GAMBLE & HUD: City Claims Feds Forced Discount Land Deal For Kenny Gamble President Bush’s housing czar pressured the Philadelphia housing agency to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny Gamble, the music producer turned developer, and retaliated when the agency would not knuckle under, a lawsuit says. The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) says the top federal housing official, Alphonso Jackson, improperly sought to steer the land to Gamble at a big discount. In court filings, Carl Greene, PHA’s executive director, says Jackson, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, called Mayor John Street twice to lobby on Gamble’s […]
WILL FERRELL: Bud Light Superbowl Ad
Very funny, but Bud Light still sucks.
REVEALED: The Peaceful Easy Death Of Ernie Pyle
This photo provided by Richard Strasser, perhaps never before published, shows famed World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle shortly after he was killed by a Japanese machine gun bullet on the island of Ie Shima on April 18, 1945. On the third morning, a jeep carrying Ernie Pyle and three officers came under fire from a hidden machine gun. All scrambled for cover in roadside ditches, but when Pyle raised his head, a .30 caliber bullet caught him in the left temple, killing him instantly. Roberts and two other photographers, including AP’s Grant MacDonald, were at a command post […]
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Yes Virginia, There Is More To Arlen Specter’s Patriot Acts Than Meets The Eye
ATTYTOOD: When Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter went more public last week with his increasingly strange and quixotic battle against the National Football League — supposedly over the New England “Spygate” scandal — some politically savvy wags raised an interesting point. They noted that the longtime GOP stalwart’s No. 2 source of campaign funds in recent years has been none other than employees of Comcast Corp. and their families, linked to at least $153,600 in donations going back to 1989. That’s significant because Philadelphia-based Comcast has been engaged in a protracted war with the NFL over an issue that has nothing […]
PAPERBOY EXTRA: The Audacity Of Change
BY AMY Z. QUINN OK, so you didn’t hear it here first — Dan Gross broke the news this afternoon that City Paper editor Duane Swierczynski resigned today. We heard this Friday afternoon, when the Swiercz spilled his plans for a full-time leap into noir fiction (The Blonde‘s in paperback, there’s very preliminary talk of a movie) and Marvel Comics and over noodles and tea, then promptly swore me to secrecy. Never let it be said your Paperboy doesn’t know the meaning of “off the record.” For the record. Anyway, dude certainly seemed like a guy who’d made up his […]
WORTH REPEATING: Big Brother Is Winning
Jonathan, Beginning at 2:30 p.m. EST today, the Senate resumed debate on the pending FISA bill, by proceeding to vote on a series of amendments, most proposed by Democrats, to improve the bill. Key amendments include one jointly sponsored by Sens. Dodd and Feingold to strip the bill of telecom immunity; an amendment from Sen. Feinstein to transfer the telecom cases to the FISA court; an amendment jointly sponsored by Sens. Specter and Whitehouse to substitute the government for the telecoms as defendants; and an amendment from Sen. Feinstein emphasizing that FISA is the “exclusive means” by which the Government […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: A 43-year old man was shot and killed this morning in Philadelphia, police said. The unidentified man was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the 2500 block of South 66th Street at about 7:23 a.m. He was pronounced on the scene by medics. Yesterday, police responded to the 3800 block of Parrish Street at 3:13 a.m. and found Anthony Saunders, 39, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Saunders, of 4600 block of Apple Lane in Deptford, had been shot in the face and body, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:26 a.m. No […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Missed evidence, ignored clues, political considerations—did the 9/11 Commission really issue the definitive report on the September 2001 terror attacks? In his new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, New York Times investigative journalist Philip Shenon scrutinizes those charged with analyzing the terror attacks and uncovers new information about the commission’s complicated relationship with the Bush White House. PLUS, Can there be a middle ground in the debate about the separation of church and state? John DiIulio, Jr, a Democrat who served as the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community […]
ENDORSEMENT: He Is The One
…To Lead Us Out Of The Matrix Of Our Own Bullshit REUTERS: Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama opened narrow leads on Hillary Clinton in California and Missouri one day before crucial “Super Tuesday” nominating contests in 24 states, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday. Obama and Clinton were deadlocked in New Jersey, and Obama enjoyed a double-digit advantage over Clinton in Georgia in two other Democratic contests on the biggest single day of voting ever in a U.S. presidential nominating campaign. “The momentum is with Obama,” said pollster John Zogby. “If this trend continues it could be a […]
BLACK MIRROR: Heath Ledger’s Fatal Obsession
DAILY MAIL: This haunting image of doomed actor Heath Ledger shows him apparently drowning in a bath – in a bizarre tribute to the tragic British folk singer with whom he was obsessed. The picture comes from a film Ledger made about Nick Drake, the cult singer-songwriter whose death bore disturbing similarities to his own. Ledger made the dark, brooding film to accompany one of the last songs Drake recorded before killing himself with antidepressants in 1974, at the age of 26. Like Drake, Ledger, 28, was found dead in his bed after taking prescription antidepressants. In stills taken from […]
LAWYERED UP: Stephen A. Smith Gets Mad Even
“I put my life and all that I have into the Philadelphia Inquirer first as a reporter and then as a general columnist. I was raised to work hard and play by the rules. That is what I have done. I’ve worked hard and earned every single promotion and accolade that I received while at the Inquirer.No one did me any favors or gave me anything, nor did I expect them to. What’s fair is fair and what’s right is right. What they have done to me is malicious, intentional and vindictive. They want to ruin my reputation and all […]
Q&A: The Horrible Truth About Dan Deacon
[Photo by STEFANI LEVIN] WIKIPEDIA: Dan Deacon (born 1981) is a Baltimore, Maryland-based electronic music composer/performer. He attended the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in Purchase, New York, where he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R, and completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition. He studied under composer/conductor Joel Thome. Currently, he lives at Wham City in Baltimore, Maryland. Dan Deacon’s compositional style is best classified in the future shock genre along with Videohippos, Santa Dads, Blood Baby, Ecstatic Sunshine, Ponytail, and other bands […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE TEENAGERS AT MAKING TIME 1. It’s hard not to think that even the guys of The Teenagers can’t take themselves seriously as they perform half smirking, probably thinking ‘Holy shit! How did this even happen?’ Last night at Making Time the trio of French Teenagers were accompanied by two young British ladies under the names of Antonia and Rebecca. Antonia played drums while Rebecca played backing guitar. 2. About halfway through their set they began to experience some technical difficulties. The bass drum pedal on Antonia’s drum set decided to stop working, conveniently […]