[NOT graphic]
Cadre Of Credible Conservatives Demands Attorney General Resign ‘For The Good Of The Country’
The two-page letter, written on stationery of the American Freedom Agenda, a recently formed body designed to promote conservative legal principles, is blunt. Addressed to both Bush and Gonzales, it goes well beyond the U.S. attorneys controversy and details other alleged failings by Gonzales. “Mr. Gonzales has presided over an unprecedented crippling of the Constitution’s time-honored checks and balances,” it declares. “He has brought rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm.” Alluding to ongoing scandal, it notes: “He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks just like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his shiny head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
DOPE, GUNS & FUCKING IN THE STREETS: Birds Of Maya, Closing Night Of Popped!, Fireman’s Lounge, Last Night BY SARA SHERR The most thankless job in the world is to be the band that plays the last night of a weeklong festival. Especially one on a Sunday night in the middle of a Nor’easter. But like fungus, the best rock n roll thrives in dank, dark places. Pissed Jeans, Total Fucking Destruction, and Birds of Maya basically gave both the weather and rocked-out indifference the middle finger and brought the beautiful noise. It also helps that the show was in […]
BREAKING: Gunman Kills 32 On Virginia Tech Campus; Gunman Dead, Death Toll Expected To Rise; ‘Worst Shooting Rampage In American History’
DEVELOPING… Gus Van Sant’s Elephant.
FILMFEST PICKS: End Of The Line; Woman On The Beach; Life & Lyrics; Dead Daughters; The Kovac Box
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC With the end of the second and last weekend of the Philadelphia Film Festival, I head into the last few days of screenings with that feeling of having finished a wonderful meal but still wanting to stretch and make room for dessert. I caught some pretty choice films this past weekend. I became addicted to the Black Lizard reprints of David Goodis’ pulp fiction novels in the late ’80s and have waited nearly 20 years to see the film he scripted and which was shot in his hometown of Philly, the 1957 film noir The […]
HIZZONER ’07: Ferrick Has It Down To Knox Vs. Fattah = Mayor Fattah
The Democratic campaign for mayor is now a race between two candidates: Chaka Fattah and Tom Knox. We predict one of these guys is going to win the May 15 Democratic primary, which means one of these guys is going to be the next mayor. That’s not to say the three other candidates – Bob Brady, Michael Nutter and Dwight Evans – are irrelevant. Indeed, they are tres relevant, but mostly in their effect on the top two candidates. INQUIRER: It’s a Black Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand RELATED: Nutter Surging In His Own Poll; Brady Hunting Elephants In […]
JUNK SCIENCE: Soy To The World!
BY ELIZABETH FIEND You wait and wait, eagerly anticipating your favorite time of the year, and suddenly, it’s here! April is National Soy Month, the most delicious month of the year! Soy is one hell of an amazing plant, one that’s been part of the human diet for over 5,000 years. But it’s much, much more than just veggie burgers. The soybean is also used as food for livestock and it has all the properties of petroleum — except unlike petrol, soy is biodegradable. Wow, doesn’t knowing that you could fuel up your car or feed your cow with it […]
LEONARD COHEN & U2: Tower Of Song
I said to Hank Williams: ‘How lonely does it get?’ Hank Williams hasn’t answered me yet, but I can hear him coughing all night long a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song — Leonard Cohen
MAILBAG: Readers Remember Rick D.
REST IN POWER: Grafitti Outside Tritone, 15th & South [Photo By SARA SHERR] Hey Jon, Scotty here, the fat blond soundman from Upstairs at Nick’s and so forth. Just saw you were the editor of this webzine and wanted to thank you for putting up a blurb about that idiot comment made in response to the statement about Rick D. booking Dobbs. That was me replying — some people just have no class at all. The service was really highly emotionally-charged as to be expected but there was a huge turnout with tons of people showing their love for Rick […]
HIZZONER ’07: Judge Says Brady Stays On The Ballot, Blames Vague Filing Instructions That, Curiously, No Other Candidate Had Difficulty Following
Yesterday, rather than pointing a finger of blame at Brady, Commonwealth Court blamed the state Ethics Commission, arguing that it produced a flawed set of instructions. In the opinion, Pellegrini acknowledged that pension contributions are the type of “thing of value” that ought to be reported under the Ethics Act. But he said the instructions got in the way by limiting “what is to be included in income.” The judge noted that cases such as this, in which the issue is exactly what must be disclosed by a candidate, are becoming increasingly common. He asked for someone — presumably the Supreme […]
TAX RELIEF: Declare The Pennies On Your Eyes
This event is completely last minute but then so is filing your taxes next Monday. Help is available for all of you last minute tax filers. Stop by Space 1026 on Monday April 16th to file your taxes online with a counselor from The Benefit Bank. Space is limited! RSVP to aryon@space1026.com as soon as possible. More information about The Benefit Bank available here.
GAMBLOR RISING: Democracy Craps Out As Supreme Court Injunctions Casino Referendum
BY JEFF SHIELDS INQUIRER STAFF WRITER The Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday issued a preliminary injunction forbidding Philadelphia from placing an anti-casino referendum question on the May 15 ballot. In a strong, but not fatal, blow to the activists and neighbors opposed to slots casinos planned for Fishtown and South Philadelphia, the court granted the Gaming Control Board’s request to halt a vote on the proposal to bar casinos from most city neighborhoods. In a 15-line order that contained no explanation or rationale, the court also said it wanted lawyers for both sides to file legal briefs in an expedited fashion […]