Plus, Obama and the Nobel
The idea that the war in Afghanistan has reached a critical junction, a “now-or-never” moment that requires an additional 40,000 troops to win, is rubbish.
By EDITORIAL | October 14, 2009

For those about to lock

Somerville's champion lockpicker Schuyler Towne can't be stopped.
It's too bad Skip Gates didn't have Schuyler Towne's cell number on that fateful day last month. If he did, the Somerville-based lockpicking champ likely could have gotten in to the good professor's home in no time at all, and a national controversy (and international beer summit) might have been averted.
By IAN SANDS | August 05, 2009

Photos: The Old, Weird America exhibit at DeCordova

The Old, Weird America : Folk Themes in Contemporary Art at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
The Old, Weird America at the DeCordova
By DECORDOVA SCULPTURE PARK AND MUSEUM | June 16, 2009

Soldiers committing suicide

US troops are killing themselves in record numbers
On July 22, 2004, unable to handle the intensity anymore — the daily vomiting, the feeling that he was a murderer — Lucey wrapped a garden hose around his neck and hanged himself.
By JASON NOTTE | March 17, 2009

We could be heroes . . .

Superlative sobriquet overused as blanket term for all military members
With all due respect to David Bowie's lyrics — and certainly to all the men and women in the military at all levels — the concept of "hero" as it pertains to the media's use of the term has sadly become overblown.
By PHILLIPPE AND JORGE | February 11, 2009

Providence lawyer plays pioneering role in suing terrorists

National Security
The use of Predator drones and covert Special Forces teams is bound to be satisfying for many victims of terrorism.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 21, 2009

Review: Waltz With Bashir

Dancing on the edge
The so-called anti-war-film genre has lately "distinguished" itself with a flurry of Iraq-war flops featuring earnest polemics.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 13, 2009

Review: The Human Condition

Kobayashi's 10-hour epic
Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi (1916-1996) always stood up to the established order
By BRETT MICHEL | December 22, 2008

PS3, please

Resistance 2 deserves a shot
Sony's Resistance , a PS3 shooter, is getting lost in the shuffle.
By MADDY MYERS | December 12, 2008

Two many Americas

Could an Obama administration mean an end to the red-state/blue-state divide?
It's worth reminding ourselves that when the Republicans are out of power, they go apeshit.
By MIKE MILIARD | November 14, 2008

Excerpt: The School on Heart's Content Road

One week only: an exclusive excerpt from the acclaimed author's new novel
In the cold parlor of the St. Onge farmhouse, deep in the old collapsing couch, sort of wrapped in the couch, in its waves of whimpering springs and hills of upholstery of frazzled blue nap, are 15-year-old Brianna and Gordon.
By CAROLYN CHUTE | November 14, 2008

Defy Shepard Fairey

Letters to the Boston editor, November 7, 2008
There is nothing radical about Shepard Fairey. There is nothing guerilla about Shepard Fairey.
By | November 05, 2008

McCain’s crooked talk on torture

Critics, including a local former army interrogator, say he’s trying to play both sides of the issue
It might surprise some that McCain’s record in opposing torture and the Bush administration’s terror-war approach is more complicated than his comments suggest.
By IAN DONNIS | September 18, 2008

Body politic

Interview: Anna Deavere Smith contains multitudes
Anna Deavere Smith is a writer/actor/activist who listens.
By IRIS FANGER | September 02, 2008

Khrushchev calls conflict a matter of protecting Russians

Georgia
At press time, Russian President Dmitry edvedev declared a halt of military operations against the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
By PETER VOSKAMP | August 14, 2008

Civil service

Sid Meier brings Revolution to the people
The upshot of all this building and scheming is that you can turn Paris into an Aztec city and settle Fyodor Dostoevsky in Tenochtitlan.
By RYAN STEWART | July 21, 2008

Reality bites

Will Obama make good on his plan to exit Iraq by 2010? Don’t bet on it.
The war in Iraq has been on the back burner of the American political scene for some time.
By EDITORIAL | July 09, 2008

The friends of Jack Kelly

In the end, the adventure killed him
This article originally appeared in the July 4, 1978 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By DAVE O'BRIAN AND TOM SHEEHAN | July 08, 2008

The wages of war

The creators of The Wire take on Iraq in Generation Kill
The Iraq War poses a strange problem for the American public.
By ADAM REILLY | July 07, 2008

What about McCain’s mental health?

Campaign 2008
While some worry about the impact of John McCain’s age on his physical health and his potential longevity in office, others are more concerned about his mental health.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | July 02, 2008

A night in Guantánamo

Staying in a replica cell, with no waterboarding included
I’d volunteered to spend the night in the replica cell (which is modeled on the ones at Gitmo) because we’ve all heard stories about unlivable conditions at Gitmo but can’t come close to imagining what it must be like.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 18, 2008

Spy games

Alan Furst’s “Night Soldiers” novels
The gray afternoon, the loveless assignation, the endless bureaucracy.
By CLEA SIMON | June 10, 2008

Rage against the machines!

Could robots take over the world? In many ways, they already have.
We’re on the cusp of a perilous era. Our pitiful carbon bodies are evolving much slower than the silicon and steel gizmos we’re inventing. And the guys in the lab coats and pocket protectors are starting to worry we’ve opened Pandora’s hard drive.
By MIKE MILIARD | May 28, 2008

Twenty years pass, RI stays the same

Acclaim for dubious deeds is an Ocean State mainstay
Phillipe + Jorge were graciously asked to recall Rhode Island’s Monthly’s first dubious achievement-style Rhode Island Red Awards, as chosen in 1988 by your superior correspondents, during the mag’s 20th anniversary gala last week.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | May 07, 2008

Local heroes 2008

Ramon Martinez, Bill Harley, Ren Whitaker, and Bob Fusaro
In this, the eleventh annual edition of the Providence Phoenix’s “Best” issue, we highlight people and organizations who are doing exceptionally good work.
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF | April 17, 2008

Trapped in Iraq

After suffering through the Petraeus hearings, it’s time for Congress to take responsibility for our sinkhole war.
Watching the Senate Armed Services and the Foreign Relations Committees question Iraq proconsul General David Petraeus about the status of the war was a disturbing experience.
By EDITORIAL | April 09, 2008

Running toward truth

A fast-paced spy thriller explores the ambiguities of wartime
The first wave of current-war fiction is washing up on American shores, and Alex Carr’s The Prince of Bagram Prison is a prime example.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | April 09, 2008