Nearly half the U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were targets of Republican complaints that they were lax on voter fraud, including efforts by presidential adviser Karl Rove to encourage more prosecutions of election- law violations, according to new documents and interviews. Of the 12 U.S. attorneys known to have been dismissed or considered for removal last year, five were identified by Rove or other administration officials as working in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud — Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; New Mexico; Nevada; and Washington state. Four of the five prosecutors in those […]
GAYBO: Holy Franz Ferdinand! SERBIA WINS!
TOMMY ZANE REPORTS: HELSKINKI, FINLAND — Marija Serifovic [PICTURED, LEFT] and her big Balkan ballad, “Molitva (Prayer)”, won the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest amid stormy accusations of incestuous country voting (don’t ask) to influence the results. When questioned at the winner’s press conference how she felt about her legion of gay and lesbian fans, Serifovic was pleased to hear congratulations, but stopped short of confirming speculation of her own sexuality. Ukrainian drag star, Verka Serduchka, came second with his rollicking accordion disco anthem, “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”, upsetting the Russian government which understood the song to mean “Russia Goodbye”. While hordes […]
HIZZONER ’07: Stay Parochial, Philadelphia!
[Click image to activate Internet] DAILY NEWS: Knox campaign manager Josh Morrow said neither Knox nor the campaign had anything to do with the flier. “We would never, ever, do anything like that, and whoever did it isn’t doing us any favors,” Morrow said.
ARTSY: THE PARIS HILTON AUTOPSY
EDITOR’S NOTE: When we heard the news that Paris is ‘dead’ and the autopsy is open to the public, we put our best Girl Friday on the first Chinatown bus up to New York to get the 411. Phawker Assistant Editor (and newly minted Temple University graduate!) Eva Liao just got back from Williamsburg where she shot the ‘corpse’ and did a video interview with the artist, Daniel Edwards, and got the lowdown on how the Paris Hilton Autopsy is intended to serve as a cautionary tale for young girls that emulate the fun-loving heiress. Sure, that bus ticket set […]
TOM FERRICK: A Referendum For Change?
In fact, if we all try hard enough, we can envision an end to the decline in the city’s fortunes and a revival of political integrity and civic activism.This election could offer proof that there is a constituency for a Philadelphia that is neither corrupt nor contented. That we can be a city that draws new people and new jobs, an ancient urban place that is still brimming with vitality — with more to come. Hope is a fragile thing, but it’s out there, in the neighborhoods in the suddenly crowded streets of Center City, among the new and old […]
MUMIA: It’s Do (Over) Or Die Time — Again
BY EMILE LOUNSBERRY INQUIRER STAFF WRITER On July 3, 1982, a Philadelphia jury took just four hours to sentence Mumia Abu-Jamal to death for murdering Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Nearly a quarter-century later, Abu-Jamal has remained alive through a series of appeals. His bid to escape the death penalty is now at a critical stage. The case will be argued this week in the region’s federal appeals court, and if Abu-Jamal loses, Philadelphia’s most controversial death-row inmate will be in imminent peril of lethal injection. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit […]
Supporters Of Fort Dix Six Need To Work On Media Relations Skills, Assault On DN Photographer Not Helping With ‘Wouldn’t Hurt A Fly’ Defense Strategy
ALL SIX MEN arrested in an alleged plot to massacre soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in South Jersey were ordered held without bail yesterday at a hearing in federal court in Camden. U.S. Magistrate Joel Schneider said the men posed a danger to the community and might flee if released. DAILY NEWS: Judge Says ‘Bail? No Fuckin’ Way!’ SAY CHEESE: Unidentified man attacks Daily News photographer Alejandro Alvarez outside Federal Courthouse in Camden, yesterday.
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION + WILCO Together at last! This is like a public radio wet dream come true. Around che Phawker, we listen to Prairie Home Companion with a geeky regularity uncommon for people not yet in assisted living situations, and we sure loves us some Wilco. Rebroadcast at 2 PM Sunday on WHYY 91FM. The new and wonderful Sky Blue Sky drops Tuesday — expect one of those insufferable long-ass Valania navel-gazers on the topic any day now, and don’t forget to check out ED KING’s ‘live review’ of Sky Blue Sky — but in the mean time, you […]
FUJIYA & MIYAGI: Ankle Injuries
Hat tip to Citizen Mom.
VIET NOW: Howls Of Protest When ‘War President’ Goes To ‘Peace College’ In The Land Of Rolling Rock
LATROBE, PA — The normally tranquil campus in the lush hills of western Pennsylvania has been riveted by a lively discussion over whether the choice of Bush as graduation speaker was appropriate in light of the school’s peaceful Benedictine traditions and the president’s policy in Iraq. Ronny Menzie chose to join a protest on the road to the college instead of standing with her fellow graduates. “I didn’t finish my thesis because I didn’t want my graduation with him,” said Menzie, 35, a philosophy major. “I think it’s a blight, an embarrassment on a Catholic college.” Some 30 current and […]
REVIEW: The Wind That Shakes The Barley/28 Weeks
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (2006, directed by Ken Loach, 127 minutes, U.K.) 28 WEEKS LATER (2007, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 99 minutes, U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I was about 14 years old when I finally stopped going down to the newsstand to pick up my weekly batch of superhero comics, and aside from a few exceptions for work by Frank Miller or Alan Moore, I’ve never looked back. I’m told there is still some imaginative writing still going on in comics, and I’m not saying my fantasies today are any more mature, but the dream […]