PHILADELPHIA, PA — Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement on the state of the economy. “The news coming from Wall Street today has confirmed our fears that the financial fallout from the mortgage crisis would spillover into the wider economy. Months ago, I went to Wall Street and said that our capital markets could not function without the confidence and trust of the public. I said that Wall Street could not succeed while the rest of America struggled. Now, as the Federal Reserve does its best to bring stability to the market, we must focus on what we […]
FORECAST: Fightin’ Irish
For those about to drink green beer until the juice runs down their leg, we salute you. But could you please NOT pee on our front door. Just this once? Please? We don’t ask for much.
VOGUING: This Is Progress?
ASSOCIATED PRESS: LeBron James is striking a pose. The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ superstar will appear on the April cover of Vogue, joining actors Richard Gere and George Clooney as the only men to do so in the influential fashion magazine’s 116-year history. Wearing a tank top, shorts and sneakers from his own Nike clothing line, James appears on the cover dribbling a basketball and screaming as if in game mode while throwing one arm around supermodel Gisele Bundchen with Tom Brady nowhere to be found. The pairing of the All-Star forward and the runway icon was shot in January by famed […]
MELTDOWN: Bank Run Pushes Bear Stearns To Verge Of Bankruptcy; Bought By JP Morgan For $2 A Share; 5th Largest Bank In U.S. Only Worth $236 Million
NEW YORK TIMES: Bear Stearns, pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by what amounted to a run on the bank, agreed late Sunday to sell itself to JP Morgan Chase for a mere $2 a share, narrowly averting a collapse that threatened to cascade through the financial system. The price represents a startling 93 percent discount to Bear Stearns’ closing stock price on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Bankers and policy makers raced to complete the deal before financial markets in Asia opened on Monday, as fears grew that the financial panic could spread if Bear Stearns failed […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: A 62-year-old man was killed this morning in the Stenton section of Philadelphia and a 35-year-old woman has been arrested for the slaying, police said. The homicide was reported shortly after 6 a.m. in the 7900 block of Pickering Avenue, police said. Unspecified weapons were recovered at the scene. The woman turned herself in, police said.
EYES WIDE SHUT: McGreevey Aide Claims Three-Way With The Governor & His Wife, Over And Over Again
NEW YORK POST: In an explosive interview with The Post, the McGreeveys’ longtime man-in-the-middle, Teddy Pedersen, recounted explicit details of alleged, titillating, three-way sex romps he had with the now-divorcing duo, starting during their courtship and continuing into the marriage. Pedersen — who said he has already spilled the beans on the steamy ménage a trios arrangement under oath in a deposition for the couple’s divorce battle — hinted that he thinks his presence was required to get Jim’s motor running for Dina. Matos McGreevey’s basic claim in her divorce war with the former Garden State gov is her argument […]
EAVESDROPPING: How Obama’s Spin Doctors Do Brain Surgery On The Fourth Estate Over The Phone
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Today I listened in on another one of those campaign conference calls to reporters, this time from the Obama people. Same deal as the Hillary campaign conference call, you get an email announcing, with little or no warning, that the conference call is happening in 40 minutes, along with an 800 number and a special code to punch in. Representing Team Obama was Chief Strategist David Axelrod and Communications Director Robert Gibbs. Axelrod pointed out that Clinton Chief Strategist Mark Penn yesterday raised the issue of transparency, while assuring reporters that Senator Clinton has been ‘fully vetted.’ […]
WORTH REPEATING: Legalize The ‘Oldest Profession’
*SMERCONISH: It is ridiculous that governance of the nation’s third-largest state is changing hands because two consenting adults swapped sex for money instead of the conventional cosmopolitan or margarita. When the dust settles over this brouhaha, I hope we’ll be ready for a long-overdue, realistic, adult conversation about prostitution. It’s time to bring the world’s oldest profession aboveboard in communities willing to allow it, clean up the trade, and clamp down on the exploitation. Let government share in the revenue, but otherwise stay out of the private affairs of consenting adults. Beyond the role of the tax man, prostitution doesn’t […]
TIBET: Quiet Riot
BEIJING (AP) — Soldiers on foot and in armored carriers swarmed Tibet’s capital Saturday, enforcing a strict curfew a day after protesters burned shops and cars to vent their anger against Chinese rule. In another western city, police clashed with hundreds of Buddhist monks leading a sympathy demonstration. The violence erupted just two weeks before China’s Summer Olympic celebrations kick off with the start of the torch relay, which passes through Tibet. China is gambling that its crackdown will not draw an international outcry over human rights violations that could lead to boycotts of the Olympics. The latest unrest began […]
TONITE: Get Your Thinking Machine On
BY MICHAEL DONOVAN Thinking Machines are an indie-rock trio based in the 215. To date they have released three full-length albums: their self-titled debut in 2001, Dream In Lo-Fi, released in 2002 and most recently, A Complete Record of Urban Archaeology, released in January, 2008. Though only a three-piece, Thinking Machines sounds much larger — thanks in no small part to the expansive guitar and bass work. On the TM’s third album, elements of post-punk and indie rock are mixed together for an end result akin to the soon-to-hit-Philly Les Savy Fav (but not as weird) and Minus the Bear. […]
JUST IN: Superdelegate Race Breaking For Obama
JOE SUPER DELEGATE: Illustration by ALEX FINE BLOOMBERG: Barack Obama has pulled almost even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials and has cut into her lead among the other superdelegates she’s relying on to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Among the 313 of 796 superdelegates who are members of Congress or governors, Clinton has commitments from 103 and Obama is backed by 96, according to lists supplied by the campaigns. Fifty-three of Obama’s endorsements have come since he won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, compared with 12 who have aligned with Clinton since then. “That’s not glacial, […]
CINEMA: All Fun & Games Until Somebody Gets Hurt
FUNNY GAMES (2007, directed by Michael Haneke, 107 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC “People have criticized me for making films just to provoke, That was never the case. But in this film yes. It made me happy to give an awakening kind of slap”. That’s Austrian director Michael Haneke being interviewed on the DVD of his breakthrough film, 1997’s Funny Games. Funny Games was a rigorous study of a viewer’s complicity with on-screen violence that invited the audience to watch helplessly (or not, which may be the film’s point) as a nondescript upper-class family are tortured to death […]
EARLY WORD: It’s Alive With Pleasure!
BY TIFFANY YOON LIVING ARTS CORRESPONDENT Benjamin Franklin once said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Which makes Philly Beer Week God’s work, but then you probably already know that. With all this in mind, I recently stopped by Triumph Brewery to get the lowdown. I talked beer with Jay Misson, director of brewing operations, and got to tag along as Patrick Jones, head brewer, brewed some beer. PHAWKER: So what can you tell us about Philadelphia’s Real Ale Festival? MISSON: We’ve gathered 30 casks of beer of Real Ale. Which means […]