READING IS FUNDAMENTAL: The Books, First Unitarian, Last Night EVA SAYS: I was in New York this weekend and I couldn’t afford to get into the MoMa. It was either modern art or lunch — and I was really hung over so I picked the latter. Luckily, the nice guys in The Books — Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong — comped me a free press ticket, knowing full well what it’s like to be broke. And so, while I might have missed out on the Warhols and Calders, I did get to experience The Books live. In a […]
MUMIA: Prosecutors Want Rendell’s Wife To Recuse
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is seeking to overturn his conviction for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer, has objected to a move by prosecutors to recuse all judges on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from his case. Prosecutors said they wished to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, noting that the district attorney during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial was Ed Rendell, whose wife, Marjorie, sits on the Third Circuit. At a minimum, prosecutors have asked Marjorie Rendell to recuse herself. INQUIRER: Sawing Off One Of The Legs That Mumia’s Appeal Stands On
Mayhem On Penn Campus Ends As Cops Kill Carjacker
BY JOSEPH GAMBARDELLO & AMANDA RITTENHOUSE OF THE INQUIRER The university’s public safety office said events leading up to the shooting began about 11 a.m., when workers at a university garage near 32d Street and Convention Avenue confronted a man they saw trying to steal a Penn pickup truck. “I went back there and said to the guy, ‘This is my truck,’ and he said it was his truck,” said John McGuire, a parking department maintenance worker. “He had the truck running with the lights on. I chased him and he went back toward the elevators and ducked behind a […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
Cell Phone Video Of Virginia Tech Shooting
[NOT graphic]
Cadre Of Credible Conservatives Demands Attorney General Resign ‘For The Good Of The Country’
The two-page letter, written on stationery of the American Freedom Agenda, a recently formed body designed to promote conservative legal principles, is blunt. Addressed to both Bush and Gonzales, it goes well beyond the U.S. attorneys controversy and details other alleged failings by Gonzales. “Mr. Gonzales has presided over an unprecedented crippling of the Constitution’s time-honored checks and balances,” it declares. “He has brought rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm.” Alluding to ongoing scandal, it notes: “He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks just like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his shiny head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
DOPE, GUNS & FUCKING IN THE STREETS: Birds Of Maya, Closing Night Of Popped!, Fireman’s Lounge, Last Night BY SARA SHERR The most thankless job in the world is to be the band that plays the last night of a weeklong festival. Especially one on a Sunday night in the middle of a Nor’easter. But like fungus, the best rock n roll thrives in dank, dark places. Pissed Jeans, Total Fucking Destruction, and Birds of Maya basically gave both the weather and rocked-out indifference the middle finger and brought the beautiful noise. It also helps that the show was in […]
BREAKING: Gunman Kills 32 On Virginia Tech Campus; Gunman Dead, Death Toll Expected To Rise; ‘Worst Shooting Rampage In American History’
DEVELOPING… Gus Van Sant’s Elephant.
FILMFEST PICKS: End Of The Line; Woman On The Beach; Life & Lyrics; Dead Daughters; The Kovac Box
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC With the end of the second and last weekend of the Philadelphia Film Festival, I head into the last few days of screenings with that feeling of having finished a wonderful meal but still wanting to stretch and make room for dessert. I caught some pretty choice films this past weekend. I became addicted to the Black Lizard reprints of David Goodis’ pulp fiction novels in the late ’80s and have waited nearly 20 years to see the film he scripted and which was shot in his hometown of Philly, the 1957 film noir The […]
HIZZONER ’07: Ferrick Has It Down To Knox Vs. Fattah = Mayor Fattah
The Democratic campaign for mayor is now a race between two candidates: Chaka Fattah and Tom Knox. We predict one of these guys is going to win the May 15 Democratic primary, which means one of these guys is going to be the next mayor. That’s not to say the three other candidates – Bob Brady, Michael Nutter and Dwight Evans – are irrelevant. Indeed, they are tres relevant, but mostly in their effect on the top two candidates. INQUIRER: It’s a Black Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand RELATED: Nutter Surging In His Own Poll; Brady Hunting Elephants In […]
JUNK SCIENCE: Soy To The World!
BY ELIZABETH FIEND You wait and wait, eagerly anticipating your favorite time of the year, and suddenly, it’s here! April is National Soy Month, the most delicious month of the year! Soy is one hell of an amazing plant, one that’s been part of the human diet for over 5,000 years. But it’s much, much more than just veggie burgers. The soybean is also used as food for livestock and it has all the properties of petroleum — except unlike petrol, soy is biodegradable. Wow, doesn’t knowing that you could fuel up your car or feed your cow with it […]