CBS NEWS: The mayor of Los Alamitos is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent out that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.” Local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus Price, who is black, said Tuesday she received the e-mail from Mayor Dean Grose’s personal account on Sunday and wants a public apology. “I have had plenty of my share of chicken and watermelon and all those kinds of jokes,” Price told The Associated Press. “I honestly don’t even understand where he was coming from, sending this to me. […]
RAWK TALK: Q&A w/ The Badmaster Records Dudes
BY TIFFANY YOON West Philly-based Badmaster Records‘ roster spans a spectrum of genres, from Tickley Feather’s bedroom drones to the danceable disco beats of Le Tigre-like Pony Pants to the experimental noise of Drums Like Machine Guns. The common link amongst all the Badmaster bands is their capacity to try something different and new, maintaining the DIY and anti-Establishment ethics of punk, but not necessarily sounding like punk music. Amongst the slew of independent Philadelphia record labels like High Two and Park the Van, Badmaster has survived the Bush Administration and is still staying afloat in Apocalypse Now of America […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins reports that the Taliban are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign in Afghanistan — a fact evidenced by a 40 percent increase in Afghan civilian deaths in 2008. Filkins joined The New York Times in 2000. He covered the war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2002 and reported on the Iraq war from 2003 to 2006. He recently returned to the Middle East to cover Afghanistan again. Filkins details his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq in his book The Forever War. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Analysis of last night’s address by President […]
TONITE: Undergarment Underworld
Sima’s Undergarments for Women by Ilana Stanger-Ross Book Reading & Signing Party Wednesday February 25, 2009 7:30pm Delicious Boutique & Corseterie 1040 N. American St. #901 Philadelphia, PA 19123
RUMORED: Arlen Specter To Become A Democrat?
FIVETHIRTYEIGHT: Republican chairman Michael Steele took Neal Cavuto’s bait and suggested that he might be amendable to punishing the three Republican senators — Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter — who voted for the stimulus package by supporting primary challenges and/or cutting off funding. There’s just one problem with this. In Pennsylvania and especially in Maine, having a (R) by your name is a liability, not an asset. With leaners included, Democrats have roughly a 19-point partisan ID advantage in Maine and 16 points in the Keystone State. Collins, Snowe and Specter get re-elected in spite of being Republican, […]
WORDS WORTH: What The President Said
[via POLITICAL JUNKIE] If Bobby Jindal saying ‘Look, I’m not white either!’ and then re-writing the history of Katrina with warmed-over Reaganism is the best the GOP can do in this our darkest hour, well, all I can say is ‘Heckuva a job Bobby.’ In related news, THIS is hilarious: The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c Clusterf#@k to the Poor House – GOP Govs at Odds Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things With Demetri Martin Funny Political News Joke of the Day (Complete White House transcript of the President’s remarks after the jump.)
HEAR YE: Condo F*cks F*ckbook
AKA The new Yo La Tengo album. Now playing on Phawker Radio!
Inky Bigwigs Shamed Into Giving Back Big Raises
Via Newspaper Guild memo: Andrew C. Kassner, an attorney representing Citizens Bank, called “unconscionable” the raises to Brian Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Media Holdings and Inquirer publisher, Richard Thayer, the Company’s chief financial officer, and Mark Frisby, a senior vice president in charge of production and labor issues and publisher of the Daily News. Kassner said lenders found out about the raises – which boosted Tierney’s annual salary to $850,000 and Thayer’s and Frisby’s to $475,000 — a short time before the Company filed for bankruptcy protection. The Company had rejected lenders’ requests to give up the raises, Kassner said. […]
PAY TO PLAY: Councilman Kelly Aide Convicted
PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL: A former aide to a Philadelphia councilman was among three men convicted in a corruption case Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia said. Christopher Wright [pictured left, making O-Face], a former aide to Councilman Jack Kelly, developer Ravinder Chawla of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and Chawla’s attorney Andrew Teitelman of Newtown, Pa., were convicted of conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud, honest services mail fraud, and mail fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Wright, 45, of Philadelphia was accused of trading on his position as Kelly’s aide from June 2005 to January 2008 to […]
EXPLAINER: Why Lawyers Make The Big Bucks
Because they can say shit like this out loud in a court of law with a completely straight face: “The Philadelphia Inquirer has been published in Philadelphia since 1828. It’s over 180 years old and it is an institution and a treasure to its community,” said McMichael. He said no one — including the local investor group that bought the newspapers for $515 million in 2006 — foresaw how the economy and other factors would rout the newspaper industry. “These people put $150 million cash into this thing,” McMichael said of the investor group brought together by Tierney, who is […]
TONITE: Burn The Witch
BY DAVID STAMPONE Witch? Yeah, that’s the heavy (“doom-“/”stoner-“) rock group from Western Mass., the one with a key member arguably more famous for his association with a legendary band from back in the late 80s/early 90s. That would be Witch drummer J. Mascis: he of few words and much shred, forever to be recognized as a hazily crooning indie-rock guitar god from the mid ’80s on, primarily as leader of Dinosaur Jr. (who reformed a few years ago and are due for a second post-reunion album this summer; just signed to Indiana label Jagjaguwar, FYI). In Witch, Mascis stows […]
USELESS INFORMATION: David Lynch’s Twitter
[by DAVMO] Good morning. It’s Monday, Feb. 23, 2009. Here in LA, gray, overcast skies & a slight breeze. Looks like rain. 60°F 16°C. Have a nice day. about 20 hours ago from web To think: He used to read our mind, now he reads the weather. Who says you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows? Oh, right. That guy.
MUGSHOT: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: NEW CASTLE, PA — Jordan Anthony Brown doesn’t mesh with his new surroundings. He’s swimming in his jail-issued shirt, and his pant legs are cuffed six times to keep them off the floor. He cries and is scared. He misses his dad. He wants to go back to school. He wants to go home. Jail isn’t a place for an 11-year-old, his attorney said. “It’s surreal, just surreal,” said New Castle attorney Dennis Elisco, who is representing the boy. “Bizarre, really.” Jordan Brown is accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn son Friday […]