Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology. The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering. The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement. His remarks will be made […]
THIS JUST IN: Ike Turner Is Dead
“Rocket 88” by Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm is widely regarded as the very FIRST rock n’ roll ever recorded. REUTERS: LOS ANGELES — Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Ike Turner, who rose to fame in the 1950s and became a star performing with his ex-wife Tina Turner, has died at age 76, said an official with the performer’s management company. CHICAGO TRIBUNE: It doesn’t matter if I invented rock ‘n’ roll, because it didn’t make me any money,” Turner told the Tribune. “I made $60 from ‘Rocket 88’: Six-oh. I don’t care about the glamour or the money. I don’t […]
THE HUCKABOOM: The Devil and Mitt Romney
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” The article, to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn’t know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. MORE RELATED: Is Mike Huckabee the presidential candidate shunning Mike Huckabee the preacher? Before […]
MEDIA: How Pigs Fly
Under the nascent ownership of Brian Tierney and Philadelphia Media Holdings, the Inquirer and Daily News have not only managed to stanch the chronic hemorrhage of readers, they’ve actually seen a modest, but no less substantive uptick in circulation. In this era of mass media ‘shrinkage,’ this is nothing short of a modern miracle. How did they do it? With prizes inside. That’s right, borrowing a page from the cereal-maker’s playbook, PMH has been giving away prizes like Bob Barker on ecstacy. To wit: Philadelphian Jennifer Barr is the grand-prize winner in the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie contest, which […]
THE BUDOS BAND: Volcano Song
The Budos Band opens for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings Friday at the Fillmore.
THE BREAKDOWN: Return Of The Wu Tang
BY M. EMANUEL When the BREAKDOWN first got word that all eight living members of the Wu-Tang Clan were heading to the studio to prep their fifth collective effort, 8 Diagrams, the news was met with cautious optimism. An admitted fan of the Wu’s classics, in part because the early albums formed the sonic backdrop for the high school incarnation of the BREAKDOWN, allegiance to the Wu has been downgraded, somewhat, from fanatic in the mid-nineties to mere respectful reverence in the post-new millennium. Still, while the promise of the new album, in stores yesterday, may not have registered as […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
MAGGOT BRAIN: Nurse Sentenced For Allowing Infestation In Patient’s Head For allowing a horde of maggots to fester in the head wound of an elderly patient, a former nursing-home supervisor was sentenced yesterday in Delaware County court to four years’ probation and ordered to pay $4,800 in restitution. Donna Marie Cameron, 40, of Aston, was once director of nursing at the now-defunct St. James Retirement and Rehabilitation Center, in Chester. The court found that Cameron was anything but aware of the needs of Patricia Holdsworth, 72, a St. James’ resident suffering from skin cancer and mental-health issues. In June 2005, […]
THE FIRST MAN FROM HOPE: Take My Wife, Please
BUBBALICIOUS: Bill Clinton, Electric Factory, earlier tonight. [CLICK TO ENLARGE] RELATED: With Bill Clinton at his side, Philadelphia Mayor-elect Michael Nutter last night endorsed the presidential candidacy of the former president’s wife, saying that she understood the challenges facing urban America. [via INQUIRER] PHOTOS BY VIC SUEDE
Earthlink A No-Show At Council Wi-Fi Hearing
Will Wireless Philadelphia fulfill Mayor Street’s soaring vision of a city where all residents enjoy affordable Internet access or will it end up like man’s early attempts to fly by strapping on homemade wings and jumping off a cliff? The grimmer view dominated yesterday’s City Council technology committee hearings into Wireless Philadelphia’s progress. Councilmen Frank Rizzo Jr. and Brian O’Neill were appalled that Atlanta-based Earthlink, Inc. — the Wireless Philadelphia provider that recently announced it was getting out of the wireless-city business — did not show up to testify. O’Neill said he had received a statement “allegedly from EarthLink” on […]
BEST LED ZEP REUNION REVIEW WE’VE READ…
…is written on Dave Grohl’s face. [via THE SUN] RUNNER UP: The Wall Street Journal Set List:
CINEMA: What Would Jeebus Do?
WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? (2007, directed by Rob Van Alkemade, 91 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It’s hard to reconcile what has become the modern American version of Christmas and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at Luke 12:15, where the man they called Christ warns against covetousness, “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” I don’t know if real pastors are preaching such anti-materialist messages this holiday season, but performance artist Bill Talen ponders the question of Christ’s capitalist instincts under the guise of “Reverend Billy” in this diverting new documentary produced […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
RADIO TIMES Hour 1 MAUREEN FAULKNER, the widow of slain Philadelphia Police officer Daniel Faulkner talks about her new memoir Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice. Daniel Faulkner was gunned down Dec. 9, 1981. A jury convicted Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder and sentenced him to death. He has since appealed through the State and now Federal Courts alleging he got an unfair trial. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3 Hour 2 Drexel University student Jocelyn Kirsch and University of Pennsylvania graduate Edward Anderton surrendered to the Philadelphia police last week for […]