BOB CESCA: There’s a growing conventional wisdom in the press alleging that both sides of the political spectrum are equally guilty of wackaloon attacks and conspiracy theories. Granted there might be one or two very fringe exceptions but this is otherwise a false equivalency written by the establishment media as part of their self-conscious effort to seem balanced. The distinction is that any “fringe” attacks from the left during the Bush years weren’t mainstreamed and legitimized the way the wingnut attacks are today, even though the fringe attacks from the left turned out to be mostly accurate. On the right, […]
NEWSPAPER DEATH WATCH: No News Is Good News
Budget help from Mint.com
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: GOP Senators Move To Obstruct FCC-Enforced Net Neutrality
RAW STORY: Six Republican senators have introduced an amendment that would block the Federal Communications Commission from implementing its recently announced Net neutrality policy. Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced the amendment to an appropriations bill. It would prevent the FCC from getting funding for any initiative to uphold Net neutrality. According to The Hill, the co-sponsors are Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). The move appears to be an attempt to pre-empt the FCC’s expected new policy to ensure that Internet service providers […]
EARLY WORD: The Dude Abides
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SEX IN THE CITY: Men I Have Dated
BY GLORIA MARIS For much of my first year of law school, I was dating a guy who lived out toward Valley Forge. He hated driving into the city, but both his other girlfriend and myself lived here in town. He was almost literally twice as big as I am, and continued to gain weight while we were dating. He detested lawyers, but my law school plans were in place when we started dating, and his other girlfriend was an attorney. He preferred his other girlfriend to me and didn’t tend to hesitate to tell me so. We dated for […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
CRUEL & UNUSUAL: Reward Offered For Info Leading To Conviction Of The Bastard Who Duct Taped Cat
SMOKING GUN: What kind of a person duct tapes a cat head to toe? Philadelphia police are searching for the misfit who abandoned the animal after wrapping it with the gray industrial-strength tape (the female cat was discovered in a yard yesterday by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals workers). Bound by the tape, the feline–pictured below and on succeeding pages in evidence photos–was not able to walk and was apparently left to die. SPCA workers successfully removed the tape from the cat, who has been nicknamed “Sticky” by rescue workers. As police probe the animal abuse case, […]
ARTSY: Oh Governor, Where Art Thou!
[Photo by TED ADAMS] BY LINDSAY HARRIS-FRIEL ARTS CORRESPONDENT Word on the street is that there will be a protest on Friday, 9/25 at 12 noon at 15th and Walnut at Governor Rendell’s Philadelphia office, to protest adding a sales tax to tickets sold to non-profit arts organizations. This means anything from Philadelphia Museum of Art tickets to Fringe show tickets. Seeing as ticket sales for arts events are on the decline anyway, this only serves as a deterrent to getting people to attend arts events and organizations. The other rumor that’s been thrown around is that sports events and […]
GAYDAR: We Could Be Heroes
BY AARON STELLA The Delaware Valley Legacy Fund will be holding their Third-Annual “Heroes” party, a fundraiser to honor leaders and allies to the LGBTI community and its causes, this Friday, September 25th at the F.U.E.L House. The DVLF is an organization that seeks to encourage philanthropy and grant making to support the needs of the LGBTI and straight-allied community. Since their inception in 1993, DVLF has appropriated their assets garnered from donations, endowments and fundraisings to further the cause of civil rights, improve health services, support arts and culture and provide scholarships for the LGBTI and straight-allied community. This […]
MAYOR NUTTER: Ballad Of Easy Rider
Mayor Nutter officially opens new bike lanes on Pine and Spruce.
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Here We Go Magic
BY DIANCA LONDON Here We Go Magic is like a ray of sunshine inside the cloudy day of their own lovely murk. Since releasing their self-titled debut, the Brooklyn based six-piece has shared the stage with the likes of Grizzly Bear and managed to thaw the permafrost of rock critics’ hearts. Comfortably lo-fi with hints of folk, psychedelia and indie pop, Here We Go Magic is like a kinder, gentler Animal Collective, eschewing heavy-handed distortion in favor of hushed prettiness. Recently we got Here We Go Magic mainman Luke Temple on the phone to chat about the band’s next album, […]
TOM DELAY: Wild Thing
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