HARRISBURG – One House member wants to see all bills and amendments posted on the Internet before a vote. Another wants to give rank-and-file members a chance to get at least one of their bills to a committee vote each session. But, wait, there’s more: No more midnight sessions. End “ghost voting.” Eliminate the two-week legislative land rush known as sine die. Like wayward men and women who have suddenly found religion, the Pennsylvania state House is at long last embracing reform. Yesterday, one by one, House members – some freshmen, others longtime reform advocates – proposed ways to make […]
AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE OUT
PHAWKER RADIO: Yo La Tengo‘s AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE OUT Gregory Crewdson’s eerie photographs of suburbia at dusk require set-ups as elaborate as a film shoot. “My photographs are about the moment of transition between before and after,” he explains. “Twilight is evocative of that. There’s something magical about the condition.” The eerie effect of twilight crossed with strong artificial light — street lights, house lights, lights from the sky — is exaggerated by Crewdson’s choice of backdrop, which is almost always nondescript suburban America. He is not the first photographer to be drawn to twilight — “nature […]
VOTE FOR VETS Tells Specter Talk Is Cheap
By KYW’s Mike DeNardo An Iraq veterans’ group is launching an ad campaign urging some Republican senators — including Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter — to support a resolution condemning a troop buildup in Iraq. “I cannot support sending additional troops to Iraq.” That’s Sen. Arlen Specter on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” on CBS. But Jon Soltz, chair of the group called Votevets.org wants more. His group wants Specter to vote for a resolution condemning the buildup: “Arlen Specter is willing to say that he’s concerned about the president’s policies of escalation. But we don’t need talk, we need a vote.” Votevets […]
CRUEL INTENTIONS: Penn Animal Researchers Are #1!
A research watchdog group is calling the University of Pennsylvania the most prolific lawbreaker in the country for violating the Animal Welfare Act. The group is called “SAEN,” or Stop Animal Exploitation Now. Executive director Michael Budkie says his group analyzed inspection reports from the US Department of Agriculture for 2005 and found the University of Pennsylvania had the highest number of violations for problems involving lab animals: “During a nine-month period, the University of Pennsylvania violated the Animal Welfare Act 77 times, which is about twice a week.” Budkie says in comparison, the #2 violator had 27 violations. According […]
METAPHOR: IRAQ, THE MOVIE
[googlevideo]1120793438507203379&q=iraq&hl=en[/googlevideo] WARNING: This is awesome.?
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR WITH TERRY GROSS Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was elected to Congress at the age of 29 and served in the House of Representatives for eight years. He just began his second term as a Senator. He is a member of the Senate Democratic Leadership team, and sits on the Senate Finance Committee; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; and the Judiciary Committee. His new book is Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family At a Time. ALSO Before being elected into the U.S. Senate in 1994 Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) served in the U.S. […]
SEX PISTOLS: God Save The Queen
She ain’t no human bean!
VIET-NOW: Specter Schools Prez On Constitution
Sen. Arlen Specter on Tuesday directly challenged President Bush’s declaration that “I am the decision-maker” on issues of war. “I would suggest respectfully to the president that he is not the sole decider,” Specter (R-Pa.) said during a hearing on Congress’ war powers amid an increasingly harsh debate over Iraq war policy. “The decider is a shared and joint responsibility,” Specter said.[…] No one challenges the notion that Congress can stop a war by canceling its funding. In fact, vice president Dick Cheney challenged Congress to back up its objections to Bush’s plan to put 21,500 more troops in Iraq […]
GAYBO: The Prince Charles Cockring & Hip-Hop Homos
BY TOMMY ZANE This week, Philadelphia was treated to a visit from Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, in honor of the 150th Anniversary of The Academy of Music. Camilla wore a $25 million necklace made of diamonds and rubies, and hell — why not? Surely a $20 million necklace of sapphires and emeralds would have been just too understated for such an event. My also sources report that Charles wore his $40 million cockring with matching ben-wa balls, and Camilla fingered the crack of the Liberty Bell. Christ, I know these people are royalty, but […]
BEST IN SHOW: Viva La Dork Revolution!
Nerds://A Musical Software Satire began previews at the Philadelphia Theatre Company on January 25th and will open on January 31st for a run through February 25th.[…] Nerds “is an outrageous epic take on the parallel stories of technology pioneers Bill GatesandSteve Jobs as they blaze a path from garage inventors to warring titans of the computer revolution!,” press notes state. “From the invention of the floppy disk and the mouse to the present-day phenomenon of instant messaging and podcasting, Nerds hilariously celebrates the birth of computer technology and the two pop-culture icons that made it possible, with a rollicking original […]
DEVIL IN DELCO: It Just Gets Worse, If That’s Possible
By John Shiffman Inquirer Staff Writer A Drexel Hill woman charged last week with helping a Delaware County man tape pornographic movies of children also engaged in sex with at least one child, a prosecutor said yesterday. The new accusation against Dorothy Prawdzik, 43, alleges that she engaged in a sexual encounter that also involved a 39-year-old man and a young girl. “The victim was approximately 10 years old at the time … when she was forced to participate in those sex acts,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle T. Rotella said in a court filing yesterday. The 39-year-old man is John […]
GUNCRAZY: We’re Number One! We’re Number One!
The Washington-based Violence Policy Center reported yesterday that Pennsylvania leads the nation in the per capita rate of black homicide victims – ahead of the next closest states, Louisiana, Indiana, California and Missouri. The figures are based on an analysis of 2004 FBI crime statistics, the first study to rank states based on their black homicide rates, said the center’s statement. The center’s executive director noted that the survey looked at statewide data, and he was reluctant to speculate on Philadelphia’s role. In 2004, the city registered 330 murders – the number rose sharply to 406 last year – and […]